added from the Holy Scripture where Solomon is found to be preferred unto the Throne by David before Adonijah the youngest Son before the eldest a Childe before a Man experienced and well grown in years And some Examples also might be had of the like Transpositions in the Realm of Scotland in Hungary Naples and else where enough to shew that nothing had been done in this great Transaction which was not to be presidented in other Places Upon all which Considerations it was thought most agreeable to the Rules of Polity that the King by Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England should so dispose of the Possession of the Crown with such Remainders and Reversions as to him seemed best as might prevent such Inconveniencies and Emergent Mischiefs as might otherwise happen which could not better be effected then by setting the Crown on the Head of the Lady Jane a Lady of a Royal Blood born in the Realm brought up in the Religion now by Law established Married already to a Person of Desert and Honour and such an one in whom all those Graces were concentred which were sufficient to adorn all the rest of Her Sex Thus Reason being thus prepared the next Care was to have the Instrument so contrived in due form of Law that nothing might be wanting in the Stile and Legalities of it which might make it any way obnoxious to Disputes and Questions For the doing whereof it was thought necessary to call in the Assistance of some of the Judges and others of His Majesties Council learned in the Laws of this Realm by whose Authority it might be thought more passable amongst the People Of all which Rank none was thought fitter to be taken into the Consultation then Sir Edward Montague not onely as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and very well experienced in His own Profession But because he being one of the Executours of the King deceased his concurrence with the rest of the Council seemed the more considerable A Letter is therefore sent unto him on the eleventh of June subscribed by the Lord Treasurer the Duke of Northumberland the Earls of Shrewsbury Bedford and Pembroke the Lord Admiral Clinton the Lord Darcie Sir John Gale Sir William Peter Sir William Cecil and Sir John Cheek By the Tenour whereof he was commanded to attend upon their Lordships the next day in the Afternoon and to bring with him Sir John Baker Chancellour of the first-Fruits and Tenths Master Justice Bromeley together with the Attorney and Sollicitour General Being brought into the King's Presence at the time appointed whom they found attended by the Lord Treasurer and some others of those who had subscribed the former Letter the King declared Himself with a weak Voice to this Effect viz. That He had considered in His Sickness of the Estate of His Realm which if it should descend on the Lady Mary who was then unmarried it might so happen that She might marry a Stranger born whereby not onely the Laws of the Realm might be changed and altered but all His own Proceedings in Religion might be also reversed That it was His Pleasure therefore that the Crown should Descend after His Decease unto such Persons aâ—d in such Form as was contained in certain Articles then ready to be shewed unto them to be by them digested and disposed of in due Form of Law These Articles when they had Perused and Considered of they signified unto the King that they conceâ—ved them to be contrary to the Act of Succession which being made in Parliament could not be Frustrated or made Ineffectual but by Parliaments onely Which Answer notwithstanding the King without allowing further time or deliberation commanded them to take the Articles along with them and give the Business a Dispatch with all speed as might be But finding greater Difficulties in it then had appeared unto their Lordships they made a Report unto them at their next Attendance that they had Considered of the King's Articles and the Act of Succession whereby it appeared manâ—festly that if they should make any Book concerning the King's Commandment they should not onely be in danger of Treason but their Lordships also The sum of which Report being cerâ—ifiâ—d to the Duke of Northumberland who though absent was not out of Call he came in great Rage and Fury to the Council-Chamber called the Chief Justice Traitour affirmed that he would fight in his Shirt in that Quarrel against any man living and behaved himself in such an outragious manner as put both Mountague and Justice Bromely in a very great fear that he would have struck them Calâ—ed to the Court again by a Letter of the fourteenth of the same Moneth they found the King more earnest in it then He was before requiring them with a sharp Voice and a displeased Countenance to dispatch the Book according to the Articles delivered to them and telling them that He would have a Parliament shortly to Confirm the same When nothing else would serve the turn Answer was made That His Câ—mmandment should be obeyed upon Condition that they might be Commissionated so to do by His Majestie 's Warrant under the Great Seal of England and have a General Pardon for it when the Deed was done Not daring longer to resist and having made as good Provision as they could for their own Indemnâ—ty they betook themselves unto the Work digested it in form oâ— Law caused â—t to be Engrossed in Parchment and so dispatched it for the Seal to the Lord Chancellour Goodrick sufficiently prepared before-hand not to stick upon it Bâ—t then appeared another Difficulty amongst the Lords of the Council some of whâ—ch not well satisfied with these Proceedings appeared as backward in Subscribing to the Instrument before it went unto the Seal as the Great Lawyers had done at the first in being brought to the Employment But such was the Authority which Dudley and his Party had gained amongst them that some for fear and some for favour did Subscribe at last a Zeal to the Reformed Religion prevailing in it upon some a doubt of loosing their Church-Lands more powerfully over-swaying others and all in fear of getting the displeasure of that Mighty Tyrant who by his Power and Practices carried all before him The last that stood it out was Arch-Bishop Cranmer Who being sent for to the Court when all the Lords of the Council and most of the Judges of the Realm had subscribed the Instrument refused to put his hand unto it or to consent to the Disherison of the late King's Daughters After much Reasoning of the Case he requires a longer time of deliberation consults about it with some of the most Learned Lawyers and is finally sent for by the King who having fully set his heart upon the Business did use so many Reasons to him in behalf of Religion and plyed him with such strong Perswasions in pursuance of them that at the last he suffered himself to be overcome by His Importunities
Performers of Our last Will and Testament Willing Commanding and Praying them to take upon them the occupation and performances of the same as Executours that is to say The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesly Chancellour of England the Lord St John Great Master of Oar House the Earl of Hartford Great Chamberlain the Lord Russel Lord Privy Seal the Viscount L'isle Lord High Admiral of England the Bishop Tonstal of Duresme Sir Anthony Brown Knight Master of Our Horses Sir Edward Mountague Knight chief Judge of the Common Pleas Justice Bromly Sir Edward North Knight Chancellour of the Augmentations Sir William Paget Kniâ—ht Our chief Secretary Sir Anthony Denny Sir William Herbert Knight chief Gentlemen of Our Privy Chamber Sir Edward Wotton Knight and Mr. Dr. Wotten his Brother And all these We will to be Our Executours and Councellours of the Privy Council with Our said Son Prince Edward in all matters both concerning His Private affairs and the Publick affairs of the Realm Willing and charging them and every of them as they must and shall answer at the day of Judgement wholly and fully to see this My last Will and Testament performed in all things with as much speed and diligence as may be and that none of them presume to medâ—le with any of Our Treasure or to do any thing appointed by Our said Will alone unless the most part of the whole number of the Co-Executours do consent and by writing agree to the same And wâ—ll that Our said Executours or the most part of them may lawfully do what they shall think most convenient for the execution of