TO pardon the Presumption of the Obscure Person that dedicates this Book to Your GRACE , for the sake of the Renowned Man it treats of , Viz. One of your Illustrious Predecessors , an Archbishop of Canterbury , that hath deserved so eminently of that See , nay , and of the whole British Church ; I may say , that deserved Best of any Archbishop before him , that wore that Mitre . To whose solid Learning , Deliberation , and indefatigable Pains , both the Kings and People of this Realm owe their Deliverance from the long and cruel Bondage of Rome . For it is true what the Romanists say in Obloquy of this Archbishop , and we Protestants say it to his Eternal Fame , That he was the first of all the Archbishops of Canterbury that made a Defection from the Papal Chair ; Thereby vindicating this Crown from a base Dependance upon a Foreign Jurisdiction . In his Three Conversions . But whereas Parsons saith , That this was the first Change of Religion in any Archbishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days ; this is not so true ; For sundry of Archbishop Cranmer's Predecessors , ( to look no further than Two or Three hundred Years backward ) were of different Judgments from the Church of Rome in some Points . His immediate Predecessor , Warbam , approved of the King's Title of Supreme Head of the Church under Christ , in his own Kingdom , against the Doctrine of the Pope's Universal Authority . And a Century of Years before him , Archbishop Chichely , tho he were made the Pope's Legate , refused to exercise his Power Legantine , further than he should be authorized thereunto by the King . And Archbishop Islip , as long before him , disliked of Dissolving those Marriages that were contracted by such as had before vowed the single Life . For tho he laid a Punishment upon a Countess of Kent , who being a Widow , and then Professed , afterwards secretly married to a certain Knight , named Abrincourt ; yet he divorced them not , but permitted them to live together . And the Judgment of Archbishop Arundel , who lived in K. Richard the Second's Reign , was for the Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue , and for the Laities use thereof . For He , preaching the Funeral Sermon of Queen Anne , the beloved Wife of that King , after she deceased at Sheen , in the Year 1392. commended her , as for her other Vertuous Accomplishments , so particularly for her Study of the Holy Scriptures , and of the Sense of them ; and for having them in the Vulgar Tongue ; as I find by an Ancient MS. Fragment , E Foxij MSS. writ near Three hundred Years ago , formerly belonging to the Church of Worcester , in these Words following ; Also the Bushop of Caunterbury , Thomas of Arundel , that now is , sey a Sermon at Westminster , thereas was many an hundred of people , at the buryeng of quene Anne , ( of whose Sowle God have mercy . ) And in his commendation of her he seyd , That it was more joy of her , than of any woman , that ever he knew . For notwithstanding that she was Alien born , [ being the Daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. ] she had on English al the iiij gospels , with the Doctors upon hem . And he seyd , that she sent them unto him . And he seyd , that they were good and true , and commended her , in that she was so great a Lady , and also an Alyan , and wolde study so holy , so vertuouse bokes . And he blamed in his Sermon sharply the negligence of the Prelates , and other men , &c.

So that it is not true what Parsons saith , if he mean , That no Archbishops of Canterbury before Cranmer , varied from the Church of Rome in any of her Doctrines . But true it is , tho not so much to their Credits , that none of them , however sensible they were of the Roman Errors and Superstitions , did in good earnest bestir themselves to set this Church free of them , before our abovenamed Archbishop ( being the sixty eighth from Augustine the Monk ) resolutely and bravely undertook and effected it . Indeed they spent not their Zeal , their Treasure , and their Interest this way so much , as in contending about Superiority and their Prerogatives , in exempting their Clergy from the Cognizance of the Temporal Magistrate , in Applications to , and Courting of the Bishops of Rome , in Persecuting those they called Hereticks , in Eternizing their own Names , by founding Religious Houses , and building Stately Palaces , and Shrines , and in exhibiting themselves in great Worldly Pomp and Appearance .

But blessed be God for Archbishop Cranmer ; by means of whose Reformation succeeded a Series of better , tho not so splendid , Archbishops . Who made conscience of minding things more suitable to their high Vocation , and the Spiritual Trust committed to them : Men that regarded little or nothing the vain shews of exterior Grandeur and Glory , nor sought Great Things for themselves , but with their great Predecessor St. Paul , ( on whom lay the Care of all the Churches ) spent and wore out themselves in the Restoration of the Kingdom of Christ , so happily begun by the said Archbishop Cranmer in this Island . Such were Parker , Grindal , Whitgift , the Three first Protestant Archbishops next after him ; what he planted they watered , and God gave a Blessed Increase to . Whose most excellent Lives and Conducts in the Government of this Church , as well as in their own more private and Domestick Conversation ; their rare Piety , Prudence , Patience , Courage , and Activity , I can scarcely temper my Pen from making excursions into . Of which I could fill even Volumes ( had I Leisure , Favour , and Countenance ) from those Large Collections which I have for divers Years been storing up with great delight , partly out of their own Original Letters , and partly from other MSS. in their times .

