[Sidenote: JOHN BURNYEAT.]
A characteristic specimen of Quakers’ piety is furnished in the
following narrative, extracted from a volume of their biographies:--
“John Burnyeat was born in the parish of Lows-water, in the county of
Cumberland, about the year 1631. And when it pleased God to send His
faithful servant George Fox, with other of the messengers of the Gospel
of peace and salvation, to proclaim the day of the Lord in the county
of Cumberland and north parts of England, this dear servant of Christ
was one that received their testimony, which was in the year 1653,
when he was about twenty-two years of age; and through his waiting in
the light of Jesus Christ, unto which he was turned, he was brought
into deep judgment and great tribulation of soul, such as he had not
known in all his profession of religion, and by this light of Christ
was manifested all the reproved things, and so he came to see the body
of death and power of sin which had reigned in him, and felt the guilt
thereof upon his conscience, so that he did possess the sins of his
youth. ‘Then,’ said he, ‘I saw that I had need of a Saviour to save
from sin, as well as the blood of a sacrificed Christ to blot out sin,
and faith in His name for the remission of sins; and so being given up
to bear the indignation of the Lord, because of sin, and wait till
the indignation should be over, and the Lord in mercy would blot out
the guilt that remained (which was the cause of wrath), and sprinkle
my heart from an evil conscience, and wash our bodies with pure water,
that we might draw near to Him with a true heart in the full assurance
of faith, as the Christians of old did (Heb. x. 22).’ Thus did this
servant of the Lord, with many more in the beginning, receive the truth
(as more at large may be seen in the journal of his life) in much fear
and trembling, meeting often together, and seeking the Lord night and
day, until the promises of the Lord came to be fulfilled, spoken of by
the prophet Isaiah, chap. xlii. 7, and xlix. 9, and lxi. 3; and some
taste of the oil of joy came to be witnessed, and a heavenly gladness
extended into the hearts of many, who in the joy of their souls broke
forth in praises unto the Lord, so that the tongue of the dumb (which
Christ, the healer of our infirmities, did unloose) began to speak
and utter the wonderful things of God. And great was the dread and
glory of that power, that one meeting after another was graciously and
richly manifested amongst them, to the breaking and melting many hearts
before the Lord. Thus being taught of the Lord, according to Isaiah
liv. 13, John vi. 45, they became able ministers of the Gospel, and
instructors of the ignorant in the way of truth, as this our friend
was one, who after four years’ waiting, mostly in silence, before he
did appear in a public testimony, which was in the year 1657, being at
first concerned to go to divers public places of worship, reproving
both priests and people for their deadness and formality of worship,
for which he endured sore beating with their staves and Bibles, &c.,
and imprisonment also in Carlisle Gaol, where he suffer’d twenty-three
weeks’ imprisonment for speaking to one priest Denton, at Briggham.
After he was at liberty, he went into Scotland, in the year 1658,
where he spent three months, travelling both north and west. His work
was to call people to repentance from their lifeless hypocritical
profession and dead formalities, and to turn to the true light of
Jesus Christ in their hearts, that therein they might come to know the
power of God, and the remission of sins, &c. And in the year 1659 he
travelled to Ireland, and preached the truth and true faith of Jesus in
many parts of that nation.”[601]
Of the piety of Puritan Nonconformists several examples have already
appeared; but it is proper to add a few more.
[Sidenote: JOSEPH ALLEINE.]
Joseph Alleine was born in 1634. As a child, whilst living in Devizes,
the sieges and battles of the Civil Wars made him familiar with the
question then being fought out, both by the sword and the pen; and as
he heard gun answering gun, and saw the flashes “through the chinks of
his father’s barred and shuttered windows,” and as he read fly-leaves
which were then distributed far and wide, ideas were entering his
mind which shaped the Puritanism of his whole after-life. He went to
Oxford when that University had fallen into the hands of the Army, and
just before the time when Oliver Cromwell became Chancellor. There he
distinguished himself by his diligence, often rising at four o’clock
in the morning, and prolonging his studies beyond midnight; and he
added to the exhaustion of toil, the mortification of fasting; for he
often gave away his “commons” at least once a day. In the year 1655
he became minister at Taunton, as assistant to George Newton, the
minister of St. Mary’s; and there he married: a long love-letter, which
he wrote to the lady of his affections, still remains, as a specimen
of the grave courtship of Puritan suitors. Having been ordained
according to Presbyterian order, his activity as a pastor rivalled
his assiduity as a student. What he did as a catechist long remained
amongst the traditions of the town. “In this work, his course was to
draw a catalogue of the names of the families in each street, and so
to send a day or two before he intended to visit them. Those that sent
slight excuses, or did obstinately refuse his message, he would speak
some affectionate words to them, or, if he saw cause, denounce the
threatenings of God against them that despise His ministers, and so
departed; and after would send letters to them so full of love as did
overcome their hearts, and they did many of them afterwards receive him
into their houses. Herein was his compassion shown to all sorts, both
poor and rich.” All this may be regarded as not only characteristic of
Alleine, but of the class to which he belonged; for there was nothing
about which the Presbyterians were more anxious than the culture of
domestic religion. Alleine’s preaching also stood in high repute, the
judgment in his discourses being likened to “a pot of manna,”--the
fancy to “Aaron’s rod that budded,”--and the fervour to “a live coal
from off the altar.” His public career of labour, usefulness, and
honour, in the town of Taunton, reached its close at the general
ejectment of 1662, to the common grief of himself and his parishioners.
Alleine’s habits of indefatigable toil could not be repressed by the
Act of Uniformity, and he still preached, ordinarily in some weeks six
or seven times, in others ten or fourteen. Such a zealous evangelist
could not escape the hand of the law; and in the year 1663 he was
sent a prisoner to Ilchester Gaol. He remained in confinement a year
all but three days. The vigilance of his gaoler could not have been
strict, for he had “very great meetings, week-days and Sabbath-days,
and many days of humiliation and thanksgiving. The Lord’s days many
hundreds came.” Alleine held conferences, wrote to his old flock,
taught children, circulated catechisms, and, during the chaplain’s
illness, discharged his duties, exerting himself to such a degree that
he would keep on his clothes all night, and allow himself to sleep only
one or two hours. After his liberation, his indomitable perseverance
in preaching, and in other religious efforts, brought him again into
trouble: indeed, it is said, “he was far more earnest than before,”
although that appears impossible. A second imprisonment followed in the
year 1666. In the June of 1667, he was again liberated; but excessive
labour, severe self-mortification, and the vexations and sorrows of
imprisonment, had broken down his constitution. “It was impossible,”
observed Dr. Annesley, “that anguish like his could continue long, and
at last his sufferings for Christ hurried him to heaven in a fiery
chariot.” When conveyed in a horse-litter to Bath--then called the
“King’s Bathe,” a mere maze of five hundred houses--“the doctors were
amazed to behold such a wasted object, professing they never saw the
like, much wondering how he was come alive; and, on his appearance
at the Bathe, some of the ladies were affrighted, as though death
had come amongst them.” The Puritan was much grieved by “the oaths,
drinking, and ungodly carriage of the persons of quality there;” and he
failed not to reprove them for their misconduct. “His way was first to
converse of things that might be taking with them; for, being furnished
by his studies for any company, he did use his learning for such ends,
and by such means hath caught many souls.” He caused himself to be
carried in a chair to visit schools and almshouses; he persuaded
teachers to adopt the Assembly’s Catechism as a class-book; and on a
Sunday he gathered sixty or seventy children together at his lodgings,
and he also paid daily visits to the poor.
The Puritan impress rests on all Alleine’s labours, on all his
self-denial, on all his social intercourse, and on much of his
suffering. The same may be said of his last moments. We are told
that the night before he died, about nine o’clock, he brake out with
an audible voice, speaking for _sixteen hours_ together, and
did cease but a little space now and then all the afternoon. About
three o’clock in the afternoon he had some conflict with Satan, for
he uttered these words:--“Away, thou foul fiend, thou enemy of all
mankind, thou subtle sophister: art thou come now to molest me--now I
am just going--now I am so weak, and death upon me? Trouble me not,
for I am none of thine! I am the Lord’s; Christ is mine, and I am
His; His by covenant. I have sworn myself to be the Lord’s, and His
I will be. Therefore begone!” These last words he repeated often.
Thus his covenanting with God was the method he used to expel the
devil and all his temptations. In November, 1668, he died, and was
buried in the chancel of St. Mary’s, Taunton, under a brass plate with
this inscription: _Hic jacet Dominus Josephus Alleine holocaustum
Tauntonensis et Deo et vobis_.[602]
[Sidenote: THOMAS EWINS.]
Thomas Ewins, a Baptist minister at Bristol, was mentioned in a former
volume, as a man of great natural power: the character of his life also
deserves commemoration. The records of the Broadmead Church, which
have already supplied us with many illustrations, afford us touching
memorials of this good man’s piety. When his flock were about to
meet for prayer on his behalf, during his final illness, he addressed
to them the following letter, which indicates at once the close and
confidential religious relations in which he stood to them, and the
deep spirituality of the pastor’s character:--“Dear brother,” he says,
addressing one of the ruling elders, “understanding that some friends
intend to become suitors at the throne of grace this day on my behalf,
I think good to send these few lines for information, to acquaint you
that being weak, I cannot conveniently be with you, but hope I shall
meet you with some few sighs and groans to Him that heareth prayer;
first, that the God of all grace and health will command health and
cure to the soul and body, chiefly to that soul of all soul maladies,
unbelief, and all the fruits thereof; and also to the body, for the
cure of those maladies which unfit for work and service, especially
melancholy, and the fruits thereof; and that God will, of His infinite
riches of grace and mercy, bestow a double portion of His blessed
Spirit both upon me and upon the whole congregation, and that we may
obtain more of the blessed spirit of adoption, and all the fruits
thereof. Amen. Which is all at present from your weak brother, Thomas
Ewins. The Lord give you much of His presence, and grant that His ear
may be open to your prayers.”
[Sidenote: THOMAS EWINS.]
He had been declining very fast, and had kept his chamber nearly five
months when he sent this letter. The end was at hand; and his departure
and character are thus recorded in these simple and beautiful annals:--
“Our pastor, brother Ewins, having lain a great while weak, he departed
this life in the second month, 1670, having faithfully served his Lord
and Master, Jesus Christ, near towards twenty years in this city,
in the work of the ministry; preaching clearly the gospel of free
grace, by faith in Jesus Christ, wherein he laboured abundantly, in
the public (places), and in his particular charge--the congregation;
and also would go and preach to the poor people in their almshouses
at Michael’s Hill, and Lawford’s Gate almshouse, once a fortnight, in
the morning; and in those times of liberty, would, for some convenient
seasons, set up a lecture, and preach at Bedminster and other places.
And at other times, during the winter long evenings, would keep an
expository lecture or meeting at T’Ewins’ Church, and sometimes at
Leonard’s Church, besides his constant public preaching, as he was one
of the city lecturers, every third day, Tuesday, at Nicolas Church,
and every fifth day (Thursday) at the Church meeting of Conference,
and twice every Lord’s Day constantly; besides many times a word to
the Church, after that those who were not members were departed, upon
the Lord’s Day, in the evening, at the Church’s select meeting. Thus,
as one unwearied to serve the Lord Jesus, he took all opportunities,
doing good; insomuch that many ministers did admire him for his great,
diligent labours, and that he had always variety of matter; which,
though he had not the original tongues, yet God did endue him with
great grace, and a quick understanding in the things of God, and (in)
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, to the winning and converting many souls
to Christ, and building and binding up the broken-hearted. He was a
man full of self-denial, and subduing his natural temper; so that he
walked very lovely and holy in his conversation, showing patience
where it required, and meekness toward all men; visiting all his
members carefully, and searching into the state of their souls; and
by some ministers that were his familiars (it was) observed and said,
they never saw him over merry nor over sad, but given to prayer and
almsdeeds. He was interred in James’s Yard, the 29th day of the second
month, April, _anno Domini_, 1670, accompanied with many hundreds
to the grave, the like funeral not seen long before in Bristol. He left
so good a savour behind for faithfulness to God and humility towards
man, that his very chief persecutor, Sir John Knight, said, He did
believe he was gone to heaven.”[603]
[Sidenote: OWEN STOCKTON.]
Owen Stockton was born at Chichester in 1630, his father being a
Prebendary of the Cathedral in that city. The father died when the
son was only seven years old; the mother then removed to Ely, and, as
the boy was looking into a copy of _Foxe’s Acts and Monuments_,
chained to the wall of one of the parish churches, he was so affected
by what he read, that he begged his friends to obtain at least a part
of the work for his private use. Having secured his object, he spent
the vacant hours which other children devoted to play, in eagerly
perusing the martyrology; and he thus imbibed the strong Protestant
and Puritan spirit, which influenced his whole after-life. On being
sent to Cambridge he enjoyed the instruction of Dr. Henry More as his
tutor, and being only sixteen years old, and of small stature, the
tiny gownsman attracted general attention as he walked the streets.
When he accompanied some of his fellow-students into the presence of
Charles I., to express their loyalty, the King gave him a “gracious
benediction,” saying, “Here is a little scholar indeed, God bless
him.” Stockton devoted himself to study; and coming up to London for
awhile, he attended the Gresham Lectures and the library of Sion
College, and availed himself of the City bookstalls. After receiving
his degree of Master of Arts, he “exercised his gifts” in villages
around the University, and also became a catechist in his own college.
