and quartered who were all Executed at Tyburn Stow pag. 698. Two other Priests were condemned for Treason for being made Priests at Rhemes in France were drawn to Tyburn and there hanged boweled and quartered Stow pag. 719. As likewise Two other Priests were Condemned and Executed for the same cause Stow pag. 720. Six Priests more were Executed for being made Priests beyond Seas and Four Secular Men for being reconciled to the Roman Church and Four others for relieving and encouraging the others Moreover Thirteen Secular Men were upon the same account hanged in several places and a Gentlewoman for conveighing a Cord to a Priest in Bride-well whereby he let himself down and escaped Stow pag. 750. Another Priest was hanged headed and quartered at Kingston and after this Two more for being made Priests at Paris and a Secular Man for being reconciled to the Church of Rome Stow in the same page There was also another Priest hanged for being made Priest beyond the Sea and Two Secular Men for relieving him The Priest was hanged bowelled and quartered in Fleet-street at Fetter-lane end and the other Two one in Smithfield and the other at Graies-Inn-lane end Stow pag. 761. Three Priests more with Four others for relieving them were Executed one of which was Swithun Wells Gentleman Stow pag. 764. Another Priest was Covicted for being a Priest and reconciling a Haberdasher who was likewise Convicted of High Treason for being so reconciled and of Felony for relieving the said Priest The Priest was Executed in St. Paul's Church-yard Stow in the same page Likewise another Secular Priest and a Jesuite hanged cut down alive and then bowelled and quartered Stow pag. 766 769. One Priest more hanged bowelled and quartered for being made Priest beyond the Seas his Head was set upon the Pillory in Southwark and his Quarters in the High-way towards Newington and Lambeth Stow pag. 788. A Lay-man was hanged bowelled and quartered for being reconciled to the Church of Rome and Five Priests more were hanged and quartered for coming into this Realm and with one of them a Gentleman was likewise Executed for relieving and lodging them in his House Stow pag. 790. Another Priest after Seven years imprisonment was hanged bowelled and quartered for coming into England Stow pag. 793. Two Priests more hanged and quartered for the same cause Also the same day and in the same place was hanged a Gentlewoman a Widow for relieving a Priest Stow pag. 795. Four Priests more hanged bowelled and quartered upon the same account Stow pag. 804. The Earl of Arundel seeing this great Severity used against Catholicks resolves to quit the Kingdom But before he began his Journey he left behind him this following Letter to be delivered to the Queen after his departure Thus related by Howes upon Stow pag. 703. The Letter Madam I Perceived in my late Troubles how narrowly my Life was sought and that my Innocency was not sufficient warrant to protect me I knew my self and besides was charged by your Council to be of that Religion which they accounted odious and dangerous to your Estate Lastly but principally I weighed in what a miserable and doubtful case my Soul had been if my Life had been taken away as it was not not unlikely by former troubles For I protest the greatest burthen that rested in my Conscience was because I had not lived according to the prescript rule of that which I undoubtedly believe and assuredly presume to be the Truth Wherefore bing induced by all these reasons but chiefly moved by this last Argument I thought that the not performing my Duty to God in such sort as I knew would please him best might be a principal occasion of my late punishment and therefore resolved whilst I had opportunity to take that course which might be sure to save my Soul from the danger of Shipwrack although my Body were subject to peril of misfortune And ever since that time I followed and pursued this good intent of mine though I perceived somewhat more danger to my Estate yet I humbly thank God I have found a great deal more quiet of mind and in this respect I have just occasion to esteem my pass'd Troubles as my greatest felicity For both of them were though indirectly the means to lead me into that course which ever brings perfect quietness and only procures Eternal happiness And being resolved rather to endure my punishment than willingly to decline from what I had begun I bent my self wholly as near as I could to continue in the same without doing any act that was repugnant to my Faith and Profession and by means hereof was compelled to do many things which might procure peril to my self and be an occasion of mislike to your Majesty For the First day of Parliament when your Majesty with all your Nobility was hearing of a Sermon in the Cathedral Church of Westminster above in the Chancel I was driven to walk by my self below in one of the Isles and so upon several other occasions These things with many others I could by no means escape but only by an open and plain discovery of my self as the true cause of my refuse Wherefore since I saw that of necessity it must shortly be discovered and withal remembring what a Watchful and Jealous Eye was carrid over all those that were known to be Recusants and withal reflecting how all their Lodgings were continually searched and to how great danger they were subject if a Jesuite or Priest were found in their Houses that either I could not serve God in such sort as I had professed or else I must incur the hazard of greater punishment I stood resolute and unremovable to continue in the first though it were with danger of my Life and therefore did apply my Mind to devise what means I could find out for avoiding the Last Long I was debating with my self what course to take But when I considered in what continual danger I did remain here in England both by the heretofore Established and by a New Act lately made I thought it the safest way to depart out of the Kingdom and remain in some other place where I might live without danger of my Conscience without offence to your Majesty without this servile subjection to my Enemies and without this daily peril of my Life And yet I was drawn by such forcible perswasions to be of another opinion that I could not easily resolve what to do For on the one side my Native Country my Friends my Wife and Kindred did invite me to stay on the other side the power of mine Enemies the remembrance of my former Troubles and the knowledge of my present Danger did hasten me to go And in the end I found no middle course but either I must venture to live in extream Poverty abroad or to be sure to remain in continual Danger at home I regarded more the hazard of my Life wherein stood the peril of my Estate and rather sought
