Parishes to be setled and of Parish-Churches to bâ— rebuilded within the said City of London shall be fifty one The foresaid Act or any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding The same Parish-Churches shall be rebuilt according to the modules appointed by the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Bishop and Lord Mayor of London with the King's â—â—probation The Parishes of Alhallows Lumbard-street St. Bartholomew-Exchange St. Bâ—idâ—s Bennet-Fink St. Michaels Crooked-lane St. Christophers St. Dionis Back-Church St. Dunstans in the East St. James Garlick hithe St. Michael Cornhil St. Bassishaw St. Margaret Loathbury St. Mary Aldermanbury St. Martin Ludgate St. Peter's Cornhil St. Stephens Coleman-street and St. Sepulchers shall remain and continue as heretofore they were And the respective Parish-Churches to each of the said Parishes belonging shall be rebuilded and continued for the use of the said Parishes and the other Parishes shall be respectively united two Parishes into one that is to say the Parishes of Alhallows Bred-street and St. John Evangelist shall be united into one Parish and the Church heretofore belonging to the Parish of Alhallows Bred-street shall be rebuilded and shall be the Parish-Church of the Parishes so united The Parishes of St. Albans Wood-street and St. Olaves Silver-street shall be united into one Parish and the Church heretofore belonging to St. Albans Wood-street shall be the Parish-Church of the said Parishes so united The Parishes of St. Austin's and St. Faiths shall be united into one Parish and the Church of St. Austins shall be the Parish-Church of the said Parishes so united The like order is to be observed in all the rest of the Parish-Churches that are to be united It was further Enacted That any Plate and Goods heretofore belonging to any of the Church-Wardens of any of the Parishes burnt down which are not to be rebuilt shall be enjoyed by the Church-Wardens of those and their successors of the respective Parishes of such Churches to be rebuilded whereunto the said other Churches burnt down are united by this Act. Provided That the Sites of the Churches to be demolished and the Church-yards belonging to the same shall be enclosed with Brick or Stone-walls for burial for the Parishes formerly belonging to the same and the Parishes to which they are united as aforesaid and not used or employed to any other purpose whatsoever excepting such of the Sites and Church-yards or parts of Sites and Church-yards of the said Parish-Churches so demolished as aforesaid as are already laid into the Streets and Market-places set out for that purpose c. Notwithstanding the union yet the Parishes to all Rates Charges and Priviledges are to remain distinct The present Incumbents of Churches not to be rebuilded shall not be deprived of the Tithes or other profits heretofore belonging to their respective Churches so long as they shall assist in serving the Cure and other offices belonging to their duty in the Parish-Church whereunto their respective Parishes shall be united and annexed by this Act according direction of the Ordinary c. saving to the King's Majesty his heirs to the and successors the Tenths and First-fruits of all such Parish-Churishes as by force of this present Act shall be united and consolidated c. Yet the said Parsons and Vicars are hereby indemnified from the payment of all First-fruits Tenths and Pensions due and which shall be due to his Majesty and from all dues to the Ordinary and Archdeacon and all other dues whatsoever chargeable upon them respectively untill such time as they shall receive the profits arising from the same as formerly And no Process shall be issued out of any Court whatsoever against the persons aforesaid for their non-payment of First-fruits Tenths Pensions or any other the dues aforesaid c. They are indemnified for not reading the 39. Articles or not doing other things enjoyned by Law untill such time as the said Churches be re-edified or made fit for publick worship The said Parsons and Vicars are impowered to let Leases of their Glebe-lands with the consent of the Patron and Ordinary for any Term not exceeding forty years and at such yearly rents without fine as can be obtained for the same and that no lapses incurred upon any non-presentation in due time of any of the Patrons of the said livings since the said fire shall any ways prejudice or make void the Presentations that the said Patrons have since made whereupon any Incumbent is since instituted and inducted any Law or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding A Catalogue of the Bishops of ENGLAND and WALES The Archbishops of Canterbury 1. AUgustine 2. Laurence 3. Mellitus 4. Justus 5. Honorius 6. Deus Dedit 7. Theodorus 8. Brethwald 9. Tatwyn 10. Nothelmus 11. Cuthbert 12. Bregwyn 13. Lambert alias Jainbert 14. Athelard 15. Wifred 16. Theologild 17. Celnoth 18. Athelred 19. Plegmond 20. Athelmus 21. Wilfelm 22. Odo Severus 23. Dunstan 24. Ethelgar 25. Siâ—icius 26. Alfâ—iâ—us 27. Elphege 28. Liuâ—ig 29. Agelnoth 30. Eadsin 31. Robert Gemeticensis 32. Stigand 33. Lanfrank 