Of the Depredations and Ravages committed upon Bishoprics in the Reign of K. Edward VI. ... .... § 5. Of the Suppression of the Chanteries, Free Chapels, Colleges, Hospitals, &c. with some other instances of the Rapacity of the Times The King's Minority is abused even to a high degree of Sacrilege.. 192 § 6. An Ejectment is served upon Images by an Order of the Privy Council. The pretended Reason for this Order is said to have been, to prevent idolatrous Worship. Mr. Collier clears the Papists (as he calls them) from the heavy imputation of Pagan Idolatry. The true Reasons for destroying Images and Altars are assigned by D. Heylin, viz. Covetousness, and the Consideration of Profit. A short Di- gression, wherein Bucer's Objection against a Mediator of Intercession is fairly and fully answered by Mr. Collier § 7. Some account of K. Edward's new Ordinal, and his XLII. Articles § 8. Some account of a new Liturgy or Common Prayer Book, pub- lished by K. Edward. Reflections on the Act of Parliament by which § 9. Calvin procures a second Edition of K. Edward's Liturgy or Com- mon Prayer-Book, and censures it with a great deal of freedom § 10. The Fruits of K. Edward's Reformation The Exploits of Q. ELIZABETH as Supreme Head of the Church. §1. At the end of the first Session of Q. Elizabeth's first Parliament, all the Catholic Bishops (one only excepted) are deprived, for refus ing the Oath of Supremacy. And what became of them? § 2. By Virtue of the Queen's Injunctions, Churches are stript of their Altars, and Images are removed, and coarsely used.. Mr. Collier's Thoughts upon this Exploit, and his Observation upon the Bishops' §3. Q. Elizabeth's Motives for enjoining the Observation of Fasting Days; and Mr. Collier's Remarks upon them. Her Apostolical Com- 4. Preliminary Observations on Parker's Consecration What Form of Ordination was made Use of in the Reign of King Edward VI... When, upon what Account, and by whom corrected 235 Consisting of Documents of Puritanic Zeal against the pious and ma OF THE REFORMATION OF ENGLAND. IN TWO PARTS. INTRODUCTION. THE seriousness and importance of the subject we are going to enter upon cannot, perhaps, be much better expressed than in the following words of Sir Richard Baker† : "We shall come to hear of occurrences that have been matter of talk to this day, whereof the like have never been seen, and will hardly be believed when they are heard. A Marriage dissolved after twenty years consummation! Houses built in piety; under pretence of piety dissolved! Queens taken out of love, put to death out of loathing! And the Church itself so shaken, that it has stood in distraction ever since!"—Behold a concise enumeration of some of the most noted and remarkable Occurrences recorded in the British Annals! In perusing History, it is not unpleasant to observe how strangely the greatest Revolutions, both in Church and State, have sometimes emerged from very unpromising, not to say trivial incidents. The following Memoirs will confirm the truth of this observation; and we doubt not but the Reader will be astonished, and will scarce believe, that the surprising series of events we are going to recount could possibly derive their birth from so inconsiderable an occurrence as King Henry VIII's love-intrigue with the celebrated Lady Ann Bullen. Yet this is certainly matter of fact, if there be any truth in history. "The King being violently hurried with the transport Baker's Chron. p. 272. Heylin's Preface to his History of the Reformation. B To of some private affections, and finding that the Pope appeared the great Obstacle to his Desires, he first divested him, by degrees, of that Supremacy which he had challenged, and enjoyed by his predecessors for some ages past, and finally extinguished his authority in the realm of England. This opened the way to the Reformation, and gave encouragement to those who inclined to it. which the King afforded no small countenance, out of politic ends."--And thus has our Historian, in few words, given us a full and true account of a great Monarch's Motives to run mad! From which account it may be inferred, that the Reformation of England accidentally took its rise from an unfortunate rupture between King Henry VIII. and the great Obstacle of his Desires. And what was it the King desired? What did he want? Only to repudiate his lawful (but now antiquated) Spouse, in order to make room for one more agreeable to his fancy and his inclination. This, it must be confessed, was A bold Stroke for a (second) Wife, the first being still alive! But what will not an ungovernable, headstrong prince do, when precipitately hurried away with the violent transport of a blind passion? This unhappy passion was artfully enough concealed for some time; and, to put a blind upon the nation, the King pretended to be stung with a Scruple of Conscience! An idle and vain pretence! and that it was really such, I appeal to his Majesty's subsequent behaviour, which plainly demonstrated his specious plea of Conscience to be little else, at the bottom, but varnish and grimace. "For it is very unconceivable, that such a scruple should be real, after twenty years cohabitation, the lawfulness of his marriage having been sufficiently canvassed before, when