But besides these first Archbishops during the Long Reign of Q. Elizabeth , who by their Care and Diligence established and settled that Reformation , of which Archbishop Cranmer laid the first Stones , we are beholden unto the same Archbishop for all the rest of the Worthy and Painful Prelates of that Metropolitical See , who have taken Care of this Excellently Reformed Church , even unto Your GRACE . Whose Deserts towards this Church and the Reformation , have raised you to sit in Archbishop Cranmer's Chair ; tho with as much Reluctancy in You , as was in Him . Of Your GRACE'S Endowments to qualify You for this most Eminent Station , I will be wholly silent ; knowing how abhorrent Your Generous Nature is from Reading or Hearing Your Own Commendations .

Nor , MY LORD , is this my End in this my Dedication : But this it is , That You would so far Encourage these my Weak and Imperfect Labours ( done out of a Good Intent ) as to cast a Favourable Eye upon them , for the sake of Your Glorious Predecessor , the Subject of this Book ; and to repute me among the Number ,

But particularly the History of the Church , and matters relating to Religion , have a more special benefit , as being conversant about Spiritual things , which are weightier by far , and concern us more a great deal than Temporal . But , the more is the pity , in this sort of History there is a greater Defect than in the other ; I speak of our own Nation ; for tho the History of the State in the last Age , was excellently done by the Pens of the Lord Herbert and Mr. Cambden ; yet the Matters of the Church they professedly declined , or did but touch at ; the former saying expresly , His intention was not in an History to discuss Theological Matters , Pag. 418. Edit. 1672. as holding it sufficient to have pointed at the places where they are controverted . And the latter in his History , as often as he came to matters of the Church , tells us , That he left his Readers to the Ecclesiastical Historian . Which hath made me wonder at , and apt to accuse the Slothfulness of that Age , that during all the time of K. Henry , K. Edward , and Q. Mary , wherein Religion was so tossed about , and took up so much of those Reigns , there is no one Ecclesiastical History thereof written , except that of the diligent and learned Mr. Fox ; and during the long Reign of Q. Elizabeth and K. Iames , I think none at all . Till of late years , when by length of time , and destruction of many Original MSS. by the Civil Wars , divers remarkable Transactions were buried and lost , some few Learned Men employed themselves in Collecting and Publishing what Memorials of Religion and the Church they could retrieve ; as namely , Dr. Fuller , Dr. Heylin , and especially Dr. Burnet , now the Right Reverend Bishop of Sarum ; to whom the English Church must be ever beholden for his great and happy Pains contributed hereunto . But yet there be good Gleanings after these Writers ; and many things of remark there are , relating to the Church in those Three busie Reigns of Henry , Edward , and Mary , whereof these Historians are either wholly silent , or speak imperfectly , or erroneously : Some whereof in my Searches I have met with ; which I have disposed in these Memorials .

But besides the General Benefit of History , especially Ecclesiastical , this Particular History now recommended unto the English Nation , may produce this good effect , To make us value and esteem , as we ought , our Reformed Religion , when we see by what just and fair ways it went on , and how it prevailed like Christianity at first , notwithstanding the great Opposition it met with , and what sort of men they were , such as Gardiner and Boner , who especially set themselves to stop it .

Moreover , Reading the Lives of Exemplary Men , and such as were Famous in their Generation , hath a great Vertue in it , to influence the Manners of men . Their wise Saying● , their discreet Behaviour , their just Management of Matters committed to their trust ; their Zeal , their Charity , their Awe of God , their Contempt of the World , and such like , are not only delightful to read or hear , but do insensibly instil into mens minds a secret Approbation thereof , and draw them on to an Imitation . This Land hath produced many admirable men ; the Knowledg of whom , and the Benefit of whose Examples , is utterly lost , for want of some Writers to leave their Memory unto the World . It was a thing complained of in the last Age , That as that Age abounded more in Writers , than any Age before it , so there were very few that set themselves to Pen the Lives of Excellent men ; as Samuel , the Learned and Worthy Son of Iohn Fox spake : Life of Iohn Fox . But he ever thought it , as he said , most unjust , notwithstanding , to deprive the world of the memory of matters done by them , by whose Labours and worthy Deeds , the common state of the Countrey was so much bettered . And if the Use of History , as the same Author saith , is to form the Lives and Manners of men , that being the chief end of History ; then I add , No part of History doth more promote this , than the History of the Deeds of Famous men .

