esteeme this Iohn was with king Alfred may be seene in William of Malmesbury Roger Hoveden Matthew of Westminster and other writers of the English history The king himselfe in the Preface before his Saxon translation of St. Gregories Pastorall professeth that he was holpen in that worke by Iohn his Masse-priest By whom if he did meane this Iohn of ours you may see how in those dayes a man might be held a Masse-priest who was far enough from thinking that he offered up the very body and bloud of Christ really present under the formes of bread and wine which is the onely Masse that our Romanists take knowledge of Of which wonderfull point how ignorant our elders were even this also may be one argument that the author of the booke of the wonderfull things of the holy Scripture before alledged passeth this quite over which is now esteemed to be the wonder of all wonders And yet doth he professe that he purposed to passe over nothing of the wonders of the Scripture wherein they might seeme notably to swerve from the ordinary administration in other things CHAP. V. Of Chrisme Sacramentall Confession Penance Absolution Marriage Divorces and single life in the Clergie THat the Irish did baptize their infants without any consecrated Chrisme Lanfranc maketh complaint in his letters to Terdeluacus or Tirlagh the chiefe King of that country And Bernard reporteth that Malachias in his time which was after the daies of Lanfranc and Pope Hildebrand did of the new institute the most wholesome use of Confession the sacrament of Confirmation and the contract of marriages all which he saith the Irish before were either ignorant of or did neglect Which for the matter of Confession may receive some further confirmation from the testimonie of Alcuinus who writing unto the Scottish or as other copies read the Gothish and commending the religious conversation of their laity who in the midst of their worldly imployments were said to leade a most chaste life condemneth notwithstanding another custome which was said to have continued in that country For it is said quot he that no man of the laity will make his confession to the Priests whom we beleeve to have received from the Lord Christ the power of binding and loosing together with the holy Apostles They had no reason indeed to hold as Alcuinus did that they ought to confesse unto a Priest all the sinnes they could remember but upon speciall occasions they did no doubt both publikely and privately make confession of their faults aswell that they might receive counsaile and direction for their recovery as that they might bee made partakers of the benefit of the keyes for the quieting of their troubled consciences Whatsoever the Gothish did herein by whom wee are to understand the inhabitants of Languedok in France where Alcuinus lived sure wee are that this was the practice of the ancient Scottish and Irish. So wee reade of one Fiachna or Fechnaus that being touched with remorse for some offence committed by him he fell at St. Colmes feet lamented bitterly and confessed his sinnes before all that were there present Whereupon the holy man weeping together with him is said to have returned this answer Rise up Sonne and bee comforted thy sinnes which thou hast committed are forgiven because as it is written a contrite and an humbled heart God doth not despise We reade also of Adamanus that being very much terrified with the remembrance of a grievous sinne committed by him in his youth he resorted unto a Priest by whom hee hoped the way of salvation might bee shewed unto him hee confessed his guilt and intreated that hee would give him counsell whereby hee might flee from the wrath of God that was to come Now the counsell commonly given unto the Penitent after Confession was that hee should wipe away his sinnes by meet fruits of repentance which course Bede observeth to have beene usually prescribed by our Cuthbert For penances were then exacted as testimonies of the sincerity of that inward repentance which was necessarily required for obtaining remission of the sinne and so had reference to the taking away of the guilt and not of the temporall punishment remaining after the forgivenesse of the guilt which is the new found use of penances invented by our later Romanists One old Penitentiall Canon wee finde laid downe in a Synod held in this country about the yeere our Lord CCCCL by S. Patrick Auxilius and Isserninus which is as followeth A Christian who hath kild a man or committed fornication or gone unto a Southsayer after the manner of the Gentiles for every of those crimes shall doe a yeere of Penance when his yeere of penance is accomplished he shall come with witnesses and afterward hee shall be absolved by the Priest These Bishops did take order we see according to the discipline generally used in those times that the penance should first be performed and when long good proofe had bin given by that means of the truth of the parties repentance they wished the Priest to impart unto him the benefit of Absolution wheras by the new device