new and strange Obsequy performed for Henry the 2d King of France Howe 's upon Stow pag. 639. A solemn Obsequy was kept in Paul's Church at London for Henry the Second King of France This Obsequy was kept very solemnly with a rich Hearse but without any Lights The Bishops of Canterbury Chester and Hereford executing the Dirge of the Even song in English they siting in the Bishop of London's Seat in the upper Quire in Surplices with Doctors Hoods about their shoulders The next day after the Sermon Six of the Lords Mourners received the Communion with the Bishops Who were in Copes upon their Surplices only at the ministration of the Communion Howe 's in the same Page The Second of October in the Afternoon and the next day in the Forenoon a solemn Obsequy was held in St. Paul's Church in London for Ferdinand the late Emperor departed Thus Howes CHAP. VI. Of the great Havock this Queen made of Bishopricks although She retained Episcopal Government Anno Reg. Eliz. 2. Dr. Heylyn pag. 120. IN the Second year of Her Reign some days after the Deprivation of the former Bishops She Elected other Bishops to satisfie the world that She intended to preserve Episcopal Government But why this was deferred so long may be a question Some think it was That She might satisfie her self by putting the Church into a posture by her Visitation before she passed it over to the care of the Bishops Others conceive That she was so enamoured with the Power and Title of Supream Governess that she could not deny Her self the contentment in the exercise of it which the present Interval afforded And it is possible enough that both or either of these Considerations might have some influence upon Her But the main cause for keeping the Episcopal Sees in so long a vacancy must be found elsewhere An Act had passed in the late Parliament Anno Reg. Eliz. 1. which never had the confidence to appear in Print In the Preamble whereof it was declared That by the Dissolution of Religious Houses many Impropriations Tythes and portions of Tythes had been invested in the Crown which the Queen could not well dismember from it in regard of the present low condition in which she found the Crown at her coming to it And thereupon it was Enacted that in the vacancy of any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick it should be lawful for the Queen to issue out a Commission under the great Seal for taking a Survey of all Castles Mannors Lands Tenements and all other Hereditaments to the 〈◊〉 Episcopal Sees belonging and upon the return of such Survey to take into Her hands any of the said Castles Mannors Lands Tenements c. as to Her seemed good giving to the said Archbishops and Bishops as much Annual Rents to be raised upon Impropriations Tythes and portions of Tythes as the said Castles Mannors Lands c. did amount unto The Church-Lands certified according to the ancient Rents without consideration of the Casualties or other Perquisites of the Court which belonged to them The retribution made in Pensions Tythes and portions of Tythes extended to the utmost value from which no other profit was to be expected than the Rent it self Which Act being not to take effect till the end of the Parliament the Interval between the end of that Parliament the deprivation of the old Bishops and the Consecration of the new was to be taken up in the execution of such Surveys and making such Advantages of them as most redounded to the profit of the Queen and her Courtiers Upon which ground as all the Bishops Sees were so long kept vacant before any one of them was filled so in the following times they were kept void one after another as occasion served till the best Flowers in the Garden of the Church had been culled out of it There was another Clause in the said Statutes by which the Patrimony of the Church was as much Dilapidated even after the restoring of the Bishops as it was in the times of vacancy For by that Clause all Bishops were restrained from making any Grants of their Farms and Mannors for more than One and Twenty years or Three Lives at the most except it were to the Queen her Heirs and Successors And under that pretence they might be granted to any of Her hungry Courtiers in Fee-farm or for a Lease of Fourscore and Nineteen years as it pleased the parties By which means Crediton was dismembred from the See of Excester and the goodly Mannor of Sherbourn from that of Salisbury Many fair Mannors were likewise Alienated for ever from the rich Sees of Winchester Ely and indeed what not Moreover when the rest of the Episcopal Sees were supplied with new Bishops yet York and Winchester were not so soon provided That they might afford on Michaelmas-Rent more to the Queens Exchequer before the Lord Tresurer could give way to a new Incumbent But notwithstanding this great Havock that was made of the Bishopricks yet Episcopacy was now setled with the retaining of many Rites and Ceremonies belonging to Catholick