Parliaments Power, In laws for RELIGION. OR, AN answer To that old and groundless Calumny of the Papists, nick-naming the Religion of the Church of England, by the name of a Parliamentary RELIGION. Sent to a friend, who was troubled at it, and earnestly desired satisfaction in it.  
OXFORD, Printed by HENRY HALL Printer to the university. 1645.   

The Preface.  
Sir,  
AT my being with you last, you seemed to be much scandalised for the Church of England. You told me you were well assured that her Doctrine was most true and orthodox, her Government conform to the word of God, and the best Ages of the Church; her Liturgy an Extract of the Primitive forms: Nothing in all the whole composure but what did tend to edification, and increase of Piety. But that you were not satisfied in the ways and means by which this Church proceeded in her Reformation: That you had heard it oft objected by some Partisans of the Church of Rome, that our Religion was mere Parliamentarian; or, as Doctor Harding said long since, That we had a Parliament-Religion, a Parliament-Faith, and a parliament-gospel; to which Sanders and some others added, That we had none but Parliament Bishops, and a Parliament-Clergy. That you were apt enough to think, the Papists made not all this noise without some ground for it, in regard you see the Parliaments in these latter times so bent to catch at all occasions whereby to manifest their power in ecclesiastical matters. And finally, that you were heartily ashamed, that being so often choked with these objections, you neither knew how to traverse the indictment, or plead not guilty to the Bill. This was the sum of your Discourse; and upon this you did desire me to be think myself of some fit plaster for this sore, to satisfy you (if I could) of your doubts and jealousies, assuring me that your desires proceeded not from curiosity, or an itch of knowledge, or out of any disaffection to the high Court of Parliament; but merely from an honest zeal to the Church of England, whose credit and renown you did far prefer before your life, or whatsoever else could be dear unto you; adding withal, That if I would take pains for your satisfaction, and help you out of those perplexities which you were involved in, I should not only do good service to the Church itself, but to many a wavering Member of it, whom these objections mainly stagger in their Resolution. In fine, that you desired to be informed how far the Parliaments of England have been interessed, in the former times, in matters which concern Religion, and God's public worship; what ground there is for all this clamour of the Papists; and whether the two Houses, or either of them have exercised, of old, any such authority in things of ecclesiastical and spiritual nature, as they now pretend to. Which, though it be a dangerous and invidious Subject (as the times now are) yet for your sake, and for the truths, and for the honour also of Parliaments, which seem to suffer much in the accusation, I shall undertake it; Premising first, that I intend not to say any thing to the point of Right, whether or not the Parliament may lawfully meddle in such matters as concern Religion, but shall apply myself only unto matters of fact, as they relate unto the Reformation here by law established. And for my method in this business, I will begin with the Ejection of the Pope and his authority; descending next to the Translation of the Scriptures into the English tongue, and the Reformation of the Church in Doctrinals and forms of Worship; and so proceed unto the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy, and the direction of the people in all such particulars as do concern them in the exercise of their Religion. And in the canvasing of these points, I shall make it good, that till these busy and unfortunate days, in which every man intrudeth on the priestly function, the Parliaments did not any thing at all either in matters Doctrinal, or in making Canons, or in translating of the Scriptures; and that concerning forms of Worship they did nothing neither, but strengthen and establish what was done before in the Clergy-way, by adding the Secular authority to the Constitutions of the Church, according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity.   

PARLIAMENTS POWER, in laws for Religion.  

1. Of the Ejection of the Pope.  
AND first, beginning with the Ejection of the Pope and his authority, that led the way unto the Reformation of Religion which did after follow: It was first voted and decreed in the Convocation, before ever it became the subject of an Act of Parliament. For in the year 1530. 22o. H. 8. the Clergy being caught in a praemunire were willing to redeem their danger by a sum of money, and to that end the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury bestowed upon the king the sum of 100000 pounds, to be paid by equal portions in the five years following. But the king would not so be satisfied unless they would acknowledge him for the supreme head on Earth of the Church of England, which though it was hard meat, and would not easily down amongst them, yet it passed at last. For, being throughly debated in a synodical way, both in the upper and lower houses of Convocation, they did in fine agree upon this expression. Cujus (Ecclesiae sc. Anglicanae) singularem Protectorem, unicum et supremum Dominum, et (quantum per Christi leges licet) supremum Caput, ipsius Majestatem recognoscimus. To this they all assented and subscribed their hands, and afterwards incorporated it into the public Act or Instrument, which was presented to the King in the name of his Clergy, for the redeeming of their error, and the grant of their money, which as it doth at large appear in the Records and Acts of the Convocation, so is it touched upon in an historical way in the Antiq. Britan: Mason de Minist. Anglic. and some other Authors; by whom it also doth appear, that what was thus concluded on by the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury, was also ratified and confirmed by the Convocation for the Province of York (according to the usual custom) save that they did not buy their Pardon at so dear a rate. This was the leading Card to the game which followed. For on this ground were built the Statutes prohibiting all appeals to Rome, and for determining all ecclesiastical suits and controversies within the kingdom 24. H. 8. c. 12. That for the manner of Electing and Consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops. 25. H. 8. c. 20. and, the prohibiting the payment of all impositions to the Court of Rome; and for obtaining all such Dispensations from the See of Canterbury which formerly were procured from the Popes of Rome. 25. H. 8. c, 21. which last is built expressly upon this foundation; That the King is the only supreme Head of the Church of England, and was so recognized by the Prelates and Clergy, representing the said Church in their Convocation. And on the very same foundation was the Statute raised 26. H. 8. c. 1. where in the King is declared to be the supreme head of the Church of England, & to have all honours & Preeminencies which were annexed unto that Title, as by the Act itself doth at full appear, which Act being made (I speak it from the Act itself) only for corroboration and confirmation of that which had been done in the Convocation, did afterwards draw on the Statute for the Tenths and First-fruits, as the point incident to the Headship or supreme authority, 26. H. 8, c. 3.  
The second step to the Ejection of the Pope, was the submission of the Clergy to the said K. Henry, whom they had recognized for their supreme Head. And this was first concluded on in the Convocation, before it was proposed or agitated in the houses of Parliament; and was commended only to the care of the Parliament, that it might have the force of a Law by a civil Sanction. The whole debate with all the traverses and emergent difficulties which appeared therein are specified at large in the Records of Convocation, Anno 1532. But being you have not opportunity to consult those Records, I shall prove it by the Act of Parliament, called commonly the Act of the submission of the Clergy, but bearing this Title in the Abridgement of the Statutes set out by Poulton, That the Clergy in their Convocations shall enact no Constitutions without the King's assent. In which it is premised for granted that the Clergy of the Realm of England, had not only acknowledged according to the Truth, that the Convocation of the same Clergy, is, always hath been, and aught to be assembled always by the King's Writ; but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty, had promised in verbo Sacerdotii, That they would never from henceforth presume to attempt, allege, claim, or put in ure, enact, promulge or execute any new Canons, Constitutions, Ordinances provincial, or other, or by whatsoever other name they shall be called in the Convocation, unless the Kings most royal assent may to them be had, to make, promulge and execute the same, and that his majesty do give his most royal Assent and Authority in that behalf. Upon which ground work of the Clergies, the Parliament shortly after built this superstructure, to the same effect: viz. That none of the said Clergy from thenceforth should presume to attempt, allege, claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances, provincial or Synodals, or any other Canons; nor shall enact, promulge, or execute any such Canons, Constitutions, or Ordinances provincial (by whatsoever name or names they may be called) in their Convocations in time coming (which always shall be assembled by the King's Writ) unless the same Clergy may have the kings most royal Assent and Licence to make, promulge and execute such Canons, Constitutions and Ordinances provincial or synodical, upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act, and thereof convict, to suffer imprisonment and make fine at the King's will. 25. H. 8. c. 19 So that the Statute, in effect, is no more than this, an Act to bind the Clergy to perform their promise, to keep them fast unto their word for the time to come, that no new Canon should be made in the times succeeding in favour of the Pope, or by his authority, or to the diminution of the King's royal Prerogative, or contrary to the laws and Statutes of this realm of England, as many papal Constitutions were in the former Ages: which Statute I desire you to take notice of, because it is the rule and measure of the church's power in making Canons, Constitutions, or whatsoever else you shall please to call them in their Convocations.  
