shake him a little but he said he thought in his Conscience that it would be a Sin in him and offered to take his Oath upon that and that he was not led by any other Consideration The Abbot of Westminster told him he ought to think his Conscience was misled since the Parliament was of another Mind an Argument well becoming a rich ignorant Abbot But More said if the Parliament of England was against him yet he believed all the rest of Christendom was on his side In conclusion both he and Fisher declared that they thought it was in the Power of the Parliament to settle the Succession to the Crown and so were ready to swear to that but they could not take the Oath that was tendred to them for by it they must swear to maintain all the Contents in the Act of Succession and in it the King 's former Marriage was declared unlawful to which they could not assent Cranmer press'd that this might be accepted for if they once swore to maintain the Succession it would conduce much to the Quiet of the Nation but sharper Counsels were more acceptable so they were both committed to the Tower and Pen Ink and Paper was kept from them The old Bishop was also hardly used both in his Cloaths and Diet he had only Rags to cover him and Fire was often denied him which was a Cruelty not capable of any Excuse and was as barbarous as it was imprudent In Winter another Session of Parliament was held the first Act that pass'd Another Session of Parliament declared the King to be the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England and appointed that to be added to his other Titles and it was enacted that he and his Successors should have full Authority to reform all Heresies and Abuses in the Spiritual Jurisdiction By an other Act they confirmed the Oath of Succession which had not been specified in the former Act tho agreed to by the Lords They also gave the King the first Fruits and Tenthes of Ecclesiastical Benefices as being the Supream Head of the Church for the King being put in the Pope's room it was thought reasonable to give him the Annats which the Popes had formerly exacted The Temporalty were now willing to revenge themselves on the Spiritualty and to tax them as heavily as they had formerly tyrannized over them Another Act past declaring some things Treason one of these was the denying the King any of his Titles or the calling him Heretick Schismatick or Usurper of the Crown By another Act Provision was made for setting up 26 Suffragan Bishops over England for the more speedy Administration of the Sacraments and the better Service of God It is also said they had been formerly accustomed to be in the Kingdom The Bishop of the Diocess was to present two to the King and upon the King 's declaring his choice the Archbishop was to consecrate the Person and then the Bishop was to delegate such parts of his Charge to his Care as he thought fitting which was to last during his Pleasure These were the same that the Ancients called the Chorepiscopi who were at first the Bishops of some Villages but were afterwards put under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of the next City They were set up before the Council of Nice and continued to be in the Church for many Ages but the Bishops devolving their whole Spiritual Power to them they were put down and a Decretal Epistle was forged in the name of P. Damasus condemning them The great Extent of the Diocesses in England made it hard for one Bishop to govern them with that Exactness that was necessary these were therefore appointed to assist them in the discharge of the Pastoral Care In this Parliament Subsidies were granted payable in three Years with the highest Preamble of their Happiness under the King's Government all those 24 Years in which he had reigned that Flattery could dictate Fisher and More by two special Acts were attainted of Misprision of Treason five other Clerks were in like manner condemned all for refusing to swear the Oath of Succession The See of Rochester was declared void yet it seems few were willing to succeed such a Man for it continued vacant two Years This Severity against them was censured by some as Extream since they were willing to swear to the Succession in other Terms so that it was merely a point of Conscience in which the common Safety was not concerned at which they stuck and it was thought the prosecuting them in this manner would so raise their Credit that it might endanger the Government more than any Opposition which they could make But now that the King entered upon a new Scene The Progress the New Doctrines made in England it will be necessary to open the Progress that the new Opinions had made in England all the time of the King's Suit of Divorce During Wolsey's Ministry those Preachers were gently used and it is probable the King ordered the Bishops to give over their enquiring after them when the Pope began to use him ill for the Progress of Heresy was always reckoned up at Rome among the Mischiefs that would follow upon the Pope's denying the King's Desires But More coming into Favour he offered new Counsels he thought the King 's proceeding severely against Hereticks would be so meritorious at Rome that it would work more effectually than all his Treatnings had done so a severe Proclamation was issued out both against their Books and Persons ordering all the Laws against them to be put in Execution Tindall and some others at Antwerp were every Year either translating or writing Books against some of the received Errors and sending them over to England But his Translation of the New Testament gave the greatest Wound and was much complained of by the Clergy as full of Errors Tonstall then Bp of London being a Man of great Learning and Vertue which is generally accompanied with much Moderation returning from the Treaty of Cambray to which More and he were sent in the King's Name as he came through Antwerp dealt with an English Merchant that was secretly a Friend of Tindall's to procure him as many of his New Testaments as could be had for Mony Tindall was glad of this for being about a more correct Edition he found he would be better enabled to set about it if the Copies of the Old were sold off so he gave the Merchant all he had and Tonstall paying the Price of them got them in his hands and burnt them publickly in Cheapside This was called a burning of the Word of God and it was said the Clergy had reason to revenge themselves on it for it had done them more Mischief than all other Books whatsoever But a Year after this the second Edition being sinished great Numbers were sent over to England and Constantine one of Tindall's Partners hapned to be taken so More believing that some of the
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
down all the Churches as for laying aside those Habits Cranmer desired Bucer's opinion concerning the lawfulness of those Habits and the obligation lying on Subjects to obey the Laws about them His opinion was that every creature of God was good and that no former abuse could make a thing indifferent in its self become unlawful He thought ancient customes ought not to be lightly changed and that there might be a good use made of those Garments that they might well express the purity and candour that became all who ministred in Holy things and that it was a sin to disobey the Laws in such matters Yet since those Garments had been abused to Superstition and were like to become a subject of Contention he wished they might be taken away by Law and that Ecclesiastical Discipline and a more compleat Reformation might be set up and that a stop might be put to the robbing of Churches otherwise they might see in the present State of Germany a dreadful prospect of that which England ought to look for He also writ to the same effect to Hooper and wished that all good men would unite against the greater Corruptions and then lesser abuses would easily be redressed Peter Martyr did also deliver his opinion to the same purpose and was much troubled at Hooper's stiffness and at such contests among the professors of true Religion Hooper was suspended from Preaching but the Earl of Warwick writ to Cranmer to dispense with him in that matter He answered That while the Law continued in force he could not do it without incurring a Praemunire Upon that the King writ to him allowing him to do it and dispensing with the Law Yet this matter was not setled till a year after John à Lasco with some Germans of the Helvetian Confession came this year into England being driven out of Germany by the Persecution there They were erected by Letters Patents into a Corporation and à Lasco was their Superintendent he being a stranger medled too much in English affairs and wrote both against the Habits and against kneeling in the Sacrament Polydore Virgil was this year suffered to go out of England and still to hold the preferments he had in it Pomet was made Bishop of Rochester and Caverdale Co-adjutor to Veysy in Exeter There was now a design set on foot A review of the Common-Prayer-Book for a review of the Common-Prayer-Book In order to which Bucer's opinion was asked He approved the main parts of the former Book he wished there might be not only a denunciation against scandalous persons that came to the Sacrament but a discipline to exclude them That the Habits might be laid aside that no part of the Communion Office might be used except when there was a Sacrament that Communions might be more frequent that the Prayers might be said in a plain voice that the Sacrament might be put in the peoples hands and that there might be no Prayers for the Dead which had not been used in Justin Martyr's time He advised a change of some phrases in the Office of the Communion that favoured Transubstantiation too much and that Baptism might be only in Churches He thought the hallowing the Water the Chrisme and the White garment were too scenical nor did he approve of adjuring the Devil nor of the Godfathers answering in the Childs name He thought Confirmation should be delayed till the person was of Age and came sincerely to renew the Baptismal Covenant He advised Catechizing every Holy-day both of Children and the Adult he disliked private Marriages Extream Unction and offering Chrisomes at the Churching of Women And thought there ought to be greater strictness used in the examining of those who came to receive Orders At the same time he understood that the King expected a New-years gift from him of a Book written particularly for his own use So he made a Book for him concerning the Kingdom of Christ He prest much the setting up a strict discipline the Sanctification of the Lords day Bucer offers some advices to the King the appointing many days of Fasting and that Pluralities and Non-residence might be effectually condemned that Children might be Catechized that the Reverence due to Churches might be preserved that the Pastoral function might be restored to what it ought to be that Bishops might throw off Secular affairs and take care of their Diocesses and govern them by the advice of their Presbyters that there might be Rural Bishops over twenty or thirty Parishes and that Provincial Councils might meet twice a year that Church-lands should be restored and that a fourth part should be assigned to the poor that Marriage without consent of Parents should be annulled that a second Marriage might be declared lawful after a Divorce for Adultery and some other Reasons that care should be taken of the education of youth and for repressing luxury that the Law might be reformed that no Office might be sold but given to the most deserving that none should be put in Prison upon slight offences and that the severity of some Laws as that which made Theft capital might be mitigated The young King was much pleased with these advices The Kings great understanding and upon that began himself to form a Scheme for amending many things that were amiss in the Government which he writ with his own hand and in a stile and manner that had much of a Child in it though the thoughts were manly It appears by it that he intended to set up a Church discipline and settle a method for breeding of youth but the discourse is not finished He also writ a Journal of every thing that past at home and of the news that came from beyond Sea It has clear marks of his own Composing as well as it is written with his own hand He wrote another discourse in French being a Collection of all the places of Scripture against Idolatry with a Preface before it dedicated to the Protector At this time Ridley made his first Visitation of his Diocess Altars put down the Articles upon which he proceeded were chiefly relating to the Service and Ceremonies that were abolished whether any continued to use them or not and whether there were any Anabaptists or others that used private Conventicles He also carried some Injunctions with him against some remainders of the former superstition and for exhorting the people to give Alms and to come oft to the Sacrament and that Altars might be removed and Tables put in their room in the most convenient place of the Chancel In the Ancient Church their Tables were of Wood But the Sacrament being called a Sacrifice as Prayers Alms and all Holy Oblations were they came to be called Altars This gave the rise to the Opinion of Expiatory Sacrifice in the Mass and therefore it was thought fit to take away both the name and form of Altars Ridley only advised the Curates to do this but upon some contests arising
