Hospital and he order'd the Church of the Franciscans a little within Newgate to be opened which he gave to the Hospital This was done the 3d of Ianuary Another was of Trinity Colledg in Cambridg one of the Noblest Foundations in Christendom He continued in a decay till the 27 of the moneth and then many signs of his approaching end appearing few would adventure on so unwelcom a thing as to put him in mind of his change then imminent but Sir Anthony Denny had the honesty and courage to do it and desired him to prepare for death and remember his former life and to call on God for mercy through Jesus Christ. Upon which the King expressed his grief for the Sins of his past Life yet he said he trusted in the mercies of Christ which were greater than they were Then Denny asked him if any Churchman should be sent for and he said if any it should be Arch-Bishop Cranmer and after he had rested a little finding his Spirits decay apace he ordered him to be sent for to Croydon where he was then But before he could come the King was Speechless So Cranmer desired him to give some sign of his dying in the Faith of Christ upon which he squeezed his hand and soon after died after he had Reigned 37 years and 9 months in the six and fiftieth year of his age His death was kept up three dayes for the Journals of the House of Lords shew that they continued reading Bills and going on in business till the 31st and no sooner did the Lord Chancellor signify to them that the King was dead and that the Parliament was thereby dissolved It is certain the Parliament had no being after the Kings breath was out so their sitting till the 31st shews that the Kings death was not generally known all those three dayes The reasons of concealing it so long might either be that they were considering what to do with the Duke of Norfolk or that the Seymours were laying their matters so as to be secure in the Government before they published the Kings Death I shall not adventure on adding any further Character of him to that which is done with so much Wit and Judgment by the Lord Hâ—rbert but shall refer the Reader wholly to him only adding an account of the blackest part of it the Attaindors that passed the last 13 years of his life which are comprehended within this Book of which I have cast over the Relation to the Conclusion of it In the latter part of his Reign there were many things that seem great severities especially as they are represented by the Writers of the Roman party whose relations are not a little strengthned by the faint excuses and the mistaken accounts that most of the Protestant Historians have made The King was naturally impetuous and could not bear provocation the times were very ticklish his Subjects were generally addicted to the old Superstition especially in the Northern parts the Monks and Friers were both numerous and wealthy the Pope was his implacable Enemy the Emperor was a formidable Prince and being then Master of all the Netherlands had many advantages for the War he designed against Enâ—land Cardinal Pole his kinsman was going over all the Courts of Christendom to perswade a League against England as being a thing of greater necessity and merit than a War against the Turk This being without the least aggravation the state of affairs at that time it must be confessed he was sore put to it A Superstition that was so blind and headstrong and Enemies that were both so powerful so spiteful and so industrious made rigour necessary nor is any General of an Army more concerned to deal severely with Spies and Intelligencers than he was to proceed against all the Popes adherents or such as kept correspondence with Pole He had observed in History that upon much less provocation than himself had given not only several Emperors and forreign Princes had been dispossessed of their Dominions but two of his own Ancestors Henry the 2d and King Iohn had been driven to great extremities and forced to unusual and most indecent submissions by the means of the Popes and their Clergy The Popes power over the Clergy was so absolute and their dependence and obedience to him was so implicite and the Popish Clergy had so great an interest in the superstitious multitude whose consciences they governed that nothing but a stronger passion could either tame the Clergy or quiet the People If there had been the least hope of impunity the last part of his Reign would have been one continued Rebellion therefore to prevent a more profuse effusion of blood it seemed necessary to execute Laws severely in some particular instances There is one calumny that runs in a thread through all the Historians of the Popish side which not a few of our own have ignorantly taken up That many were put to death for not swearing the Kings Supremacy It is an impudent falshood for not so much as one person suffered on that account nor was there any Law for any such Oath before the Parliament in the 28th year of the Kings Reign when the unsufferable Bull of Pope Paul the 3d engaged him to look a little more to his own safety Then indeed in the Oath for maintaining the successiono f the Crown the Subjects were required under the pains of Treason to swear that the King was supream head of the Church of England but that was not mentioned in the former Oath that was made in the 25th and enacted in the 26 year of his Reign It cannot but be confessed that to enact under pain of death that none should deny the Kings Titles and to proceed upon that against offenders is a very different thing from forcing them to swear the King to be the Supream Head of the Church The first instance of these Capital proceedings was in Easter-Term in the beginning of the 27th year of his reign Three Priors and a Monk of the Carthusian Order were then endited of Treason for saying that the King was not Supream head under Christ of the Church of England These were Iohn Houghton Prior of the Charter-house near London Augustin Webster Prior of Axholme Robert Laurence Prior of Bâ—vâ—ll and Richard Reynolds a Monk of Sion this last was esteemed a learned man for that time and that Order They were tried in Westminster-Hall by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer they pleaded not guilty but the Jury found them guilty and judgment was given that they should suffer as Traitors The Record mentions no other particulars but the writers of the Popish side make a splendid recital of the courage and constancy they expressed both in their Tryal and at their Death It was no difficult thing for men so used to the Legend and the making of fine stories for the Saints and Martyrs of their Orders to dress up such Narratives with much pomp But as their pleading Not
temper was found it was placed as a Distinct Commandment but not at full length the words For I the Lord thy God c. being left out and only those that go before being set down In the Explanation of this Commandment Images were said to be profitable for putting us in mind of the great blessings we have received by our Saviour and of the vertues and holiness of the Saints by which we were to be stirred up to imitate them So that they were not to be despised though we be forbidden to do any godly honour to them And therefore the Superstition of preferring one Image to another as if they had any special vertue in them or the adorning them richly and making Vowes and Pilgrimages to them is condemned yet the Censing of Images and Kneeling before them are not condmned but the people must be taught that these things were not to be done to the Image it self but to God and his honour To the third Commandment they reduced the Invocation of Gods name for his Gifts And they condemned the Invocation of Saints when such things were prayed for from them which were only given by God This was the giving his Glory to Creatures yet to pray to Saints as Intercessors is declared lawful and according to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church Upon the 4th Commandement a Reâ—t from labour every 7th day is said to be Ceremonial and such as only obliged Iews but the Spiritual signification of Rest among Christians was to abstain from Sin and other Carnal pleasures But besides that we were also bound by this Precept sometimes to cease from labour that we may serve and worship God both in publick and private And that on the dayes appointed for this purpose people ought to examine their lives the past week and set to amendment and give themselves to prayer reading and meditation Yet in cases of necessity such as saving their Corn or Cattel men ought not superstitiously to think that it is a Sin to work on that day but to do their work without scruple Then follow very profitable Expositions of the other Commandments with many grave and weighty admonitions concerning the duties by them enjoyned and against those sins which are too Common in all Ages After that an Explanation of the Lords Prayer was added In the preface to which it is said that it is meet and requisite that the unlearned people should make their Prayers in their Mother-Tongue whereby they may be the more stirred to Devotion and to mind the things they prayed for Then followed an Exposition of the Angels Salutation of the Blessed Virgin In which the whole History of the Incarnation of Christ was opened and the Ave Maria explained which Hymne was chiefly to be used in Commemoration of Christs Incarnation and likewise to set forth the praises of the Blessed Virgin The next article is about Free-will which they say must be in man otherwise all Precepts and Exhortations are to no purpose They defined it a power of the will joyned with Reason whereby a reasonable creature without constraint in things of reason discerneth and willeth good and evil but chooseth good by the assistance of Gods grace and evil of it self This was perfect in the State of Innocency but is much impaired by Adams Fall and now by an especial grace offered to all men but enjoyed only by those who by their free-will do accept the same it was restored that with great watchfulness we may serve God acceptably And as many places of Scripture shew That free-will is still in man so there be many others which shew that the grace of God is necessary that doth both prevent us and assist us both to begin and perform every good work Therefore all men ought most gratefully to receive and follow the motions of the Holy Ghost and to beg Gods grace with earnest devotion and a stedfast Faith which he will grant to all that so ask it both because he is naturally good and he has promised to grant our desires For he is not the author of Sin nor the Cause of mans Damnation but this men draw on themselves who by vice have corrupted these Natures which God made good Therefore all Preachers were warned so to moderate themselves in this high point that they neither should so preach the Grace of God as to take away Free-will nor so extol Free-will as injury might be done to the Grace of God After this they handled Justification Having stated the miseries of man by nature and the guilt of Sin with the unspeakable goodness of God in sending Christ to redeem us by his death who was the Mediator between God and man They next shew how men are made partakers of the blessings which he hath procured Justification is the making of us righteous before God whereby we are reconciled to him and made heirs of Eternal life that by his Grace we may walk in his ways and be reputed just and righteous in the day of Judgment and so attain Everlasting Happiness God is the chief cause of our Justification yet man prevented by Grace is by his free-consent and obedience a worker toward the attaining his own Justification For though it is only procur'd through the merits of Christs death yet every one must do many things to attain a right and claim to that which though it was offered to all yet was applied but to a few We must have a stedfast Faith true Repentance real purposes of amendment committing Sin no more but serving God all our lives which if we fall from we must recover it by Penance Fasting Almes Prayer with other good works and a firm Faith going forward in mortification and obedience to the Laws of God It being certain that men might fall away from their Justification All curious reasonings about Predestination were to be set apart there being no certainty to he had of our Election but by feeling the motions of Gods Spirit in us by a good and virtuous life and persevering in it to the end Therefore it was to be taught that as on the one hand we are justified freely by the free Grace of God so on the other hand when it is said We are justified by Faith it must be understood of such a Faith in which the fear of God Repentance Hope and Charity be included all which must be joyned together in our Justification and though these be imperfect yet God accepteth of them freely thorough Christ. Next good works were explained which were said to be absolutely necessary to Salvation But these were not only outward corporal works but inward Spiritual works as the Love and Fear of God Patience Humility and the like Nor were they Superstitions and mens Inventions such as those in which Monks and Friers exercised themselves nor only moral works done by the power of Natural reason but the works of Charity flowing from a pure heart a good Conscience and Faith
