Person openly in the Church after Mass upon a Holy-day say the Lord's Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments That they twice a Quarter declare the Bands of Matrimony and the danger of using their Bodies but with such Persons as they might by the Law of God and that no privy Contracts be made as they would avoid the extream Peril of the Laws of the Realm No Diocesan Bishop Consecrated this Year Bishops Suffragans Robert Bishop of S. Asaph recommended to the King Iohn Bradley Abbot of the Monastery of Milton of the order of S. Benedict or William Pelles both Batchellors of Divinity to the Dignity of Suffragan within the Diocess Province rather of Canterbury mentioning no particular See The Bishop of Bath and Wells also recommended two to the King out of which to nominate a Suffragan to some See within the Province of Canterbury viz. William Finch late Prior of Bremar and Richard Walshe Prior of the Hospital of S. Iohn Baptist of Bridgewater April the 7 th William Finch was nominated by the King to the Arch-bishop to be Consecrated for Suffragan of Taunton and then consecrated in the Chappel of S. Maries in the Conventual Church of the Friars Preachers London by Iohn Bishop of Rochester by virtue of Letters Commissional from the Arch-bishop Robert Bishop of S. Asaph and William Suffragan of Colchester assisting And March the 23. Iohn Bradley was consecrated Suffragan of Shaftsbury in the Chancel of the Parish-Church of S. Iohn Baptist in Southampton by Iohn Bishop of Bangor by the Letters Commissional of Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury Iohn Ipolitanen and Thomas Suffragan of Marleborough assisting CHAP. XIX The Act of Six Articles THIS Year October the 6 th I meet with a Commission ad Facultates granted from the Arch-bishop to a famous Man Nicolas Wotton LL. D. a Man of great Learning and made use of by the King afterwards in divers Embassies and a Privy-Counsellor to King Henry and his three Children successively Princes of the Realm and Dean of Canterbury and York This Commission was in pursuance of a late Act of Parliament to this Tenor That in whatsoever Cases not prohibited by Divine Right in which the Bishop of Rome or Roman See heretofore accustomed to Dispence and also in all other Cases in which the Bishop or See of Rome accustomed not to dispence if so be they were not forbid by Divine Right in these Cases the Arch-bishop had Power granted him to Dispense In this Office he constituted Wotton his Commissary or Deputy for the Term of his natural Life He succeeded Edmund Boner Master of the Arch-bishop's Faculties now preferred to the Bishoprick of Hereford So that Cranmer took notice of the Merits of this Man who was so much made use of afterwards in the Church and State and was of that great Esteem and Reputation that he was thought on in the beginning of Q. Elizabeth's Reign for ABp of Canterbury In the Year 1528. he was Doctor of Laws and the Bishop of London's Official In the Year 1540 he was Resident for the King in the Duke of Cleve's Court and had been employed in the Match between the King and the Lady Ann of that House the Year before and perhaps this might be the first time he was sent abroad in the King's Business In the Year 1539 the King took occasion to be displeased with the Arch-bishop and the other Bishops of the new Learning as they then termed them because they could not be brought to give their Consent in the Parliament that the King should have all the Monasteries suppressed to his own sole use They were willing he should have all the Lands as his Ancestors gave to any of them but the Residue they would have had bestowed upon Hospitals Grammar-Schools for bringing up of Youth in Vertue and good Learning with other things profitable in the Common-wealth The King was hereunto stirred by the crafty Insinuations of the Bishop of Winchester and other old dissembling Papists And as an effect of this Displeasure as it was thought in the Parliament this Year he made the terrible bloody Act of the Six Articles Whereby none were suffered to speak a word against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation upon pain of being burnt to Death as an Heretick and to forfeit all his Lands and Goods as in case of Treason And moreover it was made Felony and forfeiture of Lands and Goods to defend the Communion in both kinds Marriage in a Priest or in any Man or Woman that had vowed Chastity or to say any thing against the necessity of Private Masses and Auricular Confession Which Articles were plainly enough designed against any that should dare to open their Mouths against these Romish Errors and especially to impose Silence and that on pain of Death upon many honest Preachers that were now risen up and used to speak freely against these Abuses and as a good means to keep the poor People still securely in their old Ignorance and Superstition But before this Act passed marvellous great struggling there was on both Parts for and against it But the side of the Favourers of the Gospel at this time was the weaker the King now enclining more to the other Party for the reason abovesaid and for other Causes Wherein I refer the Reader to the Conjectures of the Lord Herbert The Bishops disputed long in the House some for it and some against it The Arch-bishop disputed earnestly three days against it using divers Arguments to disswade passing the Act. Which were so remarkable for the Learning and Weight of them that the King required a Copy of them And though he was resolved not to alter his purpose of having this Act made yet he was not offended with the Arch-bishops freedom as knowing the Sincerity of the Man Even those in the House that dissented from him were greatly taken with the Gravity Eloquence and Learning he then shewed and particularly the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk Who told him so at his Table soon after being sent by the King to him to comfort him under his dejection for this Act with Crumwel and many other Lords The Papist Writers say he opposed it because himself was a Married Man and so it would touch him close But it is plain that there were other of these Six Articles which he utterly disliked And especially he abhorred the rigorous penalty of the Act. But hereupon he privately sent away his Wife into Germany among her Friends On this side also were beside the Arch-bishop the Bishops of Ely Sarum Worcester Rochester and St. Davids York Durham Winchester and Carlile went vigorously the other way Against the former the King himself argued with his Learning out of the Scriptures and would by all means prove these Articles thence The Parliament Men said little against this Bill but seemed all unanimous for it Neither did the Lord Chancellor Audley no nor the Lord Privy Seal
Year when Ridley was translated thither as we shall see by and by Indeed this was the most plausible Pretence the Papists had and which they made much use of Which Boner and Gardiner had cunningly invented viz. That though the King were to be obeyed and all were bound to submit to his Laws yet not to the Orders and Placits of his Counsellors who made what Innovations they pleased in his Name and were none of his Laws and that therefore things should remain in the State wherein the former King left them till the King now a Child came to Years of Discretion to make Laws himself This the Rebels in Devon made use of And this also the Lady Mary urged very boldly to the Lords of the Council for her incompliance with the Communion-Book and for continuance of the use of the Mass telling them in a Letter That she was resolved to remain obedient to her Father's Laws till the King her Brother should have perfect Years of Discretion to order that Power that God had given him Which Letter whereof I have the Original may be seen in the Appendix For the satisfying therefore of the People in this the Preachers were fain to do their Endeavours in the Pulpits Shewing them that those that were in Office under the King were by the Word of God to be obeyed as the King himself There be some Men that say as Latimer in one of his Sermons in these Days when the King's Majesty himself commandeth me so to do then I will do it not afore This is a wicked Saying and damnable For we may not so be excused Scripture is plain in it and sheweth us that we ought to obey his Officers having Authority from the King as well as unto the King himself Therefore this Excuse will not nor cannot serve afore God Yet let the Magistrates take heed to their Office and Duty This Year the Arch-bishop celebrated a great Ordination consisting of such chiefly as shewed themselves Favourers of the King's Proceedings to be sent abroad to preach the Gospel and to serve in the Ministry of the Church At this Ordination Bishop Ridley also assisted the Arch-bishop The old Popish Order of conferring of Holy Orders was yet in force the new Office as yet not being prepared and established But this Ordination nevertheless was celebrated after that Order that was soon after established At this Ordination great Favour was shewn and Connivance to such who otherwise being well qualified for Piety and Learning scrupled