CHAUNCEY. 453 " Whereas I, Charles Chauncey, clerk, late vicar of 44 Ware, in the county of Hertford, stand, by sentence of " this honourable court, legally convicted for opposing the "setting of a rail about the communion table in the chancel " of the parish church of Ware, with a bench thereunto " affixed, for the communicants to ' resort unto, and to receive the blessed sacrament there, kneeling upon their "knees, saying it was an innovation, a snare to men's con- " sciences and a breach of the second commandment, an " addition to the Lord's worship, and that which bath " drivenme out of the town. I, the said Charles Chauncey, " do here, before this honourable court, acknowledge my " great offence in using the said invective words, and am " heartily sorry for them. I protest, and am ready to " declareby virtue of mine oath, that I now hold, and am 5' persuaded in my conscience, that kneeling at the receiving " of the holy communion is a lawful and commendable "gesture; and that a rail set up in the chancel of any " church by the authority of the ordinary, with a bench " thereunto affixed for the communicants to repair unto, to 4' receive the holy communion kneeling, is a decent and convenient ornament for that purpose, and this court conceiveth, that the rail set up lately in the parish church " of Ware, with the bench affixed, is such a one. And I " do further confess, that I was much to blame for opposing the same, and do promise, from henceforth, never, by " word or deed, to oppose either that or any other the IC laudable rites and ceremonies prescribed and commanded " to be used in the church of England. ' CHARLES CHAVNCEY.". This submission is said to have been forced from Mr. Chauncey, and designed only to deter others from opposing the archbishop's innovations. After he had made this dis- graceful recantation in the open court, the archbishop judicially admonished him " to carry himself peaceably and conformably to the doctrine, the discipline, and rites and ceremonies of the church of England ; and that, in case he should be brought before them again for any similar This prosecution was procured chiefly by the tyrannical power and influence of Laud ; and when Dr. Merrick, counsel to Mr. Chauncey, endeavoured to vindicate his client, because the setting up of the rail was done by a few parishioners, and without any warrant from those in autho. rity, the archbishop, in a rage, threatened to suspend the doctor from his practice, for pleading thus in his favour.-Prynne's Cant. Doome, F. 93, 95, 96.-Rushworth's Collect. vol. ii. p. 316. 144 VEVANC
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