Religion Whereof one was that she had caused a Massy Crucifix of Silver to be placed upon the midst of the Altar in her Chappel But this so displeased Sir Francis Knolls the Queens neer Kinsman by the Caries a great Zelot for the Reformation that he caused it to be broken in pieces There was at this time a Sermon preached in defence of the Real presence For which the Queen openly gave the Preacher Thanks for his Pains and Piety Thus Dr. Heylyn But it is here to be noted Tâ—…t in the beginning of Her Reign out of scruple of Conscience she did forbid the Elevation of the Sacrament So that although Christ were acknowledged to be really present yet he was not to be Adored I could not omit to take notice of this contradiction CHAP. VII Of the Disturbance the Presbyterians gave to the Setling of this New Church and of a Rebellion in Scotland and the Death of the Queen of Scots Dr. Heylyn pag. 124. THe Queen having thus regulated and setled Ecclesiastical Affairs the same settlement might have longer continued had not Her Order been confounded and her Peace disturbed by some factious Spirits who having had their wills at Frankfort or otherwise Ruling the Presbytery when they were at Geneva thought to have carried all before them with the like facility when they were in England But leaving them and their designs to some other time we must next look upon the Aid which the Queen sent to those of the Reformed Religion in Scotland but carried under the pretence of dislodging such French Forces as were Garrison'd there Such of the Scots as desired a Reformation of Religion taking advantage by the Queens absence the easiness of the Earl of Arran and want of Power in the Queen Regent to suppress their practices had put themselves into a Body headed by some of the Nobility they take unto themselves the Name of
of Lands and Ornaments as when she came into the World in her Natural Nakedness Nor was it like to happen otherwise in the following Reign of Queen Jane if it had lasted longer than a Nine-days wonder For Dudley of Northumberland who then ruled the rost and had before dissolved and in hope devoured the wealthy Bishoprick of Durham might easily have possessed himself of the greatest part of the Revenues of York and Carlisle By means whereof he would have made himself more absolute on the North-side of Trent than the poor Titular Queen had been on the South-side of it To carry on whose Interest and maintain her Title the poor remainder of the Churches Patrimony was in all probability to have been shared amongst those of the Party to make them sure unto that side Thus far out of Dr. Heylyn ' s Preface Summarily concerning this Rapine and Sacriliege which followed this Second Change of Religion Now in the History it self Page 33. Dr. Heylyn begins orderly to treat of the Reign of this King as to matters of Religion as will appear by what shall be here said CHAP. I. Of the many Policies used in the Introducing this Second Change of Religion Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 1. THE Solemnities of the Coronation being passed the Grandees of the Court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation In which they found Archbishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as forward as themselves but on different ends endeavoured by the Bishops out of Zeal but by the Courtiers upon a hope of enriching themselves by the spoil of Bishopricks To the Advancement of which Work the Conjuncture seemed to be as proper as they could desire Fot first the King being of such tender Age and wholly governed by the Wâ—…ll of the Lord Protector who had declared himself a Friend to the Lutheran party in the time of King Henry was easie to be moulded into any form And as the Champions of the Papacy were removed out of all Office so it was thought expedient for the better carrying on of the Design not only to release all such as had been committed unto Prison but also to recal all such as had been forced to abandon the Kingdom for not submitting to King Henries Six Articles But the business was of greater moment than to expect the coming back of these Men. Wherefore neither to lose time nor to press too much at once upon the People it was thought fit to smooth the way to the intended Reformation by setting out some Preparatory Injunctions and this to be done by sending out Commissioners into all parts of the Kingdom armed with Instructions to enquire into all Ecclesiastical Concernments Which Commissioners were accompanied with Preachers appointed to instruct the People And that they might not cool or fall off again from what they had been taught they were to leave some Homilies with the Parish-Priest which the Archbishop had composed Now besides the Points contained in the said Injunctions the Preachers were to perswade them from Invocation of Saints Praying for the Dead Images Use of Beads Ashes Processions Mass Dirges c. All which was done to this intent That