they [K. Henry VII. and K. Ferdinand] thought it necessary to have a dispensation from the Pope. But the most probable opinion is, that this voluptuous prince rather followed the dictates of his lust, than any real emotions of conscience." And if so, then I think it may be truly said, that these irreligious dictates occasionally paved the way to that grand Ecclesiastical Revolution, commonly called The Reformation of England. Yet perhaps it may be doubted, whether the King could ever have gained his point, had he not resolved, at last, to arm himself with the formidable Sword of Supremacy. For it was his own first, and then bis children's Lay-Su Short View of the English History, p. 185. premacy, that did all the great feats we are going to relate. And therefore, in order to give our Reader a distinct view of it, we have divided our subject into two Parts. In the first Part, an enquiry is made into the methods that were pursued, and the measures that were concerted, by our three first Reforming Sovereigns, to get into possession of the Spiritual Supremacy. And in the second Part, the use they made of their spiritual power is more copiously displayed. PART I. .... § 1. The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey His Speech to the King's Commissioners upon his being arrested.... Reflections upon it, and the Cardinal's Plea. We begin our Memoirs of the Reformation of England with a brief account of the memorable fall of Cardinal Wolsey; and we imagine it may not be improper to go back as far as that remarkable incident, because that King Henry the Eighth's quarrelling with so great a Prelate, may be looked upon as an introduction to his maltreating the rest of the Clergy, and a kind of commencement of hostilities against the whole Church. Beit known, then, that this famous Cardinal, from an abject meanness of birth, had the good fortune to be advanced, by the royal bounty and favour of a great Monarch, to the highest pinnacle of preferment. Not to mention his spiritual promotions, which were very considerable, he obtained the dignity of First Minister of State. He was the great oracle of the court. He had the entire command of the whole administration of the government at home, and was caressed and feared by the greatest princes abroad. In fine, he was a companion for kings and the most exalted subject in Christendom. But behold the lubricity of fortune! behold the instability of all human grandeur and elevation! behold the mighty man suddenly thrown down, and crushed, like a huge Colossus, with the weight of his own fall! This remarkable event fell out in the following manner. King Henry VIII. happening unfortunately to fall in love with the celebrated Ann Bullen, as we have already hinted, and finding there was no other way to make a wife of her, but by dissolving his prior marriage with Queen Catharine, it was not long before he desperately resolved to venture upon that unhappy expedient. Such an extraordinary resolve as this could not long escape the sagacity and penetration of Cardinal Wolsey. No doubt but he had early notice of it; for he is not only suspected, but even supposed, by several of our historians, to have been the very first man that ever attempted to perplex the King's Conscience with a Scruple about the Unlawfulness of his Marriage with Queen Catharine: and they further add, that this wicked thought was injected merely out of a pique to the Emperor Charles V. (the Queen's nephew) who, it seems, had unhinged the pretension and traversed the design of our aspiring Prelate, first upon the Archbishopric of Toledo, and afterwards of placing himself in the Chair of St. Peter. Provoked at this double disappointment, Wolsey from henceforward breathes nothing but revenge against both the nephew and aunt, the Emperor and Queen Catharine; and, to mature his vindictive scheme, he takes it into his head to negociate a match for his master with the French King's sister, upon a supposition that the two crowns of France and England being, by such an alliance, the more closely and firmly united, they might form, in conjunction, a powerful confederacy against Cæsar. But alas! this Machiavelian plan of operations miscarried! The Cardinal was unfortunate enough to reckon without his host; without the King, I mean, who was not now disposed to wed a foreigner, being captivated already with the fascinating charms of an English Lady. This was the Rock upon which Wolsey was wrecked, with all his cargo of politics! Το pry into the secrets of futurity, is a privilege denied to the wisest statesmen; so no wonder if our Cardinal appeared to be, perhaps, a little purblind at this critical conjuncture. Wholly taken up as he was with the pleasing reverie of potent alliances abroad, he little dreamed of the powerful confederacy that was formed against him at home, where some great personages, how discordant soever they might be to each other, united heartily against him. In short, Wolsey was ruined by his own imprudence, in creating too many enemies at court, Ann Bullen, Queen Catharine, and the King, (all equally exasperated) were three to one against him. The first, as Mr. Strype assures us, was a Lutheran in her heart, and an enemy to the Cardinal; and therefore we |