Protestant Congregation in London in Queen Maries days and of one Cuthbert Sympson the Deacon or Clerk of that Congregation which two had Dreams and Visions the one concerning the other of them Which Fox thinketh worthy of so great consideration as he writeth thus in his Margin The Visions sent to God's Saints concerning their afflictions Now then touching the first St. Rough you must know that he had been a Dominican Friar in Scotland as Fox confesseth and from thence running away into England gate himself a Mate or as he calleth her a Kate with whom lying in bed he had a Vision of his Fellow Sympson which Fox recounteth in these words The Friday at night before Master Rough was taken being in his bed he dreamed that he saw two of the Guard leading Cuthbert Sympson Deacon of his Congregation to Prison and that he had the Book about him wherein were written the Names of all them that were of that Congregation Whereupon being sore troubled he awaked and called to his Wife Kate strike light for I am much troubled with my Brother Cuthbert this night And when she had so done he gave himself to read on his Book a while and then feeling sleep to come upon him he put out the Candle and so gave himself to rest again and being asleep he dreamed the like Dream and awaking therewith he said O Kate my Brother Cuthbert is gone So they lighted a Candle again and rose This is the Vision of the Scottish Friar which caused his Kate twice to strike fire and light the Candle as you see 30. The other Vision of his Clerk Simpson that kept the Beadroll of the Names of his secret Congregation and was afterward burned with him in Smithfield Fox describeth in this manner Before Simpson 's burning saith he being in the Bishop's Cole-house in the Stocks he had a very strange Vision or Apparition which he himself with his own mouth declared to the Godly Learned Man Master Austen and to his own Wife c. Thus beginneth Fox to relate the Vision noting first as you see that he spoke it with his own mouth as tho' it were a great matter And then he entreth to make a long Apology against the Papists in defence of these Visions tho' theirs be not to be believed 31. They will ask me saith he why should I more require these to be credited of them than theirs of us This is the demand which he frameth in behalf of the Papists and I think no man will say but that it is reasonable Let us hear his Answer First saith he I write not this binding any man precisely to believe the same as they do theirs Lo here is a Foolery with a manifest Lye the Foolery is in telling us so precise believing all Visions and Dreams which no wise man ever thought or spake the Lye is in that he affirmeth us to teach that such precise belief is necessary in Visions among us But let us hear him further in his Answer to the former demand It is no Argument saith he to reason thus Visions be not true in some Ergo they be true in none This part we grant but what is this to his purpose or proof His meaning is that Ours be not true Visions and His be But who shall be Judges He and His would be But this is no reason and we on the contrary do say much more equally Nec mihi nec tibi neither He nor We as particular men ought to judge of these things but the Catholic Church which by her Bishops and Pastors does examin the Proofs Weight and Moment of every one of these things that fall out and according to the Quality Merit and Condition of them to whom they happen as also of the Witnesses and Testimonies whereby they are proved she doth judge of the Truth or Probability of every thing And to Her therefore we stand and not to the fantastical broken Brains of John Fox that maketh Miracles and Visions where he listeth and authorizeth or discrediteth them when it pleaseth him again 32. And thus much by occasion of St. Cuthbert's Apparition to King Alfred the Holiness of which Saint how highly it was esteemed in the days of this King about the year of Christ 878 you hereby see himself living 200 years before for that he died upon the year 687 the 20th of March which day hath ever since been celebrated with perpetual Memory not only by the Church of England but also by the Universal and that most worthily as may appear by his Life written largely by St. Bede Howsoever John Fox doth speak contemptuously of him here and his Fellow John Bale doth revile him But for what think you You shall hear his complaints Omnia ad amussim Monachus didicit quae ad Monachismum spectare novit nulla penitus de Evangelio facta mentioone He being a Monk learned exactly all things that appertained to the Life of Monks but never made mention of the Gospel And is this likely or probable think you that he never so much as mentioned the Gospel seeing that Monks Profession and form of Life is taken out of the Gospel But what more ensueth You shall hear the Apostata utter his Spirit Faemineum gensn saith he exosum ei erat c. Women-kind was hateful unto him c. This is the same Accusation that the Mgdeburgians laid to St. Cyprian if you remember for that he praised Virginity But how doth Bale gather this hatred of St. Cuthbert against Woman-kind It followeth Decretum fecit contra Mulieres ne ejus ingrederentur Monasteria He made a Decree against Women that they should not enter into his Monasteries This Decree Friar Bale that loved Woman-kind liked not But he addeth a further Accusation That in the second year of his Bishopric St. Cuthbert left the same and no less hypocritically than idly made himself an Anchorite leading for the rest of his days a solitary retir'd life See what matters they pick out to object unto God's Saints which themselves cannot or will not imitate 33. Finally to end this Chapter and therewith this fourth station or Time John Fox after much trifling here and there setteth down in the last words of this his third Book a very brief Catalogue of the Archbishops of Canterbury of these Ages with this Title The Names and Orders of the Archbishops of Canterbury from the time of King Egbert to William the Conqueror c. Which he beginneth with Etheldrenus that was the Eighteenth in Order and endeth with Lanfrancus who was the Thirty-fourth making certain Notes or rather Scoffs and Jests upon them all especially upon those that were most renowned for their Holiness and multitude of Miracles recorded by old Writers as namely St. Dunstan of whom Malmsbury and others having left written That among other Miracles happened unto him one was that his Harp wherewith he was wont in his Youth