the People being prepared by little and little might with more ease and less opposition admit the total Alteration in the face of the Church which was intended in due time to be introduced Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Policy Another Policy But there was something more than the Authority of a Minor King which drew on such a general Conformity to these Injunctions and thereby smoothed the way to those Alterations both in Doctrine and Worship which the Grandees of the Court and Church had began to fashion The Lord Protector and his Party were more experienced in Affairs of State than to be told That all great Counsels tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially where Religion is concerned are either to be back'd by Arms or otherwise prove destructive to the undertakers For this cause he resolves to put himself at the Head of an Army as well for the security of his Person and the preservation of his Party as for the carrying on of the Design against all Opponents And for the raising of an Army there could not be found a fairer colour nor a more popular pretence than a Wat with Scotland not to be made on any new Emergent Quarrel which might be apt to bread suspition in the heads of the People but in pursuit of the great Project of the King Deceased for uniting that Realm by a Marriage to the Crown of England On this Pretence Levies are made in all parts of the Kingdom He entertained also certain Regiments of Walloons and Germans because they were conceived more likely to enforce Obedience if his Design should meet with any opposition than the natural English Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this War with Scotland A Third Policy But in the first place care was taken that none of the Neighboring Princes should either hinder his Proceedings or assist the Enemy That which seemed to give most satisfaction to the Court of France was the performance of a Solemn Obsequy for King Francis the First Whose Funerals were no sooner Solemnized in France but Order was given for a Dirge to be sung in all the Churches of London as also in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in the Quire whereof hung with Black a sumptuous Hearse was set up for the present Ceremony And the next day Archbishop Cranmer assisted with Eight other of the Bishops all in their rich Miters and other their Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem the Funeral Sermon being Preached by Dr. Ridley This great Solemnity being thus honorably performed the Commissioners for the Visitation were dispatched to their several Circuits and the Army drawn to their Rendezvous Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning what was done before the calling of a Parliament CHAP. II. Of what was done in Parliament in order to the Establishing this Change of Religion Dr. Heylyn Page 47. A Parliament began upon the Fourth of November in which the Cards were so well pack'd by Sir Ralph Sadler that there was no need of any further Shuffling till the end of the Game This very Parliament without any sensible Alteration of the Members of it being continued until the Death of the King And though this Parliament consisted of such Members as disagreed amongst themselves in respect of Religion yet they agreed well enough together in one common Principle which was to serve the present time and preserve themselves which appears plainly by the strange mixture of the Acts and Results thereof some tending to the present Benefit and Enriching of particular Persons And some again being devised on purpose to prepare a way for exposing the Revenues of the Church unto spoil and rapine There was an Act made in King Henry the Eighths time Inhibiting the reading of the Old and New Testament in the English Tongue But this was here abrogated together with all
vertue of Christ's Assistance after the words of Consecration are duly pronounced by the Priest the Natural Body of Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary is really present under the species of Bread and Wine As also his Natural Blood Secondly That after the Consecration there remains not the Substance of Bread and Wine nor any Substance but the Substance of God and Man Thirdly that the true Body of Christ and his Blood is offered for a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and Dead Fourthly That the Supream Power of Feeding and Governing the Militant Church of Christ and of Confirming their Brethren is given to Peter the Apostle and to his lawful Successors in the See Apostolick as unto the Vicars of Christ. Fifthly That the Authority to handle and define such things as belong to Faith the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Discipline hath hitherto ever belonged and only ought to belong unto the Pastors of the Church whom the Holy Spirit hath placed in the Church and not unto Lay-men These Articles they caused to be Engrâ—…ssed and so commended them to