on them not as to those had auctority over this Church 17. As for acts of Ecclesiastick auctority what proceeded not from the King did from th' Archbishop who was not at all commanded by any nullius unquam legati ditioni addictus but preceded them all None did were a Miter within his Province or had the Crosier carried nor layd any excommunication and when he did the Clergy of the place did teach both from the King and Archbishop not to value it on this ground that in Dioecesi Archiepiscopi Apostolicam non tenere sententiam 18. As for Councells it is certain none from Rome did till 1125. call any here if they did come to any as to Calcuith the King upon the Advise of th' Archbishop statuit diem concilii So when William the first held one at Winchester 1070. for deposing Stygand though there came to it three sent from Alexander the second yet it was held jubente presente Rege who was president of it The difference touching precedency between the Sees of Canterbury and York having been before the same Pope and by him sent back for a determination at home it is observable that in a Councell said therefore to be called â—x praecepto Alexandri Papae annuente Rege the Popes Legat subscribed the 16 th after all the English Bishops as is truly recorded in the Antiquitat Britannicae Ecclesiae p. 95 40. agreeing with a very ancient Ms. copy I have seen of the said Councell as Diceto and others do rank him after the King Canterbury and York If any shall ask whether I have met no copies in which he was placed otherwise I must confesse I have seen some books wherein he was above the English Bishops next after the Queen but they were onely late Transcripts not of any Antiquity as in a book of Crouland writ since the beginning of Henry the 7. 19. The Pope for many years now past for being a Spirituall Pastor and Patriarch of the West hath been treated with more reverence than any Bishop and for being a potent temporall Prince with more observance then meerly a Ghostly Father A grave writer notes Henry the first having gone through the troubles were on him with his brother and likewise Anselm subjugatis omnibus inimicis securus erat nec aliquem ut primìtus formidabat praeter Papam hoc non propter spiritualem sed temporalem potestatem Which as it is recorded of that Prince so no question is true of many others 20. By which we may see when Rome did in former times Apostolica authoritate praecipere it was to Bishops whom he styled his brothers no other then such fraternall commands the elder may and doth ordinarily lay upon the younger brother of whom he is sollicitous such as St. Pauls were to the Thessalonians Philemon c. No other then of late Calvins were to Knox who being chosen by certain of Franckford to be Preacher unto them their vocation he obâ—yed albeit unwillingly at the commandment of that notable servant of God Iohn Calvin c. And a little after the Lords of Scotland sending for him home did accompany their letters to him with others to Mr. Calvin craving of him that by his auctority he would command the said Iohn once again to visit them c. And truly whosoever will without partiality seriously consider the whole contexture of our Lawes and Histories weighing one circumstance with another must conclude the Popes commanding to have been volentibus not nolentibus as St. Hierom says those of a Bishop ought to be for if disliked his precepts were questioned opposed those he sent not permitted to meddle with that they came for their prohibitions that others should not neglected The English having ever esteemed the Church of Canterbury in Spiritualls that is quae sunt ordinis without any intervening superior omnium nostrum mater communis sub sponsi sui Iesu Christi dispositione in other things as points of Government the ordering that of right and custome ever to have belonged to the King assisted with his councell of Bishops and others of the Clergy who was therefore called Vicarius Christi c. as I shall shew hereafter more at large The Church of England holding that of S â— Augustine an undoubted truth In hoc Reges sicut eis divinitus praecipitur Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt si in suo reg no bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam societatem verum etiam quae ad divinam religionem and accordingly our Kings so far as any Laws or Records of their actions are extant from Ethelbert by the Saxons to the Conquest and from the Normans to these later times have upon occasion exercised a power shewing such titles were not in vain conferred on them Neither did any decision though never so punctually had in Rome unlesse the parties agreed stint the strife till the King concurred with it as the frequent determinations on the behalf of Canterbury in point of superiority above York found in Malmsbury and others may teach us which yet never received a finall end till Edward the 3. under the great seal set a period to that long controversy 21. But after the Pope began to think or rather to say himself had onely plenitudo Ecclesiasticae potestatis that no Councell could give Laws to him but all receive strength from him and the Canonists flattery extended to declare him supra jura in â—o sufficit pro ratione voluntas his missives ran in an higher tone then formerly and his commands which were at first according to th' example of St. Paul joyned with exhortations entreaties and the like to carry Apostolica auctoritate comprimere and to th' Archbishop demurring in th' execution of them tuum candelabrum concutiemus tantam praesumptionem cum gravibus usuris exigemus and si mandatum nostrum neglexeris vel distuleris adimplere quia justum est ut ei obedientia subtrahatur qui sedi Apostolicae neglexerit obedire venerabilibus fratribus suffraganeis tuis per scripta nostra mandavimus ut tibi reverentiam non impendant Quod si c. tibi feceris exhiberi sâ—ias te tunc ab Episcopali dignitate suspensum c. phrases and manners of writing denoting much more of auctority then was used by Popes in elder times By which is manifest the point in difference between the Archbishop and the Pope to have been not the sending a Legat hither but of one with a power above him to command the English Clergy that is to remove their dependency from him to Rome as a superior over him 22. To his gaining which these usages of th' Archbishops were great stops drawing so near an equality and so pregnant testimonies of his no-divine right to meddle here not easy
it omnes in Ecclesia ad divinum officium ordinati are sometimes so styled of which such as were infra subdiaconatum might retain their wives but those were in subdiaconatu or above were to quit them But the Canons yet remaining made at sundry times from Lanfrank even to Chichly by the space of more then 300 yeares enough assure us this point of Celibat was not easily imposed on the English Clergy and assures us such as laid it might take it off again 11. For Images if the Saxons had any use at all of them in their Churches for ornament for history to which end S. Gregory holds they might be permitted for memorialls of holy men departed as we have of late seen they being only thus applyed I conceive with the Bishop of Salisbury the weight of the question not so great yet it was a thing voluntary no command of the Churches injoyning it till after the Conquest And here the question is not whether Augustine might or did bring the picture of our Saviours Crosse in his banner as most Protestants yet retain it but whether he placed them in the Church with an intent to have worship of any kind attributed unto them for which purpose I confesse I have not heard of them till many yeares after for the vision of Egwinus and the Councell of London setting up of Images being made good so far as I know by no author of any antiquity I cannot but take it with Baronius for a meerfigment 12. It is certain 792 the Bishops of England declared their dissent from the second Councell of Nice in point of Images held onely 4 yeares before according to Diceto and where some interpret that they did onely condemn the worship the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by using the Latin word adorare it cannot be denyed but they did reject that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Orientall Bishops had established in which sense they used the word adorare which is often as well in holy writ as by humane authors taken for that reverence is given a creature as for the religious duty we only owe to the Divine Majesty see Gen. xxiii 7 12. Ingulphus a writer not long after Constantinopolim pervenimus ubi Alexim imper atorem ador antes c. So Arundell in his constitutions adorationem crucis gloriosae 13. To this narrative Harpsfield gives the title of commentitia insulsa fabula and thinks it not writ by Sim. Dunelmensis or Mat. VVestminster he might have added Hoveden the Ms. history of Rochester but that it was anciently inserted into them For answer to which he would be desired