And with thanks to God we know the way to Heaven to be as ready by Water as by Land and therefore we care not which way we go These Friars and all the rest of their Order were banish'd shortly after And after that none durst openly oppose themselves against the Kings affections Thus far Stow. Now more perfectly to Establish this Change It was Ordered That there should be Sermons Preached at Paul's-Cross against the Popes Supremacy Thus related by Howes upon Stow Pag. 571. Every Sunday at Paul's-Cross Preached a Bishop declaring the Pope not to be Supream Head of the Church Also in other Places of this Realm great Troubles were raised about Preaching namely at Bristow where Mr. Latimer preach'd and there preach'd against him one Mr. Hobberton and Dr. Powel So that there was great partakings on both sides insomuch that divers Priests and others set up Bills against the Mayor and against Mr. Latimer But the Mayor permitting Laymen to Preach caused divers Priests to be apprehended and put in Newgate with Bolts upon them and divers others ran away and lost their Livings rather than come into the Mayor's handling Thus Howes The King being thus Establish'd Head of the Church of England makes one Thomas Cromwel his Vicar General which is thus set down by Sir Rich. Baker Pag. 408. Thomas Cromwell Son to a Black smith in Putney being raised to High Dignities was lastly made Vicar General under the King in all Ecclefiastical Affairs who sate divers times in the Convocation-House amongst the Bishops as Head over them Thus Sir Richard Baker And thus far of the first beginning of this prodigious Change of Religion CHAP. II. Of the Dissolution of Abbeys being the first Effect of this Change of Religion Stow Pag. 572. THE King sent the said Cromwel and others to visit the Abbeys and Nunneries in England the said Cromwel being ordained Principal Visitor He put forth all Religious Persons that would go and all under the Age of Four and Twenty And after closed up the residue that would remain so that they should not come out of their places All Religious Men that departed the Abbot or Prior gave them for their Habit a Priests Gown and Forty Shillings in Money The Nuns had such Apparel given them as Secular Women wear and had liberty to go whither they would They took out of the Monasteries and Abbeys their Reliques and chiefest Jewels to the Kings use they said Thus Stow. Here follows a more particular Account of the Dissolution of these Abbeys The first Religious House that the King took into his hands was the Hospital of St. James near Charing-cross with all the Means to the same belonging compounding with the Sisters of the House who were to have Pensions during their lives And built in place of the said Hospital a Goodly Mansion retaining still the Name of St. James Stow p. 560. In a Parliament were granted to the King and his Heirs All Religious Houses in the Realm of England of the value of Two hundred pounds and under with all Lands and Goods to them belonging The Number of these Houses then suppressed were about Three Hundred Seventy Six and the value of their Lands then Thirty two thousand pounds and more by the Year The Moveable Goods as they were then sold at Robin-Hood's peny-worths amounted to more than Ten thousand pounds The Religious Persons that were in the said Houses were clearly put out whereof some went to other Greater Houses and some went abroad to the World It was saith my Author a pitiful thing to hear the lamentation that People in the Countrey made for them for there was great Hospitality kept amongst them and as it was thought more than Ten thousand Persons Masters and Servants lost their Living by the putting down of these Houses Thus Stoâ—…v Not long after by the means of the said Cromwel All the Orders of Friars and Nunns with their Cloysters and Houses were suppressed and put down First the Black-Friars in London the next day the White-Friars the Grey-Friars and the Monks of Charter-House and so all the others Thus Baker page 415. Here follows a particular Relation concerning the Shrine at Canterbury Thus deliver'd by Sir Rich Baker pag. 411. SAint Augustines Abbey at Canterbury was suppress'd and the Shrine and Goods taken to the Kings Treasury as also the Shrine of Thomas Becket in the Priory of christs-Christs-Church was likewise taken to the Kings use This Shrine was built about a man's height all of Stone and then upwards of Timber plain within the which was a Chest of Iron containing the Bones of Thomas Becket Scull and all with the wound on his Head and the piece cut out of his Scull in the same wound These Bones by the Command of the Lord Cromwel were burnt The Timber-work of This Shrine on the out-side was covered with Plates of Gold Damasked with Gold-wyre which Ground of Gold was again cover'd with Jewels of Gold as Ten or Twelve Rings â—…ramped with Gold-wyre into the said Ground of Gold many of these Rings having Stones in them There were likewise Images of Angels Precious Stones and Great Pearls The Spoyl of which Shrine in Gold and Precious Stones fill'd two great Chests such as six or seven strong men could do no more than remove one of them at once out of the Church The Monks of that Church were commanded to change their Habits into the Apparel of Secular Priests Thus Baker The Knights of the Rhodes and Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England and Ireland were utterly Dissolv'd and made void The King his Heirs and Successors to have and enjoy all the Mansion-House Church and all other Buildings and Gardens to the same belonging near to the City of London call'd the House of St. John of Jerusalem in England and also the Hospital-Church an House of Kilwarin in Ireland with all Castles Honours Mannors Measees Lands Tenements Rents Revenues Services Woods Downs Pastures Parks Warrens c. in England and Ireland with all the Goods Cattels c. Thus Stow pag. 579. Besides these Religious Houses there were likewise by Act of Parliament given the King All Colleges Chanteries Hospitals Free Chappels Fraternities Brother-hoods and Gilds The Number of Monasteries suppress'd were 645 besides 90 Colleges 110 Hospitals and of Chanteries and Free Chappels 2374. Thus Baker in the former page Now to give a more exact Account of the Grounds and Progress of the Dissolution of these Monasteries We will here insert a Discourse taken out of Mr. Dugdales Antiquities of Warwick-shire Pag. 801. where he treats of the Dissolution of a particular Monastery of Nunnes called Poles-worth and upon that occasion of the Dissolution of all other Monasteries in the Kingdom The Discourse is thus delivered I Find it left Recorded by the Commissioners that were imploy'd to take Surrender of the Monasteries in this Shire Anno 29. Hen. 8. viz. That after strict scrutiny not only by the fame of the Countrey but
Glory which by rash talk and words many have pretended And in so doing they should best please God and live without danger of the Laws and maintain the tranquillity of the Realm And furthermore for as much as it is well known That Sedition and false Rumors have been nourished and maintained in this Realm by the subtilty and malice of some evil-disposed Persons who take upon them without sufficient Authority to Preach and Interpret the Word of God after their own brains in Churches and other places both Publick and Private and also by playing Enterludes and Printing of false fond Books Ballads Rhymes and other lewd Treatises concerning Doctrine in matters now in Question Her Highness therefore strictly Charges and Commands That nothing in this kind be evermore Acted Thus Dr. Heylyn Relates Her moderate Proceedings as to Religion CHAP. III. A full Relation of the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome Anno Reg. Mar. 2. Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. THe next work was the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome But before the attempting this it was thought fit to remove one Difficulty which was most likely to hinder the progress of this Design The Difficulty was this There was a general fear That if the Popes were restored to their former Power the Church might challenge Restitution of her former Possessions Now to secure them against this Fear they had not only the Promise of the King and Queen but some Assurance underhand from the Cardinal Legat who knew right well that the Church Lands had been so chopped and changed by the Two last Kings as not to be restored without the manifest ruine of many of the Nobility and most of the Gentry who were invested in the same Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Obstacle Which being removed the work goes on The Relation whereof is thus delivered by Sir Rich. Baker Page 461. Cardinal Pool being sent for by the King and Queen came over into England from Rome as Legat à Latere Whereupon a Parliament being called and the King and Queen sitting there under a Cloth of State with the Cardinal on their right hand All the Lords Knights and Burgesses being present the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor made a short Speech signifying the Presence of the Lord Cardinal and that he was sent from the Pope as his Legat à Latere to do a work tending to the Glory of God and the Benefit of them all which says he you may better hear from his own Mouth Thus Sir Rich. Baker Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. Then the Cardinal rose up and made a very grave and eloquent Speech First giving them Thanks for being restored unto his Country In recompence whereof he told them That he was come to restore them to the Country and Court of Heaven from which by their departure from the Church they had been estranged He therefore earnestly exhorts them to acknowledge their Errors and chearfully to receive the benefit which Christ was ready by his Vicar to extend unto them His Speech was said to have been long and Artificial but it concluded to this purpose That he had the Keys to open them away into the Church which they had shut against themselves by making so many Laws to the