this Our Will without being troubled by Our said Son or any other for the same After which having taken Order about the payment of His Debts He proceeds as followeth Further according to the Laws of Almighty God and for the Fatherly Love which We bear to Our Son Prince Edward and this Our Realm We declare Him according to Justice Equity and Conscience to be Our lawfull Heir and do give and bequeath unto Him the Succession of Our Realms of England and Ireland with Our Title of France and all Our Dominions both on this side the Seas and beyond A convenient portion for Our will and Testament to be reserved Also we give unto Him all Our Plate Stuff of Houshold Artillery Ordnance Ammunition Ships Cables and all other things and implements to them belonging and Money also and Jewels saving such portions as shall satisfie this Our Last Will and Testament Charging and commanding Him on pain of Our curse seeing He hath so Loving a Father of Vs and that Our chief Labour and Study in this world is to establish him in the Crown Imperial of this Realm after Our â—â—cease in such sort as may be pleasing to God and to the health of this Realm that He be Ordered and Ruled both in His Marriage and also in ordering the Affairs of the Realm as well outward as inward and also in all His own private Affairs and in giving of Offices of Charge by the Advice and Counsel of Our Right-entirely beloved Councellours the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesly Chancellour of England the Lord St. John Master of Our Horse the Lord Russel Lord Privy Seal the Earl of Hartford Great Chamberlain of England the Viscount L'isle High Admiral of England the Bishop Tonstal of Dureâ—me Sir Anthony Brown Knight Master of Our Horses Sir William Paget Our chief Secretary Sir Anthony Denny Sir William Herbert Justice Mountague and Bromely Sir Edward Wotton Mr. â—octour Wotton and Sir Edward North Whom we Ordain name and appoint and by these Presents Signed with Our hand do make and constitute Our Privy Council with Our said Son and will that they have the Governance of Our most dear Son Prince Edward and of all Our Realms Dominions and Subjects and of all the Affairs publick and private untill He shall have fully compleated the eighteenth year of His Age. And for because the variety and number of things affairs and matters are and may be such as We not knowing the certainty of them before cannot conveniently prescribe a certain â—rder or Rule unto Our said Councellours for their behaviours and proceedings in this charge which we have now and do appoint unto them about Our said Son during the time of His minority aforesaid We therefore for the special Trust and Confidence which We have in them will and by these Presents do give and grant full Power and Authority unto Our said Councelours that they all or the most part of them being assembled together in Council or if any of them fortune to dye the more part of them which shall be for the time living being assembled in Council together shall and may make devise and ordain whatsoever things they or the more part of them as afore-said shall during the Minority of Our said Son think meet necessary and convenient for the Benefit Honour and Surety of the Weal Profit and Commodity of Our said Son His Realms Dominions or Subjects or the Discharge of Our Conscience And the same things made ordained and devised by them or the more part of them as afore-said shall and may lawfully do execute and accomplish or cause to be done executed or accomplished by their Discretions or the Discretions of the more part of them as afore-said in as large and ample manner as if We had or did express unto them by a more special Commission under Our Great Seal of England every particular cause that may chance or occurr during the time of Our said Son's Minority and the self-same manner of Proceeding which they shall from time to time think meet to use and follow Willing and charging Our said Son and all others which shall hereafter be Councellours to Our said Son that they never charge molest trouble or disquiet Our afore-said Councellours nor any of them for the devising or doing nor any other person or persons for doing that they shall devise or the more part of them devise or do assembled as is afore-said And We do charge expresly the same Our entirely-beloved Councellours and Executours that they shall take upon them the Rule and Charge of Our said Son and Heir in all His Causes and Affairs and of the whole Realm doing nevertheless all things as under Him and in His name untill Our said Son and Heir shall be bestowed and married by their advice and that the eighteenth year be expired Willing dâ—siring furthermore Our said Trusty Councellours and then all Our Trusty and Assured Servants and Thirdly all other Our Loving Subjects to aid and assist Our fore-named Councellours in the Execution of the Premisses during the afore-said time not doubting but that they will in all things deal so truly and uprightly as they shall have cause to think them well chosen for the Charge committed unto them Streightly charging our said Councellours and Executours and in God's Name exhorting them for the singular Trust and
there excepteth against Commemoration of the Dead which he acknowledgeth however to be very Antient as also against Chrism and Extreme Vnction the last of which being rather allowed of then required by the Rules of that Book which said he maketh it his Advice that all these Ceremonies should be abrogated and that withall he should go forwards to Reform the Church without fear or wit without regard of Peace at home or Correspondency abroad such Considerations being onely to be had in Civil Matters but not in Matters of the Church wherein not any thing is to be Exacted which is not warranted by the Word and in the managing whereof there is not any thing more distastfull in the eyâ— of God then Worldly Wisdom either in moderating cutting off or going backwards but meerly as we are directed by his Will revealed In the next place he gives a touch on the Book of Homilies which Bucer as it appears by his Epistle to the Church of England had right-well approved of These very faintly he permits for a season onely but by no means allows of them for a long continuance or to be looked on as a Rule of the Church or constantly to serve for the instruction of the People and thereby gave the hint to the Zuinglian Gospellers who ever since almost have declaimed against them And whereas some Disputes had grown by his setting on or the Pragmatick Humour of some Agents which he had amongst us about the Ceremonies of the Church then by Law established he must needs trouble the Protectour in that business also To whom he writes to this effect That the Papists would grow insolenter every day then other unless the differences were composed about the Ceremonies But how not by reducing the Opponents to Conformity but by encouraging them rather in their Opposition which cannot but appear most plainly to be all he aimed at by soliciting the Duke of Sommerset in behalf of Hooper who was then fallen into some troubles upon that of which more hereafter Now in the Heat of these Imployments both in Church and State the French and Scots lay hold on the Opportunity for the Recovering of some Forts and Peeces of Consequence which had been taken from them by the English in the former War The last year Bulloign-Siege was attempted by some of the French in hope to take it by Surprize and were couragiously repulsed by the English Garison But now they are resolved to go more openly to work and therefore send an Herald to defy the King according to the Noble manner of those Times in proclaiming War before they entred into Action against one another The Herald did his Office on the eighth of August and preâ—ently the French with a considerable Army invade the Territory of Bulloign In less then three weeks they possess themselves of Blackness Hamiltue and New-Haven with all the Ordnance Ammunition and Victuals in them Few of the Souldiers escaped with Life but onely the Governour of New-Haven a Bastard Son of the Lord Sturton's who was believed to have betrayed that Fort unto them because he did put himself immediatly into the Service of the French But they sped worse in their Designs by Sea then they did by Land for giving themselves no small Hopes in those broken Times for taking in the Islands of Guerâ—sey