But how amazing was his majesty's conduct! What cross and inconsistent proposals did he make at this time! While he was treating with the Scots, and offering to concur in the severest measures against the Independents, he was listening to the offers of those very Independents to set him upon the throne, without taking the covenant, or renouncing the liturgy of the church, provided they might secure a toleration for themselves. This agreeing with the king's inclinations, had too great a hearing from him, says bishop Burnet, till Lauderdale wrote from London, "that he was infallibly sure, they designed the destruction of monarchy, and the ruin of the king and his posterity; but that if he would consent to the propositions, all would be well, in spite of the devil and the Independents too*." If his majesty had in good earnest fallen in with the overtures of the army at this time, I am of opinion they would have set him upon the throne, without the shackles of the Scots covenant.

While the king was at Holmby-house, he was attended with great respect †, and suffered to divert himself at bowls with gentlemen in the neighbouring villages, under a proper guard. The parliament appointed two of their clergy, viz. Mr. Caryl and Mr. Marshal, to preach in the chapel, morning and afternoon on the Lord's day, and perform the devotions of the chapel on week-days, but his majesty never gave his attendance. He spent his Sundays in private; and though they waited at table he would not so much as admit them to ask a blessing.

Before the king removed from Newcastle, the parliament put

reproach of selling their king, and bargaining their prince for money. It has been argued that the parliament would never have parted with so considerable a sum, had they not been previously assured of receiving the king. It is a very evident fact, that while the Scots were demanding the arrears due to them, another point of treaty between them and the parliament, if it were not the explicit and avowed condition of complying with that requisition, was the delivering up the king. The unhappy monarch was considered and treated as the prisoner of those to whom he fled for protection. Instead of declining to receive him, or afterward permitting him to take his own steps, they retained him, and disposed of him as a captive, as their interest or policy dictated. Was honour or justice in this case consulted? Alas! they are seldom consulted by political parties. A letter from general Ludlow to Dr. Hollingworth, 4to, 1662. p. 67. Mrs. Macaulay's History, vol. 4. p. 271, 8vo. Hume's History of England, vol. 7. 8vo. 1763, p. 79-81; and Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 240.-Dr. Grey has bestowed thirteen pages on this point, chiefly to shew, that 400,000l. could not be due as arrears to the Scots, and to advance against them the charge of selling the king. He informs us, that the 200,0007. immediately paid to them was borrowed of the Goldsmiths' company. To Mr. Neal's reflection on the imputation cast on the Scots of selling their king, that it is an unjust and malicious aspersion, bishop Warburton retorts, "The historian, before he said this, should have seen whether he could answer these two questions in the affirmative, -Would the English have paid the arrears without the person of the king?-Would the Scots have given up the king, if they could have had the arrears without?"-ED.

• Hamilton's Memoirs, p. 288.

+ But his situation here, independently of confinement, was made unpleasant to him, as his old servants were dismissed, and he was not allowed the attendance of his own chaplains. His majesty remonstrated on this last circumstance in a letter to the house of peers, but without effect. Clarendon, vol. 3. p. 39.-ED.

the finishing hand to the destruction of the hierarchy, by abolishing the very names and titles of archbishops, bishops, &c. and alienating their revenues for payment of the public debts. This was done by two ordinances, bearing date October 9 and November 16, 1646, entitled, "Ordinances for abolishing archbishops and bishops, and providing for the payment of the just and necessary debts of the kingdom, into which the same has been drawn by a war, mainly promoted by and in favour of the said archbishops, bishops, and other their adherents and dependants. The ordinance appoints, " that the name, title, style, and dignity, of archbishop of Canterbury, archbishop of York, bishop of Winchester, bishop of Durham, and all other bishops of any bishopricks within the kingdom of England, and dominion of Wales, be, from and after September 5, 1646, wholly abolished and taken away; and all and every person and persons are to be thenceforth disabled to hold the place, function, or style, of archbishop or bishop of any church, see, or diocess, now established or erected within the kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick-on-Tweed; or to use, or put in use, any archiepiscopal or episcopal jurisdiction or authority, by force of any letters patent from the crown, made, or to be made, or by any other authority whatsoever, any law, statute, usage, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding."

