Person openly in the Church after Mass upon a Holy-day say the Lord's Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments That they twice a Quarter declare the Bands of Matrimony and the danger of using their Bodies but with such Persons as they might by the Law of God and that no privy Contracts be made as they would avoid the extream Peril of the Laws of the Realm No Diocesan Bishop Consecrated this Year Bishops Suffragans Robert Bishop of S. Asaph recommended to the King Iohn Bradley Abbot of the Monastery of Milton of the order of S. Benedict or William Pelles both Batchellors of Divinity to the Dignity of Suffragan within the Diocess Province rather of Canterbury mentioning no particular See The Bishop of Bath and Wells also recommended two to the King out of which to nominate a Suffragan to some See within the Province of Canterbury viz. William Finch late Prior of Bremar and Richard Walshe Prior of the Hospital of S. Iohn Baptist of Bridgewater April the 7 th William Finch was nominated by the King to the Arch-bishop to be Consecrated for Suffragan of Taunton and then consecrated in the Chappel of S. Maries in the Conventual Church of the Friars Preachers London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and William Suffragan of Colchester assisting And March the 23. Iohn Bradley was consecrated Suffragan of Shaftsbury in the Chancel of the Parish-Church of S. Iohn Baptist in Southampton by Iohn Bishop of Bangor by the Letters Commissional of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Iohn Ipolitanen and Thomas Suffragan of Marleborough assisting CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles THIS Year October the 6 th I meet with a Commission ad Facultates granted from the Arch-bishop to a famous Man Nicolas Wotton LL. D. a Man of great Learning and made use of by the King afterwards in divers Embassies and a Privy-Counsellor to King Henry and his three Children successively Princes of the Realm and Dean of Canterbury and York This Commission was in pursuance of a late Act of Parliament to this Tenor That in whatsoever Cases not prohibited by Divine Right in which the Bishop of Rome or Roman See heretofore accustomed to Dispence and also in all other Cases in which the Bishop or See of Rome accustomed not to dispence if so be they were not forbid by Divine Right in these Cases the Arch-bishop had Power granted him to Dispense In this Office he constituted Wotton his Commissary or Deputy for the Term of his natural Life He succeeded Edmund Boner Master of the Arch-bishop's Faculties now preferred to the Bishoprick of Hereford So that Cranmer took notice of the Merits of this Man who was so much made use of afterwards in the Church and State and was of that great Esteem and Reputation that he was thought on in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign for ABp of Canterbury In the Year 1528. he was Doctor of Laws and the Bishop of London's Official In the Year 1540 he was Resident for the King in the Duke of Cleve's Court and had been employed in the Match between the King and the Lady Ann of that House the Year before and perhaps this might be the first time he was sent abroad in the King's Business In the Year 1539 the King took occasion to be displeased with the Arch-bishop and the other Bishops of the new Learning as they then termed them because they could not be brought to give their Consent in the Parliament that the King should have all the Monasteries suppressed to his own sole use They were willing he should have all the Lands as his Ancestors gave to any of them but the Residue they would have had bestowed upon Hospitals Grammar-Schools for bringing up of Youth in Vertue and good Learning with other things profitable in the Common-wealth The King was hereunto stirred by the crafty Insinuations of the Bishop of Winchester and other old dissembling Papists And as an effect of this Displeasure as it was thought in the Parliament this Year he made the terrible bloody Act of the Six Articles Whereby none were suffered to speak a word against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon pain of being burnt to Death as an Heretick and to forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of Treason And moreover it was made Felony and forfeiture of Lands and Goods to defend the Communion in both kinds Marriage in a Priest or in any Man or Woman that had vowed Chastity or to say any thing against the necessity of Private Masses and Auricular Confession Which Articles were plainly enough designed against any that should dare to open their Mouths against these Romish Errors and especially to impose Silence and that on pain of Death upon many honest Preachers that were now risen up and used to speak freely against these Abuses and as a good means to keep the poor People still securely in their old Ignorance and Superstition But before this Act passed marvellous great struggling there was on both Parts for and against it But the side of the Favourers of the Gospel at this time was the weaker the King now enclining more to the other Party for the reason abovesaid and for other Causes Wherein I refer the Reader to the Conjectures of the Lord Herbert The Bishops disputed long in the House some for it and some against it The Arch-bishop disputed earnestly three days against it using divers Arguments to disswade passing the Act. Which were so remarkable for the Learning and Weight of them that the King required a Copy of them And though he was resolved not to alter his purpose of having this Act made yet he was not offended with the Arch-bishops freedom as knowing the Sincerity of the Man Even those in the House that dissented from him were greatly taken with the Gravity Eloquence and Learning he then shewed and particularly the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk Who told him so at his Table soon after being sent by the King to him to comfort him under his dejection for this Act with Crumwel and many other Lords The Papist Writers say he opposed it because himself was a Married Man and so it would touch him close But it is plain that there were other of these Six Articles which he utterly disliked And especially he abhorred the rigorous penalty of the Act. But hereupon he privately sent away his Wife into Germany among her Friends On this side also were beside the Arch-bishop the Bishops of Ely Sarum Worcester Rochester and St. Davids York Durham Winchester and Carlile went vigorously the other way Against the former the King himself argued with his Learning out of the Scriptures and would by all means prove these Articles thence The Parliament Men said little against this Bill but seemed all unanimous for it Neither did the Lord Chancellor Audley no nor the Lord Privy Seal
them either by Writiting or by Disputation in the English Tongue By whom this Declaration was drawn up unless by Iohn Bradford I know not for I meet with it a MS. which contains divers Pieces of that good Man This remarkable Declaration I have reposited in the Appendix This now is the second time a publick Challenge was made to justify K. Edward's Reformation the former the last Year by Cranmer the latter now by divers of the Learned Men in Prison After they had lain fifteen or sixteen Months thus in Prison their Livings Houses and Possessions Goods and Books taken from them they made such another Address unto the King and Queen and the Parliament therein undertaking either by Word or Writing before them or indifferent Arbiters to be appointed by them to prove themselves no Hereticks nor Teachers of Heresy as they were pretended to be nor cut off from the true Catholick Church though by the Popish Clergy excommunicated and Secondly By the Testimony of Christ his Prophets and Apostles and the Godly Fathers of the Church to prove the Doctrine of the Church the Homilies and Service taught and used in K. Edward's Time to be the true Doctrine of Christ's Catholick Church and most agreeable to the Articles of the Christian Faith And this was the third publick Challenge they made This being preserv'd in Fox's Acts I forbear to transcribe it CHAP. XV. The Exiles and their Condition BUT let us now turn our Eyes from the Prisoners which were kept under close Confinement here in England unto the Exiles that by the good Providence of God made their Flight into foreign Countries from these Storms at home These were both of the Clergy and Laity Who though great watch was laid for them and Prohibitions given out against any that should privately attempt to transport themselves yet by taking their Opportunities and the favour of divers Masters of small Vessels at Lee in Essex and upon the Coasts in those Parts they safely got to the other side of the Sea They scattered themselves and took up their Harbours as they could But they found little Hospitality in Saxony and other places in Germany where Lutheranism was professed But on the contrary the Exile English were much hated by those of that Profession because they looked upon them as Sacramentaries and holding as Calvin and Peter Martyr did in the Doctrine of the Sacrament Therefore when any English came among them for Shelter they expelled them out of their Cities And when a grave Pastor of Saxony a Friend of P. Martyr's who though he were a Minister yet was not of their Mind had entertained some of them the rest clamoured against him and hated him for it About this time the Saxon Divines wrote many Books against the Sacramentaries and namely one Ioachim Westphalus wrote a Book against Calvin And he and the rest got these Books printed at Frankford on purpose as Martyr conjectured the more to spight the English and French Churches that abode now there and to provoke them At Wesel the English were under some trouble and the Senate were about to command them to depart thence because of their different Sentiments from the Augustan Confession in some Points But Philip Melancthon interposed and interceded with the Senate on their behalf And when some clamoured against them he took their part saying That their Case ought to be weighed by friendly Disputations and not exploded by Noise and Hissing and declared his judgment to be That these poor Exiles were to be retained and helped not afflicted and vexed by any rough Sentence He wrote also to the Governors of Frankford to the same purpose viz. That the English were not to be oppressed but to be cherished considering their Sentiments were found in the main Articles of the Christian Confession and that whereas they differed in some Points they were to be instructed and informed and not to be rudely thrown out from among them by Force and Violence And indeed it was admirable to observe at this Time the exceeding Heats that were in the Lutherans against all other Protestants only for differing from them in this one Point of the