same When the Liturgy of â—he Church â—f England â—as first read 〈◊〉 Dublin King Henry the 8th deceasing and his hopeful Offspring King Edward the 6th succeeding within a short space after his Royal Fathers Death that hopeful Prince by the Advice of his Privy Council began to consider what good Effects the Translation of the holy Bible had done also how much it had enlightened the Understanding of his Subjects they altered the Liturgy Book from what King Henry had formerly printed and established causing the same to be printed in English commanding the same to be read and sing in the several Cathedrals and Parish Churches of England for the common Benefit of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty and that his Subjects of Ireland might likewise participate of the same Sweetness he sent over Orders to his Vice Roy Sir Anthony St. Leger then being Lord Deputy of that Nation that the same be forthwith there in Ireland observed within their several Bishopricks Cathedrals and Parish Churches which was first observed in Christ Church at Dublin on the Feast of Easter 1551. before the said Sir Anthony George Browne and before the Mayor and Bayliffs of Dublin John Lockwood being then Dean of the said Cathedral The Translation of the Copy of the Order for the Liturgy of the Church of England to be read in Ireland runs as follows EDWARD by the Grace of God c. K. Edvvards Order for the Liturgy of the Church of England to be read in Ireland WHereas our Gratious Father King Henry the 8th of happy memory taking into consideration the Bondage and heavy Yoak that his true and faithful Subjects sustained under the Iurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as also the Ignorance the Commonalty were in how several fabulous Stories and lying Wonders misled our Subjects in both our Realms of England and Ireland grasping thereby the means thereof into their hands also dispensing with the Sins of our Nations by their Indulgences and Pardons for Gain purposely to cherish all evil Vices as Robberies Rebellions Thefts Whoredoms Blasphemy Idolatry c. He our Gratious Father King Henry of happy memory hereupon dissolved all Priorys Monastrys Abbeys and other pretended Religious Houses as being but Nurseries for Vice and Luxury more then for sacred Learning He therefore that it might more plainly appear to the World that those Orders had kept the light of the Gospel from his People He thought it most fit and convenient for the Preservation of their Souls and Bodies that the holy Scriptures should be Translated Printed and placed in all Parish Churches within his Dominions for his faithful Subjeccts to encrease their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Iesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well-beloved Subjects Vnderstandings when ever assembled or met together in the said several Parish Churches either to pray or to hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be translated into our Mother Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony St. Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special notice to all our Clergy as well Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons as other our Secular Parish Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will Pleasure accordingly Given at our Mannor of Greenwich Febr. 6. in the Fifth year of our Reign E. R. To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Anth. St. Leger Knt. our Chief Governour of our Kingdom of Ireland Several Collections from Anthony Martin formerly Bishop of Meath An Assembly called on this Order of King Edwards BEfore Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony St. Leger upon His Order called an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with other of the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified unto them as well His Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying that it was His Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony St. Leger his Arguments with George Dowdall Armachanus Sir Anthony St. Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdall who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up who through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying then shall every illiterate fellow read Service or Mass as he in those days termed the word Service Sir Anthony his reply to George Dowdall To this Saying of the Archbishops Sir Anthony replyed No your Grace is mistaken for we have two many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latine nor know what it means no more than the Common people that hear them but when the people hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Gerge Dowdall to Sir Anthony Upon this Reply George Dowdall bade Sir Anthony beware of the Clergies Curse Sir Anthony to Geo. Dovvdall Sir Anthony made answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of Saint Peter George Dovvdall's Reply the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony's Return Sir Anthony returned this answer I thought we had been all of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof George Dovvdall The Archbishop replied and is not St. Peters the Church of Christ Sir Anthony Sir Anthony returned this Answer St. Peter was a Member of Christ Church but the Church was not St. Peters neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdall the Primate of Armagh rose up George Dovvdall leaves the Assembly and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March according to the old stile 1551. but if we reason as from the Annunciation of our Lady which was the 25th of March it was 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order Geo. Brovvne his Speech upon King Edvv. Order and held it forth to George Browne Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted
herein and compared the holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful Geo. Brovvne's Speech wrought on several of the Irish Bishops and Clergy to adhere to Protestanism Vid. Plura cum Ja. Waraeo in Praesul Hib. Sir Anthony recalled and Sir James Crofts made Lord Deputy of Ireland George Dovvdall deprived of the Title of Primacy of all Ireland and George Browne though Archbishop of Dublin enjoying that Title A president shewing how it lies in Kings to expulse and to Constitute Archbishops or Bishops making no question why or wherefore as We own Him our true and lawful King After this several of the meeker or most moderate of the Bishops and Clergy of Ireland cohered with George Browne the Archbishop of Dublin amongst whom Edward Staples Bishop of Meath who was put out from his Bishoprick for so doing in Queen Mary's days on the 29th of June 1554. John Bale who on the second of February 1552. was Consecrated Bishop of Ossory for his fidelity and afterwards by Queen Mary expulsed Also Thomas Lancaster Bishop of Kildare who was at the same time put from his Bishoprick with several others of the Clergy being all expulsed upon Queen Maries coming to the Crown When these passages had passed Sir Anthony was in a short time after recalled for England and Sir James Crofts of Herefordshire Knight placed Chief in his stead who began his Government from the 29th of April 1551. Sir James Crofts upon his coming over endeavoured much for the perswading of George Dowdall to adhere to the Order aforesaid but Dowdall being obstinate his Majesty and the Learned Privy Council then of England for his perversness upon the 20th of October following took away the Title of Primate of all Ireland from him and conferred the same on George Browne then Archbishop of Dublin and to his Successors by reason that he was the first of the Irish Bishops who embraced the Order for Establishing of the English Liturgy and Reformation in Ireland which place he enjoyed during the remainder of King Edward's Reign and for a certain time after as you shall know further in it due course and place Alterations following one after another even upon this Reformation of the Church of England and the Title of Primacy being disposed of as we have already mentioned unto George Brown aforesaid some Writers saying that George Dowdall was banished others that he was not but went voluntary of his own will yet not to dispute the case another Archbishop was consecrated in lieu of him though then living by which it was then held lawful as also that constituting of Archbishops and Bishops was in the power of Kings and not in the power of Popes or of the Bishop of Rome which would be much to the Abasement of the Powers of the Crown of England ever to resign or to acknowledge to the contrary Hugh Goodacre consecrated Archbishop of Armagh though George Dovvdall was living Hugh Goodacre Bachelour of Divinity was consecrated Archbishop of Armagh by the said George Browne together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory already mentioned in Christ Church in Dublin on the second of February Anno 1552. Thomas Bishop of Kildare and Eugenius Bishop of Down and Connor assisting him yet notwithstanding Hugh Goodacres Consecration George Browne then held the Title of Primacy of all Ireland K. Edvvard's Death alters what hath been done before This Reformation and Alteration having not time to settle or to take root it was soon quashed and pulled down by that lamentable loss of that hopeful Prince King Edward the Sixth who died at Greenwich the 6th of June 1553. The Lady Jane Gray and Q. Mary contend for the Crown Upon King Edward's Decease the Council having met to consult together upon the Affairs of these Dominions as also how they might confirm and establish what they had already ordered and enacted as well in Ecclesiastical matters as Temporal a Division soon sprung up some being for the Choice of the Lady Jane Gray others for Queen Mary at last upon conclusion Mary the Kings Sister was voted Queen upon the Proposals and Promises which she made to the Council to confirm all that had been perfected by her Father King Henry the 8th and her Brother King Edward and his Honoured Council Q. Mary recalls what K. H. and K. E. had done After she had been crowned and enthroned she for the space of three or four months seemed moderate to the Protestant Reformers yet all that while combining with Rome and her Emissaries but having accomplished her Designs she revoked her fair Promises which with Papists is a Rule esteeming it no sin to break Contracts or Covenants with Hereticks and Protestants numbred with such sort of people especially with Papists these promises vanished and then began the Romish Church not only to undo what King Henry and his Son King Edward had reformed but to prosecute the Reformers and Reformed with Fire and Faggot Sir James Crofts recall'd and G. Dovvdall restored But to our purpose upon the 11th of November Anno 1553. she recalled Sir James Crofts and sent over Sir Anthony St. Leger Lord Deputy into Ireland This Sir Anthony had not been half a year Chief Governour of Ireland before Queen Mary revoked the Title of Primacy