appear there before the Arch-bishop Where Iohn Whitwel the Arch-bishop's Almoner and Thomas Langley both Priests and his Grace's Chaplains exhibited a Schedule of divers Heresies and damned Opinions against the said Assheton Which are recited in the Abjuration which he made The Tenor whereof is as followeth In the Name of God Amen Before you most Learned Father in God Thomas Arch-bishop Primate and Metropolitan of all England Commissary of our most dread Soveraign Lord and excellent Prince Edward VI by the Grace of God c. I Iohn Assheton Priest of my pure Heart Free-will voluntary and sincere Knowledg confess and openly recognize that in Times past I thought believed said heard and affirmed these Errors Heresies and damnable Opinions following that is to say 1. That the Trinity of Persons was established by the Confession of Athanasius declared by a Psalm Quicunque vult c. And that the Holy Ghost is not God but only a certain Power of the Father 2. That Iesus Christ that was conceived of the Virgin Mary was a holy Prophet and especially beloved of God the Father but that he was not the true and living God Forasmuch as he was seen and lived hungred and thirsted 3. That this only is the Fruit of Iesus Christ's Passion that whereas we were strangers from God and had no knowledg of his Testament it pleased God by Christ to bring us to the acknowledging of his holy Power by the Testament Wherefore I the said Iohn Assheton detesting and abhorring all and every my said Errors Heresies and damned Opinions willingly and with all my Power affecting hereafter firmly to believe in the true and perfect Faith of Christ and his Holy Church purposing to follow the true and sincere Doctrine of holy Church with a pure and free Heart voluntarily mind will and intend utterly to forsake relinquish renounce and despise the said detestable Errors Heresies and abominable Opinions Granting and confessing now 1. That the blessed Trinity consisteth in Three distinct Persons and one Godhead as God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost coequal in Power and Might 2. That Jesus Christ is both God and Man after his holy Nature eternally begotten of his Father of his own Substance and in his Humanity was conceived by the Holy Ghost incarnate and for our Redemption being very God became Man 3. That by the Death of Iesus Christ we be not only made Partakers of the Testament and so disposed to the Knowledg of his godly Will and Power but also that we have full Redemption and Remission of our Sins in his Blood Then he subscribed his Hand to this Confession before the Arch-bishop exhibiting it for his Act and lifting up his Hand beseeched his Grace to deal mercifully and graciously with him and touching the Gospel gave his Faith that he would faithfully and humbly obey the Commands of the Holy Mother-Church and whatsoever Penance the said most Reverend Father should lay upon him To these erroneous Doctrines we must add others that now also spread themselves As that Christ took not Flesh of the Virgin That the Baptism of Infants was not profitable Of which Error one Michael Thombe of London Butcher recanted the Year following viz. 1549 May 11. having been then convented before the Arch-bishop at Lambeth I Michael Thombe of London Bocher of my pure Heart and free Will voluntarily and sincerely acknowledg and confess and openly recognize that in times past I thought believed said heard and affirmed these Errors and Heresies and damnable Opinions following that is to say That Christ took no Flesh of our Lady and that the Baptism of Infants is not profitable because it goeth before Faith Wherefore I the said Michael Thombe detesting and abhorring all and every such my said Errors Heresies and damned Opinions and with all my Power affecting hereafter firmly to believe in the true and perfect Faith of Christ and of the Holy Church purposing to follow the true and sincere Doctrine of Holy Church with a pure and free Heart voluntarily mind will and intend utterly to forsake relinquish renounce and despise the said detestable Errors Heresies and damnable Opinions granting and confessing now That Christ took Flesh of the Virgin Mary and that the Baptism of Infants is profitable and necessary And by this Submission and Penance doing Thombe escaped But another of the same Opinion more obstinate came to a sadder End and was Burnt namely Ioan Bocher or Ioan of Kent Her Opinion is in the Instrument drawn up against her in the ABp's Register Which ran thus That you believe that the Word was made Flesh in the Virgin 's Belly but that Christ took Flesh of the Virgin you believe not because the Flesh of the Virgin being the outward Man was sinfully gotten and born in Sin But the Word by the Consent of the inward Man of the Virgin was made Flesh. This she stood perversely in So the Arch-bishop himself excommunicated her judicially the Sentence being read by him April 1549 in S. Mary's Chappel within the Cathedral Church of Pauls Sir Thomas Smith William Cook Dean of the Arches Hugh Latimer Richard Lyell LL. D. the King's Commissioners assisting She was committed afterwards to the Secular Arm and certified so to be by an Instrument made by the Commissioners to the King After she was condemned she was a Sevennight in the Lord Chancellor Rich his House and every day the Arch-bishop and Bishop Ridley came and reasoned with her that if possible they might save her from the Fire But nothing would do I will here produce Latimer's Censure of her who well knew her Case being one of the Commissioners that sat upon her She would say saith he in his Sermon on S. Iohn Evangelist's Day That our Saviour was not very Man nor had received Flesh of his Mother Mary And yet she could shew no reason why she should believe so Her Opinion was this The Son of God said she penetrated through her as through a Glass taking no Substance of her This foolish Woman denied the common Creed Natus ex Maria Virgine and said that our Saviour had a fantastical Body A Dutch Man an Arian named George van Paris denying Christ to be true God came to a like End with Ioan namely that of burning to Death being condemned for Heresy that was in the Year 1551. But tho I make some Anticipation in my History yet I do it that I may lay these Heresies here together that started up or rather shewed themselves more visibly in this Reign CHAP. IX The Arch-bishop Visits THE Arch-bishop in this Year held a Visitation in divers Places throughout his Diocess Wherein enquiry was to be made concerning the Behaviour both of the Priests and the People in eighty six Articles Whereby may be seen the Arch-bishop's conscientious Care and Solicitude for the abrogating of Superstition and the promoting of true Religion That he might reduce the Clergy to Learning
hardly kepe our selves in such things that the scripture do speake of the heavens and of Christes sytting in heaven 28. I have a conscience in so high misteries to allow such kinde of speaking as is not taught in the scripture though such be much used yea and that by the authority of the holy fathers for to what point through such speakyng the devyll and antychrist hath brought us we all lamentably complayne 29. Wherfore with reverence and in a true meanyng I wyll understand the sayinges of the holy fathers as touching the mutation of the sygnes I wyll never graunt their sayings so to be taken as to mutch straunge from gods worde and after such sort as men myght now a daies be overthrowen with Antichristes doctrine into the idolatrye which of all other is most detestable 30. So likewyse if any thing may be found that the holy fathers have wrytten of Christ placed in heaven more then the scripture doth certaynely teach I wyll not without reverence refuse it nor yet wyth any man contend therin for I have nothing to say that such writyng is contrary to any place of scripture I do but only desyre that no necessary doctrine be made therof and that I may be suffered to abyde in the playnes of Gods written word 31. But they will say that a man well expert in saith when he heareth that Christ is present in the holy supper and is geven receyved and had with the bread cannot refraine