THE Original of this Device was not in England, but first taken up by one Clement Marot, a Groom of the Bed-Chamber to the French King, Francis the first; a wit­ty man, that had a natural Vein of facile Poesie in that Language; wherewith he diverted that King often, who was much delighted with him, until by conversing with the Lutherans, he had got a tincture of their good Fellowship, and Religion too; an intimation whereof being made [Page 20] to the King, he was fain to fly the Court, and betake himself to the protection of Q Margaret de Valois, the Kings Sister, (vetus reorum asylum, says F. Strada) until the Kings indignation should be appeased, as after a while it was; which encouraged him to return to Paris, where he was prevailed with by Fr. Vetablus, Professor of the Hebrew Tongue, to re­linquish his trifling Doggrel, and betake himself to a more serious and solemn task, of turning David's Psalms into French Metre, as he did the first fifty, but so unskilfully and perversly, as being a person utterly illiterate (setting his Rhiming vein aside) disciplinarum homo omnium apprime rudis, (Strada) that, though the King sung them, as he had done his former Ballads, now and then; upon just complaints made to his Majesty by the Doctors of the Sorbone, an Edict was made, That nothing of Marots com­posure should be published ever after: Yet so fond were the common people of this novelty (and the more, perhaps, be­cause forbid) that, new Tunes being set to em, sing 'em they would; and so well was he pleased with their applause, that by his folly and licentious language, he [Page 21] betrayed the safety he had recovered, and took his flight to Geneva, where well acquainted he became with Beza; yet not so, as to be protected by him against Publick Justice, which, for some Crimes he had there committed, whipt him out of the Town, and sent him away to seek sanctuary somewhere else: But in tract of time, so much kindness had Theodore Beza for the repute of his old acquain­tance, as he finished the imperfect work, by Translating into better Rhime and Sense the other hundred Psalms, and ho­nouring his deceased Friend with an Ele­gy in French metre: I am to add, that with such allectation they were Tuned by the Musick-masters, whom Beza se­lected for that employment, as they be­witcht the multitude, and won the good liking of others, that had more refined Ears, and nicer Fancies, so as they be­came the Sirens, and Tarantalus, of Sea and Land; all people, that were not wise enough to foresee the mischief they were to produce, and honest enough to have no hand in it, being invited to join in consort and measure, which way soe're they turned themselves, or with whom soever they conversed; in coctibus, in tri­viis, [Page 22] in officinis; in Temples, in the Tradesmens Shops, in the Travellers Roads and Walks, in all the crooked and by ways of the French-Reformed.

Now had all this been done in a de­vout zeal, though with a mixture of some superstition, it would not have been so blame-worthy; but when, afterward, it proved a prime incentive to Rebellion, and the New Psalter (so they called it) lifted up as an Ensign for all the Pro­phane, Sacrilegious wretches to assemble at, and march after; the true intent was then discovered, and, by frequent in­stances, was manifested, in all parts of Europe, where it got entrance, that this soft Musick wrought worse effects than the Warlike Drum, or loudest Trumpet of Sedition. One or two instances of which mischievous and profane abuse I could here insert; but because I find Monsieur Maimbourgh somewhat more par­ticular than Fam Strada, as to what con­cerns Cl. Marot. and not accordant in all circumstances; that I may not seem to espouse the cause, as by one related, to some prejudice of the other, I will select a few passages I have observed in the lat­ter Writer of the two, and be more im­partial [Page 23] unto both, than, perhaps, either of them have been to the Poetaster Marot.

That he was born in Aquitain, I think, both agree; in Diveana Cadurcorum, says the one; Natif de Cahors, the others.

That, having lived too much a Liber­tine, and thereby become obnoxious to the censure, &c. of those in the Roman Church, he betook himself to the Re­formed party, against whom the King, his Master, having published very severe Edicts, and declared his resolution, not to spare any person that should desert the Religion himself professed: Marot, fear­ing an arrest, retired, and lived at Bearne; and after some time went farther off, be­yond the Alpes, to Ferrare, applying himself to the Dutchess Renee, who used to take into protection all the Protestants that fled to her, as she did him; and not only so, but obtained his Pardon and Peace from the King; and prevailed for his return to Court, engaging her Word and Honour for his good behaviour; in respect whereunto, especially, it was, that he complied so readily with the coun­sel of the learned Vatablus, for turning the Psalms into Metre, which the said Professor first interpreted for him out of [Page 24] the Hebrew into Prosaic French; notwith­standing which preparatory assistance, both translation, and paraphrastical ex­planation, so dull was he of apprehension, as he is reported to have committed ma­ny foul faults; two of which sort they take particular notice of, in the very first Psalm he entered on, which, if Vatablus had called his Scholar to account for the task he had put upon him, methinks might have been amended before they came out in Print, though the Majestick style of the Prophet himself, it was not expected, he should keep up, much less improve to that height, which ascendant Poetry is wont to do, and their more learned Paraphrast, Bishop Godeau, per­haps, some his admirers think, has ef­fected.

This first essay at Paris ended with the thirtieth Psalm, the Doctors in Theology there remonstrating to the King, that no­thing could be more dangerous than Ma­rots Version of the Psalms (cette infidelle fraduction, as they styled it) for which, and somewhat else, they pretended to have discovered of him, he made ano­ther escape to Geneva, where his old friend Mr. Calvin, says the Sieur Maim­bourgh, [Page 25] encouraged him, notwithstanding, to adventure at twenty more, as he did, with no better success than the former; yet what they wonder at: somewhat more is, that while he was so well em­ployed upon so divine a subject, his course of life was not more reformed, than to relapse there into such a hainous crime, as for which Sentence of Death passed up­on him by the publick Magistrate; and had been executed, if Calvin's interest had not commuted it with the publick lash about the Carfouo: After which scan­dal, and disgrace, he fled toward the Alpes, and kept close in Piemont, and there died a Huguenot, about the sixtieth year of his age. But this goes upon the Sieur Maimbourgh's credit; for, it's con­fessed, I have not met with it in any of the Reformed Writers I have had in hand.

The other hundred Psalms, he agrees with Strada, were versified by Beza; and, when finished, bound up with the Goneva Bible, and otherwhile with Cal­vin's Catechism, the better to disperse them, with their Reformation, about the Countreys, and sweetly to propagate their Rebellion by 'em. Their first exer­cise of this new harmony was in and [Page 26] about Paris, where people most frequent­ed for a pleasant walk; which the Roman Catholicks took for a high affront, no less to be Sung than Beaten out of their Promenade; insomuch as the Parisians, that were zealous the other way, resolved to Arm, and to assault them in a fit of fury, but that the care and courage of their Magistrate prevented, by allaying the tumult, and imprisoning two obser­ved the most earnest to chant their Psalms in this Seditious manner. But this, alas, was nothing to what followed in greater numbers; Not to mention the fray seven or eight hundred of them made in Vassy, where the Duke of Guise, travelling one Sunday, Anno 1562. made a little stay on purpose to hear Mass; at which time the foresaid number being met in a Grange (as rendered) adjoining to the Church, where his Highness was on his knees; they having some notice of it, elevated their voices to such a height, in chanting Marot's Psalms, as disturbed the Prince at his Devo­tion; whereupon two or three of his Offi­cers but desiring them to forbear a while, or at least to sing somewhat lower, they, instead thereof, raised their note to a louder Tune, made a fierce sally out on [Page 27] his company, which were not more than a fourth part of themselves, yet with drawn Swords in their hands offered to encounter 'em, but it came to throwing of Stones at last; with one of which, the Duke himself, who was fain to quit his Church, receiving a shrewd blow on his Jaw, became all bloody; which incensed his followers so, as they made use of their Weapons, and some few were killed, no­thing like what could, in reason, merit the odious character of a Massacre, though not other than such by the Huguenots was it reported at Court, and accordingly complaint made of it to the King of Na­varre, as a manifest infraction of his late Edict for Pacification; which was other­wise resented by him, as appeared by the check he gave to Mezeray, cet insolent Ministre, as he called him, not liking what he had misrepresented of this affair.