she answered That above-ground she was but under-ground not 34. There followed many other Heresies also from this time downward unto King Henry VIII.'s days which prevailed diversly in divers Countries as the Flagellants or Whippers which made a new Baptism of Blood and held divers Articles of the Lolhards in Germany and Hungary about the year of Christ 1350 as Tritemius saith The Hussites also in Bohemia who had their Doctrin of John Husse Scholar of John Wickliff but yet in divers Articles differing from him about the year of Christ 1415 as Aeneas Sylvius declareth at large And upon this Man 's teaching and the Doctrin of Hierom of Prague that lived at the same time there sprung up divers different Sects in Bohemia as the Orebites Adamites Drecentians Gallecians Rochezanites Jacobites Thaborites and others Whereof Aeneas Sylvius Bonfinius and other Authors do treat And Bonfinius writeth That Matthias King of Hungary was wont to say in his days that the Sects and Sectaries of Bohemia were so divers and contrary one to the other as if no other Argument were against them this were sufficient to overthrow them all And the same confusion remaineth there unto this day 35. And this shall suffice for the Heresies of this fifth station of Time especially such as prevailed most in England from Wickliff unto King Henry VIII in whose days Luther rose up and made a new Sect. For albeit in many Points he symbolized and had concurrence with most of these Sects but especially with the Lolhards and Wickliffians under whose Names all Sectaries commonly covered themselves in our Country yet had Luther divers Points also peculiar to Him and His which made them properly a distinct and several Sect which himself confesseth in like manner disclaiming by Name from Husse and Hussites in these words Non recte faciunt qui me Hussitam vocant non enim mecum ille sensit They do not well that call me a Hussite for he doth not agree with me in Doctrin And as for Wickliff we may see the same Judgment of Luther by the testimony of Philip Melancthon that saith of him Nec intellexit nec tenuit Fidei Justitiam He neither understood nor held the Justice of Faith which is the very Foundation of Luther's Gospel and Doctrin 36. And again in the same place he objecteth divers other erroneous Doctrins unto him as That he doth take away all Civil and Politic Government that he holdeth for unlawful to Priests to possess any thing proper that no Tythes are to be paid and the like Which Doctrins of Wickliff notwithstanding our John Fox defendeth commending highly the Teachers and Professors thereof in all his tract of Time from King Edward III. to King Henry VIII canonizing them for Saints that were any way punished or called in question for any of these Doctrins under the Reigns of King Richard II. or King Henry IV V VI or VII and other Kings of that time And in this Argument is spent the whole sum of his fifth and sixth Books in which Books the very Titles of the Pages may sufficiently testifie what is handled therein As for Example page 406. under the Reign of King Richard II. is this Title The first Law for burning the Professors of the Gospel Whereby you see that he calleth all these men whether they be Wickliffians Hussites or Lolhards Professors of Christ's Gospel and consequently must he needs hold for Evangelical Truth all which they did hold and so in effect he doth in handling their Causes throughout these two Books against the Bishops and Princes that punished them though in clear words and Categorical Propositions he dare not do it 37. And this is the sluttering and stammering turning and winding of this our Fox as you can never know where to have him for that now he affirmeth now he denieth now he leaveth the matter doubtful now he moveth a question but solveth it not now he gainsayeth and contradicteth himself now he saith one thing in words and prosecuteth another in deed As for Example He confesseth before in words as you have heard That Wickliff had divers blemishes in Doctrin that is to say Errors and Heresies and so it may appear as well by that which we have set down thereof as also by the Judgment of Melancthon and yet in prosecution of his Work John Fox will not stick to commend the worst of those Doctrins as we may see by the very Titles of the Pages set over these Books 38. As for Example page 420. he putteth this Title over the said Page Temporalities may be taken from the Clergy c. And then yet further in the same Page he putteth this Head or beginning to a long Discourse about this matter in these words The second Disputation in the Vniversity of Prague upon the seventeenth Article of John Wickliff most fruitful to be read proving by twenty-four Reasons out of the Scriptures that Temporal Lords and Princes may take away Temporalities from the Clergy c. This is the Title of this fruitful Discourse for taking away all Temporal Fruits from the Clergy But how fruitful soever this Disputation may seem to John Fox against Clergy-Temporalities that perhaps could get none for himself yet to others of his Clergy that possess Temporalities I doubt much whether it will seem so fruitful or be so well liked of as by John Fox who for his twenty-four Reasons alleged for the same may chance be related into some Rank of the twenty-four Orders fit for a Man of his Degree and Merits 39. Moreover page 426. he hath this Title Tythes proved to be pure Alms. Which Title I think also will not greatly content the most of his Fellow-Ministers if their Parishioners should stand upon this Doctrin with them to wit That their Tythes are pure Alms according to the Gospel of John Wickliff and John Fox and consequently they may deny or detain them when they list or give so much thereof unto Ministers as they list and no more which oftentimes perhaps would be very little But what would these Ministers think you but especially their Wives and Children say of this Doctrin if once they felt hunger come upon them thereby yet Fox prosecuteth the same Title over other Pages As for Example page 446. he hath these words Tythes not expresly commanded anew by Christ and then hath he this Note If Tythes be claimed by force of the Old Law then Priests by the same Law are bound to have no Temporalities And this matter Fox doth prosecute at large as one Article among other of one Walter Brute a Lay-man of the Sect of Wickliff in whom saith Fox the mighty operation of God's Spirit did effectuate such constancy as in this and other Articles he resisted openly the Bishop of Hereford in his time c. Lo here the approbation of Brute's Spirit whose fourth Article was as Fox himself setteth down That no man is bound to give
