W. Wilts I. Bedford E. Clynton T. Ely A. Wyngfeld W. Herbert W. Petre. Edw. North. Accordingly Iune 9. The Duke of Somerset the Marquess of Northampton the Lord Treasurer the Earl of Bedford and Secretary Petre went to the Bishop of Winchester to know what he would stick to Whether to conform to and promote the King's Laws or no He answered That he would obey and set forth all things set forth by the King and Parliament And if he were troubled in Conscience he would reveal it to the Council and not reason openly against it And then he desired to see the King's Book of Proceedings At Greenwich Iune 10. Report was made by the Duke of Somerset and the rest sent to the Bishop of Winchester that he desired to see the said Book The next day were the Books sent to him and delivered to him by the Lieutenant of the Tower as the Council appointed to see if he would set his Hand to them and promise to set them forth to the People At Greenwich Iune 13. the Lieutenant of the Tower declared unto the Council that the Bishop having perused the Books of the Proceedings said unto him He could make no direct answer unless he were at Liberty and so being he would say his Conscience On the 14 th Day the Duke of Somerset and five more of the Council again repaired to the Bishop to whom he made this Answer I have deliberately seen the Book of Common-Prayer Altho I would not have made it so my self yet I find such things in it as satisfy my Conscience And therefore I will both execute it my self and also see others my Parishioners to do it And this the Councellors testified under their Hands as his Saying Iuly the 9 th There were certain Articles drawn up signed by King and Council for the Bishop to subscribe which contained the Confession of his Fault the Supremacy of the King and his Successors the establishing of Holy Days or dispensing with them to be in the King the Service-Book to be Godly and Christian the acknowledgment of the King to be Supream Head and to submit to him and his Laws under Age the abolishing the Six Articles and the King's Power of correcting and reforming the Church These Articles together with a Letter from the King the Earl of Warwick Lord great Master the Lord S. Iohn Lord Treasurer Sir William Herbert Master of the Horse and Secretary Petre carried to the Bishop requiring him to sign them Which he did only making exception to the first Iuly 10. The said Lords made report unto the Council that they had delivered the King's Letter unto the Bishop together with the Articles Unto all which Articles he subscribed thus with his own Hand Stev Winton saving the first Against which he wrote in the Margin these words I cannot in my Conscience confess the Preface knowing my self to be of that sort I am indeed and ever have been To which Articles thus subscribed by the Bishop these of the Council wrote their Names E. Somers W. Wilts I. Warwick I. Bedford W. Northampton E. Clynton G. Cobham William Paget W. Herbert W. Petre Edw. North. Iuly 11. at Westminster This was brought to the Council And his boggling in this manner at the Confession displeased the King that being the principal Point But to the intent he should have no just cause to say he was not mercifully handled it was agreed that Sir VVilliam Herbert and the Secretary should go the next day to him to tell him that the King marvelled he refused to put his Hand to the Confession And that if the words thereof seemed too sore then to refer it to himself in what sort and with what words he should devise to submit himself That upon the acknowledgment of his Fault the King might extend his Mercy towards him as was determined Iuly 13. Sir VVilliam Herbert and the Secretary reported that the Bishop stood precisely in his own Justification He said That he could not subscribe to the Confession because he was Innocent and also because the Confession was but the preface to the Articles Upon this it was agreed by the Council that a new Book of Articles and a new Submission should be devised for the Bishop to subscribe And the Bishop of London Secretary Petre Mr. Cecyl and Goodrick a Common Lawyer were commanded to make these Articles according to Law And then for the more authentick proceeding with the Bishop the two former Persons were again to resort to him with the new Draught and to take with them a Divine which was the Bishop of London and a Lawyer which was Goodrick These Articles were 22 in Number and to this Tenor That King Henry VIII had justly supprest Monasteries That persons may Marry who are not prohibited to contract Matrimony by the Levitical Law without the Bishop of Rome's Dispensation That vowing or going Pilgrimages were justly abolished the Conterfeyting S. Nicholas St. Clement c. was mere Mockery That it is convenient that the Scriptures should be in English That the Late King and the present did upon just ground take into their Hands Chauntries which were for maintenance of private Masses That private Masses were justly taken away by the Statutes of the Realm and the Communion placed instead thereof is very Godly That it is convenient that the Sacrament should be received in both Kinds That the Mass where the Priest doth only receive and others look on is but the Invention of Man That it was upon good and Godly Consideration ordered in the Book that the Sacrament should not be lifted up and shewed to the People to be adored That it is politickly and godly done that Images in Churches and Mass-Books were enacted to be abolished That Bishops Priests and Deacons have no Commandment in the Law of God to vow Chastity or abstain from Marriage And that all Canons and Constitutions which do prohibit Marriage to the Clergy be justly taken away by Parliament That the Homilies and the Forms set forth of making Arch-bishops Bishops Priests and Deacons are Godly and wholsome and ought to be received That the Orders of Subdeacon Benet and Colet c. be not necessary and justly left out in the Book of Orders That the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all Doctrines necessary to Salvation That upon good and godly Consideration it was injoined that Erasmus's Paraphrases should be set up in Churches And that it was the King's Pleasure that the Bishop should affirm these Articles by Subscription of his Hand and declare himself willing to publish and preach the same These Articles were brought to the Bishop by the Master of the Horse and Secretary Petre with the Bishop of London and Goodrick To whom the Bishop answered That he would not consent to the Article of Submission Praying to be brought to his Trial and desired nothing but Justice And for the rest of the Articles when he was at Liberty then it should appear what he
begun to hate Priests this would make them much more to do so nay and the very Name of Learning too As for the Authority of the Universities they were many times led by Affection which was well known And he wished they had never erred in their Determinations He shewed that they were brought to the King's Part with great difficulty Moreover against the Universities Authority he set the Authority of the King's Father and his Council the Queen's Father and his Council and the Pope and his Then he proceeded to Political Considerations of the Pope and Emperor and the French King That the Pope was a great Adversary of the King's purpose he had shewed divers tokens already and that not without cause Because if he should consent he should do against his Predecessors and restrain his own Power which he would rather gladly enlarge and likewise raise Seditions in many Realms as in Portugal Of whose King the Emperor married one Sister and the Duke of Savoy the other Then he went on extolling the Emperor's Power and lessening that of the French King as to his aiding of us Mentioning the Mischief the Emperor might do England by forbidding only our trading into Flanders and Spain That the French never used to keep their Leagues with us but for their own Ends and that we could never find in our Hearts to trust them And that the two Nations never loved one another And that if the French should but suspect that this new Matrimony of the King with the Lady Ann Bolen now purposed should not continue we must not expect Succor of them but upon intolerable Conditions And then lastly he comes to deliberate for the saving the King's Honour Which as it was impossible to do if he proceeded one step further for he had already he said gone to the very Brink so he began to propound certain means for the rescue of it Thus far is Cranmer's Relation of the Book But here he breaks off the Messenger that tarried for the Letter being in haste promising the next Day to come to the Earl to whom he wrote all this and relate the rest to him by Word of Mouth These Means in short were as I collect from some other Passages of this Letter to refer the Matter wholly to the Pope and to reject the thoughts of matching with the Lady Ann. The which was now much talked of For the King and She were very great and about this very time they both rode together from Hampton-Court to Windsor though she were yet no more then the Lady Ann without any other Title The Censure which our Divine gave of this Book and the Writer was this wherein his Modesty and Candor as well as Judgment appeared That Pole had shewed himself both Witty and Eloquent And that for his Wisdom he might have been of Counsel to the King and such his Rhetorick that if his Book should have been set forth and known to the common People he believed it were not possible to perswade them to the contrary Concerning that which he chiefly drove at namely That the King should commit his great Matter to the Pope's Judgment Cranmer gave his Opinion That he seemed therein to lack much Judgment And that though he pressed it with such goodly Eloquence both of Words and Sentence that he were likely to perswade many yet him he said he perswaded in that Point nothing at all No Cranmer had too well studied the Point to leave such a Case of Conscience to the Pope's Decision But in many other things in this Discourse of Pole he professed he was much satisfied I have placed this whole Letter in the Appendix at the end of these Memorials as I shall do many other Letters and Papers of value partly for the Satisfaction of more curious Readers that love to see Originals and partly for the preservation of many choice Monuments relating to this Man and these Times and for the transferring them to posterity CHAP. III. Cranmer's Embassies IN the Year 1530 Dr. Cranmer was sent by the King into France Italy and Germany with the Earl of Wiltshire Chief Ambassador Dr. Lee Elect Arch-Bishop of York Dr. Stokesly Elect of London Divines Trigonel Karn and Benet Doctors of the Law to dispute these Matrimonial matters of his Majesty at Paris Rome and other places Carrying the Book he had made upon that Subject with him From France they took their Journey to the Pope where Cranmer's Book was delivered to him and he ready to justify it and to offer a Dispute against the Marriage openly upon these two Points which his Book chiefly consisted of viz. I. That no Man Iure Divino could or ought to marry his Brother's Wife II. That the Bishop of Rome by no means ought to dispense to the contrary But after sundry Promises and Appointments made there was no Man found to oppose him and publickly to dispute these Matters with him Yet in more private Argumentations with them that were about the Pope he so forced them that at last they openly granted even in the Pope's chief Court of the Rota that the said Marriage was against God's Law But as for the Pope's Power of Dispensing with the Laws of God it was too advantagious a Tenet to be parted with But Dr. Cranmer boldly and honestly denied it utterly before them all The King's Ambassadors from the Pope repaired to the Emperor Charles V. Cranmer only being left behind at Rome to make good his Challenge and withal more privately to get the Judgments and Subscriptions of the Learned Men there in the King's Case which was one of his Businesses also in Germany after What he did in this latter Affair he signified by a Letter to Crook another of the King's Agents for that purpose in Italy Namely That his Success there at Rome was but little and that they dared not to attempt to know any Man's Mind because of the Pope who had said that Friars should not discuss his Power And added That he looked for little Favour in that Court but to have the Pope and all his Cardinals declare against them Here at Rome Cranmer abode for some Months But in all the Journey he behaved himself so learnedly soberly and wittily that the Earl of Wilts gave him such Commendations to the King by his Letters that the rest coming home he sent him a Commission with Instructions to be his sole Ambassador to the Emperor in his said great Cause Which Commissional Letters of the King to him bare date Ianuary 24. 1531. wherein he was stiled Consiliarius Regius ad Caesarem Orator By this opportunity of travelling through Germany following the Emperor's Court by his Conferences he fully satisfied many Learned Germans which afore were of a contrary Judgment and divers in the Emperor 's own Court and Council also One of the chiefest of these and who suffered severely for it was Cornelius Agrippa Kt. Doctor of both Laws
Serenissimam Catharinam necessario esse faciendum The twelfth and concluding Article is this We think that the pretended Matrimony of Henry King of England and Catharine the Queen hath been and is none at all being prohibited both by the Law of God and Nature CHAP. V. The Arch-Bishop visits his Diocess AFter his Sentence against Q. Katharine and confirmation of Q. Ann's Marriage one thing he did which looked as if he was not like to prove any great Friend to a Reformation For he forbad all Preaching throughout his Diocess and warned the rest of the Bishops throughout England to do the same as I have it from an old Journal made by a Monk of St. Augustine's Canterbury But this was only for a time till Orders for Preachers and the Beads could be finished it being thought convenient that Preaching at this Juncture should be restrained because now the Matter of Sermons chiefly consisted in tossing about the King's Marriage with the Lady Anne and condemning so publickly and boldly his doings against Q. Katharine the Priests being set on work by her Friends and Faction In October or November the Arch-bishop went down to Canterbury in order to a Visitation The third day of December the Arch-bishop received the Pontifical Seat in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity And soon after viz. the Ninth of the same Month began to go on Visitation throughout all his Diocess that he might have finished that Work before the Sessions of the Parliament This same Year a remarkable Delusion was discovered in the Arch-bishop's Diocess and even under his Nose the Scene being chiefly laid in Canterbury by some belonging to the Cathedral Church For a certain Nun called Elizabeth Barton by marvellous Hypocrisy mocked all Kent and almost all England For which Cause she was put in Prison in London Where she confessed many horrible things against the King and the Queen This forenamed Elizabeth had many Adherents but especially Dr. Bocking Monk of Christ's-Church in Canterbury who was her chief Author in her Dissimulation All of them at the last were accused of Treason Heresy and Conspiracy And so stood in Penance before the open Cross of S. Paul's in London and in Canterbury in the Church-yard of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at the Sermon time they stood over the high Seat where of the Preacher they were grievously rebuked for their horrible Fact And in April the next Year she with Bocking and Dering another Monk of Canterbury were led out of Prison through all the Streets of London unto Tyburn where she and these Monks and also two Brothers of the Minors suffered with the rest upon the Gallows for Treason and Heresy In the Month of November the Arch-bishop sent a Letter to Bonner the King's Ambassador at Marseilles together with his Appeal from the Pope to be there signified as was hinted before The reason whereof was this Upon the King's Divorce from Q. Katharine the Pope had by a publick Instrument declared the Divorce to be null and void and threatned him with Excommunication unless he would revoke all that he had done Gardiner Bishop of Winton about this time and upon this occasion was sent Ambassador to the French King and Bonner soon after followed him to Marseilles Where Gardiner at the interview between the French King and the Pope now was For the King and the Council apprehended some Mischief to be hatching against the Kingdom by the Pope who was now inciting the Emperor and other Princes to make War upon us And indeed he had vaunted as the Ld Herbert declares that he would set all Christendom against the King And the Emperor in discourse had averred that by the means of Scotland he would avenge his Aunt 's Quarrel The Arch-bishop in this Juncture had secret intimation of a Design to excommunicate him and interdict his Church Whereupon as the King by Bonner Novemb 7 had made his Appeal from the Pope to the next General Council lawfully called so by the King and Council's Advice the Arch-bishop soon after did the same sending his Appeal with his Proxy under his Seal to Bonner desiring him together with Gardiner to consult together and to intimate his Appeal in the best manner they could think expedient for him And this Letter he wrote by the King 's own Commandment It was not the Hand of the Arch-bishop nor of his Secretary So I suppose it was drawn up by some of his own Lawyers and is as followeth In my right hearty manner I commend me to you So it is as you know right well I stand in dread lest our Holy Father the Pope do intend to make some manner of prejudicial Process against me and my Church And therefore having probable Conjectures thereof I have appeal'd from his Holiness to the General Council accordingly as his Highness and his Council have advised me to do Which my Appeal and Procuracie under my Seal I do send unto you herewith desiring you right-heartily to have me commended to my Ld of Winchester and with his Advice and Counsel to intimate the said Provocation after the best manner that his Lordship and you shall think most expedient for me I am the bolder thus to write unto you because the King's Highness commandeth me this to do as you shall I trust further perceive by his Grace's Letter Nothing doubting in your Goodness but at this mine own desire you will be contented to take this Pains though his Highness shall percase forget to write unto you therein Which your Pains and Kindness if it shall lie in me in time to come to recompense I wol not forget it with God's Grace Who preserve you as my self From Lambeth the xxvii th day of November Thomas Cantuar. Cranmer being now placed at the Head of the Church of England next under God and the King and the chief care of it devolved upon him his great study was conscientiously to discharge this high Vocation And one of the first things wherein he shewed his good Service to the Church was done in the Parliament in the latter end of this Year 1533. When the Supremacy came under debate and the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome was propounded then the old Collections of the new Arch-bishop did him good service for the chief and in a manner the whole burden of this weighty Cause was laid upon his Shoulders Insomuch that he was forced to answer to all that ever the whole Rabble of the Papists could say for the defence of the Pope's Supremacy And he answered so plainly directly and truly to all their Arguments and proved so evidently and stoutly both by the Word of God and Consent of the Primitive Church that this usurped Power of the Pope is a meer Tyranny and directly against the Law of God and that the Power of Emperors and Kings is the highest Power here upon Earth Unto which Bishops Priests Popes and Cardinals ought to submit
at Canterbury IN order to the bettering the State of Religion in the Nation the Arch-bishop's Endeavours both with the King and the Clergy were not wanting from time to time And something soon after fell out which afforded him a fair opportunity which was this The King resolving to vindicate his own Right of Supremacy against the Encroachments of Popes in his Dominions especially now the Parliament had restored it to him being at Winchester sent for his Bishops thither about Michaelmas ordering them to go down to their respective Diocesses and there in their own Persons to preach up the Regal Authority and to explain to the People the Reason of excluding the Pope from all Jurisdiction in these Realms Our Arch-bishop according to this Command speeds down into his Diocess to promote this Service for the King and the Church too He went not into the neerer parts of Kent about Otford and Knol where his most frequent Residence used to be because his Influence had a good effect for the Instruction of the People thereabouts in this as well as in other Points of sound Religion But he repaired into the East parts of his Diocess where he preached up and down upon the two Articles of the Pope's Usurpations and the King's Supremacy But the People of Canterbury being less perswaded of these Points than all his Diocess besides there in his Cathedral Church he preached two Sermons wherein he insisted upon three things I. That the Bishop of Rome was not God's Vicar upon Earth as he was taken Here he declared by what Crafts the Bishop of Rome had obtained his usurped Authority II. That the Holiness that See so much boasted of and by which Name Popes affected to be stiled was but a Holiness in Name and that there was no such Holiness at Rome And here he launched out into the Vices and profligate kind of living there III. He inveighed against the Bishop of Rome's Laws Which were miscalled Divinae Leges and Sacri Canones He said that those of his Laws which were good the King had commanded to be observed And so they were to be kept out of obedience to him And here he descended to speak of the Ceremonies of the Church that they ought not to be rejected nor yet to be observed with an Opinion that of themselves they make Men holy or remit their Sins seeing our Sins are remitted by the Death of our Saviour Christ. But that they were observed for a common Commodity and for good Order and Quietness as the Common Laws of the Kingdom were And for this Cause Ceremonies were instituted in the Church and for a remembrance of many good things as the King's Laws dispose Men unto Justice and unto Peace And therefore he made it a general Rule that Ceremonies were to be observed as the Laws of the Land were These Sermons of the Arch-bishop it seems as they were new Doctrines to them so they were received by them at first with much gladness But the Friars did not at all like these Discourses They thought such Doctrines laid open the Truth too much and might prove prejudicial unto their Gains And therefore by a Combination among themselves they thought it convenient that the Arch-bishop's Sermons should be by some of their Party confuted and in the same place where he preached them So soon after came up the Prior of the black Friars in Canterbury levelling his Discourse against the three things that the Arch-bishop had preached He asserted the Church of Christ never erred that he would not slander the Bishops of Rome and that the Laws of the Church were equal with the Laws of God This angry Prior also told the Arch-bishop to his Face in a good Audience concerning what he had preached of the Bishop of Rome's Vices that he knew no Vices by none of the Bishops of Rome And whereas the Arch-bishop had said in his Sermon to the People that he had prayed many Years that we might be separated from that See and that he might see the Power of Rome destroyed because it wrought so many things contrary to the Honour of God and the Wealth of the Realm and because he saw no hopes of amendment and that he thanked God he had now seen it in this Realm for this the Prior cried out against him that he preached uncharitably The Arch-bishop not suffering his Authority to be thus affronted nor the King's Service to be thus hindred convented the Prior before him before Christmass At his first examination he denied that he preached against the Arch-bishop and confessed that his Grace had not preached any thing amiss But sometime afterward being got free from the mild Arch-bishop and being secretly upheld by some Persons in the Combination he then said he had preached amiss in many things and that he purposely preached against him This created the Arch-bishop abundance of Slander in those parts The Business came to the King's Ears who seemed to require the Arch-bishop to censure him in his own Court But upon occasion of this the Arch-bishop wrote his whole Cause in a Letter to the King dated from his House at Ford 1535. Declaring what he had preached and what the other had preached in contradiction to him And withal entreated his Majesty that he the Arch-bishop might not have the judging of him lest he might seem partial but that he would commit the hearing unto the Lord Privy Seal who was Crumwel or else to assign unto him other Persons whom his Majesty pleased that the Cause might be jointly heard together He appealed to the King and his Council If the Prior did not defend the Bishop of Rome though he had said nothing else than that the Church never erred For then they were no Errors as he inferred that were taught of the Pope's Power and that he was Christ's Vicar in Earth and by God's Law Head of all the World Spiritual and Temporal and that all People must believe that de necessitate Salutis and that whosoever did any thing against the See of Rome is an Heretick But if these be no Errors then your Grace's Laws said he be Erroneous that pronounce the Bishop of Rome to be of no more Power than other Bishops and them to be Traitors that defend the contrary In fine in the stomach of an Arch-bishop and finding it necessary to put a stop to the ill designs of these Friars he concluded That if that Man who had so highly offended the King and openly preached against him being his Ordinary and Metropolitan of the Province and that in such Matters as concerned the Authority Mis-living and Laws of the Bishop of Rome and that also within his own Church if he were not looked upon he left it to the King's Prudence to expend what Example it might prove unto others with like colour to maintain the Bishop of Rome's Authority and of what estimation he the Arch-bishop should be reputed hereafter and what Credence would be
and put forth by Henry Lord Stafford in King Edward's Days The King affecting to be thought Learned affected also to have Books called by his Name not that he was always the Author of them but that they came out by his Authority and had undergone his Corrections and Emendations But before we pass away from hence it may be convenient to give the Reader a little taste of so famous a Treatise as that Bishop's Book was in those Days And I will do it not in my own words but in the words of a very Learned and Eminent Man the Answerer to Dr. Martin's Book against Priests Marriage not far from the beginning of Q Mary supposed to be Ponet Bishop of Winchester then in Exile Applying himself in his Preface unto the Queen's Prelats he told them That in their Book intituled The Institution of a Christian Man presented by their whole Authorities to the King of famous Memory K. Henry VIII In the Preface thereof they affirmed to his Highness with one assent by all their Learnings that the said Treatise was in all Points concordant and agreeable to Holy Scripture yea such Doctrine that they would and desired to have it taught by all the Spiritual Pastors to all the King 's loving Subjects to be Doctrine of Faith And there intreating of the Sacrament of Orders they desired to have it taught that we be in no subjection to the Bishop of Rome and his Statutes but meerly subject to the King's Laws under his only Territory and Jurisdiction And that the Canons and Rules of the Church were therefore allowable in the Realm because the Assent of the King and of the People accepted the same And that Priests and Bishops whatsoever never had any Authority by the Gospel in Matters Civil and Moral but by the Grant and Gift of Princes and that it was alway and ever shall be lawful unto Kings and Princes and to their Successors with the Consent of their Parliaments to revoke and call again into their own Hands or otherwise to restrain all their Power and Jurisdiction given and permitted by their Authority Assent or Sufferance c. Without the which if the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop whatsoever should take upon them any Authority or Jurisdiction in such Matters as be Civil No doubt said they that Bishop is not worthy to be called a Bishop but rather a Tyrant and an Usurper of other Mens Rights contrary to the Laws of God and is to be reputed a Subverter of the Kingdom of Christ. Yea besides these things and many other as he added they put in our Creed or Belief as an Article of Salvation or Damnation that the Church of England is as well to be named a Catholick and Apostolick Church as Rome Church or any other Church where the Apostles were resident And that they willed us to believe in our Faith that there is no difference in Superiority Preeminence or Authority one over the other but be all of equal Power and Dignity and that all Churches be free from the Subjection and Jurisdiction of the Church of Rome And that no Church is to be called Schismatical as varying from the Unity of the Church of Christ if it persist in the Unity of Christ's Faith Hope and Charity and Unity of Christ's Doctrine and Sacraments agreeable to the same Doctrine And that it appertained to Christen Kings and Princes in the discharge of their Duty to God to reform and reduce again the Laws to their old Limits and pristine State of their Power and Jurisdiction which was given them by Christ and used in the Primitive Church For it is say they out of all doubt that Christ's Faith was then most firm and pure and the Scriptures of God were then best understood and Vertue did then most abound and excel And therefore the Customs and Ordinances then used and made must needs be more conform and agreeable unto the true Doctrine of Christ and more conducing to the edifying and benefit of the Church of Christ than any Custom or Laws used or made since that Time This he collected out of their Exposition of the Sacrament of Orders The said Learned Author observed that this Doctrine was set forth by the whole Authority of the Bishops in those Days presented by the Subscription of all their Names And since the time of their presenting thereof by the space almost of twenty Years that is to the middle of Queen Mary never revoked but continually from time to time taught by this Book and by such other Declarations And that one more Particular relating to this Book may be known namely who the Bishops and other Divines were that composed it and that were commissioned so to do I shall record their Names as they were found writ by the Hand of Dr. Sam. Ward in his own Book now in the possession of N. B. a Reverend Friend of mine who hath well deserved of this History Thomas Cant. Io. Lond. Steph. Winton Io. Exon. Io. Lincoln Io. Bathon Roland Coven Litch Tho. Elien Nic. Sarum Io. Bang Edward Heref. Hugo Wigorn. Io. Roffen Ric. Cicestr Guilielm Norv Guilielm Menevens Rob. Assav Rob. Landav Edoard Ebor. Cuthb Dunelm Rob. Carliolen Richard Wolman Archidiac Sudbur Guil. Knight Archid. Richmon Io. Bell Archid. Gloc. Edmund Bonner Archid. Leicestr Iohn Skip Archid. Dorset Nic. Hethe Archid. Stafford Cuthb Marshal Archid. Nottingham Rich. Curren Archid. Oxon. Gulielm Cliff Galfridus Downes Robertus Oking Radul Bradford Richardus Smith Simon Matthew Ioannes Pryn Guliel Buckmaster Guliel May Nic. Wotton Ric. Coxe Ioannes Edmunds Thomas Robertson Ioannes Baker Thomas Barret Ioannes Hase Ioannes Tyson Sacrae Theologiae Juris Ecclesiastici Civilis Professores In the Year 1543. The same Book was printed again amended much both in Sense and Language yet not having any step in the Progress of the Reformation more than the former each Edition express positively the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament But in this is much added about Free-Will which it asserts and Good Works In 1544 the same was printed again at London in Latin intituled Pia Catholica Christiani Hominis Institutio CHAP. XIV The Arch-bishop visits his Diocess AS soon as this Business was over with the Arch-bishop and Bishops at Lambeth no Parliament sitting this Year and a Plague being in London and Westminster he went down as was said before into his Diocess But before he went he expressed a great desire to wait upon the King being then I suppose at Hampton-Court or Windsor but he feared he should not be permitted coming out of the smoaky Air as he wrote to the Lord Crumwel in that time of Infection Yet he desired to know the King's Pleasure by him He had a mind indeed to leave some good Impressions upon the King's Mind in the behalf of the Book that he and the rest had taken such Pains about and but newly made an end of But whether he saw the King now or no
Ireland and all other his Highness Dominions And that with my Body Cunning Wit and uttermost of my Power without Guile Fraud or other undue Means I shall observe keep maintain and defend all the King's Majesty's Stiles Titles and Rights with the whole Effects and Contents of the Acts provided for the same and all other Acts and Statutes made and to be made within the Realm in and for that purpose and the Derogation Extirpation and Extinguishment of the usurped and pretended Authority Power and Jurisdiction of the See and Bishop of Rome and all other Foreign Potestates as afore And also as well his Statute made in the said 28 th Year as his Statute made in the Parliament holden in the 35 th Year of the King's Majesty's Reign for Establishment and Declaration of his Highness Succession and all Acts and Statutes made and to be made in Confirmation and Corroboration of the King's Majesty's Power and Supremacy in Earth of his Church of England and of Ireland and all other his Grace's Dominions I shall also defend and maintain with my Body and Goods with all my Wit and Power And thus I shall do against all manner of Persons of what State Dignity Degree or Condition soever they be and in no wise do nor attempt nor to my Power suffer or know to be done or attempted directly or indirectly any thing or things privily or apertly to the let hindrance damage or derogation of any of the said Statutes or any part thereof by any manner of Means or for or by any manner of Pretence And in case any Oath hath been made by me to any Person or Persons in Maintenance Defence or Favour of the Bishop of Rome or his Authority Jurisdiction or Power or against any the Statutes aforesaid I repute the same as vain and adnichilate I shall wholly observe and keep this Oath So help me God and all Saints and the Holy Evangeles And then after this Oath followed the Prayers before the Benediction of the Pall and the Ceremonies of delivering it CHAP. XXX The Arch-bishop Reformeth the Canon Law OUR Arch-bishop seeing the great Evil and Inconvenience of Canons and Papal Laws which were still in Force and studied much in the Kingdom had in his Mind now a good while to get them suppressed or to reduce them into a narrower Compass and to cull out of them a set of just and wholsome Laws that should serve for the Government of the Ecclesiastical State And indeed there was great need of some Reformation of these Laws For most of them extolled the Pope unmeasurably and made his Power to be above that of Emperors and Kings Some of them were That he that acknowledged not himself to be under the Bishop of Rome and that the Pope is ordained of God to have the Primacy over the World is an Heretick That Princes Laws if they be against the Canons and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome be of no Force That all the Decrees of the Bishop of Rome ought to be kept perpetually as God's Word spoken by the Mouth of Peter That all Kings Bishops and Noblemen that believe or suffer the Bishop of Rome's Decrees in any thing to be violated are accursed That the See of Rome hath neither Spot nor Wrinkle And abundance of the like which the Arch-bishop himself drew out of the Canon Laws and are set down by the Bishop of Sarum in his History Therefore by the Arch-bishop's Motion and Advice the King had an Act past the last Year viz. 1544. That his Majesty should have Authority during his Life to name thirty two Persons that is to say sixteen Spiritual and sixteen Temporal to examine all Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal and to draw up such Laws Ecclesiastical as should be thought by the King and them convenient to be used in all Spiritual Courts According to this Act tho it seems this Nomination hapned some time before the making of the same the King nominated several Persons to study and prepare a Scheme of good Laws for the Church Who brought their Business to a Conclusion and so it rested for a time The Archbishop being now to go down into Kent to meet some Commissioners at Sittingborn went to Hampton-Court to take his leave of the King There he put him in mind of these Ecclesiastical Laws and urged him to ratify them So the King bad him dispatch to him the Names of the Persons which had been chiefly left to Cranmer's Election and the Book they had made This care he going out of Town left with Heth Bishop of Rochester So that these Laws by the great Pains of the Arch-bishop and some Learned Men about him were brought to that good Perfection that they wanted nothing but the Confirmation of the King And there was a Letter drawn up ready for that purpose for the King to sign It was directed to all Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Clerks Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons Knights and Gentlemen and all others of whatsoever Degree his Subjects and Liege-men Giving them to understand That in the room of the corrupt Laws Decrees and Statutes that proceeded from the Bishops of Rome which were all abolished he had put forth by his Authority another Set of Ecclesiastical Laws which he required to be observed under pain of his Indignation The Copy of this Letter may be read in the Appendix But whatsoever the Matter was whether it were the King 's other Business or the secret Oppositions of Bishop Gardiner and the Papists this Letter was not signed by the King I have seen the Digest of these Ecclesiastical Laws in a Manuscript in Folio fairly written out by the Arch-bishop's Secretary with the Title to each Chapter prefixed and the Index of the Chapters at the beginning both of the Arch-bishop's own Hand In many places there be his own Corrections and Additions and sometimes a Cross by him struck through divers Lines And so he proceeded a good way in the Book And where the Arch-bishop left off Peter Martyr went on by his Order to revise the rest in the Method he had begun And in the Title De Praescriptionibus the greatest part of the seventh Chapter is Martyr's own writing viz. beginning at this word Rumpitur which is in Pag. 248. of the printed Book Lin. 23. and so to the end of the Chapter So that this Manuscript I conjecture was the first Draught of these Laws prepared in the Reign of King Henry and revised in the Reign of King Edward his Successor when P. Martyr was appointed by that King's Letters to be one of those that were to be employed in this Work who was much at this Time with the Arch-bishop In this Draught were several Chapters afterwards added partly by Cranmer and partly by Martyr There was yet a latter and more perfect Draught of these Laws as they were compleated and finished in King Edward's Reign This Draught fell into the
Year when Ridley was translated thither as we shall see by and by Indeed this was the most plausible Pretence the Papists had and which they made much use of Which Boner and Gardiner had cunningly invented viz. That though the King were to be obeyed and all were bound to submit to his Laws yet not to the Orders and Placits of his Counsellors who made what Innovations they pleased in his Name and were none of his Laws and that therefore things should remain in the State wherein the former King left them till the King now a Child came to Years of Discretion to make Laws himself This the Rebels in Devon made use of And this also the Lady Mary urged very boldly to the Lords of the Council for her incompliance with the Communion-Book and for continuance of the use of the Mass telling them in a Letter That she was resolved to remain obedient to her Father's Laws till the King her Brother should have perfect Years of Discretion to order that Power that God had given him Which Letter whereof I have the Original may be seen in the Appendix For the satisfying therefore of the People in this the Preachers were fain to do their Endeavours in the Pulpits Shewing them that those that were in Office under the King were by the Word of God to be obeyed as the King himself There be some Men that say as Latimer in one of his Sermons in these Days when the King's Majesty himself commandeth me so to do then I will do it not afore This is a wicked Saying and damnable For we may not so be excused Scripture is plain in it and sheweth us that we ought to obey his Officers having Authority from the King as well as unto the King himself Therefore this Excuse will not nor cannot serve afore God Yet let the Magistrates take heed to their Office and Duty This Year the Arch-bishop celebrated a great Ordination consisting of such chiefly as shewed themselves Favourers of the King's Proceedings to be sent abroad to preach the Gospel and to serve in the Ministry of the Church At this Ordination Bishop Ridley also assisted the Arch-bishop The old Popish Order of conferring of Holy Orders was yet in force the new Office as yet not being prepared and established But this Ordination nevertheless was celebrated after that Order that was soon after established At this Ordination great Favour was shewn and Connivance to such who otherwise being well qualified for Piety and Learning scrupled wearing the Habits used by the Popish Priests I meet with two famous Men now ordained The one was Robert Drakes who was Deacon to Dr. Tayler Parson of Hadley at the Commandment of Arch-bishop Cranmer afterwards Parson of Thundersley in Essex and in the Year 1556 burnt to death in Smithfield for his constant Profession of Christ's Religion The other was Thomas Sampson Parson of Breadstreet London and successively Dean of Chichester and Christ's-Church Oxon. Who in a Letter of his written to Secretary Cecyl in Q. Elizabeth's Reign said That at his Ordination he excepted against the Apparel and by the Arch-bishop and Bishop Ridley he was nevertheless permitted and admitted All the Divine Offices were now reformed but only that for Ordination of Ministers Therefore for the doing of this the Council appointed Twelve Learned Men consisting half of Bishops and half of other inferior Divines Whose Names I do not meet with excepting Hethe Bp of Worcester Who because he would not assist in this Work was sent to Prison The chief of them no doubt was the Arch-bishop After mature deliberation this Office was agreed upon and finished And Ponet was the first Bishop Consecrated after this new Form And that I suppose may be the reason that it is set down at length in the Arch-bishop's Register in that manner as it is there to be seen as we shall see under the next Year Upon the Vacancy of Cathedral Churches the Arch-bishop used to visit So now the Church of S. Davids being vacant upon the remove of Barlow to Bath and Wells the Arch-bishop issued out a Commission to Eliseus Price to visit that Church And upon the Vacancy of Glocester by the Death of Wakeman there was a Commission to I. Williams LL. D. and Prebendary there to be his Commissary and to visit that Church and to be Keeper of the Spiritualties of the City and Diocess of Glocester in this third Year of the King This Year also the Church of Norwich being become Vacant by the Resignation of Repps the Arch-bishop granted a Commission to Iohn Bishop Suffragan of Thetford and Dean of the Church of the Holy Trinity Norwich to be his Deputy and Commissary for Visitation and Jurisdiction But somewhat before this he constituted Roland Taylor LL.D. and Will. Wakefeld D. D. to be Keepers of the Spiritualties of Norwich From whose Jurisdiction he protested not to derogate by those his Commissional Letters to the Suffragan nor to withdraw from them any Authority of Jurisdiction This was dated February 15. Also the Church of London being Vacant by the Deprivation and Destitution of Boner the Arch-bishop constituted Gabriel Donne Residentiary of S. Pauls to be his Official and Keeper of the Spiritualties to exercise all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the said City and Diocess This Year he made Griffin Leyson LL.D. Dean of the Arches CHAP. XII Duke of Somerset's Troubles The Common-Prayer Ratified WHEN most of the Council had combined together in the Month of October against the Protector of the King's Person the Duke of Somerset and had withdrawn themselves to Ely-House the King then being at Hampton-Court and suddenly conveyed by the said Duke to Windsor upon the fear of Tumult then I find the Arch-bishop and but two Privy-Counsellors more with the King and the Protector there Being here the good Arch-bishop though he would not forsake his Friend the Duke nor the King his Master yet he did what lay in him to appease and pacify these Heats And so he with the Lord Paget and Secretary Smith in their own and the King's Name wrote an earnest Letter to the Separating Counsellors and sent it by Sir Philip Hoby Wherein as appears by their Answer They were charged by the Arch-bishop with creating much Care and Sorrow to the King and that he thought they had not that Care that beseemed them of pacifying the present Uproars and for the preservation of the State from Danger That they forgat the Benefits they had received from the King's Father nor were mindful of their Duty of Allegiance That their Doings bespake Wilfulness and that the Protector meant nothing but the Safety and Protection of the King in what he had done and that he had that consideration of his Duty to God that the Promise and Oath he made required They were advised to do as they would be done unto And mention was made of Cruelty more than once charging
him in these things to dispense with him But the Arch-bishop for certain Reasons refused it Then was the Arch-bishop solicited by great Men. The Earl of Warwick afterwards the great Duke of Northumberland wrote to him a Letter dated Iuly 23 the Bearer whereof was Hoper himself that the rather at his Instance he would not charge the Bishop Elect of Gloucester with an Oath burthenous to his Conscience Which was I suppose the Oath of Canonical Obedience And when Hoper had sued to the King either to discharge him of the Bishoprick or that he might be dispensed with in the Ceremonies used in Consecration which he knew the Arch-bishop could not do no more than to dispense with the Laws of the Land whereby he should run into a Premunire the King wrote a Letter to Cranmer dated Aug. 5 therein freeing him of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures that he might incur by omitting those Rites but yet by any thing that appears in the Letter without any urging or perswasion used to the Arch-bishop to omit the said Rites leaving that to his own Discretion But the Arch-bishop thought the King 's bare Letters were not sufficient to secure him against established Laws When this would not do then endeavour was used to satisfy Hoper's Conscience And Ridley Bishop now of London was thought for his great Learning to be a fit Person to confer with him There were long Arguings between them and at last it came to some Heats And Hoper still remained resolved not to comply holding it if not unlawful yet highly inexpedient to use those very Vestments that the Papal Bishops used The Council upon this sent for Hoper and because they would in no wise the stirring up of Controversies between Men of one Profession willed him to cease the Occasion hereof Hoper humbly besought them that for Declaration of his Doings he might put in Writing such Arguments as moved him to be of the Opinion he held Which was granted him These Arguments it seems were communicated to Ridley to answer And October the 6 th the Council being then at Richmond the Arch-bishop present they wrote to the Bishop of London commanding him to be at Court on Sunday next and to bring with him what he should for Answer think convenient In the mean time to bring the Question to more Evidence and Satisfaction the Arch-bishop according to his Custom to consult in Religious Matters with the learnedest Men of other Nations wrote to Cambridg to Martin Bucer for his Judgment Who upon occasion of this Controversy wrote two Epistles one to Hoper and another to the Arch-bishop both de re Vestiariâ That to the latter was in answer to these two Queries which Cranmer had sent for his Resolution about I. Whether without offending of God the Ministers of the Church of England may use those Garments which are now used and prescribed to be used by the Magistrates II. Whether he that affirms it Unlawful or refuseth to use these Garments sinneth against God because he saith that is Unclean which God hath sanctified and against the Magistrate who commandeth a political Order Bucer to both these Questions gave his Resolution in the Affirmative in his Answer to the Arch-bishop dated Decemb. 8. But he thought considering how the Habits had been Occasion to some of Superstition and to others of Contention that it were better at some good Opportunity wholly to take them away Besides Bucer's Letter to Hoper from Cambridg mentioned before P. Martyr from Oxon wrote him a large Letter dated Novemb. 4. For both these good Men were desirous that Hoper should have Satisfaction that so useful a Man might come in place in the Church To both these Hoper had wrote and sent his Arguments against the Episcopal Vestments by a Messenger dispatched on purpose Martyr told him That he took much delight in that singular and ardent Study that appeared in him that Christian Religion might again aspire to a chaste and pure Simplicity That for his part he could be very hardly brought off from that simple and pure Way which he knew they used a great while at Strasburgh where the difference of Garments in Holy Things was taken away And so he prayed God it might continue Thus he said Hoper might see that in the Sum they both agreed together he wishing for that which Hoper endeavoured That in Rites he was for coming as near as possible to the Sacred Scripture and for taking Pattern by the better Times of the Church But yet that he could not be brought by his Arguments to think that the use of Garments was destructive or in their own Nature contrary to the Word of God A Matter which he thought to be altogether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that therefore indifferent Things as they were sometimes to be taken away so might be used And that if he had thought this were wicked he would never have communicated with the Church of England That there might be some great Good follow from the use at present of the Garments namely that if we suffered the Gospel to be first preached and well rooted Men would afterwards better and more easily be perswaded to let go these outward Customs But now when a Change is brought in of the necessary Heads of Religion and that with so great difficulty if we should make those things that are indifferent to be impious so we might alienate the Minds of all that they would not endure to hear solid Doctrine and receive the necessary Ceremonies That there was no doubt England owed much to him for his great pains in Preaching and Teaching And in return he had gained much Favour and Authority in the Realm whereby he was in a Capacity of doing much Good to the Glory of God Only he bad Hoper take heed that by unseasonable and too bitter Sermous he became not an Hindrance to himself Besides that by looking upon these indifferent Things as sinful and destructive we should condemn many Gospel-Churches and too sharply tax very many which anciently were esteemed most famous and celebrated And whereas there were two Arguments that made Hoper ready to charge the use of these Vestments to be not indifferent he proceeded to consider them One was this That this would be to call back again the Priesthood of Aaron The other That they were Inventions of Antichrist and that we ought to be estranged not only from the Pope but from all his Devices But as to the former he shewed him That the Apostles for Peace-sake commanded the Gentiles to abstain from Blood and Fornication which were Aaronical Customs And so are Tithes for the maintenance of the Clergy Psalms and Hymns can scarce be shewn to be commanded in the New Testament to be sung in publick Assemblies which are very manifest to be used in the Old That there are not a few things that our Church hath borrowed from the Mosaical Decrees and that
mistake not Prior of the Church of Canterbury but long since fled out of England and lived with Pole and by the Queen afterwards preferred to the Bishoprick of S. Asaph The Contents of the Queen 's former Letter consisted in two Points The one concerning the difficulty She feared in renouncing the Title of the Supremacy For She writ him that when the Parliament yielded to the abolishing of the Laws wherein her Mother's Matrimony was made Illegitimate the lower House willingly agreed to the establishment of her Right of succeeding to the Crown but made a great boggle of abolishing the Title of the Supremacy thinking that might be a way to the introducing the Pope's Authority again which they could not gladly hear of And therefore neither did they like to hear of a Legate from the Pope Hence the Queen who knew Pole was now commissioned by the Pope for his Legate in this Kingdom and ready to come did entreat him to stop for a while And She desired his Advice in case the Parliament would not be brought to let go the Law wherein the Supremacy was placed in the Crown Imperial of this Land The other Point wherein the Queen desired information of the Cardinal was how the Commission She had privately given to Commendone was published in the Consistory of Rome as her Ambassador resident at Venice had certified her The Sum of her other Letter to the Cardinal was concerning certain Persons that She had in her intentions to make Bishops in the void Sees They were Morgan White Parfew Coates Brooks Holiman and Bayn How they might be put into those Sees without derogation to the Authority of the See Apostolick For She intended not to extend the Power of the Crown further than it was in use before the Schism She sent him also the two Acts that had past in the Parliament the one of the Legitimation of the Matrimony of Q. Katharine with K. Henry and the other of the Sacraments to be used in that manner as they were used the last Year of K. Henry VIII which She sent to him because She knew they would be Matter of Comfort and Satisfaction to him As to both these Letters of the Queen he gave Instructions to Goldwel to signify to her Majesty what his Thoughts were As to the first his Advice was That the Authority and Acceptableness of the Person goes a great way to make any Proposition well entertained and received by the People And that seeing there were none neither of the Temporalty nor Spiritualty but that had either spoke or writ against the Pope's Supremacy therefore he thought that her Majesty her self would be the fittest Person to propound it with her own Mouth Which was the course the Emperor took to justify his War with the French King He did it by his own Mouth before the Pope and Cardinals He would have her at the same time to let the Parliament know plainly that he Cardinal Pole being the Pope's Legate was to be admitted and sent for And therefore that in order to this the Law of his Banishment might be repealed and he restored in Blood As to the second Point which seemed to offend the Queen that Commendone had revealed that in the Consistory which She told him in much Secresy Pole said That he kept her Counsel and told nothing that he heard from her Mouth but only what he had heard of certain devout Catholicks that knew the Queen's mind Which was in general concerning the devout Mind her Majesty bare to God and the Church But that nothing was spoken of that particular Matter that She would have none but the Pope made acquainted with Which private matter it seems was that She desired the Pope to make Pole his Legate to England But that he should be thus stopped in his Journey when the Pope had sent him upon such a weighty Errand the Cardinal signified in the same Letter his disgust of And He feared it might be so ill taken by the Pope and Cardinals that they might send for him back again to Rome and not permit him to go on that intended charitable Design And that it was contrary to her first Commission when She shewed more fervency to receive the Obedience of the Church as he took the confidence to tell her And that therefore he was in some suspicion that the next Commission he should receive from the Pope should be to return back into Italy again Because the Pope might think that he had done his part touching his Demonstration of his Care of the Queen and her Realms when he offered both so readily all Graces that tended to make a Reconciliation of both to the Church In which perhaps said he the Cardinals would think his Holiness had been too Liberal And that they might take his Stop without their Consent for a great Indignity And this Revocation he still more feared if his stay should be deferred any longer space The Cardinal upon this his Stay sent a Servant of his by Post to Rome to make a fair Excuse for this Stop namely that the Queen shortly trusted that the Matters of the Parliament should have that Satisfaction that the Cardinal desired Which was the effect of a Letter the Queen writ to one Henry Pyning his Servant He also let the Pope know by the aforesaid Messenger that it was the Empeperor's Advice that the Queen should proceed in Matters of Religion warily and slowly and not to be too hasty until temporal Matters were better settled He also wrote Letters to the Emperor which he sent by his Servant Pyning to perswade him to remove this Stop and bad his said Servant to repair to the Emperor's Confessor that he should personally resort unto him and by all means possible move the Emperor to let the Cardinal go forward As to the two Acts of Parliament which the Queen sent him he wrote her That they were partly to his Satisfaction and partly not For the Act of Ratification of the Matrimony was defective in that the Parliament mentioning the Wisdom of the Parents in making the Match did make no mention of their Wisdom in that besides their own Consent they procured the Pope's Dispensation and the Authority of the See Apostolick whereby the impediments of Conjunction by the Laws of the Church were taken away Which he added ought by all means to have been mentioned As to the other Act for Confirmation of the Sacraments the defect of that he said lay in that this Act made those capable of partaking of the Sacraments that were not yet entred into the Unity of the Church and remained still in Schism But to receive more full Satisfaction in these matters I refer the Reader to the Instructions given by the Cardinal to Goldwel as they may be read in the Appendix CHAP. VIII The Dealings with the Married Clergy THE Marriage of the Clergy gave great Offence to those that were now