By the ordinance of November 16, it is farther ordained, "that all counties palatine, honours, manors, lordships, styles, circuits, precincts, castles, granges, messuages, mills, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, parsonages, appropriate tithes, oblations, obventions, pensions, portions of tithes, vicarages, churches, chapels, advowsons, donations, nominations, rights of patronage and presentations, parks, woods, rents, reversions, services, annuities, franchises, liberties, privileges, immunities, rights of action and of entry, interests, titles of entry, conditions, commons, court-leets and court-barons, and all other possessions and hereditaments whatsoever, which now are, or within ten years before the beginning of the present parliament were, belonging to the said archbishops and bishops, archbishoprics or bishoprics, or any of them, together with all chattels, deeds, books, accompts, rolls, and other writings and evidences whatsoever, concerning the premises, which did belong to any of the said archbishops, bishops, &c. are vested and settled, adjudged and deemed to be, in the real and actual possession and seisin of the twenty-four trustees mentioned in the ordinance, their heirs and assigns, upon trust that they shall dispose of the same, and the rents and profits thereof, as both houses of parliament shall order and appoint, i. e. for payment of the public debts, and other necessary charges occasioned by the war, promoted chiefly by and in favour of the said hierarchy, saving and excepting all tithes appropriate, obla

* Husband's Collection, p. 922.

+ Rushworth, p. 377.

tions, obventions, and portions of tithes, &c. belonging to the said archbishops, bishops, and others of the said hierarchy; all which, together with 30,000l. yearly rent belonging to the crown, they reserve for the maintenance of preaching ministers. The trustees are not to avoid any lease made for three lives, or twenty-one years, provided the said lease or leases were not obtained since the month of December 1641. They are empowered to appoint proper officers to survey, and take a particular estimate of, all the bishops' lands, to receive the rents and profits of them, and to make a sufficient title to such as shall purchase them, by order of parliament *." By virtue of this ordinance the trustees were empowered to pay, or cause to be paid, to the assembly of divines, their constant salary allowed them by a former order of parliament, with all their arrears, out of the rents, revenues, and profits, belonging to the late archbishop of Canterbury, till such time as the said lands and revenues shall happen to be sold. These church-lands were at first mortgaged as a security for several large sums of money, which the parliament borrowed at eight per cent. interest. Several members of parliament, and officers of the army, afterward purchased them at low rates, but the bargain proved dear enough in the end. And surely it was wrong to set them to sale; the lands having been originally given for the service of religion, ought to have been continued for such uses, and the substance of the donors' intentions pursued; unless it appeared that too great a proportion of the national property had been settled in mortmain. But herein they followed the ill examples of the kings and queens of England at the Reformation.

The Presbyterians were now in the height of their power, the hierarchy being destroyed, the king their prisoner, and the best, if not all, the livings in the kingdom distributed among them; yet still they were dissatisfied for want of the top-stone to their new building, which was church-power; the pulpits and conversation of the city were filled with invectives against the men in power, because they would not leave the church independent on the state; the Presbyterian ministers were very troublesome, the parliament. being teased every week with church-grievances of one k nd or another; December 19, the lord-mayor and his brethren went up to Westminster with a representation of some of them, and a petition for redress. The grievances were,

1. "The contempt that began to be put upon the covenant, some refusing to take it, and others declaiming loudly against it; they therefore pray, that it may be imposed upon the whole nation, under such penalties as the houses shall think fit; and that such as refuse it be disqualified from all places of profit and trust.

2. "The growth of heresy and schism; the pulpits having been often usurped by preaching soldiers, who infected all places

Scobel, p. 100. 102, 103.

where they came with dangerous errors; they therefore pray, that all such persons may be forbid to preach as have not taken the covenant, and been regularly ordained, and that all separate congregations, the very nurseries of damnable heretics, may be suppressed; that an ordinance be made for the exemplary punishment of heretics and schismatics, and that all godly and orthodox ministers may have a competent maintenance, many pulpits being vacant of a settled minister for want of it; and here (say they) we would lay the stress of our desires, and the urgency of our affections." They complain farther, of the "undue practices of country committees, of the threatening power of the army, and of some breaches in the constitution; all which they desire may be redressed, and that his majesty's royal person and authority may be preserved and defended, together with the liberties of the kingdom, according to the covenant."