wearing the Habits used by the Popish Priests I meet with two famous Men now ordained The one was Robert Drakes who was Deacon to Dr. Tayler Parson of Hadley at the Commandment of Arch-bishop Cranmer afterwards Parson of Thundersley in Essex and in the Year 1556 burnt to death in Smithfield for his constant Profession of Christ's Religion The other was Thomas Sampson Parson of Breadstreet London and successively Dean of Chichester and Christ's-Church Oxon. Who in a Letter of his written to Secretary Cecyl in Q. Elizabeth's Reign said That at his Ordination he excepted against the Apparel and by the Arch-bishop and Bishop Ridley he was nevertheless permitted and admitted All the Divine Offices were now reformed but only that for Ordination of Ministers Therefore for the doing of this the Council appointed Twelve Learned Men consisting half of Bishops and half of other inferior Divines Whose Names I do not meet with excepting Hethe Bp of Worcester Who because he would not assist in this Work was sent to Prison The chief of them no doubt was the Arch-bishop After mature deliberation this Office was agreed upon and finished And Ponet was the first Bishop Consecrated after this new Form And that I suppose may be the reason that it is set down at length in the Arch-bishop's Register in that manner as it is there to be seen as we shall see under the next Year Upon the Vacancy of Cathedral Churches the Arch-bishop used to visit So now the Church of S. Davids being vacant upon the remove of Barlow to Bath and Wells the Arch-bishop issued out a Commission to Eliseus Price to visit that Church And upon the Vacancy of Glocester by the Death of Wakeman there was a Commission to I. Williams LL. D. and Prebendary there to be his Commissary and to visit that Church and to be Keeper of the Spiritualties of the City and Diocess of Glocester in this third Year of the King This Year also the Church of Norwich being become Vacant by the Resignation of Repps the Arch-bishop granted a Commission to Iohn Bishop Suffragan of Thetford and Dean of the Church of the Holy Trinity Norwich to be his Deputy and Commissary for Visitation and Jurisdiction But somewhat before this he constituted Roland Taylor LL.D. and Will. Wakefeld D. D. to be Keepers of the Spiritualties of Norwich From whose Jurisdiction he protested not to derogate by those his Commissional Letters to the Suffragan nor to withdraw from them any Authority of Jurisdiction This was dated February 15. Also the Church of London being Vacant by the Deprivation and Destitution of Boner the Arch-bishop constituted Gabriel Donne Residentiary of S. Pauls to be his Official and Keeper of the Spiritualties to exercise all manner of Episcopal Jurisdiction in the said City and Diocess This Year he made Griffin Leyson LL.D. Dean of the Arches CHAP. XII Duke of Somerset's Troubles The Common-Prayer Ratified WHEN most of the Council had combined together in the Month of October against the Protector of the King's Person the Duke of Somerset and had withdrawn themselves to Ely-House the King then being at Hampton-Court and suddenly conveyed by the said Duke to Windsor upon the fear of Tumult then I find the Arch-bishop and but two Privy-Counsellors more with the King and the Protector there Being here the good Arch-bishop though he would not forsake his Friend the Duke nor the King his Master yet he did what lay in him to appease and pacify these Heats And so he with the Lord Paget and Secretary Smith in their own and the King's Name wrote an earnest Letter to the Separating Counsellors and sent it by Sir Philip Hoby Wherein as appears by their Answer They were charged by the Arch-bishop with creating much Care and Sorrow to the King and that he thought they had not that Care that beseemed them of pacifying the present Uproars and for the preservation of the State from Danger That they forgat the Benefits they had received from the King's Father nor were mindful of their Duty of Allegiance That their Doings bespake Wilfulness and that the Protector meant nothing but the Safety and Protection of the King in what he had done and that he had that consideration of his Duty to God that the Promise and Oath he made required They were advised to do as they would be done unto And mention was made of Cruelty more than once charging
Notwithstanding this cleansing of the Church from Superstition and Idolatry and bringing in the Knowledg of the Gospel by the Arch-bishop's constant Pains and Study the People generally even the Professors themselves were bad enough as to their Morals and Religion had yet got but little hold of them A clear sight of the Behaviour of these Times may be seen by what Tho. Becon a Chaplain of Cranmer's writ in his Preface to a Book put forth in those Days What a nomber of fals Christians lyve ther at thys present day unto the excedynge dishonour of the Christen Profession which with theyr Mouth confesse that they know God but with theyr Dedes they utterly denye hym and are abhominable disobedient to the Word of God and utterlye estranged from al good Works What a swarm of grosse Gospellers have we also among us which can prattle of the Gospel very fynely talk much of the Justification of Faith crake very stoutly of the free remissyon of all theyr Sins by Christ's Blood avaunce themselves to be of the Number of those which are predestinate unto Eternal Glory But how far do theyr Life differ from al true Christianitie They are puffed up with al kynd of Pryde they swel with al kynd of Envy Malice Hatred and Enmity against theyr Neghbour they brenne with unquencheable Lusts of Carnal Concupiscence they walowe and tumble in al kynd of beastly Pleasures theyr gredy covetous Affects are insatiable thenlarging of theyr Lordshipps thencreasyng of theyr Substance the scrapyng together of theyr Worldly Possessions infynite and knoweth no End In fyne all theyr Endeavours tend unto thys End to shew themselves very Ethnycks and utterly estraunged from God in theyr Conversation although in Words they otherwise pretend As for theyr Almes-Dedes theyr Praying theyr Watchyng theyr Fastyng and such other Godly Exercises of the Spirit they are utterly banished from these rude and gross Gospellers All theyr Religion consisteth in Words and Disputations in Christen Acts and Godly Dedes nothyng at all These evil Manners of the Professors themselves looked with so sad a Face that it made the best Men assuredly expect a Change and woful Times to follow Septemb. 27. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to examine a Sect newly sprung up in Kent Whereof there was now a Book of Examinations sent him and to commune with a Man and a Woman the Informers bearers of the Letter who could inform him somewhat of the Matter And to take such order in the same according to the Commission that these Errors might not be suffered thus to overspread the King's Faithful Subjects What this Sect was appeareth not The Anabaptists were taken notice of and a Commission issued out against them some Years before These were Sectaries more new and whereof the Council very lately was informed It may be they were of the Family of Love or David George his Sect who made himself some-time Christ and some-time the Holy Ghost For a little before these Times divers Sects sprang up under the Profession of the Gospel in High and Low Germany some whereof dispersed themselves into England Which Sects began to do so much hurt to the Reformation among us that the Author before-mentioned laments it in these words What wicked and ungodly Opinions are there sown now-a-days of the Anabaptists Davidians Libertines and such other pestilent Sects in the Hearts of the People unto the great Disquietness of Christ's Church moving rather unto Sedition than unto pure Religion unto Heresy than unto things Godly The examination of this new Sect was one of the Businesses the Arch-bishop was employed in while he was in his Retirement at his House near Canterbury Another was the sitting upon a Commission to him and other Gentlemen of Kent for enquiry after such as had embezelled the Plate and Goods belonging to Chauntries c. given by the Parliament to the King and converting them to their own uses But this being somewhat an odious Work he was not very forward to enter upon especially because he thought whatsoever he and the other Commissioners should recover would be but swallowed up by the Duke of Northumberland and his Friends and the King be little the better But because he did not make more haste he was charged by his Enemies at Court as a neglecter of the King's Business Which cost him a Letter in excuse of himself to the said Duke signifying that he omitted this Business a while till the Gentlemen and Justices of Peace of Kent who where then mostly at London were come home Decemb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to the Arch-bishop to grant out a Warrant Ad Installandum for the Bishop of VVorcester and Glocester without paying any Fees for the same because he paid Fees for another Mandate which served to no purpose Febr. 20. An Order was sent to the Arch-bishop from the Council to examine the Vicar of Beden in the County of