your Ordination there is no Word said And as little there is in Scripture of your Sacrifice which makes Christ not to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedeck c. with much more to this purpose Where my Defence for your Ministry hath been this That the Form Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted c. doth sufficiently comprehend the Authority of preaching the Gospel Use you the same equity towards us and tell those hot Spirits among you that stand so much upon formalities of Words That to be a Dispenser of the Word of God and his holy Sacraments is all the duty of Priesthood And to you I add further that if you consider well the Words of the Master of the Sentences which I vouched before how that which is consecrated of the Priest is called a Sacrifice and Oblation because it is a Memorial and Representation of the true Sacrifice and holy Offering made on the Altar of the Cross and joyn thereto that of the Apostle that by that one Offering Christ hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and as he saith in another place through that Blood of his Cross reconciled unto God all things whether in Earth or in Heaven you shall perceive that we do offer Sacrifice for the Quick and Dead remembring representing and mystically offering that sole Sacrifice for the Quick and Dead by the which all their sins are meritoriously expiated and desiring that by the same we and all the Church may obtain remission of sins and all other Benefits of Christs Passion To the Epilogue therefore of this your last Motive I say in short Sith we have no need of Subdeaconship more than the Churches in the Apostles times and in truth those whom we call Clerks and Sextons perform what is necessary in this behalf Sith we have Canonical Bishops and lawful Succession Sith we neither want due intention to depute Men to Ecclesiastical Functions nor matter or Form in giving Priesthood deriving from no Man or Woman the Authority of Ordination but from Christ the Head of the Church you have alledged no sufficient Cause why we should not have true Pastors and consequently a true Church in England CHAP. XII Of the Conclusion Mr. Waddesworth's Agonies and Protestation c. YEt by these you say and many other Arguments you were resolved in your understanding to the contrary It may well be that your Understanding out of its own heedless hast as that of our first Parents while it was at the perfectest was induced into error by resolving too soon out of seeming Arguments and granting too forward assent For surely these which you have mentioned could not convince it if it would have taken the pains to examine them throughly or had the patience to give unpartial hearing to the Motives on the other side But as if you triumphed in your own conquest and captivity you add that which passeth yet all that hitherto you have set down viz. That the Church of Rome was and is the only true Church because it alone is Antient Catholick and Apostolick having Succession Vnity and Visibility in all Ages and Places Is it only antient To omit Ierusalem are not that of Antioch where the Disciples were first called Christians and Alexandria Ephesus Corinth and the rest mentioned in the Scriptures antient also and of Antioch antienter than Rome Is it Catholick and Apostolick only Do not these and many more hold the Catholick Faith received from the Apostles as well as the Church of Rome For that it should be the Vniversal Church is all one as ye would say the part is the whole one City the World Hath it only succession where to set aside the enquiry of Doctrine so many Simoniacks and Intruders have ruled as about fifty of your Popes together were by your own Mens Confession Apostatical rather than Apostolical Or Unity where there have been thirty Schisms and one of them which endured fifty years long and at last grew into three Heads as if they would share among them the triple Crown And as for dissentions in Doctrine I remit you to Master Doctor Halls peace of Rome wherein he scores above three hundred mentioned in Bellarmine alone above three-score in one only head of Penance out of Navarrus As to that addition in all Ages and places I know not what to make of it nor where to refer it Consider I beseech you with your wonted moderation what you say for sure unless you were beguiled I had almost said bewitched you could never have resolved to believe and profess that which all the World knows to be as false I had well nigh said as God is true touching the extent of the Romish Church to all Ages and places Concerning the agonies you passed I will say only thus much if being resolved though erroneously that was truth you were withholden from professing it with worldly respects you did well to break through them all But if besides these there were doubt of the contrary as methinks needs must be unless you could satisfie your self touching those many and known Exceptions against the Court of Rome which you could not be ignorant of take heed lest the rest insuing these agonies were not like Sampsons sleeping on Dalilahs knees while the Locks of his Strength were shaven whereupon the Lord departing from him he was taken by the Philistins had his Eyes put out and was made to grind in the Prison But I do not despair but your former resolutions shall grow again And as I do believe your religious asseveration that for very fear of damnation you forsook us which makes me to have the better hope and opinion of you for that I see you do so seriously mind that which is the end of our whole life so I desire from my Heart the good hope of salvation you have in your present way may be as happy as your fear I am perswaded was causeless For my part I call God to record against mine own Soul that both before my going into Italy and since I have still endeavoured to find and follow the truth in the Points controverted between us without any earthly respect in the World Neither wanted I fair opportunity had I seen it on that side easily and with hope of good entertainment to have adjoyned my self to the Church of Rome after your example But to use your words as I shall answer at the dreadful day of judgement I never saw heard or read any thing which did convince me nay which did not finally confirm me daily more and more in the perswasion that in these differences it rests on our part Wherein I have not followlowed humane conjectures from foreign and outward things as by your leave methinks you do in these your motives whereby I protest to you in the sight of God I am also much comforted and assured in the possession of the truth but the undoubted Voice of God in his Word which is more
he might be the instrument of bringing about a great change even at Rome went thither He was at first well received by the Pope himself But he happened to say of Cardinal Bellarmine that had writ against him That he had not answered his Arguments Upon which a complaint was carried to the Pope as if he had been still of the same mind in which he was when he published his Books He excused himself and said That though Bellarmine had not answered his Arguments yet he did not say they were unanswerable and he offered to answer them himself if they would allow him time for it But this excuse was not accepted so he was cast into the Inquisition but was never brought to any Tryal He was poysoned not long after and his Body was cast out at a Window and all his Goods were confiscated to the Pope This was the tragical end of that great but inconstant Man If he had had as good a Soul as he had a great understanding together with vast learning considering his education and other disadvantages he had deserved to have been reckoned among the greatest Men of his Age. In his Fate it appeared how foolishly credulous Vanity makes a Man since he that was an Italian born and knew the Court of Rome so well could be wrought on so far as to believe that they were capable of pardoning and promoting him after the mischief he had done their Cause This account of that matter my Author had from Master Bedell's own Mouth But now Mr. Bedell had finished one of the Scenes of his life with great honour The most considerable addition he made to his learning at Venice was in the improvements in the Hebrew in which he made a great progress by the assistance of R. Leo that was the chief Chacham of the Jewish Synagogue there From him he learn'd their way of pronunciation and some other parts of Rabbinical learning but in exchange of it he communicated to him that which was much more valuable the true understanding of many passages in the Old Testament with which that Rabbi expressed himself often to be highly satisfied And once in a solemn dispute he prest his Rabbi with so clear proofs of Jesus Christ being the true Messias that he and several others of his Brethren had no other way to escape but to say that their Rabbins every where did expound those Prophecies otherwise according to the Tradition of their Fathers By Leo's means he purchased that fair Manuscript of the Old