the Records of the Chancery as the Act of Parliament it self whereby they were condemned of open Treason and confessed Rebellion for which sixty nine were condemned in one day by public Sentence and yet doth the mad fellow take upon him to excuse and defend them all by a long Discourse of many Leaves together scoffing and jesting as well at their Arraignment and Sentence given as also at the Act of Parliament holden at Leicester Anno 2 Hen. 5. cap. 7. and in the year of Christ 1415. And after all he setteth forth in contempt of this public Judgment a great painted Pageant or Picture of those that were hanged for that open Fact of Rebellion in St. Giles's Field in London as of true Saints and Martyrs namely of Sir Roger Acton and others pag. 540. And some Leaves after that again he setteth out another particular Pageant of the several Execution of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The description of the cruel Martyrdom of Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham And more than this he appointeth unto them their several Festival Days in red Letters which were the days of their Hanging as unto solemn Martyrs The first upon the sixth of January with this Title Sir Roger Acton Knight Martyr And the other upon the fifth of February with this Inscription in his Calendar Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham Martyr Whereby we may see that these men do not measure things as they are in themselves but as they serve to maintain their Faction 15. And it is further to be noted That albeit these two Rebellious Knights Acton and Oldcastle besides all other their convicted Crimes did make public Profession of a far different Faith from John Fox as may be seen by the Confessions and Protestations set down by Fox himself yea and the latter of them also did openly recant all the Errors and Heresies that he had held before yet notwithstanding will not Fox so let them go but perforce will have them to be of his Church whether they will or no. It would be over long to rehearse many Examples some few shall you have for a tast 16. Page 512. Fox setteth down the Protestation of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The Christian Belief of the Lord Cobham By which Title you may see that he liketh well of his Belief and holdeth it for truly Christian Well mark what followeth When after other Articles about the blessed Trinity and Christ's Deity Sir John Oldcastle cometh to treat of the Sacrament of the Altar he protesteth thus And forasmuch as I am falsly accused of a misbelief in the Sacrament of the Altar I signifie here to all men that this is my Faith concerning that I believe in that Sacrament to be contained very Christ's Body and Blood under the similitudes of Wine and Bread yea the same Body that was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary hung on the Cross died and was buried arose the third day from the dead and now is glorified in Heaven This was his Confession and is related here by Fox And will Fox agree to this think you It may be he will for that he saith nothing against it at all in this place 17. But some Leaves after repeating another Testimonial of the said Oldcastle's Belief witnessed by his own Friends concerning this Article he writeth thus Furthermore He believeth that the blessed Sacrament of the Altar is verily and truly Christ's Body in form of Bread. Upon which words Fox maketh this Commentary in the Margin In form of Bread but not without Bread he meaneth Yea John is that his meaning How then standeth this with his former words Vnder the similitudes of Bread and Wine Is the Similitude of Bread true Bread Who seeth not this silly shift of a poor baited Fox that cannot tell whither to turn his head But mark yet a far worse shift 18. Sir John Oldcastle shewing his Belief about three sorts of Men the one of Saints now in Heaven the second in Purgatory the third here Militant upon Earth saith thus The holy Church I believe to be divided into three sorts or companies whereof the first are now in Heaven c. the second sort are in Purgatory abiding the Mercy of God and a full deliverance of pain the third upon Earth c. To this speech of Purgatory Fox thought best left it might disgrace his new Martyr to add this Parenthesis of his own if any such place be in the Scriptures c And by this you may perceive how he proceedeth in all the rest to wit most perfidiously like a Fox in all 19. Furthermore he setteth down at length a very ample and earnest Recantation of the said Sir John Oldcastle taken out of the Records as authentically made as can be devised Wherein he thus protested In Nomine Dei Amen I John Oldcastle denounced detected and convicted of and upon divers Articles savouring Heresie and Error c. I being evil seduced by divers Seditious Preachers have grievously erred heretically persisted blasphemously answered and obstinately rebelled c. And having recounted at length all his former condemned and heretical Opinions he endeth thus Over and besides all this I John Oldcastle utterly forsaking and renouncing all the aforesaid Errors and Heresies and all other like unto them lay my hand here upon this Book and Evangel of God and swear That I shall never more from henceforth hold these aforesaid Heresies nor yet any other like unto them wittingly c. All which Recantation and Abjuration being related at large by John Fox he saith nothing at all against it but only that it was devised by the Bishops without his consent alleging no one Author Witness Writing Record Reason or probable Conjecture for proof thereof but followeth the fond shift before touched by me against the Magdâ—burgenses of him that being accused of heinous Crimes bringeth in first the best Witnesses of all the City to prove the same against himself and then answereth all with only saying that they are Lyars and know not what they say In which kind I cannot omit to allege an Example or two more for your better satisfaction in this behalf 20. This Fox in his Protestation to the Church of England wherein he pretendeth to put the very sum of all his whole Volume being desirous to prove the Antiquity of this his visible Church not only by these Witnesses the Wickliffians Hussites Lollards and other Sectaries of that time above 200 years agone but also by the testimonies of divers Statutes and Acts of Parliaments made against them in England at the same time he citeth sundry Statutes and Acts of Parliament for that purpose and presently discrediteth the same again telling you That you must not believe Them but rather Him and His Words against them all You shall hear him in his own words 21. Let any man saith he peruse the Acts and Statutes of Parliaments passed in this
up by God for lightening the World and impugning the Church of Rome he leaveth to himself a starting-hole for all necessities when he shall be pressed telling us That albeit in John Wickliff 's Opinions and Assertions some blemishes perhaps may be noted yet such blemishes they be which rather declare him to be a man that might err than which directly did fight against Christ our Savior c. 8. Consider I pray you what a Defence this is Perhaps saith he some blemishes may be noted as tho' the matter were in doubt whether he had any blemishes in his Doctrin or no. Which yet after the Fox is forced to confess and to disclaim them openly And further he addeth full wisely That if he have blemishes or errors in Doctrin they are such as do rather prove that he was a man and might err than that he did directly fight against Christ Mark the manner of his Defence His errors do prove only That he was a man and might err And so I say also of the worst Heretics that their errors and blemishes in Doctrin do prove that they were men and erring men yea wicked men also in that they obstinately defended their own errors And so I say of Wickliff in like manner But mark what followeth Rather than that he did fight directly against Christ Which is as much as to say that it importeth not much tho' he impugned Christ indirectly if directly he did not fight against him And may not any Heretics that ever lived be defended in this sort No Heretics do openly and directly impugn Christ but rather pretend to honor him above others bearing ever the Names not only of Christians but also of the best and most reformed Christians