Sacrament There was a Book published in the Year 1555. in favour of their Opinion of the Corporeal Presence which was called Farrago Doctrinae Lutheranae This P. Martyr called Valdè insulsa a very foolish Book It contained a Collection of Sentences out of the Fathers and also out of the Writings of Luther Philip Brentius Pomeran c. They added some out of Bucer Illyricus and Ioachim Westphalus to shew that they agreed together They inserted divers Letters sometime writ against the Sacramentaries Indeed Calvin and Martyr they mentioned not by Name but A Lasco they did In this Book there was a Discourse added under this Title Quod Christi Corqus sit ubique Which was to serve as a Proof of their Doctrine And in the conclusion there was a Common-place De Magistratus officio Which was thought to be put in upon no other reason but to inflame and irritate Princes against the Sacramentaries These Saxon Divines were exceeding hot against those that believed not as they did In their ordinary Discourses they stiled them Hereticks False Prophets Suermeros Sacramentiperdas About this Time they were gathering new Votes against Calvin and as it was thought they intended to attempt some Excommunication against such as differed from them in this Point And this that I have said is enough to explain the Reason of the Inhospitality of the Lutherans to our Exiles But in other Places they were received with much Kindness and had the Liberty of their Religious Worship granted them as in Strasburgh Frankford Embden Doesburge Basil Zurick Arrow Geneva At Zurick they were received into one House with Bullinger and had great Favour and Countenance shewn them by the Towns-men and Magistrates Who offered them by Bullinger to supply them with such a quantity of Bread-corn and Wine as should serve to sustain thirteen or fourteen People But they with Thanks refused it Having I suppose wherewith to subsist otherwise of themselves and being willing to be as little burthensome as might be In these Places some followed their Studies some taught Schools some wrote Books some assisted at the Printing-Presse and grew very dear to the Learned Men in those Places At Embden they â—aving gotten among them by Sir Iohn Cheke's Means as was thought an Original Copy of Arch-bishop Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament translated it into Latin and printed it there with a Preface before it And there they preserved the said Original as a most invaluable Treasure Here they printed other good Books in English and conveyed them into England At Geneva a Club of them employed themselves in translating the Holy Bible into English intending to do it with more Correctness than had hitherto been done having the opportunity of consulting with Calvin and Beza in
satis tentatum est hactenus Et nisi super firmam petram fuisset firmiter aedificata jam dudum cum magnae ruinae fragore cecidisset Dici non potest quantum haec tam cruenta controversia cum per universum orbem Christianum tum maxime apud nos bene currenti verbo Evangelij obstiterit Vobis ipsis affert ingens periculum caeteris omnibus praebet non dicendum offendiculum Quo circa si me audietis hortor suadeo imo vos oro obsecro visceribus Iesu Christi obtestor adjuro uti concordiam procedere coire sinatis in illam confirmandam totis viribus incumbatis pacémque Dei tandem quae superat omnem sensum Ecclesijs permittatis ut Evangelicam doctrinam unam sanam puram cum primitivae Ecclesiae disciplina consonam junctis viribus quam maximè propagemus Facile vel Turcas ad Evangelij nostri obedientiam converterimus modo intra nosmetipsos consentiamus pia quadam conjuratione conspiremus At si ad hunc modum pergimus ad invicem contendere commordere timendum erit ne quod dicens abominor juxta comminationem Apostolicam ad invicem consumamur Habes Optime Vadiane meam de tota controversia illa neutiquam fictam sententâ—am una cum admonitione libera ac fideli Cui si obtemperaveris non modo inter amicos sed etiam vel inter amicissimos mihi nomen tuum ascripsero Bene vale T. Cantuariens NUM XXVI Part of a Letter from a Member of Parlament concerning the transactions of the House about passing the Act of the Six Articles AND also news here I assure you never Prince shewed himself so wise a man so wel learned and so Catholic as the King hath done in this Parlament With my pen I cannot express his mervailous goodnes which is come to such effect that we shal have an Act of Parlament so spiritual that I think none shal dare say in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar doth remain either bread or wine after the Consecration Nor that a Priest may have a wife Nor that it is necessary to receive our Maker sub utraque specie Nor that private Masses should not be used as they have bee Nor that it is not necessary to have Auricular confession And notwithstanding my L. of Canterbury my L. of Ely my L. of Salisbury my L. of Worcester Rochester and St. Davyes defended the contrary long time Yet finally his Highness confounded them all with Gods learning York Durham Winchester and Carlile have shewed themselves honest and wel learned men We of the Temporalty have be al of one opinion And my L. Chancellor and my L. Privy Seal as good as we can devise My L. of Cant. and al his Bishops have given their opinion and come in to us save Salisbury who yet continueth a leud fool Finally al in England have cause to thank God and most heartily to rejoyce of the Kings most godly procedings Without any name subscribed NUM XXVII The Solution of some Bishop to certain Questions about the Sacraments The King's Animadversions of his own hand The Questions The Answers Why then should we cal them so 1. What a Sacrament is 1. Scripture useth the word but it defineth it not 2. What a Sacrament is by the antient Authors 2. In them is found no perfect definition but a general Declaration of the word as a token of a holy thing  3. How many Sacraments be there by the Scripture 3. So named onely Matrimony in effect moo and at the least seven as we find the Scripture expounded Why these Seven to have the name more than al the rest 4. How many Sacraments be there by the antient Authors 4. Authors use the word Sacrament to signify any Mystery in the old or new Testament But especially be noted Baptism Eucharist Matrimony Chrism Impositio manuum Ordo Here is omitted Penance Then why hath theChurch so long erred to take upon them so to name them 5. Whether this word Sacrament be and ought to be attribute to the Seven only 5. The word bycause it is general is attribute to other than the Seven But whether it ought especially to be applied to the Seven only God knoweth and hath not fully revealed it so as it hath been received Whether the Seven Sacraments be found in any of the old Authors or not The thing of al is found but not named al Sacraments as afore  6. Whether the determinate number of seven Sacraments be a doctrin either of the scripture or the old Authors and so to be taught 6. The doctrine of Scripture is to teach the thing without numbring or naming the name Sacrament saving only Matrimony Old Authors number not precisely Twelve Articles of the Faith not numbred in Scripture ne Ten Commandments but rather one Dilectio Seven petitions Seven Deadly sinns * Then Penance is changed to a new term i. e. Absolution Of Penance I read that without it we cannot be saved after relapse but not so of Absolution And Penance to sinners is commanded but Absolution yea in open crimes is left free to the Askers †Laying of hands being an old ceremony of the Church is but a small proof of Confirmation 7. What is found in scripture of the matter nature effect and vertue of such as we cal the seven Sacraments So although the name be not in Scripture yet whether the thing be in Scripture or no and in what wise spoken 7. First of Baptism manifestly Scripture speaketh Secondly Of the holy communion manifestly Thirdly Of Matrimony manifestly 4. Of Absolution * manifestly 5. Of Bishops Priests and Deacons ordered per impositionem manuum cum Oratione expresly 6. Laying †of the Hands of the Bp. after Baptism which is a part of that is done in Confirmation is grounded in Scripture 7. Unction of the sick and prayer is grounded on scripture This answer is not direct and yet it proveth nother of the two poynts to be grounded in scripture 8. Whether Confirmation cum Chrismate of them that be baptized be found in Scripture 8. The thing of Confirmation is found in scripture though the name Confirmation is not there Of Chrisma Scripture speaketh not expressly but it hath been had in high veneration and observed since the beginning  9. Whether the Apostles lacking higher power and not having a Christen King among them made Bishops by that necessity or by authority given them of God 9. The calling naming appointment and preferment of one before another to be Bishop or Priest had a necessity to be done in that sort a Prince wanting  The Ordering appeareth taught by the holy Ghost in the Scripture per manuum impositionem cum oratione  10. Whether Bps or Priests were first And if the Priests were first then the Priest made the Bishop 10. Bishops or not after  11. Whether a Bishop hath authority to make a Priest by the Scripture or
Canterbury meaneth that thus abuseth the People in giving them liberty to read the Scriptures which doth nothing else but infect them with Heresy I have bestowed never an Hour upon my Portion nor never will And therefore my Lord shall have this Book again for I will never be guilty of bringing the simple People into Error My Lord of Canterbury's Servant took the Book and brought the same to Lambeth unto my Lord declaring my Lord of London's Answer When the Arch-bishop had perceived that the Bishop had done nothing therein I marvel said he that my Lord of London is so froward that he will not do as other Men do One Mr. Thomas Lawney stood by and hearing my Lord speak so much of the Bishop's untowardness said I can tell your Grace why my Lord of London will not bestow any labour or pains this way Your Grace knoweth well that his Portion is a piece of New Testament But he being perswaded that Christ had bequeathed him nothing in his Testament thought it mere madness to bestow any labour or pain where no Gain was to be gotten And besides this it is the Acts of the Apostles which were simple poor Fellows and therefore my Lord of London disdained to have to do with any of them Whereat my Lord of Canterbury and others that stood by could not forbear from laughter This Lawney was a witty Man and Chaplain to the old Duke of Norfolk and had been one of the Scholars placed by the Cardinal in his New College at Oxon. Where he was Chaplain of the House and Prisoner there with Frith another of the Scholars In the Time of the six Articles he was a Minister in Kent placed there I suppose by the Arch-bishop When that