another Wife keeping the Queen still Zuinglius confutes that and says If the Marriage be against the Law of God it ought to be dissolved But concludes the Queen should be put away honourably and still used as a Queen and the Marriage should only be dissolved for the future without Illegitimating the Issue begotten in it since it had gone on in a publick way upon a received error But advises that the King should proceed in a Judiciary way and not establish so ill a President as to put away his Queen and take another without due form of Law Dated Basil 17th of Aug. There is a second Letter of his to the same purpose from Zurick the first of September There is also with these Letters a long paper of Osianders in the form of a Direction how the Process should be managed There is also an Epistle of Calvins published among the rest of his Neither the date nor the person to whom it was directed are named Yet I fancie it was written to Grineus upon this occasion Calvin was clear in his judgment that the Marriage was null and that the King ought to put away the Queen upon the Law of Leviticus And whereas it was objected that the Law is only meant of Marrying the Brothers wife while he is yet alive he shews that could not be admitted for all the prohibited degrees being forbidden in the same style they were all to be understood in one sense Therefore since it is confessed that it is unlawful to Marry in the other degrees after the death of the Father Son Uncle or Nephew so it must be also a sin to Marry the Brothers wife after his death And for the Law in Deuteronomy of Marrying the Brothers wife to raise up seed to him he thought that by Brother there is to be understood a near Kinsman according to the usual phrase of the Hebrew tongue and by that he reconciles the two Laws which otherwise seem to differ illustrating his Exposition by the History of Ruth and Boaz. It is given out that Melancthon advised the Kings taking another wife justifying Polygamy from the old Testament but I cannot believe it It is true the Lawfulness of Polygamy was much controverted at this time And as in all controversies newly started many crude things are said so some of the Helvetian and German Divines seem not so fierce against it though none of them went so far as the Pope did who did plainly offer to grant the King Licence to have two wives and it was a motion the Imperialists consented to and promoted though upon what reason the Ambassador Cassali who wrote the account of it to the King could not learn The Pope forbade him to write about it to the King perhaps as Whisperers enjoyn silence as the most effectual way to make a thing publick But for Melancthons being of that mind great evidences appear to the contrary for there is a Letter of Osianders to him giving him many reasons to perswade him to approve of the Kings putting away the Queen and Marrying another the Letter also shews he was then of opinion that the Law in Leviticus was Dispensable And after the thing was done when the King desired the Lutheran Divines to approve his second Marriage they begged his excuse in a writing which they sent over to him so that Melanâ—â—hon not allowing the thing when it was done cannot be imagined to have advised Polygamy before hand And to open at once all that may clear the sense of the Protestants in the Question when some years after this Fox being made Bishop of Hereford and much inclined to their Doâ—ctrine was sent over to get the Divines of Germany to approve of the Divorce and the subsequent Marriage of Anne Boleyn he found that Melancthon and others had no mind to enter much into the Dispute about it both for fear of the Emperor and because they judged the King was led in it by dishonest affections they also thought the Laws in Leviticus were not Moral and did not oblige Christians and since there were no Rules made about the Degrees of Marriage in the Gospel they thought Princes and States might make what Laws they pleased about it yet aâ—ter much Disputing they were induced to change their minds but could not be brought to think that a Marriage once made might be annulled and therefore demurred upon that as will appear by the Conclusion they passed upon it to be found at the end of this volume All this I have set together here to give a right representation of the judgments of the several parties of Christendome about this matter It cannot be denyed that the Protestants did express great sincerity in this matter such as became men of conscience who were acted by true Principles and not by maxims of Policie For if these had governed them they had struck in more compliantly with so great a Prince who was then alienated from the Pope and in very ill terms with the Emperor so that to have gained him by a full Compliance to have protected them was the wisest thing they could do and their being so cold in the matter of his Marriage in which he had engaged so deeply was a thing which would very much provoke him against them But such measures as these though they very well became the Apostolick See yet theâ— were unworthy of men who designed to restore an Apostolick Religion The Earl of Wiltshire with the other Ambassadors when they had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia refused to pay him the submission of Kissing his foot though he graciously stretched it out to them but went to their Business and expostulated in the Kings name and in high words and in Conclusion told the Pope that the Prerogative of the Crown of England was such that their Master would not suffer any Citation to be made of him to any forreign Court and that therefore the King would not have his cause tryed at Rome The Pope answered that though the Queens Sollicitor had pressed him to proceed in the Citation bâ—th that her Marriage being further examined might receive a new Conâ—irmation for silencing the Dispuâ—es about it and because the King had withdrawn himself â—rom her yet if the King did not go further and did not innovate in Relâ—gion the Pope was willing to let the matter rest They went next to the Emperor to justifie the Kings Proceedings in the Suit of the Divorce But he told them he was bound in honour and justice to â—uppâ—rt his Aunt and that he would not abandon her Cranmer offered to maintain what he had written in his Book but whether they went so far as to make their Divines enter into any Discourse with him about it I do not know This appears that the Pope to put a Complement on the King declared Cranmer his Paenitentiary in England He having stayed some months at Rome after the Ambassadors were gone
St. Austin who do plainly deliver the Tradition of the Church about the obligation of those Laws and answer the objections that were made either from Abraam's Marrying his Sister or from Iacob's Marrying two Sisters or the Law in Deuteronomy for the Brothers Marrying his Brothers Wife if he died without Children They observed that the same Doctrine was also taught by the Fathers and Doctors in the latter Ages d Anselm held it and pleads much for Marrying in remote Degrees and answer the Objection from the Decision in the Case of the Daughters of Zelophehad Hugo Cardinalis Radulphus Flaviacenfis and Rupertus Tuitiensis do agree that these Precepts are Moral and of perpetual obligation as also Hugo de Sto. Victore Hildebert Bishop of Mans being consulted in a Case of the same nature with what is now controverted plainly Determines That a man may not Marry his Brothers Wife and by many Authorities shewes That by no means it can be allowed And Ivo Carnotensis being desired to give his Opinion in a Case of the same circumstanceâ— of a Kings Marrying his Brothers Wife says Such a Marriage is null as inconsistent with the Law of God and that the King was not to be admitted to the Communion of the Church till he put away his Wife since there was no Dispencing with the Law of God and no Sacrifice could be offered for those that continued willingly in sin Passages also to the same purpose are in other places of his Epistles From these Doctors and Fathers the Inquiry descended to the Schoolmen who had with more niceness and subtlety examined things They do all agree in asserting the obligation of these Levitical Prohibitions Thomas Aquinas does it in many places and confirmes it with many Arguments Altisiodorensis says they are Moral Laws and part of the Law of Nature Petrus de Palude is of the â—ame mind and says that a mans Marrying his Brothers Wife was a Dispensation granted by God but could not be now allowed because it was contrary to the Law of Nature St. Antonine of Florence Ioannes de Turre Cremata Ioannes de Tabia Iacobus de Lausania and Astexanus were also cited for the same Opinion And those who wrote against Wickliffe namely Wydeford Cotton and Waldensis charged him with Heresie for denying that those Prohibitions did oblige Christians And asserted that they were Moral Laws which obliged all Mankind And the Books of Waldensis were approved by P. Martin the First There were also many Quotations brought out of Petrus de Tarantasia Durandus Stephanus Brulifer Richardus de Media Villa Guido Briancon Gerson Paulus Ritius and many others to confirm the same Opinion who did all unanimously assert That those Laws in Leviticus are parts of the Law of Nature which oblige all Mankind and that Marriages contracted in these Degrees are null and void All the Canonists were also of the same mind Ioannes Andreas Ioannes de Imola Abbas Panormitanus Mattheus Neru Vincentius Innocentius and Ostiensis all Concluded that these Laws were still in force and could not be Dispenced with There was also a great deal alledged to prove that a Marriage is compleated by the Marriage-Contract though it be never Consummated Many Authorities were brought to prove that Adonijah could not Marry Abishag because she was his Fathers Wife though never known by him And by the Law of Moses a woman espoused to a man if she admitted another to her Bed was to be stoned as an Adulteress from whence it appears that the validity of Marriage is from the mutual Covenant And though Ioseph never knew the Blessed Virgin yet he was so much her Husband by the Espousals that he could not put her away but by a Bill of Divorce and was afterwards called her Husband and Christs Father Affinity had been also defined by all writers a Relation arising out of Marriage and since Marriage was a Sacrament of the Church its Essence could only consist in the Contract and therefore as a man in Orders has the Character though he never Consecrated any Sacrament So Marriage is compleat though its effect never follow And it was shewed that the Canonists had only brought in the Consummation of Marriage as essential to it by Ecclesiastical Law But that as Adam and Eve were perfectly Married before they knew one another so Marriage was compleat upon the Contract and what followed was only an effect done in the right of the Marriage And there was a great deal of filthy stuff brought together of the different Opinions of the Canonists concerning Consummation to what Degree it must go to shew that it could not be essential to the Marriage Conâ—ract which in modesty were suppressed Both Hildebert of Mans Ivo Carnotensis and Hugo de Sto. Victore had delivered this Opinion and proved it out of St. Chrysostome Ambrose Austin and Isidore Pope Nicolas and the Council of Tribur defined that Marriage was compleated by the Consent and the Benediction From all which they Concluded that although it could not be proved that Prince Arthur knew the Queen yet that she being once lawfully Married to him the King could not afterwards Marry her It was also said that violent presumptions were sufficient in the Opinion of the Canonists to prove Consummation Formal proofs could not be expected and for Persons that were of Age and in good health to be in Bed together was in all Trials about Consummation all that the Cononists sought for And yet this was not all in this Case for it appeared that upon her Husbands death she was kept with great care by some Ladies who did think her with Child and she never said any thing against it And in the Petition offered to the Pope in her name repeated in the Bull that was procured for the Second Marriage it is said she was perhaps known by Prince Arthur and in the Breve it is plainly said she was known by Prince Arthur and though the Queen offered to purge her self by Oath that Prince Arthur never knew her it was proved by many Authorities out of the Canon-Law That a Partie's Oath ought not to be taken when there were violent presumptions to the contrary As for the validity of the Popes Dispensation it was said That though the Schoolmen and Canonists did generally raise the Popes Power very high and stretch it as far as it was possible yet they all agreed that it could not reach the Kings Case Upon this received Maxime That only the Laws of the Church are subject to the Pope and may be dispenced with by him but that Laws of God are above him and that he cannot dispence with them in any case This Aquinas delivers in many places of his Works Petrus de Palude says The Pope cannot dispence with Marriage in these Degrees because it is against Nature But Ioannes de Turre Cremata reports a singular Case which fell out when he was a
