old Habitation repairing their House and laying to it a sufficient Estate in Lands for their future maintenance At Sheen on the other-side of the Water there had been Anciently another Religious House not far from a Mansion of the Kings to which they much resorted till the building of Richmond This House She stocked with a New Convent of Charthusians and endowed it with a Revenue great enough to maintain that Order And the next year having Closed up the West-end of the Quire or Chancel of the Church of St. John's near Smithfield which was all the Protector Sommerset had left standing of it She restored the same to the Hospitality of the Knights of St. John to whom it formerly belonged assigning a liberal Endowment to it for their more honorable Subsistance An Hospital had been formerly Founded in the Savoy by her Grand-father King Henry the Seventh for thâ—… relief of such Pilgrims as either went on their Devotions to the Shrine of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury or any other eminent Shrine or Saint in these parts of the Kingdom Now this Hospital being destroyed by Edward the Sixth and the Means disposed of it could no be restored to its first condition but by a new endowment from such other Lands belonging to Religious Houses which were remaining in the Crown But the Queen was so resolved upon it and withal so desirous to add some Works of Charity unto those of Piety or else in Honor of Her Grand-father whose Foundation She restored at Greenwich also the Hospital was again Re-founded and a convenient yearly Rent allotted to the Master and Brethren for the Entertainment of the poor according to the tenor and effect of the first Institution Which Prince-like Act so wrought upon the Maids of Honor and other Ladies of the Court that for the better attaining of the Queens good Grace they furnished the same at their own costs with new Beds Bedding and other necessary Furniture in a very ample manner In which condition it continues to this very day the Mastership of the Hospital being looked on as a good preferment for any well deserving Man about the Court. How far the Queens Example Seconded by the Ladies about the Court countenanced by the King and earnestly insisted on by the Pope might have prevailed on the Nobility and Gentry for doing the like either in restoring their Church-Lands or assigning some part of them to the like Foundations it is hard to say most probable it is that if the Queen had lived some few years longer either for Love to Her or for fear of gaining the King's Displeasure or otherwise out of an unwillingness to incur the Popes Curse and the Churches Censures there might have been very much done that way though not all at once That which might have much furthered this business was the Greatness to which Philip had attained at this present time when the Queen was most intent on these new Foundations For having passed over to Calais in the Month of September Anno 1555. And the next day going to the Emperor's Court which was then at Brussels he found his Father in a Resolution of Resigning to him all his Dominions and Estates except the Empire or the bare Title rather of it which was to be Surrendred to his Brother Ferdinand not that he had not a Design to settle the Imperial Dignity on his Successor in the Realm of Spain for the better attaining of the Universal Monarchy which he was said to have aspired to over all the West But that he had been crossed in it by Maximilian the Eldest Son of his Brother Ferdinand who Succeeded to his Father in it and left the same Hereditary in a manner to the Princes of the House of Austria of the German race For Charles grown weary of the World broken with Wars and desirous to apply himself to Divine Meditation resolved to discharge himself of all Civil Employments and spend the remainder of his life in the Monastery of St. Justus situated amongst the Mountains of Estremadura a Province in the Realm of Castile In pursuance whereof having called before him the Principal of the Nobility and Great Men of His several Kingdoms and Estates He made a Resignation of All his Hereditary Dominions to King Philip his Son having then scarce attained to the Fifty fifth year of his Liâ—…e to the great Admiration of all the World Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Noble Action of the Queen CHAP. VI. A Proclamation against the setting out of Seditious Books and of the Conventicles and Seditious Meetings of Sectaries and a Word concerning the Lutherans Anno Reg. Mar 5. The Proclamation Dr. Heylyn pag. 70. WHereas divers Books filled with Heresie Sedition and Treason have of late been Daily brought into this Realm out of Forein Countries and also some covertly Printed within this Realm and cast a broad in sundry parts thereof whereby not only God is dishonored but likewise encouragement given to disobey Lawful Princes and Governors Therefore for redress hereof We Command the Suppressing of all such Books Thus Dr. Heylyn relates this Proclamation Seditious Meetings Dr. Heylyn pag. 73. Now besides these Seditious Books they had likewise their Conventicles or Seditious Meetings even in London it self In one of which Congregations that namely whereof Bentham was at that time Minister there Assembled seldom under Forty many times an Hundred and sometimes Two Hundred but more or less as it stood most with their convenience and safety They had not all the conveniency of such Meetings but they Met frequently enough in smaller Companies Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Meetings A Remark concerning Sectaries There is one thing very remarkable in these Sectaries which is That although they alâ—… agree in a general malice against Catholick Religion yet they strangely disagree amongst themselves by furious Animosities and hatred one against another One Example whereof is here related by Dr. Heylyn pag. 80. in this following short Note concerning the Lutherans The Lutherans abominated nothing more than an English Protestant because they concurred not with them in their Doctrine of Consubstantiation Insomuch that Peter Martyr tells us of a Friend of his in the Dukedom of Saxony that was generally hated by the rest of his Country-men for being hospitable to some few of the English Nation And it is further signified by Philip Melancthon in an Epistle of this year That the Lutherans could find no other Names but the Devils-Martyrs for such as suffered Death in England in defence of Religion Now one ground of this their hatred was That John à Lasco and his Company had been lately there where thy spoke so reproachfully of Luther the Augustan Confession and 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 Lutherans past their judgment on the Church it self and consequently on all those who suffered in defence
submitting themselves to the King for being found guilty of a Premunire were the first that called him Supreme Head of the Church yet with this restriction So far as it was according unto Gods Word and not otherwise In his Four and twentieth year an Act of Parliament was made That no Person should Appeal for any Cause out of this Realm to the Court of Rome In his Twenty sixth year an Act was made which Authoriz'd the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Authority of the Pope to be abolish'd and then also was given to the King the First Fruits and Tenths of all Spiritual Livings and this Year were many put to death Papists for denying the Kings Supremacy Protestants for denying the Real Presence in the Sacrament nor is it credible what numbers suffered death for these two Causes in the last Ten Years of the Kings Reign of whom if we should make particular mention it would reach a great way in the Book of Martyrs In his Eight and twentieth Year the Lord Cromwel was made Vicar General under the King over the Spirituality and at least Four Hundred Monasteries were suppress'd and all their Lands and Goods conferred upon the King by an Act of Parliament In his One and thirtieth Year was set forth by the Bishops the Book of the Six Articles and all the rest of the Monasteries were conferred upon him Lastly In his Thirty fifth Year all Colleges Chantries and Hospitals were given to him Thus Sir Rich. Baker Here you have had a short view of the Beginning and sad Effects of this Prodigious Change of Religion begun by King Henry the Eighth A Further PROSECUTION Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning a Second Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of King EDWARD the Sixth A Preamble THIS is a Summary Account of this King's Reign as to these matters of Religion taken out of the Preface of Dr. Heylyn's History of Reformation Where after a brief Narration of King Henry the Eighth's Deserting the Pope he gives this following Account of his Son King Edward the Sixth The Relation whereof begins thus Next comes his Son Edward the Sixth upon the Stage whose Name was made use of to serve Turns withal and his Authority abused to his own undoing In his First year the Reformation was resolved on but on different ends endeavoured by some Bishops and others of the Lower Clergy and promoted with the like Zeal and Industry but not with like Integrity by some great Men about the â—…rt Who under Colour of removing corruptions out of the Church had cast their eyes upon the Spoil of Shrines and Images though still preserved in the greatest part of the Lutheran Churches and the improving their own Fortunes by the Chantry Lands All which they most Sacrilegiously divided amongst themselves without admitting the poor King to share with them though nothing but the filling his Coffers by the Spoil of the one and the Encrease of his Revenue by the fall of the other was openly pretended in the Conduct of it But to speak no more of this the work chiefly intended was vigorously carried on by the King and his Counsellors as appears by the Doctrinals in the Book of Homilies and by the Practical part of Christian Piety And here the business might have rested if Calvin's Pragmatical Spirit had not interposed He first began to quarrel at some passages in the Liturgy