Berks according to an Information inclosed and to advertise the Lords of his Proceedings therein What this Vicar's Crime was I know not but I observe about these Times the Priests and Curats were very busy Men and would take liberty sometimes to speak against the King's Proceedings or his Arch-bishop with bitterness enough and sometimes to vent fond Opinions so that oftentimes they were fetched up to the Council-board and after an Appearance or two referred to the Arch-bishop to examine and punish as being Matters relating to Religion and so proper for his Cognizance About the latter end of this Year Thomas Sampson was preferred to the Deanery of Chichester having been Parson of Alhallowes-Bredstreet London February the 2 d A Letter was sent from the Privy-Council to the Arch-bishop to bestow the said Living upon Mr. Knox who was one of the King's Chaplains and in good esteem in the Court for his Gift of Preaching This Knox was the Man whose Name was so dashed in the King's Journal where the Names of the King 's six Chaplains were inserted that Bishop Burnet could not read it The Council bare a great favour to him as appears by those several Letters they wrote in his behalf One was mentioned before sent to the Arch-bishop for a Living in London but in that Knox succeeded not the Arch-bishop preferring Laurence Saunders afterwards a Martyr thereunto Knox being sent this Year into the North one of the King 's Itinerary Preachers a Warrant dated Octob. 27 was granted from the Council to four Gentlemen to pay to him his Majesty's Preacher in the North so he is stiled forty Pounds as his Majesty's Reward And again Decemb. 9 a Letter was sent from the Council to the Lord VVharton who was Lord VVarden in the Northern Borders in commendation of Mr. Knox. And the next Year viz. 1553 being returned out of the North and being then in Buckinghamshire that he might find the more acceptance and respect there the
one of the great Incendiaries was censured at Windsor For he and one Symons a Lawyer and Ockham that laid Traps for others were catch'd at length themselves They were Men that busied themselves in framing Indictments upon the six Articles against great Numbers of those that favoured or professed the Gospel and in sending them to Court to Winchester who was to prefer the Complaints to the Council The King being more and more informed of their base Conspiracies and disliking their bloody Dispositions commanded the Council should search into the Matters And so London and his Fellows being examined before the said Council were in the end found to be perjured in denying upon their Oaths what they had indeed done and was proved manifestly to their Faces Hereupon they were adjudged perjured Persons and appointed to ride through Windsor Reading and Newbery where they had done most Mischief with their Faces towards the Horse-Tail and a Paper upon their Heads declaring their Crime and to stand upon the Pillory in each of those Towns And that Punishment they underwent and then were sent to the Fleet. London not long after died there probably out of Shame and Sorrow This was the End of one of these Conspirators German Gardiner was a Year after hanged drawn and quartered as a Traitor for denying the King's Supremacy And the Bishop of Winchester after this never had Favour or Regard of the King more And Heywood another of the Crew of the Informers and Witnesses was condemned for Treason with Gardiner but making a Recantation his Life was spared CHAP. XXVIII The Arch-bishop falls into more Troubles AFter this the Arch-bishop received two terrible Shocks more if I am right in the placing them as I think I am though I leave Fox to follow Morice the Arch-bishop's Secretary in his Manuscript Declaration of the said Arch-bishop The former was a Complaint that was made openly against him in Parliament and the latter when the Lords of the Privy-Council accused him unto the King and required that he should be sent to the Tower Sir Iohn Gostwick a Knight for Bedforshire a Man of great Service in his Time but Papistical stood up in the House and laid to his Charge his Sermons and Lectures both at Sandwich and Canterbury containing as he said manifest Heresy against the Sacrament of the Altar Though it was much they should accuse him in that Point seeing he then held a Corporal Presence but it displeased them that it was after the Lutheran way rather than after theirs of Transubstantiation But the King perceived easily this proceeded of Malice for that he was a Stranger in Kent and had neither heard the Arch-bishop preach nor read there Knowing thereby that he was set on and made an Instrument to serve other Mens Purposes the King marvellously stormed at the Matter calling Gostwick openly Varlet and said That he had plaid a villanous part to abuse in open Parliament the Primate of the Realm especially being in Favour with his Prince as he was What will they do with him said he if I were gone Whereupon the King sent word unto Gostwick by one of his Privy-Chamber after this sort Tell the Varlet Gostwick That if he do not acknowledg his Fault unto my Lord of Canterbury and so reconcile himself towards him that he may become his good Lord I will soon both make him a poor Gostwick and otherwise punish him to the Example of others He wondred he said he could hear my Lord of Canterbury preaching out of Kent And that if he had been a Kentish-Man he might have had some more shadow to put up an Accusation against him Now Gostwick hearing of this grievous Threat came with all possible speed unto Lambeth and there submitted himself in such sorrowful case that my Lord out of hand not only forgave all his Offences but also went directly unto the King for the obtaining of the King's Favour which he obtained very hardly and upon condition that the King might hear no more of his meddling that way This happened I suppose in the Parliament that began in Ianuary and continued till March 29. 1544. The Arch-bishop's Palace at Canterbury was this Year burnt and therein his Brother-in-Law and other Men according to Stow. I find no Bishops Consecrated in this Year At length the Confederacy of the Papists in the Privy-Council whereof I suspect the Duke of Norfolk to be one a great Friend of Winchester's by whose Instigation this Design was set on Foot came and accused him most grievously unto the King That he with his Learned Men had so infected the whole Realm with their unsavoury Doctrine that three parts of the Land were become abominable Hereticks And that it might prove dangerous to the King being like to produce such Commotions and Uproars as were sprung up in Germany And therefore they desired that the Arch-bishop might be committed unto the Tower until he might be examined The King was very strait in granting this They told him That the Arch-bishop being one of the Privy-Council no Man dared to object Matter against him unless he were first committed to durance Which being done Men would be bold to tell the Truth and say their Consciences Upon this Pâ—rswasion of theirs the King granted unto them that they should call him the next Day before them and as they saw cause so to commit him to the Tower At Midnight about Eleven of the Clock before the Day he should appear before the Council the King sent Mr. Denny to my Lord at Lambeth willing him incontinently to come over to VVestminster to him The Arch-bishop was in Bed but rose straitway and repaired to the King whom he found in the Gallery at VVhitehall Being come the King declared unto him what he had done in giving Liberty to the Council to commit him to Prison for that they bare him in hand that he and his learned Men had sown such Doctrine in the Realm that all Men almost were infected with Heresy and that no Man durst bring Matter against him being at Liberty and one of the Council And therefore I have granted to their Request said the King but whether I have done well or no what say you my Lord The Arch-bishop first humbly thanked the King that it had pleased him to give him that warning before-hand And that he was very well content to be committed to the Tower for the trial of his Doctrine so that he might be indifferently heard as he doubted not but that his Majesty would see him so to be used Whereat the King cried out O Lord God what fond Simplicity have you so to permit your self to be imprisoned that every Enemy of yours may take Advantage against you Do not you know that when they have you once in Prison three or four false Knaves will soon be procured to witness against you and condemn you which else now being at Liberty dare not once open their Lips or appear before