To satisfy the petitioners, the house of commons published a declaration December 31, "wherein they express their dislike of lay-preachers, and their resolution to proceed against all such as shall take upon them to preach, or expound the Scriptures in any church or chapel, or any other public place, except they be ordained either here, or in some other reformed churches; likewise against all such ministers and others, as shall publish, or maintain by preaching, writing, printing, or any other way, anything against, or in derogation of, the church-government which is now established by authority of parliament; and also against all and every person or persons who shall willingly or purposely interrupt or disturb a preacher in the public exercise of his function, and they command all officers of the peace, and officers of the army, to take notice of this declaration, and by all lawful means to prevent offences of this kind, to apprehend offenders, that a course may be speedily taken for a due punishment to be inflicted upon them." The house of lords published an order, bearing date December 22, requiring the headboroughs and constables, in the several parishes of England and Wales, to arrest the bodies of such persons as shall disturb any minister in holy orders, in the exercise of his public calling, by speech or action, and carry them before some justice of peace, who is required to put the laws in execution against them. February 4, they published an ordinance to prevent the growth and spreading of errors, heresies, and blasphemies; but these orders not coming up to their covenant-uniformity, the lord-mayor and common-council presented another petition to the two houses March 17, and appointed a committee to attend the parliament from day to day, till their grievances were redressed, of which we shall hear more under the next year.

We have already accounted for the unhappy rise of the sectarians in the army when it was new-modelled, who were now grown so extravagant as to call for some proper restraint, the mischief being spread not only over the whole country, but into the

city of London itself: it was first pleaded in excuse for this practise, that a gifted brother had better preach and pray to the people than nobody; but now learning, good sense, and the rational interpretation of Scripture, began to be cried down, and every bold pretender to inspiration was preferred to the most grave and sober divines of the age; some advanced themselves into the rank of prophets, and others uttered all such crude and undigested absurdities as came first into their minds, calling them the dictates of the Spirit within them; by which the public peace was frequently disturbed, and great numbers of ignorant people led into the belief of the most dangerous errors. The assembly of divines did what they could to stand in the gap, by writing against them, and publishing a Detestation of the Errors of the Times. The parliament also appointed a fast on that account February 4, 1645-6, and many books were published against the Antinomians, Anabaptists, Seekers, &c. not forgetting the Independents, whose insisting upon a toleration was reckoned the inlet to all the rest.

The most furious writer against the sectaries was Mr. Thomas Edwards*, minister of Christ-church, London, a zealous Presbyterian, who became remarkable by a book entitled Gangræna, or a catalogue of many of the errors, heresies, blasphemies, and pernicious practices, of this time; in the epistle dedicatory he calls upon the higher powers to rain down all their vengeance upon these deluded people, in the following language: "You have done worthily against Papists, prelates, and scandalous ministers, in casting down images, altars, crucifixes, throwing out ceremonies, &c. but what have you done (says he) against heresy, schism, disorder, against Seekers, Anabaptists, Antinomians, Brownists, Libertines, and other sects; you have made a reformation, but with the reformation have we not worse things come upon us than we had before, as denying the Scriptures, pleading for toleration of all religions and worships; yea, for blasphemy, and denying there is a God. You have put down the Common Prayer, and there are many among us that are for putting down the Scriptures. You have broken down the images of the Trinity, and we have those who oppose the Trinity. You have cast out bishops and their officers, and we have many that cast down to the ground all ministers. You have cast out ceremonies in the sacraments, as the cross, kneeling at the Lord's supper, and many cast out the sacraments themselves. You have put down saints' days, and many make nothing of the Lord's day. You have taken away the superfluous maintenance of bishops and deans, and we have many that cry down the necessary maintenance of ministers. In the bishops' days we had singing of psalms taken away in some

He was originally of the university of Cambridge, but in 1623 was incorporated at Oxford. At the beginning of the civil wars, he joined the parliament, einbarked all that was dear to him in the cause of the people, whom he excited to prosecute the war by the strain of his prayers and sermons, and advanced money to carry it on. Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. 1. 846.-Es.