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« that if any plague or punishment for sin happened upon " the nation, then was the Gospel wrongfully abused and " noted, and to be the chief cause and stirrer up thereof, " when indeed it was rather their own fornication, bribery, *« and a thousand evils more. He observed also to the " King, how they would usually say. It was never good " world since this new learniiig came 171, neither are we '' lilvc to have it till it be banished again. The true reason " of which speech, he said, Christ shewed, namely, Everi/ " one that worlceth wickedness doth abhor the light, because
OF KING EDWARD VI. 315 " they wUl not their mischiefs thereby to be known. For CHAP. " tliat light manifesteth to the world their foul and naughty ^^^^'- " doings/' Anno 1549. He added, " that these and other detestable abuses, '^ whose reformation chiefly belonged to a king, might, as " in a clear mirror, be seen in Scripture and chronicles. " In them it might be seen, whereof they arose, and how " they might well by good order be abolished. And there- " fore he reckoned, as he said, the continual search of them " to a Christian governor most necessary."
" beginning he appeared unto his people a very Josias, " both in his tender youth and virtuous education ; and " how their special hope was, that in his daily proceedings 202 " he would still persevere in the same ; and that the likeli- " hoods were very apparent. For by his commandment " had been taken away the abominations of the ungodly ; ^' which was a plain token, he said, that the King had di- '' rected his noble heart to the living Lord, intending to " set up his true worship ; that being delivered out of the " cruel hands of their enemies, they might serve him from " henceforth without fear all the days of their life. That " these godly principles refreshed his Christian subjects, " and so greatly delighted their obedient hearts, that the " only remembrance of his Majesty's name was to them " more pleasant, sweet, and delicious, than any other worldly " pleasures, like as was the name of the first Josias to the Eccius. xiix. " people of that age." Thus, by frequent inculcation of good counsel, encouragement, and commendation, good men, in books dedicated to him, spurred him on in the courses of good hterature and pure religion.
the year before,) entitled, A Declaration of the Ten holy Command- Commandments of Almighty God, wroten Exod. xx. Deut. v. Collected out of the Scripture Canonical. In octavo. Before it was a preface to the reader, made by the author ; where- in he treated concerning the covenant (which he called the 316 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK alliance and confederacy) between God and man, in Adam and in Christ. Whence I shall excerp some passages, Anno 1549. shewing that reverend man's way of explaining certain ab- struse and controverted points in divinity, somewhat dif- ferent from other Divines. He writ, " that as God ac- " counted in Adam's sin, all mankind, being in his loins, " worthy death, so he counted in Christ all to be saved " from death ; as Adam declared by the name of his wife, " called Heva^ the mother of tlie livings and not of the " dead And as far extendeth the virtue and strength " of God's promise to save men, as the rigour and justice " of the law for sin to damn men And that the pro- " mise of grace appertaineth to every sort of men in the " world, and comprehendeth them all ; howbeit, within " certain limits and bounds ; the which if men neglect or " pass over, they exclude themselves from the promise in " Christ. As Cain was no more excluded, till he excluded " himself, than Abel, Saul than David, Judas than Peter, " Esau than Jacob ; though by Mai. ii. and Rom. ix. it seem- " eth, that the sentence of God was given to save the one, " and to damn the other, before the one loved God, or the " other hated God. Howbeit these thrcatenings of God " against Esau, if he had not of his wilful malice excluded " himself from the promise of grace, should no more have " hindered his salvation, than God's threatenings against " Nineveh, Jon. i. Which, notwithstanding that God had " said should be destroyed within forty days, stood a great " time after, and did penance. Esau was circumcised, and " presented unto the Church of God by his father Isaac, in " all external ceremonies, as well as Jacob. And that his " life and conversation was not as agreeable unto justice " and equity as Jacob's, the sentence of God unto Rebecca, " Gen. XXV. was not in the fault, but his own malice. For " there is mentioned nothing at all in that place, Gen. xxv. " that Esau was disherited of eternal life; but that he " should be inferior unto his brother Jacob in this world. " Which prophecy was fulfilled in their posterities, and not " in the persons themselves," &c. OF KING EDWARD VI. 317 And again, «' St. Paul, Rom. ix. useth