Tongue Articles and Injunctions for the Visitation about the Benefices of the Clergy and the Taxes on them for the Poor for Scholars and their Mansion-Houses with the other Injunctions for the strictness of Church-mens Lives and against Superstitions Pilgrimages Images or other Rites of that kind and for Register-Books were renewed And to these many others were added as That Curates should take down such Images as they knew were abused by Pilgrimages or Offerings to them but that private Persons should not do it That in the Confessions in Lent they should examine all People whether they could recite the Elements of Religion in the English Tongue That at High-Mass they should read the Epistle and Gospel in English and every Sunday and Holy-day they should read at Mattins one Chapter out of the New Testament and at Even-song another out of the Old in English That the Curates should often visit the Sick and have many places of the Scripture in English in readiness wherewith to comfort them That there shoulâ— be no more Processions about Churches for avoiding contention for precedence in them And that the Letany formerly said in the Processions should be said thereafter in the Quire in English as had been ordered by the late King That the Holy-day being instituted at first that Men should give themselves wholly to God yet God was generally more dishonoured upon it than on the other days by idleness drunkenness and quarrelling the People thinking that they sufficiently honoured God by hearing Mass and Mattins though they understood nothing of it to their edifying therefore thereafter the Holy-day should be spent according to Gods Holy Will in hearing and reading his Holy Word in publick and private Prayers in amending their Lives receiving the Communion Visiting the Sick and reconciling themselves to their Neighbours Yet the Curates were to declare to their People that in Harvest-time they might upon the Holy and Festival-days labour in their Harvest That Curates were to admit none to the Communion who were not reconciled to their Neighbours That all dignified Clergy-men should preach personally twice a year That the People should be taught not to despise any of the Ceremonies not yet abrogated but to beware of the Superstition of sprinkling their Beds with Holy Water or the ringing of Bells or using of Blessed Candles for driving away Devils That all Monuments of Idolatry should be removed out of the Walls or Windows of Churches and that there should be a Pulpit in every Church for preaching That there should be a Chest with a hole in it for the receiving the Oblations of the People for the Poor and that the People should be exhorted to Alms-giving as much more profitable than what they formerly bestowed on Superstitious Pilgrimages Trentals and decking of Images That all Patrons who disposed of their Livings by Simoniacal Pactions should forfeit their Right for that vacancy to the King That the Homilies should be read That Priests should be used charitably and reverently for their Office sake That no other Primer should be used but that set out by King Henry That the Prime and the Hours should be omitted where there was a Sermon or Homily That they should in Bidding the Prayers remember the King their Supream Head the Queen Dowager the Kings two Sisters the Lord Protector and the Council the Lords the Clergy and the Commons of the Realm and to pray for Souls departed this life that at the last day we with them may rest both Body and Soul All which Injunctions were to be observed under the pains of Excommunication Sequestration or Deprivation as the Ordinaries should answer it to the King the Justices of Peace being required to assist them Besides these there were other Injunctions given to the Bishops Injunctions to the Bishops That they should see the former put in execution and should preach four times a year in their Diocesses once at their Cathedral and three times in other Churches unless they had a reasonable excuse for their omission That their Chaplains should be able to preach Gods Word and should be made labour oft in it That they should give Orders to none but such as would do the same and if any did otherwise that they should punish him and recall their Licence These are the chief Heads of the Injunctions which being so often printed I shall refer the Reader that would consider them more carefully to the Collection of these and other such curious things made by the Right Reverend Father in God Anthony Sparrow now Lord Bishop of Norwich These being published These were much censured gave occasion to those who censured all things of that nature to examine them The removing Images that had been abused gave great occasion of quarrel and the thing being to be done by the Clergy only it was not like that they who lived chiefly by such things would be very zealous in the removing them Yet on the other hand it was thought necessary to set some restraints to the heats of the People who were otherwise apt to run too far where Bounds were not set to them The Article about the strict observance of the Holy-day seemed a little doubtful whether by the Holy-day was to be understood only the Lords-day or that and all other Church-Festivals The naming it singularly the Holy-day and in the end of that Article adding Festival-days to the Holy day seemed to favour their opinion that thought this strict observance of the Holy-day was particularly intended for the Lords-day and not for the other Festivals And indeed the setting aside of large portions of time on that day for our Spiritual Edification and for the Service of God both in publick and private is so necessary for the advancement of true Piety that great and good effects must needs follow on it But some came afterwards who not content to press great strictness on that day would needs make a Controversie about the Morality of it and about the fourth Commandment and framed many Rules for it which were stricter than themselves or any other could keep and so could only load Mens Consciences with many scruples This drew an opposition from others who could not agree to these severities and these Contests were by the subtilty of the Enemies of the Power and Progress of Religion so improved that in stead of all Mens observing that time devoutly as they ought some took occasion from the strictness of their own way to censure all as irreligious who did not in every thing agree to their notion concerning it Others by the heat of contradiction did too much slacken this great Bond and Instrument of Religion which is since brought under so much neglect that it is for most part a day only of Rest from Mens bodily labours but perhaps worse employed than if they were at work So hard a thing it is to keep the due mean between the Extremes of Superstition on the one hand and of Irreligion on the
not within six or seven hundred Years after Christ Eboracen The accustomed Order that the Priest alone should receive the Sacrament began about the time of Zepherinus who when the common People had left their daily and frequent Communion ordained that they should communicate at the least once in the Year that was at Easter which Ordinance Innocentius the third confirmed London Worcester Herâ—ford Norwich Chichester St. Asaph I know no further Order or Commandment of the Church but what time the devotion of the People was so greatly decayed that they would not come to receive the Sacrament then the Priests were compelled to receive it alone The custom began that the Priest alone should receive the Sacrament of necessity Dunelm when the People falling from Devotion would not come to the Communion but cared more for their worldly Business than for godly receiving the Sacrament for in the beginning they received it daily by fervent Devotion after thrice a Week after on the Sundays only after thrice in the Year at Christmas Easter and Whitsunday after only once in the Year at Easter by coldness of Devotion The time certain is not known most Men ascribe it unto Gregory Lincoln who was more than 600 Years after Christ for that every Bishop of Rome bringing in his Portion some Introitus some Kyrie Eleison some Graduale the Mass in the said Gregory's time was grown to the full quantity it is now of and Mens Inventions began to step before and get ground of Christ's Institution but from the beginning it was not so for Christ did not eat and drink alone at his last Supper but gave the Bread and Cup to all present In the Primitive Church one did not eat alone and the rest look on but they did eat together and drink together as it is to be seen Acts 2. 1 Cor. 11. And Anacletus writes thus Peracta Consecratione omnes communicent qui noluerint Ecclesiasticis caveant liminibus De Conso Dist 1. Cum Episcopus c. The very time I know not but is to be supposed Eli. that that custom crept into the Church by negligence and slackness of the Lay-People who would not so oft receive it as the Priest would for in the beginning the Communion with the Laity was Quotidiane which the Priest observeth still unto this day and not the Laity and there be Canons that bindeth the Priest to the receiving of it as oft as he doth Consecrate and the cause why the Priests did not receive it after they had consecrated should seem to be that there was none to receive it with them which was the occasion of these making of those Canons as I suppose Because Scripture saith Panis quem frangimus Roffen nonne communicatio corporis est c. Likewise de Chalice cui benedicimus and also bibite ex eo omnes And the Canons said to be of the Apostles Can. 10. and 10. and of the Antiochian Council Can. 2. Anacletus in an Epistle commandeth the Sacrament to be received of more than of the Priest alone Dyonise also declareth the same and also long after Chrys St. Ambrose and St. Austin both complain of the slackness of some and earnestly exhorteth the People to the receipt thereof Therefore I suppose that custom that the Priest should receive it alone where it was celebrated openly was not received in the Church of Christ by the space of four or five hundred Years at least after Christ I know no such Order or Commandment of the Church Bristol but what time the Devotion of the People began greatly to decay and would not come to receive the Sacrament then I think the Priests were compelled to receive it alone I suppose not long after the Apostles time Dr. Cox the godly Devotions of the People decaying who at the beginning used to come daily and after that weekly after that thrice in the Year and at last but once in the Year the Priest was forced to receive the Sacrament alone Quest 6. Whether it be convenient that the same Custom continue still within this Realm Answers Cantuarien I Think it more agreeable to the Scripture and Primitive Church that the first usage should be restored again that the People should receive the Sacrament with the Priest London Worcester Hereford Norvicen Cicestren Assaven I would wish that at every Mass there would be some to receive the Sacrament with the Priest Nevertheless if none will come to receive it I think it lawful and convenient that the Priests of this Realm of England may say Mass and receive the Sacrament alone Dunelm It were much convenient that People were exhorted to come to it oftner if they could be brought thereto Nevertheless if none will communicate it is not meet that the Priests stirred to communicate or should forbear for coldness or lack of other Mens Devotion Lincoln Nothing can be better or more wisely devised than Christ did ordain and the Apostles according to his Ordinance did use we ought therefore to captivate our Senses and Understandings to the Wisdom of Christ and think that most convenient that to his Ordinance is most correspondent And as St. Paul notes By eating all of one Bread and drinking all of one Cup we be put in remembrance that we be all one Body in Christ and have received all one Spirit Nevertheless the slackness of some ought not to be prejudicial to the rest nor the refusing of one to be impediment to another Elien If the Lay-Men could be brought to it it were better not to continue but if they cannot it is not convenient that Priests who would communicate for their own comfort should be defrauded by other Mens slackness Roffen I suppose it were best that that Custom should be reformed unto the Rule of Scripture and unto the Patern of the Primitive Church Bristollen I think it were good that at every Mass there were some to receive the Sacrament with the Priest nevertheless if none will come to receive it I think it lawful and convenient that the Priest say Mass and receive the Sacrament alone when he is disposed or by the Christian Congregation desired Dr. Cox I think it not convenient that the said Custom should continue if by any godly Mean the People might be brought to receive the Sacrament with the Priest Quest 7. Whether it be convenient that Masses Satisfactory should continue that is to say Priests hired to sing for Souls departed Answers I Think it not convenient that Satisfactory Masses should continue Cantab. I think that such of the School-men as do write of Masses Satisfactory do define them otherwise than is declared in this Question London Worcester Hereford Norwich Chichester St. Asaph Nevertheless I think that it is not against the Word of God but that Priests praying in the Mass both for the Quick and Dead and doing other things in the Church about
more _____ at the Mass that they do always communicate with the Executor in both kinds And for her Highness Conscience till then if there be some other devout sort of Prayer or Memory and the _____ or Mass Quest 6. What Noblemen be fit to be made privy to those Proceedings before it be opened to the whole Council Answer The Marquess Northampton the Earl of Bedford the Earl of Pembrook Lord John Gray Quest 7. What Allowance the Learned Men shall have for the time they are about to renew the Book of Common Prayers and Order of certain Ceremonies and Service in the Church and when they shall meet Answer Being so many Persons as must attend still upon it two Messes of Meat is thought yet indifferently to suffice for them and their Servants The Place is thought most meet either in some set Place or rather at Sir Thomas Smith's Lodging in Cannon-Row At one of those Places must Provision be laid in of Wood of Coal and Drink Number 2. Dr. Sand's Letter to Dr. Parker concerning some Proceedings in Parliament An Original Ex MS. Col. Cor. C. Cant. YE have rightly considered that these times are given to taking and not to giving for ye have stretched forth your hand further than all the rest They never asked us in what state we stand neither consider that we want and yet in the time of our Exile were we not so bare as we are now brought but I trust we shall not linger here long for the Parliament draweth towards an end The last Book of Service is gone through with a Proviso to retain the Ornaments which were used in the first and second Year of King Edward until it please the Queen to take other order for them our gloss upon this Text is that we shall not be forced to use them but that others in the mean time shall not conveigh them away but that they may remain for the Queen After this Book was past He was Dean of Windsor and Peterb in Q. Mary's Time Boxall and others quarrelled with it that according to the order of the Scripture we had not gratiarum actio for saith he Christus accepit panem gratias egit but in the time of Consecration we give no Thanks This he put into the Treasurers Head and into Count de Soreus Head and he laboured to alienate the Queen's Majesty from confirming of the Act but I trust they cannot prevail Mr. Secretary is earnest with the Book and we have ministred Reasons to maintain that part The Bill of Supreme Government of both the Temporality and Clergy passeth with a Proviso that nothing shall be judged hereafter which is not confirmed by the Canonical Scriptures and four General Councils Mr. Lever wisely put such a scruple into the Queen's Head A Minister at Frankfort much commended by Calvin to be followed as an Example that she would not take the Title of Supream Head The Bishops as it is said will not swear unto it as it is but rather lose their Livings The Bill is in hand to restore Men to their Livings how it will speed I know not The Parliament is like to end shortly and then we shall understand how they mind to use us We are forced through the vain Bruits of the lying Papists to give up a Confession of our Faith to shew forth the Sum of that Doctrine which we profess and to declare that we dissent not amongst our selves This Labour we have now in hand on purpose to publish that so soon as the Parliament is ended I wish that we had your Hand unto it Ye are happy that ye are so far from this tossing and gross Alterations and Mutations for we are made weary with them but ye cannot long rest in your Cell ye must be removed to a more large Abbey and therefore in the mean time take your pleasure for after ye will find but a little Nihil est statutum de conjugio Sacerdotum sed tanquam relictum in medio Lever was married now of late The Queen's Majesty will wink at it but not stablish it by Law which is nothing else but to bastard our Children Other things another time Thus praying you to commend me to your Abbesses I take my leave of you for this present hastily at London April ult 1559. Yours Edwin Sands Number 3. The first Proposition upon which the Papists and Protestants Disputed in Westminster-Abbey With the Arguments which the Reformed Divines made upon it It is against the Word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to use a Tongue unknown to the People in Common-Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments BY these words the Word we mean only the written Word of God Ex M. S. Col. C. Ch. Cant. or Canonical Scriptures And by the Custom of the Primitive Church we mean the Order most generally used in the Church for the space of five hundred Years after Christ in which Times lived the most notable Fathers as Justin Ireneus Tertullian Cyprian Basil Chrysostom Hierome Ambrose Augustine c. This Assertion above-written hath two parts First That the use of a Tongue not understood of the People in common Prayers of the Church or in the Administration of the Sacraments is against God's Word The second That the same is against the Use of the Primitive-Church The first part is most manifestly proved by the 14th Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians almost throughout the whole Chapter in the which Chapter St. Paul intreateth of this Matter ex professo purposely And although some do cavil that St. Paul speaketh not in that Chapter of Praying but of Preaching yet it is most evident to any indifferent Reader of Understanding and appeareth also by the Exposition of the best Writers That he plainly there speaketh not only of Preaching and Prophesying but also of Prayer and Thanksgiving and generally of all other publick Actions which require any Speech in the Church or Congregation For of Praying he saith I will pray with my Spirit and I will pray with my Mind I will sing with the Spirit and I will sing with my Mind And of Thanksgiving which is a kind of Prayer Thou givest Thanks well but the other is not edified And how shall he that occupieth the room of the Vnlearned say Amen to thy giving of Thanks when he understandeth not what thou sayest And in the end ascending from Particulars to Universals concludeth That all things ought to be done to Edification Thus much is clear by the very words of St. Paul and the Ancient Doctors Ambrose Augustine Hierome and others do so understand this Chapter as it shall appear by their Testimonies which shall follow afterward Upon this Chapter of St. Paul we gather these Reasons following 1. All things done in the Church or Congregation ought to be so done as they may edify the same But the use of an Unknown Tongue in Publick Prayer or Administration of Sacraments doth
for it but the Author's word and Poets must make Circumstances as well as more signal Contrivances to set off their Fables But there was no occasion for Bucer's saying this since he never declared against the Corporal Presence but was for taking up that Controversy in some general Expressions So it was not suitable to his Opinion in that Matter for him to talk so loosely of the Scriptures And is it credible that a Story of this nature should not have been published in Queen Mary's Time and been made use of when he was condemned for an Heretick and his Body raised and burnt But our Author perhaps did not think of that 15. He says Pag. 191. Peter Martyr was a while in suspence concerning the Eucharist and stayed till he should see what the Parliament should appoint in that Matter P. Martyr argued and read in the Chair against the Corporal Presence four Years before the Parliament medled with it For the second Common-Prayer Book which contained the first publick Declaration that the Parliament made in this Matter was enacted in the fifth Year of King Edward and Peter Martyr from his first coming to England had appeared against it 16. He said The first Parliament under King Edward Pag. 193. appointed a new Form to be used in ordaining Priests and Bishops who till that time had been Ordained according to the Old Rites save only that they did not swear Obedience to the Pope This is a further Evidence of our Author's care in searching the printed Statutes since what was done in the Fifth Year of this Reign he represents as done in the First His Design in this was clear he had a mind to possess all his own Party with an Opinion that the Orders given in this Church were of no force and therefore he thought it a decent piece of his Poem to set down this Change as done so early since if he had mentioned it in its proper place he knew not how to deny the validity of the Orders that were given the first four Years of this Reign which continued to be conferred according to the old Forms 17. He says The Parliament did also at the same time Ibid. confirm a new Book of Common-Prayer and of the Administration of the Sacraments This is of a piece with the former for the Act confirming the Common-Prayer Book which is also among the Printed Statutes passed not in this Session of Parliament but in a second Session a Year after this These are Indications sufficient to shew what an Historian Sanders was that did not so much as read the Publick Acts of the Time concerning which he writ 18. He says They ordered all Images to be removed Ibid. and sent some lewd Men over England for that effect who either brake or burnt the Images of our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and the Saints therein declaring against whom they made War and they ordered the King's Arms three Leopards and three Lillies with the Supporters a Dog and a Serpent to be set in the place where the Cross of Christ stood thereby owning that they were no longer to worship Jesus Christ whose Images they broke but the King whose Arms they set up in the room of those Images In this Period there is an equal mixture of Falshood and Malice 1. The Parliament did not order the removal of Images It was done by the King's Visitors before the Parliament sat 2. The total removal of Images was not done the first Year only those Images that were abused to Superstition were taken down and a Year after the total removal followed 3. They took care that this should be done regularly not by the Visitors who only carried the King's Injunctions about it but by the Curats themselves 4. They did not order the King's Arms to be put in the place where the Cross had stood It grew indeed to be a custom to set them up in all Churches thereby expressing that they acknowledged the King's Authority reached even to their Churches but there was no Order made about it 5. I leave him to the Correction of the Heraulds for saying the King's Arms are Three Leopards when every Body knows they are three Lions and a Lion not a Dog is one Supporter and the other is a Dragon not a Serpent 6. By their setting up the King's Arms and not his Picture it is plain they had no thought of worshipping their King but did only acknowledg his Authority 7. It was no less clear that they had no design against the Worship due to Jesus Christ nor that inferiour respect due to the Blessed Virgin and Saints but intended only to wean the People from that which at best was but Pageantry but as it was practised was manifest Idolatry And the painting on the Walls of the Churches the Ten Commandments the Creed the Lord's Prayer with many other passages of Scripture that were of most general use shewed they intended only to cleanse their Churches from those mixtures of Heathenism that had been brought into the Christian Religion Pag. 193. 19. He says They took away the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ that they might thereby give some colour to the converting of the Sacred Vessels to the King's use They took away no part of the Institution of Christ for they set it down in the Act past about it and recited all the words of the first Institution of the Sacrament they only condemned private Masses as contrary to Christ's Institution They did not convert the Holy Vessels to the King's use nor were they taken out of the Churches till five Years after this that the Necessities of the Government either real or pretended were alleged to excuse the taking away the superfluous Plate that was in Churches But this was not done by Act of Parliament but by Commissioners empowred by the King who were ordered to leave in every Church such Vessels as were necessary for the Administration of the Sacraments Ibid. 20. He says The Parliament ordered the Prayers to be in the Vulgar Tongue and upon that he infers that the Irish the Welsh and the Cornish-men were now in a much worse condition than before since they understood no English so that the Worship was to them in a Tongue more unknown than it had formerly been The Parliament made no such Order at this Time the Book of Common Prayer was set out first by the King's Authority and ratified by the subsequent Session of Parliament There was also a Design which though it was then accomplished yet it was done afterwards of translating the Liturgy into these Tongues but still the English was much more understood by all sorts of Men among them than the Latin had been 21. He says The Office of the Communion Pag. 194. appointed by this Parliament differed very little from the Mass save that it was in English The Error of the Parliaments appointing the new Offices runs through all he says on this
which he should preach before the King in which he should openly declare how well he was satisfied with his Proceedings yet it is added That in his Sermon where there was a wonderful Audience he did most arrogantly meddle with some Matters that were contrary to an express command given him both by word of Mouth and by Letters and in other Matters used such words as had almost raised a great Tumult in the very time and had spoken very seditiously concerning the Policy of the Kingdom So they saw that Clemency wrought no good effect on him and it seeming necessary to terrifie others by their Proceedings with him he was sent to the Tower and the door of his Closet was sealed up Thus it is entred in the Council-Book Signed E. Somerset T. Cantuarien W. St. Johns J. Russel and T. Cheyney Yet it seems this Order was not Signed when it was made but some years after For the Lord Russel Signed first Bedford but remembring that at the time when this Order was made he had not that Title therefore he dashed it out but so as it still appears and Signed J. Russel Fox's Acts and Monuments The account that Gardiner himself gives of this Business is That being discharged upon the Act of Pardon he was desired to promise that he would set forth the Homilies and a Form was given him to which he should set his Hand but he considering of it a fortnight returned and said he could not subscribe it so he was confined to his House Then Ridley and Mr. Cecil afterwards the great Lord Burleigh Lord Treasurer to Queen Eliz. at that time Secretary to the Protector were sent to him and so prevailed that he did set his Hand to it But upon some Complaints that were made of him he was sent for after Whit-Sunday and accused that he had carried Palms had crept to the Cross and had a Sepulchre on Good-Friday which was contrary to the Kings Proclamations all which he denied and said he had and would still give obedience to what the King should command That of affronting the Kings Preachers was objected to him to which he answered telling matter of fact how it was done but he does not in his Writing set it down Then it was complained that in a Sermon he had said The Apostles came away rejoycing from the Council the Council the Council repeating it thus to make it seem applicable to himself This he denied Then it was objected That he preached the Real Presence in the Sacrament the Word Real not being in Scripture and so it was not the setting forth the pure Word of God He said he had not used the Word Real only he had asserted the Presence of Christ in such words as he had heard the Arch-bishop of Canterbury dispute for it against Lambert that had been burnt He was commanded to tarry in London but he desired that since he was not an Offender he might be at his liberty He complained much of the Songs made of him and of the Books written against him and particularly of one Philpot in Westminster whom he accounted a mad Man Then he relates That Cecil came to him and proposed to him to preach before the King and that he should write his Sermon and also brought him some Notes which he wished him to put in his Sermon he said he was willing to preach but would not write it for that was to preach as an Offender nor would he make use of Notes prepared by other Men. Then he was privately brought to the Protector none but the Lord St. John being present who shewed him a Paper containing the opinion of some Lawyers of the Kings Power and of a Bishops Authority and of the Punishment of disobeying the King but he desired to speak with those Lawyers and said no subscription of theirs should oblige him to preach otherwise than as he was convinced The Protector said he should either do that or do worse Secretary Smith came to him to press him further in some Points but what they were is not mentioned Yet by the other Papers in that Business it appears they related to the Kings Authority when under Age and for justifying the Kings proceedings in what had been done about the Ceremonies and that Auricular Confession was indifferent So the Contest between him and the Protector ended and there was no writing required of him but he left the whole matter to him so that he should treat plainly of those things mentioned to him by Cecil He chose St. Peters day because the Gospel agreed to his purpose Cecil shewed him some Notes written with the Kings Hand of the Sermons preached before him especially what was said of the Duty of a King and warned him that when ever he named the King he should add and his Council To this he made no Answer for though he thought it wisely done of a King to use his Council yet being to speak of the Kings Power according to Scripture he did not think it necessary to add any thing of his Council and hearing by a confused report some secret matter he resolved not to meddle with it Two days before he preached the Protector sent him a Message not to meddle with those Questions about the Sacrament that were yet in controversie among Learned Men and that therefore he was resolved there should be no publick determination made of them before-hand in the Pulpit He said he could not forbear to speak of the Mass for he looked on it as the chief foundation of Christian Religion but he doubted not that he should so speak of it as to give them all content So the day following the Protector writ to him Number 28. as will be found in the Collection requiring him in the Kings Name not to meddle with these Points but to preach concerning the Articles given him and about Obedience and good Life which would afford him matter enough for a long Sermon since the other points were to be reserved to a publick Consultation The Protector added That he held it a great part of his Duty under the King not to suffer wilful Persons to disswade the People from receiving such Truths as should be set forth by others But Gardiner pretended that there was no Controversie about the Presence of Christ And so the next day he took his Text out of the Gospel for the day Thou art Christ Parkers MSS. Ex C. Ch. Col. Cant. He preached before the King c. In his Sermon of which I have seen large Notes he expressed himself very fully concerning the Popes Supremacy as justly abolished and the Suppression of Monasteries and Chantries he approved of the Kings Proceedings he thought Images might have been well used but yet they might be well taken away He approved of the Sacrament in both kinds and the taking away that great number of Masses satisfactory and liked well the new Order for the Communion But he asserted largely the Presence of
Addition was also made upon good consideration in the Office of the Communion to which the People were observed to come without due seriousness or preparation therefore for awakening their Consciences more feelingly it was ordered that the Office of the Communion should begin with a solemn pronouncing of the Ten Commandments all the Congregation being on their Knees as if they were hearing that Law a-new and a stop to be made at every Commandment for the Peoples devotion of imploring mercy for their past offences and Grace to observe it for the time to come This seemed as effectual a Mean as they could devise till Church-penitence were again set up to beget in Men deep reflections on their sins and to prepare them thereby to receive that Holy Sacrament worthily The other Changes were the removing of some Rites which had been retained in the former Book such as the use of Oyl in Confirmation and Extream Unction the Prayers for Souls departed both in the Communion-Service and in the Office of Burial the leaving out some Passages in the Consecration of the Eucharist that seemed to favour the Belief of the Corporal Presence with the use of the Cross in it and in Confirmation with some smaller variations And indeed they brought the whole Liturgy to the same Form in which it is now except some inconsiderable variations that have been since made for the clearing of some Ambiguities An Aâ—count of kneeling in the Communion In the Office of the Communion they added a Rubrick concerning the posture of kneeling which was appointed to be still the gesture of Communicants It was hereby declared that that gesture was kept up as a most reverent and humble way of expressing our great sense of the Mercies of God in the death of Christ there communicated to us but that thereby there was no adoration intended to the Bread and Wine which were gross Idolatry nor did they think the very Flesh and Blood of Christ were there present since his Body according to the nature of all other Bodies could be only in one place at once and so he being now in Heaven could not be corporally present in the Sacrament This was by Queen Elizabeth ordered to be left out of the Common-Prayer-Book since it might have given offence to some otherwise inclinable to the Communion of the Church who yet retained the belief the Corporal Presence But since his present Majesties Restoration many having excepted to the Posture as apprehending some thing like Idolatry or Superstition might lie under it if it were not rightly explained that Explication which was given in King Edwards time was again inserted in the Common-Prayer-Book For the Posture it is most likely that the first Institution was in the Table-gesture which was lying along on one side But it was apparent in our Saviours Practice that the Jewish Church had changed the Posture of that Institution of the Passover in whose room the Eucharist came For though Moses had appointed the Jews to eat their Paschal Lamb standing with their Loins girt with Staves in their Hands and Shooes on their Feet yet the Jews did afterwards change this into the Common-Table-Posture of which change though there is no mention in the Old Testament yet we see it was so in our Saviours time and since he complied with the common Custom we are sure that Change was not criminal It seemed reasonable to allow the Christian Church the like Power in such things with the Jewish and as the Jews thought their coming into the Promised Land might be a Warrant to lay aside the Posture appointed by Moses which became Travellers best so Christ being now exalted it seemed fit to receive this Sacrament with higher Marks of outward respect than had been proper in the first Institution when he was in the state of Humiliation and his Divine Glory not yet so fully revealed Therefore in the Primitive Church they received standing and bending their Body in a posture of Adoration But how soon that Gesture of kneeling came in is not so exactly observed nor is it needful to know But surely there is a great want of ingenuity in them that are pleased to apply these Orders of some later Popes for kneeling at the Elevation to our kneeling when ours is not at one such part which might be more liable to exception but during the whole Office by which it is one continued Act of Worship and the Communicants kneel all the while But of this no more needs to be said than is exprest in the Rubrick which occasioned this Digression Thus were the Reformations both of Doctrine and Worship prepared To which all I can add of this Year is Some Orders given to the Kings Chaplains that there were six eminent Preachers chosen out to be the Kings Chaplains in Ordinary two of those were always to attend at Court and four to be sent over England to preach and instruct the People In the first year two of these were to go into Wales and the other two into Lancashire the next year two into the Marches of Scotland and two into York-shire the third year two into Devon-shire and two into Hamp-shire and the fourth year two into Norfolk and two into Kent and Sussex These were Bill Harle Pern Grindal Bradford the Name of the sixth is so dashed in the Kings Journal that it cannot be read These it seems were accounted the most zealous and readiest Preachers of that time who were thus sent about as Itinerants to supply the defects of the greatest part of the Clergy who were generally very faulty The Business of the Lady Mary was now taken up with more heat than formerly The Emperors earnest sute The Lady Mary continued to have Mass said in her Chappel that she might have Mass in her House was long rejected for it was said that as the King did not interpose in the matters of the Emperors Government so there was no reason for the Emperor to meddle in his Affairs Yet the state of England making his friendship at that time necessary to the King and he refusing to continue in his League unless his Kinswoman obtained that favour it was promised that for some time in hope she would reform there should be a forbearance granted The Emperors Ambassadors pressed to have a License for it under the Great Seal It was answered That being against Law it could not be done Then they desired to have it certified under the Kings Hand in a Letter to the Emperor but even that was refused So that they only gave a Promise for some time by word of mouth and Paget and Hobby who had been the Ambassadors with the Emperor declared they had spoke of it to him with the same limitations But the Emperor who was accustomed to take for absolute what was promised only under conditions writ to the Lady Mary that he had an absolute Promise for the free exercise of her Religion and so she pretended this when she
was expected that he should he sent to the Tower that very day These reports being brought to Cranmer some advised him to fly beyond Seas he said he would not diswade others from that course now that they saw a Persecution rising but considering the station he was in and the hand he had in all the Changes that were made he thought it so indecent a thing for him to fly that no entreaties should ever perswade him to it Cranmer's Declaration Coll. Numb 8. So he by Peter Martyr's advice drew up a Writing that I have put in the Collection in Latin as it was at that time translated The substance of it was to this effect That as the Devil had at all times set on his Instruments by Lies to defame the Servants of God so he was now more than ordinarily busie For whereas King Henry had begun the correcting of the abuses of the Mass which his Son had brought to a further perfection and so the Lords Supper was restored to its first Institution and was celebrated according to the pattern of the Primitive Church now the Devil intending to bring the Mass again into its room as being his own invention had stirred up some to give out that it had been set up in Canterbury by his the said Cranmer's Order and it was said that he had undertaken to sing Mass to the Queens Majesty both at King Edwards Funeral at Paul's and other places and though for these twenty years he had despised all such vain and false reports as were spread of him yet now he thought it not fit to lye under such misrepresentations Therefore he protested to all the World that the Mass was not set up at Canterbury by his order but that a fawning hypocritical Monk this was Thornton Suffragan of Dover had done it without his â—nowledge and for what he was said to have undertaken to the Queen her Majesty knew well how false that was offering if he might obtain her Leave for it to maintain that every thing in the Communion Service that was set out by their most innocent and good Ring Edward was according to Christs Institution and the practice of the Apostles and the ancient Church for many Ages to which the Mass was contrary being full of errors and abuses and although Peter Martyr was by some called an ignorant Man he with him or other four or five such as he should choose would be ready to defend not only their Book of Common Prayer and the other Rites of their Service but the whole Doctrine and Order of Religion set forth by the late King as more pure and more agreeable to the Word of God than any sort of Religion that had been in England for a thousand years before it provided that all things should be judged by the Scriptures and that he Reasonings on both sides should be faithfully written down This he had drawn Published without his knowledg with a Resolution to have made a publick use of it but Scory who had bin Bishop of Chichester coming to him he shewed him the Paper and bad him consider of it Scory indiscreetly gave Copies of it and one of these was publickly read in Cheapside on the fifth of September So on the eighth of that month he was called before the Star-Chamber and asked whether he was the Author of that seditious Bill that was given out in his name and if so whether he was sorry for it He answered that the Bill was truly his but he was very sorry it had gone from him in such a manner But owned by him before the Council for he had resolved to have inlarged it in many things and to have ordered it to be affixed to the doors of Pauls and of the other Churches in London with his hand and Seal to it He was at that time contrary to all mens expectation dismissed Gardiner plainly saw he could not expect to succeed him and that the Queen had designed that See for Cardinal Pool so he resolved to protect and preserve Cranmer all he could Some moved that he should be only put from his Bishoprick and have a small Pension assigned him with a charge to keep within a Confinement and not to meddle with matters of Religion He was generally beloved for the gentleness of his temper so it was thought that proceeding severely with him might Alienate some from them and embroil their affairs in the next Parliament Others objected that if he who had been the chief promoter of Heresy was used with such tenderness it would encourage the rest to be more obstinate And the Queen who had forgot the Services he did her in her Father's time remembring rather that he had pronounced the Sentence of Divorce against her Mother was easily induced to proceed severely So on the thirteenth of September both he and Latimer were called before the Council He and Latimer sent to the Tower Latimer was that day committed but Cranmer was respited till next day and then he was sent to the Tower both for matters of Treason against the Queen and for dispersing of seditious Bills Tylor of Hadlee and several other Preachers were also put in Prison and upon an Information brought against Horn Dean of Duresm he was sent for The Forreigners that were come over upon publick Faith and encouragement The Forreigners sent out of England were better used for Peter Martyr was preserved from the rage of his enemies and suffered to go beyond Sea There was also an Order sent to John a Lasco and his Congregation to be gone their Church being taken from them and their Corporation dissolved And an hundred seventy five of them went away in two Ships to Denmark on the seventeenth of September with all their Preachers except two who were left to look to those few which stayed behind and being engaged in Trade resolved to live in England and follow their Consciences in the matters of Religion in private with the Assistance of those Teachers But a Lasco after a long and hard passage arriving at Denmark was as ill received there as if it had heen a popish Country when they understood that he and his Company were of the Helvetian Confession so that though it was December and a very severe Winter they were required to be gone within two days and could not obtain so much as liberty to leave their Wives or Children behind them till they could provide a place for them From thence they went first to Lubeck then to Wismar and Hamburgh where they found the disputes about the manner of Christs Presents in the Sacrament had raised such violent animosities that after much barbarous usage they were banished out of all those Towns and could find no place to settle in till about the end of March that they came to Friseland where they were suffered to plant themselves Many English fly beyond Sea Many in England seeing the Government was set on severe courses so early did
was the same that Cranmer had formerly designed but never took effect Certainly Persons formed from their Childhood with others Notions and another method of living must be much better fitted for a holy Character than those that have lived in the pleasures and follies of the world who unless a very extraordinary change is wrought in them still keep some of their old Customs about them and so fall short of that gravity and decency that becomes so Spiritual a Function He shewed the weakness of his Spirit in one thing that being against Cruel Proceedings with Hereticks he did not more openly profess it but both suffered the other Bishops to go on and even in Canterbury now sequestred in his hands and soon after put under his care he left those poor men to the Cruelties of the brutal and fierce Popish Clergy In this he was to be pitied that he had not Courage enough to contend with so haughty a Pope as Paul the 4th was who thought of no other way of bearing down Heresie but by setting up the Inquisition every where so Pool it seems judged it sufficient for him not to act himself nor to set on any and thought he did enough when he discouraged it in private but yet he granted Commissions to the other Bishops and Arch-Deacons to proceed against those called Hereticks He was not only afraid of being discharged of his Legation and of losing the Archbishoprick of Canterbury which was now ready to fall upon him but he feared to be sent for to Rome and cruelly used by the Pope who remembred all the Quarrels he formerly had with any of the Cardinals and put Card. Merone that was Pool's great Friend in Prison upon suspicion of Heresie All these things prevailed with Pool to give way to the Persecution and it was thought that he himself hastned the Execution of Cranmer longing to be invested with that See which is the only personal blemish I find laid on him One remarkable thing of him was his not listening to the Proposition the Jesuits made him of bringing them into England That Order had been set up about twelve years before this and was in its first Institution chiefly designed for propagating the Doctrines of that Church in Heretical or Infidel Countries to which was afterwards added the Education of Children It was not easily allowed of at Rome because the Bishops did universally complain of the great numbers of exempted Regulars and therefore at first it was limited to a small number which Restriction was soon taken off They besides the Vows of other Orders took one for a blind and universal Obedience to the See of Rome And because they were much to be imployed they were dispensed with as to the hours of the Quire which made them be called a Mungrel Order between the Regulars and Seculars They have since that time by their care in educating Youth by their indefatigable Industry and chiefly by their Accommodating Pennances and all the other Rules of Religion to the Humours and Inclinations of those who confess their Sins to them drawn almost all the World after them and are raised now to that heighth both of Wealth and Power that they are become the Objects of the Envy and Hatred of all the rest of their own Church They suggested to Pool That whereas the Queen was restoring the Goods of the Church that were in her hands it was but to little purpose to raise up the old Foundations for the Benedictine Order was become rather a Clog than a Help to the Church they therefore desired that those Houses might be assigned to them for maintaining Schools and Seminaries which they should set on quickly and they did not doubt but by their dealing with the Consciences of those who were a dying they should soon recover the greatest part of the Goods of the Church The Jesuits were out of measure offended with him for not entertaining their Proposition which I gather from an Italian Manuscript which my most worthy Friend Mr. Crawford found in Venice when he was Chaplain there to Sir Thomas Higgins his Majesties Envoy to that Republick but how it came that this motion was laid aside I am not able to judge There passed nothing else remarkable this Year but that in the end of November John Web a Gentleman George Roper and Gregory Parke were burnt all at at one Stake in Canterbury And on the 18th of December Philpot Philpots Martyrdom that had disputed in the Convocation was burnt in Smithfield He was at the end of that meeting put in Prison for what he had said in it tho liberty of speech had been promised and the nature of the meeting did require it He was kept long in the Stocks in the Bishop of London's Coal-house and many conferences were had with him to perswade him to change By what Bonner said in one of them it appears that he hoped they should be better used upon Gardiners death for Bonner told him he thought because the Lord Chancelour was dead they would burn no more but he should soon find his Error if he did not recant He continued stedfast in his Perswasion and pleaded that he had never spoken nor written against their Laws since they were made being all the while a Prisoner except what he had said in Conference with them yet this prevailed not with Bonner who had as little Justice as Mercy in his temper On the 16th of December he was condemned and delivered to the Sheriffs He was at first laid in Irons because he was so poor that he could not fee the Jaylour but next day these were by the Sheriffs order taken off As he was led into Smithfield on the 18th he kneeled down and said I will pay my Vows in thee O Smithfield When he was brought to the Stake he said Shall I disdain to suffer at this Stake since my Redeemer did not refuse to suffer on the Cross for me He repeated the 106th 107th and 108th Psalms and then fitted himself for the Fire which consumed him to Ashes So this Year ended in which there were sixty seven burnt for Religion and of those four were Bishops and thirteen were Priests Forreign Affairs In Germany a Diet was held at Ausburg where the Peace of Germany was fully setled and it was decreed that the Princes of the Ausburg Confession should have the free liberty of their Religion and that every Prince might in his own State establish what Religion he pleased excepting only the Ecclesiastical Princes who were to forfeit their Benefices if they turned Those of Austria and Ferdinand's other Hereditary Dominions desired freedom for their Consciences but Ferdinand refused it yet he appointed the Chalice to be given in the Sacrament The Duke of Bavaria did the like in his Dominions At all this the Pope was highly offended and talked of deposing Ferdinand He had nothing so much in his mouth as the Authority former Popes had exercised in deposing Princes at
