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*' England, through such, beg now from door to door, v.ho
136 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK " have kept honest houses. — These,'' he added, " had such *^' " quick smelling hounds, that they could live at London, Anno 1653." and turn men out of their farms and tenements an hun- " dred, some two hundred miles off. Oh ! Lord, what a " number of such oppressors, worse than Ahab, are in Eng- *' land, zohich sell the poor for a pinr of slwcs^ Amos ii. *' Of whom, if God should serve but three or four as he " did Ahab, to make the dogs lap the blood of them, their " wives and posterity, I think it would cause a great num- " ber to beware of extortion : and yet escaping temporal " punishments, they are sure, by God's word, their blood " is reserved for hell-hounds, England hath had alate some *' terrible examples of God's wrath, in sudden and strange " deaths of such as join field to field, and house to house. *' Great pity they were not chronicled, to the terror of " others." Their But in the mean time, these mighty and great men said, pretences. ^^ ^^^^^ ^j^^ commonalty lived too well at ease : they grew " every day to be gentlemen, and knew not themselves : " their horns must be cut shorter, by raising their rents, and " by fines, and by plucking away their pastures." The gentry And hereby the commonalty came to hate the gentry : for " they murmured, and grudged, and said, that the gen- " tlemen had all ; and there were never so many gentlemen *' and so little gentleness. And by their natural logic they " would reason, how these two conjitgata, these yoke-fel- " lows, gentlemen and gentleness, should be banished so far " asunder. And they laid all the misery of the common- " wealth upon the gentlemen's shoulders." Gold In fine, to this pass had covctousness brought the nation, that every man scraped and pilled from other ; every man would suck the blood of others; every man encroached upon another. It cut away the large wings of charity, and plucked all to herself. She had chested all the old gold in England, and much of the new : which made the foresaid preacher add, " that she had brought it to pass, that there ** was never more idolatry in England than at that day ; " but the idols were hid, and came not abroad. Alas ! no- bated.
hoarded.
OF KING EDWARD VL 137 " ble Prince, said he, (turninnj his speech to the King,) that c H A P. • \VI1T " the images of your ancestors, graven in gold, and yours "also, contrary to your mind, are worshipped as gods : Anuo 1553. "and all the poor lively images of Christ perish in the 442 *' streets through hunger and cold." Many murders were in this reign also committed ; and Murders. the murderers too often escaped, by the favour and affection of the judges. One of the King's searchers executing his office, displeased a merchantman ; insomuch, that when lie was doing his office, they were at words. The merchant- man threatened him. The searcher said, the King should not lose his custom. The merchant goes home and sharpens his woodknife, and comes again, and knocks him on the head, and kills him. This was winked at: they looked through their fingers, and would not see it. " Whether," saith Latymer, according to his coarse style, " it be taken *' up with a pardon or no, I cannot tell ; but this I am " sure, and if ye bear with such matters, the Devil shall " bear you away to hell.''"' But these words of Latymer gave offence, as reflecting upon the merchants reputation, and his friends, when this searcher's death, they said, was but a kind of chance-medley. But he understanding this, the next Lord's-day took notice of it, and said, " he in- " tended not to impair any man's estimation or honesty, " and that they that enforced it to that, enforced it not to his " meaning : considering, he said, he heard but of such a " thing : and according as he heard, so he took occasion to " say, that no man should bear with another, to the main- *' tenance of voluntary and prepensed murder." Of which sort, notwithstanding their mincing the matter into chance- medley, he supposed the fact was. " He knew not, he said, " what they called chance-medley in the law, for that was " not his study ; but he knew what voluntary murder was " before God. If I shall fall out with a man, he is angry *' with me, and I with him, and lacking opportunity and " place, we put it off for that season. In the mean time I " prepare my weapon, and sharpen it against another time ; " I swell and boil in this passion towards him ; I seek him,
138 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK " we meddle together. It is my chance, by reason my wea- ^^' " pon is better than his, and so forth, to kill him. I give Anno 1553." him his death's stroke in my vengeance and anger. This " call I voluntary murder by Scripture ; what it is in the " law, I cannot tell."" And this, it seems, was the true state of the case between the merchant and the searcher.