More inexcusable was the greater tu­mult at Valenciennes, the chief City of Haynalt; and Tournay the chief City of Flanders Gallicant; where the Calvinists began to try their fortune in those Pro­vinces, which lay next to France: In the first of which, the Preacher having finish­ed in the Market-place, where he made [Page 28] his Sermon, was followed in the Streets by no fewer than one hundred people; but, in the other by a train of six hundred, or thereabouts, all of them singing Davids Psalms of Marot's Translation, according to the custome of the Hugonots amongst the French. Some tumults hereupon en­sued in either City, for the repressing whereof, Florence of Momorancy Lord of Montigny, being the Governour of that Province, rides in post to Tournay, hangs up the Preacher, seizeth on all such Books as were thought Heretical, and thereby put an end to the present Sedition. But when the Marquess of Bergen was re­quired to do the like at Valenciennes, he told the Governess, in plain terms, that it was neither agrecable to his place, or nature to put an Heretick to death, (which had been a good Christian answer, if the Rioters had not been more Rebels, than Hereticks, and Fellons certainly, because Sacrilegious robbers, here in Purpose, as elsewhere, divers parties of them in Fact, which occurr in the Histories of both Countries; for these tumultuous waves were rolling directly toward the Dominican Cloyster, which the Rebels had in design to sack, and then set in flames. But, [Page 29] changing their mind on a sudden, they diverted toward the Prison, being in­creased then to the number of two thousand, forced the Gates, and set at liberty two of their company, whom the publick Magistrate had seized on and clapt up there; sending him a modest message, (if you will so take it, and not rather for a jeer or scorn) that they had not acted, nor intended more: But, at some months distance afterward, they paid their due to Justice, one of the two rescued Prisoners, who was retaken, and divers others who either were, or boasted themselves, as if they had been, principals in the tumult, —qui tumultum aut animosius fecerant, aut jactantius sibi vendicaverant, are Strada's words, somewhat more particular than what I borrowed before from our own Historian; who yet addeth hereunto (what seems likewise to be taken from him) Those of Valenciennes had refused to admit a Garrison, encouraged by their French Preachers to that disobedience, but being besieged by Norcarmius, Deputy-Governour of Haynalt for the Marquess of Bergen, they were compelled, in the end, to submit to mercy, which was so inter­mixed with Justice, that thirty-six of the [Page 30] Incendiaries were beheaded, some of their Preachers hanged, and some Souldiers executed; the Liberties of the City being seized, and declared to be forfeit, till the King should be pleased to restore them. If I would yet enlarge upon the rebellious attempts, and outrages, which the French and Flemish Calvinists daily multiplied, and prosecuted with ungovern'd zeal (if not rather fanatick fury) I could transcribe Volumn, and be no more a plagiary than they that have writ before me, (for Histo­ry is not to be invented, but taken upon trust by us that are at distance from the transactions of it) but I will chuse to re­mit you, Sir, unto the triumvirate I have had occasion to cite hither more than once, and borrow the conclusion only of a more dolesul Tragedy, acted by them at Antwerp, the chief City of Brabant, where after some calmer Scenes, or little essays made of their following mischief, being become not only more numerous, but better armed, they marched confusedly, not in Rank and File, to the chief Church of that City, at the Evening Service; which ended, they compel the people to forsake the place, and possess themselves of it; having made fast the doors, for [Page 31] fear that some disturbance might break in upon them, one of them begins to sing a Psalm in Marots Metre, wherein he is followed by the rest; that such a holy exercise as they were resolved on, might not be undertook without some preparation; which fit of Devotion, or Profanation rather, being over, they fell to work; first they pulled down a massy Image of the Virgin, and such other Saints as they found advanced there, on their several Pedestals, ossering many indignities to those representatives, and the others Painted on Walls or Windows, beside many unhandsome usages of what the Roman Catholicks account most Sa­cred, demolishing all they could: And this they did with such dispatch, so easily and pleasantly goes off a hand the hardest work, (when facilitated by the tune of a Psalm, select, and apposite, as, no doubt, it was) that one of the fairest Churches in Europe, richly adorned with Statues and Massie Images of Brass and Marble, and ha­ving in it no fewer than seventy Altars, was, in the space of four hours, defaced so miserably that there was nothing to be seen in it of the former beauties: Proud of which fortunate success (so my Author [Page 32] continues) they brake into all other Churches of that City, where they acted over the same spoils, and outragious in­solencies; and afterwards forcing open the doors of Monasteries and Religious Houses, they carried away all their Con­secrated Furniture, entred Store-houses, seized on their Meat, and drank off their Wine; and took from them all their Mo­ney, Plate, and Wardrobes, both Sacred and Civil, not sparing any publick Li­brary, wheresoever they came: A ruine not to be repaired but with infinite summs; the havock which they made in the great Church only, being valued at four hundred thousand Ducats, by indif­ferent rates; whereunto is added, That the like outrages they committed at the same time in Gaunt and Oudenard, and all the Villages about them: That, in the Province of Flanders only, no fewer than four hundred consecrated places were, in the space of ten days, thus defaced, and some of them burnt down to the ground. A blessed Character, among thousands more, of Presbytery and Geneva Jiggs, as some slightingly call them.

All which makes me, not a little, to admire the fond and facile connivance of [Page 33] our Reforming Ancestors, in or about the sixth year of K. Ed. 6. and afterward, in the Reign of the glorious Q. Eliz. that is, at the entrance, and intermediate continuance, of a like, or, in good truth, a far worse translation, a meer Rhiming Paraphrase, into, and in, the Churches they were then planting, or purging from all Superstition and Profanation, having so fresh and so notorious a Prece­dent before their Eyes of what had been wrought, by the same model, in foreign Countreys: Of which I can conceive no better reason, (if I may be licensed to render any) than, for the first, a little inclinations, the Protector, and some in Council, had to the Geneva-Platform, so soon as Calvin had put in his Finger, and offered the further assistance of his Head (and Heart too) toward perfecting the work they were about. And, for the latter, some little politick compliance (so much as is signified) with them whom the Queen supported by Men and Mo­ney, to prevent, perhaps, the over­growing of either Monarchy, though to the no small hazard of ruining her own, in this Century (as may be apprehended) from Divine Justice; that in a season, [Page 34] which we may not understand as such, will vindicate the general right of Kings to the exact obedience of their Subjects, by some particular judgement on their Per­sons or Successors, who have acted ought toward the diminution of it, within the third or fourth generation, after their de­cease.

By whom this English Paraphrase of the Psalms was made, and how advanced to so favourable a reception, not only a­mong the vulgar (who pleasing them­selves with the Tune, had little regard to the sense of what they sung) but among many the great, the wise, and truly in­telligent of our Nation, may be worth enquiry, to the explication, or further illustration of that clause in the Deans Letter, which put me upon the Dis­course.

The two principal we have, expressly named, in the Printed Title Page before the Book, Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins; the former, Groom of the Privy Chamber, who is said to have tran­slated only thirty seven of the Psalms; the latter, one of those who fled England, and resided at Geneva in Q Maries days; to whom, I think, we are to attribute [Page 35] the Translation of so many (and no more) as have J. H. the Capital Letters of his Name, prefixed to 'em; the first of which (as I turn 'em over) appears to be the 24, where a break is to the 27, and thence again to the 30, giving way to T. S. whom I take to be Sternhold, Ps. 32. and so likewise at Ps. 34. Psal. 23. is entitled to W. W. a more obscure per­son than the former; who comes in again at Psal. 37. so that Psalm, at least, is not to pass upon Sternholds account, but some other for it: Thence J. H. sallies, or skips, to Psal. 50. And after­ward steps in a greater stranger with half a name, under a single Letter N. Psal. 101. 102. as alike does M. a no less uncertain quidam Psal. 131. So that if we will bring the whole number, par­celled among the several Capitals, and own 'em to be distinct composers, as they would be thought, the portions allotted to each are these; viz.

To T. S. Psal. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. and 23. as posted after W. W. who has the preference of the two Paraphrasts, 25. 26. 28. 29. 32. 33. 34. 41. 43. 44. 53. 63. 66. 68, 73. 103. 120. 123. 128.

[Page 36] To J. H. Psal. 24. 27. 30. 31. 35. 36. 38. 39. 40. 42. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. Set after one entitled to W. W. as in like manner is Psal. 51. 52. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 64. 65. 67. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. 100. with another on the same, to shew the variety of his fancy, 108. 146. 148.

To T. N. are attributed Psal. 101. 102. 105. 106. 109. 110. 111. 115. 116. 117. 118. 129. 135. 136. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143, 144. 145. 147. 149. 150.

To W. W. Psal. 23. 27. 50. 51. 114. 119. 121. 124. 126. 127. 130. 133. 134. 137.

To W. K. Psal. 104. 107. 112. 113. 122. 125.

To M. Psal. 131. 132.

To R. W. Psal. 125. as a second to W. K.

To T. C. Psal. 136. as a second to N.

Before their Book of Psalms are placed other pieces of their Poetry, or paraphra­stical excellency, viz.

1. Veni Creator, beginning in English thus; Come holy Ghost, eternal God.

2. The humble suit of a Sinner; begin. O Lord of whom I do depend.

[Page 37] 3. Venite exultemus. Psal. 95. begin. O come and let us now rejoyce.

4. The Song of S. Ambrose, called Te Deum, begin. We praise thee, God, we knowledge thee.

5. The Song of the three Children; be­gin. O all the works of God the Lord.

6. The Song of Zecharias, called Bene­dictus; begin. The only Lord of Israel.

7. The Song of the Blessed Mary, called Magnificat; begin. My Soul doth magnifie the Lord.

8. The Song of Simeon, called Nunc Di­mittis; begin. O Lord, because my hearts desire.

9. The Symbole, or Creed, of Athana­sius; begin. What man soever he be.

10. The Lamentation of a Sinner; be­gin. O Lord, turn not away thy face.

The Lords Prayer, or Pater-Noster; begin. Our Father which in Heaven art.

12. The ten Commandments. Audi Is­rael. Exod 20. begin. Heark Israel, and what I say.

13. The Complaint of a Sinner; begin Where righteousness doth say.

None of these have any Authors name, or Capital Letters for it, prefixed, except the second alone, which has M. the same [Page 38] person, in likelihood, that translated two of the Psalms.

After their Book of Psalms, Sir, we find another Set of their Apocryphal Poe­try, which hath,

1. A Song to be Sung before Morning Prayer: T. B. beginning, Praise ye the Lord, ye Gentiles all.

2. A Song to be Sung before Evening Prayer; begin. Behold now give heed, such as be.

3. The ten Commandments of God. Exod. 20. begin. Attend my people and give ear, by W. W.

4. The Lords Prayer. D. Cox. begin. Our Father which in Heaven art.

5. The twelve Articles of the Christian Faith; begin. All my belief and confi­dence.

6. A Prayer to the Holy Ghost, to be sung before the Sermon; begin. Come holy Spirit the God of might.

7. Da pacem, Domine; begin. Give peace in these our days, O Lord.

8. The Lamentation; begin. O Lord in thee is all my trust.

9. A Thanksgiving after the receiving of the Lords Supper; begin. The Lord be thanked for his gifts.

[Page 39] 10. A Conclusive Song, entitled to R. W. begin. Preserve us, Lord, by thy dear word.

