expect Justice there so she went out of the Court and would never return to it any more Upon this the King gave her a great Character for her extraordinary Qualities and protested he was acted by no other Principle then that of Conscience He added that Wolsey did not set him on to this Suit but had opposed it long that he first moved the matter in Confession to the Bishop of Lincoln and had desired the Archbishop of Canterbury to procure him the Resolution of the Bishops of England in his Case and that they had all under their hands declared that his Marriage was unlawful The Bishop of Rochester denied he had signed it but Warham pretended he gave him leave to make another write his Name to it Fisher denied this and it was no way probable The Legates went on according to the forms of Law The Queen appeals to the Pope tho the Queen appealed from them to the Pope and excepted both to the Place to the Judges and her Lawyers Yet they pronounced her Contumax and went on to Examine Witnesses chiefly to that particular of the Consummation of her Marriage with Prince Arthur But now since the Process was thus going on the Emperours Agents prest the Pope vehemently for an Avocation and all possible endeavours were used by the King's Agents to hinder it they spared nothing that would work on the Pope either in the way of perswasion or threatning It was told him that there was a Treaty set on foot between the King and the Lutheran Princes of Germany and that upon the Pope's declaring himself so partial as to grant the Avocation he would certainly imbark in the same Interrests with them But the Pope thought the King was so far ingaged in Honour in the Points of Religion that he would not be prevailed with to unite with Luther's Followers So he did not imagine that the Effects of his granting the Avocation would be so dismal as the Cardinal's creatures represented them He thought it would probably ruine him which might make his Agents use such Threatnings and he did not much consider that for he hated him in his heart So in Conclusion after the Emperour had engaged to him to restore his Family to the Government of Florence he resolved to publish his Treaty with him But that the granting the Avocation might not look like what indeed it was a secret Article he resolved to begin with that and with great signs of sorrow he told the English Embassadours that he was forced to it both because all the Lawyers told him it could not be denied and that he could not resist the Emperours Forces which surrounded him on all hands Their endeavours to gain a little time by delayes were as fruitless as their other Arts had been for on the 15th of July The Pope grants an Avocation the Pope signed it and on the 19th he sent it by an express Messenger to England The Legates Campegio in particular drew out the matter by all the delayes they could contrive and gained much time At last it being brought to that that Sentence was to be pronounced Campegio instead of doing it adjourned the Court till October and said that they being a part of the Consistory must observe their times of Vacation This gave the King and all his Court great offence when they saw what was like to be the Issue of a Process on which the King was so much bent and in which he was so far engaged both in Honour and Interest Campegio had nothing to lose in England but the Bishoprick of Sailisbury for which the Pope or Emperour could easily recompence him but Wolsey was under all the Terrours that an Insolent Favorite is liable to upon a change in his Fortune None being more abject in misfortune than those that are lifted up with Success When the Avocation was brought to England the King was willing that the Legates should declare their Commission void but would not suffer the Letters Citatory to be served for he looked upon it as below his Dignity to be cited to appear at Rome The King governed himself upon this occasion with more temper than was expected He dismissed Campegio civily only his Officers searched his Coffers when he went beyond Sea with design as was thought to see if the Decretal Bull could be found Wolsey was now upon the point of being disgraced tho the King seemed to treat him with the same Confidence he had formerly put in him it being ordinary for many Princes to hide their designs of disgracing their Favourites with higher Expressions of kindnesses than ordinary till their Ruine breaks out the more violently because it is not foreseen At this time Cranmer's Rise Dr. Cranmer a Fellow of Jesus-Colledge in Cambridge meeting accidentally with Gardiner and Fox at Waltham and being put on the Discourse of the King's Marriage proposed a new Method which was That the King should engage the chief Universities and Divines of Europe to examine the lawfulness of his Marriage and if they gave their Resolutions against it then it being certain that the Pope's Dispensation could not derogate from the Law of God the Marriage must be declared null This was new and seemed reasonable so they proposed it to the King who was much taken with it and said he had the Sow by the right Ear He saw this way was both better in it self and would mortify the Pope extreamly so Cranmer was sent for and did so behave himself that the King conceived an high opinion both of his Learning and Prudence and of his Probity and Sincerity which took such root in the King's mind that no Artifices nor Calumnies were ever able to remove it But as he was thus in his Rise Wolsey it disgraced so Wolsey did now decline The Great Seal was taken from him and given to Sir Thomas Moor And he was sued in a Premunire for having held the Legatine Courts by a Forraign Authority contrary the Laws of England He confessed the Indictment and pleaded Ignorance and submitted himself to the King's Mercy so Judgment passed on him Then was his rich Palace now Whitehall and Royal Furniture seized on to the King's use Yet the King received him again into his Protection and restored to him the Temporalities of the Sees of York and Winchester and above 6000 l. in Plate and other Goods And there appeared still great and clear Prints in the King's mind of that entire Confidence to which he had received him of which as his Enemies were very apprehensive so he himself was so much transported with the Messages he had concerning it that once he fell down on his knees in a Kennel before them that brought them Articles were put in against him in the House of Lords it seems for a Bill of Attainder where he had but few Friends which all insolent Favourites may expect in their Disgrace In the House of Commons Cromwel that had been his Secretary did so
received the new Opinions Seaton a Dominican the King's Confessor preaching in Lent set out the Nature of true Repentance and the Method to it without mixing the Directions which the Friars commonly gave on that Subject and when another Friar shewed the defectiveness of what he had taught he defended himself in another Sermon and reflected on those Bishops that did not preach and called them dumb Dogs But the Clergy would not meddle with him till they found him in ill Terms with the King and the freedom he used in reproving him for his Vices quickly alienated the King from him upon which they resolved to fall on him but he withdrew into England and wrote to the King taxing the Clergy for their Cruelty and praying him to restrain it One Forrest an ignorant Benedictine was accused for having spoken Honourably of Patrick Hamilton and was put in Prison In Confession to a Friar he acknowledged he thought he was a good Man and that the Articles for which he was condemned might be defended The Friar discovered this and it was received as Evidence and upon it he was condemned and burnt Divers others were brought into the Bishop's Courts of whom the greatest part abjured but two were more resolute one Gourley denied Purgatory and the Pope's Authority another was David Smiton who being a Fisherman had refused to pay the Tithe of his Fish and when the Vicar came to take them he said the Tithe was taken where the Stock grew and therefore he threw the tenth Fish into the Sea For this and other Opinions he was condemned and they were both burnt at one Stake Several others were accused of whom some fled to England and others went over to Germany The Changes made in