His ordination to the full work of the University occurred in London
in the year 1655; and on the Sunday following, he preached at the
Charterhouse. “In the afternoon”--so runs the quaint memoir of this
worthy--“one put up a bill to him, wherein the person that put it up
acknowledged, that he had long lain under the guilt of a known sin, and
was convinced of it by the morning sermon, and desired prayers to God
for help against it.” Upon receiving an invitation to become the Town
Lecturer at Colchester, Stockton accepted that office, adding to it the
voluntary task of preaching every Sunday morning in St. James’ Church;
and, until he was ejected in 1662, his labours were abundant, winning
for him honourable renown amongst the Essex Puritans.
He removed to Chattisham in Suffolk, where he not only continued
to preach privately, but in the absence of the Incumbent, once a
fortnight, he had, in spite of his Nonconformity, freedom to occupy
the pulpit of the parish church. He enjoyed a like privilege in
neighbouring villages. His doing so being illegal, as soon as the
vigilance of his enemies succeeded the connivance of his friends,
Stockton felt himself exposed to peril. “It being a time of danger,”
he wrote in his diary, April 16th, 1665,--“as to the keeping of my
meeting-service, many soldiers being in the town, I being dubious
whether I should admit the people to come or no,--when I considered
that Christ took it as an act of love to feed His sheep--that he
exposed Himself to death to save me, I being under a sense of the
comfort that the Lord had given me in the morning,--in my meditation on
1 Timothy i. 15, I was willing to adventure myself upon the providence
of God.” In this case, it would appear, that the alarm was unnecessary.
It certainly proved so in another instance, and the incident may be
mentioned, as illustrative of the double trials of the period,--the
fightings without producing fears within:--“As I was exercising in my
family, in the afternoon, several of my friends being with me, I had
word sent me that Sir J(ohn) S(haw), the Recorder; the Mayor, Thomas
Wade; and Justices, would come down to my house. Whereupon I, being
near the end of my exercise, concluded with a short prayer. After I
(had) done, and dismissed the people, one of the constables came to me
and told me he was sent to dissolve my meeting, and had some kind of
trembling upon him when he spoke to me, and said he blessed God that
had given him an heart to come sometimes himself, and his wife, to my
meetings, so that instead of doing me any hurt, he gave glory to God
for giving him an heart to be present.”[604]
Stockton was reported at Lambeth in the year 1669, for holding a
“conventicle in Colchester with George Done.” He also preached at
Manningtree, Marks Tay, and Ipswich. In the year 1672, Stockton
took out a license to be “a Presbyterian and Independent teacher in
Grayfriars House, in St. Nicholas Parish,” in the county town of
Suffolk. These were halcyon days for men like him: and again his
ministry became his whole business. Besides conducting Sunday services,
including two sermons, several expositions, and catechetical exercises,
he “preached a lecture at Ipswich, on the week day, once a fortnight;
and, scarce a week passed, but he preached at some other lecture,
or funeral, besides keeping of private fasts, which he frequently
practised both at home and abroad.”[605]
[Sidenote: OWEN STOCKTON.]
Not only Stockton’s ministerial work, but his spiritual life also, is
fully described in his Diary. His conversion, which took place when
he was young, he tells us was not preceded by any “notable workings
of the spirit of bondage,” or followed “by those ravishing joys which
some have felt.” He feared his humiliation was not deep enough; but
he received full satisfaction from a passage in a sermon, which he
heard preached by that worthy and excellent servant of Jesus Christ,
Mr. Richard Vines, then Master of Pembroke Hall. Phraseology of this
kind indicates the kind of theology and of spiritual life which gave
a stamp to the character of Owen Stockton: and the whole of the Diary
bears the same religious complexion. He entered into a solemn covenant
with God, and he set down at large the evidences of his faith and
of his pardon,--of his being one of God’s servants, and having an
interest in Jesus Christ,--of the Divine love to his soul, and of
his possession of eternal life. No Anglican or Latitudinarian could
have dealt with questions of personal religion after the manner which
Stockton adopted. His accounts of providences, and of dreams, are
tinged with superstition. The analysis which he gives of his motives
for doing certain things; and his statement of cases of casuistry--as
for example, whether it was lawful to write a letter, even of spiritual
advice, on the Lord’s Day, and his long list of reasons for and
against courses of conduct which he specifies--indicate a morbid
conscientiousness, and a habit of keen and irritating introspection
far beyond that self-examination which the Scriptures recommend. Yet,
accompanying these infirmities, there appear a strong conviction of the
realities of the invisible world, a tenacious grasp of the doctrines
of grace, and a deep tone of devotion, a thorough consecration to the
service of God, and a burning zeal for the glory of Christ, and for
the welfare of souls. The manner in which his death is described
harmonizes with the rest of his biography, and accurately describes
what he professed:--“Discharging his dying office by grave exhortations
and encouragement to serious religion and suffering for it, which
he especially applied to his only child; owning and professing his
Nonconformity to the last, as judging himself obliged thereto in
conscience towards God; blessing God for His invaluable gift of Jesus
Christ to the children of men; blessing God, who had called him to the
honourable employment of the ministry of the Gospel, and had enabled
him to be faithful therein, and encouraged him with His presence and
blessing under all the difficulties thereof; blessing God, who had
lifted him up above the fear of death; rejoicing in the peace and
testimony of a good conscience, and hope of the glory of God, after ten
or eleven days’ conflict with his disease (which, after some hope of
recovery, very suddenly and unexpectedly seized his head), he quietly
slept in the Lord, September 10th, 1680, in the one and fiftieth year
of his age.”[606]
[Sidenote: DR. JACOMB.]
Another of the ejected ministers--one who survived the two excellent
persons just described, and who is much better known than either of
them--ought to be noticed before concluding this selection from the
roll of Puritan names. Dr. Thomas Jacomb has been mentioned already, as
a man who took a prominent part in the ecclesiastical affairs of his
age. His biographers speak of his zeal for the glory of his Master,
of his love to the souls of men, and of his constancy and diligence
in ministerial work. He suffered much from cancer in the mouth; but
when pain became tolerable, preaching acted as an anodyne; and, at
all times, reflection upon the Divine goodness afforded him relief. He
manifested much compassion, charity, and beneficence, and was moderate
in his Nonconformity--“rather desiring to have been comprehended in the
National Church, than to have separated from it.” His last illness is
described as very distressing, and he said to an intimate friend--“I
am using the means, but I think my appointed time is come. If my life
might be serviceable to convert or build up one soul I should be
content to live; but if God hath no more work for me to do, here I am,
let Him do with me as He pleaseth.” On another occasion, he observed:
“It will not be long before we meet in Heaven, never to part more: and
there we shall be perfectly happy; there neither your doubts and fears,
nor my pains shall follow us; nor our sins, which is best of all.” He
longed to be above, and said with some regret--“Death flies from me; I
make no haste to my Father’s house.”[607] Dr. Jacomb expired under the
roof of the Countess of Exeter, March 27, 1687.
Burnet affords a pleasant sketch of an eminent Puritan layman, Sir
Harbottle Grimston, Speaker of the House of Commons in the Convention
Parliament, and afterwards Master of the Rolls; and in connection with
this sketch occurs an equally pleasant notice of his exemplary wife.
“He gave yearly great sums in charity, discharging many prisoners by
paying their debts. He was a very pious and devout man, and spent
every day at least an hour in the morning, and as much at night, in
prayer and meditation. And even in winter, when he was obliged to be
very early on the bench, he took care to rise so soon, that he had
always the command of that time, which, he gave to those exercises.
He was much sharpened against Popery; but had always a tenderness to
the Dissenters, though he himself continued still in the communion
of the Church. His second wife, whom I knew, was niece to the great
Sir Francis Bacon: and was the last heir of that family. She had all
the high notions for the Church and the Crown, in which she had been
bred; but was the humblest, the devoutest, and best tempered person I
ever knew of that sort. It was really a pleasure to hear her talk of
religion; she did it with so much elevation and force. She was always
very plain in her clothes; and went oft to jails, to consider the wants
of the prisoners, and relieve, or discharge them; and by the meanness
of her dress she passed but for a servant trusted with the charities
of others. When she was travelling in the country, as she drew near
a village, she often ordered her coach to stay behind till she had
walked about it, giving orders for the instruction of the children, and
leaving liberally for that end. With two such persons I spent several
of my years very happily.”[608]
[Sidenote: UNITY OF SPIRITUAL LIFE.]
Without repeating what I have said in a former volume, respecting
the varieties of spiritual life, I would observe, that it is of very
great importance to distinguish between religion and theology: between
spiritual life in man, and the philosophy of its causes, its nature,
and its modes of operation. The philosophy of that life is of a far
higher description than any other branch of science in relation to
either material things or the human mind. Christian personal religion,
when complete and satisfactory, must rest upon the study of Divine
Revelation--this is the supreme authority for the religious beliefs of
all to whom it comes--without which those beliefs are as the shifting
sands and as the changeful clouds. It is of immense moment to search
out the truth amidst various theories, and theological theories are
to some minds an intellectual necessity, which it is idle to deny and
foolish to ignore. Nor should the fact be overlooked that creeds--the
creeds of the early Church--may serve as guards and preservers of the
Church’s faith; as lines which have been drawn, after sounding the
channels of Christian thought, to guard us against shoals towards which
we are apt to be driven, as buoys which may help to preserve us from
shipwreck, and as landmarks which may continue to secure for us the
precious inheritance of truth bequeathed by Christ.[609] But at the
same time these theories and these creeds should be distinguished from
religion itself; and beyond all doubt, the religion of the soul, in a
multitude of cases, is much less influenced by definite theological
opinions on certain points than many persons are disposed to admit.
Theology is oftener determined by religion, than religion is determined
by theology. Hence the trite maxim that some men are better than their
creeds and some are worse.
Christianity teaches, that faith in Christ is essential to religion in
the case of all those to whom the Gospel comes, by which faith is meant
trust in Him as the Divine Redeemer of souls. It further teaches that
love to God is essential to religion, which love is to be expressed
in worship and obedience. Finally, it teaches that morality is
essential to religion, which morality includes all the pure, exalted,
comprehensive, and noble virtues inculcated in the Scriptures. This
threefold kind of religion may be found in cases where, what many
may deem, erroneous views on various points are entertained; and it
may be absent in cases where no such erroneous views exist. Religion
does not centre in intellectual opinions, but in the affections of the
heart, and the volitions of the will. Consequently, we have been able
to trace, with more or less distinctness, the presence and power of
real piety in all the great schools of theological thought, which have
come under our review. We recognize amongst men of different creeds,
of different forms of worship, of different ecclesiastical polities,
members of the one Holy Catholic Church, because we discover in them
that faith, devotion, and morality, which are the constituent elements
of true religion. It is remarkable how, in these respects, Christians
of various communions, such as I have attempted to portray, resemble
each other. They have not been able to repeat the same theological
confession: but under a sense of sin, in the great exigencies of their
existence, in the hour of death, and looking forward to the day of
judgment, they have rested upon the only _Name_ given under heaven
whereby we can be saved. They could not unite in the same symbolic
rites, but there are hymns of praise and supplication in which they
have all been enabled to express the devoutness of their spiritual
life. They could not co-operate in ecclesiastical action, but each in
his own sphere could and did engage in deeds of Christian justice,
zeal, and charity.
I am not writing the history of any sect, but of Christ’s Church
in England during the latter half of the seventeenth century, and
therefore I have endeavoured to make these pages reflect, as far as
possible, the many coloured types of moral and spiritual beauty, with
which the Spirit of truth and love adorned and blessed our land at that
eventful period.
APPENDIX.
No. I.--See Vol. I., p. 60.
I find in the Record Office a very curious letter, dated
Llanothyng,[610] the 8th of April, and addressed to Linwell Chapman.
There is placed in the same bundle in which I discovered it a fairly
transcribed copy. As the contents are remarkable, I shall give a full
description of them, and supply a few extracts.
The letter purports to come from more persons than one, and it
commences by expressing their joy on account of suffering for Christ’s
sake, their spirits being borne up by the fury of the adversary, by the
patience dispensed to the godly, and the great spirit of prayer poured
out, together with active faith in the most precious promises. They
had sent messengers to their brethren, all over the nation, including
three to South Wales, exhorting them to stand by the good old cause,
once the most precious in the eyes of the saints. They mention “Dr.
Owen, that precious servant of Christ,” as having had a sinecure in
their neighbourhood, and as having sent them word “that he doubted
not of good issue.” “We hope very speedily,” they proceed, “to give
you a good account when that discontented part of the army we expect
is come up, to countenance us until we can get together. We have laid
out £10,000 in arms, and distributed most of them; we have raised such
a jealousy here between the Cavaliers and Presbyterians as opens us
a wider door than otherwise could be expected; and, indeed, were we
considerable, the Presbyterians would close with us, upon any terms,
rather than undergo an intolerable yoke under an implacable enemy.”
The writers refer to an attempt upon “Charles Stewart,” which, they
heard, “did not succeed in the way intended, but there was another
way more successful.” They afterwards state,--“Mr. Kiffin, and Mr.
Cockam, Mr. Hudson, Mr. M. the Committee-man, and Mr. Feake, write to
us of securing the General and the Parliament about the 6th of May,
to which they say all the congregations in London agree, except Mr.
Caryles and Mr. Griffiths. Mr. Nie [Nye] doth great service in it, we
hear. Mr. Brooks is very willing. Mr. Barker is, they say, indifferent.
