the preservation of my Life than the profit of my Living Wherefore after I had weighed as many dangers as I could remember and was perswaded that to depart the Realm was the safest way I could take I resolved to take the benefit of a happy Wind to avoid the violence of a bitter Storm And knowing that the Actions of Those who go beyond Seas though their intent be never so good and dutiful were yet evil thought of I presume to write this Letter to your Majesty and in it to declare the true causes and reasons of this my departure I here take God and his Holy Angels to witness that I would not have taken this course if I might have staied still in England without danger of my Soul and peril of my Life And though the loss of Temporal Commodities be so grievous to Flesh and Blood that I could not desire to live if I were not comforted with the remembrance of his Mercy for whom I endure all this who endured ten thousand times more for me yet I assure your Majesty that your Displeasure would be more unpleasant to me than the bitterness of all my Losses and greater grief than the greatest of my Misfortunes The Earl having written the foregoing Letter and leaving it behind him to be delivered to the Queen after his departure attempted to have passed the Seas without License for the which he was committed to the Tower and condemned to pay Ten thousand Pound Fine for his contempt and to remain Prisoner at the Queens pleasure Thus Stow. This short Relation of these Severities may make it easily conceived what endeavours there were then used totally to extirpate Catholick Religion in England Thus you have had a short view of the state of Religion in this Queens Reign An Account of the Years in which these Changes in Religion were made IN her First year she being resolved upon an Alteration of Religion as knowing well that her Legitimation and the Pope's Supremacy could not stard together called a Parliament which totally complied with her Designs in order to such a Change But the Convocation of the Clergy which accompanied this Parliament totally opposed it and thereupon were deprived of their Ecclesiastical Benefices a company of Ignorant and Illiterate Men being Substituted in their places which gave occasion to the Calvinists or Presbyterians to obtain great Ecclesiastical Preserments here By which they have continually labored to supplant and undermine the Church of England It was the Second year of her Reign before any Protestant Bishops were elected The main cause for keeping the Episcopal Sees so long vacant was that in the mean time the best Flowers might be culled out of them Aid this year was sent to assist the Rebels in Scotland against their Lawful Queen The Presbyterians seeing Episcopal Government settled begin to play their Game The Bishops being thus settled begin the next year to make Laws and to compose Articles of Religion and to exact a Conformity to them upon which they find great oppositions from the Presbyterians In her Fourth year she was solicited by Pope Pius to send her Orators to the Council of Trent which she refused to do The Emperor also writ to her to desist from these Alterations of Religion and to return to the Ancient Catholick Faith of her Predecessors In her Fifth year the Articles of Religion were agreed on in the Convocation In her Sixth year she would have Married the Earl of Leicester to the Queen of Scots Calvin dies this year and Cartwright the great promoter of Presbytery retires out of England upon a discontent to Geneva In her Seventh year the Calvinists began first to be called Puritans Dr. Heylyn In her Eighth year the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops was Confirmed And for this we are beholding to Boner the late Bishop of London who being called up to take the Oath of Supremacy by Horn of Winton refused to take the Oath upon this account because Horn's Consecration was not good and valid by the Laws of the Land Which he insisted upon because the Ordinal Established in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth by which both Horn and all the rest of Queen Elizabeths Bishops received Consecration had been Repealed by Queen Mary and not restored by any Act of Parliament in the present Reign which being first declared by Parliament in the Eighth of this Queen to be Casus Omissus or rather that the Ordinal was looked upon as a part of the Liturgy confirmed in the First year of this Queen They next Enacted and Ordained That all such Bishops as were consecrated by it in time to come should be reputed to be lawfully Consecrated Baker In her Eleventh year there arose a Sect openly condemning the received Discipline of the Church of England together with the Church-Liturgy and the very Calling of Bishops This Sect so mightily encreased that in the Sixteenth year of her Reign the Queen and Kingdom was extreamly troubled with them In the same Sixteenth year were taken at Mass in their several Houses the Lord Morley's Lady and her Children the Lady Gilford and the Lady Brown who being thereof Endicted and Convicted suffered the penalties of the Laws In her Twentieth year the severe Laws against Roman Catholicks were Enacted In her Twenty third year a Proclamation was set forth That whosoever had any Children beyond Sea should by a certain day call them home and that no Person should harbour any Seminary Priest or Jesuit At this time also there arose up in Holland a certain Sect naming themselves The Family of Love In a Parliament held the 26th year of her Reign the Puritan party laboured to have Laws made in order to the destroying of the Church of England and the setting up of their own Sect. In her Twenty eighth year the Queen gave a special Charge to Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury to settle an Uniformity in the Ecclesiastical Discipline which lay now almost a gasping And at this time the Sect of Brownists derived from one Robert Brown did much oppose the Church of England In her One and Thirtieth year the Puritan-Flames broke forth again In her Thirty sixth year the Severity of the Laws were Executed upon Henry Barrow and his Sectaries for condemning the Church of England as no Christian Church Thus Sir Rich. Baker Here is an End of this Work Wherein I hope there is full Satisfaction given concerning the Alterations of Religion which have been made by Publick Authority in the Reigns of these Kings and Queens with a sufficient discovery of the Actings of the Presbyterians in this Nation and the ground of multiplying other Sects Here ends the Historical Collections AN APPENDIX CHAP. I. A Word concerning the Doctrins and Practices deserted by this Nation in these Changes of Religion NOw for a close to this Work I will add here in the first place one thing which I conceive deserves well to be taken notice of which is this to wit
Book might be approved by Our Authority and withal in a copious Oration manifested unto Us that as your Majesty hath confuted the notorious Errors of the same Martin Luther from true and convincing Reasons and unanswerable Authorities of the holy Scriptures and Fathers so that you will be ready with all the Forces and Arms of your Kingdom to punish and prosecute all such as shall presume to follow or defend any of the said Opinions Whereupon we have with all care and diligence perused the same Book and finding it to contain admirable Doctrine and full of the Spirit of God do give God infinite thanks from whom proceeds every good and perfect Gift for having thus inspir'd your mind and enabled you by his Grace to compose this Work for the defence of his holy Faith against this raiser up of old condemned Errors and to the inviting of other Kings and Christian Princes to follow your example in protecting Orthodox Faith and Evangelical Truth now expos'd to great danger and many oppositions We upon this likewise judging it just and reasonable to confer all Honour and Praises upon such as have employ'd their pious Labours in the defence of the said Christian Faith do not only extol and magnifie approve and confirm by Our Authority what your Majesty hath with so much solid Learning and Eloquence written against the same Martin Luther but do likewise confer upon your Majesty such a Title of Honour that by it all the Faithful may understand both now and for all future times how grateful and acceptable this your Majesties Gift hath been unto Us especially