[1] There is a document amongst the State Papers, headed "Proceeding to the Parliament of the Most High and Mighty Prince, King Charles, on Tuesday, the 3rd of November, 1640, from Whitehall by water to Westminster Stairs, and from thence on foot." The document is interesting in connection with Clarendon's statement: "The King himself did not ride with his accustomed equipage, nor in his usual majesty, to Westminster, but went privately in his barge to the parliament stairs, and so to the Church, as if it had been to a return of a prorogued or adjourned Parliament."—Hist. of Rebellion and Life (in one vol.), 68. The paper exhibits the following programme: "Messengers; trumpets; the Sergeant-trumpeter alone; Master of the Chancery; the King's Puisne Sergeants-at-law; the King's Solicitor and the King's Attorney-General; the King's two ancient Sergeants-at-law; Masters of the Requests, two and two; Barons of the Exchequer; Justices of the Common Pleas; Justices of the King's Bench; Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer: Master of the Rolls; the two Lords Chief Justices; Pursuivants-of-Arms; Privy Councillors; Heralds; Lord Finch, keeper of the Great Seal of England, and many other lords and gentlemen."
[2] See Journals of the Lords, to the words of which I have closely adhered, and Parliamentary History. (Cobbett), ii. 637.
[3] No one can see more clearly than myself the defectiveness of these views of the state of parties. We must begin somewhere. To go very far back is unsatisfactory, because the glimpses given of remote periods must be indistinct and confused, and are apt to convey inaccurate impressions. To commence with notices of what took place just before our history opens, is also exposed to objection, because it leaves out of sight so much which served to prepare for what followed. The history of the Commonwealth requires a previous study of the history of the Reformation, and that again the history of the Middle Ages. Notices of the early Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists will be found in subsequent chapters.
[4] This oft-told story rests on the authority of his friend, Lord Clarendon.—Hist. and Life, 928.
[5] Stat. 1 Eliz. C.Q., lv. 3, 15.
When the Bills of Supremacy and Uniformity were read a third time in the House of Lords (April 26 and 28, 1558), the Bishops of York, London, Ely, Wigorn, Llandaff, Coventry and Litchfield, Exon, Chester, Carlisle, are mentioned in the Journals as dissentients from both the Bills.—Strype's Annals of the Reformation, i. 87, (Oxford edition.) In connection with the history of the Bill of Supremacy in Strype's Annals the student should read the history of convocation in Strype's Memorials, Vol. i. Chap. xvii. An extraordinary paper in favour of the King's supremacy, attributed to Gardiner, is given, p. 209.
[6] 8 Eliz. c. 1, "declaring the manner of making and consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops of the realm to be good, lawful, and perfect."—Strype's Life of Parker, (Oxford edition) i. 109-121. See also "paper of arguments for the Queen's supreme power in causes ecclesiastical."—Strype's Life of Whitgift, iii. 213.
[7] Selden says so in his Table Talk, 38. Mr. Bruce informs me, "I have no doubt that Selden was right. Many great persons holding offices in the State and Household were appointed Commissioners by reason of their offices, but never attended. The business fell into the hands of the Bishops (or rather some three or four of them) and a few civilians from Doctors' Commons—the Judge of the Arches, the Judge of the Prerogative Court, and a few other such persons. The sentences that I have seen have been signed by from 15 to 20 persons, generally such as I have indicated."
[8] "Turning her speech to the Bishops, she gave them this admonition, 'That if they, the Lords of the clergy (as she called them), did not amend, she was minded to depose them, and bade them therefore to look well to their charges.'"—Strype's Whitgift, i. 393.
[9] Strype's Whitgift, i. 391. Whitgift has been called an Erastian, and Warburton (Works, xii. 386), on Selden's authority, attributes to him the publication of the De excommunicatione, under fictitious names of the place and printer. I do not know the ground of Selden's statement. The proceedings of Whitgift were inconsistent with Erastianism. The famous work of Erastus will be noticed hereafter.
[10] Strype's Whitgift, i. 559. See Sir Francis Knolly's objection to Bancroft's doctrine, reduced to a syllogistic form (560). Knollys had encouraged Parker to oppose the use of burning tapers, and of the cross, in the Queen's chapel.—Strype's Parker, i. 92.
[11] Parker was kept up to the mark in enforcing uniformity by the Queen, who in this and some other points was more decidedly Anglo-Catholic than her Protestant prelates. See her letter to him "roundly penned." Strype's Parker, ii. 76.
