YEsterday the affaires of this House did borrow all the time allotted to the great Committee of Reli­gion. I am sorry, that having but halfe a day in a whole weeke, we have lost that.

Mr. Speaker, The sufferances that we have undergone, are reduceable to two heads: the First concernes the Church. The second be­longs to the Common-wealth. The first of these must have the first fruits of this Parli­ament, as being the first in weight and worth, and more immediate to the honour of God, and his glory, every dram whereof is worth the whole weight of a Kingdome.

[Page 2] The Common-wealth ('tis true) is full of ap­parent dangers; the Sword is come home unto us, and the two twind Nations united to each other under one Royall head, breathing toge­ther in the bowells and bosome of the same Island; & which is above all, imbounded toge­ther with the same Religion (I say the same Religion) by a devilish Machination, like to be fatally imbrued in each others blood; ready to digge each others grave, Quantillum abfuit!

For other grievances also, the poore dis­heartned Subject sadly groanes, not able to di­stinguish between Power and Law, and with a weeping heart (no question) hath prayed for this houre, in hope to be Relieved, and to know herafter whether any thing he hath, be­sides his poor part and portion of the common ayre he breathes in, may be truly cal'd his own.

This (Mr. Speaker) and many other, do deserve, and must shortly have our deep regard, but suo gradu, not in the first place. There is a unum necessarium, above all our worldly sufferings and dangers; Religion, the most immediate service due unto the honour of Almighty God: and herein let us all be confident, that all our Consultations will prove unprosper­ous, if we put any determination before that of Religion. For my part, let the Sword reach from the North to the South, and a generall perdition of all our remaining Rights and safety threatning us in open view, it shall be so [Page 3] farre from making me to decline the first set­tling of Religion, that I shall ever argue, and rather conclude it thus, That the more great, the more eminent our perills of this world are, the stronger, the quicker ought our care to be for the glory of God, and the pure Law of our soules.

If then Mr. Speaker, it may passe with full allowance, that all our cares may give way to the Treaty of Religion, I will reduce that also to be considered under two heads:

First of Ecclesiasticall Persons.

Secondly, of Ecclesiasticall Causes.

Let no man start, or be affrighted at the ima­gin'd length of this Consultation: it will not, it cannot take up so much time as it is worth.

This is God and the King; this is God and the Kingdomes; nay, this is God and the two Kingdomes Cause: And therfore Mr. Speaker, my humble Motion is, that we may all of us seriously, speedily, and heartily enter upon this the best, the greatest, the most important Cause we can treat of. Now Mr. Speaker, in pursuit of my own Motion, and to make a little entrance into this great affayre, I will pre­sent to you the Petition of a poore opressed Minister, in the County of Kent, a man con­formable in his practise, Orthodoxe in his Doctrine, laborious in the Ministry, as any we have, or I do know. He is now a sufferer (as all good men are) under the generall obloquie of [Page 4] a Puritan, as with other things, was admirably delivered by that silver Trumpet Sir Benja­min Rud­yerd. neare the Barre. The Pursevant watcheth his door, and divides him and his Cure asunder, to both their griefs: For it is not with him, as perhaps with some that set the Pursevant at worke, glad of an excuse to be out of the Pulpit: it is his de­light to preach. About a week since I went o­ver to Lambeth to move that great Bishop (too great indeed) to take this danger off this Mi­nister, and to recall the Pursevant; and withall I did undertake for Mr. Wilson, (so your Petiti­oner is called) that he should answer his Ac­cusers in any of the Kings Courts at Westmin­ster. The Bishop gave me this Answere (as neere as I can remember) in haec verba, I am sure that he will not be absent himselfe from his Cure a twelvemoneth together, and then I doubt not but once in a yeare we shall have him. This was all I could obtaine: but I hope by the help of this House, before the yeare of threats be run out, his Grace will either have more grace, or no grace at all.

