CHAPTER I.
Richard Cromwell succeeded his father in the government of the realm, as if his family had from of old occupied the throne. What renders this fact the more remarkable is that the new ruler had never been a public character, except so far as holding offices of honour might be considered as giving him that appearance. He had spent a quiet and almost unnoticed life, in the retirement of Hursley Park, in Hampshire—an inheritance he had acquired by marriage,—and there, in the society of neighbouring Cavaliers, he had enjoyed the sports of a country gentleman. Imbued with loyalty to the Stuarts, notwithstanding his father's position; conforming to the Established religion, without any sympathy in his father's opinions; indeed, destitute of deep religious feeling of any kind, as well as of genius, enthusiasm, and force of will, he stood ill-prepared to sustain the enormous responsibility which now fell upon his shoulders.
1658.
Instantly after Oliver's death, on the 3rd of September, the Council assembled and acknowledged Richard's title. All the chief cities and towns in the dominion were informed that the late Protector—"according to the petition and advice in his lifetime"—had declared his "noble and illustrious son to be his successor." The Mayor and Aldermen of London proceeded to Whitehall with condolences and congratulations; and the new Protector, in their presence, took the Oath of the Constitution, administered to him by Fiennes, a Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal. Manton offered prayer, and blessed His Highness, "his council, armies, and people."[2]
Proclamation of Richard's accession throughout the country immediately followed; and, according to a custom which had originated under the Protectorate, addresses, overflowing with adulation, poured in from various public bodies. Foreign courts, too, acknowledged the Protector's title, and honoured his father's memory. "It a sad thing to say," remarks Cosin, writing from Paris, "but here in the French Court, they wear mourning apparel for Cromwell; yea, the King of France, and all do it."[3] Richard's chief councillors were Lord Broghill, the Royalist, who had been a faithful servant to Oliver; Dr. Wilkins, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, married to the late Protector's sister; and Colonel Philip Jones, one of the Protectorate Lords. The union between these councillors sufficiently indicates that no extreme ecclesiastical policy could be contemplated; and, accordingly, in the month of November, a Declaration appeared, couched in liberal terms, conceding general toleration, and promising to godly ministers "their dues and liberties, according to law."[4]
RICHARD'S PROTECTORATE.
Richard was tolerant both from disposition and policy; owing to circumstances, he sympathized more with Presbyterians than with Independents; perhaps he would not have been adverse to some kind of modified Episcopacy. Moderate people, of different parties, therefore, looked kindly upon his sway; but it soon appeared that the embers of discontent were smouldering still. Scarcely had he worn his title one month, when his brother, Henry Cromwell, wrote in an alarming tone to Lord General Fleetwood, who had married Henry's sister. "Remember," he says, "what has always befallen imposing spirits. Will not the loins of an imposing Independent or Anabaptist be as heavy as the loins of an imposing Prelate or Presbyter? And is it a dangerous error, that dominion is founded in grace when it is held by the Church of Rome, and a sound principle when it is held by the Fifth Monarchy?" "Let it be so carried, that all the people of God, though under different forms, yea, even those whom you count without, may enjoy their birthright and civil liberty, and that no one party may tread upon the neck of another."[5] Henry Cromwell feared lest certain well-known unquiet spirits, now that his sire's strong hand had crumbled into dust, should disturb the peace of the country, and, under pretence of universal freedom, throw everything into confusion. He had reasons for his fear.
1659.
Richard called a Parliament, which met on the 27th of January, 1659. Writs were issued to "rotten boroughs;" representatives were summoned from Scotland and Ireland; means not constitutional, so it is said, were employed to secure a House of Commons favourable to the Court party. The majority consisted of Presbyterians, to whom the Protector chiefly looked for support; but old political Independents also secured their election, and Sir Henry Vane and Sir Arthur Haselrig, excluded by the old Protector, now, under the milder sway of the new one, took their seats in St. Stephen's Chapel.[6] They evaded the oath of allegiance, and boldly advocated Republicanism.