from George Browne expulsing Hugh Goodacre out of the Archbishoprick of Armagh and recalling George Dowdall to his See and restoring him to the Primacy of all Ireland as formerly which Title hath ever since stood firm in Armagh without any Revocation either by Queen Elizabeth or by any of her Successors George Browne upon this Revocation was by George Dowdall expulsed George Browne by George Dowdall expulsed and not thought fit to continue in his See of Dublin as being a married man and it is thought had he not been married he had been expulsed having appeared so much for the Reformation in both these former Kings days upon the expulsing of this George Browne all the Temporalities belonging to the Archbishoprick were disposed of unto Thomas Lockwood then Dean of Christ Church in Dublin It having been an antient Custom ever upon the Translation or Death of any of those Archbishops to deposite the Temporalities into the hands of the Priors formerly of that Cathedral when it was a Priory and called by the name of the Cathedral of the Blessed Trinity And it is observable the last Prior became the first Dean upon the alteration as aforesaid The See of Dublin after this Expulsion lay vacant for two years or thereabouts until Hugh Corrin alias Corwine was placed therein Hugh Corwine succeeded G. Browne in the Archbishoprick of Dublin This Hugh was borne in Westmorland a Doctor of the Law being formerly Archdeacon of Oxford and Dean of Hereford he was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin in the Cathedral of St. Pauls in London on the 8th of September Anno 1555. He after
knowing what they themselves say in the Roman Tongue the Common people of this Isle are more zealous in their Blindness than the Saints and Martyrs were in the Truth at the beginning of the Gospel I send to you my very good Lord these things that your Lordship and His Highness may consult what is to be done It is feared O Neal will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to oppose your Lordships Order from the Kings Highness for the Natives are much in Numbers within his Powers I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your Lordship from your Enemies Dublin 4. Kalend. Septembris 1535. The Year following a Parliament was called in Ireland the Lord Leonard Grey being then King Henry's Vice-Roy of that Nation in which George Browne then being not many Months above a Year in his Archiepiscopal Chair in Dublin stood up and made this short Speech following My Lords and Gentry of this His Majesties Realm of Ireland BEhold Geo. Browne the Archbishop of Dublin his Speech your Obedience to your King is the Observing of your God and Saviour Christ for He that High Priest of our Souls paid Tribute to Cesar though no Christian greater Honour then surely is due to your Prince His Highness the King and a Christian one Rome and her Bishops in the Fathers days acknowledged Emperors Kings and Princes to be Supream over their Dominions nay Christs own Vicars And it is much to the Bishop of Romes shame to deny what their precedent Bishops owned therefore His Highness claims but what he can justifie The Bishop Elutherius gave to St. Lucius the first Christian King of the Britains so that I shall without scrupling vote His Highness King Henry my Supream over Ecclesiastick matters as well as Temporal and Head thereof even of both Isles England and Ireland and that without Guilt of Conscience or Sin to God and he who will not pass this Act as I do is no true Subject to His Highness This Speech of George Brown startled the other Bishops and Lords so that at last through great difficulty it passed upon which Speech Justice Brabazon seconded him as appears by his Letter to the Lord Thomas Cromwell then Lord Privy Seal of England which original is in that famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton out of which Sir James Ware that learned Antiquary transcribed the same Within few years after that the Act of Supremacy had past in Ireland Justice Brabazon seconded George Browne we do find by a Letter written by George Browne to the Lord Cromwell complaining of the Clergy and how they fall off from what had past and how the Bishop of Rome and Ireland had contrived matters against the then Reformation Collected by Sir James Ware out of an old Registry some time in the custody of Adam Loftus Hugh Corwins Successor and also Archbishop of Dublin Right Honourable and my singular good Lord Geo. Brovvne his complaint to the Lord Privy Seal of the Unstedfastness of the then Irish Clergy I Acknowledge my bounden Duty to your Lordships Good will to me next to my Saviour Christs for the Place I now possess I pray God give me his Grace to execute the same to his Glory and His Highness Honour with your Lordships Instructions The People of this Nation be zealous yet blind and unknowing most of the Clergy as your Lordship hath had from me before being ignorant and not able to speak right Words in the Mass or Liturgy as being not skilled in the Latin Grammar so that a Bird may be taught to speak with as much sense as several of them do in this Country These sorts though not Scholars yet crafty to cozen the poor Common people and to dissuade them from following His Highness Orders George my Brother of Armagh doth underhand occasion Quarrels and is not active to execute His Highness's Orders in his Diocess His Complaint of Images and Reliques I have observed your Lordships Letter of Commission and do find several of my Pupils leave me for