And therefore they were every-where meeting together and consulting what should be done for suppressing Heresie and preserving the Catholick Faith That zeal was much inflamed by the Monks and Friers who clearly saw the Acts of Parliament were so levelled at their Exemptions and Immunities that they were now like to be at the Kings mercy They were no more to plead their Bulls nor claim any Priviledges further than it pleased the King to allow them No new Saints from Rome could draw more Riches or Honour to their Orders Priviledges and Indulgences were out of doors so that the Arts of drawing in the people to enrich their Churches and Houses were at an end And they had also secret Intimations that the King and the Courtiers had an eye on their Lands and they gave themselves for lost if they could not so embroyl the Kings Affairs that he should not adventure on so invidious a thing Therefore both in Confessions and Conferences they infused into the people a dislike of the Kings Proceedings which though for some time it did not break out into an open Rebellion yet the humor still fermented and people only waited for an opportunity So that if the Emperor had not been otherwise distracted he might have made War upon the King with great Advantages For many of his discontented Subjects would have joyned with the Enemy But the King did so dextrously manage his Leagues with the French King and the Princes of the Empire that the Emperor could never make any impressions on his Dominions But those factious Spirits seeing nothing was to be expected from any forreign Power could not contain themselves but broke out into open Rebellion And this provoked the King to great severities His Spirit was so fretted by the tricks the Court of Rome had put on him and by the Ingratitude and seditious practises of Reginald Pool that he thereby lost much of his former temper and patience and was too ready upon slight grounds to bring his Subjects to the Bar. Where though the matter was always so ordered that according to Law they were Endicted and Judged yet the severity of the Law bordering sometimes on rigor and cruelty he came to be called a cruel Tyrant Nor did his severity lie only on one side but being addicted to some Tenets of the Old Religion and impatient of Contradiction or perhaps blown up either with the vanity of his new Title of Head of the Church or with the praises which Flatterers bestowed on him he thought all persons were bound to regulate their Belief by his Dictates which made him prosecute Protestants as well as proceed against Papists Yet it does not appear that Cruelty was Natural to him For in Twenty five years Reign none had suffered for any Crime against the State but Pool Earl of Suffolk and Stafford Duke of Buckingham The former he prosecuted in Obedience to his Fathers last Commands at his death His severity to the other was imputed to the Cardinals Malice The Proceedings were also legal And the Duke of Buckingham had by the knavery of a Priest to whom he gave great credit been made believe he had a Right to the Crown and practises of that nature touch Princes so nearly that no wonder the Law was executed in such a case This showes that the King was not very jealous nor desirous of the Blood of his Subjects But though he always proceeded upon Law yet in the last Ten years of his Life many instances of Severity occurred for which he is rather to be pityed than either imitated or sharply censured The former Book was full of Intrigues and forreign Transactions the greatest part of it being an account of a tedious Negotiation with the subtlest and most refined Court in Christendome in all the Arts of humane Policy But now my work is confined to this Nation and except in short touches by the way I shall meddle no further with the Mysteries of State but shall give as clear an account of those things that relate to Religion and Reformation as I could possibly recover The Suppression of Monasteries The advance and declension of Reformation and the Proceedings against those who adhered to the Interests of the Court of Rome must be the chief Subjects of this Book The two former shall be opened in the series of time as they were Transacted But the last shall be left to the end of the Book that it may be presented in one full view After the Parliament had ended their Business the Bishops did all renew their Allegeance to the King and swore also to maintain his Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters acknowledging that he was the Supreme Head of the Church of England though there was yet no Law for the requiring of any such Oath The first act of the Kings Supremacy was his naming Cromwell Vicar-General and General Visitor of all the Monasteries and other Priviledged places This is commonly confounded with his following Dignity of Lord Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiastical matters but they were two different Places and held by different Commissions By the one he had no Authority over the Bishops nor had he any Precedence but the other as it gave him the Precedence next the Royal Family so it cloathed him with a compleat Delegation of the Kings whole Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs For Two years he was only Vicar-General But the tenour of his Commissions and the nature of the Power devolved on him by them cannot be fully known For neither the one nor the other are in the Rolls though there can be no doubt made but Commissions of such Importance were enrolled therefore the loss of them can only be charged on that search and rasure of Records made by Bonner upon the Commission granted to him by Queen Mary of which I have spoken in the Preface of this work In the Prerogative-Office there is a subalterne Commission granted to Doctor afterwards Secretary Petre on Ian. 13. in the Twenty Seventh year of the Kings Reign by which it appears that Cromwells Commission was at first conceived in very General words for he is called the Kings Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiastical causes his Vicar-General and Official-Principal But because he could not himself attend upon all these affairs therefore Doctor Petre is deputed under him for receiving the Probates of Wills from thence likewise it appears that all Wills where the Estate was 200 lib. or above were no more to be tryed or proved in the Bishops Courts but in the Vicar-Generals Court Yet though he was called Vice-Gerent in that Commission he was spoken of and writ to by the Name of Vicar-General but after the second Commission seen and mentioned by the Lord Herbert in Iuly 1536. he was alwayes designed Lord Vice-Gerent The next thing that was every-where laboured with great industry was to engage all the rest of the Clergy chiefly the Regulars to own the Kings Supremacy To which they generally submitted In Oxford the Question being put whether
Bribes at this time which is not to be wondred at when there was so much to be shared But great disorders followed upon the Dissolution of the other Houses People were still generally discontented The Suppression of Religious Houses occasioned much out-crying and the Articles then lately published about Religion encreased the distaste they had conceived at the Government The old Clergy were also very watchful to improve all opportunities and to blow upon every spark And the Popes Power of deposing Kings had been for almost five hundred years received as an Article of Faith The same Council that established Transubstantiation had asserted it and there were many Precedents not only in Germany France Spain and Italy but also in England of Kings that were Deposed by Popes whose Dominions were given to other Princes This had begun in the Eighth Century in two famous Deprivations The one in France of Childeric the 3d who was deprived and the Crown given to Pepin and about the same time those Dominions in Italy which were under the Eastern Emperors renounced their alleagance to them In both these the Popes had a great hand yet they rather confirmed and approved of those Treasonable Mutations than gave the first rise to them But after Pope Gregory the 7th's time it was clearly assumed as a Right and Prerogative of the Papal Crown to Depose Princes and absolve Subjects from the Oaths of Alleagance and set up others in their stead And all those Emperors or Kings that contested any thing with Popes sat very uneasie and unsafe in their Thrones ever after that But if they were tractable to the demands of the Court of Rome then they might oppress their Subjects and Govern as unjustly as they pleased for they had a mighty support from that Court This made Princes more easily bear the Popes usurpations because they were assisted by them in all their other Proceedings And the Friers having the Consciences of people generally in their hands as they had the word given by their General at Rome so they disposed people either to be obedient or seditious as they pleased Now not only their own Interests mixed with their zeal for the ancient Religion but the Popes Authority gave them as good a Warrant to encline the people to Rebel as any had in former times of whom some were Canonized for the like practices For in August the former year the Pope had Summoned the King to appear within Ninety days and to answer for putting away his Queen and taking another Wife and for the Laws he had made against the Church and putting the Bishop of Rochester and others to death for not obeying these Laws and if he did not reform these faults or did not appear to answer for them the Pope Excommunicated him and all that favoured him deprived the King put the Kingdom under an Interdict forbade all his Subjects to obey and other States to hold Commerce with him dissolved all his Leagues with forreign Princes commanded all the Clergy to depart out of England and his Nobility to rise in Arms against him But now the force of those Thunders which had formerly produced great Earth-quakes and Commotions was much abated yet some storms were raised by this though not so violent as had been in former times The people were quiet till they had reaped their Harvest And though some Injunctions were published a little before to help it the better forward most of the Holy days in Harvest being abolished by the Kings Authority yet that rather Inflamed them the more Other Injunctions were also published in the Kings name by Cromwell his Vice-gerent which was the first Act of pure Supremacy done by the King For in all that went before he had the Concurrence of the two Convocations But these it is like were penned by Cranmer The Reader is referred to the Collection of Papers for them as I transcribed them out of the Register The Substance of them was that first all Ecclesiastical Incumbents were for a quarter of an year after that once every Sunday and ever after that twice every quarter to publish to the people That the Bishop of Romes usurped Power had no ground in the Law of God and therefore was on good reasons abolished in this Kingdom And that the Kings Power was by the Law of God Supream over all persons in his Dominions And they were to do their uttermost endeavour to extirpate the Popes Authority and to establish the Kings Secondly They were to declare the Articles lately published and agreed to by the Convocation and to make the people know which of them were Articles of Faith and which of them Rules for the decent and politick Order of the Church Thirdly They were to declare the Articles lately set forth for the Abrogation of some superfluous Holy days particularly in Harvest time Fourthly They were no more to extol Images or Relicks for superstition or gain nor to exhort people to make Pilgrimages as if blessings and good things were to be obtained of this or that Saint or Image But in stead of that the people were to be instructed to apply themselves to the keeping of Gods Commandments and doing works of Charity and to believe that God was better served by them when they stayed at home and provided for their Families than when they went Pilgrimages and that the Moneys laid out on these were better given to the poor Fifthly They were to exhort the people to teach their Children the Lords Prayer the Creed and the ten Commandments in English and every Incumbent was to explain these one Article a day till the people were Instructed in them And to take great care that all Children were bred up to some trade or way of Living Sixthly They must take care that the Sacraments and Sacramentals be reverently administred in their Parishes from which when at any time they were absent they were to Commit the Cure to a Learned and expert Curate who might instruct the people in wholsome Doctrine that they might all see that their Pastors did not pursue their own profits or interests so much as the Glory of God and the good of the Souls under their Cure Seventhly They should not except on urgent occasion go to Taverns or Ale-houses nor sit too long at any sort of Games after their Meals but give themselves to the Study of the Scripture or some other honest exercise and remember that they must excel others in purity of life and be examples to all others to live well and Christianly Eighthly Because the goods of the Church were the goods of the poor every Beneficed person that had twenty Pound or above and did not reside was yearly to distribute the Fortieth part of his Benefice to the poor of the Parish Ninthly Every Incumbent that had an hundred Pound a year must give an Exhibition for one Schollar at some Grammar School or University who after he had compleated his Studies was to be Partner of