the Care and Consideration of the Higher House presented by Boner to the hands oâ—… the Lord Keeper Bacon by whom they were candiâ—…ly received But they prevailed no further with the Queen or House of Peers when imparted to them than that possibly they might help forwards the aforementioned Disputation It was on the Four and twentieth of June that that the 〈◊〉 Liturgy was to be officiated in all the Churches of the Kingdom In the performance oâ—… which service the Bishops giving no encouragement and many of the Clergy being backwâ—…d in it it was thought fit to put them to a Final Tâ—…st and either to bring them to Conformity or to bestow their â—…laces and 〈◊〉 on mâ—…re â—…actable Pâ—…sons The Bishops at that time were reduced into a narrowâ—… 〈◊〉 than at any other time befâ—… â—…ere being no more than Fifteen of that 〈◊〉 Order 〈◊〉 alive These being â—…alled by certain of the Lords of the 〈◊〉 were required to take the Oath of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Landaff only takes it who having â—…merly submitted to every Change resolved to shew himself no Changâ—…ing in not conforming to the pleasures of the Higher Powers By all the rest it was refused Whereupon they were deprived of their Bishopricks The Bishops being thus put out the Oath is tendred next to the Deans and Chapters and lastly to the rural Clergy Thus â—…r Heylyn It is here to be noted That during the forementioned Convocation there came from both the Universities a Writing signed by a publick Notary by which they both signified their concurrence to the aforesaid Articles only with a little alteration of the last But these Declarations and Protestations of the whole Representative Clergy and Universities were not like to signifie much since a Change of Religion was absolutely resolved on CHAP. V. Of an Ignorant and Illiterate Clergy and a medley of Calvinists introduced to Govern this New Church and of some other particulars concerning the Settlement of it Dr. Heylyn pag. 115. BY the Deprivations of these Persons and the death of so many in the last years sickness there was not to be found a sufficient number of Learned men to supply the Cures Which filled the Church with an Ignorant and Illiterate Clergy Whose Learning went no further than the Liturgy or the Book of Homilies but otherwise conformable which was no small felicity to the rules of the Church And on the otherside many were raised to great preferments who having spent their time of 〈◊〉 in such Forreign Churches as followed the Platform of Geneva returned so disaffected to Episcopal Government and unto the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established as not long after filled the Church with most sad disorders not only to the breaking of the Bond of Peace but likewise to the extinguishing the Spirit of Unity And not to speak of private Opinions nothing was more considered in them than their zeal against Popery On which account we find the Queens Professor at Oxford to pass amongst the Non-Conformists though some-what more moderate than the rest And Cartwright at Cambridge to prove an unextinguished Fire-brand to the Church of England Wittington the chef Ring-leader of the Frankfort-Schismaticks preferred unto the Deanry of Durham From thence encouraging Knox and Goodman in setting up Presbytery and Sedition in the Kirk of Scotland Sampson advanced to the Deanry of Christ's-Church and within a few years after turned out again for an incorrigible Non-conformist Hardiman one of the first Twelve Prebends of the Church of Westminster deprived soon after for throwing down the Altar and defacing the Vestments of the Church The Pope being informed of these proceedings labours to Perswade the Queen from going on with these Alterations in Religion But that not succeeding She sent out by the Advice of her Council a certain Body of Injunctions the same in effect with those which had been published in the First of King Edward but more accommodated to the temper of the present time Nothing more singular in them than the severe course taken about Ministers Marriages But this was long since worn out of use and not much observed when it first came out As if it had been published only in way of Caution to make the Clergy-men more wary in the choice of their Wives rather than with any purpose of pursuing it to an Execution Concerning the Position of the Holy Table it was ordered thus by these Injunctions viz. That no Altar should be taken down but by over-sight of the Curate of the Church or the Church-wardens or one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least wherein no riotous or disordered manners were to be used And that the Holy Table in every Church should be decently made and set in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belonged and as should be appointed by the Visitors And so to stand saving when the Communion of the Sacrament was to be Administred At which time the same should