that time they have taught 21. These were the two things of most moment determined about Religion in this first Parliament Two other things were attempted by the Gospellers with most earnest endeavor but they could not be obtained The first was to have a Book of Common Prayer pass which they had composed in hast out of the Mass-Book for altering the Service and Mass into English or rather for abolishing of the Mass and bringing in the new Communion in place thereof And this Book was composed by certain appointed by the Protector and Cranmer But when it came to the Parliament to pass it was misliked and contradicted not only by Catholics but by many Protestants also Especially those that were the most forward as Hooper Rogers and some other Who according to Fox were Puritans in those days and would neither take the Oath of Supremacy to the young King as we shall shew more largely when we come to treat of them severally in the next Part of this Treatise nor yet wear Typpet Cap or Surpless And misliked moreover the whole Government Ecclesiastical in that time neither agreed with the Opinions of Doctrin set down by that Book And so it was rejected with no small grief both of the Duke Protector and Archbishop Cranmer 22. The other Point proposed and rejected also was about allowance of Priests and Friers Marriages and Legitimation of their Children Wherein great force was made by them that had taken Women first and sought approbation afterwards but could not get it for the present Though in the next Parliament about a year after they obtained a certain mitigation therein as you shall hear 23. Now then this Parliament being thus past and ended upon the 20 day of December and the Protector much grieved that no more could be obtained therein to the favor of the new Gospellers he thought good for the time to come to use his Kingly Authority under the Name of the young Child for the altering of divers Points in Religion using Cranmer and some other also of the Council for his Instruments And first they began with Bishop Bonner as may appear by a Letter from the said Bonner written to Bishop Gardiner of Winchester the 28. of January 1548. wherein he writeth thus My very good Lord these be to advertise your Lordship that my Lord of Canterbury 's Grace this present 28. of January sent me his Letters Missive containing this in effect That my Lord Protector 's Grace with Advice of other the King's Majesties most Honorable Council for certain Considerations them moving are fully resolved that no Candles shall be born upon Candlemas-day nor from henceforth Ashes nor Palms used any longer Requiring me to cause Admonition thereof to be given unto your Lordship and other Bishops with celerity c. Thus much there 24. And after this again upon the 11. of the next Month of February the said Protector with some others of the Council at his appointment wrote to Cranmer and by him to all Bishops of the Realm Commanding them to pull down all Images in these words amongst others We have thought good saith he to signifie unto You that His Highness pleasure with the Advice and Consent of Vs the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council is that immediately upon the sight hereof with as convenient diligence as You may You give order that all Images remaining in any Church or Chappel c. Be removed and taken away And in the Execution hereof we require both You and the rest of the Bishops to use such foresight as the same may be quietly done with as good satisfaction of the People as may be c. From Somerset Place the 11. of February 1548. Your loving Friends Edward Somerset Henry Arundell Anthony Wingfield John Russell Thomas Seymer William Paget 25. And now Candles Ashes and Images being gone as you see there followed in the next Month after to wit of March that the Protector desiring still to go forward with his designment of Alteration sent abroad a Proclamation in the Kings Name with a certain Communion Book in English to be used for Administration of Sacraments instead of the Mass Book but whether it was the very same that was rejected a little before in the Parliament or another patched up afterward or the same mended or altered is not so clear But great care there was had by the Protector and his Adherents that this Book should be admitted and put in practice presently even before it was allowed in Parliament To which effect Fox setteth down a large Letter of the Council to all the Bishops Exhorting and Commanding them in the King's Name to admit and put in Practice this Book We have thought good say they to pray and require your Lordships and nevertheless in the King's Majesty Our most Dread Lord's Name to Command You to have a diligent earnest and careful respect to cause these Books to be delivered to every Parson Vicar and Curate within your Diocese with such diligence as they may have sufficient time well to instruct and advise themselves for the distribution of the most holy Communion according to the Order of this Book before this Easter time c. Praying you to consider that this Order is set forth to the intent there should be in all parts of the Realm one Vniform manner quietly used To the Execution whereof we do eftsoons require you to have a diligent respect as you tender the King's Majesties pleasure and will answer to the contrary c. From Westminster the 13 of March 1548. 26. By all which and by much more that might be alleged it is evident that all that was hitherto done against Catholic Religion for these first two years until the second Parliament was done by private Authority of the Protector and his Adherents before Law and against Law. And now what a Babylonical Confusion ensued in England upon these Innovations in all Churches Parishes and Bishopricks commonly is wonderful to recount For some Priests said the Latin Mass some the English Communion some both some neither some said half of the one and half of the other And this was very ordinary to wit to say the Introitus and Confiteor in English and then the Collects and some other parts in Latin. And after that again the Epistles and Gospels in English and then the Canon of the Mass in Latin and lastly the Benediction and last Gospel in English And this mingle mangle did every man make at his pleasure as he thought it would be most grateful to the people 27. But that which was of more importance and impiety some did Consecrate Bread and Wine others did not but would tell the people before-hand plainly they would not consecrate but restore them their Bread and Wine back again as they received it from them Only adding to it the Church Benediction And those that did Consecrate did Consecrate in divers forms some
