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A61861 Memorials of the Most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Cranmer sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury wherein the history of the Church, and the reformation of it, during the primacy of the said archbishop, are greatly illustrated : and many singular matters relating thereunto : now first published in three books : collected chiefly from records, registers, authentick letters, and other original manuscripts / by John Strype ... Strype, John, 1643-1737. 1694 (1694) Wing S6024; ESTC R17780 820,958 784

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and put forth by Henry Lord Stafford in King Edward's Days The King affecting to be thought Learned affected also to have Books called by his Name not that he was always the Author of them but that they came out by his Authority and had undergone his Corrections and Emendations But before we pass away from hence it may be convenient to give the Reader a little taste of so famous a Treatise as that Bishop's Book was in those Days And I will do it not in my own words but in the words of a very Learned and Eminent Man the Answerer to Dr. Martin's Book against Priests Marriage not far from the beginning of Q Mary supposed to be Ponet Bishop of Winchester then in Exile Applying himself in his Preface unto the Queen's Prelats he told them That in their Book intituled The Institution of a Christian Man presented by their whole Authorities to the King of famous Memory K. Henry VIII In the Preface thereof they affirmed to his Highness with one assent by all their Learnings that the said Treatise was in all Points concordant and agreeable to Holy Scripture yea such Doctrine that they would and desired to have it taught by all the Spiritual Pastors to all the King 's loving Subjects to be Doctrine of Faith And there intreating of the Sacrament of Orders they desired to have it taught that we be in no subjection to the Bishop of Rome and his Statutes but meerly subject to the King's Laws under his only Territory and Jurisdiction And that the Canons and Rules of the Church were therefore allowable in the Realm because the Assent of the King and of the People accepted the same And that Priests and Bishops whatsoever never had any Authority by the Gospel in Matters Civil and Moral but by the Grant and Gift of Princes and that it was alway and ever shall be lawful unto Kings and Princes and to their Successors with the Consent of their Parliaments to revoke and call again into their own Hands or otherwise to restrain all their Power and Jurisdiction given and permitted by their Authority Assent or Sufferance c. Without the which if the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop whatsoever should take upon them any Authority or Jurisdiction in such Matters as be Civil No doubt said they that Bishop is not worthy to be called a Bishop but rather a Tyrant and an Usurper of other Mens Rights contrary to the Laws of God and is to be reputed a Subverter of the Kingdom of Christ. Yea besides these things and many other as he added they put in our Creed or Belief as an Article of Salvation or Damnation that the Church of England is as well to be named a Catholick and Apostolick Church as Rome Church or any other Church where the Apostles were resident And that they willed us to believe in our Faith that there is no difference in Superiority Preeminence or Authority one over the other but be all of equal Power and Dignity and that all Churches be free from the Subjection and Jurisdiction of the Church of Rome And that no Church is to be called Schismatical as varying from the Unity of the Church of Christ if it persist in the Unity of Christ's Faith Hope and Charity and Unity of Christ's Doctrine and Sacraments agreeable to the same Doctrine And that it appertained to Christen Kings and Princes in the discharge of their Duty to God to reform and reduce again the Laws to their old Limits and pristine State of their Power and Jurisdiction which was given them by Christ and used in the Primitive Church For it is say they out of all doubt that Christ's Faith was then most firm and pure and the Scriptures of God were then best understood and Vertue did then most abound and excel And therefore the Customs and Ordinances then used and made must needs be more conform and agreeable unto the true Doctrine of Christ and more conducing to the edifying and benefit of the Church of Christ than any Custom or Laws used or made since that Time This he collected out of their Exposition of the Sacrament of Orders The said Learned Author observed that this Doctrine was set forth by the whole Authority of the Bishops in those Days presented by the Subscription of all their Names And since the time of their presenting thereof by the space almost of twenty Years that is to the middle of Queen Mary never revoked but continually from time to time taught by this Book and by such other Declarations And that one more Particular relating to this Book may be known namely who the Bishops and other Divines were that composed it and that were commissioned so to do I shall record their Names as they were found writ by the Hand of Dr. Sam. Ward in his own Book now in the possession of N. B. a Reverend Friend of mine who hath well deserved of this History Thomas Cant. Io. Lond. Steph. Winton Io. Exon. Io. Lincoln Io. Bathon Roland Coven Litch Tho. Elien Nic. Sarum Io. Bang Edward Heref. Hugo Wigorn. Io. Roffen Ric. Cicestr Guilielm Norv Guilielm Menevens Rob. Assav Rob. Landav Edoard Ebor. Cuthb Dunelm Rob. Carliolen Richard Wolman Archidiac Sudbur Guil. Knight Archid. Richmon Io. Bell Archid. Gloc. Edmund Bonner Archid. Leicestr Iohn Skip Archid. Dorset Nic. Hethe Archid. Stafford Cuthb Marshal Archid. Nottingham Rich. Curren Archid. Oxon. Gulielm Cliff Galfridus Downes Robertus Oking Radul Bradford Richardus Smith Simon Matthew Ioannes Pryn Guliel Buckmaster Guliel May Nic. Wotton Ric. Coxe Ioannes Edmunds Thomas Robertson Ioannes Baker Thomas Barret Ioannes Hase Ioannes Tyson Sacrae Theologiae Juris Ecclesiastici Civilis Professores In the Year 1543. The same Book was printed again amended much both in Sense and Language yet not having any step in the Progress of the Reformation more than the former each Edition express positively the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament But in this is much added about Free-Will which it asserts and Good Works In 1544 the same was printed again at London in Latin intituled Pia Catholica Christiani Hominis Institutio CHAP. XIV The Arch-bishop visits his Diocess AS soon as this Business was over with the Arch-bishop and Bishops at Lambeth no Parliament sitting this Year and a Plague being in London and Westminster he went down as was said before into his Diocess But before he went he expressed a great desire to wait upon the King being then I suppose at Hampton-Court or Windsor but he feared he should not be permitted coming out of the smoaky Air as he wrote to the Lord Crumwel in that time of Infection Yet he desired to know the King's Pleasure by him He had a mind indeed to leave some good Impressions upon the King's Mind in the behalf of the Book that he and the rest had taken such Pains about and but newly made an end of But whether he saw the King now or no
that the Protector was privy to what was done there The Bishop answered That he would receive them as far as God's Law and the King's would bind him And because he saw they drew to such Preciseness he told them there were three Weeks of Delay to the coming of the Visitors to him In the mean time he offered to go to Oxford to abide the Discussion there That Offer was not allowed He desired to go to his House at London and have Learned Men speak with him there That was not accepted He entred then the Allegation of the Gospel of the Servant that said he would not do a thing and yet did it And so the Bishop said it might be that although he then said Nay as his Conscience served him yet he might change and was a Man that might be tempted But as his Conscience was then he thought that God's Laws and the King 's letted him Then they asked him if he had spoken to any Man of what he found in the Books To which he answered truly acknowledging he had But told the Lords that he thought it hard unless there were a greater Matter than this to send him to Prison for declaring his Mind before-hand what he minded to do before it had been by him done who had all the mean time to repent himself In the End the Council committed him to the Fleet. Of his Behaviour under this Censure he hath these words That he had well digested it and so all might be well he cared not what became of his Body That he departed as quietly from them as ever Man did and had endured with as little grudg He had learned this Lesson in the World never to look backward as S. Paul saith ne remember that is past That he would never grudg or complain of any thing for himself To the Lord Protector to whom he wrote all this Account of himself turning his Discourse he said That he thought it very weighty to have these Books recommended to the Realm in the King's Name by his the Protector Direction since the King himself knew nothing of them and therefore nothing could be ascribed to him And his Grace had been so occupied as all Men knew that he had no leisure to peruse them And yet of such sort were the Books according to the Account he had before written and that if no Man had advertised the Council as he had it was because they had not read them as he had done In Vindication of the Learned Author of the Paraphrase so bedashed by Winchester I will here use the words of him that writ the Epistle Dedicatory before the translated Paraphrase on the Acts. I cannot but judg that whoso are prompt and hasty Condemners of Erasmus or eager Adversaries unto his Doctrine do under the Name and Colour of Erasmus rather utter their Stomach and Hatred against God's Word and the Grace of the Gospel which Erasmus for his part most diligently and most simply laboureth to bring to light And to such as said that his Doctrine was scarcely sincere and that he did somewhat err he answered That Erasmus forasmuch as he was a Man and so esteemed himself would that his Works should none otherwise be read or accepted than the Writings of other mortal Men. And that after his Judgment a little Trip among so many notable good Works for the interpretation of Scripture and for the help of the Simple should rather be born withal than so many good Things to be either rejected or kept away from the hungry Christian Reader It is a cold Charity that can bear with nothing and an eager Malice it is that for a Trifle or a Matter of nothing would have the Ignorant to lack so much good edifying as may be taken of Erasmus Mention was made a little above of the Bishop of Winchester's Objections aganst the Paraphrase of Erasmus sent by him in a Letter to the Lord Protector This Paper I have met with in Sir Iohn Cotton's Library and being somewhat long I have put it into the Appendix Wherein may be seen at large the Bishop's Quarrels both against the Paraphrase and the Homilies labouring here to shew that the Book of Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase did contradict each other and therefore could not both be received and that there were Errors in each and so neither ought to be admitted Moreover he urged the Danger of making Alterations in Religion contrary to the Laws then in Force designing thereby if he could over-perswade the Protector to enervate the King 's late Injunctions For the Papists whose chief Instrument was VVinchester saw it was time now to bestir themselves to overthrow these Proceedings that were in hand if it were possible When this Affair happened between the Council and the Bishop for which they cast him into the Fleet Somerset the Protector was absent in an Expedition against the Scots By whose Conduct in the Month of September God blessed the King with a very glorious Victory in a Battel fought near Musselburrough Which redounded much to the Protector 's Honour wherein was more Danger than he looked for which gave him the greater occasion to shew his Valour For there were but few lost on the English-side but fifteen thousand Scots reckoned to be slain and two thousand taken Prisoners For this Victory a Publick Thanksgiving was thought fit to be Celebrated And the Arch-bishop required of the Bishop of London to procure a Sermon at S. Pauls before the Mayor and Aldermen and immediately after a Procession in English and Te Deum The Arch-bishop's Letter which will shew what the Court thought of that good Success was as followeth AFter our right hearty Commendations Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to send the King's Majesty such Victory against the Scots as was almost above the Expectation of Man and such as hath not been heard of in any part of Christendom this many Years In which Victory above the Number of 15000 Scots be slain 2000 taken Prisoners and among them many Noble-men and others of good Reputation all their Ordnance and Baggage of their Camp also won from them The King's Majesty with Advice of his Highness Privy-Council presently attending upon his Majesty's most Royal Person well-knowing this as all other Goodness to be Gifts of God hath and so doth account it And therefore rendereth unto him the only Glory and Praise for the same And so hath willed me not only in his Majesty's Cathedral Church and other Churches of my Diocess to give Thanks to Almighty God but also to require in his Name all other Bishops in the Province of Canterbury to do or cause to be done semblably in their Course Which his Majesty's Pleasure I have thought good to signify unto you Requiring you not only to cause a Sermon to be made in your Cathedral Church the next Holy-day after receipt hereof declaring the Goodness of God and exhorting the People to Faith and amendment of
Not was inserted in a certain place of the Book to alter the Doctrine of the Real Presence which was asserted in the first Edition This Dr. Martin one of Queen Mary's Commissioners threw in his Dish at his Examination in Oxford But the Arch-bishop professed his Ignorance concerning the foisting in of that Word The addition of which Word indeed he thought was needless still holding the Body and Blood truly present in the Holy Supper though after a spiritual manner III. The Ordinances or Appointments of the Reformed Church This was the Book of Common-Prayer with the Preface before it beginning There was never any thing c. as I learn out of Bale IV. One Book of Ordaining Ministers Which I suppose was the Form of Ordination published in the Year 1550. V. One Book concerning the Eucharist with Luther With whom Cranmer once consented in the Doctrine of the Presence VI. A Defence of the Catholick Doctrine in five Books Which was his excellent Work in vindication of himself against Bishop Gardiner and Dr. Richard Smith Whereof much hath been said before VII Ecclesiastical Laws in the Time of King Edward This was the Book of the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws the management of which was by the King's Letters committed to eight whereof Cranmer was the chief VIII The Doctrine of the Lord's Supper against Gardiner's Sermon This Sermon is the same I suppose with that Book of his intituled A Detection of the Devil's Sophistry wherewith he robbeth the unlearned People of the true Belief of the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar Which gave occasion to the Arch-bishop's first writing upon this Argument IX One Book against the Error of Transubstantiation X. One Book How Christ is present in the Supper XI One Book Concerning eating the Lord's Supper XII One Book Concerning the offering up of Christ. These five Books last mentioned are nothing else but the five Parts of his Book of the Holy Sacrament mentioned before XIII One Book of Christian Homilies Which must be the first Part of our Book of Homilies published under King Edward XIV One Book in answer to the Calumnies of Richard Smith For this Man had writ against Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament as well as Gardiner but done so scurrilously that Cranmer calls it his Calumnies XV. Confutations of Unwritten Verities Written against a Book of the same Smith intituled De veritatibus non scriptis Which he afterward recanted XVI Twelve Books of Common-Places taken out of the Doctors Those Volumes mentioned by Bishop Burnet I suppose were some of these Common-Place Books XVII Concerning not marrying the Brother's Wife Two Books Which must be those drawn up for the Use and by the Command of King Henry XVIII Against the Pope's Supremacy Two Books This was the Declaration against the Papal Supremacy said to be put forth by the Bishops in the Year 1536 upon occasion of Pole's Book of Ecclesiastical Vnion XIX Against the Pope's Purgatory Two Books XX. Concerning Justification Two Books I cannot trace these two last-mentioned Books unless by them be meant those two Treatises of Justification and Purgatory that are set at the end of the Institution XXI Pious Prayers One Book This Book I suppose was the Orarium seu libellus precationum put forth by the King and Clergy 1545. From whence a Book of Prayers was translated into English Anno 1552. XXII Letters to Learned Men One Book This I cannot hear any tidings of XXIII Against the Sacrifice of the Mass and against the Adoration of the Bread One Book Said to be writ while he was a Prisoner Which makes me conclude it to be part of his Reply to Gardiner's second Assault of him under the Name of Constantius XXIV To Queen Mary One Book or rather one Letter which was that he writ after his Examinations before her Commissioners and the Pope's Sub-delegate If some body of Leisure and that had the Opportunity of Libraries would take the pains to collect together all these Books and other Writings of this Arch-bishop and publish them it would be a worthy Work as both retrieving the Memory of this extraordinary Man who deserved so well of this Church and serving also much to illustrate the History of its Reformation But I know nothing of this nature done since the industrious Iohn Day in the Year 1580 printed a Book in Folio containing our Arch-bishop's Answer unto Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester against the true Doctrine of the Sacrament Also to Richard Smith Also a true Copy of the Book writ by Stephen Gardiner Also The Life and Martyrdom of Cranmer extracted out of the Book of Martyrs And now we are mentioning this great Prelat's Writings it may not be unworthy to take notice of what I meet with in a Letter of Arch-bishop Parker to Secretary Cecyl in the Year 1563 his Grace being then at Canterbury Where he spake of the Great notable written Books as he stiles them of his Predecessor Dr. Cranmer which he had left behind him at some of his Houses at or near Canterbury whether Ford or Bekesborn or both or with some Friends in those Parts These Manuscripts it seems were embezeled and surreptitiously taken away by private Hands probably during his restraint in Queen Mary's Days and now studiously concealed by some that were minded it may be to stifle them being chiefly levelled against the Roman Church and Bishop Parker who was a great and painful Searcher after Antient and Learned Manuscripts and a diligent Retriever of eminent Mens Writings had by credible Information learn'd in what Hands many of those Books were and had sent either for the Persons concerned or to them to demand the said Books But they denied them Whereupon knowing no other way to recover them he desired the Secretary by some Power from the Queen's Council to authorize him to enquire and search for those Books and such-like Monuments by all Ways as by the said Parker's Discretion should be thought good whether giving the Parties an Oath or viewing their Studies Wishing he might recover them to be afterwards at the Queen's Commandment Adding that he should be as glad to win them as he would be to restore an old Chancel to Reparation This Letter of Arch-bishop Parker I have inserted in the Appendix But whether after all his diligence he succeeded in the recovery of those Manuscripts I know not I am apt to think he did and that these Writings of Cranmer that were in his Possession and afterwards bequeathed unto the Library of Benet-College and those other divers Volumes which were as was before-said in the keeping of the Lord Burghley might be some at least of them An inquisitive Man would be glad to know what the Matter and Contents of these numerous Writings of our Arch-bishop were and that seeing so many of them are perished the knowledg of the various Subjects of them at least might be preserved This besides what hath been shewn already may be gathered by what
Chair tho with as much Reluctancy in You as was in Him Of Your GRACE'S Endowments to qualify You for this most Eminent Station I will be wholly silent knowing how abhorrent Your Generous Nature is from Reading or Hearing Your Own Commendations Nor MY LORD is this my End in this my Dedication But this it is That You would so far Encourage these my Weak and Imperfect Labours done out of a Good Intent as to cast a Favourable Eye upon them for the sake of Your Glorious Predecessor the Subject of this Book and to repute me among the Number May it please Your GRACE Of Your most Humble and most Obedient Servants JOHN STRYPE THE PREFACE I Think it fit by way of Preface to these Memorials to admonish the Reader of a few things preparatory to the Perusal thereof As What it was put me at first upon making these Collections concerning Archbishop Cranmer and the State of the Church in his time What induced me to make them Publick And What Credit may be given to them with some other occasional matters I. As to the first I have been for a long time not a little addicted to read whatsoever I could of the Reformation of this famous Church that I might truly understand for what Reasons it was at first attempted in what Methods it proceeded by what Men it was chiefly managed and carried on and how it stood in truth as to its Doctrine Discipline and Government Reputation Learning Piety and such like in its first Establishment and the Earlier Times of it For which purpose I did not only read over what we have in Print of these Matters but for more satisfaction I was carried on to look into MSS. whether Registers Records Letters Instruments and such like A great sort of which by Providence fell into my hands And besides them I have turned over many more in Libraries and elsewhere from whence I made Transcriptions Extracts and Collections for my own use and satisfaction which swelled to no little bulk And while I was doing this I took always a more curious View into the Lives Manners and Doings Learning Virtues and Abilities of the chief leading men whether Archbishops and Bishops or other Church-men of whom we have but little Account extant tho many of them very Great and Good men little more remaining of some of them than their Names The Reverence I bore in my mind to Archbishop Cranmer the Father of the Reformation here in England and the first of that Ancient Metropolitan See that so bravely shook off the Pope and his Appendages inclined me especially to gather up what Notices I could of him Afterwards as my leisure served me out of my indigested Mass of Notes I compiled into some order Memorials of him and of the Affairs of the Church during his Primacy in which he for the most part was concerned and bore a great share with K. Henry and the Lord Cromwel his Vicegerent in Spirituals After some Years these Memorials lying by me I enlarged considerably and digested them into Annals and had thoughts of making them Publick being excited and encouraged thereunto by my Friends who were privy to these my Doings II. And indeed many Considerations induced me hereunto As in general the great Benefit of reading Histories of former Times which what that is take in the Words of Iohn Fox For the things which be first are to be preferred before those which be later And then is the reading of Histories much necessary in the Church to know what went before and what followed after And therefore not without cause History in old Authors is called The Witness of Times the Light of Verity the Life of Memory the Teacher of Life and Shewer of Antiquity Without the knowledge whereof man's Life is blind and soon may fall into any kind of Error as by manifest experience we have to see in these desolate later Times of the Church whenas the Bishops of Rome under colour of Antiquity have turned Truth into Heresy and brought in such new-found Devices of strange Doctrine and Religion as in the former Ages of the Church were never heard of And all through Ignorance of Times and for lack of True History And therefore the Use of History being so considerable Historians in some Kingdoms have been maintained by Publick Encouragement And so the Writer of the Epistle to K. Edward before Erasmus's Paraphrase Englished propounded once to that King That there should be a Publick Salary allotted to some able Persons to Translate good Books and to Write Chronicles for bestowing so great a Benefit on the Commonwealth But particularly the History of the Church and matters relating to Religion have a more special benefit as being conversant about Spiritual things which are weightier by far and concern us more a great deal than Temporal But the more is the pity in this sort of History there is a greater Defect than in the other I speak of our own Nation for tho the History of the State in the last Age was excellently done by the Pens of the Lord Herbert and Mr. Cambden yet the Matters of the Church they professedly declined or did but touch at the former saying expresly His intention was not in an History to discuss Theological Matters as holding it sufficient to have pointed at the places where they are controverted And the latter in his History as often as he came to matters of the Church tells us That he left his Readers to the Ecclesiastical Historian Which hath made me wonder at and apt to accuse the Slothfulness of that Age that during all the time of K. Henry K. Edward and Q. Mary wherein Religion was so tossed about and took up so much of those Reigns there is no one Ecclesiastical History thereof written except that of the diligent and learned Mr. Fox and during the long Reign of Q. Elizabeth and K. Iames I think none at all Till of late years when by length of time and destruction of many Original MSS. by the Civil Wars divers remarkable Transactions were buried and lost some few Learned Men employed themselves in Collecting and Publishing what Memorials of Religion and the Church they could retrieve as namely Dr. Fuller Dr. Heylin and especially Dr. Burnet now the Right Reverend Bishop of Sarum to whom the English Church must be ever beholden for his great and happy Pains contributed hereunto But yet there be good Gleanings after these Writers and many things of remark there are relating to the Church in those Three busie Reigns of Henry Edward and Mary whereof these Historians are either wholly silent or speak imperfectly or erroneously Some whereof in my Searches I have met with which I have disposed in these Memorials But besides the General Benefit of History especially Ecclesiastical this Particular History now recommended unto the English Nation may produce this good effect To make us value and esteem as we ought our Reformed Religion when we see by
what just and fair ways it went on and how it prevailed like Christianity at first notwithstanding the great Opposition it met with and what sort of men they were such as Gardiner and Boner who especially set themselves to stop it Moreover Reading the Lives of Exemplary Men and such as were Famous in their Generation hath a great Vertue in it to influence the Manners of men Their wise Saying● their discreet Behaviour their just Management of Matters committed to their trust their Zeal their Charity their Awe of God their Contempt of the World and such like are not only delightful to read or hear but do insensibly instil into mens minds a secret Approbation thereof and draw them on to an Imitation This Land hath produced many admirable men the Knowledg of whom and the Benefit of whose Examples is utterly lost for want of some Writers to leave their Memory unto the World It was a thing complained of in the last Age That as that Age abounded more in Writers than any Age before it so there were very few that set themselves to Pen the Lives of Excellent men as Samuel the Learned and Worthy Son of Iohn Fox spake But he ever thought it as he said most unjust notwithstanding to deprive the world of the memory of matters done by them by whose Labours and worthy Deeds the common state of the Countrey was so much bettered And if the Use of History as the same Author saith is to form the Lives and Manners of men that being the chief end of History then I add No part of History doth more promote this than the History of the Deeds of Famous men It was another great Inducement to me to let this Work see the light to be grateful to the Memory of this Holy Prelate that hath so well deserved of this Church and to whom under God she oweth that Excellent Constitution and Reformed State in which she is which cost him so dear so many Pensive Thoughts so many long hours Study so many Consultations and Debates with Learned men so much Correspondence abroad so many Speeches Arguments and Strugglings in the Parliament in the Convocation before the King the Clergy the People so much Danger and Trouble and Envy and Reproach and at last his dearest Blood Posterity would be highly injurious to such a Person as this if he should not be recorded with all due Respect and Honour It was a commendable Practice of the Ancient Persians to write in Records the Names and good Deeds of such as had deserved well of the King and Kingdom to remain for ever And these Records Kings themselves did sometimes use to read The King Ahasuerus called one Night for them to be read to him to entertain his waking hours Esther VI. And Xerxes in an Epistle of his to Pausanias extant in Thucidides told him That his Good Deed was upon Record in his Palace for ever For these Records were esteemed so precious that they were kept within the Walls of the Palace And this Custom of Writing up the Remembrance of Men of Merit seemed also to be among the Iews Thus it is said of Iudas Macchabeus That the Remembrance of him was for a blessing for ever To which does I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Book of Remembrance or Record allude in Mal. III. 16. that was written for those that feared God and thought on his name And surely it is agreeable to God's Will that this Piece of Gratitude should be shewn to men of singular Vertue deceased to keep their Names and Good Deeds upon Record for Posterity to know and to thank God for And this Office of Love and Duty seems highly convenient to be done towards Archbishop Cranmer that something might appear in the world for his Vindication under those many base Aspersions and lying Insinuations that are and have been Printed by Papists to defame and blacken him to Posterity One of them hath these words which shew that he cared not what he said so he might but throw his dirt upon the chief Lights of the Reformation The very Pillars of this Rank which he names to be Luther Bucer P. Martyr Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Rogers Farrar Taylor Tyndal all Married Priests and Friars but some of them were never Friars and others never Married were men given to their Sensualities both of Women and other like their Commodities after the fashion of other ordinary men Neither is there recounted any one eminent Action in all their Lives that I have read either of chastening their Bodies mortifying their Appetites contemning the World and the Pleasures thereof while they might have and use the same or finally any more excellent Spirit in them above the rest or of any supernatural Concurrence of God with their Actions in any one thing But did he converse so much in Fox as to undertake in one or two Books to answer and confute him and his Martyrs and yet doth he meet with nothing there of none of these men in that Martyrology but what was Ordinary to other men and that shewed not some more excellent Spirit to be in them It is a sign he read but little there or read with a cankered mind This ensuing Book shall effectually confute these Misreports and Slanders of Cranmer one of these Pillars as he calls them and shall abundantly make it appear That he was no Sensualist nor addicted notwithstanding his High Place to the Pleasures and Commodities of this world and that his Life shone bright by his many eminent Actions of Piety Mortification Contempt of the world and that he was of a more excellent Spirit than that of the ordinary rank of men and that for some Ages there scarce arose his Fellow and finally that he must needs have some supernatural Concurrence and mighty Aid of God's Grace with him in many of the Affairs that passed through his hands III. The Third thing remains which is indeed the main matter that makes an History of any account and that is What Credit may be given to what I have writ For if it stand not upon the Foot of Truth it is not History but a Romance a Legend a mere Tale. And here I remember what Iohn Fox said to Alan Cope concerning an History-Controuler which is as true of an History-Writer If you will be a Controuler in Story-matters Diligence is required and great searching out of Books and Authors not only of our time but of all Ages and especially where matters of Religion are touched pertaining to the Church it is not sufficient to say what Fabian or what Hall saith but Records must be sought and Registers must be turned over Letters also and ancient Instruments ought to be perused and Authors with the same compared finally the Writers among themselves one to be compared with another and so with Judgment to be weighed with Diligence to be laboured and with Simplicity pure from all Addiction and Partiality to be uttered
vented Asheton's Recantation Other Errors still Ioan Bocher's Heresy Latimer's Censure of her George Van Paris CHAP. IX The Archbishop visits The Archbishop visits his Diocess His Articles for the Clergy and for the Laity An exchange made between the Archbishop and the L. Windsor Farrar Bishop of S. Davids Consecrated Some account of this Bishop The Archbishop sway'd by Farrar's Enemies CHAP. X. The Archbishop answers the Rebels Articles Rebellion in Devon The Archbishop answers the Rebels Articles Some account thereof Crispin Moreman Cardinal Pole The Archbishop procures Sermons to be made against the Rebellion Peter Martyr's Sermon upon this occasion The French take occasion at this Rebellion Bucer's Discourse against the Sedition The Archbishop's Prayer composed for this occasion CHAP. XI Bishop Boner deprived The Archbishop deprives Boner Discourse between the Archbishop and him concerning his Book and concerning the Sacrament Chargeth the Archbishop concerning the Preachers he allowed The Archbishop's Answer to Boner's Declaration Papists insist upon the Invalidity of the Laws made in the King's Minority An Ordination of Priests and Deacons The Office of Ordination reformed The Archbishop visits some vacant Churches S. Davids Glocester Norwich London A new Dean of the Arches CHAP. XII Duke of Somerset's Troubles The Common-Prayer ratified The Archbishop writes to the Lords at Ely-House Their Answer The Archbishop gets the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book confirmed CHAP. XIII The Archbishop entertains learned Foreigners The Archbishop harbours Learned Strangers Bucer writes in the Archbishop's Family The Archbishop's Guests Martyr dedicates his Lectures at Oxon to the Archbishop The Archbishop writes to Bucer to come over Bucer and Fagius Professors at Cambridge Fagius dies The Archbishop sends Money to Fagius's Widow Bucer laments his Loss CHAP. XIV Peter Martyr disputes in Oxford being challenged thereunto Peter Martyr challenged publickly to a Disputation His Answer hereunto Declines it at present and why They agree upon the Conditions of a Disputation They Dispute Martyr sends the Sum of the Disputation to the Archbishop The Disputation published by Martyr And by Tresham Smith writes to the Archbishop from Scotland Disputations at Cambridge before the Commissioners Bucer disputes His Judgment of the Sacrament CHAP. XV. Matters of the Church and its State now Relicks of Popery remaining The Council gives Orders to the Justices And writes to the Bishops Neglect in London Adulteries frequent Books dispersed by Protestants Preaching against Len● Gardiner's Judgment of a Rhime against Lent Latimer counsels the King about Marriage Foreign Protestants their Offer to K. Edward CHAP. XVI Ridley made Bishop of London The communion-Communion-Book reviewed Ridley made Bishop of London Rochester vacant Bucer writes to Dorset not to spoil the Church The common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book reviewed Bucer and Martyr employed in it CHAP. XVII Hoper's Troubles Hoper nominated for Bishop of Glocester He and Ridley confer about the Habits The Archbishop writes to Bucer for his Judgment in this matter The Questions Martyr writes to Hoper Hoper's Two Objections Considered Another Objection of Hoper considered Other things urged by him Hoper confined to his House and Silenced Committed to the Archbishop's Custody Sent to the Fleet. Hoper Conforms Martyr to Gualter concerning Hoper's Conformity CHAP. XVIII Bishop Hoper visits his Diocess Hoper visits his Diocess His Articles of Religion His Injunctions and Interrogatories Holds Worcester in Commendam And visits that Church and See Goes over both h●● Diocesses again The Councels Order concerning the two Canons License for the Bishop of Glocester to attend upon the Dutchess of Somerset in the Tower Other matters relating to this Bishop CHAP. XIX Troubles of Bishop Gardiner Divers great Lords repair to Gardiner The Council's proceedings with him Articles propounded to him to subscribe Winchester sequestred for three months The Sequestration expires The Commissioners sit to examine him A Letter of some Noblemen whom he had bely'd Gardiner offers his Book against Cranmer to the Commissioners He is deprived The Council's Order for his strait Confinement Poynet made Bishop of Winton CHAP. XX. Bishop Hethe and Bishop Day their Deprivations Other Popish Bishops dealt with Bishop Hethe's Troubles Sent for before the Council Day Bishop of Chichester his Troubles Bishop Day will not pull down Altars Appears before the Council The Archbishop and Bishop of Ely reason with him The Council give him time to confer Before the Council again Before the Council the third time And the fourth time when he was sent to the Fleet. Commissioners appointed for Worcester and Chichester They are deprived Placed the one with the L. Chancellor and the other with the Bishop of London Day writes to Kings-College for leaving off Masses His unnatural Carriage towards his Brother Preaches against Transubstantiation His Change charged on him CHAP. XXI Papists grow bold Loose Professors restrained The Papists write Libels Several Papists now taken up Chedsey Morgan Sir Ant. Brown White Other Professors restrained CHAP. XXII Foreigners allowed a Church A Lasco The Archbishop's care of the Souls of Strangers residing here The Dutch Congregation under Iohn a Lasco The occasion of his coming into England His business here From Embden he wrote to the Archbishop And to Cecyl The sad condition of the Protestants there Latimer mentions A Lasco to the King Contest among A Lasco's people The care of A Lasco over his Church and its Privileges Favourably received by the L. Chancellor Goodrich Labours with the Secretary to procure Letters from the Council in behalf of his Church The extent of his Superintendency Melanc●hon thought to shelter himself under him His great Abilities for Government Erasmus's Praise of him Purchased Erasmus's Library A Lasco a married man His Influence in the Reformation under Q. Elizabeth Blamed for medling in our Controversies A Church of Italians constituted in London Michael Angelo their Minister The Service the Archbishop did for this Church And for the Minister Divers of this Church fall out with their Minister and go to Mass again A Conjecture at the Cause thereof Their Minister sends their Names to the Secretary and accuses them The Morals of this man tainted Writes a Penitent Letter to the Secretary A French Church also in London CHAP. XXIII The Church at Glastenbury Another Church of Strangers at Glastenbury Their Trade Weaving Valerandus Pollanus their Preacher and Superintendent How they came to fix here Conditions of Trade between them and Somerset Their Trade obstructed by the Troubles of Somerset Apply themselves again to the Council and to the Secretary Cecyl The Council become their Patrons and assist them Orders from the Lords to set this Manufacture forwards Pollanus very serviceable to them An Apology for the largeness of the former relation After the King's Death they remove to Frankford Prove Friends to the English Exiles there A Spanish Church Cassiodorus and Corranus their Preachers Many of K. Philip's Spaniards become Protestants Great Numbers of Protestants in Spain and Italy
Rochester by virtue of the Arch-bishop's Letters Commissional to him assisted by Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and Thomas Bishop of Sidon This More held the Monastery of Walden in Essex an House of Benedictines in Commendam where Audley-end now stands and surrendred it to the King 1539. CHAP. XIII The Bishops Book THE pious ABp thought it highly conducible to the Christian Growth of the common People in Knowledg and Religion and to disintangle them from gross Ignorance and Superstition in which they had been nursled up by their Popish Guides that the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed and the Grounds of Religion should be explained soundly and orthodoxly and recommended unto their reading Wherefore he consulting with the Lord Crumwel his constant Associate and Assistant in such Matters and by his and other his Friends importuning the King a Commission was issued out from him in the Year 1537. to the Arch-bishop to Stokesly Bishop of London Gardiner of Winchester Sampson of Chichester Repps of Norwich Goodrick of Ely Latimer of Worcester Shaxton of Salisbury Fox of Hereford Barlow of S. Davids and other Bishops and Learned Divines to meet together and to devise an wholsome and plain Exposition upon those Subjects and to set forth a Truth of Religion purged of Errors and Heresies Accordingly they met at the Arch-bishop's House at Lambeth Their Course was that after they had drawn up their Expositions upon each Head and agreed thereto they all subscribed their Hands declaring their Consent and Approbation In the Disputations which happened among them in this Work Winchester the Pope's chief Champion with three or four other of the Bishops went about with all subtil Sophistry to maintain all Idolatry Heresy and Superstition written in the Canon Law or used in the Church under the Pope's Tyranny But at the last whether overpower'd with Number or convinced by the Word of God and consent of Ancient Authors and the Primitive Church they all agreed upon and set their Hands to a Godly Book of Religion Which they finished by the end of Iuly and staid for nothing but the Vicar-General's Order whether to send it immediately to him or that the Bishop of Hereford should bring it with him at his next coming to the Court But the Plague now raging in Lambeth and People dying even at the Palace-Doors the Arch-bishop desired Crumwel for the King's Licence to the Bishops to depart for their own Safety their Business being now in effect drawn to a Conclusion Soon after the Bishops and Divines parted and the Arch-bishop hastened to his House at Ford near Canterbury The Book was delivered by Crumwel to the King which he at his leisure diligently perused corrected and augmented And then after five or six Months assigned Crumwel to dispatch it unto the Arch-bishop that he might give his Judgment upon the King's Animadversions A Pursevant brought it to Ford. The Arch-bishop advisedly read and considered what the King had writ and disliking some things made his own Annotations upon some of the Royal Corrections there especially we may well imagine where the King had altered the Book in favour of some of the old Doctrines and Corruptions And when he sent it back again with those Annotations he wrote these Lines to Crumwel therewith on the 25 th day of Ianuary MY very singular good Lord After most hearty Commendations unto your Lordship these shall be to advertise the same That as concerning the Book lately devised by me and other Bishops of this Realm which you sent unto me corrected by the King's Highness your Lordship shall receive the same again by this Bearer the Pursevant with certain Annotations of mine own concerning the same Wherein I trust the King's Highness will pardon my Presumption that I have been so scrupulous and as it were a picker of Quarrels to his Grace's Book making a great Matter of every little Fault or rather where no Fault is at all Which I do only for this Intent that because now the Book shall be set forth by his Grace's Censure and Judgment I would have nothing therein that Momus could reprehend And I refer all mine Annotations again to his Grace's most exact Judgment And I have ordered my Annotations so by Numbers that his Grace may readily turn to every place And in the lower Margin of this Book next to the Binding he may find the Numbers which shall direct him to the Words whereupon I make the Annotations And all those his Grace's Castigations which I have made none Annotations upon I like them very well And in divers places I have made Annotations which places nevertheless I mislike not as shall appear by the same Annotations At length this Book came forth printed by Barthelet in the Year 1537 and was commonly called the Bishops Book because the Bishops were the Composers of it It was intituled The godly and pious Institution of a Christian Man and consisted of a Declaration of the Lord's Prayer and of the Ave Mary the Creed the Ten Commandments and the Seven Sacraments It was Established by Act of Parliament having been signed by the two Arch-bishops nineteen Bishops eight Arch-deacons and seventeen Doctors of Divinity and Law The Opinion that the Favourers of the Gospel had of this Book in those Times may appear by what I find in a Manuscript of the Life of this Arch-bishop by an unknown Author that wrote it soon after the said Arch-bishop's Death A godly Book of Religion not much unlike the Book set forth by K. Edward VI. except in two Points The one was the real Pre●ence of Christ's Body in the Sacrament of the Altar Of the which Opinion the Arch-bishop was at that time and the most part of the other Bishops and learned Men. The other Error was of Praying Kissing and Kneeling before Images Which saith he was added by the King after the Bishops had set their Hands to the contrary But this Book came forth again two Years after viz. 1540. unless my Manuscript mistake this Year for 1543. very much enlarged and reduced into another Form and bearing another Name A necessary Doctrine and Erudition of any Christian Man And because the King had put it forth by his own Authority it was called now The King's Book as before it was called The Bishops But that none might be confounded in these Books he may know that there was in the Year 1536 another Book also called The Bishops Book upon the same reason that this was so called because the Arch-bishops and Bishops had the making thereof It was a Declaration against the Papal Supremacy written upon occasion of Pole's Book of Ecclesiastical Vnion mentioned before And in the Year 1533 there came forth another Book in Latin called The King's Book intituled The Difference between the Kingly and Ecclesiastical Power reported to be made as Bale writes by Fox the King's Almoner Which was translated into English
Suffragan for Dover viz. Richard Yngworth Prior of the Priory of Langley-Regis and Iohn Codenham both Doctors in Divinity December the 8 th The King answered Cranmer's Letter by his Privy Seal wherein he appointed Yngworth to be consecrated for his said Suffragan And accordingly December the 9 th Iohn Bishop of London by virtue of Commissional Letters from the Arch-bishop assisted by Iohn Bishop of Rochester and Robert Bishop of St. Asaph consecrated the said Yngworth On the 10 th the Arch-bishop issued out his Commission to the said Suffragan ordaining him his Suffragan by those Presents until he should think fit to withdraw his said Commission again Signifying that what he was to do was within his Diocess and City of Canterbury and Jurisdiction of Calis and the Marches thereof to confirm Children to bless Altars Chalices Vestments and other Ornaments of the Church to suspend Places and Churches and to reconcile them to consecrate Churches and Altars new set up to confer all the lesser Orders to consecrate Holy Oil of Chrism and Holy Unction and to perform all other things belonging to the Office of a Bishop The Bishop's Letter to the King desiring him to appoint him a Suffragan out of those two above-named And the Arch-bishop's Commissional Letters to Suffragan Yngworth may be seen in the Appendix And he that is minded to read the Form of the King's Mandate to the Arch-bishop for making a Suffragan may find it in The History of the Reformation The Reason why the Arch-bishop all this while that is from the first making the Act in the Year 1534 to this Time had nominated none for Suffragan to this See till now might be because there seemed to be a Suffragan already even the same that had been in the time of Arch-bishop Warham namely Iohn Thornton Prior of Dover who was one of the Witnesses appointed by that Arch-bishop to certify what was found and seen at the opening of S. Dunstan's Tomb. Richard Thornden seems to have succeeded Yngworth in this Office some Years after and was very dear to the Arch-bishop having been by him preferred to be Prebend of Canterbury though he proved very false to him and was among those that made a treacherous Combination against him in the Year 1543. And in Q. Mary's Time became a great Persecutor December the 9 th Iohn Hodgkin Professor of Divinity was consecrated at the same time and by the same Bishops as above but to what See is not mentioned The Bishop of London together with this Hodgkin had nominated to the King Robert Struddel Professor of Divinity Both he recommended to the King by Letters to be made Suffragans at large without mention of any See in his Diocess but only expressing that his Diocess wanted the comfort of Suffragans that might bear a part in his Cure and so mentioned those two adding that the King might appoint them to some See within the Province of Canterbury Hodgkin if I mistake not was consecrated Suffragan of Bedford And was afterwards one of those that assisted at the Consecration of Arch-bishop Parker He was a Black Friar In the Year 1531 he with Bird laboured with Bilney at Norwich a little before his Death to bring him off from the Doctrines for which he was condemned Afterwards Hodgkin coming nearer under the Arch-bishop's Eye by his means came to better knowledg in Religion and married a Wife but in Queen Mary's Time put her away March 24. Henry Holbeach Prior of the Cathedral Church of Wigorn S. T. P. Hugh Bishop of Wigorn having recommended him to the King for Suffragan Bishop of Bristow was accordingly consecrated in the Bishop of London's Chappel in the said Bishop's House situate in Lambeth-Marsh by the said Bishop Hugh Bishop of Wigorn and Robert Bishop of S. Asaph assisting CHAP. XVII The Bible in English allowed THE next Year I find the careful Arch-bishop again at Canterbury looking after his Charge And here he read Lectures upon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Hebrews half the Lent in the Chapter-House of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity Now viz. 1538. the Holy Bible was divulged and exposed to common sale and appointed to be had in every Parish-Church And then that the Sacred Book might be used with the more benefit both of the Clergy and Lay-People for this Reason a Declaration was issued out to be read openly by all Curates upon the publishing of this Bible shewing the godly Ends of his Majesty in permitting it to be in English and directions how they should read and hear it Namely to use it with Reverence and gre●● Devotion to conform their Lives unto it and to encourage those that were under them Wives Children and Servants to live according to the Rules thereof that in doubtful Places they should confer with the Learned for the Sense who should be appointed to preach and explain the same and not to contend and dispute about them in Ale-houses and Taverns They that are minded to read this Declaration may find it in the Appendix This Bible was of so quick sale that two Years after it was printed again It was wonderful to see with what joy this Book of God was received not only among the Learneder sort and those that were noted for Lovers of the Reformation but generally all England over among all the Vulgar and common People and with what greediness God's Word was read and what resort to Places where the reading of it was Every body that could bought the Book or busily read it or got others to read it to them if they could not themselves and divers more elderly People learned to read on purpose And even little Boys flocked among the rest to hear Portions of the Holy Scripture read One William Maldon happening in the Company of Iohn Fox in the beginning of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth and Fox being very inquisitive after those that suffered for Religion in the former Reigns asked him if he knew any that were persecuted for the Gospel of Iesus Christ that he might add it to his Book of Martyrs He told him he knew one that was whipp'd by his own Father in K. Henry's Reign for it And when Fox was very inquisitive who he was and what was his Name he confessed it was himself and upon his desire he wrote out all the Circumstances Namely That when the King had allowed the Bible to be set forth to be read in all Churches immediately several poor Men in the Town of Chelmsford in Essex where his Father lived and he was born bought the New-Testament and on Sundays fat reading of it in the Lower end of the Church many would flock about them to hear their reading and he among the rest being then but fifteen Years old came every Sunday to hear the glad and sweet Tidings of the Gospel But his Father observing it once angrily fetch'd him away and would have him to say the Latin
but for his own proper Offences either Actual or Original Which Original Sin every Man hath of his own and is born in it although it came from Adam The principal means viz. God's Favour whereby all Sinners attain their Iustification This Sentence importeth that the Favour and Love of the Father of Heaven towards us is the Means whereby we come to his Favour and Love And so should one thing be the Means to it self And it is not the use of Scripture to call any other the Means and Mediator for us but only Jesus Christ by whom our access is to the Father Having assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy willing to enter into his perfect Faith He that hath assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy hath already entred into a perfect Faith and not only hath a Will to enter into it For perfect Faith is nothing else but assured Hope and Confidence in Christ's Mercy Vpon the Explication of the Tenth Commandment Without due Recompence This Addition agrees not well with the Coveting of another Man's Wife wherein is no Recompensation And in the other things although Recompensation be made yet the Commandment nevertheless is transgrest and broken Vpon another Chapter concerning Obedience to the Civil Power By his Ordinate Power This word Ordinate Power obscureth the Sentence in the understanding of them that be simple and unlearned and among the Learned it gendreth Contention and Disputation rather than it any thing edifieth Therefore methinketh it better and more plain as it is in the print or else to say By his Ordinance For the Scripture speaketh simply and plainly Potestati ejus quis resistit By these few Passages which I have carefully taken out of the Arch-bishop's own Book may be seen of what a Critical and Exact Judgment he was But besides these Adversaria in these Papers of the Arch-bishop's Annotations there be divers large Discourses of his upon several Heads of Religion drawn up as I conceive upon the King's Command to be inserted into his Book above mentioned I have extracted some of these Discourses as upon Faith Justification and Forgiveness of Injuries Wherein may be seen his sound Opinion in those great Doctrines of Christian Religion I took also out of the same Volume some Specimen of three other Discourses of his One with this Title writ by his own Hand De Consolatione Christianorum contra metum mortis Ex Doctoribus Ecclesiasticis Compiled I guess as well for his own use being not inapprehensive of his ticklish Station and Danger from so many and implacable Enemies which he had as to be inserted in the aforesaid Book The others were two Exhortations to take the Pains of Sickness well and Adversity patiently the one taken out of Cyprian the other out of S. Augustin Lib. De visitatione infirmorum The Specimen of them are in the Appendix as also the Discourses of Faith Justification and Forgiveness of Injuries This Year Boner Bishop of London set forth Injunctions for the Clergy of his Diocess containing Directions for their Preaching and Conversation together with a Catalogue of certain Books prohibited Which the Curats were to enquire after in their respective Parishes and to inform their Ordinaries of them and of those in whose possessions they found them Among these Books were the English Testament of Tindal and divers other Pieces of the said godly and learned Man some Prefaces and Marginal Glosses of Thomas Matthews in his English Bible A Book of Friar Barnes The Supplication of Beggars The Practice of Prelates The Revelation of Antichrist The Church of Iohn Rastal The Disputation between the Father and the Son The Preface made in the English Primers by Marshal This Marshal was he I suppose whose Christian Name was Cutbert and was D. D. and Arch-deacon of Nottingham and died about 1549. At this Book I will stop a little being a Book of Eminency and Remark in those Times and that hath such a strain of Truth and serious Piety in it that it seems very probable that the Arch-bishop had a considerable hand it and procured the Publication of it Cum privilegio Regali It was stiled A Goodly Primer or Book of Prayers and called The King's Primer I speak of the second Edition which was about the Year 1535. It began with an Admonition to the Reader containing very sharp and severe Reflections upon the Popish Devotions and praying to Saints And towards the conclusion the Writer professeth That this his Admonition proceded neither of blynde Zele or Affection neyther of Wyll or Purpose to offend or displease any Man moch less than to displease any Saint in Heven and in no wyse than our blessed Lady but evin of very pure Love to the Honour of God and Helth of Mennes Souls Then followeth a pious Exposition of the Ten Commandments and the Creed Then is a general Confession of Sin Which goes according to the Commandments after this manner 1. I have not set my whole Belief Confidence Trust and Hope in thee c. 2. I have divided thy Worship and Honour from Thee and given it to thy Creatures and to dead things imagined of my own fond Fantasy I mean in the misusing of Images 3. I have abased thy Name c. 4. In the Sabbath-day I have not given my self to hearing reading and learning the Holy Scriptures c. Then comes an Exposition upon the Lord's Prayer and the Salutation Some short Prayers Some Graces before and after Meat most of which are Graces still retained in our English Primers after the Catechism And the Method of the Book is the same with our Childrens Primer now in use In this Edition there was a Litany added with a Preface before it directly against praying to Saints and shewing the difference of the Case between presenting our Petitions to God and presenting a Petition to an Earthly King that though this latter cannot be done without the mediation of some Servant of the King yet the former may be done immediately to God in the Name of Christ. Besides he said there were many doubtful Saints that many Saints canonized by the Bishop of Rome whether they were Saints or no he committed to the secret Judgment of God By this taste of the Preface you easily see why Bishop Boner placed it among the prohibited Books to be diligently searched for The Litany the Author added for the sake of many People that thought there could be no right Prayers without they were in the old form of Processions which were by way of Litany or Supplication to Angels and Saints And so he writ in this Preface that it was for the Contentation of such weak Minds and somewhat to bear their Infirmities that he had at this his second Edition of the Primer caused the Litany to be printed In this Litany all doubtful Saints are left out and he addresseth only to the Holy Angels S. Michael S. Raphael c. to pray for us And the Blessed
telling him his Intent was hereby only to set out the Freedom of God's Mercy But Winchester challenged him to shew Scripture for it or any one ancient Writer That Faith in justifying excludeth Charity This Winchester afterward declared at large to the Lord Protector and added That the Arch-bishop in that Homily of Salvation had taken such a Matter in hand and so handled it as if he were his extream Enemy he would have wished him to have taken that Piece in hand and so to have handled it as he did He represented one of the Arch-bishop's Arguments for Faith excluding Charity to be thus out of that Homily We be justified by Faith without all Works of the Law Charity is a Work of the Law Ergo We are justified without Charity But I warn the Reader to consult the Homily it self before he pass his Judgment upon Cranmer's Argument as it is here represented by one that was none of his Friend In fine he said There were as many Faults in that Homily of Salvation as he had been Weeks in Prison and that was seven besides the Matter viz. making a Trouble without Necessity In short he charged the Arch-bishop for troubling the World with such a needless Speculation as this is because he said that in Baptism we are justified being Infants before we can talk of the Justification we strive for For all Men receive their Justification in their Infancy in Baptism And if they fall after Baptism they must arise again by the Sacrament of Penance And so this Doctrine he said was to be sent to the Universities where it is meet to be talked and disputed of and not fit for Homilies And to disparage further the Arch-bishop's Judgment he told the Protector That if my Lord of Canterbury would needs travail in this Matter he should never perswade that Faith excluded Charity in Justification unless he borrowed Prisons of the Protector and then he might percase have some to agree to it As poor Men kneel at Rome when the Bishop of Rome goeth by or else are knocked on the Head with a Halbard And then he made some scoffing mention of the Strength of God's Spirit in the Arch-bishop and his Learning in his Laws so as to be able to overthrow with his Breath all Untruths and establish Truths I make no Reflection upon all this unseemly Language of this Bishop but leave it to the Reader to judg hereby of the Learning and Spirit that was in him And could we have retrieved the Arch-bishop's own Arguments and Replies to these Barkings of Winchester they would have left to the World a full Vindication of Cranmer and his Doctrine As to Erasmus's Paraphrase the said Bishop pretended He found divers things in it to condemn the Work and that he agreed with them that said Erasmus laid the Eggs and Luther hatched them and that of all the monstrous Opinions that have risen evil Men had a wondrous Occasion ministred to them from that Book He also wrote to the Protector the particular Objections he made against it He said He might term it in one word Abomination both for the Malice and Untruth of much Matter out of Erasmus's Pen and also for the arrogant Ignorance of the Translator of it considering that Book was authorized by the King and a Charge laid upon the Realm of twenty thousand Pounds by enjoining every Parish to buy one Whereof he had made an Estimate by the probable number of Buyers and the Price of the Book He charged the Translator with Ignorance both in Latin and English a Man he said far unmeet to meddle with such a Matter and not without Malice on his part Finally The Matter he had to shew in both the Books was in some part dangerous and the Concealment thereof a great Fault if he did not utter it And that he pretended made him some-while ago write to the Council declaring his Mind in relation thereunto For which he was sent to the Fleet. The true Occasion whereof as I take it from his own Letter written with his own Hand which I have before me was this Upon the Departure of the Lord Protector against the Scots the King's Visitors began their Visitation Then as soon as the Bishop heard of the Visitation and the Books of Homilies and Injunctions were come to his hands he wrote to the Council trusting upon such earnest Advertisements as he made they would incontinently have sent for him and upon knowledg of so evident Matter as he thought he had to shew would have staid till the Protector 's Return He saw as he said a Determination to do all things suddenly at one time Whereunto though the Protector had agreed yet of his Wisdom as the Bishop conjectured he had rather these Matters should have tarried till his Return had he not been pressed on both Sides an Expression which the Protector in a Letter to him had used He reckoned that if he could have staid this Matter in his Absence though by bringing himself into extream Danger besides his Duty to God and the King he should have done the Protector a Pleasure of whom he had this Opinion that willingly and wittingly he would neither break the Act of Parliament nor command Books to be bought by Authority that contained such Doctrine as those Books did Thus he had he said remembrance of his Grace in these his Letters to the Council but he chiefly made not his Grace but God his Foundation with the Preservation of the late deceased King's Honour and the Surety of the King then being His Writing he confessed was vehement but he would have none offended with it for he wrote it with a whole Heart and if he could have written it with the Blood of his Heart he would have done it to have staid the thing till it had been more maturely digested He touched lively one Point in his Letter to the Council and considered whether the King might command against a Common Law or an Act of Parliament and shewed the Danger of it in the late Lord Cardinal and the Lord Typtoft before him who was Executed on Tower-hill for acting against the Laws of the Land though it were by the King's Commission and by other Precedents Not long after these Letters of the Bishop to the Council they sent for him When he came before them he came furnished with his Trinkets his Sleeves and Bosom trussed full of Books to furnish his former Allegations He was heard very well and gently Then he shewed Matter that he thought would have moved them For there he shewed the two contrary Books meaning the Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase But the Council told him they were not moved and added That their Consciences agreed not with his using many good Words to bring him to Conformity After he had been aside from them and was returned again they entred a precise Order with him either to receive the Injunctions or to refuse In which Case they told him
Sentence Definitive ready to be pronounced made an Appeal from them to the King For his doing which he produced these Reasons For that these his pretended Judges were not indifferent but prejudiced against him That my Lord of Canterbury had caused him to be sent to Prison whereas the Arch-bishop was only present at the Council when he was by them ordered to the Tower And so had Hales Goodrick and Gosnold counselled to send him thither Also that the Arch-bishop and the Bishops of London and Lincoln did contrary to the Laws Ecclesiastical and taught and set forth manifest condemned Errors against the Presence in the Sacrament And because the Bishop as well in his Writings as otherwise did set forth the Catholick Faith of the very Presence of Christ's Body and Blood therefore they shewed themselves unduly affected towards him That Sir William Petre decreed the Fruits of his Bishoprick to be sequestred de facto sed non de jure and now was Judg in his own Cause But notwithstanding this Appeal the Arch-bishop with the rest of the Commissioners pronounced him Deprived and his Bishoprick void After this was done the Bishop appealed again to the King instantly more instantly most instantly from their Sentence as Injust and of no effect in Law and asked of them Letters Dimissory to be granted to him and a Copy of the Judgment But the Judges declared they would first know the pleasure of the King and his Council therein And so this last Session brake up The day after being the 15 th of February the Council sitting at VVestminster upon debating the Bishop of VVinton's Case Forasmuch as it appeared he had at all times before the Judges of his Cause used himself unreverently to the King's Majesty and slanderfully towards his Council and especially Yesterday being the Day of his Judgment given against him he called his Judges Hereticks and Sacramentaries they being there the King's Commissioners and of his Highness's Council it was therefore concluded by the whole Board that he should be removed from the Lodging he hath now in the Tower to a meaner Lodging and none to wait upon him but one by the Lieutenant's Appointment in such sort as by the resort of any Man to him he have not the liberty to send out to any Man or to hear from any Man And likewise that his Books and Papers be taken from him and seen and that from henceforth he have neither Pen Ink nor Paper to write his detestable Purposes but be sequestred from all Conferences and from all means that may serve him to practise any way March 8. at VVestminster This day by the King's Majesty 's own Appointment Dr. Poynet Bishop of Rochester was chosen Bishop of VVinchester And the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had given him 266 l. 13 s. 4 d. i. e. 400 Marks for his Pains and Charges about the Bishop of VVinchester And thus I have from very Authentick Authority gathered together these Memorials of this turbulent haughty Man who was now so seasonably laid aside in this King's Reign till we hear of him loudly in the next when he sufficiently wracked his Revenge against our good Arch-bishop and the true Religion CHAP. XX. Bishop Hethe and Bishop Day their Deprivations WHile the aforesaid Bp lay under Sequestrationin the Tower two other Bps that were wayward to the King's Proceedings in the Reformation of the Church viz. of Worcester and Chichester came under the Hands of the Privy-Council resolving to make them comply or deprive them That others more willing and better affected to Reformation might succeed and do service in the Church and that the Arch-bishop might go forward with less Stop and Impediment in the good Work he had dedicated himself unto Both of them were of the Arch-bishop's raising and seemed very compliant with the Arch-bishop during K. Henry's Reign But now both hung off from him seeming much offended with him for his relinquishing the Doctrine of the Corporeal Presence and for writing a Book against it Whereof they made mention with dislike in their Depositions in the Bishop of Winchester's Trial before the Commissioners In the last Year the Year 1549 Twelve Learned Divines Bishops and others were appointed by the Council to prepare a new Book for the Ordination of Ministers purged of the Superstitions of the old Ordinal Hethe Bishop of Worcester was nominated for one of these But he not liking the thing would not agree to what the others did nor subscribe the Book when made For which in March he was committed to the Fleet where he lay under easy Confinement all the next Year the Year 1550 during which time I find him once produced as a Witness on Bishop Gardiner's behalf But in the Year 1551 the Court being at Chelsey and the Council sitting September 22. by virtue of the King 's express Commandment Nicol●s Bishop of Worcester was sent for and came before the Lords and others To whom was repeated the Cause of his Imprisonment to be For that he refused to subscribe the Book devised for the Form of making Arch-bishops Bishops Priests and Deacons being authorized by Parliament At the time of which refusal being not only gently and reasonably required to subscribe it but also being manifestly taught by divers other Learned Men that all Things contained in the Book were Good and True and that the Book was expedient and allowable the said Bishop declared himself to be a v●ry obstinate Man And for this his doing it was now shewed unto him that he deserved longer Imprisonment Nevertheless the King's Majesty's Clemency was such that now if he had or would reconcile himself to obey his Majesty in this former Commandment he should recover the King's Majesty's Favour For which Cause it was told him That he was then presently sent for and willed now to subscribe the same Whereunto he answered That he took the Cause of his Imprisonment to be as was alleged and that also he was very gently used rather like a Son than a Subject Nevertheless he said he remained still in the same mind not willing to subscribe it although he would not disobey it And although he was reasoned withal by every of the said Council in disproving his manner of answer that he would not subscribe it being every thing in the said Book True and Good and being devised by eleven other Learned Men to which he was joined as the twelfth and received of all the whole Estate of the Realm agreeing also that he would obey it not subscribe it which contained a Contradiction in Reason Yet he still as a Man not removeable from his own Conceit refused to subscribe it Whereupon to prove all manner of Ways for the winning of him to his Duty he was offered to have Conference with Learned Men and to have time to consider the Matter better Whereunto he said That he could not have better Conference than he had heretofore and well might he have
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
any Arguments for the Popish Doctrine brought them all to him many whereof were windy and trivial enough and he out of the heap made his Collections as he thought good But Watson and Smith were his chief Assistants The Arch-bishop though the Times now soon after turned and he cast into Prison was very desirous to prepare another Book in Confutation of Marcus Antonius and in Vindication of his own Writing He lived long enough to finish three Parts whereof two unhappily perished in Oxford and the third fell into Iohn Fox's Hands and for ought I know that by this time is perished also But the great desire he had to finish his Answer to that Book was the chief cause that at his last Appearance before the Queen's Commissioners he made his Appeal to a General Council That thereby he might gain some time and leisure to accomplish what he had begun before his Life were taken away which he saw was likely to be within a very short space Otherwise as he writ to his Lawyer who was to draw up his Appeal it was much better for him to die in Christ's Quarrel and to reign with him than to be shut up and kept in that Body Unless it were to continue yet still a while in this Warfare for the Commodity and Profit of his Brethren and to the further advancing of God's Glory Peter Martyr his surviving and learned Friend being solicited by many English-Men by Letter and word of Mouth undertook the answering this Book But before he had finished it an English Divine and Friend of Martyr's with whom he held Correspondence in Q. Mary's Reign wrote him word in the Year 1557. that an Answer to Antonius by some other hand was then in the Press naming the Author Martyr replied That he was rather glad of it than any ways moved or disturbed at it as a disappointment of what he was doing and added that he expected nothing from that Man but what was very exquisite acute and elaborate But that he feared the noise thereof would not hold true And so it proved Whether this Learned Man withdrew his Book that he might give way to that which P. Martyr was writing or whether it were a Flam given out to stop Martyr in his Design it is uncertain But not long after this Learned Italian put forth his Answer He had it under the Press at Zurick in December 1558 and it came out the next Year Wherein as he wrote to Calvin he did unravel and confute all the Sophisms and Tricks of the Bishop of Winchester And it came forth very seasonably as Martyr hoped For hereby the English Papalins might see at this time especially that that Book was not as they boasted hitherto invincible He gave this Title to his Book Defensio Doctrina veteris Apostolicae de S.S. Eucharistiae Sacramento In the Preface to which he shewed How this Work fell to his Lot Not that that most Reverend Father wanted an Assistant for he could easily have managed Gardiner himself For he knew how Cranmer in many and various Disputes formerly had with him came off with Victory and great Praise but because the ABp when in Prison was forced to leave his Answer which he had begun unfinished by reason of his strait keeping having scarce Paper and Ink allowed him and no Books to make use of and being cut off so soon by Death before he could bring to perfection what he had writ Wherein as Martyr said he had harder measure by far from the Papists than Gardiner had from the Protestants in K. Edward's Days when he wrote his Book Gardiner in that Book of his under the Name of M. Constantius had shewn such foul play with Cranmer's Book mangling it and taking Pieces and Scraps of it here and there and confounding the Method of it to supply himself with Objections to give his own Answers to with the most advantage that the Arch-bishop thought that if Learned Foreigners saw but his first Book of the Sacrament as he wrote it it would be vindication enough against Gardiner's new Book against it And therefore he took order to have it translated into the same Language in which Gardiner wrote that is Latin that impartial Strangers might be able to read and judg and Sir Iohn Cheke elegantly performed it for his Friend the Arch-bishop This Book of Cranmer's thus put into Latin with some Additions came forth 1553. Before it he prefixed an Epistle to King Edward VI. dated at Lambeth Idib Mart. the same Year Wherein he said It was his Care of the Lord's Flock committed to him that put him upon renewing and restoring the Lord's Supper according to the Institution of Christ. And that that was the Reason that about three Years ago he set forth a Book in English against the principal Abuses of the Papistical Mass. Which Book had great Success upon the Peoples Minds in bringing them to embrace the Truth Whereby he said he perceived how great the Force of Truth was and understood the Benefits of the Grace of Christ that even the Blind should have their Eyes opened and partake of the Light of Truth as soon as it was revealed and shewed it self clearly to them But that this gave great Offence unto Gardiner then Bishop of Winchester so that he thought nothing was to be done till he had answered the Book supposing that there would be no helper of so declining forsaken a Cause unless he put to his Hand And so the Arch-bishop proceeded to shew how that Bishop first put forth his English Book endeavouring to overthrow the true Doctrine and to restore and bring again into Repute the Mass with all its Superstitions and afterwards his Latin Book under a feigned Name In which Gardiner had so unfairly dealt with the Arch-bishop's Arguments chopping and changing defacing and disfiguring them that he could not know them for his own and all that he might make it serve his own turn the better Insomuch that he resolved to have his own Book translated out of English into Latin that his true Opinion and Mind in this Controversy might the better be apprehended The whole Epistle is writ in a pure elegant Latin Stile with a good sharpness of Wit The publication of this his Latin Book he thought sufficient for the present to entertain the World till he should put forth in Latin also a full Answer to Gardiner which he intended shortly to do To this Latin Book the Arch-bishop occasionally reviewing it while he was in Prison made sundry Annotations and Additions not of any new Arguments but only of more Authorities out of the Fathers and Ancient Writers This valuable Autograph fell into the Hands of some of the English Exiles at Embden it may be by the Means of Bp Scory who was Superintendent of the English Church there or Sir Iohn Cheke who also for some time was in this Place both great Friends of the Arch-bishop In the
of that which lacked And so transmitted the Book again from Croydon Septemb. 19. to Sir William Cecyl and Sir Iohn Cheke the one the King 's Principal Secretary and the other his Tutor being the two great Patrons of the Reformation at the Court Desiring them together to take these Articles into their serious Considerations for he well knew them to be both wise and good Men and very well seen in Divine Learning And he referred it to their Wisdoms whether they thought best to move the King's Majesty therein before his coming to Court as though he conceived the King might make some demur in so weighty an Affair till he should consult with the Metropolitan in order to the coming to a Resolution or that there were some great Persons about the King that might cast some Scruples and Objections in his Mind concerning it which he by his Presence might prevent or be ready at hand to resolve Cecyl and Cheke thought it more convenient the Arch-bishop should offer them to the King himself So coming to Court soon after he delivered the Book to the King and moved him for their publishing and due observation And so leaving them before the King and Council they were then again delivered unto certain of the King's Chaplains who made some Alterations For I find that Octob. 2. a Letter was directed to Mr. Harley Bill Horn Grindal Pern and Knox to consider certain Articles which must be these Articles of Religion exhibited to the King's Majesty to be subscribed by all such as shall be admitted to be Preachers or Ministers in any part of the Realm and to make report of their Opinions touching the same The Time of the Year declined now towards the latter end of November and the Arch-bishop being retired down from Croydon to his House at Ford near Canterbury the Privy-Council Novemb. 20. dispatched by a Messenger the Articles unto him to be reviewed and for his last Hand that they might be presented before the Convocation and allowed there and so be published by the Royal Authority The Arch-bishop received the Book and Letter from the Council Novemb. 23. And making some Notes upon it enclosed them in a Letter to the Lords and sent them together with the Book the next day beseeching them to prevail with the King that all Bishops should have Authority to cause their respective Clergy to subscribe it And then he trusted as he wrote that such a Concord and Quietness in Religion would soon follow as otherwise would not be in many Years And thereby God would be glorified the Truth advanced and their Lordships rewarded by him as the setters forth of his true Word and Gospel This pious Letter may be read in the Appendix The King went a Progress this Summer and the Arch-bishop retired to Croydon where I find him in Iuly August and September And thence Octob. 11. he went to Ford to spend some time in his Diocess Now he was absent from the Court and the King abroad at that distance that he could not frequently wait upon him and be present at the Council his Enemies were at work to bring him into trouble as we shall see by and by CHAP. XXVIII Persons nominated for Irish Bishopricks THERE were certain Bishopricks in Ireland about this time vacant one whereof was that of Armagh And it was thought convenient to have them filled by Divines out of England In the Month of August the Arch-bishop was consulted with for this that so by the Influence of very wise and learned Men and good Preachers the Gospel might be the better propagated in that dark Region But because it was foreseen to be difficult to procure any English Men so endowed to go over thither therefore Secretary Cecyl being then with the King in his Progress sent a Letter to the Arch-bishop at Croyden to nominate some worthy Persons for those Preferments and whom he thought would be willing to undertake them He returned him the Names of Four viz. Mr. Whitehead of Hadley Mr. Turner of Canterbury Sir Thomas Rosse and Sir Robert Wisdome He said He knew many others in England that would be meet Persons for those Places but very few that would gladly be perswaded to go thither For it seems the English were never very fond of living in Ireland But he added concerning these four which he had named That he thought they being ordinarily called for Conscience-sake would not refuse to bestow the Talent committed unto them wheresoever it should please the King's Majesty to appoint them He recommended likewise a fifth Person for this Promotion one Mr. Whitacre a wise and well-learned Man as he characters him who was Chaplain to the Bishop of Winchester Poynet But he doubted whether he would be perswaded to take it upon him It may not be amiss to make some enquiry who and what those Four before-mentioned Persons were Mr. Whithead was an Exile in Queen Mary's Reign and Pastor of the English Congregation at Frankford And at the Conference in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Government he was one of the Nine Disputants on the Protestant side and one of the appointed Eight to revise the Service-Book The Writer of the Troubles at Frankford mentions three viz. Coverdale Turner and this Whitehead of whom he saith That they were the most ancient Preachers of the Gospel and the most ancient Fathers of this our Country and that from their Pens as well as their Mouths most of Queen Elizabeth's Divines and Bishops first received the Light of the Gospel Why Cranmer should stile him VVhithead of Hadley I do not apprehend seeing Dr. Rowland Taylor his Chaplain was now Par●on of Hadley who not long after was there burnt And one Yeomans was Taylor 's Curat there who also was afterwards burnt at Norwich But I suppose this was some other Hadley I find two about this Time bearing the Name of Turner both eminent Men and Preachers The one was named William Turner a Doctor in Physick and greatly befriended by Sir Iohn Cheke and Sir William Cecyl This Man a Native of Northumberland was the first English Man that compiled an Herbal which was the Ground-work of that which Gerard laid the last Hand unto He was a Retainer to the Duke of Somerset in Edward the Sixth's Time and was Physician in ordinary to his Family And the Year before this viz. 1551 I find him Dean of Wells The other was Richard Turner a Staffordshire-Man in former time Curate of Chartam in Kent and commonly called Turner of Canterbury living in the family of Mr. Morice the Arch-bishop's Secretary of whom afterwards who held the Impropriation of that Parsonage and had presented this Man to the Vicarage For his free and bold preaching against Popish Errors and asserting the King's Supremacy and for the extraordinary Success of his Ministry in bringing Multitudes of People in those Parts out of Ignorance and Superstition he was put to much Trouble and Danger He was
Which in the Title is said to be composed by R. W. There is also a Hymn of his preserved and set usually at the end of our English singing Psalms in our Bibles beginning Preserve us Lord by thy dear Word He writ here also many godly and learned Sermons upon the Epistles and Gospels read on Sundays He translated a Postil of Antonius Corvinus a Lutheran Divine and divers other Learned Mens Works And some of his Adversaries having laid certain Errors to his Charge very unjustly he writ a Confutation thereof a Book it seems replenish'd with all kind of godly Learning These and several other things he writ while he was here but they were not published After his abode in this Place some time he was by Letters called away again among his former Friends and Acquaintance And what became of him afterwards I find not until here in Edward the Sixth's Reign he was nominated by our Arch-bishop to be made Arch-bishop of Armagh But in Queen Mary's Reign he fled to Frankford where he remained one of the Members of the English Congregation there And when an unhappy Breach was made there among them some being for the use of the Geneva Discipline and Form and others for the continuance of that Form of Prayers that had been used in England in K. Edward's Days and the Faction grew to that Head that the former separated themselves from the rest and departed to Geneva this Wisdome did in a Sermon preached at Frankford vindicate the English Book and somewhat sharply blamed them that went away calling them Mad-heads As one Tho. Cole wrote from thence to a Friend with this Censure on him That he so called them he would not say Vnwisely alluding to his name Wisdom but he might well say Vncharitably I have thought good to give this Account of these Men that we may perceive hence the good Judgment of our Arch-bishop in propounding them for those Irish Preferments so fit and well qualified for them as in other Respects of Prudence and Learning so especially for their tried Zeal and Boldness in preaching the Gospel and their Constancy in suffering for it which were Vertues that there would be great occasion for in Ireland Of all these Four our Arch-bishop judged Mr. Whithead the fittest giving this Character of him That he was endued with good Knowledg special Honesty fervent Zeal and politick Wisdom And the next to him in fitness he judged Turner of whom he gives this Relation That he was Merry and Witty withal Nihil appetit nihil ardet nihil somniat nisi Iesum Christum And in the lively preaching of Him and his Word declared such Diligence Faithfulness and Wisdom as for the same deserveth much Commendation In fine Turner was the Man concluded upon by the King for the Arch-bishoprick of Armagh Whithead either being not overcome to accept it or otherwise designed And the Arch-bishop had Order from Court to send to Canterbury for him to come up Which accordingly he did And now about the middle of September much against his Will as not liking his designed Preferment Turner waited upon the Arch-bishop Who urging to him the King's Will and Pleasure and his ordinary Call unto this Place and such-like Arguments after a great Unwillingness prevailed with him to accept it But the Arch-bishop told the Secretary that Turner seemed more glad to go to hanging which the Rebels three Years before were just going to do with him for his preaching against them in their Camp than he was now to go to Armagh He urged to the Archbishop That if he went thither he should have no Auditors but must preach to the Walls and Stalls for the People understood no English The Arch-bishop on the other hand endeavoured to answer all his Objections He told him They did understand English in Ireland tho whether they did in the Diocess of Armagh he did indeed doubt But to remedy that he advised him to learn the Irish Tongue which with diligence he told him he might do in a Year or two And that there would this Advantage arise thereby that both his Person and Doctrine would be more acceptable not only unto his Diocess but also throughout all Ireland And so by a Letter to Secretary Cecyl recommended him to his Care entreating That he might have as ready a Dispatch as might be because he had but little Money This Letter of the Arch-bishop is dated Sept. 29 1552. So that it must be a Mistake in the late excellent Historian when he writes That Bale and Goodacre were sent over into Ireland to be Bishops in the Month of August Which cannot agree with this Letter of Cranmer which makes Turner to be in nomination only for that See a Month after And by certain Memorials of King Edward's own Hand which I have it appears that as Turner at last got himself off from accepting that Bishoprick so by the Date thereof it is evident it was vacant in October following For the King under that Month put the providing for that Place which Turner refused among his Matters to be remembred The Arch-bishop's Letters concerning this Irish Affair are in the Appendix So that at last this Charge fell upon Hugh Goodacre the last Man as it seems nominated by the Arch-bishop whom he termed A Wise and Learned Man He and Bale as they came together out of Bishop Poynet's Family unto their Preferments so they were consecrated together by Brown Arch-bishop of Dublin Febr. 2. assisted by Thomas Bishop of Kildare and Eugenius Bishop of Down and Connor Which makes me think they were not come over long before Goodacre died about a quarter of a Year after at Dublin and there buried not without suspicion of Poison by procurement of certain Priests of his Diocess for preaching God's Verity and rebuking their common Vices as Bale writes He left many Writings of great Value behind him as the said Bale his dear Friend relates but none as ever I heard of published As he was a sober and vertuous Man so he was particularly famed for his Preaching He was at first I suppose Chaplain to the Lady Elizabeth at least to her he had been long known And for him about the Year 1548 or 1549 she procured a Licence to preach from the Protector as appears by a Letter she wrote from Enfield to Mr. Cecyl who then attended on him Of which Goodacre himself was the Bearer Wherein she gave this Testimony of him That he had been of long time known unto her to be as well of honest Conversation and sober Living as of sufficient Learning and Judgment in the Scriptures to preach the Word of God The advancement whereof as she said she so desired that she wished there were many such to set forth God's Glory She desired him therefore that as heretofore at her Request he had obtained Licence to preach for divers other honest Men so he would recommend this Man's Case unto my Lord
corrupt Religion within his Province and Territories But finding the Opposition against him so great and lying under the Excommunication of the Pope for what he had done and being deprived thereupon by the Emperor of his Lands and Function he resigned his Ecclesiastical Honour and betook himself to a retired Life which was done about the Year 1547. But no question in this private Capacity he was not idle in doing what Service he could for the good of that Cause which he had so generously and publickly espoused and for which he had suffered so much I find that in this Year 1552 our Arch-bishop had sent a Message to Secretary Cecyl who accompanied the King in this Summer's Progress desiring him to be mindful of the Bishop of Colen's Letters And in another Letter dated Iuly 21 he thanked the Secretary for the good remembrance he had thereof What the Contents of these Letters of the Arch-bishop of Colen were it appeareth not But I am very apt to think the Purport of them was that Cranmer would solicite some certain Business in the English Court relating to the Affairs of Religion in Germany and for the obtaining some Favour from the King in that Cause But the King being now abroad and the Arch-bishop at a distance from him he procured the Secretary who was ever cordial to the State of Religion to solicit that Arch-bishop's Business for him sending him withal that Arch-bishop's Letters for his better Instruction And this whatever it was seems to have been the last good Office that Arch-bishop Herman did to the Cause of Religion for he died according to Sleidan in the Month of August and our Arch-bishop's Letter wherein that Elector's Letters are mentioned were writ but the Month before And if one may judg of Mens commencing Friendship and Love according to the sutableness of their Tempers and Dispositions our Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the Arch-bishop of Colen must have been very intimate Friends It was said of this Man that he often wished That either he might be instrumental to the propagating the Evangelical Doctrine and Reformation of the Churches under his Iurisdiction or to live a private Life And when his Friends had often told him what Envy he would draw upon himself by the changing of Religion he would answer like a true Christian Philosopher That nothing could happen to him unexpectedly and that he had long since fortified his Mind against every Event These two Passages spake the very Spirit and Soul of Cranmer Which they may see that are minded to read what Fox saith of him as to his Undauntedness and Constancy in the maintaining of the Truth against the many Temptations and Dangers that he met with during these three Reigns successively And lastly as our Arch-bishop devoted himself wholly to the reforming of his Church so admirable was the Diligence Pains and Study this Arch-bishop took in contriving the Reformation of his He procured a Book to be writ concerning it called Instauratio Ecclesiarum which contained the Form and Way to be used for the redressing the Errors and Corruptions of his Church It was composed by those great German Divines Bucer and Melancthon which Book was put into English and published here as a good Pattern in the Year 1547. This Book he intended to issue forth through his Jurisdiction by his Authority to be observed But first he thought fit well and seriously to examine it and spent five Hours in the Morning for five Days to deliberate and consult thereupon Calling to him to advise withal in this great Affair his Coadjutor Count Stolberg Husman Ienep Bucer and Melancthon He caused the whole Work to be read before him and as many Places occurred wherein he seemed less satisfied he caused the Matter to be disputed and argued and then spake his own Mind accurately He would patiently hear the Opinions of others for the information of his own Judgment and so ordered things to be either changed or illustrated And so dextrously would he decide many Controversies arising that Melancthon thought that those great Points of Religion had been long weighed and considered by him and that he rightly understood the whole Doctrine of the Church He had always lying by him the Bible of Luther's Version and as Testimonies chanced to be alledged thence he commanded that they should be turned to that he might consider that which is the Fountain of all Truth Insomuch that the said Melancthon could not but admire and talk of his Learning Prudence Piety and Dexterity to such as he conversed with and particularly to Iohn Caesar to whom in a Letter he gave a particular Account of this Affair And it is to be noted by the way that the said Book according to which the Reformation was to be modelled contained only as Melancthon in his Letter suggested a necessary Instruction for all Children and the Sum of the Christian Doctrine and the Appointments for the Colleges and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy were very moderate the Form of the Ecclesiastical Polity being to remain as it was and so were the Colleges with their Dignities Wealth Degrees Ornaments thereunto belonging only great Superstitions should be taken away Which the wise Melancthon aforesaid did so approve of that he professed he had often propounded it in Diets of the German Nation as the best way to Peace And this I add that it might be observed how Arch-bishop Cranmer went by the same Measures in the Reformation of the Church of England maintaining the Hierarchy and the Revenues Dignities and Customs of it against many in those Times that were for the utter abolishing them as Relicks of Popery Such a Correspondence there was between our Arch-bishop and the wisest moderatest and most learned Divines of Germany But let us look nearer Home CHAP. XXXII Troubles of Bishop Tonstal AS the last Year we heard of the Deprivation of two Popish Bishops so this Year another underwent the like Censure I mean Tonstal Bishop of Durham whose Business I shall the rather relate because our Arch-bishop had some Concern in it Septemb. 21. A Commission was issued out to the Lord Chief Justice and his Colleagues council- to examine and determine the Cause of Tonstal Bishop of Durham and eight Writings touching the same which he is willed to consider and to proceed to the hearing and ordering of the Matter as soon as he may get the rest of his Colleagues to him It was not long after viz. about the midst of October that this Bishop by these Commissioners whose Names besides the Chief Justice do not occur was deprived and his Estate confiscated Octob. ult Sir Iohn Mason was ordered by the Council to deliver to the use of Dr. Tonstal so he is now stiled remaining Prisoner in the Tower such Money as should serve for his Necessities until such time as further Order shall be taken touching his Goods and Money lately appertaining to him Decemb. 6. It was agreed by the Council that Dr.
