Entangled in the Jesuit's web of Expediency, he propounded for reason what he had virtually condemned in the "Declaration," and admits, that if an Article or Canon "bear more senses than one, it is lawful for any man to choose what sense his judgment directs him to, so that it be a sense secundum analogiam fidei;' and that he hold it privately without distracting the Church; and this, till the Church, that made the Article, determine a sense."a The year 1628-9 ushered in the meeting of a new Parliament, with the defection of Sir Thomas Wentworth from " the popular faction" to become "the greatest zealot for advancing the monarchical interest;" and he and Laud, “joining heart and hands," co-operated “for advancing the honour of the Church, and his Majesty's service." The aspect of public affairs, threatening and gloomy indeed, brought out so many ill-boding prognostics, that his Majesty, under colour of performing an act of grace, resolved "to please the people," for, besides putting the laws in force against a presumptuous Catholic, styled Bishop of Chalcedon; recalling to his councils Archbishop Abbot; and advancing to the mitre "a thorough-paced Calvinian;" he ordered Mountagu's" Appello Cæsarem" to be called in: his motive for which, is cruelly betrayed by his professed servant, Heylyn, who says, his Majesty called it in "not in regard of any false doctrine contained in it; but, for being the first cause of those disputes and differences which have since much troubled the quiet of the Church." And he adds, "it was objected, commonly, to his disadvantage, that this was not done till three years after it came out; till it had been questioned in three several Parliaments; till all the copies of it were sold; and then, too, that it was called in without any Censure either of the author or his doctrines: that the author had been punished with a very good bishopric; and the book, seemingly disconntenanced to no other end but to divert those of contrary persuasion from writing or acting anything against it in the following, [this], Parliament "! The Commons were so strenuous, that a week only had passed before they resumed their "old care of Religion;" which "they insisted on with such importunity," that his Majesty resented "their delay in his business;" informing them, "that he was very ill counselled" if Religion were in "so much danger as they had reported." Nothing deterred, however, the House appointed a select committee to examine into the complaints against his Majesty, for favouring and protecting the several Clergymen whom the House had censured. This committee was inundated, as it were, with the "flowing in" of "reports," as Heylyn chooses to term them, "of turning tables into altars; advancing towards, or before, them; and, standing up, at the Gospels and the Gloria Patri." No sooner was it received by the House than a Heylyn, p. 192.-Such was the vigilance and arbitrary conduct of the Prelates at this time, that, as Burton writes, " In the most public place of the kingdom, Preachers have been forced sometime before, to show their Sermons before they were preached; and some were not suffered to preach for their very text's sake whereupon they proposed to preach." Epistle, before “ A Trial of Private Devotions,' &c." 1628. d Ibid. p. 196. Heylyn, p. 194, c Ib. p. 195. they turned over to the committee a petition from the booksellers and printers, complaining of the "restraint of books written against Popery and Arminianism; and the contrary, allowed of;" and, that the licensing of books was "restrained" to Laud and his chaplains. Charles became "so exasperated" by all their proceedings, which comprised their "voting down" tonnage and poundage, that on the second day of March "he adjourned the House," which broke up "in an uproar;" and, on the tenth day of the same month, he "dissolved the Parliament."a How the state of parties stood at the time of the death of James has been shown: David Hume tells us what was their present position. "The appellation Puritan' stood for three parties, which, though commonly united, were yet actuated by very different views and motives. There were," he continues, "the political puritans,' who maintained the highest principles of Civil liberty; the puritans in discipline,' who were averse from the ceremonies and episcopal government of the Church; and, the doctrinal puritans,' who rigidly defended the speculative system of the first Reformers. In opposition to all these," he adds, "stood the Court-party, the Hierarchy, and the Arminians.”c CHAP. XXVIII. CHARLES.-LAUD AT HIS ZENITH.-LEIGHTON.-BIRTH OF By the last dissolution, the die was finally cast; the King, and a Parliament, were for ever to be irreconcileable. His Majesty's severity in prosecuting the chief members who had been concerned in the "tumult," converted them into popular "leaders;" because, as we are told, they had so bravely, in opposition to arbitrary power, defended the liberties of their native country." 