and Jersey they made toward them with a great number of Gallies but they were so manfully encountred with the King's Navy which lay then hovering on those Coasts that with the loss of a Thousand men and great spoil of their Gallies they were forced to retire into France and desist from their purpose Nor were the Scotâ— in the mean time negligent in preparing for their own Defence against whom some considerable Forces had been prepared in the Beginning of this Summer but most unhappily diverted though very fortunately imployed for the Relief of Exeter and the taking of Norwich So that no Succours being sent for the Relief of those Garisons which then remained unto the English the Scots about the middle of November following couragiously assault the strong Fort of Bouticrage take it by Storm put all the Souldiers to the Sword except the Captain and him they spared not out of any Pity or Humane Compassion but because they would not lose the Hope of so great a Benefit as they expected for his Ransom Nothing now left unto the English of all their late Purchases and Acquists in Scotland but the strong Fort of Aymouth and the Town of Rox-borough The loss of so many Peeces in France one after another was very sad News to all the Court but the Earl of Warwick Who purposely had delayed the sending of such Forces as were prepared against the French that the Forts above-mentioned might be lost that upon the loss thereof he might project the Ruin of the Lord Protectour He had long cast an envious Eye at his Power and Greatness and looked upon himself as a man of other parts both for Camp and Counsel fitter in all Respects to Protect the Kingdom then he that did enjoy the Title He looked upon him also as a man exposed to the Blows of Fortune in being so fatally deprived of his greatest strength by the Death of his Brother after which he had little left unto him but the worst half of himself feared by the Lords and not so well beloved by the Common People as he had been formerly There goes a Story that Earl Godwine having treacherously slain Prince Alfred the Brother of Edward the Confessour was afterwards present with the King when his Cup-bearer stumbling with one foot recovered himself by the Help of the other One Brother helps another said Earl Godwine merrily And so replyed the King as tartly My Brother might have been useful unto me if you had pleased to spare his Life for my present Comfort The like might have been said to Earl Dudly of Warwick That if he had not lent an helping hand to the Death of the Admiral he could not so easily have tripp'd up the Heels of the Lord Protectour Having before so luckily taken in the Out-Works he now resolves to plant his Battery for the Fort it self To which end he begins to muster up his Strengths and make ready his Forces knowing which way to work upon the Lords of the Court many of which began to stagger in their good Affections and some openly to declare themselves the Protectour's Enemies And he so well applyed himself to their several Humours that in short time his Return from Norfolk with Success and Honour he had drawn unto his side the Lord Chancellour Rich the Lord saint-Saint-John Lord Great Master the Marquess of North-hampton the Earl of Arundel Lord Chamberlain the Earl of South-hampton Sir Thomas Cheny Treasurer of the Houshould Sir John Gage Constable of the Tower Sir William Peter Secretary Sir Edward Mountague Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Edward North Sir Ralph Sadlier Sir John Baker Sir
concurred not with them in the monstrous Doctrine of Ubiquity and their device of Consubstantiation Insomuch that Peter Martyr telleth us of a friend of his in the Dukedom of Saxony that he was generally hated by the rest of Country-men for being hospitable to some few of the English Nation who had been forced to abandon their native soil And it is further signified by b Ph. Melancthon with no small dislike in an Epistle of this year that many of those rigid Lutheâ—ans could find no other name but the Devils Martyrs for such as suffered death in England in defence of Religion so that they seemed to act the part of Diotrephes in St John not only prating against us with malicious words and refusing to receive the brethren in the day of their trouble but forbidding and condemning them that would But John Alasco and his company had been lately there where they spoke so reprochfully of Luther the Augustan Confession the Rites and Ceremonies of their Churches as rendred them uncapable of any better entertainment than they found amongst them And by the behaviour of these men coming then from England the rigid Lutherans passed their judgement on the Church it self and consequently on all those who suffered in defence thereof For stopping the course of which uncharitable censures it was thought fit by some of the Divines in Embden that Archbishop Cranmers book about the Sacrament should be translated into Latin and forthwith published in Print which was done accordingly 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 less reverently of the blessed Sacrament and it was hoped that by the publishing of this book they would find the contrary The like course taken also at Geneva by the English exiles by publishing in the Latin tongue a discourse writ by Bishop Ridley on the self same Argument to the end it might appear unto all the world how much their brethren had been wronged in these odious calumnies An. Reg. Mar. 6º An. Dom. 1558 1559. BUt in the middest of all these sorrowes I see some hope of comfort coming by the death of Queen Mary whose Reign polluted with the blood of so many Martyrs unfortunate by the frequent insurrections and made inglorious by the loss of the Town of Calais was only commendable in the brevity or shortnesse of it For now to bring it to an end a dangerous and contagious Feaver began to rage in most parts of the land insomuch that if the whole Realm had been divided into four parts three parts of the four would have been found infected with it so furiously it raged in the month of August that no former plague or pestilence was thought to have destroyed a greater number so that divers places were left void of Justices and men of worth to govern the Kingdom At which time died also so many Priests that a great number of Parish Churches in divers places were unserved and no â—urats could be gotten for mony Much corn was also lost in the field for want of labourers and workmen to get it in both which together seemed to threaten not onely a spiritual but a temporal famine though God so ordered it that by the death of so many of the present Clergy a door was opened for the preaching of sounder Doctrine with far less envy and displeasure from all sorts of people than it had been otherwise Nor were the heats of the disease abated by the coldness of the winter or the malignity of it mitigated by medicinal courses It took away the Physicians as well as the Patients two of the Queens Doctors dying of it not long before her and spared not more the Prelate than it did the Priest insomuch that within less than the space of a twelvemonth almost the one half of the English Bishops had made void their Sees which with the death of so many of the Priests in several places did much facilitate the way to that Reformation which soon after followed This terrible disease together with the said effects which followed on it and the Queens death which came along with it though not caused by it may seem to have been prognosticated or foretold by a dreadful tempest of thunder hapning on the 11th of July near the Town of Nottingham which Tempest as it came through two Towns beat down all the Houses and Churches the Bells were cast to the outside of the Church-yard and some sheets of Lead four hundred foot into the field wriâ—hen like a pair of gloves The River of Trent running between which two Towns the water with the mud in the bottom was carried a quarter of a mile and cast against the trees the trees plucked up by the roots and from thence cast twelve-score paces also a child was was taken forth of a mans hand and by the fury of it carried an hundred foot two spears length from the ground and so fell down broke its arm and dyed Five or six men thereabouts were slain and neither flesh nor skin perished at what time also there fell some Hailstones that were fifteen inches about c. But neither that terrible disease nor