INTRODUCTION. l 1 us; but that you may not say you were not forewarned, I testify that your own turn will be next. And, accordingly it came to pass ; for , a little while after, King Edward died, when the prisoners were set at liberty, and the archbishop and bishops cast into prison.". The above severities, shewing the imperfect state of the English reform- ation, will be handed down to posterity, as monuments of lasting reproach to our famous reformers. Persecution, whoever may be the persecutors, deserves ever to appear in all its detestable and shocking features. In the year 1553, upon the death of King Edward, his sister MARY coming to the crown, soon overturned the reformation, and restored the whole body of popery. The queen was a violent papist ; yet she at first declared, " That though her conscience was settled in matters of religion, she was resolved not to compel others, only by the preaching of the word."-i- How far her majesty ad- hered to this sacred maxim, the numerous tragic scenes of her bloody reign, afford too strong a proof. She, within the same month, prohibited all preaching without her special license ; and further declared, 4, That she would not compel her subjects to be of her religion, till_public order should be taken."f. This was a clear intimation of the approaching storm. Many of the principal reformers - were immediately cast into prison. Hooper was sent to the Fleet, and Cranmer and Latimer to the Tower, and above a thousand persons retired into foreign parts among whom were five bishops, five deans, four archdeacons, and a great number of doctors in divinity, and cele- brated preachers. In the number of worthy exiles were Coverdale, Turner, Sampson, Whitehead, Becon, Lever, Whittingham, and Fox, all afterwards famous in the days of Queen Elizabeth.il The two archbishops and most of the bishops were deprived of 'their sees. The most celebrated preachers in London were put under- confine- d ment, and no less than 12,000 of the clergy, for being married, were turned out of their livings ; some of whom were deprived without conviction ; some were never cited to appear ; and many, being confined in prison, and unable to appear, were cited and deprived for non-appearance. In the mean time, the service and reformation of King Edward were abolished, and the old popish worship and ceremonies revived.i Peirce's Vindication, part i. p. 35. Burnet's Hist. of Refor. vol. ii. p. 245. t Ibid. b Ibid. p. 247,250. Strype's Cranmer, p. 314. 1 Burnet's Hist. of Refor. vol. ii. p. 276.
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