panneled. The man had friends, the sheriff laboured the bench. The twelve men stuck at it, and said, except they would disburse twelve crowns, they would find him guUty. Means were found that the twelve crowns were paid : the quest came in, and said, Not guilty. But it was observed, that some of the bench were afterwards hanged, as a judg- ment of God upon them for perverting justice. Another murderer was a woman, that brought forth three bastard children at a birth. She wrung their necks, and cast them into a water, and so killed her children. But being ar- raigned at the bar for it, she was brought in, Not guMty^ though her neighbours, upon suspicion, caused her to be examined, and she granted all. But the judge was biibed. And yet at the same sessions a poor woman was hanged for stealing a few rags off an hedge, that were not worth a crown. Another time a gentleman was indicted for mur- der : this man was a professor of the word of God, and 443 fared, probably, the worse for that. He was cast into pri- son, but persisted in it that he had no hand in that murder; yet he was arraigned at the bar for it, and condemned. Suit was made for his pardon, but it could not be gotten ; the sheriffs, or some others, bare him no good-will, and he died for it. Afterward Latymer, being in the Tower, and hav- ing leave to come to the lieutenant''s table, heard him say, that a man was hanged afterward, that killed the same man for whom this gentleman was put to death.
of d'lTorccs ; especially among the richer sort. Men would be divorced from their wives, with Avhom they had lived many years, and by whom they had children, that they OF KING EDWARD VI. 139 might satisfy their lusts with other women, whom they be- CHAP, gan to like better than their own present wives. That * which gave occasion also to these divorces was, the covet- Anno 1553. ousness of the nobility and gentry, who used often to marry their children when they were young, boys and girls ; that they might join land to land, possession to possession, nei- ther learning, nor virtuous education, nor suitableness of tempers and dispositions regarded : and so, when the mar- ried persons came afterwards to be grown up, they disliked many times each other, and then separation and divorce, and matching to others that better liked them, followed ; to the breach of espousals, and the displeasure of God,
had especially stained the last reign, and introduced them- selves into this; and prevailed so much, that the compilers of the book of Homilies thought convenient to frame one homily against whoredom and adultery ; which, how it spread, and what sense was then generally had of it, may appear by the beginning of that homily: " That though *' there were great swarms of vices worthy to be rebuked, " yet above all other vices, the outrageous seas of adultery, " or breaking of wedlock, whoredom, fornication, and un- " cleanness, have burst in, and overspread all the world : " and that it was grown to such an height, that in a man- " ner among some it was counted no sin at all, but rather " a pastime, a dalliance ; not rebuked, but winked at ; not " punished, but laughed at. Therefore the homily was com- " posed to declare the greatness of this sin ; how odious and *' abominable before God and all good men ; how griev- " ously it hath been punished, both by the law of God and " divers princes : and to shew a certain remedy to escape *' this detestable sin." In the second part of this homily the writer speaks of divorces, that then were so common, and shewed the occasion of them : " Of this vice [of whore- *' dom] cometh a great part of the divorces, which nowa- " days be so common, accustomed, and used by men's pri- " vate authority, to the great displeasure of God, and the *' breach of the most holy knot and band of matrimony. 140 MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK *' For when this most detestable sin is once so crept into the " breast of the adulterer, so that he is entangled with un- Anno 1553." lawful and unchaste love, straightway his true and lawful " wife is despised, her presence is abhorred, her company *' stinketh and is loathsome, whatsoever she doth is dis- " praised : there is no quietness in the house so long as she " is in sight. Therefore, to make short work, she must *' away, for her husband can brook her no longer. Thus " through whoredom is the honest and harmless wife put 444 " away, and a harlot received in her stead. And in like " manner it happeneth many times in the wife towards her " husband."
greatest stiffness one against another, was another vice in this reign. Which was the cause of framing another ho- mily, viz. against contention and brawling. " For too many " there were," as that homily expresseth it, " which upon *' the ale-bench, or other places, delighted to set forth certain " questions, not so much pertaining to edification, as to " vainglory, and shewing forth their cunning ; and so un- " soberly to reason and dispute, that when neither part " would give place to other, they fall to chiding and con- " tention ; and sometimes from hot Avords to further incon- " venience." Lawsuits. It was a contentious age, and people seemed to quarrel for trifles, and often would run to the law to vex each other. One lawsuit was commenced upon this ridiculous occasion. The owner of an horse told his friend, that he should have him, if he would. The other asked the price. He said, twenty nobles. The other would give him but four pounds. The owner said, he should not have it tlien. But the other claimed the horse, because he said he should have it, if he would. This bargain became a Westminster matter. The lawyers got twice the value of the horse : " and when all " came to all, two fools made an end of the matter," as La- tymer, according to his manner of speaking, told the King in one of his sermons.