Testament which he gave to Emmanuel Colledge and as I am credibly informed it cost him its weight in Silver After Eight Years stay in Venice he returned to England and without pretending to Preferment or aspiring to it he went immediately to his charge at S. Edmundsbury and there went on in his ministerial labours with which he mixt the translating Paulo's immortal Writings into Latine Sir Adam Newton translated the two first Books of the History of the Council of Trent but was not master enough of the two Languages so that the Archbishop of Spalata said it was not the same Work but he highly approved of the two last that were translated by Mr. Bedell who likewise translated the History of the Interdict and of the Inquisition and dedicated them to the King But no notice was taken of him and he lived still private and unknown in that obscure corner He had a Soul of too generous a composition to stoop to those servile compliances that are often expected by those that have the distribution of Preferments in their power He thought that was an abjectness of Spirit that became not a Christian Philosopher much less a Churchman who ought to express a contempt of the World a contentedness with a low condition and a resignation of ones outward circumstances wholly to the conduct of Divine Providence and not to give that advantage which Atheists and Libertines take from the covetousness and aspirings of some Churchmen to scoff at Religion and to call Priesthood a Trade He was content to deserve Preferment and did not envy others who upon less merit but more industry arrived at it But though he was forgot at Court yet an eminent Gentleman in Suffolk Sir Thomas Iermyn who was a privy Counsellour and Vice-Chamberlain to King Charles the First and a great Patron of Vertue and Piety took such a liking to him that as he continued his whole life to pay him a very particular esteem so a considerable Living that was in his Gift falling void he presented him to it in the Year 1615. When he came to the Bishop of Norwich to take out his Title to it he demanded large Fees for his Institution and Induction But Bedell would give no more than what was sufficient gratification for the Writing the Wax and the Parchment and refused to pay the rest He lookt on it as Simony in the Bishop to demand more and as contrary to the command of Christ who said to his Apostles Freely ye have received and freely give And thought it was a branch of the sin of Simony to sell Spiritual things to Spiritual persons and since whatsoever was askt that was more than a decent Gratification to the Servant for his pains was asked by reason of the thing that was granted he thought this was unbecoming the Gospel and that it was a sin both in the Giver and in the Taker He had observed that nothing was more expresly contrary to all the Primitive Rules Chrysostome examined a complaint made against Autonine Bishop of Ephesuâ— for exacting Fees at Ordination Autonine dyed before the Process was finished but some Bishops that had paid those Fees were upon that degraded and made incapable to officiate any more though they pretended that they paid that Money as a Fee for obtaining a Release from such Obligations as lay on them by Law to serve the Court. Afterwards not only all Ordinations for Money but the taking Money for any Imployment that depended upon the Bishops Gift was most severely condemned by the Council of Chalcedon The Buyer was to lose his Degree and the Seller was to be in danger of it And after that severe censures were every where decreed against all Presents that might be made to Bishops either before or after Ordinations or upon the account of Writings or of Feasts or any other expence that was brought in use to be made upon that occasion and even in the Council of Trent it was Decreed That nothing should be taken for Letters dimissory the Certificates the Seals or upon any such like ground either by Bishops or their Servants even though it was freely offered Upon these accounts Mr. Bedell resolved rather to lose his Presentation to the Parsonage of Horingsheath than to purchase his Title to it by doing that which he thought Simony And he left the Bishop and went home But some few days after the Bishop sent for him and gave him his Titles without exacting Fees of him
had without paying for it or be lyable to a Suit in the Prerogative Court He knew the Archbishop's power over Bishops was not founded on Divine or Apostolical right but on Ecclesiastical Canons and Practice and that it was only a matter of Order and that therefore the Archbishop had no Authority to come and invade his Pastoral Office and suspend him for a Year These were some of the worst of the abuses that the Canonists had introduced in the later Ages by which they had broken the Episcopal Authority and had made way for vesting the whole power of the Church in the Pope He laid those things often before Archbishop Vsher and prest him earnestly to set himself to the reforming them since they were acted in his name and by vertue of his Authority deputed to his Chancellour and to the other Officers of the Court called the Spiritual Court No Man was more sensible of those abuses than Vsher was no Man knew the beginning and progress of them better nor was more touched with the ill effects of them and together with his great and vast learning no Man had a better Soul and a more Apostolical mind In his conversation he expressed the true simplicity of a Christian For Passion Pride self-Will or the Love of the World seemed not to be so much as in his Nature So that he had all the innocence of the Dove in him He had a way of gaining peoples Hearts and of touching their Consciences that lookt like â—omewhat of the Apostolical Age revived he spent much of his time in those two best Exercises secret Prayer and dealing with other peoples Consciences either in his Sermons or private Discourses and what remained he dedicated to his Studies in which those many Volumes that came from him shewed a most amazing diligence and exactness joyned with great Judgment So that he was certainly one of the greatest and best Men that the Age or perhaps the World has produced But no Man is intirely perfect he was not made for the governing part of his Function He had too gentle a Soul to manage that rough Work of reforming Abuses And therefore he left things as he found them He hoped a time of Reformation would come He saw the necessity of cutting off many abuses and confessed that the tolerating those abominable corruptions that the Canonists had brought in was such a stain upon a Church that in all other respects was the best reformed in the World that he apprehended it would bring a Curse and Ruine upon the whole Constitution But though he prayed for a more favourable conjuncture and would have concurred in a joynt Reformation of these things very heartily yet he did not bestir himself suitably to the Obligations that lay on him for carrying it on And it is very likely that this sat heavy on his thoughts when he came to dye for he prayed often and with great humility That God would forgive him his sins of Omission and his failings in his Duty It was not without great uneasiness to me that I overcome my self so far as to say any thing that may seem to diminish the Character of so extraordinary a Man who in other things was beyond any Man of his time but in this only he fell beneath himself And those that upon all other accounts loved and admired him lamented this defect in him which was the only allay that seemed left and without which he would have been held perhaps in more veneration than was fitting His Physician Dr. Bootius that was a Dutchman said truly of him If our Primate of Armagh were as exact a Disciplinarian as he is eminent in searching Antiquity defending the Truth and preaching the Gospel he might without doubt deserve to be made the chief Churchman of Christendome But this was necessary to be told since History is to be writ impartially and I ought to be forgiven for taxing his Memory a little for I was never so tempted in any thing that I ever writ to disguise the Truth as upon this occasion Yet though Bishop Vsher did not much himself he had a singular esteem for that vigour of Mind which our Bishop expressed in the reforming these matters And now I come to the next instance of his Pastoral care which made more noise and met with more opposition than any of the former He found his Court that sat in his name was an entire abuse It was managed by a Chancellour that had bought his place from his Predecessor and so thought he had a right to all the Profits that he could raise out of it and the whole business of the Court seemed to be nothing but Extortion and Oppression For it is an old observation That men who buy Justice will also sell it Bribes went about almost barefaced and the exchange they made of Penance for Money was the worst sort of Simony being in effect the very same abuse that gave the World such a scandal when it was so indecently practised in the Church of