shall be founde remisse and negligente, or culpable, then you ioyntly and seuerallye shall see the foresayde scriptures to be rased, abolished, and extinguished foorthwith: cytynge all and singular those Churchewardens and parishyoners (whome we also for the same dooe cyte here by the tenoure hereof) that all and singular the sayde Churchewardens and parishyoners being slacke and negligente, or culpable therein, shall appeare before vs, or our Vicare generall, and principall Officiall, or our Commissarye speciall, in our Cathedrall Church of Saynct Paule, at London, in the Consistorye there, at the hower appoynted for the same, the sixt daye next after theyr citation, yf it bee a court daye, or els at the next courte daye after ensuing, wher as eyther we or our Offycial, or Commissary shall sit: there to saye and alleage for themselues some reasonable cause, yf they haue any, or can tell of any, why they oughte not to be excommunicated, and otherwyse punished, for theyr suche negligence, slacknesse, and faulte, to saye and to alledge, and further to do and receyue, as law and reason requires: And what you haue done in the premisses, doe you certifye vs, or our Vicare, principall Official, and suche our Commissary, diligentlye, and duely, in all thinges, and throughe all thynges, or let hym amonge you thus certifye vs, which hath taken vpon him to execute this Mandate. In witnesse whereof, we haue set our seales to these presentes. Dated in the Bishops Palace at Londō, the. xxv. day of the moneth of October, in the yeare of our Lord. 1554 and of our translation the. xvi.

[Back to Top]

☞ Aboute this tyme the Lorde Chauncellor sent Maister Christoferson vnto the vniuersity of Cambridge 

with these three articles, which he enioyned them to obserue.

The fyrste, that euery Scholer should weare his apparell accordynge to his degree in the Scholes.

The seconde was touchyng the pronunciation of the greke tongue.

The thyrd, that euery preacher there, should declare the whole style of the kyng and Quene in their sermons.

In this vniuersity of Cambridge, and also of Oxforde, by reason of the bringinge in of these thinges, and especially for the alteration of religion, many good wits, and lerned mē departed the vniuersities: of whome, some of theire owne accorde gaue ouer, some were thrust out of their felowships, some were miserably handled: insomuch that in Cambridge in the college of saynt Iohn, there were. 24. places voyde together, in whose rowmes wer taken in. 24. other, which neyther in vertue nor in religion semed to aunswere to them before. And no lesse miserable was the state of Oxford, by reason of the time & the straight dealing of the visitors,

[Back to Top]

that for setting forwarde their papisticall procedīgs, had no regard or respect to the forwardnes of good wittes, and the mayntaynance of good letters. beginninge then more and more to florish in that vniuersitye. And for asmuche as mention is made here of Oxforde, 

I cannot but something lament the state and condition of that vniuersity, which before in Wicliffes time, being so forward in religion, and the first eye þ^t gaue lighte to al other places, to discerne true religion from blyndenesse and ignorauce, now through the misgouernaunce, of certayne heads, seemeth so prone and inclinable to blind superstition and all popery, that so sone as the Quene came in, they with the first were redye to masse: insomuch that the Quene comminge in Iuly, þ^e next moneth after (being the. xv. of August) vpōthe assūption day, masse, was sayd first in Marton college, then in corpus Christi college, & then in New college, being cōpelled by no law notwithstanding to the same. Only Magdalene college & Christes church, misliking the heady rashnes of them, did shew thē selues more constante in thys matter then the rest.

[Back to Top]

And here we may not passe ouer with silence the worthy and famous exhortation of Doctor Tresham 

(of whome mencion is made in the disputations aboue) which supplieng þ^e rowme of the subdeane vnder Doctoure Marshall in Christes college, vpon a great zeale, more willful then witful, called his companye together into the back side of the quere, where he required certain of the prebendaries, which wer nothing so folishlye affected as he was, to be present and to assist him. In the number of the students were a great many graue men, well lerned, and wise. To them Doctoure Tresham made an exhortation, the which was so eloquētly handled and with such arte perswasory, that although we be not able to attain to the perfit grace therof, yet in repeting the effect we thought it not good to defraud þ^e reader of the fruiteof so worthy a matter. The state of his oration was, to moue thē to come to the church, & there deuoutly to behaue thē selues, & to here masse. Among other things conteined in his oration, two were principal, which this auncient doctour most substantially hādled. The one was a proofe of al masse to be good, whiche he confirmed by an enumeration how many kindes of masses there wer. The other matter was a violent perswasion, to bring men to church for the commodity that should arise by it. For the first, he sayd þ^t al masses wer either of the Trinity, or of þ^e holy ghost, or of our ladye. Now þ^e Trinity said he none wil deny but dānable heretikes: such as wer condēned by þ^e holy general coūsels. Wherfore the masse of þ^e Trinity must nedes be good. The masse of þ^e holy ghost was neuer douted of, of any christiā. It

[Back to Top]