is but a Ceremony If it be wanting that King is yet a perfect Monarch notwithstanding and God's Anoined as well as if he was inoiled Now for the Person or Bishop that doth anoint a King it is proper to be done by the chiefest But if they cannot or will not any Bishop may perform this Ceremony To condition with Monarchs upon these Ceremonies the Bishop of Rome or other Bishops owning his Supremacy hath no Authority but he may faithfully declare what God requires at the Hands of Kings and Rulers that is Religion and Vertue Therefore not from the Bishop of Rome but as a Messenger from my Saviour Iesus Christ I shall most humbly admonish your Royal Majesty what Things your Highness is to perform Your Majesty is God's Vicegerent and Christ's Vicar within your own Dominions and to see with your Predecessor Iosias God truly worshipped and Idolatry destroyed the Tyranny of the Bishops of Rome banished from your Subjects and Images removed These Acts be Signs of a second Iosias who reformed the Church of God in his Days You are to reward Vertue to revenge Sin to justify the Innocent to relieve the Poor to procure Peace to repress Violence and to execute Justice throughout your Realms For Precedents on those Kings who performed not these Things the Old Law shews how the Lord revenged his Quarrel and on those Kings who fulfilled these things he poured forth his Blessings in abundance For Example it is written of Iosiah in the Book of the Kings thus Like unto him there was no King that turned to the Lord with all his Heart according to all the Law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him This was to that Prince a perpetual Fame of Dignity to remain to the End of Days Being bound by my Function to lay these Things before your Royal Highness the one as a Reward if you fulfil the other as a Judgment from God if you neglect them Yet I openly declare before the living God and before these Nobles of the Land that I have no Commission to denounce your Majesty deprived if your Highness miss in part or in whole of these Performances Much less to draw up Indentures between God and your Majesty or to say you forfeit your Crown with a Clause for the Bishop of Rome as have been done by your Majesty's Predecessors King Iohn and his Son Henry of this Land The Almighty God of his Mercy let the Light of his Countenance shine upon your Majesty grant you a prosperous and happy Reign defend you and save you and let your Subjects say Amen God save the King I find no Bishop Consecrated this Year CHAP. II. A Royal Visitation BY these and other pious Instigations of the Arch-bishop who was of high esteem with the King he began early to think of the Church and to take care about rectifying the Disorders of its Members For about April there was a Royal Visitation resolved upon all England over for the better Reformation of Religion And accordingly in the beginning of May Letters were issued out from the King to the Arch-bishops that they and all their Fellow-Bishops should forbear their Visitations as was usually done in all Royal and Archiepiscopal Visitations And it was enjoined that no Ministers should preach in any Churches but in their own In a Volume in the Cotton Library there be extant the King's Letters to Robert Arch-bishop of York relating to this Visitation signed by our Arch-bishop the Duke of Somerset the Protector and his Brother Sir Thomas Seymour the Lord Russel Favourers of the Reformation the Lord St. Iohns Petres the Secretary who went along with it Gage Controuler of the Houshold and Baker Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations back-back-Friends to it I do not set down the Letter it self because the Bishop of Sarum hath already published it in his History Very worthy sober and learned Men were appointed for Visitors both of the Laity and Clergy And there was a Book of Injunctions prepared whereby the King 's Visitors were to govern their Visitation The Original of which Book of Injunctions is extant in Benet-College Library There I have seen them being signed by Thomas Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Duke of Somerset Sir Thomas Seymour and divers others of the Privy-Council but no Bishop save Cranmer only he being I suppose the only Bishop then a Privy-Counsellor and now often appearing in the Council for the better forwarding of Religion These Injunctions are printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collection and briefly epitomized in the History of the Reformation The Persons nominated for this present Employment were these as I find them set down in a Manuscript formerly belonging to Arch-bishop Parker but now in the Benet-College Library Where you may observe the Visitors were divided into six Sets and to each Set were apportioned particular Counties and a Preacher and a Register in this exact Method following Visitors Added by ABp Parker Counties visited Dean of Westminster Boston York Sir Iohn Herseley Kt.  Durysme Nicholas Ridley Preacher  Carlyll Edward Plankney Register  Chester Sir Anthony Coke Kt.  Westminster Sir Iohn Godsalve Kt.   Dr. Christopher Nevison The Elder London Iohn Gosnold A Lawyer  Dr. Madewe Preacher  Norwich Peter Lylly Register  Ely Sir Iohn Hales Kt.  Rochester Sir Iohn Mason Kt.   Sir Anthony Cope Kt.  Canterbury Dr. Cave A Lawyer  Mr. Briggs Preacher Once of Pembroke Chichester Rafe Morice Register  Winchester Dean of Pauls Dr. May. Sarisbury Dean of Exeter Dr. Hains Exeter Sir Walter Buckler Kt.  Bath Mr. Cotisford Preacher  Bristow Iohn Redman Register Of Haslingfeld Glocester Dean of Lincoln Dr. Taylor Peterburgh Dr. Rowland Taylor  Lincoln Mr. Iohn Ioseph Once of Canterbury Oxford  a Friar Coventry Iohn Old Register  Litchfeld Mr. Morison Once Husband to the Earl of Rutland's Wife Worcester  Hereford Mr. Syddel  Landaff Mr. Ferrowr Preacher After L. Bishop of S. Davids S. Davids George Constantine Register  Bangor Hue Rawlins Preacher in the Welch Tongue  S. Asse Where we may observe that in every Company of Visitors was joined one Preacher or more whose Business in the respective Circuits was to preach to the People to dehort them from the superstitious use of Beads and such-like Things and to learn them to worship God truly in Heart and Mind and to obey the Prince The Method which these Commissioners used in their Visitation as we collect from what was done at S. Pauls London was this They summoned the Bishop and the Members of each Cathedral and first sware them to renounce the Bishop of Rome and to the King's Supremacy and then that they should present all things in their Church and Diocess needful to be reformed Then certain Interrogatories and Articles of Enquiry were read to them by the Register To perform which an Oath was administred to
Ely By the way one might enquire why he resorted not rather to his Friend and Patron the Arch-bishop of Canterbury But the reason may soon be guessed namely That after the Fall of Somerset the Arch-bishop's good Friend he came not so often to Court or transacted Business there unless sent for knowing his Interest likewise to be but little with the Duke of Northùmberland who now bare all the Sway and who had a jealous Eye of him as he had of all Somerset's Friends And so the Arch-bishop might have rather hindred than forwarded A Lasco's Business if he had appeared in it But this en passent The Chancellor gently received A Lasco and dismissing him sent him to Secretary Cecyl with this Message to get him to propound the Business the next Day in the Afternoon at the Council-Board when himself should be there promising him likewise that he would be assistant to him in procuring him a Warrant in Writing to be directed to all Ministers and Church-wardens of the Parishes of Southwark and S. Katharines that for the time to come the Strangers of this Congregation should receive no Molestation in that regard any more Accordingly A Lasco the next Morning sent one of the Elders of his Church to Cecyl with his Letter excusing himself that he came not being grievously afflicted with a Pain in his Head Therein he acquainted him with the Sum of his Conference with the Lord Chancellor adding that the obtaining such a Warrant would be necessary for them to produce and shew to such as at that present did annoy them and to be hereafter kept by the Church That they might not be forced at other times upon the like Occasions to create new trouble to the King's Council or himself in suing for new Warrants of that Nature Meaning hereby to put the Secretary upon drawing this up the more formally and substantially And so intreating him to hear what the Elder had to say and to dispatch him he took his leave This Letter also is inserted in the Appendix The Superintendency of A Lasco seemed to extend not only to this particular Congregation of Germans but over all the other Churches of Foreigners set up in London as also over their Schools of Learning and Education They were all subject to his Inspection and within his Jurisdiction And Melancthon in an Epistle to him in the Month of Septemb. 