Penance and forsaking their Wives Allowing them to minister at the Altar and to serve Cures provided it were out of the Diocesses where they were married The said Bishops by this Commission were also empowered to grant to fit Rectors and Curates a Power to reconcile and absolve their respective Parishes This Commission I have placed in the Appendix as it was transcribed out of the Register of the Church of Canterbury The Lord Legate also for the better discharging of this his mighty Office gave out his Instructions how the Bishops and Officials of the Vacant Sees should perform this Work of the Reconciliation deputed to them by the said Legate together with the Form of Absolution to be pronounced Which Instructions and Form as they were extracted from the said Register may be found in the Appendix Each Bishop was to call before him the Clergy of his respective City and to instruct them in divers things As concerning the Pope's fatherly Love and Charity towards the English Nation in sending Cardinal Pole his Legate hither as soon as he knew the Lady Mary was declared Queen to bring this Kingdom so long separated from the Catholick Church into Union with it and to comfort and restore them to the Grace of God Concerning the joyful coming of the said Legate concerning what was done the last Parliament when the Lords and Commons were Reconciled and concerning the repealing of all the Laws made against the Authority of the Roman See by the two last Kings and restoring Obedience to the Pope and Church of Rome Concerning the Authority restored likewise to the Bishops especially that they might proceed against Hereticks and Schismaticks Then the Bishops were to acquaint their Clergy with the Faculties yielded to them by the Legate which were to be read openly Then all that were lapsed into Error and Schism were to be invited humbly to crave Absolution and Reconciliation and Dispensations as well for their Orders as for their Benefices Next a Day was fixed when the Clergy were to appear and petition for the said Absolutions and Dispensations On which day after they had confessed their Errors and sacramentally promised that they would make Confession of the same to the Bishop himself or some other Catholick Priests and to perform the Penance that should be enjoined them then the Bishop was to reconcile them and to dispense with their Irregularities Always observing a distinction between those that only fell into Schism and Error and those who were the Teachers of them and Leaders of others into Sin The same time was to be appointed another day for a Solemn Festival wherein the Bishops and Curates in their Churches should signify to the People all that the Bishops before had spoken to their Clergy and then should invite them all to confess their Errors and to return into the Bosom of the Church promising them That all their past Crimes should be forgiven if so be they repented of them and renounced them And a certain Term was to be fixed namely the whole Octaves of Easter within which Term all should come and be reconciled But the Time to be reconciled in being lapsed all that remained unreconciled as also all that returned to their Vomit after they had been reconciled were to be most severely proceeded against The said Bishops and Officials where any Sees were Vacant were to name and depute the Rectors of the Parish-Churches and other fit Persons who should absolve the Laity of their Parishes from Heresy and Schism and Censures according to a Form to be given them by the Bishops The Bishops and Officials and Curates were to have each a Book in which were to be writ the Names and Parishes of all that were reconciled That it might afterwards be known who were reconciled and who were not After the Octave of Easter was past the Bishops were to visit first their Cities and then their Diocesses and to summon before them all such as had not been reconciled and to know of them the Cause why they would not depart from their Errors and remaining obstinate in them they were to proceed against them In this Visitation all the Clergy were to be required to shew the Titles of their Orders and Benefices and notice was to be taken if any Defect were therein And now the Bishops were to take care to root out any Errors in their Diocesses and to depute fit Persons to make Sermons and hear Confessions They were also to take care to have the Sacred Canons observed and to have inserted into the Books of Service the Name of S. Thomas the Martyr and of the Pope formerly blotted out and to pray for the Pope according as it was used before the Schism They were advised to insist much upon the great Miseries we were in before and the great Grace that God now had shewed to this People Exhorting them to acknowledg these Mercies and devoutly to pray for the King and Queen that had deserved so exceedingly well of this Kingdom and especially to pray for a happy Off-spring from the Queen In these Instructions there are several Strictures that make it appear Pole was not so gentle towards the Hereticks as the Professors of the Gospel were then stiled as is reported but rather the contrary and that he went hand in hand with the bloody Bishops of these Days For it is plain here that he put the Bishops upon proceeding with them according to the Sanguinary Laws lately revived and put in full Force and Virtue What an Invention was that of his a kind of Inquisition by him set up whereby not a Man might escape that stood not well affected to Popery I mean his ordering Books to be made and kept wherein the Names of all such were to be written that in every Place and Parish in England were reconciled and so whosoever were not found in those Books might be known to be no Friends to the Pope and so to be proceeded against And indeed after Pole's crafty and zealous Management of this Reconciliation all that good Opinion that Men had before conceived of him vanished and they found themselves much mistaken in him especially seeing so many Learned and Pious Gospel-Bishops and Ministers imprisoned and martyred under him and by his Commission Insomuch that now People spake of him as bad as of the Pope himself or the worst of his Cardinals The Gospellers before this did use to talk much among themselves that he did but dissemble at Rome in his present outward Compliances with them and their Superstitions and that he would upon a good Opportunity shew himself an open Professor of the Truth And indeed he often had Conferences before him of Christ and of the Gospel of a living Faith and Justification by Faith alone and he often would wish the true Doctrine might prevail But now the Mask was taken off and he shewed himself what he was A notable Letter to this Purpose was written concerning the Cardinal about
his Inconstancy viz. That he that was an earnest Protestant but the day before and one whom Dr. Sands had done much good for was now become a Papist and his great Enemy Thus was our Arch-bishop a Friend to this Man and divers others who went along with him as far as he and the Times favoured them but when these failed them they failed the Arch-bishop through Timorousness in some and worldly Respects in others But on●e more of this Dr. Mowse and I have done with him As a Reward of his forwardness at Cambridg before mentioned I find he was soon after incorporated at Oxon together with Andrew Pern D.D. a Man of the same Inconstancy and preferred to be Reader of the Civil Law there in the room of Dr. Aubrey who probably was removed for Incompliance And when the next Change happened under Queen Elizabeth Mowse came about again and in the Year 1560 obtained a Prebend in the Church of York He lived till the Year 1588 leaving some Benefactions to his old College The Arch-bishop was indeed a great Patron to all Learned and Pious Men especially those of the Reformation cherishing those not only of his own Country but Foreigners and Strangers also And as he brought over divers with him when he returned into England from his Embassy in Germany so he sent for more And such as came to him he gave honourable Harbour and Maintenance to keeping them at his own Cost till he had made Provisions for them either in the Church or University For Erasmus our Arch-bishop had a great value whose Worth and Service to the Church he well knew He allowed him an Honorary Pension promising him that he would be no less kind unto him than his Predecessor Warham had been before him Which Arch-bishop was one of Erasmus his best and most extraordinary Friends and Benefactors Of whom he used these words to a Friend of his Qui mihi unus multorum instar erat Soon after the succession of Cranmer into this Arch-bishop's Room Sir Thomas More wrote to Erasmus that he that then filled the See of Canterbury bore no less love to him than Warham had done before and Quo non alius vixit tui amantior That there was no Man living loved him better And Erasmus himself mentioning his great Loss in Arch-bishop VVarham and divers other Patrons of his that were taken off by Death comforted himself that God had made up those Losses to him by raising him up other Friends So saith he in the room of VVarham succeeded the Reverend Thomas Cranmer Professione Theologus Vir integerrimus candidissimisque moribus Qui ultro pollicitus est sese in studio ac beneficentia erga me priori nequaquam cessurum quod sponte pollicitus est sponte praestare coepit ut mihi Vuaramus non ereptus sed in Cranmero renatus videri queat By Profession a Divine a Person of the greatest Integrity and most unblamable Behaviour VVho of his own accord promised That in Favour and Kindness toward me he would be no ways behind his Predecessor And that which he voluntarily promised he hath voluntarily begun to make good So that methinks Warham is not taken away from me but rather Born again to me in Cranmer One Specimen of his Munificence towards this Learned Man I meet with in one of his Letters wherein he acknowledged to have received of Cranmer eighteen Angels when the Bishop of Lincoln sent him also Fifteen and the Lord Crumwel Twenty Alexander Aless was another Learned Stranger whom our Arch-bishop gave Harbour and shewed Favour to A Scotch-Man by Birth but that had long lived and conversed with Melancthon in Germany Who knowing the generous and hospitable Disposition of the Arch-bishop recommended this Aless to him giving a high Character of him for his Learning Probity and Diligence in every good Office In the Year 1535 he brought over from Melancthon a Book to be presented to the Arch-bishop wherein That Learned German laboured as he told the Arch-bishop in his Letter sent at the same time to state diligently and profitably most of the Controversies and as much as he could to mitigate them leaving the Judgment of the whole unto his Grace and such learned and pious Men as He from whose Judgment he said he would never differ in the Church of Christ desiring him also to acquaint Aless what his Grace's own Judgment was of the Book that Aless might signify the same unto him Such was the Deference Melancthon gave unto the Learning and Censure of Cranmer This Book I should suppose to have been his Common Places but that they came out a Year after By the same Messenger he sent another of these Books to be presented in his Name to the King and in case the Arch-bishop approved of what he had wrote he entreated him to introduce the Bringer and to assist him in the presenting of it Upon these Recommendations of Aless and the Arch-bishop's own Satisfaction in the Worth of the Man he retained him with him at Lambeth and much esteemed him This was that Aless that Crumwel probably by Cranmer's means brought with him to the Convocation in the Year 1536 whom he desired to deliver there his Opinion about the Sacrament Who did so and enlarged in a Discourse asserting two Sacraments only instituted by Christ namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper As the Author of the British Antiquities relates ad Ann. 1537. calling him there Virum in Theologia perductum A thorow-paced Divine This Man compiled a useful Treatise against the Schism laid to the Charge of Protestants by those of the Church of Rome The Substance and Arguments of which Book were Melancthon's own Invention but Aless composed and brought it into Method and Words This Book Melancthon sent unto George Prince of Anhalt The Consolations of which as he wrote to that Noble and Religious Man he was wont to inculcate upon himself against those who objected commonly to them the horrible Crime of Schism as he stiles it For saith he their monstrous Cruelty is sufficient to excuse us Which it seems was one of the Arguments whereby they defended themselves against that Charge Esteeming it lawful and necessary to leave the Communion of a Church which countenanced and practised Cruelty a thing so contrary to one of the great and fundamental Laws of Christian Religion namely that of Love and that their abiding in a Church where such bloody and barbarous Practices were would argue their approbation and concurrence And as Melancthon made use of him in composing his Thoughts into a handsom Stile so did another great Light of the same Nation I mean Bucer In King Edward's Days he had wrote a Book in the German that is in his own Country-Language about Ordination to the Ministery in this Kingdom of England intituled Ordinatio Ecclesiae seu Ministerii Eccesiastici in florentissimo Angliae regno This our
Commentaries which he then was busy about and as it seems encouraged by Cranmer to take in Hand and prosecute And when Dr. Bruno a Learned Man and Father-in-Law to Sleidan departed out of England which was about the Time before mentioned being the Agent of the Duke of Saxony the Arch-bishop informed him of this Stipend by the King granted unto his Son-in-Law confirming the same to him in the King's Name and encouraging the Commentator hereby to proceed cheerfully in his useful Undertaking But upon the Stirs at Court the paiment of this Pension was neglected a great while Which caused Sleidan to call upon the Arch-bishop more than once as also upon his Friends Cheke and Cecyl entreating them to remind the Arch-bishop of him and to communicate to his Lordship the Letters he had writ to them But alas he needed not to have been excited to things of this Nature bearing so good a Will to them and being of his own Nature so forward to favour Learned and honest Men and useful Designs Nor was his good Will to Sleidan any whit abated but his Interest at Court was now towards the declension of King Edward's Reign But because his Pension depended only upon a verbal Promise of the King and the getting it under his Seal might contribute to the paiment of it in better sort hereafter he laboured with our Prelate and the two other Persons mentioned that it might be confirmed by Letters Patents He urged to them That he could have employed himself in other Business that would have redounded more to his Profit as many others did But he reckoned himself called to this Work from Heaven and that he could take no rest in his Mind till he had brought the History down to that present Time it being then the Year 1553 That he had hope that they according to their Humanity and Prudence who well understood things would take some Pains that the Arrears of his promised Stipend might be paid and that some further Care might be taken for the due Paiment of it hereafter that so he might the more conveniently and freely follow that Matter Leaving it to them to consider how much that Labour cost him as to the Charges he means of Correspondence for the getting particular and faithful Accounts of things that past in all Parts And lastly That it belonged properly to Kings to cherish such Labours as would be Ornaments to Religion and Learning and of Use to the Common-Good And in another Address to Secretary Cecyl he desired That he would plead in his behalf with the most Reverend the Arch-bishop adding That he did wholly give up himself to this Work and was in a diligent pursuit of all Matters in order to the compiling a compleat History Though I have said so much already of Sleidan yet I will take this occasion to add somewhat more that I may retrieve as much as I can of this honest Man and excellent Writer In the Month of September Anno 1552 he sent to the King together with a Letter his Commentaries of the German Wars brought down to that very Time being a short Draught of that he intended afterwards more largely and fully to write And Cheke and Cecyl were the Men that presented them to his Majesty With this kind of Writing the King declared himself much pleased as Cecyl wrote him back and so he and Cheke also were This Encouragement put our Author upon another Design resolving to write the whole Actions of the Council of Trent wherein he himself had been a part having been Agent there for five Months from the City of Strasburg This he intended to do for the King 's own Sake That he might thorowly understand the Form of Councils and might then make his Judgment of the rest of the History of the Reformation of Religion which he was then writing The Spring after he presented the King with a Specimen of his Writing concerning the Council of Trent It was the beginning and entrance into that Treatise he intended to write of that Subject This he desired might be kept in the King's Study and communicated to no other Hand and that no Copy of it might be taken it being but a small part of a future Work and so imperfect He had now in the Ides of March compleated his Commentaries from the Year 1517 to the Year 1536 and was resolved by God's Grace to go on with it in the same Method In order to which in the Month of December before he had desired of Cecyl that he would procure him the whole Action between King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII when that King vindicated his own Liberty and that of his Kingdom from Papal Pretences of Supremacy over each This Matter between the King and the Pope he called Locus illustris memorabilis and judged it very worthy for Posterity to know Adding that though he had in his own Hands some Matters relating thereto yet they were not so exact and certain as he could wish because he desired to describe every thing properly and most exactly according to Truth He entreated also that if either he or Cheke had any other Matters of that Nature to impart they would oblige him with them Which Passages make me conclude that in relation to the English Affairs he made great use of Intelligences from Cecyl and Cheke and probably our Arch-bishop too Which consideration may add a great Reputation unto the Credit of his Book Now to preserve as much as we can of this excellent Historian Iohn Sleidan I have thought good to insert divers of his Letters in the Appendix and likewise because mention is often therein made of our Arch-bishop To which I have subjoined a Letter of Martin Bucer a great Name wrote to Cecyl in behalf of the said Sleidan For he did not only importune those Courtiers before mentioned but when no Answer came from them he made Bucer also his Solicitor from Cambridg Who Anno 1551 Feb. 18. wrote to Cecyl to further Sleidan's Business and to dispatch the Paiment of his Stipend and that Sleidan might be resolved one way or other giving Cecyl this Memento That this would well become the Administration of a Kingdom so much adorned as with other things so with the Benefit of Religion By the way the Date of this Letter would deserve well to be noted serving to judg of the true Date of Bucer's Death Which by Historians is variously set down if we may believe Fuller in his History of the University of Cambridg It is certain Bucer was ill when he wrote that Letter to Cecyl for he mentions therein an Epistle which he sent to Dr. Iohn Quercetanus the Physician upon the said Cecyl's Desire the which he said he was hardly able to dictate This Letter to Cecyl I take to be writ in his last Sickness nine Days before the Date which Sleidan his Friend assigned for the Day of his Death To
Prison skulking about for some time at length he saved himself by Exile He was a Man mightily tossed about For to look upon him before this in King Henry's Reign then for his Security he was forced to leave his Friends and Country wandring as far as Darbyshire and the Peak where he privately taught School for a Subsistence And coming a mere Stranger into Alsop in the Dale one Mr. Alsop a pious Man in that barbarous Country shewed him great Civility Afterwards he travelled into Staffor●shire where he also educated Children in good Literature and instilled into their Minds the Principles of Christian Doctrine After a Year's tarrying there and in Leicester-shire he flitted into Warwick-shire where he taught also divers Gentlemens Sons and where he met with old Father Latimer to his great Joy who had first made him acquainted with the Gospel when he was a Scholar in Cambridg twenty Years before He wrote a great many Books forty in number suted to the various Occasions of Christians both in the Persecutions under Queen Mary and the free Profession and Restoration of the Gospel under King Edward and Queen Elizabeth and many more against the Religion of the Roman Church All these did this learned and painful Author compose for the Benefit of the Professors of Religion Whereby he did such Service to the enlightning of Mens Minds in the knowledg of the Truth and for the exposing the Corruptions of Popery that it was thought convenient that some of that Communion should be employed to write against him And so Richard Smith sometime Reader of Divinity in Oxon and one that had subscribed to the Reformed Religion and after fled into Brabant and became a zealous Assertor of Popery writ in a bitter Stile against some of Becon's Books as he had done against the Arch-bishop himself before I find this Becon put up to preach one of the Lent Sermons at St. Pauls Cross in the Year 1566. And such then was his Fame for a Preacher and such his Favour with the greatest Prelats that the Lord Mayor for that Year sent a Message to Arch-bishop Parker That his Grace would prevail with him to preach one of the Sermons at the Spittle that Easter In the Year 1564 he revised and reprinted all his former Books in three Volumes dedicating the whole to all the Arch-bishops and Bishops of the Realm And in Commendation thereof Parkhurst Bishop of Norwich wrote these Verses to him Vidi perlegi doctos Baecone Libellos Quos tua non pridem Sancta Minerva dedit Dispeream siquid legi unquam sanctius aut si Quid potuit populo tradier utilius Auspice perge Deo tales vulgare Libellos Vaniloquax sed nec lingua timenda tibi est Sic Christum possis avido inculcare popello Sic possis nomen condecorare tuum Besides these there was his Postil being Godly and Learned Sermons on all the Sunday-Gospels in the Year Printed in Quarto in the Year 1567. I shall say no more of his Chaplains after I shall have mentioned Richard Harman Who seems to have been one of his first Chaplains being once of King's-College but went away Scholar probably for Religion afterwards lived in Iesus-College and commenced Master of Arts with Cranmer Whom he also preferred to be his Domestick afterwards This Man was one of those Cambridg-Men that were elected into S. Frideswide's-College in Oxon and suffered much there for Religion He was afterwards a Canon of Windsor but fell back to Popery CHAP. XXIX Arch-bishop Cranmer's Officers I Shall now add a few words of Two of his Civil Officers His Steward and his Secretary on Nevyl was his Steward in K. Henry's Reign who conducted Sir Iohn Seimour coming with a Message from the King through the Hall when the Tables were sumptuously set unto the ABp at Dinner him I have nothing to say of But he had another afterwards named Robert Watson born in Norwich of whom I have a word or two say He was a great Civilian and an Exile for Religion in Queen Mary's Reign But before his escape beyond Sea he lay in Prison in Norwich a Year and four Months saith Bale almost two Years saith Fox And then was most fortunately delivered without doing any Violence to his Conscience by the Subscription which he made Being Abroad he wrote a Piece intituled Aetiologia to all that sincerely professed Christ wheresoever dispersed especially his Countrymen the English banished with him In this Tract he gave a Relation of himself and his Imprisonment and Escape and of the Disputes that happened between him and his Adversaries concerning Transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and by what means he escaped safe in Body and Conscience Which was a rare Matter to do from such Inquisitors It was propounded to him to set his Hand to these words viz. That he believed and confessed that the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist through the Omnipotency of God's Word pronounced by the Priest were turned into the Body and Blood of Christ and after Consecration under the Forms of Bread and Wine remained the true Body and Blood of Christ and no other Substance To which he made this Subscription His omnibus eatenus assentior subscribo quatenus Verbo Dei nituntur eoque sensu quo sunt ab Ecclesia Catholica a Sanctis Patribus intellecta By the Means of one Dr. Barret a Learned Friar of Norwich he was upon this favourable Subscription dismissed But Christopherson Dean of Norwich when he understood it was much incensed and laid out to take him again But he by the help of Friends escaped over the Seas Now lastly of Ralph Morice his Secretary so much employed and so greatly intrusted by our Arch-bishop it may not be amiss to set down a few Memorials He was his Secretary not so much for ordinary Matters incident to his Archiepiscopal Office as his Amanuensis for Learned Treatises and Discourses which he composed In this Place he remained for twenty Years that is from the Arch-bishop's first entrance upon his See to the Death of King Edward VI his good Master He was a very considerable Person and of good Birth being the Son of Iames Morice of Royden in the County of Essex Esq. Which Iames was sometime Servant unto the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond and Derby and Clerk of her Kitchin and Master of her Works and particularly of Christs-College and S. Iohns in Cambridg both which she founded He also and his Son William were joint Receivers of the Lands called Richmond-Lands and other Lands called the Recovered-Lands Our Ralph by reason of his Service about the Arch-bishop was well known to Bishop Heth Bishop Thirlby Bishop Cox Bishop Barlow and Bishop Scory Men that were much about the Arch-bishop and his Friends and who were privy to those Volumes that the Secretary writ out for his Master He dwelt sometime in Chartham not far from Canterbury and had the
by any Doctor above a thousand Years after Christ that Christ's Body is in the Sacrament of the Altar really he would give over So that his Library was the Storehouse of Ecclesiastical Writers of all Ages And which was open for the use of Learned Men. Here old Latimer spent many an Hour and found some Books so remarkable that once he thought fit to mention one in a Sermon before the King And when Ascham of Cambridg a great Student of Politer Learning and of Greek Authors wanted Gregory Nyssen in Greek not the Latin Translation of him and which it seems the University could not afford he earnestly entreated Poynet his Grace's Chaplain to borrow it in his Name and for his use for some Months of the Arch-bishop For in those Times it was rare to meet with those Greek Fathers in their own Language and not spoiled by some ill Latin Translation Another of his Books I will mention because it is now in the possession of a Reverend Friend of mine near Canterbury in which Book the Arch-bishop's Name is yet to be seen written thus with his own Hand Thomas Cantuariensis and a remarkable Book it is which we may conclude the Arch-bishop often perused viz. Epistolae Historiae Joannis Hus. Printed at Wittemberg 1537. And this Learning happening in a Mind possessed with Piety made him the more deeply sensible of the greatness of the Charge that lay upon him And as he well knew under what Needs the Church laboured so he was very solicitous that nothing might be wanting on his part shewing himself a most conscientious Bishop and tender Pastor of Christ's Flock He was not guided in his Episcopal Function by vain Glory or Affectation of popular Applause or worldly Ambition or Covetousness but only by the Holy and Pious Ends of discharging his Duty and promoting the Honour of Christ and the Knowledg of his Gospel and the Good of his People as he took God to witness in the Preface of his Book of the Sacrament A Paragraph whereof I think not unworthy to be here inserted whereby it may appear of what a truly Apostolical Spirit our Arch-bishop was When I see said he Christ's Vinyard overgrown with Thorns Brambles and Weeds I know that everlasting Woe appertaineth to me if I hold my Peace and put not to my Hand and Tongue to labour in purging his Vinyard God I take to witness who seeth the Hearts of all Men thorowly unto the bottom that I take this Labour for none other Consideration but for the Glory of his Name and the Discharge of my Duty and the Zeal I have toward the Flock of Christ. I know in what Office God hath placed me and to what Purpose That is to say to set forth his Word truly unto his People to the uttermost of my Power without respect of Persons or regard of Things in the World but of him alone I know what Account I shall make to him hereof at the last Day when every Man shall answer for his Vocation and receive for the fame Good or Evil according as he hath done I know how Antichrist hath obscured the Glory of God and the true Knowledg of his Word overcasting the same with Mists and Clouds of Error and Ignorance thrô false Glosses and Interpretations It pitieth me to see the simple and hungry Flock of Christ led into corrupt Pastures to be carried blindfold they know not whither and to be fed with Poison instead of wholsome Meats And moved by the Duty Office and Place whereunto it hath pleased God to call me I give warning in his Name unto all that profess Christ that they flee far from Babylon if they will save their Souls and to beware of that great Harlot that is to say the pestiferous See of Rome that she make you not drunk with her pleasant Wine c. And as he had this Care of the whole Church of this Land as the high Patriarch thereof so he particularly had his Eye upon his own Diocess He took Care even in King Henry's ticklish Reign to place such Ministers in Kent as were Learned and dared to open their Mouths to preach Gospel-Doctrin and to convince the People of the Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome and of the Idolatry and Superstitions wherein they had been so long nursled up And for the preventing whereof for Time to come he ordered his Arch-deacon and other his Officers to take down Images out of Churches and deface them Which things created him much hatred among the Popish Clergy whose Gain depended so much therein He had a peculiar regard of the greater Towns of his Diocess that such Places might be furnished with able Men where the Inhabitants were numerous and the Salaries generally small Whereby he saw it came to pass that where there was most need of Learned Men there the most Ignorant were placed Therefore he thought this worthy his redressing I meet with this Memorandum in one of his Note-books These Towns following are especially to be remembred that in them there be placed Learned Men with sufficient Stipends Sandwich Dover Folkston Ashford Tenderden Crambroke Faversham Hearn Whitstable Marden Maydston Wye and Wingham In these great Towns as well as Canterbury he often preached himself And for his Sermons at Sandwich he was once complained of openly in the Parliament-house to have brought him under the Lash of the Statute of the Six Articles And within seven or eight Years after his first entrance into the See he had placed such store of good Preachers about Kent that at another time a long List of Articles were drawn up against them and given in to the Justices of the County at a Quarter-Sessions of the Peace and they by a Combination preferred the Complaint to the King and Council His high Estate puffed him not up nor made him forget the great Work of his Calling which he very earnestly desired to prosecute above all things in the World Nor did he care at all for the high Titles that were attributed to him as he was Arch-bishop of Canterbury as may appear by this Passage Upon occasion of a Question arising concerning his Stile of Primate of all England for bearing which in his Summons for a Provincial Visitation the Bishop of Winchester out of Malice had complained to King Henry against him as though it were an Encroachment upon the King's Supremacy he protested to Crumwel then Secretary who had sent him word of it That as God should be merciful to him in the Day of Judgment he set not more by any Title or Stile than he did by the paring of an Apple further than it should be to the setting forth God's Word and Will His Expression was That they were the Successors of Diotrephes that affected glorious Titles Stiles and Pomps He professed He could have been willing that Bishops should lay aside their lofty Stiles and only write themselves by the Stile of their Offices The
Carnal Presence For a Conclusion let the Reader not hear me but another speak for our Arch-bishop against one of these Calumniators and he a Portugal Bishop After Cranmer by hearing of the Gospel began to savour of Christian Profession what Wickedness was ever reported of him With what outrage of Lust was he enflamed What Murders what seditious Tumults what secret Conspiracies were ever seen or suspected so much to proceed from him Unless ye account him blame-worthy for this that when King Henry Father to Mary upon great Displeasure conceived was for some secret Causes determined to strike off her Head this Reverend Arch-bishop did pacify the Wrath of the Father and with mild continual Intercession preserved the Life of the Daughter Who for Life preserved acquitted her Patron with Death As concerning his Marriage if you reproachfully impute that to Lust which Paul doth dignify with so honourable a Title I do answer That he was the Husband of one Wife with whom he continued many Years more chastly and holily than Osorius in that his stinking sole and single Life peradventure one Month tho he flee never so often to his Catholick Confessions And I see no Cause why the Name of a Wife shall not be accounted in each respect as Holy with the true Professors of the Gospel as the Name of a Concubine with the Papists Thus Fox And so I have at last by God's favourable Concurrence finished this my Work and have compiled an imperfect History yet with the best Diligence I could of this singular Arch-bishop and blessed Martyr and in the conclusion have briefly vindicated him from those many false Surmises and Imputations that his implacable Enemies of the Roman Faction have reported and published abroad against him Not contented with the shedding of his Blood unless they stigmatized his Name and Memory and formed the World into a belief that he was one of the vilest Wretches that lived who in Reality and Truth appeareth to have been one of the holiest Bishops and one of the best Men that Age produced THE END THE APPENDIX TO THE MEMORIALS OF Archbishop Cranmer THE APPENDIX TO THE MEMORIALS OF Archbishop Cranmer NUM I. Account of Mr. Pool's Book by Dr. Cranmer To the Ryght honorable and my syngular good Lorde my Lorde of Wylshire IT may please your Lordeshipe to bee advertised that the Kynge his grace my Lady your wyfe my Lady Anne your doughter be in good helth whereof thankes be to God As concernynge the Kinge hys cause Mayster Raynolde Poole hath wrytten a booke moch contrary to the kinge hys purpose wyth such wytte that it appereth that he myght be for hys wysedome of the cownsel to the kinge hys grace And of such eloquence that if it were set forth and knowne to the commen people I suppose yt were not possible to persuade them to the contrary The pryncypal intent whereof ys that the kinge hys grace sholde be contente to commyt hys grete cause to the jugement of the pope wherein me semeth he lacketh moch jugement But he swadeth that with such goodly eloquence both of words and sentence that he were lyke to persuade many but me hee persuadeth in that poynt no thynge at al. But in many other thynges he satysfyeth me very wel The som wherof I shal shortly reherse Furst he sheweth the cause wherfore he had never pleasure to intromytte hymself in this cause And that was the trouble which was lyke to ensue to this realme therof by dyversitie of tytles Wherof what hurte myght come we have had exsample in our fathers dayes by the tytles of Lancaster and Yorke And where os god hath gyven many noble gyfts unto the kinge hys grace as wel of body and mynde os also of fortune yet this excedeth al other that in hym al tytles do mete and come togyder and this Realme ys restored to tranquillitie and peace so oweth he to provide that this londe fal not agayne to the forsaide mysery and troble which may come aswel by the people within this realme which thynke surely that they have an hayre lawful al●●ady with whom they al be wel contente and wolde be sory to have any other And yt wolde be harde to persuade thaym to take any other levynge her os also by the Emperour whych ys a man of so grete power the quene beying hys awnt the Princes hys nece whome he so moch doth and ever hath favored And where he harde reasons for the kynge hys party that he was moved of god hys lawe which doth straytly forbed and that with many gret thretts that no man shal mary hys brother hys wife And os for the people yt longeth not to thayr judgement and yet yt ys to be thought that thay wil be contente whan thay shal knowe that the awncyente Doctores of the Chyrch and the determinations of so many grete vniversities be of the kynge hys sentence And os concernynge the Emperour if he be so unryghtful that he wyl mayntene an unjust cause yet god wil never fayl thaym that stonde opon his party and for any thynge wyl not transgresse hys commawndments And besyde that we shal not lacke the ayde of the Frenshe kynge whyche partely for the Lege whych he hath made with us and partly for the dyspleasure and olde grutch which he bereth toward the Emperour wolde be glad to have occasion to be avenged Thies reasons he bryngeth for the kyngs party agaynst hys owne opynyon To which he maketh answer in this maner Fyrst os towchynge the Lawe of god he thynketh that yf the kinge were pleased to take the contrary parte he myght os wel justifie that and have os good grownde of the scripture therfore os for that parte which he now taketh And yet if he thought the kyngs party never so juste and that this his mariage were undowtedly agaynst godds pleasure than he cowde not deny but yt sholde be wel done for the kynge to refuse this mariage and to take another wyfe but that he sholde be a doar therin and a setter forwarde therof he cowde never fynde in hys harte And yet he grawnteth that he hath no good reason therfore but only affection which he bereth and of dewty oweth unto the kyngs parson For in so doing he sholde not only wayke ye and utterly take away the Princes Title but also he must neds accuse the most and cheife parte of al the kyngs lyfe hiderto which hath bene so infortunate to lyve more than xx yers in a matrimony so shameful so abominable so bestial and agaynst nature yf it be so os the books which do defend the kyngs party do say that the abomination therof ys naturally wrytten and graven in every mans harte so that none excusation can be made by ignorance And thus to accuse the noble nature of the kyngs grace and to take away the title of hys succession he cowde never fynd in hys harte were the kyngs cause never so
trouble And how safe we be in religion when al quietnes is acquired you Wisdome canne consider Our late Soveraine Lord was wont to say which I never forget speaking of himself man had not looked to the Pacification He saw men d●sirous to set forth their own fancies which he thought to have excluded by his Pacification If your G. would say to me now that I wasted moch speche in vaine and declared therby I had to much laysor to write so moch in this matier as though I feared that nedeth not to be feared for your G. hath commaunded our late Soveraine Lords book to be redde and mindeth nothing now but oonly Omylies wherin your G. wold I shuld write Which to do wer neyther gret payne ne hardnesse to me and I might as soon wryte an Homilie as these letters As for the facilite of the matier of wryting or wryting by not traverse But then I consider what contraversie may arise in wryting As for example for seing I have laysor to wryte I wil forget what laysor your G. hath to rede if I should make an Homily De vita perfecta I wolde note two parts Oon of life Another of perfiteness For the grownde of the oon I wolde take S Iohn Misit Deus silium suum ut vivamus per eum And for the other Estote perfecti sicut pater vester c. In Declaration of Life I wolde take occasion to speke of Faith the gift of entre to life and of Charite the very gift of Life which who hath not remaineth in det●e And therfore S. Iames said Fides sine operibus mortua est Not expounding that so as though Faith without Charite were no Faith as we say a dead man is no man For I wolde wish the people in any wise to beware of that fashion of teaching and such a sophistical understanding of S. Iames and for detection therof declare that deth conteyneth not alwayes a denyal of the thing dead not to be but oonly wher the name of the thing noted now dead conteyned before in it a signification of life As the word man signifyeth a body living and thenne it is truly said that a dead man is no man no more thenne a paynted man But Faith signifieth not alwayes a Life in it For Devils have Faith without life And when we speke of ded faith it is like as when ye speke of a body indeed without life but apt and mete to receyve life As spawne is a body without life and dead but mete to receyve life with convenient circumstance And then we say not that a body dead is no body And therfore we may not say that a dead Faith is no Faith After which understanding we shuld make S. Iames to treate whether no faith might justify a man or no Which were a cold matier And yet so must we say if we wil expound this saying that a dead faith is no faith And in this poynt I wold in my Homily De Vita be most ernest to shew that in charity is life wherunto Faith is thentre Which faith without charite is not noo faith but dead And therfore God that geveth al life geveth with faith charite Wherof I wold make the moo words in the Homily bicause the handling of S. Iames in the other sophistical interpretation is an entre to unwholsome doctrine And if your G. wold say What of this or to what purpose shuld it be wryten to you that myndeth no such matier Surely for nothing but bicause I have plenty of leasour and wryte as though I talked with you And that not al in vaine for that I have hertofor harde of other whom I have harde moch glory in that exposition to say S. Iames meaneth that dead faith is no faith even as a dead man is no man Which by my saye is overfar out of the way and yet myn Omylie might in such an Homiler and company of Omylies encontre with oon of the trade I have spoken of and bring forth matier of contention and altercation without al frute or edification And thus much for example of trouble in Homylies Which these five yeres have rested without any busines and the people wel doon their dueties I trust to God in heven and know wel to ther Soverain Lord in yerth And our Soverain Lord that governed them without these Omylies goen to heven whether I trust we and the people shal go after although we trouble them with noo Homilies Which shal hardly be so accumulate ex diversis tractatibus with diverse fashion of wryting diverse phrase of speches diverse conceits in teachings diverse ends per case entended as some wil construe The rest is wanting NUM XXXVI Gardiner Bishop of Winton to the Duke of Somerset concerning the Book of Homilies and Erasmus Paraphrase englished AFter my most humble Commendations unto your Good Lp. with hearty thanks that it hath pleased you to be content to hear from me Wherein now I have liberty to write at large to you I cannot find the like gentleness in my body to spend so much time as I would And therfore I shal now desire your G. to take in good part tho I gather my matter in brief sentences The Injunctions in this last Visitation contain a commandment to se taught and learned two books One of Homilies that must be taught another of Erasmus Paraphrasis that the Priests must learn These Books strive one against another directly The Book of the Homilies teacheth Faith to exclude charity in the office of Justification Erasmus Paraphrasis teacheth Faith to have charity joyned with him in Justification The Book of Homilies teacheth how men may swear The Paraphrasis teacheth the contrary very extremely The Book of Homilies teacheth how Subjects owe tribute to their Prince and obedience very wel The Book of the Paraphrase in a place upon S. Poule violently and against al truth after it hath spoken of duties to Heathen Princes knitteth the matter up untruly that between the Christen men at Rome to whom he writeth which is a Lesson to al there should be no debt or right but mutual charity Which is a marvailous matter The Book of Homilies in another place openeth the Gospel one way The Paraphrase openeth it clean contrary The matter is not great but because there is contrariety Now to consider each of the aforesaid Books The Book of H. in the sermon of Salvation teacheth the clean contrary to the doctrin established by the Act of Parlament even as contrary as Includeth is contray to Excludeth For these be the words of the Doctrin established by Parlament where in a certain place Faith doth not exclude The doctrin of the Parlament speaketh how they be joyned in Justification The Homilies speak the vertues to be present in the man justified and how Faith excludes them in the office of Justification Which can never be proved and is in the mean time contrary to the Act. The Book of
Nec mirum est nam adversarij nostri cogor invitus acerbiori voce uti Prudentissime Vir tragicis clamoribus hanc rem illi detulerunt Quod factum illorum majoríne malitia aut imperitia institutum fuit dubitari potest Thomas enim Aquinas probat Missam Dominicam coenam multis praerogativis superasse longissimè ab ea discrepasse multis notis Sexu Missare enim Mulieres non debent a Coena tamen non excludantur Aetate Vitio Parentum Luxatione Membrorum Nam pueri Nothi Mutilati a Missae dignitate repelluntur ad Coenae humilitatem recipiuntur multis alijs modis Ut siquis affirmaret eandem esse Missam Coenam multo magis exclamarent Sed quid dicam de hijs nostris Nihil aliud nisi quod Herodes turbatus est tota Hierosolyma cum eo Dicunt nos esse praecipites Certe nemo tam praeceps est quin facile revocari possit ut calcaribus potius quam habenis tota Cantabrigia egeat Sed quod institui tibi narrare quanquam disputatio nostra fuerit prohibita studia tamen nostra in eadem re quodammodo aucta sunt Scripsimus enim fere justum librum de Missa quem brevi offerre instituimus D. Protectori nisi tibi magistro Checo aliter visum fuerit Quantum ad tractationem rei pertinet vellem ut judicium tuum non sermoni aliorum sed ipsi rei reservare velis Neque hoc dicimus quia de nobis aliquid polliceri audemus sed quia veremur ne certi homines nimis studeant illud impedire quovis modo quod ipsi non probant Legimus sanctissimas confessiones Reginae nostrae cum tua eloquentissima epistola Utinam aliquid temporis tui ad excolendam Anglicanam linguam impartire velis ut homines intelligerent nostram linguam omnes eloquentiae numeros facile admittere Literae Magistri Checi ad Collegium nostrum fuerunt omnibus nobis gratissimae ubi minimis verbis maxima benevolentia ejus tua comprehensa fuit D. Protectoris literae ad Acad. a te scriptae mirificè nos omnes delectarunt Commune votum est apud nos ut Cantabrigia aliquando imò brevissimè sentiat Ioannem Checum Praepositum Regij Collegij Episcopus ille nihil prodest studijs vellem ut non obesset Et hoc non dico ad aucupium cujusvis gratiae sed ad Commodum totius Academiae Plurima sunt quae nos sic sentire cogunt plura tua Prudentia videt Nos sic amici inter nos communicamus fortasse non prudentissimè Cautissimè tamen quod minimum est valde amanter Cogita de hac re quid vis promove tamen eam quantum potes Nimis molestus su● Vale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quinto Januarij 1548. E Coll. D. Ioan. Cant. Dignitatis tuae Studiosiss R. Aschamus Ornatissimo Viro Magistro Gulielmo Cicello Supplicum libellorum Magistro NUM XXXVIII The University of Cambridg to the Archbishop ALiquid a te suppliciter petere cum Tu omnia nobis lubenter tribuis Doctissime Praesul non inane supervacaneum negotium sed gratae voluntatis debitum potius officium esse ducimus Rogamus igitur te ut in hoc Senatu vestro privilegia nostra confirmentur Quantum Reip. interest ut doctrinae ratio haberetur omnes fere intelligunt quantum verò purae Religionis interest tu unus plus universis alijs animadvertis Scis enim tu quod annis abhinc quingentis aut plus eo cognitio literarum Regum vitio a quibus ali debuerat e conspectu hominum sese abducere in tenebras relabi coepit In quibus temporibus sic caligine obductis sic ignorantia involutis Aper ille singularis de sylva supra modum depopulatus est vineam Iesu Christi non proculcans solum Reges terrae imperium sibi collocans mundi sed ita invasit erupitque in sanctam sedem Templum conscientiae ut nulli sere nunc sint mores nulla institutio vitae nullus caeremoniarum ritus nullum Ecclesiae Sacramentum nullum Christi vestigium quod non sit ejus aut fulmine prostratum aut halitu foedatum quod non sit ut mitius seu significantius cum Divo Paulo loquamur prudentia humanae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foedissimè corruptum constupratum Haec nox disciplinarum ignoratio vocem Domini nobis abstulit humanae doctrinae imperium in illam libidinem evexit ut pro vero cultu Dei recto divinissimarum rerum usu integra pura vitae consuetudine Hypocrisis Idololatria Adulterium cervicibus hominum astutissimè imponeretur Hanc inscientiae pestem libentius commemoramus quod nunc in magnam spem ducimur constituendae de integro dignitatis literarum in ijs praesertim temporibus cum omnia ad veram religionem illustrandam a qua praeclara doctrina abesse certè non potest mirificè comparata sunt Et cum prudentia tua ad verbum Dei restituendum divinitus sit nunc excitata diu reservata non dubitamus quin omnem operam authoritatem tuam ad salutem etiam literarum continendam collaturus sis Commotus aliquid certè vel hac ratione quod nulla hoc tempore literis vel insperata clades vel expectata commoditas accidere potest cujus tu non aut author ad magnam commendationem aut particeps ad aliquam reprehensionem voce ac sermone omnium jactatus eris D. Iesus c. NUM XXXIX Richard Smith D. D. his Recantation of his Books IN my book of Traditions I sayd and affirmed that Christ and his Apostles taught and left to the Church many things without writing which we must both beleve stedfastly and also fulfil obediently under pain of Damnation ever to endure Among the which I rehersed by name a great number to be obeyed kept and followed As the observation of Lent from flesh or wyne the keeping of the Sacrament in the pix the receiving it at the Priests hands the hallowing of the Water in the Font the thrice dipping of the child in the water at the chrining The putting on of the Chrysome the consecration of the oyl the anoynting of the christened child the hallowing of the Altars the praying toward the East the censing of the Altar the washing of the hands the saying of Confiteor the lifting up of the Sacrament at Mass the making of holy water that the twelve Apostles every man a piece for his portion made the Crede and many mo beside these And after like sort I spake of Canons Decrees and Ordinaunces of Bishops and General Councels I do now confes the said doctrine as concerning the observing of the said Traditions to be false and tyrannical and unjust unlawful and untrue burden of mens consciences not fit to be taught preached or defended There be many
of grace of repentaunce hymself wold draw al other to his dampnation and dissuadeth al retorne to grace This your charitie yow now show to your contrie which as I said hitherto is very vengeaunce of God toward yow Of the which this great blyndnes gyveth a great testimonie that yow show in your lettre writeng of thise thynges as though yow had never knowledge what had been done in the realme afore your tyme nor what was the state of your time nor yet what is the state of the realm at this present bryngeng for a great inconvenient that if the Parlament shuld accept the lawes of the Pope thei shuld be constrayned to repeal those that were done against his lawes and authoritie As though this were not so done already And showeng so great ignoraunce both touching the doctrine of the church and in this ●oyncte touching the Popes authoritie and the experience of the custome of the realm yet yow conclude that ignoraunce might excuse other men how prejudicyal the canon lawes be to the wealth of the realm if thei wold accept the same But you cannot be excused by ignoraunce And seeing in this the very trouthe that ignoraunce cannot excuse yow as in trouthe it cannot being of that kynde it is But if that do not excuse you then malice doith condempne yow Which is the very cause to bring you to ignoraunce inexcusable both in this poincte of the authoritie of the Pope as in the doctrine of the Sacrement Wherin it is no lesse monstrous And this yow show most where yow think to speak with lesse obstinacy As where yow say that if thei that follow the Popes doctrine herei● could bryng in but one old auncyent Doctor of the Church of their opinion you have offred afore as yow offer yet to g●ve place unto them and to consent to the same What a proffe is this to show your profound blyndnes If there be no let but this because yow see not of the old Doctors at the least one that were against yowr opinion in the defence of the Popes doctrine other men seeing so many and not one auncient approved doctor that ever dissented what a wonderful blyndnes is this not to see one against yow For this is playne when the Pope showeth his sence and doctrine in this Article he doith not speak thereof as of an Article that he himself hath newly found nor yet ony of his predecessours but that al hath uniformally received one of another of their fathers unto the Apostles tyme and they of Christ. Which argument is so strong so evident to the condempnation of your opinion and confirmatyon of the Popes that manie sage and learned men writing against the opinion yow follow being diverse sortes of arguments to confound the same set apart al form of reasoneng and onelie stick upon the testimony and uniforme consent of al the old Doctors of the Church to this day Which testimonies be so meny that they fyll up great books as amongst other my Lord of Durham at this present in his book written of this matter taketh this way to ground hymself most apon the perpetual consent of the old Doctors continuing unto this age and al against your opinion Which book is abrode and hath been seen of yow Then if yee wil think him of so smal judgment or knowledge that in such a nombre as he bringeth there is not one that maketh to his purpose but al for your purpose whom he entendeth to oppugne other this must prove a wonderful blyndnes in hym and not in hym alone but in so menie learned men that taketh the same way or ells in yow that amongst so menye testimonies som more clerer then som not to see so moche as one alone this is an evydent proff that yee be stark blynd For if yee were not if it were but one brought furth unto yow as is mentioned in that book the condempnation of Berengarius that was of your opinion and that done by a General Councel of all the Nations in Chrystendom growndeng it self upon the uniform doctrine of their forefathers Were not this enough yf yow had yies to see to show that more then one old Doctor were of the Popes doctrin And if this be not sufficyent proff unto yow the same being enough to Berengarius hymself which was converted therby and persuaded to recant his opinion what doth this show but that he was not utterly blynded but that he saw some testimonie against hym yow utterly to have lost al syght that se not so moch as one But of this your monstrous blyndnes I mervell the less the more I see the same to procede of the very justice and wrath of God against yow with whom yow mocking on that maner as yow showed in comyng in such a high place in service of the church as was to be Archbishop and Primate of the Realm as to swere in dolo not onlye Proximo but Vniversae Ecclesiae Wylleng afterward to pervert the old order of the churche which yow called a Reformation me semeth to here the very words and curse of S. Paul that lighted upon the false Prophet Bariesu letting the coorse of the doctrine Evangelical preached by hym when he then curseng hym said O! plene omni malo omni fallaciâ fili diaboli inimice omnis justitiae non desinis pervertere vias Domini rectas Et ecce nunc manus Domini super te eris caecus non videns solem usque ad tempus The effect of this I do see hath lighted upon yow for entreng by deceit to be a chieff Doctour in the church perverteng Vias Domini rectas to be blynded I pray God it be but ad tempus But hitherto I have not known a more deaper blyndnes And if that was ponnyshment of that false prophet to lese his corporal syght for a tyme that being an infidelle for very ignoraunce did put obstacle to the very trew doctrine of the faith never hard of afore to be blynded corporallie for a tyme yow that first knew the doctrine and preached the same which afterward yow do pervert if yow were stricken with a gretter and more notable blyndnes the which yow show now this is evident to come of the verie hond of god which mans hond cannot heale but only the hond of god that justlie ponnyshed yow therewithal And the sorer and more desperate cure is of this your blyndnes the more yow acquyett your self therein as though yow had a great gift of light above al other For so yow show in your lettres persuadeng your self to have found a way in teacheng the doctrine of the Sacrament of the aulter that other hath not seen Which is to take away the absurdity both to the sence and reason of man that is in the catholick doctrine toucheng the Sacrement of the aulter as yow say in that forme of bread and wyne to be the verie trew real presence of the body of Christ and that it is
Act concerning it The Progress made by the ABp in this Work No. XXXIV The MSS. of these Laws Inter Fox MSS. Reformatio Legum Ecclesiast Lond. 1640. The ABp labours in this Work under K. Edward The ABp employed in mending Books of Service The King consults with the ABp for the Redress of certain Superstions Hist. Ref. Vol. II. Collect. p. 236. The opportunity of Winchester's Absence taken The ABp prevails with the King in two great Points Seeks to redress Alienation of the Revenues of the Cathedral Scripture and Sermons more common by the ABp's means Vid. Herb. Hist. P. 600. Anth. Kitchin An. 1546. A Proclamation against the English Testament He interprets a Statute of his Church Ex Regist. Eccles Christ. Cant. The ABp by the King's Command pens a Form for a Communion His last Office to the King Conceives great Hopes of K. Edward The ABp takes a Commission to execute his Office Cranm. Regist. Hist. Re● P. II. Coll. p. 90. K. Edward crowned by the ABp C.C.C.C. Library Miscellan B. The manner of the Coronation Hist. Ref. Vol. 11 Collect. p. 93. The ABp's Speech at the Coronation Foxes Firebrands Part 2. An. 1547. A Royal Visitation on foot Titus B. 2. Hist. Ref. Vol. II. Collect. p. 103. Vol. 11. p. 28. The Visitors Vol. intit Syuodalia † He belonged to the Office of the Signet and was Protonotary The Method of this Visitation Fox The Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase The ABp to Winchester concerning the Homilies See his Letters to the Protector in Fox No. XXXV The ABp c. compose Homilies Winchester in the Fleet. The Bp of Winchester's Censure o● the Homily of Salvation And of the ABp for it Winchester's Censure of Erasmus's Paraphrase His Account of his Commitment Inter Foxil MSS. Erasmus vindicated Winchester's Letter to Somerset concerning these things No. XXXVI The ABp appoints a Thanksgiving for a Victory The ABp to the Bp of London Cranm. ●egist * It should be Sept. I suppose A Convocation in the first Year of the King C.C.C.C. Library Vol. intit Synodalia Defence of Priests Marriage p. 268. Dr. Redman's Judgment of Priests Marriage Irenic p. 387. The ABp's Influence on the Parliament Hist. R●s Vol. 1. p. 40. The Communion in both Kinds established Fox The ABp's Queries concerning the Mass. The ABp assists at the Funeral of the French King Stow. The Marquess of Northampton's Divorce committed to the ABp Bp of Wigorn. Hist. Ref. Vol. 2. p. 56. Processions forbid by his means Stow. Examines the Offices of the Church The ABp puts forth a Catechism And a Book against Vnwritten Verities Ca● 3. His Care of Canterbury Fox's MSS. The ABp's Influence upon the University Some of St. Iohn's College apply to him upon the apprehension of a Danger Offended with some of this College and why No. XXXVII The ill Condition and low Estate of the University Hist. Ref. Part II. p. 8. An Address of the University to the ABp The Sum thereof No. XXXVIII The Success of the University's Address to him and others Another Address to him against the Townsmen Roger Ascham's Application to him for a Dispensation for eating Flesh. Favourably granted by the ABp The ABp's Opinion concerning Lent Ascham acquaints him with the present State of the University as to their Studies Epistol libro 2. Sir Iohn Cheke the ABp's dear Friend the prime Instrument of politer Studies there The Impediments of the Universities flourishing state laid before him Dr. Smith recants at Paul's Cross. His Books No. XXXIX Gardiner offended with this Recantation Psal. 116.11 Other University-Men recant Smith affronts ●he ABp His Inconstancy The ABp's admonition to the Vicar of St●pney Foxii MSS. The ABp Licenseth an eminent Preacher Foxil MSS. Who preacheth against the Errors and Superstitions of the Church Foxii MSS. Is bound to answer for his Sermon at the Assizes How far the Reformation had proceeded Part 3. Ridley consecrated Bp. Cran. Reg. p. 321. Churches profaned Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. Church Ornaments embezelled The Council's Letter to the ABp thereupon Cran. Regist. A Form of Prayer sent to the ABp With the Council's Letter Cran. Regist. New Opinions Broached Cranm. Regist. Champneys revokes six Articles And abjure● Other Heresies vented Cranm. Regist. Assheton's Recantation Other Errors still Ioan Boche●s Heresy Latime●'s Censure of her Georg● Van Paris The ABp visits his Diocess His Articles for the Clergy And for the Laity An Exchange made between the ABp and the Lord Windsor Bishop of S. Davids Consecrated Cran. Regist. Fol. 327. Some account of this Bishop The ABp swayed by Farrar's Enemies Sut●li●s Answ. to Parson's Threefold Convers. of England An. 1549. Rebellion in Devon The ABp A●●swers the Rebels Articles An. 1549. N ● XL. Some Account thereof Crispin Mor●man Cardinal Pole The ABp procures Sermons to be made against the Rebellion Miscell●n D. Peter Martyr's Sermon upon this Occasion The French take Occasion at this Rebellion Bucer's Discourse against the Sedition The ABp's Prayer composed for this Occasion No. X●I The ABp deprives Boner Discourse between the ABp and him concerning his Book Concerning the Sacrament Chargeth the ABp concerning the Preachers he allowed The ABp's Answers to Boner's Declaration Papists insist upon the invalidity of the Laws made in the King's minority No. XLII Lat. Serm. Fol. 25. An Ordination of Priests and Deacons The Office of Ordination reformed The ABp Visits some Vacant Churches S. David's Glocester Norwich London A new Dean of the Arches The ABp writes to the Lords at Ely-house Their Answer Vol. II. Collect. p. 187.188 The ABp gets the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book confirmed The ABp harbours Learned Strangers MSS. C.C.C.C. Miscellan A. Bucer writes in the ABp's Family MSS. C.C.C.C. Miscellan D. The ABp's Guests Calvin Ep. 197 Martyr dedicates his Lectures at Oxon to the ABp The ABp writes to Bucer to come over No. XLIII Bucer and Fagius Professors at Cambridg Vet. P. Fag per Ministr aliquos Eccles. Argent Fagius dies No. XLIV The ABp sends money to Fagius's Widow Bucer laments his Loss MSS. C.C.C.C. His Answer hereunto Declines it at present and why They agree upon the Conditions of a Disputation They Dispute No. XLIV Martyr sends the Sum of the Disputation to the ABp The Disputation published by Martyr Quid enim n●gare aus●m Rever Archi●piscopo Cant. cui plant omnia debto In Praefat. ad Disp. And by Tresham No. XLV Smith writes to the ABp from Scotland Disputations at Cambridg before the Commissioners Bucer Disputes His Judgment of the Sacrament No. XLVI Relicks of Popery remaining Fox's Acts. The Council gives Orders to the Justices And writes to the Bishops Neglect in London Adulteries frequent Books dispersed by Protestants Letter to the Lord Protector Preaching against Lent Gardiner's Judgment of a Rhime against Lent Latimer counsels the King about Marriage Foreign Protestants their offer to King Edward Fox's and Firebrand's Part II. An. 1550. Ridley made Bp of London Ridl Letter among the Letters of the Martyrs Rochester Vacant
Bucer writes to Dorset not to spoil the Church MSS. C. C. C. C. Miscellan D. The Common-Prayer-Book reviewed Nec enim quicquam in illis deprehendi quod non sit ex Verbo Dei desumptum aut saltem ei non adversetur commodè acceptum Buceri Scripta Anglican Modus quoque harum Lectionum ac precum tempora sunt admodumcongruenter cum Verbo Dei observation● priscarum Ecclesiarum constituta Religione igitur summa retinenda erit vindicanda haec Ceremonia Censura inter Scripta Anglican Bucer Martyr employed in it MSS. C.C.C.C. Vol. intit Epist. Viror illustr German Hoper nominated for Bp of Glocester He and Ridley confer about the Habits MS. of the Council Book The ABp writes to Bucer for his Judgment in this Matter TheQuestions Script Anglic. p. 705. 681. Martyr writes to Hoper Inter P. Mart. Epist. Hoper's two Objections Considered † Episcopal Garments * Episcopal Garments Another Objection of Hoper considered Other things urged by him Hoper Confined to his House and silenced Council-Book Committed to the ABp's Custody Sent to the Fleet. Council-Book Hoper conforms Martyr to Gualter concerning Hoper's Conformity Hoper Visits his Diocess No. XLVII His Articles of Religion His Injunctions and Interrogatories Holds Worcester in Commendam And visits that Church and Sec. Goes over both his Diocesses again No. XLVIII The Council's Order concerning the two Canons MS. Council-Book Licence for the Bp of Glocester to attend upon the Dutchess of Somerset in the Tower Other Matters relating to this Bishop Divers great Lords repair to Gardiner The Council's proceedings with him Articles propounded to him to subscribe Winchester Sequestred for three Months The Sequestration expires council-Council-Book The Commissioners sit to examine him A Letter of some Noblemen whom he had belied Gardiner offers his Book against Cranmer to the Commissioners Page 2. He is deprived The Council's order for his strait Confinement Council-Book Poynet made Bp of Winton Other Popish Bps dealt with Bp Hethe's Troubles Sent for before the Council Council-Book Bp of Chichester his Troubles Council-Book Bp Day will not pull down Altars Appears before the Council Es. xix 19 The ABp and Bp of Ely reason with him The Council give him time to confer Before the Council again Heb. xiii 10 Before the Council the third Time And the fourth Time when he was sent to the Fleet. Commissioners appointed for Worcester and Chichester They are deprived Placed the one with the Lord Chancellor the other with the Bp of London Day writes to King's College for leaving off Masses Haddoni Ep. p. 169. His unnatural Carriage towards his Brother Hatcher's MS. Catal. of Provosts c. of King's Coll. Preaches against Transubstantiation His Change charged on him The Papists write Libels No. XLIX Several Papists now taken up council-Council-Book Chedsey Morgan Brown White Other Professors restrained The ABp's Care of the Souls of Strangers residing here The Dutch Congregation begun under Iohn a Lasco From Embden he wrote to the ABp And to Cecyl The sad Condition of the Protestants there No. L. Latimer mentions A Lasco to the King Third Sermon before the King Anno 1549. Contest amongst A Lasco's People MSS. of Benet College The Care of A Lasco over his Church and its Privileges Favourably received by the Lord Chancellor Goodrich Labours with the Secretary to procure Letters from the Councel in behalf of his Church No. LI. The extant of his Superintendency Melancthon's Epistles printed at Leyden 1647. Melancthon thought to shelter himself under him His great Abilities for Government Erasmus's Praise of him Ep. 3. Lib. 28. Lib. 19. Ep. 15. Purchased Erasmus's Library Abel Rediviv A Lasco a married Man His influence in the Reformation under Q. Elizabeth Blamed for medling in our Controversies A Church of Italians constituted in London Michael Angelo their Minister The Service the ABp did for this Church And for the Minister Anno 1552. Divers of this Church fall out with their Minister and go to Mass again A Conjecture at the Cause thereof Their Minister sends their Names to the Secretary and accuses them The Morals of this Man tainted Writes a penitent Letter to the Secretary No. LII LIII A French Church also in London No. LIV. Another Church of Strangers at Glastenbury Their Trade Weaving Valerandus Pollanus their Preacher and Superintendent How they came to fix here Conditions of Trade between Somerset and them Their Trade obstructed by the Troubles of Somerset Apply themselves again to the Council And to the Secretary Cecyl The Council become their Patrons and assist them Orders from the Lords to set this Manufacture forwards Pollanus very serviceable to them No. LV. LVI.LVII An Apology for the largeness of the former Relation After the King's Death they remove to Frankford Troubles at Frankford Prove Friends to the English Exiles there A Spanish Church Cassiodorus and Corra●us their Preachers Many of King Philip's Spaniards become Protestants Great numbers of Protestants in Spain and Italy Zanchii Ep. Lib. 2. The ABp labour● 〈◊〉 preserve the Revenues of the Church The detaining the Church-Revenues a Scandal to the Reformation Calvin to the ABp upon this matter Ep. 127. And to the Duke of Somerset No. LVIII Bucer publickly disputeth at Cambridg MSS. C.C.C.C. The University wrote up concerning his Death No. LIX Bucer's Library His Widdow retires to Germany The Correspondence between him and Martyr MSS. C.C.C.C A Plot of the Papists at Oxo● against Martyr at an Act. Martyr's Judgment of the communion-Communion-Book Pag. 210. No. LX. LXI Bucer's great Dangers Ponet Cranm. Reg. Hoper An. 1551. Cranmer publisheth his Book of the Sacrament His first Book An. 1551. Wrote against by Gardiner and Smith Vindicated in another Book by the ABp No. LXII The Method of the ABp's Reply The Judgments made of this Book In Antiq. Brit. Fox's Acts. How the ABp came off from the Opinion of the Corporal Presence The ABp's great Skill in this Controversy P. Martyr inlightned by Cranmer Fox's Acts. Fox's Conjecture of the ABp A second Book of Gardiner against the ABp Preface to P. Martyr's Book in Def. of Cranmer The ABp begins a third Book but lives not to ●●nish it Martyr takes up the Quarrel Ma●t Epist. P. Martyr Ep. Cranmer puts out his Book of the Sacrament in Latin Constantius libro latinè scripto ita argumenta mea persequitur ut sibi optimum videtur ut causam juvet saepe truncata saepe inversa saepe disjecta sic introducit ut non magis a me agnosci potuerint quam Medeae liberi in multa membra dissecti desormati c. Printed again at Embden Autographon ●jus in nostra apud Aembdanos Ecclesia pro Thesauro quodam clariss viri sanctique Christi Martyris Mnemosyno servamus In Epist. Cranmer's second Book intended to be put into Latin Fox Epp. MSS. Some Notes of Cranmer concerning the Sacrament Miscellan A. Martyr succeeds Cranmer in this Province Writes against Gardiner
MEMORIALS OF The Most Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer SOMETIME Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY WHEREIN The HISTORY of the CHURCH and the REFORMATION of it during the Primacy of the said ARCHBISHOP are greatly Illustrated and many singular Matters relating thereunto now First Published In Three Books Collected chiefly from RECORDS REGISTERS Authentick LETTERS and other ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS By IOHN STRYPE M. A. LONDON Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIV EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI C●●●MERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIENSIS H Holbein pinxit Natus 1489 July 2. Consecratus 1533. Marzo Martyrio Coronatus 1556. Mar 21. pag 179 Printed for Ric Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S t Pauls Church yard TO THE Most Reverend Father in God JOHN By the DIVINE PROVIDENCE Lord Archbishop of CANTERBVRY Primate of all England and Metropolitan AND One of Their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please Your Grace TO pardon the Presumption of the Obscure Person that dedicates this Book to Your GRACE for the sake of the Renowned Man it treats of Viz. One of your Illustrious Predecessors an Archbishop of Canterbury that hath deserved so eminently of that See nay and of the whole British Church I may say that deserved Best of any Archbishop before him that wore that Mitre To whose solid Learning Deliberation and indefatigable Pains both the Kings and People of this Realm owe their Deliverance from the long and cruel Bondage of Rome For it is true what the Romanists say in Obloquy of this Archbishop and we Protestants say it to his Eternal Fame That he was the first of all the Archbishops of Canterbury that made a Defection from the Papal Chair Thereby vindicating this Crown from a base Dependance upon a Foreign Jurisdiction But whereas Parsons saith That this was the first Change of Religion in any Archbishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days this is not so true For sundry of Archbishop Cranmer's Predecessors to look no further than Two or Three hundred Years backward were of different Judgments from the Church of Rome in some Points His immediate Predecessor Warbam approved of the King's Title of Supreme Head of the Church under Christ in his own Kingdom against the Doctrine of the Pope's Universal Authority And a Century of Years before him Archbishop Chichely tho he were made the Pope's Legate refused to exercise his Power Legantine further than he should be authorized thereunto by the King And Archbishop Islip as long before him disliked of Dissolving those Marriages that were contracted by such as had before vowed the single Life For tho he laid a Punishment upon a Countess of Kent who being a Widow and then Professed afterwards secretly married to a certain Knight named Abrincourt yet he divorced them not but permitted them to live together And the Judgment of Archbishop Arundel who lived in K. Richard the Second's Reign was for the Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue and for the Laities use thereof For He preaching the Funeral Sermon of Queen Anne the beloved Wife of that King after she deceased at Sheen in the Year 1392. commended her as for her other Vertuous Accomplishments so particularly for her Study of the Holy Scriptures and of the Sense of them and for having them in the Vulgar Tongue as I find by an Ancient MS. Fragment writ near Three hundred Years ago formerly belonging to the Church of Worcester in these Words following Also the Bushop of Caunterbury Thomas of Arundel that now is sey a Sermon at Westminster thereas was many an hundred of people at the buryeng of quene Anne of whose Sowle God have mercy And in his commendation of her he seyd That it was more joy of her than of any woman that ever he knew For notwithstanding that she was Alien born being the Daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. she had on English al the iiij gospels with the Doctors upon hem And he seyd that she sent them unto him And he seyd that they were good and true and commended her in that she was so great a Lady and also an Alyan and wolde study so holy so vertuouse bokes And he blamed in his Sermon sharply the negligence of the Prelates and other men c. So that it is not true what Parsons saith if he mean That no Archbishops of Canterbury before Cranmer varied from the Church of Rome in any of her Doctrines But true it is tho not so much to their Credits that none of them however sensible they were of the Roman Errors and Superstitions did in good earnest bestir themselves to set this Church free of them before our abovenamed Archbishop being the sixty eighth from Augustine the Monk resolutely and bravely undertook and effected it Indeed they spent not their Zeal their Treasure and their Interest this way so much as in contending about Superiority and their Prerogatives in exempting their Clergy from the Cognizance of the Temporal Magistrate in Applications to and Courting of the Bishops of Rome in Persecuting those they called Hereticks in Eternizing their own Names by founding Religious Houses and building Stately Palaces and Shrines and in exhibiting themselves in great Worldly Pomp and Appearance But blessed be God for Archbishop Cranmer by means of whose Reformation succeeded a Series of better tho not so splendid Archbishops Who made conscience of minding things more suitable to their high Vocation and the Spiritual Trust committed to them Men that regarded little or nothing the vain shews of exterior Grandeur and Glory nor sought Great Things for themselves but with their great Predecessor St. Paul on whom lay the Care of all the Churches spent and wore out themselves in the Restoration of the Kingdom of Christ so happily begun by the said Archbishop Cranmer in this Island Such were Parker Grindal Whitgift the Three first Protestant Archbishops next after him what he planted they watered and God gave a Blessed Increase to Whose most excellent Lives and Conducts in the Government of this Church as well as in their own more private and Domestick Conversation their rare Piety Prudence Patience Courage and Activity I can scarcely temper my Pen from making excursions into Of which I could fill even Volumes had I Leisure Favour and Countenance from those Large Collections which I have for divers Years been storing up with great delight partly out of their own Original Letters and partly from other MSS. in their times But besides these first Archbishops during the Long Reign of Q. Elizabeth who by their Care and Diligence established and settled that Reformation of which Archbishop Cranmer laid the first Stones we are beholden unto the same Archbishop for all the rest of the Worthy and Painful Prelates of that Metropolitical See who have taken Care of this Excellently Reformed Church even unto Your GRACE Whose Deserts towards this Church and the Reformation have raised you to sit in Archbishop Cranmer's
