A. L. CROSS CHAP. I. Reign of Henry the Eighth. A. D. 1509–1547 CHAP. III. Reign of queen Mary. ▲. D. 1553–1558 CHAP. IV. From the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign to CHAP. VI. From the death of archbishop Parker to the death of archbishop Grindal. A. D. 1576-1583 191 PREFACE. THE design of the following work is to preserve the memory of those great and good men among the reformers, who lost their preferments in the church, for attempting a farther reformation of its discipline and ceremonies; and to account for the rise and progress of that separation from the national establishment which subsists to this day. To set this in a proper light it was necessary to look back upon the sad state of religion before the Reformation, and to consider the motives that induced king Henry VIII. to break with the pope, and to declare the church of England an independent body, of which himself, under Christ, was the supreme head upon earth. This was a bold attempt, at a time when all the powers of the earth were against him; and could not have succeeded without an overruling direction of Divine Providence. But as for any real amendment of the doctrines or superstitions of Popery, any farther than was necessary to secure his own supremacy, and those väst revenues of the church which he had grasped into his hands, whatever his majesty might design, he had not the honour to accomplish. The Reformation made a quick progress in the short reign of king Edward VI. who had been educated under Protestant tutors, and was himself a prodigious genius for his age; he settled the doctrines of the church, and intended a reformation of its government and laws; but his noble designs were obstructed by some temporizing bishops, who, having complied with the impositions of king Henry VIII. were willing to bring others under the same yoke; and to keep up an alliance with the church of Rome, lest they should lose the uninterrupted succession of their characters from the apostles. The controversy that gave rise to the Separation began in this reign, on occasion of bishop Hooper's refusing to be consecrated in the Popish habits. This may seem an unreasonable scruple in the opinion of some people, but was certainly an affair of great consequence to the Reformation, when the habits were the known badges of Popery; and when the administrations VOL. I. b of the priests were thought to receive their validity from the consecrated vestments, as I am afraid many, both of the clergy and common people, are too inclinable to apprehend at this day. Had the reformers fixed upon other decent garments, as badges of the -episcopal or priestly office, which had no relation to the superstitions of Popery, this controversy had been prevented.—But the same regard to the old religion was had in revising the liturgy, and translating it into the English language; the reformers, instead of framing a new one in the language of Holy Scripture, had recourse to the offices of the church of Rome, leaving out such prayers and passages as were offensive, and adding certain responses to engage the attention of the common people, who till this time had no concern in the public devotions of the church, as being uttered in an unknown tongue. This was thought a very considerable advance, and as much as the times would bear, but was not designed for the last standard of the English reformation; however, the immature death of young king Edward put an end to all farther progress. Upon the accession of queen Mary, Popery revived by the supremacy's being lodged in a single hand; and within the compass of little more than a year, became a second time the established religion of the church of England: the statutes of king Edward were repealed, and the penal laws against heretics were put in execution against the reformers; many of whom, after a long imprisonment, and cruel trials of mockings and scourgings, made a noble confession of their faith before many witnesses, and sealed it with their blood. Great numbers fled into banishment, and were entertained by the reformed states of Germany, Switzerland, and Geneva, with great humanity; the magistrates enfranchising them, and appointing churches for their public worship. But here began the fatal division; some of the exiles were for keeping to the liturgy of king Edward, as the religion of their country, while others, considering that those laws were repealed, apprehended themselves at full liberty; and having no prospect of returning home, they resolved to shake off the remains of antichrist, and to copy after the purer forms of those churches among whom they lived. Accordingly the congregation at Frankfort, by the desire of the magistrates, began upon the Geneva model, with an additional prayer for the afflicted state of the church of England at that time; but * *Fatal division; i. e. on account of the animosities it created and the miseries in which it involved very many persons and families; but in another view, it was a happy division, for it hath been essentially serviceable to civil as well as religious liberty, and like other evils, been productive of many important good effects; as the author himself points out, p. viii. ix.--ED. |