34. Anfelm 35. Rodolphus 36. William Corbel 37. Theobald 38. Thomas Becket 39. Richard 40. Baldwyn 41. Reginald Fitz-Joceline 42 Hubert Walter 43. Stephen Langton 44. Richard Wethershed 45. Saint Edmond 46. Boniface 47. Robert Kilwarby 48. John Peckham 49. Robert Winchelsey 50. Walter Reinolds 51. Simon Mepham 52. John Stratford 53. Thomas Bradwardine 54. Simon Islip 55. Simon Iâ—ngham 56. W. Wittlesey 57. Simon Sudbury 58. William Courtney 59. Thomas Arundel 60. Henry Chichley 61. John Stafford 62. John Kemp. 63. Thomas Bourchier 64. John Morton 65. Henry Deane 66. William Warham 67. Thomas Cranmer 68. Reginald Pool 69. Matthew Parker 70. Edmond Grindal 71. John Whitgift 72. Richard Bancroft 73. George Abbot 74. William Laud. 75. William Juxon 76. Gilbert Sheldon Archbishops of York 1. Paulinus 2. Cedda 3. Wilfrid 4. Bosa 5. John of Beverley 6. Wilfrid 7. Egbert 8. Albertus 9. Eanbaldus the First 10. Eanbaldus the Second 11. Wulfius 12. Wimundus 13. Wilferus 14. Ethelbald 15. Redward 16. Wulstan 17. Oskitel 18. Athelwold 19. Oswald 20. Aldulf 21. Wulstan 22. Alfricus Puttoc 23. Kinsius 24. Eldredus 25. Thomas the First 26. Gerard. 27. Thomas the Second 28. Thurstan 29. Henry Murdac 30. Saint William 31. Roger 32. Geoffry Plantageneâ— 33. Walter Gray 34. Sewal 35. Godfry de Kinton 36. Walter Gifford 37. William Wickwane 38. John Roman 39. Henry Newark 40. Thomas de Corbridge 41. William de Greenfield 42. William de Melton 43. Le Zouch 44. John Thursby 45. Alexander Nevil 46. Thomas Arundel 47. Robert Waldby 48. Richard Scroop 49. Henry Bowet 50. John Kemp. 51. William Booth 52. George Nevil 53. Laurence Booth 54. Thomas Rotheram 55. Thomas Savage 56. Christopher Baimbridge 57. Thomas Wolsey 58. Edward Lee. 59. Robert Holgate 60. Nicholas Heath 61. Thomas Young 62. Edmond Grindal 63. Edwyn Sandys 64. John Piers. 65. Matthew Hutton 66. Tobia Matthew 67. George Mounteign 68. Samuel Harsnet 69. Richard
collected together John Fisher Bishop of Rochester was beheaded soon after the Pope Anno 1535. had made him Cardinal of St. Vitalis He was Chaplain and Confessor to the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond at whose Instance and by whose advice she founded and endowed Christ's and St. John's Colledge in Cambridge He died in the seventy seventh year of his Age on June 22. Sir Thomas Moor was beheaded the next month after Bishop Fisher and was buried at Chelsey He was a great Enemy to the Protestants On June the eighth began a Parliament which was dissolved on July the eighteenth following A parallel Convocation began the day after wherein the Lord Cromwel Prime Secretary sate in State above all the Bishops as the King's Vicar or Vicegerent General in all Spiritual matters Deformi satis spectaculo saith Bishop Godwin indocto Laico Godwin Annals Anno 1536. caetui Praesidente Sacratorum Antistitum omnium quos ante haec tempora Anglia unquam habuisset doctissimorum But the Lord Cromwel had in Power and Policy what he wanted in Learning In that Convocation the said Lord tendered unto them an Instrument to be publickly signed by all the Convocation concerning the nullity of the King's Marriage with the Lady Anna Bolen Some ten dayes before Archbishop Cranmer had pronounced it invalid frustrate and of none effect at Lambeth No particular cause is specified in that sentence Sure I am there is no dashing on the credit of the Lady nor any the least insiâ—uation of unchastity in that Instrument Praeclara Domina Serenissima Regina being the worst Titles that are given her therein King Henry got her Divorce confirmed both by Convocation and Parliament She was beheaded May 19. 1536. The King on the next day was married to the Lady Iane Seymour Soon after by little and little began the ruine of the Abbeys and Religious Houses for all Religious Houses whose possessions in yearly revenue exceeded not the sum of two hundred pounds were suppressed and dissolved and all their Sites and Possessions whatsoever were given for ever to the King The Clergy also at the same time of their own accord and to insinuate themselves into grace and favour with the King composed and published in printed Books certain Articles for the ordering and governing of the Church in which mention was made of three Sacraments only and the rest of them which former times did superstitiously receive and maintain were left out of the said Books These proceedings of the King and Clergy against the Pope and Holy Church were so generally disliked by the rude and ignorant people that they openly affirmed that the King's Council irreligiously directed him amiss and that the temporizing Clergy of the Land practised by all means possible to extinguish all Devotion and utterly to subvert all the ancient Rites Ceremonies and commendable Government of the Church And the unruly people in Lincoln-shire to the number of twenty thousand assembled themselves in Arms taking upon themselves to frame better Orders for the governing of the Church and Common-wealth But the King approaching near them with an Army they ran away and Doctor Mackarel their Ring-leader with some others were shortly after