Louvaine, and other parts, being still for the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, though not for transubstantiation. Returning home in the days of queen Mary, his uncle placed him first in the rectory of Essington, and afterward at Houghton, a large parish containing fourteen villages; here he laboured in the work of the ministry, and was often exposed to danger, but constantly preserved by his uncle, bishop Tonstal, who was averse to burning men for religion. Miserable and heathenish was the condition of these northern counties at this time, with respect to religion! Mr. Gilpin beheld it with tears of compassion, and resolved at his own expense to visit the desolate churches of Northumberland, and the parts adjoining, called Riddesdale and Tindale, once every year, to preach the gospel, and distribute to the necessities of the poor, which he continued till his death; this gained him the veneration of all ranks of people in those parts; but though he had such a powerful screen as bishop Tonstal, yet the fame of his doctrine, which was Lutheran, reaching the ears of Bonner, he sent for him to London; the reverend man ordered his servant to prepare him a long shirt, expecting to be burnt, but before he came to London queen Mary died. Upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, Mr. Gilpin, having a fair estate of his own, erected a grammar-school, and allowed maintenance for a master and usher; himself choosing out of the school such as he liked best for his own private instruction. Many learned men, who afterward adorned the church by their labours and uprightness of life, were educated by him in his domestic academy. Many gentlemen's sons resorted to him, some of whom were boarded in the town, and others in his own house; besides, he took many poor men's sons under his care, giving them meat, drink, clothes, and education.

In the year 1560 he was offered the bishoprick of Carlisle, and was urged to accept it by the earl of Bedford, bishop Sandys, and others, with the most powerful motives; but he desired to be excused, and in that resolution remained immovable; his reasons were taken from the largeness of the diocesses, which were too great for the inspection of one person; for he was so strongly possessed of the duty of bishops, and of the charge of souls that was committed to them, that he could never be persuaded to keep two livings, over both of which he could not have a personal inspection, and perform all the offices of a pastor; he added farther, that he had so many friends and relations in those parts to gratify or connive at, that he could not continue an honest man and be their bishop. But though Mr. Gilpin would not be a bishop, he supplied the place of one, by preaching, by hospitality, by erecting schools, by taking care of the poor, and providing for destitute churches; in all which he was countenanced and encouraged by the learned and reverend James Pilkington, then bishop of Durham, by whom he was excused from subscriptions, habits, and a strict observance of ceremonies, it being his fixed opinion that

no human invention should take place in the church, instead of a divine institution. After bishop Pilkington's death Dr. Barnes was chosen his successor, who was disgusted at Mr. Gilpin's popularity, and gave him trouble: once when he was setting out upon his annual visitation to Riddesdale and Tindale, the bishop summoned him to preach before him, which he excused in the handsomest manner he could, and went his progress; but upon his return he found himself suspended, for contempt, from all ecclesiastical employments. The bishop afterward sent for him again on a sudden, and commanded him to preach, but then he pleaded his suspension, and his not being provided; the bishop immediately took off his suspension, and would not excuse his preaching, upon which he went into the pulpit, and discoursed upon the high charge of a Christian bishop; and having exposed the corruptions of the clergy, he boldly addressed himself to his lordship in these words; "Let not your lordship say, These crimes have been committed without my knowledge, for whatsoever you yourself do in person, or suffer through your connivance to be done by others, it is wholly your own; therefore, in the presence of God, angels, and men, I pronounce your fatherhood to be the author of all these evils; and I and this whole congregation will be a witness in the day of judgment, that these things have come to your ears." All men thought the bishop would have deprived Mr. Gilpin for his freedom, as soon as he came out of the pulpit, but by the good providence of God it had quite a different effect; the bishop thanked him for his faithful reproof, and after this suffered him to go on with his annual progress, giving him no farther disturbance. At length his lean body being quite worn out with labour and travail, and feeling the approaches of death, he commanded the poor to be called together, and took a solemn leave of them; afterward he did the like by his relations and friends; then giving himself up to God, he took his bed about the end of February, and died March 4, 1583, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was a heavenly man, endued with a large and generous soul, of a tall stature of body, with a Roman nose: his clothes were neat and plain; for he was frugal in his own dress, though very bountiful to others. His doors were always open for the entertainment of strangers. He boarded in his own house twenty-four scholars, most of whom were upon charity. He kept a table for the poor every Lord's day, from Michaelmas to Easter, and expended 5001. for a free school for their children. Upon the whole, he was a pious, devout, and open-hearted divine; a conscientious Nonconformist, but against separation. He was accounted a saint by his very enemies, if he had any such, being full of faith and good works; and was at last put into his grave as a shock of corn fully ripe