but imagine such a presence of Christ in the bread as is there placed or els like to such a thing as hath a place 32. I cannot se how the wordes of the Holy Ghost ought to be refourmed because of the weakenes of our understanding either that we should allow such utteraunce of wordes wherby it might appeare that the Holy Ghost had not uttered the matter circumspectly and strongly inough yea and that most aptly and effectually as well to the edefying of faith as to the putting away of all errours 33. These now be the wordes of Christ Where two or three be gathered in my name ther am I in the mydst of them In the name of Christ we assemble together at the Lords Supper rightly ministred In the world we be yea and somewhere placed and whersoever we be Christ is among us which notwithstanding is not in the world and also dwelleth in our hartes But we cannot perseâ—ve nor attaine it neyther by our sense nor by reason but by faith For how can the head be away from his body Wherfore I defyne or determine Christes presence howsoever we perceive it either by the sacraments or by the word of the gospell to be onely the attainyng and perceyving of the commodities we have by Christ both God and man which is our head raignyng in heaven dwelling and lyving in us Which presence we have by no worldly meanes but we have it by faith and take the fruit therof when it is offered us in the word and in the sacraments But the force therof we feele in all our parties and powers what tyme by the spirit of Christ they be sanctifyed and renewed unto obedience and godly lyfe 34. He is called present by some knowledge of perceyvyng him even as one may be called present with an other and so we do say that they be here present whom we know by hearing or by syght to be present but now the thing which we know by faith is much more certaine then any thing we can know by sence or reason Why may not we then say that Christ our head is present with his members when we know by faith that he both liveth and dwelleth in us 35. They say that the holy fathers expound the scriptures recording the Lords presence that Christ by his Godhead by his majesty and by his providence is present with us yet lyving in this world Truth it is but the Lord saith I am with you unto the worldes end and Paule affirmeth that Christ lyveth and dwelleth in our hartes Yea and the holy fathers themselves declare that we have Christ present in the sacrament of baptisme and in the meate and drink of the aulter which call that presence carnall that is knowen by our senses and is set over against the presence which we have by faith 36. Faith truly embraceth Christ both God and man and kepeth him present which by his Godhead is not onely present in the congregation of his saintes and in his members but is also present in every place But some cannot be contented unles we graunt that we have his body and bloud really carnally and substantially present in the supper 37. Wyse and good men will eschew all uncertaine wordes in every talk and speaking how much more are they to be avoyded in Christes sacramentes Moreover in the treatyse of Christes sacraments we may justly refuse such straunge wordes as be not used in the scripture unles they may be perfectly applied for the declaration of Christes truth For such uncertaine wordes doth more darken the true doctrine and therfore we must not medle with them except ther be some consideration of the using of them 38. I would wysh these wordes realiter and substantialiter to be altogether refused neither to be allowed in reasonyng to or fro because we shall seme to graunt their contraries and to say that Christ is receyved counterfeâ—tlye and accydenâ—ly if we deny him to be received in the supper really and substantiallye 39. If the matter so require that these words be brought into reâ—sonyng I would for the maintenance of Christes truth against the adversaries among the children of God defyne these wordes realiter and substantialiter as if one would understand by the presence of the Lord really and substantially that he is received verely in dede by faith and his substaunce is geven in the sacrament but if he would enterlace any worldly presence with these words I will deny it because the Lord is departed this world 40. I can never admyt or allow these words carnally and naturally because they bring in a meanyng that he is receyved with our sences 41. Hereby I thinke it evydent agreeable to the holy scripture and according to the reverence we owe to God and his scripture and toward the auncient church that we should frame our selves to the words of the Lord of his Apostles and of the auncient Church and to say that ther is geven and receyved the body and bloud of the Lord that is to say very Christ himselfe both God and man but he is geven with the word and the signes but received with true faith and that he is geven and received to the end that we may move and lyve more parfectly in him and he in us 42. And I thinke it an easy thing to make answer when they say that the thing which is already cannot be received and that he which cometh to the Lords supper and hath not Christ in himselfe receiveth not Christ
augmentation of Gods mercy and gracious promise to al men that receive it in the Faith of Christ Jesu with hatred of sin and intent purpose and mind to live always a vertuous life And that is the very Transubstantiation and change that God delighteth in in the use of the Sacraments most that we should earnestly and from the bottome of our hearts be converted into Christ and Christs holy commandments to live a christen life and to dy from sin as he gave us example both by his life and doctrin and meaneth not that the bread and wine should in substance be turned or converted into the substance of his body and bloud or that the substance of the bread should be taken away and in the place therof to be the substance matter and corporal presence of Christs corporal holy humane and natural body Item That the same holy word of God doth confess hold defend acknowledg and maintain that the very natural substantial real and corporal body of Christ concerning his humanity is only and soly in heaven and not in the Sacrament and Communion of his precious body and bloud But whosoever worthily with true repentance and lively faith in the promise of God receiveth that holy Sacrament receiveth Sacramentally by faith al the mercies riches merits and deservings that Christ hath deserved and paid for in his holy bloud and passion And that is to eat Christ and to drink Christ in the holy Sacrament to confirm and Seal Sacramentally in our Souls Gods promises of eternal Salvation that Christ deserved for us not in or by his body eaten but by and for his body slain and killed upon the Cross for our Sinns as S. Paul saith Col. 1. Eph. 1.3 Ebru 2.7 8 9 10. As for eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloud really corporally materially and substantially it is but a carnal and gross opinion of man besides and contrary to the word of God and the articles of our faith and christen religion that affirmeth his corporal departure from th earth placeth it in heaven above at the right hand of God the father Almighty and keepeth retaineth holdeth and preserveth the same corporal body of Christ there til the general day of judgment as the word declareth From thence he shal come to judge the quick and the dead And that heretofore I have been in the contrary opinion and believed my self and also have taught other to believe the same that there remained no substance of bread and wine in the Sacrament but the very self same body and bloud of Christ Jesu that was born of the blessed Virgin Mary and hanged upon the Cross I am with al my heart sorry for mine error and false opinion detesting and forsaking the same from the bottome of my heart and desire God most heartily in and for the merits of his dear sons passion to forgive me and al them that have erred in the same false opinion by and through my means Praying them in the tender compassion and great mercies of God now to follow me in truth verite and singleness of Gods most true word as they were contented to follow me in error