[221] Giustiniano, 11 Gennaio: ‘Vivamente s’impiega per divertire la riuscita di cosi ardito disegno, che colpisce nel piu vivo la di lui sovranita reale.’
[222] Baillie i. 305: ‘The first motion of it was bitterlie rejected by the King; yet the Marqueis by his wisdome brought him unto it.’
CHAPTER III.
PROGRESS OF AGGRESSIVE TENDENCIES IN THE LOWER HOUSE.
Debates on Episcopacy.
Attempts have been made to separate the good which the Long Parliament did from the errors of which it was guilty. The former is seen in the abolition of the excesses of the royal prerogative, the latter in its vehement prosecution of its opponents and the attack made on the constitution of the Church. From the point of view rendered possible by later events such a separation has its truth: but historically it cannot be made as regards either time or intention: the good was inextricably mingled with the evil. If we consider the close connexion between English and Scottish affairs, the importance of Church matters in Scotland, and the preponderance which the same views had obtained in England among those who were at the head of affairs or were active in lower spheres, we shall see that, when once the united oppositions of the two countries had won a common victory, nothing else was to be expected but that the acts hostile to Episcopacy in Scotland would be repeated in England. When the Scottish deputies came to London they expected to find friends, but they found something more: they were themselves amazed at the deference and admiration lavished on them and their country. On the first fast-day appointed by Parliament all the pulpits rang with praises of the Scots, who had been set apart by God to put an end to idolatry and tyranny in the English Church. The language of many English preachers seemed to the Scottish deputies A.D. 1641 very extraordinary[223]: they scorned Episcopacy and the Liturgy, and called for a Covenant. It was probably Pym through whom a new and increased influence was opened to public opinion, by the introduction and authorisation of the practice of popular petitions to Parliament. One of the first petitions for which this right was used was also one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching that ever was presented: it was directed against the continuance of Episcopacy in England. It dwelt chiefly on the late violent measures of the bishops, by which so many good and true subjects were driven into exile for conscience’ sake; on the number of books that had been forbidden in which true religion was taught, while many others were published by their authority in which doctrines tending to Popery were inculcated; on the fact that every argument on which the bench of bishops depended was equally valid in favour of the Papacy; on the desire of all Papists for the maintenance of their power. The conclusion was thence drawn that the order of bishops and prelates must be destroyed totally, as the phrase went, ‘root and branch.’ The petition was supported by fifteen thousand signatures. Alderman Pennington said, that if a show of hands might be taken as a sufficient sign of assent, they might reckon fifteen times fifteen thousand supporters for it.
Now however arose a difficulty peculiar to England. In Scotland the power of the Presbyterian Church had repressed every movement which went beyond Presbyterianism: the abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland was exclusively its work. In England Presbyterianism was neither established nor yet the only prevalent creed among the enemies of Episcopacy. Many other separatist sects had sprung up in mysterious darkness, and, as soon as Laud’s hand was withdrawn, suddenly emerged into daylight—Brownists, Independents, Formalists, Adamites, Anabaptists, all sorts of names, differing in most respects, but all agreed in one, that the union of ecclesiastical and political power, as it had hitherto existed in England, must come to an end. In the signatures to the petition these sects had as great a share as the Presbyterians.
A.D. 1641
It was never for a moment lost sight of that there existed between them and the Presbyterians a deeply-rooted difference of opinion. Lords Say and Brooke, and some conspicuous members of the Lower House who belonged to the one party, agreed with the leaders of the other to make common cause against the common enemy, to work together for the overthrow of the episcopal establishment, so as first to clear the ground, and then to see about erecting a new edifice[224]. It was understood that when it came to setting up a Presbyterian establishment, toleration was to be granted to the separatists[225]. As two powers which are making joint preparations for war are wont to agree beforehand on the arrangements that are to be made after the victory, so these two religious parties came to an agreement on the relations which were to subsist between them after the fall of their common enemy. They already contemplated a great Church conference which should then be held.
United they had the multitude entirely on their side. Those who had been persecuted or exiled by Laud were conducted back into the city with endless rejoicings. Bastwick was met by a thousand horsemen: wherever he passed he was greeted by triumphant trumpet-blasts. His return was a victory over the hated power of the bishops and the spiritual courts, which men now hoped to destroy for ever.
This scheme, regarded from the historical point of view, appears totally subversive of both Church and State in England. For there was this difference between England and the other Protestant countries, that she alone retained Episcopacy with its claims to apostolic succession. A movement in the episcopal order had, as we have shown, if not actually A.D. 1641 caused the Reformation, at any rate effectually promoted it. Consequently England had remained much nearer not merely to the ecclesiastical institutions, but also to the general conditions of the middle ages, than the other Protestant countries. In them the change was made in open war with the prelates: in Germany, through an alliance of the lower clergy with the territorial authorities, which were invested with power enough for the purpose throughout the empire; in Switzerland by the independent action of the people at large: this in Scotland had gone so far as to frame a new ecclesiastical establishment. Just as the Stuart kings, in attempting to reduce the Scottish Church under the dominion of bishops, were running counter to its historical principles, so the attempt to destroy Episcopacy in England was an attack on the recognised foundations of the Anglican Church. There might be more justification for those who were induced by political considerations to attempt to set aside the bishops: for in England as elsewhere the alliance of Episcopacy with the crown had undoubtedly gone too far in the way of strengthening the royal authority: but when it came to overthrowing and annihilating Episcopacy altogether, or even to destroying its hold on the constitution and the country, the very bases of English society were assailed. Pym certainly thought that, since Parliament had formerly demolished monastic institutions, it was within its authority to treat Episcopacy in the same fashion. The objection was that the dissolution of the monasteries had not destroyed one of the chief branches of the legislative authority, and that the prelates at the time of the Reformation had co-operated heartily with Parliament, and though once in danger had been saved by the fact of their intimate connexion with the entire constitution of the country. Obviously this would be materially affected by their removal, and the preponderance of the Lower House finally secured, for what opposition could the Upper House without the bishops offer to its measures?