to produce any one old copy without it not mangled so as it doth prodere furtum by wanting it I have seen divers of Hoveden Mss. some of Math. West but never did one wherein it was not found not in the margin but in the text it self and so it is in Dunelmensis his Ms. at Bennet Colledge in Cambridge For my part I do not know how any thing we mislike in History may not after this manner be rejected if a relation gathered from monuments of an elder date which are perisht yet cited by one who lived not so long after the time he speaks of but they might well come to his hands whom we find very sincere in such citations as yet remain out of more old authors then himself ever esteemed of good credit in the Church of God and in his narration followed ad verbum by those who writing of the same matter succeeded him I confesse I say if this may be cast away as a lying foolish fable I know not what shall gain credit But what will men not lay hold on in a desperat shipwrack I remember Baronius prest with the testimony of Luitprandus in the deposition of Iohn the 12. by imperiall auctority makes no question of denying the five last chapters of his 6. book to have been written by him though never doubted for more then 600 years since he lived 14. Another Doctor I confesse seems to give a more difficult objection that Alâ—uinus who is said to have writ against the second Nioen Councell in the point of Images doth in his book de divinis officiis say prosternimur corpore ante crucem mente ante Deum veneramur crucem per quam redempti sumus c. and this from an author had written against Images he would have imply a veneration of them even in his time who opposed them by the English Church But what hath the reverence of the Crosse to do with the worship of Images It is not to be denyed but Christians in their talk and writings did extoll and magnifie the Crosse forced thereunto by the Gentiles who spake ignominiously of him that dyed upon it yet I believe it will be difficult to shew any Law or Canon before the Conquest injoyning the use much lesse that attributed any religious worship unto Images 15. It is true the Councell of Celicuith 816. did charge unicuique Episcopo ut habeat depictam in pariete oratorii aut in tabula vel etiam in altaribus quibus sanctis sint utr aque dedicata c. which was clearly for memoriall and ornament as it hath been very common in some Churches to have on the wall the Image of Queen Elizabeth and such as have built an Isle or window to have their statue or picture set up in it which in some parts perhaps remain to his present yet no man ever held any religious duty fit to be given them nor any man compell'd to set them up Now that there was no precept of the Church commanding their use I speak from the rules of Sempringham about 1148. that doubtlesse did not vary from the generall practise of Christians here yet hath this expresse statute Sculpturae vel picturae superfluae in Ecclesiis nostris seu in officinis aliquibus Monasterii ne fiant interdicimus quiâ— dum talibus intenditur utilitas bonae meditationis vel disciplina religiosae gravitatis saepe negligitur cruces tamen pictas quae sunt ligneae habemus So that it seems to me they did account all pictures so superfluous as not to have them but onely painted crosses this was one of the first foundation And in another place which I take to be somewhat after the buying of them and silk as things indifferent are alike interdicted yet a direction how to bestow any thing of that nature should be left them but see the words Nihil de serico ematur à nostris vel de nostro ad nostrorum opus vel ad aliquid religioni contrarium seculi vanitatibus amminiculum â—nec etiam ad quodlibet sacerdotale indumentum nisi constet esse necessarium Si vero datur secundum arbitrium Prioris omnium communi utilitati usui mancipetur hoc idem de Yconiis vel aliis
of the like nature farther then is proved by the Law and the Prophets c. Yet there is one thing in my opinion very considerable what the Apostles did were such and in those places no man could deny them but these the Church of Rome holds out for confirmation of their religion are either in corners as Garnets Face in the Eare with so dark proofs as when they are looked into res tota cum contemptu dimissa est or else done in Italy or Spain where the Inquisition will suffer none but themselves to examine the fact whereas if they followed th' Apostles example they should be in England or Germany that the Protestants might say indeed a notable miracle hath been done by our Lady is manifest to all and we cannot deny it Acts iiij 16. 26. Another will have that homily at least what he takes on him to confute to contain no other then Catholick doctrine and then falls upon the Archbishop of Armach whom he conceives to have ill translated it out of the Latin in which language there is not now found any ancient copy of it insisting that though it were printed at London 1623. it was not to be heard of when he writ which was about 1631. insinuating as if more might be said if he could see the author himself For the first of these it must be said to contain Catholick Doctrine on the grounds before but if it be that the Church of Rome admits for such I am glad to understand that from him For the Primat of Ireland's translating the Latin to the disadvantage of the Romish I shall give no answer but that his English are indeed some parts of that sermon but the Latin pieces of Bertram so agreeing with them as they were undoubtedly taken out of him by which he gives a far elder testimony to that author then Oecolampadius who was no question a Catholick Doctor but being so why is he prohibited by the Roman Index why if at all permitted must it be excogitato commento For the other that it could not be had in London only eight years after it was printed I can say nothing but some men will not hear that they mislike for that Homily of which if he say any thing he speaks first set out by Iohn Day with the subscription of 15 Bishops attesting the truth of the Copy after 1623 reprinted by Henry Seal alwayes in the book of Acts and monuments c. in the life of Hen. the 8 and of late by Mr. VVhelock put into Latin and taken without any intervening transcription from the originall Saxon that he might not vary in a tittle was with his translation of it printed at Cambridge 1644. amongst divers other excellent notes of that learned man upon Beda that such as understand not the language may in that point see the doctrine of our forefathers 27. A third Doctor who cannot deny but it makes directly against Transubstantiation gives an answer I could not have expected yet in my opinion more ingenuous That it is unreasonable to produce the forcelesse auctority of these Saxon Homilies which have no warrant of truth from any other but from our selves and the margin These Homilies were never heard of but now of late amongst Protestants onely framed and printed by themselves without the warrant of any one indifferent witnesse This is I say what I could not have looked for Can any man imagine two Archbishops thirteen Bishops besides divers other personages of honour and credit could have been induced to subscribe so palpable a lye as it must be if this and the other passages by them there testified to be found in the ancient monuments of this Church were lately framed But the old books that yet remain writ above five hundred yeares since do enough vindicate the Protestants in that which I dare say no one of them who alledge it do in their hearts believe not to have been extant in them as the Archbishop first sent them to the Press 28. Of the little credit the Councell of Lateran in this point gained here I have touched before neither did Peckham's constitution sub panis specie simul dari corpus c. speak home nor was the thing ever absolutely determined with us till 1382 so that the opinion of Transubstantiation that brought so many to the stake had not with us 140 yeares prescription before Martin Luther began for in that year VVickliff having propounded quod substantia panis materialis aut vini manet post consecrationem c. the Archbishop taking it into consideration did not think fit to condemn the Tenet without farther advice with the University of Oxford where libratis singulis every saying weighed and in especiall as it seems those concerned the Eucharist he did condemn some as hereticall others as onely erroneous and farther singulos defensores eorum imposterum sententia excommunicationis innodatos fore and gave command ne quis de caetero cujuscunque status c. haereses seu errores praedictos vel corum aliquem teneat doceat praedicet seu defendat The Chancellor likewise of the Academy repeating VVickliffs opinions touching the holy communion shews they had been diligently discuss't by Doctors in Divinity and professors in the Canon Law ac tandem finaliter est compertum atque judicio omnium declaratum ipsas esse erroneas fidei orthodoxae contrarias