Rome for Canterbury: Or a true Relation of the Birth, and Life, of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury: Together with the whole manner of his proceeding, both in the Star-Chamber, High-commission Court, in his own House, and some observations of him in the Tower.  
With his carriage at the sight of the deputies going to the place of Execution, &c.  
Dedicated to all the Arminian Tribe, or Canterburian Faction, in the year of grace, 1641.  
Whereunto is added all the Articles by which he stands charged of High Treason, &c.  
Printed also in the same. 1641.   

Room for Canterbury: or the Relation of the Birth, Life, and Proceedings of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Metropolitan of all ENGLAND.  
GReatnesse● and goodness are two several blessed attributes co●ferred upon man, but seldom meet in one pe●son: greatness ma● be styled a gift in●erd by fort●ne: but goodness, a grace i●fused by God. The fir●● labours in mistrust, and is borne the bonds●ave of Chance; seldom attended without ●●vy; and though to many pers●ns it appear exceeding pleasant, yet the higher we are seated (although by virtue) the greater is our fal●, if corrupted by vice. By Honour and Office men ●●come great; yet is it not the place ●hat maketh the pers●n, but the pe●son that maketh the place honourable: and that preferment and power, which is both well acquired, and worthily con●er'd, Non est invitamen um ad tempus, sed perpetuae virtutis praemium: is no tempo●arie invitation, but a perpetual inheritance.  
goodness is of a co●tra●y condition, men are not t● be accounted good, either for their authority or age, but for their sincerity and actions: he th●t is good, is better than the good he doth; and he that is evil, is wo●se ●●an the bad deed done by him. All great men are not (consideratel●) goo●● but all good men are consequently great: greatness and goodness with grace add●d (●o cement them together) make unques●i●nably a perf●ct ●nd complete man. Here was grace, which had it ●●ene ●●l●s●i●lly inspi●e●, as it was but temporally disposed, might t● that greatness ●ave so combined goodness, as from thence could have grown no such tribula●ion.  
Hows●●v●r, let no man grieve at his present afflictions, for they are the rods by which God chassisth his children: I here is nothing that the wo●ld can ●ake awa●●●om us● bec●u●e it can give nothing unto us; fame fadeth, pote●cy perisheth, weal●h wasse●●: True riches consist, in our constancy in casualty, and though perturbation and punishment be the prison of the body, yet courage and comfort are the libe●ty of the soul, to which I only add Patience, which is so allied to Fortitude, that she seemeth to be either her sister or her daughter: things that compulsively come upon us, should be borne with patience and co●●rage, (of which we have had late president) and more generous it 〈◊〉 for a man to offer himself to death in triumph, than to be drawn unto it with terror: Gaudet patientia duris. I come now to the person.  
He was borne at Reading, of honest parents; his father was a Clothier in that town, of a competent estate, and careful to see his children to be well educated and instructed: This his son William being of an excellent wit, and pregnant capacity, was sent from the Grammar school to Oxford, where he was admitted into St. John's college, where shortly he proved an ingenious disputant, and ere he took his first degree of bachelor, was well versed in logic, philosophy, and the liberal Arts: after he devoted himself to the study of theology, in which he proceeded Doctor, with no common applause, attaining to these dignities belonging to so famous an Academy; and being of an active spirit, was called from thence to the Court, where he grew so gracious, that after some private preferments, he was first made Bishop of St. Davis, and thence removed to London: and after the decease of the right reverend George Abbot, Arch●Bishop of Canterbury, was inaugurated into that prime See, and was metropolitan of all England: (steps that his predecessor, who was a clothier's son in Guilford, had trod before him, whom less than two years was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, London and Canterbury.)  