OF KING EDWARD VI. 141 The clergy also were now generally very bad, from the CHAP. bishops to the curates. As to the bishops, though some of _____ them were learned and conscientious, yet the rest, and the Anno 1553. greater part, were such, that there could be no good dis-'^^^^ '^^"^^' cipl'me exercised for the restraint of sin, and for the due correction of swearing, rioting, neglect of God''s word, and other scandalous vices. Of the need of discipline^ and of the Discipline, danger or insignificancy of committing it to the bishops, the good King was very sensible ; as appears by that wise discourse of his, which he wrote, I suppose, in the year 1552. Wherein he saith, " that it were very good that dis- " cipline Avent forth, so that those that should be the " executors of it were men of tried honesty, wisdom, and " judgment. But because those bishops, who should exe- " cute it, some for Papistry, some for ignorance, some for " age, some for their ill name, some for all these, are men " unable to execute discipline, it is therefore a thing un- *' meet for these men. Wherefore it were necessary, that " those that be appointed to be bishops, were honest in life, " and learned in their doctrine ; that by rewarding such " men, others might be allured to follow their good life." Therefore for the present, he resolved to set up discipline, and yet to keep it out of the hands of ill bishops. As one of this King's memorials for religion, wrote in October 1552, assures us ; wherein he made a memorandum " for " commissions to be granted to those bishops that were " grave, learned, wise, sober, and of good religion, for the " executing of discipline." And the bishops had exercised so much dominion and rigour, and been such Papalins^ that the very name of bishop grew odious among the people, and the word superintendent began to be affected, Bishops and come in the room ; and the rather, perhaps, being a perinten- word used in the Protestant churches of Germany. This'^'^"*^- the Papists made sport with. But see what favourable con- "^^ struction one, ^\\\o was a bishop himself, put upon this prac- tice, and the reason he assigned hereof. And why. " Who knoweth not that the name bishop hath been so Ponet in " abused, that when it was spoken, the people understood o^^ia/un im MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK " nothing else but a great lord, that went in a white ro- " chet, with a wide shaven crown, and that carried an oil- Anno 1553. " box with him, wherewith he used once in seven years, rid- '* ing about, to confirm children, &c. Now, to bring the *' people from this abuse, what better means can be de- *' vised than to teach the people their error by another '' word out of the Scripture of the same signification. AVhich *' thing, by the term superintendent, would in time have " been well brought to pass: for the ordinary pains of such " as were called superintendents, to understand the duty of " their bishops, which the Papists would fain have hidden " from them ; and the word superintendent being a very '* Latin word, made English by us, should in time have *' taught the people, by the very etymology and proper " signification, what thing was meant, when they heard " that name, which by this term bishop could not so well " be done ; by reason that bishops, in time of Popery, were '* overseers in name, but not in deed. I deny not, as that " notable man proceeded, that that name bishop may be " well taken ; but because the evilness of the abuse hath " marred the goodness of the word, it cannot be denied but " that it was not amiss to join for a time another word with *' it in his place, whereby to restore that abused word to his *' right signification. And the word superintendent is such *' a name, that the Papists themselves (saving such as lack " both learning and wit) cannot find fault withal."" And then he quoted Peresius the Spaniard, and an arch Papist, out of whom Martin had stolen a great part of his book ; who, speaking of a bishop, saith, Primtim episcopi munus nomen ipsiim pra se Jert, quod est superintcndere. Epi- scopics enim superintendens interpretatur. So Ponet. To Tindai's ex- the same purpose Tindal before him, in his notes upon that Esl.ol'," "* ^" Timothy, He that dcsireth the office of a bishop, de- sireth a good xvork : " Bishop,''"' saith he, "is as much as to " say, a seer to, or a taker heed to, or an overseer; which, " when he desireth to feed Christ's flock with the food of *' liealth, tliat is, with his holy word, as the bishops did in *' Paul's time, desireth the good work, and the very office
OF KING EDWARD VI. 143 " of a bishop. But he that desireth honour, gapeth for lucre, C H AP. " thirsteth for great rents and heart's ease, castles, parks, • " lordships, earldoms, &c. desireth not a good work, and is Anno 1553 " nothing less than a bishop, as St. Paul here understands " a bishop."