Indeed Sir Harry Vane is a man that seems to be born for such a time as
this. He will come up, we hear, to head us; for we shall rise first,
being furthest off.” After further explanation of their policy, they
continue: “This we know, that we shall be (the Lord assisting us), a
month hence, so considerable, coming towards London, that most of your
Londoners must draw out, and then you have your opportunity. We hope
you have received the arms, ammunitions, &c. V. A. L. was appointed to
bring from C. to B., and then to D., where your carts were to meet him.
What use you may make of the training day at London we leave to your
discretion. Would we were rid of all the carnal and self-interested men
on our side, and we doubt not but to do well. Mr. Thomas, the bearer
hereof, will tell you how far we prevailed upon the Irish Brigade, and
pray do you tell him how far you prevailed upon your London forces. The
report of their being to be disbanded makes much for us here; what it
doth there we know not. Col. Okey is very successful, and it’s believed
his agitation may produce what may make both their ears tingle. Whether
Mr. Powell, Mr. Mostyn, and Mr. Lloyd, be come up to you, we hear not.
When they come, we doubt not they will put life in the cause. Mr.
Jessey, with the brethren of Swan Alley, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Spilsbury,
&c., are very zealous. And it’s good to be zealous in a good matter.
Mr. Row, of Westminster, hath been very instrumental in a late design.
The Lord strengthen the hands of such faithful souls. I pray, let us
hear what the brethren of Gloucestershire intend to do. Mr. Helme, of
Winchcombe, is diligent, spending himself and being spent among the
neighbouring congregations if they be not already at London.” (The
congregations referred to were either Independents or Baptists.) The
writers further state that they heard a piece was “coming out on the
character of the wretched villain Monk,” and an account of his plots.
They advised that the first work should be to secure the militia and
gentry, seize several of the Welsh castles, and be at Gloucester by
the 12th of May, and tempt the General out. “Let the Quakers,” the
letter goes on to say, “have the knottiest piece, for they are resolute
in performing, though but rash in advising. It were to be wished the
House had some bones to pick, that they might determine nothing until
the 12th of May.” The writers then ask, whether the Long Parliament
members, under whose authority they and their friends were acting,
would sit at Shrewsbury as a place of rendezvous; that would be the
safest place. They refer to Scotland, adding, “If it may be, it were
well all places were at once disordered by a common alarm, while one
place is chiefly aimed at. We expect Sir Arthur here suddenly, and
then, when a convenient number of the old Parliament and army are met,
we declare. The declaration is already agreed on.” ... “We are apt to
believe that every honest man of all interests will acquiesce in it.
Verily some Presbyterians, upon their late experience, are ready to
hear and submit to the reason of it, when proposed to them. The press
is free enough for it, there being no restraint upon that as yet.” The
letter concludes with an exhortation to prosecute the design on the
Tower, the House, and the head-quarters.
Besides this letter, there is another dated a few days earlier,
addressed to Master Evan Thomas Taylor, relating to the same subject,
but not containing any important information.
When I first lighted upon the letter of the 8th of April, 1660, with
the actual outbreak under Lambert, in the same month, fresh in my
mind, I was startled at the sight of these extraordinary statements,
and began to think that they supplied new and important information
respecting Republican movements going on at that confused period. A
little reflection, however, sufficed to raise very considerable doubts
as to whether much reliance could be placed upon several parts of the
letter of the 8th, in which mere rumours are related, and accounts
are given of what was going on at a distance. Further consideration
made me suspicious as to the origin of the papers altogether. For
the fabrication of letters said to be intercepted, and containing
treasonable matter, was no uncommon device in those days, of which a
signal instance is furnished in our notice of William Kiffin (Vol.
I., p. 211). Besides, there are certain things about these professed
communications from Wales, which the more I thought of them the more
suspicious they appeared,--such as the statement respecting Dr.
Owen, the expenditure of so large a sum as £10,000 by poor Welshmen
in procuring arms, the reference made to Quakers as engaged in
military movements, and the engagement of all the Congregational
Churches in London, with two exceptions, in a plot to secure Monk and
the Parliament. The more I considered these circumstances the more
incredible they looked. Impressed with very strong doubts, I applied to
my kind friend, the late Mr. John Bruce, whose judgment on the point I
felt would be most valuable.
He gave the following opinion:--“I have looked at the letters dated 4th
and 8th of the 2nd month of 1660, and the copy of the latter, which is
endorsed in the handwriting of the Secretary, Sir Joseph Williamson.
That they are all of the period assigned to them is, I think, pretty
certain, but whether they are genuine or fabricated is a question not
easily answered.
“It seems to me probable that the two letters were written by the same
hand, the writing of the letter of the 4th being a feigned hand. That
of the 4th was intended to contain that of the 8th, which is rather
strange, and the oddity is increased by the circumstance, that in
that of the 4th there is an allusion to that of the 8th as if it were
already written:--‘Pray tell Mr. Chapman, which I forgot to write.’
“The letter of the 8th, purporting to be dated at ‘Llanothyng,’ a
place I do not know; that of the 4th at ‘Llanvaire,’ I suppose in
Monmouthshire. The former mentions ‘Dr. Owen, that precious servant
of Christ,’ as having had a ‘sinecure here.’ If this be John Owen, it
seems very like a blunder.
“Probably many other strangenesses might be discovered upon a close
study of the letters, but that which in my mind makes most against the
genuineness of the letter of the 8th, is the enormous improbability
that any one would have sent a letter in such manner as this has been
forwarded, which disclosed a plot to kill the King and other members of
the Royal Family, and implicated in movements connected with it, not
one or two persons only, but all the most conspicuous persons of the
Republican party. The letter is in this respect so overdone as on that
account alone to be a subject of very great suspicion. But, supposing
it possible that a man could be found who was fool enough to write such
a letter, I cannot believe that it would have been transmitted in the
careless, half-open way in which these have been sent to Master Thomas
in Quart-Pot Alley, Philpot Lane--if that be the address.
“My present impression is that these letters are not genuine, but if
anything turns upon a point, or you are about to publish an opinion, I
should like to reconsider the question.”
A little while afterwards, Mr. Bruce wrote the following:--“I
have looked again at the letters said to have been intercepted,
and am more and more convinced they are not genuine. Contents,
handwriting--everything--is against them. They are not papers upon
which any one ought to found an historical conclusion.
“Mr. Hardy came in just as I was putting up the bundle which contains
these letters. I took them out and asked him what he thought of them.
He shook his head, and pronounced them to be most suspicious-looking
papers.”
After such an opinion, confirmatory of my own strong doubts, I could
not think of using these documents in the text, but, as curiosities, I
have transferred them to this Appendix.
No. II.--Vol. I., p. 244.
The following important Memorandum from W. J. Thoms, Esq., House of
Lords, on the MS. Prayer Book attached to the Act of Uniformity, 1662,
occurs in the Appendix to the Minutes of Evidence taken before the
Royal Commission on Ritual:--
“In the course of a conversation with the Dean of Westminster on
Tuesday week (30th July), after calling my attention to a pamphlet of
Mr. Hull on the subject of the supposed loss of the Book of Common
Prayer attached to the Act of Uniformity, the Dean expressed a wish to
see the tower (formerly a portion of the Abbey) in which the original
Acts of Parliament were till lately kept, the rooms in the Victoria
Tower where the Acts are now deposited, and the Act of Uniformity
itself. I promised to make the necessary arrangements for his doing so,
on the following Thursday (1st August).
“My attention having been called by the Dean to the Prayer Book before
alluded to, when settling with the person who arranges the Acts in the
Victoria Tower to be in the way at the time the Dean had appointed to
come, I spoke to him about the book; and he then told me, that when the
Acts were removed, he had found, among other books, MS. Journals, &c.,
a Manuscript Prayer Book, which he had handed over to the Chief Clerk,
Mr. Smith. I at once felt satisfied that that was the book respecting
which there seems to have been so much mistaken anxiety; but the
accidental absence of Mr. Smith prevented my then examining the book;
and until I had seen it, and positively ascertained the fact, I thought
it better, in case I should prove mistaken, not to mention to the Dean
that the book was in Mr. Smith’s custody.
“Mr. Smith, who came to me in the Library a few minutes after the Dean
had left, at once said the Prayer Book was in his custody, showed it to
me, and I communicated the fact on the same evening to the Dean.
“WILLIAM J. THOMS.
“LIBRARY, HOUSE OF LORDS,
“_8th August, 1867_.”
“An inspection of this MS. Prayer Book has proved to the Commissioners
that the ‘Order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily to be said and
used throughout the year,’ is identical in all respects with that which
is ordinarily prefixed to the Book of Common Prayer.”
It would be beyond my purpose to attempt a description of these
books--indeed no full and correct idea of their appearance and contents
could be supplied except by a _fac-simile_ reprint of them, which
I hope will be some day published--but in the meanwhile I will present
the reader with a transcript of the list of alterations inserted at the
beginning of the MS. volume. This copy was carefully compared with the
original by Mr. Thoms and myself.
With the MS. volume now in the Library of the House of Lords, there
is also a copy of the Prayer Book, printed by Robert Barker, in 1636,
containing alterations of the text made with a pen in a very neat hand,
believed to be that of Sancroft. I have been permitted to inspect these
volumes on three occasions; and there are two instances of alterations
made in the printed copy, and in the MS. book, so curious, and indeed
important, that I will transfer them to these pages.
The first relates to a passage at the end of the service for the public
baptism of infants. In the printed book it stands thus:--
#children ~persons~ w^{ch} are dying#
“It is certain by God’s Word, that ~children being~ baptized, ~have~
#before they committ actuall sinne are#
~all things necessary for their salvation, and be~ undoubtedly saved.”
The MS. book presents the same sentence thus:--
“It is certain by God’s Word, that children which are baptized, dyeing
before they commit actuall sin, are undoubtedly saved.”
The second instance relates to the last rubric prefixed to the
Communion service. In the printed book it stands thus:--
“The table at the communion
time having a fair white linnen
cloth upon it shall stand in the
#body of the church or in the#
~body of the church or in the~
#chancell where morning ~prayer~ and#
“Most convenient place in the ~chancell where morning and~
upper end of y^e chancel (or
of y^e body of y^e church #evening prayer are appointed to be#
where thereis no chancel.” ~evening prayer be appointed to be~
#said.#
~said.~
[611]#at#
And the priest standing ~at~ the
#~part~ side#
north ~side~ of the table, shall say
north side of the table, shall say
#the#
the Lord’s Prayer with ~the~ collect
following” [MS., y^e people
kneeling.]
In the MS. book it appears thus:--
“The table at the Communion time having a fair white linen cloth
#of the church, or#
upon it, shall stand in the body[612] ~or convenient place~ in the
#where Morning and Evening Prayer are appointed to be said.#
~upper end of the~ chancel ~or of the body of the church where there is
no chancel.~
#side#
And the priest standing at[613] the north ~part~ of the table, shall say
the Lord’s Prayer with the Collect followeing, the people kneeling.”
LIST OF ALTERATIONS PREFIXED.
OLD. NEW.
_Litany._
Bishops, Pastors, & Ministers. Bishops, Priests, & Deacons.
_Collect._
The 3d Sunday in Advent A larger & more proper inserted.
_For Christmas-day._
this day. as at this time [as also in y^e
preface at y^e Communion].
_For Easter Tuesday_ is put _For Low Easter_.
_For Whitsunday._
upon this day. as at this time.
y^e Epistle. For y^e Epistle [as often as it is
not taken out of an Epistle].
_Communion._
Overnight or else in y^e at least some time y^e day before.
morning before y^e beginning
of morning prayer, or
immediately after.--_Rubrick._
in y^e body of y^e Church or in y^e most convenient place in
in y^e Chancel. y^e upper end of y^e Chancel, or
of y^e body of y^e Church where
there is no Chancel.
north side. north part.
Bishops Pastor & Curates Bishops and Curates.
The 1st & 2d Exhortations are altered and fitted for timely
notice & preparation to y^e
Communion.
In y^e 3rd Exhortations this is left out.
Clause [If any of you be a
blasphemer of God, an
hinderer, &c.]
These words [before this omitted.
Congregation]
Before y^e Confession for by one of y^e Ministers.
these words [either by one
of them or else by y^e
Minister.]
In y^e 2d prayer after in y^e mysticall body of thy Son.
Receiving for [in
thy mysticall body]
In y^e last Rubrick but one omitted as needlesse now.
these words [And y^e Parish
shall be discharged of such
sums of money or other
dutyes w^{ch} hitherto they
have payed for y^e same by
order of their houses.
_Baptisme._
didst sanctify y^e flood in y^e River Jordan didst sanctify
Jordan & all other waters. water.
dost thou forsake? _Ans._ I doest thou in y^e name of this
forsake. this Child renounce? _Ans._ I
renounce.
_Private Baptisme._
This Demand [whether thinke omitted.
you y^e Childe to be
lawfully & perfectly
baptized]
_Confirmation._
In y^e Rubrick for these set before y^e Catechisme until
words [untill such time as such time as he be confirmed,
he can say y^e Catechisme or be ready and desirous to be
& be confirmed] these confirmed.
_Catechisme._
y^e King and his Ministers. y^e King and all that are put in
authority under him.
Water, wherein y^e person Water, wherein y^e person is
baptized is dipped, or baptized, in y^e name, &c.
sprinkled in it, In y^e
name, &c.
Yea they doe performe them Because they promise them both
both by their sureties, who by their sureties, which promise.
promise and vow them both
in their names.
_Matrimony._
Thes words [In Paradise] omitted.
depart. do part.
Children’s Children unto y^e Children, Christianly & virtuously
3d & 4th generation. brought up.
loving & amiable to her amiable, faithfull & obedient to
husband as Rachel--wise as her husband.
