First-Fruits For the better drawing on of which Concession it was pretended that the Patrimony of the Crown had been much dilapidated and that it could not be Supported with such Honor as it ought to be if Restitution were not made of such Rents as were of late dismembred from it Upon which ground they also passed an Act for the Dissolution of all such Monasteries Convents and Religious Orders as had been Founded and Established by the Queen deceased When the Act of Parliament concerning the Supremacy came to be Debated it seemed to be a thing abhorrent even in Nature and Policy that a Woman should be declared Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England But those of the Reformed Party meant nothing else than to contend about words so they might gain the Point they aimed at Which was the stripping of the Pope of all Authority within these Dominions and fixing the Supream Ecclesiastical Power in the Crown Imperial And this they did not by the Name of Supreme Head which they perceived might be lyable to some just Exceptions but which comes all to one of Supreme Governess Thus Dr. Heylyn I will here insert a Speech made in this Parliament against this Supreme Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Authority granted to the Queen The Person that spake it was Nicholas Heath who was First Bishop of Worcester and Lord President of Wales Afterwards Archbishop of York and Embassador into Germany And made Lord Chancellor of England by Queen Mary in the year of our Lord 1555 and continued until he did surrender it up in Queen Elizabeth's time to Sir Nicholas Bacon The Person from whom I had this Speech is yet living who told me That he found it in Manuscript amongst Papers and Notes of his great Grandfather George Parry who had been High Sheriff of Hereford-shire in the Second year of the said Queen A Speech Made in the Upper House of Parliament against the Supremacy to be in her Majesty by Nicholas Heath Lord Chancellor of England in the first year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth above 100 years since In the Original Copy it is stiled A Tale told in Parliament For Oaths the Land shall be cloathed in Mourning My Lords WIth all humble Submission of my whole Discourse to your Wisdoms I purpose to speak to the Body of this Act touching the Supremacy that so what this Honourable Assembly is now a doing concerning the passing of this Act may thereby be better weighed and considered by your Wisdoms First When by the Virtue of this Act of the Supremacy we must forsake and fly from the See of Rome it would be considered what matter lieth therein and what matter of danger or inconvenience or else whether there be none at all Secondly If the intent of this Act be to grant or settle upon the Queens Majesty a Supremacy it would be considered of your Wisdoms what this Supremacy is and whether it doth consist in Spiritual Government or Temporal If in Temporal what further Authority can this House give Her more than what She already hath by right of Inheritance And not by our Gift but by the Appointment of God Being our Sovereign Lord and Lady our King and Queen our Empress and Emperor And if further than this we acknowledge Her to be Head of the Church of England we ough also to grant that the Emperor or any other Prince being Catholick and their Subjects Protestants are to be Heads of their Church Whereby we shall do an Act as disagreeable to Protestants as this seems to Catholicks If you say The Supremacy consists in Spiritual concernments Then it would be considered what the Spiritual Government is and in what points it doth chiefly consist Which being first agreed upon it would be further considered of your Wisdoms whether this House may grant it to her Highness or not And whether her Highness be an apt Person to receive the same So by through Examination of these parts your Honors shall proceed in this matter groundedly upon such sure knowledge as not to be deceived by ignorance Now to the First Point wherein I promised to examine what matter of weight danger or inconvenience might be incurred by this our forsaking and flying from the Church of Rome if there were no further matter therein than the with-drawing our Obedience from the Popes Person supposing that he had declared himself to be a very Austere and Severe Father to us then the business were not of so great importance as indeed it is as will immediately here appear For by relinquishing and forsaking the Church or See of Rome we must forsake and fly from all General Councils Secondly From all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of the Church of Christ. Thirdly From the Judgment of all other Christian Princes Fourthly and Lastly We must forsake and fly from the Holy Unity of Christ's Church and so by leaping out of Peter's Ship we hazard our selves to be over-whelmed in the waves of Schism of Sects and Divisions First Touching the General Councils I shall name unto you these Four The Nicene Council the Constantinopolitan Council the Ephesine and the Chalcedon All which are approved by all Men. Of these same Councils Saint Gregory writeth in this wise Sicut enim Sancti Evangelii quatuor Libros sic haec quatuor Concilia Nicenum Constantinopolitanum Ephesinum Chalcedonense suscipere ac venerari me fareor That is to say in English I confess I do receive and reverence those Four General Councils of Nice Constantinople c. even as I do the Four Holy Evangelists At the Nicene Council the first of the Four the Bishops which were there Assembled did write there Epistles to Sylvester then Bishop of Rome That their decrees then made might be confirmed by his Authority At the Council kept at Constantinople all the Bishops there were obedient to Damasus then Bishop of Rome He as chief in the Council gave Sentence against the Hereticks Macedonius Sabellius and Eunomius Which Eunomius was both an Arrian and the first Author of that Heresie That only Faith doth justifie And here by the way it is much to be lamented that we the Inhabitants of this Realm are much more inclined to raise up the Errors and Sects of Ancient condemned Hereticks than to follow the True Approved Doctrine of the most Catholick and Learned Fathers of Christ his Church At the Ephesine Council Nestorius the Heretick was condemned by Celestine the Bishop of Rome he being chief Judge there At the Chalcedon Council all the Bishops there Assembled did write their humble Submission unto Leo then Bishop of Rome wherein they did acknowledge him there to be their Chief Head Six Hundred and Thirty Bishops of them Therefore to deny the See Apostolick and its Authority were to contemn and set at nought the Authority and Decrees of those noble Councils Secondly We must forsake and fly from all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of Christ his Church whereunto we have already professed our
Case that your Subjects should either examine by what right Ecclesiastical Government is Innovated or enquire how far they are bound thereby since beside that it might cause Division and hazzard the Overthrow both of the one and the other Authority it would give that Offence and Scandal abroad that Forein Princes would both reprove and disallow all our Proceedings in this kind and upon occasion be disposed easily to joyn against us Thus my Lord Herbert relates this excellent Speech But notwithstanding this Speech or whatsoever could be said against it the Popes Supremacy was excluded and the King Married Anne Boleign which is thus set down by Stow continued by How 's Pag. 554. KIng Henry upon occasion of these delays made by the Pope in his Controversie of Divorce and through Displeasure of such Reports as he heard had been made of him to the Court of Rome and Thirdly moved by some Counsellors to follow the example of the Germans caused a Proclamation to be made in the Two and twentieth year of his Reign forbidding all his Subjects to purchase any manner of thing from the Court of Rome And obtaining a Divorce from Queen Catherine his Wife by an Act of Parliament he privately Married Anne Boleign And upon that by another Act of Parliament the Pope with all his Authority was clean banished his Realm and Order taken that he should no more be called Pope but Bishop of Rome and the King to be taken and reputed as Supream Head of the Church of England having full Authority to Reform all Errors Heresies and Abuses in the same It was further Enacted by another Act of Parliament That no Person should Appeal for any Cause out of this Realm to the Court of Rome but