first made an Oration directed unto the Arch-bishop at the opening of his Commission Next Dr. Martin made a short Speech and being with Dr. Story appointed the King's and Queen's Attorneys he offered unto the said Bishop their Proxy sealed with the Broad-Seal of England and then presenting himself to be Proctor on their behalf After that he proceeded to exhibit certain Articles against the Arch-bishop containing Adultery and Perjury the one for being Married the other for breaking his Oath to the Pope Also he exhibited Books of Heresy made partly by him and partly by his Authority published And so produced him as a Party principal to answer to his Lordship After this having leave given him the Arch-bishop beginning with the Lord's Prayer and Creed made a long and learned Apology for himself Which is preserved to Posterity in the Acts and Monuments By his Discourse before the Commissioners it appeared how little he was taken with the splendor of worldly Things For he professed That the loss of his Promotions grieved him not He thanked God as heartily for that poor and afflicted State in which he then was as ever he did for the Times of his Prosperity But that which stuck closest to him as he said and created him the greatest Sorrow was to think that all that Pains and Trouble that had been taken by K. Henry and himself for so many Years to retrieve the Antient Authority of the Kings of England and to vindicate the Nation from a Foreign Power and from the Baseness and infinite Inconveniences of crouching to the Bishops of Rome should now thus easily be quite undone again And therefore he said all his Trouble at that time and the greatest that ever he had in his Life was to see the King and Queen's Majesties by their Proctors there to become his Accusers and that in their own Realm and Country before a Foreign Power For that if he had transgressed the Laws of the Land their Majesties had sufficient Authority and Power both from God and the Ordinance of the Realm to punish him Whereunto he would be at all times content to submit himself At this time of his Trial several Interrogatories were administred unto him to make answer to As concerning his Marriage Concerning his setting abroad Heresies and making and publishing certain Books of Heresy To which he confessed That the Catechism and the Book of Articles and the Book against Bishop Gardiner were of his doing Concerning subscribing those Articles and his compelling Persons to subscribe Which he denied but that he exhorted them that were willing to subscribe he acknowledged Concerning his open maintaining his Errors in Oxon Whereas they brought him to the Disputation themselves Concerning his being noted with the Infamy of Schism and that he moved the King and Subjects of his Realm to recede from the Catholick Church and See of Rome Which he acknowledged but that their Departure or Recess had in it no matter of Schism Concerning his being twice sworn to the Pope And Dr. Martin then shewed a Copy of his Protestation against the Pope at his Consecration under a publick Notary's Hand That he took upon him the See of Rome in consecrating Bishops and Priests without Leave or Licence from the said See To which he answered That it was permitted to him by the Publick Laws of the Realm Concerning his standing out still to subscribe to the Pope's Authority when the whole Nation had This being done a publick Notary entred his Answers Then the Bishop of Glocester made another Speech at breaking up of this Meeting and Dr. Story another reflecting upon what Cranmer had said with Reviling and Taunts The last thing they did at this Meeting was to swear several Persons who were the next Day to declare what they knew or could remember against this Reverend Father And these were Dr. Marshal Dean of Christ's-Church a most furious and zelotical Man and who to shew his spight against the Reformation had caused Peter Martyr's Wife who deceased while he was the King's Professor to be taken out of her Grave and buried in his Dunghil Dr. Smith Publick Professor who had recanted most solemnly in K. Edward's Days and to whom the Arch-bishop was a good Friend yet not long afterwards he wrote against his Book and was now sworn a Witness against him Dr. Tresham a Canon of Christ-Church who was one of the Disputers against Cranmer and had said in his Popish Zeal That there were 600 Errors in his Book of the Sacrament Dr. Crook Mr. London a Relation I suppose of Dr. London who came to shame for his false Accusation of Cranmer and others in K. Henry's Reign and now this Man 't is like was willing to be even with Cranmer for his Relation's sake Mr. Curtop another Canon of Christ's-Church formerly a great Hearer of P. Martyr Mr. Ward Mr. Serles the same I suppose who belonged to the Church of Canterbury and had been among the number of the Conspirators against him in K. Henry's Days And these being sworn the Arch-bishop was allowed to make his Exceptions against any of them Who resolutely said He would admit none of them all being perjured Men having sworn against the Pope and now received and defended him And that therefore they were not in Christian Religion And so the good Father was remitted back for that time to Prison again I know not what the Depositions of these Witnesses were given in against him the next Day For Fox relates nothing thereof nor any other as I know of Doubtless they were some of the Doctrines that he preached or taught or defended in Canterbury formerly or more lately in his Disputations in the Schools or in his Discourses in his Prison or at Christ's-Church where he sometimes was entertained But to all that was objected against him he made his Answers And the last thing they of this Commission did was to cite him to appear at Rome within eighty Days to make there his Answer in Person Which he said He would be content to do if the King and Queen would send him And so he was again remanded back to durance where he still remained And an account of what these Commissioners had done was dispatched to Rome forthwith From whence the final Sentence was sent in December next Then Pope Paul sent his Letters Executory unto the King and Queen and to the Bishops of London and Ely to degrade and deprive him and in the end of those fourscore Days he was declared Contumax as wilfully absenting himself from Rome when he was summoned to go though he was detained in Prison which might have been a lawful and just Excuse But these Matters must proceed in their Form whatsoever Absurdity or Falsehood there were in them By these Letters Executory which are in the first Edition of Fox but omitted in all the rest we may collect how the Process went against Cranmer at Rome which I shall here briefly set down
would deal sincerely with him without Fraud or Craft and use him as they would wish to be used in the like case themselves Bidding them remember that with what Measure they meet it should be measured to them again Therefore to make himself some amends for all this foul Dealing his last Refuge was an Appeal Whereof he seriously bethought himself when and in what manner to make it The Causes for his resolving upon it besides those already mentioned were because he remembred Luther once did so in such a Case and that he might not seem rashly to cast away his own Life and because he was bound by his Oath never to receive the Pope's Authority in this Realm and because the Commissioners had broken their Promise with him as above was said and because he thought the Bishop of Rome was not an indifferent Judg in this Cause which was his own Cause for all the Arch-bishop's Troubles came upon him for departing from him He therefore wrote privately to a trusty Friend and Learned in the Law then in the University to instruct him in the Order and Form of an Appeal and whether he should first Appeal from the Judg-Delegate to the Pope or else from that Judg immediately to a General Council And so earnestly entreated him to lay aside all other Studies and to take this in Hand presently because he was summoned to make his Answer at Rome the sixteenth Day of this Month that is of February There was one reason more moved him to Appeal which must not be omitted namely that he might gain Time to finish his Answer to Marcus Antonius He feared after all they would not admit his Appeal But he did not much pass and desired God's Will might be done So that God might be glorified by his Life or Death He thought it much better to die in Christ's Quarrel than to be shut in the Prison of the Body unless it were for the advancement of God's Glory and the Profit of his Brethren This Letter of the Arch-bishop being writ with so much Strength and Presence of Mind and shewing so much Prudence and Wit is happily preserved in Fox's Monuments where it may be read This Appeal when the Arch-bishop had produced and preferred to the Bishop of Ely he told him That they could not admit of it because their Commission was to proceed against him Omni Appellatione remota Cranmer replied That this Cause was not every private Man's Cause but that it was between the Pope and him immediately and none otherwise and that no Man ought to be Judg in his own Cause And therefore they did him the more Wrong So at last Thirlby received it of him and said If it might be admitted it should And so after this Interruption they proceeded to degrade him taking off the rest of his Habits And then put him on a poor Yeoman-Beadle's Gown threadbare and a Towns-man's Cap. And Boner told him He was no Lord any more and so was sent to Prison CHAP. XX. Cranmer Writes to the Queen AND now having undergone these Brunts with all this Gravity Discretion Learning and Courage he next resolved to give the Queen a true and impartial Account of these Transactions to prevent Misreports and to justify himself in what he had said and done Two Letters therefore he wrote to her but thought not fit to entrust them with the Commissioners since Weston had served him such a Trick in the like Case before In these Letters he related the reason of his refusing the Bishop of Glocester for his Judg and of his Appeal For as he thought it his Duty at that juncture to declare himself in that publick manner against the Bishop of Rome so he reckoned he ought to declare himself also to the Supream Magistrate And therefore before the Bishop of Glocester and the Commissioners he said That as he had thus discharged his own Conscience towards the World so he would also write his Mind to her Grace touching this Matter He wrote to her That the twelfth Day of that Month he was cited to appear at Rome the eightieth Day after And that it could not but grieve the Heart of a natural Subject to be accused by the King and Queen of his own Country and before any outward Judg as if the King and Queen were Subjects within their own Realm and were fain to complain and require Justice at a Stranger 's Hand against their own Subject being already condemned to Death by their own Laws As though the King and Queen could not have or do Justice within their own Realm against their own Subjects but they must seek it at a Stranger 's Hand in a strange Land Then he proceeded to shew her why he refused the Pope's Authority when Brooks Bishop of Glocester came to try him namely Because he was sworn never to consent that the Bishop of Rome should have or exercise any Authority or Jurisdiction in the Realm of England Another reason why he denied his Authority was Because his Authority repugned to the Crown Imperial of this Realm and to the Laws of the same For the Pope saith all manner of Power both Temporal and Spiritual is given unto him of God and that Temporal Power is given to Kings and Emperors to use it under him Whereas contrary to this Claim said the Arch-bishop the Imperial Crown of this Realm is taken immediately from God to be used under him only and is subject to none but God alone Moreover to the Imperial Laws of this Realm all the Kings in their Coronations and all Justices when they receive their Offices are sworn and all the whole Realm bound to defend them But contrary hereunto the Pope he said made void and commanded to blot out of our Books all Laws and Customs repugnant to his Laws Then he proceeded to shew how contrary the Laws of the Realm and the Pope's Laws were And therefore that the Kings of this Realm had provided for their Laws by the Premunire So that if any Man let the execution of the Law by any Authority from the See of Rome he fell into the Premunire And to meet with this the Popes had provided for their Law by Cursing He supposed that these things were not fully opened in the Parliament-house when the Pope's Authority was received again For if they were he could not believe that the King and Queen the Nobles and Commons would again receive a Foreign Authority so hurtful and prejudicial to the Crown and to the Laws and State of this Realm He rebuked the Clergy who were the main Movers of this at the Parliament for their own Ends. For they desired to have the Pope their chief Head to the intent that they might have as it were a Kingdom and Laws within themselves distinct from the Laws of the Crown and live in this Realm like Lords and Kings without damage or fear of any Man And then he glanced at some of the Clergy probably
sins or that the veray bare observation of theym in it self is a holines before God Although they be remembrances of many holy things or a disposition unto goodness And evyn so do the lawes of your G's realm dispose men unto justice unto peace and other true and perfect holines Wherfore I did conclude for a general rule that the people ought to observe theym as they do the laws of your G's realm and with no more opinion of holines or remission of sin then the other common Laws of your G's realm Though my two Sermons were long yet I have written briefly unto your Highness the sum of theym both And I was informed by sundry reports that the people were glad that they heard so much as they did until such time as the Prior of the black frears at Canterbury preached a sermon as it was thought and reported clean contrary unto al the three things which I had preached before For as touching the first part which I had preached against the erroneous doctrin of the Bp. of R. his power which error was that by God's Law he should be Gods Vicar here in earth the Prior would not name the Bp. of R. but under color spake generally That the Church of Christ never erred And as touching the second part where I spake of the Vices of the Bishops of R. And there to the Prior said that he would not sclawnder the Bishops of Rome And he said openly to me in a good Audience that he knew no vices by none of the Bishops of Rome And he said also openly that I preached uncharitably whan I said that these many years I had daily prayed unto God that I might see the power of Rome destroyed and that I thanked God that I had now seen it in this realm And yet in my sermon I declared the cause wherfore I so prayed For I said that I perceived the See of Rome work so many things contrary to Gods honor and the wealth of this realm and I saw no hope of amendment so long as that See reigned over us And for this cause onely I had prayed unto God continually that we might be separated from that See and for no private malice or displesure that I had either to the Bp. or See of Rome But this seemed an uncharitable prayer to the Prior that the power of Rome should be destroyed And as for the third part where I preached against the Laws of the Bp. of Rome that they ought not to be taken as Gods Lawes nor to be esteemed so highly as he would have them the Prior craftily leaving out the name of the Bp. of Rome preached that the Lawes of the Church be equal with Gods lawes These things he preached as it is proved both by sufficient witnes and also by his own confession I leave the judgment hereof unto your G. and to your Councel whether this were a defence of the Bp. of Rome or not And I onely according to my bounden duty have reported the truth of the Fact But in mine opinion if he had spoken nothing else yet whosoever saith that the Church never erred maintaineth the Bp. of Rome his power For if that were not erroneous that was taught of his power That he is Christs Vicar in earth and by Gods law Head of al the World spiritual and temporal and that al people must believe that De necessitate Salutis and that whosoever doth any thing against the See of Rome is an heretick and that he hath authority also in Purgatory with such other many false things which were taught in times past to be Articles of our Faith if these things were not erroneous yea and errors in the Faith then must nedis your G's Laws be erroneous that pronounce the Bp. of Rome to be of no more power by Gods Law than other Bishops and theym to be Traitors that defend the contrary This is certain that whosoever saith that the Church never erred must either deny that the church ever taught any such errors of the Bp. of Rome his power and then they speak against that which al the world knoweth and al books written of that matter these three or four hundred years do testifie or else they must say that the said errors be none errors but truths And then it is both treason and heresy At my first Examination of him which was before Christmas he said that he preached not against me nor that I had preached any thing amiss But now he saith that I preached amiss in very many things and that he purposely preached against me And this he reporteth openly By which words I am marvellously sclawndered in these parts And for this cause I beseech your G. that I may not have the judgment of the cause for so moch as he taketh me for a party but that your G. would commit the hearing therof unto my L. Privy Seal or else to associate unto me some other persons at your G's plesure that we may hear the case joyntly together If this man who hath so highly offended your G. and preached against me openly being Ordinary and Metropolitane of this Province and that in soch matters as concerne the misliving and the laws of the Bp. of Rome and that also within mine own church if he I say be not looked upon I leave unto your G's prudence to expend what example this may be unto others with like colour to maintain the Bp. of Rome his authority and also of what estimation I shal be reputed hereafter and what credence shal be given unto my preaching whatsoever I shal say hereafter I beseech your G. to pardon me of my long and tedious writing For I could not otherwise set the matter forth plaine And I most heartily thank your G. for the Stag which your G. sent unto me from Wyndsor Forest. Which if your G. knew for how many causes it was welcome unto me and how many ways it did me service I am sure you would think it moch the better bestowed Thus our Lord have you Highness alwayes in his preservation and governance From Ford the xxvj day of August Your Graces most humble Chaplain and bedisman T. Cantuarien NUM XIV The Archbishop to Mr. Secretary Crumwel concerning his styling himself Primate of al England RIght worshipful in my most harty wise I commend me unto you Most hartily thanking you for that you have signified unto me by my Chaplain Mr. Champion the complaint of the Bp. of Winchester unto the Kings Highnes in two things concerning my Visitation The one is that in my style I am written Totius Angliae Primas to the derogation and prejudice of the Kings high power and authority being Supreme Head of the Church The other is that his Dioces not past five years agone was visited by my Predecessor and must from henceforth pay the tenth part of the Spiritualties according to the Act granted in the last Sessions of Parlament Wherfore he thinketh that his
Diocess should not be charged with my Visitation at this time First as concerning my style Wherein I am named Totius Angliae Primas I suppose that to make his cause good which else indeed were naught he doth mix it with the King's cause As ye know the man lacketh neither learning in the law neither witty invention ne craft to set forth his matters to the best that he might appear not to maintain his own cause but the Kings Against whose Highnes he knoweth right wel that I wil maintain no cause but give place and lay both my cause and my self at my Princes feet But to be plain what I think of the Bp. of Winchester I cannot persuade with my self that he so much tendereth the Kings cause as he doth his own that I should not visit him And that appeareth by the veray time For if he cast no further then the defence of the Kings G's authority or if he intend that at al why moved he not the matier before he received my Monition for my Visitation Which was within four miles of Winchester delivered unto him the xxii day of April last as he came up to the Court. Moreover I do not a little mervayl why he should now find fault rather then he did before when he took the Bp. of Rome as chief Head For though the Bp. of R. was taken for Supreme Head notwithstanding that he had a great number of Primates under him And by having his Primates under him his Supreme authority was not less esteemed but much the more Why then may not the Kings Highnes being Supreme Head have Primates under him without a diminishing but with the augmenting of his said Supreme Authority And of this I doubt not at all but the Bp. of Winchester knoweth as well as any man living that in case this said style or title had been in any poynt impediment or hindrance to the Bp. of Rome's usurped authority it would not have so long been unreformed as it hath been For I doubt not but all the Bushops of England would ever gladly have had the Archbushops both authority and title taken away that they might have been equal together Which well appeareth by the many contentions against the Archbushops for jurisdiction in the Court of Rome Which had be easily brought to pass if the Bushops of R. had thought the Archbushops titles and styles to be an erogation to their Supreme authority Al this notwithstanding if the Bushops of this realm pas no more of their names styles and titles then I do of mine the Kings Highnes shal soon order the matier betwixt us al. And if I saw that my style were against the Kings authority whereunto I am especially sworn I would sue my self unto his G. that I might leave it and so would have done before this time For I pray God never be merciful unto me at the general judgment if I perceive in my heart that I set more by any title name or style that I write then I do by the paring of an apple further then it shal be to the setting forth of Gods word and will Yet I wil not utterly excuse me herein For God must be judge who knoweth the bottome of my heart and so do not I my self But I speak for so much as I do feel in my heart For many evil affections ly lurking there and wil not lightly be espied But yet I would not gladly leave any just thing at the pleasure and suite of the Bp. of Wynchester he being none otherwise affectionate unto me than he is Even at the Beginning of Christs profession Diotrephes desired gerere primatum in Ecclesia as saith S. Iohn in his last Epistle And since he hath had mo successors than al the Apostles had Of whom have come al these glorious titles styles and pomps into the Church But I would that I and al my Brethren the Bushops would leave al our stiles and write the style of our Offices calling our selves Apostolos Iesâ— Christi so that we took not upon us the name vainly but were so even indeed So that we might order our Diocess in such sort that neither paper parchment lead nor wax but the very Christian Conversation of the people might be the letters and seals of our offices As the Corinthians were unto Paul to whom he said Literae nostrae signa Apostolatus nostri vos estis Now for the second Where the Bp. of Winchester alledgeth the Visitation of my Predecessor and the tenth part now to be payd to the King Truth it is that my Predecessor visited the Dioces of Winchester after the decease of my L. Cardinal Wolsey as he did al other Diocesses Sede Vacante But else I think it was not visited by none of my Predecessors this forty years And notwithstanding that he himself not considering their charges at that time charged them with a new Visitation within less then half a year after and that against al right as Dr. Incent hath reported to my Chancellor the Clergy at that time paying to the King half of their benefices in five years Which is the tenth part every year as they payd before and have payd since and shal pay stil for ever by the last Act. But I am very glad that he hath now some compassion of his Diocess although at that time he had very smal when he did visit them the same year that my Predecessor did visit And al other Bushops whose course is to visit this year kept their Visitations where I did visit the last year notwithstanding the tenth part to be paid to the Kings G. Howbeit I do not so in Winchester Dioces For it is now the third year since that Diocess was Visited by any man So that he hath the least cause to complain of any Bushop For it is longer since his Dioces was visited then the other Therfore where he layeth to aggravate the matier the charges of the late Act granted it is no more against me then against al other Bushops that do visit this year nor maketh no more against me this year then it made against me the last year and shal do every year hereafter For if they were true men in accounting and paying the Kings Subsidies they are no more charged by this new Act then they were for the space of ten years past and shal be charged ever hereafter And thus to conclude if my said L. of Winchesters objections should be allowed this year he might by such arguments both disallow al maner Visitations that hath bee done these ten years past and that ever shal be done hereafter Now I pray you good Master Secretary of your advise whether I shal need to write unto the Kings Highnes herein And thus our Lord have you ever in his preservation At Otteford the 12 day of May. Your own ever assured Thomas Cantuar. NUM XV. The Appeal of Stokesly Bishop of London to the King against the Archbishops Visitation Contra
For whom I wil not cease to be a perpetual Orator to Almighty God I most heartily desire to know your Gracious pleasure in the premises and especially whether your Lordship hath the Book subscribed with the Witness hands or no. For although that in the Copy of my brothers book it appeareth who hath subscribed to other Articles of Mr. Drom and Mr. Scory and others which I do not remember Your Gracious prisoner Edmond Shether Milles letter of submission MOst Reverend Father in God My humble duty remembred unto your Grace And I know right wel in that I subscribed unto certain articles though unadvisedly have shewed great unkindness unto your Grace in so doing And again for that have deserved little kindness at your Graces hand and do now suffer cold imprisonment at your Graces pleasure Which is very tedious painful unto me and as I fear great danger might ensue unto me by augmenting that cold and cough that I have taken before and now increaseth Besides the inward pensiveness of heart taken for this my rash fact at other mens light motion as others of my company did Which now I think lamenteth them much yea so much that at such time as I have been in company with them I have heard them say that they could not sleep neither eat that thing or drink that did do them much good as I am one of them Wherefore most gracious Lord these premisses and others considered by the which sickness of body may not the heart wast this shal be to humbly beseech your Grace to mercifully intreat me and that now I may find some drop of mercy at your Graces hands for this my imprisonment Assuring your Grace that I shall take this punishment for my Learning and not at any time hereafter to be so lightly allured at any mans motion to put so unadvisedly my hand or consent to any such matter hereafter Now Gracious Lord shew pity and mercy unto me which I do ask of your Grace and do heartily desire it with weeping ey and sorrowful heart as knoweth God By your Iohn Myllys NUM XXXIV A letter prepared for the King to sign to ratify certain Ecclesiastical lawes HENRICUS octavus Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Rex Fidei Defensor Dorhinus Hiberniae ac in terris Anglicanis sub Deo Caput supremum Omnibus Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Clericis Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus Generosis ac alijs cujuscunque generis hominibus subditis Legiis nostris per Regnum nostrum Dominia nostra ubilibet commorantibus Salutem Evangelicae Veritatis incrementum Cum VOS optimi cives mei mihique charissimi me nunc unum atque solum hujus Regni Principem in terrisque secundum Deum hujus Ecclesiae Anglicanae unicum supremúmque Caput quemadmodum divini atque humani juris ratio postulat potestatémque tam Ecclesiasticae quam Mundanae politiae mihi Majoribusque meis ipso jure divino concessam verum multis seculis unius Romani Episcopi malitia fraude dolis atque astutia ereptam ad Me Successores meos pertinere una voce uno omnium assensu agnoscitis non possum in dies magis magisque muneris atque officij mei rationem non habere deque illustranda Dei gloria de Christianae pietatis vera doctrina propaganda de imperij hujus incolumitate quiete tuenda summa animi cura atque cogitatione non esse solicitus Occurrant enim subinde animo meo verba illa quae Sapientiae Cap. septimo habentur ad hunc modum Audite Reges intelligite quoniam data est a Domino potestas Vobis Virtus ab Altissimo qui interrogabit opera vestra scrutabitur cogitationes Ad vos ergo Reges sunt hij Sermones mei ut discatis Sapientiam ne excidatis Qui enim custodit justitiam justè judicabuntur qui didicerunt justa invenient quid respondeant c. Hinc facile perspici potest exactissime a regibus potestatis suae reddendam esse rationem illosque gravissimas manere poenas si non ut oportuit in Rep. administranda sese gesserint Quod si tanta cura ac solicitudine quibuscunque regibus opus est quam anxios igitur ac solicitos Christianos reges esse debere censendum est quibus non politia modo Civilis sed Ecclesiastica etiam potestas data est Hos enim non tantum quae ad Humanam societatem pertinent sed etiam quae divinae Christianaeque religioni maximè consentanea sunt curare necesse est Praesentem hujus saeculi faelicitatem principes Christianos ita metiri convenit ut hac potestate sua ad Dei cultum dilatandum utantur in hoc incumbant ut recta doctrina propagetur orneturque Dei gloria Cum igitur a Christianis Regibus justitiam in Imperio pacis tuendae curam pietatem studium juvandae ornandae religionis Christianae exigi animadverterem nihil mihi potius esse debere judicabam quà m ut omnes inirem rationes quo minus in hoc meo regno haec a me desiderentur quo ad possem muneri imposito satisfacerem Hoc ut facilius expeditiusque praestare valeam non ignoratis vos quantam curam adhibuerim in illis rebus promovendis tuendisque quae huic negotio maximè conducere atque adjumento esse videbantur quae contra impedire atque obesse visa sunt quanto studio tollere ac delere conatus sâ—m assiduéque conor Abunde enim vobis declaratum hactenus fuit quam in hac nostra Britannia multis retro saeculis Episcopi Romani vis injusta ac non ferenda sacro sancto divino numini inimica fuit quantopere religioni Christianae verae doctrinae propagandae adversata est quantum hujus Reip. pacem ac tranquillitatem saepissimè interturbavit potestatémque Regiam divinitus constitutam labefactando debitam omnium obedientiam a vero ac justo Principis sui imperio contra oâ—ne jus divinum humanum ad se transferre ausus est Hujus potestatem huic cum divino munere sublatam esse manifestum est nequid superesset quo non planè fractam illius vim esse constaret leges omnes decreta atque instituta quae ab authore Episcopo Romano profecto sunt prorsus abroganda censuimus Quorum loco ut facilius imposterum Dei Opt. Max. gloria illustretur vera Philosophia Christiana regnumque Christi vigere possit quo omnia decenter ordine in Christi hac ecclesia gerantur en Vobis authoritate nostra editas leges damus quas a Vobis omnibus suscipi coli observari volumus sub nostrae indignationis poena mandamus ut vestra in Deum pietas amor erga patriam principemque Vestrum obedientia non sine immensa divini Nominis gloria omnibus conspicua sit ac vosmetipsos non minus de vestris rationibus solicitos
away and give place unto Romish Decrees And then by your own Article you hold and condemn your selves to be Heretics How be you bewitched by these false Papists Why do you suffer them thus to abuse you by their subtilty to make you condemn your selves of Heresy Why do you not send them unto the Kings Majesty like errant Traitors as indeed they be Saying unto him Most mighty Prince and most drad Soveraign Lord we present here unto you most heinous Traitors against your Majesty and realm and greatest Dissemblers and falsest Deceivers of us your Simple and ignorant people and yet in our own hearts your true and faithful Subjects We have erred We have grievously offended your Majesty but by ignorance being so seduced and provoked by the crafty persuasions of these most hainous Traitors that we wist not what we did But pardon us Soveraign Lord have pity upon our Simplicity and ignorance and these abominable Traitors punish according to their deservings Have mercy most merciful Prince of us your poor flock which were ignorantly led out of the way and strike with the Swords those malicious guides that purposely would have led us to our utter destruction If you did thus then would you do the parts of true faithful and loyal Subjects and should declare to the world that al that you have hitherto done was done by error and ignorance And I would nothing doubt of the Kings Majestie his Clemency and Mercy towards you But yet to the intent that you may further know how unreasonable your first Article is I wil yet reherse another sort of the holy Lawes and Decrees One is That no Lay man may have a Benefice to farm Another is That none of the Clergy may give any thing to the relief of the commonweal and necessity of their own realm without the consent of the Bp. of Rome Another is That no Lay man may meddle with election or any other thing that pertaineth unto any of the Clergy Another is That none of the Clergy ought to give any oath of fidelity to their Princes except they have temporal lands of them Another is That Princes ought to obey the Bps and the Decrees of the Church and to submit their Heads unto their Bps and not to be judges over the Bps. Another is Whosoever offendeth the Liberties of the Church or doth break any Interdiction that cometh from Rome or conspireth against the Person or Estate of the Bp. or See of Rome or by any maner offendeth disobeyeth or rebelleth against the same Bp. or See or that killeth a Priest or offendeth personally against a Bp. or other Prelate or invadeth spoileth withholdeth or wasteth Lands belonging to the Church of Rome or to any other Church immediately subject unto Rome or whosoever invadeth any Pilgrims that go to Rome or any Suitors to the Court of Rome or that let the devolution of causes unto that Court or that put any new charges or impositions real or personal upon a Church or ecclesiastical person and generally All others that offend in the cases contained in the Bul which is usually published by the Bps. of Rome upon Maunday thursday Al these can be assoiled by no Priest Bp Archbp nor by none other but only by the Bp. of Rome or by his express Licence These with an infinite number of like sort be the godly and holy Decrees which you long so sore for and so much desire Now would I know whether you think that these decrees were made for the common wealth of al realmes or only for the private weal of the Bp. of Rome and of his Bps. and Clergy And whether you like and long for these laws or now at the hearing of them your longing is done If you like them Wel for my part I would you had them practised among you for a while so that the rest of the Realm were not troubled neither with you nor with your Decrees unles you repented your selves of your foolish demands I think within a year you would kneel on your knees to the Kings Majestie desiring him to take from your necks the yokes and halters which you had made for your selves But to conclude the sum of the first Article in few words It is nothing else but a clear subversion of the whole State and Lawes of this realm and to make this Realm to be whole governed by Romish Lawes and to crown the Idol and Antichrist of Rome king of this realm and to make our most undoubted and natural King his vile Subject and slave Oh! what was in your minds to ask such a thing and so presumptuously to say that you wil have it I trust there be not in you so much malice and devilishness as the Article containeth but that you were craftily subornate by subtil Papists to ask and demand you wist not what If you had asked that the Word of God might be duly observed and kept every where within this Realm And whosoever would gainsay Gods word to be holden as a Heretic If you had declared your selves to be godly men al that be godly would have commended and furthered your requests But forasmuch as you ask Romish Canons and Decrees to be observed and kept here in England and whosoever shal againsay them to be holdon as hereticks there is neither godly nor truly English man that will allow you or consent to your Articles But clean contrary to your Articles a great number of godly persons within this realm for the very love that they have to God that his Name may be glorified above al things be daily humble Suitors to the Kings Majesty that he following the steps of his Father wil study and travail to weed out of this his Realm al Popish Decrees Lawes and Canons and whatsoever else is contrary to Gods word and that the speakers against Gods word may be taken as they be indeed for Heretics And is any of you so far from reason that he thinketh the Kings Majesty ought to hearken to you that by force and stubbornness say you wil have Romish Laws and Decrees kept in this realm and to turn his ears from them that with al humility be suitors for Gods Word But now wil I come to your other Articles wherein I wil be brief forasmuch as in the first I have been long and tedious II. Your second Article is this WEE wil have the Law of our Soveraign Lord K. Henry VIII concerning the six Articles to be used again as in his time they were Letting pas your rude stile nothing becoming Subjects to say You wil have First I examine you of the cause of your wilful wil wherefore you wil have these six Articles which never were laws in no region but this nor in this realm also until the 31 st year of King Henry VIII And in some things so enforced by the evil Counsil of certain Papists against the truth and common judgment both of Divines and Lawyers that if the Kings Majesty himself
deserved Tumults in England Iack Cade Iack Straw In Germany for their Sedition were slain almost in one month about two hundred thousand The Sword by Gods word pertaineth not to Subjects but only to Magistrates Tho the Magistrates be evil and very tyrants against the Common-wealth and enemies to Christs religion yet yee Subjects must obey in all worldly things as the Christians do under the Turk and ought so to do as long as he commandeth them not to do against God How ungodly then is it for our Subjects to take the Sword where there reigneth a most Christian prince most desirous to reform al griefs Subjects ought to make humble suit to their Prince for Reformation of al injuries and not to come with force The Sword of the Subjects at this present cometh not of God nor for the Common wealth of the Realm but of the Devil and destroyeth the Commonweale First For that it is against the word of God Secondly For that they rise so many lies whereof the Devil is ever the Author Quia mendax est Pater ejus Thirdly For that they spoile and rob men and command every man to come to them and to send to them what they please Fourthly For that they let the harvest Which is the chief sustentation of our life and God of his goodness hath sent it abundantly And they by their folly do cause it to be lost and abandoned Fiftly For that they be led by rage and fury without reason have no respect neither of the Kings Authority nor of the Papists in the West Country nor of our affaires in France nor Scotland Which by their Sedition is so much hindred that there could not be imagined so great a dammage to the Realm Sixtly That they give Commandment in the Kings name and in pain of death having none authority so to do Ever against God the Devil hath raised Sedition As appeareth by the Sedition of Dathan and Abiram and al the murmurations of the children of Israel against Moses and Aaron Also of the conspiracy against Zorobabel in the reedifying of the Temple Also against Christ and his Apostles in sundry parts of the World Also In Germany lately and now among us For the Devil can abide no right reformation in religion Civil war is the greatest scourge that can be and most certain argument of Gods indignation against us for our ingratitude that we either wil not receive his true word or that they which receive the same dishonor God in their living when they pretend to honor him with their mouths Which ingratitude and contumely God can in no wise bear at our hands The Remedies to avert Gods Indignation from us is to receive his Word and to live according therunto Returning unto God with prayer and penance Or else surely more grievous afflictions shal follow if more grievous may be then Civil wars among our selves The chief Authors of al these tumults be idle and naughty people Which nothing have nor nothing or little wil labor to have that wil riot in expending but not labor in getting And these tumults first were excitated by the Papists and others which came from the Western Camp To the intent that by sowing division among our selves we should not be able to impeach them NUM XLII The Lady Mary to the Councel justifying her self for using the Mass in K. Edwards Minority IT is no smal greyf to me to parceyve that they whom the Kings Majesty my father whose Soule god pardon made in thys worlde of nothing in respecte of that they be come to now and at hys last ende put in trust to se hys Wyll perfourmed wherunto they were al sworne upon a boke it gryeveth me I say for the Love I beare to theym to se bothe howe they break his wyll and what usurped power they take upon theym in making as they cal it lawes both cleane contrarye to hys procedynges and wyll and also ageyust the coustome of al Crystendome and in my conscyence ageynst the lawe of god and hys chyrche Which passeth al the reste But thoughe you among you have forgotten the Kyng my father yet both gods commandment and nature wyll not suffre me to do so Wherfore with gods helpe I wyll remayne an obedyent chylde to hys lawes as he left theym tylle suche tyme as the Kynges majeste my brother shal have parfayt yers of discrecyon to order the power that god hath sent hym and to be a Judge in theyse matters hymself And I doubte not but he shal then accept my so doing better then theyrs which have taken a pece of his power upon them in his mynoryte I do not a little mervayle that you can find fawte with me for observing of that lawe which was allowed by him that was a kyng not only of power but also of knowledge how to order his power To which lawes al you consented and seemed at that tyme to the outward appearance very wel to lyke the same And more immediately when the Kyng reasons to have his proceedyngs observed Wherfore I do wonder that you can fynde fawte with me and non al thys whyle with some amongst your selves for runnyng halfe a year before that which you now call a lawe ye and before the byshopps cam together Wherin me thynketh you do me very myche wronge if I should not have as mych preemynence to contynew in kepyng a ful authorysed Lawe made without parcyalyte they had both to break the lawe which at that tyme your selves must nedes confesse was of ful power and strengthe and to use alteracyons of theyr own invencyon contrary both to that ye and to your new Lawe as you call it NUM XLIII The Archbishops letter to Martin Bucer inviting him over into England GRatiam pacem Dei in Christo. Legi tuas literas ad Iohannem Halesium in quibus tristissimos Germaniae casus commemorans te in tua urbe verbi ministerio vix diutius praeesse posse scribis Gemens igitur Prophetae illud exclamavi Mirifica misericordias tuas qui Salvos facis sperantes in te a resistentibus dexterae tuae Nec dubito quin Deus hoc similes piorum gemitus exauditurus sit veram doctrinam quae hactenus in vestris Ecclesijs syncere propagata est conservaturus defensurus sit adversus omnes diaboli mundi furores Interim Saevientibus fluctuum procellis in portus confugiendum est ijs qui vela in altum tendere non possunt Tibi igitur mi Bucere portus longe tutissimus erit nostrum regnum in quo Dei beneficio semina verae doctrinae feliciter spargi caeperunt Veni igitur ad nos te nobis operarium praesta in messe Domini Non minus proderis Catholicae Dei Ecclesiae cum apud nos fueris quam si pristinas sedes retineres Adde quod adflictae patriae vulnera absens melius sanare poteris quam nunc possis praesens Omni
hear of the abolishing especially of that law that gave that title of the Supremacy of the Church in the Realm to the Crown Suspecting that to be an introduction of the Popes authority into the Realm Which they cannot gladly hear of And for this cause cannot gladly hear of my Legation in the Popes Name Wherupon her G. in the same letters doth exhort me to stay my voyage until a more opportune time And asketh my counsil in case the lower House make resistance in the renouncing of the title of Supremacy what her G. were best to do and what course she had best to take One other poynt is that her G. desireth in the same letter to be certified by me how it came to pass that a Commission given by her to Mr. Francisco Commendone in secret was published in the Consistory as her Graces Ambassador resident in Venice doth certify her These be the two points wherin her G. requireth my answer And for to obey her demand which to me is a Commandment I do send you not only to present my letters but also my mouth and with these present Instructions for more satisfaction of her G. in al points As touching the first point which is of most weight and so great touching the honor and wealth of her G. both spiritual and temporal as none can be more ye shal shew her G. that my first advise and counsil shal be to obtain of God by prayer that which I pray him to give me writing this Which is to have Spiritum Consilij Fortitudinis And this her G. must now pray for that as in the attaining the Crown his high providence shewed by manifest tokens to have given her these two graces so in the maintaining therof he wil confirm these two gifts in her mind Her Highnes knowes if she had relented at that time for any peril when that both mans counsil and force were against her she had lost So if she for any fear do relent and do not renounce the title of Supremacy which took the name of Princess and Right heire from her she cannot maintain that she hath gotten already by the spirit of Council and Fortitude So that my first counsil is this that obtaining by prayer these two gifts which her G. had at that time to shew her self no less ardent in the leaving of the title of Supremity for to maintain her right then the King her father was in the acquisition therof to the privation of her right Which so much more she ought to do and be more fervent in this then her Father was in that Because that was done against al law both of God and man and this that her Majesty doth now shewing her self most fervent herein doth fulfil both Gods law and mans And that is her very duty if she should loose both state and life withal As she hath known she ought to do by the example of the best men of her realm Which for this cause resisting the Kings unlawful lawes lost both And now the goodnes of God putting no such hard conditions to her G. nor laying afore her eyes only Praemia futura with loss of temporal as he did to those men but praemia coelestia with terrena joyned together That serving to the honor of God which is in this poynt to render the title of Supremacy of the church in earth to whom God hath given it she doth establish her own Crown withal If now she should relent herein for any fear of men being brought to that state that other men should rather fear her then she them especially in so good a cause this afore God and men were most perpetually to be blamed Wherfore what my Counsil is herein on this maner now rehersed you may inform her Highnes Now to come to the execution of the thing After her G. is determined to have it done casting away al fear the same stondeth to have it put forth and causing it to pass by the Parlament this is another council necessarily to be pondered Consisting the whole after my opinion in the proponement of the person that hath to put forth the same that with les difficulty and more favour it may pass Here ye may say that I much pondering the same and considering that it must be a person of Authority that should propone the same if it should take effect When I look in my mind upon al them I know of the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal and persons of the Lower House that might have authority I do see none but that other he hath defended the contrary cause by his Sentence and writing as the Spiritual men have done which taketh away a great part of authority to persuade others when men heareth them accepting that matter that aforetime they have oppugned Or else to speak of the Temporal Lords or others being al intangled with private profit enjoying goods of the Church by rejecting the authority of the same they cannot speak with that freenes of spirit as such a matter requireth Wherfore yee may conclude with her G. mine opinion herein that after long consideration hereof I see no person but one that is able with authority and also favour to propone this matter And that person is her G. her self God having brought it to her hand alone She being in this matter and al other immaculate and without blot ordered of God to defend his cause and her own withal And this ye may say the Counsil that it pleased God to put in my mind is that her G. do in this case as I remember the Emperor did in his own case passing by Rome wheras his mind was to justify his quarrel touching the war betwixt him and the French king afore the Pope and the Cardinals When doubting if onye other person should propose the same it might have contradiction of that party that did favor France he determined without any conference either with his Councel or others to put forth the matter himself And so when nother the Pope nor no other looked for any such thing his Holines and the Cardinals being now congregate he entred in among them in the Consistory and made a long Oration in justifying his cause and obtained that he would without any resistance Underneath this maner my poor advise should be that her Majesty should personally come into the Parlament and put forth the same her self and I dare be bold to say what for her authority and the justnes and the equity of the cause it self she shal have no contradiction And if need were also to shew her self to the Lower house the thing it self so neer toucheth her wealth both godly and temporally that it would be taken rather cum applausu then otherwise Further and jointly with this it shal be necessary her highnes make mention of the Popes Legate in my person to be admitted and sent for Wherin her G. hath this first to entreat that the law of my banishment may be abolished and
what comfort could your flock loke for to have by yow But that which Christ saith to follow of those Qui non intrant per ostium â—ed aliunde to be stealers and thieffs Qui non intrant nisi ut mactent perdant as the effect hath shewed by yow But here yow deceive your self again and wold deceive other makeng your defence of your simulate oth that yow dyd the same so for the more service of God haveng in your mynd then to reform the church to the which being no way but to make that oth for a countenance this yow thought for such a purpose might be acceptable afore god and also entreng by the authoritie of the Pope called by hym that had authoritie to name yow then yow think it cannot be justlie of onie man objected unto yow that yow did not entre by the dore And this trulie if you could have kept your own counsil toucheng me I durst not object the same unto yow seeyng nothing outwardlie but as that yow were lawfullie called and institute Busshop And of your inward I woâ—d not make my self judge More wanting here and see as is the furst poyncte in your lettres Where yow make a great mervayle sayng it to be a thing that was never seen in the realme that to condempne any subject thereof justice shuld be sought of a forreyn power as is the Popes How this is to be called a Forreyn power I wil declare afterward For this I do not mervel if yow do not wel know not being so open to them that lacketh spiritual doctrine nor of that ignoraunce I do not speak now but of that outward light and knowledge which is open to every man by experience The which yow not knoweng it may be wel said yow be cast In tenebras exteriores and that yow have lost both interiour and exteriour knowledge of things For so yow show in this case where yow say it was never seen in the realm that to condemne ony subject thereof to death shuld be required ony other sentence then that comyth from the Imperial Crowne of the realm and their temporal lawes Wherein that which I note furst is this that in that place yow seme to lament that being condempned alredie as yow say by the lawes of the realme of high treason this dilation is geven to your death not to suffre afore al such things as be layd to your charge were furst known at Rome this being natural unto al that be in jeopardie of liffe if they cannot hope by ony just deâ—eance to extue the same at the least to have tyme al desire followeng that proverb In space comyth grace The which natural affect being extinct in yow this followeth withal natural knowledge to be extinct as in the proheme of your lettre is more declared And now to come neerer to that yow say was never seen that onye subject to be condempned had nede of ony outward Iustice calleng owtward justice the Canon lawes that come from the Pope To this I say the experience and use of the lawes and justice in this realme doith show clene contrarie to your mervel that it was never seen in the realm afore the tyme of your malicious oth that there was ever ony man condempned for the crime of heresies by the mere justice that comyth from the temporal lawes but al were first declared to be such by the spiritual lawes of the Canons which yow call forreyne lawes And this beside I say afore that same tyme of al other crimes as treason and other there was never spiritual man put to execution accordeng to the ordre of the lawes of the realm but he were furst by the Canon Laws condempned disgraded and then gyven to the temporal hondes Wherof there be as menye examples afore the tyme of breakeng the old ordre of the realm thise last years as hath bene delinquents Let al the records be sene and speciallie this is notable of the Busshop of which being emprisoned here for high treason the king wold not procede to his condempnation and ponnishment afore he had the Popes bull geveng hym And this is the trade of justice which the King and Qwene use with yow at this tyme beyng condempned of treason being consecrate Busshop to have the Popes sentence from Rome afore yow suffre Which maner of proceding you say was never afore in the Realm and the practise and experience in like cases doith show never to have bene otherwise afore the tyme of your notable perjurie And so Catholick Kings as it pertayneth to the privilege of the See of Rome when they be crowned doith sweare And now look what ignorance is this to think that the like was never sene in the realme when it was never seen otherwise amongst those princes that were counted to be in the obedience of the Lawes of Christ and of the Church But now to come to that yow speak of the Popes law and power Which after a seditious maner of speakeng yow call A forreyne power this stondeth under such a fashion if God leave yow so moch sence to understond what I say that the Popes power can no more be called Forreyn power comyng not of man alone but of hym that is god and man that was secundus homâ— de coelo coelestis then may be called a Forreyn power that the sowle of man comyng from heaven hath in the body generate in earth And so it is in the poâ—itick body of this realme ruled with politick lawes founded by mâ—ns reason that be called Temporal lawes To them comyng the Popes laws spiritual doith no other but that the sowle in the body to gyve liffe to the same to confirme and strengthen the same And this is it the Aungel speakeng in Christes conception and declareng what his authoritie shuld be signifyed saing he shuld sytt Super Domum Davyd which was a temporal reigne ut confirmet illud corroboret And so doith the spiritual lawes procedynge of his Spirit As be the lawes of the Church and canon lawes Which wheresoever thei be wel observed doith this effect ever to confirme and stablish the temporal lawes of the realm as no realm hath had more experience then this ever sâ—neth the tyme they received the faith and obedience of the Pope from whom came theyr doctrine of the faith There was never notable trouble in the realm of ony kynd if it dured ony space but it was ever lightly eased and the realm established by some Legate sent from the Pope and the See of Rome following the prescript of the Canons and the Spiritual Law Without the which no realme can wel be governed but al be like to the Thornbush Whereof it is written In libro Iudicum when the Sichimites had chosen a Tyrannie over them against the law of God then it was prophesied unto them what shuld come thereof which was that fire shuld come furth of that thorne which was their King that shuld devoure
