GIFT, WHIT by calling the exasperated parties before the council, and obliging them to refer their quarrels; and partly by making strict laws against those who disturbed the public peace. Abp. Cant. An order of the as Aug. 4, 1590. Before I take leave of this assembly, it will be necessary to mention an order passed there, viz. "That all such that then bore office in the Kirk, or from thencefore should bear any office in it, should subscribe the Book of Discipline.' The act of the assembly, as it stands upon record, is as follows: : "Forasmuch that it is certain that the word of God cannot sembly for be kept in the own sincerity, without the holy discipline be subscribing the Book of had in observance, it is therefore, by the common consent Discipline." of the whole brethren and commissioners present, concluded that whosoever hath borne office in the ministry of the Kirk within this realm, or that presently bears, or shall hereafter bear office therein, shall be charged by every particular presbytery, where their residence is, to subscribe the heads of the discipline of the Kirk of this realm, at length set down, and allowed by act of the whole assembly, in the book of polity, which is registrate in the assembly-books, and namely the heads controverted by enemies of the discipline of the reformed Kirk of this realm, betwixt this and the next synodal 622. assemblies of the provinces, under the pain of excommunication to be executed against the non-subscribers: and the presbyteries which shall be found remiss and negligent herein, to receive public rebuke of the whole assembly. And to the effect the said discipline may be known as it ought to be, to the whole brethren, it is ordained, that the moderator of each presbytery shall receive from the clerk of the assembly a copy of the said book, under his subscription, the expences of the presbytery, betwixt this and the Acts of the first day of September next to come, under the pain of being openly accused in the face of the whole assembly." Assembly. April, A. D. 1590. the ecclesias- upon To return to England: the steps the Puritans had taken moned before being now discovered by some of their own party, and their progress traced from point to point, some of the leading missioners, men were summoned before the ecclesiastical commissioners. and required to answer For instance, Snape was sent for from Northamptonshire, certain inand had interrogatories put to him: he wrote to Bareterrogatories. bone and Stone, two dissenting ministers, gave them an BETH. account of the proceedings of the High Commission court, ELIZA and how he was imprisoned upon refusing to give satisfac. tion. He exhorts his friends to resolution, and seems to be of opinion, that it was more advisable that some man of courage and conduct should be dispensed with to answer questions, rather than run the hazard of a discovery by some weak or wicked brother. These letters being intercepted, gave more light into the mystery, and suggested measures to the government. And thus some things, which were but jealousy and suspicion before, were now opened to evidence and matter of fact. minister, upon the The government thus awakened, found it necessary to let the law loose, and not connive any longer. The first that was called to account by the temporal courts was Udall, a non- Udall, a conforming minister. He was one of the four who furnished dissenting those scandalous libels which were lately dispersed through indicted the kingdom. But that which gave the highest provocation 23 Eliz. was his writing a book intituled, "The Demonstration of cap. 3. Discipline which Christ hath prescribed in his Word for the Government of his Church, in all Times and Places, until the World's End." He addresses his preface to the supposed governors of the Church of England: and after this, renouncing their authority, outrages them in the following expressions: "Who can deny you," says he, "without blushing, to be the cause of all ungodliness, seeing your government is that which giveth leave to a man to be any thing saving a sound Christian? For certainly it is more free in these days to be a Papist, Anabaptist, of the Family of Love, yea, as any most wicked whatsoever, than that which we should be. And I could live these twenty years, as well as any such in England, (yea, in a bishop's house it may be,) and never be molested for it so true is that which you are charged with in a Dialogue lately come forth against you, and since burnt by you, that you care for nothing but the maintenance of your dignities, be it to the damnation of your own souls, and infinite millions more." For this whole book, and more especially for this lewd passage in the preface, he was indicted at an assizes held in Croydon, for the county of Surrey, and by sufficient evidence 1590. July 23, GIFT, WHIT brought in guilty. The prisoner pleaded his indictment was Abp. Cant. grounded upon the statute 23 Eliz. cap. 2, enacted for punishing seditious words against the queen: But that the book for which he was prosecuted contained no offensive passages against the queen; that whatever satire there might be in this tract, it pointed only upon the bishops, and thereore could not fall within the compass of that statute. Against this plea it was resolved by the judges, "That those who speak against her majesty's government in cases ecclesiastical, her laws, proceedings, or ecclesiastical officers, which ruled under her, did defame the queen." He is brought in guilty. Upon this resolution, and the evidence heard, the court allowed him the favour of having this question put, that is, Whether he would declare upon his credit and conscience that he was not the author of the book for which he stood indicted? If he had answered this question affirmatively, it is thought the judges and jury would have overlooked the evidence, and taken his word: but having not assurance enough to purge himself, (which, by the way, is an argument his conscience was none of the worst,) the jury could do no less than find him