offered himself visibly and in the Mass being likewise both Priest and Sacrifice offereth himself invisibly by the common Minister of the Church who in the name and stead of the whole faithful Congregation offereth and presenteth as he bid and commanded by Christ The Representation and Commemoration of Christ's Death and Passion said and done in the Mass is called the Sacrifice Oblation Roffen or Immolation of Christ Non rei veritate as learned Men do write sed significandi Mysterio It is in giving Thanks unto the Father Bristollen as Christ did himself at his Supper taking the Bread and Wine into his hands and with the words of Consecration consecrating the same and then making presentation of the very Body and Blood of Christ unto God the Father in the Name of the Church in the memory of Christ's most painful Passion and Death suffered upon the Cross and so worthily receiving the same and with giving thanks again for the same at the latter end as the Gospel saith Hymno dicto but what this Hymn or Prayer was I find no mention Meneven The Oblation and Sacrifice of Christ mentioned in the Mass is a memorial of Christ's only Sacrifice upon the Cross once offered for ever Vnica enim Oblatione perfectos effecit in perpetuum eos qui sanctificantur Heb. 10. Dr. Cox The Oblation of the Sacrifice of Christ in the Mass is the Prayer the Praise the Thanksgiving and the remembrance of Christ's Passion and Death Dr. Tyler There is no Oblation speaking properly but some Ancient Doctors and the use of the Church calleth the receiving of it with the Circumstances then done an Oblation that is to say a Memorial and Remembrance of Christ's most precious Oblation upon the Cross Quest 4. Wherein consisteth the Mass by Christ's Institution Answers Cantuarien THe Mass by Christ's Institution consisteth in those things which be set forth in the Evangelists Matth. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. 1 Cor. 10 11. Eboracen The Mass by Christ's Institution consisteth in the Consecration and Oblation of the very Body and Blood of Christ with Prayer Thanksgiving and Receiving of the same as appeareth in the Evangelists Matth. 26.27 Mark 14. 15. Luke 22. 23. John 6. 1 Cor. 10 11. Acts 2. London Worcester Hereford Norvicen Cicestren Assaven I think it consisteth principally in the Consecration Oblation and Receiving of the Body and Blood of Christ with Prayers and Thanksgiving but what the Prayers were and what Rites Christ used or commanded at the first institution of the Mass the Scripture declareth not Dunelm The Mass by Christ's Institution consisteth in those things which be set forth by the Evangelists Mat. 26. Mark 19. Luke 22. and Paul 1 Cor. 10 11 12. and Acts 2. with humble and contrite Confession the Oblation of Christ as before the Receiving of the Sacrament giving of Thanks therefore and Common Prayer for the Mystical Body of Christ The Mass by Christ's Institution Sarisburien consisteth in those things which be set forth in the Evangelists Matth. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. 1 Cor. 10 11. Acts 2 and 13. It consisteth in these things which be set forth Matth. 26. Mark 19. Luke 22. 1 Cor. 10.11 Acts 2. Lincoln The Mass by Christ's Institution Elien consisteth in those things which be set forth in the Evangelists Matth. 26. Luke 22. and 1 Cor. 10.11 and Acts 2. The Mass by Christ's Institution Covent Litchfield only expressing the Form of Christ by the Scripture consisteth in the taking of the Bread and giving thanks to God the Father in the Benediction and Consecration in the receiving or distribution and receiving of them to whom the distribution is made by the hands of the Priest as the Eldest Authors affirme in the renewing of the memory of our Redemption by an undoubted Faith and for that to give most humble thanks so calling to remembrance as often as it is thus done the inestimable benefit of our Redemption What Thanks that Christ gave before this most holy Action or what Thanks that he gave after it by the general words of Matthew Hymno dicto are not expressed Chap. 24. So that there appeareth both before this most Holy Action and also after to be a certain Ceremony appointed by Christ more than is expressed Moreover 1 Cor. 11. by the Doctrine of the Apostle it behoveth every Man to be wise and circumspect that he receive not this most blessed Sacrament unworthily and unreverently not making difference betwixt the receiving of the most blessed Body of Christ and other Meats The Mass by Christ's Institution consisteth in Consecrating Carliolen Offering Receiving and Distributing of the blessed Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ according to that he himself did willed and commanded to be done This we have manifested by the Evangelists St. Paul and St. Luke in the Acts. But because Christ was after his Resurrection long with his Disciples communicating and treating of the Kingdom of God what should be done here to come thither it may be well thought that whatsoever he or his Holy Spirit left with the Apostles and they with others after which also the whole Universal Congregation of Christian People useth and observeth most ancient and holy Doctors in like form noteth may likewise be said and taken as of Christ's Institution I am not able to say Roffen that the Mass consisteth by Christ's Institution in other things than in those which be set forth in the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke in the Acts and 1 Cor. 10. 11. As I take it the Mass by Christ's Institution Bristollen consisteth in those Things and Rites which be set forth unto us in the 26th of St. Matthew the 14th of St. Mark and the 22 of St. Luke and also as mention is made in the first Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 10. and 11. and Acts 11. any other Institution I read not of by Scripture Meneven Christ's Institution compriseth no more in the Mass than the Communion of the Body and Blood to be ministred and received under both kinds of Bread and Wine according as is declared by the Evangelists Mat. 26. Mark 14. Luke in the Acts 2. Dr. Cox The Mass by Christ's Institution consisteth in Thanksgiving to the Father in distributing of the Body and Blood of Christ to the Congregation to have the Death and Passion of Christ in remembrance and in the end to laud and praise God Dr. Tyler In giving of Thanks to God the Father and blessing and breaking it and reverently receiving the Holy Sacraments with all such Rites and Circumstances as Christ did in both the kinds Quest 5. What time the accustomed Order began first in the Church that the Priest alone should receive the Sacrament Answers Cantuarien I Think the use that the Priest alone did receive the Sacrament without the People began
be Baptized in time of necessity and they the said Parishioners reverently and devoutly to prepare themselves to receive and use the Sacraments especially the Sacrament of the Altar or to be confessed and receive at the Priest's hand the benefit of Absolution according to the laudable custom of this Realm Article 21. Item Whether they and every each of them hath diligently visited his and their Parishioners in the time of Sickness and Need and ministred Sacraments and Sacramentals to them accordingly and whether they have exhorted and monished them to have due respect to their Souls Health and also to set an Order in their Temporal Lands and Goods declaring their Debts perfectly and what is owing unto them and they so to make their Testaments and last Wills that as much as may be all trouble and business may be excluded their Wives and Children with their Friends may be holpen and succoured and themselves decently buried and prayed for and to have an honest memory and commendations for their so doing Article 22. Item Whether they and every of them have solemnized Matrimony between and his Parishioners or any other Persons the Banes not before asked three several Sundays or Holy-days or without Certificate of the said Banes from the Curat of any other Parish if any of them be of another Parish And whether touching the Solemnization and use of this Sacrament of Matrimony and also of all other the Sacraments of the Church they have kept and observed the old and laudable Custom of the Church without any innovation or alteration in any of the same Article 23. Item Whether they or every each of them upon the Sunday at the Service-time doth use to set forth and to declare unto the People all such Holy-days and Fasting-days as of Godly usage and custom hath heretofore laudably been accustomed to be kept and observed in the week following and ensuing and whether they and every of them doth observe and keep themselves the said Holy-days and Fasting-days Article 24. Item Whether the Parson or Vicar doth repair and maintain his Chancel and Mansion-house in sufficient reparation and the same being in decay whether he doth bestow yearly the fifth part of his Benefice till such time the same be sufficiently repaired doing also further his Duty therein and otherwise as by the Law he is charged and bound in that behalf distributing and doing as he is bound by the Law Article 25. Item Whether there be any Person that doth serve any Cure or minister any Sacraments not being Priest or if any do take upon them to use the Room and Office of the Parson or Vicar or Curat of any Benefice or Spiritual Promotion receiving the Fruits thereof not being admitted thereunto by the Ordinary Article 26. Item Whether they and every each of them doth go in Priestly Apparel and Habit having their Beards and Crowns shaven or whether any of them doth go in Lay-mens Habits and Apparel or otherwise disguise themselves that they cannot easily be discovered or known from Lay-men Article 27. Item Whether they or any of them have many Promotions and Benefices Ecclesiastical Cures Secular Services Yearly Pensions Annuities Farms or other Revenues now in Title or Possession and what the Names of them be and where they lie giving all good instruction and perfect information therein Article 28. Item Whether such as have Churches or Chappels appropriated or Mansions or Houses thereto appertaining do keep their Chancels and Houses in good and sufficient reparations and whether they do all things in Distributions and Alms or otherwise as by Law and good Order they ought to do Article 29. Item Whether any such as were ordered Schismatically and contrary to the old Order and Custom of the Catholick Church or being unlawfully and schismatically married after the late innovation and manner being not yet reconciled nor admitted by the Ordinary have celebrated or said either Mass or Divine Service within any Cure or Place of this City or Diocess Article 30. Item Whether any Parson or Vicar or other having Ecclesiastical Promotion doth set out the same to Farm without consent knowledg and license of his Ordinary especially for an unreasonable number of Years or with such Conditions Qualities or Manners that the same is to the great prejudice of the Church and the incumbent of the same and especially of him that shall succeed therein Article 31. Item Whether there be any Parson or Vicar Curat or Priest that occupieth buying and selling as a Merchant or occupieth Usury or layeth out his Mony for filthy Lucres-sake and Gain to the slander of the Priesthood Article 32. Item Whether they or any of them do wear Swords Daggers or other Weapons in times or places not convenient or seemly Article 33. Item Whether any Priest or Ecclesiastical Person have reiterated or renewed Baptism which was lawfully done before or invented or followed any new Fashion or Forms contrary to the Order of the Catholick Church Article 34. Item Whether the Parson Vicar or Curat do according to the Law every quarter in the Year upon one solemn Day or more that is to wit upon the Sunday or Solemn Feast when the Parishioners by the Order of the Church do come together expound and declare by himself or some other sufficient Person unto the People in the Vulgar or Common Tongue plainly truly and fruitfully the Articles of the Catholick Faith the Ten Commandments expressed in the Old Law the Two Commandments of the Gospel or New Law that is of earnest Love to God and to our Neighbour the seven Works of Mercy the seven deadly Sins with their Off-spring Progeny and Issue the seven principal Vertues and the seven Sacraments of the Church Article 35. Item Whether that every Priest having Cure do admonish the Women that are with Child within his Cure to come to Confession and to receive the Sacrament especially when their time draweth nigh and to have Water in readiness to christen the Child if necessity so require it Article 36. Item Whether Stipendiary Priests do behave themselves discreetly and honestly in all Points towards their Parson or Vicar giving an Oath and doing according to the Law and Ecclesiastical Constitutions Ordinances and laudable Customs in that behalf Article 37. Item Whether any Parson Vicar or other having any Ecclesiastical Promotion have made any alienation of any thing pertaining to their Church Benefice or Promotion what it is and what warrant they had so to do Number 16. An Address made by the Lower House of Convocation to the Upper House Ex MS. Col. Cor. C. Cant. RIght Reverend Fathers in God We the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury of the Lower House do most humbly pray your good Lordships That toughing the Submission and Order of the Lands and Possessions which sometimes did appertain to divers Bishops Cathedral Churches and to the late suppressed Monasteries Priories Colleges Chauntries and free Chappels and other Churches within this Realm and be now
Jurisdiction against Hereticks Schismaticks and their Fautors in as large and ample manner as they were in the first Year of King Henry the Eighth 5. And that the Premises may be the better executed by the presence of Beneficed Men in their Cures the Statutes made Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth concerning Pluralities of Benefices and Non-residence of Beneficed Men by reason whereof a larger Liberty or License is given to a great multitude of Priests and Chaplains to be absent from their Benefices with Cure than was ever permitted by the Canon Laws and all other Statutes touching the same may be repealed void and abolished and that the Bishops and other Ordinaries may call all Beneficed Men to be resident upon their Cures as before the making of that Act they might have done 6. Item That the Ordinaries do from time to time make Process for punishment of all Simoniacal Persons of whom it is thought there were never so many within this Realm And that not only the Clerks but also the Patrons and all the Mediators of such Pactions may be punish'd Wherein we think good that Order were taken that the Patrons should lose their Patronage during their natural Lives according to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of this Realm 7. Item That the ancient Liberty Authority and Jurisdiction be restored to the Church of England according to the Article of the great Charter called Magna Charta at the least wise in such sort as it was in the first Year of Henry the Eighth and touching this Article we shall desire your Lordships to be with us most humble Suitors to the King 's and Queen's Majesty and to the Lord Legat for the remission of the importable Burdens of the First-Fruits Tenths and Subsidies In which Suit whatsoever advancement your Lordships shall think good to be offered unto their Majesties for the same we shall therein be always glad to do as shall be thought good 8. Item That no Attachment of Premunire be awarded against any Bishop or other Ordinary Ecclesiastical from henceforth in any Matter but that a Prohibition be first brought to the same and that it may please the King 's and Queen's Majesty to command the Temporal Judges of this Realm to explicate and declare plainly all and singular Articles of the Premunire and to make a certain Doctrine thereof 9. Item That the Statutes of the Provisors be not drawn by unjust Interpretation out of their proper Cases nor from the proper sense of the words of the same Statutes 10. Item That the Statute of Submission of the Clergy made Anno 25. of Henry the Eighth and all other Statutes made during the time of the late Schism in derogation of the Liberties and Jurisdictions of the Church from the first Year of King Henry the Eighth may be repealed and the Church restored in integrum 11. Item That the Statute made for finding of great Horses by Ecclesiastical Perâ—â—ns may likewise be repealed 12. Item That Usurers may be punish'd by the Common Laws as in times past hath been used 13. Item That those which lay violent Hands upon any Priest or other Ecclesiastical Minister being in Orders may be punish'd by the Canon Laws as in times past hath been used 14. Item That all Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons and all other having Prebends or other Ecclesiastical Promotions or Benefices from henceforth use such Priest-like Habit as the quality of his State and Benefice requireth 15. Item That Married Priests may be compelled to forsake their Women whom they took as their Wives 16. Item That an Order may be taken for the bringing up of Youth in good Learning and Vertue and that the School-Masters of this Realm may be Catholick Men and all other to be removed that are either Sacramentaries or Hereticks or otherwise notable Criminous Persons 17. Item That all exempt and peculiar Places may from henceforth be immediately under the Jurisdiction of that Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose several Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same are presently constitute and scituate And whereas divers Temporal Men by reason of late Purchases of certain Abbies and exempt Places have by their Letters Patents or otherwise granted unto them Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the said Places That from henceforth the said Jurisdiction be devolv'd to the Arch-Bishop or Bishop and Arch-Deacon within whose Diocess and Arch-deaconry the same now be 18. Item Where the Mayor of London by force of a Decree made Anno of Henry the Eighth hath attributed unto him the Cognition of Causes of Tythes in London that from henceforth the same Cognition and Jurisdiction may utterly cease and be reduced immediately to the Bishop of London Ordinary there 19. Item That Tythes may be henceforth paid according to the Canon Laws 20. Item That Lands and Places impropriated to Monasteries which at the time of Dissolution and Suppression thereof were exempt from payment of Tythes may be now allotted to certain Parishes and there chargeable to pay like Tythes as other Parishoners do 21. Item That there be a streight Law made whereby the reparations of Chancels which are notoriously decay'd through the Realm may be duly repaired from time to time by such as by the Law ought to do the same and namely such as be in the King 's and Queen's Hands and that the Ordinaries may lawfully proceed in Causes of Dilapidations as well of them as of all other Parsonages Vicarages and other Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions 22. Item That Order be taken for the more speedy payment of Pensions to all Priests Pentionaries and that they may have the same without long Suits or Charges 23. Item That an Order be taken for payment of Personal Tythes in Cities and Towns and elsewhere as was â—sed in Anno 21. of Henry the Eighth 24. Item That such Priests as were lately married and refuse to reconcile themselves to their Order and to be restored to Ministration may have some special Animadversion whereby as Apostates they may be discern'd from other 25. Item That Religious Women which be married may be divorced 26. Item That in Divorces which are made from Bed and Board Provision may be made that the Innocent Woman may enjoy such Lands and Goods as were hers before the Marriage or that happened to come to her use at any time during the Marriage and that it may not be lawful for the Husband being for his Offence divorced from the said Woman to intermeddle himself with the said Lands or Goods unless his Wife be to him reconciled 27. Item That Wardens of Churches and Chappels may render their Accounts before the Ordinaries and may be by them compell'd to do the same 28. Item That all such Ecclesiastical Persons as lately have spoiled Cathedral Collegiat and other Churches of their own heads and temerity may be compelled to restore all and singular things so by them taken away or the true value thereof and farther to re-edify such things as by them are destroy'd and defac'd
kill the Queen for which he justly suffered Of this I find nothing on Record so it must depend on our Author's Credit which is not infallible 75. He says The Imposture of Elizabeth Crofts Ibid. was set up by the Persuasion of many of the Hereticks and when it was discovered she confessed she had been set on to it by others and by one Drake in particular but they all fled In the Account that was then published of that Imposture Drake only is accused for it what he was does not appear to me for I have never found him mentioned but on this Occasion so there was no reason to transfer the private Guilt of this Conspiracy on a whole Party as our Author does though upon his Credit one of our Writers has also done it 76. He says Those in whose hands the Church-Lands were Pag. 243. had great apprehensions of their being forced to restore them because the Queen had restored all the Land that were in her hands and had again converted the Collegiat Church of Westminster into an Abbey But to prevent the ill Effects that might have followed on this the Cardinal did in the Pope's Name absolve them from all Censures for possessing those Lands and that was confirmed by Letters sent over from the Pope He observes the order of Time very exactly when he sets the Queen's restoring the Church-Lands and founding the Abbey of Westminster as the occasions of the Fears the Laity were in of being forced to restore the rest of the Church-Lands and of the Cardinal 's absolving them from all Censures for keeping them still in their hands The Order in which this was done was thus In Novemb. 1554 in the Act of Reconciliation with the See of Rome there was a special Proviso made for the Church-Lands which the Cardinal confirmed in the Pope's Name In the Year after that the Queen gave up into the Cardinal Hands all the Church-Lands that belonged to the Crown and two Years after she founded the Abbey of Westminster so little influence had these things on the other that were done before But he was grosly mistaken when he said the Pope approved All for he in plain terms refused to ratify what the Cardinal had done and soon after set out a severe Bull Cursing and Condemning all that held any Church-Lands 77. He says Pag. 244. All the Bishops being sensible of their Schismatical way of entring into their Sees did desire and obtain a Confirmation from the Pope Kitchin Bishop of Landaff only excepted who afterwards relapsed into Heresy under Queen Elizabeth and says it is likely the want of this Confirmation made him be more easily overcome This our Author wrote being a thing very probable and seldom do his Authorities for what he asserts rise higher It was also a pretty strain of his Wit to make the omitting of it fall singly on the only Bishop that conformed under Queen Elizabeth But it is certain there was no such thing done at all for if any had done it Bonner was as likely as any other since as none had been more faulty in King Henry's Time so none studied to redeem that with more servile compliances than he did yet there is nothing of this recorded in his Register which continues entire to this day Pag. 246. 78. He says The State of the Universities was restored to what it had been and Oxford in particular by Petrus a Soto's means who was in the Opinion of all much preferred to P. Martyr He that gathered the Antiquities of Oxford though no partial Writer on this occasion represents the state of that University very differently that there were almost no Divines in it and scarce any publick Lectures But when Sanders writ his Poem the Spanish Councils were so much depended on by him and his Party that it was fit to put that Complement on the Nation concerning Petrus a Soto Whether it was true or false was a Circumstance which he generously overlook'd for most part Pag. 248. 79. He says Queen Elizabeth had done many things in Queen Mary's Time both against her Person and Government He knew this was so false that there was never a Circumstance or a Presumption brought against her but the Information which Wiat gave hoping thereby to save himself and yet he denied that on the Scaffold If there had been any colour to have justified the taking away her Life both the Queen and her Counsellors were as much enclined to it as our Author himself was Ibid. 80. He says King Henry said in Parliament she was not and could not be his Daughter for a secret Reason which he had revealed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury This was aptly enough said by a Writer that had emancipated himself from the Laws of Truth and Veracity to appeal to such a Story yet to have made it pass the better he should have named other Circumstances for such a thing cannot be easily believed since after Ann Boleyn's Death the King continued to treat Elizabeth still as his Daughter so that when she writ to his next Queen she subscribed Daughter she was in all things educated with the Care and State that became a King's Child and was both by Act of Parliament and by his Will declared to be so Now to think that such a King would have done all this after he had in Parliament declared that she could not be his Child is a little too coarse to be believed and so should have been supported with more than ordinary Proofs Ibid. 81. He says She came to the Crown meerly by virtue of the Act of Parliament without being Legitimated In this she and her Sister were upon the same Level for neither of them were declared Legitimate so this was not to be objected to the one more than to the other Sister Pag. 249. 82. He says Queen Mary being declared by Act of Parliament in the beginning of her Reign Legitimate and her Mothers Marriage being declared good Elizabeth was thereby of new Illegitimated yet she never repealed the Laws against her Title but kept the Crown meerly upon the Authority of an Act of Parliament without having any regard to her Birth Queen Mary came to the Crown being in the same Condition and was either a lawful Queen before that Act was made or else that Act was of no force if it had not the Royal Assent given by a lawful Queen So Queen Elizabeth was as much Queen before any such Act could have passed as afterwards and therefore since it was not necessary for the securing her Title it was a sign of her tenderness of her Father's Memory to which Queen Mary had no regard not to revive the remembrance of things that must have turned so much to his dishonour as that would have done 83. He says Pag. 250. Queen Mary not being able to prevent her Sisters Succession sent a Message to her on her Death-Bed desiring her to pay her Debts and
other The corruption of Lay-Patrons in their Simoniacal Bargains was then so notorious that it was necessary to give a Check to it as we find there was by these Injunctions But whether either this or the Oath afterwards appointed to be taken has effectually delivered this Church of that great abuse I shall not determine If those who bestow Benefices did consider that the charge of Souls being annexed to them they shall answer to God severely for putting so sacred a Trust in mean or ill hands upon any base or servile accounts it would make them look a little more carefully to a thing of so high consequence and neither expose so holy a thing to sale nor gratifie a Friend or Servant by granting them the next Advowson or be too easily overcome with the sollicitations of impudent Pretenders The Form of Bidding Prayer was not begun by King Henry as some have weakly imagined but was used in the times of Popery as will appear by the Form of Bidding the Beads in King Henry the 7th's time which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 8. Where the way was first for the Preacher to name and open his Text and then to call on the People to go to their Prayers and to tell them what they were to pray for after which all the People said their Beads in a general silence and the Minister kneeled down likewise and said his All the change King Henry the 8th made in this was That the Pope and Cardinals names being left out he was ordered to be mentioned with the addition of his Title of Supream Head that the People hearing that oft repeated by their Priests might be better perswaded about it but his other Titles were not mentioned And this Order was now renewed Only the Prayer for departed Souls was changed from what it had been It was formerly in these words Ye shall pray for the Souls that be departed abiding the Mercy of Almighty God that it may please him the rather at the contemplation of our Prayers to grant them the Fruition of his Presence which did imply their being in a state where they did not enjoy the Presence of God which was avoided by the more general words now prescribed The Injunctions given the Bishops directed them to that which if followed carefully would be the most effectual means of Reforming at least the next Age if not that wherein they lived For if Holy Orders were given to none but to those who are well qualified and seem to be internally called by a Divine Vocation the Church must soon put on a new face whereas when Orders are too easily given upon the credit of emendicated Recommendations or Titles and after a slight trial of the knowledge of such Candidates without any exact scrutiny into their sense of things or into the disposition of their minds no wonder if by the means of Clergy-men so ordained the Church lose much in the esteem and love of the People who being possessed with prejudices against the whole Society for the faults which they see in particular Persons become an easie prey to such as divide from it Thus were the Visitors instructed and sent out to make their Circuits in August August The Protector went into Scotland about the time that the Protector made his Expedition into Scotland For the occasion of it I shall refer the Reader to what is already said in the former part of this Work Before they engaged deeper in the War Sir Francis Brian was sent over to France to congratulate the new King and to see if he would confirm these Propositions that were agreed to during his Fathers life and if he would pay the Pension that was to be given yearly till Bulloigne were restored and chiefly to obtain of him to be neutral in the War of Scotland Thuanus complaining of that Nation that had broken their Faith with England in the matter of the Marriage To all which the French King answered That for these Articles they mentioned he thought it dishonourable for him to confirm them and said his Fathers Agent Poligny had no Warrant to yield to them for by them the English were at liberty to fortifie what they had about Bulloigne which he would never consent to That he was willing to pay what was agreed to by his Father but would have first the conditions of the delivery of Bulloigne made more clear As for the Scots they were his perpetual Allies whom he could not forsake if they were in any distress And when it was pressed on him and his Ambassador at London Questions made whether Scotland was a free Kingdom or Subject to England That Scotland was subject to the Crown of England they had no regard to it When the Council desired the French Ambassador to look on the Records which they should bring him for proving their Title He excused himself and said his Master would not interpose in a Question of that nature nor would he look back to what was pretended to have been done two or three hundred years ago but was to take things as he found them and that the Scots had Records likewise to prove their being a free Kingdom So the Council saw they could not engage in the War with Scotland without drawing on a War with France which made them try their Interest with their Friends this year to see if the Marriage could be obtained But the Castle of St. Andrews was now lost by the assistance of that Leo Strozi brought from France And though they in England continued to send Pensions to their Party for in May 1300 l. was sent down by Henry Balnaves and in June 125 l. was sent to the Earl of Glencairn for an half years payment of his Pension yet they could gain no ground there for the Scots now thought themselves safer than formerly the Crown of England being in the hands of a Child and the Court of France being much governed by their Queen Dowagers Brothers They gave way to the Borderers to make In-rodes of whom about 2000 fell into the Western Marches and made great Depredations The Scots in Ireland were also very ill Neighbours to the English there There were many other Complaints of Pyracies at Sea and of a Ship-Royal that robbed many English Ships but how these came to be complained of I do not see for they were in open War and I do not find any Truce had been made The French Agent at London pressed much that there might be a Treaty on the Borders before the Breach were made wider But now the Protector had given Orders for raising an Army so that he had no mind to lose that Summer Yet to let the French King see how careful they were of preserving his Friendship they appointed the Bishop of Duresme and Sir Robert Bowes to give the Scotch Commissioners a Meeting on the Borders the 4th of August but with these secret Instructions That if the Scots would confirm the
his former Wife and the making Marriages indissoluble was but a part of the Popish Law by which it was reckoned a Sacrament and yet the Popes knowing that the World would not easily come under such a Yoke had by the help of the Canonists invented such distinctions that it was no uneasie thing to make a Marriage void among them and that the condition of this Church was very hard if upon Adulteries the Innocent must either live with the Guilty or be exposed to temptations to the like sins if a separation was only allowed but the bond of the Marriage continued undissolved But since he had proceeded so far before the Delegates had given sentence it was Ordered that he and his new Wife should be parted and that she should be put into his Sister the Queen Dowagers keeping till the matter were tried whether it was according to the Word of God or not and that then further order should be given in it Upon this the Delegates made hast and gathered their Arguments together Of which I shall give an Abstract both for the clearing of this matter concerning which not many years ago there were great debates in Parliament and also to shew the exactness of the Proceedings in that time Christ condemned all Marriages upon Divorces The Grounds on which he was suffered to marry again except in the Case of Adultery which seemed manifestly to allow them in that Case And though this is not mentioned by St. Mark and St. Luke yet it is enough that St. Mathew has it Christ also defined the state of Marriage to be that in which two are one flesh so that when either of the two hath broken that Union by becoming one with another Person then the Marriage is dissolved And it is oft repeated in the Gospel That married Persons have power over one anothers Bodies and that they are to give due benevolence to each other which is plainly contrary to this way of separation without dissolving the Bond. St. Paul putting the case of an Unbeliever departing from the Partner in Marriage says The Believing Party whether Brother or Sister is not under Bondage in such a case which seems a discharge of the Bond in case of Desertion and certainly Adultery is yet of a higher nature But against this was alledged on the other side That our Saviours allowing Divorce in the Case of Adultery was only for the Jews to whom it was spoken to mitigate the cruelty of their Law by which the Adulteress was to be put to death and therefore he yielded Divorce in that Case to mitigate the severity of the other Law But the Apostle writing to the Gentile Christians at Rome and Corinth said The Wife was tied by the Law to the Husband as long as he lived And that other general Rule Whom God has joyned together let no Man put asunder seems against the dissolving the Bond. To this it was answered That it is against separating as well as dissolving that the Wife is tied to her Husband but if he ceaseth to be her Husband that tie is at an end That our Saviour left the Wife at liberty to divorce her Husband for Adultery though the Law of Moses had only provided That the Adulterous Wife and he who defiled her were to die but the Husband who committed Adultery was not so punishable therefore our Saviour had by that Provision declared the Marriage to be clearly dissolved by Adultery From hence they went to examine the Authorities of the Fathers Hermes was for putting away the Adulteress but so as to receive her again upon repentance Origen thought the Wife could not marry again after divorce Tertullian allowed Divorce and thought it dissolved the Marriage as much as Death did Epiphanius did also allow it And Ambrose in one Place allows the Husband to marry after divorce for Adultery though he condemns it always in the Wife Basil allowed it on either side upon Adultery Jerome who condemns the Wife's marrying though her Husband were guilty of Adultery and who disliked the Husbands marrying again though he allowed him to divorce upon Adultery or the suspition of it yet when his Friend Fabiola had married after a Divorce he excuses it saying it was better for her to marry than to burn Chromatius allowed of second Marriages after Divorce And so did Chrysostome though he condemned them in Women so divorcing St. Austin was sometimes for a Divorce but against Marriage upon it yet in his Retractations he writ doubtfully of his former Opinion In the Civil Law the Christian Emperors allowed the power of Divorcing both to Husband and Wife with the right of marrying afterwards Nor did they restrain the Grounds of Divorce only to Adultery but permitted it in many other Cases as if the Wife were guilty of Treason had treated for another Husband had procured an Abortion had been whole nights abroad or had gone to see the publick Plays without leave from her Husband besides many other Particulars Against which none of the Fathers had writ nor endeavoured to get them repealed All these Laws were confirmed by Justinian when he gathered the Laws into a Body and added to it where they were defective In the Canon Law it is provided that he whose Wife is defiled must not be denied lawful Marriage Pope Gregory denied a second Marriage to the guilty Person but allowed it to the Innocent after Divorce Pope Zachary allowed the Wife of an Incestuous Adulterer to be married if she could not contain In the Canon Law the Council of Tribury is cited for allowing the like Priviledge to the Husbands By the Council of Elvira a Man that finds that his Wife intends to kill him may put her away and marry another but she must never marry The Council of Arles recommended it to Husbands whose Wives were found in Adultery not to marry during their Lives And that at Elvira denied the Sacrament to a Wife who left an Adulterous Husband and married another but she might have the Communion when her first Husband died So the second Marriage was accounted good but only indecent But the Council of Milevi forbids both Man and Wife to marry after Divorce All these were Collected by Cranmer with several very important Reflections on most of the Quotations out of the Fathers With these there is another Paper given in by one who was against the dissolving the Bond in which there are many Quotations brought both from the Canon Law and the Fathers for the contrary Opinion But most of the Fathers there cited are of the latter Ages in which the state of Coelibate had been so exalted by the Monks that in all doubtful Cases they were resolved still to prefer that Opinion which denied Liberty for further Marriages In conclusion this whole Question was divided into eight Queries which were put to some learned Men who these were does not appear and they returned their Answer in favour of the second Marriage Number 20. which will
Christs Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament Upon which many of the Assembly that were indiscreetly hot on both sides cried out some approving and others disliking it Of the Kings Authority under Age and of the Power of the Council in that Case he said not a word and upon that he was imprisoned The occasion of this was the Popish Clergy began generally to have it spread among them that though they had acknowledged the Kings Supremacy yet they had never owned the Councils Supremacy That the Council could only see to the execution of the Laws and Orders that had been made but could not make new ones and that therefore the Supremacy could not be exercised till the King in whose Person it was vested came to be of Age to consider of Matters himself Upon this the Lawyers were consulted who did unanimously resolve that the Supremacy being annexed to the Regal Dignity was the same in a King under Age when it was executed by the Council that it was in a King at full Age and therefore things ordered by the Council now had the same Authority in Law that they could have when the King did act himself But this did not satisfie the greater part of the Clergy Some of whom by the high Flatteries that had been given to Kings in King Henry's time seemed to fancy that there were degrees of Divine Illumination derived unto Princes by the anointing them at the Coronation and these not exerting themselves till a King attained to a ripeness of understanding they thought the Supremacy was to lie dormant while he was so young The Protector and Council endeavoured to have got Gardiner to declare against this but he would not meddle in it How far he might set forward the other Opinion I do not know These Proceedings against him were thought too severe and without Law but he being generally hated they were not so much censured as they had been if they had fallen on a more acceptable Man And thus were the Orders made by the Council generally obeyed many being terrified with the usage Gardiner met with from which others inferred what they might look for if they were refractory when so great a Bishop was so treated The next thing Cranmer set about was the compiling of a Catechisme or large instruction of young Persons in the Grounds of the Christian Religion In it he reckons the two first Commandments but one Cranmer sets out a Catechisme though he says many of the Ancients divided them in two But the division was of no great consequence so no part of the Decalogue were suppressed by the Church He shewed that the excuses the Papists had for Images were no other than what the Heathens brought for their Idolatry who also said they did not worship the Image but that only which was represented by it He particularly takes notice of the Image of the Trinity He shews how St. Peter would not suffer Cornelius and the Angel would not suffer St. John to worship them The believing that there is a vertue in one Image more than in another he accounts plain Idolatry Ezekias broke the Brazen Serpent when abused though it was a Type or Image of Christ made by Gods command to which a miraculous Vertue had been once given So now there was good reason to break Images when they had been so abused to superstition and Idolatry and when they gave such scandal to Jews and Mahometans who generally accounted the Christians Idolaters on that account He asserts besides the two Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper the Power of reconciling Sinners to God as a third and fully owns the Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests and wishes that the Canons and Rites of publick Penitence were again restored and exhorts much to Confession and the Peoples dealing with their Pastors about their Consciences that so they might upon knowledge bind and loose according to the Gospel Having finished this easie but most useful work he dedicated it to the King And in his Epistle to him complains of the great neglect that had been in former times of Catechising and that Confirmation had not been rightly administred since it ought to be given only to these of Age who understood the Principles of the Christian Doctrine and did upon knowledge and with sincere minds renew their Baptismal Vow From this it will appear that from the beginning of this Reformation the Practice of the Roman Church in the matter of Images was held Idolatrous Cranmer's zeal for restoring the Penitentiary Canons is also clear and it is plain that he had now quite laid aside those singular opinions which he formerly held of the Ecclesiastical Functions for now in a Work which was wholly his own without the concurrence of any others he fully sets forth their Divine Institution All these things made way for a greater Work which these selected Bishops and Divines who had laboured in the setting forth of the Office of the Communion were now preparing which was the entire Reformation of the whole Service of the Church In order to this they brought together all the Offices used in England In the Southern Parts A General Reformation of all the Offices of the Church is set about those after the use of Sarum were universally received which were believed to have been compiled by Osmund Bishop of Sarum In the North of England they had other Offices after the use of York In South-Wales they had them after the use of Hereford In North-Wales after the use of Bangor And in Lincoln another sort of an Office proper to that See In the Primitive Church when the extraordinary Gifts ceased the Bishops of the several Churches put their Offices and Prayers into such a Method as was nearest to what they had heard or remembred from the Apostles And these Liturgies were called by the Apostles Names from whose Forms they had been composed as that at Jerusalem carried the Name of St. James and that of Alexandria the Name of St. Mark though those Books that we have now under these Names are certainly so interpolated that they are of no great Authority But in the fourth Century we have these Liturgies first mentioned The Council of Laodicea appointed the same Office of Prayers to be used in the Mornings and Evenings The Bishops continued to draw up new Additions and to put old Forms into other Methods But this was left to every Bishops care nor was it made the Subject of any publick Consultation till St. Austins time when in their dealings with Hereticks they found they took advantages from some of the Prayers that were in some Churches Upon this he tells us it was ordered that there should be no Prayers used in the Church but upon common advice after that the Liturgies came to be more carefully considered Formerly the Worship of God was a pure and simple thing and so it continued till Superstition had so infected the Church that those Forms were thought too naked
thy Forehead and in thy Heart and take the Faith of the Heavenly Precepts Thus a Sacramental Vertue was pretended to be affixed to it which the Reformers thought could not be done without a Warrant from a Divine Institution of which it is plain there was none in Scripture But they thought the use of it only as an expression of the Belief of the Church and as a Badge of Christianity with such words added to it as could import no more was liable to no exception This seems more necessary to be well explained by reason of the Scruples that many have since raised against significant Ceremonies as if it were too great a presumption in any Church to appoint such since these seem to be of the nature of Sacraments Ceremonies that signifie the Conveyance of a Divine Grace and Vertue are indeed Sacraments and ought not to be used without an express Institution in Scripture but Ceremonies that only signifie the sense we have which is sometimes expressed as significantly in dumb shows as in words are of another kind and it is as much within the power of the Church to appoint such to be used as it is to order Collects or Prayers words and signs being but different ways of expressing our thoughts The belief of Christs Corporal Presence was yet under consideration And they observing wisely how the Germans had broken by their running too soon into Contests about that resolved to keep up still the old general Expressions of the Sacraments being the whole and true Body of Christ without coming to a more particular explanation of it The use of Oyl on so many occasions was taken from the Ancient Christians who as Theophilus says began early to be anointed and understood those words of St. Paul of Gods anointing and sealing literally It was also anciently applied to the receiving of Penitents But it was not used about the Sick from the Apostles times till about the 10th Century And then from what St. James writ to those in the Dispersion of sending for the Elders to come to such as were sick who should anoint them with Oyl and their sins should be forgiven them and they should recover they came to give it to those that were dying but not while there was any hope of Life left in them Though it is clear that what St. James writ related to that extraordinary Gift of Healing by imposition of Hands and anointing with Oyl which yet continued in the Church when he writ that Epistle And it is plain that this Passage in St. James was not so understood by the Ancients as it is now in the Roman Church since the Ancients though they used Oyl on many other occasions yet applied it not at all to the Sick till after so many Ages that gross Superstition had so disposed the World to new Rites that there could be no discovery or invention more acceptable than the addition of a new Ceremony though they were then much oppressed with the old ones The Changes that were made and those that were designed to be made occasioned great heats every where And the Pulpits generally contending with one another to restrain that clashing the power of granting Licences to Preach was taken from the Bishops of each Diocess so that none might give them but the King and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury Yet that not proving an effectual restraint on the 23d of September a Proclamation is said to have come out setting forth All Preaâ—hing was for a time restrained That whereas according to former Proclamations none was to preach but such as had obtained Licenses from the King or the Arch-bishop yet some of those that were so licensed had abused that permission and had carried themselves irreverently contrary to the Instructions that were sent them Therefore the King intending to have shortly an uniform Order over all the Kingdom and to put an end to all Controversies in Religion about which some Bishops and other Learned Men were then assembled and though many of the Preachers so licensed had carried themselves wisely to the Honour of God and the Kings great contentation yet till the Order now preparing should be set forth he did inhibit all manner of Persons to preach in any publick Audience to the intent that the Clergy might apply themselves to Prayer for a Blessing on what the King was then about to do not doubting but the People would be employed likewise in Prayer and hearing the Homilies read in their Churches and be ready to receive that uniform Order that was to be set forth and the inferior Magistrates were required to see to the execution of this I never met with any footstep of this Proclamation neither in Records nor in Letters nor in any Book written at that time But Mr. Fuller has printed it and Dr. Heylin has given an Abstract of it from him If Fuller had told how he came by it it might have been further examined But we know not whether he saw the printed Proclamation or only a Copy of it And if he saw but a Copy we have reason to doubt of it for that might have been only the Essay of some projecting Man's Pen. But because I found it in those Authors I thought best to set it down as it is and leave the Reader to judge of it Having thus given an account of the Progress of the Reformation this Summer I shall now turn to transactions of State The Affairs in Scotland this Year and shall first look towards Scotland The Scots gaining time the last Winter and being in daily expectation of Succours from France were resolved to carry on the War The Governour began the Year with the Siege of Broughty Castle a little below Dundee But the English that were in it defended themselves so well that after they had been besieged three Months the Siege was raised and only so many were left about it as might cover the Country from their excursions The English on the other side had taken and fortified Hadingtoun and were at work also at Lauder to make it strong The former of these lying in a Plain and in one of the most fruitful Counties of Scotland within twelve Miles of Edenburgh was a very fit Place to be kept as a Curb upon the Country About the end of May 6000 Men were sent from France under the Command of Dessie 3000 of these were Germans commanded by the Rhinegrave 2000 of them were French and a Thousand were of other Nations They landed at Lieth and the Governour having gathered 8000 Scots to joyn with them they sate down before Hadingtoun and here the Scotish Nobility entred into a long Consultation about their Affairs The Protector had sent a Proposition to them that there might be a Truce for Ten Years But whether he offered to remove the Garisons does not appear This he was forced to upon many accounts He saw the War was like to last long and to draw on great expence and would