dishonor and reproach of the See Apostolick On the revoking of which Laws they should find him ready to make use of the Keys in opening of the door of the Church unto them It was concluded hereupon by both Houses of Parliament That a Petition should be made in the Name of the Kingdom wherein should be declared how sorry they were That they had withdrawn their Obedience from the Apostolick See and consented to the Statutes made against it promising to do their best endeavor hereafter That the said Laws and Statutes should be Repealed beseeching the King and Queen to intercede for them with his Holiness that they might be Absolved from their Crimes and Censures which they had incurred and be received as Penitent Children into the bosom of the Church These things being thus resolved upon both Houses are called again to the Court on Sr. Andrews day Where being Assembled in the Presence of the King and Queen they were asked by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner Whether they were pleased that Pardon should be demanded of the Legat and whether they would return to the Unity of the Church and Obedience of the Pope Supreme Head thereof To which they assenting the Petition was presented to their Majesties in the Name of the Parliament Which being publickly read they arose with a purpose to have moved the Cardinal in it who meeting their desires declared his readiness in giving them that Satisfaction which they would have craved And having caused the Authority given him by the Pope to be publickly read he shewed how acceptable the repentance of a Sinner was in the sight of God and that the very Angels in Heaven rejoyced at the Conversion of this Kingdom Which said they all kneeled upon their Knees and imploring the Mercy of God received Absolution for themselves and the rest of the Kingdom Which Absolution was pronounced in these following words viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who with his most precious Blood hath redeemed and washed us from all our sins and iniquities that he might purchase to himself a glorious Spouse without spot or wrinkle and whom the Father hath appointed Head over all his Church He by his Mercy Absolve you And we by Apostolical Authority given unto us by his Holiness Pope Julius the 3d. his Vice-gerent here on Earth do Absolve and Free you and every one of you with the whole Realm and the Dominions thereof from all Heresie and Schism and from all and every Judgment Censures and Pains for that cause incurred and also we do restore you again to the Unity of our Mother the Holy Church as in our Letters more plainly it shall appear In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Which words of his being seconded by a loud Amen by such as were present he concluded that days work with a solemn Procession to the Chappel for rendring Prayers and Thanks to Almighty God And because this great work was wrought on St. Andrews day the Cardinal procured a Decree or Canon to be made in the Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy That from thenceforth the Feast of St. Andrews-day should be kept in the Church of England for a Majus Duplex as the Rituals call it and Celebrated with as much Solemnity as any other in the year It was thought fit also That the Actions of that Day should be communicated on the Sunday following at St. Paul's Cross in the hearing of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the City According to which appointment the Cardinal went from Lambeth by Water and landing at St. Paul's-wharf from thence proceeded to the Church with a Cross two Pillars
come to the Nunns of Syon with their Confessor to solicite them thereto who after many perswasions took it upon their Consciences that they ought to submit to the King's pleasure therein by God's Law But what could not be effected by such Arguments and fair Promises was by terror and streight dealing brought to pass For under pretence of suffering Delapidations in the Buildings or negligent administration of their Offices as also for breaking the Kings Injunctions they depriv'd some Abbots and then put others that were more plyant in their rooms From others they took their Convent-Seals to the end they might not by making Leases or Sale of their Jewels raise Money either for supply of their present Wants or payment of their Debts and so be necessitated to Surrender Nay to some as in particular to the Canons of Leicester the Commissioners threatned That they would charge them with Adultery and Buggery unless they would submit And Dr. London told the Nunns of Godstow That because he found them obstinate he would dissolve the House by vertue of the King's Commission in spite of their Teeth And yet all was so manag'd that the King was solicited to accept of them not being willing to have it thought that they were by Terror moved thereto and special notice was taken of those who did give out that their Surrenders were by Compulsion Which courses after so many through under-hand corruption had led the way brought on others apace as appears by their Dates which I have observ'd from the very Instruments themselves insomuch as the rest stood amaz'd not knowing which way to turn them Some therefore thought fit to try whether Money might save their Houses from this dismal fate so near at hand Others with great constancy refus'd to be thus accessory in violating the Donations of their Pious Founders But these tasted of no little severity For touching the Abbot of Fountains in York-shire I find that being charg'd by the Commissioners for taking into his hands some Jewels belonging to the Monastery which they call'd Theft and Sacrilege they pronounced him Perjur'd and so deposing him extorted a private Resignation And it appears that the Monks of Charter-House in the Suburbs of London were committed to Newgate where with hard and barbarous usage Five of them died and Five more lay at the point of death as the Commissioners signified But withal alledg'd That the Suppression of that House being of so strict a Rule would occasion great Scandal to their doings for as much as it stood in the face of the World infinite concourse from all parts coming to that Populous City and therefore desired that it might be altered to some other use And lastly that under the like pretence of robbing the Church wherewith the before specified Abbot of Fountains was charg'd the Abbot of Glastenbury with Two of his Monks being condemn'd to death was drawn from Wells upon a Hurdle and then hang'd upon the Hill call'd the Tore near Glastenbury his Head set upon the Abbey-gate and his Quarters dispos'd of to Wells Bath Ilchester and Bridgewater Nor did the Abbots of Colchester and Reading speed much better as they that shall consult our story of that time may see And for further terror to the rest some Priors and other Ecclesiastical Persons who had spoken against the Kings Supremacy a thing then somewhat uncouth being so newly set up were condemn'd as Traytors and Executed And now that all this was effected to the end it might not be thought that these things were done by a high Hand a Parliament was called â—…0 Hen. 8. to confirm these Surrenders Now there wanted not plausible insinuations to Both Houses for drawing on their Consent with all smoothness thereto The Nobility being promised large shares in the spoils either by Free-gift from the King easie-Purchases or most advantageous Exchanges and many of the Active Gentry advancements to Honour with encrease of their Estates All which we see happened to them accordingly And the better to satisfie the vulgar it was represented to them that by this Deluge of Wealth the Kingdom should be strengthened with an Army of Forty Thousand menâ—… and that for the future they should never be charg'd with Subsidies Fifteens Loans or Common Aides By which means the Parliament Ratifying these Surrenders the Work became compleated For the more firm Settling whereof a sudden course was taken to pull down and destroy the Buildings as had been done before upon the Dissolution of the smaller Houses Next to disperse a great portion of the Lands amongst the Nobility and Gentry which was accordingly done The Visitor General having told the King That the more had interest in them the more they would be irrevocable And lest any Domestick stir should arise by reason of this great and strange Alteration rumors were spread of great dangers from Forein Invasions against which great Preparations were made every where which seemed so to excuse this Suppression of the Abbyes as that the People willing to spare their own Purses began to suffer it easily But let us look upon the Success Wherein I find that the said Visitor General the grand Actor of this Tragical business having contracted upon himself an Odium from the Nobility by reason of his low Birth and being raised to so high Dignities as likewise from the Catholicks for having thus Acted in the Dissolution of the Abbeys was before the End of the said Parliament wherein that was ratified which he had with so much Industry brought to pass deserted by the King who not having any more use of him gave way to his Enemies Accusations Whereupon being Arrested by the Duke of Norfolk at the Council-Table when he least dream't of it he was Committed to the Tower and Condemned by the same Parliament for Heresie and Treason unheard and little pitied and had his Head cut off on Tower-Hill Nor did many of the Reformers speed much better For Fire and Fagot happened to be their Portion And as for the fruit the People reap'd from all their hopes built upon these specious Pretences it was very little For Subsidies from the Clergy and Fifteens of all Laymens Goods were soon after exacted And in Edward the Sixth's time the Commons were constrained to Supply the King's wants by a new Invention to wit Sheep Cloaths Goods Debts c. for Three years which Tax grew so heavy that the year following they prayed the King for mitigation of it Nor is it a little observable that whilst the Monasteries stood there was no Act for Relief of the Poor so amply did those Houses give succor to them Whereas in the next Age to wit the 39 of Elizabeth no less then Eleven Bills were brought into the House of Commons for that purpose Thus far out of Mr. Dugdale concerning this Prodigious and Diabolical Action A word out of the same History Page 109 and 119. concerning Chantryes Gilds or Fraternities I shall only mention one of each of them to