from the Commissary to the Bishop from the Bishop to the Archbishop from the Archbishop to the King and all Causes of the King to be tryed in the Upper-House of Parliament Moreover the First-Fruits and Tenths of all Ecclesiastical Dignities and Promotions were granted to the King Thus far Stow. This Deserting of the Pope is thus related by Dr. Heylyn in the Preface of his History of Reformation KIng Henry the Eighth being violently hurried with the Transport of some private Affections And finding that the Pope appeared the greatest Obstacle to his desires he extinguished his Authority in the Realm of England This opened the first way to the Reformation and gave encouragement to those who inclined unto it To which the King afforded no small countenance out of Politick Ends. But for his own part he adhered to his Old Religion severely Persecuting those that Dissented from it And died though Excommunicated in that Faith and Doctrine which he had sucked in as it were with his Mothers milk And of which he shewed himself so stout a Champion against Luther Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the beginning of this prodigious Change of Religion The first Opposition against this sudden Change was a Sermon of one Friar Peto in opposition to the King 's second Marriage Thus related by Howes upon Stow Pag. 562. THe First that openly resisted or reprehended the King touching his Marriage with Anne Boleign was one Friar Peto a simple Man yet very Devout of the Ordâ—… of the Observants This Man Preaching at Greenwich upon the Two and twentieth Chapter of the third Book of the Kings to wit the last part of the story of Achab saying Even where the Dogs licked the Blood of Nabaoth even there shall Dogs lick thy Blood also O King And therewithal spake of the Lying Prophets which abused the King c. I am saith he that Micheas whom you will hate because I must tell you truly that this Marriage is unlawful And I know that I shall eat the Bread of Affliction and drink the Water of Sorrow yet because our Lord hath put it into my mouth I must speak it And when he had strongly enveighed against the King's second Marriage to diswade him from it he also said There are many other Preachers yea too many which Preach and Perswade you otherwise feeding your folly and frail Affections upon hope of their own worldly Promotion and by that means betray your Soul your Honour and Posterity to obtain Fat Benefices to become Rich Abbots and get Episcopal Jurisdiction and other Ecclesiastical Dignities These I say are the Four hundred Prophets who in the spirit of Lying seek to deceive you But take good heed lest you being seduced find Achab ' s punishment which was to have his Blood licked up by Dogs saying that it was one of the greatest miseries in Princes to be daily abused by Flatterers The King being thus reproved endured it patiently and did no violence to Peto But the next Sunday Dr. Curwin Preached in the same place who most sharply reprehended Peto and his Preaching calling him Dog Slanderer base beggarly Friar Rebel Traytor saying that no Subject should speak so audaciously to Princes And having spoken much to that effect and in Commendation of the King's Marriage thereby to Establish his Seed in his Seat for ever c. He then supposing that he had utterly suppressed Peto and his partakers lifted up his voice and said I speak to thee Peto which makest thy self Micheas that thou mayst speak evil of Kings But now thou art not to be found being fled for fear and shame as being unable to answer my Arguments And whilst he thus spake there was one Elstow a fellow Friar to Peto standing in the Rood-loft who said to Dr. Curwin Good Sir you know that Father Peto as he was Commanded is now gone to a Provincial Council held at Canterbury and not fled for fear of you for to morrow he will return again In the mean time I am here as another Micheas and will lay down my Life to prove all those things true which he hath taught out of the holy Scripture and to this Combate 〈◊〉 challenge thee before God and all equal Judges even unto thee Curwin I say which art one of the Four hundred false Prophets into whom the spirit of Lying is entred and seekest by Adultery to establish a Succession betraying the King unto endless Perdition more for thine own vain Glory and hope of Promotion than for discharge of thy clogged Conscience and the King's Salvation This Elstow waxed hot and spake very earnestly so as they could not make him cease his Speech until the King himself bad him hold his peace And gave Order that He and Peto should be Convented before the Council which was done the next day And when the Lords had rebuked them then the Earl of Essex told them that they had deserved to be put into a Sack and cast into the Thames Whereunto Elstow smiling said Threaten these things to Rich and Dainty Persons who are clothed in Purple fare Deliciously and have their chiefest hope in this World For we esteem them not but are joyful that for the discharge of our Duty we are driven hence
And with thanks to God we know the way to Heaven to be as ready by Water as by Land and therefore we care not which way we go These Friars and all the rest of their Order were banish'd shortly after And after that none durst openly oppose themselves against the Kings affections Thus far Stow. Now more perfectly to Establish this Change It was Ordered That there should be Sermons Preached at Paul's-Cross against the Popes Supremacy Thus related by Howes upon Stow Pag. 571. Every Sunday at Paul's-Cross Preached a Bishop declaring the Pope not to be Supream Head of the Church Also in other Places of this Realm great Troubles were raised about Preaching namely at Bristow where Mr. Latimer preach'd and there preach'd against him one Mr. Hobberton and Dr. Powel So that there was great partakings on both sides insomuch that divers Priests and others set up Bills against the Mayor and against Mr. Latimer But the Mayor permitting Laymen to Preach caused divers Priests to be apprehended and put in Newgate with Bolts upon them and divers others ran away and lost their Livings rather than come into the Mayor's handling Thus Howes The King being thus Establish'd Head of the Church of England makes one Thomas Cromwel his Vicar General which is thus set down by Sir Rich. Baker Pag. 408. Thomas Cromwell Son to a Black smith in Putney being raised to High Dignities was lastly made Vicar General under the King in all Ecclefiastical Affairs who sate divers times in the Convocation-House amongst the Bishops as Head over them Thus Sir Richard Baker And thus far of the first beginning of this prodigious Change of Religion CHAP. II. Of the Dissolution of Abbeys being the first Effect of this Change of Religion Stow Pag. 572. THE King sent the said Cromwel and others to visit the Abbeys and Nunneries in England the said Cromwel being ordained Principal Visitor He put forth all Religious Persons that would go and all under the Age of Four and Twenty And after closed up the residue that would remain so that they should not come out of their places All Religious Men that departed the Abbot or Prior gave them for their Habit a Priests Gown and Forty Shillings in Money The Nuns had such Apparel given them as Secular Women wear and had liberty to go whither they would They took out of the Monasteries and Abbeys their Reliques and chiefest Jewels to the Kings use they said Thus Stow. Here follows a more particular Account of the Dissolution of these Abbeys The first Religious House that the King took into his hands was the Hospital of St. James near Charing-cross with all the Means to the same belonging compounding with the Sisters of the House who were to have Pensions during their lives And built in place of the said Hospital a Goodly Mansion retaining still the Name of St. James Stow p. 560. In a Parliament were granted to the King and his Heirs All Religious Houses in the Realm of England of the value of Two hundred pounds and under with all Lands and Goods to them belonging The Number of these Houses then suppressed were about Three Hundred Seventy Six and the value of their Lands then Thirty two thousand pounds and more by the Year The Moveable Goods as they were then sold at Robin-Hood's peny-worths amounted to more than Ten thousand pounds The Religious Persons that were in the said Houses were clearly put out whereof some went to other Greater Houses and some went abroad to the World It was saith my Author a pitiful thing to hear the lamentation that People in the Countrey made for them