and afterwards never left Soliciting the Lord Protector and practising by his Agents on the Court the Country and the Universities till he had laid the first Foundation of the Zuinglian Faction who laboured nothing more than Innovation both in Doctrine and Discipline to which they were encouraged by nothing more than some improvident Indulgence granted unto John Alasco who bringing with him a mixed multitude of Poles and Germans obtained the Priviledge of a Church for himself and his distinct in Government and Form of Worship from the Church of England This much animated the Zuinglian Gospellers to practice first upon the Church who being Countenanced if not Headed by the Earl of Warwick who then began to undermine the Lord Protector first quarrelled the Episcopal Habit and afterwards enveighed against Caps and Surplices against Gowns and Tippets But fell at last upon the Altars which were left standing by the Rules of the Liturgy The touching upon this string made excellent Musick to most of the Grandees of the Court who had before cast many an envious eye on those costly Hangings that massy Plate and other Rich and Precious things which adorned those Altars And what need all this wast said Judas when one poor Chalice only and perhaps not that might have served the turn Beside there was no small spoil to be made of Copes in which the Priest Officiated at the Holy Sacrament Some of them being made of Cloth of Tissue Cloth of Gold and Silver or Embroydred Velvet the meanest being made of Silk or Sattin with some decent Trimming And might not these be handsomely converted unto private uses to serve as Carpets to their Tables Coverlets to their Beds or Cushions for their Chairs and Windows Hereupon some rude People are encouraged under-hand to beat down some Altars which makes way for an Order of the Council-Table to take down the rest and set up Tables in their places followed by a Commission to be executed in all parts of the Kingdom for seizing on the Premises for the King's use But as the Grandees of the Court intended to defraud the King of so great a booty and the Commissioners to put a cheat upon the Court-Lords who employed them in it So they were both prevented in some places by the Lords and Gentry of the Country who thought the Altar-cloths together with the Copes and Plate of their several Churches to be as necessary for themselves as for any others This Change drew on the Alteration of the former Liturgy but almost as unpleasing to the Zuinglian Faction as the former was In which conjuncture of Affairs King Edward the Sixth died From the begining of whose Reign the Reformation began All that was done in order to it under King Henry the Eighth seemed but accidental only and by the by rather designed on Private Ends than out of any settled purpose of a Reformation and therefore intermitted and resumed again as those Ends had variance But now the great Work was carried on with a constant hand the Clergy cooperating with the King and the Council for the effecting of it But scarce had they brought it to this pass when King Edward died whose Death I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England For being ill principled in himsels and easily enclined to embrace such Counsels as were offered to him it is not to be thought but that the rest of the Bishopricks before sufficiently impoverished must have followed Durham and the poor Church be left as destitute
of Lands and Ornaments as when she came into the World in her Natural Nakedness Nor was it like to happen otherwise in the following Reign of Queen Jane if it had lasted longer than a Nine-days wonder For Dudley of Northumberland who then ruled the rost and had before dissolved and in hope devoured the wealthy Bishoprick of Durham might easily have possessed himself of the greatest part of the Revenues of York and Carlisle By means whereof he would have made himself more absolute on the North-side of Trent than the poor Titular Queen had been on the South-side of it To carry on whose Interest and maintain her Title the poor remainder of the Churches Patrimony was in all probability to have been shared amongst those of the Party to make them sure unto that side Thus far out of Dr. Heylyn ' s Preface Summarily concerning this Rapine and Sacriliege which followed this Second Change of Religion Now in the History it self Page 33. Dr. Heylyn begins orderly to treat of the Reign of this King as to matters of Religion as will appear by what shall be here said CHAP. I. Of the many Policies used in the Introducing this Second Change of Religion Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 1. THE Solemnities of the Coronation being passed the Grandees of the Court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation In which they found Archbishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as forward as themselves but on different ends endeavoured by the Bishops out of Zeal but by the Courtiers upon a hope of enriching themselves by the spoil of Bishopricks To the Advancement of which Work the Conjuncture seemed to be as proper as they could desire Fot first the King being of such tender Age and wholly governed by the Wâ—…ll of the Lord Protector who had declared himself a Friend to the Lutheran party in the time of King Henry was easie to be moulded into any form And as the Champions of the Papacy were removed out of all Office so it was thought expedient for the better carrying on of the Design not only to release all such as had been committed unto Prison but also to recal all such as had been forced to abandon the Kingdom for not submitting to King Henries Six Articles But the business was of greater moment than to expect the coming back of these Men. Wherefore neither to lose time nor to press too much at once upon the People it was thought fit to smooth the way to the intended Reformation by setting out some Preparatory Injunctions and this to be done by sending out Commissioners into all parts of the Kingdom armed with Instructions to enquire into all Ecclesiastical Concernments Which Commissioners were accompanied with Preachers appointed to instruct the People And that they might not cool or fall off again from what they had been taught they were to leave some Homilies with the Parish-Priest which the Archbishop had composed Now besides the Points contained in the said Injunctions the Preachers were to perswade them from Invocation of Saints Praying for the Dead Images Use of Beads Ashes Processions Mass Dirges c. All which was done to this intent That the People being prepared by little and little might with more ease and less opposition admit the total Alteration in the face of the Church which was intended in due time to be introduced Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Policy Another Policy But there was something more than the Authority of a Minor King which drew on such a general Conformity to these Injunctions and thereby smoothed the way to those Alterations both in Doctrine and Worship which the Grandees of the Court and Church had began to fashion The Lord Protector and his Party were more experienced in Affairs of State than to be told That all great Counsels tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially where Religion is concerned are either to be back'd by Arms or otherwise prove destructive to the undertakers For this cause he resolves to put himself at the Head of an Army as well for the security of his Person and the preservation of his Party as for the carrying on of the Design against all Opponents And for the raising of an Army there could not be found a fairer colour nor a more popular pretence than a Wat with Scotland not to be made on any new Emergent Quarrel which might be apt to bread suspition in the heads of the People but in pursuit of the great Project of the King Deceased for uniting that Realm by a Marriage to the Crown of England On this Pretence Levies are made in all parts of the Kingdom He entertained also certain Regiments of Walloons and Germans because they were conceived more likely to enforce Obedience if his Design should meet with any opposition than the natural English Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this War with Scotland A Third Policy But in the first place care was taken that none of the Neighboring Princes should either hinder his Proceedings or assist the Enemy That which seemed to give most satisfaction to the Court of France was the performance of a Solemn Obsequy for King Francis the First Whose Funerals were no sooner Solemnized in France but Order was given for a Dirge to be sung in all the Churches of London as also in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in the Quire whereof hung with Black a sumptuous Hearse was set up for the present Ceremony And the next day Archbishop Cranmer assisted with Eight other of the Bishops all in their rich Miters and other their Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem the Funeral Sermon being Preached by Dr. Ridley This great Solemnity being thus honorably performed the Commissioners for the Visitation were dispatched to their several Circuits and the Army drawn to their Rendezvous Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning what was done before the calling of a Parliament CHAP. II. Of what was done in Parliament in order to the Establishing this Change of Religion Dr. Heylyn Page 47. A Parliament began upon the Fourth of November in which the Cards were so well pack'd by Sir Ralph Sadler that there was no need of any further Shuffling till the end of the Game This very Parliament without any sensible Alteration of the Members of it being continued until the Death of the King And though this Parliament consisted of such Members as disagreed amongst themselves in respect of Religion yet they agreed well enough together in one common Principle which was to serve the present time and preserve themselves which appears plainly by the strange mixture of the Acts and Results thereof some tending to the present Benefit and Enriching of particular Persons And some again being devised on purpose to prepare a way for exposing the Revenues of the Church unto spoil and rapine There was an Act made in King Henry the Eighths time Inhibiting the reading of the Old and New Testament in the English Tongue But this was here abrogated together with all