offered at this time We who are the true Successor of St Peter whom Christ ascending up to Heaven lest as his Vicar upon Earth committing to him the care of his Flock We I say sitting in this holy See having with mature Deliberation considered of this business with Our Brethren do with their unanimous Counsel and consent grant unto your Majesty the Title of Defender of the Faith which We do by these presents confirm unto you commanding all the Faithful to give your Majesty this Title and when they write unto you after the word King to annex this other of Defender of the Faith And assuredly if the excellency and dignity of this Title and your singular merits be well weigh'd and considered We could not have thought of any name more Noble nor better agreeable to your Majesty then this which as often as you hear and read you will have occasion to reflect upon your own Virtue and Merit not becoming more proud thereby but according to your wonted Prudence rather more humble and more establish'd in the Faith of Christ and respect towards this holy See rejoycing in our Lord the Giver of all Good things and leaving unto your Posterity this perpetual and immortal monument of your Glory shewing them the way that if they desire to possess this Title they labour to do works of this kind and to imitate your Majesties example who having deserv'd so much from Us and this See We give you Our Benediction and also to your Wife and Children and all that shall be born of them In the name of him from whom We have receiv'd this Power Beseeching the Almighty who said By me Kings reign and Princes command and in whose Hands the Hearts of all Kings are that he will confirm you in this holy Resolutiand encrease your Devotion and make your Actions for the preservation of Faith so illustrious throughout the whole World That no Man may have occasion to judge that this Title is confer'd upon you in vain And lastly Our Prayer is That your Majesty having happily pass'd the course of this present life may be made partaker of Eternal Glory Dated at Rome at St. Peters c. Thus far my Lord Herberts History I will now relate some other favours shew'd to him by Popes HE receiv'd from Pope Clement a Rose of Gold for a Present The reception of it is thus related by Sir Rich. Baker page 391. Doctor Thomas Hannibal Master of the Rolls was receiv'd into London by Earls Bishops and diverse Lords and Gentlemen as Embassador from Pope Clement who brought with him a Rose of Gold for a Present to the King and on the day of the Nativity of our Lady after a Solemn Mass sung by the Cardinal of York the said Present was delivered to the King which was a Tree forged of fine Gold with Branches Leaves and Flowers resembling Roses Thus far Sir Rich. Baker ANother Present was sent him by Pope Julius whereof there is this Relation in the same History page 376. Pope Julius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France tranferred by Authority of the Lateran Council the Title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the Sunday following at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul Thus far Sir Rich. Baker CHAP. I. The First Ground of the change of Religion in England was the business of the Kings Divorce from Queen Catherine which when it came to be publickly examined the Queen made this following Speech THe Queen according to the Form being called upon to come into the Court made no Answer but rose out of her Chair and came to the King kneeling down at his Feet to whom she said The Queens Speech SIR IN what have I offended you or what occasion of displeasure have I given you intending thus to put me from you I take God to be my Judge I have been to you a true and humble Wife ever conformable to your Will and Pleasure never contradicting or gain-saying you in any thing being always contented with all things wherein you had any delight or took any pleasure without grudge or countenance of discontent or displeasure I lov'd for your sake all them whom you lov'd whether I had cause or no whether they were my Friends or my Enemies I have been your Wife these twenty years or more and you had by me divers Children and when you had me at first I take God to be my Judg that I was a Maid and whether it be true or no I put it to your own Conscience If there be any just cause that you can alledge against me either of dishonesty or matter lawful to put me from you I am content to depart to my shame and confusion and if there be none then I pray you to let me have Justice at your Hands The King your Father was in his time of such an excellent Wit that he was accounted amongst all men for Wisdom to be a second Salomon and the King of Spain my Father Ferdinand was accounted one of the wisest Princes that had reign'd in Spain for many years It is not therefore to be doubted but that they had gathered as wise Counsellors unto them of every Realm as to their Wisdoms they thought meet and I conceive that there were in
the Dissenters to a Disputation though in the ordinary Form a Disputation was there held at his first coming thither concerning the Sufficiency of Holy Scripture the Fallibility of the Church and the true nature of Justification But long he had not held the place when he left this life Yet so it was that the Account which he had given to Calvin of the English Liturgy and his desiring of a Letter from him to the Lord Protector proved the occasion of much trouble to the Church and the Orders of it For Calvin not forgetting the repulse he found at the hands of Cranmer when he first offered his assistance had skrewed himself into the Favor of the Lord Protector And thinking nothing to be well done which either was not done by him or by his direction as appears by his Letters to all Princes that did but cast an eye towards a Reformation must needs be medling in such matters as belonged not to him He therefore writes a very long Letter to the Lord Protector in which approving well enough of Set Forms of Prayer he descends more particularly to the English Liturgy in canvasing whereof he there excepted against Commemoration of the Dead which he acknowledges however to be very ancient as also against Chrism and Extreme Unction the last whereof being rather allowed of than required by the Rules of the Book Which said he makes it his advice That all these Ceremonies should be abrogated and that withal he should go forward to Reform the Church without Fear or Wit and that without regard to Peace at home or Correspondency abroad such considerations being only to be had in Civil Matters but not in Matters of the Church wherein nothing is to be exacted which is not warranted by the Word and in the managing whereof there is not any thing more distastful in the eyes of God than worldly wisdom either in moderating cutting off or going backwards but meerly as we are directed by his Revealed Will. In the next place he gives a touch upon the Book of Homilies These very faintly he permits for some time only but by no means allowed of them for any long continuance or to be looked on as a Rule of the Church or constantly to serve for the Instruction of the People and thereby gave a hint to the Zuinglian Gospellers who ever since almost have dec aimed against them And whereas some Disputes had grown by his setting on or the pragmatical Humor of some Agents which he had amongst us about the Ceremonies of the Church then by Law Established he must needs trouble the Protector in that business also to whom he writes to this effect That the Papists would grow insolenter every day unless the Differences were composed about the Ceremonies But how Not by reducing the Opponents to Conformity but by encouraging them rather in their opposition Which cannot but appear most plainly to be all he aimed at by soliciting the Duke of Sommerset in behalf of Hooper who was then faln into some trouble upon that account Thus Dr. Heylyn who gives this following account of Hooper This Hooper being designed Bishop of Gloucester the Archbishop would not Consecrate him but in such Habit as Bishops are required to wear by the Rules of the Church but he refused to take it upon such conditions And repairing to his Patron the Earl of Warwick he obtains a Letter to the Archbishop desiring a forbearance of those things implying also that it was the King's desire as well as his that such forbearance should be used It was desired