call'd to Account for the King's Monies, and pleads his Acquittance for all Receipts. The King urged to have Judgment against him, and he is fummon'd to appear.' In the Morning of his Appearance, he faith the Mafs of Stephen the Proto-Martyr, and comes to Court in his Pontificalibus, carrying the Crofs; for which he was blamed by the other Bishops, who offered to pull it out of his · Hand, but he held it faft. . The Archbishop of York, his ancient Adverfary, rebukes him fharply for coming thus as to a Tyrant or Heathen Prince; and told him the King had a Sword fharper than his Crofs. Becket reply'd, the King's Sword wounds carnally, but mine ftrikes fpiritually, and fends the Soul to Hell. Becket inveighs at the Proceedings against the Spiritual Father of the King, and of all his Subjects, especially by the Sons of the Church; and he appeals to the Pope. The Parliament cried he was a Traytor, that having received fo many Benefits from the King, he refused to do him earthly Honour, and to obey his Laws which he had fworn to: And the Bishops renounced their Ecclefiaftical Obedience to him, cited him to Rome, and condemned him as a perjured Man and a Traytor. Being charged to anfwer, he refufed to ftand to the Judgement of the King, or any other Perfon; saying they were bound to obey God and him, rather than any earthly Creature.. Then he departed, and difguifing himself got into Flanders, and fo to France. Prefently King Henry fends to the King of France not to countenance Becket, a Rebel against his King; yet the King of France fends to the Pope in Becket's Behalf. King Henry fends divers Bishops and Lords Commiffioners to the Pope, to inform him of Becket's Caufe; which they did, and of his Crime and Peevifhnefs very fully: But they not being able to prevail with the Pope, came away in Difcontent. Then Becket brought to the Pope the Laws made at Cla⚫rendon; which being read before him, the Cardinals, and the rest of the Clergy, they condemned them, and all that obeyed or favoured them, being smart against the Church Privileges. King Henry ordains, that if any bring Letters of Interdiction from the Pope, he fhall forthwith be executed as a Traytor; that no Clergyman fhall pafs "over Sea without License; forbids Appeals to Rome,and Peter-Pence; banisheth all Becket's Kindred, and adheres to the Anti-Pope; this exasperates Pope "Alexander, who writes to the Clergy of England to oppofe the King; excommunicates his fpecial Minifters who adhered to the German Faction, Alexander's Enemies, and those who had entered upon the Goods of the Church of Canterbury. ་ Becket having now been a confiderable Time abroad,the fourteenth Year the Pope writes to fome Bishops, to admonish the King to defift from intruding upon the Liberties of the Church, and to restore Archbishop Becket. The Bishops write a long Answer to the Pope, giving him an Account of the King's Anfwer to their Meffage, and the Reasons of his Proceedings.. The King of France mediates with King Henry, when in Normandy, to be reconciled to Becket: King Henry, to please his Brother of France, made an • end end of the Difference with the Clergy. And the King of France, with King Henry and Becket, meet: He at the King's Feet faith, he will refer all to bis Royal Order, God's Honour only referved. King Henry in Choler faid, "Whafoever displeaseth this Man, he would have it to be againft God's Honour: But that you may fee I will not refift 'God's Honour, and him, look what the greatest and most holy of all his Predeceffors have done to the meaneft of mine: Let him do the fame to me, and it fhall fuffice." • Becket reply'd peremptorily: So that the King of France, and all with him, were fatisfied of the King's Proceedings, and of Becket's Forwardness; yet at length they were reconciled: And afterwards the King wrote a Letter to his Son, the young King Henry, commanding him to restore Becket to his See. Becket, returning to England, fufpended the Archbishop of York for crowning the young King without his Leave within his Province, and against 'the Pope's Command: He had Letters alfo to fufpend other Bishops that officiated at the Coronation. The Bishops refort to the King in Normandy, acquaint him with Becker's Proceedings; and that he was grown fo imperious, that there was no living un⚫ der him: Wherewith the King was fo much moved, that he is said to utter these Words; In what a Miferable State am I, that cannot be quiet in my own Kingdom for ONE only Prieft! Is there no Man that will rid me of this Trouble? At which Words, fome report, four Knights, gueffing at the King's Mind, ⚫ went into England to the Archbishop; others fay, they were fent to him from the King to take off the Sufpenfion from the Bishops, and to wish him to take ⚫his Oath of Fealty to the young King. Thefe four Knights came to the Archbishop, and finding him peremptory, ' and not regarding their Mafter the King, they entered in their Armour into the Church, whither Becket was withdrawn, and the Monks at Divine Ser⚫vice: There they reviled the Archbishop, called him Traytor, and gave him many Wounds, and ftruck out his Brains, that his Blood befprinkled the • Altar. 