England raised in all the People a curiosity of searching into matters of Religion and that was always fatal to Superstition Pope Clement the 7th wrote earnestly to the King of Scotland to continue firm to the Catholick Faith Upon which he called a Parliament and made new Laws for maintaining the Pope's Authority and proceeding against Hereticks yet the Pope could not engage him to make War on England King Henry sent Barlow Bishop of St. Davids to him with some Books that were written in Defence of his Proceedings and desired him to examine them Impartially He also proposed the Enterview at York and a Match between him and Lady Mary the King 's eldest Daughter and promised that he should be made Duke of York and Lord Lieutenant of the whole Kingdom Yet the Clergy diverted him from this and perswaded him to go in Person to France and court the Daughter of that King Magdalene He married her in January 1537 but she died in May. She had been bred in the Queen of Navarre's Court and so was well disposed towards the Reformation Upon her Death the King married Mary of Guise she was a Branch of the Family of all Europe that was most zealously addicted to the old Superstition and her Interest joined with the Clergy's engaged the King to become a violent Persecuter of all that were of another mind The King was very expensive both in his Pleasures and Buildings and had a numerous Race of Bastards A Persecution set on foot in Scotland so that he came to want Mony much The Nobility proposed to him the seizing on the Abbey-Lands as his Uncle had done The Clergy on the other hand advised him to proceed severely against all suspected of Heresy By which means according to the Lists they shewed him he might raise 100000 Crowns a Year They also advised him to provide his Children to Abbies and Priories and represented to him That if he continued stedfast in the old Religion he would still have a great Party in England and might be made the Head of a League which was then in Project against King Henry This so far prevailed with him that as he made four of his Sons Abbots and Priors so he gave way to the persecuting Spirit of the Clergy Upon which many were cited to answer for Heresy of these many abjured and some were banisht A Canon Regular a Secular Priest two Friars and a Gentleman were burnt Forrest the Canon Regular had been reproved by his Ordinary the Bishop of Dunkell for meddling with the Scriptures too much He told him he had lived long and had never known what was in the Old or New Testament but contented himself with his Portoise and Pontifical and that he might come to repent it if he troubled himself with such Fancsies The Archbishop of Glasgow was a very moderate Man and disliked cruel Proceedings Russel a Friar and Kennedy a young Man of 18 Years of Age were brought before him they expressed wonderful Joy and a steady Resolution in their Sufferings And after a long dispute between Russel and the Bishop's Divines Russel concluded This is your Hour and the Power of Darkness go on and fill up the Measures of your Iniquities The Archbishop was unwilling to give Sentence he said he thought these Executions did the Church more Hurt than Good But those about him told him He must not take a Way different from the rest of the Bishops and threatned him so that he pronounced Sentence They were burned but they gave such Demonstrations of Patience and Joy as made no small Impression on all that saw it or heard of it Among those that were in trouble George Buchanan was one who at the King's Instigations had writ a very sharp Poem against the Franciscans but was now abandoned by him He made his Escape and lived 20 Years in Forraign Parts and at last returned to do his Country Honour and what by his Immortal Poems what by his History of Scotland he shewed both how great a Master he was in the Roman Tongue and how true a Judge he was both in Wit and in the Knowledge of Human Affairs if Passion had not corrupted him towards the end of his History that he is justly to be reckoned the greatest and best of the Modern Writers So much of the Affairs of Scotland the Author 's Native Country King Henry stayed not long at York The Queen 's ill Life is discovered since his Nephew came not to him He set out a Proclamation there inviting all that had been of late oppressed to come in and make their Complaints and he promised to repair them This was done to cast the Load of all past Errours upon Cromwel The King was mightily wrought on by the Charms of his Wife so that on the First of November he gave publick thanks to God for the happy Choice he had made But this did not last long for the next day Cranmer came and gave him an account of the Queen 's ill Life which one Lassells had revealed to him as having learnt it from his Sister She had been very lewd before her Marriage both with one Deirham and one Mannock Cranmer by the Advice of the other Privy Counsellors put this in Writing
Reformers and those that favoured them What was said in opposition to this in the House of Lords is not known but a great deal of it may be gathered from the Paper which the Reformed Divines drew upon the second Point about which they were appointed to dispute of the power that every Church had to Reform it self This they founded on the Epistles of St. Paul to the particular Churches and St. John's to the Angels of the seven Churches In the first three Ages there were no General Councils but every Bishop in his Diocess or such few Bishops as could Assemble together condemned Heresies or determined matters that were contested so did also the Orthodox Bishops after Arianism had so over-spread the World that even the See of Rome was defiled with it And abuses were condemned in many places without staying for a general concurrence though that was then more possible when all was under one Emperour than it was at present Even in Queen Mary's time many superstitions as Pilgrimages the worshipping of Reliques were laid aside Therefore they concluded that the Queen might by her own authority reform even the Clergy as Hezekiah and Josias had done under the old Law When the Act past in the House of Lords eight Spiritual Lords and nine Temporal Lords protested against it among whom was the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer Another Act past with more opposition that the Queen might reserve some Lands belonging to Bishopricks to her self as they fell void giving in lieu of them improprietated Tithes to the value of them but this was much opposed in the House of Commons who apprehended that under this pretence there might new spoils be made of Church-lands so that upon a Division of the House 90. were against it but 133. were for it and so it was past All Religious Houses founded by the late Queen were supprest and united to the Crown The deprivation of the Popish Bishops in King Edward's time was declared valid in Law by which all the Leases which had been made by those that were put in their Sees were good in Law A Subsidy and two Tenths and two Fifteenths with the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage were given and so the Parliament was dissolved on the 8th of May. Some Bills were proposed but not past one was for restoring the Bishops deprived by Queen Mary who were Barlow Scory and Coverdale but the first of these had been made to resign and the last being extream old resolved to follow Latimer's example and not return to his See So it was not thought worth the while to make an Act for Scory alone Another Bill that was laid aside was for restoring all Churchmen to their Benefices that had been turned Out because they were married but it seems it was not thought decent enough to begin with such an Act. Another Bill that came to nothing was for impowering XXXII Persons to revise the Ecclesiastical Laws but as this last was then let fall so to the great prejudice of this Church it has slept ever since After the Parliament was dissolved Many Bishops turned out the Oath of Supremacy was tendred to the Bishops and all except Kitchin Bishop of Landaffe refused it Tonstall continued unresolved till September and so long did the Queen delay the putting it to him But at last he refused it and so lost his Bishoprick It was generally believed that be quitted it rather because being extream old he thought it