A TREATISE OF Three Conversions of England FROM PAGANISM TO Christian Religion I. Under the Apostles in the First Age after CHRIST II. Under Pope Eleutherius and King Lucius in the Second Age. III. Under Pope Gregory the Great and King Ethelbert in the Sixth Age with divers other Matters thereunto appertaining The First Two PARTS Dedicated to the Catholics of England with a new Addition to the said Catholics upon the News of the late Queens Death and the Succession of His Majesty of Scotland to the Crown of ENGLAND By N. D. Author of the Ward-Word Enquire of ancient times before you remember the old days of your Forefathers consider of every Age as they have passed ask your Father and he will tell you demand of your Ancestors and they will declare unto you Deut. iv 32. LONDON Re-printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel MDCLXXXVIII THE Epistle Dedicatory TO THE CATHOLICS of ENGLAND THo ' when I wrote the Preface that doth ensue I had no purpose to add any Epistle Dedicatory most dearly-beloved and worthy Catholics yet afterwards thinking of some other circumstances both of Matter and Time I deem'd it not amiss to say somewhat also in this kind of Dedication both for presenting this Work to whom principally it is due as also for Advertisement in some few Points which the present State of your Affairs doth seem to require 2. And for the first Who doth not see and consider that this Treatise of the first Planting of Christian Catholic Faith in England with the Continuance and Preservation thereof from Age to Age unto our Times doth chiefly and principally belong to You that are Catholics at this day most worthy Children of so renowned Parents most honorable Off-spring of so excellent Ancestors most glorious Posterity of so famous Antiquity whom future Ages will both esteem and extoll above many of your Predecessors for retaining That in times of War which they left unto you in possession of Peace and for defending that by so singular Constancy of Sufferings which they both received and bequeathed unto you by quiet Tradition 3. Which Tradition being set down proved and declared most clearly in this ensuing Work I do by offering the same unto you but present you with your own to wit the History of your own House the Records and Chronicles of your own Family the Pedigree and Genealogy of your own Forefathers the Antiquity and Nobility of your own Progenitors together with your just Title and Claim to their Inheritance producing jointly for the same your undoubted Charters Enrollments Evidences Writings and Witnesses which no man with reason can deny or call in doubt 4. And furthermore I do add in the end for more full Complement of this whole Cause all such former false and wrong Suits Pretences Pleas Intrusions Surreptions or other like Shifts or Wranglings which any Heretics to this day but especially these of our times have made hitherto about the same for shew of some Title or Right on their part to this Inheritance and Succession of yours And lastly I do produce also the Judgments Censures Sentences and Arrests of all Christian Parliaments of the World to wit the Determination of all the highest Ecclesiastical Tribunals in your favor By all which I doubt not but that your Right and Title remaineth most evident and clear to all Men of Judgment even to the Enemies or Adversaries themselves Wherefore most justly I do Dedicate this Treatise unto you which so many ways and for so many reasons is your own And so much for the first Point 5. The second also about the Circumstances of the present Time is already somewhat touched in that we have said How by God's holy Providence you are born in this time of War Tribulation and Contradiction instead of that large and long Peace and Tranquility which your Ancestors enjoyed in the use of that Catholic Religion for which you strive and suffer now which thing tho' for the present it seem unpleasant and distastful to Flesh and Blood yet will the hour come when it shall prove a most singular Benefit and Privilege to such as have received Grace to manifest themselves by this occasion seeing that according to the Apostle this is one principal End in God's Everlasting Wisdom for permission of Heresies ut qui probati sunt manifesti fiant that those that be of proof be made manifest by this occasion 6. Wherefore seeing as the same Apostle saith in another place it is given to you dear Catholics that live in England at this day not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him a singular privilege by his account yea and that we may say of You as he said and gloried of Himself and his Fellows Vincula vestra manifesta fiunt in Christo in omni praetorio Your Bonds for Christ are made notorious throughout all the Tribunals and Judgment-seats of our Country And yet further as he wrote to his dear Thessalonians in their highest praise and commendation You are become such Followers of Christ and his Apostles as receiving the Word of God with Joy of the Holy Ghost in great Tribulation you are made an Example or Spectacle to all other faithful people in Macedonia and Achaia for that from you is divulged the Word of God not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in all other places by reason of your Faith which is published every-where throughout the World. 7. Seeing I say all this may be truly written of you and that our Country hath gotten more honorable Renown in Foreign Catholic Nations and the Church of God more Glory and Comfort by this your Patience and Sufferings in these few latter years than by the peaceable Calm of many former Ages of your Ancestors I know no true Servant of God that together with the commiseration of your present hard afflicted state receiveth not also particular Consolation by your Integrity and Constancy praying for your perseverance in that most honorable Course which hitherto you have held of true Obedience to Almighty God in matters of your Soul and Loyal Behavior of Duty towards your Temporal Prince in all worldly Affairs which course tho' it have not escaped the calumnious Tongues and Pens of some carping Adversaries yet is it justifiable and glorious both before God and Man where Reason ruleth and not Passion And I doubt not but that the Wisdom and Moderation both of her Majesty and her sage Council will rather in this Point ponder your own facts than your Adversaries words as also consider how rare such Examples of Patience are in these our days where so great a multitude for so many years hath passed under the Rod of so sharp Afflictions which is your singular commendation with all wise and godly men let Cavillers and Calumniators say what they will to the contrary 8. But God's holy hand hath not