determinationibus Ecclesiae repugnantes and then after all this search delivers the doctrine of Transubstantiation as the conclusion agreed to be held Quod per verba sacramentalia à sacerdote prolata panis vtnum in altari in verum corpus Christi sanguinem transubstantiantur seu substantialiter convertuntur sic quod post consecrationem non remanent in illo venerabili sacramento panis materialis vinum secundum suas substantias sed secundum species earundem And this I take to have been the first plenary determination of the Church of England in the case which yet how well it will be liked by such as hold the manner of conversion to be by a succession of Christs body to the substance of the bread I leave others to dispute But certainly the Archbishop not adventuring to proceed in it alone nor by his own councell by his extending what he did onely to the future both for punishment and Tenet and after long enquiry concluding the truth of it enough proves it not to have been in former times fully resolved on in this Church so that we may say of our Auncestors as the Iesuites here about some 60 yeares since did of the Fathers rem Transubstantiationis ne attigerunt And it may not here unfitly have a place that Iohn Tissington a Franciscan whom Pitseus from Baleus not Leland as he would have us think affirms to have been an assistant in this dispute at Oxford 1382 or as some
very much affected tole me He was never satisfied of our agreeing with the Primitive Church in two particulars the one in denying all manner of Superiority to the Bishop of Rome to live in whose Communion the East and Western Christian did ever highly esteem The other in condemning Monastique living so far as not onely to reform them if any thing were amiss but take down the very houses themselves To the first of these I said We did not deny such a Primacy in the Pope as the Antients did acknowledge but that he by that might exercise those acts he of some years before Hen. the 8th had done and had got by encroaching on the English Church and State meerly by their tolerance which when the Kingdom took to redress and restrain him in he would needs interpret a departing from the Church yet if any made the departure it must be the Pope the Kingdom standing onely on those Rights it had ever used for its own preservation which putting in practice it was interdicted the King excommunicated by him c. To which he replyed in effect that of Henry the eighth in his book against Luther That it was very incredible the Pope could doe those acts he had sometimes exercised here by encroachment for how could he gain that power and none take notice of it That this argument could have no force if not made good by History and those of our own Nation how he had increased his Authority here Which truly I did not well see how to deny farther than that we might by one particular conclude of an other As if the Church or State had a right of denying any Clark going without License beyond Seas it must follow it might bar them from going or Appealing to Rome If none might be acknowledged for Pope without the Kings approbation it could not be denyed but the necessity of being in union with the true Pope at least in time of Schism did wholly depend on the King And so of some other 2. As for the other point of Monasteries I told him I would not take upon me to defend all that had been done in demolishing of them I knew they had nourished men of Piety and good Learning to whom the present Age was not a little beholding for what doe we know of any thing past but by their labours That divers well affected to the Reformation and yet persons of integrity are of opinion their standing might have continued to the advancement of Literature the increase of Piety and Relief of the Poor That the King when he took them down was the greatest looser by it himself Whose opinions I would not contradict yet it could not be denyed they were so far streyed from their first institution as they reteined little other than the name of what they first were 3. Upon this I began to cast with my self how I could Historically make good that I had thus asserted which in general I held most true yet had not at hand punctually every circumstance Law and History that did conduce unto it in reading therefore I began to note apart what might serve for proof any way concerning it But that Gentleman with whom I had this speech being not long after taken away I made no great progresse in it till some years after I was constreined to abide in London sequestred not onely from publique but even the private businesse of my Estate I had often no other way of spending my time but the company a book did afford insomuch as I again began to turn over our ancient Laws and Histories both printed and written whereof I had the perusal of divers of good worth whence I collected many notes and began farther to observe the question between us and the Church of Rome in that point not to be whether our Ancestors did acknowledge the Pope successor of St. Peter but what that acknowledgment did extend to Not whether he were Vicar of Christ had a power from him to teach the Word of God administer the Sacraments direct people in the spiritual wayes of heaven for so had every Bishop amongst which he was ever held by them the first Pater maximus in ecclesia as one to whom Emperours and Christians had not only allowed a primacy but had left behind them why they did it Sedis Apostolicae primatum sancti Petri meritum qui princeps est Episcopalis coronae Romanae dignitas civitatis sacrae etiā Synodi firmarit auctoritas saies Valentinian 445. On which grounds if he will accept it I know no reason to deny his being prime but whether they conceived his commission from Christ did extend so far as to give him an absolute authority over the Church and Clergy in England to redress reform correct amend all things in it not by advice but as having power over it with or against their own liking and farther to remove translate silence suspend all Bishops and others of the Spirituality In short to exercise all Ecclesiastique authority within this Church above any whatsoever so as all in Holy Orders one of the three Estates of the Kingdom solely and supreamly depended on him and hee on none but Christ and whether our Forefathers did ever admit him with this liberty of disposing in the English Church 4. To wade through which question there was an eye to be cast on all the times since Christ was heard of in England and therfore to be considered how Christianity stood upon the conversion of the Britans the Saxons and since the irruption of the Normans under the first of these we have but little under the second somewhat yet not much under the third the Papacy swell'd to that height some parts have been constrained to cast it off and England without his assent in that point so to reform it self as to declare no manner of speaking doing communication or holding against the Bishop of Rome or his pretensed power or authority made or given by humane Laws shall be deemed to be Heresy By which it seems those Episcopal Functions he did exercise common with other Bishops as Baptizing conferring Holy Orders c. it did not deny to be good and valid of his administration 5. But what those particulars were humane Laws had conferred upon the Papacy and by what constitutions or Canons those preheminences were given him was the thing in question and not so easie to be found because indeed gained by little and little I cannot but hold Truth more ancient than Errour every thing to be firmest upon its own bottom and all novelties in the Church to be best confuted by shewing how far they cause it to deviate from the first original I no way doubt but the Religion exercised by the Britans before Augustine came to have been very pure and holy nor that planted after from S. Gregory though perhaps with more ceremonies and commands juris positivi which this Church embraced rejected or varyed from as occasion served to be