Commissary in Calais Butler a better Commissary His Troubles The occasion thereof the discovery of a Religious Cheat. Glazier Commissary in Calais The Archbishop's Judgment of Admission of Scholars into the School belonging to the Cathedral Bishops Consecrated Edmund Boner Nic. Hethe Tho. Thirlby Some account of Thirlby's Rise CHAP. XXIII All-Souls College visited The Archbishop visits All-Souls College Visits it a second time The Archbishop gives Orders about Shrines The King to the Archbishop for searching after Shrines The Archbishop's Orders accordingly to his Dean his Archdeacon and Commissary The Archbishop lays Bekesburn to the See Learned Preachers preferred by the Archbishop The Archbishop makes some recant A Convocation Their business Bishops consecrated William Knight Iohn Wakeman Iohn Chambre Arthur Bulkely Robert King CHAP. XXIV The King's Book revised The King's Book revised by the Archbishop Divers Discourses of the Archbishop The goodly Primer The Archbishop instrumental to the Reformation of Scotland An Act procured by the Archbishop Paul Bush Consecrated CHAP. XXV Presentments at a Visitation The King's Book published by Authority A Visitation at Canterbury Presentments Reflections upon the former Presentments The Prebendaries and Preachers admonished by the Archbishop CHAP. XXVI A black Cloud over the Archbishop The Prebendaries Plot against the Archbishop Winchester the chief Manager Winchester designs the Death of divers of the Court And of the Archbishop and his Friends The Papers relating to Archbishop Cranmer's Accusation The Contents thereof The Canons and Preachers of Canterbury Cranmer's Chaplains complained of at the Sessions They prepare the Articles and prâ—fer them They Article against the Archbishop himself London's Practices A great Mass of Articles against the Archbishop procured The chief Instruments Gardiner Serles Shether The Bishop of Winchester's discourse with a Prebendary of Canterbury Willoughby and London wait at the Council-Chamber Willoughby brought to the L. Privy Seal and to Winchester The Contents of the Articles against the Archbishop More Articles against his Commissary More still The Witnesses The Prebendaries deliver the Articles CHAP. XXVII The King the Archbishop's Friend in this Danger The King himself discovers all to the Archbishop The Archbishop desires a Commission The Archbishop in Commission expostulates with his Accusers Shâ—ther in Prison sends to Winchester Their Reasons which they pretended for what they did Cockes and Hussey Commissioners and his Officers false New Commissioners sent down The Register false The Delinquents Chambers and Chests searched The Treachery of Thornton and Barber The Archbishop's discourse to them The Conspirators are imprisoned Their Release Their Confessions and Letters The Ends of the Conspirators CHAP. XXVIII The Archbishop falls into more Troubles The Archbishop accused before the Parliament The Palace of Canterbury burnt The Council accuse the Archbishop The King sends privately for him Comes before the Council The King rebukes the Council for Cranmer The King changes the Archbishop's Arms. CHAP. XXIX Occasional Prayers and Suffrages Prayers to be made against immoderate Rain English Suffrages commanded to be used The Contents of the King's Letter to that end A Procession for the King's Expedition The Councâ—l's Letter to the Archbishop Popery prevails Gardiner and the Bishops now carry all Bishop of Landaff removed to York His Oath CHAP. XXX The Archbishop reformeth the Canon Law The Archbishop sets upon reforming the Canon Law An Act concerning it The Progress made by the Archbishop in this Work The MS. of these Laws The Archbishop labours in this Work under K. Edward The Archbishop employed in mending Service-Books The King consults with the Archbishop for the Redress of certain Superstitions The Opportunity of Winchester's absence taken The Archbishop prevails with the King in two great Points Seeks to redress Alienation of the Revenues of the Cathedral Scripture and Sermons more common by the Archbishop's means Anthony Kitchen Consecrated A Proclamation against the English Testament He interprets a Statute of his Church The Archbishop by the King's Command pens a Form for a Communion His last Office to the King BOOK II. CHAP. I. He Crowns King Edward COnceives great hopes of K. Edward The Archbishop takes a Commission to execute his Office K. Edward Crowned by the Archbishop The manner of the Coronation The Archbishop's Speech at the Coronation CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation A Royal Visitation on foot The Visitors The method of this Visitation The Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase CHAP. III. Homilies and Erasmus 's Paraphrase The Archbishop to Winchester concerning the Homilies The Archbishop c. compose Homilies Winchester in the Fleet. The Bishop of Winchester's Censure of the Homily of Salvation And of the Archbishop for it Winchester's Censure of Erasmus's Paraphrase His account of his Commitment Erasmus vindicated Winchester's Letter to Somerset concerning these things The Archbishop appoints a Thanksgiving for a Victory The Archbishop to the Bishop of London CHAP. IV. A Convocation A Convocation in the first year of the King Dr. Redman's Judgment of Priests Marriage The Archbishop's Influence on the Parliament The Communion in both kinds established The Archbishop's Queries concerning the Mass. The Archbishop assists at the Funeral of the French King The Marquess of Northampton's Divorce committed to the Archbishop Processions forbid by his means Examines the Offices of the Church CHAP. V. The Archbishop's Catechism The Archbishop puts forth a Catechism And a Book against Vnwritten Verities His Care of Canterbury CHAP. VI. The Archbishop's Care of the University The Archbishop's Influence upon the University Some of S. Iohn's College apply to him upon the apprehension of a danger Offended with some of this College and why The ill condition and low estate of the University An Address of the University to the Archbishop The Sum thereof The Success of the Universities Address to him and others Another Address to him against the Townsmen Roger Ascham's Application to him for a Dispensation for eating flesh Favourably granted by the Archbishop The Archbishop's Opinion concerning Lent Ascham acquaints him with the present state of the University as to their Studies Sir Iohn Cheke the Archbishop's dear Friend The prime Instrument of Politer Studies there The Impediments of that University's flourishing state laid before him CHAP. VII Dr. Smith and others recant Dr. Smith recants at Paul's Cross. His Books Gardiner offended with this Recantation Other University-men recant Smith affronts the Archbishop His inconstancy The Archbishop's Admonition to the Vicar of Stepney The Archbishop licenseth an eminent Preacher Who preacheth against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church Is bound to answer for his Sermon at the Assizes How far the Reformation had proceeded Ridley Consecrated Bishop CHAP. VIII The Churches Goods embezzled New Opinions broached Churches prophaned Church-Ornaments embezzl'd The Council's Letter to the Archbishop thereupon A Form of Prayer sent to the Archbishop With the Council's Letter New Opinions broached Champneys revokes Six Articles and abjures Other Heresies
Supremacy Concerning the New Bishops Pole's Advice to the Queen Instructions to Goldwâ—l Disgusts his Stop Sends to Rome about this his Stop And to the Emperor His Judgment of two late Acts of Parliament CHAP. VIII The Dealings with the Married Clergy The Married Clergy deprived and divorced Married Priests in London cited to appear Interrogatories for the Married Clergy Turnor's Confession Boner deprives the Married Clergy in London without Order Married Prebendaries in Canterbury proceeded against Edmund Crâ—nmer deprived of all The Injustice of these Proceedings Martin's Book against Priests Marriage Wherein Winchester had the greatest hand Answered by Poyneâ— The Confessions of the Married Priests Married Priests that did their Penance hardly dealt with CHAP. IX Evils in this Change of Parliament A twofold Evil upon this Turn of Religion The Dissimulation of the Priests A Parliament restore the Pope A design to revive the Six Articles CHAP. X. Archbishop Cranmer disputes at Oxon. A Convocation appoint a Dispute with Cranmer at Oxford The Questions Sent to Cambridge The Disputants of Oxford and Cambridge Cranmer brought before them His Behaviour Ridley brought And Latimer Cranmer brought to his Disputation His Notaries Cranmer's Demands Cranmer disputes again The Papists undecent management of the Disputation The Protestants glad of this Disputation Dr. Taylor to the three Fathers after their Disputations Ridley pens the Relation of his Disputation The University sends the Disputations up to the Convocation Various Copies of these Disputations CHAP. XI Cranmer condemned for an Heretick Cranmer condemned for Heresy Cranmer writes to the Council Disputation intended at Cambridge Their condition after Condemnation Their Employment in Prison Other Works of Ridley in Prison CHAP. XII A Parliament Pole reconciles the Realms The Queen's Letters directing the Elections of Parliament men Pole comes over The Cardinal absolves Parliament and Convocation The Clergy again wait upon the Legate A Commission granted by him against Hereticks His Commissions to all the Bishops to reconcile their Diocesses The Commission to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury The Legate's Instructions to the Bishops Pole a severe Persecutor CHAP. XIII A Convocation Articles framed therein A Convocation Articles presented to the Upper-House Cranmer's Book to be burnt Men burnt to death without Law CHAP. XIV The Condition of the Protestants in prison Free-Willers Popery fully established Protestants The Pastors in Prison Free-Willers Bradford's Concern with them His Kindness to them Bradford gaineth some of them Careless's pains with them Philpot's counsel Careless draws up a Confession of Faith Some few Arians The Prisoners offer to justify K. Edward's Proceedings And again offer it CHAP. XV. The Exiles and their Condition The Exiles The Lutherans refuse to give harbour to them The English at Wesel The Lutherans Heat against Sacramentaries At Zurick and other places well received Their Employments Contentions at Frankford Some Children of the Exiles baptized by Lutherans Pieces of Ridley's Writings conveyed to Frankford Exiles at Basil. Divers of the Exiles Writers Scory Old Sampson Turner Iuel Becon Humfrey Traheron Fox His Acts and Monuments Books by him published in Exile Translates Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament into Latin Lever to Fox Bale Knox. How the Exiles subsisted CHAP. XVI Many Recant Some go to Mass. Many Recant The Persecution hot Gospellers go to Mass. Bradford labours to hinder it Ann Hartipoll goes to Mass. The Lady Vane puts certain Cases concerning the Mass. CHAP. XVII A Bloody Time The Queen 's Great Belly A Convocation Many burned Instructions to the Justices Orders sent in to Norfolk against the Professors The effect thereof The Earl of Sussex receiveth Information against some Popish Spies set every where The Protestants frequently assâ—mble Conâ—idently reported that a Male Heir to the Crown was born The Queen 's Great Belly Like a Design The Queen's Zeal A Convocation CHAP. XVIII Ridley and Latimer burnt Some petition the Queen for Cranmer He seeth Ridley and Latimer going to their Burning Latimer's Character Cranmer's Employment in Prison Report of the Queen's Death CHAP. XIX The last proceedings with Cranmer Proceedings against Cranmer Martin acts as the Queen's Proctor Cranmer's greatest Trouble at this time Interrogatories put to him with his Answers Witnesses sworn against him Cited to Rome The Pope's Lâ—tters against him The Process against him at Rome The Pope's Letters read They degrade him He appeals He is ill dealt with in his Process The Reasons of his Appeal He presseth his Appeal CHAP. XX. Cranmer writes to the Queen Writes two Letters to the Queen The Contents of the first The Contents of his second Letter The Bailiff of Oxford carries his Letters Cardinal Pole answereth them Some account of the Cardinal's Letter to Cranmer Another Letter of the Cardinal to Cranmer CHAP. XXI He Recants Repents and is Burnt He Recants Notwithstanding his Burning is ordered A Letter from Oxford concerning Cranmer's Death Cranmer brought to S. Maries Cole's Sermon Turns his Speech to Cranmer After Sermon all pray for him His Penitent Behaviour Speaks to the Auditory He Prayeth His Words before his Death Conâ—esseth his Dissembling His Reply to my Lord Williams Goes to the place of his burning His Talk and Behaviour at the Stake He burneth his Right Hand Two Remarks upon his Martyrdom Who instigated the Queen to put him to death No Monument for him but his Martyrdom His Heart unconsumed The Bailiffs Expences about these three Martyrs The Bailiffs not repaid Humfrey to Archbishop Parker in their behalf CHAP. XXII Cranmer 's Books and Writings His Books and Writings His first Book Other of his Writings His Book of the Doctrine of the Sacrament Other Writings mentioned by Bishop Burnet More of his Writings still Archbishop Parker was in pursuit of certain MSS. of Cranmer concealed What the Subject of his numerous Writings were CHAP. XXIII The Archbishop's Regard to Learned Men. Paul Fagius and Martin Bucer placed at Cambridge by his means Procures them Honorary Stipends from the King Allowances to P. Martyr and Ochin Dr. Mowse Master of Trinity-Hall favoured by Cranmer His Inconstancy And Ingratitude Becomes Readâ—r of the Civil Law at Oxon. The Archbishop a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension To Alexander Alâ—ss a Scoth-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the Archbishop And to the King Aless brought by Crumwel into the Convocation Where he asserts Two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig Four others recommended by Melancthon to the Archbishop Viz. Gualter Driander Driander placed at Oxon. Eusebius Menius Iustus Ionas CHAP. XXIV Melancthon and the Archbishop great Friends Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our Archbishop Sends Melancthon certain Publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridge Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Sends the Archbishop his Enarration upon the
Part and Opinion to be on his Part. For being now after some absence returned to Cambridg divers of the University and some of those Doctors that before had given in their Judgments to the King for the Validity of the Pope's Dispensation repaired to him to know his Opinion And after long Reasoning he changed the Minds of Five of the Six Then almost in every Disputation both in Private Houses and in the Common Schools this was one Question Whether the Pope might dispense with the Brother to marry the Brother's Wife after Carnal Knowledg And it was of many openly defended that he might not The Secretary when he came Home acquainted the King with what they had done and how Dr. Cranmer had changed the Minds of Five of the said Learned Men of Cambridg and of many others beside Afterward this University as well as the other determined the King's Cause against the Pope's Dispensation From an Academic our Doctor being now become a Courtier he so prudently demeaned himself that he was not only dear to the Earl of Wiltshire's Family but grew much favoured by the Nobility in general as the Lord Herbert collects from the Historians of those Times and especially by the King himself He was very much about him the King holding frequent Communication with him and seemed unwilling to have him absent Which may appear from hence that when Cranmer was minded for some reason to resort to the Earl of Wiltshire who was then from Hampton-Court and as it seems at London upon some Occasions of his own he doubted whether the King would let him go And so he writ to him that he would come the next Day to him If the King's Grace let him not CHAP. II. Pole's Book about the King's Matrimony ABout this time a Book of Reginald Pole afterwards Cardinal earnestly perswading the King to continue his Marriage with his Queen fell into Dr. Cranmer's Hands I do not find mention of this Book in any Historian that hath come to my Hands No not in his Life published by Bacatellus Bishop of Ragusa though he hath there given us a Catalogue of his Books But in likelihood the Reason was because this was some private Discourse or Letter chiefly intended for the King 's own Use as appears from some words of Cranmer concerning it Viz. That it was writ with that Eloquence that if it were set forth and known to the common People an evidence it was a more private Writing it were not possible to perswade them to the contrary It was penned about the Year 1530 as may be collected from another Passage in the said Writing wherein he mentioneth the King's living in Wedlock with Queen Katherine twenty Years the expiration of which fell in about that Time What induced Pole to write on this Subject is to me uncertain for he avoided as much as could be to meddle in this Affair out of Fear of the King's Displeasure which was the Reason of his departing Abroad Probably it was at the King's Command like as some Years after he commanded him to write his Judgment of the Title of Supream Head which he had lately assumed Which occasioned Pole's four Books of Ecclesiastical Vnity For some about the King had told him it would have a great Influence upon the People especially the Nobility if he could bring Pole over to allow and approve of his Marriage Who was a Person tho then but Young yet highly valued in the Nation for his Piety and Learning and great Descent The Book was soon delivered whether by the Earl of Wiltshire or the King himself unto the Examination and Consideration of Cranmer now the great Court-Divine Who after he had greedily perused it sent the Contents of it in a Letter to his Friend and Patron the Earl being then absent from Court The Book though the Argument of it chiefly depended upon Divinity proceeded more on Political Principles than Divine Take the following account of it as Cranmer gave it in his said Letter First Pole treated of the Danger of Diversity of Titles to the Crown Which might follow if the present Marriage with Queen Katherine were rejected in which there was an Heir and another consummated As appeared by the Titles and Pretensions of the two Houses of Lancaster and York And that the King ought to provide against the Miseries that might be brought upon his Realm by the People if he should reject his Daughter whom they took for his Lawful Heir and should perswade them to take another Then he urged the Danger of incurring the Emperor's Displeasure the Queen being his Aunt and the Princess his Cousin Then he proceeded to consider the Reasons that moved the King to his present Resolutions Namely That God's Law forbad marrying the Brother's Wife And that the People however averse at first besides that it belongâ—d not to them to judg of such Matters would be content in the King's Doings when they should know how the ancient Doctors of the Church and so many great Universities were on the King's Side And that however the Emperor might fall out with the King for this Matter yet God would never fail those that stood on his part and refused to transgress his Commandments and that England might depend on the French King's Aid by virtue of the League which he had entred into with the King and the old Grudg which he bore towards the Emperor Afterwards Pole goes on to review these Reasons And first his Judgment was that Scripture might be brought to justify this Marriage and that there was as good ground of Scripture for that as for the part which the King then took namely the unlawfulness of it That if indeed he thought the King's Part was just and that his Marriage were undoubtedly against God's Pleasure then he could not deny but that it should be well done for the King to refuse it and take another Wife Yet he confessed that for his own part he could not find in his Heart to have any Hand or be any furtherer or abetter in it Acknowledging however that he had no good Reason for it but only out of Affection and Duty to the King's Person Because he would not disannul the Princess his Daughter's Title nor accuse the most part of the King's Life as the Books written on the King's part did As though he had lived in a Matrimony Shameful Abominable Bestial and against Nature This seemed an high Complement of Pole's indeed that he would rather chuse to let the King live and die in an habitual Breach of God's Law than be guilty of something that might argue a want of civil Affection and Duty in him And as concerning the People his Judgment was That neither by Learning nor Preaching would they ever be brought into an ill Conceit of the King 's former Marriage and to think so dishonourably of their King as to live so many Years in Matrimony so abominable But as they had
who had no Authority within this Realm Whereat the King made a Pause and then asked him how he was able to prove it At which time he alledged several Texts out of Scripture and the Fathers proving the Supream Authority of Kings in their own Realms and Dominions and withal shewing the intolerable Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome Of this the King talked several times with him and perceiving that he could not be brought to acknowledg the Pope's Authority the King called one Dr. Oliver an eminent Lawyer and other Civilians and devised â—ith them how he might bestow the Arch-Bishoprick upon him salving his Conscience They said he might do it by way of Protestation and so one to be sent to Rome to take the Oath and do every thing in his Name Cranmer said to this It should be super animam suam and seemed to be satisfied in what the Lawyers told him And accordingly when he was consecrated made his Protestation That he did not admit the Pope's Authority any further than it agreed with the express Word of God And that it might be lawful for him at all times to speak against him and to impugn his Errors when there should be occasion And so he did Whether Warham the Arch-deacon had conceived any Prejudice against our new Arch-Bishop by some warning given him by the former Arch-Bishop as was hinted above or whether he was willing to give place upon Cranmer's Entreaty that he might provide for his Brother so it was that Edmund Cranmer Brother to the Arch-Bishop succeeded Warham in the Arch-deaconry of Canterbury and the Provostship of Wingham Who parted with both these Dignities by Cession And by the Privity and Consent of the Arch-Bishop he had a Stipend or Pension of sixty pounds per Annum allowed him during his Life out of the Arch-deaconary and twenty pounds per Annum out of Wingham by his Successor aforesaid Who continued Arch-deacon until Queen Mary's Days and was then deprived and his Prebend and his Parsonage of Ickham all taken from him in the Year 1554 for being a married Clerk The first was given to Nicholas Harpsfield the second to Robert Collins Bachelour of Law and Commissary of Canterbury and the third to Robert Marsh. The King had before linked him into his great Business about Queen Katharine and the Lady Anne So now when he had nominated him for Arch-Bishop he made him a Party and an Actor in every step almost which he took in that Affair For to fetch the Matter a little backward Not long before the Archiepiscal See was devolved upon Cranmer the King had created the Lady Anne Marchioness of Pembroke and taken her along with him in great State into France when by their mutual Consent there was an Interview appointed between the two Kings At Calais King Henry permitted Francis the French King to take a view of this Lady who then made both Kings a curious and rich Mask where both honoured her by dancing This was in the month of October In the Month before I find a parcel of very rich Jewels were sent from Greenwich to Hampton Court by Mr. Norrys probably he who was Groom of the Stole and executed upon Queen Ann's Business afterwards Which Jewels as some of them might be for the King 's own wearing now he was going into France so in all probability others were either lent or given to the Marchioness to adorn and make her fine when she should appear and give her entertainment to the French King For the sake of such as be curious I have set down in the Appendix a Particular of these most splendid and Royal Jewels from an Original signed with the King 's own Hand in token of his Receit of them Immediately after the King's and â—â—e Marchionesses return from France he married her At which Wedding though very private the Arch-Bishop was one that assisted according to the Lord Herbert but according to the Author of the Britannic Antiquities did the Sacred Office When she was crowned Queen which was Whitsontide following the Arch-Bishop performed the Ceremonies When after that the King had a Daughter by her he would have the Arch-Bishop assist at the Christening and be her Godfather And before this when Queen Katharine was to be divorced from the King and the Pope's Dispensation of that Marriage declared Null our Arch-Bishop pronounced the Sentence and made the Declaration solemnly and publickly at Dunstable Priory Thus the King dipped and engaged Cranmer with himself in all his Proceeding in this Cause Now as all these doings had danger in them so especially this last highly provoked the Pope for doing this without his Leave and Authority as being a presumptuous Encroachment upon his Prerogative Insomuch that a publick Act was made at Rome that unless the King undid all that he had done and restored all things in integrum leaving them to his Decision he would excommunicate him And this Sentence was affixed and set up publickly at Dunkirk Which put the King upon an Appeal from the Pope to the next General Council lawfully called The Arch-Bishop also foreseeing the Pope's Threatning hovering likewise over his Head by the King's Advice made his Appeal by the English Ambassador there I have seen the King's Original Letter to Dr. Bonner ordering him to signify to the Pope in Order and Form of Law his Appeal sending him also the Instrument of his Appeal with the Proxy devised for that purpose This bare date August 18 th from his Castle at Windsor I have reposited it in the Appendix Which Order of the King Bonner did accordingly discharge at an Audience he got of the Pope at Marceilles November 7. And that Letter which the Lord Herbert saith he saw of Bonner to the King wherein he signified as much must be his Answer to this of the King to him Dr. Cranmer having now yielded to the King to accept the Arch-Bishoprick it was in the beginning of the next Year viz. 1533. March 30. and in the 24 th of King Henry that he received his Consecration But that ushered in with abundance of Bulls some dated in February and some in March from Pope Clement to the number of Eleven as may be seen at length in the beginning of this Arch-Bishop's Register The first was to King Henry upon his Nomination of Cranmer to him to be Arch-Bishop The Pope alloweth and promoteth him accordingly The second was a Bull to Cranmer himself signifying the same The third Bull absolved him from any Sentences of Excommunication Suspension Interdiction c. It was written from the Pope to him under the Title of Arch-deacon of Taunton in the Church of Wells and Master in Theology and ran thus Nos ne forsan aliquibus sententiis censuris poenis Ecclesiasticis ligatus sis c. Volentes te a quibusvis excommunicationis suspensionis interdicti aliisque Ecclesiasticis sententiis censuris poenis a jure
Angliae quam quivis externus Episcopus That is That the Bishop of Rome hath not some greater Iurisdiction conferred upon him by God in this Realm of England than any other Foreign Bishop This was consented to by the Prior's own Hand subscribed and sixty nine of the Convent besides The Original whereof is in a Volume of the Cotton Library In another place of the same Volume is extant the Subscription of the Bishops Deans and several Abbots and after that of the University of Oxford and all the particular Colleges and after that the Names of all the subscribing Priors of England The Arch-bishop was one employed about the Act of Succession that was made the last Sessions of Parliament which was to invest the Succession to the Crown upon the Heirs of Q. Ann and that Q. Katharine should be no more called Queen but Princess Dowager In the Preamble to the Act there were certain Touches against the Pope's Supremacy and against his Power of dispensing in the King 's former Marriage with his Brother's Wife carnally known by him To this Act all Persons were to swear to accept and maintain the same upon pain of Treason The Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Ld Chancellor Audley Secretary Crumwel the Abbot of Westminster and others were the King's Commissioners appointed to tender this Oath The Nobility and Gentry took it none denying to which they set their Hands in a long List. On the 13 th of April the Commissioners sat at Lambeth to receive the Oaths of the Clergy and chiefly those of London that had not yet sworn who all took it not one excepted And a certain Doctor Vicar of Croyden that it seems made some boggle before went up with the rest of whom Sir Thomas More who then stood by made an Observation how as he past he went to my Lord 's Buttery-hatch and called for Drink and drank valde familiariter whether saith he sarcastically it were for Gladness or Driness or Quod ille notus erat Pontifici The Oath also now was taken by Dr. Wylson a great Court-Divine in those Days who for Queen Katharine's Business was a Prisoner at this time though a great while he was unsatisfied and consulted much with Sir Thomas More about the Lawfulness of taking it The same Day were conveyed hither from the Tower Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More the only Layman at this Meeting to tender this Oath to them Who both being separately called refused it After the Clergy were sworn and dispatched immediately Sir Thomas by himself was sent for the second time Now he had much talk with the Lords who would fain have brought him to comply They urged him to declare the Causes why he would not Swear But he excused his so doing Then they charged him with Obstinacy He said it was not Obstinacy but because he might not declare his Mind without peril of incurring the King's further Displeasure He told the Commissioners that for his part he condemned not the Consciences of any but that he was dissatisfied in his own Conscience for certain Reasons The Arch-bishop taking hold of this spake to him thus That it appeared well that Sir Thomas did not take it for a very sure thing and a certain that he might not lawfully swear but rather as a thing uncertain and doubtful But you know said my Lord for a certainty and for a thing without doubt that you be bound to obey your Soveraign Lord the King And therefore are you bound to leave off the doubt of your unsure Conscience in refusing the Oath and take the sure way in obeying of your Prince who commands you to Swear This Argument as Sir Thomas confessed in one of his Letters to his Daughter Roper seemed so subtil and with such Authority coming out of so Noble a Prelate's Mouth that he could answer again nothing thereto but only that he thought with himself that he might not so do because that in his Conscience this was one of the Causes in which he was bounden that he should not obey his Prince sith that whatsoever other Folks thought in the Matter whose Conscience or Learning as he said he would not condemn or take upon him to judg yet in his Conscience the Truth seemed on the other Side wherein he had informed his Conscience neither suddenly nor slightly but by long leisure and diligent search for the Matter In fine the farthest Sir Thomas could be brought and which he offered voluntarily that Morning was to swear to the Succession which was the main Design of the Act though not to the Preamble At parting the Lord Chancellor bad the Secretary before More take notice that More denied not but was content to swear the Succession More assented and said in that Point he would be contented so that he might see the Oath so framed as might stand with his Conscience Fisher Bishop of Rochester offered the same before this Assembly that More had done and in a Letter of his afterwards writ to the Secretary assigned the Reason why he could with a good Conscience swear to the Succession viz. because he doubted not but that the Prince of a Realm with the Assent of the Nobles and Commons might appoint his Successors according as he pleased In the Appendix this Letter will be found which Bishop Fisher writ upon occasion of the Secretary's Advice who laboured to gain him that he should write to the King to declare his Mind to him in swearing to the Succession and to petition him to let that suffice because his Conscience could not consent to the rest of the Act. The Secretary also had sent unto Fisher lying in the Tower Lee Bishop Elect of Lichfield and Coventry to whom he declared again that he would take the Oath to the Succession and moreover that he would swear never to meddle more in Disputation of the Matrimony and promised all Allegiance to the King But he told Lee his Conscience could not be convinced that the Marriage was against the Law of God because of a Prohibition in the Levitical Law See Lee's Letter in the Appendix to Secretary Crumwel The Arch-bishop soon after that meeting of the Commissioners at Lambeth retired to Croydon And being a Man not kind to his own Party and Perswasion only and fierce and bloody-minded to them that differed from him but compassionate towards all Friend and Foe his tender Spirit suggested to him to make this serve for an Occasion to intercede for More and Fisher to Crumwel shewing him in a Letter dated April the 17 th how adviseable in his Judgment it would be to be satisfied with that Oath they had offered to swear in case they would swear to maintain the said Succession against all Power and Potentates Urging to him that there would be these Advantages gained thereby First That it would be a means to satisfy the Consciences of the Princess Dowager and the Lady Mary who it seems made
given unto his preaching for time to come And he left his Majesty to hear the Testimony of Dr. Leighton one of the King's Visitors who was present at the Sermon the Arch-bishop then made This Letter the Contents whereof I have now set down I have placed in the Appendix as well worthy the preserving among the rest of the Monuments of this Arch-bishop as I transcribed it out of the Cotton Library I do not find what Issue this Business had but I suspect the Black Friars of Canterbury had a black Mark set upon them by the King for this Opposition of his Arch-bishop in the discharge of his Commands But to speak a little of a Provincial Visitation Iure Metropolitico which the Arch-bishop had begun the last Year viz. 1534 being his first Visitation It was somewhat extraordinary for such a Visitation had not been in an hundred Years before For this he got the King's Licence to countenance his doings knowing what oppositions he should meet with In the Month of May we find him at his House at Otford about this Business The main End whereof was to promote the King's Supremacy and as opportunity served to correct the Superstitions of this Church and to inspect even Bishops and Cathedrals themselves In Apr. 1535 Cranmer had sent his Monition to Steph. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester that he would visit his Diocess The Bishop who never loved the Arch-bishop and being a great upholder of the old Popish Superstitions was the more jealous of this Visitation opposing himself as much as he could against it and would have picked an Hole in Cranmer's Coat for stiling himself in the Instrument of the Process Totius Angliae Primas as though this had been an high Reflection upon the King and detracted much from his Supremacy Of this therefore he went and made a Complaint to the King himself and taking it in some Indignation that the Arch-bishop should visit his Diocess he pretended to the King that the Clergy of his Diocess would be driven to great streights and mightily oppress'd if it should be now visited again having been visited but five Years ago by his Predecessor Warham especially being also to pay a new Duty enjoined by the Parliament namely their Tenths hoping hereby to evade the Arch-bishop's inspection into the Corruptions of the Diocess of Winchester All this Crumwel his Friend certified him of by his Chaplain one Champion Winchester indeed whatsoever he pretended tendred not so much the King's Cause as his own that he might not be visited For otherwise he would have complained to the King of this Matter before Cranmer's signification to him of a Visitation since he always bare the Title of Primate of all England as being the common Stile of the Arch-bishop And if this Stile of Primacy was a diminution to the King it would have been so to the Pope when Winchester held him as he did once for Supream Head of the Church but then he never made any complaint against those Arch-bishops that stiled themselves Primats The Pope's Supream Authority was not less thought of because he had such Primates under him but rather more And the King might therefore have such as were Primates under him without any derogation to his Authority Nor did Cranmer value at all Names and Titles and if he thought it any thing interfering with the King's Honour he would himself have been the first to sue for the taking it wholly away This he signified in a Letter to Secretary Crumwel which because it hath many excellent things declarative of the good Temper and Spirit of Cranmer I have presented it to the Reader 's Eye in the Appendix being an Original in the Cotton Library And as Winchester had pick'd a Quarrel with him for one part of his Archiepiscopal Stile so Stokesly Bishop of London a Man of the same inveterate Temper against Cranmer refused his Visitation because he stiled himself in his Monitions Apostolicae Sedis Legatus For under that Title he Convented that Bishop with the Abbots Priors and Arch-deacon of London to appear before him at a Visitation which he intended to hold at the Chapter-house in St. Paul's Church London But the Bishop of London and the Chapter warned him of assuming that Title as making against the King's Prerogative And at the Visitation it self in S. Paul's they made a Protestation which was openly read The import whereof was that they would not accept him as such a Legate and neither admit nor submit to his Visitation under that Name and required the Arch-bishop's Register to enter their Protestation And upon his refusal thereof delivered a Certificate of what they had done Stokesly also contended with him for suspending all the Jurisdiction of the Bishop Dean and Arch-deacon during his Visitation To which the Arch-bishop answered it was no more than his Predecessors had usually done in those Cases In fine they appealed in their own justification unto the King and desired his Licence to defend themselves against him by the Laws and as the Parliament had provided Thus they shewed before their secret Malice and violent Opposition against the good Arch-bishop and how afraid they were of his Visitation glad to catch any thing to enervate his Authority The sum of which Appeal drawn up by Stokesly being somewhat too long to be subjoined here may be read in the Appendix Finally upon the Arch-bishop's visiting of his Diocess he entred three Protestations against it as may appear in Stokesley's Register for preserving his Privileges This Man ever carried himself perversely to the Arch-bishop It was not long after this time that the Arch-bishop whose Mind ran very much upon bringing in the free use of the Holy Scripture in English among the People put on vigorously a Translation of it And that it might not come to be prohibited as it had been upon pretence of the Ignorance or Unfaithfulness of the Translators he proceeded in this method First He began with the Translation of the New Testament taking an old English Translation thereof which he divided into nine or ten Parts causing each Part to be written at large in a paper Book and then to be sent to the best Learned Bishops and others to the intent they should make a perfect Correction thereof And when they had done he required them to send back their Parts so corrected unto him at Lambeth by a day limited for that purpose and the same course no question he took with the Old Testament It chanced that the Acts of the Apostles were sent to Bishop Stokesly to oversee and correct When the Day came every Man had sent to Lambeth their Parts corrected only Stokeslye's Portion was wanting My Lord of Canterbury wrote to the Bishop a Letter for his Part requiring him to deliver them unto the Bringer his Secretary He received the Arch-bishop's Letter at Fulham Unto which he made this Answer I marvel what my Lord of
their own Houses where they received Causes Complaints and Appeals and had learned Civilians living with them that were Auditors of the said Causes before the Arch-bishop gave Sentence pretending that he held it as the Pope's Legat Urging also the great Troubles and Inconveniences it caused both to the Clergy and the Laity and that every Man must by virtue of that Court be forced up to London from the farthest part of the Land for a slanderous Word or a Trifle And that they thought it convenient if it were the King's Pleasure to continue that Court that he would settle it upon some other and not upon the Arch-bishop that so it might appear the Original of that Court was from the King and not from the Pope And lastly that it would not be safe to constitute the Arch-bishop the Pope's Legat because it would infringe the Power of the Vicar-General This was drawn up in way of Petition and Complaint either to the King or Parliament by a Combination of some of the Convocation as I suspect the Paper being writ by the Hand of the Register of the Lower House of Convocation The great Wheel we may be sure that set a moving this Device was Winchester his never-failing Adversary The King notwithstanding bad the Arch-bishop maintain his Court. And he answered all their Pleas against it and by way of Protestation affirmed that he kept not his Court by virtue of his Bull from Rome for Legat and that none could suspect that he did And that he saw no Cause but that he might keep that Court by virtue of the late Act of Parliament that gave Power to enjoy all things that were before had from the See of Rome And finally he answered that it was the King's Will and Command that he should continue his Court. To which the Convocation or rather some part of it made a Reply that may be seen in the Appendix But notwithstanding these Discouragements which were thrown in probably to hinder his good Designs the Arch-bishop vigorously prosecuted a Reformation at this Convocation Where assisted by Crumwel the King's Vicar General he earnestly laboured for the redress of several Abuses and Errors in the English Church And that not without good Success at length For after much deliberation among the Clergy there assembled and much opposition too he got a Book of divers good Articles to that purpose to be agreed upon and subscribed An account of which by and by shall follow CHAP. XI Articles of Religion NOW though I do not find the King went so far as that it should be enjoined on all the Clergy to own the Articles of this Book by their own Hands subscribed yet he published and recommended them to all his loving Subjects in general to accept and repute them to be agreeable to God's Laws and proper for the establishment of Peace and Concord And further probably in prudence the King thought not fit yet to go considering the great Disputes and Arguments that had happened in the Convocation hereupon Now because this was one of the great Services our pious Prelate contributed to the Church and was one of the first Steps made in the Reformation of the Doctrine and Worship it will not be amiss here in order to the inlightning this History to set down the Heads of this Book though it be done by others before me And notwithstanding what the Noble Author of the History of Henry VIII saith he gathered by some Records that this Book was devised by the King himself and recommended afterwards to the Convocation by Crumwel yet we have reason to attribute a great share therein to the Arch-bishop They that are minded to see a Draught of these Articles from the Original with the Royal Assent prefixed to them may have it in Dr. Fuller's Church-History Which he tells us he transcribed out of the Acts of the Convocation The Bishop of Sarum also met with an Original of them in the Cotton Library wrote out fairly as it seems for the King 's own Use and subscribed with all the Hands of the Convocation thereunto He also hath inserted the Transcript of them in the first part of his History of the Reformation In the Rebellion in the North which happened this Year 1536 chiefly raised by Priests and Friars many Copies of these Articles for the Book was printed by Barthelet did Crumwel send by the King's Order to the Duke of Norfolk the King's Lieutenant there to disperse in those Parts together with the Original Copy it self as it was signed by the Hands of the Convocation amounting to the number of 116 Bishops Abbots Priors Arch-deacons and Proctors of the Clergy Which the said Duke had order to shew unto the Clergy and others as occasion served that they might understand it was a proper Act of the Church and no Innovation of the King and a few of his Counsellors as they gave out And after he had made his use of this Original he was required to reserve it safe for the King This choice Treasure which the King himself required such care to be taken of Sir Robert Cotton afterwards procured at his no small Expence no doubt It is very fairly written in Vellam and at the bottom of the first Page is written Robertus Cotton Bruceus by Sir Robert's own Hand signifying his Value of this Monument It is still extant in that incomparable Library in the Volume Cleopatra E. 5. And there I have seen it and diligently compared it Excuse this Digression and I now proceed to the Articles themselves These Articles were of two sorts some concerning Faith and some concerning Ceremonies The former sort were digested under these five Titles following I. The Principal Articles of Faith And they were these That all those things that be comprehended in the whole Body and Canon of the Bible and in the three Creeds are true and constantly to be believed That we take and hold the same for the most holy and infallible Words of God That the Articles of the Faith contained in the Creeds are necessary to be believed for Man's Salvation That the same words be kept in which the Articles of Faith are conceived That all Opinions contrary to the Articles and which were condemned in the four first Councils are to be utterly refused II. The Sacrament of Baptism That it was instituted and ordained by Iesus Christ as necessary to Everlasting Life That by it all as well Infants as such as have the use of Reason have Remission of Sins and the Grace and Favour of God offered them That Infants and Innocents must be Baptized because the Promise of Grace and Everlasting Life pertains as well to them as to those who have the use of Reason And that therefore Baptized Infants shall undoubtedly be saved That they are to be Baptized because of Original Sin which is remitted only by Baptism That they that are once Baptized must not be
their Pain But because the Place where they be the Name thereof and kinds of Pain there is to us uncertain by Scripture therefore we remit this with all other things to Almighty God unto whose Mercies it is meet to commend them That such Abuses be put away which under the Name of Purgatory have been advanced As to make Men believe that through the Bishop of Rome's Pardons Souls might clearly be delivered out of Purgatory and the Pains of it or that Masses said at Scala Coeli or otherwise in any Place or before any Image might deliver them from all their Pains and send them streight to Heaven These are the Contents of that memorable Book of Articles There are Reasons added now and then to confirm the respective Tenets there laid down and many Quotations of Holy Scripture which for brevity sake I have omitted Which one may conjecture to have been inserted by the Pen of the Arch-bishop Who was the great Introducer of this Practice of proving or confuting Opinions in Religion by the Word of God instead of the ordinary Custom then used of doing it by School-men and Popish Canons We find indeed many Popish Errors here mixed with Evangelical Truths Which must either be attributed to the Defectiveness of our Prelate's Knowledg as yet in True Religion or being the Principles and Opinions of the King or both Let not any be offended herewith but let him rather take notice what a great deal of Gospel-Doctrine here came to light and not only so but was owned and propounded by Authority to be believed and practised The Sun of Truth was now but rising and breaking through the thick Mists of that Idolatry Superstition and Ignorance that had so long prevailed in this Nation and the rest of the World and was not yet advanced to its Meridian Brightness CHAP. XII Cranmer's Iudgment about some Cases of Matrimony IN this Year then came forth two remarkable Books whereof both the King and the Arch-bishop and Bishops might be said to be joint Composers In as much as they seemed to be devised by the Arch-bishop and some of the Bishops and then Revised Noted Corrected and Enlarged by the King The one of these was the Book of Articles of Religion mentioned before This Book bore this Title Articles devised by the King's Highness to stable Christian Quietness and Vnity among the People c. With a Preface by the King Where the King saith he was constrained to put his own Pen to the Book and to conceive certain Articles Which words I leave to the Conjecture of the Reader whether by them he be enclined to think that the King were the first Writer of them or that being writ and composed by another they were perused considered corrected and augmented by his Pen. The other Book that came out this Year was occasioned by a Piece published by Reginald Pole intituled De Vnione Ecclesiastica Which inveighing much against the King for assuming the Supremacy and extolling the Pope unmeasurably he employed the Arch-bishop and some other Bishops to compile a Treatise shewing the Usurpations of Popes and how late it was e're they took this Superiority upon them some hundred Years passing before they did it And that all Bishops were limited to their own Diocesses by one of the eight Councils to which every Pope did swear And how the Papal Authority was first derived from the Emperor and not from Christ. For this there were good Arguments taken from the Scriptures and the Fathers The Book was signed by both the Arch-bishops and nineteen other Bishops It was called the Bishops Book because devised by them The Lord Crumwel did use to consult with the Arch-bishop in all his Ecclesiastical Matters And there happened now while the Arch-bishop was at Ford a great Case of Marriage Whom it concerned I cannot tell but the King was desirous to be resolved about it by the Arch-bishop and commanded Crumwel to send to him for his Judgment therein The Case was three-fold I. Whether Marriage contracted or solemnized in Lawful Age per Verba de presenti and without carnal Copulation be Matrimony before God or no II. Whether such Matrimony be consummate or no And III. What the Woman may thereupon demand by the Law Civil after the death of her Husband This I suppose was a cause that lay before the King and his Ecclesiastical Vicegerent to make some determination of And I suspect it might relate to Katharine his late divorced Queen The Arch-bishop who was a very good Civilian as well as a Divine but that loved to be wary and modest in all his Decisions made these Answers That as to the first he and his Authors were of Opinion that Matrimony contracted per Verba de presenti was perfect Matrimony before God 2. That such Matrimony is not utterly consummated as that term is commonly used among the School-Divines and Lawyers but by carnal Copulation 3. As to the Woman's Demands by the Law Civil he therein professed his Ignorance And he had no learned Men with him there at Ford to consult with for their Judgments only Dr. Barbar a Civilian that he always retained with him who neither could pronounce his Mind without his Books and some learned Men to confer with upon the Case But he added that he marvelled that the Votes of the Civil Lawyer should be required herein seeing that all manner of Causes of Dower be judged within this Realm by the Common Laws of the same And that there were plenty of well-learned Men in the Civil Law at London that undoubtedly could certify the King's Majesty of the Truth herein as much as appertained unto that Law warily declining to make any positive Judgment in a Matter so ticklish This happened in the month of Ianuary And indeed in these Times there were great Irregularities about Marriage in the Realm many being incestuous and unlawful Which caused the Parliament two or three Years past viz 1533. in one of their Acts to publish a Table of Degrees wherein it was prohibited by God's Law to marry But the Act did not cure this Evil many thought to bear out themselves in their illegal Contracts by getting Dispensations from the Arch-bishop which created him much trouble by his denying to grant them There was one Massy a Courtier who had contracted himself to his deceased Wife's Niece Which needing a Dispensation the Party got the Lord Crumwel to write to the Arch-bishop in his behalf especially because it was thought to be none of the Cases of Prohibition contained in the Act. But such was the Integrity of the Arch-bishop that he refused to do any thing he thought not allowable though it were upon the perswasion of the greatest Men or the best Friends he had But he writ this civil Letter to the Lord Crumwel upon this occasion MY very singular good Lord in my most hearty-wise I commend me unto your Lordship And whereas your