Chastity when they saw so much and so plainly to the contrary as otherwise they would have been by a thing that sounded so well But on the other hand there was no Argument which the Reformers had more considered There were two things upon which the Question turned The one was the Obligation that Priesthood brought with it to live unmarried the other was the tie they might be under by any Vow they had made For the former they considered Arguments for it from Scripture that God having ordained a Race of Men te be Priests under Moses Law who should offer up expiatory Sacrifices for the sins of the Jews did not only not forbid Marriage but made it necessary for that Office was to descend by inheritance so that Priesthood was not inconsistent with that state In the New Testament some of the qualifications of a Bishop and Deacon are their being the Husband of one Wife and their having well ordered their House and brought up their Children St. Peter and other Apostles were married it was thought St. Paul was so likewise Aquila was certainly married to Priscilla and carried her about with him Our Saviour speaking of the help that an unmarried state was to the Kingdom of God recommended it equally to all Ranks of Men as they could bear it St. Paul said Let every Man have his own Wife It is better to marry than to burn and Marriage is honourable in all and the forbidding to marry is reckon'd by him a mark of the Apostacy of the latter times so that the matter seemed clear from the Scriptures And from the Fathers In the first Ages Saturninus Basilides Montanus Novatus and the Eucratites condemned Marriage as a state of liberty more than was fit for Christians Against those was asserted by the Primitive Fathers the lawfulness of Marriage to all Christians without discrimination and they who entring into Holy Orders forsook their Wives were severely condemned by the Apostolical Canons and by the Council of Gangra in the beginning of fourth and the Council in Trullo in the fifth Age. Many great Bishops in these times lived still with their Wives and had Children by them as namely both Nazianzen's and Basil's Fathers and Hilary of Poictiers when banished to Phrygia and very old writing to his own Daughter Abra bid her ask her Mother the meaning of those things which she by reason of her Age understood not by which it appears that his Daughter was then very young and by consequence born to him after he was a Bishop In the Council of Nice it being proposed that Clergy-men should depart from their Wives Paphnutius though himself unmarried opposed it as an unreasonable Yoke And Heliodorus Bishop of Trica the Author of the first of those Love-Fables now known by the Name of Romances being suspected of too much lasciviousness and concerned to clear himself of that charge did first move that Clergy-men should be obliged to live single which the Historian says they were not tied to before but Bishops as they pleased lived still with their Wives The Fathers in those times extolled a single Life very high and yet they all thought a Man once married might be a Bishop though his Wife were yet living they did not allow it indeed to him that had married twice but for this they had a distinction that if a Man had been once married before his Baptism and again after his Baptism he was to be understood to be in the state of a single Marriage So that Jerome who writ warmly enough against second Marriages yet says Ad Oceanum that the Bishops in his Age who were but once married in that sense were not to be numbred and that more of these could be reckoned than were at the Council of Ariminum who are said to have been 800 Bishops It is true that in that Age they began to make Canons against the Marriage of those who were in Orders especially in the Roman and African Churches but those were only Positive Laws of the Church and the frequent repeating of those Canons shews that even there they were not generally obeyed Of Synesius we read that when he was ordained Priest he declared that he would not live secretly with his Wife as some did but that he would â—well publickly with her and wisht that he might have many Children by her In the Eastern Church all their Clergy below the Order of Bishops are usually married before they be ordained and afterward live with their Wives and have Children by them without any kind of Prohibition In the Western Church the Married Clergy are taken notice of in many of the Spanish and Gallican Synods and the Bishops and Priests Wives are called Epyscopae and Presbyterae In most of the Cathedrals of England the Clergy were married in the Saxon times but as was shewn Page 22. of the first Part because they would not quit their Wives they were put out not of Sacred Orders but only out of the Seats they were then in and those were given to the Monks When Pope Nicolas had pressed the Coelibate of the Clergy in the 9th Century there was great opposition made to it chiefly by Huldericus Bishop of Ausburg who was held a Saint notwithstanding this opposition Restitutus Bishop of London lived openly with his Wife nor was the Coelibate of the Clergy generally imposed till Pope Gregory the 7th's time in the eleventh Century who projecting to have the Clergy depend wholly on himself and so to separate them from the Interests of those Princes in whose Dominions they lived considered that by having Wives and Children they gave Pledges to the State where they lived and reckoned that if they were free from this incumbrance then their Persons being Sacred there would be nothing to hinder but that they might do as they pleased in obedience to the Popes and opposition to their own Princes Orders The Writers near Gregory the 7th's time called this a new thing against the Mind of the Holy Fathers and full of rashness in him thus to turn out married Priests Lanfranc Arch-bishop of Canterbury did not impose Coelibate on the Clergy in the Villages but only on those that lived in Towns and on Prebendaries But Anselm carried it further and simply imposed it on all the Clergy yet himself laments that Sodomy was become then very common and even publick which was also the complaint of Petrus Damiani in Pope Gregories time Bernard said that that sin was frequent among the Bishops in his time and that this with many other abominations was the natural effect of prohibiting Marriage This made Abbot Panormitan wish that it were left to Mens liberty to marry if they pleased And Pius the second said there might have been good reasons for imposing Coelibate on the Clergy but he believed there were far better Reasons for taking away these Laws that imposed it Yet even since those Laws have been made Petrarch had a License to marry and keep his
Preferments still Boniface Arch-bishop of Canterbury Richard Bishop of Chichester and Geofrey Bishop of Ely are said to have had Wives and though there were not so many Instances of Priests marrying after Orders yet if there were any thing in the nature of Priesthood inconsistent by the Law of God with Marriage then it was as unlawful for them to continue in their former Marriages as to contract a new one Some few Instances were also gathered out of Church History of Bishops and Priests marrying after Orders but as these were few so there was just reason to controvert them Upon the whole matter it was clear that the Coelibate of the Clergy flowed from no law of God nor from any general Law of the Church The Vows and other Reasons against it examined but the contrary of Clergy-mens living with their Wives was universally received for many Ages As for Vows it was much questioned how far they did bind in such Cases It seemed a great sin to impose such on any when they were yet young and did not well know their own dispositions Nor was it in a Mans power to keep them For Continence being none of those Graces that are promised by God to all that ask it as it was not in a Mans Power without extream severities on himself to govern his own constitution of Body so he had no reason to expect God should interpose when he had provided another remedy for such Cases Besides the Promise made by Clergy-men according to the Rites of the Roman Pontifical did not oblige them to Coelibate The words were Wilt thou follow Chastity and Sobriety to which the Sub-Deacon answered I will By Chastity was not to be understood a total abstinence from all but only from unlawful embraces since a Man might live chast in a state of Marriage as well as out of it But whatever might be in this the English Clergy were not concerned in it for there was no such Question nor Answer made in the Forms of their Ordination So they were not by any Vow precluded from Marriage And for the Expediency of it nothing was more evident than that these Laws had brought in much uncleanness into the Church and those who pressed them most had been signally noted for these Vices No Prince in the English History lewder than Edgar that had so promoted it The Legate that in King Henry the second 's time got that severe Decree made that put all the married Clergy from their Livings was found the very night after for the credit of Coelibate in bed with a Whore On this Subject many undecent Stories were gathered especially by Bale who was a learned Man but did not write with that temper and discretion that became a Divine He gathered all the lewd Stories that could be raked together to this purpose and the many abominable things found in the Monasteries were then fresh in all Mens memories It was also observed that the unmarried Clergy had been as much as the married could be intent upon the raising Families and the enriching of their Nephews and Kindred and sometimes of their Bastards witness the present Pope Paul the third and not long before him Alexander the 6th so that the married Clergy could not be tempted to more Covetousness than had appeared in the unmarried And for the Distraction of Domestick Affairs the Clergy had formerly given themselves up to such a secular course of Life that it was thought nothing could encrease it but if the married Clergy should set themselves to raise more than a decent maintenance for their Children such as might fit them for Letters or Callings and should neglect Hospitality become covetous and accumulate Livings and Preferments to make Estates for their Children this might be justly curbed by new Laws or rather the renewing of the ancient Canons by which Clergy-men were declared to be only entrusted with the Goods of the Church for publick ends and were not to apply them to their own private uses nor to leave them to their Children and Friends Thus had this Matter been argued in many Books that were written on this Subject by Poinet and Parker the one afterwards Bishop of Winchester and the other Arch-bishop of Canterbury also by Bale Bishop of Ossory with many more Dr. Ridley Dr. Taylor afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Benson and Dr. Redmayn appeared more confidently in it than many others being Men that were resolved never to marry themselves who yet thought it necessary and therefore pleaded according to the Pattern that Paphnutius had set them that all should be left to their liberty in this matter The Debate about it was brought into the Convocation where Dr. Redmayn's Authority went a great way He was a Man of great Learning and Probity and of so much greater weight because he did not in all Points agree with the Reformers but being at this time sick his opinion was brought under his Hand Collection Number 30. which will be found in the Collection copied from the Orignal It was to this purpose That though the Scriptures exhorted Priests to live chast and out of the cares of the World yet the Laws forbidding them Marriage were only Canons and Constitutions of the Church not founded on the Word of God and therefore he thought that a Man once married might be a Priest and he did not find the Priests in the Church of England had made any Vow against Marriage and therefore he thought that the King and the higher Powers of the Church might take away the Clog of perpetual continence from the Priests and grant that such as could not or would not contain might marry once and not be put from their holy Ministration It was opposed by many in both Houses but carried at last by the major Vote All this I gather from what is printed concerning it For I have seen no Remains of this or of any of the other Convocations that came afterwards in this Reign the Registers of them being destroyed in the Fire of London This Act seemed rather a connivance and permission of the Clergy to marry than any direct allowance of it So the Enemies of that state of life continued to reproach the married Clergy still and this was much heightned by many undecent Marriages and other light behaviour of some Priests But these things made way for a more full Act concerning this matter about three years after The next Act that past in this Parliament was about the publick Service which was put into the House of Commons on the 9th of December An Act confirming the Liturgy and the next day was also put into the House of Lords It lay long before them and was not agreed to till the 15th of Jan. The Earl of Derby the Bishops of London Duresme Norwich Carlisle Hereford Worcester Westminster and Chichester and the Lords Dacres and Windsor protesting The Preamble of the Act sets forth That there had been several Forms of Service and that
repealed and it was Enacted That from the first of May none should eat Flesh on Fridays Saturdays Ember-days in Lent or any other days that should be declared Fish-days under several Penalties A Proviso was added for excepting such as should obtain the Kings Licence or were sick or weak and that none should be indicted but within three Months after the Offence Christ had told his Disciples that when he should be taken from them then they should fast Accordingly the Primitive Christians used to fast oft more particularly before the Anniversary of the Passion of Christ which ended in a high Festivity at Easter Yet this was differently observed as to the number of days Some abstained 40 days in imitation of Christs Fast others only that Week and others had only an entire Fast from the time of Christs death till his Resurrection On these Fasts they eat nothing till the Evening and then they eat most commonly Herbs and Roots Afterwards the Fridays were kept as Fasts because on that day Christ suffered Saturdays were also added in the Roman Church but not without contradiction Ember-weeks came in afterwards being some days before those Sundays in which Orders were given And a General Rule being laid down that every Christian Festival should be preceded by a Fast thereupon the Vigils of Holy-days came though not so soon into the Number But this with the other good Institutions of the Primitive times became degenerate even in St. Austins time Religion came to be placed in these observances and anxious Rules were made about them Afterwards in the Church of Rome they were turned into a Mockery for as on Fast-days they dined which the Ancients did not so the use of the most delicious Fish drest in the most exquisite manner with the richest Wines that could be had was allowed which made it ridiculous So now they resolved to take off the severities of the former Laws and yet to keep up such Laws about Fasting and Abstinence as might be agreeable to its true end which is to subdue the Flesh to the Spirit and not to gratifie it by a change of one sort of diet into another which may be both more delicate and more inflaming So fond a thing is Superstition that it will help Men to deceive themselves by the slightest Pretences that can be imagined It was much lamented then and there is as much cause for it still that carnal Men have taken advantages from the abuses that were formerly practised to throw off good and profitable Institutions since the frequent use of Fasting with Prayer and true Devotion joyned to it is perhaps one of the greatest helps that can be devised to advance one to a spiritual temper of Mind and to promote a holy course of Life And the mockery that is discernable in the way of some Mens Fasting is a very slight excuse for any to lay aside the use of that which the Scriptures have so much recommended Some Bills were rejected There were other Bills put in into both Houses but did not pass One was for declaring it Treason to marry the Kings Sisters without consent of the King and his Council but it was thought that King Henry's Will disabling them from the Succession in that case would be a stronger restraint and so it was laid aside Another Bill was put in for Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Great Complaints were made of the abounding of Vices and Immoralities which the Clergy could neither restrain nor punish and so they had nothing left but to preach against them which was done by many with great freedom In some of these Sermons the Preachers expressed their apprehensions of signal and speedy Judgments from Heaven if the People did not repent but their Sermons had no great effect for the Nation grew very corrupt and this brought on them severe punishments The Temporal Lords were so jealous of putting power in Church-mens hands especially to correct those vices of which themselves perhaps were most guilty that the Bill was laid aside The pretence of opposing it was that the greatest part of the Bishops and Clergy were still Papists in their Hearts so that if Power were put into such Mens hands it was reasonable to expect they would employ it chiefly against those who favoured the Reformation and would vex them on that score though with Pretences fetched from other things A design for digesting the Common Law into a Body There was also put into the House of Commons a Bill for reforming of Processes at Common Law which was sent up by the Commons to the Lords but it fell in that House I have seen a large Discourse written then upon that Argument in which it is set forth that the Law of England was a barbarous kind of Study and did not lead Men into a finer sort of Learning which made the Common Lawyers to be generally so ignorant of Forreign Matters and so unable to negotiate in them therefore it was proposed that the Common and Statute Laws should be in imitation of the Roman Law digested into a Body under Titles and Heads and put in good Latin But this was too great a Design to be set on or finished under an Infant King If it was then necessary it will be readily acknowledged to be much more so now the Volume of our Statutes being so much swell'd since that time besides the vast number of Reports and Cases and the Pleadings growing much longer than formerly yet whether this is a thing to be much expected or desired I refer it to the learned and wise Men of that Robe The only Act that remains of this Session of Parliament The Admirals Attainder about which I shall inform the Reader is the Attainder of the Admiral The Queen Dowager that had married him died in September last not without suspition of Poison She was a good and vertuous Lady and in her whole Life had done nothing unseemly but the marrying him so indecently and so soon after the Kings death There was found among her Papers a Discourse written by her concerning her self entituled The Lamentation of a Sinner which was published by Cecil who writ a Preface to it In it she with great sincerity acknowledges the sinful course of her Life for many years in which she relying on External Performances such as Fasts and Pilgrimages was all that while a Stranger to the Internal and True Power of Religion which she came afterwards to feel by the study of the Scripture and the calling upon God for his Holy Spirit She explains clearly the Notion she had of Justification by Faith so that Holiness necessarily followed upon it but lamented the great scandal given by many Gospellers So were all these called who were given to the reading of the Scriptures She being thus dead The Queen Dowager dying he courted the Lady Eliz. the Admiral renewed his Addresses to the Lady Elizabeth but in vain for as he could not expect that his Brother and the Council
lose their Degree in the Church This was soon received over all the Western Church and Arguments were found out afterwards by the Canonists to prove the necessity of continuing it from Davids not being suffered to build the Temple since he was a Man of Blood and from the qualification required by St. Paul in a Bishop That he should be no striker since he seemed to strike that did it either in Person or by one whom he deputed to do it But when afterwards Charles the Great and all the Christian Princes in the West gave their Bishops great Lands and Dominions they obliged them to be in all their Councils and to do them such Services as they required of them by vertue of their Tenures The Popes designing to set up a Spiritual Empire and to bring all Church-lands within it required the Bishops to separate themselves from a dependance on their Princes as much as it was possible And these Laws formerly made about Cases of Blood were judged a Colour good enough why they should not meddle in such Trials so they procured these Cases to be excepted But it seems Cranmer thought his Conscience was under no tie from those Canons and so judged it not contrary to his Function to Sign that Order The Parliament was on the 14th of March Prorogued to the 4th of Nov. the Clergy having granted the King a Subsidy of 6 s. in the Pound to be paid in three Years Subsidies granted by the Clergy and Laity In the Preamble of the Bill of Subsidy they acknowledged the great quietness they enjoyed under him having no Let nor Impediment in the Service of God But the Laity set out their Subsidy with a much fuller Preamble of the great happiness they had by the true Religion of Christ declaring that they were ready to forsake all things rather than Christ as also to assist the King in the Conquest of Scotland which they call a part of his Dominion therefore they give 12 d. in the Pound of all Mens Personal Estates to be paid in three Years But now to look into Matters of Religion there was A New Visitation immediately after the Act of Vniformity pass'd a new Visitation which it is probable went in the same Method that was observed in the former There were two things much complained of the one was that the Priests read the Prayers generally with the same tone of Voice that they had used formerly in the Latin Service so that it was said the People did not understand it much better than they had done the Latin formerly This I have seen represented in many Letters and it was very seriously laid before Cranmer by Martin Bucer The course taken in it was that in all Parish Churches the Service should be read in a plain audible Voice but that the former way should remain in Cathedrals where there were great Quires who were well acquainted with that Tone and where it agreed better with the Musick that was used in the Anthems Yet even there many thought it no proper way in the Letany where the greatest gravity was more agreeable to such humble Addresses than such a modulation of the Voice which to those unacquainted with it seemed light and for others that were more accustomed to it it seemed to be rather use that had reconciled them to it than the natural decency of the thing or any fitness in it to advance the devotion of their Prayers But this was a thing judged of less importance It was said that those who had been accustomed to read in that Voice could not easily alter it but as those dropt off and died others would be put in their places who would officiate in a plainer Voice Some of the old Abuses coninued in the new Service Other Abuses were more important Some used in the Communion-Service many of the old Rites such as kissing the Altar crossing themselves lifting the Book from one place to another breathing on the Bread shewing it openly before the distribution with some other of the old Ceremonies The People did also continue the use of their praying by Beads which was called an Innovation of Peter the Hermite in the 12th Century By it ten Aves went for one Pater Noster and the reciting these so oft in Latin had come to be almost all the devotion of the Vulgar and therefore the People were ordered to leave that unreasonable way of Praying it seeming a most unaccountable thing that the reciting the Angels Salutation to the Blessed Virgin should be such a high piece of Divine Worship And that this should be done ten times for one Prayer to God looked so like preferring the Creature to the Creator that it was not easie to defend it from an appearance of Idolatry The Briests were also ordered to exhort the People to give to the Poor The Curates were required to preach and declare the Catechism at least every sixth Week And some Priests continuing secretly the use of Soul Masses in which for avoiding the censure of the Law they had one to communicate with them but had many of these in one day It was ordered that there should be no selling of the Communion in Trentals and that there should be but one Communion in one Church except on Easter-day and Christmas in which the People coming to the Sacrament in greater numbers there should be one Sacrament in the Morning and another near Noon And there being great abuses in Churches and Church-yards in which in the times of Popery Markets had been held and Bargains made that was forbid chiefly in the time of Divine Service or Sermon Collection Number 33. These Instructions which the Reader will find in the Collection were given in charge to the Visitors Cranmer had also a Visitation about the same time in which the Articles he gave out are all drawn according to the Kings Injunctions By some Questions in them they seem to have been sent out before the Parliament because the Book of Service is not mentioned but the last Question save one being of such as contemned married Priests and refused to receive the Sacrament at their hands I conceive that these were compiled after the Act concerning their Marriage was past but before the Feast of Whit-Sunday following for till then the Common-Prayer-Book was not to be received There were also Orders sent by the Council to the Bishop of London to see that there should be no special Masses in St. Pauls Church which being the Mother-Church in the chief City of the Kingdom would be an example to all the rest and that therefore there should be only one Communion at the great Altar and that at the time when the high Mass was wont to be celebrated unless some desired a Sacrament in the Morning and then it was to be celebrated at the high Altar Bonner who resolved to comply in every thing sent the Councils Letter to the Dean and Residentiaries of St. Pauls to see it obeyed
and indeed all England over the Book was so universally received that the Visitors did return no complaint from any corner of the whole Kingdom All received the new Service except the Lady Mary Only the Lady Mary continued to have Mass said in her House of which the Council being advertised writ to her to conform her self to the Laws and not to cast a reproach on the Kings Government for the nearer she was to him in Blood she was to give the better example to others and her disobedience might encourage others to follow her in that contempt of the Kings Authority So they desired her to send to them her Comptroller and Dr. Hopton her Chaplain by whom she should be more fully advertised of the King and Councils Pleasure Upon this she sent one to the Emperor to interpose for her that she might not be forced to any thing against her Conscience At this time there was a Complaint made at the Emperours Court The Ambassador at the Emperors Court not suffered to use it of the English Ambassador Sir Philip Hobby for using the new Common-Prayer-Book there To which he answered He was to be obedient to the Laws of his own Prince and Country and as the Emperors Ambassador had Mass at his Chappel at London without disturbance though it was contrary to the Law of England so he had the same reason to expect the like liberty But the Emperor espousing the Interest of the Lady Mary both Paget who was sent over Ambassador Extraordinary to him upon his coming into Flanders and Hobby promised in the Kings Name that he should dispense with her for some time as they afterwards declared upon their Honours when the thing was further questioned though the Emperor and his Ministers pretended that without any Qualification it was promised that she should enjoy the free exercise of her Religion The Emperor was now grown so high with his success in Germany A Treaty of Marriage for the Lady Mary and that at a time when a War was coming on with France that it was not thought advisable to give him any offence There was likewise a Proposition sent over by him to the Protector and Council Cotton lib. Galba B. 12. for the Lady Mary to be married to Alphonso Brother to the King of Portugal The Council entertained it and though the late King had left his Daughters but 10000 l. a-piece yet they offered to give with her 100000 Crowns in Money and 20000 Crowns worth of Jewels The Infant of Portugal was about her own Age and offered 20000 Crowns Jointure But this Proposition fell on what hand I do not know She writ to the Council concerning the new Service The Lady Mary writ on the 22d of June to the Council that she could not obey their late Laws and that she did not esteem them Laws as made when the King was not of Age and contrary to those made by her Father which they were all bound by Oath to maintain She excused the not sending her Comptroller Mr. Arundel and her Priest the one did all her business so that she could not well be without him the other was then so ill that he could not travel Upon this the Council sent a peremptory Command to these requiring them to come up and receive their Orders The Lady Mary wrote a second Letter to them on the 27th of June in which she expostulated the matter with the Council She said She was subject to none of them and would obey none of the Laws they made but protested great Obedience and Subjection to the King When her Officers came to Court they were commanded to declare to the Lady Mary that though the King was young in Person yet his Authority was now as great as ever that those who have his Authority and act in his Name are to be obeyed and though they as single Persons were her humble Servants yet when they met in Council they acted in the Kings Name Who required her to obey as other Subjects did and so were to be considered by all the Kings Subjects as if they were the King himself they had indeed sworn to obey the late Kings Laws but that could bind them no longer than they were in force and being now repealed they were no more Laws other Laws being made in their room There was no exception in the Laws all the Kings Subjects were included in them and for a Reformation of Religion made when a King was under Age one of the most perfect that was recorded in Scripture was so carried on when Josiah was much younger than their King was therefore they gave them in charge to perswade her Grace for that was her Title to be a good example of obedience and not to encourage peevish and obstinate Persons by her stiffness But this Business was for some time laid aside And now the Reformation was to be carried on to the establishing of a Form of Doctrine which should contain the chief Points of Religion In order to which there was this Year great enquiry made into many particular Opinions The manner of Christs Presence in the Sacrament examined and chiefly concerning the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament There was no Opinion for which the Priests contended more ignorantly and eagerly and that the People generally believed more blindly and firmly as if a strong Belief were nothing else but winking very hard The Priests because they accounted it the chief support now left of their falling Dominion which being kept up might in time retrieve all the rest For while it was believed that their Character qualified them for so strange and mighty a Performance they must needs be held in great reverence The People because they thought they received the very Flesh of Christ and so notwithstanding our Saviours express Declaration to the contrary that the Flesh profiteth nothing looked on those who went about to perswade them otherwise as Men that intended to rob them of the greatest Priviledge they had And therefore it was thought necessary to open this fully before there should be any change made in the Doctrine of the Church The Lutherans seemed to agree with that which had been the Doctrine of the Greek Church that in the Sacrament there was both the Substance of Bread and Wine and Christs Body likewise Only many of them defended it by an Opinion that was thought a-kin to the Eutychian Heresie that his humane Nature by vertue of the union of the God-head was every where though even in this way it did not appear that there was any special Presence in the Sacrament more than in other things Those of Switzerland had on the other hand taught that the Sacrament was only an Institution to commemorate the Sufferings of Christ This because it was intelligible was thought by many too low and mean a thing and not equal to the high expressions that are in the Scripture of its being the Communion of the Body
prevailed with to do it Heath Bishop of Worcester put in Prison for not agreeing with the others appointed to draw the Book for Ordinations Wherefore on the fourth of March he was committed to the Fleet because as it is entred in the Council Books that he obstinately denied to subscribe the Book for the making of Bishops and Priests He had hitherto opposed every thing done towards Reformation in Parliament though he had given an entire obedience to it when it was enacted He was a Man of a gentle temper and great prudence that understood Affairs of State better than Matters of Religion But now it was resolved to rid the Church of those Compliers who submitted out of fear or interest to save their Benefices but were still ready upon any favourable conjuncture to return back to the old superstition As for the Forms of Ordination they found that the Scripture mentioned only the Imposition of Hands and Prayer In the Apostolical Constitutions In the fourth Council of Carthage and in the pretended Works of Denis the Areopagite there was no more used Therefore all those additions of Anointing and giving them Consecrated Vestments were later Inventions But most of all the conceit which from the time of the Council of Florence was generally received that the Rites by which a Priest was ordained were the delivering him the Vessels for consecrating the Eucharist with a Power to offer Sacrifice to God for the dead and the living This was a vain Novelty only set up to support the belief of Transubstantiation and had no ground in the Scriptures nor the Primitive Practice So they agreed on a Form of ordaining Deacons Priests and Bishops which is the same we yet use except in some few words that have been added since in the Ordination of a Priest or Bishop For there was then no express mention made in the words of Ordaining them that it was for the one or the other Office In both it was said Receive thou the Holy Ghost in the Name of the Father c. But that having been since made use of to prove both Functions the same it was of late years altered as it is now Nor were these words being the same in giving both Orders any ground to infer that the Church esteemed them one Order the rest of the Office shewing the contrary very plainly Another difference between the Ordination Book set out at that time and that we now use was that the Bishop was to lay his one Hand on the Priests Head and with his other to give him a Bible with a Chalice and Bread in it saying the words now said at the delivery of the Bible In the Consecration of a Bishop there was nothing more than what is yet in use save that a Staff was put into his Hand with this Blessing Be to the Flock of Christ a Shepherd By the Rule of this Ordinal a Deacon was not to be ordained before he was 21 a Priest before he was 24 nor a Bishop before he was 30 years of Age. The Additions brought into the Church of Rome in giving Orders In this Ritual all those superadded Rites were cut off which the later Ages had brought in to dress up these Performances with the more pomp whereof we have since a more perfect account than it was possible for them then to have For in our Age Morinus a learned Priest of the Oratorian Order has published the most ancient Rituals he could find by which it appears how these Offices swelled in every Age by some new addition About the middle of the sixth Century they anointed and blessed the Priests Hands in some parts of France though the Greek Church never used anointing nor was it in the Roman Church two Ages after that for Pope Nicolaus the first plainly says it was never used in the Church of Rome In the 8th Century the Priests Garments were given with a special Benediction for the Priests offering expiatory Sacrifices It was no ancienter that that Phrase was used in Ordinations and in that same Age there was a special Benediction of the Priests Hands used before they were anointed and then his Head was anointed This was taken partly from the Levitical Law and partly because the People believed that their Kings derived the Sacredness of their Persons from their being anointed So the Priests having a mind to have their Persons secured and exempted from all Secular Power were willing enough to use this Rite in their Ordinations and in the 10th Century when the belief of Transubstantiation was received the delivering of the Vessels for the Eucharist with the Power of offering Sacrifices was brought in besides a great many other Rites So that the Church did never tie it self to one certain Form of Ordinations nor did it always make them with the same Prayers for what was accounted anciently the Form of Ordination was in the later Ages but a preparatory Prayer to it Interrogations and Sponsions in the new Book The most considerable addition that was made in the Book of Ordinations was the putting Questions to the Persons to be ordained who by answering these make solemn Declarations or Sponsions and Vows to God The first Question when one is presented to Orders is Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration to serve God for the promoting his Glory and for the edifying of his People To which he is to answer He trusts he is It has been oft lamented that many come to receive Orders before ever they have seriously read over these Questions and examined themselves whether they could with a good Conscience make the Answers there prescribed since it is scarce credible that Men of common honesty would lie in the Presence of God on so great an occasion and yet it is too visible that many have not any such inward vocation nor have ever considered seriously what it is If it were well apprehended that heat that many have to get into Orders would soon abate who perhaps have nothing in their Eye but some Place of Profit or Benefice to which way must be made by that preceding Ceremony and so enter into Orders as others are associated into Fraternities and Corporations with little previous sense of that Holy Character they are to receive when they thus dedicate their Lives and Labours to the Service of God in the Gospel In the Primitive Church the apprehension of this made even good and holy Men afraid to enter under such Bonds and therefore they were often to be drag'd almost by force or catched at unawares and be so initiated as appears in the Lives of these two Greek Fathers Nazianzen and Chrysostome If Men make their first step to the Holy Altar by such a lye as is their pretending to a motion of the Holy Ghost concerning which they know little but that they have nothing at all of it they have no reason to expect that
Blessing which otherwise attends on such Dedications And it had been happy for the Church if all those that are authorized to confer Orders had stood on this more critically and not been contented with a bare putting these Questions to those who come to be ordained but had used a due strictness before hand sutable to that grave admonition of St. Pauls to Timothy Lay Hands suddenly on no Man and be not partaker of other Mens sins In the Sponsions made by the Priests they bind themselves to teach the People committed to their charge to banish away all erroneous Doctrines and to use both publick and private Monitions and Exhortations as well to the Sick as the Whole within their Cures as need shall require and as occasion shall be given Such as remember that they have plighted their Faith for this to God will feel the Pastoral Care to be a Load indeed and so be far enough from relinquishing it or hiring it out perhaps to a loose or ignorant Mercenary These are the blemishes and scandals that lie on our Church brought on it partly by the corruption of some Simoniacal Patrons but chiefly by the negligence of some and the faultiness of other Clergy-men Which could never have lost so much ground in the Nation upon such trifling accounts as are the Contests since raised about Ceremonies if it were not that the People by such palpable faults in the Persons and behaviour of some Church-men have been possessed with prejudices first against them and then upon their account against the whole Church so that these corrupt Church-men are not only to answer to God for all those Souls within their charge that have perished through their neglect but in a great degree for all the mischief of the Schism among us to the nourishing whereof they have given so great and palpable occasion The importance of those things made me judge they deserved this digression from which I now turn to other Affairs The Business of Bulloigne lay heavy on the Council The French had stopt all communication between Calais and it so that it was not easie to supply it from thence The Council to rid the Nation of the Forreigners sent them all to Calais with 3000 English and resolved to force a way through if it came to extremities but at this time both the French and English were well disposed to a Peace The King of France knew the Emperor intended to go into Germany next Summer so he longed to be at liberty to wait on his Motions It is resolved to deliver Bulloigne to the French The English Council that opposed the delivery of Bulloigne chiefly to throw off the Duke of Somerset that being done were all convinced that it was not worth the cost and danger of a War only they stood on the indecency of yielding it especially they having raised such clamours against the Protector when he went about the delivering it up So they made great shews of preparations to defend it but at the same time were not unwilling to listen to Propositions of Peace One Guidotti a Florentine that lived in England was employed by the Constable of France Mountmorancy to set on a Treaty yet he was to do it without owning he had any orders from that King He went often to and again between Paris and London and at last it was resolved on both sides that there should be a Treaty Pope Paul the third dies But at this time there was a great change of Affairs in Italy Pope Paul the third having held that See fifteen years died the 10th of November in the 82d Year of his Age much broken in mind at the calamity of his Family the killing of his Son the loss of Placentia and the ingratitude of his Grand-child Upon his death all the Cardinals being gathered from Bollogna Trent and other neighbouring Places entred the Conclave where one that is to have such a share in the following part of this Work was so much concerned that it will be no impertinent digression to give an account of it There were great animosities between the Imperialists and the French Cardinal Farnese had also many Votes that followed him so that these three Factions were either of them strong enough to exclude any that was unacceptable to them Cardinal Pool was elected Pope Cardinal Pool was set up by Farnese as a moderate Imperialist who had carried it so well at Trent that they saw he would not blindly follow the Emperor He had lived many years at Viterbo where he was made Legate after he had given over his Practices against England There he gave himself wholy to the Study of Divinity not without some imputations of favouring Heresie For one Antonio Flaminio that was also suspect of Lutheranisme lived with him Tremellius that learned Jew who had been Baptized in his House was also known to incline that way and many who left their Monasteries and went to Germany used to stay some time with him on their way and were well received by him nor would he proceed against any suspected of Heresie There was causes enough to raise suspicion in a less jealous People than Italians Yet the vast zeal that he had shewn for the exaltation of the Papacy made all those things be over-looked He was sent one of the Popes Legates to Trent where he asserted the German Doctrine of Justification by Faith But upon the Emperors setting out the Interim he wrote freely against it He was indeed a Man of an easie and generous temper but much in the Power of those whom he loved and trusted Farnese therefore looking on him as one that would be governed by him and that was acceptable to the Imperialists and not much hated by the French the Cardinal of Guise being his Friend resolved to promote him and by the scrutiny they made it was found that they were within two of the number that was requisite But he seemed so little concerned at it himself that he desired them not to make too much hast in a thing of that nature for that dignity was rather to be undertaken with fear than to be ambitiously desired The Cardinals who had heard of such things among the Ancient Romans but had seen few such modern Instances and who valued Men by nothing more than their ambitious aspiring imputed this either to dullness or hypocrisie He himself seemed nothing affected with it and did not change his behaviour and carried it with an equality of mind that became one who had divided his time between Philosophy and Divinity Caraffa that hated him did all he could to alienate the Conclave from him he objected to him not only Heresie but also the suspition of incontinence since he bred up a Nun who was believed to be his Daughter Of these things he coldly purged himself he shew'd that he had suffered so much on the account of Religion in his own Country that he was beyond the suspition of Heresie and he proved that
