"the foundation on which a vicious Clergy set up their rest, "was vigorously set on foot,-to such a degree, that six men "and women were burnt at Coventry in Passion-week, only "for teaching their children, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, "and the Ten Commandments in English. Great numbers "were every where brought into the Bishops' Courts, of whom some were burnt, but the greater part abjured.

"The King" (Henry VIII.) “ laid hold of this occasion, "to become the Church's champion, and wrote against Lu 66 THER; his Book, besides the title of Defender of the "Faith,' drew upon him all that flattery could invent to extol "it; yet LUTHER, not daunted with such an antagonist, but "rather proud of it, answered it, and treated him as much "below the respect that was due to a King, as his flatterers "had raised him above it. TINDAL'S Translation of the New “Testament, with some Notes added to it, drew a severe con"demnation from the Clergy, there being nothing in "which they were more concerned, than to keep the people unac "quainted with that book."-Burnet's Abridgment, book i. p. 24 et seq.

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"denly ill, upon

6th, BURNET's account of Wolsey's intrigues for the Papal diadem. "At this time" (says he) "the Pope was taken sudwhich the Imperialists began to prepare for "a Conclave. But FARNESE and the CARDINAL OF MANTUA opposed them, and seemed to have inclination for WOLSEY, "whom, as his Correspondents wrote to him, they reverenced as a Deity; upon this he (Wolsey) sent a courier to GAR"DINER then on his way to Rome, with large directions how 66 to manage the election. It was reckoned that the King of "France joining heartily with the King of England, of which “he seemed confident, there were only six Cardinals wanting "to make the election sure; and besides sums of money and "other rewards that were to be distributed among them, he "was to give them assurance that the Cardinal's (Wolsey's)

preferments should be divided among them. These were the "secret methods of attaining that Chair: and indeed it would

* puzzle a man of an ordinary degree of credulity to think that one chosen by such means could be CHRIST'S VICAR, and 66 THE INFALLIBLE JUDGE OF CONTROVERSY."

Burnet's

7th, BURNET's account of the opposition between the Parliament and the Popish Clergy, as thus stated by him: “The "Commons prepared several Bills against some of the corrup"tions of the Clergy; particularly against plurality of benefices, and non-residence; abuses that even Popery itself "could not but condemn. The Clergy abhorred the precedent "of the Commons meddling in Ecclesiastical matters: so "FISHER spoke vehemently against them, and said, all this "flowed from lack of faith; upon which the Commons com"plained of him to the King for reproaching them."-Ibid. p. 56.

8th, BURNET's account of the early encroachments of the Popes, before the laws framed in England were sufficient to resist them, as follows:-" When the Popes began to extend "their power beyond the limits assigned them by the Canons, 66 they met with great opposition in England, in all the "branches of their usurpations, but they managed all the "advantages they found, either from the weakness or ill cir"cumstances of Princes, so steadily, that, in conclusion, they "subdued the world; and if they had not by their cruel exac❝tions so oppressed the Clergy, that they were driven to seek "shelter under the covert of the temporal authority, the world

was then so overmastered by superstition and credulity, that "not only the whole spiritual power, but even the temporal power of Princes, was likely to have fallen into the Pope's "hands: but the discontented Clergy supported the secular power as much as they had before advanced the Papal tyranny. Boniface VIII. had raised his pretensions to that "impudent pitch, that he declared all power both ecclesias"tical and civil was derived from him, and established that as

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an article of faith necessary to salvation; and he and hi successors took upon them to dispose of all ecclesiastical

"benefices by their Bulls and Provisions."-Burnet's Abridg ment, p. 70..

9th, BURNET's statement of the Act of Parliament abolishing the payment of first fruits to Rome, from which Act it appears that 800,000 ducats had been transmitted from England to Rome, since the commencement of Henry VII.'s reign; without which payments no Bulls were granted by the Pope, for holding Bishoprics or Livings in England. See Burnet's

Abridgment, p. 82.

