Chap. XV. less was now talked of among them than the 1639. invasion of England. The advisers of the King, Preparations having discovered their treasonable practices and for a Parliament. their ambitious designs, thought the occasion an eminently happy one for appealing to the patriotic spirit of Englishmen in a Parliament. For eleven years, by shifts and expedients, most of them discreditable, all of them unpopular, they had managed to carry on the Government without the aid of the great council of the nation. They must have been conscious that a vast store of righteous indignation had been accumulating all this time in the breasts of free Englishmen, debarred from their political rights by an unjustifiable State-craft. But the exchequer was absolutely empty, and no way of replenishing it remained. They imagined that in indignation against the Scotch, all the home grievances in Church and State would be forgotten, and the resolution was taken to summon a Parliament for the following Spring. CHAPTER XVI. 1640. Anticipations of a Parliament-Report of Province of Canter- Chap. XVI. bury for 1640-The Sectaries-The Romanists-Scandals in Bishop Wren's new diocese-Depredations of Church property Opening of Parliament-The temper of the House in religious matters-Mr. Pym's speech-Mr. Waller's attack on the clergy-Conference with the Lords-Parliament dissolved -Convocation of 1640-Dr. Turner's sermon-Dr. Stewart, prolocutor-Laud's speech-Commission to make canonsReasons for its being granted-Subsidies granted-Convocation not dissolved with the Parliament-Laud's explanations-Convocation changed into a Synod - Makes canons - Bishop Goodman protests - Refuses to subscribe His previous conduct-Review of the canons-The Et Cætera oath-Excitement caused by it-Sanderson's letter to Laud-The oath dispensed with-Lambeth palace assaulted-Army marches against the Scotch-King determines to call another Parliament -Laud's omens-Threatened dangers-Death of Archbishop Neile-The clergy of this period. Parliament. HE principal adviser of the reso- Anticipa- great success of his Irish adminis tration, was all-powerful with the King. The Lord Deputy had undertaken for Ireland, and had engaged that the Parliament of that country should 1640. Chap. XVI. be forward to assist the King against the rebellious Scotch. The event soon showed that he had not spoken unadvisedly. Letters came from Ireland breathing the most fervent loyalty to the King on the part of his Irish Parliament, announcing that they had voted him four subsidies, and taken order for the raising of an army of 8,000 men to act against the Scotch.* From this ready acquiescence and zeal, the King and his counsellors might be encouraged to augur well of the more important council about to assemble in England. No conciliatory measures, however, were used by way of soothing the temper of the constituent bodies. "Ship-money was levied with the same severity, and the same rigour used in ecclesiastical courts without the least compliance with the humour of any man." † Report of Province of Canterbury, Jan., 1640. But before we proceed to the consideration of matters connected with this short Parliament, and to the history of the Convocation which assembled with it, we must review the annual report of the state of the Province of Canterbury, presented to the King by the Archbishop, in Jan., 1640. He begins by lamenting that the obscure sectaries in his diocese still troubled him, and could not be got rid of. This reveals to us a very important fact con * Nalson's Collections, i., 280, sq.; Rushworth. + Clarendon's Rebellion, p. 53. Brownists and Anabaptists are also said in this report to abound in the dioceses of Hereford and St. Asaph; and Laud remarks, "Your Majesty may hereby see how these schisms increase in all parts of your dominions."-Report, Troubles, p. 562. Un- Chap. XVI. 1640. nected with the Church history of the times. conformable clergy could be reduced, even laymen of mark and position could be frightened by the terrors of the High Commission Court into a sullen outward compliance, but the obscure sectaries were beyond clerical control. Too numerous The Secfor imprisonment, too poor for fines, too stubborn taries. for monitions, they began now greatly to abound and multiply, especially in the metropolis. Instructed and excited by teachers the most fanatical and ignorant, in the wildest schemes of theology, drawn from the metaphorical poetry of the Old Testament, "notwithstanding the active inquisition of Laud," says M. Guizot, "sects of all descriptions assembled in towns, in some cellar, in the country, under the roof of a barn, or in the midst of a wood. The dismal character of the locality, their perils and difficulties in meeting, all excited the imagination of preachers and hearers; they passed together long hours, often whole nights, praying, singing hymns, seeking the Lord, and cursing their enemies." * These were the men who, in a few years, were to make the Ironsides of Cromwell, to reign for a time triumphant; and then, by the wildness of their eccentricities, to restore the government in Church and State, which they so much hated. They were the débris of the congregations of the Puritan ministers, who had either conformed, been silenced, or fled; and having lost the pastors to whom they had formerly loved to listen, they were now at the mercy of any * Guizot, English Revolution, p. 61. (Trans.) 1640. Chap. XVI. tailor or shoemaker who would assert a call, and invoke Heaven's judgments against the persecuting bishops. These sectaries were now despised, but they were soon to be feared. The Romanists. In the dioceses of Winchester and Oxford, Popish recusants are said to be upon the increase, but legal proceedings had been taken against them. The same is noted in the dioceses of Litchfield and Coventry. Laud, we are told by Heylin, "had some thoughts by conferences first, and, if that failed, by the ordinary course of ecclesiastical censures, of gaining the Papists to the Church; and therefore it behoved him in point of prudence to smooth the way by removing all such blocks and obstacles, which had been laid before them by the Puritan faction."* By labouring to provide a ceremonial in public worship somewhat similar to their own, by avoiding and repressing irritating and scurrilous attacks upon them, while at the same time the censures of the law were allowed to operate, the Archbishop hoped to bring about this desirable end, and it is not impossible that under other circumstances he might have succeeded. But his policy was not given time fully to develop itself. There are scarcely any inconformable or troublesome ministers noted in this report. Nine or ten bishops certify that there is absolutely nothing to complain of, but one, rather more observant than his fellows, makes the remark that his diocese (Chichester), "is not so much troubled with Puritan ministers as with Puritan justices of the peace, of Heylin's Laud, 417. |