A license confession of it so far prevailed with the king, that he would be divorced from her; and with our archbishop, that he performed it by due order and process of law. And an act passed, that the marriage between the king and queen Ann was null and void, and the issue illegitimatea. The archbishop granted a license, dated July the 24th, for a cha- with the full consent of Richard Withipol, vicar of Wal pel. Cran. Regist. thamstow in Essex, to George Monoux, alderman of London, and Thomas his son, to have the sacrament administered in his chapel, or oratory, in his house De Moones, now a farm near Higham-hill, in the said parish of Walthamstow indulging therein to the wife of the said Thomas to be purified, or churched, in the same chapel. I the rather mention this, that it may serve to recall the memory of that pious and charitable citizen and draper, sir George Monoux; who built the fair steeple of that parish-church, and allowed a salary for ever for ringing the great bell at a certain hour in the night and morning the winter half year. He built also the north aisle of the said church; in the glass windows whereof is yet remaining his coat of arms. In the chancel his body was interred, under a fair altar-monument yet standing. In the churchyard he founded an hospital and free-school, and very liberally endowed it; though now the queen and me. Whereupon I blessed body, which afore I received, and hereafter intend to receive, that the same may be to my damnation, if ever there were any contract or promise of marriage between her and me.'" Lord Herbert's Life of Hen. VIII. p. 448. ed. Lond. 1672.] a [i. e. 28. Henry VIII. c. 7. referred to above n. y.] the endowments are sadly diminished. He also made a causeway over Walthamstow-marsh to Lockbridge, over the river Lee, for the convenience of travellers from those parts to London, and left wherewith to continue and keep it in repair; but that also is lost, and the ruins now only to be seen. But enough of that. The Germans conceived great hope of good to befall the church by Cranmer's influence and presidency in England; and took their opportunities of addressing to him. This year cates this to the arch Martin Bucer published a large book in folio upon Bucer dedithe Epistle to the Romans, intituled Metaphrasis et enar-year a book ratio; and dedicated it in a long epistle to the archbishop. bishop. Wherein are sundry expressions, which will shew, how well known abroad the archbishop was already among the protestants, and what an excellent bishop they looked upon him to be, and how fixed their eyes were upon him for doing great things towards the Reformation in England. For thus he writ in this Epistle, Te omnes prædicant animo præditum archiepiscopo, et tanti, sicque ad gloriam Christi comparati regni, primate digno, &c. "That all men proclaimed him endowed with a mind worthy of an archbishop and primate of so great a kingdom, and so disposed to the glory of Christ. That he had so attained to this high estate in Christ by his spiritual wisdom, holiness of life, and most ardent zeal to render Christ's glory more illustrious; that, gathering together the humble, and taking pity upon the sheepfold, being indeed dispersed and scattered abroad, he always sought and saved that which was 50 lost, and brought back Christ's poor sheep to his fold, and the pastures of everlasting life, when they had been before most miserably harassed by the servants of superstition, and the emissaries of the Roman tyrannyb." And after, b [Sed te omnes prædicant animo præditum archiepiscopo et tanti, sicque ad gloriam Christi comparati regni, primate digno, speaking of the king's rooting out the usurpation of the pope, and his pretended jurisdiction, by taking to himself the supremacy, the said learned man excited Cranmer to a further reformation, by telling him, "how easy now it would be for him, and the other archbishops and bishops, who were endued with the spirit and zeal of Christ, from the remainders of the ecclesiastical administration, to retain what might contribute to the true edifying of consciences, the saving instruction of youth, and to the just discipline and polity of the whole Christian people. For when the enemies were once removed out of the way, there could not then happen among us any extraordinary great concussion of religion and ecclesiastical discipline, or any dashing one against another, as among them in Germany of necessity came to pass: striving so many years, for the Church of Christ, against such obstinate enemiesc." qui nimirum sublimitatem Christi servatoris cum sapientia spirituali, tum vitæ sanctimonia, zeloque gloriam Christi illustrandi flagrantissimo, sic adeptus sis, ut τοῖς ταπεινοῖς, συναπαγόμενος καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθεις περὶ τοῦ ποιμνίου, ὄντως ἐκλελυμένου καὶ ἐρριμένου, quæras semper et serves quod periit, dissipatasque tam misere hactenus Christi oviculas per administros superstitionum et emissarios Romanæ tyrannidis, ad ovile Christi, vitæque sempiternæ pascua reducas.