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" Jesus Christ against them ; and God being against them. " He asked, in whom they had their trust ? He told them, " their trust was in flesh. So they forsook the blessing of " God, and heaped upon themselves his cursings. Male- " clictus homo, qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem bra- " chium mum, &c. What flesh is that, said he, you trust " unto ? Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester ! He " hath been a Saul, God make him a Paul. He hath been " a persecutor, God make him a faithful preacher. These " words so much offended, that he was not thought worthy " to enjoy the Queen's pardon. He flees. " Wherupon he was counselled by Master William " Thomas, late dark of King Edward's Council, for safe- " o-uard of his life, to flee. And so he came to Roan in " Normandy. Where he continued the space of two years; " and half a year he spent at Paris and Orleans. After " that, hearing of an English congregation in the city of " Geneva, he resorted thither with his wife and one of his " children : where he continued three years and somewhat " more. In the which city, I praise God, saith he, I did " se my Lord God most purely and truly honoured, and " sin most straitly punished. So it may be wel called, a holy UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 113 " city, a city of God. The Lord pour his blessings upon CHAP. " it, and continue his favour towards it, defending it against '_ " his enemies." Anno 1553. After the death of Queen Mary, in the happy beginning of Queen Elizabeth, he returned home. And all this I have laid together to preserve the memory of another eminent preacher of the Gospel, and to give some light into the times upon Queen Mary's access to the crown.
CHAP. VIII. 74 Sermons at Court this Lent. Brookes and Watson's ser- mons before the Queen ; printed. Accotmt of another sermon preached before her, to exasperate her against her Protestant subjects. JL O entertain the Queen's devotion this Lent, were set up Dr. Brook the learnedest men of the Popish persuasion, to preach be- before the fore her. Who then laboured to confirm the old supersti- Queen, tions, and threw all the dirt they could upon the late re- formation and reformed doctrines, and in the mean time, without all measure, extolling the Queen, even to blas- phemy. One of these preachers was James Brook, a Doc- tor of Oxford, and President of Baliol, and soon after Bi- shop of Glocester, and a busy man in these times. He preached before her upon the speech of Jairus to Christ, My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. These words he applied to the kingdom and Church of England, upon its defection from the Pope, even dead, before she [the Queen] came to reign, and, by her mighty influence, reviving and living again. This fine sermon was thought worthy printing soon after. But the Protestants took occasion to spend their cen- sures upon this discourse, saying, herein he made himself to be Jairus the ruler of the synagogue, England to be his daughter, and the Queen to be Christ. Another of these preachers was Thomas Watson, D. D. VOL. III. 1 114 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP. Master of St. John's college in Cambridge, and after Bishop of Lincoln, an austere, or rather a sour and churlish man, Anuo 15 53. acC ording to Godwin's character of him. He preached before the Queen the third and fifth Fridays in Lent : who gave himself this task, to prove the real presence in the sa- crament, and that the mass was the sacrifice of the New Hissermons Testament. His two sermons he printed soon afterwards : prm e ' which remaining unanswered fifteen years, the Papists built much upon, as thinking them not answerable by those of the contrary persuasion. And such an opinion had they s of the profound learning of this Doctor, that whatsoever was known of his doing, was thought to be so learnedly done, that none could be found among the Protestants able to answer any part thereof. Answered Whereupon, in the year 1569, Robert Crowley, that had Crowley. » een an exue in tnis Queen's reign, and afterwards minister of Cripplegate, London, undertook to answer these ser- mons : which, he said, he the rather did, because he knew some Papists that could not be yet persuaded that the Po- pish Church could err; and also uttered their minds freely, that the Protestant doctrine concerning the presence of Christ in the sacrament, and concerning the sacrifice of the mass, was erroneous and false: which he perceived they were chiefly persuaded of by those sermons. And he add- ed, that he knew some, that did even hunger and thirst to 75 see what might be said to the contrary of that which they were yet persuaded in. Crowley, in his book, sets down Watson's sermons verbatim, and taking them throughout piece by piece, answereth each paragraph. In which he took especial care, as he tells us, to consider the authorities that were alleged, with the circumstances; setting down the same at large to be seen ; that all might weigh them, and judge whether Watson applied them right. And by the like or greater authority, Crowley answered all that the other had laboured to confirm, either by the Scriptures or ancient Fathers.