[12] Strype, (in his Annals, i. 106,) says 177. He adds "In one of the volumes of the Cotton Library—which volume seemeth once to have belonged to Camden—the whole number of the deprived ecclesiastics is digested in this catalogue: Bishops, 14; Deans, 13; Archdeacons, 14; Heads of Colleges, 15; Prebendaries, 50; Rectors of Churches, 80; Abbots, Priors, and Abbesses, 6; in all, 192. Camden, in his Annals, little varies, only reckoning 12 Deans and as many Archdeacons."
[13] Paper endorsed—Dr. Bardesy; "Of my Daughter's Death, 1 April, 1641;" 1/4 ho. ante ho. 9, post Mer.—State Papers. Charles I. Domestic.
[14] Mr. Bruce's Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1633-4, p. 275; and Preface, xviii.
[15] Lathbury's History of Convocation, 253.
[16] This is illustrated in the Tractarian movement, as appears in Dr. Newman's Apologia.
[17] Roger Ascham's application to Cranmer in the reign of Edward VI., for a dispensation during Lent is very curious. So is the grant of it in the King's name under the Privy Seal, at the Archbishop's suggestion.—See Strype's Cranmer, i. 238, 240.
[18] "Many choose to be wanton," it is said, "with flesh at that time, rather than at others." February 13.—State Papers, Domestic.
[19] See "The Arminian Nunnery, or a brief description and relation of the late erected monastical place called the Arminian Nunnery at Little Gidding, in Huntingdonshire." 1641. Compare Walton's Lives, 335.
[20] Rushworth's Historical Collection, ii. 324. No doubt, sometimes the charge of Popery was unjustly made, and there is force in what Sanderson says in the Preface to his Sermons, p. 74. The passage is too long for quotation.
[21] See Hale's Precedents and Proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts. Introductory Essay, xxxiv. Compare Hallam's Const. Hist., i. 99.
[22] See New Canons, iii. to xii., made in 1604.
[23] Whitelocke, when Recorder of Abingdon, was accused and cited before the Council Table because "he did comply with and countenance the Nonconformists there, and refused to punish those who did not bow at the name of Jesus, and to the altar, and refused to receive the sacrament kneeling at the high altar, &c."—Whitelocke's Memorials, 23.
[24] Hale's Precedents in Criminal Causes, xxxix., xliii.; compare Hallam's Const. Hist., i. 180. The extracts from Court Books in Hale are my authority for what follows. I may add here that, soon after the accession of Elizabeth, the bishops complained of interference with their office in discipline, and correction of evil manners, by inhibitions obtained from the courts of the Archbishop of Canterbury.—Strype's Parker, i. 161.
[25] A clear account of compurgation, transferred from old ecclesiastical courts to the Court of High Commission, is given by Mr. Bruce in his Preface to the Cal. Dom. 1635-6, xxxi. A man was restored "to his good name" by swearing to his own innocence when objectors did not appear, and his neighbours, the compurgators, swore that he was to be believed.
[26] It is very remarkable that this Act, the only one which fixes the authority for deciding what heresy is, vests that spiritual power in the secular government, only with clerical "assent."—Stat. 1 Eliz., c. 1, s. 36.
[27] 1562, July 20. A commission was issued for ecclesiastical causes in the diocese of Chester.
1576, April 23. A commission was given to Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other bishops, for exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction throughout the nation.—State Papers, cviii., No. 7.
The "proceedings of the Archbishop of York" in 1580 are preserved in the State Paper Office, cxli., No. 28. At a private meeting on the 2nd of August, 1580, held in Richmond, "the Court is informed that Robert Wythes, of Copgrave, gentleman, made fast his doors against the messenger; that a little damsel was set to attend at the door, who made answer he was not at home, and refused to receive the process, so the messenger waxed it to the door." Vol. cxli., No. 3.
[28] Neal, i. 410, gives a copy of the commission from a MS. I have sought in vain for the original. Mr. Bruce informs me it is not preserved among the State Papers.
Neal, i. 414, explains "all other means and ways they could devise" as including the rack. Brodie (British Empire, i. 197) disputes this, saying, "Besides that, the rack never was attempted; the other clauses distinctly show that it never was contemplated." On carefully examining the commission printed in Neal, it will be found that the qualifying expressions "lawful," &c., are connected with the infliction of penalty, not the business of enquiry. The penalties were to be according to law, but that restriction would not necessarily apply to the mode of examination. I do not see that Brodie's argument is conclusive; still I do not think that the rack was used. The absence, however, of the word "lawful" in connection with "ways and means" in the first clause is remarkable.