superstition and blindness and be no more ashamed to turn to the truth then they were ready to be corrupted by falshood If the holy Apostle S. Paul and the great Clerk S. Augustine with many mo Noble and vertuous members of Christs church were not ashamed to returne acknowledge and confess their error and evil opinions what am I miserable creature of the world inferior unto them both in knowledg holines and learning that should be ashamed to do the same Nay I do in this part thank God and rejoyce from the bottome of my heart that God hath revealed unto me the truth of his word and geven me leave to live so long to acknowledg my fault and error and do here before you protest that from henceforth I will with al diligence and labor study to set forth this mine amended knowledg and reconciled truth as long as I live by the help of God in the holy Ghost through the merits of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate To whom be al honor for ever and ever Amen Subscribed and confirmed 29 of April 1551. in the presence of John Bp. of Gloucester and divers other ther present NUM LXIV The Archbishop to the Lords of the Councel concerning the Book of Articles of Religion AFter my veray humble recommendations unto your good Lordeships I have sent unto the same the boke of Articles which yesterday I receyved from your Lordeships I have sent also a Cedule inclosed declarynge briefly my minde upon the said boke besechynge your Lordeshipps to be means unto the Kyngs Majestie that al the Bushops may have authority from hym to cause all their Prechers Archdecons Deans Prebendaries Parsons Vicars Curates with al their Clergie to subscribe to the said articles And than I trust that such a concorde and quyetness in religion shal shortely follow therof as ells is not to be loked for many years God shal therby be glorified his truth shal be avaunced and your Lordeships shal be rewarded of hym as the setters forward of his true word and gospel Unto whom is my dayly prayer without ceasynge to preserve the Kynges Majestie with al your honorable Lordeships From my house at Forde the 24 of this present month of November Your Lordeshipps ever to commaunde T. Cant. To my veray good Lordes of the Kinges Majestie his most honor able Councel NUM LXV The Archbishop nominates certain persons for an Irish Archbishoprick To my veray Lovinge friende Sir William Cecyl Knight one of the Kinges Majesties principal Secretaries THough in England there be many meete men for the Archbushopricks of Ireland yet I knowe veraye fewe that wil gladlie be perswaded to go thither Nevertheless I have sent unto you the names of iiij Viz. Mr. Whiteheade of Hadley Mr. Tourner of Caunturbury Sir Thomas Rosse and Sir Robert Wisdome Which being ordinarily called I thincke for conscience sake wil not refuse to bestowe the talent committed unto theim wheresoever it shal please the Kinges Majestie to appoincte theim Among whom I take Mr. Whiteheade for his good knowledge special honestie fervent zeale and politick wisdome to be most meete And next him Mr. Tourner who besides that hee is merry and witty withal nihil appetit nihil ardet nihil somniat nisi Iesum Christum and in the lively preaching of him and his wourde declareth such diligence faithfulness and wisdom as for the same deservithe much commendation There is also one Mr. Whitacre a man both wise and wel learned Chaplain to the Bushopp of Winchester veray meet for that office if he might be perswaded to take it upon him I pray you commend me unto Mr. Cheke and declare unto him that myn ague whither it were a quotidian or a double tertian wherof my Physitions doubted hath left me these two dayes and so I
Majesty It may like the same to understand that We your most humble faythful and obedient Subjects having alwayes God we take to witnes remayned your Highnes true and humble Subjects in our harts ever sythens the death of our late Soveraign Lord and Master your Highnes brother whom God pardon And seeing hitherto no possibilite to utter our determination herein without great destruction and bludshed both of our selves and others tâ—l this time Have this day proclaimed in your city of London your Majesty to be our true natural Soveraign Liege Lady and Queen Most humbly beseeching your Majesty to pardon and remit our former infirmities and most graciously taccept our meanings which have byn ever to serve your Highnes truly And so shal remain in al our powers and forces to theffusion of our bludds as thies bearers our very good Lords therle of Arundel and L. Paget can and be redy more particularly to declare To whom it may please your Excellent Majesty to give firme credence And thus we do and shal daily pray to Almighty God for the preservation of your most royal person long to reign over us From your Majesties city of London this day of Iuly the first year of your most prosperous Reygne Thus endorsed by the hand of Sir Will. Cecyl Copy of the letter to the Quene from Baynards Castle 20 July 1553. NUM LXXII The Archbishop to Mrs. Wilkinson persuading her to fly THE true Comforter in all distress is only God through his son Iesus Christ. And whosoever hath him hath compaâ—y enough although he were in a wildernes al alone And he that hath twenty thousand in his company if God be absent is in a miserable wilderness and desolation In him is al comfort and without him is none Wherefore I beseech you seek your dwelling there whereas you may truly and rightly serve God and dwel in him and have him ever dwelling in you What can be so heavy a burden as an unquiet conscience to be in such a place as a man cannot be suffered to serve God in Christs religion If you be loth to depart from your kin and friends remember that Christ calleth them his mother sisters and brothers that do his fathers wil. Where we find therfore God truly honored according to his wil there we can lack neither friend nor kin If you be loth to depart for slandering Gods word remember that Christ when his houre was not yet come departed out of his countrey into Samaria to avoyd the malice of the Scribes and Pharisees and commanded his Apostles that if they were pursued in one place they should fly to another And was not Paul let down by a basket out at a window to avoid the persecution of Aretas And what wisdome and policy he used from time to time to escape the malice of his enemies the Acts of the Apostles do declare And after the same sort did the other Apostles Albeit when it came to such a point that they could no longer escape danger of the persecutors of Gods true religion then they shewed themselves that their flying before came not of fear but of godly wisdome to do more good and that they would not rashly without urgent necessity offer themselves to death Which had been but a temptation of God Yea when they were apprehended and could no longer avoid then they stood boldly to the profession of Christ Then they shewed how little they passed of death How much they feared God more then men How much they loved and preferred the eternal life to come above this short and miserable life Wherefore I exhort you as wel by Christs commandment as by the example of him and his Apostles to withdraw your self from the malice of yours and Gods enemies into some place where God is most purely served Which is no slandering of the truth but a preserving of your self to God and the truth and to the society and comfort of Christs little flock And that you wil do do it with speed lest by your own folly you fal into the persecutors hands And the Lord send his holy spirit to lead and guide you whersoever you go And al that be godly wil say Amen NUM LXXIII The words and sayings of John Duke of Northumberland spoken by him unto the people at the Towerhill of London on Tuesday in the forenoon being the 22d day of August immediatly before his death as hereafter followeth GOod people I am come hither for to dy this day for the which al you are come hither to see And that although this is most horrible and detestable yet justly have I deserved the same for that I have been most grievous sinner unto Almighty God and to al the whole world and to the Queens grace In as much as I