Ecclesia restaurata, or, The history of the reformation of the Church of England containing the beginning, progress, and successes of it, the counsels by which it was conducted, the rules of piety and prudence upon which it was founded, the several steps by which it was promoted or retarded in the change of times, from the first preparations to it by King Henry the Eight untill the legal settling and establishment of it under Queen Elizabeth : together with the intermixture of such civil actions and affairs of state, as either were co-incident with it or related to it / by Peter Heylyn.

Anne Reg. Mar. 3. A. D. 1555, 1556.

BEing resolved to wave the writing of a Martyr••logy,* 1.1 which is done already to my hand in the Acts, and Monuments, I shall insi••t only upon three of most 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ranck, that is to say, Archbishop Cranmer, Bishop Latimer, and Bishop Ridley, men of renown, never to be forgotten in the Church of England. Of whom there hath so much been said in the course of this History, that no∣thing need be added more, than the course of their sufferings. Committed to the Tower by several Warrants, and at several times, they were at once dischar∣ged from the Tower of London on the 10th. of April, Anno 1554. Removed from thence to Windsor, and at last to Oxon. where they were to combare for their lives. A combat not unlike to that of St Paul at Eph••••us, where he is said to fight 〈◊〉〈◊〉 beasts after the manner of men; the disputation being managed so tu∣multuously with shou••s and out-cries, and so disorderly without rule or mo∣desty, as might make it no unproper parallel to St Pa••••'s encounter. The per∣sons against whom they were to enter the lists, were ••ulled out of the ablest men of both Universities, commissionated to dispute, and authorized to sit as Judges. And then what was to be expected, by the three Respondents, but that their oppos••tes must have the better of the day, who could not be supposed to have so little care of their own reputation, as to pass sentence on them∣selves. Out of the University of Oxon were selected Dr Weston, Prosocutor of the Convocation then in being, Dr Tresham, Dr Cole, Dr Oylth••rp, Dr Pie, Mr 〈◊〉〈◊〉, and Mr Feck••am; with whom were joined by the Lord Chan∣cellor Gardiner, (who had the nomination of them) Dr Young Vice-Chancel∣lor of Cambridge, Dr G••yn, Dr Seaton, Dr Watson, Dr Sed••••wick, and Dr Aikin∣son, of the same University.

The Questions upon which the Disputants were to try their fortune, rela∣ted to the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist, and were these that follow. 1. Whether the na••ural body and blood of Christ be really in the Sacrament, after the words spoken by the Priest, or no? 2. Whether in the Sacrament after the words of cons••cration, any other subst••••ce do remain, than the substance of the body and b••ood of Christ? 3. Whether the Mass be a sacrifice propitiat••ry, for the sins of the quick and the dead? Which having been propounded in the Convocation at Cambridge, and there concluded in such manner, as had been generally main∣tained in the Schools of Rome, the Vice Chancellor, and the rest of the Dispu∣tants which came from thence, could have no power to determine otherwise in the points, when they should come to sit as Judges. Nor is it to be thought, but that as well the Cambridge as the Oxon Disputants, came well prepared, studied and versed in those Arguments on which they intended to insist▪ ha∣ving withall the helps of books, and of personal conference, together with all other advantages which might flatter them with the hopes of an easie vi∣ctory. But on the other side, the three Defendants had but two dayes of pre∣pa••ation allotted to them, debarred of all access unto one another; not suffered to enjoy the use of their own books and papers; and kept in such uncomforta∣ble places, as were but little different from the common d••ngeo••s. But out they must to try their fortune, there being no other choice left them, but to fight or yield; and which made most to the advantage of the other side, they were to try their fortune single, each of them destinated to a several day, so that they could not contribute to the assistance of one another, if their occa∣sions had required it. Cranmer begins on the 16th, of April, Ridley succeeds upon the next, and La••imer brings up the arreir on the morrow after; each man an army in himself, and to encounter with an army, as the cause was managed.

At the first meeting, when the questions were to be propounded and disputed op▪ Weston, by reason of his place, enter••ains the Auditory with a short Orati∣on,

wherein he was to lay before them the cause of their assembling at that place and time. But such was his ill luck, as to stumble at that very threshold, and to conclude against himself in the very first opening of the disputation, which he is said to have begun in these following words, Conv••n••st•• hodie ••••atres profli∣ga••uri 〈…〉〈…〉 Haeresin, de veritate corporis Christi••n Sacrament••, &c. That is to say, Ye are assembled hither brethren this day, to confound that detesta∣ble Heresie, of the ve••ity of the body of Christ in the Sacrament, &c. Which gross mistake, occas••oned no small shame in some, but more laughter in many. It was observed of him also, that during the whole time of the disputation, he had alwayes a cup of wine, o•• some other strong liquor standing by him, and that having once the pot in his hand, when an argument was urged by one of the Disputants, which he very well liked of, he cried aloud to him, urge hoc, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 hoc, nam hoc ••acit pro nobis. Which being applied by some of the spectators to his pot of drink, occassoned more sport and ••e••iment than his first mistake. But let them laugh that win, as the Proverb hath it, and Weston is resolved to win the race, whosoever runs best. The tumult and disorder of this d••••putati∣on hath been touched before, and may be seen at large, with all the Argu∣ments and Answers of either side, in the Acts and Mo••. Suffi••e it in this place to know, that having severally made good their appointed dayes, they were all called together on F••iday the 20th. of that month, Weston then sitting with the ••e••t in the nature of Judges, by whom they were demanded, whether they would subscribe or not? which when they had severally refused to do▪ their sentence was pronounced by the Prolocutor in the name of the rest, in which they were deolared to be no members of the Chruch, and that therefore, they, their patrons and followers, were condemned as Hereticks. In the reading where∣of, they were again severally asked whether they would turn or not; to which they severally answered, read on in God's name, for they were resolved not to turn. And so the sentence being pronounced, they were returned again to their several prisons, there to expect what execution would ensue upon it.

