Search York

" pose in one place or other dispersed, there be well nigh Anno 1555 -

" an hundred students and ministers on this side the sea.

" Such a Lord is God to work diversly in his, according to

" his unalterable wisdom, who knoweth best what is in man."

This was Grindal's letter. And thus much of the profes-

sors abroad ; now let us turn back to those that remained

at home.

The course they took in these sad times was the sameAcongrega-
.._.,.. T-ii i j tion taken
which the primitive Christians did, when they were under at prayerSt

their persecutions, viz. prayers and tears. They continued

to assemble together even in the hottest times. And in these

assemblies sometimes they only prayed together. At one of

these prayer-meetings in London a congregation was seized

and taken, and clapped into both counters, because, I sup-

pose, one would not hold them. To whom Hoper writ a con-

solatory letter, wherein he aggravated the Papists' 1 sin,

"¦ that had imprisoned them for doing the work of God,

" and one of the most excellent works that is required of

" Christian men. That they had taken them while they

" were in prayer, but not in such wicked and superstitious

" prayers as the Papists used, but in the very same prayer

" that Christ had taught them to pray, [as if they had been

" taken in that very moment wherein they were praying the 246

" Lord's Prayer together.] And in his name only ye gave

" God thanks, said he, for that ye have received ; and for

" his sake ye asked such things as ye want. Oh ! glad may

" ye be, that ever ye were born to be apprehended while

" ye were so virtuously occupied.' 1

They prayed much, and earnestly exhorted one another Their

to pray, to incline God to strengthen, succour, and deliver prayers

them. And divers set prayers they used for this occasion,

composed by pious men for the service of Christians in these

evil days ; read, I suppose, with the common prayer, where-

in they made intercessions.

First, For the poor afflicted church and congregation,

412 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAP, that was oppressed, injured, dispersed, and persecuted for

the testimony of God's word.

Anno 1555. Secondly, For such as were imprisoned or condemned for

the cause of the gospel : to give them constancy to shed

their blood.
Thirdly, For those that were exiled for the testimony of

the truth ; because they would not bend their backs, and

incline their necks under the yoke of Antichrist. That

God would feed them in strange countries, and prepare a

resting place for them ; and that they might unite them-

selves in the sincere ministration of the word and sacra-

ments : and, in due time, to restore them home again.
Fourthly, For such as had outwardly, through fear and

weakness, complied with the Popish religion, in dissimula-

tion and hypocrisy : to strengthen their weakness, that they

might be able to abide the storms of adversity ; and that

they might, with Peter, rise again by repentance, and be-

come constant confessors of God's truth : and that when God

should lay the cross upon them, they might no more seek

unto unlawful means to avoid the same ; but be contented

to take it up, in what sort soever it should be laid upon

their shoulders, whether by death, imprisonment, or exile.

Fifthly, Against the enemies of God's truth, the Papists ;

that they might not always triumph over them, nor shed the

blood of his saints; and to confound their wicked counsels;

and to root up the rotten race of the ungodly.

Sixthly, To deliver the land from the invasion and sub-

duing of misers, that is, Spaniards, that the nation was then

in very great apprehension of. That God would remove

this feared vengeance from the nation ; and not give over

their lands, their cities, towns, and castles, their goods, pos-

sessions, and riches, their wives, children, and their own lives,

into subjection to strangers.
Seventhly, To preserve the Prince and rulers, magistrates

and governors, as would advance God's glory ; and so build

up again the decayed walls of ruinated Jerusalem. Such a

prayer as this, very piously and devoutly composed, for the

UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 413

use of these times, by one R. P. I have met with in an old CHA p.

printed book, and present it to the reader in the Repository. XXXI -

There was another framed by Tho. Spurge, a condemned Anno 1555.

prisoner in Newgate, which will be found also in the Re- ^£ r XL '

pository.
Those also that were able, and had parts and learning, They write

did use to excite one another by godly letters, warmly onelnother.

penned ; some out of prison to the brethren at liberty ; and 24^

others writ by those at liberty unto the prisoners. Among One writ by

the rest I find one writ by a, freewill-man, as they styled a freewlller -

them ; being an exhortation by one of that persuasion in

the country to some friends in London, that they would

stand fast, and not comply with the idolatrous worship. In

which letter he took occasion, largely, to prove men's abilities

to keep the laws of God, and the freedom of their wills.

The writer of this letter is unnamed, but I suppose him to

be Henry Hart, one of the chief of this sort of men, and af-

terwards a prisoner himself. The letter may be seen in the N°. XLH.

Repository.