66 "d We shall not be in danger of our authorities being impugned, while we continue to borrow their words and admissions whose predilections were all in favour of Charles and his adherents. It was his Majesty's resolution, says Hume, not to call any more Parliaments "till he should see greater indications of a compliant disposition in the Nation;" and, " henceforth," he remarks, "the general tenor of his administration still wants somewhat of being entirely legal, and perhaps more, of being entirely prudent." If this passage accorded with its framer's notion of the philosophy of history, it would seem that, in his mind, a studied palliation of what should compose the truth of history, is, on an occasion even of primary importance, a duty; but on considering the strong bias of his mind to favour a dynasty, not in his time obliterated from traditional interest, here is as much evidence of impartiality as might be expected. The popular ferment had increased to so high a degree, that, on the day in which the Parliament was adjourned, a paper, it is said, was a Ibid. p. 197. b See back, p. 466. c Hist. an. 1629. thrown into the premises of the Dean of St. Paul's, to this effect, "Laud, look to thyself; be assured thy life is sought, as Thou art the fountain of all wickedness. Repent thee, repent thee of thy monstrous sins, before thou be taken out of the world." On which, Laud made this reflection, "Lord, I am a grievous sinner; but I beseech thee, deliver my soul from them that hate me without a cause!" A similar paper was directed against the Lord Treasurer Weston. a Dr. Alexander Leighton, a Puritan divine, and a physician, father of Sir Ellis Leighton, and of the amiable Archbishop Leighton, was seized upon for a victim, to expiate the popular excesses by indignities and sufferings, compared with which decapitation would appear to have been lenient and merciful. The execution of the illegal and flagitious sentence pronounced against him, was delayed several months through the culprit's escape from his keeper, according to Heylyn; but Hume says the execution was suspended for some time, in expectation of his submission.d All the circumstances considered, it cannot come on the reader with surprise, that, in August, "Laud falling into a burning fever," the rest Laud's Diary, Mar. 29, 1629. edit. 1694. p. 44. b General Ludlow informs us, in a Letter, published in 1691, and again in 1812, 4to. p. 45, that, By his answer to the Star-Chamber Court, Leighton confessed, that when the Parliament was sitting, in the year 1628, he drew up the heads of his book; and having the approbation of five hundred persons under their hands, whereof some were Members of Parliament, he went into Holland to get it printed; that he printed but between five or six hundred, only for the use of the Parliament; but they being dissolved, he returned home, not bringing any of them into the Land, but made it his special care to suppress them." It is certain that a copy had come into possession of the Government, and the gravamena of the author's offence were, according to Heylyn, p. 198, that he incited the Parliament "to kill all the Bishops, and to smite them under the fifth rib;" a charge not found in the indictment: and, that he 'branded" the Queen, "by the name of an Idolatress, or Canaanite, and the Daughter of Heth." Leighton's own words respecting the Bishops are," These fifty years and upward, the Lord hath pleaded by his agents, at the bar of your Parliament, for his own privileges, against the intrusion of the Hierarchy:" and he exclaims, shortly after these words, "Smite that Hazael in the fifth rib; yea, if father or mother stand in the way, away with them, we beseech you: Nam potius pereat unus quam unitas: make rather a rotten tree fall, than that the rotting drops thereof should kill the sheep." He then adds, "The means whereby our deliverance from this evil may be wrought, shall be discovered in the handling of the last position." p. 240. His book nearly closes with these words: "We fear they are like pleuritic patients that cannot spit, whom nothing but incision will cure-we mean, of their Callings, not of their Persons, to whom we have no quarrel, but wish them better than they either wish to us, or to themselves. One of their desperate mountebanks out of the pulpit, could find no cure for us,-their supposed enemies,--but pricking in the bladder;' but we have not so 'learned Christ."" The book is anonymous, and consists of 344 pages. 4to., with two engravings: its full title is, "An Appeal to the Parliament: Or, Sion's Plea against the Prelacy. The sum whereof is delivered in a Decade of Positions. In the handling whereof, the Lord Bishops, and their appurtenances, are manifestly proved, both by Divine and Human Laws, to be intruders upon the Privileges of Christ, of the King, and of the Commonweal; and, therefore, upon good evidence given, she heartily desireth a judgment and execution.-Printed in the year and month wherein Rochelle was lost." October, 1628. d Ann. 1630. C P. 198. of this year "was of little action;" nor will it seem surprising that while laid aside from active service," his thoughts were working." It will occasion some surprise, nevertheless, on reading Heylyn's description of the matters which so troubled Laud's mind." He saw the Church decaying both in power and patrimony: her Patrimony dilapidated by the avarice of several Bishops, in making havoc of their Woods to enrich themselves; and, more than so, in filling up their Grants and Leases to the utmost term, after they had been nominated to some other bishopric; to the great wrong of their successors: Her Power, he found diminished partly by the Bishops themselves, in leaving their dioceses unregarded, and living altogether about Westminster, to be in a more ready way for the next Preferment; partly, by