this terrible tempest nor any other publick signe of God's displeasure abated any thing of the fury of the Persecution till he was pleased to put an end unto it by the death of the Queen It was upon the tenth day of November that no fewer than five at once were burned at Canterbury The Cardinal and the Queen both lying on the bed of sickness and both dying within seven days after It had been prayed or prophesied by those five Martyrs when they were at the stake that they might be the last who should suffer death in that manner or on that occasion and by Gods mercy so it proved they being the last which suffered death under the severity of this persecution Which Persecution and the carriage of the Papists in it is thus described by Bishop Jewel You have saith he imprisoned your brethren you have stript them naked you have scourged them with rods you have burnt their hands and arms with flaming torches you have famished them you have drowned them you have summoned them being dead to appear before you out of their graves you have ripped up their buried carcases burnt them and thrown them out upon the Duâ—ghil you took a poor Babe falling from its mothers womb and in most cruel and barbarous manner threw it inâ—o the fire By all which several ways and means the Martyrs in all parts of the Kingdom amounted to the number of two hundred seventy seven persons of all sorts and sexes But more particularly there are said to have perished in these flames five Bishops twenty one Divines eight Gentlemen eighty four Artificers one hundred Husbandmen Servants and Labourers twenty six Wives twenty Widows nine Virgins two Boys and two Infants the one springing
tempore existentes according to the Laws of the Land which were thâ—n in force whether by Purchase or by Gift or in the way of Exchange which are the words of the Decree And secondly If the said Lands were warranted and confirmed unto them by Letters Patents from the two last Kings qui per literas Patentes easdem Terras Warâ—antizâ—runt as is declared in the Second of the following Reasons For which Consult the Book Entituled No Sacrilege nor Sin to purchase Cathedrâ—l-Lands c. page 52. Where still observe that nothing made a Lawful Title in the Pope's Opinion but the King's Letters Patents grounded on the Laws of the Land as is expressed more clearly in the former Passages But this can no way serve the Turn of some present Purchasers though much insisted on by one of that number to justifie his defacing of an Episcopal Palace and his pretensions to the Wealthy Borough which depended on it For certainly there must needs be a vast disproportion between such Contracts as were founded upon Acts of Parliament Legally passed by the King's Authority with the Consent and Approbation of the Three Estates and those which have no other Ground but the bare Votes and Orders of both Houses onely and perhaps not that And by this Logick he may as well justifie the late horrid Murther committed on the most incomparable Majesty of King CHARLES the First as stand upon the making good of such Grants and Sates as were Contracted for with some of those very Men who Voted to the setting up of the High Court of Justice as most ridiculously they were pleased to call it When I shall see him do the one I must bethink my self of some further Arguments to refute the other And so Queen MARY makes Her Exit and leaves the Stage to Queen ELIZABETH Her younger Sister A Princess which had long been trained up in the Schole of Experience and knew the Temper of the People whom She was to Govern who having generally embraced the Reformed Religion in the Time of Her Brother most passionately desired the Enjoyment of it under Her Protection And She accordingly resolved to satisfie the Piety of their Desire as soon as She had Power and Opportunity to go thorough with it In Prosecution of which Work She raised Her whole Fabrick on the same Foundation which had been lay'd by the Reformers in the Reign of King EDWARD that is to say the Word of God the Practise of the Primitive Times the General Current of the Fathers and the Example of such Churches as seemed to retain most in them of the Antient Forms But then She added thereunto such an equal mixture both of Strengâ—h and Beauty as gave great Lustre to the Church and drew along with it many rare Felicities on the Civil State both Extraordinary in themselves and of long Continuance as the most Excellent King IAMES hath right-well observed So that We may affirm of the Reformation of the Church of England as the Historian doth of the Power and Greatness of the Realm of Macedon that is to say that The same Arts by which the first Foundations of it were laid by PHILIP were practised in the Consummation and Accomplishment of it by the Care of ALEXANDER For in the first Year of Her Reign the Liturgie being first Reviewed and qualified in some Particulars was confirmed by PARLIAMENT in Her first Year the Articles of Religion were agreed upon the Convocation and in the Eight the Government of the Church by Arch-Bishops and Bishops received as strong a Confirmation as the Laws could give it And for this last We are beholden unto BONNER the late Bishop of LONDON who being called upon to take the OATH of Supremacie by HORN of Winton refused to take the OATH upon this Account because HORNs Consecration was not good and valid by the Laws of the Land Which he insisted on because the Ordinal Established in the Reign of King EDWARD by which both HORN and all the rest of Queen ELIZABETH's Bishops received Consecrationâ— had been discharged by Queen MARY and not restored by any Act of Parliament in the present Reign Which being first declared by PARLIAMENT in the Eighth of this Queen to be Casus omissus or rather that the Ordinal was looked upon as a part of the Liturgie which had been solemnly confirmed in the first of this Queen's Reign they next Enacted and Ordained That all such Bishops as were Consecrated by that Ordinal in the Times precedent or should be Consecrated by it in the time to come should be reputed to be lawfully Ordained and Consecrated to all Intents and Purposes in the Law whatever Which added as much Strength to the Episcopal Government as the Authority of Man and an Act of Parliament could possibly Conferr upon it This made the Queen more constant to Her former Principles of keeping up the Church in its Power and Purity without subjecting it to any but Her Self alone She looked upon Her Self as the Sole Fountain of both Jurisdictions which She resolved to keep in their proper Chanels neither permitting them to mingle Waters upon any occasion nor suffering either of them to invade and destroy the other And to this Rule She was so constant that when one Morrice being then Attorney of the Dutchy of Lancaster had offered a Bill ready drawn to the House of Commons in the Thirty Fifth of Her Reign for the Retrenching of the Ecclesiastical Courts in much Narrower Bounds She first commanded Coke then Speaker and afterwards successively Chief Justice of either Bench not to admit of any such Seditious Bills for the time to come And that being done She caused the person of the said Attorney to be seized upon deprived him of his Place in the Dutchy-Court disabled him from Practising as a Common-Lawyer and finally shut him up in Tutbury-Castle where he continued till his Death By which Severity and keeping the like Constant Hand in the Course of Her Government She held so great a Curb on the Puritan Faction that neither Her Parliaments nor Her Courts of Justice were from thenceforth much troubled with them in the rest of Her Reign This is the Sum and Method of the following History in the Particulars whereof thou wilt finde more to satisfie thy Curiosity and inform thy Judgment then can be possibly drawn up in this General View As for my Self and my performance in this Work in the first place I am to tell thee that towards the raising of this Fabrick I have not borrowed my Materials onely out of Vulgar Authors but searched into the Registers of the Convocation consulted all such Acts of Parliament as concerned my Purpose advised with many Foreign Writers of great Name and Credit exemplified some Records and Charters of no common Quality many rare Pieces in the famous Cottonian Library and not a few Debates and Orders of the Council-â—able which I have lai'd together in as good a Form and beautified it with a