Lordship writeth to me in the favour of this Bearer Massey an old Servant to the King's Highness that being contracted to his Sister's Daughter of his late Wife deceased he might enjoy the Benefit of a Dispensation in that behalf especially considering it is none of the Causes of Prohibition contained in the Statute Surely my Lord I would gladly accomplish your Request herein if the Word of God would permit the same And where you require me that if I think this Licence may not be granted by the Law of God then I should write unto you the Reasons and Authorities that move me so to think that upon Declaration unto the King's Highness you may confer thereupon with some other Learned Men and so advertise me the King 's farther Resolution For shortness of time I shall shew you one Reason which is this By the Law of God many Persons be prohibited which be not expressed but be understood by like Prohibition in equal degree As S. Ambrose saith that the Niece is forbid by the Law of God although it be not exprest in Leviticus that the Unkle shall not marry his Niece But where the Nephew is forbid there that he shall not marry his Aunt by the same is understood that the Niece shall not be married unto her Unkle Likewise as the Daughter is not there plainly expressed yet where the Son is forbid to marry his Mother it is understood that the Daughter may not be married to her Father because they be of like degree Even so it is in this Case and many others For where it is there expressed that the Nephew shall not marry his Unkle's Wife it must needs be understood that the Niece shall not be married unto the Aunt 's Husband because that also is one equality of degree And although I could allege many Reasons and Authorities mo for this purpose yet I trust this one Reason shall satisfy all that be Learned and of Judgment And as touching the Act of Parliament concerning the Degrees prohibited by God's Law they be not so plainly set forth as I would they were Wherein I somewhat spake my Mind at the making of the said Law but it was not then accepted I required then that there must be expressed Mother and Mother-in-Law Daughter and Daughter-in-Law and so in further degrees directly upwards and downwards in Linea recta also Sister and Sister-in-Law Aunt Aunt-in-Law Niece and Niece-in-Law And this Limitation in my Judgment would have contained all degrees prohibited by God's Law expressed and not expressed and should have satisfied this Man and such others which would marry their Nieces-in-Law I have no News to send you from these Parts but I much long to hear such News as be concurrent with you And therefore if you have any good News I pray you to send me some Thus my Lord right heartily fare you well At Ford the 7 th Day of September Your Lordship 's own Tho. Cantuarien About this Year as near as I can guess the Arch-bishop made an Order concerning the Proctors of his Court of Arches The Numerousness and Irregularities of Proctors made these Civil Courts uneasy to the People Complaints were made of their Clamorousness by reason of the plenty of them that neither Advocates nor Judges could be heard of the Injuries they did to Advocates in retaining and concluding Causes oftentimes without them and of thrusting themselves into Causes without the knowledg or will of the Parties and such like The Evils of which long after endured were endeavoured to be redrest by the Canons and Constitutions made in the beginning of the Reign of King Iames I. Our Arch-bishop conceived that in order to the Reformation of the Proctors it were good to begin at first with a restraint of the Numbers of them Wherefore he decreed That whereas the Number of the Proctors in the Court of Arches was heretofore about Twenty or four and Twenty and my Lord's Grace at liberty to add more Thenceforth no more should be admitted till the Number were reduced to Ten and then that Number never to be encreased This liberty which his Predecessors always had he willingly infringed himself of out of no other intent but for the benefit and ease of the People whom he saw were inticed to Contention by the crafty Insinuations of this kind of Men setting Neighbours together by the Ears for their own Lucre. And therefore the fewer of them the better And this Number he thought sufficient for the necessary Business of the Court. But some looked upon this as a crafty Fetch and Plot of the Proctors of that Time upon the good Nature and pious Disposition of the Arch-bishop That so all others being excluded from officiating as Proctors they might have all the Business of the Arches in their own Hands And hence might divers Abuses come into that Court. And for the confirmation of this Order of the Arch-bishop for the tying of his Hands they who were Counsellors to the Arch-bishop in this matter got it confirmed by the Chapter and Convent of Christ's-Church Canterbury This giving Offence to many there were some who drew up a long Paper against this Order and presented it to the consideration of the Parliament because it could be redressed no other way the Arch-bishop having put it out of his own Power to do it In this Paper they set forth that the said Statute was prejudicial unto the Common-wealth because the Number of ten Proctors was not sufficient to dispatch the Causes that came into that Court and so there must be Delays and prolix Suits while these Proctors were attending other Causes in the Arch-bishop's Court of Audience and the Bishop of London's Court of Consistory Whereas before it had been seen by experience that Twenty Proctors could not suffice for the managery of the Causes in these Courts without Delays and Prorogations from Day to Day That Causes by this means could not be diligently attended when there were many Causes and few Proctors to look after them And hereby many good Causes were like to perish for lack of good looking after That this had occasioned the Proctors to neglect a very good Oath called Iuramentum Calumpniae which was the best Provision that could be against unlawful Suits and lengthning them out further than was necessary This Oath was that the Parties or the Proctors should swear that they believed their Cause was just and that they should not use unlawful Delays whereby Justice might be deferred that they should answer the Judg truly to what he should demand of them that nothing should be given or promised to the Judges or any other Officer besides the Fees allowed by Law and that they should not procure any false Witness Again this Paper urged for a good Number of Proctors that this would be a means that the Judges could not so easily keep them in subjection and fear of them whereby they had been hindred sometimes in speaking freely before them in
their Clients Causes It was urged also that it was a great discouragement to young Men in studying the Law when there is so little prospect of Benefit thereby Lastly That it was contrary to the Civil and Canon Law that permits any Man to be Proctor for another a few excepted But this Paper notably enough written may be read at large in the Appendix And so I leave the Reader to judg of the Expediency of this Order of the Arch-bishop by weighing the Arch-bishop's Reasons with these last mentioned Surely this his Act deserved commendation for his good Intentions thereby though some lesser Inconveniences attended which no doubt he had also well considered before he proceeded to do what he did When Queen Ann on May the 2 d was sent to the Tower by a sudden Jealousy of the King her Husband The next day the Arch-bishop extreamly troubled at it struck in with many good Words with the King on her behalf in form of a Letter of Consolation to him yet wisely making no Apology for her but acknowledging how divers of the Lords had told him of certain of her Faults which he said he was sorry to hear And concluded desiring that the King would however continue his Love to the Gospel lest it should be thought that it was for her sake only that he had favoured it Being in the Tower there arose up new Matter against Queen Ann namely concerning some lawful Impediment of her Marriage with the King and that was thought to be a Pre-Contract between her and the Earl of Northumberland Whereupon the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York were made Commissioners to examine this Matter And she being before the Arch-bishop of Canterbury confessed certain just true and lawful Impediments as the Act in the 26 of Hen. VIII expresseth it but not mentioning what they were So that by that Act the said Marriage is declared never to have been good nor consonant to the Laws Yet the Earl of Northumberland being examined upon Oath before both the Arch-bishops denied it Upon the Truth of which he received also the Blessed Sacrament And the Lord Herbert saw an Original Letter to Secretary Crumwel to the same import But her Confession of it so far prevailed with the King that he would be divorced from her and with our Arch-bishop that he performed it by due Order and Process of Law And an Act passed that the Marriage between the King and Queen Ann was null and void and the Issue illegitimate The Arch-bishop granted a Licence dated Iuly the 24 th with the full Consent of Richard Withipol Vicar of Walthamstow in Essex to George Monoux Alderman of London and Thomas his Son to have the Sacrament administred in his Chappel or Oratory in his House De Moones now a Farm near Higham-hill in the said Parish of VValthamstow Indulging therein to the Wife of the said Thomas to be purified or churched in the same Chappel I the rather mention this that it may serve to recal the Memory of that pious and charitable Citizen and Draper Sir Geo. Monoux who built the fair Steeple of that Parish-Church and allowed a Salary for ever for ringing the great Bell at a certain Hour in the Night and Morning the Winter half Year He built also the North Isle of the said Church in the Glass-windows whereof is yet remaining his Coat of Arms. In the Chancel his Body was interred under a fair Altar-Monument yet standing In the Church-yard he founded an Hospital and Free-School and very liberally endowed it though now the Endowments are sadly diminished He also made a Causeway over Walthamstow-Marsh to Lockbridg over the River Lee for the conveniency of Travellers from those Parts to London and left wherewith to continue and keep it in Repair but that also is lost and the Ruins now only to be seen But enough of that The Germans conceived great hope of good to befal the Church by Cranmer's Influence and Presidency in England and took their opportunities of addressing to him This Year Martin Bucer published a large Book in Folio upon the Epistle to the Romans intituled Metaphrasis Enâ—rratio and dedicated it in a long Epistle to the Arch-bishop Wherein are sundry Expressions which will shew how well known abroad the Arch-bishop was already among the Protestants and what an excellent Bishop they looked upon him to be and how fixed their Eyes were upon him for doing great things towards a Reformation in England For thus he writ in this Epistle Te omnes praedicant animo praeditum Archiepiscopo tanti sicque ad gloriam Christi comparati regni Primate digno c. That all Men proclaimed him endowed with a Mind worthy of an Arch-bishop and Primate of so great a Kingdom and so disposed to the Glory of Christ. That he had so attained to this high Estate in Christ by his spiritual Wisdom Holiness of Life and most ardent Zeal to render Christ's Glory more illustrious that gathering together the Humble and taking pity upon the Sheepfold being indeed dispersed and scattered abroad he always sought and saved that which was lost and brought back Christ's poor Sheep to his Fold and the Pastures of everlasting Life when they had been before most miserably harassed by the Servants of Superstition and the Emissaries of the Roman Tyranny And after speaking of the King 's rooting out the Usurpation of the Pope and his pretended Jurisdiction by taking to himself the Supremacy the said Learned Man excited Cranmer to a further Reformation by telling him How easy now it would be for him and the other Arch-bishops and Bishops who were endued with the Spirit and Zeal of Christ from the remainders of the Ecclesiastical Administration to retain what might contribute to the true edifying of Consciences the saving Instruction of Youth and to the just Discipline and Polity of the whole Christian People For when the Enemies were once removed out of the way there could not then happen among us any extraordinary great Concussion of Religion and Ecclesiastical Discipline or any dashing one against another as among them in Germany of necessity came to pass striving so many Years for the Church of Christ against such obstinate Enemies The Consecrations this Year were these Diocesan Bishops Iune the 10 th Richard Sampson Doctor of Decrees and Dean of the King's Chappel was elected and confirmed Bishop of Chichester by Resignation of Robert Sherburn who was now very old No Consecration set down in the Register Iune William Rugg a Monk was consecrated Bishop of Norwich This is omitted also if I mistake not in the Register Probably he was consecrated with Sampson Iuly the 2 d Robert Warton Abbot of Bermondsey was consecrated Bishop of S. Asaph at Lambeth by the Arch-bishop Iohn Bishop of Bangor and William Bishop of Norwich assisting Suffragan Bishops Octob. 20. William More B. D. consecrated Suffragan of Colchester by Iohn Bishop of
he had his Commission and took it down with him Which he advisedly did the better to warrant and bear him out in what he intended to do in his Diocess which he purposed to visit This was a Year of Visitation For there was a new Visitation now again appointed throughout all England to see how the People stood affected to the King to discover Cheats and Impostures either in Images Relicks or such like The Arch-bishop also thinking good now to visit his Diocess procured the Licence of the Vice-Gerent Lord Crumwel so to do Because I suppose all other Visitations were to cease to give way to the King's Visitation And to render his Power of Visiting the more unquestionable and void of scruple he desired the Vice-gerent that in drawing up of his Commission his Licence to visit might be put into it by Dr. Peter who was then if I mistake not Master of the Faculties to the said Vice-gerent and afterwards Secretary of State And because he would not do any thing without the Counsel and Allowance of the Vice-gerent he asked his Advice how he should order in his Visitation such Persons as had transgressed the King's Injunctions Which came out the Year before under Crumwel's Name Whereof some were for the restraint of the Number of Holy Days a great cause of Superstition and of the continuance of it And afterwards other Injunctions came out whereof the first was that in all Parishes once every Sunday for a quarter of a Year together the Supremacy should be taught and the Laws to that intent read These Injunctions were in number Eleven as they are set down in the Lord Herbert's History The Vicar of Croydon under the ABp's Nose had been guilty of certain Misdemeanors Which I suppose were speaking or preaching to the disparagement of the King's Supremacy and in favour of the Pope Now before he went into the Countrey and having as yet divers Bishops and Learned Men with him at Lambeth he thought it advisable to call this Man before them at this time But before he would do it he thought it best to consult with Crumwel and take his Advice whether he should now do it and before these Bishops or not So ticklish a thing then was it for the Bishops to do any things of themselves without the privity and order of this great Vice-gerent Cranmer was aware of it and therefore required Direction from him in every thing But whatsoever was done with this Vicar the Arch-bishop was soon down in his Diocess and having taken an Account of the People and Clergy what Conformity they bare to the King's Laws and Injunctions he found them superstitiously set upon the observation of their old Holy Days Some whereof he punished and others he admonished according to the degree of their Crimes And he discovered the chief Cause to lie in the Curates and Priests who did animatâ— the People to what they did indeed their Interest and Gain was concerned The great inconvenience of these Holy Days lay partly in the numerousness of them so that the attendance upon them hindred dispatching and doing Justice in Westminster-hall in the Terms and the gathering in Harvest in the Countrey partly in the Superstitions that these Holy Days maintained in the idolatrous Worship of supposed Saints and partly in the Riot Debauchery and Drunkenness that these Times were celebrated with among the common People and lastly the Poverty it brought upon the meaner sort being detained from going about their ordinary Labours and Callings to provide for themselves and Families For the prevention of these Superstitions for the Future and to make the People more obedient to the King's Laws he gave out strict Orders to all Parsons of Parishes upon pain of Deprivation that they should cause the abrogated Holy Days not to be observed for the future and to present to the Arch-bishop all Persons in their respective Parishes as should do contrary to any of the King's Ordinances already set forth or that should be hereafter by his Authority relating to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church And this course he conceived so good an Expedient that he counselled the Lord Vice-gerent that all Bishops in their several Diocesses might be commanded to do the same for the avoiding of Disobedience and Contention in the Realm By which means he said The Evil-Will of the People might be conveyed from the King and his Council upon the Ordinaries And so the Love and Obedience of the People better secured to their Soveraign Such was his care of his Prince to preserve him in the Affections of his People that he was willing to take upon himself their Enmity that it might not light upon the King But Cranmer had observed these Holy Days were kept by many even in the Court under the King's Eye which he well knew was an Example and Encouragement to the whole Nation And therefore he signified to the Lord Crumwel that they could never perswade the People to cease from keeping them when the King 's own Houshold were an Example unto the rest to break his own Ordinances See his Letter to Crumwel in the Appendix CHAP. XV. The Bible printed HE was now at Ford and it was in the Month of August when something fell out that gave the good Arch-bishop as much Joy as ever happened to him in all the time of his Prelacy It was the printing of the Holy Bible in the English Tongue in the great Volume Which was now finished by the great Pains and Charges of Richard Grafton the Printer Osiander who knew the Arch-bishop well when he was the King's Ambassador in Germany saith of him that he was Sacrarum Literarum Studiossimum Indeed he always had a great value for the Scriptures because they were the Word of God and extraordinary desirous he was from the very first entrance upon his Bishoprick that the People might have the liberty of reading it and for that purpose to have it interpreted into the Vulgar Language And so by Crumwel's means he got leave from the King that it might be translated and printed The care of the Translation lay wholly upon him assigning little Portions of this Holy Book to divers Bishops and Learned Men to do and being dispatched to be sent back to him And to his inexpressible Satisfaction he saw the Work finished in this Year about Iuly or August As soon as some of the Copies came to his Hand one he sent to Crumwel entreating him that he would present it from him to the King and no question he thought it the noblest Present that ever he made him and withal to intercede with his Majesty that the said Book might by his Authority be both bought and used by all indifferently Both which Crumwel did For which the Arch-bishop was full of Gladness and Gratitude and wrote two Letters to him soon after one another wherein he thanked him most heartily telling him How he had hereby made
't is said from the Arch-bishop Therefore the King prest by some of the Papists about him who began now after Lambert's Death to listen to them set forth a Proclamation Novemb. 16. for the stopping of such Matrimonies Which ran in this Tenor. That the King's Majesty understanding that a few in number of this his Realm being Priests as well Religious as other had taken Wives and married themselves c. His Highness in no wise minding that the generality of the Clergy of this his Realm should with the Example of such a few number of light Persons proceed to Marriage without a common Consent of his Highness and his Realm Did therefore streightly charge and command as well all and singular the said Priests as have attempted Marriages that be openly known as all such as would presumptuously proceed to the same that they ne any of them should minister any Sacrament or other Ministry Mystical Ne have any Office Dignity Cure Privilege Profit or Commodity heretofore accustomed and belonging to the Clergy of this Realm but should be utterly after such Marriages expelled and deprived from the same and be had and reputed as Lay-persons to all intents and purposes And that such as should after this Proclamation contrary to his Commandment of their presumptuous Mind take Wives and be married should run in his Grace's Indignation and suffer further Punishment and Imprisonment at his Grace's Will and Pleasure Dat. xvi Novembris Anno Regni sui xxx Wherein we may observe what a particular regard the King had for the Arch-bishop in relation to his Wife that the danger of the Proclamation might not reach him by limiting the Penalty not to such as were married and kept their Wives secretly but to such as should marry hereafter and such as kept them openly And we may observe further that it seemed to be in the King's Mind in due time to tolerate Marriages to Priests by Act of Parliament which that Clause seems to import that these Priests had married themselves without a common Consent of his Highness and his Realm And Bishop Ponet or whoever else was the Author of the Defence of Priests Marriage assures us that the King intended to permit Priests to take Wives knowing how necessary it was to grant that Liberty and he affirms that it was not unknown to divers that heard him speak oft of that Matter But was hindred by some jealous Councellors that pretended how ill the People would take it had it been done by his Authority The Sect of Anabaptists did now begin to pester this Church and would openly dispute their Principles in Taverns and publick places and some of them were taken up Many also of their Books were brought in and printed here also which was the cause that the King now set out a severe Proclamation against them and their Books To which he joined the Sacramentaries as lately with the other come into the Land Declaring That he abhorred and detested their Errors and that those that were apprehended he would make Examples Ordering that they should be detected and brought before the King or his Council and that all that were not should in eight or ten days depart the Kingdom This Proclamation may be read in the Appendix Num. VIII Where I have misplaced it A Commission also was then given out to the Arch-bishop to Iohn Bishop of Lincoln Rich. Bishop of Chichester and others against this Sect. Which Commission was signed at the bottom by Thomas Crumwel It was observed that the Parsons Vicars and Curates did read confusedly the Word of God and the King's Injunctions lately set forth and commanded by them to be read humming and hauking thereat that almost no Man could understand the meaning of the Injunction And they secretly suborned certain spreaders of Rumors and false Tales in Corners who interpreted the Injunctions to a false sense And because there was an Order that all Christnings Marriages and Burials should be registred from time to time and the Books surely kept in the Parish Churches they blew abroad that the King intended to make new Exactions at all Christnings Weddings and Burials adding that therein the King went about to take away the Liberties of the Realm for which they said Thomas a Becket died And they bad their Parishioners notwithstanding what they read being compelled so to do that they should do as they did in Times past to live as their Fathers and that the old Fashion is the best and other crafty and seditious Parables they gave out among them This forced the King to write his Letters to the Justices of Peace to take up such seditious Parsons Vicars and Curates And in these Letters is explained the true Reason of Thomas a Beckeâ—'s Contention with K. Henry II. As that he contended that none of the Clergy offending should be called to account or corrected but in the Bishop's Courts only and not by the Laws of the Realm and that no King should be Crowned but by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury only The Church of Hereford being now become vacant by the Death of Fox an excellent Instrument of the Reformation the Archbishop committed the custody of the Spiritualities to Hugh Coren Doctor of Canon Laws and Prebendary of that Church and by him visited the Church and Diocess and gave certain Injunctions to the Parsons Vicars and other Curats there These Injunctions as I find them in Cranmer's Register were eight in number Which I shall not here insert at large because they may be met with in the History of the Reformation But in short they enjoined the Observation of the King's Injunctions given by his Majesty's Commissaries in the Year 1536. They enjoined that they should have by the first of August a whole Bible in Latin and English or at least a New Testament in the same Languages That they should every day study one Chapter of the Bible or Testament conferring the Latin and English together and to begin at the beginning of the Book and so continue to the End That they should not discourage any Lay-men from reading the Bible but encourage them to it And to read it for the Reformation of their Lives and Knowledg of their Duty and not to be bold and presumptuous in judging of things before they have perfect Knowledg That they should both in their Preachings and Confessions and in other their Doings excite their Parishioners unto such Works as are commanded by God expresly Adding that for this God should demand of them a strict Reckoning And to teach them that other Works which they do of their own Devotion are not to be so highly esteemed as the other And that for the not doing them God will not ask any Account That no Friar have any Cure or Service in their Churches unless he were dispensed withal and licensed by the Ordinary That they admit no young Person to the Sacrament who never received it before unless such
intangle the Thred of the Discourse if I should here insert them And therefore I must omit them and proceed to other matters In this thirty second Year of the King by a seasonable Law a stop was put to an Evil that now mightily prevailed Namely the frequency of Divorces For it was ordinary to annul Marriages and divide Man and Wife from each other who it may be had lived long together and had Children in Wedlock When upon any disgust of Man or Wife they would withdraw from one another and so in effect make their Children Bastards upon pretence of some Pre-contract or Affinity Which by the Pope's Law required a Divorce The King himself took particular care of this Act and there were two rough Draughts of it which I have seen in the Cotton Library both which he himself revised diligently and corrected with his own Pen. These Divorces the Arch-bishop highly disliked and might probably have laid before the King the great Inconveniences as well as Scandal thereof It troubled him to see how common these Divorces were grown in Germany and After-Marriages and Bigamy There is a Letter of his to Osiander the German Divine concerning Matrimony In what Year written appeareth not unless perhaps in this Year or the following now that the King was employing his Thoughts about redress of this Business The sum of the Letter is to desire Osiander to supply him with an Answer to some things that seemed to reflect a Fault upon those in Germany that professed the Gospel and that was that they allowed such as were divorsed to marry again both Parties divorsed being alive and that they suffered without any Divorce a Man to have more Wives than one And Osiander had acknowledged as much expressly to Cranmer in a Letter seeming to complain of it and added that Philip Melancthon himself was present at one of these Marriages of a second Wife the first being alive Indeed if any thing were done among those Protestants that seemed not just and fair to be sure Cranmer should presently be twitted in the Teeth for it And then he was fain to make the best Answers he could either out of their Books or out of his own Invention And he was always asked about the Affairs in those Parts And sometimes he was forced to confess some things and be ready to blush at them such a concern had he for Germany as concerning their Allowance of Usury and of Concubines to their Noble-men as he wrote to the said German But I will not longer detain the Reader from perusing the excellent Learned Letter of the Arch-bishop which he may find in the Appendix concerning this Subject CHAP. XXI The largest Bible printed THE largest English Bible coming forth in Print this Year wherein our Arch-bishop out of his Zeal to God's Glory had so great an influence I shall here take occasion to give some account of the Translation of as well as I can there having been no exact Story thereof any where given as I know of The first time the Holy Scripture was printed in English for written Copies thereof of Wickliffs Translation there were long before and many was about the Year 1526. And that was only the New Testament translated by Tindal assisted by Ioy and Constantine and printed in some Foreign Parts I suppose at Hamburgh or Antwerp For in this Year I find that Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishops consulted together for the prohibiting the New Testament of Tindal's Translation to be read And Tonstal Bishop of London issued out his Commission to his Arch-deacons for calling in the New Testament This Year also Tonstal and Sir Thomas More bought up almost the whole Impression and burnt them at Paul's Cross. I think it was this first Edition that Garret alias Garrerd Curate of Hony-Lane afterwards burnt for Heresy dispersed in London and Oxford Soon after Tindal revised his Translation of the New Testament and corrected it and caused it again to be printed about the Year 1530. The Books finished were privily sent over to Tindal's Brother Iohn Tindal and Thomas Patmore Merchants and another young Man who received them and dispersed them For which having been taken up by the Bishop of London they were adjudged in the Star-Chamber Sir Thomas More being then Lord Chancellor to ride with their Faces to the Horse Tail having Papers on their Heads and the New Testaments and other Books which they dispersed to be fastened thick about them pinned or tacked to their Gowns or Clokes and at the Standard in Cheap themselves to throw them into a Fire made for that purpose and then to be fined at the King's Pleasure Which Penance they observed The Fine set upon them was heavy enough viz. eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty Pounds and ten Pence as was extant to be seen in the Records of the Star-Chamber Anno 1531. The Bishops came into the Star-Chamber and communing with the King's Counsel and alledging that this Testament was not truly translated and that in it were Prologues and Prefaces of Heresy and Raillery against Bishops upon this Complaint the Testament and other such like Books were prohibited But the King gave Commandment to the Bishops at the same time that they calling to them the best Learned out of the Universities should cause a New Translation to be made so that the People might not be ignorant in the Law of God But the Bishops did nothing in obedience to this Commandment The same Year viz. 1531. in the Month of May Stokesly Bishop of London as Tonstal his Predecessor had done four or five Years before caused all the New Testaments of Tindal and many other Books which he had bought up to be brought to Paul's Church-yard and there openly burnt In the Year 1537. The Bible containing the Old and New Testaments called Matthews Bible of Tindal's and Roger's Translation was printed by Grafton and Whitchurch at Hamburgh to the number of fifteen hundred Copies Which Book obtained then so much Favour of the King by Crumwel's and Canterbury's Means that the King enjoined it to be had by all Curates and set up in all Parish-Churches throughout the Realm It was done by one Iohn Rogers who flourished a great while in Germany and was Superintendent of a Church there being afterwards a Prebend of S. Paul's and the first Martyr in Queen Mary's Days He is said by my Author to have translated the Bible into English from Genesis to the end of the Revelations making use of the Hebrew Greek Latin German and English that is Tyndal's Copies He added Prefaces and Notes out of Luther and dedicated the whole Book to King Henry under the Name of Thomas Matthews by an Epistle prefixed minding to conceal his own Name Graston and the rest of the Merchants concerned in the Work thinking that they had not Stock enough to supply all the Nation and this Book being of a
one of the great Incendiaries was censured at Windsor For he and one Symons a Lawyer and Ockham that laid Traps for others were catch'd at length themselves They were Men that busied themselves in framing Indictments upon the six Articles against great Numbers of those that favoured or professed the Gospel and in sending them to Court to Winchester who was to prefer the Complaints to the Council The King being more and more informed of their base Conspiracies and disliking their bloody Dispositions commanded the Council should search into the Matters And so London and his Fellows being examined before the said Council were in the end found to be perjured in denying upon their Oaths what they had indeed done and was proved manifestly to their Faces Hereupon they were adjudged perjured Persons and appointed to ride through Windsor Reading and Newbery where they had done most Mischief with their Faces towards the Horse-Tail and a Paper upon their Heads declaring their Crime and to stand upon the Pillory in each of those Towns And that Punishment they underwent and then were sent to the Fleet. London not long after died there probably out of Shame and Sorrow This was the End of one of these Conspirators German Gardiner was a Year after hanged drawn and quartered as a Traitor for denying the King's Supremacy And the Bishop of Winchester after this never had Favour or Regard of the King more And Heywood another of the Crew of the Informers and Witnesses was condemned for Treason with Gardiner but making a Recantation his Life was spared CHAP. XXVIII The Arch-bishop falls into more Troubles AFter this the Arch-bishop received two terrible Shocks more if I am right in the placing them as I think I am though I leave Fox to follow Morice the Arch-bishop's Secretary in his Manuscript Declaration of the said Arch-bishop The former was a Complaint that was made openly against him in Parliament and the latter when the Lords of the Privy-Council accused him unto the King and required that he should be sent to the Tower Sir Iohn Gostwick a Knight for Bedforshire a Man of great Service in his Time but Papistical stood up in the House and laid to his Charge his Sermons and Lectures both at Sandwich and Canterbury containing as he said manifest Heresy against the Sacrament of the Altar Though it was much they should accuse him in that Point seeing he then held a Corporal Presence but it displeased them that it was after the Lutheran way rather than after theirs of Transubstantiation But the King perceived easily this proceeded of Malice for that he was a Stranger in Kent and had neither heard the Arch-bishop preach nor read there Knowing thereby that he was set on and made an Instrument to serve other Mens Purposes the King marvellously stormed at the Matter calling Gostwick openly Varlet and said That he had plaid a villanous part to abuse in open Parliament the Primate of the Realm especially being in Favour with his Prince as he was What will they do with him said he if I were gone Whereupon the King sent word unto Gostwick by one of his Privy-Chamber after this sort Tell the Varlet Gostwick That if he do not acknowledg his Fault unto my Lord of Canterbury and so reconcile himself towards him that he may become his good Lord I will soon both make him a poor Gostwick and otherwise punish him to the Example of others He wondred he said he could hear my Lord of Canterbury preaching out of Kent And that if he had been a Kentish-Man he might have had some more shadow to put up an Accusation against him Now Gostwick hearing of this grievous Threat came with all possible speed unto Lambeth and there submitted himself in such sorrowful case that my Lord out of hand not only forgave all his Offences but also went directly unto the King for the obtaining of the King's Favour which he obtained very hardly and upon condition that the King might hear no more of his meddling that way This happened I suppose in the Parliament that began in Ianuary and continued till March 29. 1544. The Arch-bishop's Palace at Canterbury was this Year burnt and therein his brother-in-Brother-in-Law and other Men according to Stow. I find no Bishops Consecrated in this Year At length the Confederacy of the Papists in the Privy-Council whereof I suspect the Duke of Norfolk to be one a great Friend of Winchester's by whose Instigation this Design was set on Foot came and accused him most grievously unto the King That he with his Learned Men had so infected the whole Realm with their unsavoury Doctrine that three parts of the Land were become abominable Hereticks And that it might prove dangerous to the King being like to produce such Commotions and Uproars as were sprung up in Germany And therefore they desired that the Arch-bishop might be committed unto the Tower until he might be examined The King was very strait in granting this They told him That the Arch-bishop being one of the Privy-Council no Man dared to object Matter against him unless he were first committed to durance Which being done Men would be bold to tell the Truth and say their Consciences Upon this Pâ—rswasion of theirs the King granted unto them that they should call him the next Day before them and as they saw cause so to commit him to the Tower At Midnight about Eleven of the Clock before the Day he should appear before the Council the King sent Mr. Denny to my Lord at Lambeth willing him incontinently to come over to VVestminster to him The Arch-bishop was in Bed but rose straitway and repaired to the King whom he found in the Gallery at VVhitehall Being come the King declared unto him what he had done in giving Liberty to the Council to commit him to Prison for that they bare him in hand that he and his learned Men had sown such Doctrine in the Realm that all Men almost were infected with Heresy and that no Man durst bring Matter against him being at Liberty and one of the Council And therefore I have granted to their Request said the King but whether I have done well or no what say you my Lord The Arch-bishop first humbly thanked the King that it had pleased him to give him that warning before-hand And that he was very well content to be committed to the Tower for the trial of his Doctrine so that he might be indifferently heard as he doubted not but that his Majesty would see him so to be used Whereat the King cried out O Lord God what fond Simplicity have you so to permit your self to be imprisoned that every Enemy of yours may take Advantage against you Do not you know that when they have you once in Prison three or four false Knaves will soon be procured to witness against you and condemn you which else now being at Liberty dare not once open their Lips or appear before
same in the English Tongue to the intent that there may be an Uniformity in every Place Whereby it may please God at all times to prosper his Majesty in all his Affairs And the rather to have regard at this time unto the Uprightness of his Grace's Quarrel and to send his Highness victorious Success of the same And thus we bid your Lordship most heartily well to fare From Petworth the 10 th Day of August Your Lordship's assured loving Friends W. Essex St. Wynton Ant. Brown Will. Paget The Copy of this Letter the Arch-bishop dispatched to the Bishop of London and in a Letter of his own he first stirred him up to take care of making due Provisions for the religious Performance of these Prayers in his Diocess upon consideration of the King 's great Wars by Land and Sea and his Wars in France in Scotland and in the Parts about Bulloign Then he enjoined him and all the Bishops in his Province every Fourth and Sixth Day to retire to Prayer and Supplication to God and that the People should as he wrote Concinna modulatione una voce cunctipotentem Deum Sabaoth omnis Victoriae largitorem unicum sanctè piè non labiis sed corde puro adorent In becoming Harmony and with one Voice holily and piously not with the Lips but with a pure Heart adore the Almighty God of Sabaoth the only giver of all Victory And in these smaller Matters our Arch-bishop was fain now to be contented to busy himself since about this Juncture Winton or his Party had the Ascendent and did all at Court Concerning these latter Times of King Henry when the Popish Bishops carried all before them again and the Acts of Parliament that were made whereby the Bishops were empowred to call Sessions as oft as they would to try those that gave not due Obedience to the Superstitions of the Church and that upon pain of Treason Thus Iohn Bale complains whose Words may give us some light into the sad Condition of these Times Still remaineth there Soul-Masses of all Abominations the principal their prodigious Sacrifices their Censings of Idols their boyish Processions their uncommanded Worshippings and their Confessions in the Ear of all Traitery the Fountain with many other strange Observations which the Scripture of God knoweth not Nothing is brought as yet to Christ's clear Institution and sincere Ordinance but all remaineth still as the Antichrists left it Nothing is tried by God's Word but by the ancient Authority of Fathers Now passeth all under their Title Though the old Bishops of Rome were of late Years proved Antichrists and their Names razed out of our Books yet must they thus properly for old Acquaintance be called still Our Fathers If it were naught afore I think it is now much worse for now are they become laudable Ceremonies whereas before-time they were but Ceremonies alone Now are they become necessary Rites godly Constitutions seemly Vsages and civil Ordinances whereas afore they had no such Names And he that disobeyeth them shall not only be judged a Felon and worthy to be hanged by their new-forged Laws but also condemned for a Traitor against the King though he never in his Life hindred but rather to his Power hath forwarded the Common-Wealth To put this with such-like in Execution th◠Bishops have Authority every Month in the Year if they list to call a Session to Hang and Burn at their pleasure And this is ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament to stand the more in Effect Gardiner Bishop of Winchester had by his Policy and Interest brought things thus backward again and exalted the Power of the Bishops that of late Years had been much eclipsed And so he plainly told one Seton a Man of Eminency in these Times both for Piety and Learning in London who met with Troubles there about the Year 1541 for a Sermon preached at S. Anthonies against Justification by Works This Seton being now it seems fallen into new Troubles and brought before the aforesaid Bishop when he was able no longer to withstand the manifest Truth said to him Mr. Seton we know ye are Learned and plenteously endued with Knowledg in the Scriptures yet think not that ye shall overcome us No no set your Heart at rest and look never to have it said that ye have overcome the Bishops For it shall not be so Robert Holgate Bishop of Landaff was this Year preferred to the See of York His Confirmation is mentioned in the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Register Wherein is set down an Oath which he then took of Renunciation of the Pope and Acknowledgment of the King's Supremacy very full and large Afterwards I find the same Oath administred to Kitchin Elect of Landaff and Ridley Elect of Rochester and Farrar of S. Davids But I think it not unworthy to be here set down as I find it seeming to be a new Form drawn up to be henceforth taken by all Bishops And this Arch-bishop of York the first that took it I Robert Arch-bishop of York Elect having now the Vail of Darkness of the Usurped Power Authority and Jurisdiction of the See and Bishop of Rome clearly taken away from mine Eyes do utterly testify and declare in my Conscience that neither the See nor the Bishop of Rome nor any Foreign Potestate hath nor ought to have any Jurisdiction Power or Authority within this Realm neither by God's Law nor by any just Law or Means And though by Sufferance and Abusions in Time past they aforesaid have usurped and vindicated a feigned and unlawful Power and Jurisdiction within this Realm which hath been supported till few Years past Therefore because it might be deemed and thought thereby that I took or take it for Just and Good I therefore do now clearly and frankly renounce forsake refuse and relinquish that pretended Authority Power and Jurisdiction both of the See and Bishop of Rome and of all other Foreign Powers And that I shall never consent or agree that the foresaid See or Bp of Rome or any of their Successors shall practise exercise or have any manner of Authority Jurisdiction or Power within this Realm or any other the King's Realms or Dominions nor any Foreign Potestate of what State Degree or Condition he be but that I shall resist the same to the uttermost of my Power and that I shall bear Faith Troth and true Allegiance to the King's Majesty and to his Heirs and Successors declared or hereafter to be declared by the Authority of the Act made in the Sessions of his Parliament holden at Westminster the 14 th day of Ianuary in the 35 th Year and in the Act made in the 28 th Year of the King's Majesty's Reign And that I shall accept repute and take the King's Majesty his Heirs and Successors when they or any of them shall enjoy his Place to be the only Supream Head in Earth under God of the Church of England and
Possession of Arch-bishop Parker From whence he published the Book in the Year 1571 intituling it Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum c. Which was printed again in the Year 1640. Both these Manuscript Draughts were diligently compared together by Iohn Fox and the main Difference seemed to consist in putting the latter into a new Method and placing the Titles differently For in this Matter Cranmer was much busied in King Edward's Reign also being greatly desirous to bring that good Work to perfection For he thought it greatly inconvenient when the Pope's Power was abrogated that his Laws should remain in Force holding it highly necessary that the Nation might have a Body of wholsome Laws for the good Administration of Justice in the Spiritual Courts Wherefore he procured in the fifth Year of that King Letters Commissional to him and seven more diligently to set about the perusal of the old church-Church-Laws and then to compile such a Body of Laws as should seem in their Judgments most expedient to be practised in the Ecclesiastical Courts and Jurisdictions These seven were Thomas Goodrick Bishop of Ely Richard Cox the King's Almoner Peter Martyr William May Rowland Taylour Iohn Lucas and Richard Goodrick But the Matter was in effect wholly intrusted by the King to the Arch-bishop who associated to himself in the active part of this Work Taylour Martyr and Haddon The Method they observed in managing this Affair was that after they had finished a Title and drawn it up it was then sent to Dr. Haddon who was a Civilian and an accurate Latinist to peruse And if any thing was less elegantly expressed to correct it So I find at the Title De Decimis these words writ by Cranmer This is finished by us but must be over-seen again by Dr. Haddon Thus for instance I observe these Corrections by Haddon's Pen in the Chapter intituled De Commodis quae perveniunt à Sacris ritibus instead of Gratiarum actionis mulierum a partu he corrected it Levatarum puerperarum And in another place Cuicunque hoc Praerogativum est instead of hoc Praerogativum he put Hoc peculiare jus tribuitur quod Praerogativum vocant But his Corrections are very few and but of words less proper The Work and Words were mainly Cranmer's own But all this great and long Labour of the Arch-bishop came to no effect by reason of the King 's untimely Death and it may be the secret opposition of Papists At the same time that he being at Hampton-Court dealt with the King concerning the Reformation of the canon-Canon-Laws he also gave him an Account of a Business his Majesty had imployed him in and with him also Heth and Day Bps of Worcester and Chichester and some other of his Chaplains and Learned Men whom he had of late appointed with the Arch-bishop to peruse certain Books of Service delivered by the King to them wherein there were many Superstitions fit to be amended Which the Arch-bishop in the Name of the rest at this time acquainted the King with As namely the Vigil and ringing of Bells all the Night long upon Alhallow-Night and the covering of Images in the Church in the time of Lent with the lifting the Vail that covereth the Cross on Palm-Sunday and kneeling to the Cross at the same time He moved the King in his own Name and the Name of the rest that these things might be abolished and the Superstitions and other Enormities and Abuses of the same And that because all other Vigils which in the beginning of the Church were godly used yet for the manifold Superstitions and Abuses which did after grow by means of the same were many Years past taken away throughout Christendom and there remained nothing but the Name of the Vigil in the Calendar saving only upon Alhallow-Day at Night he moved that it might be observed no more And because creeping to the Cross was a greater Abuse than any of the other for there the People said Crucem tuam adoramus Domine And the Ordinal saith Procedant Clerici ad Crucem adorandum nudis pedibus and it followeth in the said Ordinal Ponatur Crux ante aliquod Altare ubi à Populo adoretur Which by the Bishop's Book intituled A necessary Instruction is against the second Commandment therefore he desired of the King that the creeping to the Cross might also cease hereafter These superstitious Usages were allowed in the Articles of Religion put forth Anno 1536. Cranmer then not having Interest enough to procure the laying them aside or thinking it then not a fitting season to attempt it as being in vain to oppose what the King himself at that time approved of But now the King listned to the Arch-bishop and bad him confer with the Bishop of Worcester and send to him their Thoughts what course they would advise him to take for Redress The Arch-bishop accordingly consulted with the said Bishop who then went along with Cranmer in the Reformation The Effect of which was as the Arch-bishop wrote to the King soon after from Bekesbourn That his Majesty should send his Letters to both the Arch-bishops to reform these Superstitions and they to send in the King's Name to all the Prelates within their respective Provinces to the same purpose The Arch-bishop withal sent to the King the Minutes of a Letter to be sent to him the said Arch-bishop to that intent He also advised the King that at the same time that this Alteration was commanded to be made he should set forth some Doctrine which should declare the Cause of the abolishing these Usages for the Satisfaction of the Consciences of the People For he knew well as he wrote that the People would think the Honour of Christ was taken away when this honouring of the Cross was taken away And therefore that they should need some good Instruction herein He nominated the Bishops of Worcester and Chichester and some other his Graces Chaplains for the preparing this And this he said would make the People obey him without murmuring nay be thankful to him for shewing them the Truth And it would be a Satisfaction to other Nations when they should see the King do nothing but by the Authority of God's Word and for the setting forth of God's Honour and not the diminishing thereof This Letter of the Arch-bishop to the King is extant in the Paper-Office whence the Bishop of Sarum extracted a Copy These things were agitated in the Bishop of VVinchester's Absence whom the King had sent Ambassador this Year with the Bishop of VVestminster to Charles the Emperor about the Mediation of a Peace between England and France The Arch-bishop took this occasion to move the King in these good Purposes for a further Reformation of Abuses in Religion towards the which the King appeared to be in so good a Mind VVinchester being absent who if he had been at Home would undoubtedly have done his Endeavour to put a Check to these Attempts But it
is but a Ceremony If it be wanting that King is yet a perfect Monarch notwithstanding and God's Anoined as well as if he was inoiled Now for the Person or Bishop that doth anoint a King it is proper to be done by the chiefest But if they cannot or will not any Bishop may perform this Ceremony To condition with Monarchs upon these Ceremonies the Bishop of Rome or other Bishops owning his Supremacy hath no Authority but he may faithfully declare what God requires at the Hands of Kings and Rulers that is Religion and Vertue Therefore not from the Bishop of Rome but as a Messenger from my Saviour Iesus Christ I shall most humbly admonish your Royal Majesty what Things your Highness is to perform Your Majesty is God's Vicegerent and Christ's Vicar within your own Dominions and to see with your Predecessor Iosias God truly worshipped and Idolatry destroyed the Tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your Subjects and Images removed These Acts be Signs of a second Iosias who reformed the Church of God in his Days You are to reward Vertue to revenge Sin to justify the Innocent to relieve the Poor to procure Peace to repress Violence and to execute Justice throughout your Realms For Precedents on those Kings who performed not these Things the Old Law shews how the Lord revenged his Quarrel and on those Kings who fulfilled these things he poured forth his Blessings in abundance For Example it is written of Iosiah in the Book of the Kings thus Like unto him there was no King that turned to the Lord with all his Heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him This was to that Prince a perpetual Fame of Dignity to remain to the End of Days Being bound by my Function to lay these Things before your Royal Highness the one as a Reward if you fulfil the other as a Judgment from God if you neglect them Yet I openly declare before the living God and before these Nobles of the Land that I have no Commission to denounce your Majesty deprived if your Highness miss in part or in whole of these Performances Much less to draw up Indentures between God and your Majesty or to say you forfeit your Crown with a Clause for the Bishop of Rome as have been done by your Majesty's Predecessors King Iohn and his Son Henry of this Land The Almighty God of his Mercy let the Light of his Countenance shine upon your Majesty grant you a prosperous and happy Reign defend you and save you and let your Subjects say Amen God save the King I find no Bishop Consecrated this Year CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation BY these and other pious Instigations of the Arch-bishop who was of high esteem with the King he began early to think of the Church and to take care about rectifying the Disorders of its Members For about April there was a Royal Visitation resolved upon all England over for the better Reformation of Religion And accordingly in the beginning of May Letters were issued out from the King to the Arch-bishops that they and all their Fellow-Bishops should forbear their Visitations as was usually done in all Royal and Archiepiscopal Visitations And it was enjoined that no Ministers should preach in any Churches but in their own In a Volume in the Cotton Library there be extant the King's Letters to Robert Arch-bishop of York relating to this Visitation signed by our Arch-bishop the Duke of Somerset the Protector and his Brother Sir Thomas Seymour the Lord Russel Favourers of the Reformation the Lord St. Iohns Petres the Secretary who went along with it Gage Controuler of the Houshold and Baker Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations back-Friends to it I do not set down the Letter it self because the Bishop of Sarum hath already published it in his History Very worthy sober and learned Men were appointed for Visitors both of the Laity and Clergy And there was a Book of Injunctions prepared whereby the King 's Visitors were to govern their Visitation The Original of which Book of Injunctions is extant in Benet-College Library There I have seen them being signed by Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Duke of Somerset Sir Thomas Seymour and divers others of the Privy-Council but no Bishop save Cranmer only he being I suppose the only Bishop then a Privy-Counsellor and now often appearing in the Council for the better forwarding of Religion These Injunctions are printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collection and briefly epitomized in the History of the Reformation The Persons nominated for this present Employment were these as I find them set down in a Manuscript formerly belonging to Arch-bishop Parker but now in the Benet-College Library Where you may observe the Visitors were divided into six Sets and to each Set were apportioned particular Counties and a Preacher and a Register in this exact Method following Visitors Added by ABp Parker Counties visited Dean of Westminster Boston York Sir Iohn Herseley Kt.  Durysme Nicholas Ridley Preacher  Carlyll Edward Plankney Register  Chester Sir Anthony Coke Kt.  Westminster Sir Iohn Godsalve Kt.   Dr. Christopher Nevison The Elder London Iohn Gosnold A Lawyer  Dr. Madewe Preacher  Norwich Peter Lylly Register  Ely Sir Iohn Hales Kt.  Rochester Sir Iohn Mason Kt.   Sir Anthony Cope Kt.  Canterbury Dr. Cave A Lawyer  Mr. Briggs Preacher Once of Pembroke Chichester Rafe Morice Register  Winchester Dean of Pauls Dr. May. Sarisbury Dean of Exeter Dr. Hains Exeter Sir Walter Buckler Kt.  Bath Mr. Cotisford Preacher  Bristow Iohn Redman Register Of Haslingfeld Glocester Dean of Lincoln Dr. Taylor Peterburgh Dr. Rowland Taylor  Lincoln Mr. Iohn Ioseph Once of Canterbury Oxford  a Friar Coventry Iohn Old Register  Litchfeld Mr. Morison Once Husband to the Earl of Rutland's Wife Worcester  Hereford Mr. Syddel  Landaff Mr. Ferrowr Preacher After L. Bishop of S. Davids S. Davids George Constantine Register  Bangor Hue Rawlins Preacher in the Welch Tongue  S. Asse Where we may observe that in every Company of Visitors was joined one Preacher or more whose Business in the respective Circuits was to preach to the People to dehort them from the superstitious use of Beads and such-like Things and to learn them to worship God truly in Heart and Mind and to obey the Prince The Method which these Commissioners used in their Visitation as we collect from what was done at S. Pauls London was this They summoned the Bishop and the Members of each Cathedral and first sware them to renounce the Bishop of Rome and to the King's Supremacy and then that they should present all things in their Church and Diocess needful to be reformed Then certain Interrogatories and Articles of Enquiry were read to them by the Register To perform which an Oath was administred to