Perhaps some of the foresaid Letters beside R. S. and J. H. might be deci­phered into names, if an exact List were made of those Divines, &c. that, upon the change of Religion, after K. Edward's death, either went directly hence, or in the troubles at Strasburgh and Frank­fort, departed thence for Geneva. I in­tend not to search so narrowly into the reports we have from either place; nor will engage my self in a bare conjecture at what the Reverend Dr. Heylyn, and other alike sagacious Writers have either not discovered, or thought not worth communicating; but my opinion, in ge­neral, I declare, is this; That the whole Bundle, or Body, of these their Psalms, Songs, &c. by whomsoever composed, or paraphrased, had the approbation of the whole Classis of our English, there as­sembled, in conjunction with some Scotch and French, whom they called in, or con­sulted; and for ought we can be assured of, by no other than the same Classis or Colloquy were they allowed to the publick purposes, pretended by the Printer in [Page 40] his Title-page, which being no less au­thentick than that which had their Tran­slation of the Bible, or the Genevian Notes upon it, passes currantly enough with the hereditary Tribe of our Sectaries; That Translation which King James judged to be the worst that he had ever seen in the English Tongue; Those Notes upon the same, which his Majesty told us, in the Conference at Hampton-Court, are partial, untrue, seditious, and savouring too much of dangerous and trayterous conceits: Those notes which yet I heard boldly plead­ed for at the Tryal of the Most Re­verend Archbishop Laud, who, so well as I remember, guarded himself by the Sentence of that Learned King, though no Deference at all was made, or owned due unto it by their Lawyers; but that I have nothing to do with here, other­wise than as the authority of those Notes, and these Psalms, whether by allowance or connivance, seems to be much alike, and either thereby justified so much as comes to nothing; but both alike to be condemn­ed for the abuse: The acephalike Songs, that have not any single Letter at all to entitle them, being taken in with those that have, as supplemental to 'em, and [Page 41] brought over with 'em from Geneva: For I cannot suppose any one individual person would be so bold, without counte­nance of a packt Society, or Assembly, to impose upon a National Church, what Metrical Psalms shall be Sung, and when, to the discharging those Sacred and Ca­nonical Hymns in Prose, before appoint­ed, by express publick order, to be Said, or Sung, being set to more solemn Tunes as practis'd in our Cathedrals, such as will carry up any truly devout Soul, in holy raptures, or fix it in holy ecstasies, much sooner than the esseminate notes (as Strada calls 'em) of Marot, or the flat­ter Symphony made of Sternhold, Hop­kins, and the rest, by our Fanatick peo­ple. To which purpose, (I mean, to infringing the rule of our Church, set in her Rubricks) was not only our Introit, or 95 Psalm, slightly Paraphrased, but, as before-mentioned, the Song of S. Am­brose, called Te Deum, which, in Prose, should be Said, or Sung, after the first Lesson at Morning Prayer; or, at choice, then, the Song of the three Chil­dren; The Song of Zacharias, called Be­nedictus, after the Morning-Second Les­son; The Song of Blessed Mary, cal­led [Page 42] Magnificat, after the First, and the Song of Simeon, called Nunc di­mittis, after the Second, at Even­ing Prayer; The other two then, alike permitted to choice, Cantate Domino, and Deus misereatur, being the 98 and 67 Psalms they had translated among the rest. A Prayer to the Holy Ghost, to be sung, they tell us, before the Sermon; beginning, Come holy Spirit, the God of might; what intimates it less than that the descent of the H. Ghost may be no less confidently expected, or asked, upon the Minister at the delivery of his (whe­ther premeditated, or extemporary) Ser­mon, than as by the Bishop Said or Sung, the whole Assembly kneeling, by far the more humble posture, at his Ordination. Their Song to be Sung before Morning, and another before Evening Prayer, sup­poseth the Congregation fully, or, but in part, assembled: If fully, then, it seems, the Church Service must be arrested un­til the people have solaced themselves with a Song: If not fully, then, most likely, it is intended to find them some imployment, rather than they should sit idle; as if a silent and serious meditati­on were of no use; or as if the people [Page 43] knowing what they are to do first, after their Ministers Exhortation declared to 'em, viz. to say a general Confession after him, might not better be employ­ed in a particular recollection, or mental recapitulation, each one of his personal transgressions, omissions, &c. and to prepare himself to bear a sad, but salu­taries part in that general Confession of the whole Congregation. That the Creeds, the Decalogue, and Pater-noster, are like­wise versified, and left at large, to be sung at pleasure, does still but aggravate or aggrandize the mischief of their in­tention; for, though neither of the two latter can well be too far extended, or branched into more particulars than God prescribeth us duties, or is gracious to admit as Petitions put up to him, which may allow some latitude to their inven­tion, (we see it taken in large Para­phrases on the Lords Prayer, and yet larger Expositions on the Ten Command­ments;) The object of Faith is under as much restraint, so as a little slip in comprehension of the Sense, or in Poe­tick Licence, creates somewhat, as it were, of a new Creed; and, when accu­rately examined, either affixeth a funda­mental [Page 44] errour, or gives the lie to him that utters matter of his own invention, instead of divine infusion, not under­standing, or not believing, what he in prick-song affirms he does. I enter not into strict Scrutiny of what therein they have done; but desire any intelligent and indifferent person to take into due consideration the Prose and Metre of St. Athanasius's Symbol (if theirs in Verse we may call his) and then seriously re­solve me, Whether he can, with half that vigour and assurance, declare his assent to the one as to the other; so much abatement being, by the inartifi­cial Version, in the grandeur of style, so much distance in the elevation of affe­ctions, from the language of the Saint himself, though translated, and that of the Poet, though slickt in Rhime, enough to vilifie a mans Faith, in his own conceit, and damp his con­fidence to sing, or say, what is the con­clusion of it; for considerate men will not easily advance so far, as to exclude altogether from Salvation all such as have not faith enough in the fancy of a pitiful and pievish Poet; we know what scru­ple, or difficulty, has been made, by [Page 45] many sober persons, at the conclusive Sentence of that Creed in Prose, who do­ing it in no contentious, but a conscien­tious motive, a dread to denounce Dam­nation against such as otherwise they esteemed their good Christian Brethren; I shall only blame their diffidence in the tradition of the Church, which ever held it as a most Orthodox and Pious Para­phrase of the Apostles Creed: And I re­member very well (with circumstance of time and place) when a learned person consulted this Reverend Dean, ‘Whe­ther a man might not safely remit somewhat of that rigour, and yet not deviate, culpably, from the common path others trod in; or, at least, omit joining with the Minister in that so determinate conclusive Sentence:’ His Reverence's Answer, in good earnest, was to this purpose; ‘He could be no good Christian, nor true Son of the Church of England, that did not animitus, and entirely, assent unto that Creed, say it, or say it not.’

You see, Sir, how many essential parts of our Church-Service they have thus entrench'd upon, whereof, if they would have made a continued sequence, [Page 46] and but inserted, as they use to do, while they take breath, a Chapter or two of their own chusing, to be read by a Lay-Elder, as in the Calvinian Churches, their Minister would have found little or nothing for him to do, but to usher in his Sermon with a long-winded Prayer, and so our Liturgy, as they would have it, had been defeated by a meer Chant, as in foreign parts they have said our Religion become nothing else but a bare Preach.

If hereunto I should add any Observa­tions or Animadversions on the matter of those Geneva-ditties, yea, and the Psalms, as they have order'd it, a great deal of ignorance and folly, and somewhat worse, would be discovered. In vain therefore do they pretend them, in the Title-page, that they (the Psalms I mean) have been conserred with the Hebrew, which ac­cord no better with those in our Psalter, nor with the other in the Bishops Bible; and most impudently do they obtrude upon us a publick allowance of them by the Queen, or Government, as must needs be meant, when no such thing could be found, though an argument was held about it, in the High Commission.

[Page 47] Now Sir, if you please, we will paral­lel their designs, which look so like one another, that of the Huguenots in France together with the Calvinists in other Countreys, and that of our Separatists, or Puritans, here in England, which will appear, alike, the Setting up of a new Religion, and, in the issue, a new mo­delling of the State too: Theirs was to confound the Mass, and ours the Mattins, with the Vespers, daily sung on both sides the water. Theirs, to make their Populacy, no less than their Clergy con­cerned in Divine Offices; ours, to ex­trude, or out, the conforming Ministry from practising their Canon and Rubrick comfortably; when they observed most of what they were appointed to do anticipa­ted by their Psalms and Songs in Metre, and so little or nothing left them of their Li­turgy duty; and wheresoe're they might have a Nonconforming Ministry of their own, having a better esteem of the open Fields and Barns, to meet in, both for Singing and Preaching too, than of our Churches, or Steeple-houses, as they ra­ther call 'em; experience hereof we have had all along among Scotch and English; nor would the Dutch have done other­wise, [Page 48] if they fought not out better con­ditions for themselves than could the French, and so chang'd the publick face of Religion, and therewith the ancient Go­vernment of their Countrey.

The Foreign Protestants, as I have shewed you, made use of Marot's and Beza's Psalms, to cherish and encourage one another in their Rebellious attacks and Sacrilegious spoils: The Dutch and Germans have employed theirs to a like good purpose, but what their Poets name was, I have not hitherto been in­formed: Our Puritans have done the like, in our late Civil Wars, with Stern­hold and Hopkins, when they have gone about to charge their more Loyal Coun­trey-men then in Arms for the King, as may be made good from their forces in Lincolnshire, and other Countries. Nay, I fear, we have outdone the Foreigners in one very profane practice I have ob­served, that I mean, is, libelling parties, yea, and single persons, in the choice of a Psalm, the sense whereof shall be forced to reproach a Sentence judicially pronounced at the end of some suit at Law, and sometimes to ridicule confor­mity to the order of our Church. That [Page 49] our Rebels guilt made them jealous of the like project in those whom they sus­pected for more Legal principles than their own, is not amiss noted from that act of folly, if not more criminal, I have read perpetrated by Isaac Penington, Lon­don's Lord Chief Justice in his time, who sent a fellow to Newgate (perhaps a Clerk of some Church there) only for setting a Malignant Psalm, as he did another for Reading a Malignant Chapter, possibly the 13th to the Romans, such a one as he would have had encerped (among many others) toward constituting a new Apo­crypha, to secure a Scriptural Canon (if he and other such misereants could have compiled it) to countenance their Rebel­lion, (as they did in misapplied Texts too often) by Holy Writ. Some other improper uses they made of 'em, as at their City Feasts, in the place of more artificial Musick, that commonly attend such entertainments. And as an hypocritical property, to gain the repu­tation of Piety, in the strict observance of family-duties, as they call them, whereof some of their own Children have taken notice, as did that Boy, who be­ing reproached by his Play-fellow, That [Page 50] they Sung no Psalms upon Sabbath days in the Evening, as his Father and the rest did at their House; received this in answer with too much truth, as the young Gamester ingenuously meant it, That the reason why at his Fathers house no Psalms were wont to be Sung, was because they had no Window toward the street.