the English Pale Monluc Bishop of Valence being then in Scotland went over thither to engage them to raise new Commotions but that had no effect while he was there his lasciviousness came to be discovered by an odd accident for a Whore was brought to him by some English Friars and secretly kept by him but she searching among his Clothes fell on a Glass full of somewhat that was very odoriferous and drank it off which being discovered by the Bishop too late put him in a most violent passion for it had been given him as a Present by Soliman the Magnificent when he was Ambassadour at his Court It was call'd the richest balm of Egypt and valued at 2000. Crowns His rage grew so boisterous that all about him discovered both his Passion and Lewdness at once The Reformation was set up in the English Pale but had made a small progress among the Irish This Year Bale was sent over to labour among them He was a busie Writer and was a Learned zealous Man but did not write with the temper and decency that became a Divine Goodaker was sent to be Primate of Armagh and he was to be Bishop of Ossory Two Irish Men were also promoted with them who undertook to advance the Reformation there The Archbishop of Dublin intended to have ordained them by the old Pontifical and all except Bale were willing it should be so but he prevailed that it should be done according to the new book of Ordinations after that he went into his Diocess but found all there in dark Popery and before he could make any Progress A Change in the Garter the King's death put an end to his designs There was a change setled in the Order of the Garter this Year A Proposition was made the former year to consider how the Order might be freed from the Superstition that was supposed to be in it St. George's fighting with a Dragon lookt like a Legend forged in dark Ages to support the humour of Chivalry then very high in the world The story was neither credible in it self nor vouched by any good Author nor was there any of that name mentioned by the Ancients but George the Arrian Bishop that was put in Alexandria when Athanasius was banished Some Knights were appointed to prepare a Reformation of the Order and the Earl of Westmorland and Sir Andrew Dudley were this Year Installed according to the New Model It was appointed to be called in all time coming the Order of the Garter and no more the Order of St. George instead of the former George there was to be on the one side of the Jewel a Man on Horseback with a Bible on his Swords point On the Sword was written Protectio and on the Bible Verbum Dei and on the Reverse a Shield and Fides written upon it to shew that they would maintain the Word of God both with offensive and defensive Weapons but all this was reversed by Queen Mary and the old Statutes were again revived which continue to this day There was at this time a strict enquiry made into the accounts of all Northumberlands severity who had been imployed in the former part of this Reign for it was believed that the Visitors had embezel'd much of the Plate of the Churches and these were the Creatures of the Duke of Somerset which made Northumberland prosecute them more vehemently On none did this fall more severely than on the Lord Paget who was not only fined in 6000 l. but was degraded from the Order of the Garter with a particular mark of Infamy on his Extraction yet he was afterwards restored to it with as much honour He had been a constant friend to the Duke of Somerset and that made his Enemies execute so severe a Revenge on him Northumberland was preparing matters for a Parliament and being a Man of an Insolent temper no less abject when he was low than lifted up with prosperity he thought extream severity was the only way to bring the Nation easily to comply with his administration of affairs but this though it succeeded for some time yet when he needed it most it turned violently upon him for nothing can work on a free People so much as Justice and Clemency in the Government A great design was setled this Year Trade flourishes much which proved to be the foundation of all that Wealth and Trade that has since that time flourished so much in this Nation Henry the III. had been much supported in his Wars by the assistance he got from the Free-Towns of Germany in recompence of which he gave them great Priviledges in England They were formed here in a Corporation and lived in the Still Yard near London-Bridge They had gone sometimes beyond their Charters which were thereupon judged to be forfeited but by great Presents they purchased new ones They traded in a Body and so ruined others by under selling them and by making Presents at Court or lending great Summs they had the Government on their side Trade was now rising much Courts began to be more Magnificent so that there was a greater consumption particularly of Cloth than formerly Antwerp and Hamburgh lying the one near the mouth of the Rhine and the other at the mouth of the Elbe had then the chief Trade in these Parts of the World and their Factors in the Still-Yard had all the Markets in England in their hands and set such Prices both on what they imported or exported as they pleased and broke all other Merchants to such a degree that the former Year they had shipped 44000. Clothes and all the other Traders had not shipped above 1100. So the Merchant-adventurers complained of the Still-Yard Men and after some hearings it was judged that they had forfeited their Charter and that their Company was dissolved nor could all the applications of the Hanse Towns seconded by the Emperour's Intercession procure them a new Charter But a greater design was proposed after this was setled which was to open two free Mart Towns in England and to give them such Priviledges as the free Towns in the Empire had and by that means to draw the Trade to England Southampton and Hull were thought the fittest This was so far entertained by the young King that he writ a large Paper ballancing the conveniencies and inconveniencies of it but all that fell with his Life This year Cardan Cardan in England the great Philosopher of that Age past through England as he returned from Scotland The Archbishop of St. Andrews had sent for him out of Italy to cure him of a Dropsie in which he had good success but being much conversant in Astrology and Magick he told him he could not change his fate and that he was to be hanged He waited on King Edward as he returned and was so charmed with his great knowledge and rare qualities that he always spake of him as the rarest Person he had ever seen and after his death
Sermons only as set Discourses which they will censure or commend as they think they see cause but are resolved never to be the better for them If to all these sad Considerations we add the gross Sensuality and Impurity that is so avowedly practised that it is become a fashion so far it is from being a reproach the Oppression Injustice Intemperance and many other Immoralities among us what can be expected but that these Abominations receiving the highest Aggravation they are capable of from the clear Light of the Gospel which we have so long enjoyed the just Judgments of Heaven should fall on us so signally as to make us a reproach to all our Neighbours But as if all this were not enough to fill up the measure of our Iniquities many have arriv'd at a new pitch of Impiety by defying Heaven it self with their avowed Blasphemies and Atheism and if they are driven out of their Atheistical Tenets which are indeed the most ridiculous of any in the World they set up their rest on some general Notions of Morality and Natural Religion and do boldly reject all that is revealed and where they dare vent it alas where dare they not do it they reject Christianity and the Scriptures with open and impudent scorn and are absolutely insensible of any Obligation of Conscience in any thing whatsoever and even in that Morality which they for Decencies sake magnify so much none are more bare-facedly and grosly faulty This is a direct Attempt against God himself and can we think that he will not visit for such things nor be avenged on such a Nation And yet the Hypocrisy of those who disguise their flagitious Lives with a Mask of Religion is perhaps a Degree above all though not so scandalous till the Mask falls off and that they appear to be what they truly are When we are all so guilty and when we are so alarmed by the black Clouds that threaten such terrible and lasting Storms what may be expected but that we should be generally struck with a deep sense of our crying Sins and turn to God with our whole Souls But if after all the loud Awakenings from Heaven we will not hearken to that Voice but will still go on in our Sins we may justly look for unheard of Calamities and such Miseries as shall be proportioned to our Offences and then we are sure they will be great and wonderful Yet if on the other hand there were a general turning to God or at least if so many were rightly sensible of this as according to the Proportion that the Mercies of God allow did some way ballance the Wickedness of the rest and if these were as zealous in the true Methods of imploring God's Favour as others are in procuring his Displeasure and were not only mourning for their own Sins but for the Sins of others the Prayers and Sighs of many such might dissipate that dismal Cloud which our sins have gathered and we might yet hope to see the Gospel take root among us since that God who is the Author of it is merciful and full of Compassion and ready to forgive and this holy Religion which by his Grace is planted among us is still so dear to him that if we by our own unworthiness do not render our selves incapable of so great a Blessing we may reasonably hope that he will continue that which at first was by so many happy concurring Providences brought in and was by a continued Series of the same indulgent care advanc'd dy Degrees and at last raised to that pitch of perfection which few things atttain in this World THE CONTENTS BOOK I. Of the Beginnings of the Reformation and of the Progress made in it by King Henry the Eighth THe Vnion of the Houses of York and Lancaster in King Hen. the 8th Pag. 1 Empson and Dudley disgraced Pag. 2 He is very Liberal Pag. 3 Is successful in his Wars ibid He is courted both by France and Spain Pag. 4 Francis the 1st is taken Prisoner Pag. 5 And afterwards the Pope Pag. 7 Scotland in disorder ibid Factions in the English Council Pag. 8 Cardinal Wolsey 's Rise ibid And Greatness Pag. 9 Charles Brandon 's Advancement Pag. 10 The King is well with his Parliament Pag. 11 The King's Education Pag. 12 His Learning and Vanity Pag. 13 The way of promoting Bishops ibid A Contest for the Ecclesiastical Immunity Pag. 14 Hunn Imprisoned Murdered and his Body burnt Pag. 16 The King much addicted to the Papacy Pag. 20 Car. Wolsey intends to reform the Clergy ibid The summoning of Convocations Pag. 21 The State of the Monasteries Pag. 22 Wolsey suppresses many Pag. 23 The Progress of Wikliff's Doctrine ibid The Cruelty of the Clergy Pag. 24 Laws made against Hereticks Pag. 25 Warham persecutes the Lollards Pag. 27 The Progress of Luther 's Doctrine Pag. 29 The King writes against him Pag. 30 The King's Marriage Pag. 32 Matches proposed for his Daughter Pag. 33 The King has scruples about his Marriage Pag. 34 1627. And applies to the Pope for a Divorce Pag. 37 Who is very favourable Pag. 38 1528. Campegio sent as Legate to try it Pag. 40 He comes into Engl. with a Decretal Bull Pag. 42 Campana sent over to deceive the King Pag. 43 The Pope resolved to join with the Emperour Pag. 44 1529. The Pope's Sickness Pag. 45 Wolsey aspires to the Popedom Pag. 46 The Pope promises to confirm the Sentence that should be given by the Legates Pag. 47 The Process begins in England Pag. 50 The Queen appeals to the Pope Pag. 51 The Pope grants an Avocation Pag. 52 Cranmer 's Rise and Wolsey 's Disgrace Pag. 54 1530. A Parliament is called Pag. 56 The King's Debts are discharged Pag. 57 Vniversities declare against the Marriage Pag. 58 It is condemned by the Sorbon Pag. 60 The Opinions of the Reformers about it Pag. 61 The English Nobility write to the Pope about it and he answers them Pag. 62 Arguments for the Divorce Pag. 63 Arguments against it Pag. 66 1531. A Session of Parliament Pag. 69 The Laws formerly made against the Pope's Bulls ibid The Clergy sued in a Premunirc Pag. 76 Poisoning made Treason Pag. 78 The King leaves the Queen ibid A Tumult among the Clergy ibid The Pope joins himself to France Pag. 79 1532. Differences betwixt the King and the House of Commons Pag. 81 The Pope writes to the King Pag. 82 The King answers Pag. 83 The King cited to Rome and Cardinals corrupted Pag. 84 The Bishops Oaths to the Pope and the King Pag. 87 More lays down his Office Pag. 88 The King of England and France meet Pag. 89 The King marries Ann Boleyn Pag. 90 1533. The Parliam condemns Appeals to Rome Pag. 91 Cranmer made Archbishop of Canterbury Pag. 92 The Convocation condemns the Marriage Pag. 93 Cranmer gives Sentence with the Censure s of it Pag. 95 The Proceedings at Rome upon it Pag. 98 Queen Elizabeth born Pag. 99