Parliament opened with a sermon in Westminster Abbey, by Dr. Thomas Goodwin, the Independent, who preached from Psalm lxxxv. 10, advocating liberty of conscience, and exhorting to union and peace. To that venerable edifice, ever identified with our national history, His Highness, attended by the Privy Council, by the Officers of State, and by the Gentlemen of the Household, "passed by water in a stately new-built galley, and landed at the Parliament Stairs." Lord Cleypole, Master of the Horse, bore the Sword of State before Richard, who in the Abbey sat surrounded by his Lords, the Commons, much to their displeasure—afterwards expressed by them—being seated here and there; "sparsim," as a contemporary chronicle discontentedly states.[7] The Protector concluded his opening speech in the Painted Chamber, by recommending to the care of Parliament, first, "the people of God in these nations, with their concernments;" secondly, "the good and necessary work of reformation, both in manners and in the administration of justice;" thirdly, the Protestant cause abroad, which seemed at that time to be in some danger; and lastly, the maintenance of love and duty among themselves.[8]
RICHARD'S PROTECTORATE.
After a rather ill-tempered discussion, Reynolds, Manton, Calamy, and Owen—three Presbyterians and one Independent—were appointed by the Commons, "two to preach and two to pray," on the occasion of the succeeding fast; and it is curious to find that in this instance the service took place, not at St. Margaret's Church, but within the walls of the House, to avoid, as alleged, the inconvenience of a promiscuous auditory, when "good men wanted the liberty, which it was fit they should have," to rebuke and reprove "the faults and miscarriages of their superiors." "Ill-affected persons came frequently to such exercises, not out of any zeal or devotion, but to feel the pulse of the State, and to steer their counsels and affairs accordingly."[9] The desirableness of sometimes giving admonition and advice to bodies of men, unembarrassed by the presence of critical and alienated spectators, still felt by many, was felt then.
The debates mainly turned upon fundamental questions of government. In them little appears relative to religion. Complaints were made of the Commissioners for trying ministers, and of the mismanagement of funds for the support of the latter. Maynard, and others, affirmed that souls were starved; that the sheep were committed to the wolf; that scandalous preachers had scandalous judges; that Welsh Churches were unsupplied except by "a few grocers, or such persons;" that "dippers and creepers" were found in the Army; that Jesuits had been in the House, &c. "See," exclaimed one speaker, "what congregations we had in '43, and what now! It is questioned whether we have a Church in England; questioned, I doubt, whether Scripture or rule of life is in England."[10] In the Grand Committee, a Bill was ordered to be drawn for revising Acts touching the Prayer Book; and for the suppression of Quakers, Papists, Socinians, and Jews.[11] Just before, a member named Nevile had been denounced and threatened with prosecution as an atheist and blasphemer, for saying that the reading of Cicero affected him more than the reading of the Bible.[12]
1659.
These proceedings, together with a declaration a few weeks afterwards, which spoke of blasphemies and heresies against God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the Scriptures; of the advocates of an inward light; also of atheism, profaneness, and Sabbath-breaking,[13]—indicate the revival of Presbyterian influence, and the renewed activity of Presbyterian zeal. On the other hand, Sir Henry Vane, who had been so earnest in supporting the Covenant, had now changed his mind on that subject, maintaining that the compact had become invalid through what he called the Scotch invasion of England, meaning by this the invasion which ended in the defeat at Worcester.[14] In the same spirit exceptions were taken by a Committee to the harsh treatment of Fifth Monarchy men; and some of that class were referred to with respect.[15] In these Parliamentary allusions to religious questions—the chief allusions of the kind which occurred about this time—we discern the flow of two opposite currents of feeling.