be placed within the Quire or Chancel as whereby the Minister might be more conveniently heard of the Communicants in his Prayer and Administration and the Communicants also more conveniently and in more number Communicate with the said Minister And after the Communion done from time to time the said Table to be placed where it stood before By these Injunctions she made way for her visitation regulated by the Book of Articles By which Articles all Images were removed out of the Church and all the Roods and other Images which had been taken out of the Churches were burnt in St Paul's Church-Yard Cheapside and other places of the City And in some places the Copes Vestments Altar-cloths Books Sepulchers and Rood-lofts were burnt altogether Thus far Dr. Heylyn concerning the first progress of this Change of Religion established by Parliament A short Note conclâ—…g the Occurrences of this year I Will end the Occurrences of this year with the Relation of a
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
retired from thence to Geneva who having left some few behind to compleat their Notes upon the Bible and to make up so many of the Psalms in English Meeter as had been left unfinished by Hopkins hastned as fast homewards as the others But notwithstanding all their hast they came not time enough to effect their purposes either in reference to the Liturgy or Episcopal Government in which the Queen was so resolved that they were not able to prevail in either project It grieved them at the Heart that their own Prayers might not be made the rule of Worship in their Congregations and that they might not Lord it here in their several Parishes as Calvin did at Geneva Some friends they had about the Queen and Calvin was resolved to make use of all his power and credit both with Her and Cecil as appears by his Letters unto both to advance their ends and he was seconded therein by Peter Martyr who thought his Interest in England to be greater then Calvin's though his name was not so eminent in other places But the Quen had fixed her self on her resolution of keeping up some outward Splendor of a Church When therefore they saw the Liturgy imposed by Act of Parliament and Episcopal Sees supplyed with Bishops nothing seemed more convenient to them than to revive the quarrels raised in King Edward's time against Caps and Surplices and such particulars as had been then questioned in the publick Liturgy And herein they were seconded as before in King Edward's time by the same Peter Martyr as appears by his Letters to a Nameless friend To which he added in another of his Letters to the same friend also his dislike of the same and other Points proposed unto him as touching the Cap the Episcopal Habit the Patrimony of the Church the manner of proceeding to be held against Papists the Perambulation used in Rogation-week with many other such Points in which his judgment was desired But these Helps being too far off and not to be consulted upon all occasions without a greater loss of time than would consist with the impatience of their desires they fell upon another project more to their purpose than the decrying of the Liturgy or the quarrels about the Cap and Vestments Grindal the new Bishop of London was known to have a great respect for Calvin The business therefore was so ordered that by Calvins Letters to Grindal and the friends they had about the Queen way was given to such of the French Nation as had repaired hither to enjoy the Freedom of their own Religion and to have a Church unto themselves They could not but remember those many advantages which John à Lasco and his Church of Strangers afforded to the Zuinglian Gospellers in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth and they despaired not of the like or greater if a French Church were setled upon Calvin's Principles in some part of London Now a Church being granted them we must not wonder if we find dangerous consequences to ensue upon it For what else is the setting up of a Presbytery in a Church Founded and Established by the Rules of Episcopacy than the Erecting of a Common-wealth in the midst of a Monarchy Which Calvin well knew and thereupon gave Grindal thanks for his favor in it Of whom they afterwards served themselves upon all occasions Upon the news of which success divers both French and Dutch repaired into England planting themselves in the Sea-towns and openly professing the Reformed Religion under which covert they disguised their several Heterodoxies and Blasphemous Dotages some of them proving to be Anabaptists others infected with unsound Opinions of as ill a nature but all endeavoring to disperse their Heretical Doctrines and to empoyson the People amongst whom they lived to encrease their Sects And although a Proclamation was set out for their Banishment yet many of them lurked in England without fear of discovery especially after the Erecting of so many French and Dutch Churches in the