outward policy of this Church or government of it in foro exteriori to have much depended on the King and therefore the writs for summoning Parliaments expresse the cause of his calling them to be pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus or as our Bishops have sometimes exprest it in the Rolls of Parliament à l' onour reverence de Dieu de seinte esglise al salvation amendement de son roialme c. Likewise the Commons that their gift of the 9th sheaf c. to Edw. the 3. to have been for his defence of the Kingdome de seinte esglise d' Engleterre Rot. Parliament 15. Ed. 3. n. 25. According to which our Kings joyned both together professing their care for amending the Church to be equall with that of the Commonwealth Item fait assavoir que nostre tressoveraigne seign r le Roy eiantz grande volunte desir de l'estate de son esglise de son Royalme en les choses ou mesteir est d' amendement al honor de Dieu pur la pees la commune profit de seinte esglise d' Engleterre come de tout son Royalme d' el ' advis assent des seig rs esperituells c. ad fait c. In pursuance of which interest residing in the Crown the Lords and Commons under Rich. the 2. fearing the opinions called Lollardy might prevail petierunt à Rege de istis remedium apponi ne forte archa totius fidei ecclesiae talibus impulsionibus in illius temporibus pro defectu gubernaculi irremediabiliter quateretur Upon whose desires he commanded th' Archbishop of Cant. and his other Bishops ut officium suum singuli iâ— suis dioe cesibus secundum jura canonica acrius ferventius exercerent delinquentes castigarent librosque eorum Anglicos plenius examinarent errata exterminarent populumque in unitatem fidei orthodoxae reducere studerent ecclesiamque urticis vepribus destoratam liliis rosis ornarent c. After which the said authour records a Commission by which his Majesty as Defender of the Catholick Faith did impower certain to seize upon hereticall books and bring them before his councell and such as after proclamation shall be found to hold such opinions being called and examined before two Commissioners who were of the Clergy and lawfully convicted thereof to be by his Majesties ministers committed to the next prison Fourteen years after which the Commons shew Hen. the 4th the Parliament might be compared to a Masse in which th' Archbishop of Cant. began th' office reading th' Epistle and expounding the Gospel which it seems they took to be the part of the Ecclesiastick as did the Saxons before à la mesne qe feust la sacrifice d' estre offeriz à Dieux pur touz Christiens le Roy mesmes à cest Parlement pour accomplir cellemesne plusieurs foitz avoit declarez pleinement a toutz ses lieges coment sa volunte feust qe la foy de seint esglise feust governez en maniere come il ' ad este en temps de ses nobles progenitors come il est affirme par seint esglise par les seints Doctours par seint Escriture c. and a little after shewing they the Commons were onely to say Deo gratias which they were obliged to do for three reasons the second of which is pur câ—o qe la ou la Foy de seint esglise par malvaise doctrine feust en point d' avoir este anientz en grand subversion du Roy du Royalme mesme nostre Seig r le Roy ent ad fait ordeignez bon joust remede en destruction de tiel doctrine de la sect d' ycel peront ilz sont ensement tenuz de dire cel parole Deo gratias By all these it must be granted they did hold the chief care of the English Church to have depended in the outward policy of it on the prince or else that they did speak and do very unadyisedly in attributing so much unto his care of it and providing that he might be supplyed to defend it without at all mentioning any other to whose care it belonged 19. Neither did these expressions and petitions passe the Commons onely or the Clergy over-ruled by the numbers of the temporality but the Bishops by themselves acknowledged how much it stood in his M tios care to provide against any novelties creeping into the English Church and that it might enjoy the rights and liberties belonging to it and therefore when the said doctrine of Lollardy continued encreasing they in the names Praelatorum cleri regni Angliae petition Henry the 4 th Quatenus inclitissimorum progenitorum antecessorum vestrorum laudabilia vestigia graciose considerantes dignetur vestra regia celsitudo pro conservatione dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae ad Dei laudem vestrique meritum totius regni praedicti prosperitatem honorem pro hujusmodi dissentionibus divisionibus dampnis periculis evit indis super novitatibus excessibus praedictis in praesenti Parliamento providere de remedio opportuno c. Did not these then hold it the office of the King as that his progenitors had ever done to provide no dissensions scandalls divisions might arise in the Church the Catholick faith might be truely conserved and susteined and what other did any of our Princes ever challenge or assume 20. When the Clergy likewise went at any time beyond their bounds or were negligent performers of their duties the subject upon all occasions had recourse unto his M ty as to whose care the seeing what was amiss redrest did especially belong as when th' Ecclesiastick Courts were grievous for the fees or their pecuniary pennances too heavy when they were opprest by Papall provisions of which before when through the absence of their Curat they were not so well taught c. when the frequency of the writ de excommunicato capiendo made it burthensome when men were cited by them on causes neither Matrimoniall nor Testamentary and appearing were not allowed a copy of the libell against them In which case the Kings answer is not unworthy the repeating shewing clearly he directed how they should proceed le Roy voet que a quel heure la copie de le libel est grantable par la ley q'â—l soit grauntè liverè a la partie sanz dâ—fficulee It is true Kings would refer matters of that nature to their Bishops unto whose care under them it did especially belong so Richard the 2. being petitioned in point of Residency answered Il appartient aux offices des Evesques le Roy voet qu' ils facent lour office devoirs c. His successor being again prest in the same kind gives his command thus Facent les
Ordinaires lour office devoirs per cause qe les pluralites q' ont este grantees devant ces heures sont ount este la greindre cause de l' absence des tiels curats y plest au Roy nostre Seigr. de l' advis assent des Seig rs en Parlement esâ—rire par ses honourables lettres a nostre seint pier le Pape de revoker repeller toutes les pluralites generalement qe d' es ore en avant nulle pluralite soit graunte a ascuny en temps a venir But the Pope it seems giving no satisfaction in the particular the 11. Hen. 4. the Commons again petition That the riches of the kingdome being in the hands of Church-men those livings upon which the incumbent of common right ought to reside half of the true value should remain to himself but the other to the King To which the answer is Geste matiere appertient a seinte Esglise quant a la residence remede ent fust purveuz en la darrain Convocation Yet this matter of non-residence still molesting the Commonwealth 3. Hen. 6. the King tells them by th' advise of the Lords of Parliament He had delivered their bill to my Lord of Canterbury charging him to pourvey of remedy for his Province and semblably shall write to the Church of York for that Province By which we may see the King Archbishop and Convocation did conceive themselves to have a power of redressing things in this Church which yet in civility they thought â—it first to acquaint the Pope with as a spirituall Doctor or Patriarch however of great esteem yet not endued with a power of commanding in this Church otherwise then the lawes of the Kingdome the contracts with the Papacy did bear 21. Now it cannot be doubted that all these petitions of the Commons and sundry more which may be produced had been by them vainly prefer'd had they not taken the King to have been vested with a power of redressing things blameable in the government of the Church But when we say the Prince as the principall without whom nothing is done may be rightly termed Head in the act of reformation our meaning is not that he will deal in points of Ecclesiastick cognizance without the advise of his Bishops and other learned of the Clergy we know in things proper Iosuah is to take counsell of Eleazer and the Kings of this nation have ever done so 22. When Edgar intended the advancing Christi gloriam he chose him three Bishops to be his patres spirituales and consiliarios But to speak of later times when the Commons endeavoured a reformation of some things in the Church Hen. the 8 th would not answer their desires till he had first acquainted the Spirituality When he intended to publish a book of the principall articles and points of our faith with the declaration of other expedient points and also for the lawfull rites and ceremonies to be observed within this realme he ordained it to be by th' Archbishops and sundry Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgement and good disposition c. And Edward the sixth minding a farther reformation of some usages in the administration of the Eucharist he caused it to be made by the most grave and learned of his realm for that purpose by his directions assembled at Windfor who afterwards for taking away divers and sundry differing forms and fashions had formerly been used in sundry Churches of England and Wales appoynted th' Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the realm to consider of the premises who by the ayd of the Holy Ghost with one uniform agreement concluded on and set forth the book of Common prayer c. Upon which the two houses of Parliament considering as well the most godly travell of the Kings highnesse in gathering and collecting the said Archbishops Bishops and learned men together as c. do give to his Highnesse most