Now to measure my self with this Diligence and Faithfulness I trust hath not been wanting in me I have been governed by a hearty Desire and Love of Truth I have read over such Printed Books as are of the best Credit and Vogue and I have often compared them with good MSS. especially when I have had occasion to make use of them which I have done but sparingly and briefly that I might not cumber the Book with what hath been known and written afore But the Collections I have here made and do publish to the world are chiefly from Manuscript Records Registers Letters Orders of Council Original and Authentick For besides Archbishop Cranmer's Register in a great Folio in which I have bestowed some considerable time I have had the Perusal of several Rare Papers Volumes I may say of Sir Iohn Cotton preserved in his Invaluable Library and of Archbishop Parker that great Antiquarian collected by him and now remaining in the private Library of Bennet-College in Cambridge among which there is a Writing entituled A Declaration concerning the Progeny with the Manners and Trade of Life and bringing up of the most Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury and by what Order and Means he came to his Preferments and Dignities Which I perceive was drawn up by Cranmer's Secretary at the desire of Archbishop Parker and for his use I have been conversant in what remaineth of the Papers of Iohn Fox communicated to me by the Favour of my good Friend William Willys of Hackney Esquire Among which there is a MS. Life of Cranmer Annals writ by an Augustine Monk of Canterbury from the year 1532. to 1538. Many Letters of Fox and other Learned Men to him relating to the Affairs or Afflictions of the Church in those Times and abundance more too long here to be inserted I have consulted also many MSS. of great Worth originally belonging to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh's Secretary imparted to me by Sir Will. Hickes of Low-Leyton in Essex Knight and Baronet Wherein are divers of Archbishop Cranmer's Letters written by his own Pen. By the Kindness of the Reverend Mr. Nicolas Battely of Kent and his great readiness and zeal to forward my Design I have received a great many material Excerpta out of the Registers and Records of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury and out of other Books and MSS. William Petyt of the Inner-Temple Esquire and Keeper of the Tower-Records did with great humanity communicate unto me his Collection of excellent Papers contained in two large Volumes Which tho in these Memorials I have made but little use of yet may be admirably subservient to me or whosoever's Lot else it may happen to fall to to give the world some account of Qu. Elizabeth's Archbishops and the Church-Affairs in their times In this Catalogue of Friends and Assistants I must mention also the Reverend Dr. Thomas Smith and Mr. Henry Wharton Mr. Laughton Keeper of the Publick Library in Cambridge and Mr. Harrison Fellow of Sidney-College in that University Unto all these Gentlemen now named I do here as I ought in Gratitude publickly acknowledge my self beholden I did also consult the MS. Library at Lambeth by the favourable Permission of the last and the present Archbishop of Canterbury But tho there be divers Shelves of very choice MSS. yet I found little or nothing there serviceable to my purpose unless it should please God to lengthen my Life and Health to write in this Method concerning Archbishop Whitgift Neither was I successful in Enquiries which I procured Friends to make from such as were Relations of the Archbishop in any Matters or Notices concerning him There is one Mr. Cartwright of Nottinghamshire that is an Heir of that Ancient Family of the Cranmers a Worthy Gentleman and now or late Justice of the Peace for that County who being made acquainted with my Design and moved to impart any Letters or Writings that might be of use thereunto answered a Friend that he was plundered in the late Civil Wars of abundance of Papers and not a few to that effect but that now he had not any thing left to contribute but his own good wishes to the Undertaker But still further for the better satisfying the Readers in the Truth of what I write I have according to a good practice first begun by Mr. Sumner of Canterbury cast the most material Records and Original Letters together by themselves in an Appendix that those that please may read them there rather than in the Body of the Story where it might too much interrupt the Thread of the Discourse and make the reading more tedious Which Appendix will serve both as a Proof of the History and moreover as a Repository for many choice Monuments of Antiquity which otherwise being in loose Papers and private Studies might in time be utterly extinguished and irrecoverably lost And I do here protest once for all that I have not inserted into this Book any one single Historical Passage out of mine own head but such as I have either found in some credible published History or in some oldBook printed in those times or the Prefaces and Epistles to them or lastly in some good MS. or other I have digested these Memorials into Annals and have laid matters under their respective Years and Months and Days as near as I could Sometimes indeed I have been left to conjecture at the true time which I have done with as much Care and Exactness as by considering all Circumstances I could Yet herein I am not so confident but that I may sometimes perhaps make a mistake And if I do so it will I hope be excused to me considering that I was fain oftentimes to go by guess grounded however upon the best probability I could make the Papers I used being not seldom without Date sometimes of the Year sometimes of the Month and sometimes of both I thought it not amiss tho I have not observed it done in any other History to set down under every Year what Bishops Diocesan and Suffragan were Consecrated in the Province of Canterbury and by whom And I am jealous some of the Suffragans may be omitted by me which Defect must be attributed to the Registers rather than to me I have taken particular heed to the Convocations and to what was done in them And because the Affairs of the English Church have such a near relation unto the Archbishops of the Church so as their Histories are but maimed and imperfect without some respect had to those Affairs I have diligently interwoven many Ecclesiastical Emergencies into this History and a great many more I have been forced to omit tho well worthy the Publick left the Volume might swell too much If any might perhaps deem this a needless Work the Life of this Archbishop having been writ already in the Book of Martyrs and the British Antiquities I answer such that I have therefore been short and it may be
The King linked Cranmer with him in all his Proceedings about Q. Katherine The King and Archbishop appeal from the Pope to a General Council The King writes to Dr. Boner his Ambassador in that behalf The Archbishop is Consecrated The Pope's Bulls The Archbishop surrenders them to the King The method of the Consecration The Archbishop's Oath for the Temporalties The Archbishop pronounceth the Divorce The Archbishop's Judgment of the Marriage CHAP. V. The Archbishop Visits his Diocess The Archbishop forbids Preaching Visits his Diocess The delusion of a Nun in Kent The Archbishop appeals from the Pope The Archbishop's Letter to Boner Disputes in the Parliament against the Pope's Supremacy Licenses for Chappels CHAP. VI. The Archbishop presseth the Translation of the Bible The Archbishop labours the Reformation of the Church What he did this Convocation A Book for Preaching and the Beads Dispersed by the Archbishop to all the Bishops The Archbishop of York preaches at York The Clergy and Universities subscribe against the Pope Cranmer and others administer the Oath of Succession to the Clergy And to Sir Tho. More who refused it Cranmer's Argument with him More offers to swear to the Succession it self Bishop Fisher offers the same The Archbishop writes to Crumwel in their behalf The Archbishops endeavour to save the Lives of More and Fisher. CHAP. VII The Archbishop Visits the Diocess of Norwich A Premunire brought against Bishop Nix The Archbishop visits this Bishop's See The Bishop of Norwich a Persecutor Go●dric Lee and Salcot Consecrated Bishops CHAP. VIII The Archbishop Preacheth at Canterbury The Archbishop preaches up the King's Supremacy at Canterbury A Prior preaches against him Whom he convents before him The Archbishop acquaints the King with the matter A Provincial Visitation Winchester herein opposeth him The Archbishop's Vindication of his Title of Primate The Bishop of London refuseth his Visitation And Protests against him Cranmer sends him a part of the New Testament to translate And his Answer Lawney's Jest upon Bishop Stokesly Who this Lawney was CHAP. IX Monasteries visited Monasteries visited The Archbishop for their Dissolution The Visitors Informations Bishops Diocesan and Suffragan Consecrated Suffragan Bishops usual in the Realm Bishops without Title Nic. Shaxton Edw. Fox Will. Barlow Geo. Brown A Memorial of the good Services of Archbishop Brown in Ireland Tho. Mannyng Iohn Salisbury CHAP. X. The Audience Court The Archbishop's Audience-Court struck at The Archbishop defends it The Archbishop promoting a Reformation in the Convocation CHAP. XI Articles of Religion Articles published and recommended by the King The Original thereof The Original sent into the North to shew to the Rebels The Contents of them Articles of Faith Articles relating to Ceremonies A Conjecture that the Pen of the Archbishop was here CHAP. XII Cranmer 's Iudgment about some Cases of Matrimony Two remarkable Books published I. The Book of Articles II. A Book against the Pope called The Bishop's Book Certain Cases of Matrimony put to the Archbishop His Solution Refuseth to grant a Dispensation for the Marriage of a Relation His Letter thereupon He restrains the number of Proctors Which some complain of to the Parliament The Archbishop divorceth Q. Anne A License for a Chappel Bucer this year dedicates a Book to the Archbishop Bishops consecrated Richard Sampson William Rugge Rob. Warton CHAP. XIII The Bishop's Book The Bishop's Book by the Archbishop's means Winchester's Opposition The King makes Animad versions upon it Published How esteemed Enlarged and Reprinted Some account of the foresaid Book Names of the Composers CHAP. XIV The Archbishop visits his Diocess Goes down into his Diocess Gets a License to visit The Vicar of Croydon The Archbishop visits his Diocess What course he took for the preventing of Superstition CHAP. XV. The Bible Printed His Joy at the publishing the English Bible Presents one by Crumwel to the King Cranmer's Letters to Crumwel Some further Particulars concerning this Edition of the Bible The Printer's Thanks and Requests to Crumwel Grafton to Crumwel The Printer apprehensive of another Edition Other Requests of the Printer CHAP. XVI Many Suffragan Bishops made The Feast of S. Thomas c. forbid Rob. Holgate Consecrated Bishop Iohn Bird Lewis Thomas Some account of Bird. Thomas Morley Rich. Yngworth Iohn Thornton Richard Thornden Iohn Hodgkin Henry Holbeach Suffragans CHAP. XVII The Bible in English allowed The Archbishop reads upon the Hebrews A Declaration for reading the Bible The Bible received and read with great Joy The Archbishop had a hand in Lambert's Death The Bishops dispute against Lambert's Reasons CHAP. XVIII The Archbishop's Iudgment of the Eucharist Cranmer zealous for the Corporal Presence His Reasons for it Sanders his slanders of the Archbishop concerning his Opinion in the Sacrament When Cranmer changed his Opinion Latimer of the same Judgment Divers Priests marry Wives The King's Proclamation against Priests Marriages Anabaptists A Commission against them The way wardness of the Priests occasions the King to write to the Justices The Archbishop visits the Diocess of Hereford Bishops Consecrated William Finch Iohn Bradley CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles The Archbishop makes Nic. Wotton Commissary of his Faculties The King offended with the Archbishop and some other Bishops The Six Articles opposed by the Archbishop The Arguments the Archbishop made use of at this time lost The King's Message to the Archbishop by the Lords A Book of Ceremonies Laboured to be brought in A Convocation The Papists rejoice Two Priories surrendred to the Archbishop The Archbishop and Crumwel labour with the King about the new Bishopricks Bishops this year Iohn Bell Iohn Skyp CHAP. XX. The Archbishop in Commission The Archbishop's Enemies accuse him His Honesty and Courage in discharge of a Commission And his Success therein Questions of Religion to be discussed by Divines by the King's Command The Names of the Commissioners Seventeen Questions upon the Sacrament The Archbishop's Judgment upon these Questions The Judgments of other Learned Men concerning other Points An Act to prevent Divorces The Archbishop to Osiander concerning the Germans abuse of Matrimony CHAP. XXI The largest Bible printed Some account of printing the English Bible The New Testament printed 1526. And Burnt Reprinted about 1530. Burnt again The Scripture prohibited in a Meeting at the Star-Chamber The New Testament Burnt the third time The whole Bible printed 1537. Matthews that is Rogers's Bible About 1538 the Bible printed again in Paris The Printers fall into the Inquisition The Bible printed with French Presses in London The largest Bible published in the year 1540. Boner's Admonition for reading the Bible The Bible supprest again Anno 1542 3. King Henry's Judgment for the use of the Bible CHAP. XXII The Archbishop retired The Archbishop keeps himself more retired The Archbishop issues out his Commission for the Consecrating of Boner Boner's Oath of Fidelity The Archbishop makes a
CHAP. XXIV The Archbishop's care of the Revenues of the Church Bucer dies The Archbishop labours to preserve the Revenues of the Church The detaining the Church-Revenues a Scandal to the Reformation Calvin to the Archbishop upon this matter And to the Duke of Somerset Bucer publickly disputeth at Cambridge Dieth The University wrote up concerning his Death Bucer's Library His Widow retires to Germany The Correspondence between him and Martyr A Plot of the Papists at Oxon against Martyr at an Act. Martyr's Judgment of the communion-Communion-Book Bucer's great dangers Poynet Consecrated and Hoper CHAP. XXV The Archbishop publisheth his Book against Gardiner Cranmer publisheth his Book of the Sacrament His first Book of that Subject Wrote against by Gardiner and Smith Vindicated in another Book by the Archbishop The Method of the Archbishop's Reply The Judgments made of this Book How the Archbishop came off from the Opinion of the Corporal Presence The Archbishop's great Skill in Controversy Peter M●rtyr enlightned by Cranmer Fox's Conjecture of the Archbishop A second Book of Gardiner against the Archbishop The Archbishop begins a third Book Martyr takes up the Quarrel Cranmer puts out his Book of the Sacrament in Latin Printed again at Embden Cranmer's second Book intended to be ●ut into Latin Some Notes of Cranmer concerning the Sacrament Martyr succeeds Cranmer in this Province Writes against Gardiner And Smith CHAP. XXVI The Duke of Somerset 's Death The Duke of Somerset's Death Winchester suppos'd to be in the Plot. Articles against the Duke What he is blamed for The new Book of Common-Prayer established Coverdale made Bishop of Exon. Scory Bishop Elect of Rochester The Archbishop appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties of Lincoln And of Wigorn And of Chichester And of Hereford And of B●ngor Hoper visits his Diocess Two Disputations concerning the Sacrament Dr. Redman dies The Archbishop and others appointed to reform Ecclesiastical Laws The method they observed Scory Coverdale Consecrated CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion The Articles of Religion framed and published The Archbishop's diligence in them The Archbishop retires to Ford. CHAP. XXVIII Persons nominated for Irish Bishopricks Consulted with for fit Persons to fill the Irish Sees Some account of the four Divines nominated by him for the Archbishoprick of Armagh Mr. Whitehead Mr. Turner Thomas Rosse or Rose Robert Wisdom The Character the Archbishop gave of the two former Turner designed for Armagh But declines it Goodacre made Archbishop of Armagh Letters from the Council to Ireland recommending the Irish Bishops CHAP. XXIX The Archbishop charged with Covetousness A Rumour given out of the Archbishop's Covetousness and Wealth Which Cecyl sends him word of The Archbishop's Answer for himself and the other Bishops This very slander raised upon him to K. Henry K. Henry promised him Lands This Promise performed by K. Edward His Purchases The Archbishoprick fleeced by K. Henry Lands past away to the Crown by Exchange Lands made over to the Archbishop The Archbishop parted also with Knol and Otford to the King What moved him to make these Exchanges His Cares and Fears for the King CHAP. XXX His care for the Vacancies Falls sick His Care for filling the Vacancies of the Church Laboured under an Ague this Autumn The great Mortality of Agues about this time That which most concerned him in his Sickness The Secretary sends the Archbishop the Copy of the Emperor's Pacification CHAP. XXXI His Kindness for Germany His Kindness for Germany His Correspondence with Germany And with Herman Archbishop of Col●n The suitableness of both these Archbishops Dispositions Their diligence in Reforming CHAP. XXXII Troubles of Bishop Tonstal The Troubles of Bishop Tonstal The Causes of this Bishop's Punishment A Bill in Parliament to attaint Tonstal The Care of the Diocess committed to the Dean CHAP. XXXIII The New Common-Prayer The Archbishop in Kent The New Common-Prayer began to be used This Book put into French for the King's French Subjects The Age still vicious A new Sect in Kent The Archbishop's business in Kent A Letter for Installing Bishop Hoper The Vicar of Beden Sampson and Knox. The Council favour Knox. Iohn Taylor Consecrated CHAP. XXXIV A Catechism The Archbishop opposeth the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Great use made of the Archbishop at Council The Articles of Religion enjoined by the King's Authority The Catechism for Schools A Catechism set forth by the Synod The Archbishop opposeth the New Settlement of the Crown Denyeth before the Council to subscribe to the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Sets his hand The Archbishop ungratefully dealt with The Council subscribe and swear to the Limited Succession CHAP. XXXV The King dies The King dies His Character The Archbishop delights in this Prince's Proficiency K. Edward's Writings The King 's Memorial for Religion The Archbishop frequent at Council His Presence in the Council in the year 1550. In the year 1551. In the year 1552. And 1553. Iohn Harley Consecrated Bishop BOOK III. CHAP. I. Queen Mary soon recognized The Archbishop slandered and imprisoned THE Archbishops and Counsellors concern with the Lady Iane. They declare for Q. Mary And write to Northumberland to lay down his Arms. The Queen owned by the Ambassadors The Archbishop misreported to have said Mass. Mass at Canterbury Which he makes a Publick Declaration against The Declaration Appears before the Commissioners at P●uls And before the Council The Archbishop of York committed to the Tower and his Goods seized At Battersea At Cawood Gardiner's passage of the two Archbishops CHAP. II. Protestant Bishops and Clergy cast into Prisons and deprived This Reign begins with Rigor The Protestant Bishops deprived The hard usage of the Inferior Clergy Professors cast into the M●rshalsea Winchester's Alms. P. Martyr writes of this to Calvin The state of the Church now The Queen leaves all matters to Winchester The Queen Crowned The Service still said The Queen's Proclamation of her Religion Signs of a Change of Religion CHAP. III. The Archbishop adviseth Professors to fly The Archbishop adviseth to flight Cranmer will not fly Whither the Professors fly And who Duke of Northumberland put to Death His Speech Sir Iohn Gates his Speech And Palmer's The Duke l●bours to get his life Whether he was always a Papist CHAP. IV. Peter Martyr departs A Parliament P. Martyr departs Malice towards him A Scandal of the Queen A Parliament The Parliament repeal Q. Katherine's Divorce And Cranmer taxed for it CHAP. V. The Archbishop attainted The Archbishop attainted of Treason The Dean of Canterbury acts in the Vacancy The Archbishop sues for Pardon of Treason Obtains it He desires to open his mind to the Queen concerning Religion CHAP. VI. A Convocation A Convocation How it opened The Archbishop and three more crowded together in the Tower CHAP. VII The Queen sends to Cardinal Pole The Queen sends to Pole The Contents of her Letters Concerning the
Supremacy Concerning the New Bishops Pole's Advice to the Queen Instructions to Goldw●l Disgusts his Stop Sends to Rome about this his Stop And to the Emperor His Judgment of two late Acts of Parliament CHAP. VIII The Dealings with the Married Clergy The Married Clergy deprived and divorced Married Priests in London cited to appear Interrogatories for the Married Clergy Turnor's Confession Boner deprives the Married Clergy in London without Order Married Prebendaries in Canterbury proceeded against Edmund Cr●nmer deprived of all The Injustice of these Proceedings Martin's Book against Priests Marriage Wherein Winchester had the greatest hand Answered by Poyne● The Confessions of the Married Priests Married Priests that did their Penance hardly dealt with CHAP. IX Evils in this Change of Parliament A twofold Evil upon this Turn of Religion The Dissimulation of the Priests A Parliament restore the Pope A design to revive the Six Articles CHAP. X. Archbishop Cranmer disputes at Oxon. A Convocation appoint a Dispute with Cranmer at Oxford The Questions Sent to Cambridge The Disputants of Oxford and Cambridge Cranmer brought before them His Behaviour Ridley brought And Latimer Cranmer brought to his Disputation His Notaries Cranmer's Demands Cranmer disputes again The Papists undecent management of the Disputation The Protestants glad of this Disputation Dr. Taylor to the three Fathers after their Disputations Ridley pens the Relation of his Disputation The University sends the Disputations up to the Convocation Various Copies of these Disputations CHAP. XI Cranmer condemned for an Heretick Cranmer condemned for Heresy Cranmer writes to the Council Disputation intended at Cambridge Their condition after Condemnation Their Employment in Prison Other Works of Ridley in Prison CHAP. XII A Parliament Pole reconciles the Realms The Queen's Letters directing the Elections of Parliament men Pole comes over The Cardinal absolves Parliament and Convocation The Clergy again wait upon the Legate A Commission granted by him against Hereticks His Commissions to all the Bishops to reconcile their Diocesses The Commission to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury The Legate's Instructions to the Bishops Pole a severe Persecutor CHAP. XIII A Convocation Articles framed therein A Convocation Articles presented to the Upper-House Cranmer's Book to be burnt Men burnt to death without Law CHAP. XIV The Condition of the Protestants in prison Free-Willers Popery fully established Protestants The Pastors in Prison Free-Willers Bradford's Concern with them His Kindness to them Bradford gaineth some of them Careless's pains with them Philpot's counsel Careless draws up a Confession of Faith Some few Arians The Prisoners offer to justify K. Edward's Proceedings And again offer it CHAP. XV. The Exiles and their Condition The Exiles The Lutherans refuse to give harbour to them The English at Wesel The Lutherans Heat against Sacramentaries At Zurick and other places well received Their Employments Contentions at Frankford Some Children of the Exiles baptized by Lutherans Pieces of Ridley's Writings conveyed to Frankford Exiles at Basil. Divers of the Exiles Writers Scory Old Sampson Turner Iuel Becon Humfrey Traheron Fox His Acts and Monuments Books by him published in Exile Translates Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament into Latin Lever to Fox Bale Knox. How the Exiles subsisted CHAP. XVI Many Recant Some go to Mass. Many Recant The Persecution hot Gospellers go to Mass. Bradford labours to hinder it Ann Hartipoll goes to Mass. The Lady Vane puts certain Cases concerning the Mass. CHAP. XVII A Bloody Time The Queen 's Great Belly A Convocation Many burned Instructions to the Justices Orders sent in to Norfolk against the Professors The effect thereof The Earl of Sussex receiveth Information against some Popish Spies set every where The Protestants frequently ass●mble Con●idently reported that a Male Heir to the Crown was born The Queen 's Great Belly Like a Design The Queen's Zeal A Convocation CHAP. XVIII Ridley and Latimer burnt Some petition the Queen for Cranmer He seeth Ridley and Latimer going to their Burning Latimer's Character Cranmer's Employment in Prison Report of the Queen's Death CHAP. XIX The last proceedings with Cranmer Proceedings against Cranmer Martin acts as the Queen's Proctor Cranmer's greatest Trouble at this time Interrogatories put to him with his Answers Witnesses sworn against him Cited to Rome The Pope's L●tters against him The Process against him at Rome The Pope's Letters read They degrade him He appeals He is ill dealt with in his Process The Reasons of his Appeal He presseth his Appeal CHAP. XX. Cranmer writes to the Queen Writes two Letters to the Queen The Contents of the first The Contents of his second Letter The Bailiff of Oxford carries his Letters Cardinal Pole answereth them Some account of the Cardinal's Letter to Cranmer Another Letter of the Cardinal to Cranmer CHAP. XXI He Recants Repents and is Burnt He Recants Notwithstanding his Burning is ordered A Letter from Oxford concerning Cranmer's Death Cranmer brought to S. Maries Cole's Sermon Turns his Speech to Cranmer After Sermon all pray for him His Penitent Behaviour Speaks to the Auditory He Prayeth His Words before his Death Con●esseth his Dissembling His Reply to my Lord Williams Goes to the place of his burning His Talk and Behaviour at the Stake He burneth his Right Hand Two Remarks upon his Martyrdom Who instigated the Queen to put him to death No Monument for him but his Martyrdom His Heart unconsumed The Bailiffs Expences about these three Martyrs The Bailiffs not repaid Humfrey to Archbishop Parker in their behalf CHAP. XXII Cranmer 's Books and Writings His Books and Writings His first Book Other of his Writings His Book of the Doctrine of the Sacrament Other Writings mentioned by Bishop Burnet More of his Writings still Archbishop Parker was in pursuit of certain MSS. of Cranmer concealed What the Subject of his numerous Writings were CHAP. XXIII The Archbishop's Regard to Learned Men. Paul Fagius and Martin Bucer placed at Cambridge by his means Procures them Honorary Stipends from the King Allowances to P. Martyr and Ochin Dr. Mowse Master of Trinity-Hall favoured by Cranmer His Inconstancy And Ingratitude Becomes Read●r of the Civil Law at Oxon. The Archbishop a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension To Alexander Al●ss a Scoth-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the Archbishop And to the King Aless brought by Crumwel into the Convocation Where he asserts Two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig Four others recommended by Melancthon to the Archbishop Viz. Gualter Driander Driander placed at Oxon. Eusebius Menius Iustus Ionas CHAP. XXIV Melancthon and the Archbishop great Friends Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our Archbishop Sends Melancthon certain Publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridge Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Sends the Archbishop his Enarration upon the
Part and Opinion to be on his Part. For being now after some absence returned to Cambridg divers of the University and some of those Doctors that before had given in their Judgments to the King for the Validity of the Pope's Dispensation repaired to him to know his Opinion And after long Reasoning he changed the Minds of Five of the Six Then almost in every Disputation both in Private Houses and in the Common Schools this was one Question Whether the Pope might dispense with the Brother to marry the Brother's Wife after Carnal Knowledg And it was of many openly defended that he might not The Secretary when he came Home acquainted the King with what they had done and how Dr. Cranmer had changed the Minds of Five of the said Learned Men of Cambridg and of many others beside Afterward this University as well as the other determined the King's Cause against the Pope's Dispensation From an Academic our Doctor being now become a Courtier he so prudently demeaned himself that he was not only dear to the Earl of Wiltshire's Family but grew much favoured by the Nobility in general as the Lord Herbert collects from the Historians of those Times and especially by the King himself He was very much about him the King holding frequent Communication with him and seemed unwilling to have him absent Which may appear from hence that when Cranmer was minded for some reason to resort to the Earl of Wiltshire who was then from Hampton-Court and as it seems at London upon some Occasions of his own he doubted whether the King would let him go And so he writ to him that he would come the next Day to him If the King's Grace let him not CHAP. II. Pole's Book about the King's Matrimony ABout this time a Book of Reginald Pole afterwards Cardinal earnestly perswading the King to continue his Marriage with his Queen fell into Dr. Cranmer's Hands I do not find mention of this Book in any Historian that hath come to my Hands No not in his Life published by Bacatellus Bishop of Ragusa though he hath there given us a Catalogue of his Books But in likelihood the Reason was because this was some private Discourse or Letter chiefly intended for the King 's own Use as appears from some words of Cranmer concerning it Viz. That it was writ with that Eloquence that if it were set forth and known to the common People an evidence it was a more private Writing it were not possible to perswade them to the contrary It was penned about the Year 1530 as may be collected from another Passage in the said Writing wherein he mentioneth the King's living in Wedlock with Queen Katherine twenty Years the expiration of which fell in about that Time What induced Pole to write on this Subject is to me uncertain for he avoided as much as could be to meddle in this Affair out of Fear of the King's Displeasure which was the Reason of his departing Abroad Probably it was at the King's Command like as some Years after he commanded him to write his Judgment of the Title of Supream Head which he had lately assumed Which occasioned Pole's four Books of Ecclesiastical Vnity For some about the King had told him it would have a great Influence upon the People especially the Nobility if he could bring Pole over to allow and approve of his Marriage Who was a Person tho then but Young yet highly valued in the Nation for his Piety and Learning and great Descent The Book was soon delivered whether by the Earl of Wiltshire or the King himself unto the Examination and Consideration of Cranmer now the great Court-Divine Who after he had greedily perused it sent the Contents of it in a Letter to his Friend and Patron the Earl being then absent from Court The Book though the Argument of it chiefly depended upon Divinity proceeded more on Political Principles than Divine Take the following account of it as Cranmer gave it in his said Letter First Pole treated of the Danger of Diversity of Titles to the Crown Which might follow if the present Marriage with Queen Katherine were rejected in which there was an Heir and another consummated As appeared by the Titles and Pretensions of the two Houses of Lancaster and York And that the King ought to provide against the Miseries that might be brought upon his Realm by the People if he should reject his Daughter whom they took for his Lawful Heir and should perswade them to take another Then he urged the Danger of incurring the Emperor's Displeasure the Queen being his Aunt and the Princess his Cousin Then he proceeded to consider the Reasons that moved the King to his present Resolutions Namely That God's Law forbad marrying the Brother's Wife And that the People however averse at first besides that it belong●d not to them to judg of such Matters would be content in the King's Doings when they should know how the ancient Doctors of the Church and so many great Universities were on the King's Side And that however the Emperor might fall out with the King for this Matter yet God would never fail those that stood on his part and refused to transgress his Commandments and that England might depend on the French King's Aid by virtue of the League which he had entred into with the King and the old Grudg which he bore towards the Emperor Afterwards Pole goes on to review these Reasons And first his Judgment was that Scripture might be brought to justify this Marriage and that there was as good ground of Scripture for that as for the part which the King then took namely the unlawfulness of it That if indeed he thought the King's Part was just and that his Marriage were undoubtedly against God's Pleasure then he could not deny but that it should be well done for the King to refuse it and take another Wife Yet he confessed that for his own part he could not find in his Heart to have any Hand or be any furtherer or abetter in it Acknowledging however that he had no good Reason for it but only out of Affection and Duty to the King's Person Because he would not disannul the Princess his Daughter's Title nor accuse the most part of the King's Life as the Books written on the King's part did As though he had lived in a Matrimony Shameful Abominable Bestial and against Nature This seemed an high Complement of Pole's indeed that he would rather chuse to let the King live and die in an habitual Breach of God's Law than be guilty of something that might argue a want of civil Affection and Duty in him And as concerning the People his Judgment was That neither by Learning nor Preaching would they ever be brought into an ill Conceit of the King 's former Marriage and to think so dishonourably of their King as to live so many Years in Matrimony so abominable But as they had
begun to hate Priests this would make them much more to do so nay and the very Name of Learning too As for the Authority of the Universities they were many times led by Affection which was well known And he wished they had never erred in their Determinations He shewed that they were brought to the King's Part with great difficulty Moreover against the Universities Authority he set the Authority of the King's Father and his Council the Queen's Father and his Council and the Pope and his Then he proceeded to Political Considerations of the Pope and Emperor and the French King That the Pope was a great Adversary of the King's purpose he had shewed divers tokens already and that not without cause Because if he should consent he should do against his Predecessors and restrain his own Power which he would rather gladly enlarge and likewise raise Seditions in many Realms as in Portugal Of whose King the Emperor married one Sister and the Duke of Savoy the other Then he went on extolling the Emperor's Power and lessening that of the French King as to his aiding of us Mentioning the Mischief the Emperor might do England by forbidding only our trading into Flanders and Spain That the French never used to keep their Leagues with us but for their own Ends and that we could never find in our Hearts to trust them And that the two Nations never loved one another And that if the French should but suspect that this new Matrimony of the King with the Lady Ann Bolen now purposed should not continue we must not expect Succor of them but upon intolerable Conditions And then lastly he comes to deliberate for the saving the King's Honour Which as it was impossible to do if he proceeded one step further for he had already he said gone to the very Brink so he began to propound certain means for the rescue of it Thus far is Cranmer's Relation of the Book But here he breaks off the Messenger that tarried for the Letter being in haste promising the next Day to come to the Earl to whom he wrote all this and relate the rest to him by Word of Mouth These Means in short were as I collect from some other Passages of this Letter to refer the Matter wholly to the Pope and to reject the thoughts of matching with the Lady Ann. The which was now much talked of For the King and She were very great and about this very time they both rode together from Hampton-Court to Windsor though she were yet no more then the Lady Ann without any other Title The Censure which our Divine gave of this Book and the Writer was this wherein his Modesty and Candor as well as Judgment appeared That Pole had shewed himself both Witty and Eloquent And that for his Wisdom he might have been of Counsel to the King and such his Rhetorick that if his Book should have been set forth and known to the common People he believed it were not possible to perswade them to the contrary Concerning that which he chiefly drove at namely That the King should commit his great Matter to the Pope's Judgment Cranmer gave his Opinion That he seemed therein to lack much Judgment And that though he pressed it with such goodly Eloquence both of Words and Sentence that he were likely to perswade many yet him he said he perswaded in that Point nothing at all No Cranmer had too well studied the Point to leave such a Case of Conscience to the Pope's Decision But in many other things in this Discourse of Pole he professed he was much satisfied I have placed this whole Letter in the Appendix at the end of these Memorials as I shall do many other Letters and Papers of value partly for the Satisfaction of more curious Readers that love to see Originals and partly for the preservation of many choice Monuments relating to this Man and these Times and for the transferring them to posterity CHAP. III. Cranmer's Embassies IN the Year 1530 Dr. Cranmer was sent by the King into France Italy and Germany with the Earl of Wiltshire Chief Ambassador Dr. Lee Elect Arch-Bishop of York Dr. Stokesly Elect of London Divines Trigonel Karn and Benet Doctors of the Law to dispute these Matrimonial matters of his Majesty at Paris Rome and other places Carrying the Book he had made upon that Subject with him From France they took their Journey to the Pope where Cranmer's Book was delivered to him and he ready to justify it and to offer a Dispute against the Marriage openly upon these two Points which his Book chiefly consisted of viz. I. That no Man Iure Divino could or ought to marry his Brother's Wife II. That the Bishop of Rome by no means ought to dispense to the contrary But after sundry Promises and Appointments made there was no Man found to oppose him and publickly to dispute these Matters with him Yet in more private Argumentations with them that were about the Pope he so forced them that at last they openly granted even in the Pope's chief Court of the Rota that the said Marriage was against God's Law But as for the Pope's Power of Dispensing with the Laws of God it was too advantagious a Tenet to be parted with But Dr. Cranmer boldly and honestly denied it utterly before them all The King's Ambassadors from the Pope repaired to the Emperor Charles V. Cranmer only being left behind at Rome to make good his Challenge and withal more privately to get the Judgments and Subscriptions of the Learned Men there in the King's Case which was one of his Businesses also in Germany after What he did in this latter Affair he signified by a Letter to Crook another of the King's Agents for that purpose in Italy Namely That his Success there at Rome was but little and that they dared not to attempt to know any Man's Mind because of the Pope who had said that Friars should not discuss his Power And added That he looked for little Favour in that Court but to have the Pope and all his Cardinals declare against them Here at Rome Cranmer abode for some Months But in all the Journey he behaved himself so learnedly soberly and wittily that the Earl of Wilts gave him such Commendations to the King by his Letters that the rest coming home he sent him a Commission with Instructions to be his sole Ambassador to the Emperor in his said great Cause Which Commissional Letters of the King to him bare date Ianuary 24. 1531. wherein he was stiled Consiliarius Regius ad Caesarem Orator By this opportunity of travelling through Germany following the Emperor's Court by his Conferences he fully satisfied many Learned Germans which afore were of a contrary Judgment and divers in the Emperor 's own Court and Council also One of the chiefest of these and who suffered severely for it was Cornelius Agrippa Kt. Doctor of both Laws
it a Matter of Conscience and Sin to abandon their Titles Also that it might tend to stop the Emperor's Mouth and the Mouths of other their Friends when Fisher and More who had stickled so much for them should now own that Succession which would be in effect a disowning of them Secondly That it might be a means to resolve and quiet also many others in the Realm that were in doubt when such great Men should affirm by Oath and Subscription that the Succession mentioned in the said Act was good and according to God's Laws And he thought that after two such had sworn there would be scarce one in the Kingdom would reclaim against it And thirdly That though a great many in the Realm could not be brought to alter from their Opinions of the Validity of the King 's former Marriage and of the Bishop of Rome's Authority that it would be a great Point gained if all with one accord would own and acknowledg the Succession Weaver the Author of the Funeral Monuments transcribed this Letter out of the Cotton Library and inserted it into his said Book and the thing he takes notice of therein is the Wisdom and Policy of the prudent Arch-bishop I shall take notice of another thing and which I suppose was the great Cause that employed his Pen at this time namely his tender Heart and abhorrence from Blood-shedding Propounding these Politick Considerations to the Secretary which were the properest Arguments to be used with a Statesman and for him to use and urge before the King that so he might be an Instrument of saving the Lives of these Men however they differed from him and it may be were none of his very good Friends This Letter of the Arch-bishop's as I my self took it from the Original I thought worthy depositing among Cranmer's Monuments in the Appendix But this Offer of theirs notwithstanding the Arch-bishop's Arguments and Endeavours would not be accepted The King would not be satisfied with this Swearing by halves CHAP. VII The Arch-bishop visits the Diocess of Norwich THE Popish Bishops were now at a low ebb and being under the Frowns of their Prince other Men took the opportunities upon their Slips to get them punished A Storm now fell upon Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich a vitious and dissolute Man as Godwin writes Against him was a Premunire this Year 25 of Hen. VIII brought That De tout temps there had been a Custom in the Town of Thetford in the County of Norfolk that no Inhabitant of the same Town should be drawn in Plea in any Court Christian for any Spiritual Causes but before the Dean in the said Town And there was a Presentment in the King's Court before the Mayor of the Town by twelve Jurors that there was such a Custom And beside that whosoever should draw any Man out of the said Town in any Spiritual Court should forfeit six shillings and eight pence The Bishop nevertheless cited the Mayor to appear before him pro Salute animae And upon his appearance libelled for that Cause and enjoined him upon pain of Excommunication not to admit the said Presentment And whenas the Bishop could not deny his Fact Judgment was given that he should be out of the King's Protection his Goods and Chattels forfeited and his Body in Prison during the King's Pleasure For which he had the King's Pardon Which was afterwards confirmed in Parliament This Bishop's Diocess was now in such disorder that the Arch-bishop instituted a Visitation of that See wherein William May LL. D. was the Arch-bishop's Commissary The 28 th of Iuly the Bishop was called and summoned to appear but appeared not And so was pronounced Contumax But at another meeting he sent Dr. Cap his Proctor by whom he made a Protestation against their Doings and Jurisdiction and that it was not decent for that Reverend Father to appear before him the Arch-bishop's Official However at another meeting the Bishop not appearing at the Time and Place appointed Dr. May declared him obstinate and to incur the Penalty of Obstinacy After this the Bishop by his Proctor was willing to submit to obey Law and to stand to the Command of the Church and to do Penance for his said Contumacy to be enjoined by the Arch-bishop or his Commissary At another Court the Bishop appeared in Person and then shewed himself willing to take the said Commissary for Visitor or any other in the Name of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury This Bishop was now fourscore Years old and blind as appears by a Writing of his sent by his Proctor dated Septemb. 1534. He died two Years after and came in to be Bishop in the Year 1500. This Bishop seems to have made himself very odious in his Diocess by his Fierceness and Rigors against such as were willing to be better informed in Religion whom he would stile Men savouring of the Frying-pan He seized such Books as were brought from beyond-Sea of which sort there were now many which tended to lay open the Corruptions of the Church and especially the New Testament which he could not endure should be read And when some of these commonly gave out that it was the King's Pleasure that such Books should be read he sent up studiously by the Abbot of Hyde to have this shewed to the King and begged his Letters under his Seal to be directed to him or any body else whom the King pleased in his Diocess to declare it was not his Pleasure such Books should be among his Subjects and to punish such as reported it was He sent also a Letter to Warham then Arch-bishop of Canterbury making his Complaint and Information to him desiring him to send for the said Abbot who should tell him what his Thoughts were for the suppression of these Men and intreating the Arch-bishop to inform the King against these erroneous Men as he called them Some part of his Diocess was bounded with the Sea and Ipswich and Yarmouth and other Places of considerable Traffick were under his Jurisdiction And so there happened many Merchants and Mariners who by Converse from Abroad had received knowledg of the Truth and brought in divers good Books This mightily angred the zealous Bishop and he used all the Severity he could to stop the Progress of Evangelical Truth and wished for more Authority from the King to punish it for his Opinion was that if they continued any time he thought they would undo them all as he wrote to the Arch-bishop This Letter is in the Appendix Bishops Consecrated April the 19 th the Arch-bishop of Canterbury invested in his Pontificals consecrated Thomas Goodrick Doctor of Decrees Bishop of Ely in his Chappel at Croydon together with Rowland Lee Doctor of Law Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry and Iohn Salcot alias Capon Doctor of Law Bishop of Bangor being assisted by Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Christopher Bishop of Sidon CHAP. VIII The Arch-bishop preacheth
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 Rep●●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 b●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 Se●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
was at a stand He was translated from this imaginary Bishoprick to be Bishop of Oxford in the Year 1541. One Iohn Hatton had the Title of Episcopus Negropont He was Suffragan under the Arch-bishop of York Iohn Thornden who was several times Commissiary of Oxon while Arch-bishop Warham was Chancellor of that University was stiled Episcopus Syrinensis And hereafter in the progress of this Book we shall meet with a Bishop of Hippolitanum who assisted Arch-bishop Cranmer at his Ordinations These were but Titulary Bishops and the use of them was to supply the Diocesans absence to consecrate Churches and Church-yards and to reconcile them to assist at Ordinations and confer Orders to confirm Children and the like Sometimes these Suffragans had no Titles at all to any place but were Bishops at large Such an one named Richard Martin is met with in an old Register at Canterbury who was Guardian of the Gray-Fryars there By his last Will made 1498 he gave a Library to the Church and Covent He was Parson of Ickham and Vicar of Lyd in Kent and writ himself in the said Will Bishop of the Vniversal Church By which the Antiquarian supposed nothing else was meant but that he was a Bishop in Name endued with Orders but not with Jurisdiction Episcopal having no particular Charge to intend but generally officiating as Bishop in any part of the Christian Church This I have writ that the Reader may not be put to a stand when he shall in these Commentaries meet with some of these Titular Bishops But proceed we now to the Bishops that were this Year Consecrated Diocesan Bishops April the 11 th Nicholas Shaxton was consecrated Bishop of Sarum in the King's Chappel of S. Stephen by our Arch-bishop Iohn Bishop of Lincoln and Christopher Sidoniens assisting Septemb. the 15 th was the Act of Confirmation and Election of Edward Fox Elect of Hereford and of William Barlow Prior of the Priory of Canons Regular of Bisham of the Order of S. Augustin Sarum for the Bishoprick of S. Asaph The Consecration of these two last are not inserted in the Register March the 18 th the Act of Confirmation and Election of George Brown D. D. Provincial of the Order of Friars Augustin in the City of London for the Arch-bishoprick of Dublin Consecrated March the 19 th by the Arch-bishop at Lambeth Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting Of this last-mentioned Bishop I shall take some further notice having been the first Protestant Bishop in Ireland as Cranmer was in England a great furtherer of the Reformation in that Land being a stirring Man and of good Parts and Confidence He was first taken notice of by Crumwel Lord Privy Seal and by his sole means preferred to this Dignity in the Church of Ireland upon the observation that was taken of him when he was Provincial of the Augustin Order in England advising all People to make their Application only to Christ and not to Saints Whereby he was recommended unto K. Henry who much favoured him When the King's Supremacy was to be brought in and recognized in Ireland which was the same Year wherein he was made Arch-bishop he was appointed one of the King's Commissioners for the procuring the Nobility Gentry and Clergy to reject the Pope and to own the King for Supream Head of the Church In which Commission he acted with that diligence that it was to the hazard of his Life such opposition was made to it in that Realm At which time in an Assembly of the Clergy George Dowdal Arch-bishop of Ardmagh made a Speech to them and laid a Curse upon those whosoever they were that should own the King's Supremacy Within five Years after this this Arch-bishop Brown caused all Superstitious Relicks and Images to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches in his Diocess and ordered the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to be set up in Frames above the Altar in Christ's-Church Dublin In K. Edward VI. his Reign he received the English common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book into that Realm upon the King's Proclamation for that purpose after much opposition by Dowdal And it was read in Christ's-Church Dublin on Easter Day 1551. He preached also a Sermon in Christ's-Church for having the Scripture in the Mother-Tongue and against Image-worship And for this his forwardness and conformity in Religion and the perverseness of the other Arch-bishop of Ardmagh who had violently resisted all good Proceedings the Title of Primacy was taken from him and conferred upon the Arch-bishop of Dublin And Dowdal was banished or as others say voluntarily left his Bishoprick And then Goodacre sent from England with Bale for the See of Ossory succeeded In Q. Mary's days Dowdal was restored and being a great Man in this Reign expulsed Archbishop Brown from his See for being a married Man Who two or three Years after was succeeded by Hugh Corwin a Complier in all Reigns and Brown soon after died Suffragan Bishops The first of these standing in the Register of the Arch-bishop was the Suffragan of the See of Ipswich The Bishop of Norwich according to the direction of the late Act wherein the Bishop was to nominate two for Suffragan to the King and the King was to name one of them to the Arch-bishop to receive Consecration humbly signified to the King that he was destitute of the Aid of a Suffragan and so prayed him to appoint either George Abbot of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Leyston or Thomas Mannyng Prior of the Monastery of S. Mary's of Butley to be his Suffragan without mentioning for what place And on the 7 th of March in the 27 th of his Reign he sent to the Arch-bishop to make the latter Suffragan of Gipwich Who was accordingly consecrated by the Arch-bishop and invested in insigniis Episcopalibus Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting The Date not specified but probably on the same Day with the Consecration following there being the same Assistants The said Bishop of Norwich sent to the King recommending to him to be Suffragan Thomas de Castleacre of the Cluniac Order and Iohn Salisbury Prior of S. Faiths of Horsham of the Order of S. Benet both Priors of Monasteries in Norwich Diocess The King sent to the Arch-bishop to consecrate Iohn the Prior of S. Faiths for Suffragan of Thetford Accordingly he consecrated him March the 19 th Nicholas Bishop of Sarum and Iohn Bishop of Rochester assisting CHAP. X. The Audience Court THE good Arch-bishop almost every Year met with new Opposition from the Popish Clergy The late Act for abolishing the Pope's Authority and some Acts before that for restraining of Applications to Rome served them now as a Colour to strike at one of the Arch-bishop's Courts viz. that of the Audience a Court which the Arch-bishops used to hold in
their Pain But because the Place where they be the Name thereof and kinds of Pain there is to us uncertain by Scripture therefore we remit this with all other things to Almighty God unto whose Mercies it is meet to commend them That such Abuses be put away which under the Name of Purgatory have been advanced As to make Men believe that through the Bishop of Rome's Pardons Souls might clearly be delivered out of Purgatory and the Pains of it or that Masses said at Scala Coeli or otherwise in any Place or before any Image might deliver them from all their Pains and send them streight to Heaven These are the Contents of that memorable Book of Articles There are Reasons added now and then to confirm the respective Tenets there laid down and many Quotations of Holy Scripture which for brevity sake I have omitted Which one may conjecture to have been inserted by the Pen of the Arch-bishop Who was the great Introducer of this Practice of proving or confuting Opinions in Religion by the Word of God instead of the ordinary Custom then used of doing it by School-men and Popish Canons We find indeed many Popish Errors here mixed with Evangelical Truths Which must either be attributed to the Defectiveness of our Prelate's Knowledg as yet in True Religion or being the Principles and Opinions of the King or both Let not any be offended herewith but let him rather take notice what a great deal of Gospel-Doctrine here came to light and not only so but was owned and propounded by Authority to be believed and practised The Sun of Truth was now but rising and breaking through the thick Mists of that Idolatry Superstition and Ignorance that had so long prevailed in this Nation and the rest of the World and was not yet advanced to its Meridian Brightness CHAP. XII Cranmer's Iudgment about some Cases of Matrimony IN this Year then came forth two remarkable Books whereof both the King and the Arch-bishop and Bishops might be said to be joint Composers In as much as they seemed to be devised by the Arch-bishop and some of the Bishops and then Revised Noted Corrected and Enlarged by the King The one of these was the Book of Articles of Religion mentioned before This Book bore this Title Articles devised by the King's Highness to stable Christian Quietness and Vnity among the People c. With a Preface by the King Where the King saith he was constrained to put his own Pen to the Book and to conceive certain Articles Which words I leave to the Conjecture of the Reader whether by them he be enclined to think that the King were the first Writer of them or that being writ and composed by another they were perused considered corrected and augmented by his Pen. The other Book that came out this Year was occasioned by a Piece published by Reginald Pole intituled De Vnione Ecclesiastica Which inveighing much against the King for assuming the Supremacy and extolling the Pope unmeasurably he employed the Arch-bishop and some other Bishops to compile a Treatise shewing the Usurpations of Popes and how late it was e're they took this Superiority upon them some hundred Years passing before they did it And that all Bishops were limited to their own Diocesses by one of the eight Councils to which every Pope did swear And how the Papal Authority was first derived from the Emperor and not from Christ. For this there were good Arguments taken from the Scriptures and the Fathers The Book was signed by both the Arch-bishops and nineteen other Bishops It was called the Bishops Book because devised by them The Lord Crumwel did use to consult with the Arch-bishop in all his Ecclesiastical Matters And there happened now while the Arch-bishop was at Ford a great Case of Marriage Whom it concerned I cannot tell but the King was desirous to be resolved about it by the Arch-bishop and commanded Crumwel to send to him for his Judgment therein The Case was three-fold I. Whether Marriage contracted or solemnized in Lawful Age per Verba de presenti and without carnal Copulation be Matrimony before God or no II. Whether such Matrimony be consummate or no And III. What the Woman may thereupon demand by the Law Civil after the death of her Husband This I suppose was a cause that lay before the King and his Ecclesiastical Vicegerent to make some determination of And I suspect it might relate to Katharine his late divorced Queen The Arch-bishop who was a very good Civilian as well as a Divine but that loved to be wary and modest in all his Decisions made these Answers That as to the first he and his Authors were of Opinion that Matrimony contracted per Verba de presenti was perfect Matrimony before God 2. That such Matrimony is not utterly consummated as that term is commonly used among the School-Divines and Lawyers but by carnal Copulation 3. As to the Woman's Demands by the Law Civil he therein professed his Ignorance And he had no learned Men with him there at Ford to consult with for their Judgments only Dr. Barbar a Civilian that he always retained with him who neither could pronounce his Mind without his Books and some learned Men to confer with upon the Case But he added that he marvelled that the Votes of the Civil Lawyer should be required herein seeing that all manner of Causes of Dower be judged within this Realm by the Common Laws of the same And that there were plenty of well-learned Men in the Civil Law at London that undoubtedly could certify the King's Majesty of the Truth herein as much as appertained unto that Law warily declining to make any positive Judgment in a Matter so ticklish This happened in the month of Ianuary And indeed in these Times there were great Irregularities about Marriage in the Realm many being incestuous and unlawful Which caused the Parliament two or three Years past viz 1533. in one of their Acts to publish a Table of Degrees wherein it was prohibited by God's Law to marry But the Act did not cure this Evil many thought to bear out themselves in their illegal Contracts by getting Dispensations from the Arch-bishop which created him much trouble by his denying to grant them There was one Massy a Courtier who had contracted himself to his deceased Wife's Niece Which needing a Dispensation the Party got the Lord Crumwel to write to the Arch-bishop in his behalf especially because it was thought to be none of the Cases of Prohibition contained in the Act. But such was the Integrity of the Arch-bishop that he refused to do any thing he thought not allowable though it were upon the perswasion of the greatest Men or the best Friends he had But he writ this civil Letter to the Lord Crumwel upon this occasion MY very singular good Lord in my most hearty-wise I commend me unto your Lordship And whereas your
he had his Commission and took it down with him Which he advisedly did the better to warrant and bear him out in what he intended to do in his Diocess which he purposed to visit This was a Year of Visitation For there was a new Visitation now again appointed throughout all England to see how the People stood affected to the King to discover Cheats and Impostures either in Images Relicks or such like The Arch-bishop also thinking good now to visit his Diocess procured the Licence of the Vice-Gerent Lord Crumwel so to do Because I suppose all other Visitations were to cease to give way to the King's Visitation And to render his Power of Visiting the more unquestionable and void of scruple he desired the Vice-gerent that in drawing up of his Commission his Licence to visit might be put into it by Dr. Peter who was then if I mistake not Master of the Faculties to the said Vice-gerent and afterwards Secretary of State And because he would not do any thing without the Counsel and Allowance of the Vice-gerent he asked his Advice how he should order in his Visitation such Persons as had transgressed the King's Injunctions Which came out the Year before under Crumwel's Name Whereof some were for the restraint of the Number of Holy Days a great cause of Superstition and of the continuance of it And afterwards other Injunctions came out whereof the first was that in all Parishes once every Sunday for a quarter of a Year together the Supremacy should be taught and the Laws to that intent read These Injunctions were in number Eleven as they are set down in the Lord Herbert's History The Vicar of Croydon under the ABp's Nose had been guilty of certain Misdemeanors Which I suppose were speaking or preaching to the disparagement of the King's Supremacy and in favour of the Pope Now before he went into the Countrey and having as yet divers Bishops and Learned Men with him at Lambeth he thought it advisable to call this Man before them at this time But before he would do it he thought it best to consult with Crumwel and take his Advice whether he should now do it and before these Bishops or not So ticklish a thing then was it for the Bishops to do any things of themselves without the privity and order of this great Vice-gerent Cranmer was aware of it and therefore required Direction from him in every thing But whatsoever was done with this Vicar the Arch-bishop was soon down in his Diocess and having taken an Account of the People and Clergy what Conformity they bare to the King's Laws and Injunctions he found them superstitiously set upon the observation of their old Holy Days Some whereof he punished and others he admonished according to the degree of their Crimes And he discovered the chief Cause to lie in the Curates and Priests who did animat● the People to what they did indeed their Interest and Gain was concerned The great inconvenience of these Holy Days lay partly in the numerousness of them so that the attendance upon them hindred dispatching and doing Justice in Westminster-hall in the Terms and the gathering in Harvest in the Countrey partly in the Superstitions that these Holy Days maintained in the idolatrous Worship of supposed Saints and partly in the Riot Debauchery and Drunkenness that these Times were celebrated with among the common People and lastly the Poverty it brought upon the meaner sort being detained from going about their ordinary Labours and Callings to provide for themselves and Families For the prevention of these Superstitions for the Future and to make the People more obedient to the King's Laws he gave out strict Orders to all Parsons of Parishes upon pain of Deprivation that they should cause the abrogated Holy Days not to be observed for the future and to present to the Arch-bishop all Persons in their respective Parishes as should do contrary to any of the King's Ordinances already set forth or that should be hereafter by his Authority relating to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church And this course he conceived so good an Expedient that he counselled the Lord Vice-gerent that all Bishops in their several Diocesses might be commanded to do the same for the avoiding of Disobedience and Contention in the Realm By which means he said The Evil-Will of the People might be conveyed from the King and his Council upon the Ordinaries And so the Love and Obedience of the People better secured to their Soveraign Such was his care of his Prince to preserve him in the Affections of his People that he was willing to take upon himself their Enmity that it might not light upon the King But Cranmer had observed these Holy Days were kept by many even in the Court under the King's Eye which he well knew was an Example and Encouragement to the whole Nation And therefore he signified to the Lord Crumwel that they could never perswade the People to cease from keeping them when the King 's own Houshold were an Example unto the rest to break his own Ordinances See his Letter to Crumwel in the Appendix CHAP. XV. The Bible printed HE was now at Ford and it was in the Month of August when something fell out that gave the good Arch-bishop as much Joy as ever happened to him in all the time of his Prelacy It was the printing of the Holy Bible in the English Tongue in the great Volume Which was now finished by the great Pains and Charges of Richard Grafton the Printer Osiander who knew the Arch-bishop well when he was the King's Ambassador in Germany saith of him that he was Sacrarum Literarum Studiossimum Indeed he always had a great value for the Scriptures because they were the Word of God and extraordinary desirous he was from the very first entrance upon his Bishoprick that the People might have the liberty of reading it and for that purpose to have it interpreted into the Vulgar Language And so by Crumwel's means he got leave from the King that it might be translated and printed The care of the Translation lay wholly upon him assigning little Portions of this Holy Book to divers Bishops and Learned Men to do and being dispatched to be sent back to him And to his inexpressible Satisfaction he saw the Work finished in this Year about Iuly or August As soon as some of the Copies came to his Hand one he sent to Crumwel entreating him that he would present it from him to the King and no question he thought it the noblest Present that ever he made him and withal to intercede with his Majesty that the said Book might by his Authority be both bought and used by all indifferently Both which Crumwel did For which the Arch-bishop was full of Gladness and Gratitude and wrote two Letters to him soon after one another wherein he thanked him most heartily telling him How he had hereby made
his Memory famous to Posterity within the Realm among all such as should hereafter be favourers of God's Word and that he should hear of this good Deed of his at the last Day That for his part it was such a content to his Mind that he could not have done him a greater pleasure if he had given him a thousand Pounds And that such Knowledg would ensue hereupon that it should appear he had done excellent Service both to God and the King He also particularly spake of the Bishop of Worcester how highly obliged he was sure he was to him for this But I refer the Reader to his own Letters which follow MY very singular good Lord In my most harty wise I commend me unto your Lordship And whereas I understand that your Lordship at my Request hath not only exhibited the Bible which I sent unto you to the King's Majesty but also hath obtained of his Grace that the same shall be allowed by his Authority to be bought and read within this Realm My Lord for this your Pains taken in this behalf I give you my most hearty Thanks Assuring your Lordship for the Contentation of my Mind you have shewed me more pleasure here than if you had given me a thousand Pounds and I doubt not but that hereby such Fruit of good Knowledg shall ensue that it shall well appear hereafter what high and excellent Service you have done unto God and the King Which shall so much redound to your Honour that besides God's Reward you shall obtain perpetual Memory for the same within this Realm And as for me you may reckon me your Bondman for the same And I dare be bold to say so may ye do my Lord of Worcester Thus my Lord right hartily fare ye well At Ford the xiii day of August Your own Bound-man ever T. Cantuarien And in another Letter fifteen days after he again renewed his Thanks MY very singular and special good Lord In my most harty wise I commend me to your Lordship These shall be to give you most hearty Thanks that any Heart can think and that in the Name of them which favour God's Word for your diligence at this time in procuring the King's Highness to set forth the said God's Word and his Gospel by his Grace's Authority For the which Act not only the King's Majesty but also you shall have a perpetual Laud and Memory of all them that be now ●or hereafter shall be God's faithful People and the Favourers of his Word And this Deed you shall hear of at the Great Day when all things shall be opened and made manifest For our Saviour Christ saith in the said Gospel that whosoever shrinketh from Him and his Word and is abashed to profess and set it forth before Men in this World he will refuse him at that Day And contrary whosoever constantly doth profess Him and his Word and studieth to set that forward in this World Christ will declare the same at the Last Day before his Father and all his Angels and take upon him the Defence of those Men. Now because by these Letters of the Arch-bishop it appears how instrumental Crumwel was when the Bible was printed to procure the setting it forth by the King's Authority I will here relate more at large what Countenance and Assistance he gave to this pious Work all along and those that were concerned and employed in the doing of it The Bible as Fox speaks had been printed in the Year 1532 and reprinted again three or four Years after The Undertakers and Printers were Grafton and Whitchurch who printed it at Hamburgh The Corrector was Iohn Rogers a Learned Divine afterwards a Canon of St. Paul's in King Edward's Time and the first Martyr in the next Reign The Translator was William Tyndal another Learned Martyr with the help of Miles Coverdale after Bishop of Exeter But before all this second Edition was finish'd Tyndal was taken and put to death for his Religion in Flanders in the Year 1536. And his Name then growing into ignominy as one burnt for an Heretick they thought it might prejudice the Book if he should be named for the Translator thereof and so they used a feigned Name calling it Thomas Matthews Bible though Tyndal before his death had finished all but the Apocrypha which was translated by Rogers abovesaid who added also some Marginal Notes In this Bible were certain Prologues and a special Table collected of the common Places in the Bible and Texts of Scripture for proving the same And chiefly the common Places of the Lord's Supper the Marriage of Priests and the Mass. Of which it was there said that it was not to be found in Scripture This Bible giving the Clergy offence was gotten to be restrained Some Years after came forth the Bible aforesaid wherein Cranmer had the great Hand which as I suppose was nothing but the former corrected the Prologues and Table being left out When Grafton had finished this Work and printed off fifteen hundred Bibles at his great Charge amounting to five hundred Pounds a round Sum in those days the Ld. Crumwel desired to have six of his Books Which he forthwith sent by his Servant a clear Man of all suspicion of any Infection coming that day out of Flanders Grafton not adventuring to come himself with the Books because of the Infection at London where he was These Books therefore he sent together with a Letter of Thanks for being so assistant in the publication which as he writ in his Letter the Arch-bishop said the Tidings of did him more good than the Gift of ten thousand Pounds and for procuring the King's Licence which was thought fit to be signified in the Title Page in red Letters thus Set forth by the King 's most gracious Licence But several would not believe the King had licensed it and therefore he desired further of Crumwel that he would get it licensed under the Privy Seal which would be a Defence for the present and for the future But take the Letter as Grafton himself penned it MOST humbly beseeching your Lordship to understand that according to your Request I have sent your Lordship six Bibles which gladly I would have brought my self but because of the Sickness which remaineth in the City and therefore I have sent them by my Servant which this day came out of Flanders Requiring your Lordship if I may be so bold as to desire you to accept them as my simple Gift given to you for those most godly Pains for which the heavenly Father is bound even of his Justice to reward you with the Everlasting Kingdom of God For your Lordship's moving our most gracious Prince to the Allowance and Licensing of such a Work hath wrought such an Act worthy of Praise as never was mentioned in any Chronicle in this Realm and as my Lord of Canterbury said the Tydings thereof did him more good than the gift of 10000 l.