apprehended and executed Then there arose another Insurrection in the North and the number of those Rebels exceeded the number of forty thousand men who termed themselves The holy Pilgrims who intended nothing but the establishing of true Religion and the reformation of great abuses which defaced the Government of the Church The King's Army drawing near upon the faithful promise of the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk that commanded his Army that the King should pardon them the Rebels left the field and quietly departed to their own houses Now the King waxed more absolute in his Government especially concerning his Clergy and the ordering of the Church William Tindal who translated the New Testament in English and the five Books of Moses with many other godly Works was burned at the Town of Filford in Flaunders by vertue of the Emperor's Decree made in the Assembly at Ausburgh He was first strangled and after consumed with fire At the Stake he cried with a loud voice Lord open the King of England ' s eyes The King began with a little Book of Articles for the instruction of the people bearing this Title Articles devised by the King's Highness to establish Christian quiet and unity among the people It contained the Creed three Sacramenâ—s Baptism the Eucharist and Penance how Images might safely be worshipped and how Saints departed ought to be reverenced that the Parsons should teach their people that Christ is their only Mediator and how the Ceremonies of holy Water holy Bread Candles c. should without superstition be used It took away also the abuses which arose upon the imagination of Purgatory as Masses for Souls departed Pardons c. Not long after these Articles certain other Injunctions were also given out about the same year whereby a number of Holy-dayes were abrogated especially such as fell in Harvest-time Other Injunctions were also given out by the King concerning Images Relicks and blind Miracles for abrogating of Pilgrimages Also for the Lord's Prayer Creed and ten Commandements and the Bible to be done into English Anno 1538 the Parsons of Churches and the Parishes together were bound to provide in every Parish Church a Bible in English Also for every Parishioner to be taught by the Minister to understand and say the Lord's Prayer and Creed in their own vulgar tongue with other necessary Injunctions as for the free preaching of the Word of God against Images Pilgrimages Avies Suffrages of Saints c. and for a Register-book to be kept in every Church This year was Friar Forrest burned quick hanging in Chains in Smithfield for denying the King's Supremacy with this Forrest was Darvel Gatheren an abominable Idol of Wales burned The First-fruits Office first sâ—t up in 〈◊〉 Great was the King's profit at this time from the Office for the receipt of Tenths and First-fruits which was now first set up in London Such moneys were formerly paid to the Pope who had his Collectors in every Diocess which sometimes by Bills of Exchange but generally in specie to the great impoverishing of the Land yearly returned the Tenths and First-fruits of the English Clergy to Rome The Pope being now dead in England the King was found his Heir at Common Law as to most of the power and profit the other had usurped But now as the Clergy had changed their Landlord so their Rents were new rated Commissioners being employed in all Counties the Bishop of the Diocess being alwayes one of them to value their yearly Revenue that so their Tenths and First-fruits may be proportioned accordingly These Raters were the chiefest in all Counties under the degrees of Barons These Commissioners were impowred by the King to send for the Scribes and Notaries of all Bishops and Archdeacons to swear the Receivers
wrote a Letter to the Lord Treasurer complaining of Mr. Beal Clerk of the Council who brought these Letters to him his insolent carriage towards him Now that the Presbyterian party were befriended at the Council-board who endeavoured to mittigate the Archbishop's proceeding against them appeareth also from the Privy Counsellors Letter to the Archbishop in favour of the Non-conformists Signed W. Burleigh G. Shrewsbury A Warwick R. Leicester C. Howard J. Croft Ch. Hatton Fr. Walâ—ingham But albeit Sir Chr. Hatton subscribed among the Privy Counsellors for moderation to Non-conformists yet that he was a great countenancer of Whitgift's proceedings against them appeareth in an immediate Address of the Archbishop unto him As for the Lord Burghleigh he was neither so rigid as to have Conformity prest to the height nor so remiss as to leave Ministers at their own liberty He would argue the case both in Discourse and Letters with the Archbishop and one Letter he wrote to the Archbishop for some Indulgence to the Ministers Mr. Travers seems to have an hand in all this who being the Lord Burghleigh's Chaplain by him much respected and highly affected to the Geneva Discipline was made the mouth of the Ministers to mediate to his Lord in their behalf But the Archbishop's unmoveableness appeared by his Letter sent to the Lord Treasurer at some passages whereof he