of Iuly a Bill was brought in for moderating the Statute of the six Articles in the Clauses that related to the marriage of the Priests or their Incontinency with other Women On the 17th it was agreed by the whole House without a contradictory vote and sent down to the Commons who on the 21th sent it up again By it the pains of Death were turned to forfeitures of their Goods and Chattels and the rents of their Ecclesiastical promotions to the King On the 20th of Iuly a Bill was brought in concerning a Declaration of the Christian Religion and was then read the first 2d and 3d time and passed without any opposition and sent down to the Commons who agreeing to it sent it up again the next day It contained that the King as Supream Head of the Church was taking much pains for an Union among all his Subjects in matters of Religion and for preventing the further progress of Heresie had appointed many of the Bishops and the most learned Divines to declare the principal Articles of the Christian Belief with the Ceremonies and way of Gods service to be observed That therefore a thing of that weight might not be rashly done or hasted through in this Session of Parliament but be done with that care which was requisite Therefore it was Enacted that whatsoever was determined by the Arch-Bishops Bishops and the other Divines now Commissionated for that effect or by any others appointed by the King or by the whole Clergy of England and published by the Kings Authority concerning the Christian Faith or the Ceremonies of the Church should be believed and obeyed by all the Kings Subjects as well as if the particulars so set forth had been ennumerated in this Act any Custom or Law to the Contrary notwithstanding To this a strange Proviso was added which destroyed the former Clause That nothing should be done or determined by the Authority of this Act which was contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom But whether this Proviso was added by the House of Commons or originally put into the Bill does not appear It was more likely it was put in at the first by the Kings Council for these contradictory Clauses raised the Prerogative higher and left it in the Judges power to determine which of the two should be followed by which all Ecclesiastical matters were to be brought under Tryals at Common Law for it was one of the great designs both of the Ministers and Lawyers at this time to bring all Ecclesiastical Matters to thâ— Cognizance of the Secular Judge But another Bill passed which seems a little odd concerning the circumstances of that time That whereas many Marriages had been annulled in the time of Popery upon the pretence of Precontracts or other degrees of kindred than those that were prohibited by the Law of God Therefore after a Marriage was consummated no pretence of any pre-contract or any degrees of kindred or alliance but those mentioned in the Law of God should be brought or made use of to annull it since these things had been oft pretended only to dissolve a Marriage when the parties grew weary of each other which was contrary to Gods Law Therefore it was Enacted that no pretence of precontract not consummated should be made use of to annull a Marriage duly solemnized and consummated and that no degrees of kindred not mentioned by the Law of God should be pleaded to annull a Marriage This Act gave great occasion of censuring the Kings former proceedings against Queen Anne Boleyn since that which was now condemned had been the pretence for dissolving his Marriage with her Others thought the King did it on design to remove that Impediment out of the way of the Lady Elizabeth's succeeding to the Crown since that judgment upon which she was Illegitimated was now indirectly censured And that other branch of the Act for taking away all prohibitions of Marriages within any degrees but those forbidden in Scripture was to make way for the Kings Marriage with Katherine Howard who was Cousin German to Queen Anne Boleyn for that was one of the prohibited degrees by the Canon Law The Province of Canterbury offered a Subsidy of four shillings in the pound of all Ecclesiastical preferments to be payed in two years and in that acknowledgment of the great liberty they enjoyed by being delivered from the Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome and in recompencâ— the great charges of the King had been at and was still to be at in building Havens Bullwarks and other Forts for the defence of his Coasts and the security of his Subjects This was confirmed in Parliament But that did not satisfie the King who had husbanded the money that came in by the sale of Abbey Lands so ill that now he wanted money and was forced to aske a subsidy for his Marriage of the Parliament this was obtained with great difficulty For it was said That if the King was already in want after so vast an income especially being engaged in no Warr there would be no end of his necessities nor could it be possible for them to supply them But it was answered that the King had laid out a great Treasure in fortifying the Coast and though he was then in no visible Warr yet the charge he was at in keeping up the Warr beyond Sea was equal to the expence of a Warr and much more to the advantage of his people who were kept in peace and plenty This obtained a Tenth and four 15ths After the passing of all these Bills and many others that concerned the publick with several other Bills of Attaindor of some that favoured the Popes Interests or Corresponded with Cardinal Pool which shall be mentioned in another place the King sent in a General Pardon with the Ordinary Exceptions and in particular excepted Cromwel the Countess of Sarum with many others then in person Some of them were put in for opposing the Kings Supremacy and others for transgressing the Statute of the six Articles On the 24th of Iuly the Parliament was dissolved And now Cromwel who had been six weeks a Prisoner was brought to his Execution He had used all the endeavours he could for his own preservation Once he wrote to the King in such melting terms that he made the Letter to be thrice read and seemed touched with it But the charms of Katharine Howard and the endeavours of the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Winchester at length prevailed So a Warrant was sent to cut off his Head on the 28th of Iuly at Tower-hill When he was brought to the Scaffold his kindness to his Son made him very cautious in what he said he declined the purging of himself but said he was by Law condemned to die and thanked God for bringing him to that death for his offences He acknowledged his Sins against God and his offences against his Prince who had raised him from a base degree
laid very close and managed with great dexterity chiefly by the Duke of Norfolk and Gardinâ—r pursued the ruine of those whom they called Hereticks knowing well that if the King was once set against them and they provoked against the Government he would be not only alienated from them but forced for securing himself against them to gain the hearts of his other Subjects by a Conjunction with the Emperor and by his means with the Pope The first on whom this design took effect were Doctor Barnes Mr. Gerard and Mr. Ierome all Priests who had been among the earliest Converts to Luther's Doctrine Barnes had in a Sermon at Cambridg during the Cardinals greatness reflected on the Pomp and State in which he lived so plainly that every body understood of whom he meant So he was carried up to London but by the interposition of Gardiner and Fox who were his friends he was saved at that time having abjured some opinions that were objected to him But other accusations being afterwards brought against him he was again Imprisoned and it was believed that he would have been burnt But he made his escape and went to Germany where he gave himself to the study of the Scriptures and Divinity In which he became so considerable that not only the German Divines but their Princes took great notice of him and the King of Denmark sending over Ambassâ—dors to the King he was sent with them though perhaps Fox was ill informed when he says he was one of them Fox Bishop of Hereford being at Smalcald in the year 1536. sent him over to England where he was received and kindly entertained by Cromwel and well used by the King And by his means the correspondence with the Germans was chiefly kept up For he was often sent over to the Courts of the several Princes But in particular he had the misfortune to be first employed in the project of the Kings Marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleves for that giving the King so little satisfaction all who were the main promoters of it fell in disgrace upon it But other things concurred to destroy Barnes In Lent this year Bonner had appointed him and Gerrard and Ierome turns in the Course of Sermons at St. Pauls Cross they being in favour with Cromwel on whom Bonner depended wholly But Gardiner sent Bonner word that he intended himself to preach on Sunday at St. Pauls Cross and in his Sermon he treated of Justification and other points with many reflections on the Lutherans Barnes when it came to his Turn made use of the same Text but preached contrary Doctrine not without some unhandsome reflections on Gardiners person and he played on his name alluding to a Gardiners setting ill Plants in a Garden The other two preached the same Doctrine but made no reflections on any person Gardiner seemed to bear it with a great appearance of neglect and indifferency But his friends complained to the King of the unsufferable insolencies of these Preachers who did not spare so great a Prelate especially he being a Privy Councellor So Barnes was questioned for it and commanded to go and give the Bishop of Winchester satisfaction And the Bishop carried the matter with a great shew of moderation and acted ouâ—wardly in it as became his Function though it was believed the matter stuck deeper in his heart which the effects that followed seemed to demonstrate The King concerned himself in the matter and did argue with Barnes about the points in difference But whether he was truly convinced or overcome rather with the fear of the King than with the force of his reasonings he and his two Friends William Ierome and Tho. Gerrard signed a paper which will be found in the Collection in which he acknowledged That having been brought before the King for things preached by him His Highness being assisted by some of the Clergy had so disputed with him that he was convinced of his rashness and oversight and promised to abstain from such indiscretions for the future and to submit to any orders the King should give for what was past The Articles were First That though we are Redeemed only by the death of Christ in which we participate by Faith and Baptism yet by not following the Commandments of Christ we lose the benefits of it which we cannot recover but by Pennance Secondly That God is not the Author of Sin or evil which he only permits Thirdly That we ought to reconcile our selves to our neighbours and forgive before we can be forgiven Fourthly That good works done sincerely according to the Scriptures are profitable and helpful to Salvation Fifthly That Laws made by Christian Rulers ought to be obeyed by their Subjects for conscience sake and that whosoever breaks them breaks Gods Commandments It 's not likely that Barnes could say any thing directly contrary to these Articles though having brought much of Luthers heat over with him he might have said some things that sounded ill upon these heads There were other points in difference between Gardiner and him about Justification but it seems the King thought these were of so subtile a nature that no Article of Faith was controverted in them and therefore left the Bishop and him to agree these among themselves which they in a great measure did So the King commanded Barnes and his friends to preach at the Spittle in the Easter-week and openly to recant what they had formerly said And Barnes was in particular to ask the Bishop of Winchester's pardon which he did and Gardiner being twice desired by him to give some signe that he forgave him did lift up his Finger But in their Sermons it was said they justified in one part what they recanted in another Of which complaints being brought to the King he without hearing them sent them all to the Tower And Cromwels interest at Court was then declining so fast that either he could not protect them or else would not prejudice himself by interposing in a matter which gave the King so great offence They lay in the Tower till the Parliament met and then they were attained of Heresie without ever being brought to make their answer And it seems for the Extraordinariness of the thing they resolved to mix attaindors for things that were very different from one Another For four others were by the same Act attainted of Treason who were Gregory Buttolph Adam Damplip Edmund Brindholme and Clement Philpot for assisting Reginald Pool adhering to the Bishop of Rome denying the King to be the Supream Head on earth of the Church of England and designing to surprize the Town of Callice One Derby Gunnings was also attainted of Treason for assisting one Fitz-Girald a Traitor in Ireland And after all these Barnes Gerard and Ierome are attainted of Heresie being as the Act sayes Detestable Hereticks who had conspired together to set forth many Heresies and taking themselves to be men of learning had expounded the Scriptures perverting