Marriage with her it is no wonder they all wished well for both Ferdinand and his Son Maximilian were looked upon as Princes that in their Hearts loved the Reformation and the Son was not only the best Prince but accounted one of the best Men of the Age. But Latimer in his Sermon advised the King to marry in the Lord and to take care that Marriages might not be made only as bargains which was a thing too frequently done and occasioned so much Whoredom and Divorcing in the Nation He run out in a sad lamentation of the vices of the time the vanity of Women the luxury and irregularity of Men he complain'd that many were Gospellers for love of the Abbey and Chantry Lands he pressed that the discipline of the Church and the excommunicating of scandalous Persons might be again set up he advised the King to beware of seeking his pleasure too much and to keep none about him who would serve him in it he said he was so old that he believed he would never appear there more and therefore he discharged his Conscience freely he complained the Kings Debts were not paid and yet his Officers lived high made great Purchases and built Palaces he prayed them all to be good to the King and not to defraud the poor Trades-men that wrought for his Stores who were ill payed This I set down not so much to give an account of that Sermon as of the state of the Court and Nation which he so freely discoursed of Hooper is made Bishop of Glocester Wakeman that had been Abbot of Tewksbury and was after made Bishop of Glocester died in December last year and on the third of July this year Hooper was by Letters Patents appointed to be his Successor Upon which there followed a Contest that has since had such fatal consequences that of it we may say with St. James How great a matter hath a little fire kindled It has been already shewn that the Vestments used in Divine Service were appointed to be retained in this Church but Hooper refused to be consecrated in the Episcopal Vestments The grounds he went on were But refuses to wear the Episcopal Vestments That they were humane Inventions brought in by Tradition or Custom not sutable to the simplicity of the Christian Religion that all such Ceremonies were condemned by St. Paul as beggerly Elements that these Vestments had been invented chiefly for celebrating the Mass with much pomp and had been consecrated for that effect therefore he desired to be excused from the use of them Cranmer and Ridley on the other hand alledged that Traditions in matters of Faith were justly rejected but in matters of Rites and Ceremonies Custom was oft a good Argument for the continuance of that which had been long used Upon this a great Dispute rises Those Places of St. Paul did only relate to the observance of the Jewish Ceremonies which some in the Apostles times pleaded were still to be retained upon the Authority of their first Institution by Moses so this implying that the Messias was not yet come in whom all these had their accomplishment the Apostles did condemn the use of them on any such account though when the bare observing them without the opinion of any such necessity in them was likely to gain the Jews they both used Circumcision and purified themselves in the Temple If then they who had such absolute Authority in those matters did condescend so far to the weakness of the Jews it was much more becoming Subjects to give obedience to Laws in things indifferent And the abuse that had been formerly was no better reason to take away the use of these Vestments than it was to throw down Churches and take away the Bells because the one had been consecrated and the other baptized with many superstitious Ceremonies Therefore they required Hooper to conform himself to the Law Cranmer who to his other excellent qualities had joyned a singular modesty and distrust of himself writ about this difference to Bucer reducing it to these two plain Questions Whether it was lawful and free from any sin against God for the Ministers of the Church of England to use those Garments in which they did then officiate since they were required to do it by the Magistrates command And whether he that affirmed that it was unlawful or on that account refused to use those Vestments did not sin against God calling that unclean which God had sanctified and the Magistrate required since he thereby disturbed the publick order of the Kingdom To this Bucer writ a large Answer on the 8th of December this Year Bucers Opinion concerning them He thought that those who used these Garments ought to declare they did not retain them as parts of Moses Law but as things commanded by the Law of the Land he thought every Creature of God was good and no former abuse could make it so ill that it might not be retained and since these Garments had been used by the Ancient Fathers before Popery and might still be of good use to the weak when well understood and help to maintain the Ministerial Dignity and to shew that the Church did not of any lightness change old Customs he thought the retaining them was expedient that so the People might by seeing these Vestments consider of the candor and purity that became them and in this sense he thought to the Pure all things were pure and so the Apostles complied in many things with the Jews Upon the whole matter he thought they sinned who refused to obey the Laws in that particular But he added That since these Garments were abused by some to superstition and by others to be matter of contention he wished they were taken away and a more compleat Reformation established he also prayed that a stop might be put to the spoiling of Churches and that Ecclesiastical Discipline against offenders might be set up for said he unless these manifest and horrid Sacriledges be put down and the compleat Kingdom of Christ be received so that we all submit to his Yoke how intolerably shall the wrath of God break out on this Kingdom The Scriptures sets many such Examples before our Eyes and Germany offers a most dreadful prospect of what England might look for He writ also to Hooper upon the same Argument He wished the Garments were removed by Law but argued fully for the use of them till then he lamented the great corruptions that were among the Clergy and wished that all good Men would unite their strength against these and then lesser abuses would be more easily redressed He also answered Hoopers Objections on the Principles formerly laid down Peter Martyr was also writ to and as he writ to Bucer he was fully of his mind and approved of all he had writ about it And P. Martyrs And he added these words which I shall set down in his own terms copied from the Original Letter Quae
de Hopero ad me scribis non potuerunt non videri mira Certè illis auditis obstupui Sed bene habet quid Episcopi Literas meas viderunt unde invidia ego quidem sum liberatus Ecce illius causa sic jacet ut melioribus pijs nequaquam probetur Dolet dolet idque mihi gravissimè talia inter Evangelij professores contingere Ille toto hoc tempore cum illi sit interdicta concio non videtur posse quiescere suae fidei confessionem edidit qua rursus multorum animos exacerbavit deinde queritur de Consiliarijs fortasse quod mihi non refert de nobis Deus foelicem Catastrophen non laetis actibus imponat In English What you wrote to me about Hooper could not but seem wonderful to me when I heard it I was struck with it It was well that the Bishops saw my Letters by which I am freed from their displeasure His business is now at that pass that the best and most pious disprove of it I am grieved and sadly grieved that such things should fall out among the Professors of the Gospel All this while in which he is suspended from preaching he cannot be at rest he has set out a profession of his Faith by which he has provoked many he complains of the Privy-Councellors and perhaps of us too of which he says nothing to me God give an happy issue to these uncomfortable beginnings This I set down more fully that it may appear how far either of these Divines were from cherishing such stiffness in Hooper He had been Chaplain to the Duke of Somerset as appear'd by his defence of himself in Bonners Process yet he obtained so much favour of the Earl of Warwick that he writ earnestly in his behalf to the Arch-bishop to dispence with the use of the Garments and the Oath of Canonical Obedience at his Consecration Cranmer wrote back That he could not do it without incurring a Praemunire So the King was moved to write to him warranting him to do it without any danger which the Law could bring on him for such an omission But though this was was done on the 4th of August yet he was not consecrated till March next year and in the mean while it appears by Peter Martyrs Letters that he was suspended from Preaching A Congregation of Germans in London This Summer John a Lasco with a Congregation of Germans that fled from their Country upon the persecution raised there for not receiving the Interim was allowed to hold his Assembly at St. Austins in London The Congregation was erected into a Corporation John a Lasco was to be Superintendent and there were four other Ministers associated with him For the curiosity of the thing I have put the Patents in the Collection Collection Number 51. There were also 380 of the Congregation made Denizens of England as appears by the Records of their Patents But a Lasco did not carry himself with that decency that became a Stranger who was so kindly received for he wrote against the Orders of this Church both in the matter of the Habits and about the Posture in the Sacrament being for sitting rather than kneeling Polidore Virgil leaves England This Year Polidore Virgil who had been now almost forty years in England growing old desired leave to go nearer the Sun It was granted him on the second of June and in consideration of the publick Service he was thought to have done the Nation by his History Rot. Pat. 4 Ed. 6. 2. Part. he was permitted to hold his Archdeaconry of Wells and his Prebend of Nonnington notwithstanding his absence out of the Kingdom On the 26th of June Poinet was declared Bishop of Rochester and Coverdale was made Coadjutor to Veysy Bishop of Exeter About the end of this Year or the beginning of the next A Review of the Common-Prayer-Book there was a review made of the Common-Prayer-Book Several things had been continued in it either to draw in some of the Bishops who by such yielding might be prevailed on to concurre in it or in compliance with the People who were fond of their old Superstitions So now a review of it was set about Martin Bucer was consulted in it and Aleffe the Scotch Divine mentioned in the former part translated it into Latin for his use Upon which Bucer writ his Opinion which he finished Bucers Advice concerning it the fifth of January in the Year following The Substance of it was That he found all things in the Common-Service and daily Prayers were clearly according to the Scriptures He advised that in Cathedrals the Quire might not be too far separated from the Congregation since in some Places the People could not hear them read Prayers He wished there were a strict discipline to exclude scandalous Livers from the Sacrament He wished the old Habits might be laid aside since some used them superstitiously and others contended much about them He did not like the half Office of Communion or Second-Service to be said at the Altar when there was no Sacrament He was offended with the requiring the People to receive at least once a year and would have them press'd to it much more frequently He disliked that the Priests generally read Prayers with no devotion and in such a Voice that the People understood not what they said He would have the Sacrament delivered into the Hands and not put into the Mouths of the People He censured praying for the dead of which no mention is made in the Scripture nor by Justin Martyr an Age after He thought that the Prayer that the Elements might be to us the Body and Blood of Christ favoured Transubstantiation too much a small variation might bring it nearer to a Scripture Form He complained that Baptism was generally in Houses which being the receiving Infants into the Church ought to be done more publickly The Hallowing of the Water the Chrisme and the White Garment he censured as being too Scenical He excepted to the exorcising the Devil and would have it turned to a Prayer to God that authoritative way of saying I adjure not being so decent He thought the God-fathers answering in the Childs Name not so well as to answer in their own that they should take care in these things all they could He would not have Confirmation given upon a bare recital of the Catechisme but would have it delayed till the Persons did really desire to renew the Baptismal Vow He would have Catechising every Holy-day and not every sixth Sunday and that People should be still Catechized after they were Confirmed to preserve them from ignorance He would have all Marriages to be made in the full Congregation He would have the giving Unction to the Sick and praying for the Dead to be quite laid aside as also the offering the Chrisomes at the Churching of Women He advised that the Communion should be celebrated four times a year He sadly lamented
Queen Mary discharged him The same Censures with the same Justifications belong both to this and Bonners Business so I shall repeat nothing that was formerly said He had taken a Commission as well as Bonner to hold his Bishoprick only during the Kings Pleasure so they both had the less reason to complain which way soever the Royal Pleasure was signified to them Eight days after on the 26th of April Poinet was translated from Rochester to Winchester and had 2000 Marks a Year in Lands assigned him out of that wealthy Bishoprick for his Subsistence Dr. Story was made Bishop of Rochester Veysey Bishop of Exeter did also resign pretending extream old Age but he had reserved 485 l. a year in Pension for himself during Life out of the Lands of the Bishoprick and almost all the rest he had basely alienated taking care only of himself and ruining his Successors Miles Coverdale was made Bishop of Exeter So that now the Bishopricks were generally filled with Men well affected to the Reformation Hooper is consecrated upon his Conformity The business of Hooper was now also setled He was to be attired in the Vestments that were prescribed when he was consecrated and when he preached before the King or in his Cathedral or in any publick Place but he was dispens'd with upon other occasions On these Conditions he was consecrated in March for the Writ for doing it bears date the 7th of that Month. So now the Bishops being generally addicted to the purity of Religion most of this Year was spent in preparing Articles which should contain the Doctrine of the Church of England Many thought they should have begun first of all with those But Cranmer upon good Reasons was of another mind though much pressed by Bucer about it Till the Order of Bishops was brought to such a Model that the far greater part of them would agree to it it was much fitter to let that design go on slowly than to set out a Profession of their Belief to which so great a part of the chief Pactors might be obstinathly averse The corruptions that were most important were those in the Worship by which Men in their immediate Addresses to God were necessarily involved in unlawful compliances and these seemed to require a more speedy Reformation But for speculative Points there was not so pressing a necessity to have them all explained since in these Men might with less prejudice be left to a freedom in their Opinions It seemed also advisable to open and ventilate matters in publick Disputations and Books written about them for some years before they should go too hastily to determine them lest if they went too fast in that Affair it would not be so decent to make alterations afterwards nor could the Clergy be of a sudden brought to change their old Opinions Therefore upon all these Considerations that Work was delayed till this Year in which they set about it and finished it before the Convocation met in the next February In what Method they proceeded for the compiling of these Articles whether they were given out to several Bishops and Divines to deliver their Opinions concerning them as was done formerly or not it is not certain I have found it often said that they were framed by Cranmer and Ridley which I think more probable and that they were by them sent about to others to correct or add to them as they saw cause Collection Number 55. They are in the Collection with the differences between these and those set out in Queen Elizabeths time marked on the Margent The Articles of Religion are prepared They began with the Assertion of the Blessed Trinity the Incarnation of the Eternal Word and Christs descent into Hell grounding this last on these Words of St. Peter of his Preaching to the Spirits that were in Prison The next Article was about Christs Resurrection The fifth about the Scriptures containing all things necessary to Salvation so that nothing was to be held an Article of Faith that could not be proved from thence The sixth That the Old Testament was to be kept still The 7th for the receiving the three Creeds the Apostles the Nicen and Athanasius Creed in which they went according to the received Opinion that Athanasius was the Author of that Creed which is now found not to have been compiled till near three Ages after him The 8th makes Original Sin to be the corruption of the nature of all Men descending from Adam by which they had fallen from Original Righteousness and were by nature given to evil but they defined nothing about the derivation of guilt from Adams sin The 9th for the necessity of prevailing Grace without which we have no free Will to do things acceptable to God The 10th about Divine Grace which changeth a Man and yet puts no force on his Will The 11th That Men are justified by Faith only as was declared in the Homily The 12th That Works done before Grace are not without sin The 13th Against all Works of Supererogation The 14th That all Men Christ only excepted are guilty of sin The 15th That Men who have received Grace may sin afterwards and rise again by Repentance The 16th That the blaspheming against the Holy Ghost is when Men out of malice and obstinately rail against Gods Word though they are convinced of it yet persecuting it which is unpardonable The 17th That Predestination is Gods free Election of those whom he afterwards justifies which though it be matter of great comfort to such as consider it aright yet it is a dangerous thing for curious and carnal Men to prie into and it being a Secret Men are to be governed by Gods revealed Will they added not a word of Reprobation The 18th That only the Name of Christ and not the Law or Light of Nature can save Men. The 19th That all Men are bound to keep the Moral Law The 20th That the Church is a Congregation of Faithful Men who have the Word of God Preached and the Sacraments rightly Administred and that the Church of Rome as well as other particular Churches have erred in matters of Faith The 21st That the Church is only the Witness and Keeper of the Word of God but cannot appoint any thing contrary to it nor declare any Articles of Faith without Warrant from it The 22d That General Councils may not be gathered without the consent of Princes that they may erre and have erred in matters of Faith and that their Decrees in matters of Salvation have strength only as they are taken out of the Scriptures The 23d That the Doctrines of Purgatory Pardons Worshiping of Images and Relicks and Invocation of Saints are without any Warrant and contrary to the Scriptures The 24th That none may Preach or Minister the Sacraments without he be lawfully called by Men who have lawful Authority The 25th That all things should be spoken in the Church in a Vulgar Tongue The 26th That there
of Marriage But all separation from Bed and Board except during a Trial was to be taken away The 11th was about Admission to Ecclesiastical Benefices Patrons were to consider the choice of the Person was trusted to them but was not to be abused to any sacrilegious or base ends if they did otherwise they were to lose their right for that time Benefices were not to be given or promised before they were void nor let lie destitute above six Months otherwise they were to devolve to the Bishop Clergy-men before their Ordination were to be examined by the Arch-deacons with such other Triers as the Bishop should appoint to be assistant to them and the Bishop himself was to try them since this was one of the chief things upon which the happiness of the Church depended The Candidate was to give an Oath to answer sincerely upon which he was to be examined about his Doctrine chiefly of the whole Points of the Catechisme if he understood them aright and what knowledge he had of the Scriptures they were to search him well whether he held Heretical Opinions None was to be admitted to more Cures than one and all Priviledges for Pluralities were for ever to cease nor was any to be absent from his Cure except for a time and a just cause of which he was to satisfie his Ordinary The Bishops were to take great care to allow no absence longer than was necessary every one was to enter upon his Cure within two Months after he was Instituted by the Bishop Prebendaries who had no particular Cure were to preach in the Churches adjacent to them Bastards might not be admitted to Orders unless they had eminent Qualities But the Bastards of Patrons were upon no account to be received if presented by them Other bodily defects unless such as did much disable them or made them very contemptible were not to be a barr to any Beside the Sponsions in the Office of Ordination they were to swear that they had made no agreement to obtain the Benefice to which they were presented and that if they come to know of any made by others on their account they should signifie it to the Bishop and that they should not do any thing to the prejudice of their Church The 12th and 13th were about the renouncing or changing of Benefices The 14th was about purgation upon common fame or when one was accused for any crime which was proved incompleatly and only by presumptions The Ecclesiastical Courts might not re-examine any thing that was proved in any Civil Court but upon a high scandal a Bishop might require a Man to purge himself otherwise to separate him from Holy things The Form of a Purgation was to swear himself innocent and he was also to have four Compurgators of his own Rank who were to swear that they believed he swore true upon which the Judge was to restore him to his Fame Any that were under suspicion of a Crime might by the Judge be required to avoid all the occasions from which the suspition had risen But all superstitious Purgations were to be rejected The 15th 16th 17th and 18th were about Dilapidations the Letting of the Goods of the Church the confirming the former Rules of Election in Cathedrals or Colledges and the Collation of Benefices And there was to be a Purgation of Simony as there should be occasion for it The 19th was about Divine Offices In the Mornings on Holy-days the Common-Prayer was to be used with the Communion-Service joyned to it In Cathedrals there was to be Communion every Sunday and Holy-day where the Bishop the Dean and the Prebendaries and all maintained by that Church were to be present There was no Sermon to be in Cathedrals in the Morning lest that might draw any from the Parish Churches but only in the Afternoons In the Anthems all Figured Musick by which the Hearers could not understand what they sung was to be taken away In Parish Churches there were only to be Sermons in the Morning but none in the Afternoon except in great Parishes All who were to receive the Sacrament were to come the day before and inform the Minister of it who was to examine their Consciences and their Belief On Holy-days in the Afternoon the Catechism was to be explained for an hour After the Evening-Prayers the Poor were to be looked to and such as had given open scandal were to be examined and publick Penitence was to be enjoyned them and the Minister with some of the Ancients of the Parish were to commune together about the state of the People in it that if any carried themselves indecently they might be first charitably admonished and if that did not prevail subjected to severer Censures but none were to be excommunicated without the Bishop were first informed and had consented to it Divine Offices were not to be performed in Chappels or private Houses lest the Churches should under that pretence be neglected and Errors more easily disseminated excepting only the Houses of Peers and Persons of great Quality who had numerous Families but in these all things were to be done according to the Book of Common-Prayer The 20th was about those that bore Office in the Church Sextons Church-wardens Deacons Priests and Rural Deans This last was to be a Yearly Office he that was named to it by the Bishop being to watch over the manners of the Clergy and People in his Precinct was to signifie the Bishops pleasure to them and to give the Bishop an account of his Precinct every sixth Month. The Arch-deacons were to be general Visitors over the Rural Deans In every Cathedral one of the Prebendaries or one procured by them was thrice a week to expound some part of the Scriptures The Bishops were to be over all and to remember that their Authority was given to them for that end that many might be brought to Christ and that such as had gone astray might be restored by Repentance To the Bishop all were to give obedience according to the Word of God The Bishop was to preach often in his Church was to Ordain none for Rewards or rashly was to provide good Pastors and to deprive bad ones he was to visit his Diocess every third year or oftener as he saw cause but then he was to do it at his own charge he was to have yearly Synods and to confirm such as were well instructed His Family was to consist of Clergy-men whom he should bring up to the Service of the Church so was St. Austins and other Ancient Bishops Families constituted This being a great means to supply the great want of good and faithful Ministers Their Wives and Children were also to avoid all levity or vain dressing They were never to be absent from their Diocesses but upon a publick and urgent cause and when then grew sick or infirm they were to have Coadjutors If they became scandalous or heretical they were to be deprived by the Kings Authority The Arch-bishops
the best and perfectest Pieces of that nature that I have seen The Original is yet extant under his own Hand in Scotland a Copy of it was shewed me by one descended from him from which I shall discover many considerable Passages though the Affairs in which he was most employed were something later than the time of which I am to write But to return to Ireland Upon the Peace made with France and Scotland things were quieted there and Sir Ant. St. Leiger was in August 1550. again sent over to be Deputy there For the Reformation it made but a small progress in that Kingdom It was received among the English but I do not find any endeavours were used to bring it in among the Irish This Year Bale was sent into Ireland He had been a busie Writer upon all occasions and had a great deal of Learning but wanted Temper and did not write with the decency that became a Divine or was sutable to such matters which it seems made those who recommended Men to preferment in this Church not think him so fit a Person to be employed here in England But the Bishoprick of Ossery being void the King proposed him to be sent thither So in August this Year Dr. Goodaker was sent over to be Bishop of Armagh and Bale to be Bishop of Ossery There were also two other who were Irish Men to be promoted When they came thither the Arch-bishop of Dublin intended to have consecrated them according to the old Pontifical for the new Book of Ordination had not been yet used among them Goodaker and the two others were easily perswaded to it but Bale absolutely refused to consent to it who being assisted by the Lord Chancellor it was carried that they should be ordained according to the new Book When Bale went into his Diocess he found all things there in dark Popery but before he could make any Reformation there King Edwards death put an end to his and all such designs In England nothing else that had any relation to the Reformation passed this Year A Change made in the Order of the Garter unless what belongs to the change made in the Order of the Garter may be thought to relate to it On the 23d of April the former Year being St. George's day a Proposition was made to consider the Order and Statutes since there was thought to be a great deal of superstition in them and the Story upon which the Order was founded concerning St. George's fighting with the Dragon looked like a Legend formed in the darker Ages to support the humour of Chivalry that was then very high in the World And as the Story had no great credibility in it self so it was delivered by no Ancient Author Nor was it found that there had been any such Saint there being among Ancient Writers none mentioned of that Name but George of Alexandria the Arrian Bishop that was put in when Athanasius was banished Upon this motion in the former Year the Duke of Somerset the Marquess of Northampton and the Earls of Wilt-shire and Warwick were appointed to review the Statutes of the Order So this Year the whole Order was changed and the Earl of Westmorland and Sir Andrew Dudley who were now to be installed were the first that were received according to the new Model which the Reader will find in the Collection King Edwards Remains Number 23. as it was translated into Latin out of the English by the King himself written all with his own Hand and it is the third Paper after his Journal The Preamble of it sets forth the noble design of the Order to animate great Men to gallant Actions and to associate them into a Fraternity for their better encouragement and assistance but says it had been much corrupted by superstition therefore the Statutes of it were hereafter to be these It was no more to be called the Order of St. George nor was he to be esteemed the Patron of it but it was to be called the Order of the Garter The Knights of this Order were to wear the Blew Ribond or Garter as formerly but at the Collar in stead of a George there was to be on one side of the Jewel a Knight carrying a Book upon a Sword point on the Sword to be written Protectio on the Book Verbum Dei on the Reverse a Shield on which should be written Fides to express their resolution both with offensive and defensive Weapons to maintain the Word of God For the rest of the Statutes I shall refer the Reader to the Paper I mentioned But this was repealed by Queen Mary and so the old Rules took place again and do so still This design seems to have been chiefly intended that none but those of the Reformed Religion might be capable of it since the adhering to and standing for the Scriptures was then taken to be the distinguishing Character between the Papists and the Reformers This is the sum of what was either done or designed this Year with relation to Religion As for the State there was a strict enquiry made of all who had cheated the King in the suppression of Chantries or in any other thing that related to Churches from which the Visitors were believed to have embezeled much to their own uses and there were many Sutes in the Star-Chamber about it Most of all these Persons had been the Friends or Creatures of the Duke of Somerset and the enquiry after these things seems to have been more out of hatred to him than out of any design to make the King the richer by what should be recovered for his use But on none did the Storm break more severely than on the Lord Paget Paget degraded from being a Knight of the Garter He had been Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster and was charged with many misdemeanours in that Office for which he was fined in 6000 l. But that which was most severe was that on St. George's Eve he was degraded from the Order of the Garter for divers offences but chiefly because he was no Gentleman neither by Fathers side nor Mothers side His chief offence was his greatest Vertue He had been on all occasions a constant Friend to the Duke of Somerset for which the Duke of Northumberland hated him mortally and so got him to be degraded to make way for his own Son This was much censured as a barbarous Action that a Man who had so long served the Crown in such publick Negotiations and was now of no meaner Blood than he was when King Henry first gave him the Order should be so dishonoured being guilty of no other fault but what is common to most Courtiers of enriching himself at his Masters cost for which his Fine was severe enough for the expiation But the Duke of Northumberland was a Person so given up to violence and revenge that an ordinary disgrace did not satisfie his hatred Sir Ant. St. Leiger another Knight of the Order
It was long argued at first and at the passing the Bill it was again argued but at last the Commons agreed to it The Preamble of it is a long Accusation of the Duke of Somerset for involving the King in Wars wasting his Treasure engaging him in much Debt embasing the Coin and having given occasion to a most terrible Rebellion In fine considering the great Debt the King was left in by his Father the loss he put himself to in the reforming the Coin and they finding his temper to be set wholly on the good of his Subjects and not on enriching himself therefore they give him two Tenths and two Fifteenths with one Subsidy for two years Whether the debate in the House of Commons was against the Subsidies in this Act or against the Preamble cannot be certainly known but it is probable the Debate at the engrossing the Bill was about the Preamble which the Duke of Northumberland and his Party were the more earnestly set on to let the King see how acceptable they were and how hateful the Duke of Somerset had been The Clergy did also for an expression of their affection and duty give the King six Shillings in the Pound of their Benefices There was also a Bill sent down from the Lords That none might hold any Spiritual Promotion unless he were either Priest or Deacon But after the third reading it was cast out The reason of it was because many Noblemen and Gentlemens Sons had Prebends given them on this pretence that they intended to fit themselves by Study for entring into Orders but they kept these and never advanced in their Studies upon which the Bishops prevailed to have the Bill agreed to by the Lords but could carry it no further Another Act passed for the suppressing the Bishoprick of Duresme The Bishoprick of Duresme suppressed and two new ones appon ed. which is so strangely mis-represented by those who never read more than the Title of it that I shall therefore give a more full account of it It is set forth in the Preamble That that Bishoprick being then void of a Prelate so that the Gift thereof was in the Kings pleasure and the compass of it being so large extending to so many Shires so far distant that it could not be sufficiently served by one Bishop and since the King according to his godly disposition was desirous to have Gods Holy Word preached in these Parts which were wild and barbarous for lack of good Preaching and good Learning therefore he intended to have two Bishopricks for that Diocess the one at Duresme which should have 2000 Marks Revenue and another at Newcastle which should have 1000 Marks Revenue and also to Found a Cathedral Church at Newcastle with a Deanry and Chapter out of the Revenues of the Bishoprick therefore the Bishoprick of Duresme is utterly extinguished and dissolved and Authority is given for Letters Patents to erect the two new Bishopricks together with the Deanry and Chapter at Newcastle with a Proviso that the Rights of the Deanry Chapter and Cathedral of Duresme should suffer nothing by this Act. When this Bill is considered that dissolution that was designed by it will not appear to be so sacrilegious a thing as some Writers have represented it For whosoever understands the value of old Rents especially such as these were near the Marches of an Enemy where the Service of the Tenants in the War made their Lands be set at very low rates will know that 3000 Marks of Rent being reserved besides the endowing of the Cathedral which could hardly be done under another thousand Marks there could not be so great a Prey of that Bishoprick as has been imagined Ridley as himself writes in one of his Letters was named to be Bishop of Duresme being one of the Natives of that Country but the thing never took effect For in May and no sooner was the Temporalty of the Bishoprick turned into a County-Palatine and given to the Duke of Northumberland But the Kings sickness and soon after his death made that and all the rest of these designs prove abortive How Tonstall was deprived I cannot understand It was for misprision of Treason and done by Secular Men. For Cranmer refused to meddle in it I have seen the Commission given by Queen Mary to some Delegates to examine it in which it is said That the Sentence was given only by Lay-men and that Tonstal being kept Prisoner long in the Tower was brought to his Trial in which he had neither Counsel assigned him nor convenient time given him for clearing himself and that after divers Protestations they had notwithstanding his Appeal deprived him of his Bishoprick He was not only turned out but kept Prisoner till Queen Mary set him at liberty At the end of this Parliament the King granted a free Pardon concerning which this is only remarkable That whereas it goes for a Maxime that the Acts of Pardon must be passed without changing any thing in them the Commons when they sent up this Act of Pardon to the Lords desired that some words might be amended in it but it is not clear what was done for that same day the Acts were passed and the Parliament was dissolved In it the Duke of Northumberland had carried this Point That the Nation made a publick Declaration of their dislike of the Duke of Somersets Proceedings which was the more necessary because the King had let fall words concerning his death by which he seemed to reflect on it with some concern and look'd on it as Northumberlands deed But the Act had passed with such difficulty that either the Duke did not think the Parliament well enough disposed for him or else he resolved totally to vary from the Measures of the Duke of Somerset who continued the same Parliament long whereas this that was opened on the first was dissolved on the last day of March. A Visitation for the Plate in the Churches Visitors were soon after appointed to examine what Church-plate Jewels and other Furniture was in all Cathedrals and Churches and to compare their account with the Inventories made in former Visitations and to see what was embezeled and how it was done And because the King was resolved to have Churches and Chappels furnished with that that was comely and convenient for the Administration of the Sacraments they were to give one or two Chalices of Silver or more to every Church Chappel or Cathedral as their discretions should direct them and to distribute comely Furniture for the Communion-Table and for Surplices and to sell the rest of the Linen and give it to the Poor and to sell Copes and Altar-Cloaths and deliver all the rest of the Plate and Jewels to the Kings Treasurer Sir Edm. Pecham This is spitefully urged by one of our Writers who would have his Reader infer from it that the King was ill principled as to the matters of the Church because when this Order was given by
being mistrustful of his memory used to take Notes of almost every thing he heard he writ these first in Greek Characters that those about him might not understand them and afterwards writ them out in his Journal He had a Copy brought him of every thing that passed in Council which he put in a Chest and kept the Key of that always himself In a word the natural and acquired perfections of his mind were wonderful but his Vertues and true Piety were yet more extraordinary He was such a Friend to Justice that though he loved his Unkle the Duke of Somerset much yet when he was possessed of a belief of his designing to murder his Fellow-Councellors he was alienated from him and being then but fourteen it was no wonder if that was too easily infused in him His chief Favourite was Barnaby Fitz-Patrick to whom he writ many Letters and Instructions when he sent him to be bred in France In one of his Letters to him he writ That he must not think to live like an Ambassador but like a private Gentleman who was to be advanced as he should deserve it He allowed him to keep but four Servants he charged him to follow the company of Gentlemen rather than of Ladies that he should not be superfluous in his Apparel that he should go to the Campagne and observe well the Conduct of Armies and the Fortification of strong Places and let the King know always when he needed Money and he would supply him All these with many other directions the King writ with his own Hand and at his return to let him see he intended to raise him by degrees he gave him a Pension only of 150 Pound This Fitz-Patrick did afterwards fully answer the opinion this young King had of him He was bred up with him in his Learning and as it is said had been his whipping Boy who according to the Rule of educating our Princes was always to be whipt for the Kings faults He was afterwards made by Queen Elizabeth Baron of Upper Ossory in Ireland which was his Native Country King Edward was tender and compassionate in a high measure so that he was much against the taking away the Lives of Hereticks and therefore said to Cranmer when he perswaded him to Sign the Warrant for the burning of Joan of Kent that he was not willing to do it because he thought that was to send her quick to Hell He expressed great tenderness to the miseries of the Poor in his sickness as hath been already shewn He took particular care of the Sutes of all poor Persons and gave Dr. Cox special charge to see that their Petitions were speedily answered and used oft to consult with him how to get their matters set forward He was an exact keeper of his word and therefore as appears by his Journal was most careful to pay his Debts and to keep his credit knowing that to be the chief Nerve of Government since a Prince that breaks his Faith and loses his Credit has thrown up that which he can never recover and made himself liable to perpetual distrusts and extream contempt He had above all things a great regard to Religion He took Notes of such things as he heard in Sermons which more specially concerned himself and made his measures of all Men by their zeal in that matter This made him so set on bringing over his Sister Mary to the same Perswasions with himself that when he was pressed to give way to her having Mass he said That he would not only hazard the loss of the Emperors friendship but of his Life and all he had in the World rather than consent to what he knew was a sin and he cited some Passages of Scripture that obliged Kings to root out Idolatry by which he said he was bound in Conscience not to consent to her Mass since he believed it was Idolatry and did argue the matter so learnedly with the Bishops that they left him being amazed at his knowledge in Divinity So that Cranmer took Cheek by the Hand upon it and said He had reason all the days of his Life to rejoyce that God had honoured him to breed such a Scholar All Men who saw and observed these qualities in him looked on him as one raised by God for most extraordinary ends and when he died concluded that the sins of England must needs be very great that had provoked God to take from them a Prince under whose Government they were like to have seen such blessed times He was so affable and sweet natured that all had free access to him at all times by which he came to be most universally beloved and all the high things that could be devised were said by the People to express their esteem of him The Fable of the Phoenix pleased most so they made his Mother one Phoenix and him another rising out of her Ashes But graver Men compared him to Josiah and long after his death I find both in Letters and Printed Books they commonly named him Our Josias others called him Edward the Saint A Prince of such qualities so much esteemed and loved could not but be much lamented at his death and this made those of the Reformation abhor the Duke of Northumberland who they suspected had hastened him to such an untimely end which contributed as much as any thing to the establishing of Queen Mary on the Throne for the People reckoned none could be so unworthy to govern as those who had poisoned so worthy a Prince and so kind a Master I find nothing of opening his Body for giving satisfaction about that which brought him to his end though his lying unburied till the eighth of August makes it probable that he was opened But indeed the sins of England did at this time call down from Heaven heavy Curses on the Land They are sadly expressed in a Discourse that Ridley writ soon after under the Title of the Lamentation of England he says Lechery Oppression Pride Covetousness and a hatred and scorn of Religion were generally spread among all People chiefly those of the higher Rank Cranmer and he had been much disliked the former for delivering his Conscience so freely on the Duke of Somersets death and both of them for opposing so much the rapine and spoil of the Goods of the Church which was done without Law or Order Nor could they engage any to take care of relieving the Poor except only Dobbs who was then Lord Major of London These sins were openly preached against by Latimer Lever Bradford and Knox who did it more severely and by others who did it plainly though more softly One of the main causes Ridley gives of all these evils was that many of the Bishops and most of the Clergy being all the while Papists in Heart who had only complied to preserve their Benefices took no care of their Parishes and were rather well pleased that things were ill managed And of this that good Bishop
Preacher from the Rage of the People It was said that their appeasing it so easily shewed what Interest they had with the People and was a presumption that they had set it on so without any further Proof the one was put in the Tower and the other confined to his House But now the deprived Bishops who were Bonner of London Gardiner of Winchester Tonstall of Duresm Heath of Worcester The Popish Bishops restored and Day of Chichester were to be restored to their Sees I have only seen the Commission for restoring Bonner and Tonstall but the rest were no doubt in the same strain with a little variation The Commission for Bonner bearing date the 22th of August was directed to some Civilians setting forth that he had petitioned the Queen to examine the Appeal he had made from the Delegates that had deprived him and that therefore the Sentence against him being unjust and illegal he desired it might be declared to be of no effect Upon which these did without any great hesitation return the Sentences void and the Appeals good So thus they were restored to their Sees But because the Bishoprick of Duresm was by Act of Parliament dissolved and the Regalities of it which had bin given to the Duke of Northumberland were now by his Attainder fallen into the Queen's hand She granted Tonstall Letters Patents erecting that Bishoprick again of new making mention that some wicked Men to enrich themselves by it had procured it to be dissolved On the 29th of August Commission was granted to Gardiner to give Licences under the Great Seal to such Grave The Consultations among the Reformed Doctors Learned and discreet Persons as he should think meet and able to preach God's Word All who were so licensed were qualified to preach in any Cathedral or Parochial Church to which he should think it convenient to send them By this the Reformers were not only out of hope to obtain any Licences but likewise saw a way laid down for sending such Men as Gardiner pleased into all their Pulpits to infect their People Upon this they considered what to do If there had been only a particular Inderdiction of some private persons the considerations of Peace and Order being of a more publick nature than the consequence of any one Man's open Preaching could be they judged it was to be submitted to but in such a case when they saw this Interdiction was general and on design to stop their mouths till their Enemies should seduce the People they did not think they were bound in Conscience to give Obedience Many of them therefore continued to preach openly others instead of Preaching in Churches were contented to have only the Prayers and other Service there but for instructing their People had private Conferences with them The Council hearing that their Orders had been disobeyed by some in London two in Coventry and one in Amersham they were sent for and put in Prison And Coverdale Bishop of Exeter and Hooper of Glocester being cited to appear before the Council they came and presented themselves on the 29th and 30th of August and on the first of September Hooper was sent to the Fleet and Coverdale appointed to wait their pleasure At this time the Popish Party growing now insolent over England began to be as forward in making Changes before the Laws warranted them as these of the Reformation had been in King Edward's time so that in many places they set up Images and the Latin Service with the old Rites again This was plainly against Law but the Council had no mind to hinder it but on the other hand encouraged it all they could Upon which Judg Hales The barbarous usage of Judg Hales who thought he might with the more assurance speak his mind having appeared so steadily for the Queen did at the Circuits in Kent give a Charge to the Justices to see to the execution of King Edward's Laws which were still in force and unrepealed Upon this he was without any regard to his former Zeal put first into the Marshalsea from thence he was removed to the Counter and after that to the Fleet where the good old Man was so disordered with the Cruelties that the Warden told him were contriving against all that would not change their Religion that it turned his Brain so that he endeavoured to have kill'd himself with a Penknife He was after that upon his Submission set at liberty but never came to himself again so he not being well looked to drowned himself This with the usage of the Suffolk-Men was much censured and from thence it was said that no Merits or Services could secure any from the Cruelties of that Religion And it appeared in another signal Instance how the Actions of Men were not so much considered as their Religion The Lord Chief Justice Mountague who had very unwillingly drawn the Letters Patents for the Lady Jane's Succession was turned out of his Place kept six weeks in Prison fined in a Thousand pounds and some Lands that had been given him by King Edward were taken from him tho he had sent his Son with Twenty Men to declare for the Queen and had a great Family of Seventeen Children six Sons and eleven Daughters whereas Judg Bromley that had concurred in framing the Letters Patents without any reluctancy was made Lord Chief Justice The true Reason was Bromley was a Papist in his heart and Mountague was for the Reformation In many other places where the People were Popishly affected they drove away their Pastors At Oxford Peter Martyr was so ill used that he was forced to fly for his safety to Lambeth where he could not look for any long protection Cranmer declared openly against the Mass since Cranmer himself was every day in expectation of being sent to Prison He kept himself quiet and was contriving how to give some Publick and Noble Testimonies to the Doctrine that he had so long professed and indeed had bin the chief promoter of in this Church But his quiet behaviour was laid hold on by his Enemies and it was given out that he was resolved to comply with every thing the Queen had a mind to So I find Bonner wrote to his Friend Mr. Lechmore on the 6th of September Bonners Insolence Coll. Numb 7. in that Letter which is in the Collection He gives him notice that the day before he had bin restored to his Bishoprick and Ridley repulsed for which he is very witty Ridley had a Steward for two Manours of his whose name was Ship-side his Brother-in-law upon which he plays as if he had bin Sheeps-head He orders Lechmore to look to his Estate and he should take care at the next Parliament that both the Sheepsheads and the Calves-heads should be used as they deserved He adds that Cranmer whom in scorn he calls Mr. Canterbury was become very humble and ready to submit himself in all things but that would not serve his turn and it