hearty and lowly thanks c. So that it is apparent the King in composing this book did not assume to himself or the Parliament attribute unto him any other then assembling of the Bishops and other learned men together to take their consultations 23. And they observing the great diversity in saying and singing in severall Churches the difficulty of finding what was proper for each day apt to breed confusion reduced the publick service of the Church to one form more facile and of better edification following therein the examples of divers holy Bishops and others for if Guarinus Abbot of St Albans in the Office used in his Church about 1190 might superflua resecare to reduce the prayers there to one form if Agobardus in France might amputare superflua vel levia c. if Osmund Bishop of Salisbury in England quoniam singulae fere Dioeceses in statis precariis horis dicendis variabant ad hanc varietatem tollendam ut quasi absolutum quoddam precandi quo omnes uti possent exemplar exstaret eas in eum fere ordinem commodam rationem quam hodie omnes prope Angliae Cambriae Hiberniae viz. the Course of Salisbury Ecclesiae sequuntur magno prudenti rerum ex sacris scripturis probatis Ecclesiae historiis delectu distribuit digessit if these I say might do it on their own motion there is no question such of the Clergy as were appointed by the King might on his desire take it into consideration and remove matters offensive or lesse to edification 24. Neither did Queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign alter some passages in it but by the opinions of Divines eruditis moderatis to whom was added a learned Knight Sr Thomas Smith to whose care the supervising of it had by the house of Commons been committed the second of Edward the sixth and therefore knew better then any other to give an account of that book Nor did her self or the house of Lords use differing wayes when the Commons at other times have sought some change in the Ecclesiastick government as the 23. and 27. of her reign where though the Lord Treasurer made a short beginning yet he left the satisfactory answers to be given them by th' Archbishop of York Insomuch as we may safely conclude when the Clergy in Convocation styled Henry the 8th Ecclesiae Anglicanae protectorem unicum supremum dominum quantum per Christi leges licet supremum caput they added nothing new unto him but a title for he and his successors after it did never exercise any auctority in causes Ecclesiastick not warranted by the practise of former Kings of the nation By all which the second question remains sufficiently proved that our Kings were originally endued with
possession of can no way be said to have departed from the Church but the Pope to have injuriously proceeded against him who maintained onely the just rights and liberties of his kingdome according to his coronation oath 10. And this is the case and fully answers so far as it appears to me whatsoever can be objected against the reformation begun by him or made more perfect by Edward the 6. for the manner of doing it viz. that they as supreme Princes of this Kingdome had a right to call together their own Clergy and with their advise to see the Church reformed by them And if otherwise I should desire to know how the Masse without any intermission was restored by Queen Mary for it is manifest she returned the use of it immediately after her brothers death yet Cardinall Pool reconciled not this Kingdome to Rome till the 30th of November above a year after and then too on such conditions onely as the Parliament approved during which space she as Queen gave directions to the Ordinaries how they should carry themselves in severall particulars which as it is probable she did by th' advice of her Bishops so there is no reason to condemn the like proceedings in Edward the 6. 11. I have before shewed how far the royal power went in compiling the book of Common prayer for a Catechism published by the same Prince it being composed by a learned person presented to his Maty and by him committed to the scrutiny of certain Bishops and other learned men quorum judicium sayes his Maty magnam apud nos authoritatem habet after their allowance it was by him recommended to be publickly taught in Schools Likewise the Articles for taking away diversity of opinions in points of religion were agreed upon in a Synod at London by the Bishops and other learned men Regia authoritate in lucem editi The King in framing them taking no farther on himself then he had in the book of Common prayer And Queen Mary though she quitted the title of head of the Church which yet she did not so suddenly as Saunders intimates did in effect as much So that hitherto there is no way of fixing any schism on the English Church for neglect of obedience it having been eversubject to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others its lawfull superiors restoring to him the ancient right belonged to his chair of being their spirituall pastor next and immediately under Christ Iesus But the Kingdome being re-united to the See of Rome by Queen Mary though what I have said doth in a good part free it of schism yet in respect the reformation I onely took upon me to defend was made by Queen Elizabeth and continued since it will be necessary to make some more particular mention how it did passe CHAP. VII How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth 1. ELizabeth the daughter of Henry the 8th by Queen Anne Bolen being received by all the estates of the Kingdome assembled in Parliament and proclaimed Queen caused her sisters Ambassador Sr Edward Kerne then residing at Rome to give an account of this her being called to the Crown to Paulus 4 tus the Pope who being in union with France and out with the house of Austria then strictly joyned with England and both at odds with the French told him either perswaded by them or upon his own heady disposition England was a Fee of the Church of Rome That she could not succeed as illegitimate That he could not go against the declarations of Clement the 7. and Paulus 3 ius That her assuming the name and government without him was so great an audacity she deserved not to be hearkned to But he being willing to proceed paternally if she would renounce her pretensions and freely remit her self to his arbitrement he would do what lay in his power with the dignity of the Apostolick See A strange reply to a civil message were it not derived to us by an unquestionable hand and that it came from Paulus 4 ius to whom it was not an unusuall saying that hee would have no Prince his compagnion but all subjects under hys foot Upon this unwillingnesse to acknowledge her Queen at Rome th' Archbishop of York who had before affirmed no man could doubt of the justnesse of her title and the rest of the Bishops refused to Crown her As for that some write it was because they had evident probabilities she intended eyther not to take or not to keep the oath was then to be administred unto her especially in the particular of not maintaining holy Churches lawes in respect she had shewed an aversenesse to some ceremonies as commanding the Bish of Carlile not to elevate the consecrated Host. who stoutly refused her and out of fear she would refuse in the time of her sacre the solemn divine ceremony of Vnction these are certainly without any colour and framed since For as for the last the ceremony of anointing she had it performed as had King Iames who succeeded her who would not have his Queen crowned in Scotland without it For the other it is altogether improbable that he to whom the command was by her given would of all the rest have assented to crown her had he conceived that a cause why it might have been denied neither indeed did she alter any thing materiall in the service of the Church till after the conference at Westminister 1559. the 31. March and the Parliament ended 2. To passe therefore by these as excuses found out after the deed done the true reason being no question something came from the Pope in pursuance of that answer he had given her Agent the Queen seeing she could expect nothing from the Papacy laboured to make all safe at home or to use her own phrase to take care of her own house and therefore as she had reason desired to be assured of her subjects fidelity by propounding an oath to certain of them which is seldome a tie to other then honest minds But the way mens minds distracted in points of religion the law of Henry the 8. extinguishing the auctority of the Bishop of Rome being very severe for securing himself in bringing such as did but extoll the said auctority for the first offence within the compass of a praemunire and that refused to take it of treason was not easy to be pitcht upon besides styling the King head of the Church which many made a scruple at to which effect a bill being presented to the house of Commons the 9. of February after many arguments had upon it the 13. of February upon the second reading it was absolutely dasht and upon great consideration taken the 14. Febr. a Committee appointed to draw a new Bill in which an especiall care was taken for restoring onely the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown and the Queen neither styled supreme Head nor the penalty of refusing the Oath other