the preservation of my Life than the profit of my Living Wherefore after I had weighed as many dangers as I could remember and was perswaded that to depart the Realm was the safest way I could take I resolved to take the benefit of a happy Wind to avoid the violence of a bitter Storm And knowing that the Actions of Those who go beyond Seas though their intent be never so good and dutiful were yet evil thought of I presume to write this Letter to your Majesty and in it to declare the true causes and reasons of this my departure I here take God and his Holy Angels to witness that I would not have taken this course if I might have staied still in England without danger of my Soul and peril of my Life And though the loss of Temporal Commodities be so grievous to Flesh and Blood that I could not desire to live if I were not comforted with the remembrance of his Mercy for whom I endure all this who endured ten thousand times more for me yet I assure your Majesty that your Displeasure would be more unpleasant to me than the bitterness of all my Losses and greater grief than the greatest of my Misfortunes The Earl having written the foregoing Letter and leaving it behind him to be delivered to the Queen after his departure attempted to have passed the Seas without License for the which he was committed to the Tower and condemned to pay Ten thousand Pound Fine for his contempt and to remain Prisoner at the Queens pleasure Thus Stow. This short Relation of these Severities may make it easily conceived what endeavours there were then used totally to extirpate Catholick Religion in England Thus you have had a short view of the state of Religion in this Queens Reign An Account of the Years in which these Changes in Religion were made IN her First year she being resolved upon an Alteration of Religion as knowing well that her Legitimation and the Pope's Supremacy could not stard together called a Parliament which totally complied with her Designs in order to such a Change But the Convocation of the Clergy which accompanied this Parliament totally opposed it and thereupon were deprived of their Ecclesiastical Benefices a company of Ignorant and Illiterate Men being Substituted in their places which gave occasion to the Calvinists or Presbyterians to obtain great Ecclesiastical Preserments here By which they have continually labored to supplant and undermine the Church of England It was the Second year of her Reign before any Protestant Bishops were elected The main cause for keeping the Episcopal Sees so long vacant was that in the mean time the best Flowers might be culled out of them Aid this year was sent to assist the Rebels in Scotland against their Lawful Queen The Presbyterians seeing Episcopal Government settled begin to play their Game The Bishops being thus settled begin the next year to make Laws and to compose Articles of Religion and to exact a Conformity to them upon which they find great oppositions from the Presbyterians In her Fourth year she was solicited by Pope Pius to send her Orators to the Council of Trent which she refused to do The Emperor also writ to her to desist from these Alterations of Religion and to return to the Ancient Catholick Faith of her Predecessors In her Fifth year the Articles of Religion were agreed on in the Convocation In her Sixth year she would have Married the Earl of Leicester to the Queen of Scots Calvin dies this year and Cartwright the great promoter of Presbytery retires out of England upon a discontent to Geneva In her Seventh year the Calvinists began first to be called Puritans Dr. Heylyn In her Eighth year the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops was Confirmed And for this we are beholding to Boner the late Bishop of London who being called up to take the Oath of Supremacy by Horn of Winton refused to take the Oath upon this account because Horn's Consecration was not good and valid by the Laws of the Land Which he insisted upon because the Ordinal Established in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth by which both Horn and all the rest of Queen Elizabeths Bishops received Consecration had been Repealed by Queen Mary and not restored by any Act of Parliament in the present Reign which being first declared by Parliament in the Eighth of this Queen to be Casus Omissus or rather that the Ordinal was looked upon as a part of the Liturgy confirmed in the First year of this Queen They next Enacted and Ordained That all such Bishops as were consecrated by it in time to come should be reputed to be lawfully Consecrated Baker In her Eleventh year there arose a Sect openly condemning the received Discipline of the Church of England together with the Church-Liturgy and the very Calling of Bishops This Sect so mightily encreased that in the Sixteenth year of her Reign the Queen and Kingdom was extreamly troubled with them In the same Sixteenth year were taken at Mass in their several Houses the Lord Morley's Lady and her Children the Lady Gilford and the Lady Brown who being thereof Endicted and Convicted suffered the penalties of the Laws In her Twentieth year the severe Laws against Roman Catholicks were Enacted In her Twenty third year a Proclamation was set forth That whosoever had any Children beyond Sea should by a certain day call them home and that no Person should harbour any Seminary Priest or Jesuit At this time also there arose up in Holland a certain Sect naming themselves The Family of Love In a Parliament held the 26th year of her Reign the Puritan party laboured to have Laws made in order to the destroying of the Church of England and the setting up of their own Sect. In her Twenty eighth year the Queen gave a special Charge to Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury to settle an Uniformity in the Ecclesiastical Discipline which lay now almost a gasping And at this time the Sect of Brownists derived from one Robert Brown did much oppose the Church of England In her One and Thirtieth year the Puritan-Flames broke forth again In her Thirty sixth year the Severity of the Laws were Executed upon Henry Barrow and his Sectaries for condemning the Church of England as no Christian Church Thus Sir Rich. Baker Here is an End of this Work Wherein I hope there is full Satisfaction given concerning the Alterations of Religion which have been made by Publick Authority in the Reigns of these Kings and Queens with a sufficient discovery of the Actings of the Presbyterians in this Nation and the ground of multiplying other Sects Here ends the Historical Collections AN APPENDIX CHAP. I. A Word concerning the Doctrins and Practices deserted by this Nation in these Changes of Religion NOw for a close to this Work I will add here in the first place one thing which I conceive deserves well to be taken notice of which is this to wit
Preached and Written partly by divers the natural born Subjects of this Realm and partly being brought in hither from sundry other Forein Countries hath been sowen and spread abroad within the same By reason whereof as well the Spirituality as the Temporality of this Kingdom have swerved from the Obedience of the See Apostolick and declined from the Unity of Christ's Church and have so continued until such time as your Majesty being settled in the Royal Throne the Pope's Holiness and the See Apostolick sent hither unto your Majesty as a Person undefiled and by God's Goodness preserved from the common infection aforesaid and to the whole Realm the most Reverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pool to call us home again into the right way from whence we have all this long while wandred and strayeâ—… abroad And we after sundry long and grievous Plagues and Calamities seeing by the Goodness of God our own Errors have acknowledged the same unto the same most Reverend Father in God and by him been and are received and embraced into the Unity and bosom of Christ's Church upon our humble submission and promise made for a Declaration of our Repentance to Repeal and Abrogate such Acts and Statutes as had been made in Parliament since the said Twentieth year of the said King against the Supremacy of the See Apostolick as in our Submission exhibited appears The tenor whereof here ensueth We the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons Assembled in this present Parliament in the Name of our selves and the whole Kingdom do declare our selves very sorry and repentant of the Schism and Disobedience committed in this Realm and the Dominions thereof against the See Apostolick either by making agreeing or executing any Laws Ordinances or Commands against the Supremacy of the said See or