as appears by the following letter of the bishop of Litchfield, and Coventry, to his archdeacon : "Salutem in Christo. pe "Whereas the queen has been informed of some matters handled and abused in the exercise at Coventry, and thereupon hath written to me a strait charge to inhibit the said exercise; these are therefore to will and require you, and nevertheless in her majesty's name to charge you, to forbear and stay yourselves from that exercise, till it shall please God we may either by earnest prayer, or humble tition, obtain the full use thereof with her good pleasure and full authority; and in the meantime so to use the heavenly and most comfortable gift of preaching, that you may seek and set forth Jesus Christ and his kingdom without contempt and controlment of the state and laws, under which we ought to live in unity and peace; which I beseech God grant unto you and me, and all that look for the coming of our Saviour Christ, to whose direction I commit you, this 18th of June, 1577.* "Your loving friend and brother in Christ, "THOMAS Cov. and LITCHF. "To my very loving friend and brother in Christ, Thomas Lever, archdeacon of Cov. or in his absence to the censors of the exercise there." But our archbishop could not go this length; he who had 'complied with all the queen's injunctions, and with the severities of the ecclesiastical commissioners against the Puritans hitherto, is now distressed in conscience, and constrained to disobey the commands. of his royal mistress, in an affair of much less consequence than others he had formerly complied with. Instead therefore of giving directions to his archdeacons to execute the queen's commands, he writes a long and earnest letter to her majesty, dated December 10, 1576, to inform her of the necessity and usefulness of preaching, and ofthe subserviency of the exercises, to this purpose: "With regrad to preaching, nothing is more evident from Scripture (says his grace), than that it was a great blessing to have the gospel preached, and to have plenty of labourers sent into the Lord's harvest. That this was the ordinary, means of salvation, and that hereby men were taught their duty to God and their civil governors. That though read* MS. p. 284. ing the homilies was good, yet it was not comparable to preaching, which might be suited to the diversity of times, places, and hearers; and be delivered with more efficacy and affection. That homilies were devised only to supply the want of preachers, and were by the statute of kind Edward VI. to give place to sermons whensoever they might be had. He hoped therefore her majesty would not discountenance an ordinance so useful, and of divine appointment. "For the second point, concerning the exercises, he apprehended them profitable to the church; and it was not his judgment only, but that of most of the bishops, as London, Winton, Bath and Wells, Litchfield, Gloucester, Lincoln, Chichester, Exon, and St. David's, who had signified to him by letter, that by means of these exercises the clergy were now better versed in the Scripture than heretofore; that they had made them studious and diligent; and that nothing had beat down Popery like them. He affirms that they are legal, forasmuch as by the canons and constitutions of the church now in force, every bishop has authority to appoint such exercises, for inferior ministers to increase their knowledge in the Scriptures, as to him shall seem most expedient." Towards the close of this letter his grace declares himself willing to resign his province, if it should be her majesty's pleasure; and then makes these two requests, "(1.) That your majesty would refer ecclesiastical matters to the bishops and divines of the realm, according to the practice of the first Christian emperors. And, (2.) That when your majesty deals in matters of faith and religion, you would not pronounce so peremptorily as you may do in civil matters; but remember that in God's cause, his will, and not the will of any earthly creature, is to take place. It is the antichristian voice of the pope, 'Sic volo sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas."" He then puts her in mind, that though she was a great and mighty princess, she was nevertheless a mortal creature, and accountable to God; and concludes with a declaration, that whereas before there were not three able preachers, now there were thirty fit to preach at Paul's-cross, and forty or fifty besides able to instruct their own cures. That therefore he could * MS. p. 245. not, without offence of the majesty of God, send out injunctions for suppressing the exercises. The queen was so inflamed with this letter, that she determined to make an example of the honest archbishop, as a terror to the whole bench: she would not suffer her commands to be disputed by the primate of all England, but by an order from the star-chamber confined him immediately to his house, and sequestered him from his archiepiscopal function for six months. This was a high display of the supremacy, when the head of the church, being a woman, without consulting the bishops, or any of the clergy in convocation assembled, shall pronounce so peremptorily in a matter purely respecting religion; and for noncompliance tie up the hands of her archbishop, who is the first mover under the prince in all ecclesiastical affairs. Before the expiration of the six months, which was in December, Grindal was advised to make his submission, which he did so far as to acknowledge the queen's mildness and gentleness in his restraint, and to promise obedience for the future; but he could not be