Search York

that were guilty : " Those parsonages tliat be most in num-

" ber and greatest in value throughout all England, be

" not now shepherds' houses to lay up fodder to feed the

*' poor sheep of the parish, but thievish dens to convey

" away great spoils from all the rich of the parish. There

" is no person there to relieve the poor and needy with na-

" tural sustenance, in keeping of house, and to feed all in

" general with the heavenly food of God's word by preach-

" ing. But there is a parson's deputy, or farmer ; which

" having neither ability, power, nor authority to do the

" parson's duty, in feeding and teaching the parish, is able,

" sufficient, and stout enough to challenge, and take for his

" master's duty the tenth part of all the parish. Now, my

" lords, both of the laity and the clergy, in the name of God,

*' I advertise you to take heed. For when the Lord of lords

** shall see the flock scattered, spilt, and lost^ if he follow

412 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK " the trace of the blood, it will lead him even straightway

" unto this court, and unto their houses, whereas these

Anno 1650. " great thieves, which murder, spoil, and destroy the flocks

" of Christ, be received, kept, and maintained. For you

" maintain your chaplains to take pluralities, and your

" other servants mo offices than they can or will discharge.

" Fie ! for sin and shame ; either give your servants wages,

*' or else let them go and serve tliose which do give them

(263) " wages. For now your chaplains, your servants, and you

" yourselves, have the parson's, the shepherd's, and the

" officer's wages ; and neither you, nor they, nor others, do

" the parson's, the shepherd's, or the officer's duty, except

" peradventure ye imagine that there is a parish priest

*' curate which doth the parson's duty. But although ye

" do so imagine, yet the people do feel and perceive that

" he doth mean no other thing, but. Pay your duty, Pay

" your duty. Yes, forsooth, he ministereth God's sacra-

" ments, he saith his service, he readeth the Homilies, as

" you find flattering courtiers, which speak by imagination,

" term it. But the rude lobs of the country, which be too

" simple to paint a lie, speak foully and truly as they find

" it, and say, he minisheth God's sacraments, he slubbereth

" up his service, and he cannot read the Humbles.''''

Bale puts And as Lever made and printed these remarkable ser-

Votaries. mons this year, so John Bale now set forth as notable a book,

(allowing for his broad way of writing,) namely. The acts

and unchaste examples of religious Votaries, gathered out

of their own legends and chronicles. He designed to com-

plete this history in four books ; which should detect the

foul lives and practices of the monastics, both men and wo-

men, from the first times of their institution till that last

age, wherein they were dissolved in England. To these

four books he intended to give several titles, according to

the various ages of monkery ; viz. of their rising, their

building, their holding, and their Jall'mg. The first part

was to treat of their uprising to mischief. The second part

was to shew their hasty building, by hypocritish monks to

OF KING EDWARD VI. 413

establish the wicked kingdom of Antichrist. The third was CHAP.

to declare the crafty upholding of their proud degrees and ^^^^-

possessions, by the wily and subtil sleights of the four orders Anno 1550.

of friars. The fourth should manifest their horrible fall in

this latter age, by the well-grounded doctrine of the true

preachers and writers. The first part he finished in the year

1546, and the second in this year 1550 ; and in the same

year printed both together at London, in \9^^^. and dedi-

cated them to King Edward. The second part reached to

the year 1200. The two last parts he promised should

speedily follow. But I think they never did ; the author

probably being advised to suppress them for decency, if not

for religion's sake, an assault on which might seem to be

made, if so many abominable and shameful facts should

come to light, as Bale had collected together. He had got

the detecta^ taken down in writing by King Henry's visitors,

sent abroad to visit all the monasteries in England and

Wales, and had once exposed them in a Parliament : which

were of such a nature, that chaste ears could not hear them.