otherwise by doing or speaking any thing that might impugn the same Offering our selves and promising by this our Supplication that for a token and acknowledgment of our said repentance we be and shall be always ready to the utmost of our Power to do what lies in us for the abrogating and the repealing of the said Acts and Ordinances in this present Parliament c. Whereupon we most humbly desire your Majesty to set forth this our most humble Suit That we may obtain from the See Apostolick release and discharge from all danger of such Censures and Sentences as by the Laws of the Church we are fallen into and that we may as Children repentant be received into the bosom and unity of Christ's Church so as this Noble Realm withal the members thereof may in this unity and perfect obedience to the See Apostolick serve God and your Majesty to the furtherance and advancement of his Honor and Glory c. This Petition being granted They further add We being now at the Intercession of your Majesty assoiled discharged and delivered from Excommunication Interdiction and other Censures Ecclesiastical which have hanged over our heads for our said faults since the time of the said Schism mentioned in our Supplication May it therefore now please your Majesty That for the better accomplishment of our promise made in the said Supplication we may Repeal All Laws and Statutes made contrary to the said Supremacy and See Apostolick during the said Schism Thus as to the Repealing of all such Laws made in the Reign of King Henry the 8th Another Act for the Repealing of certain Statutes made in the time of King Edward the Sixth FOrasmuch as by divers and several Acts of Parliament made in the time of King Edward the Sixth as well the Divine Service and good Administration of the Sacraments as divers other matters of Religion which we and our Fore-fathers found in this Church of England to us left by the Authority of the Catholick Church be partly altered and in some part taken from us and in place thereof New Things imagined and set forth by the said Acts such as a few of singularity have of themselves devised Whereof hath ensued amongst us in a very short time numbers of diverse and strange Opinions and diversity of Sects and thereby grown great unquietness and much discord to the great disturbance of the Kingdom And in a very short time like to grow to extreme peril and utter confusion of the same unless some remedy be in that behalf provided Which Thing all True Loving and Obedient Subjects ought to fore-see and to provide against to the utmost of their power c. Be it therefore Enacted c. A third Act for the Repeal of Two several Acts made in the time of King Edward the Sixth touching the Dissolution of the Bishoprick of Durham WHereas there hath been time out of mind of any man to the contrary a See of a Bishop of Durham commonly called The Bishoprick of Durham which hath been one of the most Ancient and worthiest Bishopricks in Dignity and Spiritual Promotion within the Realm of England and the same place always supplied and furnished with a man of great Learning and Virtue which was both to the Honor of God and the encrease of his True Religion and a great Surety to that part of the Realm Nevertheless the said Bishoprick was without any just cause or consideration by Authority of Parliament Dissolved Extinguished and Exterminated And further by the Authority of the said Parliament it was Ordained and Enacted That the said Bishoprick together with all the ordinary Jurisdiction thereunto appertaining should be adjudged clearly dissolved and extinguished and that King Edward the Sixth should from thence-forth have possess and enjoy to him his heirs and successors for ever whatsoever did appertain or belong to the said Bishoprick in as large and ample manner and form as any Bishop thereof had held or possessed or of right ought to have had held or possessed c. Be it therefore Enacted c. Thus far as to these Acts of Parliament CHAP. IV. A Relation of some English Protestants that forsook the Kingdom and of the Factions and Schisms that were amongst them being in other Countries Anno Reg. Mar. 3. Dr. Heylyn pag. 59. MAny English Protestants forsook the Kingdom to the number of Eight Hundred who having put themselves into several Cities partly in Germany and partly amongst the Switzers and their Confederates kept up the Face and Form of an English Church in each of their several Congregations Their principal retiring places amongst the last were Arow Zurick and Geneva And in the first the Cities of Emden Strasburgh and Frankfort In Frankfort they enjoyed the greatest privileges and therefore resorted thither in greatest numbers which made them the more apt unto Schisms and Factions At their first coming to the place they were permitted to have the use of one of their Churches which had before been granted to such French exiles as had repaired thither on the like occasion yet so that the French were still to hold their Right the English to have the use of it one day
at that time in special favor oâ—… known aversness to the Earl of Leicester and consequently no friend to the Puritan Faction This obstactle must be removed one way or other This Office Burchet undertakes and does it upon this opinion That it was Lawful to assassinate any man who opposed the Gospel But he mistakes the man and stabs one Hawkins desperately with a Ponyard conceiving him to be Hatton But by the terror of a Proclamation and the Execution of this Burchet they were restrained from practising any further at the present But what they durst not do directly and in open sight they found a way to act Obliquely and under disguise of setting up another Church of Strangers in the midst of London Many of the Low-country men had fled their Country and setled their Dwellings in the Ports and Sea Towns of England and good numbers of them at London For these there must be a Church in London And for this purpose a Suit is made by their Friends in Court for the obtaining of it And that they might proceed in setting up their Presbytery and New Forms of Worship they obtain not only a connivence or Toleration but a plain Approbation of their Acting in it This likewise gave the First Beginning to the now Dutch Churches in Canterbury Sandwich Yarmouth Norwich and some other places in the North to the great animation of the Presbyters and to the discomfort of all such who were of Judgment to fore-see the sad consequents of it With like felicity they drove on their designs in Jersey and Gernsey introducing their Discipline by degrees into all the Villages Furthered therein by the Sacrilegious avarice of their several Governors out of a hope to have the spoyl of the Deaneries to engross all the Tythes to themselves and then put off the Ministers with some sorry Stipends as in fine they did It was also thought fit That Snape and Cartwright the great Supporters of the Cause in England should be sent unto them to put their Churches in a posture and settle the Discipline amongst them in such Manner and Form as it was practised at Geneva Grindall's being Translated from the See of York unto that of Canterbury gave great hâ—…pes to the Presbyterians who soon found how plyant he was like to prove to their expectation Which happened accordingly he seeking in all things to promote their designs and making great Alterations in the Church of England A Breach happened betwixt him and Leicester that mighty Patron and Protector of the Puritan Faction occasioned by his denying at the Earl's request to Alienate his House and Mannor of Lambeth that it might serve for a Retiring-place to that mighty Favourite And hereunto he did contribute further by refusing to grant