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
he had done nothing but only pleaded in the King's Name The Clergy pretended they did not prosecute him for his pleading but for some of his Divinity Lectures contrary to the Liberty of the Church which the King was bound to maintain by his Coronation-Oath but the Temporal Lords the Judges and the Commons prayed the King also to maintain the Laws according to his Coronation-Oath and to give Standish his Protection The King upon this being in great perplexity required Veysy afterwards Bishop of Exeter to declare upon his Conscience and Allegiance the truth in that matter His Opinion was against the Immunity so another publick Hearing being appointed Standish was accused for teaching That the Inferiour Orders were not sacred That their Exemption was not founded on a Divine Right but that the Laity might punish them That the Canons of the Church did not bind till they were received and that the study of the Canon Law was useless Of these he denied some and justified other particulars Veysy being required to give his Opinion alledged That the Laws of the Church did only oblige where they were received As the Law of the Celibate of the Clergy received in the West did not bind the Greek Churches that never received it So the exemption of the Clerks not being received did not bind in England The Judges gave their Opinion next which was That those who prosecuted Standish were all in a Premunire So the Court broke up But in another Hearing in the presence of the greatest part of both Houses of Parliament the Cardinal said in the name of the Clergy That tho they intended to do nothing against the King's Prerogative yet the trying of Clerks seemed to be contrary to the Liberty of the Church which they were bound by their Oaths to maintain So they prayed that the matter might be referred to the Pope The King answered that he thought Standish had answered them fully The Bishop of Winchester said he would not stand to his Opinion at his Peril Standish upon that said What can one poor Friar do against all the Clergy of England The Arch-bishop of Canterbury said Some of the Fathers of the Church had suffered Martyrdom upon that account but the Chief-Justice replied That many holy Kings had maintained that Law and many holy Bishops had obeyed it In conclusion the King declared that he would maintain his Rights and would not submit them to the Decrees of the Church otherwise than as his Ancestors had done Warham Arch-bishop of Canterbury desired so long time might be given that they might have an Answer returned from Rome but that was not granted yet a Temper was found Horsey was appointed to be brought to his Trial for Hun's Murder and upon his pleading not guilty no Evidence was to be brought and so he was to be discharged But upon this it was said The Judges were more concerned to maintain their Jurisdiction than to do Justice upon so horrid a Murder so the discontent given by it was raised so much higher and the Crime of a few Murderers was now transferred upon the whole Clergy who had concerned themselves so much in their Preservation and this did very much dispose the Laity to all that was done afterwards for pulling down the Ecclesiastical Tyranny This was the only uneasy stop in this King's Raign The King is much addicted to the Papacy till the suit for his Divorce was commenced In all other points he was constantly in the Pope's Interests who sent him the common Complements of Roses and such other Triffles by which that See had treated Princes so long as Children The King made the Defence of the Popedom an Article in his Leagues with other Princes and Pope Julius having called a General Council to the Lateran in opposition to that which by Lewis the Twelfth's means was held at Pisa The King sent the Bishops of Worcester and Rochester the Prior of St. John's and the Abbot of Winchelcomb to represent the Church of England thereby to give the greater Authority to a pack'd meeting of Italian Bishops and Abbots who assumed to themselves the Title of a Holy and Oecumenical Council But no Complement wrought so much on the King's Vanity as the Title of Defender of Faith sent him by Pope Leo upon the Book which he writ against Luther concerning the Sacraments The Cardinal drew upon himself the hatred of the Clergy Crrdinal Wolsey intends to reform the Clergy by a Bull which impowered him to visit all the Monasteries of England and to dispence with all the Laws of the Church for a Year He also gave out that he intended to reform the Clergy though he forgot that which ought to be the first step of all who pretend to reform others for none could be worse than himself was He lived in great Luxury and in an insolent Affectation of the highest Statepossible many of his Domesticks being men of the first Rank He intended to suppress many Monasteries and thought the best way for doing it with the least Scandal was first to visit them and so to expose their Corruptions But he was afterwards diverted from this yet the design which he laid being communicated to Cromwel that was then his Secretary it was put in Practice toward the end of this Reign when the Monasteries were all suppressed The Convocations were of two sorts The summoning of Convocations some were summoned by the King when Parliaments were called as is in use to this Day only the King did not then prefix a Day but left that to the Arch-bishops Others were called by the Archbishops and were Provincial Synods of which there were but few The Cardinal pretended that the summoning all Convocations belonged to him as Legate so that when Warham had called one he dissolved it after it was met and summoned it of new In that Convocation a great Supply was granted to the King of half a Years Rent of all Benefices payable in five Years for assisting him in his Wars with France and Scotland This was much opposed by the Cardinal's Enemies but it was agreed to at last a Proviso being made that such a heavy tax should never be made a Precedent for the future tho the Grant they made was more likely to become a Precedent than this Proviso to be a Security for the time to come This encreased the Aversion the Clergy had for the Cardinal the Monks were more particularly incensed for they saw he was resolved to suppress their Foundations and convert them to other uses In the days of King Edgar most of the Cathedrals of England were possessed by Secular Priests The State of the Monasteries who were generally married but Dunstan and some other Monks took advantage from the Vices of that Prince to perswade him to make Compensation for them and as he made Laws in which he declared what Compensations were to be made for Sins both by the Rich and Poor so it seems he thought the
distributed among them he was to give them assurance that the Cardinals Preferments should be divided among them These were the secret Methods of attaining that Chair And indeed it would pusle a Man of an ordinary degree of Credulity to think That one chosen by such means could be Christ's Vicar and the infallible Judge of Controversies But the Pope's Recovery put an end to those Intrigues which yet were soon after revived by a long and dangerous Relapse Then great pains was taken to gain many Cardinals to favour the King's Cause and many Precedents were found of Divorces granted in Favour of Princes upon much slighter grounds But the Imperialists were so strong at Rome that they could not hope to prevail if the Emperour was not first gained so there was a secret Negotiation set on foot with him but it had no other Effect save that it gave great Jealousy both to the Pope and the King of France Another dispatch was sent to Rome to procure a Commission with fuller powers in it to the Legates and a Promise under the Pope's hand to confirm their Sentence the latter was granted The Pope promised to confirm any Sentence the Legates should give but the former was refused for the Pope was resolved to go no further in that Matter tho Wolsey wrote to Rome that if any Justice were denied the King not only England but France likewise would withdraw their Obedience from the Apostolick See because by that it would be inferred that the Emperour had such Influence at Rome as to oblige the Pope to be partial or favourable as he pleased At this time the Cardinal was cheapning his Bulls for Winchester which were rated at 15000 Ducats but since it was a Translation from Duresm so that a new Composition would come in for that Vacancy he refused to pay above a third of what was demanded The Emperour's Ambassadour made a Protestation at Rome in the Queen's Name against the Legates as partial in the King's Favour which the Pope received Gardiner that was a Man of great Craft and could penetrate well into Secrets wrote to the King assuring him that he might expect nothing more from the Pope who was resolved to offend neither the Emperour nor him and therefore he advised him to get the Legates to give Sentence withall possible hast and then when it should come to the Emperour's turn to solicite the Pope for Bulls against the King the Pope would be as backward as he was now He was so fearful and under such irresolution that he could be brought to do nothing with Vigor This Gardiner desired might not be shewn to the Cardinal for he was now setting up for himself and had a private Correspondence with Anne Boleyn who in one of her Letters to him as a token of special Favour sent him some Cramp Rings that the King had Blessed of which the Office is extant and Gardiner in one of his Letters says They were much esteemed for the Virtue that was believed to be in them In the Promise which the Pope signed to confirm the Sentence that should be given by the Legates some Clauses were put by which he could easily break loose from it so he endeavoured to get another in fuller termes by this Artifice He told the Pope that the Courier had met with an Accident in passing a River by which the Promise was so spoiled with Water that it could not be made use of But the Pope instead of being catched with this to give a new one seemed glad that it was spoiled and positively refused to renew it And a long and earnest Letter which the Legates wrote to the Pope pressing him to end the matter roundly by a Decretal Bull assuring him it was only scruple of Conscience that wrought on the King and no desire of a new Wife and that the whole Nation was much offended with the delays of this Matter in which they were all so much concerned wrought nothing on him for he considered that as done by them only in compliance with the King who thought he had intirely gained Campegio and the scandals of his Life were so publick that the motives of Interest were likely to prevail on him more than any other but by all the Arts that were used they were not able to over-reach the Pope who whatever he might be in his Decisions seemed infallible in his Sagacity and Jealousy The Queen's Agents pressed hard for an Avocation but the Pope was unwilling to grant that till he had finished his Treaty in all other points with the Emperour and he began to complain much of the cold Proceedings of the Confederates and that they exposed him so much not only to the Emperour's Mercy but to the scorn of the Florentines by this it was visible he was seeking a Colour for casting himself into the Emperour's Arms great Objections were made to the Motion for an Avocation it was contrary to the King's Prerogative to be cited to Rome and it was said he would seek Justice of the Clergy of Engl. if the Pope denied it It was also contrary to the Promise under the Popes hand and his Faith often given by word of mouth chiefly of late by Campana to recal the Legat's Commission but verbal Promises did not bind the Pope much they vanished into Air and Campana swore that he had not made any and for the written Promise there was a Clause put in it by which he could escape so that he was at liberty from all Ingagements but those he had privately given in discourse and to these he was no Slave The Legates began the Process in England after the necessary Preliminaries the Queen appeared and protested against them as imcompetent Judges The Process begun in England endeavours were used to terrify her into some compliance it was given out that some had intended to kill the King or the Cardinal and that she had some hand in it that she carried very disobligingly to the King and used many indecent Arts to be popular that the King was in danger of his Life by her means and so could no more keep her company neither in Bed nor at Board but she was a Woman of so resolute a mind that no Threatnings could daunt her When both the King and She were together in the Court the Queen instead of answering to the Legates kneeled down before the King and spake in a manner that raised Compassion in all that were present she said She had been his Wife these twenty Years had born him several Children and had always studied to please him therefore she desired to know wherein she had at any time offended him As for their Marriage it was made by both their Parents who were esteemed wise Princes and had no doubt good Counsellours when their Match was agreed on but at present she neither had indifferent Judges nor could she expect that her Lawyers being his Subjects durst speak freely for her and therefore she could not