For our manifold griefs doth fill a mighty, a vast circumference, yet so that from every part, our lynes of sorrow doe leade to him, and poynt at him, the Centre from whence our Miseries grow.

Let the Petition be read, and let us enter upon the worke.

YOU have many private particu­lar Petitions, give me leave by word of mouth to interpose one more generall, which thus you may record: Gods true Religion is violently invaded by two seeming Enemies, but indeed they are like Herod and Pilate, fast Friends, for the destruction of Truth, I mean the Papists for one part, and our Prelaticall Faction on the other: between those two in their severall progresse, I observe the occur­rence of some few parallells, fit as I conceive to be presented to this Honourable House.

First with the Papists, here is a severe In­quisition, and with us (as it is used) there is a bitter high Commission, both these ( contra fas & jus) are Judges in their owne Cause: [Page 6] yet herein their Inquisitors are better then our High Commissioners. They for ought I ever heard, do not saevire in suos, punish for delinquents and offenders, such as professe and practise Religion, according as it is establi­shed by the Laws of the Land, where they live: but with us how many poore distressed Ministers we have; how many scores of them in a few yeares past have been suspended, de­prived, degraded, excommunicated, not guilty of the breach of any of our established Laws. The Petitions of many are here with us, more are coming; all their prayers are in Heaven for redresse. Down with the Tables of these Money-Changers: they doe professe Com­mutation of pennance, and I may therfore justly call them so.

Secondly, with the Papists there is a myste­rious Artifice, I meane their Index expurgato­rius, whereby they clip the tongues of such Witnesses, whose evidence they doe not like: To this I parallell our late Imprimators Li­cences for the Presse, so handled, that Truth is supprest, and Popish Pamphlets fly abroad Cum Privilegio, witnesse the andacious Libells. against true Religion, written by Cosi [...]s, Daw, Heylin, Pecklington, Mede, Shelford, Swan, Ro­berts, and many others; I name no Bishops: but I adde, &c. Nay they are already grown so bold in this new trade, that the most learn­ed labours of our ancient and best Divines, [Page 7] must he new corrected and defaced with a Deleatur, by the supercillious pen of my Lords young Chaplein (fit perhaps) for the technicall art, but unfit to hold the Chaire for Divinity. But herein the Roman Index is better then our English Licences; they there­by doe preserve the current of their owne established doctrines, a point of Wisdome. But with us, our Innovators by this Artifice doe alter our settled Doctrines: nay, they do introduce points repugnant, and contrariant; and this I dare assume upon my selfe to prove.

3. One parallell more I have, and that is thus, amongst the Papists there is one ac­knowledged Supreme in Honour, in Order, and in Power, from whose judgement there is no appeale.

I confesse Mr. Speaker, I cannot altogether match a Pope with a Pope; yet one of the ancient titles of our English Primate was al­terius orbis Papa: But thus farre I can goe ex ore suo, it is in Print. He pleads faire for a Patriarch, and for such an one whose judge­ment he beforehand professeth ought to be finall; and then I am sure it ought to be un­erring; put thefe two together, and ye shall find that the finall determination of a Patri­arch, will want very little of a Pope, and then we may say mutato nominede te fabula narratur: he pleaded Pope ship under the name of a Pa­triarch, and I much feare least the end and [Page 8] top of his Patriarchall plea may be as that of Cardinall Poole (his Predecessors) who would have two heads, one caput regale, another caput Sacerdotale, a proud parallell, to set up the Mitre as high as the Crown. But herein I shall be free and cleere, if one there must be; be it a Pope, be it a Patriarchall, this I resolve upon for mine own choyce, procul à Iove, procul à fulmine, I had rather serve one as farre off as Tiben, then to have one come so near me as the Thames. A Pope at Rome will doe lesse hurt then a Patriarch at Lambeth: I have done. And for this third parallell, I submit it to the wisdome and consideration of this grave Committee for Religion: In the mean time I doe ground my motion on the former two; and it is this in briefe, that you will please to select a Subcommittee of 4, 6, 8, or 10. at the most, and to impower them for the discovery of the great number of oppressed Ministers, under the Bishops tyranny: For these 10. yeares last past, We have the com­plaints of some, but more are silent, some are patient and will not complaine; others are fearefull and dare not; many are dead; many are beyond Seas, and cannot complain.