indecent to forsake his Brethren and to be still changing than out of any scruple he had in his Conscience concerning it All the Bishops were at first put under confinement but they were soon after set at liberty only Bonner White and Watson were kept Prisoners Many complaints were brought against Bonner for the Cruelties he had been guilty of against Law and the Tortures he had put his Prisoners to himself but yet the Queen resolved not to stain the beginnings of her Reign with blood and the Reformed Divines were in imitation of Nazianzen upon the like revolution in the Roman Empire exhorting their Followers not to think of revenging themselves but to leave that to God Heath lived privately at his own House in which he was sometimes visited by the Queen Tonstall and Thirleby were appointed to live in Lambeth with the new Archbishop White and Watson were morose and haughty Men much addicted to the School Divinity which has been often observed to incline People to an overvaluing of themselvs All the other Bishops except Pates Scot and Goldwell that had been Bishops of Worcester Chester and St. Asaph continued still in England but these had leave to go beyond Sea A few Gentlemen and all the Nuns went likewise out of England and so gentle was the Queen that she denied that Liberty to none that asked it The Queen inclined to keep Images still in Churches and though the Reformed Divines made many applications to divert her from it The Queen inclined to keep Images in Churches yet she was not easily wrought on The Divines put all their Reasons against them in Writing and desired her to commit the determining of that matter to a Synod of Bishops and Divines and not to take up an unalterable resolution upon Political Considerations They laid before her the second Commandment against making Images for God and the Curse pronounced against those that made an Image and put it in a secret place that is in an Oratory The Book of Wisdom calls them a snare for the feet of the Ignorant S. John charged the Christians to beware of Idols and not only of worshipping them The use of them fed superstition and ended in Idolatry and would breed great Divisions among themselves They shewed that Images were not allowed in the Church till the 7th Century and the Contests that were raised about them in the Eastern Empire occasioned such distractions as in a great measure made way for its ruine and laid it open to the Mahometans Thefe things wrought so much on the Queen that she was at last content they should be put down It was now resolved to send Visiters over England A General Visitation so Injunctions were prepared for them Those appointed in the first year of King Edward were now renewed with some little alteration To which Rules were added concerning the Marriages of the Clergy for avoiding the scandals given by them The Clergy were also required to use Habits according to their degrees in the Universities All People were to resort to their own Parish Church and some were to be appointed to examine and give notice of those who went not to Church all slanderous words were forbidden No Books were to be Printed without Licence Inquiry was ordered to be made into all the proceedings against Hereticks during the late Reign Reverence was to be expressed when the name Jesus was pronounced An Explanation was made of the supremacy that the Queen did not pretend to any authority for Ministring Divine
refuses the See of Canterbury Pag. 343 1559. Bacon made Lord Keeper The Queen is crowned Pag. 344 ibid. A Parliament is called The Peace at Cambray Pag. 345 346 Acts past in Parliament Pag. 347 The Commons pray the Queen to marry ibid. Her Title to the Crown acknowledged Pag. 348 Acts concerning Religion Pag. 349 Preaching without Licence forbidden Pag. 351 A publik Conference about Religion ibid. Arguments for and against Worship in an unknown Tongue Pag. 352 The English Service is again set up Pag. 355 Speeches against it by some Bishops Pag. 356 Many Bishops turned out Pag. 358 The Queen enclined to keep Images in Churches Pag. 360 A general Visitation ibid. The high Commission Court Pag. 362 Parker is very unwillingly made Arch-bishop of Canterbury Pag. 363 The other Bishops consecrated Pag. 365 The Fable of the Nags-Head confuted Pag. 366 The Articles of the Church published Pag. 367 A Translation of the Bible Pag. 368 The Want of Church Discipline Pag. 369 The Reformation in Scotland Pag. 370 It is first set up in St. Johnstown Pag. 372 The Queen-Regent is deposed Pag. 375 The Queen of England assists the Scots Pag. 376 The Queen-Regent dies ibid. A Parliment meets and settles the Reformation Pag. 377 The Q of England the Head of all the Protestants Pag. 378 Both in France and the Netherlands Pag. 379 381 The excellent Administration of Affairs in England ibid. Severities against the Papists were necessary Pag. 285 Sir F. walsingh Account of the steps in which she proceeded ibid. The Conclusion Pag. 386 ERRATA BOOK I. PAge 20. line 5. stop read step Page 45 l. 17. if he said read he said if P. 47. l. 6. dele any P. 60. l. 18. after determine dele l. 19. after same d. P. 61. l. implored r imployed P. 64 l. 9. formerly r. formally P. 81. mar l. 4. after the r. King and the. P. 82. l. 2. enacted r. exacted P. 89. l. 23. King the r. the King P. 92. l. 6. or r. of P. 93. l. 3.9 r. 11. P. 95. l. 8. big a r. a big P. 99. l. 19. new r. now l. 29. after this r. was P. 109. l. 6. he r. the. P. 121. l. 2. after so r. was P. 130. l. 3. for r. but. P. 131. l. 16. after and r. he with P. 133. l. 9. after was r. given P. 135. l. 22. being r. were P. 139. l. 30. after were r. to P. 141. l. ult near r. now at P. 181. mar l. 3. cited in r. seized on P. 184. l. 2. had it r. it had P. 196. l. 26. del once P. 205. l. 12. before the r. as P. 217. l. 11. before the r. this P. 237. l. 31. some r. since P. 242. l. 25. her will r. his will P. 243. l. 5. after for r. since P. 257. l. 14. after Abel r. P. 260. l. 16. del are P. 291. l. 11. corrupting r. reforming Book 2. P. 13. l. 15. had r. been P. 30. l. 34. 20th r. 10th P. 53. l. 22. so r. for P. 103. l. 25. not r. nor P. 111. l. 13. after all r. his P. 188 l. 15. del then P. 199. l. 31. in r. on Book 3. P. 301. l. 20. hew r. new P. 321. l. 16. after most r. part P. 312. l. 2. Peru r. Pern l. some r. the same P. 317. l. 12. 80000 r. 8000. Book 4. P. 354. l. 28. and P. 356. l. 7. Ferknam r. Fecknam AN A BRIDGMENT OF THE History of the Reformation OF THE Church of ENGLAND LIB I. Of the Beginnings of it and the Progress made in it by King Henry the Eighth THe Wars of the two Houses of York and Lancaster The Vnion of the two Houses of York Lancast in K H. VIII had produced such dismal Revolutions and cast England into such frequent and terrible Convulsions that the Nation with great joy received Henry the Seventh Book I. who being himself descended from the House of Lancaster by his marriage with the Heir of the House of York did deliver them from the fear of any more Wars by new Pretenders But the covetousness of his Temper the severity of his Ministers his ill conduct in the Matter of Britaign and his jealousy of the House of York not only gave occasion to Impostors to disturb his Reign but to several Insurrections that were raised in his time By all which he was become so generally odious to his People that as his Son might have raised a dangerous competition for the Crown during his Life as devolved on him by his Mother's death who was indeed the Righteous Heir so his death was little lamented April 22 1509. He disgraces Empson and Dudley And Henry the Eighth succeeded with all the Advantages he could have desired and his disgracing Empson and Dudley that had been the cruel Ministers of his Fathers Designs for filling his Coffers his appointing Restitution to be made of the Sums that had been unjustly exacted of the People and his ordering Justice to be done on those rapacious Ministers gave all People hopes of happy Times under a Reign that was begun with such an Act of Justice that had indeed more Mercy in it than those Acts of Oblivion and Pardon with which others did usually begin And when Ministers by the King's Orders were condemned and executed for invading the Liberties of the People under the Covert of the King's Prerogative it made the Nation conclude that they should