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
Other debates issued in important consequences. Republicans and the advocates of a mixed Government came into collision upon their particular points of difference. Sir Arthur Haselrig openly arraigned the acts of Oliver Cromwell, condemned the dismissal of the Long Parliament, and most irreverently compared the extinction of Monarchy and of the Upper House to the effect of the crucifying of our Saviour on the Cross. Haselrig proclaimed England to be a theocracy. "God," said he, "is the King of this Great Island." Haselrig acknowledged no power under God but that of the Parliament; the Protector he utterly ignored. Scott and Ludlow also gloried in their regicidal deeds. Vane, in a calmer strain, upheld Republicanism. On the other side the friends of the Protectorate contended for the "petition and advice" as "the Boaz and Jachin of Solomon's temple." The hand of Providence, they said, had set up the Protector, Richard. He was Protector before the House assembled; the House had owned him in that capacity, and had taken an oath of allegiance. A Royalist, amidst the expression of these opinions, exclaimed, "I am for the Constitution we lived under—for building up the ancient fabric."[16] Thus early, certain of the senators of England showed their determination to plunge at once into the vortex of a new revolution.
1659.
Questions touching foreign affairs, the Army, and finance came under debate at the same time; the Republicans, led by Vane, deploring, in a spirit of infatuation, the late peace with Holland, and wishing that the war had been perpetuated until the Dutch had been conquered, and forced into union with this country. They contended also that the control of the military should be placed in the hands of the Parliament, not in the hands of the Protector; and they inveighed against the extravagance of the Government, declaring that the deficiency in the revenue would produce a national debt enough to sink the country in ruin. But what proved of still more serious consequence, the Republicans not only canvassed, but set aside certain acts of the late Protector. Oliver had left behind him many State prisoners, committed for political offences. They were now liberated. Major-General Overton, one of these prisoners, appeared before the House as a martyr, being escorted on his return from imprisonment—like Burton, Prynne, and others, nearly twenty years before—by "four or five hundred men on horseback, and a vast crowd bearing branches of laurel."[17]
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.
Richard could not be held responsible for the arbitrary proceedings of Oliver. He had not been privy to his father's deeds; he had not entered into his father's purposes; he had not adopted his father's opinions; he had befriended the Royalists, and was still supposed to have sympathies with them; at the same time also his moderation and urbanity attracted towards him some of his father's companions and allies. "Though perhaps you will not believe it," wrote Broderick to Hyde, "they really are more affectionate to the present than the late Protector, whose temper so differed from theirs that it was usually averse to the deliberate caution they advised, running hazards they trembled to think of upon a sudden violent suggestion, of which they could give themselves no account, which precipices this young Prince doth prudently, as well as naturally avoid, and is thereby rendered more agreeable to those wary statesmen."[18] Yet personal popularity did not suffice to defend him from the disaffection of Republicans, and the discontent and intrigues of Army officers. Late in the month of March, Fleetwood and Desborough reported to Richard that agitation prevailed amongst the troops; that they complained of not having received their pay; that they were angry at the conduct of Parliament towards some of their old generals; and that these circumstances afforded encouragement to the Cavalier party. The two officers proceeded to employ these facts for the purpose of enforcing the advice that His Highness should immediately summon a Council of Officers to consider the state of affairs. Such a Council was held; and, after prayer, by Dr. Owen, deliberations commenced. Desborough recommended the application to the Army of a political test, the test to be—approval of the execution of Charles I. The proposition shocked the Lords Howard and Falconbridge. Broghill suggested a different method—that every one should be turned out of the Army who would not swear allegiance to the Protectorate, a proposition supported by Whalley and Goffe. At last it was resolved to separate the command of the Army from the civil power; a resolution afterwards presented to His Highness, who forwarded it to the House of Commons. Such discussions only served to widen the breach between the House and the Army, in the end diminishing the influence of the former, and leaving it in a position of weakness, so as to compel its submission to the assumption of the latter. The resolution sent to the Protector, and by him forwarded to the Commons, tended to throw the greatest influence into the hands of the officers, and to promote Desborough's Republican views.
Petitions from the Army followed these proceedings, the soldiers saying, "Because our consciences bear us witness that we dipped our hands in blood in that cause; and the blood of many thousands hath been shed by our immediate hands under your command in that quarrel, we are amazed to think of the account that we must render at the great and terrible day of the Lord, if by your silence the freedom of these nations should be lost, and returned into the hands of that family, which God hath so eminently appeared against in His many signal providences little less than miracles."[19]
1659.