for there was great Hospitality kept amongst them and as it was thought more than Ten thousand Persons Masters and Servants lost their Living by the putting down of these Houses Thus Stoâ—…v Not long after by the means of the said Cromwel All the Orders of Friars and Nunns with their Cloysters and Houses were suppressed and put down First the Black-Friars in London the next day the White-Friars the Grey-Friars and the Monks of Charter-House and so all the others Thus Baker page 415. Here follows a particular Relation concerning the Shrine at Canterbury Thus deliver'd by Sir Rich Baker pag. 411. SAint Augustines Abbey at Canterbury was suppress'd and the Shrine and Goods taken to the Kings Treasury as also the Shrine of Thomas Becket in the Priory of Christs-Church was likewise taken to the Kings use This Shrine was built about a man's height all of Stone and then upwards of Timber plain within the which was a Chest of Iron containing the Bones of Thomas Becket Scull and all with the wound on his Head and the piece cut out of his Scull in the same wound These Bones by the Command of the Lord Cromwel were burnt The Timber-work of This Shrine on the out-side was covered with Plates of Gold Damasked with Gold-wyre which Ground of Gold was again cover'd with Jewels of Gold as Ten or Twelve Rings â—…ramped with Gold-wyre into the said Ground of Gold many of these Rings having Stones in them There were likewise Images of Angels Precious Stones and Great Pearls The Spoyl of which Shrine in Gold and Precious Stones fill'd two great Chests such as six or seven strong men could do no more than remove one of them at once out of the Church The Monks of that Church were commanded to change their Habits into the Apparel of Secular Priests Thus Baker The Knights of the Rhodes and Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England and Ireland were utterly Dissolv'd and made void The King his Heirs and Successors to have and enjoy all the Mansion-House Church and all other Buildings and Gardens to the same belonging near to the City of London call'd the House of St. John of Jerusalem in England and also the Hospital-Church an House of Kilwarin in Ireland with all Castles Honours Mannors Measees Lands Tenements Rents Revenues Services Woods Downs Pastures Parks Warrens c. in England and Ireland with all the Goods Cattels c. Thus Stow pag. 579. Besides these Religious Houses there were likewise by Act of Parliament given the King All Colleges Chanteries Hospitals Free Chappels Fraternities Brother-hoods and Gilds The Number of Monasteries suppress'd were 645 besides 90 Colleges 110 Hospitals and of Chanteries and Free Chappels 2374. Thus Baker in the former page Now to give a more exact Account of the Grounds and Progress of the Dissolution of these Monasteries We will here insert a Discourse taken out of Mr. Dugdales Antiquities of Warwick-shire Pag. 801. where he treats of the Dissolution of a particular Monastery of Nunnes called Poles-worth and upon that occasion of the Dissolution of all other Monasteries in the Kingdom The Discourse is thus delivered I Find it left Recorded by the Commissioners that were imploy'd to take Surrender of the Monasteries in this Shire Anno 29. Hen. 8. viz. That after strict scrutiny not only by the fame of the Countrey but
submitting themselves to the King for being found guilty of a Premunire were the first that called him Supreme Head of the Church yet with this restriction So far as it was according unto Gods Word and not otherwise In his Four and twentieth year an Act of Parliament was made That no Person should Appeal for any Cause out of this Realm to the Court of Rome In his Twenty sixth year an Act was made which Authoriz'd the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Authority of the Pope to be abolish'd and then also was given to the King the First Fruits and Tenths of all Spiritual Livings and this Year were many put to death Papists for denying the Kings Supremacy Protestants for denying the Real Presence in the Sacrament nor is it credible what numbers suffered death for these two Causes in the last Ten Years of the Kings Reign of whom if we should make particular mention it would reach a great way in the Book of Martyrs In his Eight and twentieth Year the Lord Cromwel was made Vicar General under the King over the Spirituality and at least Four Hundred Monasteries were suppress'd and all their Lands and Goods conferred upon the King by an Act of Parliament In his One and thirtieth Year was set forth by the Bishops the Book of the Six Articles and all the rest of the Monasteries were conferred upon him Lastly In his Thirty fifth Year all Colleges Chantries and Hospitals were given to him Thus Sir Rich. Baker Here you have had a short view of the Beginning and sad Effects of this Prodigious Change of Religion begun by King Henry the Eighth A Further PROSECUTION Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning a Second Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of King EDWARD the Sixth A Preamble THIS is a Summary Account of this King's Reign as to these matters of Religion taken out of the Preface of Dr. Heylyn's History of Reformation Where after a brief Narration of King Henry the Eighth's Deserting the Pope he gives this following Account of his Son King Edward the Sixth The Relation whereof begins thus Next comes his Son Edward the Sixth upon the Stage whose Name was made use of to serve Turns withal and his Authority abused to his own undoing In his First year the Reformation was resolved on but on different ends endeavoured by some Bishops and others of the Lower Clergy and promoted with the like Zeal and Industry but not with like Integrity by some great Men about the â—…rt Who under Colour of removing corruptions out of the Church had cast their eyes upon the Spoil of Shrines and Images though still preserved in the greatest part of the Lutheran Churches and the improving their own Fortunes by the Chantry Lands All which they most Sacrilegiously divided amongst themselves without admitting the poor King to share with them though nothing but the filling his Coffers by the Spoil of the one and the Encrease of his Revenue by the fall of the other was openly pretended in the Conduct of it But to speak no more of this the work chiefly intended was vigorously carried on by the King and his Counsellors as appears by the Doctrinals in the Book of Homilies and by the Practical part of Christian Piety And here the business might have rested if Calvin's Pragmatical Spirit had not interposed He first began to quarrel at some passages in the Liturgy and afterwards never left Soliciting the Lord Protector and practising by his Agents on the Court the Country and the Universities till he had laid the first Foundation of the Zuinglian Faction who laboured nothing more than Innovation both in Doctrine and Discipline to which they were encouraged by nothing more than some improvident Indulgence granted unto John Alasco who bringing with him a mixed multitude of Poles and Germans obtained the Priviledge of a Church for himself and his distinct in Government and Form of Worship from the Church of England This much animated the Zuinglian Gospellers to practice first upon the Church who being Countenanced if not Headed by the Earl of Warwick who then began to undermine the Lord Protector first quarrelled the Episcopal Habit and afterwards enveighed against Caps and Surplices against Gowns and Tippets But fell at last upon the Altars which were left standing by the Rules of the Liturgy The touching upon this string made excellent Musick to most of the Grandees of the Court who had before cast many an envious eye on those costly Hangings that massy Plate and other Rich and Precious things which adorned those Altars And what need all this wast said Judas when one poor Chalice only and perhaps not that might have served the turn Beside there was no small spoil to be made of Copes in which the Priest Officiated at the Holy Sacrament Some of them being made of Cloth of Tissue Cloth of Gold and Silver or Embroydred Velvet the meanest being made of Silk or Sattin with some decent Trimming And might not these be handsomely converted unto private uses to serve as Carpets to their Tables Coverlets to their Beds or Cushions for their Chairs and Windows Hereupon some rude People are encouraged under-hand to beat down some Altars which makes way for an Order of the Council-Table to take down the rest and set up Tables in their places followed by a Commission to be