this example of CHAP. " Jacob and Esau for none other purpose, but to take away ;_ " from the Jews the thing that they most put their trust ^nno 1549. " in, viz. the vain hope they had in the carnal hneage and ^^^ " natural descent from the family and household of Abra- " ham ; and Hkewise their false confidence that they had in " the keeping of the law of Moses. Paul's whole purpose " is in that epistle, to bring man unto the knowledge of " his sin, and to shew him how it may be remitted ; and " with many testimonies and examples of Scripture, he " proveth man to be saved only by mercy, for the merits of " Christ ; which is apprehended and received by faith." And a little after, " It is our office therefore to see we exclude " not ourselves from the general grace promised to all men. " It is not a Christian's part to attribute his salvation to his " own freewill with the Pelagian ; and extenuate original " sin, nor to make God the author of evil, or our damna- " tion, with the Manichee : nor yet to say, God hath wrote " fatal laws, as the Stoics ; and with necessity of destiny " violently pulleth one by the hair into heaven, and thrust- " eth the other headlong into hell. But ascertain thyself " by Scripture, what be the causes of reprobation, and " what of election. The cause of rejection or damnation is " sin in man, which will not hear nor receive the promise " of the Gospel ; or else, after he hath received it, by ac- " customed doing of evil^ he falleth either in a contempt of " the Gospel, Avill not study to live thereafter; or else " hateth the Gospel, because it condemneth his ungodly " life, and would there were neither God nor Gospel to pu- " nish him for doing of evil. " This sentence is true, howsoever men judge of pre- " destination ; God is not the cause of sin, nor would not " have men sin, &c. The cause of our election is the " mercy of God in Christ. Howbeit, he that will be par- " taker of this election must receive the promise in Christ " by faith. For therefore we be elected, because afterward " we are made the members of Christ, &c. So we judge of
318 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK " election by the event or success that happeneth in the Ufe ^' " of man."'' This was the sum of the preface. Anno 1549. His method propounded in the declaration of the Com- mandments, was, I. To shew what this word, law, or cow- mandment, meaneth. II. How the law should be used. III. To prepare the reader's mind, that he may always read and hear these commandments with fruit and com- modity. IV. To interpret every commandment severally, that the reader may perceive what God the giver of the law requireth of every man that professeth his name. V. To answer certain objections that keep men from the obedience of God''s law. Omphaiius Jacobus Omphalius dedicated a book to King Edward, tioil^^Le-''' printed at Basil, 1550, but the dedication bears date, caL gum- Jul. 1549, ColonicB AgrippincE. The title of the book was, De Usurpatione Legum, et eorum Studiis, qui Jurispru- denticB Professionem sihi sumunt. This Omphalius was a learned civilian and dependent upon Herman, the late pi- ous Archbishop and Elector of Colen ; and who was sent his agent into England. The new Let me add, lastly, to the rest, that now first came forth drnitiol?'^' t^^ reformed order for ordination, entitled. The Form and Manner of' making and cojisecrating Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Where I observe this difference in the ordination of Bishops. That the Archbishop laid the Bible upon the neck of the ordained Bishop, using these 204 words, Give heed to reading-, &c. Whereas now the book is only, delivered to him with those words. And then the Archbishop put the pastoral staff into his hand, saying. Be thou to thejioch of Christ a shepherd, &c. Which are words - still in use, but the ceremony of the staff laid aside. The ill state And now to turn back our eyes, and take a prospect of this year, we may perceive the condition of this land to have now been very ill, by reason of the rebellions, the imprisonment of the good Duke, and the courtiers, that sought themselves more than they took care of the public : beset with enemies alproad, and the King young; idleness of the
realm. OF KING EDWARD VI. 319 and grudging among the people, who talked high, and were CHAP. disposed to imagine and invent novelties, and devised mend- ^^1^- ing this and that: base money was fain to go current; for Anno 1549. the nation wanted money extremely, and provisions very dear at home, occasioned by the wars abroad in France, for the keeping of BuUoign. Of which place the Lord Clynton was deputy; as the Lord John Grey was of Newhaven, and the Lord Cobham of Calais. The French knew well enough the present condition of The French England, and boasted excessively to the Lord Paget, and the other English commissioners, as was shewn before.