And execution there was none to ensue upon it, ••ill the end of the Session of Parliament then next following, because till then, there was no saw in force for putting Hereticks to death, as in former times. During which interval, they excrcited themselves in their private studies, or in some godly meditati∣ons, wr••••ing consolatory Letters unto such of their friends as were reduced by the iniquity of the times, to the like extremity; amongst which, as they un∣derstood their dear brother Mr John Hooper, Bishop of Glocester, to have been marked out for the slaughter; so that intelligence revived in Bishop R••dley's thoughts, the remembrance of that conterove••sie which had been between them (concerning the Episcopal habit) in the time of King Edward, There is no question to be made, but that they had forgotten and forgiven that quarrel long before; yet Ridley did not think he had done enough, if he left, not to the world some testimony of their mutual charity, as well as their consent in do∣ctrine, such as might witness to the world, that they maintained the spirit of uni∣ty in the bond of peace. Concerning which he writes to him in this manner following, viz.—But now dear Brother, forasmuch as I understand by your books which I have but superficially seen, that we throughly agree, and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion, against the which the world so furiously rageth in these our dayes, however in times past in ce••ain by-matters and circumstances of Religion, your wisdom and my simplicity (I must confesse) have a little jarred, each of us following the aboun∣dance of his own spirit. Now I say be assured, that even with my whole heart, God is my witnesse, in the bowels of Christ I love you in the truth, and for the truths sake which abideth in us, as I am perswaded, and by the Grace of God shall abide in us for ••ver more. And because the world, as I perceive, brother, ceaseth not to play his pa∣geant, and busily conspireth against Christ our Saviour, with all possible force and power, Exalting high things against the knowlege of God: Let us join hands toge∣ther in Christ, as if we cannot overthrow, yet to our power, and as much as in us lyeth,

let us shake those high Altitudes, not with carnal, but with spiritual weapons; and withall, brother, l••t us prepare our selves to the day of diss••l••tion, by that which after the short time of this bodily affliction, by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall triumph together with him, in eternal glory.

Comforted with reciprocal letters of this holy nature, they both prepared themselves for death, in which Hooper had the honour to lead the way, as be∣ing more in B••nner's eye when the Act past for reviving the Statutes before mentioned in the case of Heresie. But Hooper having led the way, and many ••ther godly and religious men following the same tract which he had made, it came at last unto the turn of these reverend Prelates to pass through the same 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to the Land of Promise. In order whereunto, a Commission is directed from the Pope to Dr. James Bro••ks, Bishop of Glocester, by which he is autho∣rized as Subdelegate to his Holiness, to proceed in the cause of ••homas Cran∣mer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The like Commission is directed to Dr Mar∣tin, and Dr Story, to attend the business, as delegated thereunto by the King and Queen, before whom convented in St Mary's Church on the 12th. of September he did his reverence to the two Doctors, as Commissioners for the King and Queen, but could not be perswaded to shew any respect to the Bi∣shop of Gl••ceste••, because commissionared by the Pope. He had before ab∣jur'd the Popes supremacy in the time of King Henry, and would not now submit unto it in the Reign of Queen Mary, desiring the Bishop not to interpret it an affront to his person, to whom otherwise he should gladly pay all due regards, had he appeared in any other capacity than the Popes Commissioner. Not being able to remove him from that resolution, they pro∣pounded to him certain Articles concerning his having been twice maried, his denyal of the Pope's supremacy, his judgement in the point of the blessed Sacrament, his having been declared an Heretick by the late Prolocutor, and the rest of the Commissioners there assembled. To all which Articles he so an∣swered, as to deny nothing of the charge in matter of fact, but only to stand upon his justification in point of Doctrine. The whole proceeding being sum∣med up, he is cited to appear before the Pope within 80 dayes. To which he said that he was most willing so to do, if the King and Queen would please to send him. And so he was returned to the prison from whence he came, and there kept safe enough from making any journy to Rome, remaining in safe ••••∣stody till he was brought out to suffer death, of which more hereafter.

On the 28th. of the same month, comes out another Commission from the Cardinal Legate, directed to John White, Bishop of Lincoln, James Brooks, Bishop of Glocester, and John Holyman, Bishop of Bristow, or any two of them; ina∣bling them to proceed to the degradation of the other two Bishops, if they re∣tracted not those doctrines, for holding which they had been formerly de∣••lared to be Hereticks. But they couragiously adhering to their first opini∣ons, and otherwise expressing as little reverence to the Substitutes of the Car∣dinal Legate, as Cranmer had done to the Commissioners of the Pope, the sen∣tence was pronounced upon them to this effect; that is to say.

That foras∣much as the said Nichosas Ridley, and Hugh Latimer, did affi••m, maintain, and stubbornly desend certain opinions and Heresies contrary to the Word of God, and the received faith of the Church;

as first, In denying the true and natural body of Christ, and his natural blood to be in the Sacrament of the Altar. 2. In affirming the substance of bread and wine to r••main after the words of the con∣secration. And 3. In denying the Masse to be a lively sacrifice of the Church for the quick and the dead, and by no means could be reduced from the same: that therefore they said John of Lincoln, James of Glocester, and John of Bristol, did adjudge and condemn them the said N. Ridl••y, and H. Latimer as Hereticks, both by word and deed, to be degraded from the degree of a Bishop, from Pries••hood, and all other Ecclesiastical Orders; declaring them moreover to be no members of the Church, and therefore to be committed to the secular powers, to receive due punishment according to the Tenor of the temporal

Laws. According to which Sentence, they were both degraded on the 15 th. of October, and brought unto the Stake in the Town-ditch over against Baliol College on the morrow after, where with great constancy and courage they endured that death, to which they had been pre-condemned before they were heard. Cranmer was prisoner at that time in the North-gate of the City, called Bocardo, from the top whereof he beheld that most dolefull spectacle; and ca∣sting himself upon his knees, he humbly beseeched the Lord to endue them with a sufficient strength of Faith and Hope; which he also desired for himself, whensoever he should act his part on that bloody Theater.

But he must stay the Popes leisure before he was to be brought on the Stage again. The Queen had been acquainted with such discoutses, as had pas∣sed betwixt the Pope and her Ambassadors, when they were at Rome; and she appeared desirous to have gratified him in his demands. But the Kings absence, who set sail for Calais on the fourth of September, and the next morning took his journey to the Emperor's Court, which was then at B••uxels, ren∣dred the matter not so feasible as it might have been, if he had continued in the Kingdom. For having called a Parliament to begin on the 21 of October, she caused many of the Lords to be dealt withall touching the passing of an Act for the restoring of all such Lands as had belonged unto the Church, and were devolved upon the Crown, and from the Crown into the hands of privat per∣sons, by the fall of Monasteries, and other Religious Houses, or by any other ways or means whatsoever. But such a general avers••ess was found amongst them, that she was advised to desist from that unprofitable undertaking. Cer∣tain it is, that many who were cordially affected to the Queens Religion, were very much startled at the noise of this Restitution, insomuch that some of them are said to have clapt their hands upon their swords, affirming, not without some Oaths, that they would never part with their Abbey-Lands as long as they were able to were a sword by their sides. Which being signified to the Queen, it seemed good to her to let fall that sute for the present, and to give them good example for the time to come, by passing an Act, for re∣leasing the Clergy from the payment of first Fruits and Tenths, which had been formerly vested in the Crown in the Reign of her Father. Against which when it was objected by some of the Lords of the Council, that the state of her Kingdoms and Crown Emperial could not be so honourably maintained as in former times, if such a considerable part of the Revenue were dismembered from it; she is said to have returned this answer, That she prefetted the salvation of her Soul before ten such Kingdoms. She procured another Act to be passed also, which very much redounded to the benefit of the two Universities, inhibiting all Purveyors from taking up any provisions for the use of the Court within five miles of Oxon or Cambridge; by mean•• whereof, those Markets were more plentifully served with all sorts of Pro∣visions than in former times, and at more reasonable rates than otherwise they could have been, without that restraint. In her first Parliament, the better to indear her self to the common subject, she had released a Subsidie which was due unto her, by an Act of Parliament made in the time of King Edward the sixth. And now to make her some amends, they gave her a Subsidie of four shillings in the Pound for Lands, and two shillings eight-pence in the pound for Goods. In the drawing up of which Act, an Oath, which had been formerly prescribed to all manner of persons, for giving in a just account of their estates, was omitted wholly, which made the Subsidie sinck beneath expectation. But the Queen came unto the Crown by the love of the people, and was to do no∣thing to the hazard of their affections, which she held it by.