What this Prelates deportment (now in agitation) in so high a dignity was, is sufficiently noised amongst all; made apparent by his Dia●conicall Censures in the Star-Chamber, the High Commission Court, &c. And it was a great aspersion justly cast upon such high authority, that he so much affected summum jus, justice without mercy, as sparing neither person nor profession, and to leave all others) witness how he did persecute the good Bishop of Lincoln. D. Williams, being of his own degree and function: his (more than) severity, in his rigorous censure and sentence, upon Master Burton the Divine, Master Prin the Lawyer, and Doctor Bastwick the Physiciqn: and even that poor fellow Thomas Bensted, whom he caused to be hanged, drawn, & quartered; he could make that a matter of Treason, though he was but a subject: His threatening of the honest judges, his 〈◊〉 other Officers and Ministers of tge Kings: his sternnes and 〈◊〉 a●●wers even to Gentlemen of worth and now Parliament men, who have but pleaded for poor men in just causes: it was a good wish, that either he might have more grace, or no grace at all, which is now come to pass.  
It is observed by some, that in all the time of his pontifical Prelacy, he never promoted any to Church preferment that favoured not of the Arminian ●●et, and still when Benefices fell, that were either in his gift, or where his power was to have them bestowed, he hath caused such men to be instituted, and inducted, as either were dunces in learning, or debauched in their lives: such men being most apt (for their tempo●ising or ignorance) to embrace any Innovation that should be brought into the Church: nay, when places have not been void, but supplied by pious Pastors, and devout Ministers, that were constant professors of the Protestant faith, yet by spies, and intelligencers, such cavils have been made at their Doctrines and Disciplines, that notwith●tanding their charge of wife and children, and that their utter undoings impended upon the taking away of their means, yet they have been supplanted, that the other might subsist in their places; the first turned out, the latter took in; but that which far transcends the former, that he hath laboured to suppress the French and Dutch Protestant Churches here in London, who for their Conscience and religion's sake have abandoned their Countries, to aveyd persecution, and have made this famous city their Asilum and Sanctuary for themselves and families.  
It hath been observed also that he never gave censure upon a Jesuite, or seminary, or any Popish Priest, though brought before him by his own warrant, and the Pursuivant employed by himself. For though apprehended yet they were never punished: but if to ni●ht imprisoned, to morrow infranchized and set at liberty, or else he so cautelously and cunningly dealt by his agents, Secretary Windibank, Sir John Lamb, & others, that they were sent abroad, and he seen to have no hand in the business; when in the interim all the rigorous sentences that passed him, were against the zealous professors of our Protestant Religion.  
A poor Prelate having long waited to speak with this great Archbishop, and being after much attendance admitted to his presence, in their discourse, the great metropolitan told him, he was an idle fellow, to whom the other replied, it is most true, for had I not been so, I could not have spared so many idle hours to attend upon your grace, to such small purpose. At which he being much moved said; Why, what (fellow) dost thou think of us Bishops? who replied, I will in plain terms tell your grace what I think of you: I can no better compare you than unto the huge brass Andirons that stand in great men's chimneys, and us poor Ministers to the low Créepers: you are they that carry it out in a vainglorious show, but we the poor Curates undergo, and bear the burden. Another told him (when h●e used to play upon other men's miseries) that his Lordship must needs be witty (He being a very little man) that his head and his heart were so near together.  
Some have observed, that as he was a Prelate, and Primate, so he greatly favoured the letter P. (by which may be conjectured) the Pope, w●ose Emblasons, amongst other of his pontifical escutcheons, are three Bishops, viz, (I take it three Bibles) and to show he much affected that episcopal Letter, his three benevolent and well benefited chaplains were Brown Bray, and Baker. And for the letter P. he was also a great patron and protector to Doctor P●ck●i●ton, who for publishing one book called Sunday is no Sabbath, wherein he vilified all the observance due to Dies Domini, the Lord's Day, and another entitled the Christians Altar, wherein he would have first produced, and after propagated Popish superstition, he did confere upon him three or four Benefices, worth some two or thr●● hundred per annum, and a Prebendary in Windsor, valued at three hundred more by the year.  
Many are the probabilities that he purposed to bring popery into the kingdom; as the Scotch Service Book, differing from our English liturgy, especially in words concerning receiving the Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper, w●ich was the first incendiary of all these late troubles between the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, in which some blood hath been drawn, but infinite treasure exhausted (apparancy needeth no proof) but tha● we leave to the ●e●sure of the higher powers, being an argument, as it hath been long, so now at this present in agitation: yet the better to define that which before was but disputable, when he came first into the Tower, (and not being acquainted with the place, he desired, that by no means he should be lodged where the Bishop of Lincoln had before lain; and being demanded the reason. because they were sweet and good, he made answer, O but I fear they ●mell so of Puritanism, that the very air of them will half stifle or choke me. These sympathising with the rest, may give the world reason to suspect his Religion.  