also that he would not charge him with any Oath which seemed to be burdensome to his Conscience For the Elect Bishop as it seems had boggled also at the Oath of paying Canonical Obedience to his Metropolitan The King likewise writ to the Archbishop to the same effect At last the business was thus composed to wit That Hooper should receive his Consecration attired in his Episcopal Robes but that he should be dispensed withal from wearing it at ordinary times as his daily Habit but that he should be bound to use it whensoever he Preached before the King Fox reproacheshim for giving any way to wear this Popish Attire and makes it to be a great cause of shame and contumely to him And possibly it might be thought so at that time by Hooper himself who ever after hated Bishop Ridley the principal Man that held him up so closely to such hard conditions Thus Dr. Heylyn CHAP. VII A further Continuation of the Confusions and Disorders used by the Presbyterians and other Sects Dr. Heylyn page 69. Anno Regni Edwardi Sixti 4. THe Free admitting of John a Lasco a Polonian born with his Congregation of Germans and other Strangers who took Sanctuary this year in England hoping that they might here enjoy that Liberty of Conscience which their own Country denied them proved no small Disturbance to the proceedings of the Church and the quiet ordering of the State For by suffering these Men to live under another kind of Government and to Worship God after other Forms than those allowed of by the Law proved in effect the setting up of one Altar against another in the midst of the Church and the Erecting of a Common-Wealth in the midst of a Kingdom So much the more unfortunately permitted in this present Conjuncture when such a Rupture began to appear amongst our selves which was made wider by the coming in of these Dutch Reformers and the Indulgence granted to them Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning John a Lasco Thus we have the first beginning of that Opposition which hath continued ever since against the Liturgy it self the Cap and Surplice and other Rites and Usages of the English Church And these were the Effects of Calvins interposing in behalf of Hooper For what did follow thereupon but a continual multiplying of Disorders in all parts of this Church The sitting at the Sacrament used and maintain'd by John a Lasco first caused Irreverence in the Receiving and afterwards a Contempt and Depraving of it The crying down of the Sacred Vestments and the Grave Habit of the Clergy first occasioned a dis-esteem of the Men themselves and by degrees a vilifying and contempt of their Calling Nay such a peccancy of Humor began then manifestly to break out that it was Preached at Paul's Cross by a Curate of St. Catherines Christ-Church That it was fit the Names of Churches should be altered and the Names of the Days in the Week changed That Fish-days should be kept on any other days than Fridays and Saturdays and the Lent at any other time except only between Shrove-tide and Easter We are told also by John Stow that he had seen this Curate of Christ-Church to leave the Pulpit and Preach to the People out of an High Elm which stood in the midst of the Church-Yard and that being done to return into the Church again and leaving the High Altar to sing the Communion-Service upon a
Tomb of the Dead with his face toward the North. Which is to be observed the rather because this Curate hath found so many followers in these latter times For as some of the Preciser sort have of late left the Church to Preach in Woods and Barns c. and in stead of the old Days and Months can find no other Title for them than the First Second or Third Month of the Year and so of the Days of the Week c. So was it propounded not long since by some State Reformers That the Fast of Lent should be kept no longer between Shrove-tide and Easter but rather by some Act or Ordinance made for that purpose betwixt Easter and Whitsontide To such wild Fancies do Men grow when once they break those Bounds and neglect those Rules which wise Antiquity ordained for the Preservation of Peace and Order Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Confusions If it be asked What in the mean time was become of Bishops and why no care was taken for the Purging those peccant Humors It may be answered That the Wings of their Authority had been so clipped that it was scarce able to fly abroad The Sentence of Excommunication not having been in use since the first of this King Whether it were that Command was laid upon the Bishops by which they were restrained from the Exercise of it or that some other course was in agitation for drawing the Cognizance of all Ecclesiastical causes to the Court of Westminster or that it was thought inconsistent with that dreadful Sentence to be issued in the King's Name as it had been lately appointed by Act of Parliament it is not casie to determine But certain it is that at this time it was either abolished for the present or of no effect not only to the cherishing of these Disorders amongst the Ministers of the Church but to the great encrease of viciousness in all sorts of men Lechery saith Bishop Latimer is used in England and such Lechery as is used in no other part of the World And it is made a matter of sport a matter of nothing a laughing matter a Trifle not to be regarded not to be reformed Peter Martyr much bemoans the miserable condition of the Church for want of Preachers Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Disorders Altars taken down But the great business this year was the taking down of Altars The Principal Motive whereunto was the Opinion of some dislikes which had been taken by Calvin against the Liturgy and the desire of those of the Zuinglian Faction to reduce this Church unto the Nakedness and Simplicity of those Transmarine Churches which followed the Helvetian or Calvinian Forms and withal to abolish the thought of a Sacrifice But that the consideration of Profit did advance this work as much as any other if perchance not more may be collected from an Enquiry made about Two years after In which it was to be Interrogated What Jewels of Gold and Silver or Silver-Crosses Candlesticks Censers Chalices Copes and other Vestments were then remaining in any of the Cathedral or Parochial Churches or otherwise had been Embezzeled or taken away The leaving of one Chalice to every Church with a Cloth or Covering for the Communion-Table being thought sufficient Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this strange way of Reforming or rather Deforming all things Reasons given for the taking down of Altars The Reasons that were given for the doing of this were these First To with-draw the People from the Opinion of the Mass to the right use of the Lord's Supper The use of an Altar being to Sacrifice upon and the use of a Table to eat upon And therefore a Table to be far more fit for our feeding on him who was once only crucified and offered for us Secondly That in the Book of Common-Prayer the name of Altar and Lord's Board and Table are used indifferently without Prescribing any thing in the form thereof For as it is called a Table and the Lord's Board in reference to the Lord's Supper so it is called an Altar also in reference to the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving And so that the changing of Altars into Tables was no way repugnant to the Rules of the Liturgy Thirdly That Altars were erected for the Sacrifices of the Law which being now ceased the Form of the Altar was to cease together with them Fourthly That as Christ did Institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood at a Table and not at an Altar so it is not to be found that any of the Apostles did ever use an Altar in the Ministration And finally That it is declared in the Preface to the Book of Common-Prayer That if any Doubt arise in the use and practising of the said Book that then to appease all such diversity the matter shall be referred unto the Bishop of the Diocess who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting of it Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Reasons Page 96. But the taking down of Altars being Decreed and Commanded a question afterwards did arise about the Form of the Lord's Board some using it in the form of a Table and some in the form of an Altar Ridley Bishop of London determined it for the form of a Table to abolish all memory of the Mass And upon this caused the Wall standing on the back-side of the Altar in the Church of St. Paul's to be broken down for an example to the rest But yet there followed no universal change of Altars into Tables in all parts of the Realm till the repealing of the first Liturgy in which the Priest is appointed to stand before the midst of the Altar in the Celebration and the establishing of the Second in which it is required That the Priest shall stand on the North-side of the Table which put an end to the Dispute Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning Altars CHAP. VIII Of the strange Confusion in all matters of Religion which this new Change of Religion caused no man yet knowing positively and dogmatically what he was to believe Dr. Heylyn Page 106. