Mr. Crook, Mr. Egerton; many of which were miferably treated in the High Commiffion. And that which added to the Flame, was a great noife of a Presbytery fet up at Wandsworth in Surry; which was in truth but this, The Queen's and Bishops Orders extending no further to the Tryal of the Fitnefs of Communicants at the Lord's Table, than to be able to fay the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, which was juftly judg'd a very incompetent Qualification for fo Sacred a Mystery,and fo far from the Practice of the Primitive Churches, a ftricter Examination was agreed upon, by fome of the more Confcientious Minifters, to keep up the Honour of this Ordinance; And in order to it, Ten or Eleven Perfons were chofen to be prefent at that Action, and determined, that they would have none admitted to the Table of the Lord, until in the Church he had made Confeffion of his Faith, and this was but precariously done,by a voluntary Agreement among themselves. The truth is, the Matter of Difcipline came into very little Debate before 1584, after that Subfcription had been fo fatally impos'd, which was an Engine firft form'd by Archbifhop Whitgift, and was one of those 16 Proposals he offer'd to the Queen for the fettling of the Church, and which put the Queen upon adding Force to the Impofition; which indeed had been by fome Bishops begun before, but now more generally and rigorously preffed. Whereby many Godly, Able,Painful Minifters were outed all over England, of which we have an account of 60 and more in Suffolk, 21 in Lincolnshire, 64 in Norfolk, 38 in Effex, and proportionable more or lefs in the other Counties; and that while in that one County of Effex there was an account given of 163 Minifters that never preach'd, but only read Prayers and Homilies, and 85 more that were Pluralifts, Non-residents, or Perfons notoriously debauch'd.

This was the Firft-fruit of that Archbishop's Preferment, and as effectual a Courfe as he could have devis'd to root out the Reformed Religion as foon as it was planted in thefe Churches. For this you may read the Author of The Unlawful Practices of Prelates; where you will find what the abominable Effects of thefe Impofitions were. The Cafe (fays he) was general; Means were used, Minifters prefented Doubts, Proteftations, Supplications, for which they

Repuls'd, Revil'd, Threatned; The Minifters did end being fuftain'd by a good Confcience; but their miferable Flocks were fubject to all Disorders, Spoils, and Havocks. Thefe things Gentlemen of all forts took to heart, and humbly fued to the Archbishop for refs, but all in vain, tho' feveral Noblemen and

-Counfellers made their Addresses to him, of ch I might tranfcribe feveral Copies, enough to ke the Heart of any that hath but the leaft Senfe of true Religion in it to relent. But to all this the Archbishop being deaf, their Humble Supplications were made to the Queen, and to the Lords of the Privy Council, of which, Copics are extant in the foremention'd Author. This was the general Cry of the whole Kingdom from all parts of it, and which at laft obtain'd a little, tho' but a little Mitigation of the Epifcopal Tyranny.

2. Befides thefe, there were the Semi-conformists, or the Conforming Nonconformists, and who were the greater number, who had, fubfcrib'd to read the Common-Prayer, but not to read it fully, and in all the parts of it. Thus many fubfcrib'd with Exceptions and Limitations, and Proteftations that their Subfcriptions fhould not oblige them to do any thing contrary to the Word of God, as in their Confciences they were perfwaded. And by this means a Preaching Miniftry was preferv'd in England, which had the Bishop kept to his firft Severity, had been destroy'd throughout the Kingdom, before the Refor

Reformation was 28 years old; or elfe they must have divided into Separate Congregations, as we have fince been neceffitated to do.

And yet notwithstanding these their Subscriptions, and Compliances to the utmost that their Confciences would fuffer them, very many of these Good Men were fufpended, Imprifon'd, and wearied out of their Lives in the High Commiffion, for not wearing the Surplice, not using the Crofs in Baptifm, not keeping Holy days, not Reading all the Prayers, and fuch-like things. The Bishop was inexorable, and the Queen inflexible, the best of Men difcouraged, reviled, perfecuted, a Half-Reformation daily growing worfe and worfe,Petitions, Remonftrances and Lamentations from all parts of the Nation,without any good effect. This was the State of the Church of England from 1583 to 1603, when King James came to the Crown.

