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DOCUMENTS 


EELATING    TO   THR 


SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  CHUECII  OF  ENGLAND 


ACT     OF    UNIFORMITY 


1663. 


Mit^  an  Jistorital  Inttohutioir, 


LONDON: 

W.     KENT    AND    CO.,    PATERNOSTER    ROW. 

And  at  the  Office  of  the  Central  United  Bartholomew  Committee, 

10,  Broad  Street  Buildings,  E  C. 


ENGLISH    PURITANISM 

Hts  Character  anti   l^istors. 


AN   INTKODCCTION   TO 

DOCUMENTS 

RELATING  TO  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF   ENGL.IND 

BY    THE    ACT    OF    UNIFORMITY    OF    1662. 


PETER    BAYNE,    Esq.,    A.M. 


In  the  paper  explanatory  of  the  objects  and  plans 
of  the  United  Saint  Bartholomew  Committee,  issued 
many  months  ago,  occur  the  following  sentences : — 

"  The  Committee  are  unanimous  in  their  resolution  that 
in  their  collection  of  histoi'ical  facts  bearing  upon  the 
Ejection  of  the  Two  Thousand,  and  in  their  presentation 
of  them,  in  whatever  form,  to  public  notice,  the  most 
rigid  impartiality  shall  be  observed.  Implicit  deference 
to  truth  they  recognise  as  the  most  important  moral  of 
the  event  to  be  commemorated,  and  they  would  look  upon 
the  indulgence  of  any  predisposition,  should  it  exist,  to 
dress  up  a  case  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  foregone 
conclusions,  as  a  desecration  of  the  opportunity  which 
God's  providence  has  brought  round  to  them.  They  are 
fully  aware  of  the  danger  they  will  incur  of  unconsciously 
Imparting  to  narrative  a  bias  which  the  events  themselves 
might  fail  to  justify,  and  of  controversially  pressing  them 


••  purpose  conscieniiousiy  lo  exercise  iiieir  uiiuosi  vig: 
"  against  it." 

It  was  on  the  distinct  understanding  that  these 
the  views  of  the  Committee  that  I  complied  with 
request  which  they  did  me  the  honour  to  addre 
me,  to  prepare  an  Historical  Introduction  to 
Documents  contained  in  this  volume.  The  ( 
mittee  have  fulfilled  their  pledge  by  scrupuh 
respecting  my  independence  in  the  compositio 
the  introductory  essay :  the  public  will  j' 
whether  I  have  been  upright  and  impartial  in 
treatment  of  the  subject. 

P.  B. 


T'm^  »  * 


ENGLISH     PURITANISM 

ITS  CHAEACTEE  AND  HISTOEY. 


The  Nonconformity  of  the  i-estoration  was  properly 
the  last  phase  of  old  English  Puritanism  ;  and  with 
it  as  our  special  theme,  we  are  in  an  advantageous 
position  for  reviewing,  in  its  characteristic  features 
and  main  historical  developments,  the  entire  phe- 
nomenon of  Puritanism. 

There  is  a  general  feeling  that  the  hundred  years 
during  which  the  Puritan  agitation  was  at  its  height 
are  the  most  memorable  in  the  history  of  England. 
The  part  played  by  England  in  modern  civilization 
was  then  determined.  The  benefits,  political,  social, 
religious,  which  she  has  enjoyed,  were  then  secured. 
The  se^ds  of  blessing  and  of  bane  which  still  spring 
around  us  were  then  sown.  The  essential  aspects  of 
our  national  character,  in  the  widest  sweep  of  their 
diversity  and  the  profoundest  conditions  of  their 
agreement,  were  then  displayed.  All  this,  we  say, 
is  matter  of  general  assent,  and  it  is  therefore   no 


2  English   Puritanism. 

wonder  that  the  tumult  of  the  Puritan  times  echoes 
in  the  ear  of  England,  or  that  Englishmen  stili 
enquire  with  interest  what  Puritanism  was  and  what 
mark  it  left  on  the  history  of  our  country. 

For  all  earnest  minds  the  past  is  sacred,  and  there 
is  something  of  profanity  in  bringing  into  its  silent 
chambers  the  disputes  and  the  watchwords  of  the 
present.  In  the  senate  of  the  immortals,  in  the 
temple  of  the  dead,  the  only  voice  worthy  to  break 
the  stillness  is  the  voice  of  truth.  On  the  present 
occasion,  we  are  peculiarly  tempted  to  infringe  this 
canon,  yet  would  its  infraction  be  more  than  ordi- 
narily pernicious.  The  questions  and  interests  of 
Puritanism  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies bear  precisely  such  a  resemblance  to  questions 
and  interests  of  our  own  time  as  is  likely  to  mislead ; 
but  an  imperative  condition  of  our  understanding 
the  former  is  the  frank  acknowledgment  that  they 
are  different  from  the  latter.  If  the  slightest  benefit 
is  to  be  derived  from  our  discussion,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary for  writer  and  reader  alike  to  divest  the  mind  of 
partisan  feeling,  to  check  modern  prepossessions,  and 
to  suspend  modern  sympathies,  lie  who  writes  a 
panegyric  looks  of  set  purpose  to  a  single  aspect  of 
events  and  actions.  He  who  enters  the  magazine  of 
history  in  quest  of  weapons  for  the  controversia 
warfare  of  to-day,  is  as  one  who,  penetrating  into 
the  tomb  of  an  ancient  warrior  and  snatching  the 
spear  from  the  skeleton  hand,  should  find  it  crumble 
on  the  instant  into  dust.     He  who  expects  in  the  most 


What  it  was.  3 

illustrious  heroes  a  stainless  perfection,  or  in  the  worst 
of  men  the  depravity  of  demons,  may  move  us  with 
the  grandeurs  of  poetic  passion,  but  will  not  ulti- 
mately satisfy  our  judgment.  To  realize  that  the 
men  of  the  past  were  our  brothers,  to  feel  the  force 
of  their  motives  as  presented  to  their  own  minds,  and 
to  attain  any  apprehension  of  those  high  intents  of 
Providence,  in  which  men  are  always,  more  or  less, 
unconscious  actors,  we  must  pay  homage  to  truth, 
and  to  truth  alone. 

What,  in  heart  and  essence,  apart  from  every  acci- 
dent, every  accompaniment,  was  English  Puritanism  1 
Its  nature  has  been  correctly  indicated  by  its  name. 
The  popular  instinct  has  fixed  upon  its  central 
thought  and  meaning.  It  was  a  purification, — an 
effort,  wise  or  unwise,  to  rid  the  Christianity  of 
England  from  all  adhesions  foreign  to  its  nature  or 
obstructive  of  its  power, — an  endeavour  to  remove 
everything,  in  doctrine,  discipline,  ceremonial,  which 
during  the  middle  ages  had  been  added  to  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  It  will  be  necessary  for  us  clearly  to  ap- 
prehend this  grand  regulating  fact  in  the  character 
and  history  of  Puritanism. 

When,  to  use  a  Scriptural  image,  the  angel  of  the 
Reformation  filled  his  censer  with  fire  from  God's 
altar,  and  cast  it  unto  the  earth,  there  were  "  voices, 
and  thunderings,  and  lightnings,  and  an  earthquake." 
Principles  which  had  long  slumbered  in  the  hearts  of 
the  European  nations,  or  agitated  them  with  inarticu- 

B    2 


4  English  Puritanism. 

late  yearnings,  were  roused  by  sympathetic  attraction, 
and  started  into  gigantic  manifestation. 

In  England,  for  hundreds  of  years,  a  powerful  current 
of  religious  feeling  had  set  in  a  direction  opposite  to 
Rome.  The  doctrines  of  Wickliffe  had  been  widely 
adopted  ;  the  Lollards  had  clung  to  their  faith  in  the 
agonies  of  death  by  fire  ;  and  devotion  to  a  political 
leader,  combined  with  reverence  for  a  martyred  saint, 
had  hallowed  to  the  popular  imagination  the  name  of 
Cobham.  That  stifled  cry  of  appeal  to  God  against 
the  corruptions  of  Rome,  which  through  the  medi- 
aeval time  was  audible  in  every  country  of  Europe, 
had  long  been  lieard  in  England. 

Side  by  side  with  this  strictly  religious  antagonism 
to  the  papacy,  there  had  existed  an  opposition  of  a 
purely  secular  and  political  kind.  The  sovereigns  of 
England  had  fretted  against  the  authority  of  Rome. 
A  weak  monarch,  a  John,  or  an  Edward  the  Second, 
had  succumbed  to  the  terrible  power  then  in  the  hand 
of  the  pontiff";  but  when  the  king  was  firmly  seated  and 
of  resolute  will,  the  death  of  a  Thomas  a  Becket,  or 
the  promulgation  of  some  statute  attaching  grievous 
penalties  to  the  recognition  of  papal  supremacy 
within  the  realm,  had  taught  the  haughtiest  occupants 
of  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  that  the  vassalage  in  which 
they  held  the  throne  of  England  was  partial  and 
precarious. 

AVlien  the  Reformation,  therefore,  broke  out,  a 
two-fold  rcsj)onse  a^vaited  it  in  England.  The 
people  had    been  educated   by    spiritual  teachers  to 


Uie  Reformation  in  England.  5 

receive  the  doctrine  of  the  Reformers ;  the  sovereign 
was  encouraged  by  a  long  course  of  precedent  to  dis- 
own the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  One 
Reformation  was  set  on  foot  by  the  Court ;  another 
proceeded  among  the  people.  The  former  was  in  the 
main  political ;  the  latter  was  profoundly  religious : 
the  first  result  of  the  one  was  the  State  Church  of 
Henry  VIII ;  the  working  of  the  other,  within  and 
beyond  the  ecclesiastical  pale,  constituted  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years  the  thing  we  name  Puritanism. 
The  Church  of  England,  as  constituted  in  our  day,  / 
owes  its  ultimate  form  and  character  to  both. 

Of  Henry  VIII  we  shall  not  speak.  The  Church  of 
England,  thank  God,  does  not  retain  the  worst  traces 
of  that  coarse  and  bloodstained  hand.  The  Church 
of  which  Henry  was  Pope,  held  the  dogma  of  tran- 
substantiation,  and  sanctioned  prayers  to  saints,  and 
kneeling  and  burning  incense  to  images.  Its  views 
on  confession,  on  celibacy,  on  private  masses,  would 
have  given  no  offence  to  Loyola.  It  was,  in  one 
word,  a  Romish  Church  with  Henry  for  Pope.  In 
his  right  hand,  this  energetic  Pontiff  held  a  faggot  to 
burn  those  who  denied  the  real  presence ;  in  his  left, 
a  halter  to  hang  those  who  abjured  his  ecclesiastical 
supremacy.  His  personal  contribution  to  the  cause  of 
the  Reformation  in  England  was  a  defiance  hurled  by 
the  throne  against  the  Pope,  a  defiance  so  proud  and  so 
comprehensive,  that  the  reverence  which  lingered  in 
the  national  mind  for  Rome  must  have  been  rudely 
shaken.     It  was  one  important  part  of  this  defiance 


6  English  Puritanism. 

to  sweep  England  clear  of  the  monastic  institutions 
by  which,  in  large  measure,  the  nation  had  been 
held  in  allegiance  to  the  Roman  See ;  it  was  another 
to  sanction  measures  for  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  people,  which  tended  to  eradicate  belief  in  those 
Romish  doctrines  which  Henry  retained  in  his  Church. 
But  the  more  favourable  representative  of  the  first 
stage  of  governmental  reformation  in  England  was 
xlrchbishop  Cranmer.  The  extravagant  denunciation 
of  this  prelate  by  Macaulay,  is  probably  the  estimate 
of  his  character  best  known  to  English  readers ;  and 
many  who  are  startled  by  the  antithetic  emphasis  of 
the  young  essayist,  will  accept  the  judicially  calm, 
but  sternly  unfavourable  verdict  of  Hallam.  A 
recent  American  writer  adduces  conclusive  proof  that 
Cranmer  was  not  present  at  the  Council  Board 
when  the  writ  was  made  out  for  the  execution  by  fire 
of  Joan  of  Kent,  and  he  recurs  to  a  strain  of  pane- 
gyric which  had  almost  ceased  to  celebrate  the  politic 
divine.  "  Cranmer  "  says  this  writer,  "  was  a  princely 
Christian  ;  his  errors,  like  chance  rents  in  a  royal  robe  ; 
his  rare  and  sterling  virtues,  like  a  diadem  on  a  royal 
brow."  Very  generous,  very  eloquent.  But  are  not 
fortitude  and  consistency  necessary  to  the  ideal  of  a 
princely  Christian  1  And,  among  the  gems  in 
Cranmer's  diadem  of  virtues,  must  not  those  six  pearls 
which  stand  for  his  six  recantations,  be  allowed  to  be 
of  paste  ]    You  cannot  escape  from  that  stern  verdict  of 

•  Professor  Hopkins.     The  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth.     Vol.  i, 
cap.  iii. 


Cranmer.  T 

Hallam's :  Cranmer's  fame  requires  the  lustre  of  the 
flames  which  consumed  him.  He  was  the  genius  of 
compromise.  Under  Henry,  he  accepted  with  satis- 
faction every  instalment  of  reform  which  could  be 
wrung  from  the  grasping  and  self-centred  tyrant ;  and 
he  industriously  promoted  those  efforts  for  the 
religious  instruction  of  the  people,  the  translation 
and  diffusion  of  the  Bible,  and  the  promulgation  of 
homilies  and  prayers  in  the  vernacular,  which  had 
an  effect  little  dreamed  of  by  Henry,  in  stimulating 
the  progress  of  that  spiritual  Reformation,  which  was 
all  the  time  advancing  in  the  nation.  Under  Edward, 
Cranmer  ventured  to  assume  more  of  the  character  of 
a  religious  reformer,  and  endeavoured  to  convey  to  the 
Church  certain  of  those  ecclesiastical  powers  which 
Henry  had  monopolised.  Under  Mary  he  would 
have  lived  as  a  Roman  Catholic,  if  recantation  could 
have  propitiated  the  queen.  But  his  treasonable 
support  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,  and  the  Protestantism 
which  was  known  to  lurk  in  his  heart,  made  Mary 
implacable.  He  died  at  the  stake,  a  Protestant 
by  choice,  a  martyr  by  compulsion.  England  owes 
him  much  ;  but  the  part  he  played  in  her  Reformation 
was  that  of  an  instrument  rather  than  that  of  an 
agent,  and  there  is  no  character  mentioned  in  history 
better  fitted  to  adjust  a  plausible  compromise  between 
the  old  and  the  new. 

There  were,  however,  men  in  England  of  a  different 
spirit  from  Cranmer's.  Their  religion  was  no  courtly 
inspiration.     They  were   not   careful   to  keep   terms 


8  English  Puritanism. 

with  Home,  They  had  hailed  with  earnest  satis- 
faction, with  passionate  sympathy,  the  rise  of  the 
second  school  of  the  Reformation,  the  school  at 
whose  head  stood  the  great  French  Reformer.  John 
Calvin  exerted  a  more  potent  and  penetrating  in- 
fluence upon  the  mind  of  Europe,  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  than  any  other  man, 
Luther  not  excepted.  The  nature  of  his  influence  is 
not,  in  these  days,  generally  understood.  It  seems 
paradoxical  to  say  that  the  influence  of  Calvin  is 
confounded  with  the  influence  of  Calvinism;  but 
this  is  in  a  sense  true.  ^^'e  think  of  the  effect 
produced  by  a  certain  creed,  as  it  has  been  left  in 
cold  and  crystalline  clearness  by  the  Synod  of  Dort  ; 
not  of  the  impression  made  by  the  grand  ele- 
ments of  that  creed,  vitalized  and  sublimed  by 
intensity  of  religious  fervour,  and  incarnated  in  a 
living  man.  We  represent  Calvinism  to  our  minds 
as  an  intellectual  system,  cora[)licated  in  ramification, 
and  hard  as  iron.  It  is  to  ordinary  conceptions  a 
vast  metal  framework,  which  may  once  have  been 
used  in  the  illumination  of  a  city,  but  is  now 
black  and  bare.  From  that  framework  a  thousand 
jets  of  living  fire,  of  radiant  light,  once  poured 
their  efi"ulgence  over  Europe.  When  we  pass  from 
the  Confessions  of  the  Calvinistic  Churches  to  the 
Institutes  of  Calvin,  we  can  understand  this  fact. 
The  entire  logical  system  of  the  book  is  irradiated 
by  the  spirituality  of  Calvin's  conception  of  the 
Christian  revelation.     So  completely  are  the  formal 


Influence  of  Calvin.  9 

precepts  and  positive  ordinances  of  the  Hebrew 
economy  absorbed  and  lost  for  him  in  the  unity  of 
life  in  ('hrist,  that  not  only  the  Jewish  seventh  day, 
but  the  Christian  first  day  disappears,  and  the  Lord's 
day  is  for  Calvin  any  day  of  the  week.  The  grand 
principle,  the  all-determining-  method,  of  Calvin's 
thought,  was  contemplation  of  the  universe  in  God. 
In  all  place,  in  all  time,  from  eternity  to  eternity, 
he  saw  God.  Such  faith  will  be  infinitely  appalling, 
or  infinitely  consoliiig,  according  to  our  conception 
of  the  Divine  character.  If  God  be  an  iron  fate, 
if  God's  will  be  aught  else  tlian  infinite  ti'uth, 
justice,  and  love,  blended  in  one  indissoluble  ray  of 
light,  then  will  it  be  fatalism.  But  the  God  of  Calvin 
was  the  God  revealed  in  Scripture,  the  God  manifested 
in  Christ,  the  God  whose  name  is  l.ove;  and  to  think 
that  the  God-light  enveloped  the  universe,  touching 
the  cloud  which  veiled  its  beam,  touching  the  Sinai 
smoke  beneath  which  Israel  trembled,  was  to  him  a 
thought,  not  of  terror,  not  of  enslavement,  but  of  awful 
and  adoring  joy.  It  is  agieed,  by  all  competent  to 
judge,  that  the  mind  of  Calvin  was,  in  power  and 
comprehensiveness,  of  the  very  highest  order  exhibi- 
ted by  the  human  race ;  and  when  we  conceive  that 
colossal  intellect  inspired  through  all  its  faculties  by 
transcendant  intensity  of  religious  emotion,  we  may 
realize,  to  some  extent,  the  might  of  the  spiritual 
impulse  which  he  communicated  to  the  West  of 
Europe.  It  was  a  theological  impulse,  but  it  was 
also  and  equally  an  emanation  of  moral  fervour ;  it 


10  English  Puritanism. 

found  manifestation  not  only  in  reformed /az7/i  but  in 
reformed  manners. 

It  followed  from  that  intense  realization  of  the  idea 
of  God  which  governed  the  thinking  of  Calvin,  that 
the  authoritative  declaration  of  God's  will  should  be 
regarded  by  him,  and  all  who  learned  of  him,  with 
corresponding  reverence.  Around  the  Word  of  God 
they  drew  a  line  of  demarcation,  setting  it  far  apart 
from  every  human  production.  On  this  rock  Calvin 
placed  his  foot,  confronting  Rome  with  tranquil  and 
inflexible  defiance.  From  the  authority  of  the  Church 
he  appealed  to  the  authority  of  One  greater  than  the 
Church.  It  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  this, 
and  no  other  antagonism,  was  present  to  the  mind  of 
Calvin  ;  the  Word  of  God  was  by  him  opposed  to  the 
infallibility  of  the  Pope  ;  it  seems  scarcely  to  have 
dawned  upon  him  that  there  could  be  antagonism 
between  reason  and  conscience  on  the  one  hand,  and 
Scripture  on  the  other.  And  in  considering  that 
urgency  of  appeal  to  Scripture,  and  Scripture  alone, 
which  throughout  its  whole  history  was  made  by 
English  Puritanism,  an  appeal  which,  with  our 
modern  prepossessions,  may  seem  to  us  to  be  a  wilful 
searing  of  the  eyeballs  of  reason  and  conscience,  it  is 
essential  to  recollect  that  it  was  against  the  authority 
of  Rome  that  Calvin  and  his  followers  asserted  the 
supremacy  of  God's  written  Word. 

This  position  of  reference  pure  and  simple  to 
the  Bible,  gave  Calvin  and  his  followers  a  signal 
advantage  in  maintaining   the   conflict   with    Rome. 


The    Word  against  the   Church.  11 

That  veil  of  imaginative  splendour  and  super- 
stitious devoutness  by  which  the  ancient  Church 
drew  towards  herself,  by  a  thousand  chords  of  associa- 
tion, the  veneration  of  Europe,  became,  with  all  its 
gorgeousness,  a  mere  mask,  hiding  a  truth  more 
majestic,  a  beauty  more  ethereal,  a  simplicity  more 
divine.  The  Papacy,  said  Calvin,  has  decided.  She 
is  joined  unto  her  idols.  Let  her  alone.  The  Spirit 
of  God  is  shrined  in  no  earthly  temple,  though  it  has 
been  building  for  a  thousand  years.  The  Spirit  of 
God  is  here  ;  in  the  temple  of  the  soul ;  in  the  temple 
of  the  Word.  This  was  an  opposition  more  profound, 
more  comprehensive,  than  Rome  had  yet  encountered. 
The  Reformed  Church  became  constructive,  ceasing 
to  be  only  a  force  of  destruction.  Instead  of 
seeming  the  rebel  child  of  the  Papacy,  she  beamed 
forth,  serene  and  terrible,  the  daughter  of  God 
new-born.  If  no  powers  had  been  granted  her  by 
the  decrees  of  Popes,  she  claimed  a  charter  direct 
from  heaven,  she  pointed  to  rights  sealed  to  her 
by  the  hand  of  God.  If  her  faith  was  not  based 
upon  the  decisions  of  Councils  and  the  opinions  of 
Fathers,  it  was  written  for  her  in  the  Word  of 
God.  Thence  she  could  take  her  doctrine,  her  ritual, 
her  discipline;  and  taking  them  thence,  she  could 
attach  to  them  an  authority  higher  than  any  autho- 
rity on  earth. 

Rome,  now  fairly  roused  from  that  stupor  in  which 
she  had  been  sunk  when  overtaken  by  the  Reforma- 
tion, was  quick  to  signalize  Calvin  as  her  mightiest 


12  English  Puritanism. 

adversary.  A  new  spirit  passed  through  the  flagging 
ranks  of  Protestantism,  a  spirit  of  independence,  of 
intrepidity,  of  burning  earnestness,  of  heroic  zeaL 
The  Reformed  Church,  as  distinguished  from  the 
Lutheran,  took  the  van  in  the  onward  march  of 
Protestantism.  From  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  conquests  won  from  Rome  were  ahnost 
entirely  made  by  the  Reformed  communion.  The 
great  Knglish  divines,  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI,  and  perished  at  the  stake  in  the  reign  of 
Mary, — Hooper,  Ridley,  Latimer,  nay,  with  all  his 
courtliness,  Cranmer  himself, — sympathised  with  the 
Calvinistic  Reformation.  The  Presbyterian  John 
Knox  was  chaplain  to  the  king.  The  Marian  exiles, 
during  their  residence  on  the  Continent,  were  treated 
with  kindness  and  cordiality  by  the  Calvinists,  with 
coldness  by  the  Lutherans.  When  Elizabeth  as- 
cended the  throne,  the  feeling  among  the  English 
divines  in  favour  of  completing  the  reformation  of 
the  Church,  so  as  to  bring  her  ceremonies  and 
ritual  into  closer  accordance  with  those  of  the  Calvin- 
istic Churches,  was  all  but  universal. 

We  crave  particular  attention  to  these  facts.  Unless 
they  are  distinctly  apprehended,  no  correct  idea  can  be 
formed  of  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  those  times ; 
and  the  part  playe^d  by  the  Puritans  will  be  wholly 
misconceived.  "  How  did  they  get  there]"  asks  the 
clerical  dapperling  of  these  days,  who  has  an  incon- 
ceivably slight  smattering  of  acquaintance  with  the 
history  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  fancies  that 


The  Early  English  Puritans.  13 

the  Puritans  were  from  first  to  last  intruders  within 
her  pale.  The  Puritans  were  in  the  Church  of 
England  from  the  days  of  Bradwardine  and  of 
Wickliffe;  and  had  not  their  spiritual  ardour  and 
unconquerable  fortitude  in  the  Church  of  England 
defied  the  arts  of  power,  she  would,  humanly  speak- 
ing, have  been  no  living  Church,  imbued  with 
sacred  fire,  a  vessel  and  habitation  of  Christ,  but  a 
thing  of  clay,  fit  only  for  the  uses  of  her  royal 
potters.  There  is  a  consensus  of  testimony  to  the 
fact,  that  the  English  Reformers  of  the  Tudor  reigns 
were  almost  to  a  man  of  Puritan  sentiments.  Eord 
Macaulay  informs  us,  not  in  his  )outhful  essays,  but 
in  that  history  in  which  his  early  enthusiasm  for  the 
Puritans  is  so  decidedly  toned  down,  that  the  Re- 
formers of  England  wished  to  go  as  far  as  their 
Continental  brethren ;  that  they  unanimously  con- 
demned, as  Antichristian,  numerous  dogmas  and 
practices  which  Henry  retained,  and  which  Elizabeth 
approved;  that  Bishop  Hooper  had  the  strongest 
aversion  to  the  episcopal  vestments ;  that  Bishop 
Ridley  pulled  down  the  altars  of  his  diocese,  "  and 
ordered  the  Eucharist  to  be  administered  in  the 
middle  of  churches,  at  tables  which  the  Papists 
irreverently  termed  oyster  boards;"  that  Bishop 
Jewel  pronounced  the  clerical  garb  "  a  stage  dress, 
a  fool's  coat,  a  relique  of  the  Amorites;"  that 
Archbishop  Grindal  "  long  hesitated  about  accept- 
ing a  mitre,  from  dislike  of  what  he  regarded 
as    the    mummery    of    consecration;"    that    Bishop 


14  Emglisk  Puriiamism, 

Faridnu^  prayed  that  the  Church  of  England  might 
model  herself  on  the  Church  of  Znrich ;  and  that 
Bishop  Ponet  thought  the  word  "bishop"  should 
be  exchanged  for  -superintendent"  "When  it 
is  considered,"  says  Lord  Macaulay,  summing  up. 
**  that  none  of  these  prelates  belonged  to  the  extreme 
section  of  the  Protestant  party,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  if  the  general  sense  of  that  party  had  been 
followed,  the  work  of  reform  would  have  been  carried 
on  as  tinsparipgly  in  England  as  in  Scotland," 

H^llflm — the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  our  historical 
literature — pointedly  exposes  the  misrepresentation 
that  Puritan  scruples  were  confined  to  a  few,  and 
gets  before  us,  in  two  well-packed  and  weighty  sen- 
tences, the  precise  state  of  the  case  at  the  accession 
of  Elizabeth.  "  Except  Archbishop  Parker,  who  had 
remained  in  England  during  the  late  reign,  and  Cox, 
Bishop  of  Ely,  who  had  taken  a  strong  part  at  Frank- 
fort against  innovation,  all  the  most  eminent  Church- 
men, such  as  Jewell,  Grindal,  Sandys,  Lowell,  were 
in  favour  of  leading  off  the  surjilice  and  what  were 
called  the  Popish  ceremonies.  Whether  their  objec- 
tions are  to  be  deemed  narrow  and  frivolous  or  other- 
wise, it  is  inconsistent  \%ith  veracity  to  dissemble  that 
the  Queen  alone  was  the  cause  of  retaining  those 
observances  to  which  the  great  separation  from  the 
Anglican  establishment  is  ascribed." 

The  important  and  admirable  work  recently  pub- 
lished by  Professor  Hopkins,  of  America,  on  the 
Puritans  of  Elizabeths  reign,  abounds  with  evidence 


The  Earli/  English  Puritans.  15 

that  these  views  are  correct.  Episcopacy  was  not 
in  those  days  deemed  essential  to  the  constitution  of  a 
Christian  Church,  or  to  the  due  administration  of  the 
sacraments ;  and  holy  orders  conferred  by  any  regular 
Church  were  recognised  in  the  Church  of  England. 
In  doctrine  the  latter  had  been  radically  reformed. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  though  she  had  some  scruples 
about  assuming  an  authority  so  explicitly  spiritual  as 
that  exercised  by  her  father  over  the  Church,  was 
vehemently  ambitious ;  and  her  imperious  will,  and 
magnificent  self-reliance,  prevailed  with  her  to  retain, 
with  some  slight  moditication.  the  ecclesiastical  su- 
premacy bequeathed  her  by  Henry.  By  the  statutes 
of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity,  enacted  in  the  first 
year  of  her  reign,  she  was  declared  head  of  the 
Church,  and  changes  in  discipline  and  ritual  without 
approbation  of  parliament  were  prohibited.  A  £:<?ne- 
ral  uniformity  in  worship  was  thus  secured,  and  it 
became  competent  to  any  zealous  bishop  to  proceed 
against  clergymen  who  departed  from  the  established 
model.  But  no  unexcepting  assent  to  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  was  required,  and  the  Puritans  con- 
tinued for  the  most  part  to  regard  themselves  as 
having  a  place  in  the  Church  of  England.  The 
great  parties  in  the  kingdom  were  three:  the  State- 
Protestants,  who  regarded  the  settlement  of  Elizabeth 
as  leaving  nothing  to  be  desired ;  tlie  Puritans,  who 
were  of  opinion  tliat  reformation  should  be  carried 
further,  and  should  be  regulated  exclusively  by  the 
AA  ord    of    God:     and    tlie    Eoman    Catholics,    who 


16  English  Puritanism. 

watched  the  controversy  between  the  other  two  with 
a  view  to  profiting  by  their  dissensions. 

The  Puritans,  we  said,  had  hailed  with  ardent 
sympathy  the  rise  of  that  school  of  Reformers  who 
made  the  breach  with  Kome  complete.  They  did 
not  become  Puritans  at  the  bidding  of  Calvin,  but 
they  experienced  the  full  might  of  that  spiritual 
impulse  which  emanated  from  the  French  Reformer. 
The  terrible  and  sublime  idea  of  God's  omnipotence, 
and  of  the  immutability  of  His  will,  rested  upon 
their  souls.  It  impressed  them  with  a  gravity  which 
deepened  almost  into  gloom,  and  it  lost  somewhat  of 
that  sijirituality  by  which  it  was  transfigured  for  the 
mind  of  Calvin.  The  positive  ordinance  of  the  sab- 
bath, which  to  Calvin  had  been  lost  in  the  spirituality 
of  Christian  life,  was  a  distinctive  tenet  of  Puritan- 
ism. The  prevailing  emotion,  in  the  Puritan  concep- 
tion of  the  Almighty,  was  awe.  If  we  would  know 
how  the  Puritan  felt,  we  must  resolutely  divest  our 
minds  of  all  ideas  relating  to  the  Divine  Being,  de- 
rived from  the  habit  acquired  by  men  in  these  last 
ages,  of  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  character  of  God, 
and  discussing  the  quality  of  Scriptural  ethics.  The 
Puritans  had  not  risen  or  sunk  to  that  tender  French 
conception  of  the  Almighty  as  "  le  hon  Dieu,'"  They 
did  not  think  of  God  as  a  simple  impersonation  of 
the  benevolent  principle,  an  easy,  placable  Father  of 
the  universe,  wearing  a  smile  of  eternal  indifference  to 
right  and  wrong.  God  was  to  them  what  He  was 
to    the  Hebrew  king,   when   he    said,    "  The   Lord 


The  Puritan  Fear  of  God.  17 

reigneth,  let  the  people  tremble ;"  what  He  was  to 
the  rapt  prophet  who  declared  all  nations  to  be  to 
God  "  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance."  For 
these  men  the  unseen  was  the  reality,  the  seen  a 
fleeting  shadow.  They  lived  in  the  presence  of  the 
Eternal.  "  If  we  provoke  the  mediator,"  said  Crom- 
well once  to  his  parliament,  "  He  may  say,  I  will 
leave  you  to  God,  I  will  not  intercede  for  you ;  let 
Him  tear  you  in  pieces ! "  Cromwell  was  not 
sensible  of  difficulties  in  atonement  ethics.  He 
would  as  soon  have  thought  of  discussing  theories 
of  electricity  when  the  blinding  flash  was  on  his  eye- 
balls. Men  who  in  the  wildest  storm  of  battle  were 
placidly  dauntless,  men  whose  adamantine  fortitude 
no  danger  could  raffle,  no  difficulty  appal,  trembled 
and  grew  pale  at  the  thought  of  falling  into  the  hand 
of  the  living  God.  To  such  men  it  was  consolation 
unspeakable  to  know  that  the  divine  will  was  actually 
expressed  in  the  Bible.  In  that  fear  of  God  which 
made  them  towards  men  courageous  and  inflexible, 
they  abode  rigidly  by  the  letter  of  Scripture.  "  Who 
are  ye  that  set  yourselves  in  opposition  to  an  ancient 
church,  to  a  venerable  hierarchy,  to  famed  divines,  to 
anointed  kings'?  Who  are  ye  that,  with  downcast 
eyes  of  humility,  tower  in  presumption,  and  with 
self-abasement  on  the  lip,  swell  in  pride  T'  We, 
might  the  Puritans  reply,  are  men  to  whom  God 
hath  spoken.  Our  humility  is  not  feigned;  our 
trembling  hesitancy  is  not  hypocritical ;  but  our  fear 
and  reverence  are  for  God  only.     On  our  knees  be- 

c 


18  English  Puritanism. 

fore  Him,  with  strong  crying  and  tears,  we  learn 
what  His  word  means.  Knowing  that,  we  deem  it 
no  pride  to  set  our  conclusions  above  human  authority, 
no  presumption  to  dare  to  adhere  to  them.  Has  not 
the  Keformation  startled  Christendom  from  its  mortal 
slumber  on  the  breast  of  the  E/omish  mother,  and  set 
each  man  of  us  face  to  face  with  his  Maker "?  Will 
God  accept  the  opinion  of  divines  for  us  ?  Will  He 
accept  the  voice  of  Councils  for  usl  Has  He  not 
cast  us  back  upon  our  personality,  and  laid  upon  us 
the  issue  of  life  eternal  or  death  eternal  1  The 
tumult  of  men,  the  conflict  of  authorities,  this  is  to  us 
but  a  faint  murmur  from  the  shores  of  iinitude :  we 
shall  listen  for  the  voice  of  the  infinite  God. 

But  did  not  their  stubborn  rejection  of  forms,  their 
scrupulous  avoidance  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  the 
use  of  the  surplice,  argue  a  pinched  and  morbid 
narrowness  in  the  Puritans  1  Were  not  their  hearts 
void  of  genial  sympathy,  of  wholesome  imaginative 
fire,  of  the  larger  charities  which  glowed  in  the  hearts 
of  apostles  and  in  the  bosom  of  the  early  Church  1 
We  shall  meet  these  charges  with  no  sweeping  nega- 
tive. The  Puritans  were  men ;  the  best  of  them  im- 
perfect saints,  the  worst  of  them  stunted  and  intolerant 
bigots.  But  it  is  fair  to  contemplate  this  scrupulosity 
of  theirs  from  one  or  two  points  of  view,  suggested  by 
the  circumstances  of  their  position,  and  enabling  us  to 
judge  them  with  candour,  Vt^isdom,  and  impartiality. 

The  principle  of  adherence  to  Scripture  was,  in  the 
first  place,  acknowledged  on  all  hands  to  be  the  prin- 


The  Rites  and   Ceremonies.  19 

ciple  of  the  Reformation,  and  on  doctrinal  matters  it 
had  been  boldly  applied  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Church 
of  England.  Naturally  and  logically,  in  the  absence 
of  circumstances  adequate  to  establish  an  exception, 
the  application  of  the  principle  to  worship  would 
have  followed  its  application  to  doctrine.  Faith  and 
form,  creed  and  ceremonial,  doctrine  and  devotion, 
have  a  reciprocal  connection.  They  are  associated  by 
the  law  which  assimilates  the  foliage  to  the  trunk, 
the  costume  to  the  character,  the  expression  of  the 
features  and  the  words  of  the  lip,  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  heart.  Mediaeval  Romanism  was  not  in  its  main 
character  a  religion  of  the  moral  faculty  and  of  the 
reason.  With  an  undefined  doctrinal  centre,  the  gor- 
geous draperies  of  its  ceremonial  floated  appropriately 
round  it,  and  it  acted  upon  the  popular  imagination  by 
form  and  rite,  by  solemn  show  and  reverent  circum- 
stance. But  Protestantism  was  essentially  a  spiritual,  a 
moral,  an  intellectual  religion.  A  rectification  of  the 
belief  of  Christians  by  the  test  of  God's  AVord  was  its 
primary,  its  distinctive  work ;  a  rejection  of  those 
symbols,  in  which  Romanism  expressed  its  character, 
appeared  to  be  the  next  step  in  advance.  This, 
we  saw,  was  felt  by  the  first  generation  of  Eng- 
lish Reformers,  even  though  they  were  prelates  of 
the  Church.  This  was  recognized  by  the  Reformed 
communions  of  Germany,  of  Switzerland,  of  Scotland. 
These  had  passed  on  from  the  rejection  of  Romish 
doctrine,  to  the  rejection,  equally  complete,  of  Romish 
ritual.      Surely   it   was   not   unreasonable   that    the 

c   2 


20  English  Puritanism. 

Puritans  should  call  upon  the  Church  of  England  to 
follow  this  example,  and  having  emptied  the  cup  of 
the  Romish  enchantress  of  its  sorceries,  to  cast  away 
the  glittering  chalice  in  which  they  had  shewn  their 
witching  colours  % 

But  the  Puritan  had  other  reasons  besides  the 
preservation  of  logical  consistency  in  advocating  a 
root  and  branch  Reformation.  He  believed  that 
dalliance  with  Rome  was  a  wilful  exposure  to  danger. 
He  feared  that  delight  in  the  symbol  might  lead  to 
adoption  of  the  substance.  He  spoke  of  the  deadly 
malady  of  Romish  error,  of  the  moral  atrophy  and 
intellectual  paralysis  of  Romish  superstition,  and  he 
feared  that  a  sweet  and  subtle  poison  might  work 
through  Romish  ceremonies  and  forms.  Arguments 
of  admirable  plausibility  may  be  adduced  to  prove 
that  this  idea  is  erroneous.  There  are  minds  which 
seem  constitutionally  incapable  of  conceiving  the 
peril  apprehended.  Following  the  stately  argument 
of  Hooker,  one  is  apt  to  wonder  how  reasoning  so 
plausible  could  have  failed  to  satisfy  the  scruples  of 
the  Puritans.  There  is  an  amplitude  in  Hooker's 
mental  vision,  which  commends  him  to  all  abstract 
thinkers,  to  all  politicians  of  the  library,  and  to 
all  reformers  of  the  closet.  But  the  man  who  has 
to  deal  with  definite,  practical  problems,  who  has 
to  legislate  for  a  world,  not  of  judicious  Hookers, 
but  of  injudicious  and  headstrong  persons,  will 
distrust  the  generality  of  his  maxims.  Hooper, 
Jewel,  Hampden,  Cromwell,  all  the  thorough-going 


Were  the  Puritans  wrong?  21 

Protestants  of  the  time,  all  the  practical  thinkers 
who  knew  mankind,  believed  that  retention  of  cere- 
monies would  predispose  the  people  to  Romanism, 
And  looking  along  the  intervening  centuries,  listen-* 
ing  to  the  unappealable  verdict  of  time,  do  we  find 
that  those  rugged  practical  men  were  in  the  wrong? 
To  Hooker's  challenge  to  shew  how  deadly  infection 
could  arise  to  the  Church  of  England  from  similitude, 
in  matters  of  indifference,  to  the  Church  of  Rome, 
history  has  spoken  their  answer.  Reminding  her 
children  constantly  of  the  ancient  church,  leaving 
them  to  decide  whether  her  affinity  is  greater  for 
Rome  or  for  the  Reformation,  the  Church  of  England 
has  entailed  upon  them  a  trial  to  which  many  in 
every  generation  have  fallen  victims.  A  long  pro- 
cession of  illustrious  deserters  from  her  communion, 
a  procession  in  which  glitter  two  crowns  and  many 
coronets,  a  procession  in  which  have  gone  some  of  the 
noblest  hearts  and  proudest  intellects  of  England,  a 
procession  from  which  a  constant  arrow-flight  of 
venomed  taunts  has  reached  her  own  bosom,  testifies 
whether  or  not  the  Puritans  of  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  erred  in  pronouncing  it  danger- 
ous for  the  Church  of  England  to  halt  between  the 
Romanists  and  the  Reformers. 

It  is  but  just,  also,  to  the  Puritans  to  recollect  that 
Popery  had  for  them  in  those  days  an  aspect  of 
menace  which  few  believe  it  now  to  wear.  The 
historical  drama  of  the  Reformation  was  not 
concluded;    the  boundaries  of   Romanism  and  Pro- 


22  English  Furitanism. 

testantism  had  not  been  fixed   throughout  Europe; 
Jesuitism  was  still  in  the  ardour  of  its  mighty  youth, 
thrilling    armies   with    a    fire    as    of    the    crusades, 
hanging  on  the  outskirts  of  retreating  Protestantism, 
here  wooing  back  to   the  embrace  of    Rome  gray- 
haired  men  who  in  early  years  had  been  disciples  of 
Calvin,  there  asking  the  Lutheran  with  bitter  scorn 
as  he  and  his  children   passed  weeping   into  exile, 
whether  his  God  was  indeed  a  tower   of   strength, 
and   with    its   Tillys    and   Wallensteins   setting    the 
battle    in   array   against   the    Reformed   throughout 
all  the  German  countries.     Puritanism  was  already 
a   power    in    England    when   the    Massacre    of    St. 
Bartholomew  befel   in   Paris.     Midnight   murder, — 
such  was  the  doom  which,  in  that  impressive  manner, 
Home  announced  that  she  reserved  for  every  Pro- 
testant.     Those   shrieks  breaking  the   night-silence, 
shrieks  of  men  to  whom  faith  had  been  pledged, — 
those  gutters  running  with  blood,  blood  of   French 
citizens  and  patriots, — were  likely  to  be  remembered 
by  Protestants.     Puritanism  had  made  its  way  into 
the    corporations    and    manor    houses    of  England, 
when  the  long  conflict  of  the  thirty  years  was  pro- 
ceeding, when   the  wail  of  Magdeburg  went  up   to 
God,  when  Gustavus,  who  seemed  the  last  hope  of 
continental  Protestantism,  drooped  his  head  in  the 
moment  of  victory,  and  was  led,  in   the  sickness  of 
death,  from  the  field  of  Liitzen.  Circumstances  like 
these  were  fitted  to  interfere  with  mental  equanimity, 
to   disturb  the   appreciation    of  Romish  ceremonies 


Were   the   Puritans   wrong?  23 

from  the  aesthetic  and  antiquarian  point  of  view,  to 
urge  practical  and  impetuous  minds  to  make  the 
issue  clear  and  simple — E/ome  or  the  Bible. 

But  to  cast  one  glance  into  the  depths  of  this 
subject. — was  it,  after  all,  a  degradation  of  the  worship 
of  the  Most  High  which  was  attempted  by  these 
Puritans  %  "Were  they  altogether  wrong  in  believing 
that  there  is  a  profound  difference  between  the  re- 
ligion of  taste  and  the  religion  of  conscience ;  between 
the  sense  of  elevation,  the  contemplative  rapture,  the 
glow  of  lofty  emotion,  which  are  worked  by  modu- 
lated music  and  solemn  pageantry,  by  pictured 
wall  and  painted  window,  and  the  adoring  humility 
and  reverent  awe  which  befit  a  man  in  the 
presence  of  his  Creator?  Is  not  the  true  sublimity 
of  Christian  worship  its  simplicity?  Is  not  the 
radiancy  of  hallowed  passion,  the  tear  of  peni- 
tent rapture,  as  man  kneels  before  his  God,  the 
true  beauty  of  holiness?  It  may  be  difficult  for  us 
to  conceive  this,  but  it  was  not  difficult  for  the 
Puritan.  The  intensity  of  his  religious  feelings 
raised  him  above  the  ministry  of  sense  and  imagination. 
AVe  are  apt  to  think  of  Puritan  devotion  as  similar 
to  that  which  now  most  resembles  it  in  externals, 
but  wants  its  animating  spirit,  its  transfiguring  glow 
of  religious  emotion.  There  is,  indeed,  no  dreariness 
like  that  witnessed  when,  in  a  bare,  unsightly  edifice, 
a  listless  congregation  goes  through  the  bald  forms  of 
Puritan  worship.  When  the  spirit  of  adoration  is 
away,  the    absence   of    that   mechanism,   by    which 


24  English  Puritanism. 

sense  and  imagination  are  tenderly  elevated  or 
pleasurably  subdued,  is  felt.  But  the  pure  might  of 
religious  feeling  supplied  for  the  Puritan  the  place 
of  all  such  aids ;  the  intensity  of  his  realization  of 
God's  presence  made  him  commune  with  Him  as 
spirit  with  Spirit.  What  to  indifferent  or  to  super- 
ficially affected  minds  would  have  been  cold  and 
barren,  was  to  the  Puritan  the  serenity  of  impas- 
sioned feeling.  In  the  eloquent  silence  of  God's 
presence,  he  required  not'  the  melting  strains  of 
music;  in  the  piercing  blaze  of  God's  truth,  he 
desired  not  the  imagery  of  symbolic  forms. 

On  the  whole,  let  us  recollect,  as  an  important 
practical  fact,  that  the  forms  which  they  scrupled  to 
accept  were  not,  to  the  Puritans,  what  they  are  to 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  our  time. 
The  sacredness  they  had  possessed  for  Romanists  had 
been  rudely  swept  away  :  the  sacredness  they  possess 
for  modern  Churchmen,  who,  from  infancy,  may  have 
seen  them  combined  with  pure  preaching  of  the  Word, 
who  may  know  them  as  the  garb  of  a  solemn  and 
stately  but  sincere  Protestantism,  had  not  yet  shed  its 
halo  over  them.  The  Puritans  associated  with  them 
only  the  dread  and  aversion  with  which  they  regarded 
Rome.  They  viewed  them  as  badges  of  an  alien 
Church.  Their  ancient  lustre  seemed  the  pallor  of  a 
corpse ;  and  the  glory  of  a  new  life,  infused  into  them 
by  the  Church  adopting  them,  had  not  yet  gifted 
them  with  solemn  beauty  or  ancestral  tenderness. 

The    seventeenth   century   opened   upon   England 


State  of  Parties  in  1600.  25 

with  the  transference  of  the  sceptre  of  the  Tudors  to 
the  Stuarts.  At  that  time,  both  Puritanism,  and  the 
opposition  to  Puritanism,  were  comparatively  mild. 
The  large  majority  of  Puritans  disliked  the  ceremo- 
nies ;  but  desired  their  abolition  chiefly  for  the  relief 
of  tender  consciences,  and  to  promote  the  peace  of 
the  Church.  With  a  considerable  number,  conformity 
was  a  painful  alternative,  a  choice  between  two  evils  • 
to  use  the  ceremonies  might  be  an  actual  sin ;  but  to 
commit  schism,  to  infringe  that  unity  of  the  Church 
which  seemed  to  men  in  those  days  so  august  and 
awful,  would  be  a  greater  trangression.  They  earnestly 
desired,  therefore,  that  the  Church  would  release  them 
from  a  yoke  which  galled  their  consciences,  and  enable 
them  to  read  their  duty  as  ministers,  in  the  clear  bold 
characters  of  Scripture,  instead  of  spelling  it  out  from 
the  tormenting  oracles  of  casuistry.  Still  fewer,  yet 
not  without  influence  from  their  talent,  intrepidity, 
learning,  and  piety,  were  those  who  composed,  what  in 
modern  diction  would  be  called,  the  Puritan  left. 
These  joined  with  Cartwright  in  demanding  that 
spiritual  authority  should  be  vested,  not  in  the  Crown 
but  in  the  Church;  and  held  that  Presbyters,  in 
Synod  assembled,  had  an  authority  the  same  in  kind 
with  that  of  Bishops.  On  the  extreme  edge  of  this 
section  were  the  followers  of  Brown,  who  found  the 
ecdesia  only  in  the  congregation,  and  denied  authority 
both  to  Bishop  and  Synod.  Presbyterians  and  Con- 
gregationalists  of  the  more  decided  type  were  already 
beyond  the  ecclesiastical  pale ;  but  the  great  body  of 


26  English  Puritanism. 

the  Puritans  were  still  churchmen.  These  demanded 
not  the  imposition  of  their  own  model  upon  all,  but 
permission  for  all  who  had  conscientious  scruples  to 
exercise  Christian  liberty. 

It  seems  difficult  to  believe  that,  for  statesmen  or 
churchmen  of  the  liberal  school  of  Hooker,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  make  this  concession.  In 
the  fourth  book  of  his  great  work,  Hooker  quotes 
with  approbation  the  large  and  generous  sentiments 
on  the  subject  of  rites  and  ceremonies  expressed  by 
Gregory,  Augustine,  and  Calvin.  "  Where  the  faith 
of  the  holy  Church  is  one," — such  is  the  opinion  he 
adopts  from  Gregory, — "  a  difference  in  customs  of 
the  Church  doth  no  harm."  He  agrees  with  Augus- 
tine that  unity  of  belief  is  not  infringed  by  "  variety 
of  certain  ordinances."  Nay,  he  accepts  from  Calvin 
the  sagacious  and  deeply  Christian  decision  that, 
"  sometime  it  profiteth  and  is  expedient  that  there  be 
difference,  lest  men  should  think  that  religion  is  tied 
to  outward  ceremonies."  The  main  intention  of 
Hooker,  it  is  true,  was  to  argue  that  the  Church  of 
England,  as  a  whole,  had  a  right  to  adopt  a  different 
ceremonial  from  that  of  other  Reformed  Churches. 
But  no  theologian  has  denied  tlie  claim  of  the  indi- 
vidual congregation  to  be  in  itself  a  Church,  however 
justly  the  name  may  be  applied  to  a  multitude  of 
congregations.  In  point  of  fact,  if  this  is  disputed, 
the  first  little  company  of  believers,  who  met  to 
worship  Christ  after  His  resurrection,  did  not  consti- 
tute a  Church.     And  if  Calvin  and  Hooker  admitted 


James  I.  27 

that  uniformity  of  rites  throughout  Christendom 
might  lead  to  the  idea  that  religion  depends  on 
ceremonies,  with  what  plausibility  could  they 
have  maintained  that  uniformity  in  every  jot  and 
tittle,  throughout  the  ten  thousand  congregations  of 
England,  would  not  be  attended  with  the  same  deadly 
peril  % 

It  might  have  seemed  that  the  accession  of  the 
royal  line  of  Scotland  to  the  English  throne  would 
inaugurate  a  period  of  tranquillity  and  reconcilement 
between  the  parties  within  the  Church.  James  was 
a  Calvinist;  Scotland  was  Presbyterian.  But  Cal- 
vinism in  James  was  not  that  vision  of  all  things  in 
God  which  it  was  to  Calvin,  nor  that  habitual  inter- 
pretation of  every  event  as  the  syllable  of  a  Divine 
decree,  which  it  was  to  Cromwell,  but  the  logical 
conclusion  of  a  coward's  heart  and  a  pedant's  intel- 
lect. And  if  James  was  theologically  a  Calvinist,  he 
had  learned  to  fear  and  detest  that  haughty  spirit  of 
Presbyterianism  which  his  despotic  fussiness  had 
irritated  but  could  not  quell.  When,  therefore,  nearly 
a  thousand  of  the  Puritan  Church  ministers  met  him, 
with  their  millenary  petition,  and  implored  on  bended 
knee,  "neither  as  factious  men  desiring  a  popular 
party  in  the  Church,  nor  as  schismatics  aiming  at  the 
dissolution  of  the  state  ecclesiastical,"  that  tithes 
snatched  by  greedy  laymen  might  be  appropriated  to 
maintaining  ministers  in  dark  places,  that  non-resi- 
dence  and  incapacity  among   the    clergy   might   be 


28  English  Puritanism. 

checked,  that  ministers  might  be  permitted  occasion- 
ally to  meet  for  conference  and  deliberation,  and  that 
zealous  and  able  pastors,  fearful  of  offending  God  by 
adoption  of  the  forms  and  ceremonies,  might  not  be 
cast  out  of  the  Church,  they  found  his  mean  petu- 
lance as  intolerant  as  the  imperial  ambition  of  Eliza- 
beth. Four  Puritan  Doctors  were  permitted  to  argue 
against  nearly  a  score  of  violent  High  Churchmen, 
backed  by  the  King,  with  what  result  may  be  sup- 
posed. The  Conference,  known  as  that  of  Hampton 
Court,  was  followed  by  a  proclamation  enjoining  a 
strict  enforcement  of  uniformity.  It  is  a  notable 
fact,  and  admirably  illustrative  of  the  way  in  which 
temperate,  wise,  and  large-minded  men  then  looked 
upon  the  demands  of  the  Puritans,  that  Lord  Bacon 
published,  about  the  time  of  this  Conference,  a 
pamphlet  advocating  their  principal  opinions.  "He 
excepts,"  says  Hallam,  "  to  several  matters  of  cere- 
mony; the  cap  and  surplice,  the  ring  in  marriage, 
the  use  of  organs,  the  form  of  absolution,  lay-baptism, 
&c."  Let  those  who  deem  the  Puritans  narrow- 
minded  bigots  weigh  that  fact.  There  must  have 
attached  to  the  points  on  which  they  insisted  a  sig- 
nificance hard  for  us  to  conceive,  or  they  could 
never  have  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  a  mind 
so  capacious,  discreet,  clear-sighted,  and  vigilant  as 
the  mind  of  Bacon. 

During  the  reign  of  James,  the  Puritans  expe- 
rienced no  relief,  and  the  inarticulate  discontent  and 
displeasure  of  the  nation  grew  steadily  in  intensity. 


James  I.  29 

James  was  in  truth  an  irritating  sovereign.  As  his 
religion  was  a  pedant's  syllogism,  so  his  despotism  was 
an  argumentative  hair-splitting  egotism.  It  fretted 
the  proud  English  people,  who  had  bent  impatiently 
to  the  princely  rule  of  the  Tudors,  to  be  lectured  on 
divine  right  and  infallible  kingship  by  the  incarnation 
of  a  logical  formula.  The  bite  of  James  was  not 
much,  but  the  venom  of  the  creature  stung  shrewdly. 
He  had  an  occasional  glimpse  of  insight.  He  per- 
ceived at  a  glance  that  Laud  would  make  nothing  of 
Scotland — "Ye  ken  not  the  spirit  of  that  folk." 
But  what  on  the  whole  strikes  the  modern  mind 
with  amazement  is  that  such  a  man  should  so  long 
have  ruled  such  a  nation;  that  reverence  for  kingly 
descent  should  have  so  filled  the  atmosphere  that  not 
mere  court  fovourites,  but  statesmen,  divines,  poets, 
and  philosophers,  should  have  rejoiced  in  the  light  of 
James's  countenance.  The  English  of  that  time  believed 
themselves  a  free  people.  Tliey  valued  their  funda- 
mental laws,  and  unviolated  parliaments.  But  when 
we  reflect  on  what  they  bore,  not  only  from  the 
Tudors,  but  from  the  first  Stuarts,  and  recall  the 
accents  of  slavish  adoration  in  which  they  addressed 
their  kings,  the  thought  is  borne  irresistibly  upon 
our  minds,  that  constitutional  monarchy,  as  we  under- 
stand it,  could  never  have  flourished  in  England, 
unless  the  nation  had  been  taught,  in  some  trans- 
cendently  impressive  manner,  to  believe  that  kings 
are  mortal. 

The    historical    efl'ect    of   this  reign  was    to   em« 


30  English  Puritanism. 

bitter  the  dispute  between  Puritans  and  High 
Churchmen,  and  to  identify  the  former  more  com- 
pletely with  the  cause  of  England's  civil  freedom. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  entering  its  second 
quarter,  when  King  Charles  the  First  ascended  the 
throne.  He  was  the  greatest  monarch,  and  the  most 
remarkable  man,  sent  by  the  Stuart  race  to  the  throne 
of  England.  He  willed  that  the  state  of  England, 
political  and  ecclesiastical,  should  be  one  thing;  the 
Puritans  willed  that  it  should  be  another.  If  we 
would  know,  therefore,  whether  the  Puritans  deserved 
well  of  their  country,  or  whether  their  memory  is 
righteously  loaded  by  High  Churchmen  with  con- 
tempt and  execration,  we  must  place  distinctly  before 
the  mind's  eye  a  picture  of  England  as  it  was  when 
the  Long  Parliament  rose  against  the  King. 

Charles  himself  was  a  man  whom  his  bitterest 
opponents  allow  to  have  possessed  many  high  and 
admirable  qualities.  In  domestic  relations  irreproach- 
able, a  good  husband,  a  good  father,  a  friendly  and 
indulgent  master,  chaste,  grave,  and  temperate,  with 
the  demeanour  of  a  gentleman,  and  the  majesty  of  a 
king,  he  startled  from  his  court,  by  the  mere  awe  of 
his  presence,  that  brood  of  foul  and  grovelling  vices 
which  nestled  in  the  court  of  his  father,  and  which 
rushed  back  to  revel  in  the  court  of  his  son.  His 
passions  did  not  belong  to  the  animal  part  of  our 
nature,  but  to  the  spirit  and  the  soul.  He  was  a 
patron  of  learning ;  he  was  not  only  a  patron  but  a 


England  under  Charles  I.  31 

judge  of  art;  and  his  intellectual  activity  took  a 
higher  elevation,  his  sensibility  to  the  beautiful  de- 
rived a  hallowing  lustre,  from  his  reverent  apprehen- 
sion of  divine  and  eternal  realities.  That  belief  in 
the  divine  right  of  kings,  which  was  with  his  father 
a  pedant's  formula,  was  with  him  an  article  of  reli- 
gious faith,  of  mystic  veneration.  That  favour  for 
episcopacy,  which  was  with  James  a  maxim  of  despotic 
policy,  was  with  Charles  a  conscientious  enthusiasm 
for  the  Anglican  Church.  This  must,  we  think,  be 
conceded,  if  we  will  conceive  the  elements  of  that 
strength  which  made  Charles  so  much  more  formi- 
dable to  the  Puritans  than  James  had  ever  been ; 
and  if  we  will  form  any  correct  idea  of  the  better 
portion  of  that  cavalier  party,  as  the  representative 
and  ideal  of  which  he  stands  before  history.  Charles 
was  a  man  of  purpose,  of  religion,  of  conviction.  We 
see  it  in  those  melancholy  eyes  which  appeal  to  us 
from  the  canvas  of  Vandyke;  we  find  it  in  the 
princely  dignity  and  martyr  fortitude  with  which  he 
bore  himself,  one  awful  day,  before  his  palace  of 
Whitehall.  But  if  we  maintain  Charles's  conscien- 
tiousness against  the  general  voice  of  Puritan  writers, 
we  must  still  more  decisively  allege,  in  contradiction 
to  his  blinded  admirers,  that  his  character  had  cer- 
tain subtle  but  essential  defects.  His  intellect  was 
fine  rather  than  strong;  the  centre  of  his  moral 
nature  was  a  delicate  sense  of  propriety,  rather  than 
a  transcendent  sense  of  truth.  Hence  in  all  things 
he  lacked  simplicity.  His  virtues  had  not  the  ruddy 
hue  of  health,  but  a  sickly  and  cloistral  air.      His 


32  English  Puritanism. 

sincerity  was  enervated  by  vacillation,  and  entangled 
with  craft;  it  was  a  wish,  an  aspiration,  a  longing, 
not  a  clear  and  unalterable  fact.  His  religion 
was  perplexed  with  casuistry,  and  tainted  by 
dissimulation.  He  was,  we  say,  not  simple.  He 
could  be  known  and  trusted  by  no  man — not 
even  by  Strafford.  His  ambition — for  he  was 
ambitious — was  not  the  yearning  of  mighty  faculties 
for  the  tasks  of  empire,  as  was  the  ambition  of  Caesar 
and  of  Cromwell ;  it  was  alloyed  with  the  petulance 
of  self-assertion,  it  was  enfeebled  by  morbid  no- 
tions of  duty.  In  all  things  he  was  specious, 
plausible,  imposing,  never  direct  and  true.  To  what 
extent  he  was  influenced  by  the  powerful  minds 
which  came  in  contact  with  him,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  determine.  We  believe  that  he  was  profoundly 
affected  by  Laud  and  Strafford.  But  natures  like 
his  have  an  inborn  antipathy  to  free  institutions,  and 
his  hatred  to  Parliaments  was  more  intense  even 
than  Wentworth's.  That  was  an  age  when  all  free 
constitutions  were  in  danger.  The  continental  sove- 
reigns were  one  by  one  securing  the  command  of 
standing  armies,  and  changing  the  parliamentary 
mace  into  the  sword-sceptre.  With  more  or  less 
consciousness  it  was  the  grand  aim  of  Charles  to 
follow  their  example.  His  pohcy  was  not  fully  de- 
veloped until  it  was  in  the  hands  of  his  two  great 
ministers,  the  one  for  ecclesiastical,  the  other  for  civil 
affairs,  Laud  and  Strafford ;  but  from  the  commence- 
ment of  his  reign  its  spirit  was  unmistakable. 

The  first  Parliament  summoned   by  Charles  met 


Charles  the  First's  Early  parliaments.         33 

in  1625.  It  showed  a  disposition  to  enquire  into 
grievances,  and  to  express  disapprobation  of  the 
king's  proceedings  against  the  Huguenots.  It  was 
dissolved  within  the  year.  A  second  was  called  in 
the  spring  of  1626.  The  Commons  were  willing  to 
grant  supplies,  but  were  still  intent  upon  grievances, 
and  dared  to  impeach  Buckingham.  Charles  im- 
prisoned the  managers  of  the  impeachment,  dissolved 
the  Parliament,  and  arrested  the  chiefs  of  the  oppo- 
sition. In  1628  a  third  Parliament  was  convoked. 
Before  its  dissolution  in  1629,  it  had  extorted 
from  Charles,  by  a  bribe  of  five  subsidies,  the 
ratification  of  the  Petition  of  Right.  The  provisions 
of  that  celebrated  instrument  were  what  not  the  most 
abject  worshipper  of  prerogative  could  deem  revolu- 
tionary. The  exaction  of  money  by  forced  loans  was 
condemned;  the  right  of  habeas  corpus,  a  right  of 
Englishmen  as  old  as  Magna  Charta,  was  vindicated ; 
the  billeting  of  soldiers  on  private  persons  was 
restrained ;  and  the  substitution  of  martial  for  civil 
law  was  forbidden.  But  Charles  had  no  sooner  got 
his  money  than  he  hurried  the  Parliament  away  from 
Westminster,  and  sent  Hollis,  Valentine,  Eliot,  and 
other  members  of  the  opposition  to  languish  in 
prison. 

Were  these  arbitrary  proceedings  justified  by  the 
conduct  of  the  Parliaments'?  Let  Clarendon  be 
witness ;  Clarendon,  whose  reverence  for  Charles 
approached  adoration,  and  whose  hatred  for  the 
Puritans  thrilled  his  cold  nature  almost  to  passion. 

D 


34  English  Puritanism. 

He  says  that  there  occurred  in  those  Parliaments 
several  distempered  passages  and  speeches  "  not  fit 
for  the  dignity  and  honour  of  those  places,  and  un- 
suitable to  the  reverence  due  to  his  Majesty  and  his 
councils."  But  for  such  passages  the  historian  of 
the  Cavaliers  assigns  the  just  excuse :  "  Whoever 
considers  the  acts  of  power  and  injustice  of  some  of 
the  ministers  in  those  intervals  of  Parliament,  will 
not  be  much  scandalized  at  the  warmth  and  vivacity 
of  those  meetings."  And  as  for  their  general 
character,  he  declares  that  in  no  formal  act  of  either 
House  was  there  aught  which  was  not  "  agreeable 
to  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  great  courts  on  those 
extraordinary  occasions."  Charles  not  only  dismissed 
them  ignominiously,  but  clenched  his  teeth  in  implac- 
able resentment,  and  determined  in  his  heart  to  call 
no  more  Parliaments. 

He  had  now  occupied  the  throne  for  four  years. 
Buckingham  was  dead.  The  transformation  of  the 
court  of  James  into  the  court  of  Charles,  which 
never  could  have  been  complete  while  the  favourite 
lived,  was  accomplished.  Laud  had  supplanted  all 
others  as  ecclesiastical  adviser ;  and  Wentworth,  the 
eloquent,  daring,  chivalrous  patriot,  had  become  a 
peer  and  an  apostate. 

Laud,  the  father  of  Anglicanism  strictly  so-called, 
the  martyr,  saint,  and  apostle  of  the  holy  Tractarian 
Church,  has  been  severely  treated  by  authors. 
Macaulay  spurns  him  with  intemperate  disdain. 
"  The    mean    forehead,"    says    his    lordship,    "  the 


Laud.  35 

pinched  features,  the  peering  eyes,  of  the  prelate, 
suit  admirably  with  his  disposition.  They  mark 
him  out  as  a  lower  kind  of  Saint  Dominic,  differing 
from  the  fierce  and  gloomy  enthusiast  who  founded 
the  inquisition,  as  we  might  imagine  the  familiar 
imp  of  a  spiteful  witch  to  differ  from  an  archangel 
of  darkness."  Carlyle  handles  him,  as  he  always 
does  those  whom  he  regards  as  too  weak  for  great 
goodness  or  great  badness,  with  a  playful,  pitiful 
contempt, — '*  Little  Dr.  Laud !"  Hallam,  speaking 
as  usual  from  the  bench,  is  not  contemptuous;  he 
says  all  he  can  for  the  Primate ;  and  all  is  not  much. 
Theological  learning,  generosity  in  patronising  letters, 
warmth  in  friendship,  and  a  slight  tincture  of  religion, 
are  imputed  to  him  by  Hallam.  But  his  talents 
were  poor;  his  ambition  was  servile:  his  religion 
was  alloyed  with  worldly  interest  and  temporal  pride  ; 
and  his  temper  was  choleric,  vindictive,  harsh,  and 
cruel.  He  was  "  the  evil  genius  "  of  Charles.  Will 
no  one  speak  a  good  word  for  Laud?  We  turn 
hopefully  to  Clarendon.  He  sets  out  well.  We  hear 
at  last  that  Laud  was  "  a  man  of  great  parts,  and 
very  exemplary  virtues ;"  but  the  next  moment  our 
enthusiasm  is  damped  by  learning  that  these  were 
"alloyed  and  discredited  by  some  unpopular  natural 
infirmities."  The  Laud  of  Clarendon  is  an  impracti- 
cable, choleric  pedant,  with  raspy  voice  and  irritating, 
impatient  ways ;  without  natural  humour,  incapable 
of  seeing  or  taking  a  joke ;  one  of  those  incurably 
disagreeable  persons  whom  Hazlit  would  have  advised 

D   2 


36  English  Furiianism. 

to  give  up  the  attempt  to  make  themselves  tolerable  to 
humanity.  Professor  Masson  thinks,  even,  that  the 
secret  of  Laud's  ascent  may  have  lain  in  his  personal 
repulsiveness.  "To  have  hold  of  the  surrounding 
sensations  of  men,  even  by  pain  and  irritation,  is  a 
kind  of  power ;  and  Laud  had  that  kind  of  power 
from  the  first."  He  had.  Enthusiasm  for  Laud 
among  his  contemporaries,  there  seems  to  have  been 
absolutely  none,  unless  the  soul  of  Peter  Haylin  was 
capable  of  enthusiasm. 

Yet  is  it  not  difficult  to  explain  Laud's  influence 
with  his  contemporaries ;  nor  is  it  impossible,  though 
less  easy,  to  account  for  that  reverent  enthusiasm  for 
his  memory,  which  constitutes,  in  modern  times,  one 
of  the  best  j)i"oofs  of  an  exalted  frame  of  Oxonian 
piety.  He  had  a  sincere  faith  in  the  externals 
of  religion ;  he  attached  infinite  importance  to 
making  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  platter. 
He  died  with  this  affirmation  on  his  lip,  and,  beyond 
question,  it  was  true.  "  Ever  since  I  came  in  place," 
he  said  before  his  judges,  "  I  laboured  nothing  more 
than  that  the  external  public  worship  of  God,  too 
much  shghted  in  most  parts  of  the  kingdom,  might 
be  preserved."  Neglect  of  externals  had,  he  averred, 
"almost  cast  a  damp  upon  the  true  and  inward 
worship  of  God ;  which,  while  we  live  in  the  body, 
needs  external  helps,  and  all  little  enough  to  keep  it 
in  any  vigour."  This  was  Laud's  idea  of  the  beauty 
of  holiness.  He  conceived  that,  in  seemly  and  im- 
posing externals  of  worship,  there  lay  a  mystic  power 


Laud.  ST 

to  win  the  heart  to  religion.  It  was  an  idea  which 
possessed  an  obvious  attraction  for  the  stately,  ceremo- 
nious Charles,  and  Laud  went  all  lengths  with  the 
king  in  affirming  the  right  divine  of  monarchs  and  of 
bishops.  For  the  rest,  Laud  was  intense,  vehement, 
energetic ;  he  made  his  soul  like  unto  a  wedge.  He 
was  troubled  with  no  doubts  or  scruples,  turned 
neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,  paused  for 
no  recreation,  and  was  never  caught  slumbering.  Like 
Robespierre,  between  whom  and  Laud  there  was  in 
several  things  a  close  resemblance,  he  believed  every 
word  he  spoke.  It  is  this  character,  in  which  tem- 
perament plays  as  important  a  part  as  mental  capacity, 
that  commands  success.  Bishop  Williams — a  man 
of  incomparably  nobler  faculty  than  Laud,  brilliant, 
genial,  eloquent,  versatile;  who,  when  he  brought 
Laud  to  James,  had  probably  never  conceived  the 
possibility  of  his  becoming  a  rival — was  soon  thrust 
aside  by  the  wiry,  sleepless  zealot,  all  iron,  and  dull- 
burning,  unquenchable  fire. 

Let  no  one  imagine  that  Laud  was  gifted  with 
sensibility  to  grace  and  solemn  loveliness.  He  is  ever, 
when  we  look  at  him  closely,  the  raspy-voiced, 
bustling,  peevish  little  doctor,  whose  beauty  of 
holiness  is  only  the  apotheosis  of  formalism.  In  that 
famous  consecration  of  the  Church  of  St.  Catherine, 
in  London,  by  the  archbishop,  we  find,  with  some 
amazement,  that  the  ceremonial  consisted  mainly  in 
regulated  antics— bowings,  stoppings,  jumpings  back- 
ward and  forward,  according  to  number  and  measure, 


38  English  Puritanism. 

without  any  discernible  principle  of  beauty  or  im- 
pressiveness.  "As  he  approached  the  communion 
table,"  thus  proceeded  the  consecration  at  its  most 
solemn  part,  "he  made  several  low  bowings;  and 
coming  up  to  the  side  of  the  table,  where  the  bread 
and  wine  were  covered,  he  bowed  seven  times ;  and 
then,  after  the  reading  of  many  prayers,  he  came 
near  the  bread,  and  gently  lifted  up  a  corner  of  the 
napkin  wherein  the  bread  was  laid ;  and,  when  he 
beheld  the  bread,  he  laid  it  down  again,  flew  back  a 
step  or  two,  bowed  three  several  times  towards  it ; 
then  he  drew  near  again,  and,  lifting  the  caver  of  the 
cup,  looked  into  it,  and,  seeing  the  wine,  let  fall  the 
cover  again,  retired  back,  and  bowed  as  before."  We 
calculate  that  Laud,  the  little,  red-faced,  mean-looking 
man,  bowed  here  some  two  dozen  times,  with  inter- 
spersed  skippings  and  pacings.  Can  anything  be 
conceived  more  grotesque  than  the  whole  affair  1 

How  then  is  it  that  Laud  is  to  many  devout  Angli- 
cans of  modern  times  a  poet-priest,  whose  adoration 
clothed  itself  naturally  in  beauty,  who  trimmed  the 
lamp  of  sacrifice  that  its  golden  light  might  stream 
more  radiantly  towards  heaven,  and  fill  with  hallowed 
effulgence  the  temple  upon  earth  ]  Laud  stands  for 
more  in  history  than  he  was  in  fact.  He  originated 
what  it  seems  impossible  that  he  can  have  deeply 
sympathised  with.  For  George  Herbert  there  was 
real  poetry  in  the  choral  chaunt,  in  the  coloured 
window,  in  the  marble  altar,  in  the  solemn  aisle.  In 
Herbert's  church   of  Layton,   which   was  "  for   the 


Herbert  and  Ferrar.  39 

workmanship  a  costly  mosaic,  and  for  the  form  an 
exact  cross,"  there  ministered  a  true  poet-priest.  The 
man  who  at  Bemerton  prayed  and  mused  until  "  The 
Temple  "  gradually  rose  in  melody  to  his  enraptured 
imagination,  meant  more  than  Laud  by  the  beauty  of 
hoUness.  Nor  is  it  quite  with  the  Puritan  shudder 
that  we  think  of  that  "  Protestant  nunnery,"  which 
Nicholas  Ferrar  established  in  those  times  at  Little 
Gidding,  on  the  borders  of  Northamptonshire.  There, 
night  and  day,  did  the  sound  of  prayer  and  praise 
ascend  from  virgin-choirs,  while  candles,  white  and 
green,  shed  around  a  dim,  religious  light,  and  the 
deep  organ  filled  the  place  with  moving  sound. 
These  are  for  us  the  more  tender  lights  of  the  Laudian 
picture,  and  when  we  fix  our  gaze  upon  them,  and 
reflect  on  all  that  has  been  done  by  genuine  sensibility 
since  the  days  of  Laud,  to  invest  the  worship  of  the 
Church  of  England  with  lofty  imagery  and  melting 
grace,  we  cease  to  be  astonished  at  the  veneration 
entertained  in  some  quarters  for  Laud's  memory. 

These  were,  we  say,  the  high  lights  of  the  Laudian 
picture.  It  is  well  to  make  the  most  of  them.  The 
shadows  they  have  to  relieve  are  dark.  For  the 
Puritans  there  was  one  fatal  circumstance  in  all  this 
cultivation  of  the  beauty,  or  at  lowest  of  the  uphol- 
stery, of  holiness.  It  was  not  optional,  but  compul-j 
sory.  We  know  what  songs  are  to  a  heavy  heart. 
Perhaps  it  might  be  equally  tormenting  for  a  Puritan, 
trembling  in  the  eye  of  the  awful  God,  asking,  as 
with  the  reeling  earthquake  under  his  feet,  what  he 


40  English  Furitanism. 

should  do  to  be  saved,  to  be  compelled  to  interpret 
the  divine  command  to  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth 
after  the  Laudian  fashion.  For  there  was  no  tole- 
rance in  the  Archbishop.  The  large  spirit  of  the  old 
Komish  Church,  in  respect  of  form  and  rite,  was  alien 
to  the  contracted  soul  of  Eome's  pedantic  imitator. 
The  generous  breadth  of  the  first  Reformers  and 
their  immediate  successors,  the  philosophic  liberality 
of  Hooker  and  Bacon,  were  unknown  to  the  iron 
formalist.  The  word  of  the  law,  enjoining  uniformity 
of  worship,  had  since  Elizabeth's  time  been  strict 
enough,  but  it  had  been  indulgently  applied.  Practi- 
cally the  result  had  been  a  general  uniformity,  with  a 
pleasing  and  salutary  variety.  But  Laud  could  allow 
no  free  sprouting  of  the  forest  boughs;  every  tree 
must  be  cut  in  exactly  the  same  form.  This  was  new 
in  England,  and  if  the  Puritans,  in  the  day  of  their 
ascendancy,  enforced  a  uniformity  of  a  different  kind, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  Laud  who  taught 
them  the  lesson  of  intolerance.  The  just  and  tem- 
perate prayer  of  the  old  Puritans,  that,  while  they 
interfered  not  with  others  in  worshipping  as  seemed 
to  them  best,  and  while  they  held  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  were  loyal  subjects  of  his  Majesty,  they 
might  be  permitted  a  certain  latitude  in  the  manner 
of  celebrating  divine  worship,  was  for  the  first  time, 
in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory,  rejected  by  Laud, 
Uniformity  had  been  previously  enforced  with  an 
occasional  touch  of  Avhips ;  he  enforced  it  constantly 
and  universally  with  scorpions. 


Enforcement  of  Uniformity.  41 

And  Laud's  education  of  the  clergy  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  £esthetic  piety  did  not  cease  with  ceremonial, 
An  act  had  been  passed  in  James's  reign  ordering  the 
Book  of  Sports  to  be  read  after  sermon  in  churches. 
While  James  lived,  neglect  to  obey  the  statute  had 
been  overlooked,  but  an  instrument  so  exquisitely 
adapted  to  torture  the  Puritans  could  not  escape  the 
new  inquisitor.  The  clergy  of  the  Church  were 
rigorously  compelled  to  proclaim  from  the  pulpit,  as  a 
decency  and  duty,  what  every  Puritan  who  believed 
in  the  binding  nature  of  the  fourth  commandment 
regarded  as  a  heinous  sin.  The  moral  dilettante 
of  these  enlightened  days,  who  has  so  much  to 
find  fault  with  in  the  Puritans,  is  specially  incensed 
at  their  Sabbatarian  narrowness.  But  was  it,  after 
all,  so  unreasonable  in  clergymen  to  wince  under 
a  command  to  enjoin  Sabbath-breaking'?  Even 
the  Sunday  league  do  not,  we  believe,  expect  ministers 
to  recommend  their  hearers  to  erect  Maypoles  in  the 
parks  on  Sabbath  afternoons,  and  dance  round  them. 
And  in  estimating  that  habit  of  discountenancing 
amusements,  of  which  so  much  has  been  made  against 
the  Puritans,  it  is  fair  to  reflect  upon  the  galling 
bondage  of  which  Maypoles  were  to  Puritans  the 
type. 

Laud's  surveillance  over  doctrine  was  as  keen  as 
over  ceremonial.  He  proscribed  Calvinistic  preach- 
ing throughout  the  Church.  To  his  other  honours  is 
to  be  added  that  of  having  reformed  the  Church,  for 
the  fourth  or  fifth  time,  in  an  Arminian  sense.     For 


42  English  Puritanism. 

daring  to  preach  against  Popery  and  Arminianism, 
Mr.  Nathaniel  Barnard  "was  excommunicated,  sus- 
pended from  the  ministry,  fined  a  thousand  pounds, 
condemned  in  costs  of  suit,  and  committed  to  prison." 
Preferment  ran  in  full  flood  towards  the  Arminian 
preachers.  Papists,  on  the  other  hand,  were  treated 
with  ostentatious  tolerance;  and  Kome  began  to 
gather  in  the  first  of  those  harvests  of  Laudian 
converts  from  the  English  Church,  of  which  the 
sheaves  have  been  so  rich  and  abundant  in  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

But  it  was  when  the  Puritans  fretted  against  the 
yoke,  and  one  of  those  remonstrating  books  or  pam- 
phlets appeared,  which  were  then  the  popular  press 
of  England,  that  the  might  of  the  Anglican  Dominic 
was  most  imposingly  displayed.  In  1630,  the  father 
of  Archbishop  Leighton  was  prosecuted  in  the  Star 
Chamber,  for  his  Zion's  Plea  against  Prelacy.  He 
was  deprived  of  holy  orders,  and  committed  to  prison. 
He  escaped,  and  was  recaptured.  His  age  was  then 
between  forty  and  fifty,  his  complexion  fair,  his  fore- 
head lofty.  "  I  mean  to  come  over/'  he  had  written 
to  his  wife  from  Utrecht,  "  upon  Jehovah's  protection, 
under  whose  wings  if  we  walk,  nothing  can  hurt  us." 
He  was  first  severely  whipped.  Next,  he  was  set  in 
the  pillory,  and  had  one  of  his  ears  cut  off.  His 
nose  was  then  slit,  and  he  was  branded  on  the  cheek 
with  a  red-hot  iron.  This  was  the  first  half  of  his 
punishment.  He  was  taken  back  to  the  Fleet  prison, 
kept  there  for  a  week,  and  then  "  his  sores  upon  his 


Leighton,  Burton,  Frynne.  43 

back,  ears,  nose,  and  face,  being  not  cured,  he  was 
whipped  again  at  the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  and  there 
had  the  remainder  of  his  sentence  executed  upon 
him,  by  cutting  off  the  other  ear,  slitting  the  other 
side  of  the  nose,  and  branding  the  other  cheek." 
Flung  again  into  prison,  he  remained  there  ten  years. 
William  Prynne,  for  writing  a  book  against  the  stage, 
in  which  he  said  that  female  players  were  notorious 
courtezans,  had  his  ears  cropped,  and  his  forehead 
branded  in  1633.  He  was  condemned  to  perpetual 
imprisonment.  Unconquerable  as  an  old  Norseman, 
he  wrote  in  his  dungeon  another  attack  against  Laud 
and  his  suffragans.  In  June,  1637,  he  was  brought 
out,  with  Dr,  John  Bastwick,  a  physician,  and  the 
Rev.  Henry  Burton,  a  parish  clergyman,  guilty  also 
/of  anti-Laudism,  to  undergo  another  punishment. 
They  were  set  in  pillories  in  Palace  yard,  the  people 
flocking  round  them,  not  to  pelt  and  hoot  malefactors, 
but  to  look  with  wonder  and  passionate  tears  on 
brave  Englishmen,  true  to  the  people  and  to  God. 
Prynne  was  regarded  with  peculiar  spite  by  the 
authorities,  and  private  directions  were  in  those  days 
sometimes  given  to  executioners ;  his  ears  were  sawed 
off  with  a  ragged  knife.  "  Cut  me,  tear  me,"  he 
cried,  as  with  the  snarl  of  a  baited  lion,  "  I  fear  thee  ^' 
not;  I  fear  the  fire  of  hell,  not  thee!"  What  a 
reality  the  fear  of  hell  was  in  those  days !  Prynne 
addressed  the  people,  told  them  that  he  could  prove 
against  Lambeth  and  Rome  that  these  things  were 
contrary  to  the  law  of  England.     "  If  I  fail  to  prove 


44  English  Puritanism. 

it,"  he  said,  "  let  them  hang  my  body  at  the  door  of 
that  prison  there."  The  crowd  had  the  utmost  con- 
fidence in  Prynne's  logic,  and  expressed  the  same  by 
a  great  English  shout.  Burton  made  the  pillory  a 
pulpit,  and  preached  the  gospel  to  an  audience  pro- 
bably more  attentive  than  usual ;  but  the  hot  June 
sun  and  the  agony  of  his  mangling  nearly  overcame 
him,  and  as  they  carried  him  away,  he  almost  fainted. 
"  Bastwick's  wife,  on  the  scaffold,  received  his  ears  in 
her  lap,  and  kissed  him." 

Such  things  rather  impeded  the  popular  apprecia- 
tion of  Laud's  upholstery  of  holiness.  And  be  it 
remembered  the  Puritans  had  to  content  themselves 
V  with  Laud's  religion  or  none.  An  Association  had 
been  formed  in  the  last  year  of  James's  reign  by  a 
number  of  pious  men,  for  the  purpose  of  buying  up 
tithes  which  had  been  snatched  by  laymen,  and 
applying  them  to  the  support  of  preachers  who 
agreed  with  Laud  neither  in  his  Arminian  theology 
nor  his  ceremonial  worship.  It  was  the  first  grand 
exhibition  of  the  voluntary  principle  in  England ;  its 
head  quarters  were  London,  a  city  then  eminent  for 
its  godliness  and  patriotism,  and  one  of  its  supporters 
was  Oliver  Cromwell,  an  energetic  farmer  of  Hunting- 
don, whose  spiritual  experience  was  in  those  days  very 
comforting  to  his  pious  friends.  A  letter  of  Oliver's? 
referring  to  one  of  the  lecturers  to  whom  the  Associa- 
tion had  lent  assistance,  is  extant.  "  Building  of 
hospitals,"  he  writes,  "  provides  for  men's  bodies ;  to 
build  material  temples  is  judged  a  work  of  piety ;  but 


Enforcement  of  Unifonnity.  45 

they  that  procure  sph'itual  food,  they  that  build  up 
spiritual  temples,  they  are  the  men  truly  charitable, 
truly  pious."  Oliver  Cromwell,  we  may  remark  in 
passing,  seems  to  have  thought  that  the  highest  kind 
of  Church  extension  is  the  procuring  of  men  who  are 
living  spiritual  temples.  It  is  an  opinion  not  in  the 
least  antiquated,  worthy  of  the  greatest  practical 
genius  that  ever  lived  in  England,  and  deserving 
careful  consideration  at  this  day.  But  the  Association 
and  its  lecturers  were  beyond  the  regulation  bounds ; 
Laud,  therefore,  brought  the  leaders  into  the  Star 
Chamber,  had  them  condemned  to  pay  a  severe  > 
penalty,  and  broke  up  the  whole  scheme. 

And  constantly,  as  we  said,  the  throng  of  proselytes 
was  pressing  on  from  the  Church  of  England  to  the 
Church  of  Eome.  In  doctrine,  as  well  as  in  ceremo- 
nial, the  Laudians  were  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to 
that  Church  at  which  the  Puritans  shuddered  as  the  t/' 
great  apostacy.  The  Archbishop  plainly  declared 
that  in  disposing  of  benefices  he  would  prefer  single 
to  married  priests..  Montague,  Bishop  of  Chichester, 
favoured  the  invocation  of  saints.  Some  argued  for 
prayers  for  the  dead,  thus  making  way  for  a  belief  in 
purgatory.  The  clergy  in  many  quarters  cast  wistful 
glances  on  that  powerful  Romish  weapon  of  auricular 
confession.  The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was 
not  explicitly  avowed,  but  its  essence,  wrapped  up  in 
vague  phraseology,  was  generally  accepted ;  and  the 
keystone  of  the  Lutheran  reformation,  justification  by 
faith,  not  by  works,  was  obscured  and  unsettled.    "  It 


46  English  Puritanism. 

must  be  confessed,"  says  Hallam,  "  that  these  English 
theologians  were  less  favourable  to  the  papal  supremacy 
than  to  most  other  distinguishing  tenets  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Yet  even  this  they  were  inclined  to  admit 
in  a  considerable  degree,  as  a  matter  of  positive, 
though  not  Divine  institution;  content  to  make  the 
doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  fifth  century  the  rule 
of  their  bastard  reform."  The  King  had  opened 
secret  negotiations  with  Rome. 

Was  it  strange  if  rugged  Prynnes,  terribly  afraid 
of  hell,  and  with  their  sense  of  ecclesiastical  aesthetics 
rather  deadened  in  the  pillory  and  the  dungeon,  and 
earnest    prayerful    Cromwells,    for   whom    the    clear 

'''^shining  of  Gospel  light  was  the  sole  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, should  have  viewed  these  things  with  infinite 
alarm  and  dismay]  There  is  an  organization  so 
exquisitely  strung,  so  delicately  poised  between 
extremes,  that  it  can  balance  itself  with  angelic  safety 
on  the  thin  aerial  line  which  the  Laudian  Church 
takes  for  its  own  between  Rome  and  the  Refor- 
mation. But  ordinary  mortals  are  not  only  unable 
to  perform  this  feat ;  they  are  unable  even  to  under- 

/  stand  how  others  can  achieve  it.  The  Pope, 
who  ought  to  have  been  a  good  judge  whether 
Laudism  is  really  different  from  Romanism,  offered 
Laud  a  Cardinal's  hat.  Add  a  little  higher  elevation, 
a  somewhat  more  ethereal  sentiment,  to  a  Laudian 
sister  of  mercy,  and  she  becomes  a  Romish  nun ; 
add  a  little  more  learning,  a  keener  intellectual  fire- 
edge,  to  a  Laudian  doctor  of  divinity,  and  he  becomes 


f 


Strafford.  47 

a  Romish  Newman :    it  is  a  faith  which  can  be  held 
only  by  a  peculiar  people;    a  faith  which   he  who  T: 
runs  cannot  easily  read.     Prynne,  with  his  ears  twice 
sawed  from  his  head,  was  excusable  in  not  quite  ap- 
preciating its  music  of  the  spheres. 

Laud  was  now  in  the  heyday  of  his  glory,  a  glory 
like  that  of  the  sultry  sun  which  ripens  pestilence  in 
the  marsh ;  but  he  was  still  vexed  by  the  contra- 
diction of  men  with  more  bowels,  and  less  faith,  than 
himself  Even  the  Star  Chamber,  "  where  those  who 
inflicted  the  punishment  reaped  the  gain,  and  sat, 
like  famished  birds  of  prey,  with  keen  eyes  and 
bended  talons,"  scowling  ruin  upon  their  victims, 
was  not  energetic  according  to  the  measure  of 
Laud.  In  one  man  alone  did  he  find  sympathy 
vehement  enough  to  cheer  his  dark  soul,  and  stroke 
his  raven  plumage  till  it  smiled.  He  sent  croak 
after  croak  across  St.  George's  Channel  to  a  strong 
eagle,  which  answered  with  proud,  exultant  scream. 
All  men  have  agreed  to  deny  high  talent  to  Laud;i/ 
all  men  have  agreed  to  impute  supreme  genius  to 
AVentworth.  He  represents  the  civil  arm,  as  Laud 
represents  the  ecclesiastical,  of  that  comprehensive 
despotism  which  was  being  prepared  for  England 
under  the  auspices  of  Charles.  He  is  one  of  those 
characters  which  fascinate  and  awe  the  historian,  as 
he  marks  their  forms  sweeping  in  majestic  gloom 
along  the  twilight  galleries  of  the  past.  Alva,  Wal- 
lenstein,  Straff'ord,  still  lay  a  spell  on  the  imagination 
of    mankind.       "Wentworth,"    exclaims    Macaulay, 


48  English  Puritanism. 

dashing  in,  with  firm,  quick  strokes,  the  most  vivid 
portrait  he  ever  drew,  "  who  ever  names  him  without 
thinking  of  those  harsh  dark  features,  ennobled  by 
their  expression  into  more  than  the  majesty  of  an 
antique  Jupiter ;  of  that  brow,  that  eye,  that  cheek, 
that  lip,  wherein,  as  in  a  chronicle,  are  written  the 
events  of  many  stormy  and  disastrous  years,  high 
enterprise  accomplished,  frightful  dangers  braved, 
power  unsparingly  exercised,  suffering  unshrinkingly 
borne;  of  that  fixed  look,  so  full  of  severity,  of 
mournful  anxiety,  of  deep  thought,  of  dauntless 
resolution,  which  seems  at  once  to  forbode  and  defy 
a  terrible  fate,  as  it  lowers  on  us  from  the  living 
canvas  of  Vandyke  1  "  But  no  material  portraiture 
is  necessary  in  order  to  convey  an  impression  of 
the  colossal  powers  of  Strafford.  That  scheme  of 
Thorough  was  a  masterpiece  of  practical  genius. 
Wentworth,  alone  perhaps  in  his  generation,  saw 
precisely  whither  things  were  tending.  He  knew 
the  historical  import  of  the  great  events  of  his  day  ; 
he  saw  to  what  hour  of  destiny  the  hands  pointed  on 
the  clock  of  time.  The  grand  issue  between  des- 
potism and  constitutionalism  was  to  be  decided  in 
England,  Strafford  did  not  wish  unmasked  des- 
potism to  be  established  in  that  country  of  which 
he  was  once  an  illustrious  patriot.  His  desire  was 
that  the  supremacy  of  the  will  of  the  sovereign, 
which  had  existed  in  the  Tudor  reigns,  should  be 
perpetuated.  Under  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Parlia- 
ments had  hardly  become   vocal,   and  reverence  for 


Strafford.  49 

the  prerogative  was  so  profound  that,  except  in  rare 
cases,  they  were  quelled  by  a  strong  exertion  of  the 
monarch's  wilL  But  the  intelligence  and  eloquence 
of  Parliament  had  risen  to  an  extraordinary  height  in 
the  early  years  of  Charles,  and  sympathy  had  been 
perfectly  established  between  Parliament  and  the 
nation.  Nor  was  the  majesty  which  doth  hedge  a  king 
quite  so  overpowering  to  that  generation  of  English- 
men as  it  had  been  to  their  fathers.  If  the  preroga- 
tive was  to  continue  supreme,  some  reinforcement  of 
its  power  was  indispensable.  Such  reinforcement 
could  consist  only  in  a  standing  army;  and  it  was 
this  fact  on  which  Wentworth  laid  his  giant  grasp. 
The  king  was  to  raise  money  without  reference  to  ^y 
Parliament;  an  army  was  to  be  embodied;  and 
Charles  was  then  to  treat  the  Houses  with  that 
amount  of  respect  which  to  his  gracious  condescen- 
sion should  seem  fit.  Such  was  the  project  which 
Wentworth  named  Thorough ;  and  for  which  the 
raven  of  Canterbury  croaked  that  he  went  in 
"thorough  and  thorough."  It  was  well  named: 
had  it  succeeded,  the  ancient  Parliament  of  Eng- 
land would  have  become  part  of  the  pageantry  of 
the  throne. 

Side  by  side  with  the  reformation  of  the  Chui'ch  i/ 
on  the  model  of  Laud,  went  on  the  reformation  of  the 
State  on  the  model  of  Strafford.  Year  after  year 
passed  without  a  parliament.  The  exchequer  was 
replenished  by  ruinous  fines,  by  the  sale  of  monopolies, 
by  royal  proclamations.    At  length  the  audacious  step 

E 


50  English  Puritanism. 

of  levying  ship-money  in  the  inland  counties  was 
resolved  upon.  Elizabeth,  when  the  Armada,  like  a 
terrible  bird  of  prey,  was  flitting  along  the  white 
cliifs  of  England,  had  raised  money  in  the  sea-ports 
for  the  equipment  of  vessels  of  war ;  but  not  even 
"  the  imperial  lioness  "  had  demanded  ship-money  in 
the  interior  of  the  country ;  and,  as  it  was  never  a 
regular  method  of  raising  supplies,  never  intended  to 
supersede  the  legal  method  of  parliamentary  vote, 
Charles  had  bound  himself  by  the  Petition  of  E-ight  to 
abandon  it.  Among  the  other  inland  shires,  Buck- 
ingham was  now  assessed,  and  as  a  landholder  of 
Buckingham,  John  Hampden  was  called  upon  to  pay 
for  one  parish  thirty-one  shillings,  for  another,  twenty 
shillings.  He  refused  to  pay  a  farthing,  and  defied 
the  w^hole  power  of  Government.  England  gazed 
with  proud  admiration  on  this  country  gentleman, 
who  attached  importance  so  transcendent  to  a  princi- 
ple, and  who  believed  that,  in  the  tribunals  of  his 
country,  the  subject  had  as  firm  a  footing  as  the  king^ 
The  memorable  ship-money  case  was  tried  in  1637,  a 
few  months  after  the  triumph  of  Laud  over  Prynne, 
Bastwick,  and  Burton,  in  Palace  Yard.  The  judges 
in  the  Exchequer  Chamber,  pronounced,  by  seven 
against  five,  that  Hampden  w^as  bound  to  pay.  The 
provision  of  the  Petition  of  Right,  that  no  "  gift,  loan, 
benevolence,  tax,  or  such-like  charge "  should  be 
levied  without  consent  of  parliament,  was  thus  swept 
away.  Englishmen  were  placed  at  the  mercy  of  the 
crown,  to  an  extent  unknown  since  the  concession  of 
INIagna  Cliarta. 


Ike  Scottish    War.  5 1 

The  great  work  was  almost  complete.  The  Parlia-  ^ 
ment  of  England  had  not  sat  for  eight  years.  The  ^ 
Courts  of  Law  were  subservient  to  tlie  Crown.  The 
Church  was  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron.  A  little  more 
sleep,  a  little  more  slumber,  and  the  eyes  of  England 
had  been  sealed  in  eternal  despotism.  The  bosom 
of  the  nation  heaved  as  in  the  stifled  agony  of  night- 
mare, but  "  pacific  England,  the  most  solid  pacific 
country  in  the  world,"  as  Carlyle  well  calls  it,  gave  no 
sign  of  insurrectionary  fury.  The  American  wild 
was  becoming  peopled  with  English  exiles.  Lord 
Say,  '*the  wise  and  cautious;"  Lord  Brooks,  "the 
brave,  open,  and  enthusiastic;"  Hampden,  the  mag- 
nanimous, thoughtful,  and  dauntless,  were  beginning  to 
despair  of  England.  Suddenly  a  streamer  shot  from 
the  northern  sky ;  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  the 
portent  of  storm ;  and  a  thrill  of  fierce  joy  struck  to 
the  hearts  of  the  patriot  Puritans  of  England,  as  the 
trumpets  of  gathering  war  sang  clear  from  the 
Scottish  border. 

Laud,  vehement  and  intense,  with  no  statesman- 
like breadth  of  view,  and  none  of  that  human  sym- 
pathy whicli  enables  the  practical  statesman  to  know 
how  nations  feel,  appears  to  have  thought  that,  as 
Scotland  was  a  little  kingdom,  he  could  deal  with  it 
more  summarily  and  easily  than  with  England.  He 
set  to  work  with  emphasis.  Episcopacy  was  forced 
upon  the  Scotch  ;  and,  in  1637,  the  final  step  of  intro- 
ducing a  liturgy  was  attempted.  The  result  is  known 
to  all.      Jenny  Geddes  flung  her  stool  at  the  head  of 

E  2 


52  English  Furitanism. 

the  officiating  Dean  of  Edinburgh,  and  an  uproar 
ascended  in  the  old  Greyfriars  Church,  loud  enough 
to  waken  the  dead  that  slept  around.  Clarendon 
thinks  that  this  riot  in  Greyfriars  was  a  kind  of  acci- 
dent, and  that  men  of  craft  and  influence,  acting  with 
and  upon  it  by  various  artificial  methods,  produced 
the  world-historical  movement  of  which  the  centre 
was  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  The  theory 
is  interesting.  It  serves  at  least  to  show  the  his- 
torical capacity  of  that  stately  senatorial  author — his 
power  of  appreciating  the  feelings  which  produce 
national  revolutions.  The  tumult  in  Greyfriars  was 
a  jet  from  fire-fountains  that  had  long  swelled  in  the 
heart  of  the  Scottish  people.  That  stool  of  Jenny's, 
flying  aloft  so  conspicuously,  was  a  cinder  from 
the  deeps  of  a  true  burning  mountain.  The  Scotch 
had  long  been  enthusiastically  Presbyterian.  The 
preachers  were  the  popular  leaders  of  the  nation ; 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church,  with  its  exten- 
sive lay  representation,  was  the  real  Parliament  of 
the  country.  The  cause  of  liberty  and  the  cause  of 
religion  were  allied  in  England ;  in  Scotland  they 
were  one.  The  Scots,  having  once  risen  against  the 
impositions  of  Laud,  glowed  speedily  into  a  universal 
passion  of  excitement;  the  Solemn  League  and  Cove- 
nant, for  the  establishment  of  Presbyterian  uniformity 
throughout  the  three  kingdoms,  was  signed  by  all 
classes  with  tears  of  rapture,  often  in  the  blood  of  the 
subscribers;  and  an  army  in  hodden  grey  and  blue 
bonnets,  ranged  beneath  a  banner  inscribed  in  golden 


The  Covenant.  53 

letters,  with  the  blazon,  For  Christ's  Crown  and  Cove- 
nant, announced  to  Strafford,  Laud,  and  Charles,  that 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  to  bring  out  with  shouting 
the  topstone  of  Thorough. 

The  whole  body  of  the  English  Puritans  were  from 
the  first  in  sympathy  with  the  Scots,  and  disaffection 
had  spread  so  generally  throughout  the  nation,  that 
it  was  impossible  for  Charles  to  raise  an  army  in- 
spired with  any  right  enthusiasm  for  his  cause.  He 
went  north  in  1639,  and  looked  upon  the  army  of 
the  Covenant,  garnishing  the  hill  of  Dunse,  above 
Berwick,  with  its  brave  new  colours,  its  white  tents, 
and  crown  of  mounted  cannon.  He  may  have  gone 
near  enough  to  hear  the  drums,  which  acted  as 
church  bells  and  called  the  ruddy-faced  young 
soldiers  to  "  good  sermons  and  prayers  morning  and 
even,  under  the  roof  of  heaven,"  or  he  may  have 
heard,  at  daAvn  or  sun-down,  the  singing  of  psalms 
and  the  voice  of  prayer  borne  mellow  from  the  far 
hill-side.  Laud  had  found  "  no  religion  "  in  Scotland, 
not  the  slightest  talent  for,  or  appreciation  of,  the 
upholstery  of  holiness.  It  might  have  widened  his 
ideas  a  little,  or  at  least  struck  him  into  dumb  amaze- 
ment, to  have  seen  that  worshipping  army,  in  its 
azure  temple  with  the  floor  of  green. 

The  expedition  to  Scotland  exhausted  the  royal 
exchequer,  and,  as  no  lasting  peace  came  of  the  truce 
which  was  cobbled  up,  a  supply  of  money  became 
indispensable.  After  eleven  years'  intermission,  and 
with   profound   reluctance,  Charles    called   the  Par- 


54  English  Puritdmsm. 

liament,  which  met  in  the  spring  of  1640.  The 
English  nation,  with  that  infinite  tolerance  for 
monarchs  which  was  in  those  days  its  characteristic, 
rejoiced  to  see  once  more  the  face  of  parliament ;  and 
the  Houses  were  sober,  dispassionate,  and  disposed  to 
please  the  king.  But  they  had  a  manful  sense  of 
the  abuses  under  which  the  nation  groaned,  and 
quietly,  but  resolutely,  set  about  their  redress.  They 
had  sat  some  three  weeks  when  the  king  turned  them 
adrift.  Plis  friends  were  filled  with  mournful  aston- 
ishment; his  enemies  with  bitter  joy.  This  was  the 
short  Parliament. 

All  the  old  illegal  methods  of  raising  money  were 
now  resorted  to  by  Charles,  and  in  August  he  marched 
again  to  meet  the  Scots,  who  this  time  had  advanced 
into  England.  The  king  had  got  an  army,  but  it 
would  not  fight.  Posted  on  a  hill  to  receive  an 
enemy  which  had  to  ford  a  deep  river  in  its  front,  it 
waited  not  to  give  or  take  a  blow,  but  broke  at  once 
into  what  Clarendon  calls  "  the  most  shameful  and 
confounding  flight  that  was  ever  heard  of"  This 
was  at  Newburn  on  the  Tyne.  The  Scots  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  northern  counties,  and  the 
embarrassments  of  Charles  became  desperate. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  shining 
part  played  by  the  Scottish  people  in  this  the  first 
period  of  their  intermeddling  in  the  English  Puritan 
business.  Clarendon,  who  hated  Scots  with  a  perfect 
hatred,  cannot  veil  the  brilliancy  and  success  of  their 
proceedings.      There  is  a  stirring  poetry,  akin  to  that 


Jhe  Scots  in  England,  55 

which  thrilled  the  Hebrew  nation  of  old  at  the 
thought  that  Mount  Zion  was  to  become  the  crown 
of  the  whole  earth,  in  the  aspiration  of  the  little 
kingdom  to  make  its  Covenant  a  bond  of  union,  a 
fount  of  blessing,  for  the  three  nations.  Away 
among  their  misty  hills,  the  Scots  could  not  be  left 
alone.  Laud  must  torment  them  with  his  genu- 
flexions, his  surplices,  his  services,  his  bishops.  So 
they  towered  suddenly  up  in  a  passion  of  sacred 
wrath  and  enthusiasm,  and  vowed  that  the  brethren 
whose  groans  they  heard  from  England  should  also 
be  free  of  Laud  and  his  inventions.  Their  carriage 
in  England  was  discreet  and  sagacious,  as  well  as 
brave.  Their  leaders,  the  Earl  of  Eothes,  Lord 
Louden,  Alexander  Henderson,  men  of  tact,  energy, 
and  ability,  appreciated  the  danger  of  wounding  the 
pride  of  the  English  people  by  seeming  either  to  con- 
quer or  to  lay  them  under  too  great  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude. They  earnestly  declared  that  the  Scottish 
people  "  remembered  the  infinite  obligations  they  had 
from  time  to  time  received  from  this  nation ;  especi- 
ally the  assistance  they  had  from  it  in  their  reforma- 
tion of  religion,  and  their  attaining  the  light  of  the 
gospel ;  and  therefore,  as  it  could  never  fall  into  their 
hearts  to  be  ungrateful  to  it,  so  they  hoped  that  the 
good  people  of  England  would  not  entertain  any  ill 
opinion  of  their  coming  into  this  kingdom  in  a  hostile 
manner."  Clarendon  expresses  astonishment  at  the 
skill,  harmony,  self-command,  and  "  confidence  in 
each  other,"  with  which  the  numerous  Scotch  nobility 


56  English  JPiiritanism. 

and  their  clergy  acted ;  and  laments  that  "  this 
united  strength,  and  humble  and  active  temper,  was 
not  encountered  by  an  equal  providence  and  circum- 
spection in  the  king's  councils."  These  judicious 
Scots  secured  a  splendid  maintenance  for  their  army 
in  Durham  and  Northumberland,  and  the  chiefs,  lay 
and  clerical,  found  their  way  to  London.  They  were 
lodged  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  near  London  stone,  in 
a  house  adjoining  St.  Antholin's  church,  which  was 
assigned  them  for  their  devotions.  There  Alexander 
Henderson  and  his  brethren  preached,  and,  to  the 
great  disgust  of  Clarendon,  the  Londoners  flocked  in 
crowds  to  hear  them,  so  that  "  from  the  first  appear- 
ance of  day  in  the  morning  on  every  Sunday,  to  the 
shutting  in  of  the  light,  the  church  was  never  empty." 
Readers  of  sensibility  will  imagine  the  horror  of 
Doctor  Laud ! 

But  we  have  anticipated.  An  event  or  two  not 
unknown  to  history  had  occurred  before  Presby- 
terian preachers  could  become  popularities  in  the  city 
of  London.  As  the  best  of  many  bad  alternatives, 
Charles  had  resolved,  in  the  autumn  of  16-10,  to  call 
I  another  Parliament.  It  met  in  November.  It  has 
\  been  named  the  Long  Parliament ;  and  is  regarded 
by  judges  as  the  most  remarkable  representative  body 
that  ever  sat  in  this  world. 

The  English  nation  had  been  hard  to  rouse,  but 
the  day  of  their  wrath  was  come.  The  pent  up  in- 
dignation of  eleven  years  rushed  on  with  the  might 
of  an  Atlantic  tide ;  and  Thorough  went  down  before 


The  Long  parliament.  57 

it  like  a  house  built  by  children  in  the  sand  of  the 
shore.  Yet  is  it  not  so  much  the  fervour  of  righteous 
vengeance  in  the  statesmen  of  the  Long  Parliament 
which  strikes  upon  the  imagination,  as  the  wisdom 
and  calm  intrepidity  with  which  they  directed  it 
against  its  objects.  They  had  formidable  enemies  to 
deal  with.  In  reading  of  the  French  Eevolution,  we 
are  constantly  impressed  with  the  feebleness  of  the 
opposition  with  which  the  chiefs  of  the  popular  party 
had  to  contend.  Louis  XVI,  Marie  Antoinette, 
Calonne,  Maurepas,  Lomenie  de  Brienne,  were  poor 
creatures,  and  the  triumph  of  the  revolutionists 
over  them  shows  like  a  massacre  of  the  innocents. 
Eut  our  fathers  fought  with  men.  Laud,  Charles, 
above  all  Wentworth,  were  no  despicable  adversaries. 
It  was  a  perilous  task  to  cope  with  these.  Can  any- 
thing be  more  terribly  magnificent  than  that  arrest 
of  Strafford  ■?  As  we  recall  the  day  when  Pym  made 
his  accusing  speech,  and  the  Commons  sat  hour  after 
hour  until  the  dread  business  was  accomplished,  we 
seem  to  see  a  royal  eagle  poised  high  in  the  heavens, 
and  mark  an  eagle-slayer,  planting  his  foot  on  a  dizzy 
crag,  bending  his  bow  with  giant  force,  taking  calm 
and  steady  aim,  and  sending  the  shaft  hurtling 
through  the  sky.  The  arrow  mounts,  strikes,  and  in 
a  moment  the  poised  wings  flutter,  and  Wentworth 
sinks  like  a  stone  into  the  abyss.  What  was  the 
thought  which  struck  along  Strafford's  brain  when 
his  "  proud  glooming  countenance"  darkened  at  the 
tidings  that   he   was   impeached  for   high   treason? 


58  English  Puritanism, 

Was  it  not  the  thought  that,  great  as  he  was,  the 
men  against  "whom  he  had  measured  himself,  Pym, 
Hampden,  and  their  compatriots,  were  abler  men 
than  he  % 

The  mighty  tide  swept  on.  Strafford  died  on  the 
scaffold ;  Laud  was  committed  to  the  Tower ;  the 
Star  Chamber,  the  High  Commission,  the  Council  of 
York,  were  abolished  ;  every  agent  by  whom  Charles 
had  for  eleven  years  striven  to  decree  injustice  by  a 
law  either  saved  himself  by  flight,  or  was  called  to 
account ;  and  the  Parliament  passed  a  Bill  to  which 
Charles  dared  not  refuse  his  sanction,  ordaining  that 
it  should  not  be  dissolved  without  its  own  consent. 
Clarendon  may  well  call  the  statesmen  of  the  Long 
Parliament  "  terrible  reformers."  They  were  terrible, 
but  they  were  also  great,  and  they  originated  all  that 
has  been  greatest  in  the  history  of  nations  since  the 
day  they  met. 

When  we  pause  to  ask  what  was  the  pre-eminent 
glory  of  that  Parliament  which,  in  its  earliest  years, 
set  the  constitution  of  England  on  an  immovable  basis, 
we  find  that  it  was  the  harmonious  combination  of 
two  elements,  which  have  been  separately  appre- 
ciated and  admired,  but  never  clearly  apprehended  in 
their  symmetry  and  their  unity.  The  entire  school 
of  political  speculation  represented  by  Bentham,  by 
the  Mills,  and  by  Buckle,  a  school  imbued  with  the 
secular  spirit  of  the  French  E,e volution,  has  extolled 
the  respect  for  law,  the  reverence  for  justice,  the 
affection  for  constitutional  form,  which  animated  the 


The  Statesmen  of  1640.  59 

Puritan  legislators  of  England.  But  to  these  modern 
speculators  the  religious  fervour  of  the  Puritans  is  an 
offence  which  they  shun  to  contemplate,  a  scandal 
which  they  seek  to  hide,  or  an  accident  to  which  they 
attach  no  importance.  Mr.  Carlyle,  on  the  other 
hand,  pours  fierce  contempt  on  all  that  which  these 
men  deem  worthiest  of  praise  in  the  statesmen  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  He  passes  lightly  over  the  ship- 
money  case.  Hampden  is  for  him  a  man  of  close 
thin  lips,  vigilant  eyes,  and  clear  official  understand- 
ing, very  brave  but  formidably  thick-quilted  in  con- 
stitutional theory.  It  is  with  the  religious  fervour  of 
the  Puritans,  and  that  alone,  that  Mr.  Carlyle  has 
any  ardent  sympathy.  He  paints  in  colours  of  vivid 
poetry  the  sublime  passion  of  their  spiritual  enthu- 
siasm. "  Our  ancient  Puritan  Reformers,"  he  ex- 
claims, "  were,  as  all  Reformers  that  will  much  benefit 
this  earth  are,  always  inspired  by  a  heavenly  purpose. 
To  see  God's  own  law,  then  universally  acknow- 
ledged for  complete  as  it  stood  in  the  holy 
written  Book,  made  good  in  this  world ;  to  see  this, 
or  the  true  unwearied  aim  and  struggle  towards  this, 
it  was  a  thing  worth  living  for  and  dying  for! 
Eternal  justice ;  that  God's  will  he  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven."  True  words;  true  as  they  are 
beautiful:  but  not  the  whole  truth.  The  special 
glory  of  the  Puritans  is  that  they  combined  all  that 
is  seen  in  them  by  Bentham  with  all  that  is  seen  in 
them  by  Carlyle.  They  had  the  thoughtfulness,  the 
sagacity,  the  wholesome  conservative  sympathy,  the 


60  English  Puritanism. 

veneration  for  law  and  precedent,  which  mark  con- 
summate practical  legislators;  but  they  had  also  a 
spiritual  ardour,  a  pure  moral  enthusiasm,  a  perpetual 
sense  of  responsibility  to  the  Most  High  God,  which 
raised  those  qualities  to  a  more  ethereal  temper,  and 
shone  through  them  like  sacred  fire  dwelling  in  taber- 
nacles of  clay.  England  then  had  statesmen  who  were 
godly;  and  godly  men  who  were  statesmen.  Never 
was  a  political  revolution  so  hallowed  and  elevated  by 
religion  as  that  of  the  seventeenth  century;  never 
was  a  religious  revolution  so  moderated  and  guided 
by  political  wisdom.  It  Avas  by  no  base  material 
desire  that  those  Conscript  Fathers  of  the  state  were 
moved.  They  were  no  raging  anarchists,  maddened 
by  famine,  and  deliriously  wailing  and  gnashing 
round  their  kuig  for  bread.  Clarendon  expatiates 
on  the  material  prosperity  of  England  during  the 
ascendency  of  Laud  and  Strafford,  and  reflects,  with 
a  dignity  worthy  of  some  high  magnate  in  an  oriental 
empire,  on  the  unreasonableness  of  men  Avho  were 
roused  to  such  indignation  by  mere  infraction  of  law, 
nay  of  one  law,  namely,  that  supplies  should  be 
raised  by  Act  of  Parliament.  What  a  little  matter ! 
It  was  only  that  the  king  should  be  nourished  by  an 
opulent  realm  without  humiliating  appeals  to  his 
people.  It  was  only  that  a  rich  Hampden  here  and 
there  should  be  illegally  sentenced  to  pay  a  few 
shillings.  It  was  only  that,  in  the  background,  unseen 
by  the  common  eye,  like  two  dark  enchanters  in  their 
Cyclopean  cave,  Laud  and  Strafford  should  forge  the 


The  Statesmen  of  1640.  61 

one  a  chain  for  the  Church,  the  other  a  sword  for  the 
State,  chain  and  sword  the  emblems  of  that  abstract 
danger,  that  unfelt  and  ideal  woe,  the  system  of 
Thorough.  It  was  only,  in  one  word,  that  England 
should  be  lulled  gradually  into  the  sleep  of  des- 
potism,  to  await,  with  the  other  European  monarchies, 
like  those  sceptered  forms  that  slumbered  in  the  hall 
of  Eblis,  the  awakening  of  anarchic  revolution.  Our 
fathers  discerned  the  peril ;  no  semblance  of  external 
prosperity  could  veil  it  from  their  eyes.  They  felt  that 
a  subtle  poison  was  stealing  through  that  balmy  air. 
They  knew  that  the  heaven,  for  all  its  azure  and  sun- 
shine, would  become  brass,  and  the  earth,  for  all  its  smil- 
ing plenty,  would  become  iron,  if  once  those  guardian 
angels,  law  and  freedom,  forsook  their  ancient  trust  in 
England.  Not  by  the  will  of  one,  but  by  the  wisdom  of 
many,  was  this  England  to  be  governed.  That  these 
Puritan  legislators  had  resolved.  They  felt  by  sure 
instinct  that  it  is  an  unnatural  state  of  things  ;  a  state 
of  things  which  never  was,  and  never  will  be,  perma- 
nently combined  with  true  national  greatness;  a  state 
of  things  which  was  conceded  to  the  Hebrews  as  a 
self-sought  doom  ;  a  state  of  things  which  is  inhuman, 
pernicious,  infinitely  and  incurably  wrong,  that  the 
destinies  of  millions  should  hang  upon  the  will  of  one 
erring  man.  There  are,  indeed,  exceptional  periods 
in  the  lives  of  nations,  periods  when  the  passions, 
furious  and  unchained,  can  be  curbed  only  by  a  single 
gigantic  hand.  At  such  times,  the  heaven-born 
leader,  the  solitary  towering  genius,  the  dictator  sent 


62  H}tgUsh  Puritanism. 

from  God,  is  indispensable.  But  the  perpetuation  of 
despotic  authority  in  a  line  of  hereditary  descent  is  the 
most  fearful  disaster  that  can  overtake  a  nation,  and 
entails  stupendous  calamities  on  mankind.  Only  in 
the  "  multitude  of  councillors"  is  there  durable  safety 
for  kingdoms.  This  truth  the  Puritan  statesmen 
knew ;  and,  with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  they  stood 
in  the  gap,  beneath  the  banner  of  law  and  Parlia- 
ment, and  withstood  the  entering  procession  of  civil 
and  religious  despotism. 

We  shall  not  deny  that  there  were  weak  and 
narrow-minded  men  among  the  Puritans,  men  whose 
earnestness  froze  their  small  natures  into  a  wiry 
intensity,  who  were  as  much  formalists  as  Laud,  and 
of  a  still  meaner  type.  There  were  Puritans  for 
whom  the  beauty  of  holiness  consisted  in  hair  cropped 
"  close  round  their  heads,  with  many  little  peaks,"  in 
looks  perpetually  demure,  in  phrases  affectedly  pre- 
cise. Who  can  have  forgotten  the  disdain,  so  proud, 
so  womanly,  so  delicious,  with  which  Lucy  Hutchin- 
son relates  that  the  magnificent  locks  which  flowed 
over  the  shoulders  of  her  prince  of  men,  her  adored 
Colonel,  prejudiced  his  religious  reputation  with 
"the  godly  of  those  days?"  And  was  there  ever  a 
great  religious  party  to  which  did  not  adhere  a 
certain  number  of  hypocrites,  whose  profession,  fair 
as  it  looked,  gilded  "  not  a  temple  of  living  grace, 
but  a  tomb,"  holding  only  "  the  carcase  of  religion"  1 
There  are  stains  on  the  memory  of  the  Puritans ;  but 
they  are  grains  of  dust  on  an  imperial  garment.     The 


Th€  Puritans  in  1640.  65 

spirit  which  animated  Puritanism,  the  spirit  which 
throbbed  in  its  heart  of  hearts,  the  spirit  which  made 
it  irresistible  in  its  own  time,  and  lends  it  still  an  awful 
grandeur,  was  an  inspiration  of  heroism  from  Almighty 
God.  Both  Lord  Macaulay  and  Mr.  Carlyle  suggest  too 
forcibly  the  idea  that  the  Puritan  religion  Avas  a  mere 
spasmodic  excitement,  a  burst  of  hysterical  passion. 
It  was  not  such.  As  we  see  it  in  Cromwell  while  he 
was  yet  a  quiet  farmer,  before  that  liquid  gleam  in 
his  eye,  expressive  of  all  tender,  true,  and  profound 
emotions,  had  kindled  into  the  lightning  glance  of  the 
warrior,  it  was  as  placid  as  it  was  strong.  "  The 
Lord,"  he  wrote  to  a  lady,  "  accept  me  in  His  Son, 
and  give  me  to  walk  in  the  light,  as  He  is  the  light ! 
He  it  is  that  enlighteneth  our  blackness,  our  darkness. 
I  dare  not  say.  He  hideth  His  face  from  me.  He 
giveth  me  to  see  light  in  His  light.  One  beam  in  a 
dark  place  hath  exceeding  much  refreshment  in  it  :— 
blessed  be  His  name  for  shining  upon  so  dark  a  heart 
as  mine !"  That  is  religion  for  a  peaceful,  sober  man, 
wending  quietly  to  the  grave ;  a  beam  from  the  heart 
of  heaven,  falling  tenderly  among  the  household 
charities,  among  the  duties  of  every  day.  And  was 
it  not  the  same  religion,  was  it  not  the  religion  of  a 
healthy,  clear-seeing,  practical  man,  which  accom- 
panied Cromwell  to  the  field?  Was  it  extravagant 
in  a  Christian  hero  to  believe  that  God  was  as  near 
to  him  as  to  the  Hebrew  David?  Cromwell's  God 
was  a  living  presence,  uttering  His  wrath  in  the 
victorious  battle  charge,  smiling  His  approval  in  the 


64  English  Puritanism. 

broad  light  of  returning  peace.  Religion  of  this 
kind  is  sublime ;  but  surely,  unless  with  our  theories 
we  have  shut  out  the  Most  High  from  His  universe, 
it  is  not  absurd,  it  is  not  extravagant.  And  can  any- 
thing be  more  wise  and  beautiful,  more  excellently 
removed  from  godlessness  on  the  one  hand,  and 
morbid  introspection,  self-worshipping  pietism,  or 
fanatical  frenzy,  on  the  other,  than  the  religion  which 
pervades  Mrs  Hutchinson's  memoir  of  her  husband^ 
Grant  that  the  Colonel,  as  she  pourtrays  him,  is  an 
ideal  Puritan,  a  saint  crowned  with  the  halo  of 
glorious  feminine  love  :  must  it  not,  on  any  showing, 
have  been  a  noble  party  to  which  either  Hutchinson 
or  his  wife  belonged  1  "  In  the  head  of  all  his 
virtues,"  writes  the  high  Puritan  dame,  "  I  shall  set 
that  which  was  the  head  and  spring  of  them  all,  his 
Christianity — for  this  alone  is  the  true  royal  blood 
that  runs  through  the  whole  body  of  virtue,  and 
every  pretender  to  that  glorious  family,  who  hath  no 
tincture  of  it,  is  an  imposter  and  a  spurious  brat. 
This  is  that  sacred  fountain  which  baptiseth  all  the 
Gentile  virtues,  that  so  immortalize  the  names  of 
Cicero,  Plutarch,  Seneca,  and  all  the  old  philosophers ; 
herein  they  are  regenerated  and  take  a  new  name  and 
nature ;  digged  up  in  the  wilderness  of  nature,  and 
dipped  in  this  living  spring,  they  are  planted  and 
flourish  in  the  paradise  of  God.  By  Christianity  I 
intend  that  universal  habit  of  grace  which  is  wrought 
in  a  soul  by  the  regenerating  Spirit  of  God,  whereby 
the  whole  creature  is  resigned  up  into  the  Divine  will 


The  Puritans  in  1640.  ij^ 

and  love,  and  all  its  actions  designed  to  the  obedience 
and  glory  of  its  Maker."  Such  was  the  Christianity 
of  the  Puritans.  Ever  in  the  great  Taskmaster's  eye. 
We  see  them  in  the  manor-houses  of  that  old  time,  a 
stately,  polite,  religious  people ;  not  austere,  yet  not 
frivolous.  Their  theory  of  life  was  that  man's  chief 
end  is  not  to  amuse  or  to  be  amused,  not  to  create  or 
experience  sensation,  but  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy 
Him  for  ever. 

They  loved  England  with  a  glowing,  a  haughty 
affection.  Herein  lay  another  notable  difference  be- 
tween the  Puritans  of  England  and  the  revolutionists 
of  France.  To  these  last  old  France  had  become 
horrible ;  their  soul's  wish  was  to  raze  it  to  its  founda- 
tions. But  the  Puritans  stood  up  against  Laud  and 
Strafford,  because  they  were  binding  new  chains  round 
the  form  of  their  beloved  England.  "  Whoever,"  says 
the  Puritan  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "  considers  England, 
will  find  it  no  small  favour  of  God  to  have  been  made 
one  of  its  natives,  both  upon  spiritual  and  outward 
accounts.  The  happiness  of  the  soil  and  air  contribute 
all  things  that  are  necessary  to  the  use  or  delight  of 
man's  life.  The  celebrated  glory  of  this  isle's  inhabi- 
tants ever  since  they  received  a  mention  in  history, 
confers  some  honour  upon  every  one  of  her  children, 
with  an  obligation  to  continue  in  that  magnanimity  and 
virtue,  which  hath  famed  this  island,  and  raised  her 
head  in  glory  higher  than  the  great  kingdoms  of  the 

neighbouring  continent Better  laws  and  a  happier 

constitution  of  government  no  nation  ever  enjoyed,  it 


66  English  Puritanism. 

being  a  mixture  of  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  demo- 
cracy, with  sufficient  fences  against  the  pest  of  every 
one  of  these  forms,  tyranny,  faction,  and  confusion; 
yet," — here  the  brave  lady  explains  how  even  in  such 
a  state  a  patriot  might  have  to  draw  sword, — "  yet  is 
it  not  possible  for  man  to  devise  such  just  and  excel- 
lent bounds  as  will  keep  in  wild  ambition,  when 
princes'  flatterers  encourage  that  beast  to  break  his 
fence,  which  it  hath  often  done,  with  miserable  con- 
sequences both  to  the  prince  and  people ;  but  could 
never  in  any  age  so  tread  down  popular  liberty,  but  that 
it  rose  again  with  renewed  vigour,  till  at  length  it  trod 
on  those  that  trampled  it  before." 

Such  were  the  sentiments  of  the  Puritan  patriots  of 
England  at  the  commencement  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  party  were  persons  of  high 
breeding,  of  noble  culture,  of  refin£d  intelligence ;  in 
morals  pure,  in  faith  earnest,  in  devotion  sincere. 
Many  of  them  were  of  the  aristocracy;  the  body  of 
the  party  consisted  of  country  gentlemen  and  the 
most  substantial  portion  of  the  middle  class.  They 
dreamed  not  of  overturning  the  monarchy  or  destroy- 
ing the  Church,  but  were  resolute  to  maintain  the 
freedom  of  their  country,  to  rescue  the  Church  from 
the  thraldom  of  Laud,  and  to  carry  on  that  work  of 
further  reformation  within  her  pale  which  had  been 
contemplated  by  the  first  English  Peformers. 

Conjecture  as  to  what  might  have  occurred,  if  the 
circumstances  which  combine  with  men's  dispositions  to 
work  out  the  results  of  history  had  been  different,  is 


The  Puritans  in  1640.  67 

generally  futile ;  but  it  seems  as  probable  as  any  event 
which  did  not  take  place  can  be  said  to  be,  that,  but  for 
a  few  untoward  circumstances,  the  Long  Parliament 
might,  in  its  earliest  sessions,  have  reformed  the 
Church  more  satisfactorily  either  than  Cromwell  or 
than  Charles  II.  The  Commonwealth  swept  away  the 
whole  framework  of  Episcopacy,  and  ordained  the 
discontinuance  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer ;  the 
Act  of  Nonconformity  not  only  re-established  Epis- 
copacy, but  laid  clergymen  under  more  searching 
tests  of  Conformity  than  those  of  Laud  himself:  the 
dispositions  of  Churchmen,  when  the  sittings  of  the 
Long  Parliament  commenced,  were  favourable  to  a 
mean  between  these  extremes.  The  proscription  of 
Calvinism  might  have  ceased ;  the  adoption  of  certain 
ceremonies  might  have  been  left  to  the  will  of  pastors 
and  congregations ;  liberty  of  prayer  beyond  the 
letter  of  the  liturgy  might  have  been  conceded ;  and 
presbyters  might  have  been  associated  with  bishops 
in  the  exercise  of  Church  discipline.  These  reforms, 
with  perhaps  the  addition  of  the  exclusion  of  bishops 
from  the  Upper  House,  would  have  met  with  no 
serious  opposition  from  Episcopalians  of  the  school  of 
Usher,  and  would  have  satisfied  almost  the  entire 
Puritan  party.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Puritans  in  the 
Church  of  England,  the  Puritans  who  loved  the 
Church,  clung  to  the  Church,  and  desired  no  more 
than  that  the  Church  would  reconcile  them  to  her- 
self, by  granting  them  such  liberty  as  might  enable 
them  to  dwell  in  her  courts,  had  only  in   solitary 

F  2 


68  English  Puritanism. 

instances  demanded  more  than  this.  There  were 
thorough-going  Presbyterians  in  England,  who  ob- 
jected on  conscientious  grounds  to  even  a  modified 
Episcopacy ;  there  were  thorough-going  Independents 
who  maintained  the  Divine  right  of  congregations 
only:  but  those  who  could  not  conscientiously 
conform  to  a  Church,  retaining  an  Episcopalian 
framework,  and  tolerating,  though  not  enjoining, 
the  ceremonies,  were  in  1641  in  a  minority  in 
England. 

The  self-will,  however,  and  unmanly  vehemence  of 
Charles,  urging  him  to  that  fatal  "  arrest  of  the  five 
members,"  and  the  horror,  alarm,  and  suspicion 
created  by  the  Irish  rebellion,  hurried  a  resolute  but 
constitutional  opposition  into  revolution.  Hampden, 
and  other  leaders  of  the  Puritans,  who  had  made 
common  cause  with  the  Scots  on  their  first  advance 
into  England,  knew  that  the  triumph  of  Charles 
would  be  their  destruction.  The  Puritans  of  the 
middle  and  lower  classes  were  agitated  with  fears 
of  massacre.  The  breach,  therefore,  which,  in  1640 
or  1641,  might  have  been  closed,  had  in  1642  be- 
come irreparable ;  and  the  quarrel  was  referred  to  the 
arbitrament  of  the  sword.  A  beneficent  and  har- 
monious settlement  became  thus,  for  that  century, 
impossible ;  and  the  Puritans  gained  only  the  melan- 
choly assurance  that  spiritual  reformation  could  not 
be  efi'ected  in  the  battle-field.  "  We  have  spiritual 
weapons,"  said  a  Puritan  who  saw  the  conflict  from 
beginning  to  end,  "  given  us  for  spiritual  combats,  and 


The  Brethren  of  Scotland.  69 

those  who  go  about  to  conquer  subjects  for  Christ  with 
swords  of  steel,  shall  find  the  base  metal  break  to 
shivers  when  it  is  used,  and  hurtfully  fly  in  their 
own  faces." 

We  saw  how  discreetly  the  Scots  comported  them- 
selves when,  in  1640,  they  ruined  the  king's  affairs 
in  the  north  of  England,  and  compelled  him  to  call 
the  Long  Parliament.  From  the  end  of  1640  their 
Commissioners  had  been  in  London,  and  their 
popularity  with  the  Puritans  never  flagged.  An 
order  was  entered  by  the  House  of  Commons,  "  that 
upon  all  occasions  the  appellation  should  be  used  of 
our  brethren  of  Scotland.''^  Those  were  the  days 
when  Milton  hailed  the  two  kingdoms  as  united  in 
invincible  might,  in  virtue,  and  in  the  brotherhood  of 
godlike  deeds.  "  Go  on  both  hand  in  hand,  O 
nations,  never  to  be  disunited ;  be  the  praise  and  the 
heroic  song  of  all  posterity  I"  But  in  fact  the  union 
could  not  be  perfect;  it  contained  elements  of  dis- 
ruption from  the  first;  and  what  seemed  to  the 
exultant  Scots  to  cement  it  indissolubly,  was  the 
cause  of  its  being  finally  rent  asunder. 

The  Scots  were  all  aglow  with  enthusiasm  for 
their  Presbyterian  faith.  Presbyterianism  was  to 
their  apprehensions  so  benign,  so  beautiful,  so  divinely 
good  and  great,  that  to  persuade  all  men  that  it  was 
the  one  thing  needful,  for  time  and  eternity,  for 
State  and  Church,  seemed  an  easy,  off-hand  process. 
Before  starting  from  Newcastle  for  London,  in  No- 
vember, 1640,  their  Commissioners  had  been  careful 


70  English  Puritanism. 

to  take  along  with  them  four  Presbyterian  luminaries, 
calculated,  it  was  thought,  to  irradiate  the  four  corners 
of  England.  Mr.  Eobert  Baillie  of  Kilwinning,  who 
had  left  his  quiet  manse  in  Ayrshire,  with  sword  on 
thigh,  and  two  Dutch  pistols  at  saddle-bow,  and  come 
into  England  with  the  army  of  the  Covenant,  tells 
us  how  the  matter  was  arranged.  "  Our  noblemen 
and  ministers,"  writes  Mr.  Baillie,  "in  one  voice 
thought  meet  that  not  only  Mr,  Alexander  Hender- 
son, but  also  Mr.  Robert  Blair,  Mr.  George  Gillespie, 
and  I,  should  all  three,  for  divers  ends,  go  to  London ; 
Mr.  Eobert  Blair  to  satisfy  the  minds  of  many  in 
England  who  love  the  way  of  New  England  (Inde- 
pendency) better  than  that  of  Presbyteries  in  our 
Church;  I  for  the  convincing  of  that  prevalent 
faction  (Arminian  Episcopals)  against  which  I  have 
written ;  Mr.  Gillespie  for  the  crying-down  of  the 
English  ceremonies,  on  which  he  has  written ;  and  all 
four  of  us  to  preach,  by  turns,  to  our  Commissioners 
in  their  house."  If  this  does  not  bring  the  English 
up  to  the  mark,  what  will  ?  Beautiful  and  wonderful 
the  simplicity  of  those  "noblemen  and  ministers!" 
As  we  think  of  the  strife  of  opinion  from  that  day  to 
this — of  the  weltering  war  of  words,  never-ending, 
still-beginning,  like  the  old  battle  between  the  winds 
and  waves — is  there  not  something  pathetic  in  the 
thought  of  the  four  Presbyterian  magicians,  who  were 
to  reduce  the  ocean  of  English  opinion  to  sublime 
and  everlasting  silence '? 

Unaccountable  as  it  must  have  seemed  to  the  Rev. 


The  Brethren  of  Scotland,  71 

Mr.  Baillie,  the  work  of  convincing  England  of  the 
infinite  superiority  and  Divine  and  exclusive  right  of 
Presbyterianism  proved  difficult.  The  Scots  had  no 
doubt  that  it  was  a  duty  to  intjwse  the  heavenly 
truth  upon  all ;  to  establish  Presbyterianism,  and 
to  forbid  everything  else.  A  considerable  party 
in  England  took  their  view  of  the  question,  but 
at  no  period  were  the  English  Presbyterians  so 
numerous  and  decided  that  strict  enforcement  of 
Presbyterian  uniformity  throughout  the  country 
would  not  have  been  felt  to  be  oppressive.  Mighty, 
no  doubt,  as  were  the  spells  of  our  four  ma- 
gicians, the  most  powerful  advocate  of  Presbyterian 
uniformity  in  England  proved  to  be  David  Leslie, 
the  crooked  little  soldier,  who  had  once  put  Wallen- 
stein  to  his  mettle,  and  who  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Scotch  army  of  the  Covenant.  When  the  prospects 
of  the  Parliament  were  at  their  darkest  in  1643, — 
when  Bristol,  Exeter,  and  all  the  West  had  submitted 
to  Charles, — the  presence  of  Leslie  and  his  Scots 
became  extremely  desirable.  The  Presbyterian  in- 
fluence in  the  House  of  Commons  grew  strong. 
Subscription  of  the  Covenant  by  all  classes  was  or- 
dained. Oliver  Cromwell  set  his  hand  to  that  famed 
document,  pledging  himself  to  put  down  Popery, 
Prelacy,  and  Superstition,  and  to  promote  uniformity 
in  religion  and  worship  throughout  the  three  king- 
doms. It  turned  out  that  Oliver's  conception  of 
uniformity  meant  chiefly  a  uniform  absence  of  com- 
pulsion;    and  that  he  interpreted  the  Covenant   in 


72  English  Puritanism. 

a  sense  different  from  that  of  the  Presbyterians. 
Meanwhile,  however,  twenty-one  thousand  Scots 
came  trooping  across  the  border,  and  proved  highly 
serviceable  to  the  Parliament  in  the  summer  of 
1644.  They  held  the  King's  forces  in  the  north 
in  check,  took  forts  and  towns,  and  astonished 
the  English  by  their  capacities  of  martial  toil  and 
"  patient  sufferance  of  the  ill  weather."  On  Marston 
Moor,  "  the  Scots  delivered  their  fire  with  such  con- 
stancy and  swiftness,  it  was  as  if  the  whole  air  had 
become  an  element  of  fire."  What  with  Mr.  Baillie's 
convincing  syllogisms,  and  old  Leslie's  rolling  fire, 
Presbyterianism  seemed  in  a  fair  way  in  England. 
But  Presbyterians  of  the  Scottish  school  would 
tolerate  neither  Episcopalians  nor  Independents; 
and  these  last  found  a  defender  in  Oliver  Cromwell. 
The  Houses,  in  offering  resistance  to  the  King, 
had  proclaimed  that  they  did  not  fight  against  him 
but  against  his  evil  Councillors.  The  Scots,  and  those 
English  Puritans  who  hailed  them  with  the  most  for- 
ward sympathy,  were  consistent  and  emphatic  in  the 
disclaimer  of  any  wish  to  overturn  the  monarchy. 
This  has  been  commonly  regarded  as  a  pretence.  Mr. 
Carlyle  sneers  at  it  as  a  piece  of  mere  constitutional 
verbiage,  treated  with  just  scorn  by  Cromwell.  W  e 
believe  that  it  was  sincere  :  nay  more,  that,  unless  we 
understand  its  sincerity,  we  shall  attain  no  clear  con- 
ception of  the  chain  of  historical  cause  and  effect  in 
those  dubious  years.  The  distinction  between  the 
Monarch  and  his  Ministers  was  from  of  old  familiar 


Views  of  the  Freshyterians.  73 

to  the  mind  of  England.  It  was  an  ancient  principle 
of  the  law,  firmly  grasped  by  the  national  mind,  that 
a  minister  might  be  led  to  death  for  infringing  the 
rights  of  the  subject,  though  he  could  plead  the  ex- 
press command  of  his  sovereign.  This  principle  being 
generally  recognised,  the  Puritans  saw  no  absurdity, 
no  hypocrisy,  in  the  profession  that  armies  were 
levied  and  war  declared,  in  order  to  bring  a  monarch, 
safe  on  account  of  the  inviolability  of  his  person,  into 
amity  with  Parliament  and  alliance  with  law. 

The  early  proceedings  of  Parliament,  and  the 
conduct  of  the  Presbyterian  party,  from  first  to 
last,  corresponded  with  this  theory.  The  Cove- 
nant, while  making  no  terms  with  the  Episco- 
palian Church,  was  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Stuart  dynasty.  "  We  kept,"  said  an  English 
Presbyterian  divine,  who  saw  the  fall  and  the 
restoration  of  the  monarchy,  "  to  our  old  prin- 
ciples, and  thought  all  others  had  done  so  too, 
except  a  very  few  inconsiderable  persons.  We  were 
unfeignedly  for  King  and  Parliament.  We  believed 
that  the  war  was  only  to  save  the  Parliament  and 
kingdom  from  the  Papists  and  delinquents,  and  to 
remove  the  dividers,  that  the  King  might  again 
return  to  his  Parliament,  and  that  no  changes  might 
be  made  in  religion,  but  by  the  laws  that  had  his  free 
consent.  We  took  the  true  happiness  of  King  and 
people,  Church  and  State,  to  be  our  end,  and  so  we 
understood  the  Covenant,  engaging  both  against 
Papists  and   schismatics."     Hence  the  unwillingness 


74  English  Puritanism, 

of  the  Parliamentary  generals  to  annihilate  the 
military  power  of  Charles.  They  and  all  the  Pres- 
byterians desired  to  force  a  treaty  upon  him,  but 
not  to  put  him  out  of  the  way  and  proceed  to  an 
independent  arrangement.  In  their  programme  two 
things  were  essential:  the  establishment  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church;  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
ancient  throne.  It  is  beyond  dispute  that,  under 
the  influence  of  the  Scots,  they  dealt  more  sternly 
with  Episcopacy  than  the  old  English  Puritans 
required  or  would  have  approved.  But  they  stood 
with  equal  persistence  by  their  other  essential 
point.  If  they  refused  to  league  themselves  with 
Charles  unless  he  abandoned  Episcopacy,  they  refused 
to  ally  themselves  with  Cromwell  when  he  struck  at 
Charles  and  declared  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Stuarts. 
The  Presbyterians  defended  the  King  to  the  last. 
For  his  sake,  when  it  became  evident  that  the  Iron- 
sides were  going  to  trample  him  down,  they  rose  in 
arms  in  Wales,  in  Scotland,  and,  in  smaller  numbers, 
throughout  England.  For  his  sake,  they  were 
beaten  down  by  the  victorious  soldiers  of  Naseby. 
For  his  sake,  they  were  ignominiously  thrust  from 
the  House  of  Commons  by  Colonel  Pride.  No 
sooner  had  Charles  I.  laid  his  head  on  the  block, 
than  Charles  II.  was  proclaimed  by  Presbyterians. 
Once  more  Cromwell  joined  in  death-wrestle  with 
these  determined  supporters  of  the  throne.  The 
fire  of  their  loyalty  was  quenched  in  the  blood  of 
Dunbar  and  Worcester.      Then,  and  not  till   then, 


Hopes  of  the  King.  75 

did  the  standard  of  the  old  dynasty  sink  in  England. 
In  one  word,  Presbyterian  Royalists  fought  for  the 
Stuarts  with  resolution  as  fixed,  with  valour  as 
dauntless,  as  the  Episcopalian  Royalists.  After  the 
death  of  Charles  I.,  Presbyterian  Ministers  were,  as 
Cromwell  acknowledges,  "  imprisoned,  deprived  of 
their  benefices,  sequestered,  forced  to  fly  from  their 
dwellings,  and  bitterly  threatened,"  for  calling  those 
who  had  condemned  and  executed  the  King,  "  mur- 
derers and  the  like." 

If  the  Presbyterians  thought  it  desirable  to  form  a 
league  with  Charles  after  his  troops  were  driven  from 
the  field,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Charles  himself 
should  have  conceived  the  monarchy  to  be  an  inexpug- 
nable tower  of  strength,  and  trusted  to  win  back  by 
intrigue  what  he  had  lost  in  battle.  His  theory  on 
the  subject  will  seem  the  wildest  hallucination,  unless 
we  justly  estimate  that  reverence  for  his  person  and 
prerogative,  which  made  men  fight  against  his  armies, 
while  shuddering  at  the  thought  of  dethroning 
himself.  He  thought  he  could  play  ofi"  the  Presby- 
terians and  Independents  against  each  other ;  "  being  " 
— we  quote  his  own  words, — "  not  without  hope  that 
I  shall  be  able  to  draw  either  the  Presbyterians  or 
the  Independents  to  side  with  me  for  extirpating 
one  another,  that  I  shall  be  really  King  again."  The 
project  was  not  absurd.  Under  certain  circumstances, 
it  might  have  succeeded.  The  prerogative  was  a 
potent  engine  of  destruction  in  the  hand  of  Charles, 
a  detonating  ball  which,  if  put  in  the  proper  place, 


t6  English  Puritanism. 

jniglit,  at  the  proper  time,  have  shattered  asunder 
either  the  Presbyterian  or  the  Independent  coach. 
But  to  place  the  combustible,  with  the  eye  of  an 
Oliver  Cromwell  looking  fixedly  upon  the  performer, 
was  a  matter  of  difficulty.  Alliance  with  either  party 
became  a  delicate  business,  when  each  knew  that  the 
object  aimed  at  was  the  extirpation  of  both. 
The  Ironsides  felt  that,  while  Charles  lived,  the 
danger  of  a  league  between  him  and  the  Presby- 
terians, based  on  a  rigid  Presbyterian  uniformity, 
would  continue  to  menace  the  Independents.  This 
was  historically  the  cause  of  Charles's  death.  Any- 
Church  which  could  be  established  in  England 
during  the  Commonwealth,  had  to  make  room 
both  for  Presbyterians  and  Independents. 

Oliver  Cromwell  was  one  of  those  old  Puritans 
who  groaned  under  the  yoke  of  Laud.  He  had 
witnessed  with  indignation  the  extinction  of  the 
Society  for  supplying  localities,  which  had  no  minis- 
ters, with  lecturers.  He  had  trembled  at  those  '  Popish 
innovations '  which,  for  his  Calvinistic  eyes,  had  none 
of  the  beauty  of  holiness.  He  had  told  the  Parlia- 
ment, with  flashing  countenance,  and  harsh  untunable 
voice,  that  Dr.  Alablaster  had  "  preached  flat  Popery 
at  Paul's  Cross."  As  governor  of  Ely,  under  the 
Parliament,  he  had  enforced  the  ordinance  of  the 
Houses  against  ceremonies,  standing  up  in  Ely 
Cathedral,  and  crying  out  to  the  Uev.  Mr.  Hitch,  who 
ventured  to  appear  in  a  surplice,  "  leave  ofl"  your  fooling 
and  come  down,  sir."     We  believe,  nevertheless,  that 


Cromwell  and  Charles.  77 

Cromwell  would  have  been  content  with  that  measure 
of  freedom  in  the  Church  which  the  majority  of  the 
early  Puritans  demanded.  His  principles,  as  stated  by 
himself  to  one  of  his  Parliaments,  pledged  him  to 
respect  the  King's  conscience,  if  it  dictated  the 
duty  of  establishing  Episcopacy.  "  So  long,"  said 
Cromwell,  "  as  there  is  liberty  of  conscience  for 
the  Supreme  magistrate  to  exercise  his  conscience  in 
erecting  what  form  of  Church  government  he  is 
satisfied  he  should  set  up,  why  should  he  not  give  the 
like  liberty  to  others  V  Might  Cromwell,  then,  have 
arrived  at  an  understanding  with  Charles,  restored 
the  monarchy,  and  anticipated  Monk  %  We  believe 
that,  at  one  period,  this  was  not  impossible.  But 
Cromwell  soon  perceived  that  Charles  could  not  be 
trusted,  and  that  his  triumph  would  inevitably  bring 
destruction  upon  all  who  had  fought  against  him. 
Nor  could  concessions  on  the  subject  of  Episcopacy 
be  wrung  from  the  king ;  and  as  Oliver  was  a  Cove- 
nanter, though  reading  the  Covenant  rather  in  the 
spirit  than  the  letter,  it  is  probable  that  he  felt 
himself,  even  if  he  regretted  the  fact,  under  a  sacred 
obligation  to  oppose  the  establishment  of  prelacy. 
The  result,  at  all  events,  was  that  he  left  Charles  to 
his  fate,  and  became  the  uncompromising  enemy  of 
the  family  of  Stuart.  The  Lord,  he  said,  had 
rejected  this  house  from  ruling  over  England. 

To  Presbytery,  as  a  form  of  Church  government^ 
Cromwell  had  still  fewer  objections  than  to  Episco- 
pacy.     But   he    had    no    sympathy    with    a    party 


78  English  Puritanism. 

whose  sole  conception  of  the  "  glorious  Reforma- 
tion" symbolised  by  the  Covenant,  was  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  domineering  Presbyterianism  for  a 
domineering  Episcopacy.  His  Puritanism  had  been 
from  the  first,  what  the  best  of  English  Puritanism 
was,  not  a  preference  of  one  form  of  Church  govern- 
ment to  another,  but  a  life  of  spiritual,  personal 
religion,  an  intense  realization  of  the  presence  of 
God,  a  devotion  of  the  entire  being  to  Him.  The 
Cavaliers  were  dreaded  and  disliked  by  Cromwell  not 
as  Episcopalian,  but  as  godless ;  and  as  he  believed  that 
both  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents  were  bent 
upon  serving  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  he  was 
ardently  desirous  of  effecting  reconciliation  between 
them.  "  Presbyterians,  Independents,"  thus  he  wrote 
from  Bristol  in  1645,  "  all  have  here  the  same  spirit  of 
faith  and  prayer ;  the  same  presence  and  answer ;  they 
agree  here,  have  no  names  of  difference :  pity  it  is  it 
should  be  otherwise  anywhere !  All  that  believe 
have  the  real  unity,  which  is  most  glorious ;  because 
inward  and  spiritual,  in  the  Body,  and  to  the  Head. 
For  being  united  in  forms,  commonly  called  Unifor- 
mity, every  Christian  will  for  peace-sake  study  and 
do,  as  far  as  conscience  will  permit.  And  for 
brethren,  in  things  of  the  mind  we  look  for  no  com- 
pulsion but  that  of  light  and  reason."  But  this 
ideal  was  not  easily  attainable,  even  after  the  downfall 
of  Laud.  Only  a  few  men  scattered  over  England 
were  capable  of  responding  to  the  broad  sense  and 
the  profound  Christianity  of  those  words  of  Oliver's. 


CromwelVs  Tolerance.  79 

His  expressions  constitute  abundant  proof  that  he 
was  a  hundred  years  in  advance  of  the  general 
intelligence  of  his  age.  He  deplored,  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  that  his  aspiration  had  been  vain. 
"  Every  sect  saith,"  these  were  his  words,  "  Oh,  give 
me  liberty !  But  give  it  him,  and  to  his  power  he 
will  not  yield  it  to  anybody  else." 

Cromwell  did  as  much  for  liberty  of  conscience 
as  his  position  rendered  possible.  The  Presbyterians 
were  his  implacable  foes.  He  dared  not  permit  them 
to  assemble  in  synod,  nor  would  he  allow  them  to 
exclude  Independents  from  Church  preferment.  But 
Presbytery  remained  during  the  Protectorate  the  esta- 
bished  religion  of  England,  and  Cromwell's  Triers 
appointed  a  good  man  to  a  benefice  whether  he  called 
himself  Independent,  Presbyterian,  or  Episcopalian. 
The  "  frequent  use"  of  the  Prayer  Book  was  forbidden, 
but  the  fact  that  frequency  of  use  was  permitted 
to  no  man,  demonstrates  that  occasional  use  was 
conceded  to  all.  Observe  also:  first,  that  the 
Episcopalian  Royalists  would  not  let  Cromwell 
alone,  but  annoyed  him  incessantly  with  their 
conspiracies;  secondly,  that  the  Puritans  regarded 
the  gift  of  prayer  as  of  high  importance  in  a  minister, 
and  deemed  frequent  use  of  the  Prayer  Book,  how- 
ever good  it  might  be  in  itself,  an  evidence  of  intel- 
lectual poverty,  spiritual  apathy,  or  of  indolence.  The 
Protector  was  beyond  comparison  the  most  tolerant 
statesman  of  his  age.  Standing  between  the 
cramped  episcopacy  of  Laud,  and  the  stern  genius 


80  English  Puritanism. 

of  Scottish  Presbytery,  he  secured  for  the  British 
islands  as  much  religious  liberty  as  could  be  main- 
tained against  both.  It  is  a  pathetic,  a  sublime 
spectacle,  this  of  Cromwell  struggling,  inarticu- 
lately, half-consciously,  to  force  his  way  to  the 
practical  realization  of  a  great  truth  then  only 
dawning  on  the  foremost  intellects  of  the  race. 
He  did  what  he  could.  With  that  marvellous 
power  of  going  direct  to  the  heart  of  every  matter 
which  distinguished  him,  he  made  it  the  grand  aim 
of  his  ecclesiastical  policy  to  appoint  able  and  godly 
ministers  in  the  parishes  of  England;  and  it  is 
proved  by  overwhelming  evidence  that  in  this  he  was 
eminently  successful. 

It  is  a  doctrine  still  current  in  the  clubs  of 
England,  still  published  in  Saturday  Reviews,  that 
the  Puritan  reformation  of  the  Church  of  England 
came  to  this : — "  the  ordained  clergy  were  superseded 
by  carpenters  and  cobblers,  who  were  conscious  only 
of  an  outpouring  of  the  Spirit."  Is  not  this  a  curious 
view  of  English  Church  history  in  the  seventeenth 
century'?  Does  it  not  suggest  with  painful  im- 
pressiveness,  the  reflection,  "  With  how  little  know- 
ledge, with  how  little  sense,  in  this  time  of  super- 
lative enlightenment,  is  that  public  opinion  formed, 
which  governs  the  world !"  The  Puritans,  as  Hallam 
testifies,  were  in  the  earlier  period  of  their  history 
the  most  learned  theologians  of  the  Church ;  and  if, 
during  the  Laudian  ascendency,  they  were  discouraged 
at  the  Universities,  they  continued,  beyond  question, 


The  Commomvealth  Church.  81 

an  erudite  and  cultivated  party.  Against  Laud's  "  bas- 
tard fifth  century  reform,"  they  appealed  not  only  to 
Scripture,  but  to  the  records  of  an  earlier  Christian 
antiquity.  "Carpenters  and  cobblers!"  The 
Church  of  Baxter,  of  Poole,  of  Goodwin,  of  Howe, 
of  Owen,  of  Milton !  The  University  of  Oxford  was 
doubtless  extinct  when  Cromwell,  its  Chancellor, 
declared  that  he  knew  the  value  of  learning  to  all 
right  Commonwealths.  The  court  of  Cromwell  was 
hopelessly  illiterate  when  the  Latin  Secretary  penned 
the  Protector's  despatches  to  Mazarin.  It  was  to 
young  street  preachers,  innocent  of  the  arts  of  read- 
ing and  writing,  that  Oliver  referred  when  he  boasted 
to  his  Parliament  of  the  "very  great  seed"  for  the 
ministry  which  God  had  at  the  Universities. 

It  is  surely  unnecessary  to  pour  contempt  on 
England,  in  order  to  insult  Nonconformity.  Our 
ancestors  never  stooped  so  low  as  to  endure,  for  four- 
teen years,  a  Church  of  vapouring  mechanics.  They 
were,  indeed,  not  satisfied  with  the  ecclesiastical 
organization  established  by  Cromwell ;  some  of  them 
longed  for  exclusive  Episcopacy,  some  of  them  for 
exclusive  Presbytery,  a  few  for  exclusive  Inde- 
pendency. But  they  knew  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  had  throughout  its  whole  history  honoured 
learning;  that  the  Puritans  had  numbered  in  their 
ranks  a  goodly  proportion  of  learned  bishops  and 
divines;  that  the  Universities  still  performed  the 
function  of  educating  youth  for  the  ministry;  and 
that,  doctrinally,  the  Church   of  the  Commonwealth 


82  English  Puritanism. 

agreed  with  the  Church  of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles. 
They  knew  that  Cromwell's  Triers  had,  on  the  whole, 
confined  themselves  to  ejecting  scandalous  ministers, 
and  that  the  comprehensive  practical  energy,  which 
had  trained  Ironsides  to  fight,  made  itself  known  in 
the  quickened  zeal  and  heedful  morals  of  ten  thousand 
preachers. 

The  Presbyterian  Directory  of  worship,  in  general 
use  in  the  Churches,  was  no  outpouring  of  unedu- 
cated extravagance;  it  was  a  reverent,  thoughtful, 
temperate,  and  judicious  document.  It  contained  not 
one  scornful  word  against  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  declared  the  first  English  reformers 
worthy  to  be  "  had  in  everlasting  remembrance,  with 
thankfulness  and  honour."  It  affirmed  only  that  the 
time  had  come  for  further  reformation;  that  the 
Prayer  Book  "disquieted  the  consciences  of  many 
godly  ministers  and  people ;"  that  "  others  of  hopeful 
parts  "  were  by  it  "  diverted  from  all  thoughts  of  the 
ministry  to  other  studies ;"  that  the  Papists  boasted  of 
it  as  a  compliance,  and  the  reformed  Churches  felt  it 
as  an  off'ence ;  and  that,  therefore,  it  was  well  to  lay  it 
aside.  The  assertion  is  constantly  made,  that  in  the 
Church  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  the  present  day,  prayer  was  and  is  left 
entirely  to  the  individual  minister.  It  is  an  entire 
mistake.  In  the  Presbyterian  order  of  worship, 
directions  are  aff'orded  on  the  subject,  brief,  but 
singularly  comprehensive.  The  preacher,  for  ex- 
ample,   is   instructed  "to  pray  for  all  in    authority, 


The  Coimnomvealth  Church.  83 

especially  for  the  king's  majesty;  that  God  would 
make  him  rich  in  blessings,  both  in  his  person  and 
government;  establish  his  throne  in  religion  and 
righteousness,  save  him  from  evil  counsel,  and  make 
him  a  blessed  and  glorious  instrument  for  the 
conservation  and  propagation  of  the  gospel,  for  the 
encouragement  and  protection  of  them  that  do  well, 
the  terror  of  all  that  do  evil,  and  the  great  good  of 
the  whole  Church,  and  of  all  his  kingdoms."  This 
seems  as  dignified,  as  honourable,  as  worthy  of  a 
Church  and  as  reverent  towards  God,  as  to  supplicate 
blessings  on  a  "  most  religious  and  gracious  "  lover  of 
Mrs.  Barlow,  Mrs.  Palmer,  Lucy  Waters,  and  Nell 
Gwynn. 

Nor  are  the  directions  for  preaching  such  as 
could  have  been  framed  by  illiterate  bigots,  or 
capable  of  application  in  an  illiterate  Church. 
The  minister  is  " pre-supposed "  to  have  "skill 
in  the  original  languages,  and  in  such  arts  and 
sciences  as  are  handmaids  unto  divinity,"  and 
to  be  gifted  with  knowledge  "  in  the  whole  body 
of  theology ;  but  most  of  all,  in  the  holy  scriptures." 
The  composition  of  the  sermon  is  thus  pertinently 
touched  upon : — "  The  arguments  or  reasons  are  to  be 
solid,  and,  as  much  as  may  be,  convincing.  The 
illustrations,  of  what  kind  soever,  ought  to  be  full  of 
light,  and  such  as  may  convey  the  truth  into  the 
hearer's  heart  with  spiritual  delight."  It  might  be 
profitable  for  preachers,  even  in  our  own  day,  to 
take    a   hint   from   the  old  Presbyterian  Directory. 

G  2 


84  English  JPuritamsm. 

"Whatever,"  says  Sir  James  Stephen,  "may  have 
been  the  faults,  or  whatever  the  motives  of  the 
Protector,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  under  his 
sway  England  witnessed  a  diffusion,  till  then 
unknown,  of  the  purest  influence  of  genuine  re- 
ligious principles."  Such  has  been  the  concession 
of  all  candid,  large-minded  Anglicans;  and  yet, 
in  the  tractarian  coterie,  in  the  fashionable  club,  it 
continues  to  be  believed  that  the  Church  in  which 
Oliver  Cromwell  and  John  Milton  worshipped,  w^as 
a  den  of  shrieking  fanatics,  and  ranting  fools. 

For  not  a  few  clergymen,  conscientiously  attached 
to  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England,  Puritan 
ascendency  was  the  advent  of  persecution.  Crom- 
well's Triers,  while  turning  out  many  incumbents 
for  vice  and  incompetency,  turned  out  some  for  "  fre- 
quent use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer."  Of  all 
such  what  have  we  to  say  ]  We  have  to  express  for 
them  unfeigned  admiration ;  to  extol  their  fortitude 
and  virtue ;  to  appeal  to  their  example  against  the 
gold-worship  and  the  respectability-worship  of  the 
present  time ;  and  to  reflect,  in  pride  and  mournful- 
ness,  of  a  time  when  what  we  believe  to  have  been 
the  less  great  and  the  less  noble  of  the  contending 
parties  consisted  of  men  so  great  and  so  noble  as  the 
Churchmen  and  the  Cavaliers  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. There  is  a  sunshine  so  intense,  a  light  so  vivid, 
that  its  shadow  is  scarlet;  there  are  times  so  illustrious 
that  the  leaders  on  all  sides  have  the  gait  of  heroes. 

For  the  rest,  we  can  only  remark,  that  the  man 


The  Ejected  Episcopalians.  85 

who  believes  that  there  was  a  sweeping  ejection 
of  Episcopalian  ministers  from  the  Commonwealth 
Church,  who  talks  of  7000  or  half  that  number  of 
sufferers,  has  argued  himself  into  an  hallucination 
contradicting  the  very  laws  of  arithmetic.  Cromwell's 
Court  of  Triers  did  not  come  into  existence  until 
about  six  years  before  the  restoration;  and  how 
lax  had  been  the  enforcement  of  Presbyterianism 
since  its  approval  by  Parliament  some  ten  years 
earlier,  must  be  known  to  every  student  of  those 
times.  At  the  restoration,  the  average  number  of 
years  during  which  the  ejected  Episcopalians  had 
been  out  of  their  benefices  cannot  have  been  above 
ten ;  and  it  is  obvious  that  every  incompetent  or 
tippling  parson,  who  had  been  turned  out  by  the 
Triers,  would  present  himself  as  a  martyr  to  the  most 
religious  and  gracious  King.  Yet  the  claimants,  at  the 
restoration,  of  benefices  previously  held  in  the  Church, 
did  not  number,  at  the  utmost,  above  two  or  three 
hundred.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  just  to  remember 
that  the  Puritans  made  a  provision  for  the  expelled 
ministers,  sufficient  to  keep  them  from  starvation.  In 
the  third  place — and  this  is  important — the  ejected 
clergy  were  not  forbidden  to  engage  in  that  labour 
which  would  come  most  aptly  to  their  hand,  and  by 
which  they  could,  in  many,  if  not  in  most  instances, 
procure  a  livelihood,  the  labour  of  tuition.  It  was 
one  of  the  bitterest  cruelties  inflicted  by  the  rancour 
of  the  restoration  to  forbid  Nonconformists  to  become 
schoolmasters    or    private   tutors.      Jeremy    Taylor, 


86  English  Puritanism. 

teaching  his  school  in  Wales,  could  refer  to  "  the 
gentleness  and  mercy  of  a  noble  enemy."  How 
beautiful  are  those  words!  How  melancholy  that 
after  two  hundred  years  so  few  Englishmen,  on 
either  side,  can  feel  and  emulate  the  nobleness  of 
their  spirit !  God  forbid  that  we  should  breathe  an 
imputation  on  such  a  Churchman  as  Jeremy  Taylor. 
There,  in  his  Welsh  solitude,  tranquil  as  a  star 
above  the  storm,  did  this  saint  of  God  utter  those 
strains  of  practical  piety,  so  tenderly  beautiful,  so 
richly  melodious,  which,  to  latest  times,  will  bring 
all  high  virtues,  all  pure  feelings,  to  dwell  like 
angels  in  human  breasts;  which  will  cast  a  gentle, 
irresistible  spell  over  the  raging  passions;  which 
will  convince  men  how  reasonable  is  faith,  how 
manly  is  humility,  how  divine  is  charity,  how  holy 
may  be  the  life,  how  holy  and  how  happy  the 
death,  of  the  Christian. 

But  there  was  now  breaking  dimly  upon  several 
minds  a  conception,  which,  after  two  hundred  years, 
still  waits  for  general  acceptance.  Cromwell,  looking 
out  upon  England  with  the  eye  of  a  practical  leader 
and  king,  seeing  that  the  root  of  godliness  was  in 
many  who  strove  and  persecuted  for  the  sake  of 
forms,  caught  a  glimpse  of  it.  "  Men,"  he  said,  the 
piercing  beam  of  his  genius  struggling  through  the 
cloud  of  his  words,  "Men  who  believe  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  free 
justification  by  the  blood  of  Christ ;  who  live  upon 
the  grace  of  God :  those  men,  who  are  certain  they 


Comprehension  instead  of  Uniformity.         87 

are  so,  are  members  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  are  to 
Him  the  apple  of  His  eye.  Whoever  hath  this 
faith,  let  his  form  be  what  it  will ;  he  walking  peace- 
ably, without  prejudice  to  others  under  other  forms : 
it  is  a  debt  due  to  God  and  Christ,  and  He  will 
require  it,  if  that  Christian  may  not  enjoy  his  liberty." 
As  for  his  own  practice,  Cromwell  declares  it  to  have 
been,  "  To  let  all  this  nation  see  that  whatever  pre- 
tensions to  religion  would  continue  quiet,  peaceable, 
they  should  enjoy  conscience  and  liberty  to  them- 
selves." Many  a  Presbyterian  shook  his  head 
at  the  mention  of  tolerance  of  sectaries ;  but 
Oliver  had  that  penetrating  glance  of  his  on  the 
heart  of  the  matter,  and  he  kept  it  there.  In  such  a 
state  of  religious  opinion  as  had  come  to  exist  in 
England,  there  could  be  justice  and  comfort  only  in 
agreement  to  differ. 

Thinkers  were  beginning  to  penetrate  to  a  truth 
which  had  been  pressed  on  Cromwell  by  facts. 
John  Milton  had  long  proclaimed,  in  words  which 
sounded  like  the  Protector's  battle  charges,  that 
conscience  must  be  free.  Chillingworth  had  used 
a  word  in  reference  to  communion  with  the  Church 
of  Rome,  which  derived  a  new  significance  in  the 
turn  men's  minds  were  taking.  "The  true  reason," 
said  Chillingworth,  in  explaining  to  Eomanists  the 
cause  why  Protestants  separated  from  them,  "  is 
not  so  much  because  you  maintain  errors  and 
corruptions  as  because  you  impose  them."  Jeremy 
Taylor  had  bid  men  consider,  "  whether  of  the  two 


88  English  Puritanism. 

is  the  schismatic,  he  that  makes  unnecessary  and 
(supposing  the  state  of  things)  inconvenient  im- 
positions, or  he  that  disobeys  them,  because  he 
cannot,  without  doing  violence  to  his  conscience, 
believe  them:  he  that  parts  communion,  because 
without  sin  he  could  not  entertain  it,  or  they  that 
have  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  separate,  by 
requiring  such  conditions,  which  to  no  man  are 
simply  necessary,  and  to  him  in  particular  are  either 
sinful  or  impossible." 

The  idea,  then,  had  already  touched  the  intellectual 
mountain  tops  of  England  that  uniformity,  which 
had  been  yearned  for  first  by  Laud  and  then  by  the 
Covenanters,  might  not  be  more  desirable,  and  was  a 
thousand-fold  less  practicable,  than  comprehension. 
Unity  in  essentials  ;  diversity  in  forms :  such  was  the 
plan  of  Church  communion  which  was  now  agitating, 
or  composing,  many  minds  in  England. 

Why  could  not  Oliver  attempt  comprehension  on 
even  a  broader  scale  than  that  of  the  Commonwealth 
Church,  and  with  his  strong  arm  helm  it  to 
success "?  For  several  reasons.  Cromwell,  while 
wielding  a  sceptre  at  which  Europe  trembled,  was  not 
himself  free.  He  lay  under  dread  of  the  army.  The 
lion  crouched  at  his  feet,  licked  his  hand,  defended  him 
from  any  power  on  earth  that  could  come  against  him. 
But  he  had  fed  it  with  victory  until  the  very  emotion 
of  fear  had  left  its  heart,  and  he  knew  with  sure 
instinct  that  there  were  one  or  two  things  which 
would  bring  it  in  sudden  irresistible  spring  upon  him- 


Oliver's  Difficulties.  89 

self.  He  dared  not  take  the  name  of  King;  the 
Ironsides  would  not  allow  it :  probably,  also,  he 
dared  not  offend  them  by  proclaiming  that  all  minis- 
ters who  chose  might  use  the  Prayer  Book.  In  the 
second  place,  Cromwell  was  never  accepted  with  any 
cordiality  by  the  subjects  over  whom  he  ruled. 
Clarendon  says  that  the  three  nations  "  perfectly  hated 
him."  This  is  an  exaggeration,  but  it  is  true  that  he 
was  looked  upon  by  the  vast  majority  of  Englishmen, 
Scotchmen,  and  Irishmen  as  a  conqueror  and  usurper. 
The  national  pride  had  been  wounded  by  the  success 
of  a  company  of  soldiers,  chosen  for  particular 
reasons  by  their  commander,  and  having  few  affinities 
with  the  body  of  their  countrymen.  That  indomi- 
table instinct  of  liberty,  which  in  the  history  of 
England  has  so  often  been  identical  with  the  instinct 
of  law,  was  offended  in  Oliver.  The  public  mind 
could  not  balance  the  difficulties  of  his  position,  or 
consider  whether,  at  any  time,  he  might  have  acted 
differently  without  sacrificing  both  his  own  life  and 
the  cause  for  which  he  fought.  The  facts  patent  to 
all  were  that,  by  sheer  military  force,  he  had  turned 
out  of  doors  a  large  number  of  the  representatives  of 
England,  and  that  he  had  used  the  Parliamentary 
instrument,  thus  adapted  to  his  purposes,  to  take  the 
life  of  the  King.  The  English  people  never  forgave 
him.  In  vain  did  he  moderate  between  their  factions, 
earnestly  bent  upon  winning  the  goodwill  of  all.  In 
vain  did  he  offer  the  glittering  toys  of  foreign  in- 
fluence and  martial  glory  to  a  nation  wishing  only 


90  English  Puritanism. 

for  domestic  freedom.  In  vain  did  lie  implore  the 
Presbyterians,  his  breast  heaving  with  transcendent 
passion,  his  eye  radiant  with  tears,  to  mark  how  God 
had  owned  him;  how  often  he  had  been  answered 
from  the  whirlwind ;  how  certain  it  was  that,  if  they 
rejected  him,  the  liberty  to  worship  God,  which  he 
preserved  to  them,  would  be  exchanged  for  remorse- 
less persecution.,  The  nation  would  not  be  concili- 
ated. That  unconquerable  spirit  which  had  wrested 
Magna  Charta  from  John,  which,  when  thoroughly 
roused  had  daunted  Elizabeth,  which  had  stood  with 
Hampden  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber  and  had  blasted 
as  with  lightning  the  proud  front  of  Strafford,  rose  up 
against  Cromwell  and  put  the  question,  "  By  what 
right  dost  thou  rule  in  England '? "  He  wished  to 
govern  by  means  of  Parliaments;  he  held  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  electoral  system  in  his  own  hands, 
and  had  major-generals  to  countenance  loyal  electors : 
but  he  could  neither  coax  nor  compel  England  to  send 
him  a  sycophant  House  of  Commons,  and  he  was 
under  the  necessity  of  turning  from  the  door  nearly  a 
hundred  members  of  the  last  he  called.  It  was  a 
Parliament  from  which  the  vital  essence  had  been 
extracted  that  oifered  Oliver  the  crown,  a  Parliament 
which  had  no  claim  to  represent  this  island.  What 
hope  was  there  that  the  Protector,  unable  to  obtain 
recognition  from  the  kingdom  as  its  lawful  ruler, 
should  introduce  any  scheme  of  ecclesiastical  com- 
prehension granting  conscientious  Episcopalians  that 
access  to  the  Church  which  he  would,  we  believe, 


Richard  Baxter.  91 

have  personally  accorded  them  X  David,  the  man  of 
blood,  could  not  rear  the  temple  of  Jerusalem ; 
Cromwell,  the  victor  of  Naseby  and  Dunbar,  could 
not  build  up  the  walls  of  the  Church. 

As  the  years  of  the  Protectorate  rolled  slowly 
towards  their  close,  preparation  for  a  grand  attempt 
to  substitute  comprehension  for  uniformity  in  the 
ecclesiastical  establishment  of  England,  was  gradually 
proceeding. 

Richard  Baxter  was  the  son  of  a  farmer,  who 
cultivated  his  fields  on  the  banks  of  the  Severn,  at 
the  time  when  Oliver  Cromwell  pursued  a  similar 
occupation  on  the  banks  of  the  Ouse.  Richard  had 
been  born  in  1615,  and  was  an  observing  lad  of 
eighteen  or  twenty,  when  the  beauty  of  holiness  was 
becoming  rather  dazzling  under  the  manipulation  of 
Laud.  The  Baxters  were  disposed,  however,  to  judge 
favourably  of  everything  which  obtained  the  sanction 
of  ecclesiastical  authority.  "  There  was,"  says  Richard, 
"  no  savour  of  Nonconformity  in  our  family."  But 
Dr.  Laud  contrived  to  throw  a  shade  of  plausibility 
on  Nonconformity  even  in  the  eyes  of  this  unex- 
ceptionable household.  The  "  conformable  godly 
teacher,"  who  had  edified  the  village  in  Richard's 
boyhood,  had  ceased  to  be  conformable  when  required 
to  "  read  publicly  the  Book  of  Sports  and  Dancing 
on  the  Lord's  Day  ;"  and  the  pious  rustics,  whose 
conformity  came  up  to  the  mark,  headed  by  a  piper 
who  was  adequately  versed  in  the  principles  of  the 
Laudian  Church,  chose  their  place  of  Sunday  dancing 


92  English  Puritanism. 

"not  an  hundred  yards  from  our  door."  '-We  could 
not,"  adds  Baxter,  "  on  the  Lord's  Day,  either  read  a 
chapter,  or  pray,  or  sing  a  psalm,  or  catechise,  or 
instruct  a  servant,  but  with  the  noise  of  the  pipe  and 
tabor,  and  the  shoutings  of  the  street,  continually  in 
our  ears."  Rather  trying,  that,  for  a  family  with  no 
savour  of  Nonconformity.  The  Baxters  preferred 
reading  the  Scripture  on  the  Lord's  Day,  to  dancing 
round  the  piper,  so  they  were  called  "  Puritans,  pre- 
cisians, and  hypocrites,"  and  were  the  common  scorn 
of  the  enlightened  Laudian  rabble.  Nay  more: 
"  when  the  people  by  the  book  were  allowed  to  play 
and  dance  out  of  public  service  time,  they  could  so 
hardly  break  off  their  sports,  that  many  a  time  the 
reader  was  fain  to  stay  till  the  piper  and  players 
would  give  over.  Sometimes  the  morris-dancers 
would  come  into  the  Church  in  all  their  linen,  and 
scarfs,  and  antic-dresses,  with  morris-bells  jingling  at 
their  heels ;  and  " — so  admirably  did  they  apprehend 
Laud's  exaltation  of  the  Prayer  Book  above  the  ser- 
mon,— "  as  soon  as  the  Common  Prayer  was  read,  did 
haste  out  presently  to  their  play  again."  One  could 
dance  with  some  satisfaction  after  having  honoured 
Church,  king,  and  conscience  to  that  extent.  "  It 
was  a  shame,"  Oliver  Cromwell  once  declared,  re- 
ferring to  exhibitions  like  these,  "to  be  a  Christian, 
within  these  fifteen,  sixteen,  or  seventeen  years,  in 
this  nation."  Young  Baxter  began  to  admit  that 
there  was  something  after  all  to  be  said  for  Noncon- 
formity; but   the  reverence  for  Church  and  throne, 


Richard  Baxter.  93 

which  he  acquired  in  his  father's  house,  never  left 
him. 

He  was  in  the  prime  of  his  opening  manhood  when 
the  wars  broke  out.  A  pure,  high,  intellectual  nature, 
in  speculation  intrepid,  in  simplicity  child-like :  with  a 
brain  of  marvellous  capacity  and  exquisite  subtlety,  and 
a  heart  thrilling  with  hope,  with  ardour,  with  spiritual 
enthusiasm.  He  had  read  fathers  and  schoolmen,  until 
the  scholastic  faith  that  logic  is  omnipotent  stole  over 
his  mind.  From  his  deep,  dark,  eloquent  eye,  glowing 
with  genius  and  purity,  from  his  well-rounded  ample 
forehead,  from  his  sensitive  yet  resolute  lip,  there 
looked  forth  radiant  trust  in  the  good,  the  true,  the 
beautiful,  in  God,  freedom,  immortality,  and  in  the 
power  of  strong  argument  and  clear  word  to  woo  all 
men  to  a  like  faith  and  love.  It  is  an  enviable  frame 
of  mind  if  we  think  only  of  the  anthems  with  which 
it  fills  the  young  bosom,  and  the  touches  of  morning 
crimson  with  which  it  brightens  the  cloud-curtains  of 
the  future :  it  is  not  so  enviable  if  we  reflect  on  the 
obstructions  it  throws  in  the  way  of  success,  and  on 
its  power  to  embitter  the  pang  of  disappointment, 
when  the  smiling  future  becomes  the  haggard  present, 
and  the  soft  hues  of  azure  and  vermilion  dissolve  in 
lashing  sleet  or  pelting  hail.  Richard  Baxter  felt  all 
the  woe  of  this  disappointment,  but  that  blessed  music 
of  faith  in  God,  and  love  to  man,  never  went  silent  in 
the  temple  of  his  soul. 

He  became  a  Presbyterian,  but  not  through  the 
influence  of  Mr.    Robert   Baillie's  book  against  the 


94  English  Puritanism. 

Episcopals,  or  exactly  after  the  fashion  of  that 
reverend  gentleman's  countrymen.  Baxter  is  the 
historical  representative  of  English,  as  distinguished 
from  Scottish,  Presbyterianism.  The  keen  and  im- 
petuous intellect  of  Scotland,  intense  rather  than 
comprehensive,  found  satisfaction  in  a  determinate 
system  of  Church  government,  consistent  in  principle, 
dogma,  and  framework,  and  marked  off  by  sharp 
logical  edges  from  Episcopacy  on  the  one  hand,  and 
Independency  on  the  other.  The  Presbyterianism  of 
that  country  had  indeed  passed  through  a  transition 
stage.  There  had  been  superintendents,  a  sort  of 
apology  for  bishops,  in  the  days  of  Knox.  But  the 
recognition  of  the  presbyter  as  equal,  in  all  essential 
powers  and  functions,  to  the  superintendent,  had 
from  the  first  been  distinct,  and  at  length  every 
vestige  of  Episcopal  form  was  swept  away.  The 
Presbyterians  who  crossed  the  border  from  Scotland 
in  the  Puritan  period,  had  a  strong  antipathy  to  the 
very  name  of  bishop.  The  English  Puritans  were  not 
prepared  to  sympathise  with  this  feeling.  They  were 
familiar  as  a  party  with  the  fundamental  ideas  of 
Presbyterianism.  Like  all  the  early  English  Reformers, 
they  acknowledged  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordi- 
nation, and  the  identity,  in  kind,  of  the  authority  and 
duties  of  all  Christian  pastors.  But  they  had  no 
objection  to  an  episcopacy  of  order,  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  certain  clergymen,  called  bishops,  to  be  over- 
seers of  their  brethren  in  particular  districts.  Again, 
while  they  agreed  with  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland, 


Baxter  and   Cromwell,  95 

in  attaching  importance  to  the  gift  of  prayer,  exercised 
by  the  individual  pastor,  they  saw  no  reason  why  the 
habit  of  extemporary  prayer  should  not  be  combined 
with  a  limited  use  of  liturgical  forms.  Nor,  in  the 
last  place,  did  they  exhibit  that  sensitive  jealousy  of 
the  interference  of  the  civil  magistrate  in  ecclesiastical 
matters,  which  was  so  characteristic  a  feature  of  Scottish 
Presbytery.  Such  were  the  views  of  the  large  party 
in  the  Church  of  England  which  obtained  the  name  of 
Presbyterian ;  and  no  man  had  embraced  them  with 
clearer  apprehension,  or  in  a  more  liberal  spirit,  than 
Eichard  Baxter. 

It  might  be  thought  that  this  would  dispose  him  to 
alliance  with  Cromwell.  The  Protector  was  bent 
upon  securing  as  much  tolerance  as  possible  for  all 
the  Protestant  parties.  But  Baxter  had  a  keen, 
perhaps  a  scrupulous,  sense  of  order:  he  was 
offended,  therefore,  with  Oliver's  encouragement  of 
sectaries.  Along  with  the  whole  Presbyterian  party, 
also,  whether  in  England  or  in  Scotland,  he  had  a 
fervent  affection  for  the  old  monarchy  and  the  royal 
house:  he  could  not  pardon  Cromwell,  therefore, 
for  upsetting  the  throne.  He  was  the  sort  of  man 
whom  Cromwell  in  every  instance  vehemently  sought 
to  win.  For  devoutness  of  intention,  for  spiritual 
religion,  for  high  ability,  Oliver  had  a  simple  and 
reverent  affection ;  and  he  vras  astonished  that  Pres- 
byterians and  Independents  could  not  be  brought 
to  a  cordial  agreement  under  his  rule.  The  formal 
reasonings   of    the    Presbyterians,    who    would    not 


96  English  Puritanism. 

accept  his  logic  of  the  battle-field,  who  would  not 
allow  that  victory  was  always  the  sign  manual  of  God, 
perplexed  and  distressed  him.  He  had  once  joined 
inclose  grapple  of  argument,  on  this  subject,  with  the 
Presbyterian  ministers  of  Edinburgh.  Those  judicious 
persons  told  him  that  they  did  not  hang  their  faith  on 
events.  They  could  believe  that  not  even  the  conqueror 
of  Dunbar  was  necessarily  in  the  right.  There  is  a 
startling  directness  in  Oliver's  reply.  "  Did  not  you," 
he  said,  "  solemnly  appeal  and  pray  ]  Did  not  we 
do  so  too?  And  ought  not  you  and  we  to  think, 
with  fear  and  trembling,  of  the  hand  of  the  great 
God  in  this  mighty  and  strange  appearance  of 
His"  in  the  morning  watches  at  Dunbar?  The 
Scottish  preachers  were  not  convinced,  but  Oliver 
never  fairly  embraced  the  idea  that  his  argu- 
ment could  be  disregarded  by  good  men.  He  re- 
solved to  try  its  force  on  Baxter.  He  sent  for 
him,  and  addressed  to  him  a  speech  of  an  hour's 
length,  explaining  how  Providence  had  manifestly 
directed  the  change  of  government,  how  God  had 
owned  it,  how  Spain  and  Holland  had  been  defeated. 
"He  spoke  tediously  and  slowly,"  says  Baxter,  "weary- 
ing his  hearers."  If  the  speech  was  wearisome,  it 
was  very  different  from  those  of  Oliver's  which  re- 
main to  us,  and  one  could  wish  that  Baxter  had 
inflicted  its  tediousness  upon  posterity.  In  point  of 
fact,  there  was  no  sympathy  between  speaker  and 
hearer ;  and  while  Cromwell  pointed  to  the  cloud  of 
witnessing   events    by    which    God    testified    in    his 


Baxter  and   Cromivell.  97 

favour,  Baxter  surveyed  him  with  a  look  of  waning 
interest  and  immutable  dissent.  At  length  Cromwell 
stopped,  and  then  "  I  told  him,"  says  Baxter,  "  it  was 
too  great  condescension  to  acquaint  me  so  fully  with 
all  these  matters  which  were  above  me;  but  I  told 
him  that  we  took  our  ancient  monarchy  to  be  a 
blessing  and  not  an  evil  to  the  land,  and  honestly 
craved  his  patience  that  I  might  ask  him  how  Eng- 
land had  ever  forfeited  that  blessing,  and  unto  whom 
that  forfeiture  was  made^"  Consider  that  reply, 
after  an  hour's  speech  from  the  foremost  man  in 
Europe!  Cromwell's  patience  was  exhausted.  He 
started  as  a  gladiator  who  felt  the  net  thrown 
over  him,  and  passionately  answered  that  "  it  was  no 
forfeiture,  but  God  had  changed  it  as  pleased  Him." 
For  four  hours  did  Cromwell  and  Baxter  argue,  the 
calm,  elaborate  reasoning  of  the  divine  not  being 
listened  to  with  sufficient  closeness  of  attention  by 
the  general.  "  I  saw,"  says  Baxter,  giving  us  one 
of  the  most  vivid  glimpses  into  Oliver  which  we  have 
from  any  of  his  contemporaries,  "that  ivhat  he  learned 
must  be  from  himself."  His  eager  eye,  his  impetuous 
gestures,  his  voice,  harsh  and  untunable  as  the  quick 
rattle  of  thunder,  grated  on  the  sensibilities  of  the  re- 
fined logician.  Baxter  returned  to  quiet  Kidder- 
minster to  sigh  and  pray  for  the  restoration  of  the 
old  monarchy.  He  had  his  wish ;  he  saw  the  regular 
Defender  of  the  faith  placed  upon  the  throne  ; 
and  year  after  year,  as  he  hearkened  to  the 
groans  of  Presbyterian  pastors  rising  from  the  dun- 

H 


98  English  Puritanism. 

geons  of  England,  he  thought  with  more  tender  recol- 
lection of  the  magnanimous  and  princely  usurper, 
who  had  been  as  a  lion  to  his  arguments,  but  as  a 
lamb  to  himself. 

At  Kidderminster,  Baxter  realized  his  ideal  of  a 
Reformed  pastor,  both  in  usefulness  and  happiness. 
Sir  James  Stephens  glows  into  eloquence,  as  he  turns 
from  the  pageantries  and  the  gloom  of  the  world  to 
look  upon  the  alliance  between  Baxter  and  his  flock. 
"  He,  a  poor  man,  rich  in  mental  resources,  consecra- 
ting alike  his  poverty  and  his  wealth  to  their  service ; 
ever  present  to  guide,  to  soothe,  to  encourage,  and, 
when  necessary,  to  rebuke ;  shrinking  from  no  aspect 
of  misery,  however  repulsive,  nor  from  the  most 
loathsome  forms  of  guilt  which  he  might  hope  to 
reclaim ;  the  instructor,  at  once,  and  the  physician, 
the  almoner  and  the  friend,  of  his  congregation. 
They,  repaying  his  labour  of  love  with  untutored 
reverence ;  awed  by  his  reproofs,  and  rejoicing  in  his 
smile  ;  taught  by  him  to  discharge  the  most  abject 
duties,  and  to  endure  the  most  pressing  evils  of  life, 
as  a  daily  tribute  to  their  Divine  benefactor."  This 
was  the  Sabbath  of  Baxter's  life. 

Though  not  co-operating  with  Oliver  in  the  fur- 
therance of  toleration,  Baxter  had  already  originated 
a  scheme  of  comprehension.  He  declared  himself  for 
"  Catholicism  against  parties,"  and  set  on  foot  an  Asso- 
ciation, in  which  this  idea  was  carried  into  effect.  "As 
we  hindered  no  man,"  he  says,  in  describing  what  would 
now  be  called  the  platform  of  this  Association,  "  from 


Baxter's   Comprehension.  99 

following  his  own  judgment  in  his  own  congregation, 
so  we  evinced,  beyond  denial,  that  it  would  be  but  a 
partial,  dividing  agreement  to  agree  on  the  terms  of 
Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  or  any  one  party,  because  it 
would  unavoidably  shut  out  the  other  parties ;  which 
was  the  principal  thing  which  we  endeavoured  to 
avoid ;  it  being  not  with  Presbyterians  only ;  but 
with  all  orthodox,  faithful  pastors  and  people,  that 
we  are  bound  to  hold  communion,  and  to  live  in 
Christian  concord,  so  far  as  we  have  attained.  Here- 
upon, many  counties  began  to  associate,  as  "Wiltshire, 
Dorsetshire,  Somersetshire,  Hampshire,  Essex,  and 
others ;  and  some  of  them  printed  the  articles  of  their 
agreement.  In  a  word,  a  great  desire  of  concord 
began  to  possess  all  good  people  in  the  land,  and  our 
breaches  seemed  ready  to  heal.  And  though  some 
thought  that  so  many  associations  and  forms  of  agree- 
ment did  but  tend  to  more  division,  by  showing  our 
diversity  of  apprehensions,  the  contrary  proved  true 
by  experience ;  for  we  all  agreed  on  the  same  course, 
even  to  unite  in  the  practice  of  so  much  discipline  as 
the  Episcopal,  Presbyterians,  and  Independents  are 
agreed  in,  and  as  crosseth  none  of  their  principles." 
This  comprehension  of  Baxter's  was  being  carried 
into  execution  during  the  Protectorate;  readers  will 
find  it  important  to  recollect  that  fact. 

Cromwell  died ;  the  most  magnanimous,  generous, 
religious  of  despots ;  but  rejected  to  the  last  by  the 
English  people.  General  confusion  ensued,  the  heart 
of   the    nation    yearning    inarticulately    towards    the 

H  2 


100  English  Puritanism. 

king.  But  no  revolution  in  public  feeling  is  sudden 
in  England,  and  nearly  two  years  elapsed  before  the 
tumultuous  elements  had  worked  towards  such  a  state 
of  composure,  that  what  had  long  been  radically  the 
wish  of  the  nation,  could  be  clearly  expressed,  and 
an  invitation  sent  to  Charles  II.  to  return  to  the  land 
and  the  throne  of  his  fathers.  The  whole  of  that 
party  vaguely  styled  Presbyterian,  a  party  embracing  all 
who  did  not  hold  Episcopacy  to  be  the  only  divinely 
sanctioned  form  of  Church  government,  and  who 
could  conscientiously  engage  in  public  worship 
vy^ithout  use  of  the  Prayer  Book,  hailed  with  exulta- 
tion the  prospect  of  the  restoration,  and  exerted 
themselves  to  the  utmost  in  the  interest  of  the  king. 
This  party  had  become  predominant  after  the  death 
of  Cromwell,  and,  conscious  of  its  power,  was  confi- 
dent also  of  its  ability  to  form  such  a  settlement  as 
should  prove  satisfactory  to  the  majority  of  its 
members. 

In  the  Parliament  which  met  in  April,  1660,  the 
Parliament  which  recalled  the  king,  the  Presbyterian 
influence  reigned  supreme.  The  Independents,  who, 
though  their  most  important  men,  Owen  and  Milton 
for  example,  had  been  steady  supporters  of  Cromwell, 
had  retained  their  reverence  for  the  old  English 
constitution,  assumed  an  attitude  of  dignified  reserve. 
They  did  not  expect,  they  did  not  desire,  compre- 
hension within  the  Church ;  but  they  hoped  for 
honourable  toleration  as  loyal  subjects  of  the  king. 
"  I   have   credibly   heard,"   says    Baxter,    "  that   Dr. 


Independents  and  JPresbi/terians.  101 

Thomas  Goodwin,  Philip  Nye,  and  Dr.  Owen,  the 
leaders  of  the  Independents,  did  tell  the  king, 
that  as  the  pope  allowed  orders  of  religious  parties 
in  mere  dependence  on  himself,  without  subjection 
to  the  bishops,  all  that  they  desired  was  (not  to 
be  the  masters  of  others,)  but  to  hold  their  own 
liberty  of  worship  and  discipline,  in  sole  depen- 
dence on  the  king,  as  the  Dutch  and  French  Churches 
do,  so  they  may  be  saved  from  the  bishops  and 
ecclesiastical  courts." 

It  would  have  been  the  best  policy  for  the  Presby- 
terians,—so  we  now  see  from  the  event, — to  league 
themselves  firmly  with  the  Independents  and  demand 
simple  toleration  outside  the  Church.  But  it  was  not 
in  human  nature  that  a  party,  situated  as  the  Presby- 
terians were,  should  have  contented  themselves  with 
this  clear,  modest,  and  intelligible  programme. 
They  looked  confidently  for  comprehension.  Baxter 
hurried  to  London,  glowing  with  the  ardour  of  one 
who  proceeds  upon  the  chief  enterprise  of  his  life. 
His  intellectual  faculties  were  in  their  meridian 
power,  and  though  his  logic  had  failed  in  that  grand 
attempt  to  argue  Cromwell  into  the  fit  mood  for 
throwing  himself,  with  a  halter  round  his  neck,  at 
the  feet  of  Charles  II.,  he  had  found  it  successful  in 
organising  associations  for  comprehension,  and  in 
reducing  to  silence  the  casuists  of  Kidderminster. 
He  retained  a  passionate  faith  in  its  efficacy.  He 
came  up  in  logical  mail  of  proof,  brandishing  the 
sword  of  argument,  a  combatant  for  peace,  a  gladiator 


102  English  Puritanism. 

for  charity.  He  was  at  first  full  of  hope.  Had  he 
not  ethereal  arms'?  Was  not  truth  irresistibly  con- 
vincing ?  Alas,  the  cynic  may  sneer,  but  the  spec- 
tacle, so  often  presented  in  our  world,  in  Roman 
revolutions,  in  English  revolutions,  in  French  revolu- 
tions, of  virtue  trusting  in  its  own  celestial  arms, 
and  finding  them  insufficient, — of  reason,  moderation, 
brotherly  kindness,  confident  in  the  right,  and  van- 
quished by  force  or  fraud, — is  one  of  the  most 
sublime,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  melancholy, 
presented  in  our  world.  Young  Harry  Vane,  won- 
dering that  men  would  not  open  their  eyes  and 
become  angels  in  a  millennial  kingdom,  dying  on  the 
scaffold, — fair  Madame  Roland,  hailing  with  rapture 
the  doctrine  of  universal  brotherhood,  and  falling,  a 
headless  corse,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of  liberty, — 
Richard  Baxter  inspired  with  the  idea  of  a  national 
Church,  holding  firm  the  central  verities,  but  per- 
mitting its  congregations  to  worship  God  as  each 
interpreted  conscience  and  Scripture,  outwitted  and 
thrust  into  the  dungeon  by  scheming  statesmen, — 
these  are  the  most  mournful  scenes  in  the  tragic 
drama  of  human  history.  Baxter  soon  perceived 
that  his  eloquent  logic  would  have  a  stern  task  to 
perform. 