took exception and sends a smart Letter to the Archbishop That which concerneth the Non-conformists therein is this I deny nothing that your Grace thinketh meet to proceed in with those whom you call factious and therefore there is no controversie between you and me expressed in your Letter the controversie is passed in your Graces Letter in silence and so I do satisfie Your Grace promised me to deal I say only with such as violated Order and to charge them therewith which I allow well of But your Grace not charging them with such faults seeketh by examination to urge them to accuse themselves and then I think you will punish them I think your Grace's proceeding is I will not say rigorous or captious but I think it is scanâ— charitable c. If I had known the fault of Brown I might bâ— blamed for writing for him but when by examination only it is to sift him with twenty four Articles I have cause to pity the poor man Your Grace's as friendly as any W. Burghleigh The Archbishop writes a calm Letter in answer to the Lord Treasurer's Letter sending him enclosed therein certain Reasons to justifie the manner of his proceedings praying his Lordship not to be carried away either from the cause or from the Archbishop himself upon unjust surmises and clamours lest he be the occasion of that confusion which hereafter he would be sorry for Professing that in these things he desired no further defence neither of his Lordship nor of any other than Justice and Law would yield unto him Sir Francis Walsingham was a good Friend to Non-conformists he wrote a Letter to the Archbishop to qualifie him for a Semi-Non-conformist one Mr. Leverwood Grindal being sensible of the Queens displeasure had desired to resign his place and confine himself to a yearly Pension This place was proffered to Whitgift but he in the presence of the Queen refused it yet what he would not snatch suddenly fell into his hands by Grindal's death who out of his contempt of the world left not much wealth behind him That little he had as it was well gotten was well bestowed in pious uses in Oxford and Cambridge with the building and endowing of a School at St. Bees in Cumberland where he was born yea he may be held as a Benefactor to this Nation by bringing in Tamarix first over into England that Plant being very excellent in mollifying the hardness of the Spleen Now Robert Brown a Cambridge-man and young Student in Divinity of whom the Separatists in those dayes and long after were called Brownists born in Rutland-shire of an ancient Family near allied to the Lord Treasurer Cecil began with one Richard Harison a Schoolmaster to vent their Opinions They set forth Books in Zealand whither they travelled Brown returning home disperseth these Books all over England But their Books were suppressed by the Queens Authority confuted by Learned men and two of his followers were executed one after another at St. Edmonds-bury Brown coming to Norwich there infected both Dutch and English for which he was confined The Lord Treasurer writes a Letter to the Bishop of Norwich in his behalf Brown being thus brought up to London was wrought to some tolerable compliance and being discharged by the Archbishop was by the Lord Treasurer sent home to his Father Anthony Brown at Tolethorp in Rutland Esquire But it seemâ— Brown's errors were so inlaid in him no conference with Divines could convince him to the contrary whose incorrigibleness made his own Father weary of his company He and Harison inveighed against Bishops Ecclesiastical Courts Ceremonies Ordination of Ministers fancying here on earth a platform of a perfect Church Doctor Fulk learnedly proveth that the Brownists were in effect the same with the ancient Donatists Nicholas Saunders more truly Slanders died this year 1583. being starved to death among the Bogs and Mountains in Ireland Near the same time one John Lewis was burnt at Norwich for denying the Godhead of Christ and holding other detestable Heresies At this time the Jesuites set forth many slaunderous libels against her Majesty one of their principal Pamphlets was a Treatise of Schism William Carter the Stationer was executed at Tyburn for publishing it Soon after five Seminaries John Fen George Haddock John Munden John Nutter and Tho. Hemmerford were hanged bowelled and quartered for Treason at Tyburn and many others about the same time executed in other places Yet at the same time the Queen by one Act of Grace pardoned seventy Priests some of them actually condemned to die all legally deserving death Among these were 1. Gasper Haywood Son to that eminent Epigrammatist the first Jesuite that ever set foot in England 2. James Bosgrave 3. John Hart a zealous disputant 4. Edward Rushton an ungrateful wretch who afterwards railed on the Queen in Print who gave him his life In the year 1584. Two conferences were kept at Lambeth about the Discipline and Ceremonies of the Church For the same were the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and Cooper Bishop of Winchester Unconforming Ministers against it The Lords of the Privy Council and some other Honorable persons Auditors thereof This conference effected nothing on the Disputants as to the altering their Opinions Some of the Lords afterwards secretly acted against the Archbishop in favour of the other party The Archbishop now take's another course enjoyning all admitted to the Ecclesiastical Orders and Benefices the subscription of the following Articles I. That the Queen had supreme Authority over all persons born within her Dominions of what condition soever they were And that no other Prince Prelate or