those days as wise and well-learned men in both the Realms as be now at this day who thought the Marriage between you and me good and lawful Therefore it is a wonder to me what new inventions are now invented against me And now to put me to stand to the Order and Judgment of this Court seems very unreasonable For you may condemn me for want of being able to answer for my self as having no Counse but such as you assigned me who cannot be indifferent on my part since they are your own Subjects and such as you have taken and chosen out of your own Council whereunto they are privy and dare not disclose your Will and Intent Therefore I humbly pray you to spare me until I may know what Counsel my Friends in Spain will advise me to take And if you will not then your Pleasure be fulfilled And with that she rose up and departed never more appearing in any Court The King perceiving that she was gone said I Will now in her Absence declare this unto you all That She has been unto me as True and Obedient a Wife as I would wish or desire She has all the virtuous qualities that ought to be in a Woman of her Dignity or in any other of Mean Condition She is also surely a Noble Woman born Her Condition will well declare it After this the King sent the Two Cardinals Campeius and Wolsey to speak with her WHen the Queen was told that the Cardinals were come to speak with Her She rose up and with a Skein of white Thred about her neck came into her Chamber of Presence The Cardinals said they were sent by the King to understand her mind concerning the business between Him and Her My Lords saith the Queen I cannot answer you so suddenly for I was set among my Maids at work little thinking of any such matter wherein there needs a longer deliberation and a better head then mine to make Answer For I have need of Counsel in this case which concerns me so near and for any Counsel or Friends that I can find in England they are not for my Profit For it is not likely that any English man will Counsel me or be a Friend to me against the King's Pleasure since they are his Subjects And for my Counsel in which I may trust they are in Spain The Cardinals returning to the King gave him an account of what She said Thus the case went forward from Court to Court till it came to Judgment The King's Counsel at the Bar called for Judgment unto whom Cardinal Campeius said thus I will not give Judgment till I have made relation to the Pope of all our proceedings whose Counsel and Command I will observe The matter is too high for us to give an hasty Judgment considering the Highness of the Persons and doubtfulness of the Case and also whose Commissioners we be under whose Authority we sit It were therefore reason that we should make our Chief Head a Counsel in the same before we proceed to a definitive sentence I come not to please for Favour Need or Dread of any Person alive be he King or otherwise I have no such respect to the Person that I will offend my Conscience I will not for the Favour or Disfavour of any High Estate do that thing which shall be against the Will of God I am an old man both weak and sickly that look daily for death I will not wade any further in this matter until I have the Opinion and Assent of the Pope Wherefore I will adjourn the Court for this time according to the Order of the Court of Rome from whence such Jurisdiction is deriv'd Upon this the Court was dissolv'd and no more done Then step'd forth the Duke of Suffolk from the King and uttered with an haughty Countenance these words It was never merry in ENGLAND since we had any Cardinals amongst us Thus far Stow. Upon this there was a Debate held in Council Whether it were convenient for the King to Assume to himself the Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Affairs In opposition to which there was this Speech made related in my Lord Herbert ' s History pag. 362. SIR YOur Highness is come to a point which needs a strong and firm Resolution it being not only the most important in its self that can be presented but likewise of that consequence that it will comprehend your Kingdom and Posterity It is whether in this business of your Divorce and Second Marriage as well as in all other Ecclesiastical Affairs in your Dominions you would make use of your own or the Popes Authority For my own part as an Englishman and your Highnes's Subject I must wish all Power in your Highness But when I consider the Ancient practice of this Kingdom I cannot but think any Innovation dangerous For if in every Temporal Estate it be necessary to come to some Supream Authority whence all inferior Magistracy should be derived it seems much more necessary in Religion both as the Body thereof seems more susceptible of a Head than any else and as that Head again must direct so many others We should therefore above all things labour to keep an unity in the parts thereof as being the Sacred bond which knits and holds together not its own alone but all other Government But how much Sir should we recede from the Dignity thereof if we at once retrenched this its chief and most eminent part And who ever liked that Body long whose Head was taken away Certainly Sir an Authority received for many Ages ought not rashly to be rejected For is not the Pope Communis Pater in the Christian World and Arbiter of their Differences Does not he Support the Majesty of Religion and vindicate it from neglect Does not the holding his Authority from God keep Men in awe not of Temporal alone but Eternal punishments and therein extend his Power beyond death it self And will it be secure to lay aside those potent means of reducing People to their Duty and trust only to the Sword of Justice and Secular Arms Besides who shall mitigate the rigor of Laws in those Cases which may admit exception if the Pope be taken away Who shall presume to give Orders or Administer the Sacraments of the Church Who shall be Depository of the Oaths and Leagues of Princes Or Fulminate against the perjur'd Infractors of them For my part as Affairs now stand I find not how either a general Peace amongst Princes or any equal moderation in Humane Affairs can be well conserved without him For as his Court is a kind of Chancery to all other Courts of Justice in the Christian World so if you take it away you subvert that Equity and Conscience which should be the Rule and Interpreter of all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever I will conclude that I wish your Highness as my King and Sovereign all true Greatness and Happiness but think it not fit in this
to make Deans and Chapters useless and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Act of Parliament I will take leave here although it be not its proper place to insert an Act of Parliament of the third year of this King's Reign concerning the Form to be used in making of Bishops The words of the Act are these to wit THat such form and Manner of Making and Consecrating of Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons as by Six Prelates and Six other Learned Men or by the most number of them they being appointed and assigned by the King shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal shall be accounted as lawfully exercised and Used and no other Thus Dr. Heylyn page 82. concerning the Election of Bishops From this Alteration which was made in Parliament in reference to the making of Bishops and the way of Exercising their Authority we shall find in the Progress of this story That there was great Havock and Spoyl made of the Bishopricks themselves Two Examples and Testimonies whereof here immediately follow Related thus by Dr. Heylyn pag. 129. THe See of Lincoln being vacant it was kept void from August till the next June During which interval the Patrimony of that great and wealthy Bishoprick one of the richest in the Kingdom was so dismembred in it self so parcelled out for a prey to others That when the new Bishop was to be restored to his Temporals there was none of all his Mannors reserved for him but his Mannor of Bugden together with some Farms and Impropriations The rest was to be raised out of the Profits of his Jurisdiction Yet so that nothing was to be abated in his Tenths and First Fruits which were kept up according to their former value The second Example is this Doctor Barlow being made Bishop of Bath and Wells gratified the Lord Protector with a Present of Eighteen or Nineteen Mannors which anciently belonged unto it And lying all or most part of them in the County of Sommerset seemed very conveniently disposed of for the better maintenance of the Title of Duke of Sommerset which the Protector had taken to himself Many such strange Donations we shall find in others The more to be excused because there was no other Means as the times then were to preserve the whole but by advancing some part thereof to preserve the rest Thus Dr. Heylyn page 130. concerning these Bishopricks And thus far concerning the proceedings of this Parliament CHAP. III. Of several other Alterations in Religion made in the beginning of this Year Of which Dr. Heylyn gives this Account Page 54. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 2. NO sooner was this year begun but it was Ordered by the King and his Privy Council that no Candles should be born upon Candlemas-day nor Ashes or Palms used any longer The Lords drove this business on so fast That before this Order could be published in the remote parts of the Kingdom they followed it with another as little pleasing to the main Body of the People concerning the taking down of all Images which in some places of the Realm were either not taken down at all as was required the year before by the King's Injunctions or had been Re-edified again as soon as the first heats of the Visitation had began to cool Bishop Gardiner in a Letter of his signified his great dislike of some proceedings had at Portsmouth in taking down the Images of Christ and his Saints certifying withal That he had not only seen these Images standing in all the Churches of the Lutherans but that Luther himself had purposly written a Book against some men that had defaced them And therefore it may be well thought that Covetousness spurred on this business more than Zeal There being none of these Images so poor and mean the spoyl whereof would not afford some Gold and Silver if not Jewels also besides Censers Candlesticks and many other rich Utensils appertaining to them In which respect the Commissioners hereto Authorized were entertained in many places with scorn and railing and the further they went from London the worse they were handled Insomuch as that one of them as he was pulling down an Image in Cornwal was stabbed And though the Principal Offender was hanged which quieted all matters for a time yet the next year the storm broke out more violently than before not only to the endangering of the peace of those Western Counties but in a manner of all the Kingdom Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Zeal of the People about the taking down of Images Which great Commotions the Council could not but foresee as the most probable Consequents of such Alterations Especially when they are sudden and press'd too fast There being nothing of which People commonly are so tender as they are of Religion on which their happiness depends not only for this world but the world to come And therefore it concerned them in point of Prudence to let the People see that there was no intention to abolish all their ancient Ceremonies And in particular it was held expedient to give the generality of the Subjects some contentment in a Proclamation for the strict keeping of Lent and the Example of the Court in Pursuance of it For Dr. Glasier Preaching at Paul's Cross affirmed That Lent was not Ordained of God to be Fasted neither the eating of Flesh to be forborn But that the same was a Politick Ordinance of men and therefore might be broken by men at their pleasures Upon this there was no scarcity of those that cried down all the Observations of Days and Times even to the Libelling against that ancient and Religious Fast in most scandalous Rhymes Complaint whereof being made by Bishop Gardiner to the Lord Protector a Proclamation was set out by which all People were commanded to abstain from Flesh in the time of Lent and the King's Lenten-dyet was set out and served as in former times Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Policy To Establish this more firmly there was this following Act of Parliament made concerning it Thus set down in the Statute Book FOrasmuch as divers of the King's Subjects have of late more than in times past broken and contemned such Abstinencies as have been used in this Realm upon Fridays and Saturdays Ember-days Vigils Lent and other accustomed times this Parliament considering that due and godly Abstinence is a means to Virtue and to subdue mens Bodies to their Soul and Spirit And considering withal that Fishers may thereby be more set a work and that by eating of Fish much Flesh shall be saved and encreased and also for divers other Considerations and Commodities of the Realm doth Enact and Ordain That all manner of Statutes Laws Constitutions and Usages concerning any manner of Fasting and Abstinence from any kind of meats heretofore in this Realm made or used shall lose their force and strength and be void and of no effect And also that no Person
Glory which by rash talk and words many have pretended And in so doing they should best please God and live without danger of the Laws and maintain the tranquillity of the Realm And furthermore for as much as it is well known That Sedition and false Rumors have been nourished and maintained in this Realm by the subtilty and malice of some evil-disposed Persons who take upon them without sufficient Authority to Preach and Interpret the Word of God after their own brains in Churches and other places both Publick and Private and also by playing Enterludes and Printing of false fond Books Ballads Rhymes and other lewd Treatises concerning Doctrine in matters now in Question Her Highness therefore strictly Charges and Commands That nothing in this kind be evermore Acted Thus Dr. Heylyn Relates Her moderate Proceedings as to Religion CHAP. III. A full Relation of the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome Anno Reg. Mar. 2. Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. THe next work was the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome But before the attempting this it was thought fit to remove one Difficulty which was most likely to hinder the progress of this Design The Difficulty was this There was a general fear That if the Popes were restored to their former Power the Church might challenge Restitution of her former Possessions Now to secure them against this Fear they had not only the Promise of the King and Queen but some Assurance underhand from the Cardinal Legat who knew right well that the Church Lands had been so chopped and changed by the Two last Kings as not to be restored without the manifest ruine of many of the Nobility and most of the Gentry who were invested in the same Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Obstacle Which being removed the work goes on The Relation whereof is thus delivered by Sir Rich. Baker Page 461. Cardinal Pool being sent for by the King and Queen came over into England from Rome as Legat à Latere Whereupon a Parliament being called and the King and Queen sitting there under a Cloth of State with the Cardinal on their right hand All the Lords Knights and Burgesses being present the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor made a short Speech signifying the Presence of the Lord Cardinal and that he was sent from the Pope as his Legat à Latere to do a work tending to the Glory of God and the Benefit of them all which says he you may better hear from his own Mouth Thus Sir Rich. Baker Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. Then the Cardinal rose up and made a very grave and eloquent Speech First giving them Thanks for being restored unto his Country In recompence whereof he told them That he was come to restore them to the Country and Court of Heaven from which by their departure from the Church they had been estranged He therefore earnestly exhorts them to acknowledge their Errors and chearfully to receive the benefit which Christ was ready by his Vicar to extend unto them His Speech was said to have been long and Artificial but it concluded to this purpose That he had the Keys to open them away into the Church which they had shut against themselves by making so many Laws to the dishonor and reproach of the See Apostolick On the revoking of which Laws they should find him ready to make use of the Keys in opening of the door of the Church unto them It was concluded hereupon by both Houses of Parliament That a Petition should be made in the Name of the Kingdom wherein should be declared how sorry they were That they had withdrawn their Obedience from the Apostolick See and consented to the Statutes made against it promising to do their best endeavor hereafter That the said Laws and Statutes should be Repealed beseeching the King and Queen to intercede for them with his Holiness that they might be Absolved from their Crimes and Censures which they had incurred and be received as Penitent Children into the bosom of the Church These things being thus resolved upon both Houses are called again to the Court on Sr. Andrews day Where being Assembled in the Presence of the King and Queen they were asked by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner Whether they were pleased that Pardon should be demanded of the Legat and whether they would return to the Unity of the Church and Obedience of the Pope Supreme Head thereof To which they assenting the Petition was presented to their Majesties in the Name of the Parliament Which being publickly read they arose with a purpose to have moved the Cardinal in it who meeting their desires declared his readiness in giving them that Satisfaction which they would have craved And having caused the Authority given him by the Pope to be publickly read he shewed how acceptable the repentance of a Sinner was in the sight of God and that the very Angels in Heaven rejoyced at the Conversion of this Kingdom Which said they all kneeled upon their Knees and imploring the Mercy of God received Absolution for themselves and the rest of the Kingdom Which Absolution was pronounced in these following words viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who with his most precious Blood hath redeemed and washed us from all our sins and iniquities that he might purchase to himself a glorious Spouse without spot or wrinkle and whom the Father hath appointed Head over all his Church He by his Mercy Absolve you And we by Apostolical Authority given unto us by his Holiness Pope Julius the 3d. his Vice-gerent here on Earth do Absolve and Free you and every one of you with the whole Realm and the Dominions thereof from all Heresie and Schism and from all and every Judgment Censures and Pains for that cause incurred and also we do restore you again to the Unity of our Mother the Holy Church as in our Letters more plainly it shall appear In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Which words of his being seconded by a loud Amen by such as were present he concluded that days work with a solemn Procession to the Chappel for rendring Prayers and Thanks to Almighty God And because this great work was wrought on St. Andrews day the Cardinal procured a Decree or Canon to be made in the Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy That from thenceforth the Feast of St. Andrews-day should be kept in the Church of England for a Majus Duplex as the Rituals call it and Celebrated with as much Solemnity as any other in the year It was thought fit also That the Actions of that Day should be communicated on the Sunday following at St. Paul's Cross in the hearing of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the City According to which appointment the Cardinal went from Lambeth by Water and landing at St. Paul's-wharf from thence proceeded to the Church with a Cross two Pillars