the Lord Protectour with whom she might enjoy all Content and Happiness which a vertuous Lady could desire And that they might appear in the greater Splendour he took into his hands the Episcopal House belonging to the Bishop of Bath and Wells which being by him much Enlarged and Beautified came afterwards to the Possession of the Earls of Arundel best known of late Times by the name of Arundel-House And so far all things went on smoothly betwixt him and his Bâ—other though afterwards there were some distrust between them but this last Practice gave such an hot Alarum to the Duchess of Sommerset that nothâ—ng could content her but his absolute Ruin For what hope could she have of Disputing the Precedence with any of King Henâ—â—e's Daughters who if they were not married out of the Realm might Create many Troubles and Disturbances in it Nor was the Lord Prâ—tectâ—ur so insensible of his own Condition as not to fear the utmost Danger which the Effecting of so great an Enterprise might bring upon him so that the Rupture which before had began to close became more open then before made widâ—r by the Artifices of the Earl of Warwick who secretly playing with both hands exasperated each of them against the other that so he might be able to destroy them both The Plot being so far carried on the Admiral was committed to the Tower on the sixteenth of January but never called unto his Answer it being thought safer to Attaint him by Act of Parliament where Power and Faction might prevail then put him over to his Peers in a Legal way And if he were guilty of the Crimes which I finde charged upon him in the Bill of Attainder he could not but deserve as great a Punishment as was laid upon him For in that Act he stands condemned for Attempting to get into his Custody the Person of the King and the Government of the Realm for obtaining many Offices retaining many Men into his Service for making great Provision for Money and Victuals for endeavouring to marry the Lady Elizabeth the King's Sister and for perswading the King in His Tender Age to take upon Him the Rule and Order of Himself But Parliaments being Governed by a â—allible Spirit the Business still remaineth under such a Cloud that he may seem rather to have fallen a Sacrifice to the Private Malice of a Woman then the Publick Justice of the State For the Bill of Attainder passing at the End of the Parliament which was on the fourteenth day of March he was beheaded at Tower-Hill on the sixth day after the Warrant for his Execution coming under the hand oâ— his own Brother at what time he took it on his Death That he had never committed or meant any Treason against King or Kingdom Thus as it is affâ—â—med of the Emperour Valentinian that by causing the right Noble Aetius to be put to Death he had cut off his Right Hand with his Left so might it be affirmed of the Lord Protectour that when he signed that unhappy Warrant he had with his Right Hand robbed himself of his greatest Strength For as long as the two Brothers stood together they were good support unto one another but now the one being taken away the other proved not Subâ—tantive enough to stand by himself but fell into his Enemies hands within few Moneths after Comparing them together we may finde the Admiral to be Fierce in Courage Courtly in Fashion in Personage Stately in Voice Magnificent the Duke to be Mild Affable Free and Open more easie to be wrought upon and no way Malicious the Admiral generally more esteemed amongst the Nobles the Duke Honoured by the Common People the Lord Protectour to be more desired for a Friend the Lord Admiral to be more feared for an Enemy Betwixt them both they might have made one excellent man if the Defects of each being taken away the Virtues onely had remained The Protectour having thus thrown away the chief Prop of his House hopes to repair that Ruin by erecting a Magnificent Palace He had been bought out of his purpose for building on the Deanery and Close of Westminster and casts his Eye upon a piece of Ground in the Strand on which stood three Episcopal Houses and one Parish-Church the Parish-Church Dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Houses belonging to the Bishops of Worcester Lichfield and Landaff All these he takes into his Hands the Owners not daring to oppose and therefore willingly consenting to it Having cleared the place and projected the intended Fabrick the Workmen found that more Materials would be wanting to go thorough with it then the Demolished Church and Houses could afford unto them He thereupon resolves for taking down the Parish-Church of Saint Marâ—arets in Westminster and turning the Parishioners for the celebrating of all Divine Offices into some part of the Nave or main Body of the Abby-Church which should be marked out for that purpose But the Workmen had no sooner advanced their Scafâ—olds when the Parishioners gathered together in great Multitudes with Bows and Arrows Staâ—es and Clubs and other such offensive Weapons which so terrified the Workmen that they ran away in great Amazement and never could be brought again upon that Imployment In the next place he is informed of some superfluous or rather Superstitious Buildings on the North-side of Saint Paul's that is to say a goodly Cloyster environing a goodly piece of Ground called Pardon-Church-Yard with a Chapel in the midst thereof and beautified with a piece of most curious Workmanship called the Dance of Death together with a fair Charnel-House on the South-side of the Church and a Chapel thereunto belonging This was conceived to be the safer undertaking the Bishop then standing on his good Behaviour and the Dean and Chapter of that Church as of all the rest being no better in a manner by reason of the late Act of Parliament then Tenant at Will of their great Landlords And upon this he sets his Workmen on the tenth of April takes it all down converts the Stone Timber Lead and Iron to the use of his intended Palace and leaves the Bones of the dead Bodies to be buried in the Fields in unhallowed Ground But all this not sufficing to compleat the Work the Steeple and most parts of the Church of Saint John's of Jerusalem not far from Smithfield most beautifully built not long before by Dockwray a late Priour thereof was blown up with Gunpowder and all the Stone thereof imployed to that purpose also Such was the Ground and such were the Materials of the Duke 's New Palace called Sommerset-House which either he lived not to finish or else it must be very strange that having pulled down two Churches two Chapels and three Episcopal Houses each of which may be probably supposed to have had their Oratories to finde Materials for this Fabrick there should be no room purposely erected for Religious Offices According unto this Beginning all the
Edward Wotton Doctour Wotton and Sir Richard Southwell Of which some shewed themselves against him upon former Grudges as the Earl of South-hampton some out of hope to share those Offices amongst them which he had ingrossed unto himself many because they loved to follow the strongest side few in regard of any Benefit which was like to Redound by it to the Common-Wealth the greatest part complaining that they had not their equal Dividend when the Lands of Chanteries Free-Chapels c. were given up for a Prey to the greater Courtiers but all of them disguising their private Ends under pretense of doing service to the Publick The Combination being thus made and the Lords of the Defection convented together at Ely-House in Holborn where the Earl then dwelt they sent for the Lord Mayour and Aldermen to come before them To whom it is declared by the Lord Chancellour Rich a man of Sommerset's own preferring in a long Oration in what dangers the Kingdom was involved by the mis-Government and Practices of the Lord Protectour against whom he objected also many Misdemeanours some frivolous some false and many of them of such a Nature as either were to be condemned in themselves or forgiven in him For in that Speech he charged him amongst other things with the loss of the King's Peeces in France and Scotland the sowing of Dissension betwixt the Nobility and the Commons Embezelling the Treasures of the King and inverting the Publick stock of the Kingdom to his private use It was Objected also That he was wholly acted by the Will of his Wife and therefore no fit man to command a Kingdom That he had interrupted the ordinary Course