be found in the Collection In end Sentence was given allowing the second Marriage in that Case and by consequence confirming the Marquess of Northampton's Marriage to his second Wife who upon that was suffered to cohabit with him Yet four years after he was advised to have a special Act of Parliament for confirming this Sentence of which mention shall be made in its due time and Place Some further advance in the Reformation The next thing that came under consideration was the great contradiction that was in most of the Sermons over England Some were very earnest to justifie and maintain all the old Rites that yet remained and others were no less hot to have them laid aside So that in London especially the People were wonderfully distracted by this variety among their Teachers The Ceremonies of Candlemass and their observance of Lent with the Rites used on Palm-Sunday Good-Friday and Easter were now approaching Those that were against them condemned them as superstitious Additions to the Worship of God invented in the dark Ages when an outward Pageantry had been the chief thing that was looked after But others set out the good use that might be made of these things and taught that till they were abolished by the Kings Authority they ought to be still observed In a Visitation that had been made when I cannot learn only it seems to have been about the end of King Henry's Reign it had been declared that Fasting in Lent was only a Positive Law Several Directions were also given about the use of the Ceremonies and some hints as if they were not to be long continued and all Wakes and Plough-Mondays were suppressed since they drew great Assemblies of People together which ended in drinking and quarrelling These I have also inserted in the Collection Number 21. having had a Copy of the Articles left at the Visitation of the Deanry of Doncaster communicated to me by the favour of a most learned Physitian and curious Antiquary Dr. Nathaniel Johnston who sent me this with several other Papers out of his generous zeal for contributing every thing in his power to the perfecting of this Work The Country People generally loved all these Shews Processions and Assemblies as things of diversion and judged it a dull business only to come to Church for Divine Worship and the hearing of Sermons therefore they were much delighted with the gayity and cheerfulness of those Rites But others observing that they kept up all these things just as the Heathens did their Plays and Festivities for their Gods judged them contrary to the gravity and simplicity of the Christian Religion and therefore were earnest to have them removed This was so effectually represented to the Council by Cranmer that an Order was sent to him about it He sent it to Bonner who being Dean of the Colledge of Bishops in the Province of Canterbury was to transmit all such Orders over the whole Province By it the carrying of Candles on Candlemass day of Ashes on Ash-Wednesday and Palms on Palm-Sunday were forbid to be used any longer And this was signified by Bonner to Thirleby Bishop of Westminster on the 28th of June as appears by the Register After this on the 6th of February A Proclamation against those who Innovated without Authority a Proclamation was issued out against such as should on the other hand rashly innovate or perswade the People from the old accustomed Rites under the Pains of Imprisonment and other Punishments at the Kings pleasure excepting only the formerly mentioned Rites to which are added the creeping to the Cross on Good-Friday taking Holy Bread and Water and any other that should be afterwards at any time certified by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to the other Bishops in the Kings Name to be laid aside And for preventing the mischiefs occasioned by rash Preachers none were to preach without Licence from the King or his Visitors the Arch-bishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of the Diocess where they lived excepting only Incumbents preaching in their own Parishes Those who preached otherwise were to be imprisoned till Order were given for their punishment and the inferior Magistrates were required to see to the execution of these Orders This Proclamation which is in the Collection Number 22. was necessary for giving Authority to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Letters which were censured as a great presumption for him without any publick Order to appoint changes in Sacred Rites Some observed that the Council went on making Proclamations with arbitrary Punishments though the Act was repealed that had formerly given so great Authority to them To this it was answered That the King by his Supremacy might still in matters of Religion make new Orders and add Punishments upon the Transgressors yet this was much questioned though universally submitted to The general taking away of all Images Number 23. On the 11th of Feb. there was a Letter sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop for a more considerable Change There were every where great Heats about the removing of Images which had been abused to superstition Some affirming and others denying that their Images had been so abused There were in the Churches some Images of so strange a nature that it could not be denied that they had been abused Such was the Image of the Blessed Trinity which was to be censed on the day of the Innocents Processionale in Festo Innocentium by him that was made the Bishop of the Children This shews it was used on other days in which it is like it was censed by the Bishop where he was present How this Image was made can only be gathered from the Prints that were of it at that time In which the Father is represented sitting on the one hand as an old Man with a Triple Crown and Rayes about him the Son on the other hand as a young Man with a Crown and Rayes and the Blessed Virgin between them and the Emblem of the Holy Ghost a Dove spread over her Head So it is represented in a fair Book of the Hours according to the use of Sarum printed Anno 1526. The impiety of this did raise horror in most Mens Minds when that unconceivable Mystery was so grosly expressed Besides the taking the Virgin into it was done in pursuance to what had been said by some blasphemous Friars of her being assumed into the Trinity In another Edition of these it is represented by three Faces formed in one Head These things had not been set up by any publick Warrant but having been so long in practice they stood upon the general Plea that was for keeping the Traditions of the Church for it was said that the Promises made to the Church were the same in all Ages and that therefore every Age of the Church had an equal Right to them But for the other Images it was urged against them that they had been all consecrated with such Rites and Prayers that it was certain
and indeed all England over the Book was so universally received that the Visitors did return no complaint from any corner of the whole Kingdom All received the new Service except the Lady Mary Only the Lady Mary continued to have Mass said in her House of which the Council being advertised writ to her to conform her self to the Laws and not to cast a reproach on the Kings Government for the nearer she was to him in Blood she was to give the better example to others and her disobedience might encourage others to follow her in that contempt of the Kings Authority So they desired her to send to them her Comptroller and Dr. Hopton her Chaplain by whom she should be more fully advertised of the King and Councils Pleasure Upon this she sent one to the Emperor to interpose for her that she might not be forced to any thing against her Conscience At this time there was a Complaint made at the Emperours Court The Ambassador at the Emperors Court not suffered to use it of the English Ambassador Sir Philip Hobby for using the new Common-Prayer-Book there To which he answered He was to be obedient to the Laws of his own Prince and Country and as the Emperors Ambassador had Mass at his Chappel at London without disturbance though it was contrary to the Law of England so he had the same reason to expect the like liberty But the Emperor espousing the Interest of the Lady Mary both Paget who was sent over Ambassador Extraordinary to him upon his coming into Flanders and Hobby promised in the Kings Name that he should dispense with her for some time as they afterwards declared upon their Honours when the thing was further questioned though the Emperor and his Ministers pretended that without any Qualification it was promised that she should enjoy the free exercise of her Religion The Emperor was now grown so high with his success in Germany A Treaty of Marriage for the Lady Mary and that at a time when a War was coming on with France that it was not thought advisable to give him any offence There was likewise a Proposition sent over by him to the Protector and Council Cotton lib. Galba B. 12. for the Lady Mary to be married to Alphonso Brother to the King of Portugal The Council entertained it and though the late King had left his Daughters but 10000 l. a-piece yet they offered to give with her 100000 Crowns in Money and 20000 Crowns worth of Jewels The Infant of Portugal was about her own Age and offered 20000 Crowns Jointure But this Proposition fell on what hand I do not know She writ to the Council concerning the new Service The Lady Mary writ on the 22d of June to the Council that she could not obey their late Laws and that she did not esteem them Laws as made when the King was not of Age and contrary to those made by her Father which they were all bound by Oath to maintain She excused the not sending her Comptroller Mr. Arundel and her Priest the one did all her business so that she could not well be without him the other was then so ill that he could not travel Upon this the Council sent a peremptory Command to these requiring them to come up and receive their Orders The Lady Mary wrote a second Letter to them on the 27th of June in which she expostulated the matter with the Council She said She was subject to none of them and would obey none of the Laws they made but protested great Obedience and Subjection to the King When her Officers came to Court they were commanded to declare to the Lady Mary that though the King was young in Person yet his Authority was now as great as ever that those who have his Authority and act in his Name are to be obeyed and though they as single Persons were her humble Servants yet when they met in Council they acted in the Kings Name Who required her to obey as other Subjects did and so were to be considered by all the Kings Subjects as if they were the King himself they had indeed sworn to obey the late Kings Laws but that could bind them no longer than they were in force and being now repealed they were no more Laws other Laws being made in their room There was no exception in the Laws all the Kings Subjects were included in them and for a Reformation of Religion made when a King was under Age one of the most perfect that was recorded in Scripture was so carried on when Josiah was much younger than their King was therefore they gave them in charge to perswade her Grace for that was her Title to be a good example of obedience and not to encourage peevish and obstinate Persons by her stiffness But this Business was for some time laid aside And now the Reformation was to be carried on to the establishing of a Form of Doctrine which should contain the chief Points of Religion In order to which there was this Year great enquiry made into many particular Opinions The manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament examined and chiefly concerning the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament There was no Opinion for which the Priests contended more ignorantly and eagerly and that the People generally believed more blindly and firmly as if a strong Belief were nothing else but winking very hard The Priests because they accounted it the chief support now left of their falling Dominion which being kept up might in time retrieve all the rest For while it was believed that their Character qualified them for so strange and mighty a Performance they must needs be held in great reverence The People because they thought they received the very Flesh of Christ and so notwithstanding our Saviours express Declaration to the contrary that the Flesh profiteth nothing looked on those who went about to perswade them otherwise as Men that intended to rob them of the greatest Priviledge they had And therefore it was thought necessary to open this fully before there should be any change made in the Doctrine of the Church The Lutherans seemed to agree with that which had been the Doctrine of the Greek Church that in the Sacrament there was both the Substance of Bread and Wine and Christs Body likewise Only many of them defended it by an Opinion that was thought a-kin to the Eutychian Heresie that his humane Nature by vertue of the union of the God-head was every where though even in this way it did not appear that there was any special Presence in the Sacrament more than in other things Those of Switzerland had on the other hand taught that the Sacrament was only an Institution to commemorate the Sufferings of Christ This because it was intelligible was thought by many too low and mean a thing and not equal to the high expressions that are in the Scripture of its being the Communion of the Body
War for the preservation of the Protestant Religion and recovering the liberty of Germany The Ambassadors were only sent to try the Kings mind but were not empow'red to conclude any thing They were sent back with a good Answer That the King would most willingly joyn in alliance with them that were of the same Religion with himself but he desired that the matter of Religion might be plainly set down lest under the pretence of that War should be made for other Quarrels He desired them also to communicate their designs with the other Princes and then to send over others more fully empow'red Maurice seeing such Assistances ready for him resolved both to break the Emperors designs and by leading on a new League against him to make himself more acceptable to the Empire and thereby to secure the Electoral Dignity in his Family So after Magdeburg had endured a long Siege he giving a secret intimation to some Men in whom they confided perswaded them about the end of November to surrender to him and then broke up his Army but they fell into the Dominions of several of the Popish Princes and put them under very heavy Contributions This alarumed all the Empire only the Emperor himself by a fatal security did not apprehend it till it came so near him that he was almost ruined before he dreamed of any danger This Year the Transactions of Trent were remarkable Proceedings at Trent The Pope had called the Council to meet there and the first of May this year there was a Session held There was a War now broken out between the Pope and the King of France on this occasion The Pope had a mind to have Parma in his own Hands but that Prince fearing that he would keep it as the Emperor did Placentia and so he should be ruined between them implored the Protection of France and received a French Garrison for his safety Upon this the Pope cited him to Rome declaring him a Traitor if he appeared not and this engaged the Pope in a War with France At first he sent a threatning Message to that King that if he would not restore Parma to him he would take France from him Upon this the King of France protested against the Council of Trent and threatned that he would call a National Council in France The Council was adjourned to the 10th of September In the mean while the Emperor pressed the Germans to go to it So Maurice and the other Princes of the Ausburg Confession ordered their Divines to consider of the matters which they would propose to the Council The Electors of Mentz and Trier went to Trent But the King of France sent the Abbot of Bellosana thither to make a protestation that by reason of the War that the Pope had raised he could not send his Bishops to the Council and that therefore he would not observe their Decrees for they had declared in France that absent Churches were not bound to obey the Decrees of a Council for which many Authorities were cited from the Primitive time But at Trent they proceeded for all this and appointed the Articles about the Eucharist to be first examined and the Presidents recommended to the Divines to handle them according to Scripture Tradition and Ancient Authors and to avoid unprofitable curiosities The Italian Divines did not like this For they said to argue so was but an Act of the memory and was an old and insufficient way and would give great advantage to the Lutherans who were skilled in the Tongues but the School-Learning was a mystical and sublime way in which it was easier to set off or conceal matters as was expedient But this was done to please the Germans And at the sute of the Emperor the matter of Communicating in both kinds was postponed till the German Divines could be heard A safe Conduct was desired by the Germans not only from the Emperor but from the Council For at Constance John Huss and Jerome of Prague were burnt upon this pretence that they had not the Councils safe conduct and therefore when the Council of Basil called for the Bohemians they sent them a safe Conduct besides that which the Emperor gave them So the Princes desired one in the same Form that was granted by those of Basil One was granted by the Council which in many things differed from that of Basil particularly in one Clause that all things should be determined according to the Scriptures which was in that safe Conduct of Basil but was now left out In October an Ambassador from the Elector of Brandenburg came to Trent who was endeavouring to get his Son setled in the Arch-bishoprick of Magdeburg which made him more compliant In his first Address to the Council he spake of the respect his Master had to the Fathers in it without a word of submitting to their Decrees But in the Answer that was made in the Name of the Council it was said they were glad he did submit to them and would obey their Decrees This being afterwards complained of it was said that they answered him according to what he should have said and not according to what he had said But in the mean while the Council published their Decrees about the Eucharist in the first part of which they defined that the way of the Presence could hardly be expressed and yet they called Transubstantiation a fit term for it But this might be well enough defended since that was a thing as hard to be either expressed or understood as any thing they could have thought on They went on next to examine Confession and Penitence And now as the Divines handled the matter they found the gathering Proofs out of Scripture grew endless and trifling for there was not a place in Scripture where I confess was to be found but they drew it in to prove Auricular Confession From that they went on to Extream Unction But then came the Ambassadors of the Duke of Wittenberg another Prince of the Ausburg Confession and shewed their Mandate to the Emperors Ambassadors who desired them to carry it to the Presidents but they refused to do that since it was contrary to the Protestation which the Princes of their Confession had made against a Council in which the Pope should preside On the 25th of November they published the Decree of the necessity of Auricular Confession that so the Priest might thereby know how to proportion the Penance to the sin It was much censured to see it defined that Christ had instituted Confession to a Priest and not shew'd where or how it was instituted And the reason for it about the proportioning the Penance was laughed at since it was known what slight Penances were universally injoyned to expiate the greatest sins But the Ambassadors of Wirtenberg moving that they might have a safe Conduct for their Divines to come and propose their Doctrine The Legate answered that they would not upon any terms enter into any Disputation with
him he was now in the 16th Year of his Age. But if all Princes should be thus judged by all Instructions that pass under their Hands they would be more severely censured than there is cause And for the particular matter that is charged on the Memory of this young Prince which as it was represented to him was only a calling for the superfluous Plate and other Goods that lay in Churches more for pomp than for use though the applying of it to common uses except upon extream necessities is not a thing that can be justified yet it deserved not so severe a censure especially the Instructions being Signed by the King in his sickness in which it is not likely that he minded Affairs of that kind much but set his Hand easily to such Papers as the Council prepared for him These Instructions were directed in the Copy that I have perused Instructions for the President of the North. to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord President of the North upon which occasion I shall here make mention of that which I know not certainly in what Year to place namely the Instructions that were given to that Earl when he was made President of the North. And I mention them the rather because there have been since that time some Contests about that Office and the Court belonging to it There was by his Instructions a Council to be assistant to him whereof some of the Members were at large and not bound to attendance others were not to leave him without licence from him and he was in all things to have a negative Voice in it For the other Particulars I refer the Reader to the Copy which he will find in the Collection Collection Number 56. One Instruction among them belongs to Religion that he and the other Councellors when there was at any time Assemblies of People before them should perswade them to be obedient chiefly to the Laws about Religion and especially concerning the Service set forth in their own Mother-Tongue There was also a particular charge given them concerning the abolished Power of the Bishop of Rome whose abuses they were by continual inculcation so to beat into the minds of the People that they might well apprehend them and might see that those things were said to them from their Hearts and not from their Tongues only for Forms sake They were also to satisfie them about the abrogation of many Holy-days appointed by the same Bishop who endeavoured to perswade the World that he could make Saints at his pleasure which by leading the People to idleness gave occasion to many vices and inconveniences These Instructions were given after the Peace was made with Scotland otherwise there must have been a great deal in them relating to that War but the Critical time of them I do not know This Year Harly was made Bishop of Hereford instead of Skip who died the last Year And he being the last of those who were made so by Letters Patents The Form of the Bishops Letters Patents I shall give the Reader some satisfaction concerning that way of making Bishops The Patents began with the mention of the vacancy of the See by death or removal upon which the King being informed of the good qualifications of such a one appoints him to be Bishop during his natural Life or so long as he shall behave himself well giving him power to ordain and deprive Ministers to confer Benefices judge about Wills name Officials and Commissaries exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction visit the Clergy inflict Censures and punish scandalous Persons and to do all the other parts of the Episcopal Function that were found by the Word of God to be committed to Bishops all which they were to execute and do in the Kings Name and Authority After that in the same Patent follows the restitution of the Temporalties The day after a Certificate in a Writ called a Significavit was to be made of this under the Great Seal to the Arch-bishop with a Charge to consecrate him The first that had his Bishoprick by the Kings Patents was Barlow that was removed from St. Davids to Bath and Wells They bear date the third of February in the second Year of the Kings Reign and so Ferrar Bishop of St. Davids was not the first as some have imagined for he was made Bishop the first of August that Year This Ferrar was a rash indiscreet Man and drew upon himself the dislike of the Prebendaries of St. Davids He was made Bishop upon the Duke of Somersets favour to him But last Year many Articles were objected to him some as if he had incurred a Praemunire for acting in his Courts not in the Kings but his own Name and some for neglecting his Charge and some little indecencies were objected to him as going strangely habited travelling on foot whistling impertinently with many other things which if true shewed in him much weakness and folly The heaviest Articles he denied yet he was kept in Prison and Commissioners were sent into Wales to examine Witnesses who took many Depositions against him He lay in Prison till Queen Maries time and then he was kept in on the account of his Belief But his suffering afterwards for his Conscience when Morgan who had been his chief Accuser before on those other Articles being then made his Judge condemned him for Heresie and made room for himself to be Bishop by burning him did much turn Peoples Censures from him upon his Successor By these Letters Patents it is clear that the Episcopal Function was acknowledged to be of Divine appointment and that the Person was no other way named by the King than as Lay-Patrons present to Livings only the Bishop was legally authorized in such a part of the Kings Dominions to execute that Function which was to be derived to him by Imposition of Hands Therefore here was no pretence for denying that such Persons were true Bishops and for saying as some have done that they were not from Christ but from the King Upon this occasion it will not be improper to represent to the Reader how this matter stands according to Law at this day which is the more necessary because some superficial Writers have either mis-understood or mis-represented it The Act that authorized those Letters Patents and required the Bishops to hold their Courts in the Kings Name was repealed both by the 1 Mar. Chap. 2. and 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary Chap. 8. The latter of these that repealed only a part of it was repealed by the 1 Eliz. Chap. 1. and the former by the 1 Jac. Chap. 25. So some have argued that since those Statutes which repealed this Act of Edward the 6th 1. Par. Chap. 2. are since repealed that it stands now in full force This seems to have some colour in it and so it was brought in question in Parliament in the fourth year of King James and great debate being made about it the King appointed the two Chief Justices
any Pardon or restitution in Blood he was still Duke of Norfolk This he had never mentioned all the last Reign lest that should have procured an Act to confirm his Attainder So he came now in upon his former Right by which all the Grants that had been given of his Estate were to be declared void by Common Law The Duke of Northumberland with the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Warwick were brought to their Trials The Duke desired two Points might be first answered by the Judges in matter of Law The one Whether a Man acting by the Authority of the Great Seal and the Order of the Privy Council could become thereby guilty of Treason The other was Whether those who had been equally guilty with him and by whose Direction and Commands he had acted could sit his Judges To these the Judges made answer That the Great Seal of one that was not lawful Queen could give no Authority nor Indempnity to those that acted on such a Warrant and that any Peer that was not by an Attainder upon Record convicted of such accession to his Crime might sit his Judg and was not to be challenged upon a Surmise or Report So these Points by which only he could hope to have defended himself And condemned being thus determined against him he confessed he was guilty and submitted to the Queen's Mercy So did the Marquess of Northampton and the Duke's Son the Earl of Warwick who it seems by this Trial had a Writ for sitting in the House of Peers they were all three found guilty Judgment also passed next day in a Jury of Commoners against St. John Gates and his Brother Sir Humphrey Sir Andrew Dudley and Sir Thomas Palmer confessing their Indictments But of all these it was resolved that only the Duke of Northumberlrnd and Sir John Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer should be made Examples Heath Bishop of Worcester was employed to instruct the Duke and to prepare him for his Death At his Death he professes he had been always a Papist Whether he had been always in heart what he then professed or whether he only pretended it hoping that it might procure him favour is variously reported but certain it is that he said he had been always a Catholick in his Heart yet this could not save him He was known to be a Man of that temper so given both to revenge and dissimulation that his Enemies saw it was necessary to put him out of the way lest if he had lived he might have insinuated himself into the Queen's favour and then turn'd the danger upon them So the Earl of Arundel now made Lord Steward of the Houshold with others easily obtained that his Head should be cut off together with Sir John Gates's and Sir Thomas Palmers On the 22d of August he was carried to the Place of Execution On the way there was some expostulation between Gates and him They as is ordinary for Complices in ill Actions laying the blame of their Miseries on one another Yet they professed they did mutually forgive and so died in Charity together It is said that he made a long Speech accusing his former ill Life and confessing his Treasons But that part of it which concerned Religion is only preseved In it he exhorted the People to stand to the Religion of their Ancestors and to reject that of latter date which had occasioned all the misery of the foregoing thirty Years and desired as they would prevent the like for the future that they would drive out of the Nation these Trumpets of Sedition the new Preachers that for himself what-ever he had otherwise pretended he believed no other Religion than that of his fore-fathers in which he appealed to his Ghostly Father the Bishop of Worcester then present with him but being blinded with Ambition he had made wreck of his Conscience by temporising for which he professed himself sincerely penitent So did he and the other two end their days Palmer was little pittied as being believed a treacherous Conspirator against his former Master and Friend the Duke of Somerset His Character Thus died the ambitious Duke of Northumberland He had been in the former parts of his Life a great Captain and had the reputation of a wise Man He was generally successful and they that are so are always esteemed wise He was an extraordinary Man in a lower size but had forgot himself much when he was raised higher in which his Mind seemed more exalted than his Fortunes But as he was transported by his Rage and Revenge out of measure so he was as servile and mean in his Submissions Fox it seems was informed that he had hopes given him of his Life if he should declare himself to be of the Popish Religion even though his Head were laid on the Block but which way soever he made that Declaration either to get his Life by it or that he had really been always what he now professed it argued that he regarded Religion very little either in his Life or at his Death But whether he did any thing to hasten the late King's Death I do not find it was at all enquired after Only those who considered how much Guilt disorders all People and that they have a black Cloud over their Minds which appears either in the violence of Rage or the abjectness of Fear did find so great a change in his deportment in these last Passages of his Life from what was in the former parts of it that they could not but think there was some extraordinary thing within him from whence it flowed King Edwards Funeral And for King Edward's Death those who had Affairs now in their Hands were so little careful of his Memory and indeed so glad of his Death that it is no wonder they made little search about it It is rather strange that they allowed him such Funeral Rites For the Queen kept a solemn Exequie with all the other Remembrances of the Dead and Masses for him used in the Roman Church at the Tower on the 8th of August the same day that he was buried at Westminster the Lord Treasurer who was the Marquess of Winchester still continued in that Trust the Earls of Shrewsbury and Pembrook being the principal Mourners Day that was now to be restored to his See of Chichester was appointed to preach the Funeral Sermon In which he commended and excused the King but loaded his Government severely and extolled the Queen much under vvhom he promised the People happy days It was intended that all the Burial Rites should have been according to the old Forms that were before the Reformation But Cranmer opposed this vigorously and insisted upon it That as the King himself had been a zealous promoter of that Reformation so the English Service was then established by Law upon this he stoutly hindred any other way of officiating and himself performed all the Offices of the Burial to which he joined the solemnity
King Henry's time and quitted his Bishoprick on the account of the six Articles but in the end of that Reign recanted and was now Bishop Suffragan of Ely condemned them It is enough to have named all these who were burnt meerly by the Proceedings Ex Officio for being forced either to accuse themselves or to die however they chose rather plainly to answer those Articles that were ministred to them and so were condemned for their Answers Ridley and Latimer burnt at Oxford But on the 16th of October Ridley and Latimer offered up their lives at Oxford on which it may be expected I should enlarge a little The Bishops of Lincoln Glocester and Bristol were sent to Oxford by a special Commission from the Cardinal to proceed against them As soon as Ridley heard they proceeded in the name of the Pope by authority from the Cardinal he put on his Cap having stood bare headed before that because he would express no sign of Reverence to those who acted by such a Commission He said he paied great respect to the Cardinal as descended from the Royal Family and a man endued with such Learning and Vertue that therefore he honoured and reverenced him but for his Legatine Authority from the Bishop of Rome he utterly renounced it and therefore would shew no Reverence to that Character and so puting off his Cap as he spoke of him on other respects he put it on again when he named his being Legat and being required to put it off refused to do it on that account but one of the Beadles did it for him After that the Bishop of Lincoln made him a long exhortation to recant and acknowledge the See of Rome since Christ had built his Church on St. Peter and the Fathers had all acknowledged the preheminence of that See and himself had been once of that opinion To which he answered it was upon the Faith which St. Peter confessed that Christ had founded his Church he acknowledged the Bishops of Rome had been held in great esteem both for the dignity of the City and the worthiness of the Bishops that had sate in it but they were only esteemed Patriarchs of the West and the Church had not then thought of that Power to which they had since advanced themselves he confessed he was once of their mind but it was as St. Paul had been a Persecutor he had seen since such spots in the Church of Rome that he could never return to it Upon this followed much discourse In conclusion they objected to him some Articles about those Opinions which he had maintained a year and an half before that in the Schools and required him to make his answers to them He began with a Protestation that by answering them he did not acknowledg the Popes Authority and then answered them as he had done before Latimer used the like protestation and answers So they were allowed one nights respite to consider better whether they would recant or not but next day they appearing and adhering to the Answers they had made were declared obstinate Hereticks and ordered to be degraded and so delivered over to the Secular Power After that new attemps were made on Ridley to perswade him to accept of the Queens Mercy but all being to no purpose the Writ was sent down to burn them The night before the Execution Ridley was very joyful and invited the Mayor and his Wife in whose House he was kept to be at his Wedding next day at which when the Mayor's Wife wept he said he perceived she did not love him but he told her tho his breakfast would be sharp he was sure his Supper would be sweet he was glad to hear that his Sister would come and see him die and was in such composure of mind that they were all amazed at it Next morning being the 16th they were led out to the place of Execution which was before Baliol College they looked up to the Prison to have seen Cranmer but he was then engaged in Dispute with some Friars so that he was not in his Window but he looked after them with great tenderness and kneeling down prayed earnestly that God would strengthen their Faith and Patience in that their last but painful Passage When they came to the Stake they embraced one another with great affection Ridley saying to Latimer Be of good heart Brother for God will either asswage the fury of the Flame or enable us to abide it Doctor Smith was appointed to Preach and took his Text from these words If I give my body to be burnt and have no Charity it profiteth nothing He compared their dying for Heresie to Judas's hanging himself and warned the People to beware of them with as much bitterness as he could express The best of it was the Sermon lasted not above a quarter of an hour When he had done Ridley was going to answer him and the Lord Williams that was appointed by the Queen to see the Execution was enclined to hear him but the Vice-Chancellor said Except he intended to recant he was not to be suffered to speak Ridley answered He would never deny his Lord nor those Truths of his of which he was perswaded God's Will be done in him he committed himself to God who would indifferently judg all Then he addressed himself to the Lord Williams and said Nothing troubled him so much as that he had received Fines of some who took Leases of him when he was Bishop of London and these Leases were now voided He therefore humbly prayed that the Queen would give order that those might be made good to the Tenants or that the Fines might be restored out of his Goods which he had left in his House and were of far greater value than those Fines would amount to and that some pity might be had of Shipside his Brother in law who was turned out of a place he had put him in and had now attended on him with great care Then they both prayed and fitted themselves for the Stake Latimer saying to Ridley Be of good comfort we shall this day light such a Candle in England as I trust by God's Grace shall never be put out Then Gunpowder being hanged about their Bodies in great quantities to hasten their death the Fire was put to and Latimer was with the first Flame the Powder taking fire put out of pain and died immediatly But Ridley had a more lingring Torment for they threw on the fire so much wood that the Flame could not break through it so that his Legs were almost consumed before this was observed and then one opening the Passage to the Flame it put an end to his Life Thus died these two excellent Bishops the one for his Piety Learning and solid Judgment the ablest Man of all that advanced the Reformation and the other for the plain simplicity of his Life esteemed a truly primitive Bishop and Christian Of his care of his Bishoprick the Instructions he
lived long mad he took a conceit that he would see an Obit made for himself and would have his own Funeral Rites performed to which he came himself with the rest of the Monks and prayed most devoutly for the Rest of his own Soul which set all the Company on weeping Two days after he sickned of a Feaver of which he died on the 21st of September 1558. A rare and great instance of a mind surfeited with the Pomps and Glories of the World seeking for that Quiet in retirement which he had long in vain searched after in Palaces and Camps And now I return to the Affairs of England The 21st of March was Cranmer Cranmer's Tryal brought to the end of all his Afflictions and received his Crown On the 12 of September the former year Brooks Bishop of Glocester came to Oxford as the Popes Subdelegate and Martin and Story Commissioners from the King and Queen sate with him in St. Maries to judge him When he appeared before them he payed a low reverence to them that sate in the King and Queen's Name but would give none to Brooks since he sate by an Authority from the Pope to which he would pay no respect Then Brooks made a long Speech to set forth his Apostacy and Heresy his Incontinence and finally his Treason and exhorted him to repent and insinuated to him great hopes of being restored to his See upon it After this Martin made a Speech of the difference between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority When they had done Cranmer first kneeled down said the Lord's Prayer next he repeated the Apostles Creed th◠〈◊〉 told them he would never acknowledge the Bishop of Room 's Authority he owned his Allegiance to the Crown according to the Oath he had often sworn and the submitting to the Pope was directly contrary to that he could not serve two Masters He said the Bishops of Rome not only set up Pretensions that were contrary to the Power of Princes but they had also made Laws contrary to those made by God instancing it in the Worship of an unknown Tongue the denying the Chalice to the People the pretending to dispose of Crowns and exalting themselves above every Creature which shewed them not to be the Vicars of Christ but to be Antichrists since all these things were manifestly contrary to the Doctrin of Christ that was delivered in the Gospel He remembred Brooks that he had sworn to the King's Supremacy Brooks said it was to K. Henry the 8th and that Cranmer had made him swear it To which Cranmer replied that he did him wrong in that for it was done in his Predecessor Warham's time who had asserted the King's Supremacy and it was also sent to be discussed in the Universities and they had set their Hands and Seals to it and that Brooks being then a Doctor had signed it with the rest so that all this being done before he came to be Arch-Bishop it ought not to be called his deed After this Story made another Speech of the Authority of the Church magnifying the See of Rome and enlarging on those Arguments commonly insisted on and desired Brooks would put Cranmer to make a plain Answer and cut off all Debates Then followed a long Discourse between Martin and Cranmer in which Martin objected that he had once sworn to the Pope when he was consecrated but that aspiring to be Archbishop he had changed his mind in compliance to King Henry That he had condemned Lambert of Heresy for denying the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and afterwards turned to that himself To all this Cranmer answered pretending that never man came more unwillingly into a Bishoprick than he did to his That he was so far from having aspired to it that tho the King had sent one post to him to come over to be consecrated he being then in Germany yet he had delayed his Journey seven weeks hoping that in all that time the King might have forgot him That at his Consecration he publickly explained his meaning in what sense he swore to the Pope so that he did not act deceitfully in that particular And that when he condemned Lambert he did then believe the Corporal Presence which he continued to do till Dr. Ridley shewed him such Reasons and Authorities as perswaded him to change his Mind and then he was not ashamed to retract his former Opinion Then they objected his having been twice married his keeping his Wife secretly in King Henry's time and openly in King Edward's Reign his setting out Heretical Books and Articles and compelling others to subscribe them his forsaking the Catholick Church and denying Christ's Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar and disputing against it so publickly lately at Oxford He confessed his living in Marriage and that he thought it was lawful for all Men to marry and that it was certainly better to do so than to lie with other Mens Wives as many Priests did He confessed all the other Articles only he said he had never forâ—â—â—ny to subscribe After this TRâ— made a long Speech to him with many of the common Argumenâ—â— concerning the Pope's Power and the Presence in the Sacrament to which Cranmer made another large Answer Then many Witnesses were examined upon the Points they had heard Cranmer defend in the Schools and in conclusion they cited him to appear before the Pope within eighty days to answer for all those things which were now objected to him He said he would do it most willingly if the King and Queen would send him but he could not go if he were still detained a Prisoner After this he was sent back to Prison where he lay till the 14th of February this Year and then Bonner and Thirleby were sent down to degrade him Bonner desired this Imployment as a pleasant Revenge on Cranmer who had before deprived him but it was forced on the other who had lived in great friendship with Cranmer formerly and was a gentle and good natur'd Man but very inconstant and apt to change They had Cranmer brought before them and then they caused to read their Commission which declared him Contumax for not coming to Rome and required them to degrade him They clothed him in Pontifical Robes a Miter and the other Garments with a Crosier in his hand but the Robes were made of Canvass to make him shew more ridiculous in them Then Bonner made a Speech full of Jeers This is the Man that despised the Pope and is now judged by him This is the Man that pulled down Churches and is now judged in a Church This is the Man that contemned the Sacrament and is now condemned before it with other such Expressions at which Thirleby was much offended and pulled him oft by the Sleeve desiring him to make an end and challenged him afterwards that he had broke the Promise he had made to him before of treating him with respect And he was observed to weep much all the while
David that we may shew forth Gods Praises which cannot be done if it is in a strange Tongue Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God which we cannot do if we understand not the Language they are in Baptisme and the Lords Supper are to contain Declarations of the Death and Resurrection of Christ which must be understood otherwise why are they made The use of Speech is to make known what one brings forth to another The most Barbarous Nations perform their Worship in a known Tongue which shews it to be a Law of Nature It is plain from Justin Martyrs Apology that the Worship was then in a known Tongue which appears also from all the Ancient Liturgies and a long Citation was brought out of St. Basil for the singing of Psalms duly weighing the Words with much attention and devotion which he says was practised in all Nations They concluded wondering how such an abuse could at first creep in and be still so stifly maintained and whâ—â—â—hose who would be thought the Guides and Pastors of the Church were so unwilling to return to the Rule of St. Paul and the Practise of the Primitive Times There was a great shout of Applause when they had done They gave their Paper signed with all their Hands to the Lord Keeper to be delivered to the other side as he should think fit But he kept it till the other side should bring him theirs The Papists upon this said they had more to add on that Head which was thought disingenuous by those that had heard them profess they had nothing to add to what Cole had said Thus the Meeting broke up for that day being Saturday and they were ordered to go forward on Munday and to prepare what they were to deliver on the other two Heads The Papists though they could complain of nothing that was done except the applause given to the Paper of the Reformers yet they saw by that how much more acceptable the other Doctrine was to the People and therefore resolved to go no further in that matter At the next meeting they desired that their Answer to the Paper read by the Reformed might be first heard To this the Lord Keeper said That they had delivered their mind the former day and so were not to be heard till they had gone through the other Points and then they were to return on both sides to the answering of Papers They said that what Cole had delivered the former day was Ex tempore and of himself but it had not been agreed on by them This appeared to all the Assembly to be very foul dealing so they were required to go on to the second Point Then they pressed that the other side might begin with their Paper and they would follow for they saw what an advantage the others had the former day by being heard last The Lord Keeper said the Order was that they should be heard first as being Bishops now in Office But both Winchester and Lincoln refused to go any further if the other side did not begin Upon which there followed a long debate Lincoln saying that the first Order which was that all should be in Latin was changed and that they had prepared a Writing in Latin But in this not only the Counsellors among whom sate the Arch-bishop of York but the rest of his own Party contradicted him In conclusion all except Fecknam refused to read any more Papers he said he was willing to have done it but he could not undertake such a thing alone and so the Meeting broke up But the Bishops of Winchester and of Lincoln said The Conference between the Papists and Protestants breaks up the Doctrine of the Catholick Church was already established and ought not to be disputed except it were in a Synod of Divines that it was too great an encouragement to Hereticks to hear them thus discourse against the Faith before the unlearned Multitude and that the Queen by so doing had incurred the Sentence of Excommunication and they talked of excommunicating her and her Council Upon this they were both sent to the Tower The Reformed took great advantage from the Issue of this Debate to say their Adversaries knew that upon a fair hearing the Truth was so manifestly on their side that they durst not put it to such hazard The whole World saw that this Disputation was managed with great Impartiality and without noise or disorder far different from what had been in Queen Maries time so they were generally much confirmed in their former belief by the Papists flying the Field They on the other hand said they saw the rude Multitude were now carried with a Fury against them the Lord Keeper was their professed Enemy the Laity would take on them to judge after they had heard them and they perceived they were already determined in their minds and that this Dispute was only to set off the changes that were to be made with the Pomp of a Victory and they blamed the Bishops for undertaking it at first but excused them for breaking it off in time And the Truth is the strength of their Cause in most Points of Controversie resting on the Authority of the Church of Rome that was now a thing of so odious a sound that all Arguments brought from thence were not like to have any great effect Upon this whole matter there was an Act of State made and Signed by many Privy Counsellors giving an account of all the steps that were made in it which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 5. This being over the Parliament was now in a better disposition to pass the Bill for the Uniformity of the Service of the Church Some of the Reformed Divines were appointed to review King Edwards Liturgie and to see if in any Particular it was fit to change it The only considerable Variation was made about the Lords Supper of which somewhat will appear from the Letter of Sandys to Parker It was proposed to have the Communion Book so contrived that it might not exclude the belief of the Corporal Presence for the chief design of the Queens Council was to unite the Nation in one Faith and the greatest part of the Nation continued to believe such a Presence Therefore it was recommended to the Divines to see that there should be no express definition made against it that so it might lie as a Speculative Opinion not determined in which every Man was left to the Freedom of his own Mind Hereupon the Rubrick that explained the reason for kneeling at the Sacrament That thereby no Adoration is intended to any Corporal Presence of Christs natural Flesh and Blood because that is only in Heaven which had been in King Edwards Liturgy was now left out And whereas at the delivery of the Elements in King Edwards first Liturgy there was to be said The Body or Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Preserve thy Body and Soul to Everlasting Life which words