"The worth and labours of this excellent man (it was observed in the New Annual Register for 1789) have been amply displayed in the present century, by the elegant pen of one of his own name and family "-ED.

pro

The same year died Edmund Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Copland, in the county of Cumberland, in the year 1519, and educated in Cambridge. He was a famous preacher in king Edward's days, and was nominated by him to a bishoprick, when he was only thirty-three years of age; but that king dying soon after, he went into exile, and imbibed the principles of a farther reformation than had as yet obtained in England. Upon queen Elizabeth's accession he returned to England, and was advanced first to the see of London, and then to York and Canterbury, though he could hardly persuade himself for some time to wear the habits and comply with the ceremonies of the church; nor did he ever heartily approve them, yet thought it better to support the Reformation on that foot, than hazard it back into the hands of the Papists *. He was of a mild and moderate temper, easy of access, and affable even in his highest exaltation. He is blamed by some for his gentle usage of the Puritans, though he used them worse than he would have done, if he had been left to himself. About a year or two after his motion to the see of Canterbury, he lost the queen's favour on the account of the prophesyings, and was suspended for some years, during which time many Puritan ministers took shelter in the counties of Kent and Surrey, &c., which made more work for his successor. The good old archbishop being blind and broken hearted, the queen took off his sequestration about a year before his death, and sent to acquaint him, that if he would resign, he should have her favour, and an honourable pension; which he promised to accept within six months; but Whitgift, who was designed for his successor, refusing to enter upon the see while Grindal lived, he made a shift to hold it till his death, which happened July 6th, 1583, in the sixty-third year of his age. den calls him a religious and grave divine. Hollingshead says, he was so studious that his book was his bride, and his study his bride-chamber, in which he spent his eyesight, his strength, and his health. He was certainly a learned and venerable prelate, and had a high esteem for the name and doctrines of Calvin, with whom, and with the German divines, he held a constant correspondence. His high stations did not make him proud; but if we may believe his successor in the see of York, archbishop Sandys, he must be tainted with avarice (as most of the queen's bishops were), because, within two months after he was translated to Canterbury, he gave to his kinsmen and servants, and sold for round sums of money to himself, six score leases and patents, even then when they were thought not to be good in lawt. But upon the whole, he was one of the best of queen Elizabeth's bishops. He lies buried in the chancel of the church at Croydon, where his effigies is to be seen at length in his doctor's robes, and in a praying posture+.

* Grindal's Life, p. 295.

+ Strype's Ann. vol. ult. Suppl. p. 21.

Cam.

This prelate is the Algrind of Spencer, which is the anagram of his name. The

CHAP. VII.