severe Act was past more by the Authority of a Parliament than by the Authority of the Word of God it chanced that my Lord of Norfolk meeting with this his Chaplain said O! my Lawney knowing him of old much to favour Priests Matrimony whether may Priests now have Wives or no If it please your Grace replied he I cannot well tell whether Priests may have Wives or no But well I wot and am sure of it for all your Act that Wives will have Priests Hearken Masters said the Duke how this Knave scorneth our Act and maketh it not worth a Fly Well I see by it that thou wilt never forget thy old Tricks And so the Duke and such Gentlemen as were with him went away merrily laughing at Lawney's sudden and apt Answer The Reader will excuse this Digression CHAP. IX Monasteries visited THis Year the Monasteries were visited by Cramwel Chief Visitor Who appointed Leighton Legh Petre London his Deputies with Injunctions given them to be observed in their Visitation Indeed the King now had thoughts of dissolving them as well as visiting them Whose Ends herein were partly because he saw the Monks and Friars so untoward towards him and so bent to the Pope and partly to enrich himself with the Spoils Arch-bishop Cranmer is said also to have counselled and pressed the King to it but for other Ends viz. That out of the Revenues of these Monasteries the King might found more Bishopricks and that Diocesses being reduced into less compass the Diocesans might the better discharge their Office according to the Scripture and Primitive Rules And because the Arch-bishop saw how inconsistent these Foundations were with the Reformation of Religion Purgatory Masses Pilgrimages Worship of Saints and Images being effectual to their Constitution as the Bishop of Sarum hath observed And the Arch-bishop hoped that from these Ruins there would be new Foundations in every Cathedral erected to be Nurseries of Learning for the use of the whole Diocess But however short our Arch-bishop fell of his Ends desired and hoped for by these Dissolutions the King obtained his For the vast Riches that the Religious Houses brought in to the King may be guessed by what was found in one namely S. Swithins Winchester An account of the Treasures whereof I having once observed from a Manuscript in the Benet Library thought not amiss here to lay before the Reader which he may find in the Appendix When these Visitors returned home from their Visitation they came well stock'd with Informations of the loose wicked and abominable Lives and Irregularities of the chief Members of these Houses of Religion having by diligent inquisition throughout all England collected them These Enormities were read publickly in the Parliament-House being brought in by the Visitors When they were first read nothing was done with these unclean Abbots and Priors But within a while saith Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward how bad soever the Repâ—â—ts of them were some of them were made Bishops and others put into good Dignities in the Church that so the King might save their Pensions which were otherwise to be paid them Now I will at the conclusion of my Collections for this Year set down the Names of the Bishops this Year consecrated both Diocesan and Suffragan there having bâ—en an Act of Parliament made in the six and twentieth of the King that is the last Year for furnishing the Diocesses with six and twenty Suffragans for the better aid and comfort of the Diocesans The Seâ—s whereof are all set down in the said Act. But I doubt whether there were ever so many made At least the mention of the Acts of the Consecration of some of the Suffragans in the Province of Canterbury are omitted in the Register Before this Act of Parliament enjoining the number of Suffragans Suffragans were not unusual in the Realm Whom the Bishops Diocesans either for their own ease or because of their necessary absence from their Diocesses in Ambassies abroad or Attendance upon the Court or civil Affairs procured to be consecrated to reside in their steads Thus to give some Instances of them as I have met with them About the Year 1531 I find one Vnderwood Suffragan in Norwich that degraded Bilney before his Martyrdom Certain bearing the Title of Bishops of Sidon assisted the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury One of these was named Thomas Wellys Prior of S. Gregories by Canterbury He being Arch-Bishop Warham's Chaplain was sent by him to Cardinal Wolsey to expostulate with him in his Lord's Name for encroaching upon his Prerogative Court There was afterwards one Christopher that bore that Title and assisted Arch-bishop Cranmer about these Times in Ordinations and another Thomas intitled also of Sidon succeeded Long before these I find one William Bottlesham Espicopus Navatensis Anno 1382 at the Convocation House in London summoned against the Wicklivites that then shewed themselves at Oxford Robert King Abbot of Oseney while Abbot was consecrated titular Bishop and called Episcopus Roannensis a See in the Province of the Arch-bishoprick of Athens This is he that resigned Oseny and Tame under the name of Bishop of Reonen Of which See the Bishop of Sarum
Life and to give Thanks to God for this Victory but also at the same time immediately after the Sermon and in presence of the Mayor Aldermen and other the Citizens of London to cause the Procession in English and Te Deum to be openly and devoutly sung And that you do also cause the like Order to be given in every Parish-Church in your Diocess upon some Holy-day when the Parishioners shall be there present with as much speed as you may not failing as you tender his Majesty's Pleasure Thus fare you heartily well From Oatlands the 18 th Day of December the Year of our Lord God 1547. Your loving Friend Tho. Cantuarien The Counsellors Pleasure is you shall see this executed on Tuesday next in St. Pauls in London This be given in haste CHAP. IV. A Convocation THE Parliament now sat And a Convocation was held November the 5 th Some Account of what was done here I will in this place set down as I extracted it out of the Notes of some Member as I conceive then present at it Session 1. Nov. 5. Iohn Taylor Dean of Lincoln chosen Prolocutor by universal Consent Sess. 2. Nov. 18. This Day the Prolocutor was presented to the Arch-bishop and Bishops in the Upper House Sess. 3. Nov. 22. It was then agreed that the Prolocutor in the Name of the whole House should carry some Petitions unto the most Reverend Father in God the Arch-bishop viz. I. That Provision be made that the Ecclesiastical Law may be examined and promulged according to that Statute of Parliament in the 35 th Year of Henry VIII II. That for certain urgent Causes the Convocation of this Clergy may be taken and chosen into the Lower House of Parliament as anciently it was wont to be III. That the Works of the Bishops and Others who by the Command of the Convocation have laboured in examining reforming and publishing the Divine Service may be produced and laid before the Examination of this House IV. That the Rigour of the Statute of paying the King the First-Fruits may be somewhat moderated in certain urgent Clauses and may be reformed if possible The fourth Session is omitted in the Manuscript the Writer probably being then absent Sess. 5. Nov. ult This Day Mr. Prolocutor exhibited and caused to be read publickly a Form of a certain Ordinance delivered by the most Reverend the Arch-bishop of Canterbury for the receiving of the Body of our Lord under both Kinds viz. of Bread and Wine To which he himself subscribed and some others viz. Mr. Prolocutor Mr. Cranmer Arch-deacon of Canterbury Mr. May Mr. Ienyngs Mr. VVilliams VVilson Carleton c. Sess. 6. Decemb. 2. This Session all this whole Session in Number Sixty-four by their Mouths did approve the Proposition made the last Session of taking the Lord's Body in both Kinds nullo reclamante The same Day with Consent were chosen Mr. Dr. Draycot Bellasis Dakyns Ieffrey Elize ap Rice Oking Pool and Ap Harry to draw up a Form of a Statute for paying Tithes in Cities c. This was a thing the Clergy now were very intent upon For I find in the Arch-bishop's Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws there is a Law made for paying Tithes in Cities as was done in London Sess. 7. Decemb. 9. By common Consent were nominated and assigned Mr. Rowland Merick Iohn ap Harry Iohn VVilliams and Elizeus Price DD.LL. to obtain the following Effects viz. That the Petition made to have this House adjoined to the Lower House of Parliament may be granted Item That a Mitigation of the sore Penalty expressed in the Statutes against the Recusants for non-payment of the perpetual Tenths may be also obtained And the same Day were likewise appointed Mr. Dean of VVinchester and Mr. Dr. Draycot to accompany Mr. Prolocutor to my Lord of Canterbury to know a determinate Answer what Indemnity and Impunity this House shall have to treat of Matters of Religion in Cases forbidden by the Statutes of this Realm to treat in Sess. 8. Dec. 17. This Day was exhibited a certain Proposition under these words viz. That all such Canons Laws Statutes Decrees Usages and Customs heretofore made had or used that forbid any Person to contract Matrimony or condemn Matrimony already contracted by any Person for any Vow or Promise of Priesthood Chastity or Widowhood shall from henceforth cease be utterly void and of none Effect To which Proposition many subscribed partly in the Affirmative partly in the Negative In the Affirmative 53 Voices In the Negative 22 Voices And here I will insert a few words which I take out of a Book writ very near this Time and by one who was well acquainted with the Affairs of this Convocation The Affirmants saith he of this Proposition were almost treble so many as were the Negants Amongst which Affirmants divers were then unmarried and never afterwards did take the Liberty of Marriage as Dr. Taylor the Bishop Dr. Benson Dr. Redman Dr. Hugh VVeston Mr. Wotton c. Of them that denied it notwithstanding their Subscriptions to the contrary as few as they were yet some of them took upon them the Liberty of Marriage not long after as Dr. Oken Mr. Rayâ—er Mr. Wilson c. This Subscription following was made by the Hand of Iohn Redman S. T. P. in this very Convocation who being absent this Session for his Name is not among the 53 was desired to declare his own Sense in this Point under his own Hand being so Learned a Man and in such great Credit universally for his Ability in deciding Questions of Conscience I think that although the Word of God do exhort and counsel Priests to live in Chastity out of the Cumber of the Flesh and the World that thereby they may the more wholly attend to their Calling Yet the Band of containing from Marriage doth only lie upon Priests of 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 reason of 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 think that forasmuch as Canons and Rules made in this behalf be neither universal nor everlasting but upon Consideration may be altered and 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 Continency from the Priests and grant that it may be lawful to such as cannot or will not contain to marry one Wife And if she die then the said Priest to marry no more remaining still in his Ministration Some larger Account of this memorable Convocation especially as to some of these Matters then under their Hands may be read in Bishop Stillingfleet's