of Justice by keeping a Court of Requests in his own House in which he many times determined of mens Free-holds That he had demolished many Consecrated Places and Episcopal Houses to Erect a Palace for himself spending one hundred pounds per diem in superflous Buildings That by taking to himself the Title of Duke of Sommerset he declared plainly his aspiring to the Crown of this Realm and finally having so unnaturally laboured the Death of his Brother he was no longer to be trusted with the Life of the King And thereupon he desires or conjures them rather to joyn themselves unto the Lords who aimed at nothing in their Counsels but the Safety of the King the Honour of the Kingdom and the Preservation of the People in Peace and Happiness But these Designs could not so closely be contrived as not to come unto the Knowledg of the Lord Protectour who then remained at Hampton-Court with the rest of the Lords who seemed to continue firm unto him And on the same day on which this meeting was at London being the sixth day of October he causeth Proclamation to be made at the Court-Gates and afterwards in other places near adjoyning requiring all sorts of persons to come in for the defence of the King's Person whom he conveyed the same night unto Windsore-Castle with a strength of five hundred men or thereabouts too many for a Guard and too few for an Army From thence he writes his Letters to the Earl of Warwick to the rest of the Lords as also to the Lord Mayour and City of London of whom he demanded a supply of a thousand men for the present service of the King But that Proud City seldom true to the Royal Interess and secretly obsequious to every popular Pretender seemed more inclinable to gratifie the Lords in the like Demands then to comply with his Desires The News hereof being brought unto him and finding that Master Secretary Peter whom he had sent with a secret Message to the Lords in London returned not back unto the Court be presently flung up the Cards either for want of Courage to play out the Game or rather choosing willingly to lose the Set then venture the whole Stock of the Kingdom on it So that upon the first coming of some of the opposite Lords to Windsore he puts himself into their hands by whom on the fourteenth day of the same Moneth he is brought to London and committed Prisoner to the Tower pitied the less even by those that loved him because he had so tamely betrayed himself The Duke of Sommerset no longer to be called Protectour being thus laid up a Parliament beginneth as the other two had done before on the fourth of November In which there passed two Acts of especial consequence besides the Act for removing all Images out of the Church and calling in all Books of false and superstitious Worship before-remembred to the concernments of Religion The first declared to this Effect That Such form and manner of making and Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishopt Priests Deacons and other Ministers of the Church as by six Prelates and six other Learned Men of this Realm learned in God's Law by the King to be appointed and assigned or by the most number of thâ—m shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal before the First of April next coming shall be lawfully exercised and used and no other The number of the Bishops and the Learned Men which are appointed by this Act assure me that the King made choice of the very same whom he had formerly imployed in composing the Liturgie the Bishop of Chichester being left out by reason of his Refractoriness in not subscribing to the same And they accordingly applyed themselves unto the Work following therein the Rules of the Primitive Church as they are rather recapitulated then ordained in the fourth Councel of Carthage Anno 401. Which though but National in it self was generally both approved and received as to the Form of Consecrating Bishops and inferiour Ministers in all the Churches of the West Which Book being finished was made use of without further Authority till the year 1552. At what time being added to the second Liturgie it was approved of and confirmed as a part thereof by Act of Parliament An. 5. Edw. 6. cap. 1. And of this Book it is we finde mention in the 36th Article of Queen Elizabeth's Time In which it is Declared That Whosoever wâ—re Consecrated and Ordered according to the Rites thereof should be reputed and adjudged to be lawfully Consecrated and rightly Ordered Which Declaration of the Church was afterwards made good by Act of Parliament in the eighth year of that Queen in which the said Ordinal of the third of King EDVVARD the Sixth is confirmed and ratified The other of the said two Acts was For enabling the King to nominate Eight Bishops as many Temporal Lords and sixteen Members of the Lower House of Parliament for reviewing all such Canons and Constitutions as remained in force by Virtue of the Statute made in the 25th year of the late King HENRY and fitting them for the Vse of the Church in all Times succeeding According to which Act the King directed a Commission to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and the rest of the Persons whom he
for out of the Country to give her attendance on the Queen as in former times impatient of a longer absence and fearful of a second Rival if he should any longer conceal his purpose Which having taken some fit time to disclose unto her he found in her a vertue of such strength against all temptations that he resolves upon the sentencing of the divorce which he little doubted to take her to him as the last sole object of his wandring loves A matter not to be concealed from so many espials as Wolsie had about the King Who thereupon slackneth his former pace in the Kings affairs and secretly practiseth with the Pope to recall the Commission whereby he was impowred together with Campegius to determine in it Anne Bollen formerly offended at his two great haste in breaking the compliance betwixt her and Percy is now as much displeased with him for his being too slow in sentencing the Kings Divorse On which as she had built the hopes of her future greatness so she wanted neither will nor opportunity to do him ill offices with the King whom she exasperates against him upon all occasions The King growes every day more open in his cariage towards her takes her along with him in his progress diâ—es with her privately in her chamber and causeth almost all adresses to be made by her in matters of the greatest moment Resolved to break through all impediments which stood betwixt him and the accomplishment of his desires he first sends back Campegius an alien born presently caused Wolsie to be indicted and attainted in a premunire and not long after by the counsel of Thomas Cromwel who formerly had been the Cardinals Solicitor in his Legantine Court involves the whole body of the Clergy in the same crime with him By the perswasions of this man he requires the Clergy to acknowledge him for supreme head on earth of the Church of England to make no new Canons and Constitutions nor to execute any such when made but 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 to which the Pope recalled his cause which he either quickned or retarded as rather stood with his own interess than the Kings concernments The King being grown more confident in the equity and justice of his cause by the determinations of many of the Universities in France and Italy better assured than formerly of his own Clergy at home and wanting no encouragement from the French King to speed the business advanced the Lady Anne Bollen for by this time her father for her sake was made Earl of Wâ—ltshire to the Title Stile and Dignity of Marchâ—oness of Pâ—mbrook on the first of September 1532. assigning her a pension of a thousand pounds per annum out of the Bishopâ—ick of Durham And now the time of the intended interview betwixt him and the French King drawing on a pace he takes her along with him unto Calais where she entertained both Kings at a curious Mask At what time having some communication about the Kings intended mariage the French encouraged him to proceed assuring him that if the matter should be questioned by the Pope or Emperour against whom this must make him sure to the party of France to assist him with his utmost power what fortune soever should beâ—ide him in it On which assurance from the French the mariage is privately made up on the 