The third and final Act conducing to the Pope's Ejection, was an Act of Parliament 28. H. 8. c. 10. Entitled an Act extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome. By which it was Enacted That if any person should extol the authority of the Bishop of Rome, he should incur the penalty of a Praemunire; that every Officer, both ecclesiastical and Lay, should be sworn to renounce the said Bishop and his authority, and to resist it to his power, and to repute any Oath formerly taken in maintenance of the said Bishop, or his authority, to be void; and finally that the refusal of the said Oath should be judged high Treason. But this was also ushered in by the Determination first, and after by the Practice of all the clergy. For in the year 1534, which was two years before the passing of this Act, the King had sent this Proposition to be agitated in both universities, and in the greatest and most famous Monasteries of the kingdom, that is to say, An aliquid authoritatis in hoc regno Angliae Pontifici Romano de jure competat plus quam alii cuicunque Episcopo extero? By whom it was determined Negatively, that the Bishop of Rome had no more power of right in the kingdom of England, than any other foreign Bishop: Which being testified and returned under their hands and seals respectively (the Originals whereof are still remaining in the Library of Sir Robert Cotton) was a good preamble to the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy assembled in their Convocation to conclude the like. And so accordingly they did, and made an Instrument thereof subscribed by the hands of all the Bishops, and others of the clergy, and afterwards confirmed the same by their corporal oaths: The copies of which oaths and Instrument you shall find in Fox's Acts and Monuments vol. 2. fol. 1203. and fol. 1210. & 1211. of the Edition of John Day, An. 1570. And this was semblably the ground of a following Statute 35. H. 8. c. 1. Wherein another Oath was devised and ratified, to be imposed upon the Subject, for the more clear asserting of the King's Supremacy, and the utter exclusion of the Popes for ever; which Statutes though they were all repealed by one Act of Parliament 1. & 2. of Phil. & Mary c. 8. yet they were brought in force again 1. Eliz. c. 1. save that the name of Supreme Head was changed unto that of the Supreme governor, and certain clauses altered in the Oath of Supremacy. Where (by the way) you must take notice that the Statutes which concern the King's Supremacy, are not introductory of any new Right, that was not in the Crown before, but only declaratory of an old, as our best Lawyers tell us, and the Statute of the 26. of H. 8. c. 1. doth clearly intimate. So that in the Ejection of the Pope of Rome, which was the first and greatest step towards the work of Reformation, the Parliament did nothing, for aught yet appears, but what was done before in the Convocation, and did no more than fortify the results of Holy Church by the Addition and Corroboration of the Secular Power.   

2. Of the Translation of the Scriptures, and permitting them to be read in the English Tongue.  
THE second step towards the work of Reformation, (and indeed one of the most especial parts thereof) was the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue, and the permitting all sorts of people to peruse the same, as that which visibly did tend to the discovery of the errors and corruptions in the Church of Rome, and the intolerable Pride and Tyranny of the Roman Prelates, upon which grounds it had been formerly translated into English by the hand of Wickliff, and after, on the spreading of Luther's Doctrine, by the pains of Tyndall, a stout and active man in king Henry's days, but not so well befriended as the work deserved: especially considering that it happened in such a time when many printed Pamphlets did disturb the State (and some of them of Tindal's making) which seemed to tend unto Sedition and the change of Government. Which being remonstrated to the King, he caused divers of his Bishops, together with sundry of the learnedest and most eminent Divines of all the kingdom to come before him: whom he required freely and plainly to declare as well what their opinion was of the foresaid Pamphlets, as what they did think fit to be done concerning the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue; And they upon mature advice and deliberation, unanimously condemned the aforesaid books of heresy and blasphemy (no smaller crime.) Then, for translating of the Scriptures into the English tongue, they agreed all with one assent, that it depended wholly on the Will and Pleasure of the sovereign Prince, who might do therein as he conceived to be most agreeable to his occasions; but that with reference to the present estate of things, it was more expedient to explain the Scripture to the people by the way of Sermons, then to permit it to be read promiscuously by all sorts of men: yet so that hopes were to be given unto the Laity, that if they did renounce their errors, and presently deliver to the hands of his majesty's Officers all such books and Bibles (which they conceived to be translated with great fraud and falsehood) as any of them had in keeping, his Majesty would cause a true and Catholic Translation of it to be published in convenient time, for the use of his Subjects. This was the sum and substance of the present Conference, which you shall find laid down at large in the Registers of Archbishop Warham. And according to this advice the King sets out a Proclamation not only prohibiting the buying, reading, or translating of any the aforesaid books, but straightly charging all his Subjects which had any of the books of Scripture, either of the old Testament or of the new, in the English tongue, to bring them in without delay. But for the other part, of giving hopes unto the people of a true Translation, if they delivered in the false (or that at lest which was pretended to be false) I find no word at all in the Proclamation. That was a work reserved unto better times, or left to be solicited by the Bishops themselves, and other learned men who had given the counsel; by whom (Indeed) the people were kept up in hope that all should be accomplished unto their desires.  
And so indeed it proved at last. For in the Convocation of the year 1536. the authority of the Pope being abrogated, and Cranmer fully settled in the See of Canterbury, the Clergy did agree upon a form of Petition to be presented to the King, that he would graciously indulge unto his Subjects of the Laity the reading of the Bible in the English tongue, and that a new Translation of it might be forth with made for that end and purpose. According to which godly motion, his Majesty did not only give order for a new Translation, which afterwards he authorised to be read both in public and private; but in the interim he permitted Cromwell his vicar-general to set out an Injunction for providing the whole Bible both in Latin and English, after the translation then in use, (which was called commonly by the name of Matthew's Bible, but was indeed no other, than that of Tyndall somewhat altered) to be kept in every parish Church throughout the kingdom, for every one that would to repair unto, and caused this mark or character of authority to be set upon them in red Letters Set forth with the Kings most Gracious Licence, which you may see in Fox his Acts & Monum. p. 1248. & 1363▪ Afterwards, when the new Translation so often promised, and so long expected, was complete and finished, printed at London by the King's authority, and countenanced by a grave and pious Preface of Archbishop Cranmer; the King sets out a Proclamation dated May. 6. An. 1541. Commanding all the Curates and Parishioners throughout the kingdom, who were not already furnished with Bibles so authorized and translated as before is said, to provide themselves before Alhallowtide next following, and to cause the Bibles so provided to be placed conveniently in their several and respective Churches; straightly requiring all his Bishops and other Ordinaries to take special care, to see his said Commands put in execution. And therewithal came out Instructions from the King to be published by the Clergy in their several parishes, the better to possess the people with the King's good affection towards them in suffering them to have the benefit of such heavenly Treasure; and to direct them in a course by which they might enjoy the same to their greater comfort, the reformation of their lives, and the peace and quiet of the Church. Which Proclamation and Instructions are still preserved in that most admirable Treasury of Sir Robert Cotton. And unto these Commands of so great a Prince, both Bishops, Priests and People did apply themselves with such cheerful reverence, that Bonner (even that bloody butcher, as he after proved) caused six of them to be chained in several places of Saint Paul's Church in London, for all that were so well inclined to resort unto, for their edification and instruction, the book being very chargeable, because very large; and therefore called commonly (for distinctions sake) The Bible of the greater Volume. Thus have we seen the Scriptures faithfully Translated into the English Tongue, the Bible publicly set up in all parish-churches, that every one which would might peruse the same, and leave permitted to all people to buy them for their private uses, and read them to themselves, or before their families, and all this brought about by no other means than by the King's authority▪ only grounded on the advice and judgement of the Convocation. But long it was not I confess, before the Parliament put in for a share, and claimed some interest in the work; but whether for the better or the worse▪ I leave you to judge. For in the year 1542, the King being then in agitation of a league with Charles the Emperor, he caused a complaint to be made unto him in his Court of Parliament That the liberty granted to the people in having in their hands the books of the old and new Testament, had been much abused by many false glosses and interpretations which were made upon them, tending to the seducing of the people, especially of the younger sort, and the raising of sedition within the realm. And thereupon it was enacted by the authority of the Parliament (on whom he was content to cast the envy of an Act so contrary to his former gracious Proclamations) that all manner of books of the old and new Testament of the crafty, false, and untrue Translation of Tyndall, be forthwith abolished, and forbidden to be used and kept. As also, that all other Bibles not being of tyndall's translation in which were found any Preambles or Annotations, other than the quotations or Summaries of the Chapters, should be purged of the said Preambles and Annotations, either by cutting them out, or blotting them in such wise that they might not be perceived or read. And finally that the Bible be not read openly in any Church, but by the leave of the King or of the Ordinary of the place; nor privately by any Women, Artificers, Prentices, journeymen, Husbandmen, Labourers, or by any of the servants of Yeomen or under, with several pains to those who should do the contrary. This is the substance of the Statute of the 34. & 35. H. 8. cap. 1. which though it shows that there was somewhat done in Parliament, in a matter which concerned Religion (which howsoever if you mark it, was rather the adding of the penalties, than giving any resolution or decision of the points in Question) yet I presume the Papists will not use this for an Argument, that we have either a Parliament-Religion, or a parliament-gospel; or that we stand indebted to the Parliament for the use of the Scriptures in the English Tongue, which is so principal a part of the Reformation. Nor did the Parliament speed so prosperously in the undertakiug (which the wise King permitted them to have an hand in for the foresaid ends) or found so general an obedience in it from the common people, as would have been expected in these times, on the like occasion; but that the King was fain to quicken and give life to the Acts thereof by his Proclamatiom. An. 1546. which you shall find in Fox his book. fol. 1427.  