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 5. NOthing as yet had been concluded positively and dogmatically in Points of Doctrine but as they were to be collected from the Homilies and the Publick Liturgy and those but few in reference to the many Controversies which were to be maintained against the Sectaries of that Age Many Disorders having grown up in this little time in officiating the Liturgy the Vestures of the Church and the Habit of Church-men begun by Calvin prosecuted by Hooper and countenanced by the large Immunities granted to John a Lasco and his Church of Strangers And unto these the change of Altars into Tables gave no small encrease as well by reason of some differences which grew amongst the Ministers themselves upon that occasion as in regard of the irreverence which it bred in the People to whom it made the Sacrament to appear less venerable than before it did The People had been
be paid at her Marriage and in the interim Three Thousand pound per annum for Her personal maintenance Little or nothing more occurs of Her in the time of King Henry because there was little Alteration made in the face of Religion which might give Her any cause of Publick or personal dislike But when the great Alterations happened in the time of King Edward She then declared her Self more openly as She might more safely in opposition to the same Concerning which She thus declared Her self in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council Dated at Kenninghall June 22. Anno 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I lately received from you and others of the Council That you be all sorry to find so little Conformity in me touching the observation of his Majesties Laws who am well assured that I have offended no Law unless it be a late Law of your own making which in my Conscience is not worthy the name of a Law both for the King's Honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendom besides the partiallity used in the same and as my Conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passes all the rest But I am very well assured That the King his Father's Laws were allowed and consented to without Compulsion by the whole Realm both Spiritual and Temporal and all the Executors Sworn upon a Book to fulfil the same so that it was an Authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the Grace of God till the King's Majesty my Brother shall have sufficient years to judge in this matter himself In this my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring to you at that time whereunto I would stand And now do assure you all the only occasion of my stay from altering my Opinion is for Two causes One principally for my Conscience The Other that the King my Brother shall not hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such Alterations in his tender years And what fruits daily grow by such Changes since the death of the King my Father it well appears to every indifferent Person both to the Displeasure of God and Unquietness of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loth to see his Highness take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the best of you all And none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble Sister most tenderly to Love and pray for Him and to wish unto this Realm being born within the same all wealth and prosperity to God's Honor. And if any judge of me the contrary for my Opinions sake as I trust none does I doubt not in the end with God's help to prove my self as True a Natural and Humble Sister as they of the contrary Opinion with all their devices and altering the Laws shall prove themselves good Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Council no more to disquiet and trouble me with matters touching my Conscience wherein I am at a full point with God's help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his Grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits But to bestow that short time I think to live in quietness praying for the King's Majesty and all you Heartily wishing that your Proceedings may be to God's Honor the Safeguard of the King's Person and quietness of the Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my self But notwithstanding this Letter no favor was to be hoped for from these Lords They signifying unto her how sensible they were of those Inconveniences which the Example of her Inconformity to the Laws Established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the Subjects And hereupon the Lord Chancellor and Secretary Peters were sent to her who after some Conferences brought her to the King at Westminster Here the Council declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of Mass and considering her Obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unless She would put Him in hope of some Conformity in time To which She answered That her Soul was God's and touching her Faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made That the King intended not to constrain her Faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the Example might draw After some like enterchanges of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King When there arrived an Embassador from the Emperor with a threatning Message of War in case his Cosin the Lady Mary should be denied the Free Exercise of Mass. Hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishops of London and Rochester Who gave their Opinion that to give licence to sin was sin But to connive at sin might be allowed so it were not too long nor without hope of Reformation Then Answer was given to the Embassador That the King would send to the Emperor within a Month or Two and give him such Satisfaction as should be fit Upon this Earnest Soliciation of the Emperor it was declared unto her by the King with the consent of his Council That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed But so that none but some few of her own Chamber should be present with her And that to all the rest of her House-hold the Service of the Church should be only used Whereupon Mallet and Barkeley Two of her Chaplains saying Mass promiscuously in her absence to her houshold-Servants were seized on and committed Prisoners Which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Council One of which Letters to the Council touching this matter I will here insert taken out of Fox's Acts and Monuments Page 704. The Lady Mary to the Lords of the Council My Lords WHereas you writ that two of my Chaplains Dr. Mallet and Barkeley are Indicted for certain things committed by them contrary to the King's Majesties Laws and that a Process for them is also awarded or given forth and delivered to the Sheriff of Essex I cannot but marvel they should be so used considering it is done as I understand for sâ—…ying Mass within my House and although I have been of my self minded alwaies and yet am to have Mass within my House yet I have been advertised that the Emperor's Majesty also hath been promised that I should never be unquieted nor troubled for my so doing as some of you my Lords can witness Moreover the declaration of the said Promise was made to
