MEMOIR OF KICHAED SIBBES, D.D. Ixxiii
Popish and Arminian books were allowed, while Calvinistic books were restrained, notwithstanding that there was no law in England to prevent the printing of any books, but only a decree in Star- Chamber.' And then on one occasion the whole House stood up together, and vowed a vow against ' innovations in the faith.' The issue of that, passed with closed doors, and with clenching of teeth and gripping of sword-hilts, none will soon forget. We have to do with only one of the three ' Resolutions : — ' Whoever shall bring in innovation of religion, or by favour or countenance seem to extend Popery or Arminianism, or other opinion disagreeing from the true and orthodox church, shall be reputed a capital enemy to this kingdom and commonwealth.' *
After these things it is remarkable that the king, a man without mind, and Laud, a man without either mind or heart, should at all have adventured to go against the mind and heart of England. But so it was. There was of necessity greater secrecy, very much of covert plotting against the liberties, civil and religious, of England. The 'feoffees' at last, borne with involuntarily from 1626, were summoned before the Star Chamber and High Commission both. And that was but the execution of Laud's cherished purpose from the beginning. For in that strangest of strange 'Diaries,' the oddest combination, that ever has been written, of piety and gro- velling superstition, of faith and the most babyish credulity, (for Pepys' is wisdom itself in comparison f), we light upon this entry : —
' Things which I have projected to do, if God hless me in them — ' III. To overthrow the feoffment, dangerous hoth to Church and State, going under the specious pretence of buying in impropriations.'
Opposite these words, a few oiit of many equally deplorable, that a little onward came to be to their writer terrible as the mystic ' handwriting ' of Babylon's palace-wall, is inscribed ' DONE.' And it was done — for the moment ; but it was a tremendous success to its doer. If only Nemesis had been touched with ruth to blot out the handwriting ! But no ! There the entry stood, when per- haps not altogether lawfully or honourably, at least not courteously, the diary was seized : —
* Consult for the facts introduced Masson's Life of Milton, i. 181, 329, seq. ; Car- lyle's ' Cromwell ; ' John Forster's ' Statesmen of the Commonwealth,' and others of his historical works ahout this period.
t Pepys. I do not know if his prescient entry in favour of the Puritans has been remarked. Having witnessed Ben Jonson's ' Bartholomew Fair,' he jots down, ' And is an excellent play ; the more I see it the more 1 love the wit of it ; only the business of abusing the Puritans begins to grow stale, and of no use, thei/ being the people thai at last will be found the wisest.' See Index of any edition of ' Diary ' under ' Bartholomew Fair.'
Ixxiv MEMOIR OF KICHAED SIBBES, D.D.
'Feb. 13. 1632.
' Wednesday. — The feoffes that pretended to buy in impropriations were dissolved in the Chequer Chamber. They ivere the main instruments for tl^ Puritan faction to undo the Church. The criminal part reserved.'*
Reserved ! Ay, and transferred !
Those who had engaged in the impropriation scheme, including Sibbes, having been thus summoned before the Star-Chamber, were dealt with, not as honourable and good men, but as ' crimi- nals and traitors.' The verdict was — CONFISCATION of the funds and BANISHMENT of the men !
Some fled to Holland, some to New England.f Had the nation's
* Laud's ' Works,' vol. iii. p. 216, 217.
t Of the ' fugitives' associated with Sibbes in the ' feoflfees' scheme, the most eminent was John Davenport, In Anderson's Life of Lady Mary Vere, in ' Memor- able Women of Puritan Times,' some very touching letters of his are given from the Brit. Museum MSS. (Birch 4275, No. 69). Two extracts will shew the anxiety in which these godly men were kept, and at the same time shew how far they were from wishing to be ' schismatics,' or in any way to injure the church. First of all, while he and Sibbes and others were under the ban of the ' High Commission' as mentioned above, he writes, ' I have had divers purposes of writing to your honour, only I de- layed in hope to write somewhat concerning the event and success of our High Com- mission troubles ; but I have hoped in vain, for to this day we are in the same condition as before, delayed till the finishing of the session in Paliament, which now is unhappily concluded without any satisfying contentment to the king or commonwealth. Threatenings were speedily revived against us by the new Bishop of London, Dr Laud, even the next day after the conclusion of the session. We now expect a fierce storm from the enraged spirits of the two bishops ; ours, as I am informed, hath a particular aim at me upon a former quarrel, so that I expect ere long to be deprived of my pastoral charge in Coleman Street. But I am in God's hand, not in theirs, to whose good pleasure I do contentedly and cheerfully submit myself.'