At  first  all  promised  well.  Several  Presbyterian 
Ministers  had  proceeded  to  Holland  and  conferred 
with  Charles.  They  were  satisfied  with  the  disposi- 
tions of  the  king,  and  the  king  was  pleased  with  the 
ardour  of   their  loyalty.      "  We  found  them,"  said 


Baxter  and  Charles.  103 

Charles,  "  persons  full  of  affection  to  us,  of  zeal  for 
the  peace  of  the  Church  and  State,  and  neither 
enemies,  as  they  have  been  given  out  to  be,  to  Epis- 
copacy or  Liturgy,  but  modestly  to  desire  such  altera- 
tions in  either,  as  without  shaking  foundations,  might 
best  allay  the  present  distempers,  which  the  indispo- 
sition of  the  time  and  the  tenderness  of  some  men's 
consciences  had  contracted."  In  his  Declaration  from 
Breda,  he  promised  that  this  tenderness  of  conscience 
should  be  respected.  AVhen  he  arrived  in  London, 
"  above  ten  or  twelve"  of  the  Presbyterian  Ministers 
were  named  among  his  Chaplains  in  ordinary. 
Baxter,  Calamy,  Reynolds,  Bates,  and  Manton  were 
among  the  number.  The  hopes  of  the  party  rose 
high,  and  Presbyterian  tears  and  sobs  mingled  largely 
in  the  irrepressible  weeping  with  which,  in  the  merry 
month  of  May,  1660,  a  contrite  and  enraptured 
nation  welcomed  back  its  covenanted  king. 

Shortly  after  the  return  of  Charles — it  was  still 
June — Baxter  and  some  others  were  presented  to  the 
king  by  the  Earl  of  Manchester.*  The  irrefragable 
logician,  fixing  upon  Charles  that  deep,  pure  eye, 
which  had  not  quailed  before  Cromwell,  addressed  to 
him  an  exhortation  and  advice.  He  "  presumed  to 
tell"  the  king,  that  the  Protector's  government  had 
found  the  way  of  doing  good  the  most  effectual  to 
promote  their  interests;  that  they  had  encouraged 
faithful  ministers ;  that  the  people  had  been  sensible 
of  the  benefits  they  conferred  ;   and  that,  if  liberty  of 

*  Document,  No.  III. 


104  English  Puritanism. 

worship  were  taken  away,  and  godly  ministers  ex- 
pelled from  their  benefices,  the  nation  might  fall  into 
the  vulgar  error  of  supposing  that  fallen  Oliver,  seeing 
he  had  done  much  good,  was  a  good  governor.  He 
entreated  his  majesty  to  believe  that  the  religious 
part  of  his  subjects,  for  whom,  and  not  for  the  Pres- 
byterians alone  he  spoke,  were  resolved  enemies  of 
sedition,  rebellion,  disobedience,  and  divisions.  He 
urged  the  advantage  of  union  to  his  majesty,  to  the 
people,  and  to  the  bishops  themselves.  From 
exhibiting  the  advantages  of  union,  he  passed 
on  to  show  how  easily  it  might  be  procured.  The 
king  would  require  only,  first,  to  make  things 
necessary  the  terms  of  union ;  secondly,  to  enforce 
discipline  against  sin  ;  thirdly,  to  abstain  from  cast- 
ing out  faithful  ministers,  and  obtruding  unworthy 
men  upon  the  people. 

Cromwell  had  met  Baxter's  logic,  thrust  for  thrust, 
glaring  on  him  with  fiery  eye,  and  paying  little  regard 
to  the  courtesies  of  debate.  Charles  was  all  gracious- 
ness  and  condescension.  He  professed  his  gladness  at 
learning  Baxter's  sentiments,  and  his  resolution  to 
bring  all  parties  together.  Old  Mr.  Ash  burst  into 
tears  of  joy,  and  Baxter  thought  that  his  logic 
had  for  once  vanquished  a  king.  But  when  the 
eloquent  reasoner  pressed  Charles  to  permit  the 
Presbyterian  leaders  to  acquaint  their  brethren  in  the 
country  with  these  proceedings,  so  that  the  whole 
party  might  be  represented  in  the  negotiation,  his 
majesty   was   not   to    be    caught.       He    was   for   no 


First  Presbyterian  Proposals.  105 

assembly  either  on  one  side  or  other,  but  would  bring 
a  few  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians  together, 
to  advise  him  in  the  matter  of  concord.  Baxter  went 
from  the  presence  of  the  rugged,  overbearing  Crom- 
well to  his  peaceful  activity  in  Kidderminster;  he 
may  have  had  some  misgivings  as  he  withdrew  from 
this  interview  with  the  gracious,  soft-spoken  Charles. 
But  he  was  not  the  man  to  be  seduced  to  so  vulgar 
and  illogical  an  opinion  as  that  "he  is  the  best 
governor  who  doth  most  good." 

Baxter,  then,  and  the  few  Presbyterians  who 
happened  to  be  in  and  about  London,  were  to  stand 
alone.  They  knew,  however,  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  people  of  England  were  on  their  side,  and 
they  could  not,  in  a  few  weeks,  cast  off  the  feeling 
that  they  were  pastors  in  what  had  been  for  fourteen 
years  the  Established  Church  of  the  country.  They 
knew  that  their  influence  had  been  powerful  in 
bringing  back  the  king,  and  that  their  interest  was 
strong  in  Parliament.  Naturally,  therefore,  their 
first  proposals,*  made  to  the  king  in  1660,  had  the 
tone  rather  of  concession  than  of  demand,  and  em- 
bodied not  what  would  induce  them  to  remain  in  the 
Church,  but  what  might,  they  thought,  satisfy  all 
moderate  Episcopalians. 

They  set  out  with  declaring  that  they  believed  a 
firm  agreement  to  subsist  between  them  and  their 
brethren  in  the  doctrinal  truths  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  and  in  the  substantial  parts  of  divine  wor- 

*  Documents,  No.  IV,  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII. 


106  English  Puritanism. 

ship,  the  differences  being  only  in  conceptions  of 
Church  government,  and  in  some  particulars  relating 
to  liturgy  and  ceremonies. 

In  Church  government  they  offered  to  accept  the 
scheme  of  Archbishop  Usher.  That  scheme  may  be 
defined  as  Presbyterian  Episcopacy,  or  Episcopalian 
Presbytery  ;  or,  more  correctly,  as  Presbytery  with  an 
Episcopal  organization.  It  retains  the  fundamental 
principle  of  Presbyterianism,  that  all  presbyters  are 
equal,  and  that  there  is  no  Church  ruler  superior  in 
kind  to  the  presbyter.  The  bishop  is  to  be  president 
of  the  Synod  of  presbyters,  but  to  have  no  powers 
belonging  to  him  distinctively  as  bishop.  Not  the 
bishop  alone,  but  the  bishop  and  presbyters,  are  to 
confer  holy  orders ;  and  the  right  to  administer  disci- 
pline and  to  dispense  the  sacraments  belongs  as  much 
to  every  presbyter  as  to  the  bishop.  An  arrangement 
similar  to  this  had  been  adopted  in  Scotland  by  the 
Presbyterian  Knox,  and  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any 
Presbyterian  could  have  conscientious  objections  to 
its  institution.  It  might  seem  inexpedient ;  it  might 
appear  to  lead  to  an  ascription  to  the  perpetual  presi- 
dents, called  bishops,  of  powers  essentially  superior 
to  those  of  presbyters  ;  but  no  mere  president,  no  one 
who  is  only  primus  inter  jmres,  be  he  called  bishop  or 
moderator,  infringes  what  are  deemed  the  scriptural 
ordinances  of  presbytery.  In  point  of  fact,  Arch- 
bishop Usher's  Episcopacy  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  a  happy  adaptation  of  Presbyterianism  to  an 
aristocratic  condition  of  society. 


First  Presbyterian  Proposals.  107 

In  reference  to  the  liturgy,  the  Presbyterians 
declared  themselves  satisfied  of  the  lawfuhiess  of 
liturgical  forms  of  worship,  provided  they  were 
agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  convenient  to  the 
worshipper,  consonant  with  the  liturgies  of  other 
Reformed  Churches,  not  too  rigorously  imposed, 
and  did  not  exclude  extemporary  prayer.  A  cer- 
tain number  of  "  learned,  godly,  and  moderate 
divines"  might,  they  believed,  revise  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  so  as  to  bring  it  into  harmony  with 
these  conditions. 

As  for  ceremonies,  they  repeated  those  objections 
which  had  been  brought  against  them  by  the  Puritans 
for  a  hundred  years.  The  worship  of  God,  they  said, 
is  in  itself  perfect  without  addition  of  ceremonies  ; 
"  God  is  a  jealous  God,"  and  His  worship  "  is  cer- 
tainly then  most  pure,  and  most  agreeable  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel,  and  to  His  holy  and  jealous 
eyes,"  when  it  is  strictly  conformable  to  the  perfect 
rule  of  faith  and  worship  contained  in  the  Word  of 
God.  llie  ceremonies  had,  along  with  popery,  been 
rejected  "  by  many  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
abroad ;"  had  occasioned  endless  contention  and  dis- 
pute ;  had  caused  separation  from  the  Church,  pre- 
judicing rather  than  promoting  her  unity.  They 
next  expressed  that  opinion  on  the  subject  which 
we  found  Hooker  quoting  with  approbation  from 
Calvin,  namely,  that  ceremonies,  being  at  best  but 
indifferent,  ought  sometimes  to  be  changed,  "  lest 
they    should,    by    perpetual    permanency     and    con- 


108  English  Puritanism. 

stant  use,  be  judged  by  the  people  as  necessary 
as  the  substantials  of  worship  themselves,"  Above 
all,  they  besought  his  majesty  not  to  render  un- 
necessary things  by  human  command  "  necessary 
and  penal,"  nor  to  "  impose"  kneeling  at  the 
sacrament  and  the  observance  of  holidays  of  hu- 
man institution.  The  use  of  the  surplice,  and  of 
the  cross  in  baptism,  and  the  practice  of  bowing  at 
the  name  of  Christ,  they  proposed  to  abolish,  "  these 
things  being,  in  the  judgment  of  the  imposers  them, 
selves,  but  indifferent  and  mutable ;  in  the  judgment 
of  others  a  rock  of  offence ;  and,  in  the  judgment 
of  all,  not  to  be  valued  with  the  peace  of  the 
Church." 

They  acknowledged  the  king  "  to  be  supreme 
governor  over  all  persons,  and  in  all  things  and 
causes,  as  well  ecclesiastical  as  civil."  In  this  point 
alone  did  these  Presbyterian  Ministers  depart  from  the 
orthodox  Presbyterian  doctrine,  as  professed  by  the 
Church  of  Calvin  and  of  Knox.  The  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Scotland  never  owned  the  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  of  the  sovereign,  and  at  the  union  between 
England  and  Scotland,  it  was  expressly  stipulated  by 
the  Scotch,  that  the  old  Kirk  should  retain  her 
spiritual  independence. 

Such  was  the  project  of  reconciliation  which 
Baxter  and  his  brethren  submitted,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  Charles.  It  was  properly  a  scheme  of 
comprehension,  embracing  the  Episcopalians  and  the 
Presbyterians    of   England  within   one  ecclesiastical 


Presbyter ian  Scheme  of  Comprehension.      109 

pale.  It  did  not  recognise  the  divine  and  exclusive 
right  of  bishops,  and  in  so  far  it  differed  from  strict 
Episcopacy,  it  did  not  assert  the  spiritual  independence 
of  the  Church,  and  in  this  fell  short  of  the  catholic 
doctrine  of  Presbytery:  but  a  large  number  of  the 
most  eminent  bishops  and  divines  of  the  Church  of 
England  had  held  that  there  is  no  Christian  Minister 
exalted  by  divine  right,  exalted  except  for  purposes 
of  order,  above  the  presbyter ;  and  English  Presby- 
terians had  always  been  more  or  less  "  tainted  with 
Erastianism."  The  scheme  of  Baxter  and  his 
brethren  appears  to  us,  therefore,  a  consummately 
wise  and  ingenious  plan  for  blending  the  two  Churches, 
as  they  had  existed  in  England,  in  harmonious 
and  permanent  union;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that, 
if  it  had  been  adopted,  the  result  would  have 
been  a  vigorous  and  useful  Church,  singularly 
adapted  to  the  conditions  of  English  society,  and 
more  robustly  Protestant  than  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land has  shown  herself  to  be.  And  it  is  highly 
important  to  consider  that  these  Presbyterian  Minis- 
ters, conscientious  men  as  they  were,  had  to  propose 
an  arrangement  which  could  be  accepted  by  nine  or 
ten  thousand  pastors  who  had  been  members  of  the 
Commonwealth  Church.  All  those  had,  to  say  the 
least,  conformed  to  a  Church  recognising  the'equality 
of  presbyters,  and  placing  them  under  no  Episcopal 
superiors.  Not  one  of  all  those  thousands  could  have 
left  the  new  Church  on  account  of  its  Presbyteri- 
anism,  though  a  considerable  number  of  sturdy  Pres- 


110  English  Puritanism. 

byterians  and  Independents  might  have  left  it  on 
account  of  its  Episcopacy.  The  added  elements  were 
all  in  the  direction  of  Episcopacy. 

But  the  bishops,  who  took  up  and  answered  these 
proposals,  rejected  them  with  speed  and  emphasis. 
They  would  have  nothing  to  say  to  Archbishop  Usher's 
scheme,  and  expressed  their  doubts  whether  it  had 
been  really  approved  by  the  Archbishop.  The  Prayer 
Book  was  to  them  perfect  in  all  those  respects  in 
which  the  Presbyterians  had  required  a  liturgy  to 
excel,  and  had  in  their  eyes  none  of  those  blemishes 
which  had  been  said  to  adhere  to  it.  The  ceremo- 
nies of  the  Church  of  England  were  faultless,  and 
the  Protestant  Churches  abroad  had  not,  they  said, 
rejected  them.  In  one  word,  the  bishops  denied  all 
that  the  Presbyterians  asserted ;  asserted  all  that  the 
Presbyterians  denied ;  refused  all  that  the  Presby- 
terians offered  ;  and  offered  the  Presbyterians  nothing 
to  refuse. 

Such  is  human  nature ;  such,  in  particular,  has 
always  been  ecclesiastical  nature.  Nor  can  we  wonder 
that  the  bishops  should  have  adopted  this  course.  A 
few  Episcopalians, — four  or  five  bishops,  and  two  or 
three  hundred  ministers, — had  remained  true  to  their 
first  love  and  first  fiiith,  through  all  the  troubles 
and  temptations  of  the  Commonwealth.  To  them 
Episcopacy  was  a  matter  of  conscience.  They  had 
proved  the  fact  in  an  honourable  and  convincing 
manner.  They  had  taken  no  quarter  from  the  Presby- 
terians ;   they  had  now  obtained  ascendancy,  and  they 


Position  of  the   Presbyterians.  1 1 1 

would  make  no  compromise.  Few  as  they  were, 
they  had  become  irresistibly  powerful  at  this  juncture. 
The  Episcopalians  who  had  conformed,  were  naturally 
tongue-tied:  they  had  bent  to  the  Presbyterian 
stream ;  with  somewhat  more  satisfaction  they  would 
bend  to  the  returning  current  of  Fpiscopacy :  they 
were  like  those  long  weeds  in  an  estuary,  which  show 
which  way  the  tide  is  setting,  but  have  no  influence 
either  to  impede  or  to  impel  it.  The  men  who  had 
suffered  were  now  the  men  who  triumphed,  and  in 
their  triumph  they  would  yield  nothing.  They  were 
resolved,  by  one  resolute  effort,  to  bring  the  long 
controversy  to  a  close,  and  thrust  the  Puritans  from 
the  Church  of  England.  So  far  their  conduct 
admits  of  justification;  but  considering  that  they  had 
triumphed  by  the  magnanimous  patriotism  of  the 
Presbyterian  restorers  of  Charles,  it  was  not  justifi- 
able in  them  to  exact  a  mean  and  ferocious  revenge. 

The  bishops  had  now  shown  their  hand.  Baxter 
and  his  coadjutors  might  be  surprised  and  distressed, 
but  the  circumstance,  had  they  known  how  to  avail 
themselves  of  it,  was  in  their  favour.  There  was 
still  time.  The  year  1660  had  not  closed.  The 
Parliament  which  had  recalled  Charles,  the  Parlia- 
ment which  had  been  elected  while  Presbyterian 
influence  was  supreme  in  England,  still  sat.  It  was 
now  clear  that  the  bishops  would  concede  nothing. 
AVith  the  king  and  with  the  Parliament  lay  the  sole 
chance  of  the  Presbyterians.  A  statesman's  eye 
would  have  perceived  in  a  moment  that  the  weapons  of 


112  English  Puritanism. 

logic  would  prove  useless,  and  would  have  searched  the 
horizon  for  every  element  of  Presbyterian  strength. 
Sheldon  and  Morley  could  not  be  persuaded ;  Claren- 
don and  the  courtiers  would  back  the  bishops ;  the 
Roman  Catholics,  dreading  the  comprehension  of 
Protestant  Nonconformists,  were  intriguing  in  the 
background ;  and  the  tide  of  High  Church  and 
Royalist  feeling,  swollen  by  the  hatred  of  clergymen 
burning  to  mete  out  to  the  Puritans  double  of  all  they 
had  endured,  lashed  into  fury  by  the  invectives  of 
returning  Cavaliers,  and  foul  with  the  spite,  turbid 
with  the  scorn,  of  every  debauchee  whom  the 
Covenant  had  made  a  hypocrite,  was  coming  in  like 
a  flood.  To  plead  with  the  bishops  was  to  plead  with 
men  who  rode  on  the  crest  of  that  impetuous  torrent. 
But  the  Presbyterians  had  the  promise  of  Charles ; 
their  party  still  balanced  the  Cavaliers  in  the  House : 
the  vital  question  for  them  was  not  how  to  debate, 
but  what  to  do. 

Of  the  king  they  seemed  sure.  On  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  October,  1660,  was  issued  his  majesty's 
famous  Declaration*  concerning  ecclesiastical  aff'airs. 
It  acknowledged  the  loyalty  of  the  Presbyterians,  and 
their  zeal  for  peace  in  Church  and  State.  It  recited 
the  promise  given  at  Breda,  that  liberty  should  be 
granted  to  tender  consciences,  and  no  man  disquieted 
or  called  in  question  for  diff'erences  in  matters  of 
religion.  It  declared  that  Presbyterians  and  Episco- 
palians approved  Episcopacy  and  a  set  form  of  liturgy, 

*  Document,  No.  IX. 


The   October  Declaration.  113 

disliked  sacrilege  and  alierration  of  Church  revenues, 
and  were  anxious  to  advance  piety  and  true  godliness. 
A  Defender  of  the  faith,  Charles  thought,  might 
make  something  of  these  materials.  "  If,"  said  the 
religious  and  covenanted  king,  "  upon  these  excellent 
foundations,  in  submission  to  which  there  is  such  a 
harmony  of  affections,  any  superstructures  should  be 
raised,  to  the  shaking  those  foundations,  and  to  the 
contracting  and  lessening  the  blessed  gift  of  charity, 
which  is  a  vital  part  of  Christian  religion,  we  shall 
think  ourself  very  unfortunate,  and  even  suspect  that 
we  are  defective  in  that  administration  of  government 
with  which  God  hath  intrusted  us."  What  an 
appalling  suspicion  to  cross  the  brain  of  Charles  the 
Second!  The  ceremonies, — we  proceed  with  the 
Declaration, — would  not  be  peremptorily  insisted  on* 
Episcopacy  would  be  maintained,  but  moderated. 
Care  would  be  taken  that  the  Lord's  day  should  be 
applied  to  holy  exercises  "  without  unnecessary  diver- 
tisements,"  and  that  insufficient,  negligent,  and 
scandalous  ministers  should  not  be  permitted  in  the 
Church.  The  restored  bishops  were  pronounced  men 
of  "  great  and  exemplary  piety,"  whose  recent  suffer- 
ings had  given  them  the  last  touch  of  perfection ; 
and  only  men  of  virtue,  learning,  and  piety  should, 
for  the  future,  be  preferred  to  the  Episcopal  office. 
Bishops  were  to  be  frequent  preachers.  The  size  of 
dioceses  having  been  thought  too  large,  an  adequate 
number  of  suffragan  bishops  would  be  appointed  in 
every    diocese.       Ordination    and    all    exercises    of 

I 


114  English  JPuritanism. 

discipline  would  take  place  "  with  the  advice  and 
assistance  of  the  Presbyters,"  and  no  act  of  spiritual 
jurisdiction,  such  as  excommunication  or  absolution, 
was  to  be  performed  exclusively  by  lay  officials.  The 
most  learned,  pious,  and  discreet  of  the  Presbyters, 
would  be  chosen  for  deans  and  chapters,  and  a 
number  of  Presbyters,  equal  to  that  of  the  chapter, 
"  annually  chosen  by  the  major  vote  of  all  the 
Presbyters  of  that  diocese,"  would  advise  and  assist 
with  the  chapters  in  ordinations,  excommunica- 
tions, and  so  on.  Confirmation  was  to  be  rightly 
and  solemnly  performed,  by  information  and  with 
consent  of  the  minister  of  the  place ;  none  were  to 
be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  supper  till  they  had  made 
a  credible  profession  of  their  faith ;  and  all  possible 
diligence  was  to  be  used  for  the  instruction  and 
reformation  of  scandalous  off"enders.  Every  rural 
dean  was  to  meet  monthly  with  three  or  four  ministers 
of  his  deanery,  chosen  by  the  Presbyters,  to  receive 
complaints  from  ministers  or  churchwardens,  to  com- 
pose diff'erences  referred  to  them  for  arbitration,  to 
convince  off'enders,  to  reform  things  amiss  by  pastoral 
reproofs  and  adm.onitions,  and  to  prepare  and  present 
to  the  bishop  those  matters  which  could  not,  in  this 
pastoral  and  persuasive  way,  be  composed  and 
reformed.  The  dean  and  his  assistants  were  to  see 
that  the  children  and  younger  sort  were  carefully 
instructed  by  the  respective  ministers  of  every  parish, 
in  the  grounds  of  Christian  religion.  No  bishop 
was  to  exercise  arbitrary  power,  or  impose  anything 


The  October  Declaration.  115 

beyond  the  law  of  the  land.  The  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  was  to  be  preserved ;  but  "  an  equal  number 
of  learned  divines,  of  both  persuasions,"  were  to 
review  the  same,  making  such  alterations  as  should 
be  thought  necessary,  and  adding  certain  forms, 
couched,  as  much  as  might  be,  in  scriptural 
phrase,  which  ministers,  who  preferred  them  to 
the  others,  might  use.  As  for  the  ceremonies, 
they  were  not  to  be  abolished :  but  those  who  found 
them  galling  to  conscience,  were  to  be  indulged  in 
their  omission.  Kneeling  at  the  sacrament,  the  use 
of  the  cross  in  baptism,  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus, 
wearing  the  surplice,  were  left,  for  the  time,  open 
questions,  to  be  decided  and  determined  upon  by  a 
National  Synod.  The  oath  of  canonical  obedience, 
and  the  subscription  required  by  the  canon,  were  to 
be  dispensed  with  in  the  "  ordination,  institution,  and 
induction "  of  clergymen,  and  in  the  taking  of 
university  degrees.  Lastly,  and  to  sum  up  the  whole 
matter,  no  minister  was  to  forfeit  his  benefice  in  virtue 
of  the  Elizabethan  Act  of  Uniformity,  who  "read 
and  declared  his  assent  to  all  the  Articles  of  religion, 
which  only  concern  the  confession  of  the  true 
Christian  faith,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments 
comprised  in  the  Book  of  Articles." 

Such  was  the  Declaration  to  which  Charles  II.  put 
his  hand  "  at  our  court  at  Whitehall,  this  twenty-fifth 
day  of  October,  1660."  It  is  not  pleasant  to  think 
of  the  whole  thing  as  a  trick,  a  piece  of  elaborate 
hypocrisy,  with  which  Clarendon  and  the  bishops  per- 

I  2 


116  English  Puritanism. 

mitted  Charles  to  amuse  the  Presbyterians.  This 
"view  has  been  taken  by  men  whose  authority  is  im- 
posing, by  Hallam,  Macaulay,  and  others,  and  can 
probably  never  be  disproved.  But  we  lean  rather  to 
the  belief  that  Charles  was  sincere,  and  that  he  really 
meant  to  give  the  Presbyterians  the  benefit  of  his 
Declaration.  AVhat  man  so  bad  that  he  has  not  some 
visitings  of  virtue  %  What  heart  so  dead  that  it  has 
absolutely  no  sense  of  the  pleasure  of  generosity  and 
beneficence?  If  a  glow  of  manly  ambition  did  not 
thrill  the  bosom  of  Charles,  if  he  felt  no  aspiration 
to  bear  himself  as  a  king,  no  consciousness  of  royal 
duties,  responsibilities,  and  rewards,  with  the  eyes  of 
a  nation  flashing  blessings  on  him  through  its  tears, 
he  must  have  been  indeed  the  basest  of  mortals.  We 
believe  that  he  would  have  sincerely  rejoiced  to  see 
the  Declaration  become  law. 

And  in  truth  it  was  worthy  of  his  ambition. 
If  he  had  obtained  for  it  the  sanction  of  the 
Houses,  he  would  have  taken  an  honourable  place 
beside  Henry,  Elizabeth,  and  the  other  diademed 
Beformers  of  England.  The  Church  might,  since 
his  day,  have  been  less  pliant  to  the  hand  of  states- 
men; less  exclusive  and  aristocratic;  less  adapted 
to  supply  the  name  and  form  of  religion  to  those 
decent,  respectable  multitudes  who  lack  its  power; 
less  studiously  courteous  and  deferential  to  Rome:  but 
she  would  have  been  the  most  truly  National  Church 
in  Christendom,  loved,  reverenced,  all  but  adored  by 
peer  and  peasant;    and  the  Reformed  Churches  of 


The  Preshyterians  and  the  Declaration.      117 

Europe  would  have  hailed  her  with  acclamations  of 
joy  and  pride  as  the  first  and  noblest  daughter  of  the 
Reformation. 

Now,  Presbyterians,  now,  if  ever,  is  your  moment 
of  destiny !  Let  your  representatives  in  the  metropolis 
hail  the  Declaration  with  shouts  of  welcome ;  let  its 
clauses  be  regarded  as  the  authoritative  basis  of 
union ;  and  let  every  man  of  you  in  England  petition 
Parliament  to  set  it  among  the  statutes  of  the  realm ! 

Alas,  the  Presbyterians  wanted  the  statesman's 
eye.  They  were,  indeed,  elated.  Reynolds  accepted  a 
bishopric  offhand.  Baxter  and  Calamy  signified  their 
willingness  to  become  bishops  when  the  Declaration  was 
law.  The  Presbyterian  ministers  of  London  composed 
a  "humble  and  grateful  acknowledgement,"  glowing 
with  ardent  satisfaction,  accepting  the  Declaration  as 
adequate  to  the  requirements  of  peace  ;  and  laid  it, 
with  their  signatures  attached,  at  the  foot  of  the 
throne.  But  that  passion  for  absolute  logical  perfec- 
tion, which  is  the  distemper  of  noble  minds,  would 
not  let  Baxter  leave  well  alone.  With  an  infatuation 
truly  marvellous,  he  drew  up  a  petition  to  his  majesty, 
expressing  indeed  the  comfort  and  great  joy  with 
which  he  and  his  brethren  regarded  the  Declaration, 
but  criticising  many  of  its  provisions,  and  suggesting 
a  few  additions  and  alterations.*  Oh  for  one  hour  of 
those  canny,  clear-eyed  Scots,  who  put  the  English 
Presbyterians  in  the  way  of  winning  so  much  in 
1610,  one  hour  of  the  Earl  of  Rothes,  or  precious 

•  Document,  No.  XII.     Documents,  No.  X.  and  XI. 


118  English  Puritanism. 

Mr.  Henderson,  or  even  of  the  solid  Mr,  Baillie  of 
Kilwinning,  with  his  irresistible  book  against 
"  Arminian  Episcopals  "  !  These  would  have  shaken 
Baxter  out  of  his  trance  of  security,  his  dream  of 
perfection ;  would  have  torn  up  his  schedule  of  altera- 
tions and  improvements ;  would  have  bidden  him 
haunt  the  lobby  of  the  House,  besiege  every  noble- 
man who  had  the  ear  of  Clarendon  or  the  King,  and 
send  out  emissaries  to  ride,  as  Hampden  rode  from 
county  to  county  before  the  Long  Parliament,  through 
the  length  and  breadth  of  England,  calling  on  the 
people  to  send  to  Westminster  a  unanimous,  urgent 
prayer  that  the  King's  Declaration  might  become  law. 
For,  if  Baxter  did  not  find  the  Declaration  abso- 
lute perfection,  there  were  others  to  whom  it  was 
infinitely  more  displeasing.  Sheldon,  Morley,  and  the 
whole  company  of  Episcopalian  martyrs,  would  have 
considered  it  a  miserable  and  humiliating  surrender 
to  the  Roundheads.  While  Baxter  polished  and 
polished  with  a  view  to  abstract  perfection,  they 
thought  only  of  throwing  the  Declaration  out  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  They  worked  upon  Clarendon. 
They  rallied  the  courtiers  as  one  man  round  the 
banner  of  High  Church.  They  spirited  away  Sir 
Matthew  Hale  from  the  Lower  House  by  having  him 
appointed  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer.  At  length 
their  eff'orts  were  crowned  with  success.  On  the 
twenty-eighth  of  November,  1660,  they  saw  the 
Declaration  rejected  by  a  majority  of  twenty-six. 
Bishop  Sheldon   may  now   breathe    freely ;    Bishop 


The  Declaration  Rejected  hy  Parliament.     119 

Morley  may  give  the  rein  to  his  rustic  wit;  Mr. 
Baxter  may  wake  from  his  trance  exactly  when  he 
pleases  :  alea  jacta  est. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1660,  the  Convention 
Parliament  was  dissolved.  In  the  spring  of  1661, 
the  new  elections  proceeded.  The  nation  was  in  one 
of  those  convulsions  of  loyalty  which  have  recurred 
at  intervals  in  our  history,  and  in  which  the  great 
English  people  has  always  looked  singularly  foolish. 
We  do  not  find  that  there  was  any  elaborate  packing 
of  the  Parliament ;  in  fact,  when  this  nation  has  felt 
strongly  on  any  subject,  the  packing  of  Parliament 
has  proved  a  hopeless  business.  The  Houses  met  on 
the  8th  of  May.  Meanwhile  the  negotiation  between 
the  Presbyterians  and  the  bishops  went  on,  and  that 
meeting  of  an  equal  number  of  learned  divines  of 
both  persuasions,  which  had  been  promised  in  the 
Declaration  of  October,  took  place.  There  were 
twelve  bishops  and  twelve  Presbyterians,  each  party 
being  supported  by  nine  assistant  divines.  They  met 
in  a  palace  in  the  Strand,  built  by  Peter,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  more  than  a  hundred  years  before.  The 
discussion  which  took  place  has  hence  been  named 
the  Savoy  Conference.* 

Bishop  Sheldon,  Bishop  Morley,  Dr.  Gunning,  and 
their  party,  desired  no  comprehension.  To  deny  this 
is  gratuitously  absurd ;  they  never  thought  of  deny- 
ing it  themselves ;  and  any  rational  defence  of  their 
proceedings  must  be  based  upon  the  hypothesis  that, 

*  Documents,  from  No.  XIV.  to  No.  XXIII.  inclusive. 


120  English  Puritanism. 

as  shrewd  ecclesiastical  statesmen,  they  deemed  it 
best  for  the  Church  of  England  to  expel  the  Puritans 
from  her  communion.  Such  was  the  policy  of  High 
Churchmen  at  the  restoration  ;  such  was  the  policy  of 
High  Churchmen  at  the  revolution  ;  and  such,  in  fact, 
is  the  policy  of  High  Churchmen  at  the  present  day. 
Sheldon,  the  ruling  mind  on  the  Episcopalian  side, 
was  an  admirable  representative  of  the  school  of  high 
and  dry  Churchmen,  w^hich  flourished  during  the 
reign  of  Charles  IL,  and  is  in  full  vigour  in  modern 
times.  He  had  none  of  the  intensity,  sincerity, 
narrow  gloom,  or  fanatical  enthusiasm,  of  Laud. 
Princely  in  his  liberalities,  eminent  in  the  discharge 
of  those  hospitable  duties  which  belong  to  a  bishop's 
function,  with  neither  the  reality  nor  the  affectation 
of  saintliness,  but  with  the  courtesy,  urbanity,  and 
manner  of  one  who  shone  in  society,  his  feeling 
in  reference  to  the  Puritans  appears  essentially  to 
have  been  that  their  earnestness,  their  zeal,  their 
insistence  upon  personal  piety,  were  disturbing  ele- 
ments in  a  great  social  and  political  institution  like 
the  Church  of  the  throne  and  the  aristocracy.  He 
was,  what  a  frank  reviewer  of  our  day  has 
pronounced  to  be  ideal  perfection  in  a  bishop, — a 
thorough  man  of  the  world.  He  judged,  and  he  no 
doubt  judged  correctly,  that  a  Church  having  within 
her  borders  the  old  Puritan  life  and  fire,  would  not  be 
the  quiet,  manageable,  inoffensive  Church  which 
courtiers  flatter  and  which  statesmen  love.  He 
preferred  stately  stepping  in  the  old  paths  to  impas- 


The  Savoy  Conference.  121 

sioned  efforts  to  cause  the  face  of  England  to  glow 
with  spiritual  Christianity.  The  Church  was  now  to 
adapt  herself  to  a  society  presided  over  by  Charles  II. ; 
and  Sheldon  instinctively  and  justly  felt  that  peace  could 
not  exist  within  her  borders,  if  the  Puritans,  from 
her  pulpits,  flashed  the  mirror  of  Christian  purity 
upon  the  vices  and  follies  of  the  age.  He  was 
deliberately  resolved,  therefore,  that  they  should  be 
thrust  out,  and  the  more  who  went  the  better. 

Sheldon  took  his  measures  as  an  able  general  who 
knew  what  he  had  to  do,  and  never  turned  his  eye 
from  the  mark.  At  the  first  meeting,  April  15th, 
1661,  he  made  it  plain  that  the  Puritans  were  to 
enter  on  a  campaign  rather  than  engage  in  a  confer- 
ence. Along  with  his  Episcopal  brethren,  he 
assumed  a  defensive  position.  The  Prayer  Book  was 
in  their  eyes  perfect ;  what  did  the  Presbyterians 
wish  to  add  or  to  alter?  The  assumption  of  this 
attitude  was  equivalent  to  a  refusal  to  entertain  the 
question  of  compromise.  The  revision  which  his 
majesty  had  promised  in  the  October  Declaration  was 
not  to  be  executed  as  a  common  work,  in  which  all 
were  presumed  to  have  sympathy,  in  other  words, 
was  not  to  be  revision  at  all.  The  Presbyterians 
had  liberty  to  object,  and  the  Bishops  on  hearing 
what  was  asked,  would  state  what  they  were  pre- 
pared to  concede.  It  was  vain  for  the  Presbyterians 
to  remonstrate.  The  Bishops  had  the  sympathy 
of  the  court,  and  popular  feelitjg  became  every 
day    stronger    against     the    Puritans.       Delay    was 


122  English  Puritanism. 

victory  for  the  prelates ;  silence  or  withdrawal  would 
have  been  interpreted  as  obstinacy  on  the  part  of  the 
Presbyterians.  They  drew  up,  therefore,  their  paper 
of  Exceptions*  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and, 
on  the  4th  of  May,  1661,  presented  it  to  the  Bishops. 

The  leaders  on  the  side  of  the  Presbyterians  were 
Baxter,  Reynolds,  Calamy,  Clarke,  and  one  or  two 
others.  Reynolds,  Calamy,  and  about  half  of  the 
Presbyterian  twelve,  had  sat  in  the  Westminster 
Assembly.  Their  first  paper  of  Exceptions,  though 
approved  of  by  Baxter,  was  not  from  his  pen.  It 
lacks  the  fervour  and  copiousness  which  mark  his 
composition.  It  is,  throughout,  cautious,  cool,  and 
judicious.  This  will,  we  think,  be  assented  to  if  its 
terms  are  fairly  considered,  and  if  we  grant  that  the 
Presbyterians  were  bound,  in  honour  and  in  charity, 
to  proceed  on  the  supposition  that  all  parties  desired 
comprehension. 

The  principles  on  which  they  proposed  to  effect 
union  are  distinctly  stated  at  the  commencement. 
The  first  sentence  in  the  document  is  an  indirect 
but  emphatic  disclaimer  of  all  wish  to  substitute  a 
uniformity  of  their  own  for  the  uniformity  of  the 
Prayer  Book.  It  is  the  expression  of  a  hope  that  the 
bishops,  "  in  imitation  of  his  majesty's  most  prudent 
and  Christian  moderation  and  clemency,"  will  "  bear 
with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,"  and  not  "  measure 
the  consciences  of  other  men  by  the  light  and  latitude 
of  their  own,"  but  consider  of  expedients  fitted  to 

*  Document,  No.  XV. 


The  JPuritan  Exceptions.  123 

unite  in  a  single  communion  "  those  that  differ." 
The  method  of  comprehension  which  they  suggest  is, 
in  one  word,  the  exercise  of  charity  on  the  part  of 
the  Church  towards  her  individual  members.  "  The 
limiting  of  Church  communion,"  they  declare,  "  to 
things  of  doubtful  disputation,  hath  been  in  all  ages 
the  ground  of  schism  and  separation." 

Justice  requires  us  to  view  the  particular  emen- 
dations proposed  by  the  Puritans  on  the  Prayer 
Book  in  the  light  of  these  general  principles.  If 
some  of  their  exceptions  appear  to  us  trivial,  we 
must  recollect  that  the  proposers  seek  not  to  bind 
even  a  trivial  burden  upon  others,  but  crave  that  in 
trivial  matters  there  may  be  no  compulsion  exercised 
upon  themselves.  If  some  of  their  scruples  have 
become  obsolete,  let  us  acknowledge  that  the  fact 
only  confirms  their  main  position,  namely,  that  forms 
of  worship  devised  in  one  age,  and  having,  it  may  be^ 
for  that  age,  a  noble  and  natural  symbolism,  should 
not  be  petrified  into  an  unvarying  type,  and  imposed 
on  men  in  all  ages,  in  all  circumstances,  under  all 
variations  of  habit  and  of  feeling.  They  frankly 
state  that  some  of  their  exceptions  are  "  of  inferior 
consideration,  verbal  rather  than  material,"  others 
"  dubious  and  disputable,"  while  some  appear  to 
them  to  touch  on  serious  corruptions  repugnant 
to  the  rule  of  the  gospel.  They  pray  that  the 
most  important  blemishes  may  be  removed,  and 
that  there  may  be  no  "  rigorous  imposition"  of  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  in  general;     they  do  not  hint 


124  English  Puritanism. 

that,  if  their  own  liberty  is  respected,  they  desire  to 
push  their  model  of  uniformity  upon  others. 

The  particular  exceptions  were  those  which  had 
been  brought  forward  by  the  Puritans  from  the  first, 
and  which  are  taken  to  the  Prayer  Book  at  this  day 
by  the  Evangelical  party  in  the  Church. 

The  Bishops  received  the  paper  from  the  Puritans, 
and  their  Heply  *  was  brief  and  peremptory.  "  For 
preserving  of  the  Church's  peace,  we  know  no  better 
nor  more  efficacious  way  than  our  set  liturgy  " — such 
was  their  frank  and  scornful  avowal.  As  for  tender 
consciences,  let  persons  troubled  with  these  pray  for 
humility  to  think  their  guides  "  wiser  and  fitter  to 
order "  than  themselves.  If  the  ceremonies  were 
not  imposed,  where  was  innovation  to  end]  "If 
pretence  of  conscience  did  exempt  from  obedience, 
laws  were  useless  ;  whosoever  had  not  list  to  obey 
might  pretend  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  be 
thereby  set  at  liberty."  Just  so.  It  is  the  argu- 
ment of  selfish,  timorous,  and  stupid  Conservatism 
in  all  ages;  lay  a  finger  on  Tenterden  steeple, 
and  the  ocean  will  be  upon  us.  For  the  rest, 
the  things  to  which  the  Puritans  took  exception 
were,  the  Bishops  allowed,  "  neither  expressly  com- 
manded nor  forbidden  by  God;"  but  the  Church 
had  a  right  to  impose  them  on  tender  consciences 
because  she  was  commanded  by  the  apostle  to  take 
care  that  all  things  should  be  done  decently  and 
in  order.     A  good  deal  of  argument,  in  the  manner 

*  Document,  No.  XVI. 


The  Reply  of  the  Bishops.  125 

though  not  exactly  in  the  tone  of  Hooker,  was  added, 
with  a  view  to  show  how  unreasonable  it  was  for 
tender  consciences  not  to  fall  quietly  asleep  in  the  lap 
of  mother  Church.  A  list  of  "  concessions  "  was  ap- 
pended to  the  Reply.  It  is  when  we  examine  this  list 
that  we  see  what  a  farce  the  whole  Conference  was, 
so  far  as  the  Bishops  were  concerned.  The  yoke  of 
the  ceremonies  is  not  relaxed  by  a  jot  or  a  tittle. 
The  alteration  of  the  word  "  Sunday  "  into  "  Lord's 
day  "  is  refused.  Not  a  sentence  of  the  Apocrypha 
is  removed.  The  most  important  in  the  seven- 
teen "  concessions "  is  the  omission  of  the  words 
"  sure  and  certain  "  before  "  hope  of  the  resurrection 
to  eternal  life,"  as  expressed  over  the  body  of  every 
man  committed  to  the  grave.  And  these  words,  we 
all  know,  are  in  the  Prayer  Book  to  this  day.  Among 
those  who  have  recently  objected  to  them  were  the 
sons  of  Richard  Carlile,  the  notorious  atheist,  who 
did  not  wish  to  purchase  from  the  Church  a  compli- 
ment to  their  father. 

Charles  had  promised  at  Breda,  and  again  in  his 
October  Declaration,  that  liberty  should  be  granted  to 
tender  consciences.  The  Bishops  had  now  finally 
attached  their  interpretation  to  the  phrase.  The 
Puritans  were  to  have  liberty  to  submit  their  con- 
sciences implicitly  to  the  Church. 

In  presenting  the  Exceptions  to  the  Prayer  Book, 
along  with  a  reformed  liturgy,  which  Baxter  had 
unwisely  drawn  up,  but  which  was  never  meant  by 
the  Presbyterians  to  be  insisted  on  as  a  condition 
of    their    remaining    in    the    Church,    the    Puritan 


126  •  English  Puritanism. 

Commissioners  addressed  to  the  Bishops  a  Petition* 
for  peace  and  concord.  In  this  petition,  and  in 
the  Rejoinder  •]•  to  the  reply  of  the  Bishops  to  the 
exceptions,  it  is  that  we  chiefly  discern  the  part 
played  by  Baxter  in  this  controversy.  There  is  a 
profound  and  noble  pathos  in  the  earnestness  with 
which  he  implores  the  bishops  not  to  deprive  Christ- 
ians, by  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  of  that  liberty 
which  Christ  confers  upon  His  people.  There  is  a 
more  plaintive  sadness,  also  very  touching,  in  the 
accents  in  which  he  prays  that,  in  a  day  of  common 
joy,  when  old  enmities  seem  gone  for  ever,  when  the 
turf  is  growing  green  on  the  battle-field,  the  religious 
and  loyal  subjects  of  his  majesty  may  not  experience 
the  heart-breaking  sorrow  of  beholding  their  pastors 
driven  from  the  Church,  and  ignominiously  silenced. 
There  is  a  very  tender  wisdom,  a  wisdom  which  can 
never  grow  old,  a  wisdom  as  deserving  of  conside- 
ration to-day  as  it  was  two  hundred  years  ago,  in  his 
pleading  on  the  subject  of  conscientious  scruples. 
Was  all  this  suffering  to  be  put  upon  brother  Christ- 
ians for  refusing  conformity  to  things,  in  the  Bishops' 
own  account,  indifferent?  Were  they  to  be  forced 
to  adopt  forms  and  ceremonies  which  seemed  to  them 
to  pass  beyond  the  directions  of  Scripture,  thus  re- 
flecting on  the  Word  as  insufficient,  and  trenching  on 
the  kingly  power  of  Christ?  Suppose  they  were  mis- 
taken: was  theirs  not  a  mistake  to  be  gently  dealt 
with,  a  malady  of  noble  souls'?  Was  it  so  dire 
an  offence    to   be   fearful  of    displeasing  God,   even 

*  Document,  No.  XVII.  f  Documenl,  No.  XVIII. 


Baxters  Petition.  127 

with  the  alternative  of  pleasing  the  Church  %  Was  it 
not  pardonable  to  be  careful  to  obey  Him,  even  at 
the  risk  of  disobeying  His  ministers'?  Did  not  the 
love  of  Christ  instruct  Church  rulers  to  be  tender  of 
those  who  were  tender  of  His  honour,  to  take  heed 
how  they  punished  men  for  taking  heed  of  sin] 
Nay,  did  not  the  love,  common  to  all  human  bosoms, 
still  more  the  special  love  which  binds  Christian  to 
Christian,  commend  reluctance  in  driving  men  by 
penalties  on  that  which,  as  they  believed,  tended  to 
their  everlasting  damnation,  and  which  in  truth,  not 
being  matter  of  faith,  was,  to  them  at  least,  sin  1 
The  Bishops  did  not  allege  difference  in  faith ;  they 
knew  that  the  ministers  whom  they  threatened  to 
exclude,  were  godly  and  energetic  pastors;  would 
they  refuse  liberty  and  communion  on  earth,  to  those 
with  whom  Christ  would  hold  communion  in  grace 
and  glory  1  Baxter  dwells  upon  this  love  of  Christ 
for  His  people,  which  it  seemed  so  strange  to  him 
that  the  bishops  would  not  imitate.  He  recalls  those 
scriptural  passages  in  which  the  varied  fmagery  of 
prophets  and  evangelists  is  employed  to  depict  the 
tenderness,  care,  and  loving  consideration  of  Christ, 
for  those  who  faithfully,  however  feebly,  serve  Him. 
He  reminds  the  prelates  that  Christ  is  a  merciful  high 
priest,  a  gracious  Saviour,  a  tender  Governor,  despising 
not  the  day  of  small  things,  feeding  His  flock  like  a 
shepherd,  gathering  His  lambs  with  His  arm,  and 
carrying  them  in  His  bosom,  not  breaking  the  bruised 
reed,  not  quenching  the  smoking  flax.     "  Bear  with 


128  English  Puritanism. 

us,"  he  exclaims,  "  while  we  add  this  terrible  passage  : 
— '  whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my 
name,  receiveth  me :  but  whoso  shall  offend  one  of 
these  little  ones  that  believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for 
him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck, 
and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea.'  " 

Beyond  prudential  considerations,  the  Bishops  had 
in  reality  but  one  argument  by  which  to  defend  their 
impositions.  St.  Paul,  they  said,  had  directed  that  all 
things  should  be  done  "  zlxr'/yiijbovcog  in  a  fit  scheme, 
habit,  or  fashion,  decently,"  and  that  there  should  be 
a  "  ra^/j,  rule  or  canon  for  that  purpose."  The  con- 
text of  the  passage  in  Paul's  letter  to  the  Corinthians 
(I  Cor.  xiv,  40,)  to  which  the  Bishops  referred, 
renders  its  meaning  indubitable.  Paul  had  given 
many  particular  directions  as  to  praying,  prophe- 
sying, the  conduct  of  women  in  church,  and  so 
on.  In  the  end,  manifestly  to  obviate  the  idea 
that  each  particular  direction  was  to  continue  binding 
under  every  change  of  circumstances,  he  laid  down 
the  general  principle,  to  be  applied  as  circumstances 
required,  '  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in 
order.'  That  this  command  should  enjoin  expulsion 
from  a  Christian  Church  of  thousands  of  devout 
persons,  whose  worship  could  on  no  pretence  be  said 
to  be  indecent  or  disorderly,  on  account  of  variation 
in  the  use  of  a  few  arbitrarily  appointed  signs  or 
vestments,  is  as  monstrous  a  conception  as  ever 
darkened  counsel.  And  if  the  Church  had  a  right 
absolutely  to  impose    certain   rites    unmentioned   in 


Argument  of  the  Bishops.  129 

Scripture,  what  shadow  of  argument  could  be  urged 
against  any  of  the  impositions  of  Rome  ?  '  In  point 
of  fact,  the  Church  of  Rome  had  always  pursued  a 
large  and  generous  course  in  those  matters,  and  the 
Presbyterians  appealed  to  the  diversity  of  liturgical 
manuals  used  in  the  early  mediseval  period.  The 
Church  of  the  Caroline  Act  of  Uniformity  is  the  only 
Church  in  Christendom  which  exacts,  as  a  test  of 
communion,  a  rigid  identity  in  the  observance  of 
certain  positive  ordinances,  not  derived  from  Scrip- 
ture. The  Church  of  Rome  is  indulgent  to  her  chil- 
dren so  long  as  they  are  firm  in  their  affection ;  the 
Presbyterian  and  Congregationalist  Churches  impose 
no  rite  or  ceremony  for  which  they  can  plead  no 
Scriptural  warrant :  the  Church  of  England  alone 
requires  of  her  ministers,  on  pain  of  expulsion,  to 
believe  the  surplice,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  kneeling  at 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus, 
to  constitute  the  identical  and  unchangeable  model  of 
Christian  worship  enjoined  by  Paul  upon  the  Corin- 
thians. "  Grant  us,"  said  Baxter,  "  but  the  freedom 
that  Christ  and  His  apostles  left  unto  the  churches." 
The  Bishops  granted  him  their  "  concessions."  A 
pang  of  inexpressible  sorrow  struck  to  his  heart, 
sorrow  for  the  distress  of  England  and  the  sin  of  the 
prelates,  rather  than  for  the  cruel  sufferings  which  he 
knew  to  be  in  store  for  himself.  "  If  these,"  he  cried, 
"be  all  the  abatements  and  amendments  you  will 
admit,  you  sell  your  innocency,  and  the  Church's 
peace  for  nothing." 


130  English  Puritanism. 

These  may  be  considered  as  Baxter's  last  words 
of  solemn  protest  and  appeal.  The  discussion 
which  followed  was  a  mockery  on  the  part  of  the 
Bishops,  which  had  become  painful  from  its  grossness. 
If  we  carefully  examine  the  report,  however,  we  shall 
find  the  reasoning  of  the  prelates  as  sophistical,  and 
that  of  the  Puritans  as  triumphant,  as  in  the  earlier 
parts  of  the  controversy. 

It  has  been  maintained  that  Baxter  and  his  brethren 
were  insincere  in  their  professions,  and  that  they 
sought  not  comprehension  but  supremacy.  The 
assertion  proves  either  a  great  ignorance  of  the 
character  of  Baxter  and  his  party,  or  a  singularly  un- 
candid  state  of  mind.  We  saw  that  Baxter  advo- 
cated comprehension  before  the  death  of  Cromwell, 
nay,  that  he  organised  a  general  Association  embracing 
all.  Episcopalians,  Presbyterians,  Congregationalists, 
who  held  the  unity  of  the  faith,  but  had  varying 
opinions  touching  form.  In  subsequent  years,  he 
retained,  amid  the  utmost  severities  of  persecution,  a 
reverence  which  may  be  deemed  superstitious  for  the 
Established  Church.  "  We  are  so  far,"  he  said,  in  a 
book  published  in  1683,  "from  desiring  to  draw 
people  from  the  parish  churches  into  conventicles, 
that  we  would  keep  up  the  honour  of  them  to  the 
utmost  of  our  power,  as  knowing  how  greatly  the 
countenance  and  maintenance  of  rulers  conduceth  to 
the  furtherance  of  religion."  He  did  not  object  to 
the  sanction  and  recommendation,  by  a  Church,  of 
particular  rites  and  ceremonies.     The  type  might  be 


The   Views  of  the  I*reshi/terians.  131 

there,  inducing  harmony  if  not  identity,  with  the 
authority  of  custom,  of  public  approval,  of  general 
adoption ;  only  he  would  not  have  it  absolutely 
imposed.  He  objected  to  a  National  Church  only 
when  it  became  a  prison.  It  must,  we  think, 
be  allowed  that  the  views  entertained  by  himself 
and  his  party  of  the  function  of  the  magistrate 
in  religious  affairs  set  them  for  the  next  twenty- 
five  years  in  an  attitude  towards  the  Church  of 
England  inferior  in  dignity  to  that  assumed  by 
John  Owen  and  the  Independents.  These  had  no 
offer  of  compromise  to  make  to  the  Church ;  every 
company  of  Christians  was,  they  believed,  as  much  a 
Church  of  Christ  as  the  proudest  hierarchy  in  the 
world.  But  that  Baxter  was  sincere  in  craving,  not 
supremacy,  but  liberty,  for  his  party,  not  a  surrender 
of  her  old  ritual  by  the  Church,  but  permission  to 
deviate  from  it  within  certain  limits,  is  as  certain  as 
any  fact  in  history. 

Thus  has  the  Conference  of  an  equal  number  of 
divines  of  both  persuasions  ended.  The  Bishops 
hand  over  the  Presbyterians  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  civil  power. 

Parliament  had  met  on  the  8th  of  May,  1661. 
The  House  of  Commons  had  shown  itself  blindly, 
foolishly,  furiously  loyal,  and  rushed  at  once  with 
headlong  impetuosity  upon  Puritanism  and  the 
Puritans.  The  Covenant  was  burnt  by  the  hangman, 
— a  fit  homage,  by  the  basest  House  of  Commons 
England  has  ever  seen,  to  the  loftiest  and  purest  in 

K  2 


132  English  Puritanism. 

spiration  ever  embodied  in  a  political  manifesto !  The 
Bishops  were  recalled  to  the  House  of  Lords ;  the 
Puritans  were  turned  out  of  municipal  corporations ; 
the  Episcopalian  form  of  Church  government  was 
fully  restored.  Still  the  fury  did  not  abate;  the 
pace  did  not  slacken.  The  bull  had  its  head  down, 
its  eyes  shut,  its  mane  erect,  its  tail  in  the  air,  and 
went  straight  forward.  At  last,  concentrating  all  its 
energy  in  one  tremendous  toss,  it  flung  the  Puritans 
clear  over  the  battlements  of  the  Church  of  England. 
This  crowning  triumph  was  achieved  when  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  became  law,  19th  May,  1662. 

The  Act  was  deliberately  intended,  and  ingeniously 
framed,  to  exclude  the  Puritans  from  the  Church.  If 
there  was  the  slightest  relaxation  of  the  ceremonies, 
some  of  them  might  prevail  with  their  consciences  to 
let  them  remain;  therefore,  the  ceremonies  were 
bound  more  closely  than  ever  upon  the  back  of  the 
Church.  It  was  possible  that  a  few  of  them  might 
overcome  their  scruples  in  reference  to  the  passages 
from  the  Apocrypha;  so  Convocation  brought  Bel 
and  the  Dragon,  and  Susannah  and  the  Elders,  to 
reinforce  that  important  point  in  the  Anti-Puritan 
position.  It  was  not  unlikely  that  many  of  them 
might  conform  so  far  as  to  use  the  Prayer  Book, 
though  not  approving  of  everything  it  contained ; 
accordingly,  assent  and  consent  to  all  and  everything 
within  its  boards  were  exacted.  And  lest  all  this 
should  not  be  enough,  the  Presbyterians  were  re- 
quired to  abjure  their  ordination,  to   submit   to  be 


The  Act  of  Uniformifif.  133 

again  admitted  to  holy  orders  by  imposition  of  the 
hands  of  the  Bishop,  to  declare  the  Covenant  an  un- 
lawful oath,  and  to  swear  that  taking  arms  against 
the  King,  for  any  cause  whatever,  was  unlawful.  If 
it  was  in  the  power  of  legislation  to  convert  the 
Church,  as  Baxter  said,  into  a  prison,  this  was  the 
measure  to  effect  the  transformation.  No  Puritan 
who  had  not  a  soul  for  the  dungeon  could  remain 
within  the  Church  on  those  conditions. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  disgrace  of  this  Act  lies 
chiefly  on  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Lords  tried 
to  moderate  their  madness.  The  King  expostulated. 
But  the  Commons  were  determined  to  wreak  their 
vengeance  on  the  Puritans,  and  no  remonstrance  was 
of  any  avail.  We  believe  that  the  enactment  of  the 
Bill  annoyed  Charles.  The  contempt  which  it  osten- 
tatiously exhibited  for  his  Declarations  of  Breda  and 
of  October,  must  have  seemed  to  him  insulting.  But 
firm  interposition  in  any  cause  of  public  interest  and 
personal  honour,  was  not  to  be  expected  from  Charles. 
His  best  quality  was  that  easy  humour,  that  indolent 
facility,  that  capricious  and  fickle  generosity,  which  is 
apt,  as  Mr.  Thackeray  remarks,  to  distinguish  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  whose  views  of  life  correspond, 
generally,  with  those  of  Nell  Gwynn.  Had  he  been 
a  man  of  character  and  principle,  he  would  have  told 
the  Commons  that  he  would  rather  go  again  upon  his 
travels  than  have  his  name  and  reign  branded  with 
such  a  stigma  as  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 

On  the  24th  of  August,  1662,  the  anniversary  of 


134  English  Puritanism. 

the  great  St.  Bartholomew  rriassacre,  the  measure  of 
exclusion  came  into  operation.  Every  incumbent 
who  did  not  on  that  day  pronounce  from  the  pulpit 
all  the  oaths,  professions,  and  engagements  which  it 
prescribed,  ceased,  ipso  facto,  to  be  connected  with 
the  Church  of  England.  There  was  on  that  day 
many  a  conscience  trampled  on  in  the  presence  of 
God.  About  seven  thousand  ministers  who  had 
taken  the  Covenant,  and  conformed  to  a  Presbyterian 
Church,  declared  the  Covenant  an  unlawful  oath,  and 
pronounced  sentence  of  vehement  condemnation  on 
all  they  had  been  doing  for  a  dozen  years.  But  the 
Puritans  stood  firm.  The  Presbyterians  and  Congre- 
gationalists,  numbering  about  two  thousand,  preferred 
the  waste  to  the  prison  house.  Not  allowed  a 
farthing  of  maintenance,  not  permitted  to  preach  to 
their  former  parishioners,  or  to  become  tutors  and 
schoolmasters  in  order  to  earn  a  livelihood,  deprived 
even  of  a  year's  stipend  which  they  had  earned,  they 
deliberately  chose  to  obey  God  rather  than  man.  It 
was  hard,  more  hard  than  we  can  in  these  days  easily 
imagine.  The  smile  of  power  was,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  Presbyterians, 
to  an  extent  which  we  can  neither  admire  nor  appre- 
ciate;  and  the  Presbyterians  of  the  Church  had 
clung  to  the  House  of  Stuart,  longed  for  it,  prayed 
for  it,  agitated  for  it.  In  the  joy  they  had  contributed 
so  largely  to  create,  they  were  denied  a  share ;  the 
peace  which  they  had  hailed  with  transport  was  to 
be  for  them,  desolation. 


Baxter.  135 

Baxter,  who  had  been  a  king's  chaplain,  who  had 
been  offered  a  bishopric,  and  who  had  looked  for  a 
joy  infinitely  greater  than  Charles  could  bestow  in 
winning  for  England  an  august  victory  in  the  cause 
of  truth,  love,  innocency,  and  peace,  was  not  per- 
mitted even  to  resume  his  charge  in  Kidderminster. 
In  suffering  he  became  great.  No  high-wrought  pic- 
ture conveys  to  us  so  touching  a  conception  of  the 
distress  of  the  Nonconformists  as  those  few  simple 
words  in  which  Baxter,  writing  in  1683,  describes  what 
he  and  his  brethren  still  endured.  "  The  jails,"  he 
said,  "  are  filled  with  Nonconformists :  nine  ministers 
are  now  in  Newgate,  and  many  more  in  other  places. 
And  almost  all  of  them  mulct  and  fined  in  far  more 
than  ever  they  were  worth.  Their  goods  and  books 
taken  by  distress :  they  are  fain  to  fly  or  abscond  that 
are  not  in  prison:  their  wives  and  children  in  distress 
and  want:  they  are  judged  by  the  justices  unworthy, 
so  much  as  to  be  summoned  to  answer  for  themselves 
before  they  are  judged,  or  to  be  heard  plead  their 
own  cause,  or  to  know  and  witness  their  accusers  and 
witnesses  ;  but  as  I  myself  was  distrained  of  all  my 
goods  and  books  on  five  convictions  before  ever  I 
heard  of  any  accusation,  or  saw  a  judge,  so  is  it  with 
many  others,  and  more.  In  a  word,  lords,  knights, 
and  clergymen,  take  us  for  insufferable  persons  in  the 
land,  unfit  for  human  society,  enemies  to  monarchy, 
obedience,  and  peace,  and  corporations  promise  to 
choose  such  Parliament  men  as  are  for  our  extir- 
pation." 


136  English  Puritanism, 

Never  man  was  more  loyal  than  Richard  Baxter. 
He  had  a  fastidious  respect  for  authority.  "  We 
abhor  schism,"  he  said  in  1683,  "  and  have  laboured 
to  have  healed  the  wounds  of  the  Church  with  all 
our  power,  these  twenty-two  years  and  more." 
The  old  irrefragable  faith  in  logic,  and  the  calm 
conviction  that,  if  men  only  fairly  considered  his 
arguments,  they  M^ould  be  convinced  and  persuaded, 
remained  with  him  to  the  last.  "  Have  they," 
he  asked,  in  placid  invincibility,  "  answered  my 
Treatise  of  Episcopacy,  my  first  and  second  Plea  for 
Peace,  my  Apology,  my  Treatise  of  the  Terms  of 
Church  Concordl"  No;  and  they  never  will.  Jefferies 
or  Parker  might  make  an  irreverent  jest  upon  the 
subject.  But  answered  or  not,  persecuted  or  in 
prosperity,  no  earthly  power  could  deprive  Richard 
Baxter  of  happiness.  "  My  life,"  he  said,  "  and 
labours  have  been  long  vowed  to  God.  He  hath 
preserved  my  life,  and  succeeded  my  labours  above 
forty  years,  by  a  continual  course  of  remarkable  pro- 
vidence, beyond  my  own  and  other  men's  expecta- 
tions. What  He  hath  thus  given  me,  is  doubly  due 
to  His  service ;  which  hath  been  still  so  good  to  me, 
that  it  hath  made  even  a  painful  life,  a  continual 
pleasure.  He  never  failed  or  forsook  me :  I  dare  not 
ask  any  longer  life  of  Him,  but  for  more  and  longer 
service.  And  if  my  service  be  at  an  end,  why  not 
my  life  also  ?  "  It  is  beautiful ;  it  is  sublime.  With 
that  deep,  steadfast,  melancholy  eye,  Baxter  looks  out 
upon  the  world  of  men,  amazed  that  truth,  innocency, 


Baxter,  137 

love  should  not  win  universal  homage,  but  knowing 
now  with  fixed  certainty  that  men  will  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  their  pleading ;  and  when  the  curtain  of  sad- 
ness seems  about  to  fall  over  him  in  utter  night, 
suddenly  the  God-light  streams  from  beyond,  like 
sunbeams  flushing  through  the  veil  of  evening,  and 
the  joy  of  a  victory  beyond  death  irradiates  his  coun- 
tenance. Even  as  a  thinker  Baxter  did  not  wholly 
fail.  His  own  generation  did  not  listen  to  him,  but 
after  two  centuries,  his  ideas  are  still  new,  and  many 
an  one,  who  lingers  over  the  vision  of  a  Church  of 
England  embracing  within  her  pale  the  whole  reli- 
gious life  of  the  nation,  will  turn  to  his  works  to 
learn  the  true  principles  of  comprehension.  He 
sympathised  with  all  the  most  pure,  high,  and  poetical 
minds  of  his  time,  with  Tillotson,  with  Hale,  with 
Chilling  worth,  with  Taylor,  and  his  thoughts  find 
responsive  echoes  in  the  nineteenth  century  in  the 
writings  of  Coleridge  and  Arnold. 

But  the  position  of  Baxter  and  his  party  was  too 
indeterminate  to  be  firm.  A  more  resolute  and 
thorough-going  race  of  Nonconformists  arose  to  carry 
on  the  Puritan  descent  in  England.  Owen,  with  less 
poetical  feeling  and  glow  of  sympathy  than  Baxter, 
but  of  more  compact  intellectual  structure,  and 
stronger  administrative  judgment,  saw  that  Noncon- 
formists must  turn  from  the  Bacchanalian  rout  of  the 
restoration,  and  learn  to  look  with  compassionate  dis- 
dain on  a  Church  which  stooped  in  those  years  to 
abject   degradation,    which    celebrated    an    infamous 


138  English  Puritanism. 

Court  in  the  drivel  of  Parker  and  the  blasphemy  of 
South.  The  Independents  asked  no  comprehension  ; 
they  wished  only  for  toleration :  and  this  was  the 
most  proper  and  dignified  attitude  to  assume. 

When  James  II.  made  it  plain  to  all  the  world  that 
he  resolutely  purposed  to  lead  Church  and  kingdom 
back  to  Rome,  Presbyterians  and  Independents,  cast- 
ing off  all  grudges,  made  common  cause  with  the 
Church,  and  joined  in  hailing  William.  Once  more 
the  Church  refused  comprehension,  but  the  promises 
of  William  were  not  the  promises  of  Charles.  Tlie 
Toleration  Act  was  passed. 
y/  From  that  day  to  this,  the  Nonconformists  of 
England  have  ever  been  found  in  the  van  of  their 
country's  defenders ;  taunted  and  hated  by  Church- 
men in  time  of  peace,  but  ready  as  of  old,  in 
the  hour  of  peril,  to  stand  side  by  side  with 
all  who  take  rank  in  the  phalanx  which  guards 
the  Protestant  religion  and  the  Constitutional  liber- 
ties of  England. 

Has  not  the  day  come  when  we  may  all  join  in 
admiring  the  valour,  in  acknowledging  the  wisdom? 
in  celebrating  the  virtue,  of  those  English  Puritans  of 
the  seventeenth  century  ?  The  contest  of  that  age  is 
past.  The  thoughts,  the  feelings,  the  interests,  the 
aims,  of  men  have  changed.  Why  should  we,  like 
the  phantom  warriors  after  that  fabled  conflict  of  the 
middle  age,  baptise  our  hate  with  immortality,  and, 
setting  the  battle  in  array  in  the  clouds,  above  the 
field  where  the  faces  of  the  heroes  are  still  and  pale, 


Conclusion.  139 

renew  watchwords  which  have  lost  their  meaning, 
and  grasp  weapons  which  are  shadowy  and  strange  ] 
Did  not  the  Puritans  deserve  well  of  their  country'? 
Was  not  the  crisis  of  the  seventeenth  century  neces- 
sary for  England  ?  What  man  is  there  who  would 
now  deliberately  wish  that  they  had  not  risen  against 
Laud,  and  Strafford,  and  Charles'?  Did  they  not 
make  it  for  ever  impossible  that  England  should 
fall  back  into  feudal  servitude '?  Is  it  not  by  their 
ordinance  that  the  British  monarchy  has  been  the 
temple  of  freedom,  and  that  British  freedom  is  but 
graceful,  spontaneous,  melodious  order'?  The  tumult 
of  those  times  may  shock  a  feminine  sensibility ;  but 
was  it  not  that  agitation  which  rendered  possible 
the  subsequent  development  ■?  Dante  mentions  a 
belief  of  ancient  sages,  that  the  universe  reached  per- 
fection through  successive  periods  of  chaos,  and  that 
the  principle  which  ever  in  the  chaos  worked 
towards  cosmos  was  love.  There  are  chaotic  periods 
in  the  life  of  nations,  and  the  seventeenth  century 
was  one  of  these  in  the  history  of  England;  but 
a  kindly  principle,  a  principle  of  life  and  growth,  a 
love  for  light,  for  truth,  for  liberty,  worked  in  that 
chaos  to  produce  the  gardened  England  which  we 
know. 

If  the  Puritans  had  accepted  from  Charles  the 
peace  of  despotism,  would  England  in  our  own  time 
have  escaped  the  agonies  of  revolution "?  If  the  consti- 
tution had  not   been   vindicated  and  established  by 


140  English  Puritanism. 

religious  Hampdens,  Elliots,  Pyms,  should  we  not 
have  had  our  Marats  and  Robespierres  ]  We  have 
religious  liberty :  had  those  men  not  fought  and  suf- 
fered, might  we  not  have  had  atheistic  license'?  Our 
wildest  political  agitator  demands  now  but  admission 
within  the  pale  of  the  constitution,  the  very  demand 
a  tribute  of  admiration  and  regard :  our  most  timid 
Conservatives  take  their  stand  upon  principles  which 
the  Puritans  asserted  at  the  risk  of  their  lives, 
and  which  there  were  then  none  but  they  to  assert. 
And  if  we  value  the  purity  of  our  domestic  life, 
if  as  a  nation  we  revere  the  household  sanctities 
and  loathe  the  grosser  vices,  may  we  not  look  with 
pride  and  gratitude  on  those  later  Puritans,  who, 
when  tlie  foul  debauch  of  the  restoration  ran  its 
course,  when  adultery  was  a  jest  and  indecency 
a  fashion,  retained  their  purity  of  manners  and 
simplicity  of  conversation,  and  rebuked  from  the 
dungeon  a  Court  of  profligates  and  a  Church  of 
slaves'?  True,  the  Puritans  had  their  faults,  their 
follies,  their  failings.  Eeligion  loses  its  heavenly 
aspect  when  painted  on  banners,  when  the  white 
raiment  of  saints  is  exchanged  for  martial  scarlet, 
and  the  truth  of  God  is  flashed  back  from  the  stained 
and  dinted  mirror  of  the  sword-blade.  Yet  is  there 
an  influence  as  benign  as  it  is  stirring  in  those  periods 
of  human  history  in  which  the  passions  of  the  in- 
tellectual, moral,  spiritual  nature,  convulse  mighty 
peoples. 


Conclusion.  141 

It  is  assuredly  a  truth,  though  Mr.  Carlyle  may 
have  asserted  it  with  something  of  exckisiveness,  that 
certain  generations  of  men  have  shown  more  than 
others  of  celestial  purpose,  of  hallowed  aspiration,  of 
faith  in  the  Unseen,  the  Eternal,  the  Divine.  Physi- 
cal achievement,  material  power,  comfort  and  placid 
listlessness  in  domestic  life, — these  are  the  reigning 
ideas  of  our  age.  To  rear  pyramids  of  gold,  to  pave 
the  land  with  iron  highways,  to  send  our  words  in 
the  electric  flash  under  the  roar  of  oceans,  to  add 
ever  new  adornment  to  our  houses  of  clay,  to  touch 
with  richer  embroidery  of  gold  and  crimson  the  couch 
of  luxury — these  are  our  aims.  Such  were  not  the 
ideas,  such  were  not  the  aims,  of  the  Puritan  period. 
It  may  be  well  for  us  to  realise,  in  intellect  and  im- 
agination, a  time  when  all  minds  were  differently 
toned;  when  men  looked  upward  to  tlie  heaven  of 
God  rather  than  downward  to  the  little  world  with  its 
dainties,  its  fashions,  its  social  conventions;  when  high 
spiritual  impulses  were  not  deemed  proofs  of  inferior 
culture;  and  when  the  most  practical  statesman  waited 
reverently  and  fearfully  on  the  providence  of  God. 
The  Puritans  did  not  succeed  in  making  England,  as 
Baxter  said,  the  porch  of  heaven,  with  the  hymn  of 
praise,  the  accents  of  prayer,  rising  from  her  myriad 
families  to  greet  the  break  of  morn,  and  hail  the 
evening  star.  In  the  close  surveillance  of  the  indi- 
vidual life  which  the  Puritans  demanded  from  the 
Church,  there  may  have  been  something  irremediably 
alien    to    the    imperious    instinct    of    personal    and 


142  English   Puritanism. 

domestic  freedom  which  dwells  in  all  Englishmen. 
Yet  their  conception  of  earth  as  a  place  of  w^aiting 
and  of  worship,  not  of  complete  present  satisfaction, 
is  one  we  must  retain  if  we  retain  our  Christianity; 
and  according  as  we  embrace  or  as  we  scorn  the 
main  ideas  by  which  they  were  animated,  shall  we 
rise  into  grandeur,  or  dwindle  into  insignificance. 


THE    END. 


NORWICH  :    PUl.NTED    BY   J.    FLKTCilEB. 


DOCUMENTS 

RELATING  TO  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND 
BY   THE  ACT  OF  UNIFORMITY   OF   1662. 

EDITED    BT 

THE    REV.    GEO.    GOULD. 


This  volume  has  been  published  in  illustration  of 
the  Act  of  Uniformity.  The  series  of  Documents, 
now  for  the  first  time  issued  in  a  connected  form, 
exhibits  the  relations  of  the  King,  the  Parliament, 
the  Bishops,  and  the  Presbyterian  divines  to 
each  other  in  the  discussions  which  preceded  and 
resulted  in  that  measure :  and  the  various  Acts, 
reprinted  in  this  volume,  which  were  intended 
to  harass  and  destroy  the  Nonconformists,  will 
enable  every  reader  to  judge  of  the  relentless 
animosity  with  which  those  peaceable  and 
conscientious  citizens  were  persecuted. 

Had  it  not  been  for  increasing  the  bulk  of 
the  volume,  some  other  Acts  and  papers  would 
have  been  included  in  it;  but  it  is  hoped  that 
the  collection  now  made  is  complete  for  all 
practical  purposes. 


The  example  of  sucli  accomplished  editors  as 
Wilkins  and  Cardwell — in  whose  costly  collections 
of  documents  relating  to  the  Church  of  England 
many  of  the  following  papers  have  heen  formerly 
reprinted — has  heen  followed  in  the  preparation 
of  this  volume.  The  orthography  has  heen 
modernized,  and  the  punctuation  has  been  cor- 
rected. In  every  other  respect  the  Documents 
appear  in  their  original  form. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  Declaration  of  King  Charles  II  from  Breda  ...        I 
II.  Interview  of  the    Presbyterian    Ministers   with    King 

Charles  II  at  Breda         ......       4 

III.  Discourse  of  the  Ministers  with  King  Charles  II   in 

London  ........       (3 

IV.  The  first  Address  and  Proposals  of  the  Ministers  .         •      \'^ 
V.  Archbishop  Ussher's  Model  of  Church  Government       .     22 

VI.  Requests   verbally   presented   to    King    Charles   II  in 
consequence   of   the    Act   for  restoring  the  English 

Clergy 26 

VII.  The    Bishops'   Answer   to   the   first   Proposals   of  the 
London    Ministers,     who    attempted    the    work    of 
reconcilement  .  .         .  .  .         .  .27 

VIII.  A  Defence  of  our  Proposals  to  His  Majesty  for  Agree- 
ment in  Matters  of  Religion    .         .  .         .         .39 

IX.  His  Majesty's  Declaration  to  all  his  loving  subjects  of 
his   kingdom    of   England   and  dominion  of   Wales 
concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs         .  .  .  .63 

X.  The  Petition  of  the  Ministers  to  the  King  upon  the  first 

draft  of  his  Declaration  ......     79 

XI.  Alterations  in  the  Declaration  proposed  by  the  Ministers     98 
XII.  Humble  and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  some  Ministers 

of  London  for  the  Declaration  .         .  ,         .101 

XIII.  A  Proclamation  prohibiting  all  unlawful  and  seditious 
meetings  and  conventicles  under  pretence  of  religious 
worship  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .104 


2  Declaration  from  Breda.  [1660. 

that  our  right,  with  as  little  blood  and  damage  to  our  people 
as  is  possible :  nor  do  we  desire  more  to  enjoy  what  is  ours, 
than  that  all  our  subjects  may  enjoy  what  by  law  is  theirs, 
by  a  full  and  entire  administration  of  justice  throughout  the 
land,  and  by  extending  our  mercy  where  it  is  wanted  and 
deserved. 

And  to  the  end  that  the  fear  of  punishment  may  not  en- 
gage any  conscious  to  themselves  of  what  is  past  to  a 
perseverance  in  guilt  for  the  future,  by  opposing  the  quiet 
and  happiness  of  their  country  in  the  restoration  both  of 
king,  peers,  and  people  to  their  just,  ancient,  and  fundamental 
rights,  we  do  by  these  presents  declare,  that  we  do  grant  a 
free  and  general  pardon,  which  we  are  ready  upon  demand, 
to  pass  under  our  great  seal  of  England,  to  all  our  subjects, 
of  what  degree  or  quality  soever,  who  within  forty  days  after 
the  publishing  hereof  shall  lay  hold  upon  this  our  grace  and 
favour,  and  shall  by  any  public  act  declare  their  doing  so, 
and  that  they  return  to  the  loyalty  and  obedience  of  good 
subjects ;  excepting  only  such  persons  as  shall  hereafter  be 
excepted  by  parliament.  Those  only  excepted,  let  all  our 
subjects,  how  faulty  soever,  rely  upon  the  word  of  a  king, 
solemnly  given  by  this  present  Declaration,  that  no  crime 
whatsoever  committed  against  us  or  our  royal  father,  before 
the  publication  of  this,  shall  ever  rise  in  judgment,  or  be 
brought  in  question,  against  any  of  them,  to  the  least  en- 
damagement of  them,  either  in  their  lives,  liberties,  or  estates, 
or  (as  far  forth  as  lies  in  our  power)  so  much  as  to  the  preju- 
dice of  their  reputations,  by  any  reproach,  or  term  of 
distinction  from  the  rest  of  our  best  subjects ;  we  desiring 
and  ordaining,  that  henceforward  all  notes  of  discord,  separa- 
tion, and  difference  of  parties,  be  utterly  abolished  among 
all  our  subjects;  whom  we  invite  and  conjure  to  a  per- 
fect union  among  themselves,  under  our  protection,  for 
the  resettlement  of  our  just  rights  and  theirs,  in  a  fi'ee 
parliament ;  by  which,  upon  the  word  of  a  king,  Ave  will  be 
advised. 

And  because  the  passion  and  uncharitableness  of  the  times 


1660.]  Declaration  from  Breda.  3 

have  produced  several  opinions  in  religion^  by  which  men 
are  engaged  in  parties  and  animosities  against  each  other; 
which,  when  they  shall  hereafter  unite  in  a  freedom  of 
conversation,  will  be  composed,  or  better  understood ;  we 
do  declare  a  liberty  to  tender  consciences ;  and  that  no 
man  shall  be  disquieted,  or  called  in  question,  for  differ- 
ences of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion  which  do  not 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom;  and  that  we  shall  be 
ready  to  consent  to  such  an  act  of  parliament,  as,  upon 
mature  deliberation,  shall  be  offered  to  us,  for  the  full 
granting  that  indulgence. 

And  because  in  the  continued  distractions  of  so  many 
years,  and  so  many  and  great  revolutions,  many  grants 
and  purchases  of  estates  have  been  made  to  and  by  many 
officers,  soldiers,  and  others,  who  are  now  possessed  of 
the  same,  and  who  may  be  liable  to  actions  at  law,  upon 
several  titles ;  we  are  likewise  willing  that  all  such  differ- 
ences, and  all  things  relating  to  such  grants,  sales,  and 
purchases,  shall  be  determined  in  parliament;  which  can 
best  provide  for  the  just  satisfaction  of  all  men  who  are 
concerned. 

And  we  do  farther  declare,  that  we  will  be  ready  to 
consent  to  any  act  or  acts  of  parliament  to  the  purposes 
aforesaid,  and  for  the  full  satisfaction  of  all  arrears  due 
to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Monk ;  and  that  they  shall  be  received 
into  our  service  upon  as  good  pay  and  conditions  as  they 
now  enjoy. 

Given  under  our  sign  manual,  and  privy  signet,  at  our 
court  at  Breda,  the  j\th  day  of  April,  1660,  in  the 
twelfth  year  of  our  reign. 


Interview  at  Breda.  [1660. 


II. 


Interview  of  the  Presbyterian  Ministers  with  King  Charles  II 
at  Breda. — Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  bk.  xvi, 
§§  243—4,  Oxford,  1849,  vol.  vi,  pp.  261—3. 

With  these  committees  from  the  parliament  and  from  the 
city,  there  came  a  company  of  clergymen,  to  the  number  of 
eight  or  ten,  who  would  not  be  looked  upon  as  chaplains  to 
the  rest,  but  being  the  popular  preachers  of  the  city, 
(Reynolds,  Calamy,  Case,  Manton,  and  others,  were  the  most 
eminent  of  the  Presbyterians,  and)  desired  to  be  thought  to 
represent  that  party.  They  [entreated]  to  be  admitted  all 
together  to  have  a  formal  audience  from  his  majesty,  where 
they  were  tedious  enough  in  presenting  their  duties,  and 
magnifying  the  affections  of  themselves  and  their  friends, 
who,  they  said,  had  always,  according  to  the  obligation  of 
their  covenant,  wished  his  majesty  very  well,  and  had  lately, 
upon  the  opportunity  that  God  had  put  into  their  hands, 
informed  the  people  of  their  duty ;  which  they  presumed  his 
majesty  had  heard  had  proved  effectual,  and  been  of  great  use 
to  him.  They  thanked  God  for  his  constancy  to  the 
protestant  religion,  and  professed  that  they  were  no  enemies 
to  moderate  episcopacy,  only  desired  that  such  things  might 
not  be  pressed  upon  them  in  God's  worship  which,  in  their 
judgment  who  used  them,  were  acknowledged  to  be  matters 
indifferent,  and  by  others  were  held  unlawful. 

The  king  spake  very  kindly  to  them,  and  said  [that]  he  had 
heard  of  their  good  behaviour  towards  him,  and  that  he  had 
no  purpose  to  impose  hard  conditions  upon  them  with  refer- 
ence to  their  conscience ;  they  well  knew  that  he  had  referred 
the  settling  all  differences  of  that  nature  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
parliament,  which  best  knew  what  indulgence  and  toleration 
was  necessary  for  the  peace  and  the  quiet  of  the  kingdom. 
But  his  majesty  could  not  be  so  rid  of  them;  but  they 
desired  several  private  audiences  of  him ;    which   he   never 


1660.]  Interview  at  Breda.  5 

denied;  wherein  they  told  him,  that  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  had  been  long  discontinued  in  England,  and  the  people 
having  been  disused  to  it,  and  many  of  them  having  never 
heard  it  in  their  lives,  it  would  be  much  wondered  at,  if  his 
majesty  shoidd,  at  his  first  landing  in  the  kingdom,  revive 
the  use  of  it  in  his  own  chapel,  whither  all  persons  would 
resort ;  and  therefore  they  besought  him  that  he  would  not 
use  it  so  entirely  and  formally,  and  have  some  parts  only  of 
it  read,  with  mixture  of  other  good  prayers,  which  his 
chaplains  might  use. 

The  king  told  them  with  some  warmth,  that  whilst  he 
gave  them  liberty,  he  would  not  have  his  own  taken  from 
him;  that  he  had  always  used  that  form  of  service,  which  he 
thought  the  best  in  the  world,  and  [had  never  discontinued 
it]  in  places  where  it  was  more  disliked  than  he  lioped  it  was 
by  them ;  that  when  he  came  into  England,  he  would  not 
much  inquire  how  it  was  used  in  other  churches,  though  he 
doubted  not  he  should  find  it  used  in  many ;  but  he  was  sure 
he  would  have  no  other  used  in  his  own  chapel.  Then  they 
besought  him  with  more  importunity,  that  the  use  of  the 
surplice  might  be  discontinued  by  his  chaplains,  becaiise  the 
sight  of  it  would  give  great  oifence  and  scandal  to  the  people. 
They  found  the  king  as  inexorable  in  that  point  as  in  the 
other;  [he]  told  them  plainly,  that  he  would  not  be  res- 
trained himself,  when  he  gave  others  so  much  liberty  ;  that 
it  had  been  always  held  a  decent  habit  in  the  church, 
constantly  practised  in  England  till  these  late  ill  times ;  that 
it  had  been  still  retained  by  him ;  and  though  he  was  bound 
for  the  present  to  tolerate  much  disorder  and  undecency  in 
the  exercise  of  God's  worship,  he  would  never  in  the  least 
degree  discountenance  the  good  old  order  of  the  church  in 
which  he  had  been  bred  by  his  own  practice.  Though  they 
were  very  much  unsatisfied  with  him,  whom  they  thought  to 
have  found  more  flexible,  yet  they  ceased  further  troubling 
him,  in  hope  and  presumption  that  they  should  find  their  im- 
portunity in  England  more  efiectual. 


Discourse  with  the  King.  [1660, 


III. 


Discourse  of  the  Ministers  with  King  Charles  II  in  London. — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  229 — 32. 

For  the  gratifying  and  engaging  some  chief  Presbyterians, 
that  had  brought  in  the  king ;  by  the  Earl  of  Manchester's 
means,  (who  then  being  Lord  Chamberlain,  it  belongeth  to 
his  place)  above  ten  or  twelve  of  them  were  designed  to  be 
the  king's  Chaplains  in  Ordinary.  Mr.  Calamy,  and  Dr. 
Reynolds  were  first  put  in ;  and  then  Mr.  Ash  was  impor- 
tuned to  accept  it,  and  then  they  put  me  in  for  one :  (Mr. 
Nath.  Newcoraen  refused  it)  :  and  then  Dr.  Spurstow,  Dr. 
Wallis,  Dr.  Bates,  Dr.  Manton,  Mr.  Case,  &c.,  were  admitted. 
But  never  any  of  them  was  called  to  preach  at  court,  saving 
Mr.  Calamy,  Dr.  Reynolds,  myself,  and  Dr.  Spurstow,  each 
of  us  once  :  and  I  suppose  never  a  man  of  them  all  ever 
received  or  expected  a  penny  for  the  salary  of  their  places. 

When  I  was  invited  by  the  Lord  Broghill,  (afterwards  Earl 
of  Orrery)  to  meet  him  at  the  Lord  Chamberlain's ;  they  both 
persuaded  me  to  accept  the  place,  to  be  one  of  his  majesty's 
Chaplains  in  Ordinary.  I  desired  to  know  whether  it  were 
his  majesty's  desire,  or  only  the  effect  of  their  favourable 
request  to  him.  They  told  me  that  it  was  his  majesty's  own 
desire,  and  that  he  would  take  it  as  an  acceptable  furtherance 
of  his  service.  Whereupon  I  took  an  oath  from  the  Lord 
Chamberlain,  as  a  household  servant  of  his  majesty's,  to  be 
true  and  faithful  to  him,  and  discover  any  conspiracy  I 
should  know  of,  &c.  And  I  received  this  certificate  from 
him  : — 

These  are  to  certify,  that  Richard  Baxter,  Clerk,  hath  been 
sworn  and  admitted  Chaplain  to  the  king's  majesty  in  Ordi- 
nary, to  have   and   enjoy  all  rights,  profits,  and  privileges 


1660.]  Discourse  with  the  King.  7 

thereunto  belonging.  Given  under  my  hand  this  26th  of 
June,  1660,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  sovereign 
lord  the  king. 

Ed.  Manchester. 

When  I  was  with  these  two  lords  on  this  occcasion,  I  told 
them  what  conferences  I  had  with  several  episcopal  men 
about  the  terms  of  an  agreement  or  coalition,  and  how  much 
it  concerned  the  interest,  both  of  the  king  and  of  religion, 
that  we  might  be  so  united,  and  what  unhappy  consequences 
else  would  follow,  and  how  easy  I  thought  an  agreement 
with  moderate  men  would  be,  and  on  what  terms  Bishop 
Ussher  and  I  had  agreed  in  a  little  space.  A  little  after  the 
Lord  Broghill  was  pleased  to  come  to  me ;  and  he  told  me, 
that  he  had  told  the  king  of  the  business  of  a  conference  for 
an  agreement,  and  that  the  king  took  it  very  well,  and  was 
resolved  to  further  it.  And  about  the  same  time  the  Earl  of 
Manchester  signified  as  much  to  Mr.  Calamy :  so  that  Mr. 
Calamy,  Dr.  Reynolds,  Mr.  Ash,  and  myself  went  about  it  to 
the  Earl  of  Manchester,  Lord  Chamberlain,  and  after  con- 
sultations of  the  business  with  him,  he  determined  of  a  day 
to  bring  us  to  the  king.  Mr.  Calamy  (to  whom  both  I,  and 
I  think  all  the  rest,  did  leave  the  nomination  of  the  persons 
to  be  employed)  advised  that  all  that  were  the  king's  chap- 
lains of  us  might  be  called  to  the  consultation,  and  that  we 
four  might  not  seem  to  take  so  much  upon  us  without  others  : 
(if  we  did  not  go  once  without  them  to  the  king,  which  I  well 
remember  not,  that  was  all)  :  so  Dr.  Wallis,  Dr.  Manton, 
and  Dr.  Spurstow,  &c.,  went  with  us  to  the  king :  who  with 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  the  Earl  of  St.  Albans,  &c.,  came 
to  us  in  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  lodgings.  We  exercised 
more  boldness  at  first,  than  afterwards  would  have  been 
borne  :  when  some  of  the  rest  had  congratulated  his  majesty's 
happy  restoration,  and  declared  the  large  hope  which  they 
had  of  a  happy  union  among  all  Dissenters  by  his  means,  &c., 
I  presumed  to  speak  to  him  of  the  concernments  of  religion, 
and  how  far  we  were  from  desiring  the  continuance  of  any 


8  Discourse  with  the  King.  [1660 

factions  or  parties  in  the  churchy  and  how  much  a  happy 
union  would  conduce  to  the  good  of  the  land,  and  to  his 
majesty's  satisfaction ;  and  though  there  were  turbulent 
fanatic  persons  in  his  dominions,  yet  that  those  ministers 
and  godly  people,  whose  peace  we  humbly  craved  of  him, 
were  no  such  persons,  but  such  as  longed  after  concord,  and 
were  truly  loyal  to  him,  and  desired  no  more  than  to  live 
under  him  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and 
honesty ;  and  whereas  there  were  differences  between  them 
and  their  brethren  about  some  ceremonies  or  discipline  of 
the  Church,  we  humbly  craved  his  majesty's  favour  for  the 
ending  of  those  differences,  it  being  easy  for  him  to  interpose, 
that  so  the  people  might  not  be  deprived  of  their  faithful 
pastors,  nor  ignorant,  scandalous,  unworthy  ones  obtruded  on 
them !  I  presumed  to  tell  him,  that  the  people  that  we 
spake  for  were  such  as  were  contented  with  an  interest  in 
heaven,  and  the  liberty  and  advantages  of  the  gospel  to  pro- 
mote it ;  and  if  this  were  taken  from  them,  and  they  were 
deprived  of  their  faithful  pastors,  and  liberty  of  worshipping 
God,  they  would  take  themselves  as  undone  in  this  world, 
whatever  plenty  else  they  should  enjoy :  and  the  hearts  of 
his  most  faithful  subjects,  who  hoped  for  his  help,  would  even 
be  broken  :  and  that  we  doubted  not  but  his  majesty  desired 
to  govern  a  people  made  happy  by  him,  and  not  a  broken 
hearted  people,  that  took  themselves  to  be  undone,  by  the  loss 
of  that  which  is  dearer  to  them  than  all  the  riches  of  the 
world !  And  I  presumed  to  tell  him  that,  the  late  usurpers 
that  were  over  us  so  well  understood  their  own  interest,  that 
to  promote  it,  they  had  found  the  way  of  doing  good  to  be  the 
most  effectual  means,  and  had  placed  and  encouraged  many 
thousand  faithful  ministers  in  the  Church,  even  such  as  de- 
'  tested  their  usurpation :  and  so  far  had  they  attained  their 
ends  hereby,  that  it  was  the  principal  means  of  their  interest 
in  the  people,  and  the  good  opinion  that  any  had  conceived 
of  them ;  and  those  of  them  that  had  taken  the  contrary 
course  had  thereby  broken  themselves  to  pieces.  Wherefore  I 
humbly  craved  his  majesty's  patience,  that  we  might  have 


1660.]  Discourse  with  the  King.  9 

the  freedom  to  request  of  him,  that  as  he  was  our  lawful 
king,  in  whom  all  his  people  (save  a  few  inconsiderable 
persons)  were  prepared  to  centre,  as  weary  of  their  divisions, 
and  glad  of  the  satisfactory  means  of  union  in  him,  so  he 
would  be  pleased  to  undertake  this  blessed  work  of  promoting 
their  holiness  and  concord  :  (for  it  was  not  faction  or  disobe- 
dience which  we  desired  him  to  indulge :)  and  that  he  would 
never  suffer  himself  to  be  tempted  to  undo  the  good 
which  Cromwell  or  any  other  had  done,  because  they  were 
usurpers  that  did  it,  or  discountenance  a  faithful  ministry 
because  his  enemies  had  set  them  up :  but  that  he  would 
rather  outgo  them  in  doing  good,  and  opposing  and  rejecting 
the  ignorant  and  ungodly  of  what  opinion  or  party  soever : 
for  the  people  whose  cause  we  recommend  [ed]  to  him  had 
their  eyes  on  him  as  the  officer  of  God,  to  defend  them  in  the 
possession  of  the  helps  of  their  salvation,  which,  if  he  were 
pleased  to  vouchsafe  them,  their  estates  and  lives  would  cheer- 
fully be  offered  to  his  service.  And  I  humbly  besought  him 
that  he  would  never  suffer  his  subjects  to  be  tempted  to  have 
favourable  thoughts  of  the  late  usurper,  by  seeing  the  vice 
indulged  which  they  suppressed;  or  the  godly  ministers  or 
people  discountenanced  whom  they  encouraged.  For  the  com- 
mon people  are  apt  to  judge  of  governors  by  the  effects,  even 
by  the  good  or  evil  which  they  feel :  and  they  will  take  him 
to  be  the  best  governor  who  doth  them  most  good,  and  him 
to  be  the  worst  who  doth  them  most  hm-t :  and  all  his  enemies 
cannot  teach  him  a  more  effectual  way  to  restore  the  reputa- 
tion and  honour  of  the  usurpers,  than  to  do  worse  than  they, 
and  destroy  the  good  which  they  had  done,  that  so  he  may 
go  contrary  to  his  enemies ;  and  so  to  force  the  people  to  cry 
out,  we  are  undone  in  loss  of  the  means  of  our  salvation :  it 
being  a  hard  matter  ever  to  bring  the  people  to  love  and 
honour  him  by  whom  they  think  they  are  undone,  in  com- 
parison of  those  that  they  think  made  them  happy,  though 
the  one  have  a  just  title  to  be  their  governor,  which  the  other 
hath  not. 

And  again  I  humbly  craved,  that  no    misrepresentations 


10  Discourse  with  the  King.  [1660. 

miglit  cause  him  to  believe  that^  because  some  fanatics  have 
been  factious  and  disloyal,  therefore  the  religious  people  in 
his  dominions,  who  are  most  careful  of  their  souls,  are  such, 
though  some  of  them  may  be  dissatisfied  about  some  forms 
and  ceremonies  in  God's  worship  which  others  use  :  and  that 
none  of  them  might  go  under  so  ill  a  character  with  him,  by 
misreports  behind  their  backs,  till  it  were  proved  of  them 
personally,  or  they  had  answered  for  themselves  :  for  we  that 
better  knew  them  than  those  that  were  like  to  be  their 
accusers,  did  confidently  testify  to  his  majesty  on  their  behalf, 
that  they  are  resolved  enemies  of  sedition,  rebellion,  dis- 
obedience, and  divisions ;  which  the  world  shall  see,  and  their 
adversaries  be  convinced  of,  if  his  majesty's  wisdom  and 
clemency  do  but  remove  those  occasions  of  scruple,  in  some 
points  of  discipline  and  worship  of  God,  which  give  advantage 
to  others  to  call  all  dissenters  factious  and  disobedient,  how 
loyal  and  peaceable  soever.  And  I  humbly  craved  that  the 
freedom  and  plainness  of  these  expressions  to  his  majesty 
might  be  pardoned,  as  being  extracted  by  the  present  necessity, 
and  encouraged  by  our  revived  hopes.  I  told  him  also,  that  it 
was  not  for  Presbyterians,  or  any  party,  as  such,  that  we 
were  speaking,  but  for  the  religious  part  of  his  subjects, 
as  such;  than  whom  no  prince  on  earth  had  better;  and  how 
considerable  part  of  the  kingdom  he  would  find  them  to  be; 
and  of  what  great  advantage  their  union  would  be  to  his 
majesty,  to  the  people,  and  to  the  bishops  themselves ;  and 
how  easily  it  might  be  procured, — 1.  By  making  only  things 
necessary  to  be  the  terms  of  union.  2.  And  by  the  true 
exercise  of  church  discipline  against  sin.  3.  And  not  casting 
out  the  faithful  ministers  that  must  .exercise  it,  nor  obtruding 
unworthy  men  upon  the  people.  And  how  easy  it  was  to 
avoid  the  violating  of  men's  solemn  vows  and  covenants, 
without  any  hurt  to  any  others.  And  finally,  I  requested 
that  we  might  but  be  heard  speak  for  ourselves,  when  any 
accusations  were  brought  against  us. 

These,  with  some  other  such  things,  I  then  spake,  when 
some  of  my  brethren  had  spoken  first.     Mr.  Simeon  Ash  also 


1660.]  Discourse  with  the  King.  11 

spake  much  to  the  same  purpose,  and  of  all  our  desires  of  his 
majesty's  assistance  in  our  desired  union. 

The  king  gave  us  not  only  a  free  audience,  but  as  gracious 
an  answer  as  we  could  expect :  professing  his  gladness  to  hear 
our  inclinations  to  agreement,  and  his  resolution  to  do  his 
part  to  bring  us  together ;  and  that  it  must  not  be  by  bringing 
one  party  over  to  the  other,  but  by  abating  somewhat  on  both 
sides,  and  meeting  in  the  midway ;  and  that  if  it  were  not 
accomplished,  it  should  belong  of  ourselves,  and  not  of  him. 
Nay,  that  he  was  resolved  to  see  it  brought  to  pass,  and  that 
he  would  draw  us  together  himself:  with  some  more  to  this 
purpose.  Insomuch  that  old  Mr.  Ash  burst  out  into  tears 
with  joy,  and  could  not  forbear  expressing  what  gladness  this 
promise  of  his  majesty  had  put  into  his  heart. 

Either  at  this  time,  or  shortly  after,  the  king  required  us 
to  draw  up,  and  offer  him  such  proposals  as  we  thought  meet, 
in  order  to  agreement  about  church  government;  for  that 
was  the  main  difference :  if  that  were  agreed  there  would  be 
little  danger  of  differing  in  the  rest :  and  he  desired  us  to  set 
down  the  most  that  we  could  yield  to. 

We  told  him,  1.  That  we  were  but  a  few  men,  and  had  no 
commission  from  any  of  our  brethren  to  express  their  minds : 
and  therefore  desired  that  his  majesty  would  give  us  leave  to 
acquaint  our  brethren  in  the  country  with  it,  and  take  them 
with  us.  The  king  answered,  that  that  would  be  too  long, 
and  make  too  much  noise,  and  therefore  we  should  do  what 
we  would  our  selves  only,  with  such  of  the  city  as  we 
would  take  with  us.  And  when  we  then  professed  that  we 
presumed  not  to  give  the  sense  of  others,  nor  oblige  them ; 
and  that  what  we  did  must  signify  but  the  minds  of  so  many 
men  as  were  present;  he  answered,  that  it  should  signify 
no  more ;  and  that  he  did  not  intend  to  call  an  assembly  of 
the  other  party,  but  would  bring  a  few,  such  as  he  thought 
meet :  and  that  if  he  thought  good  to  advise  with  a  few  of 
each  side,  for  his  own  satisfaction,  none  had  cause  to  be 
ofiFended  at  it. 

[2.]  Also  we  craved  that  at  the  same  time  when  we  offered 


12  First  Address  and  [1660. 

our  concessions  to  the  king,  the  brethren  on  the  other  side  might 
bring  in  theirs,  containing  also  the  uttermost  that  they  could 
abate  and  yield  to  us  for  concord,  that  seeing  both  together, 
we  might  see  what  probability  of  success  we  had.  And  the 
king  promised  that  it  should  be  so. 

Hereupon  we  departed  and  appointed  to  meet  from  day  to 
day  at  Sion  College,  and  to  consult  there  openly  with  any  of 
our  brethren  that  would  please  to  join  with  us,  that  none 
might  say  they  were  excluded :  some  city  ministers  came 
among  us,  and  some  came  not;  and  divers  country  ministers 
who  were  in  the  city  came  also  to  us ;  as  Dr.  Worth,  since  a 
bishop  in  Ireland,  Mr.  Fulwood,  since  Archdeacon  of  Totnes, 
&c.  But  Mr.  Matthew  Newcomen  was  most  constant  in 
assisting  us. 


IV. 


The  first  Address  and  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.^ — Reliquiae 
Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  232 — 6;  Cardwell's  History 
of  Conferences,  pp.  277—86,  Oxford,  1849. 

May  it  please  your  most  excellent  majesty, 

We  your  majesty's  most  loyal  subjects  cannot  but  acknowledge 
it  as  a  very  great  mercy  of  God,  that  immediately  after  your 
so  wonderful  and  peaceable  restoration  unto  your  throne  and 

'  Of  the  preparation  of  this  paper,  Baxter  gives  the  following  account:— 
"Mr.  Calamy  drew  up  most  with  Dr.  Reynolds;  Dr.  Reynolds  and  Dr. 
"  Worth  drew  up  that  which  is  against  the  ceremonies ;  I  only  prevailed 
"  with  them  to  premise  the  four  first  particulars,  for  the  countenancing 
"  godliness,  the  ministry,  personal  profession,  and  the  Lord's  day :  they  were 
"  backward,  because  they  were  not  the  points  in  controversy ;  but  yielded  at 

"last  on  the  reasons  offered  them I  also  prevailed  with  our  brethren 

"  to  offer  an  abstract  of  our  larger  papers,  lest  the  reading  of  the  larger 
"  should  seem  tedious  to  the  king ;  which  abstract  verbatim,  as  followeth,  at 
"  their  desire  I  drew  up." — Life,  by  Sylvester,  p.  232. 


1660.]  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.  13 

government,  (for  which  we  bless  his  Name)  he  hath  stirred 
up  your  royal  heart  as  to  a  zealous  testimony  against  all 
profaneness  in  the  people,  so  to  endeavour  a  happy  compos- 
ing of  the  differences,  and  healing  of  the  sad  breaches  which 
are  in  the  church.  And  we  shall,  according  to  our  bound  en 
duty,  become  humble  suitors  at  the  throne  of  grace,  that  the 
God  of  peace  who  hath  put  such  a  thing  as  this  into  your 
majesty's  heart,  will  by  his  heavenly  wisdom  and  holy  Spirit  so 
assist  you  therein,  and  bring  your  resolutions  unto  so  perfect 
an  effect  and  issue,  that  all  the  good  people  of  these  kingdoms 
may  have  abundant  cause  to  rise  up  and  bless  you,  and  to  bless 
God  who  hath  delighted  in  you  to  make  you  his  instrument 
in  so  happy  a  work.  That  as  your  glorious  progenitor  Henry 
VII  was  happy  in  uniting  the  houses  of  Lancaster  and  York, 
and  your  grandfather.  King  James  of  blessed  memory,  in 
uniting  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,  so  this 
honour  may  be  reserved  for  your  majesty  as  a  radiant  jewel 
in  your  crown,  that  by  your  princely  wisdom  and  Christian 
moderation,  the  hearts  of  all  your  people  may  be  united, 
and  the  unhappy  differences  and  mis-understandings  amongst 
brethren  in  matters  ecclesiastical  so  composed,  that  the 
Lord  may  be  one,  and  his  Name  one  in  the  midst  of  your 
dominions. 

In  an  humble  conformity  to  this  your  majesty's  Christian 
design,  we,  taking  it  for  granted  that  there  is  a  firm  agreement 
between  our  brethren  and  us  in  the  doctrinal  truths  of  the 
reformed  religion,  and  in  the  substantial  parts  of  divine  wor- 
ship, and  that  the  differences  are  only  in  some  various  con- 
ceptions about  the  ancient  form  of  church-government,  and 
some  particulars  about  liturgy  and  ceremonies,  do  in  all 
humble  obedience  to  your  majesty  represent, — that  inasmuch 
as  the  ultimate  end  of  church-government  and  ministry  is, 
that  holiness  of  life  and  salvation  of  souls  may  be  effectually 
promoted,  we  humbly  desire  in  the  first  place,  that  we  may 
be  secured  of  those  things  in  practice,  of  which  we  seem  to 
be  agreed  in  principles. 

1.  That  those  of  our  flocks  who  are  serious  and  diligent 


14  First  Address  and  [1660- 

filjout  the  matters  of  their  salvation,  may  not  by  words  of 
scorn,  or  any  abusive  usages,  be  suffered  to  be  reproachfully 
handled;  but  have  liberty  and  encouragement  in  those 
Christian  duties  of  exhorting  and  provoking  one  another  unto 
love  and  good  works,  of  building  up  one  another  in  their  most 
holy  faith,  and  by  all  religious  and  peaceful  means  of  fur- 
thering one  another  in  the  ways  of  eternal  life ;  they  being 
not  therein  opposite  to  church-assemblies,  nor  refusing  the 
guidance  and  due  inspection  of  their  pastors,  and  being 
responsible  for  what  they  do  or  say. 

2.  That  each  congregation  may  have  a  learned,  orthodox, 
and  godly  pastor  residing  amongst  them,  to  the  end  that  the 
people  may  be  publicly  instructed  and  edified  by  preaching 
every  Lord's  day,  by  catechising,  and  frequent  administration 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  of  Baptism,  and  other  ministerial 
acts  as  the  occasions  and  necessities  of  the  people  may  re- 
quire both  in  health  and  sickness ;  and  that  effectual  provision 
of  law  be  made,  that  such  as  are  insufficient,  negligent,  or 
scandalous,  may  not  be  admitted  to,  or  permitted  in  so  sacred 
a  function  and  employment. 

3.  That  none  may  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  till 
they  competently  understand  the  principles  of  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  do  personally  and  publicly  own  their  baptismal 
covenant,  by  a  credible  profession  of  faith  and  obedience ;  not 
contradicting  the  same  by  a  contrary  profession,  or  by  a  scan- 
dalous life  :  and  that  unto  such  only  confirmation  (if  continued 
in  the  church)  may  be  administered :  and  that  the  approbation 
of  the  pastors  to  whom  the  catechising  and  instructing  of  those 
under  their  charge  do  appertain,  may  be  produced  before  any 
person  receive  confirmation;  which  course  we  humbly  con- 
ceive will  much  conduce  to  the  quieting  of  those  sad  disputes 
and  divisions  which  have  greatly  troubled  the  church  of  God 
amongst  us,  touching  church-members  and  communicants. 

4.  That  an  effectual  course  be  taken  for  the  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  Lord's  day,  appropriating  the  same  to  holy 
exercises  both  in  public  and  private  without  unneces- 
sary divertisements ;  it  being  certain  and  by  long  experience 


1660.]  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.  15 

found,  that  the  observation  thereof  is  a  special  means  of 
preserving  and  promoting  the  power  of  godliness,  and  ob- 
viating profaneness. 

Then  for  matters  in  difference,  viz.,  church-government, 
liturgy,  and  ceremonies,  we  most  humbly  represent  unto  your 
majesty  : 

1 .  First,  for  church-government ;  that  although  upon  just 
reasons  we  do  dissent  from  that  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  or 
prelacy  disclaimed  in  the  covenant,  as  it  was  stated  and  exer- 
cised in  these  kingdoms;  yet  we  do  not,  nor  ever  did 
renounce  the  true  ancient  primitive  episcopacy  or  presi- 
dency as  it  was  balanced  and  managed  by  a  due  commixtion 
of  presbyters  therewith,  as  a  fit  means  to  avoid  corrup- 
tions, partiality,  tyranny,  and  other  evils  which  may  be 
incident  to  the  administration  of  one  single  person :  which 
kind  of  attempered  episcopacy  or  presidency,  if  it  shall,  by 
your  majesty's  grave  wisdom  and  gracious  moderation,  be  in 
such  a  manner  constituted,  as  that  the  fore-mentioned,  and 
other  like  evils  may  be  certainly  prevented,  we  shall  humbly 
submit  thereunto. 

And  in  order  to  a  happy  accommodation  in  this  weighty 
business,  we  desire  humbly  to  offer  unto  your  majesty  some 
of  the  particulars,  which  we  conceive  were  amiss  in  the 
episcopal  government,  as  it  was  practised  before  the  year  1640. 

1 .  The  great  extent  of  the  bishop's  diocese,  which  was  much 
too  large  for  his  own  personal  inspection,  wherein  he  undertook 
a  pastoral  charge  over  the  souls  of  all  those  within  his 
bishopric,  which  must  needs  be  granted  to  be  too  heavy  a 
burthen  for  any  one  man's  shoulders :  the  pastoral  office  being  a 
work  of  personal  ministration  and  trust,  and  that  of  the 
highest  concernment  to  the  souls  of  the  people,  for  which 
they  are  to  give  an  account  to  Christ. 

2.  That  by  reason  of  this  disability  to  discharge  their 
duty  and  trust  personally,  the  bishops  did  depute  the  ad- 
ministration of  much  of  their  trust,  even  in  matters  of 
spiritual  cognizance,  to  commissaries,  chancellors,  and  of- 
ficials,   whereof  some  were  secular  persons,  and   could   not 


16  First  Address  and  [1C60. 

administer  that  power   which  originally  appertaineth  to  the 
pastors  of  the  ehurch. 

3.  That  those  bishops  who  affirm  the  episcopal  office  to  be 
a  distinct  order  by  divine  right  from  that  of  the  presbyter, 
did  assume  the  sole  power  of  ordination  and  jurisdiction  to 
themselves. 

4.  That  some  of  the  bishops  exercised  an  arbitrary  power, 
as  by  sending  forth  their  books  of  articles  in  their  visitations, 
and  therein  unwarrantably  inquiring  into  several  things,  and 
swearing  the  churchwardens  to  present  accordingly.  So  also 
by  many  innovations  and  ceremonies  imposed  upon  ministers 
and  people  not  required  by  law^ ;  and  by  suspending  ministers 
at  their  pleasure. 

For  reforming  of  which  evils,  we  humbly  crave  leave  to 
offer  unto  your  majesty, 

1.  The  late  most  reverend  primate  of  Ireland  his  "  Reduction 
of  episcopacy  unto  the  form  of  synodical  government,  re- 
ceived in  the  ancient  church;"  as  a  ground-work  towards  an 
accommodation  and  fraternal  agreement  in  this  point  of 
ecclesiastical  government ;  which  we  the  rather  do,  not  only 
in  regard  of  his  eminent  piety  and  singular  ability,  as  in  all 
other  parts  of  learning,  so  in  that  especially  of  the  antiquities 
of  the  church ;  but  also,  because  therein  expedients  are  offered 
to  the  healing  of  these  grievances. 

2.  And  in  order  to  the  same  end,  we  further  humbly  desire, 
that  the  suffragans  or  chorepiscopi,  mentioned  in  the  primate's 
'^  Reduction,"  be  chosen  by  the  respective  synods,  and  by 
that  election  may  be  sufficiently  authorized  to  discharge  their 
trust.  That  the  associations  may  not  be  so  large  as  to 
make  the  discipline  impossible,  or  to  take  off  the  ministers 
from  the  rest  of  their  necessary  employment. 

3.  That  no  oaths,  or  promises  of  obedience  to  the  bishops, 
nor  any  unnecessary  subscriptions  or  engagements  be  made 
necessary  to  ordination,  institution,  induction,  ministration, 
communion,  or  immunities  of  ministers,  they  being  responsible 

•  This  last  clause  is  wanting  in  the  MS.  copy  preserved  in  tlie  Tanner 
papers.— Cardwell. 


1660.]  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.  17 

for  any  transgression  of  the  law.  And  that  no  bishops,  nor 
any  ecclesiastical  governors,  may  at  any  time  exercise  their 
government  by  their  own  private  will  or  pleasure ;  but  only  by 
such  rules,  canons  and  constitutions,  as  shall  be  hereafter 
by  act  of  parliament  ratified  and  established :  and  that  suf- 
ficient provision  of  law  may  be  made  to  secure  both  ministers 
and  people  against  the  evils  of  arbitrary  government  in  the 
church. 

2.    CONCERNING    THE    LITURGY. 

1.  We  are  satisfied  in  our  judgments  concerning  the  law- 
fulness of  a  liturgy,  or  form  of  public  worship;  provided 
that  it  be  for  the  matter  agreeable  unto  the  word  of  God, 
and  fitly  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  several  ordinances,  and 
necessities  of  the  church;  neither  too  tedious  in  the  whole, 
nor  composed  of  too  short  prayers,  unmeet  repetitions  or 
responsals :  not  to  be  dissonant  from  the  liturgies  of  other 
reformed  churches;  nor  too  rigorously  imposed;  nor  the 
minister  so  confined  thereunto,  but  that  he  may  also  make 
use  of  those  gifts  for  prayer  and  exhortation  which  Christ 
hath  given  him  for  the  service  and  edification  of  the  church. 

2.  That  inasmuch  as  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  hath  in 
it  many  things  that  are  justly  offensive  and  need  amendment, 
hath  been  long  discontinued,  and  very  many,  both  ministers 
and  people,  persons  of  pious,  loyal,  and  peaceable  minds,  are 
therein  greatly  dissatisfied;  whereupon,  if  it  be  again  im- 
posed, will  inevitably  follow  sad  divisions,  and  widening  of 
the  breaches  which  your  majesty  is  now  endeavouring  to  heal; 
we  do  most  humbly  offer  to  your  majesty's  wisdom,  that  for 
preventing  so  great  evil,  and  for  settling  the  church  in  unity 
and  peace,  some  learned,  godly,  and  moderate  divines  of  both 
persuasions,  indifferently  chosen,  may  be  employed  to  compile 
such  a  form  as  is  before  described,  as  much  as  may  be  in 
Scripture  words ;  or  at  least  to  revise  and  effectually  reform 
the  old,  together  with  an  addition  or  insertion  of  some  other 
varying  forms  in  Scripture  phrase,  to  be  used  at  the  minis- 
ter's choice;  of  which  variety  and  liberty  there  be  instances 
in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


18  First  Address  and  [1660. 

3.    CONCERNING  CEREMONIES. 

We  humbly  represent  that  we  hold  ourselves  obliged,  in 
every  part  of  divine  worship,  to  do  all  things  decently,  in 
order,  and  to  edification,  and  are  willing  therein  to  be  deter- 
mined by  authority  in  such  things  as  being  merely  circum- 
stantial, are  common  to  human  actions  and  societies,  and 
are  to  be  ordered  by  the  light  of  nature  and  Christian  pru- 
dence, according  to  the  general  rules  of  the  Word,  which  are 
always  to  be  observed. 

And  as  to  divers  ceremonies  formerly  retained  in  the 
Church  of  England,  we  do  in  all  humility  offer  unto  your 
majesty  these  ensuing  considerations  : 

That  the  worship  of  God  is  in  itself  perfect,  without  having 
such  ceremonies  affixed  thereto.^ 

That  the  Lord  hath  declared  himself  in  the  matters  that 
concern  his  worship  to  be  "  a  jealous  God;'^  and  this  worship 
of  his  is  certainly  then  most  pure,  and  most  agreeable  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel,  and  to  his  holy  and  jealous  eyes,  when 
it  hath  least  of  human  admixtures  in  things  of  themselves 
confessedly  unnecessary  adjoined  and  appropriated  thereunto; 
upon  which  account  many  faithful  servants  of  the  Lord, 
knowing  his  word  to  be  the  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  worship, 
by  which  they  must  judge  of  his  acceptance  of  their  services, 
and  must  be  themselves  judged,  have  been  exceeding 
fearful  of  varying  from  his  will,  and  of  the  danger  of  dis- 
pleasing him  by  additions  or  detractions  in  such  duties 
wherein  they  must  daily  expect  the  communications  of  his 
grace  and  comfort,  especially  seeing  that  these  ceremonies 
have  been  imposed  and  urged  upon  such  considerations  as 
draw  too  near  to  the  significancy  and  moral  efficacy  of  sacra- 
ments themselves. 

That  they  have,  together  with  popery,  been  rejected  by 

'  To  this  clause  the  Tanner  MS.  adds  the  following  words  :  "  for  did  they 
"  contribute  anything  to  that  necessary  decency  which  the  apostle  requires,  we 
"  might  expect  to  meet  with  them  in  the  apostles'  time ;  there  being  no  reason 
"  to  induce  us  to  the  use  of  them  which  might  not  have  induced  them." — 
Cardwell. 


1660.]  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.  19 

many  of  the  reformed  churches  abroad,  amongst  whom,  not- 
withstanding, we  doubt  not  but  the  Lord  is  worshipped 
decently,  orderly,  and  in  the  beauty  of  holiness. 

That  ever  since  the  reformation  they  have  been  matter  of 
contention  and  endless  disputes  in  this  church,  and  have  been 
a  cause  of  depriving  the  church  of  the  fruit  and  benefit  which 
might  have  been  reaped  from  the  labours  of  many  learned 
and  godly  ministers,  some  of  whom  judging  them  unlawful, 
others  unexpedient,  were  in  conscience  unwilling  to  be  brought 
under  the  power  of  them. 

That  they  have  occasioned,  by  the  offence  taken  at  them 
by  many  of  the  people  heretofore,  great  separations  from  our 
church,  and  so  have  rather  prejudiced  than  promoted  the 
unity  thereof;  and  at  this  time,  by  reason  of  their  long 
disuse,  may  be  more  likely  than  ever  heretofore  to  produce 
the  same  inconveniences. 

That  they  are  at  best  but  indifferent,  and  in  their  nature 
mutable;  and  that  it  is,  especially  in  various  exigencies  of 
the  church,  very  needful  and  expedient  that  things  in  them- 
selves mutable  be  sometimes  actually  changed,  lest  they 
should,  by  perpetual  permanency  and  constant  use,  be  judged 
by  the  people  as  necessary  as  the  substantial  of  worship 
themselves. 

And  though  we  do  most  heartily  acknowledge  your  majesty 
to  be  custos  utriusque  tabula,  and  to  be  supreme  governor 
over  all  persons,  and  in  all  things  and  causes,  as  well  ecclesi- 
astical as  civil,  in  these  your  majesty's  dominions,  yet  we 
humbly  crave  leave  to  beseech  your  majesty  to  consider 
whether,  as  a  Christian  magistrate,  you  be  not  as  well  obliged 
by  that  doctrine  of  the  apostle  touching  things  indifferent,  in 
not  occasioning  an  offence  to  weak  brethren,  as  the  apostle 
himself  (then  one  of  the  highest  officers  in  the  church  of 
Christ)  judged  himself  to  be  obliged  by;  and  whether  the 
great  work  wherewith  the  Lord  hath  intrusted  your  majesty 
be  not  rather  to  provide  by  your  sacred  authority  that  the 
things  which  are  necessary,  by  virtue  of  divine  command,  in 
his  worship  should  be  duly  performed,  than  that  things  un- 

c  2 


20  First  Address  and  [1660- 

necessary  should  be  made  by  human  command  necessary  and 
penal.  And  how  greatly  pleasing  it  will  be  to  the  Lord  that 
your  majesty's  heart  is  so  tenderly  and  religiously  com- 
passionate to  such  of  his  poor  servants  differing  in  some 
small  matters,  who  prefer  the  peace  of  their  consciences  in 
God's  worship  above  all  their  civil  concernments  what- 
soever. 

May  it  therefore  please  your  majesty  out  of  your  princely 
care  of  healing  our  sad  breaches,  graciously  to  grant,  that 
kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  such 
holy  days,  as  are  but  of  human  institution,  may  not  be  im- 
posed upon  such  as  do  conscientiously  scruple  the  observation 
of  them ;  and  that  the  use  of  the  surplice,  and  cross 
in  baptism,  and  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  rather 
than  the  name  of  Christ,  or  Emmanuel,  or  other  names 
whereby  that  divine  person,  or  either  of  the  other  divine 
persons  is  nominated,  may  be  abolished ;  these  things  being, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  imposers  themselves,  but  indifferent 
and  mutable;  in  the  judgment  of  others,  a  rock  of  offence; 
and,  in  the  judgment  of  all,  not  to  be  valued  with  the  peace  of 
the  church. 

We  likewise  humbly  represent  unto  your  most  excellent 
majesty,  that  divers  ceremonies  which  we  conceive  have  no 
foundation  in  the  law  of  the  laud,  as  erecting  altars,  bowing 
towards  them,  and  such  like,  have  been  not  only  introduced, 
but  in  some  places  imposed :  whereby  an  arbitrary  power 
was  usurped ;  divers  ministers  of  the  gospel,  though  conform- 
able to  the  established  ceremonies,  troubled;  some  reverend 
and  learned  bishops  offended;  the  Protestants  grieved;  and 
the  Papists  pleased,  as  hoping  that  those  innovations  might 
make  way  for  greater  changes. 

May  it  therefore  please  your  majesty,  by  such  ways  as 
your  royal  wisdom  shall  judge  meet,  effectually  to  prevent  the 
imposing  and  using  of  such  innovations  for  the  future,  that  so, 
according  to  the  pious  intention  of  your  royal  grandfather 
king  James  of  blessed  memory,  the  public  worship  may  be 
free,  not  only  from  blame,  but  from  suspicion. 


1660.]  Proposals  of  the  Ministers.  21 

In  obedience  to  your  majesty's  royal  pleasure  graciously 
signified  to  us,  we  have  tendered  to  your  most 
excellent  majesty  what  we  humbly  conceive  may  most 
conduce  to  the  glory  of  God,  to  the  peace  and  reforma- 
tion of  the  church,  and  to  the  taking  away,  not  only  of 
our  differences,  but  the  roots  and  causes  of  them. 
We  humbly  beg  your  majesty's  favorable  acceptance 
of  these  our  loyal  and  conscientious  endeavours  to 
serve*  your  majesty  and  the  church  of  Christ,  and 
your  gracious  pardon  if  in  any  thing  or  expression  we 
answer  not  your  majesty's  expectation ;  professing 
before  your  majesty,  and  before  the  Lord,  the  searcher 
of  hearts,  that  we  have  done  nothing  out  of  strife,  vain 
glory,  or  emulation,  but  have  sincerely  offered  what 
we  apprehend  most  seasonable,  as  conducing  to  that 
happy  end  of  unity  and  peace  which  your  majesty  doth 
so  piously  prosecute. 

We  humbly  lay  ourselves,  and  these  our  addresses,  at 
your  majesty's  feet,  professing  our  unfeigned  resolu- 
tion to  live  and  die  your  majesty's  faithful,  loyal,  and 
obedient  subjects ;  and  humbly  implore  your  gracious 
majesty,  according  unto  your  princely  wisdom  and 
fatherly  compassion,  so  to  lay  your  hand  upon  the 
bleeding  rents  and  divisions  that  are  amongst  us,  that 
there  may  be  a  healing  of  them  :  so  shall  your  throne 
be  greater  than  the  throne  of  your  fathers;  in  your 
days  the  righteous  shall  flourish,  peace  shall  run  down 
like  a  river,  and  the  generations  to  come  shall  call  you 
blessed. 


*  The  words  "your  majesty  and"  are  wanting  in  the  Tanner  MS. — 
Cardwell. 


22  Archbishop  Ussher's  [1660 


Archbishop     UssJier's     Model    of    Church     Government.^ — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Silvester,  pp.  238 — 241. 

By  the  order  of  the  Church  of  England,  all  presbyters  are 
charged  to  minister  the  doctrine  and  sacraments  and  the 
discipline  of  Christ  as  the  Lord  hath  commanded,  and  as  this 
realm  hath  received  the  same.  And  that  we  might  the  better 
understand  what  the  Lord  had  commanded  therein,  the  ex- 
hortation of  St.  Paul  to  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus 
is  appointed  to  be  read  unto  them  at  the  time  of  their  ordi- 
nation :  "  take  heed  unto  yourselves  and  to  all  the  flock,  among 
whom  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers,  to  rule  the 
congregation  of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his 
blood." 

Of  the  many  elders,  who  in  common  thus  ruled  the  church 
of  Ephesus,  there  was  one  president,  whom  our  Saviour,  in  his 
epistle  to  the  church,  in  a  peculiar  manner  stileth  the  angel 
of  the  church  of  Ephesus ;  and  Ignatius,  in  another  epistle, 
written  about  twelve  years  after,  to  the  same  church,  calleth 
the  bishop  thereof:  betwixt  which  bishop  and  the  presby- 
tery of  the  church,  what  an  harmonious  consent  there  was  in 
the  ordering  of  church  government,  the  same  Ignatius  doth 
fully  there  declare;  by  the  presbytery  (with  St.  Paul)  under- 
standing the  company  of  the  rest  of  the  presbytery  or  elders 
who  then  had  a  hand,  not  only  in  the  delivery  of  the  doctrine 

'  This  reduction  was  published  in  1658,  after  Archbishop  Ussher's  death,  by 
Dr.  Bernard.  An  unfinished  MS.  on  the  same  subject,  had  been  stolen  out 
of  his  writing-desk,  and  printed  early  in  1641,  with  the  following  title,  "  The 
"Directions  of  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh  concerning  the  Liturgy  and 
"  Episcopal  Government,"  which,  upon  complaint  being  made  to  the  House 
of  Commons  by  the  Archbishop,  that  "  it  was  most  ingeniously  fathered 
"  upon  him,"  was  suppressed  by  order  of  the  House,  dated  9th  of  February, 
1640— 1.— Life  of  ...  .  Ussher,  by  C.  R.  Elington,  D.D.,pp.  208—9. 


1660.]  Model  of  Church  Government.  23 

and  sacraments,  but  also  in  the  administration  of  the  disci- 
pline of  Christ.  For  further  proof  whereof  we  have  that 
known  testimony  of  Tertullian  in  his  general  Apology  for 
Christians.  In  the  church  are  used  exhortations,  chastise- 
ments and  divine  censures;  for  judgment  is  given  with  great 
advice  as  among  those  who  are  certain  they  are  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  it  is  the  chiefest  foreshewing  of  the  judgment 
that  is  to  come,  if  any  man  hath  so  offended  that  he  be 
banished  from  the  communion  of  prayer,  and  of  the  assembly, 
and  of  all  holy  fellowship. 

The  presidents  that  bear  rule  therein  are  certain  approved 
elders  who  have  obtained  this  honour,  and  not  by  reward,  but 
by  good  report.  Who  were  no  other  (as  he  himself  else- 
where intimateth)  but  those  from  whose  hands  they  used  to 
receive  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist. 

For  with  the  bishop,  who  was  the  chief  president,  (and 
therefore  styled  by  the  same  Tertullian  in  another  place 
Summus  Sacerdos  for  distinction  sake,)  the  rest  of  the  dis- 
pensers of  the  word  and  sacraments  were  joined  in  the 
common  government  of  the  church.  And  therefore  in  matters 
of  ecclesiastical  judicature,  Cornelius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  used 
the  received  form  of  gathering  together  the  presbytery. 

Of  what  persons  that  did  consist,  Cyprian  sufficiently  de- 
clareth,  when  he  wished  him  to  read  his  letters  to  the  flourish- 
ing clergy  that  there  did  preside  or  rule  with  him. 

The  presence  of  the  clergy  being  thought  to  be  so  requisite 
in  matters  of  episcopal  audience  that,  in  the  fourth  council  of 
Carthage,  it  was  concluded  that  the  bishop  might  hear  no 
man's  cause  without  the  presence  of  the  clergy;  which  we 
find  also  to  be  inserted  into  the  canons  of  Egbert,  who  was 
Archbishop  of  York  in  the  Saxon  times,  and  afterwards  into 
the  body  of  the  canon  law  itself. 

True  it  is,  that  in  our  church  this  kind  of  presbyterian 
government  hath  been  long  disused,  yet,  seeing  it  still  pro. 
fesseth  that  every  pastor  ^hath  a  right  to  rule  the  church 
(from  whence  the  name  of  rector  also  was  given  at  first  unto 
him)  and  to  administer  the  discipline  of  Christ,  as  well  as  to 


24  ArchbisJiop   Ussher's  [1660. 

dispense  the  doctrine  and  sacraments  : — and  the  restraint  of 
the  exercise  of  that  right  proceedeth  only  from  the  custom 
now  received  in  this  realm  : — no  man  can  doubt  but  by 
another  law  of  the  land  this  hindrance  may  be  well  removed. 
And  how  easily  this  ancient  form  of  government,  by  the 
united  suffrages  of  the  clergy,  might  be  revived  again,  and 
with  what  little  show  of  alteration  the  synodical  conventions 
of  the  pastors  of  every  parish  might  be  accorded,  with  the 
presidency  of  the  bishops  of  each  diocese  and  province,  the 
indifferent  reader  may  quickly  perceive  by  the  perusal  of  the 
ensuing  propositions. 

1.  In  every  parish  the  rector  or  the  incumbent  pastor,  to- 
gether with  the  churchwardens  and  sidemen,  may  every  week 
take  notice  of  such  as  live  scandalously  in  that  congregation, 
who  are  to  receive  such  several  admonitions  and  reproofs  as 
the  quality  of  their  offence  shall  deserve;  and  if  by  this 
means  they  cannot  be  reclaimed,  they  may  be  presented  unto 
the  next  monthly  synod,  and  in  the  meantime  be  debarred  by 
the  pastor  from  access  unto  the  Lord's  table. 

2.  Whereas  by  a  statute  in  the  twenty-sixth  of  King 
Henry  VIII,  (revived  in  the  first  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth.) 
suffragans  are  appointed  to  be  erected  in  twenty-six  several 
places  of  this  kingdom,  the  number  of  them  might  very  weU 
be  conformed  unto  the  number  of  the  several  rural  deaneries 
into  which  every  diocese  is  subdivided,  which  being  done,  the 
suffragan  (supplying  the  place  of  those  who  in  the  ancient 
church  were  called  chorepiscopi)  might  every  month  assemble 
a  synod  of  all  the  rectors,  or  incumbent  pastors  within  the 
precinct,  and  according  to  the  major  part  of  their  voices 
conclude  aU  matters  that  should  be  brought  into  debate 
before  them. 

To  this  synod  the  rector  and  churchwardens  might  present 
such  impenitent  persons,  as  by  admonition  and  suspension 
from  the  sacrament,  would  not'^be  reformed;  who,  if  they 
should  still  remain  contumacious  and  incorrigible,  the  sentence 
of  excommunication  might  be  decreed  against  them  by  the 
synod,  and  accordingly  be  executed  in  the  parish  where  they 


1660.]  Model  of  Church  Government.  25 

lived.  Hitherto  also  all  things  that  concerned  the  parochial 
ministers  might  be  referred,  whether  they  did  touch  their 
doctrine  or  their  conversation  : — as  also  the  censure  of  all 
new  opinions,  heresies,  and  schisms  which  did  arise  within 
that  circuit,  with  liberty  of  appeal  if  need  so  require  unto 
the  diocesan  synod. 

3.  The  diocesan  synod  might  be  held  once  or  twice  in  the 
year  as  it  should  be  thought  most  convenient ;  therein  all  the 
suffragans  and  the  rest  of  the  rectors  or  incumbent  pastors 
(or  a  certain  select  number  out  of  every  deanery  within  that 
diocese)  might  meet :  with  whose  consent,  or  the  major  part 
of  them,  all  things  might  be  concluded  by  the  bishop  or 
superintendent  (call  him  whether  you  will)  or  in  his  absence 
by  one  of  the  suffragans,  whom  he  should  depute  in  his  stead 
to  be  moderator  of  that  assembly.  Here  all  matters  of 
greater  moment  might  be  taken  into  consideration,  and  the 
orders  of  the  monthly  synods  revised  and  (if  need  be)  re- 
formed. And  if  here  also  any  matter  of  difficulty  could  not 
receive  a  full  determination,  it  might  be  referred  to  the  next 
provincial  or  national  synod. 

4.  The  provincial  synod  might  consist  of  all  the  bishops 
and  suffragans,  and  such  of  the  clergy  as  should  be  elected 
out  of  every  diocese  within  the  province.  The  primate  of 
either  province  might  be  the  moderator  of  this  meeting,  (or 
in  his  room  some  one  of  the  bishops  appointed  by  him)  and 
all  matters  be  ordered  therein  by  common  consent  as  in  the 
former  assemblies.  This  synod  might  be  held  every  third 
year,  and  if  the  parliament  do  then  sit,  (according  to  the  act 
for  a  triennial  parliament)  both  the  primates  and  provincial 
synods  of  the  land  might  join  together,  and  make  up  a 
national  council;  wherein  all  appeals  from  inferior  synods 
might  be  received,  all  their  acts  examined,  and  all  eccle- 
siastical constitutions  which  concern  the  state  of  the  church 
of  the  whole  nation  established. 

May  it  please  your  grace, 

I  would  desire  you  to  consider  whether  presentments  are 
fit  to  be  made  by  the  churchwardens  alone,  and  not  rather  by 


26      Requests  verbally  presented  to  King  Charles  II.     [1660. 

the  rector  and  churcliwardens.  Then  whether  in  the  diocesan 
synod  the  members  of  it  be  not  too  many^  being  all  to  judge, 
and  in  their  own  cause,  as  it  may  fall  out.  Therefore,  after 
this  clause,  "and  the  rest  of  the  rectors  or  incumbent 
pastors,"  whether  it  be  not  fit  to  interline,  "or  four  or  six 
out  of  every  deanery." 

Rl.    HOLDSWORTH. 

We  are  of  judgment,  that  the  form  of  government  here 
proposed  is  not  in  any  point  repugnant  to  the  Scripture,  and 
that  the  suffragans  mentioned  in  the  second  proposition  may 
lawfully  use  the  power  both  of  jurisdiction  and  ordination, 
according  to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  practice  of  the  ancient 
church. 


VI. 

Requests  verbally  presented  to  King  Charles  II  in  consequence 
of  the  Act  for  restoring  the  English  Clergy} — Reliquiae 
Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  p.  241. 

1.  That  with  all  convenient  speed  we  may  see  his  majesty^s 
conclusions  upon  the  proposals  of  the  mutual  condescencions, 
before  they  pass  into  resolves,  and  if  it  be  thought  meet,  our 
brethrens  proposals  also. 

2.  That  his  majesty  will  publicly  declare  his  pleasure  for 
the  suspension  of  proceedings,  upon  the  Act  of  Uniformity, 

'  By  the  Act  12,  Car.  II,  cap.  17,  intituled  "An  act  for  confirming  and 
"  restoring  of  ministers,"  it  was  enacted  that  every  minister  presented  to  a 
benefice  since  the  year  1642,  (such  benefice  being  then  void)  and  being  in 
possession  of  the  same  on  the  25th  of  December,  1659,  shall  be  adjudged  the 
lawful  incumbent ;  and  any  minister,  formerly  ejected,  not  having  declared 
for  the  king's  trial  and  execution,  nor  against  infant-baptism,  shall  be 
restored  to  his  benefice  before  the  25th  of  December,  1660,  upon  taking  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy.— Gibson's  Codex,  pp.  1070—4. 


1660.]  Answer  to  the  First  Fj'oposals.  27 

against  Nonconformists  in  case  of  liturgy  and  ceremonies, 
till  our  hoped  for  agreement. 

3.  That  his  majesty  will  be  pleased  to  publish  his  pleasure, 
(at  least  to  those  that  are  concerned  in  the  execution)  that 
(till  the  said  expected  settlement)  no  oath  of  canonical  obe- 
dience, nor  subscription  to  the  liturgy,  discipline,  ceremonies, 
&c.,  nor  renunciation  of  their  ordination  by  mere  presbyters, 
or  confessing  it  to  be  sinful,  be  imposed  on,  or  required  of 
any,  as  necessary  to  their  ordination,  institution,  induction, 
or  confirmation  by  the  seals, 

4.  That  his  majesty  will  cause  the  revoking  of  the  broad 
seal  that  is  granted  to  all  those  persons  that  by  it  are  put 
into  places  where  others  have  possession,  to  which  none  be- 
fore could  claim  a  right ;  that  is,  such  as  they  call  dead 
places. 

5.  That  his  majesty  will  be  pleased  to  provide  some  remedy 
against  the  return  or  settlement  of  notoriously  insufficient  or 
scandalous  ministers,  into  the  places  from  which  they  were 
cast  out,  or  into  any  other. 


yii. 

The  Bishops'  Answer  to  the  first  proposals  of  the  London 
Ministers,  who  attempted  the  work  of  reconcilement. — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  242 — 7. 

CONCERNING  THE  PREAMBLE. 

§11.  We  first  observe,  that  they  take  it  for  granted,  that 
there  is  a  firm  agreement  between  them  and  us  in  the  doctrinal 

1  The  §  §  are  inserted,  as  the  subsequent  Defence  of  their  proposals  by  the 
Presbyterian  divines  refers  to  them. 


28  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1660. 

truths  of  tlie  reformed  religion,  and  in  the  substantial  parts  of 
divine  worship ;  and  that  the  differences  are  only  in  some 
various  conceptions  about  the  ancient  forms  of  church 
government,  and  some  particulars  about  liturgy  and  cere- 
monies ;  which  maketh  all  that  follows  the  less  considerable 
and  less  reasonable  to  be  stood  upon,  to  the  hazard  of  the 
disturbance  and  peace  of  the  church. 

§  2.  They  seem  to  intimate  as  if  we  did  discountenance  the 
practice  of  those  things  which,  in  principles,  we  allow;  which 
we  utterly  deny. 

In  sundry  particulars  therein  proposed,  we  do  not  perceive 
what  farther  security  can  be  given,  than  is  already  provided 
for  by  the  established  laws  of  this  realm;  whereunto  such 
persons  as  shall  at  any  time  find  themselves  aggrieved  may 
have  recourse  for  remedy. 

§3.1.  We  heartily  desire  (as  well  as  they)  that  all  animosi- 
ties be  laid  aside;  words  of  scorn,  reproach,  and  provocation 
might  be  mutually  forborne;  and  that,  to  men  of  diflFerent  per- 
suasions, such  a  liberty  may  be  left  of  performing  Christian 
duties  accordmg  to  their  own  way,  within  their  own  private 
families,  as  that  yet  uniformity  in  the  public  worship  may 
be  preserved,  and  that  a  gap  be  not  thereby  opened  to  secta- 
ries for  private  conventicles  :  for  the  evil  consequences  whereof 
none  can  be  sufficiently  responsible  unto  the  state. 

§4.  2.  We  likewise  desire  that  every  congregation  may  have 
an  able  and  godly  minister  to  preach,  catechise,  administer 
the  sacraments,  and  perform  other  ministerial  ofiices  as  need 
shall  require.  But  what  they  mean  by  residing,  and  how  far 
they  will  extend  that  word,  and  what  effectual  provision  of 
law  can  be  made,  more  than  is  already  done,  concerning  the 
things  here  mentioned,  we  know  not. 

§  5.  3.  Confirmation  (which  for  sundry  ends  we  think  ne- 
cessary to  be  continued  in  the  church)  if  rightly  and  solemnly 
performed,  will  alone  be  sufficient  as  to  the  point  of  instruc- 
tion. And  for  notorious  and  scandalous  offenders,  provision 
is  made  in  the  rubric  before  the  communion;  which  rules, 
had  they  been  carefully  observed,  the  troubles  of  the  church 


1660.]  to  the  First   Proposals.  29 

by   the    disputes    and   divisions    here   mentioned   had   been 
prevented. 

§  6.  4.  There  cannot  be  taken  a  more  effectual  course  in  this 
behalf  than  the  execution  of  the  laws  already  made  for  the 
due  observation  of  the  Lord's  day :  which,  in  this  particular, 
are  very  much  stricter  than  the  laws  of  any  foreign  reformed 
churches  whatsoever. 

CONCERNING    CHURCH    GOVERNMENT. 

§  7.  They  do  not  suggest,  nor  did  we  ever  hear,  any  just 
reasons  given  for  their  dissent  from  the  ecclesiastical  Hierarchy 
or  Prelacy,  as  it  was  stated  and  established  in  this  kingdom : 
which  we  believe  to  be,  for  the  main,  the  true  ancient  primi- 
tive episcopacy,  and  that  to  be  more  than  a  mere  presidency  of 
order.  Neither  do  we  find  that  the  same  was  in  any  time 
balanced  or  managed  by  authoritative  commixtion  of  Presby- 
ters therewith :  though  it  hath  been  then,  and  in  all  times 
since,  usually  exercised  with  the  assistance  and  counsel 
of  Presbyters  in  subordination  to  the  Bishops. 

§  8.  And  we  cannot  but  wonder  that  the  administration  of 
government  by  one  single  person,  should  by  them  be  affirmed 
to  be  so  liable  to  corruption,  partialities,  tyrannies,  and  other 
evils,  that  for  the  avoiding  thereof  it  should  be  needful  to 
have  others  joined  with  him  in  the  power  of  government; 
which,  if  applied  to  the  civil  state,  is  a  most  dangerous 
insinuation.  And  we  verily  believe,  what  experience  and  the 
constitutions  of  kingdoms,  armies,  and  even  private  families, 
sufficiently  confirmeth  (in  all  which  the  government  is  ad- 
ministered by  the  authority  of  one  single  person,  although 
the  advice  of  others  may  be  requisite  also ;  but  without  any 
share  in  the  government)  that  the  government  of  many  is 
not  only  most  subject  to  all  the  aforesaid  evils  and  inconve- 
niences, but  more  likely  also  to  breed  and  foment  perpetual 
factions  both  in  Church  and  State,  than  the  government  by 
one  is,  or  can  be.  And  since  no  government  can  certainly 
prevent  all  evils,  that  which  is  liable  to  the  least  and  fewest 
is  certainly  to  be  preferred. 


30  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1660. 

AS    TO    THE    FOUR    PARTICULAR    INSTANCES    OF    THINGS 
AMISS,    &C. 

§9.1.  We  cannot  grant  that  the  extent  of  any  diocese  is  so 
great,  but  that  a  Bishop  may  m  ell  perform  that,  wherein  the 
proper  office  and  duty  of  a  bishop  doth  consist;  which  is  not 
the  personal  inspection  of  every  man's  soul  under  his  govern- 
ment, (which  is  the  work  of  every  parochial  minister  in  his 
cure)  but  the  pastoral  charge  of  overseeing,  directing,  and 
taking  care  that  the  ministers  and  other  ecclesiastical  officers 
within  his  diocese,  do  their  several  respective  duties  in  their 
several  stations  as  they  ought  to  do.  And  if  some  dioceses 
shall  be  thought  of  too  large  extent,  the  bishops  may  have 
suffragan  bishops  to  assist  them,  as  the  laws  allow.  It  being 
a  great  mistake,  that  the  personal  inspection  of  the  bishop 
is,  in  all  places  of  his  diocese,  at  all  times  necessary.  For  by 
the  same  reason,  neither  princes,  nor  governors  of  provinces, 
nor  generals  of  armies,  nor  mayors  of  great  cities,  nor  minis- 
ters of  great  parishes,  could  ever  be  able  to  discharge  their 
duties  in  their  several  places  and  charges. 

§  10.  2.  We  confess  the  bishops  did  (as  by  the  law  they  were 
enabled)  depute  part  of  the  administration  of  their  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdiction  to  chancellors,  commissaries,  and  officials, 
as  men  better  skilled  in  the  civil  and  canon  laws.  But,  as 
for  matters  of  more  spiritual  concernment,  viz.,  the  sentences 
of  excommunication,  and  absolution,  with  other  censures  of 
the  Church,  we  conceive  they  belong  properly  to  the  bishop 
to  decree  and  pronounce,  either  by  himself,  where  for  the 
present  he  resideth,  or  by  some  grave  ecclesiastical  person  by 
him  surrogated  for  that  purpose,  in  such  places  where  he  can- 
not be  personally  present.  Wherein,  if  many  things  have 
been  done  amiss  for  the  time  past,  or  shall  be  seasonably 
conceived  inconvenient  for  the  future,  we  shall  be  as  willing 
to  have  the  same  reformed  and  remedied,  as  any  other 
persons  whatsoever. 

§  11.  3.  Whether  a  Bishop  be  a  distinct  order  from  Presbyter 
or  not,  or  whether  they  have  power  of  sole  ordination  or  no  ?  is 


1660.]  to  the  First  Proposals.  31 

not  now  the  question.  But  we  are  firm  that  the  bishops  of 
this  realm  have  constantly  (for  aught  we  know,  or  have  heard 
to  the  contrary)  ordained  with  the  assistance  of  presbyters, 
and  the  imposition  of  their  hands,  together  with  the  bishops. 
And  we  conceive  it  very  fit,  that  in  the  exercise  of  that  part 
of  their  jurisdiction  which  appertaineth  to  the  censures  of  the 
Church,  they  should  likewise  have  the  advice  and  assistance 
of  some  presbyters.  And,  for  this  purpose,  the  colleges  of 
deans  and  chapters  are  thought  to  have  been  instituted,  that 
the  bishops  in  their  several  dioceses  might  have  their  advice 
and  assistance  in  the  administration  of  their  weighty  pastoral 
charge. 

§  12.  4.  This  last  dependeth  upon  matter  of  fact.  Wherein 
if  any  bishops  have  [done] ,  or  shall  do,  otherwise  than  accor- 
ding to  law,  they  were  and  are  to  be  answerable  for  the  same. 
And  it  is  our  desire  (as  well  as  theirs)  that  nothing  may  be  done 
or  imposed  by  the  bishop,  but  according  to  the  known  laws. 

FOR    REFORMING    OF    WHICH    EVILS,    &C. 

§  13.  1.  The  primate's  Reduction,  though  not  published  in 
his  lifetime, was  formed  many  years  before  his  death,  and  shewed 
to  some  persons  (ready  to  attest  the  same)  in  the  year  1640  : 
but  it  is  not  consistent  with  two  other  discourses  of  the  same 
learned  Primate,  (viz.,  the  one  of  the  Original  of  Episcopacy, 
and  the  other  of  the  Original  of  Metropolitans,)  both  printed 
in  the  year  1641,  and  written  with  great  diligence,  and  much 
variety  of  ancient  learning.  In  neither  of  which  is  to  be 
found  any  mention  of  the  Reduction  aforesaid.  Neither  is 
there  in  either  of  them  propounded  any  such  model  of  church 
government  as  in  the  said  Reduction  is  contained ;  which 
doubtless  would  have  been  done,  had  that  platform  been 
according  to  his  settled  judgment  in  those  matters. 

In  which  Reduction  there  are  sundry  things  (as,  namely, 
the  conforming  of  suflFragans  to  the  number  of  rural  dean- 
eries) which  are  apparently  private  conceptions  of  his  own, 
accommodated,  at  that  time,  for  the  taking  off"  some  present 


32  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1660. 

animosities ;  but  wholly  destitute  of  any  color  of  testimony  or 
precedent  from  antiquity;  nor  is  any  such  by  him  offered 
towards  the  proof  thereof. 

And  it  would  be  considered,  whether  the  final  resolution  of 
all  ecclesiastical  power  and  jurisdiction  into  a  national  synod, 
where  it  seemeth  to  be  placed  in  that  Reduction  without 
naming  the  king,  or  without  any  dependence  upon  him,  or 
relation  to  him,  be  not  destructive  of  the  king's  supremacy 
in  causes  ecclesiastical. 

It  is  observable,  nevertheless,  that  even  in  the  Reduction 
Archi-Episcopacy  is  acknowledged. 

AS    TO    THE    SUPER-ADDED    PARTICULARS. 

§  1 4.  1 .  The  appointment  and  election  of  suffragans,  is  by  the 
law  already  vested  in  the  king,  whose  power  therein  is,  by  the 
course  here  proposed,  taken  way. 

§  15.  2.  What  they  mean  by  association  in  this  place,  they 
explain  not;  but  we  conceive  it  dangerous  that  any  associ- 
ation (whatsoever  is  understood  thereby)  should  be  made  or 
entered  into  without  the  king's  authority. 

§  16.  3.  We  do  not  take  the  oaths,  promises,  and  subscriptions, 
by  law  required,  of  ministers  at  their  ordination,  institution,  &c., 
to  be  unnecessary,  although  they  be  responsible  to  the  laws  if 
they  do  amiss ;  it  being  thought  requisite,  as  well  by  such 
cautions  to  prevent  offences,  as  to  punish  offenders  afterwards. 
Upon  all  which  consideration  it  is,  that  officers  in  the  court, 
freemen  in  cities  and  corporate  towns,  masters  and  fellows  of 
colleges  in  the  universities,  &c.,  are  required,  at  their  admis- 
sion into  their  several  respective  places,  to  give  oaths  for  well 
and  truly  performing  their  several  respective  duties,  their 
liableness  to  punishment  in  case  of  non-performance  accord- 
ingly notwithstanding.  Neither  doth  it  seem  reasonable  that 
such  persons — as  have  themselves,  with  great  severity, 
prescribed  and  exacted  antecedent  conditions  of  their  com- 
munion not  warranted  by  law — should  be  exempted  from  the 
tie  of  such  oaths  and  subscriptions  as  the  laws  require. 


1660.]  to  the  First  Proposals.  33 

§  17.  4.  We  agree  that  the  Bishops^  and  all  ecclesiastical 
governors^  ought  to  exercise  their  governmentj  not  arbi- 
trarily^ but  according  to  law. 

5.  And  for  security  against  such  arbitrary  government  and 
innovations,  the  laws  are,  and  from  time  to  time  will  be, 
sufl&cient  provision. 


CONCERNING    LITURGY. 

§  18.  A  liturgy,  or  form  of  public  worship,  being  not  only 
by  them  acknowledged  lawful,  but  by  us  also  (for  the  preser- 
vation of  unity  and  uniformity)  deemed  necessary,  we  esteem 
the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  contained  in  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  by  law  established,  to  be  such  an  one 
as  is  by  them  desired ;  according  to  the  qualifications  here 
mentioned,  viz. : — 

1.  For  matter  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  which  we 
and  all  other  lawful  ministers  within  the  Church  of  England, 
have,  or,  by  the  laws  ought  to  have  attested  by  our  personal 
subscription. 

2.  Fitly  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  several  ordinances,  and 
the  necessities  of  the  church. 

3.  Nor  too  tedious  in  the  whole.  It's  well  known  that 
some  men's  prayers  before  and  after  sermon,  have  been 
usually  not  much  shorter,  and  sometimes  much  longer  than 
the  whole  church  service. 

4.  Nor  the  prayers  too  short.  The  wisdom  of  the  church, 
both  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  hath  thought  it  a  fitter 
means  for  relieving  the  infirmities  of  the  meaner  sort  of 
people  (which  are  the  major  part  of  most  congregations)  to 
contrive  several  petitions  into  sundry  shorter  collects  or 
prayers,  than  to  comprehend  them  all  together  in  a  continued 
style,  or  without  interruption. 

5.  Nor  the  repetitions  unmeet.  There  are  examples  of  the 
like  repetition  frequent  in  the  Psalms,  and  other  parts  of 
Scripture :  not  to  mention  the  unhandsome  tautologies 
that  oftentimes  happen,  and  can  scarce  be  avoided,  in  the 

D 


34  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1660. 

extemporary  and  undigested  prayers  that  are  made ;  especially 
by  persons  of  meaner  gifts. 

6.  Nor  the  responsals.  Which,  if  impartially  considered, 
are  pious  ejaculations  fit  to  stir  up  devotion,  and  good  symbols 
of  conformity  betwixt  the  minister  and  people,  and  have  been 
of  very  ancient  practice  and  continuance  in  the  church. 

7.  Nor  too  dissonant  from  the  liturgies  of  other  reformed 
churches.  The  nearer  both  their  forms  and  ours  come  to  the 
liturgy  of  the  ancient  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  the  less  are 
they  liable  to  the  objections  of  the  common  enemy.  To 
which  liturgies,  if  the  form  used  in  our  church  be  more 
agreeable  than  those  of  other  reformed  churches,  and  that  it 
were  at  all  needful  to  make  a  change  in  either,  it  seemeth  to  be 
much  more  reasonable  that  their  form  should  be  endeavoured 
to  be  brought  to  a  nearer  conformity  with  ours,  than  ours 
with  theirs ;  especially  the  form  of  our  liturgy  having  been 
so  signally  approved  by  sundry  of  the  most  learned  divines 
of  the  reformed  churches  abroad,  as  by  very  many  testimonies 
in  their  writings  may  appear.  And  some  of  the  compilers 
thereof  have  sealed  the  Protestant  religion  with  their  blood, 
and  have  been  by  the  most  eminent  persons  of  those  churches 
esteemed  as  martyrs  for  the  same. 

§  19.  As  for  that  which  foUoweth  :  neither  can  we  think 
that  too  rigorously  imposed  which  is  imposed  by  law,  and 
that  with  no  more  rigour  than  is  necessary  to  make  the 
imposition  effectual  (otherwise  it  could  be  of  no  use  but  to 
beget  and  nourish  factions) ;  nor  are  ministers  denied  the 
use  and  exercise  of  their  gifts  in  praying  before  and  after 
sermon,  although  such  praying  be  but  the  continuance  of 
a  custom  of  no  great  antiquity,  and  grown  into  common  use 
by  sufferance  only,  without  any  other  foundation  in  the  laws 
or  canons,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  used  by  all  sober  and 
godly  men  with  the  greatest  inoffensiveness  and  moderation 


§  20.  If  anything  in  the  established  liturgy  shall  be  made 
appear  to  be  justly  offensive  to  sober  persons,  we  are  not  at 
all  unwilling  that  the  same  should  be  changed. 


1660.]  to  the  First  Proposals.  35 

The  discontinuance  thereof,  we  are  sure  was  not  our  fault. 
But  we  find  by  experience  that  the  use  of  it  is  very  much 
desired,  where  it  is  not ;  and  the  people  generally  are  very 
well  satisfied  with  it  where  it  is  used ;  which  we  believe  to  be 
a  great  conservatory  of  the  chief  heads  of  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  of  piety,  charity,  and  loyalty  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 

We  believe  that  the  disuse  thereof  for  sundry  late  years, 
hath  been  one  of  the  great  causes  of  the  sad  divisions  in  the 
church;  and  that  the  restoring  the  same,  will  be  (by  God^s 
blessing)  a  special  means  of  making  up  the  breach ;  there 
being  (as  we  have  great  cause  to  believe)  many  thousands 
more  in  the  nation  that  desire  it  than  dislike  it. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  not  against  revising  of  the  liturgy  by 
such  discreet  persons  as  his  majesty  shall  think  fit  to  employ 
therein. 

OF    CEREMONIES. 

§  21.  We  conceive  there  needs  no  more  to  be  said  for 
justifying  the  imposition  cf  the  ceremonies  by  law  estab- 
lished, than  what  is  contained  in  the  beginning  of  this 
section  :  which  givetli  a  full  and  satisfactory  answer  to  all  that 
is  alleged  or  objected  in  the  following  discourse,  which  is  for 
the  most  part  rather  rhetorical  than  argumentative;  inas- 
mvich  as  lawful  authority  hath  already  determined  the  cere- 
monies in  question  to  be  decent  and  ordci'ly,  and  to  sej-ve  to 
edification ;  and  consequently  to  be  agreeable  to  the  general 
rules  of  the  word. 

We  acknowledge  the  worship  of  God  to  be  in  itself  per- 
fect in  regard  of  essentials,  which  hindereth  not  but  that  it 
may  be  capable  of  being  improved  to  us  by  addition  of  cir- 
cumstantials in  order  to  decency  and  edification. 

As  the  Lord  hath  declared  himself  jealous  in  matters  con- 
cerniug  the  substance  of  his  worship,  so  hath  he  left  the 
church  at  liberty  for  circumstantials  to  determine  concerning 
particulars  according  to  prudence  as  occasion  shall  require,  so 
as  the  foresaid  general  rules  be  still  observed  :   and,  therefore, 

D   2 


36  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1660. 

the  imposing  and  using  indifferent  ceremonies  is  not  varying 
from  the  will  of  God,  nor  is  tliere  made  thereby  any  addition 
tOj  or  detraction  from,  the  holy  duties  of  God's  worship.  Nor 
doth  the  same  any  way  hinder  the  communication  of  God's 
grace  or  comfort  in  the  performance  of  such  duties. 

§  23.  The  ceremonies  were  never  esteemed  sacraments,  or 
imposed  as  such ;  nor  was  ever  any  moral  efficacy  ascribed  to 
them,  nor  doth  the  significancy  (without  which  they  could  not 
serve  to  edification)  import  or  infer  any  such  thing. 

§  23.  Ceremonies  have  been  retained  by  most  of  the  pro- 
testant  churches  abroad,  which  have  rejected  popery,  and  have 
been  approved  by  the  judgment  of  the  most  learned,  even  of 
those  churches  that  have  not  retained  them.  Every  national 
church  being  supposed  to  be  the  best  and  most  proper  judge 
what  is  fittest  for  themselves  to  appoint  in  order  to  decency 
and  edification,  without  prescribing  to  other  churches. 

§  24.  That  the  ceremonies  have  been  matter  of  contention  in 
this  or  any  other  church  was  not  either  from  the  nature  of 
the  thing  enjoined,  or  the  enjoining  of  the  same  by  lawful 
authority :  but  partly  from  the  weakness  of  some  men's 
judgments  unable  to  search  into  the  reason  of  things :  and 
partly  from  the  unsubduedness  of  some  men's  spirits,  more  apt 
to  contend  than  willing  to  submit  their  private  opinions,  to 
the  public  judgment  of  the  church. 

§  25.  Of  those  who  were  obnoxious  to  the  law,  very  few  (in 
comparison)  have  been  deprived,  and  none  of  them  (for  aught 
we  know)  but  such  as  after  admonition  and  long  forbearance 
finally  refused  to  do,  what  not  only  the  laws  required  to  be 
done,  but  themselves  also  formerly  had  solemnly,  and  (as  they 
professed)  willingly  promised  to  do. 

§  26.  We  do  not  see  with  what  conscience  any  man  could 
leave  the  exercise  of  his  ministry  in  his  peculiar  charge,  for 
not  submitting  to  lawful  authority  in  the  using  of  such  things 
as  were  in  his  own  judgment  no  more  than  inexpedient  only. 
And  it  is  certainly  a  great  mistake,  at  the  least,  to  call  the 
submitting  to  authority  in  such  things,  a  bringing  the  con- 
science under  the  power  of  them. 


1660.]  to  the  First  Proposals.  37 

§  27.  The  separation  that  hath  been  made  from  the  church, 
was  from  the  taking  a  scandal  where  none  was  given; — the 
church  having  fully  declared  her  sense  touching  the  ceremo- 
nies imposed,  as  things  not  in  their  nature  necessary,  but 
indifferent; — but  was  chiefly  occasioned  by  the  practice,  and 
descended  from  the  principles  of  those  that  refused  conformity 
to  the  law,  the  just  rule  and  measure  of  the  churches  unity. 

§  28.  The  nature  of  things  being  declared  to  be  mutable, 
sheweth  that  they  may  therefore  be  changed,  as  they  that  are 
in  authority  shall  see  it  expedient ;  but  it  is  no  proof  at  all 
that  it  is  therefore  expedient  that  it  should  be  actually 
changed.  Yet  it  is  a  sufficient  caution  against  the  opinion  (or 
objection  rather)  of  their  being  held  by  the  imposers  either 
necessary,  or  substantial  of  worship.  Besides,  this  argu.ment, 
if  it  were  of  any  force,  would  infer  an  expediency  of  the 
often  chaiiging  even  of  good  laws,  whereas  the  change  of  laws, 
although  liable  to  some  inconveniences,  without  great  and 
evident  necessity,  hath  been  by  wise  men  ever  accounted  a 
thing  not  only  imprudent,  but  of  evil,  and  sometimes  per- 
nicious consequence. 

§  29.  We  fully  agree  with  them  in  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  king's  supremacy,  but  we  leave  it  to  his  majesty's  pru- 
dence and  goodness  to  consider,  whether  for  the  avoiding  of 
the  offence  of  some  of  his  weak  subjects,  he  be  any  way 
obliged  to  repeal  the  established  laws ;  the  repealing  whereof 
would  be  probably  dissatisfactory  to  many  more,  and  those 
(so  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge)  no  less  considerable  a  part  of 
his  subjects.  Nor  do  we  conceive  his  majesty  by  the  apostle's 
either  doctrine  or  example  obliged  to  any  farther  condescen- 
sion to  particular  persons,  than  may  be  subservient  to  the 
general  and  main  ends  of  public  government. 

The  Lord  hath  entrusted  governors  to  provide,  not  only 
that  things  necessary  in  God's  worship  be  duly  performed, 
but  also  that  things  advisedly  enjoined,  though  not  otherwise 
necessary,  should  be  orderly  and  duly  observed.  The  too  great 
neglect  whereof  would  so  cut  the  sinews  of  authority,  that  it 
would  become  first  infirm,  and  then  contemptible. 


38  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  [1660 

As  we  are  no  way  against  such  tender  and  religious  com- 
passion in  things  of  this  nature,  as  his  majesty's  piety  and 
wisdom  shall  think  fit  to  extend  ;  so  we  cannot  think  that  the 
satisfaction  of  some  private  persons  is  to  be  laid  in  the 
balance  against  the  public  peace  and  uniformity  of  the 
church. 

CONCERNING    PARTICULAR    CEREMONIES. 

§  30.  It  being  most  convenient  that  in  the  act  of  receiving 
the  Lord's  supper  one  and  the  same  gesture  should  be  uni- 
formly used  by  all  the  members  of  this  church  ;  and  kneeling 
having  been  formerly  enjoined  and  used  therein,  as  a  gesture 
of  greatest  reverence  and  devotion,  and  so  most  agreeable  to 
that  holy  service ;  and  holy-days  of  human  institution 
having  been  observed  by  the  people  of  God  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  by  our  blessed  Saviour  himself  in  the  Gospel,  and 
by  all  the  churches  of  Christ  in  primitive  and  following  times, 
as  apt  means  to  preserve  the  memorials  of  the  chief  mysteries 
of  the  Christian  religion ;  and  such  holy-days  being  also  fit 
times  for  the  honest  recreation  of  servants,  labourers,  and  the 
meaner  sort  of  people  : — 

For  these  reasons,  and  the  great  satisfaction  of  far  the 
greatest  part  of  the  people,  we  humbly  desire  (as  a  thing  in 
our  judgment  very  expedient)  that  they  may  both  be  still 
continued  in  the  church. 

§  31.  As  for  the  other  three  ceremonies,  viz.,  the  surplice, 
cross  after  baptism,  and  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus; 
although  we  find  not  here  any  sufficient  reason  alleged  why 
they  should  be  utterly  abolished :  nevertheless,  how  far  forth 
in  regard  of  tender  consciences  a  liberty  may  be  thought  fit  to 
be  indulged  to  any,  his  majesty,  according  to  his  great 
wisdom  and  goodness,  is  best  able  to  judge. 

§  32.  But  why  they  that  confess  that,  in  the  judgment  of  all, 
the  things  here  mentioned  are  not  to  be  valued  with  the  peace 
of  the  church,  should  yet,  after  they  are  established  by  law, 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  church  about  them,  we  understand 
not. 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  39 

§  33.  We  heartily  desire  that  no  innovations  should  be 
brought  into  the  church,  or  ceremonies  which  have  no  foun- 
dation in  the  laws  of  the  land  imposed,  to  the  disturbance  of 
the  peace  thereof :  but  that  all  men  would  use  that  liberty 
that  is  allowed  them  in  things  indifferent,  according  to  the 
rules  of  Christian  prudence,  charity,  and  moderation. 

§  34.  We  are  so  far  from  believing  that  his  majesty's  conde- 
scending to  these  demands  will  take  away  not  only  differences, 
but  the  roots  and  causes  of  them,  that  we  are  confident  it 
will  prove  the  seminary  of  new  differences,  both  by  giving 
dissatisfaction  to  those  that  are  well  pleased  with  what  is 
already  established ;  who  are  much  the  greater  part  of  his 
majesty's  subjects ;  and  by  encouraging  unquiet  spirits  when 
these  tilings  shall  be  granted,  to  make  further  demands. 
There  being  no  assurance  by  them  given,  what  will  content 
all  Dissenters :  than  which  nothing  is  more  necessary  for  the 
settling  of  a  firm  peace  in  the  church. 


VIII. 

A  Defence  of  our  Proposals  to  His  Majesty  for  Agreement 
in  Matters  of  Religion.^  —  Reliquiae  Baxterianoe,  by 
Sylvester,  pp.  248—58. 

CONCERNING  THE  PREAMBLE. 

1.  We  are  not  insensible  of  the  great  danger  of  the  church, 
through  the  doctrinal  errors  of  many  of  those  with  whom  we 

'  When  the  presbyterian  divines  had  received  from  the  bishops  the  fore- 
going answer  to  their  proposals,  instead  of  a  statement  of  concessions  which 
they  were  expecting,  "  the  brethren,"  says  Baxter,  "  at  first  desired  me  to 
"  write  an  answer  to  it.  But  afterwards  they  considered  that  this  would 
"  but  provoke  them,  and  turn  a  treaty  for  concord  into  a  sharj)  disputation, 
"  which  would  increase  the  discord ;  and  so  what  I  had  written  was  never  seen 
"  by  any  man :  lest  it  should  hinder  peace."— Reliquise  Baxterian*,  pp.241— 2. 


40  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [!660. 

are  at  difference,  also,  about  the  points  of  government  and 
•worship  now  before  us.  But  yet  we  choose  to  say  of  the 
party,  that  we  are  agreed  in  doctrinals,  because  they  subscribe 
the  same  Holy  Scriptures,  and  Articles  of  Religion,  and 
Books  of  Homilies  as  we  do.  And  the  contradictions  to 
their  own  confessions,  which  too  many  are  guilty  of,  we 
thought  not  just  to  charge  upon  the  party ;  because  it  is  but 
personal  guilt.  As  to  the  differences  (which  in  charity  and 
for  peace,  we  had  rather  extenuate  than  aggravate ;)  it  is  of 
objective  conceptions  that  we  speak,  there  being  a  difference 
in  the  things,  as  well  as  in  our  apprehensions.  And  we  con- 
ceive that  the  ancient  form  of  church-government,  and  the 
soundness  of  the  liturgy,  and  freedom  from  corrupting  unlaw- 
ful ceremonies,  are  matters  that  are  worthy  a  conscionable 
regard  :  and  no  such  little  inconsiderable  things  as  to  be 
received  without  sufficient  trial,  or  used  against  the  dissua- 
sions of  our  consciences.  No  sin  should  seem  so  small  as  to 
be  wilfully  committed;  especially  to  divines.  He  that  will 
sin  for  little  or  nothing,  is  not  to  be  trusted  when  he  hath 
great  temptations.  "  Whosoever  shall  break  one  of  these  least 
commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called  the 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  but  whosoever  shall  do,  and 
teach  them  the  same,  shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  :"  Matt,  v,  19.  And  whether  the  imposer  or  the  for- 
bearers  do  hazard  and  disturb  the  church,  the  nature  of  the 
thing  declareth.  To  you  it  is  indifferent  before  your  imposi- 
tion ;  and  therefore  you  may,  without  any  regret  of  your  own 
consciences,  forbear  the  imposition,  or  persuade  the  law -makers 
to  forbear  it.  But  to  many  of  those  that  dissent  from  you, 
they  ai'e  sinful ;  and  therefore  cannot  be  yielded  to  by  them 
without  the  wilful  violation  of  their  duty  to  the  absolute 
Sovereign  of  the  world.  If,  in  the  church  of  Rome,  the  con- 
science of  a  subject  forbid  the  use  of  crucifixes,  and  images, 
and  chrism,  and  holy  water,  &c.,  is  it  therefore  they,  or  is  it 
the  pastors,  that  needlessly  impose  these  things  that  are  the 
disturbers  of  the  church  ?  The  princes  might  have  forborne 
to  make  a  law  restraining  Daniel  three  days  from  prayer;  but 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  41 

Daniel  could  not  forbear  praying  three  days,  though  the  law 
commanded  it :  and  which  of  them  then  was  the  disturber 
of  the  peace?  If  you  say  that  we  are  wilful,  and  our  con- 
sciences are  peevish  and  misinformed;  charity  and  modesty 
requireth  you  not  to  overvalue  your  own,  or  groundlessly 
vilify  the  judgments  and  consciences  of  your  brethren.  We 
study  as  hard  as  you;  and  are  ready  to  join  with  you  in  the 
solemnest  protestations,  as  before  the  Lord,  that  we  are  ear- 
nestly desirou^s  to  know  the  truth ;  and  we  suppose  we  stand 
on  the  calmer  side  the  hedge,  in  point  of  temptation :  for  if 
we  err  it  is  to  our  cost  and  loss,  and  have  little  but  reproach 
and  suffering  to  entice  us  willingly  to  mistake.  And  we  are 
always  ready  to  try  by  argument  which  side  it  is  that  is 
mistaken. 

2.  May  not  we  crave  that  necessary  things  may  be  secured 
to  us,  without  being  interpreted  to  seem  to  insinuate  accusa- 
tions against  you  ?  As  it  is  not  the  authors  of  this  Answer 
personally  considered,  that  we  could  be  imagined  to  accuse, 
because  we  know  them  not ;  so  there  are  others,  besides  the 
party  with  whom  we  are  seeking  a  reconciliation,  that  may  be 
averse  to  the  practice  of  those  things  about  which  divines  are 
doctrinally  agreed  in,  especially  that  part  of  the  vulgar  who 
are,  practically,  of  no  religion.  And  it  is  very  displeasing  to 
us  to  be  called  out  to  an  accusation  of  others ;  as  being  a 
course  that  will  tend  more  to  exasperate  than  reconcile.  Fain 
we  would  have  had  leave  to  petition  for  our  liberty  and  for 
the  security  of  religion,  without  accusing  any  of  being  injuri- 
ous to  it.  But  it  is  the  unhappy  advantage  of  those  that  are 
uppermost,  that  they  can  cut  out  at  pleasure  such  work  for 
those  that  they  would  use  as  adversaries,  that  shall  either 
make  them  seem  their  adversaries,  or  appear  to  be  really  the 
adversaries  or  betrayers  of  the  truth,  and  cast  them  upon  in- 
conveniences and  odium  which  way  soever  they  go.  But  to 
be  plain  with  you,  if  you  would  but  agree  with  us  in  the 
practising,  and  promoting  the  practice  of,  those  things  about 
which  you  profess  to  be  agreed  in  principles,  our  differences  in 
all  other  things  would  quickly  be  at  an  end.     The  great  con- 


43  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1G60. 

troversy  between  the  liypocrite  and  tlie  true  Christian, — 
whether  we  should  be  serious  in  the  practice  of  the  religion 
which  we  commonly  profess  ? — hath  troubled  England  more 
than  any  other :  none  being  more  hated  and  derided  as 
Puritans,  than  those  that  will  make  religion  their  business, 
and  make  it  predominant  in  their  hearts  and  lives;  while 
others  that  hate  them,  take  it  up  in  custom,  for  fashion,  or  in 
jest,  and  use  it  only  in  subserviency  to  the  will  of  man  and 
their  worldly  ends,  and  honour  it  with  compliments,  and 
paint  the  skin  while  they  stab  the  heart.  Reconcile  this  dif- 
ference, and  most  others  will  be  reconciled. 

3.  Whether  this  signify  any  repentance  for  the  voluminous 
reproaches  which  many  of  you  have  written  against  those  you 
call  Puritans,  your  amendment  will  interpret.  That  you  will 
give  us  liberty  in  our  family  duties  alone  is  a  courtesy  that 
you  cannot  well  deny  a  Papist  or  Mahometan,  because  you 
have  there  no  witnesses  of  what  they  do;  and  yet  we  shall 
take  ourselves  beholden  for  it,  so  low  are  our  expectations. 
But  is  there  no  duty  that  private  Christians  owe  to  one 
another,  for  the  furthering  their  salvation,  but  only  for  their 
several  families?  Why  may  not  those  that,  on  the  Lord's  day, 
repeat  a  sermon  in  their  families,  admit  a  neighbour  family 
to  be  present,  which  is  not  able  to  help  themselves  ?  A  great 
part  of  the  families  among  the  poor  are  composed  of  such  as 
can  neither  write  nor  read,  and  therefore  know  not  how  to 
spend  the  Lord's  day  when  they  are  out  of  the  congregation  : 
and  a  sermon  forgotten  will  hardly  be  so  well  practised  as  if 
it  were  remembered;  and  the  ignorant  will  hardly  remember 
it  if  they  never  hear  it  but  once.  At  least,  methinks,  it  should 
be  an  encouragement  to  you,  when  you  have  studied  what  to 
say  to  the  people  (rather  than  matter  of  offence)  to  see  them 
so  far  value  it,  as  to  desire  to  fasten  it  in  their  memories. 
And  if  several  families  join  also  in  the  singmg  of  psalms  of 
praise  to  God,  and  calling  on  him  for  a  blessing  on  the  min- 
ister and  themselves,  is  this  a  crime  :  when  perhaps  most  of 
those  families  either  cannot  pray  at  all,  or  not  with  such 
cheerful  advantage,  by  themselves?  If  you  are  against  such 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  43 

mutual  helps  as  these^  you  are  against  the  benefit  of  the 
people's  souls  :  the  Lord  pity  the  flocks  that  have  such  pastors! 
If  you  are  not  against  them,  why  are  you  against  our  desires 
of  encouragement  in  them?  Have  the  laws  of  the  land 
secured  any  of  these  to  us  against  your  canons?  If  they 
have,  why  have  so  many  families  formerly  been  undone,  for 
such  exercises  as  these,  and  for  fasting  and  praying  together 
for  the  pardon  of  their  sins  ?  To  deal  freely  with  you,  we 
are  constrained  so  well  to  know  with  whom  we  have  to  do, 
that  our  business  is  to  request  you  of  the  clergy,  not  to  pro- 
voke the  law-givers  to  make  any  law  against  this :  that  it 
may  not  become  a  crime  to  men,  to  pray  together,  and  pro- 
voke one  another  to  love,  and  to  good  works ;  when  it  is  no 
crime  to  talk,  and  play,  and  drink,  and  feast  together.  And 
that  it  may  be  no  crime  to  repeat  a  sermon  together,  unless 
you  resolve  that  they  shall  hear  none  which  is  worth  their 
repeating  and  remembering.  And  whereas  you  speak  of 
opening  a  gap  to  sectaries  for  private  conventicles,  and  the 
evil  consequences  to  the  state,  we  only  desire  you  to  avoid  also 
the  cherishing  of  ignorance  and  profaneness,  and  suppress  all 
sectaries,  and  spare  not,  in  a  way  that  will  not  suppress  the 
means  of  knowledge  and  godliness.  As  you  will  not  forbid 
all  praying  or  preaching,  lest  we  should  have  sectarian  prayers 
or  sermons,  so  let  not  all  the  people  of  the  land  be  prohibited 
such  assistance  to  each  other's  souls,  as  nature  and  scripture 
oblige  them  to,  and  all  for  fear  of  the  meetings  of  sectaries. 
We  thought  the  cautions  in  our  petition  were  sufficient,  when 
we  confined  it  subjectively  to  those  of  our  flocks,  and  objec- 
tively to  their  duties  of  exhorting  and  provoking  one  another 
to  love  and  to  good  works,  and  of  building  up  one  another  in 
their  most  holy  faith,  and,  only  by  religious  peaceable  means, 
of  furthering  each  other  in  the  ways  of  eternal  life :  and  for 
the  order,  they  being  not  opposite  to  church  assemblies  (but 
subordinate,)  nor  refusing  the  guidance  and  inspection  of  their 
pastors  (who  may  be  sometime  with  them  and  prescribe  them 
their  work  and  way,  and  direct  their  actions,)  and  being  re- 
sponsible for  what  they  do  or  say  (their  doors  being  open) 


44  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

there  will  not  want  witnesses  against  them,  if  they  do  amiss. 
And  is  not  all  this  enough  to  secure  you  against  the  fear  of 
sectaries,  unless  all  such  helps  and  mutual  comforts  be  for- 
bidden to  all  that  are  no  sectaries?  This  is  but  as  the  papists 
do  in  another  case,  when  they  deny  people  liberty  to  read  the 
Scriptures  lest  they  make  men  heretics  or  sectaries.  And  for 
the  danger  of  the  state,  cannot  men  plot  against  it  in  ale- 
houses, or  taverns,  or  fields,  or  under  pretence  of  horse  races, 
hunting,  bowls,  or  other  occasions,  but  only  under  pretence 
of  worshipping  God  ?  If  they  may,  why  are  not  all  men  for- 
bidden to  feast,  or  bowl,  or  hunt,  &c.,  lest  sectaries  make 
advantage  of  such  meetings,  as  well  as  to  fast  and  pray  ?  God 
and  wise  men  know  that  there  is  something  more  in  all  such 
jealousies  of  religious  duties. 

§  4.  Do  you  really  desire  that  every  congregation  may  have 
an  able,  godly  minister?  Then  cast  not  out  those  many 
hundreds  or  thousands  that  are  approved  such,  for  want  of 
re-ordination,  or  for  doubting  whether  diocesans,  with  their 
chancellors,  &c.,  may  be  subscribed  to ;  and  set  not  up  igno- 
rant ungodly  ones  in  their  places.  Otherwise  the  poor  undone 
churches  of  Christ  will  no  more  believe  you  in  such  profes- 
sions, than  we  believed  that  those  men  intended  the  king's 
just  power  and  greatness,  who  took  away  his  life. 

But  you  know  not  what  we  mean  by  residence,  nor  how  far 
we  will  extend  that  word.  The  word  is  so  plain,  that  it  is 
easily  understood  by  those  that  are  willing :  but  he  that  would 
not  know,  cannot  understand,  as  King  Charles  told  Mr, 
Henderson.  I  doubt  the  people  will  quickly  find  that  you  did 
not  understand  us.  And  yet  I  more  fear  lest  many  a  parish 
will  be  glad  of  non-residence,  even  if  priest  and  curate  and 
all  were  far  enough  from  them,  through  whose  fault  I  say 
not. 

§  5.  Two  remedies  you  give  us  instead  of  what  we  desired 
for  the  reformation  of  church-communion  : 

1 .  You  say,  confirmation  if  rightfully  and  solemnly  performed 
will  alone  be  sufficient  as  to  the  point  of  instruction.  Answer; 
but  what  we  desired  was  necessary  to  the  right  and  solemn 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  45 

performance  of  it.  Doth  not  any  man  that  knoweth  what 
hath  been  done  in  England,  and  what  people  dwell  there, 
know  that  there  are  not  more  ignorant  people  in  this  land 
than  such  as  have  had,  and  such  as  desire  episcopal  confirma- 
tion ?  Is  it  svfficient  in  point  of  instruction,  for  a  bishop  to 
come  among  a  company  of  little  children  and  other  people, 
whom  he  never  saw  before,  and  of  whom  he  never  heard  a 
word,  and  of  whom  he  never  asketh  a  question  which  may  in- 
form him  of  their  knowledge  or  life  :  and  presently  to  lay  his 
hands  on  them  in  order,  and  hastily  say  over  a  few  lines  of 
prayer,  and  so  dismiss  them?  I  was  confirmed  by  honest 
Bishop  Morton,  with  a  multitude  more,  who  all  went  to  it  as 
a  May-game,  and  kneeled  down,  and  he  dispatched  us  with 
that  short  prayer  so  fast,  that  I  scarce  understood  one  word 
he  said ;  much  less  did  he  receive  any  certificate  concerning 
us,  or  ask  us  any  thing  which  might  tell  him  whether  we  were 
Christians;  and  I  never  saw  nor  heard  of  much  more  done  by 
any  English  bishop  in  his  course  of  confirmation.  If  you 
say  that  more  is  required  in  the  rubric^  I  say  then  it  is  no 
crime  for  us  to  desire  it. 

2.  And  for  your  provision  in  the  other  rubric  against 
scandalous  communicants,  it  enableth  not  the  minister  to  put 
away  any  one  of  them  all,  save  only  the  malicious  that  will 
not  just  then  be  reconciled.  Be  not  angry  with  us,  if  in  sor- 
row of  heart,  we  pray  to  God  that  his  churches  may  have 
experienced  pastors,  who  have  spent  much  time  in  serious 
dealing  with  every  one  of  their  parishes  personally,  and  know 
what  they  are  and  what  they  need,  instead  of  men  that  have 
conversed  only  with  books,  and  the  houses  of  great  men ;  or, 
when  they  do  sometimes  stoop  to  speak  to  the  ignorant,  do 
but  talk  to  them  of  the  market  or  the  weather,  or  ask  them, 
what  is  their  name. 

§  6.  To  your  Answer  we  reply — those  laws  may  be  well  made 
stricter.  They  hindered  not  the  imposition  of  a  book,  to  be 
read  by  all  ministers  in  the  churches,  for  the  people's  liberty 
for  dancing,  and  other  such  sports,  on  the  Lord's  day;  and 
this  in  the  king's  name;  to  the  ejecting  or  suspending  of  those 


46  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

ministers  that  durst  not  read  it.  And  those  laws  which  we 
have  may  be  more  carefully  executed.  If  you  are  ignorant 
how  commonly  the  Lord's  day  is  profaned  in  England  by 
sporting,  drinking,  revelling,  and  idleness,  you  are  sad  pastors 
that  no  better  know  the  flock :  if  you  know  it,  and  desire  not 
the  reformation  of  it,  you  are  yet  worse.  Religion  never 
prospered  anywhere  so  much,  as  where  the  Lord's  days  have 
been  most  carefully  spent  in  holy  exercises. 

CONCEKNING    CHURCH    GOVERNMENT. 

§  7.  Had  you  well  read  but  Gersom,  Bucer,  Didoclavius, 
Parker,  Baynes,  Salmasius,  Blondell,  &c.,  yea,  of  the  few 
lines  in  Bishop  Ussher's  Reduction  which  we  have  offered  you, 
or  what  I  have  written  of  it  in  Disp.  1.  of  Church  Govern- 
ment ;  you  would  have  seen  Just  reason  given  for  our  dissent 
from  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  as  stated  in  England;  and 
have  known  that  it  is  unlike  the  primitive  episcopacy.  But 
if  that  which  must  convince  you,  must  be  brought  nearer 
your  eyes,  by  God's  help  we  undertake  to  do  that  fully  when- 
ever we  are  called  to  it. 

§  8.  The  words  which  you  here  except  against,  with  admi- 
ration, of  the  corruptions,  partialities,  tyranny,  which  Church 
Government  by  a  single  person  is  liable  to,  was  taken  by  us 
out  of  the  book  commonly  ascribed  to  King  Charles  himself, 
called  Icon.  Basil.,  but  we  purposely  supprest  his  name  to  try 
whether  you  would  not  be  as  bitter  against  his  words,  as 
against  ours;  and  did  not  esteem  fidem  per  personas,  non 
personas  per  fidem. 

And  further  we  reply,  it  is  one  thing  for  a  bishop  to  rule 
alone  when  there  are  no  presbyters,  or  to  rule  the  presbyters 
themselves  alone ;  and  another  thing  when  he  hath  presbyters 
yet  to  rule  all  the  flock  alone ;  for  by  this  means,  he  quoad 
exercitium  at  least  degradeth  all  the  rest,  or  changeth  their 
ofiice,  which  is  to  guide  as  well  as  to  teach ;  as,  if  the  general 
of  an  army,  or  the  colonel  of  a  regiment  should  rule  all  the 
soldiers    alone,    doth   he  not  then   depose  all    his  captains, 


1660,]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  47 

lieutenants,  cornets,  corporals,  sergeants,  &c.?  But  especially, 
it  is  one  thing  for  Ignatius  his  bishop  of  one  church  that 
hath  but  one  altar,  to  rule  it  alone,  (though  yet  he  command- 
eth  the  people  to  obey  their  presbyters,)  and  another  thing 
for  an  English  diocesan  to  rule  a  thousand  such  churches 
alone  !  And  when  all  is  done,  do  they  rule  alone  indeed  ? 
Or  doth  not  a  lay -chancellor  exercise  the  keys,  so  far  as  is 
necessary  to  suppress  private  meetings  for  fasting  and  prayer, 
&c.,  and  to  force  all  to  the  sacrament,  and  enforce  the  cere- 
monies, and  some  such  things?  And  for  the  great  discipline  it 
is  almost  altogether  left  undone.  We  are  sorry  that  you 
should  be  able  to  be  ignorant  of  this  :  or,  if  you  know  it,  that 
such  camels  stick  not  with  you,  but  go  down  so  easily. 

INSTANCES    OF    THINGS    AMISS. 

§  9.  1.  That  which  you  cannot  grant  (that  the  dioceses 
are  so  great)  you  would  quickly  grant  if  you  had  ever  con- 
scionably  tried  the  task  which  Dr.  Plammond  described  as  the 
bishop's  work ;  yea,  but  for  one  parish,  or  had  ever  believed 
Ignatius  and  other  ancient  descriptions  of  a  bishop's  church. 

But  is  it  faithful  dealing  with  your  brethren,  or  your  con- 
sciences (pardon  our  freedom  in  so  weighty  a  case,)  to  dispute 
as  though  you  made  a  bishop  but  an  archbishop  to  see  by  a 
general  inspection  of  the  parish  pastors  that  they  do  their 
office,  and  as  if  they  only  ruled  the  rulers  of  the  particular 
flocks  (which  you  know  we  never  strove  against,)  when  as  no 
knowing  Englishman  can  be  ignorant  that  our  bishops  have 
the  sole  government  of  pastors  and  people,  having  taken  all 
jurisdiction  or  proper  government  (or  next  all)  from  the  par- 
ticular pastors  of  the  parishes,  to  themselves  alone?  Is  not 
the  question  rather  as  whether  the  king  can  rule  all  the  king- 
dom by  the  chancellor,  or  a  few  such  officers,  without  all  the 
justices  and  mayors;  or  whether  one  schoolmaster  shall  only 
rule  a  thousand  schools  and  all  the  other  schoolmasters  only 
teach  them  ?  You  know  that  the  depriving  of  all  the  parish 
pastors  of  the  keys  of  government  is  the  matter  of  our  greatest 


48  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

controversies :  not  as  it  is  any  hurt  to  them,  but  to  the 
church,  and  certain  exclusion  of  all  true  discipline.  And 
whether  the  office  of  the  bishops  of  particular  churches 
infimi  ordinis,  vel  gradus,  be  not  for  personal  inspection  and 
ministration,  as  well  as  the  office  of  a  schoolmaster  or  phy- 
sician, you  will  better  know  when  you  come  to  try  it  faith- 
fully, or  answer  fearfully  for  unfaithfulness.  We  know  that 
the  knowing  Lord  Bacon,  in  his  Considerations,  saith  so  as 
well  as  we. 

And  for  what  you  say  of  suffragans,  you  know  there  are 
none  such. 

§  10.  2.  We  are  glad  that  in  so  great  a  matter  as  lay- 
chancellors'  exercise  of  the  keys  in  excommunications  and 
absolutions,  you  are  forced  plainly,  and  without  any  excuse, 
to  confess  the  errors  of  the  way  of  government.  And  let 
this  stand  on  record  before  the  world  to  justify  us  when  we 
shall  be  silenced,  and  reproached  as  schismatics,  for  the  desir- 
ing of  the  reformation  of  such  abuses,  and  for  not  swearing 
canonical  obedience  to  such  a  government. 

§  11.  3.  And  you  have  almost  as  little  to  say  in  this  case. 
Mark,  reader,  that  we  must  all  be  silenced,  and  cast  out  of  our 
offices,  if  we  subscribe  not  to  the  book  of  ordination  ex  animo, 
as  having  nothing  contrary  to  the  vord  of  God ;  and  the  very 
preface  of  that  beginneth  with  the  affirmation  of  this  distinc- 
tion of  orders,  offices,  functions,  from  the  apostles'  days,  and 
one  of  the  prayers  ascribeth  it  to  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  yet 
now  it  is  here  said  that,  whether  a  bishop  be  a  distinct  order 
from  a  presbyter  or  not,  is  nofie  of  the  questions.  That  must 
be  none  of  the  question  when  the  king  calleth  them  to  treat 
for  a  reconciliation  or  unity,  which  will  be  out  of  question 
against  us  when  we  are  called  to  subscribe,  or  are  to  be  for- 
bidden to  preach  the  gospel ! 

And  let  what  is  here  confessed  for  presbyters'  assistance  in 
ordination,  stand  on  record  against  them  when  it  is  neglected 
or  made  an  insignificant  ceremony. 

§  12.  4.  In  the  last  also  you  give  up  your  cause,  and  yet 
it's  well  if  you  will  amend  it.      Whether  the  canons  be  laws 


1 660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  49 

let  the  lawyers  judge  :  and  whether  all  the  bishops'  Books  of 
Articles  (as  against  making  Scripture  our  table  talk^  and 
many  such  others)  be  either  laws^  or  according  to  law^  let  the 
world  judge. 

THE    REMEDIES    OFFERED    FOR    REFORMING    THESE    EVILS. 

§  13.  1.  Whereas  to  avoid  all  exception^  or  frustrating 
contentions  or  delays^  we  offered  only  Bishop  Ussher's  Plat- 
form (subscribed  also  by  Dr.  Holdsworth)  that  the  world 
might  see  that  it  is  episcopacy  itself  that  we  plead  for;  you 
tell  us  that  it  was  formed  many  years  before  his  death,  and  is 
not  consistent  with  two  other  of  his  discourses :  in  which 
either  you  would  intimate  that  he  contradicteth  himself,  and 
could  not  speak  consistently^  or  that  he  afterward  retracted 
this  Reduction.  For  the  first,  we  must  believe  that  many  men 
can  reconcile  their  own  writings,  when  some  readers  cannot, 
as  better  understanding  themselves  than  others  do;  and  that 
this  reverend  bishop  was  no  such  raw  novice,  as  not  to  know 
when  he  contradicted  himself  in  so  public  and  practical  a 
case,  as  a  frame  of  church  government ;  nor  was  he  such  a 
hypocrite  as  to  play  fast  and  loose  in  the  things  of  God  :  but 
upon  debate  we  undertake  to  vindicate  his  writings  from  this 
aspersion  of  inconsistency ;  only  you  must  not  take  him  to 
mean  that  all  was  well  done,  which,  as  an  historian,  he  saith 
was  done.  And  as  to  any  retraction,  one  of  us  (myself)  is 
ready  to  witness  that  he  owned  it  not  long  before  his  death, 
as  a  collection  of  fit  terms  to  reconcile  the  moderate  in 
these  points,  and  told  him  that  he  offered  it  the  late 
king. 

