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laboured hard at, to make it down with them ; seasoned with abundance of most reproachful words cast at the teachers of the true doctrine. Such a sermon I will give you a taste of, which I met with among the Foxian MSS. but by whom preached I cannot tell ; but, as it seems, by somebody of fame. Some part whereof ran thus : " Mark the noughtiness of thies verlets, who with feet " and head go about to take away and destroy the greatest " treasour the Church hath, that is to say, the most huge " and godliest sacrament of the aultar : without which the " Church cannot be, ne yet Christen religion stand or con- " tinew. " Whose hart wold not bleed to se thes noughtie despe- " rats so unreverently speak blasphemy, and rail against " this most holy sacrament, which the angelical spirits of " heaven (as Chrysostom, in his XXI. Homily upon the " ix. chap, of the Acts, sayeth) do honour and reverence " with trembling and drede ; and cannot (as Hesychias " sayth, in his second book and viii. chapter of Leviticus) " behold with their eyes ? " This is to be noted, that thies noughtie vile persons use " this of custom in this matter, and such like, eyther not to " alledge the Scriptures and sayings of Fathers; or if they " do, they do not alledge theym wholly. And if they -do " wholly, they do interpretate and expound theym falsely " and untruly against the true sense, understanding, and " meaning of them, gyving unto theym false gloses and " comments to deceave and beguyle the ignorant and not " learned persons. 80 " If al the Catholiks were lerned, they should soon see " and perceave the juggling and falshood of thies harlots, " and that such stuf as they do bring in, being wel exa- " myned, maketh not for theym, but clene against theym.
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 123 " Note, The discord and dissension, that hath bene and CHAP. " ys, even emongst the ring-leaders and capitanes of the . " heresies in this matter, and in other cheif points of our Anno 1553. " religion : yea, what contradiction commonly some one or " other of the chiefest of theym ys in with his own self; " especially Luther and Melancthon : whom to credyt " against so many good and godly lerned men, ys to de- " clare, that he that so doth, hath an empty folysh brayn, " and ys bewitched from al wysdom and goodness. " Note, That thies heretiks do take away that sacrifice, " which ys called juge sacrificium ; the continual or dayly "sacrifice; and, consequently, withal they take away " Christen religion, and the Church of Christ's doctryne. " For thees three, doctryne, religion, and sacrifice, alway " hitherto have concurred and ranne together. " Note also, That where Christ, to the great comfort of " Christen people, hath promysed to be with theym conty- " nually to the world's end, undoubtedly meaning and un- " derstanding his said being to be in the sacrament of the " aultar, as the catholike Fathers do interpretate and de- " clare ; thies losells, depryving Christen folks of so great " a solace and comfort, make Christ therby, so mych as " lyeth in theym, to be accompted and taken for a very " Iyer.
" thyng in their mowthe but faith, faith, ye shal find in " examyning their further sayings and doyngs, they want " also that utterly in effect. For where we ought simply " and playnly, without al doubt, to beleve that which " Christ (the trouth it self) did in his woords affirm and " say, thees villayns, where Christ by express woords did " say, Hoc est corpus mewm, hie sanguis meus, noting his " very presence in the sacrament, they do, by their blynd " gloses, devysed by their frantike and mad brayns, say, " that the body and bloud of Christ ys not indede in the " sayd sacrament, bycause they cannot by reason compre- " hend it ; without which they wil beleve nothing.
124. MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " Note, The old and very true saying, Fcclix quern fa- " ciunt aliena pericula cautum ; Happy ys he whom other Anno 1553." men's perils do make wise or wary; and withal consider " the state of Germany, how it hath been in times past, " and how it is now. And yf you shal fynd the decay and " ruine thereof to procede of discord in religion, then look " for like effect to follow here, where ys the same cause " and root that there was, and destroyed altogether. Yea, " withal note, that when concord in religion [preserved] " theym in unity and peace, discord undyd theym. So " taking their trade, ye may look to your self for the like. " Note, Whether the poor people, which heretofore was " brought into a fool's paradise, thinking, by thees hereti- " cal opinions, to have God by the foot, are not now ful " wery to have gyven credence therunto ; having gotten " therby nothing but shame and loss, to their perpetual " confusion. 81 " Note, That emongest al heresies heretofore most justly " condempned, which now in this troublesome world are " eftsones forbyshed and scoured, brought unto us from hel " by lymnes of the devil, there is none so craftily, so bold- " ly, so ernestly set fourth, to the ruyne and destruction " of the poor people, with the great blasphemy of God, as " ys that touching the blessed sacrament of the aultar.