Rome and opened the way to the Reformation For the selling of Indulgences is really but a commutation of Penance He found the Officers of the Court made it their business to draw people into trouble by vexatious Suits and to hold them so long in it that for three Pence worth of the Tithe of Turf they would be put to five Pounds charge And the solemnest and sacredest of all the Church Censures which was Excommunication went about in so sordid and base a manner that all regard to it as it was a Spiritual Censure was lost and the effects it had in Law made it be cryed out on as a most intolerable piece of Tyranny The Officers of the Court thought they had a sort of right to oppress the Natives and that all was well got that was wrung from them And of all this the good Primate was so sensible that he gives this sad account of the Venality of all sacred things in a Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury As for the general state of things here they are so desperate that I am afraid to write any thing thereof Some of the adverse part have asked me the Qâ—estion Where I have heard or read before that Religion and Mens Souls should be set to sale after this manner Vnto whom I could reply nothing but that I had read in Mantuan That there was another place in the World where Coelum est venale Deúsque Both Heaven and God himself are set to sale But our Bishop thought it not enough to lament this he resolved to do what in him lay to correct these abuses and to goe and sit and judge in his own Courts himself He carried a competent number of his Clergy with him who sate about him and there he heard Causes and by their advice he gave Sentence By this means so many Causes were dismist and such a change was wrought in the whole Proceedings of the Court that instead of being any
more a grievâ—nce to the Countrey none were now grieved by it but the Chancellour and the other Officers of the Court who saw their Trade was sunk and their Profits were falling and were already displeased with the Bishop for writing the Titles to Benefices himself taking that part of their Gain out of their Hands Therefore the Lay Chancellour brought a Suit against the Bishop into Chancery for invading his Office The matter was now a common Cause the other Bishops were glad at this step our Bishop had made and encouraged him to go on resolutely in it and assured him they would stand by him and they confessed they were but half Bishops till they could recover their authority out of the hands of their Chancellours But on the other hand all the Chancellours and Registers of Ireland combined together they saw this struck at those Places which they had bought valuing them according to the Profits that they could make by them and it cannot be denyed but they had reason to move That if their places were regulated the Money by which they had purchased that right to squeeze the Countrey ought to have been restored The Bishop desired that he might be suffered to plead his own Cause himself but that was denyed him which he took ill But he drew the Argument that his Council made for him for it being the first Suit that ever was of that sort he was more capable of composing his Defence than his Councel could be He went upon these Grounds That one of the most essential parts of a Bishop's duty was to govern his Flock and to inflict the Spiritual Censures on obstinate Offenders That a Bishop could no more delegate this power to a Lay-man than he could delegate a power to Baptize or Ordain since Excommunication and other Censures were a suspending the Rights of Baptism and Orders and therefore the judging of these things could only belong to him that had the power to give them and that the delegating that power was a thing null of it self He shewed That feeding the Flock was inherent and inseparable from a Bishop and that no Delegation he could make could take that power from himself since all the effect it could have was to make another his Officer and Deputy in his absence From this he went to shew how it had been ever lookt on as a necessary part of the Bishop's Duty to Examine and Censure the Scandals of his Clergy and Laity in Ancient and Modern times That the Roman Emperours had by many Laws supported the Credit and Authority of these Courts that since the practices of the Court of Rome had brought in such a variety of Rules for covering the corruptions which they intended to support then that which is in it self a plain and simple thing was made very intricate So that the Canon Law was become a great study and upon this account Bishops had taken Civilians and Canonists to be their Assistants in those Courts but this could be for no other end but only to inform them in points of Law or to hear and prepare matters for them For the giving Sentence as it is done in the Bishops name so it is really his Office and is that for which he is accountable both to God and Man and since the Law made those to be the Bishops Courts and since the King had by Patent confirmed that Authority which was lodged in him by his Office of governing those Courts he thought all Delegations that were absolute and exclusive of the Bishop ought to be declared void The Reader will perhaps judge better of the force of this Argument than the Lord Chancellour of Ireland Bolton did who confirmed the Chancellours right and gave him an hundred Pound Costs of the Bishop But when the Bishop asked him How he came to make so unjust a Decree he answered That all that his Father had left him was a Register's place so he thought he was bound to support those Courts which he saw would be ruined if the way he took had not been checkt This my Author had from the Bishop's own mouth But as this matter was a leading Case so great pains were taken to possess the Primate against the Bishop but his Letters will best discover the Grounds on which he went and that noble temper of mind that supported him in so great an undertaking The one is long but I will not shorten it Right Reverend Father my honourable good Lord I Have receiv'd your Grace's Letters concerning Mr. Cook and I do acknowledge all that your Grace writes to be true concerning his sufficiency and experience to the execution of the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction neither did I forbear to do him right in giving him that Testimony when before the Chapter I did declare and shew the nullity of his Patent I have heard of my Lord of attempt and I do believe That if this Patent had due form I could not overthrow it how unequal soever it be But failing in the essential parts besides sundry other defects I do not think any reasonable creature can adjudge it to be good I shall more at large certifie your Grace of the whole matter and the reasons of my Councel herein I shall desire herein to be tryed by your Grace's own Iudgment and not by your Chancellors or as I think in such a case I ought to be by the Synod of the Province I have resolved to see the end of this matter and do desire your Grace's favour herein no farther than the equity of the Cause and the good as far as I can judge of our Church in a high degree do require So with my humble Service to your Grace and respectful commendations to Mrs. Usher I rest Kilmore Octob. 28. 1629. Your Grace's in all duty Will. Kilmore Most reverend Father my honourable good Lord THe report of your Grace's indisposition how sorrowful it was to me the Lord knows Albeit the same was somewhat mitigated by other News of your better estate In that fluctuation of my mind perhaps like that of your health the Saying of the Apostle served me for an Anchor That none of us liveth to himself neither doth any dye to himself For whether we live we live to the Lord or whether we dye we dye to the Lord. Whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Thereupon from the bottom of my Heart commending your estate and that of the Church here which how much it needs you He knows best to our common Master though I had written large Letters to you which have lain by me sundry Weeks fearing in your sickness to be troublesome I thought not to send them but to attend some other opportunity after your present recovery to send or perhaps bring them When I understood by Mr. Dean of his journey or at least sending an express Messenger to you with other Letters putting me also in mind That perhaps it would not be unwelcome to you to hear from me though