To drive this nail a little farther. The terror of this Statute dying with H. 8. or being repealed by that of K. E. 6. 1 E. 6. c. 12. the Bible was again made public; and not only suffered to be read by particular persons, either privately, or in the Church; but ordered to be read over yearly in the Congregation, as a part of the Liturgy, or divine Service; which how far it relates to the Court of Parliament we shall see anon. But for the publishing thereof in print for the use of the people, for the comfort and edification of private persons, that was done only by the King, at least in his name, and by his authority. And so it also stood in Q. Elizabeth's time, the Translation of the Bible being again reviewed by some of the most learned Bishops appointed thereunto by the Queen's Commission (from whence it had the name of the Bishops-Bible) and upon that Review, reprinted by her sole commandment, and by her sole authority left free and open to the use of her well affected and Religious Subjects. Nor did the Parliament do any thing in all her reign with reference to the Scriptures in the English tongue, otherwise than as the reading of them in that tongue in the Congregation, is to be reckoned for a part of the English Liturgy, whereof more hereafter. In the translation of them into Welsh or British, somewhat indeed was done which doth look this way. It being ordered in the Parliament 5. Eliz. c. 28. That the B. B. of Hereford, St. David's, Bangor, Landaffe, and St. Asaph, Should take care amongst them for translating the whole Bible, with the book of Common▪ Prayer into the Welsh or British tongue, on pain of forfeiting 40 a piece, in default hereof. And to encourage them thereunto, it was enacted, that one book of either sort being so translated and imprinted, should be provided and bought for every cathedral Church, as also for all parish Churches and chapels of ease, where the said tongue is commonly used: the Ministers to pay the one half of the price, and the parishioners the other. But than you must observe withal, that it had been before determined in the Convocation of the self same year. An. 1562. That the commonprayer of the Church ought to be celebrated in a tongue which was understood by the people (as you may see in the book of Articles of Religion. Art. 24. which came out that year) and consequently as well in the Welsh or British, as in any other. And for the new Translation of K. James his time, to show that the Translation of Scripture is no work of Parliament, as it was principally occasioned by some passages in the Conference at Hampton Court without recourse unto the Parliament, so was it done only by such men as the King appointed, and by his authority alone imprinted, published and imposed; care being taken by the Canon of the year 1603. That one of them should be provided for each several Church, at the charge of the Parish. No flying in this case to an Act of Parliament, either to authorise the doing of it, or to impose it being done.   

3. Of the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine.  
NExt, let us look upon the method used in former times in the reforming of the Church, whether in points of Doctrine, or in forms of Worship, and we shall find it still the same. The Clergy did the work as to them seemed best, never advising with the Parliament, but upon the post fact, and in most cases not at all. And first for Doctrinals, there was but little done in king Henry's time but that which was acted by the clergy only in their Convocations, and so commended to the people by the King's sole authority, the matter never being brought within the cognizance of the two Houses of Parliament. For in the year 1536, being the year in which the Pope's authority was for ever banished, there were some Articles agreed on in the Convocation, and represented to the King, under the hands of all the Bishops, abbots, Priors, and inferior Clergy usually called unto those meetings; the original whereof being in Sir Robert Cotton's Library I have often seen: which being approved of by the King, were forthwith published under the Title of Articles devised by the King's highness to stable Christian quietness and unity amongst the people. In which it is to be observed, first; that those Articles make mention of 3 Sacraments only, that is to say of baptism, Penance, and the Sacrament of the Altar. And secondly, that in the declaration of the Doctrine of justification, Images, honouring of the Saints departed, as also concerning many of the usual Ceremonies, and the fire of Purgatory, they differed very much from those opinions which had been formerly received in the Church of Rome, as you may partly see by that extract of them which occurs in Fox his Acts and Monuments, vol. 2. fol. 1246. For the confirming of which book, and recommending it to the use of the people, his Majesty was pleased in the Injunctions of the year 1536. to give command To all Deans, Parsons, Vicars and curates, so to open and declare in their Sermons and other Collations the said Articles unto them which be under their Cure, that they might plainly know and discern, which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their salvation, and which do only concern the Decent and politic Order of the Church. And this he did upon this ground, that the said Articles had been concluded and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of the realm in their Convocation, as appeareth in the very words of the Injunction: for which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1247. I find not any thing in Parliament which relates to this, either to countenance the work, or to require obedience and conformity from the hands of the people. And, to say truth, neither the King nor Clergy did account it necessary, but thought their own authority sufficient to go through with it, though certainly it was more necessary at that time then in any since, the power and reputation of the Clergy being under foot, the King scarce settled in the Supremacy so lately recognized unto him, and therefore the authority of the Parliament of more use than afterward, in times well balanced and established.  
'Tis true that in some other years of that Prince's reign, we find some use and mention of an Act of Parliament, in matters which concerned Religion, but in was only in such times when the hopes of Reformation were in the wane, and the work went retrograde. For in the year 1539. being the 31 H. 8. When the Lord Cromwel's power began to decline, and the King was in a necessity of compliance with his neighbouring Princes, there passed an Act of Parliament commonly called the Statute of the six Articles (or the whip with six strings) In which it was enacted. That whosoever by word or writing should preach, teach, or publish, that in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar, under form of bread and wine, there is not really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, conceived of the virgin Mary, (or affirm otherwise thereof then was maintained and taught in the Church of Rome) should be adjudged an heretic, and suffer death by burning, and forfeit all his Lands and Goods, as in case of high Treason. Secondly, that Whosoever should teach or preach, that the Communion of the blessed Sacrament in both kinds is necessary for the health of man's soul, and ought so to be ministered. Thirdly, or that any man after the Order of priesthood received might marry, or contract matrimony: Fourthly, or that any woman which had vowed and professed chastity, might contract marriage. Fifthly, or that private mass were not lawful and laudable, and agreeable to the word of God. Or, sixthly, that Auricular Confession was not necessary and expedient to be used in the Church of God, should suffer death, and forfeit Lands and Goods, as a felon. 31 of H. 8. c▪ 14. The rigour of which terrible Statute was shortly after mitigated in the said Kings reign, 32. H. 8. c, 10. and 35. of H. 8. c. 5. and the whole Statute absolutely repealed by Act of Parliament, 1. Ed. 6. c. 12. But than it is to be observed first, that this Parliament of King Henry the Eighth, did not determine any thing in those six points of Doctrine which are therein recited, but only took upon them to devise a course for the suppressing of the contrary opinions, by adding by the secular Power, the punishment of Death, and forfeiture of Lands and Goods, unto the censures of the Church, which were grown weak, if not invalid; and consequently, by degrees became neglected ever since the said King Henry took the Headship on him, and exercised the same by a Lay vicar-general. And secondly, you must observe that it appeareth evidently by the Act itself, that at the same time the King had called a Synod and Convocation of all the archishops, Bishops, and other learned men of the Clergy, that the Articles were first deliberately and advisedly debated, argued and reasoned by the said Archbishops, Bishops, and other learned men of the Clergy, and their opinions in the same declared and made known, before the matter came in Parliament, and finally that being brought into the Parliament, there was not any thing declared and passed as doctrinal, but by the assent of the Lords spiritual, and other learned men of the Convocation, as by the Act itself doth at large appear. Finally, whatsoever may be drawn from hence, can be only this, That King Henry did make use of his Court of Parliament for the establishing and confirming of some points of Popery, which seemed to be in danger of a Reformation. And this compared with the Statute of the 34. & 35. prohibiting the reading of the Bible by most sorts of people, doth clearly show that the Parliaments of those times did rather hinder and retard the work of Reformation, in some especial parts thereof, than give any furtherance to the same.  