gave the King content the late Act against Annats should not be put in Execution The Cardinal of Ravenna was then considered as an Oracle for Learning in the Consistory Some Cardinals corrupted so the King's Agents resolved to gain him with great Promises but he said Princes were liberal of their Promises till their turn was served and then forgot them so he resolved to make sure work therefore he made Bennet give him a Promise in writing of the Bishoprick of Ely or the first Bishoprick that fell till that was vacant and he also engaged that the King should procure him Benefices in France to the value of 6000 Ducats a Year for the Service he should do him in his Divorce This was an Argument of so great Efficacy with the Cardinal that it absolutely turned him from being a great Enemy to be as great a Promoter of the King's Cause tho very artificially Several other Cardinals were also prevailed with by the same Topicks The King's Agents put in his Plea of Excuse in 28 Articles and it was ordered that three of them should be discussed at a hearing before the Consistory till they should be all examined But that Court sitting once a Week the Imperialists after some of them were heard procured an Order that the rest should be heard in a Congregation or Committee of Cardinals before the Pope for greater Dispatch but Karn refused to obey this and so it was referred back to the Consistory But against this the Imperialists protested and refused to appear any more News were brought to Rome from England that a Priest that had preached up the Pope's Power was cast into Prison and that one committed by the Archbishop for Heresy appealed to the King as supream Head which was received and judged in the King's Courts The Pope made great Complaints upon this but the King's Agents said the best way to prevent the like for the future was to do the King Justice At this time a Bull was granted for suppressing some Monasteries and erecting new Bishopricks out of them Chester was to be one and the Cardinal of Revenna was so pleased with the Revenue designed for it that he laid his hand upon it till Ely should happen to fall vacant In conclusion the Pope seemed to favour the King's Plea Excusatory upon which the Imperialists made great Complaints But this amounted to no more save that the King was not bound to appear in Person Therefore the Cardinals that were gained advised the King to send over a Proxy for answering to the merits of the Cause and not to lose more time in that Dilatory Plea and they having declared themselves against the King in that Plea before the bargain had been made with them could with the better credit serve him in the other So the Vacation coming on it was resolved by the Cardinals neither to admit nor reject the Plea But both the Pope and the Colledg wrote to the King to send over a Proxy for determining the matter next Winter Bonner was also sent to England to assure the King that the Pope was now so much in the French Interest that he might confidently refer his matter to him but whereas the King desired a Commission to judg in partibus upon the place it was said that the Point to be judged being the Pope's Authority to dispense with the King's Marriage that could not be referred to Legates but must needs be judged in the Consistory At this time a new Session of Parliament was called in England The Clergy gave in an Answer to the Complaints made of them by the Commons in the former Sessions A Session of Parliament But when the King gave it to the Speaker he complained that one Temse a Member of their House had moved for an Address to the King that the Queen might be again brought back to the Court The King said it touched his Conscience and was not a thing that could be determined in that House He wished his Marriage were good but many Divines had declared it unlawful He did not make his Suit out of Lust or foolish Appetite being then past the Heats of Youth he assured them his Conscience was troubled and desired them to report that to the House Many of the Lords came down to the House of Commons and told them the King intended to build some Forts on the Borders of Scotland to secure the Nation from the Inroads of the Scots and the Lords approving of this sent them to propose it to the Commons upon which a Subsidy was voted but upon the breaking out of the Plague the Parliament was prorogued before the Act was finished The Oaths which the Bishops swore both to the Pope and the King At that time the King sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and told him he found that the Prelates were but half Subjects for they swore at their Consecration an Oath to the Pope that was inconsistent with their Allegiance and Oath to the King By their Oath to the Pope they swore to be in no Council against him nor to disclose his Secrets but to maintain the Papacy and the Regalities of S. Peter against all Men together with the Rights and Authorities of the Church of Rome and that they should honourably entreat the Legats of the Apostolick See and observe all the Decrees Sentences Provisions and Commandments of that See and yearly either in Person or by Proxy visit the Thresholds of the Apostles In their Oath to the King they renounced all Clauses in their Bulls contrary to the King 's Royal Dignity and did swear to be faithful to him and to live and die with him against all others and to keep his Counsel acknowledging that they held their Bishopricks only of him By these it appeared that they could not keep both those Oaths in case a Breach should fall out between the King and the Pope But the Plague broke off the Consultations of Parliament at this time Soon after Sir Thomas More seeing a Rupture with Rome coming on so fast More quits his Office desired leave to lay down his Office which was upon that conferred on Sir Tho. Audley He was satisfied with the King 's keeping up the Laws formerly made in Opposition to the Papal Incroachments and so had concured in the Suit of the Premunire but now the matter went further and so he not being able to keep pace with the Counsels returned to a private Life with a Greatness of Mind equal to what the ancient Greeks or Romans had expressed on such Occasions Endeavours were used to fasten some Imputations on him in the Distribution of Justice but nothing could be brought against him to blemish his Integrity An Enterveiw followed between the Kings of France and England to which An Interview between the King of France England Ann Bolleyn now Marchioness of Pembrook was carried In which after the first Ceremonies and Magnificence was over Francis promised Henry to
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
Upon this he was again seized on and condemned for having said That Thomas Becket was a Murderer and was damned if he did not repent And that in the Sacrament Christ's Body was received by Faith and not chewed with the Teeth Sentence past upon him by Stokesly and he was burnt Soon after this More delivered up the Great Seal so the Preachers had some ease Crome and Latimer were accused but abjured Tracy Ancestor to the present Lord Tracy made a Will by which he left his Soul to God in hopes of Mercy through Christ without the help of any other Saint and therefore he declared that he would leave nothing for Soul-Masses This Will being brought to the Bishop of London's Court to be proved after his Death provoked them so much that he was condemned as an Heretick and an Order was sent to the Chancellour of Worcester to raise his Body but he went further and burnt it which could not be justified since he was not a Relapse Tracy's Heirs sued him for it and he was turned out of his place and fined in 400 l. The Clergy proclaimed an Indulgence of fourty days Pardon to any that carried a Faggot to the burning of an Heretick that so Cruelty might seem the more Meritorious And an aged Man Harding being condemned by Longland Bishop of Lincoln as he was tied to the Stake one flung a Faggot with such force at him that it dashed out his Brains After an Intermission of two Years Gardiner represented to the King That it would give him great Advantages against the Pope if he would take hold of some occasion to shew his hatred of Heresy So Frith seemed a fit Person to offer as a Sacrifice to demonstrate his Zeal He was a young Man much famed for Learning Frith's Sufferings and was the first that writ against the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament in England He followed Zuinglius's Doctrine on these Grounds Christ received in the Sacrament gave Eternal Life but this was only to those that believed from which he inferred that he was received only by Faith St Paul said that the Fathers before Christ eat the same Spiritual Food with Christians from which it appears that Christ is now no more corporally present to us then he was to them And he argued from the nature of Sacraments in general and the ends of the Lord's Supper that it was only a Commemoration Yet upon these Premises he built no other Conclusion but that Chist's presence was no Article of Faith Frith put these Reasons in Writing which falling into More 's hands was answered by him but Frith never saw that till he was put in Prison And then tho he was loaded with Irons and had no Books allowed him he replied He insisted much on that Argument That the Israelites did eat the same Food and drank of the same Rock that was Christ and since Christ was only mystically and by Faith received by them he concluded that he was now received only by Faith He shewed that Christ's Words This is my Body were accommodated to the Jewish Phrase of calling the Lamb the Lord 's Passover and confirmed his Opinion with many Passages out of the Fathers in which the Elements were called Signes and Figures of Christ's Body and they said that upon Consecration they did not cease to be Bread and Wine but remained still in their own proper Natures He also shewed That the Fathers were Strangers to all the Consequences of that Opinion as that a Body could be in more places than one at once or could be in a place after the manner of a Spirit Yet he concluded That if that Opinion were held only as a Speculation so that Adoration were not offered to the Elements it might be well tollerated but that he condemned as gross Idolatry This was intended by him to prevent such Heats in England as were raised in Germany between the Lutherans and Helvetians by reason of their different Opinions concerning the Sacrament He was seized on in May 1533 and brought before Stokesly Gardiner and Longland They objected to him his not believing Purgatory nor Transubstantiation He gave his Reasons that determined him to look on neither of these as Articles of Faith but he thought that neither the affirming nor denying them ought to be determined positively The Bishops seemed unwilling to proceed to Sentence but he continuing resolute Stokesly pronounced it and so delivered him to the Secular Arm obtesting that his Punishment might be moderated so that the Rigour might not be too extream nor yet the gentleness of it too much mitigated This Obtestation by the Bowels of Christ was thought a Mockery when all the World knew that it was intended that he should be burnt One Hewet a Prentice of London was also condemned with him on the same account When they were brought to Smithfield Frith expressed great Joy and hugged the Faggots with some Transport Cook a Priest that stood by called to the People not to pray for them more then they would do for a Dog Frith smiled at that and prayed God to forgive him The Fire was kindled which consumed them to ashes This was the last Instance of the Cruelty of the Clergy at this time for the Act formerly mentioned regulating their Proceedings followed soon after Philips at whose Complaint that Bill was begun was committed upon Suspicion of Heresy a Copy of Tracy's Will was found about him and Butter and Cheese being also found in his Chamber in Lent But he being required to abjure appealed to the King as Supream Head and upon that he was set at Liberty but whether he was tried by the King or not is not upon Record The Act that was past A stop put to further Cruelties gave the new Preachers and their Followers some Respite The King was also impowered to reform all Heresies and Idolatries And his Affairs did now oblige him to unite himself to the Princes of Germany that by their means he might so imbroil the Emperour's Affairs asnot to give him leisure to turn his Arms against England and this produced a slackning of all Severities against them For those Princes in that first fervour of the Reformation made it an Article in all their Treaties that none should be persecuted for favouring their Doctrine The Interests the Reformers had at Court The Queen did also openly protect them she took Latimer and Shaxton to be her Chaplains and promoted them to the Bishopricks of Worcester and Salisbury Cranmer was fully convinced of the necessity of a Reformation and that he might carry it on with true Judgment and justify it by good Authorities He made a great Collection of the Opininions of the Antient Fathers and later Doctors in all the Points of Religion of which I have seen two Volumes in Folio But by a Letter of the Lord Burghly's it appears there were then six Volumes of his Collections in his hands He was a Man of great Candor and much Patience