less careful in passing it because they accounted it did rather concern my Predecessor than them I shewed the false Latin Non-sense Injustice of it Prejudice to them Contrariety to it self and the Kings Grant to me I shewed there were in one Period above 500 Words and which passed the rest hanging in the air without any principal Verb. I desired them to consider if the Seal hanging to it were the Bishop's Seal they acknowledged it was not Therefore with protestation That I meant no way to call in question the sufficiency of Mr. Cooke or his former Acts I did judge the Patent to be void and so declared it inhibiting Mr. Cooke to do any thing by vertue thereof and them to assist him therein This is the true History of this business howsoever Mr. Cooke disguise it I suspend him not absent and indicta causa it was his Commission which was present that I viewed which with the Chapter I censured which if he can make good he shall have leave and time and place enough And now to accomplish my promise to relate to your Grace my purpose herein My Lord I do thus account that to any work or enterprize to remove impediments is a great part of the performance And amongst all the impediments to the work of God amongst us there is not any one greater than the abuse of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction This is not only the opinion of the most Godly Iudicious and Learned Men that I have known but the cause of it is plain The people pierce not into the inward and true Reasons of things they are sensible in the Purse And that Religion that makes Men that profess iâ— and shews them to be despisers of the World and so far from encroaching upon others in matter of base gain as rather to part with their own they magnifie This bred the admiration of the Primitive Christians and after of the Monks Contrary causes must needs produce contrary effects Wherefore let us preach never so painfully and piously I say more let us live never so blamelesly our selves so long as the Officers in our Courts prey upon them they esteem us no better than Publicans and Worldlings and so much the more deservedly because we are called Spiritual Men and call our selves reformed Christians And if the honestest and best of our own Protestants be thus scandalized what may we think of Papists such as are all in a manner that we live among The time was when I hoped the Church of Ireland was free from this abuse at least freer than her Sister of England But I find I am deceived whether it be that distance of place and being further out of the reach of the Scepter of Iustice breeds more boldness to offend or necessarily brings more delay of redress I have been wont also in Ireland to except one Court as he doth Plato but trust me my Lord I have heard that it is said among great personages here That my Lord Primate is a good Man but his Court is as corrupt as others Some say worse and which I confess to your Grace did not a little terrifie me from visiting till I might see how to do it with Fruit that of your late Visitation they see no profit but the taking of Money But to come to Mr. Cooke of all that have exercised Iurisdiction in this Land these late Years he is the most noted Man and most cryed out upon Insomuch as he hath found from the Irish the nickname of Pouc Albeit he came off with credit when he was questioned and justified himself by the Table of Fees as by a leaden Rule any Stone may be approved as well as hewed By that little I met with since I came hither I am induced to believe it was not for lack of matter but there was some other course of his escaping in that Tryal By this pretended Commission and that Table of Fees he hath taken in my Predecessors time and seeks to take in mine for Exhibits at Visitations and his Charges there above the Bishop's Procurations for Vnions Sequestrations Relaxations Certificates Licences Permutations of Penance Sentences as our Court calls them Interlocutory in Causes of Correction Such Fees as I cannot in my Conscience think to be just And yet he doth it in my Name and tells me I cannot call him into question for it Alas my Lord if this be the condition of a Bishop that he standeth for a Cypher and only to uphold the Wrongs of other Men What do I in this place Am I not bound by my Profession made to God in your presence and following your Words To be gentle and merciful for Christs sake to poor and needy people and such as be destitute of help Can I be excused another day with this that thus it was ere I came to this place and that it is not good to be over just Or sith I am perswaded Mr. Cooke's Patent is unjust and void am I not bound to make it so and to regulate If I may this matter of Fees and the rest of the disorders of the Iurisdiction which his Majesty hath intrusted me withal Your Grace saith Truly it is a difficult thing if not impossible to overthrow a Patent so confirmed and I know in deliberations it is one of the most important considerations what we may hope to effect But how can I tell till I have tryed To be discouraged ere I begin is it not to consult with Flesh and Blood Verily I think so And therefore must put it to the Trial and leave the success to God If I obtain the Cause the Profit shall be to this poor Nation if not I shall shew my consent to those my Reverend Brethren that have endeavoured to redress this enormity before me I shall have the testimony of mine own Conscience to have sought to discharge my duty to God and his People Yea which is the main the work of my Ministry and service to this Nation shall receive furtherance howsoever rather than any hinderance thereby And if by the continuance of such oppressions any thing fall out otherwise than well I shall have acquitted my self towards his Majesty and those that have engaged themselves for me At last I shall have the better reason and juster cause to resign to his Majesty the jurisdiction which I am not permitted to manage And here I beseech your Grace to consider seriously whether it were not happy for us to be rid of this Charge which not being proper to our Calling is not possible to be executed without such Deputies as subject us to the ill conceit of their unjust or indiscreet carriage and no way further our own Work Or if it shall be thought fit to carry this load still whether we ought not to procure some way to be discharged of the envy of it and redress the abuse with the greatest strictness we can devise For my part I cannot bethink me of any course fitter for the present than to keep the
Courts my self and set some good order in them And to this purpose I have been at Cavan Belturbet Granard and Longford and do intend to go to the rest leaving with some of the Ministry there a few Rules touching those things that are to be redressed that if my health do not permit me to be always present they may know how to proceed in my absence I find it to be true that Tully saith Justitia mirifica quaedam res multitudini and certainly to our proper work a great advantage it is to obtain a good opinion of those we are to deal with But besides this there fall out occasions to speak of God and his presence of the Religion of a Witness the danger of an Oath the purity of a Marriage the preciousness of a good name repairing of Churches and the like Penance it self may be enjoyned and Penitents reconciled with some profit to others besides themselves Wherefore albeit Mr. Cooke were the justest Chancellour in this Kingdome I would think it fit for me as things now stand to sit in these Courts and the rather sith I cannot be heard in the Pulpits to preach as I may in them Albeit innocency and Iustice is also a real kind of preaching I have shewed your Grace my intentions in this matter Now should I require your direction in many things if I were present with you But for the present it may please you to understand that at Granard one Mr. Nugent a Nephew as I take it to my Lord of Westmeath delivered his Letter to Mr. Aske which he delivered me in open Court requiring that his Tenant might not be troubled for Christnings Marriages or Funerals so they pay the Minister his due This referred to a Letter of my Lord Chancellors to the like purpose which yet was not delivered till the Court was risen I answered generally That none of my Lord's Tenants or others should be wronged The like motion was made at Longford by two or three of the Farralls and one Mr. Fagarah and Mr. Rosse to whom I gave the like answer and added That I would be strict in requiring them to bring their Children to be Baptized and Marriages to be solemnized likewise with us sith they acknowledged these to be lawful and true so as it was but wilfulness if any forbare Here I desire your Grace to direct me For to give way that they should not be so much as called in question seems to further the Schism they labour to make To lay any pecuniary mulct upon them as the value of a Licence for Marriage three Pence or four Pence for a Christning I know not by what Law it can be done To Excommunicate them for not appearing or obeying they being already none of our body and a multitude it is to no profit nay rather makes the exacerbation worse Many things more I have to confer with your Grace about which I hope to do coram as about the re-edifying of Churches or employing the Mass-houses which now the State inquires of about Books Testaments and the Common Prayer Book which being to be reprinted would perhaps be in some things bettered But especially about Men to use them and Means to maintain them now that our English have engrossed the Livings About the printing the Psalter which I have caused to be diligently surveyed by Mr. James Nangle who adviseth not to meddle with the Verse but set forth only the Prose Which he hath begun to write out fair to the Press Mr. Murtagh King I have not heard of a long time I hope he goeth on in the Historical Books of the Old Testament Mr. Crian was with me about a Forthnight after I came to Kilmore since I heard not of him Of all these things if by the will of God I may make a journey over to you we shall speak at full As I was closing up these this Morning there is a complaint brought me from Ardagh That where in a cause Matrimonial in the Court at Longford a Woman had proceeded thus far as after contestation the Husband was enjoyned to appear the next Court to receive a Libel one Shaw-oge Mr. Ingawry the Popish Vicar General of Ardagh had excommunicated her and she was by one Hubart and Mr. Calril a Priest upon Sunday last put out of the Church and denounced excommunicate Herein whether it were more fit to proceed against the Vicar and Priest by vertue of the last Letters from the Council or complain to them I shall attend your Graces advice And now for very shame ceasing to be troublesome I do recommend your Grace to the protection of our merciful Father and rest with my respective salutations to Mrs. Usher Kilmore Feb. 15. 