had been left out in his second Liturgy as favouring the Corporal Presence too much and in stead of them these words were ordered to be used in the distribution of that Sacrament Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving and Drink this in remembrance that Christs Blood was shed for thee and be thankful They now joyned both these in one Some of the Collects were also a little altered and thus was the Book presented to the House But for the Book of Ordination it was not in express terms named in the Act which gave an occasion afterwards to question the lawfulness of the Ordinations made by that Book But by this Act the Book that was set out by King Edward and confirmed by Parliament in the fifth Year of his Reign was again authorized by Law and the Repeal of it in Queen Maries time was made void So the Book of Ordinations being in that Act added to the Book of Common-Prayer it was now legally in force again as was afterwards declared in Parliament upon a Question that was raised about it by Bonner The Bill that was put in on the 15th of February concerning the new Service being laid aside a new one was framed and sent up by the Commons on the 18th of April and debated in the House of Lords Debates about the Act of Ueiformity Heath made a long Speech against it rather Elegant than Learned He enlarged much on the several Changes which had been made in King Edward's time he said that both Cranmer and Ridley changed their Opinions in the matter of Christ's presence he called Ridley the most notably learned Man that was of that way These Changes he imputed to their departing from the Standard of the Catholick Church he complained much of the robbing of Churches the breaking of Images and the Stage-Plays made in mockery of the Catholick Religion Upon all these Reasons he was against the Bill The Bishop of Chester spake also to it He said the Bill was against both Faith and Charity that Points once defined were not to be brought again into question nor were Acts of Parliament Foundations for a Churches Belief he enlarged on the Antiquity of their Forms and said it was an insolent thing to pretend that our Fathers had lived in Ignorance The Prophets oftentimes directed the Israelites to ask of their Fathers Matters of Religion could not be understood by the Laity It was of great consequence to have their Faith well grounded Jeroboam made Israel to Sin when he set up a new way of Worship and not only the Orthodox but even the Arrian Emperours ordered that points of Faith should be examined in Councils Gallio by the light of Nature knew that a Civil Judge ought not to meddle with matters of Religion In the Service-Book that was then before them they had no Sacrifice for their Sins nor were they to adore Christ in the Host and for these reasons he could not agree to it but if any thought he spoke this because of his own concern or pittied him for what he might suffer by it he would say in the words of our Saviour Weep not for me Weep for your selves After him spake Fecknam Abbot of Westminster He proposed three Rules by which they should judge of Religion it 's Antiquity its constancy to it self the influence it had on the Civil Government he said the old Religion began in the time of King Lucius according to Gildas the Book now proposed was not used before the two last years of King Edward the one was always the same the other was changed every second year as appeared in the point of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament there had been great Order and Obedience in Queen Maries Reign but now every where great Insolences were committed by the People with some very indecent Prophanations of the most holy things he recommended to them in St. Austines words the adhering to the Catholick Church the very name Catholick which Hereticks had not the confidence to assume shewed their Authority The Consent of the whole Church in all Ages with the perpetual Succession of Pastors in St. Peter's Chair ought to weigh more with them than a few new Preachers who had distracted both Germany and England of late Thus I have given the substance of their Speeches being all that I have seen of that side I have seen none at all on the other side tho it is not probable but some were made in defence of the Service as well as these were against it But upon this Occasion I shall set down the substance of the second Paper which the Reformed Divines had prepared on the second point for the Conference about the Authority of every particular Church to change or take away Ceremonies I do not put it in the Collection because I have not that which the Papists prepared in Opposition to it But the heads of this Paper were as followeth Arguments for the Changes made in the Service It is clear by the Epistles which St. Paul writ to the Corinthians and other Churches that every Church has Power in it self to order the Forms of their Worship and the administration of the Sacraments among them so as might best tend to Order Edification and Peace The like Power had also the seven Angels of the Churches to whom St. John writ And for the first three Ages there was no General Meeting of the Church in Synods but in those times the neighbouring Pastors and Bishops by mutual advice rather than Authority ordered their affairs and when Heresies sprung up they condemned them without staying for a General Determination of the whole Church There were also great differences among them in their Customs as about observing Lent and Easter Ceremonies grew too soon to a great number When Errors or Abuses appeared private Bishops reformed their own Diocesses So those who came in the room of Arrian Bishops even when that Heresie was spread over all the East and the See of Rome it self was defiled with it yet reformed their own Churches Ambrose finding the custom of Feasting in Churches on the Anniversaries of the Martyrs gave occasion to great Scandals took it away Even in Queen Maries time many of the old Superstitions of Pilgrimages and Reliques which had been abolish'd in King Henry's time were not then taken up again from which they argued that if some things might be altered why not more So that if there was good reason to make any Changes it could not be doubted but that as Hezekiah and Josiah had made by their own power so the Queen might make Reformations which were not so much the setting up of new things as the restoring of the state of Religion to what it was anciently which had been brought in by consent of Parliament and Convocation in King Edward's time The Rules they offer'd in this Paper about Ceremonies were that
enabling of their own Judgments to treat and conclude of such Laws as might depend thereupon This also being thought very reasonable was signified to both Parties and so fully agreed upon And the day appointed for the first Meeting to be the Friday in the Forenoon being the last of March at Westminster Church where both for good Order and for Honour of the Conferences by the Queen's Majesty's Commandment the Lords and others of the Privy-Council were present and a great part of the Nobility also And notwithstanding the former Order appointed and consented unto by both Parties yet the Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues alleadging that they had mistaken that their Assertions and Reasons should be written and so only recited out of the Book said Their Book was not then ready written but they were ready to Argue and Dispute and therefore they would for that time repeat in Speech that which they had to say to the first Proposition This variation from the former Order and specially from that which themselves had by the said Arch-Bishop in writing before required adding thereto the Reason of the Apostle that to contend with words is profitable to nothing but to the subversion of the Hearer seemed to the Queen's Majesty somewhat strange and yet was it permitted without any great reprehension because they excused themselves with mistaking the Order and argued that they would not fail but put it in writing and according to the former Order deliver it to the other Part. And so the said Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues appointed Dr. Cole Dean of Pauls to be their Utterer of their Minds who partly by Speech only and partly by reading of Authorities written and at certain times being informed of his Colleagues what to say made a declaration of their Meanings and their Reasons to the first Proposition Which being ended they were asked by the Privy Council If any of them had any more to be said and they said No. So as then the other Part was licensed to shew their Minds which they did accordingly to the first Order exhibiting all that which they meant to propound in a Book written Which after a Prayer and Invocation made most humbly to Almighty God for the enduing of them with his Holy Spirit and a Protestation also to stand to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church builded upon the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Prophets and the Apostles was distinctly read by one Robert Horn Batchelor in Divinity late Dean of Duresm And the same being ended with some likelyhood as it seemed that the same was much allowable to the Audience certain of the Bishops began to say contrary to their former Answer that they had now much more to say to this Matter wherein although they might have been well reprehended for such manner of cavillation yet for avoiding any more mistaking of Orders in this Colloquie or Conference and for that they should utter all that which they had to say it was both ordered and thus openly agreed upon of both Parts in the full Audience that upon the Monday following the Bishops should bring their Minds and Reasons in Writing to the second Assertion and the last also if they could and first read the same and that done the other Part should bring likewise theirs to the same and being read each of them should deliver to other the same Writings And in the mean time the Bishops should put in writing not only all that which Doctor Cole had that day uttered but all such other Matters as they any otherwise could think of for the same and as soon as might possible to send the same Book touching the first Assertion to the other part and they should receive of them that Writing which Master Horn had there read that day and upon Monday it should be agreed what day they should exhibit their Answer touching the first Proposition Thus both parts assented thereto and the Assembly was quietly dismissed And therefore upon Monday the like Assembly began again at the Place and Hour appointed and there upon what sinister or disordered meaning is not yet fully known though in some part it be understanded the Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues and specially Lincoln refused to exhibit or read according to the former notorious Order on Friday that which they had prepared for the second Assertion and thereupon by the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal they being first gently and favourably required to keep the Order appointed and that taking no place being secondly as it behoved pressed with the more earnest request they neither regarding the Authority of that Place nor their own Reputation nor the Credit of the Cause utterly refused that to do And finally being again particularly every one of them apart distinctly by Name required to understand their Opinions therein they all saving one which was the Abbot of Westminster having some more consideration of Order and his Duty of Obedience than the other utterly and plainly denied to have their Book read some of them as more earnestly than other some so also some others more indiscreetly and irreverently than others Whereupon giving such Example of Disorders Stubbornness and Self-will as hath not been seen and suffered in such an Honourable Assembly being of the two Estates of this Realm the Nobilities and Commons besides the Persons of the Queen's Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council the same Assembly was dismissed and the Godly and most Christian Purpose of the Queen's Majesty made frustrate And afterwards for the contempt so notoriously made the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln who have most obstinately disobeyed both Common Authority and varied manifestly from their own Order specially Lincoln who shewed more folly than the other were condignly committed to the Tower of London and the rest saving the Abbot of VVestminster stand bound to make daily their personal appearance before the Council and not to depart the City of London and VVestminster until further Order be taken with them for their Disobedience and Contempt N. Bacon Cust Sigill F. Shrewsbury F. Bedford Pembrok E. Clynton G. Rogers F. Knollys W. Cecill A. Cave Number 6. An Address made by some Bishops and Divines to Queen Elizabeth against the Use of Images To the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty WE knowing your gracious Clemency and considering the necessity of the Matter that we have to move the one doth encourage us and the other compel us as before to make our humble Petition unto your Highness and to renew our former Suit not in any respect of self-will stoutness or striving against your Majesty God we take to Witness for with David we confess that we are but as Canes mortui aut Pulices in comparison But we do it only for that fear and reverence which we bear to the Majesty of Almighty God in whose Hands to fall 't is terrible for it lieth in his Power to destroy for ever and to cast both Body and Soul into Hell Fire
He says Mary Queen of Scots was married to the Dolphin of France She was then but a little past ten Years old and was not married to the Dolphin till five Years after this Pag. 229. 55. He says Queen Mary as soon as she came to the Crown without staying for an Act of Parliament concerning it laid aside the prophane Title of being Head of the Church We may expect as true a History of this Reign as we had of the former when in the first Period of it there is so notorious a Falsehood She held two Parliaments before she laid aside that Title for in the Writ of Summons for both she was stiled Supream Head of the Church and all the Reformed Bishops were turned out by virtue of Commissions which she issued out as Supream Head There was also a Visitation made over England by her Authority and none were suffered to preach but upon Licenses obtained under her great Seal so that she both retained the Title and Power of Supream Head a Year after she came to the Crown Ibid. 56. He says She discharged the Prisoners she found in the Tower recalled the Sentence against Cardinal Pool and discharged a Tax due to her by the Subjects The Queen did free the Prisoners of the Tower at her coming to the Crown and discharged the Tax at her Coronation but for recalling the Sentence against Cardinal Pool that being an Act of Parliament she could not recal it nor was it done till almost a Year and an half after her coming to the Crown Ibid. 57. He says She took care of the Coin that her Subjects might suffer no more by the embasing it so that they all saw the difference between a Catholick and Heretical Prince I do not find any care was taken of the Coin all her Reign and the bringing that to a just Standard is universally ascribed to Queen Elizabeth If there was a publick joy upon her coming to the Crown it did not last long and there was a far greater when she died This Observation is much more proper to the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign who began and continued to Reign with so great and so interrupted a Felicity that none but a Writer like our Author would have made such a Remarque on the beginnings of this Reign 58. He says She overcame Wiat's Rebellion Pag. 230. rather by her own Faith than by any Force she had about her This is to make the Reader think she defeated Wiat as Gideon did the Amalekites but Wiat brought up not above 3000 Men and she had thrice that number about her It was a desperate Attempt and that which was rather the effect of a precipitated Design than of prudent Counsel 59. He says She put her Sister in the Tower Ibid. when it had appeared to the Senate which in his Style is the Parliament that she had been engaged in Wiat's Conspiracy This is said to cover her barbarous Cruelty towards her Sister the Matter never came before the Parliament and there was no ground ever given to justify the Suspicion It is true Wiat hoping to have saved his Life by so foul a Calumny accused her but when he saw he must die he vindicated her openly on the Scaffold It is certain if they could have found any Colours to have excused severe proceedings against her both the Queen and the Clergy who governed her were much enclined to have made use of them 60. He says Pag. 231. The Queen was more ready to pardon Crimes against her self than Offences against Christ and Religion The more shame for those who governed her Conscience that made her so implacable to all whom she esteemed Hereticks since the Christian Religion came not into the World as the Author of it says of himself to destroy Mens Lives but to save them Yet she was not so merciful as he would represent her witness her Severities against her Sister and against Cranmer even after he had signed the Recantation of his former Opinions 61. He says Though some of the Bishops were guilty of Treason Ibid. yet she would not have them to be tried by the Temporal Laws and referred even Cranmer himself to the Spiritual Jurisdiction Cranmer was tried for Treason by virtue of a Commission issued out by the Queen and all the other Reformed Bishops were turned out by Delegates empowred for that end by the Queen's Commissions 62. He says Ibid. Cranmer was condemned of Treason in the Parliament He was found Guilty of Treason by a Jury of Commissioners and thereupon condemned by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and not by the Parliament It is true the Parliament did afterwards confirm the Sentence 63. He says Before he was Condemned Ibid. he feigned himself a Catholick and signed his Retractation seventeen times with his own hand But the Bishops discovering his Hypocrisie degraded him and delivered him to the Secular Arm upon which he was burnt at Oxford The Popish Party have but too great Advantages against Cranmer in this last part of his Life so it was needless for our Author to have mixed so much falshood with this Account but he must go on in his ordinary method even though it is not necessary for any of the Ends he had set before himself Cranmer stood out above two Years and a half in all which time he expressed great constancy of mind and a readiness to die for that Faith which he had before taught nor would he fly beyond Sea though he had many opportunities to do it and had reason enough to apprehend he could not escape at home Upon his constant adhering to his former Doctrines he was Condemned Degraded and appointed to be burnt and then the fears of Death wrought that effect on him that he did recant which he signed thrice but the Queen being set on Revenge would needs have him burnt after all that so there was no discovery made of his Hypocrisie nor was there a Sentence past upon it but he for all his Recantation was led out to be burnt and then he returned back to his former Doctrines and expressed his Repentance for his Apostacy with all the seriousness and horror that was possible Ibid. 64. He says The Laws for burning Hereticks were again revived and by them not only Cranmer but some hundreds of the false Teachers were burnt A Man's Inclinations do generally appear in the Lies he makes so it seems our Author wished it had been as he relates it was but so far it was from this number that there was not above a quarter of a hundred of the Ministers burnt there were some hundreds of others burnt so ignorant was he of our Affairs Page 232. 65. He says The Queen did at first command all the Strangers that were Hereticks to leave the Kingdom upon which above 30000 as was reckoned went out of England The greatest number of the Strangers were the Germans and of these not above
may clearly see he would bribe him into no Opinion or Party by false or indirect Arts But since Men are generally so apt to let some easie Notions enter into their Minds which will pre-engage their Affections and for most part those who set themselves to gain Proselites do begin with such Arts it will not be amiss to give the Reader such an account of these as may prepare him against them that so he may with a clearer mind consider what is now to be delivered to him concerning the Reformation of Religion among us I shall begin with that which is most commonly urged that the whole Church being one Body the Changes that were made in Religion did break that Vnity and dissolve the Bond by which the Catholick Church is to be knit together and that therefore the first Reformers began and we still continue a Schisme in the Church In answer to this it is to be considered that the Bishops and Pastors of the Church are obliged to instruct their People in the true Faith of Christ according to the Scriptures The nature of their Function being a Sacred Trust binds them to this they were also at their Consecration engaged to it by a formal Sponsion according to the Questions and Answers that are in the Roman Pontifical to this day Pastors owe it as a Debt to their People to teach them according to the Scriptures They owe a Charity to their Brethren and are to live with them in the terms of Brotherly Love and Friendly Correspondence but if that cannot be had on easier terms than the concealing necessary Truths and the delivering gross errors to those committed to their charge it is certain that they ought not to purchase it at so dear a rate When the Pastors of this Church saw it over-run with errors and corruptions they were obliged by the duty they owed to God and to their People to discover them and to undeceive their misled Flocks It is of great importance to maintain Peace and Vnity but if a Party in the Church does set up some Doctrines and Practises that do much endanger the Salvation of Souls and makes advantages by these so that there is no hope left to gain them by rational and softer Methods then as St. Peter was to be withstood to his Face in a lesser matter much more are those who pretend no higher than to be his Successors to be withstood when the things are of great moment and consequence When Heresies sprung up in the Primitive Church we find the neighbouring Bishops condemned them without staying for the concurrence of other Churches as in the Case of Samosatenus Arius and Pelagius and even when the greatest part of the Church was become Semi-Arian and many great Councils chiefly that at Ariminum consisting of above 800 Bishops as some say had through ignorance and fear complied the Orthodox Bishops did not forbear to instruct those committed to their care according to the true Faith A general concurrence is a thing much to be laboured for but when it cannot be had every Bishop must then do his duty so as to be answerable to the chief Bishop of Souls So that instead of being led away by so slight a prejudice we must turn our Enquiries to this Whether there were really such abuses in the Church as did require a Reformation and whether there was any reason to hope for a more general concurrence in it In the following History the Reader will see what corruptions were found to be both in the Doctrine and Worship of this Church from whence he may infer what need there was of Reformation And it is very plain that they had no reason to expect the concurrence of other Churches for the Council of Trent had already made a great progress and it was very visible that as the Court of Rome governed all things there so they were resolved to admit of no effectual Reformation of any considerable matters but to establish by a more formal decision those errors and abuses that had given so much scandal to the Christian World for so many Ages This being the true state of the Case it is certain that if there were really great corruptions either in Belief or Manners in this Church then the Bishops were bound to reform them since the backwardness of others in their duty could not excuse them from doing theirs when they were clearly convinced of it So that the Reader is to shake off this prejudice and only to examine whether there was really such need of a Reformation since if that be true it is certain the Bishops of this as well as of other Churches were bound to set about it and the faultiness of some could be no excuse to the rest The second Prejudice is That the Reformation was begun and carried on not by the major part of the Bishops and Clergy but by a few selected Bishops and Divines who being supported by the Name of the Kings Authority did frame things as they pleased and by their Interest at Court got them to be Enacted in Parliament and after they had removed such Bishops as opposed them then they procured the Convocation to consent to what was done So that upon the matter the Reformation was the Work of Cranmer with a few more of his Party and not of this Church which never agreed wholly to it till the Bishops were so modelled as to be compliant to the designs of the Court. In short the resolution of this is to be taken from a common Case when the major part of a Church is according to the Conscience of the Supream Civil Magistrate in an Error and the lesser part is in the right The Case is not hard if well understood for in the whole Scripture there is no promise made to the major part of the Pastors of the Church and there being no Divine Promise made about it it is certain that the Nature of Man is such that Truth separated from Interest hath few Votaries but when it is opposite to it it must have a very small Party So that most of those things which needed Reformation being such as added much to the Wealth and Power of the Clergy it had been a wonder indeed if the greater part had not opposed it In thâ—t Case as the smaller part were not to depart from their Sentiments because opposed in them by a more numerous Party that was too deeply concerned in the matter so it was both natural for them and very reasonable to take Sanctuary in the Authority and Protection of the Prince and the Law That Princes have an Authority in things Sacred was so universally agreed to in King Henry's Reign and was made out upon such clear Evidence of Reason and Precedents both in the Jewish State and in the Roman Empire when it turned Christian that this ground was already gained It is the first Law in Justinians Code made by Theodosius when he came to the Empire That all should every
were under severe pains follow that Faith which was received by Damasus Bishop of Rome and Peter of Alexandria And why might not the King and Laws of England give the like Authority to the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York When the Empire and especially the Eastern part of it had been during the Reign of Constantius and Valens succeeding him after a short Interval so overspread with Arianisme it is scarce to be imagined how it could have been reformed in any other manner for they durst not at first trust it to the discretion of a Synod and yet the Question then on foot was not so link'd with Interest being a Speculative Point of Divinity as those about which the Contests were in the beginnings of the Reformation It is not to be imagined how any Changes in Religion can be made by Sovereign Princes unless an Authority be lodged with them of giving the Sanction of a Law to the sounder though the lesser part of a Church for as Princes and Law-givers are not tied to an implicite obedience to Clergy-men but are left to the freedom of their own discerning so they must have a Power to choose what side to be of where things are much enquired into The Jurisdiction of Synods or Councils is founded either on the Rules of Expediency and Brotherly Correspondence or on the force of Civil Laws for when the Christian Belief had not the support of Law every Bishop taught his own Flock the best he could and gave his Neighbours such an account of his Faith at or soon after his Consecration as satisfied them and so maintained the Vnity of the Church The formality of Synods grew up in the Church from the division of the Roman Empire and the Dignity of the several Cities which is a thing so well known and so plainly acknowledged by the Writers of all sides that it were a needless imposing on the Readers patience to spend time to prove it Such as would understand it more perfectly will find it in De Marca the late Arch-bishop of Paris's Books de Concordia Imperii Sacerdotii and in Blondells Works De la Primaute de l'Eglise None can imagine there is a Divine Authority in that which sprang from such a beginning The major part of Synods cannot be supposed to be in matters of Faith so assisted from Heaven that the lesser part must necessarily acquiesce in their Decrees or that the Civil Powers must always measure their Laws by their Votes especially where Interest does visibly turn the Scales And this may satisfie any reasonable Man as to this prejudice that if Arch-bishop Cranmer and Holgate the two Primates and Metropolitanes of this Church were in the right in the things that they procured to be reformed though the greater part of the Bishops being biassed by base ends and generally both superstitious and little conversant in the true Theological Learning did oppose them and they were thereby forced to order matters so that at first they were prepared by some selected Bishops and Divines and afterwards Enacted by King and Parliament this is no just exception to what was so managed And such a Reformation can no more be blasted by being called a Parliament-Religion than the Reformations made by the Kings of Israel without or against the Majority of the Priests could be blemish'd by being call'd the Kings Religion A third Prejudice is that the Persons who governed the Affairs at Court were weak or ill Men that the King being under Age things were carried by those who had him in their Power And for the two great Ministers of that Reign or rather the Administrators of it the Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland as their violent and untimely deaths may seem to be effects of the indignation of Heaven for what they did so they were both eminently faulty in their Administration and are supposed to have sought too much their own ends This seems to cast a blemish on their Actions and to give some reason to suspect the things were not good which had such Instruments to advance them But this Prejudice compounded of many Particulars when taken to pieces will appear of no force to blast the credit of what they did By our Law the King never dies and is never young nor old so that the Authority of the King is the same whether administred by himself or by his Governours when he is under Age nor are we to judge of Men by the events that befall them These are the deepest Secrets of Divine Providence into which it is impossible for Men of limited understandings to penetrate and if we make Judgments of Persons and Things by accidents we shall very often most certainly conclude falsely Solomon made the Observation which the Series of Humane Affairs ever since hath fully justified That there are Just Men to whom it happens according to the Work of the Wicked and Wicked Men to whom it happens according to the Work of the Righteous and the enquiring into these seemingly unequal steps of Gods Governing the World is a vanity As for the Duke of Northumberland the Reformation is not at all concerned in him for if we believe what he said when there was the least reason to suspect him on the Scaffold he was all the while a Papist in his Heart And so no wonder if such a Man striking in for his own ambitious ends with that which was popular even against the perswasions of his Conscience did very ill things The Duke of Somerset was indeed more sincere and though he was not without his faults which we may safely acknowledge since the Man of Infallibility is not pretended to be without sin yet these were not such heinous transgressions but rather such as humane infirmity exposes most Men to when they are raised to an high condition He was too vain too much addicted to his own Notions and being a Man of no extraordinary Parts he was too much at the disposal of those who by flatteries and submissions insinuated themselves into him and he made too great hast to raise a vast Estate to be altogether innocent but I never find him charged with any personal disorders nor was he ever guilty of falshood of perverting Justice of Cruelty or of Oppression He was so much against the last of these that he lost the affections of the Nobility for being so careful of the Commons and covering them from the oppression of their Landlords The Business of his Brother though it has a very ill appearance and is made to look worse by the lame account our Books give of it seems to have been forced on him for the Admiral was a Man of most incurable ambition and so inclined to raise disturbance that after so many relapses and such frequent Reconciliations he still breaking out into new disorders it became almost necessary to put him out of a capacity of doing more mischief But if we compare the Duke of Somerset with the great Ministers even in
the best Courts we shall find him better than most of them and if some few have carried their Prosperity better many more even of those who are otherwise recorded for extraordinary Persons have been guilty of far greater faults He who is but a little acquainted with History or with the Courts of Princes must needs know so much of this Argument that he will easily cure himself of any ill effects which this Prejudice may have on him A fourth Prejudice is raised from the great Invasions which were then made upon the Church-Lands and things dedicated to Pious Vses which is a thing hated by Men of all Religions and branded with the odious Names of Sacriledge and robbing of God so that the Spoils of Religious Houses and Churches seem to have been the secret Motives that at first drew in and still engage so many to the Reformation This has more weight in it than the former and therefore deserves to be more fully considered The Light of Nature teaches that those who are dedicated to the Service of God and for instructing the People ought to be so well provided for that they may be delivered from the distractions of Secular Cares and secured from the contempt which follows Poverty and be furnished with such means as may both enable them to know that well wherein they are to instruct others and to gain such an Interest in the affections of those among whom they labour as modest Hospitality and liberal Alms-giving may procure In this all Nations and Religions have so generally agreed that it may be well called a Law of Nations if not of Nature Had Church-men been contented with this measure it is very probable things had never run to the other Extream so much as they have done But as the Pope got to himself a great Principality so the rest of his Clergy defigned to imitate him in that as much as was possible they spared no pains nor thought they any Methods too bad that could set forward these Projects The belief of Purgatory and the redeeming of Souls out of it by Masses with many other publick Cheats imposed on the World had brought the Wealth of this and other Nations into their Hands Vpon the discovery of this imposture it was but a reasonable and just proceeding of the Government to re-assume those Lands and dispose otherwise of them which had been for most part fraudulently drawn from the former Ages for indeed the best part of the Soil of England being in such ill Hands it was the Interest of the whole Kingdom to have it put to better uses So that the Abbies being generally raised and endowed by the efficacy of those false Opinions which were infused into the People I can see no just exception against the dissolution of them with the Chantries and other Foundations of like superstition and the fault was not in taking them away but in not applying a greater part of them to uses truly Religious But most of these Monasteries had been enriched by that which was indeed the Spoil of the Church for in many Places the Tithes which belonged to the Secular Clergy were taken from them and by the Authority of Papal Bulls were given to the Monasteries This was the Original of the greatest mischief that came on this Church at the Reformation The Abbots having possessed themselves of the Tithes and having left to those who served the Cure either some small Donative or Stipend and at best the small Tithes or Viccarage those who purchased the Abbey-Lands from the Crown in the former Reign had them with no other charge reserved for the Incumbents but that small Pittance that the Abbots had formerly given them and this is now a much less allowance than the Curates had in the times of Popery for though they have now the same Right by their Incumbency that they then had yet in the time of Superstition the Fees of Obits Exequies Soul Masses and such other Perquisites did furnish them so plentifully that considering their obligation to remain unmarried they lived well though their certain maintenance was but small but these things falling off by the Reformation which likewise leaves the Clergy at liberty in the matter of Marriage this has occasioned much ignorance and scandal among the Clergy I shall not enter into the debate about the Divine Right of Tithes this I am sure of a decent maintenance of the Clergy is of natural Right and that it is not better looked to is a publick reproach to the whole Nation when in all other Religions and Nations those who serve at the Altar live by it The ancient Allowances for the Curates in Market Towns being generally so small because the Number and Wealth of the People made the Perquisites so considerable has made those Places to be too often but ill supplied and what way this makes for the seducers of all hands when the Minister is of so mean a condition and hath so incompetent a Maintenance that he can scarce secure himself from extream want and great contempt I leave it to every Man to judge This is as high a contempt of Religion and the Gospel as any can be and is one of those things for which this Nation has much to answer to God that now in one hundred and twenty years time so little has been done by publick Authority for the redress of such a crying oppression Some private Persons have done great things this way but the publick has yet done nothing sutable to the occasion Though their Neighbour Nation of Scotland has set them a very good Example where by the great zeal and care of King James and the late blessed King Acts and Orders of Parliament have been made for examining the whole state of the Clergy and for supplying all poor Livings so plentifully that in Glebe and Tithes all Benefices are now raised to at least fifty Pounds Sterling yearly What greater scorn can be put on Religion than to provide so scantly for those that are trusted with the care of Souls that some hundreds of Parishes in England pay not Ten Pounds a year to their Pastors and perhaps some thousands not Fifty This is to be numbred among those crying sins that are bringing down vengeance on us since by this many Souls are left to perish because it is not possible to provide them with faithful and able Shepherds I shall not examine all the particular Reasons that have obstructed the redress of this mischief but those concerned in it may soon find some of them out in themselves And here I acknowledge a great and just prejudice lies against our Reformation which no man can fully answer But how faulty soever we may be in this Particular they of the Church of Rome have little reason to object it to us since the first and true occasion of it was of their own doing Our fault is that at the dissolution of the Monasteries restitution was not made to the Parish Priests of
but by the Advice and Consent of the other Executors according to the Will of the late King Then they all went to take their Oaths but it was proposed that it should be delayed till the next day that so they might do it upon better consideration More was not done that day save that the Lord Chancellor was ordered to deliver up the Seals to the King and to receive them again from his Hands for King Henry's Seal was to be made use of either till a new one was made or till the King was Crowned He was also ordered to renew the Commissions of the Judges the Justices of Peace the Presidents of the North and of Wales and of some other Officers This was the issue of the first Council-day under this King In which the so easie advancement of the Earl of Hartford to so high a Dignity gave great occasion to censure it seeming to be a change of what King Henry had designed But the Kings great kindness to his Unkle made it pass so smoothly For the rest of the Executors not being of the Ancient Nobility but Courtiers were drawn in easily to comply with that which was so acceptable to their young King Only the Lord Chancellor who had chiefly opposed it was to expect small favour at the new Protectors hands It was soon apparent what emulation there was between them And the Nation being then divided between those who loved the old Superstition and those who desired a more complete Reformation The Protector set himself at the Head of the one and the Lord Chancellor at the Head of the other Party The next day the Executors met again Which is declared in Council and first took their Oaths most solemnly for their faithful executing the Will They also ordered all those who were by the late King named Privy-Councellors to come into the Kings Presence and there they declared to the King the choice they had made of his Unkle who gave his Assent to it It was also signified to the Lords of the Council who likewise with one voice gave their Consent to it And Dispatches were ordered to be sent to the Emperour the French King and the Regent of Flanders giving notice of the Kings Death and of the Constitution of the Council and the Nomination of the Protector during the Minority of their young King All Dispatches were ordered to be Signed only by the Protector and all the Temporal Lords with all the Bishops about the Town were commanded to come and swear Allegiance to the King On the 2d of Feb. Feb. 2. the Protector was declared Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal these Places having been designed for him by the late King upon the Duke of Norfolks Attainder Letters were also sent to Callice Bulloigne Ireland the Marches of Scotland and most of the Counties of England giving notice of the Kings Succession and of the order now setled The Will was also ordered to be Enrolled and every of the Executors was to have an Exemplification of it under the Great Seal and the Clerks of Council were also ordered to give to every of them an account of all things done in Council under their Hands and Seals The Bishops take out Commissions for their Bishopricks And the Bishops were required to take out new Commissions of the same form with those they had taken out in King Henry's time for which see Page 267. of the former Part only with this difference That there is no mention made of a Vicar-General in these Commissions as was in the former there being none after Cromwel advanced to that Dignity Two of these Commissions are yet extant one taken out by Cranmer the other taken out by Bonner But this was only done by reason of the present juncture because the Bishops being generally addicted to the former Superstition it was thought necessary to keep them under so arbitrary a Power as that subjected them to for they hereby held their Bishopricks only during the Kings pleasure and were to exercise them as his Delegates in his Name and by his Authority Cranmer set an Example to the rest Collection Number 2. and took out his Commission which is in the Collection But this was afterwards judged too heavy a Yoak and therefore the new Bishops that were made by this King were not put under it and so Ridley when made Bishop of London in Bonners room was not required to take out any such Commission but they were to hold their Bishopricks during life The reason of the new Creation of many Noblemen There was a Clause in the Kings Will requiring his Executors to make good all that he had promised in any manner of ways Whereupon Sir William Paget Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Herbert were required to declare what they knew of the Kings Intentions and Promises the former being the Secretary whom he had trusted most and the other two those that attended on him in his Bed-Chamber during his sickness though they were called Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber for the Service of the Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber was not then set up Paget declared That when the Evidence appeared against the Duke of Norfolk and his Son the Earl of Surrey the King who used to talk oft in private with him alone told him that he intended to bestow their Lands liberally and since by Attainders and other ways the Nobility were much decayed he intended to create some Peers and ordered him to write a Book of such as he thought meetest who thereupon proposed the Earl of Hartford to be a Duke the Earl of Essex to be a Marquess the Viscount Lisle to be an Earl the Lords St. John Russel and Wriothesley to be Earls and Sir Tho. Seimour Sir Thom. Cheyney Sir Richard Rich Sir William Willoughby Sir Tho. Arundel Sir Edmund Sheffield Sir Jo. St. Leiger Sir _____ Wymbish Sir _____ Vernon of the Peak and Sir Christopher Danby to be Barons Paget also proposed a distribution of the Duke of Norfolk's Estate But the King liked it not and made Mr. Gates bring him the Books of that Estate which being done he ordered Paget to tot upon the Earl of Hartford these are the words of his Deposition a Thousand Merks on the Lord Lisle St. John and Russel 200 Pounds a year to the Lord Wriothesley 100 and for Sir Tho. Seimour 300 Pounds a year But Paget said it was too little and stood long arguing it with him yet the King ordered him to propose it to the Persons concerned and see how they liked it And he putting the King in mind of Denny who had been oft a Suiter for him but he had never yet in lieu of that obtained any thing for Denny the King ordered 200 Pounds for him and 400 Marks for Sir William Herbert and remembred some others likewise But Paget having according to the Kings Commands spoken to these who were to be advanced found that many of them desired to continue in their former