5 Days after the time prefixed should expire leaving only so many as might serve for Baptizing Children or giving the Sacrament to such as died in Penitence He charged all his Subjects to rise in Arms against him and that none should assist him He absolved all other Princes from their Confederacies with him and obtested them to have no more Commerce with him He required all Christians to make War on him and to seize on the Persons and Goods of all his Subjects and make Slaves of them He charged all Bishops to publish the Sentence with due Solemnities and ordained it to be affixed at Rome Tournay and Dunkirk This was first given out the 30 of August 1535 but it had been all this while suspended till the Suppression of the Monasteries and the burning of Becket's Bones did so inflame the Pope that he resolved to forbear going to Extremities no longer So on the 17 of December this Year the Pope published the Bull which he said he had so long suspended at the Intercession of some Princes who hoped that King Henry might have been reclaimed by gentler Methods and therefore since it appeared that he grew still worse and worse he was forced to proceed to his Fulminations By this Sentence it is certain That either the Popes Infallibility must be confessed to be a Cheat put upon the World or if any believe it they must acknowledge that the Power of deposing Princes is really lodged in that Chair For this was not a sudden fit of Passion but was done ex Cathedra with all the Deliberation they ever admit of The Sentence was in some particulars without a Precedent but as to the main Points of deposing the King and absolving his Subjects from their Obedience there was abundance of Instances to be brought in these last 500 Years to shew that this had been all along asserted the Right of the Papacy The Pope writ also to the Kings of France and Scotland with design to inflame them against King Henry And if this had been an Age of Croissades no doubt there had been one undertaken against him for it was held to be as meritorious if not more to make War on him than on the Turk But now the Thunders of the Vatican had lost their force The King got all the Bishops The Bishops of England assert the King's Power and the Nature of Ecclesiastical Offices and Eminent Divines of England to sign a Declaration against all Church-men who pretended to the Power of the Sword or to Authority over Kings and that all that assumed such Powers were Subverters of the Kingdom of Christ Many of the Bishops did also sign another Paper declaring the Limits of the Regal and Ecclesiastical Power that both had their Authority from God for several Ends and different Natures and that Princes were subject to the Word of God as well as Bishops ought to be obedient to their Laws There was also another Declaration made signed by Cromwel the 2 Archbishops 11 Bishops and 20 Divines asserting the Distinction betwen the Power of the Keys and the Power of the Sword The former was not absolute but limited by the Scripture Orders were declared to be a Sacrament instituted by Christ which were conferred by Prayer and Imposition of Hands And that in the New Testament no mention was made of any other Ranks but of Deacons or Ministers and of Priests or Bishops After this the use of all the Inferiour Degrees of Lectures Acolyths c. was laid down These were set up about the beginning of the 3d Century for in the middle of that Age mention is made of them both by Cornelius and Cyprian and they were intended to be degrees of Probation through which Men were to ascend to the higher Functions But the Canonists had found out so many Distinctions of Benefices and that a simple Tonsure qualified a Man for several of them that these Institutions became either a matter of Form only or were made a Colour for Laymen to possess Ecclesiastical Benefices In this and several other Books of that time Bishops and Priests are spoken of as being both one Office In the Ancient Church there were different Ordinations and different Functions belonging to these Offices tho the Superiour was believed to include the Inferiour But in the latter Ages both the School-men Canonists seemed on different grounds to have designed to make them appear to be the same Office and that the one was only a higher degree in the same Order The School-men to magnify Transubstantiation extolled the Office by which that was performed so high and the Canonists to exalt the Pope's Universal Authority deprest the Office of Bishops so low to make them seem only the Pope's Delegates and that their Jurisdiction was not from Christ that by these means these two Offices were thought so near one another that they differed only in degree And this was so well observed at Trent that the Establishing the Episcopal Jurisdiction as founded on a Divine Right was apprehended as one of the fatallest Blows that could have been given to the Papacy This being at this time so commonly received it is no wonder if before that matter came to be more exactly inquired into some of the Reformers writ more carelessly in the Explanations they made of these Offices which is so far from being an Argument that they were upon due enquiry of another mind that it is to be look'd on as a part of the Dregs of Popery flowing from the belief of Transubstantiation and the Pope's Supremacy of which all the Consequences were not so early observed This Year the English Bible was finished The Bible in English and new Injunctions The Translation was sent over to Paris to be printed there for the Workmen in England were not thought able to go about it Bonner was then Embassadour in France and he obtained a Licence of Francis for printing it but upon a Complaint made by the French Clergy the Press was stopt and many of the Copies were seized on and burnt So it was brought over to England and was undertaken and now finished by Grafton Cromwel procured a General Warrant from the King allowing all his Subjects to read it for which Cranmer wrote his thanks to Cromwel and rejoyced to see the day of Reformation now risen in England since the Word of God did shine over it all without a Cloud Not long after this Cromwel gave out Injunctions requiring the Clergy to set up Bibles in their Churches and to encourage all to read them He also exhorted the People not to dispute about the sense of difficult places but to leave that to Men of better Judgments Incumbents were required to instruct the People and teach them the Creed the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments in English And that once every Quarter there should be a Sermon to declare the true Gospel of Christ and to exhort the People to Works of Charity and not to trust to
of which they were lately driven and were now setled in Malta They were under a great Master who depended on the Pope and the Emperour But some they could not be brought to surrender of their own accord as others had done it was necessary to suppress them by Act of Parliament Another House which they had in Ireland was also suppressed and Pensions were reserved for the Priors and Knights On the 14th of May the Parliament was Prorogued to the 25th a Vote having past that the Bills should continue in the State they were in On the 12th of June Cromwel's Fall there was a sudden turn at Court for the Duke of Norfolk arrested Cromwel of High Treason and sent him Prisoner to the Tower He had many Enemies The meanness of his Birth made the Nobility take it ill to see the Son of a Black-Smith made an Earl and have the Garter given him besides his being Lord Privy Seal Lord Chamberlain of England Lord Vicegerent and a little while before he had also the Mastership of the Rolls All the Popish Clergy hated him violently They imputed the Suppression of Monasteries and the Injunctions that were laid on them chiefly to his Counsels And it was thought that it was mainly by his means that the King and the Emperour continued to be in such ill Terms The King did now understand that there was no agreement like to be made between the Emperour and Francis for it stuck at the matter of the Dutchy of Milan in which neither of them would yield to the other and the King was sure they would both court his Friendship in case of a War and this made him less concerned for the Favour of the German Princes So now Cromwel's Counsels became unacceptable With this a secret Reason concurred The King did not only hate the Queen but was now come to be in Love with Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk which both raised his Interest and deprest Cromwel who had made the former Match The King was also willing to cast upon him all the Errours that had been committed of late and by making him a Sacrifice he hoped he should regain the Affections of his People The King had also Informations brought him That he secretly encouraged those that opposed the six Articles and discouraged those who went about the Execution of it His Fall came so suddenly that he had not the least Apprehension of it before the Storm brake on him He had the common Fate of all disgraced Ministers his Friends forsook him and his Enemies insulted over him only Cranmer stuck to him and wrote earnestly to the King in his Favours He said he found that he had always loved the King above all things and had served him with such Fidelity and Success that he believed no King of England had ever a faithfuller Servant And he wished the King might find such a Councellour who both could and would serve him as he had done So great and generous a Soul had Cranmer that was not turned by changes in his Friends Fortunes and would venture on the displeasure of so Imperious a Prince rather than fail in the Duties of Friendship But the King was now resolved to ruine Crom wel and that unjust Practice of Attainting without hearing the Parties Answer for themselves which he had promoted too much before was now turned upon himself He had such Enemies in the House of Lords that the Bill of Attainder was dispatched in two days being read twice in one day Cranmer was absent and no other would venture to speak for him But he met with more Justice in the House of Commons for it stuck ten days there And in Conclusion a new Bill was drawn against him and sent up to the Lords to which they consented and it had the Royal Assent In it they set forth His Attainder That tho the King had raised him from a base State to great Dignities Yet it appeared by many Witnesses that were Persons of Honour that he had been the most Corrupt Traitor that ever was known That he had set many at Liberty that were condemned or suspected of Misprision of Treason That he had given Licences for transporting out of the Kingdom things prohibited by Proclamation And had granted many Passports without search made That he had said he was sure of the King That he had dispersed many Erroneous Books contrary to the Belief of the Sacrament And had said That every Man might Administer it as well as a Priest That he had licensed many Preachers suspected of Heresy And had ordered many to be discharged that were committed on that account and had discharged all Informers That he had many Hereticks about him That above a Year before he had said The preaching of Barns and others was good And that he would not turn tho the King did turn but if the King turned he would fight in Person against him and all that turned And drawing out his Dagger he wisht that might pierce him to the Heart if he should not do it he had also said If he lived a year or two longer it should not be in the King's Power to hinder it He had likewise been found guilty of great Oppression and Bribery And when he heard that some Lords were taking Counsel against him he had threatned that he would raise great stirrs in England For these things he was Attainted both of High Treason and Heresy A Proviso was added for securing the Church of Wells of which he had been Dean This was lookt on as very hard Measure It was believed Censures past upon it That he had at least Verbal Orders from the King for the Licences and Orders that were complained of and perhaps he could have shewed some in Writing if he had been heard to make his Answers Bribery seemed to be cast on him only to render him odious but no Particulars were mentioned Nor was it credible That he could have spoken such Words of the King as were alledged especially when he was in the height of his Favour and if he had spoken them above a Year before it is not to be imagined that they could have been so long kept secret and what was said of his drawing out a Dagger look'd like a design to affix an overt Act to them This being done The King's Marriage annulled The King went on to move for a Divorce An Address was moved to be made to him by the Lords that he would suffer his Marriage to be examined Cranmer and others were sent down to desire the Concurrence of the Commons and they ordered 20 of their number to go along with the Lords who went all in a body to the King He granted their desire the matter being concerted before So a Commission was sent to the Convocation to discuss it Gardiner opened it to them and they appointed a Committee for the Examination of Witnesses The Substance of the whole Evidence amounted to these Particulars
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