time we add the popish clergy; who were great under- ^"l^y^on^y". miners of the Gospel. For they outwardly conformed them- selves unto the King's proceedings, unto the Enghsh com- munion book, and the King's injunctions; but inwardly preserved their good-will to their superstitions. There was one of the Bishops that said, " Laws must be obeyed, and " civil ordinances I will follow ; but my heart in religion is " free to think as I will.'' And the state thought conve- nient now to wink at them and their doings, and to con- tinue them still in their places, lest they should remain void for want of better to supply their rooms. But many that favoured the Gospel were for putting them out, as many as the visitors should find negligent and faulty in their duties, and to ordain sober laymen to succeed into their livings. " Out with them," said Latimer to the King, " I re- Latimer's " quire it in God's behalf. Make them quondams, all the ^^^"^^^^J; " pack of them." He then told the King, that his Majesty the King, had divers of his Chaplains well learned men, and of good knowledge to put in their rooms. And in case they were not enough to fill all the vacancies, and that neither his Chaplains nor the Protector's sufficed, to furnish their places, he advised, that since there were a great sight of laymen well learned in the Scripture, and of a virtuous and Laymen to godly conversation, better learned than a great many of the Ministers. Clergy, them he would have to be placed in "the Church. 320 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK And he said he knew a great number, that were and ^' would be glad, he dared to say, to minister the function, if Anno 1549. called. He told the King, he moved it to him in conscience. Let them, said he, be called to it orderly. Let them have institution ; and give them tlie name of the clergy. — But this belongs rather to the year before. An ignorant And on the other hand, there were some great pretenders prui?crot,to the Gospel, whose mixture of zeal and ignorance did called Sir ^j-^g religion no service at all : which two things would be- Stow'^s Sur- tray themselves in their pubhc sermons, even at PauFs "*'^y- Cross. For whatever care was taken that that place should
furnished with good preachers, but that sometimes weak 205 inen got turns there. There was one more bold and hot than wise and learned, named Sir Stephen, curate at Cree church, London, came up at the Cross this year ; who in his sermon fell foul upon the name of that parish church dedicated to St. Andrew, because it was surnamed Under- shaft : so called, by reason of a vast long shaft, or pole, that formerly used to be erected on May-days in the street be- fore the south door of that church, which reached higher than the steeple. And so St. Andrew was under the shaft. But the preacher, perhaps ignorant of this cause of St. An- drew's being thus called, cried out, that this shaft was made an idol of, as though it were preferred before St. Andrew himself. Hence he proceeded to advise, that the names of churches should be altered. And further, that the names of the days of the week might be changed. And that there might be a thorough reformation indeed, he was for having the fish-days kept any days but Fridays and Saturdays ; and the Lent any time in the year, save only between Shrovetide and Easter. To give some further account of this reformer; he would often forsake his pulpit, and go into the churchyard, and preach out of an high elm that grew there. And then entering the church to perform the rest of the service, as was appointed in the English com- munion book, he would not go to the altar, where it was OF KING EDWARD VI. 321 ever said, but would go and sing it upon a certain tomb of CHAP, the dead that stood toward the north. And so we are told ^^^^' by one that hved at that time, and near the place. Anno 1549
CHAP. XXV. The good service of learned foreigners in the business of religion. Disputations in the Universities about religiofi.
vers very learned and godly foreigners, now in the realm, reigners iu brought by their readings and studies. For many leading England, professors and defenders of true religion were cherished here, chiefly by Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as he encouraged them to come over, so was their great pa- tron and.harbourer. The chief of these were Peter Martyr, Peter Alexander, Bernardin Ochin, Immanuel Tremellius, Italians ; Bucer and Fagius, Germans. All whom he made serviceable, by the direction of their learnings, some way or other, to the furtherance of religion.