a Dispensation to Marry One that was neer of Kindred to him This Leicester thought he might command and was exceedingly vexed not to find obedience in one who had been raised by him and depended on him Upon which ground all passages which before where shut against his enemies were now left free and open for them Whereupon they acquainted the Queen what a neglect there was of the Publick Liturgy in most parts of the Kingdom what ruin and decay of Churches what Innovations made already and what more projected by which She would be eased in time of all Cares of Government and find the same to be transferred to the Puritan Consistories Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the sad state of the Church of England CHAP. XX. A further Relation concerning Cartwright and other Presbyterian Ministers and how they laboured to set up Presbytery in this Nation Dr. Heylyn pag. 290. CArtwright having setled the Presbytery in Jersey and Gernsey first sends back Snape to his old Lecture at Northampton there to pursue such Orders and Directions as they had agreed on And afterwards put himself into the Factory at Antwerp and was soon chosen for their Preacher The news whereof brings Travers to him who receives Ordination if I may so call it by the Presbytery of that City and thereupon is made his Partner in that Charge They easily perswaded the Merchants to admit the Discipline And they endeavoured it the rather that by their help they might effect the like in the City of London whensoever they should find the times to be ready for them The like they did also in the English Church at Middleborough the chief Town in Zealand in which many English Merchants had their constant Residence To which Two places they drew over many of the English Nation to receive admission into the Ministry in a different Form from that which is allowed in the Church of England Some of them following the Example of Cartwright himself renounced the Orders which they had from the hands of Bishops and took a new Vocation from those Presbyters and others there admitted to the rank of Ministers who never were ordained in England Not to say any thing of such as were Elected to be Elders or Deacons in those Forreign Consistories that they might serve the Churches in the same capacity at their coming home And now at last they are for England where Travers put himself into the Service of the Lord Treasurer Burleigh by whose recommendation he is chosen Lecturer of the Temple-Church which gave him opportunity for managing all affairs that concerned the Discipline with the London-Ministers Cartwright applies himself to the Earl of Leicester by whom he is sent down to Warwick and afterwards made Master of an Hospital of his Foundation In the chief Church of which Town he preached when he pleased making it his business to promote the Discipline and to undermine the Church of England But this was not done all at once or in the first year only after his Return but by degrees as opportunity was offered to them Yet so far he prevailed in the first year only that a Meeting of Sixty Ministers out of the Counties of Essex Cambridge and Norfolk was held at a Village called Corkhill where Knewstubs who was one of the Number had the Cure of Souls Which Meeting was held May the 8th Anno 1582 there to Confer about some passages in the Common-Prayer-Book as what might be tolerated in it and what refused The like Meeting was held at the Commencement in Cambridge then next ensuing Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these proceedings of the Calvinists It would be too tedious to relate all the particulars in the carrying on this business And therefore for this I remit the Reader to the History it self CHAP. XXI The Queens Resolution of maintaining Episcopal Government and the great Opposition that was made against it Dr. Heylyn pag. 302. THe Queen was resolved to hold Her Prerogative Royal at the very height and therefore would not hearken to such Propositions as had been made in favour of the Puritan-faction by their great Agents in the Court though She had been many times sollicited in it She acquaints Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury that She
of Lands and Ornaments as when she came into the World in her Natural Nakedness Nor was it like to happen otherwise in the following Reign of Queen Jane if it had lasted longer than a Nine-days wonder For Dudley of Northumberland who then ruled the rost and had before dissolved and in hope devoured the wealthy Bishoprick of Durham might easily have possessed himself of the greatest part of the Revenues of York and Carlisle By means whereof he would have made himself more absolute on the North-side of Trent than the poor Titular Queen had been on the South-side of it To carry on whose Interest and maintain her Title the poor remainder of the Churches Patrimony was in all probability to have been shared amongst those of the Party to make them sure unto that side Thus far out of Dr. Heylyn ' s Preface Summarily concerning this Rapine and Sacriliege which followed this Second Change of Religion Now in the History it self Page 33. Dr. Heylyn begins orderly to treat of the Reign of this King as to matters of Religion as will appear by what shall be here said CHAP. I. Of the many Policies used in the Introducing this Second Change of Religion Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 1. THE Solemnities of the Coronation being passed the Grandees of the Court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation In which they found Archbishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as forward as themselves but on different ends endeavoured by the Bishops out of Zeal but by the Courtiers upon a hope of enriching themselves by the spoil of Bishopricks To the Advancement of which Work the Conjuncture seemed to be as proper as they could desire Fot first the King being of such tender Age and wholly governed by the Wâ—…ll of the Lord Protector who had declared himself a Friend to the Lutheran party in the time of King Henry was easie to be moulded into any form And as the Champions of the Papacy were removed out of all Office so it was thought expedient for the better carrying on of the Design not only to release all such as had been committed unto Prison but also to recal all such as had been forced to abandon the Kingdom for not submitting to King Henries Six Articles But the business was of greater moment than to expect the coming back of these Men. Wherefore neither to lose time nor to press too much at once upon the People it was thought fit to smooth the way to the intended Reformation by setting out some Preparatory Injunctions and this to be done by sending out Commissioners into all parts of the Kingdom armed with Instructions to enquire into all Ecclesiastical Concernments Which Commissioners were accompanied with Preachers appointed to instruct the People And that they might not cool or fall off again from what they had been taught they were to leave some Homilies with the Parish-Priest which the Archbishop had composed Now besides the Points contained in the said Injunctions the Preachers were to perswade them from Invocation of Saints Praying for the Dead Images Use of Beads Ashes Processions Mass Dirges c. All which was done to this intent That the People being prepared by little and little might with more ease and less opposition admit the total Alteration in the face of the Church which was intended in due time to be introduced Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Policy Another Policy But there was something more than the Authority of a Minor King which drew on such a general Conformity to these Injunctions