, The same Bale the same year set forth An Apology ^nA ^n A-

against a ranh Papist ; answering both him and the Doc-H^^^l^^^

tors, that neither their Vows 7ior yet their Priesthood^^"^^-

are of the Gospel, hut of Antichrist. Printed also at Lon-

don in 12"^«. At the end is a brief exposition upon the

30th chapter of Numbers^, which was the first occasion of his

writino" this book. This tract also the author dedicated to

King Edward. The apology begins thus, (which will shew

the occasion of the book :) " A few months ago, by chance,

" as I sat at supper, this question was moved unto me by

" one that fervently loves God's verity, and mightily de-

" teste th all falsehood and hypocrisy ; Whether the vows

" expressed in the 30th chapter of Numeri give any esta- (264)

" blishment to the vow of our priests now to live without

" wives of their own, or nay. For the same party, as I

" perceived anon after, had been assaulted and chased

" the day afore with that most frivolous disputation. To

" whom I remember I gave this short answer ; That they

" made for that kind of vowing nothing at all, but con-

414 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAI-

BOOK " demned it. For, as I then judged of that matter, so

'' judge I now still, that those vows were of things then

Anno 1550. " present, and so forth continuing till Christ coming in the

" flesh, concerning only the nation of the Jews, and now to

"be of no force towards us. Forsomuch as they were not

" expressly confirmed, declared, and taught of Christ, as

" were the moral precepts of the Law, Matt. v. Moreover,

" I considered that Christ being the clear light of the

" world, John viii. and the brightness of his Father's

" glory, Heb. i. left Moses far behind him, as a bare sha-

" dow or figure ; constituting one only religion for us and

" the Jews : whose perfection standeth not in the works of

" the law, neither in renouncing of Christian marriage, but

" in a pure and constant faith in him and his Gospel. In

** the end I was desired to write a sentence or two, what I

" thought in discharge of so single and sleeveless a matter.

" Whereupon the next day I turned me towards a win-

" dow, and wrote the few sentences,'*'' &c. This writing

was delivered to one who was the captain of that place

where Bale then was, being by birth a man of worship.

Gently was it received at the first ; and so entertained by

the space of five or six weeks. But within that time falling

into the hands of a certain chaplain, he framed some an-

swer to Bale's writing. And Bale again replied thereunto.

And of all this consisted the aforesaid book.

This year also he again put forth his Image of both

ChtircheSy at London, in IS^no. being an exposition upon the

Revelations.
And two To these let me add two little tracts more, composed by

the same author, this, or rather the former year. The one

was, A Dialogue^ or Communication to be had at a table

between two children, gathered out of the holy Scripture,

by John Bale, for the use of his two young sons, John and

Paul, beginning, " Paulus juiiior jilius. Forsomuch as

" God hath constituted me a creature reasonable, and en-

" dued with an understanding, I am naturally desirous to

" know to what end I am created,'" &c. The other is, A

Confession of the Sinner^ after the sacred Scripture, col-

OF KING EDWARD VI. 415

lected by John Bale, at the request of a faithful friend of CHAP,

his, beginning, " I acknowledge unto my eternal and ever- ^^^^'

lasting God, that of mine own nature I am, as others, Anno 1550.

but a carnal thing, and the miserable child of Adam,

justly exiled with him in his transgression," &c.

CHAP. XXXII. (263)

The English Bible and other hooks set forth this year.

Vezy^ Bishop of Exeter^ resigns. Sir Martin Bowes ^

of the Mint^ gives up his office. Some account of him.
X HIS year the holy Bible, translated by Miles Coverdale, Coverdaie's

was printed in quarto, by Andrew Hester, for the more^'*^^^*

common and private use of Christians; as he had set it

forth in folio the year before : which is commonly called

TyndaVs Bible. The same year {viz. 1550.) he set forth

also the New Testament in octavo, conferred with the trans- And Testa-

lation of William Tyndal, and printed by Reinold Wolf.
About this time also certain sermons of Ochine, the Italian, Ochine's

being five and twenty in number, concerning the predesti^

nation and election of God ^ were printed by John Day, in

octavo. Having been translated out of Italian into English,

by A. C. Gentlewoman : which capital letters, I make no

question, meant Anne Cook, one of the learned daughters

of Sir Anthony Cook, married after to Sir Nic. Bacon, Lord

Keeper of the Great Seal.