At the same time was held a Convocation also, for summoning whereof, a Writ was issued in the name of the King and Queen, to the Dean and Chap∣ter of the Metropolitical Church of Canterbury, the See being then vacant by the attaindure of Archbishop Cra••••er. Bonn••r presides in it as before, Boxhall then Warden of Winchester preacheth (though not in the capacity) at the open∣ing

of it, and Doctor John Christoperson, Dean of Norwich, is chosen Prolo∣tor for the House of the Clergy. But the chief businesse done therein was the granting of a Subsidie of six shillings in the pound to be paid out of all their Ecclesiastical Promotions in three years then following. Nor was it without reason that they were enduced to so large a grant; The Queen ••ad actually restored unto them their First-fruits and Tenths, though at that time the Crown was not in such a plentiful condition, as to part with such an annual income. And she had promised also, (as appears by the Records of the Con∣vocarion) to render back unto the Church all such Impropriations, Tithes, and portion of Tithes, as were still remaining in the Crown. For the disposing of which Grant to the best advantage, the Cardinal-Legat, at the Queens desire, had conceived an Instrument, which was then offered to the consideration of the Prolocutor, and the rest of the Clergy; it was proposed also by the Bishop of Elie, that some certa••n learned men might be chosen out of the House, to review all the antient Canons, to fit them to the present state of the Church; and were they sound any thing defective in them, to s••pply that defect, by making such new C••nons and Constitutions, as being approved of by the Lords, should be made obligatory to the Clergy, and the rest of the Kingdom. This was well mov'd, and serv'd to entertain the time; but I find nothing in pursuance of it.

But on the other side, the Prolocutor bringing up the Bill of the Subsidies in the end of October, propounds three points unto their Lordships, which much conduced to the establishment and advantage of the prejudiced Clergy. The first was, That all such of the Clergy as building on the common report, that the Tenths and First fruits were to be released in the following Parlia∣ment, had made no composition for the same with her Majesties Officers, might be discharged from the penalty inflicted by the Laws in that behalf. The second, That their Lordships would be pleased to intercede with the Lord Cardinal-Legat, for setling and confirming them in their present Benefices by some special Bull. The third, That by their Lordships means, an Act may be obtained in the present Parliament, for the repealing of the Statute, by which the Citizens of London, which refused to make payment of their Tithes, were to be ordered at the discretion of the Lord Mayor of that City; And that from thenceforth, all such censures as concerned Tithes might be heard and determined by the Ordinary, as in other places. To all which Propositions the Bishops cheerfully consented, and so adjurned the Convocation from St. Pauls to Westminster, that they might have the better opportunity of consul∣ting the Lord-Cardinal in the businesse; of whom it was no hard matter to ob∣tain the second, and by his power to secure the Clergy in the first; but as for the removall of the Cognisance of the London Tithes from the Lord Mayor unto the Bishops, there was nothing done, that Statute still remaining as be∣fore it did, to the continual impoverishing and vexation of the City Clergy. Nothing else memorable in this Convocation, but the comming in of the two new Bishops, which had never voted there before; Purefew the Bishop of St. Asaph, being translated unto Hereford in the former year, had made such ha∣vock of the Patrimony of the Church of St. Asaph, that it lay void above a twelve month before any became Suter for it. But being a Bishoprick, though impoverished, and consequently a step to some richer preferment, it was desired and accepted by Mr. Thomas Goldnel, a right zealous Romanist, consecrated Bishop hereof in the beginning of October, Anno 1555. not many days before the opening of the Parliament and Convocation. And being Bi∣shop here, he procured many Indulgences and other Graces from the Pope then being, for all such persons of each sex, as went on Pilgrimage, or for health, to St. Winifrids Well. The like havock had been made of the Lands and Patrimony of the Church of Bangor, by Buckley the present Bishop of it, preferred unto this See Anno 1541. and continuing on it till this year; who not content to alienate the Lands, and weaken the Estate thereof, resolved to

rob it of its Bells, for fear perhaps of having any Knell rung out at the Churches Funetal. And not content to sell the Bells, which were five in number▪ he would needs satisfie himself with seeing them conveyed on ship∣board, and had searce given himself that satisfaction, but he was p••esently struck blind, and so continued from that time to the day of his death. To whom succeeded Doctor William Glyn, a Cambridge man, but one of the Dis∣putants at Oxford, who received his Episcopal Consecration (if I guesse aright) on the same day with Bishop Goldne••.

And now it will be time to look back on Cranmer, whom we left under a Citation to the Court of Rome, without which, nothing could be done; for by an antient privilege, no Judgment could be past upon the person of a Me∣tropolitan, before the Pope have taken cognisance of the cause; and eighty days had seemingly been given to Cr••nmer for making his appearance in the Court of Rome. And though the Pope knew well enough, as well the Arch∣bishops readiness to appear before him, if he were at liberty, as the impossibili∣ty of making any such appearance as the case then stood; yet at the end of the said eighty days, he is pronounced by the Pope to be contumacious, and for his contu••acy to be Degraded, Excommunicated, and finally delivered over to the Secular Magistrate. According unto which Decree, a second Commis∣sion is directed to Edmond Bonner Bishop of London, and Th••mas Thoriby Bi∣shop of Ely, to proceed to the Degradation of the said Archbishop: In which Commission it was said with most horrible falshood, That all things had been so indifferently examined in the Court of Rome, that is to say, as well the Articles laid unto his charge, as the Answers which he made unto them, to∣gether with the Allegations, Witnesses, and Defences, made or produced by the Counsel on either side, so that nothing had been wanting which was ne∣cessary to his just defence. According to which supposition, the said two Bi∣shops being commanded to proceed against him, caused him to be Degraded on the 14 th. of February, notwithstanding that he appealed from the Pope and them to a General Council, and caused the said Appeal to be drawn and offe∣red in due form of Law. During the interval between his degradation and the time of his death, great pains was taken by some learned men in the Univer∣sity to perswade him to a Retractation of his former Opinions; in which un∣happy undertaking, no man prevailed so far as a Spanish Ftier, by whom it was suggested to him, How acceptable it would be to the King and Queen, how pleasing to the Lords, who most dearly loved him, and how gainfull to him∣self, in regard both of his soul and his temporal being; assuring him (or at least putting him in good hope) that he should not onely have his life, but be restored again to his antient dignity, and that there should be nothing in the Realm which the Queen would not easily grant him, whether it pleased him to make choice of Riches and Honors, or otherwise should desire the sweet re∣tirements of a private life, without the charge and trouble of a publick Mini∣stery; and all this to be compassed without putting himself to any more pains, than the subscribing of his name to a piece of paper, which was made ready for his hand.

