PETITION IN FAVOUR OF EPISCOPACY, 1641 [LANCASHIRE]

Contemporary Unsigned Copy of the Petition of the Nobility Knights Gentry Ministers & Freeholders of the County of Lancaster shewing that "whereas divers papers usurping the names of our county [as] petitioner[s], have been obtruded upon this honourable house", the Commons of the Long Parliament, "to the great scandal of religion, & prejudice of our country, some whereof we have found to be groundless invectives, against Episcopy, barely founded upon indiscretion & ignorance" the petitioners, "aiming chiefly at the glory of God, & salvation of our souls, humbly crave leave, to vindicate our county, from such aspersions", stating that "the office & calling of Bishops, a name we shall here rather, pray for than dispute ... founded in the first Christian churches, confirmed in the blood of Martyrs, & maintained in the purest time of the gospel, we apprehend to be of greater weight than to be libelled, & scandaled, by such factious persons, as have either ignorance, or prejudice, for their best counsellors";
and "praying that personal crimes may not be imputed to religious orders, nor that errors in private governors, may be a breach in public government".
But "when the person of any Bishop by his life or doctrine, hath dishonoured God ... or defamed his calling, may his fault be punished with such severity, as in your justice, and wisdom, shall be thought fit".
They suggest that "were the Antipetitioners throughly examined, they would be found partial prejudicate men, rash inconsiderate men, unable & unqualified men, men of thin and cheap abilities, such as know no government, or scorn all", and "ready to add new firebrands to set the whole church of God in combustion".
Their "last petition" is that "superstition & popery may be banished ... their liberties abridged, their patrons punished, & their power shortened, according to the laws in that case provided", praying "for your happy progress, in reforming the distempers of church and state", 1 side folio bearing watermark G DVRAND below a shield topped with a fleur-de-lys, short title on conjugate leaf with year date, no place, (Transcription of 55798, by lines)
The humble petition of the Nobility Knights
Gentry Ministers & Freeholders of the
County of Lancaster
Humbly sheweth, that whereas divers papers usurping the names
of our county [as] petitioner[s], have been obtruded upon this honourable house, to
the great scandal of religion, & prejudice of our country, some
whereof we have found to be groundless invectives, against
Episcopy, barely founded upon indiscretion & ignorance: we
whose names are subscribed, aiming chiefly at the glory of
God, & salvation of our souls, humbly crave leave, to vindicate
our county, from such aspersions, as these inconsiderate petitioners
may bring upon it.
The office & calling of Bishops, a name
we shall here rather, pray for than dispute, so pious in it
self, so reverend in its progress, so useful in ecclesiastical
government, founded in the first Christian churches, confirmed
in the blood of Martyrs, & maintained in the purest time of
the gospel, we apprehend to be of greater weight than to be
libelled, & scandaled, by such factious persons, as have either
ignorance, or prejudice, for their best counsellors; we
therefore beseech you to take into your considerations this
great & weighty function, praying that personal crimes may
not be imputed to religious orders, nor that errors in private
governors, may be a breach in public government.
When the person of any Bishop by his life or doctrine, hath dishonoured
God, profaned his religion, or defamed his calling, may his
fault be punished with such severity, as in your justice, and
wisdom, shall be thought fit, so that this sacred function may
be still maintained in all pristine purity, as is already
established, by the laws of the land.
Withal we crave
leave to certify, that were the Antipetitioners throughly exa-
mined, they would be found partial prejudicate men, rash in-
considerate men, unable & unqualified me, men of thin and
cheap abilities, such as know no government, or scorn all,
whereby this will be ready to add new firebrands to set the whole
church of God in combustion.
To this we add our last petition, that
superstition & popery may be banished, from amongst us, their
liberties abridged, their patrons punished, & their power
shortened, according to the laws in that case provided. This[,] Right
Honourable [House,] in a just care of the peace of the church, and the satisfaction
of our gracious sovereign, we beg from this grave assembly,
herein submitting ourselves, to your wise consideration, praying
as in all duty bound, for your happy progress, in reforming
the distempers of church and state.

The meeting of the Long Parliament on 3rd November 1640 released a flood of petitions against practices that had flourished during Charles I's 'Personal rule', 1629-1640. Puritans singled out the Archbishops and Bishops and their Courts, especially the High Commission, as the fount of all their miseries. On 11th December 1640, 15,000 Londoners signed a petition asking that the office of Bishop be abolished "roots and branches".
But their opponents, as here, saw value in the institution, as of divine or at least of Apostolic origin, or as having a pastoral role towards the clergy of their diocese. Others preferred to leave the Office alone but to correct the errors of its holders. Others again wished to confine their courts to spiritual matters.
The present document supporting Episcopacy is in line with the sympathies of Sir Thomas Aston, of Cheshire, who loved the Prayer Book and the Elizabethan settlement of the 'middle way'. In 1642 he published a collection of petitions from a good many counties from December 1640 onwards - this is not among them.
With such a range of opinion, the Commons were slow to act other than against a few individuals - Archbishop Laud was charged with High Treason on 18th December 1640. In February 1641 the Commons referred the issue to a Committee. A 'Root and Branch' bill, drawn up by Oliver St John and introduced in May by Henry Vane the younger and Oliver Cromwell, was rejected in August 1641. The corresponding Ordinance abolishing Bishops in England and Wales was made only in 1646.
Provenance: From a small group of papers, 1640-1641, one marked "brought these papers from Woodhey 1741". Woodhey Hall, near Nantwich, was in 1741 among the Cheshire properties of Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart. His grandmother Grace was the daughter of Sir Thomas Wilbraham, (1630-1692, 3rd and last Baronet of Woodhey). Sir Thomas, a Royalist, in 1651 married heiress Elizabeth Mytton (1632-1705, the architect). Elizabeth was also stepdaughter to Sir William Brereton (1604-1661), who had led the campign in Cheshire to abolish bishops.

Item Date:  1641

Stock No:  55798      £1275

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