Canterburys Doom, Floating text 28
My LORDS;
THis great cauſe of the Archbiſhop of Canterbury, after a long and painefull tra…aiſe, is now come to the Birth: of which it may be truly ſaid, as it was in a like caſe: R…pertum eſt hodierno die facinus, quod nec Poeta fingere, nec Hiſtrio ſonare, nec Mimus imitare potuerit.
For if all the oppreſſions, all the pernitious practiſes and machinations, which have beene in each time to ruinate our Religion, Lawes and Liberties were loſt; I thinke here they might bee found and drawne out againe to the life. So that your Lordſhips who have beene the great Aſſertors of our Liberties, and ſtood ſo faſt to the rules and principles of your Noble Progenitors (which others have ignobly deſerted) may after a long conflict with ſo many great and marchieſſe difficulties, ſay now as a great Commander once did upon an extraordinary danger, Tandem par animo meo periculum video. Here is a cauſe proportionable to your ſelves, apt and proper for the juſtice and power of this honourable Court.
Had they beene faults of common frailty, error or incogitancy, which this man hath committed, wee ſhould gladly have ſtepped backe, and caſt a Cloake over them; but being ſo wilfull, ſo univerſall, ſo diſtructive to the Lawes of God and man, ſo comprehenſive of all the evills and miſeries which now we ſuffer; the ſin would lye upon our owne heads, if wee ſhould not call for juſtice: which that it hath beene ſo long uncalled for, (not deferred or delayed) I ſuppoſe no man will thinke ſtrange who conſiders the preſent diſtractions, the death and diſperſion of our witneſſes, the loſſe of ſome of our Members who have beene imployed and taken paines in this buſineſſe; the multitude of diverſions which we have had, and have daily occaſioned by the Acts and influences of this Meteor.
But the truth ſurvives, and matter enough ſurvives, ſo copious and ſo full of variety, that if all the particulars ſhould be examined, for his three yeares impriſonment which he complaines off there would be three yeares time of tryall and hearing of the heavy charge that lyes againſt him. A charge of High Treaſon: Treaſon in all and every part: Treaſon in the higheſt pitch and altitude: for what greater Treaſon can there be then to betray the whole Realme, and to ſubvert the very foundations, leaving nothing for poſterity, but a curſe upon him that ſhall goe about to build again?
That which of it ſelfe is ſo haynous, is much more enhanced and aggravated by the quality of the perſon: A Church-man; a great Prelate; a man in great truſt, place and Authority in Church and Common-wealth.
A man indued with ſo great guifts of nature, and ſo many of grace and favour from His Majeſty, and for al theſe to be perverted to a contrary end, even to the deſtruction of the publike, and the ruine of the Wombe that bare him, how deepe a dye, doe theſe impoſe upon this foule crime?
How Church-men in all ages (as hath beene often obſerved) ſhould come to be: the Archeſt Seedſmen of miſchiefe, and principall Actors in all the great diſtractions and alterations that have hapned, is a deſtinie that may ſeeme ſtrange. But the reaſon is, (ex bono Thealogo, malus Medicus) their intermedling with temporall things, and matters hererogeneall to their calling; wherein God is pleaſed to finite them with blindneſſe, and to infatuate their Councell; whereof a perfect patterne wee have in this great Prelate; who by abuſing his profeſſion, and making the buſineſſe of State the cuſtomary ſubject of all his endeavours, became the Author of all the illegall and Tyrannicall proceedings in the Starre-Chamber, High Commiſſion Court, and other Courts; of all the Innovations in Doctrine and Diſcipline, of the ſuppreſſing of godly Miniſters and preaching; of the advancing of others who were the promoters of Popery and Arbitrary power, and indeed of all the concuſſions and diſtractions in Church and State, whereby Religion hath beene juſ…ed out, Lawes and Parliaments trodden downe with contempt.
For matter of Religion, ſurely thoſe times were happy when by the magnanimity of Princes, and the wiſdome and piety of our Predeceſſors, that Antichriſtian Yoke of Popery was ſhaken off.
