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to redeem his unhappy life, but prepared him a renun- ciatory oration, to pronounce publicly in St. Mary's church immediately before he was to be led forth to burn- ing.
proaches of him, a notable disappointment. They verily a " thought that when they had brought him thus far, he would still have said as they would have him. But herein their politics failed them, and by this last stretch of the cord all Mas undone, that they with so much art and labour had ef- <: c 4 392
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
CHAP.
XXX. Anno 1555. 233 Published by Bishop Bonner un- faithfully.
Crannier's first sub- scription. fected before : for the reverend man began indeed his speech according to their appointment and pleasure; but in the process of it, at that very cue when he was to own the Pope and his superstitions, and to revoke his own book and doc- trine of the sacrament, (which was to be brought in by this preface, that " one thing above all the rest troubled his " conscience beyond all that ever he did in his life,") he, on the contrary, to their great astonishment and vexation, made that preface serve to his revocation and abhorrence of his former extorted subscriptions, and to his free owning and standing to his book wrote against transubstantiation, and the avowing the evangelical doctrines he had before taught.
fession of Cranmer, the Papists had the confidence to set forth in print his last speech, not indeed as he spake it, but as it was by them drawn up for him to have spoken, in con- firmation of their placits, and in condemnation of himself. And to expose this good man's memory the more, and withal to make a vainglorious boast of themselves, no sooner was he dead, but they published in print these writings of the Archbishop, bearing this title, All the Subscriptions and Re- cantations of Thomas Cranmer ', late Archbishop of Canter- bury, truly set forth both in Latin and English, agreeable to the Originals, and subscribed xvith his own hand. Visum et examinatum per Reverendum Patrem et Domininn, D. Ed- mundum Episcop. Londinensem. So that this profligate Bishop Bonner, (for so let me call him,) to serve an end, prostituted his faith and credit, by testifying a thing so no- toriously known to be quite otherwise, I mean in relation to the Archbishop's last speech before mentioned. And here, because these foresaid subscriptions may not be unworthy to be preserved and taken notice of, I shall exhibit them to the reader.
" much as the King's and Queen's Majesties, by consent of " their Parliament, have received the Pope's authority " within this realm, I am content to submit myself to their " laws herein, and to take the Pope for chief head of this
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. " Church of England, so far as God's laws, and the laws CHAP. " and customs of this realm will permit. " Thomas Cranmer." Anno 1555. By which proviso he hoped to save his conscience as to his opinion of the Pope's jurisdiction in this realm. The original of this was presently posted up to the Queen and her Council. But even this that he had done the good man could not digest, but soon after did cancel, as the print it- self acknowledged, assigning the reason thereof to be his unconstancy and unstableness.
former I cannot tell, was short, but more full, and without tion> reserve, viz. " I, Thomas Cranmer, doctor in divinity, do " submit myself to the Catholic Church of Christ, and unto " the Pope, supreme head of the same Church, and to the " King's and Queen's Majesties, and unto all their laws and " ordinances.
was sent up to the Queen and her Council. But something more was thought fit to be subscribed to, because his ex- hortation and influence would go a great way with others ; and his book gave such offence. Therefore Cranmer's third writing; was in these words : *s
" I am content to submit myself to the King's and His third. " Queen's Majesties, and to all their laws and ordinances, " as well concerning the Pope's supremacy, as others. And " I shall, from time to time, move and stir all others to do " the like to the uttermost of my power ; and to live in " quietness and obedience unto their Majesties, most hum- " bly without murmur or grudging against any of their " godly proceedings. And for my book which I have writ- " ten, I am content to submit me to the judgment of the " Catholic Church, and of the next general council. " Thomas Cranmer." 394 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. This was signed by him in the prison of Bocardo, and exhibited to the Bishop of London ; which must be at the Anno 1555. time that Bishop was at Oxford: who, on St. Valentine's day, i. e. Febr. 14, by a commission from the Pope, with certain others, degraded the Archbishop. So I judge, this subscription was made soon after the degradation, and be- fore the Bishop of London's departure from Oxford. A fourth recantatory writing of the same Cranmer, and by him exhibited also in Bocardo to the said Bishop of Lon- don, (who, as it seems, thinking the former not full enough, drew up this following himself, and required Cranmer' s subscription,) ran in this tenor :
" mer, doctor of divinity, and late archbishop of Canter- " bury, do firmly, steadfastly, and assuredly believe in all " articles and points of the Christian religion and Catholic " faith, as the Catholic Church doth believe, and hath ever " believed from the beginning. Moreover, as concerning " the sacraments of the Church, I believe unfeignedly in " all points as the said Catholic Church doth, and hath be- " lieved from the beginning of Christian religion. In wit- " ness whereof, I have humbly subscribed my hand unto " these presents, the xvith day of February, mdlv.
pounded to him to subscribe, which was a great deal more large and particular. And this was drawn up in Latin, and subscribed by Cranmer in the presence of Henry Syddal, (who, notwithstanding his zeal now, was a subscriber to Queen Elizabeth's supremacy in the beginning of her reign,) and one called Frater Johannes tie Villa Carcina, that went
mas Cranmer^ anathematizo omnem Lutheri et Zuinglii Page 1710. hceresin, &c. This is extant in English, in Fox's Acts and 235 Monuments, and this only : and therefore thither I betake the reader that is minded to peruse it.