often reproved him boldly for it he grew weary of him The Clergy perceiving this were resolved to fall upon him So he withdrew to Berwick but wrote to the King that if he would hear him make his defence he would return and justifie all that he had taught He taxed the cruelty of the Clergy and desired the King would restrain their Tyranny and consider that he was obliged to protect his Subjects from their severity and malice But receiving no satisfactory answer he lived in England where he was entertain'd by the Duke of Suffolk as his Chaplain Not long after this one Forrest a simple Benedictin Monk was accused for having said that Patrick Hamilton had died a Martyr yet since there was no sufficient proof to convict him a Frier one Walter Lainge was sent to confess him to whom in Confession he acknowledged he thought Hamilton was a good man and that the Articles for which he was condemned might be defended This being revealed by the Frier was taken for good evidence So the poor man was condemned to be burnt as an Heretick As he was led out to his Execution he said Fie on falshood fie on Friers revealers of Confession Let never man trust them after me they are despisers of God and deceivers of men When they were considering in what place to burn him a simple man that attended the Arch-bishop advised to burn him in some low Cellar for said he the smoak of Mr. Patrick Hamilton has infected all those on whom it blew Soon after this Abbot Hamiltons Brother and Sister were brought into the Bishops Courts but the King who favoured this Brother perswaded him to absent himself His Sister and six others being brought before the Bishop of Ross who was deputed by the Arch-Bishop to proceed against them the King himself dealt with the Woman to abjure which she and the other six did Two others were more resolute The one was Normand Gowrlay who was charged with denying the Popes Authority in Scotland and saying there was no Purgatory The other was David Straiton He was charged with the same Opinions They also alledged that he had denied that Tithes were due to Church-men and that when the Vicar came to take the Tith out of some Fish-boats that belonged to him he alledged the Tith was to be taken where the stock grew and therefore ordered the tenth fish to be cast into the Sea and bade the Vicar to seek them there They were both judged obstinate Hereticks and burnt at one Stake the 27th of August 1534. Upon this persecution some others who were cited to appear fled into England Those were Alexander Alesse Iohn Fife Iohn Mackbee and one Mackdowgall The first of these was received by Cromwel into his Family and grew into great favour with King Henry and was commonly called his Scholar of whom see what was said Page 214. But after Cromwels death he took Fife with him and they went into Saxony and were both Professors in Leipsick Mackbee was at first entertained by Shaxton Bishop of Salisbury but he went afterwards into Denmark where he was known by the name of Doctor Maccabeus and was Chaplain to King Christian the second But all these violent proceedings were not effectual enough to quench that light which was then shining there Many by searching the Scriptures came to the knowledg of the Truth and the noise of what was then doing in England awakned others to make further enquiries into matters of Religion Pope Clement the 7th apprehending that King Henry might prevail on his Nephew to follow his example wrote Letters full of earnest exhortations to him to continue in the Catholick Faith Upon which King Iames called a Parliament and there in the presence of the Popes Nuncio declared his zeal for that Faith and the Apostolick See The Parliament also concurred with him in it and made acts against Hereticks and for maintaining the Popes authority That same Pope did afterwards send to desire him to assist him in making war against the King of England for he was resolved to divide that Kingdom among those who would assist him in driving out King Henry But the firm peace at that time between the King of England and the French King kept him quiet from any trouble which otherwise the King of Scotland might have given him Yet King Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids with the Duke of Norfolks Brother Lord William Howard to him so unexpectedly that they came to him at Sterlin before he had heard of their being sent The Bishop brought with him some of the Books that had been writ for the justifying King Henry's proceeding and desired that King would impartially examine them But he put them into the hands of some about him that were addicted to the interests of Rome who without ever reading them told him they were full of pestilent Doctrine and Heresie The secret business they came for was to perswade that King to concur with his Uncle and to agree an Interview between them and they offered him in their Masters name the Lady Mary in Marriage and that he should be made Duke of York and Lord Lieutenant of all England But the Clergy diverted him from it and perswaded him rather to go on in his design of a match with France And their Counsels did so prevail that he resolved to go in person and fetch a Queen from thence On the first of Ianuary 1537. he was married to Magdalen daughter to Francis the First But she being then gone far in a Consumption died soon after he had brought her home on the 28th of May. She was much lamented by all persons the Clergy only excepted for she had been bred in the Queen of Navarres Court and so they apprehended she might incline the King to a Reformation But he had seen another Lady in France Mary of Guise whom he then liked so well that after his Queens death he sent Cardinal Beaton into France to treat for a match with her This gave the Clergy as much joy as the former marriage had raised fear for no Family in Christendome was more devoted to the interests of the Papacy than that was And now the King though he had freer thoughts himself yet was so engaged to the pretended old Religion that he became a violent persecutor of all who differed from it The King grew very expensive he indulged himself much in his pleasures he built four noble Palaces which considering that Kingdom and that Age were very extraordinary Buildings he had also many natural Children All which things concurred to make him very desirous of Money There were two different parties in the Court The Nobility on the one hand represented to him the great wealth that the Abbots had gathered and that if he would do as his Uncle had done he would thereby raise his Revenue to the triple of what it was and provide plentifully for his Children The Clergy on
might not leave his young Son involved in a War of such consequence Peace was concluded in Iune which was much to the Kings honour though the taking and keeping of Bulloign which by this Peace the King was to keep for eight years cost him above 1300000 pounds Upon the peace the French Admiral Annebault came over to England And now again a Resolution of going on with a Reformation was set on foot for it was agreed between the King and the Admiral That in both Kingdoms the Mass should be changed into a Communion and Cranmer was Ordered to draw a Form of it They also resolved to press the Emperor to do the like in his Dominions otherwise to make War upon him But how this Project failed does not appear The Animosities which the former War had raised between the two Kings were converted into a firm Friendship which grew so strong on Francis's part that he never was seen glad at any thing after he had the news of the Kings death But now one of the Kings angry fits took him at the Reformers so that there was a new Prosecution of them Nicholas Shaxton that was Bishop of Salisbury had been long a Prisoner but this year he had said in his Imprisonment in the Counter in Bread-street That Christs natural Body was not in the Sacrament but that it was a Sign and Memorial of his Body that was crucified for us Upon this he was endicted and condemned to be burnt But the King sent the Bishops of London and Worcester to deal with him to recant which on the 9th of Iuly he did acknowledging That that year he had fallen in his old age in the Heresie of the Sacramentaries But that he was now convinced of that error by their endeavours whom the King had sent to him And therefore he thanked the King for delivering him both from Temporal and Eternal fire and subscribed a Paper of Articles which will be found in the Collection Upon this he had his pardon and discharge sent him the 13 of Iuly and soon after preached the Sermon at the burning of Anne Askew and wrote a Book in defence of the Articles he had subscribed What became of him all Edward the 6ths time I cannot tell But I find he was a cruel prosecutor and Burner of Protestants in Queen Maries days Yet it seems those to whom he went over did not consider him much for they never raised him higher than to be Bishop Suffragan of Ely Others were also Endicted upon the same Statute who got off by recantation and were pardoned But Anne Askews Trial had a more bloody Conclusion She was nobly descended and educated beyond what was ordinary in that age to those of her Sex But she was unfortunately married to one Kyme who being a violent Papist drave her out of his House when he found she favoured the Reformation So she came to London where information being given of some words that she had spoken against the Corporal presence in the Sacrament she was put in Prison upon which great applications were made by many of her friends to have her let out upon Bail The Bishop of London examined her and after much pains she was brought to set her hand to a Recantation by which she acknowledged That the natural Body of Christ was present in the Sacrament after the Consecration whether the Priest were a good or an ill man and that whether it was presently consumed or reserved in the Pix it was the true Body of Christ. Yet she added to Her subscription that she believed all things according to the Catholick Faith and not otherwise With this the Bishop was not satisfied but after much adoe and many importunate addresses she was Bailed in the end of March this year But not long after that she was again apprehended and examined before the Kings Council then at Greenwich where she seemed very indifferent what they did with her She answered them in general words upon which they could fix nothing and made some sharp reparties upon the Bishop of Winchester Some liked the wit and freedom of her discourse but others thought she was too forward From thence she was sent to Newgate where she wrote some devotions and Letters that shew her to have been a woman of most extraordinary parts She wrote to the King That as to the Lords Supper she believed as much as Christ had said in it and as much as the Catholick Church from him did Teach Upon Shaxtons Recantation they sent him to her to prevail with her But she in stead of yielding to him charged his Inconstancy home upon him She had been oft at Court and was much favoured by many great Ladies there and it was believed the Queen had shewed kindness to her So the Lord Chancellor examined her of what Favour or Encouragement she had from any in the Court particularly from the Dutchess of Suffolk the Countess of Hertford and some other Ladies But he could draw nothing from her save that one in Livery had brought her some money which he said came from two Ladies in the Court But they resolved to extort further Confessions from her And therefore carrying her to the Tower they caused her to be laid on the Rack and gave her a taste of it Yet she confessed nothing That she was rackt is very certain for I find it in an Original Journal of the Transactions in the Tower written by Anthony Anthony but Fox adds a passage that seems scarce credible the thing is so extraordinary and so unlike the Character of the Lord Chancellor who though he was fiercely zealous for the old Superstition yet was otherwise a great person it is that he commanded the Lieutenant of the Tower to stretch her more but he refused to do it and being further prest told him plainly he would not do it The other threatned him but to no purpose so the Lord Chancellor throwing off his Gown drew the Rack so severely that he almost tore her Body asunder yet could draw nothing from her for she endured it with unusual Patience and Courage When the King heard this he blamed the Lord Chancellor for his Cruelty and excused the Lieutenant of the Tower Fox does not vouch any Warrant for this so that though I have set it down yet I give no entire credit to it if it was true it shews the strange influence of that Religion and that it corrupts the Noblest natures yet the poor Gentlewomans being Rackt wrought no pity in the King towards her for he left her to be proceeded against according to the Sentence she was carried to the Stake in Smithâ—ield a little after that in a Chair not being able to stand through the Torments of the Rack There were brought with her at the same time one Nicolas Belenian a Priest Iohn Adams a Taylor and Iohn Lassels one of the Kings Servants it is likely he was the same person that had discovered