so doing I will not put others in their Livings till I do know your Lordships Pleasure for it is meet I acquaint you first the Romish Reliques and Images of both my Cathedrals in Dublin of the Holy Trinity and of St. Patricks took off the Common people from the true Worship but the Prior and the Dean find them so sweet for their Gain that they heed not my Words therefore send in your Lordships next to me an Order more full and a Chide to them and their Canons that they might be removed His Complaint of the Prior of the Holy Trinity and Dean of St. Patricks in Dublin and how the Irish hate the Lord Privy Seal Let the Order be that the Chief Governours may assist me in it The Prior and Dean have written to Rome to be encouraged and if it be not hindred before they have a Mandate from the Bishop of Rome the People will be bold and then tugg long before His Highness can submit them to His Graces Orders The Country Folk here much hate your Lordship and despitefully call you in their Irish Tongue the Blacksmiths Son The Duke of Norfolk is by Armagh The Duke of Norfolk and the Irish combine together and that Clergy desired to assist them not to suffer his Highness to alter Church Rules here in Ireland as a Friend I desire your Lordship to look to your Noble Person for Rome hath a great kindness for that Duke for it is so talked here and will reward him and his Children Rome hath great Favours for this Nation purposely to oppose His Highness and so have got Rome's Indulgence to Rebel in Ireland since the Act passed great Indulgences for Rebellion therefore my hopes is lost yet my Zeal is to do according to your Lordships Orders God keep your Lordship from your Enemies here and in England Dublin the 3d. Kalends of April 1538. Your Lordships at Commandment George Browne To the Lord Privy Seal his Honourable good Lordships Ex Antographo Soon after this Letter had been written A Bull from Rome excommunicating those who own'd the Kings Supremacy News came to the Castle of Dublin that the Bishop of Rome had sent over a Bull of Excomunication of all those who had or shall own the Kings Supremacy within the Irish Nation which Caused the Archbishop to write accordingly Right Honourable MY Duty premised it may please your Lordship to be advertised sithence my last there has come to Armagh and his Clergy a private Commission from the Bishop of Rome prohibiting His Gratious Highness's people here in this Nation to own his Royal Supremacy and joyning a Curse to all them and theirs who shall not within forty days confess to their Confessors after the publishing of it to them that they have done amiss in so doing the substance as our Secretary hath translated the same in to English is thus I AB from this present hour forward in the presence of
upon the 13th of the same Month was by Queen Mary made Chancellor of Ireland and upon the 25th of the said September he received this Letter from the Queen directed to Thomas Lockwood the Dean of Christ Church it being an antient custome formerly to recommend the Archbishop whensoever constituted for that See to the Prior of that said Cathedral Queen Maries Letter to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church in Dublin to receive the Archbishop of Dublin honourably and with due respect Copia vera ex Libro nigro Sanctae Trinitatis Dublinii MARY the Queen TRusty and wellbeloved VVe greet you well and forasmuch as the Right Reverend Father in God our Right trusty and wellbeloved Counsellor the Archbishop of Dublin being lately chosen for that See repaireth speedily to that our Realm of Ireland as well to reside upon the Cure of his Bishoprick which now of long time hath been destitute of a Catholick Bishop as also to occupy the Office of our High Chancellor of that our Realm albeit we have good hopes ye will in all things of your selves carry your selves towards him as becometh you yet to the intent he might the better govern the Charge committed unto him to the Honour of Almighty God and for the remain of our Service VVe have thought fit to require and charge you that for your part ye do reverently receive him honour and humbly obey him in all things as appertaineth to your Duties tending to Gods Glory our Honour and the Common weal of that your Realm whereby ye shall please God and do us acceptable Service Given under our Signet at our Mannor of Greenwich the 25th of September in the second and third years of our Reign To our trusty and well beloved the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church within our Realm of Ireland I have here inserted this Letter upon two accounts first as being a Record remaining in the Cathedral This decides the Controversie between the Dean and the Archbishop lately set on foot secondly because there hath been some discourse of late whether the Archbishop of Dublin had power herein or whether it was upon King Henrys Mutation made a Denery as Whitehall Chappel is and no Chathedral but by this Letter it shews it is both still a Cathedral and subject to the Archbishop of Dublin George Browne lived not long after the Consecration of this Hugh Corwine yet I have amongst my Manuscripts a Writing of a Papist who would fain have persuaded the world Geo. Brovvne's Death and a Popish aspersion wiped off that this George Browne dyed through Joy having had a Bull from the Pope to be restored to his See of Dublin which must needs be false upon this account of Sir James Wares who writeth these very words of him in his Book titled De Praesulibus Hiberniae pag. 120. 