10th, BURNET's account of Henry VIII,'s remonstrance against the allegiance due to the Pope from his own Bishops, which is thus stated: "At that time the King sent for the "Speaker of the House of Commons, and told him, he found that "the Prelates were but half subjects; for they swore at their "consecration an oath to the Pope that was inconsistent with "their allegiance and oath to the King: by their oath to the "Pope they swore to be in no counsel against him, nor to dis"close his secrets, but to maintain the Papacy and regalities "of St. Peter against all men, together with the rights and "authorities of the Church of Rome, and observe all the de

crees, sentences, provisions, and commandments of that See. "In their oath to the King they renounced all clauses in their "Bulls contrary to the King's royal dignity, and did swear "to be faithful to him, and to live and die with him, against "all others, and to keep his counsel, acknowledging that "they held their Bishoprics only of him: by these it ap

peared that they could not keep both those oaths in case "a breach should fall out between the King and the Pope." -Burnet's Abridgment, p. 87.

11th, BURNET's account of an Act of Parliament depriving Cardinal Campeius and another of the Bishoprics of Salisbury and Worcester; which Act assigns for reasons, their not residing in their dioceses, but at the Court of Rome, and carrying £3000 per annum out of the kingdom.-Ibid. p. 114.

12th, BURNET's abstract of FRITH's book against Purgatory: "He shewed" (says BURNET)," that there was no men

❝tion made of Purgatory in the Scripture; that it was incon"sistent with the merits of Christ, by which, upon sincere

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repentance, all sins were pardoned; for, if they were par"doned, they could not be punished: and though temporal judgments, either as medicinal corrections or for giving "warnings to others, do sometimes fall even on true Penitents; yet terrible punishments in another state cannot consist with "a free pardon, and the remembering of our sins no more. "In expounding many passages of the New Testament, he "appealed to Erasmus, and shewed that the fire which was "spoken of by St. Paul, as that which would consume the "wood, hay, and stubble, could only be meant of the fiery trial "of persecution: he shewed that the primitive Church received "it not; Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustin did not believe it; "the last had plainly said that no mention was made of it "in Scripture. The Monks brought it in; and by many "wonderful stories possessed the world with the belief of it; " and had made a very gainful trade of it. This book pro"voked the Clergy so much, that they resolved to make the "author feel a real fire for endeavouring to extinguish their imaginary one."-Ibid. p. 128. And again: "The pen proving too feeble and too gentle a tool, the Clergy betook "themselves to that on which they relied more; many were vexed "with imprisonments, for teaching their children the Lord's "Prayer in English, for harbouring the preachers, and for

speaking against the corruptions in the worship or the vices "of the Clergy."--Ibid. p. 129. And then BURNET relates the burning of FRITH, by the cruel Bishop of Winchester, GARDINER, for his denial of Purgatory and Transubstantiation; the arguments against which last doctrine are stated by BURNET, as well as those against Purgatory.

13th, BURNET's account of the visitation of the Monastries, and other Religious Houses, which shall be given in his own words:

"The foundation of all their wealth" (says he) "was "the belief of Purgatory, and of the virtue that was in

5

"Masses to redeem souls out of it; and that these eased the "torments of departed souls, and at last delivered them out of "them: so it passed among all for a piece of piety to parents, "and of care for their own souls and families, to endow those "houses with some lands, upon condition that they should "have Masses said for them, as it was agreed on more or less, "frequently according to the measure of the gift. This was "like to have drawn in the whole wealth of the nation into "those houses, if the Statute of Mortmain had not put some "restraint to that superstition. They also persuaded the "world, that the Saints interceded for them, and would take it "kindly at their hands if they made great offerings to their shrines, and would thereupon intercede the more earnestly "for them. The credulous vulgar measuring the court of Heaven by those on earth, believed presents might be of great efficacy there, and thought the new favourites would have "the most weight on their intercessions: so upon every new "canonization there was a new fit of devotion towards the "last Saint, which made the elder to grow almost out of re

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quest. Some images were believed to have an extraordinary "virtue in them, and pilgrimages to these were much extolled. "There was also great rivalry among the several orders, and "different houses of the same orders, every one magnifying their ❝own saints, and their images and relics most. The wealth "of these houses brought them under great corruptions. દ They were generally very dissolute, and grossly ignorant. "Their privileges were become a public grievance, and their lives gave great scandal to the world; so that, as they had found it easy to bear down the secular Clergy, "when their own vices were more secret, the begging Friars "found it as easy to carry the esteem of the world from them. "These, under the appearance of poverty, and coarse diet and clothing, gained much esteem, and became almost the only preachers and confessors then in the world. They had a Ge"neral at Rome, from whom they received such directions as the Popes sent them; so that they were more useful to the