First-Fruits For the better drawing on of which Concession it was pretended that the Patrimony of the Crown had been much dilapidated and that it could not be Supported with such Honor as it ought to be if Restitution were not made of such Rents as were of late dismembred from it Upon which ground they also passed an Act for the Dissolution of all such Monasteries Convents and Religious Orders as had been Founded and Established by the Queen deceased When the Act of Parliament concerning the Supremacy came to be Debated it seemed to be a thing abhorrent even in Nature and Policy that a Woman should be declared Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England But those of the Reformed Party meant nothing else than to contend about words so they might gain the Point they aimed at Which was the stripping of the Pope of all Authority within these Dominions and fixing the Supream Ecclesiastical Power in the Crown Imperial And this they did not by the Name of Supreme Head which they perceived might be lyable to some just Exceptions but which comes all to one of Supreme Governess Thus Dr. Heylyn I will here insert a Speech made in this Parliament against this Supreme Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Authority granted to the Queen The Person that spake it was Nicholas Heath who was First Bishop of Worcester and Lord President of Wales Afterwards Archbishop of York and Embassador into Germany And made Lord Chancellor of England by Queen Mary in the year of our Lord 1555 and continued until he did surrender it up in Queen Elizabeth's time to Sir Nicholas Bacon The Person from whom I had this Speech is yet living who told me That he found it in Manuscript amongst Papers and Notes of his great Grandfather George Parry who had been High Sheriff of Hereford-shire in the Second year of the said Queen A Speech Made in the Upper House of Parliament against the Supremacy to be in her Majesty by Nicholas Heath Lord Chancellor of England in the first year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth above 100 years since In the Original Copy it is stiled A Tale told in Parliament For Oaths the Land shall be cloathed in Mourning My Lords WIth all humble Submission of my whole Discourse to your Wisdoms I purpose to speak to the Body of this Act touching the Supremacy that so what this Honourable Assembly is now a doing concerning the passing of this Act may thereby be better weighed and considered by your Wisdoms First When by the Virtue of this Act of the Supremacy we must forsake and fly from the See of Rome it would be considered what matter lieth therein and what matter of danger or inconvenience or else whether there be none at all Secondly If the intent of this Act be to grant or settle upon the Queens Majesty a Supremacy it would be considered of your Wisdoms what this Supremacy is and whether it doth consist in Spiritual Government or Temporal If in Temporal what further Authority can this House give Her more than what She already hath by right of Inheritance And not by our Gift but by the Appointment of God Being our Sovereign Lord and Lady our King and Queen our Empress and Emperor And if further than this we acknowledge Her to be Head of the Church of England we ough also to grant that the Emperor or any other Prince being Catholick and their Subjects Protestants are to be Heads of their Church Whereby we shall do an Act as disagreeable to Protestants as this seems to Catholicks If you say The Supremacy consists in Spiritual concernments Then it would be considered what the Spiritual Government is and in what points it doth chiefly consist Which being first agreed upon it would be further considered of your Wisdoms whether this House may grant it to her Highness or not And whether her Highness be an apt Person to receive the same So by through Examination of these parts your Honors shall proceed in this matter groundedly upon such sure knowledge as not to be deceived by ignorance Now to the First Point wherein I promised to examine what matter of weight danger or inconvenience might be incurred by this our forsaking and flying from the Church of Rome if there were no further matter therein than the with-drawing our Obedience from the Popes Person supposing that he had declared himself to be a very Austere and Severe Father to us then the business were not of so great importance as indeed it is as will immediately here appear For by relinquishing and forsaking the Church or See of Rome we must forsake and fly from all General Councils Secondly From all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of the Church of Christ. Thirdly From the Judgment of all other Christian Princes Fourthly and Lastly We must forsake and fly from the Holy Unity of Christ's Church and so by leaping out of Peter's Ship we hazard our selves to be over-whelmed in the waves of Schism of Sects and Divisions First Touching the General Councils I shall name unto you these Four The Nicene Council the Constantinopolitan Council the Ephesine and the Chalcedon All which are approved by all Men. Of these same Councils Saint Gregory writeth in this wise Sicut enim Sancti Evangelii quatuor Libros sic haec quatuor Concilia Nicenum Constantinopolitanum Ephesinum Chalcedonense suscipere ac venerari me fareor That is to say in English I confess I do receive and reverence those Four General Councils of Nice Constantinople c. even as I do the Four Holy Evangelists At the Nicene Council the first of the Four the Bishops which were there Assembled did write there Epistles to Sylvester then Bishop of Rome That their decrees then made might be confirmed by his Authority At the Council kept at Constantinople all the Bishops there were obedient to Damasus then Bishop of Rome He as chief in the Council gave Sentence against the Hereticks Macedonius Sabellius and Eunomius Which Eunomius was both an Arrian and the first Author of that Heresie That only Faith doth justifie And here by the way it is much to be lamented that we the Inhabitants of this Realm are much more inclined to raise up the Errors and Sects of Ancient condemned Hereticks than to follow the True Approved Doctrine of the most Catholick and Learned Fathers of Christ his Church At the Ephesine Council Nestorius the Heretick was condemned by Celestine the Bishop of Rome he being chief Judge there At the Chalcedon Council all the Bishops there Assembled did write their humble Submission unto Leo then Bishop of Rome wherein they did acknowledge him there to be their Chief Head Six Hundred and Thirty Bishops of them Therefore to deny the See Apostolick and its Authority were to contemn and set at nought the Authority and Decrees of those noble Councils Secondly We must forsake and fly from all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of Christ his Church whereunto we have already professed our
Obedience at the Font saying Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam that is I believe the Holy Catholick Church Which Article containeth That we must receive the Doctrine and Sacraments of the same Church obey her Laws and live according to the same Which Laws do depend wholly upon the Authority of the See Apostolick And like as it is here openly professed by the Judges of the Realm that the Laws agreed upon in the Higher and Lower Houses of this Honourable Parliament be of small or none effect before the Royal Assent of the King or Prince be given thereunto Even so Ecclesiastical Laws made cannot bind the Universal Church of Christ without the Royal Assent and Confirmation of the See Apostolick Thirdly We must forsake and fly from the Judgment of all other Christian Princes whether they be Protestant or Catholick Christians when none of them do agree with these our doings King Henry the Eighth being the first that ever took upon him the Title of Supremacy And whereas it was of late here in this House said by a Nobleman That the Title of Supremacy is of right due to a King for that he is a King then it would follow That Herod being a King should be Supreme Head of the Church at Jerusalem And Nero the Emperor Supreme Head of the Church of Christ at Rome they being both Infidels and therefore no members of Christ his Church And if our Saviour Christ at his departure from this World should have left the Spiritual Government of his Church in the hands of Emperors and Kings and not to have committed the same to his Apostles how negligently then should he have left his Church It shall appear right well by calling to mind That the Emperor Constantinus Magnus was the First Christian Emperor and was Baptized by Sylvester Bishop of Rome about Three hundred years after the Ascension of Christ Jesus If by your Proposition Constantine the first Christian Emperor was the First Head and Spiritual Governor of Christ his Church throughout his Empire then it followeth That our Saviour Christ for the space of Three Hundred years unto the coming of this Constantine left his Church which he had so dearly bought by effusion of his most precious Blood without any Head at all But how untrue the saying of this Nobleman was it shall further appear by Example of Ozia and also of King David For King Ozia did take the Censor to do Incense to the Altar of God The Priest Azarias did resist him and expelled him out of the Temple and said unto him Non est Officii tui Ozia ut adoleas Incensum Domino sed est Sacerdotum Filiorum Aaron Ad hujusmodi enim Officium consecrati That is to say It is not thy Office Ozia to offer Incense to the Altar of God But it is the Priests Office and the Sons of Aaron for they are Consecrated and Anointed to that Office Now I shall most humbly demand this question When the