The Commons, although weak, assumed the semblance of strength, and upon the 18th of April resolved that no Council of Officers should be held without permission of the Protector and the Parliament; and that no one should have command in the Army or Navy who did not engage to leave the two Houses uninterrupted in their deliberations. The Protector, still more feeble than Parliament, proceeded to dissolve the Council; the officers asserted their authority by continuing to meet for conference.
As it was in the father's days so it was in the son's: when argument failed violence took its place. Violence, like that which had been employed by Oliver against the Parliament, was now threatened against Richard by the Army. The officers, clutching at their old weapons, seeing how things were likely to proceed, fearing the Presbyterian ascendancy, and the destruction of their liberties, determined to put an end to the sitting of the two Houses; and told His Highness that if he did not dismiss them he might expect to be dismissed himself. Richard was no soldier, and had not, like Oliver, secured the attachment of the military, so that resistance by him to martial chiefs could avail nothing. He, therefore, allowed the Parliament to be dissolved by Commission, upon the 22nd of April. After this act had been accomplished, not without opposition from some members, the party in power summoned to the resumption of their trust, such of the Long Parliament as had continued to sit until the year 1653. They amounted in number to ninety-one; out of these forty-two obeyed the new order, and took their places on the 7th of May. Fourteen of the old Presbyterians, including Prynne,[20] who had sat in St. Stephen's before Pride's purge, were refused admittance.
INTERREGNUM.
Upon the 13th of May the heads of the Army presented a petition, in which they proposed to men whom they addressed as rulers, but who were in fact servants, that religious liberty should, as in the days of Oliver, continue to be conceded to all orthodox believers (Papists and Prelatists being distinctly excepted); that a godly ministry should be everywhere maintained; and that the universities and schools of learning should be countenanced and reformed.[21] Gleams of Presbyterian influence disappeared; the broad ecclesiastical policy of Oliver again resumed the ascendant.
A new Council of State was formed, and the names of Vane and Haselrig once more prominently appeared, together with those of Whitelock and Fleetwood—the one a legal cipher, the other a military tool.
1659.
Fleetwood occupied Wallingford House, which stood on the site of the present Admiralty, the birthplace of the second Duke of Buckingham, and the residence of the infamous Countess of Essex. Here it was, from the roof of the mansion, then occupied by the Earl of Peterborough, that Archbishop Ussher had swooned at the sight of Charles' execution; and here Fleetwood, who from his connection with the Cromwells on the one side, and with the Army on the other, now possessed more power than any other person, gathered together his brother officers for conference. Fleetwood was a pious and respectable Independent,[22] a sincere patriot, a Republican only in a qualified sense, willing to concede to a Protector large administrative authority. He was not without ambition, although he had prudence enough to curb it; yet neither by gifts of nature, force of character, or study and experience, was he a man fitted to deal with existing emergencies. He had no original genius, being born to follow, not to lead. He helped to pull down the Protectorate, and to dethrone his brother-in-law, but he had no gift for building up any better order of things. He could aid the destructive movements of Vane and Haselrig; but he had no more of the faculty of constructiveness than had they.
INTERREGNUM.
