House of Lords Journal Volume 6: 1 December 1643

DIE Veneris, 1 Decembris.

PRAYERS.

Lords present this Day:

Answer from the H. C.

Sir Edward Leech and Dr. Aylett return with this Answer from the House of Commons:

That they do agree in the Alterations made by their Lordships Yesterday, in the Ordinance for setting forth the Ships.

Petition from the Assembly of Divines.

The House was informed, "That some Divines were ready at the Door, to offer something to this House from the Assembly:" Hereupon this House Ordered, That they shall be called in; and Dr. Burges, Mr. Calamy, Mr. Obadiah Sedgwicke, and Mr. Chambers, presented to this House a Petition, which was read, as follows. (Here enter it.)

Answer.

They were called in again; and the Speaker, by Direction of this House, gave the Assembly Thanks for their great Care and Pains that they have taken, for the Reformation of Manners, and Preservation of Learning; and that this House approves of Mr. Wallis, to be Amanuensis and Assistant to both the Scribes in the Assembly; and concerning the rest of the Particulars in the Petition, this House will take the same into Consideration.

Clerk of the Crown to attend the House.

Ordered, That Mr. Willis, Clerk of the Crown of the Chancery, shall give his Personal Attendance on this House on Wednesday next peremptorily.

Gould, to be Treasurer for Money received for Plymouth.

Ordered, That Mr. Nicholas Gould, Merchant in London, is hereby appointed by this House to be Treasurer, for to receive such Monies as shall be received for the Town of Plymouth, according to the Ordinance of Parliament.

Ordered, To send to the House of Commons, to desire their Concurrence herein.

Officers of the Great Seal.

Upon Information to this House, "That there are divers Officers that are to attend the Great Seal of England, which are not in the Gift of the Lord Keeper, therefore the Commissioners do desire the Directions of this House therein:" Hereupon this House Ordered, That the Commissioners of the Great (fn. 1) Seal of England shall present the Names to this House of such Persons as they think fit for such Offices as are attendant to the Great Seal, and are not in the Gift of the Lord Keeper or the Master of the Rolls, that so they may be approved of by this House: And it (fn. 1) is further Ordered, To send to the House of Commons, to desire them to join with this House herein.

Message to the H. C. about them, and for Mr. Gould to be Treasurer for Plymouth.

A Message was sent to the House of Commons, by Sir Edward Leech and Dr. Aylett:

To desire their Concurrence concerning Mr. Gould to be Treasurer for Monies which are collected for Plymouth; and to desire their Concurrence concerning the Commissioners of the Great Seal, to present the Names of such Persons for those Offices about the Great Seal as are not in the Gift of the Lord Keeper.

Petition from the Assembly of Divines, for Reformation of some Abominations, and for an Amanuensis.

"To the Right Honourable the Lords assembled in Parliament.

"The humble Message and Petition of the Assembly of Divines:

"The Assembly of Divines, in all Humility, and in Discharge of their Duty to God and to this Honourable House, do inform your Lordships of the sad Complaints brought unto them from many Godly and Reverend Divines in and about London, touching the daily Increase and Growth of all Manner of outrageous and intolerable Abominations; such as are Drunkenness, Swearing, Uncleanness, and other crying Sins, in very many Places of this Kingdom, for Want of godly and zealous Magistrates to repress the same; which cannot but highly provoke the Lord to more Wrath against this Kingdom, in this Day of His Wrath already broken out upon His People, and render fruitless all your pious Endeavours for Reformation, and the Weal of the Kingdom, unless it be effectually and speedily cured:

"The Assembly, therefore, most humbly prayeth, that, according to your great Wisdom and Zeal for the Public, there may be a speedy Appointing and Settling of some able, godly, prudent Magistrates, that may reside in all Places of the Kingdom where your Wisdoms shall find it necessary, to give a speedy Stop to those high Provocations of Almighty God, and the most dangerous Supplanters of all our Hopes of Good from the Parliament or the Assembly.

"Moreover, the Assembly having received a Paper, in the Behalf of some godly and hopeful Students of the University of Oxford, with Request to recommend it to the Honourable Houses of Parliament, the Assembly in all humble Wise presenteth the same unto this most Honourable House, conceiving it worthy of your noble Thoughts and Favour; yet, not presuming to interpose their own Sense therein (albeit they apprehend it to be a Business of extraordinary Consequence, for which much might be said), they lay all at your Lordships Feet.

"Lastly, the Assembly having divers weighty Businesses imposed on them by One or both of the Honourable Houses of Parliament, which do occasion extraordinary Labour to the Scribes, and lay upon them more Work than they are able to dispatch, the Assembly prayeth that the Honourable Houses of Parliament would please to add Mr. John Wallis, a godly and judicious young Man, to be an Amanuensis and Assistant to the Scribes, both in the Assembly and elsewhere, in this Public Service.

"All which the Assembly most humbly submitteth to the Wisdom and Pleasure of your Lordships; incessantly importuning the Throne of Grace to pour down richly and daily the choicest of His Graces upon your Honours, and to follow all your noble Endeavours with a Blessing to the King's Majesty, the Church, Kingdom, and yourselves.

Paper communicated by them, to establish a College in London, for the Benefit of those who driven from their Studies at Oxford.

"Whereas divers Fellows of Colleges, and others who have taken Degrees at Oxford, upon the coming of His Majesty's Forces, have been constrained to forsake that University, and thereby are deprived of the Benefit of their Fellowships, and other Ways of Subsistence which there they enjoyed; and whereas divers younger Students have, by reason of the unsettled Condition of that Place, been withdrawn thence, and live destitute of those Helps in their Studies which there they enjoyed; and whereas divers others fit for the University, who cannot comfortably reside at Oxford, neither in regard of the great Distance of their Habitations from the University of Cambridge can conveniently be sent thither, nor, in the Midst of these Distractions which now threaten that University also, can easily stay there, do either betake themselves to other Ways of Employment, or else unprofitably waste and consume their Time; all which do import a Decay of Learning for the present, and presage a great Ruin of it in the next Age: May it therefore (amongst other weighty Affairs, with so much Piety and Prudence undertaken for the happy Settlement of a glorious Reformed Kingdom) be thought (fn. 2) seasonable to provide for the godly and scholastic Education of these younger Students, who, of their own Ingenuity, seconded with their Parents Care, desire to make a further Progress in all University Learning, that so there may be a continued Succession and Supply of deserving Members serviceable both in Church and State, that the Ignorance of the next Generation may not testify the Neglect of this, and that the unjust Aspersion of the Contempt of Learning in our Reformers may be wiped away.

"For which End, you may be pleased to accept of this humble Motion, That a Society, consisting of Twelve Graduate Scholars or more, may be constituted in a Collegiate Way, for the better Training-up of Youth; that there being a convenient House, either in or near unto this famous City, together with competent Maintenance out of the sequestered Revenues belonging to that University assigned; these, elected and established by Authority, may studiously accord together, under a sage and religious Governor, enjoying all other necessary and Collegiate Accommodations; that those who shall be instituted by them may, from their several Admissions thither, reckon their Time for the taking of their Degrees, whensoever (through the Mercy of God) they shall with Freedom repair to either of the Universities."

Adjourn.

House adjourned till 10 ^a cras.