and consequently they never fought directly against Christ but indirectly pretending one thing and doing another 9. After John Fox hath greatly justified Wickliff by divers Leaves of Paper together he cometh to set down 23 of his first Articles condemned by the Church of England at that day and that as Fox confesseth by special chosen Judges gathered together to wit eight Bishops fifteen Religious Learned Men of divers Orders fourteen Doctors and six Batchelors of Divinity all which Fox doth name and contemn And yet these Articles tho' in divers points they concur with Luther Zwinglius and Calvin's Doctrin in these days yet in others they do greatly disagree and Fox I think will not defend them As for Example The fourth Article is That if a Bishop or Priest should give Holy Orders or consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar or minister Baptism whiles he is in mortal sin in were nothing available 10. Will Fox yield to this Article think you For if he do we may call in doubt whether ever he were well baptiz'd and consequently whether he were a Christian seeing it may be doubted whether the Priest that baptiz'd him were in mortal sin or no when he did it And again the ninth Article is That it is against Scripture for any Ecclesiastical Ministers to have any temporal possessions at all This Article if Fox will grant yet his Fellow-Ministers and his Lords the Bishops I presume will hardly yield thereunto but will pretend Scriptures to the contrary against Wickliff Let us see the rest The tenth Article is That no Prelate ought to excommunicate any person except he know him first to be excommunicated by God. The fifteenth is That so long as a man is in deadly sin he is neither Bishop nor Prelate The sixteenth is That Temporal Lords may according to their own wills and discretion take away the Temporal Goods from any Church men whensoever they offend The seventeenth is That Tythes are meer Alms and may be detained by the Parishioners and bestowed where they will at their pleasure 11. These were some of Wickliff's first Articles condemn'd at Oxford about the year of Christ 1380 but after he published many worse And I would here know of John Fox Whether He and his Fellow-Ministers will allow of these Articles or no And if not but that they will have them accounted for his blemishes or errors as Fox calleth them then may we also with better reason account for blemishes and errors his other Propositions wherein he agreeth with the Protestants against Us as I doubt not but that John Fox will account those also wherein he agreeth with Us against Him which are many and far more than the former wherein he joyneth with Him against Us as may be gathered by these few Articles alleged here by Fox himself whereby tho' mingled with much other erroneous Doctrin as you see it is evident that Wickliff held divers Points also of Catholic Religion as Holy Orders Consecration Excommunication distinction of Venial and Mortal Sins and other like For which cause I marvel why John Fox would allege these Articles but only to confound himself and to shew that his holy Patriarch Wickliff is so full of blemishes as scarce any unspotted thing can be found in his Doctrin 12. But this is the beggery of this new Church that it cannot be made up but by such Dunghil-clouts gathered together from under the feet of their Adversaries For albeit Wickliff Husse and other like Sectaries did hold many more Articles with Us against the Protestants than with Them against us yet such is the Integrity Purity Severity yea Majesty of our Church that forasmuch as they agreed not in all and every point of Belief we according to the Creed of Athanasius reject them and as spotted and blemished Rags do cast them out to the Dunghil whom poor Fox gathereth up again with great diligence putting them into his Calendar for Saints and chief Pillers of his new Church and so consequently maketh his Church of our Shoe clouts which how honorable thing it may be esteemed let every man judge For if these Heretics did agree with him in all Points of his Doctrin tho' by joyning with them he should shew himself an Heretic yet they not agreeing but in some Points only and impugning him in the rest it sheweth a marvelous base mind and lack of common sense to make them Pillars of his Church as he doth 13. But there is yet another point worse than this which is that he doth not only allow of the Religion of these men but defendeth also and justifieth their Life and Actions in what case soever and tho' never so orderly and lawfully condemned by the Church or State of those days yea tho' they were convinced to have conspired the King's Murther and Ruin to the State or had broken forth into open War and Hostility against the same As did Sir John Oldcastle by his Wife called Lord Cobham Sir Roger Acton and many other their Followers in the first year of King Henry V. which Story you may read in John Stow truly related out of Thomas Walsingham and other ancient Writers 14. He setteth down also without blushing I mean Fox as well
she answered That above-ground she was but under-ground not 34. There followed many other Heresies also from this time downward unto King Henry VIII.'s days which prevailed diversly in divers Countries as the Flagellants or Whippers which made a new Baptism of Blood and held divers Articles of the Lolhards in Germany and Hungary about the year of Christ 1350 as Tritemius saith The Hussites also in Bohemia who had their Doctrin of John Husse Scholar of John Wickliff but yet in divers Articles differing from him about the year of Christ 1415 as Aeneas Sylvius declareth at large And upon this Man 's teaching and the Doctrin of Hierom of Prague that lived at the same time there sprung up divers different Sects in Bohemia as the Orebites Adamites Drecentians Gallecians Rochezanites Jacobites Thaborites and others Whereof Aeneas Sylvius Bonfinius and other Authors do treat And Bonfinius writeth That Matthias King of Hungary was wont to say in his days that the Sects and Sectaries of Bohemia were so divers and contrary one to the other as if no other Argument were against them this were sufficient to overthrow them all And the same confusion remaineth there unto this day 35. And this shall suffice for the Heresies of this fifth station of Time especially such as prevailed most in England from Wickliff unto King Henry VIII in whose days Luther rose up and made a new Sect. For albeit in many Points he symbolized and had concurrence with most of these Sects but especially with the Lolhards and Wickliffians under whose Names all Sectaries commonly covered themselves in our Country yet had Luther divers Points also peculiar to Him and His which made them properly a distinct and several Sect which himself confesseth in like manner disclaiming by Name from Husse and Hussites in these words Non recte faciunt qui me Hussitam vocant non enim mecum ille sensit They do not well that call me a Hussite for he doth not agree with me in Doctrin And as for Wickliff we may see the same Judgment of Luther by the testimony of Philip Melancthon that saith of him Nec intellexit nec tenuit Fidei Justitiam He neither understood nor held the Justice of Faith which is the very Foundation of Luther's Gospel and Doctrin 36. And again in the same place he objecteth divers other erroneous Doctrins unto him as That he doth take away all Civil and Politic Government that he holdeth for unlawful to Priests to possess any thing proper that no Tythes are to be paid and the like Which Doctrins of Wickliff notwithstanding our John Fox defendeth commending highly the Teachers and Professors thereof in all his tract of Time from King Edward III. to King Henry VIII canonizing them for Saints that were any way punished or called in question for any of these Doctrins under the Reigns of King Richard II. or King Henry IV V VI or VII and other Kings of that time And in this Argument is spent the whole sum of his fifth and sixth Books in which Books the very Titles of the Pages may sufficiently testifie what is handled therein As for Example page 406. under the Reign of King Richard II. is this Title The first Law for burning the Professors of the Gospel Whereby you see that he calleth all these men whether they be Wickliffians Hussites or Lolhards Professors of Christ's Gospel and