Many odd passages, in reference to those Psalms, have affected the minds of most judicious persons, whose ears they have arrived, but none, upon that ac­count, have, in their merriment, made more reflections, in contempt and scorn of our Religion, which they will needs suppose, either allows or tolerates 'em, than some in the Roman Communion, who, to my knowledge, mimically sing their Tunes, and act such Farces, with ridiculous circumstances as have been credibly reported to 'em, observing also the rusticity of their language, and in­consonancy of their Rhime, as no man in his right mind, can better temper an ex­cuse of what he must not disown, than by a smile and silence.

To what end they were first ordained, may be shrewdly guessed by the critical [Page 51] season of their composition, which, we read, was about the same time, when by the formality of a Commission, accom­panied with the irregularity of Riotous and Sacrilegious people, not only the Plate and rich Ornaments of the Altars were seized on in the Kings name E. 6. for their own commodity; but most fur­niture of all sorts, belonging to the seve­ral Quires throughout the Realm, were rifled, and the very structures in a great part demolished or defaced, (that in St. Paul's Cathedral it self not escaping) as if so well the daily Sacrifice of prai­sing God in Psalms, and Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, whatsoever the new Li­turgy order'd otherwise) were thence to be exterminated, as that of the Mass. They that had such apprehension, or other conceit in fancy for innovation, might easily be induced to entertain this new device, at least in their private Houses, and as formerly they had been gratified with the priviledge of reading the Scripture in our vulgar language, so now be yet more pleased with the liberty they might enjoy, at will, of singing their Psalter, thus Poetically improved, in the same. Howsoever, this may be, [Page 52] not invidiously, nor partially, observed, from the first publication of 'em; that they were by none more regarded, nor more eagerly contended for, than by those that were most seditiously inclined, and disaffected to the established order of the Church, which in this particular, among others, was carefully provided for, especially after the coming of the precise Brethren from Geneva, where they had not only learned from their great Master Calvin, a new Institution, or Sy­stem of Religion, but acquainted them­selves well with his subtile methods of Sacriledge, or Sequestation of any Church Revenue, which they could pretend to have been superstitiously employed, that is, in more truth, applied to the exter­nal decency, or solemnity of Divine Ser­vice, and Religious Worship of God in his Holy Temple; for little less than a suspicion of Rapine, in some such sort, seemeth to be implied in the 49 Injuncti­on of Queen Elizabeth; whereunto it oc­curs, thus;

‘Because in divers Collegiate, and al­so some Parish Churches heretofore, there have been livings appointed for the maintenance of Men and Children [Page 53] to use singing in the Church, by means whereof the laudable service of Mu­sick hath been had in estimation, and preserved in knowledge: the Queens Majesty neither meaning in any wise, the decay of any thing that might con­veniently tend to the use and continu­ance of the said Science, neither to have the same in any part so abused in the Church, that thereby the Common Pray­er should be the worse understanded of the hearers, willeth and commandeth, that first no alterations be made of such assignments of living, as heretofore hath been appointed to the use of Singing or Musick in the Church, but that the same so remain. And that there be a mo­dest and distinct Song so used in all parts of the Common Prayers in the Church, that the same may be as plainly understanded, as if it were read with­out singing, and yet nevertheless, for the comforting of such that delight in Musick, it may be permitted, that in the beginning, or in the end of Com­mon Prayers, either at Morning or Evening, there may be sung an Hymn, or such like Song, to the praise of Al­mighty God, in the best sort of Melody [Page 54] and Musick that may be conveniently devised, having respect that the Sentence of the Hymn may be understanded and perceived.’

My Remarks upon which Injunction are these:

1. That not only in Cathedrals, but in some Parochial Churches also, means had been setled upon Singing-men and younger Choristers, to begin, and carry on the Solemn Tunes of the Psalms in Prose, as they are, Verse after Verse, prickt out by a middle distinction to that purpose.

2. That the said settlement advanced the estimation of Musick, accounted a laudable Service, when diligently attend­ed, and performed according to the true intent, and first institution thereof.

3. That evident enough it is, the Queen either had been moved, or appre­hended she should be, to divert the Reve­nues of such Livings to other uses; else, why was her Majesty sollicitous to open her mind in an unnecessary caution against what no body thought on but her self.

[Page 55] 4. That if any did (as such Harpies may have been about her) Her Majesty very piously and generously discouraged the attempt, by disclaiming all thought or meaning, to authorize or countenance it.

5. That her Majesty secured the popu­lar convenience and complacence, by ordering Plain-Song, and continuing the Common Prayer intelligible by such as would be attentive to it, accordingly Sung.

6. That for the more Musical Ears, and distinctive Judgements in that Sci­ence, her Majesty provided pecular Hymns, in some better Melody, not in­tending thereby to cherish or gratifie the Curious, but administer Comfort to Pi­ous Souls, predisposed so to apply it.

From all which I conclude, That Tho­mas Sternhold and his Mates, or Follow­ers, were, unknown to the Queen, set upon their Poetical task by some that had in design not only to chace the more solemn Musick out of the Church, but to divert, or appropriate, to them­selves the Livings and maintenance of it, if it could be obtained, or extorted, from the Superiour Power; for why else should [Page 56] the Queen start the scruple? Or why might they not hope to be altogether so successful in Sacriledge here, as their elder Brethren had been in foreign parts?

Howsoever, the industrious prosecuti­on of this new invention, cannot, by in­different and rational persons, be judged to conduce so much as the former Paro­chial, and present Cathedral practice, either to the solemnity of our Service, or one principal end of our Reformation, viz. the intelligibility of what is Said or Sung in the Church, unless Art and Science be postponed to Ignorance; or our Rhimical Singers have a singular sa­gacity of Sense, or facility of the Ear, which no body must pretend to but them­selves.

For let any person, indifferently dispo­sed, (though otherwise but meanly qua­lified to be judge in the case) sincerely and ingenuously answer me, Whether makes the more solemn and devoutly af­fecting Musick, our Cathedral harmony regulated by a skilful Quire, according to their Science; or the flat asymphony, the jarring dissonancy (discordia discors, in good earnest) of an ignorant confused [Page 57] multitude, met in a Parochial Church, where is, of course, but one pitiful Proe­cento, if the Clerk be any.

And Secondly, Whether the like atten­tionhad to both, the Psalms in Prose, as chanted in the former, be not by sar more distinctly intelligible, than the rude Rhimes screamed and snuffled out in the latter.

But, you will tell me, Although not Order, Custome, more naturally preva­lent, has provided against that defect in many Churches, and may be brought into the rest at the peoples pleasure, viz. by the Clerks distinct reading every line before the Congregation sings it.

This, I confess, gives us a copy of some little countenance, in answer to the objection, but not enough to bear it self up against other inconveniences, and in­decencies observed in that practice by Wiser Men than they that offer to pro­mote it: Else, certainly, the Right Reverend and most judicious Bishop Wren would not have made a like enquiry after it, as after other enormities in his Dio­cess of Norwich; the 49th Article at his Visitation being this:

[Page 58] ‘If any Psalms be used to be sung in your Church, before or after the Morn­ing and Evening Prayer, or before or after the Sermons (upon which occa­sions only, they are allowed to be sung in Churches) is it done according to that grave manner (which first was in use) that such do Sing as can Read the Psalms, or have learned them by heart: and not after that uncouth and unde­cent custome of late taken up, to have every line first read [by one alone] and then sung by the people?’

Those words [by one alone] were insert­ed afterward, when his Lordship urged the same Article in his Diocess of Eley, whither he was translated; and com­plaint made of the Article to the Long Parliament, by the factious William Prynne, Compiler of a Book entituled, Canterburies Doom, pag. 372.

And, to the exclusion of those Rhi­ming Psalms out of the Service, where they are too frequently intruded, by popular consent, his Lordship had cau­sed to be inserted a peculiar clause in another distinct Article, which was this:

[Page 59] ‘—After the Lessons, doth he [your Curate] use no other Psalm or Hymn, but those which the Book of Common Prayer hath appointed?’

For his Lordship, among other excel­lencies, so exact a Critick in our lan­guage, and observer of sense with its co­herence, (neither of which but tript too frequently in the Geneva-Paraphrase) since he could not suddenly repair all breaches, nor restrain all extravagances, which the Foreigners of several Nations had occasioned in his Diocess of Norwich, was resolved by degrees to turn the stream into its proper Channel, and keep it clear from mixing with the muddy waters of the Lake, whereof Nature ha­ving given a precedent, his Lordship un­derstood a like possibility, by due care, in the current order of the Church.

As to which Foreigners above-men­tioned, I ask your leave, Sir, here to say, If they had prudently and modestly used the Royal Grant of Indulgence to em, from time to time, of all they at first made known, themselves then ho­ped or wished, sc.