Priest Azarias said to the King Non est Officii tui whether he said Truth or not If you answer that he spake the Truth then the King was not Supreme Head of the Church of the Jews If you shall say No Why did God plague the King with Leprosie and not the Priest The Priest Azarias in resisting the King and thrusting him out of the Temple in so doing did the Priest play the faithful part of a Subject or no If you answer No why then did God spare the Priest and not spare the King If you answer Yea then it is most manifest Ozia in that he was a King could not be Supreme Head of the Church And as touching the Example of King David in bringing home the Ark of God from the Country of the Philistians to the City of David what Supremacy or Government of God's Ark did King David there take upon him Did he place himself amongst the Priests Or take upon him any Spiritual Function unto them appertaining Did he approach neer unto the Ark Or yet presume to touch the same No doubtless For he had seen before Ozia strucken to death by the hand of God for the like arrogance and presumption And therefore King David did go before the Ark of God with his Harp making Melody and placed himself amongst the Minstrels and humbly did abase himself being a King as to dance and leap before the Ark of God like as his other Subjects did Insomuch as his Queen Michol King Saul's Daughter beholding and seeing this great Humility of King David did disdain thereat Whereunto King David making answer said Ludam vilior fiam plùs quà m factus sum c. That is I will dance and abase my self more than yet I have done and abjecting my self in mine own eyes I shall appear more glorious with those Handmaids that you talk of I will play here before my Lord which hath chosen me rather than thy Father's House And whereas Queen Michol was therefore plagued at God's hand with perpetual Sterility and Barrenness King David received great praise for his Humility Now may it please your Honours to consider which of both these Kings Examples shall be most convenient for your Wisdoms to make the Queens Majesty to follow whether the Example of Proud Ozia moving Her by your perswasions and Councils to take upon her Spiritual Government and thereby exposing her Soul to be plagued at the hand of God as King Ozia was or else to follow the Example of the good King David which in refusal of all Spiritual Government about the Ark of God did humble himself as I have declared unto you Whereunto our Sovereign Lady the Queens Highness of Her own nature being well inclined we may assure our selves to have of Her as Humble as Virtuous and as Godly a Mistress to Reign over us as ever had English People here in this Realm if that her Highness be not by your Flattery and Dissimulation seduced and beguiled Fourthly and Lastly We must forsake and fly from the Holy Unity of Christ's-Church Seeing that St. Cyprian that Holy Martyr and great Clerk doth say that the Unity of the Church of Christ doth depend upon Peter's Authority and his Successors Therefore by leaping out of Peter's Ship we must be overwhelmed with the Waves of Schisms of Sects and Divisions Because the same Holy Martyr in his Third Epistle to Cornelius testifieth That all Heresies Sects and Schisms do spring only from hence that Men will not be obedient to the Head-Bishop of God And how true this saying of St. Cyprian is we may see it most apparent to all Men that list to see both by the Example of the Germans and by us the Inhabitants of this Realm of England And by this our forsaking and flying from the Unity of the Church of Rome this inconveniency amongst many must consequently follow That either we must grant the Church of Rome to be the True Church of God or else a malignant Church If you
notorious Fornicator that was among the Corinthians and by the Authority of his Apostleship unto which Apostles Christ ascending into Heaven did leave the whole Spiritual Government of his Church as it appeareth by those plain words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4th saying Ipse dedit Ecclesiae suae c. He hath given to his Church some to be Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors for consummation of the Saints to the work of the Ministry for edifying of the Body of Christ. But a Woman in the degrees of the Church is not called to be an Apostle nor Evangelist nor to be a Pastor as much as to say a Shepheard nor a Doctor or a Preacher Therefore she cannot be Supream Head of Christ's Militant Church nor yet of any part thereof For this High Government God hath appointed only to the Bishops and Pastors of his People as St. Paul plainly witnesseth in these words in the 20th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles saying Attendite vobis universo gregi c. And thus much I have here said right Honorable and my very good Lords against this Act of Supremacy for the discharge of my poor Conscience and for the Love and Fear and Dread that I chiefly owe unto God to my Sovereign Lord and Lady the Queens Majesties Highness and to your Honors All. Where otherwise without mature consideration of all these Premises your Honors shall never be able to shew your faces before your enemies in this matter being so strange a spectacle and example in Christ's Church as in this Realm is only to be found and in no other Christian Realm Thus humbly beseeching your Honors to take in good part this my rude and plain Speech which here I have used of much Zeal and fervent good will And now I shall not trouble your Honors any longer Thus as to this Speech But notwithstanding this Speech or whatsoever else could be said against it the Act passed and this Supremacy was granted to the Queen CHAP. IV. A further Prosecution of the Settlement of this Change of Religion Established by Parliament and of the Opposition of the Catholick Clergy against this strange Innovation Dr. Heylyn pag. 108. NOw for the better exercising and enjoying the Jurisdiction thus acknowledged in the Crown there was this Clause put into the Act That it should be Lawful for the Queen to give Power to such as she thought fit to exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and to visit reform redress order correct and amend all kind of Errors Heresies Schisms c. With this Proviso notwithstanding that nothing should from thenceforth be accounted Heresie but what was so adjudged in the Holy Scripture or in one of the four first General Councils or in any other National or Provincial Council determining according to the word of God or finally which should be so adjudged in the time to come by the Court of Parliament This was the first Foundation of the High Commission Court And from hence issued that Commission by which the Queens ministers proceeded in that visitation in the first year of her Reign for rectifying all such things as they found amiss There also passed another Act for recommending and imposing the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments according to such Alterations and Corrections as were made therein by those that were appointed to review it In performance of which service there was great care taken to expunge out all such passages in it as might give any Scandal or Offence to the Papists or be urged by them in excuse for their not coming to Church In the Litany fiâ—…st made and published by King Henry the Eighth and afterwards continued in the two Liturgies of King Edward the Sixth there was a Prayer to be delivered from the Tyranny and all the detestable enormities of the Bishop of Rome Which was thought fit to be left out as giving matter of Scandal and dissatisfaction to all that Party In the first Liturgy of King Edward the Sacrament of our Lord's Body was delivered with this Benediction that is to say The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for the Preservation of thy Body and Soul to Life Everlasting The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Which being thought by Calvin and his Disciples to give some countenance to the Carnal presence of Christ in the Sacrament which passed by the name of Transubstantiation in the Schools of Rome was altered in this Form into the second Liturgy that is to say Take and Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving Take and drink this c. But the Revisors of the Book joyned both Forms together lest under colour of rejecting a carnal they might be thought also to ceny a real presence as was deâ—…ended in the Writings of the Ancient Fathers Upon which ground they expunged also a whole Rubrick at the end of the Communion Service by which it was declared That kneeling at the Communion was required for no other reason than for a signification of the humble and grateful acknowledgâ—…ent of the Benefits of Christ given therein unto the worthy Râ—…ceiver and to avoid that Prophanation and Disorder which otherwise might have ensued And not for giving any Adoration to the Sacramental Bread and Wine there bodily received or in regard of any Real or Essential Presence of Christ's Body and Blood This Rubrick is again lately inserted And to come up closer to those of the Church of Rome it was ordered by the Queens Injunctions That the Sacramental Bread which the Book required only to be made of the finest Flower should be made round in the fashion of the Wafers used in the time of Queen Mary She also Ordered that the Lord's Table should be placed where the Altar stood and that the accustomed Reverence should be made at the Name of Jesus Musick retained in the Church and all the other Festivals observed with their several Eves By which compliances and the expunging of the passages before mentioned the Book was made more plausible And that it might pass the better in both Houses when it came to the Vote it was thought requisite That a Disputation should be held about some Points which were most likely to be keked at Two Speeches were made against this Book in the House of Peers by Scot and Feckenham and one against the Queens Supremacy by the Archbishop of York But they prevailed little in both Points by the Power of their Eloquence In the Convocation which accompanied this present Parliament there was little done because they despared of doing any good to Themselves or their Cause The chief thing they did was a Declaration of their Judgments in some certain Points which at that time were conceived fit to be commended to the sight of the Parliament that is to say First That in the Sacrament of the Altar by