their pleasure He had sworn to the Cardinals before he was chosen that he would make but four Cardinals in two Years but he created seven within one half Year and would not hear the Consistory argue against it 1556. or remember him of his Promise but said his Power was absolute and could not be limited One of these Cardinals was Gropper the Dean of Colen a man of great Learning and Vertues but inconstant and fearful as was shewn in the former Book he refused to accept of that Dignity so generally sought after in their Church and was more esteemed for rejecting it than others were that had by their Ambition aspired to it In the end of this year and the beginning of the next a memorable thing fell out of which if I give a large account I do not fear to be much censured by the Reader for it especially since it is not impertinent to this work the King and Queen being so much concerned in it It was Charles the 5ths Charles the 5th's Resignation laying down first some of his hereditary Dominions in October this year and the rest with the Empire not long after He had now enjoyed the one forty years and the other thirty six He was much disabled by the Gout which had held him almost constantly for several years he had been in the greatest Fatigues that ever any Prince had undergone ever since the 17th year of his age he had gone nine times into Germany six times into Spain seven times into Italy four times into France had been ten times in the Netherlands had made two Expeditions into Africk and been twice in England and had crossed the Seas eleven times He had not only been a Conquerer in all his Warrs but had taken a Pope a King of France and some Princes of Germany Prisoners besides a vast accession of Wealth and Empire from the West Indies But he now growing out of love with the Pomp and Greatness of the World began to have more serious thoughts of another Life which were much encreased in him by the answer one of his Captains gave him when he desired Leave to retire and being asked the reason said that between the affairs of the World and the hour of death there ought to be some interval He found his for tune turned his Designs in Germany were blasted In the Siege of Mets he saw he could no more command Triumphs to wait on him for though his Army consisted of 100000 Men yet he was forced to raise his Siege with the loss of 40000 Men and though his Wars had been this year more sucessful both in Italy and Flanders yet he thought he was too old to deal with the King of France It was thought his Son set this forward who had left England in discontent being weary both of His Queen and of holding a titular Crown only in her Right being excluded from the Government All these things concurring made the Emperor in a solemn Assembly at Brussels on the 25th of October in the presence of his Son and Maximilian King of Boheme and of the Duke of Savoy and his two Sisters the Queens Dowagers of France and Hungary with a vast number of others of lower quality first give his Son the Golden Fleece and so resign the headship of that Order to him and then the Dukedomes of Burgundy and Brabant and the other Provinces of the Netherlands Two months after that he resigned all his other Hereditary Dominions and the next year he sent a Resignation of the Empire to the Diet who thereupon did choose his Brother Ferdinand Emperor to which the Pope made great exceptions for he said the Resignation ought to have been only to him and that being made as it was it was null and upon that he would not acknowledge the new Emperor Charles staid sometime in Flanders in a private House For he left all his Palaces and had but little company about him It is said that when Seld his Brother's Secretary being sent to him was leaving him once late at night all the Candles on the Stairs being burnt out and none waiting to light him down the late Emperor would needs carry the Candle down after him the other as may be well imagined being much confounded at it the Emperor told him He was now a private Man and his Servants knowing there was nothing now to be had by attending did not wait carefully He bad him tell his Brother what a change he had seen in him and how vain a thing the attendance of Courtiers was since he was so soon forsaken by his own Servants He reserved but 100000 Crowns a year for his own use and sixty Servants But at his coming into Spain he found even that small Pension was not readily payed at which he was observed to be much displeased He retired to a place in the Confines of Castile and Portugal which he had observed in his Hunting to be fit for a retreat by reason of the pleasantness of the Situation and the temperatness of the Air and there he had ordered a little Appartment of seven Rooms fourteen foot square to be built for him He kept only twelve servants about himself and sent the rest to stay in the neighbouring Towns He gave himself at first much to mechanical Curiosities and had great varieties of Clocks and some other motions which surprised the ignorant Monks who were afraid they were the performances of Magick especially his Machines of Birds of wood that did fly out and come back and the representations of Armies that by Springs engaged and fought He also designed that great work of carrying the Tago up a Hill near Toledo which was afterwards done at a vast charge He gave himself to Gardening and used to Graft and Imp with his own hand and keeping but one Horse rid abroad some times attended only by one Footman The making of Clocks was not then so perfect as it is since so that he could never bring his Clocks to strike in the same minute and he used upon that to say he saw the Folly of endeavouring to bring all Men to be of the same mind in Religion since he could not bring Machines to agree exactly He set himself also much to study and in the second year of his retirement went oftener to the Chappel and â—o the Sacrament than he had done at first He used also to Discipline himself with a Cord which after his death having some marks of the severity he had put himself to was laid up among his Sons chiefest Rarities But amidst all this it was believed he became in most points to be of the belief of the Protestants before he died and as his Confessor was burnt afterwards for Heresie so Miranda the Arch-Aishop of Toledo who used to come often to him was upon the same suspitions kept long in Prison Near the end of two years at the Aniversary of his Mothers Funeral who had died but a few years before having
delivery of it This being put on Pool he went into the Pulpit and made a cold Sermon about the Beginning the Use and the Matter of the Pall without either Learning or Eloquence The Subject could admit of no Learning and for Eloquence though in his younger days when he writ against King Henry his Stile was too luxuriant and florid yet being afterwards sensible of his excess that way he turned as much to the other Extream and cutting off all the Ornaments of Speech he brought his Stile to a flatness that had neither life nor beauty in it Some more Religious Houses endowed All the Business of England this Year was the raising of Religious Houses Greenwich was begun with last Year The Queen also built a House for the Dominicans in Smithfield and another for the Franciscans and they being Begging Orders these Endowments did not cost much At Sion near Brainford there had been a Religious House of Women of the Order of St. Bridget That House was among the first that had been dissolved by King Henry the eighth as having harboured the Kings Enemies and been Complices to the Business of the Maid of Kent The Queen a-new Founded a Nunnery there She also Founded a House for the Carthusians at Sheen near Richmond in gratitude to that Order for their Sufferings upon her Mothers account From these she went to a greater Foundation but that which cost her less for she suppressed the Deanry and the Cathedral of Westminster and in September this Year turned it into a Monastery and made Fecknam Dean of Pauls the first Abbot of it I have not met with her Foundation of it which perhaps was razed out of the Records in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign for it is not enrolled among the other Patents of this Year But on the 23d of September she gave Warrants for Pensions to be paid to the Prebends of Westminster till they were otherwise provided and about that time Fecknam was declared Abbot though the solemn Installment of him and fourteen other Monks with him was not done till the 21st of November There had been many Searches and Discoveries made in the former Reign of great disorders in these Houses All the former Records concerning them are razed and at the dissolution of them many had made Confession of their ill Lives and gross Superstition all which were laid up and Recorded in the Augmentation Office There had been also in that state of things which they now called The late Schism many Professions made by the Bishops and Abbots and other Religious Men of their renouncing the Popes Authority and acknowledging the Kings Supremacy therefore it was moved that all these should be gathered together and destroyed So on the 23d of September theâ—e was a Commission granted to Bonner and Cole the new Dean of Pauls in Fecknams room and Dr. Martin to search all Registers to find out both the Professions made against the Pope and the Scrutinies made in Abbies which as the Commission that is in the Collection Collection Number 29. sets forth tended to the subversion of all good Religion and Religious Houses These they were to gather and carry to the Cardinal that they might be disposed of as the Queen should give order It is not upon Record how they executed this Commission but the effects of it appear in the great defectiveness of the Records in many things of consequence which are razed and lost This was a new sort of Expurgation by which they intended to leave as few foot-steps to Posterity as â—hey could of what had been formerly done Their care of their own credits led them to endeavour to suppress the many Declarations themselves had formerly made both against the See of Rome the Monastick Orders and many of the old Corruptions which they had disclaimed But many things escaped their diligence as may appear by what I have already Collected and considering the pains they were at in vitiating Registers and destroying Records I hope the Reader will not think it strange if he meets with many defects in this Work In this Search they not only took away what concerned themselves but every collateral thing that might inform or direct the following Ages how to imitate those Precedents and therefore among other Writings the Commission that Cromwell had to be Vice-gerent was destroyed but I have since that time met with it in a Copy that was in the Cotton Library which I have put in the Collection Collection Number 30. How far this resembled the endeavours that the Heathens used in the last and hotest Persecution to burn all the Registers of the Church I leave to the Reader The Abbey of Westminster being thus set up some of the Monks of Glassenbury who were yet alive were put into it And all the rest of the old Monks that had been turned out of Glaslenbury Endeavours to raise the Abbey of Glassenbury and who had not married since were invited to return to this Monastery They began to contrive how to raise their Abbey again which was held the Ancientest and was certainly the richest in England and therefore they moved the Queen and the Cardinal that they might have the House and Site restored and repaired and they would by Labour and Husbandry maintain themselves not doubting but the People of the Country would be ready to contribute liberally to their subsistence The Queen and Cardinal liked the Proposition well so the Monks wrote to the Lord Hastings then Lord Chamberlain to put the Queen in mind of it and to follow the Business till it were brought to a good Issue which would be a great Honour to the Memory of Joseph of Arimathea who lay there whom they did heartily beseech to pray to Christ for good success to his Lordship This Letter I have put in the Collection Collection Number 31. copied from the Original What followed upon it I cannot find It is probable the Monks of other Houses made the like endeavours and every one of them could find some rare thing belonging to their House which seemed to make it the more necessary to raise it speedily These of St. Albans could say the first Martyr of England lay in their Abbey those of St. Edmundbury had a King that was Martyred by the Heathen Danes those of Battel could say they were Founded for the remembrance of William the Conquerors Victory from whence the Queen derived her Crown and those of St. Austins in Canterbury had the Apostle of England laid in their Church In short they were all in hopes to be speedily restored And though they were but few in Number and to begin upon a small Revenue yet as soon as the belief of Purgatory was revived they knew how to set up the old Trade a-new which they could drive with the greater advantage since they were to deal with the People by a new Motive besides the old ones formerly used that it was Sacriledge to possess the
she was then inclined if she could have the greatest Prince in Christendome she would not accept of him though perhaps the Queen might think this flowed rather from a Maids modesty Which is rejected by her than any setled determination in her This I take from a Letter Pope wrote about it which is in the Collection Yet her Life at this time was Collection Number 38. neither so pleasant nor so well secured but that if her aversion to a married state had not been very much rooted in her it is not unlikely she would have been glad to be out of the Hands of her unkind Keepers who grew the more apprehensive of her the more they observed her Sister to decay and as the Bishops did apprehend she would overthrow all that they had been building and cementing with so much Blood so some of them did not spare to suggest the putting of her out of the way and now that she is so near the Throne in the Course of this History I shall look back through this Reign to give account of what befel her in it She was hardly used all this Reign When she was suspected to be accessory to Wiats Conspiracy the day after his breaking out the Lord Hastings Sir Tho. Cornwallis and Sir Richard Southwell were sent for her to come to Court She then lay sick at her House at Ashridge but that excuse not being accepted she was forced to go so being still ill she came by slow Journeys to the Queen She was kept shut up in private at Court from the fourth of March to the 16th and then Gardiner with nineteen of the Council came to examine her about Wiats Rebellion She positively denied she knew any thing of it or of Sir Peter Carew's designs in the West which they also objected to her In conclusion they told her the Queen had ordered her to be sent to the Tower till the Matter should be further enquired into and though she made great Protestations of her Innocence yet she was carried thither and led in by the Traitors Gate all her own Servants being put from her Three Men and as many Women of the Queens Servants were appointed to attend on her and no Person was suffered to have access to her Sir John Gage who was the Lieutenant of the Tower treated her very severely kept her closely shut up without leave to walk either in the Galleries or on the Leads nor would he permit her Servants to carry in her Meat to her but he did that by his own Servants The other Prisoners were often examined about her and some were put to the Rack to try if they could be brought any way to accuse her but though Wiat had done it when he hoped to have saved his own Life by so base an Action yet he afterwards denied that she knew any of their designs and lest those denials he made at his Examinations might have been suppressed and his former Depositions be made use of against her he declared it openly on the Scaffold at his death After some days close Imprisonment upon great intercession made by the Lord Chandois then Constable of the Tower it was granted that she might sometimes walk in the Queens Rooms in the presence of the Constable the Lieutenant and three Women the Windows being all shut Then she got leave to walk in a little Garden for some Air but all the Windows that opened to it were to be kept shut when she took her Walk and so jealous were they of her that a Boy of four years old was severely threatned and his Father sent for and chid for his carrying Flowers to her The Lord Chandois was observed to treat her with too much respect so he was not any more trusted with the charge of her which was committed to Sir Hen. Benefield About the middle of May she was sent under the Guard of the Lord Williams and Benefield to Woodstock She was so straitly kept and Benefield was so sullen to her that she believed they intended to put her privately to death The Lord Williams treated her nobly at his House on the way at which Benefield was much disgusted When she was at Woodstock she was still kept under Guards and but seldom allowed to walk in the Gardens none being suffered to come near her After many Months Imprisonment she obtained leave to write to the Queen Benefield being to see all she wrote It was believed that some were sent secretly to kill her but the Orders were given so strictly that none of them could come near her without a Special Warrant and so she escaped at that time But after King Philip understood the whole Case he broke all those designs as was formerly shewn and prevailed to have her sent for to Court When she came to Hampton-Court she was kept still a Prisoner Many of the Council Gardiner in particular dealt often with her to confess her offences and submit to the Queens mercy She said she had never offended her not so much as in her thoughts and she would never betray her own Innocency by such a Confession One night when it was late she was sent for by the Queen before whom she kneeled down and protested she was and ever had been a most faithful Subject to her The Queen seemed still to suspect her and wished her to confess her guilt otherwise she must think she had been unjustly dealt with She answered That she was not to complain but to bear her burden only she begged her to conceive a good opinion of her So they parted fairly which King Philip had perswaded the Queen to and being afraid that the sowrness of the Queens temper might lead her into passion he was secretly in a corner of the Room to prevent any further breach in case she should have been transported into new heats but there was no occasion given for it Soon after that she was discharged of her Guards and suffered to retire into the Country but there were always many Spies about her and she to avoid all suspition medled in no sort of business but gave her self wholly to Study And thus she passed these five years under no small fears and apprehensions which was perhaps a necessary preparation for that high degree to which she was soon after advanced and which she held in the greatest and longest course of Prosperity and Glory that ever any of her Sex attained to The Bishops when the Parliament was sitting The Progress of the Persecution did always intermit their cruelties but as soon as it was over they fell to them afresh On the 28th of March Cuthbert Simpson that was in Deacons Orders with two others were burnt in Smithfield Simpson had been taken with Rough that suffered the Year before this He was put to much torture he lay three hours on the Rack besides two other Inventions of Torture were made use of to make him discover all those in London who met with them in
were declared to be Heresies by the express and plain Words of Scripture All other Points not so decided were to be judged by the Parliament with the assent of the Clergy in their Convocation This Act was in many things short of the Authority that King Henry had claimed and the severity of the Laws he had made The Title of Supream Head was left out of the Oath This was done to mitigate the Opposition of the Popish Party but besides the Queen her self had a scruple about it which was put in her Head by one Lever a famous Preacher among those of the Reformation of which Sands afterwards Bishop of Worcester complained to Parker in a Letter that is in the Collection Collection Number 2. There was no other punishment inflicted on those that denied the Queens Supremacy but the loss of their Goods and such as refused to take the Oath did only lose their Imployments whereas to refuse the Oath in King Henry's time brought them into a Praemunire and to deny the Supremacy was Treason The Bishops oppose the Queens Supremacy But against this Bill the Bishops made Speeches in the House of Lords I have seen a Speech of this kind was said to have been made by Arch-bishop Heath but it must be forgery put out in his Name for he is made to speak of the Supremacy as a new and unheard of thing which he who had sworn it so oft in King Henry's and King Edwards times could not have the face to say The rest of the Bishops opposed it the rather because they had lately declared so high for the Pope that it had been very indecent for them to have revolted so soon The Bishop of Duresme came not to this Parliament There were some hopes of gaining him to concur in the Reformation for in the Warrant the Queen afterwards gave to some for Consecrating the new Bishops he is first named and I have seen a Letter of Secretary Cecils to Parker that gives him some hope that Tonstal would joyn with them He had been offended with the Cruelties of the late Reign and though the resentments he had of his ill usage in the end of King Edwards time had made him at first concur more heartily to the restoring of Popery yet he soon fell off and declared his dislike of those violent Courses and neither did he nor Heath bring any in trouble within their Diocesses upon the account of Religion though it is hardly credible that there was no occasion for their being severe if they had been otherwise enclined to it The Bishop of Ely was also absent at the passing of this Act for though he would not consent to it yet he had done all that was prescribed by it so often before that it seems he thought it more decent to be absent than either to consent to it or to oppose it The Power that was added for the Queens Commissionating some to Execute her Supremacy gave the Rise to that Court which was commonly called the High Commission Court The beginning of the High Commission and was to be in the room of a single Person to whom with the Title of Lord Vice-gerent King Henry did delegate his Authority It seems the Clergy-men with whom the Queen consulted at this time thought this too much to be put in one Mans Hand and therefore resolved to have it shared to more Persons of whom a great many would certainly be Church-men so that they should not be altogether kept under by the hard Hands of the Laity who having groaned long under the Tyranny of an Ecclesiastical Yoke seemed now disposed to revenge themselves by bringing the Clergy as much under them for so Extreams do commonly rise from one another The Popish Clergy were now every where beginning to declaim against Innovation and Heresie Harpsfield had in a Sermon at Canterbury in February stirred the People much to Sedition and the Members belonging to that Cathedral had openly said that Religion should not nor could not be altered The Council also heard that the Prebendaries there had bought up many Arms so a Letter was written to Sir Thomas Smith to examine that matter Harpsfield was not put in Prison but received only a Rebuke There came also complaints from many other Places of many Seditious Sermons So the Queen following the Precedent her Sister had set her did in the beginning of March forbid all Preaching except by such as had a Licence under the Great Seal But lest the Clergy might now in the Convocation set out Orders in opposition to what the Queen was about to do she sent and required them under the Pains of a Praemunire to make no Canons Yet Harpsfield that was Prolocutor with the rest of the lower House made an Address to the upper House to be by them presented to the Queen for the discharge of their Consciences They reduced the Particulars into five Articles 1. That Christ was corporally present in the Sacrament 2. That there was no other Substance there but his Body and Blood 3. That in the Mass there was a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Dead and the Living 4. That St. Peter and his lawful Successors had the Power of feeding and governing the Church 5. That the Power of treating about Doctrine the Sacraments and the Order of Divine Worship belonged only to the Pastors of the Church These they had sent to the two Universities from whence they were returned with the Hands of the greatest part in them to the first four but it seems they thought it not fit to sign the last For now the Queen had resolved to have a publick Conference about Religion in the Abby-Church of Westminster The Arch-bishop of York was continued still to be of the Council so the Conference being proposed to him he after he had Communicated it to his Brethren accepted of it though with some unwillingness It was appointed that there should be nine of a side who should confer about these three Points 1. Whether it was not against the Word of God and the Custom of the Ancient Church to use a Tongue unknown to the People in the Common-Prayers and the Administration of the Sacraments 2. Whether every Church had not Authority to appoint change and take away Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Rites so the same were done to edification 3. Whether it could be proved by the Word of God that in the Mass there was a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Dead and the Living All was ordered to be done in Writing The Bishops as being actually in Office were to read their Papers first upon the first Point and the Reformed were to read theirs next and then they were to exchange their Papers without any discourse concerning them for the avoiding of jangling The next day they were to read their Papers upon the second and after that upon the third Head and then they were to answer one anothers Papers The Nine on both sides were the Bishops of Winchester
had been left out in his second Liturgy as favouring the Corporal Presence too much and in stead of them these words were ordered to be used in the distribution of that Sacrament Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving and Drink this in remembrance that Christs Blood was shed for thee and be thankful They now joyned both these in one Some of the Collects were also a little altered and thus was the Book presented to the House But for the Book of Ordination it was not in express terms named in the Act which gave an occasion afterwards to question the lawfulness of the Ordinations made by that Book But by this Act the Book that was set out by King Edward and confirmed by Parliament in the fifth Year of his Reign was again authorized by Law and the Repeal of it in Queen Maries time was made void So the Book of Ordinations being in that Act added to the Book of Common-Prayer it was now legally in force again as was afterwards declared in Parliament upon a Question that was raised about it by Bonner The Bill that was put in on the 15th of February concerning the new Service being laid aside a new one was framed and sent up by the Commons on the 18th of April and debated in the House of Lords Debates about the Act of Ueiformity Heath made a long Speech against it rather Elegant than Learned He enlarged much on the several Changes which had been made in King Edward's time he said that both Cranmer and Ridley changed their Opinions in the matter of Christ's presence he called Ridley the most notably learned Man that was of that way These Changes he imputed to their departing from the Standard of the Catholick Church he complained much of the robbing of Churches the breaking of Images and the Stage-Plays made in mockery of the Catholick Religion Upon all these Reasons he was against the Bill The Bishop of Chester spake also to it He said the Bill was against both Faith and Charity that Points once defined were not to be brought again into question nor were Acts of Parliament Foundations for a Churches Belief he enlarged on the Antiquity of their Forms and said it was an insolent thing to pretend that our Fathers had lived in Ignorance The Prophets oftentimes directed the Israelites to ask of their Fathers Matters of Religion could not be understood by the Laity It was of great consequence to have their Faith well grounded Jeroboam made Israel to Sin when he set up a new way of Worship and not only the Orthodox but even the Arrian Emperours ordered that points of Faith should be examined in Councils Gallio by the light of Nature knew that a Civil Judge ought not to meddle with matters of Religion In the Service-Book that was then before them they had no Sacrifice for their Sins nor were they to adore Christ in the Host and for these reasons he could not agree to it but if any thought he spoke this because of his own concern or pittied him for what he might suffer by it he would say in the words of our Saviour Weep not for me Weep for your selves After him spake Fecknam Abbot of Westminster He proposed three Rules by which they should judge of Religion it 's Antiquity its constancy to it self the influence it had on the Civil Government he said the old Religion began in the time of King Lucius according to Gildas the Book now proposed was not used before the two last years of King Edward the one was always the same the other was changed every second year as appeared in the point of the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament there had been great Order and Obedience in Queen Maries Reign but now every where great Insolences were committed by the People with some very indecent Prophanations of the most holy things he recommended to them in St. Austines words the adhering to the Catholick Church the very name Catholick which Hereticks had not the confidence to assume shewed their Authority The Consent of the whole Church in all Ages with the perpetual Succession of Pastors in St. Peter's Chair ought to weigh more with them than a few new Preachers who had distracted both Germany and England of late Thus I have given the substance of their Speeches being all that I have seen of that side I have seen none at all on the other side tho it is not probable but some were made in defence of the Service as well as these were against it But upon this Occasion I shall set down the substance of the second Paper which the Reformed Divines had prepared on the second point for the Conference about the Authority of every particular Church to change or take away Ceremonies I do not put it in the Collection because I have not that which the Papists prepared in Opposition to it But the heads of this Paper were as followeth Arguments for the Changes made in the Service It is clear by the Epistles which St. Paul writ to the Corinthians and other Churches that every Church has Power in it self to order the Forms of their Worship and the administration of the Sacraments among them so as might best tend to Order Edification and Peace The like Power had also the seven Angels of the Churches to whom St. John writ And for the first three Ages there was no General Meeting of the Church in Synods but in those times the neighbouring Pastors and Bishops by mutual advice rather than Authority ordered their affairs and when Heresies sprung up they condemned them without staying for a General Determination of the whole Church There were also great differences among them in their Customs as about observing Lent and Easter Ceremonies grew too soon to a great number When Errors or Abuses appeared private Bishops reformed their own Diocesses So those who came in the room of Arrian Bishops even when that Heresie was spread over all the East and the See of Rome it self was defiled with it yet reformed their own Churches Ambrose finding the custom of Feasting in Churches on the Anniversaries of the Martyrs gave occasion to great Scandals took it away Even in Queen Maries time many of the old Superstitions of Pilgrimages and Reliques which had been abolish'd in King Henry's time were not then taken up again from which they argued that if some things might be altered why not more So that if there was good reason to make any Changes it could not be doubted but that as Hezekiah and Josiah had made by their own power so the Queen might make Reformations which were not so much the setting up of new things as the restoring of the state of Religion to what it was anciently which had been brought in by consent of Parliament and Convocation in King Edward's time The Rules they offer'd in this Paper about Ceremonies were that
and the Lord Protector and all the Lords sat at Boards in the Hall beneath and the Lord Marshal's Deputy for my Lord of Somerset was Lord Marshal rode about the Hall to make room then came in Sir John Dimock Champion and made his Challenge and so the King drank to him and he had the Cup. At night the King returned to his Palace at Westminster where there was Justs and Barriers and afterward Order was taken for all his Servants being with his Father and being with the Prince and the Ordinary and Unordinary were appointed In the mean season Sir Andrew Dudley Brother to my Lord of Warwick being in the Paunsie met with the Lion a principal Ship of Scotland which thought to take the Paunsie without resistance but the Paunsie approached her and she shot but at length they came very near and then the Paunsie shooting off all one side burst all the overlop of the Lion and all her Tackling and at length boarded her and took her but in the return by negligence she was lost at Harwich-Haven with almost all her Men. In the month of * Should be March May died the French King called Francis and his Son called Henry was proclaimed King There came also out of Scotland an Ambassador but brought nothing to pass and an Army was prepared to go into Scotland Certain Injunctions were set forth which took away divers Ceremonies and Commissions sent to take down Images and certain Homilies were set forth to be read in the Church Dr. Smith of Oxford recanted at Pauls certain Opinions of the Mess and that Christ was not according to the Order of Melchisedeck The Lord Seimour of Sudley married the Queen whose name was Katherine with which Marriage the Lord Protector was much offended There was great preparation made to go into Scotland and the Lord Protector the Earl of Warwick the Lord Dacres the Lord Gray and Mr. Brian went with a great number of Nobles and Gentlemen to Barwick where the first day after his coming he mustered all his Company which were to the number of 13000 Footmen and 5000 Horsemen The next day he marched on into Scotland and so passed the Pease then he burnt two Castles in Scotland and so passed a streight of a Bridg where 300 Scots Light-Horsemen set upon him behind him who were discomfited So he passed to Musselburgh where the first day after he came he went up to the Hill and saw the Scots thinking them as they were indeed at least 36000 Men and my Lord of Warwick was almost taken chasing the Earl of Huntley by an Ambush but he was rescued by one Bertivell with twelve Hagbuttiers on Horseback and the Ambush ran away The 10th day of September the Lord Protector thought to get the Hill which the Scots seeing passed the Bridg over the River of Musselburgh and strove for the higher Ground and almost got it but our Horsemen set upon them who although they stayed them yet were put to flight and gathered together again by the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector and the Earl of Warwick and were ready to give a new Onset The Scots being amazed with this fled theirwayes some to Edinburgh some to the Sea and some to Dalkeith and there were slain 10000 of them but of Englishmen 51 Horsemen which were almost all Gentlemen and but one Footman Prisoners were taken the Lord Huntley Chancellor of Scotland and divers other Gentlemen and slain of Lairds 1000. And Mr. Brian Sadler and Vane were made Bannerets After this Battel Broughtie-craig was given to the Englishmen and Hume and Roxburgh and Heymouth which were Fortified and Captains were put in them and the Lord of Somerset rewarded with 500 l. Lands In the mean season Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester was for not receiving the Injunctions committed to Ward There was also a Parliament called wherein all Chaunteries were granted to the King and an extream Law made for Vagabonds and divers other things Also the Scots besieged Broughty-craig which was defended against them all by Sir Andrew Dudley Knight and oftentimes their Ordnance was taken and marred YEAR II. A Triumph was where six Gentlemen did challenge all Comers at Barriers Justs and Tournay and also that they would keep a Fortress with thirty with them against an hundred or under which was done at Greenwich Sir Edward Bellingam being sent into Ireland Deputy and Sir Anthony St. Leiger revoked he took O-Canor and O-Mor bringing the Lords that rebelled into subjection and O-Canor and O-Mor leaving their Lordships had apiece an 100 l. Pension The Scots besieged the Town of Haddington where the Captain Mr. Willford every day made issues upon them and slew divers of them The thing was very weak but for the Men who did very manfully Oftentimes Mr. Holcroft and Mr. Palmer did Victual it by force passing through the Enemies and at last the Rhinegrave unawares set upon Mr. Palmer which was there with near a thousand and five hundred Horsemen and discomfited him taking him Mr. Bowes Warden of the West-Marches and divers other to the number of 400 and slew a few Upon St. Peter's day the Bishop of Winchester was committed to the Tower Then they made divers brags and they had the like made to them Then went the Earl of Shrewsbury General of the Army with 22000 Men and burnt divers Towns and Fortresses which the Frenchmen and Scots hearing levied their Siege in the month of September in the levying of which there came one to Tiberio who as then was in Haddington and setting forth the weakness of the Town told him That all Honour was due to the Defenders and none to the Assailers so the Siege being levied the Earl of Shrewsbury entred it and victualled and reinforced it After his departing by night there came into the Outer Court at Haddington 2000 Men armed taking the Townsmen in their Shirts who yet defended them with the help of the Watch and at length with Ordnance issued out upon them and slew a marvellous number bearing divers Assaults and at length drove them home and kept the Town safe A Parliament was called where an Uniform Order of Prayer was institute before made by a number of Bishops and learned Men gathered together in Windsor There was granted a Subsidy and there was a notable Disputation of the Sacrament in the Parliament-House Also the Lord Sudley Admiral of England was condemned to Death and died in March ensuing Sir Thomas Sharington was also condemned for making false Coin which he himself confessed Divers also were put in the Tower YEAR III. Hume-Castle was taken by Night and Treason by the Scots Mr. Willford in a Skirmish was left of his Men sore hurt and taken There was a Skirmish at Broughty-craig wherein Mr. Lutterell Captain after Mr. Dudley did burn certain Villages and took Monsieur de Toge Prisoner The Frenchmen by night assaulted Boulingberg and were manfully repulsed after they had made Faggots with Pitch Tar Tallow Rosin
Bargain made with the Foulcare for about 60000 l. that in May and August should be payed for the defraying of it 1. That the Foulcare should put it off for 10 in the 100. 2. That I should buy 12000 Marks weight at 6 s. the ounce to be delivered at Antwerp and so conveyed over 3. I should pay 100000 Crowns for a very fair Jewel of his four Rubies marvelous big one Orient and great Diamond and one great Pearl 27. Mallet the Lady Mary's Chaplain apprehended and sent to the Tower of London 30. The Lord Marquess of Northampton appointed to go with the Order and further Commission of Treaty and that in Post having joined with him in Commission the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hobbey Sir William Pickering and Sir John Mason Knights and two other Lawyers Smith that was Secretary c. May. 2. There was appointed to go with my Lord Marquess the Earls of Rutland Worcester and Ormond the Lords Lisle Fitzwater and Bray Barguenny and divers other Gentlemen to the number of thirty in all 3. The Challenge at running at the Ring performed at the which first came the King sixteen Footmen and ten Horsemen in black Silk Coats pulled out with white Taffety then all the Lords having three Men likewise apparelled and all Gentlemen their Footmen in white Fustian pulled out with black Taffety The other side came all in yellow Taffety at length the yellow Band took it thrice in 120 courses and my Band touched often which was counted as nothing and took never which seemed very strange and so the Prize was of my Side lost After that Tournay followed between six of my Band and six of theirs 4. It was appointed that there should be but four Men to wait on every Earl that went with my Lord Marquess of Northampton three on every Lord two on every Knight or Gentleman Also that my Lord Marquess should in his Diet be allowed for the loss in his Exchange 5. The Muster of the Gendarmoury appointed to be the first of June if it were possible if not the 8th 6. The Testourn cried down from 12 d. to 9 d. and the Groat from 4 d. to 3 d. 9. One Stewart a Scotchman meaning to poison the young Queen of Scotland thinking thereby to get Favour here was after he had been a while in the Tower and Newgate delivered on my Frontiers at Calais to the French for to have him punished there according to his deserts 10. Divers Lords and Knights sent for to furnish the Court at the coming of the French Ambassadour that brought hither the Order of St. Michael 12. A Proclamation proclaimed to give warning to all those that keep any Farms multitudes of Sheep above the number limited in the Law viz. 2000 decayed Tenements and Towns Regratters Forestalling Men that sell dear having plenty enough and put Plough Ground to Pasture and Carriers over-Sea of Victual That if they leave not these Enormities they shall be streightly punished very shortly so that they should feel the smart of it and to command execution of Laws made for this purpose before 14. There mustered before Me an hundred Archers two Arrows apiece all of the Guard afterward shot together and they shot at an inch Board which some pierced quite and stuck in the other Board divers pierced it quite thorow with the Heads of their Arrows the Boards being very well-seasoned Timber So it was appointed there should be ordinarily 100 Archers and 100 Halbertiers either good Wrestlers or casters of the Bar or Leapers or Runners or tall Men of Personage 15. Sir Philip Hobbey departed toward France with ten Gentlemen of his own in Velvet Coats and Chains of Gold 16. Likewise did the Bishop of Ely depart with a Band of Men well furnished 20. A Proclamation made That whosoever found a Seditious Bill and did not tear and deface it should be a partaker of the Bill and punished as the Maker 21. My Lord Marquess of Northampton had Commission to deliver the Order and to treat of all things and chiefly of Marriage for Me to the Lady Elizabeth his Daughter First To have the Dote 12000 Marks a Year and the Dowry at least 800000 Crowns The Forfeiture 100000 Crowns at the most if I performed not and paying that to be delivered and that this should not impeach the former Covenants with Scotland with many other Branches 22. He departed himself in Post 24. An Earthquake was at Croidon and Blechinglee and in the most part of Surrey but no harm was done 30. Whereas before Commandment was given that 160000 l. should be Coined of three ounces in the Pound fine for discharge of Debts and to get some Treasure to be able to alter all now was it stopped saving only 80000 l. to discharge my Debts and 10000 Mark weight that the Foulcare delivered in the last Exchange at four ounces in the pound 31. The Musters defered till after Midsummer June 2. It was appointed that I should receive the Frenchmen that came hither at Westminster where was made preparation for the purpose and four garnish of new Vessels taken out of Church Stuff as Miters and Golden Missals and Primers and Crosses and Reliques of Plessay 4. Provision made in Flanders for Silver and Gold Plate and Chains to be given to these Strangers 7. A Proclamation set forth that Exchange or Re-exchange should be made under the Punishment set forth in King Henry the Seventh's Time duly to be executed 10. Monsieur Mareschal departed from the Court to Bulloigne in Post and so hither by Water in his Galleys and Foists In this Month and the Month before was great Business for the City of Parma which Duke * It should be Octavio Horatio had delivered to the French King for the Pope ascited him as holding it in capite of him whereby he could not alienate it without the Pope's Will but he came not at his Day for which cause the Pope and Imperialists raised 8000 Men and took a Castle on the same River side Also the French King sent Monsieur de Thermes who had been his General in Scotland with a great piece of his Gendarmory into Italy to help Duke Horatio Furthermore the Turks made great preparation for War which some feared would at length burst out 21. I was elected of the Company of St. Michael in France by the French King and his Order 13. Agreement made with the Scots for the Borders between the Commissioners aforesaid for both the Parties In this month Dragute a Pirat escaped Andrea Doria who had closed him in a Creek by force of his Galley-Slaves that digged another way into the Sea and took two of Andrea's Galleys that lay far into the Sea 14. Pardon given to those Irish Lords that would come in before a certain day limited by the Deputy with Advertisement to the Deputy to make sharp War with those that would resist and also should administer my Laws every-where 18. Because of my Charges in
ad tuam sive alicujus Comissariorum per te vigore hujus Commissionis jure deputandorum cognitione devolvi aut deduci valeant possunt examinand decidend Caeteraque omnia singula in Praemissis seu circa ea necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna per ultra ea quae tibi ex sacris Literis divinitus Commissa esse dignoscuntur vice nomine Autoritate nostris exequend Tibi de cujus sana Doctrina Conscientiae puritate vitaeque morum integritate ac in rebus gerundis fide industria plurimum confidimus vices nostras cum potestate alium vel alios Commissarium vel Commissarios ad praemissa vel eorum aliqua surrogand substituend eosdemque ad placitum revocand tenore praesentium Committimus ac liberam facultatem concedimus teque licentiamus per praesentes ac nostrum beneplacitum duntaxat duraturatum cum cujuslibet congrue Ecclesiast coercionis potestate quacunque inhibitione ante dat praesentium emanata in aliquo non obstante tuam Conscientiam coram Deo strictissime onerantes ut summo omnium judici aliquando rationem reddere coram nobis tuo sub periculo corporali respondere intendis te admonentes ut interim tuum officium juxta Evangelii normam pie sancte exercere studeas ne quem ullo tempore unquam ad sacros Ordines promoveas vel ad curam animarum gerendam quovismodo admittas nisi eos duntaxat quos tanti tam venerabilis officii functionem vitae morum Integritas notissimis testimoniis approbata literarum scientia aliae qualitates requisitae ad hoc habiles idoneos clare luculenter ostenderint declaraverint Nam ut maxime compertum cognitumque habemus morum omnium maxime Christianae Religionis corruptelam a malis pastoribus in populum emanasse sic veram Christi Religionem vitaeque morum emendationem a bonis pastoribus iterum delectis assumptis in integrum restitutum iri haud dubie speramus In cujus rei testimonium praesentes Literas nostras inde fieri sigilli nostri quo ad causas Ecclesiasticas utimur appensione jussimus communiri Datum septimo die mensis Februarii Anno Dom. millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo sexto Regni nostri Anno primo Number 3. The Councils Letter to the Justices of Peace An Original Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. AFter our right hearty Commendations where the most Noble King of famous memory our late Soveraign Lord and Master King Henry the 8th whom God pardon upon the great Trust which his Majesty had in your virtous Wisdoms and good Dispositions to the Common-Wealth of this Realm did specially name and appoint you among others by his Commissions under his Great Seal of England to be Conservatours and Justices of his Peace within that his County of Norfolk Forasmuch as the same Commissions were dissolved by his decease it hath pleased the King's Majesty our Soveraign Lord that now is by the Advice and Consent of us the Lord Protector and others Executors to our said late Soveraign Lord whose Names be under-written to whom with others the Government of his most Royal Person and the Order of his Affairs is by his last Will and Testament committed till he shall be of full Age of eighteen Years to cause new Commissions again to be made for the conservation of his Peace throughout this Realm whereof you shall by this Bearer receive one for that County And for that the good and diligent execution of the Charge committed to you and others by the same shall be a notable Surety to the King our Soveraign Lord's Person that now is to whom God give increase of Vertue Honour and many Years a most certain Stay to the Common-Wealth which must needs prosper where Justice hath place and reigneth We shall desire you and in his Majesty's Name charge and command you upon the receit hereof with all diligence to assemble your selves together and calling unto you all such others as be named in the said Commission You shall first cry and call to God to give you Grace to execute this Charge committed unto you with all truth and uprightness according to your Oaths which you shall endeavour your selves to do in all things appertaining to your Office accordingly in such sort as all private Malice Sloth Negligence Displeasure Disdain Corruption and sinister Affections set apart it may appear you have God and the preservation of your Soveraign Lord and natural Country before your Eyes and that you forget not that by the same your Selves your Wives and your Children shall surely prosper and be also preserved For the better doing whereof you shall at this your first Assembly make a division of your selves into Hundreds or Wapentakes that is to say Two at the least to have especial eye and regard to the good Rule and Order of that or those Hundreds to see the Peace duly kept to see Vagabonds and Perturbers of the Peace punished and that every Man apply himself to do as his Calling doth require and in all things to keep good Order without alteration innovation or contempt of any thing that by the Laws of our late Soveraign Lord is prescribed and set forth unto us for the better direction and framing of our selves towards God and honest Policy And if any Person or Persons whom ye shall think you cannot Rule and Order without trouble to this Country shall presume to do the contrary upon your Information to us thereof we shall so aid and assist you in the execution of Justice and the punishment of all such contemptuous Offenders as the same shall be example to others And further his Majesty's Pleasure by the Advice and Consent aforesaid is That you shall take such Orders amongst you as you fail not once every six weeks till you shall be otherwise commanded to write unto the said Lord Protector and others of the Privy-Council in what state that Shire standeth and whether any notable things have happened or were like to happen in those Parts that you cannot redress which would be speedily met withal and looked unto or whether you shall need any advice or counsel to the intent we may put our hands to the stay and reformation of it in the beginning as appertains Praying you also to take order That every Commissioner in the Shire may have a Double or a Copy of this Letter both for his own better Instruction and to shew to the Gentlemen and such others as inhabit in the Hundreds specially appointed to them that every Man may the better conform himself to do Truth and help to the advancement of Justice according to their most bounden Duties and as they will answer for the contrary Thus fare you well From the Tower of London the 12th of February Your loving Friends E. Hertford T. Cantuarien Thomas Wriothelsey Cancel W. St. John J. Russell Anthony Brown Anthony Denny Cuth Duresme William Paget W.