and thereby smoothed the way to those Alterations both in Doctrine and Worship which the Grandees of the Court and Church had began to fashion The Lord Protector and his Party were more experienced in Affairs of State than to be told That all great Counsels tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially where Religion is concerned are either to be back'd by Arms or otherwise prove destructive to the undertakers For this cause he resolves to put himself at the Head of an Army as well for the security of his Person and the preservation of his Party as for the carrying on of the Design against all Opponents And for the raising of an Army there could not be found a fairer colour nor a more popular pretence than a Wat with Scotland not to be made on any new Emergent Quarrel which might be apt to bread suspition in the heads of the People but in pursuit of the great Project of the King Deceased for uniting that Realm by a Marriage to the Crown of England On this Pretence Levies are made in all parts of the Kingdom He entertained also certain Regiments of Walloons and Germans because they were conceived more likely to enforce Obedience if his Design should meet with any opposition than the natural English Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this War with Scotland A Third Policy But in the first place care was taken that none of the Neighboring Princes should either hinder his Proceedings or assist the Enemy That which seemed to give most satisfaction to the Court of France was the performance of a Solemn Obsequy for King Francis the First Whose Funerals were no sooner Solemnized in France but Order was given for a Dirge to be sung in all the Churches of London as also in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in the Quire whereof hung with Black a sumptuous Hearse was set up for the present Ceremony And the next day Archbishop Cranmer assisted with Eight other of the Bishops all in their rich Miters and other their Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem the Funeral Sermon being Preached by Dr. Ridley This great Solemnity being thus honorably performed the Commissioners for the Visitation were dispatched to their several Circuits and the Army drawn to their Rendezvous Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning what was done before the calling of a Parliament CHAP. II. Of what was done in Parliament in order to the Establishing this Change of Religion Dr. Heylyn Page 47. A Parliament began upon the Fourth of November in which the Cards were so well pack'd by Sir Ralph Sadler that there was no need of any further Shuffling till the end of the Game This very Parliament without any sensible Alteration of the Members of it being continued until the Death of the King And though this Parliament consisted of such Members as disagreed amongst themselves in respect of Religion yet they agreed well enough together in one common Principle which was to serve the present time and preserve themselves which appears plainly by the strange mixture of the Acts and Results thereof some tending to the present Benefit and Enriching of particular Persons And some again being devised on purpose to prepare a way for exposing the Revenues of the Church unto spoil and rapine There was an Act made in King Henry the Eighths time Inhibiting the reading of the Old and New Testament in the English Tongue But this was here abrogated together with all
the Dissenters to a Disputation though in the ordinary Form a Disputation was there held at his first coming thither concerning the Sufficiency of Holy Scripture the Fallibility of the Church and the true nature of Justification But long he had not held the place when he left this life Yet so it was that the Account which he had given to Calvin of the English Liturgy and his desiring of a Letter from him to the Lord Protector proved the occasion of much trouble to the Church and the Orders of it For Calvin not forgetting the repulse he found at the hands of Cranmer when he first offered his assistance had skrewed himself into the Favor of the Lord Protector And thinking nothing to be well done which either was not done by him or by his direction as appears by his Letters to all Princes that did but cast an eye towards a Reformation must needs be medling in such matters as belonged not to him He therefore writes a very long Letter to the Lord Protector in which approving well enough of Set Forms of Prayer he descends more particularly to the English Liturgy in canvasing whereof he there excepted against Commemoration of the Dead which he acknowledges however to be very ancient as also against Chrism and Extreme Unction the last whereof being rather allowed of than required by the Rules of the Book Which said he makes it his advice That all these Ceremonies should be abrogated and that withal he should go forward to Reform the Church without Fear or Wit and that without regard to Peace at home or Correspondency abroad such considerations being only to be had in Civil Matters but not in Matters of the Church wherein nothing is to be exacted which is not warranted by the Word and in the managing whereof there is not any thing more distastful in the eyes of God than worldly wisdom either in moderating cutting off or going backwards but meerly as we are directed by his Revealed Will. In the next place he gives a touch upon the Book of Homilies These very faintly he permits for some time only but by no means allowed of them for any long continuance or to be looked on as a Rule of the Church or constantly to serve for the Instruction of the People and thereby gave a hint to the Zuinglian Gospellers who ever since almost have dec aimed against them And whereas some Disputes had grown by his setting on or the pragmatical Humor of some Agents which he had amongst us about the Ceremonies of the Church then by Law Established he must needs trouble the Protector in that business also to whom he writes to this effect That the Papists would grow insolenter every day unless the Differences were composed about the Ceremonies But how Not by reducing the Opponents to Conformity but by encouraging them rather in their opposition Which cannot but appear most plainly to be all he aimed at by soliciting the Duke of Sommerset in behalf of Hooper who was then faln into some trouble upon that account Thus Dr. Heylyn who gives this following account of Hooper This Hooper being designed Bishop of Gloucester the Archbishop would not Consecrate him but in such Habit as Bishops are required to wear by the Rules of the Church but he refused to take it upon such conditions And repairing to his Patron the Earl of Warwick he obtains a Letter to the Archbishop desiring a forbearance of those things implying also that it was the King's desire as well as his that such forbearance should be used It was desired also that he would not charge him with any Oath which seemed to be burdensome to his Conscience For the Elect Bishop as it seems had boggled also at the Oath of paying Canonical Obedience to his Metropolitan The King likewise writ to the Archbishop to the same effect At last the business was thus composed to wit That Hooper should receive his Consecration attired in his Episcopal Robes but that he should be dispensed withal from wearing it at ordinary times as his daily Habit but that he should be bound to use it whensoever he Preached before the King Fox reproacheshim for giving any way to wear this Popish Attire and makes it to be a great cause of shame and contumely to him And possibly it might be thought so at that time by Hooper himself who ever after hated Bishop Ridley the principal Man that held him up so closely