Rebecca--faithfull &
obedient as Sara.
The new married persons, the It is convenient y^t y^e new
same day of their marriage, married persons should receive
must receive y^e Communion. y^e Communion at y^e time of y^r
marriage or at y^e first
opportunity after y^e marriage.
_Visitation of y^e Sick._
In y^e Psalme y^e 5 last verses omitted
_Buriall._
Y^e Lesson read before they goe to y^e grave.
eyes. eares.
of resurrection. of y^e resurrection.
this our brother. omitted.
them that be elected. y^e faithfull.
_Churching._
For Psalme 121 116 or 127.
w^{ch} hast delivered. wee give thee hearty thanks for
that thou hast vouchsafed to
deliver.
in her vocation. omitted.
NOTE y^t All y^e Epistles & Gospels & most of y^e Sentences of
Scripture are put in y^e last Translation of y^e Bible.
* * * * *
These are all y^e materiall alterations--y^e rest are onely verball, or
y^e changeing of some Rubricks for y^e better performing of y^e service
or y^e new moulding some of y^e Collects.
ADDITIONS.
OLD. NEW.
deliver us from evil, for thine is y^e Kingdome, y^e power
& ye glory for ever and ever
[here and in some other places].
Praise ye the Lord. _Ans._ The Lord’s name be praised.
_Litany._
privy conspiracy & rebellion.
heresy & schisme
To y^e Prayer in time of another prayer added.
Dearth
_In y^t of Plague._
Almighty God, w^{ch} in thy didst send a plague upon thine
wrath owne people in y^e wildernesse,
for their obstinate rebellion
against Moses and Aaron, and also
didst then accept of an atonement and
Two Prayers for y^e Ember-weekes.
A Thanksgiving for restoring
publique peace.
A Prayer for y^e Parliament.
_Collects._
A Collect for y^e 6 Sunday
after the Epiphany
Epistle 1 S. John, 3. 1.
Gospel S. Matt. 24. 23.
A Collect for Easter Eve.
An Antheme on Easter day,
I Cor. 5. 7.
_Communion._
In y^e 3d Rubrick added Provided y^t every Minister so
repelling any as is specified, in
this or in y^e next preceding
Paragraph of this Rubrick shall
be obliged to give an account of
y^e same to y^e Ordinary within
14 days after at y^e furthest, &
y^e Ordinary shall proceede
against y^e offending person
according to y^e Canon.
the Lord thy God who brought thee out of y^e land of
Egypt, out of y^e house of
bondage.
In y^e prayer for whole state
of Christs Church--
to accept our almes and oblations.
adversity. And wee also blesse thy holy name
for all thy servants departed
this life in thy faith & fear,
beseeching thee to give us grace
so to follow their good examples
that w^{th} them wee may be
partakers of thy heavenly
Kingdome.
draw neere in full assurance of faith.
At y^e prayer of consecration Marginall notes, directing y^e
Action of y^e Priest.
_Baptisme._
A fourth demand added here & Wilt thou then obediently keepe
in private Baptisme Gods holy Will & Commandments,
& walke in y^e same all
y^e dayes of thy life? _Ans._ I
will.
In y^e prayer after y^e Sanctify this Water to y^e mysticall
demands after these words washing away of sin.
[y^e supplications of thy
Congregation] added
A marginall note added Here shall y^e Priest make a crosse
upon y^e childes forehead.
At y^e end of y^e Rubrick is It is certaine by Gods word that
added this Declaration persons w^{ch} are baptized, dying
before they committ actuall sin,
are undoubtedly saved.
An Office for baptizing such added.
as are of riper yeeres.
_Confirmation._
Then shall y^e Bishop say, Doe you
here in y^e presence of G^d & of
this Congregation &c. And
every one shall audibly answer,
I doe.
After y^e words of Y^e L^d be w^{th} you. _Ans._ And
Confirmation added w^{th} thy spirit.
Y^e Lords Prayer.
After y^e Collect Another prayer added.
_Visitation of y^e Sick._
for ever. _Ans._ Spare us good Lord.
Y^e 2d prayer enlarged.
A Commendatory Prayer.
A Prayer for a Sick Child.
A Prayer when there appears small
hope of recovery.
A Commendatory at y^e point of
death.
A Prayer for persons troubled in
minde.
_Buriall._
After they are come into y^e Church,
shall be read one or both these
Psalms, 30, 90.
Everlasting Glory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
At the End Y^e Grace of our L^d Jesus Christ
&c.
_Commination._
In y^e last prayer after in y^e merits & mediation of thy
[look upon us] blessed Son Jesus Christ our
L^d. Amen.
Then shall y^e Minister alone say,
Y^e Lord blesse us, & keepe us,
y^e L^d lift up y^e light of his
countenance upon us & give us
peace, now and for ever more.
Amen.
No. III.--Vol. I., p. 180.
Points in which the Prayer Book, according to _Cardwell’s Conferences_,
was modified in 1662, in compliance with the recommendation of the
Puritans.
This list of alterations has been given me by my kind friend, Dr.
Swainson.
Page 314. _Lord’s Prayer._ The Doxology was added at the beginning of
Morning and Evening Prayer, in the Post-Communion service, and in the
Churching of women.
Page 315. _Plain tune._ Altered.
„ 316. Collect for Christmas Day. _This day_ altered.
„ 316. „ „ Whit Sunday. „ „ altered.
„ 317. Very many of the Collects were altered.
„ 317. “Time assigned not sufficient.” Rubric altered.
„ 317. The next Rubric was altered too, though insufficiently.
Page 318. [The preface asked for was inserted in the written book which
we saw in the Library of the House of Lords, and then erased.[614]]
Page 319, line 10. Exhortation altered; the words are read now on the
Sunday before the administration, and not “at the Communion.”
Page 319, line 30. The confession is now appointed to be made “by one
of the Ministers,” not by one of the people.
Page 320, line 11, &c. The words “this day” altered, “as at this time.”
Page 320, line 17, &c. This is interesting. My note from the MS. book
is this. The words there ran, “that our sinful bodies and souls may be
made clean by his body, and washed through his most precious blood.”
This would have pleased the Puritan party. It was however altered
_back_.
Page 321, line 1. Thus it was in accordance with the wishes of the
same party that the marginal directions were added in the prayer of
Consecration.
Page 322, line 15. The Rubric was added with alterations, not however
affecting the point at issue.
Page 324, line 5. Expressions altered. (Query, sufficiently?)
„ 324, „ 18. “Doest thou forsake?” The words were altered, but not as
the Puritans desired.
Page 325, line 10. Unless by _a lawful_ minister. (Altered
accordingly.)
„ 325, „ 13. [No part is reiterated.]
„ 327, „ 1. Altered. Note the praise of that part of the catechism
which concerns the doctrine of the Sacraments.
Page 327, line 20. [Rubrick was altered, whether satisfactorily, I
question.]
Page 327, line 32. The words “are come to a competent age,” were added,
and another rubric limiting the children to be presented, to those whom
_the Curate shall think fit_.
Page 328, line 23. Altered slightly.
„ 329, „ 30. Altered.
„ 330, „ 31. _Depart._ Altered to “Do part.”
„ 331, „ 13. Omitted.
„ 331, „ 18. Altered.
„ 331, „ 30. Altered.
„ 333, „ 14. Altered. “Resurrection” into “the resurrection.”
„ 333, „ 22. Altered.
„ 334, „ 1–9. Altered.
„ 334, „ 11. The Psalm 121 altered.
_So much for details._
I will make a few more notes in the _same direction_:--
The prayer, “O God, whose nature and property,” altered as recommended
in 1641. (_Cardwell_, page 277, line 10.)
Thanksgiving added. (_Cardwell_, page 309, line 30.)
New Translation used in Gospels and Epistles. (_Cardwell_, page 307,
line 4, &c.)
“Portion of Scripture appointed for the Epistles.” (_Cardwell_, page
308, line 13.)
The first Rubric in the Burial Service, “Here it is to be noted, &c.,”
would clearly gratify the Puritans.
The position of the woman at churching was altered. (_Cardwell_, page
334.)
No. IV.--Vol. I. chap. x.
The following is a copy of the Act of Uniformity taken from the Rolls
by a clerk connected with the House of Lords. All the passages printed
within brackets, with a broader margin or underlined, are amendments
upon the Bill in its original form, and notified accordingly in the
original.
[Sidenote: 14 C. 2, Chap 4.]
_An Act for the Uniformity of Publique Prayers and
Administration of Sacraments other Rites Ceremonies and for
establishing the form of making ordaining and consecrating
Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church of England._
[Sidenote: I. Recital of Act of Uniformity under Elizabeth.]
Whereas in the first yeare of the late Queene Elizabeth there was one
uniforme Order of Comon Service and Prayer and of the Administration
of Sacraments rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England (agreeable
to the word of God and usage of the primitive Church) compiled by the
Reverend Bishopps and Clergy set forth in one Booke entituled the Booke
of Comon prayer and Administration of Sacraments and other Rites and
Ceremonies in the Church of England and enjoyned to be used by Act
of Parliament holden in the said first yeare of the said late Queene
entituled An Act for the Uniformity of Comon 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 Realme upon the which the Mercy Favour
and Blessing of Almighty God is in no wise so readily and plentifully
poured as by Comon prayers due useing of the Sacraments and often
preaching of the Gospell with Devotion of the Hearers And yet this
notwithstanding a great number of people in divers parts of this Realm
following their own sensualitie and liveing without knowledge and due
feare of God do willfully and schismatically abstaine and refuse to
come to theire Parish Churches and other publique places where Comon
Prayer Administration of the Sacraments and preaching of the word of
God is used upon the Sundayes and other dayes ordained and appointed
to be kept and observed as Holy dayes. And whereas by the great and
scandalous neglect of Ministers in using the said order or Liturgy so
set forth and enjoined as aforesaid great mischeefs inconveniences
during the times of the late unhappy troubles have arisen and grown
and many people have been led into Factions and Schismes to the
great decay and scandall of the Reformed Religion of the Church of
England and to the hazard of many souls [Sidenote: Amendment.] [For
prevention whereof in time to come for setling the Peace of the Church
and for allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of
the time hath contracted. [Sidenote: The King’s declaration 25th
October 1660.] The King’s Majestie according to His Declaration of
the five and twentieth of October One thousand six hundred and sixty
granted His [Sidenote: Commission for Conference.] Comission under
the Great Seale of England to severall Bishopps and other Divines to
review the Booke of Comon prayer and to prepare such alterations and
additions as they thought fitt to offer. [Sidenote: Convocation.] And
afterwards the Convocations of both the provinces of Canterbury and
Yorke being by His Majesty called and assembled and now sitting His
Majestie hath beene pleased to authorize and require the presidents of
the said Convocations and other the Bishopps and Clergy of the same
to review the said Booke of Comon prayer and the booke of the forme
and manner of the making and consecrating of [Sidenote: V. Penalty
of refusing.] Bishops Preists and Deacons. And that after mature
consideration they should make such additions and alterations in the
said Bookes 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 President Bishops and Clergy of both
provinces have accordingly reviewed the said Bookes and have made some
alterations which they thinke fitt to be inserted to the same and some
additionall prayers to the said booke of Comon prayer to be used upon
proper and emergent occasions. And have exhibited and presented the
same unto His Majestie in writing in one Booke entituled the Booke of
Comon Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and
Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England
togeather with the psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are
to be sung or said in Churches and (the) forme and manner of making
ordaining and consecrating of Bishopps Preists and Deacons All which
His Majesty haveing duly considered hath fully approved and allowed the
same and recomended to this present Parliament that the said bookes of
Comon prayer and of the forme of ordination and consecration of Bishops
priests and Deacons with the alterations and additions which have beene
soe made and psented to His Majesty by the said Convocations be the
Booke which shall be appointed to be used by all that officiate in all
Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches and Chappells and in all Chappells
of Colledges and Halls in both the Universities and the Colledges of
Eaton and Winchester and in all Parish Churches and Chappells within
the Kingdome of England Dominion of Wales and Toune of Berwick upon
Tweed and by all that make or consecrate Bishops Preists or Deacons in
any of the said places under such sanctions and penalties as the Houses
of parliament shall thinke fitt] [Sidenote: II. Religion advanced by
Uniform worship.] Now in regard that nothing conduceth more to the
setling of the Peace of this Nation (which is desired of all good
men) nor to the honour of our Religion and the propagation thereof
than an universall agreement in the publique worshipp of Almighty God
and to the intent that every person within this Realme may certainely
knowe the rule in which he is to comforme in publique worship and
administration of Sacraments [_and other rites and ceremonies of the
Church of England and the manner how and by whom Bishops Preists and
Deacons are and ought to be made ordained and consecrated_]. Be it
enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majestie by the advice and with
the consent of the Lords [_Spirituall and Temporall and of the_]
Comons in this present parliament assembled and by the authority of
the same That all and singular Ministers in any Cathedrall Collegiate
or Parish Church or Chappell or other place of publique worship within
this Realme of England Dominion of Wales and Toun of Berwick upon
Tweed shall be bound to say and use the morning prayer Evening prayer
Celebracon and administracon of both the Sacraments and all other the
publique and Comon prayer in such order and forme as is menconed in the
[_said_] booke annexed and joyned in this present Act and intituled
The Booke of Comon prayer and administration of the Sacraments and
other rites and Ceremonies of the Church [_according to the use of the
Church_] of England [_togeather with the psalter or Psalmes of David
pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and (the) forme
or manner of making ordaining and consecrating of Bishops Preists &
Deacons_] And that the Morning and Evening prayers therein contained
shall upon every Lords day and upon all other [_dayes and_] occasions
and att the times therein appointed be openly and solemnly read by all
and every minister or Curate in every Church Chappell or other place of
publique worshipp within this Realme of England and places aforesaid
[Sidenote: III. All ministers to declare assent to Book of Common
Prayer.] And to the end that uniformity in the publique worshipp of
God (which is so much desired) may be speedily effected bee it farther
Enacted by the authority aforesaid That every parson vicar or other
Minister whatsoever who now hath and enjoyeth any Ecclesiasticall
Benefice or promotion within this Realme of England or places aforesaid
shall in the Church Chappell or place of publique worshipp belonging
to his said benefice or promotion upon some Lords day before the Feast
of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God One
thousand six hundred sixty and two openly publiquely and solemnly read
the morning and Evening prayer appointed to be read by and according
to the said Booke of Comon prayer att the times thereby appointed and
after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the
congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent & consent
to the use of all things in the said booke contained and prescribed
[Sidenote: Amendment.] [in these words and no other. I, A. B doe
declare my unfaigned assent [Sidenote: IV. Form of Declaration.] and
consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the
booke intituled The booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the
Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church according to
the use of the Church of England togeather with the psalter or psalmes
of David poynted as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the
form or manner of making ordaining and consecrating of [Sidenote:
V. Penalty of refusing.] Bishops Preists and Deacons] And that all
and every such person who shall (without some lawfull impediment to
be allowed and approved of by the Ordinary of the place) neglect or
refuse to doe the same within the time aforesaid (or in case of such
impediment) within one moneth after such impediment removed shall
(ipso facto) be deprived of all his spirituall promotions And that
from thenceforth it shall be lawfull to and for all patrons and donors
of all and singuler the said Spiritual promotions or of any of them
according to theire respective rights and titles to present or collate
to the same as though the person or persons so offending or neglecting
were dead. [Sidenote: VI. Declaration to be made in all cases of
promotion.] And bee it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that
every person whoe shall hereafter be presented or collated or put
into any Ecclesiastical Benefice or promotion within this Realme of
England and places aforesaid shall in the Church Chappell or place of
publiq worshipp belonging to his said benefice or promotion within two
moneths next after that he shall be in the actuall possession of the
said Ecclesiastical benefice or promotion upon some Lords day openly
publiquely and solemnly read the morning and Evening prayers appointed
to be read by and according to the said booke of Comon prayer att the
times thereby appointed and after such reading thereof shall openly
and publiquely before the Congregation there assembled declare his
unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things therein contained
and prescribed [_according to the forme before appointed_] 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 doe the same within the time aforesaid (or in case of such
impediment within one moneth after such impediment removed) shall
[ipso facto] be deprived of all his said Ecclesiasticall Benefices and
promotions And that from thenceforth it shall and may be lawfull to and
for all patrons and Donors of all and singuler the said Ecclesiastical
Benefices and promotions or any of them (according to theire respective
rights and titles) to present or collate to the same as though the
person or persons so offending or neglecting were dead [Sidenote: VII.
