by Jo. Avenar, translated out of Lat. by our author, T. Rogers. (13) Soliloquium Anima: The fourth Book of the Imitation of Christ. Lond. 1592, in tw. written by Tho. de Kempis before-mentioned. What other things our author hath written and translated I know not; nor anything else of him, only that he was a zealous opposer of the doctrine of the Sabbath, and the first that publicly stood up against Dr Nich. Bownd's opinion of it in his preface to the Exposition of the 39 Articles, &c. which made the other party (the Puritan) angry, and so far to be enraged as maliciously to asperse and blemish him. Whereupon he wrote a vindication of himself in MS. now in the hands of a near relation of his. At length after a great deal of pains taken for the benefit of the church he gave up the ghost at Horninger before-mentioned, otherwise called Horningshearth: whereupon his body was buried in the chancel of the church there, under a rough, unpolished and broken grave-stone, without name or epitaph, 22 Feb. in sixteen hundred and fifteen, as the register of that church tells us; which, I presume, follows the English accompt and not the common, as many country registers do. I find one Tho. Rogers, a Cheshire man born, to have been admitted student of Ch. Ch. 1547, aged 24, or more, being then Bac. of Arts, and soon after made Master. What relation he had to the former Tho. Rogers I know not. Another Tho. Rogers I find, who was born in Glocestershire, in or near to Tewksbury, lived mostly in his latter days in the parish of S. Giles in the Fields. near London, and published a poem entitled, The Tears or Lamentations of a sorrowful Soul. Lond. 1612, qu. written by Sir Will. Leighton, knight, one of his majesty's band of pensioners. To which, the said Tho. Rogers added, of his own composition, a poem called Glocester's-Mite. But [Wood is certainly wrong in this statement, that Thomas Rogers was the publisher of Sir Will. Leighton's poem. He was misled by the Bodleian copy of these two poems, which are bound together, and so misplaced by the binder as to render it difficult to distinguish the one from the other. They are however very this Tho. Rogers is quite different from the divine beforementioned. [Tho. Rogers, A.M. institutus ad rectoriam de Horningherth, dioc. Norw. 11 Dec. 1581. Reg. Vac. BAKER.]" The work now reprinted first made its appearance, though in a different form and under a different title, in two parts, the first of which was published, according to Wood, in 1579, and the second in 1585. A copy of this edition the present Editor has been unable to discover. The second edition noticed by Wood was also in two parts, published at some interval of time; and a copy of it is in the University Library at Cambridge. The first part bears the title of "The English Creede, consenting with the True Auncient Catholique and Apostolique Church in al the points and articles of Religion which everie Christian is to knowe and beleeve that would be saved. The Firste Parte in most loyal maner to the Glorie of God, credit of our Churche and displaieng of al hærisies and errors, both olde and newe, contrarie to the faith, subscribed unto by Thomas Rogers. different works. Gloucester's Myte is a funeral tribute to the memory of Prince Henry, and was printed in 1612. The Teares, &c. are various religious poems, and sonnets which were set to music by Leighton, who, in his preface, declares his intention to print the notes by which his hymns, &c. are to be sung or played. This work was printed one year after Rogers's production, with which it has not the smallest connexion. A very sufficient specimen of Leighton's Teares will be found in the British Bibliographer, i. 378; but that our readers may have no occasion to regret the scarcity of the book, four lines shall be offered to their religious contemplation. Our fathers, Lord, were comforted, As righteous men, in Jesus Christ. It is now only just to Rogers that he should not be omitted entirely, and the concluding stanza of his Myte shall end this note. Our soules are siluer plates thy fame to hold; Our zeal rich diamonds to make th' impression; The characters we print, refined gold To keep thy name all ages in succession. Then sleepe, sweet Henry, prince of endless fame, Whilst we record thy euerlasting name.] Allowed by Auctoritie. At London. Imprinted by John Windet for Andrew Maunsel, at the Brasen Serpent in Paul's Churchyard, 1585." This part contains an analysis of the first nineteen Articles, and is dedicated to Edmund [Scambler] Bishop of Norwich. The second part, completing the work, bears a similar title, but is dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor. It was