that Easter-day must be kept upon the first Sunday after the first Full Moon in March as hath been said And furthermore forasmuch as this fourteenth day of the Moon must be that which falleth upon the very day of the Spring Equinoctial or immediately followeth the same which Equinoctium was observed by the Council of Nice to be in those days upon the 21st of March though since that time it fell back by little and little to the 11th day for correction whereof Pope Gregory XIII was forced to make his Reformation from the year 1582 by detracting ten days as all men know For this I say and for that if the fourteenth day of the Moon of March should happen to be Sunday the celebration of Easter must by the same ancient Fathers Prescription be transferred to the next Sunday For observing of these Points the Cycle also of the Sun or Circle of Dominical Letters containing the Revolution of 28 years was invented as necessary for this Observation I might add much more to this effect but this is sufficient to shew the grounds of many difficulties as also returning home to our Affair in hand to shew the beginning of the Eastern Custom among the Scots Picts and Britans not to be of that Antiquity which John Fox and his Fellows would pretend 14. But now besides this we may not omit another point of more consideration for the Reader 's Utility which is the small Piety or Religion of these Sectaries of our days who care not what they grant deny or say so they say somewhat against Rome her Bishops or Religion even in the first Ages or Primitive Church For to this end and with this good mine you shall see them here prefer in effect the foresaid Eastern Custom of celebrating Easter us'd by the Britans and Scots before the Catholic Custom of Rome albeit they well know how many Ages agone it hath been condemned not only for Error but also for Heresie yea tho' themselves do practise the contrary Custom at this day in England and Germany For that this is also a knack of these good men to speak one thing for advantage and practise another As for Example when the Question is about all those Books of the Old and New Testament which by Luther and Lutherans are rejected from the Canon of Canonical Scriptures as Ecclesiasticus Judith Hester Macchabees St. James Epistle the Apocalypse and other like When we reprehend the Lutherans for this point our Protestants of England take their parts and defend them stoutly as we see by the Writings of Fulk Chark Whitaker and others against F. Campian that objected the same to Luther and his Followers and yet on the other side they set the same Books forth in their English Bibles as Books of the Scriptures What dealing I pray you is this For either they be Scriptures and consequently of Infallible Truth or no. If the first then why do you defend the Lutherans that call them in doubt If the second why do you set them forth to the people among Scriptures 15. The like Example may be taken from Martin Luther who in his Book de Conciliis doth persuade the German Princes to observe Easter-day as an immovable Feast whensoever it falleth out without expecting Sunday as the Roman Church doth which point he saith is contrary to the Apostle forbidding us to observe Days Months and Years And yet I do not hear but that He and other Lutherans to this day do observe the Roman Use in practice of their Church concerning this point And the very same may be noted here of our English Calvinists who tho' in Practice of the English Church do observe the same Roman Custom as all men do know yet in their Writings they are content to impugn the same as a matter coming from Rome which you may see notoriously performed by John Bale a chief Gospeller in King Henry VIII and King Edward's days who treating of the former Disputation between Colman the Scottish Bishop and St. Wilfrid the English Abbot in the foresaid Council of Northumberland related by St. Bede praiseth highly the first to wit Colman together with his Learning and Piety in defending the Jewish Custom but scoffeth very contemptously and spitefully at the second that propugned the Catholic Roman Use notwithstanding that St. Bede as before you have heard calleth St. Wilfrid Virum doctissimum a most learned man and other ways also for his Holiness extolleth him exceedingly affirming among other points That for his rare Learning and great Vertue he was made Archbishop of all the Kingdom of Northumberland divided after him into two Bishoprics York and Lindisferne and when afterward as to the best men happeneth he was persecuted and driven out by violence of King Egfrid from his said Archbishopric he went and preached to the South-Saxons and converted all that Kingdom together with the Isle of Wight working many Miracles in like manner among them whereby he is truly called the Apostle of Sussex 16. Thus writeth Bede of St. Wilfrid Apostle of the South-Saxons who vanquished also in the former Disputations B. Colman and converted thereby King Oswyn from his former Rite of observing Easter with the Jews which he had learned during his Education in Scotland to follow the Roman Use But what think you saith John Bale thereof You shall hear in his own words Stulté respondit Wilfridus saith he c. Wilfrid answer'd like a Fool saying that the Apostle St. John did play the Jew in many things c. So saith Bale which words besides the Contumely contain a most false Lye and Slander also for that Wilfrid said not so as in St. Bede may be seen but only that St. John might tolerate perhaps for a time certain Rites of the Old Law as some of the other Apostles also had done and namely St. Paul in circumcising Timothy to bury the Synagogue with Honour c. 17. But hearken yet further how this new Gospeller and old Apostate-Fryer goeth forward against this holy Man Temporum saith he calculatores Evangelistis opponit Wilfrid did oppose the Roman Computists or Calculators of times against the Authority of the Evangelists This is an open Lye as the place in Bede will testifie for he saith only that perhaps one cause why the rude simplicity of the ancienter sort of Scottish Christians embraced the Jewish Custom at the beginning amongst other things might be for that no learned Calculator of the Roman Use had in those days arrived unto them He saith not one word of opposing this to the Evangelists and yet by the way do you note that this false Apostata would have his Reader think that this Jewish Heretical Custom is conform to the Evangelists than which nothing can be spoken more wickedly 18. But let us go forward and see what ensueth In fine saith he suis praevaluit Imposturis dementatis qui aderant Regibus