" be seen to differ from other heretiks in this matter; yet " shal you fynd, that touching this sacrament, they be " tyed and lynked by the tayls together. " Note, That lyke as the crafty serpent, the devil, did " play the false knave with our first parents, Adam and " Eve ; mysconstruing God's woord contrary to the mean- " y n g thereof, and induced them to break God's command- " ment : so thees lowsie beasts, the progeny of the devil, " go about to play with you, taking away the lyvely food " from you, and gyving you a peece of bread, according " to the proverb, Pro thesauro carbones ; Coles for treasure: " bringing you from the holesome meat of lyfe, to the
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 125 deadly fruit of the tree forbidden, and depryving you CHAP, craftily from the godly and effectual meat and medicyne " of helth and felicitie. Anno 1553. " The chief study of the heretiks, and, in maner, al their " purpose, ys, to tourne upsyde down the Church, and to " make her which ys his mystical body, being of his flesh " and bones, which also he nourish eth and cherisheth, to " be a straunger, and not acquainted with him : a token of " DanyePs prophesie, and that the last day ys at hand." Whatever success these kind of sermons had, to bring in The tyran- their admired doctrine of transubstantiation, their greatest "ksiasticai trust seemed to be in more violent methods, those of impri- prosecu- sonment and persecution ; which, as was mentioned before, very many underwent in the very beginning of this Queen's reign. And what this was like to come to afterwards, all so- ber people looked upon with a sad eye. Sir Nicolas Throg- morton was one of these, who, about this time, bemoaned to his friend Sir Edward Warner, late lieutenant of the Tower, his own estate, and the tyranny of the times, ex- tended upon divers honest persons for religion : and wished it. were lawful for all of each religion to live safely according to their conscience. For the law ex officio, he said, would be intolerable, and the clergy discipline now might rather be resembled to the Turkish tyranny, than to the teaching of Christian religion. Which words he was not afraid at his trial openly to acknowledge that he had said to the said Warner.
CHAP. IX. 82
bles. Wyafs insurrection. The gentlemen pensioners'' service.
fears of more misery to follow, had created many discon- Queen, tented spirits already among the Queen's subjects; and dangerous plots were now hatching : which caused Bishop 126 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. Gardiner, the Lord Chancellor, to send for the Lord Mayor __JJ___ and court of aldermen, and about forty of the commons, to- Anno 1553. wards the middle of January; and, in a flourishing speech, laboured to sweeten the citizens, especially about the Queen's intended marriage with the Prince of Spain, that was now vigorously carrying on, and was one great reason of the people's disgust. But, however endeavours were used to prevent, matters were in this month of January ripened into a rebellion, and the city had an understanding herein. The Queen and her friends were in great fear, that the ill- affected towards her should seize the Lady Elizabeth, and, it may be, set her up for Queen. This made them resolve to secure her ; but thought it best to attempt it at first in a gentle manner. The Queen therefore, out of great seeming care of her sister's person in these dangers, sends a kind letter to her, dated Jan. 26, (which was the day after Sir Thomas Wyat appeared openly in arms at Maidston,) to come up to her to St. James's, and to be with her : whose letter, as I had it from the original, was in this tenor : " Right dear, and intirely beloved sister, Queen Ma- " We greet you well : And where certain evil disposed ry to her a p ersons minding; more the satisfaction of their own ma-
Armig. tl |- owar( j s U g 5 have of late foully spread divers lewd and un- " true rumours; and by that means, and other devilish " practices, do travail to induce our good and loving sub- " jects to an unnatural rebellion against God, us, and the " tranquillity of our realm ; we, tendering the surety of your " person, which might chance to be in some peril, if any " sudden tumult should arise, where you now be, or about " Dounington, whither, as we understand, you are minded " shortly to remove, do therefore think expedient you should " put yourself in good readiness, with all convenient speed, " to make your repair hither to us. Which we pray you " fail not to do : assuring you, that as you may most surely " remain here ; so shall you be most heartily welcome to " us. And of your mind herein, we pray you to return
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 127 " answer by this messenger. And thus we pray God to CHAP. " have you in his holy keeping. Yeven under our signet ' " at our manor of St. James's, the 26. Jan. in the first year Anno 1553. " of our reign. °3