of sacramentall penance the matter is now far more easily transacted by vertue of the keyes the sinner is instantly of attrite made contrite and thereupon as soon as hee hath made his Confession hee presently receiveth his Absolution after this some sorry penance is imposed which upon better consideration may bee converted into pence and so a quicke end is made of many a foule businesse But for the right use of the keyes we fully accord with Claudius that the office of remitting and retaining sinnes which was given unto the Apostles is now in the Bishops and Priests committed unto every Church namely that having taken knowledge of the causes of such as have sinned as many as they shall behold humble and truly penitent those they may now with compassion absolve from the feare of everlasting death but such as they shall discerne to persist in the sins which they have committed those they may declare to be bound over unto never ending punishments And in thus absolving such as be truly penitent we willingly yeeld that the Pastors of Gods Church doe remit sinnes after their manner that is to say ministerially and improperly so that the priviledge of forgiving sinnes properly and absolutely bee still reserved unto God alone Which is at large set out by the same Claudius where hee expoundeth the historie of the man sicke of the palsey that was cured by our Saviour in the ninth of S. Matthew For following Bede upon that place he writeth thus The Scribes say true that none can forgive sinnes but God alone also forgiveth by them to whom hee hath given the power of forgiving And therefore is Christ proved to bee truely God because he forgiveth sinnes as God They render a true testimony unto God but in denying the person of Christ they
him backe with commendatory letters aswell to the said Gothric King of the Ostmans as to Terdeluacus the chiefe King or Monarch of the Irish. Hereupon after the decease of this Patrick in the yeare 1085. the same Terdeluacus and the Bishops of Ireland joyned with the Clergie and people of Dublin in the election of Donatus one of Lanfrancs owne Monkes in Canterbury who was by him there also consecrated Then when he dyed in the yeare 1095. his nephew Samuel a monke of St. Albans but borne in Ireland was chosen Bishop in his place by Murierdach King of Ireland and the Clergie and people of the Citie by whose common decree he was also sent unto Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury for his consecration Not long after the Waterfordians following the example of the Dublinians erected a Bishoprick among themselves and sent their new Bishop to Canterburie for his consecration the manner of whose election the Clergie and people of Waterford in the letters which they wrote at that time unto Anselme doe thus intimate We and our King Murchertach and Dofnald the Bishop and Dermeth our Captain the Kings brother have made choice of this Priest Malchus a monke of Walkeline Bishop of Winchester the same man without doubt who was afterward promoted to the Bishopricke of Lismore so much commended by Bernard in the life of Malachias The last Bishop of Dublin in the yeare 1122. was sent unto Anselmes next successor for his consecration touching which I have seene this writ of King Henry the first directed unto him Henricus Rex Anglia Radulpho Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo salutem Mandavit mihi Rex Hiberniae per Breve suum Burgenses Dublinae quòd elegerunt hunc Gregorium in Episcopum eum tibi mittunt consecrandum Vndè tibi mando ut petitioni eorum satisfaciens ejus consecrationem sine dilatione expleas Teste Ranulpho Cancellario apud Windelsor Henry King of England to Ralphe Archbishop of Canterbury greeting The King of Ireland hath intimated unto mee by his writ and the Burgesses of Dublin that they have chosen this Gregory for their Bishop and send him unto you to be consecrated Wherfore I wish you that satisfying their request you performe his consecration without delay Witnesse Ranuph our Chancellour at Windsor All the Burgesses of Dublin likewise and the whole assembly of the Clergie directed their joint letters to the Archbishop of Canterburie the same time where in among other things they write thus Know you for verity that the Bishops of Ireland have great indignation toward us and that Bishop most of all that dwelleth at Armagh because we will not obey their ordination but will alwaies bee under your governement Whereby we may see that as the Ostmans were desirous to sever themselves from the Irish and to bee esteemed Normans rather so the Irish Bishops on the other side howsoever they digested in some sort the recourse which they had to Lanfranc and Anselme who were two of the most famous men in their times and with whom they themselves were desirous to hold all good correspondence yet could they not well brooke this continuation of their dependance upon a Metropolitan of another kingdome which they conceived to be somewhat derogatorie to the dignitie of their owne Primate But this jealousie continued not long