Preached and Written partly by divers the natural born Subjects of this Realm and partly being brought in hither from sundry other Forein Countries hath been sowen and spread abroad within the same By reason whereof as well the Spirituality as the Temporality of this Kingdom have swerved from the Obedience of the See Apostolick and declined from the Unity of Christ's Church and have so continued until such time as your Majesty being settled in the Royal Throne the Pope's Holiness and the See Apostolick sent hither unto your Majesty as a Person undefiled and by God's Goodness preserved from the common infection aforesaid and to the whole Realm the most Reverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pool to call us home again into the right way from whence we have all this long while wandred and strayeâ—… abroad And we after sundry long and grievous Plagues and Calamities seeing by the Goodness of God our own Errors have acknowledged the same unto the same most Reverend Father in God and by him been and are received and embraced into the Unity and bosom of Christ's Church upon our humble submission and promise made for a Declaration of our Repentance to Repeal and Abrogate such Acts and Statutes as had been made in Parliament since the said Twentieth year of the said King against the Supremacy of the See Apostolick as in our Submission exhibited appears The tenor whereof here ensueth We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons Assembled in this present Parliament in the Name of our selves and the whole Kingdom do declare our selves very sorry and repentant of the Schism and Disobedience committed in this Realm and the Dominions thereof against the See Apostolick either by making agreeing or executing any Laws Ordinances or Commands against the Supremacy of the said See or otherwise by doing or speaking any thing that might impugn the same Offering our selves and promising by this our Supplication that for a token and acknowledgment of our said repentance we be and shall be always ready to the utmost of our Power to do what lies in us for the abrogating and the repealing of the said Acts and Ordinances in this present Parliament c. Whereupon we most humbly desire your Majesty to set forth this our most humble Suit That we may obtain from the See Apostolick release and discharge from all danger of such Censures and Sentences as by the Laws of the Church we are fallen into and that we may as Children repentant be received into the bosom and unity of Christ's Church so as this Noble Realm withal the members thereof may in this unity and perfect obedience to the See Apostolick serve God and your Majesty to the furtherance and advancement of his Honor and Glory c. This Petition being granted They further add We being now at the Intercession of your Majesty assoiled discharged and delivered from Excommunication Interdiction and other Censures Ecclesiastical which have hanged over our heads for our said faults since the time of the said Schism mentioned in our Supplication May it therefore now please your Majesty That for the better accomplishment of our promise made in the said Supplication we may Repeal All Laws and Statutes made contrary to the said Supremacy and See Apostolick during the said Schism Thus as to the Repealing of all such Laws made in the Reign of King Henry the 8th Another Act for the Repealing of certain Statutes made in the time of King Edward the Sixth FOrasmuch as by divers and several Acts of Parliament made in the time of King Edward the Sixth as well the Divine Service and good Administration of the Sacraments as divers other matters of Religion which we and our Fore-fathers found in this Church of England to us left by the Authority of the Catholick Church be partly altered and in some part taken from us and in place thereof New Things imagined and set forth by the said Acts such as a few of singularity have of themselves devised Whereof hath ensued amongst us in a very short time numbers of diverse and strange Opinions and diversity of Sects and thereby grown great unquietness and much discord to the great disturbance of the Kingdom And in a very short time like to grow to extreme peril and utter confusion of the same unless some remedy be in that behalf provided Which Thing all True Loving and Obedient Subjects ought to fore-see and to provide against to the utmost of their power c. Be it therefore Enacted c. A third Act for the Repeal of Two several Acts made in the time of King Edward the Sixth touching the Dissolution of the Bishoprick of Durham WHereas there hath been time out of mind of any man to the contrary a See of a Bishop of Durham commonly called The Bishoprick of Durham which hath been one of the most Ancient and worthiest Bishopricks in Dignity and Spiritual Promotion within the Realm of England and the same place always supplied and furnished with a man of great Learning and Virtue which was both to the Honor of God and the encrease of his True Religion and a great Surety to that part of the Realm Nevertheless the said Bishoprick was without any just cause or consideration by Authority of Parliament Dissolved Extinguished and Exterminated And further by the Authority of the said Parliament it was Ordained and Enacted That the said Bishoprick together with all the ordinary Jurisdiction thereunto appertaining should be adjudged clearly dissolved and extinguished and that King Edward the Sixth should from thence-forth have possess and enjoy to him his heirs and successors for ever whatsoever did appertain or belong to the said Bishoprick in as large and ample manner and form as any Bishop thereof had held or possessed or of right ought to have had held or possessed c. Be it therefore Enacted c. Thus far as to these Acts of Parliament CHAP. IV. A Relation of some English Protestants that forsook the Kingdom and of the Factions and Schisms that were amongst them being in other Countries Anno Reg. Mar. 3. Dr. Heylyn pag. 59. MAny English Protestants forsook the Kingdom to the number of Eight Hundred who having put themselves into several Cities partly in Germany and partly amongst the Switzers and their Confederates kept up the Face and Form of an English Church in each of their several Congregations Their principal retiring places amongst the last were Arow Zurick and Geneva And in the first the Cities of Emden Strasburgh and Frankfort In Frankfort they enjoyed the greatest privileges and therefore resorted thither in greatest numbers which made them the more apt unto Schisms and Factions At their first coming to the place they were permitted to have the use of one of their Churches which had before been granted to such French exiles as had repaired thither on the like occasion yet so that the French were still to hold their Right the English to have the use of it one day
notorious Fornicator that was among the Corinthians and by the Authority of his Apostleship unto which Apostles Christ ascending into Heaven did leave the whole Spiritual Government of his Church as it appeareth by those plain words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4th saying Ipse dedit Ecclesiae suae c. He hath given to his Church some to be Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors for consummation of the Saints to the work of the Ministry for edifying of the Body of Christ. But a Woman in the degrees of the Church is not called to be an Apostle nor Evangelist nor to be a Pastor as much as to say a Shepheard nor a Doctor or a Preacher Therefore she cannot be Supream Head of Christ's Militant Church nor yet of any part thereof For this High Government God hath appointed only to the Bishops and Pastors of his People as St. Paul plainly witnesseth in these words in the 20th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles saying Attendite vobis universo gregi c. And thus much I have here said right Honorable and my very good Lords against this Act of Supremacy for the discharge of my poor Conscience and for the Love and Fear and Dread that I chiefly owe unto God to my Sovereign Lord and Lady the Queens Majesties Highness and to your Honors All. Where otherwise without mature consideration of all these Premises your Honors shall never be able to shew your faces before your enemies in this matter being so strange a spectacle and example in Christ's Church as in this Realm is only to be found and in no other Christian Realm Thus humbly beseeching your Honors to take in good part this my rude and plain Speech which here I have used of much Zeal and fervent good will And now I shall not trouble your Honors any longer Thus as to this Speech But notwithstanding this Speech or whatsoever else could be said against it the Act passed and this Supremacy was granted to the Queen