the Congregation managing their own Affairs apart from the rest of the Kingdom The principal Leaders of the Party well followed by the Common People put themselves into Perth and there begin to stand upon higher terms than before they did The news whereof occasioneth Knox to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva and joyn himself unto the Lords of the Congregation At Perth he goes into the Pulpit and falls so bitterly on Images that the People in a popular fury deface all the Images in that Church and presently demolish all the Religious Houses within that City Those of Couper hearing of it forthwith destroy all the Images and pull down the Altars in that Church also Preaching at Craile he enveighed sharply against the Queen-Regent and vehemently stirred up the people to joyn together for the expulsion of the French Which drew after it the like destruction of all Altars and Images as was made before at Perth and Couper The like followed on his Preaching at St. Andrews also the Religious Houses being pulled down as well as the Images and laid so flat that there was nothing left in the form of a building Inflamed by the same Fire-brand they burned down the Rich Monastery of Schone and ruined that of Cambus-braneth demolished all the Altars Images and Convents of Religious persons in Sterling Lithgow Glascough Edenburgh making themselves masters of the last and putting up their own Preachers into all the Pulpits of the City not suffering the Queen Regent to have the use of One Church only for her Devotions Nor staid they here but being carried on by the same ill Spirit they pass an Act amongst themselves for Depriving the Queen-Regent of all place and Power in the Publick Government Concerning which the Oracle being first consulted returned this answer sufficiently ambiguous as all Oracles are that is to say That the iniquity of the Queen Regent ought not to with draw their hearts from the Obedience due to their Sovereigns Nor did he wish any such sentence to be pronounced against her but when she should change her course and submit her self to good counsel there should place be left unto her of regress to the same Honors from which for good causes she ought to be deprived This Act is intimated to the Queen-Regent who ordered her business so well that they were quickly brought to great extremity and had been soon suppressed but for the Succors they received from England Thus Dr. Heylyn This Rebellion is thus delivered by Sir Rich. Baker Page 475. IT happened that there was a Reformation begun in Scotland But was indeed an Encroachment upon the Princes Authority For at the Preaching of Knox and other head-strong Ministers not only great Outrages were committed in Churches but it was likewise put into the heads of the Nobility That it pertained to them of their own Authority to take away Idolatry and by force to reduce the Prince to to the prescript of the Laws Whereupon there was presently a banding of the Lords of Scotland against the Queen-Dowager Regent of the Country and England fomenting and supporting the Rebellion the Queen was at last worsted and forced to fly into England Where contrary to promise of being friendly received by Queen Elizabeth she was kept Eighteen years in prison and afterwards beheaded The Order of whose Death and Execution was as follows The sentence of Condemnation being pronounced against her some Earls were sent to Fotheringham where She was kept prisoner These together with Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury with whom she was then in custody go to the Queen and reading their Commission signifie the cause of their coming and in a few words admonish her to prepare her self for death For that she must die the next day whereunto without any change of her countenance or passion of mind she made answer I had not thought that my Sister the Queen would have consented to my death who am not subject to your Laws But since it is her pleasure death shall be to me most welcome Then she requests that she might confer with her Confessor and Melvyn her Steward But the first would not be granted her The Bishop or Dean of Peterborough they offered her but them she refused The Earls being departed from her she gave order that Supper should be hastned where she eat as she used to do soberly and sparingly And perceiving her men and women-Servants to lament and weep she comforted them and bid them rejoyce rather that she was now to depart out of a world of misery After Supper she looks over her Will reads the Inventory of her Goods and Jewels and writ their Names severally to whom she gave any of them At her wonted hour she went to bed and after a few hours sleep awaking spent the rest of the night in her devotion And now the Fatal day being come she gets up and makes her ready in her best Apparel and then betook her self to her closet to Almighty God imploring his assistance with deep sighs and groans Until Thomas Andrews Sheriff of the County gave notice 〈◊〉 it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to come forth And then with a 〈◊〉 Majesty and cheerful countenance 〈◊〉 came out her head covered with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and carrying an Ivory-Crucifix in 〈◊〉 hand In the Gallery the Earls met her and the other Gentlemen Where Melvyn her Servant upon his knees deplored his own Fortune that he should be the Messenger to carry this sad news into Scotland Whom she comforted saying Do not lament Melvyn you shall by and by see Mary Stuart freed from all her cares Then turning her self to the Earls she requested that her Servants might stand by at her death Which the Earl of Kent was very loath to grant for fear of Superstition To whom she said Fear nothing These desire only to give me my last farewel And I know the Queen my Sister would not refuse me so small a request After this the two Earls leading the way with the Sheriff of the County she came to the Scaffold which was set up at the upper end of the Hall where was a Chair a Cushion and a Block all covered with Mourning Then she falling upon her knees and holding up the Crucisix in both her hands prayed with her Servants out of the Office of our Lady Prayers being ended she kissed the Crucisix and signing her self with the sign of the Cross she said As thy Arms O Christ were stretched forth upon the Cross so embrace me with the open Arms of thy Mercy And then the Executioner asking her pardon she forgave him And now her Women helping off her outward Garments and breaking forth into shreeks and cries she kissed them signed them with the Cross and willed them to leave lamenting for now an end of her Sorrows was at hand And then shadowing her face with a linnen cloth and lying down on the Block she repeated the Psalm In Te Domine Speravi non confundar in aeternum At which words she
those of his own party but by many others grave and moderate men who did not look at first into the dangers which ensued upon it His Platform at Geneva was made the only Pattern by which all Reformed Churches were to frame their Government His Writings were made the only Rule by which all Students in Divinity were to square their judgments Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning Cartwright Leicester and Calvin CHAP. XIII The first Origine of the name Puritan and of the Protestation devised to hinder the Disorders caused by this Sect. Anno Reg. Eliz. 7. Dr. Heylyn pag. 172. THis year the Zuinglian or Calvinian Faction began to be first known by the name of Puritans Which name hath ever since been appropriated to them because of their pretending to a greater Purity in the Service of God than was held forth unto them as they gave it out in the Common-Prayer-Book and to a greater opposition to the Rites and Usages of the Church of Rome than was agreeable to the Constitution of the Church of England But this Purity was accompanied with such Irreverence this opposion drew along with it so much licentiousness as gave great scandal and offence to all men So that it was high time to give a check to those Disorders and Confusions which by their practises and their Preachings they had produced and thereby laid the ground of that woful Schism which soon after followed For the preventing these Disorders for the future a Protestation was devised to be taken by all Parsons Vicars and Curates by which they were required to declare and promise 1. That they would not preach nor publickly interpret but only read that which was appointed by publick Authority 2. That they would use sobriety in Apparel and especially in the Church at Common Prayers according to Order appointed 3. That they would not openly medle with any Artificers Occupation as covetously to seek a Gain thereby having in Ecclesiastical Livings Twenty Nobles or above by the year Which Protestation if it either had been generally pressed upon all the Clergy as perhaps it was not or been better kept by them that took it the Church might questionless have been saved from those Distractions which by the Puritan-Innovators were occasioned in it Thus far Dr. Heylyn concerning this strange Reformation of the Church of England Doctor Heylyn having Prosecuted his History of the Reformation of the Church of England until the Eighth year of Queen Elizabeths Reign was not willing to wade any further into the Confusions of those times and therefore makes this following Conclusion of it CHAP. XIV The Order of the Establishment of this New Church and of the strange Disorder it was at this time brought unto by the Puritan Faction Dr. Heylyn's Conclusion of his History THus we have seen the publick Liturgy confirmed in Parliament with divers Penalties on all those who either