for this same Gregorie being afterwards made Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishopricks here settled by Iohannes Paparo aswell they of Dublin as the others of Waterford and Limrick for they also had one Patricke consecrated Bishop unto them by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury did ever after that time cease to have any relation unto the See of Canterbury And now to goe forward as the Kings and people of this land in those elder times kept the nomination of their Archbishops and Bishops in their own hands and depended not upon the Popes provisions that way so doe wee not finde by any approved record of antiquitie that any Visitations of the clergie were held here in the Popes name much lesse that any Indulgences were sought for by our people at his hands For as for the Charter of S. Patrick by some intituled De antiquitate Avalonicâ wherein Phaganus and Deruvianus are said to have purchased ten or thirtie yeares of Indulgences from Pope Eleutherius and St. Patrick himselfe to have procured twelve yeares in his time from Pope Celestinus it might easily bee demonstrated if this were a place for it that it is a meere figment devised by the Monkes of Glastenbury Neyther doe I well know what credit is to bee given unto that stragling sentence which I finde ascribed unto the same authour If any questions doe arise in this Iland let them bee referred to the See Apostolick or that other decree attributed to Auxilius Patricius Secundinus and Benignus Whensoever any cause that is very difficult and unknown unto all the Iudges of the Scottish nations shall arise it is rightly to bee referred to the See of the Archbishop of the Irish to wit Patrick and to the examination of the Prelate thereof But if there by him and his wisemen a cause of this nature cannot easily be made up wee have decreed it shall bee sent to the See Apostolick that is to say to the chaire of the Apostle Peter which hath the authoritie of the City of Rome Onely this I will say that as it is most likely that St. Patrick had a speciall regard unto the Church of Rome from whence he was sent for the conversion of this Iland so if I my selfe had lived in his daies for the resolution of a doubtful question I should as willingly have listened to the judgement of the Church of Rome as to the determination of any Church in the whole world so reverend an estimation have I of the integritie of that Church as it stood in those good daies But that St. Patrick was of opinion that the Church of Rome was sure ever afterward to continue in that good estate and that there was a perpetuall priviledge annexed unto that See that it should never erre in judgment or that the Popes sentences were alway to bee held as infallible Oracles that will I never beleeve sure I am that my countrey-men after him were of a farre other beleefe who were so farre from submitting themselves in this sort to whatsoever should proceed from the See of Rome that they oftentimes stood out against it when they had little cause so to doe For proofe whereof I need to seeke no further than to those very allegations which have been lately urged for maintenance of the supremacie of the Pope and Church of Rome in this Countrey First M r. Coppinger commeth upon us with this wise question Was not Ireland among other Countries absolved from the Pelagian heresie by the Church of Rome as Cesar Baronius writeth then hee setteth downe the copie of S. Gregories epistle in answer unto the
But shortly after the opposition betwixt these two sides grew to be so great that our Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne upon his death-bed required his followers that they should hold no communion with them which did swerve from the unity of the Catholicke peace eyther by not celebrating Easter in his due time or by living perversly and that they should rather take up his bones and remove their place of habitation than any way condescend to submit their neckes unto the yoke of schismatickes For the further maintaining of which breach also there were certaine decrees made both by the Romanes and by the Saxons that were guided by their institution One of the instructions that the Romans gave them was this You must beware that causes bee not referred to other Provinces or Churches which use another manner and another religion whether to the Iewes which doe serve the shadow of the Law rather than the truth or to the Britons who are contrary unto all men and have cut themselves off from the Romane manner and the unitie of the Church or to Heretickes although they should bee learned in Ecclesiasticall causes and well studied And among the decrees made by some of the Saxon Bishops which were to bee seene in the Library of Sir Thomas Knevet in Northfolke and are still I suppose preserved there by his heire this is laid downe for one Such as have received ordination from the Bishops of the Scots or Brittaines who in the matter of Easter and Tonsure are not united unto the Catholicke Church let them bee againe by imposition of hands