telling him his Intent was hereby only to set out the Freedom of God's Mercy But Winchester challenged him to shew Scripture for it or any one ancient Writer That Faith in justifying excludeth Charity This Winchester afterward declared at large to the Lord Protector and added That the Arch-bishop in that Homily of Salvation had taken such a Matter in hand and so handled it as if he were his extream Enemy he would have wished him to have taken that Piece in hand and so to have handled it as he did He represented one of the Arch-bishop's Arguments for Faith excluding Charity to be thus out of that Homily We be justified by Faith without all Works of the Law Charity is a Work of the Law Ergo We are justified without Charity But I warn the Reader to consult the Homily it self before he pass his Judgment upon Cranmer's Argument as it is here represented by one that was none of his Friend In fine he said There were as many Faults in that Homily of Salvation as he had been Weeks in Prison and that was seven besides the Matter viz. making a Trouble without Necessity In short he charged the Arch-bishop for troubling the World with such a needless Speculation as this is because he said that in Baptism we are justified being Infants before we can talk of the Justification we strive for For all Men receive their Justification in their Infancy in Baptism And if they fall after Baptism they must arise again by the Sacrament of Penance And so this Doctrine he said was to be sent to the Universities where it is meet to be talked and disputed of and not fit for Homilies And to disparage further the Arch-bishop's Judgment he told the Protector That if my Lord of Canterbury would needs travail in this Matter he should never perswade that Faith excluded Charity in Justification unless he borrowed Prisons of the Protector and then he might percase have some to agree to it As poor Men kneel at Rome when the Bishop of Rome goeth by or else are knocked on the Head with a Halbard And then he made some scoffing mention of the Strength of God's Spirit in the Arch-bishop and his Learning in his Laws so as to be able to overthrow with his Breath all Untruths and establish Truths I make no Reflection upon all this unseemly Language of this Bishop but leave it to the Reader to judg hereby of the Learning and Spirit that was in him And could we have retrieved the Arch-bishop's own Arguments and Replies to these Barkings of Winchester they would have left to the World a full Vindication of Cranmer and his Doctrine As to Erasmus's Paraphrase the said Bishop pretended He found divers things in it to condemn the Work and that he agreed with them that said Erasmus laid the Eggs and Luther hatched them and that of all the monstrous Opinions that have risen evil Men had a wondrous Occasion ministred to them from that Book He also wrote to the Protector the particular Objections he made against it He said He might term it in one word Abomination both for the Malice and Untruth of much Matter out of Erasmus's Pen and also for the arrogant Ignorance of the Translator of it considering that Book was authorized by the King and a Charge laid upon the Realm of twenty thousand Pounds by enjoining every Parish to buy one Whereof he had made an Estimate by the probable number of Buyers and the Price of the Book He charged the Translator with Ignorance both in Latin and English a Man he said far unmeet to meddle with such a Matter and not without Malice on his part Finally The Matter he had to shew in both the Books was in some part dangerous and the Concealment thereof a great Fault if he did not utter it And that he pretended made him some-while ago write to the Council declaring his Mind in relation thereunto For which he was sent to the Fleet. The true Occasion whereof as I take it from his own Letter written with his own Hand which I have before me was this Upon the Departure of the Lord Protector against the Scots the King's Visitors began their Visitation Then as soon as the Bishop heard of the Visitation and the Books of Homilies and Injunctions were come to his hands he wrote to the Council trusting upon such earnest Advertisements as he made they would incontinently have sent for him and upon knowledg of so evident Matter as he thought he had to shew would have staid till the Protector 's Return He saw as he said a Determination to do all things suddenly at one time Whereunto though the Protector had agreed yet of his Wisdom as the Bishop conjectured he had rather these Matters should have tarried till his Return had he not been pressed on both Sides an Expression which the Protector in a Letter to him had used He reckoned that if he could have staid this Matter in his Absence though by bringing himself into extream Danger besides his Duty to God and the King he should have done the Protector a Pleasure of whom he had this Opinion that willingly and wittingly he would neither break the Act of Parliament nor command Books to be bought by Authority that contained such Doctrine as those Books did Thus he had he said remembrance of his Grace in these his Letters to the Council but he chiefly made not his Grace but God his Foundation with the Preservation of the late deceased King's Honour and the Surety of the King then being His Writing he confessed was vehement but he would have none offended with it for he wrote it with a whole Heart and if he could have written it with the Blood of his Heart he would have done it to have staid the thing till it had been more maturely digested He touched lively one Point in his Letter to the Council and considered whether the King might command against a Common Law or an Act of Parliament and shewed the Danger of it in the late Lord Cardinal and the Lord Typtoft before him who was Executed on Tower-hill for acting against the Laws of the Land though it were by the King's Commission and by other Precedents Not long after these Letters of the Bishop to the Council they sent for him When he came before them he came furnished with his Trinkets his Sleeves and Bosom trussed full of Books to furnish his former Allegations He was heard very well and gently Then he shewed Matter that he thought would have moved them For there he shewed the two contrary Books meaning the Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase But the Council told him they were not moved and added That their Consciences agreed not with his using many good Words to bring him to Conformity After he had been aside from them and was returned again they entred a precise Order with him either to receive the Injunctions or to refuse In which Case they told him
the University at that Time and of the great Sway the Arch-bishop then carried in the Publick and the marvellous Good-will he was esteemed to bear towards Learning I have therefore placed in the Appendix tho printed before This Favour of having their Privileges confirmed sued for in the forementioned Letter the University then got partly by the Means of their cordial Patron the Arch-bishop and partly by the Intercession and Friendship of Queen Katherine Par a great Favourer of Learning and pure Religion of Wriothesly Lord Chancellor the Earl of Warwick the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Arundel and Sir William Paget to all whom at that time they addressed their Letters whether it were out of fear of the difficulty of getting the thing done or to take this Opportunity to obtain the Countenance of the great Men of the Court. Some time after upon another Occasion the Heads of the University made another Application to their Patron the Arch-bishop which was to befriend them at Court against the Townsmen their old Enemies who were now wresting from them one of their Ancient undoubted Privileges namely the use of the Prisons of the Toll-booth and Castle The Occasion was this In the time of Sturbridg-Fair the Proctors upon great Complaints made to them going their Rounds one Night had taken certain evil Persons in Houses of Sin and had brought them to the Toll-booth in order to the commitment of them there But having sent to the Mayor for the Keys he absolutely refused to part with them So they were fain to carry their Prisoners to the Castle where they left them in Custody But the Mayor's Son after an Hour or two let them all out to return if they pleased to their former Lewdness to the Breach of Law and Affront of the Magistrate Upon this the University sent their Letters to the Arch-bishop making certain of their grave Members the Bearers to relate the Matter more fully earnestly requiring that such Insolence might be punished and that the King and his Council would make such Men feel what it was to violate Laws and to cherish Impunity and to break their Oaths which they had taken to maintain the University-Privileges They urged to him how serviceable and ready their University had been to him in his pious Labours and Counsels in establishing the true Doctrine in the Church and what fit and worthy Men they had sent him for his Assistance in that good Work In like manner they required and expected of him that their Dignity might be maintained and preserved by his Aid and Authority That the University was then but in a low Condition and that Abroad it scarcely retained the Shadow of its former Glory But if at Home and within it Self the Bonds and Sinews of its Safety should thus be cut as not to have a Power to restrain Vice by Imprisonment what could the Kingdom Religion and the King's Majesty hope for any more from that University They inculcated how Learning and the true Religion rise and fall together and that if it went otherwise than well with the one the other would feel the Smart of it And truly say they no remarkable Dammage can light upon the Studies of Learning which by the same Motion draws not along with it the true Religion into the same Catastrophe And these Considerations they made use of to excite his Grace to assist them in vindicating their Privileges and in having that gross Infringement of them punished Upon the same Occasion they wrote their Letters also to Sir William Paget a great Friend of theirs and eminent Patron of good Learning What the Issue of these Applications was I find not but may conclude they received a Success proportionable to the good Will and Authority of those to whom they were made And as the whole Body of the University knew what Favour our Prelate bore to it so every single ingenious Member confided in him and applied to him in their Needs Roger Ascham the University Orator whom I had occasion to mention before was a Man of a weak Constitution and had contracted more frailty by reason of a long Ague that then hung about him and his Complexion became Melancholy by the Relicts of that stubborn Distemper He had also in his Nature a great averseness to the Fish-diet Upon these Reasons he address'd his Letters to the ABp with an humble Suit very handsomly penned that he might be dispensed with as to abstinence from Flesh-meats Lent and Fish-days being then strictly observed in the Colleges And this Licence he desired might be not only Temporary but perpetual as long as he lived which was somewhat extraordinary But to encline the Arch-bishop to yield to his Suit he told him That it was not to pamper his Flesh nor out of an affectation of doing that which was unusual or against common Custom but only for the preserving his Health and that he might the more freely pursue his Studies He added That the Air of Cambridg was naturally Cold and Moist and so the Fish-diet the more unwholsome He desired therefore That by his Authority he might no longer be tied by that Tradition which forbad the Use of certain Meats at certain Times He said That those who granted this Liberty to none but such as laboured under a desperate Disease did like them who never repaired their Houses but when they were just ready to fall down by Age. Thrifty House-keepers did otherwise So did skilful Physicians who did not use to prescribe their Physick when it was too late but always put a stop to Beginnings That they who never would impart the using of this Liberty of eating Flesh to any but when all Health was despaired of knew not what good a prudent Foresight did in all Common-wealths and did too insolently abuse a good Thing bestowed upon us by God when little or no use at all could be made of it Nay that such a Good was no Good at all being External but in that respect only as there might some use be made of it That we ought not therefore unprofitably to abuse Food to Diseases that are desperate but to accommodate it to the preservation of Health And so did S. Paul command Therefore I exhort you to take some Food for this is for your Health Then he subjoins a Passage of Herodotus in his Euterpe concerning the Egyptian Priests from whom issued originally all kinds of Learning and Arts and who were always conversant in Learned Studies These saith that Author religiously tied themselves ever to abstain from all eating of Flesh. No doubt for this only Cause saith Ascham Nè ignea vis ingenii atque praestantia ullo frigido succo quem esus piscium ingeneraret extingueretur That the Wits of Men that have a noble fiery Quality in them might not be quenched by some cold Juice which the eating of Fish might ingender And that it was somewhat unjust he adds that when so many kinds
of Superstition flowed in such a plentiful measure from the Egyptians as might easily be proved and thence derived themselves first to the Greeks then to the Romans and afterwards to our Times through that Sink of Popery that that single worthy Counsel and Remedy of those most Learned Men enjoined for the enlarging and spreading of Learning should be debarred us to follow and that by such as were either unlearned themselves or superstitious Men Whereby the best Wits received so great Prejudice and Dammage That none knew better than his Lordship whence this Custom arose by whom cherished and by what kind of Men brought down to us And lastly how unwholsome and unfit all eating of Flesh was in the Spring-time And that he might obtain this Favour he would use it without giving Offence or making any common Speech of it with Quietness and Silence with Abstinence and Thanksgiving This Letter he got his Friend Poinet the Arch-bishop's Chaplain the same I suppose who after was Bishop of Winchester to put into his Grace's Hand and to further his Request what he could The Issue whereof was to his Heart's desire For though the Arch-bishop knew him not nor was easily drawn to dispence with the Church's Ancient Discipline and Rites yet he received his Suit with all Humanity and such he found to be the Modesty and Ingenuity of the Man and what he requested to be grounded upon such reasonable and just Causes that he readily yielded to it And whether he thought it out of his Power to grant a Licence of that Latitude to discharge a Person for all Time to come from the Obligation of keeping Lent or to avert the Censure he might incur if he should have done it by his own Authority or reckoning it a Matter of Law rather than Religion he put himself to the trouble of procuring the King's Licence under the Privy Seal for this Man And when he had done that considering an Academick's Poverty he released him of the whole Charges of taking it out paying all the Fees himself and so conveyed it to him by Dr. Tayler the Master of his College And indeed the Arch-bishop's Opinion concerning Lent made way for his more ready yielding to Ascham's Request For he held the keeping of Lent as founded in a Positive Law rather than as a Religious Duty and thought it necessary that so the People should be taught and instructed As appears by his Articles of Visitation in the second Year of King Edward One whereof ran thus That enquiry should be made whether the Curats had declared and to their Wit and Power had perswaded the People that the manner and kind of Fasting in Lent and other Days in the Year was but a meer positive Law And that therefore all Persons having just Cause of Sickness or other Necessity or being licensed by the King's Majesty may moderately eat all kind of Meat without grudg or scruple of Conscience The same Ascham knowing well how the Arch-bishop's Mind stood affected to Cambridg his old Nurse and how well he wish'd it for the sake of Religion acquainted him with the State of the University about the beginning of King Edward's Reign and the Course of the Studies that were then used That there were very many began to affect the Study of Divinity A new Study it seems then the Pope's Laws and the School-men having before employed the Heads of almost all That the Doctrines of Original Sin and Predestination were much canvased But many went rather according to Pighius highly applauding him than according to S. Augustin though he exceeded all others that either went before or followed after him for the excellency of his Wit and Learning and the greatness of his Industry and Opportunities That others among them made the reading of God's Word their daily Exercise And for the helping their Understandings in the sense of it they made use of and adhered to the Judgment of S. Augustin chiefly and studied hard the Tongues The Knowledg of Languages began to be affected And such as studied them were reckoned the best Masters as qualifying them best for teaching of others or understanding themselves That for Oratory they plied Plato and Aristotle from whose Fountains among the Greeks Loquens illa prudentia as he stiled Oratory that speaking Prudence might be fetched And to these among the Latins they added Cicero They conversed also in Herodotus Thucididâ—s and Xenophon the three Lights of Chronology Truth and Greek Eloquence and which brought a great Lustre to their other Studies The Greek Poets which they took delight in were Homer Sophocles and Euripides the one the Fountain the two others the Streams of all Eloquence and Learned Poetry Which they were of Opinion did more largely water their other Studies than Terence or Virgil which in some former Years were chiefly read Thus was the Method of University-Studies altered so much for the better from reading the Schoolmen and Metaphysical Niceties the Pope's Canons and Decretals to converse in politer and more manly Learning which tended so much to solid Knowledg and preparation of Mens Minds to the Entertainment of the Gospel The great setter on foot of this ingenuous Learning in the University was Sir Iohn Cheke of S. Iohn's College now preferred to be the King's Tutor a Person for whom the Arch-bishop had a very tender Love and affectionate Kindness For so Ascham writ to him in his former Letter That many had addicted themselves to this course of Study by the Aid and Conduct Example and Counsel of that excellent Man And that they bore the better his going from them to the Court who had brought them on in so good a Course because they knew their Disprofit was abundantly recompensed by the Profit and Safety that would accrue to the whole Common-wealth by him Applying that of Plato to him Plurimum Reip. interesse ut unus aliquis existat semper praestans excellensque Vir ad cujus virtutis imitationem caeteri voluntate industria studio spe erecti totos sese effingant accommodent Afterwards he acquainted the most Reverend Person to whom he wrote with those things which proved great Hindrances to the flourishing Estate of the University that by his Counsel and Authority if possible they might be redressed And they were two The one was That they wanted elderly Men very few such remaining among them by whose Example the younger Sort might be excited to study and by whose Authority the Manners of the rest might be rightly formed and fashioned The other Impediment was occasioned by such as were admitted Who were for the most part only the Sons of Rich Men and such as never intended to pursue their Studies to that degree as to arrive at any eminent Proficiency and Perfection in Learning but only the better to qualify themselves for some Places in the State by a slighter and more superficial Knowledg The Injury accruing thence to the University was double both
because by this means all hope of ripe and compleated Learning was immaturely cut off in the very Bud and also all the Expectations of the poorer sort whose whole Time was spent in good Studies was eluded by these Drones occupying those Places and Preferments which more properly belonged unto them For Parts Learning Poverty and Election were of no strength at Home where Favour and Countenance and the Letters of Noblemen and such-like extraordinary and illegal Courses from Abroad bore all the Sway. CHAP. VII Dr. Smith and others recant AND now before I conclude this Year let me pass from more publick Matters and present the Reader with two or three Passages wherein the Arch-bishop had to do with private Men. May the 15 th Richard Smith D. D. Master of Whittington College and Reader of Divinity in Oxford a hot turbulent Man made his Recantation at Pauls Cross convinced and moved thereunto by the Pains of the Arch-bishop What his Errors were that he had publickly vented in the University and in his Writings may be known by the words of his Recantation which were these I do confess and acknowledg that the Authority as well of the Bishop of Rome whose Authority is justly and lawfully abolished in this Realm as of other Bishops and others called the Ministers of the Church consisteth in the Dispensation and Ministration of God's Word and not in making Laws Ordinances and Decrees over the People besides God's Word without the Consent and Authority of the Prince and People I say and affirm that within this Realm of England and other the King's Dominions there is no Law Decree Ordinance or Constitution Ecclesiastical in force and available by any Man's Authority but only by the King's Majesty's Authority or of his Parliament This Man had wrote two Books in favour of Popish Doctrine and those he also now disclaimed viz. A Book of Traditions and another of the Sacrifice of the Mass. In the former of which he maintained That Christ and his Apostles taught and left to the Church many things without writing which he asserted were stedfastly to be believed and obediently fulfilled under pain of Damnation In the other Book he maintained That Christ was not a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck when he offered himself upon the Cross for our Sins but after the Order of Aaron and that when Christ did offer his Body to his Father after the Order of Melchizedek to appease his Wrath it was to be understood not of the Sacrifice of the Cross but of the Sacrifice that he made at his Maundy in form of Bread and Wine In which Book were other Errors He that is minded to see his Recantation of these his Books may have it in the Appendix as I transcribed it out of an old Book made by Becon intituled Reports of certain Men. This Recantation he not long after made at Oxon viz. in August following Where he also protested openly That he would abide in the sincere and pure Doctrine of Christ's Gospel all humane trifling Traditions set apart even unto Death though it should cost him his Life And this Recantation he also printed for further Satisfaction to the World Bishop Gardiner who was now at Winchester was very uneasy at the News of this Recantation which some took care to bring down to him He signified to the Protector That Smith was a Man with whom he had no Familiarity nor cared for his Acquaintance That he had not seen him in three Years nor talked with him in Seven He was greatly displeased with the first words of his Recantation which yet were but the words of Scripture Omnis Homo mendax Making all the Doctors in the Church as he inferred to be Liars with himself How it argued his Pride for he that sought for such Company in Lying had small Humility and that he would hide himself by that Number that his depraving of Man's Nature in that sort was not the setting out of the Authority of Scripture He said he neither liked his Tractation nor yet his Retractation That he was mad to say in his Book of Vnwritten Verities that Bishops in this Realm could make Laws wherein he said he lied loudly About this time Chadsey Standish Yong Oglethorp and divers others recanted whose Recantations Fox had by him to shew as well as Smith whom we have now before us After this Recantation he carried not himself according to it but favoured the Old Errors And in the Year 1549 offered some Affront unto Arch-bishop Cranmer opposing him in the Doctrine of the Lawfulness of Priests Marriage and endeavoured to make a Rout in Oxford to the endangering P. Martyr's Life and printed a Book the same Year against him De Votis Monasticis Whereupon incurring as he apprehended some Danger he fled into Scotland But weary of being there and willing to have his Peace made in England he wrote two Letters to the Arch-bishop from thence professing that he would out of hand by open Writing in the Latin Tongue revoke all that erroneous Doctrine which he had before taught and published and set forth the pure Doctrine of Christ. And for a Proof hereof he would straight after his return into England set forth a Book in Latin in defence of the most lawful Marriage of Priests In the Year 1550 he wrote certain Treatises against P. Martyr printed at Lovain And the same Year came out his Book against the Arch-bishop's Treatise of the Sacrament This Man was of a most inconstant as well as turbulent Spirit For in the Reign of Queen Mary he turned to the Religion then professed and was great with Bishop Boner in those Times but greatly despised for his Fickleness He once attempted to discourse with Hawks in Boner's House in London Hawks threw in his Dish his Recantation To which when he said it was no Recantation but a Declaration the other gave him this Rub To be short I will know whether you will Recant any more ere ever I talk with you or believe you and so departed from him We shall hear of him again in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when he again complied and submitted himself to Arch-bishop Parker And last of all returned to his old Opinions and fled to Lovain Pass we from this Man to another of the same Strain with whom the Arch-bishop had to do As the Popish Clergy in the former King's Reign had made all the rudest and eagerest Opposition they dared against the Steps that were then made towards a Reformation so they ceased not to do in this King 's nay and more hoping to shelter themselves under a milder Government One Instance of this appeared in what was done by the Quondam Abbot of Tower-hill London Who for some Recompence of the loss of his Abby was made Vicar of Stepney-Church succeeding I suppose Mr. Hierom burnt to death in the Year 1540 with Dr. Barnes and Garret He being a bold Man and
Places collected from thence in the nature of Inferences and Observations Which I conclude the Arch-bishop put him upon doing while he was now with him The Work was looked over and examined by the Arch-bishop Notes and Corrections of his own Hand being here and there inserted Also the Gospel of S. Mark is handled in the same method by another of the Arch-bishop's Guests Which Writing hath this Inscription by Cranmer's Hand Petrus Alexander in Marcum At this time therefore there were at the Arch-bishop's House besides Bucer Alasco Peter Martyr Paulus Phagius Peter Alexander Bernardine Ochin Mat. Negelinus after a Minister of Strasburgh who accompanied Bucer and Fagius into England and others whose Names do not occur Three of these were soon after preferred to publick Places of Reading in the Universities Peter Alexander was of Artois and lived with the Arch-bishop before Bucer came into England He was a Learned Man but had different Sentiments in the Matter of the Eucharist enclining to the belief of a Corporeal Presence with the Lutherans Though some Years after he came over to a righter Judgment as his Companion Peter Martyr signified to Calvin in a Letter wrote from Strasburgh Peter Martyr coming about the beginning of the Year 1549 unto the University of Oxford his first Readings were upon the eleventh Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians In which Chapter is some Discourse of the Lord's Supper The Professor when he came so far took occasion to expatiate more largely upon that Argument and the rather that he might state it aright in the midst of those hot Contests that were then about it among Learned Men. These Lectures on the Sacrament he soon after printed at London for the Benefit of the World as they were two Years after done at Zurick and dedicated them to his Patron the Arch-bishop And that partly to give a publick Testimony of his Sense of the Arch-bishop's great Humanity and Benefits towards him Which were so large that he must do nothing else but tell of them to be sufficiently thankful for them And known it was to all as he said how obligingly he received and how liberally he entertained both himself and many other Strangers of his Rank and Condition And partly that by his Authority he would protect and defend what he should find in his Book to be consonant to the Holy Scriptures and agreeable to the King's Laws For he had he said Skill and Industry enough to do it who had himself often both in Publick and Private conflicted with the Adversaries and with admirable Learning accuracy of Wit and Dexterity vindicated the Truth from the spinous and confused Cavils of Sophisters Nor did he want Will to stand up for Sound and Christian Doctrines as all good Men knew who saw how earnest he was in his Labours of restoring Religion that for that Cause he drew upon himself many Enmities and threatning Dangers The first Occasion of Bucer's Call into England was thus He had wrote to Iohn Hales a learned English-man his Acquaintance the sad Estate of Germany and that he could scarce stay any longer in the Place where he was This Hales acquainted the Arch-bishop with which made a great Impression upon his compassionate Soul and he brake out into those words of the Psalmist Mirifica misericordias tuas qui salvos facis sperantes in te a resistentibus dexterae tuae And forthwith writ to Brucer a Letter in October 1548 to come over to this Realm which should be a most safe Harbour for him urging him to become a Labourer in the Lord's Harvest here begun and using other Arguments with him to move him hereunto in the most obliging Stile possible calling him My Bucer And that he might come over the safer from Harms and Enemies the Arch-bishop recommended him to one Hills an English-Merchant to provide for his Passage The Arch-bishop's Letter may be found in the Appendix To this Letter Bucer wrote an Answer seeming upon some Considerations to decline the Arch-bishop's Invitation This Letter coming to the Arch-bishop's Hands he shewed to Peter Alexander who by the Arch-bishop's Order wrote back to Bucer in the said Arch-bishop's and the Protector 's Name to call him again over which Letter was dated March 24 from Lambeth telling him withal that the good old Man Latimer saluted him Letters I suppose of the same Import were also dispatched to the Learned Fagius Bucer and Fagius who were thus honourably invited into England by repeated Letters of the Lord Protector and Arch-bishop Cranmer were by them also nominated for Publick Professors in the University of Cambridg the one of Divinity the other of the Hebrew Tongue This was looked on by their Friends as a notable piece of God's good Providence that when these two eminent Champions of the true Religion were in so much present Danger in Germany so seasonable a Refuge was provided for them elsewhere They both arrived safe in England in the end of April and abode with the Arch-bishop above a quarter of a Year until towards the end of the long Vacation the Arch-bishop intending they should be at Cambridg when the Term should begin in order to their Reading During this Interval while they continued at Lambeth they were not idle being every day busied in some Study and Exercise agreeable to their Function as was hinted before But the main of their Thoughts were taken up in preparing for their University-Lectures Which of what Subject-Matter they should be the Arch-bishop himself directed As it had been a great while his pious and most earnest Desire that the Holy Bible should come abroad in the greatest Exactness and true Agreement with the original Text. So he laid this Work upon these two Learned Men. First That they should give a clear plain and succinct Interpretation of the Scripture according to the Propriety of the Language And Secondly Illustrate difficult and obscure Places and reconcile those that seemed repugnant to one another And it was his Will and his Advice that to this End and Purpose their publick Readings should tend This pious and good Work by the Arch-bishop assigned to them they most gladly and readily undertook For their more regular carrying on this Business they allotted to each other by consent their distinct Tasks Fagius because his Talent lay in the Hebrew Learning was to undertake the Old Testament and Bucer the New The Leisure they now enjoyed with the Arch-bishop they spent in preparing their respective Lectures Fagius entred upon the Evangelical Prophet Esaias and Bucer upon the Gospel of the Evangelist Iohn And some Chapters in each Book were dispatched by them But it was not long but both of them fell Sick which gave a very unhappy stop to their Studies Fagius his Distemper proved mortal who was seized at first with a very acute Fever And notwithstanding Physick and Attendance remaining very ill he had a great desire to remove to Cambridg to
there would be none to take him up For Smith they say smelt out some crafty Device taken against him and so appeared not at the Dispute And then indeed few thought convenient to be there their Plot of making a Rout and Confusion being spoiled Indeed Smith conscious to himself of making this Tumult fled before the Day came and went into Scotland But Dr. Tresham a zealous Man that this Cause might not fall was desirous to undertake the Disputation and did so with Dr. Chedsey and Mr. Morgan before the King's Visitors who were Henry Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Cox Chancellor of that University Dr. Simon Haines Dean of Exeter Richard Morison Esq Christopher Nevison Doctor of Civil Law Before these honourable Umpires who came with the King's Letters Patents the Disputation concerning Transubstantiation and the Carnal Presence in the Sacrament lasted four days wherein P. Martyr the Respondent did acquit himself very sufficiently both from Scripture and Fathers The Sum of which may be seen in Fox's Monuments and the whole in Martyr's Works in that part thereof intituled De Eucharistia Disputatio The first day of the Disputation was May the 28 th It was managed between Martyr and Tresham Dr. Cox the Chancellor began with a Speech Then Martyr made his Proemial Oration and Prayer Then Tresham succeeded with another Oration bestowing some Praises upon Martyr Which he replying upon and briefly and modestly declining began his Argument The next Disputation on May 29 was between Martyr and Chedzey after Martyr had made a short Speech and Prayer and Chedzey his Preface The third Action was between Morgan Tresham and Martyr The Disputation of the fourth day Iune 1 was again between Chedzey and Martyr And then all was concluded by another Speech uttered by the said Chancellor Wherein he had these words Peter and a Peter indeed for his steady Constancy Martyr and rightly called Martyr for the numberless Testimonies by him produced in the behalf of Truth must needs obtain much Favour and Respect from us and all good Men First That he hath taken such vast pains in standing under even a Burden of Disputations For iâ— Not Hercules himself against two what shall we think of Peter alone against all Secondly That he hath undertook the Challenge of a Disputation And so stopped the vain Speeches of vain Men who dispersed envious and odious Insinuations concerning him as that either he would not or dared not to maintain his own Tenets And lastly that he hath so excellently well answered the Expectation of the chief Magistrates and so of the King himself while he hath not only recommended to the University the Doctrine of Christ from God's lively Fountains but also hath not permitted any as much as lay in him to muddy or obstruct them But I refer the Reader for the rest to Dr. Cox's own Oration The Professor drew up the whole four days Disputation soon after and sent it by his constant Friend and Companion Iulius to his Patron the Arch-bishop And with the same Messenger he conveyed a Letter dated Iune 15 to Bucer then at the Arch-bishop's House concerning his said Disputation Therein he signified the Obstinacy and Boldness of his Opponents and that he feared That his Doctrines he then maintained might not altogether square with Bucer's Judgment But he said in his own Justification That he granted the Body of Christ was present to us by Faith and that we are incorporated into him by Communication He confessed here that we do partake of the Matter of the Sacrament namely the Body and Blood of Christ but he meant it in Mind and Faith And in the mean time he granted that the Holy Ghost is Efficacious in the Sacraments by virtue of the Lord's Institution But that which he especially endeavoured to assert was That they mixed not the Body and Blood of Christ carnally with the Bread and Wine by any Corporeal Presence Nor yet would he have the Sacrament to be Symbols without Honour and Reverence Another thing he asserted which he thought might offend Bucer was That it was not agreeable to the Body of Christ however glorified to be in many Places at once But for this he wrote Bucer as he urged in the Disputation that the Scripture obliged to no such belief How the reason of an humane Body reclaimed against it and the Fathers affirmed that such a Quality was granted to no Creature but belonged to God alone And so inviting him and Fagius and Alexander to Oxford concluded his Letter But when the Papists dispersed vain Stories and many Falshoods concerning this Business he was forced his Friends also urging him thereunto to publish an Account hereof And with what Fidelity and Diligence he drew up his Book the Testimonies of two of the King's Counsellors Ear-Witnesses added thereto sufficiently confirmed In the Preface to his Relation of these Disputes he assigned two Reasons that made him publish them The one was the Calumnies of evil Men the other the Desires of his Friends Under the former he complained how he was by his Adversaries bespattered among all sorts of People Princes Nobles Commons Citizens Clowns And that all Corners Streets Houses Shops Taverns sounded their Triumphs over him and he doubted not that it was dispersed by them into other Nations Upon these Considerations his great Patron the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to whom he dared to deny nothing and the King's Visitors besides others of his Friends had advised and desired him to put forth these his Disputations in his own Vindication and in the Vindication of the Truth These he professed to write with all Fidelity And that he might be the more exact he had compared his own Collections with the Relations that were drawn up by the Adversaries and that having read theirs what he could recal that he had before omitted which was of any moment he restored out of their Writings But Tresham the chief Disputant pretending himself aggrieved with this Book as tho Martyr had therein misrepresented him and expressed some Indignation against him and added some things that were not spoken wrote himself another Account of this Disputation in justification of himself against the Professor and set a Preface before it by way of Epistle to the King's Privy-Council Wherein he most angrily bespattered this Reverend Man calling him Pseudo-Martyr a doting old Man Subverted Impudent and the famous Master of Errors And that he fled into Germany to obtain the more Licence for his Lust and that he might enjoy his Adultery meaning his Wife The Disputation it self is too long to be transcribed it is extant among the Foxian Manuscripts But the Epistle Dedicatory or Preface before it I will not omit that the Reader may there observe the malicious Spirit of Martyr's Adversaries and collect some further Account of this Disputation But the Reader must remember that it was an angry Antagonist that wrote it Dr. Smith who had done his best to cause a
Riot in the University and thereby to endanger the King's Professor and was therefore got away into Scotland conscious likewise to himself of Calumnies and Wrongs done by him against the Arch-bishop some time after wrote to the Arch-bishop a submissive Letter praying him to forgive all the Injuries he had done his Grace and to obtain the King's Pardon for him that he might return Home again And he promised to write a Book for the Marriage of Priests as he had done before against it That he was the more desirous to come Home into England because otherwise he should be put upon writing against his Grace's Book of the Sacrament and all his Proceedings in Religion being then harboured as he would make it believed by such as required it at his Hands But in Q. Mary's Days he revolted again and was a most zealous Papist and then did that indeed which he gave some Hints of before for he wrote vehemently against Cranmer's Book But from Oxford let us look over to Cambridg Where Disputations likewise were held in the Month of Iune before the King's Commissioners who were Ridley Bishop of Rochester Thomas Bishop of Ely Mr. Cheke Dr. May and Dr. Wendy the King's Physician The Questions were That Transubstantiation could not be proved by Scripture nor be confirmed by the Consent of Antient Fathers for a thousand Years past And that the Lord's Supper is no Oblation or Sacrifice otherwise than a Remembrance of Christ's Death There were three Solemn Disputations In the first Dr. Madew was Respondent and Glyn Langdale Sedgwick and Yong Opponents In the Second Dr. Glyn was Respondent on the Popish side Opponents Pern Grindal Guest Pilkington In the third Dr. Pern was Respondent Parker Pollard Vavasor Yong Opponents After these Disputations were ended the Bishop of Rochester determined the Truth of these Questions ad placitum suum as a Papist wrote out of whose Notes I transcribe the Names of these Disputants Besides these Disputations when Bucer came to Cambridg he was engaged in another with Sedgwick Pern and Yong upon these Questions I. That the Canonical Books of Scripture alone do teach sufficiently all things necessary to Salvation II. That there is no Church in Earth that erreth not as well in Faith as Manners III. That we are so freely justified of God that before our Justification whatsoever good Works we seem to do have the Nature of Sin Concerning this last he and Yong had several Combates Which are set down in his English Works As to Bucer's Opinion of the Presence in the Sacrament the great Controversy of this Time it may not be amiss to consider what so great a Professor thought herein and especially by what we saw before that Martyr and he did somewhat differ in this Point For as he would not admit those words Carnally and Naturally so neither did he like Realiter and Substantialiter Bucer's Judgment drawn up by himself sententiously in 54 Aphorisms may be seen in the Appendix as I meet with it among Fox's Papers It is extant in Latin among his Scripta Anglicana and intitled Concessio D. M. Buc. de Sancta Eucharistia in Anglia Aphoristicos scripta Anno 1550. And so we take our leave of Bucer for this Year We shall hear of him again in the next CHAP. XV. Matters of the Church and its State now LET me now crave a little room to set down some Matters that relate to the Church coming within the compass of this Year which will shew what mean Advances Religion as yet had made in the Nation Divers Relicks of Popery still continued in the Nation by means partly of the Bishops partly of the Justices of Peace Popishly affected In London Bishop Boner drove on but heavily in the King's Proceedings though he outwardly complied In his Cathedral Church there remained still the Apostles Mass and our Lady's Mass and other Masses under the Defence and Nomination of our Lady's Communion used in the private Chappels and other remote places of the same Church tho not in the Chancel contrary to the King's Proceedings Therefore the Lord Protector and others of the Council wrote to the Bishop Iune 24. Complaining of this and ordering that no such Masses should be used in S. Paul's Church any longer and that the Holy Communion according to the Act of Parliament should be ministred at the high Altar of the Church and in no other place of the same and only at such times as the high Masses were wont to be used except some number of People for their necessary Business desired to have a Communion in the Morning and yet the same to be exercised in the Chancel at the high Altar as was appointed in the Book of Publick Service Accordingly Boner directed his Letters to the Dean and Chapter of Paul's to call together those that were resident and to declare these Matters As it was thus in London so in the Countries too many of the Justices were slack in seeing to the execution of the King's Laws relating not only to Religion but to other Affairs And in some Shires that were further distant the People had never so much as heard of the King's Proclamation by the Default of the Justices who winked at the Peoples neglect thereof For the quickening of the Justices of Peace at this time when a Foreign Invasion was daily expected and Foreign Power was come into Scotland to aid that Nation against England the Lord Protector and the Privy-Council assembled at the Star-Chamber and called before them all the Justices which was a thing accustomed sometimes to be done for the Justices to appear before the King and Council there to have Admonitions and Warnings given them for the discharge of their Duty And then the Lord Chancellor Rich made a Speech to them That they should repair down into their several Countries with speed and give warning to other Gentlemen to go down to their Houses and there to see good Order and Rule kept that their Sessions of Goal-delivery and Quarter-Sessions be well observed that Vagabonds and seditious Tale-bearers of the King or his Council and such as preached without Licence be repress'd and punished That if there should be any Uproars or Routs and Riots of lewd Fellows or privy Traitors they should appease them And that if any Enemy should chance to arise in any Place of England they should fire the Beacons as had been wrote to them before and repulse the same in as good Array as they could And that for that purpose they should see diligently that Men have Horse Harness and other Furniture of Weapon ready And to the Bishops the Council now sent Letters again for Redress of the Contempt and Neglect of the Book of Common-Prayer which to this time long after the publishing thereof was either not known at all to many or very irreverently used Occasioned especially by the winking of the Bishops and the stubborn Disobedience
of old Popish Curats The Letter is dated the 23 d of Iuly and is extant in Fox In London by the Connivance and Remisness of the Bishop many neglected the Divine Service then established and others did in secret Places of the Diocess often frequent the Popish Mass and other Superstitious Rites not allowed by the Laws of England The Sins of Adultery greatly encreased The Churches and particularly the Mother-Church of S. Paul's ran into Dilapidations the Glass was broken and the Ornaments and other Buildings belonging to Churches neglected Many refused to pay Tithes to their Curates probably of both sorts such as were Papists to those Curats as more diligently preached Reformation and obeyed the King's Laws and such as were not so to such Curats as were more backward thereunto Bishop Boner also himself now seldom came to Church seldomer preached and celebrated the English Communion Wherefore the Council sent certain private Injunctions to Boner for the redress of these things That he should preach in his own Person at Paul's Cross and declare certain Articles relating to the before-mentioned Neglects which the Council now sent to him to redress That he should preach once in a Quarter and exhort the People to Obedience and that he should be present at every Sermon at Paul's Cross that he should on the principal Feasts celebrate the Communion and at all times that his Predecessors used to Celebrate and sing High Mass. That he should call before him all such as did not frequent the Church and Common-Prayer and the Holy Communion and punish them as also Adulterers and that he should look to the Reparation of S. Paul's and other Churches and that the People pay their Tithes The Adulteries before hinted which the Council thought fit to recommend to the Bishop to take particular cognizance of makes me add that about this time the Nation grew infamous for this Crime It began among the Nobility and so spread at length among the inferior sort Noblemen would very frequently put away their Wives and marry others if they liked another Woman better or were like to obtain Wealth by her And they would sometimes pretend their former Wives to be false to their Beds and so be divorced and marry again such whom they fancied The first occasion of this seemed to be in the Earl of Northampton divorcing himself from his first Wife Anne Daughter to the Earl of Essex and after marrying Elizabeth Daughter to the Lord Cobham In like manner Henry Son of William Earl of Pembroke put away Katharine Daughter to Henry the Duke of Suffolk and married Mary the Daughter of Sir Henry Sidney These Adulteries and Divorces encreased much yea and marrying again without Divorce which became a great Scandal to the Realm and to the Religion professed in it and gave much Sorrow and Trouble in good Men to see it In so much that they thought it necessary to move for an Act of Parliament to punish Adultery with Death This Latimer in a Sermon preached in the Year 1550 signified to the King For the Love of God saith he take an order for Marriage here in England This is some Account of the Retardation of Religion On the other hand the Endeavors of those that wished well to it were not wanting Now the Protestants began more freely to put forth Books and to disperse such as were formerly printed beyond Sea in the behalf of Religion against Popery and concerning such as had suffered under the Cruelties of the Church of Rome Bale about these Days dispersed his Books One was The Image of both Churches applying the Divine Prophecy of the Revelations to the Apostate Church of Rome Another was a Vindication of the Lady Anne Ascue who suffered the cruel Death of Burning about the end of King Henry's Reign Whose Cause the Papists studiously had rendred bad This Book he intitled The Elucidation of Anne Ascue's Martyrdom Which was this Year exposed publickly to sale at Winchester and the Parts thereabouts as a Reproach to the Bishop of Winchester who was the great Cause of her Death Four of these Books came to that Bishop's own Eyes being then at Winchester they had Leaves put in as Additions to the Book some glewed and some unglewed which probably contained some further Intelligences that the Author had gathered since his first writing of the Book And herein some Reflexions were made freely according to Bale's Talent upon some of the Court not sparing Paget himself though then Secretary of State Another of Bale's Books that went now about was touching the Death of Luther Therein was a Prayer of the Duke of Saxony mentioned which the Bishop of Winchester gladly took hold on Wherein that Duke as to the justness of his Cause remitted himself to God's Judgment to be shewed on him here in this World if the Cause he undertook were not Just concerning Religion and desired God if it were not Good to order him to be taken and spoiled of his Honors and Possessions Since which the Duke was taken Prisoner and at the very time of his taking the Papists made an Observation that the Sun appeared so strangely in England as the like had not been seen before So apt are Men to interpret Events according to their own preconceived Opinions But at this Winchester took much Advantage Whereas indeed the Issues of God's Providence in this World are not favourable always even to the best Causes The keeping of Lent was now called into Controversy and asserted that it was not to be observed upon a religious Account And this was done the rather because the Papists placed so much Religion in the bare Fast. In the Pulpit it began to be cried down Tongue and Ioseph two great Preachers in London said That Lent was one of Christ's Miracles which God ordained not Men to imitate or follow And that it was an insupportable Burden There was a set of Rhimes now made about the burial of Lent which was called Iack of Lent 's Testament and publicly sold in Winchester Market therein Steven Gardiner the Bishop was touched who was a great Man for keeping it For in the Ballad Stephen Stockfish was bequeathed in this Will to Stephen Gardiner Of this he made a long Complaint to the Protector But yet this Neglect of Lent was not encouraged by the Superiors For it was kept at Court and Preparations for the King's Diet were made accordingly this Lent by the Protector The Protestants indeed were for keeping it and an Order was issued out for that purpose tho not upon a Religious but Politick Account But the greater part of the ordinary People would not be brought to it by this Distinction So that the Preachers were fain to be employed Latimer preached That those that regard-not Laws and Statutes were despisers of Magistrates There be Laws made of Diet he said what Meats we shall eat at all times And this Law is made in Policy as I suppose for
Sentence Definitive ready to be pronounced made an Appeal from them to the King For his doing which he produced these Reasons For that these his pretended Judges were not indifferent but prejudiced against him That my Lord of Canterbury had caused him to be sent to Prison whereas the Arch-bishop was only present at the Council when he was by them ordered to the Tower And so had Hales Goodrick and Gosnold counselled to send him thither Also that the Arch-bishop and the Bishops of London and Lincoln did contrary to the Laws Ecclesiastical and taught and set forth manifest condemned Errors against the Presence in the Sacrament And because the Bishop as well in his Writings as otherwise did set forth the Catholick Faith of the very Presence of Christ's Body and Blood therefore they shewed themselves unduly affected towards him That Sir William Petre decreed the Fruits of his Bishoprick to be sequestred de facto sed non de jure and now was Judg in his own Cause But notwithstanding this Appeal the Arch-bishop with the rest of the Commissioners pronounced him Deprived and his Bishoprick void After this was done the Bishop appealed again to the King instantly more instantly most instantly from their Sentence as Injust and of no effect in Law and asked of them Letters Dimissory to be granted to him and a Copy of the Judgment But the Judges declared they would first know the pleasure of the King and his Council therein And so this last Session brake up The day after being the 15 th of February the Council sitting at VVestminster upon debating the Bishop of VVinton's Case Forasmuch as it appeared he had at all times before the Judges of his Cause used himself unreverently to the King's Majesty and slanderfully towards his Council and especially Yesterday being the Day of his Judgment given against him he called his Judges Hereticks and Sacramentaries they being there the King's Commissioners and of his Highness's Council it was therefore concluded by the whole Board that he should be removed from the Lodging he hath now in the Tower to a meaner Lodging and none to wait upon him but one by the Lieutenant's Appointment in such sort as by the resort of any Man to him he have not the liberty to send out to any Man or to hear from any Man And likewise that his Books and Papers be taken from him and seen and that from henceforth he have neither Pen Ink nor Paper to write his detestable Purposes but be sequestred from all Conferences and from all means that may serve him to practise any way March 8. at VVestminster This day by the King's Majesty 's own Appointment Dr. Poynet Bishop of Rochester was chosen Bishop of VVinchester And the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had given him 266 l. 13 s. 4 d. i. e. 400 Marks for his Pains and Charges about the Bishop of VVinchester And thus I have from very Authentick Authority gathered together these Memorials of this turbulent haughty Man who was now so seasonably laid aside in this King's Reign till we hear of him loudly in the next when he sufficiently wracked his Revenge against our good Arch-bishop and the true Religion CHAP. XX. Bishop Hethe and Bishop Day their Deprivations WHile the aforesaid Bp lay under Sequestrationin the Tower two other Bps that were wayward to the King's Proceedings in the Reformation of the Church viz. of Worcester and Chichester came under the Hands of the Privy-Council resolving to make them comply or deprive them That others more willing and better affected to Reformation might succeed and do service in the Church and that the Arch-bishop might go forward with less Stop and Impediment in the good Work he had dedicated himself unto Both of them were of the Arch-bishop's raising and seemed very compliant with the Arch-bishop during K. Henry's Reign But now both hung off from him seeming much offended with him for his relinquishing the Doctrine of the Corporeal Presence and for writing a Book against it Whereof they made mention with dislike in their Depositions in the Bishop of Winchester's Trial before the Commissioners In the last Year the Year 1549 Twelve Learned Divines Bishops and others were appointed by the Council to prepare a new Book for the Ordination of Ministers purged of the Superstitions of the old Ordinal Hethe Bishop of Worcester was nominated for one of these But he not liking the thing would not agree to what the others did nor subscribe the Book when made For which in March he was committed to the Fleet where he lay under easy Confinement all the next Year the Year 1550 during which time I find him once produced as a Witness on Bishop Gardiner's behalf But in the Year 1551 the Court being at Chelsey and the Council sitting September 22. by virtue of the King 's express Commandment Nicolâ—s Bishop of Worcester was sent for and came before the Lords and others To whom was repeated the Cause of his Imprisonment to be For that he refused to subscribe the Book devised for the Form of making Arch-bishops Bishops Priests and Deacons being authorized by Parliament At the time of which refusal being not only gently and reasonably required to subscribe it but also being manifestly taught by divers other Learned Men that all Things contained in the Book were Good and True and that the Book was expedient and allowable the said Bishop declared himself to be a vâ—ry obstinate Man And for this his doing it was now shewed unto him that he deserved longer Imprisonment Nevertheless the King's Majesty's Clemency was such that now if he had or would reconcile himself to obey his Majesty in this former Commandment he should recover the King's Majesty's Favour For which Cause it was told him That he was then presently sent for and willed now to subscribe the same Whereunto he answered That he took the Cause of his Imprisonment to be as was alleged and that also he was very gently used rather like a Son than a Subject Nevertheless he said he remained still in the same mind not willing to subscribe it although he would not disobey it And although he was reasoned withal by every of the said Council in disproving his manner of answer that he would not subscribe it being every thing in the said Book True and Good and being devised by eleven other Learned Men to which he was joined as the twelfth and received of all the whole Estate of the Realm agreeing also that he would obey it not subscribe it which contained a Contradiction in Reason Yet he still as a Man not removeable from his own Conceit refused to subscribe it Whereupon to prove all manner of Ways for the winning of him to his Duty he was offered to have Conference with Learned Men and to have time to consider the Matter better Whereunto he said That he could not have better Conference than he had heretofore and well might he have