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 395 There was yet a sixth, longer than all the rest; and by CHAP, the tedious prolixity and style of it, seems to me to be _____ drawn up by Cardinal Pole, as he drew up such another Anno 1555. for Sir John Cheke. This is said to be written and sub- scribed by Cranmer's own hand. It was in Latin, and be- gan thus : Ego Thomas Cranmer, pridem archiepiscopus Cantua- His sixth. riensis, &c. That is, " I Thomas Cranmer, late archbishop " of Canterbury, confess and grieve from my heart that I " have most grievously sinned against Heaven and the Eng- " lish realm, yea, against the universal Church of Christ, " which I have more cruelly persecuted than Paul did of " old : who have been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and con- " tumelious. And I wish that I, who have exceeded Saul " in malice and wickedness, might with Paul make amends " for the honour which I have detracted from Christ, and " the benefit of which I have deprived the Church. But " yet that thief in the gospel comforts my mind : for then " at last he repented from his heart, then it irked him of " his theft, when he might steal no more. And I, who, " abusing my office and authority, purloined Christ of his " honour, and the realm of faith and religion ; now by the " great mercy of God returned to myself, acknowledge myself " the greatest of all sinners, and to every one as well as I " can, to God first, then to the Church and its supreme " Head, and to the King and Queen, and lastly to the " realm of England, to render worthy satisfaction. But as " that happy thief, when he was not able to pay the money " and wealth which he had taken away, when neither his " feet nor his hands, fastened to the cross, could do their " office ; by heart only and tongue, which were not bound, " he testified what the rest of his members would do, if they " enjoyed the same liberty that his tongue did. By that he " confessed Christ to be innocent ; by that he reproved the " impudence of his fellow; by that he detested his former life, " and obtained the pardon of his sins ; and, as it were by a " kind of key, opened the gates of paradise. By the example of
396 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. " this man, I do conceive no small hopes of Christ's mercy, , " that he will pardon my sins. I want hands and feet, by Anno 1555,u which I might build up again that which I have de- " stroyed, for the lips of my mouth are only left me. But " He will receive the calves of our lips, who is merciful be- " yond all belief. By this hope conceived, therefore, I choose " to offer this calf, to sacrifice this very small part of my " body and life.
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 397 " defrauded the souls of the dead of this daily and most CHAP. " celebrious sacrifice. ( f And from all these things it is manifest, how greatly, Atmo 1555 » " after Christ, I have been injurious to his vicar, whom I " have deprived of his power by books set forth. Where- " fore I do most earnestly and ardently beseech the Pope, " that he, for the mercy of Christ, forgive me the things I " have committed against him and the apostolical see. And " I humbly beseech the most serene Kings of England, " Spain, &c. Philip and Mary, that by their royal mercy " they would pardon me. I ask and beseech the whole " realm, yea, the universal Church, that they take pity of " this wretched soul ; to whom, besides a tongue, nothing " is left, whereby to make amends for the injuries and da- " mages I have brought in. But especially, because against •* thee only have I sinned, I beseech thee, most merciful " Father, who desirest and commandest all to come to thee, " however wicked, vouchsafe to look upon me nearly, and " under thy hand, as thou lookedst upon Magdalen and " Peter : or certainly, as thou, looking upon the thief on " the cross, didst vouchsafe, by the promise of thy grace " and glory, to comfort a fearful and trembling mind ; so " by thy wonted and natural pity, turn the eyes of thy " mercy to me, and vouchsafe me worthy to have that word " of thine spoken to me, / am thy salvation, and in the " day of death, To-day slialt thou be with me in paradise.
1555, in the 1 8th day of the month of March. As all these acknowledgments were made by his pen and His ,ast hand, so the poor mortified Bishop was, to all the rest, re- st. Mary's. quired to make a solemn verbal protestation openly, before a great auditory in St. Mary's. This consisted, 1. Of an exhortation to those that were present, to pray with him and for him. 2. Of his prayer. 3. His last advices to the 237 people. The fourth part of his speech was to declare the Queen's just title to the crown : wherein it is probable he 398 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, was enioined to g\\e the history of her mother's divorce .favourably on her part, and to draw all the pretended blame Anno 1555. f jg U p 0n himself, and to disclaim all that he had done in that affair. And then, fifthly and lastly, he was to confess his faith, and to revoke his former books and writings, and to profess his owning of the Papal gross doctrine of tran- substantiation. And all this he had in a paper written with his own hand ; which his enemies, no doubt, had directed him in the penning, and perused after it was penned. The three first parts of his speech he read without any variation from what was in his paper : but in the two last he varied ; wholly omitting the fourth part, and saying nothing to that. For Mr. Fox, who in the relation of this last end of Cran- mer is very punctual, is wholly silent of it. And when he came to the last part of his task, he boldly owned his books, avowing the truths in them contained, and disclaimed that Roman doctrine. And this being so remarkable a piece of Cranmer's history, the better to represent it, I shall shew in two columns what he was to have spoken, and what the Papists gave out (in a print falsely) he did speak, and what he spake indeed, as was, by hundreds of witnesses present, notoriously known. What Cranmer spake, accord- . . D . 7 „ , What he spake indeed, ingto Bishop Bonner s paper. L First, I believe in God the First, I believe in God the Father, &c. And I believe Father, &c. And I believe every article of the Catho- every article of the Catholic lie faith ; every clause, word, faith; every clause, word, and and sentence taught by our sentence taught by our Sa- Saviour Christ, his apostles viour Christ, his apostles and and prophets, in the New and prophets, in the New and Old Testament, and all arti- Old Testament, cles explicate and set forth in the great Councils.