Now did Thomas Paynel, an old servant of King Henry, A book call-

print a book, entitled. The pith and most noble sayings o/'and most

all Scripture : gathered by Thomas Paynel^ after the man- p^^ie Say-

ner of commo7i places, very necessary for all those that de- scripture.

light in the consolations of the Scripture. It was dedicated

to the right eoccellent and most gracious Lady, the Lady

Mary's good Grace. In which dedication it appeared, that

after he had made these collections out of Scripture, he was

advised by a learned man to publish them for men's consola-

tion and learning. And assigning the cause why he chose

416 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK her to patronize this his work, he wrote, " that it was her

^' " Grace's fiery and fervent mind to virtuous and godly

Anno 1550." living, her true intent and natural inclination to the same,

" her liberal hand and favour to those which dihgently ex-

" ercised themselves in the spiritual and moral studies of

*' the sincere word of God, and lastly, her Grace's benignity

" and gentleness of long time bountifully to him declared,

" enforced him to publish it in her Grace's name." Then

he exhorted her, " to read the fruitful lessons thereof, and

" to digest them thoroughly, to practise and prove in very

" deed how sweet the Lord's words be : to use the profit-

" able doctrines of that little book. For so doing, her Grace

" should learn daily more and more truly to know the Lord,

"to taste, relish, and to ensue his holy and sweet word,

" to love and fear him, to be his faithful and obsequious

" handmaiden, and a diligent ensuer of his will and steps,

" most pleasantly and voluntariously to bear the yoke of

" his most comfortable commandments." Thus he gravely

bespake her upon this occasion, as though he hoped hereby

to win her to the Gospel.

(266) This year also Robert Crowley printed one and thirty

Crowley's epigrams compiled by him. Wherein, as the title tells, are

epigrams. ^^^-^^ toucJied SO many abuses^ that may and ought to be

put away. They mainly drive at exposing the common

vices and vicious men of that age ; and they shew several

customs and practices of that time. Though the verses are

old-fashioned rhymes, yet they want not sometimes good

fancy and wit. And these are the various subjects of them,

as they are placed alphabetically by the author: Of Ah-

hayes. Alehouses. Alleyes. Almeshouses. Of BayUf ar^

rants. Bauds. Beggars. Bear hayting. Brawlers. Bias-

phemous swearers. Of colly ars. Co^nmotioners. Common

drunJi^ards. Common ly ars. Of dice players. Double bene-

Jiced men. Of the Exchequer. Of flatterers. Fools. Fore-

stallers. Of godless men. Of idle persons. Inventers oj

strange news. Of laymen that take tithes. Lcasemongers,

Of merchants. Men that have divers offices. Of nice wives.

Of obstinate Papists. Of rent-raisers. Of vain writers.

OF KING EDWARD VI. 417

Vain talkers and vain hearers. Unsatiahle purchasers. CHAP.

Usurers. Whereby a notable insight is given into matters, ^^^

customs, and abuses of these times. But to give a taste of Anno 1550.