for there was that which would comfort him when he should be in such a case as he was then in One asked him concerning the Doctrine of the School-Doctors that Bread remained not after Consecration He replied There was none of the School-Doctors knew what Consecratio did mean And pausing a while said It was Tota actio The whole Action in ministring the Sacrament as Christ did institute it After the Conference with him was ended Yong retiring into another Chamber said to Wilks that Dr. Redman so moved him that whereas he was before in such Opinion of certain things that he would have burned and lost his Life for them now he doubted of them But I see said he a Man shall know more and more by process of time and by reading and hearing others And Mr. Dr. Redman's saying shall cause me to look more diligently for them Ellis Lomas Redman's Servant said he knew his Master had declared to King Henry that Faith only justifieth but that he thought that Doctrine was not to be taught the People lest they should be negligent to do good Works All this I have related of this Divine that I may in some measure preserve the Memory of one of the Learnedest Men of his Time and lay up the dying Words of a Papist signifying so plainly his dislike and disallowance of many of their Doctrines The Sweating-sickness breaking out this Year in great violence whereby the two Sons of the Duke of Suffolk were taken off Letters from the Council dated Iuly 18 were sent to all the Bishops to perswade the People to Prayer and to see God better served It being enacted 1549 That the King might during three Years appoint sixteen Spiritual Men and sixteen Temporal to examine the old Ecclesiastical Laws and to compile a Body of Ecclesiastical Laws to be in force in the room of the old this third Year Octob. 6. a Commission was issued out to the same number of Persons authorizing them to reform the Canon Laws that is to say to eight Bishops eight Divines eight Civil Lawyers and eight Common Whose Names as they occur in an Original are as follow BISHOPS The Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Exeter Glocester Bath Rochestre DIVINES Mr. Taylor of Lincoln Cox Almoner Parker of Cambridg Latimer Cook Sir Anthony I suppose Peter Martyr Cheke Ioannes a Laseo CIVILIANS Mr. Peter Cecyl Sir Tho. Smith Taylor of Hadeligh Dr. May Mr. Traheron Dr. Lyel Mr. Skinner LAWYERS Justice Hales Justice Bromly Goodrick Gosnal Stamford Carel Lucas Brook Recorder of London It was so ordered that this number should be divided into four distinct Classes or Companies each to consist of two Bishops two Divines to Civilians and two Common-Lawyers And to each Company were assigned their set parts Which when one Company had finished it was transmitted to the other Companies to be by them all well considered and inspected But out of all the number of two and thirty eight especially were selected from each rank two viz. out of the Bishops the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely out of the Divines Cox and Martyr out of the Civilians Taylor and May out of the Common-Lawyers Lucas and Goodrick To whom a new Commission was made Novemb. 9 for the first forming of the Work and preparation of the Matter And the Arch-bishop supervised the whole Work This Work they plied close this Winter But lest they should be straitned for time the Parliament gave the King three Years longer for accomplishing this Affair So Feb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to make a new Commission to the Arch-bishop and to the other Bishops and Learned Men Civilians and Lawyers for the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Laws according to the Act of Parliament made in the last Session This was a very noble Enterprize and well worthy the Thoughts of our excellent Arch-bishop Who with indefatigable Pains had been both in this and the last King's Reign labouring to bring this Matter about and he did his part for he brought the Work to perfection But it wanted the King's Ratification which was delayed partly by Business and partly by Enemies Bishops Consecrated August the 30 th Iohn Scory Ponet being translated to Winchester was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Croyden by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford Miles Coverdale was at the same time and place Consecrated Bishop of Exon all with their Surplices and Copes and Coverdale so habited also CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion OUR Arch-bishop and certain of the Bishops and other Divines but whom by Name I find not were this Year chiefly busied in composing and preparing a Book of Articles of Religion which was to contain what should be publickly owned as the Sum of the Doctrine of the Church of England This the Arch-bishop had long before this bore in his Mind as excellently serviceable for the creating of a Concord and Quietness among Men and for the putting an End to Contentions and Disputes in Matters of Religion These Articles the Arch-bishop was the Penner or at least the great Director of with the assistance as is very probable of Bishop Ridley And so he publickly owned afterwards in his Answer to certain Interrogatories put to him by Queen Mary's Commissioners viz. That the Catechism the Book of Articles and the Book against Winchester were his Doings These Articles were in number Forty two and were agreed to in the Convocation 1552. And in the Year 1553 they were published by the King's Authority both in Latin and English After they were finished he laboured to have the Clergy subscribe them but against their Wills he compelled none though afterwards some charged him falsly to do so Which he utterly denied as he declared before the said Queen's Commissioners But to enter into some Particulars concerning so eminent a Matter Ecclesiastical as this was In the Year 1551 the King and his Privy-Council ordered the Archbishop to frame a Book of Articles of Religion for the preserving and maintaining Peace and Unity of Doctrine in this Church that being finish'd they might be set forth by Publick Authority The Arch-bishop in obedience hereunto drew up a set of Articles which were delivered to certain other Bishops to be inspected and subscribed I suppose by them Before them they lay until this Year 1552. Then May 2. a Letter was sent from the Council to our Arch-bishop to send the Articles that were delivered the last Year to the Bishops and to signify whether the same were set forth by any Publick Authority according to the Minutes The Arch-bishop accordingly sent the Articles and his Answer unto the Lords of the Council In September I find the Articles were again in his Hands Then he set the Book in a better Order and put Titles upon each of the Articles and some Additions for the better perfecting of the Work and supply
Council wrote a Letter to the great Men in those Parts viz. the Lord Russel Lord Windsor to the Justices of the Peace and the rest of the Gentlemen within that County in favour of the said Knox the Preacher A Bishop Consecrated June 26. Iohn Taylor S. Th. P. Dean of Lincoln a Learned and Pious Man was Consecrated Bishop of Lincoln at Croyden-Chappel by the Arch-bishop assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Bishop of Rochester CHAP. XXXIV A Catechism The Arch-bishop opposeth the Exclusion of the Lady Mary WE are now come to the last Year of good K. Edward's Reign when the Arch-bishop was as commonly at the Council as he used to be before For the Counsellors made great use of him and did not use to conclude any thing in matters relating to the Church without him And if he came not they often sent for him and once the last Year in October when he had fixed his Day of going into Kent they staied him for some Days that they might confer with him about some certain Matter I suppose relating to the Articles of Religion that were then under their Hands To look no further than the latter end of the last Year He was at Council at Westminster in February and this Year in March and April And the Court being at Greenwich where the King lay sick and died the Arch-bishop was there at Council in Iune but not after the eighth Day The reason he came no more we may well conjecture to be because he did no ways like the Methods that were now taking by Northumberland to bring the Crown into his own Family and disenherit the King's Sisters For soon after viz. Iune 11. The Lord Chief Justice Mountagne and some other Judges with the King's Attorny and Solicitor were sent for to the Council to consult about drawing up the Instrument On one of these Council-Days he procured the King's Letters in behalf of the Book of Articles which he had taken such Pains about the two last Years both in composing and in bringing to effect The King had before given order to the Arch-bishop by his Letters to put forth these Articles And now they were put forth he procured the King's Letters also to his own Officers for to see the Clergy of his Diocess to subscribe thereunto So the King's Letters were directed to the Official of the Court of Canterbury and the Dean of the Deanery of the Arches and to their Surrogates Deputies c. Setting forth That whereas he had given order unto Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury in Letters sealed with his Signet for the Honour of God and to take away Dissension of Opinion and confirm Consent of true Religion that he should expound publish denounce and signify some Articles and other things breathing the right Faith of Christ for the Clergy and People within his Jurisdiction the King therefore enjoined them the Arch-bishop's Officers that they should cause all Rectors Vicars Priests Stipendiaries School-masters and all that had any Ecclesiastical Employment to appear in Person before the Arch-bishop in his Hall at Lambeth there further to obey and do on the King's part according as it shall be signified and to receive according to Reason and the Office owing to the King 's Royal Dignity And in obedience hereunto the Official Iohn Gibbon LL. D. Commissary of the Deanery of the Blessed Virgin of the Arches signified by an Instrument dated Iune 2 to the Arch-bishop that he had cited the Clergy I do not find the success of this only that the City-Clergy made their appearance before the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and that he did his endeavor by Perswasion and Argument to bring them to subscribe Which no question very few refused But this Matter afterwards served Q. Mary's Commissioners for one of their Interrogatories to be put to the Arch-bishop as though he had compelled many against their Wills to subscribe Which he denied saying He compelled none but exhorted such to subscribe as were willing first to do it before they did it In the Month of May the King by his Letters Patents commanded a Latin Catechism to be taught by School-masters to their Scholars It was intitled Catechismus brevis Christianae disciplinae summam continens The King in his Letters dated May 20. said It was made by a certain Pious and Learned Man and presented to him and that he committed the diligent examination of it to certain Bishops and other Learned Men whose Judgment was of great Authority with him The same Bishops and Learned Men I suppose that were framing and preparing the Articles of Religion the last Year The Author of this Catechism is not certainly known Some conjecture him to be Ponet the Bishop of Winchester The Learned Dr. Ward one of the English Divines sent to the Synod of Dort having this Catechism in his Library now in the possession of a Friend of mine wrote therein these words A ro N llo autore siquid ego divinare possum Meaning probably Alexander Nowel who was now if I mistake not School-master of Westminster and afterwards Dean of S. Pauls But whosoever was the Author the Arch-bishop we may conclude to be the furtherer and recommender of it unto the King it being that Prelate's great Design by Catechisms and Articles of Religion and plain Expositions of the Fundamentals to instil right Principles into the Minds of the Youth and common People for the more effectual rooting out Popery that had been so long entertained by the industrious nurselling up the Nation in Ignorance There was a Catechism that came forth about this time whether it were this or another I cannot say allowed by the Synod or Convocation In the beginning of Q. Mary the Popish Divines made a great stir about this Catechism and thought they had a great Advantage against it because it was put forth as from the Synod whereas that Synod knew nothing of it Whereupon Wesâ—on the Prolocutor in Q. Mary's first Convocation brought a Bill into the House declaring that Catechism being Pestiferous and full of Heresies to be foisted upon the last Synod fraudulently and therefore that the present Synod disowned it To which he set his own hand and propounded that all the House should do the like Which all but six consented to One whereof was Philpot Arch-deacon of Winchester who stood up and told them in justification of those that published the said Catechism that the Synod under K. Edward had granted to certain Persons to be appointed by the King to make Ecclesiastical Laws And whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set forth according to a Statute in that behalf provided might well be said to be done by the Synod of London although such as were of the House then had no notice thereof before the Promulgation And therefore in this Point he thought the setters forth of the Catechism had nothing slandered the House since they had that
Synodal Authority unto them committed And moreover he desired the Prolocutor would be a Means unto the Lords that some of those that were Learned and the publishers of this Book might be brought into the House to shew their Learning that moved them to set forth the same and that Dr. Ridley and Rogers and two or three more might be Licensed to be present at this Disputation and be associate with them But this would not be allowed The last thing we hear of concerning our Arch-bishop in this King's Reign was his denial to comply with the new Settlement of the Crown devised and carried on by the domineering Duke of Northumberland for the Succession of Iane Daughter to Gray Duke of Suffolk whom he had married to one of his Sons This he did both oppose and when he could not hinder refused to have any hand in it First he did his endeavour to stop this Act of the King He took the boldness to argue much with the King about it once when the Marquess of Northampton and the Lord Darcy Lord Chamberlain were present And moreover he signified his desire to speak with the King alone that so he might be more free and large with him But that would not be suffered But if it had he thought he should have brought off the King from his Purpose as he said afterward But for what he had said to the King the Duke of Northumberland soon after told him at the Council-Table That it became him not to speak to the King as he had done when he went about to disswade him from his Will To the Council the Arch-bishop urged the entailing of the Crown by K. Henry upon his two Daughters and used many grave and pithy Reasons to them for the Lady Mary's Legitimation when they argued against it But the Council replied That it was the Opinion of the Judges and the King 's Learned Counsel in the Law that that Entailing could not be prejudicial unto the King and that he being in possession of the Crown might dispose of it as he would This seemed strange unto the Arch-bishop Yet considering it was the Judgment of the Lawyers and he himself unlearned in the Law he thought it not seemly to oppose this Matter further But he refused to sign Till the King himself required him to set his Hand to his Will and saying That he hoped he alone would not stand out and be more repugnant to his Will than all the rest of the Council were Which words made a great Impression upon the Arch-bishop's tender Heart and grieved him very sore out of the dear Love he had to that King and so he subscribed And when he did it he did it unfeignedly All this he wrote unto Queen Mary To which I will add what I meet with in one of my Manuscripts When the Council and the chief Judges had set their Hands to the King's Will last of all they sent for the Arch-bishop who had all this while stood off requiring him also to subscribe the same Will as they had done Who answered That he might not without Perjury For so much as he was before sworn to my Lady Mary by King Henry's Will To whom the Council answered That they had Consciences as well as he and were also as well sworn to the King's Will as he was The Arch-bishop answered I am not judg over any Man's Conscience but mine own only For as I will not condemn their Fact no more will I stay my Fact upon your Conscience seeing that every Man shall answer to God for his own Deeds and not for other Mens And so he refused to subscribe till he had spoken with the King herein And being with the King he told the Abp that the Judges had informed him that he might lawfully bequeath his Crown to the Lady Iane and his Subjects receive her as Queen notwithstanding their former Oath to King Henry's Will Then the Arch-bishop desired the King that he might first speak with the Judges Which the King gently granted And he spake with so many of them as were at that time at the Court and with the King's Attorney also Who all agreed in one that he might lawfully subscribe to the King's Will by the Laws of the Realm Whereupon he returning to the King by his Commandment granted at last to set his Hand From the whole Relation of this Affair we may note as the Honesty so the Stoutness and Courage of the Arch-bishop in the management of himself in this Cause against Northumberland who hated him and had of a long time sought his Ruin and the Ingratitude of Q. Mary or at least the Implacableness of Cranmer's Enemies that the Queen soon yielded her Pardon to so many of the former King's Council that were so deep and so forward in this Business but would not grant it him who could not obtain it till after much and long suit And that it should be put into two Acts of her Parliament to make him infamous for a Traitor to Posterity that he and the Duke of Northumberland were the Devisers of this Succession to deprive Q. Mary of her Right Which was so palpably false and untrue on the Arch-bishop's part But this was no question Winchester's doing through whose Hands being now Lord Chancellor all these Acts of Parliament past and the wording of them Finally I have only one thing more to add concerning this matter Which is that besides the Instrument of Succession drawn up by the King's Council Learned in the Law signed by himself and 32 Counsellors and dated Iune 21 according to the History of the Reformation there was another Writing which was also signed by 24 of the Council And to this I find our Arch-bishop's Name Herein they promised by their Oaths and Honours being commanded so to do by the King to observe all and every Article contained in a Writing of the King 's own Hand touching the said Succession and after copied out and delivered to certain Judges and Learned Men to be written in Order This Writing thus signed with the other Writing of the King being his Devise for the Succession may be seen in the Appendix as I drew them out of an Original CHAP. XXXV The King dies THE good King made his most Christian departure Iuly the 6 th to the ineffable loss of Religion and the Kingdom being in aâ—â— likelihood by his early Beginnings to prove an incomparable Prince to the English Nation It was more than whispered that he died by Poison And however secretly this was managed it was very remarkable that this Rumour ran not only after his Death but even a Month or two before it Reports spred that he was dead For which as being rash Speeches against the King they studiously took up many People and punished them Before his Father K. Henry had him his only Son lawfully begotten it was 28 Years from his first entrance upon his Kingdom And
deprived of their Receits somewhat after the day with the which their Fruits to the Queen's Majesty should be contented And in general the Deprivations were so speedy so hastily so without warning c. The Bishops saith another Writer and Sufferer in these Days that were Married were thrust out of the Parliament-House and all Married Deans and Arch-deacons out of the Convocation many put out of their Livings and others restored without Form of Law Yea some Noble-men and Gentlemen were deprived of those Lands which the King had given them without tarrying for any Law lest my Lord of VVinchester should have lost his Quarter's Rent Many Churches were changed many Altars set up many Masses said many Dirges sung before the Law was repealed All was done in post haste Nor was their Deprivation all they endured but they together with many other Professors of the Religion were taken up very fast For VVinchester did resolve to make quick Work to reduce if he could the Realm to the old Religion So that they came into the Marshalsea thick and three-fold for Religion sent by him thither And that they might be sure to suffer Hardship enough when the Bishop's Almoner Mr. Brook's he who was I suppose after Bishop of Glocester came to this Prison with his Master's Alms-Basket he told the Porter named Britain that it was his Lord's Pleasure that none of the Hereticks that lay there should have any part of his Alms. And that if he knew any of them had any part thereof that House should never have it again so long as he lived To which the Porter replied That he would have a care of that he would warrant him and that if they had no Meat till they had some of his Lordship's they should be like to starve And so he bad him tell his Lord and added That they should get no favour at his Hand These Sufferings P. Martyr now gotten out of England took notice of in a Letter to Calvin dated Novemb. 3. Where having related to him how the two Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York the Bishops of Worcester and Exon and many other Learned and Pious Preachers were in Bonds for the Gospel and together with them many other godly Persons were in extream Danger he proceeded to mention two things to Calvin to mitigate the Trouble he knew he conceived for this ill News The own was That although the Infirmity of some betrayed them yet great was the constancy of far more than he could have thought So that he doubted not England would have many famous Martyrs if Winchester who then did all should begin to Rage according to his Will The other was That it was the Judgment of all that this Calamity would not be long And therefore said Martyr let us pray to God that he would quickly tread down Satan under the Feet of his Church The same Learned Man speaking in another Letter concerning the good Forwardness of Religion at the first coming of Queen Mary to the Crown said That he had many Scholars in England Students in Divinity not to be repented of whose Harvest was almost ripe Whom he was forced to see either wandring about in uncertain Stations or remaining at home unhappily subverted And that there was in this Kingdom many Holy as well as Learned Bishops that were then in hard Confinement and soon to be dragged to the extremest Punishments as if they were Robbers And that here was the foundation of the Gospel and of a Noble Church laid and by the Labours of some Years the holy Building had well gone forward and daily better things were hoped for But that unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God from above came to the succour of it he thought there would not be a Footstep of Godliness left at last as to the external Profession All the Matters of the Church the Queen left wholly to the management of the Bishop of Winchester whom She now advanced from a Prisoner in the Tower to be Lord High Chancellor of England And indeed the Governance of the whole Realm was committed to him with a few other He ruled Matters as he would and that all England knew and saw plainly Nay the Consent of the whole Parliament followed his Head and his Will So that against their Wills and against the Wills of many thousand true Hearts in the Realm as they of the Parliament well knew they condescended unto him and what he could not do in one Parliament that he did in another So that in a Year and an half he had three Parliaments During which time many things the Parliament condescended unto against their Wills As that the Queen should Marry with a Foreign Prince that the Service in the English Tongue should be taken away that the Bishop of Rome should have his old ejected Authority here again as one of the Divines in those Times had intended to have told Winchester to his Face had he been permitted Speech October 1. The Queen was Crowned at the Abby-Church at Westminster And then was proclaimed a Pardon but not over-gracious For all the Prisoners in the Tower and Fleet were excepted and sixty two besides whereof the Printers of the Bible Grafton and Whitchurch were two Most of these excepted were of the chief Professors of the Gospel No Pardon for them At the Coronation among other triumphal Showes Paul's Steeple bare top and top Gallant like a Ship with many Flags and Banners and a Man stood triumphing and danceing on the top Whereat one Vnderhill a Gentleman that sat on Horse-back there to see the Show said to those about him At the Coronation of King Edward I saw Paul's Steeple lay at Anchor and now She wears top and top Gallant Surely the next will be Ship-wrack or it be long And indeed there followed a Ship-wrack of the Church The Service established in K. Edward's Days did not cease upon Queen Mary's grasping the Scepter But the Ministers performed the Worship of God and celebrated the Holy Sacrament and used the Common-Prayer diligently and constantly And the People frequented the same with more seriousness than before They foresaw what Times were coming which made them meet often together while they might Lamenting bitterly the Death of K. Edward and partaking of the Sacrament with much Devotion It was the Bishop of Winchester's Resolution to redress this in London For he was purposed to stifle the Religion as speedily and as vigorously as he could And one way he had to do this was to send his Spies into all the Churches in London And these would come into the Churches and disturb the Ministers with rude Words and Actions in their very Ministration and then go to the Bishop and make their Informations And so the Ministers were fetch'd up by the Officers before him and then committed unless they would comply And this in the very beginning of the Queen's Reign when the Preachers did
Kings of England viz. Supream Head of the Church of England was left out Which by a Statute made in the 35 o of Henry VIII was ordained to be united and annexed for ever to the Imperial Crown of this Realm In which third Parliament of the Queen they repealed what was done by K. Henry VIII for the restitution of the Liberty of the Realm and extinguishing the usurped Authority of the Bishop of Rome This Flaw Gardiner the Lord Chancellor well seeing thought craftily to excuse by saying as may be seen in a Piece of the Statute made in the same Parliament Cap. 8. That it lay in the free Choice and free Liberty of the Kings of this Realm whether they would express the same Title in their Stile or no. But it is replied to this that though any Man may renounce his own private Right yet he may not renounce his Right in that which toucheth the Common-Wealth or a third Person And this Title and Stile more touched the Common-Wealth and the Realm of England than the King In this first Parliament an Act was made for confirmation of the Marriage of the Queen's Mother to her Father K. Henry Herein the leading Men shewed their Malice against the good Arch-bishop by their wording of the Preamble as That Thomas Cranmer late Arch-bishop did most ungodly and against Law judg the Divorce upon his own unadvised Understanding of the Scriptures and upon the Testimonies of the Universities and some bare and most untrue Conjectures And they declared the Sentence given by him to be unlawful But I cannot let this pass for the Reputation of the Arch-bishop without taking notice of the Censure that the Bishop of Sarum doth worthily bestow upon Bishop Gardiner whom he concludes to be the drawer up of this Act That he shewed himself herein to be past all Shame and that it was as high a pitch of Malice and Impudence as could be devised For Gardiner had been setting this on long before Cranmer was known to the King and had joined with him in the Commission and had given his Consent to the Sentence Nor was the Divorce meerly grounded upon Cranmer's understanding the Scriptures but upon the fullest and most studied Arguments that had perhaps been in any Age brought together in one particular Case And both Houses of Convocation had condemned the Marriage before his Sentence CHAP. V. The Arch-bishop Attainted THIS Parliament Attainted Cranmer with the Lady Iane and her Husband and some others And in November he was adjuged guilty of High Treason at Guild-hall And under this Judgment he lay for a good while which was very uneasy to him desiring to suffer under the imputation of Heresy under this Government rather than Treason He was now looked upon as devested of his Arch-bishoprick being a Person attainted And the Fruits of his Bishoprick were Sequestred Canterbury being now without an Arch-bishop the Dean Dr. VVotton acted in that Station according to his Office in the Vacancy of the See So he sent out many Commissions There was a Commission from him to Iohn Cotterel and VVilliam Bowerman to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of VVells by the Resignation of Barlow Bishop there Another Commission to the See of Bristol upon the Resignation of Bush. Another for the See of Litchfield upon the Death of Richard Sampson Which Commission was directed to David Pool LL. D. dated 1554. Septemb. ult Another to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of Exon Vacant by the Death of Veysy February 9. 1554. Another for the Consecration of Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and VVells Iohn VVhite Bishop of Lincoln Morice Griffith of Rochester Iohn Cotes of Chester Henry Morgan of S. David's Iames Brook of Glocester Who were all Consecrated together in the Church of S. Saviour's Southwark April 1. 1554. This Commission I suppose was to the Bishop of VVinchester Another Commission for the Consecration of Hopton Bishop of Norwich dated Octob. 6. 1554. consecrated Octob. 28. following Another Commission to Consecrate Holiman Bishop of Bristol and Bayn Bishop of Litchfield dated Novemb. 16 1554. consecrated Novemb. 18. following Another Commission to Consecrate Iames Turbervil Bishop of Exon who was Consecrated September 8. 1555. And for VVilliam Glin Bishop of Bangor the same Date All these five last named were Consecrated in a Chappel of the Bishop of London in London The poor Arch-bishop most instantly sued to the Queen for his Pardon acknowledging his Fault in the most submissive manner that could be But though She had granted Pardons to divers others that had signed K. Edward's Will and made no such boggle to do it as the Arch-bishop did yet the Arch-bishop remained unpardoned He sent divers humble petitionary Letters to the Queen and her Council for the obtaining this Favour In one Letter to her he called it his Hainous Folly and Offence and said That he never liked it nor that any thing that the Queen's Brother ever did grieved him so much and that if it had been in his Power he would have letted the doing of it That divers of the Queen's Council knew what he had said to the King and the Council against proceeding in it and that he endeavoured to talk to the King alone about it but was not permitted and that when he could not disswade him from this Will he was hardly brought to sign it notwithstanding what the Judges told him to satisfy him in Point of Law And that at last it was the King's earnest Request to him that he would not be the only Man that refused it Which with the Judgment of the Lawyers overcame him to set his Hand But I refer the Reader to the Appendix to weigh this whole Letter as it is there transcribed Another Petition the next Year 1554 he sent up from Oxon by Dr. VVeston to the Council And therein he begged them to interceed with the Queen for his Pardon But VVeston carrying it half-way to London and then opening it and seeing the Contents of it sent it back again to the Arch-bishop and refused to be the Messenger This at length was the Resolution that was taken concerning him in this Matter because for shame they could not deny him a Pardon when others far more Guilty and deeper in the Business had it That he should be pardoned the Treason as an Act of the Queen's Grace and then he should be proceeded against for Heresy for diâ— they were resolved he should When this Pardon was at length obtained he was right glad being very gladly ready to undergo Afflictions for the Doctrine that he had taught and the Reformation he had set on Foot because this he reckoned to be suffering for God's Cause and not as an Evil-doer The Arch-bishop looked now with weeping Eyes upon the present sad Condition of Religion and the miserable Apostacy of the Church lapsed into all the formerly rejected Superstitions Nor could he now procure any Redress Yet he felt a
Not was inserted in a certain place of the Book to alter the Doctrine of the Real Presence which was asserted in the first Edition This Dr. Martin one of Queen Mary's Commissioners threw in his Dish at his Examination in Oxford But the Arch-bishop professed his Ignorance concerning the foisting in of that Word The addition of which Word indeed he thought was needless still holding the Body and Blood truly present in the Holy Supper though after a spiritual manner III. The Ordinances or Appointments of the Reformed Church This was the Book of Common-Prayer with the Preface before it beginning There was never any thing c. as I learn out of Bale IV. One Book of Ordaining Ministers Which I suppose was the Form of Ordination published in the Year 1550. V. One Book concerning the Eucharist with Luther With whom Cranmer once consented in the Doctrine of the Presence VI. A Defence of the Catholick Doctrine in five Books Which was his excellent Work in vindication of himself against Bishop Gardiner and Dr. Richard Smith Whereof much hath been said before VII Ecclesiastical Laws in the Time of King Edward This was the Book of the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws the management of which was by the King's Letters committed to eight whereof Cranmer was the chief VIII The Doctrine of the Lord's Supper against Gardiner's Sermon This Sermon is the same I suppose with that Book of his intituled A Detection of the Devil's Sophistry wherewith he robbeth the unlearned People of the true Belief of the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Which gave occasion to the Arch-bishop's first writing upon this Argument IX One Book against the Error of Transubstantiation X. One Book How Christ is present in the Supper XI One Book Concerning eating the Lord's Supper XII One Book Concerning the offering up of Christ. These five Books last mentioned are nothing else but the five Parts of his Book of the Holy Sacrament mentioned before XIII One Book of Christian Homilies Which must be the first Part of our Book of Homilies published under King Edward XIV One Book in answer to the Calumnies of Richard Smith For this Man had writ against Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament as well as Gardiner but done so scurrilously that Cranmer calls it his Calumnies XV. Confutations of Unwritten Verities Written against a Book of the same Smith intituled De veritatibus non scriptis Which he afterward recanted XVI Twelve Books of Common-Places taken out of the Doctors Those Volumes mentioned by Bishop Burnet I suppose were some of these Common-Place Books XVII Concerning not marrying the Brother's Wife Two Books Which must be those drawn up for the Use and by the Command of King Henry XVIII Against the Pope's Supremacy Two Books This was the Declaration against the Papal Supremacy said to be put forth by the Bishops in the Year 1536 upon occasion of Pole's Book of Ecclesiastical Vnion XIX Against the Pope's Purgatory Two Books XX. Concerning Justification Two Books I cannot trace these two last-mentioned Books unless by them be meant those two Treatises of Justification and Purgatory that are set at the end of the Institution XXI Pious Prayers One Book This Book I suppose was the Orarium seu libellus precationum put forth by the King and Clergy 1545. From whence a Book of Prayers was translated into English Anno 1552. XXII Letters to Learned Men One Book This I cannot hear any tidings of XXIII Against the Sacrifice of the Mass and against the Adoration of the Bread One Book Said to be writ while he was a Prisoner Which makes me conclude it to be part of his Reply to Gardiner's second Assault of him under the Name of Constantius XXIV To Queen Mary One Book or rather one Letter which was that he writ after his Examinations before her Commissioners and the Pope's Sub-delegate If some body of Leisure and that had the Opportunity of Libraries would take the pains to collect together all these Books and other Writings of this Arch-bishop and publish them it would be a worthy Work as both retrieving the Memory of this extraordinary Man who deserved so well of this Church and serving also much to illustrate the History of its Reformation But I know nothing of this nature done since the industrious Iohn Day in the Year 1580 printed a Book in Folio containing our Arch-bishop's Answer unto Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester against the true Doctrine of the Sacrament Also to Richard Smith Also a true Copy of the Book writ by Stephen Gardiner Also The Life and Martyrdom of Cranmer extracted out of the Book of Martyrs And now we are mentioning this great Prelat's Writings it may not be unworthy to take notice of what I meet with in a Letter of Arch-bishop Parker to Secretary Cecyl in the Year 1563 his Grace being then at Canterbury Where he spake of the Great notable written Books as he stiles them of his Predecessor Dr. Cranmer which he had left behind him at some of his Houses at or near Canterbury whether Ford or Bekesborn or both or with some Friends in those Parts These Manuscripts it seems were embezeled and surreptitiously taken away by private Hands probably during his restraint in Queen Mary's Days and now studiously concealed by some that were minded it may be to stifle them being chiefly levelled against the Roman Church and Bishop Parker who was a great and painful Searcher after Antient and Learned Manuscripts and a diligent Retriever of eminent Mens Writings had by credible Information learn'd in what Hands many of those Books were and had sent either for the Persons concerned or to them to demand the said Books But they denied them Whereupon knowing no other way to recover them he desired the Secretary by some Power from the Queen's Council to authorize him to enquire and search for those Books and such-like Monuments by all Ways as by the said Parker's Discretion should be thought good whether giving the Parties an Oath or viewing their Studies Wishing he might recover them to be afterwards at the Queen's Commandment Adding that he should be as glad to win them as he would be to restore an old Chancel to Reparation This Letter of Arch-bishop Parker I have inserted in the Appendix But whether after all his diligence he succeeded in the recovery of those Manuscripts I know not I am apt to think he did and that these Writings of Cranmer that were in his Possession and afterwards bequeathed unto the Library of Benet-College and those other divers Volumes which were as was before-said in the keeping of the Lord Burghley might be some at least of them An inquisitive Man would be glad to know what the Matter and Contents of these numerous Writings of our Arch-bishop were and that seeing so many of them are perished the knowledg of the various Subjects of them at least might be preserved This besides what hath been shewn already may be gathered by what
I find in a Supplication made to Queen Elizabeth by Ralph Morice that had been his Secretary for the space of twenty Years During which time he was employed by that most Reverend Father in writing for him about the serious Affairs of the Prince and Realm committed unto him by those most noble and worthy Princes King Henry VIII and King Edward VI concerning as well the Writings of those great and weighty Matrimonial Causes of the said K. Henry VIII as also about the extirpation of the Bishop of Rome his usurped Power and Authority the Reformation of corrupt Religion and Ecclesiastical Laws and Alteration of Divine Service and of divers and sundry Conferences of Learned Men for the Establishing and Advancement of sincere Religion with such like Wherein he said he was most painfully occupied in writing of no small Volumes from time to time CHAP. XXIII The Arch-bishop's Regard to Learned Men. FROM these truly Noble and Useful Exercises of his great Knowledg and Learning let us descend unto the Respect he bare to good Letters Which appeared from his Favour to Places of Learning and Men of Learning We shewed before what were the Applications of the University of Cambridg to him and what a gracious Patron he was to it and its Members Among whose good Offices to that University besides those already mentioned it must not be omitted that he was the great Instrument of placing there those two very Learned Foreign Divines Paulus Fagius and Martin Bucer By his frequent Letters to them then at Strasburg urging them with the distracted and dangerous State of Germany he first brought them over into England in the Year 1548 and having entertained them in his Family the next Year he preferred them both in Cambridg Fagius to be publick Professor of the Hebrew Tongue and Bucer of Divinity And beside the University-Salary he procured for each of them from the King in the third Year of his Reign Patents for an Honorary Stipend of an hundred Pounds per Annum each De gratiâ speciali Domini Regis to be paid by the Hands of the Clerk of the Hanaper or out of the Treasury of the Court of Augmentations Durante beneplacito Domini Regis As I find by King Edward the Sixth's Book of Sales formerly mentioned Which Patents bare date Septemb. 26. Anno 1549. and their Salaries payable from the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin By the way I do not see any where in the said Book of Sales that Peter Martyr placed Professor of Divinity in the other University of Oxon enjoyed any such Royal Salary though he also had been invited over by Canterbury with the King's Knowledg and Allowance and placed there by that Arch-bishop's Means Yet he and his Companion Ochinus had their Annual Allowances from the King and so I suppose had all other Learned Foreigners here Melancthon also who was now expected over was intended some more extraordinary Gratuity Unto this Noble Christian Hospitality and Liberality Latimer the great Court-Preacher excited the King in one of his Sermons before him The Passage may deserve to be repeated I hear say Master Melancthon that great Clerk should come hither I would wish him and such as he is two hundred Pounds a Year The King should never want it in his Coffers at the Year's end There is yet among us two great Learned Men Petrus Martyr and Bernard Ochin which have an hundred Mark a piece I would the King would bestow a thousand Pounds on that Sort. These Matters I doubt not were concerted between Latimer and our Arch-bishop before at whose Palace he now was for the most part As I find by one of his Sermons wherein he speaks of his taking Boat at Lambeth and in another Place he mentioneth a Book he met with in my Lord of Canterbury's Library and elsewhere of many Suitors that applied to him at my Lord of Canterbury's that interrupted his Studies there The use I make of this is that it is a fair Conjecture hence that this and the many other excellent Things so plainly propounded by this Preacher to King Edward happened by the Counsel and Suggestion of the Arch-bishop But to return There was one Dr. William Mowse a Civilian and probably one of his Officers whom for his Merits and Learning our Arch-bishop for many a Year had been a special Benefactor to Sir Iohn Cheke also bare him a very good Will Upon the removal of Dr. Haddon to some other Preferment this Dr. Mowse succeeded Master of Trinity-hall in Cambridg And in the Year 1552 the Arch-bishop valuing his Worth and Integrity was a Suitor at Court for some further Preferment for him whatever it were which the Study of the Civil Law had qualified him for writing his Letters on Mowse's behalf to Secretary Cecyl who was then with the King in his Progress not to forget him And accordingly he was remembred and obtained the Place For which the Arch-bishop afterwards gave him his most hearty Thanks And Dr. Mowse also sent the same Secretary a Letter of Thanks from Cambridg for the Preferment he had obtained by his Means The main Drift thereof was to excuse himself for his Neglect in that he had not sooner paid his Acknowledgments Which as it seems the Secretary had taken some notice of having expected to be thanked for the Kindness he had done him This Letter because there is therein mention made of our Arch-bishop's singular Munificence and Cheke's Affection towards him and Mowse himself once making a Figure in that University I have thought it not amiss to insert in the Appendix Though this Man seemed to be none of the steadiest in his Religion For I find him put out of his Mastership of Trinity-Hall in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign for having been a Protestant and to make way for the Restoration of Dr. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who had been outed before Upon whose Death that Mastership falling void and Mowse having complied with the Romish Religion he became Master there again And soon after in Queen Elizabeth's Reign he was deprived by her Commissioners for being a Papist and one Harvey came in his Room Dr. Mowse's Fickleness appeared that upon the first tidings that fled to Cambridg of Queen Mary's Success against the Lady Iane's Party he with several other temporizing University-Men changed his Religion and in four and twenty Hours was both Protestant and Papist The Truth is his Judgment varied according to his worldly Interest And being one of those that came about so roundly he was appointed by the complying Party of the University to be one of the two Dr. Hatcher being the other that should repair unto Dr. Sands then the Vice-Chancellor to demand of him without any colour of Reason or Authority the University-Books the Keys and such other things as were in his keeping And so they did And my Author makes an Observation of his Ingratitude as well as of
Commentaries which he then was busy about and as it seems encouraged by Cranmer to take in Hand and prosecute And when Dr. Bruno a Learned Man and father-in-Father-in-Law to Sleidan departed out of England which was about the Time before mentioned being the Agent of the Duke of Saxony the Arch-bishop informed him of this Stipend by the King granted unto his son-in-Son-in-Law confirming the same to him in the King's Name and encouraging the Commentator hereby to proceed cheerfully in his useful Undertaking But upon the Stirs at Court the paiment of this Pension was neglected a great while Which caused Sleidan to call upon the Arch-bishop more than once as also upon his Friends Cheke and Cecyl entreating them to remind the Arch-bishop of him and to communicate to his Lordship the Letters he had writ to them But alas he needed not to have been excited to things of this Nature bearing so good a Will to them and being of his own Nature so forward to favour Learned and honest Men and useful Designs Nor was his good Will to Sleidan any whit abated but his Interest at Court was now towards the declension of King Edward's Reign But because his Pension depended only upon a verbal Promise of the King and the getting it under his Seal might contribute to the paiment of it in better sort hereafter he laboured with our Prelate and the two other Persons mentioned that it might be confirmed by Letters Patents He urged to them That he could have employed himself in other Business that would have redounded more to his Profit as many others did But he reckoned himself called to this Work from Heaven and that he could take no rest in his Mind till he had brought the History down to that present Time it being then the Year 1553 That he had hope that they according to their Humanity and Prudence who well understood things would take some Pains that the Arrears of his promised Stipend might be paid and that some further Care might be taken for the due Paiment of it hereafter that so he might the more conveniently and freely follow that Matter Leaving it to them to consider how much that Labour cost him as to the Charges he means of Correspondence for the getting particular and faithful Accounts of things that past in all Parts And lastly That it belonged properly to Kings to cherish such Labours as would be Ornaments to Religion and Learning and of Use to the Common-Good And in another Address to Secretary Cecyl he desired That he would plead in his behalf with the most Reverend the Arch-bishop adding That he did wholly give up himself to this Work and was in a diligent pursuit of all Matters in order to the compiling a compleat History Though I have said so much already of Sleidan yet I will take this occasion to add somewhat more that I may retrieve as much as I can of this honest Man and excellent Writer In the Month of September Anno 1552 he sent to the King together with a Letter his Commentaries of the German Wars brought down to that very Time being a short Draught of that he intended afterwards more largely and fully to write And Cheke and Cecyl were the Men that presented them to his Majesty With this kind of Writing the King declared himself much pleased as Cecyl wrote him back and so he and Cheke also were This Encouragement put our Author upon another Design resolving to write the whole Actions of the Council of Trent wherein he himself had been a part having been Agent there for five Months from the City of Strasburg This he intended to do for the King 's own Sake That he might thorowly understand the Form of Councils and might then make his Judgment of the rest of the History of the Reformation of Religion which he was then writing The Spring after he presented the King with a Specimen of his Writing concerning the Council of Trent It was the beginning and entrance into that Treatise he intended to write of that Subject This he desired might be kept in the King's Study and communicated to no other Hand and that no Copy of it might be taken it being but a small part of a future Work and so imperfect He had now in the Ides of March compleated his Commentaries from the Year 1517 to the Year 1536 and was resolved by God's Grace to go on with it in the same Method In order to which in the Month of December before he had desired of Cecyl that he would procure him the whole Action between King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII when that King vindicated his own Liberty and that of his Kingdom from Papal Pretences of Supremacy over each This Matter between the King and the Pope he called Locus illustris memorabilis and judged it very worthy for Posterity to know Adding that though he had in his own Hands some Matters relating thereto yet they were not so exact and certain as he could wish because he desired to describe every thing properly and most exactly according to Truth He entreated also that if either he or Cheke had any other Matters of that Nature to impart they would oblige him with them Which Passages make me conclude that in relation to the English Affairs he made great use of Intelligences from Cecyl and Cheke and probably our Arch-bishop too Which consideration may add a great Reputation unto the Credit of his Book Now to preserve as much as we can of this excellent Historian Iohn Sleidan I have thought good to insert divers of his Letters in the Appendix and likewise because mention is often therein made of our Arch-bishop To which I have subjoined a Letter of Martin Bucer a great Name wrote to Cecyl in behalf of the said Sleidan For he did not only importune those Courtiers before mentioned but when no Answer came from them he made Bucer also his Solicitor from Cambridg Who Anno 1551 Feb. 18. wrote to Cecyl to further Sleidan's Business and to dispatch the Paiment of his Stipend and that Sleidan might be resolved one way or other giving Cecyl this Memento That this would well become the Administration of a Kingdom so much adorned as with other things so with the Benefit of Religion By the way the Date of this Letter would deserve well to be noted serving to judg of the true Date of Bucer's Death Which by Historians is variously set down if we may believe Fuller in his History of the University of Cambridg It is certain Bucer was ill when he wrote that Letter to Cecyl for he mentions therein an Epistle which he sent to Dr. Iohn Quercetanus the Physician upon the said Cecyl's Desire the which he said he was hardly able to dictate This Letter to Cecyl I take to be writ in his last Sickness nine Days before the Date which Sleidan his Friend assigned for the Day of his Death To