did reproach it or neglect to use it or wilfully with-draw their attendance from it The Doctrine of the Church declared in the Book of Articles External matters in Officiating God's Publick Service and the Apparel of the Clergy regulated by the Book of Orders and Advertisements the Episcopal Government setled The Church of England is therefore now fixed on her Natural Pillars of Doctrine Government and Worship not otherwise to have been shaken than by the blind zeal of such furious Sampsons as were resolved to pull it on their own heads rather than to suffer it to stand And here it will be time to conclude this History having taken a brief view of the State of this Church with all the Aberration from its first Constitution as it stood at this time when the Puritan Faction had begun to disturb its Order And that this may be manifested with a greater certainty I will speak it in the words of one who lived and writ his knowledge of it at this time I mean John Rastel in his Answer to the Bishops Challenge Who though he were a Papist and a Priest yet I conceive he hath faithfully delivered too many sad Truths in these particulars Three Books he writ within the compass of Three years against Bishop Jewel In one of which he makes this Address unto him And though you Mr. Jewel as I have heard say do take the Bread into your hands when you celebrate solemnly yet thousands there are of your inferior Ministers who esteem it as death to be bound to any such External Fashion And your order of Celebrating the Communion is so unadvisedly conceived that every man is left unto his private Rule or Canon whether he will take the Bread into his hands or let it stand at the end of the Table where it pleases the Sexton or Parish-Clerk to set them pag. 28. Thus as to the Communion now as to Altars he hath these words In the Primitive Church Altars were used amongst Christians upon which they offered the unbloody Sacrifice of Christ's Body yet your Company to declare what Followers they are of Antiquity do account i even among one of the kinds of Idolatry if an Altar be kept standing And indeed you follow a certain Antiquity not of Catholicks but of desperate Hereticks Optatus writing of the Donatists says That they did break raze and remove the Altars of God pag. 34. 165. Now as to the Objection of Praying in an unknown Tongue he writes thus Where Singing is used what shall we say to the case of the People that kneel in the Body of the Church Yea let them hearken at the Chancel-door it self they shall not be much wiser Besides how will you provide for great Parishes where there are a Thousand People An Objection of the Presbyterians Then to come to the Apostles Where do you read that in External Behavior they did wear Frocks or Gowns or Four corner'd Caps Or That at their Prayers they sate in sides fell prostrate or sung Te Dâ—…um or looked towards the South Or wore Copes of Tâ—…ssue or Velvet with a thousand more such questions pag. 446. The next question he asks him is Where the Church of God so well ordered with excellent men of Learning and Piety was ever constrained to suffer Coblers Weavers Tinkers Tanners Card-makers Tapsters Fiddlers Goalers and others of like Profession not only to enter into Disputation with her but also to climb up into Pulpits and to keep the place of Priests c. pag. 2. Or That any Bag-pipers Horse-coursers or Jaylors were admitted then into the Clergy pag. 162 Or that any Bishop then did Swear by his Honor when in his Visitation he would warrant his Promise to some poor Prisoner-Priest under him or not satisfied with his imprisoning did cry out and call upon the Prince not disposed that way to put them to most cruel deaths Or That refused to wear a white Rocket Or To be distinguished from the Laity by some decent Priests Apparel pag. 162. Or Gathered a Benevolence of his Clergy to set him up in his Houshold pag. 163.
Principality coins or else follows new Opinions St. Augustin likewise notes in the latter end of his Book De Haeresibus That the People need not to be curious to know what Opinions Hereticks hold much less to labour to confute them It being enough for them to know that they are condemned And St. Cyprian Epist. 52. Num. 7. sayes notably to Antonianus demanding curiously what Heresies Novatian taught No matter saith he what Heresies he holds or preaches when he teaches without That is to say out of the Church Now although Hereticks be often incorrigible yet the Church of God ceases not by all means possible to revoke them Therefore St. Augustin says Epist. 162. The Heretick himself though swelling with odious and detestable pride and mad with the frowardness of wicked Contention as we admonish that he be avoided lest he deceive such as are weak and little ones so we refuse not by all means possible to seek his amendment and reformation Now to understand the Reason why the Apostle here says That an Heretick is condemned by his own judgment we are to know That some other grievous offenders are separated by Excommunication from the Communion of Saints and the Fellowship of God's Church by the Sentence of their Superiours in the same Church But Hereticks more miserable and unfortunate than they run out of the Church of their own accord and so give Sentence against their own Souls to damnation Now further to shew the Reason why Heresie which seeks to divide and tear in pieces the body of the Church is so horrid a crime St. Paul here describes its Unity saying 1 Cor. 12. 12. For as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of the Body whereas they be many yet are One Body So also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body And vers 23. God hath tempered the Body giving to it that wanted the more abundant honor that there might be no Schism in the Body but the Members together might be careful one for another And a little after You are the Body of Christ and Members of Member Now to prevent the making a Schism in this Body he says 1 Cor. 1 10. I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you All say one Thing and that there be no Schisms among you but that you be perfect in one Sense and in one Knowledge Again Eph. 4. 1. I beseech you that you walk worthy of the Vocation in which you are called And a little after Careful to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace One Body and One Spirit as you are called in one Hope of your Vocation One Lord One Faith One Baptism One God and Father of All. And now to manifest what care our Saviour had taken to preserve this Unity of the Church he further adds vers 11. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and other some Evangelists and other-some Pastors and Doctors to the Consummation of the Saints unto the Work of Ministry unto the Edifying or building up of the Body of Christ to wit his Church until we meet all into the Unity of Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God into a perfect Man into the measure of the Age of the Fulness of Christ That now we be not Children wavering and carried about with every wind of Doctrin in the wickedness of Men in craftiness to the circumvention of Error But doing the truth in charity let us in all things grow in him who is the Head Christ Of whom the whole Body to wit the Church being compact and knit together by all juncture of Subministration according to the Operation in the measure of every Member maketh the encrease of the Body unto the edifying of it self in charity Thus the Apostle fully delivers the admirable Structure of the Church Annotations Now as Rebellion is the bane of Civil Common-wealths and Kingdoms and Peace and Concord the preservation of the same so is Schism Division and diversity of Faith the Calamity of the Church and Peace Unity and Uniformity the special Blessing of God therein And in the Church above all Common-wealths Because it is in all points a Monarchy tending every way to Unity There being but One God One Christ One Church One Hope One Faith One Baptism One Head One Body as the Apostle here assures us Thus the Apostle of the United Body of the Church Now to manifest the great Dignity of the Church and how much she is beloved by our Saviour St. Paul Ephes. 5 22. says The Man is the Head of the Woman as Christ is the Head of the Church Himself the Saviour of his Body to wit the same Church and of no other And a little after vers 25. Husbands saith he love your Wives as Christ also loved the Church and delivered himself for it that he might Sanctifie it cleansing it by the laver of Water in the Word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it may be holy and unspotted And again a little after vers 29. No man ever hated his own flesh but he nourisheth and cherisheth it as also Christ the Church Because we be the Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Annotations The Apostle here saying that Christ is the Saviour of his Body to wit his Church doth evidently declare That none can be saved or have any benefit by Christ that is not of his Body the Church And what Church that is St. Augustin expresseth in these words The Catholick Church only is the Body of Christ whereof he is the Head Out of this Body of the Church the Holy Ghost quickeneth no man And a little after He that will have the Spirit let him beware he remain not out of the Church Let him beware he enter not into it feignedly August Epist. 50. ad Bonifacium Comitem in fine It is an unspeakable Dignity of the Church which the Apostle expresseth often elsewhere but more especially in this whole passage to be that Creature for which Christ effectually Suffered to be washed and embrued with Water and Blood issuing out of his holy side to be nourished with his own Body to be his Members to be so joyned unto him as the Body and Members of the same Flesh Bone and Substance to the Head to be loved and cherished of him as a Wife of a Husband yea to be his Wife and most dear Spouse taken and formed as St. Augustin often says out of his own Side upon the Cross as Eve our First-Father Adam's Spouse was made of his Rib. August in Psalm 126 127. In respect of which great Dignity and Excellency the same holy Father affirms the Church to be the principal Creature of God and therefore named in the Creed next after the Holy Ghost And he proves against the Macedonians the Holy Ghost to be God because