1554. Circa id tempus Georgius Browneus quod conjugatus esset per Dowdallum Archiepiscopum Armachanum alios Delegatos ex Authoritatus est otherwise the Pope if he had granted such a Bull must likewise have dispensed with his Marriage it being contrary to the Romish Tenents for Bishops to marry Having related thus much of George Browne and of Ecclesiastical matters during his life we shall proceed a little further concerning a short Sermon of his preached unto the people in Christ Church upon the first Sunday after Easter anno 1551. being a Copy of the same given to Sir James Ware Knight by Anthony Martin late Bishop of Meath who formerly was Tutor to the said Sir James Ware when he was a Student in Trinity Colledge Dublin The TEXT Psal 119. Ver. 18. Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law THe wonders of the Lord God have for a long time been hid from the children of Men Let the Reader consider the old manner of Preaching and compare it to these days Geo. Brovvne sheweth how Rome hath absconded the truth of the holy Gospel from the people How Rome will have false Teachers to delude us This Prophecy is fulfilled by the Sectaries that are now in the Church amongst us wihich hath hapned by Rome's not permitting the common people to read the holy Scriptures for to prevent you that you might not know the comfort of your Salvation but to depend wholly on the Church of Rome they will not permit it to be in any tongue but in the Latin saying that Latin was the Roman tongue But the wonderful God inspired the holy Apostles with the knowledge of all Languages that they might teach all people in their proper Tongue and Language which caused our wise King Kenry before his death to have the holy Scriptures transcribed into the English Tongue for the good of his Subjects that their eyes may be opened to behold the wondrous things out of the Law of the Lord. But there are false Prophets at this instant and will be to the end of the World that shall deceive you with false Doctrines expounding this Text or that purposely to confound your understandings and to lead you captive into a wilderness of Confusion whom you shall take as your friends but they shall be your greatest enemies speaking against the Tenents of Rome and yet be set on by Rome these shall be a rigid people full of fury and envy But to prevent these things that are to come observe Christ and his Apostles Let all things be done with decency with mildness and in order fervently crying unto God Open thou mine eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy Law then should ye rightly keep the Law and the Prophets It is the part of a Prince to be wise K. Hen. 8th his providence to provide for his Son Edvvard before his death for he hath a great Charge to Rule and Govern a Nation Your late King foreseeing Rome and her Pope's intentions how that he intended to enslave his Subjects and to keep them in the state of ignorance consulted with the Learned of his Realm knowing that Youth might quickly be wrought on therefore he prepared before his death a wise and Learned sort of Counsellors for his Sons Overseers not trusting to one or two but to several that he might the better Rule his people whose eyes the Lord God Almighty hath opened betimes to behold his wondrous works By the word eyes is meant our understanding Though the words of my Text be plainly thus Open thou mine eyes the meanest of you that hear me have eyes but the true meaning of the words is Endue us with understanding for a Fool hath eyes and sees men women beasts birds and other things but yet wants understanding So when we say Open thou our eyes we desire the Lord God to instruct and teach us the knowledge of his Laws How the Papists eyes be blinded in worshiping Images When you were lately led in blindness your eyes beheld the Images that then stood in several of the Monasteries
and Churches until they were removed yet all this while were your understandings blinded because ye believed in them and placed your trust in them The follies of such as put confidence in them Suppose an Artist or Workman make an Image either of Man or Woman and at last a Clergy-man of Rome give it such a name calling it St. Peter or St. Paul or St. Mary or St. Anne must not that man though he behold his own handy-work and knows in his heart that it was his own work be blind and void of reason and understanding of the Law of God and of the wondrous things that are contained in the Law of the Lord Yes surely he must be blind and void of Reason and of the true Faith that would worship the same A good Argument to confute Image-worshipers The Workman carved the Eyes but these Eyes see not he likewise carved the Ears but they hear not the Nose and it smells not the Mouth and it neither breaths or speaks the Hands they feel not the Feet but they stand stock still Another good Argument How therefore can your Prayers be acceptable unto this Image that sees you not approaching towards it that hears you not when you pray to it that smells not the sweet smells be they of Myrrhe or Frankincense burning before it How can it absolve you when the mouth is notable to say Thy sins are forgiven thee And if you place a certain sum of Money in the palm of the hand of that Image come you again to morrow the Money it is true shall find a customer but the Image never the wiser who took it and if you desire to have it come unto you it cannot without help therefore the Workman that made this Image is as blind