to the Court and Sir William Cranmer a worthy Merchant of London and now Deputy-Governor of the Hamburgh Company But if we look backward the Arch-bishop's Stock and Pedigree was very Antient and of good Credit His Father was Thomas Cranmer of Alacton in Nottinghamshire Esquire and his Mother was Agnes the Daughter of Laurence Hatfield of Willoughby of like Degree a Gentleman if I mistake not of the same County Which two had Issue three Sons Iohn and Thomas our Arch-bishop and Edmund who was the Arch-Deacon and four Daughters Dorothy Ann Iane and Isabel. Which Sisters of our Arch-bishop were thus matched Dorothy to Harold Rosel of Radcliff in this County Esq Ann to Edmund Cartwright of Ossington in Staffordshire Esquire Iane to Iohn Moning Lieutenant of Dover-Castle and Isabel to Sir .... Shepey Knight Matches I suppose especially the two latter of the Arch-bishop's own making for the Preferment of his Sisters His elder Brother Iohn married Ione Daughter of Fretchvile of a good Family in the same County Whose Grand-child Thomas and Grand-Nephew to our Arch-bishop had none but Daughters One of whom being a Coheir married Iohn Rosel Grand-child to Harold aforesaid and the other to good Families in those Parts The Arch-bishop's great Grand-father Edmund married Isabel Daughter and Heir of William de Aslacton a very Antient Family This Edmund was alive in the Reign of Henry VI. In the Church of Whatton in this County is an Antient Monument of an Ancestor of our Arch-bishop with this Inscription Hic jacet Thomas Cranmerus Qui obiit 27 Maii 1501. Cujus animae propitietur Deus Amen And on the Monument the Coat of Arms of the Cranmer's being a Chevron between three Cranes quartered with those of the Aslactons Newmarches Whattons and two Families more This might probably enough be the Arch-bishop's Father The Arch-bishop in the first Year of King Edward VI purchased of that King the Rectories of Whatton and Aslacton the Manors whereof belonged to his Family before with the Advousons of the Churches Both which had pertained to the dissolved Monastery of Welbeck Which Rectories the Arch-bishop as it seems made over to his Nephew Thomas Son to his Brother Iohn For he died seized of them both And they descended to his Son and Heir Thomas The Manors of the said Whatton and Aslacton are now come into the noble Family of Dorchester The Tithes and Glebe to the Armstrongs of Scarrington For these Collections I am beholden to Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire And now in the last place let us look into the Arch-bishop's Domestick Affairs He took great heed to the Well-government of his Family that all things there might beseem the House of a truly Christian Bishop and the chief Spiritual Governour of the English Church And in order to this one of his Cares was to have Learned Men about him A few whereof as I could retrive them I shall here mention and give some Account of And first let us begin with his Chaplains I can find but a few of them but Men they were of great Parts and Atchievements in Learning as well as Piety One of them was Rowland Taylor Doctor of both Laws and preferred by the Arch-bishop to be Parson of Hadley in Suffolk Who sealed his Doctrine with his Blood An extraordinary Man both for his Learning as well as his bold and brave Profession of Christ's Religion even to the fiery Trial. He had read over which was rare in those Days all S. Augustine's Works S. Cyprian Gregory Nazianzen Eusebius Origen and divers other Fathers He professed the Civil Law and had read over the Canon Law also As he told the Lord Chancellor Gardiner when in his Scorn and Rage together he called him an Ignorant Beetle-brow The Arch-bishop made use of him in his Affairs and he was one of those that were joined with him in King Edward's Days for making a Reformation in the Ecclesiastical Laws Soon after he was invested in his Benefice leaving the AB's Family he went and resided like a careful Pastor and performed among his Parishioners all the Parts of an excellent Minister in respect of his Doctrine Example and Charity He was sent down to his own Parish of Hadley where he was extreamly beloved to be burnt But I refer the Reader to the large and full Account that Fox gives of him in his Book of Acts and Monuments and shall only recite his Epitaph as it now remaineth or lately did in a brass Plate hanging in the Church of Hadley where he deserved so well Gloria in Altissimis Deo OF Rowland Taylor 's Fame I show an Excellent Divine A Doctor of the Civil Law a Preacher rare and fine King Henry and King Edward's Days Preacher and Parson here That gave to God continual Praise and kept his Flock in Fear And for the Truth condemn'd to die he was in Fire and Flame Where he received patiently the Torment of the same And strongly suffered to the End Which made the Standers by Rejoice in God to see their Friend and Pastor so to die O Taylor were thy mighty Fame uprightly here enroll'd Thy Deeds deserve that thy good Name were cipher'd here in Gold Obiit 1555. And in Aldham-Common not far from Hadley Town is a great Stone that assigns the Place where he suffered and on it are written these words or to this effect Dr. Taylor for maintaining what was good In this Place shed his Blood His Living was immediately supplied by one Newal And to deserve his Preferment or by Commandment perhaps from Above to render their taking away Dr. Taylor the more justifiable he made a Sermon February 10 1555 being the Day next after he suffered upon this Text Sic currite ut comprehendatis His Work was to perswade the People to return to the old Superstitions and to bespatter the Martyr with false Reports And meeting with a Writing that containeth the Sum of this Sermon I will crave leave here to insert it to give a Specimen of Popish Preaching in these Days He exhorted to run in the strait Way and leave the wide Gate viz. To leave the new-found Learning and but new found indeed and follow all one Religion For ye were said he erroneously taught by soch Men as died yesterday Of whom I will speak but for no Malice as God I take to record His Opinions were wherefore he died one that Priests might have Wives the other that in the Sacrament was not the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ substantially and really The first that Priests should have Wives he could prove by no Scripture but by three other Authors And he was demaunded if he were willing to stand to the last He answered Yea before God Then the Book laid afore him and read to him in Latin and English and he reading the English of it himself said he would read the Latin and so did and confuted himself And stood then
losing of Promotion nor hope of Gain or winning of Favour could move him to relent or give place unto the Truth of his Conscience As experience thereof well appeared as well in defence of the true Religion against the Six Articles in the Parliament as in that he offered to combate with the Duke of Northumberland in K. Edward's Time speaking then on behalf of his Prince for the staying of the Chauntries until his Highness had come unto lawful Age and that especially for the maintenance of his better State then But if at his Prince's Pleasure in case of Religion at any time he was forced to give place that was done with such humble Protestation and so knit up for the safeguard of his Faith and Conscience that it had been better his Good-will had never been requested than so to relent or give over as he did Which most dangerously besides sundry times else he especially attempted when the Six Articles past by Parliament and when my L. Crumwel was in the Tower At what time the Book of Articles of our Religion was new penned For even at that Season the whole Rabblement which he took to be his Friends being Commissioners with him forsook him and his Opinion and Doctrine And so leaving him Post alone revolted altogether on the part of Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester As by Name Bishop Hethe Shaxton Day and all other of the meaner sort By whom these so named were chiefly advanced and preferred unto Dignities And yet this sudden Inversion notwithstanding God gave him such Favour with his Prince that Book altogether past by his Assertion against all their Minds More to be marvelled at the Time considered than by any Reason to compass how it should come to pass For then would there have been laid thousands of Pounds to Hundreds in London that he should before that Synod had been ended have been shut up in the Tower beside his Friend the Lord Crumwel Howbeit the King's Majesty having an assured and approved affiance of his both deep Knowledg in Religion and Fidelity both to God and Him suspected in that time other Men in their Judgments not to walk uprightly nor sincerely For that some of them swerved from their former Opinions in Doctrine And having great experience of the constancy of the Lord Cranmer it drave him all along to join with the said Lord Cranmer in the confirmation of his Opinion and Doctrin against all the rest to their great Admiration For at all Times when the King's Majesty would be resolved in any Doubt or Question he would but send word to my Lord over Night and by the next Day the King would have in writing brief Notes of the Doctors Minds as well Divines as Lawyers both Old and New with a Conclusion of his own Mind Which he could never get in such a readiness of any no not of all his Chaplains and Clergy about him in so short a Time For being thorowly seen in all kinds of Expositors he could incontinently lay open thirty forty sixty or more some whiles of Authors And so reducing the Notes of them altogether would advertise the King more in one Day than all his Learned Men could do in a Month. And it was no mervail for it was well known that commonly if he had not Business of the Prince's or special urgent Causes before him he spent three parts of the Day in Study as effectually as he had done at Cambridg And therefore it was that the King said on a time to the Bishop of Winchester the King and my said Lord of Winchester defending together that the Canons of the Apostles were of as good Authority as the four Evangelists contrary to my Lord Cranmer's Assertion My Lord of Canterbury said the King is too old a Truant for us twain Again His Estimation was such with his Prince that in Matters of great Importance wherein no Creature durst once move the King for fear of Displeasure or moving the King's Patience or otherwise for troubling his Mind then was my Lord Cranmer most violently by the whole Council obtruded and thrust out to undertake that Danger and Peril in Hand As beside many other times I remember twice he served the Council's Expectation The first time was when he staied the King 's determinate Mind and Sentence in that he fully purposed to send the Lady Mary his Daughter unto the Tower and there to suffer as a Subject because She would not obey the Laws of the Realm in refusing the Bishop of Rome's Authority and Religion Whose stay in that behalf the King then said unto the Lord Cranmer would be to his utter Confusion at the length The other dangerous Attempt was in the disclosing the unlawful Behaviour of Queen Katharine Howard towards the King in keeping unlawful Company with Durrant her Servant For the King's Affection was so mervailously set upon that Gentlewoman as it was never known that he had the like to any Woman So that no Man durst take in Hand to open to him that Wound being in great perplexity how he would take it And then the Council had no other Refuge but unto my Lord Cranmer Who with over-much Importunity gave the Charge which was done with such Circumspection that the King gave over his Affections unto Reason and wrought mervellous colourably for the Trial of the same Now as concerning the Manner and Order of his Hospitality and House-keeping As he was a Man abandoned from all kind of Avarice so was he content to maintain Hospitality both liberally and honourably and yet not surmounting the Limits of his Revenues Having more respect and foresight unto the Iniquity of the Times being inclined to pull and spoil from the Clergy than to his own private Commodity For else if he had not so done he was right sure that his Successors should have had as much Revenues left unto them as were left unto the late Abbies Especially considering that the Lands and Revenues of the said Abbies being now utterly consumed and spread abroad and for that there remained no more Exercise to set on work or no Officers but Surveyors Auditors and Receivers it was high time to shew an Example of liberal Hospitality For although these said Workmen only brought up and practised in subverting of Monastical Possessions had brought that kind of Hospitality unto utter Confusion yet ceased they not to undermine the Prince by divers Perswasions for him also to overthrow the honourable State of the Clergy And because they would lay a sure Foundation to build their Purpose upon they found the Means to put into the King's Head That the Arch-bishop of Canterbury kept no Hospitality or House correspondent unto his Revenues and Dignity but sold his Woods and by great Incomes and Fines made Money to purchase Lands for his Wife and Children And to the intent that the King should with the more facility believe this Information Sir Thomas Seymor the
Apostles of Iesus Christ. And wished heartily that the Christian Conversation of the People were the Letters and Seals of their Offices as the Corinthians were to St. Paul who told them that They were his Letters and the Signs of his Apostleship and not Paper Parchment Lead or Wax Great indeed and painful was his Diligence in promoting God's Truth and reforming this Church Insomuch that he raised up against himself the Malice and Hatred of very many thereby These Memorials before related do abundantly evince the same The Words of Thomas Becon in an Epistle Dedicatory deserve here to be transcribed In plucking up the Enemies Tares and in purging the Lord's Field that nothing may grow therein but pure Wheat your most godly and unrestful Pains most Reverend Father are well known in this Church of England and thankfully accepted of all faithful Christen Hearts Insomuch that very many do daily render unto God most humble and hearty Thanks for the singular and great Benefits which they have received of him through your vertuous Travel in attaining the true Knowledg of Justification and of the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood those two things especially he laboured to retrieve and promote a true Knowledg of and such other Holy Mysteries of our Profession And albeit the Devil roar the World rage and the Hypocrites swell at these your most Christian Labours which you willingly take for the Glory of God and the Edifying of his Congregation yet as you have godly begun so without ceasing continue unto the end And so he did to the effusion of his Blood not many Years after For he was very sensible of the gross Abuses and Corruptions into which the Christian Church had sunk Which made him labour much to get it purged and restored to its Primitive Constitution and Beauty And this he ceased not to make King Henry sensible of putting him upon the Reformation of the English Church as he could find Occasion and Convenience serve him to move him thereunto Which found at last that good effect upon the King that towards the latter Years of his Reign he was fully purposed to proceed to a regulating of many more things than he had done But the subtilty of Gardiner Bp of Winton and his own Death prevented his good Designs While the aforesaid Bishop was Ambassador Abroad employed about the League between the Emperor and the English and French Kings our Arch-bishop took the opportunity of his Absence to urge the King much to a Reformation and the King was willing to enter into serious Conference with him about it And at last he prevailed with the King to resolve to have the Roods in every Church pulled down and the accustomed Ringing on Alhallow-Night suppress'd and some other vain Ceremonies And it proceeded so far that upon the Arch-bishop's going into Kent to visit his Diocess the King ordered him to cause two Letters to be drawn up prepared for him to sign The one to be directed to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the other to the Arch-bishop of York Who were therein to be commanded to issue forth their Precepts to all the Bishops in their respective Provinces to see those Enormities redressed without delay Which our Arch-bishop accordingly appointed his Secretary to do And the Letters so drawn up were sent by the Arch-bishop up to Court But the King upon some Reasons of State suggested to him in a Letter from Gardiner his Ambassador beyond Sea being by some made privy to these Transactions suspended the signing of them And that put a stop to this Business for that time till some time after the King at the Royal Banquet made for Annebault the French King's Ambassador leaning upon him and the Arch-bishop told them both his Resolution of proceeding to a total Reformation of Religion signifying that within half a Year the Mass both in his Kingdom and in that of France should be changed into a Communion and the usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome should be wholly rooted out of both and that both Kings intended to exhort the Emperor to do the same in his Territories or else they would break off the League with him And at that time also he willed the Arch-bishop to draw up a Form of this Reformation to be sent to the French King to consider of This he spake in the Month of August a few Months before his Death This his Purpose he also signified to Dr. Bruno Ambassador here from Iohn Frederick Duke of Saxony some little time after saying That if his Master's Quarrel with the Emperor was only concerning Religion he advised him to stand to it strongly and he would take his part But the King's Death prevented all And as for this King 's next Successor King Edward the Arch-bishop had a special Care of his Education Whose Towardliness and zealous Inclination to a Reformation was attributed to the said Arch-bishop and three other Bishops viz. Ridley Hoper and Latimer by Rodulph Gualter of Zurick Who partly by his living sometime in England and partly by his long and intimate Familiarity and Correspondence with many of the best Note here was well acquainted with the Matters relating to this Kingdom Of the great Influence of one of these upon this King viz. the Arch-bishop the former Memorials do sufficiently shew CHAP. XXXIII Arch-bishop Cranmer procures the Use of the Scriptures THE Arch-bishop was a great Scripturist and in those darker Times of Popery was the chief Repairer of the Reputation of the Holy Scriptures Urging them still for the great Standard and Measure in all controverted Matters relating to Religion and the Church By these he disintangled King Henry VIII his great Matrimonial Cause when all his other Divines who had the Pope's Power and Laws too much in their Eyes were so puzzled about it Shewing how no Humane Dispensation could enervate or annul the Word of God And in the Course he took about the Reforming of Religion the Holy Scripture was the only Rule he went by casting by School-men and the Pope's Canons and Decretals and adhering only to the more sure Word of Prophecy and Divine Inspiration And so Roger Ascham in a Letter to Sturmius in the Year 1550 when they were very busy in the Reformation writes Thaâ—â—uch was the Care of their Iosiah meaning King Edward the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the whole Privy-Council for true Religion that they laboured in nothing more than that as well the Doctrine as Discipline of Religion might be most purely drawn out of the Fountain of the Sacred Scriptures and that that Roman Sink whence so many Humane Corruptions abounded in the Church of Christ might be wholly stopped up This his high Value of the Scriptures made him at last the happy Instrument of restoring them to the Common People by getting them after divers Years opposition printed in the English Tongue and set up in Churches for any to read that would for
how much soever he should extol them the greatness of the Matter would over-reach his Speech And that it was well known to all how humanely he received not him only but many other Strangers of his Order and how kindly he treated them To both these I will subjoin the Judgment of another who I cannot but conclude was well-acquainted with the Arch-bishop and a long and diligent Observer of his Demeanour in his Superintendency over the Church and that was Iohn Bale sometime Bishop of Ossory He never placed said he the Function of a Bishop in the Administration of secular Things but in a most faithful Dispensation of God's Word In the midst of wicked Babylon he always performed the part of a good Guide of Israel And among Papists that tyrannized against the Truth of Christ he governed the People of God with an admirable Prudence No Man ever so happily and steddily persisted with Christ himself in the Defence of the Truth in the midst of falsly learned Men in such imminent hazard of his Life and yet without receiving any Harm No Man did more prudently bear with some false Apostles for a time although with St. Paul he knew what most pestilent Men they were that so they might not be provoked to run into greater Rage and Madness All this that I have before written concerning this our venerable Prelate cannot but redound to his high Praise and Commendation And it is very fit such Vertues and Accomplishments should be celebrated and recorded to Posterity Yet I do not intend these my Collections for such a Panegyrick of him as to make the World believe him void of all Faults or Frailties the Condition of human Nature He lived in such critical Times and under such Princes and was necessarily involved in such Affairs as exposed him to greater Temptations than ordinary And if any Blemishes shall by curious Observers be espied in him he may therefore seem the more pardonable and his great exemplary Goodness and Usefulness in the Church of God may make ample Amends for some Errors CHAP. XXXVIII The Arch-bishop vindicated from Slanders of Papists I Have given I hope a just though imperfect Account from undoubted Records and authentick Manuscripts as well as the best published Books of the excellent Endowments of this great Prelat and of his innocent prudential and useful Behaviour in his high Place and Station So that none who impartially weighs the Premisses can conclude otherwise of him than that he was a very rare Person and one that deserves to be reckoned among the brightest Lights that ever shone in this English Church And this all the sober unprejudiced part of Posterity will believe notwithstanding the unjust Calumnies some hot-spirited Papists have cast upon his Memory I shall pass over the unhandsome Name that Feckenham gave him calling him Dolt as he did also his two other Brethren in Tribulation Ridley and Latimer Prisoners then in Oxford Men by far more Learned than himself upon occasion of Mr. Hawks esteeming them deservedly Godly and Learned Men. I shall also pass by what Bishop Boner then said of him viz. That he dared to say that Cranmer would Recant so he might have his Living As though he were a Man of a prostituted Conscience and would do any thing upon worldly Considerations But there is a late French Writer whom I cannot but take notice of with some Indignation who to shew his bigotted Zeal to the Roman Church hath bestowed this most defamatory Character upon this our Arch-bishop That he was one of the profligatest Men of England that had nothing of Christianity in him but the outward Appearances being Ambitious Voluptuous Turbulent and capable of all sorts of Intrigues Of which all that I have written is an abundant Confutation besides the severe Chastisements the right Reverend the Bishop of Sarum hath lately bestowed upon this Author Who questionless was well versed in those famous Popish Calumniators of our Reformation and of this our Arch-bishop the great Instaurator thereof and had a mind to out-do them in their Talent of throwing Dirt. Those I mean who living in the Age past did most bitterly and virulently as it fell in their way fly upon Cranmer's Memory and Fame to eclipse it to Posterity if they could namely Saunders Allen and Parsons and some others But those who reade these Memorials will be able easily to confute them and will perceive that these Men sought not so much to say what was true as what might serve the Ends of their Anger and Spight their Reports being made up for the most part of nothing but Lies and Slanders illy patched together Allen if he were the Answerer of the Execution of English Iusâ—ice saith That Cranmer was a notorious perjured and often relapsed Apostata recanting swearing and forswearing at every turn A heavy Charge but we are left to guess what these Perjuries these so often Swearings and Forswearings these Relapses and Recantations be But it is enough for them to roar out Notorious Perjuries c. But let us see what Oaths Cranmer took that might occasion his Perjuries He swore at his Consecration the usual Oath to the Pope and in his future Doings laboured to restore the King's Supremacy against the Pope's Usurpations and to promote a Reformation against the Popâ—'s Superstitions Was this one of his notorious Perjuries It is pity the doing so good a Thing should fall under so bad a Name But at the taking of that Oath did he not make a solemn Protestation openly before Publick Notaries and that entred down into Record That he intended not by the said Oath to do any thing against the Law of God the King or the Realm and their Laws and Prerogatives nor to be abridged thereby from consulting for the Reformation of Religion In which way the best Civilians then put him and assured him that by this Means he might safely without any Guilt take the Oath to the Pope Which otherwise he would not have done And truly for my part I think there was no other way to escape that Perjury that all other Bishops Elect in those Times were intangled in by swearing two contrary Oaths one to the Pope and another to the King Cranmer sware also at receiving Orders to live Chastely But he afterwards married a Wife Surely hereby he brake not his Oath but rather kept it He did likewise swear to the Succession of Q. Ann But would Allen have all that submitted to that Act of Parliament to be perjured That would reflect upon the Wisdom of the three Estates at that Time in making such an ensnaring Law and involve all sorts of People both Clergy Nobility and Gentry and all other Persons of Age in Perjury as well as the Arch-bishop excepting only two Persons More and Fisher who would not submit to this Act. And even they themselves offered to swear to the Succession it self and refused only to swear to the Preamble of
Carnal Presence For a Conclusion let the Reader not hear me but another speak for our Arch-bishop against one of these Calumniators and he a Portugal Bishop After Cranmer by hearing of the Gospel began to savour of Christian Profession what Wickedness was ever reported of him With what outrage of Lust was he enflamed What Murders what seditious Tumults what secret Conspiracies were ever seen or suspected so much to proceed from him Unless ye account him blame-worthy for this that when King Henry Father to Mary upon great Displeasure conceived was for some secret Causes determined to strike off her Head this Reverend Arch-bishop did pacify the Wrath of the Father and with mild continual Intercession preserved the Life of the Daughter Who for Life preserved acquitted her Patron with Death As concerning his Marriage if you reproachfully impute that to Lust which Paul doth dignify with so honourable a Title I do answer That he was the Husband of one Wife with whom he continued many Years more chastly and holily than Osorius in that his stinking sole and single Life peradventure one Month tho he flee never so often to his Catholick Confessions And I see no Cause why the Name of a Wife shall not be accounted in each respect as Holy with the true Professors of the Gospel as the Name of a Concubine with the Papists Thus Fox And so I have at last by God's favourable Concurrence finished this my Work and have compiled an imperfect History yet with the best Diligence I could of this singular Arch-bishop and blessed Martyr and in the conclusion have briefly vindicated him from those many false Surmises and Imputations that his implacable Enemies of the Roman Faction have reported and published abroad against him Not contented with the shedding of his Blood unless they stigmatized his Name and Memory and formed the World into a belief that he was one of the vilest Wretches that lived who in Reality and Truth appeareth to have been one of the holiest Bishops and one of the best Men that Age produced THE END THE APPENDIX TO THE MEMORIALS OF Archbishop Cranmer THE APPENDIX TO THE MEMORIALS OF Archbishop Cranmer NUM I. Account of Mr. Pool's Book by Dr. Cranmer To the Ryght honorable and my syngular good Lorde my Lorde of Wylshire IT may please your Lordeshipe to bee advertised that the Kynge his grace my Lady your wyfe my Lady Anne your doughter be in good helth whereof thankes be to God As concernynge the Kinge hys cause Mayster Raynolde Poole hath wrytten a booke moch contrary to the kinge hys purpose wyth such wytte that it appereth that he myght be for hys wysedome of the cownsel to the kinge hys grace And of such eloquence that if it were set forth and knowne to the commen people I suppose yt were not possible to persuade them to the contrary The pryncypal intent whereof ys that the kinge hys grace sholde be contente to commyt hys grete cause to the jugement of the pope wherein me semeth he lacketh moch jugement But he swadeth that with such goodly eloquence both of words and sentence that he were lyke to persuade many but me hee persuadeth in that poynt no thynge at al. But in many other thynges he satysfyeth me very wel The som wherof I shal shortly reherse Furst he sheweth the cause wherfore he had never pleasure to intromytte hymself in this cause And that was the trouble which was lyke to ensue to this realme therof by dyversitie of tytles Wherof what hurte myght come we have had exsample in our fathers dayes by the tytles of Lancaster and Yorke And where os god hath gyven many noble gyfts unto the kinge hys grace as wel of body and mynde os also of fortune yet this excedeth al other that in hym al tytles do mete and come togyder and this Realme ys restored to tranquillitie and peace so oweth he to provide that this londe fal not agayne to the forsaide mysery and troble which may come aswel by the people within this realme which thynke surely that they have an hayre lawful alâ—â—ady with whom they al be wel contente and wolde be sory to have any other And yt wolde be harde to persuade thaym to take any other levynge her os also by the Emperour whych ys a man of so grete power the quene beying hys awnt the Princes hys nece whome he so moch doth and ever hath favored And where he harde reasons for the kynge hys party that he was moved of god hys lawe which doth straytly forbed and that with many gret thretts that no man shal mary hys brother hys wife And os for the people yt longeth not to thayr judgement and yet yt ys to be thought that thay wil be contente whan thay shal knowe that the awncyente Doctores of the Chyrch and the determinations of so many grete vniversities be of the kynge hys sentence And os concernynge the Emperour if he be so unryghtful that he wyl mayntene an unjust cause yet god wil never fayl thaym that stonde opon his party and for any thynge wyl not transgresse hys commawndments And besyde that we shal not lacke the ayde of the Frenshe kynge whyche partely for the Lege whych he hath made with us and partly for the dyspleasure and olde grutch which he bereth toward the Emperour wolde be glad to have occasion to be avenged Thies reasons he bryngeth for the kyngs party agaynst hys owne opynyon To which he maketh answer in this maner Fyrst os towchynge the Lawe of god he thynketh that yf the kinge were pleased to take the contrary parte he myght os wel justifie that and have os good grownde of the scripture therfore os for that parte which he now taketh And yet if he thought the kyngs party never so juste and that this his mariage were undowtedly agaynst godds pleasure than he cowde not deny but yt sholde be wel done for the kynge to refuse this mariage and to take another wyfe but that he sholde be a doar therin and a setter forwarde therof he cowde never fynde in hys harte And yet he grawnteth that he hath no good reason therfore but only affection which he bereth and of dewty oweth unto the kyngs parson For in so doing he sholde not only wayke ye and utterly take away the Princes Title but also he must neds accuse the most and cheife parte of al the kyngs lyfe hiderto which hath bene so infortunate to lyve more than xx yers in a matrimony so shameful so abominable so bestial and agaynst nature yf it be so os the books which do defend the kyngs party do say that the abomination therof ys naturally wrytten and graven in every mans harte so that none excusation can be made by ignorance And thus to accuse the noble nature of the kyngs grace and to take away the title of hys succession he cowde never fynd in hys harte were the kyngs cause never so
authority through the world And considering that the Bp. of Cant. beside al the Courts within his own Diocess keepeth in London a Court at the Arches sufficiently authorized to hear and to determine al causes and complaints appertaining to a Metropolitane why should he require this other Court of the Audience to keep it in London within the Church and jurisdiction of another Bp. except he mâ—nded to call other Bps. obedientially out of their jurisdiction contrary to the Act Or else at the lest forasmuch as this Court is kept within the Church and jurisdiction of London and the Arches Court within the city but not within the jurisdiction if he may not vex the Citizens and Diocesans of London at the Arches without an Appele first from the Ordinary immediately because of the Canon Lawes yet he might pul them to his Audience at Pauls as he did heretofore by his Legacy and yet offend not that Act made anno xxiij That no man shall be called out of his own Diocess And where the ABp saith that the Kings Grace bad him continue that Court stil it is to be marvelled that he then hath not in his Citations and other wrirings of that Court expressed or signified the same as he did cal himself in al his Writings Legatum Apostolicae Sedis long after that Act of the Abolishing NUM XVIII Archbishop Cranmers order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches shewn to be inconvenient by a Paper presented to the Parlament as followeth ALthough it be expedient that every thing which any way may be noyful unto the common wele be duely reformed yet is there nothing that should be rather looked upon for Reformation than such abuses as may be occasion of not indifferent ministration of justice Wherfore among so many things as heretofore hath been wel and condignely reformed touching other the Spiritualty or the Temporalty there is nothing that requireth speedyer Reformation than a certain Ordinance Lately procured in the Court of the Arches at London by the means of the Proctors there for the advancement of their singular wil only By which may and do come divers abuses in the said Court and occasion not indifferent ministration of justice and chargeable and prolix process there The effect whereof is this The Proctors of the said Court of Arches hath of late upon feigned suggestion surmised unto the most reverend Father in God my Lord Archbp. of Canterbury President and Head of the said Court to have been for the common wele and ease of his Provincialls induced his Grace to make such an Ordinance or Statute in the said Court of the Arches That wher heretofore there were in the same twenty or four and twenty Proctors and my said Lords G. at his liberty alwayes to admit mo or fewer Proctors there as should be seen expedient to his G. for the sufficient attending of the causes there depending for the time there shuld be from thenceforth no mo admitted Proctors there until the said nombre of Proctors than being there were decreased and come down to the nombre of Ten and than the said nombre of Ten Proctors never after to be exceeded And furthermore lest my said Lords G. might be advertised afterwards upon better causes and considerations to dissolve the said Statute as his Predecessors did alike other Statutes made in semblable cause long before the said Proctors knowing that his G. would as alwayes did apply himself to that thing that shuld be most profitable for the Common wele and intending to take away that liberty from him abusing also his G's benignity and good zeal to the restraint of his liberties and â—ulfilling of their covetous intent incontinently upon the obtaining of the said Statute procured the same to be confirmed by the Chapter and Convent of Christ's church in Canterbury So that by reason of the same confirmation my said Lords G. ne his Successors cannot as the said Proctors do pretend though they see never so good a cause therto infringe ne dissolve the same And so therby made in maner an Incorporation among them tho they call it not so Wherin be it considered whether they have first offended the King's Laws which do prohibit such Incorporations to be made without licence had of the King's Highness first thereunto And though all Incorporations in any mystery or faculty be not lightly to be admitted in this case wherupon depends good or evil ministration of justice most of al such Confederacies are to be eschued Also the said Statute is divers wayes noyful to the Commonwele of this Royalm and prejudicial to the King's G. Subjects in the same and occasion of divers abuses in the said Court hereafter to be declared But because the said Proctors are persuaded that my said Lord of Canterbury cannot himself Dissolve the same and seeing that no man wil lighty contend alone with al the said Proctors for the Dissolving thereof For though it touch every man generally no man singularly wil suppose the same to touch him so moche that he should for the impugnation of the same put himself in business against so many and so rich a company as the said Proctors be it were not only expedient but also necessary for the indifferent and speedy ministration of justice in the said Court that his said unreasonable Statute were infringed and dissolved by the authority of this present Parliament where al other abuses and excesses noyeful to the Commonwele ought to be reformed for these causes following First The said Statute is prejudicial unto the Commonwele because it is occasion of prolix sutes and superfluous delayes in the said Court else more necessary to be restrained than augmented For the said nombre of Ten Proctors appointed by the said Statute is unsufficient for the speedy and diligent attending of mens causes in the said Court tho al Ten were procuring there at once as it is not like but that three or four of the same shal bee alwayes impotent or absent For such they account also with the nombre of Ten. And besides that the same Ten or fewer that shal be onely procuring shal serve not onely for the said Court of the Arches but also for my said Lord of Canterburies Audience wherein be as many causes as in the Arches and for the Consistory of the Bp. of London For by the Statutes of both the same Courts of Audience and Consistory there is no man admitted to procure in the same unless he be a Proctor admitted first in the Arches So that so few Proctors appoynted for so many causes as shal be under travayl in al the said Courts can never be able to speed their business without great delayes taking For heretofore when there were in the said Court twenty Proctors continually occupying and more it hath been seen that divers of theym hath been than so overlayd with causes that they were driven to take oft and many delayes and Prorogations ad idem for to bring in their matiers
peccati Et Lex iram operatur And maketh us sorry and repentant that ever we should come into the displeasure of God and the captivity of the Devil The gracious and benign promises of God by the mediation of Christ showeth us and that to our great relief and comfort whensoever we be repentant and return fully to God in our hearts that we have forgiveness of our sins be reconciled to God and be accepted and reputed just and righteous in his sight only by his grace and mercy which he doth grant and give unto us for his dearly beloved Sons sake Jesus Christ who payd a sufficient ransome for our sins whose bloud doth wash away the same whose bitter and grievous passion is the only pacifying oblation that putteth away from us the wrath of God his Father Whose sanctified body offered on the Cross is the only Sacrifice of sweet and pleasant Savour as S. Paul saith that is to say of such sweetnes and pleasantnes to the Father that for the same he accepteth and reputeth of like sweetnes al them that the same offering doth serve for These benefits of God with innumerable others whosoever extendeth and wel pondereth in his heart and therby conceiveth a firm trust and feeling of Gods mercy wherof springeth in his heart a warm love fervent heat of zeal towards God It is not possible but that he shal fal to work and be ready to the performance of al such works as he knoweth to be acceptable unto God And these works only which follow Justification do please God forasmuch as they procede from a heart endued with pure faith and love to God But the works which we do before our Justification be not allowed and accepted before God although they appear never so great and glorious in the sight of men For after our Justification only begin we to work as the law of God requireth then we shal do al good works willingly although not so exactly as the Law requireth by means of the infirmity of the flesh nevertheles by the merits and benefits of Christ we being sorry that we cannot do al things no more exquisitely and duely al our Works shal be accepted and taken of God as most exquisite pure and perfect Now they that think they may come to Justification by performance of the Law by their own deeds and merits or by any other means than is above rehearsed they go from Christ they renounce his grace Evacuati estis a Christo saith S. Paul Gal. 5. Quicunque in lege justificamini a gratia excidistis They be not partakers of his justice that he hath procured or the merciful benefits that be given by him For S. Paul saith a general rule for al them that will seek such by-paths to obtain Justification Those saith he that wil not knowledg the justice or righteousnes which cometh by God but go about to avaunce their own righteousnes shal never come to that righteousnes which we have by God which is the righteousnes of Christ. By whom only al the Saints in Heaven and al others that have been saved have been reputed righteous and justified So that to Christ our only Savior and Redeemer of whose Righteousnes both their and our Justification doth depend is to be transcribed al the glory therof III. FORGIVENES of Injuries THese two may stand both wel together that we as private persons may forgive al such as have trespassed against us with al our heart and yet that the public ministers of God may se a redres of the same trespasses that we have forgiven For my forgivenes concerns only mine own person but I cannot forgive the punishment and correction that by Gods ordinance is to be ministred by the superior power For in so much as the same trespas which I do forgive may be the maintenance of vice not only of the offendor but also of others taking evil example therby it lyes not in me to forgive the same For so should I enterprize in the office of another which by the ordinance of God be deputed to the same Yea and that such justice may be ministred to the abolishment of vice and sin I may yea and rather as the cause shal require I am bound to make relation to the superior powers of the enormities and trespasses done to me and others and being sorry that I should have cause so to do seek the reformation of such evil doers not as desirous of vengeance but of the amendment of their Lives And yet I may not the more cruelly persecute the matter because the offence is peradventure done towards me but I am to handle it as if it were done to any other only for the use of the extirpation of sin the maintenance of justice and quietnes Which may right wel stand with the ferventnes of charity as the Scripture testifieth Non oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo sed publicè argue eum ne habeas super illo peccatum Levit 19. So that this may stand with charity and also the forgiveness that Christ requireth of every one of us And yet in this doing I must forgive him with al my heart as much as lyes in mee I must be sorry that sin should have so much rule in him I must pray to God to give him repentance for his misdeeds I must desire God that for Christs sake he wil not impute the sin unto him being truly repentant and so to strengthen him in grace that he fal not again so dangerously I think I were no true christen man if I should not thus do And what other thing is this than as much as lyeth in me with al my heart to remit the trespas But I may by the Lawes require al that is due unto me by right And as for the punishment and correction it is not in my power to enterprize therin but that only belongeth to the superior powers to whom if the grievousnes of the cause shal require by the Commandment which willeth us to take away the evil from among us we ought to shew the offences and complain therof For he would not that we should take away the evil but after a just and lawful means which is only by the ordinance of God to shew the same to the Superior Powers that they may take an order in it according to Gods judgment and justice NUM XXXII Other Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer I. De Consolatione Christianorum contra metum mortis Ex Doctoribus Ecclesiasticis IF death of the body were to be feared then theym which have power to kil the body should we fear lest they do their exercise over us as they may at their pleasure But our Saviour forbids us to fear them because when they have killed the body then they can do no more to us Wherfore it is plain that our Savior would not that we should fear death To dy saith S. Iohn Chrysostom is to put off our old garments and death is a pilgrimage of the
H. hath in the H. of Salvation how remission of sins is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect Justification The Doctrin of the Parlament teacheth Justification for the fulness and perfection therof to have more parts then Remission of sins as in the same appeareth And tho Remission of sins be a justification yet it is not a full and perfect The Book of H. numbreth the hallowing of bread Palmes and Candles among Papistical superstitions and abuses The Doctrin of the Parlament willeth them to be reverendly used And so do the Injunctions now set forth Which made me think the Printer might thrust in an Homily of his own devise The book of H. hath words of S. Chrâ—sâ—stom aâ—ledged untruly and not after suâ—h a sort as might scape by over sight but of purpose As calling that Faith which Chrysostom calleth Hope And in place of one Sentence putteth another which should better serve the purpose of the Maker of the Homilies Now if one would reason with me that Chrysostom meant this I would deny it him as I may But I may afâ—â—rm that Chrysostom saith Not. It is but a defamation of the trâ—th And under such a Princes name as our Soveraign Lord is whose tongue in this so pure innocency hath not been defiled with any untruth I assure you I thought there was not so great hast in Homilies but they might have tarried the printing even for that only cause Truth is able to â—aintain it self and needeth no help of untrue allegations It serves only for enemies to take advantage All which i. e. Enemies use to be câ—rious to know what they may reprove And now al the eyes and ears of the World be turned towards us And as they shal have cause to talk honorably of your valiantness in the wars so they talk otherwise of that that is done in your absence if any thing be amisâ— Now I shal shew your Grace what author Erâ—smus is to be by name and special Commandment had in credit in this realm If he be to be believed the doctrin of Only Faith justifieth is a very poâ—son And he writeth by expres termes and calleth this another poâ—â—on to dâ—ny punishment in Purgatory after this life And another poison to deny the Invocâ—tion of Saints and worshipping of them And this he cal eth a poison to say We need no satisfactory works for that were to mistrust Christ Erasmus in another place conferring the state of the Church in the beginning and now he concludeth that if S. Paul were alive at this daâ— he would not improve i. e. disallow the present state of the Church but cry out of mens faults This is Erasmus judgment in his Latter daâ—es His Work the Paraphrasis which should be authorized in the Realm Which he wrot above six and twenty years ago when his pen was wanton the matter is so hauled as being abroad in 〈…〉 were able to minister occasion to evil men to subvert with religiâ—n the policy and order of the Realm These be the general words the uttering whereof to your Grace in the place you occupy were a great fault unless I would shew ye good ground and truth why to say so And therefore I am glad I do rather write to you then to have come and spake with you because my words in number might fly away whereas written words remain to be read again First as concerning the Policy and state of the Realm Whersoever Erasmus might take an occasion to speak his pleasure of Princes he payeth home as roundly as Bishops have been of late touched in pleas And such places of Scripture as we have used to allege for the state of Princes he wresteth and windeth them so as if the people read them and believed him they would afterward smaâ— regard that allegation of them And if Erasmus did truly and that the Scripture bound him so to say it were more tolerable For truth must have place but when it is done in some place untruly and in some plâ—ce wantonly to check that estimate it can be no good doctrin among people that should obey And this book of Paraphrasis is not like the other expositions of Scripture where the Author speaketh in his own person For Erasmus taketh upon him the Evangelists persons and Christs person and enterpriseth to fit up Christs tale and his words As for example where the Gospel rehearseth Christs speech when he said Give to the Emperor that is the Emperors By which speech we gather and truly gather that Christ confessed the Emperor to have a duty Erasmus writes it with an IF after this sort IF there be any thing due to them Which condition Christ put not to it but spake plainly Give to Cesar the things which are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods And I write the very words of the Paraphrasis as they be in English for I have the book with me And so shal no man say that I misreport the book The words be these Render therfore unto Cesar if any things appertain unto Cesar. But first of al render unto God the things that appertain unto God Meaning that it is no hurt unto Godlines if a man being dedicate unto God do give tribute unto a prophane prince altho he ought it not These be the words in the book ordered to be set forth Wherin what needeth Erasmus to bring in doubt the duty when God putteth no doubt at al. It were too long to write to your Grace every fault This one I put for example where Erasmus doth corrupt Christs words with a condition which Christ spake not The other places of raylings would encumber your Grace overmuch But as I write your Grace shal find true that whatsoever might be spoke to defame Princes government is not left unspoken Bishops be more gently handled Erasmus maketh them very Kings of the Gospel and calleth the true Kings of the World Profane Kings Bishops have the sword he saith of God given that is to say the Gospel Profane Princes as he calleth them have a sword committed unto them and by Homer he saith be called Pastors of the people This matter is within the compas of the Paraphrasis if it be not left out with a commendation also of Thomas Becket of Canterbury in excommunicating the King of the realm that then was by implication for the manor of Oxford which the King as he rehearseth then withheld It may be the Translator would have left this out But Erasmus pen in those dayes was very light Moreover them Erasmus teacheth that between Christen men is no debt or right but Charity It is a mervailous matter towards the dissolution of laws and duties And therin Erasmus doth violate Gods scripture and saith not true Thus far is the doctrin pernitious for common policy Nevertheles if he had said true let the truth prevail but the truth is not so As touching Religion in this work of Paraphrasis it is so wantonly I
the Vilains to rule the Gentlemen and the Servants their Masters If men would suffer this God wil not but wil take vengeance on al them that wil break his order as he did of Dathan and Abiram altho for a time he be a God of much sufferance and hideth his indignation under his mercy That the evil of themselves may repent and se their own folly XIV Your fourteenth Article is this WEE wil that the half part of the Abby lands and Chantry lands in every mans possession howsoever he came by them be given again to two places where two of the chief Abbies were within every County Where such half part shal bee taken out and there to be established a place for devout persons which shal pray for the King and the Common wealth And to the same we wil have al the Almes of the Church box given for these seven years At the beginning you pâ—etended that you meant nothing against the Kings Majesty but now you open your selves plainly to the world that you go about to pluck the Crown from his head and against al justice and equity not only to take from him such lands as be annexed unto his Crown and be parcel of the same but also against al right and reason to take from al other men such lands as they came to by most just title by gift by sale by exchange or otherwise There is no respect nor difference had among you whether they come to them by right or by wrong Be you so blind that you cannot see how justly you proceed to take the sword in your hand against your prince and to dispossesse just Inheritors without any cause Christ would not take upon him to judg the right and title of lands betwixt two brethren and you arrogantly presume not only to judg but unjustly to take away al mens right titles yea even from the King himself And do you not tremble for fear that the Vengeance of God shal fal upon you before you have grace to repent And yet you not contented with this your Rebellion would have your shameful act celebrated with a perpetual memory as it were to boast and glory of your iniquity For in memory of your fact you would have established in every country two places to pray for the King and the Common-wealth Wherby your abominable behaviour at this present may never be forgotten but be remembred unto the worlds end That when the Kings Majesty was in Wars with Scotland and France you under pretence of the Common wealth rebelled and made so great sedition against him within his own realm as never before was heard of And therfore you must be prayed for for ever in every County of this realm It were more fit for you to make humble Supplication upon your knees to the Kings Majesty desiring him not only to forgive you this fault but also that the same may never be put in Chronicle nor writing and that neither shew nor mention may remain to your posterity that ever subjects were so unkind to their Prince and so ungracious toward God that contrary to Gods word they should so use themselves against their Soveraign Lord and King And this I assure you of that if al the whole world should pray for you until Doomsday their prayers should no more avail you then they should avail the Devils in hel if they prayed for them unles you be so penitent and sory for your disobedience that you wil ever hereafter so long as you live study to redubbe and recompence the same with al true and faithful obedience and not only your selves but also procuring al other so much as lyeth in you And so much detesting such uproars and seditions that if you se any man towards any such things you wil to your power resist him and open him unto such Governors and Rulers as may straitway repres the same As for your last Article thanks be to God it needs not to be answered which is this Your last Article is this FOR the particular griefes of our Country we wil have them so ordered as Humfrey Arundel and Henry Bray the Kings Maior of Bodman shal inform the Kings Majesty if they may have salve Conduct in the Kings great Seal to pas und repas with an Herald of Armes Who ever heard such arrogancy in Subjects to require and wil of their Princes that their own particular causes may be ordered neither according to reason nor the lawes of the Realm but according to the Information of two most hainous Traitors Was it ever heard before this time that information should be a judgment altho the Informers were of never so great credit And wil you have suffice the information of two villanous Papistical Traitors You wil deprive the King of his lands pertaining to his Crown and other men of their just possessions and inheritances and judg your own causes as you list your selves And what can you be called then but most wicked judges and most errant Traitors Except only Ignorance or Force may excuse youâ— that either you were constrained by your Capitains against your wills or deceived by blind Priests and other crafty persuaders to ask you wist not what How much then ought you to detest and abhor such men hereafter and to beware of al such like as long as you live and to give most humble and hearty thanks unto God who hath made an end of this Article and brought Arundel and Bray to that they have deserved that is perpetual shame confusion and death Yet I beâ—seech God so to extend his grace unto them that they may dy wel which have lived il Amen NUM XLI The Archbishops notes for an Homily against the Rebellion Sentences of the Scripture against Sedition 1 Cor. 3. CUM sit inter vos zelus contentio nonne carnales estis sicut homines ambulatis Et 1 Cor. 6. Quare non magis injuriam accipitis Quare non magis fraudem patimini Iac. 3. Si zelum amarum habetis contentiones sint in cordibus vestris c. non est ista Sapientia desursum descendens a Patre Luminum sed terrena animalis Diabolica Ubi enim zelus contentio ibi inconstantia omne opus malum c. Et Cap. 4. Unde bella lites inter vos Nonne ex concupiscentijs vestris quae m ilitant in membris vestris How God hath plagued Sedition in time past Num. 18. Dathan and Abiram for ther sedition against Moses and Aaron did miserably perish by Gods just judgment the earth opening and swallowing them down quick 2 Reg. 15. 18. Absalom moving Sedition against David did miserably perish likewise 2 Reg. 20. Seba for his Sedition against David lost his head 3 Reg. 1. 2. Adonias also for his Sedition against Solomon was slain Acts 8. Iudas and Theudas for their Sedition were justly slain Acts 21. An Egyptian likewise which moved the people of Israel to Sedition received that he