And in the second place that the Subcom­mittee may examine the Printers, what Books by bad Licences have bin corruptly issued forth: the worke I conceive will not be diffi­cult, but will quickly return into your hands full of weight; and this is my motion.

THIS Morning is designed for the consideration of the late Cannons, and the former; and of that which the Clergy have miscalled a benevolence, I shall for the present, onely touch the first of them, and that is the Roman Velites, who did use to begin the Battayle: so shall I but velita [...]de, and skirmish, whilst the mayne Battayle is setting forwards.

The POPE, as they say, hath a triple Crowne, answerable thereunto; and to sup­port it, he pretendeth to have a threefold Law.

1. The first that is Ius divinum, Episcopa­cy [Page 10] by Divine Right: and this he would have you thinke to be the Crowne next his head, which doth circle and secure his power, our Bishops have in an unlucky time entred their Plea, and presented their title to this Crown, Episcopacy, by Divine Right.

2. The second is Ius humanum Constantij donativum, the guift of Indulgent Princes tem­porall power; this Law belongs to his mid­dle or second Crowne, this is already plea­ded for, by our Prelates in Print.

These two Crownes being already obtai­ned (He the POPE) Creates and makes the third himselfe, and sets it highest upon the top: This Crowne also hath its Law, and that is Ius canonicum, the Canon Law of more use un to his Popeship, if once admitted then both the other. Just so our Prelates from the pretended Divinity of their Epis­copacy, and from the temporall power, gran­ted by our Princes, would now oberude a new Common Law upon us: They have char­ged the Commons to the full, and never feare­ing they would requoyle into a Parliament, they have rammed a prodigious ungodly Oath into them. The Illegality, and Inva­lidity of these Cannons, is manifested by one short question, ( vizt.) what do you call the meeting wherein they were made?

Mr Speaker, who can frame an Argument aright, unlesse he can tell against what he is to argue?

[Page 11] Will you confute the Convocation-house? they were a holy Synod: will you argue a­gainst their Synod? they were Commissio­ners, will you dispute their Commission? they will mingle all power together, and perhaps answer, they were something else that we neither knew, nor imagined, unlesse they would unriddle themselves, and owne what they were, we may prosecute non conclu­dent Arguments.

Mr. Speaker, I have conferred with some of the founders of those Cannons, but I pro­fesse here, that I could never yet meet with any one of that Assembly, who could well answere to that first question of the Cate­chisme, What is your name? Alas, they were parted before they knew what they were, when they were together.

The summe of all the severall answers that I have received, do altogether amount unto this: They were a Convocationall, Synodi­call Assembly of Commissioners: Indeed a threefold Chaemera, a Monster to our Laws, a Cerberus to our Religion. A strange Com­mission, where no Commissioners name is to be found! A strange Convocation, that lived when the Parliament was dead. A strange holy Synod, when the one part never saw nor conferred with the other.

But indeed, there needed no conference, if it be true of these Cannons which I read of [Page 12] the former, quis nescit, Canones Lambe thae for­mari priusquam in Synodo ventilentur?

Well Mr. Speaker, they have Innovated upon us; we may say, It is Lextalionis to inno­vate upon them, and so I hope we shortly shall doe.

In the meane time my humble motion is, that every member of that Assembly, who voted their Canons, may come severally to the Barre of this House, with a Booke of Can­nons in his hand, and there unlesse he can an­swere that Catechisme question, as I called it, better then I expect he can, concept is verbis, in such expresse termes as this Honourable House shall then think fit, he shall abjure his owne Issue, and be commanded to give fire to his owne Cannons.

And this motion I take to be Just.