And  whereas  you  tell  us  that  tlie  conforming  of  suffragans 
to  rural  deaneries,  and  other  such,  are  his  private  conceptions, 
destitute  of  any  testimony  of  antiquity,  we  answer — No 
marvel,  when  rural  deaneries  were  unknown  to  true  antiquity, 
and  when  in  the  ancientest  church,  every  church  had  its 
proper  bishop,  and  every  bishop  but  one  church,  that  had  also 
but  one  altar.    But  surely  the  chorepiscopi  were  no  strangers 


50  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

to  antiquity,  as  may  appear  (before  the  Council  at  Nice)  in 
Concil.  Ancyran.  Can.  12,  and  in  Concil.Antiochin.  Can.  10^  &c. 
It  was  unknown  in  the  days  of  Ignatius  and  Justin  Martyr, 
that  a  church  should  be  as  large  as  a  rural  deanery,  con- 
taining a  dozen  churches  with  altars,  that  had  none  of  them 
pecuHar  bishops :  but  it  was  not  strange  then  that  every 
church  had  a  bishop ;  and  if  it  were  rural,  a  chorepiscopus. 
As  also  you  may  gather  even  from  Clemens  Romanus. 

The  quarrel  which  you  pick  with  the  archbishop's  Reduction 
for  not  naming  the  king,  as  if  he  destroyed  his  supremacy,  is 
such  as  a  low  degree  of  charity,  with  a  little  understanding, 
might  easily  have  prevented.  Either  you  know  that  it  is  the 
power  of  the  keys,  (called  spiritual  and  proper  ecclesiastical,) 
and  not  the  coercive  power  circa  ecclesiastica,  which  the 
archbishop  speaketh  of,  and  all  our  controversy  is  about,  or 
you  do  not  know  it.  If  you  do  know  it,  either  you  think 
this  power  of  the  keys  is  resolved  into  the  king,  or  not :  if  you 
do  think  so,  you  differ  from  the  king,  and  from  all  yourselves 
that  ever  we  talked  with,  and  you  contradict  all  protestant 
princes,  that  have  openly  disclaimed  any  such  power,  and 
published  this  to  the  world,  to  stop  the  mouths  of  calumniat- 
ing papists  :  and  we  have  heard  the  king,  and  some  of  you 
disclaim  it :  and  how  can  you  then  fitly  debate  these  contro- 
versies, that  differ  from  all  protestant  kings,  and  from  the 
church  !  But  if  you  yourselves  do  not  so  think,  had  you  a  pen 
that  would  charge  the  archbishop  for  destroying  the  king's 
supremacy,  for  asserting  nothing  but  what  the  king  and  you 
maintain  ?  And  if  you  knew  not  that  this  spiritual  power  of 
the  keys,  as  distinct  from  magistratical  coercive  power,  is  the 
subject  of  our  controversy,  we  dispute  to  good  purpose  indeed 
with  men  that  know  not  what  subject  it  is  that  we  are  to 
dispute  about !  So  that  which  way  soever  it  go,  you  see 
how  it  is  like  to  fall ;  and  how  men  that  are  out  of  the  dust 
and  noise  will  judge  of  our  debates.  And  here  we  leave  it  to 
the  notice  and  observation  of  posterity,  upon  the  perusal  of 
all  your  exceptions,  how  little  the  English  bishops  had  to 
say  against  the  form  of  primitive  episcopacy  contained  in 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  51 

Archbishop  Ussher's  Reduction,  in  the  day  when  they  rather 
choose  the  increase  of  our  divisions,  the  silencing  of  many 
hundred  faithful  ministers,  the  scattering  of  the  flocks,  the 
afflicting  of  so  many  thousand  godly  Christians,  than  the 
accepting  of  this  primitive  episcopacy;  which  was  the  expe- 
dient which  those  called  presbyterians  offered,  never  once 
speaking  for  the  cause  of  presbytery;  and  what  kind  of 
peacemakers  and  conciliators  we  met  with,  when  both  parties 
were  to  meet  at  one  time  and  place  with  their  several  conces- 
sions for  peace  and  concord  ready  drawn  up,  and  the  presby- 
terians in  their  concessions  laid  by  all  their  cause,  and 
proposed  an  archbishop's  frame  of  episcopacy  :  and  the  other 
side  brought  not  in  any  of  their  concessions  at  all,  but  only 
unpeaceably  rejected  all  the  moderation  that  was  desired. 

Lastly,  they  here  desire  it  may  be  observed  that  in  this 
Reduction,  archiepiscopacy  is  acknowledged :  and  we  shall 
also  desire  that  it  may  be  observed,  that  we  never  put  in  a 
word  to  them  against  archbishops,  metropolitans  or  primates, 
and  yet  we  are  very  far  from  attaining  any  peace  with  them. 

And  we  desire  that  it  may  be  observed  also,  that  under- 
standing with  whom  we  had  to  do,  we  offered  them  not  that 
which  we  approved  ourselves  as  the  best,  but  that  which  we 
would  submit  to,  as  having  some  consistency  with  the  disci- 
pline and  order  of  the  church,  which  was  our  end. 

OF    THE    SUPER-ADDED    PARTICULARS. 

§  14.  1 .  This  is  scarce  serious :  the  primate's  suffragans 
or  chorepiscopi  are  rural  deans,  or  as  many  for  number :  the 
suffragans  you  talk  of  by  law  are  other  things,  about  sixteen 
in  all  the  land.  The  king's  power  is  about  the  choice  of 
them  as  human  officers;  but,  as  pastors  of  the  church  or 
bishops,  the  churches  had  the  choice  for  a  thousand  years 
after  Christ,  through  most  of  the  Christian  world.  And 
what  if  it  be  in  the  king's  power :  is  it  not  the  more  reason- 
able that  the  king  be  petitioned  to  in  the  business?  The 
king  doth  not  choose  every  rural  dean  himself:  and  is  it  any 

E   2 


53  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

more  destructive  of  his  power  to  do  it  by  tlie  synods^  than 
by  the  diocesan?  This  use  the  name  and  power  of  kings  is 
made  of  by  some  kind  of  men_,  to  make  a  noise  against  all 
that  cross  their  domination^  but  all  that  is  exercised  by 
themselves  is  no  whit  derogatory  to  royalty.  And  yet  how 
many  men  have  been  excommunicated  for  refusing  to  answer 
in  the  Chancellors'  courts^  till  they  profess  to  sit  there  by 
the  king's  authority? 

§  15.  We  much  doubt  whether  you  designed  to  read  the 
archbishop's  Reduction  when  you  answered  our  papers.  If 
you  did  not,  why  would  you  choose  to  be  ignorant  of  what 
you  answered,  when  so  light  a  labour  might  have  informed 
you  ?  If  you  did,  how  could  you  be  ignorant  of  what  we 
meant  by  Associations,  when  you  saw  that  such  as  our  rural 
deaneries  was  the  thing  spoken  of,  and  proposed  by  the  Reduc- 
tion ?  And  1 .  Are  the  rural  deaneries,,  think  you,  without 
the  king's  authority  ?  If  not,  what  mean  you  by  such  inti- 
mations, unless  you  Avould  make  men  believe  that  we  breathe 
treason,  as  oft  as  we  breathe,  as  the  soldier  charged  the 
countryman  for  whistling  treason,  when  he  meant  to  plunder 
him?  2.  And  what  though  associations  may  not  be  entered 
into  without  the  king's  authority  :  do  you  mean  that  there- 
fore we  may  not  thus  desire  his  authority  for  them  ?  If  you 
do  not,  to  what  sense  or  purpose  is  this  answer?  Sure  we 
are,  that  for  three  hundred  years,  when  magistrates  were  not 
Christian,  there  was  preaching,  prayers,  and  associating  in 
particular  churches  hereunto  without  the  king's  authority, 
and  also  associating  in  synods :  and  after  that,  for  many  a 
hundred  year,  the  Christian  magistrates  confirmed  and  over- 
ruled such  associations,  but  never  overthrew  them,  or  forbad 
them. 

§  16.  But  the  apostles  of  Christ,  and  all  his  churches  for 
many  hundred  years,  thought  all  these  subscriptions  and 
oaths  unnecessary ;  and  never  prescribed,  nor  required  either 
them  or  any  such ;  so  unhappy  is  the  present  church  in  the 
happy  understandings  of  these  men  of  yesterday,  that  are 
wiser  than  Christ,  his    apostles,  and    universal  church,  and 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  53 

have  at  last  found  out  these  necessary  oaths  and  subscrip- 
tions. And  you  are  not  quite  mistaken :  necessary  they  are, 
to  set  up  those  that  shall  rule  by  constraint  as  lords  over 
God's  heritage,  and  necessary  engines  for  the  dividing  and 
persecuting  of  the  church.  But  judge  thou,  O  Lord,  accord- 
ing to  thy  righteousness,  in  the  day  which  is  coming ! 

But  the  examples  of  corporations  and  colleges  are  brought 
in,  who  prevent  offences  by  subscriptions  and  oaths.  And 
even  so  hath  Christ  (whose  spirit  would  impose  nothing  on 
the  churches  but  things  necessary)  appointed  a  vow  and 
solemn  covenant  to  be  the  way  of  entrance  into  his  church : 
and  the  apish  spirit  which  followeth  him  (to  counterwork 
him)  by  the  addition  of  human  churches,  sacraments,  and 
ordinances,  doth  also  imitate  him  in  making  their  oaths  and 
promises  necessary  to  engage  men  to  their  service  and  insti- 
tutions, as  Christ  hath  made  baptism  necessary  to  engage  us 
to  his  service  and  institutions.  And  your  arguments  for 
diocesans  are  so  weak,  that  we  wonder  not  that  you  think 
both  oaths,  subscriptions,  prisons,  confiscations,  and  banish- 
ments, necessary  to  enforce  them. 

What  you  add  of  such  persons  as  have  themselves  enacted 
conditions  of  their  communion  not  warranted  by  law,  we 
understand  not :  either  the  law  warranteth  men  to  own  Christ 
for  their  Saviour,  and  to  own  their  own  membership  in  the 
particular  church  which  they  demand  constant  communion 
with,  or  it  doth  not.  If  it  do  not,  we  have  reason  to  desire 
more  than  is  warranted  by  that  law.  If  it  do,  you  should 
have  done  well  to  instance  what  persons  and  what  exactions 
you  mean.  If  you  speak  this  of  all  the  churches  of  the  land 
that  dislike  your  prelacy,  it  is  too  gross  an  untruth  to  have 
been  uttered  in  the  light.  If  you  speak  only  of  some 
persons  or  parties,  that  is  no  reason  why  others  should  be 
deprived  of  their  liberty  and  ministry.  Nor  indeed  is  it 
good  arguing  that  such  oaths  and  subscriptions  as  the  church 
of  old  did  never  know,  may  be  imposed  by  the  laws  of  men, 
because  some  brethren  have  lately  required  such  conditions 
of  their  communion,   as  are  imposed   by  the  laws  of   God. 


54  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

But  let  us  prevail  witli  you  to  drive  this  no  further  than  the 
persons,  whoever  they  be,  did  drive  it  whom  you  blame : 
their  utmost  penalty  on  the  refusers  of  their  conditions  was 
non-communion  with  them;  a  thing  which  many  of  you 
voluntarily  choose.  Let  this  be  all  our  penalty  for  refusing 
your  oaths  and  subscriptions  (if  we  can  get  no  better  from 
you:)  but  shall  we  be  silenced,  imprisoned,  confiscated,  banished, 
for  refusing  your  oaths  and  subscriptions,  because  somebody 
imposed  things  which  the  law  allowed  not  in  order  to  their 
own  communion?     These  are  no  fit  proportions  of  justice. 

§  17.  Out  of  your  own  mouths  then  is  yom*  government  con- 
demned. What  act  of  parliament  ratified  your  canons? 
What  law  imposed  altars,  rails,  and  the  forcing  of  ministers 
to  read  the  book  for  dancing  on  the  Lord's  days  ?  Or  what 
law  did  ratify  many  articles  of  your  visitation  books?  And 
did  the  laws  sufficiently  provide  for  all  those  poor  ministers 
that  were  silenced  or  suspended  for  not  reading  the  dancing 
book,  or  any  such  things?  What  the  better  were  all  those 
for  the  laws  that  were  silenced,  ,or  driven  into  foreign  lands  ? 
But  perhaps  the  laws  will  provide  for  us  indeed  as  you  desire. 

CONCERNING    THE    LITURGY. 

§  18.  1.  The  doctrine  is  sound.  But  the  apocryphal 
matter  of  your  lessons  in  Tobith,  Judith,  Bell  and  the  Dragon, 
&c.,  is  scarce  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God.^ 

2.  Whether  it  be  fitly  suited,  let  our  exceptions  and  other 
papers  be  heard  before  your  judgment  go  for  infallible. 

3.  What  men's  prayers  you  take  your  measure  or  en- 
couragement from,  we  know  not :  but  we  are  sure  that  if  all 
the  common  prayers  be  twice  a  day  read,  the  time  for  psalms 
and  sermons  will  be  short.  And  yet  were  they  Lee  from 
disorder  and  defectiveness  in  matter,  we  could  the  better 
bear  with  the  length,  though  other  prayers  and  sermons  were 
partly  excluded  by  them. 

^  This  is  sjioken  of  the  old  Common  Pra_yer  Boole,  and  not  of  the  new, 
where  the  doctrine  in  point  of  infants'  salvation  is  changed. 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  55 

4.  Thougli  we  live  in  the  same  country,  we  scarce  differ 
any  where  more  than  in  our  very  experiences.  Our  experi- 
ence unresi  stably  convinceth  us,  that  a  continued  prayer  doth 
more  to  help  most  of  the  people  and  carry  on  their  desires, 
than  turning  almost  every  petition  into  a  distinct  prayer ;  and 
making  prefaces  and  conclusions  to  be  near  half  the  prayers. 
And  if  the  way  of  prayer  recorded  in  Scripture  (even  in  the 
Jews'  church,  where  infirmity  might  be  pleaded  more  than 
now)  were  such  as  yours,  we  shall  say  no  more  in  that 
against  it :  but  if  it  were  not,  be  not  wise  then  overmuch. 

5.  We  are  content  that  the  liturgy  have  such  repetitions  as 
the  scriptures  have,  so  it  may  have  no  other !  And  we  are 
content  that  all  extemporate  prayer  be  restrained  which  is 
guilty  of  as  much  tautology  and  vain  repetition  as  the  liturgy 
is  :  if  this  much  will  satisfy  you  we  are  agreed. 

6.  Nor  are  we  against  any  such  responsals  as  are  fit  to  the 
ends  you  mention  :  if  ours  are  all  such  (upon  impartial  exami- 
nation) let  them  stand. 

7.  But  the  question  is,  1.  Whether  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Churches  in  the  three  first  ages,  or  those  of  later  ages,  be 
more  imitable  ?  2.  And,  whether  the  other  reformed  churches 
have  not  more  imitated  the  ancientest  of  those  churches, 
though  we  have  more  imitated  the  latter  and  more  corrupt? 
3.  And,  whether  our  first  work  be  to  stop  the  papists'  mouths 
by  pleasing  them  or  coming  too  near  them,  when  we  know 
they  that  are  likest  them  m  all  their  corruptions  please  them 
best?  Yet  ai-e  we  not  for  any  unnecessary  diflPerence  from 
them,  or  affectation  of  causeless  singularity. 

As  to  the  reformed  churches'  testimony  of  our  liturgy,  shall 
their  very  charity  become  our  snare  ?  If  they  had  liked  our 
form  of  prayers  best,  they  would  some  of  them  have  imitated  us. 
And  our  martyrs  no  doubt,  they  honoured  as  we  do,  not  as 
suffering  for  the  modes  and  ceremonies  of  that  book,  as  onpo- 
site  to  the  reformed  churches'  mode  (for  so  they  suffered  not); 
but  as  suffering  for  the  sound  doctrine  and  true  worship  of 
the  Protestants,  as  opposite  to  Popery  and  the  mass. 

§  19.  Your    reasons    to  prove  your  impositions   not  too 


56  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

rigorous,  are  1.  Because  they  are  by  law :  if  we  tell  you  that 
so  is  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  you'll  say,  we  comjjare  our  law- 
givers to  the  Spaniards  :  if  we  say  that  your  new  mentioned 
martyrs  were  burnt  by  law  in  England,  you'll  say  that  we 
compare  them  to  Papists.  But  all  these  are  laws  :  and  so 
are  those  in  reformed  comitries  which  are  against  bishops  and 
ceremonies :  do  you  therefore  think  them  not  too  rigorous  ? 
2.  Your  other  reason  is  that  the  rigour  is  no  more  than  is 
necessary  to  make  the  imposition  effectual.  You  never  spake 
words  more  agreeable  to  your  hearts,  as  far  as  by  your  prac- 
tices we  can  judge  of  them.  Either  you  mean  effectual  to 
change  men's  judgments,  or  effectual  to  make  them  go 
against  their  judgments,  or  effectual  to  rid  them  out  of  the 
land  or  world.  The  first  you  know  they  are  unfit  for ;  if  you 
think  otherwise,  would  you  that  your  judgments  should  have 
such  kind  of  helps  to  have  set  them  right?  The  second  way 
they  will  be  effectual  with  none  but  wicked  men  and  hypo- 
crites, who  dare  sin  against  their  consciences  for  fear  of  men  : 
and  is  it  worth  so  much  ado  to  bring  the  children  of  the 
devil  into  your  church  ?  The  third  way  of  efficacy,  is  but  to 
kill  or  banish  all  the  children  of  God  that  are  not  of  your 
opinion :  for  it  is  they  that  dare  not  sin  against  conscience 
whatever  they  suffer  i  and  this  is  but  such  an  efficacy  as  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  and  Queen  Mary's  bonfires  had,  to  send 
those  to  God  whom  the  world  is  not  worthy  of.  You  know 
every  man  that  is  true  to  his  God  and  his  conscience,  will 
never  do  that  which  he  taketh  to  be  sin,  till  his  judgment  is 
changed  :  and  therefore,  with  such,  it  can  be  no  lower  than 
blood,  or  banishment,  or  imprisonment  at  least,  that  is  the 
efficacy  which  you  desire  :  aiid  if  no  such  rigour  be  too  much,  its 
pity  the  French,  that  murdered  30,000  or  40,000  at  their 
Bartholomew  days,  or  as  Dr.  Peter  Moulin  saith,  100,000 
within  a  few  weeks,  and  the  Irish  that  murdered  200,000  had 
not  a  better  cause :  for  they  took  the  most  effectual  way  of 
rigour. 

But  when  God  maketh  inquisition  for  the  blood  of  his  ser- 
vants, he  will  convince  men  that  such  rigour  was  too  much. 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  57 

and  that  their  wrath  did  not  fulfil  his  righteousness.  You 
shew  your  kindness  to  men^s  praying  in  the  pulpit  without 
your  book ;  make  good  what  you  say^  that  such  praying  is  of 
no  great  antiquity  and  we  will  never  contradict  you  more  ! 
Or  if  we  prove  it  not  the  ancientest  way  of  praying  in  the 
Christian  church,  we  will  give  you  leave  to  hang,  or  banish  us, 
for  not  subscribing  to  the  Common  Prayer  Book  :  which  the 
apostles  used,  and  which  was  imposed  on  the  church  for  some 
hundred  years.  But  it  seems  you  think  that  we  are  beholden 
to  mere  sufferance  without  law  or  canon  for  conceived  prayers. 
How  long  then  it  will  be  suffered  we  know  not,  if  we  must 
live  by  your  patience. 

§  20.  It  seemeth  that  our  converse  and  yours  much  differ  : 
the  most  that  we  know  or  meet  with  had  rather  be  without  the 
liturgy :  and  you  say,  that  the  people  are  generally  well  satisfied 
with  it.  By  this  time  they  are  of  another  mind.  If  it  were 
so  we  take  it  for  no  great  honour  to  it ;  considering  what  the 
greater  number  are  in  most  places,  and  of  what  lives  those 
persons  are  (of  our  parishes  and  acquaintance  generally  or  for 
the  most  part)  who  are  for  it :  or  what  those  are  that  are 
against  it,  and  whom  for  its  sake  you  desire  your  effectual 
rigour  may  be  exercised  against.  The  Lord  prepare  them  to 
undergo  it  innocently ! 

§  21.  Doth  there  need  no  more  to  be  said  for  the  ceremo- 
nies ?  How  little  will  satisfy  some  men's  consciences  !  Lawful 
authority  hath  in  other  countries  cast  out  the  same  bishops  and 
ceremonies  which  are  here  received.  Doth  it  follow  that  they 
aregood  in  one  country,  and  disorderly  and  undecent  in  another? 
or  that  our  authority  only  is  infallible  in  judging  of  them? 

Is  not  God's  worship  perfect  without  our  ceremonies,  in  its 
integrals  as  well  as  its  essentials? 

As  for  circumstantials  when  you  saw  us  allow  of  them,  you 
need  not  plead  for  them  as  against  us.  But  the  question  is, 
whether  our  additions  be  not  more  than  circumstances. 

§  22.  "We  suppose  that  you  give  all  to  the  cross  in  baptism 
which  is  necessary  to  a  human  sacrament  :  and  this  we  are 
ready  to  try  by  just  dispute. 


58  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

Whea  you  say  that  never  was  moral  efficacy  ascribed  to 
them,  you  seem  to  give  up  all  your  cause :  for  by  denying 
this  ascribed  efficacy,  you  seem  to  grant  them  unlawful  if  it 
be  so :  and  if  it  be  not  so  let  us  bear  the  blame  of  wronging 
them.  The  informing  and  exciting  the  dull  mind  of  man  in 
its  duty  to  God,  is  a  moral  eflFect  from  moral  efficacy.  But 
the  informing  and  exciting  the  dull  mind  of  man,  in  its  duty 
to  God,  is  an  effect  ascribed  to  our  ceremonies :  ergo.,  a 
moral  effect  from  moral  efficacy  is  ascribed  to  our  ceremonies. 
The  major  cannot  be  denied  by  any  man  that  knoweth  what 
a  moral  effect  and  efficacy  is:  that  which  worketh  not  per  modum 
natura  in  genere  causa  efficientis  naturalis  only,  but  per 
modum  objecti,  vel  in  genere  causa  finalis,  upon  the  mind  of 
man,  doth  work  morally  :  but  so  do  our  ceremonies  :  ergo — 
sure  the  Arminians  that  deny  all  proper  physical  operations 
of  God's  Spirit,  as  well  as  his  Word,  and  reduce  all  to  moral 
efficacy,  will  not  say  that  ceremonies  have  such  a  physical 
efficacy  more  than  moral.  And  if  not  so,  the  good  effects 
here  mentioned  can  be  from  no  lower  efficacy  than  moral. 
And  the  minor  which  must  be  denied,  is  in  the  words  of  the 
preface  to  the  Common  Prayer  Book,  and  therefore  undeni- 
able. The  Word  of  God  itself  worketh  but  moraliter  pro- 
ponendo  objectum,  and  so  do  our  ceremonies. 

§  23.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  sacramental  cere- 
monies, and  mere  circumstances,  which  the  reformed  churches 
keep.  These  we  confound  not,  and  could  have  wished  you 
would  not.  Our  cross  in  baptism  is  a  dedicating  sign,  (saith 
the  canon)  or  transient  image,  made  in  token  that  this  child 
shall  not  be  ashamed  of  Christ  crucified,  but  manly  fight 
under  his  banner  against  the  flesh,  the  world,  and  the  devil, 
and  continue  Christ's  faithful  servant  and  soldier  to  his  life's 
end.  So  that  1.  It  is  a  dedicating  sign^  performed  by  the 
minister,  and  not  by  the  person  himself,  as  a  bare  professing 
sign  is.  2.  It  engageth  the  party  in  a  relation  to  Christ  as 
his  soldier  and  servant.  3.  And  in  the  duties  of  this  rela- 
tion against  all  our  enemies,  as  the  sacramentum  militare  doth 
a  soldier  to  his  general ;  and  that  in  plainer  and  fuller  words 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  59 

than  are  annexed  to  baptism.  4.  And  it  is  no  other  than  the 
covenant  of  grace  or  of  Christianity  itself,  which  this  sacra- 
ment of  the  cross  doth  enter  us  into,  as  baptism  also  doth. 
It  is  not  made  a  part  of  baptism,  nor  called  a  sacrament,  but 
as  far  as  we  can  judge,  made  essentially  a  human  sacrament 
adjoined  to  baptism.  The  reformed  churches  which  use  the 
cross,  we  mean  the  Lutherans,  yet  use  it  not  in  this  manner. 

§  24.  This  is  but  your  unproved  assertion,  that  the  fault 
was  not  in  the  ceremonies,  but  in  the  contenders  :  we  are  ready 
to  prove  the  contrary  :  but  if  it  had  been  true,  how  far  are 
you  from  Paul's  mind,  expressed  Rom.  xiv  and  xv;  and  1  Cor. 
viii.  You  will  let  your  weak  brother  perish,  and  spare  not, 
so  you  can  but  charge  the  fault  on  himself;  and  lay 
stumbling  blocks  before  him,  and  then  save  him  by  your 
effectual  rigour,  by  imprisonment  or  punishment. 

§  25.  Those  seem  a  few  to  you  that  seem  many  to  us.  Had 
it  been  but  one  hundred  such  as  Cartwright,  Amesius,  Brad- 
shaw,  Parker,  Hildersham,  Dod,  Nicolls,  Langley,  Paget, 
Hering,  Baynes,  Bates,  Davenport,  Hooker,  Wilson,  Cotton, 
Norton,  Shephard,  Cobbet,  Ward,  &c.,  they  had  been  enough 
to  have  grieved  the  souls  of  many  thousand  godly  Christians  ; 
and  enough  for  any  one  of  the  reformed  churches,  had  they 
possessed  them,  to  have  glorified  in ;  and  many  far  meaner 
are  yet  the  glory  of  the  ancient  churches,  and  called,  and 
reverenced  as  fathers.  But  we  doubt  this  same  spirit  will 
make  you  think  that  many  hundred  more  are  but  a  few  to  be 
silenced  ere  long.  And  then  your  clemency  will  comfort  the 
poor  people  that  have  ignorant  or  deboist  readers  instead  of 
ministers  (for  too  many  such  we  have  known,)  that  it  was 
their  pastors'  faults  that  obstinately  refused  to  conform,  when 
they  had  promised  it ;  that  is,  that  repented  of  the  sin  of 
their  subscription  when  they  discerned  it :  and  had  they 
never  been  ignorant  enough  to  subscribe,  they  had  never 
entered  :  and  the  many  hundreds  which  you  thus  keep  from 
the  ministry,  you  make  nothing  of. 

§  26.  Whether  diocesans  be  a  lawful  authority  as  claim- 
ing spu'itual  government,   and  how  far  men  may  own  them 


60  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  [1660. 

even  in  lawful  things,  are  controversies  to  be  elsewhere 
managed.  We  justify  no  man's  leaving  his  ministry  upon  the 
refusal  of  anything  but  what  he  judged  unlawful,  yea,  and 
what  was  really  so. 

§  27.  "Whether  any  offence  were  given  (though  not  enough 
to  warrant  separation)  let  our  argumentations  on  both  sides 
declare.  The  said  declaration  of  the  church's  sense  is  not 
the  smallest  part  of  the  scandal.  Calling  a  human  sacra- 
ment  indifferent,  or  no  sacrament,  proveth  it  not  to  be  as  it  is 
called.  That  the  Nonconformists  were  the  cause  of  separation, 
who  did  most  against  it,  is  easily  said,  and  as  easily  proved  as 
the  Arians  proved  that  the  Orthodox  were  the  cause  of  the 
schism  of  the  Lucifer ans  who  separated  from  the  church  for 
receiving  the  Arians  too  easily  to  communion. 

§  28.  Church  matters  in  this  much  differ  from  civil 
matters ;  and  it  is  one  thing  to  change  a  church  custom  when 
it  dangerously  prevaileth  to  corrupt  men's  understandings, 
and  another  thing  when  there  is  no  such  danger.  So  Heze- 
kiah  thought  when  he  destroyed  the  brazen  serpent,  and  Paul 
(who  before  circumcised  Timothy)  when  he  said,  if  ye  be 
circumcised  Christ  shall  profit  you  nothing.  Could  men 
have  foreseen  that  the  primacy  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  the 
imperial  churches,  would  have  been  sublimated  to  such  a 
challenged  supremacy  over  all  the  Christian  world,  we  sup- 
pose the  ancients  would  have  held  it  their  duty  to  have 
removed  the  primacy  to  some  other  seat. 

§  29.  According  to  your  councils  will  you  be  judged  of 
God?  The  not-abating  of  the  impositions  is  the  casting  ofi^ 
many  hundreds  of  your  brethren  out  of  the  ministry,  and  of 
many  thousand  Christians  out  of  your  communion.  But  the 
abating  of  the  impositions,  will  so  oflfend  you,  as  to  silence  or 
excommunicate  none  of  you  at  all.  For  e.g.  we  think  it  a 
sin  to  subscribe,  or  swear  canonical  obedience,  or  use  the 
transient  image  of  the  cross  in  baptism,  and  therefore  these 
must  cast  us  out.  But  you  think  it  no  sin  to  forbear  them, 
if  the  magistrate  abate  them,  and  therefore  none  of  you  will 
be  cast  out  by  the  abatement.     But  it  seemeth  that  your 


1660.]  A  Defence  of  the  Proposals.  61 

charity  judgeth  the  bare  displeasing  of  your  appetite  to  the 
ceremonies,  is  a  greater  evil  than  the  silencing  and  excom- 
municating all  us,  your  poor  brethren,  though  our  imprison- 
ment follow.  Nay,  this  is  not  all ;  for  your  displeasure  will 
be  only  that  another  man  subscribeth  not,  crosseth  not,  &c., 
while  you  may  do  it  yourselves  as  much  as  you  please. 

Whether  the  casting  out  of  so  many  ministers  and  Chris- 
tians, for  such  things,  do  more  subserve  the  said  ends  of 
public  government,  than  the  forbearance  would  do,  if  you 
know  not,  we  leave  you  to  God's  conviction.  As  also 
whether  these  things  be  well  imposed,  and  men's  obedience  to 
authority,  and  the  peace  of  the  church,  and  its  uniformity  or 
unity,  be  well  and  justly  laid  upon  them.  Such  concessions 
indeed  might  bear  you  out  far. 

CONCERNING    PARTICULAR    CEREMONIES. 

§  30.  Why  then  is  it  not  as  meet  that  one  gesture  be  used 
by  all  in  singing  psalms  or  hearing  sermons  ?  Why  doth  the 
minister  stand  in  prayer,  even  in  the  sacrament  prayer,  while 
the  people  kneel  ?  We  speak  against  none  of  your  liberty  in 
using  either  kneeling,  or  holy  days,  and  perhaps  some 
of  us  mean  to  use  both  ourselves;  but  only  beseech  you 
that  they  may  be  no  more  imposed  than  the  ancient  church 
imposed  them,  and  we  desire  no  more ;  and,  if  you  reverence 
antiquity,  why  will  you  not  imitate  it  in  point  of  imposition, 
as  well  as  in  the  thing  itself.  But  yet  that  antiquity  was 
against  kneeling  on  the  Lord's  day  at  the  sacrament,  and  that 
they  had  but  few  of  our  holy  days  for  many  hundred  years, 
we  suppose  you  are  not  ignorant. 

§  31.  It's  weU  you  have  no  more  to  say  against  liberty  to 
forbear  the  other  three  ceremonies.  The  more  unexcusable  will 
you  be,  when  you  silence  and  excommunicate  those  that  use 
them  not. 

§  32.  And  it's  strange  that  meaner  understandings  than 
yours  cannot  see  why  men  should  forbear  that  ivhich  is  not 
to  be  valued  with  the  church's  peace.     A  lie  or  a  false  sub- 


62  A  Defence  of  the  Froposals.  [1660. 

scription^  is  not  to  be  valued  with  the  church's  peace;  and 
is  it  therefore  a  wonder  to  you  that  men  should  scruple  them  ? 
It  is  fitter  matter  for  the  wonder  of  good  men,  that  after  so 
long  experience,  those  that  will  needs  be  the  lords  and 
governors  in  spiritual  matters,  should  so  resolvedly  lay  the 
church's  peace  upon  such  things  as  these,  where  they  know 
beforehand,  that  men  of  no  conscience  will  all  be  peaceable, 
and  thousands  of  godly  people  are  unsatisfied ;  and  that  they 
will  needs  take  all  for  disturbers  of  the  peace,  who  jump  not 
with  their  humour  in  every  ceremony,  how  willing  soever  to 
be  ruled  by  the  laws  of  God. 

§  33.  We  are  glad  that  you  justify  not  innovation  and 
arbitrariness ;  and  yet  desire  not  such  a  cure  as  some 
do,  by  getting  laws  which  may  do  their  work. 

§  34.  If  your  want  of  charity  were  not  extraordinary,  it 
could  not  work  efifectually  to  the  afilicting  of  your  brethren 
and  the  church ;  when  we  tell  you  what  will  end  your  differ- 
ences, you  know  our  minds  so  much  better  than  ourselves, 
that  you  will  not  believe  us ;  but  you  will  be  confident  that 
we  will,  come  on  with  new  demands.  This  is  your  way  of  con- 
ciliation !  When  you  were  to  bring  in  your  utmost  concessions, 
in  order  to  our  unity,  and  it  was  promised  by  his  majesty  that 
you  should  meet  us  half  way,  you  bring  in  nothing,  and  per- 
suade his  majesty  also  that  he  should  not  believe  us  in  what 
we  offer,  that  it  would  be  satisfactory  if  it  were  granted  ! 
You  say  that  it  will  give  dissatisfaction  to  the  greater  part  of 
his  majesty's  subjects !  We  are  more  charitable  than  to 
believe  that  a  quarter  of  his  majesty's  subjects  are  so  un- 
charitable as  to  be  dissatisfied  if  their  brethren  be  not 
silenced  and  excommunicated  for  not  swearing,  subscribing, 
or  using  a  ceremony,  while  they  may  do  it  as  much  as  they 
list  themselves.  And  whereas  you  say,  that  there  is  no 
assurance  given  that  it  will  content  all  dissenters ;  you  know 
that  there  are  many  dissenters,  as  papists,  quakers,  etc.,  for 
whom  we  never  meddled ;  and  we  think  this  an  unjust  answer 
to  be  given  to  them,  who  craved  of  his  majesty  that  they  might 
send  to  their  brethren  through  the  land,  to  have  the  testi- 


1660.]  His  Majesty'' s  Declaration  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  63 

mony  of  tlieir  common  consent,  and  were  denied  it,  and  told 
that  it  should  be  our  work  alone,  and  imputed  to  no  others. 

In  conclusion,  we  perceive  that  your  counsels  against  peace 
are  not  likely  to  be  frustrated  ;  your  desires  concerning  us  are 
like  to  be  accomplished ;  you  are  like  to  be  gratified  with  our 
silence  and  ejection,  and  the  excommunication  and  consequent 
sufferings  of  dissenters.  And  yet  we  will  believe  that  blessed 
are  the  peacemakers ;  and,  though  deceit  be  in  the  heart  of 
them  that  imagine  evil,  yet  there  is  joy  to  the  counsellors  of 
peace  :  Prov.  xii,  20.  And  though  we  are  stopt  by  you  in  our 
following  of  peace,  and  are  never  like  thus  publicly  to  seek  it 
more  (because  you  think  we  must  hold  our  tongues,  that  you 
may  hold  your  peace),  yet  are  we  resolved,  by  the  help  of 
God,  if  it  be  possible,  and  as  much  as  in  us  lieth,  to  live 
peaceably  with  all  men  :  E,om  xii,  18. 


IX. 

His  majesty's  Declaration  to  all  his  loving  subjects  of  his 
kingdom  of  England  and  dominion  of  Wales  concerning 
ecclesiastical  affairs} — Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  pp.  259 — 64; 
Wilkin's  Concilia  Magnse  Britanniee,  vol.  iv,  pp.  560 — 4; 
Cardwell's  History  of  Conferences,  &c.,  Oxford,  1849,  pp. 
286—98. 

Charles  Rex. 
How  much  the  peace  of  the  state  is  concerned  in  the  peace 
of  the  church,  and  how  difficult  a  thing  it  is  to  preserve  order 

'  A  copy  of  this  Declaration  was,  according  to  promise,  sent  by  the  Lord 
Cliancellor  to  the  Presbyterian  Divines — Reynolds,  Calamy,  and  Baxter — on 
September  the  4th,  with  "liberty  to  give  notice  of  what  [they]  liked  not." 
Baxter  drew  up  a  lengthy  "  petition,"  which  was  delivered  to  the  chancellor, 
but  was  never  presented  to  the  king.  The  ministers  were  then  desired  "  to 
"  make  such  alterations  in  the  Declaration  as  were  necessary  to  attain  its 
"  ends ;"  and  on  the  22nd  of  October  "  the  Declaration,  as  it  was  drawn  up 
"  by  the  Lord  Chancellor,"  was  read  over  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  who 
listened  to  a  discussion  of  its  various  clauses,  and  finally  determined  its  form. 
The  following  notes  indicate  the  alterations  which  were  made  in  the  original 
draft. 


64  His  Majesty's  Declaration  [1660. 

and  government  in  civil,  whilst  there  is  no  order  or  govern- 
ment in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  is  evident  to  the  world ;  and  this 
little  part  of  the  world,  our  own  dominions,  hath  had  so  late 
experience  of  it,  that  we  may  very  well  acquiesce  in  the  con- 
clusion, without  enlarging  ourself  in  discourse  upon  it,  it 
being  a  subject  we  have  had  frequent  occasion  to  contemplate 
upon,  and  to  lament,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 

In  our  letter  to  the  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons  from 
Breda  we  declared  how  much  we  desired  the  advancement 
and  propagation  of  the  protestant  religion ;  that  "  neither 
the  unkindness  of  those  of  the  same  faith  towards  us,  nor  the 
civilities  and  obligations  from  those  of  a  contrary  profession 
(of  both  of  which  we  have  had  abundant  evidence)  could  in 
the  least  degree  startle  us,  or  make  us  swerve  from  it,  and  that 
nothing  can  be  proposed  to  manifest  our  zeal  and  affection  for 
it,  to  which  we  will  not  readily  consent : "  and  we  said  then, 
''  that  we  did  hope  in  due  time,  ourself  to  propose  somewhat 
for  the  propagation  of  it,  that  will  satisfy  the  world,  that  we 
have  always  made  it  both  our  care  and  our  study,  and  have 
enough  observed  what  is  most  like  to  bring  disadvantage  to 
it.^^  And  the  truth  is,  we  do  think  ourself  the  more  com- 
petent to  propose,  and  with  God's  assistance  to  determine 
many  things  now  in  difference,  from  the  time  we  have  spent, 
and  the  experience  we  have  had  in  most  of  the  reformed 
churches  abroad,  in  France,  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  in 
Germany,  where  we  have  had  frequent  conferences  with  the 
most  learned  men,  who  have  unanimously  lamented  the  great 
reproach  the  protestant  religion  undergoes  from  the  distempers 
and  too  notorious  schisms  in  matters  of  religion  in  England  : 
and  as  the  most  learned  amongst  them  have  always  with  great 
submission  and  reverence  acknowledged  and  magnified  the 
established  government  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the 
great  countenance  and  shelter  the  protestant  religion  received 
from  it,  before  these  unhappy  times;  so  many  of  them  have 
with  great  ingenuity  and  sorrow  confessed,  that  they  were  too 
easily  misled  by  misinformation  and  prejudice  into  some  dis- 
esteem  of  it,  as  if  it  had  too  much  complied  with  the  church 
of  Rome;  whereas  they  now  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  best 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  65 

fence  God  has  yet  raised  against  popery  in  the  world;  and  we 
are  persuaded  they  do  with  great  zeal  wish  it  restored  to  its 
old  dignity  and  veneration. 

When  we  were  in  Holland,  we  were  attended  by  many 
grave  and  learned  ministers  from  hence,  who  were  looked 
upon  as  the  most  able  and  principal  assertors  of  the  Pres- 
byterian opinions;  with  whom  we  had  as  much  conference, 
as  the  multitude  of  affairs  which  were  then  upon  us  Avould 
permit  us  to  have,  and  to  our  great  satisfaction  and  comfort 
found  them  persons  full  of  affection  to  us,  of  zeal  for  the  peace 
of  the  church  and  state,  and  neither  enemies,  as  they  have 
been  given  out  to  be,  to  episcopacy  or  liturgy,  but  modestly 
to  desire  such  alterations  in  either,  as  without  shaking  foun- 
dations, might  best  allay  the  present  distempers,  which  the 
indisposition  of  the  time  and  the  tenderness  of  some  men's 
consciences  had  contracted.  For  the  better  doing  whereof, 
we  did  intend,  upon  our  first  arrival  in  this  kingdom,  to  call 
a  synod  of  divines,  as  the  most  proper  expedient  to  provide  a 
proper  remedy  for  all  those  differences  and  dissatisfactions 
which  had  or  should  arise  in  matters  of  religion ;  and  in  the 
mean  time,  we  published  in  our  Declaration  from  Breda,  "  a 
liberty  to  tender  consciences,  and  that  no  man  should  be 
disquieted  or  called  in  question  for  differences  of  opinion  in 
matters  of  religion,  which  do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom ;  and  that  we  shall  be  ready  to  consent  to  such  an 
act  of  parliament,  as  upon  mature  deliberation  shall  be  offered 
to  us,  for  the  full  granting  that  indulgence.^^ 

Whilst  we  continued  in  this  temper  of  mind  and  resolution, 
and  have  so  far  complied  with  the  persuasion  of  particular 
persons,  and  the  distemper  of  the  time,  as  to  be  contented 
with  the  exercise  of  our  religion  in  our  own  chapel,  according 
to  the  constant  practice  and  laws  established,  without  enjoin- 
ing that  practice,  and  the  observation  of  those  laws  in  the 
churches  of  the  kingdom ;  in  which  we  have  undergone  the 
censure  of  many,  as  if  we  were  without  that  zeal  for  the 
church  which  we  ought  to  have,  and  which,  by  God's  grace, 
we  shall  always  retain ;  we  have  found  oiirself  not  so  candidly 


66  His  Majestifs  Declaration  [1660. 

dealt  with  as  we  have  deserved^  and  tliat  tliere  are  unquiet 
and  restless  spirits,  who,  without  abating  any  of  their  own 
distemper  in  recompense  of  the  moderation  they  find  in  us, 
continue  their  bitterness  against  the  church,  and  endeavour 
to  raise  jealousies  of  us,  and  to  lessen  our  reputation  by  their 
reproaches,  as  if  we  were  not  true  to  the  professions  we  have 
made :  and  in  order  thereunto,  they  have  very  unseasonably 
caused  to  be  printed,  published,  and  dispersed  throughout  the 
kingdom  a  Declaration  heretofore  printed  in  our  name  during 
the  time  of  our  being  in  Scotland,  of  which  we  shall  say  no 
more  than  that  the  circumstances,  by  which  we  were  enforced 
to  sign  that  Declaration,  are  enough  known  to  the  world  f  and 
that  the  worthiest  and  greatest  part  of  that  nation  did  even 
then  detest  and  abhor  the  ill  usage  of  us  in  that  particular, 
when  the  same  tyi'anny  was  exercised  there  by  the  power  of 
a  few  ill  men,  which  at  that  time  had  spread  itself  over  this 
kingdom ;  and  therefore  we  had  no  reason  to  expect  that  we 
should  at  this  season,  when  we  are  doing  all  we  can  to  wipe 
out  the  memory  of  all  that  hath  been  done  amiss  by  other 
men,  and,  we  thank  God,  have  wiped  it  out  of  our  own 
remembrance,  have  been  ourself  assaulted  with  those  re- 
proaches, which  we  will  likewise  forget. 

Since  the  printing  this  Declaration,  several  seditioiis  pamph- 
lets and  queries  have  been  published  and  scattered  abroad  to 
infuse  dislike  and  jealousies  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and 
of  the  army;  and  some  who  ought  rather  to  have  repented 
the  former  mischief  they  have  wrought,  than  to  have  en- 
deavoured to  improve  it,  have  had  the  hardiness  to  publish, 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  against  which  no  man,  with 
whom  we  have  conferred,  hath  excepted,  ought  to  be  re- 
formed as  well  as  the  discipline. 

'  The  draft  added,  "that  we  did,  from  the  moment  it  passed  our  hand, 
"  ask  God  forgiveness  for  our  part  in  it,  which  we  hope  he  will  never  lay  to 
''  our  charge."  These  words  were  "omitted  hy  desire  of  the  king."  The 
Declaration  referred  to,  was  issued  in  August  1650,  at  his  coronation  in 
Scotland.  In  it  the  king  embraced  the  covenant,  disclaimed  his  father's  wars 
and  actions,  lamented  his  mother's  idolatry,  and  abjured  all  popery,  prelacy, 
superstition,  heresy,  schism,  and  profaneness. 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  67 

This  over  passionate  and  turbulent  way  of  proceeding,  and 
the  impatience  we  find  in  many  for  some  speedy  determina- 
tion in  these  matters,  whereby  the  minds  of  men  may  be 
composed,  and  the  peace  of  the  church  established,  hath 
prevailed  with  us  to  invert  the  method  we  had  proposed  to 
ourself,  and  even  in  order  to  the  better  calling  and  composing 
of  a  synod  (which  the  present  jealousies  will  hardly  agree 
upon)  by  the  assistance  of  God's  blessed  Spirit  which  we 
daily  invoke  and  supplicate,  to  give  some  determination  our- 
self  to  the  matters  in  difference,  until  such  a  synod  may  be 
called  as  may  without  passion  or  prejudice  give  us  such 
further  assistance  towards  a  perfect  union  of  affections,  as 
well  as  submission  to  authority,  as  is  necessary  :  and  we  are 
the  rather  induced  to  take  this  upon  us,  by  finding  upon  the 
full  conference  we  have  had,  with  the  learned  men  of  several 
persuasions,  that  tbe  mischiefs,  under  which  both  the  church 
and  state  do  at  present  suffer,  do  not  result  from  any  formed 
doctrine  or  conclusion  which  either  party  maintains  or  avows, 
but  from  the  passion  and  appetite  and  interest  of  particular 
persons,  who  contract  greater  prejudice  to  each  other  from 
those  affections,  than  would  naturally  rise  from  their  opinions; 
and  those  distempers  must  be  in  some  degree  allayed,  before 
the  meeting  in  a  synod  can  be  attended  with  better  success 
than  their  meeting  in  other  places,  and  their  discourses  in 
pulpits  have  hitherto  been;  and  till  all  thoughts  of  victory 
are  laid  aside,  the  humble  and  necessary  thoughts  for  the 
vindication  of  truth  cannot  be  enough  entertained. 

We  must  for  the  honour  of  all  those  of  either  persuasion, 
with  whom  we  have  conferred,  declare,  that  the  professions 
and  desires  of  all  for  the  advancement  of  piety  and  true 
godliness  are  the  same;  their  professions  of  zeal  for  the 
peace  of  the  church  the  same;  of  affection  and  duty  to  us 
the  same :  they  all  approve  episcopacy ;  they  all  approve  a 
set  form  of  liturgy ;  and  they  all  disprove  and  dislike  the 
sin  of  sacrilege,  and  the  alienation  of  the  revenue  of  the 
church;  and  if  upon  these  excellent  foundations,  in  submis- 
sion to  which  there  is  such    a   harmony  of    affections,  any 

F  2 


68  His  Majesty's  Declaration  [1660. 

superstructures  should  be  raised,  to  the  shaking  those  founda- 
tions, and  to  the  contracting  and  lessening  the  blessed  gift  of 
charity,  which  is  a  vital  part  of  Christian  religion,  we  shall 
think  ourself  very  unfortunate,  and  even  suspect  that  we  are 
defective  in  that  administration  of  government  with  which 
God  hath  intrusted  us. 

We  need  not  profess  the  high  affection  and  esteem  we 
have  for  the  Church  of  England  as  it  is  established  by  law; 
the  reverence  to  which  hath  supported  us  with  God's  blessing 
against  many  temptations;  nor  do  we  think  that  reverence 
in  the  least  degree  diminished  by  our  condescensions,  not  pe- 
remptorily to  insist  on  some  particulars  of  ceremony,  which 
however  introduced  by  the  piety,  and  devotion,  and  order  of 
former  times,  may  not  be  so  agreeable  to  the  present,  but 
may  even  lessen  that  piety  and  devotion,  for  the  improvement 
whereof  they  might  happily  be  first  introduced,  and  conse- 
quently may  well  be  dispensed  with;  and  we  hope  this 
charitable  compliance  of  ours  will  dispose  the  minds  of  all 
men  to  a  cheerful  submission  to  that  authority,  the  preser- 
vation whereof  is  so  necessary  for  the  unity  and  peace  of  the 
church;  and  that  they  will  acknowledge  the  support  of  the 
episcopal  authority  to  be  the  best  support  of  religion,  by 
being  the  best  means  to  contain  the  minds  of  men  within  the 
rules  of  government :  and  they  who  would  restrain  the  exer- 
cise of  that  holy  function  within  the  rules  which  were  ob- 
served in  the  primitive  times,  must  remember  and  consider 
that  the  ecclesiastical  power  being  in  those  blessed  times 
always  subordinate  and  subject  to  the  civil,  it  was  likewise 
proportioned  to  such  an  extent  of  jurisdiction,  as  was  most 
agreeable  to  that;  and  as  the  sanctity,  and  simplicity,  and 
resignation  of  that  age  did  then  refer  many  things  to  the 
bishops,  which  the  policy  of  succeeding  ages  would  not  admit, 
at  least  did  otherwise  pro\dde  for,  so  it  can  be  no  reproach  to 
primitive  episcopacy,  if  wheie  there  have  been  great  altera- 
tions in  the  civil  government,  from  what  was  then,  there  have 
been  likewise  some  difference  and  alteration  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical, the  essence  and  foundation  being  still  preserved.     And 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  69 

upon  tMs  ground,  without  taking  upon  us  to  censure  the 
government  of  the  church  in  other  countries,  where  the 
government  of  the  state  is  diflFerent  from  what  it  is  here,  or 
enlarging  ourseif  upon  the  reason  why,  whilst  there  was  an 
imagination  of  erecting  a  democratical  government  here  in 
the  state,  they  should  be  willing  to  continue  an  aristocratical 
government  in  the  church,  it  shall  suffice  to  sa.j,  that  since 
by  the  wonderful  blessing  of  God  the  hearts  of  this  whole 
nation  are  returned  to  an  obedience  to  monarchic  govern- 
ment in  the  state,  it  must  be  very  reasonable  to  support  that 
government  in  the  church,  which  is  established  by  law,  and 
with  which  the  monarchy  hath  flourished  through  so  many 
ages,  and  which  is  in  truth  as  ancient  in  this  island  as  the 
Christian  monarchy  thereof,  and  which  hath  always  in  some 
respects  or  degrees  been  enlarged  or  restrained,  as  hath  been 
thought  most  conducing  to  the  peace  and  happmess  of  the 
kingdom;  and  therefore  we  have  not  the  least  doubt,  but 
that  the  present  bishops  will  think  the  present  concessions 
now  made  by  us  to  allay  the  present  distempers,  very  just 
and  reasonable,  and  will  very  cheerfully  conform  themselves 
thereunto. 

I.  We  do  in  the  first  place  declare^  our  purpose  and  reso- 
lution is  and  shall  be  to  promote  the  power  of  godliness,  to 
encourage  the  exercises  of  religion  both  public  and  private, 
and  to  take  care  that  the  Lord's  day  be  applied  to  holy 
exercises,  without  unnecessary  divertisements ;  and  that  in- 
sufficient, negligent,  and  scandalous  ministers  be  not  per- 
mitted in  the  church;  and  that  as  the  present  bisliops  are 
known  to  be  men  of  great  and  exemplary  piety  in  their  lives, 
which  they  have  manifested  in  their  notorious  and  unex- 
ampled sufferings  during  these  late  distempers,  and  of  great 
and  known  sufficiency  of  learning,  so  we  shall  take  special 
care,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  to  prefer  no  men  to  that  office 
and  charge,  but  men  of  learning,  virtue,  and  piety,  who  may 

3  "  Our  purpose church ;   and,"  not  in  the  draft.     Inserted  at 

the  request  of  the  Presbyterians. 


70  His  Majesty's  Declaration  [16G0 

be  themselves  the  best  examples  to  those  who  are  to  be 
governed  by  them  ;  and  we  shall  expect  and  provide  the  best 
we  can,  that  the  bishops  be  frequent  preachers,  and  that  they 
do  very  often  preach  themselves  in  some  church  of  their 
diocese,  except  they  be  hindered  by  sickness,  or  other  bodily 
infirmities,  or  some  other  justifiable  occasion,  which  shall  not 
be  thought  justifiable  if  it  be  frequent, 

II.  Because  the  dioceses,  especially  some  of  them,  are 
thought  to  be  of  too  large  extent,  we  will  appoint  such  a 
number  of  suffragan  bishops  in  every  diocese,*  as  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  due  performance  of  their  work. 

III.  No  bishop  shall  ordain,  or  exercise  any  part  of  juris- 
diction which  appertains  to  the  censures  of  the  church, 
without  the  advice  ^  and  assistance  of  the  presbyters ;  and  no 
chancellors,^  commissaries,  or  officials,  as  such,  shall  exercise 
any  act  of  spiritual  jurisdiction^  in  these  cases,  viz.  excommu- 
nication, absolution,  or  wherein  any  of  the  ministry  are  con- 
cerned, with  reference  to  their  pastoral  charge.  However 
our  intent  and  meaning  is  to  uphold  and  maintain  the  profes- 
sion of  the  civil  law  so  far  and  in  such  matters,  as  it  hath 
been  of  use  and  practice  within  our  kingdoms  and  dominions; 
albeit  as  to  excommunication,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that 
no  chancellor,  commissary,  or  official  shall  decree  any  sen- 
tence of  excommunication,  or  absolution,  or  be  judges  in 
those  things  wherein  any  of  the  ministry  are  concei'ned,  as  is 
aforesaid.  Nor  shall  the  archdeacon  exercise  any  jurisdiction 
without  the  advice  and  assistance  of  six  ministers  of  his  arch- 
deaconry, whereof  three  to  be  nominated  by  the  bishop,  and 

*  In  the  draft  this  clause  stood  thus  : — "  If  any  diocese  shall  he  thought 
"  of  too  large  an  extent,  we  will  appoint  suffragan  hishops  for  their  assist- 
"  anoe."     The  present  clause  was  proposed  by  the  Presbyterians. 

*  The  Presbyterians  had  proposed,  "  and  consent  ;"  but  "  the  king  would 
"  by  no  means  pass  the  word  ....  because  it  gave  the  ministers  a  negative 
"  voice." 

«  "  Commissaries,  or  officials,  as  such,"  inserted  at  the  request  of  the 
Presbyterians. 

'  The  following  words   "  In   these  cases archdeaconry,"  not  in 

original  draft. 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  71 

three  by  the  election  of   the  major    part  of   the  presbyters 
within  the  aichdeacoury. 

IV.  To  the  end  that  the  deans  and  chapters  may  be  the 
better  fitted  to  afford  counsel  and  assistance  to  the  bishops_, 
both  in  ordination  and  the  other  offices  mentioned  before,  we 
will  take  care  that  those  preferments  be  given  to  the  most 
learned  and  pious  presbyters  of  the  diocese;  and  moreover, 
that  an  equal  number  (to  those  of  the  chapter)  of  the  most 
learned,  pious,  and  discreet  presbyters  of  the  same  diocese, 
annually  chosen  by  the  major  vote  of  all  the  presbyters  of 
that  diocese  present  at  such  elections,  shall  be  always  ad- 
vising and  assisting,  together  with  those  of  the  chapter,  in  all 
ordinations,  and  in  every  part  of  jurisdiction,  which  apper- 
tains to  the  censures  of  the  church,  and  at  all  other  solemn 
and  important  actions  in  the  exercise  of  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction,  wherein  any  of  the  ministry  are  concerned :  pro- 
vided that  at  all  such  meetings  the  number  of  the  ministers 
so  elected,  and  those  present  of  the  chapter  shall  be  equal, 
and  not  exceed  one  the  other,  and  that  to  make  the  numbers 
equal,  the  juniors  of  the  exceeding  number  be  withdrawn, 
that  the  most  ancient  may  take  place  ;  nor  shall  any  suffragan 
bishop  ordain,  or  exercise  the  forementioned  offices  and  acts 
of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  but  with  the  advice  and  assistance  of 
a  sufficient  number  of  the  most  judicious  and  pious  presbyters 
annually  chosen  as  aforesaid  within  his  precincts  :  and  our 
will  is  that  the  great  work  of  ordination  be  constantly  and 
solemnly  performed  by  the  bishop  and  his  aforesaid  pres- 
bytery, at  the  four  set  times  and  seasons  appointed  by  the 
church  for  that  purpose.^ 

«  The  clause  originally  stood  thus :— "  As  the  dean  and  chapters  are  the 
"  most  proper  council  and  assistants  of  the  Bishop,  both  in  ordination  and 
"  for  the  other  offices  mentioned  before ;  so  we  shall  take  care  that  those 
"  preferments  be  given  to  the  most  learned  and  pious  Presbyters  of  the 
"  diocese,  that  thereby  they  may  be  always  at  hand  and  ready  to  advise 
"  and  assist  the  Bishop  :  and  moreover,  that  some  other  of  the  most  learned, 
"  pious,  and  discreet  Presbyters  of  the  same  diocese  (as  namely  the  rural 
"  deans,  or  others,  or  so  many  of  either  as  shall  be  thought  fit,  and  are 
"  nearest)  be  called  by  the  Bishop  to  be  present  and  assistant  together  with 


2  His  Majesty's  Declaration  [1660- 

V.  We  will  take  care  that  confirmation  be  rightly  and 
solemnly  performed^  by  the  information  and  with  the  consent  9 
of  the  minister  of  the  place ;  ^°  who  shall  admit  none  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  till  they  have  made  a  credible  profession  of 
their  faith,  and  promised  obedience  to  the  will  of  God, 
according  as  is  expressed  in  the  considerations  of  the  rubric 
before  the  Catechism ;  and  that  all  possible  diligence  be  used 
for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of  scandalous  offenders, 
whom  the  minister  shall  not  suffer  to  partake  of  the  Lord's 
table,  until  they  have  openly  declared  themselves  to  have 
truly  repented  and  amended  their  former  naughty  lives,  as  is 
partly  expressed  in  the  rubric,  and  more  fully  in  the  canons ; 
provided  there  be  place  for  due  appeals  to  superior  powers. 
But  besides  the  suffragans  and  their  presbytery,  every  rural 
dean  (those  deans,  as  heretofore,  to  be  nominated  by  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese)  together  with  three  or  four  ministers 
of  that  deanery,  chosen  by  the  major  part  of  all  the  ministers 
within  the  same,  shall  meet  once  in  every  month,  to  receive 
such  complaints  as  shall  be  presented  to  them  by  the  minis- 
ters or  churchwardens  of  the  respective  parishes ;  and  also  to 
compose  all  such  differences  betwixt  party  and  party  as  shall 
be  referred  unto  them  by  way  of  arbitration,  and  to  convince 
offenders,  and  reform  all  such  things  as  they  fiind  amiss,  by 
their  pastoral  reproofs  and  admonitions,  if  they  may  be  so 


"  those  of  the  chapter,  at  all  ordinations,  and  at  all  other  solemn  and  im- 
"  portant  actions  in  the  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  especially 
"  wherein  any  of  the  ministers  are  concerned.  And  our  will  is,  that  the 
"  great  work  of  ordination  be  constantly  and  solemnly  performed  by  the 
"  Bishop  in  the  presence,  and  with  the  advice  and  assistance  of  his  aforesaid 
"  Presbytery  at  the  four  set  times  and  seasons  appointed  by  the  church  for 
"  that  purpose."  The  paragraph,  as  adopted,  was  altered  according  to  the 
suggestion  of  tlie  Presbyterians. 

^  "Advice"  in  the  draft;  altered  to  "consent"  at  the  request  of  the 
Presbyterians. 

'"  The  original  draft  ended  with  these  words  : — "  and  as  great  diligence 
"  used  for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of  notorious  and  scandalous 
"  offenders  as  is  possible ;  towards  which  the  rubric  before  the  communion 

"  hath  prescribed  very  wholesome  rules."     The  clause — "  who  shall 

"  superior  powers,"  was  inserted  upon  the  proposal  of  the  Presbyterians. 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  73 

reformed ;  and  sucli  matters  as  they  cannot  by  this  pastoral 
and  persuasive  way  compose  and  reform,  are  by  them  to  be 
prepared  for,  and  presented  to  the  bishop ;  at  which  meeting 
any  other  ministers  of  that  deanery  may,  if  they  please,  be 
present  and  assist.  Moreover,  the  rural  dean  and  his  assist- 
ants are  in  their  respective  divisions  to  see,  that  the  children 
and  younger  sort  be  carefully  instructed  by  the  respective 
ministers  of  every  parish,  ia  the  grounds  of  Christian  religion, 
and  be  able  to  give  a  good  account  of  their  faith  and  know- 
ledge, and  also  of  their  Christian  conversation  conformable 
thereunto,  before  they  be  confirmed  by  the  bishop,  or 
admitted  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper. 

VI.  No  bishop  shall  exercise  any  arbitrary  power,  or  do  or 
impose  anything  upon  the  clergy  or  the  people,  but  what  is 
according  to  the  known  law  of  the  land. 

VII.  We  are  very  glad  to  find,  that  all  with  whom  we  have 
conferred,  do  in  their  judgments  approve  a  liturgy,  or  set 
form  of  public  worship  to  be  lawful ;  which  in  our  judgment 
for  the  preservation  of  unity  and  uniformity  we  conceive 
to  be  very  necessary :  and  though  we  do  esteem  the  liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England,  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  by  law  established,  to  be  the  best  we  have  seen ; 
and  we  believe  that  we  have  seen  all  that  are  extant  and  used 
in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  well  know  what  reverence  most 
of  the  reformed  churches,  or  at  least  the  most  learned  men  in 
those  churches  have  for  it ;  yet  since  we  find  some  exceptions 
made'i  against  several  things  therein,  we  will  appoint  an  equal 
number  of  learned  divines  of  both  persuasions,  to  review  the 

"  The  draft  was,  "to  many  obsolete  words,  and  other  expressions  vised 
"  therein,  which  upon  the  reformation  and  improvement  of  the  English 
"  language,  may  well  lie  altered.  We  will  appoint  some  learned  divines,  cf 
"  different  persuasions,  to  review  the  same,  and  to  make  such  alterations  as 
"  shall  be  thought  most  necessary,  and  some  such  additional  prayers  as  shall 
"  be  thought  fit  for  emergent  occasions,  and  the  improvement  of  devotion, 
"  the  using  of  which  may  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  ministers ;  in  the 

"  mean  time,  and  till  this  be  done,  we  do  heartily  wish  and  desire to 

"  remove."     The  alterations  in  the  clause  as  adopted : — "  against  several 

"  things at  his  discretion ;"    the  insertion  of  "  although "  in  the 

following  sentence ;  and  the  addition  of  the  important  promise,  "  yet  in 
"  compassion as  aforesaid,"  were  suggested  by  the  Presbyterians. 


74i  His  Majesty's  Declnratioji  [1660. 

same,  and  to  make  such  alterations  as  shall  be  thought  most 
necessary,  and  some  additional  forms  (in  the  Scripture  phrase 
as  near  as  may  be)  suited  unto  the  nature  of  the  several  parts 
of  worship,  and  that  it  be  left  to  the  minister's  choice  to  use 
one  or  other  at  his  discretion.  In  the  meantime,  and  till 
this  be  done,  although  we  do  heartily  wish  and  desire,  that 
the  ministers  in  their  several  churches,  because  they  dislike 
some  clauses  and  expressions,  would  not  totally  lay  aside  the 
use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  read  those  parts, 
against  which  there  can  be  no  exception;  which  would  be  the 
best  instance  of  declining  those  marks  of  distinction,  which 
we  so  much  labour  and  desire  to  remove;  yet  in  compassion 
to  divers  of  our  good  subjects,  who  scruple  the  use  of  it  as 
now  it  is,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  none  be  punished  or 
troubled  for  not  using  it,  until  it  be  reviewed,  and  effectually 
reformer^,  as  aforesaid. 

VIII.  Lastly,  concerning  ceremonies,  which  have  adminis- 
tered so  much  matter  of  difference  and  contention,  and  which 
have  been  introduced  by  the  wisdom  and  authority  of  the 
church,  for  edification,  and  the  improvement  of  piety,  we  shall 
say  no  more,  but  that  we  have  the  more  esteem  of  all,  and 
reverence  for  many  of  them,  by  having  been  present  in  many 
of  those  churches,  where  they  are  most  abolished,  or  discoun- 
tenanced ;^2  and  it  cannot  be  doubted,  but  that  as  the  universal 
church  cannot  introduce  one  ceremony  in  the  worship  of 
God,  that  is  contrary  to  Grod's  word  expressed  in  the  Scrip- 
ture,  so  every  national  church,   with   the   approbation  and 

'*  The  draft  added,  "  and  where  we  have  observed  so  great  and  scan- 
"  dalous  indecency,  and  to  our  understanding  so  much  absence  of  devotion, 
"  that  we  heartily  wish  that  those  pious  men,  who  think  the  Church  of 
"  England  overburthened  with  ceremonies,  had  some  little  experience,  and 
"  made  some  observations  in  those  churches  abroad  which  are  most  without 
"  them.  And  we  cannot  but  observe  that  those  pious  and  learned  men, 
"  with  whom  we  have  conferred  upon  this  argimient,  and  who  are  most 
"  solicitous  for  indulgence  of  this  kind,  are  earnest  for  the  same  out  of 
"  compassion  to  the  weakness  and  tenderness  of  the  conscience  of  their 
"  brethren,  not  that  themselves,  who  are  very  zealous  for  order  and  decency, 
"  do,  in  their  judgments,  believe  the  practice  of  those  particular  ceremonies, 
"  which  they  except  against,  to  be  in  itself  unlawful."  These  words  were 
struck  out  by  desire  of  the  Presbyterians. 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  75 

consent  of  the  sovereign  power,  may,  and  hath  always  intro- 
duced such  particular  ceremonies,  as  in  that  conjuncture  of 
time  are  thought  most  proper  for  edification  and  the  neces- 
sary improvement  of  piety  and  devotion  in  the  people,  though 
the  necessary  practice  thereof  cannot  be  deduced  from  Scrip- 
ture; and  that  which  before  was,  and  in  itself  is,  indifferent, 
ceases  to  be  indifferent,  after  it  is  once  established  by  law  : 
and  therefore  our  present  consideration  and  work  is  to 
gratify  the  private  consciences  of  those,  who  are  grieved  with 
the  use  of  some  ceremonies,  by  indulging  to  and  dispensing 
with  their  omitting  those  ceremonies,  not  utterly  to  abolish 
any  which  are  established  by  law,  (if  any  are  practised  con- 
trary to  law,  the  same  shall  cease,)  which  would  be  unjust, 
and  of  ill  example;  and  to  impose  upon  the  conscience  of 
some,^^  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  conscience  of  others,  which  is 
otherwise  provided  for.  As  it  could  not  be  reasonable  that 
men  should  expect,  that  we  should  ourself  decline,  or  enjoin 
others  to  do  so,  to  receive  the  blessed  sacrament  upon  our 
knees,  which  in  our  conscience  is  the  most  humble,  most 
devout,  and  most  agreeable  posture  for  that  holy  duty, 
because  some  other  men,  upon  reasons  best,  if  not  only, 
known  to  themselves,  choose  rather  to  do  it  sitting  or  stand- 
ing ;  we  shall  leave  all  decisions  and  determinations  of  that 
kind,  if  they  shall  be  thought  necessary  for  a  perfect  and 
entire  unity  and  uniformity  throughout  the  nation,  to  the 
advice  of  a  national  synod,  Avhich  shall  be  duly  called  after  a 
little  time,  and  a  mutual  conversation  between  persons  of 
different  persuasions  hath  mollified  those  distempers,  abated 
those  sharpnesses,  and  extinguished  those  jealousies,  which 
make  men  unfit  for  those  consultations;  and  upon  such 
advice,  we  shall  use  our  best  endeavour  that  such  laws  may 
be  established,  as  may  best  provide  for  the  peace  of  the 
church  and  state.'*  Provided  that  none  shall  be  denied  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper,  though  they  do  not  use  the 
gesture  of  kneeling  in  the  act  of  receiving. 

i'  The  draft  added,  "  and  we  believe  much  superior  in  number  and  quality." 
'*  "Provided receiving,"  not  in  the  draft. 


76  His  Majesty's  Declaration  [1660. 

In  the  meantime,  out  of  compassion  and  compliance  to- 
wards those  who  would  forbear  the  cross  in  baptism,  we  are 
content  that  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  use  the  same,  or 
suffer  for  not  doing  it ;  but  if  any  parent  desire  to  have  his 
child  christened  according  to  the  form  used,  and  the  minister 
will  not  use  the  sign,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  that  parent  to 
procure  another  minister  to  do  it ;  and  if  the  proper  minister 
shall  refuse  to  omit  that  ceremony  of  the  cross,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  the  parent,  who  would  not  have  his  child  so  bap- 
tized, to  procure  another  minister  to  do  it,  who  will  do  it 
according  to  his  desire. 

No  man  shall  be  compelled  to  bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus, 
or  suffer  in  any  degree  for  not  doing  it,  without  reproaching 
those  who  out  of  their  devotion  continue  that  ancient  cere- 
mony of  the  church. 

For  the  use  of  the  surplice,^^  we  are  contented  that  all  men 
be  left  to  their  liberty  to  do  as  they  shall  think  fit,  without 
suffering  in  the  least  degree  for  wearing  or  not  wearing  it ; 
provided  that  this  liberty  do  not  extend  to  our  own  chapel, 
cathedral,  or  collegiate  churches,  or  to  any  college  in  either 
of  our  universities,'^  but  that  the  several  statutes  and  customs 
for  the  use  thereof  in  the  said  places  be  there  observed  as 
formerly. 

And'^  because  some  men,  otherwise  pious  and  learned,  say 

'5  The  draft  added,  "  which  hath  for  so  many  ages  been  thought  a  most 
"  decent  ornament  for  the  clergy  in  the  administration  of  divine  service,  and 
"  is  in  truth  of  a  different  fashion  in  the  Church  of  England  from  what  is 
"  used  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  we  are,  etc." 

'"  In  the  draft  it  was,  "  where  we  would  have  the  several  statutes  and 
"  customs  observed  which  have  been  formerly." 

'■^  The  draft  stood  thus : — "  And  because  some  men  (otherwise  pious 
"  and  learned)  say  they  cannot  conform  to  the  subscription  required  by  the 
"  canon  at  the  time  of  their  institution  and  admission  into  benefices,  we  are 
"  content  (so  they  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy)  that  they 
"  shall  receive  institution  and  induction,  and  shall  be  permitted  to  exercise 
"  their  function,  and  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  their  livings,  without  any  other 
"  subscription,  until  it  shall  be  otherwise  determined  by  a  Synod  called  and 
"  confirmed  by  authority."  It  was  adopted  in  its  present  form,  "  and 
"  because  ....  degrees,"  at  the  request  of  the  Presbyterians. 


1660.]  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  77 

they  cannot  conform  unto  the  subscription  required  by  the 
canon,  nor  take  the  oath  of  canonical  obedience;  we  are 
content,  and  it  is  our  will  and  pleasure  (so  they  take  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy)  that  they  shall  receive 
ordination,  institution,  and  induction,  and  shall  be  permitted 
to  exercise  their  function,  and  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  their 
livings,  without  the  said  subscription  or  oath  of  canonical 
obedience;  and  moreover,  that  no  persons  in  the  universities 
shall  for  the  want  of  such  subscription  be  hindered  in  the 
taking  of  their  degrees.  Lastly,'^  that  none  be  judged  to 
forfeit  his  presentation  or  benefice,  or  be  deprived  of  it,  upon 
the  statute  of  the  thirteenth  of  queen  Elizabeth,  chapter  the 
twelfth,  so  he  read  and  declai-e  his  assent  to  all  tlie  articles  of 
religion,  which  only  concern  the  confession  of  the  true 
Christian  faith,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  comprised 
in  the  Book  of  Articles  in  the  said  statute  mentioned.  In  a 
word,  we  do  again  renew  what  we  have  formerly  said  in  our 
Declaration  from  Breda,  for  the  liberty  of  tender  consciences, 
that  no  man  shall  be  disquieted  or  called  in  question  for  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion,  which  do  not 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom  :  and  if  any  have  been 
disturbed  in  that  kind  since  our  arrival  here,  it  hath  not 
proceeded  from  any  direction  of  ours. 

To  conclude,  and  in  this  place  to  explain  what  we  men- 
tioned before,  and  said  in  our  letter  to  the  house  of  commons 
from  Breda,  that  "  we  hoped  in  due  time,  ourself  to  propose 
somewhat  for  the  propagation  of  the  protestant  religion,  that 
will  satisfy  the  world,  that  we  have  always  made  it  both  our 
care  and  our  study,  and  have  enough  observed  what  is  most 

'^  In  the  original  draft  were  these  words,  which  were  now  omitted : — 
"  Lastly,  that  such  as  have  heen  ordained  by  Presbyters,  be  not  required 
"  to  renounce  their  ordination,  or  to  be  re-ordained,  or  denied  institution 
"  and  induction  for  want  of  ordination  by  bishops. 

"  And,  moreover,  that  none  be  judged  to  forfeit  their  presentation  or  bene- 
"  fice,  or  be  deprived  of  it,  for  not  reading  of  those  of  the  thirty-nine 
"  articles  that  contain  the  controverted  points  of  church  government  and 

"  ceremonies."     The  clause  as  it  stands,  "  Lastly mentioned,"  was 

adopted  in  compliance  with  the  proposal  of  the  Presbyterians. 


78  His  Majesty's  Declaration  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.  [1660. 

like  to  bring  disadvantage  to  it;"  we  do  conjure  all  our 
loving  subjects  to  acquiesce  in  and  submit  to  this  our  Declara- 
tion concerning  those  differences^  which  have  so  much  dis- 
quieted the  nation  at  home,  and  given  such  offence  to  the 
protestant  churches  abroad,  and  brought  such  reproach  upon 
the  protestant  religion  in  general,  from  the  enemies  thereof; 
as  if  upon  obscure  notions  of  faith  and  fancy,  it  did  admit 
the  practice  of  Christian  duties  and  obedience  to  be  dis- 
countenanced and  suspended,  and  introduce  a  license  in 
opinions  and  manners,  to  the  pi-ejudice  of  the  Christian  faith. 
And  let  us  all  endeavour,  and  emulate  eacli  other  in  those 
endeavours,  to  countenance  and  advance  the  protestant  religion 
abroad,  which  will  be  best  done  by  supporting  the  dignity 
and  reverence  due  to  the  best  reformed  protestant  church  at 
home;  and  which  being  once  freed  from  the  calumnies'^  and 
reproaches  it  hath  undergone  from  these  late  ill  times,  will  be 
the  best  shelter  for  those  abroad, which  will  by  that  countenance 
both  be  the  better  protected  against  their  enemies,  and  be  the 
more  easily  induced  to  compose  the  differences  amongst 
themselves,  which  give  their  enemies  more  advantage  against 
them  :  and  we  hope  and  expect  that  all  men  will  hence- 
forward forbear  to  vent  any  such  doctrine  in  the  pulpit,  or  to 
endeavour  to  work  in  such  manner  upon  the  affections  of  the 
people,  as  may  dispose  them  to  an  ill  opinion  of  us  and  the 
government,  and  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom ;  which 
if  all  men  will  in  their  several  vocations  endeavour  to  preserve 
with  the  same  affection  and  zeal  we  ourself  will  do,  all  our 
good  subjects  will  by  God^s  blessing  upon  us  enjoy  as  great  a 
measure  of  felicity  as  this  nation  hath  ever  done,  and  which 
we  shall  constantly  labour  to  procure  for  them,  as  the  greatest 
blessing  God  can  bestow  upon  us  in  this  world.  Given  at 
our   court    at   Whitehall   this    twenty-fifth  day  of  October, 

MDCLX. 

"  "  Calamities,"  in  the  draft. 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  79 

X. 

The  Petition  of  the  Ministers  to  the  King  upon  the  first  draft 
of  his  Declaration? — Reliquife  Baxterianse^  by  Sylvester, 
pp.  265—74. 

May  it  please  your  Majesty, 
So  great  was  the  comfort  created  in  our  minds  by  your  majesty^s 
oft-expressed  resolution  to  become  the  effectual  moderator  in 
our  differences,  and  yourself  to  bring  us  together  by  procuring 
such  mutual  condescensions  as  are  necessary  thereto,  and  also 
by  your  gracious  acceptance  of  our  Proposals,  which  your 
majesty  heard  and  received  not  only  without  blame,  but  with 
acknowledgment  of  their  moderation,  and  as  such  as  would  in- 
fer a  reconciliation  between  the  differing  parties,  that  we  must 
needs  say,  the  least  abatement  of  our  hopes,  is  much  the  more 
unwelcome  and  grievous  to  us.  And  it  is  no  small  grief  that  sur- 
priseth  our  hearts,  from  the  complaints  of  the  students  ejected 
in  the  universities,  and  of  faithful  ministers  removed  from  their 
beloved  flocks,  and  denied  institution,  for  want  of  subscription, 
re-ordination,  or  an  oath  of  obedience  to  the  bishop ;  but  espe- 
cially from  many  congregations  in  the  land,  that  cry  out  they 
are  undone  by  the  loss  of  those  means  of  their  spiritual  welfare 
which  were  dearer  to  them  than  all  worldly  riches,  and  by  the 
grievous  burden  of  ignorant,  or  scandalous,  or  dead,  unprofit- 
able ministers  set  over  them,  to  whom  they  dare  not  commit 
the  guidance  and  care  of  their  immortal  souls,  and  whose 
ministry  they  dare  not  own  or  countenance,  lest  they  be 
guilty  of  their  sin.  And  it  addeth  to  our  grief  and  fear  in 
finding  so  much  of  the  proposed  necessary  means  of  our 
agreement,  especially  in  the  point  of  government,  here  passed 
by  in  your  majesty^s  Declaration,  as  if  it  were  denied  us. 
But  yet  remembering  the  gracious  and  encouraging  promises 
of  your  majesty,  and  observing  your  majesty's  clemency  in 
what  is  here  granted  us,   and  your  great  condescension  in 

'  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Baxter.  The  alterations,  marked  in  the  notes, 
were  made  by  him,  with  much  rehictance,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Calamy,  Dr. 
Reignolds,  the  Earl  of  Manchester,  the  Earl  of  Anglesey,  and  Lord  HoUis. — 
Reliquise  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  p.  265. 


80  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

vouchsafing  not  only  so  graciously  to  hear  us  in  these  our 
humble  addresses  and  requests^  but  also  to  grant  us  the  sight 
of  your  Declaration  before  it  is  resolved  on,  with  liberty  of 
returning  our  additional  desires,  and  hope  that  they  shall  not 
be  rejected ;  we  re-assume  our  confidence,  and  comfortably 
expect,  that  what  is  not  granted  in  this  Declaration  that  is 
reasonable  and  necessary  to  our  agreement,  shall  yet  be 
granted  upon  fuller  consideration  of  the  equity  of  our 
requests. 

As  our  designs  and  desires  are  not  for  any  worldly  advan- 
tages or  dignities  to  ourselves,  so  have  we  not  presumed  to 
intermeddle  with  any  civil  interest  of  your  majesty,  or  any  of 
your  officers ;  nor  in  the  matters  of  mere  convenience  to  cast 
our  reason  into  the  balance  against  your  majesty's  prudence  ; 
but  merely  to  speak  for  the  laws  and  worship  and  servants  of 
the  Lord,  and  for  the  peace  of  our  consciences,  and  the  safety 
of  our  own  and  brethren's  souls.  It  lifts  us  up  with  joy  to 
think  what  happy  consequences  will  ensue,  if  your  majesty 
shall  entertain  these  healing  motions :  how  happily  our 
differences  will  be  reconciled,  and  the  exasperated  minds  of 
men  composed;  how  temptations  to  contention  and  un- 
charitableness  will  be  removed ;  how  comfortably  your 
majesty  will  reign  in  the  dearest  affections  of  your  subjects ; 
and  how  firmly  they  will  adhere  to  your  interest  as  their  own ; 
how  cheerfully  and  zealously  the  united  parts  and  interests  of 
the  nation  will  conspire  to  serve  you ;  what  a  strength  and 
honour  a  righteous  magistracy,  a  learned,  holy,  loyal  minis- 
try, and  a  faithful,  praying  people  will  be  to  your  throne; 
and  how  it  will  be  your  glory  to  be  the  king  of  the  most 
religious  nation  in  the  world,  that  hath  no  considerable 
parties,  but  what  are  centred  (under  Christ)  in  you;  what  a 
comfort  it  will  be  for  the  bishops  and  pastors  of  the  church, 
to  be  honoured  and  loved  by  all  the  most  religious  of  their 
flocks  ;  to  see  the  success  of  their  labours  and  the  beauty  of 
the  church  promoted  by  our  common  concord,  and  brethren 
to  assemble  and  dwell  together  in  unity,  serving  one  God, 
according  to  one  rule,  with  one  heart  and  mouth. 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  81 

[And  on  the  contrary,  it  astonisheth  us  to  foresee  the  doleful 
consequences  that  would  follow,  if  (which  God  forbid)  your 
majesty  should  refuse  the  most  necessary,  moderate  ways  of 
concord,  and  be  engaged  by  a  party  to  exalt  them  by  the  sup- 
pression of  the  rest !  How  woful  a  day  would  it  prove  to 
your  majesty  and  your  dominions,  in  which  you  should 
thus  espouse  a  cause  and  interest  injurious  to  the  interest  of 
Christ,  and  the  cause  of  unity  and  love,  and,  contrary  to  your 
majesty^s  gracious  inclinations,  be  engaged  unawares  in  a 
seeming  necessity  to  deal  hardly  with  the  ministers  and  ser- 
vants of  the  Lord !  How  considerable  a  part  of  the  three 
nations  for  number,  wisdom,  piety,  and  interest,  you  would  be 
drawn  to  govern  with  a  grievous  hand ;  and  to  lay  them 
under  the  greatest  sorrow  who  restored  and  received  your 
majesty  with  joy  !  How  the  dissent  of  ministers  from  the 
government  and  ceremonies  of  the  church,  were  it  expressed 
but  by  their  groans  and  tears,  and  moderate  complaints  to 
God,  or  not  praying  for  that  church  government  which  they 
dare  not  pray  for,  would  be  reckoned  as  discontent  and 
sedition;  and  it  would  be  judged  a  crime  to  feel  when  they 
are  hurt!  "What  occasion  this  would  give  to  irreligious 
temporizers  to  arrogate  the  name  of  your  majesty^s  best 
subjects,  and  to  let  out  their  malice  against  the  upright,  and 
make  religion  a  reproach !  And  then  what  a  hindrance  that 
would  be  to  the  conversion  and  saving  of  the  people^s  souls, 
and  what  a  fruitful  nursery  of  all  vice !  How  grievously 
charity  would  be  overthrown,  while  the  people  are  engaged 
in  the  hardest  thoughts  and  speeches  of  each  other  !  What  a 
temptation  it  would  be  to  the  afflicted  part  to  abate  their  honour 
and  due  respect  to  those  they  suffer  by,  when  they  are  deprived 
of  that  which  is  dearest  to  them  in  the  world ;  and  when  the 
groans  and  cries  of  afflicted  innocents  arrive  at  heaven,  and 
have  awakened  the  justice  of  the  King  of  kings,  the  greatest 
cannot  stand  before  him.  And  what  a  snare  and  grief  will  it 
be  to  the  bishops  and  pastors  of  the  church  to  be  esteemed 
wolves,  and  to  be  engaged  to  suppress  them  as  their  adver- 
saries, that  else  might  be  the  honour  of  their  ministry,  and 


82  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

the  comfort  of  their  lives.  And  when  divisions  and  separated 
assemblies  are  thus  multiplied  (the  people  being  driven  from 
the  public  congregations)  ^  either  it  will  bring  them  imder 
trouble,  or  let  in  papists  and  others  that  are  intolerable  into 
an  equal  toleration :  and  such  discontents  and  distractions  in 
the  church,  will  not  be  without  their  influence  on  the  state. 
And  by  all  this  how  much  will  Satan  and  the  enemies  of  our 
religion  be  gratified,  and  God  dishonoured  and  displeased. 
And,  seeing  all  this  may  safely  and  easily  bs  now  prevented, 
we  humbly  beseech  the  Lord,  in  mercy  to  vouchsafe  to 
your  majesty  a  heart  to  discern  of  time  and  judgment.] ^ 

And  as  these  are  our  general  ends  and  motives,  so  we 
are  induced  to  insist  upon  the  form  oj  synodical  government 
conjunct  with  a  fixed  presidency  or  episcopacy,  for  these 
reasons  : 

1.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  no  other  terms  will  be  so 
generally  agreed  on.  And  it  is  no  way  injurious  to  episcopal 
power ;  but  most  firmly  establisheth  all  in  it  that  can  pretend 
to  divine  authority  or  true  antiquity.  It  granteth  them  much 
more  than  Reverend  Bishop  Hall  (in  his  Peacemaker)  and 
many  other  of  that  judgment,  do  require;  who  would  have 
accepted  the  fixing  of  the  president  for  life,  as  sufiicient  for 
the  reconciliation  of  the  churches. 

2.  It  being  most  agreeable  to  the  Scripture  and  the 
primitive  government,  is  likest  to  be  the  way  of  a  more 
universal  concord,  if  ever  the  churches  arrive  on  earth  at  such 
a  blessing.  However,  it  will  be  most  acceptable  to  God,  and 
to  well-informed  consciences. 

3.  It  will  promote  the  practice  of  discipline  and  godliness 


'  "  All  this  enclosed  part  -was  left  out  of  the  Petition  as  presented  to  his 
"  majesty,  this  only  being  inserted  in  the  room  of  it. 

"  And  on  the  contrary,  should  ■we  lose  the  opportunity  of  our  desired  recon- 
"  ciliation  and  union,  it  astonisheth  us  to  foresee  what  doleful  eflects  our 
"  divisions  would  produce,  which  we  will  not  so  much  as  mention  in  particulars 
"  lest  our  words  shoidd  be  misunderstood.  And,  seeing  all  this  may  safely  and 
"  easily  now  be  prevented,  we  humbly  beseech  the  Lord  in  mercy  to  vouchsafe 
"  to  your  majesty  an  heart  to  discern  a  right  of  time  and  judgment." 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  83 

without  disorder^  and  promote  order  without  the  hindering  of 
discipHne  and  godliness. 

4.  And  it  is  not  to  be  silenced  (though  in  some  respects  we 
are  loath  to  mention  it)  that  it  will  save  the  nation  from  the 
violation  of  the  Solemn  Vow  and  Covenant,  without  wronging 
the  church  at  all,  or  breaking  any  other  oath.  And,  whether 
the  Covenant  were  lawfully  imposed  or  not,  we  are  assured, 
from  the  nature  of  a  vow  to  God,  and  from  the  cases  of  Saul, 
Zedekiah,  and  others,  that  it  would  be  a  terrible  thing  to  us 
to  violate  it  on  that  pretence.  Though  we  are  far  from  think- 
ing that  it  obligeth  us  to  any  evil,  or  to  go  beyond  our  places 
and  callings  to  do  good,  much  less  to  resist  authority ;  yet 
doth  it  undoubtedly  bind  us  to  forbear  our  oivn  consent  to 
those  luxuriances  of  church  government  which  we  there  re- 
nounced, and  for  which  no  divine  institution  can  be  pretended. 

[It  is  not  only  the  Presbyterians,  but  multitudes  of  the 
episcopal  party, Y  and  the  nobility,  gentry,  and  others  that 
adhered  to  his  late  majesty,  in  the  late  unhappy  wars,  that  (at 
their  composition)  took  this  Vow  and  Covenant.  [[  *And  God 
forbid  that  ever  the  souls  of  so  many  thousands  should  be 
driven  upon  the  sin  of  perjury,  and  upon  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  the  flames  of  hell :  or,  that  under  pretence  of  calling 
them  to  repent  of  what  is  evil,  they  should  be  urged  to  com- 
mit so  great  an  evil.  If  once  the  consciences  of  the  nation 
should  be  so  debauched,  what  good  can  be  expected  from 
them  ?  or  what  evil  shall  they  ever  after  be  thought  to  make 
conscience  of?  or  what  boods  can  be  supposed  to  oblige  them? 
or  how  can  your  majesty  place  any  confidence  in  them,  not- 
withstanding the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  which 

'  "  This  was  thus  expressed  in  the  Petition  that  was  presented : — [Not 
"  presuming  to  meddle  with  the  consciences  of  those  many  of  the  nobility 
"and  gentry,  &c.] 

*  "  What  follows  in  tliis  double  enclosure,  was  omitted  in  the  copy  presen- 
"  ted,  this  only  being  inserted  in  the  room  of  it. 

"  We  only  crave  your  majesty's  clemency  to  ourselves  and  others,  who 
"  believe  themselves  to  be  under  its  obligations.  And  God  forbid  that  we  that 
*'  are  ministers  of  the  Word  of  truth,  should  do  anything  to  encourage  your 
"  majesty's  subjects  to  cast  off  the  conscience  of  an  oath." 

G    2 


84  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

they  take  ?  or  how  can  they  be  taken  for  competent  witnesses 
in  any  cause,  or  persons  meet  for  human  converse  ?  or  how 
should  those  preachers  be  regarded  by  their  auditors,  that 
dare  wilfully  violate  their  solemn  vows  ?  and  it  would  be  no 
comfort  nor  honour  to  your  majesty,  to  be  the  king  of  a  per- 
fidious nation.  And,  whatever  palliation  flattery  might  at 
hand  procure,  undoubtedly  at  distance  of  time  and  place 
(where  flattery  cannot  silence  truth)  it  would  be  the  nation's 
perpetual  infamy  !  And  what  matter  of  reconciliation  w  ould  it 
be  to  the  guilty  papists,  when  we  blame  their  impious  doctrines 
that  have  such  a  tendency  ?  How  loose  would  it  leave  your 
majesty's  subjects,  that  are  once  taught  to  break  such  sacred 
bonds.]]  Till  the  Covenant  was  decried  as  an  almanack 
out  of  date,  and  its  obligation  taken  to  be  null,  that  odious 
fact  could  never  have  been  perpetrated  against  your  royal 
father;  nor  your  majesty  have  been  so  long  expulsed  from 
your  dominions.  And  the  obligation  of  the  Covenant  upon 
the  consciences  of  the  nation,  was  not  the  weakest  instrument 
of  your  return.  We  therefore  humbly  beseech  your  majesty 
(with  greater  importunity  than  w^e  think  we  should  do  for  our 
lives)  that  you  will  have  mercy  on  the  souls  and  consciences 
of  your  people,  [^and  will  not  urge  or  tempt  them  to  this 
grievous  sin,  nor  drive  them  on  the  insupportable  wTath  of 
the  Almighty,  whose  judgment  is  at  hand,  where  princes  and 
people  must  give  that  account,  on  which  the  irreversible 
sentence  will  depend.  For  the  honour  of  our  religion,  and  of 
your  majesty's  dominions  and  reign,  we  beseech  you,]  suffer 
us  not  to  be  tempted  to  the  violating  of  such  solemn  yo'^s, 
(and  this  for  nothing !)  when  an  expedient  is  before  you,  that 
will  avoid  it  without  any  detriment  to  the  church ;  nay  to  its 
honour  and  advantage. 

The  prelacy  which  we  disclaimed  is  that  of  diocesans — upon 
the  claim  of  a  superior  order  to  a  presbyter — assuming  the  sole 
power  of  public  admonition  of  particular  offenders,  enjoining 
penitence,  excommunicating  and  absolving  (besides  confirma- 
tion) over  so  many  churches,  as  necessitated  the  corruption  or 
*  "  This  enclosed  part  was  quite  left  out  of  the  copy  that  was  presented." 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  85 

extirpation  of  discipline,  and  the  using  of  human  ofl&cers 
(as  chancellors,  surrogates, officials,  commissaries,  archdeacons) 
while  the  undoubted  officers  of  Christ  (the  pastors  of  the 
particular  churches)  were  hindered  from  the  exercise  of  their 
office. 

The  restoration  of  discipline  in  the  particular  churches, 
and  of  the  pastors  to  the  exercise  cf  their  office  therein,  and 
of  synods  for  necessary  consultation  and  communion  of 
churches,  and  of  the  primitive  presidency  or  episcopacy, 
for  the  avoiding  of  all  shew  of  innovation  and  disorder  is 
that  which  we  humbly  oflFer  as  the  remedy  :  beseeching  your 
majesty,  that  if  anything  asserted  seem  unproved,  an  impar- 
tial conference  in  your  majesty's  hearing  may  be  allowed  us 
in  order  to  a  just  determinatiou. 

CONCERNING    THE    PREAMBLE  IN  YOUR  MAJESTy's  DECLARATION, 
WE    PRESUME    ONLY    TO    TENDER    THESE    REQUESTS. 

1.  That  as  we  are  persuaded  it  is  not  in  your  majesty^s 
thoughts  to  intimate  that  we  are  guilty  of  the  offences  which 
your  majesty  here  reciteth,  so  we  hope  it  will  rather  be  a 
motive  to  the  hastening  of  the  nation's  cure,  that  our  unity 
may  prevent  men's  temptations  of  that  nature  for  the  time  to 
come. 

2.  Though  we  have  professed  our  willingness  to  submit  to 
the  primitive  episcopacy,  and  a  reformed  liturgy,  hoping  it 
may  prove  an  expedient  to  a  happy  union,  yet  have  we  ex- 
pressed our  dislike  of  the  prelac}''  and  present  liturgy,  while 
unreformed.  And  though  sacrilege  and  unjust  alienation  of 
church-lands  is  a  sin  that  we  detest,  yet  whether,  in  some 
cases  of  true  superfluities  of  revenues,  or  true  necessity  of 
the  church,  there  may  not  be  an  alienation  which  is  no 
sacrilege,  and  whether  the  kings  and  parliaments  have  been 
guilty  of  that  crime  that  have  made  some  alienations,  are 
points  of  high  concernment,  of  which  we  never  had  a  call  to 
give  our  judgment :    and   therefore    humbly    beseech   your 


86  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [16G0. 

majesty,  that  concerning  these  matters,  we  may  not,  to  our 
prejudice,  be  otherwise  understood,  than  as  we  have  before 
and  here  expressed. 

3.  That  as  your  majesty  hath  here  vouchsafed  us  your 
gracious  acknowledgment  of  our  moderation,  it  might  never 
be  said,  that  a  ministry  and  people  of  such  moderate  prin- 
ciples, consenting  to  primitive  episcopacy  and  liturgy,  could 
not  yet  be  received  into  the  settlement  and  countenanced 
body  of  your  people,  nor  possess  their  stations  in  the  church, 
and  liberty  in  the  public  worship  of  God. 

4.  And  whereas  it  is  expressed  by  your  majesty,  that  [the 
essence  and  foundation  of  episcopacy  might  be  preserved, 
though  the  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  might  be  altered] ,  this 
is  to  us  a  ground  of  hope,  that  seeing  the  greatniug  or  the 
lessening  of  episcopal  power  is  in  your  majesty's  judgment 
but  a  matter  of  convenience,  the  Lord  will  put  it  into  your 
heart  to  make  such  an  alteration  in  the  alterable  points,  as 
the  satisfaction  of  the  consciences  of  sober  men,  and  the 
healing  and  union  of  these  nations,  do  require. 

As  to  our  plea  for  primitive  episcopacy,  the  offices  and 
ordinances  of  Christ  must  be  still  distinguished  from  the 
alterable  accidents.  Though  we  plead  not  for  the  primitive 
poverty,  persecution,  or  restraints,  yet  must  we  adhere  to  the 
primitive  order  and  worship,  and  administrations,  in  the 
substance ;  as  believing  that  the  circumstantiatiiig  of  them 
is  much  committed  unto  man,  but  to  institute  the  ordinances 
a,nd  offices  is  the  high  prerogative  of  Christ,  the  universal 
King  and  Lawgiver  of  the  church. 


CONCERNING     THE    MATTER    OP     YOUR     MAJESTY  S    CONCESSIONS, 
AS    RELATED    TO    OUR    PROPOSALS. 

1.  We  humbly  renew  our  petition  to  your  majesty,  for  the 
effectual  security  of  those  premised  necessaries,  which  are  the 
matter  of  our  chiefest  care,  and  whereunto  the  controverted 
points    subserve :    viz. — 1 .    That  private  exercises    of  piety 


I 


1G60.J  Petition  of  the  Ministers,  87 

might  be  encouraged.  2.  That  an  able^  faithful  ministry 
may  be  kept  up^  and  the  insufficient,  negligent,  scandalous, 
and  non-resident,  cast  out.  3.  That  a  credible  profession  of 
faith  and  obedience  be  pre-required  of  communicants.  4.  That 
the  Lord^s  day  be  appropriated  to  holy  exercises  without  un- 
necessary divertisements. 

2.  For  church  government.  In  this  your  majesty's  Decla- 
ration, parish  discipline  is  not  sufficiently  granted  us.  Inferior 
synods,  with  their  presidents,  are  passed  by ;  and  the  bishop 
which  your  majesty  declareth  for  is  not  episcopus  prases,  but 
episcopus  princeps,  indued  with  sole  power  both  of  ordination 
and  jurisdiction.  For  though  it  be  said,  that  the  bishop 
shall  do  nothing  without  the  advice  of  the  presbyters,  yet 
their  consent  is  not  made  necessary,  but  he  might  go  contrary 
to  the  counsel  of  them  all.  And  this  advice  is  not  to  be 
given  by  the  diocesan  synod,  or  any  chosen  representatives  of 
the  clergy,  but  by  the  dean  and  chapter,  and  so  many  and 
such  others  as  he  please  to  call.  In  all  which  there  being 
nothing  yielded  us,  which  is  sufficient  to  the  desired  accommo- 
dation and  union,  we  humbly  prosecute  our  petition  to  your 
majesty,  that  the  primitive  presidency  with  the  respective 
synods  described  by  the  late  reverend  Primate  of  Ireland,  may 
be  the  form  of  church -government  established  among  us  :  at 
least  in  these  three  needful  points — 

1.  That  the  pastors  of  the  respective  parishes  may  be 
allowed,  not  only  publicly  to  preach,  but  personally  to 
catechise  or  otherwise  instruct  the  several  families,  admitting 
none  to  the  Lord's  table  that  have  not  personally  owned  their 
baptismal  covenant  by  a  credible  profession  of  faith  and 
obedience;  and  to  admonish  and  exhort  the  scandalous,  in 
order  to  their  repentance;  to  hear  the  witnesses  and  the 
accused  party,  and  to  appoint  fit  times  and  places  for  these 
things ;  and  to  deny  such  persons  the  communion  of  the 
church  in  the  holy  eucharist,  that  remain  impenitent ;  or  that 
wilfully  refuse  to  come  to  their  pastors  to  be  instructed,  or  to 
answer  such  probable  accusations ;  and  to  continue  such  ex- 
clusion of  them  tiU  they  have  made  a  credible  profession  of 


88  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

repentance^  and  then  to  receive  them  again  to  the  communion 
of  the  church :  provided  there  be  place  for  due  appeals  to 
superior  power. 

All  this  we  beseech  jowx  majesty  to  express  under  your 
fifth  concession,  because  it  is  to  us  of  very  great  weight,  and 
the  rubric  is  unsatisfactory  to  which  we  are  referred. 

2.  That  all  the  pastors  of  each  rural  deanery,  having  a 
stated  president  chosen  by  themselves,  (if  your  mnjesty  please 
to  graiit  them  that  liberty,)  may  meet  once  a  mouth,  and  may 
receive  presentments  of  all  such  persons  as,  notwithstanding 
suspension  from  communion  of  the  church,  continue  impeni- 
tent or  unreformed ;  and,  having  further  admonished  them, 
may  proceed  to  the  sentence  of  solemn  excommunication,  if 
after  due  patience  they  cannot  prevail :  and  may  receive  the 
appeals  of  those  that  conceive  themselves  injuriously  sus- 
pended, and  may  decide  the  cause.  Or  if  this  cannot  be 
attained,  at  least  that  the  pastors  of  each  rural  deanery  with 
their  president,  may  have  power  to  meet  monthly,  and  receive 
all  such  presentments  and  appeals,  and  judge  whether  they  be 
fit  to  be  transmitted  to  the  diocesan  or  not :  and  to  call 
before  them  and  admonish  the  offenders  so  presented. 

Yet  if  presentments  against  magistrates  and  ministers  be 
reserved  only  to  the  diocesan  synod,  and  their  appeals  imme- 
diately there  put  in,  we  shall  therein  submit  to  your  majesty's 
pleasure. 

3.  That  a  diocesan  synod,  consisting  of  the  delegates  of 
the  several  rural  synods,  be  called  as  often  as  need  requireth : 
and  that  without  the  consent  of  the  major  part  of  them,  the 
diocesan  may  not  ordain,  or  exercise  any  spiritual  censures  on 
any  of  the  ministers  :  nor  excommunicate  any  of  the  people 
but  by  consent  of  the  synod,  or  of  the  pastors  of  the  parti- 
cular parishes  where  they  had  communion.  And  that  not 
only  chancellors,  but  also  archdeacons,  commissaries,  and 
officials  as  such,  may  pass  no  censures,  purely  spiritual. 

But  for  the  exercise  of  civil  government  coercivelt/  by 
mulcts  or  corporal  penalties  by  power  derived  from  your 
majesty,  as  supreme  over  persons,  and  in  things  ecclesiastical. 


k 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  89 

we  presume  not  at  all  to  interpose :   but  shall  submit  to  any 
that  act  by  your  majesty's  commission. 


OUR    REASONS    FOR    THE    FIRST    PART    OF    DISCIPLINE,    VIZ., 
IN    PARTICULAR    PARISHES,    ARE    THESE  : 

It  is  necessary  to  the  honour  of  the  Christian  profession,  to 
the  integrity  of  worship,  to  the  destruction  of  impiety  and 
vice,  to  the  preservation  of  the  sound,  the  raising  them  that 
are  fallen,  the  comforting  of  the  penitent,  the  strengthening 
of  the  weak  ;  the  purity,  order,  strength,  and  beauty  of  our 
churches,  the  vanity  of  believers,  and  the  pleasing  of  Christ 
who  hath  required  it  by  his  laws.  And  withal,  it  is  agreeable 
to  the  ancient  canons  and  practice  of  the  churches,  and  is 
consented  to  by  our  reverend  brethren,  and  so  is  no  matter  of 
controversy  now  between  us. 

Yet  is  not  the  rubric  satisfactory  which  we  are  referred  to. 
1.  Because  it  leaves  the  people  at  their  liberty,  whether  they 
will  let  us  know  of  their  intention  to  communicate,  till  the 
night  or  morning  before ;  and  alloweth  us  then  o  ily  to  ad- 
monish them,  when  (in  great  parishes)  it  is  impossible  for 
want  of  time. 

2.  Because  it  doth  allow  us  to  deny  the  sacrament  to  those 
only  that  maliciously  refuse  reconciliation  with  their  neigh- 
hours,  and  only  admonish  other  scandalous  sinners  to  forbear : 
though  the  canons  forbid  us  to  deliver  them  the  sacrament. 

THE    REASONS    WHY    WE    INSIST    ON    THE    SECOND    PROPOSAL, 
ARE    THESE  : 

It  being  agreed  on  between  us,  that  the  younger  less  dis- 
creet sort  of  ministers  are  unfit  to  pass  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, without  advice  and  moderation  by  others,  and 
every  church  is  not  like  to  be  provided  with  grave,  discreet, 
judicious  guides;  the  necessity  of  these  frequent  lesser 
synods  for  such  moderation,  and  advice,  and  guidance  will 
appear  by  these  two  general  evidences. 


90  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

1.  It  is  tlie  very  nature  and  substance  of  the  office  of  a 
presbyter,  to  have  the  power  of  the  keys  for  binding  and  loosing, 
retaining  or  remitting  sin ;  which  therefore  together  or  apart, 
as  there  is  occasion,  they  are  bound  to  exercise.  And  this 
being  the  institution  of  Jesus  Christ,  cannot  be  altered  by 
man.  In  their  ordination,  according  to  the  estabhshed  order  in 
England,  it  is  said.  Whose  sins  thou  dost  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted:  whose  sins  thou  dost  retain,  they  are  retained.  And 
they  are  commanded  to  minister  the  doctrine,  sacraments, 
and  discipline  of  Christ,  as  the  Lord  hath  commanded,  and  as 
this  realm  hath  received  the  same,  as  expressly  as  the  bishops 
are.  And  as  the  late  Primate  of  Ireland  observeth  in  his 
"  Eeduction,"  That  they  may  the  better  understand  what  the 
Lord  hath  commanded,  the  exhortation  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
elders  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  is  appointed  to  be  read  to 
them  at  the  time  of  their  ordination.  Take  heed  to  yourselves 
and  to  all  the  flocks,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made 
you  overseers,  to  (feed  or)  rule  the  congregation  of  God  which 
fie  hath  purchased  with  his  blood.  And  it  is  apparent  in 
this,  (Acts  XX,  17,  18,  28;  and  xv,  23,  25;  and  xvi,  4; 
1  Thess.  V,  12,  13 ;  1  Tim.  iii,  4,  5  ;  and  v,  17 ;  Heb.  xiii,  7, 
17,  24;)  and  other  places,  that  it  is  the  office  of  a  presbyter 
to  oversee,  rule,  and  guide  the  flock  (which  [is]  the  ministerial 
rule  which  consisteth  in  the  exercise  of  the  keys,  or  manage - 
nient  and  personal  application  of  God's  Word  to  the  con- 
sciences and  cases  of  particular  persons,  for  their  salvation, 
and  the  order  of  the  church  ;)  the  coercive  power  belonging 
to  the  magistrate.  And  this  was  the  practice  in  the  ancient 
church,  as  appeareth  undeniably  in  Ignatius,  Tertullian, 
Cyprian,  Hierom,  Chrysostom,  &c.,  Concil.  Carthag.,  4,  Can. 
22,  23,  29,  32,  34,  35,  36,  37,  as  is  confessed  by  the  chiefest 
defenders  of  episcopacy. 

2.  If  all  presentments  and  appeals  be  made  to  the  bishop 
and  his  consistory  alone,  it  will  take  from  us  the  parish  dis- 
cipline which  is  granted  us,  and  cast  almost  all  discipline  out 
of  the  church ;  as  is  most  apparent  to  them  that  by  experi- 
ence are  acquainted  with  the  quality  of  our  flocks,  and  with 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  91 

the  true  nature  of  the  pastoral  ivork :  considering  1 .  How 
many  hundred  churches  are  in  a  diocese :  2.  How  many- 
thousand  persons  are  in  very  many  parishes;  and  of  those 
what  a  number  are  obstinate  in  wilful  gross  ignorance  or 
scandalj  refusing  to  be  instructed,  or  admonished  by  their 
pastors  :  3.  How  long,  and  earnestly,  and  tenderly  smners 
must  be  dealt  with,  before  they  are  cut  off  by  solemn  excom- 
munication :  4.  How  unsatisfactory  it  must  be  to  the  con- 
science of  a  bishop  or  synod,  to  cut  off  a  man  as  impenitent 
upon  the  bare  report  of  a  minister,  before  by  full  admonition 
they  have  proved  him  impenitent  themselves;  especially  when 
too  many  ministers  are  (to  say  nothing  of  passion  that  might 
cause  partial  accusations)  unable  so  to  manage  a  reproof  and 
exhortation,  as  is  necessary  to  work  on  the  consciences  of  the 
people,  and  to  convict  resisters  of  flat  impenitency  :  5.  What 
abundance  of  work  the  bishop  will  have  besides;  constant 
preaching  will  require  time  for  preparation;  visiting  the 
several  churches ;  confirming  all  the  souls  in  so  many  hundred 
parishes  (which  alone  is  more  than  any  one  man  can  do 
aright,  if  he  had  nothing  else  to  do) ;  ordaining,  instituting, 
and  examining  the  persons,  so  far  as  to  satisfy  a  tender  con- 
science that  takes  not  all  on  trust  from  others,  and  is  but  an 
executor  of  their  judgments ;  these,  and  much  more,  with 
the  care  of  church-buildings,  lands,  and  his  own  affairs  and 
family,  and  sicknesses,  and  necessary  absence  sometimes,  will 
make  this  great  additional  work,  which  must  be  constantly 
performed  for  so  many  hundred  of  parishes,  to  be  impossible  : 

6.  Reproofs  and  suspension  would  so  exasperate  the  scandal- 
ous, that  they  would  vex  the  pastors  with  numerous  appeals : 

7.  The  pastors  will  be  undone  by  travelling,  and  waiting,  and 
maintaining  such  a  multitude  of  witnesses  as  is  necessary  for 
the  prosecuting  of  presentments,  and  answering  so  many  ap- 
peals :  8.  The  business  will  be  so  odious,  chargeable,  and 
troublesome,  that  witnesses  will  not  come  in  :  9.  The  minister 
by  these  prosecutions  and  attendances,  will  be  taken  off"  the 
rest  of  his  ministerial  work  :  10.  Bishops  (being  but  men)  will 
be  tempted  by  this  intolerable  burden  to  be  weary  of  the  work. 


92  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [16C0. 

and  slubber  it  over_,  and  cast  it  upon  otberSj  and  to  discoun- 
tenance tbe  most  conscionable  ministers  that  most  trouble 
them  with  presentments ;  which  when  the  offenders  perceive, 
they  will  the  more  insult  and  vex  us  with  appeals. 

So  that  the  discouragements  of  ministers  and  the  utter  inca- 
pacity of  the  bishops  to  perform  a  quarter  of  this  work,  will 
nullify  discipline,  as  leaving  it  impossible.  Experience  hath 
told  us  this  too  long. 

And  then  when  our  communion  is  thus  polluted  with  all 
that  are  most  incapable  through  utter  ignorance,  scandal, 
and  contempt  of  piety; — 1.  Ministers  will  be  deterred  from 
their  administrations  to  subjects  so  incapable.  2.  Bishops 
that  are  tender  conscienced,  will  be  deterred  from  under- 
taking so  impossible  a  work,  and  of  S3  ill  success.  3.  And 
men  that  have  least  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  care  of 
souls,  and  fear  of  God's  displeasure,  will  seek  for  and  intrude 
into  both  places,  4.  And  the  tender  conscienced  people  will 
be  tempted  to  speak  hardly  of  such  undisciplined  churches, 
and  of  the  officers;  and  to  withdraw  from  them.  5.  And 
hereby  they  will  fall  under  the  displeasure  of  superiors,  and 
the  scorn  of  the  vulgar,  that  have  no  religion  but  what  is 
subservient  to  their  flesh.  6.  And  so  while  the  most  pious 
are  brought  under  discountenance  and  reproach,  and  the  most 
impious  get  the  reputation  of  being  most  regular  and  obedient 
to  their  rulers,  piety  itself  will  grow  into  disesteem,  and 
impiety  escape  its  due  disgraca.  And  this  hath  been  the 
cause  of  our  calamities. 

3.  As  to  the  liturgy;  it  is  matter  of  great  joy  and  thank- 
fulness to  us,  that  we  have  heard  your  majesty  more  than 
once  so  resolutely  promising,  that  none  shall  suffer  for  not 
using  the  Common  Prayer  and  ceremonies,  but  you  would 
secure  them  from  the  penalties  in  the  Act  of  Uniformity ,  as 
that  which  your  Declaration  at  Breda  intended,  and  to  find 
here  so  much  of  your  majesty's  clemency  in  your  gracious 
concessions  for  a  future  emendation.  But  we  humbly  crave 
leave  to  acquaint  your  majesty,  (1,)  That  it  grieveth  us  after 
all  to  hear  that,  yet  it  is  given  in  charge,  by  the  judges  at  the 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  93 

assizes,  to  indict  men  upon  that  Act  for  not  using  the  Com- 
mon Prayer.  (2.)  That  it  is  not  only  some  obsolete  words 
and  other  expressions  that  are  offensive.  (3.)  That  many 
scruple  using  so7ne  part  of  the  book  as  it  isj  lest  they  be 
guilty  of  countenancing  the  whole,  who  yet  would  use  it 
when  reformed. 

Therefore  we  humbly  crave  that  your  majesty  will  here 
declare  that  it  is  your  majesty's  pleasure  that  none  be  punished 
or  troubled  for  not  using  tie  Eo)k  of  Con  mon  Prayer,  till  it  be 
effectually  reformed  by  divines  of  both  persuasions  equally 
deputed  thereunto. 

And  that  your  majesty  would  procure  that  moderation  in 
the  imposition  hereafUr  which  we  before  desired. 

4.  Concerning  ceremonies.  Returnin  our  humble  thanks 
for  your  majesty's  gracious  concessions  (of  which  we  are 
assured  you  will  never  have  cause  to  repent)  we  further  crave, 

1.  That  your  majesty  would  leave  out  those  words  concerning 
us,  that  we  do  not  in  our  judgments  believe  the  practice  of 
those  particular  ceremonies  which  we  except  against  to  be  in 
itself  unlawful ;  for  we  have  not  so  declared  our  judgments. 
Indeed  we  have  said,  that  treating  in  order  to  a  happy  uniting 
of  our  brethren  through  the  land,  our  work  is  not  to  say 
what  is  our  own  opinion,  or  what  will  satisfy  us ;  but  what 
will  satisfy  so  many  as  may  procure  the  said  union.  And  we 
have  said,  that  some  think  some  of  them  unlawful  in  them- 
selves, and  others  but  inconvenient .  And  while  the  imposers 
think  them  but  indifferent,  we  conceived  they  might  reason- 
ably be  entreated  to  let  them  go;  for  the  saving  of  their 
brethren's  consciences  and  the  church's  peace.  We  are  sure 
that  a  Christian's  conscience  should  be  tender  of  adding  to, 
or  diminishing  from,  the  matter  of  God's  worship  in  the 
smallest  point,  the  laws  of  God  being  herein  the  only  perfect 
rule,  Deut.  xii,  33 ;  and  that  a  Synod  infallibly  guided  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  would  "  lay  upon  "  the  churches  "  no  greater 
burden  than  necessary  things,"  Acts  xv,  28 ;  and  that  for 
things  indifferent.  Christians  should  not  despise  or  judge  each 
other,  Rom.  xiv;  much  less,  by  silencing  the  able  and  faithful 


94  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  punish  the  flocks  even  in  their 
souls,  for  the  tolerable  differences  and  supposed  mistakes  of 
ministers.  We  doubt  not  but  Peter  and  Paul  went  to 
heaven  without  the  ceremonies  in  question. 

And  seeing  your  majesty  well  expresseth  it,  that  the 
universal  church  cannot  introduce  one  ceremony  in  the  worship 
of  God  that  is  contrary  to  God^s  Word  expressed  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  multitudes  of  Protestants  at  home  and 
abroad,  do  think  that  all  mystical  sacramental  rites  of  human 
institution  are  contrary  to  the  perfection  of  God^s  law,  and  to 
Deut.  xii,  32,  &c.,  (though  the  determination  of  mere  cir- 
cumstances necessary  in  genere,  be  not  so,)  and  therefore 
dare  not  use  them,  for  fear  of  the  displeasure  of  God  the 
universal  sovereign ;  it  must  needs  be  a  great  expression  of 
your  majesty's  wisdom  and  tenderness  of  God's  honour  and 
the  safety  of  your  peoples'  souls,  to  refuse  in  things  unneces- 
sary to  drive  men  upon  (apprehended)  sin,  and  upon  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  the  terrors  of  a  condemning  conscience. 

2.  We  beseech  your  majesty  to  understand,  that  it  is  not 
our  meaning  by  the  word  abolishing  to  crave  a  prohibition 
against  your  own  or  other  men's  liberty  in  the  things  in 
question ;  but  it  is  a  full  liberty  that  we  desire ;  such  as 
should  be  in  unnecessary  things;  and  such  as  will  tend  to 
the  concord  of  your  people,  viz.,  that  there  be  no  law  or 
canon  for  or  against  them,  commanding,  recommending ,  or 
prohibiting  them :  as  now  there  is  none  for  any  particular 
gesture  in  singing  of  psalms,  where  liberty  preserveth  an 
uninterrupted  unity. 


FOR    THE    PARTICULAR    CEREMONIES. 

1.  We  humbly  crave  as  to  kneeling  in  the  act  of  receiv- 
ing, that  your  majesty  will  declare  our  liberty  therein, 
that  none  should  be  troubled  for  receiving  it  standing  or 
sitting. 

And  your  majesty's  expressions  up)on  reasons  best  known, 


1660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  95 

if  not  only,  to  themselves,  command  us  to  render  some  of  our 
reasons. 

1.  We  are  sure  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  sinned  not,  by 
not  receiving  it  kneeling ;  and  many  are  not  sure  that  by 
kneeling  they  should  not  sin  ;  and  therefore  for  the  better 
security,  though  not  for  absolute  necessity,  we  crave  leave  to 
take  the  safer  side. 

2.  We  are  sure  that  kneeling  in  any  adoration  at  all,  in 
any  worship,  on  any  Lord's  day  in  the  year^  or  any  week-day 
between  Easter  and  Pentecost,  was  not  only  disused,  but  for- 
bidden by  General  Councils  (as  Concil.  Niccen.,  1,  Can.  xx,  and 
Condi.  Trull.,  etc.)  and  disclaimed  by  ancient  writers,  and 
this  as  a  general  and  uncontrolled  tradition  :  and  therefore 
that  kneeling  in  the  act  of  receiving  is  a  novelty  contrary  to 
the  decrees  and  practice  of  the  church  for  many  hundred 
years  after  the  apostles.  And  if  we  part  with  the  venerable 
examples  of  all  antiquity  where  it  agrees  with  Scripture,  and 
that  for  nothing,  we  shall  depart  from  the  terms  which  most 
moderators  think  necessary  for  the  reconciling  of  the  churches. 
And  novelty  is  a  dishonour  to  any  part  of  religion  :  and  if 
antiquity  be  honourable,  the  most  ancient,  6r  nearest  the 
legislation  and  fountain,  must  be  most  honourable.  And  it  is 
not  safe  to  intimate  a  charge  of  unreverence  upon  all 
the  apostles  and  primitive  Christians,  and  the  universal 
church,  for  so  many  hundred  years  together  of  its  purest 
time. 

3.  Though  our  meaning  be  good,  it  is  not  good  to  shew  a 
needless  countenance  of  the  Papists'  practice  of  adoring  the 
bread  as  God,  when  it  is  used  by  them  round  about  us. 
Saith  Bishop  Hall,  in  his  life,  p.  20 : — /  had  a  dangerous  con- 
flict ivith  a  Sorbonist,  who  took  occasion  by  our  kneeling  at  the 
receipt  of  the  Eucharist,  to  persuade  all  the  company  of  our 
acknowledgment  of  a  transubstantiation. 

4.  Some  of  us  that  could  rather  kneel  than  be  deprived  of 
communion,  should  yet  suflfer  much  before  we  durst  put  all 
others  from  the  communion  that  durst  not  take  it  kneeling ; 
which  therefore  we  crave  we  might  not  be  put  upon. 


96  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  [1660. 

2.  We  humbly  crave  alsr^  that  the  religious  observation  of 
holy-days  of  human  institution  may  be  declared  to  be  left 
indifferent,  that  no  e  be  troubled  for  not  observing  them. 

3.  We  humbly  tender  your  majesty  our  thanks  for  your 
gracious  concession  of  liberty  as  to  the  cross  and  surplice, 
and  bowing  at  the  name  Jesus,  rather  than  Christ,  or 
God.      But    we    farther    humbly    beseech   your   majesty — 

1,  That  this  liberty  in  forbearing  the  surplice,  might  extend 
to  the  colleges  and  cathedrals  also;  that  it  drive  not  thence 
all  those  that  scruple  it,  and  make  not  those  places  receptive 
only  of  a  party ;  and  that  the  youth  of  the  nation  may  have 
just  liberty  as  well  as  the  elder.  If  they  be  engaged  in  the 
universities,  and  their  liberties  there  cut  off  in  their  begin- 
ning, they  cannot  afterwards  be  free ;  many  hopeful  persons 
will  be  else  diverted  from  the  service  of  the  church.  3.  That 
your  majesty  will  endeavour  the  repealing  of  all  lairs  and 
canons  by  which  these  ceremcnies  are  imposed,  that  they  might 
be  left  at  full  liberty. 

4.  We  also  humbly  tender  our  thanks  to  your  majesty  for 
your  gracious  concession  of  the  forbearance  of  the  subscrip- 
tion required  by  that  canon.  But  (1)  we  humbly  acquaint 
your  majesty,  that  we  do  not  dissent  from  the  doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  England,  expressed  in  the  Articles  and  Homilies : 
but  it  is  the  controverted  passages  about  go  ernment  litu  yy, 
and  ceremonies,  and  some  by-passages  and  ph^  ases  i7i  the 
doctrinal  part,  which  are  scrupled  by  those  whose  liberty  is 
desired.  Not  that  we  are  against  subscribing  the  proper  rule 
of  our  religion,  or  any  meet  confession  of  faith.  Nor  do  we 
scruple  the  oath  of  supremacy  or  allegiance.  Nor  would 
we  have  the  door  left  open  for  Papists  or  heretics  to  come  in. 

2.  We  take  the  boldness  to  say  that  since  we  have  had  the 
promises  of  your  gracious  indulgence  herein,  and,  upon 
divers  addresses  to  your  majesty  and  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
had  comfortable  encouragement  to  expect  our  liberty,  yet 
cannot  ministers  procure  institution  without  renouncing  their 
ordiua'iiou  by  presbyters,  or  being  re-ordained;  nor  with- 
out   subscription,    and    the    oath    of    canonical    obedience. 


660.]  Petition  of  the  Ministers.  97 

3.  We  must  observe,  witli  fear  and  grief,  that  your  majesty's 
indulgence  and  concessions  of  liberty  in  this  Declaration 
extendeth  not  either  to  the  abatement  of  re-ordination,  or 
of  subscriptional  ordinution,  or  of  the  oath  of  obedience  to 
the  bishops.  We  therefore  humbly  and  earnestly  crave,  that 
your  majesty  will  declare  your  pleasure: — 1.  That  ordination, 
and  institution,  and  induction,  may  be  conferred  without  the 
said  subscription  or  oath ;  and  2.  That  none  be  urged  to  be 
re-ordained,  or  denied  institution  for  want  of  ordination  by 
prelates,  that  was  ordained  by  presbyters;  3.  And  that  none 
be  judged  to  have  forfeited  his  presentation  or  benefice,  nor 
be  deprived  of  it  for  not  reading  those  Articles  of  the  thirty- 
nine  that  contain  the  controverted  points  of  government  and 
ceremonies. 

Lastly,  We  humbly  crave  that  your  majesty  will  not  only 
grant  us  this  liberty  till  the  next  synod,  but  will  endeavour 
that  the  synod  be  impartially  chosen ;  and  that  your  majesty 
will  be  pleased  to  endeavour  the  procurement  of  such  laws  as 
shall  be  necessary  for  our  security  till  the  synod,  and  for  the 
ratification  of  moderate  and  healing  conclusions  afterwards ; 
and  that  nothing  by  mere  canon  be  imposed  on  us,  without  such 
statute  laws  of  parliament. 

These  favours  (which  will  be  injurious  to  none)  if  your 
people  may  obtain  of  your  majesty,  it  will  revive  their  hearts 
to  daily  and  earnest  prayer  for  your  prosperity,  and  to  rejoice 
in  the  thankful  acknowledgment  of  that  gracious  Providence 
of  heaven,  that  hath  blessed  us  in  your  restoration,  and  put 
it  into  your  heart  to  heal  our  breaches,  and  to  have  compas- 
sion on  the  faithful  people  in  your  dominions,  who  do  not 
petition  you  for  liberty  to  be  schismatical,  factious,  seditious, 
or  abusive  to  any,  but  only  for  leave  to  obey  the  Lord,  who 
created  and  redeemed  them,  according  to  that  law  by  which 
they  must  all  be  shortly  judged  to  everlasting  joy  or  misery. 
And  it  will  excite  them  to,  and  unite  them  in,  the  cheerful 
service  of  your  majesty,  with  their  estates  and  lives,  and  to 
transmit  your  deserved  praises  to  posterity. 


98  Alterations  in  the  Declaration  [1660. 

XI. 

Alterations  in  the  Declaration  proposed  by  the  Ministers} — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester^  pp.  275-6. 

1.  We  do  in  the  first  place  declare  tliat  our  purpose  and 
resolution  is^  and  shall  be  to  promote  the  }:ower  of  godliness, 
to  encourage  the  exercises  of  religion,  both  public  and  private, 
and  to  take  care  that  the  Lord's  day  be  appropriated  to  holy 
exercises,  without  unnecessary  divertisements ;  and  that  in- 
sufficient, negligent,  non-resident,  and  scandalous  ministers 
be  not  permitted  in  the  Church :  and  as  the  present 
bishops  are  known  to  be  men  of  great  and  exemplary  piety,  &c. 

2.  Because  the  dioceses,  especially  some  of  them,  are 
thought  to  be  of  too  large  extent,  we  will  appoint  such  a 
number  of  suffragan  bishops  in  every  diocese,  as  shall  be 
sufficient  for  the  due  performance  of  their  work. 

3.  No  bishops  shall  ordain,  or  exercise  any  part  of  juris- 
diction which  appertains  to'  the  censures  of  the  Church, 
without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  presbyters;  and  no 
chancellors,  commissaries,  archdeacons,  or  officials  shall 
exercise  any  act  of  spiritual  jurisdiction. 

'  "  The  Petition  of  the  ministers  being  delivered  to  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
"  was  so  ungrateful,"  says  Baxter,  "  that  we  were  never  called  to  present  it 
"  to  the  king,  but  instead  of  that,  it  was  offered  us  that  we  should  make 
"  such  alterations  in  the  Declaration  as  were  necessary  to  attain  its  ends  ; 
"  but  with  these  cautions  :  1.  That  we  put  in  nothing  but  what  we 
"  judged  of  flat  necessity  ;  and  2.  That  we  altered  not  the  preface  or 
"  language  of  it,  for  it  was  to  be  the  king's  Declaration  :  and  what  he  spake  as 
"  expressing  his  own  sense,  was  nothing  to  us  ;  but  if  we  thought  he  imposed 
"  anything  intolerable  upon  us,  we  had  leave  to  express  our  desires  for  the 
* '  altering  of  it.  Whereupon  we  agreed  to  offer  this  following  paper  of  alte- 
"  rations,  letting  all  the  rest  of  the  Declaration  alone  ;  but  withal,  by  word 
"  to  tell  those  we  oftered  it  to  (which  was  the  Lord  Chancellor)  that  this  was 
"  not  the  model  of  church-government  which  we  at  first  offered,  nor  which 
"  we  thought  most  expedient  for  the  healing  of  the  church  ;  but  seeing  that 
"  cannot  be  obtained,  we  shall  humbly  submit,  and  thankfully  acknowledge 
"  his  Majesty's  condescension,  if  we  may  obtain  what  now  we  offer,  and  shall 
"  faithfully  endeavour  to  improve  it  to  the  church's  peace,  to  the  utmost  of 
"  our  power.  Having  declared  this  (with  more)  we  delivered  in  the  fol- 
"  lowing  paper." — Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  p.  274. 


1660.]  ijToposed  by  the  Ministers.  99 

4.  To  the  end  that  the  deans  and  chapters  may  be  the 
better  fitted  to  aflord  counsel  and  assistance  to  the  bishops, 
both  in  ordination,  and  in  the  other  ordinances  mentioned 
before,  we  will  take  care  that  those  preferments  be  given  to 
the  most  learned  and  pious  presbyters  of  the  diccese. 

And  moreover,  that  at  least  an  equal  number  of  the  most 
learned,  pious,  and  discreet  presbyters  of  the  same  diocese, 
(annually  chosen  by  the  major  vote  of  all  the  presbyters  of 
that  diocese)  shall  be  assistant  and  consenting  together  with 
those  of  the  chapter  at  all  ordinations,  and  all  other  acts  of 
spiritual  jurisdiction. 

Nor  shall  any  suffragan  bishops  ordain,  or  exercise  any 
act  of  spiritual  jurisdiction,  but  with  the  consent  and  assist- 
ance of  a  sufficient  number  of  the  most  judicious  and  pious 
presbyters,  annually  chosen  by  the  major  vote  of  all  the 
presbyters  in  his  precincts. 

And  our  will  is,  that  the  great  work  of  ordination  be  con- 
stantly and  solemnly  performed  at  the  four  set  times  and 
seasons  appointed  by  the  Church  for  that  purpose. 

5.  We  will  take  care  that  confirmation  be  rightly  and 
solemnly  performed,  by  the  information,  and  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  minister  of  that  place,  who  shall  admit  none  to 
the  Lord's  supper,  till  they  have  made  a  credible  i)rofession 
of  their  faith,  and  promised  obedience  to  the  will  of  God 
according  as  is  expressed  in  the  consideration  of  the  rubric 
before  the  catechism ;  and  that  all  possible  diligence  be  used 
for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of  scandalous  offenders, 
whom  the  ministers  shall  not  suffer  to  partake  of  the  Lord's 
table  until  they  have  openly  declared  themselves  to  have 
truly  repented,  and  amended  their  former  naughty  lives,  as  is 
partly  expressed  in  the  rubric,  and  more  fully  in  the  canons. 
Provided  there  be  place  for  due  appeals  to  superior  powers. 

6.  No  bishops,  &c. 

7.  We  are  very  glad  to  find  that  all  with  whom  we  have 
conferred,  do,  in  their  judgments,  approve  a  liturgy,  or  a  set 
form  of  public  worship  to  be  lawful,  which  in  our  judgments, 
tor  the  preservation  of  unity  and  uniformity,  we  conceive  to 

II  2 


00  Alterations  in  the  Declaration  [1660. 

be  very  necessary.  And  although  we  do  esteem  the  liturgy 
of  the  Church  of  England  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  by  law  establislied,  to  be  the  best  that  we  have 
seen,  (and  we  believe  that  we  have  seen  all  that  are  extant, 
and  used  in  this  part  of  the  world)  and  we  know  what  rever- 
ence most  of  the  reformed  Churches,  or  at  least  the  most 
learned  men  in  those  Churches  have  for  it ;  yet  since  we  find 
some  exceptions  made  against  several  things  therein,  we 
will  appoint  an  equal  number  of  learned  divines  of  both  per- 
suasions to  review  the  same,  and  to  make  such  alterations  as 
shall  be  thought  most  necessary,  and  some  additional  forms 
(in  Scripture  phrase  as  near  as  may  be)  suited  unto  the  nature 
of  the  several  ordinances ;  and  that  it  be  left  to  the  minister's 
choice  to  use  one  or  the  other  at  his  discretion.  In  the  mean 
time,  and  till  this  be  done,  although  we  do  heartily  wish  and 
desire  that  the  ministers  in  their  several  churches  because 
they  dislike  some  clauses,  and  expressions,  would  not  totally 
lay  aside  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  read 
those  parts  against  which  there  can  be  no  exception,  which 
would  be  the  best  instance  of  declining  those  marks  of  dis- 
tinction, which  we  so  much  labour  and  desire  to  remove  : 
yet  in  compassion  to  divers  of  our  good  subjects  who  scruple 
the  use  of  it  as  now  it  is,  our  will  and  pleasure  is  that  none 
be  punished  or  troubled  for  not  using  it,  until  it  be  reviewed 
and  eflfectually  reformed  as  aforesaid. 

In  the  Preface  concerning  ceremonies,  we  desire  that  at 
least  these  words  be  left  out : — not  that  themselves  do  in  their 
judgments  believe  the  practice  of  these  particular  ceremonies, 
which  they  except  against,  to  be  in  itsdf  unlawful. 

As  concerning  ceremonies,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  1, 
that  none  shall  be  required  to  kneel  in  the  act  of  receiving 
the  Lord's  supper;  but  left  at  liberty  therein. 

2.  That  tbe  religious  observation  of  holy  days  of  human 
institution  be  left  indifferent,  and  that  none  be  troubled  for 
not  observing  of  them. 

3.  That  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  use  the  cross  in 
baptism,  or  suffer  for  not  using  it. 


1660.]  proposed  by  the  Ministers.  101 

4.  That  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  bow  at  the  name  of 
Jesus. 

5.  For  the  use  of  the  surplice,  we  are  contented  that  all 
men  be  left  to  their  liberty  to  do  as  they  shall  think  fit, 
without  suffering  in  the  least  degree  for  wearing  or  not 
wearing  it. 

And  because  some  men,  otherwise  pious  and  learned,  say 
they  cannot  conform  unto  the  subscription  required  by  the 
canons,  nor  take  the  oath  of  canonical  obedience,  we  are 
content,  and  it  is  our  will  and  pleasure  (so  they  take  the 
oath  of  allegiance  and  supremacy)  that  they  shall  receive 
ordination,  institution,  and  induction,  and  shall  be  permitted 
to  exercise  their  function,  and  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  their 
livings  without  the  said  subscription,  or  oath  of  canonical 
obedience.  And  moreover,  that  no  persons  in  the  universities 
shall,  for  the  want  of  such  subscription  be  hindered  in  taking 
their  degrees.  Lastly,  that  such  as  have  been  ordained  by 
presbyters,  be  not  required  to  renounce  their  ordination,  or  to 
be  re-ordained,  or  denied  institution  and  induction  for  want  of 
ordination  by  bishops.  And  moreover,  that  none  be  judged  to 
forfeit  their  presentation  or  benefice,  or  be  deprived  of  it,  for 
not  reading  of  those  of  the  XXXIX  Articles  that  contain  the 
controverted  points  of  Church  government  and  ceremonies. 


XII. 

Humble  and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  some  Ministers  of 
London  for  the  Declaration. — Eeliquise  Baxterianae,  by 
Sylvester,  pp.  284—5. 

To  THE  King's  most  excellent  Majesty  : 
The  humble  and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  many  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel  in  and  about  the  city  of  London,  to  his 
royal   majesty  for   his  gracious  concessions  in  his  majesty's 
late  Declaration  concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs. 


]03  Acknowledgment  of  some  [1660, 

Most  dread  Sovereign, 
We  your  majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  ministers 
of  the  gospel  in  your  city  of  London,  having  perused  your 
majesty's  late  Declaration  concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and 
finding  it,  to  the  joy  of  our  hearts,  so  full  of  indulgence  and 
gracious  condescension,  we  cannot  but  judge  ourselves  highly 
obliged,  in  the  first  place,  to  render  our  unfeigned  thanks  to 
our  good  God,  who  hath  so  mercifully  inclined  your  majesty's 
royal  heart  to  this  moderation;  and  next,  our  most  humble 
and  hearty  acknowledgments  unto  your  sacred  majesty,  that 
we  may  testify  to  your  royal  self,  and  all  the  world,  our  just 
resentment  of  your  majesty's  great  goodness  and  clemency 
therein  expressed. 

May  it  please  your  Majesty, 

The  liberty  of  our  consciences,  and  the  free  exercise  of  our 
ministry  in  the  work  of  our  great  Lord  and  Master,  for  the 
conversion  of  souls,  ought  to  be,  and  are,  more  dear  to  us 
than  all  the  profits  and  preferments  of  this  world :  and 
therefore  your  majesty's  tenderness,  manifested  in  these 
so  high  concernments,  doth  wonderfully  affect  us,  and  raise 
up  our  hearts  to  a  high  pitch  of  gratitude. 

We  cannot  but  adore  divine  goodness  for  your  majesty's 
stedfast  adherence  to  the  protestant  religion,  notwithstanding 
all  temptations  and  provocations  to  the  contrary,  and  your 
professed  zeal  for  the  advancement  and  propagation  thereof, 
declaring  that  nothing  can  be  proposed  to  manifest  your 
zeal  and  afix3ction  for  it,  to  which  you  will  not  readily 
consent. 

Your  majesty  has  graciously  declared,  that  your  resolution 
is,  and  shall  be,  to  promote  the  power  of  godliness,  to  en- 
courage the  exercises  of  religion,  both  public  and  private,  to 
take  care  that  the  Lord's  day  be  applied  to  holy  exercises, 
without  unnecessary  divertisements ;  and  that  insufficient, 
negligent,  and  scandalous  ministers,  be  not  permitted  in  the 
church.  Your  majesty  hath  granted  that  no  bishop  shall 
ordain,  or  exercise  any  part  of  jurisdiction  which  appertains 
to  the  censures  of  the  church,  without  the  advice  and  assist- 


1660.]         Ministers  of  London  for  the  Declaration.  103 

ance  of  the  presbyters,  and  neither  do,  nor  impose  anything, 
but  what  is  according  to  the  known  laws  of  the  land ;  exclu- 
ded chancellors,  commissaries,  and  officials,  from  acts  of 
jurisdiction ;  so  happily  restored  the  power  of  the  pastors,  in 
their  several  congregations ;  and  granted  a  liberty  to  all  the 
ministers  to  assemble  monthly  for  the  exercise  of  the  pastoral 
persuasive  power,  to  the  promoting  of  knowledge  and  godli- 
ness in  their  flocks.  Your  majesty  hath  graciously  promised 
a  review,  and  effectual  reformation  of  the  liturgy,  with  ad- 
ditional forms  to  be  used  at  choice :  and  in  the  meantime, 
that  none  be  punished  or  troubled  for  not  usingit.  Yourmajesty 
hath  graciously  freed  us  from  subscription  required  by  the 
canon,  and  the  oath  of  canonical  obedience  ;  and  granted  us  to 
receive  ordination,  institution,  and  induction,  and  to  exercise 
our  function,  and  enjoy  the  profit  of  our  livings,  without  the 
same.  Your  majesty  hath  gratified  the  consciences  of  many 
who  are  grieved  with  the  use  of  some  ceremonies,  by  indulging 
to  and  dispensing  with  their  omitting  those  ceremonies, 
viz.,  kneeling  at  the  sacrament,  the  cross  in  baptism,  bowing 
at  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  wearing  of  the  surplice. 

All  this  your  majesty^s  indulgence  and  tender  compassion 
(which  with  delight  we  have  taken  the  boldness  thus  largely 
to  commemorate)  we  receive  with  all  humility  and  thankful- 
ness, and,  as  the  best  expression  thereof,  shall  never  cease  to 
pray  for  your  majesty's  long  and  prosperous  reign,  and  study 
how  in  our  several  stations  we  may  be  most  instrumental  in  your 
majesty's  service :  and  that  we  may  not  be  defective  in 
ingenuity,  we  crave  leave  to  profess,  that  though  all  things  in 
this  frame  of  government  be  not  exactly  suited  to  our  judg- 
ment, yet  your  majesty's  moderation  hath  so  great  an  influence 
upon  us,  that  we  shall,  to  our  utmost,  endeavour  the  healing  of 
the  breaches,  and  promoting  the  peace  and  union  of  the  church. 

There  are  some  other  things  that  have  been  propounded  by 
our  reverend  brethren,  which,  upon  our  knees,  with  all  humble 
importunity,  we  could  beg  of  your  majesty,  especially  that 
re-ordination,  and  the  surplice  in  colleges  may  not  be  im- 
posed ;  and  we  cannot  lay  aside  our  hopes,  but  that  that  God 


104  Proclamation  against  [1660-1. 

who  hath  thus  far  drawn  out  your  majesty's  bowels  and 
mercy,  will  further  incline  your  majesty's  heart  to  gratify  us 
in  these  our  humble  desires  also. 

That  we  be  not  further  burthensome,  we  humbly  bej^  leave 
to  thank  your  majesty  for  the  liberty  and  respect  vouchsafed 
to  our  reverend  brethren  in  this  weighty  affair  of  accomoda- 
tion. The  God  of  heaven  bless  your  majesty,  and  all  the 
royal  family. 

Your  Majesty's  most  loyal  Subjects, 

Sam.  Clark.  Wm.  Cooper.  Eli.  Pledger. 

Thos.  Case.  Wm.  Whittaker.  Will.  Bates. 

Jno.  Rawlinson,  Thos.  Jacomb.  Jno.  Gibbon. 

Jno.  Sheflaeld.  Thos.  Lye.  Matt.  Poole 

Thos,  Gouge.  Jno.  Jackson.  With    many 

Gab.  Sanger  Jno.  Meriton.  others. 

This  address  was  presented  to  his  majesty  at  Whitehall, 
November  16th,  by  some  of  these  ministers,  to  whom  he 
was  pleased  to  return  a  very  gracious  answer. 


XIII. 

A  Proclamation  prohibiting  all  unlawful  and  seditious  meet- 
ings and  conventicles  under  pretence  of  religious  worship? 
— Wilkins'  Concilia,  vol.  iv,  pp.  564 — 5  ;  Cardwell's  Docu- 
mentary Annals,  Oxford,  1844,  vol.  ii,  pp.  302 — 4. 

Charles  R. 
Although  nothing  can  be  more  unwelcome  to  us,  than  the 
necessity  of  restraining  some  part  of  that  liberty,  which  was 

'  The  insurrection  of  the  Fifth-monarchy  men  under  Venner,  took  place 
on  Sunday,  6th  January,  1660-1,  and  was  finally  suppressed  on  the  following 
Wednesday.  It  furnished  a  pretext  for  this  Proclamation.  All  classes  of  dis- 
senters were  eager  to  purge  themselves  of  the  suspicion  of  being  accomplices 


1660-1.]       Seditious  Meetings  and  Conventicles.  105 

indulged  to  tender  consciences  by  our  late  gracious  Declaration  -, 
yet  since  divers  persons  (known  by  the  name  of  Anabaptists, 
Quakers,  and  Fifth -monarcby  men,  or  some  such  like  appella- 
tion, as  a  mark  of  distinction  and  separation)  under  pretence 
of  serving  God,  do  daily  meet  in  great  numbers  in  secret 
places,  and  at  unusual  times,  by  reason  whereof  they  begin  to 
boast  of  their  multitudes,  and  to  increase  in  their  confidences, 
as  having  frequent  opportunities  to  settle  a  perfect  corre- 
spondency and  confederacy  between  themselves,  of  which 
some  evil  effects  have  already  ensued,  even  to  the  disturbance 
of  the  public  peace  by  insurrection  and  murder,  for  which  the 
offenders  must  answer  to  the  law,  and  far  worse  may  be  still 
expected,  unless  some  speedy  course  be  taken  to  prevent  their 
further  growth. 

To  the  intent  therefore  that  none  of  those  persons,  who 
have  presumed  to  make  so  ill  an  use  of  our  indulgence,  may 
be  strengthened  in  such  their  proceedings  by  any  general 
words  or  expressions  in  our  late  Declaration ;  we  have  thought 
fit  by  these  presents  to  publish  and  declare  our  royal  will  and 
pleasure,  that  no  meeting  whatsoever  of  the  persons  aforesaid, 
under  pretence  of  worshipping  God,  shall  at  any  time  here- 
after be  permitted  or  allowed,  unless  it  be  in  some  parochial 
church  or  chapel  in  this  realm,  or  in  private  houses  by  the 


of  the  rebels.  The  Anabaptists  presented  an  address  to  the  king,  in  which 
they  said,  "  we  cannot  imagine  a  reason  why  [the]  bloody  tenets,  and  tragical 
"  actions  [of  the  Fifth-monarchy  men]  should  reflect  upon  those  of  our  persua- 
"  sion,  the  persons  not  being  of  our  belief  or  practice  about  baptism  ;  but  to 
"the  best  of  our  information,  they  were  all,  except  one,  assertors  of  infant 
"  baptism,  and  never  had  communion  with  us  in  our  assemblies."  The  Inde- 
pendents, and  Quakers,  also,  disowned  all  connexion  with  the  rebels.  But  as 
the  oath  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  was  generally  tendered  to  the  Baptists 
and  Quakers  when  discovered  in  their  several  religious  assemblies,  and 
as  they  could  not  conscientiously  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  king 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  great  numbers  of  them  were  thrown  into  prison  in 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  kept  in  close  confinement  until  the  coronation 
of  the  king,  23rd  April  following.— Collier's  Ecclesiastical  History,  London, 
1714,  vol.  ii,  p.  876 ;  Rapin's  History  of  England,  London,  1743,  vol.  ii, 
p.  623—5  ;  Crosby's  History  of  the  Baptists,  London,  1739,  vol.  ii,  pp.  38 
and  93  :  Hanbury's  Memorials  of  the  Independents,  vol.  iii,  pp.  592 — 5. 


106         Proclaniaiion  against  Seditious  Meetings.     [1660-1. 

persons  there  inhabiting.  And  that  all  meetings  and  assem- 
blies whatsoever  in  order  to  any  spiritual  exercise,  or  serving 
of  God  by  the  persons  aforesaid,  unless  in  the  places  aforesaid, 
shall  be  esteemed,  and  are  hereby  declared  to  be  unlawful 
assemblies,  and  shall  be  prosecuted  accordingly,  and  the 
persons  therein  assembled  shall  be  proceeded  against  as 
persons  riotously  and  unlawfully  assembled. 

And  for  the  better  execution  of  this  our  proclamation,  and 
the  prevention  of  all  illegal  and  seditious  meetings  and  con- 
venticles, we  do  hereby  straightly  charge  and  command  all 
mayors,  sheriffs,  justices  of  the  peace,  constables,  head- 
boroughs,  commanders,  and  other  our  chief  officers,  and 
ministers,  whom  it  may  concern,  that  they  cause  diligent 
search  to  be  made  from  time  to  time  in  all  and  every  the 
places,  where  any  such  meetings  or  conventicles,  as  aforesaid, 
shall  or  may  be  suspected.  And  that  they  cause  all  and  every 
the  persons  therein  assembled  to  be  apprehended  and  brought 
before  one  or  more  justices  of  the  peace,  and  to  be  bound  over 
to  appear  at  the  next  sessions  within  the  respective  precincts, 
and  in  the  mean  time  to  find  sureties  for  their  good  behaviour, 
or  in  default  thereof  to  be  committed  to  the  next  gaol. 

And  further  we  do  will  and  command  our  justices  of  the 
peace,  that  they  cause  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  be  tendered 
to  every  person  so  brought  before  them,  and,  upon  his  or  their 
refusal,  to  proceed  according  as,  by  the  statute  made  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  our  royal  grandfather,  of  ever 
blessed  memory,  they  are  directed  and  commanded.  Given 
at  our  court  at  Whitehall  the  tenth  day  of  January,  in  the 
twelfth  year  of  our  reign,  mdclx.  [mdclxi.] 


1661.]         Warrant  for  the  Conference  at  Savoy.  107 


XIV. 

The  King's  Warrant  for  the  Conference  at  the  Savoy. — Wilkins' 
Concilia,  vol.  iv^  pp.  570 — 2;  Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  303 — 5 ; 
Cardwell's  History  of  Conferences,  Oxford,  18^9,  pp. 
298-302. 

Charles  the  Second,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  England, 
Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  defender  of  the  faith,  &c.  To 
our  trusty  and  well-beloved  the  most  reverend  father  in 
God  Accepted  archbishop  of  York,  the  right  reverend 
fathers  in  God  Gilbert  bishop  of  London,  John  bishop  of 
Durham,  John  bishop  of  Rochester,  Henry  bishop  of  Chi- 
chester, Humphrey  bishop  of  Sarum,  George  bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, Robert  bishop  of  Lincoln,  Benjamin  bishop  of  Peter- 
borough, Bryan  bishop  of  Chester,  Richard  bishop  of  Carlisle, 
John  bishop  of  Exeter,  Edward '  bishop  of  Norwich ;  and  to 
our  trusty  and  well-beloved  the  reverend  Anthony  Tuckney 
Dr.  in  divinity,  John  Conant  Dr.  in  divinity,  William  Spur- 
stow  Dr.  in  divinity,  John  Wallis  Dr.  in  divinity,  Thomas 
Manton  Dr.  in  divinity,  Edmund  Calamy  batchelor  in 
divinity,  Richard  Baxter  clerk,  Arthur  Jackson  clerk,  Thomas 
Case,  Samuel  Clark,  Matthew  Newcomen  clerks :  and  to  our 
trusty  and  well-beloved  Dr.  Earles  dean  of  Westminister, 
Peter  Heylin  Dr.  in  divinity,  John  Hacket  Dr.  in  divinity, 
John  Barwick  Dr.  in  divinity,  Peter  Gunning  Dr.  in  divinity, 
John  Pearson  Dr.  in  divinity,  Thomas  Pierce  Dr.  in  divinity, 
Anthony  Sparrow  Dr.  in  divinity,  Herbert  Thonidike  bat- 
chelor in  divinity,  Thomas  Horton  Dr.  in  divinity,  Thomas 
Jacomb  Dr.  in  divinity,  William  Bates,  John  Rawlinson 
clerks,  William  Cooper  clerk.  Dr.  John  Lightfoot,  Dr.  John 
Collinges,  Dr. Benjamin  Woodbridge,  and  William  Drakeclerk, 
greeting.  Whereas  by  our  Declaration  of  the  five  and  twen- 
tieth of  October  last  concerning  ecclesiastical  affairs,  we  did 

'  Dr.  Edward  Reynolds  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Norwich  on  6th 
January,  1660-1,  and  by  virtue  of  his  bishopric  became  also  Abbot  of  St. 
Bennet  in  the  Holme. 


108  The  King's  Warrant  [1661. 

amongst  other  tilings,  express  our  esteem  of  the  liturgy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  contained  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer; 
and  yet,  since  we  find  some  exceptions  made  against  several 
things  therein,  we  did  by  our  said  Declaration  declare  we 
would  appoint  an  equal  number  of  learned  divines  of  both 
persuasions,  to  review  the  same,  and  to  make  such  altera- 
tions therein  as  should  be  thought  most  necessary,  and  some 
additional  forms  in  the  Scripture  phrase,  as  near  as  might 
be,  suited  unto  the  nature  of  the  several  parts  of  worship ;  we 
therefore,  in  accomplishment  of  our  said  will  and  intent,  and 
of  our  continued  and  constant  care  and  study  for  the  peace 
and  unity  of  the  churches  within  our  dominions,  and  for  the 
removal  of  all  exceptions  and  differences,  and  the  occasions 
of  such  differences  and  exceptions  from  amongst  our  good 
subjects,  for  or  concerning  the  said  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
or  any  thing  therein  contained,  do  by  these  our  letters 
patents  require,  authorize,  constitute  and  appoint  you  the  said 
accepted  archbishop  of  York,  Gilbert  bishop  of  Loudon,  John 
bishop  of  Durham,  John  bishop  cf  Rochester,  Henry  bishop 
of  Chichester,  Humphrey  bishop  of  Sarum,  George  bishop  of 
Worcester,  Robert  bishop  of  Lincoln,  Benjamin  bishop  of 
Peterborough,  Bryan  bishop  of  Chester,  Richard  bishop  of  Car- 
lisle, John  bishop  of  Exeter,  Edward  bishcp  of  Norwich ; 
Anthony  Tuckney,  John  Conant,  William  Spurstow,  John 
Wallis,  Thomas  Manton,  Edmund  Calamy,  Richard  Baxter, 
Arthur  Jackson,  Thomas  Case,  Samuel  Clark,  and  Matthew 
Newcomen,  to  advise  upon  and  review  the  said  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  comparing  the  same  with  the  most  ancient  litur- 
gies which  have  been  used  in  the  church,  in  the  primitive  and 
purest  times  :  and,  to  that  end,  to  assemble  and  meet  together 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  such  times,  within  the  space  of  four 
calendar  months  now  next  ensuing,  in  the  master's  lodging 
in  the  Savoy  in  the  Strand,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  or  in 
such  other  place,  or  places,  as  to  you  shall  be  thought  fit  and 
convenient,  to  take  into  your  serious  and  grave  considera- 
tions, the  several  directions  and  rules,  forms  of  prayer,  and 
things  in  the  said  Book  of  Common  Prayer  contained,  and  to 


1C61.]  for  the  Conference  at  Savoy.  109 

advise  and  consult  upon  and  about  the  same,  and  the  several 
objections  and  exceptions  which  shall  now  be  raised  against 
the  same.  And  if  occasion  be,  to  make  such  reasonable|^and 
n  ecessary  alterations,  corrections,  and  amendments  therein,  as 
by  and  between  you  the  said  archbishop,  bishops,  doctors, 
and  persons  hereby  required  and  authorized  to  meet  and  advise' 
as  aforesaid,  shall  be  agreed  upon  to  be  needful  or  expedient 
for  the  giving  sati.sfaction  to  tender  consciences,  and  the 
restoring  and  continuance  of  peace  and  unity,  in  the  churches 
under  our  protection  and  government ;  but  avoiding,  as 
much  as  may  be,  all  unnecessary  alterations^  of  the  forms 
and  liturgy  wherewith  the  people  are  already  acquainted, 
and  have  so  long  received  in  the  Church  of  England.  And 
our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  when  you  the  said  archbishop, 
bishops,  doctors,  and  persons  authorized  and  appointed  by 
these  our  letters  patents,  to  meet,  advise,  and  consult  upon 
and  about  the  premises,  as  aforesaid,  shall  have  drawn  your 
consultations  to  any  resolution  and  determination,  which  you 
shall  agree  upon  as  needful  or  expedient  to  be  done  for  the 
altering,  diminishing,  or  enlarging  the  said  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  or  any  part  thereof,  that  then  you  forthwith  certify 
and  present  unto  us  in  writing,  under  your  several  hands, 
the  matters  and  things  whereupon  you  shall  so  determine, 
for  our  approbation ;  and  to  the  end  the  same,  or  .  so 
much  thereof  as  shall  be  approved  by  us,  may  be  established. 
And  forasmuch  as  the  said  archbishop  and  bishops,  having 
several  great  charges  to  attend,  which  we  would  not  dispense 
with,  or  that  the  same  should  be  neglected  upon  any  great 
occasion  whatsoever,  and  some  of  them,  being  of  great  age 
and  infirmities,  may  not  be  able  constantly  to  attend  the 
execution  of  the  service  and  authority  hereby  given,  and 
required  by  us,  in  the  meetings  and  consultations  aforesaid;  we 
will  therefore,  and  do  hereby  require  and  authorize  you  the 
said  Dr.  Earles,  Peter  Heylin,  John  Hacket,  John  Barwick, 

^  Wilkins,  and  Collier  (Eccles.  Hist.,  Lond.,  1714,  vol.  ii,  p.  877)  read 
"  abbreviations."  Cardwell  follows  the  copy  given  in  Reliyuiaj  Baxteriau^e, 
where  it  is  "  alterations." 


110  Warrant  for  the  Conference  at  Savoy.         [1661. 

Peter  Gunning,  Jolin  Pearson,  Thomas  Pierce,  Anthony 
Sparrow,  and  Herbert  Thorndike,  to  supply  the  place  or 
places  of  such  of  the  said  archbishop  and  bishops  (other  than 
the  said  Edward  bishop  of  Norwich)  as  shall  by  age,  sickness, 
infirmity,  or  other  occasion,  be  hindered  from  attending  the 
said  meetings  or  consultations,  (that  is  to  say,)  that  one  of 
you,  the  said  Dr.  Earles,  Peter  Heylin,  John  Hacket,  John 
Barwick,  Peter  Gunning,  John  Pearson,  Thomas  Pierce, 
Anthony  Sparrow,  and  Herbert  Thorndike,  shall  from  time  to 
time  supply  the  place  of  each  one  of  them,  the  said  arch- 
bishop and  bishops,  other  than  the  said  Edward  bishop  of 
Norwich,  which  shall  happen  to  be  hindered,  or  to  be  absent 
from  the  said  meetings  or  consultations ;  and  shall  and  may 
advise,  consult,  and  determine,  and  also  certify  and  execute 
all  and  singular  the  powers  and  authorities  before  mentioned, 
in  and  about  the  premises,  as  fully  and  absolutely,  as  such 
archbishop  or  bishops,  which  shall  so  happen  to  be  absent, 
should  or  might  do  by  virtue "  of  these  our  letters  patents,  or 
any  thing  therein  contained,  in  case  he  or  they  were  personally 
present.  And  whereas  in  regard  of  the  distance  of  some,  the 
infirmities  of  others,  the  multitude  of  constant  employments, 
and  other  incidental  impediments,  some  of  you,  the  said 
Edward  bishop  of  Norwich,  Anthony  Tuckney,  John  Conant, 
WilHam  Spurstow,  John  Wallis,  Thomas  Manton,  Edmund 
Calamy,Eichard  Baxter,  Arthur  Jackson,  Thomas  Case,  Samuel 
Clark,  and  Matthew  Newcomen,  may  be  hindered  from  the  con- 
stant attendance  in  the  execution  of  the  service  aforesaid; 
we  therefore  will,  and  do  hereby  require  and  authorize  you, 
the  said  Thomas  Horton,  Thomas  Jacomb,  William  Bates,  John 
Rawlinson,  William  Cooper,  John  Lightfoot,  John  Colliuges, 
Benjamin  Woodb ridge,  and  William  Drake  to  supply  the 
place  or  places  of  such  the  commissioners  last  above  men- 
tioned, as  shall  by  the  means  aforesaid,  or  any  other  occa- 
sion, be  hindered  from  the  said  meetmgs  and  consultations ; 
(that  is  to  say)  that  one  of  you,  the  said  Thomas  Horton, 
Thomas  Jacomb,  William  Bates,  John  liawlinson,  William 
Cooper,  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Dr.  Col linges,  Mr.  Woodbridge,  and  Mr. 


1661 .]  Exceptions  against  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.      Ill 

Drake  shall  from  time  to  time  supply  the  place  of  each  one  of 
the  said  commissioners  last  mentioned,  which  shall  happen  to 
be  hindered,  or  be  absent  from  the  said  meetings  and  consulta- 
tions; and  shall  and  may  advise,  consult,  and  determine,  and 
also  certify  and  execute  all  and  singular  the  powers  and 
authorities  before  mentioned^  in  and  about  the  premises,  as 
fully  and  absolutely,  as  such  of  the  said  last  mentioned  commis- 
sioners, which  shall  so  happen  to  be  absent,  should  or  might 
do,  by  virtue  of  these  our  letters  patents,  or  any  thing  therein 
contained,  in  case  he  or  they  were  personally  present. 

In  witness  whereof  we  have  caused  these  our  letters  to  be 
made  patents.  Witness  our  self  at  Westminster,  the  five  and 
twentieth  day  of  March,  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  our  reign. 
[mdclxi.] 

Per  iosum  Regem 

BARKER. 


XY. 

The  Exceptions  against  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.^ — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  316-33,  Cardwell's 
History  of  Conferences,,  Oxford,  1849,  pp.  303-35. 

Acknowledging  with  all  humility  and  thankfulness,  his 
majesty's  most  princely  condescension  and  indulgence,  to  very 
many  of  his  loyal  subjects,  as  well  in  his  majesty's  most 
gracious  Declaration,  as  particularly  in  this  present  commis- 
sion, issued  forth  in  pursuance  thereof;  we  doubt  not  but 
the  right  reverend  bishops,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  majesty's 
commissioners  intrusted  in  this  work,  will,  in  imitation  of  his 

'  The  principal  compilers  of  this  paper  were  Bishop  Reynolds,  Dr.  Wallis, 
Mr.  Calamy,  Mr.  Newcomen,  Dr.  Bates,  Mr.  Clarke,  Dr.  Jacomb,  &c.— 
Reliquiffi  Baxterianje,  p.  307. 

"  The  fourth  day  of  May,  [1661]  we  had  a  meeting  with  the  bishops,  where 
"  we  gave  in  our  paper  of  Exceptions  to  them ;  which  they  received."— 
Reliquiae  Baxterian?e,  p.  334. 


112  Tne  Exceptions  against  the  [1661. 

majesty's  most  prudent  and  Christian  moderation  and  cle- 
mency, judge  it  their  duty  (what  we  find  to  be  the  apostles' 
own  practice)  in  a  special  manner  to  be  tender  of  the  churches 
peace,  to  bear  with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not  to 
please  themselves,  nor  to  measure  the  consciences  of  other 
men  by  the  light  and  latitude  of  their  own,  but  seriously  and 
readily  to  consider  and  advise  of  such  expedients,  as  may 
most  conduce  to  the  healing  of  our  breaches,  and  uniting 
those  that  difler. 

And  albeit  we  have  a  high  and  honourable  esteem  of 
those  godly  and  learned  bishops  and  others,  who  were  the 
first  compilers  of  the  public  liturgy,  and  do  look  upon  it  as 
an  excellent  and  worthy  work,  for  that  time,  when  the  Church 
of  England  made  her  first  step  out  of  such  a  mist  of  popish 
ignorance  and  superstition  wherein  it  formerly  was  involved; 
yet, — considerinaj  that  all  human  works  do  gradually  arrive  at 
their  maturity  and  perfection,  and  this  in  particular,  being  a 
w^ork  of  that  nature,  hath  already  admitted  several  emenda- 
tions since  the  first  compiling  thereof: — 

It  cannot  be  thought  any  disparagement  or  derogation 
either  to  the  work  itself,  or  to  the  compilers  of  it,  or  to  those 
who  have  hitherto  used  it,  if  after  more  than  a  hundred 
years,  since  its  first  composure,  such  further  emendations  be 
now  made  therein,  as  may  be  judged  necessary  for  satisfying 
the  scruples  of  a  multitude  of  sober  persons,  who  cannot  at 
all  (or  very  hardly)  comply  with  the  use  of  it,  as  now  it  is, 
and  may  best  suit  with  the  present  times  after  so  long  an 
enjoyment  of  the  glorious  light  of  the  gospel,  and  so  happy  a 
reformation :  especially  considering  that  many  godly  and 
learned  men  have  from  the  beginning  all  along  earnestly 
desired  the  alteration  of  many  things  therein,  and  very  many 
of  his  majesty's  pious,  peaceable,  and  loyal  subjects,  after  so 
long  a  discontinuance  of  it,  are  more  averse  from  it  than 
heretofore :  the  satisfying  of  whom  (as  far  as  may  be)  will 
very  much  conduce  to  that  peace  and  unity  which  is  so  much 
desired  by  all  good  men,  and  so  much  endeavoured  by  his 
most  excellent  majesty. 


1661.]  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  113 

And  therefore  in  pursuance  of  this  his  majesty's  most  gra- 
cious commission,  for  the  satisfaction  of  tender  consciences, 
and  the  procuring  of  peace  and  unity  amongst  ourselves,  we 
judge  meet  to  propose. 

First,  that  all  the  prayers,  and  other  materials  of  the 
liturgy  may  consist  of  nothing  doubtful  or  questioned  amongst 
pious,  learned,  and  orthodox  persons,  inasmuch  as  the  pro- 
fessed end  of  composing  them  is  for  the  declaring  of  the 
unity  and  consent  of  all  who  join  in  the  public  worship ;  it 
being  too  evident  that  the  limiting  of  church-communion  to 
things  of  doubtful  disputation,  hath  been  in  all  ages  the 
ground  of  schism  and  separation,  according  to  the  saying  of  a 
learned  person.* 

"To  load  our  public  forms  with  the  private  fancies  upon 
which  we  differ,  is  the  most  sovereign  way  to  perpetuate 
schism  to  the  world's  end.  Prayer,  confession,  thanksgiving, 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments in  the  plainest  and  simplest  manner,  were  matter 
enough  to  furnish  out  a  sufficient  liturgy,  though  nothing 
either  of  private  opinion,  or  of  church-pomp,  of  garments,  or 
prescribed  gestures,  of  imagery,  of  music,  of  matter  concern- 
ing the  dead,  of  many  superfluities  which  creep  into  the 
church  under  the  name  of  order  and  decency,  did  interpose 
itself.  To  charge  chui^ches  and  liturgies  with  things  un- 
necessary, was  the  first  beginning  of  all  superstition,  and 
when  scruple  of  conscience  began  to  be  made  or  pretended, 
then  schism  began  to  break  in.  If  the  special  guides  and 
fathers  of  the  church  would  be  a  little  sparing  of  incumbering 
churches  with  superfluities,  or  not  over-rigid,  either  in  re- 
viving obsolete  customs,  or  imposing  new,  there  would  be  far 
less  cause  of  schism  or  superstition;  and  all  the  inconveni- 
ence were  likely  to  ensue  would  be  but  this,  they  should  in  so 
doing  yield  a  little  to  the  imbecility  of  their  inferiors ;  a 
thing  which  St.  Paul  would  never  have  refused  to  do.  Mean- 
while wheresoever  false  or  suspected  opinions  are  made  a 
piece  of  church-liturgy,  he  that  separates  is  not  the  schis- 
*  Mr.  Hales. 

I 


Hi  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661. 

matic;  for  it  is  alike  unlawful  to  make  profession  of  known, 
or  suspected  falsehood  as  to  put  in  practice  unlawful  or  sus- 
pected action." 

II.  Further,  we  humbly  desire  that  it  may  be  seriously 
considered,  that  as  our  first  reformers  out  of  their  great 
wisdom  did  at  that  time  so  compose  the  liturgy,  as  to  win 
upon  the  papists,  and  to  draw  them  into  their  church-com- 
munion, by  varying  as  little  as  they  well  could  from  the 
Romish  forms  before  in  use  :  so  whether  in  the  present  con- 
stitution, and  state  of  things  amongst  us,  we  should  not 
according  to  the  same  rule  of  prudence  and  charity,  have  our 
liturgy  so  composed,  as  to  gain  upon  the  judgments  and 
affection  of  all  those  who  in  the  substantials  of  the  protestant 
religion  are  of  the  same  persuasions  with  our  selves  :  inas- 
much as  a  more  firm  union  and  consent  of  all  such,  as  well 
in  worship  as  in  doctrine,  would  greatly  strengthen  the 
protestant  interest  against  all  those  dangers  and  temptations 
which  our  intestine  divisions  and  animosities  do  expose  us 
uoto,  from  the  common  adversary. 

III.  That  the  repetitions,  and  responsals  of  the  clerk  and 
people,  and  the  alternate  reading  of  the  psalms  and  hymns 
which  cause  a  confused  murmur  in  the  congregation,  whereby 
what  is  read  is  less  intelligible,  and  therefore  unedifying,  may 
be  omitted  :  the  minister  being  appointed  for  the  people  in 
all  public  services  appertaining  unto  God,  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  intimating 
the  people's  part  in  public  prayer  to  be  only  with  silence 
and  reverence  to  attend  thereunto,  and  to  declare  their  con- 
sent in  the  close,  by  saying  Amen. 

IV.  That  in  regard  the  litany  (though  otherwise  contain- 
ing in  it  many  holy  petitions)  is  so  framed,  that  the  petitions 
for  a  great  part  are  uttered  only  by  the  people,  which  we 
think  not  to  be  so  consonant  to  Scripture,  which  makes  the 
minister  the  mouth  of  the  people  to  God  in  prayer,  the  par- 
ticulars thereof  may  be  composed  into  one  solemn  prayer  to 
be  offered  by  the  minister  unto  God  for  the  people. 

V.  That  there  be  nothing  in  the  liturgy  which  may  seem 


1661.]  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  115 

to  countenance  the  observation  of  Lent  as  a  religious  fast; 
the  example  of  Christ  fasting  forty  days  and  nights  being 
no  more  imiiable,  nor  intended  for  the  imitation  of  a  Christian^ 
than  any  other  of  his  miraculous  works  were,  or  than  Moses 
his  forty  days  fast  was  for  the  Jews  :  and  the  act  of  parlia- 
ment, 5  Eliz.,  forbidding  abstinence  from  flesh  to  be  observed 
upon  any  other  than  a  politic  consideration,  and  punishing 
all  those  who  by  preaching,  teaching,  writing,  or  open  speeches, 
shall  notify  that  the  forbearing  of  flesh  is  of  any  necessity 
for  the  saving  of  the  soul,  or  that  it  is  the  service  of  God, 
otherwise  than  as  other  politic  laws  are. 

VI.  That  the  religious  observation  of  saints-days  appointed 
to  be  kept  as  holy-days,  and  the  vigils  thereof,  without  any 
foundation  (as  we  conceive)  in  Scripture,  may  be  omitted. 
That  if  any  be  retained,  they  may  be  called  festivals,  and  not 
holy-days,  nor  made  equal  with  the  Lord's  day,  nor  have  any 
peculiar  sei"vice  appointed  for  them,  nor  the  people  be  upon 
such  days  forced  wholly  to  abstain  from  work,  and  that  the 
names  of  all  others  now  inserted  in  the  Calender  which  are 
not  in  the  first  and  second  books  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  may 
be  left  out. 

VII.  That  the  gift  of  prayer,  being  one  special  qualification 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry  bestowed  by  Christ  in  order  to 
the  edification  of  his  church,  and  to  be  exercised  for  the 
profit  and  benefit  thereof,  according  to  its  various  and 
emergent  necessity ;  it  is  desired  that  there  may  be  no  such 
imposition  of  the  liturgy,  as  that  the  exercise  of  that  gift  be 
thereby  totally  excluded  in  any  part  of  public  worship. 
And  further,  considering  the  great  age  of  some  ministers 
and  infirmities  of  others,  and  the  variety  of  several  services 
oft-times  concurring  upon  the  same  day,  whereby  it  may 
be  inexpedient  to  require  every  minister  at  all  times  to  read 
the  whole ;  it  may  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  minister,  to 
omit  part  of  it,  as  occasion  shall  require :  which  liberty  we 
find  to  be  allowed  even  in  the  First  Common  Prayer  Book  of 
Edward  VI. 

VIII.  That  in  regard  of  the  many  defects  which  have  been 

I  2 


116  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661 . 

observed  in  that  version  of  the  Scriptures^  which  is  used 
throughout  the  liturgy  (manifold  instances  wliereof  may  be 
produced,  as  in  the  epistle  for  the  first  Sunday  after  Epiphany, 
taken  out  of  Romans  xii,  1,  "Be  ye  changed  in  your  shape;'' 
and  the  epistle  for  the  Sunday  next  before  Easter,  taken  out 
of  Philippians  ii,  5,  "  Found  in  his  apparel  as  a  man ;"  as 
also  the  epistle  for  the  fourth  Sunday  in  Lent,  taken  out  of 
the  fourth  of  the  Galatians,  "  Mount  Sinai  is  Agar  in  Arabia, 
and  bordereth  upon  the  city  which  is  now  called  Jerusalem ; '' 
the  epistle  for  St.  Matthew's  day  taken  out  of  the  second 
epistle  of  Corinth,  and  the  ivth,  "We  go  not  out  of  kind;'' 
the  gospel  for  the  second  Sunday  after  Epiphanv,  taken  out 
of  the  second  of  John,  "When  men  be  drunk;"  the  gospel 
for  the  third  Sunday  in  Lent,  taken  out  of  the  xith  of  Luke, 
"One  house  doth  fall  upon  another;''  the  gospel  for  the 
Annunciation,  taken  out  of  the  first  of  Luke,  "  This  is  the 
sixth  month  which  Avas  called  barren ; "  and  many  other 
places)  :  we  therefore  desire  instead  thereof  the  new  transla- 
tion allowed  by  authority  may  alone  be  used. 

IX.  That  inasmuch  as  the  holy  Scriptures  are  able  to  make 
us  wise  unto  salvation,  to  furnish  us  throughly  unto  all  good 
works,  and  contain  in  them  all  things  necessary,  either  in 
doctrine  to  be  believed,  or  in  duty  to  be  practised ;  whereas 
divers  chapters  of  the  apocryphal  books  appointed  to  be  read, 
are  charged  to  be  in  both  respects  of  dubious  and  uncertain 
credit :  it  is  therefore  desired,  that  nothing  be  read  in  the 
church  for  lessons,  but  the  holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament. 

X.  That  the  minister  be  not  required  to  rehearse  any  part 
of  the  liturgy  at  the  communion-table,  save  only  those  parts 
which  properly  belong  to  the  Lord's  supper;  and  that  at 
such  times  only  when  the  said  holy  supper  is  administered, 

XL  That  as  the  word  "minister,"  and  not  priest  or  curate, 
is  used  in  the  Absolution,  and  iu  divers  other  places;  it  may 
throughout  the  whole  book  be  so  used  instead  of  those  two 
words;  and  "that  instead  of  the  word  "Sunday,"  the  word 
"  Lord's  day"  may  be  everywhere  used. 


1661.]  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  117 

XII.  Because  singing  of  psalms  is  a  considerable  part  of 
public  worship^  we  desire  that  the  version  set  forth  and 
allowed  to  be  sung  in  churches  may  be  amended ;  or  that  we 
may  have  leave  to  make  use  of  a  purer  version. 

XIII.  That  all  obsolete  words  in  the  Common  Prayer^  and 
such  whose  use  is  changed  from  their  first  significancy,  as 
"  aread"  used  in  the  gospel  for  the  Monday  and  Wednesday 
before  Easter;  '"^  Then  opened  he  their  wits/'  used  in  the 
gospel  for  Easter  Tuesday,  &c. ;  may  be  altered  unto  other 
words  generally  received  and  better  understood. 

XIV.  That  no  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  be  called  "  epistles,"  and  read  as  such. 

XV.  That  whereas  throughout  the  several  offices,  the 
phrase  is  such  as  presumes  all  persons  (within  the  communion 
of  the  church)  to  be  regenerated,  converted,  and  in  an  actual 
state  of  grace,  (which,  had  ecclesiastical  discipline  been  truly 
and  vigorously  executed,  in  the  exclusion  of  scandalous  and 
obstinate  sinners,  might  be  better  supposed  ;  but  there  having 
been,  and  still  being  a  confessed  want  of  that,  (as  in  the 
liturgy  is  acknowledged,)  it  cannot  be  rationally  admitted  in  the 
utmost  latitude  of  charity  :)  we  desire  that  this  may  be  reformed. 

XVI.  That  whereas  orderly  connection  of  .prayers,  and  of 
particular  petitions  and  expressions,  together  with  a  compe- 
tent length  of  the  forms  used^  are  tending  much  to  edification, 
and  to  gain  the  reverence  of  people  to  them ;  there  appears 
to  us  too  great  a  neglect  of  both,  of  this  order,  and  of  other 
just  laws,  of  method. 

PARTICULARLY, 

1.  The  collects  are  generally  short,  many  of  them  con- 
sisting but  of  one,  or  at  most  two  sentences  of  petition ;  and 
these  generally  ushered  in  with  a  repeated  mention  of  the 
name  and  attributes  of  God,  and  presently  concluding  with 
the  name  and  merits  of  Christ;  whence  are  caused  many 
unnecessary  intercisions  and  abruptions,  which  when  many 
petitions  are  to  be  offered  at  the  same  time,  are  neither 
agreeable  to  scriptural  examples,  nor  suited  to  the  gravity 
and  seriousness  of  that  holy  duty. 


118  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661. 

2.  The  prefaces  of  many  collects  have  not  any  clear  and 
special  respect  to  the  following  petitions ;  and  particular 
petitions  are  put  together,  which  have  not  any  due  ordei', 
nor  evident  connection  one  with  another,  nor  suitableness 
with  the  occasions  upon  which  tliey  are  used,  but  seem  to 
have  fallen  in  rather  casually,  than  from  an  orderly  contrivance. 

It  is  desired,  that  instead  of  those  various  collects,  there 
may  be  one  methodical  and  entire  form  of  prayer  composed 
out  of  many  of  them. 

XVII.  That  whereas  the  public  liturgy  of  a  church  should 
in  reason  comprehend  the  sura  of  all  such  sins  as  are  ordi- 
narily to  be  confessed  in  prayer  by  the  church,  and  of  such 
petitions  and  thanksgivings  as  are  ordinarily  by  the  church  to 
be  put  up  to  God,  and  the  public  catechisms  or  systems  of 
doctrine,  should  summarily  comprehend  all  such  doctrines  as 
are  necessary  to  be  believed,  and  these  explicitly  set  down ; 
the  present  liturgy  as  to  all  these  seems  very  defective. 

PARTICULARLY. 

1.  There  is  no  preparatory  prayer  in  our  address  to  God 
for  assistance  or  acceptance;  yet  many  collects  in  the  midst 
of  the  worship  have  little  or  nothing  else. 

2.  The  Confession  is  very  defective,  not  clearly  expressing 
original  sin,  nor  sufficiently  enumerating  actual  sins,  with 
their  aggravations,  but  consisting  only  of  generals ;  whereas 
confession  being  the  exercise  of  repentance,  ought  to  be  more 
particular. 

3.  There  is  also  a  great  defect  as  to  such  forms  of  public 
praise  and  thanksgiving  as  are  suitable  to  gospel-worship. 

4.  The  whole  body  of  the  Common-prayer  also  consisteth 
very  much  of  mere  generals:  as,  "to  have  our  prayers 
heard — to  be  kept  from  all  evil,  and  from  all  enemies,  and 
all  adversity,  that  we  might  do  God's  will;"  without  any 
mention  of  the  particulars  in  which  these  generals  exist. 

5.  The  Catechism  is  defective  as  to  many  necessary 
doctrines  of  our  religion ;  some  even  of  the  essentials  of 
Christianity  not  mentioned  except  in  the  Creed,  and  there 
not  so  explicit  as  ought  to  be  in  a  catechism. 


1661.]  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  119 

XVill.  Because  this  liturgy  contaiuetli  the  imposition  of 
divers  ceremonies  which  from  the  first  reformation  have  by- 
sundry  learned  and  pious  men  been  judged  unwarrantable^  as, 

1.  That  public  worship  may  not  be  celebrated  by  any 
minister  that  dare  not  wear  a  surplice. 

2.  That  none  may  baptize,  nor  be  baptized,  without  the 
transient  image  of  the  cross,  which  hath  at  least  the  sem- 
blance of  a  sacrament  of  human  institution,  being  used  as 
an  engaging  sign  in  our  first  and  solemn  covenanting  with 
Christ;  and  the  duties  whereunto  we  are  really  obliged  by 
baptism  being  more  expressly  fixed  to  that  airy  sign  than 
to  this  holy  sacrament. 

3.  That  none  may  receive  the  Lcrd's  Supper  that  dare  not 
kneel  in  the  act  of  receiving ;  but  the  minister  must  exclude 
all  such  from  the  communion  :  although  such  kneeling  not 
only  differs  from  the  practice  of  Christ  and  of  his  apostles, 
but  (at  least  on  the  Lord's  day)  is  contrary  to  the  practice 
of  the  catholic  church  for  many  hundred  years  after,  and 
forbidden  by  the  most  venerable  councils  that  ever  were  in 
the  Christian  world.  All  which  impositions  arc  made  yet 
more  grievous  by  that  subscription  to  their  lawfulness  which 
the  canon  exacts,  and  by  the  heavy  punishment  upon  the 
non-observance  of  them  which  the  act  of  uniformity  inflicts. 

And  it  being  doubtful  whether  God  hath  given  power  unto 
men,  to  institute  in  his  worship  such  mystical  teaching  signs, 
which  not  being  necessary  in  genere,  fall  not  under  the  rule 
of  ''  doing  all  things  decently,  orderly,  and  to  edification,"  and 
which  once  granted  will,  upon  the  same  reason,  open  a  door 
to  the  arbitrary  imposition  of  numerous  ceremonies  of  which 
St.  Augustine  complained  in  his  days ;  and  the  things  in  con- 
troversy being  in  the  judgment  of  the  imposers  confessedly 
indifferent,  who  do  not  so  much  as  pretend  any  real  good- 
ness in  them  of  themselves,  otherwise  than  what  is  derived 
from  their  being  imposed,  and  consequently  the  imposition 
ceasing,  that  will  cease  also,  and  the  worship  of  God  not 
become  indecent  without  them  : 

Whereas,    on    the    other    hand,   in    the   jiulgment  of  the 


120  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661. 

opposers^  they  are  by  some  held  sinful^  and  unlawful  in  them- 
selves; by  others  very  inconvenient  and  unsuitable  to  the 
simplicity  of  gospel  worship^  and  by  all  of  them  very  grievous 
and  burthensome,  and  therefore  not  at  all  fit  to  be  put  m  balance 
with  the  peace  of  the  chui^ch^  which  is  more  likely  to  be  pro- 
moted by  their  removal  than  continuance :  considering  also 
how  tender  our  Lord  and  Saviour  himself  is  of  weak  brethren^ 
declaring  it  much  better  for  a  man  to  have  a  "  millstone 
hanged  about  his  neck_,  and  be  cast  into  the  depth  of  the  sea^ 
than  to  offend  one  of  his  little  ones:"  and  how  the  apostle 
Paul  (who  had  as  great  legislative  power  in  the  church  as  any 
under  Christ)  held  himself  obliged  by  that  common  rule  of 
charity,  "not  to  lay  a  stumbling  block,  or  an  occasion  of 
offence  before  a  weak  brother,  choosing  rather  not  to  eat  flesh 
whilst  the  world  stands"  (though  in  itself  a  thing  lawful) 
''than  offend  his  brother  for  whom  Christ  died :  '^  we  cannot 
but  desire  that  these  ceremonies  may  not  be  imposed  on  them 
who  judge  such  impositions  a  violation  of  the  royalty  of 
Christ,  and  an  impeachment  of  his  laws  as  insufficient,  and 
are  under  the  holy  awe  of  that  which  is  written,  Deut.  xii_,32; 
"What  thing  soever  I  command  you,  observe  to  do  it;  thou 
shalt  not  add  thereto,  nor  diminish  from  it ; "  but  that  there 
may  be  either  a  total  abolition  of  them,  or  at  least  such  a 
liberty,  that  those  who  are  unsatisfied  concerning  their  law- 
fulness or  expediency,  may  not  be  compelled  to  the  practice 
of  them,  or  subscription  to  them;  but  may  be  permitted  to 
enjoy  their  ministerial  function,  and  communion  with  the 
church,  without  them. 

The  rather  because  these  ceremonies  have  for  above  an 
hundred  years  been  the  fountain  of  manifold  evils  in  this 
church  and  nation,  cccasioning^sad  divisions  between  ministers 
and  ministers,  as  also  ^between  ministers  and  people;  exposing 
many  orthodox,  pious,  and  peaceable  ministers  to  the  dis- 
pleasure of  their  rulers,  casting  them  on  the  edge  of  the  penal 
statutes,  to  the  loss  not  only  of  their  livings  and  liberties,  but 
also  of  their  opportunities  for  the  service  of  Christ  and  his 
church ;  and  forcing  people  either  to  worship  God  in  such  a 


16G1.]  Book  of  Common  Praijer.  121 

niauner  as  their  own  consciences  condemn,  or  doubt  of,  or  else 
to  forsake  our  assemblies,  as  thousands  have  done.  And  no 
better  fruits  than  these  can  be  looked  for  from  the  retaining 
and  imposing  of  these  ceremonies,  unless  we  could  presume, 
that  all  his  majesty's  subjects  should  have  the  same  subtil ty 
of  judgment  to  discern  even  to  a  ceremony  how  far  the  power 
of  man  extends  in  the  things  of  God,  which  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected; or  should  yield  obedience  to  all  the  impositions  of 
men  concerning  them,  without  inquiring  into  the  will  of  God, 
which  is  not  to  be  desired. 

We  do  therefore  most  earnestly  entreat  the  right  reverend 
fathers  and  brethren,  to  whom  these  papers  are  delivered,  as 
they  tender  the  glory  of  God,  the  honour  of  religion,  the 
peace  of  the  church,  the  service  of  his  majesty  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  happy  union,  which  his  majesty  hath  so 
abundantly  testified  his  desires  of,  to  join  with  us  in  impor- 
tuning his  most  excellent  majesty,  that  his  most  gracious 
indulgence,  as  to  these  ceremonies,  granted  in  his  royal 
Declaration,  may  be  confirmed  and  continued  to  us  and  our 
posterities,  and  extended  to  such  as  do  not  yet  enjoy  the 
benefit  thereof. 

XIX.  As  to  that  passage  in  his  majesty's  Commission, 
where  we  are  authorized  and  required  to  compare  the  present 
liturgy  with  the  most  ancient  liturgies  which  have  been  used 
in  the  church  in  the  purest  and  most  primitive  times;  we 
have  in  obedience  to  his  majesty's  Commission,  made  enquiry, 
but  cannot  find  any  records  of  known  credit,  concerning  any 
entire  forms  of  liturgy,  within  the  first  three  hundred  years, 
which  are  confessed  to  be  as  the  most  primitive,  so  the  purest 
ages  of  the  church;  nor  any  impositions  of  liturgies  upon 
any  national  church  for  some  hundreds  of  years  after.  We 
find  indeed  some  litui'gical  forms  fathered  upon  St.  Basil,  St. 
Chrysostom,  and  St.  Ambrose,  but  we  have  not  seen  any 
copies  of  them,  but  such  as  give  us  sufficient  evidence  to  con- 
clude them  either  wholly  spurious,  or  so  interpolated,  that 
we  cannot  make  a  judgment  which  in  them  hath  any 
primitive  authority. 


123  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661. 

Having  thus  in  general  expressed  our  desires,  we  cone 
now  to  particulars,  which  we  find  numerous  and  of  a  various 
nature;  some_,  we  grant,  are  of  inferior  consideration,  verbal 
rather  than  material,  (which,  were  they  not  in  the  public 
liturgy  of  so  famous  a  church,  we  should  not  have  men- 
tioned,) others  dubious  and  disputable,  as  not  having  a  clear 
foundation  in  Scripture  for  their  warrant :  but  some  there  be 
that  seem  to  be  corrupt,  and  to  carry  in  them  a  repugnancy 
to  the  rule  of  the  Gospel ;  and  therefore  have  administered 
just  matter  of  exception  and  offence  to  many,  truly  religious 
and  peaceable, — not  of  a  private  station  only,  but  learned 
and  judicious  divines,  as  well  of  other  reformed  churches  as 
of  the  church  of  England, — ever  since  the  reformation. 

We  know  much  hath  been  spoken  and  written  by  way  of 
apology  in  answer  to  many  things  that  have  been  objected ; 
but  yet  the  doubts  and  scruples  of  tender  consciences  still 
continue  or  rather  are  increased.  We  do  humbly  conceive 
it  therefore  a  work  worthy  of  those  wonders  of  salvation, 
which  God  hath  wrought  for  his  majesty  now  on  the  throne, 
and  for  the  whole  kingdom,  and  exceedingly  becoming  the 
ministers  of  Jthe  gospel  of  peace,  with  all  holy  moderation 
and  tenderness  to  endeavour  the  removal  of  everything  out 
of  the  worship  of  God  which  may  justly  offend  or  grieve  the 
spirits  of  sober  and  godly  people.  The  things  themselves 
that  are  desired  to  be  removed,  not  being  of  the  foundation 
of  religion,  nor  the  essentials  of  public  worship,  nor  the 
removal  of  them  any  way  tending  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
church  or  state :  therefore  their  continuance  and  rigorous 
imposition  can  no  ways  be  able  to  countervail  the  laying 
aside  of  so  many  pious  and  able  ministers,  and  tlie  uncon- 
ceivable grief  that  will  arise  to  multitudes  of  his  majesty's 
most  loyal  and  peaceable  subjects,  who  upon  all  occasions 
are  ready  to  serve  him  with  their  prayers,  estates,  and  lives. 
For  the  preventing  of  which  evils  we  humbly  desire  that 
these  particulars  following  may  be  taken  into  serious  and 
tender  consideration. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


123 


CONCERNING    MORNING    AND    EVENING    PRAYER. 


Rubric. 
That  morning  and 
evening  prayer  shall  be 
used  in  the  accustomed 
place  of  the  church, 
chancel,  or  chapel,  ex- 
cept it  he  otherwise  de- 
termined by  the  ordinary 
of  the  place ;  and  the 
chancel  shall  remain  as 
in  times  past. 


Ewception. 
We  desire  that  the  words 
of  the  first  rubric  may  be 
expressed  as  in  the  book 
established  by  authority  of 
parliament  5  and  6  Edw.  VI 
thus ;  "  The  morning  and 
evening  prayer  shall  be  used 
ill  such  place  of  the  church, 
chapel,  or  chancel,  and  the 
minister  shall  so  turn  him,  as 
the  people  may  best  hear,  and 
if  there  be  any  controversy 
therein,  the  matter  shall  be  referred  to  the  ordinary." 


Rubric. 
And  here  is  to  be 
noted,  that  the  minister, 
at  the  time  of  the  com- 
munion, and  at  other 
times,  in  his  ministration 
shall  use  such  ornaments 
in  the  church,  as  were  in 
use  by  authority  of  par- 
liament, in  the  second 
year  of  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward the  Sixth,  according 
to  the  act  of  parliament. 

Rubric. 
The  Lord's  Prayer  after 
the  absolution  ends  thus, 
"  Deliver  us  from  evil." 


Exception. 
Forasmuch  as  this  rubric 
seemeth  to  bring  back  the 
cope,  albe,  &c.,  and  other 
vestments  forbidden  by  the 
Common  Prayer  book,  5  and 
6  Edw.  VI  and  so  our  reasons 
alleged  against  cercm.onies 
under  our  eighteenth  general 
exception,  we  desire  it  may 
be  wholly  left  out. 


Exception. 

We  desire  that  these  words, 

"  For  thine  is  the  kingdom, 

the  power  and  the  glory,  for 

ever  and  ever.    Amen,"  may 


124 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


be  always  added  unto  the  Lord's  prayer ;  and  that  this  prayer 
may  not  be  enjoined  to  be  so  often  used  in  morning  and 
evening  service. 


Rubric. 
And  at  the  end  of 
every  psalm  throughout 
the  year,  and  likewise  in 
the  end  of  Benedictus, 
Betiedicite,  Magnificat, 
and  Nunc  Dimitiis,  shall 
be  repeated,  "  Glory  be 
to  the  Eather,"  &c. 


Exception. 

By    this  rubric,  and  other 

places  in  the  Common  Prayer 

books,    the    Gloria    Patri    is 

appointed  to  be  said  six  times 

ordinarily   in   every  morning 

and  evening  service,  frequently 

eight    times    in    a    morning, 

sometimes    ten;     which     we 

think  carries  with  it  at  least 

an    appearance    of   that   vain 

repetition  which  Christ  forbids :    for  the  avoiding  of   which 

appearance  of  evil,  we  desire  it  may  be  used  but  once  in  the 

morning,  and  once  in  the  evening. 


Exception. 
The  Lessons,  and  the  Epis- 
tles, and  Gospels,  being  for 
the  most  part  neither  psalms 
nor  hymns,  we  know  no  war- 
rant why  they  should  be  sung 
in  any  place,  and  conceive 
that   the  distinct   reading  of 

them  with  an  audible  voice  tends  more  to  the  edification  of 

the  church. 


Rubric. 
In  such  places  where 
they  do  sing,  there  shall 
the  Lessons  be  sung,  in  a 
plain  tune,  and  likewise 
the  Epistle  and  Gospel. 


Rubric. 
Or  this  canticle,  Bene- 
dicite  omnia  opera. 


Exception. 
We  desire  that  some  psalm 
or   scripture    hymn    may    be 
appointed     instead     of     that 
apocryphal. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


125 


IN    THE    LITANY, 


Rubric. 
From  all   fornication, 
and  all  other  deadly  sin. 

altered 


Exception. 

In  regard  that  the  wages 

of   sin   is   death ;    we    desire 

that  this  clause  may  be  thus 

From  fornication,  and  all  other  heinous,  or  grievous 


Rubric.  Exception. 

Prom  battle,  and  mur-  Because  this  expression  of 

der,  and  sudden  death.         "sudden  death"  hath  been  so 

often    excepted    against,    we 
desire,    if  it  be  thought   fit,  it  may  be  thus  read :    "  From 
battle    and   murder,    and    from  dying  suddenly,  and  unpre 
pared." 


Rubric. 
That  it  may  please  thee, 
to  preserve  all  that  travel 
by  land  or  by  water,  all 
women  labouring-  with 
child,  all  sick  persons, 
and  young  children,  and 
to  shew  thy  pity  upon  all 
prisoners  and  captives. 