CHAP. IV. A further Prosecution of the Settlement of this Change of Religion Established by Parliament and of the Opposition of the Catholick Clergy against this strange Innovation Dr. Heylyn pag. 108. NOw for the better exercising and enjoying the Jurisdiction thus acknowledged in the Crown there was this Clause put into the Act That it should be Lawful for the Queen to give Power to such as she thought fit to exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all kind of Errors Heresies Schisms c. With this Proviso notwithstanding that nothing should from thenceforth be accounted Heresie but what was so adjudged in the Holy Scripture or in one of the four first General Councils or in any other National or Provincial Council determining according to the word of God or finally which should be so adjudged in the time to come by the Court of Parliament This was the first Foundation of the High Commission Court And from hence issued that Commission by which the Queens ministers proceeded in that visitation in the first year of her Reign for rectifying all such things as they found amiss There also passed another Act for recommending and imposing the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments according to such Alterations and Corrections as were made therein by those that were appointed to review it In performance of which service there was great care taken to expunge out all such passages in it as might give any Scandal or Offence to the Papists or be urged by them in excuse for their not coming to Church In the Litany fiâ—…st made and published by King Henry the Eighth and afterwards continued in the two Liturgies of King Edward the Sixth there was a Prayer to be delivered from the Tyranny and all the detestable enormities of the Bishop of Rome Which was thought fit to be left out as giving matter of Scandal and dissatisfaction to all that Party In the first Liturgy of King Edward the Sacrament of our Lord's Body was delivered with this Benediction that is to say The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for the Preservation of thy Body and Soul to Life Everlasting The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Which being thought by Calvin and his Disciples to give some countenance to the Carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament which passed by the name of Transubstantiation in the Schools of Rome was altered in this Form into the second Liturgy that is to say Take and Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving Take and drink this c. But the Revisors of the Book joyned both Forms together lest under colour of rejecting a carnal they might be thought also to ceny a real presence as was deâ—…ended in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers Upon which ground they expunged also a whole Rubrick at the end of the Communion Service by which it was declared That kneeling at the Communion was required for no other reason than for a signification of the humble and grateful acknowledgâ—…ent of the Benefits of Christ given therein unto the worthy Râ—…ceiver and to avoid that Prophanation and Disorder which otherwise might have ensued And not for giving any Adoration to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or in regard of any Real or Essential Presence of Christ's Body and Blood This Rubrick is again lately inserted And to come up closer to those of the Church of Rome it was ordered by the Queens Injunctions That the Sacramental Bread which the Book required only to be made of the finest Flower should be made round in the fashion of the Wafers used in the time of Queen Mary She also Ordered that the Lord's Table should be placed where the Altar stood and that the accustomed Reverence should be made at the Name of Jesus Musick retained in the Church and all the other Festivals observed with their several Eves By which compliances and the expunging of the passages before mentioned the Book was made more plausible And that it might pass the better in both Houses when it came to the Vote it was thought requisite That a Disputation should be held about some Points which were most likely to be keked at Two Speeches were made against this Book in the House of Peers by Scot and Feckenham and one against the Queens Supremacy by the Archbishop of York But they prevailed little in both Points by the Power of their Eloquence In the Convocation which accompanied this present Parliament there was little done because they despared of doing any good to Themselves or their Cause The chief thing they did was a Declaration of their Judgments in some certain Points which at that time were conceived fit to be commended to the sight of the Parliament that is to say First That in the Sacrament of the Altar by
the Congregation managing their own Affairs apart from the rest of the Kingdom The principal Leaders of the Party well followed by the Common People put themselves into Perth and there begin to stand upon higher terms than before they did The news whereof occasioneth Knox to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva and joyn himself unto the Lords of the Congregation At Perth he goes into the Pulpit and falls so bitterly on Images that the People in a popular fury deface all the Images in that Church and presently demolish all the Religious Houses within that City Those of Couper hearing of it forthwith destroy all the Images and pull down the Altars in that Church also Preaching at Craile he enveighed sharply against the Queen-Regent and vehemently stirred up the people to joyn together for the expulsion of the French Which drew after it the like destruction of all Altars and Images as was made before at Perth and Couper The like followed on his Preaching at St. Andrews also the Religious Houses being pulled down as well as the Images and laid so flat that there was nothing left in the form of a building Inflamed by the same Fire-brand they burned down the Rich Monastery of Schone and ruined that of Cambus-braneth demolished all the Altars Images and Convents of Religious persons in Sterling Lithgow Glascough Edenburgh making themselves masters of the last and putting up their own Preachers into all the Pulpits of the City not suffering the Queen Regent to have the use of One Church only for her Devotions Nor staid they here but being carried on by the same ill Spirit they pass an Act amongst themselves for Depriving the Queen-Regent of all place and Power in the Publick Government Concerning which the Oracle being first consulted returned this answer sufficiently ambiguous as all Oracles are that is to say That the iniquity of the Queen Regent ought not to with draw their hearts from the Obedience due to their Sovereigns Nor did he wish any such sentence to be pronounced against her but when she should change her course and submit her self to good counsel there should place be left unto her of regress to the same Honors from which for good causes she ought to be deprived This Act is intimated to the Queen-Regent who ordered her business so well that they were quickly brought to great extremity and had been soon suppressed but for the Succors they received from England Thus Dr. Heylyn This Rebellion is thus delivered by Sir Rich. Baker Page 475. IT happened that there was a Reformation begun in Scotland But was indeed an Encroachment upon the Princes Authority For at the Preaching of Knox and other head-strong Ministers not only great Outrages were committed in Churches but it was likewise put into the heads of the Nobility That it pertained to them of their own Authority to take away Idolatry and by force to reduce the Prince to to the prescript of the Laws Whereupon there was presently a banding of the Lords of Scotland against the Queen-Dowager Regent of the Country and England fomenting and supporting the Rebellion the Queen was at last worsted and forced to fly into England Where contrary to promise of being friendly received by Queen Elizabeth she was kept Eighteen years in prison and afterwards beheaded The Order of whose Death and Execution was as follows The sentence of Condemnation being pronounced against her some Earls were sent to Fotheringham where She was kept prisoner These together with Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury with whom she was then in custody go to the Queen and reading their Commission signifie the cause of