Search York
Yüklə 12,09 Mb.
|
|
The King this marriage of his brother to the Queen. But however Queen for displeased he was, the King his nephew was pleased well his uncle, enough : willing, perhaps, that he that was so nearly related to him being a King, should be advanced to the bed of a Queen. And therefore he both wooed for his uncle, recom- mending him unto the Queen, and after the marriage wrote her a congratulatory letter, which was in answer to one that she had sent unto him by the hands of the Lord Admiral her new husband. To Queen Katharine Par, the K'mg's letter congra:tulatory, upon her marriage with the Lord Admiral, MSS. penes " Wee thank you hartely, not onlie for your gentle "^^* " acceptation of our sute moved unto you, but also for your " lovinge accomplishing of the same, wherin you have de- " clared not onlie a desire to gratifie us, but also moved us " to declare the good-will likewise that wee bear to you in " all your requests. Wherefore yee shall not nede to feare " any grefe to come, or to suspect lake of ayde in nede ; " seeing that he, being mine uncle, is of so good a nature OF KING EDWARD VI. 209 " that he will not be troublesome on the means unto you: CHAP. XVI " and I of that minde, that of divers just causes I must fa-_ '__ " vor you. But even as without cause you merrily re-Anuoi548. " quire help against him, whom you have put in trust with " the cariage of these letters ; so maye I merrily retourne " the same request unto you, to provide that he maye live " with you also without grefe, which hath given him hoely " unto you. "And I will so provide for you both, that hereafter 134 " if any greafe befal, I shall be a sufficient socor in your " godlie and praisable enterprises. Fare you well, with " much encrease of honour and vertue in Christ. From " Saincte James, the five and twenty day of June.
King to this Queen, when he was prince, (wherein he called ^"^j^^^ ^^^ her mother,) upon occasion of a new-year's gift sent by her to him at Hertford ; which was the King's picture and hers. Which letter is extant in Fuller's History. p 423.
return again to the Parliament now sitting, which we heard had attainted two eminent persons. I will briefly touch at one thing more done this sessions, relating to the Clergy. Which was the making an act for the lawfulness of Priests"* An act for marriage. But before the bill passed in the house, it was ii,arriage. debated earnestly, and sifted thoroughly in the Convoca- tion. And however the Clergy was supposed to be preju- diced for the celibacy of Priests, yet, (as we learn from one who seems to have been a member in that Convocation, or at least well acquainted with the transactions of it,) there Job uRogers was in the Lower House, of Deans, Archdeacons, Doctors, tended "" Heads of colleges, to the number of seventy, that set their speech to hands in allowance of the marriage of Priests, (as in the chancellor. Convocation the last year were fifty-three voices for it.) And most of the Bishops in the Upper House set their hands to the taking away the positive laws that prohibited such marriage. And hence it became enacted in Parliament. VOL. II. p 210 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK There was a bill sent from the Convocation the last year, ^- that married men might be Priests, and have benefices, .nno 1548. Which was read thrice in two days in the Parliament, and agreed to, and sent up to the Lords House. Where it lay imdispatched, by reason that sessions ended within two or three days after it came before them. 'he Par- This being the second sessions of the Parliament, it began fcond* ' Nov. 24, and ended not before March 14 ensuing. Besides jssion. ^\^Q public acts then made, there were these private ones : rivate An act concerning gavelkind lands in Kent. ''*'• Acts for the restitution of Sir George Darcy, Francis Carew, Edward Charleton, Sir Ralph Bulmer, Henry Weston, Ralph Bygot, Thomas Percy, An act for the uniting of churches in the city of Lincoln. And another act for the uniting of churches in Stamford. An act for the erecting a school at St. Alban's. An act for the uniting the churches of Ongar and Green- sted in Essex.
lected tillage, John Hales (that had been lately in a com- mission to inquire into enclosures, and then saw and pitied the oppression of the poor country people) devised three bills to be put into Parliament. Unto which he first made many wise men privy. The one was for the re-edifying of houses decayed, and for the maintenance of tillage and husbandry. The other, for regrating of victuals and other 135 things, wherein one principal point was, that neither graziers nor none else should buy any cattle, and sell the same again within a certain time. For, as the said Hales had learned, and knew of certainty, divers graziers and sheepmasters brought both cattle and money to the market ; and if they could not sell their own as dear as they listed, they carried them home again, and bought all the rest. These two bills
>oor com nons.
