imparity of paftors fhall not be mentioned in the pulpit under pain of deprivation. This was a vaft advance upon the conftitution of the kirk.

To obtain a fpiritual character fuperior to the order of prefbyters, it was neceffary that the bishops elect fhould be confecrated by fome of the fame order; for this purpose the king fent; for three of them into England, (viz. Mr. Spotfwood, archbifhep of Glasgow, Mr. Lamb, bishop of Brechen, and Mr. Hamilton, bishop of Galloway) and iffued a commission under the great feal to the bifhops of London, Ely, Bath and Wells, and Rochester, requiring them to proceed to the confecration of the abovementioned bishops according to the English ordinal: Andrews, bishop of Ely, was of opinion, that before their confecration they ought to be made priests, because they had not been ordained by a bifhop. This the Scots divines were unwilling to admit, through fear of the confequences among their own countrymen, for what muft they conclude concerning the ministers of Scotland, if their ordination as prefbyters was not valid? Bancroft therefore yielded, that where bishops could not be had, ordination by prefbyters must be valid, otherwise the character of the minifters in most of the reformed churches might be queftioned. Abbot bishop of London,* and others, were of opinion, that there was no neceffity of paffing through the inferior orders of deacon and priest, but that the epifco pal character might be conveyed at once, as appears from the example of St. Ambrofe, Nectarius, Eucherius, and others, who from mere lay-men were advanced at once into the epifcopal chair. But whether this fuppofition does not rather weaken the arguments for bifhops being a distinct order from prefbyters, I leave with the reader. However, the Scotch divines were confecrated in the chapel at Londonhoufe, [October 21, 1610] and upon their return into Scotland conveyed their new character in the fame manner to their brethren. Thus, the king, by an ufurped fupremacy over the kirk of Scotland, and other violent and indirect

* Collier, as Dr. Grey obferves, mentions that as Bancroft's opinion, which Mr. Neal afcribes to bishop Abbot. ED.

+ Collyer's Ecclef. Hift. vol. i. p. 702.

Calderwood, p. 644.

means,

means, fubverted their ecclefiaftical conftitution; and contrary to the genius of the people, and the proteftation of the general affembly, the bishops were made lords of council, lords of parliament, aud lord commiffioners in caufes ecclefiaftical; but with all their high titles they fat uneafy in their chairs, being generally hated both by the minifters and people.

About ten days after this confecration, Dr. Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, departed this life; he was born at Farnworth in Lancashire, 1544, and educated in Jefus college, Cambridge. He was firft chaplain to Cox bishop of Ely, who gave him the rectory of Teverfham near Cambridge. In the year 1585 he proceeded D. D. and being ambitious of preferment, got into the service of Sir Christopher Hatton, by whofe recommendation he was made prebendary of Westminster. Here he fignalized himself by preaching against the puritans; a fure way to preferment in thofe times. He also wrote against their difcipline; and was the firft in the church of England who openly maintained the divine right of the order of bifhops. While he fat in the high commiffion, he diftinguished himself by an uncommon zeal against the non-conformists, for which he was preferred, firft to the bishoprick of London, and upon Whitgift's decease, to the fee of Canterbury; how he behaved in that high station has been fufficiently related. This prelate left behind him no extraordinary character for piety, learning, hofpitality, or any other epifcopal quality. He was of a rough, inflexible temper, yet a tool of the prerogative, and an enemy to the laws and conftitution of his country. Some have represented him as inclined to popery, because he maintained several fecular priests in his own houfe; but this was done, (fay his advocates) to keep up the controverfy between them and the jefuits. Lord Clarendon fays,* "That he understood the church excellently well, that he "had almost rescued it out of the hands of the Calvinian .cc party, and very much fubdued the nnruly spirit of the "non-conformists; and that he countenanced men of learnHis lordship might have added, that he was

"ing."

covetous, paffionate, ill-natured, and a cruel perfecutor of good men; that he laid afide the hofpitality becoming a bishop, and lived without ftate or equipage, which gave occafion to the following fatire upon his death, which happened November 2, 1610, ætatis 66.

Here lies his grace in cold clay clad,

Who died for want of what he had.