Exception. 
We  desire  the  term  "all" 
may  be  advised  upon,  as 
seeming  liable  to  just  excep- 
tions; and  that  it  may  be 
considered,  whether  it  may 
not  better  be  put  indefinitely, 
"  those  that  travel,"  &c., 
rather  than  universally. 


THE    COLLECT    ON    CHRISTMAS    DAY. 


Rubric. 
Almighty  God,  which 
hast  given  us  thy  only 
begotten  Son,  to  take  our 
nature  upon  him,  and 
this  day  to  be  born  of  a 
pure  virgin,  &c. 


Exception. 
We  desire  that  in  both 
collects  the  word  "this  day" 
may  be  left  out,  it  being 
according  to  vulgar  accepta- 
tion a  contradiction. 


126 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


Bubi'ic. 
Then  shall  follow  tlie 
collect  of  the  Nativity, 
which  shall  be  said  con- 
tinually unto  new-years- 
day. 

THE    COLLECT    FOR    WHITSUNDAY. 

Rubric. 
God  which  upon  this 
day,  &c. 

Rubric. 
The    same    collect    to 
be  read  on  Monday  and 
Tuesday     in     Whitsun- 
week. 


Rubric. 
The  two  collects  for 
St.  John's  day,  and  In- 
nocent's, the  collects  for 
the  first  day  in  Lent,  for 
the  fourth  Sunday  after 
Easter,  for  Trinity  Sunday,  for  the  sixth  and  twelfth 
Sunday  after  Trinity,  for  St.  Luke's  day,  and 
Michaelmas  day. 

THE    OKDER    FOR    THE   ADMINISTRATION    OF   THE    LORd's   SUPPER. 


Exception. 
We  desire  that  these  col- 
lects maybe  further  considered 
and  abated,  as  having  in  them 
divers  things  that  we  judge 
fit  to  be  altered. 


Rubric. 

So  many  as  intend  to 

be  partakers  of  the  holy 

communion  shall  signify 

their  names  to  the  curate 


Exception. 
The  time  here  assigned  for 
notice  to  be  given  to  the  min- 
ister is  not  sufficient. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


127 


over  night,   or  else  in  the  morning  before  the  he- 
ginning  of  morning  prayer,  or  immediately  after. 


Rubric. 
And  if  any  of  these  be 
a  notorious  evil  liver,  the 


curate,  having  knowledge 
thereof,  shall  call  him 
and  advertize  him  m  any 
wise  not  to  presume  to 
the  Lord's  table. 


Exception. 
We  desire  the  ministers' 
power  both  to  admit  and 
keep  from  the  Lord's  table, 
may  be  according  to  his  ma- 
jesty's Declaration,  25th  Oct., 
1660,  in  these  words; — ''  The 
minister  shall  admit  none  to 
the  Lord's  supper  till  they 
have  made  a  credible  profes- 
sion of  their  faith,  and  promised  obedience  to  the  will  of 
God,  according  as  is  expressed  in  the  considerations  of  the 
rubric  before  the  catechism;  and  that  all  possible  diligence 
be  used  for  the  instruction  and  reformation  of  scandalous 
offenders,  whom  the  minister  shall  not  suffer  to  partake  of 
the  Lord's  table  until  they  have  openly  declared  themselves 
to  have  truly  repented  and  amended  their  former  naughty 
lives,  as  is  partly  expressed  in  the  rubric,  and  more  fully  in 
the  canons." 


Rubric. 
Then  shall  the  priest 
rehearse  distinctly  all  the 
ten  commandments,  and 
the  people  kneeling,  shall 
after  every  commandment 
askGrod's  mercy  for  trans- 
gressing the  same. 


Exception. 
We  desire, 

1.  That  the  preface  pre- 
fixed by  God  himself  to  the 
ten  commandments  may  be 
restored. 

2.  That  the  fourth  com- 
mandment may  be  read  as  in 
Exod.     XX,     Deut.     v,    "  He 


blessed  the  Sabbath-day." 
3.    That  neither  minister  nor    people  may  be  enjoined  to 
kneel  more  at   the  reading  of  this    than  of   other   parts    of 
Scriptures,   the  rather  because   many  ignorant    persons    are 
thereby  induced  to  use  the  ten  commandments  as  a  prayer. 


128 


The  Excejitions  against  the 


[1661, 


4.  That^  instead  of  those  short  prayers  of  the  people  inter- 
mixed with  the  several  commandments,  the  minister,  after 
the  reading  of  all,  may  Conclude  with  a  suitable  prayer. 


Rubric. 
After  the  Creed,  if  there 
be  no  sermon,  shall  fol- 
low one  of  the  homilies 
already  set  forth,  or  here- 
after to  be  set  forth  by 
common  authority. 


After  such  sermon,  ho- 
mily, or  exhortation,  the 
curate  shall  declare,  &c., 
and  earnestly  exhort  them 
to  remember  the  poor, 
saying  one  or  more  of 
these  sentences  following. 


Excejition. 

We  desire  that  the  preach- 
ing of  the  word  may  be 
strictly  enjoined,  and  not  left 
so  indifferent,  at  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments;  as 
also  that  ministers  may  not 
be  bound  to  those  things 
which  are  as  yet  but  future 
and  not  in  being. 

Two  of  the  sentences  here 
cited  are  apocryphal,  and  four 
of  them  more  proper  to  draw 
out  the  people's  bounty  to 
their  ministers,  than  their 
charity  to  the  poor. 


Then  shall  the  church- 
wardens, or  some  other  by 
them  appointed,  gather 
the  devotion  of  thepeople. 


Collection  for  the  poor  may 
be  better  made  at  or  a  little 
before  the  departing  of  the 
communicants. 


Exhortation. 
We  be  come  together 
at  this  time  to  feed  at  the 
Lord's  supper,  unto  the 
which  in  God's  behalf  I 
bid  you  all  that  be  here 

present,  and  beseech  you,  for  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ's 
sake,  that  ye  will  not  refuse  to  come,  &c. 


If  it  be  intended  that  these 
exhortations  should  be  read 
at  the  communion,  they  seem 
to  us  to  be  unseasonable. 


1661.] 


Bnok  of  Common  Prayer. 


129 


The  way  and  means  thereto  is  first  to  examine 
your  lives  and  conversation;  and  if  ye  shall  per- 
ceive your  offences  to  be  such  as  be  not  only  against 
God,  but  also  against  your  neighbours,  then  ye  shall 
reconcile  yourselves  unto  them,  and  be  ready  to 
make  restitution  and  satisfaction. 


And  because  it  is  requi- 
site that  no  man  should 
come  to  the  holy  com- 
munion but  with  a  full 
trust  in  God's  mercy  and 
with  a  quiet  conscience. 

\Rubr?[  Before  the  Confession. 

Then  shall  this  general 

confession  be  made  in  the 


We  fear  this  may  discourage 
many  from  coming  to  the 
sacrament,  who  He  under  a 
doubting  and  troubled  con- 
science. 


We  desire  it  may  be  made 
by  the  minister  only. 


name  of  all  those  that  are  minded  to  receive  the 
holy  communion  either  by  one  of  them,  or  else  by 
one  of  the  ministers,  or  by  the  priest  himself. 


[Ruhr^  Before  the  Confession. 
Then  shall  the  priest  or 
the  bishop  (being  present) 
stand  up,  and  turning 
himself  to  the  people, 
say  thus. 

{Properl  Preface  on  Christ- 
mas day,  and  seven  days  after. 
Because  thou  didst  give 
Jesus  Christ,  thine  only 
Son,  to  be  born  as  this 
day  for  us,  &c. 


Exception. 
The  minister  turning  him- 
self to  the  people  is  most  con- 
venient throughout  the  whole 
ministration. 


First,  we  cannot  perempto- 
rily fix  the  nativity  of  our 
Saviour  to  this  or  that  day 
particularly.         Secondly,    it 


130 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661, 


[Proper  Preface']  Upon  Whit- 
sunday, and  six  days  after. 

According  to  whose 
most  true  promise,  the 
Holy  Ghost  came  down 
this  day  from  heaven. 


seems  incongruous  to  affirm 
the  birth  of  Christ  and  the 
descending  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  be  on  this  day  for  seven 
or  eight  days  together. 


Prayer  before  that  which  is  at 
the  consecration. 

Grant  ns  that  our  sin- 
ful bodies  may  be  made 
clean  by  his  body,  and 
our  souls  washed  through 
his  most  precious  blood. 


"We  desire  that,  whereas 
these  words  seem  to  give  a 
greater  efficacy  to  the  blood 
than  to  the  body  of  Christ,, 
they  may  be  altered  thus, 
"That  our  sinful  souls  and 
bodies  may  be  cleansed 
through  his  precious  body 
and  blood  .^^ 


Prayer  at  the  consecration. 
Hear  us,  O  merciful 
Pather,  &c.,  who  in  the 
same  night  that  he  was 
betrayed  took  bread,  and 
when  he  had  given 
thanks,  he  brake  it,  and 
gave  to  his  disciples,  say- 
ing, Take,  eat,  &c. 

Rubric. 
Then  shall  the  minister 
first  receive  the  commu- 
nion in  both  kinds,  &c., 
and  after  deliver  it  to  the 


We  conceive  that  the  man- 
ner of  the  consecrating  of  the 
elements  is  not  here  explicit 
and  distinct  enough,  and  the 
minister's  breaking  of  the 
bread  is  not  so  much  as  men- 
tioned. 


"We  desire,  that  at  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  bread  and 
wine  to  the  communicants,  we 
may  use  the  words  of  our 
Saviour   as   near  as  may  be. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


131 


people  in  their  hands, 
kneeling;  and  when  he 
delivereth  the  bread,  he 
shall  say,  "The  body  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which  was  E^iven  for  thee, 


and  that  the  minister  be  not 
required  to  deUver  the  bread 
and  wine  into  every  particu- 
lar communicant's  hand,  and 
to  repeat  the  Avords  to  each 
one  in  the  singular  number, 
but    that    it    may    suffice    to 


preserve   thy   body   and     speak  them  to  divers  jointly, 
soul  unto  everlastinsr  life, 
and  take  and  eat  this  in 
remembrance,"  &c. 


according  to  our  Saviour's  ex- 
ample. 

We  also  desire  that  the 
kneeling  at  the  sacrament  (it 
being  not  that  gesture  which 
the  apostles  used,  though  Christ  was  personally  present 
amongst  them,  nor  that  which  was  used  in  the  purest  and 
primitive  times  of  the  church)  may  be  left  free,  as  it  was 
1  and  2  Edw.  [VI,]  "  As  touching  kneeling,  &c.,  they  may  be 
used  or  left  as  every  man's  devotion  serveth,  without  blame." 


Rubric. 
And  note,  that  every 
parishioner  shall  commu- 
nicate at  the  least  three 
times  inthe  year,  of  which 
Easter  to  be  one,  and 
shall  also  receive  the  sa- 
craments and  other  rites, 
according  to  the  order 
in  this  book  appointed. 


Exception. 
Forasmuch    as   every    par- 
ishioner is  not  duly  qualified 
for   the    Lord's    supper,    and 
those  habitually  prepared  are 
not  at  all  times  actually  dis- 
posed, but  many  may  be  hin- 
dered   by    the    providence  of 
God,  and  some  by   the    dis- 
temper of  their  own  spirits, 
we  desire  this  rubric  may  be 
either  wholly  omitted,  or  thus 
altered : — 
"Every  minister  shall  be  bound  to  administer  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  supper  at  least  thrice  a  year,  provided 
there  be  a  due  number  of   communicants  manifesting  their 
desires  to  receive." 


132  The  Exceptions  against  the  [1661 

And  we  desire  that  the  following  rubric  in  the  Common 
Prayer  book,  in  5  and  6  Edw.  [VI,]  established  by  law  as  much 
as  any  other  part  of  the  Common  Prayer  book,  may  be  restored 
for  the  vindicating  of  our  church  in  the  matter  of  kneeling 
at  the  sacrament  (although  the  gesture  be  left  indifferent : ) 
'^Although  no  order  can  be  so  perfectly  devised  but  it  may 
be  of  some,  either  for  their  ignorance  and  infirmity,  or  else 
of  malice  and  obstinacy,  misconstrued,  depraved,  and  inter- 
preted in  a  wrong  part;  and  yet,  because  brotherly  charity 
willeth  that,  so  much  as  conveniently  may  be,  offences  should 
be  taken  away;  therefore  are  we  willing  to  do  the  same. 
Whereas  it  is  ordained  in  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  in 
the  administration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  that  the  communicants 
kneeling  should  receive  the  holy  communion,  which  thing 
being  well  meant  for  a  signification  of  the  humble  and  grate- 
ful acknowledging  of  the  benefits  of  Christ  given  unto  the 
worthy  receivers,  and  to  avoid  the  profanation  and  disorder 
which  about  the  holy  communion  might  else  ensue,  lest  yet 
the  same  kneeling  might  be  thought  or  taken  otherwise,  we 
do  declare,  that  it  is  not  meant  thereby  that  any  adoration  is 
done,  or  ought  to  be  done,  either  unto  the  sacramental  bread 
or  wine  there  bodily  received,  or  unto  any  real  and  essential 
presence  there  being  of  Christ's  natural  flesh  and  blood  : 
for  as  concerning  the  sacramental  bread  and  wine,  they  re- 
main still  in  their  very  natural  substances,  and  therefore  may 
not  be  adored;  for  that  were  idolatry  to  be  abhorred  of  all 
faithful  Christians :  and  as  concerning  the  natural  body  and 
blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  they  are  in  heaven,  and  not  here  ; 
for  it  is  against  the  truth  of  Christ^s  natural  body  to  be  in 
more  places  than  in  one  at  one  time." 

OF    PUBLIC    BAPTISM. 

There  being  divers  learned,  pious,  and  peaceable  ministers 
who  not  only  judge  it  unlawful  to  baptize  children  whose 
parents  both  of  them  are  atheists,  infidels,  heretics,  or  un- 
baptized,  but    also    such    whose  parents  are  excommunicate 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Frayer. 


133 


personsj  fornicators,  or  otherwise  notorious  and  scandalous 
sinners;  we  desire  they  may  not  be  enforced  to  baptize  the 
children  of  such,  until  they  have  made  due  profession  of  their 
repentance. 

Before  Baptism. 
Rubric.  Exception. 

Parents  shall  give  no-         We  desire  that  more  timely 
tice  over  night,  or  in  the     notice  may  be  given, 
morning. 


Rubric. 
And    the    godfathers, 
and  the  godmothers,  and 
the  people  with  the  chil- 
dren, &c. 


Exception. 
Here  is  no  mention  of  the 
parents,  in  whose  right  the 
child  is  baptized,  and  who  are 
fittest  both  to  dedicate  it  unto 
God,  and  to  covenant  for  it ; 
we  do  not  know  that  any  per- 
sons except  the  parents,  or  some  others  appointed  by  them, 
have  any  power  to  consent  for  the  children,  or  to  enter  them 
into  covenant.  We  desire  it  may  be  left  free  to  parents, 
whether  they  will  have  sureties  to  undertake  for  their  children 
in  baptism  or  no. 


Rubric. 
Ready  at  the  font. 


Tn  the  first  Prayer, 
By  the  baptism  of  thy 
well-beloved  Son,&c.  didst 
sanctify  the  flood  Jordan, 
and  all  other  waters,  to 
the  mystical  washing 
away  of  sin,  &c. 


Exception. 
We    desire   it   may    be   so 
placed  as  all  the  congregation 
may   best   see   and  hear  the 
whole  administration. 

It  being  doubtful  whether 
either  the  flood  Jordan  or 
any  other  waters  were  sancti- 
fied to  a  sacramental  use,  by 
Christ's  being  baptized,  and 
not  necessary  to  be  asserted, 
we  desire  this  may  be  other- 
wise expressed. 


134 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


The  third  Exhortation. 
Do    promise    by    you 


tliat  be  their  sureties. 

The  Questions. 

Dost  thou  forsake,  &c. 
Dost  thou  believe,  &c. 
Wilt  thou  be  baptized, 
&c. 


We  know  not  by  what  right 
the  sureties  do  promise  and 
answer  in  the  name  of  the 
infant :  it  seemeth  to  us  also 
to  countenance  the  Anabap- 
tistical  opinion  of  the  neces- 
sity of  an  actual  profession  of 
faith  and  repentance  in  order 
to  baptism.  That  such  a  pro- 
fession may  be  required  of 
parents  in  their  own  name, 
and  now  solemnly  renewed  when  they  present  their  children 
to  baptism,  we  willingly  grant :  but  the  asking  of  one  for 
another  is  a  practice  whose  warrant  we  doubt  of:  and  there- 
fore we  desire  that  the  two  first  interrogatories  may  be  put 
to  the  parents  to  be  answered  in  their  own  names,  and  the 
last  propounded  to  the  parents  or  pro-parents  thus,  '^'Wdl 
you  have  this  child  baptized  into  this  faith  T' 

The  second  Prayer  before 
Baptism. 

May  receive  remission 
of  [their]  sins  by  spiritual 
regeneration. 
In  the  Prayer  after  Baptism. 
That  it  hath  pleased 
thee  to  regenerate  this 
infant  by  thy  Holy  Spirit. 


[Rubric]  After  Baptism. 
Then  shall  the  priest 
make  a  cross,  &c. 


This  expression  seeming  in- 
convenient, we  desire  it  may 
be  changed  into  this;  '^May 
be  regenerated  and  receive 
the  remission  of  sins." 

We  cannot  in  faith  say, 
that  every  child  that  is  bap- 
tized is  "regenerated  by  God's 
Holy  Spirit;"  at  least  it  is  a 
disputable  point,  and  there- 
fore we  desire  it  may  be  other- 
wise expressed. 

Concerning  the  cross  in 
baptism,  we  refer  to  our  18th 
general. 


166J.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


135 


OF    PRIVATE    BAPTISM. 

We  desire  that  baptism  may  not  be  administered  in  a 
private  place  at  any  time,  unless  by  a  lawful  minister,  and  in 
the  presence  of  a  competent  number :  that  where  it  is  evident 
that  any  child  hath  been  so  baptized,  no  part  of  the  adminis- 
tration may  be  reiterated  in  public,  under  any  limitations : 
and  therefore  we  see  no  need  of  any  liturgy  in  that  case. 

OF    THE    CATECHISM. 


Catechism. 

1.  Quest.  "What  is  your 
name,  &c. 

2.  Quest.  Who  gave 
you  that  name  ? 

Ans.  My  godfathers 
and  my  godmothers  in 
my  baptism;  wherein  I 
was  made  a  member  of 
Christ,  the  child  of  God, 
and  an  inheritor  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

3.  Quest.  What  did 
your  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers do  for  you  in 
baptism  ? 

[_Ans.  They  did  promise 
and  vow  three  things  in 
my  name,  &c.] 

Of  the  Rehearsal  of  the  Ten 
Commandments. 
10.  Ans.  My  duty  to- 
wards God  is  to  believe 
in  him,  &c. 


Exception. 

We  desire  these  three  first 
questions  may  be  altered; 
considering  that  the  far  greater 
number  of  persons  baptized 
within  these  twenty  years  last 
past,  had  no  godfathers  or 
godmothers  at  their  baptism. 
The  like  to  be  done  in  the 
seventh  question. 

We  conceive  it  might  be 
more  safely  expressed  thus; 
"  Wherein  I  was  visibly  ad- 
mitted into  the  number  of 
the  members  of  Christ,  the 
children  of  God,  and  the 
heirs  (rather  than  ^inheritors') 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 


We  desire  that  the  com- 
mandments be  inserted  ac- 
cording to  the  new  translation 
of  the  Bible. 

In  this  answer  there  seems 


136 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


to  be  particular  respect  to  the  several  commandments  of  the 
first  table^  as  in  the  following  answer  to  those  of  the  second. 
And  therefore  we  desire  it  may  be  advised  upon,  whether  to 
the  last  word  of  this  answer  may  not  be  added,  "  particularly 
on  the  Lord's  day/'  otherwise  there  being  nothing  in  all  this 
answer  that  refers  to  the  fourth  commandment. 

14.   Quest.  How  many  That  these  words  may  be 

sacraments  hath  Christ  omitted,  and  answer  thus 
ordained,  &c.  ? 

Ans.  Two  only  as  gen- 
erally necessary  to  sal- 
vation. 


given;    "Two   only,   baptism 
and  the  Lord's  supper." 


19.  Quest.  What  is  re- 
quired of  persons  to  be 
baptized  ? 

Ans.  Repentance, 
whereby  they  forsake  sin; 
and  faith,  whereby  they 
stedfastly  believe  the 
promises  of  God,  &c. 

20.  Quest.  Why  then 
are  infants  baptized  when 
by  reason  of  their  tender 
age  they  cannot  perform 
them? 

Ans.  Yes:  they  do  per- 
form them  by  their  sure- 
ties, who  promise  and  vow 
themboth  in  their  names. 

In  the  general  we  observe,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  sacra- 
ments which  was  added  upon  the  conference  at  Hampton 
Court,  is  much  more  fully  and  particularly  delivered  than  the 
other  parts  of  the  Catechism,  in  short  answers  fitted  to  the 


We  desire  that  the  entering 
infants  into  God's  covenant 
may  be  more  warily  expressed, 
and  that  the  words  may  not 
seem  to  found  their  baptism 
upon  a  really  actual  faith  and 
repentance  of  their  own ;  and 
we  desire  that  a  promise  may 
not  be  taken  for  a  perform- 
ance of  such  faith  and  repent- 
ance :  and  especially,  that  it 
be  not  asserted  that  they  per- 
form these  by  the  promise  of 
their  sureties,  it  being  to  the 
seed  of  believers  that  the  cove- 
nant of  God  is  made;  and  not 
(that  we  can  find)  to  all  that 
have  such  believing  sureties, 
who  are  neither  parents  nor 
pro-parents  of  the  chdd. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prmjt 


137 


memories  of  children^  and  thereupon  we  offer  it  to  be  con- 
sidered : — 

First,  Whether  there  should  not  be  a  more  distinct  and  full 
explication  of  the  Creed,  the  Commandments  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

Secondly,  Whether  it  were  not  convenient  to  add  (what 
seems  to  be  wanting)  somewhat  particularly  concerning  the 
nature  of  faith,  of  repentance,  the  two  covenants,  of  justifica- 
tion, sanctification,  adoption,  and  regeneration. 

OP     CONFIRMATION. 


The  last  Rubric  before  the 
Catechism. 

And  that  no  man  shall 
think  that  any  detriment 
shall  come  to  children  by 
deferring  of  their  confir- 
mation, he  shall  know  for 
truth,  that  it  is  certain 
by  God's  word  that  chil- 
dren, being  baptized,  have 
all  things  necessary  for 
their  salvation,  and  be 
undoubtedly  saved. 

Rubric  after  the  Catechism. 

So  soon  as  the  children 
can  say  in  their  mother- 
tongue  the  Articles  of  the 
Paith,  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, and  can  answer 
such  other  questions   of 


Although  we  charitably  sup- 
pose the  meaning  of  these 
words  was  only  to  exclude  the 
necessity  of  any  other  sacra- 
ments to  baptized  infants;  yet 
these  words  are  dangerous  as 
to  the  misleading  of  the  vul- 
gar, and  therefore  we  desire 
they  may  be  expunged. 


We  conceive  that  it  is  not 
a  sufficient  qualification  for 
confirmation,  that  children  be 
able  m,emoriter  to  repeat  the 
Articles  of  the  Faith,  com- 
monly called  the  Apostles^ 
Creed,  the  Lord's  Irayer,  and 
the  Ten  Commandments,  and 


138 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


this  short  Catechism,  &c., 
then  shall  they  he  brought 
to  the  bishop,  &c.,  and 
the  bishop  shall  confirm 
them. 


to  answer  to  some  questions 
of  this  short  Catechism ;  for 
it  is  often  found  that  children 
are  able  to  do  all  this  at  four 
or  five  years  old.  2ndly^  It 
crosses  what  is  said  in  the 
third  reason  of  the  first  rubric  before  confirmation^  concern- 
ing the  usage  of  the  church  in  times  past,  ordaining  that 
confirmation  should  be  ministered  unto  theni  that  were  of 
perfect  age,  that  they  being  instructed  in  the  Christian 
religion,  should  openly  profess  their  own  faith,  and  promise 
to  be  obedient  to  the  will  of  God.  And  therefore,  3rdly,  we 
desire  that  none  may  be  confirmed  but  according  to  his 
majesty's  Declaration,  viz.,  "That  confirmation  be  rightly 
and  solemnly  performed  by  the  information,  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  minister  of  the  place." 

Rubric  after  the  Catechism. 


Then  shall  they  be 
brought  to  the  bishop  by 
one  that  shall  be  his  god- 
father or  godmother. 

The  Prayer  before  the  Impo- 
sition of  Hands. 

Who  hast  vouchsafed 
to  regenerate  these  thy 
servants  by  water  and. 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  hast 
given  unto  them  the  for- 
giveness of  all  their  sins. 


This  seems  to  bring  in  an- 
other sort  of  godfathers  and 
godmothers,  besides  those 
made  use  of  in  baptism ;  and 
we  see  no  need  either  of  the 
one  or  the  other. 


This  supposeth  that  all  the 
children  who  are  brought  to 
be  confirmed  have  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  and  the  forgiveness 
of  all  their  sins;  whereas  a 
great  number  of  children  at 
that   age,    having   committed 


many  sms  since  their  baptism, 
do  show  no  evidence  of  serious  repentance,  or  of  any  special 
saving  grace ;  and  therefore  this  confirmation  (if  administered 
to  such)  would  be  a  perilous  and  gross  abuse. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


139 


Rubric  before  the  Imposition 
of  Hands. 

Then  the  bishop  shall  This  seems  to  put  a  higher 
lay  his  hand  on  every  value  upon  confirmation  than 
child  severally.  upon  baptism  or   the    Lord's 

supper;  for  according  to  the 

rubric     and     order     in     the 

Common  Prayer  book,  every  deacon  may  baptize,  and  every 

minister  may  consecrate   and  administer  the   Lord's   supper, 

but  the  bishop  only  may  confirm. 


The  Prayer  after  Imposition 
of  Hands. 
We  make  our  humble 
supplications  unto  thee 
for  these  children ;  upon 
whom,  after  the  example 
of  thy  holy  apostles,  we 
have  laid  our  hands,  to 
certify  them,  by  this  sign, 
of  thy  favour  and  gracious 
goodness  towards  them. 


We  desire  that  the  prac- 
tice of  the  apostles  may  not 
be  alleged  as  a  ground  of 
this  imposition  of  hands  for 
the  confirmation  of  children, 
both  because  the  apostles  did 
never  use  it  in  that  case,  as 
also  because  the  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England  de- 
clare it  to  be  a  "  corrupt  imi- 
tation of  the  apostles'  prac- 
tice," Acts  XXV. 
We  desire  that  imposition  of  hands  may  not  be  made,  as 
here  it  is,  a  sign  to  certify  children  of  God's  grace  and 
favour  towards  them;  because  this  seems  to  speak  it  a 
sacrament,  and  is  contrary  to  that  fore- mentioned  25th 
Article,  which  saith,  that  "  confirmation  hath  no  visible  sign 
appointed  by  God." 

The    last    Rubric    after  Con- 
firmation. 

None  shall  be  admitted         We  desire  that  confirma- 
to   the  holy  communion,      tion  may  not  be  made  so  ne- 


[1661, 


3-10  The  Exceptions  against  the 

until  such  time  as  he  can  cessary  to  the  holy  commu- 
say  the  Catechism,  and  nion^  as  that  none  should  be 
be  confirmed.  admitted  to  it  unless  they  be 

confirmed. 


OF    THE    FORM    OF    SOLEMNIZATION    OP    MATRIMONY. 


The  man  shall  give  the 

woman  a  ring,  &c. 

shall  surely  perform  and 
keep  the  vow  and  cove- 
nant betwixt  them  made, 
whereof  this  ring  given 
and  received  is  a  token 
and  pledge,  &c. 


Seeing  this  ceremony  of 
the  ring  in  marriage  is  made 
necessary  to  it^  and  a  signifi- 
cant sign  of  the  vow  and  cove- 
nant betwixt  the  parties ;  and 
Romish  ritualists  give  such 
reasons  for  the  use  and  insti- 
tution of  the  ring,  as  are 
either  frivolous  or  supersti- 
tious; it  is  desired  that  this 
ceremony  of  the  ring  in  mar- 
riage may  be  left  indifferent, 
to  be  used  or  forborne. 

This  word  ''  worship"  being 
much  altered  in  the  use  of  it 
since  this  form  was  first  drawn 
up,  we  desire  some  other  word 
may  be  used  instead  of  it. 

These  words  being  only 
used  in  baptism,  and  here  in 
the  solemnization  of  matri- 
mony, and  in  the  absolut'on 
of  the  sick;  we  desire  it  may  be  considered,  whether  they 
should  not  be  here  omitted,  lest  they  should  seem  to  favour 
those  who  count  matrimony  a  sacrament. 


The  man  shall  say, 
With  my  body  I  thee 
worship. 

In  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


Till  death  us  depart. 


This  word  "  depart  '^  is  here 
improperly  used. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer, 


141 


Exception. 
We  conceive  this  change  of 
place  and  posture  mentioned 
in  these  two  rubrics  is  need- 
less, and  therefore  desire  it 
may  be  omitted. 


Rubric. 
Then  the  minister  or 
clerk  going  to  the  Lord's 
table,   shall  say  or  sing 
this  psalm. 

Next  Rubric. 
The  psalm  ended,  and 
the  man  and  the  woman 
kneeling  before  the  Lord's 
table,  the  priest  standing 
at  the  table,  and  turning 
his  face,  &c. 

Collect.  Exception. 

Consecrated  the  state  Seeing  the  institution  of 
of  matrimony  to  such  an  marriage  was  before  the  fall, 
excellent  mystery.  ^"^^  ®o  before  the  promise  of 

Christ,  as  also  for  that  the 
said  passage  in  this  collect  seems  to  countenance  the  opinion 
of  making  matrimony  a  sacrament,  we  desire  that  clause  may 
be  altered  or  omitted. 


Rubric. 
Then   shall  begin  the 
communion,    and     after 
the  Gospel  shall  be  said 
a  sermon,  &c. 

Last  Rubric. 
The  new  married  per- 
sons the  same  day  of  their 
marriage    must    receive 
the  holy  communion. 


Exception. 
This  rubric  doth  either 
enforce  all  such  as  are  unfit 
for  the  sacrament  to  forbear 
marriage,  contrary  to  Scrip- 
ture, which  approves  the  mar- 
riage of  all  men ;  or  else  com- 
pels all  that  marry  to  come 
to  the  Lord^s  table,  though 
never  so  unprepared :  and 
therefore  we  desire  it  may  be 
omitted,  the  rather  because 
that  marriage  festivals  are  too 


142 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1661. 


often  accompanied  with  such  divertisements  as  are  unsuitable 
to  those  Christian  duties,  which  ought  to  be  before  and  follow 
after  the  receiving  of  that  holy  sacrament. 

OF    THE    ORDER    FOR    THE    VISITATION    OF    THE    SICK. 


Rubric  before  Absolution. 
Here  shall  the  sick 
person  make  a  special 
confession,  &c.,  after 
which  confession  the 
priest  shall  absolve  him 
after  this  sort :  Our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  &c.,  and 
by  his  authority  com- 
mitted to  me,  I  absolve 
thee. 


Exception. 
Forasmuch  as  the  condi- 
tions of  sick  persons  be  very 
various  and  different,  the  min- 
ister may  not  only  in  the  ex- 
hortation, but  in  the  prayer 
also  be  directed  to  apply 
himself  to  the  particular  con- 
dition of  the  person,  as  he 
shall  find  most  suitable  to  the 
present  occasion,  with  due 
regard  had  both  to  his  spirit- 


ual condition  and  bodily  weak- 
ness ;  and  that  the  absolution  may  only  be  recommended  to 
the  minister  to  be  used  or  omitted  as  he  shall  see  occasion. 

That  the  form  of  absolution  be  declarative  and  conditional, 
as,  "I  pronounce  thee  absolved" — instead  of,  "I  absolve 
thee"~"  if  thou  dost  truly  repent  and  beheve." 


OF    THE    COMMUNION    CF    THE    SICK. 


Rubric. 
But  if  the  sick  person 
be  not  able  to  come  to  the 
church,  and  yet  is  desirous 
to  receive  the  communion 
in  his  house,  then  he  must 
give  knowledge  over- 
night, or  else  early  in 
the  morning,  to  the  cu- 
rate :  and  having  a  con- 


Consider,  that  many  sick 
persons,  either  by  their  igno- 
rance or  vicious  life,  without 
any  evident  manifestation  of 
repentance,  or  by  the  nature 
of  the  disease  disturbing  their 
intellectuals,  be  unfit  for  re- 
ceiving the  sacrament.  It  is 
proposed,  that  the  minister 
be  not  enjoined  to  administer 


• 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


143 


venient  place  in  the  sick 
man's  house,  he  shall 
there  administer  the  holy 
communion. 


the  sacrament  to  every  sick 
person  that  shall  desire  it^ 
but  only  as  he  shall  judge  ex- 
pedient. 


OF  THE  ORDER  FOR  THE  BURIAL  OF  THE  DEAD. 


We  desire  it  may  be  expressed  in  a  rubric,  that  the 
prayers  and  exhortations  here  used  are  not  for  the  benefit  of 
the  dead,  but  only  for  the  instruction  and  comfort  of  the 
living. 


First  Rubric. 

The  priest  meeting  the 

corpse  at  the  church-stile, 

shall  say,  or  else  the  priest 

and  clerk  shall  sins^,  &c. 


We  desire  that  ministers 
may  be  left  to  use  their  dis- 
cretion in  these  circumstances, 
and  to  perform  the  whole  ser- 
vice in  the  church,  if  they 
think  fit,  for  the  preventing  of  those  inconveniences  which 
many  times  both  ministers  and  people  are  exposed  unto  by 
standing  in  the  open  air. 

The  second  Rubric. 
W^hen  they  come  to  the 
grave,  the  priest  shall  say, 
&c. 


These  words  caimot  in  truth 
be  said  of  persons  living  and 
dying  in  open  and  notorious 


Porasmuch  as  it  hath 
pleased  Almighty  God,  of 
his  great  mercy  to  take 
unto  himself  the  soul  of 
our  dear  brother  here  de- 
parted ;  we  therefore  commit  his  body  to  the  ground 
in  sure  and  certain  hope  of  resurrection  to  eternal 
life. 


144 


The  Exceptions  against  the 


[1G61, 


These  words  may  harden 
the  wickedj  and  are  incon- 
sistent with  the  largest  ra- 
tional charity. 


The  first  Prayer. 

We  give  thee  hearty 
thanks  for  that  it  hath 
pleased  thee  to  deliver 
this  our  brother  out  of 
the  miseries  of  this  sin- 
ful world,  &c. 

That  we,  with  this  our  brother,  and  all  other  de- 
parted in  the  true  faith  of  thy  holy  Name,  may 
have  our  perfect  consummation  and  bliss. 

The  last  Prayer. 

That  when  we  depart  These  words  cannot  be  nsed 

this  life,  we  may  rest  in     with  respect  to  those  persons 

him,  as  our  hope  is  this     ^^^  have  not  by  their  actual 

our  brother  doth.  repentance  given  any  gronnd 

tor  the  nope  ot  their  blessed 
estate. 

OP    THE    THANKSGIVING    OF    WOMEN    AFTER    CHILD-BIRTH, 
COMMONLY    CALLED    CHURCHING    OF    WOMEN. 

Rubric. 

The  woman  shall  come 
unto  the  church,  and 
there  shall  kneel  down 
in  some  convenient  place 
nigh  unto  the  place  where 
the  table  stands,  and  the 
priest  standing  by  her 
shall  say,  &c. 

Rubric. 

Then  the  priest  shall 
say  this  Psalm  cxxi. 


I 


In  regard  that  the  women's 
kneeling  near  the  table  is  in 
many  churches  inconvenient, 
we  desire  that  these  words 
may  be  left  out,  and  that  the 
minister  may  perform  that 
service  either  in  the  desk  or 
pulpit. 

Exception. 
This  Psalm  seems  not  to  be 
so   pertinent    as   some  other, 
viz.,     as     Psalm     cxiii,     and 
Psalm  cxxviii. 


1661.] 


Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


145 


O  Lord,  save  this  wo- 
man thy  servant. 

Ans.  Which  putteth 
her  trust  in  thee. 


Last  Rubric. 
The  woman  that  comes 
to  give  thanks,  must  offer 
the  accustomed  offerings. 


It  may  fall  out  that  a  wo- 
man may  come  to  give  tlianks 
for  a  child  born  in  adultery  or 
fornication^  and  therefore  we 
desire  that  something  may  be 
required  of  her  by  way  of  pro- 
fession of  her  humiliation,  as 
well  as  of  her  thanksgiving. 


This  may  seem  too  like  a 
Jewish  purification,  rather 
than  a  Christian  thanksgiving. 


The  same  Rubric. 
And  if  there  be  a  com- 
munion, it  is  convenient 
that  she  receive  the  holy      ^^^  ^  scandalous  sinner  may 

come    to   make   this   thanks- 
giving. 


We  desire  this  may  be  inter- 
preted of  the  duly  qualified; 


communion. 


Thus  have  we  in  all  humble  pursuance  of  his  majesty's 
most  gracious  endeavours  for  the  public  weal  of  this  church, 
drawn  up  our  thoughts  and  desires  in  this  weighty  affair, 
which  we  humbly  offer  to  his  majesty's  commissioners  for 
their  serious  and  grave  consideration;  wherein  we  have  not 
the  least  thought  of  depraving  or  reproaching  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  but  a  sincere  desire  to  contribute  our  endea- 
vours towards  the  healing  the  distempers,  and  (as  soon  as 
may  be)  reconciling  the  minds  of  brethren.  And  inasmuch  as 
his  majesty  hath  in  his  gracious  Declaration  and  Commission 
mentioned  new  forms  to  be  made  and  suited  to  the  several 
parts  of  worship;  we  have  made  a  considerable  progress 
therein,  and  shall  (by  God's  assistance)  offer  them  to  the 
reverend  commissioners  with  all  convenient  speed.  And  if 
the  Lord  shall  graciously  please  to  give  a  blessing  to  these 

L 


146  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

our  endeavours,  we  doubt  not  but  the  peace  of  the  church 
will  be  thereby  settled,  the  hearts  of  ministers  and  people 
comforted  and  composed,  and  the  great  mercy  of  unity  and 
stability  (to  the  immortal  honour  of  our  most  dear  sove- 
reign) bestowed  upon  us  and  our  posterity  after  us. 


XVI. 

TJie  Answer  of  the  Bishops  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers. 
— Cardwell's  History  of  Conferences,  Oxford,  1849, 
pp.  335—63. 

1.  Before  we  come  to  the  proposals  it  will  be  perhaps 
necessary  to  say  a  word  or  two  to  the  preface,  wherein  they 
begin  with  a  thankful  acknowledgment  of  his  majesty's  most 
princely  condescension ;  to  which  we  shall  only  say,  that  we 
conceive  the  most  real  expression  of  their  thankfulness  had 
been  a  hearty  compliance  with  his  ma*^®^  earnest  and  pas- 
sionate request  for  the  use  of  the  present  liturgy,  at  least 
so  much  of  it  as  they  acknowledge  by  these  papers  to  be 
lawful : .  how  far  they  have  in  this  expressed  their  thankful- 
ness the  world  sees,  we  need  not  say. 

2.  It  can  be  no  just  cause  of  offence  to  mind  them  of  their 
duty,  as  they  do  us  of  ours,  telling  us  it  is  our  duty  to  imitate 
the  apostles'  practice  in  a  special  manner,  to  be  tender  of  the 
church's  peace,  and  to  advise  of  such  expedients,  as  may 
conduce  to  the  healing  of  breaches,  and  uniting  those  that 
differ.  For  preserving  of  the  chui'ch's  peace  we  know  no 
better  nor  more  efficacious  way  than  our  set  liturgy ;  there 
being  no  such  way  to  keep  us  from  schism,  as  to  speak  all  the 
same  thing  according  to  the  apostle. 

3.  This  experience  of  former  and  latter  times  hath  taught 
us ;  when  the  liturgy  was  duly  observed  we  lived  in  peace ; 
since  that  was  laid  aside  there  have  been  as  many  modes 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  147 

and  fashions  of  public  worship,  as  fancies.  We  have  had 
continual  dissensions,  which  variety  of  services  must  needs 
produce,  whilst  everyone  naturally  desires  and  endeavours 
not  only  to  maintain,  but  to  prefer  his  own  way  before  all 
others ;  whence  we  conceive  there  is  no  such  way  to  the 
preservation  of  peace,  as  for  all  to  return  to  the  strict  use 
and  practice  of  the  form. 

4.  And  the  best  expedients  to  unite  us  to  that  again,  and 
so  to  peace,  are,  besides  our  prayers  to  the  God  of  peace, 
to  make  us  all  of  one  mind  in  a  house,  to  labour  to  get  true 
humility,  which  would  make  us  think  our  guides  wiser  and 
fitter  to  order  us  than  we  ourselves,  and  Christian  charity, 
which  would  teach  us  to  think  no  evil  of  our  superiors,  but  to 
judge  them  rather  careful  guides  and  fathers  to  us;  which 
being  obtained,  nothing  can  be  imagined  justly  to  hinder  us 
from  a  ready  compliance  to  this  method  of  service  appointed 
by  them,  and  so  live  in  unity. 

5.  If  it  be  objected  that  the  liturgy  is  in  any  way  sinful 
and  unlawful  for  us  to  join  with,  it  is  but  reason  that  this 
be  first  proved  evidently  before  anything  be  altered;  it  is 
no  argument  to  say  that  multitudes  of  sober  pious  per- 
sons scruple  the  use  of  it,  unless  it  be  made  to  appear 
by  evident  reasons  that  the  liturgy  gave  the  just  grounds 
to  make  such  scruples.  For  if  the  bare  pretence  of  scruples 
be  sufficient  to  exempt  us  from  obedience,  all  law  and  order 
is  gone. 

6.  On  the  contrary,  we  judge  that  if  the  liturgy  should  be 
altered,  as  is  there  required,  not  only  a  multitude,  but  the 
generality  of  the  soberest  and  most  loyal  children  of  the 
Church  of  England  would  justly  be  ofiended,  since  such  an 
alteration  would  be  a  virtual  confession  that  this  liturgy  were 
an  intolerable  burden  to  tender  consciences,  a  direct  cause 
of  schism,  a  superstitious  usage  (upon  which  pretences  it 
is  here  desired  to  be  altered) ;  which  would  at  once  both 
justify  all  those  which  have  so  obstinately  separated  from  it, 
as  the  only  pious  tender-conscienced  men,  and  condemn  all 
those  that  have  adhered  to  that,  in  conscience  of  their  duty 

L   2 


148  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

and  loyalty^  with  their  loss  or  hazard  of  estates^  lives,  and 
fortunes,  as  men  superstitious,  schism atical,  and  void  of 
religion  and  conscience.  For  this  reason  and  those  that 
follow,  we  cannot  consent  to  such  an  alteration  as  is  desired, 
till  these  pretences  be  proved  ;  which  we  conceive  in  no  wise 
to  be  done  in  these  papers,  and  shall  give  reasons  for  this 
our  judgment. 

Prop.  1.  §  1.  To  the  first  general  proposal  we  answer. 
That  as  to  that  part  of  it  which  requires  that  the  matter  of 
the  liturgy  may  not  be  private  opinion  or  fancy,  that  being 
the  way  to  perpetuate  schism ;  the  church  hath  been  careful 
to  put  nothing  into  the  liturgy,  but  that  which  is  either 
evidently  the  Word  of  God,  or  what  hath  been  generally 
received  in  the  catholic  church :  neither  of  which  can  be 
called  private  opinion,  and  if  the  contrary  can  be  proved,  we 
wish  it  out  of  the  liturgy. 

§  2.  We  heartily  desire  that,  according  to  this  proposal, 
great  care  may  be  taken  to  suppress  those  private  con- 
ceptions of  prayers  before  and  after  sermon,  lest  private 
opinions  be  made  the  matter  of  prayer  in  public,  as  hath  and 
will  be,  if  private  persons  take  liberty  to  make  public  prayers. 

§  3.  To  that  part  of  the  proposal  that  the  prayers  may 
consist  of  nothing  doubtful  or  questioned  by  pious,  learned, 
and  orthodox  persons,  they  not  determining  who  be  those 
orthodox  persons ;  we  must  either  take  all  them  for  orthodox 
persons,  who  shall  confidently  affirm  themselves  to  be  such, 
and  then  we  say  first,  the  demand  is  unreasonable ;  for  some 
such  as  call  themselves  orthodox  have  questioned  the  prime 
article  of  our  Creed,  even  the  Divinity  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  yet  there  is  no  reason  we  should  part  with  our  Creed  for 
that.  Besides,  the  proposal  requires  impossibility ;  for  there 
never  was,  nor  is,  nor  can  be  such  prayers  made,  as  have  not 
been,  nor  will  be  questioned  by  some  who  call  themselves 
pious,  learned,  and  orthodox.  If  by  orthodox  be  meant 
those  who  adhere  to  Scripture  and  the  catholic  consent  of 
antiquity,  we  do  not  yet  know  that  any  part  of  our  liturgy 
hath  been  questioned  by  such. 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  149 

§  4.  To  those  generals  "  loading  public  forms  with  church 
pomp^  garments,  imagery,  and  many  superfluities  that  creep 
into  the  church  under  the  name  of  order  and  decency,  in- 
cumbering churches  with  superfluities,  over  rigid  reviving  of 
obsolete  customs,  &c.,"  we  say  that  if  these  generals  be 
intended  as  applicable  to  our  liturgy  in  particular,  they 
are  gross  and  foul  slanders,  contrary  to  their  profession, 
(page  uJt.)  and  so  either  that  or  this  contrary  to  their  con- 
science; if  not,  they  signify  nothing  to  the  present  business, 
and  so  might  with  more  prudence  and  candour  have  been 
omitted. 

Prop.  2.  It  was  the  wisdom  of  our  reformers  to  draw  up 
such  a  liturgy  as  neither  Romanist  nor  Protestant  could  justly 
except  against ;  and  therefore  as  the  first  never  charged  it 
with  any  positive  errors,  but  only  the  want  of  something 
they  conceived  necessary,  so  it  was  never  found  fault  with 
by  those  to  whom  the  name  of  protestants  most  properly 
belongs,  those  that  profess  the  Augustan  confession :  and 
for  those  who  unlawfully  and  sinfully  brought  it  into  dislike 
with  some  people,  to  urge  the  present  state  of  afikirs  as  an 
argument  why  the  book  should  be  altered,  to  give  them 
satisfaction,  and  so  that  they  should  take  advantage  by  their 
own  unwarrantable  acts,  is  not  reasonable. 

Prop.  3,  4.  The  3rd  and  4th  proposals  may  go  together, 
the  demand  in  both  being  against  responsals  and  alternate 
readings,  in  hymns  and  psalms  and  litany,  &c.,  and  that 
upon  such  reason  as  doth  in  truth  enforce  the  necessity  of 
continuing  them  as  they  are,  namely  for  edification.  They 
would  take  these  away,  because  they  do  not  edify ;  and  upon 
that  very  reason  they  should  continue,  because  they  do  edify, 
if  not  by  informing  of  our  reasons  and  understandings  (the 
prayers  and  hymns  were  never  made  for  a  catechism),  yet  by 
quickening,  continuing,  and  uniting  our  devotion,  which  is  apt 
to  freeze  or  sleep,  or  flat  in  a  long  continued  prayer  or  form : 
it  is  necessary  therefore  for  the  edifying  of  us  therein  to  be 
often  called  upon  and  awakened  by  frequent  Amens,  to  be 
excited  and  stirred  up  by  mutual  exultations,  provocations. 


150  TJie  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

petitions^  holy  contentions  and  strivings^  which  shall  most 
shew  his  own^  and  stir  up  others'  zeal  to  the  glory  of  God. 
For  this  purpose  alternate  reading,  repetitions,  and  responsals 
are  far  better  than  a  long  tedious  prayer.  Nor  is  this  our 
opinion  only,  but  the  judgment  of  former  ages,  as  appears  by 
the  practice  of  ancient  Christian  churches,  and  of  the  Jews 
also:  (Socrat.  1.  vi,  c.  8 ;  Theodor.  1.  ii,  c.  24 ;  3.  Chron.  vii,  1, 4; 
Ezra  iii,  11.)  But  it  seems,  they  say,  to  be  against  the 
Scripture,  wherein  the  minister  is  appointed  for  the  people  in 
public  prayers,  the  people's  part  being  to  attend  with  silence, 
and  to  declare  their  assent  in  the  close  by  saying  Amen  : 
if  they  mean  that  the  people  in  public  services  must  only 
say  this  word  Amen,  as  they  can  no  where  prove  it  in  the 
Scriptures,  so  it  doth  certainly  seem  to  them  that  it  cannot 
be  proved ;  for  they  directly  practise  the  contrary  in  one 
of  their  principal  parts  of  worship,  singing  of  psalms,  where 
the  people  bear  as  great  a  part  as  the  minister.  If  this 
way  be  done  in  Hopkins',  why  not  in  David^s  Psalms ;  if 
in  metre,  why  not  in  prose;  if  in  a  psalm,  why  not  in  a 
litany  ? 

Prop.  5.  §  1.  It  is  desired  that  nothing  should  be  in  the 
liturgy  which  so  much  as  seems  to  countenance  the  observa- 
tion of  Lent  as  a  religious  fast ;  and  this  as  an  expedient  to 
peace  ;  which  is  in  effect  to  desire  that  this  our  church  may 
be  contentious  for  peace  sake,  and  to  divide  from  the  church 
catholic,  that  we  may  live  at  unity  among  ourselves.  For 
St.  Paul  reckons  them  amongst  the  lovers  of  contention,  who 
shall  oppose  themselves  against  the  customs  of  the  churches 
of  God.  That  the  religious  observation  of  Lent  was  a  custom 
of  the  churches  of  God,  appears  by  the  testimonies  following. 
Chrys.  Serm.  xi,  in  Heb.  x,  Cyrili.  Catec.  Myst.  5,  St.  Aug. 
Ep.  119.  ut  40  dies  ante  Pascha  observentur,  ecclesice  con- 
suetudo  roboravit.  And  St.  Hierom  ad  Marcel,  says  it  was 
secundum  traditionem  apostoloruni:  this  demand  then  tends 
not  to  peace  but  dissension.  The  fasting  forty  days  may  be 
in  imitation  of  our  Saviour  for  all  that  is  here  said  to  the 
contrary ;  for  though  we  cannot  arrive  to  his  perfection,  ab- 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  151 

staining  wholly  from  meat  so  long,  yet  we  may  fast  40  days 
together,  either  Cornelius'  fast,  till  3  of  the  clock  afternoon, 
or  St.  Peter's  fast  till  noon,  or  at  least  Daniel's  fast,  abstain- 
ing from  meats  and  drinks  of  delight,  and  thus  far  imitate  our 
Lord. 

§  2.  Nor  does  the  act  of  parliament  5  Eliz.  forbid  it ;  we 
dare  not  think  a  parliament  did  intend  to  forbid  that  which 
Christ's  church  hath  commanded.  Nor  does  the  act  deter- 
mine anything  about  Lent  fast,  but  only  provide  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  navy,  and  of  fishing  in  order  thereunto, 
as  is  plain  by  the  act.  Besides  we  conceive  that  we  must 
not  so  interpret  one  act  as  to  contradict  another,  being  still 
in  force  and  unrepealed.  Now  the  act  of  1  Eliz.  confirms  the 
whole  liturgy,  and  in  that  the  religious  keeping  of  Lent, 
with  a  severe  penalty  upon  those  who  shall  by  open  words 
speak  any  thing  in  derogation  of  any  part  thereof:  and 
therefore  that  other  act  of  5  Eliz.  must  not  be  interpreted 
to  forbid  the  religious  keeping  of  Lent. 

Prop.  6.  The  observation  of  saints'  days  is  not  as  of 
divine  but  ecclesiastical  institution,  and  therefore  it  is  not 
necessary  that  they  should  have  any  other  ground  in  Scrip- 
ture than  all  other  institutions  of  the  same  nature,  so  that 
they  be  agreeable  to  the  Scripture  in  the  general  end,  for  the 
promoting  piety.  And  the  observation  of  them  was  an- 
cient, as  appears  by  the  rituals  and  liturgies,  and  by  the  joint 
consent  of  antiquity,  and  by  the  ancient  translation  of  the 
Bible,  as  the  Syriac  and  Ethiopic,  where  the  lessons  ap- 
pointed for  holydays  are  noted  and  set  down ;  the  former  of 
which  was  made  near  the  apostles'  times.  Besides  our  Saviour 
himself  kept  a  feast  of  the  church's  institution,  viz.  the  feast 
of  the  dedication  (St.  John  x,  22).  The  chief  end  of  these 
days  being  not  feasting,  but  the  exercise  of  holy  duties, 
they  are  fitter  called  holydays  than  festivals :  and  though 
they  be  all  of  like  nature,  it  doth  not  follow  that  they  are 
equal.  The  people  may  be  dispensed  with  for  their  work 
after  the  service,  as  authority  pleaseth.  The  other  names 
are  left  in  the  calendar,  not  that  they  should  be  so  kept 


153  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

as  holydaysj  but  they  are  useful  for  the  preservation  of 
their  memories,  and  for  other  reasons,  as  for  leases,  law- 
days,  &c. 

Prop.  7.  §  1.  This  makes  all  the  liturgy  void,  if  every  min- 
ister may  put  in  and  leave  out  at  his  discretion. 

§  2.  The  gift  or  rather  spirit  of  prayer  consists  in  the 
inward  graces  of  the  spirit,  not  in  extempore  expressions, 
which  any  man  of  natural  parts,  having  a  voluble  tongue 
and  audacity,  may  attain  to  without  any  special  gift. 

§  3.  But  if  there  be  any  such  gift,  as  is  pretended,  it  is  to 
be  subject  to  the  prophets  and  to  the  order  of  the  church, 

§  4.  The  mischiefs  that  come  by  idle,  impertinent,  ridi- 
culous, sometimes  seditious,  impious,  and  blasphemous  ex- 
pressions, under  pretence  of  the  gift,  to  the  dishonour  of  God 
and  scorn  of  religion,  being  far  greater  than  the  pretended 
good  of  exercising  the  gift,  it  is  fit  that  they  who  desire 
such  liberty  in  public  devotions,  should  first  give  the  church 
security,  that  no  private  opinions  should  be  put  into  their 
prayers,  as  is  desired  in  the  first  proposal ;  and  that  nothing 
contrary  to  the  faith  should  be  uttered  before  God,  or  offered 
up  to  him  in  the  church. 

§  5.  To  prevent  which  mischief  the  former  ages  knew  no 
better  way  than  to  forbid  any  prayers  in  piiblic,  but  such  as 
were  prescribed  by  public  authority.  Con.  Carthag.  Can.  106, 
Milev.  Can.  12. 

Prop.  9.  As  they  would  have  no  saints'  days  observed  by 
the  church,  so  no  apocryphal  chapter  read  in  the  church, 
but  upon  such  a  reason  as  would  exclude  all  sermons  as  well 
as  apocrypha;  viz.  because  the  holy  Scriptures  contain  in 
them  all  things  necessary,  either  in  doctrine  to  be  believed, 
or  in  duty  to  be  practised.  If  so,  why  so  many  unnecessary 
sermons?  why  any  more  but  reading  of  Scriptures?  If  not- 
withstanding their  sufficiency  sermons  be  necessary,  there  is 
no  reason  why  these  apocryphal  chapters  should  not  be  as 
useful,  most  of  them  containmg  excellent  discourses,  and  rules 
of  morality.  It  is  heartily  to  be  wished  that  sermons  were  as 
good.     If  their  fear  be  that,  by  this  mean,  those  books  may 


1661.]  to  the  Exception  of  the  Ministers.  153 

come  to  be  of  equal  esteem  with  tlie  canon,  they  may  be 
secured  against  that  by  the  title  which  the  church  hath  put 
upon  them,  calling  them  apocryphal :  and  it  is  the  church's 
testimony  which  teacheth  us  this  difference,  and  to  leave 
them  out  were  to  cross  the  practice  of  the  church  in  former 
ages. 

Prop.  10,  That  the  minister  should  not  read  the  com- 
munion service  at  the  communion  table,  is  not  reasonable 
to  demand,  since  all  the  primitive  church  used  it,  and  if  we 
do  not  observe  that  golden  rule  of  the  venerable  council  of 
Nice,  "  Let  ancient  customs  prevail,  till  reason  plainly 
requires  the  contrary/'  we  shall  give  offence  to  sober  Chris- 
tians by  a  causeless  departure  from  catholic  usage,  and  a 
greater  advantage  to  enemies  of  our  church,  than  our  bre- 
thren, I  hope,  would  willingly  grant.  The  priest  standing  at 
the  communion  table  seemeth  to  give  us  an  invitation  to  the 
holy  sacrament,  and  minds  us  of  our  duty,  viz,  to  receive 
the  holy  communion,  some  at  least  every  Sunday ;  and  though 
we  neglect  our  duty,  it  is  fit  the  church  should  keep  her 
standing. 

Prop.  11.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  the  word  minister 
should  be  only  used  in  the  liturgy.  For  since  some  parts 
of  the  liturgy  may  be  performed  by  a  deacon,  others  by  none 
under  the  order  of  a  priest,  viz.  absolution,  consecration,  it 
is  fit  that  some  such  word  as  priest  should  be  used  for  those 
officers,  and  not  minister,  which  signifies  at  large  every  one 
that  ministers  in  that  holy  office,  of  what  order  soever  he  be; 
the  word  curate  signifying  properly  all  those  who  are  trusted 
by  tbe  bishops  with  cure  of  souls,  as  anciently  it  signified,  is 
a  very  fit  word  to  be  used,  and  can  offend  no  sober  person. 
The  word  Sunday  is  ancient,  (Just,  Mart.  Ap.  2,)  and  there- 
fore not  to  be  left  off. 

Prop.  12.  Singing  of  psalms  in  metre  is  no  part  of  the 
liturgy,  and  so  no  part  of  our  commission. 

Prop.  15.  ''The  phrase  is  such,  &c."  The  church  in  her 
prayers  useth  no  more  offensive  phrase  than  St.  Paul  uses, 
when  he  writes  to  the   Corinthians,  Galatians,  and  others. 


154  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

calling  them  in  general  the  churches  of  God,  sanctified  in 
Christ  Jesus,  by  vocation  saints,  amongst  whom  notwith- 
standing there  were  many,  who  by  their  known  sins  (which 
the  apostle  endeavoured  to  amend  in  them)  were  not  properly 
such,  yet  he  gives  the  denomination  to  the  whole  from  the 
greater  part,  to  whom  in  charity  it  was  due,  and  puts  the 
rest  in  mind  what  they  have  by  their  baptism  undertaken 
to  be,  and  what  they  profess  themselves  to  be;  and  our 
prayers  and  the  phrase  of  them  surely  supposes  no  more  than 
that  they  are  saints  by  calling,  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  by 
their  baptism  admitted  into  Christ's  congregation,  and  so 
to  be  reckoned  members  of  that  society,  till  either  they  shall 
separate  themselves  by  wilful  schism,  or  be  separated  by 
legal  excommunication ;  which  they  seem  earnestly  to  desire, 
and  so  do  we. 

Prop.  16.  §  1.  The  connection  of  the  parts  of  our  liturgy 
is  conformable  to  the  example  of  the  churches  of  God  before 
us,  and  have  as  much  dependence  as  is  usually  to  be  seen  in 
many  petitions  of  the  same  psalm;  and  we  conceive  the 
order  and  method  to  be  excellent,  and  must  do  so,  till  they 
tell  us  what  that  order  is  which  prayers  ought  to  have,  which 
is  not  done  here. 

§  2.  The  collects  are  made  short  as  being  best  for  devo- 
tion, as  we  observed  before,  and  cannot  be  accounted  faulty 
for  being  like  those  short  but  prevalent  prayers  in  Scripture  : 
"  Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  :"  "  Son  of  David,  have 
mercy  on  us  :"  "  Lord,  increase  our  faith." 

§  3.  "Why  the  repeated  mention  of  the  name  and  attributes 
of  God  should  not  be  most  pleasing  to  any  godly  person,  we 
cannot  imagine ;  or  what  burden  it  should  seem,  when  David 
magnified  one  attribute  of  God's  mercy  twenty-six  times 
together,  (Psa.  cxxxvi.)  Nor  can  we  conceive  why  the  name 
and  merits  of  Jesus  with  which  all  our  prayers  should  end, 
should  not  be  as  sweet  to  us  as  to  former  saints  and  martyrs, 
with  which  here  they  complain  our  prayers  do  so  frequently 
end.  Since  the  attributes  of  God  are  the  ground  of  our  hope 
of  obtaining  all  our  petitions,  such  prefaces  of  prayers  as  are 


1661,]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  155 

taken  from  them,  though  they  have  no  special  respect  to  the 
petitions  following,  are  not  to  be  termed  unsuitable,  or  said 
to  have  fallen  rather  casually  than  orderly. 

Prop.  17.  §  1.  Exc.  1.  There  are  besides  a  preparative 
exhortation  several  preparatory  prayers :  '^^  Despise  not,  O  Lord, 
humble  and  contrite  hearts;"  which  is  one  of  the  sentences  in 
the  preface  :  and  this ;  "  That  those  things  may  please  him, 
which  we  do  at  this  present ;"  at  the  end  of  the  Absolution. 
And  again  immediately  after  the  Lord's  prayer  before  the 
psalmody:  "O  Lord,  open  thou  our  lips,  &c." 

§  2.  Exc.  2.  This  which  they  call  a  defect,  others  think 
they  have  reason  to  account  the  perfection  of  the  liturgy, 
the  offices  of  which  being  intended  for  common  and  general 
services,  would  cease  to  be  such  by  descending  to  particulars, 
as  in  confession  of  sin ;  while  it  is  general,  all  persons  may 
and  must  join  in  it,  since  in  many  things  we  offend  all.  But 
if  there  be  a  particular  enumeration  of  sins,  it  cannot  be  so 
general  a  confession,  because  it  may  happen  that  some  or 
other  may  by  God's  grace  have  been  preserved  from  some  of 
those  sins  enumerated,  and  therefore  should  by  confessing 
themselves  guilty,  tell  God  a  lie;  which  needs  a  new  con- 
fession. 

§  3.  As  for  original  sin,  though  we  think  it  an  evil  custom 
springing  from  false  doctrine,  to  use  any  such  expressions  as 
may  lead  people  to  think  that  to  the  persons  baptized  (in 
whose  persons  only  our  prayers  are  offered  up)  original  sin  is 
not  forgiven  in  their  holy  baptism  ;  yet  for  that  there  remains 
in  the  regenerate  some  relics  of  that  which  are  to  be  bewailed, 
the  church  in  her  confession  acknowledgeth  such  desires  of 
our  own  hearts  as  render  us  miserable  by  following  them: 
that  there  is  no  health  in  us  :  that  without  God's  help  our 
frailty  cannot  but  fall :  that  our  mortal  nature  can  do  no 
good  thing  without  him  :  which  is  a  clear  acknowledgment  of 
original  sin. 

§  4.  Exc.  3.  We  know  not  what  public  prayers  are 
wanting,  nor  do  they  tell  us;  the  usual  complaint  hath 
been,  that  there  were  too  many.     Neither  do  we  conceive  any 


156  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

want  of  public  thanksgivings  :  there  being  in  the  liturgy 
Te  Deum,  Benedictus,  Magnificat,  Benedicite,  Glory  be  to 
God  on  high,  Therefore  with  Angels  and  Archangels,  The 
doxology.  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  &c.,  all  peculiar,  as  they 
require,  to  gospel  worship,  and  fit  to  express  our  thanks  and 
honour  to  God  upon  every  particular  occasion  ;  and  occasional 
thanksgivings  after  the  litany,  of  the  frequency  whereof 
themselves  elsewhere  complain,  who  here  complain  of  de- 
fect. If  there  be  any  forms  wanting,  the  church  will 
provide. 

§  5.  Exc.  4.  They  complain  that  the  liturgy  contains  too 
many  generals,  without  mention  of  the  particulars ;  and  the 
instances  are  such  petitions  as  these :  That  we  may  do  God's 
will :  to  be  kept  from  all  evil :  almost  the  very  terms  of 
the  petitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  :  so  that  they  must  reform 
that,  before  they  can  pretend  to  mend  our  liturgy  in  these 
petitions. 

§  6,  Exc.  5.  We  have  deferred  this  to  the  proper  place, 
as  you  might  have  done. 

Prop.  18.  §  1.  We  are  now  come  to  the  main  and  prin- 
cipal demand  as  is  pretended,  viz.,  the  abolishing  the  laws 
which  impose  any  ceremonies,  especially  three — the  surplice, 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  kneeling.  These  are  the  yoke, 
which,  if  removed,  there  might  be  peace.  It  is  to  be  sus- 
pected, and  there  is  reason  for  it  from  their  own  words, 
that  somewhat  else  pinches,  and  that  if  these  ceremonies 
were  laid  aside,  and  these,  or  any  other  prayers,  strictly 
enjoined  without  them,  it  would  be  deemed  a  burden 
intolerable :  it  seems  so,  by  No.  7,  where  they  desire  that 
when  the  liturgy  is  altered,  accordmg  to  the  rest  of  their 
proposals,  the  minister  may  have  liberty  to  add  and  leave 
out  what  he  pleases.  Yet  because  the  imposition  of  these 
ceremonies  is  pretended  to  be  the  insupportable  grievance, 
we  must  of  necessity  either  yield  that  demand,  or  shew 
reason  why  we  do  not ;  and  that  we  may  proceed  the  better 
in  this  undertaking,  we  shall  reduce  the  sum  of  their  com- 
plaint to  these  several  heads,  as  we  find  them  in  their  papers. 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers,  157 

The   law   for  imposing  these  ceremonies   thej  would   have 
abrogated  for  these  reasons  :  — 

1.  §  2.  It  is  doubtful  whether  God  hath  given  power 
to  men  to  impose  such  signified  signs_,  which  though  they  call 
them  significant,  yet  have  in  them  no  real  goodness,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  imposers  themselves,  being  called  by  them 
things  indifferent ;  and  therefore  fall  not  under  St.  PauFs 
rule  of  omnia  decenter,  nor  are  suitable  to  the  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel  worship. 

2.  §  3.  Because  it  is  a  violation  of  the  royalty  of  Christ, 
and  an  impeachment  of  his  laws  as  insufficient,  and  so  those 
that  are  under  the  law  of  Deut.  xii,  "  Whatsoever  I  command 
you,  observe  to  do ;  you  shall  take  nothing  from  it,  nor  add 
anything  to  it ;  "  you  do  not  observe  these. 

3.  §  4.  Because  sundry  learned,  pious,  and  orthodox 
men  have,  ever  since  the  reformation,  judged  them  unwar- 
rantable ;  and  we  ought  to  be,  as  our  Lord  was,  tender  of 
weak  brethren,  not  to  offend  his  little  ones,  nor  to  lay  a 
stumblingblock  before  a  weak  brother. 

4.  §  5.  Because  these  ceremonies  have  been  the  fountain 
of  many  evils  in  this  church  and  nation,  occasioning  sad 
divisions  betwixt  minister  and  minister,  betwixt  minister  and 
people,  exposing  many  orthodox  preachers  to  the  displeasure 
of  rulers.  And  no  other  fruits  than  these  can  be  looked  for 
from  the  retaining  these  ceremonies. 

§  6.  Rule  1.  Before  we  give  particular  answer  to  these 
several  reasons,  it  will  not  be  unnecessary  to  lay  down  some 
certain  general  premises  or  rules,  which  will  be  useful  in  our 
whole  discourse.  1.  That  God  hath  not  given  a  power  only, 
but  a  command  also,  of  imposing  whatsoever  should  be  truly 
decent  and  becoming  his  public  service  (1  Cor.  xiv).  After 
St.  Paul  had  ordered  some  particular  rules  for  praying, 
praising,  prophesying,  etc.,  he  concludes  with  this  general 
canon.  Let  aU  things  be  done  iv(r%ri(LOVOi}g,  in  a  fit  scheme, 
habit,  or  fashion,  decently ;  and  that  there  may  be  uniformity 
in  those  decent  performances,  let  there  be  a  rcc^ig,  rule  or 
canon,  for  that  purpose. 


158  The  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

§  7.  Tlule  2.  Not  inferiors  but  superiors  must  judge  what 
is  convenient  and  decent.  They  wlio  must  order  that  all  be 
done  decently,  must  of  necessity  first  judge  what  is  convenient 
and  decent  to  be  ordered. 

§  8.  Rule  3.  These  rules  and  canons  for  decency  made  and 
urged  by  superiors  are  to  be  obeyed  by  inferiors,  till  it  be 
made  as  clear  that  now  they  are  not  bound  to  obey,  as  it  is 
evident  in  general,  that  they  ought  to  obey  superiors.  For  if 
the  exemption  from  obedience  be  not  as  evident  as  the  com- 
mand to  obey,  it  must  needs  be  sin  not  to  obey. 

§  9.  Rule  4.  Pretence  of  conscience  is  no  exemption  from 
obedience,  for  the  law,  as  long  as  it  is  a  law,  certainly  binds 
to  obedience.  (Rom.  xiii.)  "  Ye  must  needs  be  subject."  And 
this  pretence  of  a  tender  gainsaying  conscience  cannot 
abrogate  the  law,  since  it  can  neither  take  away  the  authority 
of  the  law-maker,  nor  make  the  matter  of  the  law  in  itself 
unlawful.  Besides,  if  pretence  of  conscience  did  exempt  from 
obedience,  laws  were  useless ;  whosoever  had  not  list  to  obey, 
might  pretend  tenderness  of  conscience,  and  be  thereby  set  at 
liberty ;  which  if  once  granted,  anarchy  and  confusion  must 
needs  follow. 

§  10.  Rule  5.  Though  charity  will  move  to  pity,  and  relieve 
those  that  are  truly  perplexed  or  scrupulous,  yet  we  must 
not  break  God's  command,  in  charity  to  them ;  and  therefore 
we  must  not  perform  public  services  undecently  or  disorderly 
for  the  ease  of  tender  consciences. 

§  11.  Ans.  1.  These  premised,  we  answer  to  your  first 
reason,  that  those  things  which  we  call  indifferent,  because 
neither  expressly  commanded  nor  forbidden  by  God,  have  in 
them  a  real  goodness,  a  fitness  and  decency,  and  for  that 
cause  are  imposed,  and  may  be  so  by  the  rule  of  St.  Paul 
(1  Cor.  xiv),  by  which  rule,  and  many  others  in  Scripture,  a 
power  is  given  to  men  to  impose  signs,  which  are  never  the 
worse,  surely,  because  they  signify  something  that  is  decent 
and  comely  :  and  so  it  is  not  doubtful  whether  such  power  be 
given.  It  would  rather  be  doubtful  whether  the  church  could 
impose  such  idle  signs,  if  any  such  there  be,  as  signify  nothing. 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  159 

§  12.  Ans.  2.  To  the  second,  that  it  is  not  a  violation  of 
Christ's  royalty  to  make  such  laws  for  decency,  but  an  exercise 
of  his  power  and  authority,  which  he  hath  given  to  the 
church ;  and  the  disobedience  to  such  commands  of  superiors 
is  plainly  a  violation  of  his  royalty ;  as  it  is  no  violation  of 
the  king's  authority,  when  his  magistrates  command  things 
according  to  his  laws ;  but  disobedience  to  the  command  of 
those  injunctions  of  his  deputies,  is  violation  of  his  authority. 
Again,  it  can  be  no  impeachment  of  Christ's  laws  as  insuffi- 
cient, to  make  such  laws  for  decency,  since  our  Saviour,  as  is 
evident  from  the  precepts  themselves,  did  not  intend  by  them 
to  determine  every  minute  and  circumstance  of  time,  place, 
manner  of  performance,  and  the  like,  but  only  to  command 
in  general  the  substance  of  those  duties,  and  the  right  ends 
that  should  be  aimed  at  in  the  performance,  and  then  left 
every  man  in  particular  (whom  for  that  purpose  he  made 
reasonable)  to  guide  himself  by  rules  of  reason,  for  private 
services ;  and  appointed  governors  of  the  church  to  determine 
such  particularities  for  the  public.  Thus  our  Lord  com- 
manded prayers,  fasting,  etc. :  for  the  times  and  places  of 
performance,  he  did  not  determine  every  of  them,  but  left 
them  to  be  guided  as  we  have  said.  So  that  it  is  no  impeach- 
ment of  his  laws  as  insufficient,  to  make  laws  for  determining 
those  particulars  of  decency,  which  himself  did  not,  as  is 
plain  by  his  precepts,  intend  to  determine,  but  left  us 
governors  for  that  purpose ;  to  whom  he  said,  "  As  my  Father 
sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you  ;"  and  "  Let  all  things  be  done 
decently  and  in  order  : "  of  whom  he  hath  said  to  us,  "  Obey 
those  that  have  the  oversight  over  you :  "  and  told  us  that 
if  we  will  not  hear  his  church,  we  must  not  be  accounted  as 
Christians,  but  heathens  and  publicans.  And  yet  nevertheless 
they  will  not  hear  it  and  obey  it  in  so  small  a  matter  as  a 
circumstance  of  time,  place,  habit,  or  the  like,  which  she 
thinks  decent  and  fit,  and  yet  will  be  accounted  for  the  best 
Christians,  and  tell  us  that  it  is  the  very  awe  of  God's  law 
(Deut.  xii,  32)  that  keeps  them  from  obedience  to  the 
church  in  these  commands;    not  well   considering  that  it 


160  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

cannot  be  any  adding  to  the  word  of  God,  to  command  things 
for  order  and  decency  which  the  word  of  God  commands  to 
be  done,  so  as  they  be  not  commanded  as  God's  immediate 
word,  but  as  the  laws  of  men;  but  that  it  is  undeniably 
adding  to  the  Word  of  God  to  say  that  superiors  may  not 
command  such  things,  which  God  hath  no  where  forbidden, 
and  taking  from  the  Word  of  God  to  deny  that  power  to  men 
which  God^s  word  hath  given  them. 

§  13.  Ans.  3.  The  command  for  decent  ceremonies  may 
still  continue  in  the  church  notwithstanding  the  xii  of  Deut., 
and  so  it  may  too  for  all  the  exceptions  taken  against  them 
by  sundry  learned,  pious,  and  orthodox  persons,  who  have 
judged  them,  they  say,  unwarrantably.  And  if  laws  may  be 
abrogated  as  soon  as  those  that  list  not  to  obey  will  except 
against  them,  the  world  must  run  into  confusion.  But  those 
that  except  are  weak  brethren,  whom,  by  Christ^s  precept  and 
example,  we  must  not  offend.  If  by  weak  we  understand 
ignorant,  they  would  take  it  ill  to  be  so  accounted ;  and  it  is 
their  own  fault  if  they  be,  there  having  been  much  written  as 
may  satisfy  any  that  have  a  mind  to  be  satisfied.  And  as 
kiug  James  of  blessed  memory  said  at  Hampton  Court, 
"If  after  so  many  years  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  there  be  any 
yet  unsatisfied,  I  doubt  it  proceeds  rather  out  of  stubborn- 
ness of  opinion  than  out  of  tenderness  of  conscience.''  If  by 
tenderness  of  conscience  they  mean  a  fearfulness  to  sin,  this 
would  make  them  most  easy  to  be  satisfied,  because  most 
fearful  to  disobey  superiors.  But  suppose  there  be  any  so 
scrupulous,  as  not  satisfied  with  what  hath  been  written,  the 
church  may  still  without  sin  urge  her  command  for  these 
decent  ceremonies,  and  not  be  guilty  of  offending  her  weak 
brother ;  for  since  the  scandal  is  taken  by  him,  not  given  by 
her,  it  is  he  that  by  vain  scrupulosity  offends  himself,  and 
lays  the  stumblingblock  in  his  own  way. 

§  14.  The  case  of  St.  Paul,  not  eating  of  flesh,  if  it  offended 
his  brother,  is  nothing  to  the  purpose ;  who  there  speaks  of 
things  not  commanded  either  by  God  or  by  his  church, 
neither  having  in  them  anything  of  decency,  or  significancy 


1661.]  to  the   'Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  161 

to  serve  in  the  churcli.  St.  Paul  would  deny  himself  his 
own  liberty^  rather  than  offend  his  brother ;  but  if  any  man 
breaks  a  just  law  or  custom  of  the  church,  he  brands  him  for 
a  lover  of  schism  and  sedition.  1  Cor.  xi,  16. 

§  15.  Ans.  4.  That  these  ceremonies  have  occasioned  many 
divisions  is  no  more  fault  of  theirs,  than  it  was  of  the  gospel 
that  the  preaching  of  it  occasioned  strife  betwixt  father  and 
son,  &c.  The  true  cause  of  those  divisions  is  the  cause  of 
ours,  which  St.  James  tells  us  is  lust,  and  inordinate  desires 
of  honours  or  wealth,  or  licentiousness,  or  the  like.  Were 
these  ceremonies  laid  aside,  there  would  be  the  same  divisions, 
if  some  who  think  Moses  and  Aaron  took  too  much  upon 
them,  may  be  suffered  to  deceive  the  people,  and  to  raise  in 
them  vain  fears  and  jealousies  of  their  governors ;  but  if  all 
men  would,  as  they  ought,  study  peace  and  quietness,  they 
would  find  other  and  better  fruits  of  these  laws  of  rites  and 
ceremonies,  as  edification,  decency,  order,  and  beauty,  in  the 
service  and  worship  of  God. 

§  16.  There  hath  been  so  much  said  not  only  of  the 
lawfulness,  but  also  of  the  conveniency  of  those  ceremonies 
mentioned,  that  nothing  can  be  added.  This  in  brief  may 
here  suffice  for  the  surplice;  that  reason  and  experience 
teach  that  decent  ornaments  and  habits  preserve  reverence, 
and  are  held  therefore  necessary  to  the  solemnity  of  royal 
acts,  and  acts  of  justice,  and  why  not  as  well  to  the  solemnity 
of  religious  worship.  And  in  particular  no  habit  more  suit- 
able than  white  linen,  which  resembles  purity  and  beauty, 
wherein  angels  have  appeared,  (Rev.  xv,)  fit  for  those,  whom 
the  Scripture  calls  angels :  and  this  habit  was  ancient. 
Chrys.  Hom.  60,  ad  Antioch. 

§  17.  The  cross  was  always  used  in  the  church  in  immor- 
tali  lavacro,  (Tertull.)  and  therefore  to  testify  our  communion 
with  them,  as  we  are  taught  to  do  in  our  creed,  as  also  in 
token  that  we  shall  not  be  ashamed  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  it 
is  fit  to  be  used  still,  and  we  conceive  cannot  trouble  the 
conscience  of  any  that  have  a  mind  to  be  satisfied. 

§  18.  The  posture  of  kneeling  best  suits  at  the  communion 

M 


162  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

as  the  most  convenient,  and  so  most  decent  for  us,  when 
we  are  to  receive  as  it  were  from  God's  hand  the  greatest  of 
seals  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  that  thinks  he  may  do 
this  sitting,  let  him  remember  the  prophet  Malachi.  OflFer  this 
to  the  prince,  to  receive  his  seal  from  his  own  hand  sitting, 
see  if  he  will  accept  of  it.  When  the  church  did  stand  at 
her  prayers,  the  manner  of  receiving  was  more  adorantium, 
(S.  Aug.  Ps.  xcviii,  Cyril.  Catech.  Mystag.  5.)  rather  more 
than  at  prayers.  Since  standing  at  prayer  hath  been  generally 
left,  and  kneeling  used  instead  of  that  (as  the  church  may 
vary  in  such  indifferent  things),  now  to  stand  at  communion, 
when  we  kneel  at  prayers,  were  not  decent,  much  less  to  sit, 
which  was  never  the  use  of  the  best  times. 

Prop.  19.  That  there  were  ancient  liturgies  in  the  church  is 
evident:  S.  Chrysostom,  S.  Basil,  and  others;  and  the  Greeks 
tell  us  of  St.  James,  much  elder  than  they.  And  though  we 
find  not  in  all  ages  whole  liturgies,  yet  it  is  certain  that  there 
were  such  in  the  oldest  times,  by  those  parts  which  are 
extant;  as  Sursum  corda,  ^c,  Gloria  Patri,  ^c,  Benedicite, 
Hymnus  Cherubinus,  S^c,  Vere  dignum  et  justum,  ^c,  Domi- 
nu»  vobiscum,  et  cum  spiritu  tuo,  with  divers  others. 
Though  those  that  are  extant  may  be  interpolated,  yet  such 
things  as  are  found  in  them  all  consistent  to  catholic  and 
primitive  doctrine,  may  well  be  presumed  to  have  been  from 
the  first,  especially  since  we  find  no  original  of  these  liturgies 
from  general  councils. 

CONCERNING    MORNING    AND    EVENING    PRAYER. 

§  1.  Rub.  1.  We  think  it  fit  that  the  rubric  stand  as  it  is, 
and  all  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  ordinary. 

§  2.  Rub.  2.  For  the  reasons  given  in  our  answer  to  the 
18th  general,  whither  you  refer  us,  we  think  it  fit  that  the 
rubric  continue  as  it  is. 

§  3.  Lord's  pr.  "  Deliver  us  from  evil.''  Tliese  word?, 
"  for  thine  is  the  kingdom,"  &c.,  are  not  in  St.  Luke,  nor  in 
the  ancient  copies  of  St.  Matthew,  never  mentioned  in  the 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  163 

ancient  comments^  nor  used  in  tte  Latin  church,  and  there- 
fore questioned  whether  they  be  part  of  the  gospel ;  there  is 
no  reason  that  they  should  be  always  used. 

§  4.  Lord's  pr.  often  used.  It  is  used  but  twice  in  the 
morning  and  twice  in  the  evening  service ;  and  twice  cannot 
he  called  often,  much  less  so  often.  For  the  Htany,  commu- 
nion, baptism,  &c.,  they  are  offices  distinct  from  morning  and 
evening  prayer,  and  it  is  not  fit  that  any  of  them  should 
want  the  Lord's  prayer. 

§  5.  Gloria  Patri.  This  doxology  being  a  solemn  confession 
of  the  blessed  Trinity,  should  not  be  thought  a  burden  to  any 
Christian  liturgy,  especially  being  so  short  as  it  is ;  neither  is 
the  repetition  of  it  to  be  thought  a  vain  repetition,  more  than 
"  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever,"  so  often  repeated,  Psa,  cxxxvi. 
We  cannot  give  God  too  much  glory,  that  being  the  end  of 
our  creation,  and  should  be  the  end  of  all  our  services. 

§  6.  Rub.  2.  "In  such  places  where  they  do  sing/' 
&c.  The  rubric  directs  only  such  singing  as  is  after  the 
manner  of  distinct  reading,  and  we  never  heard  of  any  incon- 
venience thereby,  and  therefore  conceive  this  demand  to  be 
needless. 

§  7.  Beuedicite.  This  hymn  was  used  all  the  church  over, 
(Cone.  Tolet.  can.  13.)  and  therefore  should  be  continued 
stiU  as  well  as  Te  Deum  (Rufiin.  Apol.  cont.  Hieron.)  or  Veni 
Creator,  which  they  do  not  object  against  as  apocryphal. 

IN    THE    LITANY. 

§  1.  The  alterations  here  desired  are  so  nice,  as  if  they 
that  made  them  were  given  to  change. 

§  2.  "From  all  other  deadly  sin,"  is  better  than  "from 
all  other  heinous  sin,"  upon  the  reason  here  given,  because 
the  wages  of  sin  is  death. 

§  3.  "From  sudden  death,"  as  good  as  "from  dying 
suddenly;"  which  therefore  we  pray  against,  that  we  may 
not  be  unprepared. 

§  4.    "All  that  travel,"   as  little  liable  to  exceptions  as 

M  2 


164  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

''those  that  travel,"  and  more  agreeable  to  the  phrase  of 
Scripture,  (1  Tim.  ii,  1,)  "  I  will  that  prayers  be  made  for 
all  men." 

§  5.  "  The  two  collect [s  for  St.  John's  day  and  Innocents', 
&c."]  We  do  not  find,  nor  do  they  say,  what  is  to  be  amended 
in  these  collects ;  therefore  to  say  anything  particularly  were 
to  answer  to  we  know  not  what. 

THE    COMMUNION    SERVICE. 

§  1.  Kyries.  To  say,  "Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us,"  after 
every  commandment  is  more  quick  and  active  than  to 
say  it  once  at  the  close;  and  why  Christian  people  should 
not  upon  their  knees  ask  their  pardon  for  their  life  forfeited 
for  the  breach  of  every  commandment,  and  pray  for  grace 
to  keep  them  for  the  time  to  come,  they  must  be  more  than 
ignorant  that  can  scruple. 

§  2.  Homilies.  Some  livings  are  so  small  that  they 
are  not  able  to  maintain  a  licensed  preacher;  and  in  such 
and  the  like  cases  this  provision  is  necessary.  For  can  any 
reason  be  given,  why  the  minister's  reading  a  homily,  set 
forth  by  common  authority,  should  not  be  accounted  preaching 
of  the  word,  as  well  as  his  reading  (or  pronouncing  by  heart) 
a  homily  or  sermon  of  his  own  or  any  other  man's. 

§  3.  Sentences.  The  sentences  tend  all  to  exhort  the 
people  to  pious  liberality,  whether  the  object  be  the  minister 
or  the  poor ;  and  though  some  of  the  sentences  be  apocry- 
phal, they  may  be  useful  for  that  purpose.  Why  collection 
for  the  poor  should  be  made  at  another  time,  there  is  no 
reason  given,  only  change  desired. 

§  4.  3[rd]  Exhort.  The  first  and  third  exhortations  are 
very  seasonable  before  the  communion,  to  put  men  in  mind 
how  they  ought  to  be  prepared,  and  in  what  danger  they  are 
to  come  unprepared,  that  if  they  be  not  duly  qualified,  they 
may  depart,  and  be  better  prepared  at  another  time. 

§  5.  Exc.  1.  "  We  fear  this  may  discourage  many."  Cer- 
tainly themselves  cannot  desire  that  men  should  come  to  the 


]661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  165 

holy  communion  with  a  troubled  conscience,  and  therefore 
have  no  reason  to  blame  the  church  for  saying,  "  it  is  requi- 
site that  men  come  with  a  quiet  conscience,"  and  prescribing 
means  for  quieting  thereof.  If  this  be  to  discourage  men,  it 
is  fit  they  should  be  discouraged,  and  deterred,  and  kept  from 
the  communion,  till  they  have  done  all  that  is  here  directed 
by  the  church,  which  they  may  well  do,  considering  that  this 
exhortation  shall  be  read  in  the  church  the  Sunday  or  holy- 
day  before. 

§  6.  [Exc.  3.]  Minister's  turning.  The  minister's  turning 
to  the  people  is  not  most  convenient  throughout  the  whole  min- 
istration. When  he  speaks  to  them,  as  in  Lessons,  Absolution, 
and  Benedictions,  it  is  convenient  that  he  turn  to  them. 
"When  he  speaks  for  them  to  God,  it  is  fit  that  they  should 
all  turn  another  way,  as  the  ancient  church  ever  did  : 
the  reasons  of  which  you  may  see,  Aug.  lib.  2,  de  ser.  Dom. 
in  monte. 

§  7.  Exc.  4.  It  appears  by  the  greatest  evidences  of  anti- 
quity, that  it  was  upon  the  25th  day  of  December.  S.  Aug. 
in  Psal.  cxxxii. 

§8.  [Exc.  5.]  "That  our  sinful  bodies,"  &c.  It  can  no  more 
be  said  those  words  do  give  greater  efficacy  to  the  blood  than  to 
the  body  of  Christ,  than  when  our  Lord  saith,  "  This  is  my  blood 
which  is  shed  for  you  and  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins," 
etc.,  and  saith  not  so  explicitly  of  the  body. 

§  9.  [Exc.  7.]  It  is  most  requisite  that  the  minister 
deliver  the  bread  and  wine  into  every  particular  communi- 
cant's hand,  and  repeat  the  words  in  the  singular  number; 
for  so  much  as  it  is  the  propriety  of  sacraments  to  make  par- 
ticular obsignation  to  each  believer,  and  it  is  our  visible 
profession  that,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Christ  tasted  death  for 
every  man. 

§  10.  Kneel  at  sacr.  [Exc.  8.]  Concerning  kneeling  at  the 
sacrament  we  have  given  account  already ;  only  thus  much  we 
add,  that  we  conceive  it  an  error  to  say  that  the  Scripture 
affirms  the  apostles  to  have  received  not  kneeling.  The 
posture  of  the  paschal  supper  we  know ;  but  the  institution 


166  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

of  the  holy  sacrament  was  after  supper;  and  what  posture 
"was  then  used,  the  Scripture  is  silent.  The  rubric  at  the  end 
of  the  [first  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Edw.  VI,  1549,]  that 
leaves  kneeling,  crossing,  &c.,  indifferent,  is  meant  only  at 
such  times  as  they  are  not  prescribed  and  required.  But 
at  the  eucharist  kneeling  is  expressly  required  in  the  rubric 
following. 

§  11.  Com[mumcate]  three  times  a  year.  [Exc.  9.] 
This  desire  to  have  the  parishioners  at  liberty,  whether  they 
will  ever  receive  the  communion  or  not,  savours  of  too  much 
neglect  and  coldness  of  affection  towards  the  holy  sacrament. 
It  is  more  fitting  that  order  should  be  taken  to  bring  it  into  more 
frequent  use,  as  it  was  in  the  first  and  best  times.  Our  rubric 
is  directly  according  to  the  ancient  Council  of  Eliberis,  can.  81, 
(Gratian  de  Consecrat.)  No  man  is  to  be  accounted  a  good 
catholic  Christian  that  does  not  receive  three  times  in  the 
year.  The  distempers  which  indispose  men  to  it  must  be 
corrected,  not  the  receiving  of  the  sacrament  therefore 
omitted.  It  is  a  pitiful  pretence  to  say  they  are  not  fit,  and 
make  their  sin  their  excuse.  Formerly  our  church  was 
quarrelled  at  for  not  compelling  men  to  the  communion ;  now 
for  urging  men.     How  should  she  please  ? 

§  12.  This  rubric  is  not  in  the  liturgy  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
nor  confirmed  by  law;  nor  is  there  any  great  need  of  re- 
storing it,  the  world  being  now  in  more  danger  of  profanation 
than  of  idolatry.  Besides,  the  sense  of  it  is  declared  suffi- 
ciently in  the  28th  Article  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
time  appointed  we  conceive  sufiicient. 

PUBLIC    BAPTISM. 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  "Until  they  have  made  due  profession  of 
repentance,^^  &c.  We  think  this  desire  to  be  very  hard  and 
uncharitable,  punishing  the  poor  infants  for  the  parents' 
sakes,  and  giving  also  too  great  and  arbitrary  a  power  to 
the  minister  to  judge  which  of  his  parishioners  he  pleaseth 
atheists,  infidels,  heretics,  &c.,  and  then  in  that  name  to 
reject    their    children    from    being   baptized.      Our   church 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  167 

concludes  more  charitably,  that  Christ  will  favorably  ac- 
cept every  infant  to  baptism,  that  is  presented  by  the 
church  according  to  our  present  order.  And  this  she  con- 
cludes out  of  holy  Scriptures  (as  you  may  see  in  the  office  of 
baptism)  according  to  the  practice  and  doctrine  of  the  catholic 
church.  (Cypr.  Ep.  59,  August.  Ep.  28,  et  de  verb.  Apost. 
Serm.  14.) 

§  2.   [Exc.  2.]   The  time  appointed  we  conceive  sufficient. 

§  3.  [Exc.  3.]  ''And  the  godfathers,"  &c.  It  is  an 
erroneous  doctrine,  and  the  ground  of  many  others,  and  of 
many  of  your  exceptions,  that  children  have  no  other  right  to 
baptism,  than  in  their  parents^  right.  The  church's  primitive 
practice  (S.  Aug.  Ep.  23)  forbids  it  to  be  left  to  the  pleasure 
of  parents,  whether  there  shall  be  other  sureties  or  no.  It  is 
fit  we  should  observe  carefully  the  practice  of  venerable  anti- 
quity, as  they  desire.  Prop.  18. 

§  4,  [Ex.  4.]  Thefont  usually  stands,  asitdidinprimitivetimes, 
at  or  near  the  chm-ch  door,  to  signify  that  baptism  was  the 
entrance  into  the  church  mystical ;  "  we  are  all  baptized  into 
one  body  "  (1  Cor.  xii,  13)  ;  and  the  people  may  hear  well 
enough.  If  Jordan,  and  all  other  waters,  be  not  so  far  sancti- 
fied by  Christ  as  to  be  the  matter  of  baptism,  what  authority 
have  we  to  baptize?  And  sure  his  baptism  was  dedicaiio 
baptismi. 

§  5.  [Ex.  5.]  It  hath  been  accounted  reasonable,  and  allowed 
by  the  best  laws,  that  guardians  should  covenant  and  contract 
for  their  minors  to  their  benefit.  By  the  same  right  the 
church  hath  appointed  sureties  to  undertake  for  children, 
when  they  enter  into  covenant  with  God  by  baptism.  And 
this  general  practice  of  the  church  is  enough  to  satisfy  those 
that  doubt. 

§  6.  "  Receive  remission  of  sins  by  spiritual  regeneration." 
[Exc.  6.]  Most  proper,  for  baptism  is  our  spiritual  rege- 
neration, (St.  John  iii.)  "  Unless  a  man  be  born  again  of  water 
and  the  Spirit,"  &c.  And  by  this  is  received  remission  of  sins, 
(Acts  ii,  3.)     "  Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you,  for 


168  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

the  remission  of  sins."  So  tlie  Creed :  "  One  baptism  for  the 
remission  of  sins." 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  "  We  cannot  in  faith  say  that  every  child  that 
is  baptized  is  regenerate/'  &c.  Seeing  that  God's  sacraments 
have  their  efFects^  where  the  receiver  doth  not  ponere 
obicem,  put  any  bar  against  them  (which  children  cannot 
do);  we  may  say  in  faith  of  every  child  that  is  baptized, 
that  it  is  regenerated  by  God's  Holy  Spirit;  and  the  denial 
of  it  tends  to  Anabaptism,  and  the  contempt  of  this  holy 
sacrament,  as  nothing  worthy,  nor  material  whether  it  be 
administered  to  children  or  no.  Concerning  the  cross  we 
refer  to  our  answer  to  the  same  in  general. 

PRIVATE    BAPTISM. 

"We  desire  that  baptism  may  not  be  administered  in 
a  private  place ;"  and  so  do  we,  where  it  may  be  brought 
into  the  public  congregation.  But  since  our  Lord  hath  said, 
(St.  John  iii,)  "  Unless  one  be  born  of  water  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  we 
think  it  fit  that  they  should  be  baptized  in  private,  rather 
than  not  at  all.  It  is  appointed  now  to  be  done  by  the  lawful 
minister. 

Nor  is  any  thing  done  in  private,  reiterated  in  public,  but 
the  solemn  reception  into  the  congregation,  with  the  prayers 
for  him,  and  the  public  declaration  before  the  congregation, 
of  the  infant,  now  made  by  the  godfathers,  that  the  whole 
congregation  may  testify  against  him,  if  he  does  not  perform 
it ;  which  the  ancients  made  great  use  of. 

OF   THE    CATECHISM, 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  Ans.  2.  Though  divers  have  been  of  late 
baptized  without  godfathers,  yet  many  have  been  baptized  with 
them;  and  those  may  answer  the  questions  as  they  are;  the 
rest  must  answer  according  to  truth.  But  there's  no  reason  to 
alter  the  rule  of  the  Catechism  for  some  men's  irregularities. 

§  2.  Ans.  2.  ["Wherein  I  was  made  a  member  of  Christ, 


16G1.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  169 

&c."]  pSxc.  2.]  We  conceive  this  expression  as  safe  as  that 
which  they  desire,  and  more  fully  expressing  the  efficacy  of 
the  sacrament,  according  to  St.  Paul,  the  26  and  27  Gal.  iii, 
where  St.  Paul  proves  them  all  to  be  children  of  God,  because 
they  were  baptized,  and  in  their  baptism  had  put  on  Christ : 
"  if  children,  then  heirs,"  or,  which  is  all  one,  "inheritors," 
Rom.  viii,  17. 

§  3.  Ten  com  [mandments]  [Exc.  3.]  We  conceive  the 
present  translation  to  be  agreeable  to  many  ancient  copies : 
therefore  the  change  to  be  needless. 

§  4.  "  My  duty  towards  God,^'  &c.  [Exc.  4.]  It  is  not  true 
that  there  is  nothing  in  that  answer  which  refers  to  the  fourth 
commandment :  for  the  last  words  of  the  answer  do  orderly 
relate  to  the  last  commandment  of  the  first  table,  which  is 
the  fourth. 

§  5.  "Two  only  as  generally  necessary  to  salvation,"  &c. 
[Exc.  5.]  These  words  are  a  reason  of  the  answer,  that  there 
are  two  only,  and  therefore  not  to  be  left  out. 

§  6.  "  We  desire  that  the  entering  of  infants,"  &c.  [Exc.  6.] 
The  effect  of  children's  baptism  depends  neither  upon  their 
own  present  actual  faith  and  repentance  (which  the  Catechism 
says  expressly  they  cannot  perform,)  nor  upon  the  faith  and 
repentance  of  their  natural  parents  or  pro-parents,  or  of  their 
godfathers  or  godmothers;  but  upon  the  ordinance  and  in- 
stitution of  Christ.  But  it  is  requisite  that  when  they  come 
to  age  they  should  perform  these  conditions  of  faith  and  re- 
pentance, for  which  also  their  godfathers  and  godmothers 
charitably  undertook  on  their  behalf.  And  what  they  do  for 
the  infant  in  this  case,  the  infant  himself  is  truly  said  to  do, 
as  in  the  courts  of  this  kingdom  daily  the  infant  does  answer 
by  his  guardian  :  and  it  is  usual  for  to  do  homage  by  proxy,  and 
for  princes  to  marry  by  proxy.  For  the  further  justification 
of  this  answer,  see  St.  Aug.  Ep.  23.  ad  Bonifac.  Nihil 
aliud  credere,  quam  fidem  habere  :  ac  per  hoc  cum  responde- 
tur  parvulum  credere,  qui  fidei  nondum  habet  effectum,  re- 
spondetur  fidem  habere  propter  fidei  sacramentum,  et  con- 
verter e  se  ad  Deum  propter  conversionis  sacramentum.     Quia 


170  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

et  ipsa  responsio  ad  celebrationem  pertinet  sacramenti.  Ha- 
gue parvulum,  etsi  nondum  fides  ilia,  qu(B  in  credentium 
voluntate  consistit,  tamen  ipsius  fidei  sacramentum,  fidelem 
facit. 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  The  Catechism  is  not  intended  as  a  whole  body 
of  divinity,  but  as  a  comprehension  of  the  articles  of  faith, 
and  other  doctrines  most  necessary  to  salvation;  and  being 
short,  is  fittest  for  children  and  common  people,  and  as  it  was 
thought  suflQcient  upon  mature  deliberation,  and  so  is  by  us. 


CONFIRMATION. 

§  1.  Rub.  1 .  [Esc.  1 .]  It  is  evident  that  the  meaning  of  these 
words  is,  that  children  baptized,  and  dying  before  they  commit 
actual  sin,  are  undoubtedly  saved,  though  they  be  not  con- 
firmed :  wherein  we  see  not  what  danger  there  can  be  of 
misleading  the  vulgar  by  teaching  them  truth.  But  there 
may  be  danger  in  this  desire  of  having  these  words  expunged, 
as  if  they  were  false ;  for  St.  Austin  says  he  is  an  infidel  that 
denies  them  to  be  true.     Ep.  23,  ad  Bonifac. 

§  2.  "  Rub.  after  the  Catechism.''  [Ex.  2.]  "  We  conceive  that 
it  is  not  a  sufficient  qualification,"  &c.  We  conceive  that  this 
qualification  is  required  rather  as  necessary  than  as  sufficient ; 
and  therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  the  minister  of  the  place  (can.  61) 
to  prepare  children  in  the  best  manner  to  be  presented  to  the 
bishop  for  confirmation,  and  to  inform  the  bishop  of  their 
fitness,  but  submitting  the  judgment  to  the  bishop,  both  of 
this  and  other  qualifications ;  and  not  that  the  bishop  should 
be  tied  to  the  minister's  consent.  Comp.  this  rub.  to  the 
second  rub.  before  the  Catechism,  and  there  is  required  what 
is  further  necessary  and  sufficient. 

§  3.  [Exc.  3.]  "  They  see  no  need  of  godf."  Here  the  com- 
pilers of  the  liturgy  did,  and  so  doth  the  church,  that  there 
may  be  a  witness  of  the  confirmation. 

§  4.  [Exc.  4.]  "  This  supposeth  that  all  children,"  &c.  It 
supposeth,  and  that  truly,  that  all  children  were  at  their 
baptism  regenerate  by  water,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  Lad 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  171 

given  unto  them  the  forgiveness  of  all  their  sins  :  and  it  is 
charitably  presumed  that,  notwithstanding  the  frailties  and 
slips  of  their  childhood,  they  have  not  totally  lost  what  was 
in  baptism  conferred  upon  them ;  and  therefore  adds, 
"  Strengthen  them,  we  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  the  Comforter,  and  daily  increase  in  them  their 
manifold  gifts  of  grace,"  &c.  None  that  lives  in  open  sin 
ought  to  be  confirmed. 

§  5.  "Eub.  befure  the  imposition  of  hands."  [Exc.  5.] 
Confirmation  is  reserved  to  the  bishop  in  honorem  ordinis, 
to  bless  being  an  act  of  authority.  So  it  was  of  old :  St. 
Hierom,  Dial.  adv.  Lucifer,  says  it  was  totius  or  bis  con- 
sensio  in  hanc  partem :  and  St.  Cyprian  to  the  same  pur- 
pose, Ep.  73;  and  our  church  doth  everywhere  profess,  as 
she  ought,  to  conform  to  the  catholic  usages  of  the  primitive 
times,  from  which  causelessly  to  depart  argues  rather  love  of 
contention  than  of  peace.  The  reserving  of  confirmation  to 
the  bishop  doth  argue  the  dignity  of  the  bishop  above  pres- 
byters, who  are  not  allowed  to  confirm,  but  does  not  argue 
any  excellency  in  confirmation  above  the  sacraments.  St. 
Hierom  argues  the  quite  contrary  (ad.  Lucif.  c.  4,): — That 
because  baptism  was  allowed  to  be  performed  by  a  deacon, 
but  confirmation  only  by  a  bishop,  therefore  baptism  was 
most  necessary,  and  of  the  greatest  value  :  the  mercy  of  God 
allowing  the  most  necessary  means  of  salvation  to  be  admi- 
nistered by  inferior  orders,  and  restraining  the  less  necessary 
to  the  higher,  for  the  honour  of  their  order. 

§  6.  [Exc.  6.]  Prayer  after  the  imposition  of  hands  is 
grounded  upon  the  practice  of  the  apostles  (Heb.  vi,  2;  and 
Acts  viii,  17;)  nor  doth  25th  article  say  that  confirmation  is 
a  corrupt  imitation  of  the  apostles'  practice,  but  that  the  five 
commonly  called  sacraments  have  ground  partly  of  the  corrupt 
following  the  apostles,  &c.,  which  may  be  applied  to  some  other 
of  these  five,  but  cannot  be  applied  to  confirmation,  unless 
we  make  the  church  speak  contradictions. 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  We  know  no  harm  in  speaking  the  language 
of  Holy  Scripture  (Acts  viii,  15,)  "they  laid  their  hands  upon 


17'2  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

them,  and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  though 
imposition  of  hands  be  not  a  sacrament,  yet  it  is  a  very  fit 
sign,  to  certify  the  persons  what  is  then  done  for  them,  as 
the  prayer  speaks. 

[§  8.  Last  rubric]  after  confirmation.  [Exc.  8.]  There 
is  no  inconvenience  that  confirmation  should  be  required 
before  the  communion,  when  it  may  be  ordinarily  obtained. 
That  which  you  here  fault,  you  elsewhere  desire. 

[solemnization   of  matrimony.] 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  The  ring  is  a  significant  sign,  only  of  human 
institution,  and  was  always  given  as  a  pledge  of  fidelity  and 
constant  love :  and  here  is  no  reason  given  why  it  should  be 
taken  away;  nor  are  the  reasons  mentioned  in  the  Roman 
ritualists  given  in  our  Common  Prayer  book. 

§  2.  Exc.  3.  These  words,  '"in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  if  they  seem  to  make 
matrimony  a  sacrament,  may  as  well  make  all  sacred,  yea 
civil,  actions  of  weight  to  be  sacraments,  they  being  usual  at 
the  beginning  and  ending  of  all  such.  It  was  never  heard 
before  now  that  those  words  make  a  sacrament. 

§  3.  [Exc.  5.]  They  go  to  the  Lord's  table  because  the  com- 
munion is  to  follow. 

§  4.  Col.  "  Consecrated  the  estate  of  matrimony  to  such  an 
excellent  mystery,"  &c.  [Exc.  6.]  Though  the  institution  of 
marriage  was  before  the  full,  yet  it  may  be  now,  and  is,  conse- 
crated by  God  to  such  an  excellent  mystery  as  the  representation 
of  the  spiritual  marriage  between  Christ  and  his  church  (Eph. 
V,  23.)  We  are  sorry  that  the  words  of  Scripture  will  not 
please.  The  church,  in  the  25th  article,  hath  taken  away 
the  fear  of  making  it  a  sacrament. 

§  5.  Rub.  "The  new  married  persons  the  same  day  of  their 
marriage  must  receive  the  holy  communion."  [Exc.  7.]  This 
inforces  none  to  forbear  marriage,  but  presumes  (as  well  it 
may)  that  all  persons  marriageable  ought  to  be  also  fit  to 
receive  the  holy  sacrament;  and  marriage  being  so  solemn 
a  covenant  of  God,  they  that  imdertake  it  in  the  fear  of  God 


1661.]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers.  173 

will  not  stick  to  seal  it  by  receiving  the  holy  communion^  and 
accordingly  prepare  themselves  for  it.  It  were  more  Christian 
to  desire  that  those  licentious  festivities  might  be  suppressed, 
and  the  communion  more  generally  used  by  those  that  marry  : 
the  happiness  would  be  greater  than  can  easily  be  expressed. 
Unde  svfficiamus  ad  enarrandam  felicitatem  ejus  matrimonii, 
quod  ecclesia  conciliat,  et  confirmat  oblatio.  Tertull.  lib.  2, 
ad  uxorem. 

VISITATION    OF    THE    SICK. 

§  1.  "Forasmuch  as  the  conditions,"  &c.  [Exc.  1.]  All 
which  is  here  desired  is  already  presumed,  namely,  that  the  min- 
ister shall  apply  himself  to  the  particular  condition  of  the 
person ;  but  this  must  be  done  according  to  the  rule  of  prudence 
and  justice,  and  not  according  to  his  pleasure.  Therefore,  if 
the  sick  person  shew  himself  truly  penitent,  it  ought  not  to  be 
left  to  the  ministers  pleasure  to  deny  him  absolution,  if  he 
desire  it.  Our  church's  direction  is  according  to  the  13th 
canon  of  the  venerable  Council  of  Nice,  both  here  and  in  the 
next  that  follows. 

§  2.  Exc.  2.  The  form  of  absolution  in  the  liturgy  is  more 
agreeable  to  the  Scriptures  than  that  which  they  desire,  it  being 
said  in  St.  John  xx,  "  Whose  sins  you  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted/' not,  whose  sins  you  pronounce  remitted ;  and  the 
condition  needs  not  to  be  expressed,  being  always  necessarily 
understood. 

COMMUNION    OF    THE    SICK. 

It  is  not  fit  the  minister  should  have  power  to  deny  this 
viation,  or  holy  communion,  to  any  that  humbly  desire  it 
according  to  the  rubric ;  which  no  man  disturbed  in  his  wits 
can  do,  and  whosoever  does  must  in  charity  be  presumed  to  be 
penitent,  and  fit  to  receive. 

THE    BURIAL    OF    THE    DEAD. 

§  1 .  Rub.  1.  pSxc.  2.]  It  is  not  fit  so  much  should  be  left  to 
the  discretion  of  every  minister ;  and  the  desire  that  all  may  be 
said  in  the  church,  being  not  pretended  to  be  for  the  ease  of 


174  The  Answer  of  the  Bishops  [1661. 

tender  consciences,  but  of  tender  heads,  may  be  helped  by  a 
cap  better  than  a  rubric. 

§  2.  [Exc.  5.]  We  see  not  why  these  words  may  not  be  said 
of  any  person  whom  we  dare  not  say  is  damned,  and  it  were 
a  breach  of  charity  to  say  so  even  of  those  whose  repentance 
we  do  not  see :  for  whether  they  do  not  inwardly  and  heartily 
repent,  even  at  the  last  act,  who  knows?  and  that  God  will 
not  even  then  pardon  them  upon  such  repentance,  who  dares 
say?  It  is  better  to  be  charitable,  and  hope  the  best, 
than  rashly  to  condemn. 

CHURCHING   WOMEN. 

§  1.  Exc.  1.  It  is  fit  that  the  woman  performing  especial 
service  of  thanksgiving  should  have  a  special  place  for  it, 
where  she  may  be  perspicuous  to  the  whole  congregation, 
and  near  the  holy  table,  in  regard  of  the  offering  she  is  there 
to  make.  They  need  not  fear  popery  in  this,  since  in  the 
Church  of  Rome  she  is  to  kneel  at  the  church  door. 

§  2.  Exc.  2.  The  psalm  cxxi  is  more  fit  and  pertinent  than 
those  others  named,  as  cxiii,  cxxviii,  and  therefore  not  to  be 
changed. 

§  3.  Exc.  3.  If  the  woman  be  such  as  is  here  mentioned,  she 
is  to  do  her  penance  before  she  is  churched. 

§  4.  Exc.  4.  Ofierings  are  required  as  well  under  the  gospel 
as  the  law;  and  amongst  other  times  most  fit  it  is,  that 
oblations  should  be  when  we  come  to  give  thanks  for  some 
special  blessing.  Psa.  Ixxvi,  10,  11.  Such  is  the  deliverance 
in  childbearing. 

§  4.  Exc.  5.  This  is  needless,  since  the  rubric  and  common 
sense  require  that  no  notorious  person  be  admitted. 

THE     CONCESSIONS. 

§  1.  We  are  willing  that  all  the  epistles  and  gospels  be 
used  according  to  the  last  translation. 

§  2.  That  when  anything  is  read  for  an  epistle  which  is 
not  in  the  epistles, the  superscription  shall  be,  ''For  the  epistle." 


166].]  to  the  Exceptions  of  the  Ministers,  175 

§  3.  That  the  Psalms  be  collated  with  the  former  transla- 
tiorij  mentioned  in  rubric,  and  printed  according  to  it. 

§  4.  That  the  words  "  this  day,"  both  in  the  collects  and 
prefaces,  be  used  only  upon  the  day  itself;  and  for  the 
following  days  it  be  said,  "  as  about  this  time." 

§  5.  That  a  longer  time  be  required  for  signification  of  the 
names  of  the  communicants :  and  the  words  of  the  rubric  be 
changed  into  these,  "  at  least  some  time  the  day  before." 

§  6.  That  the  power  of  keeping  scandalous  sinners  from 
the  communion  may  be  expressed  in  the  rubric  according  to 
the  26th  and  27th  canons;  so  the  minister  be  obliged  to 
give  an  account  of  the  same  immediately  after  to  the 
ordinary. 

§  7.  That  the  whole  preface  be  prefixed  to  the  com- 
mandments. 

§  8.  That  the  second  exhortation  be  read  some  Sunday  or 
holyday  before  the  celebration  of  the  communion,  at  the 
discretion  of  the  minister. 

§  9.  That  the  general  confession  at  the  communion  be 
pronounced  by  one  of  the  ministers,  the  people  saying  after 
him,  all  kneeling  humbly  upon  their  knees. 

§  10.  That  the  manner  of  consecrating  the  elements  be 
made  more  explicit  and  express,  and  to  that  purpose  these 
words  be  put  into  the  rubric,  "Then  shall  he  put  his  hand 
upon  the  bread  and  break  it,"  "then  shall  he  put  his  hand 
unto  the  cup." 

§  11.  That  if  the  font  be  so  placed  as  the  congregation 
cannot  hear,  it  may  be  referred  to  the  ordinary  to  place  it 
more  c(3nveniently. 

§  12.  That  those  words,  "  Yes,  they  do  perform  those,^' 
&c.,  may  be  altered  thus,  "  Because  they  promise  them  both 
by  their  sureties,"  &c. 

§  13.  That  the  words  of  the  last  rubric  before  the  catechism 
may  be  thus  altered,  "  that  children  being  baptized  have  all 
things  necessary  for  their  salvation,  and  dying  before  they 
commit  any  actual  sins,  be  undoubtedly  saved,  though  they 
be  not  confirmed." 


176  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

§  14.  That  to  the  rubric  after  confirmation  these  words  may 
be  added,  "  or  be  ready  and  desirous  to  be  confirmed." 

§  15.  That  those  words,  "with  my  body  I  thee  worship/' 
may  be  altered  thus,  "  with  my  body  I  thee  honour.'' 

§  16.  That  those  words,  "  till  death  us  depart,"  be  thus 
altered,  "  till  death  us  do  part." 

§  17.  That  the  words  "  sure  and  certain"  may  be  left  out. 


XVII. 

Tfie  Petition  for  peace  and  concord  presented  to  the  Bishops 
with  the  proposed  Reformation  of  the  Liturgy} — A  Petition 
for  Peace  with  the  Reformation  of  the  Liturgy  as  it  was 
presented  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishops,  London,  1661. 

Most  Reverend  Fathers  and  Reverend  Brethren, 
The  special  providence  of  God,  and  his  majesty's  tender 
regard  for  the  peace  and  consciences  of  his  subjects,  and  his 
desire  of  their  concord  in  the  things  of  God,  hath  put  into 
our  hands  this  opportunity  of  speaking  to  you  as  humble 
petitioners,  as  well  as  commissioners,  on  the  behalf  of  these 
yet  troubled  and  unhealed  churches,  and  of  many  thousand 
souls  that  are  dear  to  Christ;  on  whose  behalf,  we  are  pressed 
in  spirit  in  the  sense  of  our  duty,  most  earnestly  to  beseech 
you,  as  you  tender  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  these  churches, 
the  comfort  of  his  majesty  in  the  union  of  his  subjects,  and 
the  peace  of  your  souls  in  the  great  day  of  your  accounts, 
that  laying  by  all  former  and  present  exasperating  and 
alienating  differences,  you  will  not  now  deny  us  your  consent 
and  assistance  to  those  means  that  shall  be  proved  honest  and 
cheap,  and  needful  to  those  great,  desirable  ends,  for  which 
we  all  profess  to  have  our  oflB.ces,  and  our  lives. 

'  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Baxter. — Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  p.  334. 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  177 

The  things  which  we  humbly  beg  of  you  are  these. 
1.  That  you  will  grant  what  we  have  here  proposed  and 
craved  of  you  in  our  preface ;  even  your  charitable  interpi'eta- 
tion,  acceptance  of,  and  consent  unto  the  alterations  and 
additions  to  the  liturgy  now  tendered  unto  you,  that  being 
inserted,  as  we  have  expressed,  it  may  be  left  to  the  minister's 
choice  to  use  one  or  other  at  his  discretion  upon  his  majesty's 
approbation,  according  to  his  gracious  Declaration  concerning 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  And  that  (seeing  we  cannot  obtain  the 
form  of  episcopal  government,  described  by  the  late  reverend 
primate  of  Ireland,  and  approved  by  many  episcopal  divines) 
we  may  at  least  erjoy  those  benefits  of  reformation  in  disci- 
pline, and  that  freedom  from  subscription,  oaths,  and  cere- 
monies, which  are  granted  in  the  said  Declaration,  by  the 
means  of  your  chaiitable  mediation  and  request. 

2.  Seeing  some  hundreds  of  able,  holy,  faithful  ministers 
are  of  late  cast  out,  and  not  only  very  many  of  their  families 
in  great  distress,  but  (which  is  of  far  greater  moment) 
abundance  of  congregations  in  England,  Ireland,  and  Wales, 
are  overspread  with  lamentable  ignorance,  and  are  destitute 
of  able,  faithful  teachers  :  and  seeing  too  many  that  are  in- 
sufficient, negligent,  or  scandalous,  are  over  the  flocks  (not 
meaning  this  as  an  accusation  of  any  that  are  not  guilty,  nor 
a  dishonourable  reflection  on  any  party,  much  less  on  the 
whole  church)  we  take  this  opportunity  earnestly  to  beseech 
you,  that  you  will  contribute  your  endeavours  to  the  removal 
of  those  that  are  the  shame  and  burdens  of  the  churches; 
and  to  the  restoration  of  such  as  may  be  an  honour  and 
blessing  to  them.  And  to  that  end,  that  it  be  not  imputed 
to  them  as  their  unpardonable  crime,  that  they  were  born  in 
an  age  and  country  which  required  ordination  by  parochial 
pastors,  without  diocesans :  and  that  re-ordination  (whether 
absolute  or  hypothetical)  be  not  made  necessary  to  the  future 
exercise  of  their  ministry.  But  that  an  universal  confirmation 
may  be  granted  of  those  ordained  as  aforesaid,  they  being  still 
responsible  for  any  personal  insufficiency  or  crime.  Were 
these  two  granted  (the  confirmation  of  the  grants  in  his 


178  Petition  f 01^  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

majesty's  Declaration,  with  the  liberty  of  the  reformed  liturgy 
offered  you,  and  the  restoring  of  able,  faithful  ministers  to  a 
capacity  to  be  serviceable  in  the  church  of  God,  without 
forcing  them  against  their  consciences  to  be  re-ordained)  how 
great  would  be  the  benefits  to  this  unworthy  nation  !  How 
glad  would  you  make  the  people's  hearts !  How  thankful 
should  we  be  (for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  souls  of"  men) 
to  those  that  grant  them,  and  procure  them  !  Being  conscious 
that  we  seek  not  great  things  for  ourselves,  or  for  our 
brethren;  that  we  are  ambitious  of  no  greater  wealth,  or 
honour,  than  our  daily  bread,  with  such  freedom  and  advan- 
tage for  the  labours  of  our  ministry,  as  may  most  conduce  to 
the  success,  the  increase  of  holiness  and  peace ;  we  shall  take 
the  boldness  to  second  these  requests,  with  many  of  our 
reasons,  which  we  think  should  prevail  for  your  consent : 
choosing  rather  to  incur  whatsoever  censures  or  offence  may 
by  any  be  taken  against  our  necessary  freedom  of  expression, 
than  to  be  silent  at  such  a  time  as  this,  when  thousands  of 
the  servants  of  the  Lord,  that  are  either  deprived  of  their 
faithful  teachers,  or  in  fears  of  losing  them,  together  with  the 
freedom  of  their  consciences  in  God's  worship,  do  cry  day 
and  night  to  heaven  for  help,  and  would  cry  also  in  your  ears 
with  more  importunate  requests,  if  they  had  but  the  oppor- 
tunity as  now  we  have. 

And  1.  We  beseech  you  bear  with  us  while  we  remember 
you,  that  you  are  pastors  of  the  flock  of  Christ,  who  are 
bound  to  feed  them,  and  to  preach  in  season  and  out  of  sea- 
son, and  to  be  laborious  in  the  word  and  doctrine ;  but  are 
not  bound  to  hinder  all  others  from  this  blessed  work,  that 
dare  not  use  a  cross  or  surplice,  or  worship  God  in  a  form 
which  they  judge  disorderly,  defective,  or  corrupt,  when  they 
have  better  to  off'er  him,  (Mai.  i,  13,  14.)  Is  it  not  for  mat- 
ter and  phrase  at  least  as  agreeable  to  the  holy  Scriptures  ? 
If  so,  we  beseech  you  suffer  us  to  use  it,  who  seek  nothing 
by  it,  but  to  worship  God  as  near  we  can,  according  to  his 
will,  who  is  jealous  in  the  matters  of  his  worship.  If  indeed 
yours  have  more  of  strength,  and  ours  of  weakness,  yet  let  not 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  179 

fathers  cast  the  children  from  the  house  of  God,  because  they 
are  sick  or  weak,  and  need  the  more  compassion  ;  let  not  our 
physicians  resolve  their  patients  shall  all  be  famished,  or  cast 
off,  whose  temperature  and  appetites  cannot  agree  to  feed  on 
the  same  dish,  with  the  same  preparation  and  sauce.  He 
that  thrice  charged  Peter  as  he  loved  him,  to  feed  his  lambs 
and  sheep,  did  never  think  of  charging  him  to  deny  them 
food  or  turn  them  out  of  his  fold,  cr  forbid  all  others  to  feed 
them,  unless  they  could  digest  such  forms  and  ceremonies, 
and  suj^erscriptions  as  ours. 

2.  May  Ave  presume  to  mind  you,  that  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  hath  commanded  us  to  pray  that  more  labourers  may 
be  sent  into  the  harvest,  (for  still  proportionably  the  har- 
vest is  great,  and  the  labourers  are  few.  Matt,  ix,  37,)  and 
that  the  Lord  hath  not  furnished  them  with  his  gifts  in  vain, 
nor  lighted  these  candles  to  put  under  a  bushel,  but  to  be 
set  on  a  candlestick,  that  they  may  give  light  to  all  that  are 
in  the  house.  Matt,  v,  15;  and  that  there  are  few  nations 
under  the  heavens  of  God,  as  far  as  we  can  learn,  that  have 
more  able,  holy,  faithful,  laborious,  and  truly  peaceable 
preachers  of  the  gospel,  (proportionably)  than  those  are  that 
are  now  cast  out  in  England,  and  are  like  in  England,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,  to  be  cast  out,  if  the  old  conformity  be 
urged.  This  witness  is  true,  which  in  judgment  we  bear, 
and  must  record  against  all  the  reproaches  of  uncharitable- 
ness,  which  the  justifier  of  the  righteous  at  his  day  will 
effectually  confute.  We  therefore  beseech  you,  that  when 
thousands  of  souls  are  ready  to  famish  for  want  of  the  bread 
of  life,  and  thousands  more  are  grieved  for  the  ejection  of 
their  faithful  guides,  the  labourers  may  not  be  kept  out,  upon 
the  account  of  such  forms  or  ceremonies,  or  re-ordination; 
at  least  till  you  have  enow  as  fit  as  they  to  supply  their 
places,  and  then  we  shall  never  petition  you  for  them  more. 

3.  And  we  beseech  you  consider  when  you  should  promote 
the  joy  and  thankfulness  of  his  majesty^s  subjects  for  his 
happy  restoration,  whether  it  be  equal  and  seasonable  to 
bring   upon    so  many  of   them   so   great   calamities  as   the 

N  2 


180  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

change  of  able,  faithful  mir.isters,  for  such  as  they  cannot 
comfortably  commit  the  conduct  of  their  souls  to,  and  the 
depriving  them  of  the  liberty  of  the  public  worship ;  calami- 
ties far  greater  than  the  mere  loss  of  all  their  worldly  sub- 
stance can  amount  to.  In  a  day  of  common  joy  to  bring 
this  causelessly  on  so  many  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  and  to 
force  them  to  lie  down  in  heart-breaking  sorrows,  as  being 
almost  as  far  undone,  as  man  can  do  it;  this  is  not  a  due 
requital  of  the  Lord  for  so  great  deliverances.  Especially 
considering,  that  if  it  vv'ere  never  so  certain,  that  it  is  the  sin 
of  the  ministers  that  dare  not  be  re-ordained,  or  conform ; 
it's  hard  that  so  many  thousand  innocent  people  should  suffer 
even  in  their  souls  for  the  faults  of  others. 

4.  And  if  we  thought  it  would  not  be  misinterpreted,  we 
would  here  remember  you,  how  great  and  considerable  a  part 
of  the  three  nations  they  are,  that  must  either  incur  these 
sufferings,  or  condole  them  that  undergo  them;  and  how 
great  a  grief  it  will  be  to  his  majesty,  to  see  his  grieved 
subjects;  and  how  great  a  joy  it  will  be  to  him,  to  have 
their  hearty  thanks  and  prayers,  and  see  them  live  in 
prosperity,  peace,  and  comfort,  under  his  most  happy 
government. 

5.  And  we  may  plead  the  nature  of  their  cause,  to  move 
you  to  compassionate  your  poor  afflicted  brethren  in  their 
sufferings.  It  is,  in  your  own  account,  but  for  refusing 
conformity  to  things  indifferent,  or  at  the  most,  of  no  neces- 
sity to  salvation.  It  is  in  their  account  for  the  sake  of 
Christ,  because  they  dare  not  consent  to  that  which  they 
judge  to  be  an  usurpation  of  his  kingly  power,  and  an  accu- 
sation of  his  laws  as  insufficient,  and  because  they  dare  not 
be  guilty  of  addition  to,  or  diminution  of  his  worship,  or  of 
worshipping  him  after  any  other  law,  than  that  by  which 
they  must  be  judged,  or  such  as  is  merely  subordinate  to 
that.  Suppose  they  be  mistaken  in  thinking  the  things  to 
be  so  displeasing  to  God ;  yet  it  is  commendable  in  them  to 
be  fearful  of  displeasing  him,  and  careful  to  obey  him;  a 
disposition  necessary  to  all  that  will  be  saved,  and  therefore 


1661.]  Petition  for-  Peace  and  Concord.  181 

to  be  loved  and  clierislied  in  tliem  by  the  pastors  of  the 
Church ;  who  should  be  very  tender  of  putting  them  to 
suffering,  or  casting  them  out  of  the  church,  because  they 
dare  not  do  that  which  they  judge  to  be  so  great  a  sin  against 
the  Lord,  deserving  damnation  to  themselves.  Should  not 
the  love  of  Christ  command  vis  to  be  tender  of  those  that  are 
so  tender  of  his  honour,  and  to  take  heed  what  we  do  to  men 
for  taking  heed  of  sin_,  and  being  afraid  to  offend  the  Lord ; 
and  should  not  the  special  love  of  Christians^  and  the  com- 
mon love  of  men,  command  us,  to  be  loth  to  drive  men  by 
penalties,  upon  that  which  they  judge  doth  tend  to  their 
everlasting  damnation,  and  which  indeed  doth  tend  to  it, 
because  they  judge  it  so  to  do?  For  he  that  M'ill  do  that 
which  he  thinks  to  be  so  great  a  sin  as  is  before  described,  to 
please  men,  or  to  escape  their  punishment,  no  doubt  deserveth 
the  wrath  of  God ;  and  should  we  not  be  loth  to  drive  men 
upon  sin  and  condemnation,  though  we  were  sure  that  their 
own  infirmity  is  the  occasion?  If  it  be  said  that,  by  this 
rule,  nothing  shall  be  commanded  if  men  will  but  scruple  it, 
we  answer — things  in  themselves  necessary,  or  commanded 
by  God,  must  be  commanded  by  man,  because  scruples  make 
them  not  unnecessary,  and  make  not  void  the  laws  of  God, 
and  it  will  be  a  sin  even  to  the  scrupulous  to  disobey.  But 
things  dispensable,  and  of  themselves  unnecessary,  should  not 
be  rigorously  urged  upon  him,  to  whom  they  would  be  a  sin, 
and  cause  of  condemnation.  It  is  in  case  of  things  indifferent 
in  your  own  judgment,  that  we  now  speak.  If  it  be  said, 
that  it  is  humour,  pride,  or  singularity,  or  peevishness,  or 
faction,  and  not  true  tenderness  of  conscience  that  causeth 
the  doubts,  or  nonconformity  of  these  men,  we  answer, — 
such  crimes  must  be  fastened  only  on  the  individuals,  that 
are  first  proved  guilty  of  them ;  and  not  upon  multitudes 
unnamed  and  unknown,  and  without  proof;  and  you  know  it 
is  the  prerogative  of  God  to  search  the  heart,  and  that  he 
hath  said,  "  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged  :  for  with  what 
judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged;  and  with  what 
measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again :"  Matt. 


182  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

vii,  1,  2.  "And  who  art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's 
servant  ?  to  his  own  master,  he  staudeth  or  falleth ;  yea,  he 
shall  be  holden  up,  for  God  is  able  to  make  him  stand  -P 
Rom.  xiv,  4.  And  who  can  pretend  to  be  better  acquainted 
with  their  hearts,  than  they  are  themselves  ?  ''  For  what 
man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man,  save  the  spirit  of  a  man, 
which  is  in  him  :"  1  Cor.  ii,  11.  And  they  are  ready  to 
appeal  to  the  dreadful  God,  the  searcher  of  heai'ts,  and  the 
hater  of  hypocrisy,  that  if  it  were  not  for  fear  of  sinning 
against  him,  and  wounding  their  consciences,  and  hazarding, 
and  hindering  their  salvation,  they  would  readily  obey  you 
in  all  these  things.  That  it  is  their  fear  of  sin  and  damna- 
tion that  is  their  impediment,  they  are  ready  to  give  you  all 
the  assurance,  that  man  can  give  by  the  solemuest  professions, 
or  by  oath  if  justly  called  to  it. 

And  one  would  think  that  a  little  charity  might  suffice  to 
enable  you  to  believe  them,  when  their  non-compliance 
brings  them  under  suffering,  and  their  compliance,  is  the 
visible  way  to  favour,  safety,  and  prosperity  m  the  world. 
And  if  men  that  thus  appeal  to  God  concerning  the  intentioii 
of  their  own  heai'ts,  cannot  be  believed,  even  when  the  state 
of  their  worldly  interest  bears  witness  to  their  professions, 
but  another  shall  step  into  the  throne  of  the  heart-searching 
God,  and  say  it  is  not  as  they  say,  or  swear,  it  is  not  con- 
science, but  obstinacy  or  singularity,  all  human  converse 
upon  these  terms  will  be  overthrown.  And  what  remedy 
have  they,  but  patiently  to  wait,  till  God,  that  they  have 
appealed  to,  shall  decide  the  doubt,  and  shew  who  were  the 
assertors  of  truth  or  falsehood  ? 

6.  And  we  crave  leave  to  represent  to  you  the  gi'eat  dis- 
proportion in  necessity  and  worth,  between  the  things  in 
question,  and  the  salvation  of  so  many,  as  may  be  obtained 
by  the  free  and  faithful  exercise  of  the  ministry  of  those  that 
now  are,  and  that  are  yet  like  to  be  laid  aside.  Do  you 
think  the  Lord  that  died  for  souls,  and  hath  sent  us  to  learir 
what  that  meaneth,  "I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice:'^ 
Matt,  ix,  13,  is  better  pleased  wiih  re-ordination,  subscrip- 


I 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  183 

tion,  and  ceremonies,  than  with  the  saving  of  souls,  by  the 
means  of  his  own  appointment  ?  If  it  be  said  that  public 
order,  and  peace,  and  concord,  do  promote  the  salvation  of 
many,  and  therefore  are  to  be  preferred  before  the  salvation 
of  fewer,  we  answer — concord  in  holy  obedience  to  God 
doth  indeed  promote  the  salvation  of  all  that  entertain  it; 
but  concord  in  ceremonies,  or  re-ordination,  or  oaths  of 
obedience  to  diocesans,  or  in  your  questioned  particular 
forms  of  prayer,  do  neither  in  their  nature,  or  by  virtue  of 
any  promise  of  God,  so  much  conduce  to  men's  salvation 
as  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  doth,  by  able,  .faithful,  and 
laborious  ministers.  And  how  comes  it  to  pass  that  unity, 
concord,  and  order,  must  be  placed  in  those  things  which 
are  no  way  necessary  thereto  ?  Will  there  not  be  order  and 
concord  in  holy  obedience,  and  acceptable  worshipping  of 
God,  on  the  terms  which  we  now  propose  and  crave,  without 
the  foresaid  matter  of  offence  ?  We  here  shew  you  that  we  are 
no  enemies  to  order ;  and  our  long  importunity  for  the  means 
of  concord,  doth  shew  that  we  are  not  enemies  to  concord. 

If  it  be  said,  that  other  men  that  will  conform  to  the  things 
in  question  may  convert  and  save  souls  better  than  those  that 
are  factious  and  disobedient, —  we  first  humbly  crave  that 
reproach  may  not  be  added  to  affliction,  and  that  none  may 
be  called  factious  that  are  not  proved  such ;  and  that  laws 
imposing  things  indifferent  in  your  judgment,  and  sinful  in 
theirs,  may  not  be  made  the  rule  to  judge  of  faction  :  but 
that  men  who  live  inoffensively  under  civil  government,  and 
in  matters  of  faith  and  worship,  subscribe  to  all  contained  in 
the  holy  Scriptures,  and  endeavour  to  promote  universal 
peace  and  charity  on  these  terras,  may  not  be  made  offenders 
by  the  making  of  laws  and  canons,  that  must  force  them  to 
be  such;  consequently,  Daniel  was  an  offender,  that  would 
not  forbear  praying  openly  by  the  space  of  thirty  days.  But 
antecedently  to  that  law,  he  was  confessed  just  by  them  that 
said  "  We  shall  not  find  any  occasion  against  this  Daniel,  ex- 
cept we  find  it  against  him  concerning  the  law  of  his  God :" 
Dan.  vi,  5,  7,  10.      The  law  which  he  must  break  was  made 


184  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

to  make  liim  a  breaker  of  that  law  :  take  away  that  law^  and 
take  away  his  fault.  We  accuse  none  of  the  like  intentions, 
hut  we  must  say  that,  it  is  easy  to  make  any  man  an  offender, 
by  making  laws  which  his  conscience  will  not  allow  him  to 
observe ;  and  it's  as  easy  to  make  that  same  man  cease  to  seem 
disobedient,  obstinate,  or  factious,  without  any  change  at  all 
in  him,  by  taking  down  such  needless  laws.  We  may  again 
remember  you  what  Christ  a  second  time  doth  press.  Matt,  xii,  7. 
"  But  if  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy, 
and  not  sacrifice,  ye  would  not  have  condemned  the  guiltless.'^ 

And  next,  to  the  rest  of  the  objection,  we  answer — that 
sad  experience  tells  the  world,  that  if  the  ministers  that  we 
are  pleading  for,  be  laid  aside,  there  are  not  competent  men 
enough  to  sujjply  their  rooms,  and  equally  to  promote  the 
salvation  of  the  flocks.  This  is  acknowledged  by  them  who 
still  give  it  as  the  reason  why  ministers  are  not  to  be  trusted 
with  the  expressing  of  their  desires  in  their  own  words,  nor 
so  much  as  to  choose  which  chapter  to  read,  as  well  as  which 
text  to  preach  on  to  their  auditors,  because  we  shall  have 
ministers  so  weak,  as  to  be  unfit  for  such  a  trust ;  and  men 
that  are  not  wise  enough  for  so  easy  a  part  of  their  duty,  as 
to  choose  fit  portions  of  Scripture  to  read,  are  unlikely  to 
afford  an  equal  assistance  to  the  salvation  of  the  people, 
instead  of  the  labours  of  such  as  we  are  speaking  for. 

7.  And  it  must  be  remembered,  that  in  our  ordination  we 
must  profess  that  w^e  are  persuaded  that  the  holy  Scriptures 
contain  sufficiently  all  doctrine  required  of  necessity  for 
eternal  salvation,  etc.,  and  that  we  will  teach  or  maintain 
nothing,  as  required  of  necessity  to  eternal  salvation,  but  that 
"which  we  are  persuaded  may  be  concluded  and  proved  by  the 
same,  and  that  one  of  the  Articles  of  the  church  containeth 
the  same  doctrine  of  the  Scripture's  sufficiency ;  and  to  these 
we  are  called  to  subscribe;  and  the  persons  that  we  now 
speak  for,  are  ready  to  subscribe  to  all  contained  in  the 
holy  Scriptures,  and  willing  to  be  obliged,  by  the  laws  of 
men,  to  practise  it.  And  he  that  hath  all  things  necessary  to 
salvation,  is  received  of  God,  and  should  therefore  be  re- 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  185 

ceived  by  the  church,  if  the  apostle's  argument  be  good, 
Eom.  xiv,  1,  3.  "For  God  hath  received  him."  Seeing  then 
you  do  profess  that  none  of  your  impositions  that  can- 
not be  concluded  from  the  Scripture,  are  necessary  to 
salvation,  let  them  not  consequentially  be  made  necessary 
to  it,  and  more  necessary  than  that  which  is  ordinarily 
necessary. 

If  you  say,  that  so  many  men  shall  be  forbidden  to  preach, 
unless  they  dare  subscribe  and  use  these  things,  you  will 
tempt  them  to  infer,  that  preaching  being  ordinarily  ne- 
cessary to  salvation,  Rom.  x,  14,  and  these  things,  called 
indifferent,  being  made  necessary  to  preaching,  and  preferred 
before  it,  therefore  they  are  made  necessary  to  salvation, 
and  preferred  before  that  which  God  hath  made  necessary. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  will  as  much  follow  the  making  of 
any  other  indifferent  thing  to  be  necessary  to  preaching, 
and  so  the  church  shall  make  no  orders,  we  answer — 

1.  That  smaller  things  must  not  be  imposed  by  unpropor- 
tionable  penalties. 

2.  That  though  the  church  may  prefer  a  sober,  peaceable 
preacher,  before  one  that  is  schismatical  and  unpeaceable 
(which  is  not  at  all  to  exclude  preaching),  yet  the  church 
may  not  make  anything  necessary  to  preaching  itself,  that, 
is  of  itself  unnecessary,  and  not  antecedently  necessary,  at 
least  by  accident. 

8.  And  if  our  religion  be  laid  upon  your  particular  liturgy, 
we  shall  teach  the  papists  further  to  insult,  by  asking  us, 
where  was  our  religion  two  hundred  years  ago?  The 
Common  Prayer  Book,  as  differing  from  the  Mass  Book, 
being  not  so  old;  and  that  which  might  then  be  the  matter 
of  a  change,  is  not  so  unchangeable  itself,  but  that  those 
alterations  may  be  accepted  for  ends  so  desirable  as  are  now 
befoi-e  us. 

9.  And  we  humbly  crave  that  we  may  not  in  this  be 
more  rigorously  dealt  with  than  the  pastors  and  people  of 
the  ancient  churches  were.  If  we  may  not  have  the  liberty 
of  the  primitive  times,  when,  for  aught  that  can  be  proved, 


186  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

no  liturgical  forms  were  imposed  upon  any  church,  yet  at 
least  let  us  have  the  liberty  of  the  following  ages,  when 
under  the  same  prince  there  were  diversity  of  liturgies,  and 
particular  pastors  had  the  power  of  making  and  altering  them 
for  their  particular  churches. 

10.  And  if  you  should  reject  (which  God  forbid)  the 
moderate  proposals  which  now  and  formerly  we  have  made, 
we  humbly  crave  leave  to  offer  it  to  your  consideration,  what 
judgment  all  the  protestant  churches  are  likely  to  pass  on 
your  proceedings,  and  how  your  cause  and  ours  will  stand 
represented  to  them,  and  to  all  succeeding  ages.  Though  we 
earnestly  desire  the  toleration  of  those  that  are  tolerable,  and 
the  peaceable  liberties  of  all  that  agree  on  the  catholic  tern.s 
of  primitive  simplicity  in  doctrine,  worship,  and  discipline, 
yet  have  we  ourselves  so  far  drawn  near  you,  as  that  the 
world  will  say,  you  reject  those  that  are  for  episcopacy  itself, 
and  set  forms  of  liturgy,  and  are  not  so  much  as  charged  by 
you  at  all,  as  disagreeing  in  any  point  of  faith,  if  you  shall 
reject  us.  If  after  our  submission  to  his  majesty's  Declara- 
tion, and  after  our  own  proposals  of  the  primitive  episcopacy, 
and  of  such  a  liturgy  as  here  we  tender,  we  may  not  be  per- 
mitted to  exercise  our  ministry,  or  enjoy  the  public  worship 
of  God,  the  pens  of  those  learned,  moderate  bishops  will 
bear  witness  against  you,  that  were  once  employed  as  the 
chief  defenders  of  that  cause  (we  mean  such  as  Reverend 
Bishop  Hall,  and  Ussher),  who  have  published  to  the  world 
that  much  less  than  this  might  have  served  to  our  fraternal 
unity  and  peace.  If  you  would  not  grant  this  liberty  and 
communion  to  others,  with  whom  Christ  will  hold  communion 
in  grace  and  glory  ;  yet  it  will  appear  more  strange  to  the 
world,  that  you  should  cast  out  the  episcopal  also,  that  dare 
not  go  beyond  the  rule  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  the  example  of 
primitive  simplicity. 

And  we  doubt  not  but  you  know,  how  new  and  strange  a 
thing  it  is  that  you  require  in  the  point  of  re-ordination. 
When  a  canon  amongst  those  called  the  Apostles',  deposeth 
those  that  re-ordain,  and  that  are  re-ordamed  ;    and  when  it 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  187 

is  a  thing  that  both  papists  and  protestants  condemn ;  when 
not  only  the  former  bishops  of  England,  that  were  more 
moderate,  were  against  it,  but  even  the  most  fervent  adversa- 
ries of  the  presbyterian  way,  such  as  Bishop  Bancroft  himself; 
how  strange  must  it  needs  seem  to  the  reformed  churches,  to 
the  whole  Christian  world,  and  to  future  generations,  that  so 
many  able,  faithful  ministers  should  be  laid  by  as  broken 
vessels,  because  they  dare  not  be  re-ordained,  and  that  so 
many  have  been  put  upon  so  new  and  so  generally  disrelished 
a  thing  ? 

11.  And  we  crave  leave  to  remember  you,  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  hath  commanded  you  to  oversee  the  flock,  not  by  con- 
straint, but  willingly,  not  as  being  lords  over  God's  heritage, 
but  as  ensamplcs  to  the  flock ;  and  that  it  is  not  only  more 
comfortable  to  yourselves  to  be  loved  as  the  fathers  than  to  be 
esteemed  the  aflSicters  of  the  church,  but  that  it  is  needful  to 
the  ends  of  your  ministry  for  the  people.  When  you  are 
loved,  your  doctrine  will  more  easily  be  received ;  but  when 
men  think  that  their  souls  or  liberties  are  endangered  by 
you,  it's  easy  to  judge  how  much  they  are  like  to  profit  by 
you. 

12.  And  you  know  if  we  are  not  in  point  of  ceremonies  or 
forms  in  everything  of  your  mind,  it  is  no  more  strange  to 
have  variety  of  intellectual  apprehensions  in  the  same 
kingdom  and  church,  than  variety  of  temperatures  and 
degrees  of  age  and  strength.  If  his  majesty  should  expel  all 
those  from  his  dominions,  that  are  not  so  wise  as  solidly  to 
judge,  whether  the  liturgy  as  before,  or  as  thus  reformed,  be 
the  best,  yea,  whether  this  be  intolerable  in  comparison  of 
yours,  and  whether  God  be  pleased  or  displeased  with  your 
ceremonies,  it  would  be  too  great  a  diminution  of  his  subjects  ; 
and  if  you  should  turn  all  such  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
it  would  be  liker  a  dissipating  than  a  gathering,  and  a  des- 
troying than  an  edifying  of  his  church ;  and  you  have  not 
your  power  to  destruction,  but  to  edification,  2  Cor.  x,  8 ; 
xiii,  10.  You  must  do  all  things  for  the  people's  edifying, 
2  Cor.  xii,  19;  Eph.  iv,  12. 


188  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

13.  And  how  Christ  will  take  it  of  you,  to  cast  out  from 
the  ministry  or  communion  of  the  church,  or  to  grieve  and 
punish  all  those  that  dare  not  conform  to  you  in  these  mat- 
terSj  for  fear  of  displeasing  the  law-giver  of  the  church,  we 
beseech  you  to  judge  (when  your  souls  are  most  seriously 
thinking  of  the  day  of  your  accounts),  by  such  passages  of 
holy  Scripture  as  may  fully  acquaint  you  with  his  mind.  He 
is  himself  a  merciful  High-Priest,  a  gracious  Saviour,  a  ten- 
der governor.  He  despiseth  not  the  day  of  small  things, 
Zech.  iv,  10,  "  He  feedeth  his  flock  like  a  shepherd ;  he 
gathereth  his  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  carrieth  them  in  his 
bosom ;  and  gently  leadeth  those  that  are  with  young.'' 
Isa.  xl,  11.  ''A  bruised  reed  will  he  not  break,  and  the 
smoking  flax  will  he  not  quench  :"  Isa.  xlii,  3 ;  Matt,  xii,  20. 
God  doth  instruct  the  ploughman  to  discretion,  and  teacheth 
him  not  to  thresh  the  fetches  with  a  threshing-instrument, 
nor  to  turn  the  cart-wheel  upon  the  cummin,  but  the  fetches 
are  beaten  out  with  a  staflp,  and  the  cummin  with  a  rod, 
Isa.  xxviii,  26,  27.  God's  servants  are  his  jewels,  Mai.  iii,  17. 
He  will  spare  them  as  a  man  spareth  his  son  that  serves  him, 
and  he  that  toucheth  them,  toucheth  the  apple  of  his  eye, 
Zech.  ii,  8.  Remember  the  near  relation  they  stand  in  to 
God  in  Christ,  that  they  are  the  children  of  God,  co-heirs 
with  Christ,  Rom.  viii,  17;  the  members  of  his  body,  his 
flesh  and  bone,  which  he  cannot  hate,  whoever  hate  them, 
Eph.  v,  29,  30.  Remember  how  dear  they  cost  him,  and  to 
what  honour  he  will  advance  them,  and  that  these  same  per- 
sons that  love  him  in  sincerity  must  be  where  he  is,  to  behold 
his  glory,  John  xii,  26;  xvii,  24;  and  shall  be  like  the 
angels  of  God,  Luke  xx,  36;  and  shall  judge  the  world, 
1  Cor.  vi,  2,  3 ;  and  that  Christ  will  come  to  be  glorified 
and  admired  in  them,  2  Thess.  i,  10;  and  they  shall  shine 
forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father,  Matt,  xiii,  43. 
Remember  with  what  tender  usage  he  treated  his  weak,  im- 
perfect members  upon  earth ;  and  when  he  was  ascending  to 
prepare  a  place  for  them,  that  they  might  be  with  him  where 
he  is,  how  afiectionately  he  bespeaketh  them,  John  xx,  17. 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  189 

"  Go  to  my  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I  ascend  up  to  my 
Father  and  your  Father,  and  to  my  God  and  your  God.'' 
And  lest  you  should  say  that  he  will  not  own  those  little 
ones  that  (whether  for  truth's  sake,  or  for  their  infirmities) 
do  bear  disgraceful  titles  in  the  world,  remember  that  at  the 
day  of  judgment  he  will  say,  "  Inasmuch  as  you  did  it  not, 
or  did  it,  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  you  did  it 
not,  or  did  it,  unto  me  :  "  Matt,  xxv,  40 — 45.  If  his  elect 
cry  to  him  day  and  night,  though  he  bear  long,  he  will 
avenge  them,  and  that  speedily,  Luke  xviii,  7,  8.  Bear  with 
us  while  we  add  this  terrible  passage,  which  we  once  before 
made  mention  of: — "  Whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child 
in  my  name,  receiveth  me :  but  whoso  shall  offend  one  of 
these  little  ones  that  believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that 
a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  were 
drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea :"  Matt,  xviii,  5,  6.  Un- 
doubtedly, if  you  consider  duly  by  such  passages,  how  Christ 
will, take  it,  to  have  his  servants  not  only  not  visited,  not  re- 
lieved, but  to  be  afflicted,  not  only  in  body,  but  in  soul,  with 
that  great  affliction  to  be  cast  out  of  the  ministry,  or  church, 
for  an  unavoidable  dissent  in  things  indifferent,  you  will  never 
join  with  those  that  shall  stretch  forth  a  hand  against  them 
for  such  a  cause  as  this.  If  yet  the  old  pretence  be  made, 
that  they  suffer  as  schismatics,  and  disobedient,  we  must  say 
again,  if  any  shall  make  men  disobedient  by  imposing  things 
unnecessary,  which  they  know  are  by  learned,  pious,  peace- 
able men,  esteemed  sins  against  the  Lord,  and  then  shall  thus 
heavily  afflict  them  for  the  disobedience  which  they  may 
easily  cure  by  the  forbearance  of  those  impositions ;  let  not 
our  souls  come  into  their  secret,  nor  our  honour  be  united  to 
their  assembly.  If  they  shall  smite  or  cast  out  a  supposed 
schismatic,  and  Christ  shall  find  an  able,  holy,  peaceable 
minister,  or  other  Christian,  wounded,  or  mourning, 
out  of  doors,  let  us  not  be  found  among  the  actors,  not  stand 
among  them  in  the  day  of  their  accounts,  when  tribula- 
tion shall  be  recompenced  to  the  troublers  of  believers, 
2  Thcss.  i,  6. 


190  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

14=  We  beseech  you  also  to  consider,  that  men  have  not 
their  understandings  attheir  own  conimand_,rauch  less  can  they 
be  commanded  by  others.  If  they  were  never  so  willing  to 
believe  all  that  is  imposed  on  them  to  be  lawful,  they  cannot 
therefore  believe  it,  because  they  would  ;  the  intellect  being  not 
free.  And  to  dissemble,  and  say,  and  swear,  and  do,  the 
things  which  they  beheve  not,  is  such  an  aggravated  hypo- 
crisy (being  in  the  matters  of  God,  and  joined  with  perfidi- 
ousness)  as  we  may  suppose  cannot  render  them  acceptable  to 
any  that  have  not  renounced  religion  and  humanity ;  much 
less  should  they  be  constrained  to  it.  And  when  it  is  known 
that  men^s  judgments  are  against  the  things  imposed,  and  that 
penalties  are  no  means  adapted  to  the  informing  and  chang- 
ing of  the  judgment,  but  to  force  men  to  do  the  things  they 
know,  we  conceive  they  should  not  be  used,  and  so  used,  in 
the  case  of  things  indiflerent,  where  they  are  not  necessary  to 
the  common  good,  and  where  the  sufferers,  have  never  had 
sufficient  means  to  change  their  judgments. 

If  it  be  said  that,  it  is  their  own  fault  that  their  judgments 
are  not  changed,  and  that  the  means  have  been  sufficient — 
we  answer,  that  it  is  their  fault,  is  the  point  in  question; 
which  the  sword  can  easier  take  for  granted,  than  the  tongue 
or  pen  can  prove :  but  if  it  be  so,  it  is  their  fault,  as  it  is  that 
they  are  the  sons  of  Adam,  partakers  of  the  common  corrup- 
tion cf  human  nature ;  and  as  it  is  their  fault  that  they  are 
not  all  of  the  highest  form  in  the  school  of  Christ,  above  the 
common  ignorance  and  -frailties  of  believers ;  and  that  they 
are  not  all  the  most  judicious  divines  of  the  most  subtle 
wits ;  and  had  not  the  same  education  and  society  to  advance 
your  opinions,  and  represent  things  to  their  understandings, 
just  as  they  are  represented  unto  yours.  And  if  men  must 
be  cast  out  of  the  church,  or  ministry,  because  they  are  not 
wiser  than  such  learned  men  as  the  pastors  of  the  most  of 
the  reformed  churches,  and  as  Hildeisham,  Bayne,  Parker, 
Ames,  Dod,  Ball,  Nichols,  and  many  such  others  as  have 
here  taken  tbis  conformity  to  be  a  sin,  how  few,  alas,  how 
very  few  will  there  be  left ! 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  191 

And  if  it  be  said,  that  men  do  willingly  keep  out  the  light, 
— we  must  say,  that  few  men  are  obstinate  against  the  opinions 
that  tend  to  their  ease  and  advancement  in  the  workl,  and  to 
save  them  from  being  vilified  as  schismatics,  and  undone; 
and  when  men  profess  before  the  Lord,  that  they  do  impar- 
tially study  and  pray  for  knowledge,  and  would  gladly  know 
the  will  of  God  at  the  dearest  rate ;  we  must  again  say,  that 
those  men  must  prove  that  they  know  the  dissenters'  hearts 
better  than  they  are  known  to  themselves,  that  expect  to  be 
believed  by  charitable  Christians,  when  they  charge  them 
with  wilful  ignorance,  or  obstinate  resisting  of  the  truth. 

15.  And  we  crave  leave  to  ask  whether  you  do  not  your- 
selves in  some  things  mistake,  or  may  not  do  so  for  aught 
you  know;  and  whether  your  understandings  are  not  still 
imperfect,  and  all  men  differ  not  in  some  opinions  or  other  ? 
And  if  you  may  mistake  in  any  thing,  may  it  not  be  in  as 
great  things  as  these  ?  Can  it  be  expected,  that  we  should  all 
be  past  erring  about  the  smallest  ceremonies  and  circum- 
stances of  worship  ?  And  then  should  not  the  consciousness 
of  your  own  infirmity,  provoke  you  rather  to  compassionate 
human  frailty,  than  to  cast  out  your  brethren,  for  as  small 
failings  as  your  own  ? 

16.  And  we  further  offer  to  your  consideration,  whether 
this  be  doing  as  you  would  be  done  by  ?  Would  you  be  cast  out 
for  every  fault  that  is  as  bad  as  this?  and  doth  this  shew  that 
you  love  your  neighbour  as  yourselves  ?  Put  yourselves  in 
their  case,  and  suppose  that  you  had  studied,  conferred,  and 
prayed,  and  done  your  best  to  know  whether  God  would  have 
you  to  be  re-ordained,  to  use  these  forms  or  ceremonies,  or 
subscriptions,  or  not ;  and  having  done  all,  you  think  that 
God  would  be  displeased  if  you  should  use  them ;  would  you 
then  be  used  yourselves,  as  your  dissenting  brethren  are  now 
used,  or  are  like  to  be?  Love  them  as  yourselves,  and  we  will 
crave  no  further  favour  for  them. 

17.  But  nothing  more  affecteth  us,  than  to  think  of  the 
lamentable  divisions,  that  have  been  caused  and  are  still  like 
to  be,  whilst  things  unnecessary  are  so  imposed :  and  on  the 


392  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

contrary,  how  blessed  an  unity  and  peace  we  might  enjoy  if 
these  occasions  of  division  were  removed,  and  we  might  but 
have  leave  to  serve  God  as  his  apostles  did.  As  in  doctrinals, 
ten  thousand  will  sooner  agree  in  an  explicit  behef  of  the 
creed,  than  an  hundred  in  an  explicit  belief  of  all  that  Ockara 
or  Scotus  have  determined ;  so,  in  the  matters  of  government 
and  worship,  it  is  easier  to  agree  upon  few  things,  than 
upon  many;  upon  great,  and  certain,  and  necessary  things,  than 
upon  small,  uncertain,  and  unnecessary  things;  and  upon 
things  that  God  himself  hath  revealed  or  appointed,  than 
upon  things  that  proceed  from  no  surer  an  original  than  the 
wit  or  will  of  man.  The  strict  prohibition  of  adding  to,  or 
diminishing  from  the  things  commanded  by  the  lawgiver  of 
the  church,  Dent,  xii,  3.2,  doth  put  such  a  fear  in  the  minds 
of  multitudes  of  the  loyal  subjects  of  Christ — lest  by  such 
additions  or  diminutions  in  the  matters  of  his  worship,  they 
should  provoke  him  to  displeasure — as  will  be  a  certain  per- 
petual hindrance  to  any  common  unity  or  concord  in  such 
human  impositions,  of  which  many  of  the  servants  of  the 
jealous  God  will  have  a  continual  jealousy. 

With  grieved  hearts  we  now  renew  the  lamentable  divisions 
occasioned  already  by  these  impositions  ever  since  the  refor- 
mation in  the  days  of  King  Edward  VI,  and  the  grievous 
fruits  of  those  divisions  !  How  they  destroyed  charity  (the 
character  of  Christ's  disciples)  and  exasperated  men's  minds 
against  each  other  ;  how  they  corrupted  men's  prayers  and 
other  exercises  of  devotions,  and  made  them  pray  and  preach 
against  one  another ;  how  their  tongues  were  emboldened  to 
the  censuring  of  each  other,  one  party  calling  the  other 
factious,  schismatical,  singular,  and  disobedient;  and  the 
other  calling  them  antichristian,  proud,  tyrannical,  supersti- 
tious, persecutors,  and  formalists ;  and  such  language  still  in- 
creasing the  uncharitableness  and  divisions  ;  till  the  increase 
of  imposing  rigour  on  the  one  side,  and  of  impatience 
under  sufferings  on  the  other  side,  was  too  great  a  prepara- 
tion to  those  greater  calamities  which  are  yet  bitter  to  the 
remembrance  of  all  whose  interests  or  passions  have  not  con- 


^ 


1661.]  'Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  193 

quered  their  humanity.  And  the  continnance  of  so  much  of 
the  causes  and  effects,  doth  infallibly  prove,  that  if  the  same 
impositions  be  settled  upon  us,  the  same  heart  divisions  will 
be  still  continued  :  brethren  will  disdain  the  name  and  love  of 
brethren  to  each  other;  which  yet  Christ  himself  by  conde- 
scending and  reproving  love,  vouchsafeth  to  them  all.  In- 
stead of  loving  one  another  with  a  pure  heart,  fervently,  there 
will  be,  if  not  hating,  vet  grudging  at  one  another,  censuring 
and  despising  one  another;  which  effects  will  still  increase 
their  cause,  and  make  one  side  think  that  they  are  necessi- 
tated to  be  more  rigorous  in  their  coercions,  and  the  other 
think  that  they  are  allowed  to  be  more  censorious  against 
those  by  whom  they  suffer. 

And  how  many  thousands  on  both  sides,  by  such  a  stream 
of  temptations,  will  undoubtedly  be  carried  on  in  a  course  of 
sin  from  day  to  day,  and  by  heart  sin,  and  tongue  sin,  by 
pulpit  sins,  or  sins  in  other"  parts  of  worship,  will  dishonour 
God  and  provoke  him  to  indignation  against  them  and  the 
land,  we  may  not  without  astonishment  and  grief  of  heart 
foresee  or  foretell. 

And  it  is  easy  to  foresee  how  the  innocent  will  be  numbered 
with  the  faulty;  and  those  that  do  but  feel  their  sufferings,  and 
the  suflerings  of  the  church  on  these  occasions,  and  do  but 
groan  and  sigh  to  God,  and  pray  for  succour  and  deliverance, 
will  be  thought  to  be  guilty  of  discontent  and  faction,  and 
bringing  the  government  of  the  church,  and  consequently  of 
the  kingdom,  into  hatred  or  dislike,  and  so  their  sufferings 
will  be  increased  :  and  he  that  is  commanded  by  the  laws  of 
humanity  to  be  compassionately  sensible  of  the  calamities  of 
others,  shall  be  thought  an  offender  for  being  sensible  of  his 
own.  It  is  easy  to  foresee,  how  those  expressions  in  men's 
sermons,  or  prayers,  or  familiar  conference,  which  seem  to  any 
misunderstanding,  or  suspicious,  or  malicious  hearers,  to 
intimate  any  sense  of  sufferings,  will  be  carried  to  the  ears  of 
rulers,  and  represented  as  a  crime.  And  nature  having 
planted  in  all  men  an  unwillingness  to  su^er,  and  denied  to 
all  men  a  love  of  calamity,  and  necessitated  men  to  feel  when 

o 


19i  Petition  fur  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

they  are  hurt,  and  made  the  tongue  and  countenance  the 
index  of  our  sense;  these  effects  will  be  unavoidable,  while 
such  impositions  are  continued,  and  while  a  fear  of  sinning 
will  not  suffer  men  to  swallow  and  digest  them.  And  what 
wrong  such  divisions  about  religion  will  be  to  the  kingdom, 
and  to  his  majesty,  we  shall  not  mention,  because  our  gover- 
nors themselves  may  better  understand  it. 

On  the  other  side,  what  universal  ease,  and  peace,  and  joy 
would  be  the  fruits  of  that  happy  unity  and  concord,  which 
the  reasonable  forbearances  which  we  humbly  petition  for, 
would  certainly  produce ;  how  comfortable  would  our  minis- 
terial labours  be,  when  we  had  no  such  temptations,  burdens, 
or  disquietments ;  when  we  lay  not  under  the  reproofs  of 
conscience,  nor  the  suspicions  or  displeasure  of  our  superiors, 
but  might  serve  the  Lord  without  distraction,  and  be  among 
his  servants  without  such  fears!  (Phil,  i,  14;  1  Cor.  xvi,  10.) 
How  much  would  the  hands  of  the  builders  be  strengthened 
for  the  work  of  God,  when  they  speak  the  same  things,  and 
there  are  no  divisions  among  them,  but  they  are  perfectly 
joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  judgment,  (1  Cor.  i,  10,) 
when  they  are  like-minded,  having  the  same  love,  being  of 
one  accord,  of  one  mind,  doing  nothing  through  strife  or  vain 
glory,  which  will  never  be  while  the  one  calls  the  other 
factious  and  schismatical,  and  the  other  calleth  him  super- 
stitious and  tyrannical;  but  when  Christ  hath  taught  us  in 
lowliness  of  mind  to  esteem  others  better  than  ourselves,  and 
not  to  look  every  man  on  his  own  things  (his  own  gifts,  and 
virtues,  and  worth,  and  interest)  but  every  man  also  on  the 
things  of  others ;  and  till  the  same  mind  be  in  us,  that  was  in 
Christ  Jesus,  that  humbled  himself,  and  took  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  made  himself  of  no  reputation.  (Phil, 
ii,  5 — 8.)  How  much  should  we  honour  the  body,  the  spirit, 
the  hope,  the  Lord,  the  faith,  the  baptism,  the  God  and 
father  cf  all  believers,  which  are  one,  if  we  were  one  among 
ourselves ;  which  will  never  be,  till  with  lowliness,  and  meek- 
ness, and  long-suflPering,  we  forbear  one  another  in  love, 
instead  of  hating,  reviling,  and  persecuting  one  another;  and 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  195 

till  we  endeavour  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  (tliough  given 
in  various  degrees)  rather  than  an  unity  in  unnecessary 
things,  in  the  bond  of  peace,  (Ephes.  iv,  2 — 7,)  and  till  the 
well-jointed  and  compacted  body  do  edify  itself  in  love,  by  a 
due  contribution  of  mutual  supply,  and  grow  in  Christ  the 
proper  head,  instead  of  contending  with  itself,  and  dis -joint- 
ing and  tearing  itself  into  pieces,  because  of  our  different 
measure  of  understanding,  and  our  unavoidable  differences 
about  some  small  unnecessary  things  !  (verses  13 — 16.)  How 
beautiful  would  our  holy  assemblies  be,  and  how  delightful 
the  worship  of  God  there  celebrated,  if  we  had  all  laid  by 
the  unchristian  spirit  of  hatred,  envy,  emulation,  murmuring, 
wrath,  variance,  strife,  heresies,  seditions,  and  all  uncharitable- 
ness,  and  with  one  mind,  and  one  mouth  did  glorify  God, 
{Gal.  V,  19 — 21 ;  Rom.  xv,  16,)  wdiich  will  never  be  done, 
till  those  that  are  strong  do  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak, 
and  please  not  themselves,  but  every  one  of  us  please  his 
iieighbour,  for  his  good  to  edification,  instead  of  vilifying  him, 
or  undoing  him ;  and  till  instead  of  casting  each  other  out 
of  the  church  or  ministry,  on  account  of  things  indif- 
ferent, we  received  one  another,  as  Christ  received  us  to  the 
glory  of  God,  {Rom.  xv,  1,2,  6,  7,)  and  till  we  are  thus  like- 
minded  one  towards  another  according  to  Christ  Jesus,  (verse 
5,)  instead  of  being  selfishly-minded  as  men,  or  maliciously  as 
enemies!  (1  Cor.  iii,  c;  1  Cor.  xiv,  20;  Col.  iii,  8;  Titus iii, 
3.)  If  the  very  babes  were  fed  with  the  sincere  milk  of  the 
word,  and  all  malice,  and  guile,  and  hypocrisy,  and  envies, 
and  evil  speaking,  were  laid  aside  it  would  prove  the  best  way 
to  their  growth,  and  a  surer  way  to  your  present  and  eternal 
peace,  than  casting  them  out  because  they  cannot  bear  your 
burdens,  or  digest  some  unneccessary  things.  (1  Pet.  ii,  1 — 3.) 
How  good  and  how  happy  a  thing  it  would  be  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity,  (Psa.  cxxxiii,  1,)  and  as  those 
that  by  one  spirit  are  baptized  into  one  body,  and  know  they 
have  need  of  one  another,  to  contribute  honour  to  the  parts 
that  lack  it;  yea  to  bestow  more  abundant  honour  upon  those 
members  M'hich  we  think  to  be  less  honourable,  and  more 

o  2 


196  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661 

abundant  comeliness,  on  the  uncomely  parts,  as  knowing  those 
members  are  necessary  that  seem  to  be  more  feeble.  If 
indeed  we  would  have  no  schism  in  the  body,  the  natural  way 
is,  for  the  members  to  have  the  same  care  one  for  another,  as 
suffering  all  with  one  that  suffereth,  and  rejoicing  all  with 
one  that's  honoured.  (1  Cor.  xii,  13,  13,  21—26.)  Take 
their  suflFerings  as  your  own,  and  you  will  not  be  hasty 
to  bring  them  unto  suffering.  It  must  be  the  primitive  sim- 
plicity of  faith,  worship,  and  discipline,  that  must  restore  the 
primitive  charity,  unity,  and  peace,  aud  make  the  multitude 
of  believers  to  be  of  one  heart,  and  of  one  soul,  and  to  con- 
verse with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart,  as  having  all 
things  common.  (Acts  iv,  32,  and  ii,  46.)  No  such  things  as 
our  controverted  impositions  were  then  made  necessary  to 
the  unity  and  concord  of  the  members  of  the  church. 

18.  And  we  humbly  offer  to  your  consideration,  which 
way  will  most  gratify  Satan  in  his  cause  and  servants,  and. 
which  will  most  promote  the  work  and  interest  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  ungodly  that  have  an  inbred  enmity  to  holiness, 
and  to  the  holy  seed,  will  be  glad  to  see  so  many  of  them 
suffer,  and  glad  under  the  shelter  of  your  displeasure  and 
afSictings,  to  find  opportunity  to  reproach  them,  and  add 
affliction  to  affliction.  The  common  adversaries  of  our  re- 
ligion, and  of  the  king  and  kingdom,  will  rejoice  to  see  us 
weakened  by  our  divisions,  and  employed  in  afflicting  or 
censuring  one  another,  and  to  see  so  many  able  ministers 
laid  aside,  that  might  do  much  displeasure  to  Satan,  by  the 
weakening  of  his  kingdom,  and  by  promoting  the  gospel  and 
kingdom  of  the  Lord,  And  whether  this  will  tend  to  the 
edification  of  the  saints,  and  the  pleasing  of  Christ,  we  have 
inqiiired  before. 

19.  And  if  what  you  stand  for,  be  indeed  of  God,  this 
course  of  unmerciful  imposition,  is  the  greatest  wrong  to  it, 
that  you  can  easily  be  drawn  to,  unawares;  while  so  many 
truly  fearing  God,  are  cast  out  or  trodden  down,  and  tempted 
to  think  ill  of  that  which  themselves  and  the  church  thus 
suffer  by,  and  when  so  many  of  the  worst  befriend  this  way 


1661.]  retition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  197 

because  it  gratifieth  them,  it  tendeth  to  make  your  cause 
judged  of  according  to  the  quality  of  its  friends  and  adver- 
saries. And  how  great  a  hand  this  very  thing  hath  had 
already  in  the  disHke  of  (that  has  befallen,)  diocesans,  cere- 
monies, and  the  liturgy,  is  a  thing  too  generally  known  to 
need  proof. 

20.  Lastly  we  repeat  what  formerly  we  have  said,  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  hath  already  so  plainly  decided  the  point  in 
controversy,  in  the  instance  of  meats  and  days,  Rom.  xiv,  15, 
that  it  seemeth  strange  to  us  that  yet  it  should  remain  a 
controversy.  A  weak  brother  that  maketh  an  unnecessary 
difference  of  meats  and  days,  is  not  to  be  cast  out,  but  so  to 
be  received  and  not  to  be  troubled  with  such  doubtful  dispu- 
tations. Despising  and  judging  the  servants  of  the  Lord, 
whom  he  receiveth  and  can  make  to  stand,  and  that  upon 
such  small  occasion,  is  unbeseeming  true  believers,  (verses 
1 — 5.)  All  should  be  here  left  to  the  full  persuasion  of 
their  own  mind,  (verse  5.)  Both  parties  here  acknowledge 
the  sovereignty  of  Christ,  and  in  observing,  or  not  ob- 
serving such  things,  they  do  it  all  to  him,  (verses  6 — 9;)  his 
judgment  should  affright  us  from  despising  or  judging  one 
another,  (verses  10 — 12;)  instead  of  judging  others  we 
should  judge  it  our  duty,  that  none  of  us  put  a  stumbling- 
block,  or  occasion  to  fall  in  his  brother's  way.  (verse  13.)  If 
we  grieve  those  that  esteem  that  unclean  which  we  do  not, 
we  walk  not  charitably ;  destroy  not  the  work  of  God,  nor 
him  for  whom  Christ  died,  by  }  our  indifferent  things,  (verses 
14,  15,  20.)  It  is  evil  lO  him  that  judgeth  it  to  be  evil,  (verses 
14,  20.)  Do  you  believe  these  things  to  be  indifferent,  have 
this  belief  to  yourself  before  God,  and  condemn  not  your- 
selves in  that  which  you  allow,  (verse  22 ;)  your  brother  is 
damned  if  he  practice  doubtingly,  for  whatsoever  is  not  of 
faith  is  sin,  (verse  23;)  and  you  drive  him  upon  damnation! 
"We  may  well  conclude  then,  that  it  is  good,  even  yourselves 
to  avoid  such  things  unnecessary,  by  which  your  brother 
stumbleth,  is  offended,  or  made  weak,  (verse  21.)     Much  more 


198  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord,  [1661 

to  forbear  the  forcing  them  upon  him,  which  those  that  the 
apostle  reproveth  did  not  attempt.  It  is  the  kingdom  of  God 
that  we  must  all  promote;  and  that  kingdom  consisteth  not 
in  meat  or  drink,  but  in  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  he  that  in  these  things  serveth  Christ, 
is  acceptable  to  God,  and  should  be  approved  of  men.  (verses 
17,  18.)  Let  us  therefore  follow  after  the  things  which  make 
for  peace,  and  things  wherewith  one  may  edify  another, 
(verse  19.) 

If  you  say,  rulers'  imposition  maketh  indifferent  things 
cease  to  be  indifferent ;  we  answer, 

1.  They  are  not  indifferent,  in  the  judgment  of  dissenter?;, 
though  they  be  so  in  yours. 

2.  Paul  was  a  ruler  of  the  Church  himself,  and  yet  would 
deny  his  own  liberty,  rather  tlian  offend  the  weak,  so  far  was 
he  from  taking  away  the  liberty  of  othei's.  (1  Cor.  viii,  13.) 
And  it  is  to  the  Church  of  Rome  and  Corinth,  and  so  to  the 
pastors  as  well  as  the  rest,  that  Paul  thus  writeth.  We  beseech 
you  therefore  plead  not  law  against  us,  when  our  request  is 
that  yoa  will  join  with  us  in  petitioning  to  his  majesty,  and 
the  parliament,  that  there  may  be  no  such  law. 

The  apostles  and  elders  (Acts  xv,  28)  declare  unto  the 
churches,  that  it  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  them, 
to  lay  upon  them  no  greater  burden  than  necessary  things ; 
imposing  them  because  antecedently  necessary  (for  that  is 
given  as  the  reason  of  their  selection  and  imposition ;)  and 
only  net  making  unnecessary  things  necessary  by  imposition, 
for  then  the  imposition  had  been  unnecessary.  Though  it  was 
not  a  simple,  unchangeable  necessity,  yet  it  was  a  necessity 
by  accident,  pro  tempore  et  loco,  antecedent  to  the  imposition 
of  that  assembly.  Seeing  then  such  things  commend  us  not 
to  God,  and,  if  you  use  them,  at  least  you  are  not  the  better; 
sin  not  against  Christ,  by  sinning  against  your  brethren 
(1  Cor.  viii,  8 — 12)  ;  much  more  take  heed  of  forcing  them 
to  sin. 

We  have  presumed  to  be  thus  plain  and  large,  in  shewing 


1 


1661.]  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord,  199 

you  some  of  our  reasons^  for  your  consent,  to  the  necessary 
abatement  of  things  unnecessary  to  the  consciences  of  your 
brethren. 

In  the  conclusion  we  beseech  you  to  compare  with  these 
the  reasons  that  can  move  you  to  deny  us  these  requests.  If 
you  will  needs  use  such  things  yourselves,  will  it  gain  you  so 
much  to  force  them  upon  others  as  will  answer  all  the  afore- 
said inconveniences  ?  Will  it  cost  you  as  dear  to  grant  this 
liberty,  or  abate  these  things,  as  the  imposition  will  cost  your 
brethren  and  you  ?  O  how  easily,  how  safely,  how  cheaply, 
yea,  with  what  commodity  and  delight,  may  you  now  make 
this  nation  happy,  in  granting  your  brethren  these  requests ! 

If  you  say  that  others  will  be  still  unsatisfied,  and  you 
shall  never  know  when  you  have  done,  we  answer — 

1.  The  cause  of  the  nonconformists  hath  been  long  ago 
stated,  at  the  troubles  at  Frankford ;  and  having  continued 
still  the  same,  you  have  no  reason  to  suspect  them  of  any 
considerable  change. 

2.  Grant  us  but  the  freedom  that  Christ  and  his  apostles 
left  unto  the  churches;  use  necessary  things  as  necessary, 
and  unnecessary  as  unnecessary,  and  charitably  bear  with 
the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  tolerate  the  tolerable,  while 
they  live  peaceably,  and  then  you  will  know  when  you  have 
done.  And  for  the  intolerable,  we  beg  not  your  toleration : 
we  intercede  for  those  that  have  Christ  for  their  Intercessor  in 
the  highest.  We  know  when  all's  done,  there  will  be  heresies. 
(1  Cor,  xi,  19.)  "There  will  be  self-lovers,  covetous,  boast- 
ers, proud,  blasphemers,  disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful, 
unholy,  without  natural  affection,  truce-breakers,  false  accusers, 
incontinent,  fierce,  despisers  of  those  that  are  good,  traitors, 
heady,  high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasures  more  than  of  God, 
having  a  form  of  godliness,  while  they  deny  the  power:'' 
2  Tim.  iii,  2—4.  There  will  be  "  filthy  dreamers,  that  defile 
the  flesh,  despise  dominion,  and  speak  evil  of  dignities :" 
Jude  8,  "  And  many  will  follow  their  pernicious  ways,  by 
reason  of  whom  the  way  of  truth  will  be  evil  spoken  of :" 
2  Pet.  ii,  2.    It  is  not  these  for  whom  we  are  petitioners;  but 


200  Petition  for  Peace  and  Concord.  [1661. 

for  those  that  are  faithful  to  God  and  the  king;  that  fear 
offending;  that  agree  with  you  in  all  things  necessary  to 
salvation,  and  the  common  union  of  believers ;  and  that  you 
are  like  to  see  at  Christ's  right  hand,  who  will  finally  justify 
them,  and  take  them  to  his  glory.  If  you  suppose  us  in  all 
this  to  have  pleaded  our  own  cause,  we  hope  we  are  not  such 
as  are  intolerable  in  the  ministry  or  communion  of  the 
church ;  if  you  suppose  us  to  plead  the  cause  of  others,  we  hope 
you  will  accept  our  desires  as  impartial,  when  it  is  supposed  the 
persons  differ  from  us  as  well  as  from  you.  We  have  now 
faitlifully,  and  not  unnecessarily,  or  unreasonably,  spread 
before  you  the  case  of  thousands^  of  the  upright  of  the  land. 
We  have  proposed  honest  and  safe  remedies  for  our  present 
distractions,  and  the  preventing  of  the  feared  increase.  We 
humbly  beg  your  favourable  interpretation  of  our  plain  and 
earnest  language,  which  the  urgency  of  the  cause  commands, 
and  your  consent  to  these  our  necessary  requests;  which  if 
you  grant  us,  you  will  engage  us  to  thankfulness  to  God  and 
you,  and  to  employ  our  faculties  and  interests  with  alacrity  to 
assist  you  for  the  common  peace.  But  if  you  reject  our  suit 
(which  God  forbid),  we  shall  commit  all  to  him  that  judgeth 
righteously,  and  wait  in  hope  for  the  blessed  day  of  universal 
judgment,  when  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  their  strong  Redeemer, 
shall  thoroughly  plead  his  people's  cause,  and  execute  judg- 
ment for  them,  and  bring  them  forth  into  the  light,  and  they 
shall  behold  his  righteousness.  In  the  meantime,  we  will 
bear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord,  because  we  have  sinned 
against  him.     Come,  Lord  Jesus  !  Come  quickly  !     Amen. 


I 

I 


1661.]  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers.  201 


XVIII. 

The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops. 
— The  Grand  Debate  between  the  most  Reverend  the 
Bishops,  and  the  Presbyterian  Divines,  appointed  by  his 
sacred  Majesty,  as  Commissioners  for  the  Review  and 
Alteration  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  &c.,  being  an 
exact  account  of  tlieir  whole  proceedings.  The  most  per- 
fect copy.     London,  1661.     pp.  1 — 148. 

To  the  most  Reverend  Archbishop  and  Bishops,  and  the 
Reverend  their  Assistants,  commissioned  by  his  Majesty  to 
treat  about  the  alteration  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.^ 

Most  Reverend  Father  and  Reverend  Brethren, 
When  we  received  your  papers,  and  were  told  that  they 
contained  not  only  an  Answer  to  our  Exceptions  against  the 
present  liturgy;  but  also  several  concessions,  wherein  you 
seem  willing  to  join  with  us  in  the  alteration  and  reformation 
of  it ;  our  expectations  were  so  far  raised,  as  that  we  promised 
ourselves,  to  find  your  concessions  so  considerable,  as  would 
have  greatly  conduced  to  the  healing  of  our  much  to  be 
lamented  divisions,  the  settling  of  the  nation  in  peace,  and 
the  satisfaction  of  tender  consciences,  according  to  his 
majesty's  most  gracious  Declaration,  and  his  royal  Com- 
mission in  pursuance  thereof:  but  having  taken  a  survey  of 
them,  we  find  ourselves  exceedingly  disappointed,  and  that 
they  will  fall  far  short  of  attaining  those  happy  ends,  for 
which  this  meeting  was  first  designed ;  as  may  appear  both 
by  the  paucity  of  the  concessions,  and  the  inconsiderableness 
of  them,  they  benig  for  the  most  part  verbal  and  literal, 
rather  than  real  and  substantial.  For  in  them  you  allow 
not  the  laying  aside  of  the  reading  of  the  apocrypha  for 
lessons,  though  it  shut  out  some  hundreds  of  chapters  of 
holy   Scripture,  and  sometimes  the  Scripture  itself  is  made 

*  This  preface  was  di-awn  up  by  Mr.  Calaiiiy.— Reliqui^  Baxteriante,  p.  357. 


202  Rejoinder  of  the  Mimsters  [1661. 

to  give  way  to  the  apocryplial  chapters;  you  plead  against 
the  addition  of  the  doxology  unto  the  Lord's  prayer;  you 
give  no  liberty  to  omit  the  too  frequent  repetitions  of  Gloria 
Patri,  nor  of  the  Lord's  prayer  in  the  same  public  service ; 
nor  do  you  yield  that  the  psalms  be  read  in  the  new  translation; 
nor  the  word  priest  to  be  changed  for  minister  or  presbyter, 
though  both  have  been  yielded  unto  in  the  Scottish  liturgy ; 
you  grant  not  the  omission  of  the  responsals,  no,  not  in  the 
litany  itself,  though  the  petitions  be  so  framed,  as  the  people 
make  the  prayer,  and  not  the  minister ;  nor  to  read  the  com- 
munion service  in  the  desk,  when  there  is  no  communion ;  but 
in  the  late  form,  instead  thereof,  it  is  enjoined  to  be  done  at 
the  table,  though  there  be  no  rubric  in  the  Common  Prayer 
book  requiring  it.  You  plead  for  the  holiness  of  Lent,  con- 
trary to  the  statute ;  you  indulge  not  the  omission  of  any 
one  ceremony ;  you  will  force  men  to  kneel  at  the  sacrament, 
and  yet  not  put  in  that  excellent  l"ubric  in  the  5  and  6  of 
Edward  VI,  which  would  much  conduce  to  the  satisfaction  of 
many  that  scruple  it.  And  whereas  divers  reverend  bishops 
and  doctors,  in  a  paper  in  print  before. these  unhappy  wars 
began,  yielded  to  the  laying  aside  of  the  cross,  and  the 
making  many  material  alterations,  you,  after  twenty  years 
sad  calamities  and  divisions,  seem  unwilling  to  grant  what 
they  of  their  own  accord  then  offered ;  you  seem  not  to  grant 
that  the  clause  of  the  fourth  commandment  in  the  Common 
Prayer  book  (the  Lord  blessed  the  seventh  day)  should  be 
altered  according  to  the  Hebrew,  (Exodus  xx,)  the  Lord  blessed 
the  Sabbath  day ;  you  will  not  change  the  word  Sunday  into 
the  Lord's  day,  nor  add  anything  to  make  a  diflPerence  be- 
tween holydays  that  are  of  human  institution,  and  the  Lord's 
day,  that  is  questionless  of  apostobcal  practice;  you  will  not 
alter  deadly  sin  in  the  litany  into  heinous  sin,  though  it  hints 
to  us  that  some  sins  are  in  their  own  nature  venial ;  nor  that 
answer  in  the  catechism  of  two  sacraments  only  generally 
necessary  to  salvation,  although  it  intimates  that  there  are  other 
New  Testament  sacraments,  though  two  only  necessary  to 
salvation;  you  speak  of  singing  David's  psalms,  allowed  by 


16G1.]  to  the  Anstver  of  the  Bishops.  203 

authority,  by  way  of  contempt,  calling  tliem  Hopkins'  psalms; 
and  though  singing  of  psalms  be  an  ordinance  of  God,  yet 
you  call  it  one  of  our  principal  parts  of  worship,  as  if  it  were 
disclaimed  by  you;  and  are  so  far  from  countenancing  the 
use  of  conceived  prayer  in  the  public  worship  of  God  (though 
we  never  intended  thereby  the  excluding  of  set  forms)  as  that 
you  seem  to  dislike  the  use  of  it  even  in  the  pulpit,  and 
heartily  desire  a  total  restraint  of  it  in  the  church ;  you  will 
not  allow  the  omission  of  the  Benedicite,  nor  a  psalm  to  he 
read  instead  of  it ;  nor  so  much  as-  abate  the  reading  of  the 
chapters  out  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Acts,  for  the 
Epistles.  But  rather  than  you  will  gratify  us  therein,  yoa 
have  found  out  a  new  device,  that  the  minister  shall  say,  "  for 
the  epistle."  You  will  not  so  much  as  leave  out  in  the  collect 
for  Christmas  Day  these  words  {tJds  day)  though  at  least,  it 
must  be  a  great  uncertainty,  and  cannot  be  true  stylo  veteri 
et  novo.  In  public  baptism  you  are  so  far  from  giving  a 
liberty  to  the  parent  to  answer  for  his  own  child  (which 
seems  most  reasonable,)  as  that  you  force  him  to  the  use  of 
sureties,  and  cause  them  to  answer  in  the  name  of  the  infant, 
that  he  doth  believe,  and  repent,  and  forsake  the  devil  and 
all  his  woi'ks :  which  doth  much  favour  the  Anabaptistical 
opinion  for  the  necessity  of  an  actual  profession  of  faith  and 
repentance  in  order  to  baptism.  You  will  not  leave  the 
minister,  in  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  to  use  his  judgment  or 
discretion  in  absolving  the  sick  person,  or  giving  the  sacra- 
ment to  him,  but  enjoin  both  of  them,  though  the  person  to 
his  own  judgment  seem  never  so  unfit;  neither  do  you  allow 
the  minister  to  pronounce  the  absolution  in  a  declarative  and 
conditional  way,  but  absolutely  and  inconditionately.  And 
even  in  one  of  your  concessions,  in  which  we  suppose  you 
intend  to  accommodate  with  us,  you  rather  widen  than  heal 
the  breach ;  for  in  your  last  rubric  before  the  catechism  you 
would  have  the  words  thus  altered,  That  children  being  bap- 
tized, have  all  things  necessary  for  salvation ;  and  dying  be- 
fore they  commit  any  actual  sin,  be  undoubtedly  saved,  though 
they  be  not  confirmed.  Which  assertion,  if  understood  of  all 
infants,  even  of  heathen,  is  certainly  false;  and  if  only  of 


204  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

the  infants  of  Christians,  is  doubtful,  and  contrary  to  the 
judgment  of  many  learned  Protestants,  and  will  give  little 
satisfaction  to  us  or  others.  Some  more  we  might  name, 
which  for  brevity  sake  we  omit.  All  which  considered,  we 
altogether  despair  of  that  happy  success  which  thousands 
hope  and  wait  for  from  this  his  Majesty's  commission;  unless 
God  shall  incline  your  hearts  for  the  peace  and  union  of  the 
nation,  to  a  more  considerable  and  satisfactory  alteration  of 
the  liturgy.  In  which,  that  we  may  the  better  prevail,  we 
here  tender  a  reply  to  your  answer,  both  against  our  general 
and  particular  exceptions;  of  which  we  desire  a  serious 
perusal,  and  candid  interpretation.  We  have  divided  both 
your  preface  and  answer  into  several  sections,  that  so  you 
might  more  easily  understand  to  which  of  the  particulars 
both  in  the  one  and  in  the  other  our  reply  doth  refer. 

REPLY.2 

The  strain  of  these  papers  we  fear  is  like  to  persuade 
many  that  your  design  is  not  the  same  with  ours. 
Being  assured,  that  it  is  our  duty  to  do  what  we  can  to  the 
peace  and  concord  of  believers,  especially  when  we  had  the 
past  and  present  calamities  of  these  nations  to  urge  us,  and 
his  majesty's  commands  and  gracious  promises  to  encourage 
us,  we  judged  the  fittest  means  to  be  by  making  known  the 
hindrances  of  our  concord,  and  without  reviving  the  remem- 
brance of  those  things  that  tend  to  exasperate,  to  apply  our- 
selves with  due  submission  to  those  that  may  contribute 
much  to  our  recovery ;  and  without  personal  reflections,  to 
propose  the  remedies  which  we  knew  would  be  most  effectual, 
and  humbly  and  earnestly  to  petition  you  for  your  consent. 
But  instead  of  consent,  or  amicable  debates  in  order  to  the 
removal  of  our  differences,  we  have  received  from  you  a  paper 
abounding  with  sharp  accusations,  as  if  your  work  were  to 
prove  us  bad,  and  make  us  odious ;  which,  as  it  is  attempted 
upon  mistake,  by  unrighteous  means,  so,  were  it  accomplished, 
we  know  not  how  it  will  conduce  to  the  concord  which  ought 

'  This  reply  was  drawn  up  by  Baxter.— Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  p.  334. 


I 


1631.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  205 

to  be  our  common  end.  If  we  understand  Christ's  commis- 
sion, or  the  king's^  and  our  duty  as  Christians^  or  as 
ministers,  our  work  now  assigned  us,  was  not  to  search  after, 
and  aggravate  the  faults  of  one  another,  (though  of  our  own 
in  season  we  are  willing  to  hear)  but  to  review  the  liturgy, 
and  agree  upon  such  alterations,  diminutions,  and  enlarge- 
ments, as  are  needful  to  our  common  unity  and  peace.  What 
is  amiss  in  us,  we  shall  thankfully  accept  your  charitable 
assistance  to  discover;  but  we  take  not  that  for  the  question 
which  his  majesty  called  us  to  debate,  nor  do  our  judgments 
or  dispositions  lead  us  to  recriminations,  nor  to  cast  such 
impediments  in  the  way  of  our  desired  accord.  And  were  it 
not  that  our  calling,  and  our  master's  woik,  are  concerned 
somewhat  in  our  just  vindication,  we  should  not  trouble  you 
with  so  low,  so  private,  and  unnecessary  a  work,  but  leave 
such  causes  to  the  righteous  judge,  who  will  quickly,  impar- 
tially, infallibly,  and  finally  decide  them. 


§  1.  Ans.  Before  we  come  to  the  proposals,  it  will  be  per- 
necessary  to  say  a  word  or  two  to  the  Preface,  wherein 
they  begin  with  a  thankful  acknowledgment  of  his  majesty's 
most  princely  condescension ;  to  which  we  shall  only  say, 
that  we  conceive  the  most  real  expression  of  their  thankful- 
ness had  been  an  hearty  compliance  with  his  majesty's 
earnest  and  passionate  request  for  the  use  of  the  present 
liturgy,  at  least  so  much  of  it  as  they  acknowledge  by  these 
papers  to  be  lawful :  how  far  they  have  in  this  expressed 
their  thankfulness,  the  world  sees,  we  need  not  say. 

Reply.  1.  As  we  hope  it  is  no  matter  of  offence  to  acknow- 
ledge his  majesty's  gracious  condescension;  so  when  his 
majesty  by  his  Declaration  hath  granted  us  some  liberty  as  to 
the  use  of  the  liturgy  before  the  alteration,  and  hath  by  his 
commission  engaged  us  in  a  consultation  for  the  alteration  of 
it;  we  conceive  our  brethren  (or  the  world,  to  whose  obser- 
vation they  appeal)  had  no  warrant  to  censure  us  as  unthank- 
ful to  his  majesty,  because  of  our  present  forbearance  to  use 


206  Rejoinder  of  the  Miynsters  [1661. 

it,  or  part  of  it,  before  the  intended  alteration ;  at  least  till 
they  had  heard  us  speak  for  ourselves,  and  render  an  account 
of  the  reasons  of  our  forbearance,  and  they  had  gone  before 
us  more  exemplarily  in  their  own  obedience  to  his  majesty's 
Declaration.  As  to  our  own  consciences,  if  we  thought  not 
the  Common  Prayer  book  to  be  guilty  of  the  general  and 
particular  faults  which  we  have  laid  open  to  you,  we  durst 
not  have  found  fault  with  it :  and  while  we  took  it  to  be  a 
defective,  disorderly,  and  inconvenient  mode  of  worship,  it 
would  be  our  sin  to  use  it  of  choice,  while  we  may  prefer  a 
more  convenient  way,  whatever  we  ought  to  do  in  case  of 
necessity,  when  we  must  worship  God  inconveniently,  or  not 
at  all.  And  as  to  our  people,  for  whose  edification,  and  not 
destruction,  we  have  our  power  or  offices,  we  have  taken  that 
course,  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  understand,  which  most  pro- 
bably tended  to  their  good,  and  to  prevent  their  hurt  and 
separation  from  the  Church  :  and  consequently  that  course 
■which  did  most  conduce  to  his  majesty's  ends,  and  to  his  real 
service,  and  the  church's  peace:  none  of  which  would  be 
promoted  by  our  obtruding  that  upon  our  people,  which  we 
knew  them  unable  to  digest,  or  by  our  hasty  offending  them 
■with  the  use  of  that,  which  we  are  forced  to  bhime,  and  are 
endeavouring  to  correct  and  alter.  And  we  see  not  how  it 
can  be  justly  intimated  that  we  use  no  part  of  it,  when  we 
use  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  the  Commandments,  the 
Psalms,  the  Chapters,  and  some  other  parts.  And  how  much 
more  you  expect  w^e  should  have  used,  that  we  might  have 
escaped  this  brand  of  ingratitude,  we  know  not.  But  we 
know  that  charity  suffereth  long  and  thinketh  no  evil,  (I  Cor. 
xiii,  4,  5,)  and  that  we  have  not  attempted  to  obtrude  any 
mode  of  worship  on  our  brethren,  but  desired  the  liberty  to 
use  things  of  that  nature  as  may  conduce  to  the  benefit  of 
our  flocks.  Aud  as  we  leave  them  to  judge  what  is  most 
beneficial  to  their  own  flocks,  who  know  them,  and  are  upon 
the  place ;  so  it  is  but  the  like  freedom  which  we  desire :  we 
are  loth  to  hurt  our  people  knowingly.  The  time  is  short; 
if  you  will  answer  our  reasonable  proposals,  it  will  not  be  too 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  207 

late  at  the  expiration  of  our  commission,  or  the  date  of  the 
reformed  liturgy  to  use  it ;  greater  liberty  hath  been  used 
about  liturgies  in  purer  times  of  the  Churcii^  with  less  offence 
and  accusation. 