words of our Saviour John 6. 55. My Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed Where he writes thus The following words are these as my Living Father sent me and I live by the Father so he that eats or feeds upon me shall live by me Our Saviour has taught us by these Misterious Words That we are to be as Members in his Body the Church under him or connected to him as our Head feeding upon his Flesh and not deserting his Unity Now that which makes us his Members is this Unity Which Unity is caused by charity diffused into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us It is therefore the Spirit to wit of Charity that gives life making us living Members Nor does this Spirit make any living Members but such as are in the Body of the Church which receives life from the same Spirit For the Spirit or Soul which is in man does not give life to a member separated from the Body because it is not joyned by Union to the same Body The design of this Discourse is to move us to love Unity and fear a separation from the Church For a Christian ought to fear nothing more than to be separated from the Body of Christ to wit his Church Since such as are separated from this his Mystical Body are not his Members and not being his Members they cannot receive life from his Spirit Now the Apostle assures us That such as have not the Spirit of Christ belong not to him And a little after in the same Homily he goes on thus The Faithful know Christ's Body if they neglect not to be his Body They must be his Body if they will live of the Spirit of Christ. For none live of the Spirit of Christ but his Body the Church Consider well what I have said You being a Man are composed of a body and a spirit which is otherwise termed a Soul The Spirit or Soul is invisible the Body visible Now as your Body lives by your Spirit so if you will live by the Spirit of Christ you must be in the Body of Christ. For as my Body lives by my Spirit and your Body by yours so the Body of Christ cannot live but by the Spirit of Christ. He that desires to live may understand here where he is to live and from whence he is to receive his life He must approach believe and be incorporated if he pretends to live He must not voluntarily separate himself from being connected with the Members of this Body of the Church nor be a corrupted Member so as to deserve to be cut off Nor yet so deformed or out of order that the rest of the Members of the Body may be ashamed of him He is therefore to be fair and neat aptly proportioned to the rest and in perfect health Moreover he must be careful to adhere closely to the Body of the Church taking his life from God and referring it to him labouring here in this life that he may afterwards reign in Heaven Thus St. Augustin convinces evidently That no Schismatick or Heretick can be saved CHAP. V. A further manifestation of the Horridness of the Sin of Schism and in what Case Ignorance may Excuse from the Guilt of it NOw yet to penetrate more fully into the true Grounds why above almost all other Sins a Christian is capable of committing Schism that is the setting up of an Altar against an Altar or the relinquishing the External Communion of the Church the making Collects or Assemblies without yea against the consent of the true Bishops or Church Governors c. should be a sin so unpardonable we are to consider that the true reason of this may be deduced from the Example of all other Governments whatsoever For the greatest offence a Subject can commit against Monarchy is an actual attempt or rather the attempt executed by which Monarchy is dissolved Inwardly to condemn the Laws of such a Government or to entertain Principles which if put in practice would withdraw Subjects from their due Obedience is an offence of an high nature but the actual Cantonizing of a Kingdom and the raising in it Courts and Judicatories independent on and opposite to the Common Tribunal of the Country is the utmost of all crimes both the Seducers and the Seduced are not only deprived of the Privileges belonging to good Subjects but pursued by Arms as the worst of All Enemies It is so in God's Church The main Thing our Creed teaches us to believe of it is its Unity without which it is not a Church Now if Unity then Order then Subordination of Governments c. What therefore is the great Sin against this Fundamental Constitution of the Church but Schism A dissolving the Communion and connexion that the Members of this great Body have amongst themselves and with relation to the whole We all willingly acknowledge that the great sin of the Synagogue the sin that filled up the measure of the crimes of the Jews was their Murdering of our Lord. Now says St. Chrisâ—…stom Homil. 11. ad Ephes. We shall not merit or incur a less cruel Punishment if we divide the Unity and Plenitude of the Church the Mystical Body of our Lord then Those have done who pierced mangled and tore his own Body But may not Ignorance excuse the Guilt of Schism No On the contrary in some regard it aggravates it For though Pride and Malice be far greater in the leading Schismaticks Persons of Wit and Learning yet ignorant Souls and Ideots seem more to contradict Human reason because the more ignorant they are and being no Pastors the more they ought to submit their judgments to Authority and consequently the preferring their own conduct or the conduct and direction of particular men or Churches before the universal Authority of the Church the Excommunicating as it were the whole Church of God the esteeming all Christians both Pastors and Flocks as Heathens and Publicans is a presumption so contrary to human nature and reason that their want of Learning is that which will most of all condemn them I speak not now of Persons absolutely Ideots who scarce know there are any other Pastors or any other Church than their own who pretend not at all to pass their judgments on other Religions but know only what their Pastors teach them having not ability by reason of their condition to examine Scriptures and Churches For such no doubt may by their simplicity and absolute invincible ignorance escape the malignity of Schism But I speak of Inferior Tradsmen of Gentlemen and Gentlewomen who have a capacity of being rightly instructed and better informed of the Spiritual Authority to which they owe their Subjection and yet who by their own perversness become troublers of the Church and who because they can read the Scriptures take upon them to judge of the Sense of them both for themselves and their Pastors Such as these no doubt have drunk in the
Succession to the Crown in this Last Will that contrary to all Justice he totally Excluded the whole Scottish-Line Descended from the Lady Margaret his eldest Sister from all hopes of having their turns in it His Infirmity and the weakness it brought upon him confining him to his Bed he had a great desire to receive the Sacrament and being perswaded to receive it in the easiest posture sitting or raised up in his Bed he would by no means yield unto it but caus'd himself to be taken up and plac'd in his Chair in which he heard the greatest part of the Mass till the Consecration and then receiv'd the Blessed Sacrament on his Knees as at other times saying withal as Saunders relates the Story That if he did not only cast himself upon the Ground but even under it also he could not give unto the Sacrament the Honor that was due unto it The instant of his Death approaching none of his Servants though thereunto desir'd by his Physicians durst acquaint him with it till at last Sir Anthony Denny undertook that ungrateful Office which the King entertaining with less impatience than was looked for from him gave order that Archbishop Cranmer should be presently sent for But he being then at Croyden it was so long before he came that he found him speechless However applying himself to the Kings present condition and discoursing to Him on this Point That Salvation was to be obtain'd only by Faith in Christ He desired the King if he understood the effect of his words and believ'd the same that he would signifie so much by some Sign or other which the King did by wringing him gently by the Hand and shortly after died There is a sharp but shrewd Character of this King to wit That he never sparea Woman in his Lust nor Man in his Anger Sir Walter Rawleigh says of him That if all the Patterns of a Merciless Prince had been lost in the World they might have been found in this King Thus Dr. Heylyn I will here set down some Passages out of his last Will related by Dr. Heylyn pag. 23. By which it will appear how constant he was till his death in professing and maintaining these following Points of Catholick Doctrine to wit The Real Presence in the Sacrament Invocation of Saints and Prayer for the Dead The words of the Will are these WE most humbly and heartily recommend our Soul to God who in the Person of his Son redeemed us with his most precious Body and Blood And for our better remembrance thereof hath left here with us in his Church Militant the Consecration and Administration of his most precious Body and Blood We also instantly desire that the Blessed Virgin Mary with all the Holy Company of Heaven may continually pray for us whilst we live in this World and at our passing out of it that we may the sooner attain everlasting life We likewise further Ordain That there be a convenient Altar at Windsor honorably prepared with all things requisite and necessary for a daily Mass there to be said perpetually while the World should endure Moreover He gave Order That all Divine Offices accustomed for the Dead should be daily Celebrated for him And that at the removal of his Body to Windsor a Thousand Marks should be distributed amongst the Poor to pray for the Remission of his Sins and the good of his Soul Thus Dr. Heylyn