Maritime parts which they infected with some of their phrenzies as at this time they had London and occasioned such Disputes amongst them upon that account that Peter Martyr was necessitated to enterpose himself for the composing those Heats and Differences which had grown amongst them There was likewise at the same time another Proclamation published to hinder and stop a certain Abuse which was this The Queen having given Command by her Injunctions in the year foregoing for destroying and taking away all Shrines and Coverings of Shrines all Tables Candlesticks Trindals and Rolls of Wax together with all Pictures Paintings c. so that there was to remain no memory of the same either in the Walls Glass-windows or else-where whether it were in Churches or private Houses it is said that they proceeded in the Execution of this even to the breaking down all Coats of Arms to the tearing off of all the Brass of the Tombs and Monuments of the Dead And being given to understand that Bells were blessed in time of Popery and that even the Churches themselves had been abused to Superstition and Idolatry their Zeal transported them to sell the Bells to turn the Steeples into Dove-coats and to rob the Churches of those sheets of Lead with which they were covered Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these confusions There remains nothing more of this year but this short Note concerning Westminster Dr. Heylyn pag. 136. In the space of Twenty years it had been changed from an Abbey to a Deanry from a Deanry to a See Episcopal and from that reduced again to a Deanry and likewise once more to the state of an Abbey and lastly by Queen Elizabeth having first pleased her self in the choice of some of the best Lands belonging to it and confirmed the rest upon the Church it was to be called The Collegiate Church of St. Peter's in Westminster Thus Heylyn I will add here one short Note more although it belongs not to this year concerning the Bishoprick of Oxford Dr. Heylyn pag. 156. This Bishoprick was only supplied with a Bishop for Three years in the space of Forty six years The Jurisdiction of it was managed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Revenues of it remained in the hands of the Earl of Leicester and after his decease of the Earl of Essex by whom the Lands thereof were so spoiled and wasted that they left nothing to the last Bishops but Impropriations By means of which havock and destruction all the Five Bishopricks Erected by King Henry the Eighth were so impoverished and destroyed that the new Bishops were constrained to require a Benevolence of the Clergy at their first coming to them Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Bishoprick and the other Four founded out of Abbey-Lands CHAP. X. Some particular Passages concerning Bishopricks with other short Passages concerning other things Anno Reg. Eliz. 3. Dr. Heylyn pag. 140. IN the beginning of this year were filled up all such Episcopal Sees as were
Mortality amongst the rest of the Clergy that a great part of the Parochial Churches were without Incumbents The rest of the Bishops Twelve Deans and as many Archdeacons Fifteen Masters of Colleges and Halls Fifty Prebendaries of Cathedral Churches and about Fourscore Beneficed Men were deprived at once for refusing to submit to the Queens Supremacy For the filling of which vacant places it cannot be imagined but many past amongst the rest who either had not hitherto discovered their dissatisfaction or were connived at in regard of their Parts and Learning Wherefore there is no question to be made but that some numbers of them were admitted unto Country-Cures by means whereof they had as great an opportunity as they could wish or desire not only to Dispute their Genevian Doctrines but likewise to prepare the People committed to them for receiving such Innovations both in Worship and Government as were resolved in time convenient to be put upon them For a Preparative whereunto they brought along with them the Genevian Bible with their Notes upon it together with David's Psalms in English Meeter that by the one they might effect an Innovation in points of Doctrine and by the other bring this Church more near to the Rules of Geneva in some chief Acts of Publick Worship The Notes upon the same Bible in many places savour of Sedition and in some of Faction destructive of the Persons and Power of Kings and of all Civil Intercourse and Human Society There is a Note on 2 Chron. 8. 