persuaded to retract his opinion, and confess his sorrow for what was past; there was therefore some talk of depriving him, which being thought too severe, his sequestration was still continued till about a year before his death; however, his grace never recovered the queen's favour. Thus ended the prophesyings, or religious exercises of the clergy, a useful institution for promoting Christian knowledge and piety, at a time when both were at a very low ebb in the nation. The queen put them down for no other reason, but chiefly because they enlightened the people's minds in the Scriptures, and encouraged their inquiries after truth; her majesty being always of opinion, that knowledge and learning in the laity would only endanger their peaceable submission to her absolute will and pleasure. This year put an end to the life of that eminent divine, Mr. Thomas Lever, a great favourite of queen Elizabeth till he refused the habits. He was master of St. John's college, Cambridge, in the reign of king Edward VI. and was reckoned one of the most eloquent preachers in those times. He had a true zeal for the Protestant religion, and was an exile for it all the reign of queen Mary. Upon queen Elizabeth's accession, he might have had the highest prefer ment in the church, but could not accept it upon the terms of subscription and wearing the habits; he was therefore suspended by the ecclesiastical commissioners; till his great name and singular merit, reflecting an odium upon those who had deprived the church of his labours, and exposed him a second time to poverty and want after his exile; he was at length dispensed with, and made archdeacon of Coe, and master of Sherburne-hospital near Durham, where he spent the remainder of his days in great reputation and usefulness. He was a resolute Nonconformist, and wrote letters to encourage the deprived ministers, to stand by their principles, and wait patiently for a farther reformation. He was buried in the chapel of his own hospital, having this plain inscription on a flat marble stone over his grave, "Thomas Lever, preacher to king Edward VI.” Had he lived a little longer he had been persecuted by the new bishop, as his brother Whittingham was; but God took him away from the evil to come. He died in July 1577, and was succeeded in the hospital by his brother Ralph Lever. Mr. Cartwright, upon his return from the isle of Guern sey, was chosen preacher to one of the English factories at Antwerp: these factories submitted to the discipline of the Dutch churches among whem they lived, and their ministers became members of their consistories. While Cartwright was here, many of the English, who were not satisfied with the terms of conformity, or the English manner of giving orders, went over thither, and were ordained by the presbyters of those churches; nay, some who had received deacons' orders in the church of England, chose to be made full ministers by the foreign consistories; among these were, Mr. Cartwright, Fenner, Ashton, and Travers.* Travers was bachelor of divinity in the university of Cambridge before he left England, and was ordained at Antwerp, May 14th, 1578. The copy of his testimonials† is to this effect: "Forasmuch as it is just and reasonable, that such as are received into the number of the ministers of God's word, should have a testimonial of their vocation; we declare, that having called together a synod of twelve ministers of * Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 524. + Fuller, b. 9. p. 214. VOL. I. God's word, and almost the same number of elders, at Antwerp, on May 8th, 1578, our very learned, pious, and excellent brother, the reverend doctor Gualter Travers was, by the unanimous votes and ardent desires of all present, received and instituted into the ministry of God's holy word, and confirmed according to our accustomed manner, with prayer and imposition of hands; and the next day after the sabbath, having preached before a full congregation of English, at the request of the ministers, he was acknowledged and received most affectionately by the whole church. That Almighty God would prosper the ministry of this our reverend brother among the English, and attend it with great success, is our most earnest prayer, through Jesus Christ. Amen. "Given at Antwerp, May 14, 1578, and signed Pilkington, late bishop of Durham, was succeeded by Dr. Barnes, bishop of Carlisle, a prelate of severer principles than his predecessor; who having in vain attempted to reduce the clergy of his diocess to an absolute conformity, complained to his metropolitan of the lax government of his predecessor, and of the numbers of Nonconformists whom he could not reduce to the established orders of the church. Upon this Sandys, the new archbishop of York, resolved to visit his whole province, and to begin with Durham, where dean Whittingham was the principal man under the bishop; he was a divine of great learning, and of long standing in the church, but not ordained according to the form of the English service-book. The accusation against him was branched out into thirty-five articles, and forty-nine interrogatories, the chief whereof was his Geneva ordination.* The dean, instead of answering the charge, stood by the rights of the church of Durham, and denied the archbishop's power of visitation, upon which his grace was pleased to excommunicate him; but Whittingham appealed to the queen, who directed a commission to the archbishop, to the lord-president of the council in the north, and to the dean of York, to hear and determine the validity of * Strype's Ann. vol. 2. p. 481. |