§  2.  Ans.  It  can  be  no  just  cause  of  offence  to  mind  them 
of  their  duty  as  they  do  us  of  ours,  telling  us  it  is  our  duty 
to  imitate  the  apostles'  practice  in  a  special  manner,  to  be 
tender  of  the  church's  peace,  and  to  advise  of  such  expedients, 
as  may  conduce  to  the  healing  of  breaches,  and  uniting  those 
that  differ.  For  preserving  of  the  church's  peace  we  know 
no  better  nor  more  efficacious  way  than  our  set  liturgy,  there 
being  no  such  way  to  keep  us  from  schism  as  to  speak  all  the 
same  thing  according  to  the  apostle. 

Reply.  If  you  look  to  the  time  past,  by  our  duties  we 
suppose  you  mean  our  faults.  For  it  is  not  duty  when  it  is 
past.  If  you  in  these  words  respect  only  the  time  present 
and  to  come,  we  reply,  1.  The  liturgy  we  are  assured  will  not 
be  a  less,  but  a  more  probable  means  of  concord  after  the 
desired  reformation  than  before;  the  defects  and  inconve- 
niences make  it  less  fit  to  attain  the  end.  2.  Whether  the 
apostle  by  speaking  the  same  thing  did  mean  either,  all 
using  this  liturgy  of  ours,  or  all  using  any  one  form  of 
liturgy  as  to  the  words,  may  easily  be  determined.  This  is 
of  much  later  date,  unless  you  will  denominate  the  whole 
form  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  some  little  parts=  And  those 
that  affirm,  that  the  apostles  then  had  any  other,  must 
undertake  the  task  of  proving  it,  and  excusing  the  churches 
for  losing  and  disusing  so  precious  a  relict,  which  if  pre- 
served would  have  prevented  all  our  strifes  about  these  things ; 
and,  in  the  meantime,  they  must  satisfy  our  arguments  for 
the  negative.  As  1.  If  a  liturgy  had  been  indited  by  the 
apostles  for  the  churches,  being  by  universal  officers  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  so  of  universal  use,  it  would  have 
been  used  and  preserved  by  the  Church  as  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures were.  But  so  it  was  not.  Ergo  no  such  liturgy  was 
indited  by  them  for  the  churches.  2.  If  a  prescript  form  of 
words  had  been  delivered  them,  there  would  have  been  nq 


208  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

such  need  of  exhorting  them  to  speak  the  same  thing,  for  the 
liturgy  would  have  held  them  close  enough  to  that.  And  if 
the  meaning  had  been,  see  that  you  use  the  same  liturgy, 
some  word  or  other  to  some  of  the  churches  would  have 
acquainted  us  with  the  existence  of  such  a  thing,  and  some 
reproofs  we  should  have  found  of  those  that  used  variotis 
liturgies,  or  formed  liturgies  of  their  own,  or  used  extempo- 
rary prayers :  and  some  express  exhortations  to  use  the  same 
liturgy  or  forms.  But  the  holy  Scripture  is  silent  in  all 
those  matters.  It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  the  churches 
then  had  no  liturgy,  but  took  liberty  of  extemporate  expres- 
sions, and  spoke  in  the  things  of  God,  as  men  do  in  other 
matters,  with  a  natural  plainness  and  seriousness,  suiting 
their  expressions  to  the  subjects  and  occasions.  And  though 
divisions  began  to  disturb  their  peace  and  holy  order,  the 
apostles  instead  of  prescribing  them  a  form  of  divine  services 
for  their  unity  and  concord,  do  exhort  them  to  use  their  gifts 
and  liberties  aright,  and  speak  the  same  thing  for  matter, 
avoiding  disagreements,  though  they  used  not  the  same 
words.  3.  Justin  Martyr,  TertuUian,  and  others,  sufficiently 
intimate  to  us  that  the  churches,  quickly  after  the  apostles, 
did  use  the  personal  abilities  of  their  pastors  in  prayer  ;  and 
give  us  no  hint  of  any  such  liturgy  of  apostolical  fabrication 
and  imposition ;  and  therefore  doubtless  there  was  nothing  : 
for  it  could  not  have  been  so  soon  lost  or  neglected.  4.  It 
is  ordinary  with  those  of  the  contrary  judgment,  to  tell  us 
that  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  primitive  Christians  were 
the  reason  why  there  were  no  prescribed  forms  in  those  times, 
and  that  such  liturgies  came  in  upon  the  ceasing  of  those 
gifts.  And  1  Cor.  xiv,  describeth  a  way  of  public  worshipping 
unlike  to  prescript  forms  of  liturgy.  So  that  the  matter  of 
fact  is  proved  and  confessed.  And  then  how  fairly  the  words 
of  the  apostle,  exhorting  them  to  speak  the  same  thing,  are 
used  to  prove  that  he  would  have  them  use  the  same  forms 
or  liturgy ;  we  shall  not  tell  you  by  any  provoking  aggrava- 
tions of  such  abuse  of  Scripture.  And  indeed  for  all  the 
miraculous  gifts  of  those  times,  if  prescript  forms  had  been 


\ 


]661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  209 

judged  by  the  apostles  to  be  the  fittest  means  for  the  concord 
of  the  churches,  it  is  most  probable  that  they  would  have 
prescribed  such.  Considering — 1,  That  the  said  miraculous 
gifts  were  extraordinary,  and  belonged  not  to  all,  nor  to  any 
at  all  times,  and  therefore  could  not  s^^ffice  for  the  ordinary 
public  worship ;  2.  And  those  gifts  began  even  betimes  to  be 
abused,  and  need  the  apostles'  canons  for  their  regulation, 
which  he  giveth  them  in  that  1  Cor.  xiv,  without  a  prescript 
liturgy;  3.  Because  even  then  divisions  had  made  not  only 
an  entrance,  but  an  unhappy  progress  in  the  churches,  to 
cure  which  the  apostle  exhorts  them  oft  to  unanimity  and 
concord,  without  exhorting  them  to  read  the  same  or  any 
Common  Prayer  book;  4.  Because  that  the  apostles  knew 
that  perilous  times  would  come,  in  which  men  would  have 
itching  ears,  and  would  have  heaps  of  teachers,  and  would  be 
self-willed,  and  unruly,  and  divisions,  and  offences,  and 
heresies  would  increase;  and  ergo,  as  upon  such  foresight 
they  indited  the  holy  Scriptures  to  keep  the  church,  in  all 
generations,  from  error  and  divisions  in  points  of  doctrine,  so 
the  same  reason  and  care  would  have  moved  them  to  do  the 
same  to  keep  the  churches  in  unity  in  point  of  worship,  if 
indeed  they  had  taken  prescribed  forms  to  be  needful  to  such 
a  unity :  they  knew  that  after  their  departure  the  church 
would  never  have  the  like  advantage,  infallible,  authorized, 
and  enabled  for  delivering  the  universal  law  of  Christ,  And 
seeing  in  those  parts  of  worship,  which  are  of  stated  use,  and 
still  the  same,  forms  might  have  suited  all  ages  as  this  age, 
and  all  countries  as  this  country :  (in  the  substance)  there 
can  no  reason  be  given,  why  the  apostles  should  leave  this 
undone,  and  not  have  performed  it  themselves,  if  they  had 
judged  such  forms  to  be  necessary,  or  the  most  desirable 
means  of  unity.  If  they  had  prescribed  them,  1 .  The  church 
had  been  secured  from  error  in  them,  2.  Believers  had  been 
preserved  from  divisions,  about  the  lawfulness  and  fitness  of 
them,  as  receiving  them  from  God,  3.  All  churches  and 
countries  might  have  had  one  liturgy,  as  they  have  one  Scrip- 
ture, and  so  have  all  spoke  the  same  things.     4.  All  ages  would 


210  Rejjinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

have  liad  the  same  without  innovation^  (in  all  the  parts  that 
require  not  alteration)  whereas  now  on  the  contrary^  1,  Our 
liturgies  being  the  writings  of  fallible  men,  are  liable  to  error, 
and  we  have  cause  to  fear  subscribing  to  them,  as  having 
nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  2.  And  matters  of 
human  institution  have  become  the  matter  of  scruple  and 
contention.  3.  And  the  churches  have  had  great  diversity 
of  liturgies.  4.  And  one  age  hath  been  mending  what  they 
supposed  they  received  from  the  former  faulty  and  imperfect. 
So  that  our  own,  which  you  are  so  loth  to  change,  hath  not 
continued  yet  three  generations.  And  it  is  most  evident 
that  the  apostles,  being  intrusted  with  the  delivery  of  the 
entire  rule  of  faith  and  worship,  and  having  such  great 
advantages  for  our  unity  and  peace,  would  never  have  omitted 
the  forming  of  a  liturgy  of  universal  usefulness,  to  avoid  all 
the  foresaid  inconveniences,  if  they  had  taken  this  course  of 
unity  to  be  so  needful  or  desirable  as  you  seem  to  do. 
Whereas,  therefore,  you  say  you  know  no  better  or  more 
efficacious  way  than  our  liturgy,  &c. — We  reply,  1.  The 
apostles  knew  the  best  way  of  unity,  and  of  speaking  the 
same  thing  in  the  matters  of  God.  But  the  apostles  knew 
not  our  liturgy,  (nor  any  Common  Prayer  book,  for  aught 
hath  yet  been  proved)  ergo  the  said  liturgy  is  not  the  best 
way  of  unity,  or  speaking  the  same  thing,  &c.  2.  The 
primitive  church  in  the  next  ages  after  the  apostles,  knew 
the  best  way  of  unity,  &c.  But  they  knew  not  our  liturgy, 
ergo  our  liturgy  (not  known  till  lately)  is  not  the  best  way  of 
unity.  If  it  be  said  that  our  liturgy  is  ancient,  because  the 
Sursum  Cor  da,  the  Gloria  Patri,  &c.,  are  ancient ;  we 
answer,  if  indeed  it  be  those  ancient  sentences  that  denomi- 
nate our  liturgy,  we  crave  the  justice  to  be  esteemed  users  of 
the  liturgy,  and  not  to  suffer  as  refusers  of  it,  as  long  as  we 
use  all  that  is  found  in  it  of  such  true  antiquity. 

§  3.  Ans.  This  experience  of  former  and  latter  times  hath 
taught  us,  when  the  liturgy  was  duly  observed  we  lived  in 
peace;  since  that  was  laid  aside,  there  have  been  as  many 
modes  and  fashions  of  public  worship  as  fancies.    We  have  had 


1661.]  to  the  Answei'  of  the  Bishops.  211 

continual  dissensions,,  which  variety  of  services  must  needs  pro- 
duce, whilst  everyone  naturally  desires  and  endeavours  not 
only  to  maintain,  but  to  prefer  his  own  way  before  all  others  ; 
whence  we  conceive  there  is  no  such  way  for  the  preservation 
of  peace,  as  for  all  to  return  to  the  strict  use  and  practice  of 
the  form. 

Reply.  Pardon  us  while  we  desire  you  to  examine  whether 
you  speak  as  members  that  suffer  with  those  that  suffer,  or 
rather  as  insensible  of  the  calamities  of  your  brethren,  that 
is,  as  uncharitable.  You  say  you  lived  in  peace,  but  so  did  not 
the  many  thousands  that  were  fain  to  seek  them  peaceable 
habitations  in  Holland  and  in  the  deserts  of  America,  nor  the 
many  thousands  that  lived  in  danger  of  the  High  Commis- 
sion, or  Bishops'  Courts  at  home,  and  so  in  danger  of  every 
malicious  neighbour  that  would  accuse  them  of  hearing  ser- 
mons abroad,  when  they  had  none  at  home,  or  of  meeting  in  a 
neighbour's  house  to  pray,  or  of  not  kneeling  in  the  receiving 
of  the  sacrament,  &c.  We  would  not  have  remembered  you 
of  these  things,  but  that  you  necessitate  us  by  pleading  your 
peace  in  those  days  as  an  argument  for  the  imposing  of  the 
liturgy.  2.  Might  not  Scotland  as  strongly  argue  from  this 
medium  against  the  liturgy,  and  say,  before  the  liturgy  was 
imposed  on  us,  we  had  peace,  but  since  then  we  have  had  no 
peace?  3.  When  the  strict  imposing  of  the  strict  use  and 
practice  of  these  forms  was  the  very  thing  that  disquieted 
this  nation  (taking  in  the  concomitant  ceremonies  and  sub- 
scription), when  this  was  it  that  bred  the  divisions  which  you 
complain  of,  and  caused  the  separations  from  the  churches, 
and  the  troubles  in  the  churches ;  it  is  no  better  arguing  to 
say  we  must  return  to  the  strict  use  of  that  form  if  we  will 
have  peace,  than  it  was  in  the  Israelites  to  say,  we  will  wor- 
ship the  queen  of  heaven,  because  then  we  had  peace  and 
plenty,  when  that  was  it  that  deprived  them  of  peace  and 
plenty  (we  compare  not  the  causes,  but  the  arguments) ;  nor 
is  it  any  better  an  argument,  than  if  a  man  in  a  dropsy,  or 
ague,  that  caught  it  with  voracity  or  intemperance,  should 
say,  while  I  did  eat  and  drink  Hberally,  I  had  no  dropsy  or 

p  2 


212  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

ague^  but  since  my  appetite  is  gone,  and  I  have  lived  temper- 
ately, I  have  had  no  health,  ergo,  I  must  return  to  my 
intemperance,  as  the  only  way  to  health.  Alas,  is  this  the 
use  that  is  made  of  all  our  experiences  of  the  causes  and 
progress  of  our  calamities  ?  What !  have  you,  and  we,  and 
all,  smarted  as  we  have  done,  and  are  you  so  speedily  ready  to 
return  to  the  way  that  will  engage  you  in  violence  against 
them  that  should  be  suffered  to  live  in  peace  ?  If  the  furnace 
that  should  have  refined  us,  and  purified  us  all  to  a  greater 
height  of  love,  have  but  inflamed  us  to  greater  wrath,  woe  to 
us,  and  to  the  land  that  beareth  us  !  What  doleful  things 
doth  this  prognosticate  you,  that  prisons,  or  other  penalties, 
will  not  change  men's  judgments  !  And  if  it  drive  some  to 
comply  against  their  consciences,  and  destroy  their  souls,  and 
drive  the  more  conscientious  out  of  the  land,  or  destroy  their 
bodies,  and  breed  in  the  minds  of  men  a  rooted  opinion,  that 
bishops  that  are  still  hurting  and  afilicting  them  (even  for  the 
things  in  which  they  exercise  the  best  of  their  understanding, 
and  cautiously  to  avoid  sin  against  God),  are  no  fathers, 
friends,  or  edifyers,  but  destroyers  !  Alas  !  who  will  have  the 
gain  of  this  ?  O  let  us  no  more  bite  and  devour  one  another, 
lest  we  be  devoured  one  of  another  (Gal.  v,  15),  or  Christ  be 
provoked  to  decide  the  controversy  more  sharply  than  we 
desire  or  expect.  4.  But  really  hath  liberty  to  forbear  the 
liturgy  produced  such  divisions  as  you  mention  ?  The  licence 
or  connivance  that  was  granted  to  heretics,  apostates,  and 
foul-mouthed  railers  against  the  Scripture,  ministry,  and  all 
God^s  ordinances,  indeed  bred  confusions  in  the  land;  but 
it  is  to  us  matter  of  admiration  to  observe  (clean  contrary  to 
your  intimation)  how  little  discord  there  was  in  prayer,  and 
other  parts  of  worship,  among  all  the  churches  throughout 
the  three  nations^that  agreed  in  doctrine  and  that  forbore  the 
liturgy.  It  is  wonderful  to  us,  in  the  review,  to  consider  with 
what  love,  and  peace,  and  concord,  they  all  spoke  the  same 
things,  that  were  tied  to  no  form  of  words ;  even  those  that 
differed  in  some  points  of  discipline,  even  to  a  withdrawing 
from   local  communion  with  us,  yet  strangely  agreed  with 


J 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  213 

us  in  worsliip.  And  where  have  there  been  less  heresies, 
schisms,  than  in  Scotland,  where  there  was  no  such  liturgy  to 
unite  them  ?  If  you  tell  us  of  those  that  differ  from  us  in 
doctrine,  and  are  not  of  us,  it  is  as  impertinent  to  the 
point  of  our  own  agreement  in  worship,  as  to  tell  us  of  the 
papists. 

§  4.  Ans.  And  the  best  expedients  to  unite  us  to  that 
again,  and  so  to  peace,  are,  besides  our  prayers  to  the  God  of 
peace,  to  make  us  all  of  one  mind  in  a  house,  to  labour  to 
get  true  humility,  which  would  make  us  think  our  guides 
wiser  and  fitter  to  order  us  than  we  ourselves,  and  Christian 
charity,  which  would  teach  us  to  think  no  evil  of  our  superi- 
ors, but  to  judge  them  rather  careful  guides  and  fathers  to  us; 
which  being  obtained,  nothing  can  be  imagined  justly  to 
hinder  us  from  a  ready  compliance  to  this  method  of  service 
appointed  by  them,  and  so  live  in  unity. 

Reply.  Prayer  and  humility  are  indeed  the  necessary  means 
of  peace :  but  if  you  will  let  us  pray  for  peace  in  no  words 
but  what  are  in  the  Common  Prayer  book,  their  brevity  and 
unaptness,  and  the  custom ariness,  that  will  take  off  the  edge 
of  fervour  with  human  nature,  will  not  give  leave  (or  help 
sufficient)  to  our  souls  to  work  towards  God,  upon  this  sub- 
ject, with  that  enlargedness,  copiousness,  and  freedom  as  is 
necessary  to  due  fervour.  A  brief,  transient  touch  and  away, 
is  not  enough  to  warm  the  heart  aright ;  and  cold  prayers  are 
like  to  have  a  cold  return,  and  therefore,  even  for  peace  sake, 
let  us  pray  more  copiously  and  heartily  than  the  Common 
Prayer  book  will  help  us  to  do.  And  whether  this  be  that 
cause,  or  whether  it  he  that  the  Common  Prayer  book  hath 
never  a  prayer  for  itself,  we  find  that  its  prayers  prevail  not  to 
reconcile  many  sober,  serious  persons  to  it  that  live  in  faith- 
ful, fervent  prayer,  2.  And  for  humility,  we  humbly  conceive 
it  would  most  effectually  heal  us,  and  by  causing  the  pastors 
of  the  church  to  know  that  they  are  not  to  rule  the  flocks  as 
lords,  but  as  ensamples,  not  by  constraint,  but  willingly 
(1  Pet.  V,  2,  3);  and  it  would  cause  them  not  to  think  so 
highly  of  themselves,  and  so  meanly  of  their  brethren,  as  to 


314  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

judge  no  words  fit  to  be  used  to  God  in  the  public  worship, 
but  what  they  prescribe,  and  put  into  our  mouths,  and  that 
other  men  are  generally  unable  to  speak  sensibly,  or  suitably, 
unless  they  tell  us  what  to  say ;  or,  that  all  others  are  unfit 
to  be  trusted  with  the  expressing  of  their  own  desires. 
Humility  Avould  persuade  the  pastors  of  the  church  at  least  to 
undertake  no  more  than  the  apostles  did,  and  no  more  to  ob- 
trude or  impose  their  own  words  upon  all  others  in  the  public 
worship.  If  they  found  any  unfit  to  be  trusted  with  the  ex- 
pression of  their  minds  in  public  prayer,  they  would  do  what 
they  could  to  get  meeter  men  in  their  places,  and  till  then 
they  would  restrain  and  help  such  as  need  it,  and  not  upon 
that  pretence  as  much  restrain  all  the  ablest  ministers,  as  if 
the  whole  church  were  to  be  nominated,  measured,  or  used 
according  to  the  quality  of  the  most  unworthy.  And  it  is 
also  true,  that  humility  in  private  persons  and  inferiors  would 
do  much  to  our  peace,  by  keeping  them  in  due  submission, 
and  obedience,  and  keeping  them  from  all  contentions  and 
divisions  which  proceed  from  self-conceitedness  and  pride. 
But  yet,  1. — The  humblest,  surest  subjects  may  stumble  upon 
the  scruple,  whether  bishops  differ  not  from  presbyters  only 
in  degree,  and  not  in  order  or  office  (it  being  a  controversy, 
and  no  resolved  point  of  faith  even  among  the  papists,  whose 
faith  is  too  extensive,  and  favour  too  ecclesiastical,  ambition 
too  great) ,  and  consequently  they  may  doubt  whether  men  in 
the  same  order  do,  by  divine  appointment,  owe  obedience  unto 
those  that  gradually  go  before  them,  2.  And  they  may 
scruple  whether  such,  making  themselves  the  governors  of 
their  brethren,  make  not  themselves  indeed  of  a  different 
order  or  office,  and  so  encroach  not  on  the  authority  of 
Christ,  who  only  maketh  officers  purely  ecclesiastical ;  and 
whether  it  be  no  disloyalty  to  Christ  to  own  such  officers. 
3.  And  among  those  divines  that  are  for  a  threefold  episco- 
pacy (besides  that  of  presbyters,  who  are  episcopi  gregis),  viz., 
general,  unfixed  bishops,  like  the  evangelists  or  apostles  (in 
their  measure),  and  the  fixed  bishops  of  parochial  churches, 
that  have  presbyters  to  assist  them,  to  whom  they  do  preside. 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishojjs.  215 

and  also  the  presidents  of  larger  synods^  yet  is  it  a  matter  of 
very  great  doubt^  whether  a  fixed  diocesan  being  the  pastor  of 
many  hundred  churches,,  having  none  under  him  that  hath 
the  power  of  jurisdiction  or  ordination^  be  indeed  a  governor 
of  Christ's  appointment  or  approbation^  and  whether  Christ 
will  give  us  any  more  thanks  for  owning  them  as  such,  than 
the  king  will  give  us  for  owning  a  usurper.  Humility  alone 
will  not  seem  to  subject  these  men  to  such  a  government. 

4,  And  though  their  coercive  magistratical  power  be  easily 
submitted  to,  as  being  from  the  king  (how  unfit  subjects 
soever  churchmen  are  of  such  a  power),  yet  he  that  knoweth 
his  superiors  best,  doth  honour  God  more,  and  supposeth  God 
more  infallible  than  man,  and  will  feel  himself  most  in- 
dispensably bound  by  God's  commands,  and  bound  not  to 
obey  man  against  the  Lord.  And  whereas  there  is  much 
said  against  the  peoples  taking  on  them  to  judge  of  the  lawful- 
ness  of  things  commanded  them   by    superiors,   we   add — 

5.  That  humble  men  may  believe  that  their  superiors  are 
fallible ;  that  it  is  no  impossibility  to  command  things  that 
God  forbids ;  that,  in  such  cases,  if  we  have  sufiBcient  means 
to  discern  the  sinfulness  of  such  commands,  we  must  make 
use  of  them,  and  must  obey  God  rather  than  men ;  that  when 
the  apostles  acted  according  to  such  a  resolution  (Acts  iv,  19), 
and  Daniel  and  the  three  witnesses  (Dan.  vi,  3),  they  all  exer- 
cised a  judgment  of  discerning  upon  the  matter  of  their 
superiors'  commands;  that  not  to  do  so  at  all,  is  to  make 
subjects  brutes,  and  so  no  subjects,  because  not  rational,  free 
agents,  or  to  make  all  governors  to  be  gods.  And,  lastly — 
That  it  will  not  save  us  from  hell,  nor  justify  us  at  judgment, 
for  sinning  against  God,  to  say,  that  superiors  commanded  us ; 
nor  will  it  prove  all  the  martyrs  to  be  sinners  and  condemned, 
because  they  judged  of  their  superiors'  commands,  and  dis- 
obeyed them.  All  which  we  say  to  shew  the  insufficiency  of 
the  remedy  here  by  you  propounded  (the  humility  of  inferiors) , 
unless  you  will  also  add  your  help.  Without  obedience  there 
is  no  order  or  lasting  concord  to  be  expected;  and  by 
abasing  the  eternal  God,  so  far  as  to  set  him  and  his  laws 


216  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

below  a  creature,  under  pretence  of  obedience  to  the  creature, 
no  good  can  be  expected,  because  no  peace  with  heaven;  with-  • 
out  which,  peace  with  men  is  but  a  confederacy  hastening 
each  party  to  destruction  :  and  therefore,  absokite  obedience 
must  be  given  only  to  God,  the  absolute  Sovereign.  In  all 
this  we  suppose  that  we  are  all  agreed.  And  therefore — • 
6,  and  lastly.  We  must  say,  that  the  way  to  make  us  think 
the  bishops  to  be  so  wise,  and  careful  guides  and  fathers  to  us, 
is  not  for  them  to  seem  wiser  than  the  apostles,  and  make 
those  things  of  standing  necessity  to  the  churches  unity, 
which  the  apostles  never  made  so,  nor  to  forbid  all  to  preach 
the  gospel,  or  to  hold  communion  with  the  church,  that  dare 
not  conform  to  things  urmecessary.  Love  and  tenderness  are 
not  used  to  express  themselves  by  hurting  and  destroying  men 
for  nothing ;  and  to  silence  and  reject  from  church  com- 
munion for  a  ceremony,  and  in  the  meantime  to  persuade 
m.en  that  they  love  them,  is  but  to  stab  or  famish  all  the  sick 
persons  in  the  hospital  or  family,  whose  stomachs  cannot  take 
down  the  dish  we  offer  them,  or  whose  throats  are  too  narrow 
to  swallow  so  big  a  morsel  as  we  send  them ;  and  when  we 
have  done,  to  tell  them,  the  only  remedy  is  for  them  to  believe 
we  love  them,  and  are  tender  of  them.  And  who  knows  not 
that  a  man  may  think  well  of  his  superiors,  that  yet  may 
question  whether  all  that  he  teacheth  or  commandeth  him  be 
lawful. 

§  5.  Ans.  If  it  be  objected  that  the  liturgj^  is  in  any  way 
sinful  and  unlawful  for  us  to  join  with,  it  is  but  reason  that 
this  be  first  proved  evidently,  before  anything  be  altered  :  it 
is  no  argument  to  say  that  multitudes  of  sober  pious  persons 
scruple  the  use  of  it,  unless  it  be  made  to  appear  by  evident 
reasons  that  the  liturgy  gave  the  just  grounds  to  make  such 
scruples.  For  if  the  bare  pretence  of  scruples  be  sufl&cient  to 
exempt  us  from  obedience,  all  law  and  order  is  gone. 

JReply.  To  this  passage  we  humbly  crave  your  consideration 
of  these  answers;  1.  We  have  not  only  said,  (that  sober 
pious  persons  scruple  the  liturgy,)  but  we  have  opened  to  you 
those  defects,  and  disorders,  and  corruptions,  which   must 


I 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  217 

needs  make  the  imposing  of  it  unlawful,  when  God  might  be 
more  fitly  served.  2.  It  is  strange,  that  you  must  see  it  first 
evidently  proved  unlawful  for  men  to  join  with  the  liturgy 
(you  mean,  we  suppose,  to  join  with  you  in  the  using  of  it,  or 
when  you  use  it,)  before  you  will  see  reason  to  alter  anything 
in  it.  What  if  it  be  only  proved  unlawful  for  you  to  impose  it, 
though  not  for  others  to  join  with  you  when  you  do  impose 
it,  is  this  no  reason  to  alter  it  ?  Should  you  not  have  some 
care  to  avoid  sin  yourselves,  as  well  as  to  preserve  others  from 
it  ?  An  inconvenient  mode  of  worship  is  a  sin  in  the  imposer, 
and  in  the  ciiooser,  and  voluntary  user,  that  might  oflFer  God 
better,  and  will  not,  (Mai.  i,  13,  14.)  And  yet  it  may  not  be 
only  lawful,  but  a  duty,  to  him  that  by  violence  is  necessitated 
to  offer  up  that  or  none.  And  yet  we  suppose  the  imposers 
should  see  cause  to  make  an  alteration.  If  you  lived  where 
you  must  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  sitting,  or  not  at  all,  it's 
like  you  would  be  of  this  mind  yourselves.  3.  Why  should 
it  be  called  a  bare  pretence  of  scruples,  as  if  you  searched 
the  hearts,  and  knew  (not  only  that  they  are  upon  mistake, 
but)  that  they  are  not  real,  when  the  persons  not  only  profess 
them  real,  but  are  willing  to  use  all  just  means  that  tend  to 
their  satisfaction  ?  they  study,  read,  pray,  and  will  be  glad  of 
conference  with  you,  at  any  time,  upon  equal  terms,  if  they 
may  be  themselves  believed.  4.  Even  groundless  scruples 
about  the  matter  of  an  unnecessary  law,  which  hath  that 
which  to  the  weak  both  is  and  will  be  an  appearance  of  evil, 
may  be  sufficient  to  make  it  the  duty  of  rulers  to  reverse 
their  impositions,  though  they  be  not  sufficient  to  justify  the 
scrupulous.  5.  If  a  man  should  think  that  he  ought  not  to 
obey  man,  even  when  he  thinketh  it  is  against  the  commands 
of  God,  though  he  be  uncertain,  (as  in  case  of  going  on  an 
unquestioned  warfare,  or  doing  Doeg's  execution,  &c.,)  yet  it 
foUoweth  not,  that  all  law  and  order  is  gone,  as  long  as  all 
laws  and  orders  stand  that  are  visibly  subservient  to  the  laws 
of  God,  and  to  his  sovereignty,  or  consistent  with  them ;  and 
when  the  subject  submitteth  to  suffering  where  he  dare  not 
obey. 


218  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

§  6.  Ans.  On  the  contrary^  we  judge  that  if  the  liturgy- 
should  be  altered  as  is  there  required,  not  only  a  multitude, 
but  the  generality  of  the  soberest  and  most  loyal  children  of 
the  church  of  England  would  justly  be  offended,  since  such  an 
alteration  would  be  a  virtual  confession  that  this  liturgy  were 
an  intolerable  bu.rden  to  tender  consciences,  a  direct  cause  of 
schism,  a  superstitious  usage  (upon  which  pretences  it  is  here 
desired  to  be  altered;)  which  would  at  once  both  justify  all 
those  which  have  so  obstinately  separated  from  it,  as  the  only 
pious,  tender-conscienced  men,  and  condemn  all  those  that 
have  adhered  to  that,  in  conscience  of  their  duty  and  loyalty, 
with  their  loss  or  hazard  of  estates,  lives,  and  fortunes,  as  men 
superstitious,  schism atical,  and  void  of  religion  and  conscience. 
For  this  reason  and  those  that  follow,  we  cannot  consent  to 
such  an  alteration  as  is  desired,  till  these  pretences  be  proved ; 
which  we  conceive  in  no  wise  to  be  done  in  these  papers,  and 
shall  give  reasons  for  this  our  judgment. 

Reply.  If  the  liturgy  should  be  altered,  as  is  here  required, 
and  desired  by  us,  that  it  could  be  no  just  offence  to  the 
generality  (or  any)  of  the  soberest  and  most  loyal  children  of 
the  church  (as  you  speak)  is  easy  to  be  proved,  by  laying  to- 
gether the  considerations  following  : — 1.  Because  it  is  by  them- 
selves confessed  to  be  alterable,  as  not  having  itself  its  former 
constitution,  till  less  than  200  years  ago.  2.  And  them- 
selves aflEirm  it  to  be  not  necessary  to  salvation,  but  a  thing 
indifferent,  while  they  exclude  all  higher  institutions  from  the 
power  of  the  church.  3.  They  confess  it  lawful  to  serve  God 
without  this  liturgy,  without  which  he  was  served  by  other 
churches  above  1460  years,  and  without  which  he  is  now 
served  by  other  churches,  when  the  contrary -minded  doubt 
whether  with  it  he  be  lawfully  served.  4.  Those  that  desire 
the  alteration,  desire  no  more  than  to  serve  God  as  the 
churches  did  in  the  days  of  the  apostles,  that  had  their  most 
infallible  conduct.  5.  And  they  offer  also  such  forms  as  are 
more  unquestionable  as  to  their  congruency  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  to  the  natiu-e  of  the  several  parts  of  worship.  6. 
And  yet,  though  they  desii'e  the  surest  concord  and  a  uni- 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  219 

versal  reformation,  they  desire  not  to  impose  on  others  what 
they  offer,,  but  can  thankfully  accept  a  liberty  to  use  what  is 
to  their  own  consciences  most  unquestionably  safe,  while  other 
men  use  that  which  they  like  better.  So  that  set  all  this 
together,  with  the  consideration  of  the  necessity  of  the 
preaching  the  word,  and  communion  that  is  hereupon  denied, 
and  you  may  see  it  proved,  that  to  have  such  a  liturgy  so  altered, 
that  is  confessed  alterable,  for  so  desirable  an  end,  to  the  use 
only  of  those  that  cannot  well  use  it,  without  urging  others 
to  anything  that  they  do  themselves  account  unlawful,  cannot 
be  a  matter  of  just  offence  to  the  generality  of  sober  children 
of  the  church,  nor  to  any  one.  And  as  to  the  reason  given, 
it  is  apparently  none.  For,  1.  Of  those  that  scruple  the  un- 
lawfulness of  it,  there  are  many  that  will  not  peremptorily 
afOirm  it  unlawful,  and  condemn  all  that  use  it,  but  they^dare 
not  use  it  doubtingly  themselves.  2.  When  our  papers  were 
before  you,  we  think  it  not  just  that  you  should  say,  that  it  is 
here  desired  to  be  altered,  on  the  pretence  that  it  is  a  direct 
cause  of  schism  and  a  superstitious  usage  :  have  we  any  such 
expressions  ?  If  we  have,  let  them  be  recited ;  if  not,  it  is 
hard  that  this  should  even  by  you  be  thus  affirmed,  as  is  said 
by  us,  which  we  have  not  said.  We  have  said  that  the  cere- 
monies have  been  the  fountain  of  much  evil,  occasioning 
divisions,  but  not  what  you  charge  us  to  have  said  in  words  or 
sense.  3.  And  may  not  you  alter  them  without  approving, 
or  seeming  to  approve  the  reason  upon  which  the  alteration  is 
desired,  Avhen  you  have  so  great  store  of  other  reasons  ?  The 
king  in  his  Declaration  is  far  enough  from  seeming  to  own  the 
charge  against  the  things  which  he  was  pleased  graciously  to 
alter  so  far  as  is  there  expressed.  If  a  patient  have  a  conceit 
that  some  one  thing  would  kill  him,  if  he  took  it,  the  phy- 
sician may  well  forbear  him  in  that  one  thing,  when  it  is  not 
necessary  to  his  health,  without  owning  his  reasons  against  it : 
if  his  majesty  have  subjects  so  weak  as  to  contend  about 
things  indifferent,  and  if  both  sides  err,  one  thinking  them 
necessary,  and  the  other  sinful,  may  he  not  gratify  either  of 
them,  without  seeming  to  approve  their  error  ?    By  this  reason 


220  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

of  yours  he  is  by  other  men  in  such  a  case  necessitated  to  sin; 
for  if  he  settle  those  things  which  some  count  necessary^  he 
seems  to  approve  of  their  opinion,  that  they  are  necessary  :  if 
he  take  them  down  when  others  call  them  sinful,  he  seems  to 
own  their  charge  of  the  sinfulness.  But  indeed  he  needeth 
not  to  do  either,  he  may  take  them  down,  or  leave  them  indif- 
ferent, professedly  for  unity  and  peace,  and  professedly  disown 
the  errors  on  both  sides.  We  are  sorry  if  any  did  esteem 
these  forms  and  ceremonies  any  better  than  mutable  indif- 
ferent modes  and  circumstances  of  worship ;  and  did  hazard 
estate  or  life  for  them  as  any  otherwise  esteemed  :  and  we  are 
sorry,  that,  by  our  divisions,  the  adversary  of  peace  hath  gotten 
so  great  an  advantage  against  us  as  that  the  argument 
against  necessary  charitable  forbearance  is  fetched  from  the 
interest  of  the  reputation  of  the  contending  parties,  that 
things  may  not  be  abated  to  others  which  you  confess  are  in- 
different and  alterable,  and  which  many  of  them  durst  not 
use,  though  to  save  their  lives  :  and  this  because  it  will  make 
them  thought  the  pious,  tender-conscienced  men,  and  make 
others  thought  worse  of.  But  with  whom  will  it  have  these 
effects  ?  Those  that  you  call  the  generality  of  the  sober  loyal 
children  of  the  church,  will  think  never  the  worse  of  them- 
selves, because  others  have  liberty  to  live  by  them,  without 
these  things  :  and  the  rest,  whose  liberties  you  deny,  will 
think  rather  the  worse  of  you,  than  the  better,  for  denying 
them  their  liberty  in  the  worshipping  of  God.  You  un- 
doubtedly argue  here  against  the  interest  of  reputation,  which 
you  stand  for  :  your  prefaces  to  your  indulgencies,  and  your 
open  professions,  and  (if  you  will  needs  have  it  so)  your  own 
practices,  will  tell  the  world  loud  enough,  that  the  things 
which  you  adhered  to  with  so  great  hazards,  are  still  lawful 
in  your  judgment ;  and  it  will  be  your  honour,  and  add  to 
your  reputation,  to  abate  them  to  others,  when  it  is  in  your 
power  to  be  more  severe.  And  if  you  refuse  it,  their  suffer- 
ings will  tell  the  world  loud  enough  that,  for  their  parts,  they 
still  take  them  to  be  things  unlawful.  As  for  the  reasons  by 
them  produced  to  prove  them  sinful,  they  have  been  publicly 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  221 

made  known  in  the  writings  of  many  of  them  ;  in  Ames  his 
Fresh  Sute  against  the  ceremonies,  and  in  the  Abridgment,  &c., 
and  in  Bradshaw's,  Nicols',  and  other  men's  writings. 

Prop.  1.  §  1.  Ans.  To  the  first  general  proposal  we  answer, 
that  as  to  that  part  of  it  which  requires  that  the  matter  of  the 
liturgy  may  not  be  private  opinion  or  fancy,  that  being  the 
way  to  perpetuate  schism ;  the  church  hath  been  careful  to 
put  nothing  into  the  liturgy,  but  that  which  is  either  evi- 
dently the  Word  of  God,  or  what  hath  been  generally 
received  in  the  catholic  church;  neither  of  which  can  be 
called  private  opinion :  and  if  the  contrary  can  be  proved, 
we  wish  it  out  of  the  liturgy. 

Reply.  We  call  those  opinions  which  are  not  determined 
certainties ;  and,  though  the  greater  number  should  hold  them 
as  opinions,  they  are  not  therefore  the  doctrines  of  the 
church,  and  therefore  might  be  called  private  opinions;  but 
indeed  we  used  not  the  word  (that  we  can  find)  :  the  thing 
we  desired  was,  that  the  materials  of  the  liturgy  may  consist 
of  nothing  doubtful,  or  questioned  among  pious,  learned,  and 
orthodox  persons.  We  said  also,  that  the  limiting  church 
communion  to  tbings  of  doubtful  disputation,  hath  been  in 
all  ages  the  ground  of  schism  and  separation;  which  is  not 
to  say,  that  the  liturgy  itself  is  a  superstitious  usage,  or 
a  direct  cause  of  schism.  And  we  cited  the  words  of  a 
learned  man  (Mr.  Hales),  not  as  making  every  word  our 
own,  but  as  a  testimony  ad  hominem,  because  he  was  so 
highly  valued  by  yourselves,  as  we  suppose,  and  therefore 
we  thought  his  words  might  be  more  regarded  by  you  than 
our  own.  2.  Where  you  say  that  the  church  hath  been 
careful  to  put  nothing  in  the  liturgy  but  that  which  is 
either  evidently  the  Word  of  God,  or  that  which'  had  been 
generally  received  in  the  catholic  church : — we  reply,  1 . 
We  suppose  there  is  little  or  nothing  now  controverted 
between  us,  which  you  will  say  is  evidently  the  Word  of 
God,  either  the  forms  or  ceremonies,  or  any  of  the  rest. 
2.  If  by  in  the  church  you  mean,  not  by  the  church 
but  by  any  part   in  the   church,  how  shall    we  know   that 


223  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

they  did  well  ?  And  if  by  the  generality  you  mean^  not 
all^  but  the  greater  part^  you  undertake  the  proof  of  that 
which  is  not  easy  to  be  proved;  it  being  so  hard  to  judge 
of  the  majority  of  persons  in  the  catholic  church  in  any 
notable  differences.  We  do  take  it  for  granted,  that  you 
limit  not  the  catholic  church,  as  the  papists  do,  to 
the  confines  of  the  Roman  empire;  but  indeed  we  can 
only  wish  that  your  assertion  were  true,  while  we  must 
show  it  to  be  untrue.  If  you  speak  of  the  primitive 
church,  or  of  a  universality  of  time,  as  well  as  place, 
(if  not,  it  is  more  against  you  that  the  primitive  catholic 
church  was  against  you,)  the  very  thing  in  qiiestion  that 
containeth  the  rest  (that  it  is  needful  to  the  peace  of  the 
church,  that  all  the  churches  under  one  prince  should 
use  one  form  of  liturgy)  was  not  received  by  the  catholic 
church,  nor  by  the  generality  in  it,  when  it  is  so  well  known 
that  they  used  diversity  of  liturgies  and  customs  in  the 
Roman  empire.  The  generality  in  the  catholic  church 
received  not  the  Lord^s  supper  kneeling,  at  least  on  any 
Lord's  days,  when  it  was  forbidden  by  divers  general 
councils,  and  when  this  prohibition  was  generally  received 
as  an  apostolical  tradition.  We  have  not  heard  it  proved  that 
the  surplice  or  cross,  as  used  with  us,  were  received  by 
the  universal  church.  It  is  a  private  opinion  not  received 
by  the  catholic  church,  that  it  is  requisite  that  no  man 
should  come  to  the  holy  communion  but  with  a  full  trust 
in  God's  mercy,  and  with  a  quiet  conscience.  Though  it 
be  every  man's  duty  to  be  perfect  pro  statu  viatoris,  yet 
it  is  not  requisite  that  no  man  come  till  he  be  perfect. 
He  that  hath  but  a  weak  faith  (though  not  a  full  trust) 
must  come  to  have  it  strengthened;  and  he  that  hath  an 
unquiet  conscience,  must  come  to  receive  that  mercy  which 
may  quiet  it.  It  is  a  private  opinion,  and  not  generally 
received  in  the  catholic  church,  that  one  of  |the  people 
may  make  the  public  confession  at  the  sacrament  in  the 
name  of  all  those  that  are  minded  to  receive  the  holy 
communion.      It   is  a  private,  and    not    generally  received 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  233 

distinction^  that  the  body  of  Christ  makes  clean  our  bodies, 
and  his  blood  washeth  our  souls.  It  is  a  doubtful  opinion, 
to  speak  easily,  that  when  the  Lord^s  supper  is  delivered 
with  a  prayer  not  made  in  the  receiver's  name,  but  thus 
directed  to  him  by  the  minister  (the  body  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  &c.,  preserve  thy  body  and  soul),  it  is  so  in- 
tolerable a  thing  for  the  receiver  not  to  kneel  in  hearing 
the  prayer,  that  he  must  else  be  thrust  fi'om  the  commu- 
nion of  the  church,  and  yet  that  no  minister  shall  kneel 
that  indeed  doth  pray :  but  he  may  pray  standing,  and 
the  hearers  be  cast  out  fof  standing  at  the  same  words.  It 
is  not  a  generally  received,  but  a  private  opinion,  that  every 
parishioner  (though  impenitent,  and  conscious  of  his  utter 
unfitness,  and  though  he  be  in  despair,  and  think  he  shall 
take  his  own  damnation)  must  be  forced  to  receive  thrice  a 
year;  when  yet  even  those  that  have  not  a  full  trust  in  God's 
mercy,  or  have  not  a  quiet  conscience,  were  before  pronounced 
so  incapable,  as  that  none  such  should  come  to  the  commu- 
nion. Abundance  more  such  instances  may  be  given,  to 
show  how  far  from  truth  the  assertion  is,  that  the  church 
hath  been  careful  to  put  nothing  into  the  liturgy  but  that 
which  is  either  evidently  the  Word  of  God,  or  which  hath 
been  generally  received  in  the  catholic  church,  unless  you 
speak  of  some  unhappy  unsuccessful  carefulness.  But  we 
thankfully  accept  of  your  following  words,  (and  if  the  con- 
trary can  be  proved,  we  wish  it  out  of  the  liturgy,)  which 
we  entreat  you  to  perform,  and  impartially  receive  our  proofs. 
But  then  we  must  also  entreat  you, — 1.  That  the  primitive 
church's  judgment  and  practice  may  be  preferred  before  the 
present  declined,  much  corrupted  state.  And  2.  If  God's 
law,  rather  than  the  sinful  practices  of  men  breaking  that 
law,  may  be  the  church's  rule  for  worship ; — for  you  call  us  to 
subscribe  to  Article  19,  that  as  the  church  of  Jerusalem, 
Alexandria,  and  Antioch  hath  erred,  so  also  the  church  of 
Home  hath  erred,  not  only  in  their  living  and  manner  of 
ceremonies,  but  also  in  matters  of  faith ;  and,  saith  Rogers, 
in  Article  20,  they  are  out  of  the  way  which  think  that  either 


224  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

one  man,  as  t"he  pope,  or  any  certain  calling  of  men,  as  the 
clergy,  hath  power  to  decree  and  appoint  rites  or  ceremonies, 
though  of  themselves  good,  unto  the  whole  church  of  God, 
dispersed  over  the  universal  world  : — and,  indeed,  if  you  would 
have  all  that  corruption  brought  into  our  liturgy,  and  dis- 
cipline, and  doctrine,  which  the  papists,  Greeks,  and  others, 
that  undoubtedly  make  up  the  far  greater  number  of  the 
now  universal  church,  do  use;  you  woidd  deserve  no  more 
thanks  of  God  or  man  than  he  that  would  have  all  kings, 
and  nobles,  and  gentry  levelled  with  the  poor  commons, 
because  the  latter  are  the  greater  number ;  or  than  he  that 
would  have  the  healthful  conformed  to  the  sick,  when  an 
epidemical  disease  hath  made  them  the  majority;  or  than  he 
that  would  teach  us  to  follow  a  multitude  to  do  evil,  and  to 
break  more  than  the  least  commands,  because  the  greater 
number  break  them :  we  pray  you,  therefore,  to  take  it  for 
no  justification  of  any  uncertain  or  faulty  passage  in  our 
liturgy,  though  the  greater  number  now  are  guilty  of  it. 
3.  And  we  must  beseech  you,  if  the  church's  judgment  or 
practice  must  be  urged,  that  you  would  do  us  the  justice  as 
to  imitate  the  ancient  churches  in  your  sense  of  the  quality, 
and  the  mode  and  measure  of  using  and  imposing  things,  as 
well  as  in  the  materials  used  and  imposed.  Consider  not 
only  whether  you  find  such  things  received  by  the  ancient 
churches,  but  also  consider  how  they  were  received,  esteemed, 
and  used— whether  as  necessary  or  indifferent,  as  points  of 
faith  or  doubtful  opinions,  whether  forced  on  others  or  left  to 
their  free  choice.  If  you  find  that  the  generality  of  the 
ancient  churches  received  the  white  garment  after  baptism 
and  the  tasting  of  milk  and  honey  as  ceremonies,  freely, 
though  generally  used,  you  should  not,  therefore,  force  men 
to  use  them :  if  you  find  that  the  doctrine  of  the  millennium 
or  of  angels'  corporeity  was  generally  received  as  an  opinion, 
it  will  not  warrant  you  to  receive  either  of  them  as  a  certain 
necessary  truth.  If  you  find  that  the  general  councils 
forbade  kneeling  in  any  adoration  on  the  Lord's  days,  but 
without  force  against  dissenters,  you  may  not  go  deny  the 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bisho2)s.  235 

sacrament  to  all  that  kneel^  uor  yet  forbid  tliem  to  kneel  in 
praying.  So  if  you  find  some  little  parcels  of  our  liturgy^  or 
some  of  our  ceremonies  used  as  things  indifferent^  left  to 
choice,  forced  upon  none,  but  one  church  differing  from 
another  in  such  usages  or  observances,  this  will  not  warrant 
you  to  use  the  same  things  as  necessary  to  order,  unity,  or 
peace,  and  to  be  forced  upon  all.  Use  them  no  otherwise  than 
the  churches  used  them. 

Prop.  1.  §  2.  Ans.  We  heartily  desire  that,  according  to  this 
proposal,  great  care  may  be  taken  to  suppress  those  private 
conceptions  of  prayers  before  and  after  sermon,  lest  private 
opinions  be  made  the  matter  of  prayer  in  public^  as  hath^  and 
will  be,  if  private  persons  take  liberty  to  make  public 
prayers. 

Reply.  The  desire  of  your  hearts  is  the  grief  of  our  hearts ; 
the  conceptions  of  prayer  by  a  public  person,  according  to  a 
public  rule,  for  a  public  use,  are  not  to  be  rejected  as  private 
conceptions :  we  had  hoped  you  had  designed  no  such 
innovation  as  this  in  the  church.  When  we  have  heard  any 
say  that  it  would  come  to  this,  and  that  you  designed  the  sup- 
pression of  the  free  prayers  of  ministers  in  the  pulpit,  suited 
to  the  variety  of  subjects  and  occasions,  we  have  rebuked 
them  as  uncharitable  in  passing  so  heavy  a  censure  on  you. 
And  what  would  have  been  said  of  us  a  year  ago,  if  we  should 
have  said  that  this  was  in  your  hearts  ?  Nothing  will  more 
alienate  the  hearts  of  many  holy,  prudent  persons  from  the 
Common  Prayer,  than  to  perceive  that  it  is  framed  and  used 
as  an  instrument  to  shut  out  all  other  prayers,  as  the  minis- 
ters' private  conceptions.  Such  an  end  and  design  will  make 
it,  under  the  notion  of  a  means,  another  thing  than  else  it 
would  be,  and  afford  men  such  an  argument  against  it  as  we 
desire  them  not  to  have  :  but  we  hope  you  speak  not  the 
public  sense.  As  the  apostles  desired  (as  aforesaid)  that  all 
would  speak  the  same  things,  without  giving  them  (that  ever 
was  proved)  a  form  of  words  to  speak  them  in,  so  might  we 
propose  to  you  that  uncertain  opinions  be  made  no  part  of 
our  liturgy,  without  putting  all  their  words  into  their  mouths 

Q 


226  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

in  which  their  desires  must  be  uttered.  Your  hearty  desire, 
and  the  reason  of  it^  makes  not  only  against  extemporary 
prayer,  but  all  prepared,  or  written  forms,  or  liturgies,  that 
were  indited  only  by  one  man,  and  have  not  the  consent 
antecedently  of  others.  And  do  you  think  this  was  the 
course  of  the  primitive  times  ?  Basil  thus  used  his  private 
conceptions  at  Csesarea,  and  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  before 
him,  at  Neocsesarea,  and  all  pastors  in  Justin  Martyr's  and  Ter- 
tullian's  days.  And  how  injurious  is  it  to  the  public  officers 
of  Christ,  the  bishops  and  pastors  of  the  churches,  to  be 
called  private  men  !  Who  are  public  persons  in  the  church,  if 
they  be  not  ?  Every  single  person  is  not  a  private  person, 
else  kings  and  judges  would  be  so.  And  have  you  not  better 
means  to  shut  out  private  opinions,  than  the  forbidding 
ministers  praying  in  the  pulpit,  according  to  the  variety  of 
subjects  and  occasions?  You  have  first  the  examination  of 
persons  to  be  ordained,  and  may  see  that  they  be  able  to  speak 
sense,  and  fit  to  manage  their  proper  works  with  judgment 
and  discretion,  before  you  ordain  them ;  and  some  confidence 
may  be  put  in  a  man  in  his  proper  calling  and  work,  to  which 
he  IS  admitted  with  so  great  care  as  we  hope  (or  desire)  you 
will  admit  them.  If  you  are  necessitated  to  admit  some  few 
that  are  injudicious,  or  unmeet,  we  beseech  you,  not  only  to 
restore  the  many  hundred  worthy  men  laid  by,  to  a  capacity, 
but  that  you  will  not  so  dishonour  the  whole  church,  as  to 
suppose  all  such,  and  to  use  all  as  such,  but  restrain  those 
that  deserve  restraint,  and  not  all  others  for  their  sakes.  And 
next,  you  have  a  public  rule  (the  holy  Scripture)  for  these 
men  to  pray  by ;  and  if  any  of  them  be  intolerably  guilty  of 
weaknesses  or  rashness,  or  other  miscarriasjes,  the  words  being 
spoken  in  public,  you  have  witness  enow ;  and  sure  there  is 
power  enough  in  magistrates  and  bishops  to  punish  them,  and 
if  they  prove  incorrigible,  to  cast  them  out.  In  all  other 
professions,  these  means  are  thought  sufficient  to  regulate  the 
professors.  His  majesty  thinks  it  enough  to  regulate  his 
judges,  that  he  may  choose  able  men,  and  fit  to  be  trusted  in 
their  proper  work,  and  that  they  are  responsible  for  all  their 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  227 

maladministrations,  without  prescribing  them  forms,  beyond 
which  they  may  not  speak  anything  in  their  charge.  Physi- 
cians being  first  tried,  and  responsible  for  their  doings,  are 
constantly  trusted  with  the  lives  of  high  and  low,  without 
tying  them  to  give  no  counsel  or  medicine,  but  by  the  pre- 
script of  a  book,  or  determination  of  a  college.  And  it  is  so 
undeniable  that  your  reason  makes  more  against  preaching, 
and  for  only  reading  homilies,  as  that  we  must  like  it  the 
worse,  if  not  fear  what  will  become  of  preaching  also.  For, 
1.  It  is  known  that  in  preaching  a  man  hath  far  greater  op- 
portunity and  liberty  to  vent  a  false  or  private  opinion,  than 
in  prayer.  2.  It  is  known,  de  eventu,  that  it  is  much  more 
ordinary.  And  if  you  say,  that  he  speaks  not  the  words  of 
the  church,  but  his  own,  nor  unto  God,  but  man,  and  there- 
fore it  is  less  matter ;  we  answer — It  is  as  considerable,  if  not 
much  more,  from  whom  he  speaks,  than  to  whom  he  speaks, 
as  the  minister  of  Christ,  in  his  stead  and  name,  (2  Cor.  v, 
19,  20.)  And  it  is  as  a  higher,  so  a  more  reverend  thing,  to 
speak  in  God's  name  to  the  people,  than  in  the  people's  name 
to  God;  and  to  speak  that  which  we  call  God's  word,  or 
truth,  or  message,  than  that  which  we  call  but  our  own 
desire.  We  make  God  a  liar,  or  corrupt  in  his  words,  if  we 
speak  a  falsehood  in  his  name ;  we  make  but  ourselves  liars, 
if  we  speak  a  falsehood  to  him  in  our  own  names ;  the  former, 
therefore,  is  the  more  heinous  and  dreadful  abuse,  and  more 
to  be  avoided;  or  if  but  equally,  it  shews  the  tendency  of 
your  reason,  for  we  will  not  say  of  your  design,  as  hoping 
you  intend  not  to  make  us  ruffians.  We  do,  therefore,  for 
the  sake  of  the  poor  threatened  church,  beseech  you  that  you 
will  be  pleased  to  repent  of  these  desires,  and  not  to  prosecute 
them,  considering  that  to  avoid  a  lesser  evil  (avoidable  by 
safer  means) ,  you  will  bring  a  far  greater  evil  on  the  churches, 
and  such  as  is  like  to  strip  these  nations  of  the  glory  in 
which  they  have  excelled  the  rest  of  the  world,  even  a 
learned,  able,  holy  ministry,  and  a  people  sincere  and 
serious,  and  understanding  in  the  matters  of  their  sal- 
vation. 

q2    ^ 


228  Rejoinder  of  he  Ministers  [1661. 

For,  1.  As  it  is  well  known  that  an  ignorant  man  may- 
read  a  prayer  and  homily  as  distinctly  and  laudably  as  a 
learned  divine,,  and  so  may  do  the  work  of  a  minister,  if  this 
be  it ;  so  it  is  known  that  man's  nature  is  so  addicted  to  ease 
and  sensual  diversions,  as  that  multitudes  will  make  no  better 
preparations  when  they  find  that  no  more  is  necessary.  When 
they  are  as  capable  of  their  places  and  maintenance  if  they 
can  but  read,  and  are  forced  upon  no  exercise  of  their  parts, 
which  may  detect  and  shame  their  ignorance,  but  the  same 
words  are  to  be  read  by  the  ablest  and  the  ignorantest  man ; 
it  is  certain  that  this  will  make  multitudes  idle  in  their 
academical  studies,  and  multitudes  to  spend  their  time  idly 
all  the  year,  in  the  course  of  their  ministry :  and  when  they 
have  no  necessity  that  they  are  sensible  of,  of  diligent  studies, 
it  will  let  loose  their  fleshly,  voluptuous  inclinations,  and  they 
will  spend  their  time  in  sports,  and  drinking,  and  prating,  and 
idleness,  and  this  wiU  be  a  seminary  of  lust :  or  they  wiU 
follow  the  world,  and  drown  themselves  in  covetousness  and 
ambition,  and  their  hearts  will  be  like  their  studies.  As  it  is 
the  way  to  have  a  holy,  able  ministry,  to  engage  them  to 
holy  studies,  to  meditate  on  God's  law  day  and  night,  so  it  is 
the  way  to  have  an  ignorant,  profane,  and  scandalous  ministry 
(and  consequently  enemies  to  serious  godliness  in  others,)  to 
impose  upon  them  but  such  a  work  as  in  ignorance  and  idle- 
ness they  may  perform  as  well  as  the  judicious  and  the 
diligent.  If  it  be  said  that  their  parts  may  be  tried  and 
exercised  some  other  way,  we  answer,  where  should  a  minis- 
ter's parts  be  exercised,  if  not  in  the  pulpit,  or  the  church, 
and  in  catechising,  in  private  baptism,  and  communion,  and 
in  the  visitation  of  the  sick?  Their  work  also  is  such  as  a 
schoolboy  may  do  as  well  as  they,  their  ignorance  having  the 
same  cloak,  in  public.  If  it  be  said  that  a  minister's 
work  is  not  to  shew  his  parts,  we  answer,  but  his  ministerial 
work  is,  to  shew  men  their  sins,  and  to  preach  the  wonderful 
mysteries  of  the  gospel ;  to  help  men  to  search  and  understand 
the  Scriptures,  and  to  search  and  to  know  their  hearts,  and 
to  know  God  in  Christ,  and  to  hope  for  the  glory  that  is  to  be 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  229 

revealed;  and  fervently  to  pray  for  the  success  of  his  en- 
deavours^ and  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  on  the  people^  and 
cheerfully  to  praise  God  for  his  various  benefits,  which  cannot 
be  well  done  without  abilities.  A  physician's  work  is  not  to 
shew  his  parts  ultimately,  but  it  is  to  do  that  for  the  cure  of 
diseases  which  without  parts  he  cannot  do ;  and  in  the  exercise 
of  his  parts,  on  which  the  issue  much  depends,  to  save  men's 
lives.  The  ostentation  of  his  good  works  is  not  the  work  of 
a  good  Christian :  and  yet  he  must  so  let  his  light  shine 
before  men,  that  they  may  see  his  good  works,  and  glorify 
God.  And  undeniable  experience  tells  us,  that  God  ordinarily 
proportioneth  the  success  and  blessing  to  the  skill,  and  holi- 
ness, and  diligence  of  the  instruments,  and  blesseth  not  the 
labours  of  ignorant,  ungodly  drones,  as  he  doth  the  labours 
of  able,  faithful  ministers :  and  also  that  the  readiest  way  to 
bring  the  gospel  into  contempt  with  the  world,  and  cause  all 
religion  to  dwindle  away  into  formality  first,  and  then  to 
barbarism  and  brutishness,  is  to  let  in  an  ignorant,  idle, 
vicious  ministry,  that  will  become  the  people's  scorn.  Yea, 
this  is  the  way  to  extirpate  Christianity  out  of  any  country 
in  the  world,  which  is  decaying  apace  when  men  grow  ignorant 
of  the  nature  and  reasons  of  it,  and  unexperienced  in  its 
power  and  delightful  fruits,  and  when  the  teachers  themselves 
grow  unable  to  defend  it.  And  we  must  add  that,  whatsoever 
can  be  expected  duly  to  affect  the  heart,  must  keep  the 
intellect,  and  all  the  faculties  awake  in  diligent  attention  and 
exercise :  and  in  the  use  of  a  form  which  we  have  frequently 
heard  and  read,  the  faculties  are  not  so  necessitated  and 
urged  to  attention,  and  serious  exercise,  as  they  be  when 
from  our  own  understanding  we  are  set  about  the  natural 
work  of  representing  to  others  what  we  discern  and  feel- 
Man's  mind  is  naturally  slothful,  and  will  take  its  ease,  and 
remit  its  seriousness  longer  than  it  is  urged  by  necessity,  or 
drawn  out  by  delight.  When  we  know  beforehand  that  we 
have  no  more  to  do  but  read  a  prayer  or  homily,  we  shall 
ordinarily  be  in  danger  of  letting  our  minds  go  another  way, 
and  think  of  other  matters,  and  be  senseless  of  the  work  in 


230  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

hand.  Though  he  is  but  an  hypocrite  that  is  carried  on  by 
no  greater  motive  than  man's  observation  and  approbation; 
yet  is  it  a  help  not  to  be  despised,  when  even  a  necessity  of 
avoiding  just  shame  with  men,  shall  necessarily  awake  our 
invention,  and  all  our  faculties  to  the  work,  and  be  a  con- 
current help  with  spiritual  motives.  And  common  experience 
tells  u?,  that  the  best  are  apt  to  lose  a  great  deal  of  their 
affection  by  the  constant  use  of  the  same  words  or  forms. 
Let  the  same  sermon  be  preached  a  hundred  times  over, 
and  try  whether  a  hundred  for  one  will  not  be  much  less 
moved  by  it,  than  they  were  at  first.  It  is  not  only  the 
common  corruption  of  our  nature,  but  somewhat  of  innocent 
infirmity  that  is  the  cause  of  this.  And  man  must  cease  to 
be  man,  or  to  be  mortal,  before  it  will  be  otherwise ;  so  that 
the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  common  experience  of  our 
own  dispositions,  and  of  the  effect  on  others,  assureth  us,  that 
understanding  serious  godliness  is  like  to  be  extinguished,  if 
only  forms  be  allowed  in  the  church,  on  pretence  of  ex- 
tinguishing errors  and  divisions.  And  though  we  have  con- 
curred to  offer  you  our  more  corrected  Nepenthes,  yet  must 
we,  before  God  and  men,  protest  against  the  dose  of  opium 
which  you  here  prescribe  or  wish  for,  as  that  which  plainly 
tendeth  to  cure  the  disease  by  the  extinguishing  of  life,  and 
to  unite  us  all  in  a  dead  religion.  And  when  the  prayers 
that  avail  must  be  effectual  and  fervent,  James  v,  16,  and 
God  will  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  truth,  and  more  regard- 
eth  the  frame  of  the  heart  than  the  comeliness  of  expression ; 
we  have  no  reason  to  be  taken  with  anything  that  pretends  to 
help  the  tongue,  while  we  are  sure  it  ordinarily  hurts  the 
heart.  And  it  is  not  the  affirmations  of  any  men  in  the 
world,  persuading  us  of  the  harmlessness  of  such  a  course, 
that  can  so  far  unman  us,  as  to  make  us  disbelieve  both  our 
own  experience,  and  common  observation  of  the  effect  on 
others.  Yet  we  confess  that  some  forms  have  their  laudable 
use,  to  cure  that  error  and  vice,  that  lieth  on  the  other 
extreme.  And  might  we  but  sometimes  have  the  liberty  to 
interpose  such  words  as  are  needful  to  call  home  and  quicken 


1661,]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  231 

attention  and  affection,  we  sliould  think  that  a  convenient 
conjunction  of  both  might  be  a  well-tempered  means  to  the 
common  constitutions  of  most.  But  still  we  see  the  world 
will  run  into  extremes,  whatever  be  said  or  done  to  hinder  it. 
It  is  but  lately  that  we  were  put  to  it,  against  one  extreme,  to 
defend  the  lawfulness  of  a  form  of  liturgy;  now  the  other 
extreme  it  troubleth  us,  that  we  are  forced  against  you,  even 
such  as  you,  to  defend  the  use  of  such  prayers  of  the  pastors 
of  the  churches,  as  are  necessarily  varied  according  to  subjects 
and  occasions,  while  you  would  have  no  prayer  at  all  in  the 
church,  but  such  prescribed  forms.  And  why  may  we  not 
add,  that  whoever  maketh  the  forms  imposed  on  us,  if  he  use 
them,  is  guilty  as  well  as  we  of  praying  according  to  his 
private  conceptions;  and  that  we  never  said  it  proved  from 
Scripture,  that  Christ  appointed  any  to  such  an  office,  as  to 
make  prayers  for  other  pastors  and  churches  to  offer  up  to 
God ;  and  that  this  being  none  of  the  work  of  the  apostolic, 
or  common  ministerial  office  in  the  primitive  church,  is  no 
work  of  any  office  of  divine  institution  ? 

Prop.  1.  §  3.  Ans.  To  that  pert  of  the  proposal,  that  the 
prayers  may  consist  of  nothing  doubtful  or  questioned  by  pious, 
learned,  and  orthodox  persons ;  they  not  determining  who  be 
those  orthodox  persons;  we  must  either  take  all  them  for  ortho- 
dox persons,  who  shall  confidently  affirm  themselves  to  be  such, 
and  then  we  say,  first,  the  demand  is  unreasonable ;  for  some 
such  as  call  themselves  orthodox,  have  questioned  the  prime 
article  of  our  creed,  even  the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
yet  there  is  no  reason  we  should  part  with  our  creed  for  that. 
Besides,  the  proposal  requires  impossibility;  for  there  never 
was,  nor  is,  nor  can  be  such  prayers  made,  as  have  not  been, 
nor  will  be  questioned  by  some  who  call  themselves  pious, 
learned,  and  orthodox.  If  by  orthodox  be  meant  those  who 
adhere  to  Scripture  and  the  catholic  consent  of  antiquity,  we 
do  not  yet  know  that  any  part  of  our  litm'gy  hath  been 
questioned 'by  such. 

Reply.  And  may  we  not  thus  mention  orthodox  persons  to 
men  that  profess  they  agree  with  us  in  doctrinals,  unless  we 


232  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

digress  to  tell  you  who  they  be?  What  if  we  were  pleading 
for  civil  concord  among  all  that  are  loyal  to  the  king,  must 
we  needs  digress  to  tell  you  who  are  loyal?  We  are  agreed 
iu  one  rule  of  faith,  in  one  holy  Scripture,  and  one  creed, 
and  differ  not  (you  say)  about  the  doctrinal  part  of  the 
thirty-nine  Articles.  And  will  not  all  this  seem  to  tell  you 
who  are  orthodox  ?  If  you  are  resolved  to  make  all  that  a 
matter  of  contention  which  we  desire  to  make  a  means  of 
peace,  there  is  no  remedy  while  you  have  the  ball  before  you, 
and  have  the  wind  and  sun,  and  the  power  of  contending 
without  control.  But  we  perceive,  that  the  catholic  consent 
of  antiquity  must  go  into  your  definition  of  the  orthodox ; 
but  how  hard  it  is  to  get  a  reconciling  determination,  what 
ages  shall  go  with  you,  and  us,  for  the  true  antiquity,  and 
what  is  necessary  to  that  consent  that  must  be  called  catholic, 
is  unknown  to  none  but  the  inexperienced.  And  indeed  we 
think  a  man  that  searcheth  the  holy  Scripture,  and  sincerely 
and  unreservedly  gives  up  his  soul  to  understand,  love,  and 
obey  it,  may  be  orthodox,  without  the  knowledge  of  church 
history;  we  know  no  universal  lawgiver,  nor  law  to  the 
church,  but  one,  and  that  law  is  the  sufficient  rule  of  faith, 
and  consequently  the  test  of  the  truly  orthodox,  though  we 
refuse  not  church  histor^^  or  other  means  that  may  help  us  to 
understand  it.  And  to  acquaint  you  with  what  you  do  not 
know,  we  ourselves  (after  many  pastors  of  the  reformed 
churches)  do  question  your  liturgy,  as  far  as  is  expressed  in 
our  papers ;  and  we  profess  to  adhere  to  Scripture  and  the 
catholic  consent  of  antiquity,  as  described  by  Vicentius 
Lirinensis.  If  you  will  say,  that  our  pretence  and  claim  is 
unjust,  we  call  for  your  authority  to  judge  our  hearts,  or 
depose  us  from  the  number  of  the  orthodox,  or  else  for  your 
proofs  to  make  good  your  accusation.  But  however  you 
judge,  we  rejoice  in  the  expectation  of  the  righteous  judgment, 
that  shall  finally  decide  the  controversy ;  to  which,  from  this 
aspersion,  we  appeal. 

Prop.  1 .  §  4.  Ans.  To  those  generals,  "  loading  public  forms 
with  church  pomp,  garments,  imagery,  and  many  superfluities 


1G61.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  233 

that  creep  into  the  church  under  the  name  of  order  and  decency, 
encumbering  churches  with  superfluities,  over  rigid  reviving 
of  obsolete  customs,  &c./^  we  say,  that  if  these  generals  be 
intended  as  applicable  to  our  liturgy  in  particular,  they  are 
gross  and  foul  slanders,  contrary  to  their  profession,  (page  ult.,) 
and  so  either  that  or  this  contrary  to  their  conscience;  if  not 
they  signify  nothing  to  the  present  business,  and  so  might 
with  more  prudence  and  candour  have  been  omitted. 

Rephj.  You  needed  not  go  a  fishing  for  our  charge ;  what 
we  had  to  say  against  the  liturgy,  which  we  now  desired  you 
to  observe,  was  here  plainly  laid  before  you ;  answer  to  this, 
and  suppose  us  not  to  say,  what  we  do  not,  to  make  yourselves 
matter  of  reproaching  us  with  gross  and  foul  slanders.  Only 
we  pray  you  answer  Mr.  Hales,  as  Mr.  Hales,  (whom  we 
took  to  be  a  person  of  much  esteem  with  you,)  especially  that 
passage  of  his  which  you  take  no  notice  of,  as  not  being  so 
easy  to  be  answered,  for  the  weight  and  strength  which  it 
carries  with  it ;  viz.,  that  the  limiting  of  the  church  commu- 
nion to  things  of  doubtful  disputation,  hath  been  in  all  ages 
the  ground  of  schism  and  separation,  and  that  he  that  sepa- 
rates from  suspected  opinions  is  not  the  separatist.  And 
may  we  not  cite  such  words  of  one  that  we  thought  you 
honoured,  and  would  hear,  without  contradicting  our  profes- 
sion of  not  intending  depravation  or  reproach  against  the 
book  without  going  against  our  consciences  ?  If  we  cite  the 
words  of  an  author  for  a  particular  use  (as  to  persuade  you  of 
the  evil  of  laying  the  church's  unity  upon  unnecessary  things) 
must  we  be  responsible  therefore  for  all  that  you  can  say 
against  his  words  in  other  respects?  We  suppose  you  would  be 
loth  your  words  should  have  such  interpretations,  and  that 
you  should  be  under  such  a  law  for  all  your  citations.  Do  as 
you  would  be  done  by. 

Prop.  2.  Ans.  It  was  the  wisdom  of  our  reformers  to  draw  up 
such  a  liturgy  as  neither  Romanist  nor  Protestant  could 
justly  except  against;  and  therefore  as  the  first  never  charged 
it  with  any  positive  errors,  but  only  the  want  of  something 
they  conceived  necessary,  so  it  was  never  found  fault  with  by 


234  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

those  to  wliom  the  name  of  Protestants  most  properly 
belongs^  those  that  profess  the  Augustan  confession :  and  for 
thosOj  who  unlawfully  and  sinfully  brought  it  into  dislike  with 
some  people,  to  urge  the  present  state  of  affairs,  as  an  argu- 
ment why  the  book  should  be  altered,  to  give  them  satisfac- 
tion, and  so  that  they  should  take  advantage  by  their  own 
unwarrantable  acts,  is  not  reasonable. 

Reply.  If  it  be  blameless,  no  man  can  justly  except  against 
it :  but,  de  facto,  the  Romanists  never  charged  it  with  any 
positive  errors,  is  an  assertion  that  maketh  them  reformed, 
and  reconcilable  to  us,  beyond  all  belief:  is  not  the  very 
using  it  in  our  own  tongue  a  positive  error  in  their  account  ? 
Is  it  no  positive  error  in  the  papists^  account,  that  we  profess 
to  receive  these  creatures  of  bread  and  wine  ?  Do  they  think 
we  have  no  positive  error  in  our  catechism  about  the  sacra- 
ment, that  affirmeth  it  to  be  bread  and  wine  after  the  conse- 
cration, and  makes  but  two  sacraments  necessary?  &c.  2. 
And  unless  we  were  nearlier  agreed  than  we  are,  it  seemeth 
to  us  no  commendation  of  a  liturgy,  that  the  papists  charge 
it  with  no  positive  error.  3.  That  no  divines,  or  private  men 
at  home,  or  of  foreign  churches  that  ever  found  fault  with  the 
liturgy,  are  such  to  whom  the  name  of  Protestant  properly  be- 
longeth,is  an  assertion  that  proveth  not  what  authority  of  judg- 
ing your  brethren  you  have,  but  what  you  assume  and  com- 
mendeth  your  charity  no  more  than  it  commendeth  the 
papists,  that  they  deny  us  to  be  catholics.  Calvin  and  Bucer 
subscribed  the  Augustan  confession,  and  so  have  others  that 
have  found  fault  with  our  liturgy.  4.  If  any  of  us  have 
blamed  it  to  the  people,  it  is  but  with  such  a  sort  of  blame, 
as  we  have  here  expressed  against  it  to  yourselves;  and 
whether  it  be  unlawful  and  sinful,  the  impartial  comparing  of 
your  words  with  ours,  will  help  the  willing  reader  to  discern. 
But  if  we  prove  indeed  that  it  is  defective  and  faulty,  that  you 
bring  it  for  an  offering  to  God  when  you  or  your  neighbours 
have  a  better,  which  you  will  not  bring,  nor  suffer  them  that 
would  (Mai.  i,  13,)  and  that  you  call  evil  good  in  justifying 
its  blemishes,  which  in  humble  modesty  we  besought  you  to 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  235 

amend,  or  excuse  us  from  offeringr,  then  God  will  better  judge 
of  the  unlawful  act  than  you  have  done.  But  you  have  not 
proved,  that  all,  or  most  of  us,  have  caused  the  people  at  all 
to  dislike  it ;  if  any  of  us  have,  yet  weigh  our  argument, 
though  from  the  present  state  of  affairs  :  or,  if  you  will  not 
hear  us,  we  beseech  you  hear  the  many  ministers  in  England, 
that  never  meddled  against  the  liturgy,  and  the  many  moderate 
episcopal  divines  that  have  used  it,  and  can  do  still,  and 
yet  would  earnestly  entreat  you  to  alter  it,  partly  because  of 
what  in  it  needs  alteration,  and  partly  in  respect  to  the  com- 
modity of  others;  or  at  least  we  beseech  you  recant,  and 
obliterate  such  passages  as  would  hinder  all  yourselves  from 
any  act  of  reformation  hereabout;  that  if  any  man  among 
you  would  find  fault  with  some  of  the  grosser  things,  which 
we  laid  open  to  you,  tenderly  and  sparingly,  and  would 
reform  them,  he  may  not  presently  forfeit  the  reputation  of 
being  a  Protestant.  And  lastly,  we  beseech  you  deny  not 
again  the  name  of  Protestants  to  the  Primate  of  Ireland,  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  the  many  others  that  had  divers 
meetings  for  the  reformation  of  the  liturgy,  and  who  drew  up 
that  catalogue  of  faults,  or  points,  that  needed  mending, 
which  is  yet  to  be  seen  in  print ;  they  took  not  advantage  of 
their  own  unwarrantable  acts  for  the  attempting  of  that 
alteration. 

Prop.  3,  4.  Ans.  The  third  and  fourth  proposals  may  go  to- 
gether, the  demand  in  both  being  against  responsals  and  alter- 
nate readings  in  hymns,  and  psalms,  and  litany,  &c.,  and  that 
upon  such  reason  as  doth  in  truth  enforce  the  necessity  of 
continuing  them  as  they  are,  namely,  for  edification.  They 
would  take  these  away,  because  they  do  not  edify ;  and  upon 
that  very  reason  they  should  continue,  because  they  do  edify, 
if  not  by  informing  of  our  reasons  and  understandings  (the 
prayers  and  hymns  were  never  made  for  a  catechism,)  yet  by 
quickening,  continuing,  and  uniting  our  devotion,  which  is 
apt  to  freeze,  or  sleep,  or  flat  in  a  long  continued  prayer,  or 
form  :  it  is  necessary  therefore  for  the  edifying  of  us  therein, 
to  be  often  called  upon  and  awakened  by  frequent  Amens,  to 


236  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

be  excited  and  stirred  up  by  mutual  exultations^  provocations, 
petitions,  holy  contentions,  and  strivings,  wliich  shall  most 
shew  his  own^  and  stir  up  others'  zeal  to  the  glory  of  God. 
For  this  purpose  alternate  reading,  repetitions,  and  responsals, 
are  far  better  than  a  long  tedious  prayer.  Nor  is  this  our 
opinion  only,  but  the  judgment  of  former  ages,  as  appears  by 
the  practice  of  ancient  Christian  churches,  and  of  the  Jews 
also.  But  it  seems,  they  say,  to  be  against  the  Scripture, 
wherein  the  minister  is  appointed  for  the  people  in  public 
prayers,  the  people's  part  being  to  attend  with  silence,  and  to 
declare  their  assent  in  the  close  by  saying  Amen;  if  they 
mean  that  the  people  in  public  services  must  only  say  this 
word  Amen,  as  they  can  no  more  prove  it  in  the  Scriptures,  so  it 
doth  certainly  seem  to  them  that  it  cannot  be  proved;  for 
they  directly  practice  the  contrary  in  one  of  their  principal 
parts  of  worship,  singing  of  psalms,  where  the  people  bear  as 
great  a  part  as  the  minister.  If  this  way  be  done  in 
Hopkins',  why  not  in  David's  psalms  ?  If  in  metre,  why  not 
in  prose  ?     If  in  a  psalm,  why  not  in  a  litany  ? 

Reply.  What  is  most  for  edification,  is  best  known  by  ex- 
perience, and  by  the  reason  of  the  thing.  For  the  former,  you 
are  not  the  masters  of  all  men's  experience,  but  of  your  own, 
and  others  that  have  acquainted  you  with  the  same,  as  theirs. 
We  also  may  warrantably  profess  in  the  name  of  ourselves, 
and  many  thousands  of  eober,  pious  persons,  that  we  expe- 
rience that  these  things  are  against  oiu"  edification,  and  we 
beseech  you  do  not  by  us,  what  you  would  not  do  by  the 
poor  labouring  servants  of  your  family,  to  measure  them  all 
their  diet  for  quality  or  quantity,  according  to  your  own 
appetites,  which  they  think  are  diseased,  and  would  be  better 
if  you  worked  as  hard  as  they.  And  we  gave  you  some  of 
the  reasons  of  our  judgment.  1.  Though  we  have  not  said 
that  the  people  may  not  in  psalms  to  God  concur  in  voice, 
(we  speak  of  prayer  which  you  should  have  observed)  and 
though  we  only  concluded  it  agreeable  to  the  Scripture 
practice,  for  the  people  in  prayer  to  say  but  their  Amen ;  yet 
knowing  not  from  whom  to  understand  the  wiU  of  God,  and 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  237 

what  is  pleasing  to  him,  better  than  from  himself,  we  con- 
sidered what  the  Scripture  saith  of  the  ordinary  way  of  public 
worship;  and  finding  ordinarily  that  the  people  spoke  no 
more  in  prayer  (as  distinct  from  psalms  and  praise)  than 
their  Amen,  or  mere  consent,  we  desired  to  imitate  the 
surest  pattern.  2.  As  we  find  that  the  minister  is  the  mouth 
of  the  people  to  God  in  public  (which  Scripture,  and  the 
necessity  of  order  do  require),  so  we  were  loth  to  countenance 
the  people's  invading  of  that  sacred  office,  so  far  as  they  seem 
to  us  to  do ; — 1 .  By  reading  half  the  psalms  and  hymns ; — 
2.  By  saying  half  the  prayers,  as  the  minister  doth  the  other 
half; — 3.  By  being  one  of  them  the  mouth  of  all  the  rest  in 
the  confession  at  the  Lord's  Supper ; — 4.  By  being  the  only 
petitioners,  in  the  far  greatest  part  of  all  the  litany,  by  their 
good  Lord  deliver  us,  and  we  beseech  thee  to  hear  us  good 
Lord.  While  the  minister  only  reciteth  the  matter  of  the 
prayer,  and  maketh  none  of  the  request  at  all,  we  fear  lest,  by 
parity  of  reason,  the  people  will  claim  the  work  of  preaching, 
and  other  parts  of  the  ministerial  office.  3.  And  we  men- 
tioned that  which  all  our  ears  are  witnesses  of,  that  while 
half  the  psalms,  and  hymns,  &c.,  are  said  by  such  of  the 
people  as  can  say  them,  the  murmur  of  their  voices  in  most 
congregations,  is  so  unintelligible  and  confused,  as  must  hinder 
the  edification  of  all  the  rest.  For  who  is  edified  by  that 
which  he  cannot  understand  ?  We  know  not  what  you  mean 
by  citing  2  Chron,  vii,  1,  4;  Ezra  iii,  11,  where  there  is  not 
a  word  of  public  prayer,  but  in  one  place  of  an  acclamation, 
upon  an  extraordinary  sight  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  which 
made  them  praise  the  Lord,  and  say,  he  is  good,  for  his 
mercy  is  for  ever;  when  the  prayer  that  went  before  was 
such  as  you  call  a  long  tedious  prayer  uttered  by  Solomon 
alone,  without  such  breaks,  and  descants.  And  in  the  other 
places  is  no  mention  of  prayer  at  all,  but  of  singing  praise, 
and  that  not  by  the  people,  but  by  the  priests,  and  Levites, 
saying  the  same  words,  for  he  is  good,  for  his  mercy  endures 
for  ever  towards  Israel.  The  people  are  said  to  do  no  more 
than  shout  with  a  great  shout,  because  the  foundation  of  the 


238  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

house  was  laid :  and  if  shouting  be  it  that  you  would  prove, 
it  is  not  the  thing  in  question.  Let  the  ordniary  mode  of 
praying  in  Scripture  be  observed,  in  the  prayers  of  David, 
Solomon,  Ezra,  Daniel,  or  any  other,  and  if  they  were  by 
breaks,  and  frequent  beginnings  and  endings,  and  alternate 
interlocutions  of  the  people,  as  yours  are,  then  we  will  con- 
form to  your  mode,  which  now  offends  us.  But  if  they  were 
not,  we  beseech  you  reduce  yours  to  the  examples  in  the 
Scripture :  we  desire  no  other  rule  to  decide  the  controversy 
by.  As  to  your  citation,  1.  Socrates  there  tells  us  of  the 
alternate  singing  of  the  Arians  in  the  reproach  of  the  ortho- 
dox, and  that  Chrysostom  (not  a  synod)  compiled  hymns  to 
be  sung  in  opposition  to  them  in  the  streets,  which  came  in 
the  end  to  a  tumult  and  bloodshed.  And  hereupon  he  tells 
us  of  the  original  of  alternate  singing,  viz.,  a  pretended  vision 
of  Ignatius,  that  heard  angels  sing  in  that  order.  And  what 
is  all  this  to  alternate  reading,  and  praying,  or  to  a  divine 
institution,  when  here  is  no  mention  of  reading,  or  praying, 
but  of  singing  hymns;  and  that  not  upon  pretence  of 
apostolical  tradition,  but  a  vision  of  uncertain  credit  ?  Theo- 
doret  also  speaketh  only  of  singing  psalms  alternately,  and  not 
a  word  of  reading  or  praying  so.  And  he  fetcheth  that  way 
of  singing  also,  as  Socrates  doth,  but  from  the  Church  at 
Antioch,  and  not  from  any  pretended  doctrine,  or  practice  of 
the  apostles.  And  neither  of  them  speaks  a  word  of  the  neces- 
sity of  it,  or  of  forcing  any  to  it :  so  that  all  these  your  cita- 
tions, speaking  not  a  word  so  much  as  of  the  very  subjects  in 
question,  are  marvellously  impertinent.  The  words — their 
worship — seem  to  intimate,  that  singing  psalms  is  part  (of 
our  worship)  and  not  of  yours ;  we  hope  you  disown  it  not : 
for  our  parts  we  are  not  ashamed  of  it.  Your  distinction  be- 
tween Hopkins'  and  David's  psalms,  as  if  the  metre  allowed 
by  authority  to  be  sung  in  churches  made  them  to  be  no 
more  David's  psalms,  seemeth  to  us  a  very  hard  saying.  If 
it  be  because  it  is  a  translation,  then  the  prose  should  be 
none  of  David's  psalms  neither,  nor  any  translation  be  the 
Scripture.      If  it  be  because  it  is  in  metre,  then  the  exactest 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  239 

translation  in  metre  should  be  none  of  the  Scripture.  If 
because  it  is  done  imperfectly^  then  the  old  translation  of  the 
Bible,  used  by  the  Common  Prayer  book,  should  not  be 
Scripture.  As  to  your  reason  for  the  supposed  priority, — 1. 
Scripture  examples  telling  us  that  the  people  had  more  part 
in  the  psalms,  than  in  the  prayers  or  readings,  satisfy  us  that 
God  and  his  church  then  saw  a  disparity  of  reason.  2.  Com- 
mon observation  tells  us,  that  there  is  more  order  and  less 
hinderance  of  edification  in  the  people's  singing,  than  in  their 
reading  and  praying  together  vocally. 

Prop.  5.  §  1.  Ans.  It  is  desired  that  nothing  should  be  in  the 
liturgy  which  so  much  as  seems  to  countenance  the  observa- 
tion of  Lent  as  a  religious  fast ;  and  this  as  an  expedient  to 
peace;  which  is,  in  effect,  to  desire  that  this  our  church  may 
be  contentious  for  peace  sake,  and  to  divide  from  the  church 
catholic,  that  we  may  live  at  unity  among  ourselves.  For 
Saint  Paul  reckons  them  amongst  the  lovers  of  contention, 
who  shall  oppose  themselves  against  the  customs  of  the 
churches  of  God.  That  the  religious  observation  of  Lent 
was  a  custom  of  the  churches  of  God,  appears  by  the  testi- 
monies following.  Chrysost.  Ser.  11,  in  Heb.  x,  Cyrill.  Catec. 
Myst.  5,  St.  August.,  Ep.  119,  ut  40  dies  ante  Pascha  obser- 
ventur,  ecclesiae  consuetudo,  roboravit ;  and  St.  Hierom  ad 
Marcell.  says,  it  was  secundum  traditionem  apostolorum.  This 
demand  then  tends  not  to  peace,  but  dissension.  The  fasting 
forty  days  may  be  in  imitation  of  our  Saviour,  for  all  that  is 
here  said  to  the  contrary ;  for  though  we  cannot  arrive  to  his 
perfection,  abstaining  wholly  from  meat  so  long,  yet  we  may 
fast  forty  days  together,  either  Cornelius^  fast,  till  three  of 
the  clock  afternoon,  or  Saint  Peter's  fast  till  noon,  or  at 
least  Daniel's  fast,  abstaining  from  meats  and  drinks  of 
delight,  and  thus  far  imitate  our  Lord. 

Reply.  If  we  had  said,  that  the  church  is  contentious  if  it 
adore  God  in  kneeling  on  the  Lord's  days,  or  use  not  the 
white  garment,  [and]  milk  and  honey  after  baptism,  which  had 
more  pretence  of  apostolical  tradition,  and  were  generally 
used  more  anciently  than  Lent^  would  you  not  have  thought 


340  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [16G1. 

we  wronged  the  church  ?  If  the  purer  times  of  the  church 
have  one  custom,  and  later  times  a  contrary,  v/hich  must  we 
follow  ?  Or  must  we  necessarily  be  conteotious  for  not  follow- 
ing both ;  or,  rather,  may  we  not,  by  the  example  of  the 
church  that  changeth  them,  be  allowed  to  take  such  things  to 
be  matters  of  liberty,  and  not  necessity?  If  we  must  needs 
conform  to  the  custom  of  other  chiirches  in  such  things,  or 
be  contentious,  it  is  either  because  God  hath  so  commanded, 
or  because  he  hath  given  those  churches  authority  to  com- 
mand it.  If  the  former,  then  what  churches  or  what  ages 
must  we  conform  to  ?  If  all  must  concur  to  be  our  pattern, 
it  will  be  hard  for  us  to  be  acquainted  with  them,  so  far  as  to 
know  of  such  concurrences ;  and  in  our  case  we  know  that 
many  do  it  not.  If  it  must  be  the  most,  we  would  know 
where  God  commandeth  us  to  imitate  the  greater  number, 
though  the  worse ;  or  hath  secured  us  that  they  shall  not  be 
the  worst ;  or  why  we  are  not  tied  rather  to  imitate  the 
purer  ages  than  the  more  corrupt  ?  If  it  be  said,  that  the 
church  hath  authority  to  command  us,  we  desire  to  know 
what  church  that  is,  and  where  to  be  found  and  heard,  that 
may  command  England  and  all  the  churches  of  his  majesty's 
dominions.  If  it  be  said  to  be  a  general  council — 1.  No 
general  council  can  pretend  to  more  authority  than  that  of 
Niccea,  whose  20th  canon,  backed  with  tradition  and  common 
practice,  now  binds  not  us,  and  was  laid  by  without  any  repeal 
by  following  councils.  2.  We  know  of  no  such  thirgs  as 
general  councils,  at  least  that  have  bound  us  to  the  religious 
observation  of  Lent.  The  bishops  of  one  empire  could  not 
make  a  general  council.  3.  Nor  do  we  know  of  any  such 
power  that  they  have  over  the  universal  church ;  there  being 
no  visible  head  of  it,  or  governors,  to  make  universal  laws, 
but  Christ,  as  Rogers,  on  the  20th  Article  fore-cited,  shews. 
Our  21st  Article  saith,  that  general  coimcils  may  not  be 
gathered  together  without  the  commandment  and  will  of 
princes;  and  doubtless,  all  the  heathen,  and  Mahometans, 
and  all  the  contending  Christian  princes,  will  never  agree 
together  (nor  never  did)  to  let  all  their  Christian  subjects 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  241 

concur  to  hold  a  general  council.  It  saitli  also — "  And  when 
they  be  gathered  together,  forasmuch  as  they  be  an  assembly 
of  men,  whereof  all  be  not  governed  with  the  Spirit  and 
Word  of  God,  they  may  err,  and  sometimes  have  erred,  even 
in  things  pertaining  unto  God ;  therefore,  things  ordained  by 
them,  as  necessary  to  salvation,  have  neither  strength  nor 
authority  unless  it  may  be  declared  that  they  be  taken  out  of 
holy  Scripture."  And  if  they  may  err  in  things  pertaining 
unto  God,  and  ordained  by  them  as  necessary  to  salvation, 
much  more  in  lesser  things.  And  are  we  contentious  if  we 
err  not  with  them?  Our  34th  Article  determineth  this 
controversy,  saying — "  It  is  not  necessary  that  traditions  and 
ceremonies  be  in  all  places  one,  or  utterly  like;  for  at  all 
times  they  have  been  diverse,  and  changed  according  to  the 
diversity  of  countries,  times,  and  men's  manners,  so  that 
nothing  be  ordained  against  God's  word  :"  and  after — ''  every 
particular,  or  national  church,  hath  authority  to  ordain, 
change,  and  abolish  ceremonies,  or  rites  of  the  church,  or- 
dained only  by  man's  authority,  so  that  all  things  be  done  to 
edifying."  They  that  believe  not  this  should  not  subscribe  it, 
nor  require  it  of  others.  As  for  the  testimonies  cited  by  you, 
they  are  to  little  purpose.  We  deny  not  that  the  custom  of 
observing  Lent,  either  fewer  days  or  more,  was  as  ancient  as 
those  authors.  But — 1.  That  Lent  was  not  known  or  kept  in 
the  second  or  third  ages,  you  may  see  as  followeth ; — Tertull. 
de  jejun.  1.  2,  cap.  14,  pleading  to  the  Montanists. — Si  omnem 
in  totum  devotionem  temporum,  et  dierum,  et  mensium,  et 
annorum  erasit  apostolus,  cur  pascha  celebramus  annuo  circulo 
in  mense  prima  ?  cur  quadraginta  inde  ditbus  in  omni  exuJta- 
tione  decurrimus  ?  cur  stationihus  quartam  et  sextam,  sabbati 
dicamus?  et  jejuniis  Parascei^em?  quamquam  vos  etiam  sabba- 
tum,  si  quando  continuatis,  nunquam  nisi  in  pascha  jejunandum, 
etc.  And  cap.  15,  excusing  that  rigor  of  their  fasts. — 
Quantula  est  apud  nos  interdictio  ciborum  ?  Duas  in  anno 
hebdomadas  xerophagiarum,  nee  totas,  exceptis  scilicet  sabbatis 
et  dominicis,  offerimus  Deo.  The  old  general  fast  at  that  time 
was  only  the  voluntary,  unconstrained  fasting  on  Good  Friday, 


242  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

and  after  tliat^  on  one  or  two  days  more,  and  then  on  six. 
Irseneus,  in  a  fragment  of  an  epistle  in  Euseb.  Hist.,  lib.  5, 
cap.  26,  Gr.  Lat.  23,  saith^  ''  The  controversy  is  not  only  of 
the  day  of  Easter,  but  of  the  kind  of  fast  itself;  for  some 
think  they  should  fast  one  day,  some  two,  others  more ;  some 
measure  their  day  by  forty  hours  of  day  and  night ;  and  this 
variety  of  those  that  observe  the  fasts,  began  not  now  in  our 
age,  but  long  before  us  with  our  ancestors,  who,  as  is  most 
like,  propagated  to  posterity  the  custom  which  they  retain,  as 
brought  in  by  a  certain  simplicity  and  private  will.  And  yet 
all  these  lived  peaceably  among  themselves,  and  we  keep 
peace  among  ourselves,  and  the  difference  of  fasting  is  so  far 
from  violating  the  consonancy  of  faith,  as  that  it  even  com- 
mendeth  it.^'  Thus  Iraeneus.  Eead  the  rest  of  the  chap- 
ter. Thus  is  the  true  reading  confessed  by  Bellarmine, 
Rigaltius,  &c.,  and  Dionys.  Alexand.,  Ep.  Can.  ad  Basil., 
p.  881.  Balsamo  saith,  '' Nor  do  all  equally  and  alike  sus- 
tain those  six  days  of  fasting ;  but  some  pass  them  all 
fasting,  some  two,  some  three,  some  four,  some  more." 
And  the  Catholics  in  Tertull.  de  jejun,  cap.  2,  say ; — Itaque  de 
catero  dijferenter  jejunandum  ex  arbitrio,  non  ex  imperio 
nov(B  disciplince,  pro  temporibus  et  causis  uniuscujusque .  Sic  et 
apostolos  observasse,  nullum  aliud  imponentes  jugum  certorum, 
et  in  commune  omnibus  obeundorum  jejuniorum.  And  Socrates 
admireth  at  many  countries,  that  all  differed  about  the 
number  of  days,  and  yet  called  it  quadragesima,  lib.  5,  c.  22, 
Lat.  Gr.  21.  So  Sozomen  lib.  7,  c.  19,  Gr.;  et  Niceph.  lib. 
12,  cap.  34,  which  may  help  you  to  expound  Hierom,  and 
the  rest  cited  by  you,  as  Rigaltius  doth  ad  Tertull.,  de  jcjun, 
cap.  2,  as  shewing  that  they  did  it  with  respect  to  Christ's  forty 
days'  fast,  but  not  as  intending  any  such  thing  themselves  as 
any  fast  of  forty  days.  It  is  against  the  Montanists,  that 
the  Quadragesima  was  but  once  a  year  that  Hierom  useth  the 
title  of  apostolic  tradition.  And  how  to  expound  him,  see 
Epist.  ad  Lucin,  unaquieque  provincia  abundet  in  sua  sensu, 
et  precepta  rnajorum  leges  apostolicas  arbitretur.  But  saith 
August,   ad    Casulan,   Ep.  86.     In  evangelicis  et  apostolicis 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  243 

Uteris,  tot-oque  instrumento  quod  appellatur  testamentum 
noLum,  animo  id  revolvens  video  preceptum  esse  jejuniuni: 
quibus  autem  diebus  nan  oportet  jejunare,  et  quibus  oporteat, 
precepto  domini  vel  apostolorum  nan  invenio  definitum.  And 
that  Christians'  abstinence  in  Lent  was  voluntary^ — quanto 
magis  quisque  vel  minus  voluerit,  vel  potuerit, — August, 
affirmethj  cont.  Faustum  Manich,  lib.  30,  cap,  5.  And 
Socrates  ubi  supr.  saith.  Ac  quoniam  nemo  de  care  pr<B- 
ceptum.  literarum  monumentis  proditum  potest  ostendere, 
perspicuum  est  apostolos  liberam  potestateni  in  eadem  cvjusque 
mente,  ac  arbitrio  permississe :  ut  quisque  nee  metu,  nee 
necessitate  inductus  quod  bonum  sit  ageret.  And  Prosper  de 
vit.  Contenapl.  lib.  2,  c.  24,  veruntamen  sic  jejanarc,  vel 
abstinere  debemus  ut  nos  non  jejunandi,  vel  abstinendi  neces- 
sitate subdamus,  ne  Jam  devoii,  sed  inviti,  rem  voluntariam, 
faciamus.  And  Cassianus,  lib.  2,  col.  21,  cap,  30,  saith— m 
primitivd  ecclesid  equate  fuisse  jejunium  per  totum  annum  : 
ac  frigescente  devotione,  cum  negligerentur  jejunia,  inductum 
quadrag.  a  sacerdotibus.  But  when  you  come  to  describe 
your  fast,  you  make  amends  for  the  length  by  making  it 
indeed  no  fast ;  to  abstain  from  meats  and  drinks  of  delight, 
where  neither  the  thing  nor  the  delight  is  profitable  to 
further  us  in  our  duty  to  God,  is  that  which  we  take  to  be 
the  duty  of  every  Christian  all  the  year,  as  being  a  part  of 
our  mortification  and  self-denial,  who  are  commanded  to 
crucify  the  flesh,  and  to  make  no  provision  to  satisfy  the 
lusts  of  it,  and  to  subdue  our  bodies ;  but  when  those  meats 
and  drinks  do  more  help  than  hinder  us  in  the  service  of 
God,  we  take  it  to  be  our  duty  to  use  them,  unless,  when 
some  other  accident  forbids  it,  that  would  make  it  otherwise 
more  hurtful ;  and  for  fasting  till  noon,  we  suppose  it  is  the 
ordinary  way  of  diet  to  multitudes  of  sedentary  persons, 
both  students  and  tradesmen,  that  find  one  meal  a  day  suffi- 
cient for  natui'e;  if  you  call  this  fasting,  your  poor  brethren 
fast  all  their  lifetime,  and  never  knew  that  it  was  fasting; 
but  to  command  hard  labourers  to  do  so,  is  but  to  make  it  a 
fault  to  have  health,  or  to  do  their  necessary  work.     We 

R  2 


244  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

beseech  you  bring  not  tbe  clergy  tinder  the  suspicion  of 
gluttony,  by  calling  our  ordinary,  wholesome  temperance  by 
the  name  of  fasting  :  sure  princes  may  feed  as  fully  and 
delightfully  as  we;  yet  Solomon  saith,  "woe  to  thee,  O  land, 
when  thy  king  is  a  child  and  thy  princes  eat  in  the  morning ; 
blessed  art  thou,  O  land,  when  thy  king  is  the  son  of  nobles 
and  thy  princes  eat  in  due  season,  for  strength  and  not  for 
drunkenness/^  For  mere  sensual  delight  it  is  never  lawful; 
and  when  it  is  for  strength  it  is  not  to  be  forbidden,  unless, 
when  by  accident,  it  will  infer  a  greater  good  to  abstain. 
Eccles.  X,  16,  17  :  so  Prov.  xxxi,  4,  6, — "  it  is  not  for  kmgs  to 
drink  wine,  nor  for  princes  strong  drink :  give  strong  drink 
to  him  that  is  ready  to  perish,  and  wine  to  those  that  be  of 
heavy  hearts," 

Prop.  5.  §  2.  Ans.  Nor  does  the  act  of  parliament  5  Elizabeth 
forbid  it ;  we  dare  not  think  a  parliament  did  intend  to  forbid 
that  which  Christ's  church  hath  commanded.  Nor  does  the 
act  determine  anything  about  Lent  fast,  but  only  provide  fo" 
the  maintenance  of  the  navy,  and  of  tishing  in  order  thereunto, 
as  is  plain  by  the  act.  Besides  we  conceive  that  we  must  not 
so  interpret  one  act  as  to  contradict  another,  being  still  in 
force  and  unrepealed.  Now  the  act  of  1  Elizabeth  confirms  the 
whole  liturgy,  and  in  that  the  religious  keeping  of  Lent,  with 
a  severe  penalty  upon  all  those  who  shall  by  open  words 
speak  anything  in  derogation  of  any  part  thereof;  and 
therefore  that  other  act  of  5  Elizabeth  must  not  be  inter- 
preted to  forbid  the  religious  keeping  of  Lent. 

Reply.  If,  when  the  express  words  of  a  statute  are  cited, 
you  can  so  easily  put  it  off,  by  saying  it  does  not  forbid  it, 
and  you  dare  not  think  that  a  parliament  did  intend  to  forbid 
that  which  Christ's  church  hath  commanded,  and  you 
must  not  interpret  it  as  contradicting  that  act  which  confirms 
the  liturgy,  we  must  think  that  indeed  we  are  no  less  regard- 
ful of  the  laws  of  the  governors  than  you.  But  first,  we 
understand  not  what  authority  this  is  that  you  set  against  the 
king  and  parliament,  as  supposing  they  will  not  forbid  what 
it  commands?     You  call  it  Christ's  church,  we  suppose  you 


I 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  245 

mean  not  Christ  himself,  by  his  apostles  infallibly  directed 
and  inspired.  If  it  be  the  national  Church  oi  England^  they 
are  the  king's  subjects;  and  why  may  he  not  forbid  a  cere- 
mony which  they  command ;  or  why  should  they  command  it 
if  he  forbid  it?  If  it  be  any  foreign  church,  there  is  none 
hath  power  over  us.  If  it  be  any  pretended  head  of  the 
church  universal,  whether  pope  or  general  council,  having 
power  to  make  laws  that  bind  the  whole  church,  it  is  a  thing 
so  copiously  disproved  by  Protestants  against  both  the  Italian 
and  French  Papists,  that  we  think  it  needless  to  confute  it, 
nor  indeed  dare  imagine  that  you  intend  it.  We  know  not 
therefore  what  you  mean ;  but  whatever  you  mean  you  seem  to 
contradict  the  fore-cited  Article  of  the  church  of  England,  that 
makes  all  human  laws  about  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  church 
to  be  unchangeable,  by  each  particular  national  church ;  and 
that  it  is  not  necessary  that  ceremonies  or  traditions  be  in  all 
places  one,  or  utterly  like.  We  most  earnestly  beseech  you  be 
cautious  how  you  obtrude  upon  us  a  foreign  power,  under  the 
name  of  Christ's  church,  that  may  command  ceremonies 
which  king  and  parliament  may  not  forbid.  Whether  it  be  one 
man  or  a  thousand,  we  fear  it  is  against  our  oaths  of  allegiance 
and  supremacy  for  us  to  own  any  such  power.  And  (not 
presuming  upon  any  immodest  challenge)  we  are  ready  in  the 
defence  of  those  oaths  and  the  protestant  religion,  to  prove 
against  any  in  an  equal  conference,  that  there  is  no  such 
power;  and  for  the  statute,  let  the  words  themselves  decide 
the  controversy,  which  are  these  : — Be  it  enacted,  that  whoso- 
ever shall  by  preaching,  teaching,  writing,  or  open  speech, 
notify  that  any  eating  of  fish,  or  forbearing  of  flesh,  men- 
tioned in  this  statute,  is  of  any  necessity  for  the  saving  of 
the  soul  of  man,  or  that  it  is  the  service  of  God,  otherwise 
than  as  other  political  laws  are  and  be,  that  then  such  persons 
are  and  shall  be  punished,  as  the  spreaders  of  false  news  are, 
and  ought  to  be.  And  whereas  you  say  the  act  determines 
not  anything  about  Lent  fast,  it  speaks  against  eating  flesh 
on  any  days  now  usually  observed  as  fish  days :  and  Lent  is 
such,  and  the  sense  of  the  act  for  the  liturgy  may  better  be 


246  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661, 

tried  by  this^  wliicli  is  plain,  than  this  reduced  to  that  which 
is  more  obscure. 

Prop.  6.  Alls.  The  observation  of  saints'  days  is  not  as  of  divine 
but  ecclesiastical  institution,  and  therefore  it  is  not  necessary 
that  they  should  have  any  other  ground  in  Scripture  than  all 
other  instittxtions  of  the  same  nature,  so  that  they  be  agreeable 
to  the  Scripture  in  the  general  end,  for  the  promoting  piety. 
And  the  observation  of  them  was  ancient,  as  appears  by  the 
rituals  and  liturgies,  and  by  the  joint  consent  of  antiquity  and  by 
the  ancient  translations  of  the  Bible,  as  the  Syriac  and  Ethiopic, 
where  the  lessons  appointed  for  holydays  are  noted  and  set 
down,  the  former  of  which  was  made  near  the  apostles'  times. 
Besides  our  Saviour  himself  kept  a  feast  of  the  church's 
institution,  viz  ,  the  feast  of  the  dedication,  (St.  John  x,  22.) 
The  chief  end  of  these  days  being  not  feasting,  but  the 
exercise  of  holy  duties,  they  are  fitter  called  holydays  than 
festivals ;  and  though  they  be  all  of  like  nature,  it  doth  not 
follow  that  they  are  equal.  The  people  may  be  dispensed 
with  for  their  work,  after  the  service,  as  authority  pleaseth. 
The  other  names  are  left  in  the  calendar,  not  that  they  should 
be  so  kept  as  holydays,  but  they  are  useful  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  memories,  and  for  other  reasons,  as  for  leases^ 
law  days,  &c. 

Reply.  The  antiquity  of  the  translations  mentioned  is  far 
from  being  of  determinate  certainty;  we  rather  wish  than 
hope  that  the  Syriac  could  be  proved  to  be  made  near  the 
apostles'  times.  But,  however,  the  things  being  confessed  of 
human  institution,  and  no  foreign  power  having  any  authority 
to  command  his  majesty's  subjects,  and  so  the  imposition 
being  only  by  our  own  governors,  we  humbly  crave  that  they 
may  be  left  indifferent,  and  the  unity  or  peace  of  the  church, 
or  liberty  of  the  ministers  not  laid  upon  thera. 

Prop.  7.  §  1.  Ans.  This  makes  all  the  liturgy  void,  if  every 
minister  may  put  in  and  leave  out  at  his  discretion. 

Reply.  You  mistake  us :  we  speak  not  of  putting  in  and 
leaving  out  of  the  liturgy,  but  of  having  leave  to  intermix 
some  exhortations  or  prayers  besides,  to  take  off  the  dead- 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  247 

ness  wliich  will  follow,  if  there  be  nothing  but  the  stinted 
forms;  we  would  avoid  both  the  extreme  that  would  have 
no  forms,  and  the  contrary  extreme  that  would  have  no- 
thing but  forms.  But  if  we  can  have  nothing  but  extremes, 
there  is  no  remedy ;  it  is  not  our  fault.  And  this  moderation 
and  mixture  which  we  move  for  is  so  far  from  making  all  the 
liturgy  void,  that  it  will  do  very  much  to  make  it  attain  its 
end,  and  would  heal  much  of  the  distemper  which  it  occa- 
sioneth,  and  consequently  would  do  much  to  preserve  the 
reputation  of  it;  as  for  instance,  if  besides  the  forms  in 
the  liturgy,  the  minister  might  at  baptism,  the  Lord^s 
supper,  marriage,  &c.,  interpose  some  suitable  exhortation 
or  prayer  upon  special  occasion  when  he  finds  it  needful. 
Should  you  deny  this  at  the  visitation  of  the  sick,  it  would 
seem  strange,  and  why  may  it  not  be  granted  at  other 
times?  It  is  a  matter  of  far  greater  trouble  to  us,  that 
you  would  deny  us  and  all  ministers  the  liberty  of  using 
any  other  prayers  besides  the  liturgy,  than  that  you  im- 
pose these. 

Prop.  7.  §  2.  Ans.  The  gift  or  rather  spirit  of  prayer 
consists  in  the  inward  graces  of  the  spirit,  not  in  ex  tem- 
pore expressions,  which  any  man  of  natural  parts,  having 
a  voluble  tongue,  and  audacity,  may  attain  to  without 
any  special  gift. 

Reply.  All  inward  graces  of  the  spirit  are  not  properly 
called  the  spirit  of  prayer,  nor  is  the  spirit  of  prayer  that 
gift  of  prayer  which  we  speak  of.  Nor  did  we  call  it  by  the 
name  of  a  special  gift,  nor  did  we  deny  that  ordinary  men  of 
natural  parts  and  voluble  tongues  may  attain  it.  But  yet 
we  humbly  conceive  that  as  there  is  a  gift  of  preaching,  so 
also  of  prayer,  which  God  bestows  in  the  use  of  means,  di- 
versified much  according  to  men's  natural  parts,  and  their 
diligence,  as  other  acquired  abilities  are;  but  also  much  de- 
pending on  that  grace  that  is  indeed  special,  which  maketh 
men  love  and  relish  the  holy  subjects  of  such  spiritual  studies, 
and  the  holy  exercise  of  those  graces  that  are  the  soul  of 
prayer ;  and  consequently  making  men  follow  on  such  exercises 


248  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

with  delight  and  diligence^  and  therefore  with  success.  And 
also  God  is  free  in  giving  or  denying  his  blessing  to  man^s 
endeavours.  If  you  think  there  be  no  gift  of  preaching,  you 
wiU  too  dishonourably  level  the  ministry.  If  reading  be  all 
the  gift  of  prayer  or  preaching,  there  needs  no  great  under- 
standing or  learning  to  it.  Nor  should  cobblers  and  tinkers 
be  so  unfit  men  for  ministers  as  they  are  thought ;  nor  woidd 
the  reason  be  very  apparent,  why  a  woman  might  not  speak 
by  preaching  or  praying  in  the  church. 

Prop.  7.  §  3.  Ans.  But  if  there  be  any  such  gift,  as  is  pre- 
tended, it  is  to  be  subject  to  the  prophets,  and  to  the  order 
of  the  church. 

Reply.  The  text  speaks  (as  Dr.  Hammond  well  shews)  of  a 
subjection  to  that  prophet  himself,  who  was  the  speaker.  In- 
spiration excluded  not  the  prudent  exercise  of  reason ;  but  it 
is  a  strange  ordering,  that  totally  excludeth  the  thing  ordered. 
The  gift  of  preaching  (as  distinct  from  reading)  is  to  be 
orderly  and  with  due  subjection  exercised ;  but  not  to  be  on 
that  pretence  extinguished  and  cast  out  of  the  church :  and 
indeed  if  you  should  command  it,  you  are  not  to  be  obeyed, 
whatever  we  suffer;  and  why  then  should  the  gift  of  prayer 
(distinct  from  reading)  be  cast  out  ? 

Prop.  7.  §  4<.Ans.  The  mischiefs  that  come  by  idle,  imperti- 
nent, ridiculous,  sometimes  seditious,  impious,  and  blasphe- 
mous expressions  under  pretence  of  the  gift,  to  the  dishonour  of 
God,  and  scorn  of  religion,  being  far  greater  than  the  pre- 
tended good  of  exercising  the  gift :  it  is  fit  that  they  who 
desire  such  liberty  in  public  devotions,  should  first  give  the 
church  security  that  no  private  opinions  should  be  put  into 
their  prayers,  as  is  desired  in  the  first  proposal;  and  that 
nothing  contrary  to  the  faith  should  be  uttered  before  God, 
or  offered  up  to  him  iu  the  church. 

Reply.  The  mischiefs  which  you  pretend,  are  inconvenien- 
cies  attending  human  imperfection,  which  you  would  cure 
with  a  mischief;  your  argument  from  the  abuse  against  the 
use  is  a  palpable  fallacy,  which  cast  out  physicians  in  some 
countries,  and  rooted  up  vines  in  others,  and  condemneth  the 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  249 

reading  of  the  scriptures  in  a  known  tongue  among  the 
Papists.  If  the  apostles  (that  complained  then  so  much  of 
divisions^  and  preaching  false  doctrines,  and  in  envy  and  strife, 
&c.)  had  thought  the  way  of  cure  had  been,  in  sending  min- 
isters about  the  world,  with  a  prayer  book,  and  sermon  book, 
and  to  have  tied  them  only  to  read  either  one  or  both  of 
these,  no  doubt  but  they  would  have  been  so  reg  ardful  of  the 
church,  as  to  have  composed  such  a  prayer  book,  or  sermon 
book  themselves,  and  not  left  us  to  the  uncertainties  of  an  au- 
thority not  infallible,  nor  to  the  divisions  that  follow  the  imposi- 
tions of  a  questionable  power,  or  that  which  unquestionably  is 
not  universal,  and  therefore  can  procure  no  universal  concord. 
If  one  man  among  you  draw  up  a  form  of  prayer,  it  is  his 
single  conception :  and  why  a  man  as  learned  and  able  may 
not  be  trusted  to  conceive  a  prayer,  for  the  use  of  a  single 
congregation,  without  the  dangers  mentioned  by  you,  as  one 
man  to  conceive  a  prayer  for  all  the  churches  in  a  diocese  or 
nation,  we  know  not.  These  words — that  the  mischief  is 
greater  than  the  pretended  good — seem  to  express  an  unjust 
accusation,  of  ordinary  conceived  prayer,  and  a  great  under- 
valuing of  the  benefits.  If  you  intimate  that  the  crimes 
expressed  by  you  are  ordinarily  found  in  ministers^  prayers,  we 
that  hear  such,  much  more  frequently  than  you,  must  profess 
we  have  not  found  it  so,  allowing  men  their  different  measures 
of  exactness;  as  you  have  even  in  writing.  Nay,  to  the 
praise  of  God  we  must  say,  that  multitudes  of  private  men 
can  ordinarily  pray  without  any  such  imperfection,  as  should 
nauseate  a  sober  person ;  and  with  such  seriousness,  and  apt- 
ness of  expression  as  is  greatly  to  the  benefit  and  comfort  of 
ourselves,  when  we  join  with  them  :  and  if  such  general  accu- 
sations may  serve  in  a  matter  of  public,  and  common  fact, 
there  is  no  way  for  the  justification  of  the  innocent.  And 
that  it  is  no  such  common  guilt,  will  seem  more  probable  to 
them  that  consider  that,  such  conceived  prayers,  both  pre- 
pared and  extemporate,  have  been  ordinarily  used  in  the 
pulpits  in  England  and  Scotland,  before  our  days  till  now ; 
and  there  hath  been  power  enough  iu  the  bishops  and  others. 


250  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

before  the  wars^  to  punish  those  that  speak  ridiculously,  sedi- 
tiously _,  impiously,  or  blasphemously ;  and  yet  so  few  are  the 
instances   (even  when  jealousy  was  most  busy)   of  ministers 
punished,  or  once  accused  of  any  such  fault  in  prayer,  as  that 
we  find  it  not  easy  to  remember  any  considerable  number  of 
them  :  there  being  great  numbers  punished  for  not  reading 
the  book,  for  playing  on  the  Lord's  days,  or  for  preaching  too 
oft,  and  such  like,  for  one  that  was  ever  questioned  for  such 
kind  of  praying.     And  the  former  showed  that  it  was  not  for 
want  of  will  to  be  severe,  that  they  spared  them  as  to  the 
latter.     And  if  it  be  but  few  that  are  guilty  of  any  intoler- 
able faults  of  that  nature  in  their  prayers,  we  hope  you  will 
not  go  on  to  believe,  that  the  mischiefs  that  come  by  the  fail- 
ings of  those  few  are  far  greater  than  the  benefit  of  conceived 
prayer  by  all  others.     We  presume  not  to  make  our  experi- 
ences the  measure  of  yours,  or  of  other  men's.     You  may 
tell  us  what  doth  most  good,  or  hurt  to  yourselves,  and  those 
that  have  so  communicated  their  experiences  to  you ;  but  we 
also  may  speak  our  own,  and  theirs  that  have  discovered  them 
to  us.     And  we  must  seriously  profess,  that  we  have  found  far 
more  benefit  to  ourselves,  and  to  our  congregations  (as  far  as 
our  conference,  and  converse  with  them,  and  our  observation 
of  the  efiects  alloueth  us  to  discern)  by  conceived   prayers, 
than  by  the  Common  Prayer  book.     We  find  that  the  benefit 
of  conceived  prayer  is  to  keep  the  mind  in  serious  employ- 
ment, and  to  awaken  the  affections,  and  to  make  ns  fervent, 
and  importunate.     And  the  inconvenience  is  that  some  weak 
men  are  apt,  as  in  preaching  afid  conference,  so  in  prayer,  to 
shew  their  weakness  by  some  unapt  expressions,  or  disorder, 
which  is  an  evil  no  way  to  be  compared  with  the  fore-mentioned 
good,  considering  that  it  is  but  in  the  weak,  and  that  if  that 
weakness  be  so  great  as  to  require  it,  forms  may  be  imposed 
on  those  few,  without  imposing  them  on  all  for  their  sakes  (as 
we  force  not  all  to  use  spectacles,  or  crutches,  because  some  / 
are  purblind  or  lame)  ;  and  considering  that  God  heareth  not 
prayers,  for  the  rhetoric,  and  handsome  cadences,  and  neat- 
ness of  expressions,  but  will  bear  more  with  some  incuriosity 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  251 

of  words  (which  yet  we  plead  not  for)  than  with  an  hypo- 
critical, formal,  heartless,  lip  service  :  for  he  knoweth  the 
meaning  of  the  spirit  even  in  the  groans,  which  are  not 
uttered  in  words.  And  for  the  Common  Prayer  our  observa- 
tion telleth  us,  that  though  some  can  use  it  judiciously, 
seriously,  and  we  doubt  not  profitably,  yet  as  to  the  most  of 
the  vulgar,  it  occasioneth  a  relaxing  of  their  attention,  and 
intention,  and  a  lazy  taking  up  with  a  corpse,  or  image  of 
devotion,  even  the  service  of  the  lips,  while  the  heart  is 
little  sensible  of  what  is  said.  And  had  we  not  known  it  we 
should  have  thought  it  incredible,  how  utterly  ignorant 
abundance  are  of  the  sense  of  the  words  which  they  hear, 
and  repeat  themselves  from  day  to  day  even  about  Christ 
himself,  and  the  essentials  of  Christianity.  It  is  wonderful 
to  us  to  observe  that  rational  creatures  can  so  commonly 
separate  the  words  from  all  the  sense  and  life,  so  great  a  help 
or  hinderance  even  to  the  understanding,  is  the  awakening  or 
not  awakening  of  the  affections  about  the  things  of  God. 
And  we  have  already  shewed  you  many  unfit  expressions  in 
the  Common  Prayer  book,  especially  in  the  Epistles  and 
Gospels,  through  the  faultiness  of  your  translations  : — as  Eph. 
iii,  15.  "Father  of  all  that  is  called  father  in  heaven  and 
earth;"  "  and  that  Christ  was  found  in  his  apparel  as  a  man ;" 
"that  mount  Sinai  is  Agar  in  Arabia,  and  bordereth  upon 
the  city  ^now  called  Jerusalem :''  Gal.  iv,  25.  "This  is 
the  sixth  month  which  is  called  barren :"  Luke  i.  "  And 
when  men  be  drunk :"  John  ii,  with  many  such  like,  which 
are  parts  of  your  public  worship  :  and  would  you  have  us 
hence  conclude,  that  the  mischiefs  of  such  expressions  are 
worse,  than  all  the  benefits  of  that  worship  ?  And  yet  there  is 
this  difference  in  the  cases,  that  weak  and  rash  ministers  were 
but  here  and  there  one ;  but  the  Common  Prayer  is  the  ser- 
vice of  every  church,  and  every  day  had  we  heard  any  in 
extemporary  prayer  use  such  unmeet  expressions,  we  should 
have  thought  him  worthy  of  sharp  reprehension,  yea  though 
he  had  been  of  the  younger  or  weaker  sort.  Divers  other  unfit 
expressions,  are  mentioned  in  the  exceptions  of  the  late  arch- 


252  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

bishop  of  York,  and  Primate  of  Ireland,  and  others  (before 
spoken  of,)  and  there  is  much  in  the  prejudice  or  diseased 
curiosity  of  some  hearers  to  make  words  seem  idle,  imperti- 
nent, or  ridiculous  which  are  not  so,  and  which  perhaps  they 
understand  not.  Some  thought  so  of  the  inserting  in  the  late 
Prayer  book,  the  private  opinion  of  the  souls  departed  praying 
for  us  ;  and  our  praying  for  the  benefit  of  their  prayers.  As 
for  the  security  which  you  call  for  (though  as  is  shewed,)  you 
have  given  us  none  at  all  against  such  errors  in  your  forms, 
yet  we  have  before  shewed  you,  that  you  have  as  much  as 
among  imperfect  men  can  be  expected ;  the  same  that  you 
have  that  physicians  shall  not  murder  men,  and  that  lawyers 
and  judges  shall  not  undo  men,  and  that  your  pilot  sball  not 
cast  away  the  ship.  You  have  the  power  in  your  hands  of 
taking  or  refusing  as  they  please  or  displease  you,  and  of 
judging  them  by  a  known  law  for  their  proved  miscarriages, 
according  to  the  quality  of  them:  and  what  would  you  have 
more  ? 

Prop.  7.  §  5.  Ans.  To  prevent  which  mischief  the  former  ages 
knew  no  better  way  than  to  forbid  any  prayers  in  public,  but 
such  as  were  prescribed  by  public  authority.  Con.  Carthag. 
Can.  106,  Milev.  Can.  12. 

Reply.  To  what  you  allege  out  of  two  councils^  we  answer, 
1.  The  acts  of  more  venerable  councils  are  not  now  at  all 
observed  (as  Nicsen  1.  Can,  ult,,  &c.,)  nor  many  of  these  same 
which  you  cite,  2.  The  Scripture,  and  the  constant  practice 
of  the  more  ancient  church  allowed  what  they  forbid.  3. 
Even  these  canons  shew  that  then  the  churches  thought  net 
our  liturgy  to  be  necessary  to  their  concord,  nor  indeed 
had  then  any  such  form  imposed  on  all,  or  many  churches  to 
that  end.  For  the  Can.  of  Counc.  Carth.,  (we  suppose  you 
meant  Council  3.  Can.  23.)  mentioneth  prayers  even  at  the 
altar,  and  alloweth  any  man  to  describe  and  use  his  own 
prayers,  so  he  do  but  first  cum  ins tructior thus  fratribus  eas 
conferre,  take  advice  about  them  with  the  abler  brethren.  If 
there  had  been  a  stated  form  before  imposed  on  the  churches, 
what  room  could  there  be  for  this  course?     And  even  this 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  253 

much  seems  but  a  caution,  made  newly  upon  some  late  abuse 
of  prayer.  The  same  we  may  say  de  Concil.  Milevit  Can.  12. 
If  they  were  but  a  prudentioribus  tractatee,  vel  comprobata  in 
Synodo,  new  prayers  might  by  any  man  at  any  time  be 
brought  in,  which  sheweth  they  had  no  such  stated  public 
liturgy  as  is  now  j  leaded  for.  And  even  this  seemeth  occa- 
sioned by  Pelagianism ;  which  by  this  caution  they  would 
keep  cut. 

We  hope  your  omission  of  our  8th  desire  (for  the  use  of 
the  new  translation)  intimateth  your  grant  that  it  shall  be 
so.  But  we  marvel  then  that  we  find,  among  your  conces- 
sions, the  alteration  of  no  part  but  the  Epistles  and  Gospels. 

Prop.  9.  Ans.  As  they  would  have  no  saints'  days  observed  by 
the  church,  so  no  apocryphal  chapter  read  in  the  church,  but 
upon  such  a  reason,  as  would  exclude  all  sermons,  as  well  as 
apocrypha,  viz.,  because  the  holy  Scriptures  contain  in  them 
all  things  necessary  either  in  doctrine  to  be  believed,  or  in 
duty  to  be  practised.  If  so,  why  so  many  unnecessary  ser- 
mons? Why  any  more  but  reading  of  Scriptures?  If  not- 
withstanding their  sufficiency,  sermons  be  necessary,  there  is 
no  reason  why  these  apocryphal  chapters  should  not  be  as 
useful,  most  of  them  containing  excellent  discourses,  and 
rules  of  morality.  It  is  heartily  to  be  wished  that  sermons 
were  as  good.  If  their  fear  be  that  by  this  means  those  books 
may  come  to  be  of  equal  esteem  with  the  canon,  they  may  be 
secured  against  that  by  the  title  which  the  church  hath  put 
upon  them,  calling  them  apocryphal :  and  it  is  the  chm-ch^s 
testimony  which  teaches  us  this  difference ;  and  to  leave  them 
out,  were  to  cross  the  practice  of  the  church  in  former  ages. 

Reply.  We  hoped  when  our  desires  were  delivered  in 
writing  they  would  have  been  better  observed  and  under- 
stood. We  asked  not  that  no  apocryphal  chapter  may  be 
read  in  the  church,  but  that  none  may  be  read  as  lessons; 
for  so  the  chapters  of  holy  Scripture  there  read,  are  called  in 
the  book ;  and  to  read  them  in  the  same  place  under  the  same 
title,  without  any  sufficient  note  of  distinction,  or  notice 
given  to  the  people  that  they  are  not  canonical   Scripture, 


254  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [IGGl. 

(they  being  also  bound  with  our  Bibles)  is  such  a  temptation 
to  the  vulgar  to  take  them  for  God's  word,  as  doth  much 
prevail,  and  is  like  to  do  so  still.  And  when  papists  second 
it  with  their  confident  affirmationSj  tliat  the  apocryphal  books 
are  canonical,  well  refelled  by  one  of  you,  the  E,t.  Reverend 
Bishop  of  Durham,  we  should  not  needlessly  help  on  their 
success.  If  you  cite  the  apocrypha  as  you  do  other  human 
writings,  or  read  them  as  homilies,  (when  and  where  there  is 
reason  to  read  such)  we  speak  not  against  it.  To  say  that  the 
people  are  secured  by  the  church's  calling  them  apocrypha,  is 
of  no  force  till  experience  be  proved  to  be  disregard  able ;  and 
till  you  have  proved  that  the  minister  is  to  tell  the  people  at 
the  reading  of  every  such  chapter  that  it-  is  but  apocryphal ; 
and  that  the  people  all  understand  Greek  so  well  as  to  know 
what  apocrypha  signifieth=  The  more  sacred  and  honourable 
are  these  dictates  of  the  Holy  Ghost  recorded  in  Scripture, 
the  greater  is  the  sin,  by  reading  the  apocrypha  without 
sufficient  distinction,  to  make  the  people  believe  that  the. 
writings  of  man  are  the  revelation  and  laws  of  God.  And 
also  we  speak  against  the  reading  of  the  apocrypha,  as  it 
excludeth  much  of  the  canonical  Scriptures,  and  taketh  in 
such  books  in  their  stead,  as  are  commonly  reputed  fabulous. 
By  this  much  you  may  see  how  you  lost  your  answer  by 
mistaking  us,  and  how  much  you  will  sin  against  God,  and 
the  church,  by  denying  our  desire. 

Prop.  \O.Ans.  That  the  minister  should  not  read  the  commu- 
nion service  at  the  communion  table,  is  not  reasonable  to 
demand,  since  all  the  primitive  church  used  it,  and  if  Ave  do  not 
observe  that  golden  rule,  of  the  venerable  Council  of  Nicsea, 
let  ancient  customs  prevail,  till  reason  plainly  requires  the 
contrary,  we  shall  give  offence  to  sober  Christians  by  a 
causeless  departure  from  catholic  usage,  and  a  greater  advan- 
tage to  enemies  of  our  church,  than  our  brethren,  I  hope, 
would  willingly  grant.  The  priest  standing  at  the  commu- 
nion table  seemeth  to  give  us  an  invitation  to  the  holy 
sacrament,  and  minds  us  of  our  duty,  viz.,  to  receive  the  holy 
communion,  some  at  least  every    Sunday;    and  though   we 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  255 

neglect    our    duty,    it   is   fit    the    church    should    keep    her 
standing. 

Reply.  We  doubt  not  but  one  place  in  itself  is  as  lawful  as 
another,  but  when  you  make  such  differences  as  have  mis- 
leading intimations,  we  desire  it  may  be  forborne.  That  all 
the  primitive  church  used,  when  there  was  no  communion  in 
the  sacrament,  to  say  service  at  the  communion  table,  is  a 
crude  assertion,  that  must  have  better  proof  before  we  take  it 
for  convincing;  and  it  is  not  probable,  because  they  had  a 
communion  every  Lord's  day.  And  if  this  be  not  your 
meaning,  you  say  nothing  to  the  purpose.  To  prove  that 
they  used  it  when  there  was  a  communion,  is  no  proof  that 
they  used  it  when  there  was  none.  And  you  yourselves 
disuse  many  things  more  universally  practised  than  this  can 
at  all  be  fairly  pretended  to  have  been.  The  Council  of 
Nicaea  gives  no  such  golden  rule  as  you  mention.  A  rule  is  a 
general  appliable  to  particular  cases,  the  council  only  speaks 
of  one  particular ; — "  let  the  ancient  custom  continue  in  Egypt, 
Lybia,  and  Pentapolis,  that  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  have 
the  power  of  them  all."  The  council  here  confirmeth  this 
particular  custom,  but  doth  not  determine  in  general  of  the 
authority  of  custom.  That  this  should  be  called  a  catholic 
usage  shews  us  how  partially  the  word  (catholic)  is  some- 
times taken.  And  that  this  much  cannot  be  granted  us, 
lest  we  advantage  the  enemies  of  the  church,  doth  make  us 
wonder  whom  you  take  for  its  enemies,  and  what  is  that 
advantage  which  this  will  give  them.  But  we  thank  you 
that  here  we  find  ourselves  called  brethren,  when  before  we 
are  not  so  much  as  spoken  to,  but  your  speech  is  directed  to 
some  other  (we  know  not  whom)  concerning  us.  Your  reason 
is  that  which  is  our  reason  to  the  contrary.  You  say  the 
priest  standing  at  the  communion  table  seems  to  give  us  an 
invitation  to  the  holy  communion,  &c.  What,  when  there  is 
no  sacrament  by  himself  or  us  intended ;  no  warning  of  any 
given ;  no  bread  and  wine  prepared  ?  Be  not  deceived,  God 
is  not  mocked.  Therefore  we  desire  that  there  may  be  no 
such  service   at  the  table  when  no  communion  is  intended. 


256  The  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

because  we  would  not  have  such  gross  dissimulation  u^ed  in 
so  holy  things^  as  thereby  to  seem  (as  you  say)  to  invite 
guests  when  the  feast  is  not  prepared,  and  if  they  came  we 
would  turn  them  empty  away.  Indeed  if  it  were  to  be  a 
private  mass,  and  the  priest  were  to  receive  alone  for  want  of 
company,  and  it  were  really  desired  that  the  people  should 
come,  it  were  another  matter.  Moreover  there  is  no  rubric  re- 
quiring this  service  at  the  table  [when  there  is  no  communion.] 

Prop.  11.  Ans.  It  is  not  reasonable  that  the  word  minister 
should  be  only  used  in  the  liturgy.  For  since  some  parts  of  the 
liturgy  may  be  performed  by  a  deacon,  others  bynone  under  the 
order  of  a  priest,  viz.,  absolution,  consecration,  it  is  fit  that 
some  such  word  as  priest,  should  be  used  for  those  offices,  and 
not  minister,  which  signifies  at  large  everyone  that  ministers 
in  that  holy  office,  of  what  order  soever  he  be;  the  word 
curate  signifying  properly  all  those  who  are  trusted  by  the 
bishops  with  cure  of  souls,  as  anciently  it  signified,  is  a  very 
fit  word  to  be  used,  and  can  offend  no  sober  person.  The 
word  Sunday  is  ancient,  Just.  Mart.,  Ap.  2,  and  therefore  not 
to  be  left  off". 

Reply.  The  word  minister  may  well  be  used  instead  of 
priest  and  curates,  though  the  word  deacon,  for  necessary  dis- 
tinction, stand;  yet  we  doubt  not  but  priest,  as  it  is  but  the 
English  of  presbyter,  is  lawful.  But  it  is  from  the  common  dan- 
ger of  mistake  [and  abuse]  that  we  argue.  That  all  pastors 
else  are  but  the  bishops'  curates,  is  a  doctrine  that  declares  the 
heavy  charge  and  account  of  the  bishops,  and  tends  much  to 
the  ease  of  the  presbyters'  minds,  if  it  could  be  proved ;  if  by 
curates  you  mean  such  as  have  not,  directly  by  divine  obliga- 
tion, the  cure  of  souls,  but  only  by  the  bishop's  delegation. 
But  if  the  office  of  a  presbyter  be  not  of  divine  right,  and  so 
if  they  be  not  the  curates  of  Christ,  and  pastors  of  the 
church,  none  are.  And  for  the  ancient  use  of  it,  we  find  not 
that  it  was  so  from  the  beginning.  And  as  there  is  difference 
between  the  ancient  bishops  of  one  single  church  and  a 
diocesan  that  hath  many  hundred,  so  is  there  between  their 
curates.      But  why  will  you  not  yield  so  much  as  to  change 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  257 

the  word  Sunday  into  the  Lord's  day,  when  you  know  that 
the  latter  is  the  name  used  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Scripture, 
and  commonly  by  the  ancient  writers  of  the  church,  and  more 
becoming  Christians.  Justin  Martyr,  speaking  to  infidels,  tells 
how  they  called  the  day,  and  not  how  Christians  called  it. 
All  he  saith  is,  that  on  Sunday,  that  is  so  called  by  heathens, 
the  Christians  hold  their  meetings.  See  the  usage  of  the 
church  in  this  point  in  August,  cont.  Faustum  Manichseum, 
lib.  18,  cap.  5. 

Prop.  12.  Ans.  Singing  of  psalms  in  metre  is  no  part  of 
the  liturgy,  and  so  no  part  of  our  commission. 

Reply.  If  the  word  liturgy  signify  the  public  worship,  God 
forbid  we  should  '  exclude  the  singing  of  psalms ;  and 
sure  you  have  no  fitter  way  of  singing  than  in  metre.  When 
these,  and  all  prayers  conceived  by  private  men  (as  you  call 
the  pastors),  whether  prepared  or  extemporate  (and,  by  parity 
of  reason,  preaching),  are  cast  out,  what  will  your  liturgy  be? 
We  hope  you  make  no  question  whether  singing  psalms  and 
hymns  were  part  of  the  primitive  liturgy :  and  seeing  they  are 
set  forth  and  allowed  to  be  sung  in  all  churches,  of  all  the 
people  together,  why  should  they  be  denied  to  be  part  of 
the  liturgy.     We  understand  not  the  reason  of  this. 

Prop.  13  and  14  we  suppose  you  grant,  by  passing 
them  by. 

Prop.  15.  Ans.  [The  phrase  is  such,  &c.]  The  church  in  her 
prayers  useth  no  more  offensive  phrase  than  St.  Paul  uses,  when 
he  writes  to  the  Corinthians,  Galatians,  and  others,  calling  <^hera 
in  general  the  churches  of  God,  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  by 
vocation  saints ;  amongst  whom,  notwithstanding,  there  were 
many  who  by  their  known  sins  (which  the  apostle  endeavom-ed 
to  amend  in  them)  were  not  properly  such,  yet  he  gives  the 
denomination  to  the  whole,  from  the  greater  part  to  whom  in 
charity  it  was  due  ;  and  puts  the  rest  in  mind  what  they  have 
by  their  baptism  undertaken  to  be,  and  what  they  profess 
themselves  to  be ;  and  our  prayers,  and  the  phrase  of  them, 
surely  supposes  no  more  than  that  they  are  saints  by  calling, 
sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  by  their  baptism  admitted  into 


258  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [166]. 

Christ's  congregation^  and  so  to  be  reckoned  members  of  that 
society,  till  either  they  shall  separate  themselves  by  wilful 
schism,  or  be  separated  by  legal  excommunication,  which  they 
seem  earnestly  to  desire,  and  so  do  we. 

Reply.  But  is  there  not  a  very  great  difference  between  the 
titles  given  to  the  whole  church  (as  you  say,  from  the  greater 
part,  as  the  truth  is  from  the  better  part,  though  it  were  the 
less),  and  the  titles  given  to  individual  members,  where  there 
is  no  such  reason  ?  We  call  the  field  a  corn-field,  though 
there  be  much  tares^  in  it,  because  of  the  better  part,  which 
denominateth ;  but  we  will  not  call  every  one  of  these  tares 
by  the  name  of  corn.  When  we  speak  of  the  church,  we 
will  call  it  holy,  as  Paul  doth ;  but  when  we  speak  to  Simon 
Magnus,  we  will  not  call  him  holy,  but  say,  "  Thou  art  in  the 
gall  of  bitterness,  and  the  bond  of  iniquity,  and  hast  no  part 
or  lot  in  the  matter,"  &c.  We  will  not  persuade  the  people 
that  every  notorious  drunkard,  fornicator,  worldling,  &c.,  that 
is  buried  is  a  brother,  of  whose  resurrection  to  life  eternal 
we  have  sure  and  certain  hope,  and  all  because  you  will  not 
excommunicate  them.  We  are  glad  to  hear  of  your  desire  of 
such  discipline ;  but  when  shall  we  see  more  than  desire,  and 
the  edge  of  it  be  turned  from  those  that  fear  sinning,  to  those 
that  fear  it  not  ? 

Prop.  16.  §  1.  -4ws.  Theconnectionof  the  parts  of  our  liturgy 
is  conformable  to  the  example  of  the  churches  of  God  before 
us,  and  has  as  much  dependence  as  is  usually  to  be  seen  in 
many  petitions  of  the  same  Psalm;  and  we  conceive  the  order 
and  method  to  be  excellent,  and  must  do  so,  till  they  tell  us 
what  that  order  is  which  prayers  ought  to  have,  which  is  not 
done  here. 

Reply.  There  are  two  rules  of  prayer ;  one  is  the  nature  of 
the  things,  compared  (in  matter  and  order)  with  nature  and 
necessity ;  the  other  is  the  revealed  will  of  God  in  his  Word ; 
in  general,  the  holy  Scripture,  more  especially  the  Lord's 
prayer.  The  liturgy  (for  the  greatest  part  of  the  prayers  for 
daily  use)  is  confused,  by  which  soever  of  those  you  measure 
it.      You  seem  much  to  honour  the  Lord's  prayer,  by  your 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  rf  the  Bishops,  259 

frequent  use  of  it  (or  part  of  it) ;  we  beseech  you  dishonour  it 
not  practically  by  denying  it  for  matter  and  order  to  be  the 
only  ordinary  and  perfect  rule  we  know  about  particular  ad- 
ministrations ;  where  it  is  but  certain  select  requests  that  we  are 
to  put  up^  suited  to  the  particular  subject  and  occasion,  we  can- 
not follow  the  whole  method  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  which 
containeth  the  heads  of  all  the  parts ;  where  we  are  not  to 
take  in  all  the  parts,  we  cannot  take  them  in  that  order. 
But  that  none  of  all  your  prayers  should  be  formed  to  that 
perfect  rule,  that  your  litany,  which  is  the  comprehensive 
prayer,  and  that  the  body  of  your  daily  prayers  (broken  into 
several  collects)  should  not  (as  set  together)  have  any  con- 
siderable respect  unto  that  order,  nor  yet  to  the  order  which 
reason  and  the  nature  of  the  thing  requireth,  which  is  observed 
in  all  things  else,  and  yet  that  you  should  so  admire  this,  and  be 
so  tenacious  of  that  which,  in  conceived  prayer,  you  would  call 
by  worse  names  than  confusions — this  shows  us  the  wonderful 
power  of  prejudice.  We  are  thus  brief  in  this  exception,  lest 
we  should  offend  by  instances.  But  seeing  you  conceive  the 
order  and  method  to  be  excellent,  and  to  be  willing  to  hear 
more,  as  to  this  and  the  following  exception,  we  shall,  when 
you  desire  it,  annex  a  catalogue  of  defects  and  disorders, 
which  we  before  forbore  to  give  you.  The  Psalms  have 
ordinarily  an  observable  method.  If  you  find  any  whose 
parts  you  cannot  so  well  set  together,  as  to  see  the  beauty 
of  method,  will  you  turn  your  eye  from  the  rest,  *and  from 
the  Lord's  prayer,  and  choose  that  one  to  be  your  prece- 
dent, or  excuse  disorder  on  that  pretence  ? 

Prop.  16  §  2.  Ans.  The  collects  are  made  short  as  being  best 
for  devotion,  as  we  observed  before,  and  cannot  be  accounted 
faulty  for  being  like  those  short  but  prevalent  prayers  in 
Scripture — "  Lord,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  '•'  Son  of 
David,  have  mercy  on  us."     "Lord,  increase  our  faith." 

Reply,  We  do,  in  common  speech,  call  that  a  prayer  which 
containeth  all  the  substance  of  what  in  that  business  and. 
aidresj  Ave  have  to  say  unto  God,  and  that  a  petition  which 
containeth  one  single  request ;    usually,  a  prayer  hath  many 

s  2 


260  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

petitions.  Now  if  you  intend  in  your  address  to  God^  to 
do  no  more  than  speak  a  transient  request  or  ejaculation 
(which  we  may  do  in  the  midst  of  other  business),  then,  in- 
deed, your  instances  are  pertinent.  But  why  then  do  you  not 
give  over  when  you  seem  to  have  done,  but  come  again  and 
again,  and  offer  as  many  prayers,  almost,  as  petitions  ?  Tliis 
is  to  make  the  prayers  short  (as  a  sermon  is  that  is  cut  into 
single  sentences,  every  sentence  having  an  exordium  and 
epilogue  as  a  sermon) ;  but  it  is  to  make  the  prayers  much 
longer  than  is  needful  or  suitable  to  the  matter.  Do  you 
find  this  the  way  of  the  saints  in  Scripture  ?  Indeed,  Abra- 
ham did  so,  when  God's  interlocution  answering  the  first 
prayer,  called  him  to  vary  his  request.  (Gen.  xviii.)  But 
that's  not  our  case.  The  Psalms  and  Prayers  of  David, 
Solomon,  Hezekiah,  Asa,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Daniel,  and 
the  other  prophets,  of  Christ  himself  (John  xvii),  are 
usually  one  continued  speech,  and  not  like  yours,  as  we 
said  before. 

Prop.  17.  §  3.  ^W5.  Why  the  repeated  mention  of  the  name 
and  attributes  of  God  should  not  be  more  pleasing  to  any  godly 
person  we  cannot  imagine ;  or  what  burden  it  should  seem, 
when  David  magnified  one  attribute  of  God's  mercy  twenty- 
six  times  together.  (Psa.  cxxxvi.)  Nor  can  we  conceive  why 
the  name  and  merits  of  Jesus,  with  which  all  our  prayers 
should  end,  should  not  be  as  sweet  to  us  as  to  former  saints 
and  martyrs,  with  which  here  they  complain  our  prayers  do 
so  frequently  end  :  since  the  attributes  of  God  are  the  ground 
of  our  hope  of  obtaining  all  our  petitions,  such  prefaces  of 
prayers  as  are  taken  from  them,  though  they  have  no  special 
respect  to  the  petitions  following,  are  not  to  be  termed  un- 
suitable or  said  to  have  fallen  rather  casually  than  orderly. 

Reply.  As  we  took  it  to  be  no  controversy  between  us, 
whether  the  mention  of  God's  name  is  deservedly  sweet  to 
all  his  servants ;  so  we  thought  it  was  none,  that  this  reve- 
rend name  is  reverently  to  be  used,  and  not  too  lightly,  and 
therefore  not  with  a  causeless  frequency  tossed  in  men's 
mouths  even  in  prayer  itself;  and  that  tautologies  and  vain 


1661.]  to  the  Anstoer  of  the  Bishops.  261 

repetitions  are  not  the  better  but  the  worse,  because  God's 
name  is  made  the  matter  of  them.  Is  it  not  you  that  have 
expressed  your  ofiFence  (as  well  as  we)  against  those  weak 
ministers  that  repeat,  too  frequently,  the  name  and  attributes 
of  God  in  their  extemporate  prayers  ?  And  is  it  ill  in  them, 
and  is  the  same,  and  much  more,  well  in  the  Common  Prayer  ? 
O  have  not  the  faith  or  worship  of  our  glorious  God  in 
respect  of  persons.  Let  not  that  be  called  ridiculous,  idle, 
impertinent,  or  worse  in  one  which  is  accounted  commend- 
able in  others.  Do  you  think  it  were  not  a  faulty  crossing  of 
the  mind  and  method  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  you  should  make 
six  prayers  of  the  six  petitions  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  set 
the  preface  and  conclusion  unto  each,  as.  Our  Father, 
which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name,  for  thine  is  the 
kingdom,  &c.,  and  so  over  all  the  rest  ?  Yet  we  know  that  the 
same  words  may  be  oft  repeated  (as  David  doth  God's 
enduring  mercy,)  without  such  tautological  vanity,  when  it 
is  not  from  emptiness,  or  neglect  of  order,  or  affectation ;  but 
in  psalms  or  hymns,  where  affections  are  to  be  elevated  by 
such  figurative  elegancies  and  strains  as  are  best  beseeming 
poetry  or  rapture,  we  are  not  against  such  repetitions.  But  if 
we  may  (according  to  the  Common  Prayer  book)  begin  and 
end,  and  begin  and  seem  to  withdraw  again,  and  make  a 
prayer  of  every  petition  or  two,  and  begin  and  end  every 
such  petition  with  God's  name  and  Christ's  merits,  as 
making  up  half  the  form  or  near,  nothing  is  an  affected 
empty  tossing  of  God's  name  in  pi'ayer  if  this  be  not.  We 
are  persuaded,  if  you  should  hear  a  man  in  a  known  extem- 
porate prayer  do  thus,  it  would  seem  strange  and  harsh  even 
to  yourselves. 

Prop.  17.  §  1.  Ans.  There  are,  besides  a  preparative  exhorta- 
tion, several  preparatory  prayers, — "Despise  not,  O  Lord, 
humble  and  contrite  hearts," — which  is  one  of  the  sentences  in 
the  preface ;  and  this — "  that  those  things  may  please  him 
which  we  do  at  this  present" — at  the  end  of  the  absolu- 
tion :  and  again,  immediately  after  the  Lord's  prayer,  before 
the  psalmody, — "  O  Lord  open  thou  our  lips,"  &c. 


2G2  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply.  "  Desp'se  not,  O  Lord,  humble  and  contrite  hearts," 
is  not  a  prayer,  for  assistance  and  acceptance  in  that  worship, 
suited  to  the  duty  of  a  people  addressing  themselves  to  God, 
but  it  is  recited  as  a  scripture  invitation  to  repentance ;  and 
"  that  those  things  may  please  him  which  we  do  at  this 
present "  are  no  words  of  prayer,  but  part  of  an  exhortation 
to  the  people ;  and  "  O  Lord  open  thou  our  lips  "  comes  after 
the  exhortation,  confession,  absolution,  and  Lord's  prayer, 
and  ergo  is  not  in  the  place  of  such  an  address  as  we  are 
speaking  of.  What  will  not  serve  to  justify  that  which  we  have 
a  mind  to  justify ;  and  to  condemn  that  which  we  have  a  mind 
to  condemn? 

Prop.  17.  §  3.  Alls.  This  which  they  call  a  defect,  others  think 
they  have  reason  to  account  the  perfection  of  the  liturgy,  the 
oflices  of  which  beiug  intended  for  common  and  general 
services,  would  cease  to  be  such,  by  descending  to  particulars ; 
as  in  confession  of  sin,  while  it  is  general,  all  persons  may 
and  must  join  in  it,  since  in  many  things  we  offend  all ;  but 
if  there  be  a  particular  enumeration  of  sins,  it  cannot  be  so 
general  a  confession,  because  it  may  happen  that  some  or 
other  may  by  God's  grace  have  been  preserved  from  some  of 
those  sins  enumerated,  and  therefore  should  by  confessing 
themselves  guilty,  tell  God  a  lie,  which  needs  a  new  con- 
fession. 

Reply.  If  general  words  be  its  perfection,  it  is  very  culpable 
in  tediousness  and  vain  repetitions ;  for  what  need  you  more 
than,  "  Lord,  be  merciful  to  us  sinners"?  There  is  together 
a  general  confession  of  sin,  and  a  general  prayer  for  mercy, 
which  comprehend  all  the  particulars  of  the  people's  sins  and 
wants.  We  gave  you  our  reason,  which  you  answer  not  ; 
confession  is  the  exercise  of  repentance,  and  also  the  helper 
of  it;  and  it  is  no  true  repentance  which  is  not  particular, 
but  only  general.  If  you  say  that  you  repent  that  you  have 
sinned,  and  know  not  wherein,  or  do  not  repent  of  any  par- 
ticular sin,  you  do  not  indeed  repent,  for  sin  is  not  existent 
but  in  the  individuals.  And  if  you  ask  for  grace,  and  know 
not  what  grace,  or  desire  no  particular  graces;  indeed  you 


I 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  263 

desire  not  grace  at  all.  We  know  there  is  time  and  use  for 
general  confessions  and  requests;  but  still  as  implying  par- 
ticulars, as  having  gone  before,  or  following;  or  at  least  it 
must  be  supposed  that  the  people  understand  the  particulars 
included,  and  have  inward  confessions  and  desires  of  them  : 
which  cannot  here  be  supposed,  when  they  are  not  at  all  men- 
tioned, nor  can  the  people  generally  be  supposed  to  have  such 
quick  and  comprehensive  minds;  nor  is  there  leisure  to 
exercise  such  particular  repentance  or  desire,  while  a  general 
is  named.  And  we  beseech  you  let  Scripture  be  judge, 
whether  the  confessions  and  prayers  of  the  servants  of  God 
have  not  been  particular.  As  to  your  objection  or  reason,  we 
answer:  1.  There  are  general  prayers  with  the  particular,  or 
without  them.  2.  There  are  particular  confessions  and 
prayers  proper  to  some  few  Christians,  and  there  are  others 
common  to  all ;  it  is  these  that  we  expect,  and  not  the  former. 
3.  The  church's  prayers  must  be  suited  to  the  body  of  the 
assembly,  though  perhaps  some  one,  or  few  may  be  in  a  state 
not  fit  for  such  expressions.  What  a  lamentable  liturgy  will 
you  have,  if  you  have  nothing  in  it,  but  what  every  one  in 
the  congregation  may  say  as  true  of  and  suitable  to  them- 
selves !  Then  you  must  leave  out  all  thanksgiving  for  our 
justification  and  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  adoption,  and  title  to 
glory,  &c.,  because  many  in  the  assembly  are  hypocrites,  and 
have  no  such  mercies,  and  many  more  that  are  sincere,  are 
mistaken  in  their  own  condition,  and  know  not  that  they 
have  the  mercies  which  they  have,  and  therefore  dare  not 
give  thanks  for  them,  lest  they  speak  an  untruth.  Then  the 
liturgy  that  now  speaks  as  in  the  persons  of  the  sanctified 
must  be  changed,  that  the  two  fore-mentioned  sorts  (or  the 
latter  at  least),  may  consent;  and  when  you  have  done,  it  will 
be  unsuitable  to  those  that  are  in  a  better  state,  and  have  the 
knowledge  of  their  justification.  This  is  the  argument  which 
the  sectaries  used  against  singing  of  David's  Psalms  in  the 
congregations,  because  there  is  much  in  them  that  many 
cannot  truly  say  of  themselves.  But  the  church  must  not  go 
out  of  that  way  of  worship  prescribed  by  God,  and  suited  to 


261  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

the  state  of  the  ordinary  sort  of  the  spiritual  worshippers^ 
because  of  the  distempers,  or  the  super-eminent  excellencies 
of  some  few.  It  were  easy  to  go  over  David's  Psalms,  and 
your  own  liturgy,  and  shew  you  very  much  that  by  this 
argument  must  be  cast  out ;  he  that  finds,  any  passage  un- 
suitable to  himself,  is  not  to  speak  it  of  himself. 

Prop.  17.  §3.  Ans.  As  for  original  sin,  though  we  think  it  an 
evil  custom  springing  from  false  doctrine,  to  use  any  such  ex- 
pressions as  may  lead  people  to  think  that  to  the  persons 
baptized  (in  whose  persons  only  our  prayers  are  offered  up), 
original  sin  is  not  forgiven  in  their  holy  baptism;  yet  for 
that  there  remains  in  the  regenerate  some  relics  of  that  which 
are  to  be  bewailed,  the  church  in  her  confession  acknowledgeth 
such  desires  of  our  own  hearts  as  render  us  miserable  by 
following  them  : — that  there  is  no  health  in  us ;  that  without 
God's  help  our  frailty  cannot  but  fall :  that  our  mortal 
nature  can  do  no  good  thing  without  him ;  which  is  a  clear 
acknowledgment  of  original  sin. 

Reply  1.  He  that  hath  his  original  sin  forgiven  him,  may 
well  confess  that  he  was  born  in  iniquity  and  conceived  in  sin, 
and  was  by  nature  a  child  of  wrath,  and  that  by  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  that  judgment  came  on  all  men 
to  condemnation,  &c.  The  pardoned  may  confess  what  once 
they  were,  and  from  what  rock  they  were  hewn ;  even  actual 
sins  must  be  confessed,  after  they  are  forgiven,  unless  the 
antinomians  hold  the  truth  against  us  in  such  points.  2. 
All  is  not  false  doctrine  that  crosseth  men's  private  opinions, 
which  you  seem  here  to  obtrude  upon  us.  We  know  that 
the  papists,  and  perhaps  some  others,  hold  that  all  the  bap- 
tized are  delivered  from  the  guilt  of  original  sin.  But,  as 
they  are  in  the  dark,  and  disagreed  in  the  explication  of  it, 
so  we  have  more  reason  to  incline  to  either  of  the  ordinary 
opinions  of  the  protestants,  than  to  this  of  theirs.  3.  Seme 
learned  protestants  hold  that  visibly  all  the  baptized  are 
church  members,  pardoned,  and  justified,  which  is  but  that 
they  are  probably  justified  indeed,  and  are  to  be  used  by  the 
church,  upon  a  judgment  of  charity,  as  those  that  are  really 


L 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  265 

justified,  but  that  we  have  indeed  no  certainty  that  they 
are  so;  God  keeping  that  as  a  secret  to  himself  concerning 
individuals,  till  by  actual  faith  and  repentance  it  be  manifest 
to  themselves.  Another  opinion  of  many  protestants  is,  that 
all  persons  that  are  children  of  the  promise,  or  that  have  the 
conditions  of  pardon  and  justification  in  the  covenant  men- 
tioned, are  to  receive  that  pardon  by  baptism :  and  all  such 
are  pardoned,  and  certainly  in  a  state  of  justification  and 
salvation  thereupon ;  and  that  the  promise  of  pardon  is  made 
to  the  faithful  and  to  their  seed ;  and  therefore  that  all  the 
faithful  and  their  seed  in  infancy  have  this  pardon  given  them 
by  the  promise,  and  solemnly  delivered  them,  and  sealed  to 
them  by  baptism,  which  investeth  them  in  the  benefits  of  the 
covenant.  But,  withall  that,  first,  the  professed  infidel  and 
his  seed,  as  such,  are  not  the  children  of  the  promise,  and 
therefore  if  the  parent  ludicrously  or  forcedly,  or  the  child 
by  error  be  baptized,  they  have  not  thereby  the  pardon  of 
their  sin  before  God.  2,  That  the  hypocrite  that  is  not  a 
true  believer  at  the  heart,  though  he  profess  it,  hath  no 
pardon  by  baptism  before  God,  as  being  not  an  heir  of  the 
promise,  nor  yet  any  infant  of  his  as  such  :  but  though  such 
are  not  pardoned,  the  church  that  judgeth  by  profession, 
taking  professors  for  believers,  must  accordingly  use  them 
and  their  seed.  3.  But  though  the  church  judge  thus  chari- 
tably of  each  professor  in  particular,  till  his  hypocrisy  be 
detected,  yet  doth  it  understand  that  hypocrites  there  are  and 
still  will  be  in  the  church,  though  we  know  them  not  by 
name ;  and  that,  therefore,  there  are  many  externally  bap- 
tized and  in  communion  that  never  had  the  pardon  of  sin, 
indeed,  before  God,  as  not  having  the  condition  of  the  promise 
of  pardon  :  such  as  Simon  Magus  was.  We  have  less  reason 
to  take  this  doctrine  for  false,  than  that  which  pronoxmceth 
certain  pardon  and  salvation  to  all  baptized  infants  whatso- 
ever. And  were  we  of  their  judgment,  we  should  think  it 
the  most  charitable  act  in  the  world  to  take  the  infants  of 
heathens  and  baptize  them.     And  if  any  should  then  dis- 


266  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

patch  them  all  to  prevent  their  lapse,  they  were  all  certainly 
saved.  We  hope  by  "  some  relics  "  you  mean  that  which  is 
truly  and  properly  sin.  For  our  parts  we  believe  according 
to  the  ninth  article,  that  original  sin  standeth  in  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  nature  of  every  man,  whereby  man  is  far  gone 
from  original  righteousness,  and  inclined  to  evil;  and  that 
this  infection  of  nature  doth  remain  in  the  regenerate.  And 
though  there  is  no  condemnation  for  them  that  believe  and 
are  baptized,  yet  concupiscence  and  lust  hath  of  itself  the 
nature  of  sin.  You  say,  the  church  acknowledgeth  such 
desires,  &c.  Devices  and  desires  are  actual  sins,  and  not 
original,  which  consisteth  in  privation  and  corrupt  inclination. 
The  next  words — ^'' there  is  no  health  in  us,'^  it  seems  the 
translators  that  put  it  into  the  liturgy  misunderstood;  but 
however  you  seem  here  plainly  by  your  misinterpretation  to 
misunderstand  it.  Nulla  talus  in  nobis  is  spoken  actively  and 
not  possessively  or  passively ;  the  plain  sense  is,  that  there  is 
no  help,  deliverance,  and  salvation  in  ourselves;  we  cannot 
help  ourselves  out  of  this  misery,  but  must  have  a  better 
Saviour;  as  Christ  is  oft  called  our  salvation,  so  we  are 
denied  to  be  our  own :  so  that  yet  here  is  no  confession  at 
all  of  original  sin,  but  of  the  effects.  The  two  next  sentences 
confess  a  debility  and  privation,  but  not  that  it  was  ab  origine, 
but  may  for  anything  that  is  there  said  be  taken  to  be  since 
contracted.  Nor  are  the  words  in  this  confession,  but  in 
some  other  collects  elsewhere,  which  proves  not  that  this 
confession  saith  anything  of  original  sin. 

Prop,  17.  §  4.  Ans.  We  know  not  what  public  prayers  are 
wanting, nor  do  they  tell  us;  the  usual  complaint  hath  been  that 
there  were  too  many.  Neither  do  we  conceive  any  want  of  public 
thanksgivings ;  there  being  in  the  liturgy,  Te  Deum,  Benedic- 
tus.  Magnificat,  Benedicite,  "  Glory  be  to  God  on  high," 
''Therefore  with  angels  and  archangels,"  the  Doxology, 
"  Glory  be  to  the  Father,"  &c.,  all  peculiar,  as  they  require, 
to  gospel  worship,  and  fit  to  express  our  thanks  and  honour 
to  God  upon  every  particular  occasion ;  and  occasional  thanks- 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  267 

-givings  after  tlie  litany,  of  the  frequency  whereof  themselves 
elsewhere  complain,  who  here  complain  of  defect.  If  there 
be  any  forms  wanting,  the  church  will  provide. 

Reply.  We  have  shewn  you,  in  the  forms  which  we  offered 
you,  what  we  judge  wanting;  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  of 
Exeter  hath  taken  notice  of  the  same  want,  and  proposed  a 
supply.  Those  you  name  are  either  but  general  sentences,  or 
extend  but  to  some  few  particulars,  as  being  suited  to  the 
persons  and  particular  occasions  of  them,  and  none,  save  the 
Te  Deum,  designed  to  be  the  distinct  praise  of  the  church  for 
the  benefits  of  redemption,  as  the  suitable  and  sufficient  per- 
formance of  this  great  part  of  the  liturgy.  However,  it  will 
do  you  no  harm  that  your  brethren  be  gratified  with  fuller 
expressions  and  variety.  They  that  have  complained  of  too 
many  (because  you  shred  your  petitions  into  almost  as  many 
prayers,  and  so  the  thanksgivings  into  such  briefs),  yet  com- 
plained not  of  too  much;  but  that  too  many  (by  the 
multitudes  of  prefaces  and  epilogues)  was  the  cause  of  too 
little. 

Prop.  17.  §  5.  Ans.  They  complain  that  the  liturgy  contains 
too  many  generals,  without  mention  of  the  particulars,  and  the 
instances  are  such  petitions  as  these — "  That  we  may  do 
God's  will ;  "  "  To  be  kept  from  all  evil ;  "  almost  the  very 
terms  of  the  petitions  of  the  Lord's  prayer ;  so  that  they 
must  reform  that,  before  they  can  pretend  to  mend  our 
liturgy  m  these  petitions. 

Reply.  We  complain  not  that  there  are  generals,  but  that 
there  is  nothing  but  generals  in  so  great  a  part  of  your 
prayers,  and  therefore  they  are  very  defective.  And  if  really 
these  generals  suffice  you,  a  few  lines  may  serve  instead  of 
your  whole  book.  Instead  of  all  your  confessions,  it  may 
serve  to  say,  that  we  have  greatly  sinned,  and  no  more.  In- 
stead of  all  your  litany  or  deprecations,  it  is  enough  to  say, 
"  Deliver  us  from  all  evil."  Instead  of  all  your  petitions  for 
grace,  peace,  rain,  fair  weather,  health,  &c.,  it  is  enough  to 
say.  Give  us  the  good  we  want.  Indeed,  the  Lord's  Prayer 
hath  general  requests,  because  it  is  the  design  of  it  to  be  the 


268  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

rule  of  prayer^  and  so  contains  but  the  heads  to  which  all 
prayers  are  to  be  reduced.  But  if,  therefore^  you  will  have 
no  more  particulars^  why  do  you  use  any  prayer  but  the 
Lord's  prayer?  We  hope  you  do  not  think  to  supply  any 
defects  pretended  to  be  found  in  its  generals^  nor  to  correct 
the  order  of  it.  If  it  be  but  because  you  would  not^  on  every 
particular  occasion,  be  so  long  as  to  say  the  whole,  you  may 
take  that  head  which  suiteth  that  occasion :  and  so,  "  Give  us 
this  day  our  daily  bread/'  may  serve  instead  of  all  the  collects 
for  temporal  supplies;  and  all  your  offices  may  be  blotted 
out,  and  one  of  the  petitions  of  the  Lord's  prayer  placed  in 
the  stead  of  each  of  them. 

Prop!!  17.  §  6.  Ans.  We  have  deferred  this  to  the 
proper  place,  as  you  might  have  done. 

Reply.  It  was  the  proper  place  under  the  head  of  defective- 
ness, to  instance  in  this  as  well  as  other  defects. 

Prop.  18.  §  1.  Ans.  We  are  now  come  to  the  main  and 
principal  demand,  as  is  pretended,  viz.,  the  abolishing  the 
laws  which  impose  any  ceremonies,  especially  three — the  sur- 
plice, the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  kneeling ;  these  are  the  yoke, 
which  if  removed,  there  might  be  peace.  It  is  to  be  suspected, 
and  there  is  reason  for  it,  from  their  own  words,  that  some- 
what else  pinches,  and  that  if  these  ceremonies  were  laid 
aside,  and  these,  or  any  other  prayers,  strictly  enjoined  with- 
out them,  it  would  be  deemed  a  burden  intolerable.  It  seems 
so,  by  No.  7,  where  they  desire  that  when  the  liturgy  is  altered, 
according  to  the  rest  of  their  proposals,  the  minister  may 
have  liberty  to  add  and  to  leave  out  what  he  pleases ;  yet 
because  the  imposition  cf  these  ceremonies  is  pretended  to  be 
the  insupportable  grievance,  we  must  of  necessity  either  yield 
that  demand,  or  shew  reason  why  we  do  not ;  and  that  we 
may  proceed  the  better  in  this  undertaking,  we  shall  reduce 
the  sum  of  their  complaint  to  these  several  heads,  as  we  find 
them  in  their  papers.  The  law  for  imposing  these  ceremonies 
they  would  have  abrogated  for  these  reasons. 

Reply.  To  what  you  object  (to  intimate  your  suspicion  of 
us)  from  No.  7,  we  have  before  answered.      We  must  confess, 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  269 

the  abatement  of  ceremonies,  with  the  exclusion  of  all  pray- 
ers and  exhortations,  besides  what  is  read,  will  not  satisfy  us. 
The  liberty  which  we  desired  in  all  the  parts  of  worship,  not 
to  add  to  the  liturgy,  nor  take  from  it,  but  to  interpose  upon 
just  occasion,  such  words  of  prayer  or  exhortation,  as  are 
requisite,  and  not  to  be  tied  at  every  time  to  read  the  whole, 
we  are  assured  will  do  much  to  preserve  the  liturgy,  and 
bring  it  into  more  profitable  use,  and  take  off"  much  of  men's 
oflfance.  And  pardon  us  while  we  tell  you  this  certain  truth, 
that  if  once  it  be  known  that  you  have  a  design  to  work  out 
all  prayers  (even  those  of  the  pulpit)  except  such  as  you  pre- 
scribe, it  will  make  many  thousand  people,  fearing  God,  to  be 
averse  to  that  which  else  they  would  have  submitted  to,  and 
to  distaste  both  your  endeavours  and  ours,  as  if  we  were 
about  drawing  them  into  so  great  a  snare.  And,  as  the  pro- 
verb is,  you  may  as  well  think  to  make  a  coat  for  the  moon, 
as  to  make  a  liturgy  that  shall  be  sufficiently  suited  to  the 
variety  of  places,  times,  subjects,  accidents,  without  the 
liberty  of  intermixing  such  prayers  or  exhortations  as  altera- 
tions and  diversities  require. 

Prop.  18.  §  2.  Ans.  1st.  It  is  doubtful  whether  God  hath 
given  power  to  men  to  impose  such  signified  signs,  which 
though  they  call  them  significant,  yet  have  m  them  no  real 
goodness,  in  the  judgment  of  the  imposers  themselves,  being 
called  by  them  things  indifferent,  and  therefore  fall  not  under 
St.  Paul's  rule  of  omnia  decenter,  nor  are  suitable  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  gospel  worship. 

Prop.  18.  §  2.  An^.  2ndly.  Because  it  is  a  violation  of  the 
royalty  of  Christ,  and  an  impeachment  of  his  laws  as  insuf- 
ficient; and  so  those  that  are  under  the  law  of  Deut.  xii. 
Whatsoever  I  command  you,  observe  to  do,  you  shall  take 
nothing  from  it,  nor  add  anything  to  it ;  you  do  not  observe 
these.   See  Hooker,  Bk.  Hi,  §  4. 

Prop.  18.  §  2.  Ans.  3rdly.  Because  sundry  learned,  pious, 
and  orthodox  men  have,  ever  since  the  reformation,  judged 
them  unwarrantable,  and  we  ought  to  be,  as  our  Lord  was, 
tender  of  weak  brethren^  not  to  offend  his  little  ones^  nor  to 


^''O  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

lay  a  stumbling  block  before  a  weak  brother.  See  Hooker, 
Bk.  iv,  §  1. 

Prop.  18.  §  2.  Ans.  4thly.  Because  these  ceremonies  have 
been  the  fountain  of  many  evils  in  this  church  and  nation, 
occasioning  sad  divisions  betwixt  minister  and  minister;  be- 
twixt minister  and  people  exposing  many  orthodox  preachers 
to  the  displeasure  of  rulers ;  and  no  other  fruits  than  these 
can  be  looked  for  from  the  retaining  these  ceremonies. 

Reply.  We  had  rather  you  had  taken  our  reasons  as  we 
laid  them  down,  than  to  have  so  altered  them  ;  ei^go  having 
told  you  that  some  hold  them  unlawful,  and  others  incon- 
venient, &c.,  and  desired  that  they  may  not  be  imposed  on 
such,  who  judge  such  impositions  a  violation  of  the  royalty 
of  Christ,  &c.,  you  seem  to  take  this  as  our  own  sense,  and 
that  of  all  the  ceremonies,  of  which  we  there  made  no  men- 
tion. You  refer  us  to  Hooker ;  since  whose  writings,  Ames  in 
his  Fresh  Suit,  and  Bradshaw,  and  Parker,  and  many  others 
have  written  that  against  the  ceremonies,  that  never  was 
answered,  that  we  know  of,  but  deserves  your  consideration. 

Prop.  1^.  §  3.  Ans.  Before  we  give  particular  answer  to 
these  several  reasons,  it  will  not  be  unnecessary  to  lay  down 
some  certain  general  premises,  or  rules,  which  will  be  useful 
in  our  whole  discourse.  1.  That  God  hath  not  given  a  power 
only,  but  a  command  also  of  imposing  whatsoever  should  be 
truly  decent,  and  becoming  his  public  service,  1  Cor.  xiv. 
After  St.  Paul  had  ordered  some  particular  rules  for  praying, 
praising,  prophesying,  &c.,  he  concludes  with  this  general 
canon,  let  all  things  be  done  wtrj/i^ovcog  in  a  fit  scheme,  habit, 
or  fashion,  decently,  and  that  there  may  be  uniformity  in 
those  decent  performances,  let  there  be  a  ^d^ig,  rule,  or  canon 
for  that  purpose. 

Reply.  As  to  your  first  rule  we  answer.  1.  It  is  one  thing 
to  impose  in  general,  that  all  be  done  decently  and  in  order; 
this  God  himself  hath  imposed  by  his  apostle :  and  it  is 
another  thing  to  impose  in  particular,  that  this  or  that  be 
used,  as  decent  and  orderly.  Concerning  this  we  add,  it  is  in 
the  text  said  let  it  be  done,  but  not  let  it  be  imposed;  yet 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  271 

from  other  Scriptures  we  doubt  not  but  circumstances  of  mere 
decency  and  order,  as  determined  time,  place,  utensils,  &c., 
whicli  are  common  to  things  civil,  and  sacred,  though  not 
the  symbolical  ceremonies,  which  afterwards  we  confute,  may 
be  imposed  with  the  necessary  cautions  and  limitations  after- 
ward laid  down.     But  1.  that  if  any  usurpers  will  pretend  a 
power  from  Christ,   to  impose  such  things  on  the  church 
though  the  things  be  lawful,   we  must  take  heed  how  we 
acknowledge  a  usurped  power  by  formal  obedience.      2.  A 
just  power  may  impose  them  but  to  just  ends,  as  the  preser- 
vation and  success  of  the  modified  worship  or  ordinances. 
And  if  they  really  conduce  not  to  those  ends,  they  sin  in  im- 
posing them.     3.  Yet  the  subjects  are  bound  to  obey  a  true 
authority  in  such  impositions,  where  the  matter  belongs  to 
the  cognizance  and  office  of  the  ruler,  and  where  the  mistake 
is  not  so  great  as  to  bring  greater  mischiefs  to  the  church 
than  the  suspending  of  our  active  obedience  would  do.     4. 
But  if  these  things  be  determined  under  pretence  of  order 
and    decency,  to    the  plain    destruction   of   the    ordinances 
modified,  and  of  the  intended  end,  they  cease  to  be  means, 
and  we  must  not  use  them.     5.  Or  if  under  the  names  of 
things  decent,  and  of  order,  men  will  meddle  with  things  that 
belong  not  to  their  office,  as  to  institute  a  new  worship  for 
God,  new  sacraments,  or  anything  forbidden  in  the  general 
prohibition  of  adding  or  diminishing,  this  is   a  usurj)ation, 
and  not  an  act  of  authority,  and  we  are  bound  in  obedience 
to  God  to  disobey  them.     6.  Where  governors  may  com- 
mand at   set  times,  and  by  proportionable  penalties  enforce, 
if  they  command  when  it  vrill  destroy  the  end,  or  enforce  by 
such  penalties  as  destroy  or  cross  it,  they  greatly  sin,  by  such 
commands.     Thus  we  have  more  distinctly   given  you  our 
sense,  about  the  matter  of  your  first  rule. 

Prop.  18.  §  4.  Ans.  Rule  2.  Not  inferiors  but  superiors 
must  judge  what  is  convenient  and  decent;  they  who  must 
order  that  all  be  done  decently,  must,  of  necessity,  first  judge 
what  is  convenient  and  decent  to  be  ordered. 

Reply.  Your  second  rule,  also,  is  too  crudely  delivered,  and, 
therefore,  we  must  add: — 1.  A  judgment  is  a  sentence,  in 


272  Rejomder  of  the  Ministers.  [1661. 

order  to  some  execution,  and  judgments  are  specified  from 
the  ends  to  which  they  are  such  means.  When  the  question  is 
either, — what  law  shall  be  made  ? — or,  what  penalty  shall  be 
exercised? — the  magistrate  is  the  only  judge  and  not  the 
bishop  or  other  subject.  In  the  first  he  exercises  his 
judicium  discretionis  in  order  to  a  public  act ;  in  the  second, 
he  exerciseth  a  public  judgment.  When  the  question  is, — what 
order  joro  tempore  is  fittest,  in  circumstantials,  for  this  present 
congregation  ?  the  proper  presbyters,  or  pastors,  of  that  con- 
gregation are  the  directive  judges  by  God's  appointment. 
3.  The  magistrate  is  ruler  of  these  pastors,  as  he  is  of 
physicians,  philosophers,  and  other  subjects.  He  may  make 
them  such  general  rules,  especially  for  restraint,  to  go  by,  as 
may  not  destroy  the  exercise  of  their  own  pastoral  power : 
as  he  may  forbid  a  physician  to  use  some  dangerous  medicine 
on  his  subjects,  and  may  punish  him  when  he  wilfully  killeth 
any  of  them;  but  may  not,  on  that  pretence,  appoint  him 
what,  and  how,  and  when,  and  to  whom  he  shall  administer, 
and  so  become  physician  himself  alone.  4.  When  the 
question  is, — who  shall  be  excluded  from  the  communion  of  a 
particular  church? — the  pastors  of  the  church  (or  congre- 
gation) are  the  first  proper  judges.  5.  When  the  question  is, — 
who  shall  be  excluded  from  (or  received  into)  the  communion 
of  all  the  associated  churches,  of  which  we  are  naturally 
capable  of  communion? — the  associated  pastors  or  bishops 
of  these  churches,  in  synods,  are  judges :  beyond  this  there 
are  no  judges.  6.  When  the  question  is, — whether  the  laws 
of  magistrates,  or  canons  of  bishops,  are  agreeable  or  not  to 
the  Word  of  God,  and  so  the  obedience  is  laAvful  or  unlawful? 
— the  conscience  of  each  individual  subject  is  the  judge,  per 
judicium  discretionis,  as  to  his  own  practice ;  and  if  men  had 
not  this  judgment  of  discerning,  but  must  act  upon  absolute 
implicit  obedience,  then  first,  man  were  ruled  as  unreasonable; 
secondly,  the  magistrates  were  made  a  God,  or  such  a  levia- 
than as  Hobbes  describeth  him;  thirdly,  and  then  all  sin 
might  lawfully  be  committed,  if  commanded.  But  we  are 
assured  none  of  this  is  your  sense. 

Prop.  18.  §  5.  Ans.  Rule  3.  These  rules  and  canons,  for 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  273 

decency  made  and  urged  by  superiors^  are  to  be  obeyed  by  in- 
feriorsj  till  it  be  made  as  clear  that  now  they  are  not  bound  to 
obey^  as  it  is  evident  in  general,  that  they  ought  to  obey  supe- 
riors ;  for  if  the  exemption  from  obedience  be  not  as  evident 
as  the  command  to  obey,  it  must  needs  be  sin  not  to  obey. 

Rephj.  To  your  third  rule  we  add;  it  is  first  considerable 
what  the  thing  is  and  then  how  it  is  apprehended.  If  it  be 
really  lawful,  and  well  commanded,  and  to  be  obeyed,  it  is  no 
ignorance,  doubt,  or  error  of  the  subject  that  can  exempt 
him  from  the  duty  of  obeying ;  but  it  may  ensnare  him  in  a 
certainty  of  sinning,  whether  he  obey  or  disobey ;  for  as  God 
commandeth  him  to  obey,  and  also  not  to  do  that  which  man 
commandeth,  when  God  forbiddeth  it,  so  he  obligeth  the 
erroneous,  first  to  lay  down  his  errors,  and  so  to  obey.  But 
if  a  thing  be  forbidden  of  God,  and  commanded  of  men,  and 
one  man  erroneously  thinks  it  lawful  and  that  he  should 
obey,  and  another  is  in  doubt  between  both,  it  is  neither  a 
duty  nor  lawful  for  either  of  them  here  to  obey.  For  man's 
error  changeth  not  God's  law  nor  disobligeth  himself  from 
obedience ;  but  this  man's  duty  is  both  to  lay  by  that  error 
and  to  refuse  obedience.  But  if  the  question  be  only  of  the 
order  of  such  a  person's  duty,  we  answer : — If  the  thing  be 
really  lawful,  and  obedience  a  duty,  then  he  that  doubteth  or 
erreth  should,  if  possible,  suddenly  lay  by  his  errors  or  doubt, 
and  so  obey ;  but  if  that  cannot  be,  he  should  first  go  about 
the  fittest  means  for  his  better  information  till  he  be  re- 
solved, and  so  obey.  And  so,  on  the  contrary,  if  really  the 
thing  commanded  be  unlawful,  if  he  be  sure  of  it,  he  must 
resolve  against  it ;  if  he  hesitate,  he  is  not,  therefore,  allowed 
to  do  a  thing  forbidden,  because  he  is  ignorant,  for  his 
ignorance  is  supposed  culpable  itself;  but  he  is  first  to  consult 
and  use  the  best  means  for  his  instruction  till  he  know  the 
truth,  and  in  the  meantime  to  suspend  his  act.  But  yet 
because  of  human  frailty,  between  several  faults,  we  must 
consider,  when  we  cannot  avoid  all  as  we  would,  in  what  order 
most  safely  to  watch,  and  to  avoid  them.  And  so  when  I 
have  done  my  best,  and  cannot  discern  whether  a  command 


27 4i  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

be  just  and  the  thing  lawful  or  not ;  if  it  have  the  face  of 
idolatry,  blasphemy,  or  some  heinous  sin,  that  is  com- 
manded ;  and  our  disobedience  have  the  appearance  but  of  an 
effect  of  involuntary  ignorance ;  it  is  more  excusable  in  us  to 
fear  the  greater  sin  and  so  to  suspend  till  we  are  better 
satisfied,  than  to  do  that  which  we  suspect  to  be  so  heinous 
a  sin,  though,  indeed,  it  prove  no  sin :  so,  on  the  contrary,  if 
our  disobedience  be  like  to  bring  infamy  or  calamity  on  the 
church,  and  our  obedience  appear  to  be  but  about  a  very 
small  sin,  if  we  doubt  of  it,  it  is  more  excusable  to  obey 
than  to  disobey,  though  both  be  faulty,  supposing  the  thing 
to  be  indeed  unlawful,  and  we  discern  it  not.  So  that  your 
rule  of  obeying,  where  you  are  not  as  sure,  &c.,  is  an  un- 
sure rule,  unless  as  we  have  fuUier  cautioned  it. 

Prop.  18.  §  6.  Ans.  Rule  4.  Pretence  of  conscience  is  no 
exemption  from  obedience,  for  the  law  as  long  as  it  is  a  law, 
certainly  binds  to  obedience :  Rom.  xiii.  Ye  must  needs  be 
subject.  And  this  pretence  of  a  tender  or  gainsaying  con- 
science cannot  abrogate  the  law,  since  it  can  neither  take 
away  the  authority  of  the  lawmaker,  nor  make  the  matter 
of  the  law  in  itself  unlawful.  Besides,  if  pretence  of  con- 
science did  exempt  from  obedience,  laws  were  useless; 
whosoever  had  not  list  to  obey  might  pretend  tenderness  of 
conscience,  and  be  thereby  set  at  liberty,  which  if  once 
granted,  anarchy  and  confusion  must  needs  follow. 

Reply.  Neither  pretence  of  conscience,  nor  real  error  of 
conscience  exempteth  from  the  obligation  to  obey:  though 
sometime  it  may  so  ensnare  as  that  obeying  shall  become  of 
the  two  the  greater  sin;  so  also  real  errors,  or  pretence  of 
conscience,  will  justify  no  man  for  obeying  when  it  is  by  God 
forbidden. 

Prop.  18.  §  7.  Ans.  Rule  5.  Though  charity  will  move 
to  pity,  and  relieve  those  that  are  truly  perplexed  or  scrupu- 
lous :  yet  we  must  not  break  God's  command,  in  charity  to 
them,  and  therefore  we  must  not  perform  public  services 
undecently  or  disorderly,  for  the  ease  of  tender  consciences. 

Reply.  O  that  you  would  but  do  all  that  God  alloweth  you. 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  275 

yea  that  he  hath  commanded  you,  for  these  ends  !  How  happy 
■would  you  make  yourselves,  and  these  poor  afflicted  churches. 
But  as  to  the  instance  of  your  rule  we  answer : — 1.  When 
the  indecency  and  disorder  is  so  small  as  that  it  will  not 
cross  the  ends,  so  much  as  our  disobedience  would,  we  are 
here  so  far  more  conformable,  and  peaceable  than  you,  as 
that  we  would,  even  in  God's  worship,  do  some  things  inde- 
cent and  disorderly,  rather  than  disobey :  and  so  should 
you  do  rather  than  destroy  your  brethren,  or  hinder  that 
peace,  and  healing  of  the  church.  For  order  is  for  the 
thing  ordered,  and  not  contrarily.  For  example,  there  is 
much  disorder  lies  in  the  Common  Prayer  book,  yet  we 
would  obey  it,  as  far  as  the  ends  of  our  calling  do  require. 
It  would  be  indecent  to  come  without  a  band,  or  other 
handsome  raiment  into  the  assembly :  yet,  rather  than  not 
worship  God  at  all,  we  would  obey  if  that  were  commanded 
us.  We  are  as  confident  that  surplices,  and  copes  are  inde- 
cent, and  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  table  is  disorderly,  as  you 
are  of  the  contrary :  and  yet  if  the  magistrate  would  be 
advised  by  us  (supposing  himself  addicted  against  you),  we 
would  advise  him  to  be  more  charitable  to  you,  than  you  here 
advise  him  to  be  to  us.  We  would  have  him,  if  your  con- 
science require  it,  to  forbear  you  in  this  indecent  and  dis- 
orderly way.  But  to  speak  more  distinctly: — 1.  There  are 
some  things  decent  and  orderly,  when  the  opposite  species  is 
not  indecent  or  disorderly.  2.  There  are  some  things 
indecent  and  disorderly,  in  a  small  and  tolerable  degree; 
and  some  things  in  a  degree  intolerable.  1.  When  things 
decent  are  commanded,  whose  opposites  would  not  be  at  all 
indecent,  there  charity,  and  peace,  and  edification,  may 
command  a  relaxation;  or  rather  should  at  first  restrain 
from  too  severe  impositions  : — as  it  is  decent  to  wear  either  a 
cloak  or  a  gown,  a  cassock  buttoned  or  unbuttoned,  with  a 
girdle  or  without,  to  sit,  stand,  or  kneel  in  singing  of  a  psalm, 
to  sit  or  stand  in  hearing  the  word  read,  or  preached,  &c. 
2.  When  a  circumstance  is  indecent  or  disorderly,  but  in  a 
tolerable  degree,  to  an  inconvenience ;  obedience,  or  charity, 

T  2 


276  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

or  edification,  may  command  us  to  do  it,  aud  make  it  not 
only  lawful,  but  a  duty  pi'o  hie,  et  nunc,  -while  the  preponder- 
ating accident  prevaileth.  Christ's  instances  go  at  least  as 
far  as  this,  about  the  priests  in  the  temple  breaking  the 
sabbath  blamelessly,  and  David's  eating  the  shewbread,  which 
was  lawful  for  none  to  eat  ordinarily,  but  the  priests,  and 
the  disciples  rubbing  the  ears  of  corn.  I  wiU  have  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice  is  a  lesson  that  he  sets  us  to  learn,  when 
two  duties  come  together,  to  prefer  the  greater,  if  we  would 
escape  sin.  And  sure  to  keep  an  able  preacher  in  the  church, 
or  a  private  Christian  in  communion,  is  a  greater  duty  cateris 
paribus  than  to  use  a  ceremony  which  we  conceive  to  be 
decent.  It  is  more  orderly  to  use  the  better  translation  of 
the  Scripture,  than  the  worse,  as  the  Common  Prayer  book 
doth ;  and  yet  we  would  have  no  man  cast  out,  for  using  the 
worse.  It  is  more  orderly,  decent,  and  edifying,  for  the 
minister  to  read  all  the  psalms,  than  for  the  people  to  read 
each  second  verse;  and  yet  we  would  not  cast  out  men 
from  the  church  or  ministry  merely  for  that  disorder.  It  is 
more  orderly  and  decent  to  be  uncovered  in  divine  worship, 
than  covered ;  and  yet  rather  than  a  man  should  take  cold, 
we  could  allow  him  to  hear  a  chapter  or  sermon  covered: 
why  not,  much  more  rather  than  he  should  be  cast  out? 
But  let  us  come  to  the  application.  It  is  no  indecent  dis- 
orderly worshipping  of  God,  to  worship  him  without  our  cross, 
surplice,  and  kneeling  in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament.  1. 
If  it  were,  then  Christ  and  his  apostles  had  worshipped  inde- 
cently and  disorderly ;  and  the  primitive  church  that  used 
not  the  surplice,  nor  the  transient  image  of  the  cross  in  bap- 
tism (but  in  an  unguent) ;  yea  the  church  for  many  hundred 
years  that  received  the  sacrament  without  kneeling.  2. 
Then  if  the  king,  parliament,  and  convocation  should  change 
these  ceremonies,  it  seems  you  would  take  yourselves  bound 
to  retain  them;  for  you  say  you  must  not  worship  God 
indecently.  But  that  they  may  be  changed  by  authority 
our  Articles  determine,  and  therefore  charity  may  well  require 
the  magistrate  to  change  them  without    any  wrong  to   the 


16G1.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  277 

worship  of  God.  3.  We  appeal  to  tlie  common  judgment  of 
tlie  impartial,  whether,  in  the  nature  of  the  thing,  there  be 
anything  that  tells  them  that  it  is  indecent  to  pray  without 
a  surplice  in  the  reading  place,  and  not  indecent  to  pray 
without  in  the  pulpit;  and  that  it  is  indecent  to  baptize 
without  crossing,  and  not  to  receive  the  Lord's  supper  with- 
out; and  that  it  is  indecent  for  the  receiver  to  take  the 
Lord's  supper  without  kneeling,  and  not  for  the  minister  to 
give  it  him  standing  that  prayeth  in  the  delivery. 

Prop,  18.  §  8.  Ans.  These  premised  we  answer  to  your 
first  reason,' — that  those  things  which  we  call  indifferent, 
because  neither  expressly  commanded  nor  forbidden  by  God, 
have  in  them  a  real  goodness,  a  fitness,  and  decency,  and  for 
that  cause,  are  imposed,  and  may  be  so  by  the  rule  of  St. 
Paul ;  by  which  rule  and  many  others  in  Scripture,  a  power  is 
given  to  men  to  impose  signs,  which  are  never  the  worse 
surely,  because  they  signify  something  that  is  decent  and 
comely,  and  so  it  is  not  doubtful  whether  such  power  be 
given.  It  would  rather  be  doubtful,  whether  the  church 
could  impose  such  idle  signs,  if  any  such  there  be,  as  signify 
nothing. 