to such hard conditions Thus Dr. Heylyn CHAP. VII A further Continuation of the Confusions and Disorders used by the Presbyterians and other Sects Dr. Heylyn page 69. Anno Regni Edwardi Sixti 4. THe Free admitting of John a Lasco a Polonian born with his Congregation of Germans and other Strangers who took Sanctuary this year in England hoping that they might here enjoy that Liberty of Conscience which their own Country denied them proved no small Disturbance to the proceedings of the Church and the quiet ordering of the State For by suffering these Men to live under another kind of Government and to Worship God after other Forms than those allowed of by the Law proved in effect the setting up of one Altar against another in the midst of the Church and the Erecting of a Common-Wealth in the midst of a Kingdom So much the more unfortunately permitted in this present Conjuncture when such a Rupture began to appear amongst our selves which was made wider by the coming in of these Dutch Reformers and the Indulgence granted to them Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning John a Lasco Thus we have the first beginning of that Opposition which hath continued ever since against the Liturgy it self the Cap and Surplice and other Rites and Usages of the English Church And these were the Effects of Calvins interposing in behalf of Hooper For what did follow thereupon but a continual multiplying of Disorders in all parts of this Church The sitting at the Sacrament used and maintain'd by John a Lasco first caused Irreverence in the Receiving and afterwards a Contempt and Depraving of it The crying down of the Sacred Vestments and the Grave Habit of the Clergy first occasioned a dis-esteem of the Men themselves and by degrees a vilifying and contempt of their Calling Nay such a peccancy of Humor began then manifestly to break out that it was Preached at Paul's Cross by a Curate of St. Catherines Christ-Church That it was fit the Names of Churches should be altered and the Names of the Days in the Week changed That Fish-days should be kept on any other days than Fridays and Saturdays and the Lent at any other time except only between Shrove-tide and Easter We are told also by John Stow that he had seen this Curate of Christ-Church to leave the Pulpit and Preach to the People out of an High Elm which stood in the midst of the Church-Yard and that being done to return into the Church again and leaving the High Altar to sing the Communion-Service upon a
new and strange Obsequy performed for Henry the 2d King of France Howe 's upon Stow pag. 639. A solemn Obsequy was kept in Paul's Church at London for Henry the Second King of France This Obsequy was kept very solemnly with a rich Hearse but without any Lights The Bishops of Canterbury Chester and Hereford executing the Dirge of the Even song in English they siting in the Bishop of London's Seat in the upper Quire in Surplices with Doctors Hoods about their shoulders The next day after the Sermon Six of the Lords Mourners received the Communion with the Bishops Who were in Copes upon their Surplices only at the ministration of the Communion Howe 's in the same Page The Second of October in the Afternoon and the next day in the Forenoon a solemn Obsequy was held in St. Paul's Church in London for Ferdinand the late Emperor departed Thus Howes CHAP. VI. Of the great Havock this Queen made of Bishopricks although She retained Episcopal Government Anno Reg. Eliz. 2. Dr. Heylyn pag. 120. IN the Second year of Her Reign some days after the Deprivation of the former Bishops She Elected other Bishops to satisfie the world that She intended to preserve Episcopal Government But why this was deferred so long may be a question Some think it was That She might satisfie her self by putting the Church into a posture by her Visitation before she passed it over to the care of the Bishops Others conceive That she was so enamoured with the Power and Title of Supream Governess that she could not deny Her self the contentment in the exercise of it which the present Interval afforded And it is possible enough that both or either of these Considerations might have some influence upon Her But the main cause for keeping the Episcopal Sees in so long a vacancy must be found elsewhere An Act had passed in the late Parliament Anno Reg. Eliz. 1. which never had the confidence to appear in Print In the Preamble whereof it was declared That by the Dissolution of Religious Houses many Impropriations Tythes and portions of Tythes had been invested in the Crown which the Queen could not well dismember from it in regard of the present low condition in which she found the Crown at her coming to it And thereupon it was Enacted that in the vacancy of any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick it should be lawful for the Queen to issue out a Commission under the great Seal for taking a Survey of all Castles Mannors Lands Tenements and all other Hereditaments to the 〈◊〉 Episcopal Sees belonging and upon the return of such Survey to take into Her hands any of the said Castles Mannors Lands Tenements c. as to Her seemed good giving to the said Archbishops and Bishops as much Annual Rents to be raised upon Impropriations Tythes and portions of Tythes as the said Castles Mannors Lands c. did amount unto The Church-Lands certified according to the ancient Rents without consideration of the Casualties or other Perquisites of the Court which belonged to them The retribution made in Pensions Tythes and portions of Tythes extended to the utmost value from which no other profit was to be expected than the Rent it self Which Act being not to take effect till the end of the Parliament the Interval between the end of that Parliament the deprivation of the old Bishops and the Consecration of the new was to be taken up in the execution of such Surveys and making such Advantages of them as most redounded to the profit of the Queen and her Courtiers Upon which ground as all the Bishops Sees were so long kept vacant before any one of them was filled so in the following times they were kept void one after another as occasion served till the best Flowers in the Garden of the Church had been culled out of it There was another Clause in the said Statutes by which the Patrimony of the Church was as much Dilapidated even after the restoring of the Bishops as it was in the times of vacancy For by that Clause all Bishops were restrained from making any Grants of their Farms and Mannors for more than One and Twenty years or Three Lives at the most except it were to the Queen her Heirs and Successors And under that pretence they might be granted to any of Her hungry Courtiers in Fee-farm or for a Lease of Fourscore and Nineteen years as it pleased the parties By which means Crediton was dismembred from the See of Excester and the goodly Mannor of Sherbourn from that of Salisbury Many fair Mannors were likewise Alienated for ever from the rich Sees of Winchester Ely and indeed what not Moreover when the rest of the Episcopal Sees were supplied with new Bishops yet York and Winchester were not so soon provided That they might afford on Michaelmas-Rent more to the Queens Exchequer before the Lord Tresurer could give way to a new Incumbent But notwithstanding this great Havock that was made of the Bishopricks yet Episcopacy was now setled with the retaining of many Rites and Ceremonies belonging to Catholick Religion Whereof one was that she had caused a Massy Crucifix of Silver to be placed upon the midst of the Altar in her Chappel But this so displeased Sir Francis Knolls the Queens neer Kinsman by the Caries a great Zelot for the Reformation that he caused it to be