:.* Fuller, and after him Dr. Grey and Dr. Warner, vindicate the character of archbishop Bancroft from the charges of cruelty and covetousness; which, when they are examined into," fays Dr. Warner, " appears not 99 On the to deferve thofe opprobrious names in the ftricteft acceptation.' "other hand, the author of the Confeffional calls him, the fiery Bancroft: and Dr. Warner fums up his account of him in a manner not very honourable to his name. "In fhort," fays he, "there have been archbishops who have "been much worse than Bancroft, who by their good-humour and generofity have been more efteemed when living, and more lamented at their "death." Ecclef. Hift. vol. ii. p. 497. ED.

2

ப

CHAP.

CHA P. II.

From the Death of Archbishop BANCROFT to the Death of King JAMES I.

BANCROFT was fucceeded by Dr. GEORGE ABBOT,

bishop of London, a divine of a quite different fpirit from his predeceffor. A found proteftant, a thorough Cal vinist, an avowed enemy to popery, and even fufpected of puritanism, because he relaxed the penal laws, whereby he unravelled all that his predeceffor had been doing for many years; "who, if he had lived a little longer," fays lord Clarendon, "would have fubdued the unruly fpirit of the "non-conformists, and extinguished that fire in England "which had been kindled at Geneva; but Abbot (says his "lordship) confidered the chriftian religion no otherwise "than as it abhorred and reviled popery, and valued those "men most who did that most furioufly. He enquired but "little after the ftrict obfervation of the difcipline of the "church, or conformity to the articles or canons established, "and did not think fo ill of the [prefbyterian] difcipline as "he ought to have done; but if men prudently forbore a "publick reviling at the hierarchy and ecclefiaftical govern"ment, they were fecure from any inquifition from him, "and were equally preferred. His houfe was a fanctuary "to the most eminent of the factious party, and he licensed "their pernicious writings." This is the heavy charge brought by the noble hiftorian against one of the most religious and venerable prelates of his age, and a steady friend of the conftitution in church and ftate. If Abbot's moderate measures had been conftantly pursued, the liberties of England had been secured, popery discountenanced, and the church prevented from running into those exceffes, which first proved its reproach and afterwards its ruin.

The tranflation of the bible now in ufe, was finished this year [1611;] it was undertaken at the request of the puritan divines in the Hampton-court conference; and being the last, it may not be unacceptable to fet before the reader in one view, the various tranflations of the bible into the English language.

The New Teftament was firft tranflated by Dr. Wickliffe out of the vulgar Latin, about the year 1380, and is entitled, The New Teftament, with the leffons taken out of the Old Law, read in churches according to the use of Sarum.

The next tranflation was by William Tyndal, printed at Antwerp 1526, in octavo, without a name, and without either calendar, references in the margin, or table at the end; it was corrected by the author, and printed in the years 1534 and 1536, having paffed through five editions in Holland.

the

In the mean time Tyndal was tranflating feveral books of Old Testament, as the Pentateuch, and the book of Jonas, printed 1531; the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles, and Nehemiah. About the fame time George Joy, fometime fellow of Peter college, Cambridge, tranflated the Pfalter, the prophecy of Jeremiah, and the Song of Mofes, and printed them beyond fea.

In the year 1535, the whole bible was printed the first time in folio, adorned with wooden cuts, and fcripture references; it was done by feveral hands, and dedicated to king Henry VIII. by Miles Coverdale. In the last page it is faid to be printed in the year of our Lord 1535, and finished the fourth day of October. This bible was reprinted in quarto 1550, and again with a new title 1553.

Two years after the bible was reprinted in English, with this title, The Holy Byble, which is all the Holy Scripture, in which are contayned the Olde and Newe Teftament, truelye and purelye tranflated into English by [a fictitious name] THOMAS MATHEW, 1537. It has a calendar with an almanack; and an exhortation to the ftudy of the fcripture, figned J. R. John Rogers; a table of contents and marriages; marginal notes, a prologue; and in the Apocalypfe fome wooden cuts. At the beginning of the prophets are printed on the top of the page R. G. Richard Grafton, and

at