did presume of my self in the plain field to bear armor against her Grace Wherfore I do acknowledg that I have offended her lawes and that justly she might have put me to death without any Law had she so pleased But of her most clemency hath weighed my death by a law which justly hath condemned me But the more I trust for my Salvation and the more better for me to consider the greatnes of my sins And therfore the better for my Salvation And forasmuch as I am permitted to speak my conscience this I do protest before God the World and al you that this my death hath not been altogether of mine own procuring but hath been incensed by others Whom I pray God to pardon For I wil not name nor accuse any man here And now I shal shew how I have been of a long time led by false Teachers somewhat before the death of K. Henry VIII and ever since Which is a great part of this my death Wherfore good people beware and take heed that you be not led and deceived by these seditious and leud Preachers that have opened the Book and know not how to shut it But return home again to your true religion and Catholick faith which hath been taught you of old For since the time that this new teaching hath come among us God hath given us over unto our selves and hath plagued us sundry and many wayes with wars commotions tumults rebellions pestilence and famine besides many more great and grievous pâ—agues to the great decay of our common wealth Wherfore Good people be obedient unto the Queen her lawes and be content to receive again the true Catholic faith from which of long time you have been led Examples we have of Germany Which in like manner being led and seduced how are they now brought to ruine as wel it is known to the world And also we are taught by our Creed in the latter part of the same Where it is said We believe in the holy Ghost the holy Catholick faith the Communion of Saints Thus you may see the Articles of our belief do teach us the true faith Catholic This is my very faith and
seemed to gratify him For Vstazades desired that the Cause of his Death might be published This I ask said he for the Guerdon of my Time-service to thee and to thy Father Which the King readily granted thinking that when the Christians should all know it it would make them the more afraid and sooner to consent to him But so soon as it was published and Vstazades put to death Lord how it comforted not only Simeon then being in Prison but also all the Christians Bradford having told this History improved it after this Tenor. This History I wish said he were marked as well of us as of all our Popish Gospellers which have none other things to excuse them than Vstazades had For his Heart was with God howsoever he framed his Body We should behave our selves straitly against such Brethren as Simeon did and then they the sooner would play Vstazades Part. Which thing no marvail though they do not so long as we rock them asleep by regarding them and their Companions as daily we do and so are partakers of their Evil and at the length shall feel of their Smart and Punishment Of these outward Compliers with the Mass was one Ann Hartipol that formerly harboured the Lady Ann Ascue burnt in King Henry's Reign She now went to Mass pretending her Conscience to be â—ound before God and that her Conscience gave her leave to go To whom Philpot wrote an excellent Letter which is extant among the Letters of the Martyrs The People of this Practice had been tampering with the Lady Vane a pious Lady and a great Benefactor to the poor Prisoners of Christ Insomuch that she propounded to Bradford three Questioâ—s concerning the Mass being Cases of Conscience what she were best to do whether to go to it or not He told her in a Letter That the Questions would never be well seen nor answered until the Thing whereof they arose were well considered That is how great an Evil it was That there was never Thing upon the Earth so great and so much an Adversary to God's true Service to Christ's Death Passion Priesthood Sacrifice and Kingdom to the Ministry of God's Word and Sacrament to the Church of God to Repentance Faith and all true Godliness of Life as that was whereof the Questions arose And that therefore a Christian Man could not but so much the more abhor it and all things that in any Point might seem to allow it or any thing pertaining to the same Bradford also writ a little Book on this Argument intituled The Hurt of the Mass. This Book he sent to his Acquaintance to stop their going to the Popish Service and particularly to Mr. Shaleros a Friend of his in Lancashire and recommended the reading of it to one Riddleston that had defiled himself in this false Service CHAP. XVII A bloody Time The Queen 's great Belly A Convocation THE Year 1555 was a bloody Year and many honest People both of the Clergy and Laity were burnt alive in all Parts because they believed not Transubstantiation Insomuch that a tender Heart cannot but shrink at the very remembrance thereof And as if there were a kind of Delight in this sort of cruel Executions Instructions were sent abroad in the beginning of the Year unto the Justices of Peace through all Counties in England to enquire diligently in every Parish for Persons disaffected to the Popish Religion And in each Parish were some appointed to be secret Informers against the rest And for the better discovery of such poor Professors of the Gospel that fled from Place to Place for their Safety the Constables and four or more of the Catholick sort in every Parish were authorized to take Examination of all such as might be suspected how they lived and where they were And such as absented from the Mass and conformed not themselves to the Church were to be brought before the Justices Who were to perswade them to conform and if they would not to bind them to good Abearing or commit them to Prison The Justices were also commanded by another Order soon after to deliver such as leaned to Erroneous and Heretical Opinions and would not be reclaimed by the Justices to the Ordinaries to be by them travailed with and continuing Obstinate to have the Laws executed upon them May 27. These Orders came from the King and Queen to the Justices of Norfolk Which as I extract from a Manuscript relating the Orders sent into that County were in these special Articles I. To divide themselves into several Districtions II. To assist such Preachers as should be sent For it was thought convenient to send abroad Itinerary Preachers as was done in the last King's Reign who should by their Doctrine endeavour to reduce the People to the old Religion and to use them reverently and to be present at their Sermons and to travail soberly with such as abstained from coming to Church or by any other open Doings should appear not perswaded to conform themselves and to use others that be wilful and perverse more roundly either by rebuking them or binding them to good Behaviour or by imprisoning them as the Quality of the Persons and the Circumstance of their Doings may deserve III. To lay special wait for Teachers of Heresies and Procurers of secret Meetings to that purpose That they and their Families shew good Examples and begin first to reform their Servants if any of them be faulty IV. To apprehend spreaders of false and seditious Rumours V. To procure one or more in every Parish secretly instructed to give information of the Behaviour of the Inhabitants VI. To charge the Constable and four or more Catholick Inhabitants of every Parish to give account of idle Vagabonds and suspected Persons meaning by these the poor Professors or Preachers of the Gospel who crept about for their own Safety and had no settled Habitation and the Retainers of such Persons To observe Hue and Cry and to look after the Watches in every Parish VII To send an Account of Felons c. when any should be apprehended VIII To meet every Month and confer about these Matters Whereupon the Justices meeting together it was resolved by them to obey every of the said Orders Particularly concerning the Fifth they resolved That these secret Informations should be given to the Justices and that the accused Parties should be examined without knowledg by whom they were accused The Earl of Sussex lived in that County and was one of chief Trust there For this Earl had Command in Norfolk of Queen Mary's Army when she first laid her Claim to the Crown and managed it with that Prudence and Conduct that others were induced by his Means to come in This Earl received several Informations against Ministers and others for it seems notwithstanding all these severe Usages the Popish Mass had not yet so prevailed every where but that in divers places there were some remainders of