bishop; and his clear head, and great industry withal, made him dear unto him. He was entertained in his family from the year 1547, and so forward for some years, until he be- came a Prebendary of Canterbury, and had also the living of Alhallows, Lumbard-street, conferred upon him by the said Archbishop. By whose advice and exhortation he di- ligently read over the most ancient Fathers, and faithfully collected thence plenty of proper sentences, expressive of their sense concerning the various doctrines of religion ; and parti- 206 cularly such as wherein consisted the modern controversies. One folio volume of these collections, taken out of Dionysius, Ignatius, Irenseus, TertuUian, and Cyprian, he presented this year to the Archbishop : which he took in very good part at his hands, approving and commending his diligence therein, as tending to the profit of the Church, and the be- nefit of the studious : which encouraged the said Peter to
3S2 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK go on in the same method with the ecclesiastical writers, '• iiext in order of time to them. So that by April 1550, he \nno J 549. presented the Archbishop with another great folio of notes, extracted out of the works of Origen, Athanasius, and Epi- phanius ; before which he set an epistle dedicatory to the same, dated from Lambeth, which hath this conclusion : E i^iss. Jccipe igitur, reverendissime PrcESul, nostri Origenis Ada- d! Joh! Ep. maiitii, Athanasii, et Epiphanii sincercB tlieologicB cojnpen- ^"''"' dium ; ct hunc nostrum quencunque laborem (Bqui honique consule^ nostrumque conatum grato animo persequere. Lam- hethi^ 28. Aprilis, 1550. T. G. deditissiraus Petriis Alexander. Which volume is among the rare collection of MSS. beloiio'ino- to the rioht reverend Dr. More, late Bishop of Ely. Becomes jf ^^Y would kuow what bccamc of this man afterwards : Minister of .t-ii-- o /-\ -n/r •> ^ ^ • ti.e French bemg marned, m the begnmmg of Queen Mary s hard tmies church at ^ unwillinolv divorced from his wife by certain of that 5trasL»uri,d]. » *^ n n a o Queen's commissioners, and soon after lied over to Stras- burgh. Of whom Peter Martyr, in a letter to Utenhovius, dated from Strasburgh, June the 7th, 1556, writ, that he succeeded Garnerius in the French Church there, and boldly taught the pure doctrine of the sacrament, which Martyr and others of his mind professed. We have seen how the Archbishop employed and re- warded him. All the rest had their employments in order to the promoting of truth and learning, some in the Church, others in the Universities. Ochin wrote and published some books. The two learned Germans were this year at Cambridge, Bucer the King's Reader of Divinity, and Fa- Fagius dies gius. But Fagius died there but a few weeks after his at cani« comiug ; who being appointed the King's Reader of He- brew, by his deep skill and ability therein, might have vastly improved the students of divinity there in the know- ledo-e of the sacred writings of the Old Testament ; which are so necessary for the understanding of the New : a sort of learning' then hardly known in England.
Anno 1549. OF KING EDWARD VI. 323 But upon his death, Tremellius succeeded him in the CHAP, same place. He fled from Italy when Peter Martyr his countryman did, and was one of those the Archbishop gave lodging and board unto. His father being a Jew, he was succeeds brought up in Jewish learning, and had attained to great *""^- perfection in it. Tremellius now solicited at the Court ; (I suppose, for his patent or salary;) Cecyl saw him, and took particular friendly notice of him, and undertook the care of his business. He was at this time mightily intent upon his study, employed therein from morning till night, to prepare for his readings. And therefore, lest his affairs miglit not be despatched by his not attending them himself, he wrote a letter to Cecyl to remember them, in these words :
France, (to lay these matters together,) in the year 1552, brew in (if not before,) did not so much succeed, as assist Tremel- ^^"^^'"'^S^ lius in reading Hebrew in that University. For which he was gratified by the state, in a grant to be free denizen, and in the same patent to enjoy the advowson of a prebend Warr.Bool y 2 324 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK in Canterbury, in consideration of reading the Hebrew lec- '• ture freely in Cambridge. This was dated in August 1552. ^nno 1549. In October the same year, I find a grant to the said V prebend Tremellius, under the name of John Emanuel Tremeho, .o^^ reme - p^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^1^^ Hebrew tongue, of the prebend of Carhsle, Varr.Book. ^jjich Wilham Perry deceased, late had. And the same month another grant of a free denizenship for Emanuel Italo [as Tremellius is there styled] and Elizabeth his wife. Peter Mar- The Italian stranger, Peter Martyr, was designed to read cyratoxon.^-^— ^y in Oxford; whither he repaired from the Archbi- shop's, fortified by the King's authority : but after a little time very rudely treated and opposed there by a Popish party.
Martyr's Yet notwithstanding these oppositions and discourage- Fastin" ""^ ments of Peter Martyr, the King's learned Professor here at Oxford, he steadily went on in the business committed to his trust. And besides his public lectures, he sometimes preached at St. Mary's, and had his private lectures, and his private sermons in Italian at his house: whereunto resorted many auditors, and Harding one of the chief, how- Vit. Jueii. ever he revolted in Queen Mary's days. On one Ash-Wednes- Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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