It was another great Inducement to me to let this Work see the light , to be grateful to the Memory of this Holy Prelate , that hath so well deserved of this Church ; and to whom , under God , she oweth that Excellent Constitution , and Reformed State in which she is ; which cost him so dear , so many Pensive Thoughts , so many long hours Study , so many Consultations and Debates with Learned men , so much Correspondence abroad , so many Speeches , Arguments , and Strugglings , in the Parliament , in the Convocation , before the King , the Clergy , the People ; so much Danger , and Trouble , and Envy , and Reproach , and at last his dearest Blood . Posterity would be highly injurious to such a Person as this , if he should not be recorded with all due Respect and Honour . It was a commendable Practice of the Ancient Persians , to write in Records the Names and good Deeds of such as had deserved well of the King and Kingdom , to remain for ever . And these Records Kings themselves did sometimes use to read . The King Ahasuerus called one Night for them to be read to him , to entertain his waking hours , Esther VI. And Xerxes in an Epistle of his to Pausanias , extant in Thucidides , told him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . That his Good Deed was upon Record in his Palace for ever . For these Records were esteemed so precious , that they were kept within the Walls of the Palace . And this Custom of Writing up the Remembrance of Men of Merit , seemed also to be among the Iews . Thus it is said of Iudas Macchabeus , That the Remembrance of him was for a blessing for ever . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1 Mac. III. 7. To which does , I suppose , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Book of Remembrance , or Record , allude , ( in Mal. III. 16. ) that was written for those that feared God , and thought on his name . And surely it is agreeable to God's Will , that this Piece of Gratitude should be shewn to men of singular Vertue deceased , to keep their Names and Good Deeds upon Record , for Posterity to know , and to thank God for .

And this Office of Love and Duty seems highly convenient to be done towards Archbishop Cranmer , that something might appear in the world for his Vindication , under those many base Aspersions , and lying Insinuations , that are and have been Printed by Papists , to defame and blacken him to Posterity . One of them hath these words , ( which shew that he cared not what he said , Parsons Three Conversions , Part 3. p. 84. so he might but throw his dirt upon the chief Lights of the Reformation ) , The very Pillars of this Rank , [ which he names to be ] Luther , Bucer , P. Martyr , Cranmer , Ridley , Latimer , Hooper , Rogers , Farrar , Taylor , Tyndal , all Married Priests and Friars , [ but some of them were never Friars , and others never Married ] were men given to their Sensualities , both of Women , and other like their Commodities , after the fashion of other ordinary men . Neither is there recounted any one eminent Action in all their Lives , that I have read , either of chastening their Bodies , mortifying their Appetites , contemning the World and the Pleasures thereof , while they might have and use the same ; or finally , any more excellent Spirit in them above the rest , or of any supernatural Concurrence of God with their Actions in any one thing . But did he converse so much in Fox , as to undertake in one or two Books to answer and confute him and his Martyrs ; and yet doth he meet with nothing there of none of these men in that Martyrology , but what was Ordinary to other men , and that shewed not some more excellent Spirit to be in them ? It is a sign he read but little there , or read with a cankered mind . This ensuing Book shall effectually confute these Misreports and Slanders of Cranmer , one of these Pillars , as he calls them ; and shall abundantly make it appear , That he was no Sensualist , nor addicted ( notwithstanding his High Place ) to the Pleasures and Commodities of this world ; and that his Life shone bright by his many eminent Actions of Piety , Mortification , Contempt of the world ; and that he was of a more excellent Spirit than that of the ordinary rank of men ; and that for some Ages there scarce arose his Fellow ; and finally , that he must needs have some supernatural Concurrence and mighty Aid of God's Grace with him , in many of the Affairs that passed through his hands .

III. The Third thing remains , ( which is indeed the main matter that makes an History of any account ) , and that is , What Credit may be given to what I have writ : For if it stand not upon the Foot of Truth , it is not History , but a Romance , a Legend , a mere Tale. And here I remember what Iohn Fox said to Alan Cope , concerning an History-Controuler , which is as true of an History-Writer : If you will be a Controuler in Story-matters , Acts and Mon. Vol. I. p. 532. Edit. 1610. Diligence is required , and great searching out of Books and Authors , not only of our time , but of all Ages , and especially where matters of Religion are touched , pertaining to the Church ; it is not sufficient to say what Fabian , or what Hall saith , but Records must be sought , and Registers must be turned over : Letters also and ancient Instruments ought to be perused , and Authors with the same compared ; finally , the Writers among themselves one to be compared with another ; and so with Judgment to be weighed , with Diligence to be laboured , and with Simplicity , pure from all Addiction and Partiality , to be uttered .