London, because you were a man though you were without a bishopric.

B. Here is a tale of a tub. How many predicaments are there? M. I answer you according to your question, if I say there are enow of seven. Why do you ask me questions so impertinent? B. How many predicables be there? Where didst thou learn logic?

M. The last time you spoke of good behaviour; but this is something else. I am no logician.

B. Thou speakest of making ministers. The Bishop of Peterborough was never more overseen in his life, than when he admitted thee to be a preacher in Northampton.

'M. Like enough so, in some sense. I pray God those scales may fall from his eyes.

B. Thou art a very ass; thou art mad; thou art courageous; nay, thou art impudent. By my troth, I think he is mad: he careth for nobody.

• M. Sir, I take exception against swearing judges. I praise God I am not mad, but sorry to see you so much out of temper.

B. Thou takest upon thee to be a preacher, but there is nothing in thee. Thou art a very ass, an idiot, and a fool.

M. I humbly beseech you, Sir, have patience, and give this people a better example. Through the Lord, I am what I am. I submit the trial of my sufficiency to the judgment of the learned, But this wandering speech is not logical.

B. This fellow would have a preacher in every parish church! • M. So would St. Paul.

'B. Where wouldst thou have them? M. In Cambridge, in Oxford, in some in prison, if more were wanted. would do his.

the Inns of Court, yea, and We doing our part, the Lord

'B. I thought where thou wouldst be. But where is the living for them?

'M. A man might cut a large thong out of your hide, and that of the other prelates, and it would never be missed.

B. Go thou on to contrive. Thou shalt orderly dispose of our livings.

M. That is more than you can do yourselves.

B. Thou art an overthwart, proud, puritan knave. Have him to the Marshalsea.

M. I must go where it pleaseth God. But remember God's judgments: You do me open wrong. I pray God forgive you.'— Vol. I. p. 223. Art. Merbury.

The Bishops should have settled some points among themselves before they proceeded in their examinations, since they discover a difference of sentiment on the same subject.

'We read,' says Nixson to Bishop Grindal, I Kings, 12. that the King should teach only the word of God!'

Bishop. What! should the King teach the word of God? Lie not. Vol. I. p. 137.

"I do not admit the queen," says Axton, "to be a church go"vernor."

Bishop Bentham Yes but she is, and hath full power and authority all manner of ways. Indeed she doth not administer the sacraments and preach, but leaveth those things to us; but if she were a man, as she is a woman, why might she not preach the word, as well as ourselves?' Vol. I. p. 163.

In his examination of Cawdrey, Aylmer makes a comparison, and employs a species of reasoning to enforce the use of the surplice, which, how goodly soever they might appear in the eyes of a bishop, do not seem adapted to produce any effect on the minds of those who were determined to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ had made them free; and who sought to approve themselves, not the servants of men, but the servants of Christ,

Bishop. Suppose you were able to keep four or six servants in livery, and one or two of them should refuse to wear your livery. would you take it all in good part? Are not we the queen's servants? And is not the surplice the livery which she hath appointed to be worn? And do you think she will be content if we refuse to wear it? Besides, the long prayer which you use before your sermons, is nothing but bibble babble, bibble babble. Vol. I. p. 433.

Surely this does not savour very highly of Apostolical magnanimity!

If Aylmer and his episcopal brethren professed themselves to be the queen's servants,' and clothed themselves in the livery which she appointed to be worn,' she gave them to understand that she was their mistress, and made them sensible of her authority, as the following letter testifies. It was written to the Bishop of Ely, who had offended her by his hesitation in fulfilling her pleasure, relative to the disposal of some land belonging to that see.

Proud Prelate,

I understand you are backward in complying with our agreement; but I would have you know that I, who made you what you are, can unmake you; and if you do not forthwith fulfil your engagement, by God, I will immediately unfrock you.

Yours, as you demean yourself,

ELIZABETH.

Since we find these ecclesiastics so strict in their examinations of a part of the ministers; so tenacious of the surplice, and the cross in baptism, and kneeling at the sacrament; and so severe in punishing nonconformity to these rites and ceremonies; it is very natural to inquire into their conduct in relation to objects of real importance. Were they valiant for the truth, zealous in teaching the people, vigilant, strict in marking the ignorant, the idle, and the profligate of the clergy, and severe in punishing

them? It is very natural, we say, to inquire into the conduct of the bishops, as directed to what is of real importance to the interests of religion, and the good of mankind, who owe small obligation to rites and ceremonies for their prosperity. And whether the result of such an inquiry will not support the assertion, that the clergy of an establishment are much more alarmed at the omission of a rite, than at the violation of a moral precept; at the neglect of a ceremony, than at the want of devotion; at the preaching of a puritan, or a methodist, than at the ignorance, and worldliness, and wickedness, of hundreds of their own body; are questions which we leave to the sober judgement of the readers of ecclesiastical history, and to impartial Christian observers. In the year 1572, a pamphlet was published in defence of the famous Admonition to Parliament, intitled, An Exhortation to the Bishops; in which their Lordships were reminded, how 'hard it was to punish the favourers and abettors of the admoni 'tion, because they did but disclose the disorders of the Church 'of England, and only required a reformation of the same, ac. 'cording to the rule of God's word. Whereas many lewd and 'light books and ballads flew abroad, printed not only without 'reprehension, but cum privilegio.' To which Whitgift, who answered the book, replies, 'It was a fault to suffer lewd books ' and ballads, touching manners, but it was a greater fault to suffer books and libels, disturbing the peace of the Church, and 'defacing true religion. Which,' the author of the Confessional remarks, was to say, 1. That lewd books and ballads, printed with privilege, neither disturbed the peace of the Church, nor defaced true religion. 2. That provided the Church might quietly enjoy and practise her forms, rites, and ceremonies, titles, and emoluments, it was the less material what were the 'manners of her members. 3. That true religion consisted in 'those forms, rites, ceremonies, titles, and powers, which the 'Puritans were for defacing.'*