John Howe, who, in the month of May, was residing at Whitehall after an absence of some months, saw and lamented the condition of affairs. The "army-men," he says, under pretence of zeal for the interests of religious liberty were seeking their own ends, and were for that purpose drawing to themselves "wild-headed persons of all sorts." "Such persons," he adds, "as are now at the head of affairs will blast religion, if God prevent not." "I know some leading men are not Christians. Religion is lost out of England, farther than as it can creep into corners. Those in power, who are friends to it, will no more suspect these persons than their ownselves."[23] These are not the words of a party man; and they show that whatever might be the piety of Fleetwood, and the purity of Vane, there were persons of a different character who employed them as tools for selfish ends. In the same letter, Howe speaks in favourable terms of Richard, whom he must have known well. The disinterestedness, and even patriotism of the Protector appeared in his resignation of power. "He resolved to venture upon it himself, rather than suffer it to be taken with more hazard to the country by others," and he awakens our sympathy by his own truthful words, that "he was betrayed by those whom he most trusted." He quitted Whitehall, with trunks full of addresses, which contained, as he humorously remarked, "the lives and fortunes of all the good people of England." More at home in the hunting-field than in the cabinet—he, after residing abroad for a time, spent the rest of his days in his native land as a country gentleman; and died at Cheshunt, July the 12th, 1712, saying to his daughter, "Live in love; I am going to the God of love."[24] He lies buried in Hursley Church, where he regularly worshipped during his residence in the parish. Within the same walls, by a coincidence which will be often noticed in future days, there now repose the remains of a holy man and a great poet, whose sympathies never seem to have reached the fallen Protector during a ministry, in that place, of thirty years.[25]
The power of the Cromwell family came to an end upon the dissolution of Richard's Parliament, except that Fleetwood was acknowledged by the Army as Lieutenant-general. Lord Falconbridge, and also the Lords Broghill and Howard retired into the country; and, as the Protectorate had vanished, they prepared to welcome the restoration of Monarchy.
1659.
Leaving Whitehall we return to Wallingford House. Fleetwood, being an Independent, civil affairs being entangled with such as were ecclesiastical, and the interests of religion being so completely involved in the political changes of the day—a fact which justifies so much being said about them in an Ecclesiastical History—he and Desborough, who sympathized with him, invited to their councils Dr. Owen, the Independent, and Dr. Manton, the Presbyterian. A story is told of the former, to the effect, that, at Wallingford House, he had prayed for the downfall of Richard, so as to be heard by Manton, who stood outside the door. It is further stated that Owen had gathered a Church there; and that in one of its assemblies a determination had been formed to compel Richard to dissolve his Parliament.[26] The Independent Divine denied that he had anything to do with the setting up, or the pulling down of Richard; and it has been also denied that he gathered a Church in Wallingford House. Whatever might be the extent of Owen's political interference at that crisis, and whether or not he gathered a Church there, certainly at the time one existed upon the spot. The Records of the Congregational Church at Yarmouth indicate that a religious society assembled at Fleetwood's residence, and carried on correspondence with other similar bodies.[27] These records shed light upon a critical and dubious juncture in our history.
INTERREGNUM.—INDEPENDENTS.
A meeting was held at Norwich, and another in London, respecting which Dr. Owen wrote to Mr. Bridge. The resolutions at which the Yarmouth Church arrived, as they were probably drawn up by the eminent minister, who presided over that community, may be regarded as expressing the opinions of a wider circle than the provincial society which adopted them.
First—"We judge a Parliament to be the expedient for the preservation of the peace of these nations; and withal we do desire that all due care be taken that the Parliament be such as may preserve the interest of Christ and His people in these nations." Secondly—"As touching the magistrate's power in matters of faith and worship we have declared our judgment in our late Confession[28] (by the Savoy Conference); and though we greatly prize our Christian liberties, yet we profess our utter dislike and abhorrence of a universal toleration as being contrary to the mind of God in His word." Thirdly—"We judge that the taking away of tithes for maintenance of ministers until as full a maintenance be equally secured, and as legally settled, tend very much to the destruction of the ministry and the preaching of the Gospel in these nations." Fourthly—"It is our desire that countenance be not given, nor trust reposed in the hands of Quakers, they being persons of such principles as are destructive to the Gospel, and inconsistent with the peace of civil societies."[29]
1659.
Into a miserable state must England have drifted when a congregation of Independents, no doubt containing many worthy people, but certainly not fitted to act as a Council of State, came to be consulted upon the most important public questions, and to give their opinion after this fashion.