following the direction of the Church of England whose Rubrick appointeth that Chapter the second Morning-lesson for the thirtieth of January At ten of the Clock in the forenoon he is brought on Foot from St. James's Palace over the Park to Whitehall guarded with a Regiment of Foot-souldiers part before and the rest behind him with Colours flying and Dâ—ums beating his private Guard of Partizans about him and Doctor Juxon Bishop of London next to him on one side and Colonel Tomlinson on the other He bid them go faster saying That heâ— now went before them to strive for an Heavenly Crown with less sollicitude than he had oftentimes bid his Souldiers to fight for an earthly Diadem Then passeth he to the Scaffold where he defendeth his Innocency howbeit he acknowledgeth God's justice pardons his enemies takes pity on the Kingdom He shews the Souldiers how much they are out of the way and tells them They would never go right till they give God his due the King his due and the people their due You must said he give God his due by restoring his worship and Church rightly regulated which is now out of order according to hâ—s Word And a National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King said he that is my Successor Indeed I will not the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that For the People I must tell you That their liberty and freedom consists in having Government under those Laws by which their Lives and Goods may be most their own It is not in having a share in the Government that pertains not to them A Sovereign and a Subject are two different things He prayed God they might take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and their own Salvation Then having declared That he died a Christian according to the profession of the Church of England as the same was left him by his Father He said I have a good Cause and a gracious God and gave his George to the Bishop bidding him Remember to give it to the Prince Then said He I go from a Corruptible to an Incorruptible Crown where no disturbaâ—ce can be but peace and joy for evermore Then lifting up his eyes and hands to Heaven having prayed secretly stooping down to the block he reâ—â—ivâ—d the fatal stroak On the Wednesday sennight afâ—â—r his Corps â—mbalmed and Coffined in Lead was delivered to the care of some of his Servants to be buried at Windsor That night they brought the Corps to Windsor The Vault being prepared a scarff of Lead was provided some two foot long and five inches broad therein to make an Inscription which was KING CHARLES 1648. The Plummer souldred it to the Coffin about the Breast of the Corpse Then was the Corpse brought to the Vault being born by the Souldiers of the Garrison Over it a black Velvet Herse-cloth the four Labels whereof the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford the Earls of South-hampton and Lindsey did support The Bishop of London stood weeping by Then was it deposited in silence and sorrow in the vacant place in the Vault near to the Coffin as it was thought which contained the Corps of King Henry the Eighth the Herse-cloth being cast in after it about three of the Clock in the afternoon and the Lords that night though late returned to London Prince Charles eldest Son to King Charles the first by unquestionable right succeeded to the Crowns of England Scotland and Ireland in the eighteenth year of his age Proclamation and Coronation could not now have their due course The Ruling part of the House of Commons who usurped the Government with violence on the person of the late King immediately published an Act even against Kingly Government Yet this Inhibition did not deter many Loyal Subjects from doing their duty and on February 2. a Proclamation in the name of the Noblemen Judges Knights Lawyers Gentlemen Free-holders Merchants Citizens Yeomen Seamen and other Freemen of England did Proclaim Prince Charles King of England The Proclamation was Printed and scattered about the Streets of London The House of Peers continued yet sitting and in regard the Commissions of the Judges were determined by the death of the King they send to the Commons for a Conference about it and other matters relating to the setling of the Government But Monarchy and the House of Lords are declared useless by the Commons The Peers in general resent these indignities put upon them by a small part of the House of Commons they assert their own Priviledges and the Fundamental Laws of the Nation and disclaim and protest against all Acts Votes Orders or Ordinances of the said Members of the Commons House for erecting of new Courts of Justice to try or execute the