the next IV. Your fourth Article is this WE wil have the Sacrament hang over the high Altar and there to be worshipped as it was wont to be and they which wil not therto consent we wil have them dy like Heretics against the holy Catholic faith What say you O ignorant people in things pertaining to God Is this the holy Catholic faith that the Sacrament should be hanged over the Altar and worshipped And be they Heretics that wil not consent therto I pray you who made this Faith Any other but the Bishops of Rome And that after more then a thousand years after the Faith of Christ was ful and perfect Innocent III. about 1215 years after Christ did ordain that the Sacrament and Chrism should be kept under lock and key But yet no motion he made of hanging the Sacrament over the high Altar nor of the worshiping of it After him came Honorius III. and he added further commanding that the Sacrament should be devoutly kept in a clean place and sealed and that the priest should often teach the people reverendly to bow down to the host when it is lifted up in the Mass time and when the priests should cary it to the sick folkes And altho this Honorius added the worshipping of the Sacrament yet he made no mention of the hanging therof over the high Altar as your Article proporteth Nor how long after or by what means that came first up into this realm I think no man can tel And in Italy it is not yet used until this day And in the beginning of the Church it was not only not used to be hanged up but also it was utterly forbid to be kept And wil you have al them that wil not consent to your Article to dy like heretics that hold against the Catholic faith Were the Apostles and Evangelists heretics Were the Martyrs and Confessors heretics Were al the old Doctors of the Church heretics Were al christen people heretics until within three or four hundred years last past that the Bishops of Rome taught them what they should do and believe All they before rehearsed neither hanged the Sacrament over the Altar nor worshiped it nor not one of them al spake any one word either of the hanging up or worshiping of the Sacrament Mary they speak very much of the worshiping of Christ himself setting in heaven at the right hand of his Father And no man doth duely receive the Sacrament except he so after that maner do worship Christ whom he spiritually receiveth spiritually feedeth and nourisheth upon and by whom spiritually he liveth and continueth that life that is towards God And this the Sacrament teacheth us Now to knit up this Article shortly Here is the issue of this matter that you must either condemn of heresy the Apostles Martyrs Confessors Doctors and al the holy Church of Christ until the time of Innocentius and Honorius because they hanged not the Sacrament over the Altar to be worshiped or else you must be condemned your selves by your own Article to dy like heretics against the holy Catholic faith Now to your fifth Article V. Your fifth Article is this WE wil have the Sacrament of the Altar but at Easter delivered to the Lay-people and then but in one kind Methinks you be like a man that were brought up in a dark dungeon that never saw light nor knew nothing that is abroad in the world And if a friend of his pitying his ignorance and state would bring him out of his dungeon that he might se the light and come to knowledg he being from his youth used to darknes could not abide the light but would wilfully shut his eyes and be offended both with the light and with his friend also A most godly Prince of famous memory K. Henry VIII our late Soveraign Lord pitying to se his Subjects many years so brought up in darknes and ignorance of God by the erroneous doctrines and superstitions of the Bp. of Rome with the counsil of al his Nobles and learned men studied by al means and that to his no little danger and charges to bring you out of your said ignorance and darknes unto the true light and knowledg of Gods word And our most dread Soveraign Lord that now is succeding his father as wel in this godly intent as in his realmes and dominions hath with no less care and diligence studied to perform his fathers godly intent and purpose And you like men that wilfully shut their own eyes refuse to receive the light saying you wil remain in your darknes Or rather you be like men that be so far wandred out of the right way that they can never come to it again without good and expert guides and yet when the guides would tel you the truth they would not be ordered by them but would say unto them Wee wil have and follow our own wayes And that you may understand how far you be wandred from the â—ight way in this one Article wherin you wil have the Sacrament of the Altar delivered to the Lay-people but once in the year and then but under one kind be you assured that there was never such law nor such request made among christen people until this day What injury do you to many godly persons which would devoutly receive it many times and you command the priest to deliver it them but at Easter Al learned men and godly have exhorted christen people altho they have not commanded them often to receive the Communion And in the Apostles time the people at Ierusalem received it every day as it appeares by the manifest word of the Scripture And after they received it in some places every day In some places four times in the week in some three times some twice commonly every where at the least once in the week In the beginning when men were most godly and fervent in the holy Spirit then they received the Communion daily But when the Spirit of God began to be more cold in mens hearts and they waxed more worldly than godly then their desire was not so hot to receive the Communion as it was before And ever from time to time as the world waxed more wicked the more the people withdrew themselves from the holy Communion For it was so holy a thing and the threatnings of God be so sore against them that come therto unworthily that an ungodly man abhorreth it and not without cause dare in no wise approch therunto But to them that live godly it is the greatest comfort that in this world can be imagined And the more godly a man is the more sweetnes and spiritual plesure and desire he shal have often to receive it And wil you be so ungodly to command the Priest that he shal not deliver it to him but at Easter and then but only in one kind When Christ ordained both the kinds as wel for the Lay-men as for the Priests and that to be eaten and drunken at