Amendment Incumbents to read the Common Prayer once a month.] [And
be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that in all places
where the proper Incumbent of any parsonage or vicaridge or Benefice
with Cure doth reside on his living and keepe a Curate the Incumbent
himselfe in person (not haveing some lawful impediment to be allowed
by the Ordinary of the place) shall once (at the least) in every
moneth openly and publiquely read the Comon prayers and service in
and by the said Booke prescribed and (if there be occasion) administer
each of the sacraments and other rites of the Church in the parish
Church or Chappell of or belonging to the same parsonage vicarage or
benefice in such order manner and forme as in and by the said booke is
appointed upon pain to forfeit the sum of five pounds to the use of the
poore of the Parish for every offence upon conviction by confession
or proofe of two credible witnesses upon Oath before two Justices of
the peace of the County City or Toun Corporate where the offence shall
be comitted (which Oath the said Justices are hereby impowered to
administer) and in default of payment within ten dayes to be levied
by distresse and sale of the goods and chattells of the offender by
the warrant of the said Justices by the Church Wardens or Overseers
of the poore of the said Parish rendring the surplusage to the party
[Sidenote: VIII. Deans and Canons, &c., shall subscribe declaration
following.]And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that
every Deane Canon and prebendary of every Cathedrall or Collegiate
Church and all Masters and other Heads Fellowes Chaplaines and Tutors
of or in any Colledge Hall House of Learning or Hospitall and every
publique professor and Reader in either of the Universities and in
every Colledge elsewhere and every parson viccar curate lecturer and
every other person in Holy Orders and every Schoolmaster keeping any
publique or private Schools 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 yeare of our Lord
God One thousand six hundred sixty two or at any time thereafter
shall be Incumbent or have possession of any Deanry Canonry Prebend
Mastershipp Headshipp Fellowshipp Professors place or Readers place
Parsonage vicarage or any other Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion
or of any Curates 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 yeare of our Lord One thousand six
hundred sixty two or at or before his or theire respective admission to
the Incumbent or have possession aforesaid subscribe the Declaration
or acknowledgement following scilicet.--I, A, B, do declare that it
is not lawfull upon any pretence whatsoever to take Armes against the
King and that I do abhorr that traiterous position of taking [Sidenote:
IX. The declaration of non-resistance and repudiating the Covenant.]
Armes by his Authority against his person or against those that are
commissionated by him And that I will conforme 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 obligacon upon me or on any other person
from the Oath comonly called the Solemne League and Covenant [_to
endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or
State_] [Sidenote: X. Penalty for not subscribing.] And that the same
was in itselfe an unlawfull Oath and imposed upon the subjects of this
Realme against the knowne lawes and liberties of this Kingdome.--Which
said Declaration and acknowledgment shall be subscribed by every of the
said Masters and other Heads fellowes Chaplaines and Tutors of or in
any Colledge Hall or House of Learning and by every publique 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 he subscribed before the
respective Archbishopp Bishopp or Ordinary of the Diocesse by every
other person hereby enjoyned to subscribe the same upon pain that all
and every of the persons aforesaid failing in such subscription shall
loose and forfeit such respective Deanery Canonry Prebend Mastershipp
headshipp fellowshipp Professors place Readers place parsonage
viccarage Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion Curates place Lecture
and School and shall be utterly disabled and (ipso facto) deprived
of the same And that every such respective Deanry Canonry Prebend
Mastership headship fellowship Professors place Readers place parsonage
viccarage Ecclesiasticall Dignity or promotion Curates place lecture
and schools shall be void as if such person so failing were naturally
dead.--[Sidenote: XI. Schoolmasters in private houses included.] 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 licence obtained from
his respective Archbishop Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocesse according
to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realme (for which he shall pay twelve
pence onely) and before such subscription and acknowledgement made
as aforesaid then every such Schoolmaster and other instructing and
teaching as aforesaid shall for the first offence suffer three moneth
imprisonment without baile or mainprize and for every second and other
such offence shall suffer three months imprisonment without baile or
mainprize and alsoe forfeit to his Majesty the sume of five pounds
And after such subscription made every such Parson Viccar Curate and
Lecturer shall procure a Certificate under the hand and seal of the
respective Archbishop Bishop or Ordinary of the Diocese (whoe are
hereby enjoyned and required upon demaund to make and deliver the
same) and shall publickly and openly read the same togeather with the
declaration or acknowledgement aforesaid upon some Lords day within
three moneths then next following in his Parish Church where he is to
officiate in the presence of the Congregation there assembled in the
time of Divine Service upon pain that every person failing therein
shall loose such Parsonage Viccarage or Benefice Curates place or
Lecturers place respectively and shall be utterly disabled (ipso
facto) deprived of the same And that the said Parsonage Viccarage or
Benefice Curates place or Lecturers place shall be void as if he was
naturally dead Provided alwaies that from and [Sidenote: XII. Omissions
in declaration after 25 March, 1682.] after the twenty fifth day of
March which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six
hundred eighty two there shall be omitted in the said Declaration or
Acknowledg^{t.} so to be subscribed and read these words following
scilicet.--And I do declare that I do hold there lies no obligacon
on me or any other person from the Oath comonly called the Solemne
League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government
either in Church or State and that the same was in itselfe an unlawfull
Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realme against the knowne
lawes and liberties of this Kingdome 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 acknowledgement [Sidenote:
XIII. Persons not episcopally ordained incapable of ecclesiastical
preferment.] Provided alwaies and be it Enacted that from and after
the feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord
One thousand six hundred sixty and two no person who now is Incumbent
and in possession of any Parsonage Vicarage or Benefice and who is
not already in Holy Orders by Episcopall Ordination or shall not
before the said feast day of St. Bartholomew be ordained Preist or
Deacon according to the forme of Episcopall Ordination shall have
hold or enjoye the said Parsonage Vicarage Benefice with Cure or
other Ecclesiasticall Promotion within this Kingdome 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.
And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that no person
whatsoever shall thenceforth [Sidenote: XIV. And of administering
sacraments.] (_be capable to bee admitted to any parsonage vicarage
benefice or other Ecclesiastical Promotion or Dignity whatsoever
nor shall_) presume to consecrate and administer the Holy Sacrament
of the Lords Supper before such time as he shall be ordained Preist
according to the forme and manner in and by the said booke prescribed
unlesse he have formerly beene made Preist by Episcopall Ordination
upon pain to forfeit for every offence the sum of one hundred pounds
one moyety thereof to the Kings Majesty the other moyety thereof to
be equally divided betweene the poore of the parish where the offence
shall be comitted and such person or persons as shall sue for the same
by Action of debt bill plaint or information in any of His Majesties
Courts of Record wherein no essoine protection or wager of law shall
be allowed and to be disabled from taking or being admitted into the
order of Preist by the space of one whole yeare then next following
[Sidenote: XV. Exception on behalf of foreigners.] Provided that the
penalties in this Act shall not extend to the forreiners or aliens of
the forrein Reformed Churches allowed or to be allowed by the Kings
Majestie his heires and successors in England [Sidenote: XVI. Cases of
voidance or deprivation.] Provided alwaies that no title to conferre
or present by lapse shall accrewe by any avoydance or deprivation
(ipso facto) by vertue of this Statute but after six moneths after
notice of such voidance or deprivation given by the Ordinary to the
patron or such sentence of deprivation openly and publiquely read in
the Parish Church of the Benefice Parsonage or Vicarage becomeing void
or whereof the Incumbent shall be deprived by vertue of this Act.
[Sidenote: XVII. No other form of prayer to be publicly used.] And be
it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that no form or order of
Comon prayers administracon of Sacraments rites or Ceremonies shall
be openly used in any Church Chappell or other publique place of or
in any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities the Colledges
of Westminster Winchester or Eaton or any of them other than what is
pscribed and appointed to be used in and by the said booke And that
the present Governour or Head of every Colledge or Hall in the said
Universities and of the said Colledges of Westminster Winchester and
Eaton within one moneth after the feast of S^{t.} Bartholomew which
shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty and
two And every Governour or Head of any of the said Colledges or Halls
hereafter to be elected or appointed within one moneth next after
his Election or Collation and admission into the same Government or
Headship shall openly and publiquely in the Church Chappell or other
publique place of the same College or Hall and in the psence of the
fellowes and Sckolars of the same or the greater part of them then
resident subscribe [Sidenote: Subscription to Articles.] unto the nine
and thirty Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute made in the
thirteenth yeare of the Reigne of the late Queene Elizabeth And unto
the said booke and declare his unfeigned assent and consent unto and
approbation of the said Articles and of the same booke and to the use
of all the prayers rites and ceremonies formes and orders in the said
Booke prescribed and contained according to the form aforesaid And
that all such Governours or Heads of the said Colledges and Halls or
any of them as are or shall be in Holy Orders shall once (at least) in
every quarter of the yeare (not having a lawfull impediment) openly and
publiquely read the Morning prayer and service in and by the said booke
appointed to be read in the Church Chappell or other publique place of
the same Colledge or Hall upon pain to loose and be suspended of and
from all (the) benefitts and profitts belonging to the same Government
or headshipp by the space of six moneths by the Visitor or visitors of
the same Colledge or hall And if any Governour or head of any Colledge
or Hall suspended for not subscribing unto the said Articles and booke
or for not reading of the Morning prayer and service as aforesaid shall
not att or before the end of six moneths next after such suspension
subscribe unto the said Articles and booke and declare his consent
thereunto as aforesaid or read the Morning prayer and service as
aforesaid then such Government or headshipp shall be (ipso facto) void.
[Sidenote: XVIII. Who may use the service in Latin.] Provided alwaies
that it shall and may be lawful to use the Morning and Evening prayer
and all other prayers and service prescribed in and by the said booke
in the Chappells or other publique places of the respective Colledges
and Halls in both the Universities in the Colledges of Westminster
Winchester and Eaton and in the Convocations of the Clergies of either
province in Latine any thing in this Act contained to the contrary
notwithstanding.]
[Sidenote: XIX. Amendment Lecturers.]