Lord Chancellor, and Privy Council. With the aforesaid ^, b n e n t ; i ' s letter from the Queen to her sister, orders also were sent to to the Lord those that had the care and government of her, to bring her up. She was now at her house at Ashridge, very ill, and much indisposed in her health. Her governors there- fore waited for her amendment, thinking it not safe yet to remove her. And she, in the mean time, signified to the Queen her sickness, and prayed her forbearance for a few days, protesting her abhorrence of those seditious practices. Her governors, on their parts, lest this gentleness towards their mistress might be interpreted in the worse sense, sent their letter to the Lord Chancellor, acquainting him with her condition, avowing their obedience and readiness to re- ceive the Queen's and Council's commands. For thus they addressed themselves : " May it please your good Lordship, " That albeit we attend here on my Lady Elizabeth's f* Grace, our mistress, in hope every day of her amend- " ment, to repair towards the Queen's Highness, (whereof " we have, as yet, none apparent likelihood of health,) yet, " considering this dangerous world, the perilous attempts " and the naughty endeavours of the rebels, which we daily " hear of against the Queen's Highness, our sovereign " Lady, we do not forget our most bounden duty, nor yet " our readiness in words and deeds to serve her Highness " by all the ways and means that may stand in us, both " from her Grace, our mistress, and of our own parts also. " Which thing, although my Lady's Grace, our said mis- '" tress, hath tofore this signified unto the Queen's High- 128 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " ness of her behalf by message, it might nevertheless " seem to your good Lordship, and the Lords of the Coun- IX.
Anno 1553." cil, some negligence that we did not make you also privy " hereunto ; we have therefore thought it our duty to de- " clare this unto your Lordship. Most humbly beseeching " the same to prescribe unto us the Queen's pleasure and " yours herein, or in any thing else, wherein we may serve " her Highness. And we, according to our most bounden " duties, shall not fail to perform the same always to the " uttermost of our lives. Our Lord knoweth it, to whose " blessed tuition we commit you. 11
sent to the letter from the Queen, but there came another sort of mes- Tower. sa g e to ner? brought by three of the Queen's Privy Coun- sellors, Sir Richard Southwel, Sir Edward Hastings, and Sir Thomas Cornwallys, great Papists, and a great number of armed men with them, to fetch her away ; those knights coming up to her bedside at ten o'clock at night. And, the next day, they took her along with them in an horse litter, notwithstanding her great weakness and sickness, and earnest desire of some days 1 forbearance. How she was 84 brought to the Court, and kept a prisoner there for a fort- night, and not suffered all the while to see the Queen's face, and from thence committed to the Tower ; and after some considerable tarriance there, sent away, with a strong guard, to Woodstock ; and how afterwards back again to the court at Hampton, and from thence, after some weeks 1 confine- ment there, to her own house, under a guard ; and all the hard usage she met with in the interval, and the great dan- ger of her life's being taken away by assassination ; for all this the reader may have recourse to Holingshed's or Fox's history. Only some passages I must relate, during these troubles, being there omitted. What hap- When she was commanded to the Tower, two Lords pened to were ordered to attend her : one, whose name is concealed, her here. , , Foxii MSS. was very rough to her ; the other as obliging : he was the old Earl of Sussex. The Saturdav when she should have UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 129 gone to the Tower, that Lord said, that divers Lords that CHAP, were of the Council were sorry for her trouble ; " and " as for me," said he, casting his hands abroad, and speak- Anno l553, ing, as it seemed, with much agony, " sorry I am, that ever " I have lived to see this day. 11 She had not been two da} r s in the Tower, but mass was commanded to be said to her. One of the three gentlewomen, who were attendants on her in the Tower, named Mrs. Elizabeth Sands, afterwards married to Sir Maurice Barkley, refused there to come to the mass. Wherefore her father, Mr. Sands, brought Mr. Feck nam to persuade her. Which when he could not, but he himself was overcome in the Scriptures by her, neither yet would she be moved thereto by her father in those things which touched her soul's health ; then was she dis- placed, and another put in her room, named Mrs. Cold- burn ; after Mrs. Marborow. Whilst the Lady Elizabeth was in the Tower, the children brought flowers unto her: one whereof was a child of Martin, keeper of the wardrobe: another was a girl called Susanna, not above three or four years old : another girl also there was, that delighted to wait upon our virgin prisoner with her flowers, who once innocently brought her some little keys she had got, and telling her she had brought her keys now, that she might go abroad.