offences but to pardon the punishment for the same If the King would pardon you would you take that for a pardon Would you not alledg your Pardon and say that you ought not to be punished Who can then that hath but a crum of reason in his head imagin of God that he wil after our death punish those things that he pardoned in our life time Truth it is that Scripture maketh mention of Paradise and Abrahams bosome after this life but those be places of joy and consolation not of pain and torments But yet I know what subtil Sophisters use to mutter in mens ears to deceive them withal David say they with many other were pardoned of their offences and yet were they sore punished after for the same of God And some of them so long as they lived Wel be it were so Yet after their lives they were not punished in Purgatory therfore But the end of their lives was the end of their punishment And likewise it is of Original sin after Baptism which altho it be pardoned yet after paines therof continue so long as we live But this punishment in this life time is not to revenge our Original sin which is pardoned in Baptism but to make us humble penitent obedient to God fearful to offend to know our selves and ever to stand in fear and aw as if a Father that hath beaten a wilful child for his faults should hang the rod continually at the childs girdle it should be no smal pain and grief to the child ever hanging by his side And yet the father doth it not to beat the child for that which is past and forgiven but to make him beware hereafter that he offend not again and to be gentle tractable obedient and loth to do any thing amiss But after this life there is no such cause of punishment Where no rod nor whip can force any man to go any faster or further being already at the end of his journey Likewise a Master that hath an unthrifty Servant which out of his Masters sight doth nothing but riot and disorder himself if he forgive his Servant and for the love he beareth to him and the desire he hath to se him corrected and reformed he wil command him never to be out of his sight This Command altho indeed it be a great pain to the Servant yet the Master doth it not to punish those faults which before he had pardoned and forgiven but to keep him in stay that he fal no mo to like disorder But these examples and casâ—s of punishment here in this life can in no wise be wrested and drawn to the life to come And so in no wise can serve for Purgatory And furthermore Seeing that the Scriptures so often and so diligently teach us almost in every place to relieve al them that be in necessity to feed the hungry to cloth the naked to visit the sick and the prisoner to comfort the sorrowful and so to al others that have need of our help and the same in no place make mention either of such pains in Purgatory or what comfort we may do them it is certain that the same is feigned for lucre and not grounded upon Gods word For else the Scripture in some place would have told us plainly what case they stood in that be in Purgatory and what relief and help we might do unto them But as for such as Gods word speaketh not one word of neither of them both my counsil shal be that you keep not the Bp. of Romes Decrees that you may come to Purgatory but keep Gods laws that you may come to heaven Or else I promise you assured y that you shal never escape Hel. Now to your next Article X. Your tenth Article is this WE wil have the Bible and al Books of Scripture in English to be called in again For we be informed that otherwise the Clergy shal not of long time confound the Heretics Alas it grieveth me to hear your Articles and much I rue and lament your ignorance praying God most earnestly once to lighten your eyes that you may see the truth What christen heart would not be grieved to se you so ignorant for willingly and wilfully I trust you do it not that you refuse Christ and joyne your selves with Antichrist You refuse the holy Bible and al holy Scriptures so much that you wil have them called in again and the Bp. of Romes Decrees you wil have advanced and observed I may wel say to you as Christ said to Peter Turne back again for you savor not godly things As many of you as understand no Latine cannot know Gods word but in English except it be the Cornish men which cannot understand likewise none but their own speech Then you must be content to have it in English which you know or else you must confes that you refuse utterly the knowledg therof And wherfore did the Holy Ghost come down in fiery tongues and gave them knowledge of al languages but that al Nations might hear speak and learn Gods word in their Mother tongue And can you name me any Christens in al the world but they have and ever had Gods word in their own tongue and the Jews to whom God gave his Scriptures in the Hebrew tongue after their long captivity among the Chaldees so that mo of them knew the Chaldee rather then the Hebrew tongue they caused the Scripture to be turned into the Chaldee tongue that they might understand it Which until this day is called Targum And Ptolomy King of Egypt caused Sixty Seventy of the greatest Clerks that might be gotten to translate the Scripture out of Hebrew into Greek And until this day the Greeks have it in the Greek tongue the Latines in the Latine tongue and al other Nations in their own tongue And wil you have God further from us then from al other countries that he shal speak to every man in his own language that he understandeth and was born in and to us shal speak a strange language that we understand not And wil you that al other Realmes shal laâ—d God in their own speech and we shal say to him we know not what Altho you savor so little of godlines that you â—ist not to read his word your selves you ought not to be so malicious and envious to let them that be more godly and would gladly read it to their comfort and edification And if there be an English Heretic how wil you have him confuted but in English And wherby else but by Gods word Then it followeth that to confute English Heretics we must have Gods word in English as al other Nations have it in their own native language S. Paul to the Ephesians teacheth al men as wel Lay-men as priests to arme themselves and to fight against al Adversaries with Gods word Without the which we cannot be able to prevail neither against subtil Heretics puissant Devils this deceitful world nor our
quae scripserint ut respondeat Has itaque Lucubrationes vobis insignissimi Heroes quos Christus praecipuos sub potentissimo Rege nostro Edovardo Reipub. judices constituit exhibendas esse censui nihil prorsus ambigens eam esse vestram in omnes veritatis studiosos benignitatem eam aequitatem eam veri judicij certitudinem ut sine omni personarum acceptione justam causae conditionem velitis semper attendere neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram ulla occasione ducti quovismodo a veritate declinare non ignorantes in illum finem vobis concessam esse potestatem tum a summo judice Deo tum ab ipsa Regia majestate apud quam pro vestra in Câ—ristum charitate agere dignemini quo mihi indigenae ac genuino Regis nostri subdito Christi causam quoad possum curanti tantum in evulgando hoc disputationum ac annotationum Volumine efficere liceat quantum Petro Martyri extraneo veritatis adversario audere hactenus fuerit impunè permissum Rem sanè justam ni fallor postulo Neque profectò in scriptis his est unde pius quispiam offendatur In impios autem ut duriùs agamus exposcit veritatis ratio quae nequaquam charitati refragatur Duriùs enim contra errones obstinatos egerunt Patres nec illis unquam pepercerunt quin veluti Christi hostes verbis factisque contemnerent atque acerbissimis reprehensionibus persequerentur Iohannes Baptista Pharisaeos incredulos viperarum vocavit progenies Christus ipse malos illos Iudaeos mendaces appellavit diaboli filios Sed Petrum ipsum a morte obeunda dehortantem minúsque in hoc sapientem quae Dei sunt Satanam taxando nuncupavit Unde certò edocemur nos posse citra charitatis praejudicium adversarios in causis religionis severis ac mordacibus verbis impetere atque perstringere Denique haud temerè hoc quicquid est opusculi evulgo sed summae vestrae prudentiae eximio candori qui illi regum omnium pulcherrimo flori jam sese auspicatissimè diffundenti a consilijs estis humilis suppléxque ipsum offero obnixè vos exoratos habens ut cum privilegio ad Christi honorem ac multorum utilitatem divulgetur Id quod vestrae Dominationes ab illa lucis aurora nimirum Serenissimo Rege nostro Edovardo jam a paterno somno orbem illustri virtutum omnium lumine spargente facile spero obtinebunt cum gratia consequentur Hanc auroram splendidissimam felicissimè procedere atque in perfectum diem crescere optimaque Optimi patris vestigia imitari faciat Deus Opt. Max. qui illum unicum nostrum decus praesidium Vósque sub ipso Moderatores Reip. primarios aliosque illius studiosos universos diuturnissimè incolumes servet NUM XLVI The sentencious sayinges of Master Martin Bucer upon the Lordes Supper 1. SO playnely so faythfully and also so warely as can be possyble we ought to speake of the mysteryes of the holy supper even as we ought to do of all other Christes mysteryes to th ende that the Children of God may most clearely perseyve what Christ doth meane and the Adversaryes to have as small occasion as can be eyther to pervert or els to darke and make dymme the truth of Christ. 