15 16. where Asa is taxed by them for not putting his Mother to death but deposing her only from the Regency which before She executed Of which Note the Scottish Presbyterians made especial use not only in deposing Mary their lawful Queen but prosecuting her openly and underhand till they had taken away her life Now with this Bible and these Notes which proved so advantageous to them in their main projectments they also brought in David's Psalms in English Meeter of which they served themselves to some Tune in the time succeeding For they came to be esteemed the most Divine part of God's Publick Worship the Reading Psalms together with the First and Second Lessons being heard in many places with a covered head but all Men sitting Bareheaded when the Psalm is Sung And to that end the Parish-clark must be taught to call upon the people to Sing it To the Praise and Glory of God no such preparatory Exhortation being used at the naming of the Chapter or the Daily Psalms By these Preparatives they hoped in time to bring in the whole Body of Calvinism as well in reference to Government and Forms of Worship as in Points of Doctrine In all this time they could obtain no Countenance from this State though it was once endeavoured for them by the Earl of Leicester whom they had gained to their Party But it was only to make use of them for Politick Ends. Finding this opposition they not only repined and grudged at the Reformation which was made in this Church because not fitted to their Fancies and to Calvin's Platform but have laboured to sow those Seeds of Heterodoxy and Disobedience which afterwards brought forth those Troubles and Disorders which ensued upon it Thus Dr. Heylyn These Islands the only remainder of the Crown of England in the Dukedom of Normandy had admitted the Reformation in the Reign of King Edward by whose command the Publick Liturgy had been turned into French But the Reformed Religion being suppressed in the time of Queen Mary was revived again immediately after her decease by such French Ministers as had resorted thither for Protection in the days of their troubles These French Ministers desiring to have all things Modelled by the Rules of Calvin endeavored by all the friends they could make to advance his Discipline to which they were encouraged by their Brethren here and the Governors there The Governors in each Island advanced the Plot out of a covetous intent to enrich themselves with the spoils of the Deaneries the Brethren here having by this means a hope to gain ground by little and little for the Erecting of the same in most parts of England And in pursuance of this project both Islands joyn in a Confederacy to Petition the Queen for an Allowance of this Discipline Anno 1563. In the year next following some French were delegated to the Court to sollicite it where they received a Gracious Answer and returned full of hopes In the mean time the Queen being strongly perswaded that this design would much advance the Reformation in those Islands was contented to give way unto it in the Towns of St. Peter's Port and St. Hilaries only in Jersey and in the Port of St. Peters in Gernsey but no further Other parts of the Islands being to be Conform to the Church of England Now although there be no express mention in their Grant of Allowing their Discipline but only of their Form of Prayer and Administration of Sacraments yet they presumed so far on the general words as to put it presently in practice intending to advance it by degrees in all the rest of the Parishes as opportunity should serve and the condition of Affairs permit Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Islands CHAP. XVII A further Account of their labouring to Undermine the Church of England Dr. Heylyn pag. 252. IN England they found not such success as they did abroad not a few of them being deprived of their Benefices and other preferments in the Church for their Inconformity The news of which severity flies to France and Scotland occasioning Beza in the one and Knox and his Comrades in the other to interpose themselves in behalf of their Brethren With what Authority Beza acted in it we shall see anon In Knox his Letter sent from the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland the Church-Vestments are called Trifles and Rags of Rome With more Authority writes Beza as the greater Patriarch and he writes too concerning things of greater consequence than Caps and Surplices For in a Letter of his to Grindal he makes a sad complaint of suspending these Men from the Ministry for not subscribing to some new Rites and Ceremonies imposed upon them But he seems more offended That Women were suffered to Baptize in extream necessity That Power was granted to the Queen for Ordaining such other Rites and Ceremonies as should seem convenient and that the Bishops had so much Authority He excepts likewise against many other such things The Copies of these Letters were presently dispersed if not also Printed Some of the Brethren in their Zeal to the name of Calvin preferred him once before St. Paul and Beza without doubt would have taken it ill if he had been esteem'd of less Authority than any of the Successors of St. Peter So good a Foundation being laid the Building could not chuse but go on apace But first they must prepare the Matter and remove all doubts which otherwise might
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