BOOK sand able persons; which might right well be levied to reII. pulse the enemy. Anno 1580. persons might be levied. And then he wished, that the charge and government of every of those six parts might be committed to one nobleman. And he (if it so pleased her majesty) to be called the general of that part of the land that he shall have charge of. The which noblemen should be wise, valiant, true, and unfeigned lovers of their commonweal. And they to have assistants, deputy-lieutenants, &c. And at last, towards the conclusion of his discourse, he A way to divert king, addeth, that he was of opinion, (which he referred to men Philip; and to humble of better judgments,) that he knew the way both to turn the Spani- and divert king Philip's determination from hence, mind it ard. vent a re home. he never so earnestly: and also to take from him and the Spaniards, that thing that is and hath been their only pride and upholder of all their great bravery and acts done in these latter days. Both which her majesty's subject was with all humbleness ready to open to her highness, if she liked so to command him. 652 And also to declare to her highness the way and means, in And to pre-his simple judgment, how to avoid rebellion in her land. bellion at And that the confederates should be out of all hopes to have or receive any succour or aid by any her majesty's subjects, at their landing here, come when they will. And so humbly praying the Lord God of Israel to send his angels with the sword of his glorious power, to defend her majesty, her realm, and people from her enemies. Such gallant men and true firm subjects had the queen at this time to counterbalance the other sort. CHAP. XXIII. Gualter of Zurick acquaints the archbishop of Canterbury what was doing in the synod at Frankford, for union. Formula concordiæ; disliked. Zanchy's Confession of faith; disliked: and why. The harmony of confessions: a motion to this effect to the king of Navar. Horn, bishop of Winton, dies. Translates two seasonable sermons of Calvin in his exile. His apology for his flight. His last will. Dr. Overton made bishop of Litchfield and Coventry. Some passages of him. Railed upon and abused in the pulpit at Chichester, when prebendary there. Two evils oppress bishop Cox. Elmer, bishop of London, accused for felling his woods. Visits his London clergy. The bishop of Norwich, his proposal for rural deans in his diocese. Mr. Laurence, a preacher, sequestered by that bishop for nonconformity. Endeavours made at court to get him restored. The bishop's letter on that occasion. Now to record some notices of our reverend bishops and Anno 1580. divines, as they occur under this year. synod at A great and useful matter had been transacting in Germany now for two years; viz. for the allaying and pacifying the differences of the churches in Germany, chiefly concerning the presence in the eucharist: such were, on the one part, those Lutherans called ubiquitarians, (whereof Jacob Andreas, a learned professor, was the head,) and the evangelici of divers sentiments, the other. In a sy-An endeanod held at Frankford, commendable endeavours were vour, in a used, to frame such a confession as all the churches of pro- Frankford, testants, not only in Germany, but in all other places, might accord in. And what was done in this matter, and how this great affair stood, Rodolph Gualter, of Zurick, gave Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury, an account in a letter sent to him this year, in these words: In Germania passim 653 dat concordiæ formula, &c. "That that form of a concord What was "to be agreed to by all, gave disturbance in Germany-in. Shewn "Which Jacobus Andreas, successor to Brentius, and the in a letter Bb 2 of concord. done there of Gualter II. BOOK "apostle of ubiquity, (as he calls him,) with his confederates, "had framed: and to which three electoral princes, viz. of Anno 1580." Saxony, Palatine, and of Brandenburgh, with many to the arch- others, had subscribed; but the most illustrious prince "William of Hesse and the prince of Anhalt stiffly op bishop of Canter bury. 66 posed. That there was some sharp dispute between the agents of the three electors and the prince of Hesse; "who would not be moved from the defence of the true "doctrine which he had received. That as for that com 66 mon confession of faith, that by a decree of the synod "of Frankford was drawn up in the year 1577, by the "learned Hierom Zanchy; it ought to have been examined "by the church of Helvetia, and by Beza of France; that "it might also have been known to other churches. And "his phrases and expressions were so much in the school 66 way, that it wanted both brevity and clearness." Gualter proceeded, with respect to the distant churches; "That "considering the long delay that must needs be, before all "the churches, so far distant from one another, could by "mutual correspondences agree and accord in the same "confession; and that many would not depart from their 66 formerly received opinions, and would retain their own "terms and phrases; therefore, by the counsel and advice "of the most illustrious John Casimire, they thought it "more advisable that a harmony of all the confessions "should