[29] Brodie, i. 198. He adds: "Though fines were imposed, not one was levied in Elizabeth's time by any judicial process out of the Exchequer, 'nor any subject, in his body, lands, or goods, charged therewith.'"—Coke's 4th Inst., 326, 332; 4th Inst., 331.
In various printed books the legality of the Court was questioned. The ex officio oath was objected to as a sinister practice of the Romish clergy, and contrary to fundamental laws of liberty.—Burn's High Commission (a pamphlet published by J. Russel Smith, 1865), 14.
[30] "To you, or three of you, whereof the Archbishop of Canterbury, or one of the bishops mentioned in the commission, or Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir Gilbert Gerard, or some of the civilians, to be one."—Neal, i. 410.
There are subsequent commissions for the diocese of Norwich, 1589; for Manchester, 1596, 1597; for England and Ireland, 1600.—See Rymer, Vol. vii. 173, 194; xvi. 291, 400.
A commission was issued, 1629, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, &c., to exercise all manner of jurisdictions, privileges, and pre-eminences, concerning any spiritual or ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the realm; also to enquire, hear, determine, and punish all incests, adulteries, &c., and disorders in marriage, and all other grievous and great crimes.
[31] Four folio books of proceedings, from 1634 to 1640, are in the State Paper Office. At Norwich there is a book of proceedings from 1595 to 1598, and at Durham two volumes of Acts and Depositions from 1626 to 1639. These are the only records known to exist.—Burn's High Commission, 44 & 52.
[32] See Cal. Dom., 1633-4, 1634-5. Lady Eleanor Davies alias Douglas, (evidently insane) is mulcted to the extent of £3,000 for certain fanatical pamphlets. Richard Parry has a fine of £2,000 for disturbance of divine service and profane speeches, mitigated to 1,000 marks.—Cal. 1634-5, 176. A fine of £1,000, from Theophilus Brabourne, for maintaining and publishing heretical and Judaical opinions touching the Sabbath, is repeatedly mentioned, with notices of respites, suspension of sentence, and mitigation. A silk weaver was committed to the Gate House for fetching a parcel of schismatical books. The most preposterous suspicions were entertained, leading to outrageous injustice, as in the case of "two poor foolish boys, taken amongst others, at Francis Donwell's house, the aleholder, at Stepney," for "sitting at the table with Bibles before them." "They were, by order of the court, discharged," but not till after many days' imprisonment. "They were taken on Sunday last past was fortnight, the 1st of October, 1635."
The following entry occurs relating to Richard Walker Clerk, prisoner in the Gate House: "Defendant having lain a twelvemonth in prison for preaching a scandalous and offensive sermon here in London, and having promised by his subscription to carry himself peaceably and conformably to the orders of the Church of England, he was ordered to be enlarged." Cal. 1634-5, p. 544.
[33] Cal. 1634-5, p. 177, 118, & 110.
[34] Some strange specimens of puritan "faithfulness" are given; (Cal. 1634-5, p. 319,) but the question arises, were the passages we find correctly reported?
[35] Some things appear in the Commission Records strangely illustrating the state of society. Sir Richard Strode and Sir John Strode, near kinsmen, quarrelled about the possession of an aisle in the parish church of Cattistock. Sir Richard came with his lady on Easter-day to receive the sacrament armed with a pistol charged with powder and small shot, and directed his servant to carry a sword. He was also accused of entertaining a degraded minister, who "pronounced prayers extempore, and expounded a passage of scripture. On behalf of Sir Richard, it was proved that he carried the pistol secretly, and that no disturbance ensued."—Cal., 1634-5, p. 121.
Since writing this Introduction I have been permitted to peruse the Rawlinson MS., A., 128, which affords many new illustrations of the proceedings of the High Commission and of the Star Chamber also. I shall have occasion hereafter to notice some parts of this MS. The whole will be published by the Camden Society.
[36] The Court was threatened before the opening of the Long Parliament.
"We are growing here at London into some Edinburgh tumults, for upon Thursday last, the High Commission being kept at St. Paul's, there came in very near 2,000 Brownists, and, at the end of the court made a foul clamour: and tore down all the benches that were in the consistory, crying out they would have no Bishops nor High Commission. I like not this preface to the Parliament, and this day I shall see what the Lords will do concerning this tumult."—Laud's Letter, 186. Works, vi. 585. Oxford edition. Diary, Oct. 22, 1640, iii, 237.