themselves to him with their just Defence and not only to him but to others and particularly to Mr. Cecyl one formerly their Colleague who was now Master of Requests to the Protector letting him know the whole Matter that he might upon occasion represent the Cause the more favourably to the Arch-bishop And Ascham himself was their Scribe whose Epistle penned in a handsome Latin Stile being not extant among his printed Epistles and being subservient to the History of the University in those Times I have thought worthy to be inserted among the Originals In this Letter he charged the other Party as well with Malice as Ignorance For this their Question was very agreeable to Thomas Aquinas who proved that the Mass exceeded the Lord's Supper in many Prerogatives and much differed from it by many Notes as Women Children Bastards maimed Persons were not allowed to partake of the Mass but they were received to the Holy Supper So that should any say as he proceeds in his Letter that the Mass and the Supper were the same they might exclaim against them much more Their Adversaries had charged them with being too rash in not staying for what Reformation the State should make But he said that all Cambridg wanted rather Spurs to put them forward than a Bridle to keep them back But though their Dispute were prohibited yet their Studies upon the same Argument had in a manner encreased having now written a just Treatise of the Mass which they intended shortly to present to the Protector and waited only for Cecyl's and Cheke's Advice therein But I must beg Pardon of the Reader for this Excursion And as I have given an Instance or two of the private Address of a particular College to him in a particular Case so I will subjoin another more publick of the University in general In the Year abovesaid being the first Year of the King the University laboured under the Fears of the Encroachments of the Town upon their Privileges and likewise under great Suspicions of being spoiled of its Revenues or at least of having them much diminished she having observed how those of her Sister the Church were daily invaded by secular Hands These Fears put Cambridg now in a decaying State and the Studies of good Literature began to be but little minded Add also hereunto that Ecclesiastical Preferments which formerly were the peculiarRewards of Academicks were now ordinarily enjoyed by mere unlearned Lay-men So the Earl of Hartford held a Deanery a Treasureship of a Cathedral Church and four of the best Prebends and his Son three hundred Pounds a Year out of a Bishoprick And Learned Men were seldom taken notice of or had Honours conferred on them and if they obtained any Rewards they were but small Nor were Scholars now in any Repute or Value So that neither Poor nor Rich abode long at their Studies in the University to attain to any considerable Degrees of Learning The Poor could not because the Encouragements there were scarce capable to maintain them and the richer Sort would not chusing rather to follow some other Course because of the obscure and neglected Condition Learning then lay under The Grammar Schools also became disused Parents chusing any other Calling for their Children rather than to bring them up to Letters As Roger Ascham a Man that well knew the State of the University complains in a Letter to the Marquess of Northampton This was the Cause that the said Ascham pensively thus writ unto our Arch-bishop not long after That the University was then in so depressed and drooping a Condition that very few had hope of coming thither at all and fewer had any Comfort to make long tarrying when they were there And that Abroad it retained not so much as the Shadow of its Ancient Dignity At this low Ebb the University now was when King Edward the Sixth came to the Scepter But there being a Parliament this Year in the Month of November the chief Officers thereof thought it adviseable however to prevent it if they could from sinking lower and to keep at least what they had by getting their Ancient Privileges confirmed by that Parliament And for this purpose they writ their earnest Letters to the Arch-bishop Iohn Madew their Vice-chancellor the Bearer urging to him Not only that it was a thing usual at the beginning of Princes Reigns to shew that Favour to the University to have their Privileges renewed by Parliament but chiefly that the Favour his Grace should do to it would be a true piece of Service to the Religion which he had such a tender Care of That every one knew how much it concerned the Common-wealth that Account should be made of Learning but how much it concerned the pure Religion as they stiled that of the Reformation he alone did consider above all others That he knew how that about five hundred Years past or more the knowledg of Letters by the Fault of Kings who ought to have cherish'd it began to withdraw it self from Men and to hide it self in Darkness In which dark Times so involved in Ignorance that notable wild Boar out of the Wood spoiled the Vineyard of Christ above measure Not only treading down the Kings of the Earth and conferring upon himself the Empire of the World but so invaded and broke into the Holy Seat and Temple of Conscience that now there were scarce any Manners of Men any Course of Life any Rite of Ceremonies any Sacrament of the Church any Footstep of Christ which were not either laid waste by his Thunder or defiled by his Breath Or to speak in milder but more significant terms with S. Paul which were not most foully corrupted and adulterated by the Wisdom of humane Will-worship That it was this Night of Discipline and want of Knowledg which robbed us of God's Word and advanced the Empire of Man's Doctrine to that Arbitrary Height that instead of the true Worship of God the right using of things Divine a holy and pure Course of Life Hypocrisy Idolatry and Adultery were most cunningly conveyed and brought in That they did the more willingly mention this Pest of Ignorance conceiving great Hope that the Honour of Learning would be restored anew now when all things tended in a wonderful manner to the illustrating of true Religion which good Learning did necessarily accompany And that since God had now raised him up on purpose for the restoring of the Gospel and had so long reserved him for that End they doubted not but he would give all his Pains and Authority to preserve the Welfare of Learning And that somewhat for this Reason because at that time there could happen no Calamity or Advantage thereunto but every Man would be apt either to charge him with the Blame of the one or attribute to him the Praise of the other This eloquent Letter indicted by the Pen of Ascham then the University-Orator having some remarkable Passages of the State of
and so had given their Judgments to Hoper In the same Letter he answered a Case put to him by Bucer Quamdiu fidem in Christo generalem confusam aut implicitam satisfuisse ad hominum salutem And the resolution of this Question being the chief Matter of this Letter Arch-bishop Parker into whose Hands it fell intitled it thus Quamdiu Fides implicita licuerit And on the Margent of the same Letter where he entred upon another Argument is written by the same Hand De concordi confessione in re Sacramentaria For A Lasco had lately wrote to Martyr his Desire that some Confession about the Sacrament might be drawn up to which he and Bucer and Bernardin and Martyr might set their Hands to testify the Foreign Protestants Consent Another Letter wrote by Martyr to Bucer bore this Title set to it by the same Hand with the former Quibus artibus instituerint Disputationem Theologicam in Comitiis Oxoniensibus And on the side of this Letter Gaudet Disputationem non esse factam Astutia Papistica in Disputatione In a third Letter he gave Bucer advice that he should not engage in any Disputation with the vain-glorious Papists There is yet a fourth Letter Wherein Martyr communicated to him how he had been employed by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in taking into examination the English Book of Common-Prayer with his Judgment thereon This Letter hath this Title put to it by Parker Censura libri communium precum The Contents of the second and fourth Letter having some things very remarkable for the Illustration of our History I shall here set down more largely In the former having congratulated Bucer's coming off so well in his Disputation with Young the Papist he took notice of the unfair Ways the Papists used in their Disputes and then proceeded to tell what happened to himself the last Act at Oxford this Year by a Party there that did what they could to affront him and the Evangelical Truth which he taught Certain that then went out Bachelors of Divinity made this Combination among themselves One of them they set up to be Respondent The Opponents who were of the same Strain and the Question to be disputed they supprest and kept under great silence on purpose that Peter Martyr the King's Professor should not know And when some had urged to them that it belonged to the Professor to know the Question they answered That it did not and that it was enough for them to know it that were to dispute on it The Day before the Disputation was to be undertaken about two of the Clock in the Afternoon they set up the Question upon the Church-Doors and then it appeared to be in behalf of Transubstantiation And to exclude the Professor they chose to themselves a great Papist Dr. Chedsey for their Father And here the Opponents were to have taken and managed all Martyr's Arguments and the Respondent was to have assoiled them as he thought good And then the Opponents were to acknowledg they were satisfied with the Answers given thereunto And their Father who was to occupy the Professor's Place was by a Speech highly to approve and applaud all that had been done And things were so to be ordered that Day that the Professor should not have any opportunity of speaking For these Disputations were to have been performed but a little before Night after the Civilians had finished their parts which used to be the last Exercises Or if after this Divinity-Disputation were done the Professor had been minded to say any thing he must do it when it was