Reply.  To  your  first  answer  we  reply  : — 1.  We  suppose 
you  speak  of  a  moral  goodness ;  and  if  they  are  such  indeed 
as  are  within  their  power,  and  really  good,  that  is  of  their 
own  nature  fitter  than  their  opposites,  they  may  be  imposed  by 
just  authority  by  equal  means,  though  not  by  usurpers,  nor 
by  penalties  that  will  do  more  harm  than  the  things  will  do 
good.  2.  Signs  that  signify  nothing,  we  understand  not.  It 
is  one  thing  to  be  decent,  and  another  to  signify  something 
that  is  decent :  what  you  mean  by  that  we  know  not.  The 
cross  signifieth  our  not  being  ashamed  to  profess  the  faith  of 
Christ  crucified,  &c.,  do  you  call  that  something  that  is 
decent?  It  is  something  necessary  to  salvation.  3.  Signs 
are  exceeding  various :  at  present  we  use  but  two  distinc- 
tions. 1.  Some  ave  signSj  ex  priniaria  intentione  instituentis, 
purposed,  and  primarily  instituted  to  signify,  as  an  escut- 
cheon, or  a  sign  at  an  inn  door,  in  common  matters ;  and  as 


278  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

the  sacrament  and  cross  in  sacred  matters :  and  some  are 
signs  but  consequently^  secondarily,  and  not  essentially  as 
intended  by  the  institutor;  so  hills  and  trees  may  shew  us 
what  o'clock  it  is.  And  so  every  creature  signifieth  some 
good  of  mercy  or  duty,  and  may  be  an  object  of  holy  medita- 
tion :  so  the  colour  and  shape  of  our  clothes  may  mind  us  of 
some  good,  which  yet  was  none  of  the  primary  or  proper  end 
of  the  maker  or  wearer.  2.  Signs  are  either  arbitrary 
expressions  of  a  man's  own  mind  in  a  matter,  where  he  is  left 
free,  or  they  are  covenanting  signs  between  us  and  God  in 
the  covenant  of  grace,  to  work  grace  on  us  as  moral  causes, 
and  to  engage  us  sacramentally  to  him ;  such  we  conceive 
the  cross  in  baptism  to  be.  The  preface  to  the  Common 
Prayer  book  saith,  "They  are  apt  to  teach  and  excite,  &c.,^' 
which  is  a  moral  operation  of  grace;  and  the  canon  saith, 
"  it  is  an  honourable  badge,  whereby  the  infant  is  dedicated 
to  him  that  died  on  the  cross;  we  are  signed  with  it  in 
token  that  hereafter  we  shall  not  be  ashamed  to  confess  the 
faith  of  Christ  crucified,  and  manfully  to  fight,  &c."  Now  if 
a  thing  may  be  ccmmanded  merely  as  a  decent  circumstance 
of  worship,  yet  it  is  unproved  that  a  thing  that  in  its  nature 
as  instituted,  and  in  the  primary  intention,  is  thus  sacra- 
mentally to  dedicate  and  engage  us  in  cover  ant  to  God  by 
signifying  the  grace  and  duty  of  the  covenant,  be  lawfully 
commanded  by  man.  1.  Decent  circumstances  are  necessary 
in  genere.  There  must  be  some  fit  time,  place,  gesture, 
vesture  (as  such),  utensils,  &c.  But  that  th^re  be  some  such 
dedicating,  engaging  signs,  in  our  covenanting  with  God, 
signifying  the  grace  of  the  covenant,  and  our  state  and  duty 
as  soldiers  under  Christ  (besides  God's  sacraments)  this  is 
not  necessary  in  genere,  and  therefore  it  is  not  left  to  man  to 
determine  de  specie.  2.  If  there  be  any  reason  for  this  use 
of  the  cross,  it  must  be  such  as  was  in  the  apostles'  days,  and 
concerneth  the  universal  church  in  all  ages  and  places ;  and 
then  the  apostles  would  have  taken  care  of  it.  Thus  much 
here  in  brief  of  signs ;  and  more  anon  when  you  again  call 
us  to  it. 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  279 

Prop.  18.  §  9.  Ans.  To  the  second,  that  it  is  not  a 
violation  of  Christ's  royalty  to  make  such  laws  for  decency, 
but  an  exercise  of  his  power  and  authority,  which  he  hath 
given  to  the  church,  and  the  disobedience  to  such  commands 
of  superiors  is  plainly  a  violation  of  his  royalty :  as  it  is  no 
violation  of  the  king's  authority,  when  his  magistrates  command 
things  according  to  his  laws,  but  disobedience  to  the  command 
of  those  injunc lions  of  his  deputies,  is  violation  of  his  authority. 
Again,  it  can  be  no  impeachment  of  Christ's  laws,  as  insuffi- 
cient, to  make  such  laws  for  decency,  since  our  Saviour,  as  is 
evident  by  the  precepts  themselves,  did  not  intend  by  them 
to  determine  every  minute  and  circumstance  of  time,  place, 
manner  of  performance,  and  the  like,  but  only  to  command 
in  general  the  substance  of  those  duties,  and  the  right  ends 
that  should  be  aimed  at  in  the  performance,  and  then  left 
every  man  in  particular  (whom  for  that  purpose  he  made 
reasonable)  to  guide  himself  by  rules  of  reason,  for  private 
services ;  and  appointed  governors  of  the  church  to  determine 
such  particularities  for  the  public.  Thus  our  Lord  com- 
manded prayers,  fasting,  etc. :  for  the  times  and  places  of 
performance,  he  did  not  determine  every  of  them,  but  left 
them  to  be  guided  as  we  have  said.  So  that  it  is  no  impeach- 
ment of  his  laws  as  insufficient,  to  make  laws  for  determining 
those  particulars  of  decency,  which  himself  did  not,  as  is 
plain  by  his  precepts,  intend  to  determine,  but  left  us 
governors  for  that  purpose;  to  whom  he  said,  "As  my  Father 
sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you ;"  and  "  Let  all  things  be  done 
decently  and  in  order :"  of  whom  he  hath  said  to  us,  "  Obey 
those  that  have  the  oversight  over  you:''  and  told  us  that 
if  we  will  not  hear  his  church,  we  must  not  be  accounted  as 
Christians,  but  heathens  and  publicans.  And  yet  nevertheless 
they  will  not  hear  it  and  obey  it  in  so  small  a  matter  as  a 
circumstance  of  time,  place,  habit,  or  the  like,  which  she 
thinks  decent  and  fit,  and  yet  will  be  accounted  for  the  best 
Christians,  and  tell  us  that  it  is  the  very  awe  of  God's  law 
(Deut.  xii,  32)  that  keeps  them  from  obedience  to  the 
church   in  these  commands;    not    well   considering    that   it 


280  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

caunot  be  any  adding  to  the  Word  of  God,  to  command  things 
for  order  and  decency  which  the  Word  of  God  commands  to 
be  done,  so  as  they  be  not  commanded  as  God^s  immediate 
Word,  but  as  the  laws  of  men;  but  that  it  is  undeniably 
adding  to  the  Word  of  God  to  say  that  superiors  may  not 
command  such  things,  which  God  hath  nowhere  forbidden, 
and  taking  from  the  Word  of  God  to  deny  that  power  to  men 
which  God's  Word  hath  given  them. 

Reply.  To  make  laws,  to  determine  of  undetermined  cir- 
cumstance, necessary  in  genere,  to  be  some  way  determined 
and  left  to  magistrates,  or  ministers  de  specie,  and  to  do  this 
according  to  the  general  rule  of  Scripture,  and  in  order 
to  the  main  end,  and  not  against  it,  is  not  against  the 
royalty  or  will  of  Christ;  but  to  make  new  dedicating, 
covenanting  symbols  to  signify  the  doctrine  of  the  covenant 
of  grace,  and  solemnly  engage  us  unto  God,  and  place  these 
in  the  public  worship  which  are  not  mere  circumstances,  but 
substantial  institutions,  not  necessary,  in  genere,  (that  there 
should  be  any  such  at  all,  besides  God's  sacraments,)  we  fear 
this  is  a  violation  of  the  royalty  of  Clmst,  and  a  reflection  on 
his  laws  as  insufficient.  For,  first,  if  it  belong  to  the  power 
proper  to  Christ,  then  it  is  a  violation  of  his  royalty  for  any 
man  to  exercise  it ;  but  it  belongeth  to  the  power  proper  to 
Christ ;  ergo,  &c.  The  minor  is  proved  thus — If  it  belong  to 
the  universal  head,  or  ruler  of  the  church  as  such,  then  it 
belongs  to  the  power  proper  to  Christ  (for  we  are  ready  to 
prove  there  is  none  under  him,  no  universal  head  or  ruler, 
personally,  or  collectively,  and  civilly  one) ;  but,  &c.  If,  in 
the  reason  of  it,  it  should  be  the  matter  of  an  universal  law, 
if  of  any,  then  it  should  be  the  work  of  the  universal  law- 
giver, if  any ;  but,  &c.  If,  in  the  reason  of  it,  it  be  equally 
useful  to  the  church  universal  as  to  any  particular  church  or 
age,  then  it  should,  according  to  the  reason  of  it,  be  the 
matter  of  an  universal  law,  if  of  any ;  but,  &c.,  it  hath  the 
same  aptitude  to  engage  us  to  a  duty  of  universal  necessity, 
and  hath  no  reason  proper  to  this  age  or  place  for  it,  but 
common  to  all.     Moreover,  it  is  nowhere  committed  to  the 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  281 

power  or  care  of  man — ergo,  it  is  proper  to  the  care  and 
power  of  Christ.  No  text  is  shewed  that  giveth  man  power 
in  such  things.  To  do  all  things  decently  and  orderly,  and  to 
edification,  is  no  giving  of  power,  on  that  pretence,  to  make 
new  covenanting,  dedicating  signs :  to  do  God^s  work  de- 
cently, &c.,  is  not  to  make  more  such  of  our  own  heads ;  it  is 
but  the  right  modifying  of  the  work  already  set  us.  And  to 
do  all  decently,  orderly,  and  to  edification,  was  a  duty  in 
Moses'  time,  when  yet  such  things  as  these  in  question  might 
not  be  added  by  any  but  God.  When  we  say  by  God,  we 
mean  by  his  inspired  instruments ;  and  when  we  say  by  Christ, 
we  mean  by  his  inspired  instruments.  If  we  should  make  laws 
that  everyone  is  publicly  to  taste  vinegar  and  gall,  as  a  sign 
that  we  are  not  ashamed  of,  but  resolved,  through  all  flesh- 
displeasing  difficulties,  to  follow  Christ,  that  did  so,  and  thus 
to  engage  and  dedicate  ourselves  to  him — this  were  to  do 
more  than  to  do  all  things  decently  and  orderly  which  he  ap- 
pointed. If  milk  were  to  be  publicly  sucked  or  drank  by  all, 
in  profession  that  we  will  feed  on  the  sincere  milk  of  his 
word,  and  so  dedicate  us  to  him  by  covenant ;  or  if  we  were 
to  put  on  an  helmet  and  other  armour,  in  token  that  we  will 
be  his  soldiers  to  the  death,  and  manfully  fight  under,  &c. — 
these  engagements,  by  such  public  signs,  are  sacraments  in  the 
sense  as  the  word  was  used  of  old,  when  it  signified  a  soldier's 
solemn  listing,  or  covenanting  with  his  commander.  Thus 
by  distinguishing  decent  and  orderly  modes,  and  circumstances 
necessary  m  genere,  from  new  ordinances,  even  solemn  dedicat- 
ing, covenanting,  or  such  like  mystical  signs,  we  have  shewed  you 
what  we  grant,  and  where  you  fail,  and  what  is  indeed  a 
wrong  to  Christ,  and  an  accusation  of  his  laws,  and  what  not ; 
and  how  unjust  your  following  accusation  of  us  is,  who  never 
yet  told  you  we  would  be  accounted  the  best  Christians :  but 
to  desire  to  please  Christ  as  near  as  we  can,  is  not  blame- 
worthy. Abundance  of  things,  of  lesser  moment  than  these, 
are  commanded  by  God  in  the  law,  to  which  he  added  that 
sanction,  Deut.  xii,  32:  "Whatever  things  I  command 
thee,"  &c.      And  we  conceive  that  the  words,  "  As  my  father 


282  Rejomder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

sent  me,  so/'  &3.,  had  somewhat  proper  to  the  extraordinary 
mission.  "And  if  he  hear  not  the  church/'  &c.,  is  neither 
spoken  of  a  church  universal^  nor  of  magistrates  making  laws 
for  such  ceremonies  or  signs.  But  if  he  hear  not  the  church 
with  which  he  was  in  communion,  and  which  admonisheth  him 
for  his  sin,  let  that  church  reject  him  from  their  communion. 

Prop.  10.  §  10.  Ans.  The  command  for  decent  ceremonies 
may  still  continue  in  the  church,  notwithstanding  the  xii  of 
Deut.,  and  so  it  may  too  for  all  the  exceptions  taken  against 
them  hy  sundry  learned,  pious,  and  orthodox  persons,  who 
have  judged  them,  they  say,  unwarrantable.  And  if  laws 
may  be  abrogated  as  soon  as  those  that  list  not  to  obey  will 
except  against  them,  the  world  must  needs  run  into  confusion. 
But  those  that  except  are  weak  brethren,  whom,  by  Christ's 
precept  and  example,  we  must  not  offend.  If  by  weak  we 
understand  ignorant,  they  would  take  it  ill  to  be  so  accounted; 
and  it  is  their  own  fault  if  they  be,  there  having  been  so  very 
much  written  as  may  satisfy  any  that  have  a  mind  to  be  satis- 
fied. And  as  king  James  of  blessed  memory  said  at  Hampton 
Court,  "  If  after  so  many  years  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
there  be  any  yet  unsatisfied,  I  doubt  it  proceeds  rather  out  of 
stubbornness  of  opinion  than  out  of  tenderness  of  conscience." 
If  by  tenderness  of  conscience  they  mean  a  fearfulness 
to  sin,  this  would  make  them  most  easy  to  be  satisfied, 
because  most  fearful  to  disobey  superiors.  But  suppose 
there  be  any  so  scrupulous,  as  not  satisfied  with  what  hath 
been  written,  the  church  may  still,  without  sin,  urge  her 
command  for  these  decent  ceremonies,  and  not  be  guilty 
of  offending  her  weak  brother;  for  since  the  scandal  is 
taken  by  him,  not  given  by  her,  it  is  he  that  by  vain 
scrupulosity  offends  himself,  and  lays  the  stumblingblock 
in  his  own  way. 

Reply.  But  the  command  for  man's  institution  of  a  new 
worship  of  God,  or  of  rites  sacramental,  or  so  like  to  sacra- 
ments as  the  cross  is;  or  for  the  unnecessary  imposition  of 
unnecessary  things,  which  should  be  left  to  every  prudent 
minister's  discretion;  and  this  upon  pain  of  being  cast  out  of 


1661.]  to  the  Ansioer  of  the  Bishops.  283 

the  churcli  or  ministry;  and  the  law  for  subscribing  that  all 
these  are  lawful,  and  for  swearing  obedience  to  the  bishops ; 
all  these  laws  are  not  to  be  found  in  Scripture.  If  you  should 
but  command  jour  servant  to  do  what  you  bid  him  decently 
and  orderly,  you  would  think  he  mistook  you,  if  upon  that 
pretence  he  would  do  any  other  work,  which  he  could  but  say 
tended  to  the  decency  of  yours.  And  we  would  gladly  hear 
what  you  think  yourselves  is  forbidden  in  Deut.  xii,  32,  if 
not  such  human  ordinances,  and  why  you  forbear  giving 
the  truer  sense  of  the  text  ?  It  is  a  sad  case  M'ith  the  poor 
church,  when  God's  wisdom,  that  made  a  few  and  necessary 
things  the  matter  of  his  church's  concord,  is  no  more  valued. 
But  we  will  be  wiser  :  and  when  the  experience  of  the  church 
that  hath  been  torn  into  pieces  fourteen  hundred  years,  by 
men's  inventions,  and  needless  usages,  and  impositions,  is  yet 
of  no  more  force  with  us  that  come  after  them,  but  whatever 
can  be  said,  or  done,  or  seen,  we  will  still  make  laws,  that  all 
men  shall  be  tantum  non,  unchristened,  and  damned  (that  is, 
cast  out  of  the  ministry  or  church  communion),  that  will  not 
wear  this  or  that,  or  bow  thus  or  thus,  or  look  this  way  or 
that  way,  or  say  this  word  or  that  word ;  and,  when  we  have 
laid  such  a  needless  snare,  we  will  uncharitably  cry  out  the 
world  will  be  brought  into  confusion,  because  men  that  list 
not  to  obey,  would  have  the  laws  abrogated,  where  hath 
Christ  set  you  to  make  such  laws  ?  Is  it  not  work  enough 
for  us  and  you  to  obey  the  laws  that  he  hath  made  ?  Why 
made  he  none  for  postures,  and  vestures,  and  words,  and 
teaching  signs  of  this  nature,  if  he  would  have  had  them? 
If  he  had  not  told  us  that  there  is  one  lawgiver,  one  Lord, 
and  that  his  word  is  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation,  and 
that  he  would  lay  no  greater  burden  on  us  than  necessary 
things,  and  would  not  have  us  despise  or  judge  each  other  on 
such  occasions  :  if  he  had  but  told  us  that  he  left  any  officers, 
after  his  inspired  apostles,  for  the  making  of  ceremonies,  or 
new  laws  of  worship,  or  teaching  engaging  signs  for  the 
church,  we  would  as  gladly  understand  and  obey  his  will  in 
these  things  as  you.    What  hm^t  is  it  to  us  to  use  a  cross  or 


284  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

other  ceremony,  if  it  were  not  for  fear  of  disobeying  God  ? 
Enforce  God^s  laws  upon  us  zealously  if  you  will,  and  see  if 
we  will  disobey.  But  that  the  world  shall  run  into  confusion, 
rather  than  we  shall  have  leave  to  serve  God  as  Peter  and 
Paul  did,  without  crossing,  surplices,  and  kneeling  at  the 
sacrament,  and  then  that  we  shall  be  reproached  as  the  cause 
of  all  by  our  disobedience,  God  hath  told  the  world  by  his 
word,  and  will  tell  them  by  his  judgments,  that  this  is  not  his 
way  to  unity  and  peace.  As  to  the  argument  from  your 
brethren's  weakness,  we  say,  first,  it  is  not  your  strength  to 
slight  it  or  them ;  nor  is  it  their  weakness  that  they  are  willing 
to  be  esteemed  weak.  The  apostle  called  those  weak  that 
placed  a  necessity  in  indifferent  things,  (Rom.  xiv,)  and  not 
those  that  understood  their  indifferency.  But  the  truth  is,  the 
nature  of  things  indifferent  is  not  well  understood  by  all  on 
either  side ;  some  may  think  evil  of  some  things  that  deserve 
it  not,  and  in  this  they  are  weak,  though  in  other  matters 
they  may  be  strong.  And  for  the  rest,  we  speak  according  to 
the  worst  that  you  yourselves  can  charitably  suppose,  you 
can  say  no  more  of  them,  but  that  they  are  weaker,  that  is, 
in  this  know  less  than  you,  though  perhaps  we  may  take  them 
to  be  stronger,  that  is,  to  be  more  in  the  right ;  yet  are  we  not 
so  confident  as  to  censure  you  or  others ;  but  speak  of  things 
difficult  and  doubtful  as  they  are.  But  how  prove  you  that 
we  would  take  it  iU  to  be  ourselves,  or  have  those  we  speak  of 
accounted  ignorant  in  such  things  as  these  ?  Use  us  no  worse 
than  the  ignorant  should  be  used ;  and  till  you  would  turn  a 
man  out  of  the  ministry  or  church  for  being  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  a  ceremony,  (which  never  was  in  his  creed,  the 
decalogue,  or  Scripture,)  deal  not  so  by  us,  that  would  be 
wiser  if  we  knew  how.  That  all  our  ignorance  is  our  own 
fault  we  deny  not,  but  it  is  an  excess  of  confidence  and  un- 
charitableness  to  tell  us  that  there  is  so  very  much  written 
as  may  satisfy  any  man  that  hath  a  mind  to  be  satisfied, 
when  we  profess  in  his  sight  that  knoweth  the  hearts,  that  we 
have  a  mind  to  be  satisfied,  and  would  know  the  truth  at 
what  rate  soever  if  we  knew  how.    What  would  you  have  us  do 


1661.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  285 

that  we  do  not_,  to  be  satisfied  ?  Do  we  not  read  as  much  for 
ceremonies  as  the  dissenters  used  to  do  against  them  ?  Many- 
books  against  them  are  yet  unanswered,  and  we  never  shunned 
any  public  or  private  conference  with  any  of  you ;  and  such 
reasonings  as  these  are  not  like  to  convince  us.  If  you  will 
be  the  judges  of  your  brethren's  hearts,  and  say  it  is  not  ten- 
derness of  conscience,  but  stubbornness,  we  shall  refer  that 
to  the  day  when  your  hearts,  and  ours,  shall  be  opened. 
Must  none  be  tender  conscienced  that  dare  not  venture  to 
obey  you  in  such  things  ?  When  you  may  with  undoubted 
safety  forbear  the  imposing  of  your  ceremonies,  and  so  for- 
bear the  casting  out  of  your  brethren,  if  you  wdll  not,  who 
shows  less  tenderness  of  conscience?  That  the  scandal  is 
taken  and  not  given  is  still  the  thing  in  question,  as  to  many 
things;  and  if  it  were  not  just  occasion  of  offence,  you  ought 
not  to  lay  that  which  another's  weakness  will  turn  into  a 
stumbling  block  unnecessarily  before  them.  If  the  apostle's 
argument  be  good,  (Rom.  xiv,)  the  church  may  not  urge 
unlawful  things,  nor  things  merely  lawful  upon  such  penalties 
as  will  exclude  things  necessary.  If  an  idle  word  be  to  be 
accounted  for,  an  idle  law  is  not  laudable,  much  less  when 
all  men  must  be  excluded  the  ministry  or  communion  that 
scruple  it ;  when  yet  a  man  may  be  a  profane  swearer  for 
twelve  pence  an  oath,  and  may  swear  an  hundred  times  be- 
fore he  pays  that  twelve  pence,  A  papist  shall  pay  twelve 
pence  for  not  coming  to  church ;  and  a  protestant  be  thrust 
out  of  your  communion  for  not  kneeling  at  the  sacrament; 
and  a  minister  suspended,  imprisoned,  undone,  for  not  crossing 
a  child  or  wearing  a  surplice.  May  magistrates  or  the  church 
thus  urge  their  commands  ?  Can  anything  be  spoken  plainer 
than  the  Scripture  speaks  against  this  course?  And  would 
you  make  the  world  believe  that  the  brethren  that  do  not  all 
that  you  bid  them  are  so  unreasonably  and  obstinately  scru- 
pulous, as  to  have  no  matter  of  offence,  but  what  they  lay 
before  themselves,  when  they  have  the  practice  of  the  apostles 
and  the  custom  of  the  primitive  church  for  many  hundred 
years  against  you,  and  this  called  by  them  an  apostolical  tra- 


286  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

dition^  and  decreed  by  the  most  uncharitable  councils  that 
ever  were  ?  If  you  had-  but  one  of  these  (the  decree  of  a 
general  council,  or  practice  of  all  the  purest  churches  alone) 
for  one  of  your  ceremonies,  you  would  think  him  uncharitable 
that  so  reproached  you  for  pretending  conscience  ? 

Prop.  18.  §  11.  Ans.  The  case  of  St.  Paul,  not  eating  of 
flesh,  if  it  oflPended  his  brother,  is  nothing  to  the  purpose; 
who  there  speaks  of  things  not  commanded  either  by  God  or 
by  his  church,  neither  having  in  them  anything  of  decency,  or 
significancy  to  serve  in  the  church.  St.  Paul  would  deny 
himself  his  own  liberty,  rather  than  offend  his  brother;  but 
if  any  man  breaks  a  just  law  or  custom  of  the  church,  he 
brands  him  for  a  lover  of  schism  and  sedition.  (1  Cor.  xi,  16.) 

Reply.  But  because,  at  our  last  meeting,  it  was  said  with  so 
much  confidence  by  one,  that  the  case  in  Eom.  xiv  and  xv 
was  nothing  to  ours,  we  shall  here  say  the  more  to  what  you 
say,  that  St.  Paul's  not  eating  flesh  is  nothing  to  the  purpose  : 
your  reasons  are,  first,  because  he  speaks  of  nothing  com- 
manded by  God  or  his  church;  secondly,  nor  of  anything 
of  decency  or  significancy  to  serve  in  the  church.  To  the 
first  we  have  often  told  you,  that  which  is  undeniable ;  First, 
that  Paul  was  a  governor  of  that  church  himself,  that  had  no 
superior  to  control  him.  If  you  say  that  he  then  wrote  not  as  a 
governor ;  we  answer.  Yes :  for  he  then  wrote  as  an  apostle, 
and  wrote  the  epistle  that  was  to  be  a  standing  law  or  canon 
to  them  :  if  this  be  not  an  act  of  his  office  and  authority, 
there  was  none  such ;  and  then  you  must  say  the  like  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  epistles.  Secondly.  Moreover,  as  Paul  the 
apostle  excludeth  all  such  impositions ;  so  he  wrote  to  all  the 
resident  pastors  that  were  at  Rome,  for  he  wrote  to  the  whole 
church :  and  therefore  these  commands  extend  to  the  gover- 
nors, that  they  make  not  such  things  the  matter  of  contempt 
or  censures,  or  any  other  uncharitable  course,  but  bear  with 
one  another  in  them.  Will  you  call  men  obstinate  self- 
offenders,  that  differ  from  you,  when  you  have  no  better 
answers  than  these,  to  the  plain  decisions  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
What  we  speak  of  Eom.  xiv,  xv,  we  speak  also  of  1  Cor.  viii. 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  287 

Kxidi,  Thirdly.  It  is  to  the  rulers  of  the  church  that  we  are 
speaking,  and  it  is  they  that  answer  us  :  and  shall  the  rulers 
say,  "  If  it  were  not  a  thing  commanded,  we  might  bear  with 
you,"  when  it  is  themselves  that  command  them  ecclesiastically; 
and  we  intreat  them  but  to  forbear  that,  and  to  concur  with 
us  in  pet  tioning  the  king  to  forbear  commanding  them 
coercively,  who  no  doubt  will  easily  forbear  it,  if  they  do 
their  part.  Fourthly.  Yea,  a  fortiori,  it  layeth  a  heavier  charge 
on  such  governors,  than  others.  If  it  be  so  heinous  a  sin  as 
Paul  maketh  it,  to  censure  or  despise  one  another,  for  meats, 
and  days,  and  such  like  things ;  how  much  more  to  excom- 
municate, silence,  and  undo  one  another,  and  deprive  thou- 
sands of  souls  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  that  consented 
not  to  their  pastors'  nonconformity?  Fifthly,  Paul  letteth 
you  know  that  these  things  are  not  the  centre  or  matter  of 
our  necessary  concord,  but  of  mutual  forbearance,  and  there- 
fore condemneth  all  that  will  make  them  necessary  to  our 
unity,  ministry,  or  communion.  Sixthly.  And  the  diflference 
is  wholly  to  the  advantage  of  our  cause.  For  those  that  Paul 
spake  to,  were  not  come  so  high  as  to  go  about  to  force  others 
to  do  as  they  did ;  but  only  to  despise  them  for  not  doing  it. 
2.  And  therefore  to  your  second  reason  we  answer  : — 1.  If  the 
things  had  been  diffeient,  yet  so  was  Paul's  injunction  differ- 
ent from  our  request ;  for  Paul  goeth  so  high  as  to  command 
them  to  deny  their  own  liberty  in  not  eating  lawful  meats 
themselves,  lest  they  offend  and  hurt  their  brethren :  whereas 
we  are  now  desiring  you,  that  you  would  not  force  others  to 
do  that  which  they  take  to  be  a  sin,  and  that  with  penalties 
that  fall  heavier  on  the  church  than  on  them.  They  had  on 
both  sides  fairer  pretences  than  you  have.  The  cases  before 
us  to  be  compared,  are  four;  the  case  of  the  refusers  of 
meats,  and  observers  of  days  then;  the  case  of  the  users  of 
those  meats  and  non-observers  of  those  days ;  the  case  of  our 
imposers ;  and  the  case  of  nonconformists.  The  pretence  of 
their  refusers  of  meats  had  in  1  Cor.  viii,  was  that,  being 
offered  to  idols,  they  thought  it  made  them  partakers  of  the 
idolatry;    and   so   they  sinned   through    weakness   in  beinjj 


288  Uejoinder  of  the  Ministers  "[1661. 

oflFended  at  others,  and  censuring  them  that  used  their  liberty. 
And  had  they  not  here  a  fairer  pretence,  for  their  offence  and 
censures,  than  you  for  your  impositions  ?  You  cannot  shew 
half  so  great  an  appearance  of  good  in  the  things  commanded, 
as  they  could  do  of  evil  in  the  things  for  which  they  were 
offended.  And  the  offended  censurer  in  Eom.  xiv,  had  this 
pretence,  that  the  thing  was  forbidden  in  God's  own  law,  even 
the  meats,  which  he  refused ;  and  the  days  commanded  which 
he  observed  :  and  he  knew  not  that  the  law  in  these  matters 
of  order  and  ceremony  was  abrogated,  which  Peter  was 
ignorant  of,  when  he  refused  to  eat  things  common  and 
unclean  :  but  you  have  no  pretence  of  God's  own  command, 
for  the  matter  of  your  impositions,  as  these  men  had  for  the 
matter  of  their  offence  and  censure,  so  that  here  you  are  on 
the  worser  side.  And  for  the  other  party  that  in  1  Cor.  viii 
abused  their  liberty,  and  Rom.  xiv,  despised  their  brethren, 
they  had  a  double  pretence :  one  was  that  it  was  their  liberty ; 
and  if  every  scrupulous  party  should  drive  them  from  their 
lawful  meat  and  drink,  they  knew  not  whither  they  might 
drive  them:  another  was,  that  the  law  was  abrogated  by 
Christ;  and  therefore  if  they  complied  in  practice  with  the 
scrupulous,  or  did  not  shew  their  difierence,  they  might  seem 
to  be  guilty  of  the  restoring  of  the  law,  and  complying  with 
the  Jews,  and  the  heretics,  that  both  then  were  enemies  to  the 
church,  and  agreed  in  this.  Had  not  these  men  now  a  far  fairer 
pretence  for  eating,  (1  Cor.  viii,)  and  for  the  dissent  shewed, 
(Rom  xiv,)  than  you  ever  yet  produced  for  forcing  others  from 
ministry  and  chnrch  into  sin  and  hell,  if  they  will  not  obey 
you  against  their  consciences;  and  all  for  that  which  you 
never  pretended  to  shew  a  command  of  God  for,  and  others 
shew  you,  as  they  think.  Scripture,  and  councils,  and  customs 
against?  To  tell  us  then  that  Paul  spake  of  things  not 
decent  and  significant,  is  (pardon  our  plainness)  to  say  much 
less  than  nothing :  for  it  was  not  against  imposing  that  Paul 
spake,  but  using  and  not  using,  censuring  and  despising; 
and  their  arguments  were  suitable  to  their  cause,  of  another 
kind  of  moment,  than  decency  or  indecency,  significancy  or 


1661 .]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  289 

insignificancy,  even  from  supposed  idolatry,  rejecting  God's 
law,  and  complying  with  the  Jews  and  heretics,  in  restoring 
the  law,  and  casting  away  the  liberties  purchased  by  Christ, 
even  in  their  private  eating  and  drinking. 

To  be  no  more  tedious  now,  we  humbly  offer  in  any  way 
convenient  to  try  it  out  with  that  reverend  brother  that  so  con- 
fidently asserted  the  disparity  of  the  cases,  and  to  prove  that 
these  scriptures  most  plainly  condemn  your  impositions  now 
in  question;  though  we  should  have  thought  that  one  impartial 
reading  of  them  might  end  the  controversy,  and  save  the 
church  and  you  from  the  sad  effects.  As  to  that  1  Cor.  xi, 
16  we  answer,  first,  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  word  custom 
refer  to  the  matter  of  hair,  or  to  contention;  so  many  ex- 
positors judge  q.  d.  the  churches  of  God  are  not  contentious. 
Secondly.  Here  is  no  institution,  much  less  by  fallible  men, 
of  new  covenanting,  dedicating,  or  teaching  symbols  or  cere- 
monies, nor  is  here  any  unnecessary  thing  enjoined,  but  that 
which  nature,  and  the  custom  of  the  country,  had  made  so 
decent  as  that  the  opposite  Avould  have  been  abusively  in- 
decent. This  is  not  your  case.  A  cross  or  surplice  is  not 
decent  by  nature  or  common  reputation,  but  by  institution; 
(that  is  not  all :  for  if  it  be  not  instituted  because  decent,  it 
it  will  not  be  decent  because  instituted;)  nor  are  these  so 
decent  as  the  opposite  to  be  indecent.  The  apostles  wor- 
shipped God  as  decently  without  them,  as  you  do  with  them ; 
the  minister  prayeth  in  the  pulpit  as  decently  without  the 
surplice  as  in  the  reading  place  with  it.  Thirdly.  Paul  doth 
but  exhort  them  to  this  undoubted  comeliness,  (as  you  may 
well  do,  if  men  will  do  anything  which  nature  or  common 
reputation  makes  to  be  slovenly,  unmannerly,  or  indecent,  as 
being  covered  in  prayer  or  singing  psalms,  or  any  such  like, 
about  which  we  will  never  differ  with  you,)  but  even  here  he 
talks  not  of  force,  or  such  penalties  as  tend  to  the  greater 
hurt  of  the  church,  and  the  ruin  of  the  person. 

Prop.  18.  §  12.  Ans.  That  these  ceremonies  have  occa-> 
sioned  many  divisions  is  no  more  fault  of  theirs,  than  it  was 
of  the  gospel  that  the  preaching  of  it  occasioned  strife  betwixt 

u 


290  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661 

father  and  son^  &c.  The  true  cause  of  those  divisions  is  the 
cause  of  ours,  which  St,  James  tells  us  is  lust,  and  inordinate 
desires  of  honour,  or  wealth,  or  licentiousness,  or  the  like. 
Were  these  ceremonies  laid  aside,  there  would  be  the  same 
divisions,  if  some,  who  think  Moses  and  Aaron  took  too  much 
upon  them,  may  be  suflFered  to  deceive  the  people,  and  to  raise 
in  them  vain  fears  and  jealousies  of  their  governors ;  but  if 
all  men  would,  as  they  ought,  study  peace  and  quietness,  they 
•would  find  other  and  better  fruits  of  these  laws  of  rites  and 
ceremonies,  as  edification,  decency,  order,  and  beauty,  in  the 
service  and  worship  of  God. 

Reply.  Whether  the  ceremonies  be  as  innocent,  as  to 
divisions,  as  the  gospel,  (a  strange  assertion)  will  better 
appear  when  what  we  have  said,  and  what  is  mere  fully  said 
by  Dr.  Ames,  Bradshaw,  and  others,  is  well  answered.  If 
the  true  cause  of  our  divisions  be,  as  you  say,  lust  and  inor- 
dinate desires  of  honour,  or  wealth,  or  licentiousness,  then 
the  party  that  is  most  lustful,  ambitious,  covetous,  and  licen- 
tious, are  likest  to  be  most  the  cause.  And  for  lust,  and 
licentiousness,  we  should  take  it  for  a  great  attainment  of  our 
ends,  if  you  will  be  entreated  to  turn  the  edge  of  your  severity 
against  the  lustful,  and  licentious  :  O  that  you  would  keep 
them  out  of  the  pulpits,  and  out  of  the  communion  of  the 
church,  till  they  reform  !  And  for  ourselves,  we  shall  take 
your  admonitions,  or  severities,  thankfully,  whenever  we  are 
convicted  by  you  of  any  such  sins ;  we  are  loth  to  enter  upon 
such  comparison,  between  the  ministers  ejected  (for  the  most 
part),  and  those  that  are  in  their  rooms,  as  tends  to  shew  by 
this  rule  who  are  likest  to  be  the  dividers.  And  for  inordi- 
nate desire  of  honour  and  wealth,  between  your  lordships 
and  us;  we  are  contented  that  this  cause  be  decided  by  all 
England,  even  by  our  enemies,  at  the  first  hearing,  without 
any  further  vindication  of  ourselves ;  and  so  let  it  be  judged 
who  are  the  dividers :  only  we  must  say,  that  your  intimation 
of  this  charge  on  us  that  seek  not  for  bishoprics,  deaneries, 
archdeaconries,  or  any  of  your  preferments;  tLat  desire  not, 
nor  could  accept  pluralities  of  benefices,  with  cure  of  souls ; 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  291 

that  never  sought  for  more  than  food  or  raiment  with  the 
liberty  of  our  ministry,  even  one  place  with  a  tolerable  main- 
tenance; whose  provoking  cause  hath  been  our  constant  oppo- 
sition to  the  honours,  wealth,  lordships,  and  pluralities  of  the 
clergy ;  yea  who  would  be  glad,  on  the  behalf  of  the  poor  con- 
gregations, if  many  of  our  brethren  might  have  leave  to 
preach  to  their  flocks  for  nothing ;  we  say,  your  intimation 
maketh  us  lift  up  our  hearts  and  hands  to  heaven,  and  think, 
Oh  what  is  man !  What  may  not  by  some  history  be  told 
the  world !  Oh  how  desirable  is  the  blessed  day  of  the 
righteous  universal  judgment  of  the  Lord !  How  small  a 
matter,  till  then,  should  it  be  to  us  to  be  judged  of  man  !  We 
hope,  upon  pretence  of  not  sufiPering  us  to  deceive  the  people, 
you  will  not  deny  us  liberty  to  preach  the  necessary  saving 
truths  of  the  gospel,  considering  how  terrible  a  symptom 
and  prognostic  this  was  in  the  Jews,  1  Thes.  ii,  15,  16. 
"  who  both  killed  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  their  own  prophets,  and 
persecuted  the  apostles ;  and  God  they  pleased  not,  and  were 
contrary  to  all  men,  forbidding  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles,  that 
they  might  be  saved,  to  fill  up  their  sins  always :  for  wrath 
was  come  upon  them  to  the  utmost/'  We  can  as  easily  bear 
whatever  you  can  inflict  upon  us,  as  the  hinderers  of  the 
gospel,  and  silencers  of  faithful  ministers,  and  troublers  of 
the  churches,  can  bear  what  God  will  inflict  on  them.  And 
so  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done. 

Prop.  18.  §  13.  Ans.  There  hath  been  so  much  said  not 
only  of  the  lawfulness,  but  also  of  the  conveniency  of  those 
ceremonies  mentioned,  that  nothing  can  be  added :  this  in 
brief  may  here  suffice  for  the  surplice,  that  reason  and  expe- 
rience teach  that  decent  ornaments  and  habits  preserve 
reverence,  and  are  held  therefore  necessary  to  the  solemnity  of 
royal  acts,  and  acts  of  justice,  and  why  not  as  well  to  the 
solemnity  of  religious  worship.  And  in  particular  no  habit 
more  suitable  than  white  linen,  which  resembles  purity  and 
beauty,  wherein  angels  have  appeared  (Rev.  xv),  fit  for  those, 
whom  the  Scripture  calls  angels  :  and  this  habit  was  ancient. 
Chrys.  Horn.  60,  ad  Antioch. 

u  2 


292  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply.  First,  if  nothing  can  be  added,  then  we  doubt  the 
unanswered  writings  extant  against  these  impositions  will 
never  be  well  answered.  Secondly.  We  are  desirous  that  no 
indecent  vestures  or  habits  be  used  in  God's  service.  Those 
that  scruple  the  surplice  do  it  not  as  it  is  a  habit  determined 
of,  as  decent  5  but  as  they  think  it  is  made  a  holy  vestment, 
and  so  part  of  external  worship,  as  Aaron's  vestments  were ; 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  arguments  of  Cotton  and  NichoUs 
lately  printed  together. 

Prop.  18.  §  14.  Ans.  The  cross  was  always  used  in  the 
church  in  immortali  lavacro,  (TertuU.)  and  therefore  to  testify 
our  communion  with  them,  as  we  are  taught  to  do  in  our 
creed,  as  also  in  token  that  we  shall  not  be  ashamed  of  the 
cross  of  Christ,  it  is  fit  to  be  used  still;  and  we  conceive  cannot 
trouble  the  conscience  of  any  that  have  a  mind  to  be  satisfied. 

Reply.  That  the  cross  was  always  used  in  the  church  in 
baptism  is  an  assertion  certainly  untrue,  and  such  as  we  never 
heard  or  read  till  now.  Do  you  believe  it  was  used  in  the 
baptism  of  the  eunuch,  Lydia,  the  jailor,  Cornelius,  the  three 
thousand  Acts  ii,  or  in  those  times  ?  And  when  it  did  come 
up,  it  was  with  Chrism,  and  not  our  airy,  transient  image; 
and  therefore  you  so  far  differ  from  the  users.  Secondly. 
The  condemnation  of  genuflection  on  the  Lord's  days  in 
adoration  was  at  least  as  ancient  and  universal,  and  com- 
manded by  councils  when  the  cross  was  not;  and  yet  you  can 
dispense  with  that,  and  many  such  usages.  And  if  you  will 
yourselves  fall  in  with  custom,  yet  every  ancient  common 
custom  was  never  intended  to  be  a  matter  of  necessity  to 
union  or  toleration  of  our  brethren.  Use  no  other  force 
about  the  cross  than  the  church  then  did.  Thirdly.  Your 
saying  that  you  conceive  it  cannot  trouble  the  conscience  of 
any  that  have  a  mind  to  be  satisfied,  doth  but  express  your 
uncharitable  censoriousness,  while  your  brethren  have  studied 
and  prayed,  and  conferred  for  satisfaction  (its  like  as  much 
as  you),  and  profess  their  earnest  desire  of  it,  and  their 
readiness  to  hear  or  read  anything  that  you  have  to  say  in 
order  to  theu'  satisfaction. 


661.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  293 

Prop.  18.  §  15.  Ans.  The  posture  of  kneeling  best  suits 
at  the  communion  as  the  most  convenient,  and  so  most  decent 
for  us,  when  we  are  to  receive  as  it  were  from  God's  hand 
the  greatest  of  seals  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  that 
thinks  he  may  do  this  sitting,  let  him  remember  the  prophet 
Malachi : — "  offer  this  to  the  prince,"  to  receive  his  seal  from 
his  own  hand,  sitting,  "  see  if  he  will  accept  of  it."  When  the 
church  did  stand  at  her  prayers,  the  manner  of  receiving 
was  more  adorantium,  (S.  Aug.  Psa.  xcviii,  Cyril.  Catech. 
Mystag.  5.)  rather  more  than  at  prayers.  Since  standing  at 
prayer  hath  been  generally  left,  and  kneeling  used  instead  of 
that  (as  the  church  may  vary  in  such  indifferent  things),  now 
to  stand  at  communion,  when  we  kneel  at  prayers,  were  not 
decent,  much  less  to  sit,  which  was  never  the  use  of  the  best 
times. 

Reply.  To  all  this  about  kneeling,  we  say,  first,  we  have 
considered  the  text  in  Malachi,  and  what  you  say;  and  yet,  first, 
we  find  that  our  betters,  even  Christ's  apostles,  and  the  uni- 
versal church,  for  many  hundred  years,  thought  not  kneeling 
more  decent;  nor  did  the  church  in  the  first  age  think  sitting 
unmeet  in  that  service  to  the  King  of  the  church :  and  we 
hope  you  reprehend  them  not.  Secondly.  You  require  not 
the  adults  that  are  baptized,  to  receive  that  seal  or  sacrament 
kneeling.  Thirdly.  When  kneelin:g  at  prayers  was  in  use  in 
the  apostles'  times,  yet  kneeling  in  the  reception  of  the  sacra- 
ment was  not.  Fourthly.  Why  can  you  so  lightly  put  off 
both  the  practice  and  canons  of  the  church,  in  this,  more 
than  in  other  such  things  ?  However,  you  cannot  here  deny, 
de  facto,  but  that  kneeling  on  the  Lord's  day  in  the  receiving 
of  the  sacrament  was,  for  many  hundred  years  of  the  purer 
times  of  the  church,  disused  and  condemned.  And  why  do 
you  not  tell  us  what  other  general  council  repealed  this,  that 
we  may  see  whether  it  be  such  as  we  are  any  way  boimd  by  ? 
When  you  say  the  church  may  vary  in  such  indiffarent  things  : 
first,  if  kneeling  or  standing  at  prayer  be  an  indifferent 
thing,  then  so  are  they  at  this  sacrament.  Secondly.  Then 
you  follow  the  changes,  and  we  the  old  pattern.     Thirdly. 


294  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Then  the  canons  of  general  councils  and  customs^  pretended 
to  be  from  apostolical  tradition,  may  be  changed.  Fourthly. 
What  is  it  that  you  call  the  church,  that  changeth,  or  may 
change  these  ?  A  council,  or  a  popular  custom  ?  Bring  us 
not  under  a  foreign  power.  Fifthly.  The  thing  then  being  so 
indiflFerent  and  changeable,  you  may  change  it,  if  you  please, 
for  ends  that  are  not  indifferent.  Sixthly.  And  if  now  the 
ministers  may  pray  standing,  why  may  not  the  people  receive 
standing?  Seventhly.  When  you  say  that  to  sit  was  never 
the  use  of  the  best  times,  you  deny  the  apostles'  and  pri- 
mitive times  to  be  the  best.  As  to  the  extent  of  the  church 
they  were  not  the  best,  but  as  to  purity  of  administrations 
they  were. 

Prop.  18.  §  16.  Ans.  That  there  were  ancient  liturgies  in 
the  church  is  evident:  S.  Chrysostom,  S.  Basil,  and  others; 
and  the  Greeks  tell  us  of  St.  James,  much  elder  than  they. 
And  though  we  find  not  in  all  ages  whole  liturgies,  yet  it  is 
certain  that  there  were  such  in  the  oldest  tiines,  by  those 
parts  which  are  extant;  as  Sursiim  cor  da,  ^c,.  Gloria 
Patri,  ^c,  Benedicite,  Hymnus  Cherubinus,  ^c,  Vera  dig- 
num  et  justum,  ^c,  Dominus  vobiscum,  et  cum  spiritu  tuo, 
with  divers  others.  Though  those  that  are  extant  may 
be  interpolated,  yet  such  things  as  are  found  in  tliem  all 
consistent  to  catholic  and  primitive  doctrine  may  well  be 
presumed  to  have  been  from  the  first;  especially  since  we  find 
no  original  of  these  liturgies  from  general  councils. 

Reply.  We  know  there  wanteth  not  a  Lindanus,  a  Coccius, 
to  tell  the  world  of  St.  Peter's  Liturgy,  which  yet  prayeth 
that  by  the  intercession  of  St.  Peter,  and  Paul,  we  may  be 
defended,  &c.,  and  mentioneth  Linus,  Cletus,  Clemens,  Cor- 
nelius, Cyprian,  Lucia,  Barbara,  and  abundance  such :  shall 
we  therefore  conclude,  that  there  were  liturgies  from  the 
first,  and  that  what  is  here  consentient  to  antiquity,  was  in 
it  ?  There  wants  not  a  Marg.  de  la  Bigne,  a  Greg,  de  Valent, 
a  Coccius  to  commend  to  us  the  liturgy  of  Mark,  that  pray- 
eth. Protege  civitatem  istam  proper  martyrem  tuum  et 
evangelistam    Marcum,    etc.,    and    tells   us   that   the     king 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  295 

where  the  author  lived  was  an  orthodox  Christian,  and  pray- 
eth  for  the  pope,  subdeacons,  lectors,  cantors,  monks,  &c. 
Must  we  therefore  believe  that  all  that  is  orthodox  in  it  is 
ancient  ?  So  there  wants  not  a  Bigne,  Bellarmine,  &c.,  to  tell 
us  of  St.  James'  liturgy,  that  mentions  the  confessors,  the 
Deiparam,  the  anchorets,  &c.,  which  made  Bellarmine  himself 
say  de  Liturgia  Jacobi  sic  sentio,  earn  aut  non  esse  ejus,  aut 
multa  a  posterioribus  eidem  addita  sunt.  And  must  we 
prove  the  antiquity  of  liturgies  by  this,  or  try  ours  by  it? 
There  wants  not  a  Sainctius,  a  Bellarmine,  a  Valentia,  a 
Paresius  to  predicate  the  liturgy  of  S.  Basil,  as  bearing  wit- 
ness to  transubstantiation,  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  for 
praying  to  saints,  &c.,  when  yet  the  exceeding  disagreement 
of  copies,  the  difference  of  some  forms  from  Basil's  ordinary 
forms,  the  prayers  for  the  most  pious  and  faithful  emperors, 
shew  it  unlikely  to  have  been  Basil's.  Many  predicate  Chry- 
sostom's  mass  or  liturgy,  as  making  for  praying  to  the  dead, 
and  for  them,  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  &c., 
when,  in  one  edition,  Chrysostom  is  prayed  to  in  it,  saith 
Cook  :  in  another,  Nicolaus,  and  Alexius,  that  lived  1080,  is 
mentioned:  in  another,  doctrines  are  contained  (as  de  con- 
taminata  Maria,  kc.J  clean  contrary  to  Chiysostom's  doc- 
trine: must  we  now  conclude  that  all  is  ancient,  that  is 
orthodox,  when  one  copy  is  scarce  like  another  ?  Or  can  we 
try  our  liturgy  by  such  as  this  ?  The  shreds  cited  by  you 
prove  a  liturgy  indeed,  such  as  we  have  used  while  the  Com- 
mon Prayer  book  was  not  used,  where  the  psalms,  the  words 
of  baptism,  and  the  words  of  consecration,  commemoration, 
and  delivery  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  many  other,  were 
used  in  a  constant  form,  when  other  parts  were  used  as  the 
minister  found  most  meet;  so  Sursum  Cor  da  was  but  a  warn- 
ing before,  or  in  the  midst  of  devotion,  such  as  our  "  Let  us 
pray,"  and  will  no  more  prove  that  the  substance  of  prayer 
was  not  left  to  the  minister's  present  or  prepared  conceptions, 
than  Ite  missa  est  will  prove  it.  The  Gloria  patri  Bellarmine 
himself  saith,  according  to  the  common  opinion,  was  formed 
in  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  which  was  in  the  4th  century.  And 


296  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

even  then  snch  a  particular  testimony  against  the  Ai-ians 
might  well  stand  with  a  body  of  unimposed  prayers;  and 
rather  shews  that  in  other  things  they  were  left  at  liberty. 
If  the  Benedicite,  the  hymns,  or  other  passages  here  men- 
tioned, will  prove  such  a  liturgy  as  pleaseth  you,  we  pray  you 
bear  with  our  way  of  worship,  which  hath  more  of  hymns 
and  other  forms  than  these  come  to.  That  these  liturgies 
had  no  original  from  general  Councils  adds  nothing  with  iis 
to  their  authority,  but  sheweth  that  they  had  an  arbitrary 
original :  and  all  set  together,  shews  that  then  they  had  many 
liturgies  in  one  prince's  dominion,  and  those  alterable,  and 
not  forced;  and  that  they  took  not  one  liturgy  to  be  any 
necessary  means  to  the  church's  unity  or  peace,  but  bore 
with  those  that  used  various  at  discretion.  We  well  remem- 
ber that  Tertullian  tells  the  heathens  that  Christians  shewed  by 
their  conceived  hymns,  that  they  were  sober  at  their  religious 
feasts,  it  being  their  custom  ut  quisque  de  Scripturis  Sanctis, 
vel  de  propria  ingenio  potest,  provocetur  in  medium  Deo 
canere,  Apol.  cap.  39.  Note  here  1.  that  though  there  be 
more  need  of  forms  for  singing  than  for  praying,  yet  even  in 
this,  the  Christians  in  public  had  then  a  liberty  of  doing  it 
de  propria  ingenio,  and  by  their  own  wit  or  parts.  2.  That 
those  that  did  not  de  propria  ingenio,  did  it  de  Scripturis 
Sanctis,  and  that  there  is  no  mention  of  any  other  liturgy, 
from  which  they  fetch  so  much  as  their  hymns.  And  the 
same  Tertullian,  Apol.  cap.  30,  describing  the  Christians'  public 
prayers  saith  sine  monitore,  quia  de  pectare,  oramus,  we 
pray  without  a  monitor  or  promptor,  because  we  do  it  from  the 
heart,  or  from  our  own  breast.  And  before  him  Justin  Martyr, 
Ap.  2,  p.  77,  saith,  o  TTfiosscog  ibjjxg  oiMoicog  kou  svxccptgiag 
o(rri  "hwcc^ig  avrco  uvccTrsuj'Tni,  jccci  6  \dog  l7rsvy^f/ji7  Xiyoju  to 
'A[jj-/]v.  But  if  all  these  words  seem  not  plain  enough  to 
some,  it  is  no  wouder  when  they  rest  not  in  the  greater 
plainness  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  where  prayer  is  so  frequently 
mentioned,  as  much  of  the  employment  of  believers ;  and  so 
many   directions,   encouragements,   and    exhortations   given 


1661.]  to  the  Ansioer  of  the  Bishops.  297 

about  it :  and  yet  no  liturgy  or  stinted  formSj  except  the 
Lord's  prayer,  is  prescribed  to  tbem,  or  once  made  mention 
of;  no  man  directed  here  to  use  such,  no  man  exhorted  to  get 
him  a  Prayer  book,  or  to  read  or  learn  it,  or  to  beware  that 
he  add  or  diminish  not :  whereas  the  holy  Scriptures  that 
were  then  given  to  the  church,  men  are  exhorted  to  read, 
and  study,  and  meditate  in,  and  discourse  of,  and  make  it 
their  continual  delight :  and  it  is  a  wonder  that  David,  that 
mentions  it  so  oft  in  the  cxixth  Psalm,  doth  never  mention 
the  liturgy,  or  Common  Prayer  book,  if  they  had  any ;  and 
that  Solomon,  when  he  dedicated  the  house  of  prayer  without 
a  Prayer  book,  would  only  beg  of  God  to  hear  what  prayers 
or  what  supplication  soever,  shaU  be  made  of  any  man,  or  of 
all  the  people  of  Israel,  when  every  one  shall  know  his  own 
sore,  and  his  own  grief,  and  shall  spread  forth  his  hands  in 
that  house,  (2  Chron,  vi,  29,)  and  that  he  giveth  no  hint  of 
any  liturgy  or  form,  so  much  as  in  those  common  calamities ; 
and  talks  of  no  other  book  than  the  knowledge  of  their  own 
sores,  and  their  own  griefs.  And  in  the  case  of  psalms,  or 
singing  unto  God ;  where  it  is  certain,  that  they  had  a  liturgy 
or  form,  (as  we  have,)  they  are  carefully  collected,  preserved, 
and  delivered  to  us,  as  a  choice  part  of  the  holy  Scripture. 
And  would  it  not  have  been  so  with  the  prayers  ?  or  would 
they  have  been  altogether  unmentioned,  if  they  also  had  been 
there  prescribed  to,  and  used  by  the  church,  as  the  psalms 
were  ?  Would  Christ  and  his  apostles,  even  where  they  were 
purposely  giving  rules  for  prayer,  and  correcting  its  abuse,  as 
Matt,  vi;  1  Cor.  xiv,  &c.,  have  never  mentioned  any  forms 
but  the  Lord's  prayer,  if  they  had  appointed  such,  or  desired 
such  to  be  imposed,  and  observed?  These  things  are  in- 
credible to  us  when  we  most  impartially  consider  them.  For 
our  own  parts,  as  we  think  it  uncharitable  to  forbid  the  use 
of  spectacles  to  them  that  have  weak  eyes,  or  of  crutches  to 
them  that  have  weak  limbs ;  and  as  uncharitable  to  undo  all 
that  will  not  use  them,  whether  they  need  them  or  not :  so 
we  can  think  no  better  of  them,  that  will  suffer  none  to  use 
such  forms,  that  need  them  ;  cr  that  will  suffer  none  to  pray 


298  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

but  in  the  words  of  other  men's  prescribing,  though  they  are 
at  least  as  able  as  the  prescribers. 

And  to  conclude^  we  humbly  crave,  that  ancient  customs 
may  not  be  used  against  themselves,  and  us ;  and  that  you 
will  not  innovate,  under  the  shelter  of  the  name  of  antiquity. 
Let  those  things  be  freely  used  among  us,  that  were  so  used 
in  the  purest  primitive  times.  Let  unity  and  peace  be  laid 
on  nothing,  on  which  they  laid  them  not ;  let  diversity  of 
liturgies,  and  ceremonies  be  allowed,  where  they  allowed  it. 
May  we  but  have  love  and  peace,  on  the  terms  as  the  ancient 
church  enjoyed  them,  we  shall  then  hope  we  may  yet  escape 
the  hands  of  uncharitable  destroying  zeal.  We  therefore 
humbly  recommend  to  your  observation  the  concurrent  testi- 
mony of  the  best  histories  of  the  church  concerning  the 
diversity  of  liturgies,  ceremonies,  and  model  observances,  in 
the  several  churches  under  one  and  the  same  civil  govern- 
ment :  and  how  they  then  took  it  to  be  their  duty  to  forbear 
each  other  in  these  matters,  and  how  they  made  them  not  the 
test  of  their  communion,  or  centre  of  their  peace.  Concern- 
ing the  observation  of  Easter  itself,  when  other  holy-days 
and  ceremonies  were  urged,  were  less  stood  upon,  you  have 
the  judgment  of  Irenseus,  and  the  French  bishops,  in  ^hose 
name  he  wrote,  in  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.  1.  5.  c.  23,  where 
they  reprehend  Victor  for  breaking  peace  with  the  churches, 
that  differed  about  the  day,  and  the  antecedent  time  of  fast- 
ing, and  tell  him  that  the  variety  began  before  their  times, 
when  yet  they  nevertheless  retained  peace,  and  yet  retain  it : 
and  the  discord  in  their  fasting  declared,  or  commended  the 
concord  of  their  faith,  that  no  man  was  rejected  from  com- 
munion by  Victor's  predecessors  on  that  account,  but  they 
gave  them  the  sacrament,  and  maintained  peace  with  them, 
and  particularly  Polycarp,  and  Anicetus,  held  communion  in 
the  eucharist,  notwithstanding  this  difference.  Basil  Epist.  63, 
doth  plead  his  cause  with  the  presbyters,  and  whole  clergy  of 
Neccsesarea,  that  were  offended  at  his  new  psalmody,  and  his 
new  order  of  Monastics :  but  he  only  defendeth  himself,  and 
urecth  none  of  them  to  imitate  him,  but  telleth  them  also  of 


1661.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  299 

the  novelty  of  their  own  liturgy^  that  it  was  not  known  in  the 
time  of  their  own  late  renowned  Bp.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus; 
telling  them  that  they  had  kept  nothing  unchanged  to  that 
day  of  all  that  he  was  used  to  (so  great  alterations  in  forty 
years  were  made  in  the  same  congregation) ;  and  he  professeth 
to  pardon  all  such  things,  so  be  it  the  principal  things  be  kept 
safe.  Socrat.  Hist.  Eccl.  1.  51.  c.  31.,  about  the  Easter  differ- 
ence saith  that,  neither  the  apostles,  nor  the  gospels,  do 
impose  a  yoke  of  bondage  on  those  that  betake  themselves  to 
the  doctrine  of  Christ,  but  left  the  feast  of  Easter,  and  other 
festivals,  to  the  observation  of  the  free  and  equal  judgment 
of  them  that  had  received  the  benefits.  And  therefore 
because  men  used  to  keep  some  festivals,  for  the  relax- 
ing themselves  from  labour,  several  persons,  in  several  places, 
do  celebrate,  of  custom,  the  memorials  of  Christ's  passion 
arbitrarily,  or  at  their  own  choice.  For  neither  our  Saviour, 
nor  the  apostles  commanded  the  keeping  of  them  by  any  law, 
iior  threaten  any  mulct,  or  penalty,  &c.  It  was  the  purpose 
of  the  apostles  not  to  make  laws  for  the  keeping  of  festivals, 
but  to  be  authors  to  us  of  the  reason  of  right  living,  and  of 
piety.  And  having  shewed  that  it  came  up  by  private  custom, 
and  not  by  law,  and  having  cited  Irenseus,  as  before,  he 
addeth,  that  those  that  agree  in  the  same  faith,  do  differ  in 
point  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  instancing  in  divers,  he 
concludeth  that  because  no  man  can  shew,  in  the  monuments 
of  writings,  any  command  concerning  this,  it  is  plain,  that 
the  apostles  herein  permitted  free  power  to  every  one's  mind 
and  will;  that  every  man  might  do  that  which  was  good, 
without  being  induced  by  fear,  or  by  necessity.  And  having 
spoken  of  the  diversity  of  customs,  about  the  assemblies, 
marriage,  baptism,  &c.,  he  tells  us  that,  even  among  the 
Novatians  themselves,  there  is  a  diversity  in  their  manner  of 
their  praying;  and  that  among  all  the  forms  of  religions  and 
parties,  you  can  nowhere  find  two,  that  consent  among  them- 
selves in  the  manner  of  their  praying.  And  repeating  the 
decree  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Acts  15,  "to  impose  no  other 
burden  but  things  necessary,"  he  reprehendeth  them    that. 


300  Bejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

neglecting  this,  will  take  fornication  as  a  thing  indifferent, 
but  strive  about  festivals,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of  life ;  over- 
turning God's  laws,  and  making  laws  to  themselves,  &c.  And 
Sozomen  Hist.  Eccles.  1.  7.  c.  18  and  19,  speaketh  to  the 
same  pui'pose,  and  tells  us  that  the  Novatiaus  themselves 
determined  in  a  synod  at  Sangar  in  Bythinia,  that  the  differ- 
ence about  Easter  being  not  a  sufficient  cause  for  breach  of 
communion,  all  should  abide  in  the  same  concord,  and  in  the 
same  assembly,  and  every  one  should  celebrate  this  feast  as 
pleased  himself :  and  this  canon  they  called  a,hicc(popov.  And, 
c.  19,  he  saith  of  Victor  and  Polycarp,  that  they  deservedly 
judged  it  frivolous,  or  absurd,  that  those  should  be  separated, 
on  account  of  a  custom,  that  consented  in  tlie  principal  heads 
of  religion  :  for  you  cannot  find  the  same  traditions  in  all 
things  alike,  in  all  churches,  though  they  agree  among  them- 
selves ;  and,  instancing  in  some  countries,  where  there  is  but 
one  bishop  in  many  cities,  and  in  others  bishops  are  ordained 
in  the  villages,  after  many  other  instances,  he  adds,  that 
they  use  not  the  same  prayers,  singings,  or  readings,  nor 
observe  the  same  time  of  u^ng  them.  And  what  liturgy  was 
imposed  upon  Constantino  the  Emperor,  or  what  bishops  or 
synods,  were  then  the  makers  of  liturgies,  when  he  himself 
made  public  prayers  for  himself  and  auditory,  and  for  his 
soldiers?  Euseb,  de  vit.  Constantini,  lib.  iv,  c.  18,  20,  &c.  But 
the  diversity,  liberty,  and  change  of  liturgies  in  the  churches 
under  the  same  prince,  are  things  so  well  known,  as  that  we 
may  suppose  any  further  proof  of  it  to  be  needless. 

In  the  conclusion,  therefore,  we  humbly  beseech  you,  that 
as  antiquity  and  the  custom  of  the  churches  in  the  first  ages 
is  that  which  is  most  commonly  and  confidently  pleaded 
against  us,  that  your  mistake  of  antiquity  may  not  be  to  our 
cost,  or  paid  so  dear  for  as  the  loss  of  our  freedom  for  the 
serving  of  God  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  to  which  we  are 
called.  We  beseech  you  let  us  not  be  silenced,  or  cast  out  of 
the  ministry  or  church,  for  not  using  the  liturgy,  cross,  sur- 
plice, kneeling  at  the  sacrament,  till  ye  have  either  shewed 
the  world  that  the  practice  or  canons  of  the  catholic  church 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  BishojJS.  301 

have  led  you  the  way,  as  doing  it,  or  requiring  it  to  be  done. 
And  make  not  that  so  necessary  as  to  force  men  to  it  on  such 
dreadful  terms,  which  the  ancient  churches  used  with  diversity 
and  indifterency  of  liberty.  We  beseech  you,  shew  the  world 
some  proof  that  the  ancient  churches  did  ever  use  to  force  or 
require  ministers  to  subscribe  to  their  liturgies,  as  having 
nothing  in  them  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  to  swear 
obedience  to  their  bishops,  before  you  impose  such  things  on 
us,  while  yet  you  pretend  to  imitate  antiquity.  And  have 
but  that  moderation  towards  yonr  brethren,  as  in  suffering,  or 
at  death,  or  judgment,  you  would  most  approve.  Remember 
how  unpleasing  the  remembrance  of  such  differences  about 
ceremonies  was  to  Bishop  Eidley,  as  towards  Bishop  Hooper, 
when  they  were  in  prison;  and  how  the  Arians'  fury  made 
the  orthodox  gladly  to  go  to  the  churches  of  the  Novatians,  and 
meet  with  them,  and  join  with  them  in  prayer,  and  had 
almost  been  united  with  them  in  the  bond  of  concord,  if  the 
Novatians,  in  the  stiff  maintaining  of  their  old  customs,  had 
not  utterly  refused  it.  But  yet  in  other  matters  they  em- 
braced each  other  with  so  singular  a  benevolence  and  love, 
that  they  would  willingly  have  died  for  each  other,  as  Socrat. 
tells  us.  Hist,  lib.  ii,  c.  30.  And  may  we  not  all  here  see  our 
duty  ?  When  Atticus  was  urged  to  deny  to  the  Novatians 
the  Hberty  of  their  meetings  within  the  city,  he  refused  it, 
because  they  had  suffered  for  the  faith  in  the  Arians'  persecu- 
tion, and  changed  nothing  in  the  faith,  though  they  separated 
from  the  church;  and  was  so  far  from  violence  against 
dissenters,  as  that  he  gave  large  relief  to  them  that  differed 
from  him  in  religion,  Socrat.  Hist.  lib.  vii,  c.  25.  It  was 
the  much  praised  saying  of  Theodosius,  to  him  that  asked 
him  why  he  put  none  to  death  that  wronged  him — "  I  would 
I  could  rather  make  them  that  are  dead,  alive : "  Socrat. 
lib.  vii,  c.  22.  Much  more  should  Christian  bishops  be 
enemies  to  cruelty,  who  know  that  charity  is  more  essential  to 
Christianity  than  this  or  that  form  of  liturgy  or  ceremonies. 
If  you  think  it  unsufferable  that  we  should  have  differences 
about  such  things,  remember  that  there  will  be  no  perfect 


303  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

■unity  till  there  is  perfect  charity  and  sanctity ;  and  that  des- 
troying one  another,  and  consequently  destroying  charity,  is 
an  unhappy  way  to  unity ;  and  that  unity  is  to  be  held  in 
things  necessary,  and  liberty  in  things  unnecessary,  and 
charity  in  both.  Remember  that  it  was  in  a  far  greater 
difference,  where  Constantine  persuadeth  the  Christians  to 
mutual  forbearance,  by  the  example  of  the  philosophers,  that 
suffered  differences  in  abundance  of  their  opinions.  Euseb.  de 
vita  Constant.,  lib.  ii,  c.  67 ;  and  that  Valens,  the  Arian, 
was  made  more  moderate,  and  abated  his  persecution  of  the 
orthodox,  by  the  oration  of  Themistius,  who  bade  him  not 
wonder  at  the  dissensions  of  Christians,  for  they  were  small,  if 
compared  with  the  multitude  and  crowd  of  opinions  that  are 
among  the  heathen  philosophers,  as  being  more  than  three 
hundred;  and  that  God  will,  by  this  diversity  of  opinions, 
manifest  his  glory,  and  make  men  the  more  reverence  him, 
who  is  so  hardly  known  :  Socrat.  lib.  iv,  c.  27.  Those  that 
dissent  from  you  in  these  tolerable  cases,  cannot  change  their 
own  opinions;  but  you  can,  if  you  will,  forbear  hurting  of 
your  brethren.  Do  that  which  you  can  do,  rather  than  urge 
them  by  unsuitable  means  to  that  which  they  cannot  do. 
These  are  not  matters  sufficient  to  justify  contention  and  un- 
charitable usage  of  your  brethren.  When  many  of  the 
Macedonian  faction  petitioned  the  good  emperor  Jovianus  to 
depose  those  that  affirmed  the  Son  to  be  unlike  the  Father, 
and  to  put  their  party  in  their  places,  he  gave  them  no  answer, 
but  this,  "  I  hate  contentions,  and  I  love  and  honour  them 
that  are  addicted  to  concord  :  "  Socrat.  lib.  iv,  c.  21.  "  Then,^' 
saith  Euseb.  Hist.,  lib.  viii,  c.  1,  '^did  the  Lord  obscure  the 
daugliter  of  Sion,  and  cast  down  the  glory  of  Israel,  &c., 
when  those  that  seemed  our  pastors,  rejecting  the  rule  of 
godliness,  were  enflamed  among  themselves  with  mutual  con- 
tentions, and  drove  on  only  those  contentions,  threatenings, 
emulations,  mutual  hati^ed,  and  enmity,  and  the  like,  tyrants 
prosecuted  their  ambition." 

We   thought   it   no  impertinent   digression  here  to   take 
this  occasion   again  to   crave  your  exercise  of  the  ancient 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  333 

charity^  and  our  enjoyment  of  the  ancient  liberty,  instead 
of  forcing  the  anciently  free  liturgy  and  ceremonies,  and  that 
by  unproportionable  penalties.  And  if  yet  we  cannot 
prevail  with  you,  we  shall  still  beg  for  peace  of  the  God 
'  of  peace,  where  we  have  better  hopes  to  be  heard  ;  and  shall 
hold  on  in  seeking  it,  how  ill  soever  our  endeavours  may  be 
interpreted  or  succeed.  And  as  the  good  man  wept,  Socrat. 
lib.  iv,  c.  18.,  when  he  saw  a  woman  pompously  adorned,  be- 
cause he  was  not  so  careful  to  please  God  as  she  was  to  allure 
men ;  so  we  shall  confess  we  ought  to  weep  that  we  cannot 
be  more  charitable  and  laborious  in  building  up  the  church  in 
holiness  and  peace,  than  others  are  by  uncharitable  courses  to 
afflict  it.  And  it  shall  be  our  hope  that,  whether  by  their 
labours  or  their  sufferings,  God  will  serve  and  honor  himself 
by  those  many  faithful  servants  of  his,  whom  he  hath  called 
into  his  work,  and  whose  cause  we  plead ;  and  that  however 
they  are  used  they  shall  not  be  unuseful  to  the  ends  of  their 
vocation  :  as  Theodoret  observes.  Hist.,  lib.  iv,  c.  30,  that  in 
a  calamitous  time,  "the  moderator  of  the  universe  raised  up 
such  guides  as  were  sufficient  in  so  great  a  fluctuation,  and 
opposed  the  valour  of  the  leaders  to  the  greatness  of  the 
enemy's  incursion,  and  gave  the  best  remedies  in  the  hardest 
times  of  pestilence,  so  that  the  banished  pastors  did,  from  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  corroborate  their  own,  and  refute 
the  adversaries  by  their  writings."  And  for  ourselves,  as  we 
were  truly  desirous  to  do  our  parts  to  preserve  your  reputa- 
tion with  the  flocks,  in  order  to  the  success  of  your  govern- 
ment for  their  good,  and  never  envied  you  even  that  worldly 
honor  or  revenue  which  yet  some  have  thought  unsuitable 
to  the  simplicity  and  employment  of  Christ's  ministers ;  so  if 
you  will  neither  suffer  us  quietly  to  serve  God  or  con- 
scionably  to  serve  you,  we  shall  be  the  less  solicitous  for 
that  part  of  our  task,  from  v,  hich  you  have  power  to  discharge 
us.  And  as  Basil  said  to  Valens  the  emperor,  that  would 
have  him  pray  for  the  life  of  his  son,  "  If  thou  wilt  receive  the 
true  faith,  and  restore  the  churches  to  concord,  thy  son  shall 
live,"   which,  when  he  refused,  he  said,  "The  will  of  God, 


304  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

then,,  be  done  with  thy  son ; "  so  we  say  to  you.  If  you  will 
put  on  charity,  and  promote  your  brethren's  and  the  church's 
peace,  God  will  honor  you,  and  good  men  will  honor  you, 
and  your  calling  will  have  advantage  by  it.  But  if  you  will 
do  contrary,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done  with  your  honors. 
But  know  that  them  that  honor  him  he  will  honor,  and  those 
that  despise  him  shall  be  lightly  esteemed ;  and  that  by  the 
course  of  uncharitable  violence,  which  we  deprecate,  you  will 
most  deeply  wound  the  cause  of  your  pre-eminence,  even 
more  than  its  adversaries  could  have  done.  And  if  it  be  the 
will  of  God  that  suffering  at  home  where  we  have  served  him 
must  be  our  lot^  we  doubt  not  but  he  will  furnish  us  with 
strength  and  patience,  and  we  shall  remember  such  examples 
as  Ruffin  recordeth.  Hist.,  lib.  ii,  c.  3.  When  a  military 
bishop  sent  his  soldiers  to  assault  three  thousand  scattered 
Christians,  there  appeared  a  strange  kind  of  warfare  when 
the  assaulted  offered  their  necks,  saying  only.  Amice,  ad  quid 
venisti  ?  Friend,  why  camest  thou  thither  ?  Or  if  we  must 
be  removed  from  the  land  of  our  nativity,  as  Maris  told 
Julian^  "  he  thanked  God  that  had  deprived  him  of  his  sight, 
that  he  might  not  see  the  face  of  such  a  man,"  Socrates,  Hist, 
lib.  iii,  c.  10  j  so  we  shall  take  it  as  a  little  abatement  of 
our  affliction,  that  we  see  not  the  sins  and  calamities  of  the 
people,  whose  peace  and  welfare  we  so  much  desire.  Having 
taken  this  opportunity  here  to  conclude  this  part  with  these 
requests  and  warnings,  we  now  proceed  to  the  second  part, 
containing  the  particulars  of  our  Exceptions  and  your  Answers. 

CONCERNING    MORNING    AND    EVENING    PRAYER. 

§  1.  Rub.  1.  Ans.  We  think  it  fit  that  the  rubric  stand 
as  it  is,  and  all  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  ordinary. 

Reply.  We  thought  the  end  and  use  more  considerable 
than  custom,  and  that  the  ordinary  himself  should  be  under 
the  rule  of  doing  all  to  edification. 

§  2.  Rub.  2.  Alls.  For  the  reasons  given  in  our  Answer  to 
the  18th  general,  whither  you  refer  us,  we  think  it  fit  that 
the  rubric  continue  as  it  is. 


IGGl.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  305 

Reply.  We  have  given  you  reason  enough  against  the 
imposition  of  the  usual  ceremonies;  and  would  you  draw 
forth  those  absolute  ones  to  increase  the  burden? 

§  3.  Lord's  prayer.  "Deliver  us  from  evil."  Ans.  These 
words^  "  for  thine  is  the  kingdom/'  &c.,  are  not  in  St.  Luke, 
nor  in  the  ancient  copies  of  St.  Matthew,  never  mentioned  in 
the  ancient  comments,  nor  used  in  the  Latin  church,  and 
therefore  questioned  whether  they  be  part  of  the  gospel; 
there  is  no  reason  that  they  should  be  always  used. 

Reply.  We  shall  not  be  so  over-credulous  as  to  believe  you, 
that  these  words  are  not  in  the  ancient  copies.  It  is  enough 
that  we  believe  that  seme  few  ancient  copies  have  them  not, 
but  that  the  most,  even  the  generality  (except  those  few)  have 
them.  The  judgment  of  our  English  translators,  and  almost 
all  other  translators  of  Matthew,  and  of  the  reverend  Bp. 
of  Chester  among  yourselves,  putting  the  copy  that  hath  it 
in  his  Bible,  (as  that  which  is  most  received  and  approved  by 
the  church,)  do  shew  on  which  side  is  the  chief  authority :  if 
the  few  copies  that  want  it  had  been  thought  more  authentic 
and  credible,  the  church  of  England  and  most  other 
churches,  would  not  have  preferred  the  copies  that  have  this 
doxology.  And  why  will  you  in  this  contradict  the  later 
judgment  of  the  church,  expressed  in  the  translation  allowed 
and  imposed  ?  The  Syriac,  Ethiopic,  and  Persian  translations 
also  have  it :  and  if  the  Syriac  be  as  ancient  as  you  your- 
selves even  now  asserted,  then  the  antiquity  of  the  doxology 
is  there  evident;  and  it  is  not  altogether  to  be  neglected, 
which  by  Cliemnitius  and  others  is  conjectured,  that  Paul's 
words,  in  2  Tim.  iv,  18,  M^ere  spoken  as  in  reference  to  this 
doxology.  And  as  Parseus  and  other  protestants  conclude,  it 
is  more  probable  the  Latins  neglected,  than  that  the  Greeks 
inserted,  of  their  own  heads,  this  sentence.  The  Socinians 
and  Arians  have  as  fair  a  pretence  for  their  exception  against 
1  John  V,  6,  7.  Musculus  saitb,  non  cogitant  vero  similius 
esse,  ut  Gracorum  ecclesia  magis  qucun  Latina,  quod  ah 
evangelistis  Grceca  scriptum  est,  integrum  servarit,  nlhilque 
de  duo   udjecerit.     Quid  de  Grceca  ecclesia  dico  ?    vidi   ipse 

X 


308  Rejoi7ider  of  the  Ministers  [1061. 


evangelium  secundum  Matthmum,  codicem 
Chaldais  et  elementis,  et  verbis  conscrijjtum,  in  quo  coronis 
ista  perinde  aique  in  Gracis  legebatur.  Nee  Chaldan  solum, 
sed  et  Arabes  Chrisiiani  pariformiter  cum  Grcecis  orant,  et 
exemplar  Hebreeum  a  docto  et  celebri  D.  Sebast.  Muiistero 
vulgatum,  hanc  ipsam  coronidem  habet ;  cum  ergo  consentiant 
Tide  in  re  Hebrseorum^  Chaldseorum,  Arabum,  et  Grsecorura 
ecclesi(B  valde  inconsideratum  videtur,  quod  uni  Latinorum 
ecctesicB,  contra  omnes  reliquas,  tantum  tribuitur  authoritatis, 
ut  quod  sola  diversum  legit,  ab  evangelistis  traditum,  esse 
credatur :  quod  vero  reliquce  omnes  concorditer  habent  et 
orant,  pro  addititio  et  peregrino  habeatur.  And  that  Liike 
hath  it  not,  will  no  more  prove  that  it  was  not  a  part  of  the 
Lord's  prayer,  than  all  other  omissions  of  one  evangelist  will 
prove  that  such  words  are  corruptions  in  the  other  that  have 
them.  All  set  together  give  us  the  gospel  fully,  and  from  all 
we  must  gather  it. 

§  4.  Lord's  prayer  often  used.  Ans.  It  is  used  but  twice  in 
the  morning  and  twice  in  the  evening  service;  and  twice 
cannot  be  called  often,  much  less  so  often.  For  the  litany, 
communion,  baptism,  &c.,  they  are  offices  distinct  from 
morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  it  is  not  fit  that  any  of 
them  should  want  the  Lord's  prayer. 

Reply.  We  may  better  say  we  are  required  to  use  it  six  times 
every  morning  than  but  twice ;  for  it  is  twice  in  the  common 
morning  prayer,  and  once  in  the  litany,  and  once  in  the 
communion  service,  and  once  at  baptism,  {which  in  great 
parishes  is  usual  every  day)  and  once  to  be  used  by  the 
preacher  in  the  pulpit.  And,  if  you  call  these  distinct  offices, 
that  maketh  not  the  Lord's  prayer  the  seldomer  used.  Sure 
we  are,  the  apostles  thought  it  fit  that  many  of  their  prayei*s 
should  be  without  the  Lord's  prayer. 

§5.  Gloria  Patri.  Ans.  This  doxology  being  a  solemn  con- 
fession of  the  blessed  Trinity,  should  not  be  thought  a 
burden  to  any  Christian  liturgy,  especially  being  so  short  as 
it  is ;  neither  is  the  repetition  of  it  to  be  thought  a  vain 
repetition,  more  than  ''  his  mercy  endureth  for   ever,^'   so 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  807 

often  repeatedj  Psa.  cxxxvi.  We  cannot  give  God  too  much 
glory,  that  being  the  end  of  our  creation,,  and  should  be  the 
end  of  all  our  services. 

Reply.  Though  we  cannot  give  God  too  much  glory,  we 
may  too  often  repeat  a  form  of  words  wherein  his  name  and 
glory  is  mentioned ;  there  is  great  difference  between  a 
psalm  of  praise  and  the  praise  in  our  ordinary  prayers  :  more 
liberty  of  repetition  may  be  taken  in  psalms,  and  be  an 
ornament;  and  there  is  difference  between  that  which  is 
unusual  (in  one  Psalm  of  one  hundred  and  fifty,)  and  that 
which  is  our  daily  course  of  worship.  When  you  have  well 
proved  that  Christ^s  prohibition  of  battology  extendeth  not 
to  this  (Matt,  vi) ;  we  shall  acquiesce. 

§  6.  Rub.  2.  "In  such  places  where  they  do  sing,"  &c. 
Ans.  The  rubric  directs  only  such  singing  as  is  after  the 
manner  of  distinct  reading,  and  we  never  heard  of  any  incon- 
venience thereby,  and  therefore  conceive  this  demand  to  be 
needless. 

Reply.  It  tempteth  men  to  think  they  should  read  in  a 
singing  tone :  and  to  turn  reading  scripture  into  singing, 
hath  the  inconvenience  of  turning  the  edifying  simphcity 
and  plainness  of  God's  service  into  such  affected,  unnatural 
strains  and  tones,  as  is  used  by  the  mimical  and  ludicrous, 
or  such  as  feign  themselves  in  raptures  :  and  the  highest 
things  (such  as  words  and  modes  that  signify  raptures)  are 
most  loathsome  when  forced,  feigned,  and  hypocritically 
affected ;  and,  therefore,  not  fit  for  congregations  that  cannot 
be  supposed  to  be  in  such  raptures ;  this  we  apply,  also,  to 
the  sententious  mode  of  prayers. 

§  7.  Benedicite.  Ans.  This  hymn  was  used  aU  the  church 
over,  (Cone.  Tolet.  can.  13,)  and  therefore  should  be  con- 
tinued still  as  well  as  Te  Deum  (Ruffin.  Apol.  cont.  Hieron.) 
or  Veni  Creator,  which  they  do  not  object  against  as  apoc- 
ryphal. 

Reply.  You  much  discourage  us  in  these  great  straits  of 
time,  to  give  as  such  loose  and  troublesome  citations ;  you 
turn  us  to  Ruffin  Apol.  in  gross,  and  tell  us  not  which  of  the 

X  3 


308  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661 

councils  of  Tolet.  (among  at  least  thirteen)  yon  mean :  but 
we  find  the  words  in  council  4.  But  that  provincial^  Spanish 
council,  was  no  meet  judge  of  the  affairs  of  the  universal 
church  unto  the  universal  church  :  nor  is  it  certain  by  their 
words  whether  quern  refer  not  to  Deum  rather  than  to 
hymnum :  but  if  you  so  regard  that  council,  remember  that, 
Can.  9,  it  is  but  once  a  day  that  the  Lord's  prayer  is  en- 
joined, against  them  that  used  it  on  the  Lord's  day  only; 
and  that.  Can.  17,  it  is  implied,  that  it  was  said  but  once  on 
that  day.  The  Benedicitc  is  somewhat  more  cautiously  to  be 
used  than  human  compositions  that  profess  to  be  but 
human;  when  the  apocryphal  writings,  that  are  pi'eteuded 
by  the  papists  to  be  canonical,  and  used  so  like  the  canon 
in  our  church,  we  have  the  more  cause  to  desire  that  a 
sufficient  distinction  be  still  made. 


IN    THE    LITANY. 

§  1.  Ans.  Tlie  alterations  here  desired  are  so  nice,  as  if 
they  that  made  them  were  given  to  change. 

Reply.  We  bear  your  censure :  but  profess,  that  if  you  will 
desert  the  products  of  changers,  and  stick  to  the  unchange- 
able rule  delivered  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  shall  joyfully 
agree  with  you.  Let  them  that  prove  most  given  to  change, 
from  the  unchangeable  rule  and  example,  be  taken  for  the 
hinderers  of  our  unity  and  peace. 

§  2.  Ans.  "Prom  all  other  deadly  sin,"  is  better  than 
"  from  all  other  heinous  sin,"  upon  the  reason  here  given ; 
because  the  wages  of  sin  is  death. 

Reply.  There  is  so  much  mortal  poison  in  the  Popish 
distinction  of  mortal  and  venial  sin,  (by  which  abundance  of 
sins  are  denied  to  be  sins  at  all  properly,  but  only  analogi- 
cally,) that  the  stomach  that  feareth  it,  is  not  to  be  charged 
with  niceness.  The  words  here  seem  to  be  used  by  way  of 
distinction,  and  all "  deadly  sin  "  seemeth  not  to  be  spoken  of 
"  all  sin."  And  if  so,  your  reason  from  Rom.  vi,  23,  is  vain, 
and  om's  firm. 


1531.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  309 

§  3.  Ans.  "  From  sudden  death/^  as  good  as  "from  dying 
suddenly;"  which  therefore  we  pray  against^  that  we  may 
not  be  unprepared. 

Reply.  We  added  "  unprepared  "  as  expository^  or  hinting 
to  shew  the  reason  why  sudden  death  is  prayed  against,  and 
so  to  limit  our  prayers  to  that  sudden  death_,  which  we  are 
unprepared  for;  there  being  some  ways  of  sudden  death  no 
more  to  be  prayed  against,  than  death  itself  simply  considered 
may.  When  you  say  "from  sudden  death"  is  as  good  as 
"  from  dying  suddenly  "  we  confess  it  is.  But  not  so  good  as 
"from  dying  suddenly  and  unpreparedly."  We  hope  you 
intend  not  to  make  any  believe,  that  our  turning  the  adjec- 
tive to  an  adverb  was  our  reformation.  And  yet  we  won- 
dered to  hear  this  made  a  common  jest  upon  us,  as  from 
those  that  had  seen  our  papers.  Would  you  have  had  us 
say  "from  sudden  and  unprepared  death?"  You  would  then 
have  had  more  matter  of  just  exception  against  the  words 
"  unprepared  death  "  than  now  you  have  against  "  dying  sud- 
denly." A  man  may  be  well  prepared  to  die  suddenly  by 
martyrdom  for  Christ,  or  by  war  for  his  prince,  and  many 
other  ways. 

§  4.  Ans.  "All  that  travel,"  as  little  liable  to  exceptions 
as  "  those  that  travel,"  and  more  agreeable  to  the  phrase  of 
Scripture,  (1  Tim,  ii,  1,)  "I  will  that  prayers  be  made  for  all 
men." 

Reply.  An  universal  is  to  be  understood  properly,  as  com- 
prehending all  the  individuals,  and  so  is  not  an  indefinite. 
And  we  know  not  that  we  are  bound  to  pray  for  thieves,  and 
pirates,  and  traitors  that  travel  by  land,  or  water,  on  such 
errands  as  Faux,  or  the  other  powder  plotters,  or  the  Spanish 
Armada,  in  1588,  or  as  Parry,  or  any  that  should  travel  on 
the  errand  as  Clement  or  Raviliac  did  to  the  two  King 
Henrys  of  France.     Are  these  niceties  with  you? 

§  5.  J.W5.  "The  two  collect [s  for  St.  John's  day  and 
Innocents',  &c."]  We  do  not  find,  nor  do  they  say,  what  is 
to  be  amended  in  these  collects ;  therefore  to  say  anything 
particularly  were  to  answer  to  we  know  not  what. 


310  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply.  We  are  glad  that  one  word  in  the  proper  collects, 
hath  appeared  such  to  you  as  needs  a  reformation,  especially 
when  you  told  us  before  that  the  liturgy  was  never  found 
fault  with  by  those  to  whom  the  name  of  Protestant  most 
properly  belongs;  which  looked  upon  our  hopes  of  reforma- 
tion, almost  as  destructively  as  the  papists'  doctrine  of  infalli- 
bility doth,  when  we  dealt  with  them.  As  for  the  collects 
mentioned  by  us,  you  should  not  wonder  that  we  brought 
not  in  a  particular  charge  against  them.  For  first,  we  had  a 
conceit  that  it  was  best  for  us  to  deal  as  gently  and  tenderly 
as  we  could  with  the  faults  of  the  liturgy,  and  therefore  we 
have  under  our  generals,  hid  abundance  of  particulars,  which 
you  may  find  in  the  Abridgment  of  the  Lincolnshire  minis- 
ters, and  in  many  other  books.  And  secondly,  we  had  a  con- 
ceit, that  you  would  have  vouchsafed  to  have  treated  with  us 
personally  in  presence,  according  to  the  sense  of  his  majesty's 
commission,  and  then  we  thought  to  have  told  you  parti- 
cularly of  such  matters  :  but  you  have  forced  us  to  confers, 
that  we  find  ourselves  deceived. 

THE    COMMUNION    SERVICE. 

§  1,  Kyries.  Ans.  To  say,  "Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us," 
after  every  commandment  is  more  quick  and  active  than  to 
say  it  once  at  the  close ;  and  why  Christian  people  should 
not  upon  their  knees  ask  their  pardon  for  their  life  forfeited 
for  the  breach  of  every  commandment,  and  pray  for  grace  to 
keep  them  for  the  time  to  come,  they  must  be  more  than 
ignorant  that  can  scruple. 

Reply.  We  thank  you  for  saying  nothing  against  our  four 
first  requests;  though  we  are  thought  more  than  ignorant  for  our 
scruple,  we  can  truly  say,  we  are  willing  to  learn.  But  your 
bare  opinion  is  not  enough  to  cure  ignorance,  and  more.  By 
your  reason,  you  may  make  kneeling  the  gesture  for  hearing 
the  Scriptures  read,  and  hearing  sermons,  and  all.  If  you 
will  but  interweave  prayers,  he  must  be  more  than  ignorant 
that  will  not  kneel.  The  universal  church  of  Christ  was 
more  than  ignorant  for  many  hundred  years,  that  not  only 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  311 

neglectedj  but  prohibited  genuflexion  in  all  adoration  each 
Lord's  day ;  when  now,  the  xx  Exodus  or  v  Deut.  may 
not  be  heard  or  read  without  kneeling,  save  only  by  the 
clergy. 

§  2.  Homilies.  Ans.  Some  livings  are  so  small  that 
they  are  not  able  to  maintain  a  licensed  preacher ;  and  in 
such  and  the  like  cases  this  provision  is  necessary.  For 
can  any  reason  be  given,  why  the  minister's  reading  a 
homily,  set  forth  by  common  authority,  should  not  be 
accounted  preaching  of  the  Word,  as  well  as  his  reading 
(or  pronouncing  by  heart)  a  homily  or  sermon  of  his  own,  or 
any  other  man's. 

Reply.  When  the  Usurper  would  quickly  have  brought 
livings  to  that  competency,  as  would  have  maintained  able 
preachers,  we  may  not  question  whether  just  authority  will 
do  it.  Secondly.  When  abundance  of  able  ministers,  cast 
out,  would  be  glad  of  liberty  to  preach  for  nothing,  this  pre- 
tence hath  no  taste  or  sense  in  it.  Thirdly.  When  we  may 
not,  without  the  imputation  of  uncharitableness,  once  imagine 
that  your  lordships,  with  your  deans,  and  other  officers,  do  not 
value  the  saving  of  souls  above  money,  we  may  conclude  that 
you  will  voluntarily  allow  so  much  out  of  your  ample  revenues  as 
will  supply  such  places,  or  many  of  them ;  the  rather  because 
we  find  you  charging  them  as  desiring  inordinately  the 
honours  and  wealth  of  the  world,  that  would  have  had  all 
ministers  to  have  had  100/.  or  80/.  per  annum  a  piece; 
and  therefore  may  conclude  that  you  will  take  no  more,  if 
you  hate  that  sin  more  than  they  do  that  are  accused  of  it. 
But  the  next  part  of  your  answer  frighteth  us  more;  to 
which  we  say,  that  we  will  not  differ  with  you  for  the  name, 
whether  reading  homilies  may  be  called  preaching.  But  we 
take  the  boldness  to  say,  that  it  is  another  manner  of  preach- 
ing that  Christ  and  his  apostles  sent  men  to  perform,  and 
which  the  church  hath  gloried  in,  and  been  edified  by,  to  this 
day,  and  which  thousands  of  souls  have  been  brought  to 
heaven  by,  and  which  we  again  desire  may  be  enjoined,  and 
not  left  so  indifferent. 


313  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661 

§  3.  Sentences.  Ans.  The  sentences  tend  all  to  extort  the 
people  to  pious  liberality^  whether  the  object  be  the  minister^ 
or  the  poor^  and  though  some  of  the  sentences  be  apocryphal, 
they  may  be  useful  for  that  purpose.  Why  collection  for  the 
poor  should  be  made  at  another  time,  there  is  no  reason  given, 
only  change  desired. 

Reply.  1.  We  have  oft  told  you  why  the  Apocrypha  should 
be  cautiously  used  in  the  church.  That  usurper  that  should 
pretend  to  the  crown,  and  have  a  more  numerous  party  than 
the  king  (that  hath  the  undoubted  right),  will  be  looked  on 
more  suspiciously  than  ordinary  subjects.  2.  It  is  a  sordid 
thing  for  ministers  to  love  money ;  and  it  is  sordid,  imless  in 
extraordinary  necessities,  to  have  them  beg,  and  beg  for  them- 
selves, and  beg  under  pretence  of  serving  God,  even  in  times 
when  the  clergy  seem  advanced.  3.  We  confess  ourselves 
deceived  in  thinking  we  should  have  free,  personal  debates 
with  you,  which  made  us  reserve  many  of  our  reasons.  Our 
reasons  are,  1,  for  less  disturbance.  2.  Because  the  people's 
affections  are  much  more  raised  usually,  and  so  fitter  for 
returns,  when  they  have  received.  3.  Because  especially  it  is 
most  seasonable  to  do  the  acts  of  gratitude,  when  we  have 
received  the  obliging  benefits;  and  so  say,  "What  shall  I 
give  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits?^'  when  we  have  partaken 
of  them ;  and  to  ofi^er  ourselves  first,  and,  with  ourselves,  what 
he  giveth  us,  unto  him,  when  we  have  received  him,  and  his 
grace  offered  to  us. 

These  are  the  reasons  that  brought  us  under  your  censure 
of  desiring  a  change. 

§  4.  3  [rd]  Exhort.  Ans.  The  first  and  third  exhortations 
are  very  seasonable  before  the  communion,  to  put  men  in 
mind  how  they  ought  to  be  prepared,  and  in  what  danger 
they  are  to  come  unprepared ;  that  if  they  be  not  duly 
qualified,  they  may  depart,  and  be  better  prepared  another 
time. 

Reply.  But  is  it  not  more  seasonable,  that,  in  so  great 
business,  such  warning  go  a  considerable  time  before?  Is 
there  then  leisure  of  self-examination,  and  making  restitution, 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  313 

and  satisfaction^  and  going  to  the  minister  for  council  to 
quiet  his  conscience,  &c.,  in  order  to  the  present  sacrament  ? 
We  yet  desire  these  things  may  be  sooner  told  them. 

§  5.  Exc.  1.  Ans.  We  fear  this  may  discourage  many. 
Certainly  themselves  cannot  desire  that  men  should  come  to 
the  holy  communion  with  a  troubled  conscience,  and  there- 
fore have  no  reason  to  blame  the  church  for  saying,  it  is 
requisite  that  men  come  with  a  quiet  conscience,  and  pre- 
scribing means  for  quieting  thereof.  If  this  be  to  discourage 
men,  it  is  fit  they  should  be  discouraged  and  deterred,  and 
kept  from  the  communion,  till  they  have  done  all  that  is  here 
directed  by  the  church,  which  they  may  well  do,  considering 
that  this  exhortation  shall  be  read  in  the  church  the  Sunday 
or  holyday  before. 

Reply.  But  we  can  and  do  desire  that  many  that  have 
a  troubled  conscience,  and  cannot  otherwise  quiet  it,  should 
come  to  the  communion  for  remedy,  and  not  be  discouraged 
or  kept  away. 

§  6.  [Exc.  3.]  Minister's  turning.  Ans.  The  minister's 
turning  to  the  people  is  not  most  convenient  throughout  the 
whole  ministration.  When  he  speaks  to  them,  as  in  Lessons, 
Absolution,  and  Benedictions,  it  is  convenient  that  he  turn 
to  them.  When  he  speaks  for  them  to  God,  it  is  fit  that 
they  should  all  turn  another  way,  as  the  ancient  church  ever 
did  :  the  reasons  of  which  you  may  see,  Aug.  lib.  2,  de  Ser. 
Dom.  in  Monte. 

Reply.  It  is  not  yet  understood  by  us  why  the  ministers  or 
people  (for  which  you  mean  by  "  they  all "  we  know  not) 
should  turn  another  way  in  prayer :  for  we  think  the  people 
should  hear  the  prayers  of  the  minister,  if  not,  Latin  prayers 
may  serve ;  and  then  you  need  not  except  against  extemporate 
prayers,  because  the  people  cannot  own  them,  for  how  can 
most  of  them  own  what  they  hear  not,  whatever  it  be?  As 
for  Augustine's  reason  for  looking  towards  the  east  when  we 
pray,  Ut  admoneatvr  animus  ad  naturam  excellentiorem  se  con- 
vertere,  id  est,  ad  Dominum;  cum  ipsum  corpus  ejus,  quod 
est  terrenum,  ad  corpus  excellentius,  id  est,  ad  corpus  cosleste 


314  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

convertitur,  we  suppose  you  will  not  expect  that  we  should 
be  much  moved  by  it;  if  we  should,  why  should  not  we 
worship  towards  any  of  the  creatures  visible,  when  we  can 
pretend  such  reasons  for  it  as  minding  us  of  superior  things  ? 
And  why  should  we  not  look  southward  when  the  sun  is  in 
the  south? 

And  we  fear  the  worshipping  towards  the  sun,  as  represent- 
ing or  minding  us  of  Christ's  heavenly  body,  is  too  like 
to  the  prohibited  worshipping  before  an  image,  and  too  like 
that  worshipping  before  the  host  of  heaven,  in  which  the  old 
idolatry  consisted,  or  at  least  which  was  the  introduction  of 
it ;  of  which  our  Protestant  writers  treat  at  large  against  the 
papists,  on  the  point  of  image- worship.  See  also  Vossius  de 
Idolatria,  lib.  ii,  cap.  23,  &c. 

§  7.  Exc.  4.  Ans.  It  appears  by  the  greatest  evidences  of 
antiquity,  that  it  was  upon  the  25th  day  of  December.  S. 
Aug.  in  Psa.  cxxxii. 

Reply.  It  is  not  Aug.  alone  in  Psa.  cxxxii  that  must  tell 
us  which  way  the  greatest  evidences  of  antiquity  go ;  and  his 
reasoning  that  John  must  decrease,  and  Christ  must  increase, 
as  proved  by  John's  being  born  when  the  days  decrease,  and 
Christ's  being  born  when  the  days  increase,  doth  not  much 
invite  us  to  receive  his  testimony.  We  conceive  the  ancient 
opinion  of  Jerusalem,  and  other  eastern  churches  that  were 
nearest  to  the  place,  is  a  greater  argument  for  tlie  contrary 
than  you  have  here  given  us  for  what  you  thus  aflfirm.  We 
might  set  Epiphanius  against  Augustine,  and  call  the  Greek 
churches,  till  in  the  midst  of  Chrysostom's  time,  when  they 
changed  their  opinion.  And  in  our  time  the  judgment  of 
the  famous  chronologers,  Scaliger,  Berraldus,  Broughton, 
Calvisius,  Capellus,  Clopenburgius,  with  many  others,  are  not 
contemptible,  as  set  against  such  an  unproved  assertion 
as  this. 

§  8.  [Exc.  5.]  '^That  our  sinful  bodies,'^  &c.  Ans.  It 
can  no  more  be  said  those  words  do  give  greater  efficacy  to 
the  blood  than  to  the  body  of  Christ,  than  when  our  Lord 
saith,  "  This  is  my  blood  which  is  shed  for  you  and  for  many 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  315 

for  the  remission  of  sins/'  etc^  and  saith  not  so  explicitly  of 
the  body. 

Reply.  Sure  Christ  there  intimateth  no  such  distinction  as 
is  here  intimated  :  there  his  body  is  said  to  be  broken  for  us, 
and  not  only  for  our  bodies. 

§  9.  [Exc.  7.]  To  every  communicant  kneeling.  Ans.  It 
is  most  requisite  that  the  minister  deliver  the  bread  and  wine 
into  every  particular  communicant's  hand,  and  repeat  the 
words  in  the  singular  number;  for  so  much  as  it  is  the 
propriety  of  sacraments  to  make  particular  obsignation  to 
each  believer,  and  it  is  our  visible  profession  that,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  Christ  tasted  death  for  every  man. 

Reply.  1.  Did  not  Christ  know  the  propriety  of  sacraments 
better  than  we,  and  yet  he  delivered  it  in  the  plural  number 
to  all  at  once,  with  a  take  ye,  eat  ye,  drink  ye  all  of  it ;  we 
had  rather  study  to  be  obedient  to  our  Master,  than  to  be 
wiser  than  he.  2.  As  God  maketh  the  general  offer,  which 
giveth  to  no  man  a  personal  interest,  till  his  own  acceptance 
first  appropriate  it ;  so  it  is  fit  that  the  minister  that  is  God's 
agent  imitate  him,  when  his  example  and  the  reason  of  it  so  con- 
cur to  engage  us  to  it;  Clemens  Alexandr.  Stromat.,lib.i,Prope, 
in  it  giveth  a  reason,  as  we  understand  him,  for  the  contrary ; 
that  man  being  a  free  agent,  must  be  the  chooser  or  refuser 

for  himself, avrov  hi   sx,cx,sov  rov  Kuov  Xa^ziv  rrju  f/joT^av 

I'Tnar^iTZiv.  Quemadmodum  eucharistiam  cum  quidem,  ut 
mos  est  diviserint,  permittunt  unicuique  ex  populo  ejus  partem 
sumere :  and  after  rendereth  this  reason,  aaisri  ya,p  Trpog  tj^v 
ccK^i^yj  ul^i^fjiv  zai  (pvyyjv  ^  crvusih^aig:  ad  accurate  enim  per- 
fecteque  eligendum  ac  fugiendum,  optima  est  conscientia. 

And  that  thing  is  so  agreeable  to  your  own  doctrinal  prin- 
ciples, that  we  fear  you  disrelish  it,  because  it  comes  from  us. 

§  10.  Kneel  at  sacr.  [Exc.  8.]  Ans.  Concerning  kneeling 
at  the  sacrament  we  have  given  account  already ;  only  thus 
much  we  add,  that  we  conceive  it  an  error  to  say  that  the 
Scripture  affirms  the  apostles  to  have  received  not  kneeling. 
The  posture  of  the  paschal  supper  we  know ;  but  the  institu- 
tion of  the  holy  sacrament  was  after  supper ;  and  what  posture 


316  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

was  then  iised^  the  Scripture  is  silent.  The  rubric  at  the  end 
of  the  [first  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Edw.  VI,  3549,]  that 
leaves  kneeling,  crossing,  &c.,  indifferent,  is  meant  only  at 
such  times  as  they  are  not  prescribed  and  required.  But 
at  the  eucharist  kneeling  is  expressly  required  in  the  rubric 
following. 

Reply.  Doubtless,  when  Matthew  and  Mark  say  it  was  as 
they  did  eat,  to  which  before  it  is  said,  that  they  sat  down ; 
and  when  interpreters  generally  agree  upon  it,  this  would 
easily  have  satisfied  you,  if  you  had  been  as  willing  to  believe 
it,  as  to  believe  the  contrary.  Matt,  xxvi,  20,  21,  26  :  the  same 
phrase  is  used  verse  26,  as  in  verse  21,  where  it  she^eth,  they 
were  still  sitting.  For  the  sense  of  the  rubric  if  you  prove 
that  the  maker?  so  interpret  it,  we  shall  not  deny  it;  but 
the  reason  of  both  seems  the  same. 

§  11.  Com[munieate]  three  times  a  year.  [Exc.  9.]  Ans. 
This  desire  to  have  the  parishioners  at  liberty,  whether  they 
will  ever  receive  the  communion  or  not,  savours  of  too  much 
neglect  and  coldness  of  affection  towards  the  holy  sacrament. 
Itis  more  fitting  that  order  should  be  taken  to  bring  it  into  more 
frequent  use,  as  it  was  in  the  first  and  best  times.  Our  rubric 
is  directly  according  to  the  ancient  Council  of  Eliberis,  can.  81, 
(Gratian  de  Consecrat.)  No  man  is  to  be  accounted  a  good 
catholic  Christian  that  does  not  receive  three  times  in  the 
year.  The  distempers  which  indispose  men  to  it  must  be 
corrected,  not  the  receiving  of  the  sacrament  therefore 
omitted.  It  is  a  pitiful  pretence  to  say  they  are  not  fit,  and 
make  their  sin  their  excuse.  Formerly  our  church  was 
quarrelled  at  for  not  compelling  men  to  the  communion;  now 
for  urging  men.     How  should  she  please  ? 

Reply.  We  confess  it  is  desirable  that  all  our  distempers 
and  unfitnesses  should  be  healed ;  and  we  desire  with  you 
that  sacraments  may  be  oftener :  but  that  every  person  in  the 
parish  that  is  unfit,  be  forced  to  receive,  is  that  which  we 
cannot  concur  with  you  to  be  guilty  of.  Two  sorts  we  think 
unfit,  to  be  so  forced  at  least.  First,  abundance  of  people, 
grossly  ignorant  and   scandalous,  that  will    eat  and    drink 


1G61.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  317 

judgment  to  themselves,  not  discerning  the  Lord's  body. 
Secondly,  many  melancholy,  and  otherwise  troubled  doubting 
souls,  that  if  they  should  receive  the  sacrament  before  they 
find  themselves  more  fit,  would  be  in  danger  to  go  out  of  their 
wits,  with  fear,  lest  it  would  seal  them  to  destruction,  and  as 
the  liturgy  saith,  lest  the  devil  enter  into  them  as  into  Judas  : 
or  at  least  it  would  grievously  deject  them.  As  formerly,  so 
now,  there  is  great  reason  at  once  to  desire,  that  the  unpre- 
pared be  not  forced  to  the  sacrament,  ard  yet  that  so  great  a 
part  of  the  body  of  the  church  may  not  be  let  alone  in  your 
communion,  without  due  admonition  and  discipline,  that 
ordinarily  neglect  or  refuse  the  church's  communion  in  this 
sacrament :  those  that  are  so  profane  should  be  kept  away, 
but  withal  they  should  be  proceeded  with  by  discipline,  till 
they  repent,  or  are  cast  out  of  the  church. 

§  12.  Ans.  This  rubric  is  not  the  liturgy  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  nor  confirmed  by  law ;  nor  is  there  any  great  need  of 
restoring  it,  the  world  being  now  in  more  danger  of  profa- 
nation than  of  idolatry.  Besides,  the  sense  of  it  is  declared 
sufficiently  in  the  28th  Article  of  the  Church  of  England. 
The  time  appointed  we  conceive  sufficient. 

Reply.  Can  there  be  any  hurt  or  danger  in  the  people's 
being  taught  to  understand  the  church  aright  ?  Hath  not 
Bishop  Hall  taught  you  in  his  life  of  a  Romanist  beyond  sea, 
that  would  have  faced  him  down,  that  the  church  of  England 
is  for  transubstantiation,  because  of  our  kneeling,  p.  20  ?  And 
the  same  bishop  (greatly  differing  from  you)  saith  in  the  same 
book,  p.  294,  "  but  to  put  all  scruples  out  of  the  mind  of  any 
reader  concerning  this  point,  let  that  serve  for  the  upshot  of 
all,  which  is  expressly  set  down  in  the  fifth  rubric  in  the  end 
of  the  communion  set  forth,  as  the  judgment  of  the  church 
of  England,  both  in  King  Edward  and  Queen  Elizabeth's 
times  (note  that)  though  lately  upon  negligence  (note  upon 
negligence)  omitted  in  the  impression;"  and  so  recites  the 
words.  Where  you  say,  there  is  no  great  need,  &c.  We 
reply,  1.  Profaneness  may  be  opposed  nevertheless  for  our 
instructing  the  people  against  idolatry.     2.  The  abounding  of 


318  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

papists,  who  in  this  point  seem  to  ns  idolatrous,  sheweth  that 
there  is  danger  of  it.  3.  The  commonness  of  idolatry 
throughout  the  world,  and  the  ease  of  the  Israelites  of  old, 
shew  that  man's  nature  is  prone  to  it.  4.  Profaneness  and 
idolatry  befriend  each  other;  as  God  is  jealous  aganist 
idolatry,  so  should  all  faithful  pastors  of  the  church  be,  and 
not  refuse  such  a  caution  to  the  people  and  say,  there  is  no 
great  need  of  it. 

PUBLIC    BAPTISM. 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  "Until  they  have  made  due  profession 
of  repentance,"  &c.  Ans.  We  think  this  desire  to  be  very 
hard  and  uncharitable,  punishing  the  poor  infants  for  the 
parents'  sakes,  and  giving  also  too  great  and  arbitrary  a  power 
to  the  minister  to  judge  which  of  his  parishioners  he  pleaseth 
atheists,  infidels,  heretics,  &c.,  and  then  in  that  name  to 
reject  their  children  from  being  baptized.  Our  church 
concludes  more  charitably,  that  Christ  will  favourably  ac- 
cept every  infant  to  baptism,  that  is  presented  by  the 
church  according  to  our  present  order.  And  this  she  con- 
cludes out  of  holy  Scripture  (as  you  may  see  in  the  office  of 
baptism)  according  to  the  practice  and  doctrine  of  the  catholic 
church.  (Cypr.  Ep.  59,  August.  Ep.  28,  et  de  verb.  Apost. 
Serm.  14.) 

Reply.  We  perceive  you  will  stick  with  us  in  more  than 
ceremonies.  To  your  reasons  we  reply,  1.  By  that  reason,  all 
the  children  of  all  heathens  or  infidels  in  the  world  should  be 
admitted  to  baptism;  because  they  should  not  be  punished 
for  the  parents'  sakes.  2.  But  we  deny  that  it  is  (among 
Christians  that  believe  original  sin)  any  absurdity  to  say, 
that  children  are  punished  for  their  parents'  sakes.  3.  But 
yet  we  deny  this  to  be  any  such  punishment  at  all,  unless 
you  will  call  their  non-deliverance  a  punishment.  They  are 
the  children  of  wrath  by  nature,  and  have  original  sin.  The 
covenant  of  grace  that  giveth  the  saving  benefits  of  Christ,  is 
made  to  none  but  the  faithful,  and  their  seed.     Will  you  call 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  319 

this  a  punishing  them  for  their  fathers'  sakes,  that  God  hath 
extended  his  covenant  to  no  more  ?  Their  parents'  infidelity- 
doth  hut  leave  them  in  their  original  sin  and  misery,  and  is 
not  further  itself  imputed  to  them.  If  you  know  of  any 
covenant  or  promise  of  salvation  made  to  all  without  condi- 
tion, or  to  infants,  or  on  any  other  condition  or  qualification, 
but  that  they  be  the  seed  of  the  faithful  dedicated  to  God ; 
you  should  do  well  to  shew  it  us,  and  not  so  slightly  pass  over 
things  of  so  great  moment,  in  which  you  might  much  help 
the  world  out  of  darkness,  if  you  can  make  good  what  you 
intimate.  If  indeed  you  mean  as  you  seem  to  speak,  that  it 
is  uncharitableness  to  punish  any  infants  for  the  parent's 
faults,  and  that  a  non -liberation  is  such  a  punishment ;  then 
you  must  suppose  that  all  the  infants  of  heathens,  Jews,  and 
Turks  are  saved  (that  die  in  infancy,)  or  else  Christ  is 
uncharitable.  And  if  they  are  all  saved  without  baptism, 
then  baptism  is  of  no  such  use,  or  necessity,  as  you  seem 
to  think.  What  then  is  the  privilege  of  the  seed  of  the 
faithful,  that  they  are  holy,  and  that  the  covenant  is  made 
with  them,  and  God  will  be  their  God  ?  We  fear  you  will 
again  revive  the  opinion  of  the  Anabaptists  among  the  people, 
when  they  observe  that  you  have  no  more  to  say  for  the 
baptizing  of  the  children  of  the  faithful,  than  of  infidels, 
heathens,  and  atheists.  To  your  second  objection  we  answer, 
you  will  drive  many  a  faithful  labourer  from  the  work  of 
Christ,  if  he  may  not  be  in  the  ministry  unless  he  will  bap- 
tize the  children  of  heathens,  infidels,  and  excommunicate 
ones,  before  their  parents  do  repent.  And  the  first  question 
is  not,  who  shall  be  the  judge?  But,  whether  we  must  be  all 
thus  forced  ?  Is  not  the  question  as  great,  who  shall  be  the 
judge  of  the  unfitness  of  persons  for  the  Lord's  supper? 
And  yet,  there,  you  think  it  not  a  taking  too  much  upon  us 
to  keep  away  the  scandalous,  if  they  have  their  appeals 
to  you  ?  And  is  it  indeed  a  power  too  great  and  arbitrary 
to  have  di  judicium  discretionis  about  our  own  acts;  and  not 
to  be  forced  to  baptize  the  children  of  heathens  against  our 
consciences?      Who  judged  for  the  baptizers  in  the  primitive 


320  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

churchy  what  persons  they  should  baptize?  We  act  but  as 
engines  under  you^  not  as  men^  if  we  must  not  use  our 
reason;  and  we  are  more  miserable  than  brutes  or  men,  if 
we  must  be  forced  to  go  against  our  consciences,  unless  you 
will  save  us  harmless  before  God.  O  that  in  a  fair  debate 
you  would  prove  to  us  that  such  children  as  are  described  are 
to  be  baptized,  and  that  the  ministers  that  baptize  them, 
must  not  have  power  to  discern  whom  to  baptize.  But  who 
mean  you  by  the  churches,  that  must  present  every  infant 
that  Christ  may  accept  them  ?  Is  every  infant  first  in  the 
promise  of  pardon  ?  If  so,  shew  us  that  promise,  and  then 
sure  God  will  make  good  that  promise,  though  heathen 
parents  present  not  their  children  to  him,  as  your  grounds 
suppose;  if  not,  then  will  the  sign  save  those  that  are  not 
in  the  promise  ?  But  is  it  the  godfathers  that  are  the  church  ? 
Who  ever  called  them  so?  And  if  by  the  church  you  mean 
the  minister,  and  by  presenting,  you  mean  baptizing  them, 
then  any  heathen's  child  that  a  minister  can  catch  up  and 
baptize  shall  be  saved  :  which,  if  it  could  be  proved,  would 
persuade  us  to  go  hunt  for  children  in  Turkey,  Tartary, 
or  America,  and  secretly  baptize  them,  in  a  habit  that  should 
not  make  us  known.  But  there  is  more  of  fancy  than  charity 
in  this ;  and  Christ  never  invited  any  to  him  but  the  children 
of  the  promise  to  be  thus  presented  and  baptized. 

§  2.    [Exc.  2.]   The  time  appointed  we  conceive  sufficient. 

Reply.  We  conjecture  the  words  that  conclude  your  former 
subject  being  misplaced,  are  intended  as  your  answer  to 
this :  and  if  all  the  children  of  any  sort  in  the  world  that 
are  brought  to  us,  must  by  U5  be  baptized  without  dis- 
tinction, indeed  it  is  no  great  matter  what  time  we  have 
notice  of  it. 

§  3.  [Esc.  3.]  "And  the  godfathers,"  &c.  Ans.  It  is  an 
erroneous  doctrine,  and  the  ground  of  many  others,  and  of 
many  of  your  exceptions,  that  children  have  no  other  right  to 
baptism,  than  in  their  parents'  right.  The  church's  primitive 
practice  forbids  it  to  be  left  to  the  pleasure  of  parents,  whether  . 
there  shall  be  other  sureties  or  no.   (S.  Aug.  Ep.  23.)     It  is 


\ 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  331 

fit  we  should  observe  carefully  the  practice  of  venerable  anti- 
quity, as  they  desire.  Prop.  18. 

Reply.  It  seems  we  differ  in  doctrine,  though  we  subscribe  the 
same  articles.  We  earnestly  desire  you  distinctly  to  tell  us, 
what  is  the  infant's  title  to  baptism,  if  it  be  not  to  be  found 
in  the  parent  ?  Assign  it,  and  prove  it  when  you  have  done, 
as  well  as  we  prove  their  right,  as  they  are  the  seed  of 
believers,  dedicated  by  them  to  God,  and  then  we  promise  to 
consent.  It  is  strange  to  us  to  hear  so  much  of  the  churches' 
primitive  practice,  where  so  little  evidence  of  it  is  produced. 
Aug.,  Ep.  23,  talketh  not  of  primitive  practice :  ab  initio  non 
fuit  sic.  Was  it  so  in  the  apostles'  days  ?  And  afterwards 
you  prove  not  that  it  was  the  judgment  of  the  catholic 
church,  that  bare  sponsors  instead  of  parents.  Pro-parents, 
or  owners  of  the  children,  might  procure  to  the  children  of 
all  infidels,  a  title  to  baptism  and  its  benefits.  Such  suscep- 
tors  as  became  the  owners  or  adopters  of  the  children,  are  to 
be  distinguished  from  those  that  pro  forma  stand  by  for  an 
hour  during  the  baptizing  of  the  children,  and  ever  after 
leave  them  to  their  parents ;  who,  as  they  have  the 
natural  interest  in  them,  and  power  of  their  disposal,  and 
the  education  of  them,  so  are  fittest  to  covenant  in  their 
names. 

§  4.  [Exc.  4.]  Ans.  The  font  usually  stands,  as  it  did  in 
primitive  times,  at  or  near  the  church  door,  to  signify  that 
baptism  was  the  entrance  into  the  church  mystical ;  "  we  are 
all  baptized  into  one  body  "  (1  Cor.  xii,  13) ;  and  the  people 
may  hear  well  enough.  If  Jordan,  and  all  other  waters,  be 
not  so  far  sanctified  by  Christ  as  to  be  the  matter  of  baptism, 
what  authority  have  we  to  baptize  ?  And  sure  his  baptism 
was  dedicatio  baptismi. 

Reply.  Our  less  difference  of  the  font  and  flood  Jordan,  is 
almost  drowned  in  the  greater  before  going.  But  to  the  first 
we  say  that  we  conceive  the  usual  situation  for  the  people's 
hearing  is  to  be  preferred  before  your  ceremonious  position  of 
it.  And  to  the  second  we  say,  that  dedicatio  baptismi  is  an 
unfitting  phrase ;    and  yet^  if  it  were  not,  what  is  that  to  the 

Y 


322  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

sanctification  of  Jordan^  and  all  other  waters?  Did  Christ 
sanctify  all  corn  or  bread^  or  grapes  or  wine,  to  an  holy  use, 
when  he  administered  the  Lord's  supper?  Sanctifying  is 
separating  to  an  holy  use.  But  the  flood  Jordan,  and  all 
other  water,  is  not  separated  to  this  holy  use,  in  any  proper 
sense,  no  more  than  all  mankind  is  sanctified  to  the  priestly 
oflBce,  because  men  were  made  priests. 

§  5.  [Exc.  5.]  Ans.  It  hath  been  accounted  reasonable,  and 
allowed  by  the  best  laws,  that  guardians  should  covenant  and 
contract  for  their  minors  to  their  benefit.  By  the  same 
right,  the  church  hath  appointed  sureties  to  undertake  for 
children,  when  they  enter  into  covenant  with  God  by  bap- 
tism. And  this  general  practice  of  the  church  is  enough  to 
satisfy  those  that  doubt. 

R(2oIy.  1.  Who  made  those  sureties  guardians  of  the 
infants,  that  are  neither  parents  nor  pro-parents,  nor  owners 
of  them?  We  are  not  now  speaking  against  sponsors;  but 
you  know  that  the  very  original  of  those  sponsors  is  a  gieat 
controversy  :  and  whether  they  were  not  at  first  most  properly 
sponsors  for  the  parents  that  they  should  perform  that  part 
they  undertook,  because  many  parents  were  deserters,  and 
many  proved  negligent.  Sponsors  then  excluded  not  parents 
from  their  proper  undertakmg,  but  joined  with  them.  God- 
fathers are  not  the  infants'  guardians  with  us,  and  therefore 
have  not  power  thus  to  covenant  and  vow  in  their  name.  We 
intreat  you  to  take  heed  of  leaving  any  children,  indeed,  out 
of  the  mutual  covenant  that  are  baptized.  How  are  those  in 
the  covenant,  that  cannot  consent  themselves,  and  do  it  not  by 
any  that  truly  represent  them,  nor  have  any  authority  to  act 
as  in  their  names  ?  The  authority  of  parents  being  most  un- 
questionable (who  by  nature,  and  the  word  of  God,  have  the 
power  of  disposing  of  their  children,  and  consequently  of 
choosing  and  covenanting  for  them),  why  should  it  not  be 
preferred  ?  At  least  you  may  give  leave  to  those  parents  that 
desire  it,  to  be  the  dedicators  of  and  covenanters  for  their 
own  children,  and  not  force  others  on  them,  whether  they 
win  or  no.     2.   But  the  question  is  not  of  coveuauting,  but 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  323 

professing  present^  actual  belie^^r!g,  forsaking^  kc,  in  which 
though  we  believe  the  churches  sense  was  sound,  yet  we  desire 
that  all  things  that  may  render  it  liable  to  misunderstanding 
may  be  avoided. 

§  6.  [Exc.  6.]  "  Receive  remission  of  sins  by  spiritual  re- 
generation/^ Ans.  Most  proper,  for  baptism  is  our  spiritual 
regeneration,  St.  John  iii.  "  Unless  a  man  be  born  again 
of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  &c.  And  by  this  is  received  re- 
mission of  sins,  Acts  ii,  38.  "  Repent  and  be  baptized  every- 
one of  you,  for  the  remission  of  sins."  So  the  creed  :  "  One 
baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins." 

Reply.  Baptism,  as  an  outward  administration,  is  our 
visible  sacramental  regeneration :  baptism,  as  containing, 
with  the  sign,  the  thing  signified,  is  our  spiritual,  real  regene- 
ration. As  we  are  regenerated  before  baptism  (as  you  know 
adult  believers  are),  so  we  cannot  pray  to  receive  remission  of 
sins  by  that  same  regeneration  renewed.  As  we  are  regener- 
ated really  in  baptism,  that  regeneration  and  remission  are 
conjunct  benefits.  But  if  baptism  at  once  give  regeneration 
and  remission,  it  follows  not  that  it  gives  remission  by  re- 
generation :  but  as  regeneration  comprehendeth  the  whole 
change,  real  or  physical,  and  relative ;  so  we  acknowledge, 
that,  as  the  part  is  given  by  the  whole,  you  may  say  that  re- 
mission is  given  by  regeneration,  but  more  fitly  in  it  than  by 
it.  But  we  are  not  willing  to  make  more  ado  about  v/ords 
than  needs. 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  "We  cannot  in  faith  say  that  every  child 
that  is  baptized  is  regenerate,"  &c.  Ans.  Seeing  that 
God's  sacraments  have  their  effects,  where  the  receiver 
doth  not  ponere  obicem,  put  any  bar  against  them  (which 
children  cannot  do)  ;  we  may  say  in  faith  of  every  child 
that  is  baptized,  that  it  is  regenerated  by  God's  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  the  denial  of  it  tends  to  anabaptism,  and  the 
contempt  of  this  holy  sacrament,  as  nothing  worthy,  nor 
material,  whether  it  be  administered  to  children  or  no. 
Concerning  the  cross,  we  refer  to  om*  answer  to  the  same 
in  general. 

T  2 


324  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply.  All  God's  sacraments  attain  their  proper  end.  But 
whether  the  infants  of  infidels  be  the  due  subjects,  and 
whether  their  end  be  to  seal  up  grace  and  salvation  to  them 
that  have  no  promise  of  it,  or  whether  it  be  only  to  seal  the 
covenant  to  believers  and  their  seed,  are  questions  yet  unde- 
cided, wherein  we  must  intreat  you  not  to  expect  that  we 
should  implicitly  believe  you ;  and  it  is  as  easy  for  us  to 
tell  you,  that  you  are  promoting  anabaptism,  and  much 
more  easy  to  prove  it.  We  take  those  but  for  words  of 
course. 

PRIVATE    BAPTISM. 

"  We  desire  that  baptism  may  not  be  administered  in  a 
private  place."  Ans.  And  so  do  we,  where  it  may  be  brought 
into  the  public  congregation.  But  since  our  Lord  hath  said, 
St.  John  iii,  "Unless  one  be  born  of  water  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  we 
think  it  fit  that  they  should  be  baptized  in  private,  rather 
than  not  at  all.  It  is  appointed  now  to  be  done  by  the  lawful 
minister. 

Reply.  We  must  needs  suppose  you  are  disputing  with 
Protestants,  who  ordinarily  shew  the  Papists,  that  that  text, 
John  iii,  asserteth  no  absolute  necessity  of  baptism  to  salvation. 
But  we  believe  as  well  as  you,  that  it  is  the  regular  way  of 
solemn  initiation  into  the  covenant  and  church  of  Christ, 
which  none  that  indeed  are  the  children  of  the  promise  should 
neglect.  As  coronation  solemnizeth  his  entrance  upon  the 
kingdom,  that  had  before  the  title ;  and  as  marriage  solem- 
nizeth that  which  before  was  done  by  consent;  so  baptism 
solemnizeth  the  mutual  covenant,  which  before  had  a  mutual 
consent :  and  none  is  authorised  to  consent  for  infants  but 
those  that  by  nature,  and  God's  law,  have  the  power  of  dis- 
posing of  them,  and  whose  will  is  in  sensu  forensi,  the 
children's  will :  it  solemnly  investeth  us  in  what  we  had  an 
antecedent  right  to,  and  therefore  belongs  to  none  but  those 
that  have  that  right ;  and  this  we  are  ready  to  make  good  by 
any  fair  debate  that  you  wiU  allow  us. 


166].]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  325 

Ans.  Nor  is  anything  done  in  private,,  reiterated  in  public, 
but  the  solemn  reception  into  the  congregation,  with  the 
prayers  for  him,  and  the  public  declaration  before  the  congre- 
gation, of  the  infant,  now  made  by  the  godfathers,  that  the 
whole  congregation  may  testify  against  him,  if  he  does  not 
perform  it,  which  the  ancients  made  great  use  of. 

Reply.  Do  you  not  say  in  the  rubric  "  and  let  them  not 
doubt,  but  the  child  so  baptized  is  lawfully  and  sufficiently 
baptized,  and  ought  not  to  be  baptized  again/^  And  after,  "  I 
certify  you  that  in  this  case  all  is  well  done,  &c."  And  yet 
you  do  not  renew  all  the  baptismal  covenant,  renouncing  the 
flesh,  &c.,  and  engaging  into  the  Christian  belief;  and  that 
you  may  see  that  the  church  of  England  taketh  not  all  infants 
infallibly  to  be  regenerated  by  baptism  (unless  you  grant  that 
they  repent  to  the  substance  of  baptism)  the  baptismal  prayer 
is  here  used,  for  the  fore-baptized,  that  God  will  give  his 
Holy  Spirit  to  this  infant,  that  he  being  born  again,  and 
made  heir  of  everlasting  salvation,  &c.,  which  sheweth  that 
he  is  now  supposed  to  be  regenerandus,  non  regeneratus.  Do 
they  pray  for  his  regeneration,  whom  they  account  regenerate 
already  ?  You  must  either  confess  that  there  they  repeat 
much  of  the  substance  of  baptism,  and  take  the  child  as  not 
baptized,  or  else  that  they  take  the  baptized  child  to  be  not 
regenerate.  And  then  we  may  well  take  them  for  unregene- 
rate,  that  shew  no  signs  of  it,  at  years  of  discretion,  but  live 
a  carnal  and  ungodly  life,  though  they  can  say  the  Catechism, 
and  seek  confirmation. 

OF    THE    CATECHISM. 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  Ans.  2.  Though  divers  have  been  of  late 
baptized  without  godfathers,  yet  many  have  been  baptized  with 
them ;  and  those  may  answer  the  questions  as  they  are ;  the 
rest  must  answer  accordina,  to  truth.  But  there  is  no  reason 
to  alter  the  rule  of  the  Catechism  for  some  men's  irregu- 
larities. 

Reply.     If  you  will  have  a  Catechism  proper  to  those  that 


326  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

had  godfathers,  give  leave  to  others  to  use  one  that  will  teach 
them,  as  you  say,  to  answer  according  to  truth :  and  let  us, 
in  the  same,  have  that  liberty  of  leaving  out  the  doubtful 
opinion  of  godfathers  and  godmothers,  and  that  which  we 
think  too  childish  a  beginning, — "  what  is  your  name  ?  "  and 
let  us  use  one  that  speaks  more  of  the  necessary  doctrines  of 
salvation,  and  nothing  but  necessaries. 

§  2.  Ans.  2.  ["  Wherein  I  was  made  a  member  of  Christ," 
&c.  Exc.  2.]  We  conceive  this  expression  as  safe  as  that 
which  they  desire,  and  more  fully  expressing  the  efficacy  of 
the  sacrament,  according  to  St.  Paul,  the  26  and  27,  Gal  iii, 
•where  St.  Paul  proves  them  all  to  be  children  of  God,  because 
they  were  baptized,  and  in  their  baptism  had  put  on  Christ; 
"if  children,  then  heirs,"  or,  -irhich  is  all  one,  'inheritors,'' 
Rom.  viii,  17. 

Reply.  By  baptism  Paul  means  not  the  carcase  of  baptism, 
but  the  baptismal  dedication,  and  covenanting  with  God; 
they  that  do  this  by  themselves,  if  at  age,  or  by  parents  or 
pro-parents  authoriz:;d  (if  infants)  sincerely,  are  truly  mem- 
bers of  Cbrist  and  children  of  God,  and  heirs  of  heaven; 
they  that  do  this  but  hypocritically,  and  verbally,  as  Simon 
Magus  did,  are  visibly  such  as  the  others  are  really :  but 
really  ere  still  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  bond  of  iniquity, 
and  have  no  part  or  lot  in  this  business,  their  hearts  being 
not  right  in  the  sight  of  God.  This  is  that  truth  which  we 
are  ready  to  make  good. 

§  3.  Ten  com  [mandments]  [Exc.  3.]  Ans.  We  conceive 
the  present  translation  to  be  agreeable  to  many  ancient 
copies :  therefore  the  change  to  be  needless. 

Reply.  What  ancient  copy  hath  the  seventh  day  in  the 
end  of  the  fourth  commandment,  instead  of  the  sabbath  day  ? 
Did  King  James  cause  the  Bible  to  be  new  translated  to  so 
little  purpose?  W'e  must  bear  you  witness  that,  in  some 
cases,  you  are  not  given  to  change. 

§  4.  [Exc.  4.]  "  My  duty  towards  God,"  &c.  Ans.  It  is 
not  true  that  there  is  nothing  in  that  answer  which  refers  to 
the  fourth  commandment :  for  the  last  words  of  the  answer 


I 


1 


i 


1661.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  327 

do  orderly  rekte  to  tlie  last  commandment  of  tlie  first  table, 
whicli  is  the  fourth. 

Reply.  And  think  you,  indeed,  that  the  4th  commandment 
obligeth  you  no  more  to  one  day  in  seven,  than  equally  to 
all  the  days  of  your  life  ?  This  exposition  may  make  us  think 
that  some  are  more  serious,  than  else  we  could  have  imagined, 
in  praying  after  that  commandment.  Lord  have  mercy  upon 
us,  and  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law. 

§  5.  [Exc.  5.]  "Two  only  as  generally  necessary  to  sal- 
vation/' &c.  Ans.  These  words  are  a  reason  of  the  answer, 
that  there  are  two  only,  and  therefore  not  to  be  left  out. 

Bepit/.  The  words  seem  to  imply  by  distinction,  that  there 
may  be  others  not  so  necessary :  and  the  Lord's  supper  was 
not  by  the  ancients  taken  to  be  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  all. 

§  6.  [Exc.  6.]  "  We  desire  that  the  entering  of  infants,'' 
&c.  Ans.  The  effect  of  children's  baptism  depends  neither 
upon  their  own  present  actual  faith  and  repentance  (which 
the  Catechism  says  expressly  they  cannot  perform),  nor  upon 
the  faith  and  repentance  of  their  natural  parents  or  pro- 
parents,  or  of  their  godfathers  or  godmothers ;  but  upon  the 
ordinance  and  institution  ot  Christ.  But  it  is  requisite  that 
when  they  come  to  age  they  should  perform  these  conditions 
of  faith  and  repentance,  for  which  also  their  godfathers  and 
godmothers  charitably  undertook  on  their  behalf.  And  what 
they  do  for  the  infant  in  this  case,  the  infant  himself  is  tridy 
said  to  do,  as  in  the  courts  of  this  kingdom  daily  the  infant 
does  answer  by  his  guardian:  and  it  is  usual  for  to  do 
homage  by  proxy,  and  for  princes  to  marry  by  proxy.  For 
the  further  justification  of  this  answer,  see  St.  Aug.  Ep.  23. 
ad.  Bonifac.  Nihil  aliud  credere,  quamfidem  habere:  ac per 
hoc  cum  respondetur  parvulum  credere,  qui  fidei  nondum  habet 
efectum,  respondetur  fidem  habere  propter  fidei  sacramentum, 
et  convertere  se  ad  Deum  propter  conversionis  sacramentum. 
Quia  et  ipsa  responsio  ad  celebrationem  pertinet  sacramenti. 
Itaque  parvulum  etsi  nondum  fides  ilia,  qua  in  credentium 
voluntate  consistit,  tamen  ipsius  fidei  sacramentum,  fidelem 
facit. 


328  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply.  1.  You  remove  not  at  all  the  inconvenience  of 
the  words^  that  seem  to  import  what  you  yourselves  disclaim. 
2.  We  know  that  the  effects  of  baptism  do  depend  on  all  the 
necessary  con-causes^  on  God's  mercy,  or  Christ's  merits,  on 
the  institution,  and  on  baptism  itself  according  to  its  use,  as 
a  delivering  investing  sign  and  seal ;  and  they  depend  upon 
the  promise  sealed  by  baptism ;  and  the  promise  supposeth 
the  qualified  subject,  or  requisite  condition  in  him,  that  shall 
have  the  benefit  of  it.  To  tell  us  therefore  of  a  common 
cause,  on  which  the  effect  depends,  viz.,  the  institution  of 
baptism  itself,  when  we  are  inquiring  after  the  special  con- 
dition that  proveth  the  person  to  be  the  due  subject,  to  whom 
both  promise  and  baptism  doth  belong ;  this  is  but  to  seem 
to  make  an  answer.  Either  all  baptized  absolutely  are  justi- 
fied and  saved,  or  not.  If  yea,  then  Christianity  is  another 
kind  of  thing  than  Peter  or  Paul  understood,  that  thought  it 
was  not  the  washing  of  water,  but  the  answer  of  a  good  con- 
science to  God.  Then  let  us  catch  heathens  and  dip  them, 
and  save  them  in  despite  of  them.  But  if  any  condition  be 
requisite  (as  we  are  sure  there  is)  our  question  is,  what  it  is? 
and  you  tell  us  of  baptism  itself.  Did  ever  Augustine 
[teach  that  every  one  baptized]  jure,  vel  injuria,  was  to  be 
esteemed  a  believer  ?  We  grant  with  Austin,  that  infants  of 
believers,  propter  sacramentum  fidei,  are  visibly  and  pro- 
fessedly to  be  numbered  with  believers;  but  neither  Austin, 
nor  we,  will  ever  grant  you  that  this  is  true  of  all  that  you 
can  catch,  and  use  this  form  of  baptism  over.  The  seal  will 
not  save  them  that  have  no  part  in  the  promise. 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  Ans.  The  Catechism  is  not  intended  as  a 
whole  body  of  divinity,  but  as  a  comprehension  of  the  articles 
of  faith,  and  other  doctrines  most  necessary  to  salvation; 
and  being  short,  is  fittest  for  children  and  common  people, 
and,  as  it  was  thought,  sufficient  upon  mature  deliberation, 
and  so  is  by  us. 

Reply.  The  creed,  the  decalogue,  and  the  Lord's  prayer, 
contain  all  that  is  absolutely  necessary  to  salvation  at  least. 
If  you  intended  no  more,  what  need  you  make  a  Catechism  ? 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  329 

If  you  intend  more,  why  have  you  no  more?  But,  except  in 
the  very  words  of  the  creed,  the  essentials  of  Christianity  are 
left  out.  If  no  explication  be  necessary,  trouble  them  with 
no  more  than  the  text  of  the  creed,  &c.  If  explication  be 
necessary,  let  them  have  it ;  at  least  in  a  larger  Catechism, 
fitter  for  the  riper. 

CONFIRMATION. 

§  1.  Rub.  1.  [Exc.  1.]  Ans.  It  is  evident  that  the  mean- 
ing of  these  words  is,  that  children  baptized,  and  dying  before 
they  commit  actual  sin,  are  undoubtedly  saved,  though  they 
be  not  confirmed  :  wherein  we  see  not  what  danger  there 
can  be  of  misleading  the  vulgar  by  teaching  them  truth. 
But  there  may  be  danger  in  this  desire  of  having  these  words 
expunged,  as  if  they  were  false ;  for  St.  Austin  says  he  is  an 
infidel  that  denies  them  to  be  true.     Ep.  23,  ad  Bonifac. 

Reply.  What?  all  children  saved,  whether  they  be  children 
of  the  promise  or  no  ?  Or  can  you  shew  us  a  text  that  saith 
whoever  is  baptized  shall  be  saved  ?  The  Common  Prayer 
book  plainly  speaks  of  the  non-necessity  of  unction,  confir- 
mation, and  other  popish  ceremonies  and  sacraments,  and 
meaneth  that  ex  parte  ecclesia,  they  have  all  things  necessary 
to  salvation,  and  are  undoubtedly  saved,  supposing  them  the 
due  subjects,  and  that  nothing  be  wanting  ex  parte  sui ;  which 
certainly  is  not  the  case  of  such  as  are  not  children  of  the 
promise  and  covenant.  The  child  of  an  heathen  doth  not 
ponere  obicem  actually,  quo  minus  baptizetur,  and  yet  being 
baptized  is  not  saved,  on  your  own  reckoning  (as  we  under- 
stand you)  ;  therefore  the  parent  can  ponere  obicem,  and 
either  hinder  the  baptism,  or  efiect,  to  his  infant.  Austin 
speaks  not  there  of  all  children  whatever,  but  those  that  are 
offered  per  aliorum  splritualem  voluntatem,  by  the  parents 
usually,  or  by  those  that  own  them  after  the  parents  be  dead, 
or  they  [be]  exposed,  or  become  theirs.  He  speaks  also  of 
what  may  be  done,  et  de  eo  quod  fieri  non  posse  arbitratur. 
But  our  question  is,  what  is  done  ?    and  not,  what  God  can 


330  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

do.  Our  great  question  is,  what  children  they  be  that 
baptism  belongeth  to  ? 

§  2.  "  Rub.  after  the  Catechism."  [Ex.  2.]  "  We  con- 
ceive  that  it  is  not  a  sufficient  qualification/'  &c.  Ans.  "We 
conceive  that  this  qualification  is  required  rather  as  necessary 
than  as  sufficient;  and  therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  the  minister 
of  the  place  (can.  61)  to  prepare  children  in  the  best  manner 
to  be  presented  to  the  bishop  for  confirmation,  and  to  inform 
the  bishop  of  their  fitness ;  but  submitting  the  judgment  to 
the  bishop,  both  of  this,  and  other  qualifications,  and  not 
that  the  bishop  should  be  tied  to  the  minister's  consent. 
Compare  this  rubric  to  the  second  rubric  before  the  cate- 
chism, and  there  is  required  what  is  further  necessary  and 
sufficient. 

Reply.  1.  If  we  have  all  necessary  ordinarily,  we  have  that 
which  is  sufficient  ad  esse  :  there  is  more  ordinarily  necessary 
than  to  say  those  words.  2.  Do  you  owe  the  king  no  more 
obedience?  Already  do  you  contradict  his  Declaration,  which 
saith,  confirmation  shall  be  performed  by  the  information, 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  minister  of  the  place  !  But  if 
the  minister's  consent  shall  not  be  necessary,  take  all  the 
charge  upon  your  own  souls,  and  let  your  souls  be  answerable 
for  all. 

§  3.  [Exc.  3.]  "  They  see  no  need  of  godfathers."  Ans.  Here 
the  compilers  of  the  liturgy  did,  and  so  doth  the  church,  that 
there  may  be  a  witness  of  the  confirmation. 

Reioly.  It  is  like  to  be  your  own  work  as  you  will  use  it, 
and  we  cannot  hinder  you  from  doing  it  in  your  own  way. 
But  are  godfathers  no  more  than  witnesses  ?  &c. 

§  4.  [Exc.  4.]  "  This  supposeth  that  all  children,"  fee, 
Ans.  It  supposeth,  and  that  truly,  that  all  children  were 
at  their  baptism  regenerate  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  had  given  unto  them  the  forgiveness  of  all  their  sins : 
and  it  is  charitably  presumed  that,  notwithstanding  the 
frailties  and  slips  of  their  childhood,  they  have  riot  totally 
lost  what  was  in  baptism  conferred  upon  them ;  and  therefore 
adds,  "  Strengthen  them,  we  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  with  the 


1661.]  to  the  Ansioer  of  the  Bishops.  831 

Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter,  and  daily  increase  in  them  their 
manifold  gifts  of  grace/'  &c.  None  that  lives  in  open  sin 
ought  to  be  confirmed. 

Reply.  1.  Children,  baptized  without  right,  cannot  be 
presumed  to  be  really  regenerate  and  pardoned.  2.  We 
speak  only  of  those  that,  by  living  in  open  sin,  do  show  them- 
selves to  be  unjustified,  and  these  you  confess  should  not  be 
confirmed.  O  that  you  would  but  practise  that :  if  not,  this 
confession  will  witness  against  you, 

§  5.  [Exc.  5.]  "  Hubric  before  the  imposition  of  hands." 
Ans.  Confirmation  is  reserved  to  the  bishop  in  honorem 
ordinis,  to  bless  being  an  act  of  authority.  So  it  was  of 
old :  St,  Hierom,  Dial.  adv.  Lucifer,  says  it  was  totius 
orbis  consensio  in  hunc  partem :  and  St.  Cyprian  to  the 
same  purpose,  Ep.  7  3 ;  and  our  church  doth  everywhere 
profess,  as  she  ought,  to  conforni  to  the  catholic  usages 
of  the  primitive  times,  from  which  cai;selessly  to  depart, 
argues  rather  love  of  contention  than  of  peace.  The  re- 
serving of  confirmation  to  the  bishop  doth  argue  the  dignity 
of  the  bishop  above  presbyters,  who  are  not  allowed  to  con- 
firm, but  does  not  argue  any  excellency  in  confirmation  above 
the  sacraments.  St.  Hierom  argues  the  quite  contrary 
(ad  Lucif.  c.  4.)  : — That  because  baptism  was  allowed  to 
be  performed  by  a  deacon,  but  confirmation  only  by  a  bishop, 
therefore  baptism  was  most  necessary,  and  of  the  greatest 
value  :  the  mercy  of  God  allowing  the  most  necessary  means 
of  salvation  to  be  administered  by  inferior  orders,  and  res- 
training the  less  necessary  to  the  higher,  for  the  honour  of 
their  order. 

Reply.  O  that  we  had  the  primitive  episcopacy,  and  that 
bishops  had  no  more  churches  to  oversee  than  in  the  primitive 
times  they  had ;  and  then  we  would  never  speak  against  this 
reservation  of  confirmation  to  the  honour  of  the  bishop. 
But  when  that  bishop  of  one  church  is  turned  into  that 
bishop  of  many  hundred  churches;  and  when  he  is  now  a 
bishop  of  the  lowest  rank,  that  was  an  archbishop,  when 
archbishops  first  came  up,  and  so  we  have  not  really  existent 


333  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

any  mere  bishops  (such  as  tlie  ancients  knew)  at  all,  but  only- 
archbishops  and  their  curates,  marvel  not,  if  we  would  not 
have  confirmation  proper  to  archbishops,  nor  one  man 
undertake  more  than  a  hundred  can  perform !  But  if 
you  will  do  it,  there  is  no  remedy.  We  have  to  acquit 
ourselves. 

§  6.  [Exc,  6.]  Ans.  Prayer  after  the  imposition  of  hands 
is  grounded  upon  the  practice  of  the  apostles  (Heb.  vi,  2 ;  and 
Acts  viii,  17;)  nor  doth  25th  article  say  that  confirmation  is 
a  corrupt  imitation  of  the  apostles'  practice,  but  that  the  five 
commonly  called  sacraments  have  ground  partly  of  the  corrupt 
following  the  apostles,  &c.,  which  may  be  applied  to  some  other 
of  these  five,  but  cannot  be  applied  to  confirmation,  unless 
we  make  the  church  speak  contradictions. 

Rejyit/.  But  the  question  is  not  of  imposition  of  hands  in 
general,  but  this  imposition  in  particular;  and  you  have 
never  proved,  that  this  sort  of  imposition,  called  confirma- 
tion, is  mentioned  in  those  texts  :  and  the  25th  article  cannot 
more  probably  be  thought  to  speak  of  any  one  of  the  five  as 
proceeding  from  the  corrupt  imitation  of  the  apostles,  than  of 
confirmation  as  a  supposed  sacrament. 

§  7.  [Exc.  7.]  Ans.  We  know  no  harm  in  speaking  the 
language  of  holy  Scripture  (Acts  viii,  15,)  "they  laid  their  hands 
upon  them,  and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  though 
imposition  of  hands  be  not  a  sacrament,  yet  it  is  a  very  fit 
sign,  to  certify  the  persons  what  is  then  done  for  them,  as 
the  prayer  speaks. 

Rejyly.  It  is  fit  to  speak  the  Scripture  language  in  Scrip- 
ture sense  ;  but  if  those  that  have  no  such  power  to  give  the 
Holy  Ghost  will  say,  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  were  better 
for  them  to  abuse  other  language  than  Scripture  language. 

§  8.  [Last  rubric]  after  confirmation.  [Exc.  8.]  Ans.  There 
is  no  inconvenience  that  confirmation  should  be  required 
before  the  communion,  when  it  may  be  ordinarily  obtained. 
That  which  you  here  fault,  you  elsewhere  desire. 

Reply.  We  desire  that  the  credible  approved  profession  of 
faith,  and  repentance,  be  made  necessaries :  but  not  that  all 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  333 

the  thousands  in  England  that  never  yet  came  under  the 
bishops'  hands  (as  not  one  of  many  ever  did,  even  when  they 
were  at  the  highest)  may  be  kept  from  the  Lord's  supper : 
for  some  cannot  have  that  imposition,  and  others  will  not, 
that  vet  are  fit  for  communion  with  the  church. 


[solemnization  of  matrimony.] 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  Ans.  The  ring  is  a  significant  sign,  only  of 
human  institution,  and  was  always  given  as  a  pledge  of  fidelity 
and  constant  love :  and  here  is  no  reason  given  why  it  should 
be  taken  away ;  nor  are  the  reasons  mentioned  in  the  Roman 
ritualists  given  in  om^  Common  Prayer  book. 

Reply.  We  crave  not  your  own  forbearance  of  the  ring; 
but  the  indifferency  in  our  use  of  a  thing  so  mis-used,  and 
unnecessary. 

§  2.  Exc.  3.  Ans.  These  words,  "in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,-"^  if  they  seem  to  make 
matrimony  a  sacrament,  may  as  well  make  all  sacred,  yea 
civil  actions  of  weight  to  be  sacraments,  they  being  usual  at 
the  beginning  and  ending  of  all  such.  It  was  never  heard 
before  now  that  those  words  make  a  sacrament. 

Reply.  Is  there  no  force  in  an  argument  drawn  from  the 
appearance  of  evil,  the  offence  and  the  danger  of  abuses, 
when  other  words  enow  may  serve  turn  ? 

§  3.  [Exc.  5.]  Ans.  They  go  to  the  Lord's  table  because 
the  communion  is  to  follow. 

Reply.  They  must  go  to  the  table,  whether  there  be  a  com- 
munion or  not. 

§  4.  Col.  [Exc.  6.]  "  Consecrated  the  estate  of  matrimony 
to  such  an  excellent  mystery,"  &c.  Ans.  Though  the  institu- 
tion of  marriage  was  before  the  fall,  yet  it  may  be  now,  and 
is,  consecrated  by  God  to  such  an  excellent  mystery  as  the 
representation  of  the  spiritual  marriage  between  Christ  and 
his  church,  Eph.  v,  23.  We  are  sorry  that  the  words  of 
Scripture  will  not  please.  The  church,  in  the  25th  article, 
hath  taken  away  the  fear  of  making  it  a  sacrament. 


834  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

Reply,  When  was  marriage  thus  consecrated?  If  all 
things,  used  to  set  forth  Christ^s  oflices,  or  benefits,  by  way  of 
similitude,  be  consecrated ;  then  a  judge,  a  father,  a  friend,  a 
vine,  a  door,  a  way,  &c.,  are  all  consecrated  things  :  Scripture 
phrase  pleaseth  us,  in  Scripture  sense. 

§  5.  Rub.  [Exc.  7.]  "The  new  married  persons  the  same 
day  of  their  marriage  must  receive  the  holy  communion.^'  Ans. 
This  inforces  none  to  forbear  marriage,  but  presumes  (as  well 
it  may)  that  all  persons  marriageable  ought  to  be  also  fit  to 
receive  the  holy  sacrament ;  and  marriage  being  so  solemn 
a  covenant  of  God,  they  that  undertake  it  in  the  fear  of  God 
will  not  stick  to  seal  it  by  receiving  the  holy  communion,  and 
accordingly  prepai-e  themselves  for  it.  It  were  more  Christian 
to  desire  that  those  licentious  festivities  might  be  suppressed^ 
and  the  communion  more  generally  used  by  those  that  marry: 
the  happiness  would  be  greater  than  can  easily  be  expressed. 
Unde  svfficiamus  ad  enarrandam  felicitatem  ejus  matrimonii, 
quod  eccltsia  conciliat,  et  conjirmat  oblatio.  Tertull.  lib.  2, 
ad  Uxorem. 

Reply.  Indeed  !  will  you  phrase  and  modify  your  adminis- 
trations upon  such  a  supposition,  that  all  men  are  such  as 
they  ought  to  be,  and  do  what  they  ought  to  do  ?  Then  take 
all  the  world  for  saints,  and  use  them  accordingly,  and  blot 
out  the  doctrine  of  reproof,  excommunication,  and  damnation 
from  your  Bibles  !  Is  it  not  most  certain  that  very  many 
married  persons  are  unfit  for  the  Lord's  supper,  and  will  be 
when  you  and  we  have  done  our  best  ?  And  is  it  fit  then  to 
compel  them  to  it?  But  the  more  unexpected  the  more  wel- 
come is  your  motion,  of  that  more  Christian  course  of  sup- 
pressing of  licentious  festivities.  When  shall  we  see  such 
reformation  undertaken  ? 


VISITATION    OF    THE    SICK. 

§  1.  [Exc.  1.]  "Forasmuch  as  the  condition,^'  &c.  Ans. 
All  which  is  here  desired  is  already  presumed,  namely,  that 
the  minister  shall  apply  himself  to  the  particular  condition  of 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  335 

the  person;  but  this  must  be  done  according  to  the  rule  of 
prudence  and  justice,  and  not  according  to  his  pleasure. 
Therefore,  if  the  sick  person  shew  himself  truly  penitent,  it 
ought  not  to  be  left  to  the  minister's  pleasure  to  deny  him 
absolution,  if  he  desire  it.  Our  church's  direction  is  accord- 
ing to  tl:e  13th  canon  of  the  venerable  council  of  Nicsea,  both 
here  and  in  the  next  that  follows. 

Reply.  But  the  question  is,  whether  he  shew  himself  truly 
penitent  or  not.  If  we  have  not,  here  neither,  a  judgment  of 
discretion  for  the  conduct  of  our  own  actions,  what  do  we 
y.  ith  reason  ?  Why  are  we  trusted  in  the  oiSce,  and  whose 
judgment  must  we  follow?  The  bishop  cannot  have  leisure 
to  become  the  judge  whether  this  man  be  penitent.  It  must, 
then,  be  the  minister  or  the  man  himself.  And  must  we 
absolve  every  man  that  saith  he  rep-^nteth  ?  Then  we  must 
believe  an  incredible  profession,  which  is  against  reason. 
Some  are  known  infidels,  and  in  their  health  profess  that 
they  believe  not  the  Scripture  to  be  true,  and  make  a  mock 
at  Jesus  Christ ;  and  perhaps,  in  a  sickness  that  they  appre- 
hend no  danger  in,  will  send  for  the  minister  in  scorn,  to  say 
I  repent,  and  force  him  to  absolve  them,  that  they  may  deride 
him  and  the  gospel.  Some  of  us  have  known,  too,  many  of 
those  that  have  for  twenty  or  thirty  years  been  common 
drunkards,  seldom  sober  a  week  together,  and  still  say,  when 
they  came  to  themselves,  that  they  were  sorry  for  it,  and  did 
unfeignedly  repent ;  and  as  they  said  in  health,  so  they  said 
in  sickness,  dying  within  a  few  days  or  weeks  after  they  were 
last  drunk.  Must  we  absolve  all  these?  Some  die  with  a 
manifest  hatred  of  an  holy  life,  reviling  at  those  that  are 
careful  to  please  God;  yet  saying  they  hate  them  not  as 
holy,  but  because  they  are  all  hypocrites,  or  the  like  :  and 
yet  will  they  say  they  repent  of  their  sins.  Some  forbear 
not  their  accustomed  swearing  and  cursing  while  they  profess 
repentance.  Some  make  no  restitution  for  the  wrong  which 
they  say  they  repent  of.  And  must  we  take  all  these  for 
truly  penitent  ?  If  not,  the  minister  must  judge.  What 
you  mean  by  your  saying,  "  Our  church's  direction  is  accord- 


336  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

ing  to  the  13th  canon  of  the  venerable  council  of  Nicsea^  both 
here  and  in  tlie  next  that  follows/'  we  know  not :  the  second 
council  of  Nicsea  you  cannot  mean  (its  canon  being  uncertain), 
and  the  13th  is  of  no  such  sense.  And  the  13th  can.  of  the 
first  council  of  Nicsea,,  is  only  that  lapsed  catechumens  shall  be 
three  years  inter  and  ientes  before  they  pray  again  with  the 
catechumens.  This  shews  they  then  took  not  up  with  every 
word  of  seeming  penitence  as  true  repentance ;  but  what  it  is 
to  your  purpose  we  know  not^  nor  is  there  any  other  canon  in 
that  council  for  you.  The  11th  canon  is  sufficiently  against 
you.  The  lapsed,  that  truly  repented,  were  to  remain  among 
the  penitent  for  three  years,  and  seven  years  more  if  they  were 
fideles,  &c.  Ab  omnibus  vero  illud  prcecipue  observetur,  ut 
animus  eorum,  et  fructus  pcenitentice  attendatur  :  quicunque 
enim  cum  omni  timore,  et  lacrimis  per  sever  antibus,  et  operibus 
bonis,  conversationem  suani,  nan  verbis  solis  sed  opere  et  veri- 
tate  demonstrant,  cum  tempus  statutum  etiam  ab  his  fuerit  im- 
pletum,  et  orationibus  jam  caperint  communicare,  licebit  etiam 
episcopo  humanius  circa  res  aliquot  cogitare.  We  know  this 
rigor  as  to  time  was  unjust,  and  that  to  the  dying  it  was 
abated  :  but  you  see  here  that  bare  words  (that  were  not  by 
seriousness  and  by  deeds  made  credible)  were  not  to  be  taken 
as  sufficient  marks  of  penitence,  of  which  it  was  not  the 
person  himself  that  was  to  be  the  judge. 

§  2.  Exc.  2.  Ans.  The  form  of  absolution  in  the  liturgy  is 
more  agreeable  to  the  Scriptures  than  that  which  they  desire, 
it  being  said  in  St.  John  xx,  "  Whose  sins  you  remit,  they  are 
remitted,"  not  whose  sins  you  pronounce  remitted  ;  and  the 
condition  needs  not  to  be  expressed,  being  always  necessarily 
understood. 

Reply.  It  is  a  controversy  among  the  learnedest  expositors, 
how  much  that  of  John  xx  was  proper  to  the  apostles,  and 
such  others  as  were  then  to  have  the  spirit  in  an  extraordinary 
manner,  who  did  remit  sin  effectively  by  remitting  the 
punishment  of  it,  by  casting  out  devils,  healing  the  sick,  &c., 
according  to  that  of  James  v,  14,  15.  "  Is  any  sick  among 
you,  let  him  call  for  the  elders  of  the  church,  and  let  them 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  337 

pray  for  him,  and  anoint  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord ;  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick,  and  the 
Lord  shall  raise  him  up;  and  if  he  have  committed  sins, 
they  shall  be  forgiven  him."  If,  besides  this  remitting  them 
effectually,  the  rest  be  no  other  than  a  ministerial  pronouncing 
them  forgiven  by  God  according  to  his  covenant  in  the  gospel, 
then  you  cannot  plead  the  phrase  of  a  text,  which  respecteth 
another  way  of  remission  than  we  pretend  to;  but  must 
phrase  it  according  to  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  sense 
of  other  Scriptures  also  that  fullier  open  it.  There  are  three 
ways  of  pardoning.  1.  By  grant  or  gift,  whether  by  a 
general  act  of  pardon  or  a  particular.  2.  By  sentence. 
3.  By  execution,  that  is,  preventing  or  taking  off  the  penalty. 
The  first  of  these  is  done  already  by  God  in  the  gospel.  The 
second  God  doth  principally,  and  his  ministers  instrumentally 
as  his  messengers.  The  third  (the  taking  off  the  penalty) 
they  can  do  no  otherwise,  in  the  case  before  us,  than  by 
praying  that  God  will  take  it  off,  and  using  his  ordinary 
means.  So  that  it  is  most  evident  that  this  absolution,  that 
ministers  are  to  perform,  can  be  no  other  than  to  pronounce 
the  penitent  believer  to  be  absolved  by  God,  according  to  his 
covenant.  And  if  there  be  no  other,  should  we  not  speak  as 
intelligibly  as  we  can  ?  Indeed  there  is  more  in  absolving  the 
excommunicate;  for  then  the  church,  both  judiciously  and 
executively,  remitteth  the  penalty  of  excommunication  (to 
which  also  the  text,  John  xx,  may  have  much  respect),  but 
the  penalty  of  damnation  can  be  no  otherwise  remitted  by  us, 
than  as  is  expressed.  And  indeed  the  thing  is  of  such  ex- 
ceeding weight,  that  it  behoveth  us  to  deal  as  intelligibly  and 
openly  in  it  as  we  can.  And  therefore  we  admire  that  you 
should  say  "  the  condition  needs  not  be  expressed,  being 
always  necessarily  understood.^'  By  necessarily  do  you  mean 
necessitate  naturali  et  irresistibili,  so  that  all  the  wicked  men 
in  the  world  cannot  choose  but  understand  us  to  speak  con- 
ditionally ?  Surely  this  is  none  of  your  meaning ;  if  it  were, 
it  were  far  from  truth.  Or  do  you  mean  not  de  necessitate 
vel  actitudine  eventus,  but    de   debito    ex   obllgatione  ?     No 

z 


338  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

doubt  but  it  is  necessary  as  a  duty,  and  also,  adfinem,  as  a 
means ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  we  desire  it  may  be  expressed. 
And  doubtless  you  think  not  that  all  men  do  their  duties,  and 
understand  all  that  they  ought  to  understand — no,  not  in  this 
particular.  If  you  mean  that  all  sick  men  may  be  rationally 
supposed  to  understand  it ;  this  can  never  be  believed  by  us 
that  are  acquainted  personally  (and  have  been)  with  so  many 
of  whom  it  is  not  true.  How  many  think  the  minister's 
absolution,  and  the  sacrament,  will  serve  turn  with  their 
unsound,  hypocritical  repentance !  How  easily  is  that 
understood  absolutely,  or  as  bad,  while  they  take  you  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  they  have  the  condition  which  is  absolutely 
expressed. 

COMMUNION    OF    THE    SICK. 

Ans.  It  is  not  fit  the  minister  should  have  power  to  deny 
this  viation,  or  holy  communion,  to  any  that  humbly  desire  it 
according  to  the  rubric ;  which  no  man  disturbed  in  his  wits 
can  do,  and  whosoever  does  must  in  charity  be  presumed  to 
be  penitent,  and  fit  to  receive. 

Reply.  There  is  no  condition  mentioned  in  the  rubric,  but 
that  he  be  desirous  to  receive  the  communion  in  his  house : 
"  humbly  "  is  not  there.  And  why  may  not  a  man  disturbed  in 
his  wits  desire  the  communion?  You  deny  things  that  ordi- 
narily fall  out,  and  yet  lay  the  w^ght  of  your  cause  on  that 
denial.  But  why  must  we  give  the  sacrament  to  those  that 
have  lived  in  gross  ignorance,  infidelity,  and  profaneness,  and 
never  manifested,  credibly,  that  they  repent?  You  say  that 
whosoever  desireth  the  sacrament,  according  to  the  rubric, 
must  in  charity  be  presumed  to  be  penitent.  But  where 
hath  God  commanded  or  approved  so  blind  and  dangerous  an 
act  as  this,  under  the  name  of  charity  ?  The  ordinary  observa- 
tion of  our  lives,  is  not  to  be  confuted  by  men's  assertions : 
we  know  by  sad  experience,  that  there  is  abundance  of  the 
worst  of  men  among  us,  that  are  desirous  to  receive  the 
sacrament  when  they  are  sick,  that  give  no  credible  evidence 
of  true  repentance;  but  some  in  the  ignorance,  and  deceit  of 
their  hearts;    and  some   as  conscious  of  their  impiety,  for 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  339 

which  they  seek  any  shifting  remedy  to  quiet  their  con- 
sciences, for  the  timCj  are  much  more  eager  for  this  sacra- 
ment in  their  sickness,  than  many  better  and  more  penitent 
persons.  And  must  we  judge  all  these  penitent,  and  give 
them  the  sacrament  as  such  ?  We  must  needs  profess  that 
we  think  this  course  would  not  be  the  least  effectual  service 
unto  Satan,  to  deceive  poor  sinners,  and  keep  them  from 
knowing  their  misery,  and  seeking  aright  after  the  true 
remedy  in  time.  Pardon  us,  while  we  lay  together  the  parts 
of  your  doctrine,  as  we  understand  it  here  delivered;  and 
leave  it  to  your  consideration,  what  a  church,  and  what  a 
ministry  it  would  make.  1.  All  infants  of  any  parents  in 
the  world  that  we  can  baptize,  are  undoubtedly  regenerate, 
and  in  a  state  of  life,  and  shall  be  saved,  if  they  so  die.  2. 
The  Holy  Ghost,  and  forgiveness  of  sin,  being  then  given 
them,  it  is  charitably  presumed  that  they  have  not  totally 
lost  this,  notwithstanding  the  frailties  and  slips  of  their  child- 
hood ;  and  so  when  they  can  say  the  Catechism,  they  are  to 
be  confirmed.  3.  Being  confirmed,  they  are  to  be  admitted 
to  the  Lord's  supper.  4.  All  that  marry,  and  others,  thrice 
a  year  must  receive  the  Lord's  supper,  though  unfit,  5. 
The  minister  must  absolve  all  the  sick  that  say  they  repent 
(if  we  understand  you) :  for  we  suppose  you  allow  not  the 
minister  to  be  judge.  6.  This  absolution  must  be  absolutely 
expressed — I  absolve  thee  from  all  thy  sins — without  the  con- 
dition— if  thou  repent  and  believe.  7.  Whosoever  desireth 
the  communion  in  his  sickness,  must  in  charity  be  presumed 
to  be  penitent,  and  fit  to  receive.  8.  The  minister  must  not 
have  power  to  forbear  such  baptizing,  absolving,  or  delivering 
the  communion  as  aforesaid.  We  now  omit  what  is  said  of 
the  dead  at  burial.  And  if  this  be  not  the  ready  way  to 
hinder  thousands  from  the  necessary  knowledge  of  their  un- 
renewed hearts  and  lives,  and  from  true  repentance,  and  from 
valuing  Christ  as  the  remedy,  and  from  making  a  necessary 
preparation  for  death;  and  also  the  way  to  lay  by  abundance 
of  faithful  and  conscionable  ministers,  that  dare  not  take 
such  a  deceiving  dangerous  course ;  we  must  confess  ourselves 

z  2 


340  Bejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [1661. 

much  mistaken  in  the  nature  of  man's  corruption,  and  misery, 
and  the  use  of  God's  ordinances  for  his  recovery. 


THE    BUKIAL    OF    THE    DEAD. 

§  1.  Rub.  1.  [Exc.  2.]  Ans.  It  is  not  fit  so  much  should 
be  left  to  the  discretion  of  every  minister;  and  the  desire 
that  all  may  be  said  in  the  church,  being  not  pretended  to  be 
for  the  ease  of  tender  consciences,  but  of  tender  heads,  may 
be  helped  by  a  cap  better  than  a  rubric. 

Re^ily.  We  marvel  that  you  say  nothing  at  all  to  our  desire 
that  it  be  expressed  in  a  rubric,  that  prayers  and  exhortations 
there  used,  be  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  dead,  but  only  for  the 
instruction  and  comfort  of  the  living.  You  intend  to  have 
a  very  indiscreet  ministry,  if  such  a  needless  circumstance 
may  not  be  left  to  their  discretion.  The  contrivance  of  a  cap 
instead  of  a  rubric  sheweth  that  you  are  all  unacquainted 
with  the  subject  of  which  you  speak  :  and  if  you  speak  for 
■want  of  experience  of  the  case  of  souls,  as  you  now  do  about 
the  case  of  men's  bodies,  we  could  wish  you  some  of  our  ex- 
perience of  one  sort  (by  more  converse  with  all  the  members 
of  the  flock)  though  not  of  the  other.  But  we  would  here 
put  these  three  or  four  questions  to  you. 

1.  AVhether  such  of  ourselves  as  cannot  stand  still,  in  the 
cold  winter,  at  the  grave,  half  so  long  as  the  ofiice  of  burial 
requireth,  without  the  certain  hazard  of  our  lives,  (though 
while  we  ai'e  in  motion,  we  can  stay  out  longer,)  are  bound  to 
believe  your  lordships,  that  a  cap  will  cure  this  better  than  a 
rubric,  though  we  have  proved  the  contrary  to  our  cost,  and 
know  it  as  well  as  we  know  that  cold  is  cold  ?  Do  you  think 
no  place  but  that  which  a  cap  or  clothes  do  cover,  is  capable 
of  letting  in  the  excessively  refrigerating  air  ? 

2.  Whether  a  man  that  hath  the  most  rational  probability, 
if  not  a  moral  certainty,  that  it  would  be  his  death,  or 
dangerous  sickness  (though  he  wore  twenty  caps),  is  bound 
to  obey  you  in  this  case? 

3.  Whether  usually  the  most  studious  laborious  ministers. 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishops.  341 

be  not  the  most  invaletudinary  and  infirm  ?     And^ 

4.  Whether  the  health  of  such  should  be  made  the  jest  of, 
by  the  more  healthful ;  and  be  made  so  light  of,  as  to  l3c  cast 
away,  rather  than  a  ceremony  sometime  be  left  to  their  dis- 
cretion ?  And  whether  it  be  a  sign  of  the  right  and  genuine 
spirit  of  religion,  to  subject  to  such  a  ceremony,  both  the 
life  of  godliness,  and  the  lives  of  ministers,  and  the  people's 
souls  ?  Much  of  this  concerneth  the  people  also  :  as  well  as 
the  ministers. 

§  2.  [Exc.  5.]  Arts.  We  see  not  why  these  words  may  not 
be  said  of  any  person  whom  we  dare  not  say  is  damned,  and 
it  were  a  breach  of  charity  to  say  so  even  of  those  whose  re- 
pentance we  do  not  see :  for  whether  they  do  not  inwardly 
and  heartily  repent,  even  at  the  last  act,  who  knows  ?  and 
that  God  will  not  even  then  pardon  them  upon  such  repent- 
ance, who  dares  say  ?  It  is  better  to  be  charitable,  and  hope 
the  best,  than  rashly  to  condemn. 

Reply.  We  spoke  of  persons  living  and  dying  in  notorious 
sins;  suppose  they  vrere  whoredom,  perjury,  oppression,  yea 
infidelity,  or  atheism,  &c.  But  suppose  we  cannot  be  infalli- 
bly certain  that  the  man  is  damned,  because  it  is  possible 
that  he  may  repent,  though  he  never  did  express  it :  will  you 
therefore  take  him  for  a  brother  whose  soul  is  taken  to  God' 
in  mercy  ?  You  are  not  sure  that  an  excommunicate  person, 
or  a  heathen,  doth  not  truly  repent  after  he  is  speechless : 
but  will  you  therefore  say,  that  all  such  die  thus  happily  ? 
This  is  a  most  delusory  principle.  The  church  judgeth  not  of 
things  undiscovered :  non  esse  et  non  apparere,  are  all  one 
as  to  our  judgment;  we  conclude  not  peremptorily,  because 
we  pretend  not  here  to  infallibility.  As  we  are  not  sure  that 
any  man  is  truly  penitent,  that  we  give  the  sacrament  to ;  so 
we  are  not  sure  that  any  man  dieth  impenitently.  But  yet 
we  must  use  those  as  penitent,  that  seem  so  to  reason,  judg- 
ing by  ordinaiy  means;  and  so  must  we  judge  those  as  impe- 
nitent, that  have  declared  their  sin,  and  never  declared  their 
repentance.  It  seems  by  you,  that  you  will  form  your  liturgy, 
so  as  to  say,  that  every  man  is  saved  that  you  are  not  sure 


342  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [16G1. 

is  damned^  though  he  shew  you  no  repentance :  and  so  the 
church  shall  say^  that  all  things  are,  that  are  but  possible,  if 
they  conceit  that  charity  requireth  it.  But  if  the  living  by 
this  be  kept  from  conversion,  and  flattered  ir.to  hell,  will  they 
there  call  it  charity,  that  brought  them  thither  ?  O  lament- 
able charity,  that  smoothes  men's  way  to  hell,  and  keepeth 
them  ignorant  of  their  danger,  till  they  are  past  remedy  ! 
Millions  are  now  suffering  for  such  a  sort  of  charity  !  Lay 
this  to  the  formentioned  propositions,  and  the  world  will  see 
that  indeed  we  differ  in  greater  things  than  ceremonies,  and 
forms  of  prayer. 

CHURCHING    WOMEN. 

§  1.  Exc.  1.  Ans.  It  is  fit  that  the  woman  performing 
especial  service  of  thanksgiving  should  have  a  special  place 
for  it,  where  she  may  be  perspicuous  to  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, and  near  the  holy  table,  in  regard  of  the  offering  she  is 
there  to  make.  They  need  not  fear  popery  in  this,  since  in 
the  church  of  Rome  she  is  to  kneel  at  the  church  door. 

Reply.  Those  that  are  delivered  from  impenitency,  from 
sickness,  &c.,  perform  a  special  service  of  thanksgiving,  &c., 
yet  need  not  stand  in  a  special  place :  but  if  you  will  have  all 
your  ceremonies,  why  must  all  others  be  forced  to  imitate 
you?     We  mentioned  not  the  church  of  Rome. 

§  2.  Exc.  2.  Ans.  The  Psalm  cxxi  is  more  fit  and  pertinent 
than  those  others  named,  as  cxiii,  cxxviii,  and  therefore  not 
to  be  changed. 

Reply.  We  have  proposed  to  you  what  we  think  meetest  in 
our  last  pages;  if  you  like  your  own  better,  we  pray  you 
give  us  leave  to  think  otherv.'ise,  and  to  use  what  we  pro- 
pounded. 

§  3.  Exc.  3.  Ans.  If  the  woman  be  such  as  is  here 
mentioned,  she  is  to  do  her  penance  before  she  is  churched. 

Reply.  That  is,  if  she  be  accused,  prosecuted,  and  judged 
by  the  bishop's  court  to  do  penance  Hrst,  which  happeneth 
not  to  one  of  a  multitude:  and  what  shall  the  minister  do 


I 


1661.]  to  the  Answer  of  the  Bishojys.  343 

with  all  the  rest?  All  tends  to  take  away  the  difference 
between  the  precious  and  the  vile^  between  those  that  fear 
God,  and  that  fear  him  not. 

§  4.  Exc.  4.  Ans.  Offerings  are  required  as  well  under  the 
gospel  as  the  law;  and,  amongst  other  times,  most  fit  it  is 
that  oblations  should  be  when  we  come  to  give  thanks  for 
some  special  blessing.  Psa.  Ixxvi,  10,  11.  Such  is  the  deli- 
verance in  childbearinsc. 

Reply.  Oblations  should  be  free,  and  not  forced  :  to  some 
special  use,  and  not  to  ostentation. 

§  4.  Exc.  5.  Ans.  This  is  needless,  since  the  rubric  and 
Common  Prayer  require  that  no  notorious  person  be  admitted. 

Reply.  We  gladly  accept  so  fair  an  interpretation,  as 
freeth  the  book  from  self-contradiction,  and  us  from  trouble; 
but  we  think  it  would  do  no  hurt,  but  good,  to  be  more 
express. 

THE    CONCESSIONS. 

§  1.  Ans.  "We  are  willing  that  all  the  epistles  and  gospels 
be  used  according  to  the  last  translation. 

Reply.  We  still  beseech  you,  that  all  the  Psalms,  and  other 
Scriptures  in  the  liturgy  i^ecited,  may  (for  the  same  reason) 
be  used  according  to  the  last  translation. 

§  2.  Ans.  That  when  anything  is  read  for  an  epistle  which 
is  not  in  the  epistles,  the  superscription  shall  be,  "  For  the 
epistle." 

Reply.  We  beseech  you,  speak  as  the  vulgar  may  under- 
stand you :  "  for  the  epistle "  signifieth  not  plain  enough  to 
such,  that  is  indeed  none  of  the  epistles. 

§  3.  Ans.  That  the  Psalms  be  collated  with  the  former 
translation,  mentioned  in  rubric,  and  printed  according  to  it. 

Reply.  We  understand  not  what  translation,  or  rubric,  you 
mean. 

§  4.  Ans.  That  the  words  '^''this  day,"  both  in  the  collects 
and  prefaces,  be  used  only  upon  the  day  itself;  and  for  the 
following  days  it  be  said,  "  as  about  this  time." 

Reply.  And  yet  there  is  no  certainty,  which  was  the  day 
itself. 


344  Rejoinder  of  the  Ministers  [166], 

§  5.  Ans.  That  a  longer  time  be  required  for  signification 
of  the  names  of  the  communicants :  and  the  words  of  the 
rubric  be  changed  into  these,  "at  least  some  time  the  day 
before/' 

Reply.  "  Some  time  the  day  before "  may  be  near  or  at 
night,  which  will  not  allow  any  leisure  at  all  to  take  notice 
of  the  proofs  of  people's  scandals,  or  to  help  them  in  pre- 
paration. 

§  6.  Ans.  That  the  power  of  keeping  scandalous  sinners 
from  the  communion  may  be  expressed  in  the  rubric  accord- 
ing to  the  26th  and  27th  canons;  so  the  minister  be  obliged 
to  give  an  accoimt  of  the  same  immediately  after  to  the 
ordinary. 

Reply.  We  were  about  returning  you  our  very  great 
thanks,  for  granting  us  the  benefit  of  the  26th  canon,  as  that 
which  exceedeth  all  the  rest  of  your  concessions.  But  we  see 
you  will  not  make  us  too  much  beholden  to  you :  and  poor 
Christians  that  will  not  receive  the  sacrament  contrary  to 
the  example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  the  custom  of  the 
catholic  primitive  church,  and  the  canons  of  general  councils, 
must  be  also  used  as  the  notorious  impenitent  sinners.  But 
the  canon  requireth  us  not  to  signify  the  cause,  but  u}:on 
complaint,  or  being  required  by  the  ordinary. 

§  7.  Ans.  That  the  whole  preface  be  prefixed  to  the  com- 
mandments. 

Reply.  And  why  not  the  word  '^  sabbath  day"  be  put  for 
the  "seventh  day"  in  the  end.  Must  not  such  a  falsifica- 
tion be  amended? 

§  8.  Ans.  That  the  second  exhortation  be  read  some 
Sunday  or  holyday  before  the  celebration  of  the  communion, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  minister. 

§  9.  Ans.  That  the  general  confession  at  the  communion 
be  pronounced  by  one  of  the  ministers,  the  people  saying 
after  him,  all  kneeling  humbly  upon  their  knees. 

§  10.  Ans.  That  the  manner  of  consecrating  the  elements 
be  made  more  explicit  and  express,  and  to  that  purpose  these 
words  oe  put  into  the  rubric,  "  Then  shall  he  put  his  hand 


1661.]  to  the  Ansiver  of  the  Bishops.  345 

upon  the  bread  and  break  it,"  "  then  shall  he  put  his  hand 
unto  the  cup." 

§  11.  Ans.  That  if  the  font  be  so  placed  as  the  congrega- 
tion cannot  hear,  it  may  be  referred  to  the  ordinary  to  place 
it  more  conveniently. 

§  12.  Ans.  That  those  words,  "Yes,  they  do  perform 
those,"  &c,,  may  be  altered  thus,  "Because  they  promise 
them  both  by  their  sureties,"  &c. 

§  13.  Ans.  That  the  words  of  the  last  rubric  before  the 
catechism  may  be  thus  altered,  "  that  children  being  baptized 
have  all  things  necessary  for  their  salvation,  and  dying  before 
they  commit  any  actual  sin,  be  undoubtedly  saved,  though 
they  be  not  confirmed." 

§  14.  Ans.  That  to  the  rubric  after  confirmation  these 
words  may  be  added,  "  or  be  ready  and  desirous  to  be  con- 
firmed." 

§  15.  Ans.  That  those  words,  "with  my  body  I  thee 
worship,"  may  be  altered  thus,  "with  my  body  I  thee 
honour." 

§  16.  Ans.  That  those  words,  "  till  death  us  depart,"  be 
thus  altered,  "  till  death  us  do  part." 

§  17.  Ans.  That  the  words  "sure  and  certain"  may  be 
left  out. 

Reply.  For  all  the  rest  we  thank  you,  but  have  given  our 
reasons  against  your  sense  expressed  in  sect.  13,  before,  and 
for  satisfactoriness  of  the  last.  And  we  must  say,  in  the 
conclusion,  that,  if  these  be  all  the  abatements  and  amend- 
ments you  will  admit,  you  sell  your  innocency,  and  the 
church's  peace  for  nothing. 


316  Paper  offered  by  Bishop  Cosins,  [1661. 

XIX. 

Paper   offered  by   Bishop    Cosins,   and  Answer    thereto. — 
Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  341 — 3. 

A  WAT  humbly  proposed  to  end  that  unhappy  controversy 
which  is  now  managed  in  the  church,  that  the  sore  may 
no  longer  rankle  under  the  debate,  nor  advantages  be  got 
by  those  that  love  division. 

1.  That  the  question  may  be  put  to  the  managers  of  the 
division,  whether  there  be  anything  in  the  doctrine,  or 
discipline,  or  the  Common  Prayer,  or  ceremonies,  contrary  to 
the  word  of  God ;  and  if  thej'^  can  make  any  such  appear,  let 
them  be  satisfied. 

2.  If  not,  let  them  then  propose  what  they  desire  in 
point  of  expediency,  and  acknowledge  it  to  be  no  more. 

3.  Let  that  then  be  received  from  them,  and  speedily  taken 
into  the  consideration  and  judgment  of  the  convocation,  who 
are  the  proper  and  authentic  representatives  of  the  ministry, 
in  whose  judgment  they  ought  to  acquiesce  in  such  matters; 
and  not  only  so,  but  to  let  the  people  that  follow  them,  know 
that  they  ought  not  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  church,  under 
the  pretence  of  the  pi'osecution  of  expediency,  since  the 
division  of  the  church  is  the  great  inexpedient. 

THE    ANSWER    TO    THE    FORESAID    PAPER.^ 

Right  Reverend,  &c. 
As  it  was  your  desire  that  we  should  return  an  answer  to 
these  three  proposals  only  in  our  own  names,  who  are  but 
three,  so  we  must  here  profess,  therefore,  that  it  is  not  to  be 
taken  as  the  act  of  the  rest  of  our  brethren  the  commission- 
ers, but  as  part  of  the  conference  to  which  we  are  deputed. 
And  though  we  are  the  managers  of  the  treaty  for  pacifica- 
tion or  agreement,  and  not  the  managers  of  the  division,  and 
therefore  cannot  take  ourselves  to  be  the  persons  meant  by 

'  Drawn  up  by  Baxter,  and  presented  in  the  names  of  Pr.  Bates,  Dr. 
Jacomb,  and  himself.— Reliquise  Baxterianse,  p.  340. 


1661.]  and  Answer  thereto.  347 

the  author  of  the  proposals,  yet  we  are  glad  to  take  the 
opportunity  of  your  invitation,  to  profess  that  the  principal 
part  of  these  proposals  is  so  rational,  regular,  and  Christian- 
like,  that  we  not  only  approve  of,  but  should  be  fully  satisfied 
(as  to  the  debates  before  us)  with  the  real  grant  of  the  first 
alone,  and  not  be  wanting  in  our  duty,  according  to  our 
understanding  and  ability,  in  endeavouring  to  accomplish 
the  ends  of  your  desires  in  the  rest.     More  particularly — 

Ad  1""  Though  we  find  by  your  papers  and  conference 
that  in  your  own  personal  doctrines  there  is  something  that 
we  take  to  be  against  the  Word  of  God,  and  perceive  that  we 
understand  not  the  doctrine  of  the  church  in  all  things  alike, 
yet  we  find  nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  in  that 
which  is  indeed  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  as  it  comprehend- 
eth  the  matters  of  faith,  distinct  from  nlatter  of  discipline, 
ceremonies,  and  modes  of  worship. 

As  to  discipline — there  was  given  unto  his  majesty,  before 
his  Declaration  came  forth,  a  summary  of  what  we  think  to 
be  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  which  we  shall  more  fully 
give  in  to  you,  or  any  others,  whenever  we  are  again  called 
to  it. 

For  the  Common  Prayer  and  ceremonies  we  have,  in  our 
Exceptions  and  Reply,  delivered  you  an  account  of  what  we 
take  to  be  unlao'ful  and  inconvenient ;  and  we  humbly  crave 
that  our  reasons  may  be  yet  impartially  considered.  At 
present  we  shall  humbly  ofier  you  our  judgment  concern- 
ing the  following  particulars,  and  profess  our  readiness  to 
make  it  good  when  we  are  called  to  it.  It  is  contrary  to  the 
Word  of  God— 

1.  That  no  minister  be  admitted  to  baptize  without  the 
prescribed  use  of  the  transient  image  of  the  cross. 

2.  That  no  minister  be  permitted  to  read  or  pray,  or 
exercise  the  other  parts  of  his  office,  that  dare  not  wear 
a  surplice. 

3.  That  none  be  admitted  in  communion  to  the  Lord's 
supper,  that  dare  not  receive  it  kneeling ;  and  that  all 
ministers  be  enjoined  to  deny  it  to  such. 


348  Paper  offered  hy  Bishop  Cosins,  [1661. 

4.  That  ministers  be  forced  to  pronounce  all  baptized 
infants  to  be  regenerate  by  the  Holy  Ghost^  whether  they  be 
the  children  of  Christians  or  not. 

5.  That  ministers  he  forced  to  deliver  the  sacrament  of  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ  unto  the  unfit,  both  in  their  health 
and  sickness,  and  that  with  personal  application,  putting 
it  into  their  hands ;  and  that  such  are  forced  to  receive  it, 
though  against  their  own  wills,  in  the  conscience  of  their 
impenitency. 

6.  That  ministers  he  forced  to  absolve  the  unfit ;  and  that 
in  absolute  expressions, 

7.  That  they  are  forced  to  give  thanks  for  all  whom  they 
bury,  as  "  brethren  whom  God  in  mercy  hath  delivered  and 
taken  to  himself." 

8.  That  none  may  be  a  preacher  that  dare  not  subscribe 
that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Common  Prayer  book,  the  Book 
of  Ordination,  and  the  nine  and  thirty  articles,  that  is  con- 
trary to  the  Word  of  God. 

These  are  most  of  the  things  which  we  judge  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  God,  which  at  present  come  to  our  remem- 
brance. So  we  humbly  desire  that  whenever  you  would  have 
us  give  you  a  full  enumeration  of  such,  we  may  have  leave  to 
consult  with  the  rest  of  our  brethren,  and  deliver  it  to  you  by 
our  common  consent.  And  we  humbly  crave  that  all  these 
points  may  be  taken  into  serious  consideration,  and  those  of 
them  which  we  have  not  yet  debated,  we  are  ready  to  debate, 
and  give  in  our  arguments,  whenever  we  are  called  to  it, 
to  pi'ove  them  all  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  And  may 
we  be  so  happy  as  to  have  this  proposal  granted  us,  we  shall 
undoubtedly  have  unity  and  peace. 

Ad  2"'-  We  suppose,  according  to  the  laws  of  distinguish- 
ing, you  speak,  in  this  second  proposal,  of  all  things  so 
inexpedient  as  not  to  be  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  Other- 
wise the  greatest  sins  may  be  committed  by  inexpediences  : 
as  a  physician  may  murder  a  man  by  giving  him  inexpedient 
medicines ;  and  a  general  may  destroy  his  army  by  inexpedi- 
ent ways  of  conduct  and  defence.     And  the  pastor  may  be 


1661.]  and  Answer  thereto.  349 

guilty  of  the  damnation  of  his  people  by  doctrines  and  appli- 
cations inexpedient  and  unsuitable  to  their  state ;  and  a  way 
of  worship  may  be  so  inexpedient  as  to  be  sinful  and  loathsome 
unto  God  ;  such  is  the  battology,  or  thinking  to  be  heard  for 
afifected  repetitions  or  babblings^  pharisaical  thanksgivings 
that  men  are  better  than  indeed  they  are,  with  abundance 
such  like.  But  supposing  that  you  here  speak  of  no  such 
inexpedient  things,  but  such  as  are  not  contrary  to  the  Word 
of  God,  we  add — 

Ad  3"*  AVe  are  thankful  that  in  such  matters  we  may 
have  leave  to  make  any  such  proposals  as  are  here  mentioned. 
But  we  shall  not  be  forward  to  busy  ourselves,  and  trouble 
others,  about  such  little  things,  without  a  special  call.  If  the 
convocation  at  any  time  desire  an  account  of  our  thoughts 
about  such  matters,  we  shall  readily  produce  them. 

And  for  ''acquiescing  in  their  judgments  in  such  matters" 
what  we  three  do  in  that  point,  is  but  of  small  consequence. 
And  for  others,  seeing  the  ministers  that  we  speak  for  were, 
many  hundreds  of  them,  displaced  or  removed  before  the 
advice  of  the  convocation;  and  others  denied  their  votes 
because  not  ordained  by  diocesans ;  and  others,  not  approving 
the  constitution  of  our  convocations,  durst  not  meddle  in  the 
choice ;  we  cannot  tell  how  far  they  will  think  themselves 
obliged  by  the  determination  of  this  convocation.  But  this 
can  be  no  matter  of  impediment  to  your  satisfaction  or  ours ; 
for  we  are  commonly  agreed  that  we  are  bound  in  conscience 
to  obey  the  king  and  all  his  magistrates  in  all  lawful  things ; 
and  with  Christian  patience  to  suffer  wdiat  he  inflicteth  on  us 
for  not  obeying  in  things  unlaw  ful ;  and  therefore,  while  we 
acquiesce  thus  far  in  the  judgment  of  those  who  must  make 
the  decrees  of  the  convocation  to  be  civilly  obligatory,  and 
the  king  intendeth  to  take  their  advice  before  he  determine  of 
such  matters,  it  is  all  one  as  to  the  end,  as  if  we  directly  did 
thus  far  acquiesce  in  the  judgment  of  the  convocation,  if  the 
king  approve  it.  But  if  the  king  and  parliament  dissent  or 
disallow  the  convocation's  judgment  (as  it  is  possible  they 


350  Answer  to  Paper  offered  by  Bp.   Cosins.      [1661. 

may  have  cause  to  do)  would  you  have  us  acquiesce  in  it, 
when  king  and  parliament  do  not  ? 

And  for  the  last  part  of  the  proposal,  by  God's  assistance 
(if  you  do  not  silence  or  disable  us),  we  are  resolved  faithfully 
to  teach  the  people,  that  the  division  of  the  church  is  worse 
than  inexpedient,  and  the  peace  of  it  not  to  be  disturbed  for 
the  avoiding  of  any  such  inexpediences  as  are  not  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  God.  We  conclude  with  the  repetition  of  our 
more  earnest  request,  that  these  wise  and  moderate  proposals 
may  be  prosecuted,  and  all  things  be  abated  us  which  we  have 
proved,  or  shall  prove  to  be,  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God. 
But  if  we  agree  not  on  those  things  among  ourselves,  accord- 
ing to  his  majesty's  commission,  the  world  may  know  we  did 
our  parts. 

When  the  liberty  of  using  the  alterations  and  additional 
forms  which  were  offered  to  you,  according  to  his  majesty's 
Declaration,  would  end  all  our  differences  about  matters  of 
worship ;  and  when  you  have  had  them  in  your  hands  so  long 
since  you  called  for  them,  and  have  not,  notwithstanding  the 
importunity  of  our  requests,  vouchsafed  us  any  debates  upon 
them,  or  exceptions  against  them,  but  are  pleased  to  lay  them 
by  in  silence ;  we  once  more  propose  to  you,  whether  the 
granting  of  what  you  cannot  blame,  be  not  now  the  shortest 
and  the  surest  way  to  a  general  satisfaction. ^ 

''  "I  offered  to  my  brethren  two  more  particulars  as  contrary  to  the 
"  Word  of  God  ;  which  were — 

"  1.  That  none  may  have  leave  in  public  worship  to  use  a  more  suitable 
«' orderly  way  ;  but  all  are  confined  to  this  liturgy,  which  is  so  defective 
"and  disorderly,  which  we  are  even  now  ready  to  manifest,  if  you  will 
"receive  it. 

"  2.  That  none  may  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel  that  dare  not  subject  him- 
"  self,  by  an  oath  of  obedience,  to  the  diocesans  in  that  state  of  govern- 
"  ment  which  they  exercised  in  this  land,  contrary  to  the  practice  of  all 
"  antiquity. 

"  These  ten  things  I  offered  as  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  but  the  two 
"  brethren,  with  me,  thought  these  two  last  were  better  left  out,  lest  they 
"occasion  new  debates,  though  they  judged  them  true." — Reliquiae  Bax- 
terianse,  p.  343. 


1661.]     Discussion  on  Kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper.       351 


XX. 


The  Discussion  on  Kneeling  at  the  Lord's  Supper. — Reliquiae 
Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester^  pp.  346 — 349. 

In  our  unproP table  disputes  all  was  to  be  managed  in  writing 
ex  tempore,  by  Dr.  Pearson^  Dr.  Gunning,  and  Dr.  Sparrow, 
with  Dr.  Pierce  on  one  side;  and  Dr.  Bates,  Dr.  Jacomb, 
and  myself  on  the  other  side ;  we  withdrawing  into  the  next 
room,  and  leaving  the  bishops  and  them  together,  while  we 
wrote  our  part.  And  we  began  with  the  imposition  of  kneel- 
ing, upon  two  accounts  (though  I  took  the  gesture  itself  as 
lawful),  1.  Because  I  knew  I  had  the  fullest  evidence,  and 
the  greatest  authority  of  antiquity,  or  church  law  and  custom, 
against  them.  2.  Because  the  penalty  is  so  immediate  and 
great  to  put  all  that  kneel  not,  from  the  communion.  And 
it  was  only  the  penalty,  and  so  the  imposition  on  that  penalty, 
which  we  disputed  against. 

Our  Arguments.  Oppon.  Arg.  1.  To  enjoin  all  ministers 
to  deny  the  communion  to  all  that  dare  not  kneel  in  the 
reception  of  the  sacrament  on  the  Lord's  days,  is  sinful. 