1551. speaks of the Purity of Doctrine in his Churches His Condition now as to worldly Circumstances began to be so good that he was able to relieve and succour such Learned Foreigners as should retire hither For when one Nicolas Forst a Learned and grave Man who had lived long in the University of Lovain and had spent some time with Melancthon was minded for the sake of Religion to convey himself into England he recommended him earnestly to the Superintendent as a Person fit to teach in his Churches and Schools and that he would friendly entertain him as an Exile for the same Cause himself was and find him some little Nest to remain in Nay and the said Melancthon himself had some thoughts of sheltering himself under A Lasco here as appears by the forementioned Letter wherein he stiles him his Patron For the Superscription of his Letter is thus Illustri Magnifico ac Reverendo Viro Nobilitate generis Virtute Sapientia praestanti Dn. Iohanni a Lasco Patrono suo colendo So much of Deference and Honour did Learned and Pious Men then use to give him In this Letter Melancthon told him that the Calamities of the Churches were great and that he himself expected Banishment and might probably in a short time arrive where he was And in respect of his hospitable reception of Strangers he told him that he believed he did often remember that saying of the exiled Queen Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Nor was A Lasco any ways unfurnished for this Spiritual Government being a Man of good Learning and of great Piety Strictness and Gravity from his younger Age and of whom the great Erasmus himself acknowledged that he learned much For in his Epistle to Iohannes a Lasco the Arch-bishop of Gnesne who was Namesake and Unckle to our Superintendent he speaks thus of his Nephew That he was but Young yet Grave beyond his Years and that he himself accounted it none of the least parts of his Happiness that he happened to have his Converse and Society for some Months praising the Endowments that God had given him And particularly concerning the Benefits he received by him he could not but confess Senex juvenis convictu factus sum melior ac sobrietatem temperantiam verecundiam linguae moderationem modestiam pudicitiam integritatem quam juvenis a sene discere debuerat a juvene senex didici That by the Conversation of that young Man he an old Man became better and that Sobriety Temperance Awfulness government of the Tongue Modesty Chastity Integrity which the Young ought to learn of the Old he an old Man had learned of a Young This he wrote in August 1527 soon after A Lasco was gone from him And in Iune the same Year while he resided with him in another Letter to Leonard Cox a Learned English Man he signified the great complacency he took in his Company Iohannis a Lasco tale sum expertus ingenium ut vel hoc uno amico mihi videar satis beatus That he had found A Lasco's Parts to be such that he seemed happy enough in his single Friendship And this good Understanding continued between them as long as Erasmus lived For A Lasco seems to have been with him in his last Sickness when as the last Token of Erasmus's esteem of him he made a purchase to him of his own Library that incomparable Treasure if we may believe the Author of his Life in English A Lasco thought not the Clergy obliged to Celibacy or single Life for he himself was a married Man Who his Wife was I know not but as for her Qualities she was in all probability a pious and discreet Woman whereby she gained a great share in his Affections He stiled her The other part of himself But in August 1552. God deprived him of her Which Stroke put him for some time under much sadness and indisposition both of Mind and Body as appears by one of his Letters He was alive at the Accession of Q. Elizabeth to the English Throne And though he came not back then to England again whence he departed upon K. Edward's Death yet according to that great Interest he had here with the most eminent Persons and even the Queen her self he neglected not by his Letters to promote the Reformation and to give his grave Counsel in order thereunto And Zanchy Publick Professor at Stratsburgh knowing the sway he bare here in a Letter to him in the Year 1558 or 59 excited him in these words Non
with Threatnings and so compelled them to deliver the Clothes that they had made to him though they had by mere Necessity been forced before to pawn them He had also by his Importunity and Fraud got the Grant of the Park from them though he knew the Duke had fully purposed and intended it for their Use for the necessary Maintenance of themselves and Families Things being in this ill Condition with them and Somerset no longer able to befriend them they were glad to apply again to those above Pollanus therefore in their behalf petitioned the Lords of the Council to take their declining State into their consideration and to carry on that good Work the Duke of Somerset had begun He did also ply the Secretary to further their Petition who was indeed of his own accord their most hearty Friend and laboured particularly with all earnestness imaginable both by Word of Mouth and by divers Letters to get the Factory discharged of Cornish urging that the Weavers had never found the least grain of Integrity Justice or Candour in him This Man was now very industrious and busy at Court to get himself continued in his Office which the Strangers understanding were as diligent to get themselves delivered of him The Superintendent had but a little before dispatched to the Secretary one Peter Wolf a good Man and a great Sufferer a Brabanter by Nation to relate the evil Deeds of this Man and now again he dispatched Stephen Le Provost a Deacon of his Church with another Message to the same import to the said Secretary Telling him That those who were to be set over others ought themselves in the first place to be Honest and Just but especially they ought to be so in the highest degree that were to be placed over such Good Men and who were Exiles only for the sake of Christ Unless any could be willing that such upright Men should be undone and that those very considerable Advantages that were likely to accrue to the Common-wealth by them should be diverted to some other Place or Country That they could not enough wonder with what forehead this Man should attempt this thing after he had so plainly betrayed his base Treachery and Ill-will towards them and could not but know how very hardly they could away with him and who were going to sue to the Duke for that which they now desired That himself was sollicited by the Prayers of those Good Men to write this to him that he would be their Advocate with the Lords in this behalf The Result was That the Lords consented to uphold and encourage them And sent down their Letters to the Overseers of this Manufacture and to the chief Officers of the Town Powis one of the King's Servants and Hyet the chief Magistrate and others to examine into the present State of these Strangers and to give them in writing an Account thereof These Letters the Superintendent delivered to them and one Clark a Justice of Peace was then present Who being a Gentleman and a Scholar that understood both French and Latin did out of his good Will to them interpret to the rest Pollanus's Petition to the Lords of the Council and the Contents of their Contract with the Duke of Somerset and other Matters relating to this Business that so they might be the better acquainted with their Affairs and it might appear there were no Neglects or Breaches of Covenants on the Strangers parts And so Letters were dispatched back to the Lords from the Overseers signifying how they had examined the Affairs of these Strangers and had found all things Fair and Just on their side mentioning likewise what considerable Commodity they hoped for by them and likewise from the chief of the Town to the same import Speedily upon this Orders came down from the Lords to certain Gentlemen of the Town and Neighbourhood whereof one Dyer was one a Person of good Religion and their cordial Friend commissionating them to set this Manufacture forward and to take care the Undertakers might be relieved in what they needed according to their former Contract with the Duke So they obtained the use of the Park for the running of threescore Head of Kine till other Pasture were provided them Thirty Houses were ordered to be forthwith repaired and fitted up for them And Money was paid sufficient for the clearing them of their Debts These Gentlemen had also assigned them a stated Provision of Money for the future but it was too scanty the Allowance that they had proportioned them for two Months would scarcely hold out for five Weeks Nor was any Wool at all bought for their use though their Stock was almost at an end and then their Work must stand still for want thereof having no Money themselves to purchase more and to take it up upon Credit would enhance the price thereof For one Crowch had demanded of them thirty two Shillings for Wool when they could buy it of their Neighbours for four and twenty had they Money Their only hope was in Dyer who promised them Wool at a far more reasonable rate and kindly offered them a long Day of paiment for it without consideration for forbearance their Doubt only was whether his Wool was proper for their Use. But the Interest of Cornish was such that he was continued by the Lords in his Office over these Tradesmen and enjoyed a part of the Park to himself These things were transacted in the Month of November Anno 1551 which was the Month after the Duke's Commitment In all this Affair Pollanus was very much employed taking a great deal of Pains in settling this Trade For he took many Journeys between Glastenbury and the Court and was as himself wrote at incredible Expences and in fifteen Months space received not an Half-penny though he had a large Family to maintain The Office also of surveying the Reparation of the Houses lay upon him And fearing the Lords of the Council might be displeased at the greatness of the Charge they had been at already in the Repairs and the little Profit that as yet arose to quit the Cost he entreated the Secretary that he would bear up their Reputation with the Lords telling him That he doubted not that the Project would hereafter redound much to their own Praise by reason of the very great Emolument that all Men should perceive would come to the Realm thereby within three Years God prospering them as he had begun â—o do And for himself all he desired was that for all his Charge and Trouble he might obtain a Stipend of fifty Pounds to be settled upon him The Letters of Valerandus Pollanus being three in number I have inserted in the Appendix I acknowledg that many of these things I have related concerning this Business may seem too little and minute for an Historian to take notice of But I was loth any Particulars of so remarkable a Design should be lost which