But to proceed. There was another point of Reformation begun in the Lord Cromwel's time, but not produced, nor brought unto perfection till after his decease, and then too, not without the midwifery of an Act of Parliament. For in the year 1537. the Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Convocation, had composed a book entitled the Institution of a Christian man, which being subscribed by all their hands, was by them presented to the King, by his most excellent judgement to be allowed of, or condemned. This book, containing the chief heads of Christian Religion, was forth with printed, and exposed to public view. But some things not being clearly explicated, or otherwise subject to exception, he caused it to be reviewed, and to that end; as Supreme Head, on Earth, of the Church of England (I speak the very words of the Act of Parliament. 32. H. 8▪ c. 26.) appointed the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces, and also a great number of the best learned, honestest, and most virtuous sort of the Doctors in Divinity, men of discretion, judgement, and good disposition, to be called together, to the intent that according to the very gospel and Law of God, without any partial respect or affection to the papistical sort, or any other Sect or Sects whatsoever, they should declare, by writing, and publish, as well the principal Articles and Points of our Faith and belief; with the Declaration, true understanding and observation of such other expedient points, as by them, with his Grace's advice, counsel and Consent, shall be thought needful and expedient: As also for the lawful Rites, Ceremonies, and observation of God's service within this realm. This was in the year 1540 at what time the Parliament was also sitting, of which the King was pleased to make this especial use, that whereas the work which was in hand (I use again the words of the Statute) required ripe and mature deliberation, and was not rashly to be defined and set forth, and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session: An Act was passed to this effect, that all Determinations, Declarations, Decrees, Definitions and Ordinances, as according to God's Word and Christ's gospel should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Archbishops and Bishops, and Doctors in Divinity, now appointed, or hereafter to be appointed by his royal Majesty, or else by the whole Clergy of England, in and upon the Matter of Christ's Religion, and the Christian Faith, and the lawful Rites, Ceremonies, and observations of the same, by his majesty's advice and confirmation under the Great seal of England, shall be by all his grace's Subjects fully believed, obeyed, observed and performed to all purposes and intents, upon the pains and penalties therein to be comprised, as if the same had been in express words and sentences plainly and fully made, set forth, declared and contained in the said Act. 32. of H. 8. c, 26. Where note that the two houses of Parliament were so far from meddling in the matter which was then in hand, that they did not so much as require to see the determinations and Decrees of those learned men whom his Majesty had then assembled, before they passed the present Act to bind the subject fully to believe, observe and perform the same; but left it wholly to the judgement and discretion of the King and Clergy, and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such pains and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons, as to them seemed meet.  
This ground work laid, the work went forwards in good order, and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said Archbishops, Bishops, and other learned men could give it, without the cooperation and concurrence of the royal assent, it was presented once again to the King's consideration, who very carefully perused it, and altered many things with his own hand, as appeareth by the book itself still extant in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton, and having so altered and corrected it in some passages, returned it to the Arcbishop of Canterbury, who bestowed some further pains upon it, to the end that being to come forth in the King's name, and by his authority, there should be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended. The business being in this forwardness, the King declares in Parliament, An. 1544. being the 34 year of his reign his zeal and care, not only to suppress all such books and writings as were noisome and pestilent, and tended to the seducing of his subjects: but also to ordain and establish a certain form of pure and sincere teaching, agreeable to God's Word, and the true doctrine of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies, as have in times past, & yet do happen to arise. And for a preparatory thereunto, that so it might come forth with the greater credit, he caused an Act to pass in Parliament for the abolishing of all books and writings comprising any matters of Christian Religion, contrary to that doctrine which since the year 1540 is▪ or any time during the King's life, shall be set forth by his highness, and for the punishment of all such (and that too with most grievous pains) which should preach, teach, maintain or defend any matter or thing contrary to the book of Doctrine which was then in readiness 34.35. H. 8. c. 1. Which done he caused the said book to be imprinted in the year next following, under the Title of A necessary Doctrine for all sorts of people; prefixing a Preface thereto in his own royal name, to all his faithful and loving Subjects, that they might know the better in those dangerous times, what to believe in point of Doctrine, and how they were to carry and behave themselves in point of practice. which Statute, as it is the greatest evidence which those times afford, to show, that both, or either of the houses of Parliament had any thing to do in matters which concerned Religion; so it entitles them to no more (if at all to any thing) then that they did make way to a book of doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy only, revised after and corrected by the Kings own hand, and finally perused and perfected by the Metropolitan. And more than so (besides, that being but one swallow, it can make no summer) it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act itself (if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgement) that recourse must be had to the Catholic and Apostolic Church, for the decision of Controversies. Which as it gives the Clergy the Decisive power, so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and aid them with the temporal sword, when the spiritual Word could not do the deed, the point thereof being blunted, and the edge abated.  
Next let us look upon the time of king Ed. 6. and we shall find the Articles and Doctrine of the Church (excepting such as were contained in the book of commonprayer) to be composed, confirmed and settled in no other way than by the Clergy only in their Convocation, the King's authority cooperating and concurring with them. For, in the Synod held in London An. 1552. The Clergy did compose and agree upon a book of Articles, containing the chief heads of the Christian Faith, especially with reference to such points of controversy as were in difference between the Reformators of the Church of England, and the Church of Rome, and other opponents whatsoever; which after were approved and published by the King's authority. They were in number 41, and were published by this following Title, that is to say, Articuli de quibus in Synodo London, An. 1552. ad tollendum opinionum dissentionem, et consensum verae Religionis firmandum, inter Episcopos & alios Eruditos viros convenerat, Regia Authoritate in lucem Editi. And, it is worth our observation, that though the Parliament was held at the very time, and that the Parliament passed several Acts which concerned Church-matters, as viz. An Act for uniformity of Divine Service, and for the confirmation of the book of Ordination, 5. & 6. Ed. 6. c. 1. An Act declaring which days only shall be kept for holy-days, and which for fasting days, c. 3. An Act against striking or drawing weapon either in the Church, or churchyard▪ c. 4. and finally another Act for the legitimating of the marriages of Priests and Ministers, c. 12. yet neither in this Parliament, nor in that which followed, is there so much as the least syllable which reflects this way, or meddleth any thing at all with the book of Articles. Where, by the way, if you behold the lawfulness of Priests Marriages as a matter doctrinal, or think we owe that Point of Doctrine, and the indulgence granted to the Clergy in it, to the care and goodness of the Parliament, you may please to know, that the point had been before determined in the Convocation, and stands determined by and for the Clergy in the 31. of those Articles, and that the Parliament looked not on it as a point of Doctrine, but as it was a matter practical, conducing to the benefit and improvement of the commonwealth. Or if it did, yet was the Statute built on no other groundwork, than the resolution of the Clergy, the Marriage of Priests being before determined to be most lawful (I use the very words of the Act itself) and according to the word of God, by the learned Clergy of this Realm in their Convocations, as well by the common assent, as by subscription of their hands. 5.6▪ Ed▪ 6. c. 12.  
And, for the time of Q. Elizabeth, it is most manifest that they had no other body of Doctrine in the first part of her reign, then only the said Articles of K. Edward's book, and that which was delivered in the book of Homilies of the said King's time; in which the Parliament had as little to do, as you have seen they had in the book of Articles. But in the Convocation of the year 1562. being the fifth of the Queen's reign, the Bishops and Clergy taking into consideration the said book of Articles, and altering what they thought most fitting, to make it more conducible to the use of the Church, and the edification of the people, presented it unto the Queen, who caused it to be published with this name and Title, viz. Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London An. 1562. for the avoiding of diversity of opinions, and for establishing of consent touching true Religion, put forth by the Queen's authority. Of any thing done or pretended to be done by the power of Parliament, either in the way of approbation, or of confirmation, not one word occurs either in any of the printed books, or their public Registers. At last indeed in the thirteenth of the said Queen's reign (which was eight years full after the passing of those Articles) comes out a Statute for the redressing of disorders in the Ministers of holy Church; In which it was enacted. That all such as were ordained Priests or Ministers of God's Word and Sacraments, after any other form than that appointed to be used in the Church of England; all such as were to be ordained, or permitted to preach, or to be instituted into any Benefice with cure of souls, should publicly subscribe to the said Articles, and testify their assent unto them: which shows (if you observe it well) that though the Parliament did well allow of and approve the said book of Articles, yet the said book owes neither confirmation nor authority to the Act of Parliament. So that the wonder is the greater, that that most insolent scoff which is put upon us by the Church of Rome, in calling our Religion by the name Parliamentaria Religio, should pass so long without control, unless perhaps it was in reference to our forms of worship, of which I am to speak in the next place.  