But  the  Common  Prayer  book  and  canons  enjoin  all 
ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  all  that  dare  not  kneel 
in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament  on  the  Lord's  days. 

Ergo,  the  Common  Prayer  book  and  canons  do  (or  contain) 
that  which  is  sinful. 

Their  Answer.  Resp.  Not  granting  nor  denying  the  major, 
in  the  first  place  prove  the  minor. 

Oppon.  We  prove  both.  1.  Prob.  major.  To  enjoin 
ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  men,  because  they  dare 
not  go  against  the  practice  of  the  apostles,  and  the  universal 
church  for  many  hundred  years  after  them,  and  the  canons  of 
the  most  venerable  councils,  is  sinful. 

But  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  all  that 
dare  not  kneel    in  the    reception  of  the  sacrament  on   the 


352  Discussion  on  Kneeling  [1661. 

Lord's  days,  is  to  enjoin  them  to  deny  communion  to  them, 
because  they  dare  not  go  against  the  practice  of  the  apostles, 
and  the  universal  church  for  many  hundred  years  after  them, 
and  the  canons  of  the  most  venerable  councils. 

Ergo,  to  enjoin  all  ministers  to  deny  communion  to  all 
that  dare  not  kneel  in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament  on  the 
Lord's  day  is  sinful. 

Prob.  minor.  The  words  of  the  Common  Prayer  book  and 
canons  prove  it. 

Resp.  The  minor  (viz.  as  to  the  Common  Prayer  book,  of 
which  the  proof  must  proceed)  is  not  yet  proved. 

But  the  major  (which  we  had  not  then  spoke  to,  but  now 
do,  clearly  denying  that  major  also  of  the  first  syllogism)  you 
prove  by  the  syllogism  brought;  in  which  we  deny  the 
minor. 

Here  we  told  them,  that  for  the  proof  of  both  propositions 
denied,  the  presence  of  the  books  is  necessary,  w^hich  we 
desired  them  to  procure  us ;  but  they  were  not  fetched.  And 
first  we  had  a  large  debate  about  the  words  of  the  Common 
Prayer,  "  he  shall  deliver  it  them  kneeling  on  their  knees." 
Dr.  Pearson  confessed,  that  the  canons  did  reject  them  that 
kneel  not,  from  the  communion;  but  these  words  of  the 
Common  Prayer  book  do  not.  But  they  only  include 
kneelers,  but  exclude  not  others.  We  answered  them,  that 
either  the  Common  Prayer  book  doth  exclude  them  that 
kneel  not,  or  it  doth  not.  If  it  doth,  the  proposition  is  true. 
If  it  do  not,  then  we  shall  willingly  let  fall  this  argument 
against  it,  and  proceed  to  another.  Therefore  I  desired  them 
but  to  tell  us  openly  their  own  judgment  of  the  sense  of  the 
book ;  for  we  professed  to  argue  against  it  only  on  supposition 
of  the  exclusive  sense. 

Hereupon  unavoidably  they  fell  into  discord  among  them- 
selves. Dr.  Pearson,  who  was  to  defend  the  book,  told  us  his 
judgment  was,  that  the  sense  was  not  exclusive.  Bishop 
Morley,  who  was  to  offend  the  Nonconformists,  gave  his 
judgment  for  the  exclusive  sense;  viz. — That  the  minister  is 
to  give  it  to  kneelers,  and  no  others.     So  that  we  professed 


1661.]  at  the  Lord's  Supper.  353 

to  them,  that  we  could  not  go  any  further,  till  they  agreed 
among  themselves,  of  their  sense. 

And  for  the  other  minor  denied,  though  the  books  were 
not  present,  I  alleged  the  20th  Canon  Concil.  Nicsen.  and 
Concil.  Trull,  and  TertuUian  oft,  and  Epiphanius,  with  the 
common  consent  of  ancient  writers,  who  tell  us,  it  was  the 
tradition  and  custom  of  the  universal  church,  not  to  adore  by 
genuflexion  on  any  Lord^s  day,  or  on  any  day  between  Easter 
and  Whitsuntide.  Ergo,  not  so  to  adore  in  taking  the 
sacrament. 

Bishop  Morley  answered,  that  this  was  the  custom  but 
only  between  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  and  therefore  it  being 
otherwise  the  rest  of  the  year,  was  more  against  us.  I 
answered  him  that  he  mistook,  where  a  multitude  of  evidences 
might  rectify  him ;  it  was  on  every  Lord's  day  through  the 
year  that  this  adoration  by  genuflexion  was  forbidden : 
though  on  other  week-days  it  was  only  between  Easter  and 
Whitsuntide. 

Next  he  and  the  rest  insisted  on  it,  that  these  canons  and 
customs  extended  only  to  prayer.  To  Avhich  I  answered, 
that  1.  The  plain  words  are  against  them,  where  some  speak 
of  all  adoration,  and  others  more  largely  of  the  public  wor- 
ship, and  offered  to  bring  them  full  proof  from  the  books,  as 
soon  as  they  would  give  me  time.  2.  And  if  it  were  only  in 
prayer,  it  is  all  one  to  our  case.  For  the  liturgy  giveth  the 
sacrament  with  words  of  prayer ;  and  it  is  the  common  argu- 
ment brought  for  kneeling,  that  it  is  suitable  to  the  conjunct 
prayer.  And  I  told  them  over  and  over,  that  antiquity  was 
so  clear  in  the  point,  that  I  desired  all  might  be  laid  on  that, 
and  I  might  have  time  to  bring  them  in  my  testimonies. 
But  thus  that  argument  was  turned  off,  and  the  evening 
broke  off  that  part  of  the  dispute. 

THE    NEXT    day's    ARGUMENT, 

Oppon.  To  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to 
such  as  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  required  us  to  receive  to  the 
communion  is  sinful. 


354)  Discussion  on  Kneeling  [1661. 

But  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  all  that 
dare  not  kneel  in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament^  is  to  enjoin 
them  to  deny  the  communion  to  such  as  the  Holy  Ghost 
hath  required  us  to  receive  to  the  communion. 

Ergo,  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  all 
that  dare  not  kneel  in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament,  is 
a  sin. 

Resp.  We  deny  the  minor. 

Oppon.  The  Holy  Ghost  hath  required  us  to  receive  to  the 
communion^  even  all  the  weak  in  the  faith^  who  are  charged 
with  no  greater  fault  than  erroneously  refusing  things  lawful 
as  unlawful. 

But  many  of  those  who  dare  not  kneel  in  the  reception  of 
the  sacrament  are  (at  the  worst)  hut  weak  in  the  faith,  and 
charged  with  no  greater  fault  than,  erroneously,  refusing 
things  lawful  as  unlawful. 

Ergo,  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  all 
who  dare  not  kneel  in  the  reception  of  the  sacrament,  is  to 
enjoin  them  to  deny  the  communion  to  such  as  the  Holy 
Ghost  hath  required  us  to  receive  to  the  communion. 

Resp.  We  say,  this  is  no  true  but  a  fallacious  syllogism,  of 
no  due  form;  for  this  reason,  that  whereas  both  subject 
and  predicate  of  the  conclusion  ought  to  be  somewhere  in  the 
premisses,  here  neither  subject  of  the  conclusion  (viz.  to  enjoin 
ministers  to  deny,  &c.)  nor  the  predicate  of  the  conclusion 
(viz.  is  to  enjoin  them  to  deny,  &c.)  are  anywhere  found  in 
any  part  of  either  of  the  premisses ;  so  that  here  are  not  only 
quatuor,  but  quinque  termini. 

Oppon.  You  have  both  subject  and  predicate  in  the  pre- 
misses as  to  the  sense.  If  you  will  have  each  syllable,  take  it 
thus. 

If  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  men  for 
no  greater  fault  than  being  weak  in  the  faith,  and  refusing 
things  lawful  as  unlawful,  be  to  enjoin  them  to  deny  the 
communion  to  such  as  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  required  us  to 
receive  to  the  communion,  then  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny 
the  communion  to  all,  &c. 


1661.]  ut  the  Lord's  Supper.  355 

But  to  enjoin  ministers  to  deny  the  communion  to  men  for 
no  greater  fault  than  being  weak  in  the  faith^  and  refusing 
things  lawful  as  unlawful,  is  to  enjoin  them  to  deny  the 
communion  to  such  as  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  required  them  to 
receive  to  the  communion. 

Erffo,  to  enjoin,  &c.  (as  in  the  minor.) 

Resp.  We  distinguish  to  that  term  ''  things  lawful :"  for 
both  things  lawful,  and  by  no  lawful  power  commanded  to  be 
done,  are  called  such :  and  also  things  lawful,  and  by  a 
lawful  power  also  commanded  to  be  done,  are  called  such. 

If  you  take  "  things  lawful "  in  the  former  sense,  we  deny 
your  major.  If  you  take  "  things  lawful "  in  the  latter  sense, 
we  deny  your  minor. 

Oppon.  In  Rom.  xiv,  1 — 3,  and  xv,  1,  the  apostle,  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  speaking  of  things  lawful  and  not  com- 
manded, yet,  being  himself  a  church  governor,  commandeth 
them  not;  but  requireth  even  church  governors  as  well  as 
others  to  receive  the  dissenters  and  forbear  them,  and  not  to 
make  these  the  matter  of  censure  or  contempt.  Ergo,  the 
minor  (or  consequence)  is  good. 

Resp.    We  answer  four  things: 

1.  We  deny  the  consequence  of  the  enthymeme. 

2.  Our  discom'se  proceeding  wholly  about  things  lawful 
and  commanded  by  a  lawful  power,  they  profess  to  proceed 
only  upon  things  lawful  and  not  commanded  by  a  lawful 
power  (in  which  sense  only,  of  things  lawful  and  not  com- 
manded also,  we  denied  your  major.)  For  they  that  prove 
the  major,  which  was  not  denied  by  us  but  in  such  a  sense, 
profess  to  proceed  in  that  sense. 

3.  Rom.  xiv,  1 — 3,  speaks  of  things  lawful  and  not 
commanded  by  your  acknowledgment.  And  we  all  along 
have  professed  to  debate  about  things  lawful  and  also  com- 
manded. So  that  the  text,  brought  by  you,  is  manifestly  not 
to  the  purpose  of  this  debate. 

4.  To  receive  them  in  Rom.  xiv,  is  not  forthwith  to  be 
Understood  of  immediately  receiving  to  the  holy  communion. 

A    A    2 


358  Discussion  on  Kneeling  [1661. 

Aud  for  this  reason  again  that  text  makes  nothing  to  prove 
for  their  receiving  to  the  holy  communion. 

When  this  Answer  was  given  in,  it  was  almost  night,  and 
the  company  brake  up.  And  because  I  perceived  that  it  was 
hard  (especially  among  such  disturbances)  to  reduce  all  in  a 
moral  subject  (that  must  have  many  words)  to  an  exact 
syllogistical  form  to  the  last,  without  confusion;  and  that 
the  only  advantage  they  could  hope  for  was  to  trifle  pedanti- 
cally about  the  form  of  arguments,  I  resolved  to  imitate  them 
in  their  last  answer,  and  to  take  the  liberty  of  more  (explica- 
tory) words. 

The  next  day  I  brought  in  our  Reply  to  their  Answer  at 
large,  as  here  followeth. 

Oppon.  The  syllogisms  necessarily  growing  so  long,  as 
that  the  parts  denied  cannot  be  put  verbatim  into  the  conclu- 
sions, without  offence  to  those  that  are  loth  to  read  that 
which  is  pedantic  and  obscure,  we  must  contract  the  sense, 
and  divide  our  proofs. 

The  sense  of  your  Answer  to  the  hypothetical  syllogism 
was,  that  if  we  speak  of  things  lawful  and  not  commanded, 
then  you  deny  "  that  those  that  we  must  deny  communion  to 
are  such  as  the  Holy  Ghost  commandeth  us  to  receive, 
though  those  were  such  that  are  described  in  the  antecedent." 
But  if  we  mean  such  lawful  things  as  are  commanded  by 
lawful  power,  then  you  "deny  that  these  are  such  as  the 
Holy  Ghost  requireth  us  to  receive." 

To   take  away  this  Answer If  your  distinction   be 

frivolous  or  fallacious,  as  applied  by  you  in  your  answer,  and 
one  branch  of  it,  but  a  begging  of  the  question,  then  your 
answer  is  vain,  and  our  argument  standeth  good.  But  the 
antecedent  is  true.     Ergo,  so  is  the  consequence. 

1.  It  is  frivolous  and  obscure,  and  rather  making  than 
removing  ambiguity,  and  ergo  iiseless.  1.  It  is  obscure. 
For  we  know  not  whether  you  mean  "commanded  simply 
without  any  penalty,"  or  "  commanded  with  the  enforcement 


1661.]  at  the  Lord's  Supper.  357 

of  a  penalty."  If  the  latter,  whether  you  mean  it  of  "  a 
comnaand  with  such  a  penalty  as  we  speak  against/'  or  "  some 
other  penalty."  And  whether  you  mean  "commanded  by 
such  as  have  a  lawful  power  ad  hoc,''  or  "  only  ad  aliud." 
Your  distinction  must  necessarily  be  distinguished  of  before 
it  can  be  pertinent,  and  applied  to  our  case.  Ergo,  it  is 
frivolous  through  obscurity. 

If  you  speak  of  a  command  without  penalty,  or  with  no 
other  penalty  than  such  as  is  consistent  with  "  receiving,  not 
despising,  not  judging,  and  all  the  indulgence  mentioned  in 
the  text,"  then  your  very  distinction  granteth  us  the  cause. 
But  if  you  speak  of  "a  command  with  such  penalty  as  is 
inconsistent  with  the  said  receiving  and  other  indulgences," 
then  this  branch  of  your  distinction,  as  applied  by  you,  Resp. 
2,  is  but  the  begging  of  the  question,  it  being  such  com- 
manding that  we  are  proving  to  be  forbidden  by  the  text 

If  there  be  no  power  that  may  command  such  things  any 
farther  than  may  stand  with  the  reception  and  other  indul- 
gences of  the  text,  then  must  you  not  suppose  that  any  power 
may  otherwise  command  them.       But  the  antecedent  is  true. 

Ergo,  so  is  the  consequent. For  the  minor,  if  Paul  and 

the  resident  pastors  of  the  church  of  Borne  had  no  power  to 
command  such  things,  further  than  may  stand  with  the  said 
reception  and  indulgences,  then  no  others  have  such  power. 
But  Paul  and  the  resident  pastors  of  the  church  of  Rome 
had  no  such  power.  Ergo,  there  are  no  others  that  have 
such.  And  so  your  distinction  being  frivolous  and  fallacious, 
the  argument  stands  good. 

The  sense  of  our  enthymeme  was,  that  "  these  things  being 
therefore  not  commanded,  because  they  ought  not  to  be 
commanded  any  farther  than  may  stand  with  the  said  recep- 
tion and  indulgences  in  the  text,  God  having  there  forbidden 
men  any  otherwise  to  command  them ;  therefore  the  conse- 
quence stands  good,  your  distinction  being  either  impertinent, 
or  granting  us  the  postulatum,  or  begging  the  question." 

And  so  we  have  replied  to  your  first  Answer. 

Ad  2"-  Again  if  you  speak  of  a  simple  command,  enforcing 


358  Discussion  on  Kneeling.  [1661. 

no  farther  than  consisteth  with  the  foresaid  reception  and 
forbearance,  1.  You  grant  the  thing  in  question.  Or  thus 
2.  If  there  be  no  such  disparity  of  the  cases  as  may  warrant 
your  disparity  of  penalty  against  your  brethren,  then  our 
argument  still  stands  good.  But  there  is  no  such  disparity 
of  the  cases  as  may  warrant  your  disparity  of  penalty  against 
your  brethren.     Ergo 

For  the  minor.  If  those  that  Paul  speaks  of  that  must  be 
received  and  foreborne,  did  sin  against  the  command  of  God, 
in  the  weakness  of  their  faith,  and  their  erroneous  refusal  of 
things  as  sinful  that  were  not  so  to  be  refused,  then  there  is 
no  such  disparity  in  the  cases,  as,  &c.  For  you  suppose 
those  that  refuse  to  kneel,  to  break  the  command  of  man, 
and  those  that  Paul  spake  of  brake  the  command  of  God, 
and  yet  were  to  be  received  and  forebome. 

But  if  you  here  also  speak  of  "a  command  enforced  by 
penalties  inconsistent  with  the  said  receiving  and  forbearance,'' 
we  reply. 

If  our  present  work  be  to  prove  that  God  hath  forbidden 
all  such  commands,  then  our  proceeding  (in  proving  it)  is 
regular,  and  our  supposing  the  things  not  so  commanded 
(having  proved  it) ;  and  your  discourse  wholly  proceeding  of 
things  so  commanded  (before  you  answer  our  proof  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  commanded)  is  an  irregular  supposition,  and 
begging  of  the  question But  our,  &c.  Ergo &c. 

Ad  Besp.  3™-  If  Rom.  xiv,  1 — 3.  and  xv,  1,  &c.,  speak 
of  things  lawful,  and  no  farther  commanded  than  may  con- 
sist with  "  receiving  and  forbearing ;"  forbidding  any  other 
commanding  of  such  things,  then  the  text  is  most  pertinent 
to  prove  that  there  ought  to  be  no  such  commands,  and  that 
they  are  sinful.     But  the  antecedent  is  true Ergo 

Ad  Resp.  4™-  "  Immediately"  was  no  term  in  our  question. 
But  that  Rom.  xiv,  1,  speaketh  of  receiving  to  the  holy  com- 
munion we  prove.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  command  the  receiving 
of  men  to  that  church-communion  in  whole  or  in  general 
without  exception,  wherof  the  communion  in  the  holy  sacra- 
ment is  a  most  eminent  part,  then  he  ihereby  commandeth 


1661.]  Sinfulness  of  the  Liturgy.  359 

the  receiving  them  to  the  holy  communion  in  the  sacrament, 
as  a  principal  part.  But  the  antecedent  is  true.  Ergo,  so  is 
the  consequent. 

The  sum  of  our  reply  is,  that  when  we  are  proving  from 
Rom.  xiv  and  xv,  that  God  hath  forbidden  men  to  command 
such  things  indifferent  on  pain  of  exclusion  from  communion ; 
for  you  now  "to  distinguish  of  things  commanded  by 
authority,  and  things  not  commanded,"  and  then  to  say, 
"  that  if  they  be  not  so  commanded,  then  we  grant  that  they 
should  not  be  so  commanded ;  but  if  they  be  so  commanded, 
then  God  hath  not  forbidden  so  to  command  them,"  this  is 
to  make  the  fact  of  man  antecedent  to  the  law  of  God,  or 
the  law  to  forbid  the  fact,  in  case  no  man  will  do  it,  but  not 
to  forbid  it  if  it  be  done.  As  if  you  had  said,  "  God  forbade 
David  to  commit  adultery  in  case  it  be  not  committed  by 
him,  but  not  in  case  it  be  committed." 


XXI. 

The  Discussion  on  the  Sinfulness  of  the  Liturgy} — Reliquise 
Baxterianae,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  358-60,  Cardwell's  History 
of  Conferences,  Oxford,  1849,  pp.  364-368. 

Oppon.  [Dr.  Pearson,  Dr.  Gunning,  Dr.  Sparrow,  and  Dr. 
Pierce.]  My  assertion  is.  Nothing  contained  in  the  liturgy 
is  sinful. 

This  general  assertion  I  am  ready  to  make  good  in  all 
particulars,  in  which  our  brethren  shall  think  fit  to  charge 
the  liturgy  with  sinfulness. 

'  "  When  we  [Dr.  Bates,  Dr.  Jacomb,  and  Mr.  Baxter]  were  going  to  our 
"  disputation,  Dr.  Pierce  asked  whether  he,  that  was  none  of  the  three  deputed 
"  by  them  to  that  service,  [i.e.  Dr.  Pearson,  Dr.  Gunning,  and  Dr.  Sparrow,] 
"  might  join  with  the  rest :  and  we  told  that  we  cared  not  how  many  joined ; 
"  the  more  the  better  :  for  if  any  one  of  them  could  see  any  evidence  of  trath 
"  which  the  rest  did  overlook,  it  would  redound  to  our  benefit,  who  desired 
*'  nothing  but  the  victory  of  truth."— Reliquise  Baxterianae,  p.  344. 


360  Discussion  on  the  [1661. 

And  because  our  brethren  have,  as  yet,  by  way  of  disputa- 
tion charged  no  other  part  of  it  with  the  imputation  of  sinful- 
ness, but  that  which  concerneth  kneeling  at  the  communion, 
therefore  my  first  assei'tion  as  to  that  particular  is  this ; — The 
command  contained  in  the  liturgy  concerning  kneeling  at  the 
communion  is  not  sinful. 

This  truth  I  am  ready  to  prove  by  several  arguments. 
First,  This  only  command  "  The  minister  shall  deliver  the 
communion  to  the  people  in  their  hands  kneeling"  is  not 
sinful :  The  command  contained  in  the  liturgy  concerning 
kneeling  at  the  communion  is  this  only  command  "The 
minister,"  &c. — Ergo,  The  command  contained  in  the  liturgy 
concerning  kneeling  at  the  communion  is  not  sinful. 

Resp.  [Dr.  Bates,  Dr.  Jacomb,  and  Mr.  Baxter]  Neg.  major. 

Oppon.  Prob.  major. 

That  command  which  comraandetli  only  an  act  in  itself 
lawful,  is  not  sinful :  This  only  command  "  The  minister  shall 
deliver,  &c.,^^  commandeth  only  an  act  in  itself  lawful :  Ergo, 
This  only  command  "  The  minister  shall  deliver,"  &c.  is  not 
sinful. 

Resp.  Neg.  major  et  minor. 

Oppon.  Prob.  major. 

That  command  which  commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful  and 
no  other  act  or  circumstance  unlawful,  is  not  sinful :  That 
command  which  commandeth  only  an  act  in  itself  lawful,  com- 
mands an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  or  circumstance 
unlawful :  Ergo,  That  command  which  commandeth  only  an 
act  in  itself  lawful,  is  not  sinful. 

Resp.  1.  We  deny  the  major ;  and  for  brevity  give  a  double 
reason  of  our  denial :  one  is,  because  that  may  be  a  sin  per 
accidens  which  is  not  so  in  itself,  and  may  be  unlawfully 
commanded,  though  that  accident  be  not  in  the  command. 
Another  is,  that  it  may  be  commanded  under  an  unjust 
penalty. 

2.  We  deny  the  minor  for  both  the  same  reasons. 

Oppon.  Prob.  minor. 

The  delivery  of  the  communion  to  persons  kneeling  is  an 


\ 


\ 


1661.]  Sinfulness  of  the  Liturgy.  361 

act  in  itself  lawful :  This  only  command  "  The  minister  shall 
deliver^  &c/'  commandeth  only  the  delivery  of  the  communion 
to  persons  kneeling:  Ergo,  This  only  command  "  The  minister 
shall  deliver,  &c."  commandeth  only  an  act  in  itself  lawful. 

Eesp.  We  distinguish  of  delivering  to  persons  kneeling  :  it 
signifieth  either  exclusively  (to  those  and  no  other,)  or  not 
exclusively,  (to  others.)  In  the  first  sense  we  deny  the  major; 
in  the  second  sense  we  deny  the  minor. 

Oppon.  You  deny  hoth  our  propositions  for  two  reasons, 
both  the  same  :  we  make  good  both  our  propositions,  not- 
withstanding both  your  reasons. 

The  major  first.  That  command  which  commandeth  an  act 
in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act,  whereby  any  unjust  penalty 
is  enjoined,  nor  any  circumstance,  whence,  directly  or  per 
accidens,  any  sin  is  consequent,  which  the  commander  ought 
to  provide  against,  is  not  sinful :  that  command  which 
commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  or 
circumstance  unlawful,  commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful, 
and  no  other  act,  whereby  any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined,  nor 
any  circumstance  whence,  directly  or  per  accidens,  any  sin  is 
consequent,  which  the  commander  ought  to  provide  against: 
Ergo,  That  command  which  commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful, 
and  no  other  act  or  circumstance  unlawful,  is  not  sinful. 

Eesp,  1.  The  proposition  denied  is  not  in  the  conclusion. 

The  major  is  denied,  because  the  first  act  commanded 
may  be  per  accidens  unlawful,  and  be  commanded  by  an 
unjust  penalty,  though  no  other  act  or  circiimstance  be 
such. 

Oppon.  The  minor  next.  That  command  which  com- 
mandeth an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  whereby 
any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined,  nor  any  circumstance  whence, 
directly  or  per  accidens,  any  sin  is  consequent,  which  the 
commander  ought  to  provide  against,  commands  an  act  in 
itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  or  circumstance  unlawful : 
That  command  which  commands  only  an  act  in  itself  lawful, 
commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  whereby 
any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined,  nor  any  circumstance  whence, 


362  Discussion  on  the  [1661. 

directly  or  per  accidens,  any  sin  is  consequent^  which  the 
commander  ought  to  provide  against :  Ei'go,  That  command 
which  commands  only  an  act  in  itself  lawful^  commands  an  act 
in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  or  circumstance  unlawful. 

Oppon.  We  prove  our  major,  notwithstanding  your  reason 
alleged. 

That  command  which  hath  in  it  all  things  requisite  to  the 
lawfulness  of  a  command,  and  particularly  cannot  be  guilty 
of  commanding  an  act  per  accidens  unlawful,  nor  of  com- 
manding an  act  under  an  unjust  penalty,  is  not  sinful, 
notwithstanding  your  reason  alleged  :  That  command  which 
commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and  no  other  act  whereby 
any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined,  nor  any  circumstance  whence, 
directly  or  ^^er  accidens,  any  sin  is  consequent  which  the 
commander  ought  to  provide  against,  hath  in  it  all  things 
requisite  to  the  lawfulness  of  a  command,  and  particularly 
cannot  be  guilty  of  commanding  an  act  per  accidens  unlawful, 
nor  of  commanding  an  act  under  an  unjust  penalty  :  Ergo, 
That  command  which  commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful,  and 
no  other  act  whereby  any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined,  nor  any 
circumstance  whence,  directly  or  per  accidens,  any  sin  is 
consequent,  which  the  commander  ought  to  provide  against, 
is  not  sinful,  notwithstanding  your  reasons  alleged. 

Resp.  The  minor  is  denied  upon  the  same  reasons,  which 
you  do  nothing  to  remove.  Such  a  command  hath  not  in  it 
all  things  requisite  to  the  lawfulness  of  a  command,  because 
though  no  other  act  be  commanded,  whereby  an  unjust  penalty 
is  enjoined,  yet  still  the  first  act  may  be  commanded  sub 
poena  injusta  :  and  though  no  other  act  or  circumstance  be 
commanded  that  is  a  sin  pier  accidens,  yet  the  first  act 
itself  commanded  may  be  a  sin  per  accidens. 

Oppon.  Either  our  minor  is  true,  notwithstanding  your 
reason,  or  else  the  first  act  may  be  a  command  commanding 
an  unjust  punishment,  and  be  an  act  lawful :  or  the  first  act 
itself  being  lawful  in  itself  and  all  circumstances,  may  yet 
be  a  sin  pier  accidens,  against  which  the  commander  ought 
to   provide:    Posterius    utrumque  falsum,   both    the    latter 


1661.]  Sinfulness  of  the  Liturgy.  363 

members   are    false :    Ergo,  yrius  verum,  therefore  the  first 
is  true. 

Resp.  Neg.  major.  Because  1.  The  subject  is  changed  : 
you  were  to  have  spoken  of  the  first  act  commanded,  and 
you  speak  of  the  first  act  commanding,  in  the  first  member ; 
you  should  have  said  "else  the  first  act  may  be  commanded 
sub  poena  injusta,  and  yet  be  in  itself  lawful;^'  which  is  true. 

2.  Because  in  the  second  member,  where  you  should  have 
spoken  only  of  the  commanded  circumstances  of  the  act, 
you  now  speak  of  all  its  circumstances,  whether  commanded 
or  not. 

3.  We  imdertook  not  to  give  you  all  our  reasons  ;  the  minor 
may  be  false  upon  many  other  reasons.  And  were  your  major 
reduced  in  the  points  excepted  against,  we  should  deny  the 
minor  as  to  both  members. 

And  we  should  add  our  reasons : — 

1.  That  command  which  commandeth  an  act  in  itself  lawful 
and  only  such,  may  yet  be  sinful  privately,  by  omission  of 
something  necessary,  some  mode  or  circumstance. 

2.  It  may  sinfully  restrain,  though  it  sinfully  command  not. 

3.  It  may  be  sinful  iii  modis,  commanding  that  universally, 
or  indefinitely,  or  particularly,  or  singularly,  that  should  be 
otherwise ;  though  in  the  circumstances,  properly  so  called,  of 
the  act,  nothing  were  commanded  that  is  sinful. 

4.  It  may  through  culpable  ignorance  be  applied  to  undue 
subjects,  who  are  not  circumstances  :  as  if  a  people  that  have 
the  plague  be  commanded  to  keep  assemblies  for  worship,  the 
lawgiver  being  culpably  ignorant  that  they  had  the  plague. 
Many  more  reasons  may  be  given. 

Oppon.  We  make  good  our  major  by  shewing  that  the 
subject  is  not  changed,  thus  :  If  whensoever  the  first  act  is 
commanded  sub  'poena  injusta,  and  no  other  act  is  com- 
manded whereby  any  unjust  penalty  is  enjoined  (which  were 
your  words),  the  first  act  commanding  must  command  an 
unjust  punishment  (which  were  ours),  then  we  have  not 
changed  the  subject :  But  the  antecedent  is  true,  therefore 
the  consequent. 


364  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  [1661. 


XXII. 

The    Reply    to    the    Bishops'    Disputants,    which    was    not 
answered} — Reliquiae  Baxterianse^  by  Sylvester,  pp.  350 — 6. 

Whether  it  be  our  arguing  or  your  answering  that  is  "  lax, 
declamatory,  pedantic/'  (as  you  call  it,)  and  whether  your 
confident  insulting  arise  from  your  advantages,  or  infirmity  of 
mind,  and  want  of  matter  for  more  pertinent  answers,  are 
questions  that  we  shall  leave  to  impartial  judges.  And  we 
shall  crave  pardon  if  we  rather  seem  to  neglect  your  words, 
than  to  follow  you  in  these  strange  vagaries,  any  further 
than  mere  necessity  for  saving  your  readers  from  the 
error  into  which  they  are  fitted  to  mislead  them  doth 
require. 

To  prove  the  consequence  of  an  hypothetical  argument  by 
an  enthymeme  hath  not  been  used  to  be  accounted  culpable. 
The  proof  you  shall  not  want. 

That  we  removed  your  Answer,  by  showing  your  distinction 
frivolous,  deserved  not  to  be  called  "  a  popular  insinuation, 
superfluous/'  &c.  We  had  two  things  here  to  do :  the  first 
was,  if  we  had  been  at  hand  with  you,  to  have  called  on  you 
for  the  necessary  explanation  of  your  distinction,  whether  by 
"  commanded  by  lawful  power,"  you  mean  commanded  under 
no  penalty,  or  commanded  under  a  penalty,  consistent  with 
the  receiving  and  foi'bearing  mentioned  in  the  text,  or  com- 
manding under  a  penalty  inconsistent  with  this  receiving  and 
forbearance.  And  whether  you  mean  by  "  lawful  power," 
that  which  is  indeed  lawful  power  ad  hoc  or  only  ad  aliud  ? 
As  far  as  we  can  find  in  these  your  papers,  you  still  forbear 
to  explain  your  distinction.  But  this  we  must  yet  insist 
upon,  and  desire  of  you,  notwithstanding  all  your  excla- 
mations. 

'  This  paper  was  drawn  up  by  Baxter,  and  given  in  on  the  last  day  of  the 
king's  commission.— Reliquiae  Baxteriauae,  p.  356. 


1661.]  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  365 

And  then  our  next  work  must  be  to  show  you  that,  indeed 
your  distinction  is  useless  as  to  the  shaking  of  our  argument. 
The  latter  branch  of  your  distinction,  "  if  we  speak  of  things 
lawful  and  commanded,"  you  apply  to  the  denial  of  our 
antecedent  or  minor,  which  we  prove  stands  good,  notwith- 
standing this  your  Answer.  Indeed  we  speak  of  things  lawful 
as  such,  abstracting  from  command  :  but  we  speak  of  things 
which  materially  were  partly  not  commanded,  and  partly 
commanded.  It  was  not  commanded  to  eat  or  not  eat  the 
meats  in  question,  to  keep  the  days  or  not  keep  them  :  in 
these  they  went  against  no  law.  But  to  be  weak  in  the  faith, 
and  erroneously  to  take  things  lawful  to  be  unlawful,  and 
things  indifferent  to  be  necessary,  and  to  offend  a  brother  by 
the  use  of  liberty  on  the  other  side,  were  against  the  com- 
mands of  God.  Now  the  scope  of  our  argument  was  to 
shew  that,  if  you  speak  of  a  command  upon  the  penalty  of  the 
question,  your  distinction  helps  you  not  to  shake  our  argu- 
ment ;  because  as  it  is  true  that  the  text  speaketh  not  of  things 
so  commanded,  so  the  thing  that  we  are  proving  is,  that  it  is 
the  sense  of  the  text  to  forbid  all  such  commands.  If  it  be 
the  sense  of  the  text  to  forbid  such  commands,  then  your 
distinction  is  frivolous,  and  the  use  of  it  here  prevented,  and 
our  argument  stands  good.  But  it  is  the  sense  of  the  text  to 
forbid  all  such  commands^er^o,  the  minor  we  are  to  prove 
hereafter,  when  we  are  further  called  to  it  by  your  answers. 
But  if  by  "  command  "  you  mean  any  other  "command  without 
penalty,"  or  without  the  penalty  forbidden,  we  argue — If  it  be 
all  one,  as  to  our  case,  whether  it  be  so  commanded  or  not, 
then  your  distinction  is  frivolous,  and  our  argument  stands 
good  :  but  it  is  all  one  to  our  case,  whether  it  be  so  com- 
manded or  not ;  ergo,  this  was  the  sum  of  our  rejection  of 
your  Answer,  which  we  cannot  prosecute  till  you  will  be  per- 
suaded, as  we  have  required,  to  explain  your  distinction ;  and 
then  we  shall  know  what  to  speak  to. 

But  perhaps  you  take  your  very  refusal  to  explain  it,  to  be 
an  explanation ;  and  your  words  may  seem  to  allow  us  to 
understand  you  of  any  command,  with  this  penalty  or  with- 


866  Reply  to  the  Bishops^  Disputants.  [1661. 

out,  where  you  say,  "  That  text  which  speaks  of  things  under 
no  command  at  all,  is  brought  nothing  to  the  purpose  of  the 
things  which  we  debate  of,  being  under  some  command  of 
lawful  authority."  But  still  that  text  which  forbiddeth  any 
such  command,  and  so  taketh  away  the  authority  of  so  com- 
manding, is  something  to  the  purpose,  as  proving  that  no 
human  authority  should  so  command.  But  this  text  forbid- 
deth any  such  command,  and  so  taketh  away  the  authority  of 
so  commanding  :  ergo,  and  as  it  is  a  command  consistent 
with  "receiving,  forbearing,"  &c.,  that  you  may  be  understood 
to  speak  of — 1.  If  you  speak  de  facto  et  dejure,  and  suppose 
that  there  be,  and  ought  to  be,  no  other  command,  then  you 
grant  us  the  cause  that  there  should  be  no  command,  upon 
penalty  of  being  "  not  received,  not  forborne,"  &c.  2.  If  your 
supposition  be  de  facto  only,  then  that  commanding  which 
consisteth  with  God^s  command  "to  receive  and  forbear,  &c.," 
altereth  not  the  case.  But  such  is  the  commanding  that  now 
you  are  supposed  to  speak  of:  ergo,  so  still  your  distinguish- 
ing toucheth  not  our  argument,  no  more  than  if  you  had 
distinguished  of  the  instructed  and  un instructed,  and  said 
Paul  speaketh  of  those  that  were  uninstructed  only ;  ergo,  he 
is  not  alleged  to  the  purpose. 

Whereas  you  say  "  That  this  penalty,  that  the  minister  be 
enjoined  not  to  administer  the  communion  to  those  that  dis- 
obey such  command,  is  no  ways  inconsistent  with  the  receiving 
and  all  the  indulgences  of  that  truth,"  we  shall  prove  the 
contrary  anon  in  due  place. 

For  appellation  to  indifferent  persons,  we  also  are  willing 
such  shall  judge  whether,  if  your  distinction  speak  of  no 
commanding  but  such  as  is  consistent  with  this  "  receiving, 
forbearing,^'  &c.,  it  leave  us  not  in  possession  of  the  force 
of  our  argument?  And  if  it  speak,  de  jure,  that  there  should 
be  no  other,  whether  it  yield  not  up  the  cause? 

It  seems  our  very  phrase  of  "  begging  the  question,"  being 
misunderstood  by  you,  hath  been  taken  as  your  greatest 
occasion  of  insulting.  But  if  we  used  an  unusual  phrase,  if 
that  occasioned  your  mistake,  we  can  beg  your  pardon,  and 


1661.]  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  367 

explain  it,  with  less  wrong  to  our  cause  or  ourselves  than  you 
can  make  such  use  of  it  as  to  yours.  We  did  not  dream  of 
charging  you  with  that  begging  of  the  question  which  is  the 
fallacy  and  fault  of  the  opponent,  as  it  is  the  begging  of  a 
principle  undertaken  to  be  proved :  we  know  this  is  not  inci- 
dent to  the  respondent,  nor  to  be  imputed  to  him.  We 
charged  you  with  no  such  thing,  though  we  confess  our 
phrase  was  liable  to  your  misinterpretation.  But  we  crave 
your  willingness  to  understand  that  we  were  proving  that 
such  things  may  not  be  by  rulers  enjoined  or  commanded 
under  the  penalty  of  exclusion  from  communion;  and  that  the 
latter  branch  of  your  distinction  hath  the  nature  of  a  reason 
of  your  denial  of  the  proposition  denied,  viz.,  because  the 
things  are  commanded;  and  that  by  our  telling  you  of 
begging  the  question,  we  mean  but  this  much  : — 1.  That  you 
give  us  a  reason  implied  in  a  distinction,  which  is  but  equal  to 
a  simple  negation,  and  is  not  (we  say  not  the  giving  a  suffici- 
ent reason,  but)  the  giving  of  a  reason  indeed  at  all. 
2.  That  it  is  but  equal  to  an  unsavory  denial  of  the 
mere  conclusion.  3.  Yea,  that  it  is  a  preposterous  re- 
duction of  the  rule  to  the  action,  and  of  the  former  to  the 
latter.  Suppose  we  had  thus  phrased  our  proposition. 
"  Rulers  themselves  are  here  forbidden  to  enjoin  or  command 
the  rejecting  of  such  as  are  only  weak  in  the  faith,  &c. ; "  and 
you  should  distinguish  and  say — "either  rulers  have  corn- 
have,  manded  the  rejecting  them  for  such  things,  or  not ;  if  they 
then  we  deny  the  proposition,"  that  is,  "  if  they  have  done 
it,  they  may  do  it,  and  the  text  that  forbids  it,  is  to  be  under- 
stood of  such  rulers  as  have  not  already  forbidden  it :  "  teU 
us  how  you  will  call  such  distinguishing  yourselves,  and  you 
may  understand  our  meaning.  It  is  all  one  if  you  put  your 
exception  into  the  description  of  the  fault :  and  when  we  say 
God  here  forbiddeth  governors  themselves  to  make  any  com- 
mands or  injunctions  for  rejecting  such  as  are  only  weak  in 
the  faith,  and  mistake  about  indiflferent  things ;  and  you  dis- 
tinguish thus — "  either  the  weak  offend  against  such  commands 
or  not ;    if  they  do  sin  against  such  commands,  then  the  text 


368  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  [1661. 

forbiddeth  not  the  making  of  such  commands : "  give  this 
kind  of  distinguishing  and  answering  a  proper  name  yourselves. 
Or  if  to  our  proposition  you  say^  "  the  indifferent  things  are 
commanded  by  the  governors^  or  not ;  if  they  be,  then  God 
forbiddeth  not  the  governor  to  command  the  rejection  of  the 
persons  from  communion;"  that  is,  "though  God  forbid  govern- 
ors to  make  laws  for  rejecting  such  as  err  about  indifferent 
things  only,  yet  that  is  on  supposition  that  the  said  governors 
do  not  first  command  those  indifferent  things ;  for  if  once 
they  command  them,  they  may  then  command  the  rejection 
of  those  that  break  them  : "  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  that  for- 
biddeth the  rejection  of  such,  simply  and  antecedently  to  the 
laws  of  men,  forbiddeth  the  rejecting  of  them,  mediately  or 
immediately,  and  forbiddeth  the  framing  of  such  commands 
as  shall  be  means  of  the  prohibited  rejection.  But  God  in 
the  text  forbiddeth  the  rejection  of  such,  simply  and  antece- 
dently to  the  laws  of  men :  ergo,  he  forbiddeth  the  rejecting 
of  them,  mediately  or  immediateh^,  and  forbiddeth  the 
framing  of  such  commands  as  shall  be  means  of  the  pro- 
hibited rejection. 

Though  we  have  thus  taken  off  your  Answer,  we  shall 
give  you  fuller  proof  in  the  end  of  what  you  can  reason- 
ably expect. 

You  next  answer  this  argument  of  ours. — "  If  there  be  no 
power  that  may  command  such  things,  any  further  than  may 
stand  with  the  reception  and  other  indulgences  of  the  text, 
then  must  you  not  suppose  that  any  power  may  otherwise 

command   them.     But   the    antecedent   is  true:    ergo '' 

Here  you  deny  the  minor,  which  I  prove  thus  : — 

If  none  have  power  to  break  the  laws  of  God,  then  there  is 
no  power  that  may  command  such  things,  any  further  than 
may  stand  with  the  reception,  and  other  indulgences,  of  the 
text.  But  none  have  power  to  break  the  laws  of  God  :  ergo, 
there  is  no  power  that  may  command  such  things,  any 
further  than  may  stand  with  the  reception,  and  other  in- 
dulgences of  the  text. 

We  had  used  before  another  argument  to  prove  the  minor. 


1661.]  Rephj  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  369 

tlius — ''If  Paul,  and  tte  resident  pastors  of  the  cliurch  of 
Rome,  had  no  power  to  command  such  things,  farther  than 
may  stand  with  the  said  reception  and  indulgence,  then  no 
others  have  such  power :  but  Paul,  and  the  resident  pastors 
of  the  church  of  Rome,  had  no  such  power— er^o,  there  are 
no  others  that  have  such."  Here  you  deny  the  assumption, 
which  is  proved  by  the  foregoing  medium.  If  Paul,  and  the 
resident  pastors  of  the  church  of  Rome,  had  no  power  to 
cross  the  will  of  God,  then  they  had  no  power  to  command 
such  things,  farther  than  may  stand  with  the  said  reception 
and  indulgence :  but  Paul,  and  the  resident  pastors  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  had  no  power  to  cross  the  will  of  God  :  ergo — 

You  vainly  call  the  explication  of  our  enthymeme,  in 
plainer  words,  "  the  proving  of  its  obscure  consequence  by  the 
more  obscure  consequence  of  another,^'  and  hereupon  insult. 
But  we  shall  take  leave  to  leave  you  to  your  humour,  in  such 
things.  If  it  offend  you,  blot  out  the  enthymeme,  seeing  you 
have  reply  enough  without  it ;  or  if  you  will  be  still  tempted 
to  insult  till  you  are  delivered  from  the  enthymeme,  you  have 
our  sense  in  this  argument. 

If  the  things  spoken  of  by  the  apostle  were  not  only  not 
commanded,  but  forbidden  to  be  commanded,  any  further 
than  may  stand  with  the  reception  and  indulgence  of  the 
text,  then  there  is  no  such  disparity  in  the  cases  as  may 
shake  our  consequence,  though  with  us  such  things  are 
commanded.  But  the  antecedent  is  true;  ergo^  so  is  the 
consequent. 

To  your  second  Answer,  we  first  again  endeavoured  to 
bring  you  to  explain  your  distinction,  what  commanding  you 
mean ;  but  have  no  return  to  that  but  silence,  which  we  take 
to  be  tergiversation. 

Then  we  argued  thus — ''If  there  be  no  such  disparity 
of  the  cases  as  may  warrant  your  disparity  of  penalty  against 
your  brethren,  then  our  argument  still  stands  good.  But 
there  is  no  such  disparity  of  the  case  as  may  warrant  your 
disparity  of  penalty  against  your  brethren;"  ergo — 

You  deny  the  minor,  which  we  proved  thus. — "If  those  that 

B    B 


370  Reply  of  the  Bishops^  Disputants.  [1661. 

Paul  speaks  of,  tliat  must  be  received  and  forborne,  did  sin 
against  the  command  of  God,  in  the  weakness  of  their  faith, 
and  their  erroneous  refusing  of  things  as  sinful,  that  were  not 
to  be  so  refused,  then  there  is  no  such  disparity  in  the  cases 
as,''  &c.     "  But,"  &c.,  ergo— 

Here  you  deny  the  consequence,  which  we  prove  thus — If 
the  sin  of  those  that  dare  not  kneel  be  no  greater  than  theirs 
that  were  weak  in  the  faith,  and  refused  things  lawful  as  un- 
lawful, and  took  things  indifferent  as  necessary,  and  hereby 
gratified  the  Jews  and  other  enemies  of  the  church,  and  tres- 
passed on  the  church's  liberties  purchased  by  Christ,  and  yet 
became  the  censurers  of  the  strong ;  and  if  the  scruple  of 
kneeling  have  as  fair  excuses  as  the  other,  then  the  con- 
sequence is  good,  and  there  is  no  such  disparity  in  the  cases 
as  may  warrant  your  penalty.  But  the  antecedent  is  true ; 
ei'go  so  is  the  consequent. 

We  shall  prosecute  the  comparison  further  anon. 

We  added  here  this  reason  in  brief.  "  For  you  suppose 
those  that  refuse  to  kneel  to  break  the  command  of  man,  and 
those  that  Paul  spoke  of  broke  the  command  of  God,  and 
yet  were  to  be  received  and  forborne;"  ergo  there  is  no  such 
disparity  as  may  warrant  your  penalty.  Here  you  add  to  our 
words,  "  the  command  of  man,"  the  word  "  only,"  and  say, 
that  else  we  do  but  trifle.  We  reply,  that  by  adding  your 
own  words,  and  then  persuading  us  to  own  them  lest  we 
trifle,  you  do  worse  than  trifle,  and  your  gross  injustice  hath 
no  fair  pretence,  being  against  the  light  of  our  conclusion  and 
undertaking ;  we  were  but  to  prove  that  there  was  no  such 
disparity,  i.e.,  that  the  fault  of  those  that  kneel  not,  was  not 
greater,  and  so  much  greater  as  might  warrant  your  penalty. 
Therefore  as  you  will  acknowledge  kneeling  at  the  sacrament 
to  be  immediately  but  the  command  of  man,  and  weakness  of 
faith,  error,  censuring,  &c.,  to  be  immediately  against  a 
command  of  God,  (which  yet  we  spoke  of  but  for  just  de- 
nomination, and  not  to  prove  a  disparity  to  our  advantage,) 
so  if  we  prove  no  disparity  against  us,  we  do  what  we  under- 
take.     And  that  a  sin  against  the  command  of  God  immedi- 


1C61.]  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  371 

ately,  is  as  well  worthy  of  punishment  as  a  sin  againt  the 
command  of  man  immediately  cateris  paribus  is  true,  and  all 
that  we  affirmed,  and  all  that  we  were  bound  to  prove. 

Yet  you  importune  us  to  answer  you  a  question — "  Whether 
is  not  the  erroneous  refusing  of  lawful  things  cammanded  by 
lawful  authority,  as  sinful  as  the  refusing  of  things  as  sinful 
that  were  not  to  be  so  refused?"  We  answer  you — 1.  But 
with  them  and  you  it  is  the  thing  in  controversy,  whether  they 
are  lawful  things  or  not  ?  2.  If  they  be,  what  then  ?  Why 
you  say,  "  If  so,  then,  even  according  to  your  own  reasoning, 
if  you  reason  at  all,  these  refusers  to  kneel  sin  against  God, 
and  the  rule  yourselves  lay  down  thereof,  as  well  as  those 
Rom.  xiv."  And  what  then  ?  Is  there  therefore  a  disparity 
because  they  do  alike  ?  Are  such  as  these  the  occasions  of 
your  insulting?  We  shall  then  suspect  you  have  some  gross 
mistake,  whenever  we  find  you  thus  insulting.  But  you  say, 
"  That  e7^go  we  did  fallaciously  insinuate  the  one  to  break  the 
command  of  God,  and  the  other  to  break  the  command  of 
men.''  But  really  is  it  not  so  ?  If  you  allow  not  the  distinc- 
tion inter  leges  divinas  et  humanas,  you  know  how  singular 
you  ai'e,  and  what  consequences  will  follow.  If  you  do,  why 
may  we  not  use  such  denominations  ?  But  you  say  of  the 
sinfulness,  "  It  is  most  evidently  common  to  the  former  with 
the  latter."  1 .  If  the  controversy  be  yielded  you,  it  is  so. 
2.  And  what  then?  Because  it  is  common,  ergo  there  is 
such  a  disparity  as  may  warrant  your  grievous  penalty.  We 
only  prove  no  such  disparity,  and  we  are  notably  confuted  by 
your  proof  that  the  sinfulness  is  common,  that  is,  by  yielding 
what  we  prove. 

Next,  in  many  words  you  tell  us  of  a  disparity.  1.  Because 
in  our  case  kneeling  is  commanded.  2.  Because  the  things 
are  antecedently  helps  to  piety.  To  which  we  have  before 
answered  : — 1.  God  hath  forbidden  all  commands  of  such 
things,  inconsistent  with  the  reception  and  forbearance  in 
question.  2.  Their  sin  of  weakness  in  faith  and  error,  were 
also  against  commands.  3.  We  shall  show  greater  reasons 
of  disparity  on  the  other  side.      4.  The  thing  in  question 

B   B   2 


372  Reply  to  the  Bishops^  Disputants .  [1661. 

(kneeling)  liatli  nothing  antecedent  to  the  command  to  make 
the  refusal  of  it  sinful,  no,  nor  [more]  meet  than  other 
gestures.     Of  which  after. 

To  your  third  Answer  we  replied — "  If  Rom.  xiv  and  xv 
speak  of  things  lawful  and  no  further  commanded  than  may 
consist  with  'receiving  and  forbearing/  forbidding  any  other 
commanding  of  such  things ;  then  the  text  is  most  pertinent 
to  prove  that  there  ought  to  be  no  such  commands,  and  that 
they  are  sinful.     But  the  antecedent  is  true ;  "  e^-go — 

Here  you  tell  us  of  "  manifest  fallacy/'  of  "  advantageous 
equivocation/'  or  else  a  "  gross  ignoratio  elencliip  in  the  con- 
clusion; words  easy  to  be  uttered  by  you.  But  if  you  will 
"  profess  all  along/'  as  you  say,  "  to  proceed  or  debate  only 
of  things  lawful  and  commanded  by  lawful  power ; "  that  is, 
lawfully,  when  our  very  question  is,  ''  Whether  such  things 
can  be  so  commanded  ?"  and  we  are  proving  that  they  cannot ; 
and  you  will  call  it  an  ignoratio  elenchi  if  we  will  not  grant 
you  all  in  question,  but  will  endeavour  to  prove  the  contrary 
to  what  you  would  have  granted ;  this  is  that  which  we  before 
called  even  the  respondents'  begging  of  the  question,  when  he 
accuseth  the  opponent  for  proving  what  he  denieth,  and  would 
put  that  into  the  siibject  as  not  to  be  questioned,  which  is  in 
the  predicate,  and  we  are  disproving.  2.  And  remember  that 
in  your  first  paper  we  were  not  called  to  dispute  the  parity  or 
disparity  of  the  offences  :  ergo,  by  "  such  things,"  we  mean 
such  things  as  are  mentioned  Eom.  xiv  and  xv.  And  our 
conclusion  there  goeth  no  further,  that  matter  being  further 
to  be  carried  on  in  its  proper  place. 

To  your  fourth  answer  we  replied — "  That  immediately  was 
no  term  in  our  question."  You  say  you  may  distinguish ; 
true,  but  you  cannot  bind  us  to  prove  that  the  men  that  we 
prove  are  to  be  received  to  communion,  must  be  immediately 
received,  when  we  never  affirmed  it,  as  long  as  you  tell  us  not 
whether  you  speak  de  immediatione  temporis,  vel  conditionis 
vel  status,  or  what  you  mean  by  immediately.  In  regard  of 
lime,  no  man  in  the  church  is  immediately  to  be  received  to 
the  sacrament,  till  the  very  time  come. 


1661.]  B^eply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  373 

2.  We  argued — "  If  the  Holy  Ghost  command  the  receiv- 
ing of  men  to  that  church-communion  in  general  without 
exception,  whereof  the  communion  in  the  holy  sacrament  is  a 
most  eminent  part,  then  he  thereby  commandeth  the  receiving 
them  to  the  communion  in  the  sacrament.  But,  &c.  Ergo,"  &c. 
Your  Answer  signifieth  that  it  is  a  receiving  first  to  instruc- 
tion, and  not  to  the  sacrament,  till  some  change  be  made; 
you  tell  us  not  what :  or  that  it  is  such  a  receiving  as 
may  consist  with  denying  them  the  communion.  We  shall 
now,  therefore,  prove  in  order  these  two  propositions,  which 
are  to  be  next  proved. 

1.  That  the  reception  that  Paul  speaketh  of  is  such 
as  is  not  consistent  with  denial  of  the  sacrament  for  those 
faults. 

2.  That  there  is  no  such  disparity  between  their  faults  and 
those  that  refuse  to  kneel  at  the  sacrament,  as  may  warrant 
your  disparity  of  penalty  or  usages. 

The  first  we  shall  prove — 1.  From  the  text  before  us. 
2.  By  other  Scriptures.  3.  By  testimony  of  expositors, 
especially  those  of  your  own  way  in  other  things. 

I.  So  to  receive  one  another  as  Christ  received  us  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father,  and  this  not  to  doubtful  disputation 
(or  not  to  judge  their  doubtful  thoughts),  and  not  to  despise 
or  judge  one  another,  but  to  take  each  other  for  such  as  do 
what  we  do  to  the  Lord ;  and  let  every  man  be  fully  per- 
suaded in  his  own  mind ;  and  so  as  to  distinguish  the  points 
that  we  differ  about  from  those  in  which  God's  kingdom  doth 
consist,  in  which  whosoever  serveth  Christ  is  acceptable  to 
God,  and  should  be  approved  of  men ;  and  so  as  to  follow  the 
things  that  edify  and  make  for  peace,  and  not  lay  a  stumbling- 
block  or  occasion  of  falling  in  our  brother's  way,  or  destroy 
him  by  the  uncharitable  use  of  our  liberty,  knowing  it  is  sin 
to  him  that  esteemeth  it  sin ;  but  to  forbear  ourselves  to  use 
those  things  in  controversy  whereby  our  brother  stumbleth 
or  is  offended,  because  he  is  damned  if  he  use  them  doubt- 
ingly ;  and  therefore  to  have  the  belief  of  their  lawfulness  to 
ourselves  before  God,  and  to  bear  with  the  infirmities  of  the 


374  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  [1661. 

weak,  and  please  them  to  their  edification,  and  not  to  please 
ourselves,  that  so  being  like-minded  one  towards  another,  that 
with  one  mind  and  one  mouth  we  may  glorify  God  :  we  say 
thus  to  receive  is  not  consistent  with  the  denial  of  communion 
in  the  sacrament  for  those  faults.  But  such  was  the  receiving 
required  by  the  apostle,  Rom  xiv  and  xv.     Ergo  - 

He  that  can  seriously  ponder  all  these  expressions,  and  the 
scope  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  yet  can  believe  that  all  this 
receiving  is  but  such  as  consisteth  with  forbidding  them  com- 
munion in  the  Lord's  supper,  which  then  was  so  great  a  part 
of  the  daily  communion  of  the  church ;  and  also  may  consist 
with  the  further  process  against  people  and  ministers  to  ex- 
communication, and  prohibition  to  preach  the  gospel,  which 
is  now  pleaded  for  in  our  case ;  is  of  so  strange  a  temperature 
of  understanding,  as  that  we  can  have  little  hope  by  any 
Scripture  evidence  to  convince  him. 

2.  When  the  Holy  Ghost  requireth  men  in  general  to 
receive  others  as  church  members  into  church-communion, 
with^the  affection  and  tenderness  here  expressed,  and  doth 
not  except  any  ordinary  part  of  church  communion,  it  is  not 
lawful  for  us  to  interpret  it  of  such  a  receiving  as  excludeth 
the  principal  part  of  ordinary  church-communion. 

But  in  Rom.  xiv  and  xv,  the  Holy  Ghost  requireth  men 
in  general  to  receive  others  as  church  members  into  church- 
communion,  with  the  affection  and  tenderness  here  ex- 
pressed, and  doth  not  except  any  ordinary  part  of  church- 
communion. 

Ergo,  it  is  not  lawful  for  us  to  interpret  it  of  such 
a  receiving  as  excludeth  the  principal  part  of  ordinary 
communion. 

The  reason  of  the  major  is,  because  as  the  whole  containeth 
all  the  parts,  so  when  the  whole  or  general  is  commanded,  if 
men  may  take  liberty  to  except  the  very  principal  part,  where 
the  law  doth  not  except  it,  then  no  commands  can  be  in- 
telligible, or  such  interpreters  may  have  liberty  to  make  void 
the  law  at  their  own  pleasure.  As  when  it  is  said,  "  Honour 
the  king,"  and  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject    to    the  higher 


1661.]  Rephj  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  375 

powers/'  and  "  resist  not/'  &c.,  if  men  may  take  liberty,  by 
interpreting,  to  except  the  very  principal  part  of  honour,  and 
the  principal  persons  from  subjection,  and  the  principal  case 
from  "  resist  not,"  it  will  be  no  just  interpretation.  If  these 
same  persons  had  a  command  in  general,  to  "  worship  God/' 
or  "  hold  communion  with  the  church,"  if  they  themselves 
should  interpret  it  so  as  to  exclude  worshipping  God  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  or  holding  communion  with  the 
church  therein,  we  doubt  not  but  they  would  be  judged  unjust 
distinguishers. 

The  minor  is  granted  us  by  our  reverend  brethren,  who 
here  openly  confess  that  the  text  speaketh  of  church  mem- 
bers, and  of  receiving  them  to  church-communion,  though 
they  unwarrantably  interpret  it  of  such  a  communion  as  ex- 
tendeth  not  to  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist. 

3.  If  the  text,  Rom.  xiv  and  xv,  forbid  not  one  part  to  put 
away  others  from  communion  in  the  sacrament  of  the 
eucharist,  then  it  forbiddeth  not  the  other  party  to  separate 
from  their  brethren  in  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist. 

But  the  consequent  is  false :  ergo  so  is  the  antecedent. 

The  reason  of  the  consequence  of  the  major  is,  because  if 
it  speak  not  of  that  part  of  communion  to  one  party,  it  can- 
not speak  of  it  to  the  other,  it  being  plainly  the  same 
comhaunion  that  it  speaketh  of  to  both. 

The  minor  is  ordinarily  granted  us  by  the  dissenters,  when 
they  apply  this  text  against  separatists,  that  upon  the  account 
of  ceremonies  and  things  indiflFerent,  condemn  the  church, 
and  judge  their  brethren,  and  separate  from  their  communion 
in  the  eucharist. 

II.  From  other  Scriptures.  If  in  all  the  Word  of  God 
there  be  no  mention  of  such  a  receiving  into  church-com- 
munion (much  less  with  all  these  prohibitions  of  judging, 
despising,  offending,  &c.),  as  consisteth  with  rejecting  from 
communion  in  the  eucharist,  of  any  person  naturally 
capable,  then  the  word  "  receiving  "  is  not  to  be  so  expounded 
here. 

But  in  all  the  word  of  God  there  is  no  mention  of  such  a 


376  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  [1661. 

receiving  into  church-communion  (much  less  with  all  these 
prohibitions^  &c.)  as  coiisisteth  with  rejecting  from  com- 
munion in  the  eucharist,  of  any  person  natui'ally  capable. 

Ergo,  the  word  "  receiving/'  is  not  to  be  so  expounded 
here. 

The  reason  of  the  consequence  of  the  major  is^  because 
here  is  no  apparent  ground  in  this  text  for  us  to  understand 
the  receiving  spoken  of,  as  different  from  what  is  mentioned 
in  all  other  places  of  the  Holy  Scripture  :  and  if  without 
any  such  ground  we  should  allow  ourselves  a  singular  interpre- 
tation, we  should  open  a  way  to  men  to  make  what  they 
please  of  Scripture. 

The  minor  being  to  be  proved  by  an  induction  of  all 
particular  texts,  it  will  be  the  briefer  way  for  the  re- 
spondent to  instance  in  any  one  which  he  thinks  hath 
such  a  sense,  and  then  we  shall  be  ready  to  prove  the 
contrary. 

III.  For  the  sense  of  expositors  we  shall  begin  with  the 
learned  Dr.  Hammond,  who  expounded  the  text  of  church- 
communion,  and  such  communion  as  cannot  exist  with  ex- 
communicating from  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  or  the 
other  heavy  penalties  upon  ministers  and  people  which  we  now 
plead  against,  as  may  be  seen  in  these  his  plain  expressions. 
"Verse  1.  And  for  the  preserving  of  that  Christian  charity 
among  all,  mentioned  solemnly,  chap.  xiii>  8,  9,  10  {vid.  loc). 
I  shall  enlarge  to  give  these  rules.  The  Jewish  believers — on 
the  other  side,  the  Gentile  believers  seeing  the  Jewish  stand 
upon  such  things — are  apt  to  separate ;  and  so,  betwixt  one 
and  other,  the  communion  is  like  to  be  broken.  The  scrupu- 
lous or  erroneous  Judaizer  do  the  Gentiles  not  reject,  but 
receive  to  your  communion;  yet  not  so  that  he  thereby 
thinks  himself  encouraged  or  authorised  to  quarrel  with  other 
men's  resolutions,  and  to  condemn  others.  Verse  3.  The 
scrupulous  Judaizer  must  not  reject  and  cast  out  of  his  com- 
munion the  Gentile  Christian,  for  God  hath  admitted  him 
into  his  church  (without  laying  that  yoke  upon  him),  as  a 
servant  into  his  family,  and  he  is  not  to  be  excluded  by  the 


1G61.J  Rephj  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  377 

Judaizer  for  such  things  as  these.  Verse  4.  What  commis- 
sion hast  thou,  O  Jewish  Christian,  to  judge  God's  servant, 
received  and  owned  by  him,  to  exclude  him  out  of  the 
church?  God  is  able  to  clear  him,  if  he  please,  and  he 
certainly  will,  having,  by  receiving  him  into  his  family,  given 
him  this  liberty.  Verse  5.  In  such  things  every  man  must 
act  by  his  own,  and  not  by  another  man's  judgment  or  con- 
science, what  he  is  verily  persuaded  he  ought  to  do ;  and 
therefore  unity  and  charity  ought  not  to  be  broken  by  you 
for  such  things.  Verses  6,  7.  And  this  sure  is  well  done  on 
both  sides ;  for  no  man  of  us  is  to  do  what  he  himself  likes 
best,  but  what  he  thinks  is  most  acceptable  to  God.  Verse  9. 
And  all  the  fruit  of  Christ's  death,  and  suffering,  and  resur- 
rection, which  accrues  to  him,  is  only  this — that  he  may  have 
power  and  dominion  over  us  all,  to  command  or  give  what 
liberty  he  pleaseth.  Verse  10.  But  why  dost  thou  Jewish 
condemn  the  Gentile  Christian,  or  exclude  him  from  thy 
communion,  because  he  useth  his  Christian  liberty  ?  &c.  Or 
thou.  Gentile  Christian,  why  dost  thou  think  it  a  piece  of 
senseless  stupidity  in  the  Jew  to  abstain,  and  thereupon  des- 
pise and  vilify  him^  which  also  is  a  kind  of  judging  Lim? 
Whereas,  indeed,  neither  of  you  is  to  be  the  judge  of  the 
other,  but  Christ  of  you  both.  Verse  13.  Do  not  any  longer 
censure  and  separate  from  one  another's  communion  for  such 
things  as  these.  Verse  14.  The  persuasion  of  its  being  for- 
bidden him  is,  as  long  as  he  is  so  persuaded,  sufficient  to 
make  it  to  him  unlawful  to  use  that  liberty :  see  ver.  15^  16. 
Verse  17.  For  Christianity  consists  not  in  such  external 
matters,  but  in  mercifulness,  and  peaceableness,  and  delight 
to  do  good  one  to  another ;  not  dividing,  and  hating,  and  ex- 
communicating one  another.  Verse  19.  Let  us  most  zealously 
attend  to  those  things  which  may  thus  preserve  peace  among 
all  sorts  of  Christians,  though  of  different  persuasions. 
Verse  20.  Do  not  thou,  for  so  inconsiderable  a  matter  as 
eating  is,  or  because  another  will  not,  or  dares  not,  make  use 
of  that  Christian  liberty^  disturb  that  peace,  that  unity  which 
God  hath  wrought.      Verse  21.    It  is  not  cliaritable  to  make 


378  Reply  to  the  Bishops'  Disputants.  [1661. 

use  of  any  part  of  Cliristian  liberty,  when  by  this  so  doing  any 
other  man  is  kept  from  receiving  the  faith,  or  any  way 
wounded  or  hurt,  i.  e.  brought  to  any  kind  of  sin.  Verse  23. 
And,  indeed,  for  the  scrupulous  Jew,  there  is  little  reason  he 
should  be  so  ill-used  for  his  daring  [not]  to  eat,  when  he  thinks 
himself  otherwise  obliged ;  for  it  were  a  damning  sin,  for 
which  his  own  conscience  already  condemns  him,  should  he 
eat  or  do  any  indifferent  thing,  as  long  as  he  thinks  in 
conscience  that  it  is  not  so.  Chap,  xv,  5,  Q,  7.  And  that 
God,  for  whom  we  ought  to  suffer,  give  you  the  grace  of 
unity  and  charity,  such  as  Christ  commanded  and  expects 
from  you,  that  ye  may  join  unanimously  Jews  and  Gentiles 
into  one,  and  assembling  together,  worship  and  serve  the 
Lord,  in  all  unity  of  affections  and  form  of  words.  Where- 
fore, in  all  humility  of  condescension  and  kindness,  embrace 
and  succour  one  another,  help  them  up  when  they  are  fallen, 
instead  of  despising  and  driving  them  fi^om  your  communion, 
after  the  example  of  Christ's  usage  towards  men,  who  came 
from  heaven  and  laid  down  his  life  to  relieve  us — and 
there  is  nothing  by  which  God  is  more  glorified  than  this.'' 

If  all  this  may  consist  with  rejecting  from  all  com- 
munion in  the  eucharist,  and  afterwards  excommunicating, 
suspending,  silencing,  imprisoning,  &c.,  we  understand  not 
English. 

2.  In  like  manner  Grotius,  in  lac.  cap.  xiv.  ] .  Contra 
vocati  e  Gentibus,  conscii  datee  per  Christum  libertatis,  Judceos 
Judaice  viventes  a  sua  communione  valebant  excludere,  (ii,  18, 

21)  unde  secuturum  erat  schisma Huic  mala  ut  occurrat 

Paulus,  mediam  institit  viam,  et  Judceos  qui  in  Christum  cre- 
diderant,  monet  ita  suam  sequantur  opinionem,  ut  a  damnandis 
crimine  impietatis  qui  aliter  sentiebant,  abstineant.  Ex  genti- 
bus vera  vocatos,  ne  illorum  quamvis  Judaice  viventium 
communionem  dpfugiant,  et  ut  imperitos  spernant.  Tipo/rXuf/j- 
Qdcvs(7^s.  Societate  Ecclesia,  sicut  qui  hosjntio  aliquem 
excipiunt,  dicuntur  cum  TrpoffXccf/j^ccvetv^  (Acts  xviii,  26 ; 
xxviii,  2.)  Ecclesia  enim  domui  comparatur  supra  (xi,  25.) 
Sumitur    hcec    admonitio    ex    lis    qua    de     Christo     dicta; 


1661.]  Petition  to  the  King.  379 

(Matt,  xii,  20.)  2'Tolerandi  sunt  ii  qui  ab  omnibus  animatis 
abstinendum  putant,  quod  quidam  faciebant  religione  quddam. 
Cap.  XV,  6.  "Ifa  ofLo^vf/jahov  h  m  so^ocri  ho^uZf^rs  rov 
Qsov,  id  est,  ut  cum  Deum  laudatis,  eique  preces  funditis, 
facialis  id  non  tantum  eodem  verborum  sono—sed  et  animo 
pleno  mutucB  delectionis,  sine  contemptu,  sine  odio.  Habes  hanc 
vocem  6(j(jo'^u(/jCchov  (Act.  ii,  46),  ubi  forma  est  ecclesim perfectis- 
simce.  A  dde  ad  ejus  vocis  explicationem  id  quod  est,  Act.  iv,  32, 
(all  which  includeth  communion  in  the  eucharist.) — Verse  7. 
Nolite  ob  res  tales,  alii  alios  a  fraternitate  abscindere. 


XXIII. 

Petition  to  the  King  at  the  Close  of  the  Conference. — Reliquiae 
Baxterianse,  by  Sylvester,  pp.  366 — 8.^ 

To  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty.  The  due  account 
and  humble  Petition  of  us  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  lately 
Commissioned  for  the  Review  and  Alteration  of  the 
Liturgy. 

May  it  please  your  Majesty ; 
When  this  distempered  nation,  wearied  with  its  own 
contentions  and  divisions,  did  groan  for  unity  and  peace,  the 
wonderful  providence  of  the  most  righteous  God  appearing 
for  the  removal  of  impediments,  their  eyes  were  upon  your 
majesty,  as  the  person  born  to  be,  under  God,  the  centre  of 
their  concord,  and  taught  by  affliction  to  break  the  bonds  of 
the  afflicted,  and  by  experience  of  the  sad  effects  of  men's 
uncharitableness  and  passions,  to  restrain  all  from  violence 
and  extremities,  and  keeping  moderation  and  mediocrity,  the 
oil  of  charity  and  peace.  And  when  these  your  subjects' 
desires  were  accomplished  in  your  majesty's  peaceable  posses- 
sion of  your  throne,  it  was  the  joy  and  encouragement  of  the 
sober  and  religious,  that  you  began  the  exercise  of  your 
'  Printed  as  originally  drawn  up  by  Baxter.— Reliquiae  Baxterianae,  p.  365. 


380  Petition  to  the  King.  [1661. 

government  with  a  proclamation  full  of  Christian  zeal  against 
debauchery  and  profaneness^  declaring  also  your  dislike  of 
"^  those  who  under  pretence  of  affection  to  your  majesty  and 
your  service,  assume  to  themselves  the  liberty  of  reviling, 
threatening,  and  reproaching  others,  to  prevent  that  recon- 
ciliation and  union  of  hearts  and  affections,  which  can  only 
with  God's  blessing,  make  us  rejoice  in  each  other/^  Our 
comforts  also  were  carried  on  by  your  majesty's  early  and 
ready  entertainment  of  motions  for  accommodation  in  these 
points  of  discipline  and  worship  in  which  we  were  disagreed, 
and  your  professed  resolutions  to  draw  us  together  by  mutual 
approaches,  and  publishing  your  healing  Declaration,  which 
was  received  with  the  thanks  of  your  House  of  Commons,  and 
the  applause  of  the  people,  and  the  special  joy  of  those  that 
longed  for  concord  and  tranquillity  in  the  church.  In  which 
your  majesty  declareth  so  much  satisfaction  in  the  founda- 
tions of  agreement  already  laid,  as  that  you  "  should  think 
yourself  very  unfortunate,  and  suspect  that  you  are  defective 
in  the  administration  of  government,  if  any  superstructures 
should  shake  these  foundations,  and  contract  or  lessen  the 
blessed  gift  of  charity,  which  is  a  vital  part  of  Christian 
religion.'^  And  as  in  the  said  gracious  Declaration,  your 
majesty  resolved  to  "appoint  an  equal  number  of  learned 
divines  of  both  persuasions  to  review  the  liturgy,  and  to 
make  such  alterations  as  shall  be  thought  most  necessary, 
and  some  additional  forms  (in  the  Scripture  phrase  as  near  as 
may  be)  suited  unto  the  nature  of  the  several  parts  of  wor- 
ship; and  that  it  be  left  to  the  minister's  choice,  to  use  one 
or  other  at  his  discretion;"  so  in  accomplishment  thereof, 
your  majesty  among  others,  directed  your  commission  unto 
us  for  the  review  of  "  the  several  directions,  rules,  and  forms 
of  prayer,  and  things  in  the  said  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
contained  :"  and  "  if  occasion  be,  to  make  such  reasonable 
and  necessary  alterations,  corrections,  and  amendments 
therein,  as  by  and  between  us  shall  be  agreed  upon  to  be 
needful  or  expedient  for  the  giving  of  satisfaction  to  tender 
consciences,  and  the  restoring  and  continuance  of  peace  and 


1661.]  Petition  to  the  King.  381 

unity  in  the  churches  under  your  protection  and  government/' 

and  what  we  "  agree  upon  as  needful  or  expedient  to  be 

done^  for  the  altering,  diminishing,  or  enlarging  the  said 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  or  any  part  thereof,  forthwith  to 
certify  and  present  it  in  writing"  to  your  majesty. 

In  obedience  to  this  your  majesty's  commission,  we  met 
with  the  Right  Reverend  Bishops,  who  required  of  us,  that 
before  any  personal  debates,  we  should  "  bring  in  writing,  all 
our  Exceptions  against  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  all 
the  additional  forms  which  we  desired."  Both  which  we 
performed ;  and  received  from  them  an  Answer  to  the  first, 
and  returned  them  our  full  Reply.  The  last  week  of  our 
time,  being  designed  to  personal  conference,  was  at  the  will 
of  the  Right  Reverend  Bishops  spent  in  a  particular  dispute 
by  three  of  each  part,  about  the  sinfulness  of  one  of  the 
injunctions,  from  which  we  desired  to  be  free;  and  in  some 
other  conference  on  the  by.  And  though  the  account  which 
we  are  forced  to  give  your  majesty  of  the  issue  of  our  con- 
sultations is  that,  no  agreements  are  subscribed  by  us,  to  be 
offered  your  majesty,  according  to  your  expectation;  and 
though  it  be  none  of  our  intent  to  cast  the  least  unmeet 
reflections  upon  the  Right  Reverend  Bishops  and  learned 
brethren  who  think  not  meet  to  yield  to  any  considerable 
alterations  to  the  ends  expressed  in  your  majesty's  commis- 
sion ;  yet  we  must  say,  that  it  is  some  quiet  to  our  minds  that 
we  have  not  been  guilty  of  your  majesty's  and  your  subjects' 
disappointments,  and  that  we  account  not  your  majesty's 
gracious  commission,  nor  our  labour  lost,  having  peace  of 
conscience  in  the  discharge  of  our  duties  to  God  and  you : 
that  we  have  been  the  seekers  and  followers  of  peace,  and 
have  earnestly  pleaded,  and  humbly  petitioned  for  it;  [and 
offered  for  it  any  price  below  the  offence  of  God  Almight}^, 
and  the  wounding  or  hazard  of  our  own,  or  of  the  people's 
souls;  and  that  we  have  in  season  borne  our  testimony 
against  those  extremes,  which  at  last  will  appear  to  those 
that  do  not  now  discern  it,  to  have  proceeded  from  uncharit- 
able mistake,  and  tended  to  the  division  and  trouble  of  the 


383  Petition  to  the  King.  [1661. 

church  :  that  whatever  shall  become  of  charity ^  unity,  and 
concord,  our  life,  our  beauty,  and  our  bands,  our  consciences 
tell  us  we  have  not  deserted  them,  nor  left  any  probable 
means  unattempted,  which  we  could  discern  within  our 
power.]  2  And  we  humbly  beseech  your  majesty  to  believe, 
that  we  own  no  principles  of  faction  or  disobedience,  nor 
patronize  the  errors  or  obstinacy  of  any.  It  is  granted  us  by 
all,  that  nothing  should  be  commanded  us  by  man,  which  is 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  :  that  if  it  be,  and  we  know  it, 
we  are  bound  not  to  perform  it,  God  being  the  absolute 
universal  sovereign;  that  we  must  use  all  just  means  to  dis- 
cern the  will  of  God,  and  whether  the  commands  of  man  be 
contrary  to  it :  that  if  the  command  be  sinful,  and  any, 
through  the  neglect  of  sufficient  search,  shall  judge  it  lawful, 
his  culpable  error  excuseth  not  his  doing  of  it  from  being 
sin ;  and  therefore  as  a  reasonable  creature  must  needs  have 
a  judgment  of  discerning,  that  he  may  rationally  obey,  so  are 
we  with  the  greatest  care  and  diligence  to  exercise  it  in  the 
greatest  things,  even  the  obeying  of  God  and  the  saving  of 
our  souls ;  and  that  where  a  strong  probability  of  great  sin 
and  danger  lieth  before  us,  we  must  not  rashly  run  on  with- 
out search ;  and  that  to  go  against  conscience,  even  where  it 
is  mistaken,  is  sin  and  danger  to  him  that  erreth.  And  on 
the  other  side  we  are  agreed  that,  in  things  no  way  against 
the  laws  of  God,  the  commands  of  our  governors  must  be 
obeyed :  that  if  they  command  what  God  forbids,  we  must 
patiently  submit  to  suffering;  and  every  soul  must  be  subject 
to  the  higher  powers,  for  conscience  sake,  and  not  resist : 
that  public  judgment,  civil,  or  ecclesiastical,  belongeth  only 
to  public  persons,  and  not  to  any  private  man  :  that  no  man 
must  be  causelessly  and  pragmatically  inquisitive  into  the 
reasons  of  his  superior's  commands;  nor  by  pride  and  self- 
conceitedness  exalt  his  own  understanding  above  its  worth 
and  office;  but  all  to  be  modestly  and  humbly  self- suspicious: 

2  This  passage  between  brackets  was  left  out  in  the  Address  as  presented 
to  the  king. 


1661. J  Pelition  to  the  King.  383 

tliat  none  must  erroneously  pretend  God's  law  against  the 
just  command  of  his  superior^  nor  pretend  the  doing  of  his 
duty  to  be  sin :  that  he  who  suspecteth  his  superior's  com- 
mands to  be  against  God's  laws,  must  use  all  means  for  full 
information,  before  he  settle  in  a  course  of  disobeying  them : 
and  that  he  who  indeed  disco vereth  anything  commanded  to 
be  sin,  though  he  must  not  do  it,  must  manage  his  opinion 
with  very  great  tenderness  and  care  of  the  public  peace,  and 
the  honour  of  his  governors.  These  are  our  principles.  If 
we  are  otherwise  represented  to  your  majesty  we  are  misre- 
presented. If  we  are  accused  of  contradicting  them,  we 
humbly  crave  that  we  may  never  be  condemned  till  we  are 
heard.  It  is  the  desire  of  our  souls  to  contribute  our  parts 
and  interests  to  the  utmost,  for  the  promoting  of  holiness, 
charity,  unity,  and  obedience  to  rulers  in  all  lawful  things. 
But  if  we  should  sin  against  God,  because  we  are  com- 
manded, who  shall  answer  for  us,  or  save  us  from  his  justice? 
And  we  humbly  crave,  that  it  may  be  no  unjust  grievance  of 
our  dissent,  that  thereby  we  suppose  superiors  to  err;  seeing 
it  is  but  supposing  them  to  be  men  not  yet  m  heaven ;  and 
this  may  be  imputed  to  every  one  that  differeth  in  opinion 
from  another.  And  we  beseech  your  majesty  to  believe  that, 
as  we  seek  no  greater  matters  in  the  world  than  our  daily 
bread,  with  libeety  to  preach  tiie  gospel,  and  worship  God 
according  to  his  Word  and  the  practice  of  the  primitive 
purest  church,  so  we  hope  it  is  not  through  pusillanimity  and 
overmuch  tenderness  of  suffering  that  we  have  pleaded  so 
much  for  the  avoiding  of  suffering  to  ourselves  or  others. 
May  none  of  our  sufferings  hinder  the  prosperity  of  the 
church,  and  the  good  of  souls  [of  men !  May  not  our  dread 
sovereign,  the  breath  of  our  nostrils,  be  ten:pted  by  mis- 
representations to  distaste  such  as  are  faithful,  and  unawares 
to  wrong  the  interest  of  Christ,  and  put  forth  his  hand  to 
aiSict  those  that  Christ  would  have  him  cherish,  lest  their 
head  should  be  provoked  to  jealousy  and  offence  !  May  not 
the  land  of  our  nativity  languish  in  divisions,  nor  be  filled  with 
the  groans  of  those  that  are  shut  out  of  the  holy  assemblies. 


384  Petition  to  the  King.  [1661. 

and  those  that  want  the  necessary  breaking  of  the  bread  of 
life,  nor  be  disappointed  of  its  expected  peace  and  joy  ! 
Let  not  these  things  befall  us  J  ^  and  we  have  enough.  And 
we  suppose  those  that  think  the  persons  inconsiderable  in 
number  and  quality  for  whom  we  plead,  will  not  themselves 
believe  that  we  have  done  this  for  popular  applause.  This 
were  not  so  much  to  seek  the  reward  of  hypocrites,  as  to 
play  the  game  of  fools ;  seeing  the  applause  of  inconsiderable 
men  can  be  but  inconsiderable;  and  we  know  ourselves  that 
we  are  like  thus  to  oflFend  those  that  are  not  inconsiderable. 
The  Lord,  that  searcheth  hearts,  doth  know  that  it  is  not  so 
much  the  avoiding  of  suffering  to  ourselves  or  any  particular 
persons  that  is  the  end  of  our  endeavours  (though  this  were 
no  ambitious  end,)  as  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  church  and 
kingdoms  under  your  majesty^s  government.  We  know  that, 
supposing  them  that  are  for  the  ceremonies  to  be  as  pious 
and  charitable  as  the  rest,  it  cannot  so  much  offend  them 
that  another  man  forbeareth  them,  as  it  must  offend  that 
other  to  be  forced  to  use  them  :  and  we  know  that  conscien- 
tious men  will  not  consent  to  the  practice  of  things  in  their 
judgments  unlawful,  when  those  may  yield  that  count  the 
matters  but  indifferent. 

And  for  the  management  of  this  treaty,  it  being  agreed  at 
our  first  meeting,  that  nothing  be  reported  as  the  words  or 
sense  of  either  part,  but  what  is  by  them  delivered  in  writing, 
we  humbly  crave  that  your  majesty  receive  no  more  as  ours; 
and  that  what  is  charged  on  any  particular  person,  he  may 
be  answerable  for  himself.  And  though  the  reverend  bishops 
have  not  had  time  to  consider  of  our  Additions  to  the  liturg}^, 
and  of  our  Reply,  that  yet  they  may  be  considered  before  a 
determination  be  made.  And  though  we  seem  to  have 
laboured  in  vain,  we  shall  yet  lay  this  work  of  reconciliation 
and  peace  at  the  feet  of  your  majesty,  beseeching  you  to 
prosecute  such  a  blessed  resolution  till  it  attain  success.     We 


3  This  passage  between  brackets  was  left  out  in  the  Address  as  presented 
to  the  king. 


1661.]  Petition  to  the  King.  385 

must  needs  believe;,  that  when  your  majesty  took  our  consent 
to  a  liturgy,  to  be  a  foundation  that  would  infer  our  concord, 
you  meant  not  that  we  should  have  no  concord,  but  by  con- 
senting to  this  liturgy  without  any  considerable  alteration. 
And  when  you  comforted  us  with  your  resolution  to  draw  us 
together,  by  yielding  on  both  sides  in  what  we  could,  you 
meant  not  that  we  should  be  the  boat,  and  they  the  bank 
that  must  not  stir.  And  when  your  majesty  commanded  us 
by  your  letters  patents  to  treat  about  such  alterations  as  are 
"  needful  or  expedient  for  giving  satisfaction  to  tender  con- 
sciences, and  the  restoring  and  continuance  of  peace  and 
unity,"  we  rest  assured  that  it  was  not  your  sense,  that  those 
tender  consciences  were  to  be  forced  to  practise  all  which 
they  judged  unlawful,  and  not  so  much  as  a  ceremony  abated 
them.  Or  that  our  treaty  was  only  to  convert  either  part  to 
the  opinion  of  the  other ;  and  that  all  our  hopes  of  concord 
or  liberty  consisted  only  in  disputing  the  bishops  into  non- 
conformity, or  coming  in  every  ceremony  to  their  minds. 

Finally,  as  your  majesty,  under  God,  is  the  protection 
Avhereto  your  people  fly,  and  as  the  same  necessities  still 
remain,  which  drew  forth  your  gracious  Declaration,  we  most 
humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  your  majesty,  that  the  benefits 
of  the  said  Declaration  may  be  continued  to  your  people,  and 
in  particular,  "  that  none  be  punished  or  troubled  for  not 
using  the  Common  Prayer,  till  it  be  effectually  reformed," 
and  the  additions  made  as  there  expressed. 

We  crave  your  majesty's  pardon  for  the  tediousness  of  this 
Address,  and  shall  wait  in  hope,  that  so  great  a  calamity  of 
your  people,  as  would  follow  the  loss  of  so  many  able  faithful 
ministers  as  rigorous  impositions  would  cast  out,  shall  never 
be  recorded  in  the  history  of  your  reign :  but  that  these 
impediments  of  concord  being  forborne,  your  kingdoms  may 
flourish  in  piety  and  peace,  and  this  may  be  the  signal  honour 
of  your  happy  government,  and  your  joy  in  the  day  of  your 
accounts.     Which  is  the  prayer  of 

Your  majesty's  faithful  and  obedient  subjects. 


c  c 


386  Act  of  Uniformity.  [1662. 

XXIY. 

The  Act  of  Uniformity. 

An  Act  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers  and  Administra- 
tion of  Sacraments  and  other  Kites  and  Ceremonies :  and 
for  establishing  the  form  of  making,  ordaining,  and  conse- 
crating Bishops^  Priests_,  and  Deacons,  in  the  Church  of 
England. 
Whereas,  in  the  first  year  of  the  late  Queen  Ehzabeth,  there 
was  one  uniform  order  of  common  service  and  prayer,  and  of 
the  administration  of  sacraments,  rites,  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church  of  England  (agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God^  and 
usage  of  the  primitive  church)  compiled  by  the  reverend 
bishops  and  clergy,  set  forth  in  one  book,  entitled  "  The  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 
and  other  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England," 
and  enjoined  to  be  used  by  Act  of  Parliament,  holden  in  the 
said  first  year  of  the  said  late  queen,  entitled  An  Act  for 
Uniformity  of  Common  Prayer  and  service  in  the  Church, 
and  administration  of  the  sacraments,  very  comfortable  to  all 
good  people  desirous  to  live  in  Christian  conversation,  and 
most  profitable  to  the  estate  of  this  realm,  upon  the  which 
the  mercy,  favour,  and  blessing  of  Almighty  God  is  in  no 
wise  so  readily  and  plentifully  poured  as  by  common  prayers, 
due  using  of  the  sacraments,  and  often  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
with  devotion  of  the  hearers.  And  yet  this,  notwith- 
standing, a  great  number  of  people  in  divers  parts  of  this 
realm,  following  their  own  sensuality,  and  living  without 
knowledge,  and  due  fear  of  God,  do  wilfully  and  schismati- 
cally  abstain  and  refuse  to  come  to  their  parish  churches, 
and  other  public  places  where  common  prayer,  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  and  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God  is 
used  upon  the  Sundays  and  other  days  ordained  and  appointed 
to  be  kept  and   observed   as  holy  days :     And   whereas,  by 


1G62.]  Act  of  UniformUy.  387 

the  great  and  scandalous  neglect  of  the  ministers  in  using  the 
said  order  or  liturgy  so  set  forth  and  enjoined  as  aforesaid, 
great  mischiefs  and  inconveniences,  during  the  time  of  the 
late  unhappy  troubles,  have  arisen  and  grovrn,  and  many 
people  have  been  led  into  factions  and  schisms,  to  the  great 
decay  and  scandal  of  the  reformed  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  to  the  hazard  of  many  souls.  For  prevention 
^vhereof  in  time  to  come,  for  settling  the  peace  of  the  church, 
and  for  allaying  the  present  distempers  which  the  indisposition 
of  the  time  hath  contracted,  the  king's  majesty  (according 
to  his  declaration  of  the  five-and-twentieth  of  October,  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty,)  granted  his  commission, 
under  the  great  seal  of  England,  to  several  bishops  and  other 
divines,  to  review  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  to  prepare 
such  alterations  and  additions  as  they  thought  fit  to  offer.  And 
afterwards  the  convocations  of  both  the  provinces  of  Canter- 
bury and  York,  bemg  by  his  majesty  called  and  assembled, 
(and  now  sitting)  his  majesty  hath  been  pleased  to  authorize 
and  require  the  presidents  of  the  said  convocation,  and  other 
the  bishops  and  clergy  of  the  same,  to  review  the  said  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  the  book  of  the  form  and  manner  of 
the  making  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  : 
and  that,  after  mature  consideration,  they  should  make  such 
additions  and  alterations  in  the  said  books  respectively,  as  to 
them  should  seem  meet  and  convenient;  and  should  exhibit 
and  present  the  same  to  his  majesty  in  writing,  for  his 
further  allowance  or  confirmation;  since  which  time,  upon 
full  and  mature  deliberation,  they  the  said  presidents,  bishops, 
and  clergy  of  both  provinces,  have  accordingly  reviewed  the 
said  books,  and  have  made  some  alterations  which  they  think 
fit  to  be  inserted  to  the  same ;  and  some  additional  prayers 
to  the  said  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  to  be  used  upon  proper 
and  emergent  occasions;  and  have  exhibited  and  presented 
the  same  unto  his  majesty  in  writing,  in  one  book,  entitled 
"The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  and  other  Eites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church, 
according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England,  together 

c  c  2 


S88  Act  of   Uniformity.  [1662 

with  tlie  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David,  pointed  as  tliey  are  to 
be  sung  or  said  in  churches;  and  the  form  and  manner  of 
makings  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons."  All  which  his  majesty  having  duly  considered^ 
hath  fully  approved  and  allowed  the  same,  and  recommended 
to  this  present  parliament,  that  the  said  Books  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  of  the  form  of  ordination  and  consecration  of 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  with  the  alterations  and  additions 
which  have  been  so  made  and  presented  to  his  majesty  by  the 
said  convocations,  be  the  book  which  shall  be  appointed  to  be 
used  by  all  that  officiate  in  all  cathedral  and  collegiate 
churches  and  chapels,  and  in  all  chapels  or  colleges,  and  halls 
in  both  the  Universities,  and  the  colleges  of  Eton  and  Win- 
chester, and  in  all  parish  churches  and  chapels  within  the 
kingdom  of  England,  dominion  of  A¥ales,  and  town  of  Ber- 
wick-upon-Tweed, and  by  all  that  make  or  consecrate  bishops, 
priests,  or  deacons,  in  any  of  the  said  places,  under  such 
sanctions  and  penalties  as  the  Houses  of  Parliament  shall 
think  fit. 

II.  Now  in  regard  that  nothing  conduceth  more  to  the 
settling  of  the  peace  of  this  nation  (which  is  desired  of  all 
good  men)  nor  to  the  honour  of  our  religion,  and  the  propa- 
gation thereof,  than  a  universal  agreement  in  the  public  wor- 
ship of  Almighty  God,  and  to  the  intent  that  every  person 
within  this  realm,  may  certainly  know  the  rule  to  which  he  is 
to  conform  in  public  worship,  and  administration  of  sacra- 
ments, and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  church  of 
England,  and  the  manner  how,  and  by  whom  bishops,  priests, 
and  deacons  are,  and  ought  to  be  made,  ordained,  and  conse- 
crated. Be  it  enacted  by  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty, 
by  the  advice  and  with  the  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  and  of  the  commons  in  this  present  parliament  as- 
sembled, and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  all  and 
singular  ministers  in  any  cathedral,  collegiate,  or  parish 
church  or  chapel,  or  other  place  of  public  Avorship  within  this 
realm  of  England,  dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of  Berwick- 
upon-Tweed,  shall  be   bound   to   say  and   use  the   morning 


1662.]  Act  of  Umformitij.  389 

prayer^  evening  prayer^  celebration  and  administration  of 
both,  the  sacraiuentSj  and  all  other  the  public  and  common 
prayer^  in  such  order  and  form  as  is  mentioned  in  the  said 
book  annexed^  and  joined  to  this  present  Act,  and  entitled, 
"The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  and  other  Eites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church, 
according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England,  together 
with  the  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David  :  pointed  as  they  are 
to  be  sung  or  said  in  churches  :  and  the  form  or  manner  of 
making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons :"  and  that  the  morning  and  evening  prayers  therein 
contained,  shall,  upon  every  Lord's  day,  and  upon  all  other 
days  and  occasions,  and  at  the  times  therein  appointed^  be 
openly  and  solemnly  read  by  all  and  every  minister  or  curate 
in  every  church,  chapel,  or  other  place  of  public  worship, 
within  this  realm  of  England,  and  places  aforesaid. 

III.  And  to  the  end  that  uniformity  in  the  public  worship 
of  God,  (which  is  so  much  desired  may  be  speedily  effected,) 
Be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  every 
parson,  vicar,  or  other  minister  whatsoever,  who  now  hath  and 
enjoy eth  any  ecclesiastical  benefice  or  promotion  within  this 
realm  of  England,  or  places  aforesaid,  shall  in  the  church, 
chapel,  or  place  of  public  worship  belonging  to  his  said  bene- 
fice or  promotion,  upon  some  Lord's  day  before  the  feast  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
God,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty  two,  openly,  pub- 
licly, and  solemnly  read  the  morning  and  evening  prayer 
appointed  to  be  read  by  and  according  to  the  said  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  at  the  times  thereby  appointed ;  and  after 
such  reading  thereof,  shall  openly  and  publicly,  before  the 
congregation  there  assembled,  declare  his  unfeigned  assent 
and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  in  the  said  book  contained 
and  prescribed  in  these  words  and  no  other. 

IV.  I,  A.  B.,  do  here  declare  my  unfeigned  assent  and 
consent  to  all  and  everything  contained  and  prescribed  in 
and  by  the  book  intituled,  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments,  and  other  Rites  and 


390  Act  of   Umformihj.  [1662, 

Ceremonies  of  the  Churcli,  according  to  the  use  of  the  Church 
of  England,  together  with  the  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David, 
pointed  as  they  are  to  be  sung  or  said  in  churches :  and  the 
form  or  manner  of  making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of 
bishops,  priests,  and  deacons." 

V.  And  tliat  all  and  every  such  person  who  shall  (without 
some  lawful  impediment,  to  be  allowed  and  approved  of  by 
the  ordinary  of  the  place)  neglect  or  refuse  to  do  the  same 
within  the  time  aforesaid  (or  in  case  of  such  impediment), 
within  one  month  after  such  impediment  removed,  shall, 
ipso  facto,  be  deprived  of  all  his  spiritual  promotions. 
And  that  from  thenceforth  it  shall  be  lawful  to,  and  for  all 
patrons  and  donors  of  all  and  singular  the  said  spiritual 
promotions,  or  of  any  of  them,  according  to  their  respective 
rights  and  titles,  to  present  or  collate  to  the  same,  as 
though  the  person  or  persons  so  offending  or  neglecting 
were  dead. 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  person  who  shall  hereafter  be  presented  or  collated, 
or  put  into  any  ecclesiastical  benefice  or  promotion  within 
this  realm  of  England,  and  places  aforesaid,  shall,  in  the 
church,  chapel,  or  place  of  public  worship  belonging  to  his 
said  benefice  or  promotion,  within  two  months  next  after  that 
he  shall  be  in  the  actual  possession  of  the  said  ecclesiastical 
benefice  or  promotion,  upon  some  Lord's  day,  openly, 
publicly,  and  solemnly,  read  the  morning  and  evening  prayers 
appointed  to  be  read  by  and  according  to  the  said  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  at  the  times  thereby  appointed,  or  to  be 
appointed,  and  after  such  reading  thereof,  shall  openly  and 
publicly,  before  the  congregation  there  assembled,  declare  his 
unfeigned  assent  and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  therein 
contained  and  prescribed,  according  to  the  form  before  ap- 
pointed. And  that  all  and  every  such  person,  who  shall 
(without  some  lawful  impediment,  to  be  allowed  and  approved 
by  the  ordinary  of  the  place)  neglect  or  refuse  to  do  the  same 
within  the  time  aforesaid,  (or  in  the  case  of  such  impediment, 
within  one  month  after  such  impediment  removed,)  shall, 


1662.]  Act  of   Umformity.  391 

ifpso  facto,  be  deprived  of  all  his  said  ecclesiastical  benefices 
and  promotions.  And  that  from  thenceforth  it  shall  and  may- 
be lawful  to  and  for  all  patrons  and  donors  of  all  and  singular 
the  said  ecclesiastical  benefices  and  promotions^  or  any  of 
them,  according  to  their  respective  rights  and  titles,  to  present 
or  collate  to  the  same,  as  though  the  person  or  persons  so 
offending  or  neglecting  were  dead. 

VII.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  in  all  places  where  the  proper  incumbent  of  any  parson- 
age, or  vicarage,  or  benefice  with  cure,  doth  reside  on  his 
living  and  keep  a  curate,  the  incumbent  himself  in  person 
(not  having  some  lawful  impediment,  to  be  allowed  by  the 
ordinary  of  the  place),  shall  once  (at  the  least)  in  every 
month,  openly  and  publicly,  read  the  common  prayers  and 
service,  in  and  by  the  said  book  prescribed,  and  (if  there  be 
occasion)  administer  each  of  the  sacraments,  and  other  rites 
of  the  church,  in  the  parish  church  or  chapel  of,  or  belonging 
to  the  same  parsonage,  vicarage,  or  benefice,  in  such  order, 
manner,  and  form,  as  in  and  by  the  said  book  is  appointed ; 
upon  pain  to  forfeit  the  sum  of  five  pounds  to  the  use  of 
the  poor  of  the  parish,  for  every  offence,  upon  conviction  by 
confession,  or  proof  of  two  credible  witnessess  upon  oath, 
before  two  justices  of  the  peace  of  the  county,  city,  or  town 
corporate  where  the  offence  shall  be  committed  (which  oath 
the  said  justices  are  hereby  empowered  to  administer),  and  in 
default  of  payment  within  ten  days,  to  be  levied  by  distress 
and  sale  of  the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  oflender  by  the 
warrant  of  the  said  justices,  by  the  churchwardens,  or  over- 
seers of  the  poor  of  the  said  parish,  rendering  the  surplusage 
to  the  party. 

VIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  every  dean,  canon,  and  prebendary  of  every 
cathedral  or  collegiate  church,  and  all  masters,  and  other 
heads,  fellows,  chaplains,  and  tutors  of  or  in  any  college, 
hall,  house  of  learning,  or  hospital,  and  every  public  pro- 
fessor and  reader  in  either  of  the  universities,  and  in  every 
college  elsewhere,  and  every  parson,  vicar,  curate,  lecturer. 


392  Act  of  Uniformity.  [1662. 

and  every  other  person  in  holy  orders,  and  every  school- 
master keepmg  any  public  or  private  school,  and  every  person 
instructing  or  teaching  any  youth  in  any  house  or  private 
family  as  a  tutor  or  schoolmaster,  who  upon  the  first  day  of 
May  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  sixty-two,  or  at  any  time  thereafter 
shall  be  incumbent  or  have  possession  of  any  deanery, 
canonry,  prebend,  mastership,  headship,  fellowship,  pro- 
fessor's place,  or  reader's  place,  parsonage,  vicarage,  or  any 
other  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion,  or  of  any  curate's 
place,  lecture  or  school;  or  shall  instruct  or  teach  any 
youth  as  tutor  or  schoolmaster,  shall  before  the  feast  day 
of  St.  Bartholomew  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two,  or  at  or 
before  his  or  their  respective  admission  to  be  incumbent  or 
have  possession  aforesaid,  subscribe  the  declaration  or  ac- 
knowledgment following : — scilicet. 

IX.  I,  A.  B.,  do  declare,  that  it  is  not  lawful,  upon  any 
pretence  whatsoever,  to  take  arms  against  the  king :  and  that 
I  do  abhor  that  traitorous  position  of  taking  arms  by  his 
authority  against  his  person,  or  against  those  that  are  com- 
missioned by  him :  and  that  I  will  conform  to  the  liturgy  of 
the  church  of  England  as  it  is  now  by  law  established :  and 
I  do  declare,  that  I  do  hold  there  lies  no  obligation  upon  me, 
or  any  other  person,  from  the  oath  commonly  called.  The 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  to  endeavour  any  change  or  alte- 
ration of  government  either  in  church  or  state ;  and  that  the 
same  was  in  itself  an  unlawful  oath,  and  imposed  upon  the 
subjects  of  this  realm  against  the  known  laws  and  liberties  of 
this  kingdom. 

X.  Which  said  declaration  and  acknowledgment  shall  be 
subscribed  by  every  of  the  said  masters,  and  other  heads, 
fellows,  chaplains,  and  tutors  of,  or  in  any  college,  hall,  or 
house  of  learning,  and  by  every  public  professor  and  reader 
in  either  of  the  universities,  before  the  vice  chancellor  of 
the  respective  universities  for  the  time  being,  or  his  deputy  : 
and  the  said  declaration  or  acknowledgment  shall  be  sub- 


1662.]  Act  of  Uniformity,  393 

scribed  before  the  respective  arcbbisliop,  bishop^  or  ordinary 
of  the  diocese^  by  every  other  person  hereby  enjoined  to  sub- 
scribe the  same ;  upon  pain  that  all  and  every  of  the  persons 
aforesaid  failing  in  such  subscription,  shall  lose  and  forfeit 
such  respective  deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  mastership,  head- 
ship, fellowship,  professor's  place,  reader's  place,  parsonage, 
vicarage,  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion,  curate's  place, 
lecture,  and  school,  and  shall  be  utterly  disabled,  and  ipso 
facto  deprived  of  the  same  :  and  that  every  such  respective 
deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  mastership,  headship,  fellowship, 
professor's  place,  reader's  place,  parsonage,  vicarage,  ecclesias- 
tical dignity  or  promotion,  curate's  place,  lecture  and  school, 
shall  be  void,  as  if  such  person  so  failing  were  naturally  dead. 
XI.  And  if  any  schoolmaster  or  other  person  instructing 
or  teaching  youth  in  any  private  house  or  family  as  a  tutor 
or  schoolmaster  shall  instruct  or  teach  any  youth  as  a  tutor 
or  schoolmaster,  before  license  obtained  from  his  respective 
archbishop,  bishop,  or  ordinary  of  the  diocese,  according  to 
the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm,  (for  which  he  shall  pay 
twelvepence  only,)  and  before  such  subscription  or  acknow- 
ledgment made  as  aforesaid :  then  every  such  schoolmaster, 
and  other  instructing  and  teaching  as  aforesaid  shall,  for  the 
first  offence,  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment,  without  bail 
or  mainprize;  and  for  every  second  and  other  such  offence 
shall  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment  without  bail  or 
mainprize,  and  also  forfeit  to  his  majesty  the  sum  of  five 
pounds :  and  after  such  subscription  made,  every  such 
parson,  vicar,  curate,  and  lecturer,  shall  procure  a  certificate, 
under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  respective  archbishop,  bishop, 
or  ordinary  of  the  diocese,  (who  are  hereby  enjoined  and  re- 
quired upon  demand  to  make  and  deliver  the  same,)  and 
shall  publicly  and  openly  read  the  same,  together  with  the 
declaration  or  acknowledgment  aforesaid,  upon  some  Lord's 
day  within  three  months  then  next  following  in  his  parish 
church  where  he  is  to  officiate,  in  the  presence  of  the  con- 
gregation there  assembled  in  the  time  of  divine  service; 
upon  pain  that  every  person  failing  therein  shall  lose  such 


394  Act  of  Uniformity.  [1063. 

parsonage,  vicarage,  or  benefice,  curate's  place  or  lecturer's 
place  respectively,  and  shall  be  utterly  disabled  and  ipso  facto 
deprived  of  the  same ;  and  that  the  said  parsonage,  vicarage, 
or  benefice,  curate's  place  or  lecturer's  place,  shall  be  void  as 
if  he  was  naturally  dead. 

XII.  Provided  always,  that  from  and  after  the  twenty-fifth 
day  of  March,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God 
one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty-two,  there  shall  be 
omitted  in  the  said  declaration  or  acknowledgment  so  to  be 
subscribed  and  read,  these  words  following,  scilicet  : 

And  I  do  declare,  that  I  do  hold  there  lies  no  obliga- 
tion on  me  or  any  other  person,  from  the  oath  commonly 
called  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  to  endeavour  any 
change  or  alteration  of  government  either  in  church  or 
state,  and  that  the  same  was  in  itself  an  unlawful  oath,  and 
imposed  upon  the  subjects  of  this  realm,  against  the  known 
laws  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom. 

So  as  none  of  the  persons  aforesaid  shall  from  thence- 
forth be  at  all  obliged  to  subscribe  or  read  that  part  of  the 
said  declaration  or  acknowledgment. 

XIII.  Provided  always  and  be  it  enacted,  that  from  and 
after  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew  which  shall  be  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two,  no 
person  who  now  is  incumbent  and  in  possession  of  any  par- 
sonage, vicarage,  or  benefice,  and  who  is  not  already  in  holy 
orders  by  episcopal  ordination,  or  shall  not  before  the  said 
feast-day  of  St.  Bartholomew  be  ordained  priest  or  deacon 
according  to  the  form  of  episcopal  ordination,  shall  have, 
hold,  or  enjoy  the  said  parsonage,  vicarage,  benefice,  with 
cure  or  other  ecclesiastical  promotion  within  this  kingdom  of 
England,  or  the  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of  Berwick- 
upon-Tweed,  but  shall  be  utterly  disabled  and  ipso  facto 
deprived  of  the  same,  and  all  his  ecclesiastical  promotions 
shall  be  void  as  if  he  was  naturally  dead. 

XIV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  no  person  whatsoever  shall  thenceforth  be  capable  to  be 
admitted  to  any  parsonage,  vicarage,  benefice,  or  other  eccle- 


1662.]  Act  of   Uniformity.  395 

siastical  promotion  or  dignity  whatsoever,  nor  sliall  presume 
to  consecrate  and  administer  the  holy  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper  before  such  time  as  he  shall  be  ordained  priest 
according  to  the  form  and  manner  in  and  by  the  said  book 
prescribed,  unless  he  have  formerly  been  made  priest 
by  episcopal  ordination;  upon  pain  to  forfeit  for  every 
oifence  the  sura  of  one  hundred  pounds,  one  moiety  thereof 
to  the  king's  majesty,  the  other  moiety  thereof  to  be  equally 
divided  between  the  poor  of  the  parish  where  the  offence 
shall  be  committed;  and  such  person  or  persons  as  shall 
sue  for  the  same  by  action  of  debt,  bill,  plaint,  or  informa- 
tion in  any  of  his  majesty's  courts  of  record,  wherein  no 
essoin,  protection,  or  wager  of  law  shall  be  allowed,  and  to  be 
disabled  from  taking  or  being  admitted  into  the  order  of 
priest  by  the  space  of  one  whole  year  then  next  following. 

XV.  Provided  that  the  penalties  in  this  Act  shall  not 
extend  to  the  foreigners  or  aliens  of  the  foreign  reformed 
churches,  allowed  or  to  be  allowed  by  the  king's  majesty, 
his  heirs  and  successors,  in  England. 

XVI.  Provided  always,  that  no  title  to  confer  or  present 
by  lapse,  shall  accrue  by  any  avoidance  or  deprivation  ipso 
facto  by  virtue  of  this  statute,  and  after  six  months  after 
notice  of  such  avoidance  or  deprivation  given  by  the  ordinary 
to  the  patron,  or  such  sentence  of  deprivation  openly  and 
publicly  read  in  the  parish  church  of  the  benefice,  parsonage, 
or  vicarage  becoming  void,  or  whereof  the  incumbent  shall 
be  deprived  by  virtue  of  this  act. 

XVII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  no  form  or  order  of  common  prayers,  administra- 
tion of  sacraments,  rites  or  ceremonies,  shall  be  openly  used 
in  any  church,  chapel,  or  other  public  place  of,  or  in  any  college 
or  hall  in  either  of  the  universities,  the  colleges  of  West- 
minster, Winchester,  or  Eton,  or  any  of  them,  other  than 
what  is  prescribed  and  appointed  to  be  used  in  and  by  the 
said  book;  and  that  the  present  governor  or  head  of 
every  college  and  hall  in  the  said  universities,  and  of  the 
said     colleges     of    Westminster,     Winchester,    and     Eton, 


396  Act  of   Uniformity.  [1662. 

within  one  month  after  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew  which 
shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  sixty-two;  and  every  governor  or  head  of  any  of  the 
said  colleges  or  halls  hereafter  to  be  elected  or  appointed, 
within  one  month  next  after  his  election  or  collation  and 
admission  into  the  same  government  or  headship,  shall 
openly  and  publicly  in  the  church,  chapel,  or  other  public 
place  of  the  same  college  or  hall,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  fellows  and  scholars  of  the  same,  or  the  greater  part 
of  them  then  resident,  subscribe  unto  the  Nine-and-Thirty 
Articles  of  religion  mentioned  in  the  statute  made  in  the 
thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  the  late  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  unto  the  said  book,  and  declare  his  unfeigned  assent 
and  consent  unto  and  approbation  of  the  said  articles,  and 
of  the  same  book,  and  to  the  use  of  all  the  prayers,  rites, 
and  ceremonies,  forms  and  orders,  in  the  said  book  pre- 
scribed and  contained,  according  to  the  form  aforesaid; 
and  that  all  such  governors  or  heads  of  the  said  col- 
leges and  halls,  or  any  of  them,  as  are,  or  shall  be,  in 
holy  orders,  shall  once  (at  least)  in  every  quarter  of 
the  year  (not  having  a  lawful  impediment)  openly  and 
publicly  read  the  morning  prayer  and  service  in  and  by 
the  said  book  appointed  to  be  read  in  the  church,  chapel, 
or  other  public  place  of  the  same  college  or  hall;  upon 
pain  to  lose  and  be  suspended  of  and  from  all  the  benefits 
and  profits  belonging  to  the  same  government  or  headship, 
by  the  space  of  six  months,  by  the  visitor  or  visitors  of 
the  same  college  or  hall;  and  if  any  governor  or  head  of 
any  college  or  hall,  suspended  for  not  subscribing  unto 
the  said  articles  and  book,  or  for  not  reading  of  the 
morning  prayer  and  service  as  aforesaid,  shall  not,  at  or 
before  the  end  of  six  months  next  after  such  suspension, 
subscribe  unto  the  said  articles  and  book,  and  declare  his 
consent  thereunto  as  aforesaid,  or  read  the  morning  prayer 
and  service  as  aforesaid,  then  such  government  or  headship 
shall  be  ipso  facto  void. 

XYIII.  Provided  always,  that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful 


1662.]  Act  of   Uniformily.  397 

to  use  the  morning  and  evening  prayer,  and  all  other  prayers 
and  service  prescribed  in  and  by  the  said  book^  in  the  chapels 
or  other  public  places  of  the  respective  colleges  and  halls  in 
both  the  universities,  in  the  colleges  of  Westminster, 
■Winchester,  and  Eton,  and  in  the  convocations  of  the 
clergies  of  either  province,  in  Latin;  anything  in  this  Act  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

XIX.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  no  person  shall  be,  or  be  received  as  a  lecturer,  or 
permitted,  suffered,  or  allowed  to  preach  as  a  lecturer,  or  to 
preach  or  read  any  sermon,  or  lecture  in  any  church,  chapel, 
or  other  place  of  public  worship,  within  this  realm  of 
England,  or  the  dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of  Berwick- 
upon-Tweed,  unless  he  be  first  approved,  and  thereunto 
licensed  by  the  archbishop  of  the  province,  or  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  or  (in  case  the  see  be  void)  by  the  guardian  of  the 
spiritualities,  under  his  seal,  and  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the 
same  archbishop,  or  bishop,  or  guardian,  read  the  Nine-and- 
Thirty  Articles  of  religion  mentioned  in  the  statute  of  the 
thirteenth  year  of  the  late  queen  Elizabeth,  with  declaration 
of  his  unfeigned  assent  to  the  same;  and  that  every 
person  and  persons  who  noAv  is,  or  hereafter  shall  be  licensed, 
assigned,  and  appointed,  or  received  as  a  lecturer,  to  preach 
upon  any  day  of  the  week,  in  any  church,  chapel,  or  place  of 
public  worship  within  this  realm  of  England,  or  places  afore- 
said, the  first  time  he  preacheth  (before  his  sermon)  shall 
openly,  publicly,  and  solemnly  read  the  common  prayers  and 
service  in  and  by  the  said  book  appointed  to  be  read  for  that 
time  of  the  day,  and  then  and  there  publicly  and  openly 
declare  his  assent  unto  and  approbation  of  the  said  book,  and 
to  the  use  of  all  the  prayers,  rites  and  ceremonies,  forms  and 
orders  therein  contained  and  prescribed,  according  to  the 
form  before  appointed  in  this  Act;  and  also  shall,  upon 
the  first  lecture  day  of  every  month  afterwards,  so  long  as  he 
continues  lecturer  or  preacher  there,  at  the  place  appointed 
for  his  said  lecture  or  sermon,  before  his  said  lecture  or 
sermon,  openly,  publicly,  and  solemnly   read   the   common 


398  Act  of   Uniformity.  [1662. 

prayers  and  service  in  and  by  the  said  book  appointed  to  be 
read  for  that  time  of  the  day  at  which  the  said  lecture  or 
sermon  is  to  be  preached,  and  after  such  reading  thereof, 
shall,  openly  and  publicly,  before  the  congregation  there 
assembled,  declare  his  unfeigned  assent  and  consent  unto  and 
approbation  of  the  said  book  and  to  the  use  of  all  the 
prayers,  rites  and  ceremonies,  forms  and  orders,  therein  con- 
tained and  prescribed,  according  to  the  form  aforesaid; 
and  that  all  and  every  such  person  and  persons  who  shall 
neglect  or  refuse  to  do  the  same,  shall  from  thenceforth  be 
disabled  to  preach  the  said  or  any  other  lecture  or  sermon  in 
the  said  or  any  other  church,  chapel,  or  place  of  public  wor- 
ship, until  such  time  as  he  and  they  shall  openly,  publicly, 
and  solemnly  read  the  common  prayers  and  service  appointed 
by  the  said  book,  and  conform  in  all  points  to  the  things 
therein  appointed  and  prescribed,  according  to  the  purpose, 
true  intent,  and  meaning  of  this  Act. 

XX.  Provided  always,  that  if  the  said  sermon  or  lecture 
be  to  be  preached  or  read  in  any  cathedral  or  collegiate 
church  or  chapel,  it  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  said  lecturer, 
openly,  at  the  time  aforesaid,  to  declare  his  assent  and  con- 
sent to  all  things  contained  in  the  said  book,  according  to  the 
form  aforesaid, 

XXI.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  if  any  person  who  is  by  this  Act  disabled  to  preach 
any  lecture  or  sermon,  shall,  during  the  time  that  he  shall 
continue  and  remain  so  disabled,  preach  any  sermon  or 
lecture;  that  then,  for  every  such  offence,  the  person  and 
persons  so  offending  shall  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment 
in  the  common  gaol,  without  bail  or  mainprize ;  and  that 
any  two  justices  of  the  peace  of  any  county  of  this  kingdom 
and  places  aforesaid,  and  the  mayor  or  other  chief  magistrate 
of  any  city  or  town  corporate  within  the  same,  upon  certifi- 
cate from  the  ordinary  of  the  place  made  to  him  or  them,  of 
the  offence  committed,  shall,  and  are  hereby  required  to  com- 
mit the  person  or  persons  so  offending,  to  the  gaol  of 
the  same  county,  city,  or  town  corporate  accordingly. 


i 


1662.]  Act  of   Uniformity.  399 

XXII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  at  all  and  every  time  and  times  when 
any  sermon  or  lecture  is  to  be  preached,  the  common  prayers 
and  service  in  and  by  the  said  book  appointed  to  be  read  for 
that  time  of  the  day,  shall  be  openly,  publicly,  and  solemnly 
read  by  some  priest  or  deacon,  in  the  church,  chapel,  or  place 
of  public  worship  where  the  said  sermon  or  lecture  is  to  be 
preached,  before  such  sermon  or  lecture  be  preached;  and 
that  the  lecturer  then  to  preach  shall  be  present  at  the 
reading  thereof. 

XXIII.  Provided  nevertheless,  that  this  Act  shall  not 
extend  to  the  university  churches  in  the  universities  of 
this  realm,  or  either  of  them,  when  or  at  such  times  as 
any  sermon  or  lecture  is  preached  or  read  in  the  said 
churches,  or  any  of  them,  for  or  as  the  public  university 
sermon  or  lecture ;  but  that  the  same  sermons  and  lectures 
may  be  preached  or  read  in  such  sort  and  manner  as  the 
same  have  been  heretofore  preached  or  read,  this  Act  or 
anything  herein  contained  to  the  contrary  thereof  in  any 
wise  notwithstanding. 

XXIV.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  the  several  good  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm, 
which  have  been  formerly  made,  and  are  now  in  force  for  the 
uniformity  of  prayer,  and  administration  of  the  sacraments 
within  this  realm  of  England,  and  places  aforesaid,  shall  stand 
in  full  force  and  strength  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatso- 
ever, for  the  establishing  and  confirming  of  the  said  book, 
entitled  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of 
the  Sacraments  and  other  Eites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Chm"ch 
according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England,  together  with 
the  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David,  pointed  as  they  are  to  be  said 
or  sung  in  churches,  and  the  form  or  manner  of  making, 
ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons," 
herein  before  mentioned,  to  be  joined  and  annexed  to  this  Act. 
And  shall  be  applied,  practised,  and  put  in  use  for  the  punish- 
ing of  all  offences  contrary  to  the  said  laws,  with  relation  to 
the  book  aforesaid,  and  no  other. 


400  Act  of   Umformity.  [1662. 

XXV.  Provided  always^  and  be  it  further  enacted^  by  the 
authority  aforesaid^  that  in  all  those  prayers,  litanies,  and 
collects  which  do  any  way  relate  to  the  king,  queen,  or  royal 
progeny,  the  names  be  altered  and  changed  from  time  to 
time,  and  fitted  to  the  present  occasion  according  to  the 
direction  of  lawful  authority. 

XXVI.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  a  true  printed  copy  of  the  said  book,  entitled 
"  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  and  other  Eites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church, 
according  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  England,  together  with 
the  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David,  pointed  as  they  are  to  be 
sung  or  said  in  churches,  and  the  form  and  manner  of 
making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and 
deacons  "  shall  at  the  costs  and  charges  of  the  parishioners  of 
every  parish  church  and  chapel,  cathedral,  church,  college, 
and  hall,  be  attained  and  gotten  before  the  feast  day  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  six 
hundred  sixty  and  two,  upon  pain  of  forfeiture  of  three 
pounds,  by  the  month,  for  so  long  time  as  they  shall  then- 
after  be  unprovided  thereof,  by  every  parish  or  chapelry, 
cathedral,  church,  college,  and  hall  making  default  therein. 

XXVII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  the  Bishops  of  Hereford,  St.  David's, 
Asaph,  Bangor,  and  Landaff,  and  their  successors,  shall  take 
such  order  among  themselves,  for  the  souls'  health  of  the 
flock  committed  to  their  charge,  within  Wales,  that  the  book 
hereunto  annexed  be  truly  and  exactly  translated  into  the 
British  or  Welsh  tongue ;  and  that  the  same  so  translated, 
and  being  by  them,  or  any  three  of  them  at  the  least,  viewed, 
perused,  and  allowed,  be  imprinted  to  such  number  at  least, 
so  that  one  of  the  said  books,  so  translated  and  imprinted, 
may  be  had  for  every  cathedral,  collegiate  and  parish  church, 
and  chapel  of  ease,  in  the  said  respective  dioceses  and  places 
in  Wales,  where  the  Welsh  is  commonly  spoken  or  used, 
before  the  first  day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-five  :  and  that  from  and  after  the  imprinting  and  pub- 


1663.]  Act  of  Uniformity,  401 

lisliing  of  the  said  book  so  translated,  tlie  whole  divine  ser- 
vice shall  be  used  and  said  by  the  ministers  and  curates 
throughout  all  Wales,  within  the  said  dioceses  where  the 
Welsh  tongue  is  commonly  used,  in  the  British  or  Welsh 
tongue,  in  such  manner  and  form  as  is  prescribed  according 
to  the  book  hereunto  annexed  to  be  used  in  the  English 
tongue,  differing  nothing  in  any  order  or  form  from  the  said 
English  book,  for  which  book,  so  translated  and  imprinted, 
the  churchwardens  of  every  the  said  parishes  shall  pay  out  of 
the  parish  money  in  their  hands  for  the  use  of  the  respective 
churches,  and  be  allowed  the  same  on  their  account;  and 
that  the  said  bishops  and  their  successors,  or  any  three  of 
them  at  the  least,  shall  set  and  appoint  the  price  for  which 
the  said  book  shall  be  sold.  And  one  other  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  in  the  English  tongue,  shall  be  bought  and  had 
in  every  church  throughout  Wales,  in  which  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  in  Welsh  is  to  had  by  force  of  this  Act, 
before  the  first  day  of  May,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-four ;  and  the  same  books  to  remain  in  such  convenient 
places  within  the  said  churches,  that  such  as  understand 
them  may  resort  at  all  convenient  times  to  read  and  peruse 
the  same;  and  also  such  as  do  not  understand  the  said 
language,  may,  by  conferring  both  tongues  together,  the 
sooner  attain  to  the  knowledge  of  the  English  tongue,  any- 
thing in  this  Act  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And 
until  printed  copies  of  the  said  book  so  to  be  translated,  may 
be  had  and  provided,  the  form  of  Common  Prayer  estab- 
lished by  parliament  before  the  making  of  this  Act,  shall  be 
used  as  formerly  in  such  parts  of  Wales  where  the  Enghsh 
tongue  is  not  commonly  understood. 

XXVIII.  And  to  the  end  that  the  true  and  perfect  copies  of 
this  Act  and  the  said  book  hereunto  annexed  may  be  safely 
kept  and  perpetually  preserved,  and  for  the  avoiding  of  all 
disputes  for  the  time  to  come,  be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  the  respective  deans  and  chapters  of 
every  cathedral  or  collegiate  church  within  England  and 
Wales  shall,  at  their  proper  costs  and  charges,  before  the 


403  Act  of    Uniformity.  [1663 

twenty-fifth  day  of  December,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-two,  obtain  under  the  great  seal  of  England,  a  true  and 
perfect  printed  copy  of  this  Act,  and  of  the  said  book 
annexed  hereunto,  to  be  by  the  said  deans  and  chapters 
and  their  successors,  kept  and  preserved  in  safety  for 
ever,  and  to  be  also  produced  and  shewed  forth  in  any 
court  of  record  as  often  as  they  shall  be  thereunto 
lawfully  required ;  and  also  there  shall  be  delivered  true  and 
perfect  copies  of  this  Act,  and  of  the  same  book  into  the  re- 
spective courts  at  Westminster,  and  into  the  tower  of  Lon- 
don, to  be  kept  and  preserved  for  ever  among  the  records  of 
the  said  courts,  and  the  records  of  the  tower,  to  be  also  pro- 
duced and  shewed  forth  in  any  court  as  need  shall  require ; 
which  said  books,  so  to  be  exemplified  under  the  great  seal  of 
England,  shall  be  examined  by  such  persons  as  the  king's 
majesty  shall  appoint  under  the  great  seal  of  England  for 
that  purpose,  and  shall  be  compared  with  the  original  book 
hereunto  annexed,  and  shall  have  power  to  correct  and  amend 
in  writing  any  error  committed  by  the  printer  in  the  printing 
of  the  same  book,  or  of  anything  therein  contained,  and  shall 
certify  in  writing,  under  their  hands  and  seals,  or  the  hands  and 
seals  of  any  thi'ce  of  them,  at  the  end  of  the  same  book,  that 
they  have  examined  and  compared  the  same  book,  and  find  it 
to  be  a  true  and  perfect  copy,  which  said  books,  and  every 
one  of  them,  so  exemplified  under  the  great  seal  of  England, 
as  aforesaid,  shall  be  deemed,  taken,  adjudged,  and  expounded 
to  be  good  and  available  in  the  law  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses whatsoever,  and  shall  be  accounted  as  good  records  as 
this  book  itself  hereunto  annexed ;  any  law  or  custom  to  the 
contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

XXIX.  Pro\dded  also,  that  this  Act,  or  anything  therein 
contained,  shall  not  be  prejudicial  or  hurtful  unto  the  king's 
professor  of  the  law  within  the  University  of  Oxford,  for  or 
concerning  the  prebend  of  Shipton,  within  the  cathedral 
church  of  Sarum,  united  and  annexed  unto  the  place  of  the 
same  king's  professor  for  the  time  being  by  the  late  king 
James  of  blessed  memory. 


1662.]  Act  of  Uniformity.  403 

XXX.  Provided  always_,  that  whereas  the  Sis-and-Thirtieth 
Article  of  the  Nine-and-Thirty  Articles,  agreed  upon  by  the 
archbishops  and  bishops  of  both  provinces,  and  the  whole 
clergy  in  the  convocation  holden  at  London,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  one  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-two,  for  the 
avoiding  of  diversities  of  opinions,  and  for  establishing  of  con- 
sent touching  true  religion,  is  in  these  words  following,  viz. : 

"  That  the  book  of  consecration  of  archbishops  and 
bishops,  and  ordaining  of  priests  and  deacons,  lately  set  forth 
in  the  time  of  king  Edward  VI,  and  confirmed  at  the  same 
time  by  authority  of  parliament,  doth  contain  all  things 
necessary  to  such  consecration  and  ordaining.  Neither  hath 
it  anything  that  of  itself  is  superstitious  and  ungodly :  and 
therefore  whosoever  are  consecrated  or  ordered  according  to 
the  rites  of  that  book,  since  the  second  year  of  the  afore- 
named king  Edward,  unto  this  time  or  hereafter  shall  be  con- 
secrated or  ordered  according  to  the  same  rites.  We  decree 
all  such  to  be  rightly,  orderly,  and  lawfully  consecrated  and 
ordered." 

XXXI.  It  be  enacted,  and  be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  all  subscriptions  hereafter  to  be  had 
or  made  unto  the  said  Articles,  by  any  deacon,  priest,  or 
ecclesiastical  person,  or  other  person  whatsoever,  who  by  this 
Act,  or  any  other  law  now  in  force,  is  required  to  subscribe 
unto  the  said  Articles,  shall  be  construed  and  taken  to  extend 
and  shall  be  applied  (for  and  touching  the  said  Six-and- 
Thirtieth  Article)  unto  the  book  containing  the  form  and 
manner  of  making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  in  this  Act  mentioned,  in  such  sort  and 
manner  as  the  same  did  heretofore  extend  unto  the  book  set 
forth  in  the  time  of  king  Edward  VI,  mentioned  in  the  said 
Six-and-Thirtieth  Article,  anything  in  the  said  Article,  or  in 
any  statute,  act,  or  canon  heretofore  had  or  made  to  the  con- 
trary thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

XXXII.  Provided  also,  that  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments,  and  other  Rites  and 
Ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England,  together  with  the  form 


404)  Efforts  of  Presbyterian  Ministers  [1662. 

and  Manner  of  Ordaining  and  Consecrating  of  Bishops^  Priests, 
and  Deacons  "  heretofore  in  use,  and  respectively  established  by 
Act  of  Parliament,  in  the  first  and  eighth  years  of  queen 
Elizabeth  shall  be  still  used  and  observed  in  the  church  of 
England  until  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  shall  be 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God,  one  thousand  six  hundred  sixty 
and  two. 


XXV. 

Efforts  of  Preshjterian  Ministers  to  have  the  King's  Decla- 
ration of  October,  1660,  enacted. — Eeliquise  Baxterianae, 
by  Sylvester,  and  Calamy's  Continuation,  &c.,  London, 
1727,  vol.  i. 

All  this  while  [i.e.  from  the  close  of  the  Savoy  Conference, 
to  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity]  Mr.  Calamy  and 
some  other  ministers  had  been  endeavouring  with  those  that 
they  had  interest  in,  and  to  try  if  the  parliament  would  pass 
the  King's  Declaration  into  a  law ;  and  sometimes  they  had 
some  hope  from  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  others  :  but  when 
it  came  to  the  trial,  their  hopes  all  failed  them  ;  and  the  con- 
formity imposed  was  made  ten  times  more  burdensome  than 
it  ever  was  before.  For  besides  that  the  Convocation  had 
made  the  Common  Prayer  book  more  grievous  than  before, 
the  parliament  made  a  new  Act  of  Uniformity,  with  a  new 
form  of  subscription,  and  a  new  declaration  to  be  made 
against  the  obligation  of  the  Covenant ;  of  which  more  anon. 
So  that  the  King's  Declaration  did  not  only  die  before  it  came 
to  execution,  and  all  hopes,  and  treaties,  and  petitions  were 
not  only  disappointed,  but  a  weight  more  grievous  than  a 
thousand  ceremonies  was  added  to  the  old  conformity,  with  a 
grievous  penalty. 

By  this  means  there  was  a  great  unanimity  in  the  ministers. 


1663.]      to  have  the  Declaration  of  1660  enacted.  405 

and  the  greater  number  were  cast  out.  And  as  far  as  I  could 
perceive^  it  was  by  some  designed  that  it  might  be  so.  Many 
a  time  did  we  beseech  them  that  they  would  have  so  much 
regard  to  the  souls  of  men^  and  to  the  honour  of  England, 
and  of  the  protestant  religion,  as  that  without  any  necessity 
at  all,  they  would  not  impose  feared  perjury  upon  them,  nor 
that  which  conscience,  and  common  esteem,  and  popish 
adversaries  would  all  call  perjury;  that  papists  might  not 
have  this  to  cast  in  our  teeth,  and  call  the  protestants  a  per- 
jured people,  nor  England  or  Scotland  perjured  lands.  Oft 
have  we  proved  to  them  that  their  cause  and  interest  required 
no  such  thing.  But  all  was  but  casting  oil  upon  the  flames, 
and  forcing  us  to  think  of  that  monster  of  Milan,  that  made 
his  enemy  renounce  God  to  save  his  life,  before  he  stabbed 
him,  that  he  might  murder  soul  and  body  at  a  stroke.  It 
seemed  to  be  accounted  the  one  thing  necessary,  which  no 
reason  must  be  heard  against,  that  the  Presbyterians  must  be 
forced  to  do  that  which  they  accounted  public  perjury,  or  to 
be  cast  out  of  trust  and  office,  in  church  and  commonwealth. 
And  by  this  means  a  far  greater  number  were  laid  by,  than 
otherwise  would  have  been ;  and  the  few  that  yielded  to  con- 
formity they  thought  would  be  despicable  and  contemptibleu 
as  long  as  they  lived.  A  noble  revenge,  and  worthy  of  the 
actors. — [Reliquiae  Baxterianse,  p.  387.] 

When  I  was  absent  (resolving  to  meddle  in  such  businesses 
there  no  more)  Mr.  Calamy  and  the  other  ministers  of  Lon- 
don, who  had  acquaintance  at  the  court,  were  put  in  hope 
that  the  king  would  grant  that  by  way  of  Indulgence,  which 
was  before  denied  them;  and  that,  before  the  Act  was 
past,  it  might  be  provided  that  the  king  should  have  power 
to  dispense  with  such  as  deserved  well  of  him  in  his  restora- 
tion, or  whom  he  pleased.      But  that  was  frustrate.^     And 

»  "  If  I  should  at  length  recite  the  story  of  this  business,  and  what 
"  peremptory  promises  they  had,  and  how  all  was  turned  to  their  rebuke  and 
"scorn,  it  would  more  increase  the  reader's  astonisliment."  —  Reliquia) 
Baxteriante,  p.  429. 


406  Efforts  of  Presbyterian  Ministers.  [1662 

after  that^  tliey  were  told  that  that  the  king  had  power  him- 
self to  dispense  in  such  cases^  as  he  did  with  the  Dutch  and 
French  churches.  And  some  kind  of  Petition  (I  have  not  a 
copy  of  it)  they  drew  up  to  offer  the  king.  But  when  they 
had  done  it^  they  were  so  far  from  procuring  their  desires, 
that  there  fled  abroad  grievous  threatenings  against  them, 
that  they  should  incur  a  praemunire  for  such  a  bold  attempt : 
when  they  were  drawn  to  it  at  first,  they  did  it  with  much 
hesitancy  (through  former  experience)  and  they  worded  it  so 
cautiously,  that  it  extended  not  to  the  papists.  Some  of  the 
Independents  presumed  to  say,  that  the  reason  why  all  our 
addresses  for  liberty  had  not  succeeded  was  because  we  did 
not  extend  it  to  the  papists ;  and  that,  for  their  parts,  they  saw 
no  reason  why  the  papists  should  not  have  liberty  of  worship 
as  well  as  others ;  and  that  it  was  better  for  them  to  have  it, 
than  for  all  us  to  go  without  it.  But  the  Presbyterians  still 
answered  to  that  motion,  that  the  king  might  himself  do 
what  he  pleased  :  and  if  his  wisdom  thought  meet  to  give 
liberty  to  the  papists,  let  the  papists  petition  for  it,  as  they 
did  for  theirs.  But  if  it  be  expected  by  any  that  it  shall  be 
forced  upon  them,  to  become  petitioners  for  liberty  for 
popery,  they  should  never  do  it,  whatever  be  the  issue.  Nor 
shall  it  be  said  to  be  their  work.  [Reliquiae  Baxterianse, 
pp.  429—30. 

[Mr.  Calamy]  advising  with  his  great  friends  at  court,  a 
petition  was  drawn  up  to  his  majesty,  and  signed  by  a  good 
number  of  the  ministers  in  and  ab^ut  the  city,  who  were 
affected  with  that  Act  [of  Uniformity.]  It  was  in  the  words 
following :  — 

To  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty. 

The  humble  Petition  of  several  Ministers  in  your  City  of 
London. 

May  it  please  your  most  Excellent  Majesty. 

"  Upon  former  experience  of  your  majesty's  tenderness 
and  indulgence  to  your  obedient  and  loyal  subjects,  in  which 
number  we  can  with  all  clearness  reckon  ourselves,  we,  some 


f 


1661.]        to  have  the  Declaration  of  1660  enacted.  407 

of  the  ministers  within  your  City  of  London,  who  are  likely 
by  the  late  Act  of  Uniformity  to  be  cast  out  of  all  public 
service  in  the  ministry,  because  we  cannot  in  conscience 
conform  to  all  things  required  in  the  said  Act,  have  taken 
the  boldness  humbly  to  cast  ourselves  and  concernments  at 
your  majesty's  feet,  desiring  that  of  your  princely  wisdom 
and  compassion,  you  would  take  some  effectual  course 
whereby  we  may  be  continued  in  the  exercise  of  our  ministry, 
to  teach  your  people  obedience  to  God  and  your  majesty. 
And  we  doubt  not  but,  by  our  dutiful  and  peaceable  carriage 
therein,  we  shall  render  ourselves  not  altogether  unworthy  of 
so  great  a  favour/' 

This  petition  was  presented  to  his  majesty  August  27th, 
three  days  after  the  Act  took  place,  by  Mr.  Calamy,  Dr. 
Manton,  Dr.  Bates,  and  others;  and  Mr.  Calamy  made  a 
speech  on  the  occasion,  intimating  that  those  of  his  persua- 
sion were  ready  to  enter  the  list  with  any,  for  their  fidelity  to 
his  majesty,  and  did  little  expect  to  be  dealt  with  as  they  had 
been,  and  they  were  now  come  to  his  majesty's  feet,  as  the 
last  application  they  should  make,  &c.  His  majesty  promised 
he  would  consider  of  their  business. 

And  the  very  next  day  the  matter  was  fully  debated  in 
council,  his  majesty  himself  being  present,  who  was  pleased 
to  declare  that  he  intended  an  Indulgence,  if  it  were  at  all 
feasible. 

The  great  friends  of  the  silenced  ministers,  who  had 
encouraged  their  hopes  by  a  variety  of  specious  promises, 
were  allowed  upon  this  occasion  freely  to  suggest  their 
reasons  against  putting  the  Act  in  execution;  and  they 
argued  very  strenuously.  But  Dr.  Sheldon,  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, in  a  warm  speech  declared  that  it  was  now  too  late  to 
think  of  suspending  that  law :  for  that  he  had  already,  in 
obedience  to  it,  ejected  such  of  his  clergy  as  would  not  com- 
ply with  it  on  the  Sunday  before;  and  should  they  now  be 
restored,  after  they  were  thus  exasperated,  he  must  expect  to 
feel  the  effects  of  their  resentment,  and  should  never  be  able 
to  maintain  his  episcopal  authority  among  such  a  clergy,  who 


408  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1661. 

would  not  fail  to  insult  him  as  their  enemy,  being  coun- 
tenanced by  the  court.  Nor  could  the  resolutions  of  the 
council-board  justify  his  contempt  of  a  law  which  had 
passed  with  such  an  unanimous  consent,  and  upon  such 
mature  deHberation  of  both  houses.  Should  the  sacred 
authority  of  this  law  be  now  suspended,  it  would  render  the 
legislature  ridiculous  and  contemptible.  And  if  the  impor- 
tunity of  such  disaffected  people  were  a  sufficient  reason  to 
humour  them,  neither  the  Church  nor  State  would  ever  be 
free  from  distractions  and  convulsions. 

And  upon  the  whole  it  was  carried  that  no  Indulgence  at 
all  should  be  granted. — [Calamy's  Continuation^  &c.,  vol.  i, 
pp.  9—11. 


XXVI. 

Extracts  from  Journals  of  Parliament  relating  to  the  'passing 
of  the  Act  of  Uniformity. — Journals  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  vol.  xi;  Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
vol.  viii. 

Martis,   25°  Junii,    [1661],  IS''  Car.  II,      [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  279  6— 280  «.] 

Ordered — That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  view  the 
several  laws  for  confirming  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England;  and  to  make  search,  whether  the  original  book 
of  the  liturgy,  annexed  to  the  Act  passed  in  the  fifth 
and  sixth  years  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward  the  Sixth, 
be  yet  extant ;  and  to  bring  in  a  compendious  bill  to  supply 
any  defect  in  the  former  laws;  and  to  provide  for  an 
effectual  conformity  to  the  liturgy  of  the  church,  for  the 
time  to  come. 


1661.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  409 

And  a  committee  was  accordingly  appointed^  of  all  the 
members  of  this  house  that  are  of  the  long  robe ;  and  the 
preparing  the  bill  was  especially  recommended  to  the  care  of 
Mr.  Serjeant  Keeling, 

Sabbati,  29°  Junii,  [1661],  13°  Car.  Regis.    [Jonrn.  H.  C, 
viii,  285  6.] 

A  Bill  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers,  and  Adminis- 
tration of  Sacraments,  was  this  day  read  the  first  time. 

Ordered — That  the  same  be  read  again,  the  second  time^ 
on  Wednesday  next,  the  first  public  bill. 

Mercurii,  3°  Julii,  [1661],  13°  Car.  Regis.     Joum.  H.  C, 
viii,  288  5—289  a. 

Resolved — That  the  Bill  for  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers, 
and  Administration  of  Sacraments,  together  with  the  printed 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  now  brought  in,  intituled,  "  The 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the  Sacra- 
ments, and  other  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church  of 
England,"  annexed  thereunto,  be  committed  to  Sir  Tho. 
Fanshaw,  Mr.  Fane,  Mr.  Solicitor,  Mr.  Ashburnham,  Mr. 
Clifford,  Sir  Rich.  Ford,  Lord  Bruce,  Mr.  Churchill,  Doctor 
Birkenhead,  Mr.  Potter,  Sir  Solomon  Swale,  Serjeant  Keeling, 
Mr.  Clerke,  Sir  Cha.  Herbert,  Lord  St.  John,  Mr.  Lowther, 
Mr.  Knight,  Sir  Justin  Isham,  Mr.  Walderon,  Mr.  Jo. 
Newton,  Sir  '  Phil.  Musgrave,  Sir  Tho.  Fanshall,  junior, 
Sir  Gilbert  Gerrard,  Sir  Jo.  Talbot,  Mr.  Orme,  Sir  Tho. 
Littleton,  Sir  Courtney  Poole,  Sir  Hen.  North,  Sir  Edw. 
Wallpoole,  Sir  Bayne  Throgmorton,  Sir.  Hen.  Newton,  Sir 
Geo.  Reeves,  Mr.  Comptroller,  Lord  Le  De  Spencer,  Mr. 
Geffery  Palmer,  Lord  Ossery,  Sir.  Wm.  Compton,  Mr.  Giles 
Strangwayes,  Mr.  Edward  Seymor,  Mr.  Stanley,  Sir.  Tho. 
Strickland,  Mr.  Stricklany,  Sir  Tho.  Ingram,  Mr.  Rigby, 
Sir  Wm.  Lewes,  Doctor  Birwell,  Mr.  Weld,  Sir  Phill. 
Warwick,  Sir  Tho.  Hebblethwaite,  Sir  Edra.  Boyer,  Mr. 
Waller,   Mr.    Bishop,    Mr.    Glascock,   Mr.   Vice-chamber- 


410  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

lain.  Sir  Edw,  Seamour,  Sir  Ben,  Ayloffe,  Sir  Jo.  Strangwayes, 
Mr.  Taylor,  Mr.  Thompson,  Baron  of  Kinderton,  Sir  Tho. 
Leigh,  Sir  Tho.  Lee,  Mr.  Spencer,  Mr.  Lovelace,  Sir  Tho. 
Smith,  Sir  John  Shaw,  Sir  Rob.  Bolle,  Sir  Antho.  Irby,  Sir 
Allen  Apsley,  Mr.  Crouch,  Mr.  Lewis  Palmer,  Sir  Robert 
Howard,  Mr.  Coventry,  Mr.  Milward,  Mr.  Kent,  Sir  Tho. 
Peyton,  Sir  Chichester  Wray,  Sir  Edward  Walgrave,  Sir 
Hugh  Windham,  Sir  Edm.  Peirce,  Mr.  Aldworth,  Lord 
Buckhurst,  Sir  Edw.  Smith,  Mr.  Manwaring,  Sir  Wm.  Hay- 
ward,  Mr.  Bennet,  Mr.  Secretary  Morice,  Mr.  Ashburnham, 
Sir  Allen  Brodrick,  Sir  Jo.  Goodrick,  Sir  Geo.  Sands, 
Colonel  Kyrkby,  Lord  Rich.  Butler,  Sir  Wm.  Hickman,  Sir 
Fran.  Clerke,  Mr.  Coriton,  Mr.  Wm.  Coventrey,  Mr.  Plead- 
well,  Mr.  Thomas,  Sir  Edm.  Pooley,  Sir  Hump.  Bennet, 
Sir  Tho.  Stukley,  Colonel  Windham,  Mr.  Swinfen,  Mr. 
Phillips,  Sir  Roger  Bradshaw,  Mr.  Hender  Roberts,  Mr. 
Chetwind,  Mr.  Tanner,  Mr.  Montague,  Mr.  Stewart,  Mr. 
Shaw,  Sir  Lane.  Lake,  Serjeant  Charleton,  Colonel  Legg, 
Mr.  Goodrick,  Sir  John  Holland,  Mr.  Puckering,  Sir  Hen. 
Williams,  Mr.  Vaughan,  Sir  Nich.  Crisp,  Colonel  Fretchvill, 
Mr.  Morton,  Sir  Tho.  Coventrey,  Mr.  Clerke,  Mr.  Andrews, 
Mr.  Wren,  Mr.  Wm.  Sandys,  Mr.  Sandys,  Sir  Hen.  North,  Sir 
Jo.  Harrison,  Mr.  Tho.  Jones,  Sir  Ben.  Ayloff,  Sir  Cha.  Har- 
bord,  Mr.  Harbert,  Mr.  Cooke,  Mr.  Yorke,  Sir  Jo.  Nicholas, 
Lord  Cornbury,  Sir  Jos.  Craddock,  Mr.  Lau.  Hyde,  Mr, 
Whorwood,  Colonel  Shakerley,  Sir  Wm.  Gawdy,  Sir  Phillip 
Howard,  Mr.  Font,  Lord  Richardson,  Mr.  Robinson,  Sir 
Hen.  Wroth,  Sir  Rich.  Oatley,  Mr.  Nicholas,  Mr.  Trelawney, 
Mr.  Bulteele,  Sir  Geo.  Reeve,  Sir  Rich.  Breham,  Mr. 
Phillips.  Mr.  Phillips,  Mr.  Whittaker,  Lord  Cavendish, 
Sir  Adrian  Scrope,  Mr.  Dolman,  Mr.  Attorney  of  the 
Duchy,  Mr.  Taylor,  Mr.  Mallet,  Sir  Clem.  Throgmorton, 
Sir  Robert  Atkins;  and  they  are  to  meet  this  afternoon, 
at  four  of  the  clock,  in  the  Star-Chamber.  And  if  the 
original  Book  of  Common  Prayer  cannot  be  found,  then 
to  report  the  said  printed  book,  and  their  opinion  touching 
the  same ;  and  to  send  for  persons,  papers,  and  records. 


]661.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  411 

Veneris,  5°  Julii,   [1661],  13"  Car.  Regis.     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  291  b.'\ 

Resolved — That  ....  all  the  members  of  this  House 
who  are  of  both  robes,  be  added  to  the  said  committee,  [to 
whom  the  Bill  for  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayer  and  Adminis- 
tration of  Sacraments,  is  committed.] 

Lunse,   8°  Julii,    [1661],   13°  Car.    Regis.     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  294  6—295  6.] 

Mr.  Pryn  having  made  report  from  the  committee,  to 
whom  it  was  referred  to  see  which  of  the  bills  depending 
in  the  House,  and  which  were  committed  to  committees, 
were  of  most  necessity  to  be  proceeded  in  before  the  ad- 
journment— 

A  Bill  for  Uniformity  to  Common  Prayer  and  Admistra- 
tion  of  the  Sacraments. 

Sir  Edmund  Peirce  reports,  from  the  committee  to  whom 
the  Bill  for  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers  and  Administration 
of  Sacraments,  was  committed,  several  amendments,  and  an 
addition  and  proviso,  to  be  added  to  the  said  bill,  which  he 
read,  with  the  coherence,  in  his  place,  and  delivered  in  at  the 
clerk's  table,  with  the  bill ;  which  said  amendments  were 
twice  read. 

Resolved — That  this  House  doth  agree  to  the  said 
amendments  and  addition.  And,  upon  reading  of  the 
said  proviso,  the  same  was  ordered  to  be  amended  at  the 
clerk's  table;  and,  being  so  amended,  was  afterwards  twice 
read. 

Resolved — That  this  House  doth  agree  to  the  said  proviso ; 
and  that  the  same  be  made  part  of  the  bill. 

Resolved — That  the  said  bill,  with  the  said  amendments, 
addition,  and  proviso,  added  thereunto,  be  ingrossed. 

Ordered — That  the  annexing  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 


413  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1661 — 2. 

to  the  Bill  for  Uniformity^  and  the  obliterating  the  two 
prayers  inserted  before  the  reading  psalms,  be  taken  into 
consideration  to-morrow  morning. 

Martis,  9°  Julii,    [1661],  13<>  Car.  Eegis.     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  296  a.] 

A  Bill  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers  and  Adminis- 
tration of  Sacraments,  being  ingrossed,  was  this  day  read  the 
third  time. 

And  a  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  intituled,  ^'The  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  Administration  of  the  Sacra- 
ments, and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church 
of  England,^^  which  was  imprinted  at  London  in  the  year 
1604,  was,  at  the  clerk's  table,  annexed  to  the  said  bill, 
part  of  the  two  prayers,  inserted  therein  before  the  read- 
ing psalms  being  first  taken  out,  and  the  other  part  thereof 
obliterated. 

And  a  proviso,  tendered  to  be  added  to  the  said  bill,  being 
twice  read,  was  upon  the  question,  laid  aside. 

Resolved — That  the  said  bill,  with  the  said  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  so  annexed,  do  pass. 

Resolved — That  the  title  of  the  said  bill  shall  be.  An  Act 
for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers,  and  Administration  of 
Sacraments. 

Die  Mercurii,  10°  die   Julii,   [1661],    13  Car.  II,   [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  305  «.] 

A  message  was  brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
Sir  Thomas  Fanshaw  and  others ;  who  brought  up  an  act, 
passed  their  house,  intituled.  An  Act  for  the  Uniformity  of 
Public  Prayers,  and  Administration  of  Sacraments;  wherein 
they  desire  their  lordships'  concurrence. 

Die  Martis,  \4P  die  Januarii,  [1661—2],  13  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  364  6.] 

Hodie  1^  vice  lecta  est  billa,  An  Act  for  the  Uniformity 
of  Public  Prayers,  and  Administration  of  Sacraments. 


1661—3.] 


on  the  Act  of  Uniforimty. 


413 


Die  Veneris,  17°  die  Januarii,  [1661—2],  13  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  366«-^'.] 

Hodie  2^  vice  lecta  est  Billa,  An  Act  for  the  Uniformity 
of  Public  Prayers,  and  Administration  of  Sacraments. 

Ordered — That  the  consideration  of  this  Bill  is  committed 
to  these  Lords  following : 


L.  Privy  Seal. 
Dux  Albemarle. 
L.  Chamberlain. 
Comes  Derby. 
Comes  Dorsett. 
Comes  Bridgwater. 
Comes  North'ton. 
Comes  BolHng- 

brooke. 
Comes  Portland. 
Comes  Anglesey. 
Comes  Carlile. 


Archbp.  Eborac. 
Bp.  London. 
Bp.  Durham. 
Bp.  Sarum. 
Bp.  Worcester. 
Bp.  Lincoln. 
Bp.  Exon. 
Bp.  Norwich. 


Ds.     Berkeley 

Berk. 
Ds.  Windsor. 
Ds.  Pagett. 
Ds.  Hunsdon. 
Ds.      Howard 

Charlt. 
Ds.  Craven. 
Ds.  Mohun. 
Ds.  Byron. 
Ds.  Lucas. 
Ds.  Lexington. 
Ds.  Delamer. 
Ds.  Townsend. 
Ds.  Crewe. 


de 


de 


Their  lordships,  or  any  five  to  meet  on  Thursday  next, 
[in  the  afternoon],  in  the  Prince's  lodgings,  at  three  of  the 
clock. 

Martis,  28°  Januarii,  [1661—2],  13°  Car.  ll,    [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  352  6.] 

Ordered— Tla.Qi  a  message  be  sent  to  the  Lords  to  desire 
them  to  give  dispatch  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity;  and  that 
Lord  Falkland  is  to  carry  up  this  message  to  the  Lords, 

Die  Martis,  28°  die  Januarii,  [1661—2],  13"  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  372  b.l 

A  message  was  brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
the  Lord  Viscount  Falkland  and  others  : 


414  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1661-2. 

To  put  their  Lordships  in  mind  of  Two  Bills  brought 
from  the  House  of  Commons ;  one,  concerning  Uniformity 
of  Worship;  the  other,  concerning  Ministers;  wherein  they 
desire  their  Lordships  would  please  to  give  what  convenient 
expedition  may  be. 

Die  Jovis,  13o  die  Februarii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  383  a-b:] 

The  Earl  of  Dorsett  reported,  "That  the  Committee  for 
the  Bill  for  Uniformity  of  Worship  have  met  oftentimes,  and 
expected  a  book  of  Uniformity  to  be  brought  in ;  but,  that 
not  being  done,  their  Lordships  have  made  no  progress 
therein;  therefore  the  Committee  desires  to  know  the  plea- 
sure of  the  house,  whether  they  shall  proceed  upon  the  Book 
brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  or  stay  until  the  other 
Book  be  brought  in.'' 

Upon  this,  the  Bishop  of  London  signified  to  the  House, 
"  That  the  Book  will  very  shortly  be  brought  in." 

Die  Jovis,  20°  die  Pebruarii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  390  «.] 

Ordered — That  the  Committee  for  the  Bill  for  Uniformity 

[be]  put  oif  until  Tuesday 

next,  in  the  afternoon. 

Die  Martis,  25°  die  Februarii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  392  6— 393  a.] 

The  Lord  Chancellor  acquainted  the  House,  "  That  he  was 
commanded  by  the  King  to  deliver  a  message  unto  their 
Lordships."     Which  his  Lordship  read,  as  foUoweth ;  videlicet, 

"Charles  R, 

"  His  majesty  having,  according  to  his  Declaration  of  the 
25th  of  October,  1660,  granted  his  commission  under  the 
great  seal,  to  several  bishops  and  other  divines,  to  review  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  to  prepare  such  alterations  and 
additions  as  they  thought  fit  to  offer :  afterwards  the  convoca- 


1661-2,]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  415 

tions  of  the  clergy  of  both  the  provinces  of  Canterbury  and 
York  were  by  his  majesty  called  and  assembled,  and  are  now 
sitting.  And  his  Majesty  hath  been  pleased  to  authorize  and 
require  the  presidents  of  the  said  convocations,  and  other  the 
bishops  and  clergy  of  the  same,  to  review  the  said  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  the  book  of  the  form  and  manner  of 
making  and  consecrating  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons ; 
and  that,  after  mature  consideration,  they  should  make  such 
additions  or  alterations  in  the  said  books  respectively  as  to 
them  should  seem  meet  and  convenient ;  and  should  exhibit 
and  present  the  same  to  his  majesty  in  writing,  for  his 
majesty's  further  consideration,  allowance,  or  confirmation. 
Since  which  time,  upon  fidl  and  mature  deliberation,  they 
the  said  presidents,  bishops,  and  clergy  of  both  provinces, 
have  accordingly  reviewed  the  said  books,  and  have  made, 
exhibited,  and  presented  to  his  majesty  in  writing,  some 
alterations,  which  they  think  fit  to  be  inserted  in  the  same, 
and  some  additional  prayers  to  the  said  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  to  be  used  upon  proper  and  emergent  occasions. 

"All  which  his  majesty  having  duly  considered,  doth,  with 
the  advice  of  his  council,  fully  approve  and  allow  the  same ; 
and  doth  recommend  it  to  the  House  of  Peers,  that  the  said 
Books  of  Common  Prayer,  and  of  the  form  of  ordination 
and  consecration  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  with  those 
alterations  and  additions,  be  the  book  which,  in  and  by  the 
intended  Act  of  Uniformity,  shall  be  appointed  to  be  used, 
by  all  that  officiate  in  all  cathedral  and  collegiate  churches 
and  chapels,  and  in  all  chapels  of  colleges  and  halls  in  both 
the  universities,  and  the  colleges  of  Eton  and  Winchester, 
and  in  all  parish  churches  and  chapels  within  the  kingdom  of 
England,  Dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  and  by  all  that  make  or  consecrate  bishops,  priests, 
or  deacons,  in  any  of  the  said  places,  under  such  sanctions 
and  penalties  as  the  parliament  shall  think  fit. 

"Given  at  our  court,  at  Whitehall,  the  24th  day  of 
February,  1661"— 2. 

The  book  mentioned  in  his  majesty's  message  was  brought 


416  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [i661 — 2. 

into  this  House ;  which  is  ordered  to  be  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee for  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 

Die  Jovis,  17"  die  Februarii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  396  «.] 

Ordered — That  the  Duke  of  Bucks  and  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke are  added  to  the  committee  for  Uniformity, 

Ordered — That  Mr.  Justice  Hyde  and  Mr.  Attorney 
General  have  notice  to  attend  the  committee  for  Uniformity 
this  afternoon. 

Lun«,  3°  die  Martii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  377  6.] 

[The  king  having  commanded  the  Commons  to  attend  him 
in  the  banqueting  house,  Whitehall,  on  Saturday,  1st  March, 
they  did  so ;  and  the  speaker  read  his  majesty^s  speech  to  the 
house,  on  the  following  Monday.  In  the  course  of  it  his 
majesty  said  :] 

"  Gentlemen,  I  hear  you  are  very  zealous  for  the  church, 
and  very  solicitous,  and  even  jealous,  that  there  is  not  expe- 
dition enough  used  in  that  affair.  I  thank  you  for  it,  since, 
I  presume,  it  proceeds  from  a  good  root  of  piety  and  devotion : 
but  I  must  tell  you  I  have  the  worst  luck  in  the  world,  if, 
after  all  the  reproaches  of  being  a  papist,  whilst  I  was  abroad, 
I  am  suspected  of  being  a  presbyterian  now  I  am  come  home.  I 
know  you  will  not  take  it  unkindly,  if  I  tell  you,  that  I  am 
as  zealous  for  the  church  of  England,  as  any  of  you  can  be ; 
and  am  enough  acquainted  with  the  enemies  of  it,  on  all 
sides ;  that  I  am  as  much  in  love  with  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  as  you  can  wish,  and  have  prejudice  enough  to  those 
that  do  not  love  it ;  who,  I  hope,  in  time  will  be  better  in- 
formed, and  change  their  minds  :  and  you  may  be  confident, 
I  do  as  much  desire  to  see  a  uniformity  settled,  as  any 
amongst  you  :  I  pray,  trust  me,  in  that  affair ;  I  promise  you 
to  hasten  the  despatch  of  it,  with  all  convenient  speed ;  you 
may  rely  upon  me  in  it. 


lGGl-2.]  Oil  tlie  Act  of  Cniformiiy.  417 

"  I  have  transmitted  tlie  Book  of  Common  Prayer^,  with 
those  alterations  and  additions  which  have  been  presented  to 
me  by  the  Convocation,  to  the  House  of  Peers  with  my 
approbation,  that  the  Act  of  Uniformity  may  relate  to  it :  so 
that  I  presume  it  will  be  shortly  dispatched  there ;  and  when 
we  have  done  all  we  can,  the  well  settling  that  affair  will 
require  great  prudence  and  discretion,  and  the  absence  of  all 
passion  and  precipitation." 

Die  Mercurii,  5«  die  Martii,  [1661—2],  14"  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  400  a.] 

Ordered — That  the  Lord  Lovelace  and  the  Lord  Widdring- 
tou  are  added  to  the  committee  for  Uniformity. 

Die    Jovis,  6°  die  Martii,    [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,    [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  400  6.] 

Ordered — That  the  Lord  Wharton  is  added  to  the  com- 
mittee for  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

Die  Veneris,  7°  die  Martii,   [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  402 «.] 

Ordered — That  the  Lord  Berkley,  of  Straton,  is  added  to 
the  committee  for  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

Die  Jovis,  13°  die  Martii,   [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,   [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  406  6.] 

The  Earl  of  Bridgwater  reported,  "That  the  committee 
have  considered  of  the  Bill  concerning  Uniformity  of  Wor- 
ship ;  wherein  the  committee  have  made  divers  amendments 
and  alterations,  which  are  offered  to  the  consideration  of  this 
House ;  and  that  the  committee,  in  their  amendments  and 
alterations,  have  made  the  bill  relate  to  the  book  recom- 
mended by  the  king  to  this  House,  and  not  to  the  book 
brought  with  the  bill  from  the  House  of  Commons." 

Next,  it  was  moved,  "That  the  alterations  and  additions  in 


418  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1661-2. 

tlie  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  came  recommended  from 
his  majesty,  might  be  read,  before  the  alterations  and  amend- 
ments in  the  bill  were  read;"  which  was  accordingly  ordered, 
and  read :  but,  having  made  little  progress  therein,  and  it 
being  now  late,  and  the  business  will  require  longer  time,  it 
is  ordered,  that  this  House  will  proceed  in  the  reading  the 
rest  of  the  alterations  and  additions  to-morrow  morning  at 
nine  of  the  clock. 

Die  Veneris,  14°  die  Martii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  IT,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  407  a.] 

Then  this  House  proceeded  in  the  reading  of  the  altera- 
tions and  additions  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayers ;  and 
ordered,  to  proceed  further  in  the  reading  of  it  to-morrow 
morning. 

Die  Saturni,  15°  die  Martii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  408  6.] 

Next,  the  House  proceeded  in  the  further  reading  of  the 
alterations  and  additions  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayers ; 
which  being  ended,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  in  the  name,  and 
by  the  directions  of  the  House,  gave  the  lords  the  bishops 
thanks,  for  their  care  in  this  business ;  and  desired  their 
lordships  to  give  the  like  thanks,  from  this  House,  to  the 
other  House  of  Convocation,  for  their  pains  herein. 

Ordered — That  this  House  will  take  into  consideration  the 
alterations  and  amendments  in  the  Bill  concerning  Unifor- 
mity of  Public  Worship,  as  it  was  lately  reported ;  and  this 
to  be  on  Monday  morning  next. 

Die  Lunje,  17°  die  Martii,   [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,   [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  409  a -6.] 

Next,  this  House  took  into  consideration  the  Bill  concern- 
ing Uniformity  in  Public  Worship,  formerly  reported  from 
the  committee.  And,  upon  the  second  reading  of  the  altera- 
tions and  provisos,  and  considerations  thereof,  it  is  ordered, 


I 


1661-2.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  419 

that  this  House  agrees  to  the  preamble,  as  it  is  now  brought 
in  by  the  committee. 

And  the  question  being  put,  "  Whether  this  book  that 
hath  been  transmitted  to  this  House  from  the  king  shall  be 
the  book  to  which  the  Act  of  Uniformity  shall  relate  V 

It  was  resolved  in  the  aflfirraative. 

Then  the  Lord  Chancellor  acquainted  the  House  with  a 
proviso  recommended  from  the  king,  to  be  inserted  in  this 
Bill  of  Uniformity ;  which  his  lordship  read. 

And  it  was  commanded  that  the  same  should  be  read 
again;  and  it  is  ordered,  that  the  further  debate  of  this 
business  is  deferred  until  to-morrow  morning. 

Die  Martis,  18°  die  Martii,   [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  410  a.] 

Next,  this  House  took  into  consideration  the  business  of 
presenting  the  proviso  yesterday  from  the  king  to  this  House; 
for  debate  whereof,  the  House  was  adjourned  into  a  com- 
mittee during  pleasure. 

And  the  House  being  resumed  : 

This  question  was  put,  "  Whether  a  salvo  shall  be  entered 
into  the  book,  to  save  the  privilege  of  this  House,  upon  the 
occasion  of  this  proviso  from  the  king  ?" 

And  it  was  resolved  in  the  negative. 

Ordered — That  to-morrow  morning  the  debate  concerning 
the  matter  of  this  proviso  shall  be  resumed. 

Die  Mercurii,  19°  die  Martii,  [1661—2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  411fl.] 

Next,  the  House  took  into  consideration  the  matter  in  the 
king^s  proviso  to  the  Bill  for  Uniformity  of  Worship. 

And  the  proviso  was  read  again  and  debated. 

And  there  being  another  proviso  offered  to  the  House, 
which  was  read. 

The  question  being  put,  "  Whether  this  proviso  shall  be 
rejected?^' 

E    E    2 


430  Proceedings  in  Farliament  [iG62. 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Ordered — That  the  Bill  for  Uniformity  is  re- committed; 
also  the  proviso  sent  from  the  king  is  referred  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  same  committee,  who  are  to  meet  to-morrow 
in  the  afternoon ;  and  the  Duke  of  Richmond  is  added  to  the 
said  committee. 

Die  Jovis,  20°  die  Martii,  [16G1— 2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
n.  L.,  xi,  412^'.] 

Ordered— Tlisit  the  Earl  of  Bristol  and  the  Lord  Herbert 
of  Cherbury  are  added  to  the  committee  for  the  Bill  of  Uni- 
formity. 

Die  Veneris,  21°  die  Martii,  [1661-2],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  413  b.] 
Ordered— Tlmt  the  Lord  Newport  is  added  to  the  com- 
mittee for  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

Die  Veneris,  4"  die  Aprilis,  [1662J,  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  421c.] 

Next,  the  Earl  of  Bridgwater  reported  from  the  committee, 
the  alterations  and  provisos  in  the  Bill  concerning  Uniformity 
of  Worship. 

The  said  alterations  and  provisos  were  read  twice,  and 
debated. 

The  question  being  put,  ''Whether  these  words  'though 
indifferent  in  their  own  nature'  shall  stand  in  the  proviso, 
as  they  are  brought  in  by  the  committee  ?" 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Ordered— "That  this  House  will  resume  the  further  debate 
of  this  business  to-morrow  morning. 

Die  Saturni,  5°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  122  a.] 

Next,  the  House  resumed  the  debate  as  was  yesterday, 
upon  report  of  the  Bill  concerning  Uniformity  of  Worship. 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Umformity.  421 

The  point  now  in  consideration  was_,  the  clause  of  ministers 
declaring  against  the  covenant. 

And^  after  a  long  debate^  the  question  was  put^  "  Whether 
this  clause^  videUcit,  '  I  do  declare  that  I  hold  that  there  is 
no  obligation  upon  me^  or  any  other  person^  from  the  oath 
commonly  called  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant'  shall 
stand  in  the  bill,  as  it  is  brought  in  by  the  committee?" 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Ordered — That  this  bill  shall  be  taken  into  further  debate 
on  Monday  morning  next. 

Die  Luuffi,  7°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  L., 
xi,  423  «.] 

This  day  being  appointed  to  consider  further  of  the  Act  of 
Uniformity ;  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Worcester  offered  to  the 
consideration  of  this  House  an  explanation,  in  a  paper,  of  the 
vote  of  this  House  on  Saturday  last,  concerning  the  words  in 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  which  declared  against  the  solemn 
league  and  covenant ;  which  he  first  opened,  and  afterwards, 
by  permission  of  the  House  read  the  same  :  which  afterwards 
the  House  commanded  to  be  read  by  the  clerk. 

And,  after  debate  thereof,  the  question  being  put, 
"  Whether  that  the  proceeding  of  the  debate  of  this  paper, 
thus  brought  in,  be  against  the  orders  of  this  House  ? " 

It  was  resolved  in  the  negative. 

Ordered — That  this  House  will  take  into  debate  this  paper 
to-morrow  morning. 

Memorandum — That,  before  the  putting  of  the  aforesaid 
question,  these  Lords  whose  names  are  subscribed,  desired 
leave  to  enter  their  dissents,  if  the  question  was  carried  in  the 
negative.     [No  names  given.] 

Die  Martis,  8°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car  II,  [Journ.  H.  L., 
xi,  424a-i.] 

Next,  the  House  took  into  consideration  the  paper  brought 
in  yesterday,  for  an  explanation  of  the  clause  in  the  Act  of 


422  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

Uniformity  concerning  the  declaring  against  the  covenant ; 
and_,  after  a  long  debate^  it  is  ordered,  that  this  paper  be  laid 
aside. 

Ordered — That  these  Lords  following  are  appointed  to  con- 
sider and  draw  up  a  clause,  or  proviso,  whereby  it  may  be  left 
to  the  king  to  make  such  provision  for  those  of  the  clergy  as 
his  majesty  shall  think  fit,  who  shall  be  deprived  of  their 
livings  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity;  and  afterwards  to  make 
report  thereof  to  this  House : 

Dux  Bucks,  Bp.  Worcester.  Ds.  Wharton. 

Comes  Bristol.  Bp.  Exon.  Ds.  Mohun 

Comes  Anglesey.       Bp.  Hereford.  Ds.  Lucas. 

Ds.  Holies. 

Their  Lordships,  or  any  two,  to  meet  in  the  Prince's  Lodg- 
ings, to-morrow  morning,  at  eight  of  the  clock. 

Die  Mercurii,  9°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  425  a.] 

The  Earl  of  Anglesey  reported,  "  That  the  committee  have 
considered  of  a  proviso,  that  such  persons  as  are  put  out  of 
their  livings  by  virtue  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  may  have 
such  allowances  out  of  their  livings,  for  their  subsistence,  as 
his  majesty  shall  think  fit.^' 

The  said  proviso  was  read ;  and,  after  some  debate,  a  few 
alterations  made  therein. 

And  the  question  being  put,  ''  Whether  this  proviso,  with 
the  alterations,  shall  stand  in  the  bill  ?" 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Hodie  3*  vice  lecia  est  Billa,  An  Act  for  the  Uniformity 
of  Public  Prayers,  and  Administration  of  Saci'aments,  and 
other  Rites  and  Ceremonies,  and  for  establishing  the  Form  of 
making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  Bishops,  Priests,  and 
Deacons,  in  the  church  of  England. 

The  question  being  put,  "  Whether  this  bill,  with  the 
alterations  and  amendments,  shall  pass?" 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 


1663.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  423 

Ordered — To  send  for  a  conference  with  the  House  of 
Commons  to-morrow  morning,  and  communicate  this  bill 
with  the  alterations  and  amendments  to  them. 

Die  Jovis,  10°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  L., 
xi,  426  c-6.] 

A  message  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons,  by  Sir 
Moundeford  Brampston  and  Sir  Nathnniell  Hobart : 

To  desire  a  present  conference,  in  the  painted  chamber, 
concerning  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 

The  Lord  Chancellor,  the  Earl  of  Bridgwater,  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  were  appointed  to  manage  this  conference- 

The  House  directed  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayers, 
recommended  from  the  king,  shall  be  delivered  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  as  that  being  the  Book  to  which  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  is  to  relate ;  and  also  to  deliver  the  book  wherein 
the  alterations  are  made,  out  of  which  the  other  book  was 
fairly  written;  and  likewise  to  communicate  to  them  the 
king's  message,  recommending  the  said  book ;  and  lastly,  to 
let  the  Commons  know,  "  That  the  Lords,  upon  consideration 
had  of  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  have  thought  fit  to  make  some 
alterations,  and  add  certain  provisos,  to  which  the  concur- 
rence of  the  House  of  Commons  is  desired." 

^  -je  ^  -sf  -K-  -J?- 

The  messengers  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons  return  with 
this  answer : 

That  they  will  give  a  conference,  as  is  desired. 

•se  ^  *  *  *  -JJ- 

The  House  was  adjourned  during  pleasure,  and  the  Lords 
went  to  the  free  conference ;  which  being  ended,  the  House 
was  resumed. 

Jovis,    10°   Aprilis,    [1662],    14°  Car.  II,     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  402  a-6.] 

A  message  from  the  Lords,  by  Sir  Moundeford  Brampston 
and  Sir  Nathaniell  Hobart : 


424  Proceedmgs  in  Parliament  [1663. 

Mr.  Speaker — '''The  Lords  desire  a  present  conference 
with  this  House  upon  the  Bill  for  Uniformity;,  in  the  painted 
chamber." 

The  messengers  being  withdraAvn — 

Resolved — That  this  House  doth  agree  to  a  present  con- 
ference;  and  that  Serjeant  Keeling^  Serjeant  Charlton,  Sir 
Robert  Hov/ard,  Sir  Robert  Atkins,  Sir  Tho.  INIeres,  and 
Dr.  Birkinheadj  do  make  report  from  the  Conference. 

The  messengers  being  called  in,  Mr.  Speaker  does 
acquaint  them,  that  the  House  had  agreed  to  a  present 
conference. 

^  •)(■  ^  -x-  -x-  -x- 

Serjeant  Keeling  reports,  from  the  Conference  had  with 
the  Lords,  upon  the  Bill  for  Uniformity,  that  the  reason 
of  the  delay  of  the  said  bill  was,  that  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  had,  by  reference  from  his  majesty,  been 
under  the  consideration  of  the  Convocation,  who  had 
made  some  alterations  and  additions  thereunto ;  and  that 
the  Lords  had  perused  the  same,  as  also  the  bill  sent 
from  this  House;  and  had  returned  the  same,  together 
with  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  the  same  is  amended 
and,  by  them,  agreed  to,  and  some  amendments  and 
provisos  to  the  bill ;  to  which  they  desired  the  concurrence 
of  this  House ;  and  delivered  the  same  in  at  the  clerk's  table. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  will  enter 
upon  the  consideration  and  debate  of  this  matter  to-morrow 
morning. 

Veneris,  11°  die  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,    [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  403  b.'] 

Ordered — That  the  House  do  proceed  upon  the  Bill  for 
Uniformity  to-morrow  morning. 

Sabbati,  12°  Aprilis,   [1662],  14°  Car.  II,     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  404  Z».] 

Amendments  and  additions,  sent  from  the  Lords,' to  the 
Bill  of  Uniformity,  were  this  day  read. 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformifi/.  425 

Resolved — That  the  amendments  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer^  sent  down  from  the  Lords^  be  read  on  Monday  next. 

Lnn^e,  11°  Aprilis,    [1662],  14°    Car.   II,     [Jom-n.   H.  C, 
viii,  405  b.] 

The  amendments  in  ^^The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and 
Administration  of  the  Sacraments  and  other  Rites  and 
Ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England/'  sent  from  the 
Lords;  the  transcript  of  "which  book,  so  amended,  there- 
Avith  sent,  they  desire  to  be  added  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity, 
instead  of  the  book  sent  up  therewith,  was,  in  part,  read. 

And  then  the  House  adjourned  for  two  hours. 

Post  Merid. 

The  rest  of  the  amendments  in  the  said  book  were  then 
read  throughout. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  the  amendments  to  the 
said  bill,  with  the  additions  sent  by  the  Lords,  be  read  the 
second  time,  and  proceeded  in,  to-morrow  morning,  at  nine  of 
the  clock. 

Martis,    15°  Aprilis,  [1662],   14°  Car.  II,     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  406  «-5. 

The  House  then  resumed  the  debate  upon  the  amendments 
sent  down  from  the  Lords,  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity ;  which 
■were  begun  to  be  read  the  second  time. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  the  first  amendment,  as 
to  the  title  of  the  bill,  be  postponed. 

The  question  being  put,  "  To^  agree  with  the  Lords,  as  to 
the  amendment  to  the  compiling  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  by  the  bishops,  and  the  Act  of  2^^'imo  Eliz.  for  enjoin- 
ing it  to  be  used  " — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

The  rest  of  the  amendments,  unto  the  amendment  in  the 
twenty-fiftli  line,  were  read  the  second  time,  andj  upon  the 
question,  agreed  to. 


426  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

The    question   being   put,    "  That   the   paragraph    of    the 
amendment,  in  relation  to  the  recital  of  the  progress  of  the 
proceedings,  till   that   amendment  which    does  concern   the 
book,  annexed  to  the  bill,  be  postponed  " — 
The  House  was  divided. 
The  yeas  went  out. 

Sir  Robert  Howard,    f  Tellers  for  the  yeas.  "1  q^ 
Mr.  Hungerford,  L      With  the  yeas,       J 

Sir  Tho.  Gower,  f  Tellers  for  the  noes,  1  ,  -i  q 

Sir  Robert  Brooke       L       With  the  noes,       J 
And  so  it  passed  in  the  negative. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  Mr.  Vaughan,  Mr. 
Knight,  Mr.  Crouch,  Dr.  Birkinhead,  Lord  Fanshaw,  Sir 
Edm,  Peirce,  Dr.  Burwell,  Sir  Tho.  Gower,  and  Mr.  Waller, 
or  any  six  of  them,  be  appointed  a  committee,  to  compare 
the  Books  of  Common  Prayer,  sent  down  from  the  Lords, 
with  the  book  sent  up  from  this  House;  and  to  see 
whether  they  differ  in  anything  besides  the  amendments, 
sent  from  the  Lords,  and  already  read  in  this  House 
and  wherein ;  and  to  make  their  report  therein,  with 
all  the  speed  they  can.  And,  for  that  purpose,  they  are  to 
meet  this  afternoon,  at  two  of  the  clock,  in  the  Speaker's 
chamber. 

Mercurii,  16°  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,     [Jouru.  H.  C, 
viii,  407  6— 408  a.] 

Mr.  Vaughan  reports,  from  the  committee  appointed  to 
compare  the  Books  of  Common  Prayer,  sent  down  from  the 
Lords,  with  the  book  sent  up  from  this  house;  and  to  see 
whether  they  differ  in  anything  besides  the  amendments  sent 
from  the  Lords,  and  already  read  in  this  House,  and  wherein  : 
that  the  said  committee  had  met  yesterday,  and  sat  till  eight 
at  night,  and  had  met  early  this  morning,  and  taken  great 
care  and  pains  in  comparing  and  examining  the  said 
books     *     ^     *     * 

Resolved — That  the  thanks  of  this  House  be  returned  to 
the  said  committee,  for  their  great  care  and  pains  in  compar- 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  427 

iug  and  examining  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer^  according 
to  the  order  and  direction  of  this  House. 

And  Mr.  Speaker  did  return  them  the  thanks  of  the  House 
accordingly. 

The  House  then  resumed  the  debate  upon  the  amendments, 
sent  down  from  the  Lords,  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

And  the  seventh  amendment,  at  the  twenty-fourth  line  of 
the  bill,  being  again  read — 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  dis- 
agree to  these  words,  in  the  twenty-fifth  line  of  the  said 
amendment,  "and  tenderness  of  some  men's  consciences;" 
and  doth  think  fit,  that  the  word  "have,'^  be  made 
"  hath." 

The  question  being  propounded,  "  Whether  debate  shall 
be  admitted  to  the  amendments  made  by  the  Convocation  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  sent  down  by  the  Lords  to 
this  House  : " 

And  the  question  being  put,  "  Whether  that  question  shall 
be  now  put?" 

It  was  resolved  in  the  aflfirmative. 

And  the  main  question  being  put,  "  Whether  debate  shall 
be  admitted  to  the  amendments  made  by  the  Convocation  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  sent  down  by  the  Lords  to 
this  House?" 

The  House  was  divided. 

The  Noes  went  out. 

Mr.  Williams,  f  Tellers  for  the  yeas,  "1  ^q 

Mr.  Boscowen,  L       With  the  yeas,       J  ^ 

Sir  Edm.  Peirce,       f  Tellers  for  the  noes,  "1  ^^ 

Mr.  Spencer,  L       With  the  noes,      J 

And  so  it  passed  in  the  negative. 

The  question  being  put,  "That  the  amendments  made 
by  the  Convocation,  and  sent  down  by  the  Lords  to  this 
House,  might,  by  the  order  of  this  House,  have  been 
debated  " — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

The  question  being  put,   "To  agree  to  the  said  seventh 


4.28  Proccedinf/s  in  Parliament  [1662. 

amendmeutj  sent  down  from  the  Lords,  ut  the  twenty-fourth 
line  in  the  Bill  of  Uniformity,  with  the  alteration  made  hy 
this  House,  and  before  expressed  " — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  afhrmative. 

Ordered — That  this  House  do  proceed,  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, to  the  further  consideration  of  the  residue  of  the 
amendments,  sent  down  from  the  Lords,  to  the  Bill  of 
Uniformity. 

Jovis,    17°  Aprilis,    [1662],  ll'*  Car.    II.      [Journ.    H.   C, 
viii,  408^— 409  ft. 

The  House  then  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  residue 
of  the  amendments,  sent  from  the  Lords,  to  the  Bill  of 
Uniformity. 

And  the  several  amendments,  from  the  thirtieth  line 
in  the  first  skin,  to  the  fortieth  line,  being  read  the 
second  time,   were,  upon  the  question,  severally  agreed  to. 

The  question  being  put,  '^  To  agree  to  that  part  of  the 
amendment,  to  the  fortieth  line  of  the  bill,  to  put  in  the 
words  ^the  said,^  instead  of  ^  a'" — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

The  question  being  put,  "To  adhere  to  these  words, 
'annexed  and  joined  to  this  present  Act,  and;'  which  the 
Lords,  in  the  same  amendment,  would  have  omitted  " — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

The  amendment  to  the  forty-second  line  in  the  bill  was 
read  the  second  time ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  forty -third  line  was  read  the  second 
time,  and,  in  part,  agreed  to,  till  these  words,  "  appointed  to 
be  annexed  to  this  present  Act." 

The  question  being  put,  "  To  agree  to  that  part  of  the 
amendment  for  inserting  the  said  words,  ^appointed  to  be 
annexed  to  this  present  Act  ^ " — 

It  passed  in  the  negative. 

The  amendment  to  the  eighth  line  of  the  second  skin, 
being  read  the  second  time ;  and  the  same  being,  instead  of 
"  Michael,  the  archangel,"  to  read  ^'^  Bartholomew  " — 


16G2.]  0)1  the  Act  of  Vnifonnity.  429 

The  Questiou  being  put,  "  To  adhere  to  the  bill  as  to  the 
wordsj  '  jNIichael  the  archangel ' " — 

The  House  was  divided. 

The  noes  went  out. 

Sir  Tho.  Gower,  f  Tellers  for  the  yeas,  ~\    q_, 

Mr.  Boscowen,  L       With  the  yeas,      J 

Sir  Robert  Holt,  f  Tellers  for  the  noes,  "1     „,, 

Mr.  Phillips,  L       With  the  noes,      J 

And  so  it  passed  in  the  negative. 

And  the  amendment  of  the  Lords,  as  to  that  point,  was 
agreed  to. 

The  question  being  put,  "  To  agree  to  the  amendment  to 
the  ninth  line  of  the  second  skin,  to  read,  '  two,'  instead  of 
^one^^^— 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

The  question  being  put,  ''  To  agree  to  the  amendment  to 
the  fifteenth  line  of  the  second  skin,  to  read,  '  in  the  said 
book,'  instead  of  therein'" — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  afiirmative. 

The  next  paragraph  of  the  said  amendment,  for  the 
ministers'  subscription  of  their  consent,  being  read  the 
second  time — 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  agree 
to  that  paragraph  of  the  said  amendment. 

Resolved — That  this  House  will  proceed  upon  the  rest 
of  the  amendments  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity  to-morrow 
morning. 

Veneris,  IS*'  ApriHs,   [1662],  14°  Car.  II,     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  409  Z*— 410  a.] 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  the  reading  of  the  re- 
maining amendments,  sent  down  from  the  Lords,  to  the 
Bill  for  Uniformity,  from  the  place  where  they  left  yes- 
terday. 

The  last  paragraph  of  the  amendment,  in  the  twenty-fifth 
line  of  the  second  skin,  being  read  the  second  time— 

Resolved — That  the  said  paragraph  be  postponed. 


430  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

The  three  next  amendments  to  the  thirteenth,  thirty-ninth, 
and  forty-first  lines  of  the  second  skin,  were  read  the  second 
time ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  seventh  line  of  the  second  skin  was 
read  the  second  time  :  and  the  amendment  being,  that  after 
the  word  "■  dead,^'  to  add  the  clauses  contained  in  the  parch- 
ment marked  with  No.  1 — 

The  said  parchment  was  read  the  second  time. 

The  first  paragraph  in  the  said  parchment  was  read  the 
third  time. 

Ordered — That  Mr.  Vaughan,  Serjeant  Seis,  and  Mr. 
Thurland,  do  peruse  the  statutes^  and  bring  in  a  proviso  for 
translating  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  into  Welsh,  if  it 
may  consist  with  the  laws  in  force. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  an  amendment  be  made 
to  the  said  paragraph,  by  reading  "  one  month,"  instead  of 
"  three  months." 

Resolved — That  the  said  paragraph,  with  the  amendment, 
be  agreed  to. 

^  *  ^  *  *  ¥: 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  the  reading  of  the  second 
paragraph  of  the  parchment  marked  No.  1. 

Ordered — That  Mr.  Crouch,  Sir  Tho.  Meers,  Serjeant 
Charlton,  Dr.  Birkinhead,  Sir  Edmund  Peirce,  Sir  John 
Brampton,  and  Dr.  Burwell,  do  withdraw,  and  pen  a  para- 
graph upon  the  present  debate. 

The  next  paragraph  of  the  parchment,  as  to  ordina- 
tion, was  read  the  second  time ;  and,  upon  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  next  paragraph,  as  to  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments,  was  read  the  secoad  time ;  and,  upon  the 
question,  agreed  to. 

Sabbati,  19°  Aprilis,   [1662],   14°  Car.  II,     [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  410  6— 411a.] 
The  amendments  to  the  addition  in  parchment,  sent  from 
the  Lords,  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  No.  1,  being  brought 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformify.  431 

in  by  the  members  of  this  House  directed  to  prepare  the 
same,  were  this  day  read  the  first  time. 

And  the  first  amendment  being,  first  skin,  line  twenty-two, 
after  the  word  "  aforesaid/'  leave  out  all  the  words,  unto  the 
word  "  subscribe,"  in  the  twenty-ninth  line ;  and,  instead 
thereof,  insert  these  words  following :  "  That  every  dean, 
canon,  and  prebendary,  of  every  cathedral  or  collegiate 
church,  and  all  masters,  and  other  heads,  fellows,  chaplams, 
and  tutors,  of  or  in  any  college,  hall,  house  of  learning,  or 
hospital ;  and  every  public  professor  and  reader,  in  either  of 
the  universities,  and  in  every  college  elsewhere;  and  every 
parson,  vicar,  curate,  lecturer,  and  every  other  person  in  holy 
orders ;  and  every  schoolmaster,  keeping  any  public  or  private 
school,  and  every  person  instructing  or  teaching  any  youth, 
in  any  house  or  private  family,  as  a  tutor  or  schoolmaster, 
who,  upon  the  first  day  of  May,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  God  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two ;  or, 
at  any  time  thereafter,  shall  be  incumbent,  or  have  possession 
of  any  deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  mastership,  headship, 
fellowship,  professor's  place,  or  reader's  place,  parsonage, 
vicarage,  or  any  other  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion ;  or 
of  any  curate's  place,  lecture,  or  school;  or  shall  instruct  or 
teach  any  youth,  or  tutor,  or  schoolmaster;  shall,  before  the 
Feast  Day  of  St.  Bartholomew,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two,  at  or 
before  his  or  their  respective  admission  to  be  incumbent,  or 
to  have  possession  aforesaid  " — 

The  same  was  read  the  second  time. 

And  the  question  being  put,  "  That  the  time  for  declaring 
against  the  Covenant  be  twenty  years  " — 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  agree 
to  the  said  first  amendment :  and 

Ordered — That  the  persons  formerly  appointed  to  prepare 
the  amendments  upon  the  former  debate,  do  now  prepare 
and  bring  in  a  clause,  by  way  of  proviso,  or  otherwise, 
that   none   of  the   persons  enjoined  to    make   the  declara- 


433  Proceedings  in  FarUanient  [1662, 

tion  and  ackllo^yledgment  now  uiader  debate,  be  obliged 
to  that  part  which  concerns  the  covenant,  after  t\yenty 
years. 

And  then  were  read  the  words  in  the  said  parchment,  here- 
after following-,  line  twenty-nine,  viz., ''  subscribe  the  declara- 
tion and  acknowledgment  following;  scilicet:  '1,  A.  B.,  do 
declare,  that  it  is  not  lawful,  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  to 
take  arms  against  the  king  ;  and  that  1  do  abhor  that  traitorous 
position  of  taking  arms,  by  his  authority,  against  his  person, 
or  against  those  who  are  commissioned  by  him  ;  and  that  I 
will  conform  to  the  liturgy  of  the  church  of  England,  as  it  is 
now  by  law  established.  And  I  do  declare,  that  I  do  hold 
there  lies  no  obligation  upon  me,  or  on  any  other  person, 
from  the  oath  commonly  called  The  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant;  and  that  the  same  was  in  itself  an  unlawful 
oath,  and  imposed  upon  the  subjects  of  this  realm  against 
the  known  laws  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom.^ ^^ 

Resolved — That  after  the  word  "  covenant,"  and  before  the 
word  "  and,'^  in  the  thirty-eighth  line,  these  words  be  added, 
"  to  endeavour  any  change  or  alteration  of  government,  either 
in  Church  or  State." 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  agree 
to  that  part  of  the  said  additional  amendment  in  parch- 
ment, sent  from  the  Lords,  with  the  said  addition  last  agreed 
unto. 

And  the  second  amendment,  being  in  the  fortieth  line, 
after  the  word  "  kingdom,"  leave  out  all  the  words  to  the 
first  word  in  the  forty-fifth  line;  and  instead  thereof,  in- 
sert the  words,  '■'' particularly  mentioned  in  the  said 
amendment." 

The  first  paragraph  thereof  being  in  these  words,  "  which 
said  declaration  and  acknowledgment  shall  be  subscribed  by 
every  of  the  said  masters,  and  other  heads,  fellows,  chaplains, 
and  tutors,  of  or  in  any  college,  hall,  or  house  of  learning, 
and  every  public  professor  and  reader  in  either  of  the  univer- 
sities, before  the  vice-chancellor  of  the  respective  universities 
for  the  time  being,  or  his  deputy.      And  the  said  declaration 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  433 

or  acknowledgment  shall  be  subscribed  before  the  respective 
bishopj  or  ordinary  of  the  diocese,  by  every  other  person 
hereby  enjoined  to  subscribe  the  same,  upon  pain  that  all 
and  every  of  the  persons  failing  in  such  subscription,  shall 
lose  and  forfeit  such  respective  deanery,  canonry,  prebend, 
mastership,  headship,  fellowship,  professor's  place,  reader's 
place,  parsonage,  vicarage,  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion, 
curate's  place,  lecture,  and  school;  and  shall  be  utterly 
disabled,  and  ipso  facto  be  deprived  of  the  same.  And  that 
every  such  respective  deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  mastership, 
headship,  fellowship,  professor's  place,  reader's  place,  parson- 
age, vicarage,  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion,  curate's 
place,  lecture,  and  school,  shall  be  void,  as  if  such  person,  so 
failing,  were  naturally  dead." 

The  same  was  read  the  second  time. 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  agree 
to  the  said  paragraph. 

And  then  the  House  adjourned  the  further  debate  of  the 
said  amendment  till  Monday  next,  at  ten  of  the  clock. 

Lunge,  21°  Aprilis,    [1662],  l^""  Car.   II,     [Joui-n.    H.  C, 
viii,  4115— 412  a.] 

The  House  did  then  proceed  upon  the  rest  of  the 
amendments  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity.  And,  in  the  first 
place,  on  that  part  of  the  paragraph  brought  in  by  the 
committee,  which  concerns  schoolmasters,  appointed  for 
that  purpose. — 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  all  the  words  after  the 
word  "  aforesaid,"  in  the  seventeenth  line  of  the  third  page  of 
the  said  amendment,  to  the  word  "  and,"  in  the  one-  and- 
twentieth  line  of  the  same  page,  be  left  out :  and  that  these 
words,  "  shall,  for  the  first  ofience,  suffer  three  months' 
imprisonment,  without  bail  or  mainprize;  and  for  every 
second  ofiience,  shall  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment,  with- 
out bail  or  mainprize;  and  also  forfeit  to  his  majesty  the 
sum  of  five  pounds,"  be  inserted  in  the  said  paragraph, 
instead  of  the  said  words  to  be  omitted. 


434  .  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1663. 

Resolved— "Yhdii  after  the  word  "  realm/'  in  the  fourteenth 
line  of  the  said  page,  these  words,  "  for  which  he  shall  pay- 
twelve  pence  only/^  be  inserted. 