hereafter live secure under the Protection of such a Prince and that the violent Remedies of Parliamentary Judgments should be no more necessary except as in this case to confirm what had been done before in the ordinary Courts of Justice The King also either from the Magnificence of his own Temper He is very liberal or the Observation he had made of the ill Effects of his Father's Parsimony did distribute his Rewards and Largesses with an unmeasured Bounty so that he quickly emptied his Treasure 1800000 l which his Father had left the fullest in Christendom But till the ill Effects of this appeared it raised in his Court and Subjects the greatest Hopes possible of a Prince whose first Actions shewed an equal mixture of Justice and Generosity At his first coming to the Crown the Successes of Lewis the Twelth in Italy made him engage as a Party in the Wars with the Crown of Spain His Success in the Wars He went in Person beyond Sea and took both Terwin and Tournay in which as he acquired the Reputation of a good and fortunate Captain so Maximillion the Emperor put an unusual Complement on him for he took his pay and rid in his Troops But a Peace quickly followed upon which the French King married his Younger Sister Mary but he dying soon after Francis the first succeeded and he renewing his Pretensions upon Italy Henry could not be prevailed on to ingage early in the War till the Successes of either Party should discover which of the sides was the
founding of Monasteries was the fittest Compensation for a King and he turned out all the married Priests and put Monks in their stead From that time the Credit and Wealth of Monastick Orders continued to encrease for several Ages till the Begging Orders succeeded in the esteem of the World to the place which the Monks formerly had for they decreased as much in true worth as the false appearances of it had now raised their Revenues They were not only ignorant themselves but very jealous of the progress Learning was making for Erasmus and the other Restorers of it treating them with much scorn they look'd on the encrease of it as that which would much lessen them and so not only did not contribute to it but rather detracted from it as that which would make way for Heresy The Cardinal designed two noble Foundations the one at Oxford Cardinal Wolsy suppresses many and the other at Ipswich the place of his Birth both for the encouragement of the Learned and the instruction of Youth and for that end he procured a Bull for suppressing divers Monasteries which being executed their Lands by Law fell to the King and thereupon the Cardinal took out Grants of them and endowed his Colledges with them But we shall next consider the state of Religion in England From the dayes of Wickliff there were many that differed from the Doctrines commonly received The growth of Wickliff's Doctrine He writ many Books that gave great Offence to the Clergy yet being powerfully supported by the Duke of Lancaster they could not have their revenge during his Life but he was after his Death condemned and his Body was raised and burnt The Bible which he translated into English with the Preface which he set before it produced the greatest Effects In it he reflected on the ill Lives of the Clergy and condemned the Worship of Saints and Images and the corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament but the most criminal part was the exhorting all People to read the Scriptures where the Testimonies against those Corruptions were such that there was no way to deal with them but to silence them His Followers were not Men of Letters but being wrought on by the easy Conviction of plain Sense were by them determined in their Persuasions They did not form themselves into Body but were contented to hold their Opinions secretly and did not spread them but to their particular Confidents The Clergy sought them out every where and did deliver them after Conviction to the Secular Arm that is to the Fire In the Primitive Church The Cruelty of the Clergy all cruel Proceedings upon the account of Heresy were condemned so that the Bishops who accused some Hereticks upon which they were put to death were excommunicated for it Banishment and Fines with some Incapacities were the highest Severities even upon the greatest Provocations But as the Church grew corrupted in other things so a cruel Spirit being generally the mark of all ill Priests of whatsoever Religion they are they fell under the Influences of it and from the days of the rise of the Albigenses the severities of the Inquisition and Burnings with many other Cruelties were by the means of the Dominicans set up first in France and then in the other parts of Europe A Decree was also made in the Council of the Lateran requiring all Magistrates under the pains of forfeiture and deposition to extirpate Hereticks Burning agreed best with their Cruelty as being the most terrible sort of Death and bearing some resemblance to everlasting Burnings in Hell so they damned the Souls of the Hereticks and burnt their Bodies but the Execution of the former part of the Sentence was not in their power as the latter part was The Canons of that Council being received in England the Proceedings against Hereticks grew to be a part of the Common Law and a Writ for burning them was issued out upon their Conviction But special Statutes were afterwards made The first under Richard the second Laws made in England against Hereticks was only agreed to by the Lords and without its being consented to by the Commons the King assented to it yet all the Severity in it was no more than that Writs should go out to the Sheriffs to hold Hereticks in Prison till they should be judged by the Laws of the Church The Preamble of the Law says They were very numerous that they had a peculiar Habit that they preached in many Churches other Places against the Faith and refused to submit to the Censures of the Church This was sent with the other Acts according to the custom of that Time to all the Sheriffs of England to be proclaimed by them but the Year following in the next Parliament the Commons complained that that Act was published to which they had never consented so an Act passed declaring the former null yet this was suppressed and the former was still esteemed a good Law When Henry the fourth came to the Crown he owing it in great measure to the help of the Clergy passed an Act against all that preached without the Bishop's Licence or against the Faith and it was enacted That all Transgressors of that sort should be imprisoned and within three Months be brought to a Trial If upon Conviction they offered to abjure and were not Relapses they were to be imprisoned and fined at pleasure and if they refused to abjure or were Relapses they were to be delivered to the secular Arm and the Magistrates were to burn them in some publick Place But tho by this Statute no mention is made of sending out a Writ for Execution yet that continued still to be practised And that same Year Sautre a Priest being condemned as a Relapse and degraded by Arundell Arch-bishop of Canterbury a Writ was issued out for it in which Burning is called the Common Punishment which related to the customs of other Nations For this was the first Instance of that kind in England In the beginning of Henry the fifth's Reign there was a Conspiracy against the King discovered tho others that lived not long after say it was only pretended and contrived by the Clergy of Old-Castle and some others of Wickliff's Followers then called Lollards upon which many were condemned both for Treason and Heresy who were first hanged and then burnt and a Law followed that the Lollards should forfeit all that they held in Fee-simple as well as their Goods and Chattels to the King and all Sheriffs and Magistrates were required to take an Oath to destroy all Heresies and Lollardies and to assist the Ordinaries in their proceedings against them Yet the Clergy making ill use of these Laws and vexing all People that gave them any Offence with long Imprisonments the Judges interposed and examined the Grounds of their Commitments and as they saw cause Bailed or Discharged the Prisoners and took upon them to declare what Opinions were Heresies by Law and what were