And now fome hopes were conceiv'd 'by fome, that better Measures would be taken as to ChurchAffairs. But as foon as the Prince afcended the English Throne, the Prelatick Party, dreading left the Puritans, as they were then call'd, fhould have too great a share in his Favours, bent all their Arts to create Prejudices in him against them; wherein Bishop Bancroft, among others, was exceffively

Vid. Calderw. Hift. of the Ch. of Scotl. p.284.

active, as appears by a Letter from one Norton a Stationer in Edinbur b directed for him and intercepted; and by the fame Bishop's Letter to Mr. Patrick Adamfon, the Titular Bifhop of St. Andrews, fome of which Letters were alfo intercepted.

This Adamfon had compos'd a Declaration, which pafs'd under the King's Name, in which the whole Order of the Kirk was traduc'd and condemn'd; of this the Commiffioners of the General Affembly complain'd to the King; the King difown'd it, and faid, it was not his doing, but the Archbishop's,

for

for which that great Favourite was difcarded, who afterward Recanted, and ingenuously confefs'd, That he was commanded to write that Declaration by the Chancellor, the Secretary, and another great Courtier, and that he was more bufy with fome Bishops in England, in prejudice to the Discipline of the Kirk, partly when he was there, and partly by mutual Intelligence, than became a good Chriftian, much less a faithful Paftor.

t

And however the King had hearkened to this fort of Men, by whom he had a prospect of advancing his Prerogative, yet when he began to fee the ill Effects of their Conduct, he deferted, and declar'd against them, particularly in the National Affembly, 1590. "He thank'd God that he was King "of fuch a Country wherein there is fuch a Church, even the fincerest Church on Earth, Geneva not excepted, feeing they keep fome Festivals (fays he) as "Eafter and Chriftmas, and what have they for it? "As for our Neighbours in England, their Service is t an ill mumbl'd Mafs in English, they want little of "the Mafs but the Liftings. Now I charge you, my good People, Barons, Gentlemen, Minifters and Elແ ders, that you all ftand to your Purity, and exhort the People to do the fame, and as long as I have Life and "Crown I will maintain the fame. And at his parting with them to come for England, he gave them his Solemn Promife to the fame effect. And tho' that Paflage in his ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟΝ ΔΩΡΟΝ be by fome objected against us, where he fays, "Take "beed my Son of fuch Puritans, very Pefts in the "Church and Commonwealth; Whom no Deferts can "oblige, &c. He Himself declares his own Senfe of the word Puritan in the Preface of that Book, where he fays that the Name Puritan did properly belong to that Sect among the Anabaptifts, call'd, The Family of Love, because they think themselves Pure, and in a manner without Sin. And fays further,

"I protest upon my Honour, I did not mean it generally of all thofe Preachers, or others, that like better the "Single Form of Policy in our Church, than of the many Ceremonies of the Church of England, or that "are perfuaded their Bishops fmell of a Papal Supremacy, No, (fays he ) I am fo far from being contentious in these things, that I equally love and honour the Learned and Grave Men of either Opinion. And now the King being come into England the oppreffed Nonconformifts begin to Petition him ; Seven Hundred and Fifty Ministers hands at once, defiring the Reformation of certain Ceremonies and Abuses in the Church, and Deliverance from their

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former Oppreffions. Whereupon the Calder. p. 474. Bishops were call'd upon, and gravely defir'd to advife upon all the Corruptions of this Church, in Doctrine, Ceremonies and Discipline, and that they fhould return with their Anfwer the Third day after; accordingly they return'd and gave their Anfwer, All was well. And when his Majefty with great fervency brought inftances to the contrary, they upon their knees with great earneftnefs, crav'd, "That nothing might be alter'd, left the Popish Recufants, punish"ed for Difobedience, and the Puritans punished ' by Deprivation, ab Officio & Beneficio, for Nonconformity, fhould fay, they had juft caufe to infult upon them, as Men who had endeavour'd to "bind them to that which by their own Mouths now was confeffed to be erroneous. After Five hours Difpute had by his Majefty against them, and his refolution for Reformation intimated to them, they were dismiss'd for that day. Yet notwithstanding all this, their Flatteries and Importunities at last prevail'd with him, fo that in the very First year, the Convocation establish'd the Three Articles by Canon, which Twenty years before had made fuch Confufion in the Church, which Cancns

were