then the being excluded from such places of honour and profit as they held in the Common-wealth yet with this proviso that he who had an estate of inheritance in a temporall Office refused to take the said oath did after upon better perswasion conform himself should be restored unto the said estate and that such as should maintain or defend the auctority preeminence power or jurisdiction spirituall or ecclesiasticall of any forreign Prince Prelate Person State or Potentate whatsoever not naming the Pope as her father had done should be three times convict before he suffered the pains of death 3. This Bill which no doubt the Popes carriage drew on being expedited in the house of Commons received reformation by the Lords committed the 13. March to the Lord Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of VVestmorland Shrewsbury Rutland Sussex Penbrook viscount Mountague Bishops Exeter Carlisle Barons Clynton Admirall Morley Rich Willoughby North no one of them then noted for Protestantisme the 18. March past the Lords none dissenting but 8. Bishops the Earl of Shrewsbury Viscount Mountague and the Abbot of VVestminster and the same day sent to the house of Commons who upon perusall found again what to amend it in so as it had not it's perfection in both Houses till Saturday the 6th of May when the Parliament ended the Monday following at which time onely Viscount Mountague the interessed Clergy opposed it By which it cannot be questioned but the generality of the Lords did interpret that law no other then as indeed it was a restoring the Crown to it 's ancient rights for if otherwise without doubt there would have been as great an opposition at least made against it as some other statutes which past that Parliament met with that the Marquess of VVinchester the Lords Morley Stafford Dudley VVharton Rich North joyned with the Earls of Shrewsbury Viscount Mountague and the Prelats to have stopt 4. But whereas some were induced to think by the generality of the words that affirm her Highness to be supreme governour as well in all spirituall or ecclesiasticall causes as temporall as if it had been an usurping upon the sacred function in the interior as I may say of the Church properly belonging to them in holy Orders her Maty the same year did declare She did not challenge any other auctority then was challenged and lately used by King Henry the 8th and Edw. 6. which is and was of ancient time due to th' imperiall crown of this Realme that is under God to have the Soveraignty and rule over all manner of persons born within these her realms c. And that to be the onely sense of the Oath she caused to be confirmed the next Parliament at which time a Synod being held for avoiding diversity of opinions and establishing of consent touching true religion c. it did expresly declare they did not give to our Princes the ministring either of Gods Word or the Sacraments But that onely prerogative is given in holy Scripture by God himself that is that they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be ecclesiasticall or temporall and restrain with the civill sword the stubborn and evil-doers c. And these articles were likewise confirmed by Parliament 13. Eliz. cap. 12. so that no man can doubt this to have been other then an acknowledgement what Princes had done formerly in all ages might be justly continued not an introductory of a new law but the assertion of the old right of our Kings 5. Another matter of great weight then likewise expedited was the settling the publick service of the Church in one uniform way King Edward the 6. intending such a reformation as might serve for edification caused certain pious and learned men to meet together who as it seems taking for their pattern the practise of the primitive times casting out of the Liturgies then used such particulars as were any way offensive shew'd their scope to be what they pretended to reform not make a new Church or Service and thereupon had by the aid of the holy Ghost as the Act of Parliament speaks concluded on and publisht the book of Common prayer with a form of administration of the holy Communion commonly called the Mass. But nothing humane is perfect at first this Book some few years after received in his time alteration and the word Mass I know not why more offensive in it then the Augustane Confession expunged with some other phrases in it 6. But for the better understanding how Queen Elizabeth found this Church it will not be amiss to look a little back Henry the 8. dying in Ianuary 154 6 7 leaving the Roman Service with some alterations not greatly considerable in it the wisdome of the State however intending a farther reformation was not immediately to abolish it so as the Lords meeting in Parl nt 1547. November the 4. though they had the Mass sung in English yet the Liturgy of the Church was not common in that language till after Easter 1548. This Session continuing till December 23. restored the Communion in both kinds upon which certain learned men by appointment met at VVindsor to consider of a decent Form for the administration of it which in March his Maty gave out backt with a Proclamation so as at Easter it began without compulsion of any to be put in practise and after Easter severall parochiall Churches to celebrate divine Service in English which at VVhitsuntide was by command introduced into Paul's but hitherto no book of Common prayer extant onely the manner of administring the holy Eucharist somewhat altered 7. During this while the Archbishop of Cant. 6. Bishops 3. Deans Doctors and 3. other onely Doctors were busied in reforming the publick Liturgy of the Church Iohn Calvin of Geneva a person then of high esteem advertised of it thereupon wrote to the Duke of Somerset the 22. October 1548 giving his judgement in these words quod ad formulam precum rituum ecclesiasticorum valde probo ut certa illa extet à qua pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat tam ut consulatur quorundam simplicitati imperitiae quam ut certius ita conslet omnium inter se ecclesiarum consensus postremo etiam ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati qui novationes quasdam affectant and taking notice of the form already had for celebrating the Communion adds this Audio recitari isthic in Coenae celebratione orationem pro defunctis neque vero hoc ad purgatorii Papistici approbationem referri satis sâ—io neque etiam me latet proferri posse antiquum ritum mentionis defunctorum faciendae ut eo modo communio fidelium omnium in unum corpus conjunctorum declaretur sed obstat invictum illud argumentum nempe Coenam Domini adeo sacrosanctam esse ut ullis hominum additamentis
eam conspurcare sit nefas 8. This Letter received about the beginning of the Parliament which met the 24. of November 1548. may have been the cause of deferring th' exhibition of it to the House of Commons till the 19. December 1548. when the consideration of it was referred to Sr Thomas Smith his Maties Secretary and a very learned Knight who returned it back again the 19. Ianuary having kept it by him a full moneth after which it was expedited and printed in March following and the 6th of April 1549. the Mass by Proclamation removed But this book was not so perfect as it yielded no exceptions whether just or not I shall not hear examine I know learned men have judged variously it shall suffice me to say it was again revised by Bucer a great patron of Discipline and Martyr both in England and reprinted 1552. and to ought in or of this second edition during King Edwards reign I have not heard any Protestant did ever except 9. In Queen Maries time divers learned men retired from the heat of Persecution and by the favour of the Magistrate permitted a Church 1554. at Frankford laboured to retain this Liturgy whom Knox VVhittingham and some others opposed so far as one Haddon desired to be their Pastor excused himself and Mr. Chambers coming for that end from Zurick finding it would not be allowed retired back again and xvi learned men then at Strasburgh amongst which this Haddon Sandis afterward Archbishop of York Grindall of Canterbury Christopher Goodman famous for his book of Obedience remonstrated unto them That by much altering the said book they should seem to condemn the framers now ready with the price of their bloud to confirm it should give their adversaries occasion to accuse their doctrine of imperfection themselves of mutability and the Godly to doubt of what they had been perswaded that the use of it permitted they would joyn with them by the first of February their Letter bearing date the 23. of November 1554. 