ever was no wonder they took all imaginable pains to infuse it into the belief of the world and those dark ages were disposed to believe every thing so much the rather the more incredible that it appeared to be In the ninth Century many of the greatest men of that Age wrote against it and none of them were for that condemned as Hereticks The contrary opinion was then received in England as appeared by one of the Saxon Homilies that was read on Easter-day in which many of Bertrams words were put But it was generally received in the eleventh and twelfth Century and fully established in the fourth Council in the Lateran At first it was believed that the whole Loaf was turned into one entire Body so that in the distribution every one had a Joint given him and according to that conceit it was given out that it did often bleed and was turned into pieces of Flesh But this seemed an undecent way of handling Christs glorified Body so the School-men did invent a more seemly notion That a Body might be in a place after the manner of a Spirit so that in every crumb there was an entire Christ which though it appeared very hard to be conceived yet it generally prevailed and then the Miracles fitted for the former opinion were no more heard of but new ones agreeing to this hypothesis were set up in their stead So dextrously did the Priests deceive the World and because a mouthful of Bread or a draught of Wine would have been shrewd temptations to make the people think it was really Bread and Wine that they got therefore as the Cup was taken away so instead of Bread a thin wafer was given to make the People more easily imagine that it was only the accidents of Bread that were received by them Upon these grounds did Cranmer and Ridley go in this matter There were some Anabaptists at this time in England Anabaptists in England that were come over out of Germany of them there were two sorts some only objected to the baptizing of Children and to the manner of it by sprinkling and not by dipping others held many opinions that had been anciently condemned as Heresies they had raised a cruel War in Germany and set up a new King at Munster but all these carried the name Anabaptists from that of Infant-baptism though it was one of the mildest Opinions that they held Some of these came over to England so a Commission was granted to some Bishops and others to search them out and to proceed against them Several Persons were brought before them and did abjure their errors which were That there was not a Trinity of Persons that Christ was not God and took not flesh of the Virgin and that a Regenerate man could not sin Two were burnt One Joan Bocher called Joan of Kent denied that Christ took flesh of the substance of his Mother she was out of measure vain and conceited of her notions and rejected all the Instruction that was offered her with scorn so she was condemned as an obstinate Heretick and delivered to the secular Arm. But it was very hard to perswade the King to sign the Warrant for her Execution he thought it was an Instance of the same spirit of cruelty for which the Reformers condemned the Papists It was hard to condemn one to be burnt for some wild Opinions especially when they seemed to flow from a disturbed brain but Cranmer perswaded him that he being Gods Lieutenant was bound in the first place to punish those offences committed against God He also alledged the Laws of Moses for punishing blasphemers and he thought errors that struck immediately against the Apostles Creed ought to be capitally punished These things did rather silence than fatisfie the young King he signed the Warrant with tears in his eyes and said to Cranmer that since he resigned up himself in that matter to his judgment if he sinned in it it should lie at his door This struck the Archbishop and both he and Ridley took her into their Houses and tried what reason joyned with gentleness could do But she was still more and more Insolent so at last she was burnt and ended her life very indecently breaking out often in jeers and reproaches and was looked on as a person fitter for Bedlam than a Stake Some time after that a Dutchman George van Parre was also condemned and burnt for denying the Divinity of Christ and saying that the Father only was God He had led a very Exemplary life both for fasting devotion and a good conversation and suffer'd with extraordinary composedness of mind These things cast a great blemish on the Reformers It was said they only condemned cruelty when it was exercised on themselves but were ready to practise it when they had power The Papists made great use of this afterwards in Queen Maries time and what Cranmer and Ridley suffered in her time was thought a just retaliation on them from that wise Providence that dispenses all things justly to all Men. For the other sort of Anabaptists no severities were used against them but several Books were written to justifie Infant-baptism and the Practice of the Church so early begun and so universally spread was thought a good Plea especially being grounded on such Arguments in Scripture as did demonstrate at least the lawfulness of it Another sort of People was much complained of The Doctrine of Predestination abused who built so much on the received Opinion of Predestination that they thought they might live as they pleased since nothing could resist an absolute Decree nor did those who had advanced that Opinion know well how to hinder People from making such Inferences from it all they did was to warn them not to pry too much into those secrets but if the Opinion was true there was no need of much prying to make such conclusions from it This had a very ill effect on the Lives of many who thought they were set loose from all obligations and that was indeed the greatest scandal of the Reformation The Preachers were aware of it and apprehensive of the judgments of God that would follow on it of which they gave the Nation free warning At this time a sort of Contagion of rage run over all the Commons of England Tumults in several parts of England The Nobility and Gentry finding more advantage by the Trade of Wool than by their Corn did generally inclose their Grounds and turn them to Pasture and so kept but few Servants and took large Portions of their Estates into their own hands and yet the numbers of the People increased Marriage being allowed to all the abrogation of many Holy-days and the putting down of Pilgrimages gave them also more time to work So the Commons feared to be reduced to great slavery Some proposed an Aggrarian Law for regulating this and the King himself wrote a Discourse about it that there might be some equality in the division
shew no favour All the distinction was that the Lord Stourton was hanged in a silken Rope This was much extolled as an Instance of the Queens Impartial Justice and it was said that since she left her Friends to the Law her Enemies had no cause to complain if it was executed on them The War breaking out between Spain and France The Queen joyns in the War against France King Philip had a great mind to engage England in it The Queen complained often of the kind reception that was given to the fugitives that fled from England to France and it was believed that the French secretly supplied and encouraged them to imbroil her affairs One Stafford had this Year gathered many of them together and landing in Yorkshire he surprised the Castle of Scarborough and published a Manifesto against the Queen that by bringing in strangers to govern the Nation she had forfeited her right to the Crown but few came in to him so he and his Complices were forced to render and four of them were hanged The English Ambassadour in France Dr. Wotton discovered that the Constable had a design to take Calais for he sent his own Nephew whom he had brought over and instructed secretly to him he pretended he was sent from a great Party in that Town who were resolved to deliver it up at which the Constable seemed not a little glad and entred into a long discourse with him of the Methods of taking it yet all this made no great Impression on the Queen All her Council chiefly the Clergy were against engaging for they saw that would oblige them to slacken their severities at home so the King found it necessary to come over himself and perswade her to it He prevailed with her and after a denunciation of War she sent over 80000. Men to his assistance who joyned the Spanish Army consisting of 50000. that was set down before St. Quintin The Constable of France came with a great force to raise the Siege The Battel of S. Quintin but when the two Armies were in view of one another the French by a mistake in the word of command fell in disorder upon which the Spaniards charged them with such success that the whole Army was defeated Many were killed on the place and many were taken Prisoners among whom was the Constable himself and the Spaniards lost only fifty Men. Had Philip followed this blow and marched straight to Paris he had found all France in a great consternation but he sat still before S. Quintin which held out till the terror of this defeat was much over The Constable lost his reputation in it and all looked on it as a curse upon that King for the breach of his Faith The French Troops were called out of Italy upon which the Pope being now exposed to the Spaniards fell in strange fits of rage The Pope recalls Pool particularly he inveighed much against Pool for suffering the Queen to joyn with the Enemies of the Apostolick See and having made a General Decree recalling all his Legates and Nuntio's in the Spanish Dominions he recalled Pool's Legatine power among the rest and neither the Intercessions of the Queen's Ambassadours nor the other Cardinals could prevail with him to alter it only as an extraordinary Grace he consented not to intimate it to him But after this he went further He made Friar Peyto a Cardinal he liked him for his railing against King Henry to his Face and thought that since the Queen had made him her Confessor he would be very acceptable to her He recalled Pool's powers and required him to come to Rome and answer to some Complaints made of him for the favour he shewed to Hereticks He also declared Peyto his Legate for England and writ to the Queen to receive him but the Queen ordered the Bulls and Briefs that were sent over to be laid up without opening them which had been the method formerly practised when unacceptable Bulls were sent over She sent word to Peyto not to come into England otherwise she would sue him and all that owned him in a Praemunire He died soon after Cardinal Pool laid aside the Ensigns of a Legate and sent over Ormaneto with so submissive a Message that the Pope was much mollified by it and a Treaty of Peace being set on foot this storm went over The Duke of Alva marched near Rome which was in no condition to resist him so the Pope in great fury called the Cardinals together and told them he was resolved to suffer Martyrdom without being daunted which they who knew that he had drawn all this on himself by his Ambition and Rage could scarce hear without laughter Yet the Duke of Alva was willing to treat The haughty Pope though he was forced to yield in the chief points yet in the punctilio's of Ceremonies he stood so high upon his honour which he said was Christ's honour that he declared he would see the whole World ruined rather than yield in a Title In that the Duke of Alva was willing enough to comply with him so he came to Rome and in his Master's name asked pardon for Invading the Patrimony of S. Peter and the Pope gave him Absolution in as Insolent a manner as if he had been the Conqueror The news of this Reconciliation were received in England with all the publickest expressions of joy In Scotland the Queen Regent studied to engage that Nation in the War all that favoured the Reformation were for it but the Clergy opposed it The Queen thought to draw them into it whether they would or not and sent in D'oisell to besiege a Castle in England But the Scotch Lords complained much of that and required him to give over his attempt otherwise they would declare him an Enemy to the Nation So after some slight skirmishes on the Borders the matter was put up on both sides This made the Queen Regent write to France pressing them to conclude the Marriage between the Dolphin and the Queen upon which a Message was sent from that Court desiring the Scots to send over Commissioners to treat about the Articles of the Marriage and some of every State were dispatched for setling that matter There was this Year great want of Money in the Exchequer of England and the backwardness of the last Parliament made the Council unwilling to call a new one It was tried what Sums could be raised by Loan upon Privy Seals but so little came in that way that at last one was Summoned to meet in January yet in the mean while advertisements were given them of the ill condition in which the Garrisons of Calais and the neighbouring places were and that the French had a design on them but either they thought there was no danger during the Winter or they wanted Money so much that no care was taken to secure them In Germany Affairs in Germany the Papists did this Year blow up the differences between the Lutherans and