[37] Rushworth, i. 423. After Worrall, Laud's chaplain, had signed the Imprimatur to Dr. Sibthorpe's famous sermon, 1627, Selden told him, "When the times shall change, and the late transactions shall be scrutinized, you will gain a halter instead of promotion for this book." Worrall withdrew his signature, but Laud appended his own.—Life of Selden, p. 129.
[38] Rushworth, i. 594.
[39] See Hallam's Constitutional History, i. 456; and Eliot's Life, by Forster, i. 246; ii. 398; 409; 450.
[40] In Rushworth, ii. 77, is a full account of these ceremonies, with notices of Laud's defence. The latter is found more fully in the history of his Troubles and Trial. Works, iv. 247. He denied he threw up dust, but leaves it to be inferred that he threw up ashes. He also contradicted other statements made respecting this famous consecration. Whatever exaggeration there might be, enough is proved to show the extraordinary superstitiousness of the proceeding.
[41] Bunsen's Hippolytus, iv. 197.
[42] Wearing a cope in cathedrals at the Communion by the principal minister, is, however, prescribed by Canon xxiv.
[43] Southey says of Laud, "Offence was taken because the University of Oxford, to which he was a most munificent and judicious benefactor, addressed him by the titles of His Holiness, and Most Holy Father; and because he publicly declared, that in the disposal of ecclesiastical preferments, he would, when their merits were equal, prefer the single to the married men."—Book of the Church, 448. Laud furnishes an elaborate defence of some of the titles applied to him.—Works, iv. 157.
See curious entry in Laud's Diary of a dream he had that he was reconciled to the Church of Rome.—Works, iii. 201. He afterwards says (264), "I hope the reader will note my trouble at the dream, as well as the dream."
Zeal in crushing dissent, appears in a letter addressed to justices of the peace, which probably Laud procured from the High Commissioners:—"There remain in divers parts of the kingdom sundry sorts of separatists, novalists [sic], and sectaries, as, namely,—Brownists, Anabaptists, Arians, Traskites, Familists, and some other sorts, who, upon Sundays and other festival days, under pretence of repetition of sermons, ordinarily use to meet together in great numbers, in private houses, and other obscure places, and there keep private conventicles and exercises of religion, by law prohibited, to the corrupting of sundry his Majesty's good subjects, manifest contempt of his Highness's laws and disturbance of the Church. For reformation whereof the persons addressed are to enter any house where they shall have intelligence that such conventicles are held, and in every room thereof search for persons assembled, and for all unlicensed books, and bring all such persons and books found before the Ecclesiastical Commission as shall be thought meet."—Cal. 1633-4, p. 538.
At an earlier period, Laud says:—"We took another conventicle of separatists in Newington Woods upon Sunday last, in the very brake where the King's stag should have been lodged for his hunting next morning." P.S. to letter of Laud, June 13, 1632.—State Papers. Printed in Laud's Works, vii. 44.
[44] Articles for Diocese of Winchester. Laud's Works, v. 419-435. Numerous visitation articles, injunctions, and orders appear in this volume, highly interesting as illustrations both of the Archbishop's minute superintendence, and of the religious life of the period.
[45] Reprinted in Laud's Works, v. 315, 370.
[46] Laud's Works, v. 331.
[47] See Cal. Dom., 1633-4, and Laud's Annual Accounts of his province just referred to.
[48] There is an extract of a letter in the State Paper Office (dated 1633, March 18, from the ambassador at the Hague) in the handwriting of Laud's secretary, upon the uncanonical proceedings of the English Congregation there.
[49] These points receive abundant illustration in Mr. Bruce's Calendar, 1633-4, and in his very interesting preface.
[50] Laud's power extended even to America. In a special commission for the colonies, "the Archbishop of Canterbury and those who were associated with him, received full power over the American plantations, to establish the government and dictate the laws, to regulate the Church, to inflict even the heaviest punishments, and to revoke any charter, which had been surreptitiously obtained, or which conceded liberties prejudicial to the Royal prerogative."—Bancroft's United States, i. 407.
[51] Letter in State Paper Office, Dec. 19, 1633. Most of Laud's letters found amongst the State records are printed in the last volume of the Oxford edition of his works.