Another letter there was writ by one in prison, who had

lately been one of these freewillers, but now changed in his

judgment, to certain of that persuasion in prison also for

the gospel ; lamenting the loss of the gospel, and shewing

the reasons of it ; whereof one he made to be, that " they

" had professed the gospel with their tongues, but denied it

" in their deeds." Another, " that they were not sound in

" the doctrine of predestination. " In this letter he men-

tioned, " what a grief it was to him, that he had endea-

" voured so much to persuade others into his error of free-

" will, and how much joy he took in the change of his

" judgment ;" and that divers of that congregation of free-

will-men began to be better informed, as namely, Ledley

and Cole, and others unnamed ; the report of whom gave

him and his prison-fellows much rejoicing. That he was

convinced by certain preachers in prison with him ; who re-

conciled St. Paul and St. James together, to his great satis-

faction. This letter also I have laid to the other, that theN°. xun.

reader may perceive the arguments on both sides.

414 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAP. Among the many prayers, letters, and godly discourses,

that were in these days penned by the prisoners, the mar-

Anno 1555. tyrs, and other good men, copies whereof were transcribed

agaTnst tL an( * dispersed among the professors, there was one that

Popish exposed the Popish clergy, for saying, the nation was per-

perjury. jured in renouncing the Pope : the author uncertain, but

somebody under restraint, as it seems. This writing shewed,

" how the whole Popish clergy, according to their own con-

" fession, lay perjured for twenty years : and that they com-

" pelled all the people, many against their consciences, to

" confess the same, [as they did in the late Parliament be-

" fore Cardinal Pole, the legate,] and also compelled all

" that in twenty years past had been admitted priests, to

" perjure themselves in like manner : inasmuch as they

" were required to swear never to receive the Bishop of

" Rome, nor no other power, to be head over the people of

" England under God, but only the King and his successors.

" And so were all young men required to do every law-

" day, by the keepers of the same, in their respective hun-

*' dreds. Now, if this oath were unlawful, saith this wz-iter,

" as the clergy now say, then might all the nobles of the

" realm, of that opinion, have great cause of displeasure

" against all the bishops that so led them, and knew other-

" wise : and so might all magistrates and gentlemen against

" the company of that mark, (i. e. the clergy,) which was the

" cause of their perjury. And that perjury they caused all

" the rest of the subjects and common people to commit :

248 " insomuch that all ranks of people had reason to be angry

" at the wickedness of the clergy, not only for their own

" perjury, but for theirs. But to help and heal this, they

" had authority from the Pope to pardon this national per-

" jury, by the sacrament of penance ; and God must needs

" forgive them all that submitted to it. And without this,

" they must needs be damned. But the writer wondered

" that no one priest, during the last twenty years, had en-

" joined his people penance for their perjury ; but suffered

" them to die in that black curse and excommunication

" that they knew was upon the people, as they now say

UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 415

" they did. So that he concludes, This clergy was none CHAP

XXXI.

of Christ s clergy, but the Pope's, xcho sat in God's seat,
even in the consciences of the people. Ann0 1555 >
" He proceeded to blame two sorts of people, that in effect

" made up the whole nation. One, that received the Pope's

" pardon with penance for their perjury ; that thought they

" were perjured, and made amends, and were forgiven:

" the other, that knew they were not perjured, and yet re-

" ceived pardon, and did penance. This latter sort, in his

" judgment, were worse than the former ; doing contrary to

" their knowledge and conscience. He concludes with his

" prayer for a third sort, that knew they were not perjured,

" but lawfully sware the oath to the King, and were con-

" tented rather to die by the Pope's sword, than to slander

" the truth." This bold and notable paper may be found in

the Repository, and had this title, All sorts of people ofN». xuv.

England have just cause qf displeasure against the bishops

and priests of the same.
Let me add here, for the readers better information con- Three re-

cerning these days, that the kingdom now consisted of three Je^Que"""

sorts of people, with relation to their religion. The one sort Mary.

were the Papists : a second sort, the open professors of the

gospel : and a third, were of the same judgment with those

professors; who, though they in their minds disallowed of Neuters -

Popery, and esteemed the worship to be idolatrous, yet out

of policy outwardly complied with that religion, and went to

mass, keeping their opinions to themselves, for their own

security. Various were the letters written by some of the

learnedest men and martyrs against this neutrality : and

when their judgments were demanded concerning the law-

fulness thereof, they would by no means allow of it. Of these Fox's Acts,

three sorts, Ralph Allerton the martyr spake occasionally to p '

Bishop Bonner; telling him there were three religions in

England. Who asking him which they were, Ralph an-

swered, " that which he, the Bishop, held : the second,

" that which was clean contrary to the same : the third

f* person he called a neuter, being indifferent; that is to

" say, one who observed all things that were commanded

416 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAP. " outwardly, as though he were of that part, said he, his

. " heart being wholly set against the same.'" Considering

Anno 1555. which, there were even in those days but a third part of the

nation Roman Catholics.