consequently must he needs hold for Evangelical Truth all which they did hold and so in effect he doth in handling their Causes throughout these two Books against the Bishops and Princes that punished them though in clear words and Categorical Propositions he dare not do it 37. And this is the sluttering and stammering turning and winding of this our Fox as you can never know where to have him for that now he affirmeth now he denieth now he leaveth the matter doubtful now he moveth a question but solveth it not now he gainsayeth and contradicteth himself now he saith one thing in words and prosecuteth another in deed As for Example He confesseth before in words as you have heard That Wickliff had divers blemishes in Doctrin that is to say Errors and Heresies and so it may appear as well by that which we have set down thereof as also by the Judgment of Melancthon and yet in prosecution of his Work John Fox will not stick to commend the worst of those Doctrins as we may see by the very Titles of the Pages set over these Books 38. As for Example page 420. he putteth this Title over the said Page Temporalities may be taken from the Clergy c. And then yet further in the same Page he putteth this Head or beginning to a long Discourse about this matter in these words The second Disputation in the Vniversity of Prague upon the seventeenth Article of John Wickliff most fruitful to be read proving by twenty-four Reasons out of the Scriptures that Temporal Lords and Princes may take away Temporalities from the Clergy c. This is the Title of this fruitful Discourse for taking away all Temporal Fruits from the Clergy But how fruitful soever this Disputation may seem to John Fox against Clergy-Temporalities that perhaps could get none for himself yet to others of his Clergy that possess Temporalities I doubt much whether it will seem so fruitful or be so well liked of as by John Fox who for his twenty-four Reasons alleged for the same may chance be related into some Rank of the twenty-four Orders fit for a Man of his Degree and Merits 39. Moreover page 426. he hath this Title Tythes proved to be pure Alms. Which Title I think also will not greatly content the most of his Fellow-Ministers if their Parishioners should stand upon this Doctrin with them to wit That their Tythes are pure Alms according to the Gospel of John Wickliff and John Fox and consequently they may deny or detain them when they list or give so much thereof unto Ministers as they list and no more which oftentimes perhaps would be very little But what would these Ministers think you but especially their Wives and Children say of this Doctrin if once they felt hunger come upon them thereby yet Fox prosecuteth the same Title over other Pages As for Example page 446. he hath these words Tythes not expresly commanded anew by Christ and then hath he this Note If Tythes be claimed by force of the Old Law then Priests by the same Law are bound to have no Temporalities And this matter Fox doth prosecute at large as one Article among other of one Walter Brute a Lay-man of the Sect of Wickliff in whom saith Fox the mighty operation of God's Spirit did effectuate such constancy as in this and other Articles he resisted openly the Bishop of Hereford in his time c. Lo here the approbation of Brute's Spirit whose fourth Article was as Fox himself setteth down That no man is bound to give
fourteenth day of the Moon of March according to the Prescript of the Mosaical Law which Custom hath been accounted naught Jewish and Heretical for the space of 1400 years to wit ever since the Decree of St. Victor Pope of Rome against the same since which time all Authors that have written of Heresies have held for Heretics those that defended this Custom as may appear first by Tertullian that liv'd in that very time of Pope Victor or presently after as also by the first Council of Nice which was held some hundred years after Victor again and Victor's Decree therein confirmed as after again in the Council of Antioch gather'd together almost 50 years after that of Nice and somewhat after that again by the Council of Laodicea and then by Philastrius and Epiphanius before cited and finally by St. Augustin Theodoretus Nicephorus Damascenus and others that ensued And the Defenders of this Heresie howsoever John Bale and his Fellows will sanctifie them now again for pious men for that they hold against the Roman Church were so odious to the Catholic Fathers even of the Greek and Eastern Church especially after the Determination of the Council of Nice which Determination tho' it be not extant now in the said Councils Decrees yet is it testified sufficiently both by Theodoretus and the Letters of Constantine himself recorded by Eusebius that Socrates in his Story writeth of St. John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople these words Eis qui in Asia Festum Paschatis quartodecimo die mensis primi celebrabrant Ecclesias non secùs quam Novatianis ademit St. Chrysostom did take away Churches throughout his Jurisdiction from those that in Asia did celebrate the Feast of Easter upon the fourteenth of March no less than from the Novatian Heretics themselves And no less doth the same Author report of Leontius Bishop of Ancyra in Asia and other Eastern Bishops 25. And the reason hereof was not only for that by this different Custom of celebrating Easter there grew great Schisms amongst Christians but for that indeed the true Formality of this Heresie consisting in that they would make it of necessity to keep the Old Law in this behalf was begun first by an Heretic called Blastus as appeareth by Tertullian who to use his own words saith thus Latenter Judaismum introducere voluit dicens Pascha non aliter custodiendum esse nisi secundum Legem Moysis quartodecimo mensis He meant covertly to bring in Judaism affirming that Easter was not to be kept but according to the Law of Moyses upon the fourteenth day of the first Month. For refutation of which Heresie Tertullian saith Quis autem nesciat quoniam Evangelica gratia evacuatur si ad Legem Christus redigitur Who doth not know but that the grace of Christ's Gospel is made void if Christ be reduced again to the Observation of the Mosaical Law 26. This then was the very essential point of this Heresie and of them that defended the same to wit That they would bind Christians to the observation of this point according to the Mosaical Law. Against which point of Obligation St. Paul is so earnest in many places of his Epistles as he resisted St. Peter openly for that by his Conversation only he did seem to force or bind men to Judaical Observations Gentes cogis Judaizare you do force Gentiles to follow the Jews And for this cause he wrote so earnestly to the Galatians Ecce ego Paulus dico vobis si circumcidamini Christus nihil vobis proderit Behold I Paul do testifie unto you That if you do circumcise your selves or use this Mosaical Ceremony Christ shall profit you nothing 27. And again he telleth them in the same place That whosoever useth but this one Ceremony of Circumcision bindeth himself thereby to the observation of all the Old Law and consequently doth deprive himself of the whole Grace of Christ which yet is to be understood as ancient Fathers do expound after the Gospel of Christ was fully divulged and in them that did use any of these Ceremonies as of necessity for that otherwise we read of the Apostles themselves gathered together in Council that they gave leave to Christians for a time at the beginning abstinere à sanguine suffocato to abstain from Blood and that which is strangled or rather did ordain the same which yet afterwards was taken away again by Authority of the Church so as it is evident that the toleration was for a time only and as a thing indifferent without obligation And for like respect we read of St. Paul himself that albeit afterward he did forbid to the Galatians the use of Circumcision with such severity as you have heard yet at the beginning he circumcised Timothy for respect of the Jews as St. Luke testifieth for that the Gospel was not yet so far preached as it made the Observations of the Mosaical Law to be wholly unlawful especially if they were used as things indifferent and not of necessity as it is probable that both St. John Evangelist Polycarp and others of the East-Church did when for