Archiepisc. Cant. GEO. ABBOT 15. CXXXIII. Anno Christi Reg. Angliæ The king's letter to the archbishop of Canterbury touching recusants.-Reg. II. Abbot, fol. 211. a. RIGHT reverend father in God, my very good lord. I have received from the king's majesty a letter, the tenour whereof here followeth: Most reverend father in God, right trusty and well beloved counsellor, we greet 5 you well. Whereas upon sundry weighty considerations us specially moving, we lately awarded our commission under our great seal of England, for the due and effectual putting in execution of the several laws and statutes remaining in force against popish recusants, and did cause 10 our said commission to be publicly read in our several courts holden the last term at Reading, that all our loving subjects might take notice of our princely care, and special charge for the advancement of true religion, and suppressing of superstition and popery; we have now 15 thought fit, out of the same care to add a further charge The king's letter] The most important act of the first parliament that assembled after, the accession of king Charles, was to present to him a petition concerning religion, setting forth "the dangerous consequences of the increase of popery in the land, and what they conceived to be 20 the principal causes thereof, and what the remedies." His majesty having answered their several points successively, informed them “that as he took well their minding him of the care of religion, so he would have done and granted the same things though they had never petitioned him." The sequel however did not correspond with this ami25 cable beginning; and the commons having determined to withhold their supplies until they had obtained a redress of grievances, the parliament was dissolved on the 12th of August 1625. But being induced by to you, and all others having ecclesiastical jurisdiction under us, that no good means be neglected on your part for discovering, finding out, and apprehending of Jesuits, seminary priests, and other seducers of our children to the Romish religion, or for repressing popish recusants 5 and delinquents of that sort, against whom you are to proceed by excommunication and other censures of the church, not omitting any other due and lawful means to bring them forth to public justice. And as our pleasure is, that due and strict proceeding be used against such as 10 are open and profest papists, of whom our temporal laws will more easily take hold; so we do recommend to the vigilant care of you and the rest of our clergy the repressing of those, who being ill affected to the true religion here established, do keep more close and secret their ill 15 and dangerous affections that way, and as well by their example, as by secret and underhand sleights and means, do much encourage and increase the growth of popery and superstition in sundry parts of this kingdom: and therefore we not only require, that none of them may 20 have any manner of cover, protection, countenance, or connivance from you, or any of the rest, as you tender our royal commandment in that behalf; but that all possible diligence be used as well to unmask the false many urgent considerations to summon another to meet in the ensuing 25 February, Charles took measures in the mean time to satisfy the wishes of his subjects respecting popery. "The plague still continuing in London and Westminster and the places near adjoining, the king had adjourned a part of Michaelmas term from the city of Westminster, as also the receipt of the revenue from Richmond, to the town of Reading. 30 In which term a commission issued forth under the great seal for executing the laws against recusants, according to the petition of the late parliament, which was read in all the courts of judicature at Reading." Rushworth, vol. i. p. 201. Heylin's Laud, p. 140. Collier, vol. ii. p. 735. Neal, Purit. vol. i. p. 500. It is well known from his subsequent history that king Charles was sincerely attached to the doctrine and discipline of his own church; 35 shadows and pretences of those that are obstinate, as by all good means to reclaim those, who may possibly be won to conformity: letting all men know, that we cannot think well of any, that having place and authority in the 5 church, do permit such persons to pass with impunity, much less if they give any countenance to the emboldening of them and their adherents. And because we understand, that the number of recusants is much more increased in some dioceses, than in others, we shall impute 10 the same to the negligence of those bishops, who have the same means and power of restraint, unless they can shew us some particular reason, by which that contagion is become greater under them than others, and not by their defaults: and we do hereby require you to send 15 transcripts of these our letters to all the bishops and ordinaries within your province, for the present execution of this our general direction, and also to transmit the same our letters to the lord archbishop of York, that he may take the like course