our greatest cros may be to be absent from him and strangers from our home and that we may godly contend more and more to please him Amen c. As for your parts in that it is commonly thought your staff standeth next the door â—ee have the more cause to rejoyce and be glad as they which shal come to their fellowes under the Altar To the which Society God with you bring me also in his mercy when it shall be his good plesure I have received many good things from you my good Lord Master and dear Father N. Ridley Fruits I mean of your good labours Al which I send unto you again by this bringer Augustin Benher one thing except which he can tell I do keep upon your further plesure to be known therin And herewithal I send unto you a little treatise which I have made that you might peruse the same and not only you but also ye my other most dear and reverend Fathers in the Lord for ever to give your Approbation as ye may think good Al the prisoners here about in maner have seen it and read it and as therin they aggre with me nay rather with the truth so they are ready and wil be to signify it as they shal se you give them example The matter may be thought not so necessary as I seem to make it But yet if ye knew the great evil that is like hereafter to come to the posterity by these men as partly this bringer can signify unto you Surely then could ye not but be most willing to put hereto your helping hands The which thing that I might the more occasion you to perceive I have sent you here a writing of Harry Harts own hand Wherby ye may see how Christs glory and grace is like to loose much light if your sheep quondam be not something holpen by them that love God and are able to prove that al good is to be attributed only and wholly to Gods grace and mercy in Christ without other respects of worthines then Christs merits The effects of salvation they so mingle and confound with the cause that if it be not seen to more hurt will come by them than ever came by the Papists in as much as their life commendeth them to the world more then the Papists God is my witnes that I write not this but because I would Gods glory and the good of his peopâ—e In Free wil they are plain Papists yea Pelagians And ye know that Modicum fermenti totam Massam corrumpit They utterly contemn al learning But hereof shal this bringer show you more As to the chief captains therefore of Christs church here I complain of it unto you as truly I must do of you even unto God in the last day if ye wil not as ye can help something Vt veritas doctrinae maneat apud posteros in this behalf as ye have done on the behalf of matters expugned by the Papists God for his mercy in Christ guide you Most dearly beloved Fathers with his holy Spirit here and in al other things as most may make to his glory and the commodity of the Church Amen Al here God therfore be praised prepare themselves willingly to pledg our Captain Christ even when he wil and how he wil. By your good prayers we shal al fare the better and therefore we al pray you to cry to God for us as we God willing do and wil remember you My brethren here with me have thought it their duty to signify this need to be no less then I make it to prevent the plantations which may take root by these men Yours in the Lord Robert Ferrar Rowland Taylor Iohn Bradford Iohn Philpot. NUM LXXXIV The Prisoners for the Gospel their Declaration concerning K. Edward his Reformation To the King and Queens most excellent Majesties with their most honorable high court of Parlament WE poor Prisoners for Christs religion require your Honours in our dear Saviour Christs name earnestly now to repent for that you have consented of late to the unplaceing of so many godly lawes set furth touching the true religion of Christ before by two most Noble Kings being Father and brother to the Queens Highnes and aggreed upon by al your consents not without your great and many deliberations free and open disputations costs and paines taking in that behalf neither without great Consultations and conclusions had by the greatest learned men in the realm at Windsor Cambridg and Oxford neither without the most willing consent and allowing of the same by the whole Realm throughly So that there was not one Parish in al England that ever desired again to have the Romish Superstitions and vaine Service which is now by the Popish proud covetous clergy placed again in contempt not only of God al Heaven and al the holy ghostes lessons in the blessed Bible but also against the honors of the said two most noble Kings against your own Country fore aggreements and against al the godly consciences within this realm of England and elsewhere By reason wherof Gods great plagues must needs follow and great unquietnes of consciences besides al other persecutions and vexations of bodies and goods must needs ensue Moreover we certify your honours that since your said unplaceing of Christs true religion and true service and placing in the room therof Antichristâ— Romish Superstition heresy and idolatry al the true preachers have been removed and punished and that with such open robbery and cruelty as in Turky was never used either to their own Countrimen or to their mortal enemies This therfore our humble suit is now to your honourable estates to desire the same for al the mercies sake of our dear and only Savior Iesus Christ and for the duty you owe to your native Country and to your own souls earnestly to consider from what light to what darknes this realm is now brought and that in the weightiest chief and principal matter of Salvation of al our souls and bodies everlasting and for ever more And even so we desire you at this your assembly to seek some effectual reformation for the afore written most horrible deformation in this church of England And touching your selves we desire you in like maner that we may be called before your Honors and if we be not able both to prove and approve by the Catholic and Canonical rules of Christs true religion the church Homilies and Service set furth in the most innocent K. Edwards days and also to disallow and reprove by the same authorities the Service now set furth since his departing then we offer our bodies either to be immediately burned or else to suffer whatsoever other painful and shameful death that it shal please the King and Queens Majesties to appoint And we think this trial and probation may be now best either in the plain English tongue by Writing or otherwise by disputation in the same tongue Our Lord for his great mercy sake
PLACE whence Transcribed  Number Page Place AN Account of Mr. Pole's Book by Dr. Cranmer I. 3 Sir W.H.MSS. Dr. Cranmer Ambassador with the Emperor his letter to the King II. 6 Ibid. A Parcell of Iewels sent from Greenwich to Hampton court to the King To the receipt of which he set his hand III. 7 Ibid. The King to Dr. Boner his Majesties Agent to declare to the Pope his Appeal from him and his Sentence IV. 8 Ibid. Cranmer's Protestation at his Consecration V. 9 Cranm. Reg. Cranmer's Oath taken to the Pope at his Consecration VI. ib. Ibid. Cranmer's Oath to the King for his Temporalties VII 10 Cleop. E. 6. The King's Proclamation for bringing in Seditious Books VIII ib. Cleop. E. 5. Bishop Fisher to Secretary Crumwel declaring his willingness to swear to the Succession IX 13 Cleop. E. 6. Lee Bishop Elect of Litchfield and Coventry to secretary Crumwel concerning Bishop Fisher. X. ib. Ibid. The Archbishop to Secretary Crumwel in behalf of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More XI 14 Ibid. Nix Bishop of Norwich to Warham Archbishop of Canterbury for suppressing such as read books brought from beyond Sea XII 15 Cleop. E. 5. Archbishop Cranmer to K. Henry complaining of a Prior in Canterbury that had preached against him XIII 16 Cleop. E. 6. Cleop. F. 1. The Archbishop to Mr. Secretary Crumwel concerning his stiling himself Primate of all England XIV 19 Cleop. F. 2. The Appeal of Stokesly Bishop of London to the King against the Archbishop's Visitation XV. 21 MSS. C.C.C.C An Inventory of the Cathedral Church of St. Swithins in Winchester as it was given in by the Prior and Convent to Crumwel Secretary of State and the King's Vicar-General XVI 24 Cleop. F. 1. A Reply to the Archbishop against his Court of Audience XVII 28 Ibid. Archbishop Cranmer's Order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches shewn to be inconvenient by a Paper presented to the Parlament XVIII 30 Cleop. E. 5. The Archbishop to the L. Crumwel giving him some account of his Visitation of his Diocess XIX 37 Ibid. Richard Grafton the Printer of the Bible to the L. Crumwel complaining of some that intended to Print the Bible and therby to spoile his Impression XX. 38 Cranm. Reg. Archbishop Cranmer to the King for a Suffragan of Dover XXI 40 Ibid. The Archbishop's Letters of Commission to Richard Suffragan of Dover XXII 41 Cleop. E. 5. A Declaration to be read by al Curates upon the Publishing of the Bible in English XXIII 42 Ibid. The Answer or Declaration of Richard Bishop of Chichester in the presence of the Kings Majesty against the sixth Reason or Argument of John Lambert concerning the most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar XXIV 43 Ex Dudith Or. Opuse Tho. Cranmeri Archiep. Cant. Epistola super Controversiam de coena Domini ortam XXV 45 Cleop. E. 5. Part of a Letter from a Member of Parlament concerning the Transactions of the House about pâ—ssing the Act of the Six Articles XXVI 47 Ibid. The Solution of some Bishop to certain Questions about the Sacraments XXVII 48 Ibid. The Iudgment of another Bishop upon the aforesaid Questions XXVIII 52 Ibid Archbishop Cranmer to Osiander concerning some abuses in Matrimony among the Germans XXIX 54 Ibid. The French Kings Licence to print the English Bible in Paris XXX 56 MSS. C C C.C. Three Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer occasioned upon his review of the Kings Book intitled The Erudition of a Christian man XXXI 57 Ibid Other Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer XXXII 62 Ibid. Interrogatories for Dr. London Dr. Willoughbies Confession c. XXXIII 63 A Letter prepared for the King to sign to ratify certain Ecclesiastical Laws XXXIV 72  The Bishop of Winchester to Archbishop Cranmer relating to the Reformation of Religion XXXV 73 Foxij MSS. The said Bishop to the Duke of Somerset concerning the Book of Homilies and Erasmus Paraphrase Englished XXXVI 77 Vespas D. 18. Roger Ascham to Mr. Cecyl Giving him an acount of a Disputation in S. John's College Whether the Mass and the Lords Supper be al one XXXVII 81 MSS. SirW H The Vniversity of Cambridg to the Archbishop XXXVIII 83 Ascham Ep. Richard Smith D. D. his Recantation of his Books XXXIX 84 Becon 's Rep. Archbishop Cranmer's Answers to the fifteen Articles of the Rebels in Devon Anno 1549. XL. 86 MSS. C.C.C.C The Archbishops Notes for an Homily against the Rebellion XLI 113 Ibid. The Lady Mary to the Councel Iustifying her self for using the Mass in K. Edwards Minority XLII 115 Sir W.H.MSS. The Archbishops Letter to Martin Bucer Inviting him over into England XLIII 116 Buceri Script Aug. A Catalogue of Books published by Paulus Fagius XLIV 117  Dr. Cox the Chancellor of the Vniversity of Oxford his Oration at the Conclusion of Peter Martyr's Disputation XLIV 119 P. Mart. Opera Dr. Treshams Epistle before his Relation of the Disputation between himself and Peter Martyr at Oxford XLV 121 Foxij MSS. The Sententious Sayings of Master Martin Bucer upon the Lords Supper XLVI 124 Ibid. Bishop Hoper to the Clergy of his Diocess of Glocester XLVII 133 MS. Privat Hoper Bishop of Glocester to Sir William Cecyl Secretary of State XLVIII 135 MSS. SirW.H Another of the same Bishop to the same Person  136 Ibid. A Popish Rhime fastned upon a Pulpit in K. Edwards reigne XLIX 137 Foxij MSS. An Answer to it  Ibid. Ibid. An old Song of John Nobody  138 Privat MS. John a Lasco's Letter from Embden signifying the dangerous condition they were in and the Persecutions they expected L. 139 Sir W.H.MSS. A Lasco's request that those of his Church might have a Warrant from the Kings Councel that they might not be disturbed for not coming to their Parish-churches LI. 141 Ibid. Michael Angelo Preacher to the Italian Congregation his complaint against some of his Flock With a List of their Names LII Ibid. Ibid. Place  Number Page Sir W.H. MSS. Michael Angelo endeavours to appease the Secretary greatly offended with him for a gross miscarriage LIII 143 Ibid. A Lasco to the Secretary to procure the Kings Letters Patents for a French Protestant to set up a French Printing Press LIV. 145 Ibid. Valerandus Pollanus Superintendent of the Strangers Church at Glastenbury to the Secretary concerning the State of the Strangers Weavers fixed there LV. 145 Ibid. The Superintendent to the same earnestly desiring that one Cornish might not be set over the strangers there who had already dealt illy with them LVI 147 Ibid. The Superintendent to the same Giving some account of the present settlement of their affairs LVII 148 Ibid. Mr. John Calvin to the Duke of Somerset His advise for the rectifying some Abuses in our Church and University Relating to the Alienation or Misuse of their Revenues LVIII 149 MSS. CC. CC Sir John Cheke to Dr. Parker Vpon the death of Martin Bucer LIX 151 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Bucer Concerning the Oxford
Istorum Authorum Maxime Memorabile sit quonam in pretio apud Eruditos seniper Habiti Fuerunt Opera Thomae Pope-Blunt Baronâ—iti Fol. V. Cl. Gulielmi Camdeni Illustrium Vâ—rorum ad G. Camdenum Epistolâ—e cum Appendice Varii Argumenti Accesserunt Annalitita Regni Regis Jacobi I. Apparatus Commentarius de Antiquitate Dignitate Officio Comitis Marescali Angliae Praemittitur G Camdeni Vita Scriptore Thoma â—mitho S.T.D. Ecclesiae Anglicanae Presbytero 4to Some Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont By Peter Allix D D Treasurer of Sarum 4to his Remarks upon the Ecclesiastical â—istory of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses 4to A Vindication of Their Majesties Authority to fill the Sees of the Deprived Bishops in a Letter occasioned by Dr. B 's Refusal of the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells 4to A Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a New Separation on Account of the Oâ—ths to the Present Government With an Answer to the History of Passive Obedience so far as relates to them 4to A Vindication of the said Discourse concerning the Unreâ—â—â—nablenâ—ss of a New Separation from the Exceptions made against it in a Tract called A Brief Answer to the said Discourse c 4to Geologia Or â— Discourse concerning the Earth before the Deluge wherein the Form and Properties ascribed to it in a Book entituled The Theory of the Earth are expected against and it is made appear That the Dissolution of that Earth was not the Cause of the Universal Flood Also a new Explication of that Flood is attempted By Erasmus Warren Rector of Worlington in Suffolk 4to The Present State of Germany By a Person of Quality 8vo Memoirs relating to the Royal Navy of England for Ten Years determined December 1688. By Samuel Pâ—pys Esq 8 vo Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. 8vo Disquisitiones Criticâ— de Variis per Diversa Loâ—a tempora Bibliorum Editionibus Quibus Accedâ—â—t Castigatiâ—nes Theologi Cujusdam Parificusis ad Opasculum Is. Vossii de Sybillinis Oraculis Ejusdâ—m Responsiâ—â—em ad Objectiones nâ—perâ—e Critica Sacra 4to Aâ—glâ—a Sacra sive Collectio Historiarum Auâ—â—quitâ—s Scriptarum de Archicpiscopis Episcopis Angliae a prima Fidâ—i Christianae susceptione ad Annum 1540. in Duobus Volaminâ—bus per Henricum Whartonum Fol. Jacobi Usserii Armachani Archipiscopi Historia Dogmatica Controversiae inter Orthodoxos Pontificios de scripturis Socris Vernaculis nunc Primâ—â—n Edita Accâ—sserunt â—jâ—sdem Dissertationes duâ—e de Pseudo-Dionysii scriptis de Epistola ad Lacdicâ—os antâ—â—ac mediâ—ae Discripsis Digâ—ssit noris atqâ—e Aâ—â—lavio Loâ—â—pleâ—avit Henricus Wharton A. M. Rev in Christo Pat. ac Dom. Archiepisc. Can 〈◊〉 a sacris Domesticâ—s 4to 1690. Sâ—â—iptorum Eâ—clesiasticorum Historia Literaria a Christo nato uâ—que ad sâ—â—ndran xiv facili methodo 〈…〉 de Vito Illorâ—â—â—â— as Reâ—us G. siis de 〈◊〉 Dogmatibus Elogio Stylo de Scriptis Geâ—â—â—â—is 〈◊〉 Suppositâ—tiis meditis Deperduis Fragmentis Deque Varsis Opâ—rion Editimubus perspâ—eue Agitur Accâ—dunt Scriptores Gentiles Christâ—â—ae Religionis Oppugnatores Cujusvis Sâ—eculi Brevâ—arian Inserusitâ—r sais Lo is Vâ—tâ—vâ—m aliquot Opuscula Fragmenta tum Graecâ—â—an Lativa 〈…〉 Praenussa demque Prolegomena qâ—â—buâ— plurima ad Antiqâ—â—tatis Ecclesiasticae Studium 〈…〉 Opuâ— indicibus necesâ—arus Iâ—structum Authore Gulielmo Cave SS Theol Proj â— Canoniâ—o Windesoâ—ensi Accedit ab Alia manu Appâ—ndix ab meunte Secula xiv ad Annum usque MDXVII Fol. Rusâ—worth 's Historical Collections The Third Part in Two Volumes Containing the Principal Mâ—tters which happened from the Meeting of the Parliament Nov. 3. 1640. to the end of the Year 1644. Wherein is a particular Account of the Rise and Progress of the Civil War to that Period Fol. A Discourse of the Pastoral Câ—re By Gilbert Burnâ—t Lord Bishop of Sarum 1692. Dr. 〈◊〉 Conant 's Sermons 1693. A Discourse of the Government of the Thoughâ—â— By Geo. Tully Sub-Dean of York 8vo 1694. Origo 〈◊〉 Or a Treatise of the Origine of Laws and their Obliging Power as also oâ— their great Variety and why some Laws are immutable and some not but may suffer change or cease to be or be suspended or abrogated In Seven Books By George Dawson Fol. 1694. In his Three Conversions E Foxij MSS. In his Protestation to the whole Church of England Pag. 418. Edit 1672. Life of Iohn Fox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Mac. III. 7. Parsons Three Conversions Part 3. p. 84. Acts and Mon. Vol. I. p. 532. Edit 1610. In his Antiq. of Canterb. Anno 1489 1503 1511 1516 1523 1529 1530 Anno 1530. Anno 1530 1531 1532. Anno 1532 1533. Anno 1533. Anno. 1534. Anno 1534. Anno 1535. Anno 1535. Anno 1536. Anno 1536. Anno 1536. Anno 1537. Anno 1537. Anno 1537. Anno 1537. Anno 1538. Anno 1538. Anno 1538 1539. Anno 1540. Anno 1540. Anno 1540. Anno 1541. Anno 1542. Anno 1543. Anno 1543. Anno 1543. Anno 1543 1544 Anno 1544. Anno 1545 1546. Anno 1546. Anno 1547. Anno 1547. Anno 1547. Anno 1547. Anno 1547. Anno 1547. Anno 1548. Anno 1548. Anno 1549. Anno 1549. Anno 1549. Anno 1549. Anno 1549. Anno 1549. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1550. Anno 1551. Anno 1551. Anno 1552. Anno 1552. Anno 1552. Anno 1552. Anno 1552. Anno 1552. Annâ— 1552. Anno 1553. Annâ— 1553. Anno 1553. Anno 1553. Anno 1553. Annâ— 1553. Annâ— 1553. Anno 1553. Annâ— 1553. Anno 1553. Anno 1553. Annâ— 1554. Anno 1554. Annâ— 1554. Anno 1554. Anâ—â— 1554. Anno 1554. Annâ— 1554. Anno 1555. Anno 1555. Anno 1555. Annâ— 1555. Anno 1555. Hist. Reform Vol. I. p. 274. †Acts and Mon. first Edit p. 815 A worthy Work to revive his Memory His Family Anno 1489. Account of his younger Years Life of Cranm. in the MSS. C.C.C.C. Sent to Cambridg An. 1503. Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. Anno 1511. Anno 1516. Sets himself to study the Scripture Anno 1519. Is made Doctor of Divinity An. 1523. Marries Refuses to go to Wolsey's College Oxon. He is made one of the University Examiners The King 's great Cause first proposed to the Universities The Occasion of his Rise His Opinion of the King's Cause Life of Cranmer in theMSS C.C.C.C. The King sends for him Anno 1529. Sutably placed with the Earl of Ormond Epist. 19. li. 27. Impensius gratulor tuae soelicitati quod homini potenti Lalco Aulico perspiciam etiam sacraâ— Literas â—sse cordi teque nobiliâ— illius Margaretae desiderio tenâ—ri Epist. 34. lib. 29. Friendshipand Correspondence between the Earl and Cranmer Anno 1530. A Providence in his being placed here Cranmer Disputes at Cambridg
great Joy Inter Foxii MSS. An. 1537. The ABp had a hand in Lambert's Deathâ— The Bishops dispute against Lambert'â— â—eâ—sonâ— An. 1538. Rom x. Cleopatra E. 5. No. XXIV Cranmer zealous for the Corporal Presence His Reasons for it N. XXV Sanders Slanders of the Abp concerning his Opinion in the Sacrament When Cranmer changed his Opinion Acts and Mon. p. 1101. Latimer of the same Judgment Fox p. 1581. Divers Priests marry Wives The King's Proclamation against Priests Marriages Defence of Priests marriage p. 198. Anabaptists A Commission again them Cranm. Regist. The waywardness of the Priests Clâ—opat E. 6. p. 222. Occasions the King to write to the Justices He visits the Diocess of Hâ—reford Cranm. Regist. Par. I. Book III. Collect. 12. Bishops consecrated Cranm. Registi William Fâ—nch Iohn Bradly The ABp makes Nic. Wotton Commissary of his Faculties Cranm. Regist. An. 1539. Ath. Oxon. p. 124. An. 1539. The King offended with the ABp and some other Bishops Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. The six Articles opposed by the ABp Life of K. Henry p. 512. The Argumentâ— the ABp made use of at this time lost The King's Message to the ABp by the Lords MS. Life of Cranmer in C.C.C.C. A Book of Ceremonies laboured to be brought in Cleopatra E. â— p. 259. A Convocation The Papists rejoice No. XXVI Two Priories surrendred to the ABp The ABp and Crumwel labour with the King about the new Bishopricks Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 301. Bishops this Year An. 1540. Iohn Bell. Iohn Skyp An. 1540. The ABp's Enemies accuse him His Honesty and Courage in discharge of a Commission And his Success therein Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 286. Questions of Religion to be discussed by Divines by the King's Command The Names of the Commiâ—sioners Seventeen Questions upon the Sacrament Part I. Collect. xxi p. 201. Cleopatra E. 5. p. 36. Nâ— XXVII No. XXVIII The ABp's Judgment upon these Questions Vol. I. Book 3. Collect. XXI Cleopatra E. 5. The Judgments of other Learned Men concerning other Points Part I. Addendâ— to the Collect. No. XI An Act to prevent Divorces The ABp to Osiander concerning the Germans abuse of Matrimony No. XXIX Some account of printing the English Bible New Testament printed in 1526. And burnt Fox's Acts p. 929. Reprinted about 1530. Inter Foxii MSS. Burnt again The Scripture prohibited in a Meeting at the Star-Chamber New Testaments burnt the third Time Fox p. 937. The whole Bible printed 1537. Matthews that is Roger's Bible Balaei Centur. About 1538. the Bible printing again in Paris Fox p. 1086. No. XXX The Printers fall into the Inquisition Cleopatra E. â— The Bible printed with French Presses in London The English Bible burnt the fourth time The largest Bible published in the Year 1540. Boner's Admonitions for reading the Bible The Bible suprest again An. 154â— K. Henry's judgment for the use of the Bible The ABp keeps himself more retired The ABp issues out his Commission for the Consecrating of Boner Cranm. Regist. Boner's Oath of Fidelity The ABp makes a Commissary in Calais Fox p. 1120. Butler a better Commissary His Troubles The occasion thereof the Discovery of a Religious Cheat. Glazier Commissary in Calais ABp's Judgment of Admission of Scholars into the School belonging to the Cathedral Foxii MSS. Edm. Boneâ— Nic. Hethe Cranm. Regist. Tho. Thirlby Some account of Thirlby's Rise In a Letter to Day the Printer An. 1565. An. 1541. The ABp visits All-Soâ—ls College ABp Cranm. Registi Visits it a second Time The ABâ— giveâ— order about Shrines The King to the ABp for searching after Shrines ABp Cranm. Regist. The ABp's Orders accordingly to his Dean his Arch-Deacon and Commissary The ABp lays Bekesburn to the See Angl. Sacra Vol. 1. p. 148. Records of Chr. Ch. Cant. Learned Preachers preferred by the ABp The ABp makes some recant A Convocation Their Business Fuller's Ch. Hist. from the Records of Canterbury William Knight Iohn Wakâ—man Iohn Chambre Arthur Bulkeley Robert King An. 1542. The King's Book revised by the ABp Misâ—â—llanâ—â— D. inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Divers Discourses of the ABp No. XXXI No. XXXII The goodly Primer The ABp instrumental to the Reformation in Scotland Hist. Reform Vol. 1. p. 320. An Act procured by the ABp Hist. Refor Vol. 1. p. 321. Paul Bush. An. 1543. The King's Book published by Authority A Visitation at Caâ—terbury Intit Accusatio Cranmer inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Presentments An. 1543. Reflections upon the former Presentments The Prebendaries and Preachers admonished by the ABp The Prebendaries Plot against the ABp Winchester the chief Manager Winchester designs the Death of divers of the Court. Fox And of the ABp and his Friends The Papers relating to ABp Cranmer's Accusation The Contents thereof The Canons and Preachers of Canterbury Cranmer's Chaplains complained of at the Sessions They prepare the Articles and prefer them They Article against the ABp himself †Little thinking what a Spectacle he was soon after to make there when he was carried on Horse-back through the Town with a Paper upon his head declaring his Perjury and his Face to the Horse's Tail London's Practices A great Mass of Articles against the ABp procured The chief Instruments GARDINER SERLES SHETHER Fasti Oxon. p. 686. The Bishop of Winchester's Discourse with a Prebendary of Canterbury Willoughby and London wait at the Council-Chamber Willoughby brought to the Lord Privy-Seal and to Wiâ—chester The Contents of the Articles against the ABp More Articles against his Commissary More still The Witnesses The Prebendaries deliver the Articles The King himself discovers all to the ABp The ABp desires a Commission The ABp in Commission expostulates with his Accusers Shether in Prison sends to Winchester Their Reasonâ— which they pretended for what they did Cockes and Hussey Commissioners and his Officers false New Commissioners sent down The Register false The Delinquents Chambers and Chests searched The Treachery of Thornton and Barber The ABp's Discourse to them Mark XIII 12 The Brother shall betray the Brother to death and the Father the Son and Children shall rise up against their Parents c. The Conspirators are imprisoned Their Release The Confessions Letters No. XXXIII The Ends of the Conspirators The ABp accused before theParliament MS. Declaration of ABp Cranmer The Palace of Canterbury burnt An. 1544. The Council accuse the ABp The King sends privately for the ABp An. 1544. Comes before the Council The King rebukes the Council for Cranmer The King changes the ABp's Arms. Prayers to be made against immoderate Rain Cranm. Regist. English Suffrages commanded to be used The Contents of the King's Letter to that intent Cranm. Regist. Fol. 48. A Procession for the King's Expedition The Councils Letter to the ABp Reg. Cranm. Popery prevails Image of both Churches Gardiner and the Bishops now carry all Bp of Landaff removed to York The ABp's Oath Cranm. Regist. An. 1545. The ABp sets upon reforming the Canon Law Part I. among the Collections p. 257. An. 1545. An
State And lastly that the Hospitals impoverish'd or wholly beggar'd might by his means be remedied and helped by the King's Council that they might revert to their former Condition that is to succour and help the Poor He urged moreover to Cecyl that the destruction of Schools would be the destruction of the Universities and that all Learning would soon cease and Popery and more than Gothic Barbarism would invade all if Learned Men were not better taken care of than they were and if the Rewards of Learning viz. Rectories Prebends and all were taken away from them This Man had also freely discoursed these Matters to two other great and publick-spirited Men viz. Goodrich the Lord Chancellor who was Bishop of Ely and Holgate Arch-bishop of York To both whom he had also given the Names of a great many Schools Parsonages and Hospitals that had undergon this sacrilegious Usage And he particularly mentioned to Cecyl a Town not far from Cambridg called Childerlay where a Gentleman had pulled down all the Houses in the Parish except his own And so there being none to frequent the Church the Inhabitants being gone he used the said Church partly for a Stable for his Horses and partly for a Barn for his Corn and Straw This Letter of Wilson to the Secretary together with his Arguments against pilling the Church subjoined I have thought worthy preserving in the Repository for such Monuments in the Appendix But to return from this Digression which Calvin's Censure of our Arch-bishop occasioned And when in the Year 1551 he dispatched into England one Nicolas that Nicolas Gallasius I suppose who was afterward by Calvin recommended to be Minister to the French Congregation in London at the desire of Grindal Bishop of London that he would send over some honest able Person for that Place with Letters to the Duke of Somerset and likewise to the King to whom he presented also at the same time his Book of Commentaries upon Esay and the Canonical Epistles which he had Dedicated to him both the King's Council and the King himself were much pleased and satisfied with this Message And the Arch-bishop told Nicolas That Calvin could do nothing more profitable to the Church than to write often to the King The substance of what he wrote to the King that was so well taken was to excite and sharpen the generous Parts of the Royal Youth as Calvin hinted in a Letter to Bullinger CHAP. XXVI The Arch-bishop highly valued Peter Martyr AS for the Learned Italian Peter Martyr who is worthy to be mentioned with Melancthon and Calvin there was not only an Acquaintance between him and our Arch-bishop but a great and cordial Intimacy and Friendship For of him he made particular use in the Steps he took in our Reformation And whensoever he might be spared from his Publick Readings in Oxford the Arch-bishop used to send for him to confer with him about the weightiest Matters This Calvin took notice of and signified to him by Letter how much he rejoiced that he made use of the Counsels of that excellent Man And when the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws was in effect wholly devolved upon Cranmer he appointed him and Gualter Haddon and Dr. Rowland Tayler his Chaplain and no more to manage that Business Which shews what an Opinion he had of Martyr's Abilities and how he served himself of him in Matters of the greatest Moment And in that bold and brave Challenge he made in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign to justify against any Man whatsoever every Part of King Edward's Reformation he nominated and made choice of Martyr therein to be one of his Assistants in that Disputation if any would undertake it with him This Divine when he was forced to leave Oxford upon the Change of Religion retreated first to the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and from thence when he had tarried as long as he durst he departed the Realm to Strasburgh This Man was he that saw and reported those voluminous Writings of this Arch-bishop which he had collected out of all the Antient Church-Writers upon all the Heads of Divinity and those Notes of his own Pen that he had inserted in the Margin of his Books Which the Arch-bishop communicated to him when he conversed with him at his House And from these and such-like of the Arch-bishop's Labours he acknowledged he had learned much especially in the Doctrine of the Sacrament as he writ in his Epistle before his Tract of the Encharist The Fame of Peter Martyr and the Desire of preserving all Remains of so Learned a Professor and great an Instrument of the Reformed Religion hath inclined me to put two of his Letters into the Appendix though otherwise not to our present Purpose being Originals writ by his own Hand from Oxon. The one to Iames Haddon a learned Court-Divine and Dean of Exon to procure a Licence from the King or the Council for a Friend and Auditor of his to preach publickly The other to Sir William Cecyl to forward the paiment of a Salary due to him that read the Divinity-Lecture in the Room of Dr. Weston a Papist who had claimed it himself and laboured to detain it from him I cannot forbear mentioning here an Instance of his Love and great Concern for our Arch-bishop his old Friend and Patron after the Iniquity of the Times had parted them the one then in Prison and the other at Strasburgh It was in Iune 1555 when Queen Mary supposing her self with Child was reported to have said in her Zeal That she could never be happily brought to Bed nor succeed well in any other of her Affairs unless she caused all the Hereticks she had in Prison to be burnt without sparing so much as One. Which Opinion very likely the Bishop of Winchester or some other of her Zelotical Chaplains put into her Head This Report coming to Martyr's Ears afflicted him greatly not only for the Destruction that was like suddenly to befal many Holy Professors but more especially for the imminent Hazard he apprehended that great and publick Person the Arch-bishop to be in Which made him express himself in this manner in a Letter to Peter Alexander to whom that most Reverend Father had also formerly been a kind Host and Patron That from those Words of the Queen he might discover that my Lord of Canterbury was then in great Danger CHAP. XXVII The Arch-bishop's Favour to John Sleidan TO all these Learned and religious Outlandish-Men to whom the Arch-bishop was either a Patron or a Friend or both we must not forget to join Iohn Sleidan the renowned Author of those exact Commentaries of the State of Religion and the Common-wealth in Germany in the time of Charles V. About the end of March Anno 1551 He procured for him from King Edward an Honorary Pension of two hundred Crowns a Year as some Aid for the carrying on his
had not come personally into the Parlament house those lawes had never passed And yet within a year or little more the same most noble Prince was faine to temper his said lawes and moderate them in divers points So that the statute of six Articles continued in his force little above the space of one year Is this then so great a matter to make these uproars and to arise against the whole realm Wil you take away the present laws of this Realm which be and ever have been the laws of al other Countreis also and set up new Lawes which never were but in this Realm only and were here in force not fully thirteen months And how chanceth it that you be so earnest in this Article which is directly contrary to your first Article but you know not what neither of the Articles meaneth but be persuaded by Papists to ask you wot not what But now here is the repugnance of the two Articles By your First you wil have al General Councels and Decrees observed and kept and by your Second Article you wil have the six Articles used again Then let us compare the general Councels and Decrees with the Six Articles and you shal see them aggree as wel together as black and white First it is contained in the Canons of the Apostles that a priest under no pretence of holines may put away his wife and if he do he shal be excommunicate And the six Articles say that if any Priest put not away his wife he shal be taken for a Felon If he keep her not â—til he must be excommunicate by the Canon of the Apostles And if he keep her stil he must suffer death by the six Articles You be cunning men if you can set these together Also the Councel of Nice which was the chief of al the General Councels and was celebrated more then twelve hundred years past decreed clean contrary to the six Articles For where the six Articles command al Priests to be separate from their wives Nicen Councel determined clean contrary that they should not be separated confessing such copulation to be holy and godly And the Councel of Gangrense which was about the same time so much allowed the marriage of priests that they accursed them that would abstain from the Ministration of priests because they were married These Councels vary so far from the six Articles that either you must put the General Councels out of your Book or else the six Articles Likewise concerning Private Masses the law of six Articles far differeth from the Canon of the Apostles and from the Councels Nicen and Antioch as shal be declared in the next Articâ—e Other things there be divers also in the six Articles which cannot stand with sundry old Canons Decrees and Councels So that if you wil stand to the Canons Decrees and Councels you must of force be constrained utterly to put out of your book your second Article which requireth the usage of the Six Articles But now for shortnes of time I wil come to your third Article Which is this III. The third Article WE wil have the Mass in Latine as was before and celebrated by the Priest without any man or woman communicating with him Forasmuch as there is nothing with you but Wil let your wil be conferred with reason and Gods word and then you shal se how far your Wil differeth from them both First as touching the Latine Masses Whatsoever the Priest saith in the old Masses whether he pray and ask any thing of God or give thanks to God or make the true Profession of the Faith or whatsoever he doth besides al he doth in your persons and in your names and you answer unto that which he saith sometimes Amen sometimes Et cum spiritu tuo and sometimes other things as the matter serveth For al the whole that is done should be the act of the people and pertain to the people as wel as to the priest And standeth it with reason that the Priest should speak for you and in your name and you answer him again in your own persons and yet you understand never a word neither what he saith nor what you say your selves The Priest prayeth to God for you and you answer Amen you wot not whereto Is there any reason herein Wil you not understand what the Priest prayeth for you What thanks he giveth for you What he asketh for you Wil you neither understand what he saith nor let your hearts understand what your own tongues answer Then must you needs confes your selves to be such people as Christ spake of When he said These people honor me with their lips but their hearts be far from me Had you rather be like Pyes or Parrots that be taught to speak and yet understand not one word what they say then be true christen men that pray unto God in heart and in faith The Priest is your Proctor and Atturney to plead your cause and to speak for you al and had you rather not know then know what he saith for you I have heard Sutors murmur at the bar because their Atturneyes have pleaded their cases in the French tongue which they understood not Why then be you offended that the Priests which plead your cause before God should speak such language as you may understand If you were before the Kings Highnes and should chuse one to speak for you al I am sure you would not chuse one that should speak Greek or Hebrew French or Italian no nor one that should speak Latine neither But you would be glad to provide such one as should speak your own language and speak so loud that you might both hear him and understand him that you might allow or disallow that that he said in your Names Why do you then refuse to do the like unto God When the Priest desireth any thing of God for you or giveth thanks for you how can you in your heart confirm his Sayings when you know not one word what he saith For the heart is not moved with words that be not understand But if reason wil not persuade you I wil prove what Gods word will do unto you S. Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians saith that whosoever shal speak to the people in the Church to their edification must speak such language as the people may understand or else he willeth him to hold his peace and speak softly to himself and to God For he which speaketh in a strange language which the people understand not doth not edify them as S. Paul saith And he giveth an example of the trumpet in the field which when it giveth such a sound that the Soldier understandeth it availeth much For every Soldier therby knoweth what to do But if such a blast be blowen as no man understandeth then the blast is utterly in vain For no man knoweth therby whether the horsemen shal make them ready or leap upon horseback or go to their standard
the people and from the people to burne hym as it was and ever shal be where mere temporal lawes without spiritual doith rule Which state may be compared to be like such a thorne whereof fire doith come furth to the destruction both of the governour and the people And how the lawes of the realme might be wel likened to such a thorne after that the spiritual authoritie was cast furth the destruction of such a sort of men of al degrees both great and smal the great spoyles that were taken may geve sufficient proff to al them that hath ony sence or remembraunce of things so lately done And now comyng again to the spiritual authoritie and Law to joyn it self with the Temporal this is like to the fyer that Moyes saw In rubo which gave liâ—ht and dyd not burne nor never doith when it is wel used And if it be not wel used the faute is in the persons and not in the thing as the faute is not in the Temporal lawes when the Prynce doith abuse them howbeit of their nature they be tanquam sâ—inae as was also Moyes law sharp to which was mitigateâ— and so shal be in every when they be joyned with the spirituall ought not to be called Forreyne Lawes More here wanting Non in probabilibus humanae sapientiae verbis ne evacuetur crux Christi As it shuld be in this case For if this probabilitie were followed the sklaunder of the cross shold be voyd For this were no sklaunder to the Iewes to hear Christ honoured in a figure thei being ever used to the same Nor it wold seem so moch folyshe to the Gentiles and infidelles after we had accepted Christ for God to honour him in a figurative maner But this being the counsel of Christ to utter his great misterie in forme that he should have it sklander to both the Iews that seke signes and were used to be taught by figures and also the Gentiles that styck upon the judgment of reason The more probable you make it the further you swarve from the trew doctrin of Christ and verie trew maner to teach it And here may no new maner be taught What a haynous pride is this this doctrine passeng a thousand yeare and as menye hundred beside as hath bene syneth this Sacrement was instituted by the myddest of the Iewes and Gentiles with this sklaunder and appearaunce of folyshnes never being founâ— fawtie in ony one of the Busshops and preachers of the word of God that they confessed the real presence of the body of Christ in the Sacrement of the aulter but al found fautie and condemned of heresie which denyed the same And ever the doctrine of the presence prevayling and triumpheng above mans reason or sence may be capace of the same Which both God wil have mortified and dye utterlie when this mistery and meate of liâ—se is spoken and taken For as that was the beginneng of the destruction of man when followeng the probabilitie of reason he wold feade hymself with meate prohibite unto hym So the counsil of God hath ordeyned this to be the begynneng of the liffe of man to take a sensible meat wherein nother reason nor sense can find ony probabilitie or make any judgment thereof But because I have entreated this part more largely in another epistle that I send unto yow wherein I show that stondeng as yow do without repentance of the maner of your entrie to the service of the church yow could never be nother good schoâ—ar of this doctrine and moche less a Master I wil now procede no further to reason with you herein knoweng al to be in vaine and no healp nor meane to recover yow but only prayer Which with al my hart as I wold for mine own sowle I wyl not fayle to use for yow to hym whom yow have so greatlie offended as I never redd of ony Busshop that ever was in the church But the founteyne of his mercie is never closed to them that wyl cal for it as myne own entier prayer is to the infinite mercy of God that yow may have the grace so to do sendeng yow for obteynyng of that his holy Spiriâ— Qui condemnat mundum de peccato de judicio de justitia that seeing furst your sore condempnation yow maye therewith be sturred with al humilitie and contrite hart to demaund some comfort Which cannot be hoped of without your former condempnation of your self Wherunto to bryng yow it hath cawsed me by wryting to set furth so earnestly some part of your grievous offences afore yow Wylleng yow no less comfort then I wold to myne own sowle And the same I say concludeng and eandeng as I began It may please the paternal love that God beareth unto al synners for his sake that being his only Son God and man dyed to pay their ransome for to forgeve yow and to deliver yow ex Ore Leonis which hath so devowred yow that if you be not plucked out as theProphet Amos saith of Israel Quomodo si eruat Pastor duo crura aut extremum auriculae I say if you be not plucked out by the eare yow be utterlie undone both body and sowle Which yet again and ever the infinite mercy of God may defeande yow from Wrytten in the coorte at St. Iames the vj. of Novembre 1555. Yowr very trew coumfortore in God yow not refuseng hys grace R. Pole Car. Leg. NUM XC Archbishop Parker to the Secretary desiring the Councels letters in order to his discovering of certain Writings of Archbishop Cranmer SYR Being here and wold be loth to be idle and thereupon havyng consideration as wel of these quarters for the common quyet among the people as respecting the common service of the better sort toward the Q. Highnes and her affairs I fynd them al in so good order that I do rejoyce therin As for my ecclesiastical persons I deal with them indifferently that I fynd also obedience in them Now Sir with spying and serching I have found out bi very credible enformation among other things in whose hondes the grete notable wryten bokes of my predecessour Dr. Cranmer shuld remayne the partyes yet denying the same and therupon despayre to discover them except I maye be ayded bi the Councells letters to optayne them I pray your honor to procure ther letters to authorise me to enquire and serch for such Monuments by al wayes as bi mi pore discretion shal be thought good whether it be bi deferryng an othe to the parties or veweng ther studies c. This opportunytie of enformation being suche I wold wyshe I coud recover these bokes to be afterward at the Q. Commandment I wold as moche rejoyce whyle I am in the countreye to wynne them as I wold to restore an old Chancel to reparation Because I am not acqueynted with the stile of the Councels letters in this case I send you no minute trusting that your goodnes wil think the lauber
Instructions to Goldwel Titus B. 2. Disgusts his stop Sends to Rome about this his stop And to the Emperor His Judgment of two late Acts of Parliament No. LXXV The married Clergy deprived and divorced Married Priests in London cited to appear Ex Regist. â—ccl Cant. Interrogatories for the married Clergy Turnor's Confession Ex Regist. Eccl. Cant. No. LXXV Boner deprives the married Clergy in London without order Married Prebendaries in Canterbury proceeded against Edmund Cranmer deprived of all Reg. Eccl. Cant. The Injustice of these Proceedings Martin's Book against Priests Marriage * Supposed to be Bp Ponet Wherein Winchester had the greatest Hand Declaration of Boner's Articles 1554. Thomas Martin or Winchester under that Name Fol. 15. Mr. Martin Winchester 's own Voice Fol. 40. Gardiner in his Book lately spread under the Name of Tho. Martin Fol. 77. Bale's Declar. Answered by Ponet The Confessions of the Married Priests Def. of Pr. Marr. p. 269. Married Priests that did their Penance hardly dealt with A twofold Evil upon this turn of Religion The Dissimulation of the Priests An. 1554. A Parliament restore the Pope A Design to revive the Six Articles No. LXXVI A Convocation appoint a Dispute with Cranmer at Oxford The Questions Sent to Cambridg No. LXXVII No. LXXVIII The Disputants of Oxford and Cambridg Cranmer brought before them His Behaviour Ridley brought And Latimer Cranmer brought to his Disputation His Notarieâ— Cranmer's Demands Cranmer disputes again The Papists undecent management of the Disputation In his Preface to his Account of his Dispute The Protestants glad of this Disputation Dr. Taylor to the three Fathers after their Disputations Ridley pens the Relation of his Disputation The University sends the Disputations up to the Convocation Various Copies of these Disputations Cranmer condemned for Heresy Cranmer writes to the Council No. â—XXIX Disputation intended at Cambridg In his Letter to Bradford Hoper's Letter Their Condition after Condemnation Their Imployment in Prison Letters of the Martyrs Other Works of Ridley in Prison The Queen's Letters directing the Elections of Parliament-men Pole comes over The Cardinal absolves Parliament and Convocation The Clergy again wait upon the Legate A Commission granted by him against Hereticks His Commissions to all the Bishops to reconcile their Diocesses The Commission to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury No. LXXX The Legate's Instructions to the Bishops No. LXXXI Pole a severe Persecutor No. LXXXII A Convocation Articles presented to the Upper House Cranmer's Book to be burnt Intit Synodalia Hist. Ref. Vol. 2. Collect. p. 266 Men burnt to Death without Law Popery fully established Protestants The Pastors in Prison Free-Willers Bradford's concern with them No. LXXXIII His Kindness to them Bradford gaineth some of them Careless's Painâ— with them Martyrs Letters Philpot's Counsel Careless draws up a Confession of Faith Some few Arians The Prisoners offer to justify K. Edward's Proceedings No. LXXXIV And again offer it Edit 1610. p. 1348. The Exiles The Lutherans refuse to give Harbour to the Exiles Mart. Ep. p. 770. Ep. P. Martyr ad Calvin Anno 1555. The English at Wesel Bal. Praef. ad Act. Pontif. The Lutherans Heat against Sacramentaries At Zurick and other Places well received TheirEmployments Contentions at Frankford Some Children of the Exiles baptized by Lutherans Pieces of Ridley's Writings conveyed to Frankford Exiles at Basil. Divers of the Exiles Writers Scory Old Sampson Turner Iuel Becon Humfrey Traheron Fox His Acts and Monuments Books by him published in Exile Translates Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament into Latin Lever to Fox Foxii MSS. No. LXXXV Bale Knox. Foxe's MSS. How the Exiles subsisted Many recant No. LXXXVI The Persecution hot Tims Letter Gospellers go to Mass. Bradford labours to hinder it Counsels not to consort with them Tripart Hist. lib. 3. cap. 2. Ann Hartipol goes to Mass. Pag. 247. The Lady Vane puts certain Cases concerning the Mass. An. 1555. Many burned Instructions to the Justices Orders sent into Norfolk against the Professors The Effect thereof The Earl of Sussex receiveth Information against some Popish Spies set every where The Protestants frequently assemble Confidently reported that a Male-Heir to the Crown was Born No. LXXXVII The Queen 's great Belly Like a Design Fox p. 1450. The Queen's Zeal Pet. Martyr ad Pet. Alexand. A Convocation Part II. p. 324. Vol. intit Synodalia N. LXXXVIII Some petition the Queen for Cranmer He seeth Ridley and Latimer going to their burning Cranmer's Employment in Prison Report of the Queen's Death Proceedings against Cranmer Martin acts as the Queen's Proctor His greatest Trouble at this Time Interrogatories put to him with his Answers Witnesses sworn against him Cited to Rome The Pope's Letters against him The Process against him at Rome The Pope's Letters read They degrade him He Appeals He is ill dealt with in his Process The Reasons of his Appeal He presseth his Appeal Writes two Letters to the Queen The Contentâ— of the first The Contents of his second Letter The Bailiff of Oxford carrieth his Letters Pole answereth them No. LXXXIX Some Account of the Cardinal's Letter to Cranmer Another Letter of the Cardinal to Cranmer He Recants Notwithstanding his Burning is ordered A Letter from Oxford concerning Cranmer's Death Inter Foxii MSS. Cranmer brought to S. Maries Cole's Sermon Turns his Speech to Cranmerâ— After Sermon all pray for him His penitent behaviour Speaks to the Auditory He prayeth His Words before his Death He quoted also a third place out of Iames against covetous rich Men Weep and howl for the Miseries that shall come upon you your Riches doth rot your Clothes be Moth-eaten your Gold and Silver is cankered c Consesseth his dissembling His Reply to my L. Williams Goes to the place of his Burning His Talk and Behaviour at the Stake He burneth his right Hand Two Remarks upon his Martyrdom Ep. Dedicat. antè Harmon Evan. Who instigated the Queen to put him to death Ep. John 2.10 No Monumenâ— for him but his Martyrdom His Heart unconsumed The Bailiffa Expences about these three Martyrs MSS. C.C.C.C. The Bailiffs not repaid Humfrey to ABp Parker in their behalf Ex Biblioth C.C.C.C. His Books and Writings His first Book Other of his Writings His Book of the Doctrine of the Sacrament Other Writings mention'd by Bp Burnet Hist. Reform P. I. p. 174. Vbi supr p. 364 Ibid. Ibid. Vbi supr p. 289 Vbi supr p. 33â— Pag. 171. Hist. Reform P. II. p. 4â— Pag. 116. Pag. 248. Hist. Res. P. II. p. 171. Athen. Oxon. p. 578. More of his Writings still See Dr. Taylor 's Letter in Fox Hist. Reâ— P. II. p. 71. ABp Parker was in pursuit of certain MSS. of Cranmer concealed No. XC What the Subject of his numerous Writings were Paul Fagius Mar. Bucer placed at Cambridg by his Means Procures them honorary Stipoâ—ds from the King Allowances to P. Martyr and Ochin The third Sermon Dr. Mowse Master of Trinity-Hall favoured by Cranmer No. XCâ— His Inconstancy And Ingratitude
Fox Becomes Reader of the Civil Law at Oxon. Ath. Oxoniensâ— The ABp a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension Eras. Ep. 10. lib. 27. Ep. 7. lib. 27. To Alexander Aless a Scotch-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the ABp And to the King Aless brought by Cromwel into the Convocation Where he asserts two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Atrox Schismatis crimen Ep. 36. lib. 1. Satis excusat nos istorum horribilis crudelitas quam proâ—ecto nâ—que adjuvare neque approbare debemus Ubi supra Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Hist. Res. P.I. p. 308. Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig Mâ—l Ep. p. 3â—9 Edit 1647 Cum in Templis in Scholis doctrinam gabernes Mel. Ep. 111. lib. 3. Four others recommended by Melancthon to the ABp Viz. Gualter Dryander Ep. 7. lib. 3. Dryander placed at Oxon. Ad Ann. 1555. Eusebius Menius Mel. Ep. 66. lib. 1. Iustus Ionas Sleid. lib. 7. Ep. 129. lib. 1. No. XCII Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our ABp Sends Melancthon certain publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridg Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Ep. 41. lib. 3. Sends the ABp his Enarration upon the Nicene Creed The beginning of their Acquaintance The ABp propounds a weighty Matter to Melancthon for the Union of all Protestant Churches The Diligence of the ABp in forwarding this Design Ep. 66. lib. 1. Melancthon's Judgment and Approbation thereof His Caveat of avoiding ambiguous Expressions In Ecclesia rectius est Scapham Scaphâ—m diceâ—e Renews the same Caution in another Letter Peter Martyr of this Judgment Quod Vir bonus sibi pâ—rsuasisset posse hac ratione tolli gravem quae est de hac causa Controversiam ita Ecclâ—siae pacem diâ— desideratam restitui In Vit. P. Mart. per Iosiam Sinlerâ—m Iosiaâ— Simâ—â— What Melancthon thought of the Doctrinâ— of Fate Calv. Ep. 12â— The ABp breaks his Purpose also to Calvin Calvin's Approbation thereof and Commendation of the ABp Offers his Service Excites the ABp to proceed This excellent Purpose frustrated Thinks of drâ—wing up Articles of Religion for the English Church Which he communicates to Calvin Ep. 125. And Calvin's Reply and Exhortation Blames him for having not made more Progress in the Reformation But not justly The Clergy preach against Sacriledg The University-Men declaim against it in the School And the Redress urged upon some at Court No. XCIII Calvin sends Letters and certain of his Books to the King Ep. 123. Well taken by the King and Council What the ABp told the Messenger hereupon Ep. 120. P. Martyr and the ABp cordial Friends The use the ABp made of him Ep. 127. Martyr saw the Voluminous Writings and Marginal Notes of the Arch-bishop Two Letters of Martyr from Oxford N. XCIV.XCV An instance of his Love to the Arch-bishop P. Martyr Ep. Theolog. The ABp's favour to Iohn Sleidan Procures him a Pension from the King The Paiment neglected Sleidan labours with the ABp to get the Pension confirmed by Letters Patents Sends his Commentaries to the King Designs to write the History of the Council of Trent For the King's Use. Anno 1553. Sends the King a Specimen thereof In order to the proceeding with his Commentaries desires Cecyl to send him the whole Action between K. H. VIII and P. Clement VII Bâ—cer writes to Câ—cyl in behalf of Slâ—idan No. XCVI XCVII.XCVIII.XCIX.C.CI.CII Feb. 27. 1551. Scriptae Anglic. Iohn Leland His Wives and Children His Wife survived him Sincere and modist Defence of English Catholicks MS. Life of Cranmer in Benet College Divers Cranmers Cranm. Regist. Suâ—â—er's Ant. Philpot 's Villar Cantian The AB's Stock Aslacton Whatton The Rectories whereof the ABp purchased His Chaplains Rowland Taylor His Epitaph A Sermon preached the Day after his Burning Inter Foxii MSS. Wherein the Martyr is grosly Slandered Iohn Ponet Stow. Tho. Becon Rich. Harman Rob. Watson the ABp's Steward His Secretary Ralph Morice His Parentage Well known to divers eminent Bishops Presents Turner to Chartham And stands by him in his Troubles for his faitâ—â—ul Preaching An Instance of the ABp's Kindness to this his Secretary Morice his Suit to Q. Elizabeth for a Pension His second Suit to the Queen to confirm certain Lands descended to him from his Father No. CIII He was Register to the Commissioners in K. Edward's Visitation Suffered under Q. Mary Morice supplied Fox with many material Notices in his Book Morice a cordial Friend to Latimer Fox Morice's Declaration concerning the ABp His Temperance of Nature His Carriage towards hiâ— Enemies Severe in his Behaviour towards offending Protestants Stout in God's or the King's Cause * Viz. The Erudition of a Christen Man The King sides with Cranmer against all the Bishops His great Ability in answering the King's Doubts Cranmer studied three parts of the Day Would speak to the King when none else durst Lady Mary Q. Katharine Howard His Hospitality Falsly accused of ill House-keeping The preserving the Bishops Revenues owing to the ABp The ABp vindicated about his Leases By long Leases he saved the Revenues Justified from diminishing the Rents of the See Otford Knol Curleswood Chislet-Park Pasture and Meddow Woods Corn. The best Master towards his Servants An Infamy that he was an Hostler Observations upon the ABp His Learning very profound His Library An excellent Bishop His Care of his own Diocess In the Benet-Library At the great Towns he preached often Affected not his high Stiles His diligence in reforming Religion Before his Treatise of Fasting Puts K. Henry upon a Purpose of reforming many things As long as Q. Ann T. Crumwel Bp Cranmer Mr. Denny Dr. Butts with such-like were about him and could prevail with him What Organ of Christ's Glory did more good in the Church than he As is apparent by such Monuments Instruments and Acts set forth by him in setting up the Bible in the Church in exploding the Pope with his vile Pardons in removing divers superstitious Ceremonies in bringing into order the inordinate Orders of Friars and Sects in putting Chantrey Priâ—sts to their Pensions in permitting white Meats in Lent in â—estroying Pilgrimage-Worship in abbrogating idle and superstitious Holy-days both by Acts Publick and by private Letters to Bóner Acts Monum p. 1147. a. Edit 1610. The King again purposeth a Reformation His Influence upon K. Edward A great Scripturist Ea verae Religionis cura apud Josiam nostrum imprimis Cantuariensem universum Concilium regium excubat ut in nulla re aequè laboratum sit quam ut Religionis tum Doctrina tum Disciplina ex Sacrarum Literarum Fonte purissimè bauriatur ut sentina illa Romana qua tot humanae Sordes in Ecclâ—siam Christi redâ—ndârunt sunditus obstruâ—tur Procures the publishing the English Bible The Bishops oppose it Defence of the EnglishTranslat Ch. 1. p. 4. Edit 1583. The first