Journey unless the Pope would promise to give the King Satisfaction The King of France said he was engaged in Honour to go on but assured them he would mind the King 's Concerns with as much Zeal as if they were his own In September the Queen brought forth a Daughter the renowned Queen Elizabeth and the King having before declared Lady Mary Princess of Wales Sept 7. Q. Elizabeth born did now the same for her Tho since a Son might put her from it she could not be Heir Apparent but only the Heir Presumptive to the Crown At Marseilles the Marriage was made up between the Duke of Orleans and the Pope's Neece to whom the Pope gave besides 100000 Crowns many Principalities which he pretended were either Fiefs of the Papacy or belonged to him in the Rights of the House of Medici The Pope's Historian with some Triumph boasted that the Marriage was Consummated that very Night tho it was thought not credible that P. Arthur that was Nine Months older than the new Duke of Orleans afterwards Henry the Second did Consummate his There was a secret Agreement made between the Pope and Francis that if King Henry would refer his Cause to the Consistory excepting only to the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction as partial and would in all other things return to his Obedience to the See of Rome The Pore promises to satisfy K. Henry then Sentence should be given in his Favours but this to be kept secret So Bonner not being trusted with it and sent thither with an Appeal from the Pope to the next General Council made it with great boldness and threatned the Pope upon it with so much Vehemence that the Pope talked of throwing him into a Cauldron of melted Lead or burning him alive And he apprehending some danger fled away privately But when Francis came back to Paris he sent over the Bishop of that City to the King to let him know what he had obtained of the Pope in his Favours and the Terms on which it was promised This wrought so much on the King that he presently consented to them And upon that the Bishop of Paris tho it was now in the middle of Winter took Journey to Rome being sure of the Scarlet if he could be the Instrument of regaining England which was then upon the point of being lost What these Assurances were which the Pope gave is not certain but the Archbishop of York and Tenstal of Duresm in a Letter which they wrote on that Occasion say that the Pope said at Marseilles That if the King would send a Proxy to Rome he would give Sentence for him against the Queen for he knew his Cause was good and just Upon the Bishop of Paris's coming to Rome the matter seemed agreed for it was promised that upon the King 's sending a Promise under his hand to put things in their former state and his ordering a Proxy to appear for him Judges should be sent to Cambray for making the Process and then Sentence should be given Upon the notice given of this and of a Day that was prefixt for the return of the Courier the King dispatched him with all possible hast and now the Business seemed at an end But the Courier had a Sea and the Alps to pass and in Winter it was not easy to observe a limited day so exactly This made that he came not to Rome on the prefixed day upon which the Imperialists gave out that the King was abusing the Pope's Easiness so they prest him vehemently to proceed to a Sentence The Bishop of Paris moved only for a delay of six days which was no unreasonable time in that Season and in favours of such a King who had a Suit depending six Days and since he had Patience so many Years the delay of a few days was no extraordinary Favour But the design of the Imperialists was to hinder a Reconciliation for if the King had been set right with the Pope there would have been so powerful a League formed against the Emperour as would have broke all his Measures And therefore it was necessary for his Designes to imbroil them It was also said That the King was seeking Delayes and Concessions meerly to delude the Pope and that he had proceeded so far in his Design against that See that it was necessary to go on to Censures And the angry Pope was so provoked by them and by the News that he heard out of England that without consulting his ordinary Prudence he brought in the matter to the Consistory and there the Imperialists being the greater number it was driven on with so much Precipitation that they did in on day that which according to Form should have been done in three They gave the final Sentence declaring the King's Marriage with Queen Katherine good and required him to live with her as his Wife 23. March But proceeds hastily to a Sentence otherwise they would proceed to Censures Two days after that the Courier came with the King's Submission in due form He also brought earnest Letters from Francis in the King's Favours This wrought on all the indifferent Cardinals as well as those of the French Faction So they praied the Pope to recall what was done A new Consistory was called but the Imperialists prest with greater Vehemence then ever that they would not give such Scandal to the World as to recall a definitive Sentence past of the validity of a Marriage and give the Hereticks such Advantages by their unsteadiness in matters of that nature And so it was carried that the former Sentence should take place and the Execution of it was committed to the Emperour When this was known in England it determined the King in his Resolutions of shaking off the Pope's Yoke in which he had made so great a Progress that the Parliament had past all the Acts concerning it before he had the News from Rome For he judged that the best way to Peace was to let them at Rome see with what vigour he could make War All the rest of the World lookt on astonished to see the Court of Rome throw off England with so much scorn as if they had been weary of the Obedience and Profits of so great a Kingdom and their Proceedings look'd as if they had been secretly directed by a Divine Providence that designed to draw great Consequences from this Rupture and did so far infatuate those that were most concerned to prevent it that they needlesly drew it on themselves In England they had been now examining the Foundations on which the Papal Authority was built The â—rguments used for rejecting the Pope's Power with extraordinary Care for some Years and several Books being then and soon after written on that Subject the Reader will be able to see better into the Reasons of their Proceedings by a short Abstract of these All the Apostles were made equal in the Powers that Christ gave them and he often condemned
Brittish Monks were is not well known The State of the Monasteries in England whether they were governed according to the Rules of the Monks of Egypt or France is matter of Conjecture They were in all things obedient to their Bishops as all the Monks of the Primitive Times were But upon the Confusions which the Gothick Wars brought upon Italy Benedict set up a new Order with more Artificial Rules for its Government Not long after Gregory the Great raised the Credit of that Order much by his Books of Dialogues and Austin the Monk being sent by him to convert England did found a Monastery at Canterbury that carried his Name which both the King and Austin exempted from the Arch-bishop's Jurisdiction But there is great reason to suspect that most of those Antient Charters were forged After that many other Abbies were founded and exempted by the Kings of England if Credit is due to the Leiger Books or Chartularies of the Monasteries In the end of the eighth Century the Danes made Descents upon England and finding the most Wealth and the least Resistance in the Monasteries they generally plundered them in so much that the Monks were forced to quit their Seats and they left them to the Secular Clergy so that in King Edgar's time there was scarce a Monk left in all England He was a leud and cruel Prince and Dunstan and other Monks taking Advantage from some horrours of Conscience that he fell under perswaded him that the restoring the Monastick State would be matter of great Merit so he converted many of the Chapters into Monasteries and by the Foundation of the Priory of Worcester it appears he had then founded 47 and intended to raise them to 50 the number of Pardon tho the Invention of Jubilees being so much later gives occasion to believe this was also a Forgery