a time they used the Festival Day of celebrating Easter as an indifferent thing obliging no man to follow the one or the other Use to wit either this of the fourteenth day commanded by the Old Law or the other of the Sunday brought in by Tradition from St. Peter and St. Paul in the Roman Church as among others St. Protherius Patriarch of Alexandria by the Testimony of St. Bede doth write to Pope Leo And long before them both St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch which Church was founded by St. Peter doth testifie in divers Epistles that Easter-day was to be celebrated upon a Sunday Yea St. John himself making mention of dies Dominicus the Lord's day in the beginning of his Apocalypse as of a solemn Day above the rest which no man will deny to be Sunday there is no other reason why this day should be called our Lord's Day with so special Title of Festivity but only for that it was dedicated in the Apostles time to the Resurrection of Christ And if in every Week it be kept Festival for that respect and that the whole Sabboth be turned into it then much more just is it that the great Sabboth of Christ's Resurrection should be once a year celebrated upon this day Yet was the matter as you have heard left for arbitrary and indifferent for divers years in Asia without constraint on either side 28. But when in process of time the Bishops of Rome especially Pope Pius I. and Victor had perceiv'd that by this Toleration and Difference of Observation not only Schisms and Dissention grew but Heresie also and Judaism was meant to be brought in then the said Pius I. in the year of Christ 148. as Eusebius testifieth made a Decree against the Asian Jewish Observation and after him again in the
Britanny And forasmuch as this Church of St Martins was found fit to say Mass and Baptize in according to the use of Rome and for that the Britan Christians were never found to have reprehended or misliked this manner of serving God used by St. Augustin and his Fellows it is an evident Argument that the same was and had been in use also among them from all Antiquity neither was it a novelty brought in by St. Augustin 3. Moreover about the same time of the Romans going out of Britanny or soon after to wit about the year of Christ 440 it appeareth by Bede that the two French Bishops St. German and St. Lupus the first time and St. German and St. Severus the second time came into Britanny to resist the Pelagian Heresie and to reestablish the Catholic Faith that was among them before And so they did as well by working many Miracles as by their Preachings which Bede recounteth at large throughout many Chapters But now that these three holy Bishops the first of Antisiodore in France the second of Troy in Campany the third of Trevers in Germany were all of the Roman Religion and held in all Points of Controversie against the Protestants of our Time both in Doctrin and Practise is evident not only by that the Roman Church doth hold them all three for Canoniz'd Saints and celebrateth their Memories the First upon the 31 of July the Second upon the 29 of the same Month the Third upon the 15 of October which would never be permitted if they had been different in any one Point of Faith but also the same is clear as well by their own Writings that are extant and by their Lives written by others as also by divers things recounted by St. Bede in his Story of their Doings in England as namely where he writeth of St. German how he cured the Tribunes Daughter of Blindness by his Prayer and by applying the Relics of certain Saints unto her Eyes in the sight of all the People Deinde saith he Germanus plenus Spiritu sancto c. Then St. German full of the Holy Ghost did invoke the Name of the Blessed Trinity and presently took from his side a certain Box of Saints Relics that he was wont to carry about his neck and with his hands did put them upon the maids eyes which out of hand received perfect sight therewith Whereat the Parents of the maid rejoyced exceedingly and all the People did tremble at the sight of the miracle c. 4. Thus writeth St. Bede of that Act. And further that the said Bishop went to the Sepulcher of St. Alban which even at that time appeareth to have been kept with great Devotion prayed to the Saint largely and there left in his Sepulcher part of the Relics of all the Apostles and of divers other Saints which he had brought with him out of France and carried away with him in exchange thereof much of the earth that was died with the Blood of St. Alban Which he would not have done if he had been a Protestant And then yet further talking of another famous Miracle and Victory achieved by the said St. German against Heretics with sounding out the word Alleluia St. Bede saith Aderant Quadragesimae venerabiles dies quos religisiores reddebat praesentia sacerdotum c. The venerable days of Lent were come which the presence of these Priests of God made more religious c. 5. Behold here now almost 200 years before St. Augustin came into England the use of Relics of Saints of praying to Martyrs and honoring their Sepulchers the use of Alleluia the Religious Observation of Lent and such other Points recorded to be in practise among the Christian Britans Is this Protestant-like think you or can these men be presumed to have been of our new Religion But let us proceed to talk of some Britan Teachers and Pastors themselves 6. Geffrey of Monmouth in his British Story much esteemed and alledged by our Adversaries writeth that at a certain Feast of Pentecost at Chester about the year of Christ 522. as Bale holdeth King Arthur being present there was a great meeting of Princes Lords and Bishops for his Coronation and that of the three Archbishops of Britanny at that time which were London York and Chester Dubritius Archbishop of Chester did the Office of the Church that day of whom he saith Hic Britannia Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus tantâ religione clarebat ut quemcunque languore gravatum orationibus sanaret This Man being Primate of Britanny and Legate of the See Apostolic was so famous for his Religion and Sanctity as he did heal any sick Man by his Prayers 7. Lo here the Popes Legate among the Britans did also Miracles before the coming of St. Augustin And then further talking of the Church Solemnity that day he saith Postremo peract â processione tot organa tot cantus fiunt utrisque templis c. Lastly the Procession being ended there were so many Organs did sound and so great variety of Music heard in both Churches as was wonderful c. Behold Procession and Organs in Britanny before St. Augustin's coming This Man afterwards left of his own will the said Archbishoprick and became an Ermit as both Jeffrey and John Bale do testifie which Protestant Bishops are not wont to do 8. And further Bale writeth of him that he died the 18 day before the Calends of December Anno Domini 522. and that his Body afterward in the year of our Lord 1120 the Sixth of May was translated under Vrban Bishop of Rome to the Church of Landaff in Southwales All which could never have been done nor permitted by the Bishop of Rome if there had been any Suspicion that he had held any Point of Doctrin different from the Church and Faith of Rome at that time which maketh also the matter evident that the Heretical Custom of celebrating Easter according to the Jews which in St. Gregory's time was found in Britanny was a latter custom not held by all but by some few only 9. In this Man's place was made Archbishop the famous Man David Menevensis King Arthurs Unkle as Jeffrey and Bale do testifie who passed the said Archbishoprick from Chester to St. Davids and so it is called at this day of his Name This David saith Bale was a goodly Man of Stature about four cubits high learned and eloquent and after ten whole years Study in the Scripture expounded the same as a Trumpet carrying always the Text of the Gospel with him He extinguished the Relics of the Pelagian Heresies in Britanny preached incessantly cured many sick and built twelve Monasteries and was held for a very great Saint in his days and canonized afterward by Calixtus II. Bishop of Rome c. Per Calixtum secundum saith he Papisticorum deorum ascribitur in Catalogum He was put in the Catalogue of the Papistical Gods by
