II. delyvered to hym, or to any other, or to whom, or what BOOK shold be done with them, or what was the effect of them, I do not remember that I heard hym rede that: neyther, to my knowlege, was that expressyd in the letter. Then, as I remember, he sayd, certeyn persons, namyng none; whereof there shold be one or two Jesuytes, as I remember, which shold come and do the countrey good, not namyng the countrey by name. And fynally, then he sygnyfyed, that a grett man, and a xx Jewes or Turkes, or Jewes and Turkes, were there chrystenyd. The letter I dyd not rede; neyther ever dyd see any the persons mencyoned, savyng my prison fellows. of Which letter before Mr. Hare had red yt to the full end, Mr. Downes seeyng them styll scoffyng at hym for his honorable receyving, (my self saying to hym, God send thee honestie, and let honour go,) did take yt of Mr. Hare, and sodenly threw yt into the fyre, and burnt yt. Which after Mr. Hare and I had told hym, that yt was to be detected and disclosyd, he repentyd: who in my conscience dyd not rede a word thereof, after he came into the chamber. Whereupon he and we beyng sorry that he had so rashly burnt yt, we callyd to our remembrance every man, what the effect of the letter was. And so did truly and plainly set yt down in wrytyng, accordyng to every man's knowledge. And was not quyett, tyl we had sent notice thereof to my lord. Which we dyd with all spede; without the advice, counsel, or pryvitie of any other person; voluntarily, and of our own minds: desyrous to shew our selves such subjects, as we have and do professe our selves to be: that ys to saye, not wylling to conceale any thyng which may prejudice the state, and be hurtful to thys our natural countrey of England. Of the which we agnise Elyzabeth to be our sove-142 raigne and lawful quene; and we her obedyent vassals and subjects: beseeching Almyghty God to preserve and defend her from al enemyes, foreyne or domestical. Amen. Your dayle orator, Roger Martyn. BOOK MSS. Burg. Number XXIX. A trewe note of certen artycles, confessed and allowed by Mr. D. Feckenam, as well in Christmas holiedays last past, as also at divers other tymes before that; by conference in lerning before the reverend father in God, the bisshoppe of Elye, and before D. Perne, dean of Elye, master Nicholas, master Stanton, master Crowe, Mr. Bowler, chapleines to my lord of Elye: and divers others, whose names be here subscribed. FIRST, That he doth believe in his conscience, and before God, that the xiiii. chapter of the First to the Corinthes is as truly to be understanded of the common service to be good in the mother tongue, to be understanded of the vulgar people, as of the preaching or prophesying in the mother tonge. Secondly, That he doth find no fault with any thinge that is set forth in the book of common service now used in the church of England: but his desyre is to have all the rest of the ould service, that was taken out, to be restored agayne: as the prayer to the saincts, and for the dead, and the seven sacraments, and external sacrifice: and then he would most willingly come thereto. He liketh well to have the sacrament ministred under both kinds to the layepeople; so it were done by the aucthoritie of the church. Thirdly, He doth very well allowe of the interpretation of the othe for the quenes majesty her supremacie, as it is interpreted in her highness Injunctions; that is, that the quenes majesty under God have the soveraintie and rule over all manner of persons, born within these her realmes, dominions, and countries, of what estate, either ecclesiastical or temporal soever they be. The which othe he offereth himself to be at all tymes readie most willinglie to receave, whensoever it shall be demanded of him by aucthoritie. Fourthly, He being demaunded, whie he wyl not come to the service in the churche of England, as it is set forth this day, seing he doth find no fault with it, and doth think it in his conscience, that it may be lawful to have the II. Common Prayer in the mother tonge: he answered, Be- BOOK cause he is not of our church for lack of unitie; some being therein protestants, some puritanes, and some of the familie of love. And for that it is not set forth by the authoritie of general councill. Lastly, Mr. D. Feckneham will not conforme himselfe to our religion, for that he can see nothing to be sought, but by the spoyle of the church, and of bisshoppes houses, and of colleges landes: which he sayth maketh manye to pretend to be puritanes, seking for the frutes of the church. Alwayes requesting Almighty God to put in her majesties mind, and her honorable councell to make some good stay therein; otherwise, he saythe, it will bringe in ignorance 143 in her highnesses clergie, with a subversion of Christiane religion; and finally, all wickedness and