But first we must make answer unto some objections which are made against us, both from Law and practice. For Practise, first it is alleged by some out of Bishop jewel, in his answer to the cavil of Dr. Harding, to be no strange matter to see ecclesiastical causes debated in Parliament; and that it is apparent by the laws of K. Inas, K. Alfred, K. Edward, &c. That our godly forefathers the Princes and peers of this realm, never vouchsafed to treat of matters touching the common State, before all controversies of Religion, and Causes ecclesiastical had been concluded. Def. of the Apol. pt. 6. c. 2.§. 1. But the answer unto this is easy. For first, if our Religion may be called Parliamentarian, because it hath received confirmation and debate in Parliament, than the Religion of our Forefathers, even Papistry itself (concerning which so many Acts of Parliament were made in K. Henry 8. and Q. Mary's time) must be called Parliamentarian also. And Secondly, it is most certain, that in the Parliaments or Common counsels (call them which you will) both of King Inas time, and the rest of the Saxon Kings which Bishop jewel speaks of, not only Bishops, abbots, and the higher part of the Clergy, but the whole body of the Clergy generally had their votes and suffrages, either in person or by Proxy. Concerning which, take this for the leading Case, That in the Parliament or Common council in K. Ethelbert's time, who first of all the Saxon Kings received the gospel, the Clergy were convened in as full a manner, as the Lay subjects of that Prince▪ Convocato communi Concilio tam Cleri, quàm Populi, saith Sr. H. Spelman in his Collection of the counsels. An. 605. p. 118. And for the Parliament of King Ina which leads the way in Bishop jewel, it was (saith the same Sr. H. Spelman p. 630. Commune Concilium Episcoporum, Procerum, Comitum, necnon omnium Sapientum, Seniorum, populorumque totius Regni; where doubtless Sapientes and Seniores (and you know what Seniores signifieth in the ecclesiastical notion) must be some body else then those which after are expressed by the name of Populi, which shows the falsehood and absurdity of the collection made by Master Prynne, that in the epistle to his book against Doctor Cousins, viz. That the Parliament (as it is now constituted) hath an ancient, genuine, just and lawful Prerogative, to establish true Religion in our Church, and to abolish and suppress all false, new, and counterfeit doctrines whatsoever: unless he means, upon the post-fact, after the Church hath done her part, in determining wh●t was true, what false; what new, what ancient; and finally what Doctrines might be counted counterfeit, and what sincere. And as for Law, 'tis true indeed, that by the Statute 1 Eliz. cap. 1. The Court of Parliament hath power to determine and judge of heresy; which at first sight seems somewhat strange, but on the second view, you will easily find that this relates only to new and emergent Heresies, not formerly declared for such in any of the first four general counsels, nor in any other general council adjudging by express words of holy Scripture; as also that in such new Heresies, the following words restrain this power to the Assent of the Clergy in their Convocation, as being best able to instruct the Parliament what they are to do, and where they are to make use of the secular sword for cutting off a desperate heretic from the Church of CHRIST, or rather from the body of all Christian people.   

4. Of the forms of Worship.  
THIS rub removed, we now proceed unto a view of such forms of Worship as have been settled in this Church, since the first dawning of the day of Reformation; in which our Parliaments have indeed done somewhat, though it be not much. The first point which was altered in the public Liturgies, was that the Creed, the paternoster, and the ten commandments, were ordered to be said in the English tongue, to the intent the people might be perfect in them, and learn them without book, as our phrase is. The next; the setting forth and using of the English litany, on such days and times, in which it was accustomably to be read as a part of the Service. But neither of these two was done by Parliament, nay (to say truth) the Parliament did nothing in them. All which was done in either of them, was only by the King's authority, by virtue of the Head ship or Supremacy which was vested in him, either cooperating and concurring with his Convocation, or else directed and assisted by such learned Prelates, with whom he did advise in matters which concerned the Church, and did relate to Reformation. By virtue of which Head-ship or Supremacy he ordained the first, and to that end caused certain Articles or Injunctions to be published by the Lord Cromwell, than his vicar-general. An. 1536. And by the same did he give order for the second, I mean, for the saying of the litany in the English tongue, by his own royal Proclamation. An. 1545. for which, consult the Acts & Mon. fol. 1248. 1312. But these were only preparations to a greater work which was reserved unto the times of King Ed. 6. In the beginning of whose reign there passed a Statute for the administering the Sacrament in both kinds to any person that should devoutly and humbly desire the same. 1 Ed. 6. cap. 1. In which it is to be observed, that though the Statute do declare, that the ministering of the same in both kinds to the people was more agreeable to the first Institution of the said Sacrament, and to the common usage of the primitive times. Yet Mr. Fox assures us (and we may take his word) that they did build that Declaration, and consequently the Act which was raised upon it, upon the judgement and opinion of the best learned men, whose resolution and advise they followed in it. fol. 1489. And for the form by which the said most Blessed Sacrament was to be so delivered to the Common people, it was commended to the care of the most grave and learned Bishops, and others, assembled by the King at his Castle of Windsor; who upon long, wise, learned and deliberate advice did finally agree (saith Fox) upon one Godly and uniform Order for receiving the same, according to the right rule of Scriptures, and the first use of the primitive Church. fol. 1491. which Order, as it was set forth in print. An. 1548. with a Proclamation in the name of the King, to give authority thereunto amongst the people, so was it recommended by especial Letters writ unto every Bishop severally from the Lords of the counsel, to see the same put in execution; A copy of which Letters you may find in Fox. fol. 1491. as afore is said.  
Hitherto nothing done by Parliament in the forms of Worship, but in the following year there was. For the Protector and the rest of the King's counsel being fully bent for a Reformation, thought it expedient that one uniform, quiet and godly Order should be had throughout the Realm, for Officiating God's Divine Service. And to that end (I use the very words of the Act itself) appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury, and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops, and other learned men of the Realm to meet together, requiring them, that having as well eye and respect to the most pure and sincere christian Religion taught in Scriptures, as to the usages in the primitive Church, they should draw and make one convenient and meet Order, Rite and Fashion of Common Prayer, and Administration of Sacraments to be had and used in this his majesty's Realm of England. Well, what did they being thus assembled? that the Statute tells us: where it is said, that by the aid of the holy Ghost (I pray you mark this well) and with one uniform agreement they did conclude upon and set forth an Order, which they delivered to the King's highness, in a book entitled, The book of commonprayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, after the use of the Church of England. All this was done before the Parliament did any thing. But what was done by them at last? Why first, considering the most godly travail of the King's highness, and the Lord Protector and others of his highness' counsel, in gathering together the said Bishops and learned men. Secondly, the godly prayers, Orders, Rites and Ceremonies in the said book mentioned. Thirdly, the motives and inducements which inclined the aforesaid learned men to alter those things which were altered, and to retain those which were retained; and finally, taking into consideration the honour of God, and the great quietness which by the grace of God would ensue upon it; they gave his Majesty most hearty and lowly thanks for the same, and most humbly prayed him that it might be ordained by his Majesty, with the assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, and by authority of the same, that the said Form of commonprayer and none other, after the Feast of Pentecost next following, should be used in all this majesty's Dominions with several penalties to such, as either should deprave or neglect the same. 2. & 3. Ed. 6. cap. 1. So far the very words of the Act itself. By which it evidently appeareth that the two Houses of Parliament did nothing in the present business, but impose that Form upon the people, which by the learned and religious clergy men (whom the King appointed thereunto) was agreed upon, and made it penal unto such as either should deprave the same, or neglect to use it. And thus doth Poulton (no mean Lawyer) understand the Statute, who therefore gives no other Title to it in his Abridgement published in the year 1612▪ than this The Penalty for not using uniformity of Service, and Ministration of the Sacraments. So then, the making of one uniform Order of celebrating Divine Service, was the work of the Clergy, the making of the Penalties, was the work of the Parliament.  