A case Concerning this temporizing, there happened a case of

about tern- . , , . ... . .
porizing. conscience to be started near about this time. A certain

person, out of his care and love of his wife, advised her in

these days to do as she might, when she could not do what

she would. For that now she should keep her religion as

well as she could, and God would accept her will, and im-

pute the fault of her going to mass, and compliance with

249 idolatrous worship, to others, viz. to those that imposed it.

Upon this counsel of the husband, a doubt arose in the wo-

man's conscience to be resolved, wherein she seemed to be-

take herself to Augustine Bernher, minister of the congre-

gation in London. And he thought fit to crave the reso-

lution of Ridley, then in prison : who gave this answer.

" Brother A.

Ridley's let- " Where ye desire so earnestly to know my mind in that

" piece of the husband's letter unto his wife, wherein he

" permitting her to do as she may, when she cannot what

" she would; giving this reason, that she must keep her

" religion as she may in this realm, and God shall accept

" her will, and shall impute the fault to others, &c. what

" blame is in her, if she use the religion here, as she may,

" though it be not as she would ? This seemeth to me to

" be a perilous saying, wherein, I fear me, the man tender-

" eth his wife too much. I wish rather he had counselled

" her to depart the realm : for peradventure she tarrying

" to have bidden her openly and boldly, when she should

" have been commanded to follow ungodliness ; to have

" bidden her, I say, there, and then to have confessed the

" truth, and to have stood in it ; he thought, and perad-

" venture knew, it was more than she was like to do. But,

" I suppose, if she had considered more deeply her hus-

" band's mind in writing, that his counsel savoured more of

" a too tender zeal towards her, than of the contempt of all

ter there

upon

UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 417

" worldly and carnal affection, which ought to be in Christ's CHAP.
• • x x x i r
" cause, and upon the same had required licence to have.

" departed the realm ; yea, and then had departed indeed, Anno 1555 -

" rather than after certain knowledge had of their ungodly
" ways, to seem to allow the same by her in this case upon
" fact, and so not to have followed her husband's former
" counsel ; I think she should less have offended her such
" a husband, than she doth now, in that she hath made his
" privy and secret letter, not so warily written, methinks,
" as I would have wished it had been, (if it were her deed,)
" to have come to the knowledge of those, that will use it,
" and construe it to the worst, to the defence and mainte-
" nance of ungodly ways.
" N. R."
Of this practice of some gospellers in going to mass, Tho. Samp-

Thomas Sampson, now an exile in Strasburgh, took notice

in his letter he wrote to the inhabitants of Alhallows, Bread-

street, where himself had formerly been pastor ; admonish-

ing them to this tenor: " That if they thought they could

" embrace both Popery and the Gospel, they did deceive

" themselves. For they could not both hold the taste of

" Christ's death in their consciences, and also allow that

" mass, which was the defacer of Christ's death. They

" could not embrace the right use of the Lord's supper,

" and also use and partake the horrible profanation of the

" same. They could not by faith apprehend free justifica-

" tion, and yet seek by their own righteousness and merits

" to be saved."

« ».
CHAP. XXXII. 250
Prohibition of heretical books. The Spanish match. Reve-

nues of the Church and hospitals spoiled.

XxBOUT this time came forth a strict proclamation against A procia-

printing, bringing over, or vending heretical books. And !^ ai '° st cer _

whosoever had any such, were to deliver them up to the tain books.

ordinary of the diocese, or his chancellor or commissary,

vol. in. e e

418 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAP, upon pain of the statute made in the reign of Henry IV.
Y Y Y T T t ii"
' for suppressing heresy. This proclamation may be read in

Anno 1555. Fox. And under this character of heresy were comprised

Monu a - nd a ^ books anc * writings of Luther, Oecolampadius, Zuin

ments, p. glius, Calvin, Pomeran, John A Lasco, Bullinger, Bucer,

Melancthon, Bernardinus Ochine, Erasmus Sarcerius, Peter

Martyr, Hugh Latymer, Robert Barnes, Justus Jonas,

Hoper, Coverdal, Tyndal, Cranmer, late archbishop of

Canterbury, William Turner, Theodore Bazil, otherwise

called Thomas Becon, Frith, Roy : and lastly, Hall's Chro-

nicle went in the rear. Any books of the aforesaid authors,

and in any language, whether in Latin, Dutch, English,

Italian, or French, came under the lash of this proclama-

tion. For, it seems, heretical books were in all these lan-

guages. And to these in the same proclamation were added

the Communion Service, and the Administration of the Sa-

craments used in the reign of King Edward.