1629. Your Grace's in all duty Will. Kilmore Ardaghen The other Bishops did not stand by our Bishop in this matter but were contented to let him fall under Censure without interposing in it as in a cause of common concern Even the excellent Primate told him The tide went so high that he could assist him no more for he stood by him longer than any other of the Order had done But the Bishop was not disheartened by this And as he thanked him for assisting him so long so he said he was resolved by the help of God to try if he could stand by himself But he went home and resolved to go on in his Courts as he had begun notwithstanding this Censure For he thought he was doing that which was incumbent on him and he had a Spirit so made that he resolved to suffer Martyrdome rather than fail in any thing that lay on his Conscience But his Chancellour was either advised by those that governed the State to give him no disturbance in that matter or was overcome by the authority he saw in him that inspired all people with reverence for him For as he never called for the 100 Pound Costs so he never disturbed him any more but named a Surrogate to whom he gave order to be in all things observant of the Bishop and obedient to him So it seems that though it was thought fit to keep up the Authority of the Lay Chancellours over Ireland and not to suffer this Bishop's practice to pass into a Precedent yet order was given under hand to let him go on as he had begun and his Chancellour had so great a value for him that many Years after this he told my Author That he thought there was not such a Man on the face of the earth as Bishop Bedell was that he was too hard for all the Civilians in Ireland and that if he had not been born down by meer force he had overthrown the Consistorial Courts and had recovered the Episcopal Jurisdiction out of the Chancellours hands But now that he went on undisturbed in his Episcopal Court he made use of it as became him and not as an Engine to raise his power and dominion but considering that all Church power was for Edification and
English Translators had failed He thought the use of the Scriptures was the only way to let the knowledge of Religion in among the Irish as it had first let the Reformation into the other parts of Europe And he used to tell a passage of a Sermon that he heard Fulgentio preach at Venice with which he was much pleased It was on these Words of Christ Have ye not read and so he took occasion to tell the Auditory That if Christ were now to ask this Question Have ye not read all the Answer they could make to it was No for they were not suffered to do it Upon which he taxed with great zeal the restraint put on the use of the Scriptures by the See of Rome This was not unlike what the same person delivered in another Sermon preaching upon Pilate's Question What is Truth he told them that at last after many searches he had found it out and held out a New Testament and said There it was in his Hand but then he put it in his Pocket and said coldly But the Book is prohibited which was so suited to the Italian genius that it took mightily with the Auditory The Bishop had observed that in the Primitive times as soon Nations how barbarous soever they were began to receive the Christian Religion they had the Scriptures translated into their vulgar Tongues And that all people were exhorted to study them therefore he not only undertook and began this Work but followed it with so much industry that in a very few years he finished the Translation and resolved to set about the printing of it for the bargain was made with one that engaged to perform it And as he had been at the great trouble of examining the Translation so he resolved to run the venture of the Impression and took that expence upon himself It is scarce to be imagined what could have obstructed so great and so good a Work The Priests of the Church of Rome had reason to oppose the printing of a Book that has been always so fatal to them but it was a deep fetch to possess reformed Divines with a jealousie of this work and with hard thoughts concerning it Yet that was done but by a very well disguised method For it was said that the Translator was a weak and contemptible Man and that it would expose such a work as this was to the scorn of the Nation when it was known who was the Author of it And this was infused both into the Earl of Strafford and into the Archbishop of Canterbury And a bold young Man pretended a lapse of the Benefice that the Bishop had given to the Translator and so obtained a Broad Seal for it though it was in the Bishop's Gift This was an abuse too common at that time for licentious Clerks to pretend either that an Incumbent was dead or that he had no good right to his Benefice or that he had forfeited it and upon that to procure a Grant of it from the King and then to turn the Incumbent out of Possession and to vex him with a Suit till they forced him to compound for his peace So upon this occasion it was pretended that the Translator had forfeited his Living and one Baily that had informed against him came down with a Grant of it under the great Seal and violently thrust him out of it The Bishop was much touched with this and cited Baily to appear before him He had given him a Vicarage and had taken an Oath of him never to hold another so he objected to him both his violent and unjust intrusion into another man's right and his Perjury Baily to cover himself from the last procured a Dispensation from the Prerogative Court notwithstanding his Oath to hold more Benefices The Bishop lookt on this as one of the worst and most scandalous parts of Popery to dissolve the most sacred of all Bonds and it grieved his Soul to see so vile a thing acted in the name of Archbishop Vsher though it was done by his Surrogates So without any regard to this he served this obstinate Clerk with several Canonical admonitions but finding him still hardned in his wickedness he deprived him of the Benefice he had given him and also excommunicat'd him and gave orders that the Sentence should be published through the whole Deanry upon which Baily's Clerk appealed to the Prerogative Court and the Bishop was cited to answer for what he had done He went and appeared before them but declined their Authority and would not answer to them He thought it below the Office and Dignity of a Bishop to give an account of a spiritual Censure that he had inflicted on one of his Clergy before two Laymen that pretended to be the Primate's Surrogates and he put his Declinator in 24 Articles all written with his own Hand which will be found at the end of this Narrative he excepted to the incompetency of the Court both because the Primate was not there in person and because they that sate there had given clear Evidences of their partiality which he had offered to prove to the Primate himself He said the appeal from his Sentence lay only to the Provincial Synod or to the Archbishop's Consistory and since the ground of Bailys Appeal was the dispensation that they had given him from his Oath they could not be the competent Judges of that for they were Parties And the Appeal from abusive faculties lay only to a Court of Delegates by the express words of the Law And by many Indications it appeared that they had prejudged the matter in Baily's favours and had expressed great resentments against the Bishop and notwithstanding the dignity of his Office they had made him wait among the croud an hour and an half and had given directions in the management of the Cause as Parties against him they had also manifestly abused their power in granting Dispensations contrary to the Laws of God and now they presumed to interpose in the just and legal Jurisdiction that a Bishop exercised over his Clergy both by the Laws of God and by the Kings Authority Upon these grounds he excepted to their Authority he was served with several Citations to answer and appeared upon every one of them but notwithstanding the highest contempts they put upon him he shewed no indecent passion but kept his ground still In conclusion he was declared Contumax and the perjured Intruder was absolved from the Sentence and confirmed in the possession of his ill-acquired Benefice It may be easily imagined how much these Proceedings were censured by all fair and equitable Men The constancy the firmness and the courage that the Bishop expressed being as much commended as the injustice and violence of his Enemies was cryed out upon The strangest part of this transaction was that which the Primate acted who though he loved the Bishop beyond all the rest of the Order and valued him highly for the zealous discharge of