be written; with some marginal notes set here and "there, to illustrate such things as seemed more obscurely "spoken. That hence might appear the consent of the " evangelical churches: and about this did Beza, Danæus, "and one more, chiefly employ their pains. But Beza's "sickness had put some stop thereunto; which otherwise "might then have been finished. And of this he, the "writer, thought fit to certify his grace the archbishop." But for all this and more, it is better to take it in the words of the letter itself, written by so eminent a foreigner to so great a personage, about so weighty a concern of the church : [Number which I have therefore laid in the Appendix. XXIX.] But there was another reason, more secret, beside that XXIII. Beza: and the Disci De Relig. above-mentioned, why Beza and the French divines liked CHAP. not of that Confession of faith, drawn up by Zanchy, that learned professor of Heidelberg; namely, the acknowledg- Anno 1580Zanchy's ment of the ancient government of the church by arch- Confession bishops and bishops. Which gave occasion to that learned disliked by man afterwards to vindicate that part of his Confession : which Dr. Bancroft took notice of in a book by him written Survey of not long after. In that Confession, speaking of bishops, he pline. useth these words: Non improbamus patres, &c. "We do Zanchy, "not disallow the fathers, in that after a divers way of dis"pensing the word, and governing the church, they multiplied divers orders of ministers: seeing it was lawful so ❝to do, seeing they did it for honest causes, appertaining at "that time to the order, decency, and edification of the "church." And in the next article, Hac ratione, &c. "For "this reason, viz. that the nurseries of dissensions and "schisms might be taken away, we think that these things, "which were ordained before the council of Nice, concerning archbishops, nay, as touching the four patriarchs, may "be excused and defended." 66 66 cap. 2. mony of to be made. Here Dr. Bancroft addeth this remark, that when this 654 book was perused, and this clause found in it, then a de- An harvice was had for the staying of it; under pretence, that confessions now it was thought more meet that there should be an harmony made of all the confessions of divers churches. But Zanchy himself makes this the chief cause (as that author observed) why his book did mislike some of them: for that he had written as before was mentioned of bishops. For so he saith, Magnus quidam vir, &c. "That a certain great man" (meaning Beza, as it is supposed) "did write "unto him of this matter as followeth: Your Confession was “read by me, and N. and others, with great delight. It is “written most learnedly, and in a most exquisite method. "And if you except that which you add towards the end, touching archbishops and the hierarchy, mihi summopere placuit, i. e. it pleased me exceedingly." 66 66 But Zanchy upon this occasion (as it seemed) printed his Archbisaid Confession, with certain annotations. In which he shops and bishops al lowed by Zancby, p. 212. BOOK shewed three reasons for his allowance of archbishops and II. bishops. The first grounded upon the practice of the priAnno 1580. mitive church, presently after the apostles' time. The second, for that he thought it his duty, in the draught of his said book, to have regard to those reformed churches which retained both bishops and archbishops. And the third, because all the reformed churches generally, although they had changed the names, yet in effect they kept the authority: as where they had superintendents, and general superintendents. "Nay," said he," where these new Latin "names are not admitted, yet there were in those places usually certain chief men, that did in a manner bear "all the sway." The manner of his setting down of his first reason, and that in his own words, was this that Survey of follows: which I transcribe from Dr. Bancroft's translathe Discip. tion. p. 137. edit. 1593. 66 Cum hanc conscriberem fidei Confessionem, &c. "When “I writ this Confession of faith, I writ all the things in it "of a good conscience: and as I believed, so I freely spake, "the scriptures teaching men so to do. And my faith, first “of all, and simply, doth rely upon the word of God; and "then, somewhat also upon the common consent of the "whole ancient catholic church, if the same be not repug"nant to the scriptures. For I believe, that what things "were defined and received by the ancient fathers, assembled "in the name of the Lord, with a general consent of them "all, and without any contradiction of the holy scriptures; "the same surely, although they be not of the same au"thority with the holy scriptures, yet did they proceed "from the Holy Ghost. Hereof it cometh to pass, that "those things which are of this nature, neither would I, "neither dare I, with a good conscience, disallow them. "And what can be shewed more certainly out of histories, "out of the councils, and out of the writings of all the an"cient fathers, than that those orders of ministers, of the "which we have spoken, have been ordained and received "in the church, by the general consent of all Christian "commonwealths?. And who then am I, that should pre |