By these temptations, and many others of the like alluring and deceitfull nature, he suffered himself to be prevailed upon so far, as to sign the Writing, in which were briefly comprehended the chief points of Doctrine defended in the Church of Rome, and by him formerly condemned both in publick and private. The obtaining whereof occasioned great joy amongst the Papists, and no lesse sorrow and astonishment in the hearts of those, who cordially were affected to the Reformation. But all this could not save him from being made a sacrifice to revenge and avarice; The Queen had still a vindicative▪ spirit against him, for the injury which she conceived had been done to her mother; and the Cardinal, who hitherto had enjoyed the profits of the See of Canter∣bury as an usu-fructuary, was altogether as solicitous for getting a right and title to them as the sole Proprietary; No way to pacifie the one, and satisfie

the desires of the other, but by bringing him (when he least looked for it) to the fatall Stake. And to the fatall Stake they brought him on the 21 of March, when he had for some time flattered himself in a conceit, like the King of Amaleck, that the bitternesse of dea••h was past. Finding the contrary, he first re∣tracts his Retractarion, and after punisheth that hand which had subscribed it, by holding it forth into the flame, and suffering it to be consumed before the rest of his body had felt the fire. The residue of his body being burnt to ashes, his heart was found entire & untouched in the midst of the sinders; Which possibly may serve as a witnesse for him, that his heart stood fast unto the Truth, though with his hand he had subscribed some Popish Errors: Which whether it were done out of human frailty on the hope of life, or out of a de∣sire to gain the more time, for finishing his Book against Bishop Gardiner, whi••h he alledged for himself in a Letter to one of his friends; Certain it is, that it had too much in it of a sinful compliance, so much as might have blasted both his fame and memory to all times succeeding, if he had not taken off the scan∣dal, and expiated the offence in so brave a manner. And thus he dyed, leaving an excellent example to all posterity, as well of mans infirmity in so strange a fall, as of Gods infinite grace and mercy, by which he was enabled to recover his former standing.

These goodly Cedars of the Forest being thus ••ut down, it was not to be hoped that any favour could be shown to the Shrubs and Underwoods, which were grubbed up and felled without any distinction, as well the yourg Sapling, as the decayed and withered Tree; but more in some parts than in others, ac∣cording to the sharpness of the Tools and the edge of the Woodman. The waste so great in no place as in Bonner's wa••k, who seemed to be resolved, that what∣soever could not serve for Timber (toward the buil••ing or re-edifying of the Papal palace) should be mark'd for Puel. No fewer than two hundred are re∣ported to have been burnt within three years, by this cruel and unmerciful Tyrant, without discrimination of sex or age; his fury reaching from John Fetty, a lad of eight years old, by him s••ourged to death, even to Hugh Lavecork, a cripple sixty eight years old, whom he caused to be burned. The most emi∣nent of all which number was Mr. John Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester, who though of Gardiners Diocesse, was condemned by B••nner, Gardiner being well enough contented to find out the Game, and leave it to be fol∣lowed by that bloody Hunter: His rage not slackned by the interposings of Al∣phonso a Spanish Frier, inveighing sharply, in a Sermon before the King, against the savage and unprofitable cruelty of the English Bishops; but as it seems, he measured all the rest by that London-Tyrant, though in most other places they were far more moderate: He that came nearest to him was Doctor John Christo∣pherson, Bishop of Chichester, who is recorded to have burnt no lesse than ten in one fire at Lewis, and seventeen others at several times in sund••y places. But still the nearer London, the more the hea••; insomuch that Harpsfield Arch∣deacon of Canterbury, and Thornton the Suffragan of Dover, are said to have poured out blood like water; As was also done by Griffin of Rochester, and Downing Chancellor of Norwich, (though somewhat further off from the scene of cruelty) in their several Diocesses. Which character I find of Bishop Bain of Coventry and Lichfield; the gentle birth and breeding of Mrs. Joyce Lewis not being too high for him to reach at, nor the poor condition of Joan Wast, a blind woman in Darby, too low for him to stoop too, whom he con∣demned unto the fire, as he did many faithfull Ministers, and others of the Masculine sex.

But on the other side, in all the Province of York, I find none brought un∣to the Stake but George March of Chester, condemned thereto by Bishop Coles; and not much more to have been done in the four Welch Diocesses; in which, besides the burning of Bishop Farrar at Carmarthen by Bishop Mor∣gen; and of Rawlins and White at Cardiff by Bishop Kitching; no extraordinary cruelty seems to have been acted. In the Diocesses of Exceter, Wells, Peter∣borough