He only exempted his Monasteries from all Payments to the Bishops but others were exempted from Episcopal Jurisdiction In some only the Precinct was exempted in others the Exemption was extended to all the Lands or Churches belonging to them The latest Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction granted by any King is that of Battel founded by William the Conquerour After this the Exemptions were granted by the Popes who pretending to an Universal Jurisdiction assumed this among other Usurpations Some Abbies had also the Priviledg of being Sanctuaries to all that fled to them The Foundation of all their Wealth was the belief of Purgatory and of the Virtue that was in Masses to redeem Souls out of it and that these eased the Torments of departed Souls and at last delivered them out of them so it past among all for a piece of Piety to Parents and of care for their own Souls and Families to endow those Houses with some Lands upon condition that they should have Masses said for them as it was agreed on more or less frequently according to the measure of the Gift This was like to have drawn in the whole Wealth of the Nation into those Houses if the Statute of Mortmain had not put some restraint to that Superstition They also perswaded the World that the Saints interceded for them and would take it kindly at their hands if they made great Offerings to their Shrines and would thereupon intercede the more earnestly for them The credulous Vulgar measuring the Court of Heaven by those on Earth believed Presents might be of great Efficacy there and thought the new Favourites would have the most Weight in their Intercessions So upon every new Canonization there was a new Fit of Devotion towards the last Saint which made the elder to grow almost out of request Some Images were believed to have an extraordinary Virtue in them and Pilgrimages to these were much extolled There was also great Rivalry among the several Orders and different Houses of the same Orders every one magnifying their own Saints their Images and Relicks most The Wealth of these Houses brought them under great Corruptions They were generally very dissolute and grosly ignorant Their Priviledges were become a publick Grievance and their Lives gave great Scandal to the World So that as they had found it easy to bear down the Secular Clergy when their own Vices were more secret the begging Friers found it as easy to carry the Esteem of the World from them These under the Appearance of Poverty and course Diet and Cloathing gained much Esteem and became almost the only Preachers and Confessors then in the World They had a General at Rome from whom they received such Directions as the Popes sent them so that they were more useful to the Papacy then the Monks had been They had also the School-Learning in their hands so that they were generally much cherished But they living much in the World could not conceal their Vices so artificially as the Monks had done and tho several Reformations had been made of their Orders yet they had all fallen under great Scandal and a general Disesteem The King intended to erect new Bishopricks and in order to that it was necessary to make use of some of their Revenues He also apprehended a War from the Emperour and for that end he intended to fortify his Harbours and to encourage Shipping and Trade upon which the Ballance of the World began then to turn And in order to that he resolved to make use of the Wealth of those Houses and thought the best way to bring that into his hands would be to expose their Vices that so they might quite lose the Esteem they might yet be in with some and so it might be less dangerous to suppress them Cranmer promoted this much both because these Houses were founded on gross Abuses and subsisted by them and these were necessary to be removed if a Reformation went on The Extent of many Diocesses was also such that one man could not oversee them so he intended to have more Bishopricks founded and to have Houses at every Cathedral for the Education of those who should be imploied in the Pastoral Charge The Visitors went over England and found in many places monstrous Disorders The Sin of Sodom was found in many Houses great Factions and Barbarous Cruelties were in others and in some they found Tools for Coining The Report contained many abominable things that are not fit to be mentioned Some of these were printed but the greatest part is lost only a Report of 144 Houses is yet extant The first House that was surrendered to the King Some Houses surrendered was Langden in Kent the Abbot was found a Bed with a Whore who went in the Habit of a Lay Brother This perhaps made him more willing to give an Example to the rest so he and ten of his Monks signed a Resignation of their House to the King Two other Houses in the same County Folkeston and Dover followed their Example And in the following Year four other Houses made the like Surrenders and these were all that I find
other Men's Works to Pilgrimages or Relicts or the saying their Beads which tended to Superstition Images abused by Pilgrimages made to them were to ordered be taken away No Candle was to be before any Image but the Crucifix And they were to teach the People that it was Idolatry to make any other use of Images but meerly to put them in minde of those whom they represented And such as had formerly magnified Images or Pilgrimages were required openly to recant and confess that they had been led into an Errour which Covetousness had brought into the Church All Incumbents were required to keep Registers for Christnings and Marriages and to teach the People that it were good to omit the Suffrages to the Saints in the Litany These struck at some of the main Points of the former Superstition both about Images Pilgrimages and the Invocation of Saints But the free Use of the Scriptures gave the deadliest Blow of all Yet all the Clergy submitted to them without any Murmuring Prince Edward was this Year born Prince Edward born and this very much blasted the Hopes of the Popish Party which were chiefly built on the probability of Lady Mary's succeeding to the Crown which was now set at a greater distance So both Lee Gardiner and Stokesly seemed to vie with the Bishops of the other Party which of them should most zealously execute the Injunctions and thereby insinuate themselves most into the King's Esteem and Favour Gardiner was some Years Ambassadour in France but Cromwel got Bonner to be sent in his room who seemed then to be the most zealous Promoter of the Reformation that was then in England After that Gardiner was sent to the Emperour's Court with Sir Henry Knevet and there he gave some occasion to suspect that he was treating a Reconciliation with the Pope's Legate But the Italian that managed it being sent with a Message to the Ambassadour's Secretary he mistook Knevet's Secretary for Gardiner's and told his Business to him Knevet tried what could be made of it but could not carry it far For the Italian was disowned and put in Prison upon it And Gardiner complained of it as a Trepan laid to ruine him The King continued still to employ him but rather made use of him than trusted him yet Gardiner's Artifices and Flatteries were such that he was still preserved in some Degrees of Favour as long as the King lived but he knew him so well that he neither named him one of his Executors nor one of his Son's Council when he made his Will Gardiner used one Topick which prevailed much with the King that his Zeal against Heresy was the greatest Advantage that his Cause could have over all Europe And therefore he prest him to begin with the Sacramentaries so were those of the Helvetian Confession called and those being condemned by the German Princes he had the less reason to be afraid of imbroiling his Affairs by his Severities against them Lombert is condemned and burnt for denying the Corporal Fresence This meeting so well with the King 's own Perswasions about the Corporal Presence had a great effect on him and an occasion did quickly offer it self to him to declare his Zeal in that matter Lambert was at that time accused before the Archbishop of Canterbury He had been Chaplain to the Factory of Antwerp and there he associated himself to Tindall Afterwards he was seized on coming over to England but upon