That here they might enjoy the Li­berty of Conscience, and Safety for their [Page 60] Goods and Persons, which their own Countrey had denied them, as in King Edward the Sixth's Patent to 'em is thus expressed —Proesidiis ad vitam degen­dam necessariis in Regno nostro egere non dignum esse duximus—Granting them a place where they might exercise the Re­ligion they had been bred up in, after the rite and manner of their own Coun­try among themselves; —Ubi inter suoe gentis & moderni idiomatis homines Religi­onis negotia & res Ecclesiasticas, pro patrio ritu & more, intelligenter obire & tractare possint—Wherein the Gospel should be interpreted without corruption, and the Sacraments administred according to the Word of God, and Apostolical observa­tion, notwithstanding that they differed from the Government, and Forms of Worship, established in the Church of England.

If John a Lasco the Polonian, instituted first Superintendant of that Society, or Corporation, could have been content with the free and quiet fruition, enjoy­ment, use and exercise of all they had asked, according to the words in their Patent —Libere & quiete frui, gaudere, uti, & exercere; for assurance of all [Page 61] which priviledge to be made good unto them, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, for the time being, with the Court of Al­dermen, and Bishop of London, were to be Curators and Protectors.

If John a Lasco, like a false Lown, a fly Serpent, lying close under the leaves of the foresaid Patent, had not watched, and when he espied an unhappy rupture, upon a slight occasion, beginning to be made in our Church, glided out of his covert, on purpose to foment the Schism, and encrease it; so far wretchedly abu­sing the Kings goodness, as to appear in favour of the Zuinglian and Calvini­an faction, so early got over hither.

If he had not urged on that over-scru­pulous Lord Elect of Glocester, the Pious and Learned Hooper, to persist irrecon­cileable to the Cap and Surplice.

If he had not, yet more pragmatical­ly, writ an earnest Letter to that greater Divine, and far meeker Christian, M. Bu­cer, inviting, or importuning him to pa­tronize that fond and frivolous conceit, from whom he received, deservedly, a severe rebuke for his pains.

If he had not too openly, and so far scan­dalously, manifested his desires (to say [Page 62] nothing of endeavours) that Semi-Arria­nism, opin'd in Poland, and the practice of it, in one particular, by Session at the holy Sacrament, should have been introduced to the English Church, in justifying which not only did he affect discourse, but pub­lish his frantick arguments in a Book en­tituled, Forma & ratio totius Ecclesi­astici Ministerii; as if on purpose to con­front the better order established here.

If, after their trooping off at Queen Mary's coming to the Crown, and the quinquennium of Persecution passed over, when Queen Elizabeth re-assumed the improvement of Reformation, had not come over hither, to the obstructing or retarding of that good work, a greater number of such ungrateful men, a medly of French, Dutch, and Walloons, who were licensed to plant themselves in several parts of this Kingdom, beside London, most opportune for their trade, being approximate unto, or at no great distance from, the Sea.

If by the fore-mentioned precedent, they had not claimed a title to the like indulgence, and, with no great diffi­culty, obtain'd their Patent.

[Page 63] If, when obtained, their Church in London had stretcht their priviledge no further than the length and latitude of the Letters from the Privy Council to them 1573. touching Rites and Cere­monies, particularly their choice of posture in publick Prayer, standing, kneeling, prostrating, adoring; whereof several Churches abroad had taken their Christian liberty, dum hi stantes, illi in genua procidentes, alii proni procumbentes, adorant & precantur (wherein, by the way, no mention at all is made of Ses­sion).

If the Order of K. James, under his Signet, June 13. 1616. which implied a parallel of their having so much al­lowed 'em here, as our Natives had abroad with them, might have moved them, now and then, to retrospection, and careful enquiry, whether the bal­lance of mutual courtesie were kept e­ven and steady.

If the like concession, renewed by K. Charles the First, had been so grate­fully accepted as graciously it was yeild­ed, without a sinister reflection upon his marriage with the Royal Daughter of [Page 64] France, 1625. or drawing, by subtile in­sinuation, an express promise from his Majesty, that the said Marriage should not be any dammage to them, but rather, as himself hoped, an occasi­on of much good to their Countrey­men.

If the said Kings pleasure, signified by his Privy Council, Anno 1630. to the Dutch at Norwich, and the same noti­fied otherwhere, had been humbly com­plied with, which at no time grated more on the foreigners than the preser­vation of unity in his own Church re­quired.

If no exemption had been insisted on from Archiepiscopal power (their Metro­potitan so well as ours) when the King, Secundum beneplacitum, (being no other­wise restrained than was his Royal Father) appointed, they should be visited, upon great reason of State rendered for it, so well as all Corporate Members and Paro­chial Churches in both Provinces, to the sole intent, that Right and Justice might be done, and Unity preserved, without any restriction laid on the manner of worship they had exercised [Page 65] before, or retrenchment of the wonted jurisdiction among themselves.

If the two Congregations of strangers, in the City of Norwich, had not trou­bled their Diocesan with Remonstrance and Petition, and afterward, in like manner the Archbishop, June 26. 1635.

If the Generality of them had not published a Summary Relation of the Archbishops proceedings herein, not­withstanding his Grace had before ac­quainted them, that he proceeded accor­ding to Injunctions, he had received from the King, who preserved to him­self the same liberty his Royal Father had, who promised them protection no further than any other good King would do, viz. with the convenience and security of his own Dominions; Je vous protegeray ainsi que convient a unbon Prince, &c.

If the querulous Confederates of the three foreign Churches in Kent had not, afterwards, Printed a Book entituled, A Relation of their troubles caused by the Injunctions of William Laud, Arch-bishop of Canterbury, 1634. set sorth by John [Page 66] Bulteel, one of their Walloon Ministers, as I remember, in Canterbury it self, which, in point of common civility, might have spared their pains, or, if they would needs be importunate, might have been further resolved to take no­tice, whose order his Grace had for what he did, and not render'd him odious for his good endeavours to keep our Churches, (and their Congregations too) in peace and union, the principal end and scope of that his Metropolitical Visitation.

If, in summe, all of them would have been regular, as modest Strangers ought to have been, by the direction of superiours both to them and us, glving us no jealousie of their abetting, or encouraging, such our people as were disaffected to the government they lived under, there might have needed no scrutiny by Visitation, nor enquiry after them, their priviledges by Patent being secured to 'em, and our peaceable communication unmolested.

But you will ask, Sir, what perti­nence have these hypotheses, these Ifs, to their, or our, singing Psalms, the sub­ject I had in hand? Truly none, other­wise [Page 67] than as I was prompted to bring 'em in upon that occasion, having shewed before, that from them was borrowed the uncouth custome, and at length incorporated, by their prece­dent, with the practice of our Puri­tans, among the Symbolic Characters of Protestant Reformation; yet, before I part with it, I shall take the freedome to acquaint you with one affected in­stance, of my personal observation, act­ed by 'em, in the presence of his Ma­jesty, at the Royal Chapel of St. James's, few years since; where, one Sunday in the afternoon, his Majesty being pleased to hear an eloquent, and much samed Preacher in the French language, I, as ordered, and of course, read Com­mon Prayer in English, saying the Hymns, Magnificat, &c. as appointed in our Rubrick; when on a sudden, unexpectedly, some of the Foreigners there assembled began one of Marot's Psalms, immediately followed by many more, until inhibited by the hand; as if they had not known where, and before whom they were, perswaded, doubtless, that our Office had been imperfect, if not unsan­ctified [Page 68] (in Dr. Heylins expression) with­out such a Psalm. And the very same licence, with less guilt, though not without fault, and faction too, have our own people, of the like zealous sort, taken in Parochial Congregations, where they knew their Minister (disaffected to Sternhold's and Hopkins's, with the others metre) must needs be discom­posed in the serious and solemn thoughts he brought with him to Church, in­terrupted in his Office, and put upon an uncertain issue of his complaint, if at least the Bishop or Chancellour of the Dio­cess, to whom he made it, were in­clinable to affect those Psalms, one of which they had urged into the Ser­vice without his leave, and in opposi­tion to the better order of our Church. Whereupon it may not impertinently be observed, That Tho. Sternhold's transla­tion, or English Paraphrase of the Psalms, was entered on about the same time when King Edward the Sixth's first Common-Prayer-book was setled, and, among other things, order taken for the Singing, or Saying, the Psalms in Prose, with the Hymns in their proper [Page 69] places: And what was then project­ed by it (for a project we may sup­pose it was) is more openly practis'd at this day, with the same intention, to defeat that order, and more than that, as they can prevail, particularly the 36 Injunction of Q. Eliz. That no man shall willingly let—or discourage, any Curate, or Minister, to sing, or say, the Divine Ser­vice now set fourth, &c. And yet fur­ther than so, the fact infringeth the 15th Canon of the Synod at Laodicea, held about the year 364. which, though objected, in another case to be but a Provincial Council, and of very little authority in the Church, the Reve­verend Dean of Peterburgh, in his Scho­lastical History, pag. 62. affirms it to be a Council that consisted of divers Pro­vinces, or Regions of Asia, which makes it greater than any Provincial Sy­nod. Secondly, That it was always held to be of great Veneration and Au­thority in the Greek and Latin Church, (and why should it not be of like e­steem with us?) antiqua nobilitate cele­berrimum—Groecorum atque Latinorum Scriptis celebri memorioe commendatum, as [Page 70] Binius. But the greatest honour done it is, by the Canons, those Fathers made, being put into the Code of the Univer­sal Church, whereof the 219th Canon is this:

By which, according to the learned Patriarch Th. Balsamon's explication, al­though Laies were not absolutely forbid to sing in the Church; yet they were re­strain'd from a bold practice, some of them had adventur'd on, to begin the Canticle, and lead the Quire (by whom they were to be led) [...], in contempt of the Clerks, or Canonical Chanters ( [...] they were called) whose priviledge, or right, it was; and who therefore were ad­vanced to a Pulpit, or Desk, above the people, where they might be better heard, and regarded by the Assembly: And these were they that in our Parochi­al Churches were of old called, The Priest and his Clerks; who only, until our [Page 71] Reformation, were to sing in the Church and none else, says the Answerer to Liturgical demands, which at this day is no otherwise observed by the Ro­manists themselves than in Balsamon's sense, newly recited to you.