Night and when the tired Auditors would be all going Home And then these Disputants and their Party were every where to cry Victory and carry away the Glory There was now observed a greater confluence of People at this Act than could have been believed For they had sent about their Letters to invite such hither as were for their own Turn and all to encrease the Triumph Among the rest there were present the Chaplains of Winchester and Durham But all this elaborate and fine-spun Plot was by a Providence broken on a sudden the Vice-Chancellor whether he feared any Riot or for what other Cause it was uncertain forbidding the Divinity-Disputations that Day without the privity of the Professor The Matter of Martyr's other Letter wrote to Bucer in Ianuary as the former was in September before related to the Book of Common-Prayer For the Correction of which the Arch-bishop the Bishop of Ely and the other Bishops were by the King's Command met together in Consultation And that this Work might be the more effectually performed the Arch-bishop thought good to have the Judgment herein of both the Publick Professors Bucer and Martyr Accordingly Bucer wrote his Censure and Martyr his Annotations as was said before A Copy of which Censure Bucer had communicated to Martyr Who in this Letter declared his Consent and Approbation thereunto As to his own Annotations Cheke's Latin Version which he used was so brief and defective that for that reason many things were omitted by him which he would have noted had he seen the Book compleat But after he had sent in those his Annotations to the Arch-bishop who earnestly required them he saw Bucer's Censure whereby he perceived divers other things called for Correction than he had taken notice of So he reduced whatsoever was wanting in his Annotations into certain brief Articles and acquainted the Arch-bishop therewith and that in them all he did freely agree with Bucer that it were fit they should be altered But Martyr's Annotations did fully accord with Bucer's Animadversions though they were at a distance and consulted not at all with one another before they wrote their Judgments But one thing was past over by Bucer which Martyr wondred at it was in the Office for the Communion of the Sick Where it was ordered That if this private Communion happened to be on the same Sunday when there should be a publick One then the Priest was to take along with him some of the Consecrated Elements and with them to administer the Sacrament in the House of the Sick Wherein this offended Martyr as he said that the Office that belonged to the Communion should not be repeated before the sick Man and the rest that communicated with him since the words of the Supper do rather belong to the Men than to the Bread and Wine And his advice was that all that was necessarily required to the Lord's Supper should be said and done whensoever it was privately as well as publickly celebrated He subscribed to Bucer's Censure in every thing and he thanked God that had administred an Occasion that the Bishops should by them be admonished of those Matters So that it was concluded by the Bishops at their Conference about the Communion-Book that much should be changed therein as the Arch-bishop told Martyr then at his House And if they would not do it the King was
Notwithstanding this cleansing of the Church from Superstition and Idolatry and bringing in the Knowledg of the Gospel by the Arch-bishop's constant Pains and Study the People generally even the Professors themselves were bad enough as to their Morals and Religion had yet got but little hold of them A clear sight of the Behaviour of these Times may be seen by what Tho. Becon a Chaplain of Cranmer's writ in his Preface to a Book put forth in those Days What a nomber of fals Christians lyve ther at thys present day unto the excedynge dishonour of the Christen Profession which with theyr Mouth confesse that they know God but with theyr Dedes they utterly denye hym and are abhominable disobedient to the Word of God and utterlye estranged from al good Works What a swarm of grosse Gospellers have we also among us which can prattle of the Gospel very fynely talk much of the Justification of Faith crake very stoutly of the free remissyon of all theyr Sins by Christ's Blood avaunce themselves to be of the Number of those which are predestinate unto Eternal Glory But how far do theyr Life differ from al true Christianitie They are puffed up with al kynd of Pryde they swel with al kynd of Envy Malice Hatred and Enmity against theyr Neghbour they brenne with unquencheable Lusts of Carnal Concupiscence they walowe and tumble in al kynd of beastly Pleasures theyr gredy covetous Affects are insatiable thenlarging of theyr Lordshipps thencreasyng of theyr Substance the scrapyng together of theyr Worldly Possessions infynite and knoweth no End In fyne all theyr Endeavours tend unto thys End to shew themselves very Ethnycks and utterly estraunged from God in theyr Conversation although in Words they otherwise pretend As for theyr Almes-Dedes theyr Praying theyr Watchyng theyr Fastyng and such other Godly Exercises of the Spirit they are utterly banished from these rude and gross Gospellers All theyr Religion consisteth in Words and Disputations in Christen Acts and Godly Dedes nothyng at all These evil Manners of the Professors themselves looked with so sad a Face that it made the best Men assuredly expect a Change and woful Times to follow Septemb. 27. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to examine a Sect newly sprung up in Kent Whereof there was now a Book of Examinations sent him and to commune with a Man and a Woman the Informers bearers of the Letter who could inform him somewhat of the Matter And to take such order in the same according to the Commission that these Errors might not be suffered thus to overspread the King's Faithful Subjects What this Sect was appeareth not The Anabaptists were taken notice of and a Commission issued out against them some Years before These were Sectaries more new and whereof the Council very lately was informed It may be they were of the Family of Love or David George his Sect who made himself some-time Christ and some-time the Holy Ghost For a little before these Times divers Sects sprang up under the Profession of the Gospel in High and Low Germany some whereof dispersed themselves into England Which Sects began to do so much hurt to the Reformation among us that the Author before-mentioned laments it in these words What wicked and ungodly Opinions are there sown now-a-days of the Anabaptists Davidians Libertines and such other pestilent Sects in the Hearts of the People unto the great Disquietness of Christ's Church moving rather unto Sedition than unto pure Religion unto Heresy than unto things Godly The examination of this new Sect was one of the Businesses the Arch-bishop was employed in while he was in his Retirement at his House near Canterbury Another was the sitting upon a Commission to him and other Gentlemen of Kent for enquiry after such as had embezelled the Plate and Goods belonging to Chauntries c. given by the Parliament to the King and converting them to their own uses But this being somewhat an odious Work he was not very forward to enter upon especially because he thought whatsoever he and the other Commissioners should recover would be but swallowed up by the Duke of Northumberland and his Friends and the King be little the better But because he did not make more haste he was charged by his Enemies at Court as a neglecter of the King's Business Which cost him a Letter in excuse of himself to the said Duke signifying that he omitted this Business a while till the Gentlemen and Justices of Peace of Kent who where then mostly at London were come home Decemb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to grant out a Warrant Ad Installandum for the Bishop of VVorcester and Glocester without paying any Fees for the same because he paid Fees for another Mandate which served to no purpose Febr. 20. An Order was sent to the Arch-bishop from the Council to examine the Vicar of Beden in the County of Berks according to an Information inclosed and to advertise the Lords of his Proceedings therein What this Vicar's Crime was I know not but I observe about these Times the Priests and Curats were very busy Men and would take liberty sometimes to speak against the King's Proceedings or his Arch-bishop with bitterness enough and sometimes to vent fond Opinions so that oftentimes they were fetched up to the Council-board and after an Appearance or two referred to the Arch-bishop to examine and punish as being Matters relating to Religion and so proper for his Cognizance About the latter end of this Year Thomas Sampson was preferred to the Deanery of Chichester having been Parson of Alhallowes-Bredstreet London February the 2 d A Letter was sent from the Privy-Council to the Arch-bishop to bestow the said Living upon Mr. Knox who was one of the King's Chaplains and in good esteem in the Court for his Gift of Preaching This Knox was the Man whose Name was so dashed in the King's Journal where the Names of the King 's six Chaplains were inserted that Bishop Burnet could not read it The Council bare a great favour to him as appears by those several Letters they wrote in his behalf One was mentioned before sent to the Arch-bishop for a Living in London but in that Knox succeeded not the Arch-bishop preferring Laurence Saunders afterwards a Martyr thereunto Knox being sent this Year into the North one of the King 's Itinerary Preachers a Warrant dated Octob. 27 was granted from the Council to four Gentlemen to pay to him his Majesty's Preacher in the North so he is stiled forty Pounds as his Majesty's Reward And again Decemb. 9 a Letter was sent from the Council to the Lord VVharton who was Lord VVarden in the Northern Borders in commendation of Mr. Knox. And the next Year viz. 1553 being returned out of the North and being then in Buckinghamshire that he might find the more acceptance and respect there the