ill lives. The people in many places did withhold their tithes from them ; and the reason they gave was, because their curates, some were ignorant, and some were idle, and took little care and pains in their cures, and many of them so intolerably bad, lazy, and wicked, that the parishioners oftentimes complained, and brought informations against them to the bishops of the dioceses, nay, to the Council. They would ordinarily say, " Our curate is naught, an " assehcad, a dodipot, a lack-latine, and can do nothing. " Shall I pay him tith, that doth us no good, nor none " will do .'*" The fault of this lay much in patrons : many whereof would choose such curates for their souls, as they might call fools, rather than such as would rebuke their 446 covetousness, ambition, unmercifulness, and uncharitable- ness ; that would be sober, discreet, apt to reprove, and re- sist the gainsayers with the word of God. Another evil in Chantry the clergy nowadays was, that chantry priests, out of ^^^^ ^' good husbandry, to save the King a little money, were taken into dignities and places ecclesiastical ; who generally were persons addicted to the old superstitions, notwithstand- ing their outward compliance. For these, when put out of their places, had pensions allowed them for their sub- sistence. But as King Henry, to save his pensions, pre- ferred these abbots and priors of dissolved monasteries to bishoprics, and other good places in the Church, however otherwise unqualified sometimes ; so now, under King Ed- ward, there were whisperings of saving much money that way, which went out in pensions to the chantry priests, the chantries having been given by the Parliament to this Kino;.
ing themselves so nnich into secular offices, to the great neg- ^'J^ take secular aces.
144. MEMORIALS ECCLESIASTICAL BOOK lect of their respective cures. For as it was in King Hen- ry ""s days, so it continued in King Edward's, that many of Anno 1553. the prelates and inferior clergy were constituted in secular employments : which the soberer part of the nation much disliked; because by this means their flocks were left with- out due care of them. They lived in such high state, and in so much grandeur, as did not become such as were de- voted to God and the Church. Many occupied in the King's affairs; some were ambassadors; and some of the Privy Council ; and some furnished the Court ; and some were presidents ; [so was Lee, bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, A priest president of Wales;] and one, comptroller of the mint: of tlie mint which stuck SO mucli in old Latymer's crop, that in a ser- mon preached in the shrouds at St. Paul's, he exclaimed against them all, but especially against this comptroller: " Should we," said he, " have ministers of the Church to " be comptrollers of the mint ? Is this a meet office for a " priest that hath cure of souls.? I would here ask one " question ; I would fain know, who comptrolleth the Devil " at home in his parish, while he comptrolleth the mint? " If the Apostle might not leave his office of preaching to " be deacon, shall one leave it for minting ? I cannot tell " you, but the saying is, that since priests have been " minters, money hath been worse than it was before ; and " they say, that the illness of money hath made all things " dearer." The igno- But the reason of this placing religious men in secular noi)iiity offices was, indeed, because the laity, both nobility and made it ne- gentry. Were not fit for such places. They were bred up in prefer tiie SO much iguoraucc and idleness, that the King was forced '^'•"''gy- to employ the clergy, among whom was the learning and the best abilities. And this made the foresaid good old fa- ther again to upbraid England for their nobility. " Eng- " land, I speak it to thy shame, is there never a nobleman " to be lord president, but it must be a prelate .'' Is there " never a Avise man in the realm to be comptroller of the " mint.''" Then he asketh this question, " Why are not " the noblemen and young gentlemen of England brought
OF KING EDWARD VI. 145 '* up in a knowledge of God, and in learning, that they CHAP. " may be able to execute offices in the commonweal .'''''' He -^^^^^' advised, " that as the King had a great many wards, that Anno 1553. " there might be a schox>l for the wards, as well as there is 447 *' a court for their lands. He was for their being set to " school, and sent to universities, that they might be able " to serve the King when they came to age. The benefit " of this would be, that the gentry would not give them- *' selves so much to vanity ; and the common people would " be better : for they were bad by following them. There- " fore he exhorted much to have teachers and school- " masters set up, and encouraged by stipends worthy their " pains. He would have them brought up in logic, in rhe- " toric, in philosophy, in the civil law, and especially in the " word of God." Thus it was in the latter part of the reign of King The nobi- Henry ; but since King Edward came to the crown, these jo^e^^^" Yüklə 12,09 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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