2. These thinges we cannot better attaine then by the godly and right expoundyng of the wordes of the holy ghost not allowing any false sygnyfications of them both certaynly affirmyng the thinges whiche be agreeable unto this mystery and also denying the thinges whiche be contrarye ther unto 3. We must certaynely acknowledge that the holy ghost most clearly most faythfully and most warely hath dyscrybed all the sacraments of our salvation 4. But the holy ghost by Christes own mouth by the mouth of the Apostles and by the scripture delyvereth unto us the sacrament of the Lordes Supper even as he doth all other Sacramentes by the words and fourme of delyveryng gevying and receyving 5. And three thinges acknowledgeth hearein to be geven and taken bread and wyne beyng the signes of the body and bloud of the Lord and assurance of the new testament and remyssion of our synnes 6. For when he had taken bread and wyne and geven thanckes he gave them to hys dyscyples to be eaten and drunken and said moreover that by these sygnes he gave therin his body that was offered for us and lykewise his bloud which was shed for us saying also that by this bloude the new testament of grace was assured and the forgeuenes of synnes purchased 7. And he defyneth or describeth the right use and receyving of this Sacrament to be that partaking of the body and bloud of Christ wherby we beyng many are one bread and one body as many of us as be partakers of one Bread and one Cup of the Lord. This body doubtles is that body wherof Christ is the head and into the which we are baptised For by the regeneration we are made members of his body fleshe of his flesh bone of his bones and so we be one flesh with him 1 Cor. 12. Ephes. 5. 8. That fellowship which we have with the father and the sonne and with all the sayntes wherof S. Iohn speaketh 1 Iohn 1 chap. of his epistle is geven and taken in the Lords supper rightly admynistred and receyved That unity also which we have with the father and the sonne and with all the saints for the which the Lord prayed Iohn 17. by the which Christ is in us as the Father is in him and we in theym I meane in the father and the sonne is geven and receyved in the same supper rightly administred wherof the Lord also speaketh he that eateth my flesh and drincketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him John 6. 9. This is the partaking and the unity of an heavenlye regeneration of a new creature of the high mystery of God which cannot be understand and knowen but by fayth even as fayth is perceyved and felt by his effectes as by judgement wyll and by the new heavenly and godly workes 10. All sensyble and worldly imagynations all fansying of joyned or contynuall places are to be put away from this partycipation and unytie which in the word of God is knowen to be mervelous and with reverence to be pondered and dyscussed by the new mans lyvyng as by his effectes 11. The Holy Ghost thought it not inough to declare unto us how that we be endued wyth the spirit of Christ by his merites but he doth publish also that we do lyve by his intercession and working He furthermore assureth us that we have him with us that he dwelleth in our hartes and that we receyve him in the holy supper These be the thinges which we ought to tell openly and to fortefye 12. These are Metaphors and borowed speeches lyke as other wherby we expounde the matters of regeneration For unto such matters as the naturall man perceyveth not
pro Martyribus deprecatur fit ipse Martyr NUM LXXXVI Dr. Ridley late Bishop of London to West formerly his Steward who had complyed with the Romish religion I Wish you grace in God and love of the trueth Without the which truly established in mans heart by the mighty hand of Almighty God it is no more possible to stand by the truth in Christs cause in the time of tribulation then it is for wax to abide the heat of the fire Sir know you this that I am blessed be God persuaded that this world is but transitory as S. Iohn saith Mundus transit concupiscentia ejus I am persuaded Christs words to be true Qui me confessus fuerit coram hominibus I wil confes him before my father which is in heaven And I believe that no earthly creature shal be saved whom the Redeemer and Savior of the world shal before his Father deny This the Lord grant that it may be so grafted established and fixed in my heart that neither things present or to come high or low life or death be able to remove It is a godly wish that yee wish me depely to considre things perteinyng to Gods honor and glory But if ye had wished also that neither fear of death or hope of worldly prosperity shuld let me to maintein gods word and his truth which is his glory and true honour it wold have liked me very wel You desire me for Gods sake to remembre my self Indeed Sir now it is time for me so to do For so far as I can perceyve it standeth me of no les daunger then of the los both of body and soule And I trow then it is time for a man to awake if any thing wil awake him He that wil not fear him that threatneth to cast body and soule into everlasting fire whom wil he fear Oh Lord fasten thou together our frayl flesh that we never swarve from thy Lawes You say you have made much sute for me Sir God gâ—aunt that you have not in sueing for my worldly deliveraâ—ce empaired or hindred the furtheraunce of Gods word and his â—ruth You have knowen me long indede in the which time it hath chaunced me to mislyke some things It is true I graunte For sodeine chaunges without substantial aud necessary causes and the heady setting furth of extremities I did never love Confession to the minister which is able to instruct correct comfort and enform the weak and ignorant consciences I have ever thought might do much good in Christs Congregation And so I assure you I do think even at this day My doctrin and my preaching you say you have heard oft and after your judgment have thought it godly saving of the Sacrament Which thing although it was of me reverendly handled and a great deal better than of the rest as you say yet in the margent you write warily and in this world wysely thus And yet methought not al soundly Wel Sir but I see so many chaunges in the world and so much alteration or els at this your saying I wold not a litle mervayl I have taken you for my trustie freynd and a man whom I fantasied for plainness and faithfulnes as much I ensure you as for your learning And have you kept this so close in your heart from me unto this day Sir I considre mo things than one and wil not say al that I think But what need you to care what I thynke for any thing that I shal be able to do unto you either good or harm You geve me good lessons to stand in nothing against my learning and to beware of vain glory Truly Sir herein I like your counsel very wel and by Gods grace I intend to follow it unto my lyves end To write to them whom you name I cannot se what it wil avayle me For this I wold now have you know it I esteme nothing avaylabâ—e for me which also wil not set furth the glory of God And now because I perceive you have an entyre zeal and desire of my deliverance out of this captivitie and worldly misery if I shuld not bear you a good heart in God again methynk I were to blame Sir how nigh the day of my dissolution and departure hence out of this world is at hand I cannot tel The Lords wil be fulfilled How soon soever it shal come I know the Lords words must be verified on me that I shal appear before the uncorrupt Judge and be countable to him of al my former lyfe Although the hope of his mercy is my shote ankor of eternal Salvation yet am I persuaded that whosoever wittingly neglecteth and regardeth not to clear his conscience he cannot have peace with God nor a lyvely faith in his mercy Conscience moveth me considering you were one of my family and of my household of whom then I thynke I had a special cure and of all them which were in my house which indede ought to have been an example of godlines to al the rest of my cure not only in godly life but also in promoting of Gods word