true Interpretation of certain Places out of the Fathers which Gardiner and his Companions brought for themselves and their Errors After this Defence followed another by the same Author printed in the same Town of Zurick against two Books of Dr. Rich. Smith concerning the single Life of Priests and Monastick Vows which he wrote at Lovain against Martyr For when Martyr had read at Oxford upon 1 Corinthians Chap. vii where the Apostle speaks much of Virginity and Matrimony the Notes of which Readings Smith had very diligently taken being constantly present at them from thence he composed two Books not so strong as malicious Of the Celibacy of Priests and of Vows designing thereby to confute Martyr's Arguments Which he therefore thought fit to vindicate In this Book he not only answered Smith's Arguments but whatever else he could meet with upon that Subject But it was thought to be a very improper Undertaking and proved cause of Mirth that so filthy a Fellow as Smith was known to be and once taken in the Act of Adultery should write a Book of Priestly Chastity Which occasioned these Verses made by Laur. Humfrey Haud satis affabrè tractans fabrilia Smithus Librum de vita caelibe composuit c. Dúmque pudicitiam dum vota monastica laudat Stuprat sacra notans foedera conjugii CHAP. XXVI The Duke of Somerset's Death New Bishops THE Arch-bishop of Canterbury this Year lost the Duke of Somerset whom he much valued and who had been a great Assistant to him in the Reformation of the Church and a true Friend to it His violent Death exceedingly grieved the good Arch-bishop both because he knew it would prove a great Let to Religion and was brought about by evil Men to the shedding of Innocent Blood for the furthering the Ends of Ambition and begat in him Fears and Jealousies of the King's Life It is very remarkable what I meet with in one of my Manuscripts There was a Woman somewhat before the last apprehension of the Duke Wife of one Woocock of Pool in Dorsetshire that gave out that there was a Voice that followed her which sounded these words always in her Ears He whom the King did best trust should deceive him and work Treason against him After she had a good while reported this Sir William Barkley who married the Lord Treasurer Winchester's Daughter sent her up to London to the Council with two of his Servants She was not long there but without acquainting the Duke of Somerset whom it seemed most to concern he being the Person whom the King most trusted was sent home again with her Purse full of Money And after her coming home She was more busy in that talk than before So that She came to a Market-Town called Wimborn four Miles from Pool where she reported that the Voice continued following her as before This looked by the Circumstances like a practice of some Popish Priests accustomed to dealing in such Frauds to make the World the more inclinable to believe the Guilt of the good Duke which Somerset's Enemies were now framing against him And so some of the Wiser Sort thereabouts did seem to think For there were two Merchants of Pool that heard her and took a Note of her Words and came to the House of Hancock Minister of Pool who was known to the Duke counselling him to certify my Lord of her Which Hancock accordingly did and came to Sion where the Duke then was and told him of the Words He added Whom the King doth best trust we do not know but that all the King 's loving Subjects did think that his Grace was most worthy to be best trusted and that his Grace had been in Trouble and that all the King 's Loving Subjects did pray for his Grace to the Almighty to preserve him that he might never come in the like trouble again Then the Duke asked him whether he had a Note of the Words Which when he had received from Hancock he said to him suspecting the Plot Ah! Sirrah this is strange that these things should come before the Councellors and I not hear of it I am of the Council also He asked Hancock Before whom of the Council this matter was brought Who replied He knew not certain but as he supposed The Duke asked him Whom he supposed He answered Before the Lord Treasurer because his Son-in-Law Sir W. Barkley sent her up The Duke subjoyned It was like to be so This was three weeks before his last Apprehension This I extract out of Mr. Hancock's own Narration of himself and and his Troubles to which he added That at his first apprehension the report was that the Duke what time as he was fetch'd out of Windsor-Castle having the King by the Hand should say It is not I that they shoot at This is the Mark that they shoot at meaning the King Which by the Sequel proved too true For that good Godly and vertuous Prince lived not long after the Death of that good Duke Indeed it seemed to have been a Plot of the Papists and the Bishop of Winchester at the Bottom of it This is certain when in October 1549. the Duke was brought to the Tower the Bishop was then born in hand he should be set at Liberty Of which he had such Confidence that he prepared himself new Apparel against the Time he should come out thinking verily to have come abroad within eight or ten Days But finding himself disappointed he wrote an expostulatory Letter to the Lords within a Month after to put them in remembrance as Stow writes The Articles that were drawn up against the Duke upon his second Apprehension and Trial were in number Twenty which I shall not repeat here as I might out of a Manuscript thereof because they may be seen in Fox But I do observe one of the Articles is not printed in his Book namely the Tenth which ran thus Also you are charged that you have divers and many times both openly and privately said and affirmed That the Nobles and Gentlemen were the only Causes of the Dearth of things whereby the People rose and did reform things themselves Whence it appears that one Cause of the hatred of the Nobility and Gentry against him was because he spake against their Debauches and Excesses Covetousness and Oppressions But that which I chiefly observe here is that the draught of these Articles which I have seen were made by Bp Gardiner being his very Hand unless I am much mistaken So that he I suppose was privately dealt with and consulted being then a Prisoner in the Tower to be a Party in assisting and carrying on this direful Plot against the Duke to take away his Life Notwithstanding his outward Friendship and fair Correspondence in Letters with the said Duke But Gardiner was looked upon to be a good Manager of Accusations and he was ready enough to be employed here that he might put to his Hand in taking off one
I meet with one Morice a â—an of Worship that was much acquainted with and very well affected towards Mr. Hugh Latimer whom the said Reverend Father called His trusty Friend When he was Parson of West-Kingston in Wiltshire the Priests at Bristol and thereabouts had combined against him and accusing him in several Articles which they had maliciously and falsly collected out of his Sermons got him convented before Warham Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Stokesly Bishop of London By them he was detained a great while and underwent many an Examination While he was in these his Troubles Morice whom I suspect to be either this Ralph or his Father wrote a kind Letter to him to comfort him To which Latimer gives an Answer wherein he explains at large to him the Reasons of his Troubles thanking him for this Kindness as well as for others heretofore shewn him and for which he prayed God to reward him CHAP. XXX A Prospect of the Arch-bishop's Qualities THERE is an Original Writing of this Morice's Hand preserved in the Benet-Library intitled A Declaration c. Which he drew out for the Use and by the Command of Arch-bishop Parker Wherein divers remarkable Passages of this Arch-bishop not yet mentioned are set down and particularly he is herein vindicated from one thing which to this Day he is by some blamed for namely for Alienations and long Leases of the Revenues of the See granted to the King and others A great part therefore of this I shall