Articles of There were articles also of inquiry set forth to the war-

1 emir7 C ° n " d ens °^ ever T company in London: as, " whether they had

those books. " seen or heard of any of these books, which had come

" from beyond seas ; namely, from Zurick, Strasburgh,

" Frankford, Wezel, Embden, Duisburgh, [in which places

" were plantations of English Protestants, who, it seems,

" were diligent to send over gospel-books into the nation,

" both to confirm and convert,] whom they knew or sus-

" pected to be carriers of letters or money from hence to

" those places.*" This was proclaimed in London, June

the 14th.

The occa- A great occasion of this proclamation and inquisition was,

sion hereof. t | iat ^ ere came over mto England a book entitled, A Warn-

ing for England ; giving warning to the English of the Spa-

niards, and discovering certain close practices for the reco-

very of abbey lands.

The Spa- Indeed the English could not away, in this age, with the

by the eS,gn proud Spaniard : and here I shall insert the warning that

match. John Bradford (not the martyr, but another, once a servant

to Sir William Skipworth) gave of them to certain lords in

a letter from Flanders, having lived a servant with one of

UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 419

the King of Spain's privy counsellors two or three years ; and, CHAP,

during that time, much conversed with them, and saw and L.

heard their words and designs against this nation; intend- Al »»° 1&&5 -

ing, by this marriage with the Queen, the destruction not

only of the estate of the realm, but of the Queen herself.

Letters whereof, written by noble Spaniards, he had read,

and the copies whereof he took, and had ready to shew for

his discharge. A large account of the nature of the Spa-

niards, and their purposes against England, Bradford drew

up, by way of letter to the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury,

Darby, and Pembroke, privy counsellors, designing it for 251

the public, with a dedication to the Queen herself: but

whether ever printed, I cannot tell. Herein he speaks of Signified in

their tempers : " That in dissimulations, until they had J^J^Jjg.

" their purposes, and afterwards in oppression and tyranny, men.

" they exceeded all other nations upon earth : besides an

" heap of ambitious, fleshly lusts, as pride and disdain, and

" all manner of lechery. That as for the English them-

" selves, he had heard with his ears, and seen with his eyes

" in their writings, how they designed the spoiling them

" of their lives, lands, wives, and children, and the ruin of

" the whole realm, and suppression of the commonwealth,

" and the bondage of the country for ever. And he took

" God to witness, he wrote nothing for malice of the Spa-

" niards, or flattery of the English. That he came by this

" intelligence, having been chamberlain to one of the privy

" council of that nation, and, by great diligence, had learned

" to read and write Spanish ; but he kept it secret from his

" master, who trusted him the rather in his closet, suppos-

" ing he could not understand his papers. And there he

" read such writings as were daily brought into the council-

" chamber. He mentioned, how he heard the Spaniards

" talk, that if they obtained not the crown of England, they

" might curse the time that ever the Kins; was married to

" a wife so unmeet for him by unnatural course of years."

This and much more may be read in the manuscript, which

I have preserved in the Catalogue ; a most notable piece, n». XLV.

e e 2

MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

CHAP, discovering the wicked intrigues of Spain, had not God

XXXII. , , & f , & '

prevented them.

Anno 1555. Though the revenues of the Church were miserably
Jn^churd/ s P oi l ed m the days of King Edward by the nobility and
spoiled. gentry, that got them into their own hands, upon pretence
of maintaining their houses and state, yet even in this reign
did this grievance continue. He that is minded to know
this more particularly, may read the paragraphs that follow,
Dr.Tumer's which I have taken out of a treatise printed in this Queen's
si c m " y reign ; where, speaking of the spiritual dropsy, one of the
diseases which the author makes the nobility and gentry to
be sick of, he writ thus : " That they swole so big with
their disease, that they could not be content with their
fathers'* houses, which were as great men as these be : for
their fathers' 1 houses will not hold them ; but they build
wider houses, and more than their fathers did, for one or
two will not hold them. And some swell so great, that
all the houses their fathers and they have builded will
not hold them : but they must also have bishops 1 houses,
and deans' houses, parsons' houses, and vicars' houses,
and poor beggars' houses, called hospitals. And yet
they swell so great, that all these will not hold them,
except they amend their manners, until they come to
hell ; there is place great enough." And a little after :
The other kind of common tokens, that the water-sick
have, is an exceeding great thirst, and so great, that the
more they drink, the more they desire to drink ; and
no drink is able to quench their thirst. Such a thirst