Mattins with him Which grieved him much And as he returned at other times to hear the Scripture read his Father still would fetch him away This put him upon the thoughts of learning to read English that so he might read the New Testament himself Which when he had by diligence effected he and his Father's Apprentice bought the New Testament joining their Stocks together and to conceal it laid it under the Bed-straw and read it at convenient Times One night his Father being asleep he and his Mother chanced to discourse concerning the Crucifix and kneeling down to it and knocking on the Breast then used and holding up the Hands to it when it came by on Procession This he told his Mother was plain Idolatry and against the Commandment of God where he saith Thou shalt not make any graven Image nor bow down to it nor worship it His Mother enraged at him for this said Wilt thou not worship the Cross which was about thee when thou wert Christned and must be laid on thee when thou art dead In this heat the Mother and Son departed and went to their Beds The Sum of this Evening's Conference she presently repeats to her Husband which he impatient to hear and boiling in Fury against his Son for denying worship to be due to the Cross arose up forthwith and goes into his Son's Chamber and like a mad Zealot taking him by the Hair of his Head with both his Hands pulled him out of the Bed and whipped him unmercifully And when the Young Man bore this beating as he related with a kind of Joy considering it was for Christ's Sake and shed not a tear his Father seeing that was more inraged and ran down and fetched an Halter and put it about his Neck saying he would hang him At length with much intreaty of the Mother and Brother he left him almost dead I extract this out of the Original Relation of the Person himself wrote at Newington near London where he afterwards dwelt Which relation he gave to Iohn Fox This Year Nicolson a very Learned Man greatly acquainted with Tindal and Frith and who by reason of trouble from the Bishops formerly for the better concealing of himself for time to come called himself Lambert was adjudged to the Flames and cruelly burnt Wherein our Arch-bishop and the Lord Crumwel unhappily had their hands the one in reading the Sentence against him De Haeretico comburendo by the King's Commandment and the Arch-bishop first in having him before him in a judiciary way and afterwards in disputing publickly against him in favour of the Doctrine of the Corporal Presence The first occasion of Lambert's Troubles was this At the hearing of a Sermon of Dr. Taylor he who was afterwards Bishop of Lincoln and a favourer of the Gospel preached by him at S. Peter's Cornhil he came and presented him with Ten Reasons against Transubstantiation written by him Dr. Taylor by Dr. Barnes his means who though in other things he favoured a Reformation and suffered Death upon the Six Articles yet was hot against Sacramentaries at this time thinking the broaching that Doctrine might throw in some Impediment to the progress of the Gospel Dr. Taylor I say by Barnes his Advice carried these Reasons to the Arch-bishop Who upon this conventing Lambert before him endeavoured to reclaim him by holding much discourse with him The News of this came to the Court. And by the instigation of the Bishop of Winchester the King resolved to dispute with him himself in a very publick and solemn manner and that because he had appealed from the Bishops to the King The Day being come and the King present with all his Bishops on the right Hand and his Nobles on the Left accompanied with his Lawyers and other Attendants on purpose to terrify him and to make an open Signification that though he had cast off the Papal Supremacy yet he intended not to be a favourer of Heresy so called first commanded Richard Sampson Bishop of Chichester Fox saith it was Day Bishop of Chichester but in that he was mistaken for he was not yet Bishop to begin and give the Reason of the meeting He appointed the Bishops now present to answer Lambert's Ten Reasons as Fox or his Eight as the Bishop of Chichester in his Declaration mentioned The Arch-bishop answered the second for the King himself had disputed against the first The Arch-bishop according to his mild Temper but withal according to the false Opinion which he then most confidently maintained stiling him Brother Lambert desired the Matter might be decided indifferently between them And that if he convinced Lambert by Scripture Lambert would be willing to come over from his Opinion But if Lambert on the other hand could by Scripture convince him he promised to imbrace his Opinion Then he fell upon Lambert's Reason which was taken out of the Acts of the Apostles where Christ appeared unto Paul by the way Disputing from that place that it was not disagreeable to the Word of God that the Body of Christ may be in two places at once Which being in Heaven was seen the same time by S. Paul upon the Earth And said the Arch-bishop If it may be in two places why by the like Reason may it not be in many places In what order and course the rest of the Bishops disputed or rather baited this poor Man it is uncertain only Winchester had the sixth place Tunstal of Durham next to him and next Stokesly Bishop of London Richard Bishop of Chichester who was reputed a Man of great Learning had his course to whose turn it came to confute Lambert's Sixth Reason which was taken from that of S. Paul to the Romans Who hath ascended up to Heaven to bring Christ down from thence His Argument is preserved in the Cotton Library I refer the Reader to the Appendix where he shall meet with it Whereby may be seen after what a haughty and indecent manner this meek Confessor of Christ was dealt with as though they designed rather to run him down and brow-beat him than answer him CHAP. XVIII The Arch-bishop's Iudgment of the Eucharist BUT to return to Cranmer whose Opinion in the Point of the Sacrament we will stay a little upon He was now a strong ●tickler for the Carnal Presence and seemed greatly prejudiced to that Opinion There was one Ioachim Vadianus a Learned Man of S. Gal in Helvetia and an Acquaintance of the Arch-bishop's He had framed a Treatise intituled Aphorisms upon the Consideration of the Eucharist in six Books Which were intended to prove no Corporal Presence This Book he presented to the Arch-bishop but though he loved him as a Learned Man yet he declared himself much displeased with his Argument and wrote to him That he wished he had employed his Study to better purpose and that he had begun his Correspondence with him in some better and more approved Subject Adding That he would
be neither Patron nor Approver of that Doctrine until he saw stronger Proofs for it And so much did he dislike Oecolampadius and Zuinglius their Opinion in this Matter that he applied that Censure of S. Hierom concerning Origen to them That where they wrote well no body writ better and where ill no body worse And he wished those Learned Men had gone no further than to confute Papistical Errors and Abuses and had not sown their Tares with their good Corn. That which detained our Arch-bishop in this Error was the Veneration he had for the Ancient Doctors of the Church whose Writings as he then thought approved the Doctrine of this gross Presence judging that none could ever reconcile those Authors to the contrary Opinion Indeed he judged it the very Doctrine of the Fathers from the beginning of the Church And he reckoned that it must be a Truth because otherwise it could not consist with God's Goodness to his Spouse to leave her in such blindness so long It seemed also that he built this his Error upon the words of Scripture taking the sense of This is my Body literally Vadian by this Book had intended to have brought Cranmer off from this Opinion And before him several Attempts had been made that way but he remained so rooted therein that he seemed to be ever unmoveable He supposed also that the giving up this Doctrine would prove a great Impediment to the Work of the Gospel that now proceeded well in the Nation He advised and beseeched all both Lutherans and Zuinglians that the Churches of Christ would lay aside their Controversies in that Matter and agree and unite in a Christian Concord together that they might propagate one sound pure Doctrine consonant to the Discipline of the Primitive Church And this would be the way to convert even Turks themselves to the Obedience of the Gospel But I recommend the Reader to the Arch-bishop's own Letter to the said Vadianus wherein he may see how fast and firm he stuck to this Doctrine in these days He will find it in the Appendix Sanders in his lying Book of the English Schism would make his Reader believe that Cranmer was of this Opinion for another Reason namely because his Master K. Henry thought so and that he had so devoted himself to him that he in all things whatsoever believed and did in conformity to him giving Cranmer therefore the Nick-name of Henricianus But we must attribute that Suggestion to the well-known venemous Pen of that Man who cared not what he writ so he might but throw his Dirt upon the Reformation and the Reformers The said Author with the same Malice would have it that Cranmer was very variable and inconstant having been first for a Corporeal Presence afterwards a Lutheran and then a Calvinist And that he thus changed his Opinion as a Sycophant and Flatterer to comply with every Man's Humour that was uppermost That all the time of K. Henry he remained of that King's Opinion who was a vehement Enemy to Luther but when he was dead he became wholly Lutheran and put forth a Catechism dedicated to K. Edward and printed it in which he taught that every Christian that received the Sacrament either under the Bread or in the Bread or with the Bread certainly received into his Mouth the very true Body and Blood of Christ. But that scarce a Month passed when the Wretch that is his word understood that the Duke of Somerset the King's Governour was a Calvinist and not a Lutheran What should he do He printed his Catechism again changed the word and of an Henrician and a Lutheran became a Calvinist But to give a more true and respectful account of our Arch-bishop as to his continuance in this Opinion and his change of it Hitherto we have seen his Opinion for a Corporal Presence In the next Year viz. 1539. I find one Adam Damplip of Calais a Learned Preacher convented before him and several other Bishops for not holding the Real Presence From which Opinion the Arch-bishop with the rest did endeavour to bring him off Though then he marvelled much at the Answers that Damplip made and confessed openly and plainly that the Scripture knew no such term as Transubstantiation In the Year 1541 he had one Barber a Master of Arts of Oxford brought before him for denying the said Corporal Presence the Arch-bishop disputed again earnestly for that Doctrine against this Man yet could not but admire at his readiness in citing his Places out of S. Augustin nor could tell how to confute them as Mr. Raphe Morice his Secretary related afterward to Iohn Fox And this Tenet he held to the very last Year of K. Henry that is to the Year 1546. When by more mature and calm deliberation and considering the Point with less prejudice and the sense of the Fathers more closely in conference with Dr. Ridley afterwards Bishop of Rochester and his Fellow-Martyr he at last quitted and freed himself from the Fetters of that unsound Doctrine as appears by the Epistle Dedicatory before his Book of the Sacrament in Latin printed by the Exiles at Embden Which Epistle we may give credit to being written as is thought by Sir Iohn Cheke who well knew the Arch-bishop and Matters relating to him After Arch-bishop Cranmer and Ridley had changed their Opinion Latimer not long after changed his in this Point For as they all three died Martyrs at Oxon I am willing to join them together here It was but seven Years before his Burning that he relinquish'd that old Error that is about the Year 1547 as he confessed to Dr. VVeston in his Disputation There is an Argument the said Latimer made use of to prove the deceit of the Blood of Hales which Argument supposes him then of this Opinion It was pretended by the Priests that none could see this Blood but those that were confessed and absolved by the Priest and so clean in Life and their seeing of it was a sign they were so But said Latimer in those Times for the exposing of this Fraud Those Wretches that scourged Christ and nailed him to his Cross did see his Blood with their bodily Eyes and yet were not in clean Life And we see the self-same Blood in form of Wine when we have consecrate and may both see it feel it and receive it to our Damnation as touching bodily receiving We shall perhaps say more of the Arch-bishop's Opinion in the Eucharist when we come to speak of his Book relating to that Argument Divers Priests now as well Religious as Secular had married themselves after the Example of the Arch-bishop who kept his Wife secretly with him But some of these married Priests were so indiscreet that they lived publickly and openly with their Wives though the Ecclesiastical Laws were in force against such Marriages nor had they any Allowances by the King and Realm in Parliament Only some had Dispensations as
Crumwel speak against it the Reason being no question because they saw the King so resolved upon it Nay it came to be a flying Report that the Arch-bishop of Canterbury himself and all the Bishops except Sarum consented But this is not likely that Cranmer who had so openly and zealously opposed it should be so soon changed and brought to comply with it Nay at the very same time it passed he staid and protested against it though the King desired him to go out since he could not consent to it Worcester also as well as Sarum was committed to Prison and he as well as the other resigned up his Bishoprick upon the Act. In the foresaid Disputation in the Parliament-house the Arch-bishop behaved himself with such humble modesty and obedience in word towards his Prince protesting the Cause not to be his but God's that neither his Enterprize was misliked of the King and his Allegations and Reasons were so strong that they could not be refuted Great pity it is that these Arguments of the Arch-bishop are lost which I suppose they are irrecoverably because Fox that lived so near those Times and so elaborate a Searcher after such Papers could not meet with them and all that he could do was to wish that they were extant to be seen and read However I will make my Conjecture here that I am apt to think that one of the main Matters insisted on by him at this time was against the cruel Penalty annexed to these Articles For I find in one of the Arch-bishop's Manuscript Volumes now in Benet-College Library there is in this very Year a Discourse in Latin upon this Subject Num in haereticos jure Magistratui gravius animadvertere liceat Decisio Vrbani Rhegii Interprete Iacobo Gisleno Anno 1539. Which Book I suppose he might at this juncture have read over and made use of The Dukes and Lords of Parliament that as above was said came over to Lambeth to visit and dine with him by the King's Command used words to him to this Tenor The King's Pleasure is that we should in his behalf cherish and comfort you as one that for your travail in the late Parliament declared your self both greatly Learned and also Discreet and Wise And therefore my Lord be not discouraged for any thing that past there contrary to your Allegations The Arch-bishop replied In the first place my Lords I heartily thank the King's Highness for his singular good Affection towards me and you all for your pains And I hope in God that hereafter my Allegations and Authorities shall take place to the Glory of God and Commodity of the Realm Every of the Lords brought forth his Sentence in commendation of him to shew what good-will both the King and they bare to him One of them entred into a Comparison between the said Arch-bishop and Cardinal Wolsey preferring the Arch-bishop before him for his mild and gentle Nature whereas he said the Cardinal was a stubborn and churlish Prelate that could never abide any Noble-man The Lord Crumwel as Cranmer's Secretary relates who himself heard the words You my Lord said he were born in an happy Hour I suppose for do or say what you will the King will always take it well at your Hands And I must needs confess that in some things I have complained of you to his Majesty but all in vain for he will never give credit against you whatsoever is laid to your Charge But let me or any other of the Council be complained of his Grace will most seriously chide and fall out with us And therefore you are most happy if you can keep you in this State The Roman Zealots having obtained this Act of the Six Articles desisted not but seconded their Blow by a Book of Ceremonies to be used by the Church of England so intituled all running after the old Popish strain It proceeded all along in favour of the Roman Church's superstitious Ceremonies endeavouring to shew the good signification of them The Book first begins with an Index of the Points touched therein viz. Churches and Church-yards the hallowing and reconcileing them The Ceremonies about the Sacrament of Baptism Ordering of the Ministers of the Church in general Divine Service to be sung and said in the Church Mattins Prime and other Hours Ceremonies used in the Mass. Sundays with other Feasts Bells Vesture and Tonsure of the Ministers of the Church and what Service they be bound unto Bearing Candles upon Candlemass-day Fasting Days The giving of Ashes The covering of the Cross and Images in Lent Bearing of Palms The Service of Wednesday Thursday and Friday before Easter The hallowing of Oil and Chrism The washing of the Altars The hallowing of the Font upon Saturday in the Easter-Even The Ceremonies of the Resurrection in Easter-Morning General and other particular Processions Benedictions of Bells or Priests Holy Water and holy Bread A general Doctrine to what intent Ceremonies be ordained and of what value they be The Book it self is too long to be here inserted but such as have the Curiosity may find it in the Cotton Library and may observe what Pains was taken to smooth and varnish over the old Supperstions I do not find this Book mentioned by any of our Historians The Bishop of Winchester with his own Pen hath an Annotation in the Margin of one place in the Book And I strongly suspect he was more than the Revisor of it and that it was drawn up by him and his Party and strongly pushed on to be owned as the Act of the Clergy For this Year there was a Convocation The King had sent his Letters written March the 12 th in the 30 th Year of his Reign viz. 1538. to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury for summoning a Convocation to meet together at St. Paul's the second day of May. But this Assembly by the King's Letters to him was prorogued till November the 4 th At this Convocation I suppose these Articles were invented and propounded to the House All this long Book in behalf of the Ceremonies did our laborious Metropolitan put himself to the pains of answering and thereby hindred the Reception of it For concerning this I do interpret that Passage of Fox viz. That the Arch-bishop confuted eighty eight Articles devised by a Convocation and which were laboured to be received but were not But to return to the six Articles Great triumphing now there was on the Papists Side as appears by a Letter wrote from some Roman Catholick Member of the House of Lords to his Friend Which may be read in the Appendix But after some time the King perceiving that the said Arch-bishop and Bishops did this thing not of Malice or Stubbornness but out of a zeal they had to God's Glory and the Common-wealth reformed in part the said Six Articles and somewhat blunted the Edg of them March 20. Two Commissions were sent to the Arch-bishop to take the Surrender
of two Houses of Religious Persons namely that of Christ's-Church Canterbury and that of Rochester Towards the latter end of this Year several new Bishopricks were founded out of old Monasteries and several Deaneries and Colleges of Prebends out of divers Priories belonging to Cathedral Churches Herein as Crumwel so Cranmer had a great Hand Who laboured with the King that in these New Foundations there should be Readers of Divinity Greek and Hebrew and Students trained up in Religion and Learning From whence as a Nursery the Bishops should supply their Diocesses with honest and able Ministers And so every Bishop should have a College of Clergy-men under his Eye to be preferred according to their Merits For it was our Arch-bishops regret that the Prebendaries were bestowed as they were This Complaint Bishop Burnet tells us he saw in a long Letter of Cranmer's own hand Bishops Confirmed In Arch-bishops Cranmer's Register I find these Bishops Confirmed their Consecrations being omitted August the 11 th Iohn Bell LL. D. brought up in Baliol College and Arch-deacon of Glocester was Confirmed Bishop of Worcester upon the Resignation of Bishop Latimer in the Chappel of Lambeth He is stiled in the Register the King's Chaplain and Councellor November the Iohn Skyp D. D. Arch-deacon of Dorset and once Chaplain to Queen Ann Bole● was Confirmed Bishop of Hereford The King's Letter to the Archbishop to consecrate him bears date November 8. CHAP. XX. The Arch-bishop in Commission THE next Year viz. 1540. The Arch-bishop lost his great Friend and Assistant in carrying on the Reformation I mean the Lord Crumwel And when he was by Popish Craft and Malice taken off their next Work was to sacrifice Cranmer And many were the Accusations that were put up against him and Trial was made many ways to bring him to his Death or at least to bring him in disgrace with the King And first they thought to compass their Ends against him by occasion of a Commission now issued out from the King to a select Number of Bishops whereof the Arch-bishop was one which Commission was confirmed by Act of Parliament for inspecting into Matters of Religion and explaining some of the chief Doctrines of it These Commissioners had drawn up a set of Articles favouring the old Popish Superstitions And meeting together at Lambeth they produced them and vehemently urged that they should be established and that the Arch-bishop would yield to the Allowance of them especially seeing there was a signification that it was the King's Will and Pleasure that the Articles should run in that Tenour But they could not win the Arch-bishop neither by Fear nor Flattery No though the Lord Crumwel at this very time lay in the Tower There was not one Commissioner now on his part but all shrank away and complied with the Time and even those he most trusted to viz. Bishop Hethe of Rochester and Bishop Skip of Hereford The Arch-bishop as he disliked the Book already drawn up by them so he presented another Book wherein were divers Amendments of theirs After much arguing and disputing nor could the Arch-bishop be brought off Hethe and Skip with a Friend or two more walked down with him into his Garden at Lambeth and there used all the Perswasion they could urging to him that the King was resolved to have i● so and the Danger therefore of opposing it But he honestly persisted in his constancy telling them That there was but one Truth in the Articles to be concluded upon which if they hid from his Majesty by consenting unto a contrary Doctrine his Highness would in process of Time perceive the Truth and see how colorably they had delt with him And he knew he said his Grace's Nature so well that he would never after credit and trust them And they being both his Friends he bad them beware in time and discharge their Consciences in maintenance of the Truth But though nothing of all this could stir them yet what he said sufficiently confirmed the Arch-bishop to persist in his Resolution The Arch-bishop standing thus alone went himself to the King and so wrought with him that his Majesty joined with him against all the rest of them and the Book of Articles past on his side When indeed this stifness of Canterbury was the very thing his Enemies desired thinking that for this Opposition the King would certainly have thrown him into the Tower and many Wagers were laid in London about it So that this ended in two good Issues that the Arch-bishop's Enemies were clothed with Shame and Disappointment and a very good Book chiefly of the Arch-bishop's composing came forth for the Instruction of the People known by the Name of A necessary Erudition of any Christian Man A particular Account whereof may be read in the History of the Reformation This vexed Winchester to the Heart that his Plot took no better Effect but he put it up till he should find other Opportunities to attack him which after happened as we shall see in the sequel of this Story But this Matter deserves to be a little more particularly treated of The King had as was said before appointed several of the Eminent Divines of his Realm to deliberate about sundry Points of Religion then in Controversy and to give in their Sentences distinctly And that in regard of the Germans who the last Year had sent over in Writing the Judgment of their Divines respecting some Articles of Religion and had offered his Majesty to appoint some of their Divines to meet some others of the King 's in any Place he should assign or to come over into England to confe● together And also in regard of a more exact review of the Institution of a Christian Man put forth about two or three Years before and now intended to be published again as a more perfect Piece of Religious Instruction for the People The King therefore being minded thorowly to sift divers Points of Religion then started and much controverted commanded a particular number of Bishops and other his Learned Chaplains and Dignitaries to compare the Rites and Ceremonies and Tenets of the present Church by the Scriptures and by the most Ancient Writers and to see how far the Scripture or good Antiquity did allow of the same And this I suppose he did by the instigation of Arch-bishop Cranmer The Names of the Commissioners were these Cranmer ABp of Canterbury Lee ABp of York Boner Bishop of London Tunstal Bishop of Durham Barlow Bishop of S. David's Aldrich Bishop of Carlisle Skyp Bishop of Hereford Hethe Bishop of Rochester Thirleby Bishop Elect of Westminster Doctors Cox Robinson Day Oglethorp Redman Edgeworth Symonds Tresham Leyghton Curwen Crayford Where we may wonder not to see the Name of the Bishop of Winton But if we consider the Reason the King gave why he left him out of the Number of his Executors viz. because as he told several
intangle the Thred of the Discourse if I should here insert them And therefore I must omit them and proceed to other matters In this thirty second Year of the King by a seasonable Law a stop was put to an Evil that now mightily prevailed Namely the frequency of Divorces For it was ordinary to annul Marriages and divide Man and Wife from each other who it may be had lived long together and had Children in Wedlock When upon any disgust of Man or Wife they would withdraw from one another and so in effect make their Children Bastards upon pretence of some Pre-contract or Affinity Which by the Pope's Law required a Divorce The King himself took particular care of this Act and there were two rough Draughts of it which I have seen in the Cotton Library both which he himself revised diligently and corrected with his own Pen. These Divorces the Arch-bishop highly disliked and might probably have laid before the King the great Inconveniences as well as Scandal thereof It troubled him to see how common these Divorces were grown in Germany and After-Marriages and Bigamy There is a Letter of his to Osiander the German Divine concerning Matrimony In what Year written appeareth not unless perhaps in this Year or the following now that the King was employing his Thoughts about redress of this Business The sum of the Letter is to desire Osiander to supply him with an Answer to some things that seemed to reflect a Fault upon those in Germany that professed the Gospel and that was that they allowed such as were divorsed to marry again both Parties divorsed being alive and that they suffered without any Divorce a Man to have more Wives than one And Osiander had acknowledged as much expressly to Cranmer in a Letter seeming to complain of it and added that Philip Melancthon himself was present at one of these Marriages of a second Wife the first being alive Indeed if any thing were done among those Protestants that seemed not just and fair to be sure Cranmer should presently be twitted in the Teeth for it And then he was fain to make the best Answers he could either out of their Books or out of his own Invention And he was always asked about the Affairs in those Parts And sometimes he was forced to confess some things and be ready to blush at them such a concern had he for Germany as concerning their Allowance of Usury and of Concubines to their Noble-men as he wrote to the said German But I will not longer detain the Reader from perusing the excellent Learned Letter of the Arch-bishop which he may find in the Appendix concerning this Subject CHAP. XXI The largest Bible printed THE largest English Bible coming forth in Print this Year wherein our Arch-bishop out of his Zeal to God's Glory had so great an influence I shall here take occasion to give some account of the Translation of as well as I can there having been no exact Story thereof any where given as I know of The first time the Holy Scripture was printed in English for written Copies thereof of Wickliffs Translation there were long before and many was about the Year 1526. And that was only the New Testament translated by Tindal assisted by Ioy and Constantine and printed in some Foreign Parts I suppose at Hamburgh or Antwerp For in this Year I find that Cardinal Wolsey and the Bishops consulted together for the prohibiting the New Testament of Tindal's Translation to be read And Tonstal Bishop of London issued out his Commission to his Arch-deacons for calling in the New Testament This Year also Tonstal and Sir Thomas More bought up almost the whole Impression and burnt them at Paul's Cross. I think it was this first Edition that Garret alias Garrerd Curate of Hony-Lane afterwards burnt for Heresy dispersed in London and Oxford Soon after Tindal revised his Translation of the New Testament and corrected it and caused it again to be printed about the Year 1530. The Books finished were privily sent over to Tindal's Brother Iohn Tindal and Thomas Patmore Merchants and another young Man who received them and dispersed them For which having been taken up by the Bishop of London they were adjudged in the Star-Chamber Sir Thomas More being then Lord Chancellor to ride with their Faces to the Horse Tail having Papers on their Heads and the New Testaments and other Books which they dispersed to be fastened thick about them pinned or tacked to their Gowns or Clokes and at the Standard in Cheap themselves to throw them into a Fire made for that purpose and then to be fined at the King's Pleasure Which Penance they observed The Fine set upon them was heavy enough viz. eighteen thousand eight hundred and forty Pounds and ten Pence as was extant to be seen in the Records of the Star-Chamber Anno 1531. The Bishops came into the Star-Chamber and communing with the King's Counsel and alledging that this Testament was not truly translated and that in it were Prologues and Prefaces of Heresy and Raillery against Bishops upon this Complaint the Testament and other such like Books were prohibited But the King gave Commandment to the Bishops at the same time that they calling to them the best Learned out of the Universities should cause a New Translation to be made so that the People might not be ignorant in the Law of God But the Bishops did nothing in obedience to this Commandment The same Year viz. 1531. in the Month of May Stokesly Bishop of London as Tonstal his Predecessor had done four or five Years before caused all the New Testaments of Tindal and many other Books which he had bought up to be brought to Paul's Church-yard and there openly burnt In the Year 1537. The Bible containing the Old and New Testaments called Matthews Bible of Tindal's and Roger's Translation was printed by Grafton and Whitchurch at Hamburgh to the number of fifteen hundred Copies Which Book obtained then so much Favour of the King by Crumwel's and Canterbury's Means that the King enjoined it to be had by all Curates and set up in all Parish-Churches throughout the Realm It was done by one Iohn Rogers who flourished a great while in Germany and was Superintendent of a Church there being afterwards a Prebend of S. Paul's and the first Martyr in Queen Mary's Days He is said by my Author to have translated the Bible into English from Genesis to the end of the Revelations making use of the Hebrew Greek Latin German and English that is Tyndal's Copies He added Prefaces and Notes out of Luther and dedicated the whole Book to King Henry under the Name of Thomas Matthews by an Epistle prefixed minding to conceal his own Name Graston and the rest of the Merchants concerned in the Work thinking that they had not Stock enough to supply all the Nation and this Book being of a
ever they did These Reports were digested into two or three Books Serles brought up some of the Articles roughly drawn to London and London transcribed them and brought them to the Bishop of Winchester and there they were copied out by German Gardiner his Secretary another busy Man Gardiner the Prebendary by this time had gotten a Book of Articles signed by the rest of the Prebendaries and Willoughby brought them up some of the Prebendaries coming up too being about to be the Presenters of the Book themselves Winchester and Baker Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations gave the said Prebendaries encouragement to proceed in what they went about And busy London to make the Articles the better entertained when they should be presented to the Council had officiously shewn the Copy of them to several of the said Council before-hand I must here give this further note concerning Serles that he was so zealous a Man that he had the Year before put up to the Council Articles against the Preachers of the Gospel But they were such that the Council thought not fit the King should see them Which he complained of and it seems at his return was clapt up in Prison for his pains for some either malicious Insinuations or irregular Practices herein Shether was another of the Gang and one of the forwardest in this invidious Business against the innocent Arch-bishop He was one of those that came up to London to present the Bill It may be guessed what a hot-headed Man he was by a passage we meet with concerning him when he was Proctor at Oxford in the Year 1535. In which Year he made such a Combustion betwixt the University and the Towns-men that they being enraged against him he went in danger of his Life So that he and his Company were fain to go armed when they went abroad And when he was out of his Proctorship the University allowed him to defend himself from the Towns-men at the University Charge if he should be set upon by them This Shether brought up also his Collections to one Ford his Brother-in-Law to write them out which amounted to a great Book of two days Labour For they were resolved to have enough and to make out in Bulk what was wanting in Truth Take an hint or two here of Gardiner Bishop of Winchester the secret Machine in all this ingrateful Work Coming once from the Council that then was beyond the Sea at Calais about the time of the Breach with France he after hearing Mass at the Cathedral Church at Canterbury took his Name-sake Gardiner the Prebendary by the Hand and asked him how he did and how they did in Canterbury meaning in relation to Religion professed in the City And when Gardiner answered But meetly he enquired How they did within the House among themselves with relation to the Church-men belonging to it He told him That they did not agree all in Preaching So do I hear said Winchester Then he asked wherein they did not agree Gardiner then repeated somewhat of Ridley's and Scory's Sermons and this among other things That Prayer ought to be made in a Tongue known and not in a Tongue unknown for so it were but babling Winchester then said He missed For the Germans themselves are now against that saying Well said he this is not well My Lord of Canterbury will look after this I doubt not or else such Preaching will grow unto an evil Inconvenience I know well he will see Remedy for it Well how do you do with them Gardiner replied My Lord Hardly I am much marked in my Sermons And I cannot tell whether I be taken or no. I pray your good Lordship of your Counsel what were best for me to do I had rather leave Preaching betimes than to be taken in my Sermons Then said Winchester Do thus Write your Sermons into a Book every word as you will preach it and when you go into the Pulpit deliver your Book unto the chiefest Man there that can read and let him take heed of your Book while you do preach and say no more but that you have written and studied for And I warrant you you shall do well enough And when you do hear any Man preach any otherwise then well hold you contented and meddle not so shall you do best Then he past forth his time in Communication concerning the Ordinances of their Choir their Statutes their Masses and Hours of them And at the last sent for Ridley the Prebendary and had some conference with him but what it is uncertain The bulky Articles being at last hammered out and made ready London now required Willoughby to deliver them to the Council which he would fain have shrunk from He then charged him upon his Allegiance to go with him to the Council-Chamber-Door meaning to have him into the Council Having gotten him there he went in and informed some of the Privy-Council and Friends I suppose to the Matter that Dr. Willoughby was without desiring he might be called in Willoughby was before instructed by London to use words to the Council to this Tenor when he should deliver his Articles viz. That the King and they had been at great Charges and taken great Pains to set a good and godly Way among them meaning the Statute of the Six Articles And for all that they had with them in Kent the most enormous Heresies And because he heard that it was the King's Will and Pleasure that every Man on pain of his Allegiance should bring in what he knew or else if he knew and did conceal it it should be his damage therefore in discharge of his Duty he came to tender that Bill of Articles But this Speech was not delivered that Day the Council not being at leisure And lest some People knowing the pragmatical temper of London might be jealous what he did at the Court and suspect it was for no Good to the Professors of the Gospel it was studiously given out that he was there for some Promotion from the King The next day the sedulous Man carried Willoughby to the Lord Privy-Seal Lord Russel if I mistake not with his Articles but neither would my Lord-Privy-Seal see them having no leisure as he pretended I suppose because he liked them not and loved my Lord of Canterbury The Day after London carried him to the Bishop of Winchester Into whom he went and tarried an Hour carrying in the Copy of the Articles In which time no question the Bishop and his trusty Substitute contrived for the managing of the Matter Soon after Willoughby being with Winchester and desiring him That he might not be put to present the Articles not being able to testify to the Truth of them Winchester bade him Fear not to do his Duty and that if the Matter were not to be abidden by the Doers should bear the blame and not the Presenter And that it was all our Duties to stand in such things
is but a Ceremony If it be wanting that King is yet a perfect Monarch notwithstanding and God's Anoined as well as if he was inoiled Now for the Person or Bishop that doth anoint a King it is proper to be done by the chiefest But if they cannot or will not any Bishop may perform this Ceremony To condition with Monarchs upon these Ceremonies the Bishop of Rome or other Bishops owning his Supremacy hath no Authority but he may faithfully declare what God requires at the Hands of Kings and Rulers that is Religion and Vertue Therefore not from the Bishop of Rome but as a Messenger from my Saviour Iesus Christ I shall most humbly admonish your Royal Majesty what Things your Highness is to perform Your Majesty is God's Vicegerent and Christ's Vicar within your own Dominions and to see with your Predecessor Iosias God truly worshipped and Idolatry destroyed the Tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your Subjects and Images removed These Acts be Signs of a second Iosias who reformed the Church of God in his Days You are to reward Vertue to revenge Sin to justify the Innocent to relieve the Poor to procure Peace to repress Violence and to execute Justice throughout your Realms For Precedents on those Kings who performed not these Things the Old Law shews how the Lord revenged his Quarrel and on those Kings who fulfilled these things he poured forth his Blessings in abundance For Example it is written of Iosiah in the Book of the Kings thus Like unto him there was no King that turned to the Lord with all his Heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him This was to that Prince a perpetual Fame of Dignity to remain to the End of Days Being bound by my Function to lay these Things before your Royal Highness the one as a Reward if you fulfil the other as a Judgment from God if you neglect them Yet I openly declare before the living God and before these Nobles of the Land that I have no Commission to denounce your Majesty deprived if your Highness miss in part or in whole of these Performances Much less to draw up Indentures between God and your Majesty or to say you forfeit your Crown with a Clause for the Bishop of Rome as have been done by your Majesty's Predecessors King Iohn and his Son Henry of this Land The Almighty God of his Mercy let the Light of his Countenance shine upon your Majesty grant you a prosperous and happy Reign defend you and save you and let your Subjects say Amen God save the King I find no Bishop Consecrated this Year CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation BY these and other pious Instigations of the Arch-bishop who was of high esteem with the King he began early to think of the Church and to take care about rectifying the Disorders of its Members For about April there was a Royal Visitation resolved upon all England over for the better Reformation of Religion And accordingly in the beginning of May Letters were issued out from the King to the Arch-bishops that they and all their Fellow-Bishops should forbear their Visitations as was usually done in all Royal and Archiepiscopal Visitations And it was enjoined that no Ministers should preach in any Churches but in their own In a Volume in the Cotton Library there be extant the King's Letters to Robert Arch-bishop of York relating to this Visitation signed by our Arch-bishop the Duke of Somerset the Protector and his Brother Sir Thomas Seymour the Lord Russel Favourers of the Reformation the Lord St. Iohns Petres the Secretary who went along with it Gage Controuler of the Houshold and Baker Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations back-Friends to it I do not set down the Letter it self because the Bishop of Sarum hath already published it in his History Very worthy sober and learned Men were appointed for Visitors both of the Laity and Clergy And there was a Book of Injunctions prepared whereby the King 's Visitors were to govern their Visitation The Original of which Book of Injunctions is extant in Benet-College Library There I have seen them being signed by Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Duke of Somerset Sir Thomas Seymour and divers others of the Privy-Council but no Bishop save Cranmer only he being I suppose the only Bishop then a Privy-Counsellor and now often appearing in the Council for the better forwarding of Religion These Injunctions are printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collection and briefly epitomized in the History of the Reformation The Persons nominated for this present Employment were these as I find them set down in a Manuscript formerly belonging to Arch-bishop Parker but now in the Benet-College Library Where you may observe the Visitors were divided into six Sets and to each Set were apportioned particular Counties and a Preacher and a Register in this exact Method following Visitors Added by ABp Parker Counties visited Dean of Westminster Boston York Sir Iohn Herseley Kt.   Durysme Nicholas Ridley Preacher   Carlyll Edward Plankney Register   Chester Sir Anthony Coke Kt.   Westminster Sir Iohn Godsalve Kt.     Dr. Christopher Nevison The Elder London Iohn Gosnold A Lawyer   Dr. Madewe Preacher   Norwich Peter Lylly Register   Ely Sir Iohn Hales Kt.   Rochester Sir Iohn Mason Kt.     Sir Anthony Cope Kt.   Canterbury Dr. Cave A Lawyer   Mr. Briggs Preacher Once of Pembroke Chichester Rafe Morice Register   Winchester Dean of Pauls Dr. May. Sarisbury Dean of Exeter Dr. Hains Exeter Sir Walter Buckler Kt.   Bath Mr. Cotisford Preacher   Bristow Iohn Redman Register Of Haslingfeld Glocester Dean of Lincoln Dr. Taylor Peterburgh Dr. Rowland Taylor   Lincoln Mr. Iohn Ioseph Once of Canterbury Oxford   a Friar Coventry Iohn Old Register   Litchfeld Mr. Morison Once Husband to the Earl of Rutland's Wife Worcester   Hereford Mr. Syddel   Landaff Mr. Ferrowr Preacher After L. Bishop of S. Davids S. Davids George Constantine Register   Bangor Hue Rawlins Preacher in the Welch Tongue   S. Asse Where we may observe that in every Company of Visitors was joined one Preacher or more whose Business in the respective Circuits was to preach to the People to dehort them from the superstitious use of Beads and such-like Things and to learn them to worship God truly in Heart and Mind and to obey the Prince The Method which these Commissioners used in their Visitation as we collect from what was done at S. Pauls London was this They summoned the Bishop and the Members of each Cathedral and first sware them to renounce the Bishop of Rome and to the King's Supremacy and then that they should present all things in their Church and Diocess needful to be reformed Then certain Interrogatories and Articles of Enquiry were read to them by the Register To perform which an Oath was administred to
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. Ray●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
of the Second omitted according to the use in those Times But that Commandment is explained under the first The Substance of this Book is grave serious and sound Doctrine It is said in the Title Page to be overseen and corrected by the Arch-bishop Indeed it was a Catechism wrote originally in the German Language for the use of the younger Sort in Norinberg Translated into Latin by Iustus Ionas Junior who now was entertained by the Arch-bishop in his Family and thence turned into our Vulgar Tongue by the said Arch-bishop or his special Order But 't is certain so great a Hand he had therein that in the Arch-bishop's first Book of the Sacrament he said that it was translated by himself and set forth Bishop Gardiner in his Book against the Arch-bishop takes advantage of two things in this Catechism against him as though he himself when he put it forth was of the Opinion of the Corporal Presence The one was a Picture that stood before the Book where was an Altar with Candles lighted and the Priest apparelled after the old Sort putting the Wafer into the Communicant's Mouth The other is an Expression or two used somewhere in the Book That with our bodily Mouths we receive the Body and Blood of Christ And that in the Sacrament we receive truly the Body and Blood of Christ. And this we must believe if we will be counted Christen Men. But to both Cranmer in his next Book against Gardiner made answer That as for the Picture it was that was set before the Dutch Edition of the Book and so none of his doing but that he afterwards caused the Popish Picture to be altered into a Picture representing Christ eating his last Supper with his Disciples As for the Expressions he said he taught that we in the Sacrament do receive the Body and Blood of Christ spiritually and that the words Really and Substantially were not used but Truly And in his Answer to Dr. Richard Smith's Preface wrote against the said Arch-bishop who it seems had twitted him also with this Catechism he spake largely of these his Expressions in his own Vindication There was another Book of the Arch-bishop's against Vnwritten Verities which I do by Conjecture place here as put forth under this Year or near this Time Which I suppose Dr. Smith nibbled at in his Book of Traditions which this Year he recanted The Book was in Latin and consisted only of Allegations out of the Bible and Ancient Writers In Queen Mary's Days the Book was again published by an English Exile naming himself E. P. The Title it now bore was A Confutation of Vnwritten Verities by divers Authorities diligently and truly gathered out of the Holy Scripture and Ancient Fathers By Tho. Cranmer late Arch-bishop and burned at Oxford for the Defence of the true Doctrine of our Saviour Translated and set forth by E. P. Before it is a Preface of the Translator to his Country-men and Brethren in England In it he lamented the woful State of Things in England by the Restoring of Popery and the Persecution of Protestants there and shewed what a kind of Man the chief Bishop then in England viz. Cardinal Pool was who in the last King's Reign went from Prince to Prince to excite them to make War against his own Prince and Country This Treatise is but a bare Collection of places of Holy Scripture and Ancient Fathers to prove That the Canon of the Bible is a true and sound and perfect Doctrine containing all Things necessary to Salvation That neither the Writing of the Old Fathers without the Word of God nor General Councils nor the Oracles of Angels nor Apparitions from the Dead nor Customs can be sufficient in Religion to establish Doctrine or maintain new Articles of Faith Then Reasons are given against Unwritten Verities and the places of Holy Scripture and other Writers which the Papists bring to maintain Unwritten Verities are answered At last the Objections of the Papists are confuted in a concluding Chapter Which last part was not writ by the Arch-bishop but by the Translator For relating here the Story of the Holy Maid of Kent he saith she was examined by Tho. Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury And at last he saith I have plainly and fully answered to all that I remember the Papists do or can allege by Writing Preaching or Reasoning for the Defence of their Unwritten Verities on which they build so many detestable Idolatries and Heresies But yet if any be able to answer so plainly and truly to the Scriptures Authorities and Reasons rehearsed by me as I have done to theirs and to prove their Doctrines by as plain Testimonies and Reasons as I have done mine I shall not only acknowledg my Ignorance and Error but I shall gladly return into England recant my Heresies c. Hence it is plain that the Conclusion of the Book as well as the Preface was writ by the Translator I will add one Passage taken out of this Book about the middle whereby it may be seen what a Clergy was now in England Having quoted the Canons of the Apostles Let not a Bishop or Deacon put away his Wife c. He makes a heavy complaint against the frequent practice of beastly Sins in the Priests Adultery Sodomy c. and that they never were punished And in my Memory as he proceeds which is above thirty Years and also by the Information of others that be twenty Years elder than I I could never learn that one Priest was punished This is some Account of the Care he took for the Church in general as Metropolitan But he had a particular Care of his own Diocess now his Power was not checked as it was in the former Reign especially of the City of Canterbury which had been formerly the backwardest in Religion of any other Place of his Diocess He supplied this City with store of excellent Learned Preachers Turner the two Ridleys Becon Besely and Iohn Ioseph who this Year went along with the King's Visitors as one of their Preachers These converted not a few to sincere Religion as may appear by those Numbers of Canterbury that in Queen Mary's Reign suffered the Torment of Fire for their Profession of the Gospel But in that Reign all the Preachers fled so that there was scarce one remaining in the City Which was looked upon as a particular Sign of God's Displeasure against that Place because the Professors there and others reformed not themselves according to those Opportunities of Grace which God had put into their Hands And so I find in a Letter to them wrote by some eminent Person in Prison in Queen Mary's Reign Alas how few faithful Servants hath the Lord of Life in these troublesome Days within Canterbury to whom above all other People in comparison of multitude he hath sent most plenteously his Word in the Mouths of most excellent Preachers But even as the People were Negligent Hard-hearted nothing willing
because by this means all hope of ripe and compleated Learning was immaturely cut off in the very Bud and also all the Expectations of the poorer sort whose whole Time was spent in good Studies was eluded by these Drones occupying those Places and Preferments which more properly belonged unto them For Parts Learning Poverty and Election were of no strength at Home where Favour and Countenance and the Letters of Noblemen and such-like extraordinary and illegal Courses from Abroad bore all the Sway. CHAP. VII Dr. Smith and others recant AND now before I conclude this Year let me pass from more publick Matters and present the Reader with two or three Passages wherein the Arch-bishop had to do with private Men. May the 15 th Richard Smith D. D. Master of Whittington College and Reader of Divinity in Oxford a hot turbulent Man made his Recantation at Pauls Cross convinced and moved thereunto by the Pains of the Arch-bishop What his Errors were that he had publickly vented in the University and in his Writings may be known by the words of his Recantation which were these I do confess and acknowledg that the Authority as well of the Bishop of Rome whose Authority is justly and lawfully abolished in this Realm as of other Bishops and others called the Ministers of the Church consisteth in the Dispensation and Ministration of God's Word and not in making Laws Ordinances and Decrees over the People besides God's Word without the Consent and Authority of the Prince and People I say and affirm that within this Realm of England and other the King's Dominions there is no Law Decree Ordinance or Constitution Ecclesiastical in force and available by any Man's Authority but only by the King's Majesty's Authority or of his Parliament This Man had wrote two Books in favour of Popish Doctrine and those he also now disclaimed viz. A Book of Traditions and another of the Sacrifice of the Mass. In the former of which he maintained That Christ and his Apostles taught and left to the Church many things without writing which he asserted were stedfastly to be believed and obediently fulfilled under pain of Damnation In the other Book he maintained That Christ was not a Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck when he offered himself upon the Cross for our Sins but after the Order of Aaron and that when Christ did offer his Body to his Father after the Order of Melchizedek to appease his Wrath it was to be understood not of the Sacrifice of the Cross but of the Sacrifice that he made at his Maundy in form of Bread and Wine In which Book were other Errors He that is minded to see his Recantation of these his Books may have it in the Appendix as I transcribed it out of an old Book made by Becon intituled Reports of certain Men. This Recantation he not long after made at Oxon viz. in August following Where he also protested openly That he would abide in the sincere and pure Doctrine of Christ's Gospel all humane trifling Traditions set apart even unto Death though it should cost him his Life And this Recantation he also printed for further Satisfaction to the World Bishop Gardiner who was now at Winchester was very uneasy at the News of this Recantation which some took care to bring down to him He signified to the Protector That Smith was a Man with whom he had no Familiarity nor cared for his Acquaintance That he had not seen him in three Years nor talked with him in Seven He was greatly displeased with the first words of his Recantation which yet were but the words of Scripture Omnis Homo mendax Making all the Doctors in the Church as he inferred to be Liars with himself How it argued his Pride for he that sought for such Company in Lying had small Humility and that he would hide himself by that Number that his depraving of Man's Nature in that sort was not the setting out of the Authority of Scripture He said he neither liked his Tractation nor yet his Retractation That he was mad to say in his Book of Vnwritten Verities that Bishops in this Realm could make Laws wherein he said he lied loudly About this time Chadsey Standish Yong Oglethorp and divers others recanted whose Recantations Fox had by him to shew as well as Smith whom we have now before us After this Recantation he carried not himself according to it but favoured the Old Errors And in the Year 1549 offered some Affront unto Arch-bishop Cranmer opposing him in the Doctrine of the Lawfulness of Priests Marriage and endeavoured to make a Rout in Oxford to the endangering P. Martyr's Life and printed a Book the same Year against him De Votis Monasticis Whereupon incurring as he apprehended some Danger he fled into Scotland But weary of being there and willing to have his Peace made in England he wrote two Letters to the Arch-bishop from thence professing that he would out of hand by open Writing in the Latin Tongue revoke all that erroneous Doctrine which he had before taught and published and set forth the pure Doctrine of Christ. And for a Proof hereof he would straight after his return into England set forth a Book in Latin in defence of the most lawful Marriage of Priests In the Year 1550 he wrote certain Treatises against P. Martyr printed at Lovain And the same Year came out his Book against the Arch-bishop's Treatise of the Sacrament This Man was of a most inconstant as well as turbulent Spirit For in the Reign of Queen Mary he turned to the Religion then professed and was great with Bishop Boner in those Times but greatly despised for his Fickleness He once attempted to discourse with Hawks in Boner's House in London Hawks threw in his Dish his Recantation To which when he said it was no Recantation but a Declaration the other gave him this Rub To be short I will know whether you will Recant any more ere ever I talk with you or believe you and so departed from him We shall hear of him again in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when he again complied and submitted himself to Arch-bishop Parker And last of all returned to his old Opinions and fled to Lovain Pass we from this Man to another of the same Strain with whom the Arch-bishop had to do As the Popish Clergy in the former King's Reign had made all the rudest and eagerest Opposition they dared against the Steps that were then made towards a Reformation so they ceased not to do in this King 's nay and more hoping to shelter themselves under a milder Government One Instance of this appeared in what was done by the Quondam Abbot of Tower-hill London Who for some Recompence of the loss of his Abby was made Vicar of Stepney-Church succeeding I suppose Mr. Hierom burnt to death in the Year 1540 with Dr. Barnes and Garret He being a bold Man and
these words preceding The Exhortation to Penance or the Supplication may end with this or some other-like Prayer And then the Prayer followeth O Lord whose Goodness far exceedeth our Naughtiness and whose Mercy passeth all Measure we confess thy Judgment to be most Just and that we worthily have deserved this Rod wherewith thou hast now beaten us We have offended the Lord God We have lived wickedly We have gone out of the Way We have not heard thy Prophets which thou hast sent unto us to teach us thy Word nor have done as thou hast commanded us wherefore we be most worthy to suffer all these Plagues Thou hast done justly and we be worthy to be confounded But we Provoke unto thy Goodness we Appeal unto thy Mercy we humble our selves we knowledg our Faults We turn to thee O Lord with our whole Hearts in Praying in Fasting in Lamenting and Sorrowing for our Offences Have Mercy upon us cast us not away according to our Deserts but hear us and deliver us with speed and call us to thee again according to thy Mercy That we with one Consent and one Mind may evermore glorify Thee World without End Amen After this follow some rude Draughts written by Arch-bishop Cranmer's own Hand for the Composing as I suppose of an Homily or Homilies to be used for the Office aforesaid which may be read in the Appendix CHAP. XI Bishop Boner Deprived ON the 8 th of September a Commission was issued out from the King to our Arch-bishop together with Ridley Bishop of Rochester Petre and Smith the two Secretaries and Dr. May Dean of Pauls to examine Boner Bishop of London for several Matters of Contempt of the King's Order The Witnesses against him were William Latimer and Iohn Hoper After the patience of seven Sessions at Lambeth in all which he carried himself disdainfully making Excuses and Protestations first against Sir Thomas Smith and then against them all and Appealing to the King the Arch-bishop in the Name of the rest declared him Obstinate and pronounced a Sentence of Deprivation against him and committed him to the Marshalsea for his extraordinary Rudeness to the King's Commissioners and there he abode all this King's Reign I will only mention somewhat of his Behaviour towards the good Arch-bishop At his first appearance before the Commissioners which was on the 10 th of September when they told him the Reason of their Commission viz. To call him to Account for a Sermon lately by him made at Pauls Cross for that he did not publish to the People the Article he was commanded to preach upon that is of the King's Authority during his Minority He after a bold scoffing manner gave no direct Answer to this but turned his Speech to the ABp swearing That he wished one thing were had in more Reverence than it was namely the Blessed Mass as he stiled it And telling the Arch-bishop withal That he had written very well of the Sacrament but he marvelled he did not more honour it The Arch-bishop perceiving his gross Ignorance concerning his Book by his commending that which was contrary to his Opinion said to Boner That if he thought it well it was because he understood it not Boner after his rude manner replied He thought he understood it better than he that wrote it To which the Arch-bishop subjoined That truly he would make a Child of ten Years old understand as much as he But what is that said he to our present Matter At this first Session when Boner had said That he perceived the Cause of his present Trouble was for that in the Sermon made at Pauls Cross before-mentioned he had asserted the true Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar The Arch-bishop said That he spake much of a Presence in the Sacrament but he asked him What Presence is there and what Presence he meant Boner then in heat said My Lord I say and believe that there is the very true Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ. What and how do you believe said he to the Arch-bishop Then the Arch-bishop not minding to answer his Question at this time asked him further Whether Christ were there Face Nose Mouth Eyes Arms and Lips with other Lineaments of his Body At which Boner shook his Head and said He was right sorry to hear his Grace speak those words and urged the Arch-bishop to shew his Mind But the Arch-bishop wisely waved it saying That their being there at that time was not to dispute of those Matters but to prosecute their Commission against him At another of these Sessions staying at the Chamber-Door where the Commissioners sat perceiving some of the Arch-bishop's Gentlemen standing by he applied himself to them requiring and charging them in God's behalf and in his Name That where they should chance to see and hear corrupt and erroneous Preachers against the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar they should tell their Lord and Master of the same and of these his Sayings also to them as they were Christian Men and should answer before God for the contrary And being committed by the Delegates to the Under-Marshal and going away he turned again and told the Arch-bishop That he was sorry that he being a Bishop should be so handled at his Hands but more sorry that he suffered abominable Hereticks to practise as they did in London and elsewhere infecting and disquieting the King's Liege People And therefore he required him as he would answer to God and the King that he would henceforth abstain thus to do And if he did not he said he would accuse him before God and the King's Majesty Answer to it added he as well as you can And so departed When Boner after the Sentence of Deprivation made a solemn Declaration there against their Proceedings saying That he came compelled and not of his own free will being brought as a Prisoner And so appealed again from them to the King The Arch-bishop answered his Declaration and told him That whereas he said he came coacted or else he would not have appeared he marvelled at him for that he would thereby make them and the Audience to believe that because he was a Prisoner he ought not therefore to answer Which if it were true were enough to confound the whole State of the Realm For I dare say said the Arch-bishop that of the greatest Prisoners and Rebels that ever the Keeper there hath had under him he cannot shew me one that hath used such Defence as you have here done To which Boner said That if his Keeper were learned in the Laws he could shew him his Mind therein The Arch-bishop said That he had read over all the Laws as well as he but to another End and Purpose than he did and yet he could find no such Privilege in this Matter He was Deprived in the beginning of October and the See remained void for some Months till the next
Year when Ridley was translated thither as we shall see by and by Indeed this was the most plausible Pretence the Papists had and which they made much use of Which Boner and Gardiner had cunningly invented viz. That though the King were to be obeyed and all were bound to submit to his Laws yet not to the Orders and Placits of his Counsellors who made what Innovations they pleased in his Name and were none of his Laws and that therefore things should remain in the State wherein the former King left them till the King now a Child came to Years of Discretion to make Laws himself This the Rebels in Devon made use of And this also the Lady Mary urged very boldly to the Lords of the Council for her incompliance with the communion-Communion-Book and for continuance of the use of the Mass telling them in a Letter That she was resolved to remain obedient to her Father's Laws till the King her Brother should have perfect Years of Discretion to order that Power that God had given him Which Letter whereof I have the Original may be seen in the Appendix For the satisfying therefore of the People in this the Preachers were fain to do their Endeavours in the Pulpits Shewing them that those that were in Office under the King were by the Word of God to be obeyed as the King himself There be some Men that say as Latimer in one of his Sermons in these Days when the King's Majesty himself commandeth me so to do then I will do it not afore This is a wicked Saying and damnable For we may not so be excused Scripture is plain in it and sheweth us that we ought to obey his Officers having Authority from the King as well as unto the King himself Therefore this Excuse will not nor cannot serve afore God Yet let the Magistrates take heed to their Office and Duty This Year the Arch-bishop celebrated a great Ordination consisting of such chiefly as shewed themselves Favourers of the King's Proceedings to be sent abroad to preach the Gospel and to serve in the Ministry of the Church At this Ordination Bishop Ridley also assisted the Arch-bishop The old Popish Order of conferring of Holy Orders was yet in force the new Office as yet not being prepared and established But this Ordination nevertheless was celebrated after that Order that was soon after established At this Ordination great Favour was shewn and Connivance to such who otherwise being well qualified for Piety and Learning scrupled wearing the Habits used by the Popish Priests I meet with two famous Men now ordained The one was Robert Drakes who was Deacon to Dr. Tayler Parson of Hadley at the Commandment of Arch-bishop Cranmer afterwards Parson of Thundersley in Essex and in the Year 1556 burnt to death in Smithfield for his constant Profession of Christ's Religion The other was Thomas Sampson Parson of Breadstreet London and successively Dean of Chichester and Christ's-Church Oxon. Who in a Letter of his written to Secretary Cecyl in Q. Elizabeth's Reign said That at his Ordination he excepted against the Apparel and by the Arch-bishop and Bishop Ridley he was nevertheless permitted and admitted All the Divine Offices were now reformed but only that for Ordination of Ministers Therefore for the doing of this the Council appointed Twelve Learned Men consisting half of Bishops and half of other inferior Divines Whose Names I do not meet with excepting Hethe Bp of Worcester Who because he would not assist in this Work was sent to Prison The chief of them no doubt was the Arch-bishop After mature deliberation this Office was agreed upon and finished And Ponet was the first Bishop Consecrated after this new Form And that I suppose may be the reason that it is set down at length in the Arch-bishop's Register in that manner as it is there to be seen as we shall see under the next Year Upon the Vacancy of Cathedral Churches the Arch-bishop used to visit So now the Church of S. Davids being vacant upon the remove of Barlow to Bath and Wells the Arch-bishop issued out a Commission to Eliseus Price to visit that Church And upon the Vacancy of Glocester by the Death of Wakeman there was a Commission to I. Williams LL. D. and Prebendary there to be his Commissary and to visit that Church and to be Keeper of the Spiritualties of the City and Diocess of Glocester in this third Year of the King This Year also the Church of Norwich being become Vacant by the Resignation of Repps the Arch-bishop granted a Commission to Iohn Bishop Suffragan of Thetford and Dean of the Church of the Holy Trinity Norwich to be his Deputy and Commissary for Visitation and Jurisdiction But somewhat before this he constituted Roland Taylor LL.D. and Will. Wakefeld D. D. to be Keepers of the Spiritualties of Norwich From whose Jurisdiction he protested not to derogate by those his Commissional Letters to the Suffragan nor to withdraw from them any Authority of Jurisdiction This was dated February 15. Also the Church of London being Vacant by the Deprivation and Destitution of Boner the Arch-bishop constituted Gabriel Donne Residentiary of S. Pauls to be his Official and Keeper of the Spiritualties to exercise all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the said City and Diocess This Year he made Griffin Leyson LL.D. Dean of the Arches CHAP. XII Duke of Somerset's Troubles The Common-Prayer Ratified WHEN most of the Council had combined together in the Month of October against the Protector of the King's Person the Duke of Somerset and had withdrawn themselves to Ely-House the King then being at Hampton-Court and suddenly conveyed by the said Duke to Windsor upon the fear of Tumult then I find the Arch-bishop and but two Privy-Counsellors more with the King and the Protector there Being here the good Arch-bishop though he would not forsake his Friend the Duke nor the King his Master yet he did what lay in him to appease and pacify these Heats And so he with the Lord Paget and Secretary Smith in their own and the King's Name wrote an earnest Letter to the Separating Counsellors and sent it by Sir Philip Hoby Wherein as appears by their Answer They were charged by the Arch-bishop with creating much Care and Sorrow to the King and that he thought they had not that Care that beseemed them of pacifying the present Uproars and for the preservation of the State from Danger That they forgat the Benefits they had received from the King's Father nor were mindful of their Duty of Allegiance That their Doings bespake Wilfulness and that the Protector meant nothing but the Safety and Protection of the King in what he had done and that he had that consideration of his Duty to God that the Promise and Oath he made required They were advised to do as they would be done unto And mention was made of Cruelty more than once charging
them obliquely therewith And in fine he wrote that He and those with him knew more than they did to whom they writ Probably he meant that he knew that this Anger against the Duke arose from the private Malice of some of them or their Hatred of the Reformation notwithstanding all the fair Pretences of their Care of the King and the Protector 's Misgovernment This Letter the Lords from Ely-house answered Charging and commanding the Arch-bishop and those with him to have a continual earnest watch of the King's Person and that he be not removed from Windsor-Castle as they would answer the same at their utmost Perils They wondred much they said that they would suffer the King's Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke's Men and that Strangers should be Armed with the King's Armour and be nearest about his Person For it seems many of the King's Servants in this Fear were removed away They advised the Arch-bishop and the Lord Paget to come over to their Side and to leave the poor Duke alone Upon this the Arch-bishop and the others wrote a second Letter dated October the 10 th Wherein they assured the Lords that they could whensoever they pleased to require it give such very good Reasons for their so often mentioning Cruelty in their other Letter as they questioned not they would be well satisfied with And so upon the Lord 's propounding a Meeting with the King and them they accorded thereunto in great prudence willing for Peace and Quietness in that dangerous Time so to do These Letters are recorded in the History of the Reformation The common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book and Administration of the Sacraments by the great care and study of the Arch-bishop was now finished and settled by Act of Parliament which would not down with a great many But upon the taking up of the Duke of Somerset in the Month of October and laying him in the Tower it was generally said that now the old Latin-Service should come in again the common Opinion being that the Common-Prayer was peculiarly of his procuring And that there were such Designs among Somerset's Enemies who were generally favourers of the old Religion it is not improbable The good Arch-bishop thought it now time to interpose in this thing and to obtain from the Privy-Council somewhat to confirm the Book of Common-Prayer So there was in Decemb. 25. a general Letter drawn up to all the Bishops of England Letting them understand That there was no intention of bringing in again Latin-Service conjured Bread and Water nor any such abrogated Ceremonies And that the abolishing of these and the setting forth of the Book of Common-Prayer was done by the whole State of the Realm That the Book was grounded upon the Holy Scripture and was agreeable to the Order of the Primitive Church and much to the edifying of the Subject And therefore that the changing of that for the old Latin-Service would be a preferring of Ignorance to Knowledg Darkness to Light and a preparation to bring in Papistry and Superstition again The Bishops therefore were bid with all speed to command their Deans and Prebendaries and all Parsons Vicars and Curates to bring to such Places as the Bishops should appoint all Antiphoners Missals c. and all other Books of Service and that they be defaced and abolished that they be no let to that Godly and uniform Order set forth And to commit to Ward any stubborn and disobedient Persons that brought not the said Books and to certify the Council of their Misbehaviour That they should make search if any of these Superstitious Books were withdrawn or hid That whereas there were some Persons who refused to contribute to the buying of Bread and Wine for the Communion according to the Order of the Book whereby many-times the Holy Communion was fain to be omitted to convent such Persons before them and admonish them and if they refused to do accordingly to punish them by Suspension Excommunication or other Censure This was signed by the Arch-bishop and the Lord Chancellor Rich and four more CHAP. XIII The Arch-bishop entertains learned Foreigners THE Arch-bishop had now in his Family several Learned Men. Some he sent for from beyond Sea and some in pity he entertained being Exiles for Religion Among the former sort was Martin Bucer a Man of great Learning and Moderation and who bore a great part in the Reformation of Germany While he and the rest abode under his Roof the Arch-bishop still employed them sometimes in learned Conferences and Consultations held with them sometimes in writing their Judgment upon some Subjects in Divinity Here Bucer wrote to the Lady Elizabeth a Letter bearing Date the 6 th of the Calends of September commending her Study in Piety and Learning and exciting her to proceed therein incited so to do I make no doubt by the Arch-bishop whom Bucer in that Letter makes mention of and stileth Patrem suum benignissimum hospitem Hence also he wrote another Letter to the Marquess of Northampton who was a Patron of Learning and a Professor of Religion in the behalf of Sleidan who was promised a Pension by the King to enable him to write the History of the Progress of Religion beginning at Luther A part of the Letter translated into English ran thus Therefore if we should not take care that this so great Act of Divine Goodness towards us viz. the Reformation began in the Year 1517 should be most diligently written and consecrated to Posterity we should lie under the Crime of the neglect of God's Glory and most foul Ingratitude Therefore Iohn Sleidan a very Learned and Eloquent Man five Years ago began to compile an History of this Nature as the Work he had published did witness But after he was much encouraged in this Undertaking and well furnished with Matter the Calamities that befel Germany for our own Deserts intercepted the pious Attempts of this Man so very useful to the Church Nor doth it appear now from whence besides the King's Majesty we may hope that some small Benignity may be obtained for Sleidan since the Salaries which he received for this purpose from the German Princes failed and he was poor That Iohn Alasco Dr. Peter Martyr and he considering these things and weighing how the truly Christian King Edward was even born with a desire of illustrating the Glory of Christ and what need there was to set Sleidan again upon finishing the History of the Gospel restored to us they had therefore presumed to supplicate the King in his behalf and intreated the Marquess to promote and forward their Supplication and to vouchsafe to contribute his Help also We shall hear more of this hereafter I find also Annotations writ by the said Bucer upon S. Matthew reaching as far as the eighth Chapter and there ending in this method There is the Latin Translation with large Notes added in the Margin and at the end of each Chapter common
there would be none to take him up For Smith they say smelt out some crafty Device taken against him and so appeared not at the Dispute And then indeed few thought convenient to be there their Plot of making a Rout and Confusion being spoiled Indeed Smith conscious to himself of making this Tumult fled before the Day came and went into Scotland But Dr. Tresham a zealous Man that this Cause might not fall was desirous to undertake the Disputation and did so with Dr. Chedsey and Mr. Morgan before the King's Visitors who were Henry Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Cox Chancellor of that University Dr. Simon Haines Dean of Exeter Richard Morison Esq Christopher Nevison Doctor of Civil Law Before these honourable Umpires who came with the King's Letters Patents the Disputation concerning Transubstantiation and the Carnal Presence in the Sacrament lasted four days wherein P. Martyr the Respondent did acquit himself very sufficiently both from Scripture and Fathers The Sum of which may be seen in Fox's Monuments and the whole in Martyr's Works in that part thereof intituled De Eucharistia Disputatio The first day of the Disputation was May the 28 th It was managed between Martyr and Tresham Dr. Cox the Chancellor began with a Speech Then Martyr made his Proemial Oration and Prayer Then Tresham succeeded with another Oration bestowing some Praises upon Martyr Which he replying upon and briefly and modestly declining began his Argument The next Disputation on May 29 was between Martyr and Chedzey after Martyr had made a short Speech and Prayer and Chedzey his Preface The third Action was between Morgan Tresham and Martyr The Disputation of the fourth day Iune 1 was again between Chedzey and Martyr And then all was concluded by another Speech uttered by the said Chancellor Wherein he had these words Peter and a Peter indeed for his steady Constancy Martyr and rightly called Martyr for the numberless Testimonies by him produced in the behalf of Truth must needs obtain much Favour and Respect from us and all good Men First That he hath taken such vast pains in standing under even a Burden of Disputations For i● Not Hercules himself against two what shall we think of Peter alone against all Secondly That he hath undertook the Challenge of a Disputation And so stopped the vain Speeches of vain Men who dispersed envious and odious Insinuations concerning him as that either he would not or dared not to maintain his own Tenets And lastly that he hath so excellently well answered the Expectation of the chief Magistrates and so of the King himself while he hath not only recommended to the University the Doctrine of Christ from God's lively Fountains but also hath not permitted any as much as lay in him to muddy or obstruct them But I refer the Reader for the rest to Dr. Cox's own Oration The Professor drew up the whole four days Disputation soon after and sent it by his constant Friend and Companion Iulius to his Patron the Arch-bishop And with the same Messenger he conveyed a Letter dated Iune 15 to Bucer then at the Arch-bishop's House concerning his said Disputation Therein he signified the Obstinacy and Boldness of his Opponents and that he feared That his Doctrines he then maintained might not altogether square with Bucer's Judgment But he said in his own Justification That he granted the Body of Christ was present to us by Faith and that we are incorporated into him by Communication He confessed here that we do partake of the Matter of the Sacrament namely the Body and Blood of Christ but he meant it in Mind and Faith And in the mean time he granted that the Holy Ghost is Efficacious in the Sacraments by virtue of the Lord's Institution But that which he especially endeavoured to assert was That they mixed not the Body and Blood of Christ carnally with the Bread and Wine by any Corporeal Presence Nor yet would he have the Sacrament to be Symbols without Honour and Reverence Another thing he asserted which he thought might offend Bucer was That it was not agreeable to the Body of Christ however glorified to be in many Places at once But for this he wrote Bucer as he urged in the Disputation that the Scripture obliged to no such belief How the reason of an humane Body reclaimed against it and the Fathers affirmed that such a Quality was granted to no Creature but belonged to God alone And so inviting him and Fagius and Alexander to Oxford concluded his Letter But when the Papists dispersed vain Stories and many Falshoods concerning this Business he was forced his Friends also urging him thereunto to publish an Account hereof And with what Fidelity and Diligence he drew up his Book the Testimonies of two of the King's Counsellors Ear-Witnesses added thereto sufficiently confirmed In the Preface to his Relation of these Disputes he assigned two Reasons that made him publish them The one was the Calumnies of evil Men the other the Desires of his Friends Under the former he complained how he was by his Adversaries bespattered among all sorts of People Princes Nobles Commons Citizens Clowns And that all Corners Streets Houses Shops Taverns sounded their Triumphs over him and he doubted not that it was dispersed by them into other Nations Upon these Considerations his great Patron the Arch-bishop of Canterbury to whom he dared to deny nothing and the King's Visitors besides others of his Friends had advised and desired him to put forth these his Disputations in his own Vindication and in the Vindication of the Truth These he professed to write with all Fidelity And that he might be the more exact he had compared his own Collections with the Relations that were drawn up by the Adversaries and that having read theirs what he could recal that he had before omitted which was of any moment he restored out of their Writings But Tresham the chief Disputant pretending himself aggrieved with this Book as tho Martyr had therein misrepresented him and expressed some Indignation against him and added some things that were not spoken wrote himself another Account of this Disputation in justification of himself against the Professor and set a Preface before it by way of Epistle to the King's Privy-Council Wherein he most angrily bespattered this Reverend Man calling him Pseudo-Martyr a doting old Man Subverted Impudent and the famous Master of Errors And that he fled into Germany to obtain the more Licence for his Lust and that he might enjoy his Adultery meaning his Wife The Disputation it self is too long to be transcribed it is extant among the Foxian Manuscripts But the Epistle Dedicatory or Preface before it I will not omit that the Reader may there observe the malicious Spirit of Martyr's Adversaries and collect some further Account of this Disputation But the Reader must remember that it was an angry Antagonist that wrote it Dr. Smith who had done his best to cause a
Riot in the University and thereby to endanger the King's Professor and was therefore got away into Scotland conscious likewise to himself of Calumnies and Wrongs done by him against the Arch-bishop some time after wrote to the Arch-bishop a submissive Letter praying him to forgive all the Injuries he had done his Grace and to obtain the King's Pardon for him that he might return Home again And he promised to write a Book for the Marriage of Priests as he had done before against it That he was the more desirous to come Home into England because otherwise he should be put upon writing against his Grace's Book of the Sacrament and all his Proceedings in Religion being then harboured as he would make it believed by such as required it at his Hands But in Q. Mary's Days he revolted again and was a most zealous Papist and then did that indeed which he gave some Hints of before for he wrote vehemently against Cranmer's Book But from Oxford let us look over to Cambridg Where Disputations likewise were held in the Month of Iune before the King's Commissioners who were Ridley Bishop of Rochester Thomas Bishop of Ely Mr. Cheke Dr. May and Dr. Wendy the King's Physician The Questions were That Transubstantiation could not be proved by Scripture nor be confirmed by the Consent of Antient Fathers for a thousand Years past And that the Lord's Supper is no Oblation or Sacrifice otherwise than a Remembrance of Christ's Death There were three Solemn Disputations In the first Dr. Madew was Respondent and Glyn Langdale Sedgwick and Yong Opponents In the Second Dr. Glyn was Respondent on the Popish side Opponents Pern Grindal Guest Pilkington In the third Dr. Pern was Respondent Parker Pollard Vavasor Yong Opponents After these Disputations were ended the Bishop of Rochester determined the Truth of these Questions ad placitum suum as a Papist wrote out of whose Notes I transcribe the Names of these Disputants Besides these Disputations when Bucer came to Cambridg he was engaged in another with Sedgwick Pern and Yong upon these Questions I. That the Canonical Books of Scripture alone do teach sufficiently all things necessary to Salvation II. That there is no Church in Earth that erreth not as well in Faith as Manners III. That we are so freely justified of God that before our Justification whatsoever good Works we seem to do have the Nature of Sin Concerning this last he and Yong had several Combates Which are set down in his English Works As to Bucer's Opinion of the Presence in the Sacrament the great Controversy of this Time it may not be amiss to consider what so great a Professor thought herein and especially by what we saw before that Martyr and he did somewhat differ in this Point For as he would not admit those words Carnally and Naturally so neither did he like Realiter and Substantialiter Bucer's Judgment drawn up by himself sententiously in 54 Aphorisms may be seen in the Appendix as I meet with it among Fox's Papers It is extant in Latin among his Scripta Anglicana and intitled Concessio D. M. Buc. de Sancta Eucharistia in Anglia Aphoristicos scripta Anno 1550. And so we take our leave of Bucer for this Year We shall hear of him again in the next CHAP. XV. Matters of the Church and its State now LET me now crave a little room to set down some Matters that relate to the Church coming within the compass of this Year which will shew what mean Advances Religion as yet had made in the Nation Divers Relicks of Popery still continued in the Nation by means partly of the Bishops partly of the Justices of Peace Popishly affected In London Bishop Boner drove on but heavily in the King's Proceedings though he outwardly complied In his Cathedral Church there remained still the Apostles Mass and our Lady's Mass and other Masses under the Defence and Nomination of our Lady's Communion used in the private Chappels and other remote places of the same Church tho not in the Chancel contrary to the King's Proceedings Therefore the Lord Protector and others of the Council wrote to the Bishop Iune 24. Complaining of this and ordering that no such Masses should be used in S. Paul's Church any longer and that the Holy Communion according to the Act of Parliament should be ministred at the high Altar of the Church and in no other place of the same and only at such times as the high Masses were wont to be used except some number of People for their necessary Business desired to have a Communion in the Morning and yet the same to be exercised in the Chancel at the high Altar as was appointed in the Book of Publick Service Accordingly Boner directed his Letters to the Dean and Chapter of Paul's to call together those that were resident and to declare these Matters As it was thus in London so in the Countries too many of the Justices were slack in seeing to the execution of the King's Laws relating not only to Religion but to other Affairs And in some Shires that were further distant the People had never so much as heard of the King's Proclamation by the Default of the Justices who winked at the Peoples neglect thereof For the quickening of the Justices of Peace at this time when a Foreign Invasion was daily expected and Foreign Power was come into Scotland to aid that Nation against England the Lord Protector and the Privy-Council assembled at the Star-Chamber and called before them all the Justices which was a thing accustomed sometimes to be done for the Justices to appear before the King and Council there to have Admonitions and Warnings given them for the discharge of their Duty And then the Lord Chancellor Rich made a Speech to them That they should repair down into their several Countries with speed and give warning to other Gentlemen to go down to their Houses and there to see good Order and Rule kept that their Sessions of Goal-delivery and Quarter-Sessions be well observed that Vagabonds and seditious Tale-bearers of the King or his Council and such as preached without Licence be repress'd and punished That if there should be any Uproars or Routs and Riots of lewd Fellows or privy Traitors they should appease them And that if any Enemy should chance to arise in any Place of England they should fire the Beacons as had been wrote to them before and repulse the same in as good Array as they could And that for that purpose they should see diligently that Men have Horse Harness and other Furniture of Weapon ready And to the Bishops the Council now sent Letters again for Redress of the Contempt and Neglect of the Book of Common-Prayer which to this time long after the publishing thereof was either not known at all to many or very irreverently used Occasioned especially by the winking of the Bishops and the stubborn Disobedience