'He died with much Courage, committing the Caufe of the Church, with his 'Soul, to God and the Saints. The Circumftances and Hatred of the Deed 'made Compaffion and Opinion to be on his Side. The Murderers durft not go back to the King, but within four Years all of them died miferable Fugitives. The King of France and the Earl of Blois inform the Pope of this wicked Fact, and excite him to unfheath St. Peter's Sword, and take Revenge for Becket's Martyrdom. The Archbishop of Sens writes to the Pope, "That he was appointed over Nations and Kingdoms, to bind their Kings in Fetters, and their Nobles with Manacles of Iron; that all Power, both in Heaven and Earth, was given to his Apoft lefhip: Bids him look how the Boar of the Wood hath rooted up the Vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth;" and then rails bitterly against the King imbruing the Sanctum San&torum with Blood, and tearing in Pieces the Vicegerents of Chrift, &c. concluding with an Exhortation, that he would arm all the Ecclefiaftical Power for Revenge. • The * The King employed the ableft Men he could chufe, to declare his Innocence to the Pope, and how grievously he took the Matter; yet the Pope denied Audience to his Ambaffadors, and the Cardinals refufed Conference with them: But they wrought fo by Apologies and Remonftrances, and dealt fo,as they kept off the higheft Centure, daily threatened and expected. They gravely urged the Mifchiefs that might follow in the Church, if a King of To great a State and Stomach should be driven to take defperate Courses. The Pope fent two Legates into Normandy to interdict the King, but he appeal'd to the Prefence of the Pope, and fo difappointed them: And returning into England, he commanded that no Brief Carriers fhould be permitted to cross the Seas, without giving Security of good Behaviour to the King ⚫ and Kingdom. Thus have I faithfully given you the whole Relation of what paffed between this Prince and Archbishop, from his first Rife, to his deplorable Fall; we proceed next to the Behaviour of Archbishop AB BOT in the Convocation at the Beginning of King James I's. Reign. This Convocation goes under the Name of Overal's Convocation; it is very probable that this Convocation was called, to clear fome Doubt that King James might have had, about the Lawfulness of the Hollanders throwing off the Monarchy of Spain, and their withdrawing, for good and all, their Allegiance to that Crown: Which was the great Matter then in Agitation in moft Courts of Christendom. It appers plainly by fome of thofe Canons, that high-flown Notions of Prerogative and Abfolute Obedience, which became afterwards into Fashion, were not much known at that Time: At leaft the Clergy were not of that Opinion. It is true, this was the first Time that a King de Jure and de Fatto was ever mentioned as a Point of Divinity, or a Doctrine of the Church: Though it had been taken Notice of before, and that but once, as a Matter of Law, in an Act of Parliament of Henry VII. But thefe Canons did never receive the Royal Approbation, and therefore are in the fame Cafe as if they had never been. King James thought thefe Points too nice to be much touch'd upon, and was highly displeased with the Members of that Convocation, for meddling in Matters which he thought were without their Sphere. Thereupon he writ the following angry Letter to the Archbishop (then Dr. Abbot) which I had the good Fortune to light upon, viz. Good Dr. ABBOT, "I Cannot abstain from giving you my Judgment of your Proceedings in your Convocation, as you call it; and both as Rex in Solio, and unus Gregis in • Ecclefia, I am doubly concern'd. My Title to the Crown no body calls in Queftion, but they that neither love you nor me; and you guess whom I mean. All that you and your Brethren have said of a King in Poffeffion (for ⚫ that Word, I tell you, is no worse than that you make use of in your Canon) concerns not me at all; I am the next Heir, and the Crown is mine by all * Welwood's Memoirs, 12o. p. 31. & feq. 'Rights • Rights you can name, but that of Conqueft; and Mr. Sollicitor has fufficiently. exprefs'd my own Thoughts concerning the Nature of Kingship in general, ⚫ and concerning the Nature of it, ut in mea Perfona: And I believe you were • all of his Opinion; at least none of you faid ought contrary to it, at the Time he fpake to you from me: But you know all of you, as I think, that my Rea⚫fon of calling you together, was to give your Judgments how far a Christian and a Proteftant King may concur to affift his Neighbours to fhake off their • Obedience to their once Sovereign, upon the Account of Oppreffion, Tyranny, or what else you like to name it. In the late Queen's Time this Kingdom was very tree in affifting the Hollanders both with Arms and Advice, and none of your Coat ever told me, that any scrupled about it in her Reign. Upon my coming to