here transcribe He was of such temperance of Nature or rather so mortified that no manner of Prosperity or Adversity could alter or change his accustomed Conditions For were the Storms never so terrible or odious or the prosperous State of the Times never so pleasant joyous or acceptable to the Face of the World his Countenance Diet or Sleep commonly never altered or changed So that they which were most near and conversant about him never or seldom perceived by any Sign or Token of Countenance how the Affairs of the Prince or Realm went Notwithstanding privately with his secret and special Friends he would shed forth many bitter Tears lamenting the Miseries and Calamities of the World Again He so behaved himself to the whole World that in no manner of Condition he would seem to have any Enemy although in very â—eed he had both many great and secret Enemies whom he always bare with such Countenance and Benevolence that they could never take good opportunity to practise their Malice against him but to their great displeasure and hindrance in the End And as concerning his own regard towards Slanders and Reproach by any Man to him imputed or impinged such as intirely knew him can testify that very little he esteemed or regarded the Bruit thereof because he altogether travailed evermore from giving of just occasion of Detraction Whereupon grew and proceeded that notable Quality or Vertue he had to be beneficial unto his Enemies So that in that respect he would not be acknown to have any Enemy at all For whosoever he had been that had reported evil of him or otherwise wrought to do him displeasure were the Reconciliation never so mean or simple on the behalf of his Adversary if he had any thing at all relented the Matter was both pardoned and clearly forgotten and so voluntarily cast into the Satchel of Oblivion behind the back Parts That it was more clear now out of his Memory than it was in his Mind before it was either commenced or committed Insomuch that if any such Person should have had any Suit unto him afterward he might well reckon and be as sure to obtain if by any means he might lawfully do it as any other of his special Friends So that on a Time I do remember that Dr. Hethe late Arch-bishop of York partly misliking this his over-much Lenity by him used said unto him My Lord I now know how to win all things at your Hand well enough How so quoth my Lord Marry saith Dr. Hethe I perceive that I must first attempt to do unto you some notable Displeasure and then by a little relenting obtain of you what I can desire Whereat my Lord bit his Lip as his manner was when he was moved and said You say well but yet you may be deceived Howbeit having some consideration so to do I may not alter my Mind and accustomed Condition as some would have me to do Again One thing he commonly used wherein many did discommend him Which was this He always bare a good Face and Countenance unto the Papists and would both in Word and Deed do very much for them pardoning their Offences and on the other side somewhat over-severe against the Protestants Which being perceived not to be done but upon some Purpose on a Time a Friend of his declared unto him that he therein did very much harm encouraging thereby the Papists and also thereby discouraging the Protestants Wherunto he made this Answer and said What will ye have a Man do to him that is not yet come to the knowledg of the Truth of the Gospel nor perchance as yet Called and whose Vocation is to me uncertain Shall we perhaps in his Journey coming towards us by Severity and cruel Behaviour overthrow him and as it were in his Voiage stop him I take not this the way to allure Men to embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel And if it be a true Rule of our Saviour Christ to do Good for Evil then let such as are not yet come to favour our Religion learn to follow the Doctrine of the Gospel by our Example in using them friendly and charitably On the other side such as have tasted of sincere Religion and as it were taken hold of the Gospel and seem in Words to maintain the true Doctrine thereof and then by the evil Example of their Lives most perniciously become Stumbling-blocks unto such as are weak and not at all as yet entred into the Viage what would you have me do with them Bear with them and wink at their Faults and so willingly suffer the Gospel by their outragious doings to be trodden under Feet Using herewith another notable Saying of our Saviour out of our Memory which saith The Servant knowing his Lord and Master's Pleasure and Commandment if he regardeth not the same is as a Man might say of all others worthy of many Plagues And thus with these two Scriptures or Doctrines of our Saviour Christ he answered mine Eldest Brother who was earnest with him for his Amendment of this Quality Mr. Isaac yet living is a Witness of the same Again If there were any Matter of Weight besides his own Cause wherein evermore with all kinds of Persons he was ready to relent and give place according to the Quality of the Matter more than became his State which touched God percase or his Prince there was no Man more stout or more inexorable So far forth that neither fear of
It was Sir Thomas Cheyny who in the Year 1549 was one of those that met with Warwick in London and published a Proclamation against the Arch-bishop's Friend the Duke of Somerset as a Traitor Which might be an occasion that the Arch-bishop did not much affect Cheyny nor Cheyny the Arch-bishop Concerning this Difference between them which it seems was taken notice of at Court when his true Friend Cecyl had wrote to him advising a Reconciliation he gave this Christian and meek Answer from his House at Ford That there was no Man more loth to be in Contention with any Man than he was especially with him who was his near Neighbour dwelling both in one County and whose familiar and entire Friendship he most desired and that for the Quietness of the whole County Adding That the Examples of the Rulers and Heads would the People and Members follow His Peaceableness also appeared in his hearty Desires of the Publick Peace as well as Private When upon occasion of hearing of the Wars that were about the Year 1552 eagerly followed both in Christendom and out of it he used these words The Sophy and the Turk the Emperor and the French King not much better in Religion than they such it seems was his Censure of them by reason of the Cruelty and Persecution they exercised and the Disturbances they made in the World rolling the Stone or turning the Wheel of Fortune up and down I pray God send us Peace and Quietness with all Realms as well as among our selves But though he were of so quiet and mild a Spirit yet being a plain down-right Man he would never learn the Arts of Flattery and base Compliances with them that were uppermost Which had like to have created him much trouble from Northumberland to whom he carried not himself with that Deference and Pleasingness as he expected For Cranmer knew the bad Heart of this haughty Man and could not forget the ill Measure his Friend the Duke of Somerset had found at his Hands He did not care to make any Application to him nor to be an Instrument in forwarding any of his designing Business When he was to write up to some of the Court concerning Reiner Wolf I suppose for Licence to print the Articles of Religion Anno 1552 he desired to take Cecyl's Advice to whom he should write For I know not saith he to whom to write but my Lord of Northumberland to whom to make any Address he would fain have avoided if he could There was about the Year 1552 a Commission issued out for a strict Enquiry to be made after all such as had defrauded the King of any Goods or Treasure accruing to him by the suppression of Chauntries or that belonged to Churches Now this was done by Northumberland and his Creatures on purpose that it might light heavy upon Somerset's Friends who had been the chief Visitors in those Affairs and had many of them been supposed to have enriched themselves thereby Commissioners were appointed in each County In Kent the Commission was directed to the Arch-bishop and to several other Gentlemen and Justices of Peace The Arch-bishop perceiving well the Spite and Malice of this Commission acted very slowly in it Insomuch that Northumberland began to be highly angry with him Cecyl observing it and having ever a great Veneration for that good Man and fearing he might feel the Effects of his Fury writ to him signifying Northumberland's Displeasure and giving him Advice to take heed of him For which the Arch-bishop thanked him and prudently writ his Excusatory Letter to that Duke dated November â—0 signifying That the Cause of his Stay of the Commission was because he was alone and that the Gentlemen and Justices of Peace who were in Commission with him were then at London probably because of the Term before whose coming Home if he should proceed without them he might as he said travel in vain and take more Pains than he should do good And by such soft but honest words mollifying him for the Procrastination of that which he had no mind to meddle in But not long after he and Ridley Bishop of London