before God and Man not only to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful Wife but to follow your Affection already setled on that Party for whose sake I am now as I am whose Name I could some good while since have pointed unto your Grace being not ignorant of my suspicion therein But if you have already determined of me and that not only my Death but an infamous slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired happiness then I desire of God that he will pardon your great sin therein and likewise mine Enemies the Instruments thereof and that he will not call you to a strict account for your unprincely and cruel usage of me at his General Judgment-Seat where both you and my self must shortly appear and in whose Judgment I doubt not whatsoever the World may think of me mine Innocence shall be openly known and sufficiently cleared My last and only request shall be That my self may only bear the burthen of your Grace's displeasure and that it may not touch the innocent Souls of those poor Gentlemen who as I understand are likewise in strait Imprisonment for my sake If ever I have found favour in your sight if ever the Name of Ann Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears then let me obtain this request and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further with mine earnest Prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping and to direct you in all your Actions From my doleful Prison in the Tower this 6 th of May. Your most Loyal and ever Faithful Wife Ann Boleyn V. The Iudgment of the Convocation concerning General-Councils Published by the L. Herbert from the Original AS concerning General-Councils like-as we taught by long experience do perfectly know that there never was nor is any thing devised invented or instituted by our Fore-Fathers more expedient or more necessary for the establishment of our Faith for the extirpation of Heresies and the abolishing of Sects and Schisms and finally for the reducing of Christ's People unto one perfect unity and concord in his Religion than by the having of General-Councils So that the same be lawfully had and congregated in Spiritu Sancto and be also conform and agreeable as well concerning the surety and indifferency of the Places as all other Points requisite and necessary for the same unto that wholsome and godly Institution and usage for the which they were at first devised and used in the Primitive Church Even so on the other side taught by like experience we esteem repute and judg That there is ne can be any thing in the World more pestilent and pernicious to the Common-weal of Christendom or whereby the Truth of God's Word hath in times past or hereafter may be sooner defaced or subverted or whereof hath and may ensue more contention more discord and other devilish effects than when such General Councils have or shall be assembled not christianly nor charitably but for and upon private malice and ambition or other worldly and carnal Respects and Considerations according to the saying of Gregory Nazianzenus in his Epistle to one Procopius wherein he writeth this Sentence following Sic sentio si verum scribendum est omnes Conventus Episcoporum fugiendos esse quia nullius Synodi finem vidi bonum neque habentem magis solutionem malorum quam incrementum Nam cupiditates contentionum gloria sed ne putes me odiosum ista scribentem vincunt rationem That is to say I think this if I should write truly That all General Councils be to be eschewed for I never saw that they produced any good End or Effect nor that any Provision or Remedy but rather increase of Mischiefs proceeded of them For the desire of maintenance of Men's Opinions and ambition of Glory but reckon not that I write this of malice hath always in them overcomed reason Wherefore we think that Christian Princes especially and above all things ought and must with all their wills power and diligence foresee and provide Ne Sanctissima hac in parte majorum Instituta ad improbissimos ambitionis aut malitiae effectus explendos diversissimo suo fine sceleratissimo pervertantur Neve ad alium praetextum possint valere longe diversum effectum orbi producere quam Sanctissima rei facies praeâ—â—se ferat That is to say Least the most noble wholsome Institutions of our Elders in this behalf be perverted to a most contrary and most wicked end and effect that is to say to fulfil and satisfy the wicked affections of Men's Ambition and Malice or lest they might prevail for any other colour or bring forth any other effect than their most vertuous and laudable countenance doth outwardly to the World shew or pretend And first of all we think that they ought principally to consider who hath the Authority to call together a General Council Secondly Whether the Causes alledged be so weighty and so urgent that necessarily they require a General Council nor can otherwise be remedied Thirdly Who ought to be Judges in the General Council Fourthly What order of proceeding is to be observed in the same and how the Opinions or Judgments of the Fathers are to be consulted or asked Fifthly What Doctrines are to be allowed or defended with diverse other things which in General Councils ought of reason and equity to be observed And as unto the first Point We think that neither the Bishop of Rome nor any one Prince of what estate degree or preheminence soever he be may by his own Authority call indite or summon any General Council without the express consent assent and agreement of the residue of Christian Princes and especially such as have within their own Realms and Seigniories Imperium merum that is to say of such as have the whole intire and supream Government and Authority over all their Subjects without knowledging or recognizing of any other supream Power or Authority And this to be true we be induced to think by many and sundry as well Examples as great Reasons and Authority The which forasmuch as it should be over-long and tedious to express here particularly we have thought good to omit the same for this present And in witness that this is our plain and determinate Sentence Opinion and Judgment touching the Premisses we the Prelates and Clergy under-written being congregate together in the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury and representing the whole Clergy of the same here to these Presents subscribed our Names the 20 th of Iuly in the Year of our Lord 1536. 28. Hen. 8. Signed by Thomas Cromwel Thomas Cantuariensis Iohannes London with 13 Bishops and of Abbots Priors Arch-Deacons Deans Proctors Clerks and other Ministers 49. VI. Instructions for the King's Commissioners for a new survey and aâ— Inventory to be made of all the Demesnes Lands Goods and Chattels appertaining to any House of Religion of Monks Cannons and Nuns within their Commission according
Scripturis quanquam nunc addantur alii ritus honestatis gratiâ ut in aliis Sacramentis de quibus in Scripturis nulla mentio Owinus Oglethorpus Unction with Oil adjoined with Prayer and having promise of Remission of Sins is spoken of in St. Iames and ancient Authors as for the use which now is if any thing be amiss it would be amended I. Redmayn It is spoken of in Mark 6. and Iames 5. Augustine and other ancient Authors speaketh of the same Edgeworth The Unction of the Sick with Oil to remit Sins is in Scripture and also in ancient Authors Symon Matthew Unction with Oil is grounded in the Scripture and expresly spoken of but with this Additament as it is now used it is not specified in Scripture for the Ceremonies now used in Unction I think meer Traditions of Man William Tresham To the seventeenth I say That Unction of the Sick with Oil and Prayer to remit Sins is manifestly spoken of in St. Iames Epistle and ancient Authors but not with all the Rites and Ceremonies as be now commonly used T. Cantuarien Per me Edwardum Leyghton Unction with Oil to remit Sins is spoken of in Scripture Richard Coren Menevens Coxus negant Unctionem Olei ut jam est recepta ad remittenda peccata contineri in Scripturis Eboracens Carliolens Edgworth Coren Redmayn Symmons Leightonus Oglethorp aiunt haberi in Scripturis Roffens Thirleby Robertsonus praeterquam illud Jacobi 5. Marci 6. nihil proferunt Herefordensis ambigit Tresham vult Unctionem Olei tradi nobis é Scripturis sed Unctionis Caeremonias traditiones esse humanas In the last The Bishop of St. Davids and Dr. Cox say That Vnction of the Sick with Oil consecrate as it is now used to remit Sin is not spoken of in Scripture My Lords of York Duresme Carlile Drs. Coren Edgworth Redman Symmons Leyghton and Oglethorp say That it is found in Scripture XXII Dr. Barnes's Renunciation of some Articles informed against him BE it known to all Men that I Robert Barnes Doctor of Divinity have as well in Writing as in Preaching over-shot my self and been deceived by trusting too much to mine own heady Sentence and giving judgment in and touching the Articles hereafter ensuing whereas being convented and called before the Person of my most gracious Soveraign Lord King Henry the Eighth of England and of France Defensor of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in Earth Supream Head immediately under God of the Church of England It pleased his Highness of his great clemency and goodness being assisted with sundry of his most discreet and learned Clergy to enter such Disputation and Argument with me upon the Points of my over-sight as by the same was fully and perfectly confuted by Scriptures and enforced only for Truths sake and for want of defence of Scriptures to serve for the maintenance of my part to yeeld confess and knowledg my ignorance and with my most humble submission do promise for ever from henceforth to abstain and beware of such rashness And for my further declaration therein not only to abide such order for my doings passed as his Grace shall appoint and assign unto me but also with my heart to advance and set forth the said Articles ensuing which I knowledg and confess to be most Catholick and Christian and necessary to be received observed and followed of all good Christian People Tho it so be that Christ by the Will of his Father is he only which hath suffered Passion and Death for redemption of all such as will and shall come unto him by perfect Faith and Baptism and that also he hath taken upon him gratis the burden of all their sins which as afore will hath or shall come to him paying sufficient Ransom for all their sins and so is becomed their only Redeemer and Justifier of the which number I trust and doubt not but that many of us now-adays be of yet I in heart do confess that after by the foresaid means we become right Christian Folks yet then by not following our Master's Commandments and Laws we do loose the benefits and fruition of the same which in this case is irrecuperable but by true Penance the only Remedy left unto us by our Saviour for the same wherefore I think it more than convenient and necessary that whensoever Justification shall be preached of that this deed be joined with all the fore-part to the intent that it may teach all true Christian People a right knowledg of their Justification By me Robert Barnes Also I confess with my heart That Almighty God is in no wise Author causer of Sin or any Evil and therefore whereas Scripture saith Induravit Dominus Cor Pharaonis c. and such other Texts of like sense they ought to understand them quod Dominus permisit eum indurari and not otherwise which doth accord with many of the ancient Interpreters also By me Robert Barnes Further I do confess with my heart That whensoever I have offended my Neighbours I must first reconcile my self unto him e're I shall get remission of my sins and in case he offend me I must forgive him e're that I can be forgiven for this doth the Pater Noster and other places of Scripture teach me By me Robert Barnes I do also confess with my heart That good Works limited by Scripture and done by a penitent and true reconciled Christian Man be profitable and allowable unto him as allowed of God for his benefit and helping to his Salvation By me Robert Barnes Also do confess with my heart That Laws and Ordinances made by Christian Rulers ought to be obeyed by the Inferiors and Subjects not only for fear but also for Conscience for whoso breaketh them breaketh God's Commandments By me Robert Barnes All and singular the which Articles before written I the foresaid Robert Barnes do approve and confess to be most true and Catholick and promise with my heart by God's Grace hereafter to maintain preach and set forth the same to the People to the uttermost of my power wit and cunning By me Robert Barnes By me William Ierome By me Thomas Gerarde XXIII The Foundation of the Bishoprick of Westminster REx omnibus ad quos c. salutem Cum nuper caenobium quoddam sive Monasterium quod dum extitit Monasterium Sancti Petri Westmon vulgariter vocabatur omnia singula ejus Maneria Dominia Mesuagia Terrae Tenementa Haereditamenta Dotationes Possessiones certis de causis specialibus urgentibus per Willielmum ipsius nuper Caenobii sive Monasterii Abbatem ejusdem loci Conventum nobis haeredibus nostris in perpetuum jamdudum data fuerunt concessa prout per ipsorum nuper Abbatis Conventus cartam sigillo suo communi sive conventuali sigillatam in Cancellar nostram irrotulat manifeste liquet quorum praetextu nos de ejusdem nuper Caenobii sive