What the opinions of Dr. Owen were upon two of the points mooted in these resolutions we learn from a short paper which he wrote at this time, and which is preserved in his collected works. There are three questions, and he gives three answers. The first two relate to the power of the supreme magistrate touching religion and the worship of God. Notwithstanding the haste with which the replies were furnished, they must be considered as expressing the writer's mature judgment, for the interrogatories embody the most pressing questions of the times. To the first query, whether the supreme magistrate in a Commonwealth professing the religion of Christ, may exert his legislative and executive power for furthering the profession of the faith and worship, and whether he ought to coerce or restrain such principles and practices as were contrary to them, Owen replied distinctly in the affirmative. He supported his affirmation by arguments drawn from the law and the light of nature; from the government of nations; from God's revealed institutions; from the examples of God's magistrates; "from the promises of Gospel times;" "from the equity of Gospel rules;" from the confession of all Protestant Churches; and particularly from the Savoy declaration. Owen was asked, secondly, whether the supreme magistrate might "by laws and penalties compel any one who holds the Head Christ Jesus to subscribe to that confession of faith, and attend to that way of worship which he esteems incumbent on him to promote and further." Restricting attention to those described as "holding the Head," the Independent Divine remarks, that though it cannot be proved that the magistrate is divinely authorized to take away the lives of men for their disbelief, "yet it doth not seem to be the duty of any, professing obedience to Jesus Christ, to make any stated legal unalterable provision for their immunity who renounce Him." He decides also that opinions of public scandal ought to be restrained, and not suffered to be divulged, either by open speech or by the press. Subsequently, after premising (to use his own words) that "the measure of doctrinal holding the Head, consists in some few clear fundamental propositions," and that men are apt to run to extremes, he finally concludes upon giving a negative answer to their second question. As to the third, "whether it be convenient that the present way of the maintenance of ministers or preachers of the Gospel be removed and taken away, or changed into some other provision;" Owen vindicates the claim of the ministry to temporal support, and places the payment of tithes upon a Divine basis. He declares that to take away "the public maintenance" would be "a contempt of the care and faithfulness of God towards His Church, and, in plain terms, downright robbery."[30]
INTERREGNUM.—BAPTISTS.
A Church book of the period has thus afforded an insight into certain political relations sustained by Independents in the year 1659. A celebrated historian may next be quoted, in reference to alleged proceedings of a very different nature on the part of Baptists. Clarendon relates a strange story of overtures made to Charles before the death of Cromwell by persons of that denomination. He gives a copy of an address to His Majesty, as Charles is styled, signed by ten such persons, in which address occur violent lamentations over the troubles of the times. Attached to it are proposals "in order to an happy, speedy, and well-grounded peace." The document contains a prayer, that no anti-Christian Hierarchy, Episcopal, Presbyterian, or otherwise, should be created, and that every one should be left at liberty to worship God in such a way and manner as might appear to them to be agreeable to the mind and will of Christ.[31]
1659.
According to Clarendon—the only authority upon which we have to depend in reference to the subject—a curious letter accompanied the address and the proposals; in which letter the correspondent alludes to a "worthy gentleman" by whose hands it was conveyed, and who being acquainted with the circumstances, would fully explain the case and answer objections. He refers to the subscribers as "young proselytes" to the Royal cause, as needing to be driven "lento pede," as being neither of great families or great estates, but as capable of being more serviceable to His Majesty than some whose names would "swell much bigger than theirs."[32]
There is no sufficient reason for pronouncing the story an invention, or the documents forgeries; at any rate it appears as if Clarendon believed in them; yet on the other hand, there is not the slightest evidence that any of the leaders of the Baptist body ever concurred in any such movement—the names appended to the address are unknown—and no reference to the affair, that I am aware of, was ever made after the Restoration, either by Baptists or any other party. On the whole it is not unlikely that some few people, calling themselves Baptists, disliking Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate, and differing from those ministers of their denomination who held parish livings, might have engaged in a correspondence with a view to the restoration of Monarchy under certain conditions—especially that of unfettered toleration. No practical result followed these reported overtures.[33]
INTERREGNUM—PRESBYTERIANS.