with him fell under great Displeasure with this Duke and the rest of the great Men of his Party who in the latter end of King Edward's Reign governed all The Reason whereof was for opposing as much as they could though to no effect the Spoil of the Church-Goods which were taken away only by a Commandment of the Higher Powers without Request or Consent of them to whom they did belong as Ridley himself relates in his Treatise wherein he lamented the Change of Religion in England Which indeed was more than ever Henry VIII had done Add to the rest that our Bishop was of a bold and undaunted Courage in the Cause of God and his Church It was a brave and generous Act and worthy the chief Bishop of the English Church I mean that publick Challenge which he made to maintain the Common-Prayer Book and the other parts of the Reformation by the Scripture and Fathers in open Disputation against whomsoever if the Queen so pleased to permit it Which was done by him soon after the Queen's coming to the Throne And had he not been prevented by others who dispersed Copies of this Challenge without his knowledg it had been made very solemnly as he freely told the Queen's Council by fixing this his Declaration on the Doors of S. Pauls and other Churches with his Hand and Seal to it And his Courage herein appeared the greater because he was at this very Time under a Cloud and in great Danger having some time before now been convented before the Council and confined to Lambeth And whosoever shall consider that good Progress that by his Means was made in Religion not only in King Edward's Reign but even in that of King Henry under the Discouragements of antiently-rivited Superstition and Idolatry and withal shall ponder the haughty Nature of that Prince of so difficult Address and so addicted to the old Religion and how dangerous it was to dissent from him or to attempt to draw him off from his own Perswasions cannot but judg Cranmer to have been of a very bold Spirit to venture so far as he did And undoubtedly his Courage went an equal pace with his Wisdom and Discretion and was no whit inferior to his other excellent Qualifications And this I say the rather to vindicate the Memory of this most Reverend Prelat from an unworthy Reflection made upon him in a trisling Account of his Life Wherein he is charged to be Of too easy and flexible a Disposition which made him cowardly to comply with the Church of Rome And that though he never did any harm to the Protestants yet he did not unto them so much good as he might or ought For the confutation of which I appeal to numberless Passages which I have written of him But
rather the way of superfluous contention and sophistication Hitherto have I recited the mind of Gregory Nazianzen in that book which I spake of before The same Aucthor saith also in another place that the Learning of a Christian man ought to begin of the fear of God to end in matters of high speculation and not contrarily to begin with speculation and to end in fear For Speculation saith hee either high cunning or knowledg if it be not stayd with the bridle of â—ea to oâ—â—end God is daungerous and enough to tumble a man 〈◊〉 down the hill Therefore saith hee the fear of God must be the first beginning and as it were an A. B. C. or an introduction to all them that shall enter into the very true and most fruitful knowledg of holy Scriptures Whereas is the fear of God there is saith â—ee tâ—e keeping of the Commandments there is the cleansing of the flesh Which flesh is a cloud before the Souls ey and suffereth iâ— not purely to see the beam of heavenly light Whereas is the cleansing of the flesh there is the illumination of the holy Ghost the end of al our dâ—â—ires and the very light whereby the verity of Scriptures is seâ—n and perceived This is the mind and almost the words of Gregory Nâ—ziaâ—zen Doctor of the Greâ—k Church of whom S. Ierome saith that unto his time the Lâ—tine church had no Writer able to bee compared and to make an even match with him Therefore to conclude this Latter part Every man that cometh to the reading of this holâ— book ought to bring with him first and foremost this feat of Almighty God and then next a firm and stable purpose to reform his own self according thereunto and so to continue proceed and prosper from tâ—â—e to time shewing himself to bee a sober and fruitful hearer and learner Which if hee do hee shall prove at length wel able to teach though not with his mouth yet with his Living and good example which is sure the most lively and affectuous form and manner of teaching Hee that otherwise intermedleth with this book â—et him be assured that once hee shal make account therefore when hee shal have said to him as it is written in the Prophet David Peccatori dicit Deus c. Vnto the ungodly said God why dost thou preach my Laâ—es and takest my Testament in thy mouth Whereas 〈…〉 to bee reformed and hast been partakers with adulterers Thoâ— hast lâ—t thy mouth speak wickedness and with thy tongue thou hast set forth decâ—â—pt Thou sattest and spakest against thy brother and hast slandered thine own Mothers son These things hast thou done and I held my tongue and thou thoughtest wickedly that I am even such an one as thee self but I wil reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done O consider this yee that forget God lest I pluck you away and there bee none to deliver you Whoso offereth mee thanks and praise hee honoureâ—â— mee and to him that ordereth his conversation right wil I shew the Salvation of God Praise bee to God NUM CV Bucer and others Learned strangers from Lambeth to Cecyl to prefer the Petition of some poor French Protestants to the Protector Clarissimo Viro Domino Sicilio illustrissimi Principis Protectoris Angliae à Secretis Domino amico summopere Colendo Charissimo GRatiam benedictionem Domini nostri Iesu Christi augeri tibi precamur Vir ornatissime religiosissime Cum summa fide studio ministrare oporteat Christo Domino nostro afflicto in membris suis nostris non debuimus officium nostrum negare ijs captivis Domini quorum caussam exponent hi Ecclesiae Gallicanae Ministri Collegae nostri his ipsis fratribus collegis nostris ut utrósque tuae charitati commâ—ndaremus id T.D. à nobis boni consulet Veniunt vero ad te hi Collegae nostri jussu Reverendissimi Domini ac Patroni nostri Archâ—â—piscopi Cantuariensis rogatum ut Captivorum illorum Supplicationeâ—n velis offerre Illustrissimo Principi D. Protectori adjuncta tua commendatione fidèmque faciâ—nt eos quorum offerunt Supplicationem nulla alia quam Religionis câ—ussa patriam suam deserere coactos in hoc regnum venisse tanquam ad Christi asylum Quod cum ita habere propter testium sanctiratem nihil dubitemus D. T. quantum licet oramus ut caussam horum Captivorum Christi apud Illustriss Principem D Protectorem diligenter agas nostras quoque illius Celsitudini supplices preces ad eam caussam offerre non graveris Quod Christus Dominus tibi cumulatè rependet Cui Illustrissimum Principem D. Protectorem teque tuos omnes etiam atque etiam commendamus Lambethi XIII Augusti Anno MDXLIX Tui in Domino Martinus Bucerus Pet. Martyr Petrus Alexander Paulus Fagius These Letters following tho they have no particular Reference yet being made use of in the former Memorials I have thought fit to publish them with the rest NUM CVI. The Archbishop to the Secretary concerning a French man that desired a Patent to translate the Common prayer into French and print it To my veray lovinge freunde Sir William Cecill Knight one of the Kings Majesties principal Secretaries AFter my verai hartie commendations I thancke youe for your newes but speciallie for that ye advertise me that the Kinges Majestie is in good health wherin I beseche God long to continue his highness as he hath twise as I trust restored me to the same It seamithe by your letters that a peace should be concluded betwixt themperor and Duke Morrise which whither it bee accordinge to thaâ—ticles that afore ye sent unto me or otherwise I woulde gladlie understande The commoditie that might arrise by printinge the boke of Common praier and administration of Sacraments in the French tongue if any bee I reckon it were meete that it shoulde come to theim which have already taken pains in translatinge thâ— same Which was first done by Sir Hugh Paullets commaundement and overseen by my L. Chauncellor and other at his appoinitement anâ— now altered accordinge to that which must bee put in execution at the feast of All Saints next at the appoinctment of my L. Chauncellor by a learned Frenche man a Doctor in Divinitie And therfore needless of anny other to bee travailed in Aug. 26. 1552. NUM CVII Mention of Letters sent by him to the Duke of Northumberland excusing his not proceeding in a Commission His reflexion upon the Newes To my Lovenge frende Sir William Cecil Knight and Secretary to the kyngs Majestie AFter my veray harty recommendations and no lesse thanks for your frendly letters and advertisements Be you assured that I take the same in such parte and to procede of such a frendly mynde as I have ever loked for at your hands Wherof I shal not be unmyndeful if occasion hereafter shal serve to