as deaf as dumb and as void of sense as the Image it self and so be ye all that do put your trusts in them Therefore of late new Artificers Pretty cheats to delude poor Souls Viz. the Image of our Lady Lauretta by springs have made artificial ones which for a certain time shall move and ye shall believe it to be real and certain But beware good people for they be but lying wonders purposely that ye may break the Law of God And thus hath the Devil devised a lying wonder that ye may be deluded to break the Law of the Lord which is Thou shalt not make unto thy self any Graven Image O Lord open thou our Eyes our Ears and our Vnderstanding that we may behold the wondrous things that are in thy Law The Law of God is an undefiled Law Oh! A Prophecy of the Jesuits how all Schisms shall come from and by their means This Prophecy is fulfilled in the story of Heth and Faithful Commine why should we be so wicked then as to defile that Law which the Almighty God hath made so pure without blemish Jesus came to fulfil the Law and not to abolish the Law But there are a new fraternity of late sprung up who call themselves Jesuits which will deceive many who are much after the Scribes and Pharisees manner Amongst the Jews they shall strive to abolish the truth and shall come very near to do it for these sorts will turn themselves into several forms with the Heathen an Heathenist with Atheists an Atheist with the Jews a Jew and with the Reformers a Reformade purposely to know your intentions your minds your hearts and your inclinations and thereby bring you at last to be like the fool that said in his heart there was no God These shall spread over the whole World shall be admitted into the Council of Princes and they never the wiser Charming of them yea making your Princes reveal their hearts and the secrets therein unto them and yet they not perceive it which will happen from falling from the Law of God by neglect of fulfilling of the Law of God and by winking at their sins yet in the end God to justifie his Law shall suddenly cut off this Society even by the hands of those who have most succoured them and made use of them so that at the end they shall become odious to all Nations They shall be worse then Jews having no resting place upon the Earth and then shall a Jew have more favour then a Jesuite Now to arm you all good Christians against these things that are to come lest ye be led into temptation Cry unto the Lord your God and heartily pray that he would be so merciful unto you as to open the eyes of your understanding that you may behold the wonders and pleasantness that is in his Law Which God of his mercy grant that you may all do Thus concluding with the Acts and Deeds of this Reverend Father we shall end with Queen Maries Designs how she intended to have persecuted the Protestants in Ireland but by Providence prevented as you shall further know by this following Relation being averred by several sufficient persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil How miraculously God preserved the Protestants in Ireland from persecution in her days Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission for to take the fame course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater force she nominates Doctor Cole one of the Commissioners sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that Her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Churchman waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-bag a Leather Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that title The good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and and also having a Brother named John Edmonds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctors words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his leave and the Doctor complementing him down the stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrapt up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formerly The next day going to the Waterside wind and weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the Seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputy who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them he had a Commission but knew not how it was gone then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in his mind went away and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a wind at the Waterside news came unto him that the Queen was dead and thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This being a Copy of Richard Earl of Cork his Memorials as also of Henry Usher sometime Lord Primate of Armagh being also entred amongst Sir James Wares Manuscripts who hath often heard the late James Usher Nephew to the said Henry and also Primate of Armagh averr the same and wondred that Mr. Fox had not inserted it in his Acts and Monuments there is yet living a reverend Father of the Church Henry now Lord Bishop of Meath who can affirm this Relation from the said James Usher late Lord Primate of all Ireland Upon the recalling of the Lord Fitz Walters into England the Queen Elizabeth by the Grace of God c. succeeding discoursing with the said Lord concerning several passages here in Ireland amongst other discourses he related the aforesaid passage that had hapned in Ireland which so delighted the Queen that Her Majesty sent for the good Woman named Elizabeth Edmonds by her Husband named Mattershad and gave her a Pention of Forty pound durante vita for saving her Protestant Subjects of Ireland FINIS