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A28290 An historical account of making the penal laws by the papists against the Protestants, and by the Protestants against the papists wherein the true ground and reason of making the laws is given, the papists most barbarous usuage [sic] of the Protestants here in England under a colour of law set forth, and the Reformation vindicated from the imputation of being cruel and bloody, unjustly cast upon it by those of the Romish Communion / by Samuel Blackerby ... Blackerby, Samuel, d. 1714. 1689 (1689) Wing B3069; ESTC R18715 230,149 164

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ten days if he may by any means for sickness and every Ordinary shall have sufficient Commissaries or Commissary dwelling in every County in a place notable so that if any such person so indicted be taken that the said Commissaries or Commissary may be warned in the notable place where he dwelleth by the Sheriff or his Officers to come to the King's Iayl in the same County there to receive the same persons so indicted by Indentures as before And that in the inquest in this case to be taken the Sheriffs and other Officers to whom it belongeth shall do to be Impannel'd good and sufficient persons not suspected nor procured that is to say that every of them which shall be so Empanell'd in such Inquest have within the Realm of England an hundred Shillings of Lands Tenements or of Rent by the year upon pain to lose to the King's use 10 l. and they which shall be Impannell'd in such Inquests in Wales every of them shall have to the value of 40 s. by year and if any such person be arrested be it by the Ordinary or by the King's Officers or Ministers and escape or break the prison before that he be acquit before the Ordinary the Goods and Chattels which he had the day of such arrest shall be forfeit to the King and his Lands and Tenements which he had the same day seized also in the King's hands the King shall have the profits thereof from the same day until he be yeilden to the prison from which he escaped and that the aforesaid Iustices have full power to enquire of all such Escapes breaking of Prison and also of Lands and Tenements Goods and Chattels of such persons so indicted provided also that if any such person indicted do not return to the said prison and dieth not convict it shall be lawful to his Heirs to enter into the Lands and Tenements of their Ancestor without any other pursuit making to the King for this cause and that all they which have Liberties and Franchises Royal in England as in the County of Chester the County and Liberty of Durham and other like and also the Lords which have Iurisdiction and Franchises Royal in Wales where the King's Writs do not run have power to execute and put in due execution these Articles in all points by them or by their Officers in like manner as the Iustices and other the King's Officers before declared should do By which Act it plainly appears that the Professors of the true Religion were not only to suffer in their own persons by being most inhumanly burnt but their very Wives and Children must feel the effects of Popish Cruelty having nothing left by this Law whereby to support their Families CHAP. IV. Hen. VIII THE three Laws in the precedent Chapters mentioned were put in severe Execution during the Reigns of R. 2. H. 4. H. 5. H. 6. E. 4. R. 3. H. 7. and to the twenty fifth year of Henry the 8 th during which time the Whore of Babylon made her self drunk with the Blood of the Saints not only halling them to prison but burning their Persons and ruining their whole Families In which time divers were Martyred purely to please and gratifie the Popish Clergy for whatever they said was Heresie must be so upon which Account they run the Persecution so high that in 25 H. 8. about which time the Professors of the true Religion were first called Protestants the Parliament began to consider That Heresie was no where defined and made an Act of Parliament for the Punishment of Heresie but by it repealed the Statute of 2 H. 4. ca. 15. the preamble of which Act doth declare That the Clergy did upon their suggestions obtain the said Act 25 H. 8. ca. 14. Rast Stat. fo 537. By this Law Protestants were to abjere or be burnt but that the same did not in any part thereof declare what was Heresie and that the word Canonical Sanctions are so general that it was difficult to avoid the Penalties of the Act in case he should be examined upon captious interrogatories as the Ordinaries did then use to persons suspect of Heresies and that all such proceedings were against the antient Laws of the Kingdom and for those reasons did repeal the said Act of 2 H. 4. ca. 15. and for redress of Heresie did establish 5 R. 2.5 and 2 H. 5.7 and did enact that Sheriffs in their Turns and Stewards in their Leets Rapes and Wapentakes should have Authority to enquire of Hereticks and every such Presentment made in any Turn Leet Co. Inst 2.658 Bulst 3.51 c. concerning Hereticks should be certified to the Ordinary and every person presented or indicted of any Heresie or duly accused by two lawful Witnesses might be cited arrested or taken by an Ordinary or other of the King's Subjects and committed to the Ordinary to answer in open Court and being convict should abjure his Heresies and refusing so to do or falling into a relapse should be burnt in an open place for Example of others By this Act indeed some part of the Common Law as to the Tryal of the Parties guilty seems to be restored but they could not yet think of parting with the severity of the Penalties I mean burning their Persons and confiscating their Estates and that the World might at length know who were deemed Hereticks and who not for before it was no where defined what Heresie was in the 31 st of H. 8. ca. 14. 