this Year flying so much upon the Spoil of the Church Bucer by the Arch-bishop's Instigation as well as his own Inclinations wrote to the Marquess of Dorset to forbear disswading him from spoiling the Church of her Maintenance In which Letter he hath these Expressions Antiquum dictum est neminem posse vere ditari furtis aut rapinis quibus invaduntur res alienae multo minus peculatu quo defraudatur Respublica Quem igitur habeat sensum Dei qui dubitet minimè omnium posse cujusquam opes augeri salutariter Sacrilegiis quibus acciduntur res Ecclesiasticae Sunt nimium amplae hae opes addictae Ecclesiis in luxum permulti eas diripiunt Homines planè otiosi nec ullam Reip. conferentes utilitatem Submoveantur igitur hi fuci ab Ecclesiae alvearibus nec depasci permittantur apum labores Deinde procurentur ut restitutis passim Scholis nusquam desint Ecclesiarum frugi ministri c. That is It is an old Saying No body can grow Rich by the stealing and taking away of private Peoples Possessions much less by robbing of the Publick What Sense therfore hath he of God that doubts not that his Riches shall encrease to good purpose that commits Sacrilege and robs the Church of what belongs to it But it is objected the Church hath too much and many spend it in Luxury The Church-men are idle and bring no Profit to the Common-Wealth Let these Drones therefore be removed from the Hives of the Church but let not the Pains of the Bees be eaten up And then having Schools of good Literature every where restored let not the Church want sober Ministers c. A Review was made of the Book of Common-Prayer about the latter end of the Year by Arch-bishop Cranmer and the Bishops Divers things that savoured too much of Superstition were endeavoured to be changed or amended But there were among them some that made what opposition they could The Arch-bishop had now by Wilkes Master of Christ's College desired Bucer that great Divine then at Cambridg that he would take an impartial view of the whole Book having procured him a Translation of it into Latin done by Aless the Learned Scotch Divine for his understanding of it and that he should judg if he thought any thing in the Book might be more explained agreeable with God's Word and for better Edification of Faith Bucer in answer sent the Arch-bishop word first what his Judgment was of the Book and then what Course he intended to use in the Examination of it that he was now to make He said That when he first came into England and by the help of an Interpreter took some knowledg of the Rites and Doctrines of this Church that he might see whether he could join his Ministry with it he thanked God That had inclined the Officers of the Church to reform the Ceremonies to that degree of Purity and that he found nothing in them that was not taken out of the Word of God or at least was not repugnant to it being fitly taken For some few things there were added he that unless they were candidly interpreted might seem not so sufficiently agreeable with the Word of God As for what he was now to do in order to the fulfilling what the Arch-bishop required of him he intended in short Notes at every Chapter of the Book to observe what he thought to be according to God's Word and to be retained and vindicated what to be taken away or mended and what to be more plainly explained and allowed After his perusal of the Book he gave this Judgment in general That in the Description of the Communion and daily Prayers he saw nothing enjoined in the Book but what was agreeable to the Word of God either in Word as the Psalms and Lessons or in Sense as the Collects Also that the Manner of their Lessons and Prayers and the Times of using them were constituted very agreeable both with God's Word and the Observation of the Ancient Churches And therefore that that Book ought to be retained and vindicated with the greatest strictness What particular Animadversions the said Learned Man made upon the Book may be seen in his Scripta Anglicana and in the Bishop of Sarum's History as he hath there abridged them And such a Deference was given to his Judgment that most of the things that he excepted against were corrected accordingly And that the Book might be the more exact and perhaps be the more agreeable to the Doctrine and Practice of Foreign Churches the Arch-bishop recommended the diligent examination of it unto another great Divine Peter Martyr who was now at Lambeth the Arch-bishop desiring him to note what he thought good concerning the Book and because he knew not the Language the Version of Sir Iohn Cheke who had also translated it into Latin was given him He was also requested to set down in writing what he thought deserved Correction And he accordingly made his Annotations Martyr agreed clearly in Judgment with Bucer about the Book as he wrote to him in a Letter sent him to Cambridg extant among Arch-bishop Parker's Manuscripts On the back-side of which Letter is written by that Arch-bishop's own Hand Censura libri communium precum In this Letter Martyr told Bucer that the same things that he disapproved of the same likewise had he P. Martyr done And that afterward he drew them up into Articles and shewed them to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury That to all that Bucer judged ought to be amended he had subscribed and that he thanked God that had given occasion to admonish the Bishops of these things From this Letter it appears that the Arch-bishop had told Martyr that in the Conference among the Divines concerning the Correction of these Publick Prayers it was concluded to make many Alterations But what those things were as the Arch-bishop told him not so neither as he wrote did he dare to ask him But what Cheke told him did not a little refresh him viz. That if they themselves would not change what ought to be changed the King would do it of himself and when they came to a Parliament the King would interpose his Majesty's own Authority CHAP. XVII Hoper's Troubles IN the Month of Iuly Iohn Hoper who had lived long abroad in Germany and in Switzerland and conversed much with Bullinger and Gual●er the chief Reformers there but returned into England in King Edward's Reign and retained by the Duke of Somerset and a famous Preacher in the City was nominated by the King to the Bishoprick of Gloucester But by reason of certain Scruples of Conscience he made to the wearing of the old Pontifical Habits as the Chimere and Rochet and such-like and disliking the Oath customarily taken he was not Consecrated till eight Months after and endured not a little Trouble in the mean Season Soon after his nomination he repaired to the Arch-bishop desiring
him in these things to dispense with him But the Arch-bishop for certain Reasons refused it Then was the Arch-bishop solicited by great Men. The Earl of Warwick afterwards the great Duke of Northumberland wrote to him a Letter dated Iuly 23 the Bearer whereof was Hoper himself that the rather at his Instance he would not charge the Bishop Elect of Gloucester with an Oath burthenous to his Conscience Which was I suppose the Oath of Canonical Obedience And when Hoper had sued to the King either to discharge him of the Bishoprick or that he might be dispensed with in the Ceremonies used in Consecration which he knew the Arch-bishop could not do no more than to dispense with the Laws of the Land whereby he should run into a Premunire the King wrote a Letter to Cranmer dated Aug. 5 therein freeing him of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures that he might incur by omitting those Rites but yet by any thing that appears in the Letter without any urging or perswasion used to the Arch-bishop to omit the said Rites leaving that to his own Discretion But the Arch-bishop thought the King 's bare Letters were not sufficient to secure him against established Laws When this would not do then endeavour was used to satisfy Hoper's Conscience And Ridley Bishop now of London was thought for his great Learning to be a fit Person to confer with him There were long Arguings between them and at last it came to some Heats And Hoper still remained resolved not to comply holding it if not unlawful yet highly inexpedient to use those very Vestments that the Papal Bishops used The Council upon this sent for Hoper and because they would in no wise the stirring up of Controversies between Men of one Profession willed him to cease the Occasion hereof Hoper humbly besought them that for Declaration of his Doings he might put in Writing such Arguments as moved him to be of the Opinion he held Which was granted him These Arguments it seems were communicated to Ridley to answer And October the 6 th the Council being then at Richmond the Arch-bishop present they wrote to the Bishop of London commanding him to be at Court on Sunday next and to bring with him what he should for Answer think convenient In the mean time to bring the Question to more Evidence and Satisfaction the Arch-bishop according to his Custom to consult in Religious Matters with the learnedest Men of other Nations wrote to Cambridg to Martin Bucer for his Judgment Who upon occasion of this Controversy wrote two Epistles one to Hoper and another to the Arch-bishop both de re Vestiariâ That to the latter was in answer to these two Queries which Cranmer had sent for his Resolution about I. Whether without offending of God the Ministers of the Church of England may use those Garments which are now used and prescribed to be used by the Magistrates II. Whether he that affirms it Unlawful or refuseth to use these Garments sinneth against God because he saith that is Unclean which God hath sanctified and against the Magistrate who commandeth a political Order Bucer to both these Questions gave his Resolution in the Affirmative in his Answer to the Arch-bishop dated Decemb. 8. But he thought considering how the Habits had been Occasion to some of Superstition and to others of Contention that it were better at some good Opportunity wholly to take them away Besides Bucer's Letter to Hoper from Cambridg mentioned before P. Martyr from Oxon wrote him a large Letter dated Novemb. 4. For both these good Men were desirous that Hoper should have Satisfaction that so useful a Man might come in place in the Church To both these Hoper had wrote and sent his Arguments against the Episcopal Vestments by a Messenger dispatched on purpose Martyr told him That he took much delight in that singular and ardent Study that appeared in him that Christian Religion might again aspire to a chaste and pure Simplicity That for his part he could be very hardly brought off from that simple and pure Way which he knew they used a great while at Strasburgh where the difference of Garments in Holy Things was taken away And so he prayed God it might continue Thus he said Hoper might see that in the Sum they both agreed together he wishing for that which Hoper endeavoured That in Rites he was for coming as near as possible to the Sacred Scripture and for taking Pattern by the better Times of the Church But yet that he could not be brought by his Arguments to think that the use of Garments was destructive or in their own Nature contrary to the Word of God A Matter which he thought to be altogether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that therefore indifferent Things as they were sometimes to be taken away so might be used And that if he had thought this were wicked he would never have communicated with the Church of England That there might be some great Good follow from the use at present of the Garments namely that if we suffered the Gospel to be first preached and well rooted Men would afterwards better and more easily be perswaded to let go these outward Customs But now when a Change is brought in of the necessary Heads of Religion and that with so great difficulty if we should make those things that are indifferent to be impious so we might alienate the Minds of all that they would not endure to hear solid Doctrine and receive the necessary Ceremonies That there was no doubt England owed much to him for his great pains in Preaching and Teaching And in return he had gained much Favour and Authority in the Realm whereby he was in a Capacity of doing much Good to the Glory of God Only he bad Hoper take heed that by unseasonable and too bitter Sermous he became not an Hindrance to himself Besides that by looking upon these indifferent Things as sinful and destructive we should condemn many Gospel-Churches and too sharply tax very many which anciently were esteemed most famous and celebrated And whereas there were two Arguments that made Hoper ready to charge the use of these Vestments to be not indifferent he proceeded to consider them One was this That this would be to call back again the Priesthood of Aaron The other That they were Inventions of Antichrist and that we ought to be estranged not only from the Pope but from all his Devices But as to the former he shewed him That the Apostles for Peace-sake commanded the Gentiles to abstain from Blood and Fornication which were Aaronical Customs And so are Tithes for the maintenance of the Clergy Psalms and Hymns can scarce be shewn to be commanded in the New Testament to be sung in publick Assemblies which are very manifest to be used in the Old That there are not a few things that our Church hath borrowed from the Mosaical Decrees and that
even from the very first Times The Festivals of the Resurrection of the Nativity of Pentecost and of the Death of Christ are all Footsteps of the Old Law And are they to be therefore abolished He wished with all his Heart that the Churches in Germany by this one Loss might obtain their former Liberty As to the second Argument He could not see how it could be asserted upon good Grounds that nothing is to be used by us that is observed in the Popish Religion We must take heed that the Church of God be not prest with too much Servitude that it may not have liberty to use any thing that belonged to the Pope Our Ancestors took the Idol-Temples and used them for Sacred Houses to worship Christ. And the Revenues that were Consecrated to the Gentile Gods and to the Games of the Theatre and of the Vestal Virgins were made use of for the maintenance of the Ministers of the Church when these before had served not only to Antichrist but to the Devil Nor could he presently grant that these Differences of Garments had their Original from the Pope For we read in Ecclesiastical History that Iohn at Ephesus wore a Petalum a Mitre And Pontius Diaconus saith of Cyprian that when he went to be Executed he gave his Birrus to the Executioner his Dalmatica to the Deacons and stood in Linnen And Chrysostom makes mention of the white Garments of Ministers And the Ancients witness that when the Christians came to Christ they changed their Garments and for a Gown put on a Cloak for which when they were mocked by the Heathens Tertullian wrote a Learned Book De Pallio And he knew Hoper was not ignorant that to those that were initiated in Baptism was delivered a white Garment Therefore before the Tyranny of the Pope there was a Distinction of Garments in the Church Nor did he think that in case it were granted that it was invented by the Pope that the iniquity of Popery was so great that whatsoever it touched was so dyed and polluted thereby that good and godly Men might not use it to any holy purpose Hoper himself granted that every humane Invention was not therefore presently to be Condemned It was an humane Invention to communicate before Dinner it was an humane Invention that the things sold in the Primitive Church were brought and laid at the Apostles Feet That he was ready to confess with him that these Garments were an humane Invention and of themselves edified not but it was thought by some conducive to be born with for a time For that it might be a cause of avoiding those Contentions whereby greater Benefits might be in danger to be obstructed But that if hence an occasion of Erring might be given to the Weak they were to be admonished that they should hold these things indifferent and they were to be taught in Sermons that they should judg not God's Worship to be placed in them Hoper had writ that the Eyes of the Standers-by by reason of these Garments would be turned away from thinking of serious things and detained in gazing upon them But this would not happen when the Garments were simple and plain without Bravery and such as hitherto were used in the Service of God But Martyr answered That Use and Custom would take away Admiration And perhaps when the People were moved with Admiration they would the more attentively think of those things that are serious For which end he said the Sacraments seemed to be invented that from the Sight and Sense of them we might be carried to think of Divine Things Hoper urged moreover That whatsoever was not of Faith was Sin But said Martyr That we may enjoy a quiet Conscience in our Doings that of the Apostle seems much to tend and that to the Clean all things are clean saith the same Apostle to Titus and to Timothy that every Creature of God is good He urged also That we ought to have express Scripture for what we do in holy things But Martyr was not of that Mind But that that was enough in general to know by Faith that indifferent things cannot defile those who act with a pure and sincere Mind and Conscience And this was the substance of P. Martyr's Judgment of these things Which might give much light to that Reverend Man in this Controversy though he was not yet convinced nor could comply As Hoper all this while refused the Habits so we may conjecture by a Passage in the former Letter that he liberally declamed against them in the London Pulpits For Martyr takes notice to him of his unseasonable and too bitter Sermons Whether it were for this or his incompliance or both together I know not but at length he was by the Privy-Counsel commanded to keep his House council- unless it were to go to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury or the Bishops of Ely London or Lincoln for Counsel and Satisfaction of his Conscience and neither to Preach nor Read till he had further Licence from the Council But notwithstanding this Command he kept not his House and writ a Book and Printed it intituled A Confession of his Faith Written in such a manner that it gave more distaste and wherein was contained Matter he should not have written He went about also complaining of the King's Councellors as Martyr wrote in a private Letter to Bucer On Ianuary the 13 th The Court then at Greenwich he appeared there before the Council the Arch-bishop being then present touching the matter of not wearing the Apparel and for disobeying the Council Who for this Disobedience and for that he continued in his former Opinion of not wearing the Apparel prescribed for Bishops to wear committed him to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Custody either there to be reformed or further punished as the obstinacy of his Cause required Being with the Arch-bishop he did his endeavour to satisfy him But Hoper was as immoveable to whatsoever the said ABp could propound and offer as he was before with Ridley So the Arch-bishop signified to the Council that he could bring him to no Conformity but that he declared himself for another way of Ordination than was established The Effect of this was that on Ianuary 27 Upon this Letter of the Arch-bishop That Hoper could not be brought to any Conformity but rather persevering in his Obstinacy they are the words of the Council-Book coveted to prescribe Orders and necessary Laws of his Head it was agreed that he should be committed to the Fleet. And a Letter was drawn for the Arch-bishop to send Mr. Hoper to the Fleet upon the occasion aforesaid and another Letter to the Warden of the Fleet to receive him and to keep him from the Conference with any Person saving the Ministers of that House This Disobedience of Hoper to the Council's Orders will make the severity of the Council less liable to censure Neither was Cranmer any other ways
would do in them it not being reasonable he should subscribe them in Prison This being reported to the Council Iuly 15 it was agreed that he should be sent for before the whole Council and examined Whether he would stand at this Point Which if he did then to denounce the Sequestration of his Benefice for three Months with intimation if he reformed not in that space to deprive him This Order was Signed by Somerset Wilts Bedford Clynton Paget Wyngfield Herbert Iuly 19. The Bishop of VVynton was brought before the Council and there the Articles before mentioned were read unto him distinctly Whereunto he refused either to subscribe or consent Answering in these words That in all things his Majesty would command him he was willing and most ready to obey but forasmuch as there were divers things required of him which his Conscience would not bear therefore he prayed them to have him excused And thereupon Secretary Petre by the Council's Order proceeded to read the Sequestration Thus fairly and calmly was this Bishop dealt with by the King and his Council from Iune 8. to Iuly 19. And notwithstanding this Sentence the Council favorably ordered that the Bishop's House and Servants should be maintained in their present State until the expiration of the three Months and that the Matter in the mean time should be kept secret The three Months expired Octob. 19. but with such Clemency was he used that it was November 23 before his Business was renewed And then considering the time of his Intimation was long sithence expired it was agreed that the Bishop of Ely Mr. Secretary Petre Dr. May and Dr. Glynne all Learned in the Civil Law should substantially confer upon the Matter and upon Tuesday next the 26 th day of this present to certify unto the Council what was to be done duly by order of the Law in this Case And now the Arch-bishop of Canterbury began to be concerned in this troublesome Business A Commission dated Decemb. 12 was issued out from the King to the said Arch-bishop and to the Bishops of London Ely Lincoln to Sir VVilliam Petre Sir Iames Hales and some other Lawyers to call the said Bishop of VVinchester before them and continuing in his Contempt to proceed to deprive him December 14. The Lieutenant of the Tower was ordered to bring the Bishop on Monday next to Lambeth before my Lord of Canterbury and other Commissioners upon his Cause and likewise upon their Appointment to bring him thither from day to day at times by them prefixed December 15 was the day of VVinchester's first Appearance The Business done this Session was the opening and reading the Commission and after that divers Articles against the Bishop Who then made a Speech Wherein first He protested against these his Judges and excepted against their Commission and required this his Protestation to be entred into the Acts of the Court. Then desiring a Copy of the Commission it was granted him together with that of the Articles too to make his Answers to Next the Archbishop gave him his Oath to make true Answer Which he took still with his Protestation Then the Bishop desiring Counsel the Arch-bishop and the rest not only granted his Request but allowed him whomsoever he should name Which was the next Day allowed also by an Order of Council Certain honourable Persons were deposed and sworn for Witnesses as Sir Anthony Wingfield Controller of the Houshold Sir William Cecyl Secretary Sir Rafe Sadleir Sir Edward North Dr. Cox Almoner and others The Bishop also protested against them and the Swearing of them At this first Sessions he had also said in the hearing of a great Multitude present concerning the Duke of Somerset and some other Privy-Counsellors sent to him in the Tower That they had made an end with him before for all the matters for which he was committed In so much that he verily thought he should never have heard any more of it This coming soon to the Ears of these Nobles highly offended them as reporting falsely of them So that to justify themselves in as publick a manner the next Sessions they sent their Letter dated December 17 signed by the Duke of Somerset the Earls of Wiltshire and Bedford and Sir Edward North wherein they denied any such Matter saying That the Bishop defended his Cause with Untruths and that upon their Fidelities and Honours his Tale was false and untrue For that their coming to him in the Tower was to do their endeavour to reclaim him And they prayed the Commissioners that for their Vindication they would cause this their Letter to be publickly read Which was accordingly done though the Bishop thinking how this would reflect upon him under his former Protestation laboured hard that he might first be heard and that he had something to propose why it should not be read Which notwithstanding they would not grant Ianuary 19. The Council sitting at Greenwich the Bishop's Servants came and desired that certain of them might be sworn upon certain Articles for Witness on his behalf And if they might not be sworn that upon their Honours as they would answer before God they would witness truly according to their Conscience and as effectually as if they were sworn upon a Book And they were allowed The Bishop to make his Cause the more plausible as though he were the publick Defender of the Roman Catholick-Church in England at this time laboured to make it believed that he fell into all this Trouble for the Defence of the Real Presence in the Sacrament and for maintaining the Catholick Doctrine in a Sermon before the King and that he made his Book to vindicate himself therein And therefore in one of his Appearances before the Commissioners openly in the Court delivered them his Book against Arch-bishop Cranmer printed in France and to make it suit the better he had altered some lines in the beginning of his Book so as to make it to relate to his present Case But in truth Gardiner had wrote and finished his Book before This Cranmer unvailed in his Answer to this Book of Gardiner's Saying there That he made his Book before he was called before the Commissioners as he could prove by a Book under his own Hand-writing and that he was called before the Commissioners by his own Suit and Procurement and as it were inforcing the Matter But indeed the true Cause was That he was called to Justice for his manifest Contempt and continual Disobedience from time to time or rather Rebellion against the King's Majesty and was deprived of his State for the same In short after a greal deal of Pains and Patience the Bishop was by the Arch-bishop and the rest of the Commissioners deprived after no less then two and twenty Sessions held at divers places that is from the 15 th of December to the 14 th of February though Stow falsely nameth but seven The Bishop when he saw the
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 communion- 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
was much offended that he was named in the Book and pretended this to be one Reason why he did write against it to vindicate himself as well as the Papal Church hereby so dangerously struck at This Book of Cranmer's was turned into Latin by Iohn Yong who complied afterwards with the old Religion under Queen Mary and was Master of Pembroke-Hall Cambridg At this Book the Defenders of Popery were so nettled that in the same Year 1550 Winchester then in the Tower and fickle Dr. Smith then at Lovain printed Answers Of Smith's Book I shall only note by the way that March 8. 1550. there was an Order of Council to examine the bringer over of his Book against Cranmer Such a Countenance did the State give to the Arch-bishop and his Book Gardiner's Book made the greatest noise Which was printed in France and intituled An Explication and Assertion of the true Catholick Faith touching the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar with the Confutation of a Book written against the same In the Beginning of his Book he wrote That his Sermon before the King on St. Peter's Day touching the Sacrament of the Altar gave occasion to the Arch-bishop's Book against it and that he was called before the King's Commissioners at Lambeth for his Catholick Faith in the Sacrament Whereas indeed this was not the Cause of his Troubles nor had some former Copies of his Book these words But after the Commission was issued forth against him to make his Cause appear the more specious as if it were the Cause of the Church he thought fit to make an Alteration in the beginning of his Book in the manner abovesaid And to carry on the Scene he in open Court offered his Book before the King's Commissioners To this Book of Gardiners our Arch-bishop studied and composed an Answer holding himself bound for the Vindication of the Evangelical Truth as well as of his own Writing and for the Satisfaction of the People not to suffer it to lie untaken notice of When it was known the Arch-bishop was preparing an Answer against Gardiner the People were in very great expectation and conceived an earnest desire to see and read it Having therefore dispatched his Copy and sent it to Rainold Wolf his Printer it was printed off in the Month of September 1551. But there was some stop put to the publishing of it occasioned by a Proclamation issued out from the King whereby for some political Ends both the printing and selling of English Books without the Allowance of the King's Majesty or six of his Privy-Council was forbidden The Arch-bishop being desirous that his Book might come abroad the next Term for the Contentation of many who had long expected the same sent to Secretary Cecyl and Sir Iohn Cheke to procure either from the King or Council a Licence to the said Wolf for printing and selling his Book Which was obtained and the Book published accordingly This Letter of the ABp's dated Sept. 29. I have thought not amiss to reposit in the Appendix Octob. 1. A Licence was granted to Wolf to publish the Book under the King's Privilege the Court then being at Hampton-Court and the Arch-bishop himself present The Title this second Book of the Arch-bishop's bore was An Answer by the Reverend Father in God Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitan unto a crafty and sophistical Cavillation devised by Stephen Gardiner Doctor of Law late Bishop of Winchester against the true and godly Doctrine of the most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ. Wherein is also as occasion serveth answered such Places of the Book of Dr. Richard Smith as may seem any thing worthy the answering Also a true Copy of the Book written and in open Court delivered by Dr. Stephen Gardiner not one Word added or diminished but faithfully in all Points agreeing with the Original This Book of Arch-bishop Cranmer's was printed again at London 1580 with his Life and some other things His Reply to Gardiner was in the most fair and candid Method that could be devised For he first set down his own Treatise Piece by Piece then Gardiner's Reply thereunto Word for Word leaving not one Paragraph without a full Answer His Reply to Smith was only of some things most worthy to be taken notice of the rest of Smith's Book being meer Trifles This Reply to Smith he inserted in the Body of his Answer to Gardiner as occasion served Only at the end he made a particular Reply to Smith's Preface It seemed to be a very compleat Exercitation upon that Subject The Book was stored with so great Learning and Plenty of Arguments Vt ea Controversia saith one of his Successors a nemine unquam contra Pontificios accuratius tractata esse videatur That no one Controversy was by any ever handled against the Papists more accurately It may not be amiss to mention here the Opinion that Cranmer himself had of his Book in that famous and renowned Confession he made of his Faith in S. Mary's Church Oxon immediately before he was led away to his Burning Where he expressed his full Approbation and great Confidence of the Doctrine contained therein saying That as for the Sacrament he believed as he had taught in his Book against the Bishop of VVinchester The which Book he said taught so true a Doctrine of the Sacrament that it should stand at the last Day before the Judgment of God where the Papistical Doctrine contrary thereto should be ashamed to shew her Face The Papists spake as much against this Book being much galled by it Dr. Tresham in his Disputation with Latimer said There were six hundred Errors in the Book Weston thinking to invalidate the Book by the pretended Novelty of the Doctrine asked the same Father How long he had been of that Opinion He said Not past seven Years that is about the Year 1547 and that Arch-bishop Cranmer's Book confirmed his Judgment therein and added That if he could but remember all therein contained he would not fear to answer any Man in this Matter The Arch-bishop had acknowledged to the Queen's Commissioners at Oxford that Ridley had first begun to enlighten him as to the true Notion of the Presence as he had maintained it in his Book Hereupon one of them took occasion to try to baffle the true Doctrine by making the whole stress of it to depend upon the Authority of single Ridley Latimer said he leaned upon Cranmer and Cranmer leaned upon Ridley Whereas the truth of this was no more but that Ridley reading Bertram's Book of the Body and Blood of Christ was sharpened to examine the old Opinion more accurately of the Presence of Christ's Flesh and Blood and looking into Ecclesiastical Authors he found it greatly controverted in the ninth Century and learnedly writ against Which made him begin to conclude it none of the ancient Doctrines of the Church but more lately
brought into it These his Thoughts he communicated to Arch-bishop Cranmer which was about the Year 1546. Whereupon they both set to examine it with more than ordinary Care And all the Arguments that Cranmer gathered about it he digested into his Book Nor was the good Arch-bishop ashamed to make a publick Acknowledgment in print of this as well as of his other Popish Errors in his Answer to Smith's Preface who it seems had charged him with Inconstancy This I confess of my self that not long before I wrote the said Catechism I was in that Error of the Real Presence as I was many Years past in many other Errors as of Transubstantiation of the Sacrifice propitiatory of the Priests in the Mass of Pilgrimages of Purgatory c. being brought up from my Youth in them For the which and other the Offences of my Youth I do daily pray unto God for Pardon and Mercy After it pleased God to shew me by his Holy Word a more perfect knowledg of his Son Jesus Christ I put away my former Ignorance As God gave me Light so through his Grace I opened my Eyes to receive it And I trust in God's Mercy for pardon of my former Errors I set this down the more at large to shew the great Ingenuity as well as Piety of this good Man Peter Martyr in the Year following this printed a Book of the Sacrament which was the Sum of what he had read before upon that Point in the University of Oxford Which Book he dedicated to his Patron the Arch-bishop of Canterbury And giving the Reason why he made the Dedication to him said That he knew certainly that Cranmer had so great Skill in this Controversy as one could hardly find in any one besides That there was none of the Fathers which he had not diligently noted no antient or modern Book extant that he Martyr had not with his own Eyes seen noted by the Arch-bishop's Hand Whatsoever belonged to the whole Controversy he said that the Arch-bishop had digested into particular Chapters Councils Canons Popes Decrees pertaining hereunto and that with so great labour that unless he had been an Eye-Witness of it and seen it he could not easily have believed others if they had told him in regard of the infinite Toil Diligence and Exactness wherewith the Arch-bishop had done it He added that the Arch-bishop had not bestowed such kind of Pains and Study in the Matter of the Sacrament only but that he had done the same thing as to all other Doctrines in effect which in that Age were especially under Controversy And this that Learned Man said he had made good Observation of Nor as he went on that he wanted Skill a Method and Industry in defending what he held Which might he said be known by this because he had so often conflicted with his Adversaries both publickly and privately and by a marvellous strength of Learning quickness of Wit and dexterity of Management had asserted what he held to be true from the thorny and intricate Cavils of Sophisters glancing at his Controversies with Winchester who was commonly then called the Sophister and that he wanted not a Will yea a Mind ready to defend Sound and C●ristian Doctrines That all Men did sufficiently understand who saw him burn with so great an endeavour of restoring Religion that for this Cause only he had great and heavy Enemies and neglected many Commodities of this Life and underwent horrible Dangers The great and intimate Converse that P. Martyr had with Cranmer gave him opportunity to know him very well and therefore I have chosen to set down this Character that he gave of him and particularly of his Ability in this Controversy of th● Eucharist And I am apt to think that the careful perusal of these Authorities collected by the Arch-bishop and his Conversation with this Learned Prelate being much with him at Lambeth was a cause of bringing Martyr to the True Doctrine For at his first coming to Oxon he was a Papist or a Lutheran as to the belief of the Presence And so Feckenham Dean of S. Paul's told Bartlet Green at his Examination and that Martyr perceiving the King's Council as he uncharitably suggested to be of another Opinion he to please them forsook the true Catholick Faith But Mr. Green who had been a hearer of him at Oxon replied That he had heard Martyr say That he had not while he was a Papist read S. Chrysostom upon the tenth to the Corinthians nor many other places of the Doctors But when he had read them and well considered them he was content to yield to them having first humbled himself in Prayer desiring God to illuminate him and bring him to the true understanding of Scripture As to the Authorities the Arch-bishop alledgeth in his Book it was the Conjecture of Iohn Fox that he made use of Frith's Book which he wrote of the Sacrament against More divers Years before and that from the said Author the Arch-bishop seemed to have collected the Testimonies of the Doctors which he produced in his Apology against the Bishop of Winchester and that he gathered the principal and chiefest Helps thence that he leaned to But although he might peruse Frith as he did almost all other Authors that wrote of this Controversy yet he was too well versed in the Ecclesiastical Writers that he needed to go a borrowing to the readings of any others for Sentences and Allegations out of them Cranmer lived to see his Book replied again unto by his Adversary Gardiner in Latin under the fained Name of Marcus Antonius Constantius a Divine of Lovain His Book went under this Title Confutatio cavillationum quibus sacrosanctum Eucharistiae Sacramentum ab impiis Capernaitis impeti solet Printed at Paris 1552. In this Book he spared the Name of the Arch-bishop but reduceth all the Arch-bishop's Book into no less then 255 Objections To each of which one by one the Catholick is brought in making answer Next whereas Cranmer had laid down twelve Rules for the finding out the true Sense of the Fathers in their Writings the Catholick examines them and enervates them Then follows a Confutation of the Solutions whereby the Sectary as he is called that is Cranmer endeavoured to take off the Arguments of the Catholicks And which is the fourth and last part of the Book he defends Catholick Mens Sense of the Allegations out of the Fathers against the Sectaries Gardiner when he compiled this Book was in the Tower a Prisoner but yet he was under so easy restraint that he was furnished there with Workmen and Amanuenses As they of old to the building of the Tabernacle so he to the preparing of his Book a kind of Papistical Tabernacle to use the words of Martyr all sorts contributed something For his Book was Pandora's Box to which all the lesser Gods brought their Presents For every Man were his Learning less or more that had
Year 1557 the Exiles here printed it with this Title Defensio c. a Thoma Cranmero Martyre scripta Ab Authore in Vinculis recognita aucta Before it is a new Preface to the Reader made as it is thought by Sir Iohn Cheke relating to the Arch-bishop and this his Book shewing how well-weighed and well-thought on this Doctrine of the Sacrament was before he published it and that he let it not go abroad till he had diligently compared and pondred all Scriptures and Ancient Authors and confirmed it at last by his Blood In the body of the Book the places where any Enlargements are are signified by an Hand pointing thereunto In the Margent is often to be found this word Object with certain Numbers added Which Numbers shew those Places which Gardiner under the Name of Marcus Antonius did endeavour to confute The very Original these English Exiles here at Embden kept as a great Treasure among them and as a Memorial of the Holy Martyr Besides this the Arch-bishop fully intended to have his Vindication of his Book impugned by Gardiner put into Latin also but he lived not to see that done But care was taken of this Business among the Exiles Insomuch that both Sir Iohn Choke and Iohn Fox were busied about it at the same time But the former surceased and left the whole Work to Fox then at Frankford after he had finished the first part In this Piece done by Cheke Iohn a Lasco had an hand for he put in the Latin School-Terms instead of more pure good Latin which Cheke had used And it was judged fit that such Words should be used where the ABp in his English had used them And this Cheke and A Lasco themselves wrote to Fox Fox undertook the rest by the Incitation and Encouragement of P. Martyr and of Grindal and Pilkington both Bishops afterwards Who gave him Directions for the translating and as Doubts occurred concerning the Sense of certain Matters in the Book as he met with them he consulted with these Men for their Judgments therein Grindal in one Letter bad him write a Catalogue of all Passages by him doubted of and send it to him Fox finished his Translation in the Year 1557 before Iune For which he had a Congratulatory Letter from Grindal who was his chief Assistant and Counsellor herein The Work was dispatched to the Press at Basil I suppose and when one Part was printed the Censors of the Press thought it would be better to defer an Argument of that Nature to better Times the Controversy having been bandied up and down so much already But Froscover undertook the printing of the whole Book Fox would do nothing of himself but leaving himself to the Judgment of his Learned Brethren to commit the Work now to Froscover or no Queen Mary's Death and the return of the Exiles I suppose stopped further progress in this Matter The Original Manuscript under Fox's own Hand in very cleanly elegant Latin I have lying by me It bears this Title De totâ Sacramenti Eucharistiae causa Institutionum Libri V. Autore D. THOMA CRANMERO Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi Quibus Stephani Garneri Episcopi Wintoniensi SMYTHI Doctoris Theologi impugnationibus respondetur And that I may bring here together all that relates to Cranmer as to this Matter of the Sacrament I must not omit what I saw in the Benet-Library There is a thin Note-book of this Arch-bishop's with this Title wrote by his own Hand De re Sacramentaria which I verily believe are his Meditations and Conclusions when he set himself accurately to examine the Sacramental Controversy and fell off from the Opinion of the Carnal Presence The Notes consist of nothing but Quotations out of ancient Ecclesiastical Authors about the Lord's Supper interlined in many Places by the Arch-bishop's Pen. On the top of some of the Pages are these Sentences writ by himself being Doctrines provable out of the Sentences there produced and transcribed Panis vocatur Corpus Christi Vinum Sanguis Panis est Corpus meum Vinum est Sanguis meus figurativae sunt locutiones Quid significet haec figura Edere carnem bibere sanguinem Mali non edunt bibunt corpus sanguinem Domini Patres Vet. Testamenti edebant bibebant Christum sicut Nos Sicut in Eucharistia ita in Baptismo presens est Christus Contra Transubstantiationem After this follow these Writings of the Arch-bishop's own Hand which Arch-bishop Parker elsewhere transcribed for his own Satisfaction Multa affirmant crassi Papistae seu Capernaitae quae neque Scriptura neque ullus Veterum unquam dixerat Viz. Quod Accidentia maneant sine subjecto Quod Accidentia panis vini sunt Sacramenta non panis vinum Quod Panis non est figura sed accidentia panis Quod Christus non appellavit panem corpus suum Quod cum Christus dixit Hoc est corpus meum pronomen Hoc non refertur ad panem sed ad corpus Christi Quod tot corpora Christi accipimus aut toties corpus ejus accipimus quoties aut in quot partes dentibus secamus panem Thus having set down divers Assertions of Papists or Capernaites as he stiled them which neither Scripture nor Ancient Fathers knew any thing of his Notes proceed to state wherein Papists and Protestants disagree Praecipua Capita in quibus a Papisticis dissentimus Christum Papistae statuunt in pane nos in homine comedente Illi in comedentis ore nos in toto homine Illi Corpus Christi aiunt evolare masticato vel consumpto pane Nos manere in homine dicimus quamdiu membrum est Christi Illi in pane statuunt per annum integrum diutius si duret panis Nos in homine statuimus inhabitare quamdiu Templum Dei fuerit Illorum Sententiâ quod ad realem praesentiam attinet non amplius edit homo quam bellua neque magis ei prodest quam cuivis animanti Thus God made use of this Arch-bishop who was once of the most violent Asserters of the Corporal Presence to be the chiefest Instrument of overthrowing it But this good Work required to be carried on after Cranmer's Death For great Brags were made of Gardiner's second Book and it was boasted that none dared to encounter this their Goliath P. Martyr was thought the fittest Man to succeed Cranmer in this Province to maintain the Truth that began now to shine forth He overcome by the Solicitation of Friends composed a Book against Gardiner as was said before and printed it at Zurick Wherein I. He defended the Arguments of our Men which had been collected together and pretended to be confuted by Gardiner's Book II. He defended those Rules which Cranmer had put forth in his Tract of the Sacrament III. He maintained those Answers whereby the Arguments of the Adversaries were wont to be refuted And IV. He asserted the just and
true Interpretation of certain Places out of the Fathers which Gardiner and his Companions brought for themselves and their Errors After this Defence followed another by the same Author printed in the same Town of Zurick against two Books of Dr. Rich. Smith concerning the single Life of Priests and Monastick Vows which he wrote at Lovain against Martyr For when Martyr had read at Oxford upon 1 Corinthians Chap. vii where the Apostle speaks much of Virginity and Matrimony the Notes of which Readings Smith had very diligently taken being constantly present at them from thence he composed two Books not so strong as malicious Of the Celibacy of Priests and of Vows designing thereby to confute Martyr's Arguments Which he therefore thought fit to vindicate In this Book he not only answered Smith's Arguments but whatever else he could meet with upon that Subject But it was thought to be a very improper Undertaking and proved cause of Mirth that so filthy a Fellow as Smith was known to be and once taken in the Act of Adultery should write a Book of Priestly Chastity Which occasioned these Verses made by Laur. Humfrey Haud satis affabrè tractans fabrilia Smithus Librum de vita caelibe composuit c. Dúmque pudicitiam dum vota monastica laudat Stuprat sacra notans foedera conjugii CHAP. XXVI The Duke of Somerset's Death New Bishops THE Arch-bishop of Canterbury this Year lost the Duke of Somerset whom he much valued and who had been a great Assistant to him in the Reformation of the Church and a true Friend to it His violent Death exceedingly grieved the good Arch-bishop both because he knew it would prove a great Let to Religion and was brought about by evil Men to the shedding of Innocent Blood for the furthering the Ends of Ambition and begat in him Fears and Jealousies of the King's Life It is very remarkable what I meet with in one of my Manuscripts There was a Woman somewhat before the last apprehension of the Duke Wife of one Woocock of Pool in Dorsetshire that gave out that there was a Voice that followed her which sounded these words always in her Ears He whom the King did best trust should deceive him and work Treason against him After she had a good while reported this Sir William Barkley who married the Lord Treasurer Winchester's Daughter sent her up to London to the Council with two of his Servants She was not long there but without acquainting the Duke of Somerset whom it seemed most to concern he being the Person whom the King most trusted was sent home again with her Purse full of Money And after her coming home She was more busy in that talk than before So that She came to a Market-Town called Wimborn four Miles from Pool where she reported that the Voice continued following her as before This looked by the Circumstances like a practice of some Popish Priests accustomed to dealing in such Frauds to make the World the more inclinable to believe the Guilt of the good Duke which Somerset's Enemies were now framing against him And so some of the Wiser Sort thereabouts did seem to think For there were two Merchants of Pool that heard her and took a Note of her Words and came to the House of Hancock Minister of Pool who was known to the Duke counselling him to certify my Lord of her Which Hancock accordingly did and came to Sion where the Duke then was and told him of the Words He added Whom the King doth best trust we do not know but that all the King 's loving Subjects did think that his Grace was most worthy to be best trusted and that his Grace had been in Trouble and that all the King 's Loving Subjects did pray for his Grace to the Almighty to preserve him that he might never come in the like trouble again Then the Duke asked him whether he had a Note of the Words Which when he had received from Hancock he said to him suspecting the Plot Ah! Sirrah this is strange that these things should come before the Councellors and I not hear of it I am of the Council also He asked Hancock Before whom of the Council this matter was brought Who replied He knew not certain but as he supposed The Duke asked him Whom he supposed He answered Before the Lord Treasurer because his Son-in-Law Sir W. Barkley sent her up The Duke subjoyned It was like to be so This was three weeks before his last Apprehension This I extract out of Mr. Hancock's own Narration of himself and and his Troubles to which he added That at his first apprehension the report was that the Duke what time as he was fetch'd out of Windsor-Castle having the King by the Hand should say It is not I that they shoot at This is the Mark that they shoot at meaning the King Which by the Sequel proved too true For that good Godly and vertuous Prince lived not long after the Death of that good Duke Indeed it seemed to have been a Plot of the Papists and the Bishop of Winchester at the Bottom of it This is certain when in October 1549. the Duke was brought to the Tower the Bishop was then born in hand he should be set at Liberty Of which he had such Confidence that he prepared himself new Apparel against the Time he should come out thinking verily to have come abroad within eight or ten Days But finding himself disappointed he wrote an expostulatory Letter to the Lords within a Month after to put them in remembrance as Stow writes The Articles that were drawn up against the Duke upon his second Apprehension and Trial were in number Twenty which I shall not repeat here as I might out of a Manuscript thereof because they may be seen in Fox But I do observe one of the Articles is not printed in his Book namely the Tenth which ran thus Also you are charged that you have divers and many times both openly and privately said and affirmed That the Nobles and Gentlemen were the only Causes of the Dearth of things whereby the People rose and did reform things themselves Whence it appears that one Cause of the hatred of the Nobility and Gentry against him was because he spake against their Debauches and Excesses Covetousness and Oppressions But that which I chiefly observe here is that the draught of these Articles which I have seen were made by Bp Gardiner being his very Hand unless I am much mistaken So that he I suppose was privately dealt with and consulted being then a Prisoner in the Tower to be a Party in assisting and carrying on this direful Plot against the Duke to take away his Life Notwithstanding his outward Friendship and fair Correspondence in Letters with the said Duke But Gardiner was looked upon to be a good Manager of Accusations and he was ready enough to be employed here that he might put to his Hand in taking off one
for there was that which would comfort him when he should be in such a case as he was then in One asked him concerning the Doctrine of the School-Doctors that Bread remained not after Consecration He replied There was none of the School-Doctors knew what Consecratio did mean And pausing a while said It was Tota actio The whole Action in ministring the Sacrament as Christ did institute it After the Conference with him was ended Yong retiring into another Chamber said to Wilks that Dr. Redman so moved him that whereas he was before in such Opinion of certain things that he would have burned and lost his Life for them now he doubted of them But I see said he a Man shall know more and more by process of time and by reading and hearing others And Mr. Dr. Redman's saying shall cause me to look more diligently for them Ellis Lomas Redman's Servant said he knew his Master had declared to King Henry that Faith only justifieth but that he thought that Doctrine was not to be taught the People lest they should be negligent to do good Works All this I have related of this Divine that I may in some measure preserve the Memory of one of the Learnedest Men of his Time and lay up the dying Words of a Papist signifying so plainly his dislike and disallowance of many of their Doctrines The Sweating-sickness breaking out this Year in great violence whereby the two Sons of the Duke of Suffolk were taken off Letters from the Council dated Iuly 18 were sent to all the Bishops to perswade the People to Prayer and to see God better served It being enacted 1549 That the King might during three Years appoint sixteen Spiritual Men and sixteen Temporal to examine the old Ecclesiastical Laws and to compile a Body of Ecclesiastical Laws to be in force in the room of the old this third Year Octob. 6. a Commission was issued out to the same number of Persons authorizing them to reform the Canon Laws that is to say to eight Bishops eight Divines eight Civil Lawyers and eight Common Whose Names as they occur in an Original are as follow BISHOPS The Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Exeter Glocester Bath Rochestre DIVINES Mr. Taylor of Lincoln Cox Almoner Parker of Cambridg Latimer Cook Sir Anthony I suppose Peter Martyr Cheke Ioannes a Laseo CIVILIANS Mr. Peter Cecyl Sir Tho. Smith Taylor of Hadeligh Dr. May Mr. Traheron Dr. Lyel Mr. Skinner LAWYERS Justice Hales Justice Bromly Goodrick Gosnal Stamford Carel Lucas Brook Recorder of London It was so ordered that this number should be divided into four distinct Classes or Companies each to consist of two Bishops two Divines to Civilians and two Common-Lawyers And to each Company were assigned their set parts Which when one Company had finished it was transmitted to the other Companies to be by them all well considered and inspected But out of all the number of two and thirty eight especially were selected from each rank two viz. out of the Bishops the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely out of the Divines Cox and Martyr out of the Civilians Taylor and May out of the Common-Lawyers Lucas and Goodrick To whom a new Commission was made Novemb. 9 for the first forming of the Work and preparation of the Matter And the Arch-bishop supervised the whole Work This Work they plied close this Winter But lest they should be straitned for time the Parliament gave the King three Years longer for accomplishing this Affair So Feb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to make a new Commission to the Arch-bishop and to the other Bishops and Learned Men Civilians and Lawyers for the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Laws according to the Act of Parliament made in the last Session This was a very noble Enterprize and well worthy the Thoughts of our excellent Arch-bishop Who with indefatigable Pains had been both in this and the last King's Reign labouring to bring this Matter about and he did his part for he brought the Work to perfection But it wanted the King's Ratification which was delayed partly by Business and partly by Enemies Bishops Consecrated August the 30 th Iohn Scory Ponet being translated to Winchester was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Croyden by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford Miles Coverdale was at the same time and place Consecrated Bishop of Exon all with their Surplices and Copes and Coverdale so habited also CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion OUR Arch-bishop and certain of the Bishops and other Divines but whom by Name I find not were this Year chiefly busied in composing and preparing a Book of Articles of Religion which was to contain what should be publickly owned as the Sum of the Doctrine of the Church of England This the Arch-bishop had long before this bore in his Mind as excellently serviceable for the creating of a Concord and Quietness among Men and for the putting an End to Contentions and Disputes in Matters of Religion These Articles the Arch-bishop was the Penner or at least the great Director of with the assistance as is very probable of Bishop Ridley And so he publickly owned afterwards in his Answer to certain Interrogatories put to him by Queen Mary's Commissioners viz. That the Catechism the Book of Articles and the Book against Winchester were his Doings These Articles were in number Forty two and were agreed to in the Convocation 1552. And in the Year 1553 they were published by the King's Authority both in Latin and English After they were finished he laboured to have the Clergy subscribe them but against their Wills he compelled none though afterwards some charged him falsly to do so Which he utterly denied as he declared before the said Queen's Commissioners But to enter into some Particulars concerning so eminent a Matter Ecclesiastical as this was In the Year 1551 the King and his Privy-Council ordered the Archbishop to frame a Book of Articles of Religion for the preserving and maintaining Peace and Unity of Doctrine in this Church that being finish'd they might be set forth by Publick Authority The Arch-bishop in obedience hereunto drew up a set of Articles which were delivered to certain other Bishops to be inspected and subscribed I suppose by them Before them they lay until this Year 1552. Then May 2. a Letter was sent from the Council to our Arch-bishop to send the Articles that were delivered the last Year to the Bishops and to signify whether the same were set forth by any Publick Authority according to the Minutes The Arch-bishop accordingly sent the Articles and his Answer unto the Lords of the Council In September I find the Articles were again in his Hands Then he set the Book in a better Order and put Titles upon each of the Articles and some Additions for the better perfecting of the Work and supply
first complained of to the King And being brought up the Arch-bishop and other Ecclesiastical Commissioners were commanded to examine him upon certain Articles But by the secret Favour of the Arch-bishop and his own prudent Answers he was then discharged Soon after upon some false Reports told of him King Henry was so offended that he sent for the Arch-bishop willing him to have him whipt out of the Country But the Arch-bishop pacified the King and sent him Home the second time Afterwards a third time his old Enemies the Popish Clergy got him convented before the Privy-Council and committed for Doctrines preached by him before he came into Kent The Arch-bishop being then down in his Diocess Turner was sent back to him with an Order to recant To whom when his fast Friend and Patron Mr. Morice had applied himself in his behalf the Arch-bishop himself being now under some Cloud dared not to interpose because as he then said it had been put into the King's Head that he was the great Favourer and Maintainer of all the Hereticks in the Kingdom Morice then that he might prevent this Recantation if possible which would have been such a Reflection to the Doctrine he before had preached addrest his Letters to Sir Anthony Denny Gentleman of the King's Bed-Chamber and Sir William Butts his Physician relating at large Turner's Cas● And by their means the King became better informed of the Man and in fine commanded him to be retained as a faithful Subject This Story is at large related by Fox And this I judg to be that Turner whom the Arch-bishop nominated for Ireland having lived long in his Diocess and so well known to him and whom he had I suppose removed to Canterbury to a Prebend or some other Preferment there Here he did this remarkable and bold piece of Service that when about three Years past the Rebels were up in Kent he then preached twice in the Camp near Canterbury for which the Rebels were going to hang him But God preserved him In Queen Mary's time he fled to Basil where he expounded upon S. Iames the Hebrews and the Ephesians to the Exiles there when Iames Pilkington expounded Ecclesiastes and both Epistles of of Peter and the Galatians And Bentham the Acts of the Apostles Thomas Rosse or Rose was also as memorable a Man very eminent both for his Preachings and Sufferings He was a West-country Man but by Providence was removed into Suffolk And at Hadley had preached against Purgatory and worshipping Images about the time that Bilney and Latimer did the like in Cambridg which was five and twenty or thirty Years past whereby he had brought many to the knowledg of the Truth in that Town About the Year 1532 when certain Persons out of their Zeal against Idolatry had stolen by Night the Rood out of the Church at Dover-court in Essex for which being found guilty of Felony they were hanged Rose seemed to have been privy hereunto For with the Rood they conveyed away the Slippers the Coat and the Tapers belonging to it which Coat Rose burnt Whether for this or some other thing he was complained of to the Council and brought before them and by the Bishop of Lincoln was committed to Prison Where he lay for some Days and Nights with both his Legs in an high pair of Stocks his Body lying along on the Ground Thence he was removed to Lambeth in the Year that Cranmer was Consecrated which was 1533 who set him at liberty Afterward he was admitted by Crumwel to be his Chaplain that thereby he might get a Licence to preach After various tossings from Place to Place for safety of his Life he fled into Flanders and Germany and came to Zurick and remained with Bullinger and to Basil where he was entertained by Grineus After some time he returned back into England But was glad to fly beyond Sea again Three Years after in his Voyage back to his own Country again he was taken Prisoner by some French and carried into Diep where he was spoiled of all he had His Ransom was soon after paid by a well-disposed Person who also brought him over into England Then the Earl of Sussex received him and his Wife and Child privately into his House But when this was known the Earl sent him a secret Letter to be gone And so he lurked in London till the Death of King Henry VIII King Edward gave him the Living of VVest-Ham near London in Essex Being deprived upon Queen Mary's coming to the Crown he was sometime Preacher to a Congregation in London But was taken at one of their Meetings in Bow-Church-yard Which I suppose was in the Year 1555. For then he was in the Tower and thence in the Month of May by the Council's Letters he was delivered to the Sheriff of Norfolk to be conveyed and delivered to the Bishop of Norwich and he either to reduce him to recant or to proceed against him according to Law Much Imprisonment and many Examinations he underwent both from the Bishops of Winchester and Norwich but escaped at last by a great Providence beyond Sea where he tarried till the Death of Queen Mary And after these his Harassings up and down in the World he was at last in Queen Elizabeth's happy Reign quietly settled at Luton in Bedfordshire where he was Preacher and lived to a very great Age. The fourth was Robert Wisdome a Man eminent as the rest both for his exemplary Conversation and for his Preaching together with his Sufferings attending thereon In Henry the Eighth his Reign he was a Person of Fame among the Professors of the Gospel in the South Parts of the Nation whence after many painful Labours and Persecutions he fled into the North as did divers other Preachers of the pure Religion in those Times There in Staffordshire he was one of those that were entertained by Iohn Old a pious Professor and Harbourer of good Men and Thomas Becon was another who was taken up with Bradford in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign and committed to the Tower Of this Old the said Becon in a Treatise of his printed in Edward the sixth his Reign gives this Character That he was to him and VVisdom as Iason was to Paul and Silas He received us joyfully into his House and liberally for the Lord's Sake ministred to our Necessities And as he begun so did he continue a right hearty Friend and dearly loving Brother so long as we remained in the Country While VVisdom was here he was ever vertuously occupied and suffered no Hour to pass without some good Fruit employing himself now in Writing as he had before in Preaching Besides other Books formerly writ by him he penned here a very godly and fruitful Exposition upon certain Psalms of David Of the which he translated some into English Metre There is one of them and I think no more still remaining in our ordinary singing Psalms namely the hundred twenty fifth
Tonstal late Bishop of Durham should have the Liberty of the Tower where he continued till the Time of Queen Mary But we will look back to learn for what Cause this severe Punishment was inflicted upon this Reverend grave Bishop and the rather because the Bp of Sarum could not find as he writes what the Particulars were In the Year 1550 a Conspiracy was hatching in the North to which the Bishop was privy at least if not an Abetter And he wrote to one Menvile in those Parts relating to the same This Menvile himself related unto the Council and produced the Bishop's Letter Which was afterwards by the Duke of Somerset withdrawn and concealed as it seems out of kindness to Tonstal But upon the Duke's Troubles when his Cabinet was searched this Letter was found Upon which they proceeded against Tonstal This is the sum of what is found in the Council-Book Viz. May 20. 1551. The Bishop of Durham is commanded to keep his House Aug. 2. He had licence to walk in the Fields Decemb. 20. Whereas the Bishop of Durham about Iuly 1550 was charged by Vivian Menvile to have consented to a Conspiracy in the North for the making a Rebellion and whereas for want of a Letter written by the said Bishop to the said Menvile whereupon great trial of this Matter depended the final Determination of the Matter could not be proceeded unto and the Bishop only commanded to keep his House the same Letter hath of late been found in a Casket of the Duke of Somerset's after his last Apprehension The said Bishop was sent for and this Day appeared before the Council and was charged with the Letter which he could not deny but to be his own Hand-writing and having little to say for himself he was then sent to the Tower there to abide till he should be delivered by Process of Law Agreeable to this is that King Edward writes in his Journal Decemb. 20. The Bishop of Durham was for concealment of Treason written to him and not disclosed sent to the Tower In the latter end of the Year 1551 a Parliament sitting it was thought convenient to bring in a Bill into the House of Lords attainting him for Misprision of Treason But Arch-bishop Cranmer spake freely against it not satisfied it seems with the Charge laid against him But it past and the Arch-bishop protested But when it was carried down to the Commons they would not proceed upon it not satisfied with the bare Depositions of Evidences but required that the Accusers might be brought Face to Face And so it went no further But when the Parliament would not do Tonstal's Business a Commission was issued out to do it as is above spoken In the mean time that the Bishoprick might not want a due Care taken of it during the Bishop's Restraint Feb. 18. 1551 a Letter was sent from the Council to the Prebendaries of Durham to conform themselves to such Orders in Religion and Divine Service standing with the King's Proceedings as their Dean Mr. Horn shall set forth whom the Lords required them to receive and use well as being sent to them for the Weal of the Country by his Majesty CHAP. XXXIII The new Common-Prayer The Arch-bishop in Kent THE Book of Common-Prayer having the last Year been carefully Revised and Corrected by the Arch-bishop and others the Parliament in April this Year enacted that it should begin to be used every where at All-Saints Day next And accordingly the Book was printed against the Time and began to be read in S. Paul's Church and the like throughout the whole City But because the Posture of Kneeling was excepted against by some and the words used by the Priest to the Communicant at the reception of the Bread gave Scruple as though the Adoration of the Host were intended therefore to take off this and to declare the contrary to be the Doctrine of this Church Octob. 27. a Letter was sent from the Council to the Lord-Chancellor to cause to be joined to the Book of Common-Prayer lately set forth a Declaration signed by the King touching the Kneeling at the receiving of the Communion Which in all probability was done by the Motion of the Arch-bishop who in his late Book had taken such pains to confute the Adoration and now thought it necessary that some publick Declaration should be made in the Church-Service against it So now the first of November being come Dr. Ridley the Bishop of London was the first that celebrated the new Service in S. Paul's Church which he did in the Forenoon And then in his Rochet only without Cope or Vestment preached in the Choir And in the Afternoon he preached at Pauls-Cross the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen and Citizens present His Sermon tended to the setting forth this new Edition of the Common-Prayer He continued preaching till almost five a Clock so that the Mayor and the rest went home by Torch-light By this Book of Common-Prayer all Copes and Vestments were forbidden throughout England The Prebendaries of St. Pauls left off their Hoods and the Bishops their Crosses c. as by Act of Parliament is more at large set forth Provision also was made for the King's French Dominions that this Book with the Amendments should be used there And the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor a great forwarder of good Reformation procured a learned French-man who was a Doctor of Divinity carefully to correct the former French Book by this English new One in all the Alterations Additions and Omissions thereof For the first Common-Prayer Book also was in French for the use of the King's French Subjects Being translated by Commandment of Sir Hugh Paulet Governour of Calais And that Translation overseen by the Lord Chancellor and others at his Appointment The Benefit of this last Book was such that one of the French Congregation in London sought by the Means of A Lasco's Interest with Secretary Cecyl for a Licence under the King's Letters Patents to translate this Common-Prayer and the Administration of Sacraments and to print it for the use of the French Islands of Iersey and Guernsey But Cecyl after a Letter received from A Lasco in August to that effect not willing to do this of his own Head and reckoning it a proper Matter to be considered by the Arch-bishop who were to be intrusted with the translating of such a Book desired him being now at Ford to give him his Advice and Judgment herein both as to the Work and as to the Benefit To whom the Arch-bishop gave this Answer That the Commodity that might arise by printing of the Book was meet to come to them who had already taken the Pains in translating the same Enforming the Secretary who they were namely those formerly and now of late employed by Sir Hugh Paulet and the Lord-Chancellor But I find this Book was not presently finished being not printed till the Year 1553 for the Use of Iersey and Guernsey
Council wrote a Letter to the great Men in those Parts viz. the Lord Russel Lord Windsor to the Justices of the Peace and the rest of the Gentlemen within that County in favour of the said Knox the Preacher A Bishop Consecrated June 26. Iohn Taylor S. Th. P. Dean of Lincoln a Learned and Pious Man was Consecrated Bishop of Lincoln at Croyden-Chappel by the Arch-bishop assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Bishop of Rochester CHAP. XXXIV A Catechism The Arch-bishop opposeth the Exclusion of the Lady Mary WE are now come to the last Year of good K. Edward's Reign when the Arch-bishop was as commonly at the Council as he used to be before For the Counsellors made great use of him and did not use to conclude any thing in matters relating to the Church without him And if he came not they often sent for him and once the last Year in October when he had fixed his Day of going into Kent they staied him for some Days that they might confer with him about some certain Matter I suppose relating to the Articles of Religion that were then under their Hands To look no further than the latter end of the last Year He was at Council at Westminster in February and this Year in March and April And the Court being at Greenwich where the King lay sick and died the Arch-bishop was there at Council in Iune but not after the eighth Day The reason he came no more we may well conjecture to be because he did no ways like the Methods that were now taking by Northumberland to bring the Crown into his own Family and disenherit the King's Sisters For soon after viz. Iune 11. The Lord Chief Justice Mountagne and some other Judges with the King's Attorny and Solicitor were sent for to the Council to consult about drawing up the Instrument On one of these Council-Days he procured the King's Letters in behalf of the Book of Articles which he had taken such Pains about the two last Years both in composing and in bringing to effect The King had before given order to the Arch-bishop by his Letters to put forth these Articles And now they were put forth he procured the King's Letters also to his own Officers for to see the Clergy of his Diocess to subscribe thereunto So the King's Letters were directed to the Official of the Court of Canterbury and the Dean of the Deanery of the Arches and to their Surrogates Deputies c. Setting forth That whereas he had given order unto Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury in Letters sealed with his Signet for the Honour of God and to take away Dissension of Opinion and confirm Consent of true Religion that he should expound publish denounce and signify some Articles and other things breathing the right Faith of Christ for the Clergy and People within his Jurisdiction the King therefore enjoined them the Arch-bishop's Officers that they should cause all Rectors Vicars Priests Stipendiaries School-masters and all that had any Ecclesiastical Employment to appear in Person before the Arch-bishop in his Hall at Lambeth there further to obey and do on the King's part according as it shall be signified and to receive according to Reason and the Office owing to the King 's Royal Dignity And in obedience hereunto the Official Iohn Gibbon LL. D. Commissary of the Deanery of the Blessed Virgin of the Arches signified by an Instrument dated Iune 2 to the Arch-bishop that he had cited the Clergy I do not find the success of this only that the City-Clergy made their appearance before the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and that he did his endeavor by Perswasion and Argument to bring them to subscribe Which no question very few refused But this Matter afterwards served Q. Mary's Commissioners for one of their Interrogatories to be put to the Arch-bishop as though he had compelled many against their Wills to subscribe Which he denied saying He compelled none but exhorted such to subscribe as were willing first to do it before they did it In the Month of May the King by his Letters Patents commanded a Latin Catechism to be taught by School-masters to their Scholars It was intitled Catechismus brevis Christianae disciplinae summam continens The King in his Letters dated May 20. said It was made by a certain Pious and Learned Man and presented to him and that he committed the diligent examination of it to certain Bishops and other Learned Men whose Judgment was of great Authority with him The same Bishops and Learned Men I suppose that were framing and preparing the Articles of Religion the last Year The Author of this Catechism is not certainly known Some conjecture him to be Ponet the Bishop of Winchester The Learned Dr. Ward one of the English Divines sent to the Synod of Dort having this Catechism in his Library now in the possession of a Friend of mine wrote therein these words A ro N llo autore siquid ego divinare possum Meaning probably Alexander Nowel who was now if I mistake not School-master of Westminster and afterwards Dean of S. Pauls But whosoever was the Author the Arch-bishop we may conclude to be the furtherer and recommender of it unto the King it being that Prelate's great Design by Catechisms and Articles of Religion and plain Expositions of the Fundamentals to instil right Principles into the Minds of the Youth and common People for the more effectual rooting out Popery that had been so long entertained by the industrious nurselling up the Nation in Ignorance There was a Catechism that came forth about this time whether it were this or another I cannot say allowed by the Synod or Convocation In the beginning of Q. Mary the Popish Divines made a great stir about this Catechism and thought they had a great Advantage against it because it was put forth as from the Synod whereas that Synod knew nothing of it Whereupon Wes●on the Prolocutor in Q. Mary's first Convocation brought a Bill into the House declaring that Catechism being Pestiferous and full of Heresies to be foisted upon the last Synod fraudulently and therefore that the present Synod disowned it To which he set his own hand and propounded that all the House should do the like Which all but six consented to One whereof was Philpot Arch-deacon of Winchester who stood up and told them in justification of those that published the said Catechism that the Synod under K. Edward had granted to certain Persons to be appointed by the King to make Ecclesiastical Laws And whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set forth according to a Statute in that behalf provided might well be said to be done by the Synod of London although such as were of the House then had no notice thereof before the Promulgation And therefore in this Point he thought the setters forth of the Catechism had nothing slandered the House since they had that
Synodal Authority unto them committed And moreover he desired the Prolocutor would be a Means unto the Lords that some of those that were Learned and the publishers of this Book might be brought into the House to shew their Learning that moved them to set forth the same and that Dr. Ridley and Rogers and two or three more might be Licensed to be present at this Disputation and be associate with them But this would not be allowed The last thing we hear of concerning our Arch-bishop in this King's Reign was his denial to comply with the new Settlement of the Crown devised and carried on by the domineering Duke of Northumberland for the Succession of Iane Daughter to Gray Duke of Suffolk whom he had married to one of his Sons This he did both oppose and when he could not hinder refused to have any hand in it First he did his endeavour to stop this Act of the King He took the boldness to argue much with the King about it once when the Marquess of Northampton and the Lord Darcy Lord Chamberlain were present And moreover he signified his desire to speak with the King alone that so he might be more free and large with him But that would not be suffered But if it had he thought he should have brought off the King from his Purpose as he said afterward But for what he had said to the King the Duke of Northumberland soon after told him at the Council-Table That it became him not to speak to the King as he had done when he went about to disswade him from his Will To the Council the Arch-bishop urged the entailing of the Crown by K. Henry upon his two Daughters and used many grave and pithy Reasons to them for the Lady Mary's Legitimation when they argued against it But the Council replied That it was the Opinion of the Judges and the King 's Learned Counsel in the Law that that Entailing could not be prejudicial unto the King and that he being in possession of the Crown might dispose of it as he would This seemed strange unto the Arch-bishop Yet considering it was the Judgment of the Lawyers and he himself unlearned in the Law he thought it not seemly to oppose this Matter further But he refused to sign Till the King himself required him to set his Hand to his Will and saying That he hoped he alone would not stand out and be more repugnant to his Will than all the rest of the Council were Which words made a great Impression upon the Arch-bishop's tender Heart and grieved him very sore out of the dear Love he had to that King and so he subscribed And when he did it he did it unfeignedly All this he wrote unto Queen Mary To which I will add what I meet with in one of my Manuscripts When the Council and the chief Judges had set their Hands to the King's Will last of all they sent for the Arch-bishop who had all this while stood off requiring him also to subscribe the same Will as they had done Who answered That he might not without Perjury For so much as he was before sworn to my Lady Mary by King Henry's Will To whom the Council answered That they had Consciences as well as he and were also as well sworn to the King's Will as he was The Arch-bishop answered I am not judg over any Man's Conscience but mine own only For as I will not condemn their Fact no more will I stay my Fact upon your Conscience seeing that every Man shall answer to God for his own Deeds and not for other Mens And so he refused to subscribe till he had spoken with the King herein And being with the King he told the Abp that the Judges had informed him that he might lawfully bequeath his Crown to the Lady Iane and his Subjects receive her as Queen notwithstanding their former Oath to King Henry's Will Then the Arch-bishop desired the King that he might first speak with the Judges Which the King gently granted And he spake with so many of them as were at that time at the Court and with the King's Attorney also Who all agreed in one that he might lawfully subscribe to the King's Will by the Laws of the Realm Whereupon he returning to the King by his Commandment granted at last to set his Hand From the whole Relation of this Affair we may note as the Honesty so the Stoutness and Courage of the Arch-bishop in the management of himself in this Cause against Northumberland who hated him and had of a long time sought his Ruin and the Ingratitude of Q. Mary or at least the Implacableness of Cranmer's Enemies that the Queen soon yielded her Pardon to so many of the former King's Council that were so deep and so forward in this Business but would not grant it him who could not obtain it till after much and long suit And that it should be put into two Acts of her Parliament to make him infamous for a Traitor to Posterity that he and the Duke of Northumberland were the Devisers of this Succession to deprive Q. Mary of her Right Which was so palpably false and untrue on the Arch-bishop's part But this was no question Winchester's doing through whose Hands being now Lord Chancellor all these Acts of Parliament past and the wording of them Finally I have only one thing more to add concerning this matter Which is that besides the Instrument of Succession drawn up by the King's Council Learned in the Law signed by himself and 32 Counsellors and dated Iune 21 according to the History of the Reformation there was another Writing which was also signed by 24 of the Council And to this I find our Arch-bishop's Name Herein they promised by their Oaths and Honours being commanded so to do by the King to observe all and every Article contained in a Writing of the King 's own Hand touching the said Succession and after copied out and delivered to certain Judges and Learned Men to be written in Order This Writing thus signed with the other Writing of the King being his Devise for the Succession may be seen in the Appendix as I drew them out of an Original CHAP. XXXV The King dies THE good King made his most Christian departure Iuly the 6 th to the ineffable loss of Religion and the Kingdom being in a●● likelihood by his early Beginnings to prove an incomparable Prince to the English Nation It was more than whispered that he died by Poison And however secretly this was managed it was very remarkable that this Rumour ran not only after his Death but even a Month or two before it Reports spred that he was dead For which as being rash Speeches against the King they studiously took up many People and punished them Before his Father K. Henry had him his only Son lawfully begotten it was 28 Years from his first entrance upon his Kingdom And
this Heir made amends for the Nation 's so long expectation of a Prince His singular Excellency in all kind of Princely Towardliness to use the words of one who lived in those Times was such that no Place no Time no Cause no Book no Person either in publick Audience or else in private Company made any mention of him but thought himself even of very Conscience bound to powdre the same with manifold Praises of his incomparable Vertues and Gifts of Grace And again How happy are we English-Men of such a King in whose Childhood appeareth as perfect Grace Vertue godly Zeal desire of Literature Gravity Prudence Justice and Magnanimity as hath heretofore been found in Kings of most mature Age of full Discretion of antient Fame and of passing high Estimation And again That God hath of singular Favour and Mercy towards this Realm of England sent your Grace to reign over us the thing it self by the whole Process doth declare The Arch-bishop his Godfather took exceeding complacency in a Prince of such Hopes and would often congratulate Sir Iohn Cheke his School-master having such a Scholar even with Tears His Instructors would sometimes give Account to the Arch-bishop of his Proficiency in his Studies a thing that they knew would be acceptable to him Thus did Dr. Cox his Tutor in a Letter acquaint the ABp of the Prince's Towardliness Godliness Gentleness and all honest Qualities and that both the Arch-bishop and all the Realm ought to take him for a singular Gift sent of God That he read Cato Vives his Satellitium Esop's Fables and made Latin besides things of the Bible and that he conned pleasantly and perfectly The Arch-bishop out of his dear Love to him and to encourage him would sometimes himself write in Latin to him And one of his Letters to him is yet extant in Fox His great Parts might be seen by his Letters Journals Memorials Discourses and Writings which were many divers lost but of those that are yet extant these are the most A Letter to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his God-father from Ampthil in Latin being then but about seven Years old Another in Latin to the Arch-bishop from Hartford which was an Answer to one from the Arch-bishop A Letter in French to his Sister the Lady Elizabeth writ Decemb. 18 1546. A Letter to his Unkle the Duke of Somerset after his Success against the Scots 1547. To Q. Katharine Par after her Marriage with the Lord Admiral his Unkle Another Letter to her A Letter to the Earl of Hartford his Cousin in Latin A Letter to Barnaby Fitz-Patrick concerning the Duke of Somerset's Arraignment Another to B. Fitz-Patrick consisting of Instructions to him when he went into France Another to Fitz-Patrick giving him an Account of his Progress in August 1552. Orders concerning the Habits and Apparel of his Subjects according to their Degrees and Qualities Mention is also made in the History of the Reformation of Letters in Latin to K. Henry his Father at eight Years old and to Queen Katharine Par. His Journal writ all with his own Hand from the beginning of his Reign 1547 until the 28 th of Novemb. 1552. A Collection of Passages of Scripture against Idolatry in French Dedicated to the Protector A Discourse about the Reformation of many Abuses both Ecclesiastical and Temporal A Reformation of the Order of the Garter Translated out of English into Latin by K. Edward These four last are published in the History of the Reformation Volume II. among the Collections A Book written in French by him at twelve Years of Age against the Pope intitled A L'encontre les abus du Monde A Memorial February 1551. Another Memorial dated Octob. 13. 1552. Another Memorial His Prayer a little before his Death I shall reherse none of these Writings but only one of the Memorials because it bordereth so near upon our present History and shews so much this Young Prince's Care of Religion and for the good Estate of the Church animated admonished counselled and directed in these Matters by the Arch-bishop For Religion Octob. 13. 1552. I. A Catechism to be set forth for to be taught in all Grammar-Schools II. An Uniformity of Doctrine to which all Preachers should set their Hands III. Commissions to be granted to those Bishops that be Grave Learned Wise Sober and of good Religion for the executing of Discipline IV. To find fault with the slightfulness of the Pastors and to deliver them Articles of Visitation willing and commanding them to be more diligent in their Office and to keep more Preachers V. The abrogating of the old Canon-Law and establishment of a New VI. The dividing of the Bishoprick of Durham into two and placing of Men in them VII The placing of Harley into the Bishoprick of Hereford VIII The making of more Homilies IX The making of more Injunctions X. The placing of one in a Bishoprick in Ireland which Turner of Canterbury hath refused Some of these things were already done and some in Hand Hereby we may see what further Steps in the Reformation would have been made had the good King lived So that in this King's Reign Religion made a good Progress and Superstition and Idolatry was in a good manner purged out of the Church Which was the more to be wondred at considering the Minority of the King the grievous Factions at Court and the too common Practice then of scoffing and buffooning Religion and the more conscientious Professors of it For of this sort of Men Russians and dissolute Livers there were many followed the Court and were Favorites to the Leading-Men there I mean the two Dukes and proved after base Time-servers and Flatterers in the Reign of Queen Mary During this Reign Arch-bishop Cranmer was a very active Man and great Deference seemed to be given to his Judgment by the King and Council in the Matters that were then transacting especially as concerning the Reformation of Religion For I find him very frequently at the Council-Board and often sent for thither or sent unto when absent And here I will not think much to set down all the particular Days when and Places where he was present in Person with the Privy-Counsellors from the Year 1550 beginning unto the middle of the Year 1553 near the the Time of the King's Death as it was extracted carefully out of a Council-Book that commenceth at the above-said Year Anno 1550 April 19. He was present at the Council then at Greenwich This Month one Putto who had been put to silence for his lend Preaching that is against the Steps made in the Reformation and did now nevertheless of his own Head preach as lendly as he had done before was referred to the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely to be corrected April 28. The Arch-bishop present at Council May 2 4 7 11 On
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