to thuttermost of their power But now alas when the trial doth separate the corn from the chaff how smal a deyl it is God knoweth which the wynde doth not blow away This conscience I say doth move me to have fear lest the lightnes of my family shal be layd unto me for lack of more earnest and diligent instructions which shuld have been doon But blessed be God which hath geven me grace to se my default and to lament it from the bottome of my heart before my departure hence This Conscience also doth move me now to require both you and my freynd Dr. Harvy to remembre your promises made to me in time past of the pure setting furth and preaching of Gods word and his truth These promises although you shal not nede to fear to be charged with them of me hereafter before the world Yet look for none other I exhort you as my freynds but to be charged with them at Gods hand This Conscience and the love that I bear unto you byddeth me now say to you both in Gods name Fear God and love not the world for God is able to cast both body and soul into hel fire Cum exarserit in brevi ira ejus beati omnes saith the Psalme qui confidunt in eo And the saying of S. Iohn is true Quicquid est in mundo veluti concupiscentia carnis concupiscentia oculorum fastus vitae non ex patre sed ex mundo est Et mundus transit concupiscentia ejus Qui autem facit voluntatem Dei manet in aeternum If these gifts of grace which undoubtedly are necessarily required unto eternal salvation were truly and unfeignedly grafted and firmely stablished in mens hearts they wold not be so light so sodaynly to shrink from the maintenance and confession of the truth as it is now alas
belief And these were in my heart as my Lord Bp. Hethe of Worcester can testify Neither was I commanded thus to speak but even of mine own free wil. And then he went to his prayers and dyed NUM LXXIV Archbishop Cranmers Letter to the Queen sueing for his pardon in the Lady Janes business MOst Lamentably mourning and moaning himself unto your Highnes Thomas Cranmer although unworthy either to write or speak unto your Highnes yet having no person that I know to be mediator for me and knowing your pitiful ears ready to hear al pitiful complaints and seeing so many to have felt your aboundant clemency in like case Am now constrained most lamentably and with most penitent and sorrowful heart to ask mercy and pardon for my heinous folly and offence in consenting and following the Testament and last Will of our late Soveraign Lord K. Edward VI. your Graces brother Which wel God he knoweth I never liked nor any thing grieved me so much that your Graces brother did And if by any means it had been in me to have letted the making of that Wil I would have done it And what I said therin as wel to the Councel as to himself divers of your Majesties Councel can report but none so wel as the Marquess of Northampton and the L. Darcy then Lord Chamberlain to the Kings Majesty Which two were present at the Communication between the Kings Majesty and me I desired to talk with the Kings Majesty alone but I could not be suffered and so I failed of my purpose For if I might have commoned with the King alone and at good leisure my trust was that I should have altered him from his purpose but they being present my labor was in vain Then when I could not dissuade him from the said Will and both he and his Privy Councel also informed me that the Judges and his learned Counsil said that the Act of entayling the Crown made by his Father could not be prejudicial to him but that he being in possession of the Crown might make his Wil therof This seemed very strange unto me But being the sentence of the Judges and other his learned Counsil in the Lawes of this realm as both he and his Counsil informed me methought it became not me being unlearned in the Law to stand against my Prince therin And so at length I was required by the Kings Majesty himself to set to my hand to his Wil Saying that he trusted that I alone would not be more repugnant to his Wil then the rest of the Councel were Which words surely grieved my heart very sore And so I granted him to subscribe his Wil and to follow the same Which when I had set my hand unto I did it unfainedly and without dissimulation For the which I submit my self most humbly unto your Majesty acknowledging mine offence with most grievous and sorrowful heart and beseeching your mercy and pardon Which my heart giveth me shal not be denyed unto me being granted before to so many Which travailed not so much to dissuade both the King and his Councel as I did And wheras it is contained in two Acts of Parlament as I understand that I with the Duke of Northumberland should devise and compass the deprivation of your Majesty from your royal Crown surely it is untrue For the Duke never opened his mouth to me to move me any such matter Nor his heart was not such toward me seeking long time my destruction that he would ever trust me in such a matter or think that I would be persuaded by him It was other of the Councel that moved me and the King himself the Duke of Northumberland not being present Neither before neither after had I ever any privy communication with the Duke of that matter saving that openly at the Councel table the Duke said unto me that it became not me to say to the King as I did when I went about to dissuade him from his said Will Now as concerning the state of religion as it is used in this realm of England at this present if it please your Highnes to licence me I would gladly write my mind unto your Majesty I wil never God willing be author of Sedition to move Subjects from the obedience of their Heads and Rulers Which is an offence most detestable If I have uttered my mind to your Majesty being a Christian Queen and Governor of this Realm of whom I am most assuredly persuaded that your gracious intent is above al other regards to prefer Gods true word his honor and glory if I have uttered I say my mind unto your Majesty then I shal think my self discharged For it lyes not in me but in your Grace only to se the Reformation of things that be amisse To private subjects it appertaineth not to reform things but quietly to suffer that they cannot amend Yet nevertheles to shew your Majesty my mind in things appertaining unto God methink it my duty knowing that I do and considering the place which in time past I have occupied Yet wil I not presume therunto without your Graces plesure first known and your Licence obtained Wherof I most humbly prostrate to the ground do beseech your Majesty and I shal not cease daily to pray to Almighty God for the good preservation of your Majesty from al Enemies bodily and ghostly and for the encrease of al goodnes heavenly and earthly during my life as I do and wil do whatsoever become of me NUM LXXV Cardinal Poles Instructions for his Messenger to the Queen Instructions for Master Thomas Goldwel MAster Goldwel After ye have made my most humble Salutations with al due reverence to the Queens Highnes on my behalf and presented my Letters to the same then pleasing her Grace to hear your Commission given by me and to understand the cause why I do send you to her ye may expound the same in that form that followeth First of al Seeing that the whole cause of my sending you to her Highnes at this time is grounded upon the request that her Grace maketh unto me in her letters sent me these dayes past from the Emperors court dated in London the xxviij of October in the Latine tongue Wherunto her G. doth demand answer of me in two points One is touching the difficulty she feareth by signes she seeth already touching the renouncing of the title of the Supremacy of the Church in her Realmes when it shal be put forth in the Parlament Which signes be that wheras her Majesty already hath caused to be put forth to the Parlament the abolishing of those lawes which concerned the annullation of the Legitimate matrimony of the gracious Lady the Queen Mother to her G. the same passing the Upper house and put forth to the Lower albeit in the effect they would not refuse to aggree to al that might make to the establishing of the right of her G. to the Crown yet they did not gladly