King or any Peer or Subject of the Realm for altering the Government Laws Great Seal c. Hereupon the Army set a Guard upon the door of the House of Lords and in further prosecution of the late Votes of Commons against Monarchy An Act was passed by that House for the Exhaeredation of the Royal Line the Abolishment of Monarchy in this Kingdom and the setting up of a Common-wealth which they ordered to be published and Proclaimed in all partâ— of the Kingdom But Alderman Reinoldson then Lord Mayor of London refused to publish this Act in London and He with three of the Aldermen of his Judgment were sent prisoners to the Tower But on February 3. the King was Proclaimed at the Cross at Edinburgh In the beginning of March the Duke of Hamilton the Earls of Holland and Norwich the Lord Capel and Sir John Owen were tried and condemned by an High Court of Justice erected for that purpose of which the Duke of Hamilton the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel were executed March 9. but the Earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen were pardoned The Commons set forth a Declaration to justifie their proceedings They promise the establishment of a firm and sase Peace the advancement of the true Protestant Religion the liberal maintenance of a godly Ministry c. They pass an Act for propagating the Gospel in Ireland March 8. April 10. 1649. An Act was passed by the Commons for the sale of Deans and Chapters Lands and for the abolishing of Deans Deans and Chapters Canons Prebends c. and Tithes of or belonging to any Cathedral or Collegiate Church in England and Wales but it was provided That this should not extend to the Colledge of St. Mary in Winchester nor to the Colledge of Eaton nor to any of the Mannors Lands Tenements and Hereditaments to them belonging June 2. 1649 An Act was passed for the better maintenance of Preaching Ministers and School-masters out of the Lands of Deans and Chapters throughout England and Wales in such places where maintenance is wanting and for other good uses to the advancement of true
B. do here declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book entitled The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments aâ—d other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Church of England together with the Psalter or Psalmes of David pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches and the form or manner of making Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons And that all and every such Person who should without some lawful impediment to be allowed and approved of by the Ordinary of the place neglect or refuse to do the same within the time aforesaid c. should within one moneth be deprived ipso facto of his spiritual promotions and that thenceforth it should be lawful to and for all Patrons and Donors of all and singular the said spiritual Promotions or of any of them according to their respective Rights and Titles to present or collate to the same as though the person or persons so offending were dead And it was further Enacted That every Person henceforth to be promoted to any Ecclesiastical Benefice should read the Common-Prayer and declare his Assent and Consent thereto within two moneths next after that he shall be in actual possession of the said Ecclesiastical Benefice or Promotion and upon neglect or refusal to be deprived as aforesaid And that Incumbents of Livings keeping Curates shall read the same once every moneth upon pain to forfeit the sum of five pounds to the use of the poor of the Parish for every offence It was also Enacted That every Dean Canon and Prebendary of every Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all Masters and other Heads Fellows Chaplains and Tutors of or in any Colledge Hall Hospital and every publick Professor and Reader in either of the Universities and in every Colledge else-where and every Parson Vicar Curate Lecturer c. and every School-master keeping any publick or private School and every person instructing or teaching any youth in any House or private family as a Tutor or School-master c. should before the Feast of St. Bartholomew in the year aforesaid subscribe the Declaration following scilicet I A. B. do declare that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against the King and that I do abhor that traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his person or against those that are Commissioned by him and that I will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as it is now by Law established and I do declare that there lies no obligation upon me or on any other person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and liberties of this Kingdom The penalty for failing in subscribing was for Deans Vicars Schoolmasters to be deprived of their Ecclesiastical promotions Schools and Lectures to be void as if such person so failing were naturally dead Provided always That from and after the 25th day of March which shall be in the year of our Lord God 1682. there shall be omitted in the said declaration so to be subscribed and read it being enjoyned to be openly and publickly