divers parts of the Realm and namely those of Devonshire seeing such alterations to be made in Religion under the Minority of a Child quite contrary to the Laws and Statutes left by King Henry the Eighth and that all things went backward both at home and abroad the Towns we had in France being lost or upon the point of losing they complained first and after took Arms for defence of their Ancient Religion in the beginning of the third year of this Kings Reign the people of Sommersetshire and Lincolnshire beginning first in the Month of May and then in July the people of Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Cornwall and Devonshire and in August those also of Yorkshire all crying and demanding to have the Catholic Religion remain as it was left by King Henry at least-wise until King Edward came to lawful age thereby to be able to determin and judge of matters of Religion which demand did wonderfully trouble and vex the Lord Seymour Protector and other new Gospellers who being hungry after Catholics Goods could abide no delay in making this desired Innovation 33. And albeit before these Insurrections fell out they did well see by divers attempts that the heart of the people was wholly against those their Innovations in Religion as appeareth plainly by a Speech of the Lord Rich then Chancellor to the Sheriffs and Justices of Peace of all Shires gathered together in London in the year 1548 being the second of King Edward's Reign as at large you may see in Fox yet such was their importunity in this behalf as they would needs go forward which thing pleasing John Fox well he writeth thus By this you may see what zealous care was in this young King and in the Lord Protector his Uncle concerning the Reformation of Christ's Church 34. The same Fox also setteth down in another place what the young King answered to the Devonshire-men that desir'd that the state of matters in Religion might remain as King Henry had ordained and left them and in particular they required that the Statute of Six Articles against Heretics might stand in force until King Edward came to full age Whereunto let us hear his Answer and consider thereby how matters went in those days To the first about the Statute of Six Articles made by his Father and inviolably kept all days of his life the little Child answered thus Know you what you require They were Laws made but quickly repented too bloody were they to be born of Our people You know they helped Vs to extend rigor and to draw Our Sword very often yea they were as a Whetstone unto Our Sword and for your Causes We have left to use them and sith Our mercy moved Vs to write Our Laws with Milk how be you blinded to ask them in Blood c 35. And then further he saith But to leave this manner of reasoning with you We let you wit That the same Laws have been annulled by Our Parliament with great rejoyce of Our Subjects and not now to be called by Our Subjects in question Dare any of you stand against an Act of Parliament c Assure you most surely that We of no earthly thing make such account as to have Our Laws obey'd for herein resteth Our Honor and shall any of you dare to breath against Our Honor c Lo how little account this little King Child was taught to make of his old Father's Laws and how thundringly to speak for the maintenance of his own But when they came to the second point about his Nonage he is yet more resolute for thus he writeth 36. In the end of your request saith he you would have Our Fathers Laws stand in force until Our full age But to this We think if ye knew what ye spake you would never have uttered that motion nor ever have given breath to such a thought For what think you of Our Kingdom Be We of less Authority for Our Age You must first know that as a King We have no difference of years nor time but as a natural Man and Creature of God We have Youth and by his sufferance shall have Age. We are your rightful King your leige Lord your King anointed your King crowned the sovereign King of England not by Our Age but by God's Ordinance We possess Our Crown not by Years but by the Blood and Descent from Our Father King Henry VIII c. 37. All this and much more did they make the innocent young King to talk and write in defence of their Innovations who had more Interest therein than He. And as for the Catholic People albeit they deny'd not but that he was a true King in his minority of Age yet no man was so foolish as to think notwithstanding all these preachings to the contrary but that it was a different thing for matters of Religion to be altered now in his Name than afterward by Himself when he should come to Age. 38. But among all others none urged this Argument so much nor with such Authority as the King 's eldest Sister the Princess Lady Mary Heir-apparent to the Crown who being a zealous Catholic and yet wishing well also to the Protector did by sundry Letters to be seen in Fox admonish both Him and the rest of the Council That they should look well what they did during the King's minority in altering the Will Laws and Ordinances of his and her Father King Henry for that afterward they were like enough to be called to account about the same when the King her Brother should come to full years Moreover she admonished them That they had no Authority to make such alteration in so great matters as they did but ought rather to conserve things in the state left unto them by King Henry her Father according as by solemn Oath they had sworn unto him before his death that they would do but especially about matters of Religion until the King her Brother came unto lawful Age. 39. By all which is clearly seen how the Catholic Religion remained in England most substantially rooted in King Edward's days and that Heresie entred only from the teeth outward and was maintained by violence of Temporal Authority and according to that was the success For after many toils and turmoils one killing another of those that governed when they thought they had laid a sure Platform to continue the same by excluding the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth and thrusting in Jane the Duke of Suffolk's Daughter after King Edward's death and had so plotted and fortified that Design as they thought it sure the only Zeal of the common Catholic People for the recovering the use of Catholic Religion again overthrew all and placed Queen Mary as is notorious to the World. And afterward if we consider the end of most of them which in those days being Counsellors for Ambition or other respects were promoters of Heresie as Dudley Pembroke Winchester
all the doings and meanings of both Parties in those days 37. In the mean time saith he the Duke of Lancaster ceased not with his Fellows to imagine how he might bring to pass that which he had long contrived in his mind to wit for encroaching upon Church Livings and revenging himself against some Bishops and the City of London that stood with them for he saw that it would be hard for him to obtain his purpose the Church standing in her full State and very dangerous to attempt publickly the Laws and Customs of London being in force wherefore he laboured first to overthrow as well the Liberties of the Church as of the City for which Cause he called unto him a certain Divine who many years before in all his Acts in the Schools had inveighed against the Church for that he had been deprived by the Archbishop of Canterbury from a certain Benefice that he unjustly as was said was Incumbent upon within the City of Oxford his Name was John Wickliff who with his Disciples were of the common people called Lollards they went barefooted and basely Clothed to wit in course Russet Garments down to the Heels they preached especially against Monks and other Religious men that had Possessions c. 38. They affirmed that Temporal Lords if they had need might lawfully take the Goods of such Religious Persons to relieve their necessities c. And when he had taught these and many other such Doctrins not only in the Schools in Oxford but also had preached them publicly in London that he might thereby get the favor of the said Duke and others whom he sound prone to hear his Opinions The Duke and Sir Henry Piercy commended highly his said Opinions and endeavored to extol his Learning and honesty of Life above all other Who therefore being thus set forth with their favor feared not to spread his Doctrin much more