executed in all parts of the Kingdom for seizing on the Premises for the King's use But as the Grandees of the Court intended to defraud the King of so great a booty and the Commissioners to put a cheat upon the Court-Lords who employed them in it So they were both prevented in some places by the Lords and Gentry of the Country who thought the Altar-cloths together with the Copes and Plate of their several Churches to be as necessary for themselves as for any others This Change drew on the Alteration of the former Liturgy but almost as unpleasing to the Zuinglian Faction as the former was In which conjuncture of Affairs King Edward the Sixth died From the begining of whose Reign the Reformation began All that was done in order to it under King Henry the Eighth seemed but accidental only and by the by rather designed on Private Ends than out of any settled purpose of a Reformation and therefore intermitted and resumed again as those Ends had variance But now the great Work was carried on with a constant hand the Clergy cooperating with the King and the Council for the effecting of it But scarce had they brought it to this pass when King Edward died whose Death I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England For being ill principled in himsels and easily enclined to embrace such Counsels as were offered to him it is not to be thought but that the rest of the Bishopricks before sufficiently impoverished must have followed Durham and the poor Church be left as destitute
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
those days as wise and well-learned men in both the Realms as be now at this day who thought the Marriage between you and me good and lawful Therefore it is a wonder to me what new inventions are now invented against me And now to put me to stand to the Order and Judgment of this Court seems very unreasonable For you may condemn me for want of being able to answer for my self as having no Counse but such as you assigned me who cannot be indifferent on my part since they are your own Subjects and such as you have taken and chosen out of your own Council whereunto they are privy and dare not disclose your Will and Intent Therefore I humbly pray you to spare me until I may know what Counsel my Friends in Spain will advise me to take And if you will not then your Pleasure be fulfilled And with that she rose up and departed never more appearing in any Court The King perceiving that she was gone said I Will now in her Absence declare this unto you all That She has been unto me as True and Obedient a Wife as I would wish or desire She has all the virtuous qualities that ought to be in a Woman of her Dignity or in any other of Mean Condition She is also surely a Noble Woman born Her Condition will well declare it After this the King sent the Two Cardinals Campeius and Wolsey to speak with her WHen the Queen was told that the Cardinals were come to speak with Her She rose up and with a Skein of white Thred about her neck came into her Chamber of Presence The Cardinals said they were sent by the King to understand her mind concerning the business between Him and Her My Lords saith the Queen I cannot answer you so suddenly for I was set among my Maids at work little thinking of any such matter wherein there needs a longer deliberation and a better head then mine to make Answer For I have need of Counsel in this case which concerns me so near and for any Counsel or Friends that I can find in England they are not for my Profit For it is not likely that any English man will Counsel me or be a Friend to me against the King's Pleasure since they are his Subjects And for my Counsel in which I may trust they are in Spain The Cardinals returning to the King gave him an account of what She said Thus the case went forward from Court to Court till it came to Judgment The King's Counsel at the Bar called for Judgment unto whom Cardinal Campeius said thus I will not give Judgment till I have made relation to the Pope of all our proceedings whose Counsel and Command I will observe The matter is too high for us to give an hasty Judgment considering the Highness of the Persons and doubtfulness of the Case and also whose Commissioners we be under whose Authority we sit It were therefore reason that we should make our Chief Head a Counsel in the same before we proceed to a definitive sentence I come not to please for Favour Need or Dread of any Person alive be he King or otherwise I have no such respect to the Person that I will offend my Conscience I will not for the Favour or Disfavour of any High Estate do that thing which shall be against the Will of God I am an old man both weak and sickly that look daily for death I will not wade any further in this matter until I have the Opinion and Assent of the Pope Wherefore I will adjourn the Court for this time according to the Order of the Court of Rome from whence such Jurisdiction is deriv'd Upon this the Court was dissolv'd and no more done Then step'd forth the Duke of Suffolk from the King and uttered with an haughty Countenance these words It was never merry in ENGLAND since we had any Cardinals amongst us Thus far Stow. Upon this there was a Debate held in Council Whether it were convenient for the King to Assume to himself the Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs In opposition to which there was this Speech made related in my Lord Herbert ' s History pag. 362. SIR YOur Highness is come to a point which needs a strong and firm Resolution it being not only the most important in its self that can be presented but likewise of that consequence that it will comprehend your Kingdom and Posterity It is whether in this business of your Divorce and Second Marriage as well as in all other Ecclesiastical Affairs in your Dominions you would make use of your own or the Popes Authority For my own part as an Englishman and your Highnes's Subject I must wish all Power in your Highness But when I consider the Ancient practice of this Kingdom I cannot but think any Innovation dangerous For if in every Temporal Estate it be necessary to come to some Supream Authority whence all inferior Magistracy should be derived it seems much more necessary in Religion both as the Body thereof seems more susceptible of a Head than any else and as that Head again must direct so many others We should therefore above all things labour to keep an unity in the parts thereof as being the Sacred bond which knits and holds together not its own alone but all other Government But how much Sir should we recede from the Dignity thereof if we at once retrenched this its chief and most eminent part And who ever liked that Body long whose Head was taken away Certainly Sir an Authority received for many Ages ought not rashly to be rejected For is not the Pope Communis Pater in the Christian World and Arbiter of their Differences Does not he Support the Majesty of Religion and vindicate it from neglect Does not the holding his Authority from God keep Men in awe not of Temporal alone but Eternal punishments and therein extend his Power beyond death it self And will it be secure to lay aside those potent means of reducing People to their Duty and trust only to the Sword of Justice and Secular Arms Besides who shall mitigate the rigor of Laws in those Cases which may admit exception if the Pope be taken away Who shall presume to give Orders or Administer the Sacraments of the Church Who shall be Depository of the Oaths and Leagues of Princes Or Fulminate against the perjur'd Infractors of them For my part as Affairs now stand I find not how either a general Peace amongst Princes or any equal moderation in Humane Affairs can be well conserved without him For as his Court is a kind of Chancery to all other Courts of Justice in the Christian World so if you take it away you subvert that Equity and Conscience which should be the Rule and Interpreter of all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever I will conclude that I wish your Highness as my King and Sovereign all true Greatness and Happiness but think it not fit in this