any that could might seize on their Dominions The Bishops had also this to say for their Severities that by the Oath which they took at their Consecrations they were bound to persecute Hereticks with all their might so that the Principles of that Religion working on sowre and revengeful tempers it was no wonder that Cruel Councils were more acceptable than moderate ones BOOK IV. Book IV 1558. OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE REFORMATION In the beginning of Qu. ELIZABETH's Reign THE Morning after Queen Mary died Qu. Elizabeth Proclaimed the Lord Chancellor went to the House of Lords and communicated to them the News of Her death and then sent for the Commons and declared it to them and added that the Crown was now devolved on their present Queen Elizabeth whose Title they were resolved to proclaim This was Echoed with repeated Acclamations which were so full of Joy that it appeared how weary the Nation was of the Cruel and weak administration of affairs under the former Reign and that they hoped for better times under the next And indeed the Proclaiming the new Queen both at Westminster and in the City of London was received with such unusual transports of Joy as gave the Melancholy Priests just cause to fear a new Revolution in matters of Religion and though the Queen's Death affected them with a very sensible sorrow yet the Joy in this change was so great and so Universal that a sad look was thought Criminal and the Priests were glad to vent their griefs at their forsaken Altars which were now like to be converted again to Communion Tables The Queen came from Hatfield The Queen came to London where she had lived private to London The Bishops met Her at Highgate she received them all kindly only she lookt on Bonner as defiled with so much blood that it seemed indecent to treat him with the sweetness that always attends the beginnings of Reigns for common Civility to a Person so polluted might seem some countenance to his Crimes She past through London in the midst of all the Joys that People delivered from the Terror of Fires and Slavery could express She quickly shewed that she was resolved to retain no Impressions of the hardships she had met with in her Sister's time and treated those that had used her worst with great gentleness Bennefield himself not excepted only with a sharpness of raillery she used to call him her Jaylor She gave notice of her coming to the Crown to all foreign Princes and writ particular acknowledgments to King Philip for the good offices he had done her Among the rest she writ to Sir Edward Karn that was her Sisters Ambassadour at Rome But the Pope in his usual stile told him that England was a Fee of the Papacy and that it was a high Presumption in her to take the Crown without his consent especially she being illegitimate but he said if she would renounce her Pretensions and refer her self wholly to him she might expect from him all the favour that could consist with the dignity of the Apostolick See The Queen hearing this recalled Karn's power but he being a zealous Papist continued still at Rome Philip proposed Marriage to the Queen Philip proposes marriage to the Queen but in vain and undertook to procure a Dispensation for it from Rome But the Queen as she continued all her life averse to that state of life so she knew how unacceptable a stranger and particularly a Spaniard would be to her People She did not much value the Pope's Dispensation and if two Sisters might marry the same Person then two Brothers might likewise marry the same Woman which would have overthrown all the Arguments for her Father's Divorce with Queen Catherine upon which the Validity of her Mothers Marriage and her legitimation did depend Yet though she firmly resolved not to marry King Philip she thought that during the Treaty at Cambray it was not fit to put him quite out of hopes so he sent to Rome for a Dispensation but the French sent to oppose it and set up a Pretension for the young Queen of Scotland as the righteous Heir to the Crown of England The Queen continued to imploy most of her Sisters Privy-Councellours The Counsels about changing Religion and they had turned so often before in matters of Religion that it was not likely they would be Intractable in that point but to these she added divers others the most Eminent of whom were Sir Will. Cecyl and Sir Nicolas Bacon She ordered all that were Imprisoned on the account of Religion to be set at liberty upon which one that used to talk pleasantly told her the four Evangelists continued still Prisoners and that the People longed much to see them at liberty She answered she would talk with themselves and know their own mind Some proposed the annulling all Queen Mary's Parliaments because force was used in the first and the Writs for another were not lawful since the Title of Supream Head was left out in the Summons before it was taken away by Law but it was thought a Precedent of dangerous Consequence to annul Parliaments upon Errors in Writs or particular disorders The Queen desired that all the changes that should be made might be so managed as to breed as little division among her People as was possible She did not like the Title of Supream Head as importing too great an Authority She loved Magnificence in Religion as she affected it in all other things this made her incline to keep Images still in Churches and that the Popish party might be offended as little as was possible she intended to have the manner of Christ's Presence in the Sacrament defined in general terms that might comprehend all sides A Scheme was formed of the Method in which it was most advisable for the Queen to proceed and put in Cecyl's hands It was thought necessary to do nothing till a Parliament were called A Scheme proposed The Queen had reason to look for all the mischief that the Pope could do her who would set on the French and by their means the Scots and perhaps the Irish against her The Clergy and those that were imployed in Queen Mary's time would oppose it and do what they could to inflame the Nation and the greater part of the People loved the Pomp of the old Ceremonies It was therefore proposed that the Queen should on any terms make Peace with France and encourage the Party in Scotland that desired a Reformation The Clergy were generally hated for their Cruelty and it would be easie to bring them within the Statute of Praemunire Care was also to be taken to expose the former Councellours for the ill conduct of affairs in Qu. Mary's time and so to lessen their credit It was also proposed to look well to the Commissions both for the Peace and the Militia and to the Universities Some Learned Men were to be ordered to consider what alterations
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
Wars lasted near 30. Years for in all that time notwithstanding some Intervals of Peace the seeds of War were never so rooted out but that they were ready to spring up upon every new occasion In this the Queen Interposed and supported the Protestant Party sometimes with Men but oftner with Money so that she had near the half of that Kingdom depending on her In the Netherlands a long continuance of civil Wars almost on the same account gave her the like advantages The King of Spain And in the Netherlands by endeavouring to set up the Courts of Inquisition in those Provinces and by keeping some Spanish Troops among them and other excesses in his Government contrary to the Articles of the Laetus Introitus provoked them so much that they shook off his Yoke and were supported by the Aid and Money which the Queen sent them So that the Queen met with such a Conjuncture of affairs in the Dominions of those Princes that were next her of whom only she had reason to be afraid as scarce any Prince ever had In foreign Parts The excellent administration of affairs in England she was the Arbiter of Christendom and at home things were so happily managed Trade did so flourish and Justice was so equally distributed that she became the wonder of the World She was Victorious in all her Wars with Spain and no wonder for it appeared signally in the ruine of the great Armada which Spain lookt on as Invincible that Heaven fought for her She reigned more absolutely over the Hearts than the Persons of her Subjects She always followed the true Interests of her People and so found her Parliaments always ready to comply with her desires and to grant her Subsidies as often as she called for them and as she never asked them but when the occasion for them was visible so after they were granted if the state of her affairs changed so that she needed them not she readily discharged them Rome and Spain set many Engines on work both against her Person and Government but she still lived and triumphed In the first ten Years of her Reign the Papists were so Compliant that there was no stir made about matters of Religion Pope Pius the fourth condemned the madness of his Predecesfor in that high and provoking Message which he sent her and therefore he attempted a reconciliation with her at two several times and offered if she would joyn her self to the See of Rome that he would annul the sentence against her Mothers Marriage and confirm the English service and the Communion in both kinds But she refused to enter into any Treaty with him Pius the fifth that succeeded him in that Chair resolved to contrive her death Catena as is related by him that writes his Life The unfortunate Queen of Scotland was forced to take Sanctuary in England where it was resolved to use her well and restore her to her Crown and Countrey But her own officious friends and the frequent Plots that were laid for taking away the Queens life brought on her the Calamities of a long Imprisonment that ended in a Tragical death which though it was the greatest blemish of this Reign yet was made in some sort justifiable if not necessary by the many Attempts that the Papists made on the Queen's Life and by the Deposition which Pope Pius the fifth thundred out against Her from which it was inferred that as long as that Party had the hopes of such a Successor the Queen's Life was not safe nor her Government secure This led her towards the end of her Reign Severities against the Papists were necessary to greater severities against those of the Roman Communion of which a Copious Account is given by Sir Francis Walsingham that was for so many Years imployed either in foreign Embassies or in the secrets of State at home that none knew better than he did the hidden springs that moved and directed all Her Councils He writ a long Letter to a French man giving him an account of all the severities of the Queen's Government both against Papists and Puritans The substance of which is Sir Fr. Walsingham's account of the steps in which she proceeded That the Queen laid down two Maximes of State the one was not to force Consciences the other was not to let factious practices go unpunished because they were covered with the pretences of Conscience At first she did not revive those severe Laws past in her Father's time by which the refusal of the Oath of Supremacy was made Treason but left her People to the freedom of their thoughts and made it only Penal to extol a foreign Jurisdiction She also laid aside the word Supream Head and the refusers of the Oath were only disabled from holding Benefices or Charges during their Refusal Upon Pius the Fifth's Excommunicating her though the Rebellion in the North was chiefly occasioned by that she only made a Law against the bringing over or publishing of Bulls and the venting of Agnus Dei's or such other Love-tokens which were sent from Rome on design to draw the Hearts of Her People from her which were no Essential parts of that Religion so that this could hurt none of their Consciences But when after the 20th Year of her Reign it appeared that the King of Spain designed to Invade her Dominions and that the Priests that were sent over from the Seminaries beyond Sea were generally employed to corrupt the Subjects in their Allegiance by which Treason was carried in the Clouds and Infused secretly in Confession Then pecuniary Punishments were inflicted on such as withdrew from the Church and in Conclusion she was forced to make Laws of greater rigour but did often mitigate the severity of them to all that would promise to adhere to her in case of a Foreign Invasion As for the Puritans as long as they only inveighed against some abuses as Pluralities Non residence or the like it was not their Zeal against those but only their Violence that was condemned When they refused to comply with some Ceremonies and questioned the superiority of Bishops and declared for a Democracy in the Church they were connived at with great gentleness But it was observed that they affected Popularity much and the Methods they took to compass their ends were judged dangerous and they made such use of the aversion the Nation had to Popery that it was visible they were in a hazzard of running from one Extream to another They set up a New Model of Church-Discipline which was like to prove no less dangerous to the Liberties of private Men than to the Sovereign Power of the Prince Yet all this was born with as long as they proceeded with those expressions of duty which became Subjects But afterwards when they resolved to carry on their Designs without waiting for the consent of the Magistrate and entred into Combinations when they began to defame the Government by ridiculous Pasquils and