paganisme. Richard Ely, Andrew Perne, Gulihelmus Stanton, John Fecknam, priest. [Number XXIX.] Radulphus Gualter to Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury; concerning a purpose in the synod at Frankford, of framing a general confession of all the protestant churches; and an harmony of confessions. ecclesiasticor. pere me. S. In Germania passim [dissensiones] dat con- Epist. MSS. cordiæ formula, quam Jacobus Andreæ, Brentii successor, et ubiquitatis apostolus, cum suis conjuratis, cudit: et cui grinor. pen. tres electores principes, Saxo, Palatinus, et Brandeburgiensis, cum multis aliis, subscripserunt. Opponunt sese constanter illustrissimus princeps Hessorum Guilhelmus, et Anhaldinus. Octobri mense inter trium electorum legatos et Guilhelmum Hessum acerrima actio fuit Cassellis. Cui Jacobus Andreæ etiam et Chelnitius theologi interfuerunt. Sed virum sese præbuit Hessus; neque se a sententia, et semel suscepto veritatis patrocinio dimoveri passus est. In BOOK terea ex synodi Francofordianæ, quæ anno 1577. mense Septembri habita fuit, decreto, confessionem fidei communem scripsit vir doctissimus Hieronym. Zanchus, quam D. Beza et nos [ecclesiæ Helvetiorum] examinare debebamus: ut, postea ab aliarum quoque gentium ecclesiis cognosceretur. Quia vero D. Zanchus, dum multa diligentius more scholastico persequitur; neque brevitati, neque perspicuitati studere potuit, quæ in causa hac potissimum requiruntur; et vix fieri potest, ut inter tanto locorum intervallo dissitas gentes, absque longissimi temporis mora, et crebris conventibus, in unam confessionem consensus fiat; dum qui huc usque obscurius locuti sunt, suas phrases retinere studebunt, ne sententiam mutasse videantur: alii vero a recepta et semper usitata perspicuitate discedere neque volent, neque poterunt; putavimus consultius esse, ut confessionum omnium harmonia conscribatur, adjectis interdum marginalibus scholiis ; quibus quæ in nonnullis obscurius dicta videri possunt, illustrentur. Ut ex illa deinde toti orbi constet nostrarum ecclesiarum consensus. Laborant in hoc opere conficiendo D. Beza, Danæus et Selvardus. Et fortassis jam illud ad finem deduxissent, nisi D. Bezæ adversa valetudo obstitisset. Qui ex gravi morbo sub hujus anni initium, decubuit. Sed jam per gratiam Domini nobis restitutus est. Quod si infelix illa discordis concordiæ formula, electorum principum subscriptione munita, prodierit, poterimus nos harmoniam illam confessionum plurimorum illi opponere. Quam piis omnibus jucundum cognitu, et ad veritatis defensionem utilissimum fore speramus. De his tuam amplitudinem, reverendissime in Christo pater, certiorem facere libuit. Quam precor, ut hæc mea benigno vultu excipiat. Deus Opt. Max. hostium suorum consilia ubique gentium dissipet, ecclesias servet, et te quoque, dignissime præsul, servet ad nominis sui gloriam, Amen. Tiguri, 8. Martii; anno nati in carnem æterni Filii Dei, 1580. Cum nihil novi apud nos his nundinis prodierit præter II. Psalmos, quos quidam pius et doctus frater Phalucio car- BOOK mine non infeliciter reddidit, eos literis istis conjungere libuit; quod lectu non indignos neque ingratos putarem. Tuæ amplitudinis observantissimus, Reverendissimo in Christo patri et do- Rodolphus Gualtherus. mino, D. Edmundo Gryndallo, ar chiepiscopo Cantuariensi dignissimo, domino suo summe observando. Number XXX. The Apology of Mr. Robert Horn, (afterward bishop of Winchester,) giving the reasons of his flight abroad in the beginning of the reign of queen Mary. Set before his translation of two sermons of Mr. Calvin. GRACE, peace, and mercy from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. After that God had stricken our head shepherd under Christ, that worthy king and confessor, Edward VI. (good Christian brethren,) which he threatned, by his faithful servants long before, if we would not turn from our sins and wickedness; I perceived it could not be avoided, (God so disposing the matter for our unthankfulness,) but that the kingdom of God, at least for a time, must be taken from us, and the Christian flock dispersed. The which thing began to appear to me more plainly, when I saw God's book, containing the word of life, taken forth of the churches in the bishopric of Durham; and a foul sort of idols, called laymens books, brought in therefore: when the Common Prayer, commanded by authority, set forth after St. Paul's rule, to the edyfying of Christ's congregation, in the vulgar tongue, was, against God's law, and also against the law of the realm, banished; and in the place thereof a kind of prayer used, far dissonant from God's law, and the example of the primitive church, in a strange tongue, farced full of superstition, idolatry, and false fables; haying nothing tolerable in it, saving, that the people could not understand it. And therefore were less 144 |