Appendix D (p. 124).

CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES AT FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES.

"Nun war bey Ankunft der Engellaender eine Kirche in Frankfurt, die einigen franzoesischen Protestanten zum Gebrauch eingeraeumt war, welche nun auch zum Behuf der Engellaender in Vorschlag gebracht, und am 14 Julii ihnen wirklich angewiesen wurde. Doch machte der Rath gewisse Ordnungen, und suchte die Sache also einzurichten, das allerlei Disputen, die etwa entstehen moegten, der Weg verlaget wurde. Die vornehmsten waren diese: (a) dass die Engellaender und Franzosen einerley Lehre und Ceremonien fuehren sollten; Daher sollten jene (b) der Franzosen Glaubensbekaentniss, das diese N.B. dem Rath ueberreichet hatten, unterschreiben. (c) Liessen sich die Engellaender gefallen, dass das Volk bey dem gemeinen Gebet das Amen nicht mehr laut sagen sollte, wie sonst in der Kirche von Engelland ueblich ist. (d) Dass die Prediger das weisse Chorhemde, nebst vielen andern in Engelland eingefuehrten Ceremonien abschaffen sollten, als welche den Einwohnern, die solcher Dinge ungewohnt waeren, einstossig seyn koennten. Und was der gleichen Umstaende mehr waren, welche die Engellaender, um desto eher zum Stande zu kommen, freiwillig eingiengen."--J. Hildebrand Withof, 'Vertheidigung der.... Nachricht wie es mit V. Pollane erstem Reformirten Prediger zu Frankfurt-am-Mayn ... zugegangen,' 1753, folio.

APPENDIX E (p. 260).

THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS.

(From the 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias.')

"With all his scribbling, he [i.e., Cochlaeus] has never yet, so far as I know, disclosed what are his own opinions about Christian doctrine; and therefore his empty and scurrilous treatises miss their mark, and are justly held in derision by learned men.... But I, renowned monarch, that you may know that my alliance is with the Church of Christ and not with any other factions, do not refuse before you and other good men to give a simple and clear account of my faith as I formerly wrote to you, for I believe the prophetical and apostolical Scriptures, and embrace the consensus of the holy fathers whom the Church approves. I also reverence the ecclesiastical authority, being one who, especially in doubtful matters, will obey and follow its decisions. Does Cochlaeus ask anything further? I myself will add, I approve of nothing seditious. With my whole heart and soul I abhor the ravings of the Anabaptists. No new doctrine, unsupported by the testimony of the ancient Church, is acceptable to me. Further still, as I do not undertake the defence of Luther, so, on the other hand, I do not approve of all the dreams of the monks which have been received, not only contrary to the decision of the Scripture, but also to the authority of the ancient church. Moreover, I cannot approve of the cruelty which is everywhere being practised against those who, following the judgment of Scripture and of the fathers, reject or censure any manifest abuse or error that in the course of time may have crept into the Church. Such is my faith, O Cochlaeus, use it if you are pleased with it; if not, show me a better. If the unjust punishments inflicted on the truly pious afford you pleasure, you are not only a miserable, but a contemptible wretch. I neither can nor will ever knowingly burden or pollute my conscience by approving of these parricides. I saw in my own country the punishment of one, born in a most honourable station, and innocent of any serious crime, Patrick [Hamilton]. I saw burned at Cologne two men of pious and orthodox sentiments, and most averse to the fanatical opinions of the Anabaptists. Nor can I express in words how deeply I was grieved by these mournful spectacles. And I did not grieve only over the fate of those who were punished, in whom because, as the poet says, 'grace shone through their very anguish,' their singular bravery and constancy brought some alleviation to my grief; but much more did I grieve over the fate of the Church, which is disordered in many ways, and likely yet to be more so, by the practice of such cruelty. Finally, there is no doubt that the State will, in God's appointed time, have to suffer heaviest punishment for its guilt in permitting such parricides; yet I do not impugn the laws as to the punishment of heretics, if only there is due cognition of each case, and care is taken that those who are really innocent of perverting the true Christian faith may not be punished."

Then follows a paragraph of great importance in itself, and of almost as much from the light it casts on its author's state of mind, and, perhaps, also on Melanchthon's, at that particular time:--

"I myself also desire moderation in certain things on the part of the Lutherans, and reasonableness. To this they may be recalled if the matters in dispute are duly examined into. It is the duty of the bishops to do their utmost that learned men of either side should lovingly confer together on Christian doctrine, that some one certain form of doctrine, founded only upon the Word of God and the teaching of the primitive fathers, should be framed; and if this were done, the Church might easily be brought to coalesce again into one body. Nor do I doubt that good men on both sides are so disposed that they would not only willingly proffer their opinions, but also yield their individual convictions if they should hear more weighty reasons from the other side. For it is tyrannical, and specially unbecoming in a theologian, to do that which the son reproves in the tyrant, his father, in the tragedy. He wishes, the son says, to speak but to hear nothing in reply. At present the good men who are most desirous to provide some remedy for public evils keep silence, and secretly bewail the fate of the Church, not only alarmed by fear of those in power, but crushed by a sort of despair in this so great madness of slanderers, who have become so domineering that they would suffer no one but themselves to gain a hearing."

THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF ANNE BOLEYN.

I take to witness Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that I am about to speak the truth. On the day upon which the Queen was beheaded, at sunrise between two and three o'clock, there was revealed to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the Queen's neck after her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the nerves, the veins, and the arteries.

Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and, crossing the river Thames, I came to Lambeth (this is the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury's palace), and I entered the garden in which he was walking.

When the archbishop saw me, he inquired why I had come so early, for the clock had not yet struck four. I answered that I had been horrified in my sleep, and I told him the whole occurrence. He continued in silent wonder for a while, and at length broke out into these words, "Do not you know what is to happen to-day?" and when I answered that I had remained at home since the date of the Queen's imprisonment, and knew nothing of what was going on, the archbishop then raised his eyes to heaven and said, "She who has been the Queen of England upon earth will to-day become a queen in heaven." So great was his grief that he could say nothing more, and then he burst into tears.

Terrified at this announcement, I return to London sorrowing. Although my lodging was not far distant from the place of execution, yet I could not become an eye-witness to the butchery of such an illustrious lady, and of the exalted personages who were beheaded along with her.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 528).]

THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.

As soon as the king [i.e., Henry VIII.] began to hate her [i.e., Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes, until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be separated from their wives and punished at the king's pleasure. But before this law was published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord Pachet [i.e. Paget] from Lambeth to me at London.... He directed me to call upon the archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon him, "Happy man that you are," said he, "you can escape! I wish that I might do the same; truly my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make haste to escape before the island is blocked up, unless you are willing to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of what I have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been deposition from the archbishopric (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is deposed), of a truth I would not have subscribed. I am grieved, however, that you have been deprived of your salary for three years by Crumwell; that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and that I have no ready money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest the king should become aware that warning had been given by me for you to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of travelling. I give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once belonged to Thomas Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the king when he gave me the archbishopric."

When I heard what the bishop had to say, I immediately caused my property to be sold, and I concealed myself in the house of a German sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked, dressed as a soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected. When I had escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although he had not behaved well towards me) and warned him of the danger in which he stood at that time, and about certain other matters. For this I can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and Pachet himself. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare to speak to me when I was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor could he venture to give me anything, lest he should be accused to the king, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.

The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had undergone capital punishment by order of the king; to whom he had written, when in prison, saying that he was punished by the just judgment of God, because he had loved the king more than God; and that out of deference to his sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to be put to death, not sparing your [i.e., Elizabeth's] most holy mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting the doctrine of the Gospel.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 532-534).]

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