than before going from Church to Church and Preaching his Opinions whereupon at length the Bishops awakened their Archbishop who sent for this John to come and answer to those things which were spoken of him And the Duke hearing thereof sent for four Doctors of Divinity of every Order of Begging Friars one for unto them Wickliff adjoined himself approving their poverty and extolling their perfection against other Religious Orders that had Possessions whom the Duke advertised that with a natural and old hate he pursued the Religious Persons that had Possessions neither was it difficult to compel the willing Friars to aid him in this Point 39. Hitherto are the words of John Stow. Whereby you may perceive the true Causes of this new Gospel of John Wickliff so highly commended by John Fox who affirmeth his Doctrin to have proceeded from the strong operation of Christs Spirit c. First you see that John Wickliff had for his motion the desire of revenge against the Bishops and Clergy for that he was deprived of a Benefice in Oxford which he had possessed unjustly Secondly was he moved with envy against Monks together with ambition of gaining the Duke of Lancaster and his followers by teaching them that it was lawful to invade Church Livings at their pleasure Thirdly the very same motives of Ambition covetousness and emulation against the Bishops stirred up the Duke and his Adherents and Fourthly both parts as well the Heretics as their favorers were content to use and abuse the infirmity of some emulation between Friars and Monks about matters of Perfection Poverty and Possessions Which pious motives we do read commonly to have been the Causes of all other ancient Heresies from time to time As coming from one and the self same Spirit of him that is the proper Author of all Sedition Schism and Heresie and professed enemy to the Union of Gods only Spouse and Cath. Church Lucifer himself 40. Futhermore Walsingham doth shew how that by this favor and bearing out of the Duke of Lancaster and his Partners both the University of Oxford where Wickliff began was brought to be cold in resisting him and the Prince himself in punishing him And this appeared by two Apostolical Breves written by Pope Gregory XI in the year of Christ 1378. Registred by Walsingham The one to the Vniversity of Oxford reprehending them for their coldness and slackness in resisting the said Heresies And the other to the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London to deal with the King and Queen and other Nobility to put them in mind as well of their Duty as also of their Negligence hitherto used in this behalf But what followed of this I mean of this negligence in resisting this Sect of Wickliff at the beginning Truly there followed or rather flowed such Seas of Calamities as were never seen in our Country before nor scarce heard of in others 41. For whereas King Edward III had been a most glorious King his end was pitiful his Heir K. Richard after infinite Sedition contention and bloodshed of the Nobility and others was deposed and made away The bloody division of the House of Lancaster and York came in and endured for almost 100 years with the ruin not only of the Royal Line of Lancaster by whom specially Wickliff was favoured at the beginning as you have heard but with the overthrow also of many other noble Princes and Families and most pernicious Wars and Garboils continued both at home and abroad with the losses of all our goodly States Provinces and Countries in France Unto all which the division of hearts minds and judgments brought in by Wickliffs Doctrin did help not a little and the Calamities so continued until the time of the most wise Christian and Catholic King Henry VII Who as he extinguished the Relics of this Wickliffian Seed as may appear by John Fox who setteth out in Print and painting twelve several Pageants of the Popes highest Greatness Honor and Supreme Power in the end of King Henry VII.'s Life so did he happily also extinguish all Temporal Division about the Succession of our Imperial Crown And had not our sins deserved that his Son had opened the gap tho' not perhaps meaning it to other Sects and Divisions of Lutherans and Zwinglians no less malitious and penicious than the former England had been a happy State at this day 42. Well then of these men whom not only the whole universal Church did condemn as Heretics for their wicked Opinions but English Parliaments also that had best cause to know their Lives did Sentence by their public Acts for Hypocrits Seditious and pernicious people in Manners as Fox himself among others confesseth of these I say he maketh up his Church until he come down to Lutherans Zwinglians and other such fresher Sectaries under King Henry VIII and his Children Which Sectaries Fox will needs couple together in one Catalogue and Calendar of Saints appointing Wickliff his Feast upon the second of January with the title of Preacher and Martyr
one Protestant Opinion in his life as we shall shew when we come to his place in the Calendar And as for Bucer and Melancthon they were Lutherans indeed and open Enemies for many years against Zuinglius and Zuinglians that are the Flower of John Fox's Church And tho' Friar Bucer afterward to have the free use of his Woman in England dissembled egregiously in some things to please the Protector for a time and seemed to bear with the Sacramentaries yet told he the Lord Dudley then Duke of Northumberland being asked confidently his opinion of the Sacrament by the said Duke in the presence of the Lord Pagett then a Protestant who testified the same publicly afterward that for the Real Presence it could not be denied if we believe all that the Evangelists do write But whether all be to be believed or no he said merrily that was a matter of more disputation 35. And lastly concerning King Edward VI. set down also by Fox in red Letters for a solemn Confessor of his Religion If we talk of King Henry's time he was a very young Confessor for that he was scarce nine years old when his Father died And it is very probable that the Religion which he at that Age could receive was rather such as his Father had caused him to be taught during his life than such as it pleased Fox to assign unto him afterwards But if Fox mean that he was a Confessor of their Religion after his Fathers death albeit it be hard to say of what Religion the Child would have been if he had lived yet do I think him rather worthy to be accounted a Martyr of Fox's Church than a Confessor Seeing it is probable that the bringing in of that Religion and change of state left by his Father was the cause of his immature death For that if matters had remained as his Father left them and no Protector chosen as he appointed nor Wriothesley the Chancellor put out of his Office nor other Catholic Councellors most faithful to the conservation of the Kings Blood had been disgraced and displaced by that unlucky change like it is that the good young King might have lived many fair years more and his two Sisters never have fallen into those imminent dangers of present destruction which they once saw themselves in by the ambition of the new Gospelling Faction But enough of this and of all the Reign of King Henry VIII Now shall we pass briefly over the rest that remaineth CHAP. XII Whether Fox's Church hath had any Place under King Edward Queen Mary and Her Majesty that now Reigneth and how far it hath been admitted or is admitted at this day ALbeit John Fox did Paint out King Henry VIII in the first page of his Life sitting with his Feet upon the Popes back and the Gospel in his Lap with his Sword lifted up in his right-hand to defend the same as before you have heard yet did he Paint Cromwell and Cranmer staying up the said Sword least it should fall upon the Protestants themselves as we have shewed that in effect it did But now in the first page of King Edward's Reign Fox hath a much more ample and triumphant Pageant for the Child above his Father Who though he were but nine years old yet seemeth Fox to make him a fuller Head of the Church than his Father placing him in a high Throne of Majesty and his stretched out Sword in the right Hand and with the other which is the left he delivereth the Gospel unto the People and Prelates that stand round about him Where Fox writeth in the Margent this