his aid and assistance he did by the advice of his Unkle and others Nobles Prelates and wise Men accept of these Persons for his Councellors the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord St. John President the Lord Russel Lord Privy-Seal the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Warwick and Arundel the Lord Seimour the Bishop of Duresme the Lord Rich Sir Thomas Cheyney Sir Joh. Gage Sir Anth. Brown Sir Anthony Wingfield Sir William Paget Sir William Petre Sir Ralph Sadler Sir John Baker Doctor Wotton Sir Anth. Denny Sir William Herbert Sir Edw. North Sir Ed. Montague Sir Ed. Wotton Sir Edm. Peckham Sir Tho. Bromley and Sir Richard Southwell giving the Protector Power to swear such other Commissioners as he should think fit and that he with so many of the Council as he should think meet might annul and change what they thought fitting restraining the Council to act only by his Advice and Consent And thus was the Protector fully setled in his Power and no more under the curb of the Co-executors who were now mixed with the other Councellors that by the late Kings Will were only to be consulted with as they saw cause But as he depressed them to an equality with the rest of the Councellors so he highly obliged the others who had been formerly under them by bringing these equally with them into a share of the Government He had also obtained to himself an high Authority over them since they could do nothing without his consent but he was only bound to call for so many of them as he thought meet and was not limited to act as they advised but cloathed with the full Regal Power and had it in his Hands to oblige whom he would and to make his Party greater by calling into the Council such as he should nominate How far this was legal I shall not enquire It was certainly contrary to King Henry's Will And that being made upon an Act of Parliament which empowred him to limit the Crown and the Government of it at his pleasure this Commission that did change the whole Government during the Kings Minority seems capable of no other defence but that it being made by the consent of the major part of the Executors it was still warrantable even by the Will which devolved the Government on them or the major part of them All this I have opened the more largely both because none of our Historians have taken any notice of the first Constitution of the Government during this Reign and being ignorant of the true account of it they have committed great errors and because having obtained by the favour of that most industrions Collector of the Transactions of this Age Mr. Rushworth the Original Council-Book for the two first years of this Reign I had a certain Authority to follow in it the exactness of that Book being beyond any thing I ever met with in all our Records For every Council-day the Privy-Councellors that were present set their Hands to all that was ordered judging so great caution necessary when the King was under Age. And therefore I thought this a Book of too great consequence to lie in private Hands so the owner having made a Present of it to me I delivered it to that Noble and Vertuous Gentleman Sir John Nicolas one of the Clerks of the Council to be kept with the rest of their Books And having now given the Reader a clear Prospect of the state of the Court I shall next turn to the Affairs that were under their consideration The state of Affairs in Germany That which was first brought before them was concerning the state of Germany Francis Burgartus Chancellor to the Duke of Saxe with others from the other Princes and Cities of the Empire were sent over upon the news of the former Kings death to sollicit for Aids from the new King toward the carrying on the War with the Emperor In order to the clearing of this and to give a just account of our Councils in reference to Forreign Affairs especially the cause being about Religion I shall give a short view of the state of Germany at this time The Emperor having formed a design of an Universal Monarchy laid hold on the differences of Religion in Germany as a good mean to cover what he did with the specious pretence of punishing Heresie and protecting the Catholicks But before he had formed this design 1531. Jan. 11. Ferdinand Crown'd King of the Romans he procured his Brother to be chosen King of the Romans and so declared his Successor in the Empire which he was forced to do being obliged to be much in Spain and his other hereditary Dominions and being then so young as not to enter into such deep Counsels as he afterwards laid But his Wars in Italy put him oft in ill terms with the Pope and being likewise watched over in all his Motions by Francis the I. and Henry VIII and the Turk often breaking into Hungary and Germany he was forced to great compliances with the Princes of the Empire Who being animated by the two great Crowns did enter into a League for their mutual defence against all Aggressors And at last in the Year 1544. 1544. Feb. 20. Diet began at Spire in the Diet held at Spire the Emperour being engaged in War with France and the Turk both to secure Germany and to obtain Money of the Princes was willing to agree to the Edict made there which was That till there was a free Council in Germany or such an Assembly in which Matters of Religion might be setled there should be a general Peace and none was to be troubled for Religion the free exercise of both Religions being allowed and all things were to continue in the state they were then in And the Imperial Chamber at Spire was to be reformed for the Judges of that Court being all Papists there were many Processes depending at the Suit of the Ecclesiasticks against the Protestant Princes who had driven them out of their Lands and the Princes expecting no fair dealing from them all these Processes were now suspended and the Chamber was to be filled up with new Judges that should be more favourable to them They obtaining this Decree contributed very liberally to the Wars the Emperour seemed to be engaged in 1544. Sept. 24. Emperor has Peace with France Who having his Treasure thus filled presently made Peace both with France and the Grand Seigniour and resolved to turn his Wars upon the Empire and to make use of that Treasure and Force they had contributed 1545. Oct. Peace with Turk to invade their Liberties and to subdue them entirely to himself Upon this he entred into a Treaty with the Pope that a Council should be opened in Trent upon which he should require the Princes to submit to it which if they refused to do he should make War on them The Pope was to assist him with 10000 Men besides levy Taxes hard on his
of Religion in so unsetled a condition and that he had resolved to have changed the Mass into a Communion besides many other things And in the Act of Parliament which he had procured see Pag. 263. first Part for giving force and Authority to his Proclamations a Proviso was added That his Sons Councellors while he should be under Age might set out Proclamations of the same Authority with these which were made by the King himself This gave them a full Power to proceed in that Work in which they resolved to follow the method begun by the late King of sending Visitors over England with Injunctions and Articles A Visitation is made over England They ordered them six several Circuits or Precincts The first was London Westminster Norwich and Ely The second Rochester Canterbury Chichester and Winchester The third Sarum Exeter Bath Bristol and Glocester The fourth York Durham Carlisle and Chester The fifth Peterborough Lincoln Oxford Coventry and Litchfield And the sixth Wales Worcester and Hereford For every Circuit there were two Gentlemen a Civilian a Divine and a Register They were designed to be sent out in the beginning of May as appears by a Letter to be found in the Collection Collection Number 7. written the fourth of May to the Arch-bishop of York There is also in the Registers of London another of the same strain Yet the Visitation being put off for some Months this Inhibition was suspended on the 16th of May till it should be again renued The Letter sets forth That the King being speedily to order a Visitation over his whole Kingdom therefore neither the Arch-bishop nor any other should exercise any jurisdiction while that Visitation lasted And since the minds of the People were held in great suspence by the Controversies they heard so variously tossed in the Pulpits that for quieting these the King did require all Bishops to preach no where but in their Cathedrals and that all other Clergy-men should not preach but in their Collegiate or Parochial Churches unless they obtained a special Licence from the King to that effect The design of this was to make a distinction between such as preached for the Reformation of abuses and such as did it not The one were to be encouraged by Licences to preach where-ever they desired to do it but the others were restrained to the Places where they were Incumbents But that which of all other things did most damp those who designed the Reformation was the misery to which they saw the Clergy reduced and the great want of able Men to propagate it over England For the Rents of the Church were either so swallowed up by the suppression of Religious Houses to whom the Tithes were generally appropriated or so basely alienated by some lewd or superstitious Incumbents who to preserve themselves being otherwise obnoxious or to purchase Friends had given away the best part of their Revenues and Benefices that there was very little encouragement left for those that should labour in the Work of the Gospel And though many Projects were thought on for remedying this great abuse yet those were all so powerfully opposed that there was no hope left of getting it remedied till the King should come to be of Age and be able by his Authority to procure the Church-men a more proportioned maintenance Two things only remained to be done at present The one was to draw up some Homilies for the instruction of the People which might supply the defects of their Incumbents Some Homilies compiled together with the providing them with such Books as might lead them into the understanding of the Scripture The other was to select the most eminent Preachers they could find and send them over England with the Visitors who should with more Authority instruct the Nation in the Principles of Religion Therefore some were appointed to compile those Homilies and Twelve were at first agreed on being about those Arguments which were in themselves of the greatest importance The 1st was about the use of the Scriptures The 2d of the misery of Mankind by sin 3d. Of their Salvation by Christ 4th Of True and Lively Faith 5th Of Good Works 6th Of Christian Love and Charity 7th Against Swearing and chiefly Perjury 8th Against Apostacy or declining from God 9th Against the fear of Death 10th An Exhortation to Obedience 11th Against Whoredom and Adultery setting forth the state of Marriage how necessary and honourable it was And the 12th against Contention chiefly about Matters of Religion They intended to set out more afterwards but these were all that were at this time finished The chief design in them was to acquaint the People with the method of Salvation according to the Gospel in which there were two dangerous Extremes at that time that had divided the World The greatest part of the ignorant Commons seemed to consider their Priests as a sort of People who had such a secret trick of saving their Souls as Mountebanks pretend in the curing of Diseases and that there was nothing to be done but to leave themselves in their hands and the business could not miscarry This was the chief Basis and support of all that superstition which was so prevalent over the Nation The other Extreme was of some corrupt Gospellers who thought if they magnified Christ much and depended on his Merits and Intercession they could not perish which way soever they led their Lives In these Homilies therefore special care was taken to rectifie these errors And the Salvation of Mankind was on the one hand wholly ascribed to the Death and Sufferings of Christ to which Sinners were taught to fly and to trust to it only and to no other devices for the pardon of sin They were at the same time taught that there was no Salvation through Christ but to such as truly repented and lived according to the Rules of the Gospel The whole matter was so ordered to teach them that avoiding the hurtful errors on both hands they might all know the true and certain way of attaining Eternal Happiness For the understanding the New Testament Erasmus's Paraphrase which was translated into English was thought the most profitable and easiest Book Therefore it was resolved that together with the Bible there should be one of these in every Parish-Church over England They next considered the Articles and Injunctions that should be given to the Visitors The greatest part of them were only the renewing what had been ordered by King Henry during Cromwel's being Vicegerent which had been much neglected since his fall For as there was no Vicegerent so there was few Visitations appointed after his death by the Kings Authority but the executing former Injunctions was left to the several Bishops who were for the most part more careful about the six Articles than about the Injunctions So now all the Orders about renouncing the Popes Power and asserting the Kings Supremacy about Preaching teaching the Elements of Religion in the Vulgar
Kingdom to cast themselves wholly into the Arms of France and to offer their young Queen to the Dolphin and to think of no Treaty with the English So the Earl of Warwick returned to London having no small share in the Honour of this Expedition He was Son to that Dudley who was attainted and executed the first year of King Henry the 8th's Reign But whether it was that the King afterwards repented of his severity to the Father or that he was taken with the qualities of the Son he raised him by many degrees to be Admiral and Viscount Lisle He had defended Bulloigne when it was in no good condition against the Dolphin whose Army was believed 50000 strong and when the French had carried the Bassetown he recovered it and killed 800 of their Men The Year after that being in Command at Sea he offered the French Fleet Battel which they declining he made a descent upon Normandy with 5000 Men and having burnt and spoiled a great deal he returned to his Ships with the loss only of one Man And he shewed he was as fit for a Court as a Camp For being sent over to the French Court upon the Peace he appeared there with much Splendour and came off with great Honour He was indeed a Man of great Parts had not insatiable ambition with profound dissimulation stained his other Noble Qualities The Protector at his return was advised presently to meet the Parliament for which the Writs had been sent out before he went into Scotland now that he was so covered with Glory to get himself established in his Authority and to do those other things which required a Session The Visitors execute the Injunctions He found the Visitors had performed their Visitation and all had given obedience And those who expounded the secret Providences of God with an Eye to their own opinions took great notice of this that on the same day in which the Visitors removed Acts and Monuments and destroyed most of the Images in London their Armies were so successful in Scotland in Pinkey Field It is too common to all Men to magnifie such Events much when they make for them but if they are against them they turn it off by this That Gods Ways are past finding out So partially do Men argue where they are once engaged Bonner and Gardiner had shewed some dislike of the Injunctions Bonner received them with a Protestation that he would observe them if they were not contrary to Gods Law and the Ordinances of the Church Upon which Sir Anthony Cook and the other Visitors complained to the Council So Bonner was sent for where he offered a submission but full of vain Quiddities so it is expressed in the Council-Book But they were not well received by Bonner Collection Number 12. But they not accepting of that he made such a full one as they desired which is in the Collection Yet for giving terror to others he was sent to lie for some time in the Prison called the Fleet. Gardiner seeing the Homilies was also resolved to protest against them Nor by Gardiner Sir John Godsalve who was one of the Visitors wrote to him not to ruine himself nor lose his Bishoprick by such an Action To whom he wrote a Letter that has more of a Christian and of a Bishop in it than any thing I ever saw of his He expresses in handsome terms a great contempt of the World and a resolution to suffer any thing rather than depart from his Conscience Besides that as he said the things being against Law he would not deliver up the Liberties of his Country but would petition against them This Letter will be found in the Collection Collection Number 13. for I am resolved to suppress nothing of consequence on what side soever it may be Sept. 15. On the 25th of September it being informed to the Council that Gardiner had written to some of that Board and had spoken to others many things in prejudice and contempt of the Kings Visitation and that he intended to refuse to set forth the Homilies and Injunctions he was sent for to the Council Where being examined he said he thought they were contrary to the Word of God and that his Conscience would not suffer him to observe them He excepted to one of the Homilies that it exclude Charity from justifying Men as well as Faith This he said was contrary to the Book set out in the late Kings time which was afterwards confirmed in Parliament in the Year 1542. he said further that he could never see one place of Scripture nor any ancient Doctor that favoured it He also said Erasmus's Paraphrase was bad enough in Latin but much worse in English for the Translator had oft out of ignorance and oft out of design misrendred him palpably and was one that neither understood Latin nor English well He offered to go to Oxford to dispute about Justification with any they should send him to or to enter in conference with any that would undertake his Instruction in Town But this did not satisfie the Council So they pressed him to declare what he intended to do when the Visitors should be with him He said he did not know he should further study these Points for it would be three weeks before they could be with him and he was sure he would say no worse than that he should obey them as far as could consist with Gods Law and the Kings The Council urged him to promise that he would without any limitation set forth the Homilies and the Injunctions which he refusing to do was sent to the Fleet. Some days after that Cranmer went to see the Dean of St. Pauls having the Bishops of Lincoln and Rochester with Dr. Cox and some others with him He sent for Gardiner thither and entred into discourse with him about that Passage in the Homily excluding Charity out of our Justification and urged those Places of St. Paul That we are justified by Faith without the Works of the Law He said his design in that Passage was only to draw Men from trusting in any thing they did and to teach them to trust only to Christ But Gardiner had a very different Notion of Justification For as he said Infants were justified by Baptism and Penitents by the Sacrament of Penance and that the Conditions of the justifying of those of Age were Charity as well as Faith as the three Estates make a Law all joyned together for by this Simile he set it out in the report he writ of that Discourse to the Lord Protector reckoning the King one of the three Estates a way of Speech very strange especially in a Bishop and a Lawyer For Erasmus it was said that though there were faults in his Paraphrase as no Book besides the Scriptures is without faults yet it was the best for that use they could find and they did choose rather to set out what so learned a Man had written
down on the 13th of December But both these Bills were put in one and sent up by the Commons on the 20th of that Month and assented to by the King By this Act it was set forth That the way of choosing Bishops by Conge d'Eslire was tedious and expenceful that there was only a shadow of Election in it and that therefore Bishops should thereafter be made by the Kings Letters Patents upon which they were to be consecrated And whereas the Bishops did exercise their Authority and carry on Processes in their own Names as they were wont to do in the time of Popery and since all Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal was derived from the King that therefore their Courts and all Processes should be from henceforth carried on in the Kings Name and be sealed by the Kings Seal as it was in the other Courts of Common-Law after the first of July next excepting only the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Courts and all Collations Presentations or Letters of Orders which were to pass under the Bishops proper Seals as formerly Upon this Act great advantages were taken to disparage the Reformation as subjecting the Bishops wholly to the pleasure of the Court. At first The ancient ways of electing Bishops Bishops were chosen and ordained by the other Bishops in the Countries where they lived The Apostles by that Spirit of discerning which was one of the extraordinary gifts they were endued with did ordain the first Fruits of their Labours and never left the Election of Pastors to the discretion of the People Indeed when they were to ordain Deacons who were to be trusted with the distribution of the publick Alms they appointed such as the People made choice of but when St. Paul gave directions to Timothy and Titus about the choice of Pastors all that depended on the People by them was that they should be blameless and of good report But afterwards the poverty of the Church being such that Church-men lived only by the free bounty of the People it was necessary to consider them much so that in many Places the choice began among the People and in all Places it was done by their approbation and good liking But great disorders followed upon this as soon as by the Emperors turning Christians the Wealth of Church-benefices made the Pastoral Charge more desirable and the vast numbers of those who turned Christians with the Tide brought in great Multitudes to have their Votes in these Elections The inconvenience of this was felt early in Phrygia where the Council of Laodicea made a Canon against these Popular Elections Yet in other parts of Asia and at Rome there were great and often Contests about it In some of these many Men were killed In many Places the inferior Clergy chose their Bishops But in most Places the Bishops of the Province made the choice yet so as to obtain the consent of the Clergy and People The Emperors by their Laws made it necessary that it should be confirmed by the Metropolitans They reserved the Elections of the great Sees to themselves or at least the Confirmation of them Thus it continued till Charles the Great 's time But then the nature of Church-employments came to be much altered For though the Church had Predial Lands with the other Rights that belonged to them by the Roman Law yet he first gave Bishops and Abbots great Territories with some branches of Royal Jurisdiction in them who held these Lands of him according to the Fewdal Laws This as it carried Church-men off from the humility and abstraction from the World which became their Function so it subjected them much to the Humours and Interests of those Princes on whom they had their dependance The Popes who had made themselves Heads of the Hierarchy could not but be glad to see Church-men grow rich and powerful in the World but they were not so well pleased to see them made so much the more dependent on their Princes and no doubt by some of those Princes that were thus become Patrons of Churches the Bishopricks were either given for Money or charged with reserved Pensions Upon this the Popes filled the World with the complaints of Simony and of enslaving Church-men to court Interests and so would not suffer them to accept of Investitures from their Princes but set up for free Elections as they called them which they said were to be confirmed by the See-Apostolick So the Canons Secular or Regular in Cathedral Churches were to choose the Bishops and their Election was to be confirmed at Rome yet Princes in most Places got some hold of those Elections so that still they went as they had a mind they should Which was oft complained of as a great slavery on the Church and would have been more universally condemned if the World had not been convinced that the matter would not be much the better if there should have been set up either the Popular or Synodical Elections in which Faction was like to sway all King Henry had continued the old way of the Elections by the Clergy but so as that it seemed to be little more than a mockery but now it was thought a more ingenuous way of proceeding to have the thing done directly by the King rather than under the thin covert of an involuntary Election For the other Branch about Ecclesiastical Courts The Causes before them concerning Wills and Marriages being matters of a mixed nature and which only belong to these by the Laws of the Land and being no parts of the Sacred Functions it was thought no Invasion of the Sacred Offices to have these tried in the Kings Name But the Collation of Benefices and giving of Orders which are the chief parts of the Episcopal Function were to be performed still by the Bishops in their own Names Only Excommunication by a fatal neglect continued to be the punishment for contempts of these Courts which belonging only to the Spiritual Cognisance ought to have been reserved for the Bishop with the assistance of his Clergy But the Canonists had so confounded all the Ancient Rules about the Government of the Church that the Reformers being called away by Considerations that were more obvious and pressing there was not that care taken in this that the thing required And these errors or oversights in the first concoction have by a continuance grown since into so formed a strength that it is easier to see what is amiss than to know how to rectifie it On the 29th of November the Bill against Vagabonds was brought in An Act against Vagabonds By this it was Enacted That all that should any where loiter without work or without offering themselves to work three days together or that should run away from work and resolve to live idly should be seized on and whosoever should present them to a Justice of Peace was to have them adjudged to be his Slaves for two years and they were to be marked with the Letter V. imprinted
trade with them and bring all the Money they could gather by that means to Rome They being bred up to a voluntary Poverty and expecting great Rewards for their Industry sold those Secrets with as much cunning as Mounte-banks use in selling their Tricks only here was the difference that the ineffectualness of the Mountebanks Medicines was soon discovered so their Trade must be but short in one Place whereas the other could not be so easily found out The chief Piece of the Religion of those Ages being to believe all that their Priests taught them Of this sort the Reader will find in the Collection an Essay of Indulgences as they were printed in the Hours after the use of Sarum Collection Number 26. which were set down in English though the Prayers be all Latine that so all the People might know the value of such Ware Those had been all by degrees brought from Rome and put into Peoples Hands and afterwards laid together in their Offices By them Indulgences of many years Hundreds Thousands and Millions of years and of all sins whatsoever were granted to such as devoutly said such Collects but it was always understood that they must confess and be absolved which is the meaning of those Expressions concerning their being in a state of Grace And so the whole Business was a Cheat. And now all this Trade was laid aside and Confession of secret sins was left to all Mens free choice since it was certain that the Confession to a Priest was no where enjoyned in the Scriptures It was a reasonable Objection that as secret Confession and private Penance had worn out the primitive practice of the publick censuring of scandalous Persons so it had been well if the reviving of that Discipline had driven out these later Abuses but to let that lie unrestored and yet to let Confession wear out was to discharge the World of all outward restraints and to leave them to their full liberty and so to throw up that Power of Binding and Loosing which ought to take place chiefly in admitting them to the Sacrament This was confessed to be a great defect and effectual endeavours were used to retrieve it though without success and it was openly declared to be a thing which they would study to repair But the total disuse of all publick censure had made the Nation so unacquainted with it that without the effectual concurrence of the Civil Authority they could not compass it And though it was acknowledged to be a great disorder in the Church yet as they could not keep up the necessity of private Confession since it was not commanded in the Gospel so the generality of the Clergy being superstitious Men whose chief influence on the People was by those secret Practices in Confession they judged it necessary to leave that free to all People and to represent it as a thing to which they were not obliged and in the place of that ordered the general Confession to be made in the Church with the Absolution added to it For the Power of Binding and Loosing it was by many thought to be only Declarative and so to be exercised when the Gospel was preached and a General Absolution granted according to the Ancient Forms In which Forms the Absolution was a Prayer that God would absolve and so it had been still used in the Absolution which was given on Maundy-Thursday but the Formal Absolution given by the Priest in his own Name I absolve thee was a late invention to raise their Authority higher and signified nothing distinct from those other Forms that were anciently used in the Church Others censured the Words in distributing the two kinds in the Lords Supper the Body being given for the preserving the Body and the Blood of Christ for preserving the Soul This was thought done on design to possess the People with an high value of the Chalice as that which preserved their Souls whereas the Bread was only for the preservation of their Bodies But Cranmer being ready to change any thing for which he saw good reason did afterwards so alter it that in both it was said Preserve thy Body and Soul And yet it stands so in the Prayer We do not presume c. On all this I have digressed so long because of the importance of the matter and for satisfying the Scruples that many still have upon the laying aside of Confession in our Reformation Commissions were next given to examine the state of the Chantries and Guildable Lands The Instruction about them will be found in the Collection of which I need give no abstract here Collection Number 27. for they were only about the Methods of enquiring into their value and how they were possessed or what Alienations had been made of them The Protector and Council were now in much trouble The War with Scotland they found was like to grow chargeable since they saw it was supported from France There was a Rebellion also broke out in Ireland and the King was much indebted nor could they expect any Subsidies from the Parliament in which it had been said that they gave the Chantry Lands that they might be delivered from all Subsidies Therefore the Parliament was prorogued till Winter Upon this the whole Council did on the 17th of April unanimously resolve that it was necessary to sell 5000 l. a year of Chantry Lands for raising such a Sum as the Kings occasions required and Sir Hen. Mildmay was appointed to treat about the Sale of them Gardiner falls into new Troubles The new Communion-Book was received over England without any opposition Only complaints were brought of Gardiner that he did secretly detract from the Kings Proceedings Upon which the Council took occasion to reflect on all his former behaviour And here it was remembred how at first upon his refusing to receive the Kings Injunctions he had been put in the Fleet where he had been as well used as if it had been his own House which is far contrary to his Letters to the Protector of which mention has been already made and that he upon promise of Conformity had been discharged But when he was come home being forgetful of his Promises he had raised much strife and contention and had caused all his Servants to be secretly armed and harnessed and had put publick affronts on those whom the Council sent down to preach in his Diocess for in some Places to disgrace them he went into the Pulpit before them and warned the People to beware of such Teachers and to receive no other Doctrine but what he had taught them Upon this he had been sent for a second time but again upon his Promise of Conformity was discharged and ordered to stay at his own House in London That there he had continued still to meddle in publick Matters of which being again admonished he desired that he might be suffered to clear himself of all misrepresentations that had been made of him in a Sermon
which he should preach before the King in which he should openly declare how well he was satisfied with his Proceedings yet it is added That in his Sermon where there was a wonderful Audience he did most arrogantly meddle with some Matters that were contrary to an express command given him both by word of Mouth and by Letters and in other Matters used such words as had almost raised a great Tumult in the very time and had spoken very seditiously concerning the Policy of the Kingdom So they saw that Clemency wrought no good effect on him and it seeming necessary to terrifie others by their Proceedings with him he was sent to the Tower and the door of his Closet was sealed up Thus it is entred in the Council-Book Signed E. Somerset T. Cantuarien W. St. Johns J. Russel and T. Cheyney Yet it seems this Order was not Signed when it was made but some years after For the Lord Russel Signed first Bedford but remembring that at the time when this Order was made he had not that Title therefore he dashed it out but so as it still appears and Signed J. Russel Fox's Acts and Monuments The account that Gardiner himself gives of this Business is That being discharged upon the Act of Pardon he was desired to promise that he would set forth the Homilies and a Form was given him to which he should set his Hand but he considering of it a fortnight returned and said he could not subscribe it so he was confined to his House Then Ridley and Mr. Cecil afterwards the great Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer to Queen Eliz. at that time Secretary to the Protector were sent to him and so prevailed that he did set his Hand to it But upon some Complaints that were made of him he was sent for after Whit-Sunday and accused that he had carried Palms had crept to the Cross and had a Sepulchre on Good-Friday which was contrary to the Kings Proclamations all which he denied and said he had and would still give obedience to what the King should command That of affronting the Kings Preachers was objected to him to which he answered telling matter of fact how it was done but he does not in his Writing set it down Then it was complained that in a Sermon he had said The Apostles came away rejoycing from the Council the Council the Council repeating it thus to make it seem applicable to himself This he denied Then it was objected That he preached the Real Presence in the Sacrament the Word Real not being in Scripture and so it was not the setting forth the pure Word of God He said he had not used the Word Real only he had asserted the Presence of Christ in such words as he had heard the Arch-bishop of Canterbury dispute for it against Lambert that had been burnt He was commanded to tarry in London but he desired that since he was not an Offender he might be at his liberty He complained much of the Songs made of him and of the Books written against him and particularly of one Philpot in Westminster whom he accounted a mad Man Then he relates That Cecil came to him and proposed to him to preach before the King and that he should write his Sermon and also brought him some Notes which he wished him to put in his Sermon he said he was willing to preach but would not write it for that was to preach as an Offender nor would he make use of Notes prepared by other Men. Then he was privately brought to the Protector none but the Lord St. John being present who shewed him a Paper containing the opinion of some Lawyers of the Kings Power and of a Bishops Authority and of the Punishment of disobeying the King but he desired to speak with those Lawyers and said no subscription of theirs should oblige him to preach otherwise than as he was convinced The Protector said he should either do that or do worse Secretary Smith came to him to press him further in some Points but what they were is not mentioned Yet by the other Papers in that Business it appears they related to the Kings Authority when under Age and for justifying the Kings proceedings in what had been done about the Ceremonies and that Auricular Confession was indifferent So the Contest between him and the Protector ended and there was no writing required of him but he left the whole matter to him so that he should treat plainly of those things mentioned to him by Cecil He chose St. Peters day because the Gospel agreed to his purpose Cecil shewed him some Notes written with the Kings Hand of the Sermons preached before him especially what was said of the Duty of a King and warned him that when ever he named the King he should add and his Council To this he made no Answer for though he thought it wisely done of a King to use his Council yet being to speak of the Kings Power according to Scripture he did not think it necessary to add any thing of his Council and hearing by a confused report some secret matter he resolved not to meddle with it Two days before he preached the Protector sent him a Message not to meddle with those Questions about the Sacrament that were yet in controversie among Learned Men and that therefore he was resolved there should be no publick determination made of them before-hand in the Pulpit He said he could not forbear to speak of the Mass for he looked on it as the chief foundation of Christian Religion but he doubted not that he should so speak of it as to give them all content So the day following the Protector writ to him Number 28. as will be found in the Collection requiring him in the Kings Name not to meddle with these Points but to preach concerning the Articles given him and about Obedience and good Life which would afford him matter enough for a long Sermon since the other points were to be reserved to a publick Consultation The Protector added That he held it a great part of his Duty under the King not to suffer wilful Persons to disswade the People from receiving such Truths as should be set forth by others But Gardiner pretended that there was no Controversie about the Presence of Christ And so the next day he took his Text out of the Gospel for the day Thou art Christ Parkers MSS. Ex C. Ch. Col. Cant. He preached before the King c. In his Sermon of which I have seen large Notes he expressed himself very fully concerning the Popes Supremacy as justly abolished and the Suppression of Monasteries and Chantries he approved of the Kings Proceedings he thought Images might have been well used but yet they might be well taken away He approved of the Sacrament in both kinds and the taking away that great number of Masses satisfactory and liked well the new Order for the Communion But he asserted largely the Presence of
Christs Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament Upon which many of the Assembly that were indiscreetly hot on both sides cried out some approving and others disliking it Of the Kings Authority under Age and of the Power of the Council in that Case he said not a word and upon that he was imprisoned The occasion of this was the Popish Clergy began generally to have it spread among them that though they had acknowledged the Kings Supremacy yet they had never owned the Councils Supremacy That the Council could only see to the execution of the Laws and Orders that had been made but could not make new ones and that therefore the Supremacy could not be exercised till the King in whose Person it was vested came to be of Age to consider of Matters himself Upon this the Lawyers were consulted who did unanimously resolve that the Supremacy being annexed to the Regal Dignity was the same in a King under Age when it was executed by the Council that it was in a King at full Age and therefore things ordered by the Council now had the same Authority in Law that they could have when the King did act himself But this did not satisfie the greater part of the Clergy Some of whom by the high Flatteries that had been given to Kings in King Henry's time seemed to fancy that there were degrees of Divine Illumination derived unto Princes by the anointing them at the Coronation and these not exerting themselves till a King attained to a ripeness of understanding they thought the Supremacy was to lie dormant while he was so young The Protector and Council endeavoured to have got Gardiner to declare against this but he would not meddle in it How far he might set forward the other Opinion I do not know These Proceedings against him were thought too severe and without Law but he being generally hated they were not so much censured as they had been if they had fallen on a more acceptable Man And thus were the Orders made by the Council generally obeyed many being terrified with the usage Gardiner met with from which others inferred what they might look for if they were refractory when so great a Bishop was so treated The next thing Cranmer set about was the compiling of a Catechisme or large instruction of young Persons in the Grounds of the Christian Religion In it he reckons the two first Commandments but one Cranmer sets out a Catechisme though he says many of the Ancients divided them in two But the division was of no great consequence so no part of the Decalogue were suppressed by the Church He shewed that the excuses the Papists had for Images were no other than what the Heathens brought for their Idolatry who also said they did not worship the Image but that only which was represented by it He particularly takes notice of the Image of the Trinity He shews how St. Peter would not suffer Cornelius and the Angel would not suffer St. John to worship them The believing that there is a vertue in one Image more than in another he accounts plain Idolatry Ezekias broke the Brazen Serpent when abused though it was a Type or Image of Christ made by Gods command to which a miraculous Vertue had been once given So now there was good reason to break Images when they had been so abused to superstition and Idolatry and when they gave such scandal to Jews and Mahometans who generally accounted the Christians Idolaters on that account He asserts besides the two Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper the Power of reconciling Sinners to God as a third and fully owns the Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests and wishes that the Canons and Rites of publick Penitence were again restored and exhorts much to Confession and the Peoples dealing with their Pastors about their Consciences that so they might upon knowledge bind and loose according to the Gospel Having finished this easie but most useful work he dedicated it to the King And in his Epistle to him complains of the great neglect that had been in former times of Catechising and that Confirmation had not been rightly administred since it ought to be given only to these of Age who understood the Principles of the Christian Doctrine and did upon knowledge and with sincere minds renew their Baptismal Vow From this it will appear that from the beginning of this Reformation the Practice of the Roman Church in the matter of Images was held Idolatrous Cranmer's zeal for restoring the Penitentiary Canons is also clear and it is plain that he had now quite laid aside those singular opinions which he formerly held of the Ecclesiastical Functions for now in a Work which was wholly his own without the concurrence of any others he fully sets forth their Divine Institution All these things made way for a greater Work which these selected Bishops and Divines who had laboured in the setting forth of the Office of the Communion were now preparing which was the entire Reformation of the whole Service of the Church In order to this they brought together all the Offices used in England In the Southern Parts A General Reformation of all the Offices of the Church is set about those after the use of Sarum were universally received which were believed to have been compiled by Osmund Bishop of Sarum In the North of England they had other Offices after the use of York In South-Wales they had them after the use of Hereford In North-Wales after the use of Bangor And in Lincoln another sort of an Office proper to that See In the Primitive Church when the extraordinary Gifts ceased the Bishops of the several Churches put their Offices and Prayers into such a Method as was nearest to what they had heard or remembred from the Apostles And these Liturgies were called by the Apostles Names from whose Forms they had been composed as that at Jerusalem carried the Name of St. James and that of Alexandria the Name of St. Mark though those Books that we have now under these Names are certainly so interpolated that they are of no great Authority But in the fourth Century we have these Liturgies first mentioned The Council of Laodicea appointed the same Office of Prayers to be used in the Mornings and Evenings The Bishops continued to draw up new Additions and to put old Forms into other Methods But this was left to every Bishops care nor was it made the Subject of any publick Consultation till St. Austins time when in their dealings with Hereticks they found they took advantages from some of the Prayers that were in some Churches Upon this he tells us it was ordered that there should be no Prayers used in the Church but upon common advice after that the Liturgies came to be more carefully considered Formerly the Worship of God was a pure and simple thing and so it continued till Superstition had so infected the Church that those Forms were thought too naked
unless they were put under more Artificial Rules and dressed up with much Ceremony Gregory the Great was the first that took much care to make the Church Musick very regular and he did also put the Liturgies in another Method than had been formerly used Yet he had no such fondness of his own composures but left it to Austin the Monk whom he sent over into England when he consulted him in it either to use the Roman or French Rituals or any other as he should find they were most likely to edifie the People After this in most Sees there were great variations for as any Prelate came to be Canonized or held in high esteem by the People some private Collects or particular Forms that he had used were practised in his or perhaps as his Fame spread in the neighbouring Dioceses In every Age there were notable Additions made and all the Writers almost in the 8th and 9th Centuries employed their Fancies to find out mystical significations for every Rite that was then used and so as a new Rite was added it was no hard matter to add some Mystery to it This had made the Offices swell out of measure and there was a great variety of them Missals Breviaries Rituals Pontificals Portoises Pies Gradualls Antiphonalls Psalteries Houres and a great many more Every Religious Order had likewise their peculiar Rites with the Saints days that belonged to their Order and Services for them and the understanding how to officiate was become so hard a piece of the Trade that it was not easie to learn it exactly without a long practice in it So now it was resolved to correct and examine these It was resolved there should be a new Liturgy I do not find it was ever brought under consideration whether they should compose a Form for all the Parts of Divine Worship or leave it to the sudden and extemporary heats of those who were to officiate which some have called since that time The worshiping by the Spirit Of this way of serving God they did not then dream much less that the appointing of Forms of Prayer was an encroaching on the Kingly Office of Christ but thought what ever praying in the Spirit might have been in the Apostles time where yet every Man brought his Psalms which are a sort of Prayers as well as Praises and these look like some written Composures as St. Paul expresses it that now to pray with warm affection and sincere devotion was Spiritual Worship and that where it was the same thing that was to be daily asked of God the using the same expressions was the sign of a steady devotion that was fixed on the thing prayed for whereas the heat that new words raised looked rather like a warmth in the fancy Nor could it agree with the Principles of a Reformation that was to devest the Church-men of that unlimited Authority which they had formerly exercised over Mens Consciences to leave them at liberty to make the People pray after them as they pleased this being as great a resignation of the People when their devotion depended on the sudden heats of their Pastors as the former Superstition had made of their Faith and Conscience to them So it being resolved to bring the whole Worship of God under set Forms they set one General Rule to themselves which they afterwards declared of changing nothing for novelties sake or meerly because it had been formerly used They resolved to retain such things as the Primitive Church had practised cutting off such abuses as the later ages had grafted on them and to continue the use of such other things which though they had been brought in not so early yet were of good use to beget devotion and were so much recommended to the People by the practice of them that the laying these aside would perhaps have alienated them from the other changes they made And therefore they resolved to make no change without very good and weighty reasons In which they considered the practice of our Saviour who did not only comply with the Rites of Judaism himself but even the Prayer he gave to his Disciples was framed according to their Forms and his two great Institutions of Baptism and the Eucharist did consist of Rites that had been used among the Jews And since he who was delivering a new Religion and was authorized in the highest manner that ever any was did yet so far comply with received Practices as from them to take those which he sanctified for the use of his Church it seemed much fitter for those who had no such extraordinary warrant to give them Authority in what they did when they were reforming abuses to let the World see they did it not from the wanton desire of change or any affectation of novelty and with those resolutions they entred on their Work In the search of the former Offices they found an infinite deal of superstition in the Consecrations of Water Salt Bread Incense Candles Fire Bells Churches Images Altars Crosses Vessels Garments Palms Flowers all looked like the Rites of Heathenism and seemed to spring from the same Fountain When the Water or Salt were blessed it was expressed to be to this end that they might be health both to Soul and Body and Devils who might well laugh at these tricks which they had taught them were adjured not to come to any place where they were sprinkled and the Holy Bread was blessed to be a defence against all Diseases and snares of the Devil and the Holy Incense that Devils might not come near the smoak of it but that all who smelled at it might perceive the Vertue of the Holy Ghost and the Ashes were blessed so that all who were covered with them might deserve to obtain the remission of their sins All those things had drawn the People to such confidence in them that they generally thought that without those harder terms of true holiness they might upon such superstitious observances be sure of Heaven So all these they resolved to cast out as things which had no warrant in Scripture and were vain devices to draw Men away from a lively application to God through Christ according to the method of the Gospel Then the many Rites in Sacramental Actions were considered all which had swelled up to an infinite heap And as some of these which had no foundation in Scripture were thrown out so the others were brought back to a greater simplicity In no part of Religion was the corruption of the former Offices more remarkable than in the Priests granting Absolution to the Living and the Dead To such as Confessed the Absolution was thus granted I absolve thee in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost To which this was added And I grant to thee that all the Indulgences given or to be given thee by any Prelate with the Blessings of them all the Sprinklings of Holy Water all the Devout Beatings of thy Breast the