broken in pieces There was at this time a Sermon preached in defence of the Real presence For which the Queen openly gave the Preacher Thanks for his Pains and Piety Thus Dr. Heylyn But it is here to be noted Tâ—…t in the beginning of Her Reign out of scruple of Conscience she did forbid the Elevation of the Sacrament So that although Christ were acknowledged to be really present yet he was not to be Adored I could not omit to take notice of this contradiction CHAP. VII Of the Disturbance the Presbyterians gave to the Setling of this New Church and of a Rebellion in Scotland and the Death of the Queen of Scots Dr. Heylyn pag. 124. THe Queen having thus regulated and setled Ecclesiastical Affairs the same settlement might have longer continued had not Her Order been confounded and her Peace disturbed by some factious Spirits who having had their wills at Frankfort or otherwise Ruling the Presbytery when they were at Geneva thought to have carried all before them with the like facility when they were in England But leaving them and their designs to some other time we must next look upon the Aid which the Queen sent to those of the Reformed Religion in Scotland but carried under the pretence of dislodging such French Forces as were Garrison'd there Such of the Scots as desired a Reformation of Religion taking advantage by the Queens absence the easiness of the Earl of Arran and want of Power in the Queen Regent to suppress their practices had put themselves into a Body headed by some of the Nobility they take unto themselves the Name of
themselves to be an Assembly wherein the Lord's cause could not be heard wherein the infelicity of the miserable could not be respected wherein Truth Religion and Piety could bear no sway an Assembly that willingly called for the Judgment of God upon the whole Realm And finally That not a Man of their Seed should prosper be a Parliament Man or bear rule in England any more This necessary preparation being thus premised they tender to the Parliament a Book of the Form of Common-Prayer by them desired containing also in effect the whole pretended Discipline so revised by Travers And their Petition in behalf of it was in these words following to wit May it therefore please your Majesty That the Book hereunto annexed and every thing therein contained may be from henceforth used through all your Majesties Dominions But in this they were able to effect nothing It may seem strange that Queen Elizabeth should be so severe to her English Puritans and yet protect and countenance the Presbyterians in all other places But that great Monster in Nature called Reason of State is brought to plead in her defence Leicester Walsingham and others gave such encouragment under-hand to the Presbyterians that they resolved to proceed towards the putting of their Discipline in execution These great Persons did likewise entertain their Clamours and promote their Petitions at the Council-Table crossing and thwarting the Archbishop whensoever any cause which concerned the Brethren was brought before them It may be gathered from hence what a hard game this Prelate had to play when such great Masters in the Art held the Cards against him For at that time the Earls of Huntingdon and Leicester Walsingham and Knolls Comptroller of the Houshold a professed Genevian were his open Adversaries Burleigh a Neutral at the best Thus Dr. Heylyn The Order of their Government both at London and in the Country Dr. Heylyn pag. 213. THe Book of Discipline being published was no where better welcome than in London the Wealth and Pride of which City was never wanting to cherish and support such as most apparently opposed themselves to the present Authority or practised the introducing of Innovations both in Church and State The several Churches or Conventicles rather which they had in the City they reduced into one great and general Classis of which Cartwright Egerton or Travers were for the most part Moderators and whatsoever was there ordered was esteemed for current from thence the Brethren of other places did fetch their light and as doubts did arise thither they were sent to be resolved the Classical and Synodical decrees of other places not being Authentical till they were ratified in this which they held the Supream Consistory and chief Tribunal of the Nation But in the Country none appeared more forward than those of Northampton Daventry and Nottingham and the device is taken up in most parts of England but especially in Warwick-shire Suffolk Norfolk Essex c. In these Classes they determined Points of Doctrine Interpreted hard places of Scripture delivered their resolution in such cases of Conscience as were brought before them decided doubts and difficulties touching Contracts of Marriage c. and whatsoever was concluded by such as were present yet still with reference to the better judgment of the London Brethren became forthwith binding to the rest none being admitted into any of the aforesaid Classes before he had promised under his hand that he would submit himself and be obedient unto all such Orders and Decrees as were set down by the Classis to be observed At these Classes they enquired into the Life and Doctrine of all that had subscribed unto them censuring some and deposing others as they saw occasion Unto every Classis there belonged a Register who took the Heads of all that passed and saw them carefully entred into a Book for that purpose that they might remain upon Record Thus Dr. Heylyn gives a full Relation of the Progress of Presbytery in this Nation Now I will make a short Relation of the Queens Proceedings against Catholicks CHAP. XXIII Of the great endeavors used totally to extirpate Catholick Religion by Penal Laws and a horrid Effusion of Blood Stow pag. 678. THere was an Act of Parliament passed 5 Eliz In the Body whereof it was provided That no Man living or residing in the Queens Dominions should from thenceforth maintain the Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome And for the better discovery of all such persons as might be Popishly affected it was Enacted that none should be admitted to receive Orders in the Church or to take any Degree in either of the Universities or to be Barrester or Bencher in any of the Inns of Court c. Or to practice as an Attorney or otherwise to bear any Office in any of the Courts at Westminster-Hall or any other Court whatsoever till they had taken the Oath of Surpemacy It was likewise made Treason for any one to be reconciled to the Church of Rome or to be made Priest beyond the Seas upon which Two accounts very many were afterwards Executed A Proclamation also was set forth That whosoever had any Children beyond the Sea should by a certain day call them home Commissioners were sent into all Parts and Divisions of the Realm to enquire out Priests and such as were reconciled by them further charging all manner of Persons to retain none in their Houses without due examination of their conditions manner of life and conformity in Religion and to keep thereof a Register to be shewed to the said Commissioners if they should demand it In pursuance of which Commission a Priest was taken saying Mass in the Lord Morley's House and the Lady Morley with her Children and divers others were also taken hearing the same Mass. There was also taken at the same time another Priest at the Lady Gilfords in Trinity-lane for saying Mass and for hearing the said Mass the Lady Gilford with divers other Gentlewomen were taken And likewise at the same instant were taken Two Priests in the Lady Browns House in Cow-lane for saying Mass with the Lady her self and divers others for hearing it All which persons were Endicted Convicted and had the Law Executed according to the Statute There was found in their several Chappels Beads Images Palms Chalices Crosses Vestments Pixes Paxes and such-like Thus Stow. He that desires to be fully satisfied concerning all the severe Laws made against Catholicks in this Queens Reign may have recourse to the Penal Statutes Now we will proceed to a further Execution of these Laws by a horrid effusion of Blood TWo Laymen and one Priest wher hanged bowelled and quartered for denying the Queens Supremacy Stow pag. 684 and 685. Six Priests were drawn from the Tower to Tyburn and there hanged bowelled and quartered Stow pag. 695. Four Priests more were found guilty of High-Treason in being made Priests beyond Seas and by the Pope's Authority and had Judgment to be hanged bowelled