Now, as the Singers were limited, so were the Psalms too, by the 163 Canon in the Code, the very last of the Laodicean Council, thus, [...], &c.

Quod non oportet privatos Psalmos in Ecclesia legere; privatos dici, as transla­ted by Gentian Hervetus; psallere, vel legere, Caranza has in the title; In one of Peter Crabbe's editions I find it thus, Quod non oporteat plebeios Psalmos in Ec­clesia cantare, &c. in his other, Non oportet ab idiotis Psalmos composites, & vulgares, in Ecclesiis dici.

From all we have in view, I collect these denotations of the Psalms prohi­bited, privati, plebeii, compositi, vul­gares; private, plebeian, composed, vul­gar, which may pass for the same with Plebeian.

And as to the publick use of them, is this variety; legere, dici, psallere, cantare: All [Page 72] which will be comprized in saying, or singing, that is, in uttering them any way by the voice, which is plain enough, but what is meant by Private or Plebeian Psalms, may not be so; toward dis­covery whereof, what I found ready at hand, or with little search, Sir, I shall briefly communicate.

The Greek Scholiast says, that, beside the 150 Psalms, that are called Davids, there were others, that went under the name of Solomon, [...], and some other perhaps obscurer, or meaner, authors; the Fathers therefore calling them Private, decreed, they should not be recited in the Church: The learned Christopher Justel further notes from Eusebius, That the ancient Christians were wont, beside the Divine monu­ments, proeter divina monumenta (the canonical Book of Psalms he means) to compose, and sing to the praise of God, certain Psalms and Hymns, [...], &c. that they were de­vised in variety of Verse and Rhime; such are they this Council disallows the use of in the Church; and care enough was taken by our Reformers to prevent [Page 73] the like abuse, until our Calvinistical Puritans grew bold, and packt with the like-affected Stationers to impose upon publick authority for private ends; which can be no more justified, I mean Singing their Psalms, as pitisully para­phrased, in Church-Assemblies than the Reading Books Apocryphal, that are truly such, and so, of old accounted; for those are not such, though called so, that are bound up, mostly with our Bibles, but Ecclesiastical, some parts of which, you know, Sir, are selected, and appointed to be read, at certain times as first of the two Lessons in the Church, there being other more proper­ly styled Apocryphal, as our Reverend Dean hath demonstrated the exact dif­ference, from ancient and modern Wri­ters, in his Scholastical History; and both so Reading, and Singing, are pro­hibited by the Fathers in this Councel, as it follows in the Canon, aut libros non-canonicos, sed solos canonicos veteris et novi Testamenti, the irregularity being the same, of Singing non-canonical Psalms, as of reading Apocryphal Books, in our publick Assemblies, and one no [Page 74] less than the other inhibited by this Coun­cil.

Nor ought it to pass unobserved, That the Psalter is a peculiar paft, or portion of the Canon, the use whereof is intimated by the very title, and con­sequently, of a like Divine institution to be Snng, as dictated by the Holy Spirit, so well as the other Books to be Read as they are penned by the sacred Writers, without the disguise of a Para­phrase; for the two and twenty Books of the Old Testament are thus divided; twelve Historical, five Prophetical, four Paranetical, or of Doctrine and Instructi­on (as our Reverend Dean translates Leontius Byzantinus) and one of Psal­mody; Now for our Puritans to tell God plainly (as, in effect, they do) That they like not to Sing the Psalms, as he hath inspired and left them, but will have them in their own Rhime, and Meeter, is no less unsufferable, and profane, than if they should reject the Song of Solomon, because we have it in Prose; or paraphrase the other Sacred Hymns, that are dispersed in the Holy Bible, and prefer them to the same, [Page 75] as they find them, without any such Metamorphose, in the Canon.

But in stretch of time (which must not be forgotten) providence permitted these Singularists to be payed home in their own kind, as Doctor Heylyn historizeth, more at large, than I shall take liberty to transcribe; for their brethren of the Second Separation became so licentious, as in their three kinds of spiritual Wor­ship, Praying, Prophesying, and Singing of Psalms, they would be under no kind of restraint, but, as to the third, we are treating of, proposed these Que­ries. 1. Whether in a Psalm a man must be tyed to Meeter, Rhime, and Tune? and, Whether Voluntary be not as necessary in Tune and Words, as well as Matter: and, 2. Whether Meeter, Rhimes, and Tune, be not quench­ing the Spirit.

According to which Resolution of the New separation, every man, when the Congregation shall be met together, may first conceive his own Matter in the Act of Praising; deliver it in Prose or Meeter, as he lists himself; and, in the same instant, chant out, in what Tune [Page 76] soever, that which comes first into his own head: Which would be such a hor­rible confusion of Tongues and Voices, that hardly any howling or gnashing of Teeth can be like unto it, (they are the Doctors very words) under which deserved censure, I leave the Songsters, or Separatists of both sorts, to agree among themselves, there being no like­lihood, upon the principles, and pra­ctice, by either party, of their agree­ment with us, and consormity to the order of our Church,

But, Sir, before I altogether quit the Subject, undertaken by me, upon occa­sion of the Deans Letter, it is fit I give you some satisfaction, without demand, why I rested not on the authority of his Reverence's opinion as summarily, and concisely, written, but extended my search so much further after matter of contradiction to so inveterate a custom, that is radicated with the essentials of our Religion, and seems to have con­demned the Canon or Rubrick to eternal silence; wherein to deal ingenuously and frankly with you, the true reason, be­side what you may collect from my an­tecedent [Page 77] discourse, is the ungrateful, and yet irksome, remembrances I am, ever and anon, molested with, of the manifold vexation I have had in my time, both at home, and abroad, upon ac­count of my aversion from that rude Paraphrase so accounted by me ever since I was capable to judge of it, and argue rationally against it: For my first prejudice arising from what I ob­served in the University of Cambridge, that many persons of a Pious conver­sation, and devout assistants at the or­dinances and offices of our Church, whilest the Psalm was Sung by the great Assembly at St. Maryis, sate there as mutes, even in the Masters Quadran­gle or Square, the most publick in all the Church: Besides, frequently, other­where, when mention was made at any time of the several Paraphrasts, espe­cially the three small Poets, Sternhold, Hopkins, and Wisdome; the same wor­thy persons were wont to censure the work, as it deserved, and much to un­dervalue their parts and prudence in the attempt: To understand better why they took liberty to condemn what every [Page 78] day gained ground upon the good opi­nion of others, and pass'd so currant­ly in the use of our Churches, so well Cathedrals as other, (for our Reverend Vindicator or Assertor of our practice, must be understood in D. Durell. a very favourable sense, and at least with restriction to the Quire, it being mani­festly otherwise (I wish it were not) in the Nave Area, or body of the most, when he writes Cap. 27. Psalmi Ryhth­mici ab Ecclesiis Cathedralibus &c. plane exultant; nec nisi prosa oratione Cantuque simplicissimo, ac ideo facillimo, in iis can­tantur [Psalmi veteris versionis]) I re­member, as I was saying, in my young days, I took some pains to compare their trivial meeter with both the Tran­slations of our Psalms in Prose, by which I was convinced, how much the Poems derogated from the Style and Gravity of the other, and when I laid to them, as I did, the elegant Latin Paraphrase of the learned Buchanan, and the alike terse English of Mr. Sands; when I further applied my ear with good atten­tion, to the solemn Tunes used in our Colledge-Chapels, especially with the [Page 79] Organ; and to the confused noise or sound, harshly render'd by Parochial Congregations; so differently was I affected, as I would never after permit my self any compliance in Singing with the generality of our common people, where-ere I went; Which with some other strictness I thought my self obliged to, and could not satis­factorily dispence with, made me seem so heterogeneous, in many places, and companies, that much of my converse abroad, was under a sort of Inquisition, and no less accountable was I made to every Peevish Puritan I met with, than if I had lost an article of my Creed, and declined communion with my Christian brethren; one or two instances among many more that occurr, I shall here, Sir, obtrude upon you, and then draw toward a conclusion, that I may not tire you quite.