Rome or any Suitors to the Court of Rome or that lett the devolution of Causes unto that Court or that put any new Charges or Impositions real or personal upon any Church or Ecclesiastical Person and generally all other that offend in the Cases contained in the Bull which is usually published by the Bishops of Rome upon Maundy Thursday all these can be assoiled by no Priest Bishop Arch-Bishop nor by none other but only by the Bishop of Rome or by his express license 2. 4. q. z. Robbing of the Clergy and poor Men appertaineth unto the judgment of the Bishops 23. 9. q. He is no Man-slayer that slayeth a Man which is Excommunicate Dist. 63. Tibi Domino de summa Excommunicationis Si judex Here may be added the most tyrannical and abominal Oaths which the Bishop of Rome exact of the Emperors in Clement de jurejurando Romani dist 6.3 Tibi Domino De Consecra Dist. 1. Sicut It is better not to Consecrate than to Consecrate in a place not Hallowed De Consecrat Dist. 5. De his manus ut reum Confirmation if it be ministred by any other than a Bishop is of no value nor is no Sacrament of the Church also Confirmation is more to be had in reverence than Baptism and no Man by Baptism can be a christned Man without Confirmation De poeniten Dist. 1. Multiplex A penitent Person can have no remission of his Sin but by supplication of the Priests XXVIII A Mandate for publishing and using the Prayers in the English Tongue Mandatum Domino Episcopo London direct pro publicatione Regiarum Injunctionum MOst Reverend Father in God right trusty and right well-beloved we greet you well and let you wit That calling to our remembrance the miserable state of all Christendom being at this present besides all other troubles so plagued with most cruel Wars Hatred and Dissensions as no place of the same almost being the whole reduced to a very narrow corner remaineth in good Peace Agreement and Concord the help and remedy whereof far exceeding the power of any Man must be called for of him who only is able to grant our Petitions and never forsaketh nor repelleth any that firmly believe and faithfully call on him unto whom also the example of Scripture encourageth us in all these and other our troubles and necessities to fly and to cry for aid and succour being therefore resolved to have continually from henceforth general Processions in all Cities Towns Churches and Parishes of this our Realm said and sung with such reverence and devotion as appertaineth Forasmuch as heretofore the People partly for lack of good Instruction and Calling and partly for that they understood no part of such Prayers or Suffrages as were used to be sung and said have used to come very slackly to the Procession when the same have been commanded heretofore We have set forth certain godly Prayers and Suffrages in our Native English Tongue which we send you herewith signifying unto you That for the special trust and confidence we have of your godly mind and earnest desire to the setting forward of the Glory of God and the true worshipping of his 〈◊〉 Holy Name within that Province committed by us unto you we have sent unto you these Suffrages not to be for a month or two observed and after slenderly considered as other our Injunctions have to our no little marvel been used but to the intent that as well the same as other our Injunctions may be earnestly set forth by preaching good Exhortations and otherwise to the People in such sort as they feeling the godly tast thereof may godly and joyously with thanks receive embrace and frequent the same as appertaineth Wherefore we will and command you as you will answer unto us for the contrary not only to cause these Prayers and Suffrages aforesaid to be published frequented and openly used in all Towns Churches Villages and Parishes of your own Diocess but also to signify this our pleasure unto all other Bishops of your Province willing and commanding them in our Name and by virtue hereof to do and execute the same accordingly Unto whose Proceedings in the execution of this our Commandment we will that you have a special respect and make report unto us if any shall not with good dexterity accomplish the same Not failing as our special trust is in you At St. Iames's Iunii Regni 36. Directed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury XXIX The Articles acknowledged by Shaxton late Bp of Sarum THe First Almighty God by the Power of his Word pronounced by the Priest at Mass in the Consecration turneth the Bread and Wine into the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ so that after the Consecration there remaineth no Substance of Bread and Wine but only the substance of Christ God and Man The Second The said Blessed Sacrament being once Consecrate is and remaineth still the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ although it be reserved and not presently distributed The Third The same blessed Sacrament being consecrate is and ought to be worshipped and adored with godly honour wheresoever it is forasmuch as it is the Body of Christ inseparably united to the Deity The Fourth The Church by the Ministration of the Priest offereth daily at the Mass for a Sacrifice to Almighty God the self-same Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ under the form of Bread and Wine in the remembrance and representation of Christ's Death and Passion The Fifth The same Body and Blood which is offered in the Mass is the very propitiation and satisfaction for the sins of the World forasmuch as it is the self-same in Substance which was offered upon the Cross for our Redemption And the Oblation and Action of the Priest is also a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving unto God for his Benefits and not the satisfaction for the Sins of the World for that is only to be attributed to Christ's Passion The Sixth The said Oblation or Sacrifice so by the Priest offered in the Mass is available and profitable both for the Quick and the Dead altho it lieth not in the power of Man to limit how much or in what measure the same doth avail The Seventh It is not a thing of necessity that the Sacrament of the Altar should be ministred unto the People under both kinds of Bread and Wine and it is none abuse that the same be ministred to the People under the one kind forasmuch as in every of both the kinds whole Christ both Body and Blood is contained The Eighth It is no derogation to the vertue of the Mass altho the Priest do receive the Sacrament alone and none other receive it with him The Ninth The Mass used in this Realm of England is agreeable to the institution of Christ and we have in this Church of England the very true Sacrament which is the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ under the form
correspondence with the King fell to the ground with her but he may well cite Cochleus an Author of the same honesty with himself from whose writings we may with the like security make a judgment of Forreign Matters as we may upon Sanders's testimony believe the account he gives of English Affairs 90. He tells us among other things done by the King and picks it out as the only instance he mentions of the King's Injunctions that the People should be taught in Churches the Lord's Prayer the Ave the Creed and the Ten Commandments in English It seems this Author thought the giving these Elements of Religion to the People in the vulgar Tongue a very heinous Crime when this is singled out from all the rest 91. That being done he says there was next a Book published called Articles appointed by the King's Majesty which were the six Articles This shews that he either had no information of English Affairs or was sleeping when he wrote this for the Six Articles were not published soon after the Injunctions as he makes it by the same Parliament and Convocation but three years after by another Parliament They were never put in a Book nor published in the King's Name they were Enacted in Parliament and are neither more nor less than 25 lines in the first Impression of that Act so far short come they of a Book 92. He reckons up very defectively the differences between the Church of Rome and the Doctrine set forth by the King's Authority but in one point he shews his ordinary wit for in the sixth particular he says He retained the Sacrament of Order but appointed a new Form of Consecrating of Bishops This he put in out of malice that he might annul the Ordinations of that time but the thing is false for except that the Bishops instead of their Oaths of Obedience to the Pope which they formerly swore did not swear to the King there was no other change made and that to be sure is no part of the Form of Consecration 93. He resolved once to speak what he thought was Truth tho it be treasonable and impious and says Upon these changes many in Lincolnshire and the Northern parts did rise for Religion and the Faith of Christ. This was indeed the motive by which their Seditious Priests misled them yet he is mistaken in the time for it was not after the six Articles were published but almost three years before it Nor was it for the Faith of Christ which teaches us to be humble subject and obedient but because the King was removing some of the corruptions of that Faith which their false Teachers did impiously call the Faith of Christ. 94. He says The King did promise most faithfully that all these things of which they complained should be amended This is so evidently false that it is plain Sanders resolved dextrously to avoid the speaking of any sort of Truth for the King did fully and formally tell them he would not be directed nor counselled by them in these Points they complained of and did only offer them an Amnesty for what was past 95. Then he reckons up 32 that died for the defence of the Faith They were attainted of Treason for being in actual Rebellion against the King and thus it appears that Rebellion was the Faith in his sense and himself died for it or rather in it having been starved to death in a Wood to which he fled after one of his rebellious Attempts on his Soveraign in which he was the Pope's Nuncio 96. He says The King killed the Earl of Kildare and five of his Uncles By this strange way of expressing a legal Attainder and the execution of a Sentence for manifest Treason and Rebellion he would insinuate on the Reader a fancy that one of Bonner's cruel fits had taken the King and that he had killed those with his own hand The Lord Herbert has fully opened that part of the History from the Records that he saw and shews that a more resolved Rebellion could not be than that was of which the Earl of Kildare and his Uncles were guilty But because they sent to the Pope and Emperor for assistance the Earl desiring to hold the Kingdom of Ireland of the Pope since the King by his Heresie had fallen from his Right to it Sanders must needs have a great kindness for their memory who thus suffered for his Faith 97. He says Queen Iane Seimour being in hard labour of Prince Edward the King ordered her Body to be so opened by Surgeons that she died soon after All this is false for she had a good Delivery as many Original Letters written by her Council that have been since printed do shew but she died two days after of a distemper incident to her Sex 98. He sets down some Passages of Cardinal Pole's Heroical Constancy which being proved by no Evidence and not being told by any other Writer whom I ever saw are to be lookt on as the flourishes of the Poet to set off his Hero 99. He would perswade the World that the Marquess of Exceter the Lord Montacute and the rest that suffered at that time died because they were believed to dislike the King 's wicked Proceedings and that the Countess of Sarum was beheaded on this single account that she was the Mother of such a Son and was sincerely addicted to the Catholick Faith and that she was condemned because she wrote to her Son and for wearing in her Breast the Picture of the five Wounds of Christ. The Marquess of Exceter pretended he was well satisfied with the King's Proceedings and was Lord Stewart when the Lords Darcy and Hussie were tried and he gave judgment against them But it being discovered that he and other Persons approved of Cardinal Pole's proceedings who endeavoured to engage all Christian Princes in a League against the King pursuant to which they had expressed themselves on several occasions resolved when a fit opportunity offered it self to rebel it was no wonder if the King proceeded against them according to Law And for the Countess of Sarum tho the legality of that Sentence passed against her cannot be defended yet she had given great offence not only by her correspondence with her Son but by the Bulls she had received from Rome and by her opposing the King's Injunctions hindring all her Tenants to read the New Testament or any other Books set out by the King's order And for the Picture which was found among her Cloaths it having been the Standard of the Rebellion and the Arms of England being found on the other side of it there was just ground to suspect an ill design in it 100. He says The Images which the King destroyed were by many wonderful Works of God recommended to the Devotion of the Nation All the wonder in these Works was the knavery of some jugling Impostors and the simplicity of a credulous multitude of