read by every Minister c. upon some Lords day within three moneths after his subscription in the presence of the Congregation there assembled these words following scil And I do declare that I do hold there lies no obligation upon me or on any other person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and liberties thereof So as none of the persons aforesaid shall from thenceforth be at all obliged to subscribe or read any part of the said declaration or acknowledgement It was further Enacted That persons not ordained Priests or Deacons according to Episcopal ordination shall not hold any Ecclesiastical promotion nor shall consecrate and administer the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper upon pain to forfeit for every offence the sum of one hundred pounds one moyety thereof to the King the other moyety thereof to be equally divided between the poor of the Parish where the offence shall be committed It was also Enacted That no other Form or Order of Common-Prayers Administration of Sacraments Rites or Ceremonies should be used openly in any Church Chappel or publick place And it was further Enacted That if any person who is by this Act disabled to Preach any Lecture or Sermon shall during the time that he shall continue and remain so disabled Preach any Sermon or Lecture that then for every such offence the Person and Persons so offending shall fuffer three moneths imprisonment in the common Goal without Bayl or Mainprize It was also Provided That at all and every time and times when any Sermon or Lecture is to be Preached the Common-Prayers and Service in and by the said Book appointed to be read for that time of the day shall be openly publickly and solemnly read by some Priest or Deacon in the Church Chappel or place of publick worship where the said Sermon or Lecture is to be Preached and that the Lecturer then to Preach shall be present at the reading thereof It was further Enacted That the Laws and Statutes formerly made for Uniformity of Common-Prayer should continue to be in force and to be executed for punishing offendors against this Law Hereupon many hundred Ministers with divers Lecturers and School-masters left their places refusing to conform Another Act was also passed for restoring of all such Advousons Rectories Impropriate Glebe-lands and Tithes to his Majesties loyal Subjects as were taken from them and making void certain charges imposed on them upon their compositions for delinquency by the late usurped Power Another Act was passed for preventing Abuses in printing Seditious Treasonable and Unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for regulating of Printing and Priming-presses Pamphlets and Books prohibited to be Printed Published or Sold were Heretical Seditious or Shismatical Books or Pamphlets wherein any Christian Doctrine or Opinion shall be asserted or maintained which is contrary to Christian Faith or to the Doctrine or Discipline of the Church of England or which shall or may tend or be to the scandal of Religion or the Government or Governours of the Church State or Common-wealth or of any Corporation or particular person or persons whatsoever none shall import publish sell or dispose any such Book or Books or Pamphlets nor shall cause or procure any such to be published or put to sale or to be bound stitched or sewed together In the fifteenth year of his Majestie 's Reign
the City These Knights Hospitallers at their first Institution about the year 1124. and long after were so lowly all the while they continued poor that their Governor was stiled servant to the poor sâ—rvitors of the Hospital of Jerusalem like as the Master of the Templars who shortly after arose was termed The Humble Minister of the poor Knights of the Temple The Hospitallers ware a white Cross upon their upper black Garment and by solemn profession were bound to serve Pilgrims and poor people in the Hospital of St. John at Jerusalem and to secure the passages thither they charitably buried the dead they were assiduous in prayer mortified themselves with watchings and fastings they were courteous and kind to the poor whom they called their Masters and Camd. descrip of London fed with white bred while themselves lived with brown and carried themselves with great austerity whereby they purchased to themselves the love and liking of all sorts and through the bounty of good Princes and private persons admiring their piety and prowess they rose from this low degree to so high an Estate and great riches that they did after a sort wallow in wealth and riches For about the year of our Lord 1240. they had within Christendom nineteen thousand Lordships or Mannors like as the Templars nine thousand And this estate of theirs grown to so great an height made way for them to as great Honours so as their Prior in England was reputed the prime Baron of the Land called the Lord of St. Johns and able with fulness and abundance of all things to maintain an honourable Port untill that King Henry the Eighth gat their Lands and livings into his own hands like as he did of the Monasteries also They outlived all other Orders yet