among the Papists, I will here give a taste of them. In UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 115 one of them he had these words: " Seeing a sacrifice is an CHAP. " outward protestation of our inward faith and devotion, if '__ " we Christen men have no sacrifice private unto us, then be Anno 155S - " we the most miserable men that ever were, being without "Jj;* 11 so J { " any kind of religion. For take away our sacrifice, and T. Watson, " take away our religion. As St. Cyprian, confuting the ^ rm ' De " carnal thoughts of the Capernaits, that thought they Coma. " should have eaten Christ's flesh either roasted or sod, and " so should have consumed it to nothing, writeth thus: " Cum illius persona caro> si in frusta partiretur, non " omni humano generi posset sufficere ; qua semel con- " sumpta videretur religio interisse, cui nequaquam ulte- " rius victima superesset: i. e. Seeing that if the flesh of " his person were divided into pieces, it could not suffice " all mankind to eat upon ; which flesh, after it were once " clean wasted and consumed, our religion might likewise " seem to perish and be destroyed, which had no more any " sacrifice remaining. Whereupon I conclude, that if we " have not Christ's body and blood present in the sacra- " ment for our external sacrifice, whereby we may mitigate " and please Almighty God, and obtain remission of sin, " and spiritual grace and gifts ; then should we be no bet- " ter than the Turks; seeing all nations from the begin- " ning of the world, both Gentiles and Jews, have had one " kind of outward sacrifice, to declare and express their in- " ward devotion and religion, either to the true God of " heaven, or to such as they fantasied or feigned to be " gods ; saving only the Turks, (as Petrus Cluniacensis " writeth.) Whereby it appeareth, that this sect that de- " nieth and destroy eth the mass, which is the sacrifice of ** the Church, is verily the sect of Mahomet, preparing a " way for the Turk to overrun all Christendom, as he hath " done a great piece already." This was a home stroke indeed, against all those that opposed the Papal mass : that let their other qualifications be what they will, let them be- lieve in Jesus Christ, and hope to be saved by him, let them own all the articles of the Creed, and believe and live according to the holy Scriptures; yet they are Christians
116 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, no longer, but mere Turks, and are laying a plot for the _______ great Turk to overrun Christendom. And why so? That Anno I553.f ]] 0ws: " For what could the Turk do more against our faith, if " he did overcome us, beside our thraldom and tyrannical " oppression, but, as these men do now, to take away our " sacraments and sacrifice, and to leave us nothing but the " bare name of Christ ; and if there be any good man, that " hath true religion in his heart, to compel him to keep it " within him, that he shall not express it outwardly?' 1 As if there were no way to express outwardly true religion lying in the heart, but by the mass. So that if there were 76 no mass, there could be no external religion. But our preacher goes on. " And, in very deed, divers notable and " godly writers, at this day, call this heresy against the sa- " crifice of the Church, which Luther first began, and most " maintained, by this name, secta Mahumetica, the sect of " Mahomet."" This was good doctrine to be preached to the Queen upon her first entrance to her kingdom ; to en- venom her heart against her Protestant subjects, and to dis- pose her to shed their blood, and to make havock of them, without favour or mercy; as being no better than mere Turks, and such as had renounced their Christianity. Soon after, speaking of the doctrine of Christ's body to be really present in the blessed sacrament, he declared, that iiiid.p.44. there were three things that held him in this faith; " the " manifest and plain Scripture, the uniform authorities of " holy men, and the consent of the universal Church. " These three be the arguments, that a Christen man may " stick unto, and never be deceived ; especially if they be " knit and joined together concerning one matter : but, if " they be separate, then some of them be but weak staves " to lean unto. As for example, the Scripture, without the " consent of the Church, is a weapon as meet for an heretic " as for a Catholic."" [Is not this as much as to say, that the Scripture is as fit to confirm heresy, as it is to confirm catholic truth ?] " For Arius, Nestorius, and such other " heretics, did allege the Scriptures for their opinions, as
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 117 " the Catholics did. But their alleging was but the abus- CHAP. " ing of the letter; which is indifferent to good and evil.'" VI11, [as though the letter of the sacred word of God would as Anno 1553. indifferently admit of an evil sense, as of a good ; which certainly is reflection bad enough upon the holy writers, and Spirit of God that inspired them,] " and depraving " of the true sense: which is only known by the tradition " and consent of the catholic Church. So that the one " without the other is not a direction, but a seduction to a " simple man. 1 ' [Then let all take heed of reading the word of God, as they would avoid being seduced.] " Be- " cause the very Scripture indeed is not the bare letter, as " it lieth to be taken of every man, but the true sense, " as it is delivered by the universal consent of Christ's " Church/'' Which words do effectually destroy the autho- rity of the Scriptures, and make them useless, since we cannot understand any thing in them, until we first know what sense the universal Church of Christ puts upon them. And how shall we come to know that ? How difficult to understand, how the universal Church interprets each place? Must we go to the ancient Fathers and ecclesias- tical writers, to learn the Church's sense ? That is not a safe way neither, according to our preacher, who goes on thus :