10. But nothing could move them to be like Saint Paul all things to all that he might gain some or relent any thing of their former rigour onely a Type of it drawn into Latine was sent to Calvin for his judgement who returned an answer the 18. Ianuary 1554 5. somewhat resembling the Delphick oracles That the book did not contein the purity was to be wisht that there were in it ineptias yet tolerabiles that as he would not have them be ultra modum rigidos so he did admonish others ne sibi in sua inscitia nimis placeant c. And here I cannot deny to have sometime wondred why in these disputes the opinion of Peter Martyr then at Strasburgh a person for learning no lesse eminent was never required but I have since heard him to have been alwayes a profest patron of it as one by whose care and privity it had been reformed 11. Whilst matters went thus in Germany certain learned men at Geneva were composing a Form for the use of the English Church there which 1556. was printed by Crispin with this title Ratio forma publice orandi Deum atque administrandi Sacramenta c. in Anglorum ecclesiam quae Genevae colligitur recepta cum judicio comprobatione D. Iohannis Calvini But this did not satisfy all for Mr. Lever coming to Frankford to be their Minister requested they would trust him to use such an order as should be godly yet without any respect to the book of Geneva or any other But his endeavours were soon rejected as not fit for a right reformed Church and the book it self hath received since sundry changes from that first type 12. In this posture Queen Elizabeth found the Church the Protestant party abroad opposing the book of Common prayer few varying in judgement not at unity with themselves nor well agreeing what they would submit unto She hereupon caused it to be again revised by certain moderate and learned men who took a great care for removing all things really lyable to exception and therefore where Henry the 8. had caused to be inserted into the Letany to be delivered from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome all his detestable enormities which remained all King Edwards time this as what might give offence to that party was thought fit to be strook out and where in the delivery of the Eucharist the first book of Ed. the 6. had onely this clause The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life and at the giving of the Cup no other then The bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life and the second book which was in force at his death had removed those two clauses and instead of them inserted Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ dyed for thee and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving and accordingly at the delivery of the Cup from whence some might and perhaps did infer the faithfull Receiver not to have a real communication of Christs body in taking the Sacrament but onely a remembrance of his sufferings it was now thought fit both expressions should be retained that no man might have any just cause of scandall for be Christs presence never so reall even by Transubstantiation in the holy Sacrament we may upon Saint Pauls warrant do it in remembrance of him Thus at the first of her reign matters in religion past with so great moderation as it is not to be denyed very few or none of the Romish inclination if they did at any time go to Mass refused to be present in our Churches during the time of Divine Service But of another thing that likewise past at the same time it will be necessary to make some more particular mention CHAP. VIII How Queen Elizabeth settled in this Kingdome the proceeding against Hereticks 1 ANother particular no small argument of the Queens disposition fell into consideration this Parliament Her Sister had revived all the laws of former Princes against Hereticks even that of Hen. the 4. which her Father had on weighty considerations repealed and all proceedings against them till they came to their very execution pertaining to the Ecclesiastick how to find a means to preserve her subjects and yet not leave a license to every old heresy new invention fanatick spirit to ruffle the Church and trouble the world was a matter of no small difficulty But for the better understanding of what then past it will be requisite to consider how the condemning of Heresy and proceeding against Hereticks hath been both here and elsewhere how her Maty found it abroad in the Christian world and at home how thereupon she settled it 2. The words Heresy and Heretick were in the primitive Church not alwayes of so ill a sound as these later Ages have made
provoke us to imitation of their piety and to thank God that left such lights who by their doctrine instructed us and whose lives were examples for us to follow and in respect there are sundry Saints for whom there is no proper office to retain one day to praise God for the generality of all and beg of him that we may follow their pattern in all vertuous and godly living This if any mislike I intreat him to pardon me if I joyn not with him and if he will add more to give me leave to think he attributes to them by what name so ever he style it that is onely due to the Divine Majesty 22. For Purgatory however it might be held a private opinion yet certainly as an Article of Faith it could not be for the Greeks who have ever constantly denyed it were in communion with the Church of Rome till 1238. after which onely they began to be accounted schismaticks not so much for their opinions as denying subjection to the See of Rome for some of them coming to Rome 1254 de articulis fidei sacramentis fidei satis toler abiliter responderunt so that questionlesse the Historian could not then hold Purgatory an Article of Faith when those who did affirm Nullum Purgatorium est did give a tolerable account of their Faith Our Divines therefore charge these opinions onely as fond inventions grounded on no warrant of Scripture but rather repugnant to the word of God that is as I have said before they deny them to be Articles of faith 23. In like manner having first declared the bread we break in the holy Communion to be a partaking of the body of Christ and the cup of blessing of his bloud they censure Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of bread and wine as what is not proved by holy writ and therefore no Article of faith c. And indeed how could they say lesse of so doubtfull a tenet so newly crept in that had burnt so many was so contrary to the ancient doctrine even of the English Church as the Saxon Homily yet remaining in an old Mss with this title A book of Catholick sermons to be repeated each year doth undoubtedly assure us It is true some of late have strove to give an answer to it as he that styled himself Bish. of Chalcedon will have the author perhaps to have been an heretick but that the time and title confutes all writers agreeing England to have been free from any heresy after S. Gregory till about the year 1166. If that therefore will not do he hath another viz. the Sermon to make more for Transubstantiation then what the Protetestants cite doth against it yet is silent both where the words are in it and who are the citers of them For my part to speak once for all take the whole Homily as it lies not one piece torn from the other and if the doctrine of it be such as he can digest I know not why we differ As for those two miracles which some dislike so far as to think them infarced into the work I confess them not to displease me at all for if they were inserted to prove the verity of Christs body in the Sacrament against those who held it bare bread yet it must be after such a ghostly and spirituall manner as is there represented without any other change in the substance of the bread and wine then is in the water of Baptism p. 33. not bodily but ghostly pag. 38. 36. a remembrance of Christs body offered for us on the Cross. p. 46. 