Preferments still Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury Richard Bishop of Chichester and Geofrey Bishop of Ely are said to have had Wives and though there were not so many Instances of Priests marrying after Orders yet if there were any thing in the nature of Priesthood inconsistent by the Law of God with Marriage then it was as unlawful for them to continue in their former Marriages as to contract a new one Some few Instances were also gathered out of Church History of Bishops and Priests marrying after Orders but as these were few so there was just reason to controvert them Upon the whole matter it was clear that the Coelibate of the Clergy flowed from no law of God nor from any general Law of the Church The Vows and other Reasons against it examined but the contrary of Clergy-mens living with their Wives was universally received for many Ages As for Vows it was much questioned how far they did bind in such Cases It seemed a great sin to impose such on any when they were yet young and did not well know their own dispositions Nor was it in a Mans power to keep them For Continence being none of those Graces that are promised by God to all that ask it as it was not in a Mans Power without extream severities on himself to govern his own constitution of Body so he had no reason to expect God should interpose when he had provided another remedy for such Cases Besides the Promise made by Clergy-men according to the Rites of the Roman Pontifical did not oblige them to Coelibate The words were Wilt thou follow Chastity and Sobriety to which the Sub-Deacon answered I will By Chastity was not to be understood a total abstinence from all but only from unlawful embraces since a Man might live chast in a state of Marriage as well as out of it But whatever might be in this the English Clergy were not concerned in it for there was no such Question nor Answer made in the Forms of their Ordination So they were not by any Vow precluded from Marriage And for the Expediency of it nothing was more evident than that these Laws had brought in much uncleanness into the Church and those who pressed them most had been signally noted for these Vices No Prince in the English History lewder than Edgar that had so promoted it The Legate that in King Henry the second 's time got that severe Decree made that put all the married Clergy from their Livings was found the very night after for the credit of Coelibate in bed with a Whore On this Subject many undecent Stories were gathered especially by Bale who was a learned Man but did not write with that temper and discretion that became a Divine He gathered all the lewd Stories that could be raked together to this purpose and the many abominable things found in the Monasteries were then fresh in all Mens memories It was also observed that the unmarried Clergy had been as much as the married could be intent upon the raising Families and the enriching of their Nephews and Kindred and sometimes of their Bastards witness the present Pope Paul the third and not long before him Alexander the 6th so that the married Clergy could not be tempted to more Covetousness than had appeared in the unmarried And for the Distraction of Domestick Affairs the Clergy had formerly given themselves up to such a secular course of Life that it was thought nothing could encrease it but if the married Clergy should set themselves to raise more than a decent maintenance for their Children such as might fit them for Letters or Callings and should neglect Hospitality become covetous and accumulate Livings and Preferments to make Estates for their Children this might be justly curbed by new Laws or rather the renewing of the ancient Canons by which Clergy-men were declared to be only entrusted with the Goods of the Church for publick ends and were not to apply them to their own private uses nor to leave them to their Children and Friends Thus had this Matter been argued in many Books that were written on this Subject by Poinet and Parker the one afterwards Bishop of Winchester and the other Arch-bishop of Canterbury also by Bale Bishop of Ossory with many more Dr. Ridley Dr. Taylor afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Benson and Dr. Redmayn appeared more confidently in it than many others being Men that were resolved never to marry themselves who yet thought it necessary and therefore pleaded according to the Pattern that Paphnutius had set them that all should be left to their liberty in this matter The Debate about it was brought into the Convocation where Dr. Redmayn's Authority went a great way He was a Man of great Learning and Probity and of so much greater weight because he did not in all Points agree with the Reformers but being at this time sick his opinion was brought under his Hand Collection Number 30. which will be found in the Collection copied from the Orignal It was to this purpose That though the Scriptures exhorted Priests to live chast and out of the cares of the World yet the Laws forbidding them Marriage were only Canons and Constitutions of the Church not founded on the Word of God and therefore he thought that a Man once married might be a Priest and he did not find the Priests in the Church of England had made any Vow against Marriage and therefore he thought that the King and the higher Powers of the Church might take away the Clog of perpetual continence from the Priests and grant that such as could not or would not contain might marry once and not be put from their holy Ministration It was opposed by many in both Houses but carried at last by the major Vote All this I gather from what is printed concerning it For I have seen no Remains of this or of any of the other Convocations that came afterwards in this Reign the Registers of them being destroyed in the Fire of London This Act seemed rather a connivance and permission of the Clergy to marry than any direct allowance of it So the Enemies of that state of life continued to reproach the married Clergy still and this was much heightned by many undecent Marriages and other light behaviour of some Priests But these things made way for a more full Act concerning this matter about three years after The next Act that past in this Parliament was about the publick Service which was put into the House of Commons on the 9th of December An Act confirming the Liturgy and the next day was also put into the House of Lords It lay long before them and was not agreed to till the 15th of Jan. The Earl of Derby the Bishops of London Duresme Norwich Carlisle Hereford Worcester Westminster and Chichester and the Lords Dacres and Windsor protesting The Preamble of the Act sets forth That there had been several Forms of Service and that
the Bishoprick of Duresme Upon this the Protector writ a chiding Letter to him To it he writ an Answer so sutable to what became a Bishop who would put all things to hazard rather than do any thing against his Conscience that I thought it might do no small right to his Memory to put it with the Answer which the Protector writ to him in the Collection Collection Numb 59 60. These with many more I found among his Majesties Papers of State in that Repository of them commonly called the Paper-Office To which I had a free access by a Warrant which was procured to me from the King by the Right Honourable the Earl of Sunderland one of the Principal Secretaries of State who very cheerfully and generously expressed his readiness to assist me in any thing that might compleat the History of our Reformation That Office was first set up by the care of the Earl of Salisbury when he was Secretary of State in King James's time which though it is a copious and certain Repertory for those that are to write our History ever since the Papers of State were laid up there yet for the former times it contains only such Papers as that great Minister could then gather together so that it is not so compleat in the Transactions that fall within the time of which I writ There was also a settlement made of the Controversie concerning the Greek Tongue A contest about pronouncing the Greek There had been in King Henry's time a great Contest raised concerning the Pronunciation of the Greek Vowels That Tongue was but lately come to any perfection in England and so no wonder the Greek was pronounced like English with the same sound and apertures of the Mouth To this Mr. Cheek then Reader of that Tongue in Cambridge opposed himself and taught other Rules of Pronunciation Gardiner was it seems so afraid of every Innovation though ever so much in the right that he contended stifly to have the old Pronunciation retained and Cheek persisting in his Opinion was either put from the Chair or willingly left it to avoid the Indignation of so great and so spiteful a Man as Gardiner was who was then Chancellor of the University Cheek wrote a Book in vindication of his way of pronouncing Greek of which this must be said That it is very strange to see how he could write with so much Learning and Judgment on so bare a Subject Redmayn Poinet and other learned Men were of his side yet more covertly but Sir Tho. Smith now Secretary of State writ three Books on the same Argument and did so evidently confirm Cheeks Opinion that the Dispute was now laid aside and the true way of pronouncing the Greek took place the rather because Gardiner was in disgrace and Cheek and Smith were in such Power and Authority So great an Influence had the Interests of Men in supporting the most speculative and indifferent things Soon after this Bonner fell into new troubles Bonner falls into trouble he continued to oppose every thing as long as it was safe for him to do it while it was under debate and so kept his Interest with the Papists but he complied so obediently with all the Laws and Orders of Council that it was not easie to find any matter against him He executed every Order that was sent him so readily that there was not so much as ground for any Complaint yet it was known he was in his Heart against every thing they did and that he cherished all that were of a contrary mind The Council being informed that upon the Commotions that were in England many in London withdrew from the Service and Communion and frequented Masses which was laid to his charge as being negligent in the execution of the Kings Laws and Injunctions they writ to him on the 23d of July to see to the correcting of these things and that he should give good example himself Upon which on the 26th following he sent about a Charge to execute the Order in this Letter which he said he was most willing and desirous to do Yet it was still observed that whatsoever obedience he gave it was against his Heart And therefore he was called before the Council the 11th of August Injunctions are given him There a Writing was deliver'd to him complaining of his remissness and particularly that whereas he was wont formerly on all high Festivals to officiate himself yet he had seldom or never done it since the New Service was set out as also that Adultery was openly practised in his Diocess which he took no care according to his Pastoral Office to restrain or punish therefore he was strictly charged to see these things reformed He was also ordered to preach on Sunday come three weeks at St. Pauls Cross and that he should preach there once a quarter for the future and be present at every Sermon made there except he were sick that he should officiate at St. Pauls at every high Festival such as were formerly called Majus duplex and give the Communion that he should proceed against all who did not frequent the Common-Prayer nor receive the Sacrament once a year or did go to Mass that he should search out and punish Adulterers that he should take care of the reparation of Churches and paying Tythes in his Diocess and should keep his residence in his House in London As to his Sermon he was required to preach against Rebellion setting out the hainousness of it he was also to shew what was true Religion and that external Ceremonies were nothing in themselves but that in the use of them Men ought to obey the Magistrate and joyn true devotion to them and that the King was no less King and the People no less bound to obey when he was in Minority than when he was of full Age. In his Sermon he did not set forth the King Power under Age as he had been required to do On the first of September being the day appointed for him to preach there was a great Assembly gathered to hear him He touched upon the Points that were enjoyned him excepting that about the Kings Age of which he said not one word But since the manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament was a thing which he might yet safely speak of he spent most of his Sermon on the asserting the Corporal Presence which he did with many sharp reflections on those who were of another mind There were present among others William Latimer and John Hooper soon after Bishop of Glocester who came and informed against him that as he had wholly omitted that about the Kings Age so he had touched the other Points but slightly and did say many other things which tended to stir up disorder and dissention Upon this there was a Commission issued out to Cranmer and Ridley with the two Secretaries of State Rot. Pat. 11. Par. 3. Reg. and Dr. May Dean of St. Pauls to
Articles which he had not yet answered otherwise they would proceed against him as Contumax and hold him as Confessing But he adhered to his Appeal and so would answer no more New matter was also brought of his going out of St. Pauls in the midst of the Sermon on the 15th of the Month and so giving a publick disturbance and scandal and of his writing next day to the Lord Major not to suffer such Preachers to sow their ill Doctrine This was occasioned by the Preachers speaking against the Corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament But he would give the Court no account of that matter so they adjourned to the 27th and from that to the first of October In that time great endeavours were used to perswade him to submit and to behave himself better for the future and upon that condition he was assured he should be gently used But he would yield to nothing So on the first of October when he was brought before them the Arch-bishop told him they had delayed so long being unwilling to proceed to extremities with him and therefore wished him to submit But he read another Writing by which he protested that he was brought before them by force and that otherwise he would not have come since that having appeal'd from them he looked on them as his Judges no more He said that he had also written a Petition to the Lord Chancellor complaining of the Delegates and desiring that his Appeal might be admitted and said by that Appeal it was plain that he esteemed the King to be cloathed with his full Royal Power now that he was under Age since he thus appealed to him Upon which the Arch-bishop the Bishop of Rochester Secretary Smith and the Dean of St. Pauls He is deprived from his Bishoprick gave Sentence against him that since he had not declared the Kings Power while under Age in his Sermon as he was commanded by the Protector and Council therefore the Arch-bishop with the Consent and Assent of his Colleagues did deprive him of the Bishoprick of London Sentence being thus given he appealed again by word of mouth The Court did also order him to be carried to Prison till the King should consider further of it This account of his Trial is drawn from the Register of London where all these Particulars are inserted From thence it was that Fox printed them For Bonner though he was afterward Commissioned by the Queen to deface any Records that made against the Catholick Cause yet did not care to alter any thing in this Register after his re-admission in Queen Maries time It seems he was not displeased with what he found Recorded of himself in this matter Thus was Bonner deprived of his Bishoprick of London Censures past upon it This Judgment as all such things are was much censured It was said it was not Canonical since it was by a Commission from the King and since Secular Men were mixed with Clergy-men in the censure of a Bishop To this it was answered That the Sentence being only of deprivation from the See of London it was not so entirely an Ecclesiastical Censure but was of a mixed nature so that Lay-men might joyn in it and since he had taken a Commission from the King for his Bishoprick by which he held it only during the Kings pleasure he could not complain of this deprivation which was done by the Kings Authority Others who looked further back remembred that Constantine the Emperor had appointed Secular Men to enquire into some things objected to Bishops who were called Cognitores or Triers and such had examined the business of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage even upon an Appeal after it had been tried in several Synods and given Judgment against Donatus and his Party The same Constantine had also by his Authority put Eustathius out of Antioch Athanasius out of Alexandria and Paul out of Constantinople and though the Orthodox Bishops complained of these Particulars as done unjustly at the false suggestion of the Arrians yet they did not deny the Emperors Authority in such Cases Afterwards the Emperors used to have some Bishops attending on them in their Comitatus or Court to whose Judgment they left most Causes who acted only by Commission from the Emperor So Epiphanius was brought to condemn Chrysostome at Constantinople who had no Authority to judge him by the Canons Others objected that it was too severe to deprive Bonner for a defect in his memory and that therefore they should have given him a new Tryal in that Point and not have proceeded to censure him on such an omission since he protested it was not on design but a pure forgetfulness and all People perceived clearly it had been before hand resolved to lay him aside and that therefore they now took him on this disadvantage and so deprived him But it was also well known that all the Papists infused this Notion into the People of the Kings having no Power till he came to be of Age and he being certainly one of them there was reason to conclude that what he said for his defence was only a Pretence and that it was of design that he had omitted the mentioning the Kings Power when under Age. The adding of Imprisonment to his Deprivation was thought by some to be an extream accumulation of Punishments But that was no more than what he drew upon himself by his rude and contemptuous behaviour However it seems that some of these Objections wrought on Secretary Petre for he never sate with the Delegates after the first day and he was now turning about to another Party On the other hand Bonner was little pitied by most that knew him He was a cruel and fierce Man he understood little of Divinity his Learning being chiefly in the Canon Law Besides he was looked on generally as a Man of no Principles All the obedience he gave either to the Laws or the Kings Injunctions was thought a compliance against his Conscience extorted by fear And his undecent carriage during his process had much exposed him to the People so that it was not thought to be hard dealing though the Proceedings against him were summary and severe Nor did his carriage afterward during his imprisonment discover much of a Bishop or a Christian For he was more concerned to have Puddings and Pears sent him than for any thing else This I gather from some original Letters of his to Richard Leechmore Esq in Worcester-shire which were communicated to me by his Heir Lineally descended from him the Worshipful Mr. Leechmore now the Senior Bencher of the Middle-Temple of which I transcribed the latter part of one Collection Number 37. that will be found in the Collection In it he desires a large quantity of Pears and Puddings to be sent him otherwise he gives those to whom he writes an odd sort of Benediction very unlike what became a Man of his Character he gives them to the Devil to the Devil
minds and for other things they referred them to Hobbey that carried the Letter which is in the Collection upon this the Council sent Sir Anthony Wingfield Collection Number 44. Sir Anthony St. Leiger and Sir J. Williams to Windsor with a charge to see that the Duke of Somerset should not withdraw before they arrived and that Sir Tho. Smith the Secretary Sir Michael Stanhop Sir John Thynn Edw. Wolfe and William Cecil should be restrained to their Chambers till they examined them On the 12th of October the whole Council went to Windsor and coming to the King they protested that all they had done was out of the zeal and affection they had to his Person and Service The King received them kindly and thanked them for their care of him and assured them that he took all they had done in good part On the 13th day they sate in Council and sent for those who were ordered to be kept in their Chambers only Cecil was let go They charged them that they had been the chief Instruments about the Duke of Somerset in all his wilful Proceedings therefore they turned Smith out of his Place of Secretary and sent him with the rest to the Tower of London He is accused and sent to the Tower Collection Number 45. On the day following the Protector was called before them and Articles of Misdemeanours and high Treason were laid to his charge which will be found in the Collection The Substance of them was That being made Protector on condition that he should do nothing without the consent of the other Executors he had not observed that Condition but had treated with Ambassadors made Bishops and Lord-Lieutenants by his own Authority and that he had held a Court of Requests in his own House and had done many things contrary to Law had embased the Coin had in the Matter of Inclosures set out Proclamations and given Commissions against the mind of the whole Council that he had not taken care to suppress the late Insurrections but had justified and encouraged them that he had neglected the Places the King had in France by which means they were lost that he had perswaded the King that the Lords who met at London intended to destroy him and had desired him never to forget it but to revenge it and had required some young Lords to keep it in his remembrance and had caused those Lords to be proclaimed Traitors that he had said If he should die the King should die too that he had carried the King so suddenly to Windsor that he was not only put in great fear but cast into a dangerous disease that he had gathered the People and armed them for War and had armed his Friends and Servants and left the Kings Servants unarmed and that he intended to fly to Jersey or Garnsey So he was sent to the Tower being conducted thither by the Earls of Sussex and Huntington That day the King was carried back again to Hampton-Court and an Order was made that six Lords should be the Governours of his Person who were the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Warwick and Arundel the Lords St. John Russel and Wentworth Two of those were in their course to attend constantly on the King Censures passed upon him And thus fell the Duke of Somerset from his high Offices and great Trust The Articles objected to him seem to say as much for his justification as the Answers could do if they were in my Power He is not accused of rapine cruelty or bribery but only of such things as are incident to all Men that are of a sudden exalted to a high and disproportioned greatness What he did about the Coin was not for his own advantage but was done by a common mistake of many Governours who in the necessity of their Affairs fly to this as their last shift to draw out their business as long as is possible but it ever rebounds on the Government to its great prejudice and loss He bore his Fall more equally than he had done his Prosperity and set himself in his imprisonment to study and reading and falling on a Book that treated of Patience both from the Principles of Moral Philosophy and of Christianity he was so much taken with it that he ordered it to be translated into English and writ a Preface to it himself mentioning the great comfort he had found in reading it which had induced him to take care that others might reap the like benefit from it Peter Martyr writ him also a long consolatory Letter which was printed both in Latin and in an English Translation and all the Reformed both in England and abroad looked on his Fall as a publick loss to that whole Interest which he had so steadily set forward But on the other hand The Papists much lifted up the Popish Party were much lifted up at his Fall and the rather because they knew the Earl of Southampton who they hoped should have directed all Affairs was entirely theirs It was also believed that the Earl of Warwick had given them secret Assurances So it was understood at the Court of France as Thuanus writes They had also among the first things they did gone about to discharge the Duke of Norfolk of his long imprisonment in consideration of his great Age his former Services and the extremity of the Proceedings against him which were said to have flowed chiefly from the ill Offices the Duke of Somerset had done him But this was soon laid aside So now the Papists made their Addresses to the Earl of Warwick The Bishop of Winchester wrote to him a hearty Congratulation rejoycing that the late tyranny so he called the Duke of Somersets Administration was now at an end he wished him all prosperity and desired that when he had leisure from the great Affairs that were in so unsetled a condition some regard might be had of him The Bishop of London being also in good hopes since the Protector and Smith whom he esteemed his chief Enemies were now in disgrace and Cranmer was in cold if not in ill terms with the Earl of Warwick sent a Petition that his Appeal might be received and his Process reviewed But their hopes soon vanish Many also began to fall off from going to the English Service or the Communion hoping that all would be quickly undone that had been setled by the Duke of Somerset But the Earl of Warwick finding the King so zealously addicted to the carrying on of the Reformation that nothing could recommend any one so much to him as the promoting it further would do soon forsook the Popish Party and was seemingly the most earnest on a further Reformation that was possible I do not find that he did write any Answer to the Bishop of Winchester He continued still a Prisoner And for Bonners Matter there was a new Court of Delegates appointed to review his Appeal consisting of four Civilians and four Common Lawyers who
Name who made that Testament was appointed to be struck out of the List of those Church-men who had died in the Faith and were remembred in the daily Offices Samosatenus is represented as one of the first eminent Church-men that involved himself much in Secular Cares Upon the Emperors turning Christian it was a natural effect of their Conversion for them to cherish the Bishops much and many of the Bishops became so much in love with the Court and publick Imployments that Canons were made against their going to Court unless they were called and the Canalis or Road to the Court was kept by the Bishop of Rome so that none might go without his Warrant Their medling in Secular Matters was also condemned in many Provincial Councils but most copiously and amply by the General Council at Chalcedon It is true the Bishops had their Courts for the Arbitration of Civil Differences which were first begun upon St. Pauls Epistle to the Corinthians against their going to Law before Unbelievers and for submitting their Sutes to some among themselves The Reasons of this ceased when the Judges in the Civil Courts were become Christians yet these Episcopal Audiences were still continued after Constantines time and their Jurisdiction was sometimes enlarged and sometimes abridged as there was occasion given St. Austin and many other Holy Bishops grew weary even of that and found that the hearing Causes as it took up much of their time so filled their Heads with thoughts of another nature than what properly belonged to them The Bishops of Rome and Alexandria taking advantage from the greatness and Wealth of their Sees began first to establish a Secular Principality of the Church and the Confusions that fell out in â—aly after the 5th Century gave the Bishops of Rome great opportunities for it which they improved to the utmost advantage The Revolutions in Spain gave a Rise to the Spanish Bishops medling much in all Civil Matters And when Charles the Great and his Son had given great Territories and large Jurisdictions to many Sees and Monasteries Bishops and Abbots came after that not only to have a share in all the publick Councils of most of the States of Europe to which their Lands gave them a Right but to be chiefly imployed in all Affairs and Offices of State The Ignorance of these Ages made this in a manner necessary and Church-Preferments were given as Rewards to Men who had served in the State in Embassies or in their Princes Courts of Justice So that it was no wonder if Men advanced upon that merit continued in their former Method and course of Life Thus the Bishops became for the greatest part only a sort of Men who went in peculiar Habits and upon some high Festivities performed a few Offices but for the Pastoral care and all the Duties incumbent on them they were universally neglected and that seriousness that abstraction from the World that application to Study and Religious Exercises and chiefly the care of Souls which became their Function seemed inconsistent with that course of Life which Secular Cares brought on Men who pursued them Nor was it easie to perswade the World that their Pastors did very much aspire to Heaven when they were thrusting themselves so indecently into the Courts of Princes or ambitiously pretending to the Administration of Matters of State and it was always observed that Church-men who assumed to themselves Imployments and an Authority that was excentrick to their Callings suffered so much in that Esteem and lost so much of that Authority which of right belonged to their Character and Office But to go on with the Series of Affairs There was all possible care taken to divert and entertain the Kings Mind with pleasing Sights as will appear by his Journal which it seems had the effect that was desired for he was not much concerned in his Unkles Preservation 1552. An Order was sent for beheading the Duke of Somerset on the 22d of January on which day he was brought to the Place of Execution on Tower-hill His whole deportment was very composed and no way changed from what it had ordinarily been he first kneeled down and prayed and then he spake to the People in these words The Duke of Somerset's Speech at his Execution Dearly beloved Friends I am brought here to suffer death albeit that I never offended against the King neither by word nor deed and have been always as faithful and true to this Realm as any Man hath been But for so much as I am by Law condemned to die I do acknowledge my self as well as others to be subject thereto Wherefore to testifie my obedience which I owe unto the Laws I am come hither to suffer death whereunto I willingly offer my self with most hearty thanks to God that hath given me this time of Repentance who might through sudden death have taken away my Life that neither I should have acknowledged him nor my self Moreover there is yet somewhat that I must put you in mind of as touching Christian Religion which so long as I was in Authority I always diligently set forth and furthered to my power neither repent I me of my doings but rejoice therein sith that now the State of Christian Religion cometh most near unto the Form and Order of the Primitive Church which thing I esteem as a great benefit given of God both to you and me most heartily exhorting you all that this which is most purely set forth to you you will with like thankfulness accept and embrace and set out the same in your living which thing if you do not without doubt greater mischief and calamity will follow DUX EDWARDUS SEIMERUS SOMERSETI R White sculp â—OY POUR DEVOâ— Angliae Protector Edwardi Regis Avunculus Capitruncatus 22 JaÌ„ 1552. Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S. t Pauls Churchyard When he had gone so far there was an extraordinary noise heard as if some House had been blown up with Gun-powder which frighted all the People so that many run away they knew not for what and the Relator who tarried still says it brought into his remembrance the astonishment that the Band was in that came to take our Saviour who thereupon fell backwards to the ground At the same time Sir Ant. Brown came riding towards the Scaffold and they all hoped he had brought a Pardon upon which there was a general shouting Pardon Pardon God save the King many throwing up their Caps by which the Duke might well perceive how dear he was to the People But as soon as these disorders were over he made a Sign to them with his Hand to compose themselves and then went on in his Speech thus Dearly beloved Friends there is no such matter here in hand as you vainly hope or believe It seemeth thus good unto Almighty God whose Ordinance it is meet and necessary that we all be obedient to Wherefore I pray you all to be quiet
of Marriage But all separation from Bed and Board except during a Trial was to be taken away The 11th was about Admission to Ecclesiastical Benefices Patrons were to consider the choice of the Person was trusted to them but was not to be abused to any sacrilegious or base ends if they did otherwise they were to lose their right for that time Benefices were not to be given or promised before they were void nor let lie destitute above six Months otherwise they were to devolve to the Bishop Clergy-men before their Ordination were to be examined by the Arch-deacons with such other Triers as the Bishop should appoint to be assistant to them and the Bishop himself was to try them since this was one of the chief things upon which the happiness of the Church depended The Candidate was to give an Oath to answer sincerely upon which he was to be examined about his Doctrine chiefly of the whole Points of the Catechisme if he understood them aright and what knowledge he had of the Scriptures they were to search him well whether he held Heretical Opinions None was to be admitted to more Cures than one and all Priviledges for Pluralities were for ever to cease nor was any to be absent from his Cure except for a time and a just cause of which he was to satisfie his Ordinary The Bishops were to take great care to allow no absence longer than was necessary every one was to enter upon his Cure within two Months after he was Instituted by the Bishop Prebendaries who had no particular Cure were to preach in the Churches adjacent to them Bastards might not be admitted to Orders unless they had eminent Qualities But the Bastards of Patrons were upon no account to be received if presented by them Other bodily defects unless such as did much disable them or made them very contemptible were not to be a barr to any Beside the Sponsions in the Office of Ordination they were to swear that they had made no agreement to obtain the Benefice to which they were presented and that if they come to know of any made by others on their account they should signifie it to the Bishop and that they should not do any thing to the prejudice of their Church The 12th and 13th were about the renouncing or changing of Benefices The 14th was about purgation upon common fame or when one was accused for any crime which was proved incompleatly and only by presumptions The Ecclesiastical Courts might not re-examine any thing that was proved in any Civil Court but upon a high scandal a Bishop might require a Man to purge himself otherwise to separate him from Holy things The Form of a Purgation was to swear himself innocent and he was also to have four Compurgators of his own Rank who were to swear that they believed he swore true upon which the Judge was to restore him to his Fame Any that were under suspicion of a Crime might by the Judge be required to avoid all the occasions from which the suspition had risen But all superstitious Purgations were to be rejected The 15th 16th 17th and 18th were about Dilapidations the Letting of the Goods of the Church the confirming the former Rules of Election in Cathedrals or Colledges and the Collation of Benefices And there was to be a Purgation of Simony as there should be occasion for it The 19th was about Divine Offices In the Mornings on Holy-days the Common-Prayer was to be used with the Communion-Service joyned to it In Cathedrals there was to be Communion every Sunday and Holy-day where the Bishop the Dean and the Prebendaries and all maintained by that Church were to be present There was no Sermon to be in Cathedrals in the Morning lest that might draw any from the Parish Churches but only in the Afternoons In the Anthems all Figured Musick by which the Hearers could not understand what they sung was to be taken away In Parish Churches there were only to be Sermons in the Morning but none in the Afternoon except in great Parishes All who were to receive the Sacrament were to come the day before and inform the Minister of it who was to examine their Consciences and their Belief On Holy-days in the Afternoon the Catechism was to be explained for an hour After the Evening-Prayers the Poor were to be looked to and such as had given open scandal were to be examined and publick Penitence was to be enjoyned them and the Minister with some of the Ancients of the Parish were to commune together about the state of the People in it that if any carried themselves indecently they might be first charitably admonished and if that did not prevail subjected to severer Censures but none were to be excommunicated without the Bishop were first informed and had consented to it Divine Offices were not to be performed in Chappels or private Houses lest the Churches should under that pretence be neglected and Errors more easily disseminated excepting only the Houses of Peers and Persons of great Quality who had numerous Families but in these all things were to be done according to the Book of Common-Prayer The 20th was about those that bore Office in the Church Sextons Church-wardens Deacons Priests and Rural Deans This last was to be a Yearly Office he that was named to it by the Bishop being to watch over the manners of the Clergy and People in his Precinct was to signifie the Bishops pleasure to them and to give the Bishop an account of his Precinct every sixth Month. The Arch-deacons were to be general Visitors over the Rural Deans In every Cathedral one of the Prebendaries or one procured by them was thrice a week to expound some part of the Scriptures The Bishops were to be over all and to remember that their Authority was given to them for that end that many might be brought to Christ and that such as had gone astray might be restored by Repentance To the Bishop all were to give obedience according to the Word of God The Bishop was to preach often in his Church was to Ordain none for Rewards or rashly was to provide good Pastors and to deprive bad ones he was to visit his Diocess every third year or oftener as he saw cause but then he was to do it at his own charge he was to have yearly Synods and to confirm such as were well instructed His Family was to consist of Clergy-men whom he should bring up to the Service of the Church so was St. Austins and other Ancient Bishops Families constituted This being a great means to supply the great want of good and faithful Ministers Their Wives and Children were also to avoid all levity or vain dressing They were never to be absent from their Diocesses but upon a publick and urgent cause and when then grew sick or infirm they were to have Coadjutors If they became scandalous or heretical they were to be deprived by the Kings Authority The Arch-bishops
On the 31 Wiat was become 4000 strong and came near Southwark He came to Southwark On the 2d of February he fell into Southwark Some of his Company had a mind to have broken into Winchester-House and rob'd it but he threatned to hang any that should do it He was put in hope that upon his coming to Southwark London would have declared for him but in that he was deceived The Bridg was fortified so that he found it was not possible to force it Here he held a Council of War with his Officers some were for turning back into Kent to disperse a Body of Men that the Lord. Abergaveny had gathered together but he said That was a small Game The strength of their Party was in London and therefore it was necessary for him to be there as soon as he could for though they could not open the Bridg to him yet he was assured if he were on the other side many would come out to him Some were for crossing over to Essex where they heard the People were well-affected to them but they had not Boats enough so he marched to get over at Kingston-Bridg On the 4th they came to Kingston He crossed the Thames at Kingston where the Queen had ordered the Bridg to be cut but his Men repairing it he crossed the River that Night and though he lost much time by the mending of one of his Carriages that broke by the way he was at Hide-Park by nine of the Clock next Morning it being Ash-wednesday The Earl of Pembroke had gathered a good Body of Men to have fallen on him But is defeated for his Men were now in great disorder but they look'd on to let him cast himself into their hands He did not march by Holborn as some advised but came down to Charing-crass There the Lord Clinton fell in between the several Bodies of his Men and dispersed them so that he had not 500 left about him But with those that remained he passed through the Strand and Fleetstreet to Ludgate where he stopped in hope to have found the Gates opened to him That hope failing he returned back and being now out of all heart And taken was taken at Temple-Bar by a Herald All this while the Queen shewed great courage she would not stir out of Whitehall nor go by Water to the Tower as some advised her but went with her Women and Priests to her Devotions This was a Rebellion both raised and dispersed in as strange a maâ—mer as could have been imagined Wiat was a popular and stout Man but had not a Head for such an Undertaking otherwise the Government was so feeble that it had not been a difficult thing to have driven the Queen to great straits It was not at all raised upon pretence of Religion which according to the printed Account set out by the Queen's Order was not so much as once named And yet some of our own Writers say That Poinet Poinet was not in that Rebellion the late Bishop of Winchester was in it But this is certainly false for so many Prisoners being taken it is not to be imagined but this would have been found out and published to make that Religion more odious and we cannot think but Gardiner would have taken care that he should have been attainted in the following Parliament Christophorson soon after writ a Book against Rebellion in which he studies to fasten this Rising on the Preachers of the New Religion as he calls it and gives some presumptions that amount to no more but little flourishes of his Wit but never names this which had been a decisive proof So that it is but a groundless Fiction made by those who have either been the Authors or at least have laid down the Principles of all the Rebellions in the Christian World and yet would cast that blame on others and exempt themselves from it as if they were the surest Friends of Princes while they design to enslave them to a Forreign Power and will neither allow them to Reign nor to Live but at the mercy of the Head of that Principality to which all other Powers must bend or break if they meet with an Age that is so credulous and superstitious as to receive their Dictates This raw and soon-broken Rebellion was as lucky to Gardiner and those who set on the Marriage as if they had projected it for now the People were much disheartned and their own Designs as much fortified since as some Fevers are Critical and cast out those Latent Distempers which no Medicines could effectually purge away and yet if they were not removed must in the end corrupt the whole Mass of Blood so in a weak Government to which the People are ill-affected ill-digested Rebellions raise the Prince higher and add as much Spirit to his Friends as they take from the Faction against him and give a Handle to do some things for which otherwise it were not easy either to find Colours or Instruments One effect of this was the proceeding severely against the Lady Jane and her Husband The L. Jane and her Husband executed the Lord Guilford who both suffered on the 12th of Feburary The Lady Jane was not much disordered at it for she knew upon the first Jealousie she must be the Sacrifice and therefore had now lived six months in the continual meditations of Death Fecknam afterwards Abbot of Westminster was sent to her by the Queen three days before to prepare her to Die He had a long conversation with her But she answered him with that calmness of Mind and clearness of Reason that it was an astonishing thing to hear so young a Person of her Sex and Quality look on Death so near her with so little disorder and talk so sensibly both of Faith and Holiness of the Sacrament the Scriptures and the Authority of the Church Fecknam left her seeing he could work nothing on her But procured as is said the continuance of her Life three days longer and waited on her on the Scaffold She writ to her Father to moderate his Grief for her Death which must needs have been great since his Folly had occasioned it She expressed her sense of her Sin Her preparation for Death in assuming the Royal Dignity though he knew how unwillingly she was drawn to it and that in her Royal Estate her enforced Honour had never defiled her innocent Heart She rejoiced at her approaching End since nothing could be to her more welcome than to be delivered from that Valley of Misery into that Heavenly Throne to which she was to be advanced where she prayed that they might meet at last There was one Harding that had been her Father's Chaplain and that was a zealous Preacher in King Edward's Days before whose Death he had animated the People much to prepare for Persecution and never to depart from the Truth of the Gospel but he had now fallen away himself To him she