thereof Some of the Lutherans had given out on the former ground That the English had deservedly suffered the greatest Hardships both at home and abroad because they Writ and Spake so irreverently of the Blessed Sacrament Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Lutherans detesting an English Protestant Nothing occurring more in this Queens Reign as to these matters of Religion we will now give an Account of the years when these Changes were made with an Addition of some works of Piety done by Her and in Her time IN the First year of this Queens Reign All Bishops that had been deprived in the time of King Edward the Sixth were restored to their Bishopricks and the new removed Also this year on the Twenty seventh of August the Service was sung in Latin in St. Paul's Church The Pope's Authority being likewise by Act of Parliament restored in England and the Mâ—…ss Commanded in all Churches to be used In her Second year the Realm is Absolved and Reconciled to the Church of Rome and First Fruits and Tenths restored to the Clergy In her Third year Eight hundred English Protestants sorsook the Kingdom who fell into great Confusions amongst themselves being in other Countries In her Fourth year Monasteries were be gun to be re-edified In her Fifth year great endeavors were used by Sectaries to raise Sedition by Seditious Books and unlawful Meetings or Conventicles In her Sixth year She built Publick Schools in the University of Oxford Which being decayed in tract of time and of no beautiful Structure when they were at the best were taken down In place whereof but upon a larger extent of Ground was raised that Goodly and Magnificent Fabrick which we now behold Works of Piety The Queen restored a great part of the Abbey-Lands that were in her Possession In her First year Sir Thomas white then Mayor Erected a College in Oxford called S. John's College He also Erected Schools at Bristow and Reading and gave Two thousand pounds to the City of Bristow to purchase Lands the profits whereof to be employed for the benefit of young Clothiers In her Third year died Sir John Gresham late Mayor of London who Founded a Free-School at Holt in Norfolk and gave to every Ward in London Ten pounds to be distributed to the Poor Also to Maids-Marriages Two hundred pounds Cuthbert Tunstal Bishop of Durham Erected a goodly Library in Cambridge storing it with many Excellent both Printed and Written Books He also bestowed much upon Building at Durham at Alnewick and at Tunbridge Thus Sir Richard Baker Here you have had a short View of the great Zeal and Piety that was in this Nation during the Reign of this Queen And this delivered from the mouths of her Enemies the most zealous Protestants This Account being here ended we will now proceed to relate what Changes were made as to Religion in Queen Elizabeths time Wherein the Scene was totally Altered She following the Example of her Father and Brother in going on with the Destructions and Confusions begun by them The Last Part Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning A Fourth Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth A Preamble BEfore we begin this Queens Reign we will following Dr. Heylyn's order first make a Relation out of him of the various Fortunes of her Mother Anne Boleign of whom thus he writes in his History of Reformation pag. 86. Anne Boleign from her tender years was brought up in the Court of France Who returning into England was preferred to be Maid of Honor to Queen Catherine In whose Service the King falls in Love with her But so long concealed his Affections that there was a great League contracted betwixt her and the young Lord Peircy Son to the Earl of Northumberland But that being broken off by the endeavors of Cardinal Wolsey and the King laboring for a Divorce from Queen Catherine that he might Marry her that also was sought to be obstructed by the Cardinal Which being understood by Mrs. Anne Boleign she seeks all ways for his destruction and prevailed so far with the King that he was presently Indicted and Attainted of a Praemunire and not long after by the Counsel of Thomas Cromwel who had sormerly been the Cardinals Solicitor in his Legatine Court envolves the whole Clergy in the same Crime with him And by perswasion of this man he requires of the said Clergy to acknowledge him for Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and to make no new Canons and Constitutions not to Execute any such when made by his consent And having thus brought his own Clergy under his Command he was the less solicitous how his matters went in the Court of Rome concerning his Divorce Whereupon he privately Marries Mistris Anne Boleign And a long time after to wit Three or Four Months after the Birth of the Princess Elizabeth began a Parliament in which the Kings first Marriage was declared Unlawful and the Succession of the Crown settled upon His Issue by this Second Marriage An Oath being devised in maintenance of the said Succession and not long after Moor and Fisher were Executed for refusing to take that Oath The New Queen being thus settled and considering that the Pope and She had such different Interests that they could not subsist together She resolved to suppress his Power what she could But finding that the Pope was too well entrenched to be dislodged upon a sudden it was advised by Cromwel to begin with taking in the Outworks first which being gained it would be no hard matter to beat him out of his Trenches In order whereunto a Visitation is begun in which a diligent Enquiry was to be made into all Abbey's Priories and Nunneries within the Kingdom an Account of which Visitation and the Dâ—…ssolution of Abbeys hath been formerly given in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth But the New Queen for whose sake Cromwel had contrived that Plot did not live to see this Dissolution For such is the uncertainty of Humane Affairs that when she thought her Self most Secure and free from Danger She became most obnoxious to the ruine prepared for Her It had pleased God upon the Eighth of January to put an end unto the Calamities of the Virtuous but unfortunate Queen unto whose Bed she had succeeded The News whereof she entertained with such contentment that she caused her self to be apparelled in lighter Colours than was agreeable to the season or the sad occasion Whereas if she had rightly understood her own Condition She could not but have known that the long Life of Queen Catherine was to be her best preservation against all changes which the King 's loose Affections or any other Alteration in the Affairs of State were otherwise like to draw upon her But this Contentment held not long For within Three Weeks after She fell in Travail in which she miscarried of a Son to the extreme discontent of the
your Great Forefathers endowed their Mother Church with fair and large Revenues making it still their greatest care to keep her upright able still in freedom And will you give consent that like a servile Bondmaid she now sinks lower to a naked thraldom and by degrees be forced from her Mansion If not to what end serves the flux of these Petitions that taint your Ears with Language far unfit the Ears of Christian Princes These strike not at the withered Branches but at the Tree on which Religion groweth Certainly All are not guilty Admit that some as they enforce or urge be vicious must it conclude there is none good amongst us or able to reform their proper vices Will you assume a Power till now unheard of to give away their Rites by new made Statutes If you will seek and sist our Constitutions you shall there find as strict Injunctions as you can make for Reformation But I suppose it is not that is aimed at pretence of Restauration or Reformation tends to ruine else such beginnings could not find such Favor My Lords consider well your actions be advised This Cause seems only Ours it will be Yours if that the Mother Church do feel Injustice Your turns are next to feel the like Oppression When Faith begins to fail then all must perish Heretick or Heretical Fancies taint the common People whom Novelties betray even to Perdition Let Neighbour Nations tell you your own story Husse Luther and such frantick Teachers cry out against the Church in all their Sermons they do pretend nothing else but Reformation when they themselves are deepest dyed in mischief What follows them to wit Perdition we may expect in Justice The Churches Wealth occasioned this first moving If that were poor our Vices would be Vertues and none would be so forward to Accuse us What can we look for then but Desolation where private ends are made a publick grievance Our Lesser Houses are desired from us not that their value doth deserve the Motion but that the Greater may succeed their fortune which soon will follow if the gap be opened The King himself I hope is too too gracious to set abroach an Action so disordered Nor can I think the Lower House of Commons will be so blind to Second this loose Motion Some giddy-brain whose fading Fortunes lead him to hope to raise himself out of our Ruins betrays their Judgments with a shew of Justice which seeks in truth but meerly Innovation which must succeed unless you do oppose it Wherefore My Lords call back that Ancient Vertue that so long time hath sat in these your places Now is the time to shew your worth the Church Implores it the Church which you acknowledge for your Mother If Liberty take place of Faith farewel Religion The Turk may then direct us how to guid in Rapine Blood and Murder Foul Dissention proceeds from want of good Devotion The lack of Faith begets these strange Conceptions which time will make stark dead if we continue Thus of this Speech Now we will proceed to relate what occurs in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth as touching matters of Religion CHAP. I. Of Her Praying for the Dead and being