and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 (though this last the greatest in the Kingdome) I find men∣tion but of one apiece; of two in that of E••y, and of no mote than three apiece at Bristol and Sarisbury. In those of Oxon, Glocester, Worcester and He∣reford, I find none at all, which made those Counties look like the land of Go∣shen, where there was nothing but fair weather, when there was so much thun∣der and lightning in the rest of Aegypt. Nor were these storms and tempests in other places, of a short continuance, but held on more or less till the death of the Queen, as appeareth by those five persons which were burnt at Canter∣bury on the 10th. of November 1558. being but one full week before the day of her own dissolution. The difference was, that these poor wretches were consumed by the rage of fire, whereas she was caried out of the world in a de∣luge of water; falling into a Dropsie in the time of her supposed childing, of which she was never perfectly cured till she came to her grave. Nor were these all that suffered in the fury of this persecution. For besides those that suffered Martyrdome in the sight of the world, many are thought to have been made away in prison; but many more, to the number of some scores or hun∣dreds, supposed to have been killed by starving, stinks, and other barbarous usages in their several Jayls. To which if we should add a Catalogue of all those who fled the Kingdom, and put themselves into a voluntary exile, amoun∣ting to the number of 800. or thereabouts, I suppose it may be well conclu∣ded, that though many persecutions have lasted longer, yet none since Diocle∣sian's time ever raged so terribly. So terribly it raged in one particular, that no persecution of the ten can af••ord a parallel. Katherine Gouches, a poor widdow of St. Peter's Port in the Isle of Guerns••y, was noted to be much absent from the Church, and her two daughters guilty of the same neglect. Upon this they were presented before Jaques Amy, then Dean of the Island, who finding in them that they held opinions contrary to those then allowed, about the Sa∣crament of the Altar, pronounced them Hereticks, and condemned them to the fire. The poor women on the one side pleaded for themselves, that that doctrine had been taught them in the time of King Edward; but if the Queen was otherwise disposed, they were content to be of her Religion. This was fair, but this would not serve; for by the Dean they were delivered to Eli'er Gosling, the then Bayliff, and by him unto the fire, July the 8th. 1556. One of the daughters (Perotine Massey she was called) was at that time great with child; her husband a Minister being in those dangerous times fled the Island; In the middle of the flames and anguish of her torments, her belly brake in sun∣der, and her child, a goodly boy, fell down into the fire, but was presently snatched up by one W. House, one of the By standers. Upon the noise of this strange accident, the cruel Bayliff returned command, that the poor infant must be cast again into the flames; which was accordingly performed; and so that pretty babe was born a Martyr, and added to the number of the Holy innocents. A cruelty not parallel'd in any story, not heard of amongst the Nations. But such was the pleasure of the Magistrate, as once in the Massacre of the youn∣ger Maximinus, viz.* 1.2. that not any issue should be left of an Heretick Pa∣rent.

But to go back again to Cranmer, it is to be observed, that as his death ope∣ned the way for Pole to the See of Canterbury, so it was respi••ed the longer out of a politick design to exclude him from it. That Gardiner loved him not, hath been said before, and he knew well that Cardinal Carraffa (now Pope Paul the 4th.) loved him less than he. This put him first upon an hope, that the Pope might be prevailed with to revoke the Cardinal (who had before been un∣der a suspicion in the Court of Rome, of having somewhat of the Lutheran in him) and to bestow the Cardinal's Cap, together with the Legantine power, upon himself, who doubted not of sitting in the chair of Canterbury if he gai∣ned the rest. Upon which ground he is supposed to have hindered all procee∣dings against the three Oxon Martyrs, from the ending of the Parliament on the 26th. of January, till the 12th. of September then next following, the Pope

not sending out any Commission in all that interval,* 1.3 without which Cranmer was not to be brought to a condemnation. But at the last, not knowing how much these procrastinations might offend the King, and perhaps prest unto it by Karn, the Queen's Ambassadour, he found himself under a necessity to di∣spatch Commission, though he proceeded not to the execution of any part of the sentence, till more than ten weeks after the 80 dayes, which had been given for his appearance in the Court of Rome.

During which time, death puts an end to Gardiners projects, who left his life at Whitehal on the 12th. of November. From whence conveyed by water to his house in Southwark, his body was first lapt in lead, kept for a season in the Church of St Mary Over-Rhe, and afterwards solemnly interred under a fair and goodly Monument in his Cathedral. The custody of the Great Seal, together with the Title of Lord Chancellor,* 1.4 was upon New years day conferred on Dr Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, a man of great prudence and mo∣deration; but the revenues of the Bishoprick were appropriated to the use of the Cardinal Legate, who purposed to have held it in Commendam with the See of Canterbury, to which he received consecration on the very next Sun∣day after Cranmer's death. But Dr John White Bishop of Lincoln, having been born at Winchester, and educated in that School, of which he was afterwards chief Master, and finally Warden of that College, ambitiously affected a translation thither. And so far he prevailed by his friends at Court, that on the promise of an annual pension of 1000 l. to the use of the Cardinal, he was permitted to enjoy the Title with the rest of the profits. Which I have mentioned in this place, though this transaction was not made, nor his tran∣slation actually performed till the year next following. No other alteration made amongst the Bishops of this time, but that Voysie of Exon, dies in some part of the year, 1555. and Dr James Turbervile succeeds him in the beginning of the year 1556. A man well born, and well befriended, by means whereof he recovered some lands unto his See, which had been alienated from it by his predecessor; and amongst others, the rich and goodly Mannors of Credinson, or Kirton, in the County of Devon, (in former times the Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Exon) though afterwards again dismembred from it in the time of Queen Elizabeth, by Bishop Cotton.

It is now time to take into consideration the affairs of State, nothing the better cemented by the blood of so many Martyrs, or jointed any whit the stronger by the secret animosities and emulations between the Lord Chancel∣lor and the Cardinal Legate. Though Wia••'s party was so far suppressed, as not to shew it self visibly in open action yet such as formerly had declared for it, or wish'd well unto it, had many secret writings against the Queen, every day growing more and more in dislike of her Government, by reason of so ma∣ny butcheries as were continually committed under her authority. Upon which ground as they had formerly instructed Elizabeth Crofts to act the spirit in the wall; so afterwards they trained up one William Cunstable, alias Feather∣stone, to take upon himself the name of King Edward, whom he was said to have resembled, both in age and personage. And this they did in imitation of the like practice used in the time of King Henry the 6th. by Richard Planta∣genet, Duke of York, who when he had a mind to claim his Title to the Crown, in regard of his descent by the House of Mortimer, from Lionel of Antwerp Duke of Clarence, he caused one Jack Cade (a fellow altogether as obscure as this) to take upon himself the name of Mortimer, that the might see how well the people stood affected unto his pretensions, by the discovery which might be made thereof on this false allarum. And though this Featherstone had been taken and publickly whip'd for it in May last past, and thereupon banished into the North, where he had been born; yet the confederats resolved to try their fortune with him in a second adventure. The design was to raise the people under colour of King Edward's being alive, and at the same time to rob the Exchequer, wherein they knew by some intelligence or other, that 50000. l.

in good Spanish money had been lately lodged. Few persons of any quality appeared in it, not thinking fit to shew themselves in any new practice against the Queen, till made prosperous by some good success. The chief whom I find mentioned to be privy to it, were Henry Peckam, the son of that Sir Ed∣mond Peckam, who had been caterer of the houshold to King Henry the 8th. one of the Throgmo••tons, and Sir Anthony Kingston. But the first part of the plot miscaried by the apprehending of Featherstone, who was arraigned and ex∣ecuted on the 13th. of March; and the last part thereof discovered on the 28th. by one of the company. On which discovery Sir Anthony Kingston being sent for, died upon the way; the said Throgmorton, with one Udall, were exe∣cuted at ••yburn on the 28th. of April, one Stanton on the 29th. of May; Ro∣sededike and Bedell, on the 8th of June; Peckam and Daniel at the Tower hill, on the 8th. of July. Andrew Duchesne makes the Lord Gray, and one of the Howards, to have a hand in this conspiracy; and possibly enough it is, that some of greater eminence than any of those before remembred, might be of counsel in the practice, though they kept themselves out of sight as much as they could, till they found how it would succeed amongst the people.

