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6. The Fast Sermons of the Long Parliament
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6 The Fast Sermons of the Long Parliament ‘‘It was an observation of that time,’’ wrote Clarendon of the Puritan Revolution, ‘‘that the first publishing of extraordinary news was from the pulpit; and by the preacher’s text, and his manner of discourse upon it, the auditors might judge, and commonly foresaw, what was like to be next done in the Parliament or Council of State.’’1 Clarendon himself took a great interest in the techniques both of parliamentary management and of political preaching. He had himself, in the first eighteen months of the Long Parliament, ample opportunities of watching the ‘‘tuning of the pulpits’’ by Pym; and indeed, I shall suggest, his first tactical defeat by Pym may have been in one such matter . Though some of his particular illustrations are incorrect, his general statement is, I believe, true. In this essay I wish to show how the leaders of the Long Parliament, while there was effective leadership, used the pulpit both for strategic and for tactical purposes: both to declare long-term aims and to inaugurate temporary shifts of policy; and I shall do so particularly with reference to those sermons over which the parliamentary leaders had direct control, the regular ‘‘fast sermons’’ which were preached before Parliament on the last Wednesday of every month from 1642 to 1649. General fasts, with appropriate sermons, were, of course, nothing new in 1640. Great occasions had always called them forth. There had been a general fast on the approach of the Armada in 1588, a weekly 1. Edward, Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Rebellion, ed. W. D. Macray (Oxford, 1888), , 194. 273 274 fast in 1603 until the plague was over, and another general fast for the great plague of 1625. More recently, fasts had also been held at the beginning of Parliament. There was always something a little distasteful to the Crown about such proposals: they emphasized the gravity of affairs and implied that Parliament, with God’s support, provided the means of solution. Consequently Queen Elizabeth never allowed them. In 1580, when the House of Commons suggested a public fast for the preservation of the queen’s life and the better direction of the actions of the House, she was furious. The proposal was very modest, and the House proposed to leave the choice of preacher entirely to the Privy Councillors in the House ‘‘to the end they might be such as would keep convenient proportion of time and meddle with no matter of innovation or unquietness.’’ Even so, the queen expressed her great misliking and astonishment at such rashness and made the House eat the humblest of humble pie. That done, she graciously allowed that their rash, unadvised, and inconsiderate error had proceeded from zeal, not malicious intent, and forgave them provided that they never misbehaved in that sort again.2 They did not; and it was not till the last Parliament of James I that a more formidable House of Commons revived the proposal. On 23 February 1624 Sir Edward Cecil moved that there be a general fast, with a collection for the poor, as in Holland. The House was to choose the preachers. But of course the king must give the authority: Parliament could only prescribe for itself. So the Commons conferred with the Lords and together they moved the king. James I agreed, saying that he would consult the bishops as to the best time. After that the practice became regular. There were general fasts, proclaimed by the king on the motion of both Houses, at the beginning of each of the first four parliaments of Charles I.3 Apart from fasts, or ‘‘days of public humiliation’’ in times of crisis, there were also special sermons on certain anniversaries and on days of thanksgiving for great victories or deliveries. The accession-day of the reigning monarch was one such anniversary; another was 5 November, the day of the Gunpowder Plot; a third, which rose in popularity as the Stuarts fell, was 17 November, the accession-day of Queen Elizabeth. 2. Some early fast-days are mentioned in a later fast sermon by William Gouge, The Right Way . . . (1648). See also Commons’ Journals (hereafter referred to as C.J.), , 118 ff. 3. C.J., , 671, 715, 869, 873–74, 922–26. [18.227.114.125] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 22:59 GMT) 275 This was an unofficial day of thanksgiving, on which the Stuart kings, not unnaturally, tended to frown.4...