for so many Ages forsake his Church and leave her in an Error Again the beauty and splendor of that Church their Solemn Service the stateliness and magnificence of their Hierarchy their name of Catholick which they claim as their own due and to concern no other Sect of Christianity The Antiquity of their Doctrin the continual Succession of their Bishops their immediate derivation from the Apostles Their Title to Succed St. Peter whose Personal Prerogatives were so great The Honorable Expressions concerning this Church from many eminent Bishops of other inferior Sees which being old Records have obtain'd a credibility The multitude and variety of People which are of their Perswasion Apparent consent with elder Ages in matters Doctrinal The Advantage which is derived to them by retaining the Doctrin of the Church of Ancient times The great consent one part with another in that which they affirm to be de Fide The great differences which are commenced amongst their Adversaries abusing the liberty of Prophesying unto a very great Licentiousness Their happiness in being instrumental in converting divers Nations The advantage of Monarchical Government and the benefit which they daily enjoy by it The Piety and the Austerity of their Religious Orders of Men and Women The single life of their Priests and Bishops The riches of their Church The severity of their Fasts and other their Exterior Observances The great Reputation of their Bishops for Faith and Sanctity The known Holiness of some of those Persons whose Institutes the Religious Persons do now imitate and follow Their Miracles The Casualties and Accidents that have hapned to many of their Adversaries The oblique Acts and indirect Proceedings of some of those who have departed from them And among many other Things the names of Heretick and Schismatick which they fasten upon all that disagree from them c. Thus Dr. Taylor See the Learned Grotius declaring the impossibility of Uniting Christians into one Body but by their adhering to the Roman See What is the reason saith Grotius in his First Reply to Rivet ad Artic. 7. That such as differ in Opinion amongst Catholicks remain in the same Body not breaking Communion But on the contrary when dissensions happen amongst Protestants they cannot thus compose Disputes and oppositions although they speak much of Fraternal Love Now he that shall examine this well will find how much force and power there is in the Primacy Thus he This brings to mind that saying of St. Jerom concerning St. Peter's Primacy Wherefore amongst the Twelve One was chosen that a Head being constituted and appointed all occasion of Schism might be taken away Hieronym lib. 1. cap. 14. advers Jovinian Now again the same Grotius in the close of his last Reply to Rivet written not long before his death writes thus It is well known that Grotius has always wished for a Restitution and Reuniting of Christians into one and the same Body He was sometime of Opinion that this might have been begun by a Conjunction or Union of Protestants amongst themselves But he afterwards discerned that this was impossible to be effected because besides that most of all the Calvinists are totally averse from any such Peace or Union Protestants are not associated or united under any Common Ecclesiastical Government which is the cause why the diverse parts of them cannot be collected into one Body And withal this is the Reason that they must necessarily still divide into more new Sects or Parts Wherefore Grotius now plainly sees and judges as likewise many others with him that Protestants can never be united amongst themselves unless they be joyned with those that adhere to the Roman See whithout which no common Government can be expected in the Church And therefore he wishes that the Division and Separation which has been made and likewise the causes of it may be taken away Now amongst these the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome according to the Canons cannot be looked upon as one cause even by the Confession of Melancthon himself who thinks that Premacy to be necessary for the retaining and preserving of Unity Thus Grotius concering the Uniting all Christans by their adhering to the Roman See See Doctor Field in the Preface to his Book of the Church recommending the ending all Disputes in Religion by a lawful Church-Authority Seeing saith he the Controversies in Religion in our times are grown in number so many and in matters so intricate that few have time and leisure fewer strength of understanding to examine them what remaineth for men desirous of satisfaction in Things of such consequence but diligently to search out which amongst all the Societies of the World is that Blessed company of Holy Ones that Houshold of Faith that Spouse of Christ and Church of the Living God which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth that so he may embrace her Communion follow her Directions and rest in her Judgment Thus Dr. Field In like manner Dr. Hammond in his Treatise of Heresie Sect. 13. Num. 2 3. speaks thus of the Christians Security from the Divine Providence in his adherance in matters of Faith to Church Authority If we consider saith he God's great wise and constant Providence and care over his Church his desire that All Men should be saved and in order to that come to the knowledge of all necessary Truth his Promise That he will not suffer his Faithful Servants to be tempted above what they are able nor permit scandals and false Teachers to prevail to the seducing of the very Elect his most Pious Godly Servants If I say we consider These and some other such-like general Promises of Scripture wherein this question about the Errability of Councils seems to be concerned we shall have reason to believe that God will never suffer All Christians to fall into such a Temptation as it must be in case the whole Representative of the Church should err in matters of Faith and therein find approbation and reception amongst all Those Bishops and Doctors of the Church diffused which were out of the Council Thus he See also his Commentary on 1 Tim. 3. 15. The Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth According to this it is saith he that Christ is said Ephes. 4. 12. to have given not only Apostles c. but also Pastors and Teachers that is Bishops in the Church for the compacting the Saints into a Church for the building up of the Body of Christ confirming and continuing them in all Truth that we should be no more like Children carried about with every wind of Dectrin And so again when Heresies came into the Church in the first Ages 't is every where apparent by Ignatius his Epistles that the only way of avoiding Error and Danger was to adhere to the Bishop in Communion and Doctrin And whosoever departed from him and from that Form of wholesome words kept by him was supposed to be corrupted Thus far Dr. Hammond See Doctor Jackson on the