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 399
ever I did : and that is the setting abroad untrue books and writings, contrary to the truth of God's word : which now I renounce and con- demn, and refuse them ut- terly as erroneous, and for none of mine. But you must know also what books they were, that you may beware of them, or else my con- science is not discharged : for they be the books which I wrote against the sacrament of the altar sith the death of King Henry VIII. But whatsoever I wrote then, now is time and place to say truth. Wherefore, renouncing all those books, and whatsoever in them is contained, I say and believe, that our Saviour Christ Jesu is really and sub- stantially contained in the blessed sacrament "of the al- tar, under the forms of bread and wine.
said to be printed at Lon- don, by John Cawod, the Queen's printer, cum privi- legio, ann. mdlvi.
I did or said in my whole life : CHAP XXX.
and that is the settingabroad of
which now here I renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be. And that is, all such bills and papers which I have written or signed with my hand since my degrada- tion : wherein I have written many things untrue. And forasmuch as my hand of- fended contrary to my heart, my hand shall first be punish- ed therefore : for may I come 238 to the fire, it shall be first burnt. And as for the Pope, I refuse him as Christ's ene- my, and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. And as for the sacrament, I believe as I have taught in my book against the Bishop of Win- chester. The which my book teach eth so true a doctrine of the sacrament, that it shall stand at the last day before the judgment of God, where the Papistical doctrine, con- trary thereto, shall be a- shamed to shew her face.
And more he would have 400
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
CHAP.
XXXI. Anno 1555. spoken of the sacrament, and of the Papacy, but that they bade, Stop his mouth, and pull him down.
testants. CHAP. XXXI. The persecution of these times. The exiles : where. Pro- testants'" prayers and letters. Free-xvillers. The nation involved in perjury. Neuters.
upon Pro- of malefactors ; and things were carried in that severity, as though it were resolved utterly to extinguish the religion for ever in England : for, besides the exquisite pain of burning to death, which some hundreds underwent, " some of the professors were thrown into dungeons, ugsome " holes, dark, loathsome, and stinking corners; other some lying in fetters and chains, and loaded with so many irons " that they could scarcely stir: some tied in the stocks, with their heels upwards ; some having their legs in the " stocks, and their necks chained to the wall with gorgets of iron ; some with both hands and legs in the stocks at once ; " sometimes both hands in, and both legs out; sometimes the right hand with the left leg, or the left hand with the " right leg, fastened in the stocks with manacles and fetters, having neither stool nor stone to sit on, to ease their woe- ful bodies : some standing in Skevington 1 s gives, which
bled : some whipped and scourged, beaten with rods, and u buffeted with fists : some having their hands burned with a candle, to try their patience, or force them to relent : some hunger-pined, and some miserably famished and starved. All these torments, and many more, even such as cruel Phalaris could not devise worse, were practised
239
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 401
" saints of God, as is full well and too well known ; and as " many can testify, who are yet alive, and have felt some Anno 1555. " smart thereof:" as one writ who lived in the midst of Corerdale, those times, and scaped narrowly with his life, to see the the Mart, beginning of a happier government. Who tells us also, that Letters - they were so straitly used in prison, that their keepers would not allow them paper, nor ink, nor book, nor light. So that the letters they writ, they writ in stealth. They often- times began letters, but ended them not, for lack of ease, being so fettered with chains, or wanting light, or through the hasty coming in of the keepers. Sometimes for lack of pens they were fain to write with the lead of the window, as for lack of ink they used their own blood : as divers letters so writ remained then to be seen. And dismal were the flames that blazed out every where, fed with the fuel of the bodies of poor men and women, under a Popish legate and two bloody bishops. As though there were now but one element in England, and that of fire, as a poet about these times set it forth : Gabriel
Mulciber imperio potitur : (Mulciber alter, Ignivomus Bonerus erat :) cuncta occupat ignis, Solum elementum ignis, sceptrum gestante Maria. Endeavours were especially used to disperse and take off Preachers the preachers and ministers. Of these in the county of persecuted. Kent, where religion had taken good footing, were Thomas Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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