Note King Edward delivering the Bible to the Prelates c. As tho' the Bible had taken Authority from the Childs delivering Who being so tender of Age as he was and of likelihood scarce able to read the same and much less to understand it as well he might have delivered them the Poem of Chaucer or the Story of Guy of Warwick or of Bevis of Southampton if it had been put into his Hand to deliver as this was by his Uncle the Protector that knew full near as little of the Contents as the Child himself 2. But besides this Majestical representation of delivering the Gospel there be two or three other Pageants in the same page The first is of pulling down Images with great diligence every where and burning them with this Sentence written under The Temple well purged And then is there a great Ship painted with Men Women and Children carrying their Church-Stuff into that Ship to wit Bells Books Images and Candles and amongst other things also the Blessed Sacrament And over the Ship is written thus The Ship of the Romish Church And on the side this Sentence Ship over your Trinkets and be packing you Papists And thus is John Fox's pleasant Head delighted with these Fancies But who seeth not how childish this folly is Seeing scarce six years after this triumph when Queen Mary came in a Man might have said to him again and his Fellows Ship over your Trinkets and be packing you Protestants 3. But if we consider indeed the different Wares and Trinkets which this Catholic Roman Ship carried away from England at that time and those which the new Protestants Ship brought in soon after from Germany Geneva Switzerland and other Places we shall easily discover whether the loss were greater for our Nation by the departure of the one or by the coming in of the other For that in the Roman Ship was carried away not only the blessed Sacrament as Fox saith and Painteth it out which yet is the highest and most precious Treasure that Christ hath left to Christians upon Earth but with that also all kind of vertue and honesty for the most part For that all Modesty Gravity Learning Piety Devotion Peace Concord Unity and Charity was carried away And in the new Gospelling Ship came in all the contrary Vices namely of Sedition Division Pride Temerity Curiosity Novelties Sensuality Impiety and Atheism And in place of many sober honest and grave men that retired themselves upon this change there came running into England a main number of wanton Apostata Priests and Friars each one with his Mate and Dame at his side hungry and turbulent people as Friar Bale Friar Bucer Friar Coverdale Friar Martyr and other like Who joined with other of their own Sect in England in such a vein of Innovations as quickly brought all upon their own Heads And so tho' after all these foresaid three Pictures and Representations to wit the Bible distributed the Churches spoiled and the Catholic Roman Ship sent away John Fox doth make a fourth fair Pageant of the Protestants kind and comfortable meeting together at their Communion Table and their peaceable breaking of Bread. Yet if you consider what presently ensued in their actions I mean of their changing chopping pulling down and setting up in those few years that it
endured you will easily see the Fruits of that new Gospel 4. For first all begun with manifest perfidiousness against the old King that was dead For whereas he had two things in abomination above the rest First that his Son should have a Protector considering the fatal events thereof in former times for which cause he appointed sixteen Tutors to govern with equal Authority during the Minority of his Son the other that Heresie but especially Zwinglianism should enter into his Realm both these things were determined contrary to the said Kings Will and Ordination within three days after his death and above a dozen before he was buried For that the young Child being Proclaimed King upon the 28. of January and his Father not buried until the 14. of February his Uncle the Earl of Hartford was made Protector both of the King and whole Realm upon the first of the said Month of February following and this by the private Authority of the greater part of the Executors only without expecting any Parliament or consent of the Realm for so great a change and charge as that was 5. And albeit for obtaining the consents of the greater parts of Executors to this mutation great advancements and Dignities were promised and some of them also performed for that the Lord Dudley was made Earl of Warwick the Lord Parre Marquess of Northampton the Lord Chancellor Wriothesley was created Earl of Southampton Sir Thomas Seymor was made Lord Sudley and High Admiral of England and other the like and this within fifteen days after the Protectors Advancement and tho' hope also was given to those that were Catholicly inclined as the most of them were if they had followed their Consciences that no great alteration of Religion should be made for the present yet twenty days had scarce passed after this advancement but that the Protectors Fingers did so eagerly itch to be doing and tampering about Innovation in Religion as upon the 6. of March next following he sent away Commissioners into all parts of the Realm to pull down Images and other Ecclesiastical Ornaments throughout all the Churches of the Realm and to make other Innovations by his Authority which now in all things he would have to be the Kings And for that the Chancellor Wriothesley resisted the same and would have had it stayed until a Parliament might be called his Office was taken from him thereby to terrifie others from speaking in like Cases Bishop Tonstall also was put beside the Council for like offence though he were one of the sixteen Executors appointed by King Henry So as now the Protector would needs have all things absolutely in his own Hand both without Law and before Law yea expresly against the Laws of King Henry yet in force 6. And for that both he and his followers did easily see the affection of the Realm to be wholly against these Mutations as before we have shewed in the end of our former part he devised with the Lord Dudley who soothed him in all at that time the Journey into Scotland of Musselborough Field which all men know under pretence to gain the young Queen by force to Marry with the King. But yet every man of judgment and discourse did easily see that not to be a thing likely to get such a Princess by way of Arms from her Subjects Neither was King Edward of such Age as they needed to have hastened so much to get him a Wife so soon he being but nine years old but that the matter might have been treated peaceably with the Scots to have concurred willingly for their own interest to that conjunction of both Realms by that Marriage according as they had done in King Henry's time And so wrote Bishop Gardener to the Protector presently upon the first Sermon he heard the Bishop of St. Davids in Wales make in London about that matter I mean to exhort the people to the enterprise of Scotland For that now all Preachers were set a work by the said Protector and Earl of Warwick to shew the great Glory and utilities of that Attempt 7. But the true cause of this Enterprise was indeed to have thereby a just pretence and occasion to raise an Army within the Land and to call in Foreign Forces as they did both Germans and Italians under Petro Gamboa that had served King Henry at Bologne and other Leaders who they thought would be always more sure unto them than English Soldiers in occasions of Religion And so it fell out indeed For the very next year after these Foreign Soldiers did stand the Protector in very good stead when divers Shires of the Realm took Arms for defence of their Religion in the third year of King Edward's Reign as after you shall hear 8. This then was the first Summers work after King Edward's Coronation to wit that the Protector made his Voyage towards Scotland having first sent Commissioners and Preachers as you have heard into all Shires to preach against Images Procession Litanies Pilgrimages Mass praying to Saints And this of his own Authority without and against Law for that no Parliament had yet disannulled the Religion left by King Henry Which thing so much grieved the common Catholic people as they began to exclaim every where against the said Commissioners and one of them