And now after ſo many bloudy Maſſacres in France, ſuch fiery perſecutions here in Queene Maries dayes, ſo many treacherous conſpiracies in time of Queen Elizabeth, that execrable and horrid Powder-Plot in the late time of King James, ſuch ſtreames and Rivers of bloud in Germany and Ireland, and other parts of the Chriſtian world ever ſince, by thoſe reſtleſſe and cruell fire-brands of all miſchiefe, for any man now to goe about to rebuild theſe walls of Iericho, and to reduce us to thoſe rotten principells of Error and Darkneſſe, how can it be expected better, then that the people ſhould be even ready to ſtone him, as they did him that did but Act the part of Bellerophon in Rome? But to avoyde this danger, he conveyes in this poyſon in a guilded Pill, with baites and pretences of Reconciliation; a pleaſing ſnare, Laqueus Diaboli ad miſerorum animas ad infernum detrudendas.
A beade Roll of particulars might be recited, wherein this Reconcilement was to be wrought in points of Free-will, Merits, Juſtification, Vniverſall grace, Purgatory, and in effect, all the reſt.
To draw on theſe, there muſt be an introducing of Popiſh Ceremonies in all the particulars contained in the Maſſe-Bookes, and Pontificalls themſelves: and to make way for theſe, the Booke of Sports muſt bee publiſhed and preſſed beyond the Kings intention or Declaration, which was but a civill Command: but hee ſubjoynes Eccleſiaſticall penalties, even the ſharpeſt; ſuſpention, deprivation and the like, theſe executed on diverſe good and godly men with a high hand; Thus a liberty proclaimed not to Captives, but to profane Caitifes; this day ſet a part by God, ab eterno, expoſed and proſtituted to all looſeneſſe and irreligion, and that by a Law: This Lambe taken out of his boſome.
Iehoſaphat ſends Prieſts & Levites into all the Cities & Tribes to inſtruct them; This Prelate ſends Declarations and Injunctions to corrupt them, and to extinguiſh the Lamp and light of Religion: in the former Acts he deſtroyes the Proteſtant, in this Religion it ſelfe: In the one, he leaves Superstition; in the other, nothing but Atheiſme, and Profaneneſſe: in the one he deſtroyes Preſbyteros, as did Diocleſian, in the other Preſbyterium, as did the Apoſtate Julian; Yet to ſhew his love to Religion, (the Popes only.) he holds correſpondency with thoſe of Rome, Cardinall Barbarino, Panzani, Con, Roſetti, the Popes Nuntioes, Sir Toby Mathewes, Saint Clara, Saint Gyles, the moſt dangerous and deſperate Jeſuites, and many others ejuſdem farina. And by all theſe ſteps and rounds he makes a Ladder for himſelfe to clime up to the Papall dignity, in example of Anſelme, whom (though famous, for his Contumacy and Rebellion) yet he calls him, His worthy Predeceſſor, (as was Becket alſo,) and is contented to take upon him the Plenitude of power, the title of holineſſe, of Arch-Angell of this Church, the lineall Succeſſor of Gregory the firſt (rather of Gregory the ſeventh;) and for all this was well worthy to have thoſe two great offers made him, recorded in his owne Memorialls, by theſe that had ability to performe it, viz. A Cardinalls Capp; but ſuch was his modeſty to forbeare it, becauſe though Rome be a true viſible Church in his opinion, yet ſomething dwelt with him, that hindered it, for a time, to wit, I ſuppoſe, his dwelling here.
For his attempts againſt the Laws, the Subjects birth-right, and the rights of Parliaments, their chiefe ſupport, and refuge, how little regard he had to them, how much he did diſpiſe and abhor them, making it his Ambition to preferre the contemners and abuſers of them, and to ſet up his own Canons and Conſtitutions above them, impoſing of unjuſt and unlawful Oathes, Exactions, Monopolies, all ſorts of oppreſſions, ſtopping of Prohibitions & courſe of Juſtice, reſcinding of Acts of Parliament, advancing of Proclamations, and all kinde of Arbitrary power above the Lawes of God or man, is fully expreſſed in the Articles, and will more fully appeare in the evidence. To conclude, Naaman was a great man, but he was a Leaper. This mans Leaproſy hath ſo infectted all, as there remaines no other cure but the ſword of Juſtice; which we doubt not but your Lordſhip will ſo apply, that the Commonwealth ſhall yet live againe and floriſh.
When Serjeant Wilde, had concluded his ſpeech, the Archbiſhop humbly deſired the Lords, that he might have liberty to ſpeake a few words to wipe of that dirt which had injuriouſly bin caſt upon him, that ſo he might not depart thence ſo foule a perſon as he had been rendered to their Lordſhips by the Articles. Which liberty being granted, he made a long premeditated Oration, which hee held written in his hand. A true extract whereof (communicated by him in writing to divers of his freinds) you have heere ſubjoyned.