c. In the end Wilfrid in his Disputation prevailed by his Impostures having bewitched the two Kings that were present King Oswyn and King Egfrid Did you ever hear a more shameless tongue But this he wrote of St. Wilfrid Obiter and by the way in the Narration he maketh of B. Colman But when he cometh to talk of him in particular and severally he is far more bitter and impudent against him telling us first how that after Wilfrid had been in France Italy and Rome to study and there learned the Mathematical Calculations of times out of the Gospels Reversus in Patriam Romanas Consuetudines contra Quartadecimanos sic enim pios homines tunc derisorié vocabant disceptationibus in Synodo publicis defendebat gerebatque circa collum reliquiarum quas Roma tulerat capsulam quandam c. Et Archiepiscopus denique ob haec his similia constitutus bis infra spatium 45 annorum non ob Regum insolentiam ut Polidorus immodesté scribit sed ob suam temeritatem imò malitiam atque neguitias plures Archiepiscopatu pulsus est longo tandem confectus senio periit Anno Christi 710. He returning from Rome to his Country did defend by public Disputations in a Synod the Roman Customs against these men who being Pious and Godly were called scoffingly in those days Quartadecimans he carried about his Neck a certain Box of Saints Reliques which he brought with him from Rome And being for these and other like things made Archbishop he was driven out twice within 45 years from his Archbishopric and this not by the Insolency of the Kings that drave him out as Polidor doth immodestly write but rather for his own Rashness yea Malice and many Wickednesses c. And so at length being consumed with Old Age he perished in the year of Christ 710. 19. Behold here a Narration worthy the Spirit of a new Gospeller and old Apostata against so Venerable and Worthy a Pillar of our Primitive English Church as was St. Wilfrid Mark how he is tax'd for travelling and studying at Rome for defending by public Disputations the Roman Custom of celebrating Easter which yet was defended and decreed openly by the General Council of Nice as before you have heard and after shall be proved for bearing a Box of Reliques about his Neck brought from Rome which no doubt is one of the things that most troubleth the Spirit of John Bale as it did the Devils and wicked Spirits in England who cry'd and were cast out by the same as you may read in them that write his Life 20. Moreover he saith That for his own Wickedness he was driven out of his Archbishopric and so finally perished in the year 710. As for his perishing if he perished that lived so austere a Religious Life converted so many thousand English Heathens to Christian Faith wrought so many Miracles as are recorded of him then woe to Us that cannot imitate so great Holiness and woe to John Bale that ran out of Religion and being a Fryer took a Wench named Faithful Dorothy and that as himself braggeth Neque ab homine neque per hominem sed ex speciali Christi dono Neither from man nor by man but by the special Gift of Christ as tho' Christ did use to divide such Gifts to Fryers that had vowed Chastity And how good a Fellow he became afterward and how pleasant a Companion you may understand by his own words when writing of his Works he saith Facetias jocos sine certo numero feci I have written Jests and Pastimes without any certain number a fit Argument for a new Gospelling Fryer But yet how far this exercise of Jesting was from the Gravity and Holiness of St. Wilfrid no man can doubt And so himself miserable man may be thought to have perished while the other reigneth eternally in Heaven 21. And as for Refutation of the horrible Slander That for his Wickedness St. Wilfrid was driven out of his Archbishopric I have no better means present than to oppose against this lying Apostata the Universal Consent of all Antiquity especially those that wrote his Life as St. Bede and after him Hedius Odo Fridegenus Petrus Blesensis and others who have written both his Life and Death as of a great Saint and his Memory and Festival Celebration is held throughout the Universal Church upon the 12th day of October as all Martyrologies do testifie And thus much of the Insolency of John Bale against the person of St. Wilfrid 22. But now whereas further he is not ashamed to defend the Jewish Custom and the Quartadecimans condemned for it saying That they were pious men and were called by the nickname of Quartadecimans for a scoff only I am forced to deal further therein and to shew him first to be an Heretical and most shameless Calumniator for that the name of Quartadecimani or Quatuordecimani signifying those that observe the fourteenth day of the Moon of March to celebrate Easter is an old name appointed to those that held that Heretical Use for many Ages agone as may appear by St. Epiphanius that wrote 1200 years agone whose words are these Emersit rursus mundo alia Haeresis Tesseradecatitarum appellata quos Quartadecimanos quidam appellant There is another Heresie sprung up in the World of some that are called in Greek Tesseradecatites which others in Latin do call Quartadecimans c. The Explication of which words St. Augustin after him in his Book of Heresies written to Quod-vult-Deus doth set down thus Hinc appellati sunt quòd non nisi quartadecima Luna mense Martio Pascha celebrant These People are called by the Greek words Tesseradecatites and by the Latin Quartadecimans for that they do celebrate Easter upon the fourteenth day of the Moon of March. Unde etiam Quartadecimani cognominati sunt saith Nicephorus lib. 4. Histor cap. 36. for which cause they are called also Quartadecimans 23. And yet further the same men were called also by a third name of Paschatites as appeareth both by St. Philastrius Bishop of Brixia somewhat before St. Epiphanius who in his Catalogue of Heresies numbring up these Paschatites yieldeth the reason of their name in these words Qui asserunt quartadecima Luna celebrandum esse Pascha non autem sicuti Ecclesia Catholica celebrat Who affirm that Easter-day is to be celebrated upon the fourteenth of the Month of March upon whatsoever day it shall fall out and not as the Catholic Church doth accustom to expect the Sunday 24. Well then we see that St. Wilfrid and other Roman Catholics of his time did not invent the name of Quartadecimani for a scoff to disgrace godly men thereby as ungodly John Bale blusheth not to avouch but that it is an old name invented and appointed by the Universal Primitive Church to them that defended obstinatly the Jewish Custom of celebrating Easter-day strictly upon the