And so much for the first Liturgy of King Edward's reign; in which you see how little was done by the authority or power of Parliament, so little, that if it had been less, it had been just nothing. But some exceptions being taken against the Liturgy by some of the preciser sort at home, and by Calvin abroad, the book was brought under a review: and though it had been framed at first (if the Parliament which said so erred not) by the aid of the holy Ghost himself, yet to comply with the curiosity of the Ministers, and mistakes of the People, rather than for any other weighty cause, As the Statute 5. & 6. Ed. 6. cap. 1. it was thought expedient by the King, with the Assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, that the said Order of Common-Service should be faithfully and godly perused, explained and made fully perfect.  
Perused and Explained; by whom? Why, questionless by those who made it; or else, by those (if they were not the same men) who were appointed by the King to draw up, and compose a Form of Ordination for the use of the Church. And this Assent of theirs (for it was no more) was the only part that was ever acted by the Parliament, in matter of this present nature, save that a Statute passed in the former Parliament, 3. & 4. Ed. 6. c. 12. unto this effect, that such Form and manner of making and consecrating Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and other Ministers of the Church (which before I spoke of) as by six Prelates, and six other men of this Realm, learned in God's laws, by the King to be appointed and assigned, shall be devised for that purpose, and set forth under the Great seal, shall be lawfully used and exercised, and none other. Where note, that the King only was to nominate and appoint the men, the Bishops and other learned men were to make the book, & that the Parliament in a blind obedience, or at the least upon a charitable confidence in the integrity of the men so nominated, did confirm that book, before any of their Members had ever seen it, though afterwards indeed, in the following Parliament, this book, together with the book of commonprayer, so printed and explained, retained a more formal confirmation, as to the use thereof throughout the kingdom, but in no other respect, for which see the Statute 5. & 6. Ed. 6. c. 1. [As for the time of Q. Elizabeth, when the Common prayer book now in use (being the same almost with the last of King Edward) was to be brought again into the Church, from whence it was cast out in Q. Mary's reign; it was committed to the care of some learned men, that is to say, to Master Whitehead (once Chaplain to Q. Anne Bullen) Doctor Parker, after Archbishop of Canterbury, D. Grindall after Bishop of London, D. Cox after Bishop of Ely, D. Pilkinton after Bishop of Durham, D. May Deane of S. Paul's, D. Bill Provost of Eton, after Deane of Westminster, and Sr. Tho. Smith. By whom being altered in some few passages which the Statute points to 1 Eliz. cap. 21. It was presented to the Parliament, and by the Parliament received and established without more ado, or troubling any Committee of both or either Houses to consider of it, for aught appears in their Records. All that the Parliament did in it; being to put it into the condition in which it stood before in King Ed. reign, partly by repealing the repeal of King Ed. Statutes, made in the 1 of Q. Mary cap. 2. and partly by the adding of some farther penalties on such as did deprave the book, or neglect to use it, or wilfully did absent themselves from their parish-Churches. And for the Alterations made therein in King James his time, being small and in the rubric only, and for the additions of the Thanksgivings at the end of the litany, the Prayer for the Queen and the royal Issue, and the doctrine of the Sacraments at the end of the catechism, which were not in the book before; they were never referred unto the Parliament, but were done only by authority of the King's Commission, and stand in force by virtue only of his Proclamation, which you may find before the book, the charge of buying the said book so explained and altered, being laid upon the several and respective parishes, by no other authority than that of of the eightieth Canon, made in Convocation. An. 1603. The like may also be affirmed of the forms of Prayer for the Inauguration day of our Kings and Queens, the Prayer-books for the fifth of November, and the fifth of August, and those which have been used in all public Fasts: All which, without the help of Parliaments, have been composed by the Bishops, and imposed by the King.  
Now unto this discourse of the forms of Worship, I shall subjoin a word or two of the times of Worship, that is to say, the holy days observed in the Church of England; and so observed, that they do owe that observation chiefly to the church's power. For whereas it was found in the former times that the number of the holy days was grown so great, that they became a burden to the common people, and a great hindrance to the thrift and manufactures of the kingdom; there was a Canon made in the Convocation. An. 1536, for cutting off of many superstitious and superfluous holy days, and the reducing them unto the number in which now they stand (save that St. George's day, and Mary Magdalen's day, and all the Festivals of the blessed Virgin had their place amongst them) according to which Canon, there went out a Monitory from the Archbishop of Canterbury to all the Suffragans of his Province, respectively to see the same observed in their several dioceses, which is still extant on Record. But being the authority of the Church was then in the wane, it was thought necessary to confirm their Acts, and see execution done upon it by the King's Injunction: which did accordingly come forth with this Form or preamble, That the abolishing of the said holy days was Decreed, ordained and established by the King's highness Authority, as supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England, with the common consent and assent of the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm, in Convocation lawfully assembled and Congregate, Of which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1246.1247. Afterwards in the year 1541. The King perceiving with what difficulty the People were induced to leave off those holy days, to which they had been so long accustomed, published his Proclamation of the twenty third of July, for the abolishing of such holy days (amongst other things) as were prohibited before by his Injunctions: both built upon the same foundation, namely, the resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation.  
And so it stood until the reign of King E. 6. at what time the Reformation of the public Liturgy drew after it by consequence an alteration in the present business, no days being to be kept or accounted holy, but those for which the Church had set apart a peculiar office, and not all those neither. For, whereas there are several and peculiar offices for the day of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the day of St. Barnabas the Apostles; neither of these are kept as holy days, nor reckoned or esteemed as such in the Act of Parliament, wherein the names and number of the holy days is precisely specified, which makes some think the Act of Parliament to have had an overruling power on the commonprayer Book; but it is not so, there being a specification of the holy days in the book itself, with this direction, These to be observed for holy days and none other; in which the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul, and the Apostle Barnabas are omitted plainly, and upon which specification the Stat. 5. & 6. Ed. 6. cap. 3. which concerns the holy days seems most exprestly to be built. And for the Offices on those days in the commonprayer Book, you may please to know that every holiday consisteth of two special parts, that is to say, Rest, or cessation from bodily labour, and celebration of divine or Religious duties; and that the days before remembered are so far kept holy, as to have still their proper and peculiar Offices, which is observed in all the cathedrals of this kingdom, and the chapels royal, where the service is read every day; and in most Parish churches also as oft as either of them falls upon a Sunday, though the people be not on those days enjoined to rest from bodily labour, no more than on the Coronation day, or the fifth of November, which yet are reckoned by the people for a kind of holy days. Put all which hath been said together, and the sum is this, That the proceedings of this Church in the Reformation were not merely regal, (as it is objected by some Puritans) much less that they were Parliamentarian in so great a work, as the Papists falsely charge upon us, the Parliaments for the most part doing little in it, but that they were directed in a justifiable way, the work being done Synodically, by the clergy only, according to the usage of the Primitive times, the King concurring with them, and corroborating what they had resolved on, either by his own single Act in his Letters Patent, Proclamations and Injunctions, or by some public Act of State, as in times, and by Acts of Parliament,   

5. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy, and the directing of the People in the public duties of Religion.  
WE are now come to the last part of this design, unto the Power of making Canons, in which the Parliament of England have had less to do than in either of the other which are gone before. Concerning which I must desire you to remember, that the Clergy, who had power before to make such Canons and Constitutions in their Convocations as to them seemed meet, promised the King in verbo Sacerdotii, not to Enact or Execute any new Canons, but by his majesty's royal Assent, and by his Authority first obtained in that behalf: Which is thus briefly touched upon in the Antiq. Britan. in the life of William Warham Archbishop of Canterbury. Clerus in verbo Sacerdotii fidem Regi dedit, ne ullas deinceps in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas leges, nisi & Synodus authoritate Regiâ congregata, & Constitutiones in Synodis publicatae eadem authoritate ratae essent. Upon which ground I doubt not but I might securely raise this proposition, That whatsoever the Clergy did, or might do lawfully before the Act of Submission, in their Convocation, of their own power, without the King's authority and consent concurring, the same they can, and may do still, since the said Act of their Submission; the King's authority and consent cooperating with them in their counsels, and giving confirmation to their Constitutions. Further, it doth appear by the aforesaid Act. 25. H. 8. c. 19 That all such Canons, Constitutions, Ordinances, and synodals provincial, as were made before the said Submission, which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the laws, Statutes, and customs of this Realm, nor to the Damage or hurt of the King's prerogative royal, were to be used and executed as in former times. And by the Statute 26. H. 8. c. 1. Of the King's Supremacy, that (according to the Recognition made in Convocation) our said sovereign Lord, his heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time, to visit, repress, reform, order, correct, &c. all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts, and enormities whatsoever they be, &c. as may be most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's Religion, and for the peace, unity and tranquillity of this Realm, and the confirmation of the same. So that you see these several ways of ordering matters for the public weal and governance of the Church; First, by such ancient Canons and Constitutions, as being made in former times, are still in force. Secondly, By such new Canons as are, or shall be made in Convocation, with and by the King's Consent. And thirdly, by the sole authority of the sovereign Prince, according to the Precedents laid down in the book of God, and the best ages of the Church. Concerning which you must remember what was said before, viz. that the Statutes which concern the King's Supremacy, are Declaratory of an old Power only, not introductory of a new; which said, we shall the better see whether the Parliament have had any thing to do either in making Canons, or prescribing Orders for the regulating of spiritual and ecclesiastical matters, and unto whom the same doth of right belong according to the laws of the Realm of England.  