have the better is indeed to be the worse and alledging that Text for themselves That a fool is to be answered according to his folly they do not consider that other where such manner of answer is forbidden whereby the answerer becometh like him Prov. 26.4.15.1.24.26 And this is yet more to be blamed because sometimes all reasons are laid by and nothing is soundly refuted but only hot Words are given yea and with a misconceiving or misreporting at least of ther Opinions and making every thing worse than it is which many times ariseth upon ambiguity of Words not used in the like sense by both sides What then Do I approve of tolerations and unions with errours and heresies truly I wish not to live so long And yet as our sins are and our folly too to fall together by the Ears about small matters amongst our selves there is just cause to fear it but yet such Points as may be reconciled saving the truth I see not what should move us to hold off in them and why we may not seek to agree in word as we do in meaning For the rest their purpose and endeavours shall deserve thanks who bringing them to the fewest and narrowest terms shall set down how far we are to joyn with our dissenting Brethren and where for ever to dissent that so controversies being handled without the vain flourish of swelling Words and like proportions our Opinions being set down in the least terms Men may know what to bend their Wits to and where against to plant their Arguments not as many do roving always at randome but may alwayes remember to imitate Christ's meekness and to deal with Arguments rather let us not envy the Papists and other Hereticks the glory and preheminence in railing wherein the more they excel the more unlike they are to Christ whose pattern is of meekness Learn of me c. Yea but will some Man say This course will not stay Men from backsliding to any errour or heresie c. Who can keep off his enemy without shot c. I. Gods Truth needs not to be graced nor his Glory sought by my sin II. Again it is so perhaps in an ignorant Auditor and at the first but if inquiring himself he shall find that they or their Opinions are not so bad as we make them to be and would have them seem it will be a hundred to one that in other things too they will not seem to be so bad as they are and unless I much mistake it is not the storm of Words but the strength of Reasons that shall stay a wavering Judgment from errours c. when that like a tempest is overblown the tide of others examples will carry other men to do as the most do but these like so many Anchors will stick and not come again III. Besides our Calling is to deal with errours not to disgrace the Man with scolding Words It is said of Alexander I think when he overheard one of his Souldiers railing lustily on Darius his enemy he reproved him and added Friend quoth he I entertain thee to fight against Darius not to revile him Truly it may be well thought that those that take this course shall find but small thanks at Christ's our Captains hands and it is not unlike but he would say to them were he here on earth again Masters I would you should refute Popery and set your selves against Antichrist my enemy with all the discoloured Sects and Heresies that fight under his banner against me and not call him and his Troops all to nought And this is my poor Opinion concerning our dealing with the Papists themselves perchance differing from the practice of Men of great note in Christ's Family Mr. Luther and Mr. Calvin and others but yet we must live by Rules not examples and they were Men who perhaps by complexion or otherwise were given over too much to anger and heat sure I am the Rule of the Apostle is plain even of such as are the slaves of Satan that we must with lenity instruct them waiting that when escaping out of his snare they should recover a sound mind to do Gods will in the place I quoted before But now when Men agreeing with our selves in the main yea and in profession likewise enemies to Popery shall varying never so little from us in Points of less consequence be thereupon censured as favourers of Popery and other errours when Mole-hills shall be made Mountains and unbrotherly terms given alas methinks this course savours not of meekness nay it would hurt even a good cause thus to handle it for where such violence is ever there is errour to be suspected Affection and Hate are the greatest enemies that can be to soundness of judgment or exactness of comprehension he that is troubled with passion is not fitly disposed to judge of truth Besides Is my conceit ever consonant with truth and if I be subject to errour my self have I forgotten so much the common condition of mankind or am I so much my own enemy as to pursue with a terrible Scourge of Whipcord or wyer that which was worthy of some gentler lashes for indeed he that taketh pet and conceiveth indignation that another should I will not say differ from himself but err and be deceived seems to proclaim war to all mankind and may well look himself to find small favour but rather to endure the Law that he had made and be bated with his own rod. To make an end of this point which I would to God I had not had an occasion to enter into if this precept of our Lord Jesus Christ be to be heard these things should not be so if it were heard they would not be so and undoubtedly if it be not heard they that are faulty shall bear their judgment whosoever they be Mean while they shall deserve great praise of all that love Peace who shall maintain quietness even with some injury to themselves And in a good Cause do still endeavour to shew forth the vertue of Christ that hath called us as the Apostle Peter exhorteth us at large from this example of Christ in his first Epistle 21.20 21 22 23. It is the glory of a Man to pass by an offence Injuries if by regarding them a man lay himself open to them wound and hurt us if they be contemned or born off with the Shield of Meekness they glance off or rebound unto the party that offereth them Finally he that in matters of controversie shall bring meekness to his defence undoubtedly he shall overcome in the manner of handling and if he bring truth also he shall prevail at last in the matter This is a part of one of his Sermons of which I have seen but very few and because they are not sufficient to give a full Character of him I have not published them But I will add to this two parcells of another Sermon that is already in
use and Service such Forts and other places of Strength as coming into the possession of others might prove disadvantagious and tend to the utter undoing the Kingdom And we do hereby declare That herein we harbour not the least thought of disloyalty towards his Majesty or purpose any hurt to any of his Highnesses Subjects in their Possession Goods or Liberty only we desire that your Lordships will be pleased to make remonstrance to his Majesty for us of all our Grievances and just Fears that they may be removed and such a course setled by the advice of the Parliament of Ireland whereby the Liberty of our Consciences may be secured unto us and we eased of other Burthens in Civil Government As for the mischiefs and inconveniences that have already happened through the disorder of the common sort of people against the English Inhabitants or any other we with the Noblemen and Gentlemen and such others of the several Counties of this Kingdom are most willing and ready to use our and their best endeavours in causing restitution and satisfaction to be made as in part we have already done An answer hereunto is most humbly desired with such present expedition as may by your Lordships be thought most convenient for avoiding the inconvenience of the barbarousness and uncivility of the Commonalty who have committed many outrages without any order consenting or privity of ours All which we leave to your Lordships most grave Wisdom And we shall humbly pray c. But this came to nothing while these things were in agitation the titular Bishop of Kilmore came to Cavan his name was Swiney he was like his name for he often wallowed in his own Vomit He had a Brother whom the Bishop had converted and