" they be but the mind of one man, without the consent of " other, were he never so well learned and virtuous other- " wise ; yet his writings, I say, in that point, be not a con- " firmation for an ignorant man, to hold him in the truth, " but a temptation to seduce him and pull him from the " truth. 11 So that here is a great work done by this man in a few lines. Scriptures and Fathers are rendered use- less, nay, and very dangerous; for it is an hundred to one they lead you into error and heresy, if you read them, and pull you from the truth. But what must the poor man do now, that would fain know the truth ? Why, believe as the 77 Church believes. For this is the sense of that which fol- lows :
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" very pillar of truth, whether it be in things expressed in Anno j 553." the letter of the Scripture, or in things delivered unto us " by tradition of the Apostles. He that holdeth him by " this staff, cannot fall in faith, but stand in truth." But we are left in the briars as much as before : for, how shall we know what the consent of the Church is ? After he had laboured, by authority of Scripture and Fathers, to prove the carnal presence, he thus proceeds: Ibid. p. 148. " These Scriptures, and these effects brought out of the " Scriptures, and confirmed by many manifest authorities " of the holy Fathers, do prove evidently to any man that " hath but common wit, and any sparkle of grace, and is " not forsaken of Almighty God, that the substance of this " sacrament is neither bread nor wine, but only the body " and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, united to God's Son " in unity of person. Which is a sufficient cause, able to " work in the worthy receiver these heavenly and glorious " effects, which I have spoken of already. " Whereby it appeareth, what moveth me to continue " still in that faith, which is so expressly taught in holy " Scripture. Which Scripture also draweth and pulleth " me from the contrary false opinion. In divers places it " moveth me, and all Christen men, to beware and take " heed of false prophets, that come in the apparel of sheep, " but within they be ravenous wolves : that in their mouths " have the word of God, their truth, and Gospel, and such " g a y words ; but the pit and effect of their teaching is " old rotten heresies, confuted and condemned of all Chris- " tendom before ; and not God's word : the name whereof " they abuse to the maintenance of all vice, error, beastly " living, adultery, disobedience, sacrilege, and open con- " spiracy, to the subversion of themselves, and of that state " under which they live. r, Thus was it the care of these bloody-minded men, the Romish clergy, to irritate the Queen, by these slanders and false accusations of her peace- able subjects, the Gospellers, to proceed in all manner of rigour and cruelty against them.
UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 119 " The Scripture crieth,'" added he, " Nolite omni spiritui CHAP. " credere ; Believe not every spirit, but try and prove the ^__ " spirits if they be of God, or no: for many false prophets Ann0 1553 - " are abroad in the world. One way to try them is, to l Jobn " mark the end of their conversation, and the example and " fruit of their lives : as St. Paul saith, Quorum exitum " conversationis intuentes, eorum imitamini jidem : Follow " their faith, the end of whose conversation ye have seen. " We have seen what is the end of this new teaching ; car- " nal and detestable living, conspiracy and treason.' 1 Lay- ing Wyats rebellion to their charge most falsely : for they generally disowned it, and refused to have any hand in it. " The other Fathers of whom we learned our faith, were " men whom the corrupt Avorld was not worthy to have. " These authors of this new opinion were men that were " not worthy to have and enjoy the world :"" [but by all means, if he had his will, to be executed, as malefactors and villains, out of the way :] "of whom St. Peter writeth, " Magistri mendaces, and so forth : Lying masters, that 2 Pet. ii. " bring in sects of perdition, and deny that Lord that " bought them, (as they do in this matter of the sacrament,) 78 " bringing upon them a speedy perdition. And many shall "follow their ways ; through whom the way of truth shall " be slandered and blasphemed; and in covetousness, by " feigned words, they shall make merchandise of you ; to " whom judgment ceaseth not, and their destruction ceaseth " not.' 1 '' Applying, out of his charity, unto the professors of the reformed religion, a place of Scripture spoken of the very worst of heretics, apostates from the profession of Christ, and sunk into all manner of immorality and unclean- ness.