OF KING EDWARD VI. 211 were first put to the Lords. The first being read was not CHAP, liked. The second they allowed and augmented, and sent L down to the- Lower House. Where it was so debated, and ^""<* ^^'^®- tossed up and down, and at last committed to such men, and there so much deferred, that men's affections might there have been notably discovered. And perhaps, (said Hales, relating this matter in a writing of his,) he that had seen all this would have said, that the lamb had been com- mitted to the wolf's custody. The third bill was set forth first in the Lower House, and tended to this end, that every man that kept in several pasture sheep or beasts, should keep, for every hundred sheep that he had above six score, two kine ; and for every of these two kine, should rear one calf. And for every two kine that he kept beside, more than ten, he should rear one calf. By this means he thought and believed, that the nation should not only have plenty of beasts, whereof there was wonderful great decay, but also thereby the markets should be replenished with milk, butter, and cheese, the common and principal suste- nance of the poor. The said Hales had such an opinion of this bill, that he durst have laid his life on it, that if it had proceeded, there would have been within five years after the execution thereof, such plenty of victuals, and so good cheap, as never was in England ; and besides, a great" many good things ensue, very necessary and profitable for the commonwealth of the country. Which neither by the ex- ecution of the late commission, nor yet by any positive law then in being, could be holpen. But, said Hales, Deme- trius and his fellows soon spied whereunto this thing tended. There was then, Hold with me, a7id I will hold ivith thee. Some alleged the opinion of their fathers in time past, (but these had been great sheepmasters,) who, when the like bill had been propounded, would never consent unto it, but said, that when any scarcity of cattle was, a proclamation was made that no calves should be killed for a time. Some alleged, that men then eat more flesh than they did in time past, and that in Lent, and other fasting days heretofore, the people eat neither butter, milk, nor cheese, and would have
212 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK them do so again for policy sake. And thus these rich • inclosers got the better of this good bill, intended for the ^nno 1648. benefit of the poor. rheKing The King having the guilds or fraternities, chantries. Ties. ' colleges, hospitals, &c. given him the last year, hastened to sell them, to make up the defects of his treasury, and to get ready money for necessary uses. He began to sell the last year, and so continued this and the next year, which brought in vast sums. What chantries, free chapels, col- leges, &c. were sold this second year of the King, and to whom, and for what sums, and lastly, of what value they were respectively, I could set down, having extracted them z z Z from an authentic MS. of the King^s sales, but for avoid- ing prolixity I omit them. 136 CHAP. XVII. Books published this year. Archbishop Cranmer''s book of Unwritten Verities. His notes of traditions. Doctor Turner against the mass. Crowly's book in behalf of the poor commons^ S^c. Cranmer's Jf OR the conclusion of this year, I shall glance at some Unwritten books of remark that issued abroad within the compass of the Verities. game. One was a small tract, entitled, Unwi'itten Verities. It was printed at London, in St. Andrew's parish in the Wardrobe, by Thomas Reynold, ctim privilegio. This book, I make no doubt, was that very book which Archbi- shop Cranmer had before penned and printed, if I mistake not, in Latin ; which Dr. Richard Smith of Oxford, in the beginning of this reign, attempted to confute, and was vin- dicated by the Archbishop. This year, for more common use, it came forth in English. The drift of it was to prove and shew the divine authority of the holy Scriptures, and the difference between them and traditions, called Umvritten Verities ; and to enervate these, by declaring the first rise and original of them. That as for the holy Scriptures, " It
OF KING EDWARD VI. 213 " was not lawful to deny any thing they affirmed, nor to CHAP. *' affirm any thing which they denied. And that because _J^_1_ " they were received in the primitive times by assent of Anno i64{ " people and clergy, when the people were newly converted " to the faith, and were full of grace and devotion, and " when there were blessed Bishops, and blessed Priests, " and others blessed of the Clergy. And the time of the " authorizing of the New Testament, and gathering it " together, was the time, he supposed, of the most high " and gracious shedding out of the mercy of God into the " world, that ever was from the beginning of the world to " this day. That after this, by a common speaking among " the people, the Bishops and others of the Clergy were " called the Church., and under colour of the name Churchy " in process of time, pretended that they might make