[52] Indications of his wonderful activity are to be seen in his numerous letters, collected in the Oxford edition of his works, to which my references apply. (Vols. vi. and vii.) Laud's enemies have not done justice to his abilities. His diary reveals his mental weaknesses, but his correspondence and theological writings exhibit his mind under a different aspect. Many persons are too prejudiced against Laud to think of looking into his Conference with Fisher the Jesuit; but whoever will take the trouble of doing so, whatever he may think of Laud's line of argument at times, must admit the learning and ability displayed in the discussion. No book more clearly shows both the resemblance and the difference between Anglo-Catholicism and Popery.
[53] We are here reminded of what Dunstan's biographer said of him—"Nec quisquam in toto regno Anglorum esset qui absque ejus imperio manum vel pedem moveret."—Angl. Sac., ii. 108. Dunstan, too, like Laud, descended to the notice and regulation of trivial matters. There can be little doubt that Laud, as an ecclesiastical and political statesman, was inferior to Dunstan. A man who grasps at such extensive influence is sure to be unpopular in England. Sir John Eliot accused Buckingham of this ambition, and in the memorable peroration to his speech in that nobleman's impeachment, when he instituted a parallel between him and the Bishop of Ely, in Richard II.'s reign, Eliot included this point—"No man's business could be done without his help."—See Speech in Rushworth, and Parliamentary History, and from his own MS. in Forster's Life of Eliot, i. 551.
[54] Diary, Tuesday, April 5, 1625.—Laud's Works, iii. 159.
[55] Strafford's Papers, i. 365.
[56] Halliwell's Letters of the Kings of England, ii. 180.
[57] Coleridge ranks Jackson with Cudworth, More, and Smith as Plotinist rather than Platonist divines.—See Note, Literary Remains, iii. 415.
[58] Life of Southey, v. 283.
[59] See remarks on this in Bancroft's United States, i. 284.
[60] Aylmer is supposed to be represented anagrammatically in the Morell, and Grindal in the Algrind of Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar.
[61] Strype's Parker, i. 300-345. For measures adopted to enforce conformity, see Strype's Parker, i. 420-447. Parker had a hard time of it when engaged in this unpopular business. He did not receive the support he wished. The Puritans condemned him for doing too much, the Queen for doing too little. "An ox," he exclaimed, "can draw no more than he can."—Ibid., 451.
[62] It appears from Foxe that some of the early Protestants were very strong believers in predestination.—See the godly letters of John Careless. Foxe's Book of Martyrs, viii. 187-192. Catley's edition.
[63] Neal, i. 451. For his statement respecting bills for reformation he gives MS. authority. Strype's Whitgift, i. 391, contains the letter to the Queen, dated 24th of March, 1584-5. Parry says in Parliaments and Councils, 1584, December 14, "three petitions are read touching 'the liberty of godly preachers to exercise and continue their ministry, and for the speedy supply of able and sufficient men into divers places now destitute of the ordinary means of salvation.'" Cobbett supplies a brief account of the debate.—Parl. Hist., i. 824.
[64] Dr. Donne preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on the 14th September, 1622, in which he took occasion "for the publication of some reasons which His Sacred Majesty had been pleased to give, of those directions for preachers which he had formerly set forth."—Works, vi. 191. The preacher declared the King was "grieved with much bitterness, that any should so pervert his meaning as to think that these directions either restrained the exercise of preaching or abated the number of sermons."—Ib. 220. One is sorry to find such a man as Donne excusing James's despotic interference with preaching, and to read the absurd eulogium on his royal master's "books." "Our posterity shall have him for a father—a classic father—such a father as Ambrose, as Austin was."—Ib. 221. Such sycophancy on the part of Donne and others greatly tended to prejudice the people against them and their teaching.
[65] Fuller's Church History, iii. 362.
[66] See Cal. Dom., 1633-4, p. 298.
[67] Cal. 1633-4, p. 345.—The cases of Samuel Ward, Anthony Lapthorne, and George Burdett, noted Puritan ministers, are largely illustrated in the Cal. Dom. 1634-5, 361, 263, 537. Mr. Bruce notices that Ward, who suffered so much from the High Commission Court, appears himself as a complainant against certain persons at Ipswich holding Antinomian opinions, 1635-6, Pref. xxxvii.