When, the War ended in the West, I had with other my Lord Hoptons Servants, the benefit of his Lordships Articles, and liberty to leave England. The first opportunity I had to exercise my function was in the Isle of Jerzey, [Page 80] where, even after his Highness, the Prince of Wales, was gone for France, three or four of the Loyal Clergy kept up an English Congregation in St. Hilliars Church, beside those in the Castle; In my turn of Preaching, it happened once, my Text led me into a discourse of Church-musick, in­strumental, and vocal, the latter giving me occasion to mention our Psalms in Meeter, not without some com­plaint of the unskilful Paraphrasts, that undertake the task: But more against the abuse, I had observed, wrought by some Seditious Parish-Clerks, or other malicious people, that suggested such, or such, a Psalm to be set, in a juncture of time, or business, that the like affected in the Congregation understood very well, what interest they served, or party therein they gratified; nor was this practice inconsiderable in the very fer­ment of the grand Rebellion; for what I speak, in that sort, if I might expect no thanks, I knew no reason, why I should apprehend a censure, from any intelligent, and indifferent, person then [Page 81] present, having used such caution as might guard me from all just exception: But my self-opinion was soon frustrate, by a call I had to attend a person of Honour (of which eminent quality di­vers were then there) at his Chamber; whither being come, he immediately gave the meaning of his summons, the scandal he had taken at my Sermon the Sunday before, particularizing some invective words I used against the com­posure or style, and the authors too, of the Paraphrase often mentioned. He was pleased to dilate more upon it, than so small an errour deserved (if an errour it had been) I attentively hearkned to all he said, as in good manners, so in great hopes to be in­structed, that those Psalms had some better authority from above, than a bare allowance, which hath proved to be none, but as the Stationer, you find falsly pretends in the Title-page; I made no scruple at owning the summ of what he alledged, and gave such reasons in my own behalf, as I had ready; which could be answered with nothing but a popular Custom, and [Page 82] insuperable prepossession, which cast forth somewhat to this purpose, ‘If I had Preached the same in England, when times were more Sedate, and the Bi­shop had not censured me, he had de­served to have been censured, and that, rather than the cause should have wanted prosecution himself would have been the Actor to pursue it.’ I was somewhat troubled to see him so far transported, as not to take notice, that, though this practice of Singing the Psalms in Rhime, together with some other of Calvin and Beza's form­ing, or countenancing, had run ma­ny years on in our Church, like wild­fire, when the train is laid; yet no prudent Bishop would urge his Clergy upon pretercanonical usages, more than to preter-articulate Doctrines, without the publick authority, or private per­mission, of the Supreme power, that, even in Ecclesiasticks, is above him. But his Honours naming of a Bishop called into my remembrance, that the very same words (for seldom, in such Auditories, do I dare, at any time to vary from what my Pen prepares) [Page 83] I had some years before delivered the same words (I say) in S. Maries, the Right Reverend Doctor Brownrigg, then not only Bishop, but Vice-Chancel­lour, beside other of the Consistorian Heads, being present, from none of whom received I any check, nor so much as a srown, (observed) when I came out of the Pulpit. And a very learned Gentleman, now a worthy Pre­late of our Church, coming a day or two after to my Chamber, on a friend­ly visit, moved me to let him read the whole Sermon over, which I yeild­ed the rather, because I attributed much to his judgement, and was sure of his integrity, not to conceal from me what he observed in it liable to censure, or capable of construction in­to an offensive sense; whereof nothing at all being spoken, I had no reason to forbear the same Language elsewhere, upon like occasion, what I uttered be­ing only this:

‘I am not at leisure now to discuss that opinion of Sanctius, for which he citeth Theodoret, that Elisha's Min­strel was no other than a Levite, who [Page 84] Sung some of Davids Psalms unto him, which, it may be, in their pure natu­ral, were, by far, diviner, and cha­ster Musick, than since, after the ill handling of some uncouth Poets, they became prostitute in the mouths of licentious Zelots, and blind En­thusiasts, whose sensual appetites too often hire their mercenary tongues to prophane this Musick, while their im­pure thoughts are courting of their Mistress.’

These lines as they lay, I read un­to his Honour, whereby it appeared, that I then named not the Paraphrasts, as he, being over-earnest, alledged, I did, Hopkins at least; wherein, yet, I had not been so bold with his name as the famed Court-Mercury had in the year 43. with that of a greater man, in the same case, when he writ thus, on the Rebels of that time.

‘But, let them be confident, they that are unborn, and cannot speak now, will declare their admirable Rebellion to posterity, so as they will be read upon every Post and Gate, in as honourable Rhimes, as [Page 85] Mr. Rouse bestowed upon the Singing Psalms, a theme, (one would think) which deserves better usage.’

And better usage it had from a better Head, and neater Hand, of the more elegant Mr. George Sands, whose name I then used, wishing, if a Para­phrase we must have, that, or some such, might be in it, wherein I would not refuse to join with the Congre­gation, when authorized to sing it; so far was I from declaiming against all Singing of Psalms, though I thought it very just, and not imprudent at all, to incline the people to a dislike of that Paraphrase, which had so many absur­dities (to say no worse) in it, that I trembled to sing them in the House of God; adding, that my close in­vective was meant against them I na­med not; principally the London-Le­cturers, and other of those times, who ordinarily went into the Pul­pit with a Singing Psalm, neglect­ing the Liturgy to gain time for their own longer Prayer: Against the com­mon practice of Parish Clerks (as be­fore-mentioned) who, upon a Puri­tannical suggestion, or see given, by [Page 86] some male-content, or ill-principled person, would select such a Psalm, as the words whereof might be per­verted to the encouragement of Sedi­tion or Schism; to which said his Honour, The more Fools the Ministers that would suffer their Clerks to have the liberty of chusing the Psalms; not observing what Ministers I aimed at, no whit better not wiser than their Clerks: But here he inserted an In­terrogative of some terrour, ‘What if Mr. Gatford, the next Sunday, should preach against standing up at Glo­ria Patri, being a thing brought in only by custome, not command? accordingly as I had newly instanced against the Singing Psalms:’ To which, although I could have made a sharp reply, knowing what Mr. Gatford had formerly said and done, in Sacris, not only by the favour of Custome, but against Canon: Yet I moderated my self to this, saying, If there were the like reason for the one, as the other, and the like abuse, let him do it; for though he might, I would not, put a pillow under any ones elbow, to give him ease, with the peril of draw­ing [Page 87] the Vae, in vengeance upon my self; for the menace in Ezekiel, by consent of many Interpreters, extend­eth beyond the women of his time, though they alone be named; and passeth from the Old-Testament Pro­phets to the Preachers of the New, that slay souls by flattery for gain. I am ashamed to let Posterity know how little my fair Apology prevail­ed, where none at all ought to have been required; for after two or three hours discourse on the Psalms, and somewhat else, I had preached about the Monastic life of the ancient Pro­phets, who, we may be sure, were no Papists; nor St. Basil and St. Hie­rome, Fathers of the Greek and Latin Church, separately taken, other than good Catholick Christians; although I kept distance enough from what may be controversial in the point, yet this person of Honour was pleased to tell me in plain terms, That he would have none of these new doctrines imposed up­on him in publick (as if the whole Assembly were contracted to his single person) and if I would not [Page 88] forbear, he would refrain coming to Church. I presume, he meant, when he should know I was to preach, wherein I left him to his liberty, and preserved my own, with no in­tendment to abuse it, in any affront to him, or others.

Sir, This severe, not to say rough dealing I could not well digest, with the submission somewhat unreasonably expected, but knowing no better re­medy at hand than the Catholicon of Patience, I made use of it in this, and many other conflicts, with more inferiour persons, who, in many things, hated to be reformed according to the Canon of our Church, though fellow­sufferers in our exile: Only hereup­on I resolved to consult my betters, which happily produced this Letter from the Reverend Dean, whose au­thority was my Shield, many times, afterward, under the notion of a Dig­nitary in our Church, until (by what accident I know not) the Letter it self was dropt in some publick pas­sage, taken up by the Lieutenant Go­vernour of the Island, and with his [Page 89] own hand shortly after re-delivered to mine: It being so, by providence, pre­served, as I since have accounted, for my necessary defence against the very urgent proposal, though no direct im­position or command of some wor­thy Prelates, my Right Reverend Dio­cesans, since his Majesties return, who took this particular, among o­thers, into their comprehensive method of moderation, and popular compli­ance, which I wish had effected the re­union intended, and earnestly endea­voured by 'em: If I may without of­fence, Sir, I will report to you some instances I bear in mind, without any unbecoming reflexion upon their per­sons; that may deserve your censure, if I have not your approbation.

When I came first to this Parochial Rectory, which I have now enjoyed somewhat above twenty years, inform­ing my self, by what means I best could, touching the genius of my peo­ple, I found I had entred on a hard task of reducing them into the right path, from which they had diverted through the course of many years be­fore, [Page 90] my Predecessor having been mis­led himself, and they by him, in the erroneous doctrines and practices of those times; the later of the two was that alone, which I could hope in some measure to redress: for so well knew I the Presbyterian, after long acquain­tance, as I had concluded him irre­claimable in his Doctrine, and irre­conciliable to much of the outward worship in our Church; what I knew I could best justifie by the character of my Order, and prudential rule of Go­vernment over them committed to me, without new direction from my Or­dinary, I seasonably endeavoured, ha­ving left no liberty to my Clerk, the very first day of my publick appear­ance in this Church, to act any thing, on his part, but what he was express­ly ordered by his rule and mine.

The Psalms in Meeter, I am treat­ing of, had been so endeared to them, (who understood little better sense than what is unintelligible to him that hath most) it was supposed they would hardly part with them; and no less resolved was I neither to encou­rage, [Page 91] nor permit, the practice of what I could not conscientiously joyn with them in, unless they could obtain an order to over-rule me, which I presu­med my superiours wiser than to grant, upon any interest they could make, or the most importunate solicitation the boldest of them could use; yet I foresaw well enough how far they would adventure for it, and meant to keep on the defensive side, secured by the Rubrick after my saying the Ni­cene Creed; Then shall follow the Sermon, &c. without the least mention of any Psalm to be Sung, before my passing to the Pulpit; I suffered my self to be sounded by the Church-wardens and some others, why I continued not the old Custom, which they fondly thought soirreversible, as they flatter themselves, sóme other are, for non­payment of several Tythes, even with­out a modus, their Lawyer having found out a term worth ten of it, in Latin too, Lex Terra, which hath the efficacy to discharge all arrears, very potently, by paying nothing.