24. And this may serve for answer to that his Achilles by which his doctrine of Transubstantiation manifestius patebit of Odo Archbishop of Canterbury about 940. converting miraculously the Eucharist in formam carnis ad convincendum quosdam qui suo tempore coeperunt de ea dubitare to which I shall first remember that when St Augustine was prest with certain miracles of Donatus and Pontius which the Donatists urged to prove the truth of their doctrine he gives this answer Removeantur ista vel figmenta mendacium hominum vel portenta fallacium spirituum aut enim non sunt vera quae dicuntur aut si haereticorum aliqua mira facta sunt magis cavere debemus and after a learned discourse he tells of some in the Catholick Church had happened in the time of St Ambrose at Milan upon which he gives this grave censure Quaecunque talia in catholica fiunt ideo sunt approbanda quia in catholica fiunt non ideo ipsa manifestatur catholica quia haec in ea fiunt Ipse Dominus Jesus cum resurrexisset à mortuis discipulorum oculis videndum manibusque tangendum corpus suum offerret ne quid tamen fallaciae se pati arbitrarentur magis eos testimoniis Legis Prophetarum Psalmorum confirmandos esse judicavit ostendens ea de se impleta quae fuerant tanto ante praedicta c. and a little after Hoc in Lege Prophetis Psalmis testatus est hoc ejus ore commendatum tenemus Haec sunt causae nostrae documenta haec fundamenta haec firmamenta 25. To apply this to our case the Church Catholick hath ever held a true fruition of the true Body of Christ in the Eucharist and not of a signe figure or remembrance onely but as the French confession que par la vertue secrete incomprehensible de son Esprit il nous nourrit vivifie de la substance de son corps de son sang c. and therefore we can agree to these verses Christ was the Word that spake it He took the Bread and brake it And as that Word did make it So I believe and take it Here is then a Catholick Sermon commanded to be read in the Church many years before the word Transubstantiation was heard as the doctrine of it teaching me this participation with Christ however true yet is not fleshly but spirituall if therefore this miracle were not to convince those held the communicating of Christ in the Sacrament to have been no other then fantasticall and the bread to have been and conveyed no other to us then bare bread must not I according to St Augustine avoid it as the fancies of lying men or the operation of deceiving spirits c. And this as it may serve in generall for all miracles so in particular for that of late divulged of a poor mans legg cut off in Spain and buried yet four years after restored which if it be not some imposture as the golden tooth in Silesia or of Arnald Tilly taken in Francis the 2 ds time not onely by others but by the very wife of Martin Guerre for her husband and which held the Parliament of Tholous so much perplexed to resolve we must not according to this holy mans doctrine believe for that or any
for the other constitutions there propounded he after gives the rule with what caution they were to be expounded and recited as they should be held expedient and not otherwise g Preuves des libertes de l' Esglise de France p. 325. h Ordericus Vitalis lib. 13. p. 919. B. i Regist. Islep fol. 166. b. k Apud Gratian caus 27. q. 1. cap. 40. l Carol. Lud. Capit. lib. 7. cap. 323. 2 Bern. de consideratione ed Eugenium lib. 3. cap. 2. l Concil gen Romae 1608 1612. m Acts the xy n Acts xvi 4. o Hieron adversus Luciferianos to 2. fol. 52. a. Paris 1534. p Con. 6. Carthag cap. 9. q Epist. ad Aphto interprete Petro Nannio Paris 1572. col 537. c. r Concil gen p. 64. c. s Epist. ad Aegyp ios c. col 424. a. b. t Tom. 5. annâ— 419. â— 59. u Concil Antioth to 1. Concil in proâ—â—in x Concil Tolet 3. §. Consuemur toâ— concil 2. * Baron to 8. Anno 685. n. 25. y Ordericus Vitaliâ— lib. 9. p. 721. â— z Vide Euâ—eb â—ediolanens post epist. 52. Leonâ—s a Gregor lib. 6. epist. 31. lib. 7. epist. 47. Indict 2. b General Concil Româ— tom 3. p. 684 685. in margine c â—ontra Maximinum Arrianorum epist. lib. 3. cap. 14. to 6. vide etiam de unitate Eccles cap. 16. to 7. c De Synodis advers 〈◊〉 Arrianos prope finein p. 243. d Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 6. Theodor. lib. 1. cap. 10. e Cod. Theodos de fide Cathol leg 3. de Haeret. leg 6. f n. 31. * To. 8. in Psal. 57. g Bellarm. de concil lib. 1. cap. 15. §. At Catholicorum h Bochellius 〈◊〉 operis ratio i See his letter to Cromwell at the end of his works and the originall in Sr Thom. Cottons Library k Concil Florent Sess. 25. Concil gen Romae tom 4. p. 584. ibid. Concil Later sub Iulio 2. Leone 10. Sess. 11. p. 175. col 2. l Bellar. de concil lib. 2. cap. 17. §. 〈…〉 m 1 Eliz. cap. 1. a Canones dati sub Eadgaro legibus ejus annexi p. 67. Leg. Canut cap. 22. p. 105. See before cap. 4. n. 6. §. iij. b Camden Annal. Anno 1559. c Tortura Torâ—i p. 142. d In Camdeni Annal. Anno 1560. e Praesut lib. 7. relat f Parallel Torti Tortoris p. 241. g Servi fidelis subdito inâ—ide li responsio apud Iohannem Dayum 1573. h p. 121. i Ibid. p. 70. 71. the book is not printed with pages but they are added with a pen. * Sancti Salvatoris Camden Anno 1560. calls him who in the year 1562. seems to have been employed by the said Pope into France Hist. Concil Trid. lib. 6. p. 501. and of whom mention is made in the life of Cardinall Poole i Hist. Concil Trident. Annâ— 1560. p. 446. k Ib. p. 522. p. 528. l Art 6. m Art 22 n Apud Ordericum Vitalem Anno 1095. p. 720. a. o Apud Baron to 12. Anno 1118. n. 2. in nonnullis in Appendice p Statuâ—a Gilbertinorum Ms. de canonicis cap. 33. vide adversaria Doctoris Watsii ad Mat. Paris p. 9. lin 6. q De summa Trinitaâ—e fide Catholica cap. Altissimus verbo minoribus â—cclesiis r Antiquit. Britan. p. 98 10. in Lanfranâ—i vita s Hunt fol. 217 b. 26. a. 10. t Eadmer p. 94 48. u Eadmer p. 105 27. * Hunt fol. 220 a. 26. Saxon. Chron. Petroburg Ms. y De cohabitatione â—leric mulierum de Clericis conjugatis ⸫ Constit. Othoâ—is cap. Innotuit z Col. 2584 7. Clericus apud Leicestriâ—m ⸪ Quaere whither this were not the Priest of the town that was thus inhabiting there a De locato conducto cap. Vendentes verbo Si quis Clericus b Lynd. de clericis conjugalis cap. 1. Vide Monasticum Anglicanum p. 899. p. â—00 c Greg lib. 7. epist. 109. lib. 9. epist. 9â— d Reply to Harding Art 14. in principiâ— e To. â— anno 714. â— 2. f Simeon Dâ—nelm col 111 50. Hoyeden fol. 232. b. 3. Mat. West Anno 793. p. 283. g Anno 788. At Baron anno 787. tom 9. â— 1â— 38. h Concil gen Rom. Synod 7. p. 661 lin ult m Ingulph fol. 514. a. 17. * Lyndwood de Haeret. cap. Nullus quoque n Seculo 8. cap. 5. p. 126. 9. o Iâ— bibliotheca Cotton p To. 10. anno 963. 2 3. Anno 968 10. q Richard Smith Archiepisc Chalcedon Flores hist. Anglic. lib. 2. cap. 7. p. 134. r De Divinis officiis die Paâ—rasceâ— s Concil Spelm. cap. 2. p. 328. t Institutiones Mss. beati Gilberâ—i successorum ejus per capitula generalia institutae de exordio ordinatione institutione ordinis Canonicorum Sanctimonialium fratrum sororum laicarum ordinis de Sempringham de â—anonicis cap. 15. § Sculpâ—urae u De fratribus cap. 13. * Sic Mss. sed lege gratis data as it is in other places as you will see here after repeated * Wardon or Wardun was a monastery of the Cistâ—rtian Order in Bedfordshire x Quaere whether this were that Otho was after Cardinall viz. in September 1227. y Lib. 9. Epist. 9. Indict 4. * Genâ—rali eâ—â—sdem ordinis de Semplingham scrutatore * Gilberâ—us * Concil Nicen 2. z Lyndwood de Ecclesiis â—dificandis cap. ut parochiani verbo Imaginis a Iohan. Sarisb Epist. 172. p. 281. 285. Waldensis tom 1. lib. 2. Art 2. cap. 23. n. 2. â—ol 203. a. col 2. edit Venet. 1571. b Praeâ—at in proverb Salomonis to 3. sol 9. c. c S. Gregor Moral lib. 19. cap. 17. d Art 6. e Contra Faâ—â—slum Manichaeum lib. 20. cap. 21. to 6. f Lib. 2. p. 48 â— g In Canon Missae lect 3. D. ⸫ August de vera religione cap. 55. to 1. h Errores Graecorum in fasciculo Zizaniorum Mss. per Thomam Waldens fol. 156. b. col 1. in bibliotheca Archiepisc. Armach i Mat. Paris hist. minor Ms. Ann. 1237. 1238. Vide Hist. major Anno 1237 p. 457 16. p. 465 22. k Mat. Paris Hist. major p. 892 28. l Art 22. m Art 28. n Vide Bellarmin de Euchar lib. 3. cap. 23. §. secundo dicit o Liber Cathâ—licorum sermonum per annuâ—â— recitandus p. 355. p Flor. Hist. Eccles. c. lib. 1. cap. 24. p. 91. q Ab hac aliis pestibus Haereticis immunis semper exstitit Anglia ubi hanc insulam expulsiâ— Britonibus natio possedit Anglorum ut non jam Pritannia sed Anglia diceretur nullius unquam ex ca pestis haereticae virus cbullivit sed nec in eum aliunde usque ad tempora Regis Henrici secundi introivit Newbrigensis lib. 2. cap. 13. Vide Pitseum de scrip Anno 1159. p. 220. r Editionis Iohannis Dayiâ— in octavo â— s p. 90. vide Malms de pont lib. 1. in vita Odonis fol. 114 b. 36. t De unitate Eccles. cap. 16. tom 7. u Vide Chamier de Sacramentis lib. 10. cap. 1. 2. x I. R. his spectacles to Sr Humfrey Lynde p. 135. §. 4. y p. 143. cap. 9. §. 10. z N. 23. ⸪ Index cerrorum auctorum Romae a Tom. 2. p. 450. b p. 462. c Malon his Reply to the Archbishop of Armach p. 320. d In bibliotheca publica Cant. e Chap. 7. n. 37. f In fasciculo zizaniorum Mss. per Thom. Waldens Hen. Knighton qui tunc vixit scripsitque col 2648 8. 2654 44. g Knight col 2649 31. h Col. 2650 49. i Col. 2654. k 2652 67. l Col. 2653. m Vide Bellar. de Eucharistia lib. 4. cap. 24. §. ult n Noluit Arch. plenarie procedere o Imposterum de caetero teneat p Tandem â—inaliter q A sparing discourse pag. 13. writ by a secular Priest against the Iesuites Anno 1601. ⸫ In Confess contra Wickliff in bibliotheca Archiepisc Armach Mss. r The book of Canons of the same Synod printed by John Day 1571. s Bulla Pii 5ti March 28. 1569. t Harding his confutation of the Apol. part 6. * Bellarm. de justif lib. 3. cap. 8. §. prima ratio ibid. lib. 1. cap. 10. §. prima ratio u Contraliteras l'etiliani lib. 2. cap. 85. tom 7. a Fortresse of faith at the end of Bedas Hist. fol. 47. b.