had entertained him in his House till he found out a way of subsistence for him He pretended that he came only to protect the Bishop so he desired to be admitted to lodge in his House and assured him that he would preserve him But the Bishop hearing of this writ the following Letter in Latin to him which will be found at the end of this Book and is indeed a stile fit for one of the most eloquent of the Roman Authors Here I shall give a Translation of it in English Reverend Brother I Am sensible of your civility in offering to protect me by your presence in the midst of this tumult and upon the like occasion I would not be wanting to do the like charitable office to you but there are many things that hinder me from making use of the favour you now offer me My House is strait and there is a great number of miserable people of all Ranks Ages and of both Sexes that have fled hither as to a Sanctuary besides that some of them are sick among whom my own Son is one But that which is beyond all the rest is the difference of our way of worship I do not say of our Religion for I have ever thought and have published it in my Writings that we have one common Christian Religion Vnder our present miseries we comfort our selves with the reading of the Holy Scriptures with daily Prayers which we offer up to God in our vulgar Tongue and with the singing of Psalms and since we find so little truth among Men we rely on the truth of God and on his assistance These things would offend your company if not your self nor could others be hindered who would pretend that they came to see you if you were among us and under that colour those murtherers would break in upon us who after they have robbed us of all that belongs to us would in conclusion think they did God good service by our slaughter For my own part I am resolved to trust to the Divine Protection To a Christian and a Bishop that is now almost seventy no death for the cause of Christ can be bitter on the contrary nothing is more desireable And though I ask nothing for my self alone yet if you will require the people under an Anathema not to do any other acts of violence to those whom they have so oft beaten spoiled and stript it will be both acceptable to God honourable to your self and happy to the people if they obey you But if not consider that God will remember all that is now done To whom Reverend Brother I do heartily commend you Yours in Christ Will. Kilmore November 2. 1641. Endorsed thus To my Reverend and Loving Brother D. Swiney This Letter commends it self so much that I need say nothing but wish my Reader to see where he can find such another writ on such an occasion with so much Spirit as well as Piety and Discretion It was the last he ever writ and was indeed a conclusion well becoming such a Pen. It had at that time some effect for the Bishop gave him no further disturbance till about five Weeks after this so that from the 23. of October which was the dismal day in which the Rebellion broke out till the 18. of December following he together with all that were within his Walls enjoyed such quiet that if it was not in all Points a miracle it was not far from one and it seemed to be an accomplishment of those Words A thousand shall fall on thy side and ten thousand at thy right-Hand but it shall not come nigh thee there shall no evil befal thee for he shall give his Angels charge over thee But to the former Letter I shall add the last Paper of Spiritual advice and direction that ever the Bishop writ which he did at the desire of one Mrs Dillan that was a zealous and devout Protestant but had been fatally deluded in her widowhood by Mr. Dillan Son to the Earl of Roscommon taking him to be a Protestant and had married him but enjoyed her self very little after that for though he used no violence to her or her Children by her former Husband in the point of Religion yet he bred up his Children by her in his own Superstition and he was now engaged in the Rebellion So that she had at this time a vast addition to her former sorrows upon her and therefore desired that the Bishop whose Neighbour and constant Hearer she had been would send her such Instructions in this sad calamity as might both direct and support her Upon which he writ the following Paper YOU desire as I am informed dear Sister in Christ Jesus that I would send you some short Memorial to put you in mind how to carry your self in this sorrowful time I will do it willingly the more because with one and the same labour I shall both satisfie you and recollect my own thoughts also to the like performance of mine own duty and bethinking my self how I might best accomplish it there came to my mind that short Rule of our Life which the Apostle mentions in his Epistle to Titus and whereof you have been a diligent hearer in the School
on the 26 th of December Mr. William Bedell the Bishop's eldest Son preached on S. Stephen's last Words which afforded proper matter for their meditation who were every day in expectation when they should be put to give such a testimony of their Faith as that first Martyr had done And on the second of Ianuary which was the last Sunday of their imprisonment Mr. Clogy preached on S. Luke 2.32 33 34. During all their religious exercises their keepers never gave them any disturbance and indeed they carried so gently towards them that their natures seemed to be so much changed that it lookt like a second stopping the mouths of Lions They often told the Bishop that they had no personal quarrel to him and no other cause to be so severe to him but because he was an Englishman But while he was in this dismal Prison some of the Scots of that County that had retired to two Houses that were strong enough to resist any thing but Cannon and were commanded by Sir Iames Craig Sir Francis Hamilton and Sir Arthur Forker now Lord Grenard finding themselves like to suffer more by hunger than by the Siege that was laid to them made so resolute a Sally upon the Irâ—sh that they killed several took some Prisoners and dispersed the rest so that many Months passed before they offered to besiege them any more Among their Prisoners four were Men of considerable interest so they treated an exchange of them for the Bishop with his two Sons and Mr. Clogy which was concluded and the Prisoners were delivered on both sides on the 7 th of Ianuary but though the Irish promised to suffer the Bishop with the other three to go safe to Dublin yet they would not let them go out of the Country but intended to make further advantage by having them still among them and so they were suffered to go to the House of an Irish Minister Denis O Shereden to whom some respect was shewed by reason of his extraction though he had forsaken their Religion and had married an English Woman he continued firm in his Religion and relieved many in their extremity Here the Bishop spent the few remaining dayes of his Pilgrimage having his latter end so full in view that he seemed dead to the World and every thing in it and to be hasting for the coming of the Day of God During the last Sabbaths of his life though there were three Ministers present he read all the Prayers and Lessons himself and likewise preached on all those days On the 9 th of Ianuary he preached on the whole 44 th Psalm being the first of the Psalms appointed for that day and very suitable to the miseries the English were then in who were killed all day long as Sheep appointed for Meat Next Sabbath which was the 16 th he preached on the 79. Psalm the first Psalm for the day which runs much on the like Argument when the Temple was defiled and Ierusalem was laid on heaps and the dead Bodies of God's servants were given to be meat to the Fouls of Heaven and their Flesh to the Beasts of the Earth and their blood vvas shed like Water and there vvas none to bury them Their condition being so like one another it vvas very proper to put up that Prayer O remember not against us former iniquities Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Together with the other Let the sighing of the Prisoner come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to dye On the 23 d. he preached on the last ten Verses of the 71. Psalm observing the great fitness that was in them to express his present condition especially in these Words O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wonderous works now also when I am old and gray headed forsake me not And on the 30 th which was the last Lord's day in which he had strength enough to preach he preached on the 144. Psalm the first appointed for that day and when he came to the Words in the seventh Verse which are also repeated in the eleventh Verse Send thine hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great Waters from the hand of strange Children whose mouth speaketh vanity and whose right-hand is a right hand of falshood He repeated them again and again with so much zeal and affection that it appeared how much he was hasting to the day of God and that his Heart was crying out Come Lord Iesus