his time and have continued since in great honour as the Seimours from whom the Dukes of Somerset are descended the Paulets from whom the Marquess of Winchester derives the Russels Wriothslies Herberts Riches and Cromwells from whom the Earls of Bedford Southampton Pembroke Essex and Ardglass have descended and the Browns the Petres the Pagets the Norths and the Mountagues from whom the Vice-Count Mountague the Barons Petre Paget North and Mountague are descended These Families have now flourished in great Wealth and Honour an Age and a half and only one of them has and that but very lately determined in the Male Line but the Illustrious Female Branches of it are intermixed with other Noble Families So that the Observation is false and the Inference is weak 119. He says When the King found his strength declining he had again some thoughts of reconciling himself to the Church of Rome which when it was proposed to one of the Bishops he made a flattering answer But Gardiner moved that a Parliament might be called for doing it and that the King for the quiet of his own Conscience would vow to do it of which God would accept in that extremity when more was not possible to be done But some of his Courtiers coming about him who were very apprehensive of such a Reconciliation lest they should have been made restore the Goods of the Church diverted the King from it And from this our Author infers that what the King had done was against his Conscience and that so he sinned the Sin against the Holy Ghost I shall not examine this Theological definition of the Sin against the Holy Ghost for my quarrel is not at present with his Divinity but with his History tho it were easy to shew that he is alike at both But for this story it is a pure dream for not only there is no evidence for it nor did Gardiner in the Reign of Queen Mary ever own any such thing tho it had been then much for the credit of their Cause especially he being often upbraided with his compliances to this King for which the mention of his repentance had furnished him with a good answer But as the Tale is told the Fiction appears too plainly for a Parliament was actually sitting during the King's sickness which was dissolved by his Death and no such Proposition was made in it The King on the contrary destroyed the chief hopes of the Popish Party which were founded on the Duke of Norfolk's greatness by the Attainder which was passed a day before he died And yet Sanders makes this discourse to have been between the King and Gardiner after his fall and his Sons death between which and the King's Death there were only nine days but besides all this Gardiner had lost the King's favour a considerable time before his death 120. He says The King that he might not seem never to have done any good Work in his whole life as he was dying founded Christ's Church Hospital in London which was all the restitution he ever made for the Monasteries and Churches he had robbed and spoiled If it had not already appeared in many Instances that our Author had as little shame as honesty here is a sufficient proof of it I will not undertake to justify the King as if he had done what he ought to have done in his new Foundations But it is the height of impudence to deny things that all England knows He founded six Bishopricks he endowed Deans and Prebendaries with all the other Offices belonging to a Cathedral in fourteen several Sees Canterbury Winchester Duresme Ely Norwich Rochester Worcester and Carlisle together with Westminster Chester Oxford Glocester Peterborough and Bristol where he endowed Bishopricks likewise He founded many Grammar-Schools as Burton Canterbury Coventry Worcester c. He founded and endowed Trinity Colledg in Cambridg which is one of the noblest Foundations in Christendom He also founded Professors in both Universities for Greek Hebrew Law Physick and Divinity What censure then deserves our Author for saying that the Hospital of Christ's-Church was all the restitution he ever made of the Church-Lands 121. He gives a Character of the King which sutes very well with his History his malice in it being extravagantly ridiculous Among other things he says The King promoted always learned Bishops Cranmer only being excepted whom he advanced to serve his Lusts. Cranmer was a Man of greater Learning than any that ever sate in that See before him as appears in every thing that he writ Tonstal was a learned Man and Gardiner was much esteemed for Learning yet if any will compare Cranmer's Books of the Sacrament with those the other two writ on the same Subject there is so great a difference between the learning and solidity of the one and the other that no Man of common ingenuity can read them but he must confess it 122. He says When the King found himself expiring he called for a Boul of White Wine and said to one that was near him We have lost all and was often heard repeating Monks Monks and so he died This was to make the Fable end as it had gone on and it is forged without any authority or appearance of truth The manner of his death was already told so it needs not be repeated 123. He says The King by his Will appointed the Crown to go to his righteous Heirs after his three Children and commanded his Son to be bred a true Catholick but his Will was changed and another was forged by which the Line of Scotland was excluded and they bred his Son an Heretick There was no such Will ever heard of and in all the Debates that were managed in Queen Elizabeth's Reign about the Succession those that pleaded for the Scotish Line never alleadged this which had it been true did put an end to the whole Controversie It was indeed said that the Will which was given out as the King's Will was not signed by his Hand nor sealed by his Order but it was never pretended that there was any other Will so this is one of our Author's Forgeries The Conclusion THus I have traced him in this History and hope I have said much more than was necessary to prove him a Writer of no credit and that his Book ought to have no Authority since he was not only a stranger to the Publick Transactions Printed Statutes and the other Authentick Registers of that time but was a bold and impudent Asserter of the grossest and most malicious Lies that ever were contrived I have not examined all the Errors of his Chronology for there is scarce any thing told in its right order and due place nor have I insisted on all the passages he tells without any proof or appearance of truth for as I could only deny these without any other evidence but what was negative so there are so many of them that I must have transcribed the greatest part of
perfectly and truly repentant and contrite of all their sins before committed and also perfectly and constantly confessing and believing all the Articles of our faith according as it was mentioned in the Article before or else not And Finally if they shall also have firm credence and trust in the promise of God adjoyned to the said Sacrament that is to say that in and by this said Sacrament which they shall receive God the Father giveth unto them for his Son Jesus Christs sake remission of all their sins and the Grace of the Holy Ghost whereby they be newly regenerated and made the very Children of God according to the saying of Christ and his Apostle St. Peter Paenitentiam agite Baptizetur vnusquisque vestrum in nomine Iesu Christi in remissionem peccatorum accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti and according also to the saying of St. Paul ad Titum 3. non ex operibus justitiae quae fecimus nos sed secundum suam misericordiam salvos nos fecit per lavacrum regenerationis renovationis Spiritus Sancti quem effudit in nos opulenter per Iesum Christum servatorem nostrum ut justificati illius gratia haeredes efficiamur juxta spem vitae aeternae The Sacrament of Penance THirdly Concerning the Sacrament of Pennance We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their Spiritual charge that they ought and must most constantly believe that that Sacrament was instituted of Christ in the New Testament as a thing so necessary for mans Salvation that no man which after his Baptism is fallen again and hath committed deadly sin can without the same be saved or attain everlasting Life Item That like-as such men which after Baptism do fall again into sin if they do not Pennance in this Life shall undoubtedly be damned even so whensoever the same men shall convert themselves from the said naughty Life and do such Pennance for the same as Christ requireth of them they shall without doubt attain remission of their sins and shall be saved Item That this Sacrament of perfect Pennance which Christ requireth of such manner of persons consisteth of three parts that is to say Contrition Confession with the amendment of the former Life and a new obedient reconciliation unto the Laws and will of God that is to say exteriour Acts in works of Charity according as they be commanded of God which be called in Scripture fructus digni Paenitentia Furthermore as touching Contrition which is the first part We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their Spiritual charge that the said Contrâ—tion consisteth in two special parts which must always be conjoined together and cannot be dissevered that is to say the penitent and contrite man must first knowledg the filthiness and abomination of his own sin whereunto he is brought by hearing and considering of the will of God declared in his Laws and feeling and perceiving in his own conscience that God is angry and displeased with him for the same he must also conceive not only great sorrow and inward shame that he hath so grievously offended God but also great fear of Gods displeasure towards him considering he hath no works or merits of his own which he may worthily lay before God as sufficient satisfaction for his sins which done then afterwards with this fear shame and sorrow must needs succeed and be conjoyned The second part viz. a certain faith trust and confidence of the mercy and goodness of God whereby the penitent must conceive certain hope and faith that God will forgive him his sins and repute him justified and of the number of his Elect children not for the worthiness of any merit or work done by the penitent but for the only merits of the blood and passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Item That this certain faith and hope is gotten and also confirmed and made more strong by the applying of Christs words and promises of his grace and favour contained in his Gospel and the Sacraments instituted by him in the new Testament and therefore to attain this certain faith the second part of Pennance is necessary that is to say Confession to a Priest if it may be had for the Absolution given by the Priest was institute of Christ to apply the promises of Gods grace and favour to the Penitent Wherefore as touching Confession We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us to their spiritual charge that they ought and must certainly believe that the words of Absolution pronounced by the Priest be spoken by the Authority given to him by Christ in the Gospel Item That they ought and must give no less faith and credence to the same words of Absolution so pronounced by the Ministers of the Church than they would give unto the very words and voyce of God himself if he should speak unto us out of Heaven according to the saying of Christ Quorum remiseritis peccata c. qui vos audit me audit Item That in no ways they do contemn this Auricular Confession which is made unto the Ministers of the Church but that they ought to repute the same a verry expedient and necessary mean whereby they may require and ask this Absolution at the Priests hands at such time as they shall find their consciences grieved with mortal sin and have occasion so to do to the intent they may thereby attain certain comfort and consolation of their consciences As touching the third part of Penance We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us to their spiritual charge that although Christ and his death be the sufficient oblation sacrifice satisfaction and recompence for the which God the Father forgiveth and remitteth to all sinners not only their sin but also Eternal pain due for the same yet all men truly penitent contrite and confessed must needs also bring forth the fruits of Penance that is to say Prayer Fasting Almsdeeds and must make Restitution or Satisfaction in will and deed to their neighbour in such things as they have done them wrong and injury in and also must do all other good works of mercy and charity and express their obedient will in the executing and fulfilling of Gods Commandments outwardly when time power and occasion shall be Ministred unto them or else they shall never be saved for this is the express precept and commandment of God Agite fructus dignos paenitentia and St. Paul saith Debitores sumus and in another place he saith Castigo corpus meum in servitutem redigo Item That these precepts and works of Charity be necessary works to our Salvation and God necessarily requireth that every penitent man shall perform the same whensoever time power and occasion shall be ministred unto him so to do Item That by Penance and such good