Crowned by a Catholick Bishop Anno Reg. Eliz. I. Howe 's upon Stow pag. 635. THe Princess Elizabeth being Proclaimed Queen caused these Solemn Rites to be performed for Her Sister and Charles the Emperor In the Abbey-Church of Westminster the Corps of Queen Mary was very royally Enterred with all Solemn Funeral Rites and a Mass of Requiem In the same place and in like Princely manner were performed Solemn Obsequies for the late famous Emperor Charles the Fifth Thus Howes Her Coronation She was Crowned according to the Order of the Roman Pontifical by Dr. Owen Oglethorpe Bishop of Carlisle the only Man amongst all the Bishops who could be wrought on by her to perform that Office Whether it were that they saw some Alteration coming to which they were resolved not to yield conformity or for some other reasons is not certainly known The Bishop of Ely had a particular reason for his refusing this because he had been one of those that were sent to Rome to render the Submission of the Kingdom to the Pope still Living and therefore could not now appear with Honor in any such Action as seemed to carry with it a Repugnancy if not a manifest Inconsistency with the same Engagement It cannot be denyed but that there were Three Bishops yet alive of King Edward's making all of them Zealously affected to the Reformation And possibly it may seem stange that the Queen received not the Crown rather from one of their hands than to put her self to the hazard of so many denials as had been given Her by the others But unto this it may be Answered That the said Bishops at that time were deprived of their Sees and therefore not in a capacity to perform that service Besides there being at that time no other Form estalished for a Coronation than that which had much in it of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome she was not sure that any of the said Three Bishops would have acted in it without such Alterations and Omissions in the whole course of the Order as might have rendred the action questionable amongst captious Men. And therefore finally she thought it more conducible to her Reputation amongst Foreign Princes to be Crowned by the hands of a Catholick Bishop or one at least that was accounted such than if it had been done by any of the other Religion Thus Dr. Heylyn But notwithstanding these Solemnities and the profession of the Catholick Religion in all things not only by Permission but also by Command which sufficiently manifest that there was nothing but Humane Policy in the conduct of this Affair yet a change of Religion was designed as will appear by what shall be here said CHAP. II. Of the Policy used and strange manner of introducing this following Change of Religion and of the Consequence of it to wit a general Confusion in all matters of Religion Dr. Heylyn pag. 103. QUEEN Elizabeth knew full well that Her Legitimation and the Pope's Supremacy could not stand together and that She could not possibly maintain the one without a discarding of the other But in this case it concerned her to walk very warily and not to unmask her self too much at once before she had put her self into a posture of Ability to make good her Actions Notwithstanding upon a serious debate of all particulars she was resolved to proceed to a Reformation as the time should serve In order whereunto She Constitutes her Privy Council which she compounds of such Ingredients as might neither give encouragement to any of those who wished well to the Church of Rome or alienate their Affections from Her whose Hearts were more inclined to the Reformation Now as the Papists in the first beginning of the Reign of Queen Mary hoping thereby to obtain her Favor
stretching forth her body her head aâ—… two blows was taken off This end had Mary Queen of Scots in the Forty Sixth year of her Age and of her Imprisonment in England the Eighteenth A Lady so compleat in all excellent parts of Body and mind that it must needs have made her a happy Woman if she had not been a Queen and perhaps a happy Queen too if she had not been Heir to the Crown of England Thus Baker I will insert here one Passage more concerning this Queen which hath been omited in order of this story Dr. Heylyn pag. 160. Certain of the Queens Servants being assembled for their Devotions in the Chappel Royal of the Palace of Holy-rood House in Edenburgh the doors were broken open some of the company haled to the next Prison and the rest dispersed The Priest escaping with much difficulty by a private passage The Queen was then absent in the North but questioned Knox at her return as the cause of the uproar By which Expostulation she got nothing from that fiery Spirit but neglect and scorn Thus Dr. Heylyn ' concerning this ' barbarous action CHAP. VIII A short Relation concerning the Affairs of Ireland as to Religion And how the Hugonots in France betrayed the English Dr. Heylyn pag. 128. WE shall find the Queen there as active in advancing the Reformation as she had been in either of the other Kingdoms King Henry had first broke the Ice by taking to himself the Title of Supream Head on Earth of the Church of Ireland exterminating the Popes Authority and suppressing all the Monasteries and Religious Houses In matters of Doctrine and Forms of Worship as there was nothing done by him so neither much endeavoured in the time of King Edward the Sixth It being thought perhaps unsafe to provoke that people in the King's Minority considering with how many troubles he was else here exercised If any thing were done thereâ—…n it was rather done by toleration than command But Queen Elizabeth having setled her Affairs in England and undertaken the protection of the Scots conceived her self obliged in point of Piety to promote the Reformation in that Kingdom likewise A Parliament is therefore held where pass'd an Act restoring to the Crown the Jurisdiction over all Ecclesiastical persons By which Statute were established both the Oath of Supremacy and the High Commission as before in England There also pass'd an Act for the Uniforâ—…ity of Common-Prayer with permission of saying the same in Latin where the Minister had not the knowledge of the English Tongue But for translating it into Irish as it was afterwards done into Welch there was no care taken The people are required by that Statute under several penalties to frequent their Churches and to be frequent at the reading of the English Liturgy which they understand no more than they do the Mass. By which means the Irish were not only kept in continual ignorance as to the Doctrines and Devotions of the Church of England but we have likewise furnished the Papist with an excellent Argument against our selves for having the Divine Service celebrated in such a language as the people do not understand There also pass'd another Statute for restoring to the Crown the first Fruits and Twenty parts of all Ecclesiastical promotions as also of all Impropriated Parsonages of which there are more in number than those Rectories which have Cure of Souls The like Act passed for the Restitution of all Lands belonging to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem with the Annulling of all Leases and other Grants made by the late Lord Prior of the same The Bishops of Ireland finding how things went in England and knowing that the like Alteration would ensue amongst themselves resolved to make such use of the present times as to enrich their Friends and Kindred by the the spoyl of their Churches To which end they so dissipated the Revenues of their several Bishopricks by long Leases Fee-farms and plain Alienations that to some of their Sees they left no more than a Rent of Five Marks Per Annum To others a bare yearly Rent of Forty shillings to the high displeasure of God the reproach of Religion and the perpetual ignominy of themselves for that horrible Sacriledge Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning Ireland How the English were betrayed by the Hugonots Dr. Heylyn pag. 161. A Peace being concluded betwixt the King and the Hugonots they betrayed the English whom they had brought into the Country and joyned their Forces with the rest to drive them out of Newhaven a Town besieged where the Pestilence had gotten amongst them and raged so terribly that the Living were scarce able to bury the Dead And to compleat the misery of the Besieged the Prince of Conde and Duke of Monpensier who had been the Heads of the Hugonot party shewed themselves openly amongst the rest in the Camp of the Enemies whereupon they were necessitated to yield This might be looked upon as an Argument of God's displeasure on this Nation for giving Aid unto the Rebels of a Christian Prince masked with the vizard of Religion And for a further punishment of this Action the Plague brought out of France by the Garrison Soldiers of Newhaven had so dispersed it â—…elf and made such a desolation in many parts of the Realm that it swept away above Twenty Thousand in the City of London Thus Dr. Heylyn And thus far as to these particul Relations of other Countries We will now prosecute our story of England CHAP. IX A Word concerning the then Pope's Letter to the Queen with a long Relation concerning the Presbyterians Dr. Heylyn pag. 131. WE find the new Bishops in England very high and resolute in opposing the Church of Rome Whereof the then Pope being informed directs unto the Queen an affectionate Letter calling Her his Dearest Daughter and declaring unto Her how sollicitous he was for her Salvation and the prosperity of her People which he told Her was not to be found by wandring out of the Communion of the Catholick Church Unto which he again invites Her with much Christian meekness But the Queen had set up her Resolution to go forward with the Change Wherefore all was lost labour But all this while there was no care taken to suppress the practices of the Calvinists who secretly endeavored to subvert the English Liturgy For whilst the Prelates of the Church of England bent all their forces towards the confuting of the Papists another Enemy appeared which seemed not openly to aim at the Churches Doctrine but quarrelled rather at some Rites and Extrinsecals of it Their purpose was to take in the Outworks of Religion first before they levelled their Artillery at the Fort it self The Schismaticks of Frankfort had no sooner heard of Queen Maries Death but they make what hast they could for England in hope of fishing better for themselves in a troubled water than a quiet Followed not long after by the Brethren of the Separation which