come quickly how long how long and he dwelt so long upon them with so many sighs that all the little assembly about him melted into Tears and lookt on this as a presage of his approaching dissolution And it proved too true for the day after he sickned which on the second day after appeared to be an Ague and on the fourth day he apprehending his speedy change called for his Sons and his Sons Wives and spake to them at several times as near in these Words as their memories could serve them to write them down soon after I am going the way of all flesh I am now ready to be offered up and the time of my departure is at hand knowing therefore that shortly I must put off this Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me I know also that if this my earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved I have a building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens a fair Mansion in the New Ierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God Therefore to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain which encreaseth my desire even now to depart and to be with Christ which is far better than to continue here in all the transitory vain and false pleasures of this world of which I have seen an end Hearken therefore unto the last Words of your dying Father I am no more in this World but ye are in the World I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God through the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ my Redeemer who ever lives to make intercession for me who is a propitiation for all my sins and washed me from them all in his own Blood who is worthy to receive Glory and Honour and Power who hath created all things and for whose pleasure they are and were created My witness is in Heaven and my record on high That I have endeavoured to glorifie God on Earth and in the Ministry of the Gospel of his dear Son which was committed to my trust I have finished the Work which he gave me to do as a faithful Embassadour of Christ and Steward of the mysteries of God I have preached Righteousness in the great Congregation lo I have not refrained my Lips O Lord thou knowest I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
inaudita Here is at length some certainty Some truth mingled among to give the better grace and to be as it were the Vehiculum of a lye For Iohn Scory in King Edward his times Bishop of Chichester and after of Hereford was one of those that ordained Doctor Parker and preached at his Ordination But that was the Ordination effected as you call it We are now in that which was not effected but attempted only And here we seek again who were these quidams that laid Hands on Scory We may go look them with Laudasensis the Archbishop of Ireland Well hear the proofs Master Thomas Neal Hebrew Reader of Oxford which was present told thus much to the antient Confessors they to F. Halywood This proof by Tradition as you know is of little credit with Protestants and no marvel For experience shews that reports suffer strange alterations in the carriage even when the Reporters are interested Irenaeus relates from the antient Confessors which had seen John the Disciple and the other Apostles of the Lord and heard it from them That Christ our Saviour was between forty and fifty years of Age before his Passion I do not think you are sure it was so For my part I had rather believe Irenaeus and those Antients he mentions and the Apostles than Father Halywood and his Confessors and Master Neal. But possible it is Mr. Neale said he was present at Matthew Parkers Ordination by John Scory These Confessors being before impressed as you are with the buz of the Ordination at the Nags-head made up that Tale and put it upon him for their Author Perhaps Mr. Neal did esteem Iohn Scory to be no Bishop and so was scandalized though causelesly at that action Perhaps Mr. Neale never said any such Word at all To help to make good this matter he saith It was after enacted in Parliament That these Parliamentary Bishops should be holden for lawful I looked for something of the Nags-Head Bishops and the Legend of their Ordination But the lawfulness that the Parliament provides for is according to the Authority the Parliament hath civil that is according to the Laws of the Land The Parliament never intended to justifie any thing as lawful jure divino which was not so as by the Preamble it self of the Statute may appear In which it is said That divers questions had grown upon the making and consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops within this Realm whether the same were and bâ— duely and orderly done according to the Law or not c. And shortly to cut off Father Halywoods surmises the case was this as may be gathered by the body of the Statute Whereas in the five and twentieth of Henry the Eighth an Act was made for the Electing and Consecrating of Bishops within this Realm And another in the third of Edward the Sixth For the Ordering and consecrating of them and all other Ecclesiastical Ministers according to such form as by six Prelates and six other learned Men in Gods Law to be appointed by the King should be devised and set forth under the great Seal of England Which Form in the fifth of the same Kings reign was annexed to the Book of Common Prayer then explained and perfected and both confirmed by the Authority of Parliament All these Acts were 1 Mariae 1 2 Philippi Mariae repealed together with another Statute of 35. Henry 8. touching the Stile of Supreme Head to be used in all Letters Patents and Commissions c. These Acts of repeal in the 1 Elizabeth were again repealed and the Act of 25. Hen. 8. revived specially That of 3 Edw. 6. only concerning the Book of Common Prayer c. without any particular mention of the Book or form of Ordering Ministers and Bishops Hence grew one doubt whether Ordinations and Consecrations according to that Form were good in Law or no. Another was Queen Elizabeth in her Letters Patents touching such Consecrations Ordinations had not used as may seem besides other general Words importing the highest Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical the title of Supreme Head as King Henry and King Edward in their like Letters Patents were wont to do And that notwithstanding the Act of 35 Hen. 8. after the repeal of the former repeal might seem though never specially revived This as I guess was another exception to those that by vertue of those Patents were consecrated Whereupon the Parliament declares First That the Book of Common Prayer and such Order and Form for consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops c. as was set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth and added thereto and authorised by Parliament shall stand in force and be observed Secondly That all Acts done by any person about any Consecration Confirmation or investing of any elect to the Office or Dignity of Archbishop or Bishop by vertue of the Queens Letters Patents or Commission since the beginning of her Reign be good Thirdly That all that have been Ordered or Consecrated Archbishops Bishops Priests c. after the said Form and Order be rightly made ordered and consecrated any Statute Law Canon or other thing to the contrary notwithstanding Theâ—e were the Reasons of that Act which as you see doth not make good the Nags-head-Ordination as F. Halywood pretends unless the same were according to the Form in Edward the Sixth's days His next proof is That Bonner Bishop of London while he lived always set light by the Statutes of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth alledging that there wanted Bishops without whose consent by the Laws of the Realm there can no firm Statute be made That Bonneâ— despised and set not a Straw by the Acts of Parliament in Queen Elizabeths time I hold it not impossible and yet there is no other proof thereof but his bare Word and the antient Confessors tradition of which we heard before Admitting this for certain there might be other reasons thereof besides the Ordination at the Nags-head The stiffness of that Man was no less in King Edwards time than Queen Elizabeths And indeed the want also of Bishops might be the cause why he little regarded the Acts of her first Parliament For both much about the time of Queen Maryes death dyed also Cardinal Poole and sundry other Bishops And of the rest some for their contemptuous behaviour in denying to perform their duty in the Coronation of the Queen were committed to Prison others absented themselves willingly So as it is commonly reported to this day there was none or very few there For as for Doctor Parker and the rest they were not ordained till December 1559. the Parliament was dissolved in the May before So not to stand now to refute Bonners conceit that according to our Laws there could be no Statutes made in Parliament without Bishops wherein our Parliament Men will rectifie his Judgment F. Halywood was in this report twice deceived or would deceive his Reader First that he would make that exception which