Upon monday, being the tenth of May, when it was known that the Lieutenant should prepare himself to die, tidings was brought to the Arch Bishop of the setting up of the Scaffold● upon Tower-hill, whereon the deputy of Ireland was to suf●er death, he immediately spoke to his men saying; It is no matter when or where we die, so we first have time to make our peace and reconciliation with God; we are all of us borne to die, though there be many several ways to death: for death must at last conquer and have victory over the bodies of all flesh whatsoever. Be ye of good comfort, do not ye be discouraged for me; I am a man of sorrow and borne to this sorrow; Lord give me strength to bear thy chastisements patiently, and endure them constantly, even to the end and period of my life: I am indeed a man borne of a woman, of a short continuance, and full of trouble and heaviness: a man indeed, ma●● like to vanity, and compared to the flowers of the field, here this day, it may be gone to morrow; nay, I am worse, a child of wrath a vessel of dishonour, begotten in uncleanness, living in care and wretchedness, and dying in distress: O Lord I will cry unto thee night and day before I pass through this vale of misery, I will sum up all my offences, I will confess my vileness before thee, and will not be ashamed; for true confession is the very way whereby I may come unto thee, which art the way, and the only true way that leads unto life eternal.  
O the most happy life which the Angels enjoy, in the right blessed kingdom, void of death everlasting; where no times succeed by ages, where the continual day without night hath no end, where the conquering soldier, joined to that joyful choir of angels, & crowned with the crown of everlasting glory, doth sing to his God a Song amongst the Songs of Zion.  
I meddle not with any state business whatsoever: but it seems he bore no great affection to the Scots, which is probable by the little love they bear unto him: But most sure we are, that he was arrested of high and capital Treason, first committed to the Knight of the black rod, and thence conveyed to the Tower, where ever since he hath been in custody of the Lieutenant, of whose demeanour during his abode there I shall next speak by the true information of some credible persons, that have observed his deportment. He was not only frequent and fervent in, and at his Orisons in his own chamber, where he spent the greatest part of the morning at his private meditations, but very careful and observant at the week day's service, at the chapel, but especially on the Lord's day he came duly, and prostrated himself devoutly on his knees, giving great attention both to the service and sermon; and taking special notice of some particular psalms that were sung before the Parson went up into the pulpit, especially the second part of the three and thirtieth psalm, the second part of the forty ninth, and the first part of the hundred and fortieth (which are worthy any man's reading, being so aptly picked out for that purpose) he called the clerk one day unto him, and courteously demanded of him whether he happened on them by accident, or had called them out by his own conceit? the plain old man ingenuously confessed unto him, that he chose them out purposely to put him in mind of his present estate: at which he modestly smiling, made him no further answer, but departed towards his lodging. Further he was heard to say, that if ever God delivered him from that present durance, and that the King would restore him to his pristine dignities, he would much improve that place, (meaning the Church) in remembrance that he had been there a prisoner. It is also reported that a gentleman of quality coming to the Tower to give him a visit, and asking his grace how it fared with him at that present? he made him answer, I thank God I am well, for it hath pleased his Sacred majesty my sovereign to provide for me an honourable and convenient lodging, where I have good and wholesome fare, and where (not withstanding all my troubles and tribulations) I never yet broke an hour of my usual and contented sleep. And the morning when the late Earl of Strafford past by his lodging, as he was led to the place of execution, and moved his ha● unto him, then standing and looking out of his window, he held up his hands and eyes towards heaven, without speaking any thing audible to the observers, as if he prayed earnestly, and inwardly for the salvation of his soul, &c. He was observed also sometimes to speak those words of the Psalmist, Psal. 82. v. 6, 7. I have said ye are gods, and children of the most high, but ye shall die as men, and ye Princes shall fall like others, &c. Now follow the Articles exhibited, &c.  