vacant There was one Scambler made Bishop of Peterborough But during the vacancy thereof Sir William Cecill possessed himself of the Mannors in Soak which belonged unto it And for Scambler's readiness to confirm the same Mannors to him he preferred him to the See of Norwich Dr Thomas Young Bishop of St. Davids was translated to the See of York which was done in an unlucky hour to that City For scarce was he setled in that See when he pulled down the Goodly Hall and the greatest part of the Episcopal Palace in the City of York which had been built with so much care and cost by one of his Predecessors in the year 1090 Whether it were for Covetousness to make Money of the Materials of it or out of sordidness to avoid the charge of Hospitality let them guess that will But neither the filling up of those vacant Sees nor the Queens Proclamation for the Banishing of Sectaries could free the Land from those dangerous Inmates or preserve the Church from the Contagion of their poysonous Doctrines A short Note concerning St. Paul's Church Dr. Heylyn in the same page The Zuinglian Gospellers or those of the Genevian party rejoyced much at a most lamentable accident which hapned to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul on the Fourth of June on which day a fearful Fire first shewed it self near the top of the Steeple and from thence burnt down the Spire to the Stone-work and Bells and raged so terribly that within the space of Four hours the Timber and Lead of the whole Church and whatsoever else was combustible in it were burnt and consumed Now when Men began to cast about to find out what might be the occasion of this misfortune The generality of the Zuinglian or Genevian party affirmed it to be a just Judgment of God upon an old Idolatrous Fabrick not throughly Reformed and purged from its Superstitions and would have been content that all other Cathedrals in the Kingdom had been so destroyed The Emperors Zeal Dr. Heylyn pag. 142. The Emperor Ferdinand being informed of these Confusions of Religion in England perswaded the Queen by his Letters to return to the old Religion and not relinquish the Communion of so many Catholick Kings and Princes and Her own Ancestors also nor to prefer Her singular judgment and the judgment of a few private Persons and those not of the most Learned neither before the Judgment and Determination of the Church of Christ. And that if She were resolved to persist in her own Opinion at least that She would deal favourably with so many Reverend and Religious Prelates as She kept in Prison and that meerly for adhering unto that Religion which himself professed And finally he entreas her most earnestly That she would set apart some Churches to the use of the Catholicks where they might freely exercise their Religion A Nuncio sent to the Queen Dr. Heylyn in the same page Pope Pius also sent his Nuncio to the Queen with whom he conceived himself to stand upon terms of Amity It had been much laboured by the Guises and Spanish-faction to divert him from it by telling him That it would be an undervaluing of his Power and Person to send a Nuncio into England or to any other Princes of the same Perswasions who openly professed a Separation from the Church of Rome To which he made this prudent and pious answer That he would humble himself even to Heresie it self in regard whatsoever was done to gain Souls to Christ did beseem that See Thus Dr. Heylyn CHAP. XI Of the Contest between the Church of England and the Presbyterians and how they sought to undermine the said Church Dr. Heylyn pag. 144. THe Genevians slept not all this while but were busily employed in practising against the Church of England nothing being able to satisfie them but the nakedness and simplicity of the Zuinglian Churches the new fashions taken up at Frankfort and the Presbyteries of Geneva And they drove on so fast upon it that in some places they had taken down the steps where the Altar stood and brought the Table into the midst of the Church In others they laid aside the Ancient use of God-fathers and God-mothers in the Administration of Baptism and left the answering for the Child to the charge of the Father the Weekly Fasts the time of Lent and all other Days of Abstinence were look'd upon as Superstitious observations No Fast by them allowed of but occasionally only and them too of their own appointing And the like course they took also with Festival Days neglecting those which had been instituted as Human Inventions not fit to be retained in a Reformed Church And finally that they might bring in their Outlandish Doctrines with such Foreign usages they had procured some of the inferior Ordinaries to impose upon their several Parishes certain new Books of Sermons and Expositions of the Holy Scripture To stop these proceedings the Arch-Bishop with Advice of some of the Bishops set forth a Book of Orders But notwithstanding these Orders the Calvinists drive on their designs as appears by this following Relation of Dr. Heylyn pag. 154. The Genevians had already begun to blow the Coals and brought Fuel to them But it was only for the Burning of Caps and Rochets The Common-Prayer-Book was so fortified by Act of Parliament that there was no assaulting of it And as to Episcopal Government it was so interwoven and incorporated with the Laws of the Land so twisted in with the Prerogative of the Crown and the Royal Interest that they must first be in a capacity of trampling on the Laws and the Crown together before they could attempt the destruction of it But Caps and Tippets Rochets and Lawn-sleeves and Canonical Coats seemed to be built upon no better Foundation than Superstitious custom some old Popish Canon or at the best some Temporary Injunction of the Queens devising which could not have the Power and effect of Law This Game they had in chase in King Edwards time which now they are resolved to follow to the very last The obstinacy of these Men in matter of Ceremony prompted the Bishops to make tryal of their Orthodoxy in Points of Doctrine Whereupon the Articles of Religion lately agreed upon were required to be subscribed to in all places with threatning no less than Deprivation to such as willfully refused Many there were that boggled at it as they all did but yet not so perversly nor in such great numbers as when their faction was grown strong and improved to multitudes Some stumbled at it in regard of the first clause added to the Twentieth Article about the Authority of the Church Others in reference to the Thirty Sixth touching the Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops Some thought they Attributed more Authority to the Supream Magistrate over all Persons and Causes both Ecclesiastical and Civil than could consist with that Independency which Calvin arrogated unto his Presbyters and other Churches of the
were put by also seeing their Rights depended one upon another But if he pleased to Appoint the Lady Jane the Duke of Suffolk's eldest Daughter and his own next Kinswoman to his Sisters to be his Successor he might then be sure that the True Religion should be maintained to God's great Glory and be a worthy Act of his Religious Prudence This was to strike upon the right string of the young King's Affections with whom nothing was so dear as Preservation of Religion And thereupon his Last Will was appointed to be drawn contrived chiefly by the Lord Chief Justice Mountague and Secretary Cecil By which Will as far as in him lay he excluded his Two Sisters from the Succession and all others but the Duke of Suffolk's Daughters And then causing it to be read before his Council he required them all to Assent unto it and to Subscribe their Hands which they All both Nobility Bishops and Judges did only the Archbishop Cranmer refused at first Sir James Hales a Judge of the Common-Pleas to the last and with them also Sir John Baker Chancellor of the Exchequer His Will being thus made he shortly after dies conceived to have been Poysoned It is noted by some saith Sir Richard Baker That he died the same Month and the day of the Month that his Father King Henry the Eighth had put Sir Thomas Moor to death Thus of this Duke and the Kings Death We will now give an Account of the Years when these changes were made IN the First year a Reformation was resolved on and to prepare the way for it Injunctions were set out and Commissioners sent into all parts of the Kingdom to enquire into all Ecclesiastical Concernments With them also were sent Preachers to disswade the People from their former practices in Religion And this to prepare the way for the total Alteration in Religion which was intended There was likewise a Parliament called to promote and confirm the same Designs In the Second year Images were taken down and many Ancient Customs abolished and a Book of Common-Prayer composed All Colleges Hospitals c. were given to the King In the Third year a part of Pauls and many Churches were pulled down to build Sommerset House in the Strand There were great Troubles and Commotions both in Church and State The Book of Common-Prayer composed in the former year was now set out Peter Martyr and Bucer came over In the Fourth year one John a Lasco a Polonian with his Sectaries settled themselves here The great business of this year was the taking down of Altars Until this following Fifth year nothing had been Positively and Dogmatically concluded in Points of Doctrine Wherefore to set a stop to the great Confusions that were at this time there was a Book of Articles composed And to satisfie the Calvinists ther was a New Book of Common-Prayer set forth In the Sixth year Hopkins Psalms began to be sung in Churches And the use of the New Common-Prayer-Book