And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid [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 Chappell or other place of publique worshipp within
this Realme of England or the Dominion of Wales and Towne of Berwick
upon Tweed unless he be first approved and thereunto licensed by the
Archbishopp of the province or Bishopp of the Diocesse or (in case the
See be void) by the Guardian of the Spiritualities under his Seale and
shall in the psence of the same Archbishop or Bishop or Guardian read
the nine and thirty Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute of
the thirteenth yeare of the late Queene Elizabeth with declaration of
his unfeigned assent to the same And] that every person and persons
whoe nowe is or hereafter shall bee (_licensed_) assigned (or)
appointed or received as a Lecturer to preach upon any day of the weeke
in any Church Chappell or place of publique worship within this Realme
of England or places aforesaid the first time he preacheth (before his
Sermon) shall openly publiquely and solemnly read the Comon prayers
and service in and by the said booke appointed to be read for that
time of the day and then and there publiquely and openly declare his
assent unto and approbation of the said booke and to the use of all
the prayers rites and ceremonies formes and orders therein contained
and prescribed according to the forme before appointed in this Act
[Sidenote: Amendment.] And alsoe shall upon the first lecture day [of
every moneth 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 publiquely and solemnly read the Common
prayers and service in and by the said booke 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 publiquely
before the Congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent
and consent unto and approbation of the said booke and to the use of
all the prayers rites and ceremonies forms and orders therein contained
and prescribed according to the forme 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 Chappell or place
of publique worshipp untill such time as he (_and they_) shall openly
publiquely and solemnly read the (_Common_) prayers (_and service
appointed_) by the said booke and conform in all points to the things
therein appointed and prescribed (_according to the purport true intent
and meaning of this Act_) [Sidenote: XX. Amendment. In Cathedral or
Collegiate Churches.][Provided alwaies that if the said Sermon or
Lecture be to be preached or read in any Cathedrall or Collegiate
Church or Chappell it shall be sufficient for the said Lecturer openly
at the time aforesaid to declare his assent and consent to all things
contained in the said booke according to the form aforesaid] [Sidenote:
XXI. Penalty for preaching by persons disabled.] And be it further
Enacted by the authority aforesaid 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 remaine so disabled preach any Sermon or
Lecture that then for every such offence the person and persons so
offending shall suffer three monthes imprisonment in the Comon Goal
without baile or mainprize and that any two Justices of the Peace
of any County of this Kingdome and places aforesaid and the Maior
or other Cheife Magistrate of any City or Town Corporate within the
same upon Certificate from the Ordinary of the place made to him or
them of the offence committed (_shall and are hereby required_) to
committ the person or persons so offending to the Gaol of the same
County City or Town Corporate accordingly [Provided alwaies and be it
further [Sidenote: XXII. Amendment. Common Prayer to be read before
every lecture.] Enacted by the authority aforesaid that at all and
every time and times when any Sermon or Lecture is to be preached the
Comon Prayers and Service in and by the said Booke appointed to be
read for that time of the day shall be openly publiquely and solemnely
read by some Preist or Deacon in the Church Chappell or place of
publique 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 [Sidenote: XXIII.
Proviso touching Universities.] Provided neverthelesse that this Act
shall not extend to the University-Churches in the Universities of
this Realme or either of them when or at such times as any Sermon or
Lecture is preached or read in the same Churches or any of them for
or as the publique 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 conteyned to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.]
[Sidenote: XXIV. Former laws for uniformity confirmed.] And bee it
further Enacted by the authority aforesaid That the severall good Lawes
and Statutes of this Realme which have been formerly made and are
now in force for the uniformity of Prayer and administration of the
Sacraments within this Realme of England and places aforesaid shall
stand in full force and strength to all intents and purposes whatsoever
for the establishing and confirming of the [_said booke entitled the_]
booke of Comon Prayer and administration of the Sacraments [_and
other rites and ceremonies of the Church according to y^e use of
y^e Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalmes of David
pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the forme or
manner of making ordeyning and consecrating of Bishops Preists and
Deacons_] herein before menconed to bee joyned and annexed to this
Act And shall be applyed practised and put in use for the punishing
of all offences contrary to the said Lawes with relation to the Booke
aforesaid and no other Provided alwayes [Sidenote: XXV. Prayers for the
King, &c.]And bee it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid That
in all those Prayers Letanyes and Collects which doe any way relate
to the King Queene or Royal Progeny the names be altered and changed
from time to time and fitted to the present occasion according to the
direccon of lawfull authority. [Sidenote: XXVI. Copies of Prayer Book
to be provided in all parishes &c.] Provided also and be it Enacted
by the authority aforesaid that a true printed Copy of the said
Booke entituled the Booke of Comon Prayer and Administration of the
Sacraments and other rites and ceremonyes of the Church according to
the use of the Church of England togeather with the Psalter or Psalmes
of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the
forme [_and manner_] of making ordeyning and consecrating of Bishops
Preists and Deacons shall at the costs and charges of the parishioners
of every parish church and chappelry cathedrall church colledge and
hall be attained and gotten before the Feast day of Saint Bartholomew
in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Sixe hundred sixty and two upon
paine of forfeiture of three pounds by the moneth for so long time
as they shall thenafter be unprovided thereof by every Parish or
Chappelry Cathedrall Church Colledge and Hall making default therein.
[Sidenote: XXVII. Translation of Common Prayer into Welsh.] Provided
alwayes and bee it Enacted by the authority aforesaid That the Bishops
of Hereford St. David’s Asaph Bangor and Landaph and their successors
shall take such order among themselves for the soules health of the
flocks comitted to their charge within Wales That the Booke 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 bee imprinted
to such number at least so that one of the said Books so translated
and imprinted may be had for every Cathedrall Collegiate and Parish
Church and Chappell of Ease in the said respective Diocesses and
places in Wales where the Welsh is comonly spoken or used before the
first day of May one thousand six hundred sixty five And that from and
after the imprinting and publishing of the said Booke so translated
the whole Divine Service shall be used and said by the Ministers and
Curates throughout all Wales within the said Diocesses where the Welsh
Tongue is comonly used in the Brittish or Welsh Tongue in such manner
and forme as is prescribed according to the Booke hereunto annexed
to be used in the English Tongue differing nothing in any order or
forme from the said English Booke For which Booke so translated and
imprinted the Churchwardens of every of 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
sett and appoynt the price for which the said Booke shall be sold And
one other Booke of Comon Prayer in the English tongue shall be bought
and had in every Church throughout Wales in which the Booke of Comon
Prayer in which is to bee had by force of this Act before the first
day of May one thousand six hundred sixty and fower and the same Booke
to remaine in such convenient places within the said Churches that
such as understand them may resort at all convenient tymes to read
and peruse the same. And alsoe such as doe not understand the sayd
language may by conferring both tongues together the sooner attaine
to the knowledge of the English Tongue Any thing in this Act to the
contrary notwithstanding And untill printed Copies of the said booke
soe to bee translated may bee had and provided The forme of Comon
Prayer established by Parlyament before the making of this Act shall
be used as formerly in such parts of Wales where the English Tongue is
not comonly understood [Sidenote: XXVIII. “Sealed books” to be obtained
and kept.] And to the end that the true and perfect copies of this Act
and the said booke hereunto annexed may be safely kept and perpetually
preserved and for the avoyding of all disputes for the tyme to come Bee
it therefore Enacted by the authority aforesaid that the respective
Deanes and Chapters of every Cathedrall or Collegiate Church within
England and Wales shall at their proper costs and charges before the
Twentie fifth day of December one thousand six hundred sixty and two
obtaine under the Greate Seale of England a true and perfect printed
Copie of this Act and of the said booke annexed hereunto to bee by
the said Deanes and Chapters and their successors kept and preserved
in safety for ever and to bee allso produced and shewed forth in any
Court of Record as often as they shall bee thereunto lawfully required
and also there shall bee delivered true and perfect Copies of this Act
and of the same booke into the respective Courts at Westminster and
into the Tower of London to be kept and preserved for ever among the
Records of the said Courts and the Records of the Tower to be alsoe
produced and shewed forth in any Court as neede shall require which
sayd books soe to be exemplyfied under the Great Seale of England shall
be examined by such persons as the King’s Majestie shall appoint under
the Great Seale of England for that purpose and shall bee compared
with the originall booke hereunto annexed and shall have power to
correct and amend in writing any error comitted by the Printer in
the printing of the same booke or of any thing therein conteyned and
shall certifie in writing under their hands and seales or the hands
and seales of any three of them at the end of the same booke that
they have examined and compared the same booke and finde it to bee
a true and perfect copie which said bookes and every one of them so
exemplyfied under the Greate Seale of England as aforesaid shall be
deemed taken adjudged and expounded to bee good and available in the
law to all intents and purposes whatsoever and shall be accounted as
good Records as this booke it selfe hereunto annexed any law or custome
to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding [Sidenote: XXIX. Proviso
for King’s Professor of Law at Oxford.]Provided also that this Act or
any thing therein conteyned shall not be prejudiciall or hurtfull unto
the King’s Professor of the Law within the University of Oxford for or
concerning the Prebend of Shipton within the Cathedrall 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 Provided alwaies
that whereas the sixe and thirtieth Article of the [Sidenote: XXX.
Proviso concerning Art. 36.] nine and thirty Articles agreed upon by
the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Cleargy in
the Convocation holden at London in the yeare of our Lord One thousand
five hundred sixty two for the avoyding of diversities of opinions
and for establishing of consent touching true Religion is in these
words following (vizt.) “That the Book of Consecration of Archbishops
and Bishops and ordeyning of Preistes and Deacons lately set forth
in the time of King Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time
by Authority of Parliament doth conteyne althings necessary to such
Consecration and ordeyning Neither hath it any thing that of it selfe
is superstitious and ungodly: And therefore whosoever are consecrated
or Ordered according to the Rites of that Booke since the second yeare
of the aforenamed King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be
consecrated or ordered according to the same rites. Wee decree all such
to be rightly orderly and lawfully consecrated and ordered.” [Sidenote:
XXXI. Subscription to extend to form of Consecrating Bishops, &c.] 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 Preist or Ecclesiasticall 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
shalbe applyed (for and touching the s^d sixe and thirtieth Article)
unto the Booke conteyning the forme and manner of making ordeyning
and consecrating of Bishops Preists and Deacons in this Act mentioned
in such sort and manner as the same did heretofore extend unto the
Booke set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth mentioned in the
said six and thirtieth Article anything in the s^d Article or in any
Statute Act or Canon heretofore had or made to the contrary thereof
in any wise notwithstanding [Sidenote: XXXII. Form to be used till
Bartholomew’s Day, 1662.] Provided also that the Booke of Comon Prayer
and Administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonyes of
this Church of England together with the forme and manner of ordeyning
and consecrating Bishops Preists and Deacons heretofore in use and
respectively established by Act of Parliament in the first and eighth
years of Queen Elizabeth shalbe still used and observed in the Church
of England untill the Feast of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the
yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred sixty and two.
No. V.--Vol. I., p. 261.
Letters patent on parchment are attached to the sealed books. A copy of
the letter is given in Stephens’ edition of the Prayer Book, published
by the Ecclesiastical History Society.
After reciting the Act of Uniformity, it is said, “And whereas the
printed copy of the Act of Parliament, and Book aforesaid hereunto
annexed, hath been duly examined by the persons, whose names are
thereunto subscribed, in pursuance of our Commission to them and others
in that behalf directed. Now know ye, that, we according to the form
and effect of the said Act of Parliament, and in accomplishment of
the intent thereof, in this behalf, have inspected the said examined
copy of the Act of Parliament and Book aforesaid, and have caused the
same to be hereunto annexed, and to be exemplified under the Great
Seal of England. In witness, &c.,----; signed Barker.” No copy of the
Commission is supplied, nor the names of the Commissioners.
In the sealed books alterations are made by the pen of the
Commissioners to bring them into accordance with the copy of the book
attached to the Act. Most of these are quite unimportant. For example:--
1. _In the titles of the services_, “_The_” is prefixed to the word
collect.
2. _In the headings of the pages_, “_Trinity Sunday XXIII_” is altered
into “_The XXIII Sunday after Trinity_.”
“_Whitsun Munday_” into “_Munday in Whitsun Week_.”
It is important to notice, that the title “_The Creed of St.
Athanasius_” was printed originally, in the sealed books, on the top
of the page over the creed; it was then struck out by the Commissioners.
3. _In the text of prayers_:
In the sentences at beginning of morning prayer, it was printed, “Hide
thy face from my sins, and blot out _all_ my iniquities:” “_all_” was
struck out. “Forgiveness” was altered into “Forgivene_sses_.”
In the clause of the Lord’s Prayer “Thine is the kingdom _and_ the
power and the glory,” the first “_and_” is cancelled.
In the Absolution, “Wherefore _let us beseech Him_,” is changed into
“Wherefore _beseech we Him_.”
In the sealed book at Chichester, Dr. Swainson pointed out to me in
Psalm xc. verse 8, as used in the Burial Service, _light_ corrected
into _sight_; and in verse 12 _so_ into _O_. Some of our modern Prayer
Books retain the _O_, but have given up the _sight_.
4. _In the Rubric_, at the end of the Communion Service, the words,
“_for the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here on earth_,” are
inserted, by the Commissioners, in some sealed books, after an erasure
of the original printed words.
Many of the alterations cannot be corrections of the printer’s errata.
They evidently indicate changes of words made in the original copy
after the printing of the books which were used as sealed copies.
In the Appendix to the first Report of the Royal Commission on Ritual
will be found remarks upon the sealed copy at Ely.
It is strange that the printers of Prayer Books do not bring them into
correspondence with the sealed books, which alone contain the legally
correct formularies of the Church.
No. VI.--Vol. I., p. 282.
The number of the ejected is a vexed question. We possess at present
unsatisfactory data; and I fear that we shall never obtain such a
knowledge of facts as will enable us to reach a precise conclusion.
