in brynging him to his graue, and the next day after by the industry of euery man that was endued with any knowledge in the Greke or Latine tounges: of the which, there was no man man, but that set vp some Verses, as wytnesses of his iust and vnfayned sorrow, vpon the walles of the church. That nether at that time any reuerence or duty which is due to the dead departing out of this life, was thē ouerslipped or now remaineth vndone that maye seeme to pertayne, eyther to the celebratinge of the memoriall of so holy or famous a person, or to the consecratyng of hym to euerlastyng memory. We at that tyme saw with our eyes this Vniuersity flourishing by his institutiōs: the loue of sincere religion not onely engendred, but al so confirmed and strengthned through his continual and dayly preachyng. In so muche that at such tyme as he was sodaynlye taken from vs, there was scarce any man that for sorrowe could finde in hys hart to beare wyth the present state of thys lyfe, but that either he wished with al his hart to depart out of this life with Bucer into another, & by dying to follow him into immortality, or els endeuored by hym selfe with weping and sighing to call hym agayne, being dispatched of al troubles into the prison of this bodye, out of the whyche he is escaped, least he should leaue vs as it were standyng in battel ray wythout a Captayne, and hee hym selfe as one casshed depart with his wages, or as one discharged out of the campe, withdraw hym selfe to the euerlasting quietnes and tranquillity of the soule. Therefore al men euidentlye declared at that tyme, both howe sore they tooke his death to hart, and also, how hardlye they coulde awaye with the misture of suche a man. As long as the ardent loue of his religiō (wherewyth we were inflamed) flourished, it wrought in our hartes an incredible desyre of hys presence amonge vs. But after the tyme that the vngodlye man ceased to be anye more in our syght, and in our eyes, that ardent and burning loue of religion by litle and lytle waxed colde in our myndes, and accordinge to the tymes that came after (which were both miserable and to our vtter vndoing) it began not by lytle and lytle to be darkened, but it altogether vanished away, and turned into nothing. For we fel agayne into the troublesomnesse of the popysh doctrine: the olde rites & customes of the Romysh churche were restored agayne, not to the garnishmēt & beutifying of the christen religion (as they surmised) but to the vtter defacing, violating, & defiling of the same. Death was set before the eyes of suche as perseuered in the Christen doctrine, that they had learned before. They wer banished the realme that could not apply them selues to the tyme, and do as other men dyd: suche as remayned, wer enforced either to dissēble, or to hide them selues and creepe into corners, or els by drinking as it wer of the charmed cup of Circes, to be turned & altred, not onely frō the nature of man into the nature of brute beastes, but (that far worse, & much more monstrous is) frō the likenes of God & his Angels, into the likenes of diuels. And al England was infected with this malady. But I would to god the corruption of those times whiche ouerwhelmed al the whole realme, had not at least wise yet pearced euery part & mēber thereof. Of the which ther was not one but that (besides the grefe that it
[Back to Top]felt, with the residue of the body, by reason of the sicknes & contagion spred into the whole) had some sorrow and calamity peculiarly by it selfe. And to omit the rest (of the whiche to entreate, thys place is not appoynted, nor the tyme requireth ought to be spoken) this dwelling place of the Muses (which we cal the Vniuersitye) maye be a sufficient witnes, what we maye iudge of all the rest of the bodye. For certes my brethren, the thing is not to be dissembled that cannot bee hydden. Wee applyinge our selues to those moste fylthye tymes, haue most shamefully yelded lyke faint harted Cowardes, whyche had not the stomackes to sustayne the aduersities of pouertye, banishment and death. Which in our lyuing and conuersation kept neyther the constancy taught vs by Philosophy, nor yet the patience taught vs by holy scripture, whych haue done all thinges at the commaundement of others. And therefore that whyche the Poete (althoughe in another sense) hath trimly spoken, may wel be thought to haue bene truely prophecied vpon vs.
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The times and seasons chaunged be:
And chaunged in the same are we.
Diuers of them that were of a pure and sincere iudgemente as concerninge religion, being driuen from hence and distroubled, the rest that remayned tasted and felte of the inhumanity of them in whose handes the authority of doing thinges here consisted: Although to saye the truth, I haue vsed a gentler terme then behoued. For it is not to be accompted inhumanity, but rather immanitie and beastly cruelty, the which, when they had spente all kindes of tormentes and punishements vpon the quick when they had cruelly taken from such as constantly perseuered, life, from others riches, honours, & al hope of promotion, yet they could not be so satisfied, but that incensed and stirred with a greater fury, it began to outrage euen against the dead. Therefore where as in euerye singular place was executed a singular kynde of cruelty, insomuche that there was no kinde of cruelnes that coulde be deuised, but it was put in vre in one place or other, thys was proper and peculiar to Cambridge to exercise the crueltye vpon the dead, which in other places was extended but to the quicke. Oxford burnt vp the right reuerend fathers Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, the noble witnesses of the clere light of the Gospell, Moreouer at London perished these two lanternes of light, Rogers and Bradford: In whom it is hard to say whether there were more force of eloquence and vtteraunce in preaching, or more holynes of life and conuersation. Many other without number bothe here and in other places were consumed to ashes for bearinge recorde of the truthe. For what City is there that hath not flamed, I saye not with burning of houses and buyldinges, but with burning of holy bodies? But Cambridge, after ther wer no more left a liue vpō whō they might spue out their bitter poison, played the madde bedlem againste the dead. The ded men, whose liuing no man was able to finde faulte with, whose doctrin no mā was able to reproue, were by false & slaunderous accusers indited contrary to the lawes of God and man sued in the lawe, condemned, their sepulchres violated and broken vp, theyr carcasses pulled out and burnt with fier.
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