Herbert Edward North. Number 4. The Order for the Coronation of King Edward Sunday the 13th of Febr. at the Tower c. THis day the Lord Protector and others his Executors Ex Libro Concilii whose Names be hereunto subscribed upon mature and deep deliberation had among them did finally resolve That forasmuch as divers of the old Observances and Ceremonies afore-times used at the Coronations of the Kings of this Realm were by them thought meet for sundry respects to be corrected and namely for the tedious length of the same which should weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's Majesty being yet of tender Age fully to endure and bide out And also for that many Points of the same were such as by the Laws of the Realm at this present were not allowable The King's Majesty's Coronation should be done and celebrated upon Shrove-Sunday next ensuing in the Cathedral Church of Westminster after the Form and Order ensuing First The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall shew the King to the People at four parts of the great Pulpit or Stage to be made for the King and shall say on this wise Sirs Here I present King Edward rightful and undoubted Inheritor by the Laws of God and Man to the Royal Dignity and Crown Imperial of this Realm whose Consecration Inunction and Coronation is appointed by all the Nobles and Peers of this Land to be this day Will ye serve at this time and give your good-wills and assents to the same Consecration Inunction and Corronation as by your Duty of Allegiance ye be bound to do The People to Answer Yea Yea Yea King Edward King Edward King Edward This done the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being revested as he should go to Mass with the Bishops of London and Winchester on both sides with other Bishops and the Dean of Westminster in the Bishop's absence to go in order before the King the King shall be brought from his Seat by them that assisted him to the Church to the high Altar where after his Prayer made to God for his Grace he shall offer a Pall and a pound of Gold 24 pound in Coin which shall be to him delivered by the Lord Great Chamberlain Then shall the King fall groveling before the Altar and over him the Arch-Bishop shall say this Collect Deus humilium c. Then the King shall rise and go to his Chair to be prepared before the Altar his Face to the Altar and standing one shall hold him a Book and the Arch-Bishop standing before the King shall ask him with a loud and distinct Voice in Manner and Form following Will ye grant to keep to the People of England and others your Realms and Dominions the Laws and Liberties of this Realm and others your Realms and Dominions I grant and promit You shall keep to your strength and power to the Church of God and to all the People holy Peace and Concord I shall keep You shall make to be done after your Strength and Power equal and rightful Justice in all your Dooms and Judgments with Mercy and Truth I shall do Do you grant to make no Laws but such as shall be to the Honour and Glory of God and to the Good of the Common-Wealth and that the same shall be made by the consent of your People as hath been accustomed I grant and promit Then shall the King rise out of his Chair and by them that before assisted him be led to the High Altar where he shall make a solemn Oath upon the Sacrament laid upon the said Altar in the sight of all the People to observe the Premisses and laying his Hand again on the Book shall say The things which I have before promised I shall observe and keep So God help me and those Holy Evangelists by Me bodily touched upon this Holy Altar That done the King shall fall again groveling before the High Altar and the said Arch-Bishop kneeling before him shall with a loud Voice begin Veni Creator Spiritus c. Which done the said Arch-Bishop standing shall say over the King Te invocamus and at the end shall kneel again and then shall the King rise and be set in the Chair again and after a little pause he shall rise and assisted with those that did before that Office go again to the High Altar where he shall be uncloathed by his Great Chamberlain unto his Coat of Crimson Satin which and also his Shirt shall be opened before and behind on the Shoulders and the bowght of the Arms by the said Great Chamberlain to the intent that on those Places he be anointed and whiles he is in the anointing Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Herbert must hold a Pall over him And first The said Arch-Bishop shall anoint the King kneeling in the Palms of his Hands saying these words Vngas Manus with this Collect Respice Omnipotens Deus After he shall anoint him in the Brest in the midst of his Back on his two Boughts of his Arms and on his Head making a Cross and after making another Cross on his Head with Holy Chrism saying as he anointeth the places aforesaid Vngatur Caput ungantur scapulae c. During which time of Unction the Quire shall continually sing Vngebant Regem and the Psalm Domine in virtute tua laetabitur Rex And it is to be remembred that the Bishop or Dean of Westminster after the King's Inunction shall dry all the Places of his Body where he was anointed with Cotton or some Linnen Cloth which is to be burnt And furthermore the places opened for the same is to be cloathed by the Lord Great Chamberlain and on the King's Hands shall be put by the said Arch-Bishop of Canterbury a pair of Linnen Gloves which the Lord Great Chamberlain shall before see prepared This done the King shall rise and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury shall put on the King a Tabert of Tanteron-white shaped in manner of a Dalmatick and he shall put up on the King's Head a Quoif the same to be brought by the Great Chamberlain Then the King shall take the Sword he was girt withal and offer it himself to God laying it on the Altar in token that his Strength and Power should first come from God And the same Sword he shall take again from the Altar and deliver to some great Earl to be redeemed of the Bishop or Dean of Westminster for 100 s. which Sword shall be born naked afterwards before the King Then the King being set in his Chair before the Altar shall be crowned with St. Edward's Crown and there shall be brought by the Bishop or Dean of Westminster Royal Sandals and Spurs to be presently put on by the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Spurs again immediately taken off that they do not encumber him Then the Arch-Bishop with all the Peers and Nobles shall convey the King sustained as before again into the Pulpit setting him in his Siege Royal and then shall
or Persons therefore or in that behalf and without any offence of or against our Laws Statutes Proclamations or other whatsoever Ordinances and without incurring therefore into any Dammages Penalty Forfeit Loss or any other Encumbrance Trouble or Vexation of his or any of their Bodies Lands Tenements Goods or Chattels or of his or their or any their Heirs Successors Assigns Executors or Administrators And therefore we Will and Command not only all and every our Judges Justices Serjeants Attornies Sollicitors Sheriffs Escheators Bailiffs and all other our Officers Ministers and Subjects that now be or hereafter shall be in no wise to Impeach Appeal Arrest Trouble Vex Injure or Molest in our Name or otherwise Our said Uncle or our said Counsellors or any of them or any other Person for any Cause Matter Deed Thing or Things which he or they or any of them have done or shall do execute or cause to be executed or done as aforesaid But also We require and nevertheless straitly Charge and Command by these Presents all and every our Officers Ministers and Subjects of what Estate Degree or Condition soever he or they be or shall be to be obedient aiding attendant and assisting to Our said Uncle and Counsellors and to every of them as behoveth for the execution of this Charge and Commission given and committed unto Our said Uncle and Council as aforesaid as they tender our Favour and their own Weals and as they will answer unto Us at their uttermost Perils for the contrary In Witness whereof We have caused these our Letters to be made Patents Witness our Self at Westminster the 13th day of March in the first Year of our Reign E. Somerset T. Cantuarien W. St. John J. Russell W. Northamp T. Cheynie William Paget Anthony Brown Number 7. The King's Letter to the Arch-Bishop of York concerning the Visitation then intended EDwardus sextus Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. Fidei Defensor ac in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hiberniae supremum Caput Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac praedilecto Consiliario nostro Roberto permissione divina Eboracen Archiepisc Angliae Primati Metropolitano salutem Quum nos suprema Authoritate nostra Regia omnia singula loca Ecclesiastica clerumque populum infra per totum nostrum Angliae Regnum constituta propediem visitare statuerimus Vobis tenore praesentium stricte inhibemus atque mandamus per vos Suffraganeis vestris confratribus Episcopis ac per illos suis Archidiaconis ac aliis quibuscunque jurisdictionem Ecclesiasticam exercentibus tam exemptis quam non exemptis infra vestram Provinciam Eboracens ubilibet constitutis sic inhibere volumus atque praecipimus quatenus nec vos nec quisquam eorum Ecclesias aut alia loca praedicta Clerumve aut populum visitare aut ea quae sunt jurisdictionis exercere seu quicquam aliud in praejudicium dictae nostrae Visitationis generalis quovismodo attemptare presumat sive presumant sub poena contemptus donec quousque licentiam facultatem vobis eis in ea parte largiend impertiend fore duxerimus Et quia non solum internam animorum subditorum nostrorum pacem verum etiam externam eorum concordiam multiplicibus opinionum procellis ex contentione dissentione contraversiis concionatorum exortis multum corruptam violatam ac misere divulsam esse cernimus Idcirco nobis admodum necessarium visum est ad sedandas componendas hujusmodi opinionum varietates quatenus inhibeatis seu inhiberi faciatis omnibus singulis Episcopis nec alibi quam in Ecclesiis suis Cathedralibus aliis Personis Ecclesiasticis quibuscunque ne in alio loco quam in suis Ecclesiis Collegiatis sive Parochialibus in quibus intitulati sunt predicent aut subditis nostris quovismodo concionandi munus exerceant nisi ex gratia nostra speciali ad id postea licentiati fuerint sub nostrae indignationis paena In cujus rei testimonium Sigillum nostrum quo ad causas Ecclesiasticas utimur praesentibus apponi mandavimus E. Somerset T. Seimour T. Cantuarien W. St. John Will. Petre Secretary J. Russell John Barker John Gage Dat. quarto die mensis Maii Anno Dom. 1547. Regni nostri Anno primo Number 8. The Form of bidding Prayer before the Reformation The Bedes on the Sunday Out of the Festival printed An. 1509. YE shall kneel down on your Knees and lift up your Hearts making your Prayers to Almighty God for the good State and Peace of all-holy Church that God maintain save and keep it For our Holy Father the Pope with all his true College of Cardinals that God for his Mercy them maintain and keep in the right Belief and it hold and increase and all Misbelief and Heresy be less and destroy'd Also ye shall pray for the Holy Land and for the Holy Cross that Jesus Christ died on for the redemption of Man's Souls that it may come into the power of Christian Men the more to be honoured for our Prayers Also ye shall pray for all Arch-Bishops and Bishops and especially for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury our Metropolitane and for the Bishop of N. our Diocesan that God of his Mercy give to them Grace so to govern and rule Holy Church that it may be to the Honour and Worship of him and Salvation of our Souls Also ye shall pray for Abbots Priors Monks Canons Friers and for all Men and Women of Religion in what Order Estate or Degree that they stand in from the highest Estate unto the lowest Degree Also ye shall pray for all them that have Charge and Cure of Christian Mens Souls as Curats and Parsons Vicars Priests and Clarks and in especial for the Parson and Curat of this Church and for all the Priests and Minsters that serve therein or have served therein and for all them that have taken any Order that Almighty God give them Grace of continuance well for to keep and observe it to the honour and health of their Souls Also ye shall pray for the Unity and Peace of all Christian Realms and in especial for the good Estate Peace and Tranquility of this Realm of England for our Liege Lord the King that God for his great Mercy send him Grace so to Govern and Rule this Realm that God be pleased and worshipped and to the Profit and Salvation of this Land Also ye shall pray for our Liege Lady the Queen my Lord Prince and all the noble Progeny of them for all Dukes Earls Barons Knights and Esquires and other Lords of the King's Council which have any Rule and Governance in this Land that God give them Grace so to Council Rule and Govern that God be pleased the Land defended and to the profit and Salvation of all the Realm Also ye shall pray for the Peace both on Land and on the Water that God grant Love and Charity
Proceedings therein and in all things committed to our Charge shall be such as shall be able to answer the whole World both in honour and discharge of our Consciences And where your Grace writeth that the most part of the Realm through a naughty Liberty and Presumption are now brought into such a Division as if we Executors go not about to bring them to that stay that our late Master left them they will forsake all Obedience unless they have their own Will and Phantasies and then it must follow that the King shall not be well served and that all other Realms shall have us in an Obloquy and Derision and not without just cause Madam as these words written or spoken by you soundeth not well so can I not perswade my self that they have proceeded from the sincere mind of so vertuous and so wise a Lady but rather by the setting on and procurement of some uncharitable and malicious Persons of which sort there are too many in these days the more pity but yet we must not be so simple so to weigh and regard the Sayings of ill-disposed People and the Doings of other Realms and Countries as for that Report we should neglect our Duty to God and to our Soveraign Lord and Native Country for then we might be justly called evil Servants and Masters and thanks be given unto the Lord such hath been the King's Majesty's Proceedings our young Noble Master that now is that all his faithful Subjects have more cause to render their hearty thanks for the manifold Benefits shewed unto his Grace and to his People and Realm sithence the first day of his Reign until this hour than to be offended with it and thereby rather to judg and think that God who knoweth the Hearts of all Men is contented and pleased with his Ministers who seek nothing but the true Glory of God and the Surety of the King's Person with the Quietness and Wealth of his Subjects And where your Grace writeth also That there was a Godly Order and Quietness left by the King our late Master your Graces Father in this Realm at the time of his Death and that the Spiritualty and Temporalty of the whole Realm did not only without compulsion fully assent to his Doings and Proceedings specially in Matters of Religion but also in all kind of Talk whereof as your Grace wrote ye can partly be witness your self at which your Graces Sayings I do something marvel For if it may please you to call to your remembrance what great Labours Travels and Pains his Grace had before he could reform some of those stiff-necked Romanists or Papists yea and did not they cause his Subjects Rise and Rebel against him and constrained him to take the Sword in his hand not without danger to his Person and Realm Alas why should your Grace so shortly forget that great Outrage done by those Generations of Vipers unto his Noble Person only for God's Cause Did not some of the same ill kind also I mean that Romanist Sect as well with his own Realm as without conspire oftentimes his Death which was manifestly and oftentimes proved to the confusion of some of their privy Assisters Then was it not that all the Spiritualty nor yet the Temporalty did so fully assent to his Godly Orders as your Grace writeth of Did not his Grace also depart from this Life before he had fully finished such Orders as he minded to have established to all his People if death had not prevented him Is it not most true that no kind of Religion was perfected at his Death but left all uncertain most like to have brought us in Parties and Divisions if God had not only helpt us And doth your Grace think it convenient it should so remain God forbid What regret and sorrow our late Master had the time he saw he must depart for that he knew the Religion was not established as he purposed to have done I and others can be witness and testify and what he would have done further in it if he had lived a great many know and also I can testifie And doth your Grace who is learned and should know God's Word esteem true Religion and the knowledg of the Scriptures to be new-fangledness and fantasie For the Lord's sake turn the Leaf and look the other while upon the other side I mean with another Judgment which must pass by an humble Spirit through the Peace of the Living God who of his infinite Goodness and Mercy grant unto your Grace plenty thereof to the satisfying of your Soveraign and your most noble Hearts continual desire Number 16. Certain Petitions and Requests made by the Clergie of the Lower House of the Convocation to the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury his Grace and the residue of the Prelats of the Higher House for the furtherance of certain Articles following FIrst Ex M. S. Dr. Stillingfleet That Ecclesiastical Laws may be made and established in this Realm by thirty two Persons or so many as shall please the King's Majesty to name and appoint according to the effect of a late Statute made in 35th Year of the most noble King and of most famous Memory King Henry the 8th So that all Judges Ecclesiastical proceeding after those Laws may be without danger and peril Also that according to the Ancient Custom of this Realm and the Tenour of the King 's Writ for the summoning of the Parliament which be now and ever have been directed to the Bishops of every Diocess the Clergy of the Lower House of the Convocation may be adjoined and associate with the Lower House of the Parliament or else That all such Statutes and Ordinances as shall be made concerning all Matters of Religion and Causes Ecclesiastical may not pass without the sight and assent of the said Clergy Also that whereas by the Commandment of King Henry the 8th certain Prelats and learned Men were appointed to alter the Service in the Church and to devise other convenient and uniform Order therein Who according to the same Appointment did make certain Books as they be informed Their Request is That the said Books may be seen and perused by them for a better expedition of Divine Service to be set forth accordingly Also that Men being called to Spiritual Promotions or Benefices may have some Allowance for their necessary Living and other Charges to be sustained and born concerning the same Benefices in the first Year wherein they pay the first Fruits Whether the Clergy of the Convocation may liberally speak their Minds without danger of Statute or Law Number 17. A second Petition to the same purpose Ex M. S. Dr. Stillingfleet WHere the Clergy in this present Convocation assembled have made humble suit unto the most Reverend Father in God my Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and all the other Bishops That it may please them to be a Mean to the King's Majesty and Lord Protector 's Grace
that the said Clergy according to the Tenour of the King 's Writ and the Ancient Laws and Customs of this Noble Realm might have their Room and Place and be associated with the Commons in the Nether House of this present Parliament as Members of the Common-Wealth and the King 's most humble Subjects And if this may not be permitted and granted unto them that then no Statutes nor Laws concerning the Christian Religion or which shall concern especially the Persons Possessions Rooms Livings Jurisdictions Goods or Chattels of the said Clergy may pass nor be enacted the said Clergy not being made privy thereunto and their Answers and Reasons not heard The said Clergy do most humbly beseech an Answer and Declaration to be made unto them what the said most Reverend Father in God and all other the Bishops have done in this their humble Suit and Request to the end that the said Clergy if need be may chuse of themselves such able and discreet Persons which shall effectually follow the same Suit in the Name of them all And whereas in a Statute ordained and established by Authority of Parliament at Westminster in the 25th Year of the Reign of the most excellent Prince King Henry the 8th The Clergy of this Realm submitting themselves to the King's Highness did knowledg and confess according to the Truth That the Convocations of the same Clergy have been and ought to be assembled by the King 's Writ and did promise farther in Verbo Sacerdotii that they never from thenceforth would presume to attempt alledg claim or put in use or enact promulge or execute any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincials or other or by whatsoever other Name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and License may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same And his Majesty to give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf upon pain of every one of the Clergy doing the contrary and being thereof Convict to suffer Imprisonment and make Fine at the King 's Will. And that no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm which Statute is eft-soons renewed and established in the 27th Year of the Reign of the most noble King as by the Tenour of both Statutes more at large will appear The said Clergy being presently assembled in Convocation by Authority of the King 's Writ do desire that the King's Majesty's License in writing may be for them obtained and granted according to the effect of the said Statutes authorising them to attempt entreat and commune of such Matters and therein freely to give their Consents which otherwise they may not do upon pain and peril premised Also the said Clergy desireth that such Matters as concerneth Religion which be disputable may be quietly and in good order reasoned and disputed among them in this House whereby the Verities of such Matters shall the better appear and the Doubts being opened and resolutely discussed Men may be fully perswaded with the quietness of their Consciences and the time well spent Number 18. A Paper offered to Q. Elizabeth and afterwards to K. James concerning the Inferior Clergies being brought to the House of Commons Reasons to induce her Majesty that Deans Arch-Deacons and some other of her grave and wise Clergie may be admitted into the Lower House of Parliament 1. IN former Times when Causes Ecclesiastical were either not at all Ex M.S. Dr. Borlace or else very rarely treated of in that Assembly the Clergy were thought Men most meet to consult and determine of the Civil Affairs of this Realm 2. The Supream Authority in Church Causes is not newly granted but reunited and restored to the Crown and an Order is by Law already established how all Abuses in the Church are to be reformed so as no cause concerning Religion may be handled in that House without her Majesty's special leave but with the manifest impeaching of her Prerogative Royal and contempt of the said Order 3. If it shall please her Highness to give way to this Course that Church-Matters be there debated and in part concluded How much more necessary is it now than it was in former Times that some of the Clergy should be there present at the same * In the same Paper written over to be presented to K. James this Article is thus varied It is thought the Clergie falling into a Premunire and so not in the King's Protection it did afterwards please the King to pardon them but not to restore them So began this Separation as far forth as can be collected then the Wisdom of a great Politician meeting with the Ambition of as great a Prelat wrought the continuance of the said Separation under this pretence That it should be most for the Honour of him and his Clergie to be still by themselves in two Assemblies of Convocation answerable in proportion to the two Houses of Parliament There are many other inconsiderable Amendments made by Bishop Ravis 's own hand It doth not appear why they were excluded but as it is thought either the King offended with some of them did so grievously punish the whole Body or else the Ambition of one of them meeting with the subtilty of an undermining Politick did occasion this causeless Separation 5. They are yet to this day called by several Writs directed into their several Diocesses under the Great Seal to assist the Prince in that High Court of Parliament 6. Though the Clergy and the Universities be not the worst Members of this Common-Wealth yet in that respect they are of all other in worst condition for in that Assembly every Shire hath their Knights and every incorporate Town their Burgesses only the Clergy and the Universities are excluded 7. The Wisdom and Justice of this Realm doth intend That no Subject should be bound to that Law whereunto he himself after a sort hath not yielded his Consent but the Clergy and the Universities may now be concluded by Law without their Consent without their just Defence without their Privity 8. The many Motions made so prejudicial to the State and being of the Clergy and Universities followed now with so great eagerness in that House would then be utterly silenced or soon repressed with the sober and sufficient Answers of the Clergy present 9. It would much repair the Reputation and Credit of the Clergy which now is exposed to great contumely and contempt as generally abroad in this Land so particularly in that House And whoso is religious and wise may observe That the Contempt of the Clergy is the high way to Atheism and all Prophaneness Men are Flesh and not Spirit led by ordinary outward Means and not usually overwrought by extraordinary Inspirations and therefore do easily
said Alms whereby they may buy some kind of Stuff by the working sale and gains whereof they may repay the Sum borrowed and also well relieve themselves or else the said Church-Wardens to buy the Stuff themselves and pay the Poor for their working thereof and after sale of the same to return the Sum with the Gain to the said Chest there to remain to such-like use Item Forasmuch as heretofore you have not by any means diligence or study advanced your selves unto knowledg in God's Word and his Scriptures condignly as appertaineth to Priests and Dispensators of God's Testament to the intent you may hereafter be of better ability to discharge your selves towards God and your Offices to the World you shall daily for your own study and knowledg read over diligently and weigh with judgment two Chapters of the New Testament and one of the Old in English and the same shall put in ure and practice as well in living as preaching at times convenient when occasion is given Item Forasmuch as Drunkenness Idleness Brawls Dissention and many other Inconveniences do chance between Neighbour and Neighbour by the assembly of People together at Wakes and on the Plough Mundays it is therefore ordered and enjoined That hereafter the People shall use make or observe no more such Wakes Plough Mundays or drawing of the same with any such Assembly or Rout of People or otherwise as hath been accustomed upon pain of forfeiting to the King's Highness 40 s. for every Default to be paid by the Owner of the Plough and Housholder whereunto the said Plough is drawn or Wakes are kept The Names of the Visitors Sir John Markham John Hearn Thomas Gragrave Roger Tongue William Moreton Edmund Farley Number 22. A Proclamation against those that do innovate alter or leave down any Rite or Ceremony in the Church of their private Authority and against them which Preach without License Set forth the 6th day of February in the Second Year of the King's Majesty's most gracious Reign Ex Reg. Cranmer Fol. 111. THe King's Majesty by the advice of his most entirely beloved Vncle the Duke of Somerset Governor of his most Royal Person and Protector of all his Realms Dominions and Subjects and others of his Counsel Considering nothing so much to tend to the disquieting of this Realm as diversity of Opinions and variety of Rites and Ceremonies concerning Religion and worshipping of Almighty God and therefore studying all the ways and means which can be to direct this Church and the Cure committed to his Highness in one and most true Doctrine Rite and Vsage yet is advertised That certain private Curats Preachers and other Lay-men contrary to their bounden Duties of Obedience do rashly attempt of their own and singular Wit and Mind in some parish-Parish-Churches and otherwise not only to perswade the People from the old and accustomed Rites and Ceremonies but also themselves bringeth in new Orders every one in their Church according to their Phantasies the which as it is an evident token of Pride and Arrogance so it tendeth both to Confusion and Disorder and also to the high displeasure of Almighty God who loveth nothing so much as Order and Obedience Wherefore his Majesty straitly chargeth and commandeth That no manner of Person of what Estate Order or Degree soever he be of his private Mind Will or Phantasie do omit leave done change alter or innovate any Order Rite or Ceremony commonly used and frequented in the Church of England and not commanded to be left undone at any time in the Reign of Our late Soveraign Lord his Highness Father other than such as his Highness by the Advice aforesaid by his Majesty's Visitors Injunctions Statutes or Proclamations hath already or hereafter shall command to be omitted left innovated or changed but that they be observed after that sort as before they were accustomed or else now sith prescribed by the Authority of his Majesty or by the means aforesaid upon pain That whosoever shall offend contrary to this Proclamation shall injure his Highness Indignation and suffer Imprisonment and other gxievous Punishments at his Majesty's Will and Pleasure Provided always that for not bearing a Candle upon Candlemass-day not taking Ashes upon Ash-wednesday not bearing Palm upon Palm-Sunday not creeping to the Cross not taking Holy Bread or Holy Water or for omitting other such Rites and Ceremonies concerning Religion and the Vse of the Church which the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by his Majesty's Will and Commandment with the Advice aforesaid hath declared or hereafter shall declare to the other Bishops by his Writing under Seal as heretofore hath been accustomed to be omitted or changed no Man hereafter be imprisoned nor otherwise punished but all such things to be reputed for the observation and following of the same as though they were commanded by his Majesty's Injunctions And to the intent that rash and seditious Preachers should not abuse his Highness People it is his Majesty's Pleasure That whosoever shall take upon him to Preach openly in any Parish-Church Chappel or any other open place other than those which he licensed by the King's Majesty or his Highness Visitors the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or the Bishops of the Diocess where he doth preach except it be Bishop Parson Vicar Dean Warden or Provost in his or their own Cure shall be forthwith upon such attempt and preaching contrary to this Proclamation be committed to Prison and there remain until such time as his Majesty by the advice aforesaid hath taken order for the further punishment of the same and that the Premises should be more speedily and diligently done and performed his Highness giveth straitly in Commandment to all Iustices of Peace Mayors Sheriffs Constables Headborroughs Church-wardens and all other his Majesty's Officers and Ministers and Rulers of Towns Parishes and Hamlets that they be diligent and attendent to the true and faithful execution of this Proclamation and every part thereof according to the intent purport and effect of the same And that they of their proceedings herein or if any Offender be after they have committed the same to Prison do certifie his Highness the Lord Protector or his Majesty's Council with all speed thereof accordingly as they tender his Majesty's Pleasure the Wealth of the Realm and will answer to the contrary at their uttermost perils God save the King Number 23. An Order of Council for the Removing of Images AFter our right hearty Commendations to your good Lordship Regist Cranmer Fol. 32. where now of late in the King's Majesty's Visitation among other Godly Injunctions commanded to be generally observed throughout all Parts of this his Highness Realm one was set forth for the taking down all such Images as had at any time been abused with Pilgrimages Offerings or Censings Albeit that this said Injunction hath in many parts of the Realm been well and quietly obeyed and executed yet in many other places much strife and
contention hath arisen and daily ariseth and more and more increaseth about the execution of the same some Men being so superstitious or rather willful as they would by their good-wills retain all such Images still although they have been most manifestly abused and in some places also the Images which by the said Injunctions were taken down be now restored and set up again and almost in every place is contention for Images whether they have been abused or not And whiles these Men go about on both sides contentiously to obtain their Minds contending whether this or that Image hath been offered unto kissed censed or otherwise abused Parties have in some places been taken in such sort as further inconvenience is very like to ensue if Remedy be not provided in time Considering therefore that almost in no places of the Realm is any sure quietness but where all Images be wholly taken away and pulled down already to the intent that all Contention in every part of the Realm for this Matter may be clearly taken away and that the lively Images of Christ should not contend for the dead Images which be things not necessary and without which the Churches of Christ continued most Godly many Years We have thought good to signify unto you That his Highness Pleasure with advice and consent of us the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council is That immediately upon the sight hereof with as convenient diligence as you may you shall not only give order that all the Images remaining in any Church or Chappel within your Diocess be removed and taken away but also by your Letters signify unto the rest of the Bishops within your Province this his Highness Pleasure for the like Order to be given by them and every of them within their several Diocess and in the execution hereof We require both you and the rest of the said Bishops to use such foresight as the same may be quietly done with as good satisfaction of the People as may be Thus fare your good Lordship well From Somerset House the 21 of February 1547. Your Lordships assured Friends E. Somerset Jo. Russel Henricus Arundel T. Seymor Anthony Wingfield William Paget Number 24. The Copy of a Letter sent to all those Preachers which the King's Majesty hath licensed to Preach from the Lord Protector 's Grace and other of the King's Majesty's most honourable Council the 13th day of May in the Second Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Edward the Sixth AFter our right hearty Commendations as well for the Conservation of the quietness and good order of the King's Majesty's Subjects as that they should not by evil and unlearned Preachers be brought unto Superstition Error or evil Doctrine or otherwise be made stubborn and disobedient to the King's Majesty's Godly Proceedings his Highness by our Advice hath thought good to inhibit all manner of Preachers who have not such License as in the same Proclamation is allowed to preach or stir the People in open and common preachings of Sermons by any means that the devout and godly Homilies might the better in the mean while sink into his Subjects Hearts and be learned the sooner the People not being tossed to and fro with seditious and contentious Preaching while every Man according to his Zeal some better some worse goeth about to set out his own Phantasie and to draw the People to his Opinion Nevertheless it is not his Majesty's Mind hereby clearly to extinct the lively Teaching of the Word of God by Sermons made after such sort as for the time the Holy Ghost shall put into the Preacher's Mind but that rash contentious hot and undiscreet Preachers should be stopped and that they only which be chosen and elect be discreet and sober Men should occupy that place which was made for Edification and not for Destruction for the Honour of God and Peace and Quietness of Conscience to be set forward not for private Glory to be advanced to appease to teach to instruct the People with Humility and Patience not to make them contentious and proud to instil into them their Duty to their Heads and Rulers Obedience to Laws and Orders appointed by the Superiors who have Rule of God not that every Man should run before their Heads hath appointed them what to do and that every Man should chuse his own way in Religion The which thing yet being done of some Men and they being rather provoked thereto by certain Preachers than dehorted from it it was necessary to set a stay therein And yet forasmuch as we have a great confidence and trust in you that you will not only Preach truly and sincerely the Word of God but also will use circumspection and moderation in your Preaching and such Godly Wisdom as shall be necessary and most convenient for the Time and Place We have sent unto you the King's Majesty's License to Preach but yet with this Exhortation and Admonishment That in no wise you do stir and provoke the People to any Alteration or Innovation other than is already set forth by the King's Majesty's Injunctions Homilies and Proclamations but contrariwise That you do in all your Sermons exhort Men to that which is at this time more necessary that is to the emendation of their own Lives to the observance of the Commandments of God to Humility Patience and Obedience to their Heads and Rulers comforting the Weak and teaching them the right way and to flee all old Erroneous Superstitions as the Confidence in Pardons Pilgrimages Beads Religious Images and other such of the Bishop of Rome's Traditions and Superstitions with his usurped Power the which things be here in this Realm most justly abolished and straitly rebuking those who of an arrogancy and proud hastiness will take upon them to run before they be sent to go before the Rulers to alter and change things in Religion without Authority teaching them to expect and tarry the time which God hath ordained to the revealing of all Truth and not to seek so long blindly and hidlings after it till they bring all Orders into contempt It is not a private Man's Duty to alter Ceremonies to innovate Orders in the Church nor yet it is not a Preachers part to bring that into contempt and hatred which the Prince doth either allow or is content to suffer The King's Highness by our Advice as a Prince most earnestly given to the true knowledg of God and to bring up his People therein doth not cease to labour and travel by all godly means that his Realm might be brought and kept in a most Godly and Christian Order who only may and ought to do it Why should a private Man or a Preacher take this Royal and Kingly Office upon him and not rather as his Duty is obediently follow himself and teach likewise others to follow and observe that which is commanded What is abolished taken away reformed and commanded it is easy to see by the Acts
a Visitation of Chauntries To the Parson Vicar Curat Chaunter Priests Church-wardens and two of the most honest Persons of the Parish of _____ being no Founders Patrons Donors Lessees nor Farmers of the Promotions or Corporations hereafter recited nor of any part thereof and to four of them at the least Ex MS. Dr. Johnson FIrst Ye shall make diligent search and inquiry immediately upon the receit hereof of the number and how many Chauntries Hospitals Colleges free Chappels Fraternities Brotherhoods Guilds and Salaries or Wages of Stipendiary Priests being Perpetuities now charged or that ought to be charged or chargeable to the paiment of the first Fruits and Tenths and of all Colleges chargeable and not chargeable to the said paiment of Tenths and first Fruits which be within your Church and Parish Also you shall enquire of the Orders Ordinances Kinds Qualities Degrees Uses and Abuses or Misuses Conditions Estates and Necessities of and concerning all and every the said Chantries Fraternities Guilds Stipends or Wages and other the Premises and by what Names Sir-names Corporations or Titles they and every of them be taken or known and to what intents purposes and deeds of Charity they and every of them were founded ordained and made and ye shall take into your hands and also bring with you at the day of your Certificate the Foundations and all other Writings which you have or can attain for the true declaration and proof of the same Also you shall enquire how and what manner or sort the Revenues and Profits of the Lands and Possessions of all the aforesaid Promotions and every of them be used expended imploied or bestowed Also how many of the said Promotions be Parish-Churches Also how far space or distance the said Chantries and Chappels be and stand from the Parish-Churches of the Parishes wherein they do stand Also ye shall enquire of all the Houses Lands Tenths Rents Possessions and Revenues united annexed or appertaining to the aforesaid Chantries Hospitals Guilds and other Promotions abovesaid and to every of them and of the yearly value thereof and shall make a true and perfect Rental or other Book thereof And ye shall enquire of all the Resolutes Deductions and yearly paiments or charges going forth of the Premises and of every part thereof and shall certifie the same in writing that is to say for every Chantry or other the aforesaid Promotions severally by it self and over this to bring with you all such Rentals of the same and every of them as ye have or may attain or come by Also ye shall enquire of all the Lands Rents Possessions and Hereditaments which were or be united annexed or pertaining to the aforesaid Promotions or Corporations or to any of them which at any time since the fourth day of February in the 27th Year of the King's Majesty's Reign did appertain or belong to them or any of them and of the Goods Jewels and Ornaments lately pertaining or belonging to the same Also ye shall enquire how many of the aforesaid Chantries Hospitals Guilds and other the aforesaid Promotions and Corporations and what Lands Rents or parcels thereof sithence the 4th day of February in the 27th Year of the Reign of our aforesaid Soveraign Lord been or have been dissolved purchased or by any other means or ways taken entred unto or obtained by any of the King's Majesty's Subjects by their own Authorities without the King's License And ye shall enquire of the Lands Tenths Rents and Hereditaments thereof and of the yearly Value of the same and of all the Goods and Ornaments of the same and of the yearly Resolutes Deductions and Paiments going forth of the same and shall make a true Rental or Book thereof and shall certify the same particularly Also ye shall enquire of all the Plate Jewels Ornaments Goods and Chattels meerly and truly pertaining or belonging to all the aforesaid Promotions or Corporations and to every of them severally and shall make one true Inventory thereof with the Value of the same and of every parcel thereof that is to say in true weight of all parcels of Plate Chalices and other and the price or value of all other Ornaments Goods or Chattels and in whose hands or possession the same be or remain Also finally ye shall make ready and finish your Certificate in writing before the _____ of all and singular the Premises and of every Article above-said severally and not in gross or in one whole Article as ye will answer and be sworn to the same And that you and every of you being resident or remaining within the said Parish shall Sign and Seal the same and ye shall send the same your Certificate sealed unto us at such day and place as hereafter shall be assigned unto you by one of the most honest of the aforesaid Church-wardens and by all the Incumbents of the Chantries Chappels Hospitals Guilds and Promotions aforesaid if there be but one Incumbent in the said Promotions or any of them And if there be more Incumbents than one in the said Promotions or any of them being of one Foundation that then one of the said Incumbents together with the said honest Church-warden and other Incumbents being but one of one Foundation as is aforesaid Foreseeing always that your Proceedings and Certificate of the Premises and every part thereof be executed ordered and done with all dilligence substantially and truly that the same may so appear unto us at our repair to view and survey the Premises as ye will then have condign thanks for the same and avoiding your extream damage which may ensue of the contrary Robert Arch-Bishop Sir Michael Stanhope Sir Leonard Bekworth Mr. Robert Henneage Mr. Babthorpe Mr. Wallay Mr. Norton Mr. Chaloner Mr. Gargrave Mr. Auditor Number 28. The Protector 's Letter to Gardiner concerning the Points he was to handle in his Sermon Ex MS. Col. Cor. C. Cant. WE commend us unto you We sent to you yesterday our Servant William Cecil to signifie unto you our Pleasure and Advice That you should in this your next Sermon forbear to intreat upon those Principal Questions which remain amongst the number of learned Men in this Realm as yet in controversy concerning the Sacrament of the Altar and the Mass as well for that your private Argument or Determination therein might offend the People naturally expecting decisions of litigious Causes and thereby Discord and Tumult arise the occasions whereof we must necessarily prevent and take away as also for that the Questions and Controversies rest at this present in consultation and with the pleasure of God shall be in small time by publick Doctrine and Authority quietly and truly determined This Message we send to you not thinking but your own Wisdom had considered so much in an apparent Matter or at the least upon our remembrance ye would understand it and follow it with good will consulting thereby your own Quiet in avoiding Offence as observing our Pleasure in avoiding