The Presbyterians had, for the most part, after the death of Charles I., preserved a sentiment of loyalty towards the House of Stuart; and now that Richard had fallen, they were eager for the restoration of Monarchy in the person of the exiled prince. Presbyterian clergymen animated and controlled this new movement, of which the extensive ramifications spread themselves abroad in secrecy and caution. Only in Cheshire did any military demonstration occur. There, in the month of August, under Sir George Booth, a popular Presbyterian of the county, numbers of persons appeared in arms; yet, although the object evidently was to place Prince Charles on the throne of his fathers, the leaders professed nothing more than a desire to secure the assembling of a free Parliament. The Presbyterians rejected the aid of the Roman Catholics, and but warily accepted the advances of a Presbyterian knight, Sir Thomas Middleton, because he was known to be a Royalist.[34]
1659.
The rising proved unfortunate. After being hopefully prosecuted a little while, it then appeared that the Republicans under Lambert were too strong for these Northern insurgents. The former scoured the country. Their shots in some places disturbed the Presbyterian communicants at the Lord's Supper; their advances in the neighbourhood of Manchester filled that town with alarm. Houses were emptied of their valuables by the people who were anxious to hide them from the enemy.[35] Booth was obliged to flee; and to provide against detection he assumed a female disguise, and rode on a pillion, but his awkwardness in alighting from his horse betrayed him; and Middleton, after a brief resistance within the walls of Chirk Castle, capitulated to the foe.
Fleetwood now seemed the chief man in England; and to him certain Republicans, who had been desired, or as they interpreted it, commanded to retire from the Council of Officers, turned as to their last hope, asking him in a "humble representation" full of religious sentiment, "to remove the present force upon the Parliament, that it might sit in safety without interruption."[36] Other persons of more consequence, including Haselrig, followed up the appeal in a rather different strain, but with the same object, and charged Fleetwood with destroying Parliamentary authority, after the example of his father-in-law.[37] Sir Ashley Cooper subsequently wrote to him in like manner, protesting against "red-coats and muskets" as a "non obstante" to national laws and public privileges.[38]
INTERREGNUM—EPISCOPALIANS.
Amidst the confusion of the period hope dawned upon the persecuted Episcopalians.
Whether or not influenced by the death of Cromwell, and the foresight of coming changes favourable to his own Church, Henry Thorndike, the able Episcopalian scholar and divine, published in 1659 what he called An Epilogue to the Tragedy of the Church of England; a book which, an admiring critic says, proved to be in spirit a prologue to the renewed life of a Church more vigorous than ever! The aim of the work is to promote the welfare of the Episcopal Church of England, not by any compromise, but by endeavouring to persuade all to unite together on her behalf. Looking at the claims of the Romish Church to immediate inspiration (placed no matter where), and to the equally groundless and more arrogant claims of the fanatics—as Thorndike terms them—to individual inspiration, he urges that each party should be brought to admit themselves limited to the sense of Scripture as expounded by the primitive laws and faith of the Church. Thus, he says, the ground of their errors is cut away. With this imaginary solution of the difficulty, which begs the question, this calculation upon what is impossible, and this triumphant assurance of a conclusion based on premises, which neither Papist nor Puritan would admit—the high, but honest Churchman, shows how much he sympathized with the one and how little with the other.
1659.
He expressly avows his approval of prayers for the dead, of the invocation of the Spirit on the elements of the Eucharist, and of the practice of penance; whilst he contends for Episcopacy in the Anglican sense, and wishes to see Presbyters restored to their ancient position of a council to be consulted by the bishop. Thorndike's notion was, in prospect of its restoration, to reform his own Church, by bringing it back to what he considered primitive usage. Those who most condemn some of the views which he advocated will be constrained, on reading his life and works, to acknowledge the guileless simplicity of his character, as apparent in this very publication at such a crisis. He says himself—"That I should publish the result of my thoughts to the world may seem to fall under the historian's censure. 'Frustra autem niti, neque aliud se fatigando, nisi odium quærere, extremæ dementiæ est.'" He adds, "If I be like a man with an arrow in his thigh, or like a woman ready to bring forth,—that is, as Ecclesiasticus saith, like a fool that cannot hold what is in his heart—I am in this, I hope, no fool of Solomon's, but with St. Paul, 'a fool for Christ's sake.'"[39]
INTERREGNUM—EPISCOPALIANS.