Oxford But with much ado For at first he was not only forbid to read his Lectures but not to stir a Foot out of the City of Oxon nor to convey any of his Goods away He obeyed and afterwards was permitted by the Council to depart He came first to Lambeth to the Arch-bishop but when he was committed to Prison Martyr went to London where he remained in great Danger both for his Religion and for his great Familiarity with the Arch-bishop and other pious Protestant Bishops However he thought not fit to transport himself without leave from the Government He signified to them that he came not hither on his own Head but that he was sent for by K. Edward and sent from the Town of Strasburgh And produced his Broad-seals from both And so since there was no further need of him he desired leave to depart Which he obtained by Letters from the Queen her self But the Papists his fatal Enemies cried out That such an Enemy of the Popish Religion ought not to be dismist but to be fetched out of the Ship and carried to Prison and punished He understood also by his Friends that when he was got over the Sea the Danger was not past For there were Snares for him in Flanders and Brabant whereby they made no doubt to take him But he used his Wits to save himself For when other Congregations of Protestant Strangers went straight some for Freezland and some for Denmark by Vessels they had hired among which was Iohn a Lasco's Congregation he procured an honest and godly Ship-master who kept him fourteen Days in his own House that so all might think he was gone with the other Strangers and his Enemies cease making search for him in the Vessels that were bound for Foreign Parts And then the Master sailed away with P. Martyr to Antwerp going into that Place by Night for the more privacy And by him he was brought to his Friends and by them before Day conveyed in a Waggon out of Town and so travelled safely through Countries that hated him unto Strasburgh And by God's Goodness and his own Celerity he arrived safe among his Friends who received him with the greatest Joy And the Senate conferred upon him his old Place which he enjoyed before he went for England And Martyr needed not to be discontented that he was gotten out of England considering how insufferably he was affronted undermined belied by the Popish Party in Oxon Who one would think might have better intreated a Man of Quality by Birth a Man besides of great Learning Integrity and Reverence and whom the King had thought good for his great Parts to place for his Professor of Divinity in that University and a Man who also had always carried himself inoffensively unto all The blame of this inhospitable Usage might lie upon the English Nation and be a Reflection upon the Natives were it not more truly to be laid to the furious Spirit that Popish Principles inspire Men with This Peter Martyr did resent and took notice of to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Book of the Eucharist There he writes That he could not have thought there were any in the World unless he had found it that with such crafty Wiles deceitful Tricks and bitter Slanders would rage so against a Man that deserved no manner of Evil of them nor ever hurt any one of them either in Word or Deed. And yet they tore his Name with most shameless Lies and would never make an end And if they did thus rudely carry themselves towards him in K. Edward's Time what then may we conclude they would do when the Government favoured them In this first Year of Q. Mary a very foul Scandal was blown about of her that She was with Child by her Chancellor Bishop Gardiner however it was raised whether of her Enemies to render her odious or of some Zealots of Popish Religion to shew the desire they had of her Matching with him or some other round Roman Catholick as he was and for whom She carried a very great Reverence A great Reflection upon her Chastity and might have spoiled her Marriage It fled as far as Norfolk and there spred it self But such an infamous Report not being fit to be put up Henry Earl of Sussex being Lord Lieutenant of that County took upon him to examine this Scandal and to search it to the very first Reporter And so I find a Bill drawn in the Cotton-Library subscribed by that Earl's own Hand which set forth that Laurence Hunt of Disse in Norfolk came to Robert Lowdal Chief Constable and told him That he did hear say that the Queen's Majesty was with Child by the said Bishop and that his Wife did tell him so And when his Wife was examined She said She had it of one Sheldrake's Wife And when Sheldrake's Wife was examined She said She had it of her Husband And when he was examined he said he had it of one Wilby of Diss. And Wilby examined said he had it of one Iohn Smith of Cockstreet And Iohn Smith said he heard it of one Widow Miles And She being examined said she had it of two Men but what they were she could not tell nor where they dwelt And then after this Bill follow all their Examinations distinctly Which I suppose was drawn up for the Council signed with Sussex's Hand And what followed of this I know not Only in another Manuscript there is a Memorial of one Iohn Albone of Trunch in Norfolk who in the first of the Queen was indicted for saying that the Queen was with Child by Winchester A Parliament met this Year in the Month of October The Queen knew how difficult it would be to obtain her Purpose to overthrow all that had been established concerning Religion in her Brother's Days And therefore when this Parliament was to be summoned She impeached the free Election of Members by dispatching abroad into the several Counties her Letters directing the choice And such Knights and Burgesses were chosen by Force and Threatning for many Places as were judged fit to serve her Turn And divers that were duly chosen and lawfully returned were thrust out and others without any Order or Law put in their Places For the People were aware what the Queen intended this Parliament should do and therefore did bestir themselves in most Places to return honest Men. In the Upper House Taylor Bishop of Lincoln was in his Robes violently thrust out of the House In the House of Commons Alexander Nowel and two more chosen Burgesses lawfully chosen returned and admitted were so served Which according to the Judgment of some made the Parliament actually void as by a Precedent of the Parliament holden at Coventry in the 38 o of H. VI. it appeareth As also her third Parliament was reckoned by many to be void because in the Writs from Philip and Mary part of the Title of the
Kings of England viz. Supream Head of the Church of England was left out Which by a Statute made in the 35 o of Henry VIII was ordained to be united and annexed for ever to the Imperial Crown of this Realm In which third Parliament of the Queen they repealed what was done by K. Henry VIII for the restitution of the Liberty of the Realm and extinguishing the usurped Authority of the Bishop of Rome This Flaw Gardiner the Lord Chancellor well seeing thought craftily to excuse by saying as may be seen in a Piece of the Statute made in the same Parliament Cap. 8. That it lay in the free Choice and free Liberty of the Kings of this Realm whether they would express the same Title in their Stile or no. But it is replied to this that though any Man may renounce his own private Right yet he may not renounce his Right in that which toucheth the Common-Wealth or a third Person And this Title and Stile more touched the Common-Wealth and the Realm of England than the King In this first Parliament an Act was made for confirmation of the Marriage of the Queen's Mother to her Father K. Henry Herein the leading Men shewed their Malice against the good Arch-bishop by their wording of the Preamble as That Thomas Cranmer late Arch-bishop did most ungodly and against Law judg the Divorce upon his own unadvised Understanding of the Scriptures and upon the Testimonies of the Universities and some bare and most untrue Conjectures And they declared the Sentence given by him to be unlawful But I cannot let this pass for the Reputation of the Arch-bishop without taking notice of the Censure that the Bishop of Sarum doth worthily bestow upon Bishop Gardiner whom he concludes to be the drawer up of this Act That he shewed himself herein to be past all Shame and that it was as high a pitch of Malice and Impudence as could be devised For Gardiner had been setting this on long before Cranmer was known to the King and had joined with him in the Commission and had given his Consent to the Sentence Nor was the Divorce meerly grounded upon Cranmer's understanding the Scriptures but upon the fullest and most studied Arguments that had perhaps been in any Age brought together in one particular Case And both Houses of Convocation had condemned the Marriage before his Sentence CHAP. V. The Arch-bishop Attainted THIS Parliament Attainted Cranmer with the Lady Iane and her Husband and some others And in November he was adjuged guilty of High Treason at Guild-hall And under this Judgment he lay for a good while which was very uneasy to him desiring to suffer under the imputation of Heresy under this Government rather than Treason He was now looked upon as devested of his Arch-bishoprick being a Person attainted And the Fruits of his Bishoprick were Sequestred Canterbury being now without an Arch-bishop the Dean Dr. VVotton acted in that Station according to his Office in the Vacancy of the See So he sent out many Commissions There was a Commission from him to Iohn Cotterel and VVilliam Bowerman to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of VVells by the Resignation of Barlow Bishop there Another Commission to the See of Bristol upon the Resignation of Bush. Another for the See of Litchfield upon the Death of Richard Sampson Which Commission was directed to David Pool LL. D. dated 1554. Septemb. ult Another to exercise Jurisdiction in the See of Exon Vacant by the Death of Veysy February 9. 1554. Another for the Consecration of Gilbert Bourn Bishop of Bath and VVells Iohn VVhite Bishop of Lincoln Morice Griffith of Rochester Iohn Cotes of Chester Henry Morgan of S. David's Iames Brook of Glocester Who were all Consecrated together in the Church of S. Saviour's Southwark April 1. 1554. This Commission I suppose was to the Bishop of VVinchester Another Commission for the Consecration of Hopton Bishop of Norwich dated Octob. 6. 1554. consecrated Octob. 28. following Another Commission to Consecrate Holiman Bishop of Bristol and Bayn Bishop of Litchfield dated Novemb. 16 1554. consecrated Novemb. 18. following Another Commission to Consecrate Iames Turbervil Bishop of Exon who was Consecrated September 8. 