their coming and in a few words admonish her to prepare her self for death For that she must die the next day whereunto without any change of her countenance or passion of mind she made answer I had not thought that my Sister the Queen would have consented to my death who am not subject to your Laws But since it is her pleasure death shall be to me most welcome Then she requests that she might confer with her Confessor and Melvyn her Steward But the first would not be granted her The Bishop or Dean of Peterborough they offered her but them she refused The Earls being departed from her she gave order that Supper should be hastned where she eat as she used to do soberly and sparingly And perceiving her men and women-Servants to lament and weep she comforted them and bid them rejoyce rather that she was now to depart out of a world of misery After Supper she looks over her Will reads the Inventory of her Goods and Jewels and writ their Names severally to whom she gave any of them At her wonted hour she went to bed and after a few hours sleep awaking spent the rest of the night in her devotion And now the Fatal day being come she gets up and makes her ready in her best Apparel and then betook her self to her closet to Almighty God imploring his assistance with deep sighs and groans Until Thomas Andrews Sheriff of the County gave notice 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come forth And then with a 〈◊〉 Majesty and cheerful countenance 〈◊〉 came out her head covered with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and carrying an Ivory-Crucifix in 〈◊〉 hand In the Gallery the Earls met her and the other Gentlemen Where Melvyn her Servant upon his knees deplored his own Fortune that he should be the Messenger to carry this sad news into Scotland Whom she comforted saying Do not lament Melvyn you shall by and by see Mary Stuart freed from all her cares Then turning her self to the Earls she requested that her Servants might stand by at her death Which the Earl of Kent was very loath to grant for fear of Superstition To whom she said Fear nothing These desire only to give me my last farewel And I know the Queen my Sister would not refuse me so small a request After this the two Earls leading the way with the Sheriff of the County she came to the Scaffold which was set up at the upper end of the Hall where was a Chair a Cushion and a Block all covered with Mourning Then she falling upon her knees and holding up the Crucisix in both her hands prayed with her Servants out of the Office of our Lady Prayers being ended she kissed the Crucisix and signing her self with the sign of the Cross she said As thy Arms O Christ were stretched forth upon the Cross so embrace me with the open Arms of thy Mercy And then the Executioner asking her pardon she forgave him And now her Women helping off her outward Garments and breaking forth into shreeks and cries she kissed them signed them with the Cross and willed them to leave lamenting for now an end of her Sorrows was at hand And then shadowing her face with a linnen cloth and lying down on the Block she repeated the Psalm In Te Domine Speravi non confundar in aeternum At which words she
themselves to be an Assembly wherein the Lord's cause could not be heard wherein the infelicity of the miserable could not be respected wherein Truth Religion and Piety could bear no sway an Assembly that willingly called for the Judgment of God upon the whole Realm And finally That not a Man of their Seed should prosper be a Parliament Man or bear rule in England any more This necessary preparation being thus premised they tender to the Parliament a Book of the Form of Common-Prayer by them desired containing also in effect the whole pretended Discipline so revised by Travers And their Petition in behalf of it was in these words following to wit May it therefore please your Majesty That the Book hereunto annexed and every thing therein contained may be from henceforth used through all your Majesties Dominions But in this they were able to effect nothing It may seem strange that Queen Elizabeth should be so severe to her English Puritans and yet protect and countenance the Presbyterians in all other places But that great Monster in Nature called Reason of State is brought to plead in her defence Leicester Walsingham and others gave such encouragment under-hand to the Presbyterians that they resolved to proceed towards the putting of their Discipline in execution These great Persons did likewise entertain their Clamours and promote their Petitions at the Council-Table crossing and thwarting the Archbishop whensoever any cause which concerned the Brethren was brought before them It may be gathered from hence what a hard game this Prelate had to play when such great Masters in the Art held the Cards against him For at that time the Earls of Huntingdon and Leicester Walsingham and Knolls Comptroller of the Houshold a professed Genevian were his open Adversaries Burleigh a Neutral at the best Thus Dr. Heylyn The Order of their Government both at London and in the Country Dr. Heylyn pag. 213. THe Book of Discipline being published was no where better welcome than in London the Wealth and Pride of which City was never wanting to cherish and support such as most apparently opposed themselves to the present Authority or practised the introducing of Innovations both in Church and State The several Churches or Conventicles rather which they had in the City they reduced into one great and general Classis of which Cartwright Egerton or Travers were for the most part Moderators and whatsoever was there ordered was esteemed for current from thence the Brethren of other places did fetch their light and as doubts did arise thither they were sent to be resolved the Classical and Synodical decrees of other places not being Authentical till they were ratified in this which they held the Supream Consistory and chief Tribunal of the Nation But in the Country none appeared more forward than those of Northampton Daventry and Nottingham and the device is taken up in most parts of England but especially in Warwick-shire Suffolk Norfolk Essex c. In these Classes they determined Points of Doctrine Interpreted hard places of Scripture delivered their resolution in such cases of Conscience as were brought before them decided doubts and difficulties touching Contracts of Marriage c. and whatsoever was concluded by such as were present yet still with reference to the better judgment of the London Brethren became forthwith binding to the rest none being admitted into any of the aforesaid Classes before he had promised under his hand that he would submit himself and be obedient unto all such Orders and Decrees as were set down by the Classis to be observed At these Classes they enquired into the Life and Doctrine of all that had subscribed unto them censuring some and deposing others as they saw occasion Unto every Classis there belonged a Register who took the Heads of all that passed and saw them carefully entred into a Book for that purpose that they might remain upon Record Thus Dr. Heylyn gives a full Relation of the Progress of Presbytery in this Nation Now I will make a short Relation of the Queens Proceedings against Catholicks CHAP. XXIII Of the great endeavors used totally to extirpate Catholick Religion by Penal Laws and a horrid Effusion of Blood Stow pag. 678. THere was an Act of Parliament passed 5 Eliz In the Body whereof it was provided That no Man living or residing in the Queens Dominions should from thenceforth maintain the Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome And for the better discovery of all such persons as might be Popishly affected it was Enacted that none should be admitted to receive Orders in the Church or to take any Degree in either of the Universities or to be Barrester or Bencher in any of the Inns of Court c. Or to practice as an Attorney or otherwise to bear any Office in any of the Courts at Westminster-Hall or any other Court whatsoever till they had taken the Oath of Surpemacy It was likewise made Treason for any one to be reconciled to the Church of Rome or to be made Priest beyond the Seas upon which Two accounts very many were afterwards Executed A Proclamation also was set forth That whosoever had any Children beyond the Sea should by a certain day call them home Commissioners were sent