made strange Alterations but all in order to Calvin's designs who had a chief hand in composing it In the Seventh year the King is found to be extremely engaged in Debt and under Colour of satisfying such Debts great spoyl is made of the Treasures of the Church Thus you have had a short Relation of the strange Confusions and Alterations of Religion which happened in the few years Reign of this King A CONTINUATION Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning the Restauration of Catholick Religion And the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of Queen MARY A Preamble WE shall here follow Dr. Heylyns order in relating First some Passages concerning her before She came to the Crown With a brief Narration of her Mother's Death whereof Dr. Heylyn gives this following account in his History of Reformation page 9. The Execution of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor with many others who wished well unto her added so much affliction to the desolate Queen that not being able longer to bear the burthen of so many miseries she fell into a languishing Sickness which more and more encreasing on Her And finding the near approach of Death the only Remedy now left for all Her miseries She dictated this ensuing Letter which She caused to be delivered to the King by one of Her Women Wherein She laid before him these Her Last Requests Viz. My most Dear Lord King and Husband for so She called Him THe Hour of my Death now approaching I cannot chuse out of the Love I bear you but advise you of your Soul's health which you ought to prefer before all Considerations of the World or Flesh whatsoever For which yet you have cast me into many Calamities and your Self into many Troubles But I forgive you all and pray God to do so likewise For the rest I commend unto you Mary our Daughter beseeching you to be a good Father unto her as I have heretofore desired I must entreat you also to consider my Maids and give them in Marriage which is not much they being but Three And to grant unto all my other Servants a years pay besides their due lest otherwise they should be unprovided for Lastly I make this Vow That my Eyes have desired you above All Things Farewel Within few days after the writing of which Letter She yielded her pious Soul unto God at the Kings Manner-House of Kimbolton and was Solemnly buried in the Abbey of Peterborough The rending of her Letter drew some tears from the King which could not but be much encreased by the news of her Death Moved by them both to such a measure of Commiseration of Her sad condition That he caused the greatest part of Her Goods amounting to Five Thousand Marks to be expended or her Funeral and in the recompensing of such of Her Servants as had best deserved it Never so kind to Her in the time of her Life as when he had rendred Her incapable of receiving any kindness Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning her Mothers death Now concerning her Self he writes thus Pag. 11. THe Princess Mary is now left wholly to her Self declared Illegitimate by her Father deprived of the comfort of her Mother and in a Manner forsaken by all her Friends whom the severe proceedings against Moor and Fisher had so deterred that few durst pay her any offices of Love or Duty In which condition the poor Princes had no greater comfort than what She could gather from Her Books In which She had been carefully instructed by Dr. John Harman appointed her Tutor by the King and for his good Performance in that place of Trust advanced by him to the See of Exon and afterwards made Lord President of Wales By satisfying the King her Father in a Message sent unto her She gained so far upon him that from that time forwards he held her in the same rank with the rest of his Children gave Her her Turn in the Succession of the Kingdom assigned Her a Portion of Ten thousand pounds to
be paid at her Marriage and in the interim Three Thousand pound per annum for Her personal maintenance Little or nothing more occurs of Her in the time of King Henry because there was little Alteration made in the face of Religion which might give Her any cause of Publick or personal dislike But when the great Alterations happened in the time of King Edward She then declared her Self more openly as She might more safely in opposition to the same Concerning which She thus declared Her self in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council Dated at Kenninghall June 22. Anno 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I lately received from you and others of the Council That you be all sorry to find so little Conformity in me touching the observation of his Majesties Laws who am well assured that I have offended no Law unless it be a late Law of your own making which in my Conscience is not worthy the name of a Law both for the King's Honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendom besides the partiallity used in the same and as my Conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passes all the rest But I am very well assured That the King his Father's Laws were allowed and consented to without Compulsion by the whole Realm both Spiritual and Temporal and all the Executors Sworn upon a Book to fulfil the same so that it was an Authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the Grace of God till the King's Majesty my Brother shall have sufficient years to judge in this matter himself In this my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring to you at that time whereunto I would stand And now do assure you all the only occasion of my stay from altering my Opinion is for Two causes One principally for my Conscience The Other that the King my Brother shall not hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such Alterations in his tender years And what fruits daily grow by such Changes since the death of the King my Father it well appears to every indifferent Person both to the Displeasure of God and Unquietness of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loth to see his Highness take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the best of you all And none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble Sister most tenderly to Love and pray for Him and to wish unto this Realm being born within the same all wealth and prosperity to God's Honor. And if any judge of me the contrary for my Opinions sake as I trust none does I doubt not in the end with God's help to prove my self as True a Natural and Humble Sister as they of the contrary Opinion with all their devices and altering the Laws shall prove themselves good Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Council no more to disquiet and trouble me with matters touching my Conscience wherein I am at a full point with God's help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his Grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits But to bestow that short time I think to live in quietness praying for the King's Majesty and all you Heartily wishing that your Proceedings may be to God's Honor the Safeguard of the King's Person and quietness of the Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my self But notwithstanding this Letter no favor was to be hoped for from these Lords They signifying unto her how sensible they were of those Inconveniences which the Example of her Inconformity to the Laws Established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the Subjects And hereupon the Lord Chancellor and Secretary Peters were sent to her who after some Conferences brought her to the King at Westminster Here the Council declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of Mass and considering her Obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unless She would put Him in hope of some Conformity in time To which She answered That her Soul was God's and touching her Faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made That the King intended not to constrain her Faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the Example might draw After some like enterchanges of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King When there arrived an Embassador from the Emperor with a threatning Message of War in case his Cosin the Lady Mary should be denied the Free Exercise of Mass. Hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishops of London and Rochester Who gave their Opinion that to give licence to sin was sin But to connive at sin might be allowed so it were not too long nor without hope of Reformation Then Answer was given to the Embassador That the King would send to the Emperor within a Month or Two and give him such Satisfaction as should be fit Upon this Earnest Soliciation of the Emperor it was declared unto her by the King with the consent of his Council That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed But so that none but some few of her own Chamber should be present with her And that to all the rest of her House-hold the Service of the Church should be only used Whereupon Mallet and Barkeley Two of her Chaplains saying Mass promiscuously in her absence to her houshold-Servants were seized on and committed Prisoners Which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Council One of which Letters to the Council touching this matter I will here insert taken out of Fox's Acts and Monuments Page 704. The Lady Mary to the Lords of the Council My Lords WHereas you writ that two of my Chaplains Dr. Mallet and Barkeley are Indicted for certain things committed by them contrary to the King's Majesties Laws and that a Process for them is also awarded or given forth and delivered to the Sheriff of Essex I cannot but marvel they should be so used considering it is done as I understand for sâ—…ying Mass within my House and although I have been of my self minded alwaies and yet am to have Mass within my House yet I have been advertised that the Emperor's Majesty also hath been promised that I should never be unquieted nor troubled for my so doing as some of you my Lords can witness Moreover the declaration of the said Promise was made to