The true copy of the Articles whereby William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury stands charged with high Treason.  
FIrst, That the said William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, hath traitorously laboured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Government of the kingdom, by giving his Majesty advise privately, and in other places said, that he would have them governed by civil laws; and further said, he would make the proudest Subject in the kingdom, give way to him; and being told it was against Law, he replied he would make it Law, and that the King might at his own pleasure take away without Law, and make it warrantable by God's Law.  
Secondly, His countenancing of books and their Authors, for the maintenance of his unlimited and absolute power, wherein the power of the Parliament is denied, and the Bishop's power of Prela●y set up.  
Thirdly, That he traitorously went about to interrupt the judges by his threatenings, and other means, to constrain them to give false judgement in the case of shipmoney, as will appear both by writings, and his hand, by testimony of divers persons of good worth and quality.  
Fourthly, That he hath taken bribes, and sold justice in the High Commission Court, as he was Archbishop, and hath not only corrupted the judges there, but hath also sold judicial places to be corrupted.  
Fiftly, That he hath endeavoured the encroachment of jurisdiction and institution of Canons, which are not only unlawful, but prejudicial to the Subject: and that he hath exercised his authority very cruelly, both as a chancellor, Commissioner, and judge.  
Sixtly, That He hath traitorously assumed a capital power over his majesty's subjects, denying his power of Prelacy as from the King.  
Seaventhly, That by false erroneous Doctrines, and other sinister ways and means, He went about to subvert the Religion establish●d in this Kingdom, and to set up Papistry and superstition in the Church.  
Eightly, That by undue means and practice he hath gotten into his hand the power of nominating of Ministers to spiritual promotions, and hath preferred none but scandalous Ministers thereunto, and that he preferred corrupt Chaplains to his Majesty.  
Ninthly, That his own Ministers, as Heywood, Laifield and others, are notoriously disaff●cted to Religion.  
Tenthly, That he hath traitorously endea●oured to reconcile us to the Church of Rome, and to that end hath employed a Jesuite, and a Papist-priest, and hath wrought with the Pope's Agents in several p●i●ts.  
Eleventh, That to suppress prea●hing, he hath suspended divers good men, and u●ed unlawful means by Letters, and otherwise to several Bishops, to suppress th●m.  
Twelth, That he hath traitorously endeavoured to suppress the French Religion here amongst us, which is the same we are of, and also the Dutch Church, and to set divisio● between them and u●.  
Thirteenth, That he hath traitorously ende●vored to set Division between the King and his Subjects, and hath gone about to bring in Innovatio●s into our Church: And hath induced the King to war with the Scots, and many upon their death beds, to give towards the maintenance of the war. And hath caused the Clergy to give fr●●ly towards the same; and hath broug●t in many Superstitions and Innov●tions into the Church of Scotland: And that he procured the King to break the pacification, thereby to cause a bloody War betwee● the kingdoms.  
Fourteenth, That to preserve himself from being questioned, for these and other his traitorous designs, from the first year of his majesty's reign until now, he hath laboured to subvert the Rites of Parliam●ntary proceedings, and to incense h●s Majesty against Parliaments.  
By all which Words, counsels, and Actions, he hath Trait●rously laboured to ali●nate the h●arts of the King's liege people from his Majesty, ●o set a Division between them; and to ruin and destroy his majesty's kingdoms. For which they impeach him of high Tre●son agai●st our sovereign Lord the King, his Crown● and Dignity.  
And the said Commons, by protestation, saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter, any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said William La●d, Archbishop of Canterbury. And also, of replying to the Answers that he● the said Archbishop shall make unto the said Articles, or any of them,  
And of offering proof also of the premises, or a●y of them, or any other Impeachment or Accusation, that shall be exhibited by them, ●● the course of Parliaments require: do pray, that he the said William La●d, Archbishop of Cant●rbury may be put spe●dily to answer for all and eve●y the premises, that such Proceedings, Examin●tions, Trials and judgements, may be upon every one of them had and used, as is agre●able to Law and justice.   
FINIS.