The Ecclesiastical Registers of the country might seem to afford great
hope of being sufficient to decide the controversy; but, to say nothing
of the labour of searching them, unfortunately when the work has been
begun, in some cases, from the imperfection of the records, it has
yielded little or no fruit.
Some years ago I attempted searching the records of the See of London,
in St. Paul’s Cathedral; but from the state of the records at that time
the attempt proved unsuccessful.
The friendly kindness of the Dean of Chichester, and Canon Swainson,
afforded me every facility for examining the Archives in the
Cathedral. The latter assisted me in examining the Registers; to our
disappointment they were found defective for 1662. But as this Work
was passing through the press, Canon Swainson communicated to me some
valuable information, which will be subjoined to this note. At present
our conclusions must rest upon the lists of names which have been
published by Calamy and Palmer; and upon such general statements as are
furnished by writers who were living at the time when the ejectment
took place.
Calamy, in his second volume, undertakes to give an “Account of the
ministers who were ejected or _silenced_ after the Restoration
of King Charles II.” In his second, and two following volumes, he
includes ministers, lecturers, masters and fellows of colleges,
and schoolmasters. Palmer, in his _Nonconformist Memorial_,
describes those whom he registers as “Ejected or _silenced_
after the Restoration, particularly by the Act of Uniformity.” These
important distinctions are often overlooked; and it is imagined that
all the names collected together, are the names of clergymen who were
removed from their livings on Bartholomew’s Day. Such an imagination
is contradicted by facts. In agreement with the indication given on
the title pages of our two principal authorities, we discover in
these biographical sketches a number of incumbents who were displaced
before the Uniformity Act was passed, most of them in consequence of
Episcopalian clergymen having returned to claim their sequestered
livings. Cases of this kind appear in the present History. Those
ministers who thus lost their benefices clearly ought to be arranged in
a class by themselves. Having set them aside, there remain others who,
according to all accounts, did not forfeit their emoluments through
the operation of the new Act. They consisted of such clergymen as,
through Episcopal connivance, or from some other cause, continued to
hold their benefices; they were comparatively few in number, and the
benefices of most were of inconsiderable value. We are then to add
another class, described as simple candidates for the ministry, who
therefore possessed no livings from which they could be driven. Also we
must separate the cases of persons who, though mentioned amongst the
ejected, did not quit the Church until after St. Bartholomew’s Day;
some of whom were not ministers in the Establishment at that time. The
exceptional cases of the last three kinds, such as were connived at,
such as were only candidates, and such as did not quit the Church until
afterwards, so far as I can see, are altogether below fifty. I may have
overlooked some.
What would be the total number of the persons who, although included
in the general list of sufferers, did not surrender their incumbencies
on St. Bartholomew’s Day, I am at a loss to determine. The information
given in many cases is so incomplete, that it does not show when and
how the persons mentioned were removed. In more than five hundred
instances bare names occur, and in many more so little is added as to
be next to nothing. Most of the persons named were probably in some way
or other losers for conscience’ sake; but I am not aware of any means
by which all those among them who left the Establishment before the
24th of August of 1662, can be separated from those who were ejected on
that day.
If we refer to general statements, we find Baxter saying, in his
_Petition for Peace_ presented to the Bishops with the proposed
reformation of the Liturgy, at the Savoy Conference, “_Some_
hundreds of able, holy, faithful ministers, are of late cast
out.”[615] He also speaks in the _Rejoinder_ of “_several_
hundreds.”[616] These statements were made in 1661, more than a year
before the Uniformity Act came into operation. Taking the indefinite
_several_ hundreds at the lowest reasonable computation, and
remembering, that during the intermediate year more Nonconformists
would be “cast out,” we can scarcely reckon the ejected, before St.
Bartholomew’s Day, 1662, at less than six hundred. Hook’s letter
written in the month of March, 1663, alludes to the number of the
ejected on St. Bartholomew’s Day as 1,600, and says “as many had been
removed before.” This, no doubt, is an exaggeration; but it would seem
to suggest, at least, that the number previously removed bore a large
proportion to the number ultimately ejected. To the six hundred, or
so, ejected before the Uniformity Act came into effect, let there be
added two or three hundred more,--which would be a very large allowance
for such exceptional cases as I have indicated, and for the great
uncertainty respecting the five hundred bare names in the lists of
“the ejected and _silenced_,”--and we thus reach a total of some
eight or nine hundred, who may be admitted to have suffered more or
less in consequence of the Restoration, but who must not be considered
as undergoing ejectment on Bartholomew’s Day. The last and the longest
list of sufferers, before and upon the 24th of August, 1662, put all
together, is that furnished by Palmer, amounting to 2,231,--a list
evidently prepared with much care. He mentions a MS. “Index eorum
Theologorum Aliorumque No. 2,257, qui propter Legem Uniformitatis, Aug.
24, A. D. 1662, ab Ecclesia Anglicana secesserunt.” Calamy’s
entire list reckons 2,190. Making the largest allowable deduction for
those deprived before Bartholomew’s Day--that of nine hundred as just
suggested--then the number of those who were deprived on that day would
amount to about 1,200. I do not see how more than that number could
have been then displaced. I am induced to believe there were scarcely
so many.
But whilst the distinctions and abatements which I have just made are
demanded with a view to some accurate conclusion, it is to be borne
in mind that the whole body of Nonconformist ministers, including
the ejected, the candidates for the ministry, and all who had been
accustomed in any way to preach the Gospel, were _silenced_ by
the Act. They could no longer any of them preach in a place of public
worship. Therefore if we include the silenced, I should think that
Baxter is rather under than above the mark in saying, “When Bartholomew
Day came, about one thousand eight hundred, or two thousand ministers
were silenced and cast out.”--_Life and Times_, ii. 385. After
all, no bare statistics, no enumeration of figures, can ever represent
the amount of trial, sorrow, and loss inflicted upon conscientious men
at that lamentable era in our ecclesiastical history.
Palmer, following Calamy, gives a large number of names of clergymen
who “afterwards conformed.” It may be inferred that amongst these were
not a few who passed through considerable conflict of mind before they
did so.
What was the exact number of the clergy just after the Act of
Uniformity I cannot ascertain. Chamberlayne says, in his _Present
State of England_, ed. 1692, that there were 9,700 rectors and
vicars, besides dignitaries and curates--p. 189. In another place, he
says:--“The whole number of the clergy of England are in all, first,
two archbishops, twenty-four bishops, twenty-six deans of cathedral and
collegiate churches, 576 prebendaries, 9,653 rectors and vicars, and
about so many more, with curates, and others in Holy Orders.”--Part
ii., 19. But this estimate must be greatly in excess of the actual
number.
The communication from Dr. Swainson is as follows:--
“Let me inform you that I have found a book in our muniment-room which
to a certain extent supplies the place of the Episcopal Registers of
Henry King, who was restored to his see with the Restoration. The
Registers, you know, are reported as lost. This book is the book
of subscriptions to the three articles of the 36th Canon, and the
declaration against the Solemn League and Covenant. With the assistance
of a friend I have analysed the former, and the enclosed paper contains
the result. But I must notice that it gives no intimation as to the
number of clergymen who returned to the livings from which they were
banished during the Commonwealth, nor of the Presbyterians and others
who were then ejected from their homes; it only gives the livings into
which _new_ incumbents were installed; and I think you will agree
with me that the number is very small. At the same time my attention
has been drawn to the large number of ordinations of deacons in the
first two years after the book commences. My impression is that a
Presbyterian or Independent minister in legal possession of a living
might retain it by the Act of Uniformity, if he accepted deacon’s
orders. Thus we should have in the first three years twenty-three more
vacancies than in the last three of the period before us; and in the
first three years one hundred and eight men ordained deacons, in the
last three fourteen or fifteen. I infer that, of these one hundred and
eight a large proportion conformed and retained their preferment. My
friend notices a large ordination in 1673. Eighteen priests and sixteen
deacons on Trinity Sunday; eight priests and eleven deacons in Advent.”
The enclosed paper states, “The book of subscriptions commences on 2nd
November, 1662, and the last subscription is dated on 22nd September,
1678, thus it includes a period of sixteen years. I have no reason
to suppose that it is imperfect. On analysing it, the subscriptions
describe, that the subscriber is about to be admitted (1) to some
rectory, vicarage, or cure of souls; (2) to a prebend or dignity in the
cathedral; (3) to ‘Presbyteratus ordinen;’ (4) to deacon’s orders.
There are a few who are about to be licensed to preach, and about four
in the sixteen years who come to qualify themselves to keep school. The
number of vacancies in rectories, vicarages, and places with cure of
souls thus indicated in the several years are:--
November 1, 1662 to October 31, 1663 19
„ „ 1664 26
„ „ 1665 14
„ „ 1666 16
„ „ 1667 18
„ „ 1668 20
„ „ 1669 12
„ „ 1670 10
„ „ 1671 20
„ „ 1672 13
„ „ 1673 16
„ „ 1674 16
„ „ 1675 9
„ „ 1676 8
„ „ 1677 15
„ „ 1678 13
making a total of 245 in 16 years, or an average of 15¼ per annum.
“The number of vacancies in the first three years is thus fifty-nine;
in the last three, thirty-six. Taking the last figures as representing
the number from ordinary causes, we have an overplus of twenty-three
due to extraordinary causes, _i.e._, nonconformity, in the first
three years. The number of men ordained deacons in the first three
years was one hundred and seven; in the last three years, fifteen.
Therefore the overplus of ninety-two ordained in the first three years
was due to extraordinary causes; the question is what these causes were?
“N.B.--Eighty-three men were ordained priests during the same first
three years. The number of benefices in the diocese of Chichester is
_now_ (1869) 330.”
No. VII.--Vol. I., p. 314.
Of the informer’s _Note Book_, preserved in the Record Office, I have
an entire copy in my possession, made by the late Mr. Clarence Hopper,
and from it I give the following extracts:--
“_Brokes_ (Pastor)--Meets at Mr. Shaw’s, sailmaker, in Tower Wharf,
sometimes at one Palmer’s Wise, [_sic_] and Holmes’s, who dwell all in
the fields on the left hand, near Moorgate, where the quarters hang;
where there is suspected some persons of note lie dormant, viz., Col.
Danvers, Col. Gledman, Mr. Wollaston. The field is named ‘Phines-berry’
(Finsbury).”
“_Caitnesse._--A Scotchman intimately acquainted with Lawrye the
merchant (his old maid knows much of him). He dwells a little beyond
Ratcliffe Church, hard by Gun Alley, next door to a shoemaker’s.
Brother-in-law to Mr. Roe (formerly minister), a schoolmaster in
Christchurch, within the Cloisters can tell of Caitnesse. Several of
the Lord General’s old soldiers know Caitnesse; he knows Lieut.-Col.
Desborough and Ellison.”
“_Duckenfield._--They are 3 brothers all officers in the Army. Col.
Jo Duckenfield, a stout fellow, now in Ireland, 1663, married an
Exchange-woman, commanded the Foot at Winnington-bridge, 1659. Major
Wm. Duckenfield in Ireland, 1663, married Franklin’s daughter, over
against Salisbury House, an Exchange-man. Col. Rob. Duckenfield
married Fleetwood’s sister, and hath an estate at Duckenfield Hall, in
Cheshire, all 3 dangerous fellows.”
“_Forbes._--Formerly in Gloucester, a Scottishman. Caitnes. Rawdon. His
wife’s mother lives near Henley-upon-Thames, in Bucks. When in town,
lodges behind Abchurch, going into Sherburne Lane from Cannon Street,
upon the right hand, beyond the church; his landlord keeps a shop in
Pope’s Head Alley. Enquire of Henley Coach, where it stands, for Mr.
Forbes. His sister is an apothecary’s wife, over against Warwick House,
in Holborn; and at Mr. Johnston’s, in Gr. Inne Lane, &c.”
“_Thomas Goodwine_ (pastor).--Dwells in the fields, on the left hand
near Moorgate, where the quarters stand, and meets often with Dr.
Owen.”--(_Vide O._)
“_Mrs. Homes_, at the Red Lion, a grocer’s shop, in St. Laurence Lane,
is the great patroness of the worst of people now in London, and Ewell
in particular. (Mrs. Holond Com. his wife), and Mr. Sheldon, prisoner
in the Tower, who married Holond’s daughter; Mrs. Homes, now or lately,
paid and discharged the rent for the house, which Thomas Goodwin lies
in, at Bone Hill, beyond the Artillery Ground, near Cherry Tree Alley.
She has a great estate; and spends it among those that lie in wait
to disturb the peace of the kingdom. She is a frequent visitor of
the prisons, and encourages and confirms those that are in greatest
opposition to the Government. Her chief servant is called Browne,
who ’tis thought, was one of the Rump Parliament. Her cash-keeper
confessed, that, in six weeks after her husband died, she gave away
£800. ’Tis no wonder, for she gains, with her money, several from the
Church daily and under pretence of charity, corrupts many poor and
wanting people.”
“_Jessey_, meets often at one Thomas Goodwine’s, and Dr. Owen’s in the
fields, near to Moorgate, where the quarters hang; (pastor). The said
Jessey meets also at the Lady Hartups, at Newington, Harfordshire, dead
1663.”
“_Harwood_, Jo., a merchant at Mile-end Green, a factious dangerous
Independent; and the common factor for all the merchants trading
especially to New England; who uses constantly to cover and disguise,
the ships, goods, and persons, of those of that opinion in their
voyages and passages, so as the officers of the Customs, &c., at
Gravesend, and other places, are, by his interest and money, corrupted
to slip the oaths, which otherwise ought to be tendered to all persons
going out, &c.”