The  question  being  put,  "  That  the  words  '  for  the  fee  of 
two  shillings  and  sixpence/  in  the  twenty-seventh  line  of  the 
third  page  of  the  said  amendment,  brought  in  by  the  com- 
mittee, be  omitted ;  and  that  the  certificate  for  every  parson, 
vicar,  curate,  and  lecturer,  shall  be  without  fee  ? " 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Resolved — That  the  said  paragraph,  so  amended,  be  agreed 
to. 

The  third  amendment,  brought  in  by  the  committee, 
being  twice  read,  was,  upon  the  question,  agreed  unto. 

The  fourth  amendment,  by  them  brought  in,  being  also 
twice  read,  was,  upon  the  question,  agreed  unto. 

A  proviso  in  relation  to  the  Covenant  for  twenty  years,  this 
day  brought  in  by  the  said  committee,  was  twice  read,  and, 
upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

Resolved — That  these  words,  ""now  is  incumbent,  and  in 
possession  of  any  parsonage,  vicarage,  or  benefice,  and," 
be  inserted  after  the  word  "parson  who/'  in  the  fifty- 
third  line  of  the  first  parchment  addition,  sent  from  the 
Lords. 

Resolved — That  these  words,  "the  said,"  be  inserted, 
instead  of  the  word  "  any,''  after  the  word  "  enjoy,"  in  the 
fifty-seventh  line  of  the  said  first  parchment  addition,  sent 
from  the  Lords. 

The  question  being  put,  "Whether  the  words  'ac- 
cording to  the  form  of  the  church  of  England/  be 
inserted  after  the  word  'ordination/  in  the  fifty-seventh 
line  of  said  first  addition  in  parchment,  sent  from  the 
Lords?" 

It  passed  in  the  negative. 

Resolved— ^^?ii  these  words,  "thenceforth  be  capable  to  be 
admitted  to  any  parsonage,  vicarage,  benefice,  or  any  ecclesi- 
astical promotion  or  dignity;  nor  shall  any  person,"  be 
inserted  after  the  word  "  shall,"  in  the  sixty-thii'd  line  of  the 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformitij.  435 

said  first  addition  in  parcliment_,  sent  from  the  Lords  :  and  that 
the  words  "  or  do  "  be  omitted. 


Martis,  22«  Aprilis,   [1662,]  ]4°  Car.  II.     [Journ.   H.   C, 
viii,  412  6— 413  a.] 

The  House  then  proceeded  upon  the  amendments  to  the 
Bill  of  Uniformity. 

The  paragraph  in  the  parchment  marked  No.  1,  as  to 
the  penalties  not  to  extend  to  foreigners,  or  aliens  of  the 
foreign  reformed  churches,  was  read  the  second  time,  and 
agreed  to. 

The  rest  of  the  paragraphs  and  provisos,  to  the  end  of  the 
said  parchment,  were  read  the  second  time ;  and^  upon  the 
question,  agreed  to. 

The  House  then  proceeded  to  the  reading  of  the  second 
sheet  of  the  amendments,  sent  from  the  Lords,  to  the  Bill  of 
Uniformity. 

And  the  amendment  to  the  eighth  line  of  the  third  skin 
being  twice  read — 

Resolved — That  these  words,  "  Archbishop  of  the  pro- 
vince," be  inserted  in  the  said  amendment,  after  the  words 
^'  by  the,"  in  the  eighth  line ;  and  the  word  "  archbishop," 
after  the  word  "  said,"  in  the  eleventh  line. 

And  the  said  amendment,  with  the  additions  aforesaid,  was 
agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  ninth  line  was  twice  read ;  and, 
upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  thirteenth  line  of  the  third  skin, 
was  twice  read ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  next  amendment  to  the  twenty-sixth  line  was  twice 
read ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  twenty-seventh  line  was  twice  read ; 
and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  twenty-eighth  line,  and  the  proviso 
directed  by  way  of  amendment,  marked  No.  2,  were  twice 
read ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

F   F   2 


436  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [166.2. 

The  amendment  to  the  tliirty-fifth  and  thirty-sixth  lines 
was  twice  read;  and_,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  thirty-seventh  line  being  twice 
read ;  was,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  fortieth  line  was  read. 

Ordered — That  the  word  "  are,"  be  inserted  betwixt 
the  word  '^  and,"  and  the  word  ^Hiereby,"  in  that  amend- 
ment. 

Resolved — That  the  amendment,  so  altered,  be  agreed  to. 

The  next  amendment,  to  the  one-and-fortieth  line,  was 
read  the  second  time ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  next  amendment  to  the  forty-second  line  was  read  the 
second  time;  and  the  provisos,  marked  No.  3,  directed,  by 
way  of  amendment,  to  be  inserted  instead  of  the  words 
"  which  are  to  be  omitted,' '  were  read  the  second  and  third 
time ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  twenty-seventh  line  of  the 
fourth  skin  was  read  the  second  time ;  and,  on  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  twenty-eighth  line  of  the  fourth 
skin  was  twice  read ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  twenty-ninth  line  of  the  fourth 
skin  was  read  the  second  time;  and,  upon  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  one-and-thirtieth  line  was  t\Tice 
read ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  amendment  to  the  thirty -seventh  line  being,  after  the 
word  "authority,"  to  leave  out  the  rest  of  the  bill;  and  add 
the  provisos  beginning,  "  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted," 
and  marked  No.  4. 

The  rest  of  the  bill,  after  the  word  "  authority,"  being 
twice  read — 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  the  same  be  left  out  of 
the  bill. 

The  said  provisos  in  the  parchment  No.  4  were  read  the 
second  time. 

The  first  paragraph  of  the  said  provisos   in  parchment^ 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformitij,  437 

"for  providing  tlie  Book  of  Common  Prayer  iu  every 
parish/'  &c.,  being  read  the  third  time — 

Resolved,  upon  the  question — That  this  House  doth  agree 
to  the  said  paragraph. 

A  proviso^  by  -way  of  amendment,  touching  the  prices  to 
be  set  on  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  was  read. 

Ordered — That  liberty  be  given  to  bring  in  a  proviso,  such 
as  shall  be  fit  for  setting  the  rates  on  the  quires  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  in  folio,  to  be  used  in  churches  and  public 
places  :  and  Mr.  Pryn,  Dr.  Birkinhead,  Sir  Edmund  Peirse, 
and  Dr.  Burwell,  to  bring  it  in. 

The  next  paragraph,  touching  the  king's  professor  of  the 
law  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  was  read  the  third  time ;  and, 
upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  fourth  paragraph,  touching  the  subscription  to  the 
Thirty-Sixth  Article  of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles,  was  read  the 
third  time  ;  and,  upon  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  proviso,  as  to  the  dispensation  with  deprivation  for  not 
using  the  cross  and  surplice,  was  read  the  second  and  third  time. 

The  question  being  put,  whether  the  question  concerning 
amendments  to  be  made  to  this  proviso,  should  be  now  put : 

It  passed  in  the  negative. 

The  main  question  being  put,  for  agreeing  with  the  Lords 
as  to  this  proviso  concerning  the  cross  and  surplice : 

It  passed  in  the  negative. 

Jovis,  24  Aprilis,  [1662],  14o  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  4136.] 

The  House  then  proceeded  upon  the  remaining  amendments 
to  the  Bill  for  Uniformity ;  and  that  part  of  the  paragraph 
concerning  the  allowance  to  such  as  are  in  livings,  and  will 
be  outed  by  this  Act. 

Ordered — That  the  debate  be  adjourned  till  Saturday. 

Sabbati,   26°  Aprilis,  [1662],    14°  Car.  II,    [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  414  G-Z*,] 
The  House  then  resumed  the  debate  upon  the  amendment 


438  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1663 

to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity,  as  to  the  last  paragraph  of  the 
parchment  marked  No.  4,  touching  an  allowance  of  fifths  to 
such  as  shall  not  conform,  but  lose  their  livings. 

The  question  being  propounded,  that  amendments  be  made 
to  the  proviso,  touching  the  allowance  of  fifths,  to  such  as 
shall  not  conform  ; 

The  question  being  put,  ''  Whether  the  question  shall  be  now 
put  ?  " 

The  House  was  divided. 

The  Noes  went  forth. 
Sir  Richard  Temple,  j"     Tellers  for  the  yeas :     "\     ^^ 

Sir  John  Talbot,  \_         With  the  yeas,  J 

Sir  Robert  Holt,  f     Tellers  for  the  noes :      \      ^^ 

Mr.  Puckering,  l_         With  the  noes.  i 

And  so  it  passed  in  the  negative. 

The  main  queston  being  put,  to  agree  to  the  amendment, 
sent  from  the  Lords,  as  to  that  paragraph  of  the  parchment 
touching  allowance  of  fifths  to  such  as  shall  not  conform : 

It  passed  in  the  negative. 

The  House  then  resumed  the  amendment,  as  to  the  title  of 
the  Bill,  sent  from  the  Lords ;  which  was,  by  order,  post- 
poned. 

And  the  same,  being  twice  read,  was,  upon  the  question, 
agreed. 

The  next  amendment,  beginning  with  the  word  "never- 
theless," in  the  sixteenth  amendment  of  the  first  paper,  sent 
from  the  Lords,  which  was  also  postponed,  was  read  the 
second  time. 

The  question  being  put,  to  agree  to  the  said  amendment : 

It  passed_in  the  negative. 

Lume,  28°  Aprilis,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  415a-6.] 

The  House  then  resumed  the  matter  upon  the  Bill  of 
Uniformity. 

An  amendment,  to  be  added  to  the  amendment  sent  from 
the  Lords,  for  the  preserving  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  439 

by  having  it  recorded,  and  kept  in  cathedral  churches,  in  the 
courts  at  Westminster,  and  in  the  tower,  was  twice  read. 

Resolved — That  those  words,  which  concern  the  heads  of 
colleges,  be  struck"out  of  the  amendment. 

Resolved — That  the  amendment  be  agreed  to  :  and  that 
the  same  be  added  to  the  parchment  amendment,  sent  from 
the  Lords,  No.  4,  after  the  word  "  therein,"  in  the  fifteenth 
line  of  the  said  amendment. 

Another  amendment,  for  translating  the  Bible  into  "Welsh, 
was  twice  read;  and  some  additions,  upon  the  question, 
agreed  to  be  made  thereto  : 

Which  was  done  at  the  table. 

Resolved — That  the  said  amendment  be  agreed  to  ;  and 
that  the  same  be  added  to  the  parchment,  sent  from  the 
Lords,  marked  No.  4,  after  the  word  "  therein,"  in  the 
fifteenth  line  of  the  parchment. 

A  proviso,  for  being  uncovered,  and  for  using  reverent 
gestures,  at  the  time  of  divme  service,  was  twice  read. 

But  the  matter  being  held  proper  for  the  convocation  ; 

Ordered — That  such  persons,  as  shall  be  employed  to 
manage  the  conference  with  the  Lords,  do  intimate  the  desire 
of  this  House,  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  Convocation,  to 
take  order  for  reverent  and  uniform  gestures  and  demeanors 
to  be  enjoined  at  the  time  of  divine  service  and  preaching. 

Ordered — That  it  be  referred  to  Mr.  Solicitor  General,  the 
Lord  Fanshaw,  Serjeant  Charlton,  Mr.  Vaughan,  Dr. 
Birkinhead,  Mr.  Knight,  Sir  Tho.  Meres,  ISIr.  Clifford,  Sir 
Tho.  Gower,  Sir  Edm.  Peirse,  Sir  Tho.  Littleton,  Sir  Francis 
Goodrick,  Mr.  Crouch,  and  Sir  Eich.  Temple,  or  any  three  of 
them,  to  see  the  amendments  and^additions,  to  be  made  and 
added  to  the  amendments  sent  from  the  Lords  to  the  Bill  of 
Uniformity,  so  placed  and  ordered,  that  they  may  cohere ; 
and  to  prepare  and  draw  up  instructions  and  reasons  in  writ- 
ing ;  for  the  conference  to  be  had  with  the  Lords,  upon  the 
Bill  of  Uniformity,  against  to-morrow;  and  to  report  it  to 
the  House  :  and  they  are  to  meet  in  the  speaker's  chamber 
this  afternoon,  at  two  of  the  clock. 


440  Troceedmgs  in  Parliament  [1663. 

Martis,   39°  Aprilis,   [1663],  14°  Car.  II,   [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  4166.] 
Ordered — That  the  report  from  the  committee  upon  the 
Bill  of  Uniformity  be  heard  to-morrow  morning. 

Mercurii,  30°  Aprilis,  [1663],  14o  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  41 7«.] 

Seijeant  Charlton  reports,  from  the  committee  which  were 
appointed  to  peruse  the  amendments,  made  by  this  House  to 
the  amendments  and  provisos  sent  from  the  Lords,  to  the 
Bill  of  Uniformity,  and  to  draw  up  instructions  and  reasons, 
to  be  insisted  on  at  the  conference  to  be  had  with  the  Lords 
upon  the  said  amendments :  the  several  reasons  which  were 
agreed  by  the  committee  to  be  insisted  on,  which  were  allowed 
by  this  House. 

Ordered — That  Mr.  Herbert  do  go  up  to  the  Lords,  to 
desire  a  conference  upon  the  amendments  to  the  Bill  for  Uni- 
formity. 

Die  Mercurii,  30°  die  Aprilis,  [1663],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ. 
H.  L.,xi,  4416— 443  a.] 
A  message  was  brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
James  Herbert,  Esquire,  and  others : 

To  desire  a  conference  concerning  the  BiU  for  Uniformity. 
The  answer  returned  was  : 

That  this  House  will  give  the  House  of  Commons  a  present 
conference,  in  the  painted  chamber. 

^  *  ^'  ^  ^  ^ 

The  Lord  Chancellor,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  the  Lord  Privy 
Seal,  the  Earl  of  Bridgwater,  and  the  Earl  of  Portland, 
are  appointed  to  report  the  matter  of  the  next  conference 
with  the  House  of  Commons,  concerning  the  Bill  for  Uni- 
formity. 

^  *  ^  ^  ^  ^- 

Next,  the  House  was  adjourned  during  pleasure,  and  the 
Lords  went  to  the  conference  with  the  House  of  Commons : 
which  being  ended,  the  House  was  resumed. 


1663.]  o?i  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  441 

Ordered — That  the  report  of  this  conference  shall  be  made 
on  Friday  morning  next. 

Die  Martis,  6°  die  Maii,  [1663],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  L., 
xi,  445  6.] 

A  message  was  brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  by- 
Sir  Thomas  Meares  and  others  : 

To  put  their  Lordships  in  mind  of  giving  dispatch  to  the 
Bill  for  Uniformity,  as  conceiving  it  to  be  of  great  conse- 
quence :  and  the  rather,  because  they  believe  they  shall  not 
sit  long. 

Die  Mercurii,  7°  Maii,  [1663],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C, 
viii,  433  6.] 

Ordered — That  a  message  be  sent  to  the  Lords,  by  Colonel 
Fretchvile,  to  desire  them  to  expedite  the  bill  for  restoring 
impropriations  to  the  loyal  party. 

Die    Mercurii,  7°  die  Maii,    [1663],    14°    Car.  II,   [Journ. 
H.  L.,  xi,  446  6-450a.] 

A  message  was  brought  from  the  House  of  Commons,  by 
Mr.  Fretswell  and  others  : 

To  put  their  Lordships  in  mind  of  a  bill  concerning  the 
restoring  of  impropriations  to  his  majesty^s  loyal  subjects. 

Next,  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  made  a  long  report  of  the  effect 
of  the  conference  with  the  House  of  Commons :  "  That  Mr. 
Serjeant  Charlton  managed  the  conference;  who,  in  the 
name  of  the  House  of  Commons,  acquainted  their  Lordships, 
that  this  conference  was  desired  concerning  the  amendments 
to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity. 

"  He  said,  they  did  agree  in  most  of  them  with  their  Lord- 
ships.    And  wherein  they  differ,  will  appear  by  what  follows. 

"The  first  difference  was  in  omitting  these  words,  'Ten- 
derness of  some  men's  conscience,'  being  in  the  fifth  line  of 
the  seventh  amendment,  and  instead  thereof  insert  the  word 
'  hath ' ;  and  then  it  runs  thus,  '  which  the  indisposition  of 


443  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

the  time  hath  contracted/  turning  the  word  'have'  into 
'  hath/  He  said  these  words  might  well  be  omitted,  in 
respect  there  were  causes  enough  besides  mentioned ;  and  the 
phrase  of  '  tenderness  of  conscience'  having  been  much 
abused,  the  Commons  were  loth  to  give  so  much  countenance 
to  an  abused  phrase  as  to  insert  it. 

"  He  proceeded  to  the  eleventh  amendment ;  unto  which  he 
said,  the  House  agreed  in  part;  as,  instead  of  'a,'  to  read 
the  word  '  said :'  but  disagreed  in  the  other  part  thereof, 
that  is,  to  leave  out  these  words  '^  annexed  and  joined  to  this 
present  Act,  and,'  adhering  to  the  bill  in  that  particular; 
and  then  it  goeth  thus,  '  in  such  order  and  form  as  in  the 
said  book,  entitled,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  &c.,'  and 
so  put  it  in  the  present  tense,  upon  which,  he  said,  two  or 
three  more  differences  depend. 

"  To  the  thirteenth  amendment,  they  agreed  in  all  except 
these  words,  '  which  book  is  appointed  to  be  annexed  and 
joined  to  this  present  Act.' 

"  The  sixteenth  amendment  they  agreed  to,  till  it  come  to 
the  word  'nevertheless'  in  the  first  line  of  the  fourth  part 
of  the  paper  amendment ;  after  which  word,  they  disagree  to 
all  that  follows  in  that  amendment  concerning  the  cross  in 
baptism ;  the  reasons  whereof  he  deferred  till  he  came  to  the 
proviso.  And  this  was  all  he  offered  to  their  Lordships'  paper 
amendments;  and  so  descended  to  those  additions  sent  by 
their  Lordships  to  the  Commons  in  parchment. 

"  To  the  first  of  those,  in  the  sixth  line,  instead  of  '  three 
months,'  insert  '  month ;'  the  reason  is,  that  it  was  thought 
heretofore  too  slight  a  work  for  the  chief  minister  to  read 
Common  Prayer,  which  was  usually  performed  by  the  inferior 
sort  of  clergy ;  and,  therefore,  to  meet  with  that  inconveni- 
ence, they  desired  the  chief  minister  might  read  it  once  a 
month. 

"  The  next  alteration  was  in  the  twenty-second  line  :  from 
the  word  'aforesaid'  leave  out  all  to  the  word  'subscribed' 
in  the  twenty-ninth  line,  and  instead  thereof  insert  these 
words  following,  '  That  every  dean,  canon,  and  prebendary. 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformifij.  443 

of  every  cathedral  or  collegiate  cliurch,  and  all  masters  and 
other  heads,  fellows,  chaplains,  and  tutors,  of  or  in  any 
college,  hall,  house  of  learning,  or  hospital,  and  every  public 
professor  and  reader  in  either  of  the  universities,  and  in  every 
college  elsewhere,  and  every  parson,  vicar,  curate,  clerk, 
lecturer,  and  every  other  person  in  holy  orders,  and  every 
schoolmaster  keeping  any  public  or  private  school,  and  every 
person  instructing  or  teaching  any  youth  in  any  house  or  pri- 
vate family  as  a  tutor  or  schoolmaster,  who,  upon  the  first 
day  of  March,  which  will  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  God 
1662,  or  at  any  time  thereafter,  shall  be  incumbent,  or  have 
possession  of  any  deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  mastership, 
headship,  fellowship,  professor's  place,  or  reader's  place,  par- 
sonage, vicarage,  or  any  other  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promo- 
tion, or  of  any  curate's  place,  lecture,  or  school,  or  shall 
instruct  or  teach  any  youth  as  tutor,  or  schoolmaster,  shall, 
before  the  feast  day  of  St.  Bartholomew  which  shall  be  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1662,  or  at  or  before  his  or  their  respec- 
tive admission  to  be  incumbent,  to  have  possession  aforesaid.' 
The  reason  of  this  addition  was,  in  extending  it  so  far  as 
schoolmasters,  in  that  the  Commons  observed  the  force  of 
education  was  great,  so  as  the  Commons  thought  they  ought 
to  take  care  for  the  education  of  youth  :  for  so  many,  he  said, 
of  the  gentry  and  nobility  found  in  the  long  parliament  dif- 
ferriug  from  the  Church  of  England  did  (as  was  conceived) 
arise  from  this  root. 

"  He  observed,  it  was  an  oversight  in  the  usurped  powers, 
that  they  took  no  care  in  this  particular,  whereby  many 
young  persons  were  -well  seasoned  in  their  judgments  as  to 
the  king.  This  made  the  Commons  take  care  that  school- 
masters as  well  as  ministers  should  subscribe,  and  rather 
more. 

"  The  next  amendment  was  in  the  thirty-eighth  line ;  after 
the  word  'covenant,'  add  these  words  'to  endeavour  any 
change  or  alteration  of  government  either  in  church  or 
state :" 

The  reason  of  this  alteration  was  in  respect  the  added 


444  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

words  were  the  very  same  wliicli  were  used  in  tlie  Act  for  tlie 
safety  of  the  king's  person. 

"  The  next  alteration  is  in  the  fortieth  line ;  after  the  word 
'  kingdom/  leave  out  all  the  words  to  the  first  word  in  the 
forty-fifth  line^,  and  instead  thereof  insert  these  words  '^  which 
said  declaration  and  acknowledgment  shall  be  subscribed  by 
every  of  the  said  masters,,  and  other  heads,  fellows,  chaplains, 
and  tutors,  of  or  in  any  college,  hall,  or  house  of  learning, 
and  every  public  professor  and  reader  in  either  of  the  Univer- 
sities, before  the  vice-ch  ancellor  of  the  respective  Universi- 
ties for  the  time  being,  or  his  deputy ;  and  the  said  declara- 
tion or  acknowledgment  shall  be  subscribed  before  the  respec- 
tive archbishop,  or  ordinary  of  the  diocese,  or  every  other 
person  hereby  enjoined  to  subscribe  the  same,  upon  pain  that 
all  and  every  of  the  persons  aforesaid,  failing  in  such  subscrip- 
tion, shall  lose  and  forfeit  such  respective  deanery,  canonry, 
prebend,  mastership,  headship,  fellowship,  professor's  place, 
readers  place,  parsonage,  vicarage,  ecclesiastical  dignity  or 
promotion,  curate's  place,  lecture,  and  school,  and  shall  be 
utterly  disabled,  and  ipso  facto  deprived  of  the  same ;  and 
that  every  such  respective  deanery,  canonry,  prebend,  master- 
ship, headship,  fellowship,  professor's  place,  reader's  place, 
parsonage,  vicarage,  ecclesiastical  dignity  or  promotion, 
curate's  place,  lecture,  and  school,  shall  be  void,  as  if  such 
person  so  failing  were  naturally  dead  :  and  if  any  school- 
master, or  other  person  instructing  or  teaching  youths  in  any 
private  house  or  family  as  a  tutor  or  schoolmaster,  shall  in- 
struct or  teach  any  youth,  as  a  tutor  or  schoolmaster,  before 
license  obtained  from  his  respective  archbishop,  or  ordinary  of 
the  diocese,  according  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  realm, 
for  which  he  shall  pay  twelve  pence  only,  and  before  such  sub- 
scription and  acknowledgment  made  as  afore,  shall  for  the 
first  offence  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment,  without  bail 
or  mainprize ;  and  for  every  second  and  other  such  offence 
shall  suffer  three  months'  imprisonment,  without  bail  or  main- 
prize,  and  also  forfeit  to  his  majesty  the  sura  of  five  pounds : 
and,  after  such  subscriptions  made,  every  parson,  vicar,  curate. 


1GG3.]  on  the  Act  of  Unifor.uity.  445 

and  lecturer,  sliall  procure  a  certificate,  under  the  hand  and 
seal  of  the  respective  archbishop,  bishop,  or  ordinary  of  the 
diocese,  who  are  hereby  enjoined  and  required,  upon  demand, 
to  make  and  deliver  the  same,  and  shall  publicly  and  openly 
read  the  same,  together  with  the  declaration  or  acknowledg- 
ment aforesaid,  upon  some  Lord's  day  within  three  months 
then  next  following,  in  his  parish  church  where  he  is  to 
officiate. 

"  The  clause  of  three  months'  imprisonment  is  added,  to 
meet  with  those  men  who  have  no  livings  to  lose ;  and  there- 
fore the  Commons  thought  this  addition  necessary. 

"  Then  he  descended  to  an  amendment  in  the  forty-ninth 
line :  after  the  word  '  benefice,'  leave  out  the  word  '  with 
cure,'  and  insert  these  words  'curate's  place,  or  lecturer's 
place  respectively/  In  the  disabling  clause,  livings  with 
cure  were  only  included ;  but  the  Commons  think  not  fit  to 
leave  sinecures  to  nonconformists;  for  therein  he  thinketh 
more  favour  would  be  shewn  them,  than  to  permit  them  to 
have  livings  with  cure ;  wherefore  they  have  inserted  these 
words  '  curate's  place  or  lecturer's  place.' 

"In  the  fiftieth  line,  after  the  word  'dead,'  insert  the 
words  following, '  Provided  always,  that,  from  and  after  the 
25th  day  of  March,  which  shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1682,  there  shall  be  omitted  in  the  said  declaration  or 
acknowledgment  so  to  be  subscribed  and  read,  these  words 
following,  videlicit, '  And  I  do  declare,  that  I  do  hold  there  lies 
no  obligation  upon  me,  or  any  other  person,  from  the  oath 
commonly  called  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  to  endea- 
vour any  change  or  alteration  of  government,  either  in  church 
or  state ;  and  that  the  same  was  in  itself  an  unlawful  oath, 
and  imposed  upon  the  subjects  of  this  realm  against  the 
known  laws  and  liberties  of  this  kingdom ;  so  as  none  of  the 
persons  aforesaid  shall  from  thenceforth  be  at  all  obliged  to 
subscribe  or  read  that  part  of  the  said  declaration  or  acknow- 
ledgment.' 

"  The  reason  of  this  proviso  was,  that  the  Commons  would 
not  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  covenant,  which  a  common 


446  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

medium  of  twenty  years  may  probably  determine  the  lives  of 
such  as  took  it. 

"  The  next  was  in  the  fifty-third  line  :  after  the  word  '  who/ 
insert  these  words  *^now  is  incumbent,  and  in  possession  of 
any  parsonage,  vicarage,  or  benefice,  and  who ; '  and  leave 
out  the  word  '  who '  in  the  fifty-fourth  line. 

"  The  reason  of  this  alteration  was,  they  would  not  exclude 
such  as  hereafter  might  be  willing  to  conform  from  other 
livings,  though  they  disabled  them  as  to  such  as  for  the  pre- 
sent they  enjoyed;  whereas,  in  their  Lordships'  alteration, 
there  was  no  limitation  of  time,  and  so  none  capable  of  livings, 
who  were  capable  hereafter  to  conform. 

"  The  next  alteration  was  in  the  fifty-seventh  line  :  after 
the  word  '  enjoyed,'  insert  the  words  '  the  said,'  instead  of  the 
word  '  any ;'  and  then  it  goeth  thus,  '  shall  have,  hold,  or 
enjoy,  the  said  parsonage,  vicarage,  benefice,  or  other  ecclesi- 
astical promotion.' 

"  The  next  amendment  is  in  the  sixty-third  line  :  after  the 
word  '  shall '  leave  out  the  words  '  or  do,'  and  instead  thereof 
insert  the  words  '  thenceforth  be  capable  to  be  admitted  to 
any  parsonage,  vicarage,  benefice,  or  other  ecclesiastical  pro- 
motion or  dignity  whatsoever,  nor  shall  presume  to  consecrate 
or  administer  the  Lord's  supper.' 

"The  Commons  think  every  incumbent  should,  before 
his  admission,  give  testimony  of  his  conformity,  and  ought 
before  such  admission  to  be  in  full  orders. 

"The  next  amendment  is  in  the  sixty-third  skin,  where 
the  fifth  line  of  that  skin  as  omitted.  The  line  is,  *■  or  that 
the  same  avoidance  be  openly  and  publicly  declared.'  Now 
it  doth  not  appear  by  that  clause  what  is  meant  by  '  openly,' 
and  there  being  certainty  enough  in  the  former  words,  the 
Commons  were  not  willing  to  leave  in  a  clause  which  might 
raise  disputes. 

"  And  then  the  gentlemen  came  to  the  amendments  in  the 
second  paper,  which  they  agreed  to  with  this  addition  of  the 
words,  'archbishop,  bishop  of  the  province,  or,'  after  the 
words  '  by  the '  in  the  fourth  line ;  and  the  words  "  arch- 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  iA7 

bishop  or/  after  the  word  '  same '  in  the  eleventh  line  of  the 
said  amendment^  the  Commons  inserted  the  archbishop,  as 
being  unfit  to  omit  him  iu  that  affair.  The  same  reason  is 
for  the  amendment  in  the  eleventh  line. 

"The  next  amendment  is  in  the  fortieth  line.  Agreed, 
with  the  addition  of  the  word  '  are '  between  the  word  '  and ' 
and  '  hereby '  in  the  amendment. 

"  The  next  is  the  thirty-seventh  line.  Agreed  to  leave  out 
the  rest  of  the  bill,  after  the  word  '  authority.^ 

"Then  he  came  to  the  provisos  in  parchment  No.  4. 

"The  first  paragraph  for  providing  the  book,  unto  the  word 
'  provided '  in  the  fifteenth  line  in  the  first  skin :  agreed, 
with  the  addition  following,  videlicit,  after  the  word  '  therein ' 
add  the  words  following,  '  provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted, 
by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the  Bishops  of  Hereford,  St. 
David's,  Asaph,  Bangor,  and  Llandaff,  and  their  successors, 
shall  take  such  order  amongst  themselves,  for  the  souls^ 
health  of  the  flocks  committed  to  their  charge  in  Wales,  that 
the  book  hereunto  annexed  be  truly  and  exactly  translated 
into  the  British  or  Welsh  tongue ;  and  that  the  same  being 
translated,  and  being  by  them,  or  any  three  of  them  at  the 
least,  viewed,  perused,  and  allowed  to  be  imprinted,  to  such 
number  at  least  so  that  one  of  the  said  books  so  translated 
and  imprinted  may  be  had  for  every  cathedral,  collegiate,  and 
parish  church,  and  chapel  of  ease  in  the  said  respective 
dioceses  and  places  in  Wales,  where  the  Welsh  is  commonly 
spoken  or  used,  before  the  1st  day  of  May,  1665 ;  and  that, 
from  and  after  the  imprinting  and  publishing  of  the  said 
book  so  translated,  the  whole  divine  service  shall  be  used  and 
said  by  the  ministers  and  curates  throughout  all  Wales, 
within  the  diocese  where  the  Welsh  tongue  is  commonly 
used,  in  the  British  or  Welsh  tongue,  in  such  manner  and  form 
as  is  prescribed,  according  to  the  book  hereunto  annexed,  to 
be  used  in  the  English  tongue,  differing  nothing  in  any  order 
or  form  from  the  said  English  book,  for  which  book  so  trans- 
lated and  imprinted,  the  churchwardens  of  every  the  said 
parishes  shall  pay  out  of  the  parish  money  in  their  hands 


448  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662. 

for  the  use  of  tlie  respective  cliurclies,  aud  be  allowed  the 
same  in  their  accompt ;  and  the  said  bishops  and  their  suc- 
cessors, or  any  three  of  them  at  the  least,  shall  set  and 
appoint  the  price  for  which  the  said  book  shall  be  sold  :  and 
another  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  in  the  English  tongue, 
shall  be  bought  and  had  in  every  church  throughout  Wales, 
in  which  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  in  Welsh,  is  to  be 
had  by  force  of  this  Act,  before  the  1st  day  of  May,  1664; 
and  the  same  book  to  remain  in  such  convenient  places 
within  the  said  churches,  that  such  as  understand  them  may 
resort,  at  all  convenient  times,  to  read  and  peruse  the  same ; 
and  also  such  as  do  not  understand  the  said  language  may,  by 
conferring  both  tongues  together,  the  sooner  attain  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  English  tongue,  anything  in  this  Act  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding :  and,  until  printed  copies  of  the 
said  book,  so  to  be  translated,  may  be  had,  provided,  the 
form  of  Common  Prayer,  established  by  parliament,  before 
the  making  of  this  Act,  shall  be  used  as  formerly,  in  such 
part  of  Wales  where  the  English  tongue  is  not  commonly 
understood :  and,  to  the  end  that  the  true  and  perfect 
copies  of  this  Act,  and  the  said  book  hereunto  annexed, 
may  be  safely  kept  and  perpetually  preserved,  and  for 
the  avoiding  of  all  disputes  for  the  time  to  come,  be  it 
enacted,  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the  respective 
deans  and  chapters  of  every  cathedral  or  collegiate  church 
within  England  and  Wales,  shall,  at  their  proper  costs 
and  charges,  before  the  five-and-twentieth  day  of  December, 
1663,  obtain,  under  the  great  seal  of  England,  a  true 
and  perfect  copy  of  this  said  Act,  and  of  the  said  book 
annexed  hereunto,  to  be,  by  the  said  deans  and  chapters  and 
their  successors,  kept  and  preserved  in  safety  for  ever,  and  to 
be  also  produced  and  shewed  forth  in  any  court  of  record  as 
often  as  they  shall  be  thereunto  lawfully  required ;  and  also 
there  shall  be  delivered  true  and  perfect  copies  of  this  Act,  and 
of  the  same  book,  in  the  respective  courts  at  Westminster,  and 
into  the  Tower  of  London,  to  be  kept  and  preserved  for  ever 
amongst  the  records  of  the  said  courts,  and  records  of  the 


662.]  on  the  Act  of  Umformitij.  449 

Tower^  to  be  produced  and  shewed  forth  in  any  court  as  need 
shall  require;  which  said  books^  so  to  be  exemplified  under 
the  great  seal  of  England^  shall  be  examined  by  such 
persons  as  the  king's  majesty  shall  appoint  under  the 
great  seal  of  England  for  that  purpose,,  and  shall  be  com- 
pared with  the  original  book  hereunto  annexed,  and  shall 
have  power  to  correct  and  amend  in  writing,  any  error  com- 
mitted by  the  printer  in  the  printing  of  the  same  book,  or  of 
anything  therein  contained;  and  shall  certify  in  writing 
under  their  hands  and  seals,  or  the  hands  and  seals  of  any 
three  of  them,  at  the  end  of  the  same  book,  that  they  have 
examined  and  compared  the  same  book,  and  find  it  to  be  a 
true  and  perfect  copy ;  which  said  books,  and  every  of  them, 
so  exemplified  under  the  great  seal  of  England  as  aforesaid, 
shall  be  deemed,  taken,  adjudged,  and  expounded,  to  be  good 
and  available  in  the  law  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatso- 
ever, and  shall  be  accounted  ^as  good  records  as  this  book 
itself  hereunto  annexed,  any  law  or  custom  to  the  contrary 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 

''The  second  and  third  paragraphs,  touching  the  king^s 
professor  of  law,  and  touching  the  subscription  to  the  thirty- 
sixth  Article :  agreed,  unto  the  word,  '  provided,'  in  the 
seventeenth  line,  in  the  second  skin;  all  which  proviso  they 
reject,  for  these  reasons  : 

"  1 .  It  is  a  proviso  without  precedent. 

"2,  That  it  would  establish  schism. 

"3.  That  it  woidd  not  gratify  such  for  whom  it  was  in- 
tended. 

"  To  the  first,  he  said,  It  was  very  apparent  in  England, 
that  it  was  without  precedent;  and,  as  he  thought,  in  the 
world  also,  for  they  never  heard  that  ever  any  national  church 
did  the  like. 

"■  It  was  one  thing,  he  said,  to  allow  a  differing  religion  in 
a  nation;  another  thing  to  allow  men  to  receive  profits  for 
that  church  unto  which  men  would  not  conform. 

"  Secondly,  though  there  were  dissenters  in  the  particulars 
of  the  proviso  in  the  time  of  queen  Elizabeth  and  king  James, 


450  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1663 

yet  in  those  days  those  opinions  stayed  there^  and  went  no 
further. 

"  To  the  second  head.  That  it  would  unavoidably  establish 
schism.  All  persons  of  different  inclinations  would  apply  to 
such  as  should  have  this  liberty,  and  that  necessarily  make 
parties,  especially  in  great  cities.  He  did  observe  these  two 
ceremonies  of  the  cross  and  surplice  were  long  in  use  in  the 
church;  and  he  found  a  high  commendation  of  the  use  of 
the  cross  in  baptism,  in  the  book  sent  to  the  Commons  from 
the  Lords,  wherein  it  is  so  clearly  explained,  as  there  can  be 
no  suspicion  of  popery  in  it.  It  was  used,  he  said,  to  quicken 
the  memory,  as  to  the  benefits  of  baptism ;  and  if  that  were 
omitted,  much  of  the  service  belonging  to  baptism  must  be 
omitted  also,  many  passages  depending  upon  the  use  of  that 
ceremony. 

"  The  gentleman  added,  that  he  thought  it  better  to  impose 
no  ceremonies,  than  to  dispense  with  any ;  and  he  thought  it 
very  incongruous,  at  the  same  time  when  you  are  settling 
uniformity,  to  establish  schism. 

"  To  the  third  head.  It  would  not  satisfy  those  for  whom  it 
was  intended ;  for  such  chiefly  reject  it  upon  these  grounds, 
that  things  indififerent  ought  not  to  be  enjoined;  which 
opinion,  he  said,  took  away  all  the  weight  of  human  authority, 
which  consists  in  commanding  things  otherwise  indifferent; 
so  as,  when  this  shall  be  yielded,  you  give  them  nothing,  they 
opposing  for  the  imposition  sake. 

"  He  added,  these  were  reasons  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
thing ;  and  as  to  the  reasons  given  by  their  lordships  to  the 
Commons,  he  answered  to  as  followeth : 

"  The  king's  engagement  at  Breda  as  to  tender  consciences ; 
unto  which  he  said,  that  his  majesty  could  not  understand  the 
misleaders  of  the  people,  but  the  misled.  It  would  be  very 
strange  to  call  a  schismatical  conscience  a  tender  conscience. 
He  said  a  tender  conscience  denoted  an  impression  from 
without,  received  from  another,  and  that  upon  which  another 
strikes. 

"Secondly,  suppose  these  had  been  meant,  yet   he   said 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  451 

there  could  be  no  inference  of  any  breach  of  promise  in  his 
majesty,  because  that  Declaration  had  these  two  limitations : 

"  First,  a  reference  to  parliament. 

"  Secondly,  such  liberties  to  be  granted  only  as  consisted 
with  the  peace  of  the  kingdom. 

''Then  he  came  to  the  second  proviso,  touching  allowing 
fifths  to  such  incumbents  as  should  be  excluded  their  livings ; 
which,  he  observed,  was  no  seasonable  proviso,  at  least  at  this 
time ;  and  if  it  were,  yet  not  fit  to  allow  such  persons  any 
things  out  of  ecclesiastical  livings. 

*'  He  said,  what  could  be  more  repugnant,  at  the  same 
time,  to  enact  uniformity,  and  to  allow  the  fifth  of  an  eccle- 
siastical living  to  a  nonconformist,  for  not  conforming ;  which, 
he  said,  joiued  with  the  pity  of  their  party,  would  amount  to 
more  than  the  value  of  the  whole  living  ? 

"  He  said,  such  a  course  was  too  jealous  a  reflection  upon 
the  Act,  when  you  say  some  godly  people  would  not  submit ; 
and  it  can  signify  nothing  but  fear,  in  making  such  a  con- 
cession. 

"  He  added,  this  would  make  the  Act  contradictory ;  to  say 
in  one  part  of  the  bill  that  it  was  an  equal  Act,  and  in  another 
part  to  allow  dissenters  to  it. 

"There  was  another  reason  of  the  Commons'  dissent :  that 

divers  wives  and  children  of  orthodox  ministers  were  made 

miserable  by  some  of  these  men ;  it  may  be,  for  not  paying 

,  unto  them  those  fifths  which  were  allowed  unto  them  in  the 

late  times. 

"  He  added,  that  none  that  make  laws  ought  to  suppose 
that  any  would  break  them. 

"  He  said  further,  that  it  was  not  reasonable  to  allow  the 
fifths  of  ecclesiastical  livings ;  because  generally  such  livings 
were  too  small,  not  able  to  maintain  a  learned  man  with 
books ;  and  by  lessening  livings  thus,  it  would  gratify  uncon- 
formable men,  who  desire  livings  in  such  hands  should  be 
made  small,  whereby  the  reputation  of  the  conformable 
clergy  would  be  lessened. 

''  Secondly,  he  said,  such  a  concession  is  not  only  against 

G   G  2 


452  Proceedmgs  in  Parliament  [1662. 

reason,  but  justice  also.  It  was  a  divine  canon  which  said, 
he  that  served  at  the  altar  should  live  at  the  altar ;  therefore 
the  profit  of  the  living  ought  to  go  to  the  labourer. 

"  He  said,  that  unity  was  so  precious,  that  it  served  not 
only  for  the  peace  of  the  church,  but  of  the  kingdom  also ; 
for  to  give  occasions  for  multitudes  to  meet  which  would 
certainly  follow  the  dissenters,  what  danger  that  might  carry 
with  it,  was  worthy  your  Lordships'  consideration. 

'^He  did  from  the  House  of  Commons  desire  their  Lordships 
that  they  would  recommend  to  the  Convocation  the  directing 
of  such  decent  gestures  to  be  used  in  time  of  divine  service 
as  was  fit.  He  found  one  mistake  in  the  rubric  of  baptism, 
Avhich  he  conceived  was  a  mistake  of  the  writer,  'persons' 
being  put  instead  of  'children.'  And  having  thus  far  dis- 
sented from  their  Lordships  in  decimo  sexto,  he  came  to  an 
argument  in  folio ;  giving  the  Commons'  consent,  that  their 
Lordships  should  annex  to  the  bill  that  book  sent  to  the 
Commons  by  your  Lordships ;  and  so  at  length  came  to  a 
final  concord  by  his  silence,  which  put  an  end  to  that 
conference." 

Ordered,  That  the  alterations,  and  the  matter  of  this 
conference,  shall  be  read  and  taken  into  consideration  to- 
morrow in  the  afternoon. 

Die  Jovis,  8°  Die  Maii,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  post  meridiem, 
[Journ.  H.  L.,  xi,  450  6—451  «.] 

The  amendments  and  alterations  in  the  Bill  of  Uniformity, 
brought  from  the  House  of  Commons  at  a  conference,  and 
reported  yesterday,  were  now  read  twice. 

And,  for  the  better  consideration  hereof,  the  House  was 
adjourned  into  a  committee  during  pleasure. 

And  being  resumed  ; 

The  question  being  put,  ''  Whether  this  House  agrees  with 
the  House  of  Commons  in  the  clause  concerning  schoolmas- 
ters, with  the  alterations  and  amendments?'' 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 


]662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformiiy.  453 

The  next  question  put  was,  '' Whether  this  House  agrees 
to  all  the  rest  of  the  alterations  and  amendments  as  came  up 
from  the  House  of  Commons  ? " 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Then  the  alterations  and  amendments  in  the  said  Bill  of 
Uniformity  were  read  the  third  time. 

And  the  question  being  put,  "  Whether  this  House  agrees 
to  these  alterations  and  amendments  ?  " 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Whereas  it  was  signified  by  the  House  of  Commons,  at  the 
conference  yesterday,  "  That  they  found  one  mistake  in  the 
rubric  of  baptism,  which  they  conceived  was  a  mistake  of  the 
writer,  ^persons '  being  put  instead  of  '  children  :'  '' 

The  Lord  Bishop  of  Durham  acquainted  the  House,  that 
himself,  and  the  Lord  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  and  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Carlile,  had  authority  from  the  Convocation  to 
mend  the  said  word,  averring  it  was  only  a  mistake  of  the 
scribe.  And  accordingly  they  came  to  the  clerk's  table^  and 
amended  the  same. 

Whereas  it  was  intimated  at  the  conference  yesterday,  as 
the  desire  of  the  House  of  Commons,  ''That  it  be  recom- 
mended to  the  Convocation,  to  take  order  for  reverend  and 
uniform  gestures  and  demeanors  to  be  enjoined  at  the  time 
of  divine  service  and  preaching  :" 

It  is  ordered  by  this  House,  and  hereby  recommended  to 
the  Lords,  the  Bishops,  and  the  rest  of  the  Convocation  of 
the  Clergy,  to  prepare  some  canon  or  rule  for  that  purpose,  to 
be  humbly  presented  unto  his  majesty  for  his  assent. 

Die  Veneris,  9°  die  Maii,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.H.  L., 
xi,  451  b.'\ 

A  message  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons,  by  Sir 
Justinian  Lewin  and  Sir  Toby  Woolridge : 

*  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

To  let  them  know,  that  the  Lords  do  agree  with  them 
in  the  alterations,  amendments,  and  provisos,  in  the  Bill 
concerning  Uniformity. 


454  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1663. 

Veneris,  9°  Mali,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  C,  viii, 
424  b.} 

A  message  from  the  Lords,  by  Sir  Justinian  Lewin  and  Sir 
Toby  Woolrich ; 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  Lords  have  returned  you  two  bills  :  .  .   . 

And  they  do  further  command  us  to  give  you  notice,  that 
they  have  agreed  to  the  Bill  of  Uniformity,  with  the  amend- 
ments and  alterations  sent  from  this  House. 

Die  Lunaj,  19°  die  Maii,  [1662],  14°  Car.  II,  [Journ.  H.  L., 
xi,  470  a— 472  a.] 

Then  his  majesty  came  and  sat  in  his  throne  arrayed  with 
his  royal  robes ;  the  peers  likewise  sitting  in  their  robes  un- 
covered. 

The  king  gave  command  to  the  gentleman  usher  of  the 
black  rod,  to  let  the  House  of  Commons  know,  "  It  is  his 
majesty's  pleasure,  they  should  attend  him  forthwith." 

Who,  in  obedience,  came  presently,  attended  with  their 
speaker;  who,  after  low  obeisance  made  to  his  majesty,  made 
this  speech  following  :  videlicit, 

"  May  it  please  your  most  excellent  majesty, 

"  The  glorious  body  of  the  sun  doth  exhilarate  the  soul  of 
man  with  its  light,  and  fructify  the  earth  by  its  heat.  In  like 
manner,  we,  the  knights,  citizens,  and  burgesses  of  the  Com- 
mons House  of  Parliament,  do  with  all  humility  and  thank- 
fulness acknowledge,  these  frequent  accessions  to  your  royal 
presence    do    both   comfort    our    hearts,    and   influence   our 

actions. 

*  *  ^  -H-  ^  ^ 

"  Great  Sir, 

"We  know,  the  strongest  building  must  fall,  if  the  coup- 
ling pins  be  pulled  out :  therefore  our  care  hath  been,  to  pre- 
pare such  constitutions,  that  the  prerogative  of  the  crown  and 
the  propriety  of  the  people  may,  like  squared  stones  in  a 
well  built  arch,  each  support  the  other,  and  grow  the  closer 
and  stronger  for  any  weight  or  force  that  shall  be  laid  upon 
them. 


1662.]  on  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  455 

"We  cannot  forget  the  late  disputing  age^  wherein  most 
persons  took  a  liberty,  and  some  men  made  it  their  delight, 
to  trample  upon  the  discipline  and  government  of  the  church. 
The  hedge  being  trod  down,  the  foxes  and  the  wolves  did 
enter;  the  swine  and  other  unclean  beasts  defiled  the  temple. 
At  length  it  was  discerned,  the  smectymnian  plot  did  not  only 
bend  itself  to  reform  ceremonies,  but  sought  to  erect  a 
popular  authority  of  elders,  and  to  root  out  episcopal  jurisdic- 
tion. In  order  to  this  work,  church  ornaments  were  first 
taken  away ;  then  the  means  whereby  distinction  or  inequality 
might  be  upheld  amongst  ecclesiastical  governors ;  then  the 
forms  of  common  prayer,  which  as  members  of  the  public 
body  of  Christ's  church  were  enjoined  us,  were  decried  as 
superstitious,  and  in  lieu  thereof  nothing,  or  worse  than 
nothing,  introduced. 

"  Your  majesty  having  already  restored  the  governors  and 
government  of  the  church,  the  patrimony  and  privileges  of 
our  churchmen ;  we  held  it  now  our  duty,  for  the  reformation 
of  all  abuses  in  the  public  worship  of  God,  humbly  to  present 
unto  your  majesty,  a  Bill  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public 
Prayers  and  Administration  of  Sacraments. 

"  We  hope  the  God  of  order  and  unity  will  conform  the 
hearts  of  all  the  people  in  this  nation^  to  serve  him  in  this 
order  and  uniformity.^' 

^  ^  *  ^  *  ^ 

Then  the  clerk  of  the  crown  read  the  titles  of  these  bills 
following : — 

"1.  An  Act  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers,  and 
Administration  of  Sacraments,  and  other  Rites  and  Ceremo- 
nies ;  and  for  establishing  the  form  of  making,  ordaining, 
and  consecrating  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons,  in  the 
Church  of  England." 

■x-  ^  *  -sf-  *  ■»«• 

To  all  these  bills  severally  the  royal  assent  was  pronounced, 
by  the  clerk  of  the  parliaments,  in  these  words,] 
"  Le  Roy  le  veult." 


456  The  Six  hundred  Alterations  [1663. 


XXVII. 

The  Six  Hundred  Alterations  made  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  by  Convocation,  and  adopted  by  Parliament. — 
Cardwell's  History  of  Conferences,  Oxford,  1849,  pp. 
380—6. 

Op  the  alterations  made  at  this  time  in  the  Prayer  Book 
the  following  are  the  most  important.  The  Sentences,  the 
Epistles  and  Gospels,  and  other  extracts  from  the  Bihle 
(except  the  Psalter,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  other  por- 
tions of  the  Communion  Service)  were  taken  generally  from 
the  version  of  1611.  The  Absolution  was  ordered  to  be  pro- 
nounced by  the  "  priest"  alone,  instead  of  the  "  minister." 
The  book  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon  was  re-inserted  in  the 
Calendar  of  Lessons.  The  prayers  for  the  king,  the  royal 
family,  the  clergy,  and  people,  together  with  the  prayers  of 
St.  Chrysostom  and  the  Benediction,  were  printed  in  the 
order  both  of  Morning  and  Evening  Service,  instead  of  being 
left,  as  formerly,  at  the  end  of  the  litany.  The  Evening 
Service,  which  previously  began  with  the  Lord's  prayer,  was 
now  opened  with  the  sentences,  the  exhortation,  the  con- 
fession, and  absolution,  printed  as  in  the  Morning  Service. 
In  the  litany  the  words  ^^ rebellion"  and  "schism"  were 
added  to  the  petition  respecting  "  sedition,  privy  conspiracy," 
&c.  In  a  subsequent  petition  the  words  "  bishops,  priests, 
and  deacons"  were  employed  instead  of  "bishops,  pastors, 
and  ministers  of  the  church."  Among  the  occasional  prayers 
and  thanksgivings  were  now  introduced  a  second  prayer  for 
fair  weather,  the  two  prayers  for  the  ember  weeks,  the 
prayers  for  the  parliament  and  for  all  conditions  of  men,  a 
thanksgiving  for  restoring  public  peace  at  home,  and  the 
general  thanksgiving.  New  collects  were  appointed  for  the 
third  Sunday  in  Advent,  and  for  St.  Stephen's  day.  The 
Genealogy,  which  previously  made  part  of  the  gospel  for  the 
Sunday  after  Christmas,  was  now  omitted.     A  distinct  col- 


1663.]         made  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  457 

lect,  epistle,  and  gospel,  were  provided  for  a  sixth  Sunday 
after  the  Epiphany.  The  gospels  for  the  Sunday  next  before 
Easter  and  for  Good  Friday  were  shortened,  having  formerly 
contained  within  them  respectively  the  second  lesson  for  the 
day.  In  several  places,  as  in  one  of  the  collects  for  Good 
Friday,  in  those  for  the  fifth  and  sixteenth  Sundays  after 
Trinity,  for  St.  Simon  and  St.  Jude,  and  in  other  places,  the 
word  '''church"  was  used  for  '^ congregation."  A  distinct 
collect  was  supplied  for  Easter  even.  The  first  of  the  anthems 
used  on  Easter  day  was  added.  A  distinct  epistle  was  pro- 
vided for  the  day  of  the  purification.  The  last  clause 
respecting  saints  departed  was  added  to  the  prayer  for  the 
church  militant.  The  rubric  was  added  as  to  '^  covering 
what  remaineth  of  the  elements  with  a  fair  linen  cloth." 
The  order  in  council  respecting  kneeling  at  the  Lord's  supper, 
which  had  been  introduced  in  1552  and  removed  by  queen 
Elizabeth,  was  restored,  with  this  alteration;  instead  of 
"  any  real  and  essential  presence  there  being  of  Christ^s 
natural  flesh  and  blood,"  it  is  now  read,  "  any  corporal  pre- 
sence of  Christ's  natural  flesh  and  blood."  A  new  office  was 
appointed  for  the  "baptism  of  such  as  are  of  riper  years;" 
and  some  alterations  made  in  the  other  offices  of  baptism. 
The  preface  to  confirmation  was  curtailed,  and  the  clause 
respecting  the  undoubted  salvation  of  baptized  infants  dying 
before  the  commission  of  actual  sin,  was  placed  after  the 
office  for  infant  baptism.  Some  changes  were  made  in  the 
offices  for  confirmation  and  matrimony ;  and  in  the  rubric  at 
the  end  of  the  latter,  the  receiving  the  communion  on  the 
day  of  marriage  was  no  longer  made  imperative.  In  the 
visitation  of  the  sick  the  words  "if  he  humbly  and  heartily 
desire  it"  were  added  to  the  rubric  respecting  absolution: 
the  benediction  also  and  the  prayers  that  follow,  appear  now 
for  the  first  time.  In  the  order  for  burial  the  first  rubric 
respecting  persons  unbaptized  or  excommunicate  was  added. 
Forms  of  prayer  were  supplied  to  be  used  at  sea  :  and,  lastly, 
offices  were  provided  for  the  30th  of  January  and  29th  of 
May,  and  the  old  service  for  the  5th  of  November  was  cor- 


458  The  Publication  of  the  [1662. 

rected.  These  and  many  other  minor  alterations^  amounting, 
as  Dr.  Tenison  computed,  to  about  six  hundred  in  number, 
were  made  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  by  the  Convo- 
cation of  1662,  and  were  finally  ratified  by  the  Act  of 
Uniformity. 


XXYIII. 

The  Publication  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

London,  August  6th,  [1662.] 

In  pursuance  of  the  late  Act  for  Uniformity  of  Publique 
Prayers  in  the  Church  of  England,  the  same  itself  is  now 
perfectly  and  exactly  printed,  and  by  the  great  care  and 
prudence  of  the  most  Reverend  Archbishops  and  Bishops, 
books  in  folio  are  provided  for  all  churches  and  chapels 
in  this  kingdom ;  the  price  of  which  book  (though  it  contains 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  sheets)  is  ordered  to  be  but  six 
shillings  ready  bound. ' 

A  Certificate  given  by  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Peterborough, 
allowing  a  lawful  impediment  for  persons  not  reading  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  &c.,  within  the  time  prescribed 
by  the  late  Act  of  Uniformity. 

"  Whereas,  by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  made  and  printed  in 
this  present  year,  1662,  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayer, 
6fC.,  it  is  enacted,  among  other  things,  &c.,  '  and  that  every 
such  person  who  shall  (without  some  lawful  impediment,  to 
be  allowed  and  approved  of  by  the  ordinary  of  the  place,) 
neglect  or  refuse  to  do  the  same  within  the  time  aforesaid, 
shall  ipso  facto  be  deprived  of  his  spiritual  promotions.^ 
And  forasmuch  as  the  Books  of  Common  Prayer  appointed 

'  Mercurius  Puhlicus.    Published  by  Authority.     From  Thursday,  July 
31st,  to  Thursday,  August  7th,  1662.  p.  514. 


1662.]  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  459 

by  the  said  Act  to  be  read^  could  not  be  gotten  by  the  dean 
and  prebendaries  of  the  cathedral  church  of  Peterborough  (so 
that  they  might  read  the  same  in  the  said  cathedral)  before 
the  17th  of  this  instant,  August,  being  the  Sunday  imme- 
diately preceding  the  Feast  of  St.  Bartholomew,  upon  which 
day  it  is  not  possible  that  all  the  members  of  the  said 
cathedral  church  should  read  the  said  service  in  manner  and 
form  as  is  by  the  said  Act  directed.  We,  therefore,  by  the 
power  given  to  us  by  the  said  Act,  do  allow  and  approve  of 
the  said  impediment,  and  do  hereby  declare  it  so  to  be  for 
the  not  reading  of  the  said  service  as  directed,  and  for  not 
declaring  of  their  contents  as  required  in  and  by  the  said  Act. 
Sealed  and  signed  this  17th  of  August,  1662. 

"B.  Peterborough.'^ 2 

"  A  complaint  was  made  [says  Dr.  Calamy  in  his  Life  of 
Mr.  Baxter,  p.  201]  that  very  few  of  them  [the  clergy]  could 
see  the  book,  to  all  things  in  which  they  were  to  declare 
their  assent  and  consent  before  the  time  limited  by  the  Act 
expu'ed.  For  the  Common  Prayer  book  with  the  alterations 
and  amendments  (for  so  they  are  called,  how  deservedly  I 
inquire  not)  made  by  the  Convocation,  did  not  come  out  of 
the  press  till  a  few  days  before  the  24th  of  August.  So  that 
of  the  seven  thousand  ministers  in  England  who  kept  their 
livings,  few,  except  those  who  were  in  or  near  London,  could 
possibly  have  a  sight  of  the  book  with  its  alterations,  till 
after  they  had  declared  their  assent  and  consent  to  it. 

"  Mr.  OllifFe,  in  his  '  Defence  of  Ministerial  Conformity,' 
to  take  this  off,  reports,  from  an  aged  minister  in  their  parts, 
that  he  and  his  neighbours  sent  to  London,  and  had  the 
amendments  and  alterations  copied  out ;  and  adds,  that  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  that  the  charge  here  brought  is  groundless 
against  so  many  thousand  ministers,  &c. 

''  The  return  made  by  Dr.  Calamy,  in  his  Defence  of 
Moderate  Nonconformity,  part  ii,  pp.  100,  101,  is  this,  that 

^  Kennett's  Register  and  Chronicle,  Ecclesiastical  and  Civil.  London, 
1728,  p.  743. 


460  The  King's  Declaration.  [1662. 

perhaps  that  might  be  a  peculiar  favour^  because  I  have  it 
under  the  hand  of  another  worthy  ejected  minister  (who  is 
since  dead)  that  this  was  true  in  fact;  and  that  several 
ministers  now  in  London  never  read  it  before  they  gave  their 
assent  and  consent,  and  that  in  Middlesex  few  parishes  had 
the  book  till  a  week,  fortnight,  three  weeks,  or  a  month  after. 
But  as  for  written  copies  of  the  amendments,  they  were  so 
liable  to  abuses  and  mistakes,  that  'tis  dubious  how  far  they 
might  be  safely  depended  on.-''^ 


XXIX. 

T7ie  King's  Declaration. 


Charles  R. 
As  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  so  wonderfully  to  restore 
us  to  the  throne  of  our  ancestors,  and  our  subjects  to 
happy  peace  and  tranquillity  without  the  least  bloodshed  by 
the  military  sword ;  so  having  still  earnestly  wished  that 
both  might  be  secured  and  maintained  with  the  least  effusion 
possible  of  the  same  by  the  sword  of  justice,  as  desiring 
much  rather  to  cure  the  ill  intentions  of  the  disaffected  by 
our  clemency,  than  to  punish  the  effects  by  rigour  of 
law :  we  cannot  but  express  our  great  grief  and  trouble,  that 
the  unpardonable  as  well  as  incurable  malignity  of  some 
should  have  carried  them  anew  to  such  traitorous  practices 
against  our  person  and  government,  as  have  necessitated  us 
to  make  fresh  examples  by  the  death  of  any  more  of  our 
subjects.  But  as  the  publicuess  of  their  trial  in  the  ordi- 
nary course   of   law,  hath   by   their   conviction   sufficiently 

3  Kennett's  Register  and  Chronicle,  Ecclesiastical  and  Civil.     London, 
1728,  p.  837. 


1662.]  The  King's  Declaration.  461 

satisfied  tlie  world  of  the  enormity  of  their  crimes,  so  we 
have  thought  fit,  at  the  same  time  that  we  are  forced  to 
punish,  to  endeavour,  as  much  as  in  us  lieth,  the  preventing 
all  occasions  of  the  like  for  the  future  by  this  Declaration ; 
wherein  our  principal  aim  is,  to  apply  proper  antidotes  to  all 
those  venomous  insinuations,  by  which  (as  we  are  certainly 
informed)  some  of  our  subjects  of  inveterate  and  unalterable 
ill  principles,  do  daily  endeavour  to  poison  the  afiections  of 
our  good  people,  by  misleading  their  understandings,  and 
that  principally  by  four  sorts  of  most  false  and  malicious 
scandals,  which  we  do  look  upon  as  the  grounds  of  those 
traitorous  attempts. 

The  first,  By  suggesting  unto  them,  that  having  attained 
our  ends  in  re-establishing  our  regal  authority,  and  gaining 
the  power  into  our  own  hands  by  a  specious  condescension 
to  a  general  act  of  indemnity,  we  intend  nothing  less  than 
the  observation  of  it;  but  on  the  contrary,  by  degrees  to 
subject  the  persons  and  estates  of  all  such  who  stood  in  need 
of  that  law,  to  future  revenge,  and  to  give  them  up  to  the 
spoil  of  those  who  had  lost  their  fortunes  in  our  service. 

Secondly,  That  upon  pretence  of  plots  and  practices 
against  us,  we  intend  to  introduce  a  military  way  of  govern- 
ment in  this  kingdom. 

Thirdly,  That  having  made  use  of  such  solemn  promises 
from  Breda,  and  in  several  declarations  since,  of  ease  and 
liberty  to  tender  consciences,  instead  of  performing  any 
part  of  them,  we  have  added  straiter  fetters  than  ever,  and 
new  rocks  of  scandal  to  the  scrupulous,  by  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity, 

Fourthly  and  lastly.  We  find  it  as  artificially  as  maliciously 
divulged  throughout  the  whole  kingdom.  That  at  the  same 
time  we  deny  a  fitting  liberty  to  those  other  sects  of  our 
subjects,  whose  consciences  will  not  allow  them  to  conform 
to  the  religion  established  by  law :  we  are  highly  indulgent 
to  papists,  not  only  in  exempting  them  from  the  penalties 
of  the  law,  but  even  to  such  a  degree  of  countenance  and 
encouragement,  as  may  even  endanger  the  protestant  religion. 


463  The  King's  Declaration.  [1662. 

Upon  occasion  of  all  which  wicked  and  malicious  sug- 
gestions^ although  we  are  confident  that  the  innate  loyalty 
and  good  affections  of  the  generality  of  our  people, 
strengthened  by  a  due  sense  of  the  late  calamities  brought 
upon  them  by  the  same  arts,  will  hinder  seeds  of  so  detes- 
table a  nature  from  taking  root,  and  bringing  forth  the 
fruits  aimed  at  by  the  sowers  of  them :  yet  we  think  that 
in  our  fatherly  care  to  prevent  any  misleading  of  those  who 
are  so  dear  to  us,  we  owe  unto  them  and  to  ourselves  this 
publication  of  our  steadfast  resolutions  in  all  these  particulars. 

As  to  the  first  point,  concerning  the  Act  of  indemnity; 
certainly  there  can  be  no  greater  evidence  that  the  passing 
it  proceeded  from  the  clemency  of  our  nature,  as  well  as 
from  the  present  conjuncture  of  that  parliament  wherein  it 
was  first  framed,  than  that  we  have  been  pleased  to  make  it 
our  especial  care  to  have  it  confirmed  by  a  new  Act  in  this, 
a  parliament  composed  of  members  so  full  of  affections  to 
our  person,  and  of  zeal  for  the  public  good,  as  we  could 
never  have  cause  to  apprehend  their  exacting  from  us  a 
confirmation  of  anything  that  had  been  extorted,  or  had  at 
present  been  judged  by  us  prejudicial  to  either:  and,  there- 
fore, as  we  not  only  consented  unto,  but  most  earnestly 
desired  the  passing  that  Act  at  first,  and  confirming  it  since, 
as  being  no  less  conformable  to  our  nature,  than  conducible 
to  a  happy  settlement;  so  we  do  hereby  most  solemnly 
renew  unto  all  our  subjects  concerned  in  it,  this  engagement, 
on  the  word  of  a  king, — That  it  shall  never  be  in  the  power 
of  any  person  or  interest  whatsoever,  to  make  us  decline 
from  the  religious  observance  of  it :  it  having  been  always  a 
constant  profession  of  ours, — That  we  do  and  shall  ever 
think  our  royal  dignity  and  greatness  much  more  happily 
and  securely  founded  on  our  own  clemency  and  our  subjects' 
loves,  than  in  their  fears,  and  our  power. 

Which  most  sincere  profession  of  ours  may  suffice  also  to 
expose  the  wickedness  and  falsehood  of  the  other  malice  con- 
cerning the  design  of  introducing  a  way  of  government  by 
military  power. 


1662.]  The  King's  Declaration.  463 

It  is  true,  we  should  not  think  that  we  discharged 
rightly  what  we  owe  to  the  public  peace,  and  to  the  freedom 
and  security  of  parliaments,  as  well  as  to  the  safety  of  our 
person,  if,  whilst  we  daily  discover  such  multitudes  of  dis- 
tempered minds,  and  such  dangerous  practices  issuing  from 
them,  we  should,  from  want  of  sufficient  guards,  put  it  in 
the  power  of  those  rebellious  spirits  to  undertake,  probably, 
at  any  time,  what  they  have  at  several  times  so  madly 
attempted  for  the  ruin  and  destruction  of  us  all.  Of  which 
certainly,  besides  the  present  occasion  of  new  precaution  as 
well  as  new  severity,  we  suppose  all  our  good  subjects  need 
not  a  livelier  nor  more  moving  instance,  than  what  their 
memories  can  furnish  them  with,  from  the  desperate  under- 
taking of  Venner  and  his  crew,  which  (as  mad  as  it  was)  we 
leave  to  all  the  world  to  judge  of  how  dangerous  a  conse- 
quence it  might  have  been,  without  that  little  strength 
remaining  of  those  forces,  which  (to  give  our  people  a 
testimony  of  our  founding  all  our  security  rather  in  their 
affections  than  in  any  military  power)  we  had  so  frankly 
disbanded,  and  which  afterwards,  by  advice  of  our  council 
merely  upon  motives  of  the  public  safety,  we  consented  to 
increase  to  that  moderate  proportion,  which  was,  indeed, 
absolutely  necessary,  and  hath  since  been  sufficiently  proved 
to  be  so,  by  the  security  which  we  owe  to  them  from  the  late 
dangerous  practices. 

But  the  reasons  of  such  precautions  once  ceasing,  we  are 
very  sure  that  what  guards  soever  may  be  found  necessary 
for  us  to  continue,  as  in  former  times,  for  the  dignity  and 
honour  of  our  crown;  the  sole  strength  and  security  we 
shall  ever  confide  in  shall  be  the  hearts  and  affections  of  our 
subjects,  endeared  and  confirmed  to  us  by  our  gracious  and 
steady  manner  of  government,  according  to  the  ancient 
known  laws  of  the  land ;  there  being  not  any  one  of  our 
subjects  who  doth  more  from  his  heart  abhor,  than  we  our- 
selves, all  sort  of  military  and  arbitrary  rule. 

As  for  the  third,  concerning  the  non-performance  of  our 
promises,  we  remember  well  the  very  words  of  those  from 


464  The  King's  Declaration.  [166.2. 

Breda;  viz.,  We  do  declare  a  liberty  to  tender  consciences, 
and  that  no  man  shall  be  disquieted  or  called  in  question 
for  differences  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion,  which  do 
not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom :  and  that  we  shall  be 
ready  to  consent  to  such  an  act  of  parliament,  as  upon 
mature  deliberation  shall  be  offered  to  us  for  the  full  grant- 
ing that  indulgence. 

We  remember  well  the  confirmations  we  have  made  of 
them  since  upon  several  occasions  in  parliament :  and  as  all 
these  things  are  still  fresh  in  our  memory,  so  are  we  still 
firm  in  the  resolution  of  performing  them  to  the  full.  But 
it  must  not  be  wondered  at,  since  that  parliament,  to  which 
those  promises  were  made  in  relation  to  an  act,  never  thought 
fit  to  offer  us  any  to  that  purpose,  and  being  so  zealous  as 
we  are  (and  by  the  grace  of  God  shall  ever  be)  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  true  protestant  religion,  finding  it  so  shaken 
(not  to  say  overthrown)  as  we  did,  we  should  give  its  estab- 
lishment the  precedency  before  matters  of  indulgence  to 
dissenters  from  it.  But  that  once  done,  (as  we  hope  it  is 
sufficiently  by  the  bill  of  uniformity,)  we  are  glad  to  lay  hold 
on  this  occasion  to  renew  unto  all  our  subjects  concerned  in 
those  promises  of  indulgence  by  a  true  tenderness  of  con- 
science, this  assurance : 

That,  as  in  the  first  place,  we  have  been  zealous  to  settle 
the  uniformity  of  the  church  of  England,  in  discipline, 
ceremony,  and  government,  and  shall  ever  constantly  main- 
tain it ; 

So  as  for  what  concerns  the  penalties  upon  those  who 
(living  peaceable)  do  not  conform  thereunto  through  scruple 
and  tenderness  of  misguided  conscience,  but  modestly  and 
without  scandal  perform  their  devotions  in  their  own  way, 
we  shall  make  it  our  special  care  so  far  forth  as  in  us  lies, 
without  invading  the  freedom  of  parliament,  to  incline  their 
wisdom  at  this  next  approaching  sessions,  to  concur  with  us 
in  the  making  some  such  act  for  that  purpose,  as  may  enable 
us  to  exercise,  with  a  more  universal  satisfaction,  that  power 
of  dispensing,  which  we  conceive  to  be  inherent  in  us.     Nor 


1662.]  The  King's  Declaration.  465 

can  we  doubt  of  their  cheerful  co-operating  with  us  in  a 
thing  wherein  we  do  conceive  ourselves  so  far  engaged,  both 
in  honour  and  in  what  we  owe  to  the  peace  of  our  dominions, 
which  we  profess  we  can  never  think  secure,  whilst  there 
shall  be  a  coloiu*  left  to  the  malicious  and  disaffected  to 
inflame  the  minds  of  so  many  multitudes  upon  the  score  of 
conscience,  with  despair  of  ever  obtaining  any  effect  of  our 
promise  for  their  ease. 

In  the  last  place,  as  to  that  most  pernicious  and  injurious 
scandal,  so  artificially  spread  and  fomented,  of  our  favour  to 
papists ;  as  it  is  but  a  repetition  of  the  same  detestable  arts, 
by  which  all  the  late  calamities  have  been  brought  upon  this 
kingdom  in  the  time  of  our  royal  father,  of  blessed  memory, 
(who,  though  the  most  pious  and  zealous  protestant  that  ever 
reigned  in  this  nation,  could  never  wash  off  the  stains  cast 
upon  him  by  that  malice,  but  by  his  martyrdom,)  we  conceive 
all  our  subjects  should  be  sufficiently  prepared  against  that 
poison  by  memory  of  those  disasters ;  especially  since  nothing 
is  more  evident,  than  that  the  wicked  authors  of  this  scandal 
are  such  as  seek  to  involve  all  good  protestants  under  the 
odious  name  of  papists,  or  popishly  affected :  yet  we  cannot 
but  say  upon  this  occasion,  that  our  education  and  course  of 
life  in  the  true  protestant  religion  has  been  such,  and  our 
constancy  in  the  profession  of  it  so  eminent  in  our  most 
desperate  condition  abroad  among  Roman  catholic  princes, 
whenas  the  appearance  of  receding  from  it  had  been  the 
likeliest  way  in  all  human  forecast,  to  have  procured  us  the 
most  powerful  assistances  of  our  re- establishment,  that  should 
any  of  our  subjects  give  but  the  least  admission  of  that 
scandal  unto  their  beliefs,  we  should  look  upon  it  as  the 
most  unpardonable  offence  that  they  can  be  guilty  of  towards 
us.  'Tis  true,  that  as  we  shall  always  according  to  justice 
retain,  so  we  think  it  may  become  us  to  avow  to  the  world, 
a  due  sense  we  have  of  the  greatest  part  of  our  Roman 
catholic  subjects  of  this  kingdom,  having  deserved  well  from 
our  royal  father,  of  blessed  memory,  and  from  us,  and  even 
from  the  protestant  religion  itself,  in  adhering  to  us  with 


466  The  King's  Declaration.  [16G3. 

their  lives  and  fortunes  for  the  maintenance  of  our  crown  in 
the  religion  established^  against  those  who,  under  the  name 
of  zealous  protestants,  employed  both  fire  and  sword  to 
overthrow  them  both.  We  shall,  with  as  much  freedom^ 
profess  unto  the  world  that  it  is  not  in  our  intention  to 
exclude  our  Roman  catholic  subjects,  who  have  so  demeaned 
themselves,  from  all  share  in  the  benefit  of  such  an  act,  as  in 
pursuance  of  our  promises,  the  wisdom  of  our  parliament 
shall  think  fit  to  offer  unto  us  for  the  ease  of  tender  con- 
sciences. It  might  appear  no  less  than  injustice,  that  those 
who  deserved  well  and  continued  to  do  so,  should  be  denied 
some  part  of  that  mercy  which  we  have  obliged  ourselves  to 
afford  to  ten  times  the  number  of  such  who  have  not  done 
so.  Besides,  such  are  the  capital  laws  in  force  against  them, 
as  though  justified  in  their  rigour  by  the  times  wherein  they 
were  made,  we  profess  it  would  be  grievous  unto  us  to 
consent  to  the  execution  of  them,  by  putting  any  of  our 
subjects  to  death  for  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion  only. 
But  at  the  same  time  that  we  declare  our  little  liking  of 
those  sanguinary  ones,  and  our  gracious  intentions  already 
expressed  to  such  of  our  Roman  catholic  subjects  as  shall 
live  peaceably,  modestly,  and  without  scandal;  we  would 
have  them  all  know,  that  if  for  doing  what  their  duties  and 
loyalties  obliged  them  to,  or  from  our  acknowledgment  of 
their  well-deserving,  they  shall  have  the  presumption  to  hope 
for  a  toleration  of  their  profession,  or  a  taking  away  either 
those  marks  of  distinction  or  of  our  displeasure,  which  in  a 
well-governed  kingdom  ought  always  to  be  set  upon  dissen- 
ters from  the  religion  of  the  state,  or  to  obtain  the  least 
remission  in  the  strictness  of  those  laws,  which  either  are  or 
shall  be  made  to  hinder  the  spreading  of  their  doctrine,  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  true  protestant  religion;  or  that  upon 
our  expressing  (according  to  Christian  charity)  our  dislike 
for  bloodshed  for  religion  only,  priests  shall  take  the  boldness 
to  appear  and  avow  themselves  to  the  offence  and  scandal  of 
good  protestants,  and  of  the  laws  in  force  against  them,  they 
shall  quickly  find  we  know  as  well  to  be  severe,  when  wisdom 


IG63.]  The  King's  Declaration.  467 

requires_,  as  indulgent  wlien  charity  and  sense  of  merit 
challenge  it  from  us. 

With  this  we  have  thought  fit  to  arm  oiu'  good  subjects' 
minds  against  the  practices  of  our  ill  ones^  by  a  true  know- 
ledge of  our  own;  of  which^  now  rightly  persuaded,  we 
make  no  question,  but  that  whosoever  they  be  from  whom 
they  can  derive  the  spreading  or  fomenting  of  any  of  those 
wicked  suggestions,  they  will  look  upon  them  with  detes- 
tation, as  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  our  crown,  and  of 
the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  nation :  and  that  what  we 
have  here  published  will  happily  prepare  them  all  to  a 
cheerful  expectation  of  the  approaching  sessions  of  parlia- 
ment; an  assembly  so  eminent  in  their  loyalty  and  their 
zeal  for  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  kingdoms,  that 
having  already  made  those  happy  settlements  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  religion  established,  and  of  our  just  rights, 
their  full  concurrence  with  us  can  no  way  be  doubted  in  the 
performance  of  all  our  promises,  and  to  the  effecting  of  those 
gracious  intentions,  which  (God  knows)  our  heart  is  full  of, 
for  the  plenty,  prosperity,  and  universal  satisfactions  of  the 
nation. 

In  order  to  which,  although  it  be  foreign  to  the  main  scope 
of  this  our  Declaration,  which  is  principally  to  prevent  the 
mischiefs  aimed  at  by  the  scandals  therein  mentioned,  and 
that  wherein  we  reserve  the  enlargement  of  ourself  till  the 
opening  of  the  next  sessions  of  parliament,  yet  we  cannot 
forbear  hinting  here  unto  our  good  subjects  four  particulars, 
wherein  we  think  to  give  them  the  most  important  marks  of 
our  care.  First,  In  punishing,  by  severe  laws,  that  licen- 
tiousness and  impiety,  which,  since  the  dissolution  of 
government,  we  find,  to  our  great  grief,  hath  overspread  the 
nation.  Secondly,  As  weU  by  sumptuary  laws  as  by  our 
own  example  of  frugality,  to  restrain  the  excess  in  men's 
expenses,  wliich  is  grown  so  general  and  so  exorbitant,  beyond 
all  bounds  either  of  their  qualities  or  fortunes.  Thirdly,  So 
to  perfect  what  we  have  already  industriously  begun  in  the 
retrenching  of  all  our  own  ordinary  and  extraordinary  charges 

H   H   2 


468  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662-3. 

in  navy^  garrisons^  household,  and  all  their  dependants,  as  to 
bring  them  within  the  compass  of  our  settled  revenue,  that 
thereby  our  subjects  may  have  little  cause  to  apprehend  our 
frequent  pressing  them  for  new  assistants.  And  lastly,  So  to 
'  improve  the  good  consequences  of  these  three  particulars  to  the 
advancement  of  trade,  that  all  our  subjects  finding  (as  well  as 
other  nations  envying)  the  advantage  this  hath  of  them  in 
that  prime  foundation  of  plenty,  they  may  all,  with  minds 
happily  composed  by  our  clemency  and  indulgence  (instead 
of  taking  up  thoughts  of  deserting  their  professions,  or  trans- 
planting) apply  themselves  comfortably  and  with  redoubled 
industry  to  their  several  vocations,  in  such  manner  as  the 
private  interest  of  every  one  in  particular  may  encourage  him 
to  contribute  cheerfully  to  the  general  prosperity. 

Given  at  our  court  at  Whitehall,  this  twenty-sixth  day  of 
December,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  our  reign. 


XXX. 

Proceedings  in  Parliament  upon  the  King's  Declaration  of 
26th  December,  1662. — Journals  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, vol.  viii. 

Sabbati,  21°  Februarii,  [1662—3],  15°  Car  II,  [p.  438  b.] 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  Wednesday  next  be  appointed  for 
reading  the  king's  majesty's  Declaration  and  last  Speech,  and 
for  taking  the  same  into  consideration  and  debate. 

Mercurii,  25°  Februarii,  [1662—3],  15°  Car.  II,  [p.  440  a,  *.] 

The  House  then  took  into  consideration  the  order,  made 
the  one-and-twentieth  of  this  month,  for  reading  the  king's 
majesty's  Declaration  and  Speech. 


1662-3.]  upon  the  King's  Declaration.  469 

And  taking-  the  same  into  debate ; 

And  the  Declaration  and  Speech  being  read ; 

The  question  being  put,  That  the  House  do  now  proceed  in 
the  debate  upon  the  king's  majesty's  Declaration  and  Speech, 

The  House  was  divided. 

The  Noes  went  out : 

Mr.  CliflPord,  J      Tellers  for  the  noes :      )     qq 

Sir  Sol.  Swale,  i  With  the  noes,  j 

Sir  Courtney  Poole,        J      Tellers  for  the  yeas :       ]     _„ 

Colonel  Strang wayes,     \  With  the  yeas,  j 

And  so  it  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

And  the  House  accordingly  proceeding  in  the  debate; 

Upon  consideration  had  by  the  House  of  the  king's  ma- 
jesty's Declaration  and  Speech; 

Resolved,  upon  the  question,  Nemine  contradicente — That 
the  humble  thanks  of  this  House  be  returned  to  the  king's 
majesty,  for  his  constancy  in  the  observation  of  the  Act  of 
Indemnity. 

Resolved,  ^c.,  Nemine  contradicente — That  the  humble 
thanks  of  this  House  be  returned  to  the  king's  majesty,  for 
his  profession  against  introducing  a  government  by  a  military 
power. 

Resolved,  ^c,  Nemine  contradicente — That  the  humble 
thanks  of  this  House  be  returned  to  his  majesty,  for  his 
gracious  invitation  to  this  House  to  prepare  some  laws  against 
the  growth  and  progress  of  popery. 

Resolved,  ^c,  Nemine  contradicente — That  the  humble 
thanks  of  this  House  be  returned  to  his  majesty  for  his 
resolution  to  maintain  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 

Jovis,  26°  Februarii,  [1662—3],  IS^  Car.  II,  [p.  441  a.] 

Ordered — That  it  be  referred  to  a  committee,  to  collect 
and  bring  in  the  reasons  of  the  House  for  the  vote  of  advice 
to  his  majesty,  upon  the  debates  had  yesterday ;  and  also  to 
prepare  and  bring  in  a  bill  to  prevent  the  further  growth  of 
popery :  viz..  Sir  Hen.  North,  Mr.  Solicitor- General,    Mr. 


470  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662-3. 

Vauglian,  Sir  Edw.  Walpoole,  Sir  Tho.  Meres,  Sir  Fra. 
Goodricli,  Colonel  Windham,  Lord  Fanshaw,  Mr.  Hunger- 
ford,  :Mr.  Ashburnham,  Sir  Rich.  Everard,  Sir  Bain. 
Throckmorton,  Lord  Newburgh,  Lord  Falkland,  Lord  An- 
cram,  Major-General  Egerton,  Sir  John  Goodrick,  Sir  John 
Duncombe,  Lord  Bruce,  Sir  Robert  Atkyns,  Sir  John 
Birkinhead,  Sir  Wm.  Lowther,  Master  of  the  Rolls,  Sir 
Anthony  Cope,  Mr.  Broome  Whorwood,  Colonel  Strang- 
wayes.  Sir  Tho.  Gower,  Serjeant  Charlton,  Colonel  Progers, 
Sir  Edm.  Peirce,  Sir  Cha.  Harbord;  and  they  are  to  meet 
in  the  Speaker's  chamber,  at  two  of  the  clock  this  afternoon ; 
and  to  send  for  persons,  papers,  and  records. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That,  in  the  close  of  the  reasons  to  be 
presented  to  his  majesty,  for  the  vote  of  advice,  it  be  also 
added,  that  this  House,  in  pursuance  thereof,  will  assist  his 
majesty  with  their  lives  and  fortunes;  and  that  the  committee 
appointed  to  bring  in  the  reasons  do  pen  an  address,  to  that 
purpose,  to  his  majesty. 

Veneris,     27°     Februarii,     [1663—3],     15°    Car     II, 
[pp.  442a— 4436.] 

Sir  Heneage  Finch  reports,  from  the  committee  appointed 
to  collect  and  bring  in  the  reasons  of  this  House  for  their 
vote  of  advice  to  the  king's  majesty;  and,  in  the  close  of 
those  reasons,  to  add— That  the  House  will  assist  his  majesty 
with  their  lives  and  fortunes;  and  to  pen  an  address  to  his 
majesty  for  that  purpose ;  the  several  reasons,  and  address, 
agreed  by  the  committee,  in  writing,  which  he  read  in  his 
place,  and  did  after  bring  up  and  deliver  the  same  in  at  the 
clerk's  table. 

The  first  paragraph  was  read;  and,  upon  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  second  paragraph  was  read ;  and,  on  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  third  was  read ;  and,  on  the  question,  agreed  to. 

The  fourth  paragraph  was  read;  and,  on  the  question, 
agreed  to, 


]  662-3.]  uj)on  the  King^ s  Declaration.  471 

The  fifth  paragraph  was  read. 

Resolved — That  after  the  word  "  endeavours/^  these  words, 
''by  your  declaration/^  be  inserted. 

And  the  same  was  done  accordingly. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  words  ''by  a  gracious  forbear- 
ance/' be  omitted. 

Which  were  struck  out  accordingly. 

Resolved — That  these  words,  "  that  there  be  any  indulgence 
to  such  persons  who  presume  to  dissent  from  the  Act  of 
Uniformity/'  be  inserted. 

Which  was  done  accordingly. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  paragraph,  so  amended  be  agreed 
to. 

The  reasons  were  read. 

The  first  paragraph  was  read  the  second  time ;  and,  on  the 
question,  agreed  to. 

The  next  paragraph  was  read. 

Resolved,  &^c. — That  the  word  "  and  "  be  inserted,  instead 
of  "if." 

Resolved,  S^c. — That  this  clause  be  added  in  the  close  of 
the  first  paragraph  ;  "  nor  could  it  be  otherwise  understood, 
because  there  were  laws  of  uniformity  then  in  being,  which 
could  not  be  dispensed  with,  but  by  Act  of  Parliament." 

Which  was  done  accordingly. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  these  words,  "  they  who  do  pretend  a 
right  to  that  supposed  promise,''  be  mserted  in  the  beginning 
of  the  second  paragraph. 

Which  was  done  accordingly. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  paragraph,  so  agreed  to,  do  pass. 

The  next  paragraph  was  read  the  second  time;  and 
agreed. 

The  next  was  read  the  second  time ;  and,  on  the  question, 
agreed  to. 

The  rest,  until  the  last  paragraph,  were  severally  read; 
and,  on  the  question,  agreed  to. 

An  additional  reason,  in  writing,  tendered  to  be  inserted 
before  the  last  reason. 


472  Proceedh/gs  in  Parliament  [1662-3. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  reason^  being  in  these  words,  "  It 
is  a  thing  altogether  without  precedent^  and  will  take  away 
all  means  of  convicting  recusants^  and  be  inconsistent  with 
the  method  and  proceedings  of  the  laws  of  England,"  be 
inserted. 

Which  was  done  accordingly. 

The  last  reason  was  read. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  these  words,  in  the  close  of  the  last 
paragraph,  viz.,  "  it  being  most  notorious,  that  the  very 
prayers,  which  some  pretend  to  make  for  the  supreme 
authority,  are  still  mingled  with  vile  and  seditious  reflec- 
tions," be  omitted. 

The  question  being  put,  "To  agree  to  the  address  and 
reasons,  to  be  presented  to  his  majesty,  as  they  are  amended, 
and  read  ?  " 

It  was  resolved  in  the  affirmative. 

Which  are  as  folio weth,  viz.  : 

"  May  it  please  your  most  excellent  majesty, 

"  We,  your  majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the 
knights,  citizens,  and  burgesses  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
in  parliament  assembled,  having,  with  all  fidelity  and  obedi- 
ence, considered  of  the  several  matters  comprised  in  your 
majesty's  late  gracious  Declaration  of  the  twenty-sixth  of 
December  last,  and  your  most  gracious  speech  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  present  session,  do,  in  the  first  place,  for  ourselves 
and  in  the  names  of  all  the  Commons  of  England,  render 
to  your  sacred  majesty,  the  tribute  of  our  most  hearty 
thanks,  for  that  infinite  grace  and  goodness  wherewith  your 
majesty  hath  been  pleased  to  publish  your  royal  intentions  of 
adhering  to  your  Act  of  Indemnity  and  Oblivion,  by  a  con- 
stant and  religious  observance  of  it.  And  our  hearts  are 
further  enlai'ged  in  these  returns  of  thanksgivings,  when  we 
consider  your  majesty's  most  princely  and  heroic  professions, 
of  relying  upon  the  aficctions  of  your  people,  and  abhorring 
all  sort  of  military  and  arbitrary  rule.  But,  above  all,  we 
can  never  enough  remember,  to  the  honour  of  your  majesty's 
piety,  and  our  own  unspeakable  comfort,  those  solemn  and 


1662-3.]  upon  the  King's  Declaration.  473 

most  endearing  invitations  of  us  your  majesty's  subjects,  to 
prepare  laws,  to  be  presented  to  your  majesty,  against  the 
growth  and  increase  of  popery ;  and,  withal,  to  provide  more 
laws  against  licentiousness  and  impiety;  at  the  same  time 
declaring  your  own  resolutions  for  maintaining  the  Act  of 
Uniformity.  And  it  becomes  us  always  to  acknowledge  and 
admire  your  majesty's  wisdom  in  this  your  Declaration; 
whereby  your  majesty  is  pleased  to  resolve,  not  only  by 
sumptuary  laws,  but  by  your  own  royal  example  of  frugality, 
to  restrain  that  excess  in  men's  expences  which  is  grown  so 
general  and  so  exorbitant ;  and  to  direct  our  endeavours  to 
find  out  fit  and  proper  laws  for  advancement  of  trade  and 
commerce. 

"  After  all  this,  we  most  humbly  beseech  your  majesty  to 
believe,  that  it  is  with  extreme  unwillingness  and  reluctancy 
of  heart,  that  we  are  brought  to  differ  from  anything  which 
your  majesty  hath  thought  fit  to  propose.  And  though  we 
do  no  way  doubt,  but  that  the  unreasonable  distempers  of 
men's  spirits,  and  the  many  mutinies  and  conspiracies  which 
were  carried  on  during  the  late  intervals  of  parliament,  did 
reasonably  incline  your  majesty  to  endeavour,  by  your 
Declaration,  to  give  some  allay  to  those  ill  humours,  till  the 
parliament  assembled,  and  the  hopes  of  an  indulgence  if  the 
parliament  should  consent  to  it ;  especially  seeing  the  pre- 
tenders to  this  indulgence  did  seem  to  make  some  title  to  it, 
by  virtue  of  your  majesty's  Declaration  from  Breda.  Never- 
theless, we,  your  majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects, 
who  are  now  returned  to  serve  in  parliament  from  those 
several  parts  and  places  of  your  kingdom  for  which  we  were 
chosen,  do  humbly  oflFer  it  to  your  majesty's  great  wisdom, 
that  it  is  in  no  sort  advisable  that  there  be  any  indulgence  to 
such  persons  who  presume  to  dissent  from  the  Act  of  Unifor- 
mity and  religion  established,  for  these  reasons : 

"  We  have  considered  the  nature  of  your  majesty's  Decla- 
ration from  Breda,  and  are  humbly  of  opinion  that  your 
majesty  ought  not  to  be  pressed  with  it  any  further;  because 
it  is  not  a  promise  in  itself,  but  only  a  gracious  declaration 


474  Proceedings  in  Parliament  [1662-3. 

of  your  majesty's  intentions  to  do  what  in  you  lay,  and  what 
a  parliament  should  advise  your  majesty  to  do  :  and  no  such 
advice  was  ever  given,  or  thought  fit  to  be  ofiered;  nor 
could  it  be  otherwise  understood,  because  there  were  laws  of 
uniformity  then  in  being  which  could  not  be  dispensed  with, 
but  by  Act  of  Parliament. 

"  They  who  do  pretend  a  right  to  that  supposed  promise, 
put  their  right  into  the  hands  of  their  representatives, 
whom  they  chose  to  serve  for  them  in  this  parliament ;  who 
have  passed,  and  your  majesty  consented,  to  the  Act  of 
Uniformity. 

"  If  any  shall  presume  to  say,  that  a  right  to  the  benefit  of 
this  Declaration  doth  still  remain  after  this  Act  passed,  it 
tends  to  dissolve  the  very  bonds  of  government,  and  to 
suppose  a  disability  in  your  majesty  and  your  Houses  of 
Parliament,  to  make  a  law  contrary  to  any  part  of  your 
majesty's  Declaration,  though  both  Houses  should  advise 
your  majesty  to  it. 

"We  have  also  considered  the  nature  of  the  indulgence 
proposed,  with  reference  to  those  consequences  which,  must 
necessarily  attend  it. 

"  It  will  establish  schism  by  a  law,  and  make  the  whole 
government  of  the  church  precarious,  and  the  censures  of  it 
of  no  moment  or  consideration  at  all. 

"  It  wiU  no  way  become  the  gravity  or  wisdom  of  a  parlia- 
ment, to  pass  a  law  at  one  session  for  uniformity,  and  at  the 
next  session  (the  reasons  for  uniformity  continuing  still  the 
same)  to  pass  another  law  to  frustrate  or  weaken  the  execu- 
tion of  it. 

"  It  will  expose  your  majesty  to  the  restless  importunity 
of  every  sect  or  opmion,  and  of  every  single  person 
also,  that  shall  presume  to  dissent  from  the  church  of 
England. 

"  It  will  be  a  cause  of  increasing  sects  and  sectaries ;  whose 
numbers  will  weaken  the  true  protestant  profession  so  far, 
that  it  wiU  at  least  become  difficult  for  it  to  defend  itself 
against  them,     And,  which  is  yet  further  considerable,  those 


1662-3.]  upon  the  King's  Declaration,  475 

numbers  wliich^  by  being  troublesome  to  the  government, 
find  tliey  can  arrive  to  an  indulgence,  will,  as  their  numbers 
increase,  be  yet  more  troublesome,  that  so,  at  length,  they 
may  arrive  at  a  general  toleration,  which  your  majesty  hath 
declared  against;  and,  in  time,  some  prevalent  sect  will,  at 
last,  contend  for  an  establishment ;  which,  for  aught  can  be 
foreseen,  may  end  in  popery. 

''  It  is  a  thing  altogether  without  precedent ;  and  will 
take  away  all  means  of  convicting  recusants,  and  be  in- 
consistent with  the  method  and  proceedings  of  the  laws  of 
England. 

"  Lastly,  it  is  humbly  conceived,  that  the  indulgence  pro- 
posed will  be  so  far  from  tending  to  the  peace  of  the  kingdom, 
that  it  is  likely  rather  to  occasion  great  disturbance ;  and,  on 
the  contrary,  that  the  asserting  of  the  laws,  and  the  religion 
established,  according  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  is  the  most 
probable  means  to  produce  a  settled  peace  and  obedience 
through  the  kingdom ;  because  the  variety  of  professions  in 
religion,  when  openly  indulged,  doth  directly  distinguish  men 
into  parties,  and,  withal,  gives  them  opportunity  to  count 
their  numbers ;  which,  considering  the  animosities  that,  out 
of  a  religious  pride,  will  be  kept  on  foot  by  the  several 
factions,  doth  tend,  directly  and  inevitably,  to  open  disturb- 
ance; nor  can  your  majesty  have  any  security,  that  the 
doctrine  or  worship  of  the  several  factions,  which  are  all 
governed  by  a  several  rule,  shall  be  consistent  with  the  peace 
of  your  kingdom. 

"  And  if  any  person  shall  presume  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  kingdom,  we  do,  in  all  humility,  declare,  that  we  will  for 
ever,  and  upon  all  occasions,  be  ready  with  our  uttermost 
endeavours  and  assistance,  to  adhere  to,  and  serve  your 
majesty,  according  to  our  bounden  duty  and  allegiance." 

Ordered — That  such  members  of  this  House,  as  are 
of  his  majesty's  privy  council,  do  move  the  king's  majesty, 
that  he  would  give  leave  to  this  House  to  wait  on  him, 
at  such  time  and  place  as  his  majesty  shall  think  fit  and 
appoint. 


476  Proceedings  in  Parliament.  [1662-3. 

Sabbati,  28°  Februarii,  [1662—3],  15°  Car  II, 
[pp.  443  6—444  a.] 

Sir  William  Compton  reports  that  he,  witb  some  other 
members  of  this  House,  of  his  majesty's  honourable  privy 
council,  had  attended  his  majesty,  and  signified  unto  him 
the  desires  of  this  House  to  wait  on  his  majesty  at  such  time 
and  place  as  he  should  please  to  appoint;  and  that  his 
majesty  did  receive  the  message  very  graciously,  as  he  doth 
all  things  that  come  from  this  House ;  and,  to  give  them  a 
testimony  of  it,  had  appointed  the  shortest  time  he  could 
for  the  House  to  attend  him,  which  was  this  afternoon,  at 
three  of  the  clock,  in  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall. 

The  address  and  reasons  of  this  House,  to  be  presented  to 
his  majesty,  being  fair  written,  were  this  day  read  the  third 
time. 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  word  ''in"  be  made  "upon." 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  these  words,  ''and  religion  estab- 
lished," be  added  after  the  word  "  uniformity." 

Post  Meridiem. 

Mr.  Speaker,  and  the  members  of  this  House  accompany- 
ing him,  according  to  his  majesty's  appointment,  went  in  a 
body  to  attend  his  majesty  at  the  Banqueting  House  in 
Whitehall,  with  the  address  of  thanks  and  reasons  for  the 
vote  of  non-indulgence  to  be  presented  to  his  majesty ;  and, 
being  returned, 

Mr.  Speaker  reported  that  the  answer  his  majesty  gave 
thereunto  was  to  this  effect,  viz.  : 

"That  he  gave  us  hearty  thanks  for  our  many  thanks; 
that  never  any  king  was  so  happy  in  a  House  of  Commons  as 
he  is  in  this;  that  the  paper  and  reasons  were  long,  and 
therefore  he  would  take  time  to  consider  of  them,  and  send 
us  a  message;  that  we  could  never  differ  but  in  judgment, 
and  that  must  be  when  he  did  not  rightly  express  himself,  or 
we  did  not  rightly  understand  him ;  but  our  interest  was  so 
far  linked  together,  that  we  could  never  disagree." 


1664.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  477 

Lunge,  16°  Martii,  [1662—3],  15^  Car.  II,   [p.  451  «.] 

Mr.  Secretary  Morice  reports  a  message  from  his  majesty, 
in  writing,  which  he  delivered  to  Mr.  Speaker;  and  the  same 
was  twice  read,  and  was  as  followeth  : 

"Charles  R. 

"  His  majesty  is  unwilling  to  enlarge  upon  the  address 
lately  made  to  him  by  his  House  of  Commons,  or  to  reply  to 
the  reasons ;  though  he  finds  what  he  had  said  much  mis- 
understood :  but  renews  his  hearty  thanks  to  them  for  their 
expressions  of  so  great  duty  and  affection ;  and  for  their  free 
declaration,  '  that  if  any  persons  shall  presume  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  kingdom,  they  will  for  ever,  and  in  all  occasions, 
be  ready,  with  their  utmost  endeavours  and  assistance,  to 
adhere  to,  and  serve  his  majesty;^  and  doth  very  heartily 
desire  them  so  to  enable  him,  and  to  put  the  kingdom  into 
such  a  posture,  as,  if  any  disturbance  or  seditious  designs 
arise,  they  may  be  easily  suppressed." 

Resolved,  ^c. — That  the  humble  thanks  of  this  House  be 
returned  to  the  king's  majesty,  for  his  gracious  message  to 
this  House.  And  such  members  of  this  House  as  are  of  his 
majesty's  honourable  privy  council,  are  to  present  the  thanks 
of  this  House  to  his  majesty. 


XXXI. 

The  Conventicle  Act,  1664. 

An  Act  to  prevent  and  suppress  Seditious  Conventicles. 

Whereas  an  Act  made  in  the  five-and-thirtieth  year  of  the 
reign  of  our  late  sovereign  lady  queen  Elizabeth,  entitled,  an  Act 
to  retain  the  queen's  majesty's  subjects  in  their  due  obedience, 
hath  not  been  put  in  due  execution  by  reason  of  some  doubt 


478  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1664. 

of  late  made^  whether  the  said  Act  be  still  in  force ;  although 
it  be  very  clear  and  evident ;  and  it  is  hereby  declared,  that  the 
said  Act  is  still  in  force,  and  ought  to  be  put  in  due  execution. 

II.  For  providing  therefore  of  further  and  more  speedy 
remedies  against  the  growing  and  dangerous  practices  of 
seditious  sectaries,  and  other  disloyal  persons,  who,  under 
pretence  of  tender  consciences,  do  at  their  meetings  contrive 
insurrections,  as  late  experience  has  showed. 

III.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  king's  most  excellent  majesty,  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  and  commons  in  this  present  parliament  assembled, 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  if  any  person  of  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  or  upwards,  being  a  subject  of  this  realm, 
at  any  time  after  the  first  day  of  July,  which  shall  be  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  six  hundred  sixty-and-four, 
shall  be  present  at  any  assembly,  conventicle,  or  meeting, 
under  colour  or  pretence  of  any  exercise  of  religion,  in  other 
manner  than  is  allowed  by  the  liturgy  or  practice  of  the 
chm-ch  of  England,  in  any  place  within  the  kingdom  of 
England,  dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed;  at  which  conventicle,  meetiug,  or  assembly,  there 
shall  be  five  persons  or  more  assembled  together,  over  and 
above  those  of  the  same  household ;  then  it  shall  and  may  be 
lawful  to,  and  for  any  two  justices  of  the  peace  of  the  county, 
limit,  division,  or  liberty  wherein  the  offence  aforesaid  shall 
be  committed,  or  for  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place  where 
such  offence  aforesaid  shall  be  committed ;  (if  it  be  within  a 
corporation  where  there  not  two  justices  of  the  peace)  ; 
and  they  are  hereby  required  and  enjoined  upon  proof  to 
them  or  him  respectively  made  of  such  oflPence,  either  by  con- 
fession of  the  party,  or  oath  of  witness,  or  notorious  evidence 
of  the  fact  (which  oath  the  said  justices  of  the  peace,  and 
chief  magistrate  respectively,  are  hereby  empowered  and  re- 
quired to  administer)  to  make  a  record  of  every  such  offence 
and  offences  under  their  hands  and  seals  respectively; 
■which  record  so  made,  as  aforesaid,  shall,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  be  in  law  taken  and  adjudged  to  be  a  full  and  perfect 


1664]  The  Conventicle  AtL  479 

conviction  of  every  sucli  offender  for  siu;li  offence  :  and  there- 
upon tlie  said  justices  and  chief  magistrates  respectively,  shall 
commit  every  such  offender,  so  convicted  as  aforesaid,  to  the 
gaol  or  house  of  correction,  there  to  remain  vvithout  bail  or 
mainprize,  for  any  time  not  exceeding  the  space  of  three 
months,  unless  such  offender  shall  pay  down  to  the  said  jus- 
tices or  chief  magistrate,  such  sum  of  money,  not  exceeding 
five  pounds,  as  the  said  justices  or  chief  magistrate  (who  are 
hereby  thereunto  authorized  and  required)  shall  fine  the  said 
offender  at,  for  his  or  her  said  offence ;  which  money  shall  be 
paid  to  the  churchwardens  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  of  the 
parish  where  such  offender  did  last  inhabit. 

IV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  if  such  offender,  so  convicted  as  aforesaid,  shall  at  any 
time  again  commit  the  like  offence  contrary  to  this  Act,  and 
be  thereof  in  manner  aforesaid  convicted,  then  such  offender 
so  convicted  of  such  second  offence,  shall  incur  the  penalty  of 
imprisonment  in  the  gaol  or  house  of  correction,  for  any  time 
not  exceeding  six  months^  without  bail  or  mainprize,  unless 
such  offender  shall  pay  down  to  the  said  justices  or  chief 
magistrate,  such  sum  of  money,  not  exceeding  ten  pounds,  as 
the  said  justices  or  chief  magistrate  (who  are  thereunto  autho- 
rized and  required,  as  aforesaid)  shall  fine  the  said  offender 
at,  for  his  or  her  said  second  offence,  the  said  fine  to  be  dis- 
posed in  manner  aforesaid. 

V.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  if  any  such  offender  so  convicted  of  a  second  offence 
contrary  to  this  Act  in  manner  aforesaid,  shall  at  any  time 
again  commit  the  like  offence  contrary  to  this  Act,  then  any 
two  justices  of  the  peace,  and  chief  magistrate,  as  aforesaid, 
respectively,  shall  commit  every  such  offender  to  the  gaol,  or 
house  of  correction,  there  to  remain  without  bail  or  mainprize 
until  the  next  general  quarter  sessions,  assizes,  gaol  delivery, 
great  sessions,  or  sitting  of  any  commission  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer  in  the  respective  county,  limit,  division,  or  liberty 
which  shall  first  happen;  when  and  where  every  such 
offender  shall  be  proceeded  against  by  indictment  for  such 


480  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1664. 

offence^  and  shall  forthwith  be  arraigned  upon  such  indict- 
ment^ and  shall  then  plead  the  general  issue  of  not  guilty, 
and  give  any  special  matter  in  evidence,  or  confess  the  indict- 
ment; and  if  such  offender  proceeded  against,  shall  be 
lawfully  convicted  of  such  offence,  either  by  confession  or 
verdict,  or  if  such  offender  shall  refuse  to  plead  the  general 
issue,  or  to  confess  the  indictment,  then  the  respective  justices 
of  the  peace  at  their  general  quarter  sessions,  judges  of  assize 
and  gaol  delivery  at  the  assizes  and  gaol  delivery,  justices  of 
the  great  sessions  at  the  great  sessions,  and  commissioners  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer,  at  their  sitting,  are  hereby  enabled  and 
required  to  cause  judgment  to  be  entered  against  such 
oflfender,  that  such  offender  shall  be  transported  beyond  the 
seas  to  any  of  his  majesty's  foreign  plantations  (Virginia  and 
New  England  only  excepted)  there  to  remain  seven  years ; 
and  shall  forthwith  under  their  hands  and  seals  make  out 
warrants  to  the  sheriff  or  sheriffs  of  the  same  county  where 
such  conviction  or  refusal  to  plead  or  to  confess,  as  aforesaid, 
shall  be,  safely  to  convey  such  offender  to  some  port  or  haven 
nearest  or  most  commodious  to  be  appointed  by  them  respec- 
tively ;  and  from  thence  to  embark  such  offender  to  be  safely 
transported  to  any  of  his  majesty's  plantations  beyond  the 
seas,  as  shall  be  also  by  them  respectively  appointed  (Virginia 
and  New  England  only  excepted :)  whereupon  the  said 
sheriff  shall  safely  convey  and  embark,  or  cause  to  be  em- 
barked such  offender,  to  be  transported,  as  aforesaid ;  under 
pain  of  forfeiting  for  default  of  so  transporting  every  such 
offender,  the  sum  of  forty  pounds  of  lawful  money;  the  one 
moiety  thereof  to  the  king,  and  the  other  moiety  to  him  or 
them  that  shall  sue  for  the  same  in  any  of  the  king's  courts 
of  record,  by  bill,  plaint,  action  of  debt,  or  information ;  in 
any  of  which,  no  wager  of  law,  essoin,  or  protection  shall  be 
admitted :  and  the  said  respective  court  shall  then  also 
make  out  warrants  to  the  several  constables,  headboroughs, 
or  tithingmen  of  the  respective  places  where  the  estate,  real  or 
personal,  of  such  offender  so  to  be  transported  shall  happen  to 
be,  commanding  them  thereby  to  sequester  into  their  hands 


1664.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  481 

the  profits  of  the  lands,  and  to  distrain  and  sell  the  goods  of 
the  offender  so  to  be  transported,  for  the  reimbursing  of  the 
said  sheriff  all  such  reasonable  charges  as  he  shall  be  at,  and 
shall  be  allowed  him  by  the  said  respective  court  for  such 
conveying  and  embarking  of  such  offender  so  to  be  trans- 
ported, rendering  to  the  party,  or  his  or  her  assigns,  the  over- 
plus of  the  same,  if  any  be,  unless  such  offender,  or  some 
other  on  behalf  of  such  offender  so  to  be  transported,  shall 
give  the  sheriff  such  security  as  he  shall  approve  of,  for  the 
paying  all  the  said  charges  unto  him. 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  in  default  of  defraying  such  charges  by  the  parties  to  be 
transported,  or  some  other  in  their  behalf;  or  in  default  of 
security  given  to  the  sheriff,  as  aforesaid,  it  shall  and  may  be 
lawful  for  every  such  sheriff  to  contract  with  any  master  of  a 
ship,  merchant,  or  other  person,  for  the  transporting  of  such 
offender  at  the  best  rate  he  can  :  and  that  in  every  such 
case  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  such  persons  so  contract- 
ing with  any  sheriff  for  transporting  such  offender,  as  afore- 
said, to  detain  and  employ  every  such  offender  so  by  them 
transported,  as  a  labourer  to  them  or  their  assigns,  for  the 
space  of  five  years,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  if  he  or  she 
were  bound  by  indentures  to  such  person  for  that  purpose  : 
and  that  the  respective  sheriffs  shall  be  allowed  or  paid 
from  the  king,  upon  their  respective  accounts  in  the  exche- 
quer, all  such  charges  by  them  expended,  for  conveying,  em- 
barking, and  transporting  of  such  persons,  which  shall  be 
allowed  by  the  said  respective  courts  from  whence  they 
received  their  respective  warrants,  and  which  shall  not  have 
been  by  any  of  the  ways  aforementioned  paid,  secured,  or  re- 
imbursed unto  them,  as  aforesaid. 

VII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  that  in 
ease  the  offender  so  indicted  and  convicted  for  the  said  third 
offence,  shall  pay  into  the  hands  of  the  registrar  or  clerk  of 
the  court  or  sessions  where  he  shall  be  convicted  (before  the 
said  court  or  sessions  shall  be  ended)  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
pounds,  that  then  the  said  offender  shall  be  discharged  from 


482  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1664. 

imprisonmfint  and  transportation^  and  tlie  judgment  for  the 
same. 

VIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  the  like  imprison- 
ment, indictment,  arraignment,  and  proceedings  shall  be 
against  every  such  offender,  as  often  as  he  shall  again  offend 
after  such  third  offence;  nevertheless  is  discliargable  and 
discharged  by  the  payment  of  the  like  sum  as  was  paid  by 
such  offender  for  his  or  her  said  offence  next  before  committed, 
together  with  the  additional  and  increased  sum  of  one 
hundred  pounds  more  upon  every  new  offence  committed : 
the  said  respective  sums  to  be  paid,  as  aforesaid,  and  to 
be  disposed  of  as  foUoweth,  (viz,,)  the  one  moiety  for  the 
repair  of  the  parish  church  or  churches,  chapel  or  chapels 
of  such  parish  within  which  such  conventicle,  assembly,  or 
meeting  shall  be  held ;  and  the  other  moiety  to  the  repair 
of  the  highways  of  the  said  parish  or  parishes  (if  need 
require)  or  otherwise  for  the  amendment  of  such  highways  as 
the  justices  of  peao3  at  their  respective  quarter  sessions  shall 
direct  and  appoint;  and  if  any  constable,  headborough, 
or  tithingmau  shall  neglect  to  execute  any  the  said  warrants 
made  unto  them  for  sequestering,  distraining,  and  selling  any 
of  the  goods  and  chattels  of  any  offender  against  this  Act,  for 
the  levying  such  sums  of  money  as  shall  be  imposed  for  the 
first  or  second  offence,  he  shall  forfeit  for  every  such  neglect 
the  sum  of  five  pounds  of  lawful  money  of  England ;  the  one 
moiety  thereof  to  the  king,  and  the  other  moiety  to  him  that 
will  sue  for  the  same  in  any  of  the  king's  courts  of  record,  as 
is  aforesaid :  and  if  any  person  be  at  any  time  sued  for 
putting  in  execution  any  of  the  powers  contained  in  this 
act,  such  person  shall  and  may  plead  the  general  issue,  and 
give  the  special  matter  in  evidence;  and  if  the  plaintiff 
be  nonsuit,  or  a  verdict  pass  for  the  defendant  thereupon, 
or  if  the  plaintiff  discontinue  his  action,  or  if,  upon 
demurrer,  judgment  be  given  for  the  defendant,  every 
such  defendant  shall  have  his  or  their  treble  costs. 

IX.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  if  any  person  against 
whom  judgment  of  transportation  shall  be  given  in  manner 


1664.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  -183 

aforesaid,  shall  make  escape  before  transportation,  or  being 
transported,  as  aforesaid,  shall  return  unto  this  realm  of 
England,  dominion  of  Wales,  and  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  without  the  special  licence  of  his  majesty,  his  heirs, 
and  successors,  in  that  behalf  first  had  and  obtained,  that  the 
party  so  escaping  or  returning  shall  be  adjudged  a  felon,  and 
shall  suffer  death  as  in  case  of  felony,  without  benefit  of 
clergy :  and  shall  forfeit  and  lose  to  his  majesty  all  his  or 
her  goods  and  chattels  for  ever ;  and  shall  further  lose  to  his 
majesty  all  his  or  her  lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments  for^ 
and  during  the  life  only  of  such  offender,  and  no  longer  :  and 
that  the  wife  of  any  such  offender  by  force  of  this  act  shall 
not  lose  her  dower,  nor  shall  any  corruption  of  blood  grow  or 
be  by  reason  of  any  such  offence  mentioned  in  this  act ;  but 
that  the  heir  of  every  such  offender  by  force  of  this  act,  shall 
and  may,  after  the  death  of  such  offender,  have  and  enjoy  the 
lands,  tenements,  and  hereditaments  of  such  offenders,  as  if 
this  act  had  not  been  made. 

X.  And  for  better  preventing  of  the  mischiefs  which  may 
grow  by  such  seditious  and  tumultuous  meetings  under  pre- 
tence of  religious  worship  :  be  it  further  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  the  lieutenants  or  deputy  lieutenants, 
or  any  commissioned  officers  of  the  militia,  or  any  other  of 
his  majesty's  forces,  with  such  troops  or  companies  of  horse 
or  foot;  and  also  the  sheriffs  and  justices  of  peace  and  other 
magistrates  and  ministers  of  justice,  or  any  of  them  jointly 
or  severally  within  any  the  counties  or  places  within  this 
kingdom  of  England,  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of  Berwick- 
upon-Tweed,  with  such  other  assistance  as  they  shall  think 
meet  or  can  get  in  readiness  with  the  soonest,  on  certificate 
made  to  them  respectively  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  any  one 
justice  of  the  peace,  or  chief  magistrate,  as  aforesaid,  of  his 
particular  information  or  knowledge  of  such  unlawful  meet- 
ings or  conventicles  held  or  to  be  held  in  their  respective 
counties  or  places,  and  that  he  (with  such  assistance  as  he 
can  get  together,  is  not  able  to  suppress  or  dissolve  the  same) 
shall  and  may,  and  are  hereby  required  and  enjoined  to  repair 

I  I  2 


484  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1664. 

unto  the  place  where  they  are  so  held,  or  to  be  held,  and  by 
the  best  means  they  can  to  dissolve  and  dissipate,  or  prevent 
all  such  unlawful  meetings,  and  take  into  their  custody  such 
of  those  persons  so  unlawfully  assembled  as  they  shall  judge 
to  be  the  leaders  and  seducers  of  the  rest,  and  such  others  as 
they  shall  think  fit  to  be  proceeded  against  according  to  law 
for  such  their  offences. 

XI.  And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that 
every  person  who  shall  wittingly  and  willingly  suffer  any  such 
conventicle,  unlawful  assembly  or  meeting  aforesaid,  to  be 
held  in  his  or  her  house,  outhouse,  barn  or  room,  yard  or 
backside,  woods  or  grounds,  shall  incur  the  same  penalties  and 
forfeitures  as  any  other  offender  against  this  act  ought  to 
incur,  and  be  proceeded  against,  in  all  points,  in  such  manner 
as  any  other  offender  against  this  act  ought  to  be  proceeded 
against. 

XII.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  if  any  keeper  of  any  gaol  or  house  of  correc- 
tion, shall  suffer  any  person  committed  to  his  custody  for  any 
offence  against  this  act,  to  go  at  large,  contrary  to  the  war- 
rant of  his  commitment  according  to  this  act,  or  shall  permit 
any  person,  who  is  at  large,  to  join  with  any  person  com- 
mitted to  his  custody  by  virtue  of  this  act,  in  the  exercise  of 
religion,  differing  from  the  rites  of  the  church  of  England ; 
then  every  such  keeper  of  a  gaol  or  house  of  correction  shall 
for  every  such  offence  forfeit  the  sum  of  ten  pounds,  to  be 
levied,  raised,  and  disposed  by  such  persons,  and  in  such 
manner  as  the  penalties  for  the  first  and  second  offences 
against  this  act  are  to  be  levied,  raised,  and  disposed. 

XIII.  Provided  always,  that  no  person  shall  be  punished 
for  any  offence  against  this  act,  unless  such  offender  be  pro- 
secuted for  the  same  within  three  months  after  the  offence 
committed :  and  that  no  person  who  shall  be  punished 
for  any  offence  by  virtue  of  this  act,  shall  be  punished  for 
the  same  offence  by  virtue  of  any  other  act  or  law  what- 
soever. 

XIV.  Provided   also,  and  be  it  enacted,  that  jadgnicnt  of 


1664.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  485 

transportation  shall  not  be  given  against  any  feme  covert, 
Tinless  her  husband  be  at  the  same  time  under  the  like 
judgment,  and  not  discharged  by  the  payment  of  money,  as 
afoi^esaid ;  but  that  instead  thereof  she  shall  by  the  respective 
court  be  committed  to  the  gaol  or  house  of  correction,  there 
to  remain  without  bail  or  mainprize,  for  any  time  not  exceed- 
ing twelve  months,  unless  her  husband  shall  pay  down  such 
sum,  not  exceeding  forty  pounds,  to  redeem  her  from  impri- 
sonment, as  shall  be  imposed  by  the  said  court,  the  said  sum 
to  be  disposed  by  such  persons,  and  in  such  manner  as  the 
penalties  for  the  first  and  second  offence  against  this  act  are 
to  be  disposed. 

XV.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  the  justices  of  the  peace,  and  chief  magistrate 
respectively  empowered,  as  aforesaid,  to  put  this  act  in  execu- 
tion, shall  and  may,  with  what  aid,  force,  and  assistance  they 
shall  think  fit,  for  the  better  execution  of  this  act,  after 
refusal  or  denial,  enter  into  any  house,  or  other  place  where 
they  shall  be  informed  any  such  conventicle,  as  aforesaid,  is 
or  shall  be  held. 

XVI.  Provided,  that  no  dwelling  house  of  any  peer  of 
this  realm,  whilst  he  or  his  wife  shall  be  there  resident,  shall 
be  searched  by  virtue  of  this  act,  but  by  immediate  warrant 
from  his  majesty  under  his  sign  manual,  or  in  the  presence  of 
the  lieutenant,  or  one  of  the  deputy  lieutenants,  or  two 
justices  of  the  peace,  whereof  one  to  be  of  the  quorum  of 
the  same  county  or  riding  :  nor  shall  any  other  dwelling 
house  of  any  peer  or  other  person  whatsoever,  be  entered 
into  with  force  by  virtue  of  this  act,  but  in  the  presence  of 
one  justice  of  the  peace,  or  chief  magistrate  respectively, 
except  within  the  city  of  London,  where  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
any  such  other  dwelling  house  to  be  entered  into,  as  aforesaid, 
in  the  presence  of  one  justice  of  the  peace,  alderman,  deputy 
alderman,  or  any  one  commissioner  for  the  lieutenancy  for  the 
city  of  London. 

XVII.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  no  person  shall  by  virtue  of  this  act  be  com- 


486  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1664. 

mitted  to- the  house  of  correction^  that  shall  satisfy  the  said 
justices  of  the  peace^  or  chief  magistrate  respectively,  that  he 
or  she  (aud  in  case  of  a  feme  covert,  that  her  husband)  hath 
an  estate  of  freehold,  or  copyhold  to  the  value  of  five  pounds 
per  annum,  or  personal  estate  to  the  value  of  fifty  pounds ; 
anything  in  this  act  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

XVIII.  And  in  regard  to  a  certain  sect  called  quakers,  and 
other  sectaries,  are  found  not  only  to  ofibnd  in  the  matters 
provided  against  by  this  act,  but  also  obstruct  the  proceeding  of 
justice  by  their  obstinate  refusal  to  take  oaths  lawfully 
tendered  unto  them  in  the  ordinary  course  of  law :  there- 
fore be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  if 
any  person  or  persons  being  duly  and  legally  served  with  pro- 
cess or  other  summons  to  appear  in  any  court  of  record 
except  court  leets,  as  a  witness,  or  returned  to  serve  of  any 
jury,  or  ordered  to  be  examined  upon  interrogatories,  or  being 
present  in  court  shall  refuse  to  take  any  judicial  oath  legally 
tendered  to  him  by  the  judge  or  judges  of  the  same  court, 
having  no  legal  plea  to  justify  or  excuse  the  refusal  of  the 
same  oath :  or  if  any  person  or  persons  being  duly  served 
with  process,  to  answer  any  bill  exhibited  against  him  or 
them  in  any  court  of  equitj-,  or  any  suit  in  any  court  ecclesi- 
astical,  shall  refuse  to  answer  such  bill  or  suit  upon  his  or 
their  corporal  oath,  in  cases  where  the  law  requires  such 
answer  to  be  put  in  upon  oath ;  or  being  summoned  to  be  a 
witness  in  any  such  court,  or  ordered  to  be  examined  upon 
interrogatories,  shall  for  any  cause  or  reason,  not  allowed  by 
law,  refuse  to  take  such  oath,  as  in  such  cases  is  required  by 
law :  that  then,  and  in  such  case,  the  several  and  respec- 
tive courts  wherein  such  refusal  shall  be  made,  shall  be,  and 
are  hereby  enabled  to  record,  enter,  or  register  such  refusal, 
which  record  or  entry  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  made  a  con- 
viction of  such  ofi'ence;  and  all  and  every  person  and 
persons  so,  as  aforesaid,  ofiending,  shall  for  every  such  ofience 
incur  the  judgment  and  pimishment  of  transportation  in  such 
manner  as  is  appointed  by  this  act  for  other  oflFences. 

XIX.  Provided  always,  that  if  any  the  person  or  persons 


1664]  The  Conventicle  Act.  487 

aforesaid,  shall  come  into  such  court;  and  take  his  or  their 
oath  in  these  words  : 

I  do  swear,  that  I  do  not  hold  the  taking  of  an  oath  to  be 
unlawful  nor  refuse  to  take  an  oath  on  that  account. 

XX.  Which  oath  the  respective  court  or  courts  aforesaid, 
are  hereby  authorised  and  required  forthwith  to  tender, 
administer,  and  register,  before  the  entry  of  the  conviction 
aforesaid ;  or  shall  take  such  oath  before  some  justice  of 
the  peace,  who  is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  admin- 
ister the  same,  to  be  returned  into  such  court :  such  oath 
so  made  shall  acquit  him  or  them  from  such  punishment  j 
anything  herein  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

XXI.  Provided  always,  that  every  person  convicted  as 
aforesaid  in  any  courts  aforesaid,  (other  than  his  majesty's 
court  of  king^s  bench,  or  before  the  justices  of  assize,  or 
general  gaol  delivery)  shall  by  warrant  containing  a  certificate  of 
such  conviction  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  respective  judge 
or  judges  before  whom  such  conviction  shall  be  had,  be  sent  to 
some  one  of  his  majesty's  gaols  in  the  same  county  where 
such  conviction  was  had,  there  to  remain  without  bail  or 
mainprize  until  the  next  assizes,  or  general  gaol  delivery: 
where,  if  such  person  so  convicted  shall  refuse  to  take  the 
oath  aforesaid,  being  tendered  unto  him  by  the  justice  or 

ustices  of  assize  or  gaol  delivery;  then  such  justice  or 
ustices  shall  cause  judgment  of  transportation  to  be  executed 
in  such  manner  as  judgment  of  transportation  by  this  act  is 
to  be  executed :  but  in  case  such  person  shall  take  the  said 
oath,  then  he  shall  thereupon  be  discharged. 

XXII.  Pro^aded  always,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  if  any  peer  of  this  realm  shall  offend  against 
this  act,  he  shall  pay  ten  pounds  for  the  first  offence,  and 
twenty  pounds  for  the  second  offence,  to  be  levied  upon  his 
goods  and  chattels  by  warrant  from  any  two  justices  of  the 
peace,  or  chief  magistrate  of  the  place  or  division  where  such 
peer  shall  dwell :  and  that  every  peer  for  the  third,  and 
every  further  offence  against  the  tenor  of  this  act,  shall  be 
tried  by  his  peers,  and  not  otherwise. 


488  The  Five  MUe  Act.  [1665. 

XXIII.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  this  act  shall  continue  in  force  for 
three  years  after  the  end  of  this  present  session  of  parliament; 
and  from  thenceforward,  to  the  end  of  the  next  session  of 
parliament  after  the  said  three  years  and  no  longer. 


XXXII. 


The  Five  Mile  Act. 


An  Act  for  Restraining  Nonconformists  from  Inhabiting  in 
Corporations. 

Whereas  divers  parsons,  vicars,  curates,  lecturers,  and  other 
persons  in  holy  orders,  have  not  declared  their  unfeigned 
assent  and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  contained  and 
prescribed  in  "  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
church,  according  to  the  use  of  the  church  of  England,''  or 
have  not  subscribed  the  declaration  or  acknowledgment  con- 
tained in  a  certain  Act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  his  majesty's  reign,  and  entitled,  an  Act  for  the 
Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers  and  Administration  of  Sacra- 
ments, and  other  Rites  and  Ceremonies,  and  for  the  Establish- 
ing the  form  of  Making,  Ordaining,  and  Consecrating  of 
Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons  in  the  Church  of  England, 
according  to  the  said  Act,  or  any  other  subsequent  Act.  And 
whereas  they  or  some  of  them,  and  divers  other  person  and 
persons  not  ordained  according  to  the  form  of  the  church  of 
England,  and  as  have  since  the  Act  of  Oblivion  taken  upon 
them  to  preach  in  unlawful  assemblies,  conventicles,  or  meet- 
ings, under  colour  or  pretence  of  exercise  of  religion,  con- 
trary to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  kingdom,  have  settled 
themselves  in  divers  corporations  in  England,  sometimes 
three  or  more  of  them  in  a  place,  thereby  taking  an  opportu- 


1G65.]  The  Five  Mile  Act.  489 

nity  to  distil  the  poisonous  principles  of  schism  and  rebellion 
into  the  hearts  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  to  the  great  danger 
of  the  church  and  kingdom. 

II.  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  king's  most  excellent 
majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  commons  in  this  present  par- 
liament assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  the 
said  parsons,  vicars^  curates,  lecturers,  and  other  persons  in 
holy  orders,  or  pretended  holy  orders,  or  pretending  to  holy 
orders,  and  all  stipendiaries,  and  other  persons  who  have  been 
possessed  of  any  ecclesiastical  or  spiritual  promotion,  and 
every  of  them,  who  have  not  declared  their  unfeigned  assent 
and  consent,  as  aforesaid,  and  subscribed  the  declaration 
aforesaid,  and  shall  not  take  and  subscribe  the  oath  following : 

I,  A.  B.,  do  swear,  that  it  is  not  lawful  upon  any  pre- 
tence whatsoever,  to  take  arms  against  the  king ;  and  that  I 
do  abhor  that  traiterous  position  of  taking  arms  by  his 
authority  against  his  person,  or  against  those  that  are  com- 
missioned by  him,  in  pursuance  of  such  commissions;  and 
that  I  will  not  at  any  time  endeavour  any  alteration  of 
government,  either  in  church  or  state. 

III.  And  all  such  person  and  persons  as  shall  take  upon 
them  to  preach  in  any  unlawful  assembly,  conventicle,  or 
meeting,  under  colour  or  pretence  of  any  exercise  of  religion, 
contrary  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  kingdom  ;  shall 
not  at  any  time  from  and  after  the  four  and  twentieth  day  of 
March,  which  shall  be  in  this  present  year  of  our  Lord  God 
one  thousand  six  hundred  sixty-and-five,  unless  only  in  pass- 
ing upon  the  road,  come  or  be  within  five  miles  of  any  city 
or  town  corporate,  or  borough  that  send  burgesses  to  the  par- 
liament, within  his  majesty's  kingdom  of  England,  princi- 
pality of  Wales,  or  of  the  town  of  Berwick-upon-Tweed; 
or  within  five  miles  of  any  parish,  town  or  place,  wherein  he 
or  they  have  since  the  Act  of  Oblivion  been  parson,  vicar, 
curate,  stipendiary,  or  lecturer,  or  taken  upon  them  to  preach 
in  any  unlawful  assembly,  conventicle,  or  meeting,  under 
coloix^  or  pretence  of  any  exercise  of  religion,  contrary  to  the 


490  The  Five  Mile  Act,  [1665. 

laws  and  statutes  of  this  kingdom  j  before  he  or  they 
have  taken  and  subscribed  the  oath  aforesaid,  before  the 
justices  of  the  peace  at  their  quarter  sessions  to  be  holden  for 
the  county,  riding,  or  division,  next  unto  the  said  corporation, 
city,  or  borough,  parish,  place,  or  town  in  open  court,  (which 
said  oath  the  said  justices  are  hereby  empowered  there  to 
administer) ;  upon  forfeiture  for  every  such  offence  the 
sum  of  forty  pounds  of  lawful  English  money;  the  one  third 
part  thereof  to  his  majesty  and  his  successors;  the  other 
third  part  to  the  use  of  the  poor  of  the  parish  where  the 
offence  shall  be  committed ;  and  the  other  third  part  thereof 
to  such  person  or  persons  as  shall  or  will  sue  for  the  same  by 
action  of  debt,  plaint,  bill,  or  information  in  any  court  of 
record  at  Westminster,  or  before  any  justices  of  assize.  Oyer 
and  Terminer,  or  gaol  delivery,  or  before  any  justices  of  the 
counties  palatine  of  Chester,  Lancaster,  or  Durham,  or  the 
justices  of  the  great  sessions  in  Wales,  or  before  any  justices 
of  peace  in  their  quarter  sessions,  wherein  no  essoin,  protec- 
tion, or  wager  of  law  shall  be  allowed. 

IV.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  person 
or  persons  restrained  from  coming  to  any  city,  town  corporate, 
borough,  parish,  town,  or  place,  as  aforesaid,  or  for  any  other 
person  or  persons  as  shall  not  first  take  and  subscribe  the  said 
oath,  and  as  shall  not  frequent  divine  service  established  by 
the  laws  of  this  kingdom,  and  carry  him  or  herself  reverently, 
decently,  and  orderly  there,  to  teach  any  public  or  private 
school,  or  take  any  borders,  or  tablers  that  are  taught  or  in- 
structed by  him  or  herself,  or  any  other ;  upon  pain  for  every 
such  offence  to  forfeit  the  sum  of  forty  pounds,  to  be  recovered 
and  distributed,  as  aforesaid. 

V.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  autho- 
rity aforesaid,  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  two  justices  of  the 
peace  of  the  respective  county,  upon  oath  to  them  of  any  of- 
fence against  tliis  act,  which  oath  they  are  hereby  empowered 
to  administer,  to  commit  the  offender  for  six  months,  without 
bail  or  mainprize,  unless,  upon  or  before  such  commitment,  he 


!l 


1670.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  491 

shall^  before  the  said  justices  of  the  peace^  swear  and  subscribe 
the  aforesaid  oath  and  declaration. 

VI.  Provided  always,  that  if  any  person  intended  to  be 
restrained  by  virtue  of  this  act,  shall  without  fraud  or  covin 
be  served  with  any  writ_,  subpcena,  warrant,  or  other  process, 
whereby  his  personal  appearance  is  required,  his  obedience  to 
such  writ,  subpoena,  or  process,  shall  not  be  construed  an 
offence  against  this  act. 


XXXIII. 

The  Conventicle  Act,  1670. 
An  Act  to  Prevent  and  Suppress  Seditious  Conventicles. 

For  providing  further  and  more  speedy  remedies  against  the 
growing  and  dangerous  practices  of  seditious  sectaries,  and 
other  disloyal  persons,  who,  under  pretence  of  tender  con- 
sciences, have  or  may  at  their  meetings  contrive  insurrections 
(as  late  experience  hath  shewn) :  be  it  enacted  by  the 
king's  most  excellent  majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons  in  this 
present  parliament  assembled,  and  by  authority  of  the  same, 
that  if  any  person  of  the  age  of  sixteen  years  or  upwards, 
being  a  subject  of  this  realm,  at  any  time  after  the  tenth  day 
of  May  next,  shall  be  present  at  any  assembly,  conventicle, 
or  meeting,  under  colour  or  pretence  of  any  exercies  of  reli- 
gion in  other  manner  than  according  to  the  liturgy  and  prac- 
tice of  the  church  of  England,  in  any  place  within  the 
kingdom  of  England,  or  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of 
Berwick-upon-Tweed,  at  which  conventicle,  meeting,  or 
assembly,  there  shall  be  five  persons  or  more  assembled 
together,  over  and  besides  those  of  the  same  household,  if  it 
be  in  a  house  where  there  is  a  family  inhabiting ;  or  if  it  be 
in  a  house,  field,  or  place  where  there  is  no  family  inhabiting; 


492  The  Conventicle  Ad.-  [1670. 

then  wliere  any  five  persons  or  more^  are  so  assembled,  as 
aforesaid,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for  any  one  or 
more  justices  of  the  peace  of  the  county,  limit,  division,  cor- 
poration, or  liberty  wherein  the  offence  aforesaid  shall  be 
committed,  or  for  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place  where  the 
offence  aforesaid  shall  be  committed;  and  he  and  they  are 
hereby  required  and  enjoined,  upon  proof  to  him  or  them 
respectively  made  of  such  offence,  either  by  confession  of  the 
party  or  oath  of  two  witnesses :  (which  oath  the  said 
justice  and  justices  of  the  peace,  and  chief  magistrate  respec- 
tively, are  hereby  empowered  and  required  to  administer)  or 
by  notorious  evidence  and  circumstance  of  the  fact,  to  make 
a  record  of  every  such  offence  under  his  or  their  hands  and 
seals  respectively :  which  record  so  made,  as  aforesaid,  shall 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  be  in  law  taken  and  adjudged  to 
be  a  full  and  perfect  conviction  of  every  such  offender  for 
such  offence;  and  thereupon  the  said  justice,  justices,  and 
chief  magistrate  respectively,  shall  impose  on  every  such 
offender  so  convicted,  as  aforesaid,  a  fine  of  five  shillings  for 
such  first  offence ;  which  record  and  conviction  shall  be  cer- 
tified by  the  said  justice,  justices,  or  chief  magistrate,  at  the 
next  quarter  sessions  of  the  peace,  for  the  county  or  place 
where  the  offence  was  committed. 

II.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  if  such  offender  so  convicted,  as  aforesaid,  shall  at  any 
time  again  commit  the  like  offence  or  offences,  contrary  to 
this  act,  and  be  thereof  in  manner  aforesaid  convicted,  then 
such  offender  so  convicted  of  such  like  offence  or  offences, 
shall  for  every  such  offence  incur  the  penalty  of  ten  shillings : 
which  fine  and  fines,  for  the  first  and  every  other  offence 
shall  be  levied  by  distress  and  sale  of  the  offender's  goods  and 
chattels ;  or  in  case  of  the  poverty  of  such  offender,  upon  the 
goods  and  chattels  of  any  other  person  or  persons  who  shall 
be  then  convicted  in  manner  aforesaid  of  the  like  offence  at 
the  same  conventicle,  at  the  discretion  of  the  said  justice, 
justices,  or  chief  magistrate  respectively,  so  as  the  sum  to  be 
levied  on  any  one  person  in  case  of  the  poverty  of  other 


1670.]  The  Conventicle  Act.  493 

offenders^  amount  not  in  the  whole  to  above  the  sum  of  ten 
pounds,  upon  occasion  of  any  one  meeting,  as  aforesaid  : 
and  every  constable,  headborough,  tithingraan,  churchwar- 
dens, and  overseers  of  the  poor  respectively,  are  hereby 
authorized  and  required  to  levy  the  same  accordingly,  having 
first  received  a  warrant  under  the  hands  and  seals  of  the  said 
justice,  justices,  or  chief  magistrate  respectively  so  to  do : 
the  said  monies  so  to  be  levied,  to  be  forthwith  delivered  to 
the  same  justice,  justices,  or  chief  magistrate,  and  by  him  or 
them  to  be  distributed,  the  one  third  part  thereof  to  the  use 
of  the  king's  majesty,  his  heirs  and  successors,  to  be  paid  to 
the  high  sheriff  of  the  county  for  the  time  being,  in  manner 
following  :  that  is  to  say,  the  justice  or  justices  of  peace  shall 
pay  the  same  into  the  court  of  the  respective  quarter 
sessions,  which  said  court  shall  deliver  the  same  to  the  sheriff, 
and  make  a  memorial  on  record  of  the  payment  and  delivery 
thereof,  which  said  memorial  shall  be  a  sufficient  and  final 
discharge  to  the  said  justice  and  justices,  and  a  charge  to  the 
sheriff,  which  said  discharge  and  charge  shall  be  certified  into 
the  exchequer  together,  and  not  one  without  the  other  :  and 
no  justice  shall  or  may  be  questioned  or  accountable  for  the 
same  in  the  exchequer  or  elsewhere,  than  in  quarter  sessions: 
another  third  part  thereof  to  and  for  the  use  of  the  poor  of 
the  parish  where  such  offence  shall  be  committed ;  and  the 
other  third  part  thereof  to  the  informer  and  informers,  and 
to  such  person  and  persons  as  the  said  justice,  justices,  or 
chief  magistrate  respectively  shall  appoint,  having  regard  to 
their  diligence  and  industry  in  the  discovery,  dispersing,  and 
punishing  of  the  said  conventicles. 

III.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  person  who  shall  take  upon  him  to  preach  or  teach 
in  any  such  meeting,  assembly,  or  conventicle,  and  shall 
thereof  be  convicted,  as  aforesaid,  shall  forfeit  for  every  such 
first  offence  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds,  to  be  levied  in 
manner  aforesaid  upon  his  goods  and  chattels;  and  if  the 
said  preacher  or  teacher,  so  coiivicted,  be  a  stranger,  and  his 
name  and  habitation  not  known,  or  is  fled,  and  cannot  be 


494  The  Conventicle  Ad.  [1670. 

founds  or  in  the  judgment  of  tlie  justice^  justices_,  or  chief 
magistrate  before  whom  he  shall  be  convicted,  shall  be 
thought  miable  to  pay  the  same,  the  said  justice,  justices,  or 
chief  magistrate  respectively,  are  hereby  empowered  and 
required  to  levy  the  same  by  warrant,  as  aforesaid,  upon  the 
goods  and  chattels  of  any  such  persons  who  shall  be  present 
at  the  same  conventicle;  anything  in  this  or  any  other  act, 
law,  or  statute  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding ;  and  the 
money  so  levied,  to  be  disposed  of  in  manner  aforesaid  : 
and  if  such  offender  so  convicted,  as  aforesaid,  shall  at  any 
time  again  commit  the  like  offence  or  offences  contrary  to  this 
act,  and  be  thereof  convicted  in  manner  aforesaid,  then  such 
offender  so  convicted  of  such  like  offence  or  offences,  shall 
for  every  such  offence,  incur  the  penalty  of  forty  pounds,  to 
be  levied  and  disposed,  as  aforesaid. 

IV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  person  who  shall  wittingly  and  willingly  suffer  any 
such  conventicle,  meeting,  or  unlawful  assembly  aforesaid,  to 
be  held  in  his  or  her  house,  outhouse,  barn,  yard  or  backside, 
and  be  convicted  thereof  in  manner  aforesaid,  shall  forfeit 
the  sum  of  twenty  pounds,  to  be  levied  in  manner  aforesaid, 
upon  his  or  her  goods  and  chattels ;  or  in  case  of  his  or  her 
poverty  or  inability,  as  aforesaid,  upon  the  goods  and  chattels 
of  such  persons  who  shall  be  convicted  in  manner  aforesaid, 
of  being  present  at  the  same  conventicle ;  and  the  money  so 
levied,  to  be  disposed  of  in  manner  aforesaid. 

V.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  no  person  shall  by  any  clause  of  this  act  be 
liable  to  pay  above  ten  pounds  for  any  one  meeting,  in  regard 
of  the  poverty  of  any  other  person  or  persons. 

VI.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  that  in  all  cases 
of  this  act,  where  the  penalty  or  sum  charged  upon  any  offender 
exceeds  the  sum  of  ten  shillings,  and  such  offender  shall  find 
himself  aggrieved,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  him  within 
one  week  after  the  said  penalty  or  money  charged  shall  be 
paid  or  levied,  to  appeal  in  writing  from  the  person  or  persons 
convicting,  to  the  judgment  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  in 


1670.]  The  Conventicle  A:t.  495 

their  next  quarter  sessions:  to  wlioin  the  justice  or  jus- 
tices of  the  peace,  chief  magistrate,  or  alderman,  that  first 
convicted  such  offender,  shall  return  the  money  levied  upon 
the  appellant,  and  shall  certify  under  his  and  their  hands  and 
seals,  the  evidence  upon  which  the  conviction  past,  with  the 
whole  record  thereof,  and  the  said  appeal;  whereupon 
such  offender  may  plead  and  make  defence,  and  have  his  trial 
by  a  jury  thereupon :  and  in  case  such  appellant  shall  not 
prosecute  with  effect,  or  if  upon  such  trial  he  shall  not  be 
acquitted,  or  judgment  pass  not  for  him  upon  his  said  appeal, 
the  said  justices  at  the  sessions  shall  give  treble  costs  against 
such  offender  for  his  unjust  appeal :  and  no  other  court 
whatsoever  shall  intermeddle  with  any  cause  or  causes  of 
appeal  upon  this  act,  but  they  shall  be  finally  determined  in 
the  quarter  sessions  only. 

VII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted,  that  upon 
the  delivery  of  such  appeal,  as  aforesaid,  the  person  or  per- 
sons appellant  shall  enter  before  the  person  or  persons  con- 
victing, into  a  recognizance,  to  prosecute  the  said  appeal  with 
effect :  which  said  recognizance  the  person  or  persons  con- 
victing is  hereby  empowered  to  take,  and  required  to  certify 
the  same  to  the  next  quarter  sessions :  and  in  case  no 
such  recognizance  be  entered  into,  the  said  appeal  to  be  null 
and  void. 

VIII.  Provided  always,  that  every  such  appeal  shall  be  left 
with  the  person  or  persons  so  convicting,  as  aforesaid,  at  the 
time  of  the  making  thereof. 

IX.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  the  justice,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  chief  magistrate 
respectively,  or  the  respective  constables,  headboroughs,  and 
tithingmen,  by  warrant  from  the  said  justice,  justices,  or  chief 
magistrate  respectively,  shall  and  may,  with  what  aid,  force, 
and  assistance  they  shall  think  fit,  for  the  better  execution  of 
this  act,  after  refusal  or  denial  to  enter,  break  open,  and  enter 
into  any  house  or  other  place,  where  they  shall  be  informed 
any  such  conventicle,  as  aforesaid,  is  or  shall  be  held,  as  well 
within    liberties   as   without :    and   take   into  their   custody 


496  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1670. 

the  persons  there  unlawfully  assembled,  to  the  intent  they 
may  be  proceeded  against  according  to  this  act :  and  that 
the  lieutenants  or  deputy  lieutenants,  or  any  commissionated 
officer  of  the  militia,  or  other  of  his  majesty's  forces,  with 
such  troops  or  companies  of  horse  and  loot;  and  also  the 
sheriffs,  and  other  magistrates  and  ministers  of  justice,  or  any 
of  them  jointly  or  severally,  within  any  the  counties  or  places 
within  this  kingdom  of  England,  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town 
of  Berwick-upon-Tweed,  with  such  other  assistance  as  they 
shall  think  meet,  or  can  get  in  readiness  with  the  soonest,  on 
certificate  made  to  them  respectively  under  the  hand  and 
seal  of  any  one  justice  of  the  peace  or  chief  magistrate,  of 
his  particular  information  or  knowledge  of  such  unlawful 
meeting  or  conventicle  held,  or  to  be  held  in  their  respective 
counties  or  places,  and  that  he  with  such  assistance  as  he  can 
get  together,  is  not  able  to  suppress  and  dissolve  the  same, 
shall  and  may,  and  are  hereby  required  and  enjoined  to  repair 
unto  the  place  where  they  are  so  held,  or  to  be  held,  and  by 
the  best  means  they  can  to  dissolve,  dissipate,  or  prevent  all 
such  unlawful  meetings,  and  take  into  their  custody  such  and 
so  many  of  the  said  persons  so  unlawfully  assembled  as  they 
shall  think  fit,  to  the  intent  they  may  be  proceeded  against 
according  to  this  act. 

X.  Provided  always,  that  no  dwelling  house  of  any  peer  of 
this  realm,  where  he  or  his  wife  shall  then  be  resident,  shall 
be  searched  by  virtue  of  this  act,  but  by  immediate  warrant 
from  his  majesty,  under  his  sign  manual,  or  in  the  presence 
of  the  lieutenant,  or  one  deputy  lieutenant,  or  two  justices  of 
the  peace,  whereof  one  to  be  of  the  quorum  of  the  same 
county  or  riding. 

XI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  if  any  constable,  headborough,  tithingman,  church- 
warden or  overseer  of  the  poor,  who  shall  know,  or  be 
credibly  informed  of  any  such  meetings  or  conventicles  held 
within  his  precincts,  parishes,  or  limits,  and  shall  not  give  in- 
formation thereof  to  some  justice  of  the  peace,  or  the  chief 
magistrate,    and    endeavour   the   conviction   of  the    parties 


1670.]  The  Conventicle  Act,  497 

according  to  his  duty;  but  sucli  constable^  headborougb, 
tithiugmari,  churchwarden,  overseers  of  the  poor,  or  any  per- 
son lawfully  called  in  aid  of  the  constable,  headborougb,  or 
tithingman,  shall  wilfully  and  wittingly  omit  the  performance 
of  his  duty,  in  the  execution  of  this  act,  and  be  thereof 
convicted  in  manner  aforesaid,  he  shall  forfeit  for  every  such 
offence,  the  sum  of  five  pounds,  to  be  levied  upon  his  goods 
and  chattels,  and  disposed  in  manner  aforesaid :  and  that 
if  any  justice  of  the  peace,  or  chief  magistrate,  shall  wilfully 
and  wittingly  omit  the  performance  of  his  duty  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  act,  he  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
pounds ;  the  one  moiety  to  the  use  of  the  informer,  to  be 
recovered  by  action,  suit,  bill,  or  plaint,  in  any  of  his  majesty^s 
courts  at  Westminster,  wherein  no  essoin,  protection,  or  wager 
of  law  shall  lie. 

XII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid 
that  if  any  person  be  at  any  time  sued  for  putting  in  execu- 
tion any  of  the  powers  contained  in  this  act,  otherwise  than 
upon  appeal  allowed  by  this  act,  such  person  shall  and  may 
plead  the  general  issue,  and  give  the  special  matter  in  evi- 
dence :  and  if  the  plaintiff  be  nonsuit,  or  a  verdict  pass 
for  the  defendant,  or  if  the  plaintiff  discontinue  his  action,  or 
if  upon  demurrer,  judgment  be  given  for  the  defendant, 
every  such  defendant  shall  have  his  full  treble  costs, 

XIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  this  act,  and  all  clauses  therein  contained,  shall  be  con- 
strued most  largely  and  beneficially  for  the  suppressing  of 
conventicles,  and  for  the  justification  and  encouragement  of 
all  persons  to  be  employed  in  the  execution  thereof:  and 
that  no  record,  warrant,  or  mittimus  to  be  made  by  virtue  of 
this  act,  or  any  proceedings  thereupon,  shall  be  reversed, 
avoided,  or  any  way  impeached  by  reason  of  any  default  in 
form  :  and  in  case  any  person  offending  against  this  act, 
shall  be  an  inhabitant  in  any  other  county  or  corporation,  or 
fly  into  any  other  county  or  corporation  after  the  offence 
committed,  the  justice  of  peace  or  chief  magistrate  before 
whom   he  shall  be  convicted,  as  aforesaid,  shall  certify  the 

K    K 


498  The  Conventicle  Act.  [1670. 

same  under  his  "hand  and  seal,  to  any  justice  of  peace,  or 
chief  magistrate  of  such  other  county  or  corporation  wherein 
the  said  person  or  persons  are  inhabitants,  or  are  fled  into  : 
which  said  justice  or  chief  magistrate  respectively,  is 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  levy  the  penalty  or  penal- 
ties in  this  act  mentioned,  upon  the  goods  and  chattels  of 
such  person  or  persons,  as  fully  as  the  said  other  justice  of 
peace  might  have  done,  in  case  he  or  they  had  been  inhabi- 
tants in  the  place  where  the  offence  was  committed. 

XIV.  Provided  also,  that  no  person  shall  be  punished  for 
any  offence  against  this  act,  unless  such  offender  be  prosecuted 
for  the  same  within  three  months  after  the  offence  committed: 
and  that  no  person  who  shall  be  punished  for  any  offence 
by  virtue  of  this  act,  shall  be  punished  for  the  same  offence 
by  virtue  of  any  other  act  or  law  whatsoever. 

XV.  Provided,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  every  alderman  of  London  for  the  time  being, 
within  the  city  of  London,  and  the  liberties  thereof,  shall 
have  (and  they  and  every  of  them  are  hereby  empowered  and 
required  to  execute)  the  same  power  and  authority  within 
London,  and  the  liberties  thereof,  for  the  examining,  convict- 
ing and  punishing  of  all  offences  within  this  act  committed 
within  London,  and  the  liberties  thereof,  which  any  justice  of 
peace  hath  by  this  act  in  any  county  of  England,  and  shall 
be  subject  to  the  same  penalties  and  punishments,  for  not 
doing  that  which  by  this  act  is  directed  to  be  done  by  any 
justice  of  peace  in  any  county  of  England. 

XVI.  Provided,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, that  if  the  person  offending,  and  convicted,  as  aforesaid 
be  a  feme  covert,  cohabiting  with  her  husband,  the  penalties 
of  five  shillings,  and  ten  shillings,  so  as  aforesaid  incurred, 
shall  be  levied  by  warrant,  as  aforesaid,  upon  the  goods  and 
chattels  of  the  husband  of  svich  feme  covert. 

XVII.  Provided  also,  that  no  peer  of  this  realm  shall  be 
attached  or  imprisoned  by  virtue  or  force  of  this  act ;  any- 
thing, matter,  or  clause,  therein  to  the  contrarynotwitlistanding. 

XVIII.  Provided  also,  that  neither  this  act,  nor  anything 


1672.]  The  Test  Act.  499 

tlierein  contained,  shall  extend  to  invalidate  or  void  his 
majesty's  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  :  but  that  his 
majesty,  and  his  heirs  and  successors  may  from  time  to 
time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  exercise  and  enjoy  all  powers 
and  authority  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  as  fully  and  as  amply  as 
himself  or  any  of  his  predecessors  have  or  might  have  done 
the  same ;  anything  in  this  act  notwithstanding. 


XXXIV. 

The    Test  Act. 


An   Act   for   Preventing  Dangers  which  may  happen   from 
Popish  Eecusants. 

For  preventing  dangers  which  may  happen  from  popish 
recusants,  and  quieting  the  minds  of  his  majesty's  good 
subjects :  Be  it  enacted  by  the  king's  most  excellent 
majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  commons  in  this  present 
parliament  assembled,  and  by  authority  of  the  same,  that  all 
and  every  person  or  persons,  as  well  peers  as  commoners,  that 
shall  bear  any  office  or  offices,  civil  or  military,  or  shall 
receive  any  pay,  salary,  fee,  or  wages,  by  reason  of  any 
patent  or  grant  from  his  majesty,  or  shall  have  command  or 
place  of  trust  from  or  under  his  majesty,  or  from  any  of  his 
majesty's  predecessors,  or  by  his  or  their  authority,  or  by- 
authority  derived  from  him  or  them,  within  the  realm  of 
England,  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  or  in  his  majesty's  navy,  or  in  the  several  islands  of 
Jersey  and  Guernsey,  or  shall  be  of  the  household,  or  in  the 
service  or  employment  of  his  majesty,  or  of  his  royal  highness 
the  Duke  of  York,  who  shall  inhabit,  reside,  or  be  within  the 

K  K  2 


500  27/e  Test  Ad.  [1672. 

city  of  London  or  Westminster^  or  within  thirty  miles 
distant  from  the  same^  on  the  first  day  of  Easter  term  that 
shall  be  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy-three^  or  at  any  time  during  the  said  term,  all  and  every 
the  said  person  and  persons  shall  personally  appear  before  the 
end  of  the  said  term,  or  of  Trinity  term  next  following,  in  his 
majesty's  High  Court  of  Chancery,  or  in  his  majesty's  Court 
of  King's  Bench,  and  there  in  public  and  open  court,  between 
the  hours  of  nine  of  the  clock  and  twelve  in  the  forenoon, 
take  the  several  oaths  of  supremacy,  and  allegiance,  which 
Oath  of  Allegiance  is  contained  in  the  statute  made  in  the 
third  year  of  king  James,  by  law  established ;  and  during 
the  time  of  the  taking  thereof  by  the  said  person  and  persons, 
all  pleas  and  proceedings  in  the  said  respective  courts  shall 
cease;  and  that  all  and  every  of  the  said  respective 
persons  and  officers,  not  ha\'ing  taken  the  said  oaths  in  the 
said  respective  courts  aforesaid,  shall,  on  or  before  the  first 
day  of  August,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy -three,  at 
the  quarter  sessions  for  that  county  or  place  Avhere  he  or 
they  shall  be,  inhabit,  or  reside,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  May, 
take  the  said  oaths  in  open  court,  between  the  said  hours  of 
nine  and  twelve  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon;  and  the 
said  respective  officers  aforesaid,  shall  also  receive  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  supper,  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
church  of  England,  at  or  before  the  first  day  of  August,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
three,  in  some  parish  church,  upon  some  Lord's  day,  com- 
monly called  Sunday,  immediately  after  divine  service  and 
sermon, 

II.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  all  and  every  person  or  persons  that  shall  be  admitted, 
entered,  placed,  or  taken  into  any  office  or  offices,  civil  or 
military,  or  shall  receive  any  pay,  salary,  fee,  or  wages,  by 
reason  of  any  patent  or  grant  of  his  majesty,  or  shall  have 
command  or  place  of  trust,  from  or  under  his  majesty,  his 
heirs  or  successors,  or  by  his  or  their  authority,  or  by 
authority  derived  from  him  or  them,  within  this  realm  of 


1672.]  The  Test  Act.  501 

England,  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed,  or  in  his  majesty's  navy,  or  in  the  several  islands  of 
Jersey  and  Guernsey,  or  that  shall  be  admitted  into  any  ser- 
vice or  employment  in  his  majesty's  or  royal  highness's 
household  or  family,  after  the  first  day  of  Easter  term  afore- 
said, and  shall  inhabit,  be,  or  reside,  when  he  or  they  is  or 
are  so  admitted  or  placed,  within  the  cities  of  London  or 
Westminster,  or  'within  thirty  miles  of  the  same,  shall  take 
the  said  oaths  aforesaid,  in  the  said  respective  court  or  courts 
aforesaid,  in  the  next  term  after  such  his  or  their  admittance 
or  admittances  into  the  office  or  offices,  employment  or 
employments  aforesaid,  between  the  hours  aforesaid,  and 
no  other,  and  the  proceedings  to  cease,  as  aforesaid;  and 
that  all  and  every  such  person  or  persons  to  be  admitted  after 
the  said  first  day  of  Easter  term,  as  aforesaid,  not  having 
taken  the  said  oaths  in  the  said  courts  aforesaid,  shall,  at  the 
quarter  sessions  for  that  county  or  place  where  he  or  they 
shall  reside,  next  after  such  his  admittance  or  admittances 
into  any  of  the  said  respective  offices  or  employments  afore- 
said, take  the  said  several  and  respective  oaths,  as  aforesaid : 
And  all  and  every  such  person  and  persons  so  to  be 
admitted,  as  aforesaid,  shall  also  receive  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of 
England,  within  three  months  after  his  or  their  admit- 
tance in  or  receiving  their  said  authority  and  employment, 
in  some  public  church,  upon  some  Lord's  day,  com- 
monly called  Sunday,  immediately  after  divine  service  and 
sermon. 

III.  And  every  of  the  said  persons  in  the  respective  court 
where  he  takes  the  said  oaths,  shall  first  deliver  a  certificate 
of  such  his  receiving  the  said  sacrament,  as  aforesaid,  under 
the  hands  of  the  respective  minister  and  churchwarden, 
and  shall  then  make  proof  of  the  truth  thereof,  by  two 
credible  witnesses,  at  the  least,  upon  oath ;  all  which 
shall  be  enquired  of,  and  put  upon  record  in  the  respective 
courts. 

IV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 


502  Tlie  Test  Act.  [167 

that  all  and  every  the  person  or  persons  aforesaid^  that  do  or 
shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  take  the  said  oaths  and  sacrament 
in  the  said  courts  and  places,  and  at  the  respective  times 
aforesaid,  shall  be  ipso  facto  adjudged  uncapable  and  dis- 
abled in  law,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever,  to  have, 
occupy,  or  enjoy  the  said  office  or  offices,  employment  or 
employments,  or  any  part  of  them,  or  any  matter  or  thing 
aforesaid,  or  any  profit  or  advantage  appertaining  to  them,  or 
any  of  them;  and  every  such  office  and  place,  employment 
and  employments,  shall  be  void,  and  is  hereby  adjudged 
void. 

V.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  all  and  every  such 
person  or  persons  that  shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  take  the  said 
oaths,  or  the  sacrament,  as  aforesaid,  within  the  times  and  in 
the  places  aforesaid,  and  in  the  manner  aforesaid,  and  yet 
after  such  neglect  or  refusal,  shall  execute  any  of  the  said 
offices  or  employments,  after  the  said  times  expired,  wherein 
he  or  they  ought  to  have  taken  the  same,  and  being  thereupon 
lawfully  convicted,  in  or  upon  any  information,  presentment, 
or  indictment,  in  any  of  the  king^s  courts  at  Westminster,  or 
at  the  assizes,  every  such  person  or  persons  shall  be  disabled 
from  thenceforth,  to  sue,  or  use  any  action,  bill,  plaint,  or 
information  in  course  of  law,  or  to  prosecute  any  suit  in  any 
Court  of  Equity,  or  to  be  guardian  of  any  child,  or  executor 
oi"  administrator  of  any  person,  or  capable  of  any  legacy,  or 
deed  of  gift,  or  to  bear  any  office  within  this  realm  of 
England,  dominion  of  Wales,  or  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed;  and  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds, 
to  be  recovered  by  him  or  them  that  shall  sue  for  the  same, 
to  be  prosecuted  by  any  action  of  debt,  suit,  bill,  plaint,  or 
information  in  any  of  his  majesty's  courts  at  Westminster, 
wherein  no  essoin,  protection,  or  wager  of  law  shall  lie. 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  the  names  of  all  and  singular  such  persons  and  officers 
aforesaid,  that  do  or  shall  take  the  oaths  aforesaid,  shall  be  in 
the  respective  Courts  of  Chancery  and  King's  Bench,  and  the 
quarter  sessions,  impelled,  with    the  day  and  time  of   their 


1672.]  TJie  Test  Act.  503 

taking  the  same^  in  rolls  made  and  kept  only  for  that  intent 
and  purpose^  and  for  no  other;  the  which  rolls,  as  for  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  shall  be  publicly  hung  up  in  the  office  of 
the  Petty-bag,  and  the  roll  for  the  King's  Bench  in  the 
Crown-Office  of  the  said  court,  and  in  some  public  place  in 
every  quarter  sessions,  and  there  remain  during  the  whole 
term,  every  term,  and  during  the  whole  time  of  the  said 
sessions,  in  every  quarter  sessions,  for  everyone  to  resort  to, 
and  look  upon,  without  fee  or  reward;  and  likewise  none 
of  the  person  or  persons  aforesaid  shall  give  or  pay,  as  any 
fee  or  reward,  to  any  officer  or  officers  belonging  to  any  of  the 
courts,  as  aforesaid,  above  the  sum  of  twelve  pence  for  his  or 
their  entry  of  his  or  their  taking  of  the  said  oaths  aforesaid. 

VII.  And  further,  that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and 
for  the  respective  courts  aforesaid,  to  give  and  administer  the 
said  oaths  aforesaid,  to  the  person  or  persons  aforesaid,  in 
manner  as  aforesaid ;  and  upon  the  due  tender  of  any 
such  person  or  persons,  to  take  the  said  oaths,  the  said 
courts  are  hereby  required  and  enjoined  to  administer  the 
same. 

VIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  if  any  person  or 
persons  not  bred  up  by  his  or  their  parent  or  parents  from 
their  infancy  in  the  popish  religion,  and  professing  themselves 
to  be  popish  recusants,  shall  breed  up,  instruct,  or  educate  his 
or  their  child  or  children,  or  suffer  them  to  be  instructed  or 
educated  in  the  popish  religion,  every  such  person  being 
thereof  convicted,  shall  be  from  thenceforth  disabled  of 
bearing  any  office,  or  place  of  trust  or  profit,  in  church  or 
state ;  and  all  such  children  as  shall  be  so  brought  up, 
instructed,  or  educated,  are  and  shall  be  hereby  disabled  of 
bearing  any  such  office  or  place  of  trust  or  profit,  until  he  and 
they  be  perfectly  reconciled  and  converted  to  the  church  of 
England,  and  shall  take  the  Oaths  of  Supremacy  and  Allegi- 
ance aforesaid,  before  the  justices  of  the  peace,  in  the  open 
quarter  sessions  of  the  county  or  place  where  they  shall 
inhabit,  and  thereupon  receive  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper,  after   the   usage    of  the    church   of  England,    and 


504  The  Test  Act,  [1673, 

obtain  a  certificate  thereof,  under  the  hands  of  two  or  more 
of  the  said  j  astices  of  the  peace, 

IX.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  at  the  same  time  when  the  persons  concerned  in  this  act 
shall  take  the  aforesaid  Oaths  of  Supremacy  and  Allegiance, 
they  shall  likewise  make  and  subscribe  this  declaration  follow- 
ing, under  the  same  penalties  and  forfeitures  as  by  this  act  is 
appointed  : 

I,  A.  B.,  do  declare,  that  I  do  believe  that  there  is  not 
any  transubstantiation  in  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
or  in  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine,  at  or  after  the  con- 
secration thereof  by  any  person  whatsoever, 

X.  Of  which  subscription  there  shall  be  the  like  register 
kept  as  of  the  taking  the  oaths  aforesaid. 

XI.  Provided  always,  that  neither  this  act,  nor  anything 
therein  contained,  shall  extend,  be  judged  or  interpreted  any- 
ways to  hurt  or  prejudice  the  peerage  of  any  peer  of  this 
realm,  or  to  take  away  any  right,  power,  privilege,  or  profit^ 
which  any  person  (being  a  peer  of  this  realm)  hath  or  ought 
to  enjoy  by  reason  of  his  peerage,  either  in  time  of  parliament 
or  otherwise ;  or  to  take  away  creation-money  or  bills  of 
impost,  nor  to  take  away  or  make  void  any  pension  or  salary 
granted  by  his  majesty  to  any  person  for  valuable  and  suffici- 
ent consideration,  for  life,  lives,  or  years,  other  than  such  as 
relate  to  any  office,  or  to  any  place  of  trust  under  his 
majesty,  and  other  than  pensions  of  bounty  or  voluntary 
pensions;  nor  to  take  away  or  make  void  any  estate  of 
inheritance  granted  by  his  majesty,  or  any  his  predecessors, 
to  any  person  or  persons,  of,  or  in  any  lands,  rents,  tithes,  or 
hereditaments,  not  being  ofiices;  nor  to  take  away  or 
make  void  any  pension  or  salary  already  granted  by  his 
majesty  to  any  person  who  was  instrumental  in  the  happy 
preservation  of  his  sacred  majesty  after  the  battle  at  Worces- 
ter, in  the  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-one,  until 
his  majesty's  arrival  beyond  the  seas;  nor  to  take  away  or 
make  void  the  grant  of  any  office  or  offices  of  inheritance,  or 
any  fee,  salary,  or  reward,  for  executing  such  office  or  offices. 


1672.]  The  Test  Ad.  505 

or  thereto  any  way  belonging,  granted  by  his  majesty,  or  any 
his  predecessors,  to,  or  enjoyed,  or  which  hereafter  shall  be 
enjoyed  by  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  refuse  or  neglect 
to  take  the  said  oaths,  or  either  of  them,  or  to  receive  the 
sacrament,  or  to  subscribe  the  declaration  mentioned  in  this 
act,  in  manner  therein  expressed :  nevertheless,  so  as 
such  person  or  persons  having  or  enjoying  any  such  office  or 
offices  of  inheritance,  do  or  shall  substitute  and  appoint  his 
or  their  sufficient  deputy  or  deputies  (which  such  officer  or 
officers  respectively  are  hereby  impowered,  from  time  to  time, 
to  make  or  change,  any  former  law  or  usage  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding)  to  exercise  the  said  office  or  offices,  until 
such  time  as  the  person  or  persons  having  such  office  or 
offices  shall  voluntarily,  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  before  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  or  Lord  Keeper  for  the  time  being,  or  in 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  take  the  said  oaths,  and  receive 
the  sacrament  according  to  law,  and  subscribe  the  said 
declaration,  and  so  as  all  and  every  the  deputy  or  deputies  so 
as  aforesaid  to  be  appointed,  take  the  said  oaths,  receive  the 
sacrament,  and  subscribe  the  said  declaration  from  time  to 
time,  as  they  shall  happen  to  be  so  appointed,  in  manner  as 
by  this  act  such  officers  whose  deputies  they  be,  are  ap- 
pointed to  do,  and  so  as  such  deputies  be,  from  time  to  time, 
approved  of  by  the  king's  majesty,  under  his  privy  signet : 
but  that  all  and  every  the  peers  of  this  realm  shall  have, 
hold,  and  enjoy  what  is  provided  for,  as  aforesaid,  and  all  and 
every  other  person  or  persons  before-mentioned,  denoted  or 
intended  within  this  proviso,  shall  have,  hold,  or  enjoy  what 
is  provided  for,  as  aforesaid,  notwithstanding  any  incapacity 
or  disability  mentioned  in  this  act. 

XII.  Provided  also,  that  the  said  peers  and  every  of  them 
may  take  the  said  oaths,  and  make  the  said  subscription,  and 
deliver  the  said  certificates  before  the  peers  sitting  in  parlia- 
ment, if  the  parliament  be  sitting  within  the  time  limited  for 
doing  thereof,  and  in  the  intervals  of  parliament,  in  the  High 
Court  of  Chancery,  in  which  respective  courts  all  the  said 
proceedings  are  to  be  recorded  in  manner  aforesaid. 


506  The  Test  Act,  [1672. 

XIII.  Pro\'ided  always^  that  no  married  woman,  or  person 
under  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  or  being  beyond  or  upon  the 
seas,  or  found,  by  the  lawful  oaths  of  twelve  men,  to  be  non 
compos  mentis,  and  so  being  and  remaining  at  the  end  of 
Trinity  term  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  seventy-three,  having  any  office,  shall  by  virtue  of 
this  act,  lose  or  forfeit  any  such  his  or  her  office  (other  than 
such  married  woman  dm-ing  the  life  of  her  husband  only)  for 
any  neglect  or  refusal  of  taking  the  oaths,  and  doing  the 
other  things  required  by  this  act  to  be  done  by  persons  having 
offices,  so  as  such  respective  persons,  within  four  months  after 
the  death  of  her  husband,  coming  to  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  returning  into  this  kingdom,  and  becoming  of  sound 
mind,  shall  respectively  take  the  said  oaths,  and  perform  all 
other  things  in  manner  as  by  this  act  is  appointed  for 
persons  to  do,  who  shall  happen  to  have  any  office  or 
offices  to  them  given  or  fallen  after  the  end  of  the  said 
Trinity  term, 

XIV.  Provided  also,  that  any  person,  who  by  his  or  her 
neglect  or  refusal,  according  to  this  act,  shall  lose  or  forfeit 
any  office,  may  be  capable,  by  a  new  grant,  of  the  said  office, 
or  of  any  other,  and  to  have  and  hold  the  same  again,  such 
person  taking  the  said  oaths,  and  doing  all  other  things 
required  by  this  act,  so  as  such  office  be  not  granted  to,  and 
actually  enjoyed  by  some  other  person  at  the  time  of  the 
re-granting  thereof. 

XV.  Provided  also,  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained 
shall  extend  to  make  any  forfeiture,  disability,  or  incapacity 
in,  by,  or  upon  any  non-commissioned  officer  or  officers  in 
his  majesty's  navy,  if  such  officer  or  officers  shall  only  sub- 
scribe the  declaration  therein  required,  in  manner  as  the  same 
is  directed. 

XVI.  Provided  also,  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained, 
shall  extend  to  prejudice  George  Earl  of  Bristol,  or  Anne 
Countess  of  Bristol,  his  wife,  in  the  pension  or  pensions 
granted  to  them  by  patent  under  the  great  seal  of  England, 
bearing  date  the  fifteenth  day  of   July,  in  the  year  of  our 


1688.]  The  Toleration  Act.  507 

Lord  one  tliousand  six  hundred  sixty-and-nine,  being  in  lieu 
of  a  just  debt  due  to  the  said  earl  from  his  majesty,  particu- 
larly expressed  in  the  said  patent. 

XVII.  Provided  also^  that  this  act,  or  anything  therein 
contained,  shall  not  extend  to  the  office  of  any  high  constable, 
petty  constable,  tithingman,  headborough,  overseer  of  the 
poor,  churchwardens,  surveyor  of  the  highways,  or  any  like 
inferior  civil  office,  or  to  any  office  of  forester,  or  keeper  of 
any  park,  chase,  warren,  or  game,  or  of  bailiff  of  any  manor 
of  lands,  or  to  any  like  private  offices,  or  to  any  person 
or  persons  having  only  any  the  before-mentioned,  or  any  the 
like  offices. 


XXXV. 

The   Toleration  Act. 

An  Act  for  Exempting  their  Majesties  Protestant  Subjects, 
Dissenting  from  the  Church  of  England,  from  the  Penalties 
of  certain  laws. 

Forasmuch  as  some  ease  to  scrupulous  consciences  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  religion  may  be  an  effectual  means  to  unite  their 
majesties'  protestant  subjects  in  interest  and  affection, 

II.  Be  it  enacted,  by  the  king's  and  queen's  most  excellent 
majesties,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  commons,  in  this  present  par- 
liament assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that 
neither  the  statute  made  in  the  three-and-twentieth  year  of 
the  reign  of  the  late  queen  Elizabeth,  entitled,  an  Act  to 
retain  tha  queen's  majesty's  subjects  in  their  due  obedience; 
nor  the  statute  made  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  the  said 


508  The  Toleration  Ad,  [1688. 

queerij  entitled^  an  Act  for  the  more  speedy  and  due  execu- 
tion of  certain  branches  of  the  statute  made  in  the  three-and- 
twentieth  year  of  the  queen^s  majesty's  reign,  viz.,  the  afore- 
said act ;  nor  that  branch  or  clause  of  a  statute  made  in  the 
first  year  of  the  reign  of  the  said  queen,  entitled,  an  Act  for 
the  Uniformity  of  Common  Prayer  and  Service  in  the  Church, 
and  Administration  of  the  Sacraments ;  whereby  all  persons, 
having  no  lawful  or  reasonable  excuse  to  be  absent,  are  re- 
quired to  resort  to  their  parish  church  or  chapel,  or  some 
usual  place  where  the  common  prayer  shall  be  used,  upon  pain 
of  punishment  by  the  censures  of  the  church,  and  also  upon 
pain  that  every  person  so  offending  shall  forfeit  for  every  such 
offence  twelve  pence ;  nor  the  statute  made  in  the  third  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  late  king  James  the  first,  entitled,  an  Act 
for  the  better  Discovering  and  Repressing  Popish  Recusants ; 
nor  that  other  statute  made  in  the  same  year,  entitled,  an 
Act  to  prevent  and  avoid  Dangers  which  may  grow  by  Popish 
Recusants ;  nor  any  other  law  or  statute  of  this  realm,  made 
against  papists  or  popish  recusants,  except  the  statute  made 
in  the  five-and-twentieth  year  of  king  Charles  II,  entitled, 
an  Act  for  preventing  Dangers  which  may  happen  from 
Popish  Recusants;  and  except  also  the  statute  made  in  the 
thirteenth  year  of  the  said  king  Charles  II,  entitled,  an  Act 
for  the  more  effectual  preserving  the  King's  Person  and 
Government  by  disabling  Papists  from  sitting  in  either  House 
of  Parliament ;  shall  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  person  or 
persons  dissenting  from  the  church  of  England,  that  shall 
take  the  oaths  mentioned  in  a  statute  made  this  present  par- 
liament, entitled,  an  Act  for  removing  and  preventing  all 
Questions  and  Disputes  concerning  the  assembling  and  sitting 
of  this  present  parliament ;  and  shall  make  and  subscribe  the 
declaration  mentioned  in  a  statute  made  in  the  thirtieth  year 
of  the  reign  of  king  Charles  II,  entitled,  an  Act  to  prevent 
Papists  from  sitting  in  either  House  of  Parliament :  which 
oaths  and  declaration  the  justices  of  peace  at  the  general 
sessions  of  the  peace  to  be  held  for  the  county  or  place  where 
such  person  shall  live,  are  hereby  required  to   tender  and 


1688.]  The  Toleration  Act.  509 

administer  to  such  persons  as  shall  offer  themselves,  to  take, 
make,  and  subscribe  the  same,  and  thereof  to  keep  a 
register :  and  likewise  none  of  the  persons  aforesaid  shall 
give  or  pay,  as  any  fee  or  reward,  to  any  officer  or  officers 
belonging  to  the  court  aforesaid,  above  the  sum  of  sixpence, 
nor  that  more  than  once  for  his  or  their  entry  of  his  taking 
the  said  oaths,  and  making  and  subscribing  the  said  declara- 
tion; nor  above  the  further  sum  of  sixpence  for  any  certifi- 
cate of  the  same  to  be  made  out  and  signed  by  the  officer  or 
officers  of  the  said  court. 

III.  And  be  i^further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  all  and  every  person  and  persons  already  convicted  or 
prosecuted  in  order  to  conviction  of  recusancy,  by  judgment, 
information,  action  of  debt,  or  otherwise,  grounded  upon  the 
aforesaid  statutes,  or  any  of  them,  that  shall  take  the  said 
oaths  mentioned  in  the  said  statute  made  this  present  parlia- 
ment, and  make  and  subscribe  the  declaration  aforesaid,  in 
the  Court  of  Exchequer,  or  assizes,  or  general  or  quarter 
sessions  to  be  held  for  the  county  where  such  person  lives, 
and  to  be  thence  respectively  certified  into  the  Exchequer, 
shall  be  thenceforth  exempted  and  discharged  from  all  the 
penalties,  seizures,  forfeitures,  judgments,  and  executions, 
incurred  by  force  of  any  the  aforesaid  statutes,  without  any 
composition,  fee,  or  further  charge  whatsoever. 

IV.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  all  and  every  person  and  persons  that  shall,  as  aforesaid, 
take  the  said  oaths,  and  make  and  subscribe  the  declaration 
aforesaid,  shall  not  be  liable  to  any  pains,  penalties,  or  forfei- 
tures, mentioned  in  an  act  made  in  the  five  and  thirtieth  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  late  queen  Elizabeth,  entitled,  an  Act  to 
retain  the  Queen^s  Majesty's  Subjects  in  their  due  Obedience; 
nor  in  an  act  made  in  the  two  and  twentieth  year  of  the 
reign  of  the  late  king  Charles  II,  entitled,  an  Act  to  prevent 
and  suppress  Seditious  Conventicles ;  nor  shall  any  of  the 
said  persons  be  prosecuted  in  any  ecclesiastical  court,  for  or 
by  reason  of  their  non-conforming  to  the  church  of  England. 

V.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority 


SlO  The  Toleration  Act.  [1688. 

aforesaid^  that  if  any  assembly  of  persons  dissenting  from  the 
church  of  England  shall  be  had  in  any  place  for  religious 
worship  with  the  doors  locked,  barred,  or  bolted  during  any 
time  of  such  meeting  together,  all  and  every  person  or  per- 
sons, that  shall  come  to  and  be  at  such  meeting,  shall  not 
receive  any  benefit  from  this  law,  but  be  liable  to  all  the 
pains  and  penalties  of  all  the  aforesaid  laws  recited  in  this 
act,  for  such  their  meeting,  notwithstanding  his  taking  the 
oaths,  and  his  making  and  subscribing  the  declaration  afore- 
said. 

VI.  Provided  always,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall 
be  construed  to  exempt  any  of  the  persons  aforesaid  from 
paying  of  tithes  or  other  parochial  duties,  or  any  other  duties 
to  the  church  or  minister,  nor  from  any  prosecution  in 
any  ecclesiastical  court,  or  elsewhere,  for  the  same. 

VII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  if  any  person  dissenting  from  the  church  of  England,  as 
aforesaid,  shall  hereafter  be  chosen  or  otherwise  appointed  to 
bear  the  office  of  high  constable,  or  petit  constable,  church- 
warden, overseer  of  the  poor,  or  any  other  parochial  or  ward 
office,  and  such  person  shall  scruple  to  take  upon  him  any  of 
the  said  offices  in  regard  of  the  oaths,  or  any  other  matter  or 
thing  required  by  the  law  to  be  taken  or  done  in  respect  of 
such  office,  every  such  person  shall  and  may  execute  such 
office  or  employment  by  a  sufficient  deputy,  by  him  to  be  pro- 
vided, that  shall  comply  with  the  laws  on  this  behalf.  Pro- 
vided always,  the  said  deputy  be  allowed  and  approved  by 
such  person  or  persons,  in  such  manner  as  such  officer  or 
officers  respectively  should  by  law  have  been  allowed  and 
approved. 

VIII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  no  person  dissenting  from  the  church  of  England  in 
holy  orders,  or  pretended  holy  orders,  or  pretending  to 
holy  orders,  nor  any  preacher  or  teacher  of  any  congregation 
of  dissenting  protestants,  that  shall  make  and  subscribe  the 
declaration  aforesaid,  and  take  the  said  oaths  at  the  general 
or  quarter  sessions  of  the  peace  to  be  held  for  the  county, 


1688.]  The  Toleration  Act.  511. 

to'.Tn,  parts^  or  division  where  such  person  lives^  which  court 
is  hereby  empowered  to  administer  tlie  same,  and  shall  also 
declare  his  approbation  of  and  subscribe  the  articles  of  reli- 
gion mentioned  in  the  statute  made  in  the  thirteenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  late  queen  Elizabeth^  except  the  thirty- 
fourth,  thirty-fifth,  and  thirty-sixth,  and  these  words  of  the 
twentieth  article,  viz.,  '^the  Church  hath  power  to  decree 
Rites  or  Ceremonies,  and  authority  in  Controversies  of  Faith, 
and  yet"  shall  be  liable  to  any  of  the  pains  or  penalties  men- 
tioned in  an  act  made  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  the  reign  of 
king  Charles  II,  entitled,  an  Act  for  restraining  Non-confor- 
mists from  inhabiting  in  Corporations ;  nor  the  penalties 
mentioned  in  the  aforesaid  act  made  in  the  two-and-twentieth 
year  of  his  said  late  majesty's  reign,  for  or  by  reason  of  such 
persons  preaching  at  any  meeting  for  the  exercise  of  religion; 
nor  to  the  penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds  mentioned  in  an 
act  made  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  of  king  Charles, 
II,  entitled,  an  Act  for  the  Uniformity  of  Public  Prayers, 
and  Administration  of  Sacraments,  and  other  Rites  and 
Ceremonies:  and  for  establishing  the  Form  of  Making, 
Ordaining,  and  Consecrating  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons 
in  the  Church  of  England,  for  officiating  in  any  congregation 
for  the  exercise  of  religion  permitted  and  allowed  by  this  act. 

IX.  Provided  always,  that  the  making  and  subscribing  the 
said  declaration,  and  the  taking  the  said  oaths,  and  making 
the  declaration  of  approbation  and  subscription  to  the  said 
articles,  in  manner  as  aforesaid,  by  every  respective  person  or 
persons  herein  before  mentioned,  at  such  general  or  quarter 
sessions  of  the  peace,  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  then  and  there 
entred  of  record  in  the  said  court,  for  which  sixpence  shall  be 
paid  to  the  clerk  of  the  peace,  and  no  more :  provided  that 
such  person  shall  not  at  any  time  preach  in  any  place,  but 
with  the  doors  not  locked,  barred,  or  bolted,  as  aforesaid. 

X.  And  whereas  some  dissenting  protestants  scruple  the 
baptising  of  infants,  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  person  in  pretended  holy  orders,  or  pretending  to 
holy  orders,  or  preacher,  or  teacher,  that  shall  subscribe  the 


513  The  Toleration  Act.  [1688. 

aforesaid  articles  of  religion,  except  before  excepted^  and  also 
except  part  of  the  seven-and-twentieth  article  touching  infant 
baptism,  and  shall  take  the  said  oaths,  and  make  and  sub- 
scribe the  declaration  aforesaid,  in  manner  aibresaid,  every 
such  person  shall  enjoy  all  the  privileges,  benefits,  and  advan- 
tages, vrhich  any  other  dissenting  minister,  as  aforesaid, 
might  have  or  enjoy  by  virtue  of  this  act. 

XI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  teacher  or  preacher  in  holy  orders,  or  pretended 
holy  orders,  that  is  a  minister,  preacher,  or  teacher  of  a  con- 
gregation, that  shall  take  the  oaths  herein  required,  and  make 
and  subscribe  the  declaration  aforesaid,  and  also  subscribe 
such  of  the  aforesaid  articles  of  the  church  of  England,  as 
are  required  by  this  act  in  manner  aforesaid,  shall  be  thence- 
forth exempted  from  serving  upon  any  jury,  or  from  being 
chosen  or  appointed  to  bear  the  office  of  churchwarden,  over- 
seer of  the  poor,  or  any  other  parochial  or  ward  office,  or 
other  office  in  any  hundred  of  any  shire,  city,  town,  parish, 
division,  or  wapentake. 

XII.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
that  every  justice  of  the  peace  may  at  any  time '  hereafter 
require  any  person,  that  goes  to  any  meeting  for  exercise  of 
religion,  to  make  and  subscribe  the  declaration  aforesaid,  and 
also  to  take  the  said  oaths  or  declaration  of  fidelity  herein- 
after mentioned,  in  case  such  person  scruples  the  taking  of  an 
oath,  and  upon  refusal  thereof,  such  justice  of  the  peace  is 
hereby  required  to  commit  such  person  to  prison  without  bail 
or  mainprize,  and  to  certify  the  name  of  such  person  to  the 
next  general  or  quarter  sessions  of  the  peace  to  be  held  for 
that  county,  city,  town,  part,  or  division  where  such  person 
then  resides,  and  if  such  person  so  committed  shall  upon  a 
second  tender  at  the  general  or  quarter  sessions  refuse  to  make 
and  subscribe  the  declaration  aforesaid,  such  person  refusing 
shall  be  then  and  there  recorded,  and  he  shall  be  taken  thence- 
forth to  all  intents  and  purposes  for  a  popish  recusant  con- 
vict, and  suffer  accordingly,  and  incur  all  the  penalties  and 
forfeitures  of  all  the  aforesaid  laws. 


1688.]  The  Toleration  Act.  513 

XIII.  And  whereas  tliere  are  certain  other  persons^  dissen- 
ters from  the  church  of  England^  who  scruple  the  taking  of 
any  oath,  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  every 
such  person  shall  make  and  subscribe  the  aforesaid  declara- 
tion, and  also  this  declaration  of  fidelity  following,  viz. : — 

I,  A.B.,do  sincerely  promise  and  solemnly  declare  before  God 
and  the  world,  that  I  will  be  true  and  faithful  to  king  William 
and  queen  Mary ;  and  I  do  solemnly  profess  and  declare,  that  I 
do  from  my  heart  abhor,  detest,  and  renounce,  as  impious  and 
heretical,  that  damnable  doctrine  and  position,  that  princes 
excommunicated  or  deprived  by  the  pope,  or  any  authority  of 
the  see  of  Eome,  may  be  deposed  or  murdered  by  their  sub- 
jects, or  any  other  whatsoever.  And  I  do  declare,  that  no 
foreign  prince,  person,  prelate,  state,  or  potentate  hath,  or  ought 
to  have,  any  power,  jurisdiction,  superiority,  pre-eminence,  or 
authority  ecclesiastical  or  spiritual  within  this  realm. 

And  shall  subscribe  a  profession  of  their  Christian  belief 
in  these  words — 

I,  A.  B.,  profess  faith  in  God  the  Father,  and  in  Jesus 
Christ,  his  Eternal  Son,  the  true  God,  and  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,  one  God,  blessed  for  evermore ;  and  do  acknowledge 
the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be 
given  by  divine  inspiration. 

Which  declarations  and  subscription  shall  be  made  and 
entered  of  record  at  the  general  quarter  sessions  of  the 
peace  for  the  county,  city,  or  place  where  every  such  person 
shall  then  reside.  And  every  such  person  that  shall  make 
and  subscribe  the  two  declarations  and  profession  aforesaid, 
being  thereunto  required,  shall  be  exempted  from  all  the 
pains  and  penalties  of  all  and  every  the  aforementioned 
statutes  made  against  popish  recusants,  or  protestant  noncon- 
formists, and  also  from  the  penalties  of  an  act  made  in  the 
fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  the  late  queen  Elizabeth,  entitled, 
an  Act  for  the  Assurance  of  the  Queen's  Eoyal  Power  over 
all  Estates  and  Subjects  within  her  Dominions,  for  or  by 
reason  of  such  persons  not  taking  or  refusing  to  take  the 
oath  mentioned  in  the  said  act ;    and  also  from  the  penalties 

L    L 


514  The  Toleraiion  Act.  [1688. 

of  au  act  made  in  tlie  tliirteentli  and  fourteenth  years  of  the 
reign  of  king  Charles  the  Second,  entitled,  an  Act  for  pre- 
venting Mischiefs  thay  may  arise  by  certain  persons  called 
Quakers  refusing  to  take  lawful  oaths ;  and  enjoy  all  other 
the  benefits,  privileges,  and  advantages,  under  the  like  limita- 
tions, provisos,  and  conditions,  which  any  other  dissenters 
should  or  ought  to  enjoy  by  virtue  of  this  act. 

XIV.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  in  case  any  person  shall  refuse  to  take  the  said 
oaths,  when  tendered  to  them,  which  every  justice  of  the 
peace  is  hereby  empowered  to  do,  such  person  shall  not  be 
admitted  to  make  and  subscribe  the  two  Declarations  afore- 
said, though  required  thereunto  either  before  any  justice  of 
the  peace,  or  at  the  general  or  quarter  sessions  before  or 
after  any  conviction  of  popish  recusants,  as  aforesaid,  unless 
such  person  can,  within  thirty-one  days  after  such  tender  of 
the  Declarations  to  him,  produce  two  svifficient  protestant 
witnesses,  to  testify  upon  oath  that  they  believe  him  to  be  a 
protestant  dissenter ;  or  a  certificate  under  the  hands  of  four 
protestants,  who  are  conformable  to  the  church  of  England, 
or  have  taken  the  oaths  and  subscribed  the  Declaration  above 
mentioned,  and  shall  also  produce  a  certificate,  under  the 
hands  and  seals  of  six,  or  more,  sufficient  men  of  the 
congregation  to  wdiich  he  belongs,  owning  him  for  one  of 
them. 

XV.  Provided  also,  and  be  it  enacted,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  until  such  certificate,  under  the  hands  of  six 
of  his  congregation,  as  aforesaid,  be  produced,  and  two 
protestant  witnesses  come  to  attest  his  being  a  protestant 
dissenter,  or  a  certificate  under  the  hands  of  four  protestants, 
as  aforesaid,  be  produced,  the  justice  of  the  peace  shall,  and 
hereby  is  required  to  take  a  recognizance  with  two  sureties  in 
the  penal  sum  of  fifty  pounds,  to  be  levied  of  his  goods  and 
chattels,  lands  and  tenements,  to  the  use  of  the  king's  and 
queen's  majesties,  their  heirs  and  successors,  for  his  produc- 
ing the  same ;  and  if  he  cannot  give  such  security,  to 
commit    him    to    prison,   there   to    remain    until    he    has 


1688.]  The  Toleration  Act.  515 

produced    such    certificates^    or    two    vvitucsses,    as     afore- 
said. 

XVI.  Provided  always^  and  it  is  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  of  this  act,  that  all  the  laws  made  and  pro- 
vided for  the  frequenting  of  divine  service  on  the  Lord's 
day_,  commonly  called  Sunday,  shall  be  still  iu  force,  and 
executed  against  all  persons  that  offend  against  the  said 
laws,  except  such  persons  come  to  some  congregation  or 
assembly  of  religious  worship,  allowed  or  permitted  by  this 
act. 

XVII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  neither  this  act,  nor  any  clause, 
article  or  thing  herein  contained,  shall  extend,  or  be  con- 
strued to  extend,  to  give  any  ease,  benefit,  or  advantage  to 
any  papist  or  popish  recusant  whatsoever,  or  any  person 
that  shall  deny,  in  his  preaching  or  writing,  the  doctrine 
of  the  blessed  trinity,  as  it  is  declared  in  the  aforesaid 
articles  of  religion. 

XVIII.  Provided  always,  and  be  it  enacted,  by  the 
authority  aforesaid,  that  if  any  person  or  persons,  at  any 
time  or  times  after  the  tenth  day  of  June,  do  and  shall 
willingly  and  of  purpose,  maliciously  or  contemptuously  come 
into  any  cathedral  or  parish  church,  chapel,  or  other  congre- 
gation permitted  by  this  act,  and  disquiet  or  disturb  the 
same,  or  misuse  any  preacher  or  teacher,  such  person  or 
persons,  upon  proof  thereof  before  any  justice  of  peace,  by 
two  or  more  sufficient  witnesses,  shall  find  two  sureties,  to  be 
bound  by  recognizance  in  the  penal  sum  of  fifty  pounds,  and 
in  default  of  such  sureties,  shall  be  committed  to  prison, 
there  to  remain  till  the  next  general  or  quarter  sessions; 
and  upon  conviction  of  the  said  ofience,  at  the  said  general 
or  quarter  sessions,  shall  suffer  the  pain  and  penalty  of 
twenty  pounds,  to  the  use  of  the  king's  and  queen's  majesties, 
their  heirs  and  successors. 

XIX.  Provided  always,  that  no  congregation  or  assembly 
for  religious  worship  shall  be  permitted  or  allowed  by  this 


516  The  Toleration  Act.  [1688. 

act,  until  the  place  of  such  meeting  shall  be  certified  to  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  or  to  the  archdeacon  of  that  arch- 
deaconry, or  to  the  justices  of  the  peace  at  the  general  or 
quarter  qessions  of  the  peace  for  the  county,  city,  or  place 
in  which  such  meeting  shall  be  held,  and  registered  in  the 
said  bishop's  or  archdeacon's  court  respectively,  or  recorded 
at  the  said  general  or  quarter  sessions;  the  register,  or 
clerk  of  the  peace  whereof  respectively,  is  hereby  required  to 
register  the  same,  and  to  give  certificate  thereof  to  such 
person  as  shall  demand  the  same,  for  which  there  shall  be 
no  greater  fee  nor  reward  taken,  than  the  sum  of  sixpence. 


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