31 H. 8. ca. 14. Rast Stat. fol. 652. By this Law Protestants are made Traytors Felons and guilty of a premunire An Act of Parliament was made called an Act for abolishing of Opinions in certain Articles concerning Christian Religion six Articles were agreed on and consented to viz. 1. That in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty word it being spoken by the Priest is present really under the form of Bread and Wine the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesu Christ Conceived of the Virgin Mary and that after the Consecration there remaineth no substance of Bread or Wine nor any other substance but the substance of Christ God and Man. 2. That the Communion in both kinds is not necessary ad salutem by the Law of God to all persons and that it is to be believed and not doubted of but that in the Flesh under the form of Bread is the very Blood and with the Blood under the form of Wine is the very Flesh as well a part as though they were both together 3. That Priests after the Order of Priesthood received may not marry by the Law of God. 4. That Vows of Chastity Widdowhood by Man or Woman made to God advisedly ought to be deserved by the Law of God and that it exempts them from other Liberties of Christian People which without that they might enjoy 5. That it is meet and necessary that private Masses be continued and
minding the Governance and Order of his most loving Subjects 1 Ed. 6. ca. 1. Rast Stat. f. 902. The Administration of the Lords Supper restored and the punishment inflicted on despisers and neglecters of it more moderate than what the Papists inflicted on the Protestants to be in most perfect unity and concord in all things and in especial in the true Faith and Religion of God and wishing the same to be brought about with all Clemency and Mercy on his Highness part towards them as his most Princely Serenity and Majesty hath already declared by evident proof to the intent that his most loving Subjects provoked by Clemency and Goodness of their Prince and King should study rather for love than fear to do their duties first to Almighty God and then to him and the Commonwealth nourishing concord and love amongst themselves yet considered and perceived that in a Multitude all were not of that sort that Reason and the Knowledge of their Duty could move them from Offences but many had need of some bridle of fear and that same were men most contentious and arrogant for the most part or else most dlind and ignorant by the means of which sort of men many things well and godly instituted and to the Edification of many were perverted and abused and turned to their own and others great loss and hindrance and sometime to extream destruction the which doth appear in nothing more or sooner than in matters of Religion and in the great and high Mysteries thereof and particularly instanceth in the most comfortable Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour Iesus Christ and sets forth that the same was Instituted by Christ himself the words of the Institution and for what end and then saith that notwithstanding this the said Sacrament had been marvelously abused by such manner of men before rehearsed who of wickedness or else of ignorance and want of learning for certain abuses then-to-fore committed of some in misusing thereof had condemned in their hearts and speech the whole thing and contemptuously depraved despised or reviled the same most holy and blessed Sacrament and not only disputed and reasoned unreverently and ungodly of that most high Mystery but also in their Sermons Preachings Readings Lectures Communications Arguments Talks Songs Plays or Iests name or call it by such vile and unseemly words as Christian Ears do abhor to hear rehearsed From this preamble I gather that the Popish Clergy had been greatly guilty of defaming the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as used by the Protestants according to our Saviour's Institution and that this Law was made to inhibit such defamations and to effect the same with as much Clemency and Gentleness as the nature of the thing and the circumstances of time would bear as will appear by what was Enacted for Reformation of such abuse which was That whoever was guilty of the like abuse after the time in the Act for that purpose mentioned should be imprisoned and make fine and ransome at the King's Will and Pleasure That three Justices of the Peace at least whereof one to be of the