published in 1587. The whole work is printed in a thin folio. The Articles are broken up into Propositions, and each Proposition is presented in the form of an analytical conspectus. Of the manner in which this was done the following instance, taken at random, may suffice to convey an idea: In 1607 the book was published in quarto; and the analytical form in which it had hitherto appcared was abandoned. This edition, which was the last published during the author's life-time, has been in almost every instance followed in the present reprint. Where the corrections of later editions have been adopted, the reading of the edition of 1607 has been carefully noticed. * But the quarto varied considerably from the folio in other respects as well as in form. In the folio the only references are to Scripture and the Confessions of the Protestant churches. Errors and heresies are noticed, but no authorities are given in support of the statements made respecting them. Nor are the notices of heresies themselves by any means so numerous as in the later edition. Again, several distinct Propositions were added in the quarto. In it the Fifth and Eighteenth Articles, which in the folio are treated as single Propositions, aro divided into three and two respectively. Similarly, the third Proposition of the Seventh Article, the last of the edition of 1585, in that of 1607 is expanded into three. Other variations are as follows: In the folio, there is appended to the Third Proposition of the Tenth Article, a caution against the doctrine of human perfectibility, which was subsequently omitted. In the Seventeenth Article the Propositions 5-9 are differently worded: 5. Why some are elected and not others. 6. Who are they which shall be saved. 7. What are the effects of predestination. 8. The use of the doctrine of predestination both to the godly and wicked. 9. What may keep men both from desperation and also from security. In the Nineteenth Article there is an Eighth Proposition, which was afterwards omitted. It is this: "There is no salvation without the church; and therefore every man is firmlie to joyne thereunto, and never to depart therefrom by schismo and contention." But the chicf difference between the two editions lies in the altered exposition of the Third Article, an alteration to which there attaches some historical interest. In the folio of 1585, the author adopts Calvin's view of the descent into hell. He there writes: "That our Saviour Christ descended into Hell, together with our Church, (1) the ancient creeds, Apostolical [and] Athanasian; the Confession of the Church of Helvet. ii. cap. 11; Basil, Art. 4; Ausburgh, Art. 3; Suevia. Art. 2, do testify. Which word Hell in this Article, as we take it, signifieth: not the place of everlasting torments where Dives was and is, Luke xvi. 23; all the reprobate together shall be, Matt. xxv. 41. In which place Christ as man was not, forasmuch as (1) His body lay in the grave, Matt. xii. 40; xvi. 4; Luke xi. 29; (2) His soul was commended into the hands of God the Father, Ps. xxxi. 5; Luke xxiii. 46, [and was] in Paradise, (so is it set down as a thing well to be observed): and not in Hell, Luke xxiii. 43. [But] The terrors and torments of the body and soul which Christ suffered; as appeareth Isa. liii. 6, 10; Ps. cxvi. 3; Matt. xxvi. 38; xxvii. 46; Luke xxii. 42." Controversy, however, as to the true interpretation of the Article was already rife. Calvin's view had indeed been very generally received, more perhaps from deference to his authority, than from any careful investigation of the subject. But in the year 1579, Hugh Broughton, a learned Hebraist, maintained that the hell of the Creeds and the Article was the Greek Hades, or place of disembodied spirits, and not the place of eternal punishment. This interpretation, which at first met with very considerable opposition, gradually gained ground, and Archbishop Whitgift, who among others had formerly controverted it, at length came round to it himself'. There can be little doubt indeed that a great revolution of opinion on this point had been effected before Thomas Rogers's work on the Articles appeared in its present form in 1607. Hence we find that in this edition he speaks far less confidently than before2, and whilst mentioning different views that had been entertained of the doctrine, does not strongly advocate any. The Editor is unable to add anything to Wood's account 1 See Strype's Whitgift, Book IV. chap. 13 and 19. pp. 431, 483. Lond. 1718. Heylin, Hist. Presb. 350. Soames's Elizabethan Church Hist. p. 476. Thus p. 61, he says, "But till we know the native and undoubted sense of this article and mystery of religion," &c. |