the changes that followed he was set at Liberty Dr. Taylor had preached on the Corporal Presence in his hearing This offended him and he drew up his Reasons against it and gave them to Taylor He communicated it to Barns who was a hot man and a fierce Lutheran And they thought that the venting that Opinion would stop the Progress of the Reformation give Prejudice to the People and divide them among themselves And therefore they brought this matter before Cranmer who was at that time likewise a Lutheran he dealt with Lambert to retract his Paper but he took a fatal Resolution and appealed to the King Upon which the King resolved to judge him in Person and to manage the Trial with great Solemnity and for that end many of the Nobility and Bishops were sent for When the day came there was a vast Appearance The King's Guards and Cloath of State were all in White to make it look the liker a Divine Service Lambert begun with a Complement acknowledging the King 's great Learning and his Goodness in hearing the Causes of his Subjects The King stop'd him and bad him forbear Flatteries and speak to the matter And he argued against him from Christ's Words that the Sacrament must be his Body Lambert answered in St. Austin's Words That it was his Body in a certain manner but that a Body could not be in two places at once To this the King commanded Cranmer to speak and he argued That since Christ is still in Heaven and yet he appeared to St. Paul that therefore he may be in different places at once Lambert said That was but a Vision and was not the very Body of Christ Tonstall argued That the Divine Omnipotence was not to be measured by our Notions of what was impossible Stokesly argued That one Substance may be changed into another and yet the Accidents remain So Water when it boiled did evaporate in Air and yet its Moisture remained This was received with great Applause tho it was an ill Inference that because there was an accidental Conversion therefore there might be a Substantial one in which one Substance was annihilated and another produced in its place Ten one after another disputed and their Arguments with the stern Words and Looks that the King interposed together with the length of the Action in so publick an Assembly put Lambert in some Confusion and upon his Silence a great Shout of Applause followed In Conclusion the King asked him if he was not convinced and whether he would live or die But he continued firm to his Opinion So Cromwel was commanded to read the Sentence of his Condemnation and not many days after it was executed in a most barbarous manner in Smithfield For there was not Fire enough put under him to consume him suddenly so that his Legs and Thighs were burnt away while he was yet alive He bore it patiently and continued to cry out None but Christ none but Christ He was a Man of considerable Learning and of a very good Judgment The Popish Party improved this and perswaded the King of the good effects it would have on his People who would in this see his Zeal for the Faith and they forgot not to magnify all that he had said as if it had been uttered by an Oracle which proved him to be both Defender of the Faith and Supream Head of the Church All this wrought so much on the King that he resolved to call a Parliament both for the suppressing the Monasteries and the
in particular were condemned of Treason for saying that the King was not Supream Head of the Church of England It was then only a Premunire not to swear to the Supremacy but it was made Treason to deny it or speak against it Hall a Secular Priest was at the same time condemned of Treason for calling the King a Tyrant an Heretick a Robber and an Adulterer and saying that he would die as King John or Richard the Third died and that it would never be well with the Church till the King was brought to Pot And that they looked when Ireland and Wales would rise and were assured that three parts of four in England would join with them All these pleaded not Guilty but being condemned they justified what they had said The Carthusians were hanged in their Habits Soon after that three Carthusians were condemned and executed at London two more at York upon the same account for opposing the King's Supremacy Ten other Monks were shut up in their Cells of whom nine died there and one was condemned and hanged These had been all Complices in the Business of the Maid of Kent and tho that was pardoned yet it gave the Government ground to have a watchful Eye over them and to proceed more severly against them upon the first Provocation After these Fisher's Sufferings Fisher and More were brought to their Trials Pope Clements officious Kindness to Fisher in declaring him a Cardinal did hasten his Ruine tho he was little concerned at that Honour that was done him He was tried by a Jury of Commoners and was found guilty of Treason for having spoken against the King's Supremacy but instead of the Common Death in Cases of Treason the King ordered him to be beheaded On the 22th of June he suffered He dressed himself with more then ordinary Care that day for he said it was to be his Wedding-Day As he was led out he opened the New Testament at a Venture and prayed that such a place might turn up as might comfort him in his last Moments The Words on which he cast his Eyes were This is Life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So he shut the Book and continued meditating on these Words to the last On the Scaffold he repeated the Te Deum and so laid his Head on the Block which was severed from his Body He was a learned and devout Man but much addicted to Superstition and too cruel in his Temper against Hereticks He had been Confessor to the King's Grand-Mother and perswaded her to found two Colledges in Cambridge Christ's and St John's in Acknowledgment of which he was chosen Chancelof the University Henry the Seventh made him Bishop of Rochester He would never exchange that for any other He said his Church was his Wife and he would not part with his Wife because she was Poor He was much esteemed by this King till the Suit of the Divorce was set on foot and then he adhered stifly to the Marriage and the Popes Supremacy and that made him too favourable to the Nun of Kent But the Severities of his long Imprisonment together with this bloody Conclusion of it were universally condemned all the World over only Gardiner imploied his Servile Pen to write a Vindication of the King's Proceedings against him It was writ in Elegant Latin but the Stile was thought too Vehement More 's Death It was harder to find matter against Sir Thomas More for he was very cautious and satisfied his own Conscience by not swearing the Supremacy but would not not speak against it He said the Act had two Edges if he consented to it it would damne his Soul and if he spoke against it it would condemn his Body This was all the Message he sent to Fisher when he desired to know his Opinion about it he had also said the same to the Duke of Norfolk and some Counsellors that came to examine him And Rich then the King's Solicitor coming as a private Friend to perswade him to swear the Oath urged him with the Act of Parliament and asked him if he should be made King by Act of Parliament would not he Acknowledge him He answered he would because a King might be made or deprived by a Parliament But the Matter of the Supremacy was a point of Religion to which the Parliament's Authority did not extend it self All this Rich witnessed against him so these Particulars were laid together as amounting to a Denial of the King's Supremacy and upon this he was judged guilty of Treason He received his Sentence with that equal Temper of Mind which he had shewed in both Conditions of Life He expressed great Contempt of the World and much Weariness in living in it His ordinary Facetiousness remained with him to his last Moment on the Scaffold Some censured that as affected and indecent and as having more of the Stoick than the Christian in it But others said that way of Railery had been so Customary to him that Death did not discompose him nor put him out of his ordinary Humour He was beheaded on the 6th of July in the 52d or 53d Year of his Age. He had great Capacities and eminent Vertues In his Youth he had freer thoughts but he was afterwards much corrupted by Superstition