Quorum should have power to take Informations and Accusations by the Oaths and Depositions of two able honest and lawful Persons at the least and then to trye the party accused by a Jury at their Quarter Sessions From which I observe First that the Reformers did not make any Offence relating to the Sacrament high Treason as the Papists had done denying Transubstantiation 2. That they did not leave it to the Clergy to examine in a Summary way and convict and then deliver the Offender over to the Secular power to be burnt but left the Party to be accused by Legal Witnesses and Tryed by a Jury of Honest and Legal Men according to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Nay 3 dly They were so far from restraining the party accused of his Liberty That it is particularly provided by the said Statute that they might take Bail for his appearance After which it was Enacted by the same Act and which I desire you to take in Doctor Burnet's own words That it being more agreeable to Christ's first Institution and the practice of the Church for five hundred years after Christ Hist Reform pt 2. p. 41. that the Sacrament should be given in both the kinds of Bread and Wine than in one kind only it should be commonly given in both kinds except necessity did otherwise require and it being also more agreeable to the first Institution and the Primitive Practice that the People should receive with the Priest than that the Priest should receive it alone Therefore the day before every Sacrament an Exhortation was to be made to the People to prepare themselves for it in which the benefits and dangers of worthy and unworthy Receiving were to be expressed and the Priests were not without a lawful Cause to deny it to any who humbly asked it From which I observe That this Act was made to restore the Administration of the Lords Supper to its Antient and Primitive usage in both kinds with the Priest and that the Priest had not power to refuse giving it to any without just ground and that however here is no Penalty annexed either Spiritual or Temporal Several other Laws were made in order to carrying on the Reformation which inflicted no Penalty upon the Popish Clergy or Layety but were made for the well governing the Church of England as it stood then Reformed and put it out of the power of the Papists to hurt them Rast Stat. f. 904. as the 1 E. 6.2 for the Election of Bishops 1 Ed. 6.12 for repealing 5 R. 2.6 2 H. 5.7.25 H. 8.14.31 H. 8.14 34 H. 8.1 and 35 H. 8.5 Which were the severe Laws that the Popish Bishops and Prelates had obtained against the Professors of the true Religion whom they had nick-named in derision Lollards Hereticks and Gospellers When the Reformation in Edward the 6 th's time had restored the right Administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper they rested for two years before they reformed the Liturgy to the end they might by degrees and with all Acts of Clemency and Kindness draw the Papists off from their Innovations and Corruptions but finding that would not do in the 3 d. year of Ed. 6. An Act for Vniformity of Service and Administration of the Sacraments throughout the Realm was made and enjoyned upon much milder penalties than any Laws relating to Religion that were made by the Papists for the Excellency of the Preamble of which Act and that the truth of the Penalties may appear I have inserted both 23 E. 6. Ca. 1. Rast Stat. f. 932. An Act for Vniformity upon mild Penaltus injoyned Whereas long time there hath been had in this Realm of England and in Wales divers forms of Common-Prayer commonly called the Service of the Church that is to say the use of Sarum of York of
Temporal and others which mentions that since many false Rumors were published amongst the Subjects and many Heretical i. e. Protestant Opinions were also spread among them therefore they or any three of them were to enquire into those either by Presentments by Witnesses or any other Politick Way they could Devise and to search after all Heresies the Bringers in the Sellers or Readers of all Heretical Books they were to Examin and Punish all Misbehaviours or negligences in any Church or Chappel and to try all Priests that did not preach of the Sacrament of the Altar all Persons that did not hear Mass or come to their Parish Church to Service that would not go in Procession or did not take Holy Bread or Holy Water And if they found any that did obstinately persist in such Heresies they were to put them into the hands of their Ordinaries to be proceeded against according to the Laws giving them full power to proceed as their Discretions and Consciences should direct them and to use all such means as they could invent for the searching of the premises empowring them also to call before them such Witnesses as they pleased and to Force them to make Oath of such things as might discover what they sought after This Commission at large you may find in the Collection of the Records annexed to Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation second part Lib. 2. Num. 33. It shews how high they intended to raise the Persecution when a Power of such a Nature was