This straightforward course annoyed those who were seeking to restore the Church in a different way. "Pray tell me what melancholy hath possessed poor Mr. Thorndike? And what do our friends think of his book? And is it possible that he would publish it, without ever imparting it, or communicating with them?" Such questions were asked by Sir Edward Hyde, who wondered that Thorndike should publish his "doubts to the world in a time when he might reasonably believe the worst use would be made, and the greatest scandal proceed from them."[40] Hyde's own method of proceeding at this juncture appears in his correspondence with Dr. Barwick. He did not trouble himself, like Thorndike, with theological questions, or attempt any reformation of the Church which he wished to restore; but he threw himself heartily into efforts for the preservation of the Episcopal order. For the Bishops were dying out, only a few survived; in a short time all would be dead, and then how would the ministerial succession be perpetuated? By repairing to Rome, or by admitting the validity of Presbyterian ordination? As Hyde pondered these queries he rebuked the friends of the Church for their apathy—"The King hath done all that is in his power to do, and if my Lords the Bishops will not do the rest, what can become of the Church? The conspiracies to destroy it are very evident; and, if there can be no combination to preserve it, it must expire. I do assure you, the names of all the Bishops who are alive and their several ages are as well known at Rome as in England; and both the Papist and the Presbyterian value themselves very much upon computing in how few years the Church of England must expire."[41] While the Prelates generally came in for his censure, Wren, Bishop of Ely, and Duppa, Bishop of Salisbury, were exceptionally noticed as active and earnest—the most lukewarm being Brownrigg, Bishop of Exeter, and Skinner, Bishop of Oxford.[42] It was easier, however, for Hyde, on the Continent, to write zealously on this subject than for the Bishops in England, under inimical rulers, and with the fear of penalties before them, to do anything effective for the consecration of successors. Difficulties were felt, both in the wandering Court of Charles and in the troubled homes of ejected Episcopalians. There were no Deans and Chapters to receive the congé d'élire, and to act upon it. Canonical and constitutional law interposed obstacles in the way of consecration. Bramhall thought, that as the King had an absolute power of nomination for Ireland, the best way would be for surviving Bishops to consecrate persons Royally nominated to Irish sees, and then translate them to England. The Bishop of Ely objected to this as practically approving what he considered a defect in the Church of the sister island; and he would rather, he said, see Ireland conformed to England, than England to Ireland. His own plan, in which Dr. Cosin concurred, was much the same as one which Barwick proposed—i.e., that the King should grant a Commission to the Bishops of each province, to elect and consecrate fit persons for vacant sees, and ratify and confirm the process afterwards.[43] To this Hyde agreed, and wrote for the form of such a Commission as the Bishops might judge proper. No further steps appear to have been taken in that direction.
1659.
Hyde counselled as much privacy as possible in measures for the preservation of the Episcopal order; and in all affairs relating to the Church he recommended the utmost prudence and moderation: at a later period, when Monk was preparing for Charles' return, Hyde complained of the "unskilful passion and distemper" of some Divines. The King, he added, was really troubled, and "extremely apprehensive of inconvenience and mischief to the Church and himself." Still later, he advised that endeavours should be made to win over those who had reputation, and desired to merit well of the Church—and that there should be no compliance "with the pride and passion of those who propose extravagant things."[44]
As correspondence passed between Hyde and Barwick many Episcopalians in England gave themselves to fasting and prayer. Evelyn writes in his diary on the 21st of October: "A private fast was kept by the Church of England Protestants in town, to beg of God the removal of His judgments, with devout prayers for His mercy to our calamitous Church." Other entries appear, of the same kind. The ruling politicians in England, out of all sympathy with the exiles, were, nevertheless, promoting their interests by divisions at home.[45]
INTERREGNUM—EPISCOPALIANS.
Money-matters, out of which broods of quarrels are always being hatched, caused what remained of the Long Parliament to be very unpopular; and the upshot is seen in the dissolution by General Lambert, on the 13th of October, of that attenuated but vivacious body, whose continued, or renewed existence, through an age of revolutions, presents such a singular phenomenon.