An Account of his Wives Of Six Wives this King had Anne Boleign his Second Wife was beheaded for Incest with her own Brother The Third Jane Seymour being in Child-birth and in danger of death had her Belly ripp'd up to preserve the Child The Fourth Anne of Cleve was cast off within two or three Months The Fifth Catherine Howard was beheaded for Adultery Concerning his Sixth Wife thus writes Sir Rich. Baker Page 418. The Sixth Catherine Parre being an earnest Protestant was accused to the King to have Heretical Books in her Closet and this was so aggravated against her that they prevail'd with the King to Sign a Warrant to Commit her to the Tower with a purpose to have burnt her for Heresie This Warrant was committed to Wriothsley Lord Chancellor and he by chance letting it fall from him it was taken up and carried to the Queen who having read it went soon after to visit the King Being come to the King he presently fell into Talk with her about some Points of Religion demanding her Resolution therein But she knowing that his nature was not to be cross'd specially considering the case she was in made him answer That She was a Woman accompanied with many Imperfections but his Majesty was Wise and Judicious of whom she must learn as of her Lord and Head Not so by St. Mary said the King for you are a Doctor Kate to instruct us and not to be instructed by us as often we have seen heretofore Indeed Sir said She if your Majesty have so conceiv'd I have been mistaken For if heretofore I have held talk with your Majesty it hath been to learn some Point of your Majesty whereof I stood in doubt and sometimes that with my Talk I might make you forget your present infirmity And is it so says King Then we are Friends But nevertheless soon after upon a day appointed by the Kings Warrant for apprehending her the King being dispos'd to walk into the Garden took the Queen with him when all on the sudden the Lord Chancellor with Forty of the Guard came into the Garden with a purpose to apprehend her whom as soon as the King saw he stept to the Chancellor and calling him Knave and Fool bid him get him out of his Presence The Queen seeing the King so angry with him began to intreat him to whom the King said You little know what it is he came about Of my Word Sweet-heart he hath been a very Knave to Thee Thus the Queen was preserv'd who else had tasted of as bitter a cup as any of his former Wives had done Thus Sir Rich. Baker Now we will give an Account of the Years when these changes were made Sir Rich. Baker Page 425. IN the Eighth year of this King's Reign Luther began to Preach against the Authority of the Pope and to bring in a Reformation of Religion for repressing of whom the Council of Trent was called by Pope Paul the Third At the same time with Luther there arose also in the same Country other Reformers of Religion as Zuinglius Oecolampadius Melancthon c. whâ—… differing from Luther in some Points made the difference which is at this day of Lutherans and Protestants so call'd at first at Ausburgh for making a Protestation in defence of their Doctrine In his Two and twentieth year a Proclamation was set forth That no Person should purchase any thing from the Court of Rome and this was the first beginning of his Deserting the Church of Rome In his Three and twentieth year the Clergy
submitting themselves to the King for being found guilty of a Premunire were the first that called him Supreme Head of the Church yet with this restriction So far as it was according unto Gods Word and not otherwise In his Four and twentieth year an Act of Parliament was made That no Person should Appeal for any Cause out of this Realm to the Court of Rome In his Twenty sixth year an Act was made which Authoriz'd the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Authority of the Pope to be abolish'd and then also was given to the King the First Fruits and Tenths of all Spiritual Livings and this Year were many put to death Papists for denying the Kings Supremacy Protestants for denying the Real Presence in the Sacrament nor is it credible what numbers suffered death for these two Causes in the last Ten Years of the Kings Reign of whom if we should make particular mention it would reach a great way in the Book of Martyrs In his Eight and twentieth Year the Lord Cromwel was made Vicar General under the King over the Spirituality and at least Four Hundred Monasteries were suppress'd and all their Lands and Goods conferred upon the King by an Act of Parliament In his One and thirtieth Year was set forth by the Bishops the Book of the Six Articles and all the rest of the Monasteries were conferred upon him Lastly In his Thirty fifth Year all Colleges Chantries and Hospitals were given to him Thus Sir Rich. Baker Here you have had a short view of the Beginning and sad Effects of this Prodigious Change of Religion begun by King Henry the Eighth A Further PROSECUTION Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning a Second Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of King EDWARD the Sixth A Preamble THIS is a Summary Account of this King's Reign as to these matters of Religion taken out of the Preface of Dr. Heylyn's History of Reformation Where after a brief Narration of King Henry the Eighth's Deserting the Pope he gives this following Account of his Son King Edward the Sixth The Relation whereof begins thus Next comes his Son Edward the Sixth upon the Stage whose Name was made use of to serve Turns withal and his Authority abused to his own undoing In his First year the Reformation was resolved on but on different ends endeavoured by some Bishops and others of the Lower Clergy and promoted with the like Zeal and Industry but not with like Integrity by some great Men about the â—…rt Who under Colour of removing corruptions out of the Church had cast their eyes upon the Spoil of Shrines and Images though still preserved in the greatest part of the Lutheran Churches and the improving their own Fortunes by the Chantry Lands All which they most Sacrilegiously divided amongst themselves without admitting the poor King to share with them though nothing but the filling his Coffers by the Spoil of the one and the Encrease of his Revenue by the fall of the other was openly pretended in the Conduct of it But to speak no more of this the work chiefly intended was vigorously carried on by the King and his Counsellors as appears by the Doctrinals in the Book of Homilies and by the Practical part of Christian Piety And here the business might have rested if Calvin's Pragmatical Spirit had not interposed He first began to quarrel at some passages in the Liturgy and afterwards never left Soliciting the Lord Protector and practising by his Agents on the Court the Country and the Universities till he had laid the first Foundation of the Zuinglian Faction who laboured nothing more than Innovation both in Doctrine and Discipline to which they were encouraged by nothing more than some improvident Indulgence granted unto John Alasco who bringing with him a mixed multitude of Poles and Germans obtained the Priviledge of a Church for himself and his distinct in Government and Form of Worship from the Church of England This much animated the Zuinglian Gospellers to practice first upon the Church who being Countenanced if not Headed by the Earl of Warwick who then began to undermine the Lord Protector first quarrelled the Episcopal Habit and afterwards enveighed against Caps and Surplices against Gowns and Tippets But fell at last upon the Altars which were left standing by the Rules of the Liturgy The touching upon this string made excellent Musick to most of the Grandees of the Court who had before cast many an envious eye on those costly Hangings that massy Plate and other Rich and Precious things which adorned those Altars And what need all this wast said Judas when one poor Chalice only and perhaps not that might have served the turn Beside there was no small spoil to be made of Copes in which the Priest Officiated at the Holy Sacrament Some of them being made of Cloth of Tissue Cloth of Gold and Silver or Embroydred Velvet the meanest being made of Silk or Sattin with some decent Trimming And might not these be handsomely converted unto private uses to serve as Carpets to their Tables Coverlets to their Beds or Cushions for their Chairs and Windows Hereupon some rude People are encouraged under-hand to beat down some Altars which makes way for an Order of the Council-Table to take down the rest and set up Tables in their places followed by a Commission to be executed in all parts of the Kingdom for seizing on the Premises for the King's use But as the Grandees of the Court intended to defraud the King of so great a booty and the Commissioners to put a cheat upon the Court-Lords who employed them in it So they were both prevented in some places by the Lords and Gentry of the Country who thought the Altar-cloths together with the Copes and Plate of their several Churches to be as necessary for themselves as for any others This Change drew on the Alteration of the former Liturgy but almost as unpleasing to the Zuinglian Faction as the former was In which conjuncture of Affairs King Edward the Sixth died From the begining of whose Reign the Reformation began All that was done in order to it under King Henry the Eighth seemed but accidental only and by the by rather designed on Private Ends than out of any settled purpose of a Reformation and therefore intermitted and resumed again as those Ends had variance But now the great Work was carried on with a constant hand the Clergy cooperating with the King and the Council for the effecting of it But scarce had they brought it to this pass when King Edward died whose Death I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England For being ill principled in himsels and easily enclined to embrace such Counsels as were offered to him it is not to be thought but that the rest of the Bishopricks before sufficiently impoverished must have followed Durham and the poor Church be left as destitute