that Heresie but that he had so much as secretly and inwardly favored the same And for this very cause did King Henry use that solemn and sharp Judgment upon Lambert and made Cranmer to dispute so earnestly against him for the Real Presence whereof afterward he made also the said Cranmer write and print a Book for more evident Attestation therein and to the same end he made Cromwell to pronounce the Sentence that all men might see and know but especially his Favorites that whomsoever he found faulty in that behalf should expect no favor at his hand Whereupon when he had spoken to Lambert asking him What he had to say more for himself why he should not die And the other falling down on his knees remitted himself to his Princely Mercy The King answered with a loud Voice in these words as Fox relateth them If you remit your self to my Judgment you must die for I will be no Patron of Heretics And by and by turning himself to Cromwell he said Cromwell read the Sentence of Condemnation against him which Cromwell addeth Fox was at that time the chief Friend of the Gospellers who taking the Schedule of Condemnation in his hand read the same c. 12. Thus writeth Fox and putteth in the Margin this Note The King condemneth the Martyr of Christ John Lambert And again in another place Thus was John Lambert in this bloody Session by the King judged and condemned to death c. And then speaketh he very dishonorably of King Henry about this matter citing him to the last Day of Judgment to receive his Sentence for that Sentence So as howsoever they flatter the Memory of this King for glosing with her Majesty in outward words yet it is clear enough what they think of him in their hearts and speak of him in corners And howsoever Fox paint him out with their Gospel in his Lap and Sword in his hand to defend it calling him every-where Gospeller yet can they not deny but that the sharpest edge of the Sword fell upon them 13. And here I cannot omit to let you hear Fox's complaint of ill luck and misfortune in this behalf that the King with Cranmer and Cromwell and some others of his Gospel and Gospellers should so unluckily concur to the condemning and burning of this fervent Brother of their Gospel Lambert Here saith Fox it is much to be marvelled at to see how unfortunately it came to pass in this mattter that through the pestiferous and crafty Counsel of Gardyner Bishop of Winchester Sathan did here perform the Condemnation of this Lambert by no other Ministers than Gospellers themselves This is Fox his complaint laying all the fault as you see upon Bishop Gardyner as tho' he had been able to have induced all these Gospellers and among others the King himself and his Gospelling Counsellors to have concurred to the burning of their own Brother Lambert if they had been then of his Gospel But the truth is that none of them at that time were come so far forward as to be Zuinglians For as for the King himself he hated them deadly both then and unto his dying-day as also the Lutherans tho' he bare somewhat more with them than with the other in respect of their holding the Real Presence in the Sacrament whereunto he was most devout And as for Cranmer and Cromwell it may be that in those days they were a little touched with Lutheranism the former to enjoy his Woman which he kept secretly by whom he was also made a Zuinglian in King Edward's days the second for his Gain and Advancement Yet the said Cromwell coming soon after this to be beheaded on the Scaffold said these words among others as Fox relateth them And now I pray you that be here to bear me record that I die in the Catholic Faith not doubting of any Article of my Faith no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been a Bearer out of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue c. And then a little after he addeth again The Devil is ready to seduce us and I have been seduced but bear me witness that I die in the Catholic Faith of the whole Church 14. Thus relateth Fox of his last Confession and putteth in his Margin this Note A true Christian Confession of the Lord Cromwell at his Death Which if John Fox mean truly indeed and that Cromwell himself meant it also truly and sincerely as he spake and was understood by the people then died he a Catholic in all points and believed all Sacraments of that Church which then in England was held for Catholic and opposite to the new Gospellers at that time by whom he confessed he had been somewhat seduced and yet denieth that ever he was a Bearer out of them as you see And if all this be true indeed how then can this Confession of the Lord Cromwell be called a true Christian Confession with John Fox seeing it is a Catholic Confession and renounceth Fox his Religion utterly And if it were a false feigned and dissembled Confession of Cromwell and meant contrary to the sound of his words at the hour of his death how was he a true Christian man in so dissembling and lying and this at his very going out of the World And here I would have John Fox to solve me this Dilemma both for his own and Cromwell's Credit whom notwithstanding all this Fox will needs enforce to be of his Gospel whether he will or no writing of him thus in another place In this Worthy and Noble Person besides divers other Eminent Virtues three things especially are to be considered his flourishing Authority his excelling Wisdom and his fervent Zeal to Christ and to his Gospel c. And so much of Him and his Fellow Cranmer the two chief Pillars and Under-props of John Fox's Gospel with King Henry 15. And hereby we may in part in contemplate the first Beginning Fountain Origin and Off-spring of John Fox's Gospel in England whereof we have spoken somewhat before in the last Chapter of the former Part of this Treatise where we alleged the words of William Tyndall written to John Fryth his Scholar at the very beginning when King Henry first seemed to favor the Gospel wherein Tyndall saith that he had smelled a certain Counsel taken against Papists but that Fryth must understand that it was not for God but for Revenge and to enjoy the spoil of the Church These were the first motives if we believe Tyndal whom John Fox holdeth and calleth an Apostle of England So as this testimony coming from Him must needs be also Apostolic if not Evangelical 16. But what was the progress of this Gospel so begun in England I have shewed before that not long after this beginning to wit in the year of Christ 1536 King Henry being disposed upon former motives to make some