In this unquiet condition we must leave England for a time, and look on the estate of the English Churches on the other side of the sea, That many of the English Protestants had forsook the Kingdom, to the number of 800. as well Students as others, hath been said before; who having put themselves into several Cities, partly in Germany, and partly among the Switzers, and their confederates, kept up the face and form of an English Chruch, in each of their several congregations. Their principal retiring places amongst the last, were Arrow, Zurick, and Geneva, and in the first, the Cities of Embden, Stralsburge, and Franckfort. In Franckfort they enjoyed the greatest privileges, and there∣fore resorted thither in the greatest numbers, which made them the more apt unto Schisms and factions. At their first coming to that place, which was on the 27th. of June, Anno 1554. by the power and favour of John Glauberge, one of the Senators of that City, they were permitted to have the use of one of their Churches, which had before been granted to such French exiles, as had re∣paired thither on the like occasion; yet so, that the French were still to hold their right; the English to have the use of it one day, and the French another, and on the Lords day so to divide the hours between them, that the one might be no hinderance unto the other. It hath been said also, that there was ano∣ther condition imposed upon them, of being conform unto the French in Do∣ctrine and Ceremonies. Which condition if it were imposed by the Magi∣strates, not sought by themselves, must needs be very agreeable to the temper and complexion of their principal Leaders; who being for the most part of the Zuinglian-Gospellers, at their going hence, became the great promoters of the Puritan faction at their comming home. The names of Whittingham, Williams, Goodman, Wood and Sutton, who appeared in the head of this congregation, de∣clare sufficiently of what Principles and strain they were, how willing they would be to lay aside the face of an English Church, and frame themselves to any Liturgie but their own.

On July the 14th. they first obtained a grant of their Church, and on the 29th. took possession of it. The interval they spent in altering and disfiguring the English Lyturgie, of which they left nothing but the reading of the Psalms and Chapters. Those comfortable interlocutories between the Minister and the People, were no longer used, as savouring in their opinion, of some disor∣der in the course of the ministration; the Letany and the Surplice they cast aside, as having too much in them of the Church of Rome; the Confession they had altered so, as they conceived most agreeable to their present condition; and for the Hymns which intervened between the Chapters and the Creed, they changed them for such Psalms in the English Meerer, as had been made by Sternhold and Hopkins in the time of King Edward. The Psalm being done, the Preacher goes into the Pulpit, in which the Minister prayed for the assistance

of God's Spirit, and so proceeded to the Sermon. Which done, an other Prayer was made for all orders and estates of men, but more particularly for the wel∣fare of the Church of England; composed in imitation of the Prayer for the Church Militant here on earth, but ending (as that did not) with the Pater¦noster. After which (most extreamly out of order) followed the rehearsal of the Articles of the Christian Faith, another Psalm, and finally the dismission of the people, with The Peace of God. This was the form devised for that Con∣gregation, for the imposing whereof on all the rest of the English Churches, they did then use their best endeavours, and for obtruding which on the whole Church of England they raised such tumults and commotions in the follow∣ing times. Growing in love with this fair Babe of their own begetting, they write their Letters of the second of August to such of the English as remain∣ed at Stralsburge and Zurick, inviting them to repair to Franckfort, and unite themselves unto that Church, which had been there erected with the leave of the Magistrate. But they had heard in both places of those Alterations which had been made at Franckfort, in the form of Gods publick Service, and there∣upon refused to accept of the invitation, though it seemed to promise them some advantages by the commodious situation of that City in respect of England, the great resort of strangers thither at the yearly Marts, plenty of Books, and other helps in the way of study, which were not to be found in the other two Cities. From Stralsburge modestly, from Zurick resolutely, but from both it was plainly signified, that they resolved to maintain the Order of the Church of England. The like Letter had been writ to the English at Embden, of which Congregation Doctor Scory, the late Bishop of Chichester, was the Super-intendent; and we may readily believe, that they received the like repulse from his Church at Embden, as they had from Gryndal, Sandys, and Haddon, or who had the constituting of the Church of Stralsburge; or from Horn, Chambers, Parkhurst, and other of the Students which remained at Zurick.

The noise of this new Church at Franckfort occasioned Knox, who after proved the great incendiary of the Realm and Church of Scotland, to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva, in hope to make a better market for himself in that Con∣gregation. He had not long before published a seditious Pamphlet, entituled, The first blast of the Trumpet, in which he bitterly inveighed against the Go∣vernment of Women, aiming there especially at the three Queen Maries, that is to say, Mary Queen of England, Mary Queen of Scots, and Mary of Lor∣rain Queen Regent of Scotland. By which seditious Pamphlet, he had made not onely his own Country too hot for him, but could assure himself of no safety in France or England. To Geneva therefore he retires, and from thence removes to Franckfort, as the ••itter Scene for his intendments, hoping to get as great a name in this new Plantation, as Calvin had gotten in the old. It was about the end of September that he came to Franckfort, where he took the charge of that Church upon him, Whittingham and the rest submitting unto his Apostleship. This gave a new dis-satisfaction to the English at Stralsburge and Zurick, who knew the spirit of the man, and feared the dangerous con∣sequents and effects thereof. Nor was the condition of affairs much bettered by the coming of Whitehead, (who afterwards refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury) though far the more moderate of the two. New Letters are reci∣procated between Franckfort and Zurick; from Franckfort on the 15th. of November, in open defiance as it were to the English Liturgy; from Zurick on the 28th. in defence thereof, and of their constancy and resolution for ad∣hering to it. The breach growing every day more wide than other, Gryndal and Chambers came from Stralsburge to attone the difference, by whom it was pro∣posed unto them, That the substance of the English Liturgy being retained, there might be a forbearance of some ceremonies and offices in it. But Knox and Whittingham were as much bent against the substance of the Book, as against any of the circumstantials and extrinsicals which belonged unto it. So that no good

effect following on this interposition, the Agents of the Church of Stralsburge return back to their brethren, who by their Letters of the 13th. of December expostulate in vain about it.