" He that remainetli and abidctli in the doctrine, (that the " Apostles taught,) he hath the Father and the Son. If " any come to you, not bringing this doctrine, do not re- " ceive him into yonr houses. Here he doth teach us to " avoid them that profess any other doctrine than such as " all faithful men throughout the world have received and
120 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL CHAP, "profess: which is not the doctrine the sacramentaries " preach." Whereas there is no particular doctrine meant Anno 1553. in that place, but in general the doctrine of Christ. Vid.v.9. u Finally, considering the promises of Christ to his " Church, that he will be with them to the world's end, and " that the Holy Ghost shall lead them into all truth ; then " may we justly say, that if this our faith be an error, it "hath prevailed universally; not one hundred year, but " two, three, four, yea, a thousand year, and more than " that, even to the ascension of Christ, as appeareth by the " testimonies of all holy writers. And then may we say, " Lord, if we be deceived, thou hast deceived us. We " have believed thy word ; we have followed the tradition. " of the universal Church ; we have obeyed the determina- " tions and teachings of those bishops and pastors whom " thou hast placed in the Church, to stay us in unity of " faith, that we be not carried away with every wind of " false doctrine. Therefore, if we be deceived, it cometh " of thee, O Lord. Our error is invincible." Thus men flatter themselves in their own opinions, and are ready, pre- sumptuously, to lay their follies to God's charge. But it is well he comes in, in the next words, with an epanortho- sis : " But, good people, we are sure God deceiveth no man. " Let us all beware we do not deceive ourselves, as St. " James saith." And let those especially beware they do not deceive themselves, that are most confident they are not deceived. Of which number, surely, was this confident Doctor.
masses!* & Queen with in his first sermon. In his second sermon he laboured, among other things, to prove private masses : and, towards the close, hath an argument far fetched, which few
" vil once condemned those masses, and called them horrible " idolatry. But the devil being a great liar; therefore, " those masses were good, and no idolatry." And that this was the devil's judgment of masses, the preacher had it from Luther himself. " Therefore," he said, " Luther had UNDER QUEEN MARY I. 121 " learned this lesson from the devil : and that he had once CHAP. " a vision of the devil, and saw him with his corporal eyes, " being waking: and that of him he learned all that he had Anno 1553. " so pestilently spoken against the holy mass." And for the proving these surprising assertions to his auditors, in great ostentation, the Doctor pulled out Luther's book, which he wrote against private masses, and there fell to reading out of it, how Luther related of himself, that one night sud- denly awaking, Satan began a disputation with him, setting 79 before him the greatness of his sin, for having said private masses for almost fifteen years daily ; and putting the case to him, what a sinner he must needs have been, if such pri- vate masses were horrible idolatry, and if the body and blood of Christ were not present there, having then given divine honour to bare bread and wine: intending hereby to tempt Luther to despair of God's mercy. But hence Watson concluded, that the devil was the first that ever barked against the sacrifice of the Church ; and that the mass was good, because the devil found fault with it ; and that it must be a lie to charge it with idolatry, because the father of lies so charged it. But may not the devil suggest a truth, as he once quoted a place of Scripture to Christ, when it may serve his turn the better to lay his temptation ? As he said all this truth against private masses iu Lvther, to bring him into despair of God's mercy, for having so long lived in idolatry. But, said Luther, piously, to these suggestions of the devil, (as Dr. Watson then read out of the aforesaid book,) " I will not despair, as Judas did, but " amend that I have done amiss, and never say private mass " again." And now, at length, what is become of this notable argument of the Doctor's for mass, fetched from the devil's temptation of Luther? But I am sensible I have been too prolix in this matter : for which I beg the reader's par- don ; being willing to shew, what pains the Popish clergy took by these chapel entertainments, to make the Queen as bigoted as themselves. Nor needed she this whetting, hav- ing shewn her zeal to religion, or her anger rather towards 122
MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL
Part of an other Po- pish ser- mon.
CHAP, the professors of the true religion, by clapping up so many already as she had done. Anno 1553. Many sermons of this sort were preached in the begin- ning of this reign among the people ; and transubstantiation Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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