only as a Paper of News and so ordered their Ambassadours to communicate them to the Emperour But the King's death broke off this Negotiation He had contracted great Colds by Violent Exercises which in January setled in a deep Cough and all Medicines proved ineffectual The Kings sickness There was a suspicion taken up and spred over all Europe that he was poisoned but no certain grounds appear for justifying that During his sickness Ridley preached before him and among other things run out much on works of Charity and the duty of Men of high condition to be Eminent in good works The King was much touched with this so after Sermon he sent for the Bishop and treated him with such respect that he made him sit down and be covered then he told him what Impression his Exhortation had made on him and therefore he desired to be directed by him how to do his duty in that matter Ridley took a little time to consider of it and after some consultation with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London he brought the King a Scheme of several Foundations one for the sick and wounded another for such as were wilfully idle or were mad and a third for Orphans so he endowed St. Bartholomew's Hospital for the first Bridewell for the second and Christ's Church near Newgate for the third and he enlarged the Grant he made the former year for St. Thomas's Hospital in Southwark The Statutes and Warrants relating to these were not finished before the 26. of June though he gave order to make all the hast that was possible and when he set his hand to them he blest God that had prolonged his life till he finished his designs concerning them These Houses have by the good Government and great Charities of the City of London continued to be so useful and grown to be so well-endowed that now they may be well reckoned among the Noblest in Europe The King bore his sickness with great submission to the will of God The Patents for the succession to the Crown and seemed concerned in nothing so much as the state that Religion and the Church would be in after his death The Duke of Suffolk had only three Daughters the eldest of these was now married to Lord Guilford Dudley the second to the Earl of Pembroke's eldest Son and the third that was crooked to one Keys The Duke of Northumberland for strengthning his Family married also his own two Daughters the one to Sir Henry Sidney and the other to the Earl of Huntington's eldest Son He grew to be much hated by the People and the jealousie of the King 's being poisoned was fastened on him But he regarded these things little and resolved to improve the fears the King was in concerning Religion to the advantage of Lady Jane The King was easily perswaded to order the Judges and his Learned Council to put some Articles which he had signed for the succession of the Crown in the common form of Law They answered that the Succession being setled by Act of Parliament could not be taken away except by Parliament yet the King required them to do what he commanded them But next time they came to the Council they declared that it was made Treason to change the Succession by an Act past in this Reign so they could not meddle with it Mountague was chief Justice and spake in the name of the rest Northumberland fell out in a great passion against him calling him Traitor for refusing to obey the King's commands for that is always the language of an Arbitrary Minister when he acts against Law But the Judges were not shaken by his threatnings so they were again brought before the King who sharply rebuked them for their delays but they said all that they could do would be of no force without a Parliament yet they were required to do it in the best manner they could At last Mountague desired they might have a Pardon for what they were to do that being granted all the Judges except Gosnald and Hales agreed to the Patent deliver'd their Opinions that the Lord Chancellor might put the Seal to it and that then it would be good in Law yet the former of these two was at last wrought on so Hales was the only Man that stood out to the last who though he was a zealous Protestant yet would not give his Opinion against his Conscience upon any consideration whatsoever The Privy Councellours were next required to set their hand to it Cecyl in a Relation he writ of this transaction says that hearing some of the Judges declare so positively that it was against Law he refused to set his hand to it as a Privy Councellour but signed it only as a Witness to the King's subscription Cranmer stood out long he came not to Council when it was past there and refused to consent to it when he was prest to it for he said he would never have a hand in disinheriting his late Master's Daughters The young dying King was at last set on him and by his Importunity prevailed with him to do it and so the Seal was put to the Patents The King's distemper continued to encrease so that the Physicians despaired of his Recovery A confident Woman undertook his Cure and he was put in her hands but she left him worse than she found him and this heightned the jealousie of the Duke of Northumberland that had introduced her and put the Physicians away At last to Crown his designs he got the King to write to his Sisters to come and divert him in his sickness and the matter of the Exclusion had been carried so secretly that they apprehending no danger had begun their Journey In the 6th of July The Kings death and Character the King felt death approaching and prepared himself for it in a most devout manner He was often heard offering up Prayers and Ejaculations to God Particularly a few Moments before he died he prayed earnestly that God would take him out of this wretched life and committed his Spirit to him he interceded very fervently for his Subjects that God would preserve England from Popery and maintain his true Religion among them soon after that he breathed out his Innocent Soul being in Sir Henry Sidney's arms Endeavours were used to conceal his death for some days on design to draw his Sisters into the snare before they should be aware of it but that could not be done Thus died Edward the VI. in the sixteenth Year of his Age. He was counted the wonder of that time he was not only Learned in the Tongues and the Liberal Sciences but knew well the state of his Kingdom He kept a Table-Book in which he had writ the Characters of all the eminent Men of the Nation he studied Fortification and understood the Mint well he knew the Harbours in all his Dominions with the depth of Water and way of coming into them He understood foreign
affairs so well that the Ambassadours that were sent into England published very extraordinary things of him in all the Courts of Europe He had great quickness of apprehension but being distrustful of his Memory he took Notes of every thing he heard that was considerable in Greek Characters that those about him might not understand what he writ which he afterwards Copied out fair in the Journal that he kept His Virtues were wonderful when he was made believe that his Unkle was guilty of conspiring the death of the other Counsellours he upon that abandoned him Barnaby Fitzpatrick was his Favourite and when he sent him to travel he writ oft to him to keep good Company to avoid excess and Luxury and to improve himself in those things that might render him capable of Imployment at his return He was afterwards made Lord of Upper Ossory in Ireland by Queen Elizabeth and did answer the hopes that this excellent King had of him He was very merciful in his nature which appeared in his unwillingness to sign the Warrant for burning the Maid of Kent He took great care to have his debts well paid reckoning that a Prince who breaks his Faith and loses his Credit has thrown up that which he can never recover and made himself liable to perpetual distrust and extreme contempt He took special care of the Petitions that were given him by poor and opprest People But his great zeal for Religion crowned all the rest It was not only an angry heat about it that acted him but it was a true tenderness of conscience founded on the love of God his Neighbors These extraordinary qualities set off with great sweetness and affability made him be universally beloved by all his People Some called him their Josias others Edward the Saint and others called him the Phoenix that rise out of his Mothers ashes and all People concluded that the sins of England must have been very great since they provoked God to deprive the Nation of so signal a blessing as the rest of his Reign would have by all appearance proved Ridley and the other good Men of that time made great lamentations of the Vices that were grown then so common that Men had past all shame in them Luxury Oppression and a hatred of Religion had over-run the higher rank of People who gave a countenance to the Reformation meerly to rob the Church but by that and their other practices were become a great scandal to so good a work The inferiour sort were so much in the power of the Priests who were still notwithstanding their outward Compliance Papists in heart and were so much offended at the spoil they saw made of all good endowments without putting other and more useful ones in their room that they who understood little of Religion laboured under great prejudices against every thing that was advanced by such tools And these things as they provoked God highly so they disposed the People much to that sad Catastrophe which is to be the subject of the next Book BOOK III. Book III 1553. THE LIFE and REIGN OF Queen MARY BY King Edward's death Qu. Mary succeeds the Crown devolved according to Law on his Eldest Sister Mary who was within half a days Journey to the Court when she had notice given her by the Earl of Arundel of her Brother's death and of the Patent for Lady Jane's succession and this prevented her falling into the Trap that was laid for her Upon that she retired to Framlingham in Suffolk both to be near the Sea that she might escape to Flanders in case of a misfortune and because the slaughter that was made of Kets People by Northumberland begat him the hatred of the People in that Neighbourhood Before she got thither she wrote on the 9th of July to the Council and let them know she understood that her Brother was dead by which she succeeded to the Crown but wondred that she heard not from them she knew well what Consultations they had engaged in but she would pardon all that was done to such as would return to their duty and proclaim her Title to the Crown By this it was found that the Kings death could be no longer kept secret so some of the Privy Council went to Lady Jane and acknowledged her their Queen The news of the King's death afflicted her much and her being raised to the Throne rather encreased than lessened her trouble She was a very extraordinary Person both for Body and Mind She had learned both the Greek and Latine Tongues to great perfection and delighted much in study She read Plato in Greek and drunk in the Precepts of true Philosophy so early that as she was not tainted with the levities not to say Vices of those of her Age and condition so she seemed to have attained to the practice of the highest notions of Philosophy for in those sudden turns of her condition as she was not exalted with the prospect of a Crown so she was as little cast down when her Palace was made her Prison The only passion she shewed was that of the Noblest kind in the concern she exprest for her Father and Husband who fell with her and seemingly on her account though really Northumberland's ambition and her Father's weakness ruined her She rejected the offer of the Crown when it was first made her she said she knew that of right it belonged to the late King's Sisters and so she could not with a good Conscience assume it but it was told her that both the Judges and Privy Councellours had declared that it fell to her according to Law This joyned with the Importunities of her Husband who had more of his Father's Temper than of her Philosophy in him made her submit to it Upon this XXI Privy Councellours set their hands to a Letter to Queen Mary letting her know that Queen Jane was now their Soveraign and that the Marriage between her Father and Mother was null so she could not succeed to the Crown and therefore they required her to lay down her Pretensions and to submit to the settlement now made and if she gave a ready obedience to these Commands they promised her much favour The day after this they proclaimed Jane But Lady Jane Gray is proclaimed In it they set forth That the late King had by Patent excluded his Sisters that both were illegitimated by sentences past in the Ecclesiastical Courts and confirmed in Parliament and at best they were only his Sisters by the half blood and so not inheritable by the Law of England There was also cause to fear that they might marry strangers and change the Laws and subject the Nation to the Tyranny of the See of Rome Next to them the Crown fell to the Dutchess of Suffolk and it was provided that if she should have no Sons when the King died the Crown should devolve on her Daughter who was born and married in the Kingdom Upon which