them into some other Cure or reserve a Pension out of their Benefice for them That no religious Man who had professed Chastity should be suffered to live with his Wife That care should be taken of vacant Churches That till they were provided the people should go to the Neighbouring Churches That all the Ceremonies Holy-days and Fasts used in King Henry's time should be again observed That those who were ordained by the new Book in King Edwards time not being ordained in very deed The Bishop if they were otherwise sufficient should supply vvhat vvas vvanting before and so admit them to Minister That the Bishops should set forth an uniform Doctrine of Homilies and compel the people to come to Church and hear Divine Service That they should carefully look to all School-masters and Teachers of Children And that the Bishops should take care to set forth the Premises vvith all kind of Vertue godly Living and good Example Proceedings against the Bishops that adhered to the Reformation and endeavour to keep down all sort of Vice These vvere Sign'd on the 4 of March and Printed and sent over the Kingdom But to make the Married Bishops Examples of the severity of their proceedings the Queen gave a special Commission to Gardiner Tonstall Bonner Parfew Bishop of St. Asaph Day and Kitchin of Landaffe making mention that vvith great grief of heart she had heard that the Archbishop of York the Bishops of St. Davids Chester and Bristol had broken their Vows and defiled their Function by contracting Marriage therefore those or any three of them are empowered to call them before them and if the Premises be found to be true Col. Number 11. 12. to deprive and turn them out of their Bishopricks This I have put into the Collection with another Comission to the same Persons to call the Bishops of Lincoln Glocester and Hereford before them in whose Patents it was provided that they should hold their Bishopricks so long as they behaved themselves well and since they by preaching Erroneous Doctrine and by inordinate Life and Conversation as she credibly understood had carried themselves contrary to the Laws of God and the Practice of the universal Church these or any two of them should proceed against them either according to Ecclesiastical Canons or the Laws of the Land and declare their Bishopricks void as they vvere indeed already void Thus vvere Seven Bishops all at a dash turned out It was much censured that there having been Laws made allowing Marriage to the Clergy the Queen should by her own Authority upon the repealing these Laws turn out Bishops for things that had been so well warranted by Law for the Repeal was only an Annulling of the Law for the Future but did not void it from the beginning so that however it might have justified proceedings against them for the Future if they had lived with their Wives yet it could not warrant the punishing them for what was past And even the severest Popes or their Legates who had pressed the Coelibate most had always before they proceeded to deprive any Priests for Marriage left it to their choice whether they would quit their Wives or their Benefices but had never summarily turned them out for being married And for the other Bishops it was an unheard of way of procedure for the Queen before any process was made to empower Delegates to declare their Sees void as they were indeed aIready void This was to give Sentence before hearing And all this was done by vertue of the Queens Supremacy for tho she thought that a sinful and Schismatical Power yet she was easily perswaded to use it against the Reformed Clergy and to turn them out of their Benefices upon such unjust and Illegal pretences So that now the proceedings against Gardiner and Bonner in which were the greatest Stretches made that had been in the last Reign were far outdone by those new Delegates For the Archbishop of York tho he was now turned out yet he was still kept Prisoner till King Philip among the Acts of Grace he did at his coming over procured his Liberty But his See was not filled till February next for then Heath had his Conge d'elire On or before the 18th of March this Year were those other Sees declared Vacant For that day did the Conge d'elire go out to the Deans and Chapters of St. Davids Lincoln Hereford Chester Glocester and Bristol sor Morgan White Parfew Coates Brookes and Holyman Goodrick of Ely died in April this Year He seems to have complied with the time as he had done often before for he was not at all cast into any trouble which it cannot be imagined he could have escaped since he had put the great Seal to the Patents for the Lady Jane if he had not Redeemed it by a ready consenting to the changes that were to be made He was a busie secular spirited Man and had given himself up wholly to Factions and Intrigues of State so that tho his opinion had always leaned to the Reformation it is no wonder if a man so tempered would prefer the keeping of his Bishoprick before the Discharge of his Conscience Thirleby of Norwich was Translated to Ely and Hopton was made Bishop of Norwich But Scory that had been Bishop os Chichester tho upon Day 's being restored he was turned out of his Bishoprick did comply meerly He came before Bonner and Renounced his Wife and did Penance for it and had his Absolution under his Seal the 14th of July this Year which is in the Collection Number 13. But it seems this was out of fear for he soon after fled out of England and lived beyond Sea untill Queen Elizabeth's days and then he came over But it was judged indecent to restore him to his former See where it is likely this Scandal he had given was known and so he was made Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Bath and Wales Barlow was also made to Resign as appears by the Conge d'elire for Bourn to succeed him dated the 19th of March. Therein it is said that the See wss Vacant by the Resignation of the former Bishop tho in the Election that was made on the 28th of March it is said the See was vacant by the Removal or Deprivation of their former Bishop But I incline to believe it truer that he did resign since he is not mentioned in the Commissions formerly spoken of But that was not all for at this time a Book was set out in his Name whether written by him or Forged and laid on his Name I cannot judge in which he retracts his former errours and speaks of Luther and Oecolampadius and many others with whom he says he had familiarly conversed with great bitterness He also accuses the Gospellers in England of Gluttony Hypocrisie Pride and ill Nature And indeed it is one of the most Virulent Invectives against the Reformation that was written at that time But it is not likely
the Lords but laid aside at that time assurance being given that the Owners of those Lands should be fully secured The Reason of laying it aside was that since by Law the Bishop of Rome had no Authority at all in England it was needless to pass an Act against his Power in that particular for that seemed to assert his Power in other things and since they were resolved to reconcile the Nation to him it was said that it would be indecent to pass an Act that should call him only Bishop of Rome which was the Compellation given him during the Schism and it was preposterous to begin with a Limitation of his Power before they had acknowledged his Authority So this was laid aside and the Parliament ended on the 25th of May. But the Matters of the Convocation are next to be related Those of the Reformation complained every-where that the Disputes of the last Convocation had not been fairly carried that the most eminent Men of their Persuasion were detained in Prison and not admitted to it that only a few of them that had a right to be in the House were admitted to speak and that these were much interrupted So that it was now resolved to adjourn the Convocation for some time and to send the Prolocutor with some of their number to Oxford that the Disputations might be in the presence of that whole University And since Cranmer and Ridley were esteemed the most Learned Men of that Persuasion they were by a Warrant from the Queen removed from the Tower of London to the Prisons at Oxford And though Latimer was never accounted very Learned and was then about eighty Years of Age yet he having been a celebrated Preacher who had done the Reformation no less Service by his Labours in the Pulpit than others had done by their abler Pens he was also sent thither to bear his share in the Debates Some sent to Oxford to disput with Reformeed Bishops Those who were sent from the Convocation came to Oxford on the 13th of April being Friday They sent for those Bishops on Saturday and assigned them Monday Tuesday and Wednesday every one of them his day for the defending of their Doctrine but ordered them to be kept apart And that all Books and Notes should be taken from them Three Questions were to be disputed 1. Whether the natural Body of Christ was really in the Sacrament 2. Whether any other Substance did remain but the Body and Blood of Christ 3. Whetter in the Mass there was a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the Dead and Living When Cranmer was first brought before them the Prolocutor made an Exhortation to him to return to the Unity of the Church To which he answered with such gravity and modesty that many were observed to weep He said He was as much for Unity as any but it must be an Unity in Christ and according to the Truth The Articles being shewed him he asked Whether by the Body of Christ they meant an Organical Body They answering It was the Body that was born of the Virgin Then he said he would maintain the Negative of these Questions On the 16th when the Dispute with Cranmer Cranmer Disputes was to begin Weston that was Prolocutor made a stumble in the beginning of his Speech for he said Ye are this day assembled to confound the detestable Heresie of the Verity of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament This Mistake set the whole Assembly a laughing but he recovered himself and went on he said It was not lawful to call these things in doubt since Christ had so expresly affirmed them that to doubt of them vvas to deny the Truth and Power of God Then Chedsey urged Cranmer with the words This is my Body To vvhich he answered That the Sacrament vvas effectually Christ's Body as broken on the Cross that is His Passion effectually applyed For the explanation of this he offered a large Paper containing his Opinion of which I need say nothing since it is a short abstract of what he writ on that Head formerly and of that a full account was given in the former Book There followed a long Debate about these words Oglethorp Weston and others urged him much that Christ making his Testament must be supposed to speak Truth and plain Truth and they run out largely on that Cranmer answered That figurative Speeches are true and when the Figures are clearly understood they are then plain likewise Many of Chrysostom's high Expressions about the Sacrament were also cited vvhich Cranmer said vvere to be understood of the Spiritual Presence received by Faith Uponthis much time was spent the Prolocutor carrying himself very undecently towards him calling him an unlearned unskilful and impudent Man There were also many in the Assembly that often hissed him down so that he could not be heard at all which he seemed to take no notice of but went on as often as the noise ceased Then they cited Tertullian's words The Flesh is fed by the Body and Blood of Christ that so the Soul may be nourished by God But he turned this against them and said hereby it was plain the Body as well as the Soul received Food in the Sacrament therefore the Substance of Bread and Wine must remain since the Body could not be fed by that Spiritual Presence of the Body of Christ Tresham put this Argument to him Christ said as he lived by the Father so they that eat his Flesh should live by him but he is by his Substance united to his Father therefore Christians must be united to his Substance To this Cranmer answered That the Similitude did not import an equality but a likeness of some sort Christ is essentially united to his Father but Believers are united to him by Grace and that in Baptism as well as in the Eucharist Then they talked long of some words of Hilary's Ambrose's and Justin's Then they charged him as having mistranslated some of the Passages of the Fathers in his Book from which he vindicated himself saying that he had all his Life in all manner of things hated falshood After the Dispute had lasted from the Morning till two of the Clock it was broke up and there was no small Triumph as if Cranmer had been confounded in the Opinion of all the Hearers which they had expressed by their Laughter and Hissing There were Notaries that took every thing that was said from whose Books Fox did afterwards print the account of it that is in his great Volume The next day Ridley And Ridley was brought out and Smith who was spoke of in the former Book was now very zealous to redeem the prejudice which that compliance vvas like to be to him in his Preferment So he undertook to dispute this day Ridley began with a Protestation declaring That vvhereas he had been formerly of another mind from vvhat he vvas then to maintain he had changed upon no worldly consideration but
Extremity and Rigour And on the 25th there was a solemn Procession through London there went first 160 Priests all in their Copes eight Bishops next and last of all came Bonner himself carrying the Host to thank God for reconciling them again to his Church and Bonefires were burning all the Night And to keep up a constant remembrance of it it was ordered that St. Andrew's day should be still observed as the Anniversary of it and be called The Feast of the Reconciliation and Processions with all the highest Solemnities they at any time use were to be on that day They begin with Rogers and others But now they turned wholly to the Prosecution of the Hereticks There had been thirty of them taken at a Meeting near Bow Church where one Rose a Minister gave them the Communion according to the English Book of Service so they were all put in Prison On the 22d of January Rogers with others were brought before the Council He had been a Prebendary of Pauls and in a Sermon after the Queen was come to London had zealously asserted the Doctrine he had formerly preached and as it has been shewn was confined to his House upon the Tumult that had been at Pauls He was much pressed to fly over into Germany but he would not hearken to it though the Necessities of ten Children were great Temptations He was esteemed one of the most Learned of the Reformers so that when those of the Convocation were required to Dispute they desired that Ridley and he might be suffered to come and join with them It was resolved to begin with him and some others at the Council-Board to see if they could be easily brought over He was accordingly brought before the Council where being asked by Gardiner Whether he would knit himself to the Catholick Church and receive the Pope as the Supream Head He said He knew no other Head of the Church but Christ and for the Pope Who refusing to comply he had no more Authority in England than any other Bishop either by the Word of God or the Authority of the Church for 400 Years after Christ But they objecting that he had acknowledged King Henry to be Supream Head He answered He never acknowledged him so to be Supream as to forgive Sins bestow the Holy Ghost or be a Judg above the Word of God But as he was going to explain himself Gardiner pressed him to Answer plainly He Objected to Gardiner That all the Bishops had for many Years preached against the Pope Gardiner said They were forced to it by the Cruelty of the Times but they would Argue no more with him Now Mercy was offered if he rejected it Justice must come next Rogers said If they had been pressed to deny the Pope's Power by Cruelty would they now by the same Motives force others to acknowledg it for his part he would never do it Other ten were called in one after another and only one of them by the Lord Effingham's Favour was let go upon a general Question if he would be an Honest Man but all the rest answering resolutely were sent back to Prison and were kept much stricter than formerly none being suffered to come near them On the 28th of January the Bishops of Winchester London Duresm Were judged Salisbury Norwich and Carlisle sat in St. Mary Overies in Southwark where Hooper was first brought before them It needs not to be doubted but Bonner remembred that he had informed against him when he was deprived in King Edward's Time He had been summoned to appear before the Queen soon after she came to the Crown and it was pretended he owed her great Sums of Mony Many advised him not to appear for that it was but a pretence to put him and a great many more in Prison where they would be kept till Laws were made to bring them out to a Stake But he would not with-draw so now he and Mr. Rogers were singled out and begun with They were asked Whether they would submit or not they both refused to submit Rogers being much pressed and continuing firm in his Resolutions Gardiner said It was vain-glory in him to stand out against the whole Church He protested it was his Conscience and not Vain-glory that swayed him for his part he would have nothing to do with the Antichristian Church of Rome Gardiner said by that he condemned the Queen and the whole Realm to be of the Church of Antichrist Rogers said The Queen would have done well enough if it had not been for his counsel Gardiner said the Queen went before them in those Counsels which proceeded of her own motion Rogers said He would never believe that The Bishop of Carlisle said they could all bear him witness to it Rogers said they would all witness for one another Upon that the Comptroller and Secretary Bourn being there stood up in Court and attested it Then they asked Rogers What he thought of the Sacrament He said It was known he had never medled in that Matter and was suspected by some to be of a contrary Opinion to many of his Brethren but yet he did not allow of their Corporal Presence He complained that after he had been confined half a Year in his House they had kept him a Year in Newgate without any Fault for they could not say he had broken any of their Laws since he had been a Prisoner all the while so that meerly for his Opinion they were now proceeding against him They gave Hooper and him time till next morning to consider what they would do but they continuing in their former Resolution were declared obstinate Hereticks And Condemned and appointed to be degraded and so to be delivered into the Sheriffs hands Hooper was only degraded from the Order of Priesthood Then Rogers desired he might be suffered to speak with his Wife concerning his ten Children They answered She was not his Wife and so denied it Upon this they were led away to Newgate On the 4th of February early in the morning Rogers was called upon to make ready for Smithfield He was so fast asleep that he was not easily awakened he put on his Cloaths carelesly being as he said Rogers Martyrdom so soon to lay them off When he was brought to Bonner to be degraded he again renewed his desire to see his Wife but could not obtain it He was led to Smithfield where he was not suffered to make any Speech to the People so in a few words he desired them to continue in that Doctrine which he had taught them and for which he had not only patiently suffered all the bitterness and cruelty that had been exercised on him but did now most gladly resign up his Life and give his Flesh to the consuming Fire for a testimony to it He repeated the 51 Psalm and so fitted himself for the Stake A Pardon was brought if he would recant but he chose to submit to that severe but short
former Act. After this one Flower that had been in Orders but was a rash indiscreet Man went on Easter day into St. Margarets Church in Westminster and there with a Knife struck at and wounded the Priest as he was officiating He for some time justified what he had done as flowing from Zeal but afterwards he sincerely condemned it Bonner upon this proceeding against him as an Heretick condemned him to the Fire and he was burnt on the 24th of April in Westminster Church-Yard This Fact was condemned by all the Reformed who knew that the Wrath of Man was not the way to accomplish the Righteousness of God In the Jewish Government some extraordinary Persons did execute Vengeance on notorious Offenders but that Constitution was in all its Policy regulated by the Laws given by Moses in which such Instances vvere proposed as Examples vvhereby they became a part of the Law of that Land so that in such Cases it vvas certainly lawful to execute Punishment in that vvay so in some Kingdoms any Man that finds an out-lawed Person may kill him but vvhere there is no Law vvarranting such things it is certainly against both Religion and the Laws of all Society and Government for private Persons to pretend to the Magistrates right and to execute Justice upon any account vvhatsoever There vvas at this time a second stop put to the execution of Hereticks for till the end of May more fires were not kindled People grew generally so enraged upon it that they could not bear it I shall therefore now turn my self to other things that vvill give the Reader a more pleasing entertainment The Queen resolves to surrender up all the Church-Lands that were in her hands On the 28th of March the Queen called for the Lord Treasurer Sir Robert Rochester Comptroller Sir William Petre Secretary of State and Sir Francis Inglefield Master of the Wards She said She had sent for them to declare her Conscience to them concerning the Church-Lands that continued still in the Crown She thought they were taken away in the time of the Schism and by unlawful Means therefore she could not keep them vvith a good Conscience so she did surrender and relinquish them If they should tell her That her Crown vvas so poor that she could not well maintain her Dignity if she parted with them she must tell them She valued the Salvation of her Soul more than ten Kingdoms and thanked God her Husband was of the same mind and therefore she was resolved to have them disposed as the Pope or his Legat should think fit so she ordered them to go with the Lord Chancellor to whom she had spoken of it before and wait on the Legat and signify it to him together with the value of those Lands This flowed from the strictness of the Queen's Conscience vvho then thought her self near the time of her delivery and therefore vvould not have such a load lie on her of which she was the more sensible by reason of a Bull which Pope Julius had made excommunicating all that kept any Abbey or Church-Lands and all Princes Prelats and Magistrates that did not assist in the execution of such Bulls Some said this related to the Business of England but Gardiner said it was only made for Germany and that Bulls had no Authority unless they vvere received in England This did not satisfy the People much for if it was such a sin in Germany they could not see but it was as bad in England And if the Pope had his Authority from Christ and St. Peter his Bulls ought to take place every-where Pope Julius died soon after this on the 20th of March Pope Julius dies and Marcellus succeeds and on the 6th of April after Cardinal Marcellus Cervinus was chosen Pope a Man of great gravity and innocence of Life He continued to keep his former Name which had not been done a great while except by Adrian the 6th between whose temper and this Man there was a great resemblance He presently turned all his Thoughts as Adrian had done to a Reformation of the Corruptions of that See and blamed his Predecessors much who had always put it off he thought nothing could make the Papacy more reverenced than to cut off their excessive and superfluous Pomp whereby they would be the more esteemed all the World over and might on surer grounds expect the protection of God He had been one of the Legats at Trent and there observed what was represented as the root of all Heresy and Disorder that the Clergy were generally corrupted and had by many Exemptions procured from Rome broken all the Primitive Rules Upon his first Election he called for the Cardinal of Mantâ—a and having observed him to be a Man of great probicy told him he knew it vvas ordinary for all Popes at their first coming to the Throne to talk of Reformation but he would talk little being resolved to do more only he opened his mind to him that if ever he went back from it he might have this check upon him that so honest a Man as he was would know him to be a Knave and a Hypocrite He would suffer none of his Friends that were in remote parts to come to Rome nor his Nephews that were in Rome to come within the Court He was resolved to have sent all Priests and Bishops home to their Benefices and talked much of their Non residence with great detestation He would not change his Table nor his Custom of making one read to him when he was sitting at it One day after a long musing at Dinner he said he remembred the words of Hadrian the Fourth That the Pope was the most miserable of all Men his whole Life was bitterness his Chair was full of Thorns and his way of Briars and then leaning with his Hand on the Table he said I do not see how they can be saved that hold this high Dignity These Thoughts did so affect him that on the 12th day after that he vvas chosen Pope he sickned and died ten days after These things are reported of him by the Learned Onuphrius who knew him well and they will not be thought impertinent to have a room in this Story The Queen recommends Card Pool tâ— the Popedom upon Maâ—cellus's death As soon as the News of his Death came to England the Queen writ on the 29th day of May to Gardiner the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget vvho vvere then at Calais mediating a Peace between the French and Spaniard which they could not effect but only procured a Truce She desired them to deal with the Cardinal of Lorrain the Constable and the other French Commissioners to persuade their Master to set up Cardinal Pool that he might succeed in that Chair since he seemed every way the fittest Person for it adding Coll. Numb 18. as will appear by the Letter which is in the Collection that she had done this without his knowledg or
delivery of it This being put on Pool he went into the Pulpit and made a cold Sermon about the Beginning the Use and the Matter of the Pall without either Learning or Eloquence The Subject could admit of no Learning and for Eloquence though in his younger days when he writ against King Henry his Stile was too luxuriant and florid yet being afterwards sensible of his excess that way he turned as much to the other Extream and cutting off all the Ornaments of Speech he brought his Stile to a flatness that had neither life nor beauty in it Some more Religious Houses endowed All the Business of England this Year was the raising of Religious Houses Greenwich was begun with last Year The Queen also built a House for the Dominicans in Smithfield and another for the Franciscans and they being Begging Orders these Endowments did not cost much At Sion near Brainford there had been a Religious House of Women of the Order of St. Bridget That House was among the first that had been dissolved by King Henry the eighth as having harboured the Kings Enemies and been Complices to the Business of the Maid of Kent The Queen a-new Founded a Nunnery there She also Founded a House for the Carthusians at Sheen near Richmond in gratitude to that Order for their Sufferings upon her Mothers account From these she went to a greater Foundation but that which cost her less for she suppressed the Deanry and the Cathedral of Westminster and in September this Year turned it into a Monastery and made Fecknam Dean of Pauls the first Abbot of it I have not met with her Foundation of it which perhaps was razed out of the Records in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign for it is not enrolled among the other Patents of this Year But on the 23d of September she gave Warrants for Pensions to be paid to the Prebends of Westminster till they were otherwise provided and about that time Fecknam was declared Abbot though the solemn Installment of him and fourteen other Monks with him was not done till the 21st of November There had been many Searches and Discoveries made in the former Reign of great disorders in these Houses All the former Records concerning them are razed and at the dissolution of them many had made Confession of their ill Lives and gross Superstition all which were laid up and Recorded in the Augmentation Office There had been also in that state of things which they now called The late Schism many Professions made by the Bishops and Abbots and other Religious Men of their renouncing the Popes Authority and acknowledging the Kings Supremacy therefore it was moved that all these should be gathered together and destroyed So on the 23d of September theâ—e was a Commission granted to Bonner and Cole the new Dean of Pauls in Fecknams room and Dr. Martin to search all Registers to find out both the Professions made against the Pope and the Scrutinies made in Abbies which as the Commission that is in the Collection Collection Number 29. sets forth tended to the subversion of all good Religion and Religious Houses These they were to gather and carry to the Cardinal that they might be disposed of as the Queen should give order It is not upon Record how they executed this Commission but the effects of it appear in the great defectiveness of the Records in many things of consequence which are razed and lost This was a new sort of Expurgation by which they intended to leave as few foot-steps to Posterity as â—hey could of what had been formerly done Their care of their own credits led them to endeavour to suppress the many Declarations themselves had formerly made both against the See of Rome the Monastick Orders and many of the old Corruptions which they had disclaimed But many things escaped their diligence as may appear by what I have already Collected and considering the pains they were at in vitiating Registers and destroying Records I hope the Reader will not think it strange if he meets with many defects in this Work In this Search they not only took away what concerned themselves but every collateral thing that might inform or direct the following Ages how to imitate those Precedents and therefore among other Writings the Commission that Cromwell had to be Vice-gerent was destroyed but I have since that time met with it in a Copy that was in the Cotton Library which I have put in the Collection Collection Number 30. How far this resembled the endeavours that the Heathens used in the last and hotest Persecution to burn all the Registers of the Church I leave to the Reader The Abbey of Westminster being thus set up some of the Monks of Glassenbury who were yet alive were put into it And all the rest of the old Monks that had been turned out of Glaslenbury Endeavours to raise the Abbey of Glassenbury and who had not married since were invited to return to this Monastery They began to contrive how to raise their Abbey again which was held the Ancientest and was certainly the richest in England and therefore they moved the Queen and the Cardinal that they might have the House and Site restored and repaired and they would by Labour and Husbandry maintain themselves not doubting but the People of the Country would be ready to contribute liberally to their subsistence The Queen and Cardinal liked the Proposition well so the Monks wrote to the Lord Hastings then Lord Chamberlain to put the Queen in mind of it and to follow the Business till it were brought to a good Issue which would be a great Honour to the Memory of Joseph of Arimathea who lay there whom they did heartily beseech to pray to Christ for good success to his Lordship This Letter I have put in the Collection Collection Number 31. copied from the Original What followed upon it I cannot find It is probable the Monks of other Houses made the like endeavours and every one of them could find some rare thing belonging to their House which seemed to make it the more necessary to raise it speedily These of St. Albans could say the first Martyr of England lay in their Abbey those of St. Edmundbury had a King that was Martyred by the Heathen Danes those of Battel could say they were Founded for the remembrance of William the Conquerors Victory from whence the Queen derived her Crown and those of St. Austins in Canterbury had the Apostle of England laid in their Church In short they were all in hopes to be speedily restored And though they were but few in Number and to begin upon a small Revenue yet as soon as the belief of Purgatory was revived they knew how to set up the old Trade a-new which they could drive with the greater advantage since they were to deal with the People by a new Motive besides the old ones formerly used that it was Sacriledge to possess the
he said they were Mathew Mark Luke and John that were still shut up for the People longed much to see them abroad She answered him as pleasantly she would first talk with themselves and see whether they desired to be set at such liberty as he requested for them A Consultation about the change of Religion Now the two great things under Consultation were Religion and Peace For the former some were appointed to consider how it was to be Reform'd Beal a Clerk of the Council gave advice to Cecil that the Parliaments under Queen Mary should be declared void the first being under a force as was before related and the Title of Supream Head being left out of the Summons to the next Parliament before it was taken away by Law from whence he inferred that both these were not lawfully held or duly summoned and this being made out the Laws of King Edward were still in force but this was laid aside as too high and violent a way of proceeding since the annulling of Parliaments upon little errors in Writs or some particular disorders was a Precedent of such consequence that to have proceeded in such a manner would have unhinged all the Government and security of the Nation More moderate Courses were thought on The Queen had been bred up from her Infancy with a hatred of the Papacy and a Love to the Reformation But yet as her first Impressions in her Fathers Reign were in favour of such old Rites as he had still retained so in her own Nature she loved State and some Magnificence in Religion as well as in every thing else She thought that in her Brothers Reign they had stript it too much of external Ornaments and had made their Doctrine too narrow in some Points therefore she intended to have some things explained in more general terms that so all Parties might be comprehended by them She inclined to keep up Images in Churches and to have the manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament left in some general words that those who believed the Corporal Presence might not be driven away from the Church by too nice an Explanation of it Nor did she like the Title of Supream Head she thought it imported too great a Power and came too near that Authority which Christ only had over the Church These were her own private thoughts She considered nothing could make her Power great in the World abroad so much as the uniting all her People together at home Her Fathers and her Brothers Reign had been much distracted by the Rebellions within England and she had before her Eyes the Instance of the Coldness that the People had expressed to her Sister on all occasions for the maintaining or recovering of the Dominions beyond Sea Therefore she was very desirous to find such a Temper in which all might agree She observed that in the Changes formerly made particularly in renouncing the Papacy and making some Alterations in Worship the whole Clergy had concurred and so she resolved to follow and imitate these by easie steps There was a long Consultation had about the Method of the Changes she should make The substance of which shall be found in the Collection in a Paper where in the way of Question and Answer A Method of doing it proposed Collection Number 1. the whole design of it is laid down This Draught of it was given to Sir William Cecil and does exactly agree with the account that Cambden gives of it That Learned and Judicious Man has written the History of this Queens Reign with that Fidelity and Care in so good a Stile and with so much Judgment that it is without question the best part of our English History but he himself often says that he had left many things to those who should undertake the History of the Church therefore in the Account of the beginnings of this Reign as I shall in all things follow him with the credit that is due to so extraordinary a Writer so having met with some things which he did not know or thought not necessary in so succinct a History to enlarge on I shall not be afraid to write after him though the Esteem he is justly in may make it seem superfluous to go over these matters any more It seemed necessary for the Queen to do nothing before a Parliament were called The Heads of it for only from that Assembly could the affections of the People be certainly gathered The next thing she had to do was to ballance the dangers that threatned her both from abroad and at home The Pope would certainly excommunicate and depose her and stir up all Christian Princes against her The King of France would lay hold of any opportunity to embroil the Nation and by the assistance of Scotland and of the Irish might perhaps raise troubles in her Dominions Those that were in Power in Queen Maries time and remained firm to the old Superstition would be discontented at the Reformation of Religion the Bishops and Clergy would generally oppose it and since there was a necessity of demanding Subsidies they would take occasion by the discontent the People would be in on that account to inflame them and those who would be dissatisfied at the retaining of some of the old Ceremonies would on the other hand disparage the Changes that should be made and call the Religion a Cloak'd-Papistry and so alienate many of the most zealous from it To remedy all these things it was proposed to make Peace with France and to cherish those in that Kingdom that desired the Reformation The Curses and Practises of Rome were not much to be feared In Scotland those must be encouraged who desired the like change in Religion and a little Money among the Heads of the Families in Ireland would go a great way And for those that had borh Rule in Queen Maries time ways were to be taken to lessen their credit throughout England they were not to be too soon trusted or employed upon pretence of Turning but those who were known to be well affected to Religion and the Queens Person were to be sought after and encouraged The Bishops were generally hated by the Nation It would be easie to draw them within the Statute of Praemunire and upon their falling into it they must be kept under it till they had renounced the Pope and consented to the Alterations that should be made The Commissions of the Peace and for the Militia were to be carefully reviewed and such Men were to be put in them as would be firm to the Queens Interests When the Changes should be made some severe punishments would make the rest more readily submit Great care was to be had of the Universities and other publick Schools as Eaton and Winchester that the next Generation might be betimes seasoned with the Love and Knowledge of Religion Some learned Men as Bill Parker May Cox Whitehead Grindall Pilkington and Sir Thomas Smith were to be ordered
were declared to be Heresies by the express and plain Words of Scripture All other Points not so decided were to be judged by the Parliament with the assent of the Clergy in their Convocation This Act was in many things short of the Authority that King Henry had claimed and the severity of the Laws he had made The Title of Supream Head was left out of the Oath This was done to mitigate the Opposition of the Popish Party but besides the Queen her self had a scruple about it which was put in her Head by one Lever a famous Preacher among those of the Reformation of which Sands afterwards Bishop of Worcester complained to Parker in a Letter that is in the Collection Collection Number 2. There was no other punishment inflicted on those that denied the Queens Supremacy but the loss of their Goods and such as refused to take the Oath did only lose their Imployments whereas to refuse the Oath in King Henry's time brought them into a Praemunire and to deny the Supremacy was Treason The Bishops oppose the Queens Supremacy But against this Bill the Bishops made Speeches in the House of Lords I have seen a Speech of this kind was said to have been made by Arch-bishop Heath but it must be forgery put out in his Name for he is made to speak of the Supremacy as a new and unheard of thing which he who had sworn it so oft in King Henry's and King Edwards times could not have the face to say The rest of the Bishops opposed it the rather because they had lately declared so high for the Pope that it had been very indecent for them to have revolted so soon The Bishop of Duresme came not to this Parliament There were some hopes of gaining him to concur in the Reformation for in the Warrant the Queen afterwards gave to some for Consecrating the new Bishops he is first named and I have seen a Letter of Secretary Cecils to Parker that gives him some hope that Tonstal would joyn with them He had been offended with the Cruelties of the late Reign and though the resentments he had of his ill usage in the end of King Edwards time had made him at first concur more heartily to the restoring of Popery yet he soon fell off and declared his dislike of those violent Courses and neither did he nor Heath bring any in trouble within their Diocesses upon the account of Religion though it is hardly credible that there was no occasion for their being severe if they had been otherwise enclined to it The Bishop of Ely was also absent at the passing of this Act for though he would not consent to it yet he had done all that was prescribed by it so often before that it seems he thought it more decent to be absent than either to consent to it or to oppose it The Power that was added for the Queens Commissionating some to Execute her Supremacy gave the Rise to that Court which was commonly called the High Commission Court The beginning of the High Commission and was to be in the room of a single Person to whom with the Title of Lord Vice-gerent King Henry did delegate his Authority It seems the Clergy-men with whom the Queen consulted at this time thought this too much to be put in one Mans Hand and therefore resolved to have it shared to more Persons of whom a great many would certainly be Church-men so that they should not be altogether kept under by the hard Hands of the Laity who having groaned long under the Tyranny of an Ecclesiastical Yoke seemed now disposed to revenge themselves by bringing the Clergy as much under them for so Extreams do commonly rise from one another The Popish Clergy were now every where beginning to declaim against Innovation and Heresie Harpsfield had in a Sermon at Canterbury in February stirred the People much to Sedition and the Members belonging to that Cathedral had openly said that Religion should not nor could not be altered The Council also heard that the Prebendaries there had bought up many Arms so a Letter was written to Sir Thomas Smith to examine that matter Harpsfield was not put in Prison but received only a Rebuke There came also complaints from many other Places of many Seditious Sermons So the Queen following the Precedent her Sister had set her did in the beginning of March forbid all Preaching except by such as had a Licence under the Great Seal But lest the Clergy might now in the Convocation set out Orders in opposition to what the Queen was about to do she sent and required them under the Pains of a Praemunire to make no Canons Yet Harpsfield that was Prolocutor with the rest of the lower House made an Address to the upper House to be by them presented to the Queen for the discharge of their Consciences They reduced the Particulars into five Articles 1. That Christ was corporally present in the Sacrament 2. That there was no other Substance there but his Body and Blood 3. That in the Mass there was a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Dead and the Living 4. That St. Peter and his lawful Successors had the Power of feeding and governing the Church 5. That the Power of treating about Doctrine the Sacraments and the Order of Divine Worship belonged only to the Pastors of the Church These they had sent to the two Universities from whence they were returned with the Hands of the greatest part in them to the first four but it seems they thought it not fit to sign the last For now the Queen had resolved to have a publick Conference about Religion in the Abby-Church of Westminster The Arch-bishop of York was continued still to be of the Council so the Conference being proposed to him he after he had Communicated it to his Brethren accepted of it though with some unwillingness It was appointed that there should be nine of a side who should confer about these three Points 1. Whether it was not against the Word of God and the Custom of the Ancient Church to use a Tongue unknown to the People in the Common-Prayers and the Administration of the Sacraments 2. Whether every Church had not Authority to appoint change and take away Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Rites so the same were done to edification 3. Whether it could be proved by the Word of God that in the Mass there was a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Dead and the Living All was ordered to be done in Writing The Bishops as being actually in Office were to read their Papers first upon the first Point and the Reformed were to read theirs next and then they were to exchange their Papers without any discourse concerning them for the avoiding of jangling The next day they were to read their Papers upon the second and after that upon the third Head and then they were to answer one anothers Papers The Nine on both sides were the Bishops of Winchester
the future it was ordered That no Priest or Deacon should marry without allowance from the Bishop of the Diocess and two Justices of the Peace and the Consent of the Womans Parents or Friends All the Clergy were to use Habits according to their Degrees in the Universities the Queen declaring that this was not done for any Holiness in them but for Order and Decency No Man might use any Charm or consult with such as did All were to resort to their own Parish Churches except for an extraordinary Occasion Inn-Keepers were to sell nothing in the Times of Divine Service None were to keep Images or other Monuments of Superstition in their Houses None might Preach but such as were licensed by their Ordinary In all Places they were to examine the Causes why any had been in the late Reign Imprisoned Famished or put to Death upon the pretence of Religion and all Registers were to be searched for it In every Parish the Ordinary was to name three or four discreet Men who were to see that all the Parishioners did duly resort on Sundays and Holy-days to Church and those who did it not and upon admonition did not amend were to be denounced to the Ordinary On Wednesdays and Fridays the Common Prayer and Litany was to be used in all Churches All slanderous words as Papist Heretick Schismatick or Sacramentary were to be forborn under severe pains No Books might be printed without a License from the Queen the Arch-Bishop the Bishop of London the Chancellor of the Universities or the Bishop or Arch-Deacon of the Place where it was printed All were to kneel at the Prayers and to shew a Reverence when the Name of Jesus was pronounced Then followed an Explanation of the Oath of Supremacy in which the Queen declared that she did not pretend to any Authority for the ministring of Divine Service in the Church and that all that she challenged was that which had at all times belonged to the Imperial Crown of England that she had the Soveraignty and Rule over all manner of Persons under God so that no Forreign Power had any Rule over them and if those who had formerly appeared to have Scruples about it took it in that sence she was well-pleased to accept of it and did acquit them of all Penalties in the Act. The next was about Altars and Communion-Tables she ordered that for preventing of Riots no Altar should be taken down but by the consent of the Curat and Church-Wardens that a Communion-Table should be made for every Church and that on Sacrament days it should be set in some convenient Place in the Chancel and at other Times should be placed where the Altar had stood The Sacramental Bread was ordered to be round and plain without any Figure on it but somewhat broader and thicker than the Cakes formerly prepared for the Mass Then the form of bidding Prayer was prescribed with some variation from that in King Edward's Time for whereas to the Thanksgiving for God's Blessings to the Church in the Saints departed this Life a Prayer was added That they with us and we with them may have a glorious Resurrection now those words they with us as seeming to import a Prayer for the Dead were left out For the Rule about Church-men Marrying Reflections made on the Injunctions those who reflected on it said They complained not of the Law but as St. Jerom did in the making a Law in his Time they complained of those that had given occasion for it Ministers wearing such Apparel as might distinguish them from the Laity was certainly a means to keep them under great restraint upon every indecency in their Behaviour laying them open to the Censures of the People which could not be if they were habited so as that they could not be distinguished from other Men and humane nature being considered it seems to be a kind of Temptation to many when they do but think their Disorders will pass unobserved Bowing at the Name of Jesus was thought a fit expression of their grateful acknowledging of our Saviour and an owning of his Divinity And as standing up at the Creed or at the Gloria Patri were solemn expressions of the Faith of Christians So since Jesus is the Name by which Christ is expressed to be our Saviour it seemed a decent piece of acknowledging our Faith in him to shew a Reverence when that was pronounced not as if there were a peculiar sanctity or vertue in it but because it was his proper Name Christ being but an Appellation added to it By the Queen's care to take away all words of Reproach and to explain the Oath of Supremacy not only clearing any ambiguity that might be in the words but allowing Men leave to declare in what sense they swore it the moderation of her Government did much appear in which instead of inventing new Traps to catch the Weak which had been practised in other Reigns all possible care was taken to explain things so that they might be as comprehensive to all Interests as was possible They reckoned if that Age could have been on any terms separated from the Papacy though with allowance for many other superstitious Conceits it would once unite them all and in the next Age they would be so educated that none of those should any more remain And indeed this Moderation had all the effect that was designed by it for many Years in which the Papists came to Church and to the Sacraments But afterwards it being proposed to the King of Spain then ready to engage in a War with the Queen upon the account of her supporting of the Vnited Provinces that he must first divide England at home and procure from the Pope a Sentence against the Queen and a condemnation of such Papists as went to the English Service and that for the maintaining and educating of such Priests as should be his Tools to distract the Kingdom he was to found Seminaries at Doway Lovain and St. Omers from whence they might come over hither and disorder the Affairs of England The prosecution of those Counsels rais'd the Popish Party among us which has ever since distracted this Nation and has oftner than once put it into most threatning convulsive Motions such as we feel at this day The first high Commission After the Injunctions were thus prepared the Queen gave out Commissions for those who should visit all the Churches of England in which they lost no time for the New Book of Service was by Law to take place on St. John Baptist's day and these Commissions were signed that same day Coll. Num. 7. One of those Commissions which was for the Arch-Bishoprick and Province of York is put into the Collection It was granted to the Earls of Shrewsbury and Derby and some others among whom Dr. Sands is one The Preamble sets forth That God having set the Queen over the Nation she could not render an account of that Trust without