“_Knowles_, an Anabaptist minister, a good scholar, and a leading man,
now in Amsterdam, maintained by the churches; and one Thibalds (his
elder), in Tower Street, corresponds with him, (to him Mr. Riggs was
recommended by Thibalds.) Knowles dwells in Wapping.”
“_Meade_, Pastor of the Independent Church, meets twice a week with
Greenhill at Ratcliffe, and Stepney.”
“_Dr. Owen_ (_Pastor_), dwells in the fields, on the left hand near
Moorgate, where the quarters hang, and meets often with Goodwine.”
“_Robinson_ (Andrew), a Scotts Quaker, dangerous young fellow; carries
letters between London and Edinburgh; comes frequently to Mr. Lawrye’s.”
“_Sprig_, a minister, and great creature of the late usurper’s. Mr.
Johnson knows him intimately. Sprig is a great acquaintance of Sir Hen.
Vane’s and Ludlow’s.”
No. VIII.--Vol. I., p. 319.
In connection with the narrative on this page, and others elsewhere of
the same kind, I would request the reader to bear in mind what I have
remarked on p. 102. of this volume.
After the printing of the anecdote respecting Mr. Ince, a very
interesting little book, entitled _The Church at Birdbush_, has
come under my notice, from which I extract the following passages
in reference to the story I have related:--“This striking narrative
has sometimes been repudiated as a fiction. The evidence for its
credibility seems, however, to be stronger than the supposition of its
falsehood. The fact that the individual on whose authority it rests,
had spent much time and labour in collecting authentic accounts of
the period to which it refers, and that before the year 1705, he had
lived at Shaftesbury, where, from its proximity to the scene of its
occurrence, this event would be the theme of general conversation,
is a fair argument in proof of its validity. Assuming then, in the
absence of proof to the contrary, that the principal points in this
striking incident are true, there are connected circumstances which
require that some additional remarks should be made. The _date_ of the
occurrence of this remarkable event has been a matter of conflicting
statement. While the _Nonconformist’s Memorial_ fixes it at ‘not long
after the year 1662,’ a writer in the _Evangelical Magazine_ for 1798,
states it to have taken place ‘soon after the Toleration Act passed
in 1689.’ Perhaps the precise year cannot be fixed, and yet, from an
incidental remark in the life of the Rev. T. Rosewell, given in the
_Nonconformist’s Memorial_, we may arrive at a satisfactory conclusion.
His biographer says, ‘After leaving Lady Hungerford’s family, he was
invited, in 1672, into that of Mr. Grove, at Ferne, where Mr. Ince
lived, where he spent some months much to his comfort.’ By this it is
evident that the event referred to happened before the year 1672. A
second disputed point is, the apparent improbability of Mr. Ince being
unknown at Ferne, after having been Rector of the adjoining parish
for fourteen years or more. It should be remembered, that some few
years, at least, elapsed between his ejectment at Donhead, and his
being employed on the before-named estate. Time would of course leave
its impressions on the form which would otherwise have been easily
recognized. Besides, it is attested that he had hired himself to the
‘employment of tending sheep;’ and the shepherd’s dress, connected
with the effects of prison usage, and of the other circumstances of
trial to which he had been exposed, may all have combined to conceal
his true profession as a minister of Christ, until the time fixed in
the Infinite Mind arrived for its discovery. His ‘appearance’ was that
which surprised Mr. Grove, when he contrasted it with his ‘language
and manner.’ The last sentence of the statement obviously requires
correction. The _Meeting-house_ referred to, was _not_ erected on the
estate at Ferne, nor by Mr. Grove.”
No. IX.--Vol. I., p. 374.
I have adopted the common account of Cecil’s signing Edward VI.’s
Instrument of Succession as a witness. It is endorsed by Mr.
Froude.--(_Hist._, v. 509). But I ought to add, that Tytler, in his
_England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary_, discredits the
story which rests on a statement made by Roger Alford, twenty years
afterwards, who on Cecil’s authority, and at his request, was trying
to make out a case in favour of his master. Cecil’s signature occurs
in the midst of many names appended to the document, not at all in
the way of witness; and Tytler thinks, that Cecil had determined to
retain his place, whatever sacrifice it might cost him. It did cost him
dear--“for he was driven by it to falsehood, to evasion, and to little
subterfuges, from which every upright mind would have recoiled.”--(Vol.
ii. 175.) In a defence of himself, written in his own hand, for the eye
of Queen Mary, and which Tytler has printed (vol. ii. 192), he says
nothing of having signed the instrument as a witness.
It appears further, from an examination by Tytler, of some of Cecil’s
papers in the Record Office, that in the reign of Queen Mary he
conformed to the established religion by attending mass.--(Vol. ii.
443.) Yet it is remarkable that although regarded kindly at court,
he never held office under the Popish Sovereign; and is distinctly
described as “a heretic” by the Count de Feria, writing in 1558.--(p.
499). Whatever his compliances at the time, there must have been enough
in his conduct to indicate that he was an unwilling Conformist, and
that he was in heart a Protestant. Still, in respect to religious
profession in the earlier part of life, he is seen to disadvantage when
compared with Clarendon.
No. X.--Vol. II., p. 88.
Lord Macaulay mentions in his _History of England_, a broadside which
he had seen, and which is printed in Somers’ _Tracts_. The author,
as he says, was a Roman Catholic, having access to good sources of
information, and although no name but one is given at length, the
initials are intelligible except in a single instance. The Duke of York
is said to have been reminded of his duty to his brother by P. M. A. C.
F., which mysterious letters puzzled his Lordship as they had done Sir
Walter Scott, who edited Somers’ _Collection_. Plausible conjectures
as to their meaning occurred at the same time to Macaulay and others,
and though the conviction continued in his mind, that the true solution
had not been suggested, he was inclined to read the initials thus:
“Père Mansuete, a Cordelier Friar.” A Cordelier of that name was James’
Confessor.
After all, the shrewd conjecture was correct. The following paper,
mentioned in my Preface, settles the question. It is substantially the
same as the paper printed in _Somers_ (Scott’s Edition, viii. 428),
but the verbal differences are considerable, and the P. M. A. C. F. is
identified as Père Mansuete, a Cordelier Friar, Confessor to the Duke.
I print the MS. at length, as it will be interesting for the historical
student to compare it with the broad sheet reprinted by Somers:--
“On Munday 2^d of February Candlemas day the King rose early, said he
had not slept well. About 7 a clock comeing from his private devotions
out of his Closett, fell downe so that he was dead for foure hours
in an Apoplecticke fitt: with losse of 16 ounces of blood and other
applications came to his sences againe: Great hopes of his recovery
till Thursday one a clocke. But at 5 the Doctors being come before the
Councill declared he was in great danger. On Friday a quarter before
12 he departed. God have mercy upon his soule. _P. M. a C. ffryar C_
to the Duke upon the Doctors first telling him of the State of the K.
told him that now was the time to take care of his soule and that it
was his duty to tell him so. The D. with this admonition went unto the
King and told it, The K. answered O Brother how long have I wished but
now help me: He said he would have Father Hudd:[617] who preserved him
in the tree, and now hoped he would preserve his soule; H was sent
for to bring all necessaries for a dying man: not having the B: S. by
him, H mett one of the Q^s P,[618] told him the occasion, desiring
his assistance to procure it and bring it to the back staires. The
King having notice that Mr. Hudd: waited desired to be in private with
his Brother. All the Bpps and Nobles goeing out, the D latching the
dore, the L^{de} P. B. and F.[619] were goeing out also, the D told
them they might stay, the Kg seeing Father cryed out: Almighty God
what good planet governes me that all my life is wonders and miracles
when I O Lord consider my infancy, my exile, my escape at Wor’ster my
preservation in the tree by this good Father and now to have him againe
to be the Preserver of my Soule, O’ Lord my wonderfull Restauration,
the great danger of the late Conspiracy and last of all to be raised
from death and to have my soule preserved by the assistance of this
good Father whom I see that thou O Lord hast created for my good: the D
and E^{s,}[620] withdrew into the Closett, they were private for some
time, after which the D and E^{s} entred againe, the Father remaining
comforting and praying with him, He said, if I am worthy of it, Pray
lett me have it, the Father said he exspected it and offered to
proceed with the extreeme unction, The King said, with all my heart:
the D and the L^{ds} assisting at the time M^{r.} Hudd: being called
to the doore received the B: S: he desired the Kg to compose himselfe
to receive. the King would rise, he was perswaded to the Contrary,
Let me meet my heavenly father in a better posture then lying thus,
being overruled they pray, amongst other the Father repeated an Act
of Contrition, the King desired him to repeate it againe, saying it
word by word after him, Received with the greatest expressions of
devotion imaginable: This being ended they proceeded in the Prayer de
Recommendacöne animæ, that being done, the King desired a repetition of
the Act of Contrition once more, Lord Good God when my Lips faile let
my heart speake these words eternally.
“The Bishops and Lords entred againe and perswaded the King to remember
his last end and to endeavour to make a good end. He said he had
thought on it and made his peace with God. Asking him whether he would
receive, he said he would not, he persisting in extolling the Queene
and Duke said he was not sorry to leave the world leaving so good a
brother to rule behind him.”
No. XI.--Vol. II., p. 148.
Macaulay, speaking of the disobedience of the London clergy to the
Royal order, says:--“Samuel Wesley, the father of John and Charles
Wesley, a curate in London, took for his text that day the noble
answer of the three Jews to the Chaldean tyrant, ‘Be it known unto
thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up.’” The historian quotes as his
authority Southey’s _Life of Wesley_. The story has been repeated
again and again. Unfortunately, in reference to Wesley, it cannot be
true. He was ordained in deacon’s orders the 17th of August, 1688,
about three months after the issuing of the order: and the only
foundation for the story seems to be a poem by the younger Wesley,
written “upon a clergyman lately deceased,” the Rev. John Berry, the
poet’s father-in-law, and published four years before Samuel Wesley’s
death.--See _The Mother of the Wesleys_, by the Rev. John Kirk, p. 58.
No. XII.--Vol. II., chap. xiv.
ANGLICAN VIEWS ON THE RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE.
In the review of Anglican opinions in the 14th chapter I have scarcely
entered upon what is understood by the Church and State question. I am
not able to supply, from the works of Bull, Pearson, Cosin, Heylyn,
Barrow, and others, any satisfactory catena of passages bearing on this
point, or to report any definite theory, or any sustained arguments of
theirs in relation to it. Their theological writings treat of other
themes. Thorndike, indeed, has a good deal to say of the State, as
well as of the Church, and speaks, on the one hand, of the State being
in subjection to the Church, of the State being bound to protect the
Church, and of the State being justified in inflicting penalties for
religion when the latter interferes with civil peace. On the other
hand, he speaks of kings being justified in reforming the Church, even
against the ecclesiastical order. (Reference to these passages will
be found in the index to the Oxford Edition of Thorndike.) Yet I can
find in Thorndike no precise theory of Church and State relations.
Jeremy Taylor treats of ecclesiastical laws and power; he insists on
the concurrence in them of the civil authorities, and that kings are
bound to keep the Church’s laws; yet he denies that Christian princes
can be lawfully excommunicated. (_Works_, xiii. 583–616.) Bramhall
alludes to the Royal nomination and investiture of bishops in England
as approved by ancient canons and constitutions (part iv. dis. 6);
and Sanderson goes so far as to declare, that the king hath power, if
he shall see cause, to suspend any bishop from the execution of his
office, and to deprive him utterly of his dignity. (_Episcopacy not
prejudicial_, s. iii. 33.) Morley’s extravagant views of the Royal
prerogative have been noticed. On the whole it appears that after the
Restoration, High Churchmanship manifested itself more in theological
doctrine, than in either ritualism or in ecclesiastical supremacy.
Looking at the whole history of the period between the Restoration and
the Revolution, we see in the ascendant that which is commonly meant by
the word Erastianism. Indications of this are afforded by the manner
in which the Act of Uniformity was carried; by the utter inactivity
of Convocation after the year 1664,--for it did scarcely more than
formally assemble from time to time,--and by the notions of the Royal
supremacy so generally maintained, and so plainly expressed, not only
by Bishop Morley but by the two Universities.
No. XIII.--Vol. II., p. 93.
“On the 19th of May, 1685, the King (about 11 a clock in the morning)
came to the House of Peers in his royal robes, and with his crown off
his head, being attended with the great officers of state, and having
placed himself on his throne, the Usher of the Black Rod, Sir Thomas
Duppa, was sent to bring up the Commons to the bar of the Lords’ House.
The Commons being come, the Lord Keeper standing behind the Chair of
State (from whence he usually speaks to the two Houses) acquainted the
Commons that his Majesty had commanded him to tell them that it was his
royal pleasure, that they should go down to the Lower House, and choose
their speaker, and present him at 4 of the clock in the afternoon, to
his Majesty at the bar of the Lords’ House, for his approbation.
The Lord Keeper acquainted the Lords and Commons at the same time, that
they should, in the mean time, apply themselves to take the oaths of
allegiance and supremacy and the test, as the law requires, and when
that was done in both Houses, his Majesty would then acquaint them with
the reasons why he called them to Parliament.
Thereupon the Commons withdrew, and went down to their own House, and
(as I have been informed) forthwith chose Sir John Trevor to be their
speaker.
In the mean time, the Lords went about the taking of the oath of
allegiance, and supremacy, and the test; and in the first place, the
Lord Keeper took the oaths and test singly; and then the Lords in their
order, beginning with the Barons, and ending at the Archbishop of
Canterbury.