And first, King Henry being restored to his Head-ship or Supremacy (call it which you will) did not conceive himself so absolute in it (though at first much enamoured of it) as not some times to take his Convocation with him, but at all times to be advised by his Prelates, when he had any thing to do that concerned the Church; for which there had been no provision made by the Ancient Canons, grounding most times, his Edicts and Injunctions royal, upon their advice and resolution. For on this ground, I mean the judgement and conclusions of his Convocation, did he set out the Injunctions of the year 1536. for the abolishing of superstitious and superfluous holy days, the exterminating of the Pope's authority, the publishing of the book of Articles, which before we spoke of num, 8. by all Parsons, Vicars and curates; for preaching down the use of Images, relics, Pilgrimages and superstitious Miracles; for rehearsing openly in the Church, in the English tongue, the Creed, the paternoster, and the ten commandments; for the due and reverent ministering of the Sacraments and Sacramentals, for providing English Bibles to be set up in every Church for the use of the people; for the regular and sober life of Clergy men, and the relief of the poor. And on the other side the King proceeded some times only by the advice of his Prelates, as in the Injunctions of the year 1538. for quarterly Sermons in each Parish; for admitting none to preach but men sufficiently licenced: for keeping a Register book of christenings, Weddings and burials; for the due paying of tithes, as had been accustomed: for the abolishing of the commemoration of St. Tho. Becket: for singing Parce nobis Domine, instead of Ora pro nobis, and the like to these. And of this sort were the Injunctions which came out in some years succeeding, for the taking away of Images and relics, with all the Ornaments of the same: and all the Monuments and writings of feigned Miracles, and for restraint of offering or setting up lights in any Church, but only to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, in which he was directed chiefly by Archbishop Cranmer: as also those for eating of white-meats in the time of Lent, the abolishing the fast on St. Mark's day, and the ridiculous (but superstitious) sports, accustomably used on the days of Saint Clement, St. Catherine and St. Nicholas. All which and more was done in the said Kings reign without help of Parliament. For which I shall refer you to the Acts & Mon. fol. 1385. 1425. 1441. The like may also be affirmed of the Injunctions published in the name of K. Ed. 6. An. 1547. and printed also then for the use of the Subjects: and of the several Letters missive which went forth in his name, prohibiting the bearing of Candles on Candlemas day: of Ashes in Lent, and of palms on Palm-Sunday: for the taking down of all the Images throughout the kingdom: for administering the Communion in both kinds, dated March 13. 1548. for abrogating of private Masses Iun. 24. 1549. for bringing in all Missals, Graduals, Processionals, Legends and Ordinals, about the latter end of December of the same year: for taking down of Altars and setting up Tables instead thereof An. 1550. and the like to these: All which particulars you have in fox's book of Acts & Mon. in King Edward's life, which whether they were done of the King's mere motion, or by advice of his counsel, or by consultation with his Bishops (for there is little left upon Record of the Convocations of that time, more than the Articles of the year 1552) certain I am that there was nothing done, nor yet pretended to be done in all these particulars, by the authority of Parliament.  
Thus also in Q. Elizabeth's time, before the new Bishops were well settled, and the Queen assured of the affections of her Clergy she went that way to work in the Reformation, which not only her two Predecessors, but all the godly Kings and Princes in the Jewish State, and many of the Christian Emperors in the Primitive times had done before her, in the well ordering of the Church and People committed to their care and government by Almighty God. And to that end she published her Injunctions An. 1559. A book of Orders An. 1561. Another of Advertisements An. 1562. all tending unto Reformation, unto the building up of the new Jerusalem, with the advice no doubt of some godly Prelates, as were then about her. But past all doubt, without the least concurrence of her Court of Parliament. But when the times were better settled, and the first difficulties of her reign passed over, she left Church-work to the disposing of churchmen, who by their place and calling were most proper for it. And they being met in Convocation, and thereto authorized as the law required, did make and publish several books of Canons, as viz. 1571. An. 1584. An. 1597. Which being confirmed by the Queen under the broad seal of England, were in force of laws to all intents and purposes, which they were first made; but being confirmed without those formal words, Her heirs and Successors, are not binding now, but expired together with the Queen. No Act of Parliament required to confirm them then, nor never required ever since on the like occasion. A fuller evidence whereof we cannot have, then in the Canons of the year 1603. being the first year of King James, made by the Clergy only in the Convocation, and confirmed only by the King. For, though the old Canons were in force, which had been made before the Submission of the Clergy as before I showed you, which served in all these wavering and unsettled times for the perpetual standing rule of the church's Government; yet many new emergent Cases did require new Rules, and whilst there is a possibility of mali mores, there will be a necessity of bonae Leges. Now in the Confirmation of these Canons we shall find it thus, That the Clergy being met in their Convocation according to the tenor and effect of his majesty's Writ, his Majesty was pleased by virtue of his Prerogative royal and Supreme authority in Causes ecclesiastical, to give and grant unto them by his Letters Patents dated Apr. 12. & Iun. 25. full, free, and lawful liberty, licence, power, and authority, to confer, treat, debate, consider, consult, and agree upon such Canons, Orders, Ordinances, and Constitutions, as they should think necessary, fit, and convenient, for the honour and service of Almighty God, the good and quiet of the Church, and the better Government thereof from time to time, &c. to be kept by all persons within this Realm, as far as lawfully, being members of the Church, it may concern them: which being agreed on by the Clergy, and by them presented to the King, humbly requiring him to give his royal assent unto them, according to the Statute made in the 25. of K. H. 8. and by his majesty's Prerogative and Supreme authority in ecclesiastical Causes, to ratify and confirm the same: his Majesty was graciously pleased to confirm and ratify them by his Letters Patents, for himself, his heirs and lawful successors; straightly commanding and requiring all his loving Subjects, diligently to observe, execute and keep the same in all points, wherein they do or may concern all or any of them. No running to the Parliament to confirm these Canons, nor any question made till this present, by temperate and knowing men, that there wanted any Act for their confirmation, which the law could give them.  