14th of November then next following the sacred Rites performed by Dr Rowland Lee whom afterwards he preferred to the See of Lichfield and made Lord President of Wales None present at the Nuptials but Archbishop Cranmer the Duke of Norfolk the Father Mother and Brother of the new Queen and possibly some other of the Confidents of either side whom it concerned to keep it secret at their utmost peril But long it could not be concealed For finding her self to be with child she acquaints the King with it who presently dispatcheth George Lord Rochfort her only brother to the Court of France as well to give the King advertisement of his secret mariage as to desire him not to fail of performing his promises if occasion were and therewithall to crave his counsel and advice how it was to be published since it could not long be kept unknown It is not to be doubted but that the French King was well pleased with the news of a mariage which must needs fasten England to the party of France and that he would be forward enough to perform those promises which seemed so visible to conduce to his own preservation And as for matter of advice it appeared unnecessary because the mariage would discover it self by the Queens being with child which could no longer be concealed And being to be concealed no longer on Easter Eve the twelfth of April she shewed her self openly as Queen all necessary officers and attendants are appointed for her an Order issueth from the Parliament at that time sitting that Katherine should no longer be called Queen but Princesse Dowager Cranmer the new Archbishop repairs to Dunstable erects his Consistory in the Priory there cites Katherine fifteen dayes together to appear before him and in default of her appearance proceedeth judicially to the sentence which he reduceth into writing in due form of Law and caused it to be openly publish'd with the consent of his Colleagues on Friday the 23d of May. And on the Sunday sevennight being then Whitsunday the new Queen was solemnly crowned by the said Archbishop conducted by water from Greenwich to the Tower of London May 29. from thence through the chief streets of the City unto Westminster Hall May 31. and the next day from Westminster Hall to the Abby Church to receive the Crown a solemn tilting before the Court gate on the morrow after All which was done with more magnificence and pomp than ever had been seen before on the like occasion the particulars whereof he that lists to see may find them punctually set down in the Annals of John Stow fol. 563 564 c. And he may find there also the solemnities used at the Christning of the Princess Elizabeth born upon Sunday the 7th day of September and Christned on the Wednesday following with a pomp not much inferiour to the Coronation her Godfather being the Archbishop of Canterbury her Godmothers the old Dutchess of Norfolk and the old Marchioness of Dorset by whom shâ— was named Elizabeth acâ—ording to the name of the Grandmothers on eitheâ— side Not long after Christmass then next following began the Parliament in which the Kings mariage with the Lady Katherine was declared unlawful her daughter the Lady Mâ—ry to be illegitimate the Crown to be entailed on the Kings heirs males to be begotten on the body of the present Queen and for default of such issue on the Princess Elizabeth an oath devised in maintenance of the said succession and not long after
man as might please her fancy and more secure her title to the Crown of England than any of the great Kings in Europe What then should hinder her from making up a mariage so agreeable to her so acceptable to the Catholick party in both Kingdoms and which she thought withall of so safe a condition as could create no new jealousies in the brest of Elizabeth But those of the Leicestrian faction conceived otherwise of it and had drawn most of the Court and Council to conceive so to For what could more secure the interess of the Queen of Scots than to corroborate her own Title with that of Darnly from which two what children soever should proceed they would draw to them many hearts in the Realm of England who now stood fair and faithful to their natural Queen In this great fear but made much greater of set purpose to create some trouble it was advised that the Queen should earnestly be intreated to think of mariage to the end that the succession might be setled in her own posterity that all Popish Justices whereof there were many at that time might be put out of Commission and none admitted to that office but such as were sincerely affected to the Reformed Religion that the old deprived Bishops which for the most part lived at liberty might be brought to a more close restraint for fear of hardning some in their errours and corrupting others with whom they had the freedom of conversation that a greater power might be conferred upon the English Bishops in the free exercise of their jurisdiction for suppressing all such Popish Books as were sent into England depriving the English Fugitives of all those Benefices in this Kingdom which hitherto they had retained and all this to be done without incurring the danger of a Premunire with which they were so often threatned by the common Lawyers It was advised also that for a counterpoise unto the Title of the Queen of Scots some countenance should be given to the House of Suffolk by shewing favour to the Earl of Hartford and the Lady Katherine and that to keep the ballance even with the Romish Catholicks some moderation should be used to such Protestant Ministers you may be sure the Earl of Leicester had a hand in this as hitherto had been opposiâ—e in external matters to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church here by Law established Nor was this mariage very pleasing to the Scots themselves the chief Lords of the Romish party who faithfully had adher'd to their natural Queen in all her former troubles conceived that some of them might be as capable of the Queens affections as a young Gentleman born in England and one that never had done any service which might enoble and prefer him before all the rest The Ministers exclaimed against it in their common preachings as if it were designed of purpose to destroy Religion and bring them under their old vassalage to the Church of Rome The Noble men and others of the Congregation who had sold themselves to Queen Elizabeth were governed wholly by her Counsels and put themselves into a posture of Arms to disturb the Maâ—ch the Edenburgers do the like but are quickly scatter'd and forc'd to submit themselves to their Queens good pleasure who was so bent upon her mariage with this young Nobleman that neither threatnings nor perswasions could divert her from it And thaâ— he might appear in some capacity fit for the mariage of a Queen she first confers upon him the Order of Knighthood and afterwards creats him Baron of Ardamanack Earl of Rosse and Duke of Rothsay which are the ordinary Titles of the eldest and second sons of Scotland In May she had convented the Estates of Scotland to whom she communicated her intention with the reasons of it Which by the greatest part of the Assembly seemed to be allowed of none but the Lord Ochiltrie opposing what the rest approved About the middle of July the mariage Rites were celebrated in the Royal Chapel by the Dean of Restairig and the next day the new Duke was proclaimed King by sound of Trumpet and declared to be associated with the Queen in the publick government The newes whereof being brought unto Queen Elizabeth she seemed more offended than indeed she was For well she knew that both the new King and the Earl his Father were men of plain and open natures not apt to entertain any dangerous counsels to the disturbance of her quiet that as long as she retained the Countesse with her who was the Mother of the one and the Wife of the other they seemed to stand bound to their good behaviour and durst act nothing to the prejudice of so dear a pledge but by the precipitation of this mariage the Queen of Scots had neither fortified her self in the love of her people nor in alliances abroad and that it could not otherwise be but some new troubles must break out in Scotland upon this occasion by which it would be made uncomfortable and inglorious to her And so it proved in the event for never was mariage more calamitous to the parties themselves or more dishonourable to that Nation or finally