the great increase of Chaplains in the houses of many private gentlemen; but, chiefly, by the multitude of Irregular Lecturers, both in city and country, whose work it was to undermine as well the doctrine as the government of it."a This testimony of Laud's own Chaplain, should fully exonerate all the parties calumniated by the Dependants on this defalcating and servile Hierarchy! The Private Chaplains, and Irregular Lecturers, were but natural results of the abuses which furnished just pleas for their numbers being increased, and their conduct emboldened. Laud framed, under ten heads, Instructions and Orders, and obtained the Sign Manual, to be observed by the Bishops. We notice that the second article enjoins every Bishop, somewhat significantly, "that he waste not the Woods where any are left!" And, that the ninth denounces it "a hateful thing, that any man's leaving the Bishopric, should almost undo his successor!" Afternoon Lectures are suppressed, on the specious ground of their breaking the "ancient and profitable Order" for Catechising: and Lectures in market-towns, are restricted to " Othodox Divines,' who are ordered to "preach in Gowns, and not in Cloaks, as too inany do use!" b This busy interference with the peculiar duties of the Archbishop, was resented by the mild Abbot, who would not enforce the Orders, and even inhibited an Archdeacon from his jurisdiction, who had suspended two Lecturers, whom Heylyn describes "obstinately inconformable to the King's directions. He remarks, further, "If an Archbishop could be so unsatisfied for putting these Instructions into execution, as his place required, there is no question to be made, but various descants and reports would be raised upon them by most sorts of people. The country gentlemen took it ill to be deprived of the liberty of keeping Chaplains in their houses, from which they had not been debarred by the laws of the Land... Nor were the Chaplains better pleased than their masters were." The Bishops, in the poorer bishoprics, complained" privately," so says Heylyn, in addition, "That now the Court Bishops had served their own turns upon the King, they cared not what miseries their poor Brethren were exposed unto." But " greater," continues Heylyn, "were the clamours o the Puritan faction." And he subjoins, And he subjoins, "But notwithstanding these secret murmurs on the one side, and the open clamours of the other, Laud was resolved to do his duty!"a Let us turn to our other authority, for his description of the ill-fated Ecclesiastic, whose doings and destinies, if so we may speak, give the colour to the leading events of his time. "With unceasing industry," writes Hume, under the year 1630, Laud, "studied to exalt the priestly and prelatical character, which was his own. His zeal was unrelenting, in the cause of Religion; that is, in imposing, by rigorous measures, his own tenets and pious ceremonies on the obstinate Puritans, who had profanely dared to oppose him. In prosecution of his holy purposes, he overlooked every humane consideration; or, in other words, the heat and indiscretion of his temper, made him neglect the views of prudence and rules of good manners." This was he, who, in Hume's own words, "acquired so great an ascendant over Charles, and who led him, by the facility of his temper, into a conduct which proved so fatal to himself and to his kingdoms." Once more, he tells us, also, "It must be confessed, that though Laud deserved not the appellation of a Papist, the genius of his religion was, though in a less degree, the same with that of the Romish: the same profound respect was exacted to the sacerdotal character; the same submission required to creeds and decrees of synods and councils; the same pomp and ceremony was affected in worship; and the same superstitious regard to days, postures, meats, and vestments. No wonder, therefore, that this Prelate was, everywhere, among the Puritans, regarded with horror, as the forerunner of Antichrist!"b Such are some of the sentiments extorted, through the force of Truth, from a pen which was too much employed to asperse those with whom he who guided it did not sympathize, either in feelings or motives: and it deserves notice, that his acknowledgments are accompanied by qualifying terms, which produce an effect not in harmony with his apparent candour; as are those of "pious" ceremonies, and "holy" purposes. That the "wise and holy" Laud's vigilance was not restrained to affairs at home, besides what we have exhibited under the year 1628, Hume enables us to confirm in a passage which concludes with an impressive remark. Laud, he says, "advised that the Discipline and Worship of the Church should be imposed on the English regiments, and trading companies, abroad. All foreigners, of the Dutch and Walloon congregations, were commanded to attend the Established Church; and indulgence was granted to none, after the children of the first denizens. Scudamore, too, the King's ambassador at Paris, had orders to withdraw himself from the communion of the Hugonots. Even men of sense were apt to blame this conduct; not only because it gave offence in England, but because in Foreign Countries it lost the Crown the advantage of being considered as the head and support of the Reformation." d a P. 201, 202. b An. 1630. Le Bas, p. 147. State Papers collected by the Earl of Clarendon, p. 338; cited by Hume, an. 1630. |