thereof Some of the Lutherans had given out on the former ground That the English had deservedly suffered the greatest Hardships both at home and abroad because they Writ and Spake so irreverently of the Blessed Sacrament Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Lutherans detesting an English Protestant Nothing occurring more in this Queens Reign as to these matters of Religion we will now give an Account of the years when these Changes were made with an Addition of some works of Piety done by Her and in Her time IN the First year of this Queens Reign All Bishops that had been deprived in the time of King Edward the Sixth were restored to their Bishopricks and the new removed Also this year on the Twenty seventh of August the Service was sung in Latin in St. Paul's Church The Pope's Authority being likewise by Act of Parliament restored in England and the Mâ—…ss Commanded in all Churches to be used In her Second year the Realm is Absolved and Reconciled to the Church of Rome and First Fruits and Tenths restored to the Clergy In her Third year Eight hundred English Protestants sorsook the Kingdom who fell into great Confusions amongst themselves being in other Countries In her Fourth year Monasteries were be gun to be re-edified In her Fifth year great endeavors were used by Sectaries to raise Sedition by Seditious Books and unlawful Meetings or Conventicles In her Sixth year She built Publick Schools in the University of Oxford Which being decayed in tract of time and of no beautiful Structure when they were at the best were taken down In place whereof but upon a larger extent of Ground was raised that Goodly and Magnificent Fabrick which we now behold Works of Piety The Queen restored a great part of the Abbey-Lands that were in her Possession In her First year Sir Thomas white then Mayor Erected a College in Oxford called S. John's College He also Erected Schools at Bristow and Reading and gave Two thousand pounds to the City of Bristow to purchase Lands the profits whereof to be employed for the benefit of young Clothiers In her Third year died Sir John Gresham late Mayor of London who Founded a Free-School at Holt in Norfolk and gave to every Ward in London Ten pounds to be distributed to the Poor Also to Maids-Marriages Two hundred pounds Cuthbert Tunstal Bishop of Durham Erected a goodly Library in Cambridge storing it with many Excellent both Printed and Written Books He also bestowed much upon Building at Durham at Alnewick and at Tunbridge Thus Sir Richard Baker Here you have had a short View of the great Zeal and Piety that was in this Nation during the Reign of this Queen And this delivered from the mouths of her Enemies the most zealous Protestants This Account being here ended we will now proceed to relate what Changes were made as to Religion in Queen Elizabeths time Wherein the Scene was totally Altered She following the Example of her Father and Brother in going on with the Destructions and Confusions begun by them The Last Part Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning A Fourth Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth A Preamble BEfore we begin this Queens Reign we will following Dr. Heylyn's order first make a Relation out of him of the various Fortunes of her Mother Anne Boleign of whom thus he writes in his History of Reformation pag. 86. Anne Boleign from her tender years was brought up in the Court of France Who returning into England was preferred to be Maid of Honor to Queen Catherine In whose Service the King falls in Love with her But so long concealed his Affections that there was a great League contracted betwixt her and the young Lord Peircy Son to the Earl of Northumberland But that being broken off by the endeavors of Cardinal Wolsey and the King laboring for a Divorce from Queen Catherine that he might Marry her that also was sought to be obstructed by the Cardinal Which being understood by Mrs. Anne Boleign she seeks all ways for his destruction and prevailed so far with the King that he was presently Indicted and Attainted of a Praemunire and not long after by the Counsel of Thomas Cromwel who had sormerly been the Cardinals Solicitor in his Legatine Court envolves the whole Clergy in the same Crime with him And by perswasion of this man he requires of the said Clergy to acknowledge him for Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and to make no new Canons and Constitutions not to Execute any such when made by his consent And having thus brought his own Clergy under his Command he was the less solicitous how his matters went in the Court of Rome concerning his Divorce Whereupon he privately Marries Mistris Anne Boleign And a long time after to wit Three or Four Months after the Birth of the Princess Elizabeth began a Parliament in which the Kings first Marriage was declared Unlawful and the Succession of the Crown settled upon His Issue by this Second Marriage An Oath being devised in maintenance of the said Succession and not long after Moor and Fisher were Executed for refusing to take that Oath The New Queen being thus settled and considering that the Pope and She had such different Interests that they could not subsist together She resolved to suppress his Power what she could But finding that the Pope was too well entrenched to be dislodged upon a sudden it was advised by Cromwel to begin with taking in the Outworks first which being gained it would be no hard matter to beat him out of his Trenches In order whereunto a Visitation is begun in which a diligent Enquiry was to be made into all Abbey's Priories and Nunneries within the Kingdom an Account of which Visitation and the Dâ—…ssolution of Abbeys hath been formerly given in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth But the New Queen for whose sake Cromwel had contrived that Plot did not live to see this Dissolution For such is the uncertainty of Humane Affairs that when she thought her Self most Secure and free from Danger She became most obnoxious to the ruine prepared for Her It had pleased God upon the Eighth of January to put an end unto the Calamities of the Virtuous but unfortunate Queen unto whose Bed she had succeeded The News whereof she entertained with such contentment that she caused her self to be apparelled in lighter Colours than was agreeable to the season or the sad occasion Whereas if she had rightly understood her own Condition She could not but have known that the long Life of Queen Catherine was to be her best preservation against all changes which the King 's loose Affections or any other Alteration in the Affairs of State were otherwise like to draw upon her But this Contentment held not long For within Three Weeks after She fell in Travail in which she miscarried of a Son to the extreme discontent of the
Answer that it is a True Church of God where Jesus Christ is truly taught and his Sacraments rightly Administred how can we disburthen our selves of our forsaking and flying from that Church which we do confess and acknowledge to be of God When with that Church which is of God we ought to be One and not to admit of any Separation If you Answer the Church of Rome is not of God but a Malignant Church then it will follow that we the Inhabitants of this Realm have not as yet received any Benefit of Christ seeing we have received no Gospel or other Doctrine nor no other Sacraments but what was sent unto us from the Church of Rome First in King Lucius his days at whose humble Epistle the Holy Martyr Elutherius then Bishop of Rome did send into this Realm two Holy Monks Fugatius and Damianus by whose Doctrine and Preaching we were first brought to the knowledge of the Faith of Jesus Chrrst of his Holy Gospel and his most Holy Sacraments Then Secuâ—…y 〈◊〉 St. Gregory being Bishop of Rome did senâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Realm two other Holy Monks St. Austin 〈◊〉 the Apostle of England and Milletus to receive the very self same Faith that had been before planted here in this Realm in the days of King Lucius Thirdly and Last of all Paulus Tertius being Bishop of Rome did send hither the Lord Cardinal Pool his Grace by Birth a Nobleman of this Land his Legate to restore us unto the same Faith which the Martyr St. Eleutherius and St. Gregory had Planted here many years before If therefore the Church of Rome be not of God but a false and Malignant Church then have we been deceived all this while seeing the Gospel the Doctrine Faith and Sacraments must be of the same nature as that Church is from whence it and they came and therefore in relinquishing and forsaking that Church the Inhabitants of this Realm shall be forced to seek further for another Gospel of Christ other Doctrine other Faith and Sacraments than we have hitherto received Which will breed such a Schism and Error in Faith as was never in any Christian Realm And therefore of your Wisdoms worthy of Consideration and maturely to be pondered and be provided for before you pass this Act of Supremacy