into all Parts and Divisions of the Realm to enquire out Priests and such as were reconciled by them further charging all manner of Persons to retain none in their Houses without due examination of their conditions manner of life and conformity in Religion and to keep thereof a Register to be shewed to the said Commissioners if they should demand it In pursuance of which Commission a Priest was taken saying Mass in the Lord Morley's House and the Lady Morley with her Children and divers others were also taken hearing the same Mass. There was also taken at the same time another Priest at the Lady Gilfords in Trinity-lane for saying Mass and for hearing the said Mass the Lady Gilford with divers other Gentlewomen were taken And likewise at the same instant were taken Two Priests in the Lady Browns House in Cow-lane for saying Mass with the Lady her self and divers others for hearing it All which persons were Endicted Convicted and had the Law Executed according to the Statute There was found in their several Chappels Beads Images Palms Chalices Crosses Vestments Pixes Paxes and such-like Thus Stow. He that desires to be fully satisfied concerning all the severe Laws made against Catholicks in this Queens Reign may have recourse to the Penal Statutes Now we will proceed to a further Execution of these Laws by a horrid effusion of Blood TWo Laymen and one Priest wher hanged bowelled and quartered for denying the Queens Supremacy Stow pag. 684 and 685. Six Priests were drawn from the Tower to Tyburn and there hanged bowelled and quartered Stow pag. 695. Four Priests more were found guilty of High-Treason in being made Priests beyond Seas and by the Pope's Authority and had Judgment to be hanged bowelled
great Zeal to Gods glory so cheerfully given and bestowed on the structure endowment and adorning of this sometimes famous Monastery and that with such heavy Imprecations and Curses upon any that should take away or diminish ought thereof as the Charters before cited do manifest Against which Violators of the Church its Patrimony the Representative body of this Realm had also so often in terrorem pronounced Solemn Curses in open Parliament as whosoever shall cast his eye upon our Statutes and publick Histories may discern was subverted torn away and scattered in 30 of King Henry the Eighths Reign after it had stood near Five hundred years the Glory of all these parts At which time the very Church it self tho a most beautiful Cathedral and the Mother Church of this City escaped not the Rude hands of the destroyers but was pull'd in pieces and reduced to Rubbish For the countenance of which sad Act the then Prior and Covent seeing the fate of some others that refused was no less than to be hanged up at their Gates were brought to make surrender of the same into the hands of Commissioners for the Kings use as appears by their publick Instrument under Seal bearing date 15 Jan. in the year abovesaid with all the names of those that subscribed thereunto Of the Charter-House at Coventry he has as follows pag. 134. Col. 1. After which viz. 17 Junii 34 H. 8. was the site of this Monastery inter alia granted out of the Crown to Richard Andrews Gent. and Leonard Chamberlain Esq and to the Heirs of Andrews How short a time these Two kept it I cannot say But I do not perceive that they enjoyed it many years for in 9 Eliz. Henry Waver alias Over a Coventry Mercer dyed seized thereof leaving Richard his Son and Heir 36 years of Age who in 11 Eliz. sold it to Robert Earl of Leicester Neither have any other that did since possess it continued owners thereof very long For from the Earl of Leicester it was sold to one Tho. Riley from him to Sampson Baker from Baker to Edw. Holt of Dudston Esq whose Son and Heir Thomas now of Aston K t. and Bar t. sold it to Rich. Butler of Coventry Gent. which Richard shortly after pass'd it away to one Lodge a Londoner from whom Edw. Hill Gent. purchased it whose Son Edward now enjoys it And Col. 2. he has thus But it was neither their Devout and strict lives nor these Charitable allowances that could preserve them from the common Ruine which befel all the rest of the Religious houses in 30 H. 8. as the Instrument of surrender whereunto their publick Seal is affixed bearing date 16 Jan. the same year and subscribed by the particular persons whose names I have here Inserted with the several pensions granted to each of them for life doth manifest The following account he gives of the Dissolurion of Wroxhall Monastery in Warwickshire pag. 492. col 2. But I now return to this Religious house of Wroxhall from the Ruin and Destruction whereof as also of the Church and Altar before specified no Consecration or Dedication were it never so Solemn and Sacred could affright that barbarous Generation which under â—…he Power and Authority of King Henry the Eighth subverted this and the rest of those Goodly structures of that kind wherewith England was so much adorned as a Preamble whereunto was that fatal Survey in 26 H. 8. made whereby it appears that the value of this then extended to 72 l. 12 s. 6 d. above all reprises Sir Edward Ferrers K t. being High Steward thereof and his â—…ee 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. per Ann. And that there then was every Maundy-Thursday distributed to poor people for the Founders Soul in Bread and Herrings with 13 d. in Money the Sum of 20 shillings After which viz. the next year following it was dissolved with the rest of the small Houses by Act of Parliament Anne Little being then Prioress and having a Pension of 7 l. 10 s. per Ann. granted to her by the King during life But the rest of her fellow Nuns were exposed to the wide World to seek their fortune And in 36 H. 8. granted inter alia I mean the site thereof with the Church Belfrey Church-yard and all the Lands in Wroxhall thereto belonging as also the Rectory and Tithes of Wroxhall unto Rob. Burgoyn and John Scudamore and their Heirs from which Robert is Sir John Burgoyn of Sutton in Com. Bedf. Baronet the present possessor thereof Descended And in the same place he takes occasion to make this discourse of the Dedication of Churches and of their bearing Saints Names pag. 492. col 1. Now the reason and signification of all these Ceremonies follows which I here for Brevity omit resolving to speak a word or two of the cause wherefore Churches do bear the Name of some Saint by which many of them are yet distinguished altho the Consecration or Dedication were unto none but unto God alone wherein I shall make use of St. Augustines Testimony To them saith he speaking of Angels and Saints we appoint no Churches because they are not to us as Gods Again The Nations to their Gods Erected Temples we not Temples unto our Martyrs as unto Gods but Memorials as unto dead Men whose Spirits with God are still living So that hereby is clearly manifest that as they were dedicated to God alone so was it in memory of some special Saint either as Mr. Hooker observes because by the Ministery of Saints it pleased God there to shew some rare effect of his power or else in regard of Death which those Saints having suffered for the Testimony of Jesus Christ did thereby make the places where they died venerable Thirdly for that it liked good and vertuous men to give such occasion of mentioning them often to the end that the naming of their Persons might cause enquiry to be made and meditation to be had of their virtues And here since these strange confusions began with a Dissolution of the Religious Houses I think it will not be amiss to give the Reader an account of the Institution of these Houses and of the Methods and Rules observed by the Monks that made profession in them And this out of Sir William Dugdales History of Warwickshire And first Of the Order of Benedictin Monks That the word Monachus which is derived from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such a one as doth solitariam vitam degere I need not stand to demonstrate but who it was that may be said to have been absolutely the first that begun this course of Life I find no direct certainty Divers ascribe it to the Prophet Samuel others to Helias and Helyseâ—…s that liv'd in poor Cottages and Desert places near the River Jordan and long after them St. John the Baptist To whom may be added some of the Apostles as also St. Mark the Evangelist and by their example certain others viz. Paul