and became fierce for all the Interests of the Clergy He wrote much in Defence of all the old Abuses His Learning in Divinity was but ordinary for he had read little more than some of St. Austin's Treatises and the Canon Law and the Master of the Sentences beyond whom his Quotations do seldom go His Stile was Natural and Pleasant and he could turn things very dextrously to make them look well or ill as it served his Purpose But tho he suffered for denying the Kings Supremacy yet he was at first no Zealot for the Pope For he says of himself That when the King shewed him his Book in Manuscript which he wrote against Luther he advised him to leave out that which he had put in it concerning the Pope's Power for he did not know what Quarrels he might have afterwards with the Pope's and then that would be turned against him But the King was perhaps fond of what he had written and so he would not follow that wise Advice which he gave him There were no Executions after this till the Rebellions of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire gave new Occasions to Severity Attainders after the Rebellion and then not only the Lords of Darcy and Hussy but six Abbots and many Gentlemen the chief of whom was Sir Thomas Piercy Brother to the Earl of Northumberland were attainted They had not only been in the Rebellion but had forfeited the General Pardon by their new Attempts after it was proclaimed Yet some said the King took Advantage on very slight Grounds to break his Indemnity But on the other hand it was no Wonder if he proceeded with the utmost Rigour
Service but only that she had the soveraignty over all Persons and that no foreign Power was to be acknowledged and such as had scruples about it might declare that they took it only in that sense A Communion Table was to be set where the Altars stood formerly but on Sacrament Days it was to be brought into the most convenient place in the Chancel The Bread for the Sacrament was to have no figure on it and to be thicker than Wafers The bidding Prayer was appointed to be the same that had been used in King Edward's time only an Expression that imported a Prayer for the Dead was changed The obliging Church-men to go always in their Habits was thought a good mean to make them observe the Decencies of their Function when their Habit declared what they were and would be a reproach to them if they behaved themselves unsutably to it The bowing at the name Jesus was considered as such an acknowledgment of his Divinity as was made by standing up at the Creed or the Gloria Patri The liberty given to explain in what sense the Oath of Supremacy was taken gave a great Evidence of the Moderation of the Queen's Government that she would not lay snares for her People which is always a sign of a wicked and Tyrannical Prince But the Queen reckoned that if such Comprehensive Methods could be found out as would once bring her People under an Union though perhaps there might remain a great diversity of Opinion that would wear off with the present Age and in the next Generation all would be of one mind And this had the good effect that was expected from it till the Pope and the King of Spain began to open Seminaries beyond Sea for a Mission to England which have since that time been the occasion of almost all the distractions this Nation has laboured under The Queen granted Commissions for the two Provinces of Canterbury and York The High-Commission Courts consisting most of the Laity some few of the Clergy being mixed with them Impowering them to visit the Churches to suspend or deprive unworthy Clergymen to proceed against scandalous Persons by Imprisonment or Church-censures to reserve Pensions for such as resigned their Benefices and to restore such as had been unlawfully put out in the late Reign By these reserved Pensions as the Clergy that were turned out were kept from extream want so they were in great measure bound to their good behaviour by them The Impowering Laymen to deprive Church-men or Excommunicate could not be easily excused but was as justifiable as the Commissions to Lay-chancellours for those things were There are 9400. Benefices in England but of all these the number of those who chose to resign rather than to take the Oath was very inconsiderable Fourteen Bishops six Abbots twelve Deans twelve Archdeacons fifteen Heads of Colledges fifty Prebendaries eighty Rectors was the whole number of those that were turned out But it was believed that the greatest part complied against their Consciences and would have been ready for another turn if the Queen had died while that Race of Incumbents lived and the next Successor had been of another Religion The See of Canterbury was now to be filled but Parker stood out long Parker is very unwillingly made Archbish of Canterbury before he would submit to a burden which he thought disproportioned to his strength He said he was afraid of incurring God's Indignation for accepting a trust which he could not discharge as he ought having neither strength of body nor mind equal to it he was threatned with Imprisonment in case of refusal but he said he would suffer it chearfully rather than engage in a station that was so far above him and he had such a sense of the Episcopal Function that he resolved never to aspire to it He thought he had but two or three years more of life before him and desired to imploy these well and not to be advanced to a place in which he knew he could not answer the expectations that some had of him he wished the Queen would seek out a Man that were neither Arrogant Faint-hearted nor Covetous and expressed the great apprehensions he had that some Men who he perceived were Men still notwithstanding all the Trials they past through of late would revive those heats that were begun beyond Sea and that they would fall a quarrelling among themselves which would prove a pleasant diversion to the Papists But when by many repeated commands he was required to accept of that great advancement he at last writ to the Queen her self and protested that out of regard to God and the good of her service he held himself bound in Conscience to declare to her his great unworthiness for so high a Function and so as prostrate at her feet he begged her to press it on him no further for that Office did require a Man of more Learning Vertue and Experience than he perfectly knew was in himself But as these denials so earnestly and frequently repeated shewed that he had certainly some of the necessary qualifications which were true humility and a contempt of the World so they tended to increase the esteem which the Queen and her Ministers had of him And they persisting in their Resolution he was at last forced to yield to it He was upon the sending of the Conge d'eslire chosen by the Chapter of Canterbury and in September the Queen issued out a Warrant for his Consecration which was directed to Tonstall Bourn and Pool the last was Cardinal Pool's Brother and was Bishop of Peterborough and to Kitchin Barlow and Scory by which it appears that there was then some hope of gaining the former three to obey the Laws and to continue in their Sees but they refusing to execute this there was a second Warrant directed to Kitchin Barlow Scory and Coverdale and to Bale Bishop of Ossory and two suffragan Bishops to Consecrate Parker and on the 17th of December he was Consecrated by four of these according to the Book of Ordination set out under King Edward only the giving the Pastoral Staff was now omitted After this Parker ordained Grindall for the See of London Cox for Ely The other Bishops consecrated Horn for Winchester Sandys for Worcester Merick for Bangor Young for St. Davids Bullingham for Lincoln Jewell for Salisbury Davis for St. Asaph Guest for Rochester Berkley for Bath and Wells Bentham for Coventry and Litchfield Alley for Exeter and Parre for Peterborough Barlow and Scory were put in the Sees of Chichester and Hereford The Sees of York and Duresme were kept vacant a Year upon some hopes that Heath and Tonstall would have conformed but in the Year 1561. Young was translated from St. Davids to York and Pilkinton was put in Duresme All this is opened the more particularly The Fable of the Naggs-head confuted for discovering the Impudence of the Contrivance of the Naggs-Head Ordination which was