ex- " positions of Scripture, as the universal Church of Christ. " And thereupon, when covetousness and pride increased " among the Clergy, they expounded, very favourably, di- " vers texts of Scripture, to sound to the maintenance of " their honour, and power, and riches : and took upon them " to affirm, that they were the Church, and might not err ; " and that Christ and his Apostles had spoken and taught " many things that were not expressly in Scripture ; but " nevertheless, that the people were as much bound to be- '' lieve them as the Scripture. Then he proceeded to spe- " cify many of these traditions, which the Clergy called " unwritten verities, pretending they were left to the world "by tradition and revelation of the Apostles. Then he 137 " briefly confuted the arguments commonly used in behalf " of their authority ; and reckoned it concerned princes " to look upon these univritten ve7'ities, and upon the " Clergy's making laws, and upon their intruding things " upon the people to be believed, upon pain of damna- " tion."' This sliort but excellent treatise, which is by this time almost wholly lost and extinct, I have thought fit to take this notice of. The whole ti-act may be found in the Repository. p5 214 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK Having met with a volume of Archbishop Cranmer's common places, I will here transcribe thence what he wrote Anno 1548, and Collected of these traditions : especially because what is there written is different from the foresaid book, and con- tains other things. " Traditio7is not written recited hy Tertullian. That " children should be christened but two times in the year, at " Easter and Whitsuntide. That the Bishops should christen " them. They that should be christened, should be three " times put in the water, the whole body. That by and by " after, they should eat milk and honey mixed together. " That the whole week after, they should not be washed. " To offer yearly, the day of men's death, and of their birth. " Upon the Sunday neither to fast, nor to kneel in prayer : " and likewise from Easter to Whitsuntide. To make a " cross upon our foreheads.
" them that be christened. To turn our faces to the east, " when we pray. Consecrating of oil and water in bap- " tism. Unction with oil. To put them that be baptized " three times in the water. To renounce the devil and his '' angels in baptism. " Other authors rehearse a great number of traditions. " The fast of Lent. To fast Wednesday and Friday. Not " to fast Saturday nor Sunday. That a Bishop should be " consecrated of two or three Bishops, and Priests of one. " A Bishop, Priest, and Deacon shall not meddle with the " business and care of worldly things : and if he do, let him " be deposed. If a Bishop give orders in another Bishop's " diocese without his licence, he shall be deposed, and also " he that taketh orders of him. Giving of paoc after mass. " Consecrating of religious men. And a thousand mo tra- " ditions apostolic there be, if we give credence to St. Denys " De Ecclesiast. Hierarch. Ignatius, the Canons of the Apo- " sties, Ecclesiastica et Tripartita Historia, Cyprian, Ter- " tuUian, Irenaeus, with other old ancient authors. And " yet an infinite number mo, we shall be constrained to
OF KING EDWARD VI. J215 receive, if we admit this rule, which St. Augustin many CHAP. times repeats, that whatsoever is universally observed. " and not written in the Scripture, nor ordained by general ^""0 ^^48. " councils, is a tradition coming from the Apostles. As " that Bishops have authority to excommunicate all persons '' that be manifest and obstinate sinners : to admit or reject " other Bishops and Curates, presented by princes or pa- " trons : to ordain ceremonies to be observed in the Church : " to make laws, how to proceed in excommunication, and " other laws ecclesiastical : and what punishment is to be " given to offenders ; and all people being within their " jurisdiction, of what state or condition soever they be, be " bound to obey them. " Reasons. Idem. If traditions apostolic have the force 138 " of God's word, so that every one is bound to the observa- " tion of them, the Bishop of Rome hath a great advantage " thereby to estabhsh his primacy : not such a primacy as " he hath lately usurped, but such a primacy as he hath " had by prerogative from the beginning; that is to say, " to be one of the four patriarchs of Christendom, and " the chief of all four. And the traditions be the chief " authors, whereupon Pighius stayeth himself. And fur- " thermore, if we admit traditions to be of such authority, " it is to be feared that we must resort to the Church of " Rome to fetch there our traditions, as of the oldest, and " the mother Church. Irenseus, JcZ Jianc, " Rome, Petri cathedram et ecclesiam principalem. Julius " writing for Athanasius, &c. Melchiades, and other quota-
" tions he there mentioneth. " is not both the Old and the New sufficient for us ? " man can tell certainly : and if we be bound to receive " them as articles of our faith, then is our faith uncertain.
