CENSORSHIP: TIGHTENING REGULATIONS

ALTHOUGH the conditions for preaching and publishing sermons in the early 1620s did not mark a sharp break with the early part of James's reign, some principles governing allowable pulpit speech can be extrapolated. These principles do not amount to a clearly defined code; however, they suggest that sermons could be examined for both doctrinal and political lapses: exceeding the boundaries of orthodox divinity on the one hand, or meddling with matters of state on the other. Reported cases also suggest that definitions of both kinds of lapse were unstable. Edmond Peacham's case indicates that it was perilous even to possess questionable manuscripts. Peacham's examination and trial for treason engaged some of the best legal minds of the day, demonstrating that regulating words was an important issue for James's administration, even when those words did not enter the public sphere via the pulpit. Peacham never delivered the offending sermon, but in his papers he commented directly upon James, criticizing his prodigality, the misconduct of his officials, and his refusal to subject the ecclesiastical to the temporal courts. The sermon suggested that the king might be smitten with sudden death (after the examples of Ananias and Nabal), or that the people might rise in rebellion. Under examination, Peacham justified his words by authority of his vocation, but James had other ideas.