FROM THE DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP GRINDAL TO THE SPANISH

INVASION IN 155 1588 A.T. B

UPON the death of Grindal, Dr. John Whitgift, bishop of Worcester, was translated to the see of Canterbury, and confirmed September 23rd, 1583. He had distinguished himself in the controversy against the Puritans, and was therefore thought the most proper person to reduce their numbers. Upon his advancement the queen charged him "to restore the discipline of the church, and the uniformity established by law, which (says her majesty) through the connivance of some prelates, the obstinacy of the Puritans, and the power of some noblemen, is run out of square." Accordingly, the very first week, his grace published the following articles, and sent them to the bishops of his province, for their direction in the government of their several diocesses: :

"That all preaching, catechising, and praying, in any private family, where any are present besides the family, be utterly extinguished *. That none do preach or catechise, except also he will read the whole service, and administer the sacraments four times a year. That all preachers, and others in ecclesiastical orders, do at all times wear the habits prescribed. That none be admitted to preach unless he be ordained according to the manner of the church of England. That none be admitted to preach, or execute any part of the ecclesiastical function, unless he subscribe the three following articles: 1st, To the queen's supremacy over all persons, and in all causes ecclesiastical and civil within her majesty's dominions. 2ndly, To the Book of Common Prayer, and of the ordination of priests and deacons, as containing nothing contrary to the word of God; and that they will use it in all their public ministrations, and no other. 3rdly, To the thirty-nine articles of the church of England, agreed upon in the synod of 1562, and afterward confirmed by parliament +." And with what severity his grace enforced these articles will be seen presently.

It is easy to observe, that they were all levelled at the Puritans; but the most disinterested civil lawyers of these times were of opinion, that his grace had no legal authority to impose those, or

French Protestants were very much indebted to his influence and activity in obtaining for them a settlement in England, in their own method of worship. This was the beginning of the Walloon church, situated in Threadneedle-street, London; which has ever since been appropriated to the use of the French nation. British Biography, vol. 3. p. 161. Granger's Biographical History, vol. 2. p. 204, note, 8vo.-ED.

* Life of Whitgift, p. 118.

† MS. p. 429.

any other articles, upon the clergy, without the broad seal; and that all his proceedings upon them were an abuse of the royal prerogative, contrary to the laws of the land, and consequently so many acts of oppression upon the subject. Their reasons

were:

1. Because the statute of the twenty-fifth Henry VIII. chap. 20, expressly prohibits "the whole body of the clergy, or any one of them, to put in use any constitutions, or canons already made, or hereafter to be made, except they be made in convocation assembled by the king's writ, his royal assent being also had thereunto, on pain of fine and imprisonment."

2. Because, by the statute of the 1st of Eliz. chap. 3. "All such jurisdictions, privileges, superiorities, pre-eminences, spiritual or ecclesiastical power and authority, which hath heretofore been, or may lawfully be, executed or used for the visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reformation of the same, and of all manner of errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, contempts, and enormities, are for ever united to the imperial crown of these realms."-Whence it follows, that all power is taken from the bishops, except that of governing their diocesses according to the laws of the land, or according to any further injunctions they may receive from the crown under the broad

seal.

3. Because some of the archbishop's articles were directly contrary to the statute laws of the realm, which the herself queen has not power to alter or dispense with. By the 13th Eliz. chap. 12, the subscription of the clergy is limited to those articles of the church, which relate to the doctrines of faith, and administration of the sacraments only; whereas the bishop enjoined them to subscribe the whole thirty-nine. And by the preamble of the same statute, all ordinations in the times of Popery, or after the manner of foreign reformed churches, are admitted to be valid, so that such may enjoy any ecclesiastical preferment in the church; but the archbishop says, [art. 4th.] "that none shall be admitted to preach, unless he be ordained according to the manner of the church of England." Upon these accounts, if the queen had fallen out with him, he might have incurred the guilt of a premunire.

To these arguments it was replied by his grace's lawyers,

1. That by the canon law, the archbishop has power to make laws for the well-government of the church, so far as they do not encounter the peace of the church, and quietness of the realm. To which it was answered, this might be true in times of Popery,but the case was very much altered since the Ref ima tn because now the archbishops and bishops' authority is derived from the person of the queen only; for the late queen Mary, having surrendered back all ecclesiastical jurisdiction into the hands of the pope, the present queen upon her accession had no