endeavouring to propagate the True Religion with the right way of worshipping God in all her Dominions therefore she intending to have a General Visitation of her whole Kingdom impowred them or any two of them to examine the true State of all the Churches in the Northern Parts to suspend or deprive such Clergy-men as were unworthy and to put others into their Places to proceed against such as were obstinate by Imprisonment Church-Censure or any other legal way They were to reserve Pensions for such as would not continue in their Benefices but quitted them by Resignation and to examine the condition of all that were Imprisoned on the account of Religion and to discharge them and to restore all such to their Benefices as had been unlawfully turned out in the late Times This was the first High Commission that was given out that for the Province of Canterbury was without doubt of the same nature The prudence of reserving Pensions for such Priests as were turned out was much applauded since thereby they were kept from extream want which might have set them on to do mischief and by the Pension which was granted them upon their good Behaviour they were kept under some awe which would not have been otherwise That which was chiefly condemned in these Commissions was the Queen's giving the Visitors Authority to proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures which seemed a great stretch of her Supremacy but it was thought that the Queen might do that as well as the Lay-Chancellors did it in the Ecclesiastical Courts So that one Abuse was the excuse for another These Visiters having made Report to the Queen of the Obedience given to the Laws and her Injunctions it was found that of 9400 Benificed Men in England there were no more but fourteen Bishops six Abbots twelve Deans twelve Arch-Deacons fifteen Heads of Colledges fifty Prebendaries and eighty Rectors of Parishes that had left their Benefices upon the account of Religion So compliant were the Papists generally And indeed the Bishops after this time had the same apprehension of the danger into which Religion was brought by the juglings of the greatest part of the Clergy who retained their affections to the old Superstition that those in King Edward's time had So that if Queen Elizabeth had not lived so long as she did till all that Generation â—as dead and a new Set of Men better educated and principled were gro n up and put in their rooms and if a Prince of another Religion â— d succeeded before that time they had probably turned about again â—o the old Superstitions as nimbly as they had done before in Queen Mary's days That which supported the superstitious Party in King Edward's time most was that many great Bishops did secretly favour and encourage them Therefore it was now resolved to look well to the filling of the vacant Sees It has been said before that Parker Parker's unwillingness to accept of the Canterbury was sent for to London by the Queen's Order and the Archbishoprick of Canterbury was offered him he was upon that cast into such a perplexity of mind that he was out of measure grieved at it As soon as he was returned home he writ a Letter to the Lord-Keeper which with all the other Letters that passed in this matter I have put into the Collection Coll. Numb 8. He professed he never had less joy of a Journey to London and was never more glad to get from it than upon his last being there He said It was necessary to fill that See with a Man that was neither Arrogant Faint-hearted nor Covetous an Arrogant Man would perhaps divide from his Brethren in Doctrine whereas the whole strength of the Church depended on their Unity but if their should be Heart-burnings among them and the private quarrels that had been beyond Sea should be brought home the Peace of the Church would be lost and the Success of all their Design would be blasted and if a fainthearted Man were put in it would raise the Spirits of all their Adversaries A Covetous Man was good for nothing He knew his own unfitness both of Body and Mind so well that though he should be sorry to offend him and Secretary Cecil whom he honoured above all Men in the World and more sorry to displease the Queen yet he must above all things avoid God's Indignation and not enter into a station into which he knew he could not carry himself so as to answer it either to God or the World for his Administration And if he must go to Prison for his obstinate untowardness with which it seems they had threatned him he would suffer it rather with a quiet conscience than accept of an Imployment which he could not discharge He said he intended by God's Grace never to be of that Order neither higher nor lower He knew what he was capable of he was poor and not able to enter on such a station he had a Rupture which made him that he could not stir much therefore he desired some place in the University where he might wear out his Life tolerably He knew he could not answer their Expectation which made him so importunate not to be raised so high He said he had great apprehensions of Differences like to fall out among themselves which would be a pleasant diversion to those of the Church of Rome He saw some Men were Men still even after all their teaching in the School of Affliction He protested he did not seek his own private gain or ease he had but two or three years more of life before him and did not intend to heap up for his Children This he writ the first of March The business of the Parliament made this Motion to be laid aside till that was dissolved and then on the 17th of May the L. Keeper wrote to him concerning it He told him that he saw by a Resolution taken that day in the Queen's Presence that it would be very hard for his Friends to get him delivered from that Charge For his own part if he knew a Man to whom the Characters in his Letter did agree better than to himself he should be for preferring of such a one but knowing no such he must be still for him On the 19th after that the Lord Keeper and Secretary Cecil signed a Letter in the Queen's Name requiring him to come up and after that they sent a second Command to him to come to Court on the 28th of the Month. He came up but again excused himself Yet at last being so often pressed he writ to the Queen her self protesting that extream Necessity forced him to trouble her both out of Conscience to God and regard to her Service he knew his great unworthiness for so high a Function therefore as on his Knees he humbly besought her to discharge him of that Office which did require a Man of more Learning Virtue and Experience then he perfectly knew was in himself He lamented his
being so meanly qualified that he could not serve her in that high station but in any other inferiour Office he should be ready to discharge his Duty to her in such a Place as was suitable to his infirmity But in the conclusion he submitted himself to Her pleasure In the end he was with great difficulty brought to accept of it So on the 8th day of July the Conge d' Elire was sent to Canterbury and upon that on the 22d of July a Chapter was summoned to meet the first of August where the Dean and Prebendaries meeting they according to a method often used in their Elections did by a Compromise refer it to the Dean to name whom he pleased and he naming Doctor Parker according to the Queen's Letter they all confirmed it and published their Election singing Te Deum upon it On the 9th of September the Great Seal was put to a Warrant for his Consecration directed to the Bishops of Duresm Bath and Wells Peterborough Landaff and to Barlow and Scory stiled only Bishops not being then elected to any Sees requiring them to Consecrate him From this it appears that neither Tonstal Bourn nor Pool were at that time turned out It seems there was some hope of gaining them to obey the Laws and so to continue in thâ—ir Sees EFFIGIES MATTHAEI PARKERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIENSIS R. White sculp Natus Nordorici 1504 August 6. Decanê° Lincoln sub Edrardo VI. Consecr Archiep. Cantuariensis 1559 Dec. 17. Obijt 1575. Maij 17. Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St. Pauls Church yard I have given the more distinct Account of these Promotions The Fable of the Nags-head confuted because of a most malicious Slander with which they were asperst in after-times It was not thought on for forty years after this But then it was forged and publish'd and spread over the World with great confidence That Parker himself was not legally nor truly Consecrated The Author of it was said to be one Neale that had been sometime one of Bonner's Chaplains The Contrivance was that the Bishop of Landaff being required by Bonner not to Consecrate Parker or to give Orders in his Diocess did thereupon refuse it Upon that the Bishops Elect being met in Cheapside at the Nags-head-Tavern Neale that had watch'd them thither peep'd in through an hole of the Door and saw them in great disorder finding the Bishop of Landaff was intractable But as the Tale goes on Scory bids them all kneel and he laid the Bible upon every one of their Heads or Shoulders and said Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God sincerely and so they rose up all Bishops This Tale came so late into the World that Sanders and all the other Writers in Queen Elizabeth's time had never heard of it otherwise we may be sure they would not have concealed it And if the thing had been true or if Neale had but pretended that he had seen any such thing there is no reason to think he would have suppressed it But when it might be presumed that all those persons were dead that had been present at Parker's Consecration then was the time to invent such a Story for then it might be hoped that none could contradict it And who could tell but that some who had seen Bishops go from Bow-Church to dine at that Tavern with their Civilians as some have done after their Confirmation might imagine that then was the time of this Nags-head-Consecration If it were boldly said one or other might think he remembred it But as it pleased God there was one then living that remembred the contrary The old Earl of Nottingham who had been at the Consecration declared it was at Lambeth and described all the Circumstances of it and satisfied all reasonable men that it was according to the Form of the Church of England The Registers both of the See of Canterbury and of the Records of the Crown do all fully agree with his Relation For as Parker's Conge d' Elire with the Queen's Assent to his Election and the Warrant for his Consecration are all under the Great Seal So upon the Certificate made by those who Consecrated him the Temporalties were restored by another Warrant also enrolled which was to be shewed in the House of Lords when he took his Place there Besides that the Consecrations of all the other Bishops made by him shew that he alone was first Consecrated without any other And above all other Testimonies the Original Instrument of Archbishop Parker's Consecration lies still among his other Papers in the Library of Corpus Christi College at Cambridge which I saw and read It is as manifestly an Original Writing Coll. Numb 9. as any that I ever had in my hands I have put it in the Collection for the more full discovery of the Impudence of that Fiction But it served those ends for which it was designed Weak people hearing it so positively told by their Priests came to believe it and I have my self met with many that seemed still to give some credit to it after all that clear Confutation of it made by the most Ingenious and Learned Bishop Bramhall the late Primat of Ireland Therefore I thought it necessary to be the larger in the Account of this Consecration and the rather because of the influence it hath into all the Ordinations that have been since that time derived down in this Church Some excepted against the Canonicalness of it because it was not done by all the Bishops of the Province and three of the Bishops had no Sees when they did it and the fourth was only a Suffragan-Bishop But to all this it was said That after a Church had been over-run with Heresy those Rules which were to be observed in its more setled state were always superseded as appears particularly when the Arrian Bishops were turned out of some great Sees for the Orthodox Bishops did then ordain others to succeed them without judging themselves bound by the Canons in such Cases And Bishops that had been rightly Consecrated could certainly derive their own Character to others whether they were actually in Sees or not And a Suffragan-Bishop being Consecrated in the same manner that other Bishops were tho he had a limited Jurisdiction yet was of the same Order with them All these things were made out with a great deal of Learning by Mason who upon the publishing of that Fiction wrote in Vindication of the English Ministry Thus were the Sees filled the Worship Reformed and the Queen's Injunctions sent over England Three things remained yet to be done The first was To set out the Doctrine of the Church as it had been done in King Edward's Time The second was To Translate the Bible and publish it with short Notes And the third was To regulate the Ecclesiastical Courts The Bishops therefore set about these And for the first Though they could not by publick Authority set out the Articles of
the Church till they met in a Convocation yet they soon after prepared them And for the present they agreed on a short Profession of their Doctrine which all Incumbents were obliged to read and publish to their People This will be found in the Collection Coll. Num. 11. copied from it as it was then printed In the Articles made in King Edward's Reign which I have put in the Collection the Reader will find on the Margent the differences between those and these marked In the third Article the explanation of Christ's descent to Hell was left out In that about the Scriptures they now added an enumeration of the Canonical and Apocryphal Books declaring that some Lessons were read out of the latter for the Instruction of the People but not for the confirmation of the Doctrine About the Authority of the Church they now added That the Church had power to decree Rites and Ceremonies and had Authority in Controversies of Faith but still subordinate to the Scripture In the Article about the Lord's Supper there is a great deal left out for instead of that large refutation of the Corporal Presence from the impossibility of a Bodies being in more places at once from whence it follows that since Christ's Body is in Heaven the Faithful ought not to believe or profess a Real or Corporal Presence of it in the Sacrament In the new Articles it is said That the Body of Christ is given and received after a Spiritual manner and the means by which it is received is Faith But in the Original Copy of these Articles M.SS. C. Cor. Christ Cant. which I have seen subscribed by the hands of all that sat in either House of Convocation there is a further addition made The Articles were subscribed with that Precaution which was requisite in a matter of such consequence for before the Subscriptions there is set down the number of the Pages and of the Lines in every Page of the Book to which they set their hands In that Article of the Eucharist these words are added Christus in Coelum ascendens corpori suo immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit Humanae enim naturae veritatem juxta scripturas perpetuo retinet quam in uno definito loco esse non in multa vel omnia simul loca diffundi oportet Quum igitur Chistus in Coelum sublatus ibi usque ad finem Soeculi sit permansurus atque inde non aliunde ut loquitur Augustinus venturus sit ad judicandum vivos mortuos non debet quisquam fidelium Carnis ejus Sanguinis realem corporalem ut loquuntur praesentiam in Eucharistia vel credere vel profiteri In English thus Christ An Explanation of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament when he ascended into Heaven made his Body Immortal but took not from it the nature of a Body For still it retains according to the Scriptures the verity of a humane Body which must be always in one definite place and cannot be spread into many or all places at once Since then Christ being carried up to Heaven is to remain there to the end of the World and is to come from thence and from no place else as says St. Austin to judg the Quick and the Dead None of the Faithful ought to believe or profess the real or as they call it the corporal Presence of his Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist But this in the Original is dasht over with minium yet so that it is still legible â—uâ— 't is suppresseâ— The Secret of it was this The Queen and her Council studied as hath been already shewn to unite all into the Communion of the Church and it was alleaged that such an express definition against a Real Presence might drive from the Church many who were still of that Perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a Spiritual manner and received by Faith to say more as it was judged superfluous so it might occasion Division Upon this these words were by common consent left out And in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them of which I have also seen the Original This shews that the Doctrine of the Church subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real or Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Though from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that Time in leaving a Liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence some have since inferred that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the Definition made in King Edward's Time and that they were for a Real Presence For the Translating of the Bible it was divided into many Parcels The Pentateuch was committed to William Alley Bishop of Exeter The Books from that to the second of Samuel were given to Richard Davis who was made Bishop of St. Davids when Young was removed to York All from Samuel to the second Book of Chronicles was assigned to Edwin Sandys then Bishop of Worcester From thence to the end of Job to one whose Name is marked A. P. C. The Book of the Psalms was given to Thomas Bentham Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield The Proverbs to one who is marked A. P. The Song of Solomon to one Marked A. P. E. All from thence to the Lamentations of Jeremy was given to Robert Horn Bishop of Winchester Ezekiel and Daniel to Bentham From thence to Malachi to Grindal Bishop of London The Apocripha to the Book of Wisdom was given to Barlow Bishop of Chichester and the rest of it to Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich The Gospels Acts and Epistle to the Romans were given to Richard Cox Bishop of Ely The Epistles to the Corinthians to one marked G. G. I know not to whom the rest of the New Testament was assigned All these Allotments I gather from the Bible it self as it was afterwards set out by Parker What Method they followed in this Work I cannot discover unless the Rules afterwards given in King James his Time when the Translation was revived Coll. Num. 10. were copied from what was now done which Rules for the curiosity of the thing I shall put in the Collection as I copied it from B. Ravis's Paper They were given with that care that such a matter required There were many Companies appointed for every parcel of the Scripture and every one of a Company was to translate the whole Parcel then they were to compare these together and when any Company had finished their Part they were to communicate it to the other Companies So it is like that at this Time those several Bishops that had undertaken the Translation did associate to themselves Companies with whose assistance they perfected it afterwards and when it was set out at the end
never defame them so much to be seen to fear it And of what strength an Act of Parliament is the Realm was taught in the case of her that we called Queen Ann where all such as spake against her in the Parliament-House although they did it by special Commandment of the King and spake that was truth yet they were fain to have a Pardon because that speaking was against an Act of Parliament Did you never know or here tell of any Man that for doing that the King our late Soveraign Lord willed devised and required to be done He that took pains and was commanded to do it was fain to sue for his Pardon and such other also as were doers in it and I could tell who it were Sure there hath been such a Case and I have been present when it hath been reasoned That the doing against an Act of Parliament excuseth not a Man even from the Case of Treason although a Man did it by the King's Commandment You can tell this to your remembrance when you think further of it and when it cometh to your remembrance you will not be best content with your self I believe to have advised me to enter the breach of an Act of Parliament without surety of Pardon although the King command it and were such indeed as it were no matter to do it at all And thus I answer the Letters with worldly civil Reasons and take your Mind and Zeal towards me to be as tender as may be and yet you see that the following of your Advice might make me lose my Bishoprick by mine own Act which I am sure you would I should keep and so would I as might stand with my Truth and Honesty and none otherwise as knoweth God who send you heartily well to fare Number 14. The Conclusion of Gardiner's Letter to the Protector against the lawfulness of the Injunctions Cotton Libr. Vesp D. 18. VVHether the King may command against the Common Law or an Act of Parliament there is never a Judg or other Man in the Realm ought to know more by experience of that the Lawyers have said than I. First My Lord Cardinal had obtained his Legacy by our late Soveraign Lord's Request at Rome yet being it was against the Laws of the Realm the Judges censured the Offence of Premunire which Matter I bore away and take it for a Law of the Realm because the Lawyers said so but my Reason digested it not The Lawyers for the confirmation of their Doings brought in a Case of my Lord Typtest an Earl he was and learned in Civil Laws who being Chancellor because in execution of the King's Commission he offended the Laws of the Realm he suffered on Tower-Hill they brought in the Examples of many Judges that had Fines set on their Heads in like case for transgression of the Laws by the King's Commandment and this I learned in this Case Since that time being of the Council when many Proclamations were devised against the Carriers out of Corn when it came to punishing the Offenders the Judges would answer it might not be by the Laws because the Act of Parliament gave liberty Wheat being under a price Whereupon at the last followed the Act of Proclamations in the passing whereof were many large words When the Bishop of Exeter and his Chancellor were by one Body brought into a Premunire I reasoned with the Lord Audley then Chancellor so far as he bad me hold my peace for fear of entring a Premunire my self But I concluded that although I must take it as of their Authority that it is Common Law yet I could not see how a Man authorised by the King as since the King's Majesty hath taken upon him the Supremacy every Bishop is that Man could fall in a Premunire I reasoned once in the Parliament House where was free Speech without danger and there the Lord Audley Chancellor then to satisfie me because I was in some secret estimation as he knew Thou art a good Fellow Bishop quoth he look the Act of the Supremacy and there the King's doings be restrained to Spiritual Jurisdiction And in an other Act No Spiritual Law shall have place contrary to a Common Law or an Act of Parliament And if this were not quoth he the Bishops would enter in with the King and by means of his Supremacy order the Law as you listed but we will provide quoth he that the Premunire shall never go off your Heads This I bare away there and held my peace Since that time in a Case of Jewels I was fain with the Emperor's Ambassador Chapinius when he was here and in the Emperor's Court also to defend and maintain by Commandment that the King's Majesty was not above his Laws and therefore the Jeweller although he had the King's Bill signed yet it would not serve because it was not obtained after the Order of the Law in which Matter I was very much troubled Even this time twelve-month when I was in Commission with my Lord great Master and the Earl of Southampton for the altering of the Court of Augmentations there was my Lord Montague and other of the King 's Learned Council of whom I learned what the King might do against an Act of Parliament and what danger it was to them that medled It is fresh in my Memory and they can tell whether I say true or no and therefore being learned in so notable Causes I wrote in your absence therein as I had learned by hearing the Common Lawyers speak whose Judgments rule these Matters howsoever my reason can digest them When I wrote thereof the Matter was so reasonable as I have been learned by the Lawyers of the Realm that I trusted my Lords would have staied till your Graces return Number 15. A Letter from the Duke of Somerset to the Lady Mary in the beginning of King Edward's Reign Madam my humble Commendations to your Grace premised THese may be to signify unto the same Cotton Libr. Faustin C. 2. that I have received your Letters of the second of this present by Jane your Servant reknowledging my self thereby much bound unto your Grace nevertheless I am very sorry to perceive that your Grace should have or conceive any sinister or wrong Opinion in me and others which were by the King your late Father and our most gracious Master put in trust as Executors of his Will albeit the truth of our doings being known to your Grace as it seemeth by your said Letter not to be I trust there shall be no such fault found in us as in the same your Grace hath alleadged and for my part I know none of us that will willingly neglect the full execution of every Jot of his said Will as far as shall and may stand with the King our Master's Honour and Surety that now is otherwise I am sure that your Grace nor none other his Faithful Subjects would have it take place not doubting but our Doings and
that the said Clergy according to the Tenour of the King 's Writ and the Ancient Laws and Customs of this Noble Realm might have their Room and Place and be associated with the Commons in the Nether House of this present Parliament as Members of the Common-Wealth and the King 's most humble Subjects And if this may not be permitted and granted unto them that then no Statutes nor Laws concerning the Christian Religion or which shall concern especially the Persons Possessions Rooms Livings Jurisdictions Goods or Chattels of the said Clergy may pass nor be enacted the said Clergy not being made privy thereunto and their Answers and Reasons not heard The said Clergy do most humbly beseech an Answer and Declaration to be made unto them what the said most Reverend Father in God and all other the Bishops have done in this their humble Suit and Request to the end that the said Clergy if need be may chuse of themselves such able and discreet Persons which shall effectually follow the same Suit in the Name of them all And whereas in a Statute ordained and established by Authority of Parliament at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of the most excellent Prince King Henry the 8th The Clergy of this Realm submitting themselves to the King's Highness did knowledg and confess according to the Truth That the Convocations of the same Clergy have been and ought to be assembled by the King 's Writ and did promise farther in Verbo Sacerdotii that they never from thenceforth would presume to attempt alledg claim or put in use or enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincials or other or by whatsoever other Name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and License may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same And his Majesty to give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf upon pain of every one of the Clergy doing the contrary and being thereof Convict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the King 's Will. And that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm which Statute is eft-soons renewed and established in the 27th Year of the Reign of the most noble King as by the Tenour of both Statutes more at large will appear The said Clergy being presently assembled in Convocation by Authority of the King 's Writ do desire that the King's Majesty's License in writing may be for them obtained and granted according to the effect of the said Statutes authorising them to attempt entreat and commune of such Matters and therein freely to give their Consents which otherwise they may not do upon pain and peril premised Also the said Clergy desireth that such Matters as concerneth Religion which be disputable may be quietly and in good order reasoned and disputed among them in this House whereby the Verities of such Matters shall the better appear and the Doubts being opened and resolutely discussed Men may be fully perswaded with the quietness of their Consciences and the time well spent Number 18. A Paper offered to Q. Elizabeth and afterwards to K. James concerning the Inferior Clergies being brought to the House of Commons Reasons to induce her Majesty that Deans Arch-Deacons and some other of her grave and wise Clergie may be admitted into the Lower House of Parliament 1. IN former Times when Causes Ecclesiastical were either not at all Ex M.S. Dr. Borlace or else very rarely treated of in that Assembly the Clergy were thought Men most meet to consult and determine of the Civil Affairs of this Realm 2. The Supream Authority in Church Causes is not newly granted but reunited and restored to the Crown and an Order is by Law already established how all Abuses in the Church are to be reformed so as no cause concerning Religion may be handled in that House without her Majesty's special leave but with the manifest impeaching of her Prerogative Royal and contempt of the said Order 3. If it shall please her Highness to give way to this Course that Church-Matters be there debated and in part concluded How much more necessary is it now than it was in former Times that some of the Clergy should be there present at the same * In the same Paper written over to be presented to K. James this Article is thus varied It is thought the Clergie falling into a Premunire and so not in the King's Protection it did afterwards please the King to pardon them but not to restore them So began this Separation as far forth as can be collected then the Wisdom of a great Politician meeting with the Ambition of as great a Prelat wrought the continuance of the said Separation under this pretence That it should be most for the Honour of him and his Clergie to be still by themselves in two Assemblies of Convocation answerable in proportion to the two Houses of Parliament There are many other inconsiderable Amendments made by Bishop Ravis 's own hand It doth not appear why they were excluded but as it is thought either the King offended with some of them did so grievously punish the whole Body or else the Ambition of one of them meeting with the subtilty of an undermining Politick did occasion this causeless Separation 5. They are yet to this day called by several Writs directed into their several Diocesses under the Great Seal to assist the Prince in that High Court of Parliament 6. Though the Clergy and the Universities be not the worst Members of this Common-Wealth yet in that respect they are of all other in worst condition for in that Assembly every Shire hath their Knights and every incorporate Town their Burgesses only the Clergy and the Universities are excluded 7. The Wisdom and Justice of this Realm doth intend That no Subject should be bound to that Law whereunto he himself after a sort hath not yielded his Consent but the Clergy and the Universities may now be concluded by Law without their Consent without their just Defence without their Privity 8. The many Motions made so prejudicial to the State and being of the Clergy and Universities followed now with so great eagerness in that House would then be utterly silenced or soon repressed with the sober and sufficient Answers of the Clergy present 9. It would much repair the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy which now is exposed to great contumely and contempt as generally abroad in this Land so particularly in that House And whoso is religious and wise may observe That the Contempt of the Clergy is the high way to Atheism and all Prophaneness Men are Flesh and not Spirit led by ordinary outward Means and not usually overwrought by extraordinary Inspirations and therefore do easily
Contention Your Answer thereunto our said Servant hath declared unto us in this manner Ye can no wise forbear to speak of the Sacrament neither of the Mass this last being the chief Foundation as ye say of our Religion and that without it we cannot know that Christ is our Sacrifice the other being so spoken of by many that if you should not speak your mind thereof what ye think you know what other Men would think of you in the end concluding generally that you will speak the Truth and that ye doubt not but that we shall be therewith content adding also as our said Servant reporteth unto us That you would not wish that we our selves should meddle or have to do in these Matters of Religion but that the care thereof were committed to you the Bishops unto whom the blame if any should be deserved might well be imputed To this your Answer if so it be we reply very shortly signifying unto you our express Pleasure and Commandment on our Soveraign Lord the King's Majesty's behalf charging you by the Authority of the same to abstain in your said Sermon from treating of any Matter in controversy concerning the said Sacrament and the Mass and only to bestow your Speech in the expert explication of the Articles prescribed unto you and in other wholsome Matter of Obedience of the People and good Conversation and Living the same Matters being both large enough for a long Sermon and not unnecessary for the time And the treatie of other which we forbid you not meet in your private Sermon to be had but necessarily reserved for a publick Consultation and at this present utterly to be forborn for the common Quiet This our express Pleasure wherein we know how reasonably we may command you and you we think know how willingly ye ought to obey us For our intermedling with these Causes of Religion understand you that we account it no small part of our Charge under the King's Majesty to bring his People from Ignorance to Knowledg and from Superstition to true Religion esteeming that the chief Foundation to build Obedience upon and where there is a full consent of others the Bishops and learned Men in a Truth not to suffer you or a few other with wilful headiness to disswade all the rest And although we presume not to determine Articles of Religion by our Self yet from God we knowledg it we be desirous to defend and advance the Truth determined or revealed and so consequently we will not fail but withstand the Disturbers thereof So fare you well From Sion June 28. Anno 1548. Your Loving Friend E. Somerset Number 29. Some of the Collects and Hymns to the Saints in the Hours ad usum Sarum printed at Paris Anno 1520. In which immediate Adoration is offered to them and those things are asked of them which God only gives Folio 4. SAncta Dei Genetrix quae digne meruisti concipere quem totus orbis nequivit comprehendere tuo pio interventu culpas nostras ablue ut perennis sedem gloriae per te redempti valeamus scandere ubi manes cum Filio tuo sine tempore Fol. 11. S. Pauthaleon Sancte Panthaleon Martyr Christi militari ordine fuisti quo promeruisti Demum heremiticam vitam acquisisti Tu vero hydropicum sanum reddidisti Missus in equleo ungues perdidisti Costas cum lampadibus adustus fuisti Collum subdens gladio pronus pertulisti Fundens lac pro sanguine vitam sic finisti Cunctas febres dilue a plebe tam tristi Qui Coelestis Gloriae Regna meruisti Fol. 12. S. Tho. Cant. Tu per Thomae sanguinem quem pro te impendit fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas ascendit Versicle gloria honore coronasti eum Domino Resp constituisti eum supra opera manuum tuarum Fol. 12. of Pope Nicolaus And so in many other places Ut ejus meritis precibus a gehennae incendiis liberemur Sancta Maria succurre miseris Juva pusillanimes refove flebiles ora pro populo Fol. 30. interveni pro clero intercede pro devoto femineo sexu Fol. 33. Virgo singularis inter omnes mitis nos culpis solutos mites fac castos Vitam presta puram iter para tutum ut videntes Jesum semper collaetemur Fol. 44. A Prayer to the Virgin to the sayers of which Pope Calestine granted 300 days of Pardon a part of which is Consolare peccatorem ne tuum des honorem alieno vel crudeli precor te Regina Coeli Me habeto excusatum apud Christum tuum natum cujus iram expavesco furorem pertimesco nam peccavi tibi soli O Maria Virgo noli esse mihi aliena gratia Coelesti plena esto custos cordis mei signa me timore Dei confer vitae sanitatem da morum honestatem Et da peccata me vitare quod justum est amare O dulcedo Virginalis nunquam fuit nec est talis c. Fol. 77. S. George Georgi Martyr inclite te decet laus gloria praedotatum militia per quem puella Regia existens in tristitia coram Dracone pessimo salvata est animo te rogamus corde intimo ut cum cunctis fidelibus Coeli jungamur civibus nostris abluti sordibus ut simul cum laetitia tecum simus in gloria nostraque reddant labia laudes Christo cum gloria Martyr Christophore pro salvatoris honore fac nos mente fore Ibid. St. Christopher dignos deitatis amore Promisso Christi quia quod petis obtinuisti da populo tristi bona quae moriendo petisti confer solamen mentis tolle gravamen judicis examen fac mite sit omnibus Amen O Willielme Pastor bone Cleri pater patrone Fol. 78. munda nobis in agone confer opem depone vitae sordes Coronae Coelestis da gaudia O vos undena millia puellae gloriosae virginitatis lilia Fol. 80. 11000 Virgins Martyrii Rosae in vita me defendite prebendo mihi juvamen in morte vos ostendite supremum ferendo solamen To St. Alban Te nunc petimus patrone praeco sedule qui es nostra vera gloria solve precum votis servorum scelera To St. Peter and St. Paul Beate Petre qui Maxima reseras claudis verbo Coeli limina sume pius vota fidelia peccati cuncta dissolvendo vincula Sacra Paule ingere dogmata illustrans plebis pectora In die omnium Sanctorum Mariam primam vox sonet nostra per quam nobis vitae sunt data praemia Regina quae es mater casta solve nostra per filium peccamina Angelorum concio sacra Arch-Angelorum turma inclita nostra diluant jam peccata praestando supernam Coeli gloriam Number 30. Dr. Redmayn's Opinion concerning the Marriage of the Clergie An Original I Think that although the Word of God does
Number 55. Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other Learned Men in the Convocation held at London in the Year 1552. for the avoiding diversities of Opinions and stablishing Consent touching true Religion Published by the King's Authority With Marginal Notes of the differences between these and those set out by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1562. I. Of Faith in the Holy Ghost THere is but one living and true God everlasting without Body Parts or Passions of infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in the unity of this God-head there are three Persons of one Substance Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost II. The Word of God made very Man The Son which is the Word of the Father The Son which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternal God of one Substance with the Father took Man's Nature in the Womb of the blessed Virgin c. took Man's Nature in the Womb of the blessed Virgin of her Substance So that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say the God-head and Manhood were join'd together in one Person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very Man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a Sacrifice not only for Original Guilt but also for Actual Sins of Men. III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell As Christ died for us and was buried so also is it to be believed that he went down into Hell * These words were left out For his Body lay in the Grave till his Resurrection but his Soul being separate from his Body remained with the Spirits which were detained in Prison that is to say in Hell and there preached unto them as witnesseth that place of Peter IV. The Resurrection of Christ Christ did truly rise again from Death and took again his Body with Flesh Bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man's Nature wherewith he ascended into Heaven and there sitteth till he return to judg all Men at the last day Of the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son is of one Substance Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son very and eternal God V. The Doctrine of the Holy Scripture is sufficient to Salvation Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought necessary or requisite to Salvation In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority was never any doubt in the Church that is to say Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1st of Samuel 2d of Samuel c. And the other Books as Hierom saith the Church doth read for example of Life and instruction of Manners but yet doth it not apply them to establish any Doctrine such are these following The 3d of Esdras the 4th of Esdras the Book of Tobias the Book of Judeth the rest of the Book of Hester the Book of Wisdom c. All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly received we do receive and account them Canonical Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby although sometimes it may be admitted by God's faithful People as pious and conducing unto order and decency yet is not to be required of any Man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation VI. The Old Testament is not to be rejected The Old Testament is not to be rejected as if it were contrary to the New but to be retained Forasmuch as in the Old Testament as in the New everlasting Life is offered to Mankind by Christ who is the only Mediator betwixt God and Man being both God and Man Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory Promises Although the Law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not bind Christian Men nor the Civil Precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any Common-wealth yet notwithstanding no Christian Man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral VII The three Creeds The three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received * And believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of the Holy Scripture VIII Original Sin Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk * Left out and at this day is affirmed by the Anabaptists but it is the fault and corruption of every Man that naturally is ingendred of the Off-spring of Adam whereby Man is very far gone from Original Righteousness and is of his own nature inclined to evil so that the Flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore in every Person born into this World it deserveth God's Wrath and Damnation And this Infection of Nature doth remain yea in them that are regenerated whereby the lust of the Flesh called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the Wisdom some Sensuality some the Affection some the desire of the Flesh is not subject to the Law of God And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized yet the Apostle doth confess that Concupiscense and Lust hath of it self the nature of Sin IX Of Free-will The condition of Man after the Fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good Works to Faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasant and acceptable unto God c. We have no power to do good Works pleasant and acceptable to God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will X. Of Grace The Grace of Christ or the Holy Ghost which is given by him doth take from Man the heart of Stone and giveth him a heart of Flesh And though it rendereth us willing to do those good Works which before we were unwilling to do and unwilling to do those evil Works which before we did yet is no violence offered by it to the will of Man so that no Man when he hath sinned can excuse himself as if he had sinned against his will or upon constraint and therefore that he ought not to be accused or condemned upon that account XI Of the Justification of Man Justification by Faith only in Jesus Christ
plain words of Scripture overthroweth the nature of a â—acrament and hath given occasion to many Superâ—â—itions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after an Heavenly and Spiritual Manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture and hath given occasion to many Superstitions Since the very Being of humane Nature doth require that the Body of one and the same Man cannot be at one and the same time in many places but of necessity must be in some certain and determinate place therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present in many different places at the same time And since as the Holy Scriptures testify Christ hath been taken up into Heaven and there is to abide till the end of the World it becometh not any of the Faithful to believe or profess that there is a Real or Corporeal presence as they phrase it of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's Ordinance reserved carried about lifted up or worshipped XXIX Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the Lord's Supper The wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith altho they do carnally and visibly press with their Teeth as St. Augustine saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing XXX Of both Kinds The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people For both the parts of the Lord's Sacrament by Christ's Ordinance and Commandment ought not to be ministred to all Christian People alike XXX Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross The Offering of Christ once made is a perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the Sins of the whole World both Original and Actual and there is none other Satisfaction for Sin but that alone Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in which it was commonly said That the Priests did offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to have remission of Pain or Guilt were * blasphemous Fables and dangerous Deceits XXXI A single Life is imposed on none by the Word of God Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by God's Law either to vow the estate of a single Life or to abstain from Marriage Therefore it is lawful for them as for all other Christian Men to Marry at their own discretion as they shall judg thâ— same to serve better to Godliness XXXII Excommunicated Persons are to be avoided That Person which by open Denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the Unity of the Church and Excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole Multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Judg that hath Authority thereunto XXXIII Of the Tradition of the Church It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one and utterly alike for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversities of Countries Times and Mens Manners so that nothing be ordained against God's Word Whosoever through his private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and reproved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Every Particular or National Church hath Authority to ordain change or abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by Man's Authority so that all things be done to edifying XXXIV Of the Homilies The second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine and necessary for the Times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the 6th and therefore we judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People The Names of the Homilies Of the Right Use of the Church Of Repairing Churches Against the Peril of Idolatry Of Good Works c. The Homilies lately delivered and commended to the Church of England by the King's Injunctions do contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine and fit to be embraced by all Men and for that cause they are diligently plainly and distinctly to be read to the People XXXV Of the Book of Common Prayer and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England The Book lately delivered to the Church of England by the Authority of the King and Parliament containing the manner and form of publick Prayer and the Ministration of the Sacraments The Book of Consecration of arch-Arch-Bishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests and Deacons lately set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering Neither hath it any thing that of it self is superstitious and ungodly And therefore whosoever are Consecrated and Ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second Year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Rites we decree all such to be rightly orderly and lawfully Consecrated and Ordered in the said Church of England as also the Book published by the same Authority for ordering Ministers in the Church are both of them very pious as to truth of Doctrine in nothing contrary but agreeable to the wholsome Doctrine of the Gospel which they do very much promote and illustrate And for that cause they are by all faithful Members of the Church of England but chiefly of the Ministers of the Word with all thankfulness and readiness of mind to be received approved and commended to the People of God XXXVI Of the Civil Magistrates The King of England is after Christ The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous Folks to be offended We give not to our Princess the Ministry either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to