confirmed by a Catholicke Bishop In like manner also let the Churches that have beene ordered by those Bishops be sprinkled with exorcized water and confirmed with some service Wee have no licence also to give unto them Chrisme or the Eucharist when they require it unlesse they doe first professe that they will remaine with us in the unity of the Church And such likewise as eyther of their nation or of any other shall doubt of their baptism let them be baptized Thus did they On the other side how averse the Brittish and the Irish were from having any communion with those of the Romane party the complaint of Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus before specified doth sufficiently manifest And the answer is well knowne which the seven Brittish Bishops and many other most learned men of the same nation did return unto the propositions made unto them by Austin the Monk who was sent unto their parts with authority from Rome that they would perform none of them nor at all adneit him for their Archbishop The Welsh Chroniclers do further relate that Dinot the Abbot of Bangor produced diverse arguments at that time to shew that they did owe him no subjection and this among others Wee are under the government of the Bishop of Kaer-leon upon Vske who under God is to oversee us and cause us to keepe the way spirituall and Gotcelinus Bertinianus in the life of Austin that for the authority of their ceremonies they did alledge that they were not onely delivered unto them by Saint Eleutherius the Pope their first instructer at the first infancie almost of the Church but also hitherto observed by their holy fathers who were the friends of God and followers of the Apostles and therefore they ought not to change them for any new dogmatists But above all others the Brittish Priests that dwelt in West-wales abhorred the communion of these new dogmatists above all measure as Aldhelme Abbot of Malmesbury declareth at large in his Epistle sent to Geruntius King of Cornwall where among many other particulars hee sheweth that if any of the Catholickes for so he calleth those of his owne side did goe to dwell among them they would not vouchsafe to admit them unto their company and society before they first put them to forty dayes penance Yea even to this day saith Bede who wrote his history in the yeere DCCXXXI it is the manner of the Brittons to hold the faith and the religion of the English in no account at all nor to communicate with them in any thing more than with Pagans Whereunto those Verses of Taliessyn honoured by the Britons with the title of Ben Beirdh that is the chiefe of the Bardes or Wisemen may bee added which shew that hee wrote after the comming of Austin into England and not 50. or 60. yeeres before as others have imagined Gwae'r offeiriad byd Nys engreifftia gwyd Ac ny phregetha Gwae ny cheidw ey gail Ac ef yn vigail Ac nys areilia Gwae ny cheidw ey dheuaid Rhac bleidhie Rhufeniaid A'iffon gnwppa Wo be to that Priest yborne That will not cleanly weed his corne And preach his charge among Wo be to that shepheard I say That will not watch his fold alway As to his office doth belong Wo be to him that doth not keepe From Romish wolves his sheepe With staffe and weapon strong As also those others of Mantuan which shew that some tooke the boldnesse to taxe the Romans of folly impudencie and stolidity for standing so much upon matters of humane institution that for the not admitting of them they would breake peace there where the Law of God and the Doctrine first delivered by Christ and his Apostles was safely kept and maintained Adde quod patres ausi taxare Latinos Causabantur eos stultè imprudenter aequo Duriùs ad ritum Romae voluisse Britannos Cogere antiquum tam praecipitanter amorem Tam stolido temerâsse ausu Concedere Roma Debuit aiebant potiùs quà m rumpere pacem Humani quae juris erant modò salva maneret Lex divina fides Christi doctrina Senatus Quam primus tulit ore suo quia tradita ab ipso Christo erat humanae doctore lumine vitae By all that hath been said the vanity of Osullevan may be seene who feigneth the Northren Irish together with the Picts and the Britons to have beene so obsequious unto the Bishop of Rome that they reformed the celebration of Easter by them formerly used as soone as they understood what the rite of the Romane Church was Whereas it is knowne that after the declaration thereof made by Pope Honorius and the Clergie of Rome the Northren Irish were nothing moved therewith but continued still their owne tradition And therfore Bede findeth no other excuse for Bishop Aidan herein but that eyther hee was ignorant of the canonicall time or if he knew it that he was so overcome with the authority of his owne nation that he did not follow it that he did it after the manner of his owne nation and that hee could not keepe Easter contrary to the custome of them which had sent him His successor Finan contended more fiercely in the businesse with Ronan his countryman and declared himselfe an open adversary to the Romane rite Colman that