I have presumed to marry one Amy German Widow and under pretence of that Matrimony contrary to the Canons and Custom of the Universal Church have kept her as my Wife and lived contrary to the Canons and Ordinances of the Church and to the evil Example of good Christen People Whereby now being ashamed of my former wicked living here I ask Almighty God Mercy and Forgiveness and the whole Church and am sorry and penitent even from the bottom of my Heart therefore And in token hereof I am here as you see to declare and shew unto you this my Repentance that before God on the latter Day you may testify with me of the same And I most heartily and humbly pray and desire you all whom by this evil Example doing I have greatly offended that for your part you will forgive me and remember me in your Prayers that God may give me Grace that hereafter I may live a continent Life according to his Laws and the godly Ordinances of our Mother the holy Catholick Church through and by his Grace And do here before you all openly promise for to do during my Life The manner of the Restitution of these Priests thus performing their Penance may be seen in the Appendix And this is some Account of the Church of Canterbury's Doings in pursuance of the Queen's Instructions before-mentioned But Bishop Boner with his Zeal was before-hand with the Queen not staying for any Orders from Above in dealing with his Clergy but of his own Power in the latter end of February deprived all married Priests in his Diocess in London from their Livings And after this done commanded them all to bring their Wives within a fortnight that they might be divorced from them These were some of the Doings with the Married Priests in London And in the same manner did they proceed about this time in Canterbury with Edmund Cranmer the Arch-bishop's Brother Arch-deacon and Prebendary of that Church together with William Willoughby William Devenish and Robert Goldson Prebendaries and divers others For March 15. At the Chapter-house in Canterbury before Henry Harvey LL. D. Vicar-general Richard Bishop of Dover Subdean Richard Parkhurst and Iohn Mills Prebendaries of the said Church personally appeared the said Arch-deacon and Prebendaries Thomas Brook and Tho. Stevens Preachers and Sherland and Goodrick Petty Canons of the said Church Who all subscribed with their own Hands to a Confession of certain Articles exhibited against them touching their being Married And being asked what they could say why they should not be suspended and deprived for the said pretended Marriages They gave this Answer as it is set down in the Register of that Church Se nihil habere dicendum c. That they had nothing to say that might be profitable for them the Ecclesiastical Law and the Decrees of the Holy Fathers standing in their full Force But by the Law of God they thought they had lawfully married their Wives and being married might not forsake them with a safe Conscience Then Sentence of Suspension from Priestly Function Sequestration Deprivation and Prohibition to live with their Wives was pronounced It is registred that they acquiesced in these Sentences against them no one of them appealing but all remaining silent This is the Account of the good Arch-bishop's Brother his manner of Deprivation and his peaceable Behaviour under it Thus he was deprived of his Prebend and one Robert Collins was admitted into the same Of his Rectory of Ickham and Robert Marsh succeeded him there April 12. 1554. and of his Arch-deaconry and Nicolas Harpsfield was admitted thereunto Who at the same time entred into Obligation to pay out of the Profits of the said Arch-deaconry unto William Warham late Arch-deacon during his Life a yearly Pension of forty Pounds Sterling March 31. 1554. But some of the Church then appeared not being either fled or in Prison and those were pronounced Contumacious viz. Iohn Ioseph Peter Alexander and Bernard Ochin Prebendaries Lancelot Ridley Richard Turner Thomas Becon and Richard Besely Preachers These Doings in all Quarters of the Realm raised great Admiration among the People upon divers and sundry Considerations incident and depending upon such Proceedings Since these Marriages were no more than what were agreeable to the Laws of the Land So that these married Preachers in Marrying themselves were no Transgressors of the Law and yet underwent as great Punishments as though they were so in some high Degree And the Proceedings seemed contrary even to the Queen's Commission comprized in certain Articles before-mentioned to her Bishops Which was That they should proceed according to Learning and Discretion in these weighty Matters and that they should not put any other Canons and Constitutions of the Church in exercise than such as might stand with the Law of the Realm Yet they went in most Places both against Learning and Discretion and the Laws of the Land For the bringing this to pass they first possest the Queen with great Prejudices against these Marriages They cried in her Ears how uncomely these Copulations were how against God and his Honour how against the Churches Decrees and Discipline and how worthy to be dissolved again And when they had obtained their Ends with the Queen and gotten out her Letter and Instructions for that purpose and by Warrant thereof executed their Purposes then for the giving a better Countenance to a thing that looked so odious and had so much Severity in it to the ruining of so many thousand Families Books were thought fit to be published the purpose of which was to make Married Priests contemptible and to shew how unlawful and wicked Marriage was in Men of Holy Orders Dr. Thomas Martin's Book made the greatest Noise a Book writ with a Brow of Brass so did it abound with confident Untruths and Falshoods And to the further accumulation of the heavy State of the Ministers deprived were added in this Book most slanderous Accusations and untrue Matters surmised against them to the Queen and Realm The Author greatly pretended Antiquity and Authority all along for his Doctrine Whereas indeed it was nothing but counterfeited Imitation of Authority and belying Antiquity And in short to give you the sense of one who wrote against the Book and did sufficiently expose it It was meer Subtilty without Substance Wit without Wisdom Zeal without Knowledg and Heat without Charity To give but one Instance of the unfair and false dealing of the Author he saith in his Book That the Hereticks affirmed that all Priests and Bishops must of necessity Marry whether they have the Gift of sole Life or no and that they were so beastly and ignorant that they should teach that the Fellowship and Company of a Woman in a Spiritual Man is a means to perfect Religion and that single Life was an hindrance to the same and that they should despise all manner of Virginity and single Life in them
that had the Gift of God and that they pronounced it wicked and abominable and termed it a Doctrine of Devils and the Invention of Antichrist All which Bishop Ponet in the Name of all the Protestants in his Book did utterly deny that ever they said writ or thought so This Book was indeed made by the Bishop of Winchester when he was in the Tower and he borrowed much of it from Albertus Pighius and published about that time Martin being then a Student at the University of Bourges in France it once happened in some Conversation there that Edward the King of England was commended whether it were for his Vertue or Learning or Abilities beyond his Years whereat Martin began as it seemed to eclipse the King's Honour by mentioning the Imprisonment of Winchester saying That there was a Head-Papist Prisoner in England meaning him Upon which several asked him Whether it was not the same Winchester that had set out an Hodgpodg concerning Marriage of Priests He laughing answered It was even he But that no Man ought to marvel for that VVinchester was more meet for Warlike than for Ecclesiastical Disputations Which Passage I have from Bale who was acquainted at that University with Franciscus Baldwin the Learned Professor of Law there Out of this Book Martin framed that which went under his Name with Winchester's Privity And this was well enough known to Bale and others in those Times Ponet said that Martin was abused by others who set him a-work to bear the Name and to desire the Fame of so gay a Book rather than he was the Author of it indeed The said Ponet or Poinet late Bishop of Winchester but now an Exile very learnedly answered this Book in two several Treatises The first was intitled An Apology against Tho. Martin's Blasphemies In this Treatise upon occasion of the Papists prohibition of Marriage to Priests he proved that the said Papists were Hereticks and had taken part in the most principal Parts with all the Hereticks that had corrupted the true Church of Christ. The Second Treatise replenished with great Learning he lived not to finish though some doubt whether he were the Author of this Book but the Copy falling into the Hands of Matthew Parker Arch-bishop of Canterbury he published it in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign with very large and excellent Additions of his own Ponet had thorowly studied this Point and I believe was put upon the Study of it by Arch-bishop Cranmer whose Chaplain he was For before this he put forth two Books upon this Argument viz. Of the Marriage of Ministers And a Defence of that Marriage The last thing I have to say concerning these Orders taken with the Married Clergy is That there were two things thought very Hard which were put upon those that were willing to comply and put away their Wives The one was in relation to the publick Confessions they were to make Which were put into their Mouths by others and drawn up for them in that manner as made them tell horrible Lies They must speak their own Shame in Bills of their Penance lying against themselves most vilely and most shamefully disabling their Credit and Estimation for ever And to give an Instance One such Confession which was much cried out against was made by one Sir Iohn Busby of Windsor Iune 29. in the Year 1555. Which Ponet calleth a goodly Confession of his hearty and earnest Repentance Which saith he was so finely penned and so Catholickly tracted that I warrant you it was none of the smallest Fools that forged it The other thing was that after these poor Men had thus done their Penances and spoke their Confessions the Imposers of these Penalties upon them were not so good as they pretended they would be and as the Queen's Instructions required them to be towards them Not restoring them to their Ministration Some that had been two or three Years parted from their Wives could not be admitted again to Ministration yet they must do open Penance and go by the Cross without any Redemption or Entreaty that could be made CHAP. IX Evils in this Change A Parliament BY this time the face of the Church was perfectly changed and all the Reformation that was made for twenty Years before namely from Cranmer's first ascent to the Archiepiscopal Chair to this time was unravelled in less than a Year and abolished But the Favourers of the Gospel lamented it exceedingly And Bishop Ridley writ a Treatise wherein he shewed what a deplorable Change in Religion this was by setting down at large what Religion was in K. Edward's Days and what it was at that present laying the Cause of this sore Judgment upon the vile and naughty Lives of the People so unsuitable to the good Religion professed The Professors lamented two great Evils lighting upon the People upon this turn of Religion Not only that it brought the People into error and Superstition but involved them universally in the Crime of Perjury The blame of which they laid upon the Popish Clergy For they not only had connived at but allowed and encouraged the casting off the Pope's Supremacy and made both Priests and Laity swear to the King And now they set up the Pope's Authority again in England and required all to swear to that For they compelled not only such as were Priests to perjure themselves but all the Laity Nobility Gentry Magistrates Merchants and others for hardly any were exempted the Oath of Supremacy in the former Reigns For in every Law-day the Keepers of the same were sworn to call all the Young Men of their Hundred even as they came to Years of Discretion to swear never to receive the Bishop of Rome nor no other Foreign Potentate to be Head of the People of England but only the King and his Successors Which Oath if it were unlawful as the Clergy-Men now said then all the Realm had reason of high Displeasure against them that so led them and knew it Such gross Dissembling were the Bishops guilty of to the involving the People in Guilt And this dissembling Quality the Priests still retained in this Queen's Days For when any came to some of them shewing them that his Conscience was not satisfied in the present way of Religion the Priest would tell him that he said the Truth My Conscience would he say is as yours but we must bear for a time and that he himself looked for another Change When another of a contrary Opinion came to the Priests and talked about Religion they would say to him That they had been deceived and thanks be to God said they that ye kept your Conscience all this while And even so was mine but I durst not do any otherwise but trusted that this time would come as is now thanks be to God Nay and sometimes in the same Town they would minister the Service two ways to the People to please both In
them to do otherwise But determinately to say what was best he could not but trusted He whose Cause they had in hand would put them in Mind to do that which should be most for his Glory the Profit of his Flock and their own Salvation It came at length to that forwardness that VVeston and his Complices had taken out the Commission And it was easy to obtain such a Commission at such a Lord Chancellor's Hands And they were likely speedily to put it in execution Hoper who seemed to have the first notice of it sent the intelligence in a Letter to Farrar Taylor Bradford and Philpot Prisoners in the King 's Bench. He shewed them what his Advice was and desired them to consult among themselves what Course were best to be taken His own Thoughts were considering what foul Play the three Learned Men had at Oxford and which they were like to have themselves at this Disputation I. Because they did commonly make false Allegations of the Doctors and took Pieces and Scraps of them to prove their Tenets against the real Mind and Sense of those Authors they should therefore refuse wholly to dispute unless they might have Books present before them II. To have sworn Notaries to take things spoken indifferently which would be hard to have the Adversaries having the oversight of all things and so would make theirs better and the Protestants worse III. If they perceived when they were disputing that two or three or more spake together and used Taunts and Scoffs as they did at Oxon then to refuse to dispute any longer but to appeal to be heard before the Queen and the whole Council Whereby this Benefit would happen that they should be delivered from the Commissioners appointed to hear and judg them who meant nothing less than to hear the Cause indifferently being all Enemies already unto the Protestants and their Cause and at a point to give Sentence against them And then many at the Court might be strengthned who know the Truth already and others better informed who erred rather of Zeal than Malice and a third sort that be indurate might be answered fully to their shame He knew he said the Adversaries would deny their Appeal but yet he advised to challenge it and to take witness thereof of such as should be present and require for indifferency of Hearing and Judgment to be heard either before the Queen and Council or else before all the Parliament as it was used in K. Edward's Days So wise and wary now were they But I do not find that this Project of the Papists went further And let us return and visit these three faithful Prisoners of Iesus Christ. After their Disputation and Condemnation their Servants were discharged that so they might not have any Conference or Intelligence of any thing abroad But God provided for every one of them instead of their Servants faithful Fellows that would be content to hear and see and do for them whatsoever they could as Ridley wrote in a Letter to Bradford To these Fathers also came supplies of Meat Money and Shirts from London not only from such as were of their Acquaintance but from Strangers with whom they had no acquaintance doing it for God's Sake and his Gospel's The Bailiffs so watched them now that they would not suffer them to have any Conferences among themselves The Scholars of that University seemed universally against them Which Ridley in a Letter to his Friend Bradford could not but take notice of calling it A wonderful thing that among so many never yet Scholar offered any of them so far as he knew any manner of Favour either for or in Christ's Cause They had all things common among them as Meat Money and whatever one had that might do another good Neither of them now in Prison were idle Old Latimer read the New Testament through seven Times deliberately while he was a Prisoner Cranmer busied himself earnestly in vindication of his Writings of the Sacrament against Winchester under the Name of Marcus Constantius And so did Ridley who in two Treatises which he now made shewed how Winchester varied from other Papists in eighteen Articles and from himself in eighteen more And a third Paper he wrote shewing several things Winchester yielded unto concerning the spiritual Use of the Sacrament Fox hath set down these in his History and preserved them to us these Collections of Ridley falling into his Hands Ridley also wrote while he was a Prisoner in Oxford De Abominationibus Sedis Romanae Pontificum Romanorum and Annotations more large upon Tonstal's first Book of Transubstantiation I suppose and more sparingly upon the Second He was now also diligent to set others on work for the exposing false Religion Desiring one Grimbold to translate Laurentius Valla his Book which he made and wrote against the Fable of Constantine's Donation and glorious Exaltation of the See of Rome And having done that he would have had him to translate a Work of Aeneas Sylvius De Gestis Basiliensis Concilii In which altho said he there be many things that savour of the Pan yet I dare say the Papists would glory but a little to see such Books go forth in English He directed Austin Bernher Latimer's Servant to recommend those Works unto Grimbold who had been his Chaplain and a Man as Ridley gave him the Character of much Eloquence both in English and Latin but he complied and subscribed And he also bad Austin tell Grimbold That if he would know where to have these Books he might find them in a Work set forth by Ortwinus Gratius intitled Fasciculus rerum expetendarum And added That if such things had been set forth in our English Tongue heretofore he supposed great Good might have come to Christ's Church thereby But we have not yet mentioned all the Pieces that Ridley wrote in Prison For besides those above-mentioned were these following I. A little Treatise which was jointly composed by him and Latimer in the Tower which is preserved in Fox with the Letters N. R. before Ridley's Sayings and H. L. before Latimer's II. A Draught which he drew out of the Evangelists and S. Paul shewing thence that the words of the Lord's Supper are figuratively to be understood alledging out of the Doctors three of the Greek Church Origen Chrysostom and Theodoret and three of the Latin Tertullian Augustin and Gelasius III. Three Positions to the third Question propounded in Oxford concerning the Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Mass. IV. His Disputation in the Schools as he wrote it after it was over V. A Letter Ad Fratres in diversis Carceribus All these fell into the Hands of the Papists by this Mishap or Treachery Grimbold expressing a great desire to have every thing that Ridley had writ during his Imprisonment Mr. Shipside Ridley's Brother-in-Law procured and sent him all those Writings before mentioned but they were all seized whether in Grimbold's Possession or
certain of these Men who were said to hold the Error of the Pelagians and Papists concerning Man's Free-will and were then Prisoners with him in the King's-Bench By which Letter it appeared that Bradford had often resorted to them and conferred with them and at his own Charge and Hindrance had done them good But seeing their Obstinacy and Clamours against him he forbore to come at them any more but yet wrote Letters to them and sent them Relief They told him He was a great Slander to the Word of God in respect of his Doctrine in that he believed and affirmed the Salvation of God's Children to be so certain that they should assuredly enjoy the same For they said it hanged partly upon our Perseverance to the end Bradford said it hung upon God's Grace in Christ and not upon our Perseverance in any Point For then were Grace no Grace They charged him that he was not so kind to them as he ought in the Distribution of the Charity-Money that was then sent by well-disposed Persons to the Prisoners in Christ of which Bradford was the Purse-bearer But he assured them he never defrauded them of the Value of a Penny and at that time sent them at once thirteen Shillings and four Pence and if they needed as much more he promised that they should have it But abating these little casual Heats and Peevishnesses there was a good Christian Correspondence maintained among them The fore-mentioned Holy Man advised them That though in some things they agreed not yet let Love bear the Bell away and let us pray said he one for another and be careful one for another He said That he was persuaded of them that they feared the Lord and therefore he loved them I have loved you in him my dear Hearts though you have taken it otherwise without Cause on me given He added That he had not suffered any Copy of his Treatise of Predestination to go abroad because he would suppress all Occasion so far as might be I am going said he before you to my God and your God to my Father and your Father to my Christ and your Christ to my Home and your Home By Bradford's Pains and Diligence he gained some from their Errors and particularly one Skelthorp for whom in a Letter to Careless he thanked God who gave this Man to see the Truth at the length and to give place to it hoping that he would be so heedy in all his Conversation that his old Acquaintance might thereby think themselves gone astray Careless also another eminent Martyr as well as Bradford had much conference with these Men Prisoners with him in the King's-Bench Of whose Contentiousness he complained in a Letter to Philpot. And there is extant an Answer of Philpot to Careless about them Where he writes That he was sorry to hear of the great Trouble which these Schismaticks did daily put him to and wished that he were with him in part to release his Grief He bad him take his Advice and to be patient whatsoever his Adversaries could say or do against him That he should commit the Success of his Labours in rightly informing these Men unto God and not to cease with Charity to do his endeavour in the defence of the Truth against these arrogant and self-willed blinded Scatterers That these Sects were necessary for the trial of our Faith and for the beautifying thereof Not to be perverted with them that were perverse and intractable That he should shew as much Modesty and Humility as he might possible and that then others seeing his modest Conversations among these contentious Bablers should glorify God in the Truth of him and the more abhor them That he should be content that Shimei do rail at David and cast Stones a while That he should desire all the Brethren in the Bowels of Jesus Christ to keep the Bond of Peace which is the Unity of Christ's Church To let no Root of Bitterness spring up which the Devil with all his Diligence seeketh to thrust in among the Children of God To kiss one another with the Kiss of unfeigned Brotherly Love and to take one another by the Hand cheerfully and say Let us take up our Cross together and go to the Mount of Calvary This Contention could not be laid asleep amongst them notwithstanding the grievous Tribulations they endured for the same Cause of Religion They wrote also against one another For in 1556 Careless wrote a Confession of his Faith some Part whereof savour'd absolute Predestination against Free-will This Confession he sent unto the Protestant Prisoners in Newgate from the King's-Bench where he lay Whereunto they generally subscribed and particularly twelve that were a little before condemned to die Hart having gotten a Copy of this Confession on the back-side thereof wrote his Confession in opposition thereunto When they in Newgate had subscribed Careless's Confession this Hart propounded his unto them and he with one Kemp and Gybson would have persuaded them from the former to the latter but prevailed not One Chamberlain also wrote against it I do not meet with this Confession only I find one Article was That the Second Book of Common-Prayer set forth in K. Edward's Days was Good and Godly But that the Church of Christ hath Authority to enlarge and diminish things in the same Book so far forth as it is agreeable to Scripture This Paper of Careless's Confession with the Answer wrote on the backside by Hart fell by some accident into the hands of Dr. Martin a great Papist who took occasion hence to scoff at the Professors of the Gospel because of these Divisions and various Opinions amongst them But Careless before the said Martin disowned Hart and ●aid that he had seduced and beguiled many a simple Soul with his foul Pelagian Opinions both in the Days of K. Edward and since his Departure Besides these Anti-predestinarians there were some few who laid in Prison for the Gospel were Arians and disbelieved the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Two of these lay in the King's-Bench These different Opinions occasioned such unseemly quarrelsom Disputes and Heats among them that the Marshal was ●ain to separate them from one another And in 1556 the Noise of this reached to the Council who the better to know the Matters controverted between them sent Dr. Martin to the King's-Bench to examine it These were some of the Transactions that past among the Prisoners Another Matter concerning them deserves relating which was this They boldly and bravely made a Declaration to the Queen and Parliament that sat this Year taxing them for overthrowing as they had lately done the Laws of K. Henry and K. Edward and the Reformation so maturely and deliberately made and after the Rejection of a Religion which as they said there was not a Parish in England desired to have restored again They offered likewise to maintain the Homilies and Service set forth in K. Edward's Days before
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 ●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
order thereunto What they performed may be perceived by the Bible that goes under the Name of the Geneva Bible at this Day It was in those Days when it first came forth better esteemed of than of later Times At Frankford where they had great Countenance of the Magistrates of the City arose great Contentions and Quarrels among themselves about the Discipline of the Church and in framing a New Service different from what was before set forth in K. Edward's Reign to be used in the publick Congregation which new Service came nearer to the Form of the Church of Geneva This occasioned great Troubles Animosities and Separations to the discredit of themselves and the Reformation These Matters may be seen at large in the Troubles at Frankford There is one thing which that Book making I think no mention of I will here relate Some of the English upon this Dissension carried their Children to be baptized by Lutheran Priests for tho the Lutherans were against the poor Exiles they thought so well of them as to be willing their Children should be initiated into the Church by their Ministry The Occasion whereof seemed to be that in the Divisions of this Church one Party would not let their Children be baptized by the English Minister This causing a new Disturbance some wrote to the great Divine P. Martyr now at Argentine for his Resolution of this Question An liceat hominibus Evangelicis Baptismum a Lutheranis accipere To this he answered in a Letter to the Church disapproving of their doings Telling them That the way to heal their Differences was to bring their Children to be baptized in such Churches with which they agreed in Faith and Doctrine So that this created a new Quarrel among them for some held it unlawful to receive Baptism from those that were not Orthodox in their Doctrine and others again thought it lawful And this made them send to Martyr for his Judgment as aforesaid Who wrote That he would not say it was unlawful for that it could not be judged by the Word of God but he disliked the Practice and propounded divers Arguments against it Those that were for it said It was an indifferent thing To which Martyr made this reply That indifferent things were not to be used to the Scandal of the Weak They said The Difference was not so great between us in the matter of the Sacrament But Martyr said It was of great Moment because in it there was a Contest concerning the chief Head of Religion They added that the Lutheran Divines did think in the Matter of Baptism as they did But Martyr answered That they were mistaken for those Divines affirmed more of the Sacrament than is fit and tied the Grace of God to Baptism and that they thought there was no Salvation without Baptism and that they affirmed that Infants had Faith To the Exiles residing here at Frankford some in the Year 1555 conveyed Gardiner's Book against Cranmer intitled Marcus Antonius with Ridley's Answer to the Objections of that Book and a Treatise in English of Transubstantiation wrote by the same Ridley This last they intended to turn into Latine and so to print both But on second Thoughts they demurred upon it fearing it might enrage Gardiner the more against Ridley who was yet alive Whereupon Grindal wrote to him to know his Mind therein before they proceeded to Print Many of the Fugitives took up their Residence at Basil upon two Reasons one was because the People of that City were especially very kind and courteous unto such English as came thither for Shelter the other because those that were of slenderer Fortunes might have Imployment in the Printing-houses there the Printers in Basil in this Age having the Reputation of exceeding all others of that Art throughout Germany for the Exactness and Elegancy of their Printing And they rather chose English Men for the Overseers and Correctors of their Presses being noted for the most careful and diligent of all others Whereby many poor Scholars made a shift to subsist in these hard Times Indeed many of these Exiles assisted in promoting of Learning and Religion by publishing to the World their own or other Mens Writings Iohn Scory that had been Bishop of Chichester wrote a very comfortable Epistle unto all the Faithful that were in Prison or in any other Trouble for the Defence of God's Truth Printed in the Year 1555. He was Preacher to the English Congregation at Embden and stiled their Superintendent From hence this and many other good Books were sent into England by certain Persons to be dispersed about in London and other Places There was one Elizabeth Young that came thence with a Book called Antichrist and several others Who was taken up for bringing in Prohibited and Heretical Books and endured much Trouble There was also another named Thomas Bryce that brought Books from Wesel into Kent and London he was watched and dogged but escaped several Times Sir Iohn Baker a Kentish Man and a great Papist and a Courtier laid his Spies to attack him Iohn Old printed a Book at Waterford 1555 intitled The Acquittal or Purgation of the most Catholick Christen Prince Edward VI. against all such as blasphemously and traiterously infamed him or the Church in his Reign of Heresy or Sedition The writing of this Book was occasioned from the Preachers of England in Q. Mary's Time in their Sermons at S. Paul's Cross and in other Pulpits spewing out as the Book expresseth it with Scolding Roaring and Railing the Poison of Antichrist's Traditions and infaming the Order Form and Vse of Preaching Prayers and Administration of the Holy Sacraments set forth and exercised by common Authority in the Church of England reformed under the Government of Edward VI. and vilely slandering of his Father K. Henry VIII for banishing the violent usurped Power and Supremacy of the Romish antient Antichrist for his Brother 's known Wife and for taking justly upon him the Title and Estate of Supremacy incident and appertaining by the undoubted Ordinance of God to his Regal Office and Imperial Crown Thomas Sampson formerly Dean of Chichester wrote an Epistle to the Inhabitants of Alhallows-Breadstreet where in K. Edward's Time he had been Incumbent William Turner Doctor of Physick and that had been Physician in the Duke of Somerset's Family and after Dean of Wells another Exile put forth a Book Anno 1555. called A new Book of Spiritual Physick for divers Diseases of the Nobility and Gentlemen of England Dedicating it to divers of the chief Nobility It consisted of three Parts In the first he shewed who were Noble and Gentlemen and how many Works and Properties belong unto such and wherein their Office chiefly standeth In the second Part he shewed great Diseases were in the Nobility and Gentry which letted them from doing their Office In the third Part he specified what the Diseases were as namely the whole Palsy the Dropsy
the Romish Pox and the Leprosy shewing afterward the Remedies against these Diseases For being a very facetious Man he delivered his Reproofs and Counsels under witty and pleasant Discourse He wrote also The hunting of the Romish Fox Iohn Iuel afterwards Bishop of Salisbury assisted Peter Martyr at Strasburgh in setting out his Commentaries upon the Book of Iudges Who being publick Reader of Divinity there had first read those Commentaries and had many Learned English-Men for his Auditors as Poynet Grindal Sands Sir Iohn Cheke Sir Anthony Cook and divers other Knights and Gentlemen as well as Divines And when he was removed to Zurick to succeed Pelican he took Iuel with him thither In Frankford there happening as was said before unhappy Contentions about Ceremonies and Matters of Discipline and it was feared that these Dissensions might spread themselves into the other Fraternities in Zurick and other places Iuel's great Business was to allay these Animosities partly by Letters and partly by his own verbal Exhortations That they should as Brethren lay aside Strife and Emulation especially for such small Matters That they would hereby offend the Minds of all good Men which things they ought to have a special heed of Some who seemed more complaining and uneasy at these things he exhorted to Patience admonishing That we ought not to leap from the Smoke into the Fire and that we ought to bear a part in Christ's Cross and to consider how much better it was with them than with their poor Brethren that endured Tortures in England And he would often repeat to them Bear a while then things will not endure an Age. Thomas Becon formerly a Minister in Canterbury and well known to the Arch-bishop wrote an Epistle in his Exile and sent it to certain Godly Brethren in England Declaring in it the Causes of all the Miseries and Calamities that were fallen upon England How they might be redrest and what a merciful Lord our God is to all faithful penitent Sinners that unfeignedly turn to him This Epistle was brought into England and read of the Brethren in their Religious Meetings not without Fruit. In this Epistle he added a Supplication to God at good length for the restoring of his Holy Word to the Church of England Wherein the devout Christian complaineth his Grief and Sorrow to his Lord for taking away the Light of Christ's Gospel and humbly acknowledging his Fault and worthy Punishment most heartily wisheth the Subversion of Anti-christ's Kingdom and the Restitution of Christ's most Glorious Kingdom in this Realm He wrote also an Epistle to the Massing Priests wherein he shewed what a wicked Idol the Mass was and what a Difference there was between the Lord's-Supper and that and what Popes brought in every part of the Mass and put them together as it was then used Laurence Humfrey while he was in exile wrote a Book in Latin intituled Optimates being Instructions for Noble-men in three Books It was printed at Basil by Oporinus and dedicated to Q. Elizabeth soon after her entrance upon her Kingdom The Reason of this his Discourse was out of an universal Love to Mankind and desire to better the Condition of the World whose Welfare depended so much upon the Sobriety and Vertue of those of Noble Rank and Quality Since Nobility as he wrote widely spread it self through all the Regions and Coasts of Christendom and was preferred to Places of Trust and Honour in all Princes Courts and was the very Nerve and Strength of Commonwealths and since from it issued the greatest Helps or Hindrances to the Publick Safety Pure Religion the Lives and Maners of Men Therefore he thought the Gentry and Nobility being imbued with Right and Christian Opinions not formed to the corrupt Rules of Antiquity Kings would govern better the Ministers of Ecclesiastical Matters would more faithfully perform their Functions and the common Sort would more diligently discharge all necessary Offices and the whole Common-weal might seem more healthfully to breath to live and to recover and persist in a good Constitution Beside this excellent Book both for the Matter and Elegancy of the Latin Stile he printed two or three other things at Basil and he wrote while he was abroad a Commentary upon the Prophet Isaiah But I know not whether it were published Bartholomew Traheron Library-Keeper to K. Edward and Dean of Chichester made divers Readings to the English Congregation upon the beginning of St. Iohn's Gospel and after printed them against the wicked Enterprizes of the new start-up Arians in England Iohn Fox famous to Posterity for his immense Labours in his Acts and Monuments was received by the Accurate and Learned Printer Oporinus of Basil for the Corrector of his Press He published and which I think was the first thing he published and his first-fruits a Chronological History of the Church The first Part from the first Times unto Martin Luther This Book he presented unto Oporinus with an handsom Epistle Wherein he desired to be received by him into his Service and that he would vouchsafe to be his Learned Patron under whom he might follow his Studies being one that would be content with a small Salary Promising him that if he would employ him either there at Basil or at Argentine or some University which he should rather chuse Aut me said he destituent omnia aut efficiam Christo opitulante ut omnes politioris literaturae homines intelligant quantum Operiano nomini officinae debeant While he was here employed by Oporinus at spare Hours he began his History of the Acts of the Church in Latin Which he drew out more briefly at first and before his return home into England well near finished Having here compleated the Copy which was but the first Part of what he intended but making a just Volume in Folio he sent this Work to Basil to be printed And so it was in the Year 155 It remained many Years after in those Parts in great Request and was read by Foreign Nations although hardly known at all by our own Being now in Peace and Safety at Home Fox reviewed this his Work and in the Year 1566 first published it in English very Voluminous because of those many Relations of the Persecutions in Q. Mary's Days that came to his Hands All this Work he did himself without the help of any Amanuensis nor had he any Servant to do his necessary Domestick Business being fain to be often diverted by his own private Occasions from his Work He afterwards enlarged these his Labours into three large Volumes which have since undergone many Editions But to look back to what he published in his Exile There came to his Hand all the Trials and Examinations of the Learned Martyr Ioh. Philpot Arch-deacon of Winchester drawn up by himself and finally his Death being burnt in Smithfield 1555. These things Fox put into Latin as he had an excellent Latin Stile
Petition that some of those that were abroad had sent over to the Queen this Year to disswade her from these Persecutions that were now so rigorously set on foot in England they interceded for Cranmer putting her in mind how he had once preserved her in her Father's Time by his earnest Intercessions with him for her So that they said she had more reason to believe he loved her and would speak the Truth to her than she had of all the rest of the Clergy But alas this did little good In October Ridley and Latimer were brought forth to their Burning and passing by Cranmer's Prison Ridley looked up to have seen him and to have taken his Farewel of him but he was not then at the Window being engaged in Dispute with a Spanish Friar But he looked after them and devoutly falling upon his Knees prayed to God to strengthen their Faith and Patience in that their last but painful Passage HUGH LATIMER Bishop of WORCESTER Martyr'd 16 Octob. 1555 The Writer of all this said He knew certain Men which through the perswasion of their Friends went unto his Sermons swelling blown full and puft up like Esop's Frogs with Envy and Malice against him but when they returned his Sermon being done and demanded how they liked him and his Doctrine they answered with the Bishops and Pharisees Servants There was never Man spake like unto this Man He would also speak freely against buying and selling of Benefices against promoting such to the Livings of Spiritual Ministers which were unlearned and ignorant in the Law of God against Popish Pardons against the reposing our Hope in our own Works or in other Mens Merits He was also a charitable Man when he was at Cambridg according to his Ability to poor Scholars and other needy People So conformable was his Life to his Doctrine Insomuch that there was a common Saying in that University When Mr. Stafford read and Latimer preached then was Cambridg blessed But to return to our ABp in his Prison Where he divided his melancholy Time partly in Disputings and Discourses with Learned Men of the contrary Perswasion who laboured to bring him over thinking thereby to obtain a great Glory to their Church and partly in preparing an Answer to Bishop Gardiner under the name of Marcus Antonius in vindication of his own Book concerning the Sacrament And he finished three Parts in Prison Two whereof were lost in Oxford and one came into the Hands of Iohn Fox as he tells us himself which he said was ready to be seen and set forth as the Lord should see good Bishop Ridley also in his Confinement wrote Marginal Annotations on the side of Gardiner's said Book with the Lead of a Window for want of Pen and Ink. Great pity it is that these last Studies of the Arch-bishop are lost For even that part which was once in Fox's Custody is gone with his Fellows for ought that I can find among his Papers It was some time before this that there was a Report spred that the Queen was Dead The Rumor presently extended it self over the Seas Which occasioned the Death of one pious Professor of the Gospel namely Bartlet Green a Lawyer For Christopher Goodman having writ to him his former Acquaintance in Oxford to certify him of the Truth thereof he in a Letter in answer wrote thus The Queen is not yet Dead This and divers other Letters that were given to a Bearer to carry beyond Sea to the Exiles there were intercepted and being read at the Council some would have it to amount to Treason as though there had been a Plot carrying on against the Queen's Life But the Law not making those words Treason he after long lying in the Tower was sent by the Council to Bishop Boner Who upon examination found him too firm to be moved from the Doctrine of the Gospel and so condemned him to the Fire CHAP. XIX The last Proceedings with Cranmer AFter Ridley and Latimer were dispatched and had sealed their Doctrine with their Blood at Oxford the said Course was resolved to be taken with Cranmer late Arch-bishop but now the Arch-Heretick as he was esteemed by them They had been all three condemned and adjudged Hereticks by Dr. Weston in the University of Oxford after their Disputations But that Sentence was void in Law because the Authority of the Pope was not yet received Therefore they were tried and judged upon new Commissions The Commission for judging the two former was from Pole the Cardinal Lord Legate Wherein the Commissioners constituted were White Bishop of Lincoln Brooks Bishop of Glocester and Holiman Bishop of Bristow But there was a new Commission sent from Rome for the Conviction of Cranmer Brooks of Glocester was the Pope's Sub-delegate under Cardinal Puteo to whom the Pope had committed this Process and Martin and Story Doctors of the Civil Law were the Queen's Commissioners The former of which was now or soon after for his good Services made one of the Masters in Chancery and was much employed in these Trials of poor Men. Notwithstanding this Man complied in Q. Elizabeth's Reign and took his Oath against the Pope now a second Time In this Commission from the Pope he decreed in a formality of Words That the ABp should have Charity and Justice shewed to him and that he should have the Laws in most ample manner to answer in his behalf He decreed also That the said Arch-bishop should come before the Bishop of Glocester as high Commissioner from his Holiness for the examination of such Articles as should be produced against him and that Martin and Story should require in the King and Queen's Name the Examination of him In pursuance of this Command from the Pope and in Obedience to the King and Queen they came down to Oxon upon this Commission and Septemb. 12. which was seven days before the Condemnation of Latimer and Ridley sat in S. Mary's Church accompanied with many other Doctors and such-like and among the rest the Pope's Collector The Arch-bishop was brought forth out of Prison habited in a fair black Gown and his Hood of Doctor of Divinity on both Shoulders Then some Proctor said aloud Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury appear here and make answer to that which shall be laid to thy Charge for Blasphemy Incontinency and Heresy What due Honour the Arch-bishop gave unto the Queen's Commissioners as representing the Supream Authority of the Nation and how he gave none to Brooks the Pope's Representative keeping on his Cap and the Speeches that the said Brookes and the other two made unto him with the Arch-bishop's discreet and excellent Answers still interposing his Protestation against Brooks his Authority may be seen at large in Fox's Monuments Only it may not be amiss here briefly to mention for the better understanding of the Form of the Process that after the Archbishop was cited as before was said into the Court the Bishop of Glocester
but to take the King and his Successors for Supream Heads thereof And he was perjured again in taking his Bishoprick both of the Queen and the Pope making to each of them a solemn Oath Which Oaths be so contrary that the one must needs be Perjury And further in swearing to the Pope to maintain his Laws Decrees Constitutions and Ordinances he declared himself an Enemy to the Imperial Crown and to the Laws of the Realm Whereby he shewed himself not worthy to sit as a Judg in this Realm This was the Sum of this excellent Letter of the Arch-bishop to the Queen He wrote another to her soon after wherein he plainly told her That at her Coronation she took an Oath to the Pope to be obedient to him to defend his Person to maintain his Authority Honour Laws and Privileges And at the same time another Oath to the Kingdom to maintain the Laws Liberties and Customs of the same He prayed her to weigh both Oaths and see how they did agree and then to do as her Grace's Conscience should give her For he was sure he said she would not willingly offend He feared there were Contradictions in her Oaths and that those that should have informed her Majesty thoroughly did not their Duties herein He complained that he was now kept from Company of Learned Men from Books from Counsel and from Pen and Ink saving to write to her Majesty at that time and as to his appearance at Rome he said if she would give him leave he would appear there and he trusted God would put in his Mouth to defend his Truth there as well as here These Letters of his one of the Bailiffs of Oxon carried up to the Queen Something else he wrote to her enclosed and sealed which he required Martyn and Story to be delivered without delay and not to be opened until it were delivered unto her own Hands These and other of his smart and learned Letters no question made Impression upon the Queen or at least upon those that read them for they were delivered by the Queen to no less a Person than the Holy Father Cardinal Pole himself who was advised to frame an Answer to them So he wrote to the Arch-bishop in answer to one of them a long Letter dated from St. Iames's Novemb. 6. Wherein he pretended a great deal of Compassion to his Soul which he told him was ready to be lost as well as his Body And that the Condemnation that was lately past on him was so horrible to him to hear that he testified to him before God and upon the Salvation of his Soul that he would rather chuse to be the Means of bringing him to Repentance than to receive the greatest Benefit that could be given him under Heaven in this World Which the Cardinal might say to take off the Odium of the Suspicion as though he hastened Cranmer's Death that he might jump into his Place And so the Cardinal proceeded to attempt to convince him in the two great Points of his Letter viz. concerning the Authority of the Pope and concerning the Sacrament of the Altar Especially because Cranmer had said in his Letter That he would not be perverse to stand wilfully in his own Opinion if any could shew him by Reason that his Doctrines were Erroneous But I refer the Reader to the Appendix if he be minded to read the Cardinal's Letter which I met with among Fox's Manuscripts By comparing of this Letter of Pole's with that of Cranmer's any one may see a mighty difference Strength Evidence and Conviction in the Arch-bishop's who had Truth on his Side but a Flashiness and Debility in the Cardinal 's made up of poor Shifts and weak Arguings and impertinent Allegations of Scripture and personal Reflections to help out a bad Cause To mention some few of this sort He charged the Arch-bishop with Covetousness and Ambition in affecting the Archbishoprick And then by and by not well remembering what he had said before in his Heat against the good Arch-bishop he gives a contrary Reason thereof namely That he might be in a capacity to reform the Church according to his Mind And that it was for the sake of that that he took an Oath to the Pope at his Consecration though he were fain to make a Protestation against the said Oath He said in this Letter That the Arch-bishop's fall into Error was not as the fall of others usually were by Frailty or Curiosity but by deliberate Malice And that the Arch-bishop by his Protestation that he made before he took his Oath to the Pope brake his Oath and was forsworn before he did swear Which methinks is pretty strange And concerning this Protestation he said It was a privy Protestation and that he had privy Witnesses of it Whereas it was done in the most open and publick manner that could be two or three times over before Publick Notaries and by them entred on Record on purpose that all might take notice of it And whereas the Arch-bishop had said That it was much more probable that the Bread and Wine should be a Figure than the real Body and Blood The Cardinal said The more probable it was the more false because the great Sophister and Father of Lies deceived by probability of Reason The Consequence whereof one would think should be the more improbable any Opinion in Religion was the more true But he said the true Doctrine was taught another way He represented the Arch-bishop as challenging them of the other Side to bring any one single Doctor of the Church that ever spake in favour of Transubstantiation leaving out For a thousand Years next after Christ which the Arch-bishop expresly had said And in fine every where he triumphed over the Arch-bishop's wilful Blindness and Ignorance and told him in much Charity That he was under the Vengeance of God a Member of Satan and damned This and a great deal more may be seen in Pole's Letter To which I might have added another Letter of the said Cardinal to the same Arch-bishop concerning the Sacrament a little after the Disputation at Oxford but that it would be too prolix being a just Treatise against Cranmer's Book of that Argument This Treatise bears this Title REGINALDI POLI Cardinalis Legati Apostolici Epistola ad Thomam Cranmerum qui Archiepiscopalem sedem Cantuariensis Ecclesiae tenens novam de Sacramento Eucharistiae Doctrinam contra perpetuum Catholicae Ecclesiae consensum professus est ac tradidit Qua Epistola eum nec Magistrum tanti Mysterii neque Discipulum idoneum esse posse Simulque unde hic ejus Error manarit ostendit E● ad poenitentiam hortatur CHAP. XXI He Recants Repents and is burnt HAving brought the Arch-bishop unto his Degradation and Appeal wherein he shewed so much Christian Courage Wisdom and Fortitude I must now represent him making a great Trip and a sad Fall and mention one of the
that they be God's Ministers appointed by God to Rule and Govern you And therefore whoso resisteth them resisteth God's Ordinance The third Exhortation is That you Love all together like Brethren and Sistern For alas pity it is to see what Contention and Hatred one Christian-Man hath to another Not taking each other as Sisters and Brothers but rather as Strangers and mortal Enemies But I pray you learn and bear well away this one Lesson To do good to all Men as much as in you lieth and to hurt no Man no more than you would hurt your own natural and loving Brother or Sister For this you may be sure of that whosoever hateth any Person and goeth about maliciously to hinder or hurt him surely and without all doubt God is not with that Man although he think himself never so much in God's Favour The fourth Exhortation shall be to them that have great Substance and Riches of this World That they will well consider and weigh those Sayings of the Scripture One is of our Saviour Christ himself who saith It is hard for a Rich Man to enter into Heaven A sore saying and yet spoke by him that knew the Truth The second is of S. Iohn whose saying is this He that hath the Substance of this World and seeth his Brother in Necessity and shutteth up his Mercy from him how can he say he loveth God Much more might I speak of every part but Time sufficeth not I do but put you in remembrance of things Let all them that be Rich ponder well those Sentences For if ever they had any Occasion to shew their Charity they have now at this present the poor People being so many and Victuals so dear For though I have been long in Prison yet I have heard of the great Penury of the Poor Consider that that which is given to the Poor is given to God Whom we have not otherwise present corporally with us but in the Poor And now for so much as I am come to the last End of my Life whereupon hangeth all my Life passed and my Life to come either to live with my Saviour Christ in Heaven in Joy or else to be in Pain ever with wicked Devils in Hell and I see before mine Eyes presently either Heaven ready to receive me or Hell ready to swallow me up I shall therefore declare unto you my very Faith how I believe without Colour or Dissimulation For now is no time to dissemble whatsoever I have written in Times past First I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth c. and every Article of the Catholick Faith every Word and Sentence taught by our Saviour Christ his Apostles and Prophets in the Old and New Testament And now I come to the great Thing that troubleth my Conscience more than any other thing that ever I said or did in my Life and that is the setting abroad of Writings contrary to the Truth Which here now I renounce and refuse as things written with my Hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my Heart and writ for fear of Death and to save my Life if it might be and that is all such Bills which I have written or signed with mine own Hand since my Degradation wherein I have written many things untrue And forasmuch as my Hand offended in writing contrary to my Heart therefore my Hand shall first be punished For if I may come to the Fire it shall be first burned And as for the Pope I refuse him as Christ's Enemy and Antichrist with all his false Doctrine And here being admonished of his Recantation and Dissembling he said Alas my Lord I have been a Man that all my Life loved Plainness and never dissembled till now against the Truth which I am most sorry for He added hereunto That for the Sacrament he believed as he had taught in his Book against the Bishop of Winchester And here he was suffered to speak no more So that his Speech contained chiefly three points Love to God Love to the King and Love to the Neighbour In the which talk he held Men very suspense which all depended upon the Conclusion Where he so far deceived all Mens Expectations that at the hearing thereat they were much amazed and let him go on a while till my Lord Williams bad him play the Christen Man and remember himself To whom he answered That he so did For now he spake Truth Then he was carried away and a great number that did Run to see him go so wickedly to his Death ran after him exhorting him while Time was to remember himself And one Friar Iohn a godly and well-learned Man all the way travelled with him to reduce him But it would not be What they said in particular I cannot tell but the Effect appeared in the End For at the Stake he professed that he died in all such Opinions as he had taught and oft repented him of his Recantation Coming to the Stake with a chearful Countenance and willing Mind he put off his Garments with haste and stood upright in his Shirt And a Batcheler of Divinity named Elye of Brazen-nose-College laboured to convert him to his former Recantation with the two Spanish Friars But when the Friars saw his Constancy they said in Latin one to another Let us go from him We ought not to be nigh him For the Devil is with him But the Batcheler in Divinity was more earnest with him Unto whom he answered That as concerning his Recantation he repented it right sore because he knew it was against the Truth with other words more Whereupon the Lord Williams cryed Make short Make short Then the Bishop took certain of his Friends by the Hand But the Bachelor of Divinity refused to take him by the Hand and blamed all others that so did and said He was sorry that ever he came in his Company And yet again he required him to agree to his former Recantation And the Bishop answered shewing his Hand This is the Hand that wrote it and therefore shall it suffer first Punishment Fire being now put to him he stretched out his right Hand and thrust it into the Flame and held it there a good space before the Fire came to any other Part of his Body where his Hand was seen of every Man sensibly burning crying with a loud Voice This Hand hath offended As soon as the Fire got up he was very soon Dead never stirring or crying all the while His Patience in the Torment his Courage in dying if it had been taken either for the Glory of God the Wealth of his Country or the Testimony of Truth as it was for a pernicious Error and subversion of true Religion I could worthily have commended the Example and matched it with the Fame of any Father of antient Time but seeing that not the Death but the Cause and Quarrel thereof commendeth the Sufferer I cannot but much
as one of the truest Glories of that See Though these three Martyrs Cranmer Ridley and Latimer were parted asunder and placed in separate Lodgings that they might not confer together yet they were suffered sometimes to eat together in the Prison of Bocardo I have seen a Book of their Diet every Dinner and Supper and the Charge thereof Which was at the Expence of Winkle and Wells Bailiffs of the City at that time under whose Custody they were As for example in this Method The first of October Dinner Bread and Ale ii d. Item Oisters i d. Item Butter ii d. Item Eggs ii d. Item Lyng viii d. Item A piece of fresh Salmon x d. Wine iii d. Cheese and Pears ii d.   ii s. vi d. From this Book of their Expences give me leave to make these few Observations They ate constantly Suppers as well as Dinners Their Meals amounted to about three or four Shillings seldom exceeding four Their Bread and Ale commonly came to two pence or three pence They had constantly Cheese and Pears for their last Dish both at Dinner and Supper and always Wine the price whereof was ever three Pence and no more The Prizes of their Provisions it being now an extraordinary dear time were as follow A Goose 14 d. A Pig 12 or 13 d. A Cony 6 d. A Woodcock 3 d. and sometimes 5 d. A couple of Chickens 6 d. Three Plovers 10 d. Half a dozen Larks 3 d. A dozen of Larks and two Plovers 10 d. A Brest of Veal 11 d. A Shoulder of Mutton 10 d. Rost Beef 12 d. The last Disbursements which have Melancholy in the reading were these   s. d. For three Loads of Wood-Fagots to burn Ridley and Latimer 12 0 Item One Load of Furs-Fagots 3 4 For the carriage of these four Loads 2 0 Item A Post 1 4 Item Two Chains 3 4 Item Two Staples 0 6 Item Four Labourers 2 8 Then follow the Charges for burning Cranmer   s. d. For an 100 of Wood-Fagots 06 0 For an 100 and half of Furs-Fagots 03 4 For the carriage of them 0 8 To two Labourers 1 4 It seems the Superiors in those Days were more zealous to send these three good Men to Oxon and there to serve their Ends upon them and afterwards to burn them than they were careful honestly to pay the Charges thereof For Winkle and Wells notwithstanding all their Endeavours to get themselves reimbursed of what they had laid out which came to sixty three Pounds ten Shillings and two Pence could never get but twenty Pounds Which they received by the means of Sir William Petre Secretary of State In so much that in the Year 1566 they put up a Petition to Arch-bishop Parker and the other Bishops That they would among themselves raise and repay that Sum which the said Bailiffs were out of Purse in feeding of these three Reverend Fathers In which Petition they set forth That in the second and third Years of King Philip and Queen Mary Arch-bishop Cranmer Bishop Latimer and Bishop Ridley were by order of Council committed to the Custody of them and so continued a certain Time and for them they disbursed the Sum of 63 l. 10 s. 2 d. Whereof but 20 l. was paid to them Therefore they pray his Grace and the rest of the Bishops to be a means among themselves that the remaining Sum may be paid to them being 43 l. 10 s. 2 d. Or some part thereof Otherwise they and their poor Wives and Children should be utterly undone And to give the better countenance to these Men that were going to carry up their Petition Laurence Humfrey President of Magdalen College and the Queen's Professor wrote this Letter on their behalf to Arch-bishop Parker IEH MY humble Commendations presupposed in the Lord. To be a Suitor in another Man's Case it seemeth Boldness and in a Matter of Money to write to your Grace is more than Sauciness Yet Charity Operiens multitudinem peccatorum doth move me and will perswade you to hear him A Debt is due unto him for the Table of Mr. Dr. Cranmer by the Queen's Majesties Appointment And Mr. Secretary in Oxford wished him at that time of Business in Progress to make some Motion to the Bishops for some Relief The Case is miserable The Debt is just His Charges in the Suit have been great His Honesty I assure your Grace deserves pitiful Consideration And for that my Lord of Sarum writeth to me as here in Oxford he promised That his part shall not be behind what Order soever it please my Lords to take for the dispatch of the same I request your Grace as Successor to that right Reverend Father and chief Patron of such poor Suitors to make by your good Means some Collection for him among the rest of my Lords the Bishops that his good Will shewed to that worthy Martyr may of you be considered And so he bound to your Goodness of his part altogether undeserved Thus recommending the Common Cause of Reformation to you and my self and this poor Man to your good remembrance I leave to trouble you Requesting you once again to hear him and tender his Cause even of Charity for God his Sake To whose Protection I commend your Grace From Oxon November 22 Anno 1566. Your Grace's humble Orator Laur. Humfrey Though I cannot trace this any further yet I make no doubt this Petition was favourably received with the Arch-bishop and Bishops It seems in Cranmer's Life-time Money was sent to Oxford for the sustentation of these Prisoners of Christ but embezzelled For one W. Pantry of Oxford received forty Pounds at Mr. Stonelye's Hand for my Lord Cranmer and the other two in like Case This was declared by the Bailiffs to Thomas Doyley Esquire Steward to Arch-bishop Parker CHAP. XXII Cranmer's Books and Writings HAving brought our History of this singular and extraordinary Light of the Church to this Period we will before we take our leave of him gather up some few Fragments more thinking it pity that any thing should be lost that may either serve to communicate any Knowledg of him to Posterity or to clear and vindicate him from Aspersions or Misrepresentations vulgarly conceived of him And here will fall under our consideration first his Books and Writings after them his Acquaintance with Learned Men and his Favour to them and Learning then some Matters relating to his Family and Officers And lastly we shall conclude with some Observations upon him For the Pen of this great Divine was not idle being employed as earnestly as his Authority and Influence for the furtherance of Religion and rescue of this Church from Popish Superstition and Foreign Jurisdiction He laid a solid Foundation in Learning by his long and serious Studies in the University To which he was much addicted Insomuch that this was one of the Causes which made him so labour by the interest of his Friends with King Henry to
be excused from taking the Archbishoprick of Canterbury because this Promotion would so much interrupt his beloved Studies Desiring rather some smaller Living that he might more quietly follow his Book And as he had been an hard Student so he was a very great Writer both in respect of the number of Books and Treatises he compiled as of the Learning Judgment and Moment of them The first Treatise he wrote was that which was done at the Command of Henry VIII viz. Concerning the Unlawfulness of his Marriage with his Brother Arthur's Widow Which he made appear to be both against the Word of God and against the Judgment of the Antient Fathers of the Church and therefore a Case indispensable by the Pope And so well had he studied the Point and so well was assured of what he had wrote that he undertook before the King to maintain the Truth of it at Rome in the presence of the Pope himself The King accordingly dismissed him to the Pope in joint Embassy with the Earl of Wiltshire and some others for that purpose He presented his Book to the Pope offering to stand by it against any whomsoever that should attempt to gainsay it But the Pope thought not fit to suffer so tender a Point to be disputed wherein his Prerogative was so much touched When he had finished th●s Discourse it was sent to Cambridg and had the Approbation and Subscription of the eminentest Doctors there viz. S●lcot Repps C●me and divers others Among which I suppose were Heines Litiner Shaxton Skip Goodrick Hethe who were then Gremials After this Book ●e was much employed in writing more at various Times and ●pon various Occasions Fox mentioneth Cranmer's Book of the ●eformation which I suppose was that of the Publick Service the Catechism the Book of Homilies which was part by him contr●ed and part by his Procurement and by him approved and pubished Likewise the Confutation of eighty eight Articles devised and propounded by a Convocation in King Henry's Reign and labo●red to be received and enjoined though they were not But his Disco●rse wherein he stated the Doctrine of the Sacrament in five ●ooks must especially be remembred Which he wrote on purpose for the publick Instruction of the Church of England And it ●s the more to be valued as being writ by him in his mature Age after all his great Readings and Studies and most diligent and serio●s perusals of all the Ecclesiastical Writers whereby he became throughly acquainted with their Judgments and Opinions in that Doctrine And in it are contained his last and ripest Thoughts on ●hat Argument This Book displayeth the great Weakness of that ●istinguishing Doctrine of the Church of Rome that asserts Transubstantiation Besides these many other Writings and Discourses were made by him Which we are beholden to the Bishop of Sarum for retrieving the Memory of and preserving the Substance of divers of them in his excellent History viz. A Learned Speech made to the Lords concerning the Pope and a general Council Which that Right Reverend Author thinks was made about the Year 1534 which was soon after his being made Arch-bishop Some Queries in order to the correcting of several Abuses in Religion whereby the People had been deceived Some Queries concerning Confirmation With the Answers which were given to them by Arch-bishop Cranmer Some Considerations to induce the King to proceed to a further Reformation These three last were presented by the Arch-bishop to the King about the Year 1536 as the Bishop of Sarum supposeth And having seen the Originals thereof in the Cotton-Library hath transcribed them to us in the Addenda to the Collections His Resolution of seventeen Questions concerning the Sacraments Anno 1540. A Collection of Passages out of the Canon Law to shew the necessity of Reforming it Anno 1542. His Letters to Osiander and Letters of Osiander to him concerning the Proceedings of the German Divines Whose Violence the Arch-bishop disliked A Speech made in the Convocation Wherein he exhorted the Clergy to give themselves to the study of the Scriptures and to consider seriously what things in the Church nee●ed Reformation Anno 1547. His Answer to the Demands of the Rebels in the West drawn up by him by Order of the Council Anno 1549. His Declaration to vindicate himself from an Aspersion That he had caused Mass to be sung in Canterbury A●d offering therein a publick Dispute to maintain the Reformation Anno 1553. Besides two Volumes in Folio writ by Cranmer own Hand upon all the Heads of Religion Consisting of Allegtions of Texts of Scripture and of antient Fathers and later Doctos and School-men upon each Subject There were also six or seve● Volumes of his Writings which were in the Lord Burleigh's I●ssession as appeared by a Letter of the said Lord which the Bishop of Sarum saw But he thought these may now be lost Most of t●e forementioned Writings are preserved in the Cotton-Library or i● that of Corpus-Christi Cambridg or among the Manuscripts of the Right Reverend Bishop Stillingsleet To which we must add the mention of a bundle of Books lying in the Palace-Treasury in Westminster in defence of the King's Title of Supream Head and concerning the Divorce and seveal other Matters with a P●eface against Cardinal Pole Which a●e supposed to be written partly by Dr. Clark Bishop of Bath and Wels and partly by our Arch-bishop Several other Letters Speeches and Arguments of our Arch-bishop may be found in these Memorials which I omit here rehersing But I will add to these divers Pieces besides of this Prelat's writing as they are set down by Melchior Adam at the End of Cranmer's Life Who indeed did but transcribe them from Gesner and he from Iohn Bale's Centuries I. A Preface to the English Translation of the Bible This is transcribed in the Appendix II. A Catechism of Christian Doctrine printed by Gualter Lynn Anno 1548. This Catechism was first framed in Germany and by the Arch-bishop himself or his special Order turned into English And to fix an Authority to the same he caused it to be published in his own Name and owned it for his own Book This Dr. Rowland Taylor who lived in the Arch-bishop's Family declared before Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor at his Examination before him And in this sense we must understand the Author of the History of the Reformation when speaking of this Catechism he stiles it A Work that was wholly his own It was said before that Iustus Ionas he I suppose that dwelt with the Arch-bishop was the Translator of it into Latin It treated of the Sacrament after the Lutheran way Which Way the Arch-bishop embraced next after his rejection of the gross Papal Transubstantiation This Catechism was printed first by the Arch-bishop's Order about the Time of King Henry's Death or soon after In a second Edition t●e word
State And lastly that the Hospitals impoverish'd or wholly beggar'd might by his means be remedied and helped by the King's Council that they might revert to their former Condition that is to succour and help the Poor He urged moreover to Cecyl that the destruction of Schools would be the destruction of the Universities and that all Learning would soon cease and Popery and more than Gothic Barbarism would invade all if Learned Men were not better taken care of than they were and if the Rewards of Learning viz. Rectories Prebends and all were taken away from them This Man had also freely discoursed these Matters to two other great and publick-spirited Men viz. Goodrich the Lord Chancellor who was Bishop of Ely and Holgate Arch-bishop of York To both whom he had also given the Names of a great many Schools Parsonages and Hospitals that had undergon this sacrilegious Usage And he particularly mentioned to Cecyl a Town not far from Cambridg called Childerlay where a Gentleman had pulled down all the Houses in the Parish except his own And so there being none to frequent the Church the Inhabitants being gone he used the said Church partly for a Stable for his Horses and partly for a Barn for his Corn and Straw This Letter of Wilson to the Secretary together with his Arguments against pilling the Church subjoined I have thought worthy preserving in the Repository for such Monuments in the Appendix But to return from this Digression which Calvin's Censure of our Arch-bishop occasioned And when in the Year 1551 he dispatched into England one Nicolas that Nicolas Gallasius I suppose who was afterward by Calvin recommended to be Minister to the French Congregation in London at the desire of Grindal Bishop of London that he would send over some honest able Person for that Place with Letters to the Duke of Somerset and likewise to the King to whom he presented also at the same time his Book of Commentaries upon Esay and the Canonical Epistles which he had Dedicated to him both the King's Council and the King himself were much pleased and satisfied with this Message And the Arch-bishop told Nicolas That Calvin could do nothing more profitable to the Church than to write often to the King The substance of what he wrote to the King that was so well taken was to excite and sharpen the generous Parts of the Royal Youth as Calvin hinted in a Letter to Bullinger CHAP. XXVI The Arch-bishop highly valued Peter Martyr AS for the Learned Italian Peter Martyr who is worthy to be mentioned with Melancthon and Calvin there was not only an Acquaintance between him and our Arch-bishop but a great and cordial Intimacy and Friendship For of him he made particular use in the Steps he took in our Reformation And whensoever he might be spared from his Publick Readings in Oxford the Arch-bishop used to send for him to confer with him about the weightiest Matters This Calvin took notice of and signified to him by Letter how much he rejoiced that he made use of the Counsels of that excellent Man And when the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws was in effect wholly devolved upon Cranmer he appointed him and Gualter Haddon and Dr. Rowland Tayler his Chaplain and no more to manage that Business Which shews what an Opinion he had of Martyr's Abilities and how he served himself of him in Matters of the greatest Moment And in that bold and brave Challenge he made in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign to justify against any Man whatsoever every Part of King Edward's Reformation he nominated and made choice of Martyr therein to be one of his Assistants in that Disputation if any would undertake it with him This Divine when he was forced to leave Oxford upon the Change of Religion retreated first to the Arch-bishop at Lambeth and from thence when he had tarried as long as he durst he departed the Realm to Strasburgh This Man was he that saw and reported those voluminous Writings of this Arch-bishop which he had collected out of all the Antient Church-Writers upon all the Heads of Divinity and those Notes of his own Pen that he had inserted in the Margin of his Books Which the Arch-bishop communicated to him when he conversed with him at his House And from these and such-like of the Arch-bishop's Labours he acknowledged he had learned much especially in the Doctrine of the Sacrament as he writ in his Epistle before his Tract of the Encharist The Fame of Peter Martyr and the Desire of preserving all Remains of so Learned a Professor and great an Instrument of the Reformed Religion hath inclined me to put two of his Letters into the Appendix though otherwise not to our present Purpose being Originals writ by his own Hand from Oxon. The one to Iames Haddon a learned Court-Divine and Dean of Exon to procure a Licence from the King or the Council for a Friend and Auditor of his to preach publickly The other to Sir William Cecyl to forward the paiment of a Salary due to him that read the Divinity-Lecture in the Room of Dr. Weston a Papist who had claimed it himself and laboured to detain it from him I cannot forbear mentioning here an Instance of his Love and great Concern for our Arch-bishop his old Friend and Patron after the Iniquity of the Times had parted them the one then in Prison and the other at Strasburgh It was in Iune 1555 when Queen Mary supposing her self with Child was reported to have said in her Zeal That she could never be happily brought to Bed nor succeed well in any other of her Affairs unless she caused all the Hereticks she had in Prison to be burnt without sparing so much as One. Which Opinion very likely the Bishop of Winchester or some other of her Zelotical Chaplains put into her Head This Report coming to Martyr's Ears afflicted him greatly not only for the Destruction that was like suddenly to befal many Holy Professors but more especially for the imminent Hazard he apprehended that great and publick Person the Arch-bishop to be in Which made him express himself in this manner in a Letter to Peter Alexander to whom that most Reverend Father had also formerly been a kind Host and Patron That from those Words of the Queen he might discover that my Lord of Canterbury was then in great Danger CHAP. XXVII The Arch-bishop's Favour to John Sleidan TO all these Learned and religious Outlandish-Men to whom the Arch-bishop was either a Patron or a Friend or both we must not forget to join Iohn Sleidan the renowned Author of those exact Commentaries of the State of Religion and the Common-wealth in Germany in the time of Charles V. About the end of March Anno 1551 He procured for him from King Edward an Honorary Pension of two hundred Crowns a Year as some Aid for the carrying on his
which agrees within a Day a Passage at the end of a Piece of Bucer's intituled Explicatio de vi usu S. Ministerii where it is said That he died at Cambridg before he finish'd it Pridie Cal. Martias Anno 1551. I have one Learned Man more behind to mention and he our own Country-Man to whom our Arch-bishop was a Patron and that is the celebrated Antiquarian Iohn Leland Library-keeper to Henry VIII and who by a Commission under the Broad Seal granted to him for that purpose by the King had got together a vast Heap of Collections of the Historical Antiquities of this Nation which he was many Years a making by his Travels and diligent Searches into the Libraries of Abbies and Religious-Houses before and at their Dissolution and elsewhere From whence he intended to compile a compleat History of the Antiquities of Britain To which he wholly devoted himself But being at that time poor and the Charges of such an Undertaking great he wanted some Body to make this known to the King and to recommend him effectually to his Favour and Countenance and to procure him a Royal Gratuity For which purpose he made his Application to Cranmer who he well knew was the great Encourager of Learning and Ingenuity in a very elegant Address in Verse as he was an excellent Poet. And I am apt to think the Preferments that soon after befel him as a good Parsonage near Oxford and a Canonry of the King's College in that University and a Prebendship elsewhere accrued to him by the means of the Arch-bishop laying open his State before the King His Copy of Verses were as follow Ad Thomam Cranmerum Cantiorum Archiepiscopum EST congesta mihi domi supellex Ingens aurea nobilis venusta Qua totus studeo Britanniarum Vero reddere gloriam nitori Sed fortuna meis noverca coeptis Iam felicibus invidet maligna Quare ne pereant brevi vel hora Multarum mihi noctium labores Omnes patriae simul decora Ornamenta cadant suusque splendor Antiquis malè desit usque rebus Cranmere eximium decus piorum Implorare tuam benignitatem Cogor Fac igitur tuo sueto Pro candore meum decus patronumque Vt tantùm faveat roges labori Incoepto pretium sequetur amplum Sic nomen tibi litterae elegantes Rectè perpetuum dabunt suósque Partim vel titulos tibi receptos Concedet memori Britannus ore Sic te posteritas amabit omnis Et fama super aethera innotesces CHAP. XXVIII Arch-bishop Cranmer's Relations and Chaplains TO look now a little into the Arch-bishop's more private and domestick Concerns He had two Wives While he was Fellow of Iesus College in Cambridg not being in Orders he married his first named Ioan dwelling at the Dolphin opposite to Iesus Lane which I think is a publick House to this Day Which occasioned some of his Enemies afterwards to say That he was once an Ostler because he lodged sometime with his Wife at that House Her he buried within a Year dying in Child-bed And then for divers Years he continued studying hard and reading Learned Lectures in the University and bringing up Youth till he was called to the Court His second Wife named Ann he married in Germany while he was Ambassador there By her he had Children In King Henry's Reign he kept her Secret and upon the Act of the Six Articles he sent her away into Germany that he might give no Offence nor draw any Danger upon himself In the time of King Edward when the Marriage of the Clergy was allowed he brought her forth and lived openly with her He had Children that survived him For whose sake an Act of Parliament passed in the Year 1562 to restore them in Blood their Father having been condemned for Treason in consenting to the Lady Iane's Succession to the Crown For which yet he was pardoned by Queen Mary Probably the Pardon was only Verbal or not Authentickly enough drawn up or might admit of some Doubt To take off which such an Act was procured How many Children he had or what Issue remains of them to this Day I am not able after all my Enquiries to shew His Wife survived him For we may give so much Credit to a very angry Book writ against the Execution of Iustice in England by Cardinal Allen Which charging the Arch-bishop with Breach of Vows saith That at the very Day and Hour of his Death he was sacrilegiously joined in pretended Marriage to a Woman notwithstanding his Vow and Order And living she was toward the latter End of Arch-bishop Parker's Time and for her Subsistence enjoyed an Abby in Nottingham-shire which King Henry upon Dr. Butt's his Motion without the Arch-bishop's knowledg granted to him and his Heirs For his Wife and Children he could not escape many a Taunt from his Enemies behind his Back and one to his Face from Dr. Martin one of those that were commissionated to sit as Judges upon him at Oxford He told him in reproach That his Children were Bondmen to the See of Canterbury Whether there be any such old Canon-Law I know not But the Arch-bishop smiled and asked him If a Priest at his Benefice kept a Concubine and had Children by her whether those Children were Bond-men to the Benefice or no And that he trusted they would make his Childrens Case no worse I find two of his Name in King Edward's Reign but whether they were his or his Brother Edmund's Sons or some other Relations I cannot tell There was one Richard Cranmer one of the Witnesses at the Abjuration of Ashton Priest an Arian 1548. Daniel Cranmer of Bilsington of the Diocess of Canterbury who about administring to a Will was for contumacy to the Court of Canterbury Excommunicate and a Significavit was issued out against him thereupon in the Year 1552. There was also a Thomas Cranmer about these Times who bought something in Ware-Lane of the City of Canterbury He was Publick Notary and Register to the Arch-deacon in the Year 1569. I find likewise one Robert Cranmer Esq. who was Nephew to the Arch-bishop and alive at the latter End of Queen Elizabeth This Robert left one only Daughter and Heiress named Ann. Whom Sir Arthur Harris of Crixey in Essex married and enjoyed with her three Manors Postling which came to the said Robert in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth Kingsnorth in Vlcomb and Saltwood Both which he purchased in the latter end of that Queen Upon whose Grandchild Sir Cranmer Harris of Lincoln's-Inn Kt. those Estates descended There was another Cranmer of Canterbury who enjoyed a Manor called Sapinton in Petham in Kent One of whose Off-spring by descent successively was intitled to the Propriety of it and was alive when Philpot published his Book of that County viz. 1659. There ●e living at this Time among divers others two Knights of this Name Sir Cesar Cranmer once belonging
Farm of that Parsonage and the Nomination of the Curat And being a Man of Conscience and Integrity endeavoured to procure here an honest and able Preacher and so presented to the Church one Richard Turner a Man of an irreprehensible Life and well-learned in the Holy Scriptures Who for his Doctrine against the Popish Superstition and the Pope's Supremacy met with great Troubles But his Patron very stifly stood by him and procured the Arch-bishop to favour him And having an Interest with Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Butts Courtiers he wrote Mr. Turner's Case at large to them and got them to read his Letter before the King Who though before he had been by sinister Reports so incensed against him as to command him to be whip'd out of the Country now by this Means he conceived better Thoughts of him and commanded him to be cherish'd as a good Subject as I have before more at large related Another Passage I meet with of this Man relates to the Kindness of the ABp his Master to him Who in token of his Good-will he bore him and of his readiness to reward his Diligence and Faithfulness in his Service did procure him a Lease of the Parsonage of Ospring in Kent being an Impropriation belonging unto S. Iohns-College in Cambridg worth better than forty Marks by the Year de claro when Wheat was but a Noble the Quarter This the Arch-bishop got a Grant of from the said College for him But when the Lease was prepared and ready to be sealed one Hawkins of the Guard by his importunate Suit got King Henry VIII to obtain it of the College to be sealed for the use of him the said Hawkins The Arch-bishop then solicited the King in his Servant's behalf and the King promised him and also Dr. Day the Master of the College that he would otherwise recompense Morice for the same with like Value or better Which was never done the King dying before he did any thing for him This caused Morice to prefer a Supplication unto Queen Elizabeth setting forth his said Case and desiring therefore her Liberality Aid and Succour especially considering that her Royal Father had in his Will provided that all such who had sustained any manner of Damage or Hinderance by him should be satisfied for the same Suing therefore to her Majesty for a Pension that had been allowed unto one Wilbore late Prior of the Monastery of S. Augustines lately deceased that it might be conferred upon him during his Life And indeed he seemed now in his old Age to have need of some such Favour his Condition being but mean according to worldly Things and having four Daughters all marriageable and not where-withal to bestow them according to their Quality This his Poverty he urged to the Queen and that the granting him this Pension would be a good furtherance of his said Daughters Marriage The same Person had some Lands descended to him from Iames his Father out of two Manors the one called Royden-Manor and the other called The Temple both situate and lying in the Parish of Royden His said Father upon some certain Reasons and Agreements surrendred two long Leases of both these Manors into King Henry VIII his Hands In consideration of which and of long and true Services the said King did give except and reserve certain Tenements Lands Pastures and Meadows out of the said two Lordships to the Use of the said Iames and his Heirs and Assigns for ever as appeared by his Letters Patents And Iames did enjoy them peaceably and quietly without any molestation until his Death which was in the second Year of Queen Mary But of late the Leases of the Manors being sold away unto others they laid Claim and Titl● unto the said reserved Lands upon the Information of one Thurgood Steward of the Courts there pretending that there were not Words sufficient in the said Letters Patents to justify the said Exceptions This occasioned Ralph Morice the Son who enjoyed some of the Copy-holds within the said Exceptions to sue unto the Queen for her Majesty's Letters Patents to ratify and confirm the said Exceptions that the King 's Godly Disposition Intent and Meaning might be in Force to Iames Morice's Heirs and Assigns for ever What Success he had in this and the former Petition I find not but am ready to think the Queen gratified him in both as well for his own Merits as out of that high Respect she bore to the Memory of our incomparable Prelat whose Servant he had so long been and for whose sake he recommended himself and his Suit to her I have inserted the former of these Supplications in the Appendix being an Original of Morice's own Hand-writing and containing some memorable Passages in it This Man was by the Arch-bishop's Means appointed Register in King Edward VI his Visitation which was in the second Year of his Reign the Articles whereof were drawn up by the Arch-bishop and preserved to us in Bishop Sparrow's Collections And being ready to depart with the King's Commissioners the Arch-bishop sent for him to Hampton-Court and willed him to make Notes of certain Matters in the said Visitation whereof he gave him particular Instructions and had large Discourse with him of the good Success that this Course was like to have In the beginning of Queen Mary he suffered much Being glad to fly from his own House but afterwards taken by the Justices and committed to Custody Out of which he escaped by breaking Prison His House was often searched But he out-lived those hard Times and was alive in the Year 1565 and then lived at Bekesborn It was this Morice that supplied Mr. Fox the Writer of the Acts and Monuments with those Memorials concerning the Bishop of Winchester which shewed how small a Share he had in King Henry's Affections notwithstanding his boasting thereof which he was very apt to do and particularly how that King came to leave him out of his last Will. All which Sir Anthony Denny related to our Arch-bishop in the hearing of this his Secretary Who was alive when Fox wrote this and whom he asserts towards the end of his eighth Book as a Witness to the same For it is to be noted here that among those Persons that assisted this Author with Matter for the compiling his laborious Books this Morice was one and to whom we are to reckon our selves beholden for divers other material Passages of our Church-History and especially those of his Lord and Master the Arch-bishop which are preserved in the said Books to Posterity To Day the Printer he sent many Papers of Monuments for the furnishing Fox's History and many more he had communicated but that in Queen Mary's Reign his House in two Years was thrice searched by which means he lost a great sort of Things worthy perpetual Memory and especially divers Letters of King Edward to the Arch-bishop and of the Arch-bishop to him