In these distractions, some of the Franckfort Schismaticks desire, that all divine Offices might be executed according to the order of the Church of Ge∣neva; which Knox would by no means yield unto, thinking himself as able to make a Rule for his own Congregation, as any Calvin of them all. But that the mouths of those of Stralsburge and Zuri••k might be stopped for ever, he is content to make so much use of him, as by the authority of his judgment to disgrace that Liturgy, which those of Zurick did contend for. He knew well how he had bestirred himself in quarrelling the first Li∣turgy of King Edward the 6th. and nothing doubteth, but that the second (though reviewed on his importunity) would give him as little satisfaction as the other did. To this intent, the Order of the English Liturgy is drawn up in Latine, transmitted to him by Knox and Whittingham, by this infallible judg∣ment to stand or fall. The Oracle returns this answer on the 31 of January, (In Liturgia Angl••cana qualem mihi describitis multas vid••o tolerabiles ineptias) That in the Book of England as by them described,* 1.5 he had observed many to∣lerable fooleries. Whi••h last words being somewhat ambiguous, as all Oracles are, he explicates himself by telling them,

a 1.6 That there wanted much of that purity which was to be desired in it;b 1.7 that it contained many relicks of the dregs of Popery; that being there was no manifest impiety in it, it had been tolerated for a season, because at first it could not otherwise be admitted: But howsoever, though it was lawful to begin with such beggarly rudi∣ments, yet it behoved the learned, grave, and godly Ministers of Christ to endeavour farther, and set forth something more refined from filth and rustinesse.

This being sent for his determinate sentence unto Knox and Whittingham, was of such prevalency with all the rest of that party, that such who ••ormerly did approve, did afterwards as much dislike the English Liturgy; and those who at the first had conceived onely a dislike, grew afterwards into an open detestation of it. Those who before had been desirous that the Order of Geneva should be entertained; had now drawn Knox and Whittingham unto them, Mr. John Fox (the Author of the Acts and Monuments) contributing his approbation amongst the rest. But in the end, to give content to such as remained affected to the former Liturgy, it was agreed upon, That a mixt. Form, consisting partly of the Order of Geneva, and partly of the Book of England, should be digested and received till the first of April; consideration in the mean time to be had of some other course which should be permanent, and obliging for the time to come.

In this condition of affairs, Doctor Richard Cox, the late Dean of Christ-Church and Westminster, first Schoolmaster, and after Almoner to King Edward the sixth, putteth himself into Franckfort March 13. accompanied with many English Exiles, whom the cause of Religion had necessitated to forsake their Country: Being a man of great learning, of great authority in the Church, and one that had a principal hand in drawing up the Liturgy by Law established; he could with no patience endure those innovations in it, or rather that rejection of it, which he found amongst them. He thereupon first begins to answer the Minister contrary to the Order there agreed on, and the next Sunday after causeth one of his company to go into the Pulpit and read the Letany. A∣gainst which doings of his, Knox in a Sermon the same day inveigheth most bitterly, affirming many things in the Book of England not onely to be im∣perfect, but superstitious, For the which he is not onely rebuked by Cox, but forbidden to preach. Wherewith Whittingham being much offended, deals with some of the Magistrates, from whom he procureth an Order of the 22 of March, requiring, That the English should conform themselves to the Rules of the French. Knox had not long before published a seditious Pamphlet, en∣tituled, An Admonition to Christians, containing the substance of some Sermons

by him preached in Eng••and, in one of which, he affirmed the Emperor to be no lesse an enemy to Christ that the ••yrant Nero. For this, and several other pas∣sages of the like dangerous nature, he is accused by Cox for Treason against the Emperor; the Senate made acquainted with it, and Knox commanded there∣upon to depart the City, who makes h••s Farewel-Sermon on the 25th. of March,* 1.8 and retires himself unto Geneva. Following his blow, Cox gets an order of the Senate, by the means of another of the Gla••berges, by which Whittingham and the rest of his faction were commanded to receive the Book of England. Against which order, Whi••tingham for a time opposeth, encou∣raged therein by Goodman, who for the love of Knox (with whom afterwards he associated in all his practices) had left the grave so••iety of those of Strals∣b••rge, to joyn himself unto the Sectaries of 〈…〉〈…〉. But finding Cox to be too strong for them in the Senate, both they and all the rest who refused con∣formity, resolved to betake themselves to some other place, as they shortly did.

Cox thus made Master of the field, begins to put the Congregation into such order, as might preserve the face and reputation of an English Church. He procures Whitehead to be chosen for the principal Pa••••or, appoints two Mi∣nisters for Elders, and four Deacons for a••••istants to him, recommends Mr. Robert Horn (whom he had drawn from Zurick thither) to be Hebrew-Reader, Mullings to read the Greek Lecture, Trahern the Lecture in Divinity, and Chambers to be Treasurer for the Contributions, which were sent in from time to time by many godly and well••affected persons, both Dutch and English, for the use of that Church. Having thus setled all things answerable to his own desires, he gives an account thereof to Calvin, subscribed by fourteen of the chief men in that Congregation, partly excusing themselves that they had pro∣ceeded so far without his consent, and partly rejoycing, that they had drawn the greatest part of that Church to their own opinions. Calvin returns his An∣swer on the last of May, which puts his party there on another project, that is to say, to have the whole business referred to some Arbitrators, equally chosen on both sides. But Cox was already in possession, great in esteem with the chief Magistrates of the City, and would by no means yield to refer that point, which had already been determined to his advantage. With these debates the time is taken up till the end of August, at what time Whi••tingham and the rest of the faction take their leave of Franckfort; Fox with some few others go to Basil, but the main body to Geneva as their M••ther-City, where they make choice of Knox and Goodman for their constant Preachers; under which Ministry they reject the whole frame and fabrick of the Reformation made in England, conformed themselves wholly to the fashions of the Church of Gene∣va, and therewith entertain also the Calvinian Doctrines, to the discredit of the state of the Church of England in King Edwards time, the great grief of the Martyrs and other godly men in the reign of Queen Mar••, and to the raising of most unquenchable combustions in all parts of the Church, under Queen Elizabeth.