stock, (sent at that distance for no good intent, as it was thought,) in her journey thither she was brought to Rich- mond, where she made some small stay ; the Court being there. At which many of her friends were joyful, thinking she was now set at liberty. Among the rest so mistaken was one Allen of the guard, who brought her a dish of ap- ples, and thought also to have delivered her book, suppos- ing that she had been delivered, and no prisoner. But he paid for his mistake, Sir Henry Benefield, an austere man, that had the guard of her, committing him to prison, and punishing him for his pains. At her being at Woodstock, one or two popes died. An hearse was set up in the town church. Also a jubilee came down with clean remission ; voi,. in. K 130 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, and a general fast was appointed that week, to be observed .on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday; also with command- Anno 1553. ment, that every one should be confessed, and the priest to write the confession. And so, after the confession, upon Sunday, the sacrament was to be received. In the mean time, one of the two yeomen that waited upon her, being somewhat diseased of an ague, and could not well fast, came 85 to the priest and said, that the time had been that any might have hired one to fast for him, and asked, whether it would be allowed now ? The priest said, Yea. And so it was agreed. The yeoman coming to the poor folks at the gates, asked, if any there would fast for him : and they said, Yea. And one poor woman, among the rest, desired she might fast, and offered to do it for three pence. Nay, said he, thou shalt have a groat, and meat also besides. The other yeoman seeing that, hired likewise another. When time of the confession came, which was Saturday, at night, the said yeoman, coming to the priest, was asked, how he believed in the sacrament of the altar ? and said, he must believe to be there, flesh, blood, and bone. Nay, no bone, said the other, because the Scripture saith, Ye shall break of him no bone. Beware, said the priest, ye must take heed of that, and believe there both flesh, blood, and bone. So, much arguing was between them. The priest declared, he must write the confession, and that it must be sent up to the Queen. And so were all the confessions of the Lady Elizabeth's attendants : that so, as I suppose, they might be the better known, and such of her servants might be discharged, whose confessions were not catholic enough, and others put in their places. But to proceed. What would you, said the priest, that I shall write ? Which do you believe ? Choose you, said he, for your peril be it. As you teach us, so say that I believe. But put no bone, for then ye cannot break it. And so he wrote flesh and blood, but omitted bone. One Robert Horneby, then groom of her privy chamber, refused the same time. Whereupon, after coming from Woodstock to Hampton Court, he was brought before the Council, and so committed to the
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 131 Marshalsea. But at length, by Dr. Martin's means, deli- CHAP. IX.
vered.
near two years; and when she was enlarged and dismissed ^ s ^ . dl ^ t home, yet a guard was appointed over her at her own house, under a which were Sir Thomas Pope and Sir John Gage : who guar were always spies upon her and her family. And often- times her servants, whom she most favoured, were sent for away from her. And being at] Lamheir, Jerningham, that was master of the Queen's horse, came with another, who was her gentleman usher, and fetched away at once four of her women servants ; Mrs. Ashely being one, whom she loved well, and was the chief about her. And these were laid in the Tower; for what reason it doth not appear. This happened a little before Bishop Gardiner's death: which proved a benefit to her, he being her great enemy. For after, she lived in more quiet and security.
herself in danger every moment of some sudden death, a ffl; ct i ns. knowing what enemies she had, and what snares had been laid for her. But she remained constant in her obedience to her sister the Queen ; was very conversant and earnest in her prayers and devotions, and very much exercised in suc- couring of good men in their necessities, as she was able. During this her afflicted condition, all pious and sober men had a great eye to her, and were in great concern for her, on whom their future hopes, and the success of true reli- gion, depended. One of these was Dr. Haddon, who, having a good genius in poetry, administered his comfort to her in a paper of smooth Latin verses ; advising her therein to patience and trust in God, and a continuance in her well- 86 doing, with a kind of prophecy of her preferment at the last:
Obruta, scepe pio volvis in ore preces.
Vulnera proponis, scepe requiris opem. Non venit ad iwtnm subito : cito crescat ut ardor k 2
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
Anno 1 553. Spiritus adveniens, pectora moesta levat. Spiritus ille levat, qui Christi membra beati Multa premi patitur, nidla perire sinit. Fide Deo, succurre bonis, reverere sororem, Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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