guilty. However, the archbishop prevailed with the court to respite judgment; but the Puritans giving further suspicions of mutiny against the State, he was brought to the bar at Southwark, in March following, and there Archbishop sentence of death was given against him. And here the Whitgift archbishop, who valued Udall for his parts and learning, interposed again in his behalf, and addressed the queen for a pardon; and though this was denied, he succeeded so far as to procure a reprieve. Notwithstanding this forgiving temper in the archbishop, and the friendly office done by him, he was aspersed by some people for bringing on the prosecution of the prisoner. To take off this imputation, it was argued in his defence, that several seditious sermons might have been charged upon Udall as well as the writing that book, which would have made him still more criminal in the eye of the court: and that whereas one Catsfield could have pressed him harder than the rest of the witnesses, he was never called to the bar to give in his evidence, the jurors being fully satisfied with what had been laid before them already. And thus the indictment being rightly grounded, procures him a re prieve. BETH. the prosecution favourable, and the evidence full, the preserv- ELIZAing his life was an undeniable instance of the archbishop's goodness. Stow takes no notice of his being executed He died of melancholy. afterwards, from whence we may conclude he was reprieved Fuller's from time to time, and left to the course of nature. His Hist. book 9, Church son Ephraim proved the reverse of his father. He was p. 222. beneficed at St. Austin's, near St. Paul's Church-yard, and suffered deeply for his conformity to the Church: he was sequestered in the reign of king Charles I. for refusing some schismatical and rebellious oaths and covenants. This usage had one remarkable circumstance of barbarity in it; for his wife, then bedrid, was turned out of doors, and left in the open streets. writes in While the government was proceeding against the Puritans, in the prosecution of Udall, and the imprisonment of Snape, Cartwright, and some others, the learned of each side were no less engaged in the defence of their respective sentiments. To mention something of this kind: Adrian Saravia Saravia, born in the Lower Germany, a person well skilled defence of in ecclesiastical antiquity, was a strong assertor of episco- episcopacy. pacy. This doctrine being discouraged in his native country, where the parity of ministers was an article of their public confession, he cast himself upon the protection of the Church of England. He had some time before recommended himself to the episcopal communion, by his answer to Beza's book, "De triplici Episcopatu." Not long after his arrival in England, he published a very learned book, "De diversis 623. Gradibus Ministrorum Evangelii." In this tract he proves bishops not only of a superior degree, but of a different order from priests. This book was dedicated to the ministers of the Belgic Churches, where, though not very welcome, it passed without contradiction: but Beza, Danæus, and the rest of the Genevians, gave it a warmer reception. They looked upon the principles as subversive of their ecclesiastical government, and therefore resolved to try their strength upon it. Beza, it seems, had other business, and therefore leaves the undertaking to Danæus. This man, whose talent lay more in railing than reasoning, made little on it. Beza therefore, finding it necessary to reinforce Danæus, published an answer in the year 1593, to which GIFT, Abp. Cant. WHIT- Saravia replied the next year. Beza, after this, seemed to have enough of the controversy, and lay by. As for Saravia, his merit was not overlooked by the English bishops. He was made prebendary of Westminster, and considered in other respects to his satisfaction. Suttliff writes Genevian model. De Vera Catholica et Ecclesia. Printed at London, A. D. 1590. To proceed. The minister of the Italian Church in London, not contented with the privileges granted the French and Dutch congregations, published a book in defence of the holy discipline. Upon this, Dr. Matthew Suttliff, dean of against the Exeter, printed a Latin tract concerning the form and essentials of the Catholic Church. This Suttliff printed a learned discourse against the English Puritans, entitled, Christiana "The False Semblance of Counterfeit Discipline detected;" in which he takes the scheme to pieces, discovers the novelty from point to point, and disproves the arguments alleged in its defence. In his Latin book he attacked presbytery with a great deal of force, pressed a little upon the quarter of Geneva, and mentioned Beza in the controversy. This minister thinking himself ill-used because mentioned without approbation, complains of the affront in a letter to the archbishop of Canterbury, and calls Suttliff a petulant railer. For this freedom he was not only called to an account by Saravia, in his "Replication," but the archbishop sent him a reprimanding answer for interesting himself in the disputes touching religion in England. He let him know he had been much too forward and decisive, and occasioned no small disturbance. Beza, perceiving the archbishop and Saravia were likely to prove an overmatch, retired from the combat, and left the English Puritans to shift for themselves. And to do something by way of reparation for his intermeddling, he writes to the archbishop in terms of respect, and salutes him in the language of his character. In this address cessions to he acquaints him, that, "in his writings concerning Church government, he only opposed the hierarchy of Rome, but never had any intention to reflect upon the English ecclesiastical polity, nor to press conformity to the Genevian discipline. He grants that, provided there was an agreement in the doctrine, Churches might differ defensively enough in other matters. And here he throws in a very serviceable limitation, that, in this latitude, nothing unwar Beza's con archbishop Whitgift. |