Illustrations appear amongst the State Papers of the popularity of Puritanism. Dr. John Andrewes writes to the Chancellor of Lincoln, (dated June 5, 1634, Beaconsfield) acknowledging a request to preach a visitation sermon:—"He is contented to show his obedience, howbeit he knows that any other priest in those parts would be better accepted both of laity and the generality of the clergy; and the main reason is, because he is not of the new cut, nor anywise inclining to Puritanism, wherewith the greatest number (both of priests and people) in those parts are foully tainted, insomuch that he is called the most godly who can and will be most disobedient to the orders of the Church. He enumerates things out of order in his own parish. 1. No terrier of Church lands. 2. Elections held in the church. 3. Gadding on Sundays to hear Puritanical sermons in other parishes. 4. Few come to church on holidays. 5. Many sit at service with their hats on, and some lie along in their pews. 6. Many kneel not at prayers, nor bow at the name of Jesus, &c. 7. The churchwardens do not levy the 12d. from those who absent themselves from divine service."—Cal. Dom., 1634-5, June 5, p. 64.
Complaints were made of people forsaking the parish churches.—Ibid., p. 149.
[68] Cal. Dom., 1633-4, p. 450.
[69] Heylyn's Life of Laud, p. 367.
[70] While quite indisposed to attempt defending in the Puritans what is indefensible, I would add, they inherited many of their faults from the early Protestants. On the whole, I should say, the Puritans of the seventeenth century will bear favourable comparison with their fathers of the sixteenth, some of whose worst failings arose from the bad education received in the Church of Rome before they abjured her errors.
[71] Irreverence in worship is often regarded as an offence characteristic of Puritanism. But popish priests, at the time of the Reformation, then loudly complained of irreverence in their congregations—irreverence such as their successors were not guilty of.—Strype's Memorials, i. 213
[72] Neal follows Clarendon in this respect.—History of Puritans, ii. 362.
[73] This is Rapin's view.—History of England, ii. 652, adopted by Godwin, in his Commonwealth, i. 64.
[74] Tanner MS., quoted by Sanford.—Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, p. 159.
[75] Strafford's Letters, Vol. i. 463, quoted in Forster's Life of Vane, p. 7, as written to the Lord Deputy. The letter is in the State Paper Office, calendared as if written to Lord Conway.—See Calendar of Colonial Papers, 1574-1660, p. 214. In the same Calendar, p. 211, there is notice of a letter by Vane to his father, in which he "requests his father to believe, though as the case stands he is judged a most unworthy son, that however jealous his father may be of circumventions and plots entertained and practised by him, yet he will never do anything that he may not justify or be content to suffer for. Is sure, as there is trust in God, that his innocence and integrity will be cleared to his father before he dies. Protests his father's jealousy of him would break his heart, but as he submits all other things to his good God, so does he his honesty. The intention of his heart is sincere, and hence flows the sweet peace he enjoys amidst his many heavy trials."
[76] Forster's Statesmen of the Commonwealth, Vol. iii. 49.
[77] Clarendon (Hist. 75) says of Vane's father and mother, "they were neither of them beautiful,"—a statement fully borne out by their portraits.
[78] Clarendon (Hist. 454).
[79] Rushworth, i. 647.
[80] Hist. 74.
[81] Compare Nugent and Forster.
[82] Hampden was reported at a Visitation for holding a muster in Beaconsfield Churchyard, and for leaving his parish church. To avoid a suit in the Ecclesiastical Court, he applied privately to Sir Nathaniel Brent, and satisfied him by explanation and concession.—State Papers Cal., 1634-5, p. 250.
[83] "The Puritan would be judged by the Word of God; if he would speak clearly he means himself; but he is ashamed to say so, and he would have me believe him before a whole church, that has read the Word of God as well as he." Table Talk, 160.
Selden, in the same book (p. 13), while denying the divine right of bishops, maintains they "have the same right to sit in Parliament as the best Earls and Barons." Yet he signed the Covenant.
[84] Life, 923.
[85] Life, 936.
[86] In the State Paper Office is a letter by Laud, July 20, 1634, addressed to the King, in which the writer speaks of two daughters of the late Lord Falkland being reconciled to the Church of Rome, "not without the practice of their mother." He alludes to Lord Newburgh's request that she would forbear working on her daughters' consciences, and suffer them to go to their brother, or any other safe place. The archbishop appears anxious to save them from Popery. The letter is printed in Laud's Works, vii. 82, with illustrative notes.
[87] He tells us he was stopped in Westminster Hall, and asked by a root-and-branch man, "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" but he does not report his answer.