certain Alterations did not take counsel nor direction from the new Gospellers to do it but rather set forth a Book of his own entituled thus Articles devised by the King's Highness So do testifie both Hall Hollinshead and Stow. And then Hall who lived in those days addeth further In this Book are especially mentioned but three Sacraments with the which the Lincolnshire men were offended And then again afterwards he writeth This Book especially treated of no more than three Sacraments where always before the people had been taught seven Sacraments c. Which Articles being delivered to the people the Inhabitants of the North parts being very ignorant and rude and not knowing what true Religion meant c. said Now you see Friends that four Sacraments of seven are taken from us and shortly you shall lose the other three also except you look about you c. Thus writeth Hall of the beginning of the Insurrection of Lincoln York and other Shires by occasion of these new-devised Articles in Religion Whereby notwithstanding we see that King Henry thinking best to make some alteration tho' he meant not indeed to take away any Sacrament as afterwards appeared yet disdained he to take his Platform from the Protestants or Gospellers of those days but devised of himself the Innovation which for the present he meant to make Whereof I have heard of a certain Story not unpleasant nor from the purpose which therefore here I will set down 17. A certain Courtier at that day some say it was Sir Francis Bryan talking with a Lady that was somewhat forward in the new Gospel about this Book of the King 's then lately come forth she seemed to mislike greatly the Title thereof to wit Articles devised by the King's Highness c. saying That it seemed not a fit Title to authorise matters in Religion to ascribe them to a mortal King's device Whereunto the Courtier answered Truly Madam I will tell you my conceit plainly If we must needs have devices in Religion I had rather have them from a King than from a Knave as your Devices are I mean that Knave Frier Martin who not yet 20 years agone was Deviser of your new Religion and behav'd himself so lewdly in answering his Majesty with scorn and contempt as I must needs call him a Knave tho' otherwise I do not hate altogether the Profession of Friers as your Ladyship knoweth Moreover said he it is not unknown neither to your Ladyship nor Us that he devised these new Tricks of Religion which you now so much esteem and reverence not for God or Devotion or to do Penance but for Ambition and to revenge himself upon the Dominican Friers that had gotten from him the preaching of the Pope's Bulls as also to get himself the use of a Wench and that a Nun also which now he holdeth And soon after him again three other married Priests his Scholars to wit Oecolampadius Carolstadius and Zuinglius devised another Religion of the Sacramentaries against their said Master And since these again we hear every day of other fresh Upstarts that devise us new Doctrins and there is no end of Devising or Devisers And I would rather for my part stick to the devising of a King that hath Majesty in him and a Council to assist him especially such a King as ours is than to a thousand of these Companions put together 18. It is true said the Lady when they are Devices indeed of Men but when they bring Scriptures with them to prove their sayings then are they not Mens Devices but God's Eternal Truth and Word And will you say so Madam quoth he And do you not remember what ado we had the last year about this time with certain Hollanders here in England whom our Bishops and Doctors could not overcome by Scriptures notwithstanding they held most horrible Heresies which make my Hairs to stand upright to think of them against the Manhood and Flesh of Christ our Savior and against the Virginity of his Blessed Mother and against the Baptism of Infants and the like wicked Blasphemies I was my self present at the Condemnation of fourteen of them in Paul's Church in one day and heard them dispute and allege Scriptures so fast for their Heresies as I was amazed thereat and after I saw some of these Knaves burned in Smithfield and they went so merrily to their Death singing and chanting Scriptures as I began to think with my self whether their Device was not of some value or no until afterward thinking better of the matter I blessed my self from them and so let them go 19 Oh said the Lady but these were Knaves indeed that devised new Doctrins of their own heads and were very Heretics not worthy to be believed But how shall I know quoth the Courtier that Your Devisers have not done the like seeing These alleged Scriptures no less than They and did one thing more which is that they went to the fire and burned for their Doctrin when they might have lived which your Frier and his Scholars before named have not hitherto done And finally Madam I say as at the beginning I said If we must needs follow devising we Courtiers had much rather follow a King than a Frier in such a matter For how many years Madam have Friers shorn their Heads and no Courtier hath ever follow'd them hitherto to therein But now his Majesty having begun this last May as you know to poll his Head and commanded others to do the like you cannot find any unshorn Head in the Court among us Men tho' you Women be exempted And so I conclude that the device of a King is of more credit than the device of a Friar And with this the Lady laugh'd and so the Conference was ended 20 And thus much for the first devising or setting up of new Religion in England Now for the going forward thereof let us hear a large testimony of John Fox himself and thereby judge how Apostolic the manner was of promoting the same To many which be yet alive saith Fox and can testifie these things it is not unknown how variable the state of Religion stood in those days how hardly and with what difficulty it came forth what chances and changes it suffered even as the King was ruled and gave ear sometime to one and sometime to another so one while it went forward and another season it went as much backward again and sometime clean altered and changed for a season according as they could prevail which were about the King c. 21. Here now you see both the beginning and progress of Fox's Gospel whereof in the Margin he maketh this Note The course of the Gospel interrupted by malicious Enemies Here you do hear him say that the Birth of his Gospel came forth hardly and with great difficulty and straining and then that it grew or went backward as the King was ruled by others and gave credit