more scandalous to both Religions in nothing fortunate but in the birth of James the 6th born in the Palace of Edenborough on the 19th of July Anno 1566. solemnly Crowned King of the Scots on the same day of the Month Anno 1567. and joyfully received to the Crown of England on the 14th of March Anno 1602. In greater glory and felicity reigned the Queen of England Whose praise resounding in all Kingdoms of the North and West invited Caecille sister to the King of Sweden and wife of Christopher Marquisse of Baden to undertake a tedious journey both by land and sea from the furthest places of the North to see the splendor of her Court and observe the prudence of her Government Landing at Dover in the beginning of September they were there received by the Lord Cobham with a goodly train of Knights and Gentlemen at Canterbury by the Lady Cobham with the like honourable train of Ladies and Gentlewomen at Gravesend by the Lord Hunsdon with the band of Pensioners at London on the 11th of September by the Earl of Sussex and his Countesse who waited on them to the Lodging appointed for them Scaâ—â—e had she rested there four dayes when she fell into a new travel of which she was happily delivered by the birth of a son whom the Queen Christned in her own person by the name of Edwardus Fortunatus the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Norfolk being Sureties with her at the Font. She called him Edward with relation to the King her brother whose memory she dearly loved and Fortunatus in regard that he came so luckily into the world when his Mother after a most painful pilgrimage was safely come to pay her Devotions at that Shrine which she so much honoured Having remained here till the April
Ploydon whose learned Commentaries do sufficiently set forth his great abilities in that Profession and one Mr. Lovelace of whom we find nothing but the name By them and their Advice the whole pleading chiefly is reduced to these two heads to omit the nicities and punctilioes of lesser moment the first whereof was this That Bonner was not at all named in the indictment by the stile and title of Bishop of London but only by the name Dr. Edmond Bonner Clerk Dr. of the Lawes whereas at that time he was legally and actually Bishop of London and therefore the Writ to be abated as our Lawyers phrase it and the cause to be dismissed our of the Court But Ploydon found here that the Case was altered and that this Plea could neither be allowed by Catiline who was then Chief Justice nor by any other of the Bench and therefore it is noted by Chief Justice Dyer who reports the Case with a Non allocatur The second principle Plea was this That Horn at the time when the Oath was tender'd was not Bishop of Winchester and therefore not impowred by the said Statute to make tender of it by himself or his Chancellor And for the proof of this that he was no Bishop it was alleged that the form of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops which had been ratified by Parliament in the time of King Edward had been repealed in the first year of Queen Mary and so remained at Horn's pretended consecration The Cause being put off from Term to Term comes at the last to be debated amongst the Judges at Serjeants Inne By whom the cause was finally put upon the issue and the tryal of that issue Ordered to be committed to a Jury of the County of Surry But then withall it was advised that the decision of the Point should rather be referred to the following Parliament for fear that such a weighty matter might miscarry by a contrary Jury of whose either partiality insufficiency there had been some proof made before touching the grants made by King Edward's Bishops of which a great many were made under this pretence that the Granters were not actually Bishops nor legally possessed of their several Sees According to this sound advice the business comes under consideration in the following Parliament which began on the 30th of September where all particulars being fully and considerately discoursed upon it was first declared That their not restoring of that Book to the former power in terms significant and express was but Casus omissus and Secondly That by the Statute 5th and 6th Edw. 6th it had been added to the Book of Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments as a member of it or at least an appendant to it and therefore by 1. Eliz. was restored again together with the said Book of Common Prayer intentionally at the least if not in terminis But being the words in the said Statute were not cleer enough to remove all doubts they did therefore revive it now and did accordingly Enact that all persons that had been or should be made Ordered or Consecrate Archbishops Bishops Priests Ministers of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments or Deacons after the form and order prescribed in the said Book be in very deed and also by authority hereof declared and enacted to be and shall be Archbishops Bishops Priests Ministers and Deacons rightly made Consecrate and Ordered Any Statute Law Canon or any thing to the contrary notwithstanding Nothing else done in this Parliament which concerned the Church not any thing at all in the Convocation by which it was of course accompanied more than the granting of a Subsidy of six shillings in the pound out of all their Benefices and promotions And as for Bonner who was the other party to the cause in question it was determined that neither he nor any other person or persons should be impeached or molested in regard of any refusal of the said Oath heretofore made and hereafter to be made before the end of that Parliament Which favour was indulged unto them of the Laity in hope of gaining them by fair means to a sence of their duty to Bonner and the rest of the Bishops as men that had sufficiently suffered upon that account by the loss of their Bishopricks By this last Act the Church is strongly setled on her natural pillars of Doctrine Government and Worship not otherwise to have been shaken than by the blind zeal of all such furioâ—s Sampsons as were resolved to pull it on their own heads rather than suffer it to stand in so much glory And here it will be time to conclude this History having taken a brief view of the State of the Church with all the abberrations from its first constitution as it stood at this time when the Puritan faction had began to disturb her Order and that it may be done with a greater certainty I shall speak it in the words of one who lived and writ his knowledge of it at this time I mean John Rastel in his answer to the Bishops challenge Who though he were a Papist and a fugitive Priest yet I conceive that he hath faithfully delivered to many sad truths in these particulars Three books he writ within the compass of three years now last past against Bishop Jewel in one of which he makes this address unto him viz. And though you Mr. Jewel as I have heard say do take the bread into your hands when you celebrate solemnly yet thousands there are of your inferiour Ministers whose death it is to be bound to any such external fashion and your Order of celebrating the Communion is so unadvisedly conceived that every man is left unto his private Rule or Canon whether he will take the bread into his hands or let it stand at the end of the table the Bread and Wine being laid upon the table where it pleases the Sexton or Parish-Clerk to set them p. 28. In the Primitive Church Altars were allowed amongst Christians upon which they offered the unbloody sacrifice of Christs body yet your company to declare what followers they are of antiquity do account it even among one of the kinds of Idolaâ—ry if one keep an Altar standing And indeed you follow a certain Antiquity not of the Catholicks but of desperate Hereticks Optatus writing of the Donatists that they did break raze and remove the Altars of God upon which they offered p. 34. and 165. Where singing is used what shall we say to the case of the people that kneel in the body of the Church yea let them hearken at the Chancel dore it self they shall not be much wiser Besides how will you provide for great Parishes where a thousand people are c p. 50. Then to come to the Apostles where did you ever read that in their external behaviour they did wear Frocks or Gowns or four-cornered Caps or that a company of Lay-men-servants did follow them all in one Livery or that at their Prayers