ABBOT, "4. That if any corporation do maintain a single lecturer, Abp. Cant. he be not suffered to preach till he profess his willingness to 749. Bibl. Regia, sect. 3. num. 7. The king's letter to the lords-justices of Ireland, take upon him a living with cure of souls within that incorporation, and that he do actually take such benefice or cure, so soon as the same shall fairly be procured for him. "VI. That the bishops do encourage and countenance the grave and orthodox divines of their clergy, and that they use all means by some of their clergy, or others, that they have knowledge how both lecturers and preachers within their dioceses behave themselves in their sermons, that so they may take order for any abuse accordingly. "VII. That the bishops suffer none under noblemen, and men qualified by the law, to have any private chaplain in his house. “VIII. That they take especial care that divine service be diligently frequented, as well for the prayers and catechism as sermons; and take particular notice of all such as absent themselves, as recusants or otherwise. “IX. That every bishop, who by our grace and favour, and good opinion of his service, shall be nominated by us to another bishopric, shall not from that day of nomination presume to make any lease for three lives, or one-and-twenty years, or concurrent lease, or any way renew any estate, or cut any wood or timber, but merely to receive the rents due, and so quit the place; for we think it a hateful thing that any man's leaving a bishopric should almost undo his successor. And if any man shall presume to break this order, we will refuse him our royal assent, and keep him at the place which he hath so abused. "X. And, lastly, we command you to give us an account every year, on the 2nd of January, of the performance of these our commands.” About this time the king sent an order to the lords justices of Ireland for improving the revenues of the Irish clergy: it is in these words: 66 Right trusty and well-beloved cousins and counsellors, we greet you well: "Whereas our late dear father of blessed memory, did (by in behalf of his instructions for the good and welfare of holy Church in our the clergy. realm of Ireland,) ordain and command that all such impro I. priate parsonages as were his own inheritance, and held by CHARLES lease from the crown, ever as the said leases expired, should be thenceforth let to the several curates and ministers of all such churches that were to attend the cure of souls, and from time to time should be incumbent upon the several parsonages, they securing his majesty the rents, duties, and services reserved upon such leases, which order we also, out of our own like zeal to God's glory and advancement of true religion, have likewise heretofore confirmed, by our royal letters of the 8th of July, 1626, all which notwithstanding we are now, to our great displeasure informed, that since the giving of our said father's letters and our own, sundry leases of tithes, upon expiration, surrender, or otherwise, have been again let to laymen, and not to the incumbents of the said churches, to the wrong of our religion and breach of our commandment; whereof we shall not fail to take account in time convenient : but for your better assurance of such our pious and princely grant unto the Church of that our realm in time to come, we have thought good to declare, and by these our letters do declare unto you, that our princely will and pleasure is, for us, our heirs and successors, to give and grant the reversion of all such reservations only as formerly have been expressed irrevocably unto Almighty God, and to the particular churches within that our kingdom, unto which such tithes did anciently belong, and to the several incumbents which shall happen to be in the said churches when such leases shall expire or otherwise be determined, and to their successors for ever, giving hereby the several incumbents and their successors, which shall be when it shall happen the said leases to expire or otherwise to determine, full power to enter into possession of the whole tithes, paying only unto us, our heirs and successors, such rents, duties, and service as are now payable out of the same respectively; and charging our officers of our exchequer in that kingdom, to receive the same in such manner and form as now they are received, without any further charge or exaction upon the said incumbents. And for the effecting this our godly purpose and princely donation, we do hereby authorize and require you, that upon the sight hereof, you, by the advice of our learned council there, do forthwith make out, under the great seal of that our kingdom, such grant and grants as shall be necessary and requisite for the settling and Abp. Cant. ABBOT, establishing of all such impropriate benefices upon the corporation of Dublin or Londonderry, within that our kingdom, as shall be most convenient and available for the Church, to the use of the said incumbents, and their successors for ever. And our further express will and pleasure is, that whensoever it shall happen the said leases, or any of them now in being do determine, you our justices for the time being, or other deputy, chief governor or governors that shall be hereafter, shall hereby be enabled to present the then incumbent unto the same church, by the title of the full rectory thereof, as unto other churches of our patronage, reserving as aforesaid the rents, duties, and Paper-office. service formerly reserved unto us. And these our letters, &c. "Dated at Westminster the 30th of Jan., 1629." Hist. of &c. p. 297. And thus the impropriations remaining in the crown were returned to the parochial clergy. The occasion was this: Usher, lord primate of Armagh, being sensible of the ill condition of the Church for want of a competent maintenance for the clergy, solicited Laud to move his majesty for a grant of his impropriations; for this purpose Laud acquainted the lord treasurer and the chancellor of the exchequer with this motion. In fine, after a long debate, the king was pleased, at Laud's request, to pass the grant in the form above-mentioned. The Irish Roman Catholics being somewhat too sanguine in Troubles, their expectations, and hoping the necessities of the government would force the king to close with their proposal, and grant them a toleration; upon this prospect they overdrove their business, and had the courage to set up some religious houses in Dublin: besides this large step, friars appeared openly in their habits, and gave a public affront to the mayor and archbishop. His majesty receiving advice, despatched an order to the privy council in Ireland, "that the house where A.D. 1629. the seminary friars appeared in their habits and affronted the Jan. 21, Biblioth. Regia. 