these epigrams, I refer the reader to the Repository. 00.
Now was the Vision of Pierse Plowman the second time Pierse

printed by the foresaid Crowley. To which were added ^^^™*"'

certain notes and quotations in the margin, giving light to

the reader. The book was very ancient, written in the reign

of King Edward III. For in the second side of the sixty-

eighth leaf mention is made of a dear year, John Chichester

being then Mayor of London, which was anno 1350. In

which time it pleased God to open the eyes of many to see

the truth ; giving them boldness of heart to open their

mouths, and cry out against the works of darkness, as did

WicklifF; who also in these days translated the holy Bible

into the mother tongue. The writer of this book, whoever

he was, in reporting certain visions and dreams that he

feigned himself to have had, did Christianly instruct the

weak, and sharply rebuke the obstinately blind. Nor was

there any manner of vice that reigned in any state or order

of men, which he did not learnedly and wittily lash. And

(of which much notice is wont to be taken) at the fiftieth

leaf something is writ by way of prediction of the fall of

abbeys. The printer Crowley, being a learned man, and

desirous to know the name of the author, and the time of

his writing, got together such ancient copies as he could

come by, and consulted such men as he knew to be more

exercised in the study of antiquity. And by some of them

he learnt the author's name was Langland, a Shropshire

man, born in Cleybury, about eight miles from Malvern

hills. And among the ancient copies, one was noted to be

written in the year MIIIICIX. The book is writ in metre,

but much different from the manner of our modern verse,

there being no rhithms or chiming of words ; but the na-

ture of the metre is, that three words at the least of each

verse begin with one and the same letter. As for example,

the two first verses of the book run upon the letter S, the

next upon H, and the next upon W ; viz.

VOL. TI. E e

418 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

In a Summer Season, when Set was the Sun

I Shope me into Shrobbs as a Shepe were.

In Habit as a Heremyt unHoly of werks

Wend Wyde in thys World Wonders to hear.

And again,
On a Mey Morning on Malvern hills,

Me beFel a Ferly of Fay in me thought, &c.

Now also John Marbeck, an excellent musician for church

music, once belonging to the choir at Windsor, now of the

King's chapel, published prayers and anthems, set by him

for the use of the said chapel, in quarto, printed by Grafton.

I shall not pretend to so much skill as to make observations

upon the compositions ; but I cannot but remark how in

the Office of Burial, the prayer there, after the corpse was

put into the earth, varied from our present Office: in that

prayer is made for the deceased, and the soul departed is

held to be in a middle state till the last judgment. For thus

it ran : " We commend into thy hands of mercy, most mer-

" ciful Father, the soul of this our brother departed, N. and

" his body we commit to the earth. Beseeching thine infi-

" nite goodness to give us grace to live in thy fear and love,

" and to die in thy favour : that when the judgment shall

<' come which thou hast committed to thy well-beloved Son,

" both this our brother and we may be found acceptable in

<' thy sight, and receive that blessing," &c. And then fol-

lows : " Almighty God, we give thee hearty thanks for thy

" servant whom thou hast delivered from miseries of this

<' wretched world, from the body of death and all tempta-

«« tion ; and, as we trust, hast brought his soul, which he com-

" mitted into thy holy hands, into sure consolation and rest ;

" grant, we beseech thee, that at the day of judgment his

" soul, and all the souls of thy elect departed out of this

" life, may with us, and we with them, fully receive thy

" promises, and be made perfect altogether, through the

" glorious resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

And again, after some psalms and versicles, this prayer :

" O Lord, with whom do live the spirits of them that be

" dead, and in whom the souls of them that be elected, after

OF KING EDWARD VI. 419

" they be delivered from the burthen of the flesh, be in joy CHAP.
" and felicity; grant unto this thy servant, that the sins '.
" which he committed in this world be not imputed unto^""<* ^^5*
" him, but that he, escaping the gates of hell, and the pains
" of eternal darkness, may ever dwell in the region of light
" with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the place where is
" no weeping, sorrow, nor heaviness. And when that
" dreadful day of the general resurrection shall come, make
" him to rise also with the just and righteous, and receive
" his body again to glory, then made pure and incorrup-
" tible : set him on the right hand of thy Son Jesus Christ,
" among the holy and elect. That then he may hear with
" them these most sweet and comfortable words, Come to
" me, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom which
" hath been prepared Jvr you from the beginning of the
" world. Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father,
^' through Jesus Christ our Mediator,"'"' &c.
Jug, citizen and stationer of London, had a hcence from (268)

the King, dated in January, or his sufficient deputies, to ^"g^Jj^Jj*,

print the New Testament in EngKsh, as well in great vo-Testamen

lumes as in small, for the space of certain years.