in all things with Authority sufficient to execute Justice as well in Causes Criminal as in Matters of Controversy between Party and Party his Majesty hath commanded and appointed two Commissions to be made out under his Grace's Great Seal of England by virtue whereof they shall have full Power and Authority in either Case to proceed as the Matter occurrent shall require And for the more speedy expedition to be used in all causes of Justice his Majesty's Pleasure is That the said Lord President and Council shall cause every Complainant and Defendant that shall have to do before them to put and declare their whole Matter in their Bill of Complaint and Answer without Replication Rejoinder or other Plea or Delay to be had or used therein which Order the said L. President and Council shall manifest unto all such as shall be Councellors in any Matter to be intreated and defined before them charging and commanding the said Councellors and Pleaders to observe this Order upon such Penalties as they shall think convenient as they will eschew the danger of the same and not in any ways to break it without the special License of the said Lord President and that only in some special Causes And further his Highness by these Presents doth give full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council as well to punish such Persons as in any thing shall neglect contemn or disobey their Commandments or the Process of the Council as all other that shall speak seditious Words invent Rumors or commit such-like Offences not being Treason whereof any Inconvenience might grow by Pillory cutting their Ears wearing of Papers Imprisonment or otherwise at their Discretions And the said L. President and Council at their discretions shall appoint Counsellors and other Requisites to poor Suitors having no Mony without paying Fees or other things for the same And his Highness giveth full Power and Authority to the said L. President Council being with him or four of them at the least whereof the said L. President Sir John Hind Sir Edmond Molineux Sir Robert Bowes Sir Leonard Becquith Sir Anthony Nevill Sir Thomas Gargrave Knights Robert Mennell and Robert Chaloner to be two with the Lord President to assess Fines of all Persons that shall be convict or indicted of any Riot how many soever they be in number unless the Matter of such Riot shall be thought unto them of such importance as the same shall be meet to be signified unto his Majesty to be punished in such sort by the Order of his Council attending upon his Grace's Person as the same may be noted for an Example to others And his Grace giveth full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council or four of them at the least whereof the Lord President and two others bound to continual Attendance to be three to Award and Assess Costs and Dammages as well to the Plaintiffs as to the Defendants by their discretions and to award execution of their Decrees and Orders and to punish the breakers of the same being Parties thereunto by their discretions All which Decrees and Orders the Secretary shall be bound incontinently upon the promulgation of the same to write or cause to be written in one fair Book which shall remain in the hands and custody of the said Lord President And to the intent it may appear to all Persons there what Fees shall be paid and taken for all Processes and Writings to be used by the said Council his Majesty therefore appointeth that there shall be a Table affixed in every place where the said Lord President and Council shall sit at any Sessions and a like Table to hang openly that all Men may see it in the Office where the said Secretary and the Clerks shall commonly sit and expedite the said Writings wherein shall be declared what shall be paid for the same That is to say For every Recognisance wherein one alone or more standeth bounden 12 d. for the cancelling of every like Recognisance 12 d. For the entring of every Decree 6 d. for the Copy of the same if it be asked 6 d. For every Letter Commission Attachment or other Precept or Process sent to any Person 4 d. For every Dismission before the said Council if it be asked 4 d. For the Copies of Bills and Answers and other Pleas for every ten lines reasonably writ 1 d. for the Examination of every Witness 4 d. And his Grace's Pleasure is That the Examination of Witnesses produced in Matters before the said Council shall be examined by such discreet Person and Persons as shall be thought convenient and meet by the said Lord President and two of the said Council bound to continual Attendance and that the said Lord President with such-like two of the said Council shall reform appoint and allow such Persons to write Bills Answers Copies or other Process in that Court as they shall think convenient over and beside the said Secretary and his two Clerks which Clerks also the said Lord President and Council shall reform and correct as they shall have cause and occasion In which Reformation and Appointments the said Lord President shall have a Voice Negative And for the more certain and brief determination of Matters in those parts his Majesty by these Presents ordaineth that the said Lord President and Council shall keep four general Sittings or Sessions in the Year every of them to continue by the space of one whole Month whereof one to be at York another at Kingston upon Hull one at New-Castle and another at Duresme within the limits whereof the Matters rising there shall be ordered and decreed if they conveniently so may be And they shall in every of the same Places keep one Goal Delivery before their departure from thence his Grace nevertheless referring it to their Discretions to take and appoint such other Place and Places for their said four general Sittings as they or the said Lord President with three of the Council bounden to continual Attendance shall think most convenient for the time and purpose so that they keep the full term of one Month in every such place if they may in any wise conveniently so do And forsomuch as a great number of his Majesty's Tenants and Farmers have been heretofore retained with sundry Persons by Wages Livery Badg or Connysance by reason whereof when his Grace should have had service of them they were rather at Commandment of other Men than according to their Duties of Allegiance of his Highness of whom they have their Livings his Majesty's Pleasure and express Commandment is That none of his said Council nor others shall by any means retain or entertain any of his Graces Tenants or Farmers in such sort as they or any of them should account themselves bounden to do him or them any other Service than as to his Highness Officers having Office or being appointed in Service there unless the same Farmers and Tenants be continually
King Edward the 6th by the same Act limited and appointed to remain to the Lady Mary his eldest Daughter and to the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten And for default of such Issue the Remainder thereof to the Lady Elizabeth by the Name of the Lady Elizabeth his second Daughter and to the Heirs of her Body lawfully begotten with such Conditions as should be limited and appointed by the said late King of worthy memory King Henry the 8th our Progenitor our Great Uncle by his Letters Patents under his Great Seal or by his last Will in writing signed with his Hand And forasmuch as the said Limitation of the Imperial Crown of this Realm being limited as is afore-said to the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth being illegitimate and not lawfully begotten for that the Marriage had between â—he said late King King Henry the 8th our Progenitor and Great Uncle and the Lady Katherine Mother to the said Lady Mary and also the Marriage had between the said late King King Henry the 8th our Progenitor and Great Uncle and the Lady Ann Mother to the said Lady Elizabeth were clearly and lawfully undone by Sentences of Divorce according to the Word of God and the Ecclesiastical Laws and which said several Divorcements have been severally ratified and confirmed by Authority of Parliament and especially in the 28th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th our said Progenitor and Great Uncle remaining in force strength and effect whereby as well the said Lady Mary as also the said Lady Elizabeth to all intents and purposes are and been clearly disabled to ask claim or challenge the said Imperial Crown or any other of the Honours Castles Manours Lordships Lands Tenements or other Hereditaments as Heir or Heirs to our said late Cousin King Edward the 6th or as Heir or Heirs to any other Person or Persons whatsoever as well for the Cause before rehearsed as also for that the said Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth were unto our said late Cousin but of the half Blood and therefore by the Ancient Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm be not inheritable unto our said late Cousin although they had been born in lawful Matrimony as indeed they were not as by the said Sentences of Divorce and the said Statute of the 28th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th our said Progeâ—â—â—or and Great Uncle plainly appeareth And forasmuch also as it is to be thought or at the least much to be doubted that if the said Lady Mary or Lady Elizabeth should hereafter have or enjoy the said Imperial Crown of this Realm and should then happen to marry with any Stranger born out of this Realm that then the said Stranger having the Government and Imperial Crown in his Hands would adhere and practise not only to bring this Noble Free Realm into the Tyranny and Servitude of the Bishops of Rome but also to have the Laws and Customs of his or their own Native Country or Countries to be practised and put in ure within this Realm rather than the Laws Statutes and Customs here of long time used whereupon the Title of Inheritance of all and singular the Subjects of this Realm do depend to the peril of Conscience and the uttersubversion of the Common-Weal of this Realm Whereupon our said late dear Cousin weighing and considering within himself which ways and means were most convenient to be had for the stay of the said Succession in the said Imperial Crown if it should please God to call our said late Cousin out of this transitory Life having no Issue of his Body And calling to his remembrance that We and the Lady Katharine and the Lady Mary our Sisters being the Daughters of the Lady Frances our natural Mother and then and yet Wife to our natural and most loving Father Henry Duke of Suffolk and the Lady Margaret Daughter of the Lady Elianor then deceased Sister to the said Lady Frances and the late Wife of our Cousin Henry Earl of Cumberland were very nigh of his Graces Blood of the part of his Fathers side our said Progenitor and great Uncle and being naturally born here within the Realm And for the very good Opinion our said late Cousin had of our said Sisters and Cousin Margarets good Education did therefore upon good deliberation and advice herein had and taken by his said Letters Patents declare order assign limit and appoint that if it should fortune himself our said late Cousin King Edward the Sixth to decease having no Issue of his Body lawfully begotten that then the said Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Confines of the same and his Title to the Crown of the Realm of France and all and singular Honours Castles Prerogatives Privileges Preheminencies and Authorities Jurisdictions Dominions Possessions and Hereditaments to our said late Cousin K. Edward the Sixth or to the said Imperial Crown belonging or in any wise appertaining should for lack of such Issue of his Body remain come and be to the eldest Son of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten being born into the World in his Life-time and to the Heirs Males of the Body of such eldest Son lawfully begotten and so from Son to Son as he should be of vicinity of Birth of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten being born into the World in our said late Cousins Life-time and to the Heirs Male of the Body of every such Son lawfully begotten And for default of such Son born into the World in his life-time of the Body of the said Lady Frances lawfully begotten and for lack of Heirs Males of every such Son lawfully begotten that then the said Imperial Crown and all and singular other the Premises should remain come and be to us by the Name of the Lady Jane eldest Daughter of the said Lady Frances and to the Heirs Males of our Body lawfully begotten and for lack of such Issue then to the Lady Katherine aforesaid our said second Sister and the Heirs Male of her Body lawfully begotten with divers other Remainders as by the same Letters Patents more plainly and at large it may and doth appear Sithence the making of our Letters Patents that is to say on Thursday which was the 6th day of this instant Month of July it hath pleased God to call unto his infinite Mercy our said most dear and entirely beloved Cousin Edward the Sixth whose Soul God pardon and forasmuch as he is now deceased having no Heirs of his Body begotten and that also there remaineth at this present time no Heirs lawfully begotten of the Body of our said Progenitor and great Uncle King Henry the Eighth And forasmuch also as the said Lady Frances our said Mother had no Issue Male begotten of her Body and born into the World in the life-time of our said Cousin King Edward the Sixth so as the said Imperial Crown and other the Premises to the same belonging or in any wise appertaining
clam Autographum surripuerat 5. Septemb. Anno Dom. 1553. Number 9. The Conclusion of Cardinal Pool's Instructions to Mr. Goldwell sent by him to the Queen An Original Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. FOr the conclusion of all that is comprised in your Instruction as that the which containeth the whole Sum of my poor Advice and Counsel it pleaseth her Grace to ask of me you shall say That my most humble desire is that in all deliberation her Grace shall make touching the maintenance of her State the same will ever well ponder and consider what the Providence of God hath shewed therein above that which hath been shewed in her Predecessors Kings of this Realm in this one Point which is to have the Crown not only as a King's Daughter and Heir but hath ordered that this Point of right Inheritance shall depend as it doth of the Authority he hath given to his Church and of the See of Rome which is the See Apostolick approving her Mother to be Legitimate Wife of King Henry the Eighth whereby she is bound afore God and Man as she will show her self the very Daughter of the said King Henry the Eighth right Heir of the Crown so also to show her self right Daughter of the Church and of them that be resident in the See Apostolick who be the right Heirs of Peter to whom and his Successors Christ chief Head of the Church in Heaven and in Earth hath given in Earth to bear his Place touching the Rule of the same Church and to have the Crown thereof which well considered and pondered her Grace shall soon see how in her Person the Providence of God hath joined the Right she hath by her Father in the Realm with the Right of the Church that she cannot prevail by the one except she join the other withal and they that will separate these two take away not only half her Right but her whole Right being not so much Heir because she is King Henry's only Daughter without Issue Male as she is his lawful Daughter which she hath by the Authority of the Church Which thing prudently and godly considered she cannot but see what faithful counsel this is That above all Acts that in this Parliament shall be made doth advertise her Grace to establish that the which pertaineth to the establishing of the Authority of the Church and the See of the same what rendering to him that is right Successor to Peter therein his right Title of Head in the Church in Earth without the which she cannot be right Head in the Realm and this established all Controversy is taken away and who will repine unto this he doth repine unto her right of the Crown Wherefore this is my first Advice That this Point above all other should be entreated and enacted in the Parliament and so I know her Graces full mind was and is that it should be But she feareth Difficulties and hereupon dependeth that her Grace asketh my poor Advice how these Difficulties may be taken away Unto this you may say That they must be taken away by the help of him that by his high Providence above Man's expectance hath given her already the Crown Which will have as well this second Act known of the maintainance thereof to depend of him as the first in attaining thereto And to have his help the mean is by humble Prayer wherein I would advertise her Highness not only to give her self to Prayer but also by Alms to the needy excitate the Minds of others to Prayer these be the means of most efficacy and with this to take that ardent Mind to establish the Authority of the Church casting away all fear of Man that she to be to have her Crown and not so much for her own sake as for the Honour of God which gave her the Crown And if any Difficulty should be feared in the Parliament herein leave the honour to take away the difficulty thereof to none other but assume that person to her self as most bound thereto and to propone that her self which I would trust to be of that efficacy that if inwardly any Man will repugn outwardly the Reasons be so evident for this part that joined with the Authority of her Person being proponent none will be so hardy temerarious nor impious that will resist And if in this deliberation it should seem strange to put forth these Matters in the Parliament as I have said in the Instructions without communicating the same with any of her Council I would think it well her Grace might confer it with two of the chiefest that be counted of the People most near her favour one Spiritual and another Temporal with declaring to them first how touching her Conscience afore God and her Right afore the World she can never be quiet until this Matter be stablished touching the Authority of the Church requiring their uttermost help in that as if she should fight for the Crown her Majesty may be sure she putting the same forth with that earnest manner they will not lack to serve her and they may serve quietly in the Parliament after her Grace hath spoken to prosecute and justify the same with efficacy of words to give all others example to follow her Grace leaving this part unto them That if the Name of Obedience to the Pope should seem to bring as it were a Yoke to the Realm or any other kind of servitude beside that it should be profitable to the Realm both afore God and Man that her Grace that bringeth it in again will never suffer it nor the Pope himself requireth no such thing And herein also that they say That my Person being the Mean to bring it in would never agree to be an Instrument thereof if I thought any thraldom should come thereby they shall never be deceived of me And if they would say beside I would never have taken this Enterprize upon me except I thought by the same to bring great Comfort to the Country wherein the Pope's Authority being accepted I would trust should be so used that it might be an Example of Comfort not only to that Country but to all other that hath rejected it afore and for that cause hath been ever since in great misery This is the sum of all my poor Advice at this time in this Case whereof I beseech Almighty God so much may take effect as shall be to his Honour and Wealth to her Grace and the whole Realm besides Amen Number 10. A Copy of a Letter with Articles sent from the Queens Majesty unto the Bishop of London and by him and his Officers at her gracious Commandment to be put in speedy execution with effect in the whole Diocess as well in places exempt as not exempt whatsoever according to the Tenour and Form of the same Sent by the Queen's Majesty's Commandment in the Month of March Anno Dom. 1553. By the QUEEN RIght Reverend Father in God Right trusty and well-beloved We
Jurisdiction against Hereticks Schismaticks and their Fautors in as large and ample manner as they were in the first Year of King Henry the Eighth 5. And that the Premises may be the better executed by the presence of Beneficed Men in their Cures the Statutes made Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth concerning Pluralities of Benefices and Non-residence of Beneficed Men by reason whereof a larger Liberty or License is given to a great multitude of Priests and Chaplains to be absent from their Benefices with Cure than was ever permitted by the Canon Laws and all other Statutes touching the same may be repealed void and abolished and that the Bishops and other Ordinaries may call all Beneficed Men to be resident upon their Cures as before the making of that Act they might have done 6. Item That the Ordinaries do from time to time make Process for punishment of all Simoniacal Persons of whom it is thought there were never so many within this Realm And that not only the Clerks but also the Patrons and all the Mediators of such Pactions may be punish'd Wherein we think good that Order were taken that the Patrons should lose their Patronage during their natural Lives according to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of this Realm 7. Item That the ancient Liberty Authority and Jurisdiction be restored to the Church of England according to the Article of the great Charter called Magna Charta at the least wise in such sort as it was in the first Year of Henry the Eighth and touching this Article we shall desire your Lordships to be with us most humble Suitors to the King 's and Queen's Majesty and to the Lord Legat for the remission of the importable Burdens of the First-Fruits Tenths and Subsidies In which Suit whatsoever advancement your Lordships shall think good to be offered unto their Majesties for the same we shall therein be always glad to do as shall be thought good 8. Item That no Attachment of Premunire be awarded against any Bishop or other Ordinary Ecclesiastical from henceforth in any Matter but that a Prohibition be first brought to the same and that it may please the King 's and Queen's Majesty to command the Temporal Judges of this Realm to explicate and declare plainly all and singular Articles of the Premunire and to make a certain Doctrine thereof 9. Item That the Statutes of the Provisors be not drawn by unjust Interpretation out of their proper Cases nor from the proper sense of the words of the same Statutes 10. Item That the Statute of Submission of the Clergy made Anno 25. of Henry the Eighth and all other Statutes made during the time of the late Schism in derogation of the Liberties and Jurisdictions of the Church from the first Year of King Henry the Eighth may be repealed and the Church restored in integrum 11. Item That the Statute made for finding of great Horses by Ecclesiastical Perâ—â—ns may likewise be repealed 12. Item That Usurers may be punish'd by the Common Laws as in times past hath been used 13. Item That those which lay violent Hands upon any Priest or other Ecclesiastical Minister being in Orders may be punish'd by the Canon Laws as in times past hath been used 14. Item That all Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons and all other having Prebends or other Ecclesiastical Promotions or Benefices from henceforth use such Priest-like Habit as the quality of his State and Benefice requireth 15. Item That Married Priests may be compelled to forsake their Women whom they took as their Wives 16. Item That an Order may be taken for the bringing up of Youth in good Learning and Vertue and that the School-Masters of this Realm may be Catholick Men and all other to be removed that are either Sacramentaries or Hereticks or otherwise notable Criminous Persons 17. Item That all exempt and peculiar Places may from henceforth be immediately under the Jurisdiction of that Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose several Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same are presently constitute and scituate And whereas divers Temporal Men by reason of late Purchases of certain Abbies and exempt Places have by their Letters Patents or otherwise granted unto them Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the said Places That from henceforth the said Jurisdiction be devolv'd to the Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same now be 18. Item Where the Mayor of London by force of a Decree made Anno of Henry the Eighth hath attributed unto him the Cognition of Causes of Tythes in London that from henceforth the same Cognition and Jurisdiction may utterly cease and be reduced immediately to the Bishop of London Ordinary there 19. Item That Tythes may be henceforth paid according to the Canon Laws 20. Item That Lands and Places impropriated to Monasteries which at the time of Dissolution and Suppression thereof were exempt from payment of Tythes may be now allotted to certain Parishes and there chargeable to pay like Tythes as other Parishoners do 21. Item That there be a streight Law made whereby the reparations of Chancels which are notoriously decay'd through the Realm may be duly repaired from time to time by such as by the Law ought to do the same and namely such as be in the King 's and Queen's Hands and that the Ordinaries may lawfully proceed in Causes of Dilapidations as well of them as of all other Parsonages Vicarages and other Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions 22. Item That Order be taken for the more speedy payment of Pensions to all Priests Pentionaries and that they may have the same without long Suits or Charges 23. Item That an Order be taken for payment of Personal Tythes in Cities and Towns and elsewhere as was â—sed in Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth 24. Item That such Priests as were lately married and refuse to reconcile themselves to their Order and to be restored to Ministration may have some special Animadversion whereby as Apostates they may be discern'd from other 25. Item That Religious Women which be married may be divorced 26. Item That in Divorces which are made from Bed and Board Provision may be made that the Innocent Woman may enjoy such Lands and Goods as were hers before the Marriage or that happened to come to her use at any time during the Marriage and that it may not be lawful for the Husband being for his Offence divorced from the said Woman to intermeddle himself with the said Lands or Goods unless his Wife be to him reconciled 27. Item That Wardens of Churches and Chappels may render their Accounts before the Ordinaries and may be by them compell'd to do the same 28. Item That all such Ecclesiastical Persons as lately have spoiled Cathedral Collegiat and other Churches of their own heads and temerity may be compelled to restore all and singular things so by them taken away or the true value thereof and farther to re-edify such things as by them are destroy'd and defac'd
the Writings of the Disciples and of the Prophets are read as much as may be Afterwards when the Reader doth cease the Head-Minister maketh an Exhortation exhorting them to follow so honest things After this we rise all together and offer Prayers which being ended as we have said Bread Wine and Water are brought forth then the Head-Minister offereth Prayers and Thanksgivings as much as he can and the People answereth Amen These words of Justin who lived about 160 Years after Christ considered with their Circumstances declare plainly That not only the Scriptures were read but also that the Prayers and Administration of the Lord's Supper were done in a Tongue understood Both the Liturgies of Basil and Chrysostom declare That in the Celebration of the Communion the People were appointed to answer to the Prayer of the Minister sometimes Amen sometimes Lord have mercy upon us sometimes And with thy Spirit and We have our Hearts lifted up unto the Lord c. Which Answers they would not have made in due time if the Prayers had not been made in a Tongue understood And for further proof Basil Epist 63. let us hear what Basil writeth in this Matter to the Clerks of Neocesarea Caeterum ad Objectum in Psalmodiis crimen quo maximè simpliciores terrent Calumniatores c. As touching that is laid to our charge in Psalmodies and Songs wherewith our Slanderers do fray the Simple I have this to say That our Customs and Usage in all Churches be uniform and agreeable For in the Night the People with us riseth goeth to the House of Prayer and in Travel Tribulation and continual Tears they confess themselves to God and at the last rising again go to their Songs or Psalmodies where being divided into two parts sing by course together both deeply weighing and confirming the Matter of the Heavenly Saying and also stirring up their Attention and Devotion of Heart which by other means be alienated and pluck'd away Then appointing one to begin the Song the rest follow and so with divers Songs and Prayers passing over the Night at the dawning of the Day all together even as it were with one Mouth and one Heart they sing unto the Lord a new Song of Confession every Man framing to himself meet words of Repentance If ye will flee us from henceforth for these things ye must flee also the Egyptians and both the Lybians ye must eschew the Thebians Palestines Arabians the Phenices the Syrians and those which dwell besides Euphrates And to be short all those with whom Watchings Prayers and common singing of Psalms are had in honour These are sufficient to prove that it is against God's Word and the Use of the Primitive Church to use a Language not understood of the People in Common Prayer and Ministration of the Sacraments Wherefore it is to be marvelled at not only how such an Untruth and Abuse crept at the first into the Church but also how it is maintained so stifly at this Day And upon what ground these that will be thought Guides and Pastors of Christ's Church are so loath to return to the first Original of St. Paul's Doctrine and the Practice of the Primitive Catholick Church of Christ J. Scory D. Whithead J. Juel J. Almer R. Cox E. Grindal R. Horn. E. Gest. The God of Patience and Consolation give us Grace to be like minded one towards another in Christ Jesus that we all agreeing together may with one mouth praise God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen Number 4. The Answer of Dr. Cole to the first Proposition of the Protestants at the Disputation before the Lords at Westminster Est contra Verbum Dei consuetudinem veteris Ecclesioe Linguâ Populo ignotâ uti in publicis precibus Administratione Sacramentorum Most Honourable Ex MS. Col. Cor. C. Cant. VVHereas these Men here present have declared openly That it is repugnant and contrary to the Word of God to have the Common Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments in the Latin Tongue here in England and that all such Common Prayer and Ministration ought to be and remain in the English Tongue Ye shall understand that to prove this their Assertion they have brought in as yet only one place of Scripture taken out of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians Cap. 14. with certain other places of the Holy Doctors whereunto answer is not now to be made But when the Book which they read shall be delivered unto us according to the appointment made in that behalf then God willing we shall make answer as well to the Scripture as other Testimonies alledged by them so as all good Men may evidently perceive and understand the same Scripture to be misconstrued and drawn from the native and true sense And that it is not St. Paul's mind there to treat of Common Prayer or Ministration of any Sacraments And therefore we now have only to declare and open before you briefly which after as opportunity serves in our Answer shall appear more at large causes which move us to persist and continue in the order received and to say and affirm that to have the Common Prayer or Service with the Ministration of the Sacraments in the Latin Tongue is convenient and as the state of the Cause standeth at this present necessary Second Section 1. And this we affirm first because there is no Scripture manifest against this our Assertion and Usage of the Church And though there were any yet it is not to be condemn'd that the Church hath receiv'd Which thing may evidently appear in many things that were sometime expresly commanded by God and his Holy Apostles 2. As for Example to make the Matter plain ye see the express Command of Almighty God touching the observation of the Sabbath-Day to be changed by Authority of the Church without any Word of God written for the same into the Sunday The Reason whereof appeareth not to all Men and howsoever it doth appear and is accepted of all good Men without any Controversy of Scripture yea without any mention of the Day saving only that St. John in his Apocalyps nameth it Diem Dominicam In the change whereof all Men may evidently understand the Authority of the Church both in this cause and also in other Matters to be of great weight and importance and therein esteemed accordingly 3. Another Example we have given unto us by the Mouth of our Saviour himself who washing the feet of his Disciples said I have herein given you an Example that as I have done even so do you Notwithstanding these express words the Holy Church hath left the thing undone without blame not of any Negligence but of great and urgent Causes which appeareth not to many Men and yet universally without the breach of God's Commandment as is said left undone Was not the Fact also and as it seemeth the express Commandment of Christ our Saviour changed and altered by the Authority
but be-like we should have that as it was of late days The Matter of which Service is taken out of the Psalms and other part of the Bible Translated into English wherein are manifest Errors and false Translations which all by depravation of God's Scripture and so verè mendacia Now if the Service be so fram'd then may Men well say upon us That we serve God with Lyes Wherefore we may not so travel and labour to alter the form of our Common Prayer that we lese the Fruit of all Prayer which by this barbarous contention no doubt we shall do And the Church of God hath no such custom as St. Paul alledgeth in such Contentions And may not the whole World say unto us as St. Paul said unto the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14. An à vobis Verbum Dei processit aut in vos solos pervenit As though the whole Church had been ever in Error and never had seen this Chapter of St. Paul before And that the Holy Ghost had utterly forsaken his Office in leading that into all Truth till now of late certain boasting of the Holy Ghost and the sincere Word of God hath enterprised to correct and overthrow the whole Church Augustinus lib. 1. contra Julianum Pelagium à Graecis pro suâ Heresi profugum querentem ad hunc modum respondit Puto inquit tibi eam partem orbis debere sufficere in quâ primum Apostolorum suorum voluit Dominus gloriosissimo Martyrio Coronari Et idem paulo post Te certe Julianum alloquitur Occidentalis Terra generavit Occidentalis Regeneravit Ecclesia Quid ei quaeris inferre quod in eâ non invenisti quando in ejus membra venisti Imò Quid ei quaeris auferre quod in eâ tu quoque accepisti Haec ille A number of Authorities out of the Doctors we could rehearse that maketh for the Unity of the Church and for not disturbing the quiet Government of the same which all impugn this their first Assertion by way of Argument But because they have framed their Assertion so that we be compelled to defend the Negative in the probation whereof the Doctors use not directly to have many words therefore of purpose we leave out a number of the Sayings of the Doctors which all as I said before would prove this first Matter by way of Argument lest we should be tedious and keep you too long in a plain Matter And therefore now to conclude for not changing the Divine Service and the Ministration of the Sacraments from the Learned Tongue which thing doth make a Schism and a Division between us and the Catholick Church of God we have brought in the Scripture that doth forbid all such Schism And also the Consent and Custom of the whole Church which cannot Err and maketh us bold to say as we do with other things as ye have heard for confirmation of the same And in answering to the first Matter we intend God willing to say much more beseeching Almighty God so to inspire the Heart of the Queen's Majesty and her most Honourable Council with the Nobility of this Realm and Us that be the Pastors of the People in these Causes that so we may dispose of the Service of God as we may therein serve God And that we do not by altering the said Service from the Uniform manner of Christ's Church but also highly displease God and procure to Us infamy of the World the Worm of Conscience and Eternal Damnation which God forbid and grant us Grace to acknowledg confess and maintain his Truth To whom be all Glory Amen Number 5. The Declaration of the Proceedings of a Conference begun at Westminster the last of March 1559 concerning certain Articles of Religion and the breaking up of the said Conference by default and contempt of certain Bishops Parties of the said Conference THe Queen 's most Excellent Majesty having heard of diversities of Opinions in certain Matters of Religion Ex Chartophylac Regio amongst sundry of her Loving Subjects and being very desirous to have the same reduced to some Godly and Christian Concord thought it best by advice of the Lords and others of her Privy Council as well for the satisfaction of Persons doubtful as also for the knowledg of the very Truth in certain Matters of difference to have a convenient chosen number of the best Learned of either Part and to confer together their Opinions and Reasons and thereby to come to some good and charitable Agreement And hereupon by her Majesty's Commandment certain of her said Privy Council declared this purpose to the Arch-Bishop of York being also one of the said Privy Council and required him that he would impart the same to some of the Bishops and to make choice of 8 nine or ten of them and that there should be the like number named of the other part and further also declared to him as then was supposed what the Matters should be and as for the time it was thought upon and then after certain days past it was signified by the said Arch-Bishop that there was appointed by such of the Bishops to whom he had imparted this Matter eight Persons that is to say four Bishops and four Doctors who were content at the Queen's Majesty's Commandment to shew their Opinions and as he termed it render account of their Faith in those Matters which were mentioned and that specially in writing Although he said they thought the same so determined as there was no cause to dispute upon them It was hereupon fully resolved by the Queen's Majesty with the Advice aforesaid that according to their desire it should be in writing on both Parts for avoiding of much alteration in words And that the said Bishops should because they were in Authority of Degree Superiours first declare their Minds and Opinions to the Matter with their Reasons in writing And the other number being also eight Men of good degree in Schools and some having been in Dignity in the Church of England if they had any thing to say to the contrary should the same day declare their Opinions in like manner And so each of them should deliver their Writings to the other to be consisidered what were to be improved therein and the same to declare again in Writing at some other convenient day and the like Order to be kept in all the rest of the Matters All this was fully agreed upon with the Arch-Bishop of York and so also signified to both Parties and immediately hereupon divers of the Nobility and States of the Realm understanding that such a Meeting and Conference should be and that in certain Matters thereupon the present Court of Parliament consequently following some Laws might be grounded they made earnest means to her Majesty that the Parties of this Conference might put and read their Assertions in the English Tongue and that in the presence of them the Nobility and others of her Parliament-House for the better satisfaction and
And lest in giving just offence to the little Ones in setting a Trap of Errors for the Ignorant and digging a Pit for the Blind to fall into we should not only be guilty of the Blood of our Brethren and deserve the wrathful Vae and Vengeance of God but also procure to our reclaiming Consciences the biting Worm that never dieth for our endless confusion For in what thing soever we may serve your Excellent Majesty not offending the Divine Majesty of God we shall with all humble Obedience be most ready thereunto if it be even to the loss of our Life for so God commandeth of us Duty requireth of us and we with all conformity have put in proof And as God through your gracious Government hath delivered unto us innumerable Benefits which we most humbly acknowledg and with due Reverence daily give him Thanks So we do not doubt but that of his Mercy He will happily finish in your Majesty that good Work which of His free Favour He hath most graciously begun that following the Examples of the Godly Princes which have gone before you may clearly purge the polluted Church and remove all occasions of Evil. And for so much as we have heretofore at sundry times made Petition to your Majesty concerning the Matter of Images but at no time exhibited any Reasons for the removing of the same Now lest we should seem to say much and prove little to alleage Consciences without the Warrant of God and unreasonably require that for the which we can give no Reason we have at this time put in writing and do most humbly exhibit to your gracious Consideration those Authorities of the Scriptures Reasons and pithy Persuasions which as they have moved all such our Brethren as now bear the Office of Bishops to think and affirm Images not expedient for the Church of Christ so will they not suffer us without the great offending of God and grievous wounding of our own Consciences which God deliver us from to consent to the erecting or retaining of the same in the place of Worshipping and we trust and most earnestly ask it of God that they may also persuade your Majesty by your Regal Authority and in the Zeal of God utterly to remove this Offensive Evil out of the Church of England to God's great Glory and our great Comfort Here follow the Reasons against them of which I have given a full Abstract in the History and therefore do not set them down here for they are very large The Address concludes in these words Having thus declared unto your Highness a few Causes of many which do move our Consciences in this Matter we beseech your Highness most humbly not to strain us any further but to consider that God's Word doth threaten a terrible Judgment unto us if we being Pastors and Ministers in His Church should assent unto the thing which in our Learning and Conscience we are persuaded doth tend to the confirmation of Error Superstition and Idolatry and finally Heb. 13. 1 Pet. 5. to the ruins of the Souls committed to our Charge for the which we must give an account to the Prince of Pastors at the last Day We pray your Majesty also not to be offended with this our Plainness and Liberty which all good and Christian Princes have ever taken in good part at the hands of Godly Bishops St. Ambrose writing to Theodosius the Emperor uses these words Sed neque Imperiale est libertatem dicendi negare Epist lib. 5. Epist 29. neque Sacerdotale quod sentiat non dicere And again In causa vero Dei quem audies si Sacerdotem non audies Ibidem cujus Majore peccatur periculo Quis tibi verum audebit dicere si Sacerdos non audeat These and such-like Speeches of St. Ambrose Theodosius and Valentinianus the Emperors did take in good part and we doubt not but your Grace will do the like of whose not only Clemency but also Beneficence we have largely tasted We beseech your Majesty also in these and such-like Controversies of Religion to refer the discusement and deciding of them to a Synod of the Bishops and other Godly Learned Men according to the Example of Constantinus Magnus and other Christian Emperors that the Reasons of both Parties being examined by them the Judgment may be given uprightly in all doubtful Matters And to return to this present Matter We most humbly beseech your Majesty to consider That besides weighty Causes in Policy which we leave to the Wisdom of the Honourable Counsellors the establishing of Images by your Authority shall not only utterly discredit our Ministries as builders of the thing which we have destroyed but also blemish the Fame of your most Godly Brother and such notable Fathers as have given their Lives for the Testimony of God's Truth who by publick Law removed all Images The Almighty and Everliving God plentifully endue your Majesty with His Spirit and Heavenly Wisdom and long preserve your most gracious Reign and prosperous Government over us to the advancement of his Glory to the overthrow of Superstition and to the Benefit and Comfort of all your Hignesses loving Subjects Amen Number 7. The Queen's Commissions to the Visitors that were sent to the Northern Parts ELizabetha Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Regina Fidei Defensor c. Charissimis Consanguineis Consiliariis nostris Francisco Comiti Salop. Domino Praesidenti Consilii nostri in partibus Borealibus Edwardo Comiti de Darbia ac charissimo consanguineo nostro Thomae Comiti Northumb. Domino Guardiano sive custodi Marchiarum nostrarum de Le East March midle March versus Scotiam ac perdilecto fideli nostro Willielmo Domino Evers ac etiam dilectis fidelibus nostris Henrico Piercy Thomae Gargrave Jacobo Crofts Henrico Gates Militibus necnon dilectis nobis Edwino Sandys Sacrae Theologiae Professori Henrico Harvy Legum Doctori Richardo Bowes Georgio Brown Chistophero Estcot Richardo Kingsmell Armigeris Salutem Quoniam Deus Populum suum Anglicanum imperio nostro subjecit cujus regalis suscepti muneris rationem perfecte reddere non possumus nisi veram religionem sincerum numinis divini cultum in omnibus Regni nostri partibus propagaverimus Nos igitur regalis absolutae potestatis nostrae nobis in hoc Regno nostro commissae respectu quoniam utrumque Regni nostri statum tam Ecclesiasticum quam Laicum visitare certas pietatis ac virtutis regulas illis praescribere constituimus praefatum Franciscum Comitem Salop. Edwardum Comitem de Darbia Thomam Comitem Northumb Willielmum Dominum Evers Henricum Piercy Thomam Gargrave Jacobum Crofts Henricum Gates Milites Edwinum Sandys Henricum Harvy Georgium Brown Christophorum Estcot Richardum Bowes Richardum Kingsmell Armigeros ad infrascriptum vice nomine Authoritate nostris exequendum vos quatuor tres aut duo vestrum ad minimum deputavimus substituimus ad