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At the time that these spiritual lords were hunting the Puritans as partridges on the mountains, fining, imprisoning, expatriating, and ruining, virtuous men who laboured with all earnestness for the instruction of the people, the nation was in the most deplorable state. Many of the people,' says Bishop Sandys, especially in the northern parts, perished 'for want of saving food, many there are that hear not a sermon in seven years, I might safely say, in seventeen. 'Their blood will be required at somebody's hands.' In 1578, the inhabitants of Cornwall presented a petition to Parliament, in which they say, 'We are above the number of fourscore ' and ten thousand souls, which, for want of the word of God, ❝ are in extreme misery, and ready to perish, and this for want,

*The Confessional. Second Edition. Pp. 369. 370.

"neither of maintenance nor place, for besides the impropriations in our shire, we allow yearly above nine thousand two hundred pounds, and have about one hundred and sixty churches, the greatest part of which are supplied by men 'who are guilty of the grossest sins. We have many non' residents who preach but once a quarter, &c.' How many of the clergy, we should like to know, were in those times called to an account, and punished for their dereliction of duty, and for immoral conduct? Thousands were punished for Nonconformity:-how many hundreds-how many tens, were punished for vice?

'Come to Church,' said one of the High Commissioners to Smyth, and obey the queen's laws, and be a dissembler, a hypocrite, or a devil, if thou wilt.' Vol. II. p. 195.

The complaint of Humphreys to Secretary Cecil, is not less just than it is forcible and affecting.

The gospel requireth Christ to be openly preached, professed, and glorified; but, alas! a man qualified with inward gifts, for want of outward shews in matters of ceremony, is punished: and a man only outwardly conformable, and inwardly unfurnished, is exalted. The preacher for his labour, is beaten; the unpreaching prelate offending, goes free. The learned man without his cap is afflicted: the man with his cap is not touched. Is not this a a direct breach of God's laws? Is not this the way of the Pharisees? Is not this to wash the outside of the cup, and leave the inside uncleansed? Is not this to prefer mint and annis, to faith and judgement and mercy? Is not this preferring man's traditions before the ordinance of God?' Vol. I. 370.

What clamorous voices do we sometimes hear, raising and repeating the cry of The Church is in danger!' What is it that endangers the Church? Is it the ignorance of the people? No. We never heard of the dangers of the Church when the education of the lower orders was generally neglected, and when knowledge was rare among the common people. They may be as ignorant as the natives of Patagonia, without endangering the Church. Is it vice? No. Profaneness and vice may stalk through the land, and be the inmates of the peasant and of the noble, without endangering the Church. In times of great degeneracy, a few of her best children may sigh for the abominations done in the land; but the cry of the Church is in danger,' never resounds through the country because men are are wicked. When we hear this cry echoed and re-echoed through the land, we may very confidently assure ourselves that something is going on in the world in favour of the general good; that liberty is advancing; that knowledge is increasing;

that Puritans are asserting the rights of conscience; or that Methodists, by their preaching, are changing the wildermess into a fruitful field, and are making the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. To concede the scruples of men of good and tender conscience, would be to endanger the Church:-but to persecute and destroy them, was not in the least perilous to the Church! The Church was endangered by the writings and preaching of the Nonconformists:but she was quiet and secure amid all the profligacy and vice which attended the Restoration! When the benefits of education began to be diffused through the community by benevolent individuals, and when Bibles only' were put into general circulation, The Church was in danger:'--but there was nothing alarming to her in all the ignorance, and vice, and misery, which had surrounded her for centuries! Whatever might have excited the fears of the first ministers of the Church, they were never alarmed by the attempts of others to instruct mankind, though the motives which stimulated their exertions might be of the worst order. "Some

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preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add "affliction to my bonds-whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

PAUL.

In perusing these volumes, the reader will find frequent occasion to pause, and to reflect on the mischiefs which have resulted from the union of religion with civil government; things perfectly distinct from each other. Had the Parkers, the Whitgifts, the Aylmers, the Bancrofts, and the Lauds, whose severities are here detailed, been the ministers of a religious community which stood in no relation to the powers of the world, how great soever the religious differences between them might have been, they could not have armed themselves with those weapons by which they wounded the consciences, and destroyed the persons of men.

As the wish that these and other ecclesiastics had been destitute of power, will, in spite of prejudice and of system, arise in the mind of the humane reader, it may be worth inquiring, in this place, whether there be any necessary connexion between the civil constitution of a state, and religion; whether religious opinions and practice come under the cognizance of the civil magistrate, and are to be received on his authority. This is a question of great interest, and of real moment, in forming our judgement of the Puritans, and other Dissentients from national establishments; for if it be admitted that religion has a necessary connexion with civil authority, and if it belongs to civil magistrates to provide religious instruction for the governed, then it will be impossible to justify the Puritans ;