that Session Indeed there was once a notable Dispute of the Sacrament in order to an Uniformity of Prayer to be established Or does he mean that this four Months Disputation was the Work of th● Convocation sitting that Parliament-time Before it indeed lay now th● Matter of the Priests Marriage Which they agreed to almost three against one And likewise of receiving the Sacrament in both Kinds Which was also agreed to Nemine Contradi●ente But not a word of any Disputation th●n about the Real Presence And yet 't is strange that he should with such Confidence put this Story upon th● World of four Months Disputation in the Parliament concerning th● Real Presence and that the Arch-bishop then was so res●●ute for it Which cannot be true neither on this Account that Cranmer was a Year or two before this come off from that Opinion He adds That Cranmer stood resolutely in that first Parliament for a Real Presence against Zuinglianism But there was neither in that Parliament nor in that Convocation a word of the Real Presence And that Cranmer and Ridley did allow a R●al Presence and would not endure the Sacrament should be contemptibly spoken of as some now began to do The Real Presence that Parsons here means is the gross Corporal Presence Flesh Blood and Bone as they used to say This Real Presence Cranmer and Ridley did not allow of at this time of Day Now they were better enlightned But most true it is notwithstanding that they could not endure to have the Sacrament contemptibly spoken of He tells us Romantickly on the same Argument That many Posts went to and fro between P. Martyr and Cranmer while the imaginary Disputation before-mentioned lasted whether Lutheranism or Zuinglianism should be taken up for the Doctrine of the Church of England For that he was come in his Reading upon the Eleventh of the first Epistle to the Corinthians to those words This is my Body and did not know how to determine it till it was resolved about The Message returned him was That he should stay and entertain himself in his Readings upon other Matters for a while And so the poor Friar did as Parsons calls that Learned Man with Admiration and Laughter of all his Scholars Surely some of them had more Esteem and Reverence for him Standing upon those precedent words Accepit Panem c. And Gratias dedit c. Fregit Et dixit Accipite Manducate c. Discoursing largely of every one of these Points And surely they were words of sufficient weight to be stood upon and Points to be discoursed largely of And bearing one from the other that ensued Hoc est Corpus meum But when the Post at length came that Zuinglianism must be defended then stepped up P. Martyr boldly the next Day and treated of This is my Body Adding moreover that he wondred how any Man could be of any other Opinion The Reporters of this Story Parsons makes to be Saunders Allen and Stapleton and others that were present Excellent Witnesses P. Martyr is here represented as a Man of no Conscience or Honesty but ready to say and teach whatsoever others bad● him be the Doctrine right or wrong and at the Beck of the State to be a Lutheran or a Zuinglian But if he were of such a versatile Mind why did he leave his Country his Relations his Substance his Honour that he had there Which he did because he could not comply with the Errors of the Church in which he lived But all this fine pleasant Tale is spoiled in case Martyr were not yet come to Oxford to be Reader there For he came over into England but in the end of November 1548 and was then sometime with the Arch-bishop before he went to Oxford Which we may well conjecture was till the Winter was pretty well over so that he could not well be there before the 14 th of March was past The Author of the Athenae Oxonienses conjectures that he came to Oxon in February or the beginning of March but that it was the beginning of the next Year that the King appointed him to read his Lecture So that either he was not yet at Oxon or if he were he had not yet begun his Reading till the Parliament was over And thus we have traced this Story till it is quite vanished Further still he writes That Cranmer wrote a Book for the Real Presence and another against it afterwards Which two Books Boner brought forth and would have read them when he was deposed by Cranmer and Ridley or at leastwise certain Sentences thereof that were contrary one to the other If Cranmer wrote any Book for the Real Presence it was in Luther's not in the Popish Sense and against that Sense indeed he wrote in his Book of the Sacrament Nor did Boner bring any such Books forth at his Deposition or Deprivation nor offered to read them nor any Sentences out of them for ought I can find in any Historians that speak of Boner's Business And I think none do but Fox who hath not a word of it though he hath given a large Narration of that whole Affair Indeed Boner at his first appearance told the Arch-bishop That he had written well on the Sacrament and wondred that he did not more honour it To which the Arch-bishop replied seeing him commend that which was against his own Opinion That if he thought well of it it was because he understood it not Thus we may see how Parsons writ he cared not what and took up any lying flying Reports from his own Party that might but serve his Turn But observe how this Writer goes on with his Tale But Cranmer blushing suffered it not to be shewed but said he made no Book contrary to another Then he needed not to have blushed But if he did it must be at the Impudence of Boner who carried himself in such a tumultuous bold manner throughout his whole Process as though he had no Shame left And lastly to extract no more Passages out of this Author to prove that our Arch-bishop was for a Corporal Presence in the beginning of King Edward he saith That in the first Year of that Reign he was a principal Cause of that first Statute intituled An Act against such Persons as shall unreverently speak against the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ commonly called The Sacrament of the Altar And a very good Act it was But it does not follow that because the Arch-bishop was the Cause of this Act that therefore he believed a gross Carnal Presence the plain Design of the Act being occasioned by certain Persons who had contemned the whole Thing for certain Abuses heretofore committed therein I use the very words of the Act and had called it by vile and unseemly Words And it was levelled against such as should deprave despise or contemn the Blessed Sacrament Nor is there any word in that Act used in favour of the
that the Generality of the Clergy should with the example of such a few light persons procede to mariage without a common consent of his H. and the Realm doth streitly charge and command that al such as have attempted mariage as also such as wil presumptuously procede in the same not to minister the Sacrament or other Ministery m●stical nor have any office cure privilege profit or commodity heretofore accustomed and belonging to the Clergy of the Realm But shal be utterly after such marriage expelled and deprived and be held and reputed as Lay persons to al purposes and intents And that such as after this Proclamation shall of presumptuous minds take wives and be maried shal run into his Graces Indignation and suffer further punishment and imprisonment at his Graces will and plesure NUM IX Bishop Fisher to Secretary Crumwel declaring his willingness to swear to the Succession AFTER my most humble commendations Whereas ye be content that I shold write unto the Kings Highnes in good faith I dread me that I cannot be so circumspect in my writing but that some word shal scape me wherewith his Grace shal be moved to some further displeasure against me wherof I wold be very sorry For as I wil answer before God I wold not in any maner of point offend his Grace my duty saved unto God whom I must in every thing prefer And for this consideration I am ful lothe and ful of fear to write unto his Highnes in this matter Nevertheless sithen I conceive that it is your mind that I shal so do I will endeavour me to the best I can But first here I must beseech you good Master Secretary to cal to your remembrance that at my last being before you and the other Commissioners for taking of the othe concerning the Kings most noble succession I was content to be sworn unto that parcel concerning the Succession And there I did rehearse this reason which I said moved me I doubted not but that the Prince of any Realme with the assent of his Nobles and Commons might appoint for his Succession royal soche an order as was seen unto his Wisdom most according And for this reason I said that I was content to be sworn unto that part of the othe as concerning the Succession This is a very truth as God help my soul at my most nede albeit I refused to swear to some other parcels because that my Conscience wolde not serve me so to do NUM X. Lee Bishop Elect of Litchfield and Coventry to Secretary Crumwel concerning Bp. Fisher. PLeasyth you to be adverted that I have been with my Lord of Rochester who is as ye left him that is to say ready to take his othe for the Succession and to swear never to meddle more in disputation of the validity of the Matrimony or invalidity with the Lady Dowager but that utterly to refuse For as for the case of the prohibition Levitical his conscience is so knit tha● he cannot send it off from him whatsoever betide him And yet he wil and doth profess his Allegiance to our Soveraign Lord the King during his life Truly the man is nigh going and doubtless cannot continue unles the King and his Council be merciful unto him For the body cannot bear the clothes on his back as knoweth God Who preserve you In hast scribbled by your own most bounden Roland Co. Litch electus confirmatus NUM XI The Archbishop to Secretary Crumwel in behalf of Bp. Fisher and Sr. Thomas More Right Worshipful Master Crumwel AFTER most hearty Commendations c. I doubt not but you do right wel remembre that my Lord of Rochester and Master More were contented to be sworn to the Act of the Kings Succession but not to the Preamble of the same What was the cause of thair refusal thereof I am uncertain and they wold by no means express the same Nevertheless it must nedis be either the diminution of the authority of the Bushop of Rome or ells the reprobation of the Kings first pretensed Matrimony But if they do obstinately persist in thair opinions of the Preamble yet me semeth it scholde not be refused if they wil be sworne to the veray Act of Succession so that they wil be sworne to maintene the same against al powers and potentates For hereby shal be a great occasion to satisfy the Princess Dowager and the Lady Mary which do think they sholde dampne thair sowles if they sholde abandon and relinquish thair astates And not only it sholde stop the mouths of thaym but also of th' Emperor and other thair friends if thay geve as moche credence to my Lord of Rochester and Master More spekyng and doinge against thaym as they hitherto have done and thought that al other sholde have done whan they spake and did with thaym And peradventure it sholde be a good quietation to many other within this reaulm if such men sholde say that the Succession comprized within the said Act is good and according to Gods lawes For than I think there is not one within this reaulme that would ones reclaim against it And whereas divers persones either of a wilfulness wil not or of an indurate and invertible conscience cannot altre from thair opinions of the Kings first pretensed mariage wherein they have ones said thair minds and percase have a persuasion in thair heads that if they sholde now vary therefrom thair fame and estimation were distained for ever or ells of the authority of the Busschope of Rome yet if al the Reaulme with one accord wolde apprehend the said succession in my judgment it is a thing to be amplected and imbraced Which thing although I trust surely in God that it shal be brought to pass yet hereunto might not a little avayl the consent and othes of theis two persons the Busschope of Rochester and Master More with thair adherents or rather Confederates And if the Kings pleasure so were thair said othes might be suppressed but whan and whare his Highness might take some commodity by the publyshing of the same Thus our Lord have you ever in his conservation From my maner at Croyden the xvii day of April Your own assured ever Thomas Cantuar. NUM XII Nix Bishop of Norwich to Warham Archbishop of Cant. for suppressing such as read books brought from beyond Sea AFter most humble recommendations I do your Grace to understand that I am accumbred with such as kepyth and readyth these arroneous books in English and beleve and geve credence to the same and techyth others that they shold so do My Lord I have done that lyeth in me for the suppression of soch persons but it passeth my power or any spiritual man for to do it For divers saith openly in my Diocess that the Kinges grace wold that they shold have the said arroneous books and so maintaineth themselves of the King Wherupon I desired my L. Abbot of Hyde to show this
sins or that the veray bare observation of theym in it self is a holines before God Although they be remembrances of many holy things or a disposition unto goodness And evyn so do the lawes of your G's realm dispose men unto justice unto peace and other true and perfect holines Wherfore I did conclude for a general rule that the people ought to observe theym as they do the laws of your G's realm and with no more opinion of holines or remission of sin then the other common Laws of your G's realm Though my two Sermons were long yet I have written briefly unto your Highness the sum of theym both And I was informed by sundry reports that the people were glad that they heard so much as they did until such time as the Prior of the black frears at Canterbury preached a sermon as it was thought and reported clean contrary unto al the three things which I had preached before For as touching the first part which I had preached against the erroneous doctrin of the Bp. of R. his power which error was that by God's Law he should be Gods Vicar here in earth the Prior would not name the Bp. of R. but under color spake generally That the Church of Christ never erred And as touching the second part where I spake of the Vices of the Bishops of R. And there to the Prior said that he would not sclawnder the Bishops of Rome And he said openly to me in a good Audience that he knew no vices by none of the Bishops of Rome And he said also openly that I preached uncharitably whan I said that these many years I had daily prayed unto God that I might see the power of Rome destroyed and that I thanked God that I had now seen it in this realm And yet in my sermon I declared the cause wherfore I so prayed For I said that I perceived the See of Rome work so many things contrary to Gods honor and the wealth of this realm and I saw no hope of amendment so long as that See reigned over us And for this cause onely I had prayed unto God continually that we might be separated from that See and for no private malice or displesure that I had either to the Bp. or See of Rome But this seemed an uncharitable prayer to the Prior that the power of Rome should be destroyed And as for the third part where I preached against the Laws of the Bp. of Rome that they ought not to be taken as Gods Lawes nor to be esteemed so highly as he would have them the Prior craftily leaving out the name of the Bp. of Rome preached that the Lawes of the Church be equal with Gods lawes These things he preached as it is proved both by sufficient witnes and also by his own confession I leave the judgment hereof unto your G. and to your Councel whether this were a defence of the Bp. of Rome or not And I onely according to my bounden duty have reported the truth of the Fact But in mine opinion if he had spoken nothing else yet whosoever saith that the Church never erred maintaineth the Bp. of Rome his power For if that were not erroneous that was taught of his power That he is Christs Vicar in earth and by Gods law Head of al the World spiritual and temporal and that al people must believe that De necessitate Salutis and that whosoever doth any thing against the See of Rome is an heretick and that he hath authority also in Purgatory with such other many false things which were taught in times past to be Articles of our Faith if these things were not erroneous yea and errors in the Faith then must nedis your G's Laws be erroneous that pronounce the Bp. of Rome to be of no more power by Gods Law than other Bishops and theym to be Traitors that defend the contrary This is certain that whosoever saith that the Church never erred must either deny that the church ever taught any such errors of the Bp. of Rome his power and then they speak against that which al the world knoweth and al books written of that matter these three or four hundred years do testifie or else they must say that the said errors be none errors but truths And then it is both treason and heresy At my first Examination of him which was before Christmas he said that he preached not against me nor that I had preached any thing amiss But now he saith that I preached amiss in very many things and that he purposely preached against me And this he reporteth openly By which words I am marvellously sclawndered in these parts And for this cause I beseech your G. that I may not have the judgment of the cause for so moch as he taketh me for a party but that your G. would commit the hearing therof unto my L. Privy Seal or else to associate unto me some other persons at your G's plesure that we may hear the case joyntly together If this man who hath so highly offended your G. and preached against me openly being Ordinary and Metropolitane of this Province and that in soch matters as concerne the misliving and the laws of the Bp. of Rome and that also within mine own church if he I say be not looked upon I leave unto your G's prudence to expend what example this may be unto others with like colour to maintain the Bp. of Rome his authority and also of what estimation I shal be reputed hereafter and what credence shal be given unto my preaching whatsoever I shal say hereafter I beseech your G. to pardon me of my long and tedious writing For I could not otherwise set the matter forth plaine And I most heartily thank your G. for the Stag which your G. sent unto me from Wyndsor Forest. Which if your G. knew for how many causes it was welcome unto me and how many ways it did me service I am sure you would think it moch the better bestowed Thus our Lord have you Highness alwayes in his preservation and governance From Ford the xxvj day of August Your Graces most humble Chaplain and bedisman T. Cantuarien NUM XIV The Archbishop to Mr. Secretary Crumwel concerning his styling himself Primate of al England RIght worshipful in my most harty wise I commend me unto you Most hartily thanking you for that you have signified unto me by my Chaplain Mr. Champion the complaint of the Bp. of Winchester unto the Kings Highnes in two things concerning my Visitation The one is that in my style I am written Totius Angliae Primas to the derogation and prejudice of the Kings high power and authority being Supreme Head of the Church The other is that his Dioces not past five years agone was visited by my Predecessor and must from henceforth pay the tenth part of the Spiritualties according to the Act granted in the last Sessions of Parlament Wherfore he thinketh that his
Visitationem Archiep. Cant. FIrst That the Archbp. of Canterbury in al his Monitions and Writings sent to the Bp. Abbots Prior and Archdeacon of London concerning this his Visitation called himself Apostolicae Sedis Legatum and that therefore the Bp. of London with the Chapter did not only advertise the Archbp. therof by their Letters before the day of Visitation But also the same day of the Commencement th●reof in the Chapter house of Powles the said Bp. and Chapter before the delivery of the Certificate to the ABp made there openly a ●rotestation reading it in writing signifying that they would neither accept him as such a Legate or admit or obey his Visitation jurisdiction or any thing that he would attempt by the pretext or color of that name of Legate or otherwise against the Crown of our Soveraign his Regality Statutes or customes of his realm And required the said Archbp. to command his Register there present to enact the said Protestation Which he refused utterly to do shewing himself not willing to admit the said Protestation Item That the Archbp. in his said Monition to the Bp. did expresly intimate and signify to him that he would in his Visitation suspend al the jurisdiction of the Bp. the Dean and Archdeacons from the beginning thereof to the ending In such wise that the Bp. nor his Officers Dean nor Archdeacon should or might at that time which he would not determine how long it should endure use no jurisdiction whatsoever causes or necessities should chance of correction institutions of benefices Confirmations of Election Consecrations of Churches Celebrations of Orders or Probation of Testaments with many other things mo appertaining ad forum contentiosum But al and every of these the Archbp. and his Officers would have and suffer none other to use and exercise the same unto the end of his Visitation Which he hath now continued until the first day of December pretending that then he may likewise continue it other six months and so forth without end at his plesure during his life from time to time So that by this means he only and none other should be Bp. but Titularis in all his Province during his life but at his plesure Which were an inconvenience intolerable and such as never was read nor heard of that ever any Metropolitan private Legate or Bp. of Rome in the most Tyranny had usurped the semblable Item That al men learned and Books of the Canon Law doth aggree that no Metropolitan or Primate may thus by any law written suspend al the jurisdiction of the Bishops for the time of their Visitations or exercise the premises during the same Iure Metropolitico And this the Councel of the Archbishop doth not deny nor cannot Item Where the said AB doth pretend that his Predecessors times past hath put in use and exercise al the premises And so though the Common law doth not favor him yet he may lean to prescription First it is to be considered and remembred that the suspension of al jurisdiction of al the Bishops in maner aforesaid seemeth to be against holy scripture and the authority given unto them by God and as it was said before that Suspension were a thing pernitious not read nor heard of to have bee attempted by the most tyranny of al the Bishops of R. without the great offence of the Bishop And as for the rest considering that none of his Predecessors this hundred years did visit thus his Province and therfore no man Living can know this by experience it had been necessary for the Archbp. to have shewed books for the proof of these his sayings and pretences Which he and his Officers being therunto desired as wel before the Visitation as sithence ever did refuse and deferr to do Item It is to be remembred that in case it shal appear in any Book of the AB that his Predecessors have attempted any of the Premisses First that his Predecessors were Legates and though they did visit jure Metropolitico yet they might peradventure as Legates attempt some things which they had had no right nor colour to do if they had be only Metropolitans and Primates Secondarily In this behalf and case it is to be remembred that many of those Archbps. of Canterbury were not only Legates but also Chancellors of England By the which authority they peradventure did enforce and maintain many things attempted against the Law as the late Cardinal did And therfore it is to be dissevered what they did as Legates and what as Metropolitans and what by force after repealed and what by right peaceably enjoyed And not to now jure Metropolitico such things as were done by his Predecessors as Legates nor to chalenge prescription now the authority of the See of Rome is repealed and here extinguished in such things as were attempted only by the pretext of the authority of that See or else after were appealed repealed or resisted Thirdly In This cause it is to be remembred that it appears by the ancient Registers of the Bishops and their Churches that when the Predecessors of the AB did attempt any of these causes aforesaid the Bishops and their Clergies did appeal to the See of Rome And divers times they obtained sentences and executions against him and some remained undecided by the reason of the death of the AB or Bp. complainant for remedy and redress of the same In like maner as we your faithful Subjects have now for this our grief appeled unto your Majesty Item It is to be considered Whether any Metropolitan in other Christen realmes being now Legate doth exercise the premisses after the form now here pretended in his Visitation And in case they do not as it is said they do not attempt any such things but only in their Visitations Provincial useth that the Common Law giveth them then here to be repealed and extinguished for ever To the intent that the Bishops of R. hereafter shal have no color to maintain and justify that they keep here yet and continue the possession of their authority and of our subjection by their Legate Saying that although the AB doth relinquish the name of a Legate yet nevertheless he exerciseth such jurisdiction as the Laws never gave to Metropolitans nor no AB in Christendome doth exercise Legates of the See of R. only excepted And therfore it is to be provided that no sparks remain wherby he might suscitate any such flame if the matter should come in question Finally It is to be remembred that the Bishops nor their Clergies do not refuse to accept and obey the Visitation of the AB as Metropolitan and to pay to him proxies due and accustomed But where the Bishops hath not only the common Laws but also Bulls and Sentences executed against his Predecessors and that long before the making of the Statutes against Provisions declaring what sums he shal not pass for the Proxies of their Churches the Officers of the AB demandeth much more
neither shewing the Law for there is none to bear them nor yet precedent or example in any ancient books wherby they might be satisfyed Which done he should without difficulty or grudge have forthwith al his Proxies upon the conclusion of his Visitation Unto the which time it is not due in mony Many other things and considerations there be to be alledged concerning the premisses which may be spoken in time and place as the debating of the matter shal require And for a conclusion it may please your Majesty to be advertised that if my Lord of Cant. can shew by antient precedents that any his Predecessors have used peaceably the premisses without interruption and so have enjoyed the same those precedents shewed and brought in presence allowed also by your learned Councel in the lawes spiritual to be precedents sufficient and of authority in this behalf We shal then immediately in al the premisses obey the said ABp without any further contradiction In this our so doing whether we offer him reason or not we refer us only unto your Majesty and unto your gracious judgment Humbly beseeching the same that for as much as al the Lawes be for us and this hundred years past and now also in our dayes we have not heard nor seen the contrary used to the said Lawes We now most lowly as your poor and true subjects desire your Majesty that with your gracious favour and license we may use such defence as your Lawes and your high Court of your Parlament hath politicly provided for us and other your Subjects NUM XVI An Inventory of the Cathedral church of S. Swithins in Winchester as it was given in by the Prior and Convent to Crumwell Secretary of State and the Kings Vicar general over al Spiritual men And first of the things that are abroad in the Church IMprimis the nether part of the high Altar being of plate of gold garnished with stones The front above being of brodering work and pearls and above that a Table of Images of silver and gilt garnished with stones Item Above that Altar a great Cross and an Image of plate of gold garnished with stones Item Behind the high Altar S. Swithens shrine being of plate silver and gilt and garnished with stones Item In the body of the Church a great Cros and an Image of Christ and Mary and Iohn being of plate silver and partly gilt Item A cros of plate of silver and gilt with an Image over the Iron dore And the two Images of Mary and Iohn are but Copper gilt The Inventory of the Sextre Iewels of Gold Imprimis There are in the Sextre five Crosses of gold garnished with precious stones And one of the five is but of plate of gold fixed upon Wood. Item One shrine of plate of gold garnished with precious stones Item One little pair of Candlesticks of gold Item One little box of gold with his cover to bear the H. Sacrament Item Three chalices of gold and one of them garnished with precious stone Item One little pax of gold Item One little sacring bel of Gold Item Four Pontifical rings of gold with precious stones Item One pectoral of gold set with stones Item One Pectoral partly gold partly silver and gilt set with stones Item Two Saints armes of plate of gold garnished with stones Item S. Philips foot covered with plate of gold and with stones Item A book of the four Evangelists written al with gold and the utter side is of plate of gold Iewels of Silver Imprimis One Table of our Lady being of silver and gilt Item Nine crosses of silver and gilt and one of Cristal Item One and twenty shrines some al silver and gilt and some part silver and gilt and part copper and gilt and some part silver and part ivory and some copper and gilt and some set with garnished stones Item Twelve chalices of silver and gilt belonging to the Sextre and to the Altars and chauntries founded in the Church Item Four Paxes of silver and gilt belonging to the Sextre and other Altars Item Six casts of Candlesticks belonging to the Sextre and the Chauntries being of silver and gilt Item One Candlestick of silver belonging to S. Swithens shrine Item Six pair of Cruits of silver belonging to the Sextre and Chauntries Item Seven Censers of silver and gilt Item Two Sarys one of silver and gilt and the other only of silver Item Three pair of Basins of silver and gilt Item Two Ewers one of them silver and gilt and the other only silver Item Six Images of silver and gilt Item One and thirty Collars six of them garnished with plate of silver and gilt and stones the residue of brodering work and pearls Item Six pectorals of silver and gilt garnished with stones Item Three pastoral staves of silver and gilt Item One Pastoral staf of an Unicorns horn Item Three standing Mitres of silver and gilt garnished with pearls and precious stones Item Ten old Mitres garnished with pearls and stones after the old fashion Item One Rectors staf of Unicorns horn Item Four Processional staves of plates of silver Item Four sacring bells of silver and gilt belonging to the Sextre and Altars Item Nine pixes of Christal partly garnished with silver and gilt Item Seven tables with Relicks fixed in them and four of them are of plate of silver and gilt and the three other of copper and gilt Item Five Saints heads and four of them of plate of silver and gilt and the first painted Item Three Saints armes two of them covered with plate of silver and gilt and the third is painted Item Seven books the outer parts of them being plates of silver and gilt Item One Book of K. Henry the Sevenths foundation covered with velvet and garnished with bosses of silver and gilt Copys Imprimis One principal Cope of needle work wrought with gold and pearles Item One Chysible Two Tymasyles and parel of the Albes of the same work of my L. Cardinal Beaufords gift Item Eight and twenty other Copys of divers other works and colors and divers mens gifts Item Forty two Copys of tisshew the one half of them blew and the other of red Item Twenty Copys of red bawdkyne wrought with Connes Item Eight white Copys Four of them of White Velvet and the other four of White Damask brodered with white red roses Item Eight and twenty Copys of White Bawdkyne woven with copper gold Item Nine and twenty Copys of blew silk woven with rayes of gold Item Thirty other Copys of divers colors and works and many of them perished Chysybils Tynnikyls Tunicles and Stolys Item Imprimis Eleven principal Chysybils with Tynnikyls of divers sorts and suites Item Six and thirty old Chysybils of divers colors and works and bene commonly used and some of them perused Item Fourteen stolys of needle work Hangings for the Altars Item Eight divers hangings for the high Altar some of them precious and some of them of les
cease from keeping of theym For the Kings own House shal be an example unto al the realm to break his own ordinances Over this whereas your Lp. hath twice written for this poor man William Gronnow the bearer hereof to my L. Deputy of Callis for him to be restored to his room as far as I understand it prevayled nothing at al. For so he can get none answer of my L. Deputy So tha● the poor man dispaireth that your request shal do him any good If your Lp. would be so good to him as to obtain a bil signed by the Kings Grace to the Treasurers and Controlers of Callis for the time being commanding theym to pay to the said W. Gronnow his accustomed Wages yearly and to none other your Lp. should not only not further trouble my L. Deputy any more but also do a right meritorious deed For if the poor man be put thus from his Living he were but utterly undone Thus my Lord right hartily fare you wel At Ford the xxviij day of August Your Lordships own ever T. Cantuariens NUM XX. Richard Grafton the Printer of the Bible to the Lord Crumwel complaining of some that intended to print the Bible and thereby to spoyl his Impression ✚ 1537. MOST humbly beseeching your Lp. to understand that according as your Commission was by my servant to send you certain Bibles so have I now done desiring your Lp. to accept them as though they were wel done And whereas I writ unto your Lp. for a privy Seal to be a defence unto the enemies of this Bible I understand that your Lps. mind is that I shal not need it But now most gracious Lord forasmuch as this work hath been brought forth to our most great and costly labors and charges Which charges amount above the sum of five hundred pounds and I have caused of these same to be printed to the sum of fifteen hundred books complete Which now by reason that of many this work is highly commended there are that wil and doth go about the printing of the same work again in a lesser letter to the intente that they may sel their little books better cheap then I can sel these great and so to make that I shal sel none at al or else very few to the utter undoing of me your Orator and of all those my Creditors that hath been my Comforters and helpers therin And now this work thus set forth with great study and labors shal such persons moved with a little covetousnes to the undoing of others for their own private wealth take as a thing done to their hands In which half the charges shal not come to them that hath done to your poor Orator And yet shall not they do it as they find it but falsify the text that I dare say look how many sentences are in the Bible even so many faults and errors shal be made therin For their seeking is not to set it out to Gods glory and to the edifying of Christs Congregation but for covetousnes And that may appear by the former Bibles that they have set forth which hath neither good paper letters ink nor correction And even so shal they corrupt this work and wrap it up after their fashions and then may they sel it for nought at their pleasures Yea and to make it more truer then it is therfore Dutch men living within this realm go about the printing of it Which can neither speak good English nor yet write none And they wil be both the Printers and Correctors therof Because of a little covetousnes they wil not bestow twenty or forty pounds to a Learned man to take pains in it to have it wel done It were therfore as your Lp. doth evidently perceive a thing unreasonable to permit or suffer them which now hath no such busines to enter into the labors of them that hath made both sore trouble and unreasonable charges And the truth is this that if it be printed by any other before these be sold which I think shal not be these three years at the least that then am I your poor Orator undone Therfore by your most godly favor if I may obtain the Kings most gracious privilege that none shal print them till these be sold which at the least shall not be this three years your Lordship shal not find me unthankful but that to the uttermost of my power I wil consider it And I dare say that so wil my L of Canterbury with other my most special friends And at the last God wil look upon your merciful heart that considereth the undoing of a poor young man For truly my whole Living lyeth hereupon Which if I may have sale of them not being hindred by any other men it shal be my making and wealth and the contrary is my undoing Therfore most humbly I beseech your Lp. to be my helper here that I may obtain this my request Or else if by no means this privilege may be had as I have no doubt through your help it shal and seeing men are so desirous to be printing of it again to my utter undoing as aforesaid that yet forasmuch as it hath pleased the Kings Highnes to Licence this work to go abroad and that it is the most pure religion that teacheth al true obedience and reproveth al schisms and contentions and the lack of this word of Almighty God is the cause of al blindnes and superstition It may therfore be commanded by your Lp. in the name of our most gracious Prince that every Curate have one of them that they may learn to know God and to instruct their Parishens Yea and that every Abby should have six to be layd in six several places and that the whole Covent and the resorters therunto may have occasion to look on the Lords Law Yea I would have none other but they of the Papistical sort should be compelled to have them And then I know there should be ynow found in my L. of Londons Diocess to spend away a great part of them And so should this be a godly act worthy to be had in remembrance while the world doth stand And I know that a smal Commission wil cause my Lords of Cant. Salisbury and Worseter to cause it to be done through their Diocesses Yea and this should cease the whole schism and contention that is in the realm Which is some calling them of the Old and some of the New Now should we al follow one God one Book and one Learning And this is hurtful to no man but profitable to all men I wil trouble your Lp. no lenger for I am sorry I have troubled you so much But to make an end I desire your most gracious answer by my servant For the sickness is bryme about us or would I wait upon your Lp. And because of coming to your Lp. I have not suffered my servant with me since he came over Thus for your continual preservation I with
my Lord was of Londons own hand For he that copied them out before us was a Gentleman of my L. Winchesters or to him belonging Mr. Londons Copy lying before him This appeareth that this matter was consulted before Serles can tel what the man was and so cannot I that did write them But as I now remember it was German that is German Gardner By me Iohn Willoughby Gardiners penitent letter unto the Archbishop GEntle father Whereas I have not born so good so tender a heart towards you as a true child ought to bear and as you never gave unto me occasion otherwise but rather by benefits provoked me unto the contrary I ask of you with as contrite a heart as ever did David ask of God mercy And I desire you to remember the prodigal Child Which although from his father swarving yet into favour received again to receive me although unkindly now by folly I did forsake you and not born my heart so lovingly so truly towards you as in dutifulness I should have done I am ful sorry for my fault And yet Good father be you wel assured as I opened my conscience unto you at my last communing with you that I never did bear malice against you But the greatest cause that ever occupied my heart against you and for the which I did bear my heart so little towards you was as God shall save the Soul of me that I saw so little quietness among us and so great jars in Christs religion Supposing that by your permission and sufferance which was not so as I do now perceive That it did arise unto the great grief of my conscience I condescended the sooner unto the making of the book against your Grace when I was thereunto moved by that same suggester Willoughby Where and of whom he took occasion to bring his bills unto Canterbury I know not Good father for my setting forth the same book partly by me made heartily confessing my rashness and indeliberate doings I ask of you mercy Requiring of you of your charity to impute the great fault of it unto those which ministred unto me occasion and to remit unto me my lightnes For of truth I was greatly seduced Remember Good father that our Parent was seduced and yet of God forgiven Forgive me Good father By whom I was seduced my Confession doth declare And Father if it shall please you now more of your goodness then of my deserving punishment and that sharp I have deserved to forgive unto me this my fault and unkindness You shal never hereafter perceive in me but that at al times I shal be as obedient and as true unto you as ever was child unto his natural father If otherwise at any time you find of me never trust me never do for me but utterly without al favor cast me into pain as possible is for a wretch to suffer Gentle Father ponder my grief which is at my heart not little And through your goodness remitting unto me my unkindness and granting mercy with liberty I desire your Grace to set me into ease both of heart and body I am yours aud shal be yours and that truly while I live God prosper your Grace per me William Gardiner Good father I have given my self unto you heart body and service and you have taken me unto you Now remember me that I am your true servant Another letter of Gardiner to the Archbishop MOst Honourable Prelate Due commendations premised These be to give thanks unto your Grace for that that you did yesterday so favourably as my sending for unto your presence Whom I thought that I should never pensiveness lay so sore at my heart have seen again And among al your Communications that your Grace had unto me I noted these words of highest comfort Your Grace did note that I did cal you father in my Writings you said unto me yesterday You cal me father In good faith I wil be a Father unto you indeed Words of high comfort unto me Besides this Most honorable Lord you promised that I should have a book of al Articles layd in against me to make answer unto them I beseech your Grace that I may so have For there is nothing that I have done or known to be done but if I can cal it into remembrance I wil truly open it God prosper your Grace By yours and ever shal be William Gardiner Shethers letter of Submission to the Archbishop MY duty always remembred unto your gracious Lordship I most humbly beseech the same to have compassion upon me your prisoner And for as much as I think by the Articles which Mr. Ioseph mentioned that your Grace hath not only the Articles subscribed with the Witnes hands but also other Articles Which I noted since that time as I heard by Mr. Gardiner Coxton Morice and others So that your Gracious Lordship knoweth al that ever I have heard Pleaseth it your Lordship to understand that many of those Articles last noted were of the Book that was presented to my L. of Winchester as unperfect and not proved as indeed many could never be justified as far as ever I heard And therefore my L. of Winchester sent it again as I have said in my first declaration And it was never willed to be shewed as true But Gracious Lord whether I have offended in that that I noted those Articles after that I was willed by Mr. Baker to mark the chiefest fautors of new opinions I refer it to your gracious judgment and whatsoever shal be thought as nothing can be hid nor I would should not of any my life from any of you both that I have offended in I beseech you both of your mercy and favor and to be good to me Instantly and briefly for I am loth to trouble you or to seem to mistrust your goodness desiring you to have in remembrance my weak nature and the long and solatory durance I have suffered with grievous vexation of mind And for refreshing thereof to Licence me to eat and drink at meals with company and being so nigh my chamber that I may remain in the same to the intent I may pas the time with my own Books Heartily desiring your Good Lp. that notwithstanding any thing heretofore done or how ever I have before wandred not conformably to your gracious advertisement or expectation yet Gracious Lord accept a poor heart which would gladly be received into your fatherly favor again to declare his faithful mind he hath conceived towards your Goodness upon such pity as your Gracious Lp. hath shewed and I trust now wil in his extreme need Assuring your Grace that my whole confidence and only trust is reposed in your goodness only and gentle Mr. Doctors Whose native merciful hearts as they have be declared oftentimes towards many so I most meekly beseech you both mercifully to interpretate my acts and declare your pity in releasing my sorrows as shortly as shal seem convenient to your Wisdomes
ostendatis quam ego vestra causa de officio fuerim meo stricte praecipientes ut his nostris constitutionibus vos omnes ●inguli tam in judicijs quam in gymnarijs utamini severè prohibentes ne quisquam vestrum alias praeter has regni nostri leges admittere praesumat Valete NUM XXXV The Bishop of Winchester to Archbishop Cranmer relating to the Reformation of Religion AFter my duty remembred to your Grace Your letters of the third came to my hands the of the same And upon the reading and advised consideration of the matter in them have thought requisite to answer unto them and at length to open my mind frankly in some points of them Tempering my words so as I shal not be seen to have forgotten your place and condition ne such familiarite as hath been between your G. and me The remembrance of which familiarite maketh me speke as frely as on the other side your astate brydeleth me to be more moderate in speech then sum matier I shal herafter speke of wold ells suffre and permit It greveth me moch to rede wryten from your G. in the begynning of your lettres how the King our late Soveraign was seduced and in that he knew by whom he was compassed in that I cal the Kings Majesties Book Which is not his Book bicause I cal it so but bicause it was indede so acknowledged by the hol Parliament and acknowledged so by your G. thenn and al his life which as you afterwards write ye commaunded to be published and red in your Diocese as his book Against which by your G's spech ye commaunded Ioseph he shuld not prech Al which I think your G. would not have doon if ye had not thought the book to have conteyned truth And in the truth can be no seducyng to it as the Kings book conteyneth but from it Which if it had been so I ought to think your G. would not for al the Princes christened being so high a Bishop as ye be have y●●●●ed unto For Obedire oportet D●o magis quam hominibus And therfore after your G. hath foure yere continually lyved in agrement of that doctrine under our late Soveraine Lord now so sodenly after his death to wryte to me that his Highness was seduced it is I assure you a very straunge spech Which if your G. shuld bring in to open contention as I know your G. of your Wisedome wyl not But in that case wyl I as an old servaunt of my late Soverayne Much wanting it self so many Calamities besides wherof I have more laysor to think on thenn your G. as my chance is now which I reckon in this respect very good After so many yeres Service and in such trouble without daunger passed over to aryve in this haven of quyetnes without losse of any notable takel as the Marryners say Which is a great matier as the wynds hath blowen And if the present astate in this world wer to be considered I have many times alleged for confirmation of thopinion of some in religion And the Protestants take it for a gret argument to establish ther procedyngs that themperor was ever letted when he went about to enterprize any thing against them as Bucer declareth at gret length in a letter written to the World And whenne Sledanus was here in England he told me the like at Windesore and then Tanquam praedixit of the effect of certain eclypse Adding that I shuld see magnas mutationes And so I have seen and have heard mervelous chaunges synnes that but otherwise than Sledanus toke it and to destroy ther fancies if that were to be regarded But for my self I have seen my Soveraine Lord with whom I consented in opinion make the honourable conquest of Bolen and honorably in his life mainteyne it And after in honorable peace made leave this world over soon to us but that was due by him to be payd to na●ure discharged it honora●ly buried honorably with sorrow and lamentation of his servants and subgetts and my self his poor servant with a litel fl●ebyting of this world conveyed to an easy ast●te without diminution of my reputation And therfore whenne I hear fondly alleged or rede more fondly wryten the favor toto that is by B●l● Ioye and Ioseph or such like newly called the Word of God to be embraced for preservation of the worldly astate I se the clere contrary in experience and conclude with my self that it proveth nought before man and take it before God to be abomination Which causeth me to spend some of my laysor to wryte so long a letter to your G. who hath lesse laysor Wyshing that our laysor gret or litel may be spent otherwyse then to trouble this Realm in the time of our Soveraine Lords Minority with any novelte in m●tiers of religion being so many other matiers which for that I was so late a Counsellor cannot out of my memory Requiring the hol endeavour of such as have charge and silence in the people who shuld serve and obey without quarelying among themself for matiers in religion Specially considering it is agreed our late Soverain is receyved to goddes mercy And though some wold say he had his errors and saw not perfitely Gods truth Yet for us it were better to go to heven with oon yie after hym thenne to travayle here for another yie with daungier to lose both There was good humanite in him that said M●lim errare cum Platone quam cum alijs vera sentire Which affection were to the world plausible towching our Soveraine Lord that made us But we christen men may not teach so but esteme God above al and his true divinite In which case nevertheles whenne the divinite pretended is so rejected of many and utterly reproved So doubted of many other as it is suspected and confessed among us it is not necessary For our Soveraine Lord is gone from us to heaven in his way It is a mervelous matier what a certain loss it is aforehand to entreprize to serch which among a very few hath the name of Divinite and of al the rest is so named as I wil not reherse And this I write not because your G. entendeth any such thing soo far For I may not and wil not so think of you But this I take to be true that the way of error is let in at a little gappe The vehemence of novelty wil flow further thenne your G. wold admitte And when men hear of new gere every man maketh his request sum new hose sum new robes sum newe cappes sum new shirtes Like as in religion we have seen attempted where the people thought they might prevayle Which caused the commotion in Germany in bello civili Rusticorum and hath made the same stir there now in bello civili Nobilium It was a notable act of our late Soverain Lord to reform and thenne moderate religion as he did Which he did not without al
H. hath in the H. of Salvation how remission of sins is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect Justification The Doctrin of the Parlament teacheth Justification for the fulness and perfection therof to have more parts then Remission of sins as in the same appeareth And tho Remission of sins be a justification yet it is not a full and perfect The Book of H. numbreth the hallowing of bread Palmes and Candles among Papistical superstitions and abuses The Doctrin of the Parlament willeth them to be reverendly used And so do the Injunctions now set forth Which made me think the Printer might thrust in an Homily of his own devise The book of H. hath words of S. Chr●s●stom a●ledged untruly and not after su●h a sort as might scape by over sight but of purpose As calling that Faith which Chrysostom calleth Hope And in place of one Sentence putteth another which should better serve the purpose of the Maker of the Homilies Now if one would reason with me that Chrysostom meant this I would deny it him as I may But I may af●●rm that Chrysostom saith Not. It is but a defamation of the tr●th And under such a Princes name as our Soveraign Lord is whose tongue in this so pure innocency hath not been defiled with any untruth I assure you I thought there was not so great hast in Homilies but they might have tarried the printing even for that only cause Truth is able to ●aintain it self and needeth no help of untrue allegations It serves only for enemies to take advantage All which i. e. Enemies use to be c●rious to know what they may reprove And now al the eyes and ears of the World be turned towards us And as they shal have cause to talk honorably of your valiantness in the wars so they talk otherwise of that that is done in your absence if any thing be amis● Now I shal shew your Grace what author Er●smus is to be by name and special Commandment had in credit in this realm If he be to be believed the doctrin of Only Faith justifieth is a very po●son And he writeth by expres termes and calleth this another po●●on to d●ny punishment in Purgatory after this life And another poison to deny the Invoc●tion of Saints and worshipping of them And this he cal eth a poison to say We need no satisfactory works for that were to mistrust Christ Erasmus in another place conferring the state of the Church in the beginning and now he concludeth that if S. Paul were alive at this da● he would not improve i. e. disallow the present state of the Church but cry out of mens faults This is Erasmus judgment in his Latter da●es His Work the Paraphrasis which should be authorized in the Realm Which he wrot above six and twenty years ago when his pen was wanton the matter is so hauled as being abroad in 〈…〉 were able to minister occasion to evil men to subvert with religi●n the policy and order of the Realm These be the general words the uttering whereof to your Grace in the place you occupy were a great fault unless I would shew ye good ground and truth why to say so And therefore I am glad I do rather write to you then to have come and spake with you because my words in number might fly away whereas written words remain to be read again First as concerning the Policy and state of the Realm Whersoever Erasmus might take an occasion to speak his pleasure of Princes he payeth home as roundly as Bishops have been of late touched in pleas And such places of Scripture as we have used to allege for the state of Princes he wresteth and windeth them so as if the people read them and believed him they would afterward sma● regard that allegation of them And if Erasmus did truly and that the Scripture bound him so to say it were more tolerable For truth must have place but when it is done in some place untruly and in some pl●ce wantonly to check that estimate it can be no good doctrin among people that should obey And this book of Paraphrasis is not like the other expositions of Scripture where the Author speaketh in his own person For Erasmus taketh upon him the Evangelists persons and Christs person and enterpriseth to fit up Christs tale and his words As for example where the Gospel rehearseth Christs speech when he said Give to the Emperor that is the Emperors By which speech we gather and truly gather that Christ confessed the Emperor to have a duty Erasmus writes it with an IF after this sort IF there be any thing due to them Which condition Christ put not to it but spake plainly Give to Cesar the things which are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods And I write the very words of the Paraphrasis as they be in English for I have the book with me And so shal no man say that I misreport the book The words be these Render therfore unto Cesar if any things appertain unto Cesar. But first of al render unto God the things that appertain unto God Meaning that it is no hurt unto Godlines if a man being dedicate unto God do give tribute unto a prophane prince altho he ought it not These be the words in the book ordered to be set forth Wherin what needeth Erasmus to bring in doubt the duty when God putteth no doubt at al. It were too long to write to your Grace every fault This one I put for example where Erasmus doth corrupt Christs words with a condition which Christ spake not The other places of raylings would encumber your Grace overmuch But as I write your Grace shal find true that whatsoever might be spoke to defame Princes government is not left unspoken Bishops be more gently handled Erasmus maketh them very Kings of the Gospel and calleth the true Kings of the World Profane Kings Bishops have the sword he saith of God given that is to say the Gospel Profane Princes as he calleth them have a sword committed unto them and by Homer he saith be called Pastors of the people This matter is within the compas of the Paraphrasis if it be not left out with a commendation also of Thomas Becket of Canterbury in excommunicating the King of the realm that then was by implication for the manor of Oxford which the King as he rehearseth then withheld It may be the Translator would have left this out But Erasmus pen in those dayes was very light Moreover them Erasmus teacheth that between Christen men is no debt or right but Charity It is a mervailous matter towards the dissolution of laws and duties And therin Erasmus doth violate Gods scripture and saith not true Thus far is the doctrin pernitious for common policy Nevertheles if he had said true let the truth prevail but the truth is not so As touching Religion in this work of Paraphrasis it is so wantonly I
things ascribed to the Apostles and called Traditions deduced from the time of the Apostles and read in the name of old Authors and set forth under the pretensed title of their name which be both feigned forged and nothing true ful of superstition and untrueth fayned by them which would magnify their power and authority as is the Epistles of Clemens Anacletus Evaristus and Fabian●s and other which are set forth by the Bp. of Rome and his complices which be forged fayned and of no authority nor to be beleved but counterfeited by them who by the colour of antiquity would magnify that usurped power of the Bp. of Rome And now concerning another book which I made of the Sacrifice of the Mass. Wher the most chief and principal article of our faith and most directly pertaining to the redemption of our sins and to our Salvation is That our Savior Christ Iesu by his most precious death and effusion of his most precious blood upon the cros did redeme mankind taking away our sins pacifying the indignation of his Father and cancelling the obligation that was against us In which Sacrifice-making unto his Father our said Savior Jesus Christ as S. Paul saith plainly to the Hebrews was not a Priest after the order of Aaron forasmuch as he was of another tribe and also that Priesthood was imperfect and unprofitable bringing nothing to perfection But our Savior Christ made his Sacrifice upon the Cross perfectly absolutely and with the most highest perfection that could be so much that after that one oblation and sacrifice for sin made by him but once only neither he nor any other creature should at any time after make any mo oblations for the same And for that S. Paul saith he was called an eternal Priest after the order of Melchizedec and not of Aaron This faith ought every man and woman undoubtedly to beleve and openly to profess upon pain of everlasting damnation and also to dy in this profession if case shal so require The which most wholsome and most necessary doctrin of our Faith I not diligently considering as many times to right great Clerks and learned men in much writing in like matters it hath chaunced to say too far the infirmity and weakness of men being such that seldome in many words error hath escaped So in my Book of the Sacrifice of the Mass I did incircumspectly and rashly write and set forth to the people that Christ was not a Priest after the order of Melchizedec when he offered himself upon the cross to his Father for our sins but was a Priest after the order of Aaron And that when Christ did offer his own body to his father after the order of Melchizedec to appease his wrath it may not be understand of the Sacrifice of the Cros but of the Sacrifice that Christ made at his Maundy in form of bread and wine To the which indede S. Pauls doctrin is contrary both in other places and in the Epistle Ad Hebraeos very manifestly Against whom who without doubt had the very Spirit of God neither it becometh nor I wil not willing●y teach or defend any thing Wherfore ye shal impute that Good Audience to the frailty of mans nature and to my negligent marking having at that time rather a respect to a fantasy that I then had in my mind than to the true and infallible doctrin of scripture And moreover in the same my book I said not only that the Sacrifice of the Mass is the self same substaunce of Christ but also the self same oblation or offering of our Savior Christs very flesh and bloud which himself once offered to his Father on the Cross to appease his wrath And that the Priests do continually and daily in the Mass offer not only the self same body of Christ but also to the same effect that Christ did offer himself to his Father at his Maundy Of the which words and doctrin if they be not very warily and circumspectly read and more favorably taken then the words as they ly may wel bear it might be gathered that Priests herein be equal with Christ. Priests of the order of Melchizedec appeasing the wrath and indignation of the Father of heaven crucifying or offering Christ to the same effect that Christ in his own person did upon the cross is a blasphemy intolerable to be heard of Christen ears For Christ as S. Paul saith was but once offered once gave up himself for the Redemption of our sins on Good-Friday upon the Cross nor never before nor after was offered for us but in a Sacrament and as a commemoration of the same And so of the Maundy or Supper of the Lord Christ himself saith Haec quotiescunque feceritis in meam commemorationem facietis Once he dyed for our sins and once again he rose for our justification He dyeth no more And his Sacrifice was so good so ful so pleasaunt so precious to God that her neded no more oblations to appease God not only for the sins past but also for al the sins to the day of doom There nede no more Sacrifices no more Offerers but as having a respect and a remembrance of that most holy most perfect and most entier Lamb then and for ever offered up for us But these things aforesaid I cannot deny but they were spoken of me and written And as I do not now like them so at ●he example of S. Austin and other good Doctors I am not ashamed to retract them and cal them again and condemn them For when I followed mine own invention not directed by Scripture I began as the nature of man is to wander and at the last went clean contrary to Gods Word wherfore I heartily exhort every man as touching matters of Faith to found the same upon Gods certain true and infallible word lest by doing the contrary they fal into Superstition Idolatry and other manifold errors as my self and many other have done Wherfore these my two books the one of the Sacrifice of the Mas and the other of the Traditions unwritten in those poynts before rehersed and al other wherin they be not ful consonant to Scripture I forsake and renounce as false erroneous and against the true word of God requiring thee good Christian Reader whosoever shal read them to give no further credence to them then I would my self That is not to take as undoubted truth all that is therin written but as written of a man that some time falleth to be so far true as they be consonant to Scripture wher they be not against Scripture to be humane persuasion which may either be so or not so as the greater reason shal lead where they be not consonant to Scripture to be erroneous and false And that I much lament and am sorry that I wrote them in those poynts And I desire every man that hath any of the said books to beware of them and to give no credence to them in al
Or whether the footmen shall make them ready or set themselves in array or set upon the enemy or retyre to the standard Even so should the Priests be Gods trump in in his Church So that if he blow such a certain blast that the people may understand they be much edified therby But if he give such a sound as is to the people unknown it is clearly in vain saith S. Paul For he speakes to the air but no man is the better or edified therby Nor knoweth what he should do by that he heareth Furthermore in the same place S. Paul saith That if a man giveth thanks to God in a language to the people unknown how can they say Amen to that they understand not He doth wel in giving thanks to God but that nothing availeth or edifieth the people that know not what he saith And S Paul in one brief sentence concludeth his whole Disputation of that matter Saying I had rather have five words spoken in the Church to the instruction and edifying of the people then ten thousand in a language unknown that edifieth not And for this purpose alledgeth the Prophet Esay Who saith that God wil speak to his people in other tongues and in other languages Meaning therby that he would speak to every country in their own language So have the Greeks the Mass in the Greek tongue the Syrians in the Syry tongue the Armenians in their tongue and the Indians in their own tongue And be you so much addict to the Romish tongue which is the Latine tongue that you wil have your Mas in none other language but the Romish language Christ himself used among the Iews the Iews language and willed his Apostles to do the like in every country whersoever they came And be you such enemies to your own country that you wil not suffer us to laud God to thank him and to use his Sacraments in our own tongue but wil inforce us contrary as wel to al reason as to the word of God So many as be godly or have reason wil be satisfied with this But the mere Papists wil be satisfied with nothing Wherfore I wil no ●onger tary to satisfy them that never wil be satisfied but wil procede to the second part of this Article wherin you say that you wil have neither men nor women communicate with the Priest Alas good simple souls how be you blinded with the Papists How contrary be your Articles one to another You say in your first Article that you wil have al General Councels and Decrees observed and now you go from them your selves You say you wil have no body to communicate with the Priest Hear then what divers Canons Decrees and general Councels say clean against you There is one Decree which saith thus When the Consecration is done let al the people receive the Communion except they wil be put out of the Church And in the Canons of the Apostles in the eighth Chapter is contained That whensoever there is any Mas or Communion if any Bp. Priest Deacon or any other of the Clergy being there present do not communicate except he can shew some reasonable cause to the contrary he shal be put out of the Communion as one that giveth occasion to the people to think evil of the Ministers And in the ninth Chapter of the same Canons of the Apostles and in the General Council held at Antioch is thus written That al christen people that come into the Church and hear the holy Scriptures read and after wil not tarry to pray and to receive the holy Communion with the rest of the people but for some misordering of themselves wil abstain therfrom let them be put out of the Church until by humble knowledging of their fault and by the fruits of Penance and prayers they obtain pardon and forgivenes And the Councel Nicene also sheweth the order how men should sit in receiving the Communion and who should receive first Al these Decrees and general Councels utterly condemn your third Article wherein you wil That the Priest shal receive the Communion alone without any man or woman communicating with him And the whole Church of Christ also both Greeks and Latines many hundred years after Christ and the Apostles do al condemn this your Article Which ever received the Communion in flocks and numbers together and not the Priest alone And besides this the very words of the Mas as it is called shew plainly that it is ordained not only for the Priest but for others also to communicate with the Priest For in the very Canon which they so much extol and which is so holy that no man may know what it is and therfore is read so softly that no man can hear it in that same Canon I say is a prayer concerning this that not only the Priest but also as many beside as communicate with him may be fulfilled with grace and heavenly benediction How aggreeth this prayer with your Article wherein you say that neither man nor woman shal communicate with the priest In another place also of the said Canon the priest prayeth for himself and for al that receive the communion with him that it may be a preparation for them unto everlasting life Which prayer were but a very fond prayer and a very mocking with God if no body should communicate with the priest And the Communion concludes with two prayers in the name of the priest and them that communicate with him wherin they pray thus O Lord that thing which we have taken in our mouth let us take it also with pure minds that this Communion may purge us from our sins and make us partakers of heavenly remedy And besides al this there be an infinite sort of postcommons in the mas-Mas-books Which al do evidently shew that in the Masses the people did communicate with the priest And altho I would exhort every good christen man often to receive the holy Communion yet I do not recite al these things to the intent that I would in this corrupt world when men live so ungodly as they do that the old Canons should be restored again which command every man present to receive the Communion with the priest Which Canons if they were now used I fear that many would receive it unworthily But I speak them to condemn your Articles which would have no body neither man nor woman to be communicated with the priest Which your Article condemneth the old Decrees Canons and General Councels condemneth al the old primitive church al the old antient holy Doctors and Martyrs and al the formes and maner of Masses that ever were made both new and old Therfore eat again this Article if you wil not be condemned of the whole world and of your selves also by your first Article Wherin you wil al Decrees and general Councels to be observed But forasmuch as I have been so tedious in this Article I wil endeavour my self to be shorter in
own sinful flesh And therfore until Gods word came to light the Bp of Rome under the Prince of darknes rained quietly in the world and his Heresies were received and allowed for the true Catholic ●ai●h And it can none otherwise be but that Heresies must reign where the ●ight of Gods word driveth not away our darknes IX Your Eleventh Article is this WE wil have Dr. Moreman and Dr. Crispin which hold our opinions to be safely sent unto us and to them we require the Kings Maj●sty to give some certain Livings to preach among us our Catholic faith If you be of Moremans and Crispins faith I like you much the worse For like Lettice like lipps And to declare you plainly the qualiti s s of Crispin and Moreman and how unmeet men they be to be your Teachers they be persons very ignorant in Gods word and yet therto very wilful crafty and ful of dissimulation For if they were profoundly learned and of sincere judgments as they be not they might be godly Teachers of you Or if they were not toto wilful and standing wholy in their own cenceits they might learn and be taught of others But they be so wilful that they wil not learn and so ignorant that they cannot teach and so ful of craft and hypocrisy that they be able to deceive you al and to lead you into error after themselves So that if you ask them you ask your own poyson Now if a man were in such a sicknes that he longed for poyson as many diseases desire things most noy●ul unto them yet it were not the part of a good Physician to give it unto them No more is it the office of a most godly Prince to give you such Teachers altho you long never so sore for them as he knoweth would corrupt you feeding you rather with sower and unwholsome leaven of Romish Pharisaical doctrin then with the sweet pure and wholsome bread of Gods heavenly word Where you would have Gods word in English destroyed and Crispin and Moreman delivered unto you you do even as the people of the Iews did who cryed out that Christ might be crucified and that Barabbas the strong thief might be delivered unto them XII Your Twelfth Article is this WE think it very meet because the L. Cardinal Pole is of the Kings bloud that he should not only have his pardon but also be sent for to Rome and promoted to be of the Kings Councel In this Article I wil answer no more but this if ever any Cardinal or Legate were beneficial unto this Realm we may have some hope of some other to follow his steps But if al that ever were in this Realm were pernitious and hurtful unto the same I know not why we should be with child to long for any mo For by the experience of them that have been heretofore we may conjecture of them that be to come And I fear me that Cardinal Pole would follow rather the old race of the rest than to begin a better of himself Surely I have read a book of his making which whosoever shal read if he have a true heart to our late Soveraign Lord K. Henry VIII or to this realm he wil judge Cardinal Pole neither worthy to dwel in this realm nor yet to live For he doth extend al his wits and eloquence in that book to persuade the Bp. of Rome the Emperor the French King and al other Princes to invade this realm by force And sure I am that if you have him you must have the Bp. of Rome also For the Cardinal cannot be a Subject but where the other is his Head This sufficeth briefly to this Article XIII Your Thirteenth Article is this WE wil that no Gentleman shal have any mo servants then one to wait upon him except he may dispend one hundred mark land And for every hundred mark we think it reasonable he should have a man Yet have you not foreseen one thing You Wise Disposers of the Common wealth For if a Gentleman of an hundred mark land who by your order must have but one servant except he might spend two hundred marks should send that one servant to London you have not provided who shal wait upon him until his servant come home again Nor you have not provided where every Gentleman may have one servant that can do al things necessary for him I fear me the most part of you that devised this Article whom I take to be Loiterers and idle unthrifts if they should serve a gentleman he should be faine to do al things himself for any thing that you could or would do for him For one thing methink very strange for where much complaint is made of divers Gentlemen because they keep not Houses you provide by your order that no Gentleman shal keep house but al shal sojourn with other men For who can keep a household with one servant or with two servants after the rate of two hundred mark or with three after the rate of three hundred and so upward For here it seems you be very desirous to make Gentlemen rich For after this proportion every Gentleman may lay up clearly in his Coffers at the least one half of his yearly revenues and much more But it was not for good mind that you bare to the Gentlemen that you devised this Article but it appeareth plainly that you devised it to diminish their strength and to take away their friends that you might command Gentlemen at your pleasures But you be much deceived in your account For altho by your appointment they lacked household servants yet shal they not lack Tenants and Farmers Which if they do their duties wil be as assured to their Lords as their own household servants For of these lands which they have or hold of their Lords they have their whole Livings for themselves their wives children and servants And for al these they attend their own busines and wait not upon their Lords but when they be called therto But the household servant leaving al his own busines waiteth daily and continually upon his Masters service and for the same hath no more but meat and drink and apparel for himself only So that al Tenants and Farmers which know their duties and be kind to their Lords wil dy and live with them no les then their own Household Servants Therefore I would wish you to put this fantasie out of your heads and this Article out of your book as wel for the unreasonablenes as for the ungodlines thereof For was it ever seen in any country since the world began that Commons did appoint the Nobles and Gentlemen the number of their Servants Standeth it with any reason to turn upside down the good order of the whole world that is every where and ever hath been That is to say The Commoners to be governed by the Nobles and the Servants by their Masters Wil you now have the Subjects to govern their King
rowe Now God sped thee wel And I wil no more mell The Answer to the Enemy A rope is a fytt reward for such rysshe repers As have strowed this Church ageinst the Kings prechers THE Pulpits are now replenished with them that prech the truthe And Popish traitors banished which seemed to you great ruthe But yf you and the Freers were clean owt of this land This realme to the last years ful firme and sure should stand When such as with you trust shal al ly in the dust And ryse thereout agayne unto perpetual payne With them that laugh and scorne eyther at hye or lowe Had better not been borne such evil seeds to sowe Yee pray God spede them wel and ye wil no more mell Forsothe ye have said wel But if ye may be knowen Ye are like for to be taken and quartered like a baken And of your frends forsaken for these sedis ye have sowen Like as the last yere Traitors were knowen By standing in the felds with weapon and swordes So this year their treason is sowen In traiterous bills and railing words Some of their carcases standith on the gates And their heads most fyttely on London bridge Therefore ye Traytors beware your pates For yf ye be founde the same way must ye tridge God save the Kings Majestie long for to reigne To suppresse al rebells and truthe to maynteyne An old Song of John Nobody I. IN December when the dayes draw to be be short After November when the nights wax noysome and Long As I past by a place privily at a port I saw one sit by himself making a song His last talk of trifles who told with his tongue That few were fast i' th' faith I feyned that freake Whether he wanted wit or some had done him wrong He said he was little Iohn Nobody that durst not speak II. Iohn Nobody quoth I What news thou soon note and tell What maner men thou mean that are so mad He said These gay gallants that wil construe the gospel As Solomon the sage with semblance ful sad To discus divinity they nought adread More meet it were for them to milk kye at a fleyke Thou lyest quoth I thou Losel like a leud lad He said he was little Iohn Nobody that durst not speak III. It s meet for every man on this matter to talk And the glorious gospel ghostly to have in mind It is sothe said that Sect but much unseemly scalk As boyes babble in books that in Scripture are blind Yet to their fancy soon a cause wil find As to live in lust in lechery to leyke Such Caitives count to be come of Cains kind But that I little Iohn Nobody durst not speak IV. For our Reverend Father hath set forth an order Our service to be said in our Seignours tongue As Solomon the sage set forth the Scripture Our suffrages and service with many a sweet song With Homilies and godly books us among That no stiff stubborn stomacks we should freyke But wretches nere worse to do poor men wrong But that I little Iohn Nobody dare not speak V. For Bribery was never so great since born was our Lord And Whoredom was never les hated sith Christ harrowed Hel And poor men are so sore punished commonly through the world Thus would it grieve any one that good is to hear tel For al the homilies and good books yet their hearts be so quel That if a man do amiss with mischefe they wil him wreake The fashion of these new fellows it is so vile and fell But that I little Iohn Nobody dare not speake VI. Thus to live after their lust that life would they have And in letchery to lyke al their long life For al the preaching of Paul yet many a proud knave Wil move mischiefe in their mind both to maid and wife To bring them in advoutry or else they wil strife And in brawling about baudery Gods Commandments break But of these frantic il fellowes few of them do thrife Though I little Iohn Nobody dare not speak VII If thou company with them they wil currishly carp and not care According to their foolish fantacy but fast wil they naught Prayer with them is but prating Therefore they it forbear Both Almes deeds and holiness they hate it in their thought Therefore pray we to that Prince that with his bloud us bought That he wil mend that is amiss For many a man ful freyke Is sorry for these Sects though they say little or nought And that I little Iohn Nobody dare not once speake VIII Thus in no place this Nobody in no time I met Where no man then nought was nor nothing did appear Though the sound of a Synagogue for sorrow I swett That Hercules through the eccho did cause me to hear Then I drew me down into a dale wheras the dumb deer Did shiver for a shower but I shunted from a freyke For I would no wight in this world wist who I were But little Iohn Nobody that dare not once speake NUM L. John a Lasco's Letter from Embden signifying the dangerous condition they were in and the Persecutions they expected Clarissimo viro Domino Sicilio a consilijs libellis s●pplicibus Illustrissimi Domini Protectoris Domino fratri meo observandissimo S. Cum mihi ad alios scribendum istuc esset facere non potui quin ad te quoque scriberem Vir Clarissime memor videlicet illius quòd te mihi istic delegerim cui mea omnia nota prae alijs esse velim Volui itaque tibi de meo huc reditu significare nempe me felicissimo itinere gratia Domino usum me ex Anglia in Frisiam Orientalem intra triduum trajecisse Navis praesectum a Domino Protectore nobis additum habebamus virum optimum fidelissimum qui Dominum Comitem Bremam usque est sequutus ut certi aliquid opinor ab illo vobis adferat Ego quae scio ad Dominum Cantuariensem omnia perscripsi ut Illustri●●imo Domino Protectori exponat quae tibi quoque incognita non fore puto Scripturus alioqui eadem ad te omnia si non id parum necessarium adeoque supervacaneum esse judicarem Nos hic crucem certissimam expectamus ad eam perferendam mutuo nos in Domino cohortamur cum invocatione nominis sancti sui ut per patientiam fidem ferendo superemus omnia quae●únque in nos permittere ille volet ad nominis sui gloriam nostri probationem Certi illum curam nostri habere ita potentem esse ut ●mnes omnium hostium phalanges quicunque sint tandem illi unico oris sui verbo sternat momento uno rursum ita bon●m ut ne pilum quidem temerè e nostro capite detrahi patiatur etiamsi nos totus mundus impetere conetur Támque nobis malè velle non possit unquam quàm mater infanti
secum deferat Atque ita Communionem in domo Aegrotantis administret Qua in re id me offendit quòd ibi non repetunt quae praecipuè ad coenam Domini pertinent cumque ut tu quoque sentis arbitror verba coenae magis ad homines quam aut ad panem aut ad vinum pertinere Monui omnino mihi videri ut coram aegroto simul cum eo communicantibus omnia quae ad coenam Domini necessariò requiruntur dicantur agantur Et sane mirandum est quomodo ea conspectu aegroti verba dicere graventur cui maximè utilia sunt cum inutiliter eadem repetere velint quando inter communicandum in Templo vinum in poculo deficere contigerit cum homines qui adsunt sacramenta sumunt illa jam audiverint Haec sunt quae putavi alicujus momenti cur omiseris non satis intelligo In omnibus autem quae censuisti emendanda tuae sententiae scripsi Et gratias Deo ago qui occasionem suppeditavit ut de his omnibus Episcopi per nos admonerentur Conclusum jam est in hoc eorum Colloquio quemadmodum mihi retulit Reverendissimus ut multa immutentur Sed quaenam illa sint quae consenserint emendanda neque ipse mihi exposuit neque ego de illo quaerere ausus sum Verum hoc non me parum recreat quod mihi D. Checus indicavit si noluerint ipsi ait efficere ut quae mutanda sint mutentur Rex per seipsum id saciet cum ad Parliamentum ventum suerit ipse suae Majestatis authoritatem interponet De Wintoniensi jam actio quarta in judicio habita est neque dum respondet alio spectat quam ut se a Contumacia purget Verba ejus a Papisticis hominibus ut docta acuta praedicantur a veris autem sanis judicibus vafra subdola alien● a causa ut uno verbo dicam sophistica Quod mihi etiam ●it verisimile cum illum in rebus Theologicis non aliter agere animadverterim Verum quicquld sit causa omninò existimatur casurus Quae de Hoppero ad me scribis non potuerunt non videri mira Certè illis auditis obstupui Sed bene habet quod Episcopi meas literas viderunt unde invidia ego quidem sum liberatus Et illius causa sic jacet ut me ioribus pijs nequaquam probetur Dolet dolet inquam mihi gravissimè talia inter Evangelij professores contingere Ille toto hoc tempore cum illi sit interdicta concio non videtur posse quiescere suae sidei confessionem edidit qua rursus multorum animos exacerbavit Deinde queritur de Consiliarijs fortasse quod mihi non refertur de nobis Deus selicem Catastrophen non laetis actibus imponat Doctor Smithus quondam Oxonij Professor qui me de votis Monasticis praeterita jam aestate lacessivit nunc librum Anglicè scrip●um contra Dominum Cantuariensem edidi● de re Sacramentari● De quo cum lingua mihi sit ignota nequeo judicare Sed tamen sensum ejus ineptias brevi cognoscam Nam scribit se etiam sub prelo habere qua● contra me de eadem re composuit Quanquam haec ego vel parum vel nih●● mo●or cum a Satanae atque Papae Mancipijs nihil nisi mendacia expectem Peccata nostra me terrent atque pertenuis Evangelij fructus Necnon ex altera parte Caesaris Successus quem Severissimam Dei virgam esse video Et inter haec mala nostris Peregrinorum ecclesijs vacat nugari Est enim inter illas de Templo a Rege concesso exorta magna contentio adeoque sunt animi eorum implacabiles eò exarserunt ut eorum dissidium per Concilium Regium sit dirimendum Precor Deu● ut res non malè juxta merita cadat Multo antea voluissem discedere sed hodie tandem abeundi facultatem impetravi Scriptum tuum Petro Alexandro tradam ut id tibi cum ipsum perlegerit remittat Tibi vero interim omnibus tuis cuncta salutaria felicia precor unà cum Iulio qui vos plurimum salvere jubet 10 Jan. 1551. Ad Lambeth Tuus in Christo Petrus Martyr Clarissimo eruditissimo D.D. Martino Bucero Theolog●ae Professori regio mihi plurimum observando Cantabrigiae NUM LXII The Archbishops letter to procure Wolf the Printer a licence to publish his Book AFter my veray hertie commendations Thies be to signify unto you that Rayner Wolf at my desire hath fully fynyshed the printing of my Book for answer to the late Bishop of Winchesters written against myn of the Doctrine of the Sacrament And forasmuche as both printing and selling of any matiers in thenglishe tounge is prohibited by a Proclamation set furthe onles the same matier be first allowed by the Kings Majestie or vi of his Majesties privey Counsail as you shal more plainly perceyve by the Proclamation which herewith I send unto you Therfor I hertily pray you to be a Sutor to the kings Majestie or to the privye Counsail that Mr. Rayner may have licence for the printing and selling of my said Book accordingly And the same so obtained to send me with convenient spede For in the begynning of the Terme I thinck it wer veray necessary to be set furthe for the contentation of many which have had long expectation of the same Assone as I shal receyve advertisement whan the Kings Majestie wil be at Hampton courte I wil come thither to see his Grace and do my duty towards the same Thus fare ye hertily wel From my Mannour at Croydon the xxix of September 1551. Your Lovynge Frende T. Cant. To my veray lovynge freendes Mr. Cecill one of the Kings Majesties two principal Secretaries Or to Mr. Cheeke NUM LXIII Articles wherunto Wylliam Phelps Pastor and Curate of Ceciter upon good advisement and deliberation after better knowledg geven by Gods grace and goodnes unto him hath subscribed consented and aggreed willingly without force compulsion and all maner of impulsion and is willing and desirous to set forth the same to his parishoners for the better edifying of them and declaration of his new aggreement to Gods verite and holy word FIrst That the holy word of God doth acknowledg confess maintaine avouch hold and defend that in the holy Sacrament and Communion of Christs precious body and bloud the very substance matter nature and condition of bread and wine do remain after the words as they be commonly called of Consecration as verily and truly as they were in substance and matter bread and wine before Although that the use of the bread and wine in the Sacrament be changed For whereas before it was common bread and common wine n●w by the virtue of Gods word it is made the Sacrament of the precious body and bloud of Christ and a Seal confirmation and
augmentation of Gods mercy and gracious promise to al men that receive it in the Faith of Christ Jesu with hatred of sin and intent purpose and mind to live always a vertuous life And that is the very Transubstantiation and change that God delighteth in in the use of the Sacraments most that we should earnestly and from the bottome of our hearts be converted into Christ and Christs holy commandments to live a christen life and to dy from sin as he gave us example both by his life and doctrin and meaneth not that the bread and wine should in substance be turned or converted into the substance of his body and bloud or that the substance of the bread should be taken away and in the place therof to be the substance matter and corporal presence of Christs corporal holy humane and natural body Item That the same holy word of God doth confess hold defend acknowledg and maintain that the very natural substantial real and corporal body of Christ concerning his humanity is only and soly in heaven and not in the Sacrament and Communion of his precious body and bloud But whosoever worthily with true repentance and lively faith in the promise of God receiveth that holy Sacrament receiveth Sacramentally by faith al the mercies riches merits and deservings that Christ hath deserved and paid for in his holy bloud and passion And that is to eat Christ and to drink Christ in the holy Sacrament to confirm and Seal Sacramentally in our Souls Gods promises of eternal Salvation that Christ deserved for us not in or by his body eaten but by and for his body slain and killed upon the Cross for our Sinns as S. Paul saith Col. 1. Eph. 1.3 Ebru 2.7 8 9 10. As for eating of his flesh and drinking of his bloud really corporally materially and substantially it is but a carnal and gross opinion of man besides and contrary to the word of God and the articles of our faith and christen religion that affirmeth his corporal departure from th earth placeth it in heaven above at the right hand of God the father Almighty and keepeth retaineth holdeth and preserveth the same corporal body of Christ there til the general day of judgment as the word declareth From thence he shal come to judge the quick and the dead And that heretofore I have been in the contrary opinion and believed my self and also have taught other to believe the same that there remained no substance of bread and wine in the Sacrament but the very self same body and bloud of Christ Jesu that was born of the blessed Virgin Mary and hanged upon the Cross I am with al my heart sorry for mine error and false opinion detesting and forsaking the same from the bottome of my heart and desire God most heartily in and for the merits of his dear sons passion to forgive me and al them that have erred in the same false opinion by and through my means Praying them in the tender compassion and great mercies of God now to follow me in truth verite and singleness of Gods most true word as they were contented to follow me in error superstition and blindness and be no more ashamed to turn to the truth then they were ready to be corrupted by falshood If the holy Apostle S. Paul and the great Clerk S. Augustine with many mo Noble and vertuous members of Christs church were not ashamed to returne acknowledge and confess their error and evil opinions what am I miserable creature of the world inferior unto them both in knowledg holines and learning that should be ashamed to do the same Nay I do in this part thank God and rejoyce from the bottome of my heart that God hath revealed unto me the truth of his word and geven me leave to live so long to acknowledg my fault and error and do here before you protest that from henceforth I will with al diligence and labor study to set forth this mine amended knowledg and reconciled truth as long as I live by the help of God in the holy Ghost through the merits of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Advocate To whom be al honor for ever and ever Amen Subscribed and confirmed 29 of April 1551. in the presence of John Bp. of Gloucester and divers other ther present NUM LXIV The Archbishop to the Lords of the Councel concerning the Book of Articles of Religion AFter my veray humble recommendations unto your good Lordeships I have sent unto the same the boke of Articles which yesterday I receyved from your Lordeships I have sent also a Cedule inclosed declarynge briefly my minde upon the said boke besechynge your Lordeshipps to be means unto the Kyngs Majestie that al the Bushops may have authority from hym to cause all their Prechers Archdecons Deans Prebendaries Parsons Vicars Curates with al their Clergie to subscribe to the said articles And than I trust that such a concorde and quyetness in religion shal shortely follow therof as ells is not to be loked for many years God shal therby be glorified his truth shal be avaunced and your Lordeships shal be rewarded of hym as the setters forward of his true word and gospel Unto whom is my dayly prayer without ceasynge to preserve the Kynges Majestie with al your honorable Lordeships From my house at Forde the 24 of this present month of November Your Lordeshipps ever to commaunde T. Cant. To my veray good Lordes of the Kinges Majestie his most honor able Councel NUM LXV The Archbishop nominates certain persons for an Irish Archbishoprick To my veray Lovinge friende Sir William Cecyl Knight one of the Kinges Majesties principal Secretaries THough in England there be many meete men for the Archbushopricks of Ireland yet I knowe veraye fewe that wil gladlie be perswaded to go thither Nevertheless I have sent unto you the names of iiij Viz. Mr. Whiteheade of Hadley Mr. Tourner of Caunturbury Sir Thomas Rosse and Sir Robert Wisdome Which being ordinarily called I thincke for conscience sake wil not refuse to bestowe the talent committed unto theim wheresoever it shal please the Kinges Majestie to appoincte theim Among whom I take Mr. Whiteheade for his good knowledge special honestie fervent zeale and politick wisdome to be most meete And next him Mr. Tourner who besides that hee is merry and witty withal nihil appetit nihil ardet nihil somniat nisi Iesum Christum and in the lively preaching of him and his wourde declareth such diligence faithfulness and wisdom as for the same deservithe much commendation There is also one Mr. Whitacre a man both wise and wel learned Chaplain to the Bushopp of Winchester veray meet for that office if he might be perswaded to take it upon him I pray you commend me unto Mr. Cheke and declare unto him that myn ague whither it were a quotidian or a double tertian wherof my Physitions doubted hath left me these two dayes and so I