Thus much touching the First chief Point Now to the Second Deliberation wherein I promised to move your Honors to consider What this Supremacy is which we go about by vertue of this Act to give unto the Queen and wherein it doth consist whether in Spiritual Government or Temporal But if Spiritual as these words in the Act do import Supream Head of the Church of England immediately and next unto God Then it would be considered in what Points this Spiritual Government doth consist and the Points being well known it would be considered Whether this House hath Authority to grant them and her Highness Ability to receive them And as concerning the Points wherein Spiritual Government doth consist I have in reading the Gospel and the whole course of Divinity thereupon as to my Vocation belongeth observed these Four as chief among many others whereof the first is The Power to loose and bind Sins When our Saviour in ordaining Peter to be Chief and Head-Governor of his Church said unto him Tibi dabo Claves Regni Coelorum c. That is To thee will I give the the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Now it would be considered by your Wisdoms whewhether you have sufficient Authority to grant unto her Majesty this first Point of Spiritual Government and to say unto Her Tibi dabimus c. To Thee will we give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven If you say Yea then do we require the sight of Warrant and Commission by the Virtue of God's Word And if you say No then you may be well assured and perswade your selves that you have not sufficient Authority to make her Highness Supream Head of the Church of Christ here in this Realm The Second Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of these words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 20th Chapter of St. John's Gospel Pasce Pasce Pasce That is Feed my Lambs Feed my Lambs Feed my Sheep Now whether your Honors have Authority by this Court of Parliament to say unto our Sovereign Lady Pasce Pasce Pasce c. That is to say Feed you the Flock of Christ you must shew your Warrant and Commission for it And further it is evident that Her Majesty being a Woman by Birth and Nature is not qualified by God's word to feed the Flock of Christ appears most plainly by St. Paul in this wise Taceant Mulieres in Ecclesiis sicut lex dicit Ler Women be silent in the Church for it is not Lawful for them to speak but to be in subjection as the Law saith And it followeth in the same place Turpe est enim Mulieres loqui in Ecclesiâ that is for that it is not seemly for a Woman to speak in the Church And in his second Epistle to Timothy Dominari in virum sed esse silentes that is to say I allow not that a Woman be a Teacher or to be above her Husband but to keep her self in silence Therefore it appears likewise as your Honors have not Authority to give her Highness this second Point of Spiritual Government to Feed the Flock of Christ So by St. Pauls Doctrine her Highness may not intermeddle her self with the same And therefore She cannot be Supream Head of the Church here in England The Third chief Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of those words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 22th Chapter of St. Lukes Gospel Ego rogavi pro Te ut non deficiat fides Tua Tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres Tuos That is I Prayed for Thee that thy Faith shall not fail and thou being converted Confirm thy Brethren and ratifie them in wholesome Doctrine and Administration of the Sacraments which are the Holy Instruments of God so Instituted and Ordained for our Sanctification that without them his Grace is not to be received But to Preach or to administer the Sacraments a Woman may not be admitted to do neither may she be Supream of Christ's Church The Fourth and Last chief point of Spiritual Government which I promised to Note unto you doth consist in the Excommunication and Spiritual Punishment of all such as shall approve themselves not to be the Obedient Children of Christ's Church Of which Authority our Saviour Christ speaks in St. Matthew's Gospel in the 18th Chapter saying If your Brother offending will not hear your charitable admonition whether secretly at first or yet before one or two Witnesses then we must complain of him to the Church and If he will not hear the Church let him be taken as an Heathen or Publican So the Apostle did Excommunicate the
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
stretching forth her body her head aâ—… two blows was taken off This end had Mary Queen of Scots in the Forty Sixth year of her Age and of her Imprisonment in England the Eighteenth A Lady so compleat in all excellent parts of Body and mind that it must needs have made her a happy Woman if she had not been a Queen and perhaps a happy Queen too if she had not been Heir to the Crown of England Thus Baker I will insert here one Passage more concerning this Queen which hath been omited in order of this story Dr. Heylyn pag. 160. Certain of the Queens Servants being assembled for their Devotions in the Chappel Royal of the Palace of Holy-rood House in Edenburgh the doors were broken open some of the company haled to the next Prison and the rest dispersed The Priest escaping with much difficulty by a private passage The Queen was then absent in the North but questioned Knox at her return as the cause of the uproar By which Expostulation she got nothing from that fiery Spirit but neglect and scorn Thus Dr. Heylyn ' concerning this ' barbarous action CHAP. VIII A short Relation concerning the Affairs of Ireland as to Religion And how the Hugonots in France betrayed the English Dr. Heylyn pag. 128. WE shall find the Queen there as active in advancing the Reformation as she had been in either of the other Kingdoms King Henry had first broke the Ice by taking to himself the Title of Supream Head on Earth of the Church of Ireland exterminating the Popes Authority and suppressing all the Monasteries and Religious Houses In matters of Doctrine and Forms of Worship as there was nothing done by him so neither much endeavoured in the time of King Edward the Sixth It being thought perhaps unsafe to provoke that people in the King's Minority considering with how many troubles he was else here exercised If any thing were done thereâ—…n it was rather done by toleration than command But Queen Elizabeth having setled her Affairs in England and undertaken the protection of the Scots conceived her self obliged in point of Piety to promote the Reformation in that Kingdom likewise A Parliament is therefore held where pass'd an Act restoring to the Crown the Jurisdiction over all Ecclesiastical persons By which Statute were established both the Oath of Supremacy and the High Commission as before in England There also pass'd an Act for the Uniforâ—…ity of Common-Prayer with permission of saying the same in Latin where the Minister had not the knowledge of the English Tongue But for translating it into Irish as it was afterwards done into Welch there was no care taken The people are required by that Statute under several penalties to frequent their Churches and to be frequent at the reading of the English Liturgy which they understand no more than they do the Mass. By which means the Irish were not only kept in continual ignorance as to the Doctrines and Devotions of the Church of England but we have likewise furnished the Papist with an excellent Argument against our selves for having the Divine Service celebrated in such a language as the people do not understand There also pass'd another Statute for restoring to the Crown the first Fruits and Twenty parts of all Ecclesiastical promotions as also of all Impropriated Parsonages of which there are more in number than those Rectories which have Cure of Souls The like Act passed for the Restitution of all Lands belonging to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem with the Annulling of all Leases and other Grants made by the late Lord Prior of the same The Bishops of Ireland finding how things went in England and knowing that the like Alteration would ensue amongst themselves resolved to make such use of the present times as to enrich their Friends and Kindred by the the spoyl of their Churches To which end they so dissipated the Revenues of their several Bishopricks by long Leases Fee-farms and plain Alienations that to some of their Sees they left no more than a Rent of Five Marks Per Annum To others a bare yearly Rent of Forty shillings to the high displeasure