Chap. VI. The HISTORY of the PURITANS. 637 K. Charles I. 1640. CANON XVII. AgainJt vexatious citations. " No citation into any ecclefiaftical court (hall be ifTued out but un- " der the hand and feat ofone of the judges of thofe courts, and within " thirty days after committing the crime ; and unlefs the party be con- " vifted by two witneffes, he shall beallowed to purge himfelf by oath, " without paying any fee ; provided that this canon extend not to any o grievous crime, as %háfm, incontinence, máfbehaviour in the church in " timeof divineservice, obflinate inconformity, or the like." When thefe canons were made public, they were generally difliked Theyare un- several pamphlets were printed againft them, and difperfed among the peo- tcheep,lergy. ro- ple, asEngland's complaint to Jefus Chr again/t the bitops canons ; where- in the nakedneds of them is expofed in a folemn application to 7efus Chri/I as the Saviour ofhis church. Queries relating to thefeveral articles and de- terminations of the late(nod, &c. All who loved the old englifh confitu- tion were dißatisfied with the first canon, becaufe it declares for the ab- folutepower of kings, andfor the unlawfulnef ofde, fenftve arms onany pre- tence whatfoever. The puritans difapproved the fifth fixth feventh and eighth èanöns; but the whole bodyof the clergy were nearly concerned in the fixth, being obliged by the fecond of November to take the oath therein mentioned, on pain of fufpenfion and deprivation. The London . clergy, among whom were Dr. WeJfield, Downham, Borges; Mr. Cala my, Jackson, 5(obn Goodwin, Offspring, and others, drew up, a petition againft it to the privy-council ; and to give it the more weight procured a great many hands. The minifters, school-maffers, and phyficians in Kent, Devonshire, Dorftfhire, NorthamptonJhire, and, in more counties of England, took the fame method ; fome objeéting to the oath as con- trary to the oath of fupremacy ; fome complaining of the ET CÆTERA. in the middle. Others objected to the power of the fynod to impose an oath, and many confcffed, that they weed fome things in the discipline oof the church might bealtered, and therefore could not fwear never to attempt it in a proper'way. Some of the bithops endeavoured to fatisfy their clot- O gy by giving the molt favourable interpretation to the oath, Bishop Hall told them that it meant rio more than this, " That I do fo far approve of Nalfon, the difcipline and dottrine of this church, as that I do believe there is 11 496,49a; " nothing in any other pretended difcipline or doftrine neceffary to falva- " Lion, befides that which is contained in the doftrine anddifcipline of the church of England. And as I doallow the government-by archbishops,. " bithops, deans, archdeacons, fo I will not upon the fuggeftion of any. " fac-
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