to shew him the way and to expound to him the scripture yet did hee read And therefore God the rather provided for him a guide of the way that taught him to understand it God perceived his willing and toward mind and therfore hee sent him a Teacher by and by Therfore let no man be neg●igent about his own health and salvation Though thou have not Philip alwayes when thou wouldest the holy Ghost which then moved and sti●red up Philip will bee ready and not fail thee if thou do thy diligence accordingly All these things bee written for us for our edification and amendment which bee born towards the latter end of the world The reading of the Scriptures is a great and strong bulwark or fortress against sin the ignorance of the same is a greater ruine and destruction of them that wil not know it That is the thing that bringeth in heresie that is it that causeth all corrupt and perverse Living that is it that bringeth all things out of good order Hitherto al that I have said I have taken and gathered out of the foresaid sermon of this holy Doctor S. Iohn Ch●ysostom Now if I should in like manner bring sorth what the self same Doctor speaketh in other places and what other Doctors and Writers say concerning the same purpose I might seem to you to write another Bible ra●her then to make a Preface to the Bible Wherfore in few words to comprehend the largeness and utility of the Scripture how it containeth fruitful instruction and erudition for every man if any thing be necessary to be Learned of the holy Scripture we may learn it If falshood shall be reproved thereof wee may gather wherewithal If any thing bee to bee corrected and amended if there need any exhortation or consolation of the Scripture wee may wel learn In the Scriptures bee the fat pastures of the Soul therein is no venomous meat no unwholsome thing they bee the very dainty and pure feeding Hee that is ignorant shal find there what hee should learn Hee that is a perverse sinner shal there find his Damnation to make him to tremble for fear Hee that laboureth to serve God shal find there his Glory and the promissions of eternal life exhorting him more diligently to labour Herein may Princes learn how to govern their Subjects Subjects obedience Love and dread to their Princes Husbands how they should behave them unto their Wives how to educate their Children and Servants And contrary the Wives Children and Servants may know their dutie to their Husbands Parents and Masters Here may al maner of persons men women young old learned unlearned rich poor priests Laymen Lords La●ies officers tenants and mean men Virgins Wives Widdowes Lawiers Merchants Artificers Husbandmen and al manner of persons of what estate or condition soever they bee may in this book learn all things what they ought to believe what they ought to do and what they should not do as wel concerning Almighty God as also concerning themselves and al other Briefly to the reading of the Scripture none can bee enemy but that either bee so sick that they Love not to hear of any medicine or else that bee so ignorant that they know not Scripture to bee the most healthful medicine Therefore as touching this former part I wil hear conclude and take it for conclusion sufficiently determined and appoynted that it is convenient and good the Scriptures to bee read of al sorts and kinds of people and in the vulgar tongue without further allegations and probations for the same which shal not need since that this one place of Iohn Chrysostom is enough and sufficient to persuade al them that bee not frowardly and perversely set in their own wilful opinion Specially now that the Kings Highnes being Supreme Head next under Christ of this church of England hath approved with his Royal assent the setting forth hereof Which onely to al true and obedient Subjects ought to bee a sufficient reason for the allowance of the same without further delay reclamation or resistance although there were no preface or other reason herein expressed Therefore now to come to the second and latter part of my purpose Here is nothing so good in this world but it may bee abused and turned from unhurtfull and wholsome to hurtful and noisome What is there above better then the Sun the Moon and the Stars Yet was there that took occasion by the great beauty and vertue of them to dishonour God and to defile themselves with idolatry giving the honour of the Living God and Creator of al things to such things as hee had created What is there here beneath better then fire Water meats drinks mettals of gold silver iron and steel Yet wee see daily great harm and much mischief done by every one of these as wel for lack of wisdome and providence of them that suffer evil as by the malice of them that work the evill Thus to them that bee evil of themselves every thing setteth forward and encreaseth their evil bee it of his own nature a thing never so good Like as contrarily to them that study and endeavour themselves to goodnes every thing prevaileth them and profiteth unto good bee it of his own nature a thing never so bad As S. Paul saith Hijs qui diligunt Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum All things do bring good success to such as do love God Even as out of most venimous wormes is made Triacle the most sovereign medicine for the preservation of mans health in time of danger Wherefore I would advise you all that come to the reading or hearing of this Book which is the word of God the most precious jewel and most holy Relique that remaineth upon earth that yee bring with you the fear of God and that yee do it with al reverence and use your knowledg thereof not to vain glory of frivolous disputation but to the honour of God encrease of vertue and edification both of your selves and other And to the intent that my words may bee the more regarded I wil use in this part the authority of S. Gregory Nazienzen like as in the other I did of S. Iohn Chr●sostom It appeareth that in his time there were some as I fear mee there bee also now at these dayes a great number which were idle bablers and talkers of the Scripture out of season and all good order and without any encrease of virtue or example of good living To them hee writeth al his first book De Theologia Where●ore I shal briefly gather the whole effect and reci●e it here unto you There bee some saith hee whose not onely ears and tongues but also their fists bee whetted and ready bent al to contention and unprofitable disputation whom I would wish as they bee vehement and earnest to reason the matter with tongue so they were al Ready and practive to do good deeds But forasmuch as they subverting the order of
rather the way of superfluous contention and sophistication Hitherto have I recited the mind of Gregory Nazianzen in that book which I spake of before The same Aucthor saith also in another place that the Learning of a Christian man ought to begin of the fear of God to end in matters of high speculation and not contrarily to begin with speculation and to end in fear For Speculation saith hee either high cunning or knowledg if it be not stayd with the bridle of ●ea to o●●end God is daungerous and enough to tumble a man 〈◊〉 down the hill Therefore saith hee the fear of God must be the first beginning and as it were an A. B. C. or an introduction to all them that shall enter into the very true and most fruitful knowledg of holy Scriptures Whereas is the fear of God there is saith ●ee t●e keeping of the Commandments there is the cleansing of the flesh Which flesh is a cloud before the Souls ey and suffereth i● not purely to see the beam of heavenly light Whereas is the cleansing of the flesh there is the illumination of the holy Ghost the end of al our d●●ires and the very light whereby the verity of Scriptures is se●n and perceived This is the mind and almost the words of Gregory N●zia●zen Doctor of the Gre●k Church of whom S. Ierome saith that unto his time the L●tine church had no Writer able to bee compared and to make an even match with him Therefore to conclude this Latter part Every man that cometh to the reading of this hol● book ought to bring with him first and foremost this feat of Almighty God and then next a firm and stable purpose to reform his own self according thereunto and so to continue proceed and prosper from t●●e to time shewing himself to bee a sober and fruitful hearer and learner Which if hee do hee shall prove at length wel able to teach though not with his mouth yet with his Living and good example which is sure the most lively and affectuous form and manner of teaching Hee that otherwise intermedleth with this book ●et him be assured that once hee shal make account therefore when hee shal have said to him as it is written in the Prophet David Peccatori dicit Deus c. Vnto the ungodly said God why dost thou preach my La●es and takest my Testament in thy mouth Whereas 〈…〉 to bee reformed and hast been partakers with adulterers Tho● hast l●t thy mouth speak wickedness and with thy tongue thou hast set forth dec●●pt Thou sattest and spakest against thy brother and hast slandered thine own Mothers son These things hast thou done and I held my tongue and thou thoughtest wickedly that I am even such an one as thee self but I wil reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done O consider this yee that forget God lest I pluck you away and there bee none to deliver you Whoso offereth mee thanks and praise hee honoure●● mee and to him that ordereth his conversation right wil I shew the Salvation of God Praise bee to God NUM CV Bucer and others Learned strangers from Lambeth to Cecyl to prefer the Petition of some poor French Protestants to the Protector Clarissimo Viro Domino Sicilio illustrissimi Principis Protectoris Angliae à Secretis Domino amico summopere Colendo Charissimo GRatiam benedictionem Domini nostri Iesu Christi augeri tibi precamur Vir ornatissime religiosissime Cum summa fide studio ministrare oporteat Christo Domino nostro afflicto in membris suis nostris non debuimus officium nostrum negare ijs captivis Domini quorum caussam exponent hi Ecclesiae Gallicanae Ministri Collegae nostri his ipsis fratribus collegis nostris ut utrósque tuae charitati comm●ndaremus id T.D. à nobis boni consulet Veniunt vero ad te hi Collegae nostri jussu Reverendissimi Domini ac Patroni nostri Arch●●piscopi Cantuariensis rogatum ut Captivorum illorum Supplicatione●n velis offerre Illustrissimo Principi D. Protectori adjuncta tua commendatione fidèmque faci●nt eos quorum offerunt Supplicationem nulla alia quam Religionis c●ussa patriam suam deserere coactos in hoc regnum venisse tanquam ad Christi asylum Quod cum ita habere propter testium sanctiratem nihil dubitemus D. T. quantum licet oramus ut caussam horum Captivorum Christi apud Illustriss Principem D Protectorem diligenter agas nostras quoque illius Celsitudini supplices preces ad eam caussam offerre non graveris Quod Christus Dominus tibi cumulatè rependet Cui Illustrissimum Principem D. Protectorem teque tuos omnes etiam atque etiam commendamus Lambethi XIII Augusti Anno MDXLIX Tui in Domino Martinus Bucerus Pet. Martyr Petrus Alexander Paulus Fagius These Letters following tho they have no particular Reference yet being made use of in the former Memorials I have thought fit to publish them with the rest NUM CVI. The Archbishop to the Secretary concerning a French man that desired a Patent to translate the Common prayer into French and print it To my veray lovinge freunde Sir William Cecill Knight one of the Kings Majesties principal Secretaries AFter my verai hartie commendations I thancke youe for your newes but speciallie for that ye advertise me that the Kinges Majestie is in good health wherin I beseche God long to continue his highness as he hath twise as I trust restored me to the same It seamithe by your letters that a peace should be concluded betwixt themperor and Duke Morrise which whither it bee accordinge to tha●ticles that afore ye sent unto me or otherwise I woulde gladlie understande The commoditie that might arrise by printinge the boke of Common praier and administration of Sacraments in the French tongue if any bee I reckon it were meete that it shoulde come to theim which have already taken pains in translatinge th● same Which was first done by Sir Hugh Paullets commaundement and overseen by my L. Chauncellor and other at his appoinitement an● now altered accordinge to that which must bee put in execution at the feast of All Saints next at the appoinctment of my L. Chauncellor by a learned Frenche man a Doctor in Divinitie And therfore needless of anny other to bee travailed in Aug. 26. 1552. NUM CVII Mention of Letters sent by him to the Duke of Northumberland excusing his not proceeding in a Commission His reflexion upon the Newes To my Lovenge frende Sir William Cecil Knight and Secretary to the kyngs Majestie AFter my veray harty recommendations and no lesse thanks for your frendly letters and advertisements Be you assured that I take the same in such parte and to procede of such a frendly mynde as I have ever loked for at your hands Wherof I shal not be unmyndeful if occasion hereafter shal serve to
requite the same I have written lettres unto my Lorde of Northumberlande declarynge unto hym the cause of my staye in the Commission which is bicause that al the gentylmen and Justices of the peace of Kent which be in commission with me be now at London Bifore whos 's comynge home if I sholde procede without them I myght perchaunce travel in vayne and take more payne than I sholde do good I have written also unto hym in the favour of Michael Angelo whose cause I pray you to helpe so moche as lieth in you The Sophy and the Turke themperor and the French kynge not moch better in religion than they rollynge the stone or turnynge the whele of fortune up and downe I pray God send us peace and quyetnes with al realmes as wel as among our selfes and to preserve the Kyngs majestie with al his councill Thus fare you wel From my howse of Forde the xx day of November Anno 1552. Your assured T. Cant. NUM CVIII Signifying his desire to have the good will of the Lord Warden his neighbour To my lovyng frende Sir William Cecill Knyght Secretary to the Kings Majestie Yeve thies AFter my harty commendations and thanks for your letters ther is no man more loth to be in contention with any man than I am specially with my Lorde Warden my nere neighbour dwellynge both in one contray and whose familier and entier frendeshippe I most desier for the quyetnes of the hole contray For the example of the rulers and heades wil the people and membres followe And as towchynge learned men I shal sende you my mynde with as moch expedition as I can which by this poste I can not do evyn in the colde snowe sittynge opon coles untyl he be gone But hartely fare you wel in the Lorde Iesus From Forde the last day of November Your Lovynge frende T. Cant. NUM CIX Desiring Cecyl to enform him of the cause of Chekes indictment To my very Lovynge frende Sir William Cecyl Knight AFter my very harty recommend●tions Yester nyght I harde reported that Mr. Cheke is indited I pray you hartely if you know any thynge therof to sende me knowledge and wheruppon he is indited I had grete trust that he sholde be one of them that sholde fele the Queens grete mercie and pardon as one who hath been none of the grete doers in this matier agaynst her and my trust is not yet gone excepte it be for his ernestnes in religion For the which if he suffre bl●ssed is he of god that suffreth for his sake howsoever the worlde juge of hym For what ought we to care for the jugement of the worlde whan god absolveth us But alas if any means cowde be made for hym or for my Lorde Russel it were not to be omitted nor in any wise neglected But I am utterly destitute both of counseil in this matter and of power being in the same condemnation that they be But that onely thynge which I can do I shal not ceasse to do and that is only to pray from theym and for my selfe with al other that be now in adversity Whan I saw you at the cour●e I wolde fayne have talked with you but I durst not nevertheless if you cowde fynde a tyme to come over to me I wolde gladly commen with you Thus fare you hartely well with my Lady your wife From Lamhith this 14 day of this month of August Your own assured T. Cant. FINIS READER MY Reverend Friend Mr. Wharton as he formerly Encouraged and Assisted me in the Foregoing History hath also further obliged me by the Perusal of it and by communicating to me his Ingenious and Learned Observations and Animadversions thereupon which do highly deserve to be made more Publick and therefore are here gladly added by me together with his Letter as a Supplement to my Book for the Reader 's Benefit To the Reverend Mr. STRYPE SIR AT the Desire of Mr. Chiswell our Common Friend I have perused your Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer not without great Satisfaction being much pleased to see the Actions of that Excellent Prelate and the Affairs of the Reformation of our Church happily begun and carried on in his Time and by his Conduct disposed in so clear a Method I have not been able to make my Observations upon it with that Exactness and Fulness which I desired and you may perhaps expect being at this time placed at a very great distance from all my Papers and Collections and not enjoying the use even of such Printed Books as would be necessary to this Design So that I have been forced to pass by very many Places of your History wherein I have suspected some Error to have been committed but could not either confirm or remove my Suspicion for want of farther present Evidence However I have noted several Places which at first Reading appeared Suspicious and after farther Consideration were judged Erroneous by me altho even in some of those Places I have only Pointed at the Error not being able always to rectify it without the Assistance of Books and Papers whereof I am now wholly destitute Be pleased to accept of my Performance herein with that Candor wherewith I read your Book and made the following Observations since I willingly profess That the commission of Errors in writing any History especially of times past being altogether unavoidable ought not to detract from the Credit of the History or Merit of the Historian unless it be accompanied with Immoderate Ostentation or Vnhandsome Reflections upon the Errors of others from which Imputation that Indifference and Candor which appear throughout your whole Work wholly exempt you altho no History of those Matters or Times which I have seen be wrote with equal Exactness PAGE 16. Line 4. It is the sense of an Ingenious and Learned Friend of mine That the pretended Martyr Thomas Becket tho he died in Vindication of the Privileges of the Church yet he was the First Betrayer of the Rights of his See viz. of Canterbury He made the greatest Breach upon the Authority of the Primacy of Canterbury by resigning the Archbishoprick into the Pope's hands and receiving it again from him as the Pope's Donation Thomas Becket was not the First nor the Chief Betrayer of the Rights of the See of Canterbury The first and greatest Breach upon the Authority of the Primacy of that See was made by his Predecessor William de Corboil Thirty seven years before who after he had been fully Invested in the Archbishoprick of Canterbury by due Authority solicited and accepted the Bulls of Pope Honorius conferring it upon him as by Papal Gift and other Bulls constituting him the Pope's Legate in England whereby he subjected his own See and the Church of England to the Authority of the See of Rome which were before wholly independent of it Page 21. line 21. The Twelfth Article of Cranmer's Judgment of the Unlawfulness of K. Henry's Marriage is this We think that
Willelmus Episcopus Landavensis Bishop of Landaff whose Title of Landavensis the Ignorance or Mistake of the Scribe changed into Navatensis By a like mistake very frequent in our Ancient Records the Bishop of Lincoln Lincolniensis is corruptly stiled Nicoliensis Page 37. line 6. Iohn Thornden who was often Commissary of Oxon while Archbishop Warham was Chancellor of that University was stiled Episcopus Syrinensis His Name was Iohn Thornton Many years after him Richard Thornden was Suffragan Bishop in the Diocess of Canterbury In Thornton endeth the Catalogue of Suffragan Bishops which you could find Consecrated before the time of Archbishop Cranmer being in all seven If it pleaseth God to permit me to to finish my Angli● Sacra I shall exhibit a perfect Succession of Suffragan Bishops in almost all the Diocesses of England for about Two hundred years before the Reformation Ibid. line 8. And hereafter we shall meet with a Bishop of Hippolitanum who assisted Archbishop Cranmer at his Ordinations It will be hard to find such a City as Hyppolitanum in the world We had in England many Suffragan Bishops who successively assumed the Title of Bishops of Hippo the See of the Great St. Austin These were wont to stile themselves Hipponenses but some of them not being so good Grammarians took the Stile of Ypolitanenses and Hippolitanenses which latter Appellation might give occasion to the mistake concerning a Bishop of Hippolitanum Page 38. line 3. ab imo The King sent to the Archbishop to make Thomas Mannyng Suffragan of Gipwich who was accordingly Consecrated by the Archbishop This Gipwich is no other than Ipswich the chief Town of Suffolk in Latin called Gip●svicum and Gipwicum from which place Mannyng at his Pr●motion to the Office of a Suffragan Bishop took his Title Page 41. line 3. This choice Treasure the Original Book containing the Subscription of the Members of the Convocation to certain Articles of Religion Sir Robert Cotton afterwards procured And at the bottom of the first Page is written Robertus Cotton Bruce●s by Sir Robert's own hand signifying his Value of this Monument Sir Robert did not by that Subscription of his Name testify any extraordinary Value of this Volume for he wrote the same words at the bottom of the first Page of all or almost all the Manuscript Volumes of his Library Page 50. line 26. Iune Anno 1536. William Rugg was Consecrated Bishop of Norwich His Consecration is omitted in the Register Probably he was consecrated with Sampson Bishop of Chic●ester who was Confirmed Iune 10 th Rugg could not be Consecrated in Iune for he was not Confirmed till the 28 th of that Month and the first Sunday after that day was Iuly 2 d. Bishops were wont to be Consecrated on the next Sunday after their Confirmation So that it is most likely Sampson was Consecrated Iune 11 th and Rugg together with Warton of St. Asaph on Iuly 2 d. Page 61. line 18. ab imo Iune 24. Anno 1537. Iohn Bird was Consecrated Suffragan of the See of Penrith in Landaff Diocess and Lewis Thomas Suffragan Bishop of the See of Salop. It should have been said that Bird was Consecrated Suffragan of the Diocess of Landaff with the Title of Bishop of Penrith Bishop of Shrewsbury not Salop for Penrith is no more in Landaff Diocess than Shrewsbury is in that of St. Asaph But it may be observed That in the first Act of Parliament made in this Reign touching Suffragan Bishops certain Titles were appointed to which the said Suffragans should be Consecrated taken from several of the chief Towns in England but it was not required that the Suffragan of any particular Diocess should take his Title from some Town in that Diocess but was left at liberty to take it from any Town mentioned in that Act. Which was accordingly practised indifferently till the Promulgation of the second Act concerning Suffragans Ibid. line 2. It was now forbidden by the Parliament that the Feast of St. Thomas a Becket the pretended Martyr should be celebrated any more He is also stiled Thomas a Becket Page 70. line 21. 28. Page 92. line 4. c. This is a small Error but being so often repeated deserveth to be observed and corrected The Name of that Archbishop was Thomas Becket nor can it otherwise be found to have been written in any Authentick History Record Kalendar or other Book If the Vulgar did formerly as it doth now call him Thomas a Becket their Mistake is not to be followed by Learned men Page 62. line 8. The Reason why Archbishop Cranmer all this while that is from the first making the Act concerning Suffragans in the year 1534 to this time 1537. had nominated none for Suffragan to this See Dover till now when he nominated and consecrated Richard Yngworth in December might be because there seemed to be a Suffragan already even the same that had been in the time of Archbishop Warham namely Iohn Thornton Prior of Dover who was one of the Witnesses appointed by that Archbishop to certify what was found and seen at the opening of St. Dunstan's Tomb. Richard Thornden seems to have succeeded Yngworth in this Office St. Dunstan's Tomb was opened in April 1508 and Thornden died not till the last year of Queen Mary So that if to Thernton succeeded Yngworth and to Yngworth succeeded Thornden there will be no room for any of those three Bishops of Sidon who were before in this History pag. 36. said to have assisted the Archbishops Warham and Cranmer in the Quality of Suffragan Bishops For the very first of them Thomas Wellys was Suffragan Bishop after the year 1508. I know not when he was made Suffragan or when he died but I am certain that he survived the year 1511. As for Christopher and the other Thomas Bishops of Sidon they indeed were not the peculiar Suffragans of the Archbishops of Canterbury as I before said Page 63. line 28. March 24. 1537. Henry Holbeach was Consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Bristow in the Bishop of London's Chappel in the said Bishop's House scituate in Lambeth-Marsh by the said Bishop c. The Bishops of London never had any House scituate in Lambeth-Marsh but the Bishops of Rochester at that time had which House was soon after conveyed from the See of Rochester to the Crown and afterwards from the Crown by exchange to the See of Carlisle to which it now belongeth Page 86. line 22. ab imo In this Consecration of Bonner Bishop of London Anno 1540. the Prior and Chapter of Canterbury insisted it seems upon an Ancient Privilege of their Church which I do not find in this Register that of Archbishop Cranmer they had at other Consecrations done namely that the Consecration should be celebrated at the Church of Canterbury and at no other Church or Oratory without their allowance And so in a formal Instrument they gave their License and Consent The renewing of this their old pretended Privilege looked
a Clergy was now in England He makes a heavy Complaint against the frequent practice of beastly sins in the Priests Adultery Sodomy c. and that they never were punished And in my memory as he proceeds which is above thirty years and also by the information of others that be twenty years older than I I could never learn that one Priest was punished These Exiles are a sort of men who generally write with Passion and Prejudice against their own Countrey so that ordinarily little more credit is to be given to their Information than to the Intelligence of Deserters from an Army I am sure he hath shamefully belied the Clergy of England in accusing them of the frequent practice of such beastly sins and then affirming that he could never learn that one Priest was punished for it in the space of fifty years before that time It is true that Crimes of Incontinence as such especially in the Clergy were then cognoscible and punishable only by the Ecclesiastical Law and in the Spiritual Courts but Rapes were then as well as now in Clergy-men as well as Lay-men tryable and punishable at Common-Law And of this the Laity took such malicious advantage immediately before the Reformation that they were wont to pretend all Acts and even Indications of Incontinence in Clergy-men to be so many Rapes and to Indict them as such Insomuch that scarce any Assizes or Sessions passed at that time wherein several Clergy-men were not Indicted of Rapes and a Jury of Lay-men Impannell'd to Try them who would be sure not to be guilty of shewing over-much favour to them in their Verdicts Neither was the Ecclesiastical Authority then so remiss as is pretended as not to have punished any one Priest for Incontinence within the space of fifty years before If I had my Papers by me I could produce Examples of many Incontinent Clergy-men punished and deprived by their Ordinaries within that time About this very time wherein this Preface was wrote Dr. Weston altho otherwise a man of great Note and Interest among the Popish Party was deprived of the Deanry of Windsor for a single Act of Incontinence and about twenty years before this Stokesly Bishop of London is by Iohn Bale reported to have deprived Iohn Lord Abbot of Colchester for an horrible Act of Incontinence Indeed I know Bale to have been so great a Lyar that I am not willing to take any thing of that kind upon his Credit however his Testimony may serve well enough against such another foul-mouth'd Writer as this E. P. seems to have been Ibid. line 11. ab imo The Archbishop supplied the City of Canterbury with store of Excellent Learned Preachers Turner the two Ridleys Becon c. Turner never was Preacher in Ordinary at Canterbury but at Chartham near Canterbury He is said indeed afterwards in this History to have been one of the Six Preachers of the Church of Canterbury which may be true yet to Preach there three or four Sermons in a year upon so many Holidays is not a sufficient ground to say that that City was supplied with such or such Preachers Page 164. in imo The University of Cambridge laboured under great suspicions of being spoiled of its Revenues she having observed how those of her Sister the Church were daily invaded by Secular hands The University hath ever been so dutiful as to own the Church to be her Mother Page 183. line 10. ab imo Farrar was Consecrated Bishop of St. Davids by Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury endued with his Pontificals The latter words are a Translation of Pontificalibus indutus which signifies no other than being Invested or Attired in his Episcopal Habit. Page 184. med Bishop Farrar hearing of great Corruption among those belonging to the Chapter of the Church of Carmarthen and chiefly Thomas Young Chanter after Archbishop of York c. I suppose the Chapter of the Church of St. Davids is here meant for there was no such Church at Carmarthen and Young was at this time Precentor of St. Davids Page 208. line 13. ab imo Bishop Ridley at his entrance upon the See of London was exceeding wary not to do his Predecessor Bonner the least injury but rather did many kindnesses to his Mother Servants and Relations he continued Bonner's Receiver one Staunton in his Place In this last case Ridley could not give any evidence of Kindness or Unkindness for Staunton held his Place of Receiver by Patent for life Page 224. med The Council sitting at Greenwich the Bishop's Gardiner of Winchester Servants came and desired that certain of them might be sworn upon certain Articles for Witness on his behalf And if they might not be sworn c. And they were allowed From this relation any Reader would imagine That the Bishop's Servants desired that themselves might be sworn in behalf of their Lord and Master whereas in the council-Council-Book from whence this Matter is reported it is plain that they desired that some of the Privy-Counsellors might be sworn or at least be obliged to declare upon their Honour what they knew of the matter then in question in favour of the Bishop Page 267. line 21. This Scory Bishop Elect of Rochester was at first preferred by the Archbishop to be one of the Six Preachers at Canterbury and always continued firm for the Purity of Religion and endured Trouble for it He was a Married man and so deprived at the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign fled beyond Sea c. Scory was so far from continuing always firm to the Purity of Religion that in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign he reconciled himself to the See of Rome submitted himself to Bishop Bonner made a formal Recantation and did open Penance for his Marriage however afterwards he resumed his former Principles when he had got beyond Sea Page 270. line 17. ab imo All this I have related of this Divine Dr. Iohn Redman who died in 1551. that I may in some measure preserve the Memory of one of the Learnedest men of his time and lay up the Dying Words of a Papist signifying so plainly his dislike and disallowance of many of their Doctrines I cannot imagine why Dr. Redman should be accounted or called a Papist at the time of his Death who had all along lived and then died in the Communion of the Establish'd Church and had but little before joined with the Archbishop and other Bishops and Divines in compiling the Book of Common-Prayer If because he had once held the Popish Doctrines concerning Justification the Sacrament of the Altar c. with equal and for the same reason Cranmer himself and all the Bishops and Eminent Divines of that time may be called Papists Or if it was because he judged it unlawful for any Priest to marry a second time as is related page 157. he therein followed the Canons and received Doctrines of the Ancient Church and hath many Learned and Worthy Divines of our own Time and Church
PLACE whence Transcribed   Number Page Place AN Account of Mr. Pole's Book by Dr. Cranmer I. 3 Sir W.H.MSS. Dr. Cranmer Ambassador with the Emperor his letter to the King II. 6 Ibid. A Parcell of Iewels sent from Greenwich to Hampton court to the King To the receipt of which he set his hand III. 7 Ibid. The King to Dr. Boner his Majesties Agent to declare to the Pope his Appeal from him and his Sentence IV. 8 Ibid. Cranmer's Protestation at his Consecration V. 9 Cranm. Reg. Cranmer's Oath taken to the Pope at his Consecration VI. ib. Ibid. Cranmer's Oath to the King for his Temporalties VII 10 Cleop. E. 6. The King's Proclamation for bringing in Seditious Books VIII ib. Cleop. E. 5. Bishop Fisher to Secretary Crumwel declaring his willingness to swear to the Succession IX 13 Cleop. E. 6. Lee Bishop Elect of Litchfield and Coventry to secretary Crumwel concerning Bishop Fisher. X. ib. Ibid. The Archbishop to Secretary Crumwel in behalf of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More XI 14 Ibid. Nix Bishop of Norwich to Warham Archbishop of Canterbury for suppressing such as read books brought from beyond Sea XII 15 Cleop. E. 5. Archbishop Cranmer to K. Henry complaining of a Prior in Canterbury that had preached against him XIII 16 Cleop. E. 6. Cleop. F. 1. The Archbishop to Mr. Secretary Crumwel concerning his stiling himself Primate of all England XIV 19 Cleop. F. 2. The Appeal of Stokesly Bishop of London to the King against the Archbishop's Visitation XV. 21 MSS. C.C.C.C An Inventory of the Cathedral Church of St. Swithins in Winchester as it was given in by the Prior and Convent to Crumwel Secretary of State and the King's Vicar-General XVI 24 Cleop. F. 1. A Reply to the Archbishop against his Court of Audience XVII 28 Ibid. Archbishop Cranmer's Order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches shewn to be inconvenient by a Paper presented to the Parlament XVIII 30 Cleop. E. 5. The Archbishop to the L. Crumwel giving him some account of his Visitation of his Diocess XIX 37 Ibid. Richard Grafton the Printer of the Bible to the L. Crumwel complaining of some that intended to Print the Bible and therby to spoile his Impression XX. 38 Cranm. Reg. Archbishop Cranmer to the King for a Suffragan of Dover XXI 40 Ibid. The Archbishop's Letters of Commission to Richard Suffragan of Dover XXII 41 Cleop. E. 5. A Declaration to be read by al Curates upon the Publishing of the Bible in English XXIII 42 Ibid. The Answer or Declaration of Richard Bishop of Chichester in the presence of the Kings Majesty against the sixth Reason or Argument of John Lambert concerning the most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar XXIV 43 Ex Dudith Or. Opuse Tho. Cranmeri Archiep. Cant. Epistola super Controversiam de coena Domini ortam XXV 45 Cleop. E. 5. Part of a Letter from a Member of Parlament concerning the Transactions of the House about p●ssing the Act of the Six Articles XXVI 47 Ibid. The Solution of some Bishop to certain Questions about the Sacraments XXVII 48 Ibid. The Iudgment of another Bishop upon the aforesaid Questions XXVIII 52 Ibid Archbishop Cranmer to Osiander concerning some abuses in Matrimony among the Germans XXIX 54 Ibid. The French Kings Licence to print the English Bible in Paris XXX 56 MSS. C C C.C. Three Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer occasioned upon his review of the Kings Book intitled The Erudition of a Christian man XXXI 57 Ibid Other Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer XXXII 62 Ibid. Interrogatories for Dr. London Dr. Willoughbies Confession c. XXXIII 63 A Letter prepared for the King to sign to ratify certain Ecclesiastical Laws XXXIV 72   The Bishop of Winchester to Archbishop Cranmer relating to the Reformation of Religion XXXV 73 Foxij MSS. The said Bishop to the Duke of Somerset concerning the Book of Homilies and Erasmus Paraphrase Englished XXXVI 77 Vespas D. 18. Roger Ascham to Mr. Cecyl Giving him an acount of a Disputation in S. John's College Whether the Mass and the Lords Supper be al one XXXVII 81 MSS. SirW H The Vniversity of Cambridg to the Archbishop XXXVIII 83 Ascham Ep. Richard Smith D. D. his Recantation of his Books XXXIX 84 Becon 's Rep. Archbishop Cranmer's Answers to the fifteen Articles of the Rebels in Devon Anno 1549. XL. 86 MSS. C.C.C.C The Archbishops Notes for an Homily against the Rebellion XLI 113 Ibid. The Lady Mary to the Councel Iustifying her self for using the Mass in K. Edwards Minority XLII 115 Sir W.H.MSS. The Archbishops Letter to Martin Bucer Inviting him over into England XLIII 116 Buceri Script Aug. A Catalogue of Books published by Paulus Fagius XLIV 117   Dr. Cox the Chancellor of the Vniversity of Oxford his Oration at the Conclusion of Peter Martyr's Disputation XLIV 119 P. Mart. Opera Dr. Treshams Epistle before his Relation of the Disputation between himself and Peter Martyr at Oxford XLV 121 Foxij MSS. The Sententious Sayings of Master Martin Bucer upon the Lords Supper XLVI 124 Ibid. Bishop Hoper to the Clergy of his Diocess of Glocester XLVII 133 MS. Privat Hoper Bishop of Glocester to Sir William Cecyl Secretary of State XLVIII 135 MSS. SirW.H Another of the same Bishop to the same Person   136 Ibid. A Popish Rhime fastned upon a Pulpit in K. Edwards reigne XLIX 137 Foxij MSS. An Answer to it   Ibid. Ibid. An old Song of John Nobody   138 Privat MS. John a Lasco's Letter from Embden signifying the dangerous condition they were in and the Persecutions they expected L. 139 Sir W.H.MSS. A Lasco's request that those of his Church might have a Warrant from the Kings Councel that they might not be disturbed for not coming to their Parish-churches LI. 141 Ibid. Michael Angelo Preacher to the Italian Congregation his complaint against some of his Flock With a List of their Names LII Ibid. Ibid. Place   Number Page Sir W.H. MSS. Michael Angelo endeavours to appease the Secretary greatly offended with him for a gross miscarriage LIII 143 Ibid. A Lasco to the Secretary to procure the Kings Letters Patents for a French Protestant to set up a French Printing Press LIV. 145 Ibid. Valerandus Pollanus Superintendent of the Strangers Church at Glastenbury to the Secretary concerning the State of the Strangers Weavers fixed there LV. 145 Ibid. The Superintendent to the same earnestly desiring that one Cornish might not be set over the strangers there who had already dealt illy with them LVI 147 Ibid. The Superintendent to the same Giving some account of the present settlement of their affairs LVII 148 Ibid. Mr. John Calvin to the Duke of Somerset His advise for the rectifying some Abuses in our Church and University Relating to the Alienation or Misuse of their Revenues LVIII 149 MSS. CC. CC Sir John Cheke to Dr. Parker Vpon the death of Martin Bucer LIX 151 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Bucer Concerning the Oxford
Act Anno 1550. LX. 152 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Bucer Concerning their Review of the Book of Common Pray●r LXI 154 MSS. SirW H The Archbishops Letter to procure Wolf the Printer a licence to publish his ●ook LXII 156 Foxij MSS. Articles whereunto William Phelps Pastor and Curate of Ciciter upon good advisement and deliberation after better knowledg given by Gods grace hath subscribed LXIII Ibid. MSS. SirW H The Archbishop to the Lords of the Councel concerning the Book of Articles of Religion LXIV 158 Ibid. The Archbishop nominates certain Persons for an Irish Archbishoprick LXV 159 Ibid. The Archbishop to Sir Will. Cecyl that Mr. Turner intended for the Archbishopric of Armagh was come up to Court LXVI 160 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Wherin he justifies himself and the rest of the Bishops a●ainst the charge of Covetousness LXVII 161 Ibid. Purchases made by the Archbishop Extracted out of K. Edwards Book of Sales LXVIII 162 MSS. D. Wil. Petyt An Instrument of the Council Swearing and subscribing to the Succession as limited by the King LXVIII 163 Ibid. The Kings own Writing directing the Succession   164 MSS. SirW H A Letter of Q. Janes Council to the L. Rich L. Lieutenant of the County of Essex LXIX 164 Foxij MSS. Q. Jane to Sir John Bridges and Sir Nicolas Poyntz to raise forces against a Rising in Bucks LXX 165 Number Page Place The Counsillors of Q. Jane their Letter to the Lady Mary acknowledging her Queen LXXI 166 MSS. Sir W.H. The Archbishop to Mrs. Wilkinson persuading her to flee LXXII Ibid. Foxes Acts. The Words and Sayings of John Duke of Northumberland spoken by him unto the people at the Tower Hil of London on Tuesday in the forenoon being 22th of August immediately before his Death LXXIII 167 Titus B. 2. Archbishop Cranmers Letter to the Queen suing for his Pardon in the Lady Janes business LXXIV 169 Letters of the M●rt Cardinal Poles Instructions for his Messenger to Queen Mary LXXV 170 Titus B. 2. The Form of the Restitution of a married Priest LXXV † 179 Regist. Eccl. Christ. Cant. John Foxes Letter to the Parlament against reviving the Act of the Six Articles LXXVI 181 Foxij MSS. An Instrument of the Vniversity of Cambridg appointing certain of their Members to repair to Oxford to dispute with Cranmer Ridley and Latimer there LXXVII 182 Ibid. The Vniversity of Cambridge to that of Oxford relating to the former matter LXXVIII 184 Ibid. Cranmers Letter to the Queens Council after his Disputation at Oxon. LXXIX 186 Foxes Acts. The Lord Legates Commission to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Deputing them to Absolve and Dispense with the Clergy in his stead and Absolve the Laity LXXX 187 Registr Eccl. Cant. The Lord Legates Instructions to the Bishops in the performing of his Orders about Absolving their Clergy and Laity LXXXI 190 Ibid. An Italian to his Friend concerning Cardinal Pole LXXXII 192 Balci Cent. Bradford to Cranmer Ridley and Latimer concerning the Freewillers about 1554. LXXXIII 195 Martyrs Letters The Prisoners for the Gospel their Declaration concerning K Edward his Reformation LXXXIV 196 Foxij MSS. John Fox to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Q. Maries time relating to the Persecution LXXXV 197 Ibid. Dr. Ridley late Bi●hop of London to West formerly his Steward who had complied with the Romish Religion LXXXVI 200 Ibid. John Hopton Bishop of Norwich to the Earl of Sussex giving account of the joy conceived and Te Deum sung for the News of the Queens being brought to bed of a Noble Prince LXXXVII 203 Tit. B. 2. A Proposition in the Convocation against Residence With reasons for the said Propositions and Remedies against Non-Residence LXXXVIII 204 C. C. C. C. MSS. Pole Cardinal Legate to Archbishop Cranmer in answer to the Letter he had sent to the Queen LXXXIX 206 Foxij MSS. Place   Number Page MSS Sir W H Archbishop Parker to the Secretary desiring the Councels Letters in order to his discovering certain Writings of Archbishop Cranmer XC 217 Ibid. Dr. William Mouse Master of Trinity Hal in Cambridg his Letter of Thanks to Secretary Cecyl XCI 218 Ibid. Justus Jonas to Secretary Cecyl Concerning the Miseries of Germany occasioned by the Interim and that he might receive the Kings intended Muni●icence XCII 2●9 Ibid. Miles Wilson to Secretary Cecyl lamenting the Spoiles of Schools Benefices and Hospitals To which are added his Arguments against this Sacrilege XCIII 220 Ibid. Peter Martyr to James Haddon To procure a Licence from the Court for one of his Audit●rs named Hugh Kirk of Magdalen College Oxon to preach XCIV 227 Ibid. Peter Martyr to Secretary Cecyl That one who officiated in Dr. Westons place might receive the Stipend detained from him XCV 228 Ibid. John Sleidan to Secretary Cecyl Advices of the State of Affairs in Germany XCVI 229 Ibid. Sleidan to the same More Advices from Germany Desires a Patent for his Stipend granted him by K. Edward VI. XCVII 230 Ibid. Sleidan to the same Intelligences concerning the Motions of the Emperor and the State of the Protestant Princes XCVIII 231 Ibid. Sleidan to the same Advices of the State of the Empire XCIX 232 Ibid. Sleidan to Sir John Cheke and Sir William Cecyl Concerning his Commentaries which he had sent to K. Edward Desires them to send him an exact Information of the Business between K. Henry and Pope Clement His resolution of continuing his Commentaries and of Writing the History of the Council of Trent C. 234 Ibid. Sleidan to Sir William Cecyl Concerning the Affairs of Germany and particularly of the Council of Trent CI. 236 Ibid. ●artin Bucer to the Secretary for the speeding of Sleidans business CII 238 Ibid. Ralph Morice the Archbishops Secretary his supplication to Q. Elizabeth for Prior Wilbore's Pension lately deceased CIII 239   A Prologue or Preface made by Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury to the Holy Bible CIV 241 Number Page Place Bucer and other Learned Strangers from Lambeth to Cecyl To prefer the Petition of some poor French Protestants to the Protector CV 250 MSS. Sir W.H. The Archbishop to the Secretary Concerning a French man that desired a Patent to translate the Common prayer into French and print it CVI. Ibid. Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Mention of Letters sent by the Archbishop to the Duke of Northumberland Excusing his not proceding in a Commission His Reflexion upon the News CVII 251 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Signifying his Desire to have the good Wil of the Lord Warden his Neighbour CVIII 252 Ibid. The Archbishop to the same Desiring Cecyl to enform him of the Cause of Chekes Indictment CIX Ibid. Ibid. The End of the Table of Letters c. BOOKS Printed for RICHARD CHISWELL CEnsura Celebriorum Authorum sive Tractatus in quo Varia Virorum Doctorum de Claris. Cujusque Seculi Scriptoribus Iudicia Traduntur Unde Facilimo Negotio Lector Dignoscere qucat quid in singulis quibusque
MS. Life of Cranmer Grows dear to the King and his Court. Li●e of Henr. 8. p. 375. An. 1530. Pole's Book against the King's Dissolving his Marriage Cranmer per●●ses it His account of it Cranmer's Censure thereof Num. 1. He is employed in Ambassies To the Pope Offers him a Dispute in Favour of the King's Cause Hist. Refor P. 1. p. 89. To the Emperor Life of Cran. inter Foxii MSS. An. 1531. Hist. Luther Per Seckendorf Cornelius Agrippa gained by Cranmer to the King's Cause Becomes acquainted with Osiander Multa graviter multa sapienter ●c plan● divinitus d● Christiana doctrina ac vera religione disputares In Ep. Dedicat. ante Harmon Evangel And marries his Kinswoman An. 1532. Treats with the Emperor about the Contract of Traffick And about sending Suplies against th● Turk Sends the King the News in those Parts And the Proclamation for a General Council Sleid. Comment And the Tax of the States of the Empire N o II. He goes in an Embassy to the Duke of Saxony and other Protestant Princes Hist. Lutheranism per Seckendors Seckendorf ub● supra Made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury His Dignities before he was Arch-Bishop Arch-Bishop Warham foretells a Thomas to succeed him Arch-Bishop Warham for the King's Supremacy A●t Brit. Cranmer's Testimony of Warham A reflection upon a Passage relating to Cranmer in Harpsfield's History Antiq. of Cant. Cranmer tries to evade the Arch-Bishoprick Declares the reason thereof to the King The Arch-bishop's Brother is made Arch-deacon of Canterbury Somner Hist. of Cant. p. 322. ex lib. Eccles. Cant. The King linked Cranmer with him in all his proceedings about Q Katharine Anno 1532. Sept. 21. Append. N o III. Rex D. Annam Bullenam Thoma Cranmero sacra Ministrante Vxorem duxit The King and the Arch-bishop appeal from the Pope to a General Council The King writes to Dr. Bonner in that behalf No. IV. An. 1533. The Arch-Bishop is consecrated The Pope's Bulls The Arch-Bishop surrenders them to the King The Method of the Consecration De Minister p. 154. No. V. No. VI. The Arch-Bishop's Oath for the Temporalties No. VII The Arch-bishop pronounceth the Divorce The Arch-bishop's Judgment of the Marriage Vol. I. Collect. p. 95. The Arch-bishop forbids preaching Foxii MSS. Visits his Diocess August Monks Journal The Delusion of a Nun in Kent The Arch-bishop appeals from the Pope The Arch-bishop's Letter to Bonner Cleopat E. 6. Disputes in thé Parliament against the Pope's Supremacy Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. Licences for Chappels Cran. Reg An. 1534. The Arch-Bishop labours the Reformation of the Church What he did this Convocation No. VIII A Book for preaching and the Beads Dispersed by the Arch-bishop to all the Bishops The Arch-bishop of York preaches at York The Clergy and Universities subscribe against the Pope Cleopat E. 6. p. 208. Page 458. Cranmer and others administer the Oath of Succession to the Clergy And to Sir Thomas More who refused it Sir Thomas More 's Letters Cranmer's Argument with him More offers to swear to the Succession it self Bishop Fisher offers the same No. IX No. X. The Arch-bishop writes to Crumwel in their behalf The Arch-bishop's endeavour to save the Lives of More Fisher. No. XI A Premunire brought ag●●nst Bishop Nix Cotton Libra● Cleop. F. 1. The Arch-bishop visit● this Bishop's See Cranmer's Reg. The Bishop of Norwich a Pe●secutor An. 1535. No. XII Goodrick Lee and Salcot consecrated Bishops An. 1535. The Arch-bishop preaches up the King's Supremacy at Canterbury A Prior preaches against him Whom he convents before him The Arch-bishop acquaints the King with the matter No. XIII A Provincial Visitation Winchester herein opposeth him The ABp's vindication of his title of Primate● No. XIV The Bp of London refuseth his Visitation No. XV. And protests ●gainst him Cranmer sends him a part of the New Testament to translate And his Answer ●●xii MSS. ●●wney's Jest upon S●okesly Who this Lawney was Monasteri●● visited The ABp for their Dissolution Hist. R●● P. ● p. 189 190. No. XVI The Visitors Informations Second Sermon Bishops Diocesan and Suffragan consecrated Suffragan Bps usual in the Realm Ex Regist. ABp Courtney Hist. Re● Coll. p. 148. Godwin's Catal. Ath. Oxonien Bishops without Title Sumner's Antiq. of Cant. Nic. Shaxton Edward Fox William Barlow George Brown A Memorial of the good Services of ABp Brown in Ireland Life and Death of Geo. Brown printed in Dublin Tho. Mannyng Regist. Cran. An. 1536. Iohn Salisbury An. 1536. The ABp's Audience Court struck at The Abp. defends it No. XVII The ABp promoting a Reformation in the Convocation Articles published and recommended by the King Life Hen. VIII p. 466. The Original thereof Book V. p. 213. Addenda to the Collection Num. 1. The Original sent into the North to shew to the Rebels The Contents of them Articles of Faith Articles relating to Ceremonies A Conjecture that the Pen of the ABp was here Two remarkable Books published I. The Book of Articles II. A Book against the Pope called the Bishop's Book Herbert's Life of K. Henry p. 418. Certain Cases of Matrimony put to the ABp His Solution Refuseth to grant a Dispensation for the Marriage of a Relation Cleopatra E. 5. His Letter thereupon Vid. Fox Acts p. 960. He restrain the Number of Proctors Which some complain of to the Parliament No. XVIII The ABp divorseth Queen Ann. Life of King Henry p. 446. A Licenc●●or a Chappel Cran. Regist. Bucer dedicates this Year a Book to the ABp Bishops Consecrated Rich. Sampson Cran. Regist. William Rugg Godwin's Catal. Rob. Warton Cran. Regist. An. 1537. The Bishops Book by the ABp's means Winchester's opposition Fox MS. Life of Cranmer The King makes Animadversion● upon it Cleopatra ● 5. Published How esteem'd Inter Foxii MSS. Enlarged and reprinted Ld. Herb. Hist. p. 418. Ibid. p. 408. Bale's Cent. Some Account of the foresaid Book Defence of Priests Mar. p. 226. Names of the Composers Goes down into his Diocess Gets a Licence to visit Pag. 472. The Vicar of Croydon The ABp visits his Diocess What course he took for the preventing of Superstition No. XIX His joy at the publishing the English Bible Presents one by Crumwel to the King Cleopatra E. 5. p. 329. Cransmer's Letters to Crumwel Cleopatra E. 6. p. 292. Some further Particulars concerning this Edition of the Bible The Printer's thanks and requests to Crumwel Gra●ton to Crumwel Cl●opatra E. 5. The Printer apprehensive of another Edition Other Requests of the Printer No. XX. The Feast of S. Thomas c. forbid August Monks Journal Rob. Holgate Consecrated Bp. Iohn Bird Lewis Thoma● Some account of Bird. Lord Herbert's Hist. Hen. 8. Fox's Acts. Tho. Morley Rich. Yngworth No. XXI No. XXII Vol. I. Collect. 51. Book 2. Ioh. Thornton Suffragan See Sumner's Hist. Cant. Append p. 423. Rich. Thornden· Iohn Hodgkin Henry Holbeach An. 1538. The ABp reads upon the Hebrews A Declaration for reading the Bible No. XXIII The Bible received and read with
great Joy Inter Foxii MSS. An. 1537. The ABp had a hand in Lambert's Death● The Bishops dispute against Lambert'● ●e●son● An. 1538. Rom x. Cleopatra E. 5. No. XXIV Cranmer zealous for the Corporal Presence His Reasons for it N. XXV Sanders Slanders of the Abp concerning his Opinion in the Sacrament When Cranmer changed his Opinion Acts and Mon. p. 1101. Latimer of the same Judgment Fox p. 1581. Divers Priests marry Wives The King's Proclamation against Priests Marriages Defence of Priests marriage p. 198. Anabaptists A Commission again them Cranm. Regist. The waywardness of the Priests Cl●opat E. 6. p. 222. Occasions the King to write to the Justices He visits the Diocess of H●reford Cranm. Regist. Par. I. Book III. Collect. 12. Bishops consecrated Cranm. Registi William F●nch Iohn Bradly The ABp makes Nic. Wotton Commissary of his Faculties Cranm. Regist. An. 1539. Ath. Oxon. p. 124. An. 1539. The King offended with the ABp and some other Bishops Life of Cranm. inter Foxii MSS. The six Articles opposed by the ABp Life of K. Henry p. 512. The Argument● the ABp made use of at this time lost The King's Message to the ABp by the Lords MS. Life of Cranmer in C.C.C.C. A Book of Ceremonies laboured to be brought in Cleopatra E. ● p. 259. A Convocation The Papists rejoice No. XXVI Two Priories surrendred to the ABp The ABp and Crumwel labour with the King about the new Bishopricks Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 301. Bishops this Year An. 1540. Iohn Bell. Iohn Skyp An. 1540. The ABp's Enemies accuse him His Honesty and Courage in discharge of a Commission And his Success therein Hist. Ref. P. I. p. 286. Questions of Religion to be discussed by Divines by the King's Command The Names of the Commi●sioners Seventeen Questions upon the Sacrament Part I. Collect. xxi p. 201. Cleopatra E. 5. p. 36. N● XXVII No. XXVIII The ABp's Judgment upon these Questions Vol. I. Book 3. Collect. XXI Cleopatra E. 5. The Judgments of other Learned Men concerning other Points Part I. Addend● to the Collect. No. XI An Act to prevent Divorces The ABp to Osiander concerning the Germans abuse of Matrimony No. XXIX Some account of printing the English Bible New Testament printed in 1526. And burnt Fox's Acts p. 929. Reprinted about 1530. Inter Foxii MSS. Burnt again The Scripture prohibited in a Meeting at the Star-Chamber New Testaments burnt the third Time Fox p. 937. The whole Bible printed 1537. Matthews that is Roger's Bible Balaei Centur. About 1538. the Bible printing again in Paris Fox p. 1086. No. XXX The Printers fall into the Inquisition Cleopatra E. ● The Bible printed with French Presses in London The English Bible burnt the fourth time The largest Bible published in the Year 1540. Boner's Admonitions for reading the Bible The Bible suprest again An. 154● K. Henry's judgment for the use of the Bible The ABp keeps himself more retired The ABp issues out his Commission for the Consecrating of Boner Cranm. Regist. Boner's Oath of Fidelity The ABp makes a Commissary in Calais Fox p. 1120. Butler a better Commissary His Troubles The occasion thereof the Discovery of a Religious Cheat. Glazier Commissary in Calais ABp's Judgment of Admission of Scholars into the School belonging to the Cathedral Foxii MSS. Edm. Bone● Nic. Hethe Cranm. Regist. Tho. Thirlby Some account of Thirlby's Rise In a Letter to Day the Printer An. 1565. An. 1541. The ABp visits All-So●ls College ABp Cranm. Registi Visits it a second Time The AB● give● order about Shrines The King to the ABp for searching after Shrines ABp Cranm. Regist. The ABp's Orders accordingly to his Dean his Arch-Deacon and Commissary The ABp lays Bekesburn to the See Angl. Sacra Vol. 1. p. 148. Records of Chr. Ch. Cant. Learned Preachers preferred by the ABp The ABp makes some recant A Convocation Their Business Fuller's Ch. Hist. from the Records of Canterbury William Knight Iohn Wak●man Iohn Chambre Arthur Bulkeley Robert King An. 1542. The King's Book revised by the ABp Mis●●llan●● D. inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Divers Discourses of the ABp No. XXXI No. XXXII The goodly Primer The ABp instrumental to the Reformation in Scotland Hist. Reform Vol. 1. p. 320. An Act procured by the ABp Hist. Refor Vol. 1. p. 321. Paul Bush. An. 1543. The King's Book published by Authority A Visitation at Ca●terbury Intit Accusatio Cranmer inter MSS. C.C.C.C. Presentments An. 1543. Reflections upon the former Presentments The Prebendaries and Preachers admonished by the ABp The Prebendaries Plot against the ABp Winchester the chief Manager Winchester designs the Death of divers of the Court. Fox And of the ABp and his Friends The Papers relating to ABp Cranmer's Accusation The Contents thereof The Canons and Preachers of Canterbury Cranmer's Chaplains complained of at the Sessions They prepare the Articles and prefer them They Article against the ABp himself † Little thinking what a Spectacle he was soon after to make there when he was carried on Horse-back through the Town with a Paper upon his head declaring his Perjury and his Face to the Horse's Tail London's Practices A great Mass of Articles against the ABp procured The chief Instruments GARDINER SERLES SHETHER Fasti Oxon. p. 686. The Bishop of Winchester's Discourse with a Prebendary of Canterbury Willoughby and London wait at the Council-Chamber Willoughby brought to the Lord Privy-Seal and to Wi●chester The Contents of the Articles against the ABp More Articles against his Commissary More still The Witnesses The Prebendaries deliver the Articles The King himself discovers all to the ABp The ABp desires a Commission The ABp in Commission expostulates with his Accusers Shether in Prison sends to Winchester Their Reason● which they pretended for what they did Cockes and Hussey Commissioners and his Officers false New Commissioners sent down The Register false The Delinquents Chambers and Chests searched The Treachery of Thornton and Barber The ABp's Discourse to them Mark XIII 12 The Brother shall betray the Brother to death and the Father the Son and Children shall rise up against their Parents c. The Conspirators are imprisoned Their Release The Confessions Letters No. XXXIII The Ends of the Conspirators The ABp accused before theParliament MS. Declaration of ABp Cranmer The Palace of Canterbury burnt An. 1544. The Council accuse the ABp The King sends privately for the ABp An. 1544. Comes before the Council The King rebukes the Council for Cranmer The King changes the ABp's Arms. Prayers to be made against immoderate Rain Cranm. Regist. English Suffrages commanded to be used The Contents of the King's Letter to that intent Cranm. Regist. Fol. 48. A Procession for the King's Expedition The Councils Letter to the ABp Reg. Cranm. Popery prevails Image of both Churches Gardiner and the Bishops now carry all Bp of Landaff removed to York The ABp's Oath Cranm. Regist. An. 1545. The ABp sets upon reforming the Canon Law Part I. among the Collections p. 257. An. 1545. An
And Smith The Duke of Somerset's Death Inter Foxii MSS. Winchester suppos'd to be in the Plot. Articles against the Duke What he is blamed for The new Book of Common-Prayer established Troubles at Frankford Coverdale made Bp of Exon. Scory Bp Elect of Rochester The ABp appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties of Lincoln Cranm. Reg And of Wigorn. Cranm. Regist. And of Chichester And of Hereford And of Bangor Hoper visits his Diocess No. LXIII Two Disputations concerning the Sacrament Miscellan C. Dr. Redman dies B●con's Reports Fox's Acts. The ABp and others appointed to Reform the Ecclesiastical Laws The Method they observed Scory Cranm. Regist Coverdal● An. 1552. The Articles of Religion framed and published Fox The ABp's diligence in them council-Council-Book No. LXIV The ABp retires to Ford. Consulted with for fit Persons to fill the Irish See● * I suppose this might be a slip of the ABp's Pen or Memory writing Whitacre for Goodacre who afterwards was placed in that Irish See and ha● been Poynet 's Chaplain Some Account of the four Divines nominated by him for the Archbishoprick of Armagh Mr. W●ithead Mr. Turner Bale's Cent. Thomas Rosse or Rose Robert Wisdome * The Iewel of Ioy. † They were both forced to recant openly at St. Pauls Cross in the Year 1544 together with one Shingleton And her●upon I suppose they conveyed themselves into the North parts for Security The Character the ABp gave of the two former Turner designed for Armagh But declines it Hist. Ref. Vol. 1. p. 205. N. LXV LXVI Goodacre made ABpof Armagh Vocation of Iohn Bale Beatae memoriae in Hibernià concionatorem vigilantissimum ac Theologica eloquentia non immerito commendatum Balaei Centur. Letters from the Council to Ireland recommending the Irish Bishops Council-Book A Rumour gigen out of the ABp's Covetousness and Wealth Which Cecyl sends him word of The ABp's Answer for himself and the other Bishops † He probably was Holgate ABp of York No. LXVII This very Slander raised upon him to K. Henry Fox K. Henry promised him Lands This promise performed by King Edward His Purchases No. LXVIII The Arch-bishoprick fleeced by K. Henry Lands past away to the Crown by Exchange Villar● Cantian Lands made over to the Arch-bishop The Arch-bishop parted also with Knoll and Otford to the King MSS. C.C.C.C What moved him to make these Exchanges His Cares and Fears for the King His care for filling the Vacancies of the Church Labored under an Ague this Autumn The great Mortality of Agues about this Time Stow's Chron. That which most concerned him in his Sickness The Secretary sends the Arch-bishop the Copy of the Emperor's Pacification Vid. Sl●id Lib. 24. His Kindness for Germany His Correspondence with Germany And with Herman Arch-bishop of Colen The Sutableness of both these Arch-bishops Dispositions Their diligence in Reforming Mel. Epist. Printed at Leyden 1647. Pag. 34. Nec aliam video nisi hanc unam ut retineant Episcopi Collegia s●a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suas opes recipiant doctrinam piam Ubi supra The Troubles of Bp Tonstol MS. of an old Council-Book The Cause of this Bp's Punishment A Bill in Parliament to attaint Tonstal The Care of the Diocess committed to the Dean The new Common-Prayer began to be used Stow's Chron. This Book put into French for the King's French Subjects The Age still vicious Iew●l of Ioy. A new Sect in Kent Council-Book The ABp's Business in Kent A Letter for Installing Bishop Hoper Council-Book The Vicar of Beden Council-Book Sampson and Knox. The Council favour Knox. Collect. Vol. 2. p. 42. Council-Book Iohn Taylor An. 1553. Great use made of the ABp at Council The Articles of Religion enjoined by the King's Authority Cran. Regist. An. 1553. The Catechism for Schools A Catechism set forth by the Synod Fox The ABp opposeth the new Settlement of the Crown Denieth before the Council to subscribe to the Exclusion of the Lady Mary Foxii MSS. Sets his Hand The ABp ingratefully dealt with The Council subscribe and swear to the limited Succession Vol. II. p. 223. No. LXVIII The King dies Cooper's Chron. His Character Nic. Vdal his Pres. to Erasm. Paraphrase The ABp delights in this Prince's Proficiency K. Edward's Writings Fox Fox Mr. Petyt's MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Full. Ch. Hist. Full. Ch. Hist. Ibid. Mr. Petyt's MSS. Cotton Libr. and Hist. Ref. Trinity-Col Libr. Cott. Librar Cott. Libr. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Sir W. H. MSS. Fox The King 's Memorial for Religion The Ab● 〈◊〉 at Council His Presence in Council in the Year 1550. In the Year 1551. In the Year 1552. An. 1553. Iohn Harley The ABp's and Counsellors concern with the Lady Iane. No. LXIX No. LXX They declare for Q. Mary No. LXXI And write to Northumberland to lay down his Arms. Stow. The Queen owned by the Ambassadors The ABp misreported to have said Mass. Mass at Canterbury Which he makes a publick Declaration against Foxii MSS. The Declaration Appears before the Commissioners at Pauls And before the Council The ABp of York committed to the Tower and his Goods seized C.C.C.C. Librar Miscell B● At Battersea At Cawood Gardiner's Passage of the two ABps This Reign begins with Rigour Halts Oration The Protestant Bishops deprived Registr Eccl. Cant. The hard Usage of the inferior Clergy * Mr. Rich. Wilks ‖ Dr. Parker † Mr. Bradford Bullingham and May. ‖ A great Number * Dr. Ponet Tayl●r Parker Preface to the Defence of Priests Marriage * Mr. Aylmer Harbour for Faithful Subjects Professors cast into the Marshalsea Winchester's Alms. Pet. Martyr writes of this to Calvin P. Martyr's Epist. The State of the Church now P. Martyr Amico cuidam The Queen leaves all Matters to Winchester I. Rogers The Queen crowned The Service still said The Queen's Proclamation of her Religion Signs of a Change of Religion The ABp adviseth to flight No. LXXII Cranmer will not flee Whither the Prosessors fly And who ‖ Chiliades Pref. to Cranmer's Book of the Sacrament in Latin Duke of Northumberland put to death His Speech No. LXXIII Sir Iohn Gates his Speech And Palmer's The Duke's labours to get hi● Life Wardword p. 43. Whether he was always ● Papist P. Martyr departs Vit. P. Mart. per Simler Malice towards him A Scandal of the Queen Titus B. 2. A Parliament Hales Oration The Parliament repeal Q. Katherine's Divorce and Cranmer taxed for it Hist. Reform Vol. 2. p. 254. The ABp attainted of Treason The Dean of Canterbury acts in the Vacancy Ex Reg. Eccl. Cant. The ABp sues for Pardon of Treason No. LXXIV Obtains it He desires to open his Mind to the Queen concerning Religion A Convocation How it opened The ABp and three more crowded together in the Tower The Queen sends to Pole The Contents of her Letters Concerning theSupremacy Concerning the new Bishops Pole's Advice to the Queen
Fox Becomes Reader of the Civil Law at Oxon. Ath. Oxoniens● The ABp a Patron to Learned Foreigners To Erasmus allowing him an Honorary Pension Eras. Ep. 10. lib. 27. Ep. 7. lib. 27. To Alexander Aless a Scotch-man By him Melancthon sends a Book to the ABp And to the King Aless brought by Cromwel into the Convocation Where he asserts two Sacraments only Writes a Book to clear Protestants of the Charge of Schism Atrox Schismatis crimen Ep. 36. lib. 1. Satis excusat nos istorum horribilis crudelitas quam pro●ecto n●que adjuvare neque approbare debemus Ubi supra Translated a Book of Bucer's about the English Ministry Received into Crumwel's Family Hist. Res. P.I. p. 308. Aless Professor of Divinity at Leipzig M●l Ep. p. 3●9 Edit 1647 Cum in Templis in Scholis doctrinam gabernes Mel. Ep. 111. lib. 3. Four others recommended by Melancthon to the ABp Viz. Gualter Dryander Ep. 7. lib. 3. Dryander placed at Oxon. Ad Ann. 1555. Eusebius Menius Mel. Ep. 66. lib. 1. Iustus Ionas Sleid. lib. 7. Ep. 129. lib. 1. No. XCII Divers memorable Passages between Melancthon and our ABp Sends Melancthon certain publick Disputations in Oxford and Cambridg Melancthon's Reflections thereupon Ep. 41. lib. 3. Sends the ABp his Enarration upon the Nicene Creed The beginning of their Acquaintance The ABp propounds a weighty Matter to Melancthon for the Union of all Protestant Churches The Diligence of the ABp in forwarding this Design Ep. 66. lib. 1. Melancthon's Judgment and Approbation thereof His Caveat of avoiding ambiguous Expressions In Ecclesia rectius est Scapham Scaph●m dice●e Renews the same Caution in another Letter Peter Martyr of this Judgment Quod Vir bonus sibi p●rsuasisset posse hac ratione tolli gravem quae est de hac causa Controversiam ita Eccl●siae pacem di● desideratam restitui In Vit. P. Mart. per Iosiam Sinler●m Iosia● Sim●● What Melancthon thought of the Doctrin● of Fate Calv. Ep. 12● The ABp breaks his Purpose also to Calvin Calvin's Approbation thereof and Commendation of the ABp Offers his Service Excites the ABp to proceed This excellent Purpose frustrated Thinks of dr●wing up Articles of Religion for the English Church Which he communicates to Calvin Ep. 125. And Calvin's Reply and Exhortation Blames him for having not made more Progress in the Reformation But not justly The Clergy preach against Sacriledg The University-Men declaim against it in the School And the Redress urged upon some at Court No. XCIII Calvin sends Letters and certain of his Books to the King Ep. 123. Well taken by the King and Council What the ABp told the Messenger hereupon Ep. 120. P. Martyr and the ABp cordial Friends The use the ABp made of him Ep. 127. Martyr saw the Voluminous Writings and Marginal Notes of the Arch-bishop Two Letters of Martyr from Oxford N. XCIV.XCV An instance of his Love to the Arch-bishop P. Martyr Ep. Theolog. The ABp's favour to Iohn Sleidan Procures him a Pension from the King The Paiment neglected Sleidan labours with the ABp to get the Pension confirmed by Letters Patents Sends his Commentaries to the King Designs to write the History of the Council of Trent For the King's Use. Anno 1553. Sends the King a Specimen thereof In order to the proceeding with his Commentaries desires Cecyl to send him the whole Action between K. H. VIII and P. Clement VII B●cer writes to C●cyl in behalf of Sl●idan No. XCVI XCVII.XCVIII.XCIX.C.CI.CII Feb. 27. 1551. Scriptae Anglic. Iohn Leland His Wives and Children His Wife survived him Sincere and modist Defence of English Catholicks MS. Life of Cranmer in Benet College Divers Cranmers Cranm. Regist. Su●●er's Ant. Philpot 's Villar Cantian The AB's Stock Aslacton Whatton The Rectories whereof the ABp purchased His Chaplains Rowland Taylor His Epitaph A Sermon preached the Day after his Burning Inter Foxii MSS. Wherein the Martyr is grosly Slandered Iohn Ponet Stow. Tho. Becon Rich. Harman Rob. Watson the ABp's Steward His Secretary Ralph Morice His Parentage Well known to divers eminent Bishops Presents Turner to Chartham And stands by him in his Troubles for his fait●●ul Preaching An Instance of the ABp's Kindness to this his Secretary Morice his Suit to Q. Elizabeth for a Pension His second Suit to the Queen to confirm certain Lands descended to him from his Father No. CIII He was Register to the Commissioners in K. Edward's Visitation Suffered under Q. Mary Morice supplied Fox with many material Notices in his Book Morice a cordial Friend to Latimer Fox Morice's Declaration concerning the ABp His Temperance of Nature His Carriage towards hi● Enemies Severe in his Behaviour towards offending Protestants Stout in God's or the King's Cause * Viz. The Erudition of a Christen Man The King sides with Cranmer against all the Bishops His great Ability in answering the King's Doubts Cranmer studied three parts of the Day Would speak to the King when none else durst Lady Mary Q. Katharine Howard His Hospitality Falsly accused of ill House-keeping The preserving the Bishops Revenues owing to the ABp The ABp vindicated about his Leases By long Leases he saved the Revenues Justified from diminishing the Rents of the See Otford Knol Curleswood Chislet-Park Pasture and Meddow Woods Corn. The best Master towards his Servants An Infamy that he was an Hostler Observations upon the ABp His Learning very profound His Library An excellent Bishop His Care of his own Diocess In the Benet-Library At the great Towns he preached often Affected not his high Stiles His diligence in reforming Religion Before his Treatise of Fasting Puts K. Henry upon a Purpose of reforming many things As long as Q. Ann T. Crumwel Bp Cranmer Mr. Denny Dr. Butts with such-like were about him and could prevail with him What Organ of Christ's Glory did more good in the Church than he As is apparent by such Monuments Instruments and Acts set forth by him in setting up the Bible in the Church in exploding the Pope with his vile Pardons in removing divers superstitious Ceremonies in bringing into order the inordinate Orders of Friars and Sects in putting Chantrey Pri●sts to their Pensions in permitting white Meats in Lent in ●estroying Pilgrimage-Worship in abbrogating idle and superstitious Holy-days both by Acts Publick and by private Letters to Bóner Acts Monum p. 1147. a. Edit 1610. The King again purposeth a Reformation His Influence upon K. Edward A great Scripturist Ea verae Religionis cura apud Josiam nostrum imprimis Cantuariensem universum Concilium regium excubat ut in nulla re aequè laboratum sit quam ut Religionis tum Doctrina tum Disciplina ex Sacrarum Literarum Fonte purissimè bauriatur ut sentina illa Romana qua tot humanae Sordes in Eccl●siam Christi red●ndârunt sunditus obstru●tur Procures the publishing the English Bible The Bishops oppose it Defence of the EnglishTranslat Ch. 1. p. 4. Edit 1583. The first
given unto his preaching for time to come And he left his Majesty to hear the Testimony of Dr. Leighton one of the King's Visitors who was present at the Sermon the Arch-bishop then made This Letter the Contents whereof I have now set down I have placed in the Appendix as well worthy the preserving among the rest of the Monuments of this Arch-bishop as I transcribed it out of the Cotton Library I do not find what Issue this Business had but I suspect the Black Friars of Canterbury had a black Mark set upon them by the King for this Opposition of his Arch-bishop in the discharge of his Commands But to speak a little of a Provincial Visitation Iure Metropolitico which the Arch-bishop had begun the last Year viz. 1534 being his first Visitation It was somewhat extraordinary for such a Visitation had not been in an hundred Years before For this he got the King's Licence to countenance his doings knowing what oppositions he should meet with In the Month of May we find him at his House at Otford about this Business The main End whereof was to promote the King's Supremacy and as opportunity served to correct the Superstitions of this Church and to inspect even Bishops and Cathedrals themselves In Apr. 1535 Cranmer had sent his Monition to Steph. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester that he would visit his Diocess The Bishop who never loved the Arch-bishop and being a great upholder of the old Popish Superstitions was the more jealous of this Visitation opposing himself as much as he could against it and would have picked an Hole in Cranmer's Coat for stiling himself in the Instrument of the Process Totius Angliae Primas as though this had been an high Reflection upon the King and detracted much from his Supremacy Of this therefore he went and made a Complaint to the King himself and taking it in some Indignation that the Arch-bishop should visit his Diocess he pretended to the King that the Clergy of his Diocess would be driven to great streights and mightily oppress'd if it should be now visited again having been visited but five Years ago by his Predecessor Warham especially being also to pay a new Duty enjoined by the Parliament namely their Tenths hoping hereby to evade the Arch-bishop's inspection into the Corruptions of the Diocess of Winchester All this Crumwel his Friend certified him of by his Chaplain one Champion Winchester indeed whatsoever he pretended tendred not so much the King's Cause as his own that he might not be visited For otherwise he would have complained to the King of this Matter before Cranmer's signification to him of a Visitation since he always bare the Title of Primate of all England as being the common Stile of the Arch-bishop And if this Stile of Primacy was a diminution to the King it would have been so to the Pope when Winchester held him as he did once for Supream Head of the Church but then he never made any complaint against those Arch-bishops that stiled themselves Primats The Pope's Supream Authority was not less thought of because he had such Primates under him but rather more And the King might therefore have such as were Primates under him without any derogation to his Authority Nor did Cranmer value at all Names and Titles and if he thought it any thing interfering with the King's Honour he would himself have been the first to sue for the taking it wholly away This he signified in a Letter to Secretary Crumwel which because it hath many excellent things declarative of the good Temper and Spirit of Cranmer I have presented it to the Reader 's Eye in the Appendix being an Original in the Cotton Library And as Winchester had pick'd a Quarrel with him for one part of his Archiepiscopal Stile so Stokesly Bishop of London a Man of the same inveterate Temper against Cranmer refused his Visitation because he stiled himself in his Monitions Apostolicae Sedis Legatus For under that Title he Convented that Bishop with the Abbots Priors and Arch-deacon of London to appear before him at a Visitation which he intended to hold at the Chapter-house in St. Paul's Church London But the Bishop of London and the Chapter warned him of assuming that Title as making against the King's Prerogative And at the Visitation it self in S. Paul's they made a Protestation which was openly read The import whereof was that they would not accept him as such a Legate and neither admit nor submit to his Visitation under that Name and required the Arch-bishop's Register to enter their Protestation And upon his refusal thereof delivered a Certificate of what they had done Stokesly also contended with him for suspending all the Jurisdiction of the Bishop Dean and Arch-deacon during his Visitation To which the Arch-bishop answered it was no more than his Predecessors had usually done in those Cases In fine they appealed in their own justification unto the King and desired his Licence to defend themselves against him by the Laws and as the Parliament had provided Thus they shewed before their secret Malice and violent Opposition against the good Arch-bishop and how afraid they were of his Visitation glad to catch any thing to enervate his Authority The sum of which Appeal drawn up by Stokesly being somewhat too long to be subjoined here may be read in the Appendix Finally upon the Arch-bishop's visiting of his Diocess he entred three Protestations against it as may appear in Stokesley's Register for preserving his Privileges This Man ever carried himself perversely to the Arch-bishop It was not long after this time that the Arch-bishop whose Mind ran very much upon bringing in the free use of the Holy Scripture in English among the People put on vigorously a Translation of it And that it might not come to be prohibited as it had been upon pretence of the Ignorance or Unfaithfulness of the Translators he proceeded in this method First He began with the Translation of the New Testament taking an old English Translation thereof which he divided into nine or ten Parts causing each Part to be written at large in a paper Book and then to be sent to the best Learned Bishops and others to the intent they should make a perfect Correction thereof And when they had done he required them to send back their Parts so corrected unto him at Lambeth by a day limited for that purpose and the same course no question he took with the Old Testament It chanced that the Acts of the Apostles were sent to Bishop Stokesly to oversee and correct When the Day came every Man had sent to Lambeth their Parts corrected only Stokeslye's Portion was wanting My Lord of Canterbury wrote to the Bishop a Letter for his Part requiring him to deliver them unto the Bringer his Secretary He received the Arch-bishop's Letter at Fulham Unto which he made this Answer I marvel what my Lord of
Irenicum published by him from a Manuscript Volume once belonging to Arch-bishop Cranmer In this Convocation the Arch-bishop bore the great Sway and what things were agitated herein were chiefly by his Motion and Direction Some whereof were turned into Laws by the Parliament that was now sitting through his Activeness and Influence As particularly that Repeal of the Statute of the Six Articles and of some other severe Laws decreeing divers things Treason and Felony made in the former King's Reign For when the Arch-bishop in the Convocation had made a Speech to the Clergy exhorting them to give themselves to the study of the Scriptures and to consider what Things in the Church needed Reformation that so the Church might be discharged of all Popish Trash not yet thrown out Some told him that as long as the Six Articles remained it was not safe for them to deliver their Opinions This he reported to the Council Upon which they ordered this Act of Repeal By his means also another great thing moved in the Convocation was now ratified and made a Law by this Parliament which was for the Administration of the Communion under both Kinds throughout the Kingdom of England and Ireland And upon this the King appointed certain Grave and Learned Bishops and others to assemble at Windsor-Castle there to treat and confer together and to conclude upon and set forth one perfect and uniform Order of Communion according to the Rules of Scripture and the Use of the Primitive Church And this being framed it was enjoined to be used throughout the Realm by a Proclamation and all required to receive it with due Reverence I meet with a Writing of the Arch-bishop without Date consisting of Queries concerning the Mass in order to the abolishing it and changing it into a Communion Which I know not where so well to place as here now the Convocation was employed upon this Matter For it seems to have been drawn up by the Arch-bishop on purpose to be laid before the Consideration of this House The Queries were these What or wherein Iohn Fasting giving Alms being Baptized or receiving the Sacrament of the Altar in England doth profit and avail Thomas dwelling in Italy and not knowing what Iohn in England doth Whether it profit them that be in Heaven and wherein Whether it lieth in the Faster Giver of Alms Receiver of the Sacrament him that is Baptized to defraud any Member of Christ's Body of the Benefit of Fasting Alms-Deeds Baptism or Receiving of the Sacrament and to apply the same Benefit to one Person more than to another What thing is the Presentation of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mass which you call the Oblation and Sacrifice of Christ And wherein standeth it in Act Gesture or Word and in what Act Gesture or Word Is there any Rite or Prayer and expressed in the Scripture which Christ used or commanded at the first Institution of the Mass which we be now bound to use and what the same be Whether in the Primitive Church there were any Priests that lived by saying of Mass Mattens and Even-song and praying for Souls only And where any such State of Priesthood be allowed in the Scriptures or be meet to be allowed now For what Cause were it not expedient nor convenient to have the whole Mass in the English Tongue Wherein consisteth the Mass by Christ's Institution What Time the accustomed Order began first in the Church that the Priests alone should receive the Sacrament Whether it be convenient that the same Custom continue still within this Realm Whether it be convenient that Masses Satisfactory should continue that is to say Priests hired to sing for Souls departed Whether the Gospel ought to be taught at the Time of the Mass to the understanding of the People being present Whether in the Mass it were convenient to use such Speech as the People may understand To proceed to some other Things wherein our Arch-bishop was this Year concerned In Iune the Church of S. Pauls was hanged with Black and a sumptuous Hearse set up in the Choire and a Dirige there sung for the French King who deceased the March precedent And on the next Day the Arch-bishop assisted with eight Bishops more all in rich Mitres and their other Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem and the Bishop of Rochester preached a Funeral Sermon A nice Matter was now put by the Council to the Arch-bishop having some other Bishops and Learned Men joined with him to the Number of Ten. The Case was Whether a Man divorced from his Wife for her Adultery might not lawfully marry again This was propounded upon the Account of a great Man in those Times namely the Brother of Queen Katherine Par Marquess of Northampton who had gotten a Divorce from his Wife the Daughter of Bourchier Earl of Essex for Adultery The Canon Law would not allow marrying again upon a Divorce making Divorce to be only a Separation from Bed and Board and not a Dissolving the Knot of Marriage This was a great Question depending among the Civilians And it being committed to the Determination of our Arch-bishop and some other Delegates tho the Marquess staid not for their Resolution but in this Interval married Elizabeth Daughter of the Lord Brook he searched so diligently into the Scriptures first and then into the Opinions of Fathers and Doctors that his Collections swelled into a Volume yet remaining in the Hands of a Learned Bishop of this Realm The Sum whereof is digested by the Bishop of Sa●●m Cranmer seemed to allow of Marriage in the Innocent Person He was a Means also to the Council of forbidding Processions Wherein the People carried Candles on Candlemass-day Ashes on Ash-wednesday Palms on Palm-sunday because he saw they were used so much to Superstition and looked like Festivals to the Heathen Gods So that this Year on Candlemass-day the old Custom of bearing Candles in the Church and on Ash-wednesday following giving Ashes in the Church was left off through the whole City of London He was a Member of a Committee this Winter appointed to examine all the Offices of the Church and to consider where they needed Reformation and accordingly to reform them Of this Commission were most of the Bishops and several others of the most Learned Divines in the Nation And a new Office for the Communion was by them prepared and by Authority set forth as was observed before and received all over England CHAP. V. The Arch-bishop's Catechism THIS Year the Arch-bishop put forth a very useful Catechism intituled A short Instruction to Christian Religion for the singular Profit of Children and young People This Catechism went not by way of Question and Answer but contained an easy Exposition of the Ten Commandments the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the two Sacraments The first and second Commandments were put together as one and the whole recital
such things in them written as be not consonant to the Scripture as they wil avoyd occasion of error and tender the truth of Gods word and his glory To whom be laud praise and honor Amen NUM XL. Archbishop Cranmers Answers to the fifteen Articles of the Rebells Devon Anno 1549. WHen I first read your Requests O ignorant men of Devonshire and Cornwal straitwayes came to my mind a request which Iames and Iohn made unto Christ to whom Christ answered You ask you wot not what Even so thought I of you assoon as ever I heard your Articles that you were deceived by some crafty Papist which devised those Articles for you to make you ask you wist not what As for the Devisors of your Articles if they understand them I may not cal them ignorant persons but as they be indeed most rank Papists and wilful Traitors and Adversaries both to God and our Soveraign Lord the King and to the whole realm But I cannot be persuaded so to think of you that in your hearts willingly you be Papists and Traitors but that those that be such have craftily seduced you being simple and unlearned people to ask you wot not what Wherfore my duty unto God and the pity that I have of your ignorance move me now at this time to open plainly and particularly your own Articles unto you that you may understand them and no longer be deceived In your first Article you require that al the General Councels and holy Decrees of our forefathers may be observed and kept and whosoever shal againsay them to be holden as Hereticks This you al ask but what you ask I dare say very few or none of you understand For how many of you I pray you do know certainly which be called the General Councels and holy Decrees of the Fathers and what is in them contained The holy Decrees as they cal them be nothing else but the Laws and Ordinances of the Bp. of Rome Wherof the most part be made for his own advancement glory and lucre and to make him and his Clergy Governors of the whole world and to be exempted from al Princes Lawes and to do what they list And would you ask if you knew what you asked that we should put away the Lawes of our own realm and be governed by the Bp. of Romes Lawes If you mean this then be you Traitors to the King and enemies to your own realm And if you mean it not consider what persons they be and how they have deceived you that make you ask you wot not what And as for the General Councels you say you wil have them al kept but you be not so destitute of al reason that you would have spoken such words if you had known what you had said For a great number of the Councels repugn one against another How should they then be al kept when one is contrary to another and the keeping of one is the breaking of another And among your own Articles you say you wil have divers things observed which be not only contrary to the General Councels but also contrary to the Law of this realm and also to Gods Laws as it shal be plainly declared when we come to the Articles And al reason is contrary that you should have asked such things if you had known what you had asked I have this opinion of the greater number of you that you would fain walk in the right way if you could find it And forasmuch as I perceive that wicked and false guides under pretence to bring you to the high way have brought you clean out of it my good wil shal be seeing you so far wandring out of the way and so blindfolded with il persuasions that you cannot see where you go to open your eyes that you may see and to set you again into the right way And when your eyes be so opened that you may se and the right way shewed unto you wherin you should walk then if you wil stil wink and not see and run headlong in error and not come to the right way you may no longer be called simple and ignorant people but perverse froward and wicked Papists and Traitors Enemies to God and your own realm But now I wil come to your Articles particularly opening every one of them by himself that you may se the bowels therof and what is contained in the same That when you shal understand the whole you may judge whether you knew before what you asked or you were deceived by subtil and wily Papistical Traitors I. Your first Article is this WEE wil have al the General Councels and holy Decrees of our forefathers observed kept and performed and whosoever shal againsay them we hold them as Hereticks First to begin with the manner of your phrase Is this the fashion of Subjects to speak unto their Prince We wil have Wa● this maner of speech at any time used of the Subjects to their Prince since the beginning of the world Have not al true Subjects ever used to their Soveraign Lord this form of speaking Most humbly beseecheth your faithful and obedient Subjects Altho the Papists have abused your ignorance in propounding such Articles which you understand not yet you should not have suffered your selves so much to be led by the nose and bridled by them that you should clearly forget your duty of Allegiance unto your Soveraign Lord saying unto him This we wil have and that saying with armour upon your backs and swords in your hands Would any of you that be Householders be content that your servants should come upon you with harness unto their backs and swords in their hands and say unto you This we wil have If then you would abhor and detest this in your servants towards your selves how can you allow your fact With what conscience can you being but subjects do to your King that thing which you would condemne in your servants towards your selves But answer me this Be you Subjects or no If you be Subjects then I admonish you as S. Paul taught Titus saying Warn them to be subject to Princes and Rulers obeying them at a word But tel me again Pertaineth this to subjection and obedience to say This we wil have S. Peter saith Be subject unto Kings as unto chief heads and to other Rulers sent by them For so is the Wil of God Gods wil is that you should be ru●ed by your Princes But whether is this to be ruled by your King or to rule your King to say Thus we wil have the Realm governed Your Servants be by the Scripture commanded as they fear God to be obedient to their Masters whether their Masters be good or evil And can you think it meet and lawful for you to disobey your undoubted King being a Prince most innocent most godly and most careful for your sorrow and wealth If any thing can declare disobedience what can declare it more then Subjects to come