-Buceri Metaph. et Enarr. perpet. Epist. D. Pauli apostol. Præfat. p. iii. ed. Argent. 1536.] [Quam facile etiam fuerit T. R. P. et reliquis archiepiscopis et episcopis, qui spiritu et zelo Christi pollent, ex reliquiis administrationis ecclesiasticæ retinere ea, quæ ad veram conscientiarum instaurationem, ad salutarem juventutis institutionem, ad justam totius Christiani populi disciplinam, et politiam momentum aliquod adferre possunt. Submotis namque semel hostibus, nulla potest apud vos incidere religionis disciplinæque ecclesiasticæ gravior concussio, nulla collisio, uti apud nos fieri necesse fuit, ubi tot jam annis, quasi junctis castris, cum hostibus pertinacissimis, pro ecclesia Christi, veraque ejus administratione dimicamus. Id. col. ii. b.] The consecrations this year were these. Diocesan bishops. Bishops. consecrated June the 10th, Richard Sampson, doctor of decrees, and Richard Sampson. dean of the king's chapel, was elected and confirmed Cran. bishop of Chichester, by resignation of Robert Sherburn, who was now very old. No consecration set down in the register. June William Rugg, a monk, was consecrated bi- William Rugg. shop of Norwich. This is omitted also, if I mistake Godwin's not, in the register. Probably he was consecrated with Catal. Sampson. Warton. July the 2d, Robert Warton, abbot of Bermondsey, was Robert consecrated bishop of St. Asaph, at Lambeth, by the archbishop, John bishop of Bangorf, and William bishop of Norwich assisting. Suffragan bishops. October 20, William More, B. D. consecrated suffragan Cran. Regist. of Colchester, by John bishop of Rochesterh, by virtue of" the archbishop's letters commissional to him, assisted by Robert bishop of St. Asaph', and Thomas bishop of Sidon. This More held the monastery of Walden in Essex, an house of Benedictines, in commendam, (where Audley-end now stands), and surrendered it to the king 1539. d["Richard Sampson, LL.D. was consecrated June the 9th, 1536, (Godwin,) June 11th, (Wharton.)" Le Neve's Fasti, p. 58. ed. Lond. 1716.] e["William Rugge, alias Repps, S.T. P., was elected May 31, 1536, confirmed June 28, consecrated July 2. (Wharton.)" Id. p. 211. ' [John Salcot.] g [See Le Neve's Fasti, p. 22.] The bishops' book by the archbishop's means. CHAPTER XIII. THE BISHOPS' BOOK. Ann.1537. THE pious archbishop thought it highly conducible to the Christian growth of the common people in knowledge and religion, and to disentangle them from gross ignorance and superstition, in which they had been nursled up by their popish guides, that the Ten Commandments, the 51 Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, and the grounds of religion, should be explained soundly and orthodoxly, and recommended unto their reading. Wherefore he consulting with the lord Crumwel, his constant associate and assistant in such matters, and by his and other his friends importuning the king, a commission was issued out from him, in the year 1537, to the archbishop, to Stokesly bishop of London, Gardiner of Winchester, Sampson of Chichester, Repps of Norwich, Goodrich of Ely, Latimer of Worcester, Shaxton of Salisbury, Fox of Hereford, Barlow of St. David's, and other bishops and learned divines, to meet together, and to devise a wholesome and plain exposition upon those subjects, and to set forth a truth of religion purged of errors and heresies. Accordingly they met at the archbishop's house at Lambeth. Their course was, that after they had drawn up their expositions upon each head, and agreed thereto, they all subscribed their hands, declaring their consent and approbation. Winches sition. In the disputations which happened among them in ter's oppo- this work, Winchester, the pope's chief champion, with three or four others of the bishops, went about with all subtle sophistry to maintain all idolatry, heresy, and superstition, written in the canon law, or used in the |