Cardinal Pole writ and finished, the thirteenth of the ca- Cardinal

lends of February, a book, De summo Pontifice Christi in

terris Vicario, &c. but not printed before the year 1569, at

Lovain.
Richard Smith, of Oxford, now set forth a book, D^DeCceii-

. rt , batu Sace
coslibatu sacerdotum, et votis monasticis contra Petrum ^^^^^^^

Martyrem, octavo : which he afterwards recanted in Lon-

don and Oxford.
But chiefly. Archbishop Cranmer's book must not beCranmer'

forgotten, published this year by him in octavo, entitled, A Sacramen

defence of the true and Catholic doctrine of the Sacrament

of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ: with a con-

futation of sundry errors concerning the same. Grounded

and established upon God'^s holy word, and approved by the

consent of the most ancient Doctors of the Church. Printed

by Reynold Wolf at London. The same book was after- j^^^^^^^.

ward printed in Latin at Embden, anno 1557. Of which ex- Hist, sa-
E e S

4S0 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL

BOOK cellent book, thus a foreigner writ, that hved in those times :
]^ Thomas Cranmerus prcBcipuos abusus misses PapisticcB li-
\..ino ibbo.hello Anglico confutavit^ ^c. Hoc scripto plurimi ad sanam

de Eucharistia doctrinam adducti su7it. That by this writ-

ing very many were brought to embrace the sound doctrine

concerning the sacrament, the author having therein con-

futed the chief abuses of the Popish mass.

Bishop The same year did Gardiner, late Bishop of Winchester,

i^rjuortheset forth a book in answer to the former, bearing this title :

tame sub- j^^ explication and assertion of the true Catholic faith^

touching the most blessed Sacrament of the Altar : with the

confutation of a hook written against the same. Printed

in France.
Now also did Bartholomew Traheron, a learned man, and

well studied in the divinity of the Gospel, and an exile for

religion under Queen Mary, set forth a book in folio of one

Vigon, a famous Itahan chirurgeon, translated by him out

of Latin into English, and printed by Edward Whitchurch.

It was entitled. The most excellent worhs of Chirurgery

made and set forth by Master John Vigon, Head Chirur^

geon of our time in Italy. The dedication was. To the

earnest favourer of all good and godly learning. Master

Richard Trade : beginning, " God, the mighty Governor

" of all things, long time sithence hath witnessed by that

" excellent prophet Moses, that for the transgression of his

" holy laws he would plague the people with sundry and

" grievous diseases. Howbeit our blindness hath been so

" great, that in the multitude of most filthy and shameful

" botches, sores, and other piteous maladies, we have not

" perceived how horrible a thing sin is, and how present

" vengeance the despising and neglecting of God"'s dread-

" ful commandments bringeth upon us : no, not when we

" have been burnt with fiery carbuncles, nor when our flesh

" hath been torn from the bones and eaten up with loath-

" some cankers : nor when we have been miserably tor-

" mented with the most filthy, pestiferous, and abominable

" disease, the French or Spanish pox. In these, I say, so

" manifest punishments of God for the outrageous trans-

OF KIJNCt EDVVAKD VI. 4^1

gression of his laws, we have not acknowledged the ex- CHAP

ceeding wickedness of our nature, neither have prayed for

" the holy Spirit of God, which might change and trans- ^^^n<> ^^

" form our corrupt birth, and create in us new hearts with (269)

*' the print of fear and humble reverence to God ward. Yea,

" we have been so far off from such a purpose, that some

"of us have bragged of our natural strengths to our own

" shame and confusion/'* Those filthy diseases, it seems,

were ripe in these days, and to these causes did good men

now deservedly attribute them; such need was there in these