" For we be bound to believe we know not what. " St. Paul saith, Fides ex auditu ; auditus autem per ver- '^ hum Dei. Omnis Scriptur a divinities inspirata. This
216 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL ^' " other authors, l)oth old and new, do expound plamly as Anno 1548." the words be, that whatsoever truth is necessary to be
" taught for our salvation, or the contrary to be reproved ; " whatsoever is necessary for us to do, and what to forbear
" and not to do; all is completely contained in the Scrip- " ture. So that a man thereby may be perfectly instructed
" unto all manner of goodness." This was Archbishop Cran- mer's judgment.
A book of ^g ^]^Q ijjg^ ygar appeared abroad a Declaratio7i of the against the Mass, SO about tliis time, still for the further humiliation
of that popish service, came forth an Examination of the Mass, made by Dr. William Turner, a physician, about
this time hving in the Duke of Somerset's family, after- wards Dean of Wells, a witty as well as learned man. This
book was entitled, A new Dialogue^ wherein is conteyned the examination qf the Messe, and of that kind of priest-
hood which is ordeyned to say Messe, and to offer up for remission qf sin^ the body and blood of Christ agayne.
The names of the speakers in this dialogue are. Mistress Missa, Master Knowledge, Master Fremouth, Master Jus-
tice of Peace, Peter Preco the Cryer, Palemon the Judge, Dr. Porphyry, Sir Philip Philargyry. Of which two last
the former represented a Doctor of the Canon Law, and the latter a Doctor of Divinity and Priest, Missa's great friends
and patrons. Mr. Knowledge describes her abuses, Fre- mouth accuses her. Mr. Justice of Peace is hasty to exe-
cute the law upon Fremouth for speaking against her. Afterwards all apply to Palemon, a wise judge, for his deci-
sion. And he having at good length fully heard all parties, in the end finds Mistress Missa guilty, and pronounceth his
judgment against her in these words: " These men, thy ac- *' cusers, have brought forth sufficient evidence and witness,
" that thou art not of God ; that thou art contrary and an " enemy unto the holy Scriptures, and an idolatress, mak-
" ing a God of consecrated bread and wine ; and that, to the " great injury of Christ's passion, thou ofFerest up Christ
139 " again, and, as much as lyetli in thee, kyllest hym a thou- OF KING EDWARD VI. ^17 death, and art worthy to be burned. But least thy fathers ^^"' " generation, the Papists, should say, that we are as desyr-Anno i548. letters, and bred up in Oxford, an earnest professor of reli- toXe^Par- gion, and who a year or two after this received orders from Hament, in
Bishop Ridley, wrote a book now complaining of the abuses the poor put upon the poor people, both by the clergy and laity ; commons,
recommending their cause to the Parliament now sitting. It was entitled, A?i Information and Petition against the Op-
pressors of the poor Com7no7is of this Realm. Compiled and imprinted Jbr this only purpose^ that among them, that
have to do in the Parliament, some godly minded men may hereat take occasion to speak more in the matter than the
author was able to ivrite. Imprinted at London, by John Day. Because this book will shew much of the state of this
S18
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
BOOK
140
be rectified
in the
nation at present, and how the people stood affected, and what most aggrieved them, and the covetousness and op-
Anno i548.pi'essions of the wealthier sort, I shall in some larger man- ner represent the contents of it. It began, " To the most
' honourable Lords of the Parliament, with the Commons ' of the same, their most humble and daily orator, Robert
' Crowly, wisheth the assistance of God"*s holy Spirit. ' worthy Counsellors, to be debated and commoned of in ' this present Parliament, and by the advice, assent, and
' consent thereof speedily to be redressed, I think there is ' no one thing more needful to be spoken of, than the
' grievous oppression of the poor by the possessioners, as |