exhort and counsel Priests to live in Chastity Ex MS. Col. C. C. Cant. out of the cumber of the Flesh and of the World that thereby they may wholly attend to their Calling yet the Bond of continuing from Marriage doth only lie upon Priests in this Realm by reason of Canons and Constitutions of the Church and not by any Precept of God's Word as in that they should be bound by any Vow Which in as far as my Conscience is Priests in this Church of England do not make I think that it standeth well with God's Word that a Man which hath been or is but once married being otherwise accordingly qualified may be made a Priest And I do think that for as much as Canons and Rules made in this behalf are neither Universal nor Everlasting but upon Considerations may be altered changed Therefore the King's Majesty and the higher Powers of the Church may upon such Reasons as shall move them take away the Clog of perpetual Continence from Priests and grant that it may be lawful for such as cannot or will not contain to marry a Wife and if she die then the said Priest to marry no more remaining still in the Ministration John Redmayn Number 31. Articles of High Treason and other Misdemeanours against the King's Majesty and his Crown objected to Sir Thomas Seymour Kt. Lord Seymour of Sudley and High Admimiral of England Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 236. 1. VVHereas the Duke of Somerset was made Governor of the King's Majesty's Person and Protector of all his Realms and Dominions and Subjects to the which you your self did agree and gave your consent in writing it is objected and laid unto your Charge That this notwithstanding you have attempted and gone about by indirect means to undoe this Order and to get into your hands the Government of the King's Majesty to the great danger of his Highness Person and the subversion of the State of the Realm 2. It is objected and laid to your Charge that by corrupting with Gifts and fair Promises divers of the Privy Chamber you went about to allure his Highness to condescend and agree to the same your most heinous and perilous purposes to the great danger of his Highness Person and of the subversion of the State of the Realm 3. It is objected and laid unto your Charge that you wrote a Letter with your own hand which Letter the King's Majesty should have subscribed or written again after that Copy to the Parliament House and that you delivered the same to his Highness for that intent With the which so written by his Highness or subscribed you had determined to have come into the Commons-House your self and there with your Fautors and Adherents before prepared to have made a Broil or Tumult or Uproar to the great danger of the King's Majesty's Person and subversion of the State of this Realm 4. It is objected and laid unto your Charge That you your self spake to divers of the Council and laboured with divers of the Nobility of the Realm to stick and adhere unto you for the Alteration of the State and Order of the Realm and to attain your other Purposes to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person now in his tender Years and subversion of the State of the Realm 5. It is objected and laid unto your Charge that you did say openly and plainly You would make the Blackest Parliament that ever was in England 6. It is objected and laid to your Charge That being sent for by the Authority to answer to such things as were thought meet to be reformed in you you refused to come to a very evil Example of Disobedience and danger thereby of the subversion of the State of the Realm 7. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That sith the last Sessions of this Parliament notwithstanding much clemency shewed unto you you have still continued in your former mischievous Purposes and continually by your self and other studied and laboured to put into the King's Majesty's Head and Mind a misliking of the Government of the Realm and of the Lord Protector 's doings to the danger of his Person and the great peril of the Realm 8. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That the King's Majesty being of those tender Years and as yet by Age unable to direct his own things you have gone about to instill into his Grace's Head and as much as lieth in you perswaded him to take upon himself the Government and managing of his own Affairs to the danger of his Highness Person and great peril of the whole Realm 9. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you had fully intended and appointed to have taken the King's Majesty's Person into your own hands and custody to the danger of his Subjects and peril of the Realm 10. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you have corrupted with Mony certain of the Privy-Chamber to perswade the King's Majesty to have a credit towards you and so to insinuate you to his Grace that when he lacked any thing he should have it of you and none other Body to the intent he should mislike his ordering and that you might the better when you saw time use his King's Highness for an Instrument to this purpose to the danger of his Royal Person and subversion of the State of the Realm 11. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you promised the Marriage of the King's Majesty at your Will and Pleasure 12. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you have laboured and gone about to combine and confederate your self with some Persons and specially moved those Noble-men whom you thought not to be contented to depart into their Countries and make themselves strong and otherwise to allure them to serve your purpose by gentle Promises and Offers to have a Party and Faction in readiness to all your Purposes to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and peril of the State of the Realm 13. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you have parted as it were in your imagination and intent the Realm to set Noble-men to countervail such other Noble-men as you thought would lett your devilish Purposes and so laboured to be strong to all your Devices to the great danger of the King's Majesty's Person and great peril of the State of the Realm 14. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you had advised certain Men to entertain and win the favour and good-wills of the head Yeomen and Ringleaders of certain Countries to the intent that they might bring the Multitude and Commons when you should think meet to the furtherance of your Purposes 15. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you have not only studied and imagined how to have the Rule of a number of Men in your hands but that you have attempted to get and also gotten divers Stewardships of Noblemens Lands their Mannoreds to
plain words of Scripture overthroweth the nature of a â—acrament and hath given occasion to many Superâ—â—itions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after an Heavenly and Spiritual Manner And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture and hath given occasion to many Superstitions Since the very Being of humane Nature doth require that the Body of one and the same Man cannot be at one and the same time in many places but of necessity must be in some certain and determinate place therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present in many different places at the same time And since as the Holy Scriptures testify Christ hath been taken up into Heaven and there is to abide till the end of the World it becometh not any of the Faithful to believe or profess that there is a Real or Corporeal presence as they phrase it of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's Ordinance reserved carried about lifted up or worshipped XXIX Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the Lord's Supper The wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith altho they do carnally and visibly press with their Teeth as St. Augustine saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing XXX Of both Kinds The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the Lay-people For both the parts of the Lord's Sacrament by Christ's Ordinance and Commandment ought not to be ministred to all Christian People alike XXX Of the one Oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross The Offering of Christ once made is a perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction for all the Sins of the whole World both Original and Actual and there is none other Satisfaction for Sin but that alone Wherefore the Sacrifices of Masses in which it was commonly said That the Priests did offer Christ for the Quick and the Dead to have remission of Pain or Guilt were * blasphemous Fables and dangerous Deceits XXXI A single Life is imposed on none by the Word of God Bishops Priests and Deacons are not commanded by God's Law either to vow the estate of a single Life or to abstain from Marriage Therefore it is lawful for them as for all other Christian Men to Marry at their own discretion as they shall judg thâ— same to serve better to Godliness XXXII Excommunicated Persons are to be avoided That Person which by open Denunciation of the Church is rightly cut off from the Unity of the Church and Excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole Multitude of the Faithful as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly reconciled by Penance and received into the Church by a Judg that hath Authority thereunto XXXIII Of the Tradition of the Church It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one and utterly alike for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversities of Countries Times and Mens Manners so that nothing be ordained against God's Word Whosoever through his private judgment willingly and purposely doth openly break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church which be not repugnant to the Word of God and be ordained and reproved by common Authority ought to be rebuked openly that others may fear to do the like as he that offendeth against the common Order of the Church and hurteth the Authority of the Magistrate and woundeth the Consciences of the weak Brethren Every Particular or National Church hath Authority to ordain change or abolish Ceremonies or Rites of the Church ordained onely by Man's Authority so that all things be done to edifying XXXIV Of the Homilies The second Book of Homilies the several Titles whereof we have joined under this Article doth contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine and necessary for the Times as doth the former Book of Homilies which were set forth in the time of Edward the 6th and therefore we judg them to be read in Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People The Names of the Homilies Of the Right Use of the Church Of Repairing Churches Against the Peril of Idolatry Of Good Works c. The Homilies lately delivered and commended to the Church of England by the King's Injunctions do contain a godly and wholsome Doctrine and fit to be embraced by all Men and for that cause they are diligently plainly and distinctly to be read to the People XXXV Of the Book of Common Prayer and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England The Book lately delivered to the Church of England by the Authority of the King and Parliament containing the manner and form of publick Prayer and the Ministration of the Sacraments The Book of Consecration of Arch-Bishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests and Deacons lately set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth and confirmed at the same time by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering Neither hath it any thing that of it self is superstitious and ungodly And therefore whosoever are Consecrated and Ordered according to the Rites of that Book since the second Year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time or hereafter shall be Consecrated or Ordered according to the same Rites we decree all such to be rightly orderly and lawfully Consecrated and Ordered in the said Church of England as also the Book published by the same Authority for ordering Ministers in the Church are both of them very pious as to truth of Doctrine in nothing contrary but agreeable to the wholsome Doctrine of the Gospel which they do very much promote and illustrate And for that cause they are by all faithful Members of the Church of England but chiefly of the Ministers of the Word with all thankfulness and readiness of mind to be received approved and commended to the People of God XXXVI Of the Civil Magistrates The King of England is after Christ The Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Cases doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction Where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous Folks to be offended We give not to our Princess the Ministry either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to
greet you well And whereas heretofore in the time of the late Reign of Our most dearest Brother King Edward the Sixth whose Soul God pardon divers notable Crimes Excesses and Faults with divers kinds of Heresies Simony Advoutry and other Enormities have been committed within this our Realm and other our Dominions the same continuing yet hitherto in like disorder since the beginning of our Reign without any correction or reformation at all and the People both of the Laity and Clery and chiefly of the Clergy have been given to much insolence and ungodliness greatly to the displeasure of Almighty God and very much to Our regret and evil contentation and to the slander of other Christian Realms and in a manner to the subversion and clear defaceing of this our Realm And remembring our Duty to Almighty God to be to foresee as much as in Us may be that all Vertue and Godly Living should be embraced flourish and encrease And therewith also that all vice and ungodly behaviour should be utterly banished and put away or at the least wise so nigh as might be so bridled and kept under that Godliness and Honesty might have the over-hand understanding by very credible report and publique fame to Our no small heaviness and discomfort that within your Diocess as well in not exempted as in exempted Places the like disorder and evil behaviour hath been done and used like also to continue and encrease unless due provision be had and made to reform the same which earnestly in very deed We do mind and intend to the uttermost all the ways We can possible trusting of God's furtherance and help in that behalf For these Causes and other most just Considerations us moving We send unto you certain Articles of such special Matter as among other things be most special and necessary to be now put in execution by you and your Officers extending to them by Us desired and the Reformation aforesaid wherein ye shall be charg'd with Our special Commandments by these our Letters to the intent you and your Officers may the more earnestly and boldly proceed thereunto without fear of any presumption to be noted on your part or danger to be incurred of any such our Laws as by your doings of that is in the said Articles contain'd might any wise grieve you whatsoever be threatned in any such Case and therefore we straitly charge and command you and your said Officers to proceed to the execution of the said Articles without all tract and delay as ye will answer to the contrary Given under our Hand at our Palace of Westminster the 4th day of March the first Year of our Reign ARTICLES 1. THat every Bishop and his Officers with all other having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall with all speed and diligence and all manner and ways to them possible put in execution all such Canons and Ecclesiasticall Laws heretofore in the time of King Henry the 8th used within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same not being direct and expresly contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm 2. Item That no Bishop or any his Officer or other Person aforesaid hereafter in any of their Ecclesiastical Writings in Process or other extra-judicial Acts do use to put in this Clause or Sentence Regia Auctoritate fulcitus 3. Item That no Bishop or any his Officers or other Person aforesaid do hereafter exact or demand in the admission of any Person to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Orders or Office any Oath touching the Primacy or Succession as of late in few Years passed hath been accustomed and used 4. Item That every Bishop and his Officers with all other Persons aforesaid have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight that no Person be admitted or received to any Ecclesiastical Function Benefit or Office being a Sacramentary infected or defamed with any notable kind of Heresy or other great Crime and that the said Bishop do stay and cause to be staied as much as lieth in him that Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions do not notably decay or take hinderance by passing or confirming of unreasonable Leases 5. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do diligently travel for the repressing of Heresies and notable Crimes especially in the Clergy duly correcting and punishing the same 6. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do likewise travel for the condemning and repressing of corrupt and naughty Opinions unlawful Books Ballads and other pernicious and hurtful devices engendring hatred among the People and discord amongst the same And that School-masters Preachers and Teachers do exercise and used their Offices and Duties without Teaching Preaching or setting forth any evil corrupt Doctrine and that doing the contrary they may be by the Bishop and his said Officers punish'd and remov'd 7. Item That every Bishop and all the other Persons aforesaid proceeding summarily and with all celerity and speed may and shall deprive or declare depriv'd and amove according to their learning and discretion all such Persons from their Benefices and Ecclesiastical Promotions who contrary to the state of their Order and the laudable Custom of the Church have married and used Women as their Wives or otherwise notably and slanderously disordered or abused themselves sequestring also during the said Process the Fruits and Profits of the said Benefits and Ecclesiastical Promotions 8. Item That the said Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do use more lenity and clemency with such as have married whose Wives be dead than with other whose Women do yet remain in Life And likewise such Priests as with the consents of their Wives or Women openly in the presence of the Bishop do profess to abstain to be used the more favourably in which Case after Penance effectually done the Bishop according to his discretion and wisdom may upon just consideration receive and admit them again to their former Administration so it be not in the same Place appointing them such a Portion to live upon to be paid out of their Benefice whereof they be depriv'd by discretion of the said Bishop or his Officers shall think may be spared of the said Benefice 9. Item That every Bishop and all Persons aforesaid do foresee That they suffer not any Religious Man having solemnly profest Chastity to continue with his Woman or Wife but that all such Persons after deprivation of their Benefice or Ecclesiastical Promotion be also divorced every one from his said Woman and due punishment otherwise taken for the Offence therein 10. Item That every Bishop and all other Persons aforesaid do take Order and Direction with the Parishoners of every Benefice where Priests do want to repair to the next Parish for Divine Service or to appoint for a convenient time till other better Provision may be made one Curat to serve Alternis Vicibus in divers Parishes and to allot to the said Curat for his Labour some portion of the Benefice that he so
serveth 11. Item That all and all manner of Processions of the Church be used frequented and continued after the old Order of the Church in the Latin Tongue 12. Item That all such Holy-days and Fasting-days be observed and kept as was observed and kept in the late time of King Henry the Eighth 13. Item That the laudable and honest Ceremonies which were wont to be used frequented and observed in the Church be also hereafter frequented used and observed 14. Item That Children be Christened by the Priest and confirmed by the Bishops as heretofore hath been accustomed and used 15. Item Touching such Persons as were heretofore promoted to any Orders after the new sort and fashion of Orders considering they were not ordered in very deed the Bishop of the Diocess finding otherwise sufficiency and ability in those Men may supply that thing which wanted in them before and then according to his discretion admit them to minister 16. Item That by the Bishop of the Diocess an Uniform Doctrine be set forth by Homilies or otherwise for the good instruction and teaching of all People and that the said Bishop and other Persons aforesaid do compel the Parishoners to come to their several Churches and there devoutly to hear Divine Service as of reason they ought 17. Item That they examine all School-masters and Teachers of Children and finding them suspect in any ways to remove them and place Catholick Men in their Rooms with a special Commandment to instruct their Children so as they may be able to answer the Priest at the Mass and so help the Priest to Mass as hath been accustomed 18. Item That the said Bishop and all Persons aforesaid have such regard respect and consideration of and for the setting forth of the Premises with all kind of Vertue godly Living and good Example with repressing also and keeping under of Vice and Unthriftiness as they and every each of them may be seen to favour the Restitution of true Religion and also to make an honest account and reckoning of their Office and Cure to the Honour of God our good contentation and the profit of this Realm and Dominions of the same Number 11. A Commission to turn out some of the Reformed Bishops Rot. pat prim Mariae pars septim REgina Dei Gratia c. perdilectis fidelibus Consiliariis suis Stephano Winton Episcopo summo suo Angliae Cancellario Cudberto Dunelmen Episcopo necnon Reverend dilectis sibi in Christo Edmund London Episcopo Roberto Assaven Episcopo Georgio Cicestren Episcopo Antonio Landaven Episcopo salutem Quia omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se crimen habet quanto qui peccat major habetur quoniam certis indubitatis testimoniis una cum facti notoreitate fama publica referente luculenter intelleximus manifesto comperimus Robertum Archiepiscopum Ebor. Robertum Meneven Joan. Cestren Paulum Bristolen Episcopos aut certe pro talibus se gerentes Dei animarum suarum salutis immemores valde gravia enormia dudum commisisse perpetrasse scelera atque peccata inter caetera quod dolenter certe magna cum amaritudine animae nostrae proferimus post expressam professionem castitatis expresse rite legittime emissam cum quibusdam mulieribus nuptias de facto cum de jure non deberent in Dei contemptum animarum suarum peccatum manifestum necnon in grave omnium ordinum tam Clericorum quam Laicorum scandalum Denique caeterorum Omnium Christi fidelium perniciosissium exemplum contraxisse cum illis tanquam cum Uxoribus cohabitasse Ne igitur tantum scelus remaneat impunitum ac multos alios pertrahat in ruinam vobis tenore praesentium committimus mandamus quatenus vos omnes aut tres saltem vestrum qui praesentes Literas Commissionales duxerint exequend dictos Archiepiscopum Ebor. Episc Meneven Episc Cestren Episc Bristollen diebus horis locis vestro aut trium vestrum arbitrio eligend assignand ad comparend coram vobis ceu tribus vestrum vocetis aut vocari faciatis vocend aut vocari faciant tres vestrū ceu saltem Si ita vobis aut tribus vestrum videatur eosdem Archiep. Episc praedict adeatis aut tres vestrum adeant negotio illis summarie de plano sine ullo strepitu figura judicii exposito declarato si per summariam examinationem discussionem negotii per vos aut tres vestrum fiendam eundem Archiep. Episc praedictos sic contraxisse aut fecisse constiterit eosdem a dignitatibus suis praedictis cum suis juribus pertinen Universis omnino ammoveatis deprivetis perpetuo excludatis ceu tres vestrum sic amoveant deprivent perpetuo excludant poenitentiam salutarem congruam pro modo culpae vestro aut trium vestrum arbitrio imponend eisdem injungentes caeteraque in praedictis cum eorum incidentibus emergentiis annexis connexis quibuscunque facientes quae necessaria fuerint ceu quomodolibet opportuna Quae omnia singula faciend expediend finiend Nos tam Autoritate nostra Ordinaria quam absoluta ex mero motu certaque scientia nostra vobis tribus vestrum potestatem Autoritatem licentiam concedimus impertimur per praesentes cum cujuslibet coercionis castigationis severitate potestate in contrarium facientes non obstant quibuscunque In cujus rei c. Apud Westm 16. die Martii Number 12. Another Commission to turn out the rest of them MARY by the Grace of God c. To the Right Reverend Fathers in God our Right trusty and right well-beloved Counsellors Stephen Bishop of Winchester our Chancellor of England Cuthbert Bishop of Duresm Edmond Bishop of London Robert Bishop of St. Asaph George Bishop of Chichester our Almoner and Anthony Bishop of Landaff Greeting Whereas John Tailour Doctor of Divinity naming himself Bishop of Lincoln John Hooper naming himself Bishop of Worcester and Glocester John Harley Bishop of Hereford having these said several pretended Bishopricks given to them by the Letter Patents of Our late deceased Brother King Edward the Sixth to have and to hold the same during their good behaviours with the express Clause quamdiu se bene gesserint have sithence as hath been credibly brought to Our knowledg both by Preaching Teaching and setting forth of Erroneous Doctrine and also by inordinate Life and Conversation contrary both to the Laws of Almighty God and Use of the Universal Christian Church declared themselves very unworthy of that Vocation and Dignity in the Church We minding to have these several Cases duly heard and considered and thereupon such Order taken with them as may stand with Justice and the Laws have for the special trust We have conceived of your Wisdoms Learning and Integrity of Life appointed you four three or two of you to be our Commissioners in this behalf giving unto
if they shall continue obstinate according to the order of the Laws so as through your good furtherance both God's Glory may be the better advanced and the Common-Wealth the more quietly governed Given under Our Signet at Our Honour of Hampton-Court the 24th of May in the first and second Years of Our Reigns Number 21. Sir T. More 's Letter to Cromwell concerning the Nun of Kent Right Worshipful Ex MSS. Norfolcianis in Col. Gresham AFter my most hearty recommendation with like thanks for your Goodness in accepting of my rude long Letter I perceive that of your further goodness and favour towards me it liked your Mastership to break with my Son Roper of that that I had had communication not only with divers that were of Acquaintance with the lewd Nun of Canterbury but also with her self and had over that by my writing declaring favour towards her given her advice and counsel of which my demeanour that it liketh you to be content to take the labour and the pain to hear by mine own writing the truth I very heartily thank you and reckon my self therein right deeply beholden to you It is I suppose about eight or nine Years ago sith I heard of that Housewife first at which time the Bishop of Canterbury that then was God assoil his Soul sent unto the King's Grace a roll of Paper in which were written certain words of hers that she had as report was then made at sundry times spoken in her Trances whereupon it pleased the King's Grace to deliver me the Roll commanding me to look thereon and afterwards shew him what I thought therein Whereunto at another time when his Highness asked me I told him That in good faith I found nothing in these words that I could any thing regard or esteem for seeing that some part fell in Rithm and that God wots full rude also for any reason God wots that I saw therein a right simple Woman might in my mind speak it of her own wit well enough Howbeit I said that because it was constantly reported for a truth that God wrought in her and that a Miracle was shewed upon her I durst not nor would not be bold in judging the Matter And the King's Grace as me thought esteemed the Matter as light as it after proved lewd From that time till about Christmass was twelve-month albeit that continually there was much talking of her and of her Holiness yet never heard I any talk rehearsed either of Revelation of hers or Miracle saving that I heard say divers times in my Lord Cardinal's days that she had been both with his Lordship and with the King's Grace but what she said either to the one or to the other upon my Faith I had never heard any one word Now as I was about to tell you about Christmass was twelve-month Father Risby Friar Observant then of Canterbury lodged one night at mine House where after Supper a little before he went to his Chamber he fell in communication with me of the Nun giving her high commendation of Holiness and that it was wonderful to see and understand the Works that God wrought in her which thing I answered That I was very glad to hear it and thanked God thereof Then he told me that she had been with my Lord Legate in his Life and with the King's Grace too and that she had told my Lord Legat a Revelation of hers of three Swords that God hath put in my Lord Legat's hand which if he ordered not well God would lay it sore to his Charge The first he said was the ordering the Spirituality under the Pope as Legat. The second The Rule that he bore in order of the Temporality under the King as his Chancellor And the third she said was the medling he was put in trust with by the King concerning the great matter of his Marriage And therewithal I said unto him That any Revelation of the King's Matters I would not hear of I doubt not but the goodness of God should direct his Highness with his Grace and Wisdom that the thing should take such end as God should be pleased with to the King's Honour and Surety of the Realm When he heard me say these words or the like he said unto me That God had specially commanded her to pray for the King and forthwith he brake again into her Revelations concerning the Cardinal that his Soul was saved by her Mediation and without any other Communication went unto his Chamber And he and I never talked any more of any such manner of matter nor since his departing on the Morrow I never saw him after to my remembrance till I saw him at Paul's Cross After this about Shrovetide there came unto me a little before Supper Father Rich Friar Observant of Richmond and as we fell in talking I asked him of Father Risby how he did And upon that occasion he asked me Whether Father Risby had any thing shewed me of the Holy Nun of Kent and I said Yea and that I was very glad to hear of her Vertue I would not quoth he tell you again that you have heard of him already but I have heard and known many great Graces that God hath wrought in her and in other Folk by her which I would gladly tell you if I thought you had not heard them already And therewith he asked me Whether Father Risby had told me any thing of her being with my Lord Cardinal and I said Yea Then he told you quoth he of the three Swords Yea verily quoth I. Did he tell you quoth he of the Revelations that she had concerning the King's Grace Nay forsooth quoth I nor if he would have done I would not have given him the hearing nor verily no more I would indeed for sith she hath been with the King's Grace her self and told him me-thought it a thing needless to tell me or to any Man else And when Father Rich perceived that I would not hear her Revelations concerning the King's Grace he talked on a little of her Vertue and let her Revelations alone and therewith my Supper was set upon the Board where I required him to sit with me but he would in no wise tarry but departed to London After that night I talked with him twice once in mine own House another time in his own Garden at the Friars at every time a great space but not of any Revelations touching the King's Grace but only of other mean Folk I knew not whom of which things some were very strange and some were very childish But albeit that he said He had seen her lie in her Trance in great pains and that he had at other times taken great spiritual comfort in her Communication yet did he never tell me that she had told him those Tales her self for if he had I would for the Tale of Mary Magdalen which he told me and for the Tale of the Hostie with which as I have heard she
not edify the Congregation Therefore the use of an unknown Tongue in Publick Prayer or Administration of the Sacraments is not to be had in the Church The first part of this Reason is grounded upon St. Paul's words commanding all things to be done to Edification The second part is also proved by St. Paul's plain words First By this Similitude If the Trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall be prepared to Battel Even so likewise when ye speak with Tongues except ye speak words that have signification how shall it be understood what is spoken for ye shall but speak in the Air that is to say in vain and consequently without edifying And afterward in the same Chapter he saith How can he that occupieth the place of the Vnlearned say Amen at thy giving of Thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest Thanks well but the other is not edified These be St. Paul's words plainly proving That a Tongue not understood doth not edify And therefore both the parts of the Reason thus prov'd by St. Paul the Conclusion followeth necessarily 2. Secondly Nothing is to be spoken in the Congregation in an Unknown Tongue except it be interpreted to the People that it may be understood For saith Paul if there be no Interpreter to him that speaketh in an unknown Tongue taceat in Ecclesiâ let him hold his peace in the Church And therefore the Common Prayers and Administration of Sacraments neither done in a known Tongue nor interpreted are against this Commandment of Paul and not to be used 3. The Minister in Praying or Administration of the Sacraments using Language not understood of the Hearers is to them barbarous an Alien which of St. Paul is accounted a great Absurdity 4. It is not to be counted a Christian Common-Prayer where the People present declare not their Assent unto it by saying Amen wherein is implyed all other words of Assent But St. Paul affirmeth That the People cannot declare their Assent in saying Amen except they understand what is said as afore Therefore it is no Christian Common-Prayer where the People understandeth not what is said 5. Paul would not suffer in his time a strange Tongue to be heard in the Common-Prayer in the Church notwithstanding that such a kind of Speech was then a Miracle and a singular Gift of the Holy Ghost whereby Infidels might be persuaded and brought to the Faith much less is it to be suffered now among Christian and Faithful Men especially being no Miracle nor especial Gift of the Holy Ghost 6. Some will peradventure answer That to use any kind of Tongue in Common-Prayer or Administration of Sacraments is a thing indifferent But St. Paul is to the contrary for he commandeth all things to be done to Edification He commandeth to keep silence if there be no Interpreter And in the end of the Chapter he concludeth thus If any Man be Spiritual or a Prophet let him know that the things which I write are the Commandment of the Lord. And so shortly to conclude the use of a strange Tongue in Prayer and Administration is against the Word and Commandment of God To these Reasons grounded upon St. Paul's words which are the most firm Foundation of this Assertion divers other Reasons may be joined gathered out of the Scriptures and otherwise 1. In the Old Testamenc all things pertaining to the Publick Prayer Benediction Thanksgiving or Sacrifice were always in their Vulgar and Natural Tongue In the second Book of Paraleipomenon Cap. 29. it is written That Ezechias commanded the Levites to praise God with the Psalms of David and Asaph the Prophet which doubtless were written in the Hebrew their Vulgar Tongue If they did so in the shadows of the Law much more ought we to do the like who as Christ saith must pray in Spiritu Veritate 2. The final end of our Prayer is as David saith Vt populi conveniant in unum annuncient nomen Domini in Sion laudes ejus in Hierusalem But the Name and Praises of God cannot be set forth to the People unless it be done in such a Tongue as they may understand Therefore Common-Prayer must be had in the Vulgar Tongue 3. The definition of Publick Prayer out of the words of St. Paul Orabo Spiritu Orabo Mente Publicè orare est vota communia mente ad Deum effundere ea Spiritu hoc est Lingua testari Common Prayer is to lift up our Common Desires to God with our Minds and to testify the same outwardly with our Tongues Which Definition is approved of by St. Augustine de Magist. C. 1. Nihil opus est inquit loqutione nisi forte ut Sacerdotes faciunt significandae mentis Causâ ut populus intelligat 4. The Ministrations of the Lord's last Supper and Baptism are as it were Sermons of the Death and Resurrection of Christ But Sermons to the People must be had in such Language as the People may perceive otherwise they should be had in vain 5. It is not lawful for a Christian Man to abuse the Gifts of God But he that prayeth in the Church in a strange Tongue abuseth the Gift of God for the Tongue serveth only to express the mind of the Speaker to the Hearer And Augustine saith de Doct. Christ. lib. 4. cap. 10. Loquendi omnino nulla est causa si quod loquimur non intelligunt propter quos ut intelligant loquimur There is no cause why we should speak if they for whose cause we speak understand not our speaking 6. The Heathen and Barbarous Nations of all Countries and sorts of Men were they never so wild evermore made their Prayers and Sacrifice to their Gods in their own Mother Tongue which is a manifest Declaration that it is the very Light and Voice of Nature Thus much upon the ground of St. Paul and other Reasons out of the Scriptures joining therewith the common Usage of all Nations as a Testimony of the Law of Nature Now for the second part of the Assertion which is That the use of a strange Tongue in publick Prayer and Administration of Sacraments is against the Custom of the Primitive Church Which is a Matter so clear that the denial of it must needs proceed either of great Ignorance or of wilful Malice Justinus Apol. 2. For first of all Justinus Martyr describing the Order of the Communion in his time saith thus Die Solis urbanorum rusticorum caetus fiunt ubi Apostolorum Prophetarumque literae quoad fieri potest praeleguntur Deinde cessante Lectore Praepositus verba facit adhortatoria ad imitationem tam honestarum rerum invitans Post haec consurgimus omnes preces offerimus quibus finitis profertur ut diximus Panis Vinum Aqua tum praepositus quantum potest preces offert gratiarum Actiones plebs vero Amen accinit Upon the Sunday Assemblies are made both of the Citizens and Country-men where as
of the Church in the highest Mystery of our Faith the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar For he ministreth the same as the Scripture witnesseth after Supper And now if a contentious Man would strain the Fact to the first Institution St. Augustine answereth not by Scripture for there is none to improve it but indeed otherwise even as the Apostles did Visum est Spiritui sancto ut in honorem tanti Sacramenti in os Christiani hominis prius intret Corpus Dominicum quam exteri cibi It is determin'd saith St. Augustine by the Holy Ghost that in the honour of so great a Sacrament the Body of our Lord should enter first into the Mouth of a Christian Man before other external Meats So that notwithstanding it was the Fact of Christ himself yet the Church moved by the Holy Ghost as is said hath changed that also without offence likewise By the which Sentence of St. Augustine manifestly appeareth that this Authority was deriv'd from the Apostles unto this Time the which same Authority according to Christ's Promises doth still abide and remain with his Church 4. And hereupon also resteth the Alteration of the Sacrament under one kind when-as the multitude of the Gentiles entred the Church instructed by the Holy Ghost understood Inconveniencies and partly also Heresy to creep in through the Ministration under both kinds and therefore as in the former Examples so in this now the Matter nothing diminished neither in it self nor in the Receivers and the thing also being received before by a common and uniform Consent without contradiction the Church did decree that from henceforth it should be received under the form of Bread only and whosoever should think and affirm that Whole Christ remained not under both kinds pronounc'd him to be in Heresy 5. Moreover we read in the Acts whereas it was determined in a Council holden at Hierusalem by the Apostles that the Gentiles should abstain from Strangled an◠Blood in these words Visum est Spiritui Sancto Nobis c. It is decreed by the Holy Ghost and Vs say the Apostles that no other burden be laid upon you than these necessary things That ye abstain from things offered up unto Idols and from Blood and from that is strangled and from Fornication This was the Commandment of God for still it is commanded upon pain of damnation to keep our Bodies clean from Fornication and the other join'd by the Holy Ghost with the same not kept nor observed at this day 6. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles it appeareth That among them in the Primitive Church all things were common They sold their Lands and Possessions and laid the Mony at the Feet of the Apostles to be divided to the People as every Man had need insomuch that Ananias and Saphira who kept back a part of their Possession and laid but the other part at the Apostles Feet were declared by the Mouth of St. Peter to be tempted by the Devil and to lye against the Holy Ghost and in example of all other punish'd with sudden Death By all which Examples and many other it is manifest that though there were any such Scripture which they pretend as there is not yet the Church wherein the Holy Ghost is alway resident may order the same and may therein say as truly Visum est Spiritui Sancto Nobis as did the Apostles For Christ promised unto the Church That the Holy Ghost should teach them all Truth and that He himself would be with the same Church unto the Worlds end And hereupon we do make this Argument with St. Augustine which he writeth in his Epistle ad Januarium after this sort Ecclesia Dei inter multam paleam multaque Zizania constituta multa tolerat tamen quae sunt contra fidem vel bonam vitam non approbat nec tacet nec facit To this Major we add this Minor But the Catholick Church of God neither reproveth the Service or Common Prayer to be in the Learned Tongue nor yet useth it otherwise Therefore it is most lawful and commendable so to be Third Section Another Cause that moveth us to say and think is That otherwise doing as they have said there followeth necessarily the breach of Unity of the Church and the Commodities thereby are withdrawn and taken from us there follows necessarily an horrible Schism and Division In alteration of the Service into our Mother Tongue we condemn the Church of God which hath been heretofore we condemn the Church that is present and namely the Church of Rome To the which howsoever it is lightly esteemed here among us the Holy Saint and Martyr Ireneus saith in plain words thus Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnes alias Ecclesias convenire hoc est omnes undique Fideles It is necessary saith this Holy Man who was nigh to the Apostles or rather in that time for he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum that all Churches do conform themselves and agree with the See or Church of Rome all Churches that is to say as he declareth himself all Christian and Faithful Men. And he alleadgeth the Cause why it is necessary for all Men to agree therewith propter potentiorem principalitatem for the greater Preeminence of the same or for the mightier Principality From this Church and consequently from the whole Universal Church of Christ we fall undoubtedly into a fearful and dangerous Schism and therewith into all Incommodities of the same That in this doing we fall from the Unity of the Church it is more manifest than that we need much to stand upon St. Augustine Contra Cresconium Grammaticum putting a difference between Heresis and Schisma saith Schisma est diversa sequentium secta Heresis autem Schisma inveteratum To avoid this horrible Sin of Schism we are commanded by the words of St. Paul saying Obsecro vos ut id ipsum dicatis omnes non sint in vobis Schismata And that this changing of the Service out of the Learned Tongue is doing contrary to the Form and Order universally observed is plain and evident to every Man's Eye They are to be named Hereticks saith he which obstinately think and judg in Matters of Faith otherwise than the rest of the Church doth And those are called Schismaticks which follow not the Order and Trade of the Church but will invent of their own Wit and Brain other Orders contrary or diverse to them which are already by the Holy Ghost universally establish'd in the Church And we being declin'd from God by Schism note what follows There is then no Gift of God no Knowledg no Justice no Faith no Works and finally no Vertue that could stand us in stead though we should think to glorify God by suffering Death as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 13. Yea there is no Sacrament that availeth to Salvation in them that willingly fall into Schism that without fear