within his charge and jurisdic20 tion. Given under our signet at our castle of Windsor the 15th day of December, in the first year of our reign. By this you see the royal and Christian care which his majesty hath for the advancing of true religion within this kingdom, and the suppressing of the contrary. I 25 but it is not surprising that his subjects at the beginning of his reign should have had a different impression, derived from the strange duplicity of his father, and from the negociations that had taken place respecting his own marriage at the two popish courts of Spain and France. Charles himself in writing to the pope in the year 1623, on 30 the subject of the Spanish marriage, had expressed himself in the following manner: "It is most certain I would never so earnestly procure to tie myself with that strait band of marriage with a person whose religion I never could endure. Wherefore let your holiness be persuaded that my mind now is, and always shall be, far from plotting 35 any thing contrary to the Roman catholic religion. Tanner MSS. vol. lxxxii. p. 349. doubt not but your lordship will take into serious consideration, and by your officers and ministers give execution thereunto, so that presentments be duly made, and excommunications against the obstinate be issued forth, as some few years past was accustomed; and his majesty 5 doth expect, that, to shew your diligence and zeal herein, your lordship will soon after Easter return unto me the list and number of all recusant papists within your diocese, which without fail I do expect. And so I leave you to the Almighty, and remain Your lordship's loving brother, The king's letter to the archbishop of Canterbury to excite the people to unity, and to contribute towards the support of the king of Denmark.—Reg. II. Abbot, fol. 218. a. MY very good lord. I have received from the king's majesty both pious and prudent instructions neces The king's letter] This able paper was drawn up by Laud, then bishop 15 of Bath and Wells, at the command of the king, and was occasioned by the following circumstances. The commons had introduced a bill for granting three subsidies and three fifteenths, but refused to pass it, until the king should have listened to their petitions and remonstrances. It continued therefore still imperfect on the 15th day of June 1626, 20 when the king felt himself compelled by the disobedience of the commons to dissolve the parliament; but as it was already adopted in principle, his majesty was advised that he had good grounds for requiring the payment of those subsidies from his subjects by way of loan, til] the measure should be completed in the ensuing parliament. This 25 advice was too readily adopted, and methods, now become familiar to the court, were taken for carrying it into effect. The king was per sary for this time, the particulars whereof do here follow: Most reverend father in God, right trusty and right well beloved counsellor, we greet you well. We have observed that the church and the state are so near united and 5 knit together, that though they may seem two bodies, yet indeed in some relation they may be accounted but as one; inasmuch as they both are made up of the same men, which are differenced only in relation to spiritual or civil ends: this nearness makes the church call in the 10 help of the state to succour and support her, whensoever she is pressed beyond herself; and the same nearness makes the state call in for the service of the church, both to teach that duty, which her members know not, and to exhort them to it, and encourage them in that duty, 15 which they know. It is not long since we ordered the 20 state to serve the church, and by a timely proclamation settled the peace of it; and now the state looks for the like assistance from the church, that she and all her ministers may serve God and us, by preaching peace and unity at home, that it may be the better able to resist foreign force, uniting and multiplying against it. And to the end that they, to whom we have committed the government of the church under us, may be the better suaded, as he stated in his Declaration when he dissolved the parlia25 ment, that he had the strongest claims in reason and good faith on the ready cooperation of the commons; but all doubt or hesitation as to his own proceedings was completely removed, when he received tidings of the defeat sustained by the king of Bohemia and his ally the king of Denmark in the disastrous battle of the 27th of August. It was during 30 the collection of this loan, and for the purpose of promoting it, that Dr. Sibthorp preached his memorable sermon on apostolical obedience, and Dr. Manwaring his equally memorable discourses entitled Religion and Allegiance, which led to the suspension of archbishop Abbot, to the exasperation of the ensuing house of commons, and to an increased 35 and fixed hostility between the sovereign and his parliaments. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 421. Heylin's Laud, p. 166. Collier, vol. ii. p. 739. Hallam, vol. i. p. 412, |