called Body was slain in Cornwall for which divers Men were Executed in sundry places of that Shire and a Priest sent up to be Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd in Smithfield for the terror of others for that he was said by some to have been Accessary to the said Body's death 9. And this was the beginning of planting new Religion in England by Authority of the Protector under a Child-King which Protector notwithstanding for that he mistrusted his home-Doctors as well as his home-Souldiers to be sufficient for so great a Work as the planting of a new Religion he sent over into Germany for divers strange Sectaries of what Religion soever so they were not Catholic But especially he desir'd to have Apostate-Friers that had ty'd themselves to Sisters assuring himself that they would be most pliable to his purpose And so there came into England Martin Bucer a Dominican Frier who unto that day had been an earnest Lutheran and Peter Martyr a Canon-Regular that inclin'd to Zuinglianism but yet came with great indifferency to preach and teach what he should be appointed Bernardinus Ochinus was the third who had been a Franciscan Frier and by taking a Woman had lost all Religion writing a Book de Polygamia for having many Wives at once and died after a Jew 10. These three were distributed into three principal Fountains of the Land London Oxford and Cambridge and with these joyned other of the same Coat and Profession as Coverdale an Augustine Frier Bale a Carmelite and other-like English-men as before we have shewed All which beginning to preach in divers parts of the Land filled mens heads with Novelties and
upon this proof how the latter Gospellers according to their pure Word of God do reject and contemn the very pure Word of God of Cranmer and Ridley's time alleging for reason among other things as the Survey of pretended Discipline saith cap 28. That the Sun of the Gospel shineth more clear in these days than in those Not to stand I say upon this Fox himself doth sufficiently shew that this pure Communion Book and Order therein set down was mislik'd and rejected by the most zealous sort of Protestants even in those days as may appear by that which the said John Fox telleth us when he talketh of the Prophetical Spirit of John Rogers the Minister that was burn'd in Queen Maries days how he sent word to the Brethren by a certain Book-binder that except the Gospellers when they returned into England again for so saith Fox he prophesied they should did follow the Form and Plot set down by Him and Hoopâ—r different from this of Cranmer and others they should have as bad an end as he and his Fellows had that were burned under Queen Mary 38. But yet for the present this was the pure Word of God and the Work of the Holy Ghost and no man might mislike or reprove it without danger and great punishment especially if he was a Catholic for above all others they were to be punished especially the Catholic Bishops in Prison for resisting the former Book obtruded in the first Parliament which yet was pardoned to others for so saith the Statute immediately after in these words That all and singular person and persons that have offended concerning the premises other than such as now be and remain in ward in the Tower of London or in the Fleet may be pardoned thereof 39. But to return to our story and first planting of the Gospel under King Edward you must note That together with this Comedy of the new Book of Service disputed and passed in this Parliament wherein the Protector was a chief Part and Actor there was a bloody Tragedy handled in like manner whereof he was both Head and Instigator for that about the midst of the Parliament to wit upon the 16th of January he caused his Brother Lord Thomas Seymor High-Admiral of England to be suddenly arrested and sent Prisoner to the Tower being in Mourning-Apparel at that time for the late Death of his Wife Queen Catherine Parre and not suffering the said Brother of his to be heard or come to his Trial he caused a Condemnation to pass against him in the said Parliament which beginneth thus Whereas Sir Thomas Seymor Knight Lord Seymor of Sudley High Admiral of England not having God before his eyes c. Thus beginneth the Act and then followeth a long Narration of his Offences as That he desired to have the custody of the King was ambitions and married Queen Catherine Parre secretly before he told the King or his Brother of it and after help'd to make her away again with secret intention to marry the Lady Elizabeth if he could get her was ungrateful for many benefits both of the King and his said Brother the Lord Protector persuaded the young King to take the Government into his own hands and thereby to exclude the said Protector from his Dignity and Government It was inferred That the said Lord Admiral aspir'd to the Crown it self and to the Destruction of the King's Person Lands Realm Church and Commonwealth c. 40. All these things I say and many other are related in this Act of Parliament of Attainder against the Lord Seymor Sir William Sharington and other his Friends and Followers but not prov'd at all by any thing in the Narration But yet such was the force of his Brother and other chief Gospellers against him a doleful beginning of the new Gospel for him as he was condemned to be Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd and upon favor was Beheaded upon the 20th of March following And presently the Protector as triumphing both over his Mother and Brother as one said in those days for that the Church was as well his Mother as the Admiral his Brother he made a Proclamation upon the 6th of April to put down the Mass throughout the whole Realm whereupon there ensued such Revel presently in London and in other places of the Realm as was strange and pitiful the blessed Sacrament being thrust out in hast of every Church and Altars pull'd down and upon the 10th of April being but four days after the whole Cloister of St. Paul's Church in London was thrown down and together with That a goodly Work of Antiquity cunningly wrought called the Dance of Pauls environing the said Cloister was beaten down and defaced also another goodly Monument in like manner of Antiquity belonging to the same Church called the Charnel-house of Pauls where the Tombs Bones and Memories of dead Men were was all beaten down by the fury of this time and the dead Mens Bones cast out into the Fields as both Holinshead Stow and other Chroniclers do relate 41. And for that the Protector had designed to raise a famous Palace worthy of his Greatness and Renown for his Habitation and perpetual Memory called Somerset-Place he first caused the Parish Church of the Strand without Temple-Bar together with Strand-Inn and Strand-Bridge to be pull'd down to give place to that Palace and to the end he might have Stone for the same more near at hand and with less Charges he caused the fair goodly Church of St. John of Jerusalem near Smithfield belonging in former time to the Knights of Rhodes to be undermin'd and with Gunpowder to be overthrown and the Stone thereof to be applied to the building of his said House and Palace 42. And this was the form of the first planting of the new Gospel in London by Gunpowder tearing and renting of ancient Monuments and overthrowing of Churches far unlike to the first planting of Christian Faith in England by St. Augustin and his Fellows before in part by us described And if this Revel was in London in the sight of the Prince and Council and where most Order and Law ought to be kept we may easily imagin what was practised throughout all the other parts of the Realm where less respect was born to the public Magistrate by no less unruly Spirits than were in London whereupon the poor afflicted Catholic people were forced to take Arms for their defence And from hence began the Commotions and Insurrections above mentioned of divers Shires for retaining their Religion But being overcome and oppressed by Martial Law and by the Troops of English and Foreign Souldiers made for the Scottish Voyage not long before there ensued infinite Misery Murther Massacre and Mortality in the Realm All which the Earl of Warwick with the help of others of the Nobility laying afterwards to the Protector 's charge in the end of the very next year to wit the 3d of King Edward's Reign