at last they fell into a Praemunire for they still continued their obedience to the Pope contrary to their Allegiance whose Usurped authority was banished out of the Land They were forced to resign all into the King's hands He allowed to Sir William Weston Lord Prior of the Order an annual pension weaveâ—s Monuâ— p. 114. of One thousand pounds But he never received a penny thereof but died instantly struck to the heart when he first heard of the dissolution of his Priory and lyeth buried in the Chauncel of Clarkenwell with the pourtraiture of a dead man lying on his shroud most artificially cut in Stone others had rent assigned them of two hundred pound one hundred pound sixty pound fifty pound twenty pound ten pound according to their several qualities and deserts Queen Mary sets up the Hospitallers again and Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton in Northampton-shire was the first and last Lord Prior after their Restitution for their nests were plucked down before they were warm in them by the coming in of Queen Elizabeth Of the English Nuns I Come now to Nuns almost as numerous in England as Monks and Friers as having though not so many Orders yet more of the same Order The weaker sex hath ever equalled men in their Devotion often exceeded them in their Superstition At Liming in Kent the Daughter of King Ethelbert took the veile and became the first English Nun. There was an Hermophrodite Order as is aforesaid admitting both Men and Women under the same roof and during the life of Gilbert their first founder for seven hundred Brethren there were one thousand one hundred Sisters entred into that Order Doctor Fuller divides the Nuns into three sorts First The Antientest Secondly The Poorest Thirdly The latest Nuns in England 1. Of the first sort he accounteth the She Benedictines commonly called black Nuns Bennet the Monk after he had placed himself and his Monkish Brethren in a certain Noble and Famous Cloyster upon the Mount Cassinus raised up also an Order of Nuns and made his Sister Scholastica Abbess over them The apparrel of these black Nuns is a black coat cloak coule and veyl and least the Scripture should deceive her and hers it was commanded that none of that Order should read the Holy Scripture without consent or permission of their Superior 2. The poorest follow being the strict Order of St. Clare a Lady living at the same time and in the same Town with St. Francis she assembled and gathered together a Congregation of poor Women and gave them an Order of life like unto the rule that Frier Francis gave his Covent Their garment is gray their Order admitteth none but women-kind except it be to say Mass 3. The Nuns of St. Bridget were the latest in England first setled here in the second year of King Henry the Fifth Anno ' Domini 1415. dissolved with the rest Anno 1538. so that they continued here onely one hundred twenty three years Bridget Queen of Sweden gave them their name and Institution Men and Women living under the same roof the VVomen above the Men beneath They were seated at Sion in Middlesex which King Henry the Fifth having expelled from thence the Monks Aliens built for Religious Virgins to the Honour of our Saviour the Virgin Mary and St. Bridget of Sion In this Sion he appointed so many Nuns Priests and Lay-brethren divided apart within their several VValls as were in number forsooth equal to Christ's Apostles and Disciples viz. eighty five I. Sisters Sixty II. Pâ—â—ests Thirteen III. Deacons Four IV. Lay-brethren Eight Having bestowed sufficient maintenance upon them King Henry provided by a Law that contenting themselves therewith they should take no more of any man but what overplus soever remained of their yearly Revenue they should bestow it upon the poor Thomas Walsingham saith if afterwards the whole VVorld should proffer walsiâ—gh in 〈◊〉 them Farmes and possessions it was utterly unlawful for them to accept any thing thereof This Order had but this one Covent in England and so wealthy it was that at the dissolution it was valued yearly worth one thousand nine hundred forty four pounds eleven shillings eight pence farthing This Order constantly kept their Audit on All Saints Eve October 31. and the day after All Souls being the third of November No Covents of England more carefully kept their Records than the Priory of Clarkâ—nwel to whose credit it is registred There is a perfect 〈◊〉 Catal. of Religious Houses p. 793. Catalogue from their first foundation to their dissolution of all their Prioresses defective in all other houses Sir Thomas Chaloner not long ago built a spatious house within the close of that Priory upon the frontispiece whereof these Verses were inscribed Casta fides superest velatae tuta soroâ—es Ista relegatae deseruere licet Nam venerandus Hymen hic vota jugalia servat Vestalemque focum monte fovere studet Chast Faith still stay 's behind though hence be flown Those veiled Nuns who here before did nest For reverend Mariage wedlock-vowes doth own And sacred flames keep 's here in Loyal breast Here I shall say little of the Houses for Leprous people though indeed they deserved