750. archbishop and mayor, should be speedily demolished, and made a mark of terror to the resisters of authority: and that the rest of the houses employed there, or elsewhere, to the use of superstitious societies, should be converted to houses of correction, and to set people on work, or to other public uses for the advancement of justice, or good arts, or trade. At this time the interest of the Reformation was but low in Ireland, as appears by the account Dr. Beadle, bishop elect of I. The condition of some Kilmore, transmitted to Laud: Beadle, at the instance of this CHARLES bishop of London, acquainted him that the popish clergy were more numerous than those of the Church of England; that they had their officials and vicars-general for ecclesiastical part of Ireland, jurisdiction, and were so hardy as to excommunicate those with respect to religion. who appeared at the courts of the Protestant bishops; that almost every parish had priests of the Roman communion; that masses were sometimes said in churches; that excepting a few British planters, not amounting to the tenth part of the people, the rest were all declared recusants; that in each diocese there were about seven or eight of the reformed clergy sufficiently qualified; but these being English, and not understanding the language of the natives, they could neither perform divine service, nor converse with their parishioners to advantage; and by consequence were in no condition to put a stop to superstition. By the way, the reader is to observe, April, that this relation of bishop Beadle refers only to the two dioceses of Kilmore and Ardagh. Upon the death of William lord Herbert, earl of Pembroke, Laud was chosen chancellor of Oxford; which, besides other instances of service, gave him an opportunity of reforming the statutes of that university. The next remarkable occurrence is the birth of prince Charles, afterwards king Charles II. A. D. 1630. May 29, 1630. Davenant court, and To go back a little in Lent this spring, Davenant, bishop Bishop of Sarum, preaching before the king, happened to touch upon preaches the Quinquarticular controversy. The king, displeased with upon the Quinquarhis handling this prohibited argument, ordered him to appear ticular conbefore the lords of the council. Here Harsnet, archbishop of troversy at York, put Davenant in mind of his obligations to the king, gives great offence. dilated upon the contempt of his majesty's late declaration, and heightened the charge with smartness enough. The bishop of Sarum's text was taken out of Romans vi. 23: "Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The third head of his sermon was, "that the godly are happy in the manner of their reward, because the eternal life bestowed upon them was, donum gratuitum, or free and unmerited bounty." From this proposition he considered life eternal under three respects; "that is, in the eternal destination thereof, which we call election." This being the passage which gave offence, the bishop's apology was, "that the doctrine of predestination ABBOT, was not forbidden by the king's declaration. This he endeaAbp. Cant. voured to prove :— His defence at the council-board. "First, Because in the declaration all the Nine-and-thirty Articles are established; amongst which, that of predestination is one. Secondly, Because all ministers are urged to subscribe the truth of the article, and all subjects to continue in the profession, as well as of the rest.” From these grounds he inferred predestination could not be reckoned amongst curious and forbidden doctrines. And here, desiring the declaration might be produced, he appealed to it for the inoffensiveness of his conduct. The lords of the council neither produced the declaration, nor charged his discourse with heterodoxy: they thought it sufficient to tell him it was his majesty's pleasure these mysterious questions should not be debated; and that silence in these points was the best expedient to secure the peace of the Church. To this the bishop replied, "he was sorry he misunderstood his majesty's mind; that had he been better informed, he would not have dipped in the controversy, but treated an unexceptionable argument; and that for the future he should govern himself accordingly." Upon this he was dismissed without further trouble, and afterwards admitted to kiss the king's hand; who told him this doctrine of predestination was too big for the people's understanding, and therefore he was resolved not to give leave for discussing this controversy in the pulpit, and that the preachers' insisting on reformation and good life would be much more Dr. Ward. serviceable to the audience. Bishop Davenant promised obedience, and took his leave. Bishop Letter to Fuller's Ch. Hist. This contro In the beginning of the next year this controversy was reversy revived vived at Oxford. Hill, of Hart-hall; Hodges, of Exeter-colat Oxford. lege; Thorn, of Balliol-college; and Ford, of Magdalen-hall, preached warmly at St. Mary's against the Remonstrant opinions, called those of that persuasion Pelagians and Semi Pelagians, and fell foul on his majesty's declaration. For this misbehaviour they were convented before Dr. Smith, warden of Wadham, then vice-chancellor. They appealed from the vice-chancellor to the proctors; Bruch, of Brazennose-college, and Doughty, of Merton. The appeal being received, the vice-chancellor complained to his majesty, then at Woodstock, where the matter was heard before the king and council. As August 23, A. D. 1631. |