1555. And for VVilliam Glin Bishop of Bangor the same Date All these five last named were Consecrated in a Chappel of the Bishop of London in London The poor Arch-bishop most instantly sued to the Queen for his Pardon acknowledging his Fault in the most submissive manner that could be But though She had granted Pardons to divers others that had signed K. Edward's Will and made no such boggle to do it as the Arch-bishop did yet the Arch-bishop remained unpardoned He sent divers humble petitionary Letters to the Queen and her Council for the obtaining this Favour In one Letter to her he called it his Hainous Folly and Offence and said That he never liked it nor that any thing that the Queen's Brother ever did grieved him so much and that if it had been in his Power he would have letted the doing of it That divers of the Queen's Council knew what he had said to the King and the Council against proceeding in it and that he endeavoured to talk to the King alone about it but was not permitted and that when he could not disswade him from this Will he was hardly brought to sign it notwithstanding what the Judges told him to satisfy him in Point of Law And that at last it was the King's earnest Request to him that he would not be the only Man that refused it Which with the Judgment of the Lawyers overcame him to set his Hand But I refer the Reader to the Appendix to weigh this whole Letter as it is there transcribed Another Petition the next Year 1554 he sent up from Oxon by Dr. VVeston to the Council And therein he begged them to interceed with the Queen for his Pardon But VVeston carrying it half-way to London and then opening it and seeing the Contents of it sent it back again to the Arch-bishop and refused to be the Messenger This at length was the Resolution that was taken concerning him in this Matter because for shame they could not deny him a Pardon when others far more Guilty and deeper in the Business had it That he should be pardoned the Treason as an Act of the Queen's Grace and then he should be proceeded against for Heresy for diâ— they were resolved he should When this Pardon was at length obtained he was right glad being very gladly ready to undergo Afflictions for the Doctrine that he had taught and the Reformation he had set on Foot because this he reckoned to be suffering for God's Cause and not as an Evil-doer The Arch-bishop looked now with weeping Eyes upon the present sad Condition of Religion and the miserable Apostacy of the Church lapsed into all the formerly rejected Superstitions Nor could he now procure any Redress Yet he felt a
so much that the Bishops and Priests grew for this Cause as well as for their Cruelty into great dislike with the People This more at large is shewed in a short Manuscript Treatise I have made by a certain Person nameless imprisoned for Religion intitled thus All sorts of People of England have just Cause of displeasure against the Bishops and Priests of the same There was this Year April 2 a new Parliament that the last Year being dissolved Great was the Sadness that now possessed the Hearts of the English Nation even of Papists themselves the most considerate and wisest part of them seeing the great Slavery the Kingdom was like to be ensnared in by what the Parliament was now in doing that is to say restoring the Pope's Tyranny here in England that had been so long and happily cast out and allowing the Queen's matching with Prince Philip whereby a Spaniard should become King of England Which when P. Martyr had signified in a Letter from Strasburgh to Calvin May 8 he told him Tanta est rerum perturbatio ut nullo pacto explicari queat That it could not be told what a Disturbance there now was and that all good Men that could fled away from their own Country from all Parts of the Land Mentioning three noble Knights to be come lately to Strasburg not less famous for Piety then Learning Morisin Cheke and Cook At this Parliament wherein the Mass was set up and confirmed by an Act all that were suspected to favour the Truth were turned out of the House Which made Hoper out of Prison in one of his Letters write Doubtless there had not been seen before our Time such a Parliament as this that as many as were suspected to be Favourers of God's Word should be banished out of both Houses In this Parliament a strong and certain Report went that the bloody Act of the Six Articles should be revived and put in execution This created abundance of Terror in Mens Hearts There was nothing but Sighs and Lamentations every where and a great many were already fled out of the Realm unto whom this Rumor had reached Iohn Fox a Learned and Pious Man who had an excellent pathetick Stile was now set on work Who took his Pen in his Hand and in the Name of the Protestant Exiles wrote a most earnest expostulatory Letter to the Parliament to disswade them from restoring this Law again He told them they had a Queen who as She was most Noble so She was ready to listen to sound and wholesome Counsel And that they had a Lord Chancellor that as he was Learned so of his own Nature he was not Bad were it not for the Counsels of some But that as among Animals some there were that were born to create Trouble and Destruction to the other so there were among Mankind some by Nature cruel and destructive some to the Church and some to the State The Letter is worthy the Reading Which I have therefore placed in the Appendix as I transcribed it out of a Manuscript Collection of Fox's Letters There was indeed such a Design in the House of Commons of bringing again into force that Act of the Six Articles but whether it were by the importunity of this and other Petitions or that the Court thought it not convenient so much to countenance any of K. Henry's Acts this Business fell And this Parliament was short-liv'd for in May it was dissolved by reason of a Bill for confirming Abby-Lands to the present Possessors which it seems gave offence to the Court. CHAP. X. Arch-bishop Cranmer disputes at Oxon. A Convocation of the Clergy now met in S. Paul's but was adjourned the Prolocutor Dr. Weston Dean of Westminster and some other of the Members being sent to Oxon and it was generally thought the Parliament would remove thither too to dispute certain Points of Religion in Controversy with three of the Heads of the Protestant Party Arch-bishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley and old Father Latimer now all Prisoners Who for that purpose in the Month of April were removed from the Tower by the Queen's Warrant to the Lieutenant towards Windsor and there taken into Custody of Sir Iohn afterwards Lord Williams who conveyed them to Oxford there to remain in order to a Disputation The Convocation while they sat at London agreed upon the Questions to be disputed and they resolved that these three pious Men should be baited by both the Universities and therefore that they of Cambridg should be excited to repair to Oxford and engage in this Disputation also The Questions were these I. In Sacramento Altaris virtute verbi divini a Sacerdote prolati praesens est realiter sub speciebus panis vini naturale corpus Christi conceptum de virgine Maria item naturalis ejus sanguis II. Post consecrationem non remanet substantia panis vini neque alia ulla substantia nisi substantia Christi Dei Hominis III. In Missa est vivisicum Ecclesiae Sacrificium pro peccatis tam vivorum quam mortuorum propitiabile These Questions the Convocation sent to the University of Cambridg requiring them seriously to weigh and deliberate upon them and if they contained true Doctrine then to approve of them Accordingly the Senate of that University met and after due deliberation found them agreeable in all things to the Catholick Church and the Scripture and the antient Doctrine taught by the Fathers and so did confirm and ratify them in their said Senate And because Cranmer Ridley and Latimer the Heads of the Hereticks that held contrary to these Articles were formerly Members of their University and being to be disputed withal at Oxford concerning these Points they decreed in the Name of all the University to send seven of their Learned Doctors to Oxford to take their parts in disputing with them and to use all ways possible to reclaim them to the Orthodox Doctrine again And accordingly the said Senate April 10. made a publick Instrument to authorize them in their Names to go to Oxford and dispute Which Instrument may be seen in the Appendix They also wrote a Letter the same Date to the University of Oxford to signify that they had appointed those Persons to repair unto them not so much to dispute Points so professedly Orthodox and agreeable to the Fathers and General Councils and the Word of God as to defend those Truths in their Names and reduce those Patrons of false and corrupt Doctrine if possible unto a sound Mind This Letter is also in the Appendix So that this coming of the Cambridg-Divines to Oxford was to seem a voluntary thing to shew their Zeal for Popery and vindication of their University against liking or approbation of Cranmer and his two Fellow-Prisoners So roundly was the University already come about to the old forsaken Religion This Oxford-Disputation was after this manner Hugh Weston S.T.P. Prolocutor of the
such men should be driven from them provided they do reside a good part of the year upon their Churches V. Since the Dispensation of two or three benefices hath been granted by former Princes to some Priests for the merit of their life and maners they cannot without injury be deprived of them Nor yet can they in al respects reside personally and perpetually VI. When many have designed their sons for the Universities and have been at no smal charges to give them learning because they have entertained good hope that they might hereafter be assistant to their friends and relations this hope being gone their care about this matter wil also grow cold otherwise of it self cold enough For as he said Where there is no honor there is no Art VII The houses of the Rectories in many places are either ruined or none at al or let out by Indentures Going to the Court of Rome Going to a General Councel Going to a Synod or Parlament Violent detaining Remedies That there be a les number of those that follow the Court who heap up benefices upon benefices That they who have many Benefices reside a certain time upon each That a way be found wherby such as live in Towns and Cities may be forced to pay Personal tiths Which being now almost quite taken a way the Benefices in such places are in a great part lessened When some of the Bishops by reason of the slendernes of their possessions cannot afford Stipends to the Priests their fellow laborers that they who serve them reside for a certain time of the year in their own parishes That Rectors who heretofore have payd pensions to Monasteries in ready mony be not now compelled to pay the same in bread-corn to Lay-proprietors That in Woody places where the custome hath alwayes obtained tith may be payd of Sylvae caeduae that is Wood that is cut to grow again especially when there is a great scarcity of corn in such places Parishes are not divided jure divino Whence followeth that as many Benefices may be layd into one so one by reason of the greatnes of it may be divided into two NUM LXXXIX Pole Cardinal Legate to Archbishop Cranmer in answer to the Letter he had sent to the Queen ALmighty God the Father by the grace of his only son god and man that dyed for our sins may geve yow trew and perfect repentance This I daylie pray for my self being a Synner but I thank God never obstinate synner And the same grace the more earnestly I do pray for to be geven to them that be obstinate the more neade they have thereof being otherwise past al mannes cure and