of God the reproach of Religion and the perpetual ignominy of themselves for that horrible Sacriledge Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning Ireland How the English were betrayed by the Hugonots Dr. Heylyn pag. 161. A Peace being concluded betwixt the King and the Hugonots they betrayed the English whom they had brought into the Country and joyned their Forces with the rest to drive them out of Newhaven a Town besieged where the Pestilence had gotten amongst them and raged so terribly that the Living were scarce able to bury the Dead And to compleat the misery of the Besieged the Prince of Conde and Duke of Monpensier who had been the Heads of the Hugonot party shewed themselves openly amongst the rest in the Camp of the Enemies whereupon they were necessitated to yield This might be looked upon as an Argument of God's displeasure on this Nation for giving Aid unto the Rebels of a Christian Prince masked with the vizard of Religion And for a further punishment of this Action the Plague brought out of France by the Garrison Soldiers of Newhaven had so dispersed it â—…elf and made such a desolation in many parts of the Realm that it swept away above Twenty Thousand in the City of London Thus Dr. Heylyn And thus far as to these particul Relations of other Countries We will now prosecute our story of England CHAP. IX A Word concerning the then Pope's Letter to the Queen with a long Relation concerning the Presbyterians Dr. Heylyn pag. 131. WE find the new Bishops in England very high and resolute in opposing the Church of Rome Whereof the then Pope being informed directs unto the Queen an affectionate Letter calling Her his Dearest Daughter and declaring unto Her how sollicitous he was for her Salvation and the prosperity of her People which he told Her was not to be found by wandring out of the Communion of the Catholick Church Unto which he again invites Her with much Christian meekness But the Queen had set up her Resolution to go forward with the Change Wherefore all was lost labour But all this while there was no care taken to suppress the practices of the Calvinists who secretly endeavored to subvert the English Liturgy For whilst the Prelates of the Church of England bent all their forces towards the confuting of the Papists another Enemy appeared which seemed not openly to aim at the Churches Doctrine but quarrelled rather at some Rites and Extrinsecals of it Their purpose was to take in the Outworks of Religion first before they levelled their Artillery at the Fort it self The Schismaticks of Frankfort had no sooner heard of Queen Maries Death but they make what hast they could for England in hope of fishing better for themselves in a troubled water than a quiet Followed not long after by the Brethren of the Separation which
Or that the Communion Table if any then were was removable up and down hither and thither and brought at any time to the lower part of the Church there to Celebrate the Lord's Supper Or That any Communion was kept upon Good-Friday Or That the Sacrament was administred then sometimes in Loaf-Bread sometimes in Wafers And that without the Name of Jesus or the sign of the Cross Or That at the Communion-time the Minister should wear a Coap and at all other Service a Surplice only Or as it is used in some places nothing at all beside his Common Apparel Or That they used a Common and Prophane Cup at the Communion pag. 162 Or That a solemn Curse should be used on Ashwednesday Or That a Procession about the Fields was used in Rogation week rather thereby to know the Bounds and Borders of every Parish than to move God to Mercy and mens hearts to Devotion Or That the Man should put the Wedding-Ring upon the Fourth Finger of the left hand of the Woman and not on the right as hath been many Hundred years practised pag. 163 Or That the residue of the Sacrament unreceived was taken of the Priest or of the Parish Clerk to spread their young Childrens Butter with or to serve their own Tooth with it at their homely Table Or That it was lawful then to have but one Communion in one Church in one day pag. 164 Or That the Lent or Friday was to be Fasted for Civil Policy not for any Devotion pag. 165 Or That the Lay-People Communicating did take the Cup at one anothers hands and not at the Priests pag. 166. Or That any Bishop then threw down the Images of Christ and his Saints and set up their own their Wives and their Childrens Pictures in their Chambers and Parlours pag. 164. Or That being a Virgin at the taking of the Holy Order of Priesthood did afterwards lawfully Marry pag. 165. Or That was Married on Ashwednesday Or That preached it to be all one to Pray on a Dunghil and in a Church Or That any Friar of 60 years obtaining afterwards the Dignity of a Bishop Married a young Woman of Nineteen years c. pag. 166. Here ends Dr. Heylyn's History of Reformation Now to compleat the story of the Presbyterians I will here add what is related by Dr. Heylyn concerning their actings in this Queens Reign in his History of Presbytery AN ADDITION Of some other Historical Collections Taken out of Dr. Heylyn's History of Presbytery CHAP. XV. A Discovery of the Insolent and Rebellious Spirit of the Presbyterians and particularly of Knox. Dr. Heylyn pag. 244. AT Queen Elizabeths first coming to the Crown such English as had lived in exile amongst the Zwitzers or at Geneva became exceedingly enamored with Calvin's Platform by which they found so much Authority ascribed unto Ministers in their several Churches as might make them absolute and independent without being called to an account by King or Bishop This Discipline they purposed to promote at their coming home But the Queen had heard so much from others of their carriage at Frankfort and their untractableness in point of Decency and comly Order in the Reign of her Brother as might sufficiently forewarn her Besides She was not to be told with what reproaches Calvin had reviled her Sister nor how she had been persecuted by his followers in the time of her Reign Some of them railing at her Person in their scandalous Pamphlets Some practising by false and dangerous Allusions to subvert her Government and others openly praying to God That he would either turn Her heart or put an end to her days And of these Men she was to give her self no hope but they would proceed with her in the self same manner whensoever any thing should be done how necessary and just soever which might cross their humours The Consideration whereof was of such prevalency with those of her Council who were then deliberating about the altering of Religion that they were resolved to have an eye upon those Men Who were so hot in the persuit of their flattering hopes that out of a desire of Innovation as my Author tells me they were busied at that very time in setting up a new form of Ecclestastical Policy and therefore were to be supprest with all care and diligence before they grew to a head But notwithstanding this discovery of their Rebellious practices yet they had so many Friends in England that they might easily have obtained Favour in order to the Promoting their designs had not Knox's furious Spirit moved him to write these following malicious Letters In one of which to Sir William Cecill he first upbraids him with consenting to the suppressing of Christ's true Evangile to the erecting of Idolatry and the Shedding the Blood of God's most dear Children during the Reign of mischievous Mary the professed enemy of God as he plainly calls her Then he proceeds to justifie his Treasonable and Seditious Book against the Regiment of Women of the truth whereof he positively affirms That he no more doubted than of the truth of that Voice of God pronounced against that Sex to wit That in dolour they should bear their Children Next he declared in reference to the person of Queen Elizabeth That he would willingly acknowledge her to be raised by God for the manifestation of his Glory although not nature only but Gods own Ordinance did oppugn such Regiments And thereupon did inferr That if Queen Elizabeth would confess that the Extraordinary Dispensations of God did make that Lawful in her which both Nature and Gods Laws did deny in all Women beside none in England should bemore ready to maintain her Lawful Authority than himself But on the other side he pronounces this Sentence on her That if she built her Title upon Custom Laws and Ordinances of Men such foolish Presumption would grievously offend God and that her ingratitude in that kind should not long lack punishment To the same purpose he writes also to the Queen her self reproaching her withal That for fear of her life she had declined from God Bowed to Idolatry and gone to Mass during the persecution of Gods Saints in the time of her Sister In both his Letters he complains of his being denied the liberty of Preaching in England and endeavours to excuse his Flock of late assembled in the most Godly Reformed Church and City of Geneva Thus Dr. Heylyn CHAP. XVI A further Discovery of their Practices in order to the Promoting of their Discipline which was much Advanced by their being admitted into the Publick Ministry Dr. Heylyn pag. 246. SUch was the necessity which the Church of England was under that it was hardly possible to supply all the vacant places in it but by admitting some of the Genevian Zealots to the Publick Ministry the Realm had been extreamly visited in the foregoing year with a dangerous and contagious Sickness which took away almost half of the Bishops and occasioned such a