[Page 92] The address, they agreed to make to the Bishop, I no way offered to ob­struct; nor did I much regard the open mouths of the many-headed monster in the Countrey, that spent very freely, their deep resentment of so great a grievance, untill I perceived some of better note, who had in possession the Dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, who came from Sheba too, for ought that I know, but brought little or no Gold to the Church, and as little In­cense to the name or reputation of her truest Priests, yet were very zea­lous in shewing forth the praises of the Lord this way of Singing, caring not at all for the other; until I was fur­ther certified, that my Lord Bishop, then, of Sarum so countenanced them, as they took for granted, their Cu­stom-musick should be re-induced, and my morosity reformed to a free com­pliance; for it was high time I judged, in that juncture, to provide against the dilemma I could not else avoid, either of disobeying his Lordships Council, if not Command, (because he had no Ca­non, nor Rubrick, to authorize any [Page 93] such Injunction) or be irregular in my observance, and act contrary to the higher obligation, laid upon me, as I supposed, in the established Order of our service (as I have shewed) for my observing which, I understood not, why any apology should be made, if expected, or indeed could be, by me, without the guilt of either hy­pocrisie, or shame. Hereupon I truly stated the case to his Lordship, as I had done to my self, promising all submission to his paternal Order, when directed to me; but refusing to act ought without it, to gratifie a wilful people, in their digression from the Order of our Church. His Lordship knew, better than I, what power he had to dispense, and wherewith, which when he pleased to declare, in like manner, as in other cases, I had im­plicit faith enough to believe, that in pursuance of it I should not do amiss. I easily, Sir, perceived this ingenuous freedom did not rellish well with his Lordship, and as ill satisfied was I to lye under the disgust of so Reverend a Prelate; the only expedient I could [Page 94] think of was, to wait some favoura­rable opportunity, in which fairly to obtain the sense of the point in diffe­rence from some other worthy Pre­late in no less eminency, if not in grea­ter, than himself, whereby the cloud of misprision might be dispell'd, and their countenances cleared up, who had frown'd upon me for this unnecessary, nice, reluctance, as they supposed; which soon after, finding in my way, I successfully improved.

My good Angel guiding me to the Lord Bishop Sheldons Lodgings at White-hall in a good hour, when Lord Bishop Henchman of Sarum came to visit him. I being not permitted to go out, and leave them private, in some proper pause of their discourse, took occasion so far to accuse my self as to own, how at that present, I was unhappily fallen under my Diocesans displeasure, and craved leave of both to relate, for what, very briefly; which granted by their joint consent, having render'd the summ of what had passed, I reduced all to this question, propo­sing (with leave)

[Page 95] ‘Whether a Clergy-man were obli­ged by his Oath of Canonical o­bedience, to conform, in his pub­lick Offices, to the express order of our Church, or with conni­vance only of his Diocesan, take up, with others, an unauthoriz'd, unjustifi­able Custom, to rid himself, or his Ordinary, from the importunity of an ill principled and misguided peo­ple.’

The arguments for Canon, or Ru­brick (which is equlvalent) and the opposite, for prevailing Custom, was pressed so far as on either side they would bear; and my Lord of London, whose Translation to the Metropolitan See of Canterbury was near approach­ing, petitioned by me, to be (as I knew he would be) an impartial Ar­biter in the case. What my Lord of Sarum most sharply insisted on was; ‘That no Parochial Priest ought to dif­ser in practice from that of his Dio­cesan; nor presume to withdraw his Church or Congregation from the pre­cedent of his Cathedral, that being lit­tle better, than to set up Altar against [Page 96] Altar, and consequently begin a Schism.’

I humbly asked leave of his Lordship to make observation what advantage, unawares, he yeilded me, in parallel­ing the practice, he would have rein­troduced into my Church, with that which already was, on solemn Festi­vals only to gratifie an accessional Au­ditory, that had not prayed with him, in his own, (the difference between them I shall make appear by and by) and his more charitable opinion of me, than to believe, I affected any thing, in matter or form, that tended toward any wilful opposition, or hu­morous disparity, in that I conformed, all I could, to what was practised in his Quire, to which alone I had regard, not concerning my self with what his Lordship suffered (perhaps not com­manded) in the Nave of his Church, before his mixt assembly could be well setled, and the Preacher pass from a greater distance to ascend the Pulpit. For the Psalms in prose were alter­nately Said with us, as they were Sung in his Quire, and might have [Page 97] been Sung so too, if my people were so well inclined to learn those Tunes, as they were industrious to retrieve the other. And, if I may not be bold to fay, what was taken up by Custom in the Area, or body, of his Cathedral had not been Usus Sarum from the be­ginning of the Reformation; I would affirm, unlicensed, that if I did the same in my Church, between the Lessons, or Services, first, and second, as my ignorant people fondly required, I should then, indeed do litle less than erect Altar against Altar, Meeter against Prose, a lewd Chant against a solemn Harmony, both in matter and form, opposite, for I heard of no such practice in the Quire of his Lord­ships Cathedral nor any other. Which difference between Quire and Naves, in the present case, being overlooked, or inobserved, by his Lordship, exemp­ted me from censure, and justified my aversion from acting any thing, so contrary to the Rubrick, in our Com­mon-Prayer Book, at my urging which inadvertisement, if so I may call it, his Lordship seeming to be somewhat [Page 98] surprized, my Lord of London immedi­ately started up from the Couch, and, laying his hand gently on my Shoul­der, said, as if he meant it in good earnest, Hold thine own, man; which I was willing to interpret his award in the case, or determination of the que­stion laid, and fairly discoursed, before his Lordship. Which so happily end­ed, I heard no more from my Reve­rend Diocesan about it.

But from his very worthy succes­sour some further swasive importunity I sustained, and more yet from his learned Chancellour, Sir William Turner, with the annex of a very plausible and tempting promise, ‘That if I would com­ply with my Parishioners in these two particulars, 1. Singing the vul­gar Psalms, as turned into Meeter; 2. Reading the Communion-Service in the Desk, and not go up into the Chancel, he would see, that the most contentious of them all should pay me, peaceably, the full due of my Tythes, without trouble, or suit at Law, which otherwise, he foresaw, I would not be able to get in without charge and di­sturbance.’ I understood, Sir, well e­nough, [Page 99] how much his affectual assi­stance might contribute to my Peace and Profit, yet was loth to purchase it at so dear a rate, as the forfeiture of my observance, or forbearance of my duty to the express order of the Church; but, his power being great, if he would issue out from his Court a countermand to my Curate, and I found him influenced by it, when I came down into the Countrey (for we were then in London) I would not dis­continue what practice my Curate had entered on by his order, but leave the burthen of praetercanonical, or praeter­rubrical, acting in the Offices of the Church on him who was better able to answer it than my self.

So far was Sir William from taking offence at this my freedom, or becalm­ed by it, in the vindication of my title to some Tythes injuriously detain­ed, that being asterward entertained by me, as my Advocate in the Arches, not withstanding potent opposition, made upon a false and frivolous suggestion, over facilely hearkened to, he, by ar­gument of Law, and skilful Mesnage, [Page 200] carried my cause on to the period of being in readiness for a sentence, which the Dean of the Arches openly decla­red he ought in justice, and equity, to pronounce on my part, and had done it if a prohibition had not issued from above, which traversed the cause to another Judicatory (where it was skil­fully pleaded in my behalf by the late Lord Chief Justice Sanders) at which Sir William was so much concerned, that having some Books and Papers in his hand, he threw them down with great indignation in the midst of the Court, saying somewhat resolutely to this purpose, If so just a cause as this must be wrested from us, after a fair hearing, and sentence ready to be pronounced for us, I will never act here in causa deoimarum more: And, I think, he was so good as his word to his dying day.

Sir, at the next occasion of my waiting upon his Principal, the Right Reverend Bishop Earles, though my business with him, at that time, was of a different nature, yet I could not escape a rubbing up of the old sore, a [Page 201] mild reprehension for my outing, or disusing, the Singing Psalms, to whom when I had made the like reply as for­merly, I found, it necessary to pro­duce the copy of this very Letter of the Reverend Dean's, with whom his Lordship had been so intimate abroad in exile, as I might reasonably suppose, this argument, among many other re­lating to our publick practices in the Church, had not escaped their discussi­on in private converse: Having read it over, and returned the paper to my hand; he said thus in short, ‘I do not question this writing to be other than what you affirm it; but whatsoever was the Bishops opinion then (for a great Bishop was the Dean become after his Majesties return) I am sure he is now of another mind in the par­ticular of Singing Psalms;’ I cannot help that, my Lord, said I, nor can I change the opinion I was confirmed in chiefly by this authority under his own hand (which I have to shew) until our Church doth change her Rubrick, or I may be otherwise con­vinced. Soon after this I departed [Page 202] fairly, and enjoyed my freedom.

Sir, If my Lord of D's change of his opinion should seem to invali­date what before, the Dean of P. had not only declared, but freely argued, in Scriptis, to the contrary, in the fairest construction it may pass but for an instance of the greater mode­ration his Lordship condescended to, and indulgence he yielded toward the Presbyterian party in his later days, upon better hopes, perhaps, of a friendly accommodation in greater mat­ters than hath been yet, or, in like­lihood, ever will be effected. And somewhat the less may I value it in the argument I am upon, since the sense of our University therein hath been manifested to the disparagement of those ill Paraphrased Psalms in Me­tre, by suppressing the use of them in St. Mary's Church, where so many years they had been tolerated to at­tend the publick Preacher, though not without the dislike and dissatisfaction of many Reverend and Judicious per­sons, most addicted to exact order, which they knew, by that Puritan­nical [Page 203] custome, to have been notori­ously infringed, and the Authority of our Reformed Church scandalously af­fronted: Whereas if the generality of our heedless people were not carried away more by custom than guided by reason or common-sense, the prosaic Hymns might be without reluctance, restored to their primitive harmony in our service, and thereby sincere devo­tion exalted throughout all our Assem­blies, without design.

Sir, I hope no such rash reflections upon the Reverend Personages I was fain to name, have passed my Pen, as may require your censure of my indiscretion, or ill-nature, whom I know to be more ingenuous than to pervert plain dealing into a libellous Satyr; of what other men do, with more se­verity, I must stand the hazard: They that are not of my opinion, (who account no man injur'd, by having his own sentiments, when first made pub­lick by himself, returned upon him) may enjoy the priviledge of a more strict reserve, and chastise me, as they please, with the discipline of my own [Page 204] making. As for them that will be angry, because I vindicate my self from what undeservedly has been im­puted to me, let them be angry still, fo you preserve a kinder character for,