But against this, and all which hath been said before, it will be objected, That being the Bishops of the Church are fully and wholly Parliamentarian, and have no more authority and jurisdiction, nisi a Parliamentis derivatam, but that which is conferred upon them by the power of Parliaments, as both Sanders and Schultingius do expressly say; whatsoever they shall do or conclude upon, either in Convocation, or in private Conferences, may be called Parliamentarian also. And this last calumny they build on the several Statutes 24. H. 8. c. 12. touching the manner of electing and Consecrating Archbishops and Bishops. that of the 1. Ed. 6. c. 2. appointing how they shall be chosen, and what seals they shall use. those of the 3 & 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. and 5 & 6 Ed. 6. for authorising of the book of Ordination. But chiefly that of the 8 Eliz. c. 1. for making good all Acts since 1 Eliz. in consecrating any Archbishop or Bishop within this Realm. To give a general answer to each several cavil, you may please to know; that the Bishops, as they now stand in the Church of England derive their Calling together with their Authority and Power in spiritual matters, from no other hands, than those of Christ and his Apostles, their temporal honours and possessions, from the bounty and affection only of our Kings and Princes; their ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in Causes matrimonial, Testamentary and the like, for which no Action lieth at the common-law, from continual usage and prescription; and owe no more unto the Parliament than all sort of Subjects do besides, whose fortunes and Estates have been occasionally and collaterally confirmed in Parliament. And as for the particular Statutes which are touched upon, that of the 24 H. 8. doth only constitute and ordain a way by which they might be chose and consecrated, without recourse to Rome for a confirmation, which formerly had put the Prelates to great charge and trouble: but for the Form and manner of their Consecration, the Statute leaves it to those Rites and Ceremonies wherewith before it was performed; And therefore Sanders doth not stick to affirm, that all the Bishops which were made in King Henry's days were Lawfully and Canonically ordained and Consecrated, the Bishops of that time, not only being taken and acknowledged in Queen Mary's days, for lawful and canonical Bishops, but called on to assist at the Consecration of such other Bishops (Cardinal Poole himself for one) as were promoted in her reign, whereof see Mason's book de Minist. Ang. l. 3. c.. Next for the Statute 1 Ed. 6. cap. 2. besides that it is satisfied in part by the former Answer as it relates to their canonical Consecrations, it was repealed in Terminis in the first of Q. Mary's reign, and never stood in force nor practice to this day. That of the authorising of the book of Ordination in two several Parliaments of that King, the one a part antè, and the other a part pòst, as before I told you, might indeed seem somewhat to the purpose, if any thing were wanting in it which had been used in the formulas of the Primitive times; or if the book had been composed in Parliament, or by Parliament men, or otherwise received more Authority from them, then that it might be lawfully used and exercised throughout the Kingdom. But it is plain that none of these things were objected in Queen Mary's days, when the Papists stood most upon their points, the ordinal not being called in, because it had too much of the Parliament, but because it had too little of the Pope, and relished too strongly of the Primitive Piety. And for the Statute of the 8 of Q. Elizabeth, which is chiefly stood on, all that was done therein was no more than this, and on this occasion. A question had been made by captious and unquiet men, and amongst the rest by Dr. Bonner, sometimes Bishop of London, whether the Bishops of those times were lawfully ordained, or not; the reason of the doubt being this (which I marvel Mason did not see) because the Book of Ordination which was annulled and abrogated in the first of Q. Mary, had not been yet restored, and revived by any legal Act of Q. Elizabeth's time: which Cause being brought before the Parliament in the 8. year of her reign, the Parliament took notice first, that their not restoring of that book to the former Power in terms significant and express, was but Casus omissus; and then declare that by the Statute 5 & 6 Ed. 6. It had been added to the Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, as a member of it, at least as an appendent to it, and therefore by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. was restored again together with the said book of Common Prayer, intentionally at the least, if not in Terminis. But being the words in the said Statute were not clear enough to remove all doubts, they therefore did revive it now, and did accordingly enact, that whatsoever had been done by virtue of that Ordination, should be good in law. This is the Totall of the Statute, and this shows rather in my judgement, that the Bishops of the Queen's first times had too little of the Parliament in them, then that they were conceived to have had too much. And so I come to your last objection which concerns the Parliament, whose entertaining all occasions to manifest their power in ecclesiastical matters, doth seem to you to make that groundless slander of the Papists the more fair and plausible.  
'Tis true indeed, that many Members of both Houses in these latter times, have been very ready to embrace all businesses which are offered to them, cut of a probable hope of drawing the managery of all affairs as well ecclesiastical as civil into their own hands: and some there are who being they cannot hope to have their fancies authorised in a Regular way, do put them upon such designs, as neither can consist with the nature of Parliaments, nor the esteem and reputation of the Church of Christ. And this hath been a practice even as old as Wicklef, who in the time of K. Rich. 2. addressed his Petition to the Parliament (as we read in Walsingham) for the Reformation of the Clergy, the rooting out of many false and erroneous tenants, and for establishing of his own Doctrines (who though he had some Wheat, had more Tares by odds) in the Church of England, & lest he might be thought to have gone a way, as dangerous and unjustifiable, as it was strange and new, he laid it down for a Position, that the Parliament or temporal Lords (where by the way, this ascribes no authority or power at all to the House of Commons) might lawfully examine and Reform the Disorders and Corruptions of the Church, and on discovery of the errors and corruptions of it, divest her of all Titles and temporal endowments, till she were reformed. But for all this, and (more than this) for all he was so strongly backed by the Duke of Lancaster, neither his Petition nor his Position found any welcome in the Parliament, further than that it made them cast many a longing eye on the church's Patrimony, or produced any other effect towards the work of Reformation, which he chiefly aimed at, then that it hath since served for a Precedent to Penry, Pryn, and such like turbulent Innovators to disturb the Church, and set on foot those dreams and dotages, which otherwise they durst not publish. And to say truth, as long as the Clergy were in power, and had authority in Convocation to do what they would in matters which concerned Religion, those of the Parliament conceived it neither safe nor fitting to intermeddle in such business as concerned the Clergy, for fear of being questioned for it at the church's bar. But when that power was lessened, if it were not lost, by the Submission of the Clergy to K. H. 8. and the Act of the Supremacy which ensued upon it; then did the Parliaments begin to entrench upon the Church's Rights, to offer at and entertain such businesses, as formerly were held peculiar to the Clergy only; next, to dispute their Charters, and reverse their privileges, and finally to impose some hard laws upon them: Of which Matt. Parker thus complains in the life of Cranmer, Qua Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata, populus in Parliamento coepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero Sancire, tum absentis Cleri privilegia sensim detrahere, juraque duriora quibus Clerus invitus teneretur, constituere. But these were only tentamenta, offers and undertakings only, and no more than so. Neither the Parliaments of K. Edward, or Q. Elizabeth's times knew what it was to make Committees for Religion, or thought it fit that Uzzah should support the ark, though he saw it tottering. That was a work belonging to the Levites only, none of the other Tribes were to meddle with it. But as the Puritan faction grew more strong and active, so they applied themselves more openly to the Houses of Parliament, but specially to the House of Commons, putting all power into their hands as well in ecclesiastical and spiritual Causes, as in matters temporal. This, amongst others, confidently affirmed by Mr. Prynne, in the Epistle to his book called anti-arminianism, where he avers, that all our Bishops, our Ministers, our Sacraments, our Consecration, our Articles of Religion, our Homilies, Common-Prayer-book, yea and all the Religion of our Church, is no other way publicly received, supported, or established amongst us, but by Acts of Parliament. And this not only since the time of the Reformation, but that Religion, and Church affairs were determined, ratified, declared and ordered by Act of Parliament, and no ways else, even than when Popery and churchmen had the greatest sway. Which strange assertion falling from the Pen of so great a Scribe, was forthwith cheerfully received amongst our Pharisees, who hoped to have the highest places, not only in the Synagogue, but the Court of Sanhedrim, advancing the authority of Parliaments to so high a pitch, that by degrees they fastened on them, both an infallibility of judgement, and an omnipotency of Power. Nor can it be denied (to deal truly with you) but that they met with many apt scholars in that house, who either out of a desire to bring all the grist to their own Mill, or willing to enlarge the great power of Parliaments by making new Precedents for posterity, or out of faction, or affection, or what else you please, began to put their Rules in practice, and draw all matters whatsoever within the cognizance of that Court; In which their embracements were at last so general, and that humour in the House so prevalent, that one being once demanded what they did amongst them, returned this Answer, That they were making a new Creed: Another being heard to say, That he could not be quiet in his Conscience, till the holy Text should be confirmed by an Act of Theirs, which passages if they be not true and real (as I have them from an honest hand) I assure you they are bitter jests. But this, although indeed it be the sickness and disease of the present times, and little to the honour of the Court of Parliament, can be no prejudice at all to the Cause of Religion, or to the way and means of the Reformation, amongst sober and discerning men: the Doctrine of the Church being settled, the liturgy published and confirmed, the Canons authorized and executed, when no such humour was predominant, nor no such Power pretended to, by both or either of the Houses of the High Court of Parliament.  
Thus, Sir, according to my promise, and your expectation have I collected my Remembrances, and represented them unto you in as good a fashion as my other troublesome affairs, and the distractions of the time would give me leave; and therein made you see, if my judgement fail not, that the Parliament hath done no more in matters which concerned Religion, and the Reformation of this Church, than what hath formerly been done by the secular Powers, in the best and happiest times of Christianity; and consequently▪ that the clamour of the Papists, which hath disturbed you, is both false and groundless. Which if it may be serviceable to yourself, or others, whom the like doubts and prejudices have possessed or scrupled, it is all I wish: my studies and endeavours aiming at no other end, then to do all the service I can possibly to the Church of God; to whose Graces and divine Protection you are most heartily commended in our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. by  
SIR Your most affectionate friend to serve you. E. Y. Covent-Garden Iun. 29. 1645.