admonition to save them As your open sayings in open audience doyth show of yow Which hath cawsed that those judges that hath syt apon the examination of your greviouse fautes seing no lykelod of ony repentaunce in yow hath utterlie cast awaye al hope of your recoverie Whereof doith follow the most horrible sentence of condempnation both of your body and soule both your temporal death and eternal Which is to me so great an horrour to here that if there were ony way or mean or fashion that I might fynd to remove you from errour bryngeng yow to the knowledge of the truth for your Salvation This I testifie to you afore God apon the Salvation of myne owne sowle that I would rather chuse to be that meane that yow might receive this benefyt by me then to receive the greatest benefyt for my self that can be geven under heaven in this world I easteme so moch the salvation of one sowle And becawse it happened to me to see your private lettres directed to the Qwenes Highnes sent by the same unto me wherein you utter and express such appearaunt reasons that cause yow to swarve from the rest of the Church in these Articles of the authoritie of the Pope and of the Sacrament of the aulter Concluding with these words That if ony man can show yow by reason that the authoritie of the Pope be not prejudicyal to the wealth of the realm or that your doctrine in the Sacrement be erroneous then you wold never be so perverse to stond wylfullie in your own opinion but shal with al humilitie submytt your self to the truthe in al things and gladly embrace the same Thise your words written in that lettre geveth me some occasion desyring your wealth not utterly to dispayr thereof but to attempt to recover yow by the same way that yow open unto me Which is by reason to show yow the error of your opinion and withal the light of the treuthe in both causes But whither this may healp yow indede or bring you to revoke the same with trew repentaunce this I know not and I fear moche the contrarie For that I see the ground and begynning how you fel into errour in both thise articles not to be of that sort that maketh men commonly to fall into errours and heresies Which sort and way is by medling with your wyt and discourse natural to examen the Articles of the faith Makeing your reason judge thereof which ought to bee judged and ruled by the tradition of the faith Which abuse causeth men dayly to fall into errours and heresies And the same also is in yow and is joyned with that yow have done But here standeth not the grownde of your errour nor yet in this other common maner of faulling from the trouthe which S. Paul noteth in the Gentiles and is in al meâ— commonlie that followeth their sensual appetites Qui veritatem Dâ—i in injustitia detinent Which thing also hath been occasion of your â—rrour But yet not this is the very grownde thereof but a further sawte that you geveng your othe to the truthe yow mocked with the same as the Iewes mocked with Christ when thei saluted him saing Ave Rex Iudaeorum and afterwards did crucifie hym For so did yow to the Vicar of Christ Knowledgeng the Pope of Rome by the words of your othe to be so and in mynde entendeng to crucifie the same authoritie Whereof came the plague of deape ignoraunce and blyndnes unto yow Which is now that bringeth you to this greivous peryl to perish both bodie and sowle From which peril no reason can deliver yow But yow discovereng your self touching the entrie when yow shuld make the customable othe of al legitimate Busshops in Christendom which is the dore for you to entre to the service of God in the highest spiritual office withyn this realme and seeing you made the same but for a countenaunce nothing meaneng to observe that yow promised by the othe this is a dore that every thieffe may entre bye This is not the dore that thei entre by that mean earnestlie the service of God Wherein the Prophets sentence is playne askeng this question Quis ascendet in montem Domini aut quis stabit in loco sancto ejus And then answering to the same
resolved to do it by himself and his Parliament without them In this Letter he speaks something concerning Hoper whose Behaviour he disliked and concerning Dr. Smith who had lately written against the Arch-bishop's Book of the Sacrament and against himself concerning Monastick Vows Both these Letters as well worthy the sight and perusal of the Reader I have reposited in the Appendix Thus this Reverend and Learned Foreigner after many great Difficulties passed through for the Cause of Religion flying from one place to another came at last to a natural Death and a quiet End in this Land For his Fame and Wisdom he was called by the Electors Palatine and of Brandenburgh with the Emperor's Permission to temper the Emperor's Rescript about Religion which was to be published that so it might please both Parties But he thought he could not do it with any Honesty and rather than meddle with it he fled to Strasburgh with his Wife and Children hereby he fell under the Displeasure of those Princes as well as before he had done under that of the Emperor for the Reformation of Colen the Envy of which Melancthon escaped but it fell on poor Bucer Being at Strasburgh he also contracted much Ill-will by means of the Anabaptists and others whom he opposed and who by their pretended Sanctimony had a great Party there His Friends apprehended him on these Accounts in great Danger but he thought of no removal to any other Place Patron or Church trusting himself in God's Hands till Sturmius and some others advised him by all means to depart into England Which he at length yielding to the said Sturmius admonished him for his safer Travel to take a more uncommon Way through Lorain and Rhemes and some other parts of France to Calais and there to cross over the Sea Which he did and was very hospitably here entertained as was said before Bishops Consecrated Iune 29. Iohn Ponet or Poynet D.D. Chaplain to the Arch-bishop was Consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Lambeth-Chappel by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London an◠Arthur Bishop of Bangor This Consecration was performed with all the usual Ceremonies and Habits probably for this Reason to give as little occasion of Offence to Papists as might be and to keep close to the old Usages avoiding Superstition Therefore it was set down in the Register at large in what Formalities all was now done The Arch-bishop is described Vsitatis insigniis redimitus uno Epitogio sive Capa indutus Oratorium suum praedictum honestè decenter ornatum ingressus c. Having on his Mitre and Cope usual in such Cases went into his Chappel handsomly and decently adorned to celebrate the Lord's Supper according to the Custom and by Prescript of the Book intituled The Book of Common-Service Before the People there assembled the Holy Suffrages first began and were publickly recited and the Epistle and Gospel read in the Vulgar Tongue Nicolas Bishop of London and Arthur Bishop of Bangor assisting and having their Surplices and Copes on and their Pastoral Staves in their Hands led Dr. Iohn Ponet endued with the like Habits in the middle of them unto the most Reverend Father and presented him unto him sitting in a decent Chair and used these words Most Reverend Father in God we present unto you this godly and well-learned Man to be consecrated Bishop The Bishop Elect forthwith produced the King's Letters Patents before the Arch-bishop Which by command of the said ABp being read by Dr. Glyn the said Ponet took the Oath of renouncing the Bishop of Rome and then the Oath of Canonical Obedience to the Arch-bishop These things being thus dispatched the Arch-bishop exhorted the People to Prayer and Supplication to the Most High according to the Order prescribed in the Book of Ordination set forth in the Month of March 1549. According to which Order he was Elected and Consecrated and endued with the Episcopal Ornaments the Bishop of London first having read the third Chapter of the first Epistle of Paul to Timothy in manner of a Sermon These things being done and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper celebrated upon a Table covered with a white Linen Cloth by the Arch-bishop and the two assisting Bishops the same Arch-bishop decreed to write to the Arch-deacon of Canterbury for the Investiture Installation and Inthronization of the said Bishop of Rochester as it was customary Present Anthony Huse principal Register of the Arch-bishop Peter Lilly Iohn Lewis Iohn Incent publick Notaries and many others as well Clerks as Laicks March 8. Iohn Hoper was consecrated Bishop of Glocester just after the same manner by the Arch-bishop Nicholas Bishop of London and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting clothed say the Words of the Register in Linen Surplices and Copes and Iohn Elect of Glocester in the like Habit. CHAP. XXV The Arch-bishop publisheth his Book against Gardiner THIS Year our Arch-bishop published his Elaborate Book of the Sacrament confuting the gross and carnal Presence of Christ there in vindication of a former Book of his wrote against by Bishop Gardiner and Dr. Smith For to give the Reader some distinct Account of this Matter in the Year 1550 Cranmer printed a Book in English in Quarto with this Title A Defence of the True and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ with a Confutation of sundry Errors concerning the same Grounded and established upon God's Holy Word and approved by the Consent of the most ancient Doctors of the Church The great Reason that moved him to write this Book was that he might the more effectually purge the Church of Popery esteeming Transubstantiation and the Mass to be the very Roots of it The taking away of Beads Pilgrimages Pardons and such-like Popery was as he wrote in his Preface but the lopping off a few Branches which would soon spring up again unless the Roots of the Tree which were Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass were pulled up Therefore out of a sincere Zeal to the Honour of God he would labour he said in his Vineyard to cut down that Tree of Error Root and Branch By this Book very many were enlightned to perceive the Errors of the Popish Doctrines of the Sacrament This Treatise he divided into five Books or Points I. Of the True and Catholick Doctrine and Use of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. II. Against the Error of Transubstantiation III. The manner how Christ is present in the Sacrament IV. Of the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ. V. Of the Oblation and Sacrifice of our Saviour Christ. In the third Part he made mention of the Bishop of Winchester in these words As many of them i. e. of the Papist Writers as I have read the Bishop of Winchester only excepted do say That Christ called not the Bread his Body This Bishop