separate and divide themselves from the Sacred Unity of Christ's Holy Spouse the Church as St. Augustine plainly saith Quicunque ille est qualiscunque ille est Christianus non est qui in Ecclesia Christi non â—est that is Whosoever he be whatsoever degree or condition he be of or what qualities soever he hath though he should speak with the Tongues of Angels speak he never so holily shew he never so much Vertue yet is he not a Christian Man that is guilty of that Crime of Schsm and so no Member of that Church Wherefore this is an evident Argument Every Christian Man is bound upon pain of Damnation by the plain words of God uttered by St. Paul to avoid the horrible Sin of Schism The changing of the Service-Book out of the Learned Tongue it being universally observ'd through the whole Church from the beginning is a cause of an horrible Schism wherefore every good Christian Man is bound to avoid the change of the Service Now to confirm that we said before and to prove that to have the Common Prayer and Ministration of the Sacraments in English or in other than is the Learned Tongue let us behold the first Institution of the West Church and the Particulars thereof And first to begin with the Church of France Dyonisius St. Paul's Scholar who first planted the Faith of Christ in France Martialis who as it is said planted the Faith in Spain And others which planted the same here in England in the time of Eleutherius And such as planted the Faith in Germany and other Countries And St. Augustine that converted this Realm afterwards in the time of Gregory almost a thousand Years ago It may appear that they had Interpreters as touching the Declaration and Preaching of the Gospel or else the Gift of Tongues But that ever in any of these West Churches they had the Service in their own Language or that the Sacraments other than Matrimony were ministred in their own Vulgar Tongue that does not appear by any Ancient Historiographer Whether shall they be able ever to prove that it was so generally and thereby by continuance in the Latin the self-same Order and Words remain still whereas all Men do consider and know right-well that in all other inferiour and barbarous Tongues great change daily is seen and specially in this our English Tongue which in quovis Seculo fere in every Age or hundred Years there appeareth a great change and alteration in this Language For the proof whereof there hath remained many Books of late in this Realm as many do well know which we that be now Englishmen can scarcely understand or read And if we should so often as the thing may chance and as alteration daily doth grow in our Vulgar Tongue change the Service of the Church what manifold Inconveniences and Errors would follow we leave it to all Mens Judgments to consider So that hereby may appear another invincible Argument which is the Consent of the whole Catholick Church that cannot err in the Faith and Doctrine of our Saviour Christ but is by St. Paul's saying the Pillar and Foundation of all Truth Moreover the People of England do not understand their own Tongue better than Eunuchus did the Hebrew of whom we read in the Acts that Philip was commanded to teach him and he reading there the Prophesy of Esay Philip as it is written in the 8th Chapter of the Acts enquired of him Whether he understood that which he read or no He made answer saying Et quomodo possum si non aliquis ostenderit mihi in which words are reproved the intollerable boldness of such as will enterprize without any Teacher yea contemning all Doctors to unclasp the Book and thereby instead of Eternal Food drink up deadly Poison For whereas the Scripture is misconstrued and taken in a wrong sense that it is not the Scripture of God but as St. Hierom saith Writing upon the Epistle to the Galathians it is the Scripture of the Devil And we do not contend with Hereticks for the Scripture but for the true sense and meaning of the Scripture We read of Ceremonies in the Old Testament as the Circumcision the Bells and Pomegranates of Aaron's Apparel with many other and kinds of Sacrifices which all were as St. Paul saith unto the Hebrews Justitia Carnis and did not inwardly justify the Party before God that objected in Protestation of their Faith in Christ to come And although they had the knowledg of every Fact of Christ which was signified particularly by those Ceremonies And it is evident and plain that the High Priest entred into the inner Part of the Temple named Sanctum Sanctorum whereas the People might not follow nor lawful for them to stand but there where they could neither see nor hear what the Priest either said or did as St. Luke in the first Chapter of his Gospel rehearseth in the History of Zachary Upon Conference of these two Testaments may be plainly gathered this Doctrine That in the School of Christ many things may be said and done the Mystery whereof the People knoweth not neither are they bound to know Which things that is that the People did not hear and understand the Common Prayer of the Priest and Minister it is evident and plain by the practice of the Ancient Greek Church and that also that now is at Venice or else-where In that East Church the Priest standeth as it were in a Travice or Closet hang'd round about with Curtains or Vails apart from the People And after the Consecration when he sheweth the Blessed Sacrament the Curtains are drawn whereof Chrysostom speaketh thus Cum Vela videris retrahi tunc superne Coelum aperiri cogita When thou seest the Vails or Curtains drawn open then think thou that Heaven is open from above It is also here to be noted That there is two manners of Prayings one Publick another Private for which cause the Church hath such considerations of the Publick Prayer that it destroyeth not nor taketh away the Private Prayer of the People in time of Sacrifice or other Divine Service which thing would chance if the People should do nothing but hearken to answer and say Amen Besides the impossibility of the Matter whereas in a great Parish every Man cannot hear what the Priest saith though the Material Church were defaced and he left the Altar of God and stood in the midst of the People Furthermore If we should confess that it were necessary to have Common Prayer in the Vulgar Tongue these two Heresies would follow upon it that Prayer profiteth no Man but him that understandeth it and him also that is present and heareth it and so by consequent void was the Prayer for St. Peter in Prison by the Church abroad Now consider the Practice of this Realm If we should grant the Service to be in English we should not have that in the same form that it is in now being in Latin
enabling of their own Judgments to treat and conclude of such Laws as might depend thereupon This also being thought very reasonable was signified to both Parties and so fully agreed upon And the day appointed for the first Meeting to be the Friday in the Forenoon being the last of March at Westminster Church where both for good Order and for Honour of the Conferences by the Queen's Majesty's Commandment the Lords and others of the Privy-Council were present and a great part of the Nobility also And notwithstanding the former Order appointed and consented unto by both Parties yet the Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues alleadging that they had mistaken that their Assertions and Reasons should be written and so only recited out of the Book said Their Book was not then ready written but they were ready to Argue and Dispute and therefore they would for that time repeat in Speech that which they had to say to the first Proposition This variation from the former Order and specially from that which themselves had by the said Arch-Bishop in writing before required adding thereto the Reason of the Apostle that to contend with words is profitable to nothing but to the subversion of the Hearer seemed to the Queen's Majesty somewhat strange and yet was it permitted without any great reprehension because they excused themselves with mistaking the Order and argued that they would not fail but put it in writing and according to the former Order deliver it to the other Part. And so the said Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues appointed Dr. Cole Dean of Pauls to be their Utterer of their Minds who partly by Speech only and partly by reading of Authorities written and at certain times being informed of his Colleagues what to say made a declaration of their Meanings and their Reasons to the first Proposition Which being ended they were asked by the Privy Council If any of them had any more to be said and they said No. So as then the other Part was licensed to shew their Minds which they did accordingly to the first Order exhibiting all that which they meant to propound in a Book written Which after a Prayer and Invocation made most humbly to Almighty God for the enduing of them with his Holy Spirit and a Protestation also to stand to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church builded upon the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Prophets and the Apostles was distinctly read by one Robert Horn Batchelor in Divinity late Dean of Duresm And the same being ended with some likelyhood as it seemed that the same was much allowable to the Audience certain of the Bishops began to say contrary to their former Answer that they had now much more to say to this Matter wherein although they might have been well reprehended for such manner of cavillation yet for avoiding any more mistaking of Orders in this Colloquie or Conference and for that they should utter all that which they had to say it was both ordered and thus openly agreed upon of both Parts in the full Audience that upon the Monday following the Bishops should bring their Minds and Reasons in Writing to the second Assertion and the last also if they could and first read the same and that done the other Part should bring likewise theirs to the same and being read each of them should deliver to other the same Writings And in the mean time the Bishops should put in writing not only all that which Doctor Cole had that day uttered but all such other Matters as they any otherwise could think of for the same and as soon as might possible to send the same Book touching the first Assertion to the other part and they should receive of them that Writing which Master Horn had there read that day and upon Monday it should be agreed what day they should exhibit their Answer touching the first Proposition Thus both parts assented thereto and the Assembly was quietly dismissed And therefore upon Monday the like Assembly began again at the Place and Hour appointed and there upon what sinister or disordered meaning is not yet fully known though in some part it be understanded the Bishop of Winchester and his Colleagues and specially Lincoln refused to exhibit or read according to the former notorious Order on Friday that which they had prepared for the second Assertion and thereupon by the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal they being first gently and favourably required to keep the Order appointed and that taking no place being secondly as it behoved pressed with the more earnest request they neither regarding the Authority of that Place nor their own Reputation nor the Credit of the Cause utterly refused that to do And finally being again particularly every one of them apart distinctly by Name required to understand their Opinions therein they all saving one which was the Abbot of Westminster having some more consideration of Order and his Duty of Obedience than the other utterly and plainly denied to have their Book read some of them as more earnestly than other some so also some others more indiscreetly and irreverently than others Whereupon giving such Example of Disorders Stubbornness and Self-will as hath not been seen and suffered in such an Honourable Assembly being of the two Estates of this Realm the Nobilities and Commons besides the Persons of the Queen's Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council the same Assembly was dismissed and the Godly and most Christian Purpose of the Queen's Majesty made frustrate And afterwards for the contempt so notoriously made the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln who have most obstinately disobeyed both Common Authority and varied manifestly from their own Order specially Lincoln who shewed more folly than the other were condignly committed to the Tower of London and the rest saving the Abbot of VVestminster stand bound to make daily their personal appearance before the Council and not to depart the City of London and VVestminster until further Order be taken with them for their Disobedience and Contempt N. Bacon Cust Sigill F. Shrewsbury F. Bedford Pembrok E. Clynton G. Rogers F. Knollys W. Cecill A. Cave Number 6. An Address made by some Bishops and Divines to Queen Elizabeth against the Use of Images To the Queen 's most Excellent Majesty WE knowing your gracious Clemency and considering the necessity of the Matter that we have to move the one doth encourage us and the other compel us as before to make our humble Petition unto your Highness and to renew our former Suit not in any respect of self-will stoutness or striving against your Majesty God we take to Witness for with David we confess that we are but as Canes mortui aut Pulices in comparison But we do it only for that fear and reverence which we bear to the Majesty of Almighty God in whose Hands to fall 't is terrible for it lieth in his Power to destroy for ever and to cast both Body and Soul into Hell Fire
two several times that is to say the Sundays next following Easterday and St. Michael the Arch-Angel or on some other Sunday within one month after those Feasts immediately after the Gospel FOrasmuch as it appertaineth to all Christian Men but especially to the Ministers and the Pastors of the Church being Teachers and Instructers of others to be ready to give a Reason of their Faith when they shall be thereunto required I for my part now appointed your Parson Vicar or Curat having before my Eyes the Fear of God and the Testimony of my Conscience do acknowledg for my self and require you to assent to the same I. First That there is but one living and true God of infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness the maker and preserver of all Things And that in Unity of this God-head there be three Persons of one Substance of equal Power and Eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost II. I believe also whatsoever is contained in the Holy Canonical Scriptures In the which Scriptures are contained all things necessary to Salvation by the which also all Errors and Heresies may sufficiently be reproved and convicted and all Doctrine and Articles necessary to Salvation established I do also most firmly believe and confess all the Articles contained in the Three Creeds The Nicene Creed Athanasius Creed and our Common Creed called the Apostles Creed for these do briefly contain the principal Articles of our Faith which are at large set forth in the Holy Scriptures III. I do acknowledg also that Church to be the Spouse of Christ wherein the Word of God is truly taught the Sacraments orderly ministred according to Christ's Institution and the Authority of the Keys duly used And that every such particular Church hath authority to institute to change clean to put away Ceremonies and other Ecclesiastical Rites as they be superfluous or be abused and to constitute other making more to Seemliness to Order or Edification IV. Moreover I confess That it is not lawful for any Man to take upon him any Office or Ministry either Ecclesiastical or Secular but such only as are lawfully thereunto called by their High Authorities according to the Ordinances of this Realm V. Furthermore I do acknowledg the Queen's Majesty's Prerogative and Superiority of Government of all Estates and in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within this Realm and other her Dominions and Countries to be agreable to God's Word and of right to appertain to her Highness in such sort as is in the late Act of Parliament expressed and sithence by her Majesty's Injunctions declared and expounded VI. Moreover touching the Bishop of Rome I do acknowledg and confess that by the Scriptures and Word of God he hath no more Authority than other Bishops have in their Provinces and Diocesses And therefore the Power which he now challengeth that is to be the Supream Head of the Universal Church of Christ and so to be above all Emperors Kings and Princes is an usurped Power contrary to the Scriptures and Word of God and contrary to the Example of the Primitive Church and therefore is for most just Causes taken away and abolished in this Realm VII Furthermore I do grant and confess That the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Holy Sacraments set sorth by the Authority of Parliament is agreeable to the Scriptures and that it is Catholick Apostolick and most for the advancing of God's Glory and the edifying of God's People both for that it is in a Tongue that may be understanded of the People and also for the Doctrine and Form of ministration contained in the same VIII And although in the Administration of Baptism there is neither Exorcism Oil Salt Spittle or hallowing of the Water now used and for that they were of late Years abused and esteemed necessary Where they pertain not to the substance and necessity of the Sacrament they be reasonably abolished and yet the Sacrament full and perfectly ministred to all intents and purposes agreeable to the Institution of our Saviour Christ IX Moreover I do not only acknowledg that Privat Masses were never used amongst the Fathers of the Primitive Church I mean publick Ministration and receiving of the Sacrament by the Priest alone without a just number of Communicants according to Christ's saying Take ye and eat ye c. But also that the Doctrine that maintaineth the Mass to be a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and the Dead and a mean to deliver Souls out of Purgatory is neither agreeable to Christ's Ordinance nor grounded upon Doctrine Apostolick But contrary-wise most ungodly and most injurious to the precious Redemption of our Saviour Christ and his only-sufficient Sacrifice offered once for ever upon the Altar of the Cross X. I am of that mind also That the Holy Communion or Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for the due obedience to Christ's Institution and to express the vertue of the same ought to be ministred unto the People under both kinds And that it is avouched by certain Fathers of the Church to be a plain Sacrilege to rob them of the Mystical Cup for whom Christ hath shed his most precious Blood seeing he himself hath said Drink ye all of this Considering also That in the time of the Ancient Doctors of the Church as Cyprian Hierom Augustine Gelasius and others six hundred Years after Christ and more both the Parts of the Sacrament were ministred to the People Last of all As I do utterly disallow the extolling of Images Reliques and feigned Miracles and also all kind of expressing God Invisible in the form of an Old Man or the Holy Ghost in form of a Dove and all other vain worshipping of God devised by Man's fantasy besides or contrary to the Scriptures As wandering on Pilgrimages setting up of Candles praying upon Beads and such-like Superstition which kind of Works have no promise of Reward in Scripture but contrary-wise Threatnings and Maledictions So I do exhort all Men to the Obedience of God's Law and to the Works of Faith as Charity Mercy Pity Alms devout and fervent Prayer with the affection of the Heart and not with the Mouth only Godly Abstinence and Fasting Chastity Obedience to the Rulers and Superior Powers with such-like Works and godliness of Life commanded by God in his Word which as St. Paul saith hath Promises both of this Life and of the Life to come and are Works only acceptable in God's sight These things above-rehearsed though they be appointed by common Order yet do I without all compulsion with freedom of Mind and Conscience from the bottom of my Heart and upon most sure persuasion acknowledg to be true and agreeable to God's Word And therefore I exhort you all of whom I have Cure heartily and obediently to embrace and receive the same That we all joining together in unity of Spirit Faith and Charity may also at length be joined together in the Kingdom of God and that
Coll. p. 148. Such was Robert King Abbot of Oseney after Bishop of Oxford and Thom. Cornish a Residentiary of Wells who by the name of Thomas Episcopus Tinensis did confer Orders and performed other Episcopal Functions for Fox while he was Bishop of Exeter from 1487 to 1492. and afterwards when he was Bishop of Wells as appears by both those Registers he died in the Year 1513. Of this I could give more Instances if it were necessary P. 203. l. 5 6. It is said some were judged to be Hanged and others to be Beheaded But this being a Case of Treason the Judgments must have been the same tho executed in different ways by order from the King This I copied from Judg Spelman's Common-Place Book P. 203. l. 21. The Original Declaration should have been set down but I thought that not necessary for the L. Herbert has published it only he forgot to add the Subscription to it which I ought to have mentioned in its proper place but it escaped me and therefore I do it here P. 226. l. 24. Andre ' Thevet a French Franciscan who writ some Years after this an Universal Cosmography says Lib. 16. cap. 5. That he was assured by divers English Gentlemen that Mark Smeton at his Death among his other Sins repented in particular of the wrong he had done the Queen in destroying her by a false Accusation And tho Thuanus makes him an Author of no Credit yet there is no reason to suspect him in this Particular for Writers seldom lye against their Interest and the Franciscan Order had suffered so much for their adhering to Queen Katherine's Interests in opposition to Ann Boleyn that it is not likely one of that Order would have strained a Point to tell an honourable Story of her This was made use of in Queen Elizabeth's Time to vindicate her Memory see Saravia Tract cont Bezam cap. 2. versus finem P. 220. l. 4 5 The King's Protestation was not published till about eight or nine months after that was obtained which you there mention which was the 20th of July 1536. And in the Protestation mention is made of the putting off the Council from May to Novemb. 1537. which came out in April or May that Year And in April 1538. the King set out another Protestation against a Bull for the Council at Vincenza which is not mentioned in the History Pool lived at Padua long before this time and not after it as Antiq. P. 221. l. 10. Brit. from whom it is vouched has it but that Society of Learned Men was now removed to Rome whither Pool seems to have gone to them No wonder Chester was not here mentioned P. 263. l. 7. since it was erected before And so it might well be tho the Charter for the present Foundation bears date after for the former might be surrendered and cancelled probably because of some mention made in it of the Pope's Bull of which you speak p. 121. Fox adds another Passage of that Discourse between Cromwel and the Duke of Norfolk which perhaps offended him much P. 265. l. 17. from bottom that he was never so far in love with Wolsey as to have waited on him to Rome as he understood the Duke of Norfolk would have done Coventry and Litchfield were never two different Bishopricks P. 228. l. 23. but two different Seats of the same See which had sometimes a third at Chester This was no designed interview P. 272. l. 1. but Charles hearing of the Tumult at Ghent went from Spain to Flanders through France as his nearest way and was met by Francis at Loches in Berry and not at Paris Cromwel was then Dean of Wells P. 279. l. 20. and that was the reason of the Proviso Hall and L. Herbert say This was on the 25th P. 280. l. 5. which you put on the 24th of June He in that place belongs to the King named before P. 297. so it should have been expressed that it is Bonner that is here meant It was not necessary to restore the Lord Cromwel in Blood P. 312. l. 12. for he was made a Baron when his Father was made an Earl so that his Blood was not corrupted by his Fathers Attaindor Interludes were not then brought in first to Churches P. 318. l. 8. but had been used in the Times of Popery the greatest part of their Religion being placed in outward Shews so that these did well enough agree with it and such Representations are yet in use sometimes in the Roman Church so that by which they had formerly entertained the People was now turned on themselves Fox sets down a Confession of Anne Askews P. 342. l. 1. perhaps Ascough was her right Name for so is the Name of the Family in Lincolnshire written in which she her self relates this Passage of the Lord Chancellors racking her with his own hands so there is no reason to question the truth of it and Parsons who detracts as much from Fox's Credit as he can does not question this particular P. 344. l. 10. The Story concerning Cranmer must belong to the former Year for Butts that bore a share in it died on the 17th of Novemb. 1545 as appears by the Inscription on his Tomb-stone in Fulham Church So this Passage being after the Duke of Suffolk's Death which was in August that Year this must be placed between August and Novemb. 1545. P. 346. l. 6. The Earl of Surrey had not lived long a Widower for his youngest Son afterwards Earl of Northampton is said to have been at nurse at his Father's Death P. 355. l. 17. from bottom The Year of Sir Tho. More 's Birth is not certain by Erasmus his Reckoning it was in the Year 1479 if not higher others say it was 1480 and others 1484. P. 359. l. 30. William Peyto Thuanus calls him William and says he was Loci Ignobilis but his true Name by which he was made Cardinal was Peter whether he was so Christened or assumed it only when he became a Friar is not certain He was descended from an Ancient and Eminent Family in Warwick-shire yet remaining P. 204. l. 14. from bottom And not many of these Here seems to be a word or more wanting It is wanting in the Original but it should have been supplied by a conjecture on the Margent Armed seems to be the word that agrees best to the sense FINIS Errata in the former Volume that are not marked in the Table of them PAge 10. line 17 from bottom for 18 of June read 28. P. 22. l. 11. fr. bott f. Frediswood r. Frideswoide P. 26. l. 24. f. Sartre r. Sautre l. 29. f. it as like r. it is like P. 27. l. 12. fr. bott f. 1611 r. 1511. P. 41. l. 25. for Dorchester r. Dorset P. 47. l. 24. f. Puccy r. Pucci P. 59. l. 18. f. great r. got P. 72. l. 11. f. Simpson r.
him he was now in the 16th Year of his Age. But if all Princes should be thus judged by all Instructions that pass under their Hands they would be more severely censured than there is cause And for the particular matter that is charged on the Memory of this young Prince which as it was represented to him was only a calling for the superfluous Plate and other Goods that lay in Churches more for pomp than for use though the applying of it to common uses except upon extream necessities is not a thing that can be justified yet it deserved not so severe a censure especially the Instructions being Signed by the King in his sickness in which it is not likely that he minded Affairs of that kind much but set his Hand easily to such Papers as the Council prepared for him These Instructions were directed in the Copy that I have perused Instructions for the President of the North. to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord President of the North upon which occasion I shall here make mention of that which I know not certainly in what Year to place namely the Instructions that were given to that Earl when he was made President of the North. And I mention them the rather because there have been since that time some Contests about that Office and the Court belonging to it There was by his Instructions a Council to be assistant to him whereof some of the Members were at large and not bound to attendance others were not to leave him without licence from him and he was in all things to have a negative Voice in it For the other Particulars I refer the Reader to the Copy which he will find in the Collection Collection Number 56. One Instruction among them belongs to Religion that he and the other Councellors when there was at any time Assemblies of People before them should perswade them to be obedient chiefly to the Laws about Religion and especially concerning the Service set forth in their own Mother-Tongue There was also a particular charge given them concerning the abolished Power of the Bishop of Rome whose abuses they were by continual inculcation so to beat into the minds of the People that they might well apprehend them and might see that those things were said to them from their Hearts and not from their Tongues only for Forms sake They were also to satisfie them about the abrogation of many Holy-days appointed by the same Bishop who endeavoured to perswade the World that he could make Saints at his pleasure which by leading the People to idleness gave occasion to many vices and inconveniences These Instructions were given after the Peace was made with Scotland otherwise there must have been a great deal in them relating to that War but the Critical time of them I do not know This Year Harly was made Bishop of Hereford instead of Skip who died the last Year And he being the last of those who were made so by Letters Patents The Form of the Bishops Letters Patents I shall give the Reader some satisfaction concerning that way of making Bishops The Patents began with the mention of the vacancy of the See by death or removal upon which the King being informed of the good qualifications of such a one appoints him to be Bishop during his natural Life or so long as he shall behave himself well giving him power to ordain and deprive Ministers to confer Benefices judge about Wills name Officials and Commissaries exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction visit the Clergy inflict Censures and punish scandalous Persons and to do all the other parts of the Episcopal Function that were found by the Word of God to be committed to Bishops all which they were to execute and do in the Kings Name and Authority After that in the same Patent follows the restitution of the Temporalties The day after a Certificate in a Writ called a Significavit was to be made of this under the Great Seal to the Arch-bishop with a Charge to consecrate him The first that had his Bishoprick by the Kings Patents was Barlow that was removed from St. Davids to Bath and Wells They bear date the third of February in the second Year of the Kings Reign and so Ferrar Bishop of St. Davids was not the first as some have imagined for he was made Bishop the first of August that Year This Ferrar was a rash indiscreet Man and drew upon himself the dislike of the Prebendaries of St. Davids He was made Bishop upon the Duke of Somersets favour to him But last Year many Articles were objected to him some as if he had incurred a Praemunire for acting in his Courts not in the Kings but his own Name and some for neglecting his Charge and some little indecencies were objected to him as going strangely habited travelling on foot whistling impertinently with many other things which if true shewed in him much weakness and folly The heaviest Articles he denied yet he was kept in Prison and Commissioners were sent into Wales to examine Witnesses who took many Depositions against him He lay in Prison till Queen Maries time and then he was kept in on the account of his Belief But his suffering afterwards for his Conscience when Morgan who had been his chief Accuser before on those other Articles being then made his Judge condemned him for Heresie and made room for himself to be Bishop by burning him did much turn Peoples Censures from him upon his Successor By these Letters Patents it is clear that the Episcopal Function was acknowledged to be of Divine appointment and that the Person was no other way named by the King than as Lay-Patrons present to Livings only the Bishop was legally authorized in such a part of the Kings Dominions to execute that Function which was to be derived to him by Imposition of Hands Therefore here was no pretence for denying that such Persons were true Bishops and for saying as some have done that they were not from Christ but from the King Upon this occasion it will not be improper to represent to the Reader how this matter stands according to Law at this day which is the more necessary because some superficial Writers have either mis-understood or mis-represented it The Act that authorized those Letters Patents and required the Bishops to hold their Courts in the Kings Name was repealed both by the 1 Mar. Chap. 2. and 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary Chap. 8. The latter of these that repealed only a part of it was repealed by the 1 Eliz. Chap. 1. and the former by the 1 Jac. Chap. 25. So some have argued that since those Statutes which repealed this Act of Edward the 6th 1. Par. Chap. 2. are since repealed that it stands now in full force This seems to have some colour in it and so it was brought in question in Parliament in the fourth year of King James and great debate being made about it the King appointed the two Chief Justices
confecti extremum Vitae diem misere finierunt Necessitas Pontificem ad judicium impellens Quae omnia cum apud omnes Nationes perspicua notiora sint gravissimo quam plurimorum testimonio ita comprobata ut nullus omnino locus excusationis defensionis aut tergiversationis relinquatur Nos multiplicatis aliis atque aliis super alias impietatibus facinoribus praeterea fidelium persecutione religionisque afflictione impulsu opera dictae Elizabethae quotidie magis ingravescente quoniam illius animum ita obfirmatum atque induratum intelligimus ut non modo pias Catholicorum Principum de sanitate conversatione preces monitionesque contempserit sed ne hujus quidem sedis ad ipsam hac de Causa Nuncios in Angliam trajicere permiserit ad arma justitiae contra eam de necessitate conversi dolorem lenire non possumus quod adducamur in illam animadvertere cujus majores de Rep. Christiana tantopere meruere Illius itaque autoritate suffulti qui nos in hoc supremo Justitiae Throno licet tanto oneri impares voluit collocare de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine declaramus praedictam Elizabetham Haereticam Haereticorum fautricem eique adherentes in predictis anathematis sententiam incurrisse Sentiae Declaratio esseque a Christi Corporis unitate praecisos Quin etiam ipsam praetenso Regni praedicti jure necnon omni quorumque Dominio dignitate privilegioque privatam Et item proceres subditos populos dicti Regni ac caeteros omnes qui illi quomodocunque juraverunt a Juramento hujusmodi ac omni prorsus dominii fidelitatis obsequii debito perpetuo absolutos prout nos illos praesentium authoritate absolvimus privamus eandem Elizabetham praetenso jure Regni aliisque omnibus supradictis Praecipimusque interdicimus Universis singulis Proceribus Subditis Populis aliis praedictis ne illi ejusve monitis mandatis legibus audeant obedire Qui secus egerint eos simili Anathematis sententia innodamus Quia vero difficile nimis esset presentes quocunque illis opus erit perferre Volumus ut earum exempla Notarii Publici manu Prelati Ecclesiastici ejusve Curiae Sigillo obsignata eandem illam prorsus fidem in judicio extra illud ubique gentium faciant quam ipsae presentes facerent si essent exhibitae vel ostensae Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae Millesimo quingentesimo Sexagesimo Nono Quinta Kalend. Martii Pontificatus nostri Anno Quinto Cae. Glorierius H. Humyn AN APPENDIX Concerning some of the Errors and Falshoods IN SANDER's Book OF THE English Schism AN APPENDIX IT has been observed of Theeves that by a long practice in that ill course of Life they grow so in love with it that when there is no Advantage to be made by Stealing yet they must keep their Hand in use and continue their address and dexterity in it so also Lyars by a frequent Custom grow to such a habit that in the commonest things they cannot speak Truth even though it might conduce to their Ends more than their Lyes do Sanders had so given himself up to vent Reproaches and Lyes that he often does it for nothing without any End but to carry on a Trade that had been so long driven by him that he knew not how to lay it down He wrote our History meerly upon the Reports that were brought him without any care or information about the most publick and most indifferent Things but not content to set down those Tattles he shews his Wit in refining about them and makes up such Politicks and Schems of Government as might suit with these Reports and agree with his own Malice His Work is all of a piece and as it was made out in the former Volume how ignorantly and disingeniously he writ concerning King Henry the Eighth's Reign so I shall add a further Discovery of the remaining parts of his Book which will sufficiently convince even the most partial Readers of the impudence of that Author who seems to have had no other design in writing but to impose on the credulity and weakness of those who he knew were inclined to believe every thing that might cast blemishes on a Work against which they were so strongly prejudiced as the Reformation of this Church since a Field which they so often reaped and with whose Spoils their Court was so enriched was no more at their Devotion So they are ever since concerned in Interest to use all the ways they can think on to disgrace a Change that was so fatal to them But as the Reformation of this Church has hitherto stood notwithstanding all their Designs against it so it is to be hoped that the History of it will be hereafter better understood notwithstanding all the Libels and Calumnies by which they have endeavoured to represent it in such black and odious Colours to the World Sanders says Page 176. King Edward was in the 9th Year of his Age when he came to the Crown This is of no great consequence but it shews how little this Author considered what he writ when in so publick a thing as the King's Age he misreckons a Year for he was born the 12th of October 1537 so in January 1547 he was in the 10th Year of his Age. 2. He says King Edward was not only declared King of England Ibid. and Ireland but made Supream Head of the Church and upon that runs out to shew how uncapable a Child was of that Power This is set down in such terms as if there had been some special Act made for his being Supream Head of the Church distinct from his being proclaimed King whereas there was no such thing for the Supremacy being annexed to the Crown the one went with the other and it being but a Civil Power might be as well exercised by the King's Governors before he came to be of Age as the other Rights of the Crown were Pag. 177. 3. He says The Earl of Hartford was made by himself Duke of Somerset This was done by order of the whole Council in pursuance of King Henry's Design proved by those Witnesses that were beyond exception and that King having by his Will charged his Executors to fullfil those things which he intended to do this was found to be one of them Pag. 178. 4. He says The Duke of Somerset made himself the only Governor of the King and Protector none daring to oppose it openly but Wriothesley whom King Henry when he was dying had made Lord Chancellor The Protector was advanced to that Dignity by the unanimous consent of the whole Council to which the Lord Chancellor consented and signed the Order about it the Original whereof is yet extant for though he argued against it before it was done yet he joined with the rest in doing it Nor was he made Chancellor by
King Henry at his Death but two Years before Ibid. 5. He says On the 27th of February two days before the King was crowned the Protector persuaded the King to create many new Peers who were all Hereticks except Dudley Earl of Warwick Our Author by this shew of exactness would persuade the Reader that he had considered Dates and the smallest particulars with the care that became an Historian But he little thought that any would come after him and examine what he said By this Account the King must have been crowned the first of March but it was done Feb. 20. and the Peers were created on the 16th of February four days before They were not all Hereticks for he forgot that Wriothesley was at the same time made Earl of Southampton which he afterwards insinuates was done upon another account But all those Creations were in persuance of King Henry's Designs and in obedience to his latter Will Ibid. 6. He says They forced Wriothesley to resign his Office and turned both him and the Earl of Arundel out of the Council because they were Catholicks Wriothesley was turned out upon no account of Religion but for putting the Great Seal to a Commission that was against Law according to the Opinion which the Judges declared under their hands without any Warrant from the Council himself acknowledging the justice of the Sentence The Earl of Arundel was not turned out of the Council on the contrary in the Patent by which the Protector held his Office that passed after the Chancellor was removed he is named to be one of the Privy Council 7. He says Pag. 179. The Protector would needs force all the Clergy to submit in every thing to the King's Orders and sets down the Form in which the King writ to Arch-Bishop Cranmer In this nothing was done but what was begun by King Henry and to which all the Clergy even his beloved Bonner not excepted had formerly submitted So this was no new thing set up by the Protector it being only the renewing the Bishops Patents in the new King's Name And this was no part of the Reformation for it was done only to awe the Popish Bishops but was soon after laid aside What he sets down as a Letter of King Edward's to Cranmer is the Preamble of the Patent he took out So little did this Writer know the things that truly make to the advantage to the Cause which he designed to assert 8. He says The New Protector among the first things he did Pag. 180. restrained all Preaching and silenced all the Bishops and Pastors so that none were licensed to preach but the Lutherans and Zuinglians The first Injunctions set out in the King's Name required all Bishops to preach at least four times a Year in their Diocesses and to keep Learned Chaplains who might be able to preach and should be often much employed in it And thus Matters stood the first Year of this Reign In the beginning of the second Year upon complaints made of the rashness of some Preachers a Proclamation was put out that none should preach without a License from the King or the Arch-Bishops or the Bishop of the Diocess except Incumbents in their own Parishes Afterwards there was for some little time a total prohibition of Preaching but that was to last for a short while till the Book of Common Prayer which was then a preparing should be finished This was equally made on both hands for the Prohibition was universal without exception so falsly has our Author stated this Matter which one would think he ignorantly drew from what Queen Mary did applying it to this Reign for she upon her coming to the Crown did prohibit all Preaching excepting only such as were licensed to it by Gardiner under the Great Seal 9. He says Latimer was turned out of the Bishoprick of Worcester Pag. 181. by King Henry upon suspicion of Heresy Latimer did freely resign his Bishoprick upon the passing of the Act of the six Articles with which he could not comply with a good Conscience 10. He says The Protector put Cox and Cheek about the King Pag. 182. that they might corrupt his Mind with Heretical Doctrines These were put about him three Years before by King Henry's Order as that young King himself informs us in his Journal Pag. 184. 11. He says The Heads of the Colleges were turned out and the Catholick Doctors were forbid to preach I do not find one Head of a College in either University was turned out for though they generally loved the Old Superstition yet they loved their Places much better And indeed the whole Clergy did so readily conform themselves to every Change that was made that it was not easy to find Colours for turning out Bonner and Gardiner All Preachers had the liberty of their own Pulpits except for a very little while Ibid. 12. He says They decried the School Divinity and the Works of Lombard Aquinas and Scotus and so threw all Learning out of the Schools They could not do that more than Sir Thomas More Erasmus and other Popish Writers had done before them who had expressed their scorn of that way of Treating Divine Matters so copiously that it was no wonder it was much despised Those Writers had by a set of dark and barbarous Maxims and Terms so intangled all the Articles of Faith and imposed by the World on an appearance of saying somewhat when really they said nothing and pretending to explain Religion they had so exposed it that their way of Divinity was become equally nauseous and ridiculous Pag. 186. 13. He says Bucer and Peter Martyr being brought out of Germany did corrupt the Universities and entertained the Youth with Discourses of Predestination Reprobation and a fatal necessity of things This was so far from being much taught that on the contrary in one of the Articles of Religion the curious Enquiries into those abstruse Points was by Publick Authority forbid Bucer and Martyr read for most part in the Chairs upon the Mass and the other Corruptions of the Popish Worship They also declared St. Austin's Doctrine about Grace but I do not find they ever medled with Reprobation Pag. 190. 14. After a long Invective which is to pass as a piece of his Wit and Poetry he says Bucer was inclined to become a Jew and was descended from Jewish Parents and that the Lord Paget had heard him say That the Corporal Presence was so clear in the Scripture that no Man could deny it who believed the Gospel but for his part he did not believe all that was said in the New Testament concerning our Saviour This is as sutable to our Author's Honesty as can be Bucer was never accused of this by any of his Enemies as long as he lived No Man in that Age writ with a greater sense of the Kingdom of Christ than he did And for the Story of the Lord Paget we have nothing