find that St. Francis a person famous for his strict and holy life was the Man from whom this Order sprung whose birth-place being of a noble extraction is said to have been at Assise in Umbria a Province of Italy And that in the very time of his youth betaking himself to divine studies no whit regarding the transitory pleasures of this present world he afterwards neglected his patrimony which was not small wore a Coul or hair-shirt went barefoot and macerated himself with frequent watches and fastings As also to the intent that he might make choice of voluntary poverty he resolved to enjoy nothing as his own no not so much as food for his body otherwise than what he received in Alms from good people And moreover if he had any thing left after a slender refreshment he ever bestow'd it on the poor reserving nothing for the morrow That in the night time he always slept in his cloaths lying down upon a Matt having no pillow for his head but a stone And thus going barefoot with an Evangelick preparation did embrace an Apostolick life preaching upon Sundays and Festivals in Parish-churches which did so much the more work upon the hearts of his Auditory by how much he was a stranger to all carnal desires The Statutes of which Order to this day observed together with some other strict Rules he presented to Pope Innocent the Third Which together with the circumstances of his reception and their confirmation I shall for brevity pass by To this resolution I shall briefly add what a later Author hath of him viz. that when he first betook himself to this regular life he wore Shoos and a Leather Girdle but revolving in his mind that our blessed Saviour gave command to his Apostles that they should not have two coats nor any purse he put on a single coat of plain wool girt himself with a cord and went barefoot And at the length that he might live an Anchorite betook himself to the Apenine-mountains and in Avâ—…rne at the foot of them continued in great solitude where devoting himself wholly to divine contemplations he branded his Body with the marks of our Lords Passion and called those Minors which he chose from the first to be his companions in that Rule as a manifest token of his humility to the end that they being mindful of that slender appellation should be free from all pride which is oft times the companion of Sanctity His Rule being confirmed by Honorius the Third and two years after viz. anno 1229 Gregory the IX Canonizing him for a Saint no humane institution increased so much as this in a short time did for they were soon spread over the whole Christian world Terram repleverunt saith Matt. Westm. In Towns and Cities they dwelt by tens and sevens in a Covent and possessing nothing but mâ—…erly living by the Gospel in food and raiment they manifested their voluntary poverty and going barefoot girt with a knotty cord gave the greatest example of humility imaginable Touching their first coming into England I find it was in Anno 1224. 8 H. 3. viz. two years before the death of St. Francis The Augustin Friers pag. 781. col 1. Touching the Original of this Order there is no absolute certainty as Ploydore affirmeth Some alleadge that St. Augustin Bishop of Hippo retiring into the Wilderness during the rage of the Manichean Hereticks then instituted it gathering together into one Covent those that were disperst in the Desert Others that divers devout persons desiring to imitate the piety and singular learning of St. Augustin even whilst he lived left all that they had and betook themselves to the Wilderness whereupon they were called Heremites By which of these means it was I shall not farther stand to enquire but Mendicants they were for certain and for their Habit did wear in their Cloister a white garment close girt to them and when they went out a black over it with a broad Leather Girdle buckled being shorn on the Head as the Dominicans are These first began to propagate in England about the year 1250. Of the Carthusian or Charter-house Monks pag. 131. col 2. The Author of them was one Bruno born at Colein in Germany a very learned Man and Philosophy-professor in the University of Paris Where being present at the Funeral of his friend that had been a man of good conversiation and observing that whilst they were celebrating the office for the dead the Corps raised it self up on the Bier and uttered at several distances these words Justo Dei judicio accusatus sum Justo Dei judicio judicatus sum Justo Dei judicio condemnatus sum By the just judgment of God I am accursed By the just judgment of God I have received sentence By the just judgment of God I am damn'd he became so astonisht as that considering if such were the condition of one whose life had been free from any eminent vice what should become of himself and many others that were in no better state he thereupon with six more of his company who were moved at the same apprehension resolved to seek some desert place where they might end their days in an austere and mortified course of living without any disturbance of worldly matters which at length they found in the Diocess of Grenoble at a place called Carthuse in the mountainous parts of a vast Wilderness and obtaining an assignation thereof from the Bishop erected a Monastery instituting most severe and strict Rules for himself and his Covent viz. wearing hair shirts never to 〈◊〉 on flesh on the Fridays to eat nothing but bread and water to live apart in particular cells and thither to have their diet singly brought them except on certain Festival days when they dined together Not to converse with each other but at certain times None to go out of the Monastery but the Superior and Procurator and they only about the affairs of the Covent Their Habit a white loose coat with a coul of the same but when they go out a case of black stuff all over it being shaved and shorn just as the Benedictins are Into their particular Cells which are low built and do contain 3 or 4 several rooms on the ground-floor only having behind each of them a little Garden environ'd with an high Wall is their diet brought to them by Lay-brothers and put in at a little door in the wall near the entrance thereof unto which there is a lock whereof the key is kept by him that serves them At the hours of publick prayers they meet in the Quire But women are not permitted to come within the precincts of their Monastery nor a man to speak with any of them without special license given by the Superior The Lay-brothers are not shaven but their hair on the head is cut short and round their habit being the same with the Monks saving the scapular which reacheth but a little below the middle and is girt close to theâ—… Which Institution by Bruno was in the year 1080. as Polydore affirmeth but others say in â—…nno 1084. Howbeit they observe the Rule of St. Benedict as to their diurnal and nocturnal offices yet have not anciently in any one Covent exceeded the number of 13 persons Into England they were first brought by King H. 2. i. 〈◊〉 â—…nno 1181. 27. H. 2. who founded a Monastery foâ—… them at Witham in Somersetsâ—…ier whereof Hugh Bishop of Lincoln was the first Fryer FINIS Thus related by Howes upon Stow pag. 543. Stow p. 543. Stow p. 543. Stow p. 544. Nothing but Passion and Interest carried on this business Stow. p. 562. The bringing in of Presbytery into this Nation This Speech you have formerly had at large Humph. Jesuitism rat 5. p. 5. Car. Chron. l. 4. p. 567. Bal. in Act. Rom. Pont p 44. Osiand Cent. 6. p. 288. Magdeb. Cent. 6. p. 748 369. Fulk Confut Purg. pag. 333.