put into the hands of any three of a number so selected Besides this there were many subordinate Commissions issued out and after this a Commission was given to the Archbishop the Bishop suffragan of Hull and divers others to the same effect but with this limitation that if any thing appeared to them so intricate that they could not determine it they were to refer it to the 1 Bonner Bishop of London and his Collegues who had a much larger Commission and great reason he should because they were sure he would spare none that came before him And now all was done that could be devised for extirpating of Heresie except Courts of Inquisition had been set up which doubtless had been done Queen Mary's Death Fox had that Blood-sucking Queen lived a little longer But it pleased God to take her away after she had burnt 72 the first year of her Persecution 94 the second 79 the third and 39 the last in all 284 according to Fox But Dr. Burnet gives this further Account Hist Ref. pt 2. fol. 364. that he that writ the Preface to Bishop Ridley's Book de Carne Domini who is supposed to be Grindal afterwards Arch-bishop of Canterbury says that in the two first years of this Queens Persecution there were above 800 put to most cruel kinds of Death for Religion By which it seems Fox hath come far short in his account I cannot omit the Account that Dr. Burnet gives of the Method The Methods of the Persecution of Protestants in this Reign of the Persecutions of this Reign Saith he At first the Bishops dealt earnestly with those that were brought before them to recant and were ready at any time to receive them The Queens Pardon was also sent to them as they were ready to be tyed to the Stake if they would then turn But now it was far otherwise For in the Council Books there is an Entry made of a Letter written the 1st of August 1558 to Sir Richard Pexhall Sheriff of Hampshire signifying That the Queen thought it very strange that he had delayed the Execution of one Bembridge Condemned of Heresie because he had recanted Requiring him to Execute it out of hand and if he still continued in the Catholick Faith which he outwardly pretended he was then to suffer such Divines as the Bishop of Winchester should appoint to have access to him for confirming him in the Faith and to 〈◊〉 on him at his Death that he might dye God's Servant And as soon as the Sheriff had thus burnt him he was to come to the Council and answer for his Presumption in deferring it so long The matter of Fact was thus Bembridge being had to the Stake and the Fire taking hold of him he through the violence of it yielded and cryed out I recant upon which the Sheriff made the Fire to be put out and Bembridge signed such a Recantation as Dr. Seton who was near him writ for him But for all that upon this Order of Council he was burnt and the Sheriff was put in the Fleet. So that now it appeared that it was not so much the Conversion of those they called Hereticks as their Destruction that the Bishops desired and I think the Instance of Burning Arch Bishop Cranmer after he had recanted Hist Ref. pt 2. fol. 333. upon the Promise of a Pardon is as pregnant an instance as this which you may see related by Dr. Burnet Hist Ref. part 2. fol. 333. And sure it will be no wonder that there was such a severe Persecution during this Reign Hist Ref. 2 pt ● 370 371. If it be considered that the Bishops besides the other Cannons binding them to proceed against them they called Hereticks were by the words of the Oath of Obedience which they sware to the Pope at their Consecration engaged to oppose and persecute the Hereticks with all their might so that their giving severe Counsels and the Queens following them flowed mainly from the Principles of their Religion and can any thinking man imagine they are altered since in which the sowerness of the Queen's Temper made it the more easie to perswade her to a compliance to those courses to which her own inclinations led her without any such motives And now they that can expect any better usage from the Bishops and Prelates of the Church of Rome under a Prince of that perswasion must I think have forfeited their Reason and are fitter to converse with Wolves and Tygers than men much less the most refined of them those who are sincerely of the Reformed Religion commonly called Protestants My design in being thus long in setting forth the cruel Penal Laws that were made or revived and put in Execution in this Reign was that the Reader might compare the Penal Laws in Edward the 6 th's time with the Penal Laws in Queen Mary's and then judge whether his are not merciful compared with these especially respecting the Execution there being not one put to Death for Religion in all King Edward the 6 th's Reign that so the Moderation of the one may be admir'd and the Cruelty of the other abhor'd And not as any Reason why the Penal Laws against the Papists in Queen Elizabeth's Time were made upon such severe Penalties for I shall shew that they were made upon quite different reasons than in revenge as the Papists maliciously suggest for the severe usage of the Protestants in this Reign CHAP. VII Q.