England, you may know that it came from fome of yourfelves to raise Scruples about this Matter: And albeit I have told my Mind concerning Jus Regium in Subditos, in May laft, in the Star-Chamber, upon the • Occafion of Hales's Pamphlet; yet I never took Notice of these Scruples till the Affairs of Spain and Holland forced me to it. All my Neighbours call on me to concur in the Treaty between Holland and Spain; and the Honour of the Nation will not fuffer the Hollanders to be abandon'd, efpecially after fo ⚫ much Money and Men spent in their Quarrel: Therefore I was of the Mind to call my Clergy together, to fatisfy not fo much me, as the World about us, of the Juftness of my owning the Hollanders at this Time: This I needed not ⚫ have done; and you have forced me to say, I wish I had not. You have dipped too deep in what all Kings referve among the Arcana Imperii, and ⚫ whatever Averfion you may profess against God's being the Author of Sin, you have stumbled upon the Threshold of that Opinion, in faying upon the Matter, that even Tyranny is God's Authority, and fhould be reverenced as fuch. If the King of Spain fhould return to claim his old Pontifical Right to my Kingdom, you leave me to feek for others to fight for it: For you tell us upthe Matter before-hand, his Authority is God's Authority if he prevail. 6 Mr. Doctor, I have no Time to express myself farther in this Thorny Bufi'nefs. I fhall give you my Orders about it by Mr. Sollicitor; and until then meddle no more in it, for they are Edge Tools, or rather like that Weapon, that is faid to cut with the one Edge, and cure with the other. I commit your 'to God's Protection, good Doctor Abbot, and rest Your Good Friend, JAMES R. That Hiftorian, who is now by our Clergy almoft reckon❜d Canonical, gives the following Character of Archbishop Abbot, who though he made fuch a Stir and Buftle, was as unfitly qualified for what he undertook as it was poffible for any Perfon to be: And as the Hiftorian very justly obferves, He had fat too many Years in the See of Canterbury, and had too great a Jurifdiction over * Lord Clarendon's Hiftory, 8vo. Vol. I. Part I. Page 88. • the the Church, though he was without any Credit in the Court from the Death of King James, and had not much in many Years before. He had "been Head or Mafter of one of the poorest Colleges in Oxford, and had Learn ing fufficient for that Province. He was a Man of very morofe Manners, and a very four Afpect, which in that Time was call'd Gravity; and under the Opinion of that Virtue, and by the Recommendation of the Earl of Dunbar, the King's first Scotch Favourite, he was prefer'd by King James to the Bishoprick of Coventry and Litchfield, and prefently after to London (and from thence to Canterbury) before he had been Parfon, Vicar, or Curate of any Parish Church in England, or Dean, or Prebend of any Cathedral Church; and was in Truth totally ignorant of the true Conftitution of the Church of England, and the State and Intereft of the Ciergy; as fufficiently appear'd throughout the whole Course of his Life.' ¿ Such were the Qualifications of this Ignoramus Bishop, who was yet thought a vere proper Tool of a Party, that through the Neceffities of impair'd Fortunes had given Demonftrations fufficient of their Endowments being upon an Equality with the Archbishop's, and from the Acquirements of Noife and Nonfenfe, join'd to a fordid Self-Interest (though with the old Text ready in their Mouths of Liberty, Property, and the Welfare of the Nation lying next their Heart) these new Governors must break through all, to get into the State-Saddle, in which how long they would fit, any Man of a reafonable Capacity might prognofticate from their aukward mounting; and indeed to fuch furprifing Turns may very well be applied that judicious Invocation of the Poet, Protect us mighty Providence, What would these Madmen have? Let us now furvey the Management of Archbishop Laud, his Succeffor. King Charles I. came to the Crown under infinite Difadvantages; and yet the Nation might have hoped that their Condition would be mended under a Prince of fo much Virtue, as indeed he was, if the Seeds of Difcontent, which were fown in his Father's Time, had not every Day taken deeper Root, and acquired new Growth, through the ill Management of his Minifters, rather than any wilful Errors of his own. Some of them drove fo faft, that it was no Wonder the Wheels and Chariot broke: And it was in great Part to the indifcreet Zeal of Bishop Laud, who had got the Afcendant over his Mafter's Confcience and Councils, that both the Monarchy and Hierarchy owed afterwards their Fall. To trace this Matter a little higher; there arofe in the preceding Reing two oppofite Parties in the Church, which became now more than ever exasperated against each other; the one headed by Abbot, the other by Laud, Abbot was a Perfon of too eafy a Temper, being not well turned for a Court, and either could not, or would not ftoop to the Humour of Times: And now and then by an unseasonable |