two several times that is to say the Sundays next following Easterday and St. Michael the Arch-Angel or on some other Sunday within one month after those Feasts immediately after the Gospel FOrasmuch as it appertaineth to all Christian Men but especially to the Ministers and the Pastors of the Church being Teachers and Instructers of others to be ready to give a Reason of their Faith when they shall be thereunto required I for my part now appointed your Parson Vicar or Curat having before my Eyes the Fear of God and the Testimony of my Conscience do acknowledg for my self and require you to assent to the same I. First That there is but one living and true God of infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the maker and preserver of all Things And that in Unity of this God-head there be three Persons of one Substance of equal Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost II. I believe also whatsoever is contained in the Holy Canonical Scriptures In the which Scriptures are contained all things necessary to Salvation by the which also all Errors and Heresies may sufficiently be reproved and convicted and all Doctrine and Articles necessary to Salvation established I do also most firmly believe and confess all the Articles contained in the Three Creeds The Nicene Creed Athanasius Creed and our Common Creed called the Apostles Creed for these do briefly contain the principal Articles of our Faith which are at large set forth in the Holy Scriptures III. I do acknowledg also that Church to be the Spouse of Christ wherein the Word of God is truly taught the Sacraments orderly ministred according to Christ's Institution and the Authority of the Keys duly used And that every such particular Church hath authority to institute to change clean to put away Ceremonies and other Ecclesiastical Rites as they be superfluous or be abused and to constitute other making more to Seemliness to Order or Edification IV. Moreover I confess That it is not lawful for any Man to take upon him any Office or Ministry either Ecclesiastical or Secular but such only as are lawfully thereunto called by their High Authorities according to the Ordinances of this Realm V. Furthermore I do acknowledg the Queen's Majesty's Prerogative and Superiority of Government of all Estates and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within this Realm and other her Dominions and Countries to be agreable to God's Word and of right to appertain to her Highness in such sort as is in the late Act of Parliament expressed and sithence by her Majesty's Injunctions declared and expounded VI. Moreover touching the Bishop of Rome I do acknowledg and confess that by the Scriptures and Word of God he hath no more Authority than other Bishops have in their Provinces and Diocesses And therefore the Power which he now challengeth that is to be the Supream Head of the Universal Church of Christ and so to be above all Emperors Kings and Princes is an usurped Power contrary to the Scriptures and Word of God and contrary to the Example of the Primitive Church and therefore is for most just Causes taken away and abolished in this Realm VII Furthermore I do grant and confess That the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Holy Sacraments set sorth by the Authority of Parliament is agreeable to the Scriptures and that it is Catholick Apostolick and most for the advancing of God's Glory and the edifying of God's People both for that it is in a Tongue that may be understanded of the People and also for the Doctrine and Form of ministration contained in the same VIII And although in the Administration of Baptism there is neither Exorcism Oil Salt Spittle or hallowing of the Water now used and for that they were of late Years abused and esteemed necessary Where they pertain not to the substance and necessity of the Sacrament they be reasonably abolished and yet the Sacrament full and perfectly ministred to all intents and purposes agreeable to the Institution of our Saviour Christ IX Moreover I do not only acknowledg that Privat Masses were never used amongst the Fathers of the Primitive Church I mean publick Ministration and receiving of the Sacrament by the Priest alone without a just number of Communicants according to Christ's saying Take ye and eat ye c. But also that the Doctrine that maintaineth the Mass to be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and the Dead and a mean to deliver Souls out of Purgatory is neither agreeable to Christ's Ordinance nor grounded upon Doctrine Apostolick But contrary-wise most ungodly and most injurious to the precious Redemption of our Saviour Christ and his only-sufficient Sacrifice offered once for ever upon the Altar of the Cross X. I am of that mind also That the Holy Communion or Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for the due obedience to Christ's Institution and to express the vertue of the same ought to be ministred unto the People under both kinds And that it is avouched by certain Fathers of the Church to be a plain Sacrilege to rob them of the Mystical Cup for whom Christ hath shed his most precious Blood seeing he himself hath said Drink ye all of this Considering also That in the time of the Ancient Doctors of the Church as Cyprian Hierom Augustine Gelasius and others six hundred Years after Christ and more both the Parts of the Sacrament were ministred to the People Last of all As I do utterly disallow the extolling of Images Reliques and feigned Miracles and also all kind of expressing God Invisible in the form of an Old Man or the Holy Ghost in form of a Dove and all other vain worshipping of God devised by Man's fantasy besides or contrary to the Scriptures As wandering on Pilgrimages setting up of Candles praying upon Beads and such-like Superstition which kind of Works have no promise of Reward in Scripture but contrary-wise Threatnings and Maledictions So I do exhort all Men to the Obedience of God's Law and to the Works of Faith as Charity Mercy Pity Alms devout and fervent Prayer with the affection of the Heart and not with the Mouth only Godly Abstinence and Fasting Chastity Obedience to the Rulers and Superior Powers with such-like Works and godliness of Life commanded by God in his Word which as St. Paul saith hath Promises both of this Life and of the Life to come and are Works only acceptable in God's sight These things above-rehearsed though they be appointed by common Order yet do I without all compulsion with freedom of Mind and Conscience from the bottom of my Heart and upon most sure persuasion acknowledg to be true and agreeable to God's Word And therefore I exhort you all of whom I have Cure heartily and obediently to embrace and receive the same That we all joining together in unity of Spirit Faith and Charity may also at length be joined together in the Kingdom of God and that
is thought and of these I must confess my self to your Lordship to be one And God is my Judg whether it be for any other respect in this World but that I suppose and verily believe it may prove best for her Majesty 's own quietness during her time And here I must before open to your Lordship indeed her Majesty's true State she presently stands in which though it may be granted the former Advice the better way yet how hardly it layeth in her Power to go thorow withal you shall easily judg For it must be confessed That by the taking into her protection the King and the Faction she must enter into a War for it And as the least War being admitted cannot be maintained without great Charge so such a War may grow France or Spain setting in foot as may cause it to be an intollerable War Then being a War it must be Treasure that must maintain it That she hath Treasure to continue any time in War surely my Lord I cannot see it And as your Lordship doth see the present Relief for Mony we trust upon which either failing us or it rising no more than I see it like to be not able long to last Where is there further hope of help hereafter For my own part I see none If it be so then my Lord that her Majesty's present estate is such as I tell you which I am sure is true How shall this Counsel stand with security by taking a Party to enter into a War when we are no way able to maintain it for if we enter into it once and be driven either for Lack or any other way to shrink what is like to follow of the Matter your Lordship can well consider the best is we must be sorry for that we have done and per-chance seek to make a-mends where we neither would nor should This is touching the present State we stand in Besides we are to remember what already we have done how many ways even now together the Realm hath been universally burdened First For the keeping of new bands after the furnishing of Armour and therein how continually the Charge sooner hath grown than Subsidies payed And lastly the marvellous charge in most Countries against the late Rebellion with this Loan of Mony now on the neck of it Whether this State doth require further cause of imposition or no I refer to your Lordship And whether entring into a further Charge than her Majesty hath presently wherewithal to bear it will force such a Matter or no I refer to wiser to judg And now my Lord I will shew you such Reasons as move me to think as I do In Worldly Causes Men must be governed by Worldly Policies and yet so to frame them as God the Author of all be chiefly regarded From him we have received Laws under which all Mens Policies and Devices ought to be Subject and through his Ordinance the Princes on the Earth have Authority to give Laws by which also all Princes have the Obedience of the People And though in some Points I shall deal like a Worldly Man for my Prince yet I hope I shall not forget that I am a Christian nor my Duty to God Our Question is this Whether it be meeter for our Soveraign to maintain the young King of Scotland and his Authority or upon Composition restore the Queen of Scots into her Kingdom again To restore her simply we are not of Opinion for so I must confess a great over-sight and doubt no better Success than those that do Object most Perils thereby to ensue But if there be any Assurances in this World to be given or any Provision by Worldly Policy to be had then my Lord I do not see but Ways and Means may be used with the Queen of Scots whereby her Majesty may be at quiet and yet delivered of her present great Charge It is granted and feared of all sides that the cause of any trouble or danger to her Majesty is the Title the Queen of Scotland pretends to the Crown of this Realm The Danger we fear should happen by her is not for that she is Queen of Scotland but that other the great Princes of Christendom do favour her so much as in respect of her Religion they will in all Causes assist her and specially by the colour of her Title seem justly to aid and relieve her and the more lawfully take her and her Causes into their Protection Then is the Title granted to be the chief Cause of danger to our Soveraign If it be so Whether doth the setting up the Son in the Mothers Place from whence his Title must be claimed take away her Title in the Opinion of those Princes or no notwithstanding she remain Prisoner It appeareth plainly No for there is continual Labour and means made from the greatest Princes our Neighbours to the Queen's Majesty for restoring the Queen of Scotland to her Estate and Government otherwise they protest open Relief and Aid for her Then though her Majesty do maintain the young King in his present Estate yet it appears that other Princes will do the contrary And having any advantage how far they will proceed Men may suspect And so we must conceive that as long as this Difference shall continue by the maintaining of these two so long shall the same Cause remain to the trouble and danger of the Queen's Majesty And now to avoid this whilst she lives What better Mean is there to take this Cause away but by her own consent to renounce and release all such Interest or Title as she claimeth either presently or hereafter during the Life of her Majesty and the Heirs of her Body Albeit here may two Questions be moved First Whether the Scots Queen will renounce her Title or no Secondly If she will do so What Assurance may she give for the performance thereof To the first It is most certain she hath and presently doth offer wholly and frankly to release and renounce all manner of Claims and Titles whatsoever they be to the Crown of this Realm during her Majesty's Life and the Heirs of her Body And for the second She doth likewise offer all manner of Security and Assurances that her Majesty can devise and is in that Queen 's possible Power to do she excepteth none Then must we consider what may be Assurances for here is the difficulty For that Objections be that Princes never hold Promises longer than for their own Commodity and what Security soever they put in they may break if they will All this may be granted but yet that we must grant also that Princes do daily Treat and deal one with another and of necessity are forced to trust to such Bonds and Assurances as they contract by And as there is no such Surety to be had in Worldly Matters but all are subject to many Casualties yet we see such Devices made even among Princes as doth tie them to perform that which
if they might conveniently chuse they would not And in this Matter of the Queen of Scotland since she doth offer both to leave the cause of the difference that is between the Queen's Majesty and her and also to give all Surety that may be by our selves devised to observe the same I do not see but such means may be devised to tie her so strongly as though she would break yet I cannot find what advantage she shall get by it For beside that I would have her own simple Renunciation to be made by the most substantial Instrument that could be devised The assent of some others should confirm the same also Her own Parliaments at home should do the like with the full Authority of the whole Estates They should deliver her Son and such other principal Noblemen of her Realm for Hostages as the Queen's Majesty should name She should also put into her Majesty's Hands some one piece or two of her Realm and for such a time as should be thought meet by her Majesty except Edinburgh The Queens Majesty might also by ratifying this by a Parliament here make a Forfeiture if the Queen of Scotland should any way directly or indirectly go about to infringe this Agreement of all such Titles and Claims that did remain in the Queen of Scotland after her Majesty and her Issue never to be capable of any Authority or Soveraignty within this Realm These I would think to be sufficient Bonds to bind any Prince specially no mightier than she is And this much more would I have that even as she shall be thus bound for the relief of her Title to the Queen's Majesty and her Issue So shall she suffer the Religion received and established in Scotland already to be confirmed and not altered In like sort the Amity between these two Realms to be such and so frankly united as no other League with any Forreign Prince should stand in force to break it For I think verily as the first is chiefest touching her Majesty's own Person so do I judg the latter I mean the confirmation of the Religion already there received to be one of the assuredst and likeliest means to hold her Majesty a strong and continual Party in Scotland The trial hereof hath been already sufficient when her Majesty had none other Interest at all but only the maintenance of the True Religion the same Cause remaining still the same affection in the same Persons that do profess it I trust and it is like will not change And thougn the Scots Queen should now be setled in her Kingdom again yet is she not like to be greater or better esteemed now than heretofore when both her Authority was greater and her good will ready to alter this Religion but could not bring it to pass No more is it like these further Provisions being taken she shall do it now And the last Cause also is not without great hope of some good Success for as the oppression of Strangers heretofore had utterly wearied them of that Yoke so hath this peaceable time between them and us made them know the Liberty of their own and the Commodity of us their Neighbours This my Lord doth lead me to lean to this Opinion finding thereby rather both more surety and more quietness for my Soveraign's present time having by the contrary many occasions of trouble cut off and the intolerable Charge eschewed which I cannot find by any possible means her Majesty able to sustain for any long time Thus hastily I am driven to end my long cumbersome Letter to your Lordship though very desirous to impart my mind herein to your Lordship Number 13. The Bull of Pope Pius the Fifth Deposing Queen Elizabeth absolving her Subjects from the Oaths of Allegiance and Anathematising such as continued in their Obedience Pius Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei ad futuram rei memoriam REgnans in Excelsis cui data est omnis in Coelo in Terra Potestas Potestas Petri unam Sanctam Catholicam Apostolicam Ecclesiam extra quam nulla est Salus uni soli in Terris videlicet Apostolorum Principi Petro Petrique Successori Romano Pontifici in potestatis plenitudine tradidit gubernandam Hunc unum super omnes gentes omnia Regna Principem constituit qui evellat destruat disperdat plantet edificet ut fidelem populum mutuae charitatis nexu constrictum in unitate Spiritus contineat salvumque incolumem suo exhibeat Salvatori Quo quidem in munere obeundo nos ad praedictae Ecclesiae gubernacula Dei benignitate vocati nullum laborem intermittimus omni opere contendentes ut ipsa Unitas Catholica Religio quam illius autor ad probandum suorum fidem correctionem nostram tantis procellis conflictare permisit integra conservetur Sed impiorum numerus tantum potentia invaluit Elizabethae Flagitia ut nullus jam in Orbe locus sit relictus quem illi pessimis doctrinis corrumpere non tentarint adnitente inter caeteros flagitiorum Serva Elizabetha praetensa Angliae Regina ad quam veluti ad asylum omnium infestissimi profugium invenerunt Haec eadem Regno occupato Supremi Ecclesiae capitis locum in omni Anglia ejusque praecipuam autoritatem atque Jurisdictionem monstrose sibi usurpans Regnum ipsum jam tum ad fidem Catholicam bonam frugem reductum rursus in miserum exitium revocavit Usu namque verae Religionis quam ab illius desertore Henrico Octavo olim eversam clarae memoriae Maria Regina legitima hujus sedis praesidio reparaverat potenti manu inhibito Secutisque amplexis Haereticorum erroribus Regium Consilium ex Anglica Nobilitate confectum diremit illudque obscuris hominibus Haereticis complevit Catholicae Fidei cultores oppressit improbos Concionatores atque impietatum administros reposuit Missae Sacrificium Preces Jejunia ciborum delectum Coelibatum Ritusque Catholicos abolevit libros manifestam Haeresim continentes toto Regno proponi impia mysteria instituta ad Calvini praescriptum a se suscepta observata etiam a subditis servari mandavit Episcopos Ecclesiarum Rectores alios Sacerdotes Catholicos suis Ecclesiis Beneficiis ejicere ac de illis aliis rebus Ecclesiasticis in Haereticos homines disponere deque Ecclesiae causis decernere ausa Prelatis Clero Populo ne Romanam Ecclesiam agnoscerent neve ejus praeceptis Sanctionibusque Canonicis obtemperarent interdixit plerosque in nefarias leges suas venire Romani Pontificis autoritatem atque obedientiam abjurare seque solam in Temporalibus Spiritualibus Dominam agnoscere jurejurando coegit poenas supplicia eis qui dicto non essent audientes imposuit easdemque ab iis qui in unitate fidei predicta obedientia perseverarunt exegit Catholicos Antistites Ecclesiarum Rectores in vincula conjecit ubi multi diuturno languore tristitia
kill the Queen for which he justly suffered Of this I find nothing on Record so it must depend on our Author's Credit which is not infallible 75. He says The Imposture of Elizabeth Crofts Ibid. was set up by the Persuasion of many of the Hereticks and when it was discovered she confessed she had been set on to it by others and by one Drake in particular but they all fled In the Account that was then published of that Imposture Drake only is accused for it what he was does not appear to me for I have never found him mentioned but on this Occasion so there was no reason to transfer the private Guilt of this Conspiracy on a whole Party as our Author does though upon his Credit one of our Writers has also done it 76. He says Those in whose hands the Church-Lands were Pag. 243. had great apprehensions of their being forced to restore them because the Queen had restored all the Land that were in her hands and had again converted the Collegiat Church of Westminster into an Abbey But to prevent the ill Effects that might have followed on this the Cardinal did in the Pope's Name absolve them from all Censures for possessing those Lands and that was confirmed by Letters sent over from the Pope He observes the order of Time very exactly when he sets the Queen's restoring the Church-Lands and founding the Abbey of Westminster as the occasions of the Fears the Laity were in of being forced to restore the rest of the Church-Lands and of the Cardinal 's absolving them from all Censures for keeping them still in their hands The Order in which this was done was thus In Novemb. 1554 in the Act of Reconciliation with the See of Rome there was a special Proviso made for the Church-Lands which the Cardinal confirmed in the Pope's Name In the Year after that the Queen gave up into the Cardinal Hands all the Church-Lands that belonged to the Crown and two Years after she founded the Abbey of Westminster so little influence had these things on the other that were done before But he was grosly mistaken when he said the Pope approved All for he in plain terms refused to ratify what the Cardinal had done and soon after set out a severe Bull Cursing and Condemning all that held any Church-Lands 77. He says Pag. 244. All the Bishops being sensible of their Schismatical way of entring into their Sees did desire and obtain a Confirmation from the Pope Kitchin Bishop of Landaff only excepted who afterwards relapsed into Heresy under Queen Elizabeth and says it is likely the want of this Confirmation made him be more easily overcome This our Author wrote being a thing very probable and seldom do his Authorities for what he asserts rise higher It was also a pretty strain of his Wit to make the omitting of it fall singly on the only Bishop that conformed under Queen Elizabeth But it is certain there was no such thing done at all for if any had done it Bonner was as likely as any other since as none had been more faulty in King Henry's Time so none studied to redeem that with more servile compliances than he did yet there is nothing of this recorded in his Register which continues entire to this day Pag. 246. 78. He says The State of the Universities was restored to what it had been and Oxford in particular by Petrus a Soto's means who was in the Opinion of all much preferred to P. Martyr He that gathered the Antiquities of Oxford though no partial Writer on this occasion represents the state of that University very differently that there were almost no Divines in it and scarce any publick Lectures But when Sanders writ his Poem the Spanish Councils were so much depended on by him and his Party that it was fit to put that Complement on the Nation concerning Petrus a Soto Whether it was true or false was a Circumstance which he generously overlook'd for most part Pag. 248. 79. He says Queen Elizabeth had done many things in Queen Mary's Time both against her Person and Government He knew this was so false that there was never a Circumstance or a Presumption brought against her but the Information which Wiat gave hoping thereby to save himself and yet he denied that on the Scaffold If there had been any colour to have justified the taking away her Life both the Queen and her Counsellors were as much enclined to it as our Author himself was Ibid. 80. He says King Henry said in Parliament she was not and could not be his Daughter for a secret Reason which he had revealed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This was aptly enough said by a Writer that had emancipated himself from the Laws of Truth and Veracity to appeal to such a Story yet to have made it pass the better he should have named other Circumstances for such a thing cannot be easily believed since after Ann Boleyn's Death the King continued to treat Elizabeth still as his Daughter so that when she writ to his next Queen she subscribed Daughter she was in all things educated with the Care and State that became a King's Child and was both by Act of Parliament and by his Will declared to be so Now to think that such a King would have done all this after he had in Parliament declared that she could not be his Child is a little too coarse to be believed and so should have been supported with more than ordinary Proofs Ibid. 81. He says She came to the Crown meerly by virtue of the Act of Parliament without being Legitimated In this she and her Sister were upon the same Level for neither of them were declared Legitimate so this was not to be objected to the one more than to the other Sister Pag. 249. 82. He says Queen Mary being declared by Act of Parliament in the beginning of her Reign Legitimate and her Mothers Marriage being declared good Elizabeth was thereby of new Illegitimated yet she never repealed the Laws against her Title but kept the Crown meerly upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament without having any regard to her Birth Queen Mary came to the Crown being in the same Condition and was either a lawful Queen before that Act was made or else that Act was of no force if it had not the Royal Assent given by a lawful Queen So Queen Elizabeth was as much Queen before any such Act could have passed as afterwards and therefore since it was not necessary for the securing her Title it was a sign of her tenderness of her Father's Memory to which Queen Mary had no regard not to revive the remembrance of things that must have turned so much to his dishonour as that would have done 83. He says Pag. 250. Queen Mary not being able to prevent her Sisters Succession sent a Message to her on her Death-Bed desiring her to pay her Debts and
Offices and the Parties so refusing were subjected to no other Danger nor was the Oath to be put to them a second Time It is true if any did assert the Authority of any Forreign Potentate that was more penal Yet that was not as our Author represents it for the first Offence there was a forfeiture of ones Goods or in case of Poverty one Years Imprisonment the second Offence brought the Offender within a Premunire and the third was Treason 5. He says The Change that was made Pag. 258. of the Title of Supream Head into that of Supream Governor deceived many yet others thought that the Queen might have thereby assumed an Authority for Administring the Sacraments but to clear all Scruples she in the first Visitation ordered it to be thus explained that she thereby pretended to no more Power than what her Father and Brother had exercised In the first Visitation ordered by the Queen there was an Injunction given Explanatory to the Oath of Supremacy declaring that she did not pretend to any Authority for the Ministry of Divine Service in the Church and challenged nothing but what had at all times belonged to the Crown of England which was a Soveraignty over all manner of Persons under God so that no Forreign Power had any Rule over them and so was willing to acquit such as took it in that sense of all the Penalties in the Act. So that it is plain she assumed nothing but the Royal Authority and was ready to accept of such Explications as might clear all Ambiguities 6. He reckons among the Laws that were made this for one Pag. 259. that Bishops should hold their Sees only during the Queen's Pleasure and exercise no other Authority but only as they derived it from her The Laws he reckons were those made by King Henry now revived but this Law is falsly recited in both the parts of it for the Bishops were to hold their Sees as all others do their Free-holds without any dependence on the Queen's Pleasure and were to exercise their Jurisdiction in their own Names and according to the Ecclesiastical Laws and were not forced to take Commissions to hold their Bishopricks during the Queen's Pleasure as had been done both in King Henry and King Edward's Time Pag. 263. 7. After a long discourse against the Queen's Supremacy he says The Laws concerning it and other Points of Religion did pass with great difficulty in the House of Lords all the Bishops opposing them and those Noblemen in particular who had gone to Rome upon the Embassy Queen Mary sent thither did very earnestly disswade it It is true all the Bishops did oppose them tho both Tonstal Heath Thirleby and some others had consented to and written for King Henry's Supremacy which was at least as to the manner of expressing it of a higher strain than that to which the Queen did now pretend They had also submitted to all the Changes that had been made in King Edward's Time For the Temporal Lords none dissented from the Act of Supremacy but the Earl of Shrewsbury and the Viscount Montacute so the opposition was small where so few entred their Dissents and of these only the Viscount Montacute had been at Rome sent thither by Queen Mary It is true the Marquess of Winchester and the Lords Morley Stafford Dudley Wharton Rich and North dissented from the Bill for the Book of Common Prayer and some other Acts that related to the Reformation but these being but few in number were far short of those that were for them and it is clear the Queen left the Peers wholly to their freedom since the Marquess of Winchester notwithstanding his Dissent continued to hold that great Office of Lord Treasurer in which he had been put in King Edward's Time and which he had kept all Queen Mary's Reign till his Death fourteen Years after this this may perhaps be justly censured as looking too like a remissness in the Matters of Religion when he that dissented to the Reformation was yet so long employed in the greatest Trust in the Kingdom but certainly this is none of the Claws to know the Lioness by 8. He says The Queen gave the Earl of Arundel some hopes that she would marry him and so perswaded him to consent to the Laws now made but afterwards slighted him and declared she would live and die a Virgin The Journals of Parliament shew how false this is for the Address was made to the Queen persuading her to marry to which she made the Answer set down by our Author on the 6th of February and the Act of Supremacy with the other Acts concerning Religion passed in April thereafter so that the Queen after so publick a Declaration of her unwillingness to marry could not have deluded the Earl of Arundel with the hopes of it Ibid. 9. He says She wrought on the D. of Norfolk by promising him a Dispensation in the Business of his Marriage which he could not obtain of the Pope It is not like the Duke of Norfolk was denied any such Dispensation from Rome nor are there any Dispensations granted in England for marrying in the forbidden Degrees Cousin Germans are the nearest that may marry The obtaining a License for that at Rome is a matter of course so the Fees are but paied and the Law allows that to all in England Nor are there any Dispensations in Matrimonial Matters except concerning the Time the Place or the asking of Banes and it is not likely these were ever denied to any at Rome As for his long Excursion concerning that Duke's Death it not falling within the compass of my History I shall not follow him in it 10. He says The Protestants desired a publick Disputation Pag. 266. so the Queen commanded the Bishops to make ready for it they refused it a great while since that seemed to make the Faith of the Church subject to the judgment of the ignorant Laity but at last they were forced to yield to it and the Points were Communion in both kinds Prayer in a known Tongue and the like The Act of Council has it otherwise By it we see that the Arch-Bishop of York being then a Privy Councellor did heartily agree to it and undertook that the rest of his Brethren should follow the Orders that were made by the Council concerning it tho it is not to be denied but some of the Bishops were secretly dissatisfied with it as they had good reason since a publick Disputation was like to lay open the weakness of their Cause which was never so safe as when it was received in gross without descending to troublesome Enquiries concerning it The Communion in both kinds was not one of the Articles 11. He says Bacon a Lay-man was Judg Ibid. the Arch-Bishop of York sitting next to him only for forms-sake Bacon was not Judg the whole Privy-Council were present to order the Forms of the Debate and he as the first of
Rudiments of Grammar to her by the Title of Princess of Cornwal and Wales Besides the Letter of Pope Leo's declaring K. Henry P. 19. l. 26. Defender of the Faith there was a more pompous one sent over by P. Clement the 7th March 5. 1523 4 which as is supposed granted that Title to his Successors whereas the first Grant seems to have been only Personal P. 22. l. 2. No wonder there was no Seal to that Grant of King Edgars for Seals were little used in England before the Conquest Ibid. l. 10. The Monks were not then setled in half the Cathedrals in England their chief Seats were in the Rich Abbeys that were scarce subject to the Bishops Ibid. Marg. April 1524 was not the 14th Year of the King's Reign as it is put on the Margent but the 15th P. 44. l. 5. from bottom The Lord Piercy was in the Cardinal's Family rather in a way of Education not unusual in those Times than of Service P. 47. l. 12. from bottom The General of the Observants in Spain seems an improper expression for the Generals have the government of the whole Order every-where yet I find him so called in some Originals see Coll. pag. 22 23. whether it was done improperly or whether that Order was then only in Spain I cannot determine P. 56. l. 19. How far the Cardinal had carried the Foundation at Ipswich it is not known but it is certain he did never finish what he had designed at Oxford But in this I went according to the Letters Patents by which it appears he had then done his part and had set off both Lands and Mony for these Foundations P. 69. l. 16. from bottom Campegio's Son is by Hall none of his Flatterers said to have been born in Wedlock i. e. before he took Orders This is also confirmed by Gauricus Genitur 24. who says he had by his Wife three Sons and two Daughters P. 77. l. 18. Campegio might take upon him to direct the Process as being sent Express from Rome or to avoid the imputation that might have been cast on the Proceedings if Wolsey had done it but he was not the ancienter Cardinal for Wolsey was made alone Sept. 7. 1515. and Campegio with many more was advanced July 1. 1517. P. 81. l. 32. The Lord Herbert says the King gave him only the use of Richmond which is more probable P. 82. l. 6. The Cardinal died Novemb. 29. as most Writers agree so it is wrong set in the History the 28 and in the Picture 26 for 29. P. 85. l. 21. This Book is in the end of it said to be printed 1530 in April but it seems an Error for 1531 for the Censures of the Universities which are printed in and mentioned in several places of it do all bear date after that April except those made by these of Oxford and Orleans from bottom P. 86. What is said concerning the Author of the Antiquities of Oxford has been much complained of by him I find he has Authorities for what he said but they are from Authors whose Manuscripts he perused who are of no better Credit than Sanders himself such as Harpsfield and others of the like Credit And I am satisfied that he had no other Design in what he writ but to set down things as he found them in the Authors whom he made use of Calvin's Epistle seems not to belong to this Case for besides that P. 92. he was then but 21 and tho he was a Doctor of the Law and had often preached before he was 24 for then he set out Seneca de Clementia with Notes on it Yet this was too soon to think he could have been consulted in so great a Case That Epistle seems to relate to a Prince who was desirous of such a Marriage and not of dissolving it though it is indeed strange that in treating of that Question he should make no mention of so famous a case as that of King Henry which had made so much noise in the World The Letter dated the 8th of Decemb. P. 110. l. 22. should have been mentioned immediately after that of the 5th being but three days after it and the Appeal that followed should have been set down after it It were also fit to publish the Appeal it self for the power of Appealing was a Point much contraverted Pope Pius the 2d condemned it 1549 yet it was used by the Venetians 1509 and by the University of Paris March 27. 1517. Pool as Dean of Exeter P. 113. l. 4. is said to be have been one of the Lower House of Convocation which doth not agree with the Conjecture p. 129. that the Deans at that time sat in the Upper House of Convocation These sent by the King to Rome came thither in February P. 120. l. 8. not in March and the Articles they put in were 27 not 28 as it is there said These with other small Circumstances appear from a Book then printed of these Disputes If Cranmer was present at Ann Boleyn's Marriage P. 126. l. 11. which was certainly in Novemb. Warham having died in August before he could not have delayed his coming to England six months Antiq. Brit. says he followed the Emperor to Spain but Sleiden says that the Emperor went no further than Mantua this Year and sailed to Spain in March following and Cranmer would not go then with him for he was consecrated not on the 13th of March which is an Error but on the 30th of March. The order in which these Books were published is not observed P. 137. l. 10. they were thus printed 1. De vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiasticae written by Edw. Fox Bishop of Hereford 1534. 2. De vera Obedientia by Stephen Gardiner 1535. set out with Bonner's Preface before it in Jan. 1536. 3. The Institution of a Christian Man 1537. which was afterwards reduced into another Form under another Title viz. A Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian Man 1540. But there was another put out before all these De potestate Christianorum Regum in suis Ecclesiis contra Pontificis Tyrannidem and the distinction there made between the Bishop's Book and the King's Book seems not well applied It is more probable that the Institution of a Christian Man set out by the Bishops was called their Book and that being afterwards put in another Method and set out by the King's Authority it was called his Book P. 150. l. 19. Bocking is called a Canon of Christs-Church in Canterbury But there were then no Canons in that Church they were all Monks P. 158. l. 6. The Bishops Suffragans were before common in England some Abbots or rich Clergy-Men procuring under Forreign or perhaps feigned Titles that Dignity and so performing some parts of the Episcopal Function in large or neglected Diocesses so the Abbot or Prior of Tame was one
Sampson P. 85. Marg. l. 28. f. 2 Feb. r. 24. P. 91. l. 14. f. 19 of June r. 10. of June P. 163. l. ult f. rented r. rated P. 242. l. 8. f. this Kings r. this kind P. 247. l. 9. f. 1635. r. 1535. ibid. l. 15 fr. bott f. 7 Dec. r. 17. P. 249. l. 11. f. refuse r. refute P. 262. l. 18. f. Reat r. rents P. 280. l. 21. f. Person r. Prison P. 285. f. came r. come P. 333. misprinted 343 l. 24. f. Dell r. Bell. P. 343. l. 18. f. Alrich r. Holgate A Table of the Records and Papers that are in the Collection with which the Places in the History to which they relate are marked the first Number with the Letter C. is the Page of the Collection the second with the Letter H. is the Page of the History  C. H. THe Journal of King Edward's Reign 1 1 1. His Preface to some Scriptures against Idolatry 68 157 2. A Discourse concerning the Reformation of divers Abuses 69 ibid 3. A Reformation of the Order of the Garter translated into Latin by him 73 205 4. A Paper concerning a Free Mart in England 78 208 5. The Method in which the Council represented Matters of State to him 82 219 6. Articles for the Regulation of the Privy Council 86 213 The First Book 1. The Character of King Edward given by Cardan 89 2 2. The Commission taken out by Arch-Bishop Cranmer 90 6 3. The Councils Letter to the Justices of Peace 92 13 4. The Order for the Coronation of King Edward 93 ibid 5. The Commission for which the Lord Chancellor was deprived of his Office with the Opinion of the Judges about it 96 17 6. The Duke of Somersets Commission to be Protector 98 18 7. The King's Letter to the Arch-Bishop of York concerning the Visitation 103 26 8. The form of bidding Prayers before the Reformation 104 30 9. A Letter of Bishop Tonstal's proving the subjection of the Crown of Scotland to the King of England 106 32 10. A Letter sent by the Scotish Nobility to the Pope concerning their being an Independent Kingdom 109 ibid 11. The Oath given to the Scots who submitted to the Protector 111 35 12. Bonner's Protestation with his Submission 112 36 13. Gardiner's Letter concerning the Injunctions ibid ibid 14. The Conclusion of his Letter to the Protector against them 114 38 15. A Letter of the Protectors to the Lady Mary justifying the Reformation 115 39 16. Petitions made by the Lower House of Convocation 117 47 17. A second Petition to the same purpose 118 ibid 18. Reasons for admitting the Inferior Clergie to sit in the House of Commons 119 48 19. A Letter of Martin Bucers to Gropper 121 51 20. Questions and Answers concerning the Divorce of the Marquess of Northampton 125 58 21. Injunctions given in King Henry's Time to the Deanery of Doncaster 126 59 22. A Proclamation against Innovations without the King's Authority 128 ibid 23. An Order of Council for the removing of Images 129 60 24. A Letter with Directions sent to all Preachers 130 61 25. Questions concerning some abuses in the Mass with the Answers made by some Bishops and Divines to them 133 62 26. A Collection of the chief Indulgences then in the English Offices 150 66 27. Injunctions for a Visitation of Chauntries 152 67 28. The Protector 's Letter to Gardiner concerning the Points that he was to handle in his Sermon 154 70 29. Idolatrous Collects and Hymns in the Hours of Sarum 156 61 30. Dr. Redmayn's Opinion of the Marriage of the Clergie 157 92 31. Articles of Treason against the Admiral 158 98 32. The Warrant for the Admiral 's Execution 164 100 33. Articles for the King's Visitors 165 102 34. A Paper of Luther concerning a Reconciliation with the Zwinglians 166 105 35. The Sentence against Joan of Kent 167 111 36. A Letter of the Protectors to Sir Philip Hobbey of the Rebellions at home 169 120 37. A Letter of Bonners after his Deprivation 170 128 38. Instructions to Sir W. Paget sent to the Emperor 171 131 39. A Letter of Pagets to the Protector 173 132 40. Another Letter of his to the Protector 177 133 41. The Councils Letter to the King against the Protector 183 136 42. The Protector 's Submission 184 ibid 43. A Letter from the Council to the King 185 137 44. A Letter writ by the Council to Cranmer and Paget 187 ibid 45. Cranmer and Pagets Answer 188 ibid 46. Articles objected to the Duke of Somerset 189 138 47. A Letter of the Councils to the Bishops assuring them that the King intended to go forward in the Reformation 191 143 48. Cardinal Wolsey's Letter for procuring the Popedom to himself upon Pope Adrian's Death 192 147 49. Instructions given to the Lord Russel and others concerning the delivery of Bulloign to the French 198 148 50. Other Instructions sent to them 201 ibid 51. The Patents for the German Congregation 202 154 52. Injunctions given by Bishop Ridley 205 153 53. Oglethorp's Submission and Profession of his Faith 207 161 54. Dr. Smith's Letter to Cranmer 208 ibid 55. Articles of Religion set out by the King's Authority 209 166 56. Instructions to the President of the North 221 217 57. Instructions to Sir Rich. Morison sent to the Emperor 229 220 58. A Letter of Ridley's setting out the Sins of that Time 231 227 59. Ridley's Letter to the Protector concerning the Visitation of the Vniversity of Cambridg 232 120 60. The Protectors Answer to the former Letter 234 ibid 61. A Letter of Cranmer's to King Henry concerning a further Reformation and against Sacrilege 236 196 BOOK II. 1. THe Proclamation of L. Jane Gray's Title to the Crown 239 235 2. A Letter writ by Q. Katherine to her Daughter 242 240 3. A humble Submission made by Q. Mary to her Father 243 241 4. Another of the same strain confirming the former 245 ibid 5. Another to the same purpose 246 ibid 6. A Letter written by her to Cromwel containing a full submission in all Points of Religion to her Fathers pleasure 247 ibid 7. A Letter of Bonner's upon his being restored to his Bishoprick 248 248 8. Cranmer's Manifesto against the Mass 249 ibid 9. The Conclusions of Instructions sent by Car. Pool to the Queen 250 260 10. Injunctions sent from the Queen to the Bishops 252 274 11. A Commission to turn out some of the Reformed Bishops 256 ibid 12. Another Commission for turning out the rest of them 257 ibid 13. Bonner's Certificate that Bishop Scory had put away his Wife 258 275 14. The Queen's Letter to the Justices of Peace in Norfolk 259 288 15. The Articles of Bonner's Visitation 263 289 16. Address made by the lower to the upper House of Convocation 266 295 17. A Bull making Card. Beaton Legate a Latere in Scotland 271 292 18. A Letter of the Queen's recommending Card. Pool to the Popedom 282 311 19. Directions sent
were to exercise the Episcopal Function in their Diocess and were once to visit their whole Province and to oversee the Bishops to admonish them for what was amiss and to receive and judge Appeals to call Provincial Synods upon any great occasion having obtained Warrant from the King for it Every Bishop was to have a Synod of his Clergy some time in Lent so that they might all return home before Palm-Sunday They were to begin with the Letany a Sermon and a Communion then all were to withdraw into some private place where they were to give the Bishop an account of the state of the Diocess and to consult of what required advice every Priest was to deliver his opinion and the Bishop was to deliver his Sentence and to bring matters to as speedy a Conclusion as might be and all were to submit to him or to appeal to the Arch-bishop The 21st 22d 23d 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th and 29th Titles are about Church-wardens Universities Tithes Visitations Testaments Ecclesiastical Censures Suspension Sequestration Deprivation The 30th is about Excommunication of which as being the chief Ecclesiastical Censure I shall set down their Scheme the more fully Excommunication they reckon an Authority given of God to the Church for removing scandalous or corrupt Persons Their design concerning the use of Excommunication from the use of the Sacraments or fellowship of Christians till they give clear signs of their repentance and submit to such Spiritual punishments by which the Flesh may be subdued and the Spirit saved This was trusted to Church-men but chiefly to Arch-bishops Bishops Arch-deacons Deans and any other appointed for it by the Church None ought to be excommunicated but for their obstinacy in great faults but it was never to be gone about rashly and therefore the Judge who was to give it was to have a Justice of Peace with him and the Minister of the Parish where the Party lived with two or three learned Presbyters in whose Presence the matter was to be examined and Sentence pronounced which was to be put in writing It was to be intimated in the Parish where the Party lived and in the neighbouring Parishes that all Persons might be warned to avoid the company of him that was under Excommunication and the Minister was to declare what the nature and consequences of Exmunication were the Person so censured being cut off from the Body of Christ after that none was to eat or drink or keep company with him but those of his own Family whosoever did otherwise if being admonished they continued in it were also to be Excommunicated If the Person censured continued forty days without expressing any repentance it was to be certified into the Chancery and a Writ was to issue for taking and keeping him in Prison till he should become sensible of his offences and when he did confess these and submitted to such punishments as should be enjoyned the Sentence was to be taken off and the Person publickly reconciled to the Church And this was to take place against those who being condemned for capital Offences obtained the Kings Pardon but were notwithstanding to be subject to Church-censures Then follows the Office of receiving Penitents They were first to stand without the Church and desire to be again received into it and so to be brought in the Minister was to declare to the People the hainousness of sin and the mercies of God in the Gospel in a long Discourse of which the Form is there prescribed Then he was to shew the People that as they were to abhor hard'ned sinners so they were to receive with the Bowels of true Charity all sincere Penitents he was next to warn the Person not to mock God and deceive the People by a feigned Confession he was thereupon to repeat first a general Confession and then more particularly to name his sin and to pray to God for mercy to himself and that none by his ill example might be defiled and finally to beseech them all to forgive him and to receive him again into their Fellowship Then the Minister was to ask the People whether they would grant his desires who were to answer they would Then the Pastor was to lay his Hand on his Head and to absolve him from the punishment of his offences and the bond of Excommunication and so to restore him to his place in the Church of God Then he was to lead him to the Communion-Table and there to offer up a Prayer of Thanks-giving to God for reclaiming that sinner For the other Titles they relate to the other parts of the Law of those Courts for which I refer the Reader to the Book it self How far any of those things chiefly the last about Excommunication may be yet brought into the Church I leave to the Consultations of the Governors of it and of the two Houses of Parliament It cannot be denied that Vice and Immorality together with much impiety have over-run the Nation and though the charge of this is commonly cast on the Clergy who certainly have been in too many places wanting to their duty yet on the other hand they have so little power or none at all by Law to censure even the most publick sins that the blame of this great defect ought to lie more universally on the whole Body of the Nation that have not made effectual provision for the restraining of vice the making ill Men ashamed of their ways and the driving them from the Holy Mysteries till they change their course of Life A Project for relieving the Clergy reduced to great Poverty There was another thing proposed this Year for the correcting the great disorders of Clergy-men which were occasioned by the extream misery and poverty to which they were reduced There were some motions made about it in Parliament but they took not effect so one writ a Book concerning it which he dedicated to the Lord Chancellor then the Bishop of Ely He shewed that without Rewards or Encouragements few would apply themselves to the Pastoral Function and that those in it if they could not subsist by it must turn to other employments so that at that time many Clergy-men were Carpenters and Taylors and some kept Ale-houses It was a reproach on the Nation that there had been so profuse a zeal for superstition and so much coldness in true Religion He complains of many of the Clergy who did not maintain Students at the Universities according to the Kings Injunctions and that in Schools and Colledges the poor Scholars Places were generally filled with the Sons of the Rich and that Livings were most scandalously sold and the greatest part of the Country-Clergy were so ignorant that they could do little more than read But there was no hope of doing any thing effectually for redressing so great a calamity till the King should be of Age himself to set forward such Laws as might again recover a competent maintenance for the Clergy This Year both