It was not long after the setling of the Liturgie, before Whitehead left the Ministry of the English Congregation, which Cox obtained for Mr. Horn, whom he knew to be a man both of courage & constancy. And that being done, he left the Congregation, and so withdraws himself to ••ralsburge, there to enjoy the com∣pany of Peter Martyr, with whom he was intimately acquainted while he lived in Christ-Church. By his departure, a new gap is opened to another dissen∣tion. Some words had passed at a supper, intended rather for increase of chari∣ty, than the breach of friendship, betwixt Horn and Ash••ey; Horn the chief Pastor of the flock,* 1.9 and Ash••ey a Gentleman of good note in the Lay part of it. Some three dayes after being the 16th. of January, Ashley••is is cited to appear at the house of one of the Elders, to answer for some words which he had spoken in contempt of the Ministry. But from the Elders, he appeals to the Congre∣gation, amongst whom he prevails so fat, that they send a message by two of

their company to the Pastor and Elders, requiring them to proceed no further in the cause. Horn being backed by Chambers, the publick Treasurer, excepts against this message, as decreed at a private Conventicle, not by the general suffrages of the Congregation, and thereupon resolves to stand to that Au∣thority which formerly had been conferred on him and the rest of the Elders, by the Rules of their Discipline. Ashley and his adh••rents on the other side, declare their former private meeting not to be a ••onventicle, protest against the Pastor and Elders, as an adverse party, and therefore not in a capacity to sit as Judges in the present case, and set themselves upon the making of a Book of Discipline, for the curbing the exorbitant power (for such they thought it) of the Pastor and Elders. The Pastor and Elders thereupon forsake their Offi∣ces, and on the 5th, of February, being the next day of publick meeting, take place amongst the rest as private persons; The Congregation full, but the Pulpit empty, which put the rest upon a humour of electing others to take the publick charge upon them. The noise of these disorders awakes the Magistrates, who command Horn and Chambers to forbear the congregation, until further Order, and afterwards restoring them to their former authority by publick E∣dict, were contradicted in it by Ashley's party, who having got some power in∣to their hands, were resolved to keep it.

In the mean time, a Book of Discipline had been drawn and tendered to the Congregation, on the ••4th. of February. According to the Rules whereof, the supreme power in all Ecclesi astical causes was put into the hands of the Con∣gregations, and the disposing of the publick monies committed to the trust of certain Officers, by the name of Deacons. This makes the breach wider than before, Horn and his party labouring to retain the old, the other to establish the new Discipline of their own devising. The Magistrates not able to agree the difference, dispatch their Letters unto S••ralsburge of the 3d. of April,* 1.10 de∣siring Dr Cox and Dr. Sandys, together with Robert Bertie, Esq to undertake the closing of the present rupture. To their arbitrement each party is content to submit the controversie, but differ in conclusion, in the terms of their Re∣ference. Much talk, and no small scandal groweth upon these divisions, not made the less by the Pen-combats between Horn and Whitehead. In the end, a form of reconciliation is drawn up by some of the English, who more endea∣voured the peace of the Church, than the interess of either party. But those who stood for the new Discipline being grown the stronger, refused to submit themselves to any establishment, by which the power of the diffusive body of the Congregation might be called in question. Whereupon Horn and Chamb••rs depart to Stralshurge, from whence Chambers writ his Letters to them of the 20th. of June, and after, of the 30th. of July, but to no effect. They had before proceeded to the election of some new Ministers, March the 22d. Against which, though Horn and his opposed, yet they concluded it for the present, on the 29th. and now they mean to stand unto the conclusion, let Horn and Cham∣bers go or tarry, as best pleased themselves. Such were the troubles and disorders in the▪ hurch of Franckfort, occasioned first by a dislike of the publick Liturgy, before which they preferred the nakedness and simplicity of the French and Genevian Churches, and afterwards continued, by the opposition made by the general body of the Congregation, against such as were appointed to be Pastors and Rulers over them. Hence the beginning of the Puritan faction, against the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church; that of the Presbyterians against the Bishops, of Episcopal Government; and finally that also of the Indepen∣dents, against the superintendency of the Pastors and Elders. The terrible ef∣fects, whereof will appear hereafter, if God shall give me means and opportuni∣ty to carry on the History of those disturbances which have been raised by the P••ritans or Presbyterians, against the Orders of this Church, and the peace of Christendome.

But sorrows seldome go alone, the abberrations from the Government, and Form, and Worship, established in the Church of England, drew on and altera∣tion

also in point of Doctrine. Such of the English as had retired into Geneva,* 1.11 imploy themselves in setting out a new Translation of the Bible in the English Tongue, which afterwards they published with certain marginal Notes upon it, most of them profitable for the understanding of the Text, but so that some were he••e••odox in point of Doctrine, some dangerous, and seditious, in refe∣rence to the Civil Magistrate, and some as scandalous in respect of Episcopal Government. From this time the Calvinian Doctrine of Predestination began to be dispersed in English Pamphlets, as the only necessary, Orthodox, and sa∣ving truth. Knox publisheth a book Against an adversary of God's predestina∣tion, wherein it is declared, That whatsoever the Ethnicks and ignorant did attri∣bute to Fortune, by Christians is to be ••ssigned to God's heavenly providence; that we 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to judge nothing to come of Fortune, but that all cometh by the determinate counsel of God; and finally, that it would be displeasing unto God, if we should esteem any thing to proceed from any other; and that we do not only behold him as the prin∣cipal cause of all things, but also the author, appointing all things to the one or the other by his only counsel. After comes out a Book first written in French, and afterwards by some of them translated into English, which they called A brief Declaration of the Table of predestination, in which it is put down for a principal Aphorism, that in like manner, as God hath appointed the end, it is necessary also, that God should appoint the causes leading to the same end; but more particularly, that by vertue of God's will all things are done; yea, even those things which are evil and execrable. In another book Entituled Against a privy Papist, it is main∣tained more agreeably to Calvin's Doctrine, That all evil springeth of Gods Ordi∣nance, and that Go••s predestination was the cause of Adam's fall, and of all wicked∣nesses. And in a fourth book published by Robert Crowley, who afterwards was Rector of the Church of St Giles's nere Cripple-gate, Entituled The confutati∣on of 13 Articles, &c. it is said expresly, That Adam being so perfect a creature, that there was in him no lust to sin, and yet so weak, that of himself he was not able to withstand the assault of the subtil Serpent; that therefore there can be no remedy, but that the only cause of his fall, must needs be the predestination of God. In which book it is also said, That the most wicked persons that have been, were of God ap∣pointed to be even as wicked as they were; and finally, that if God do predestinate man to do things rashly, and without any deliberation, he shall not deliberate at all, but run headlong upon it, be it good or evil. By which defenders of the ab∣solute decree of reprobation, as God is made to be the Author of sin, either in plain terms or undeniable consequence; so from the same men, and the Ge∣nevian Pamphlets by them dispersed, our English Calvinists had borrowed all their grounds and principles on which they build the absolute and irrespective decree of Predestination, contrary to the Doctrine publickly maintained and taught in the time of King Edward.

Notes

• * 1.1

  An. Reg. Mar. 3. 1555.
• * 1.2

  Canis pessimi¦ne catulum re∣linquendum
• * 1.3

  An. Reg. Mar. 3. 1555/6.
• * 1.4

  1555/6.
• * 1.5

  1554/5;
• a 1.6

  Non est ea pu∣r••tas quae op∣ta••da ••oret.
• b 1.7

  Faecis Palpi∣sticae reliqu••as.
• * 1.8

  1555.
• * 1.9

  1555/6.
• * 1.10

  1556.
• * 1.11

  An. Reg. Mar. 4. 1556/7.