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
are deceived and againe If it bee God that according to the Psalmist removeth our sins as far from us as the East is distant from the West and the Sonne of man hath power upon earth to forgive sinnès therefore hee himselfe is both God and the Sonne of man that both the man Christ might by the power of his divinitie forgive sinnes and the same Christ being God might by the frailtie of his humanitie dye for sinners and out of S. Hierome Christ sheweth himselfe to bee God who can know the hidden things of the heart and after a sort holding his peace he speaketh By the same majestie and power whereby I behold your thoughts I can also forgive sinnes unto men In like manner doth the author of the booke of the wonderfull things of the Scripture observe these divine workes in the same historie the forgiving of sinnes the present cure of the disease the answering of the thoughts by the mouth of God who searcheth all things With whom for the propertie of beholding the secret thoughts Sedulius also doth concurre in those sentences God alone can know the hidden things of men To know the hearts of men and to discerne the secrets of their minde is the priviledge of God alone That the contract of Marriages was either unknown or neglected by the Irish before Malachias did institute the same anew among them as Bernard doth seeme to intimate is a thing almost incredible although Giraldus Cambrensis doth complaine that the case was little better with them after the time of Malachias also The licentiousnesse of those ruder times I know was such as may easily induce us to beleeve that a great both neglect and abuse of Gods ordinance did get footing among this people Which enormities Malachias no doubt did labour to reforme and withall peradventure brought in some new matters not knowne here before as hee was very desirous his country men should generally conforme themselves unto the traditions and customes of the Church of Rome But our purpose is here only to deale with the doctrine and practice of the elder times in which first that Marriage was not held to bee a sacrament may bee collected from Sedulius who reckoneth it among those things which are gifts indeed but not spirituall Secondly for the degrees of Consanguinitie hindering marriage the Synod attributed unto St. Patricke seemeth to referre us wholly unto the Levitical law prescribing therein neyther lesse nor more than the Law speaketh and particularly against matching with the wife of the deceased brother which was the point so much questioned in the case of King Henrie the eighth this Synodicall decree is there urged The brother may not ascend into the bed of his deceased brother the Lord having said They two shall be one flesh Therefore the wife of thy brother is thy sister Whereupon we finde also that our Kilianus did suffer martyrdome for dissolving such an incestuous marriage in Gozbertus Duke of Franconia and that Clemens Scotus for maintaining the contrary was both by Boniface Archbishop of Mentz and the Councell held at Rome by Pope Zacharie in the yeare DCCXLV condemned as a bringer in of Iudaisme amongst Christians Yet how farre this condemned opinion of his prevailed afterward in this countrey and how foule a crime it was esteemed to be by others abroad notwithstanding the Pope doth now by his Buls of dispensation take upon him to make a faire matter of it may easily be perceived by this censure of Giraldus Moreover saith hee which is very detestable and most contrary not only to the faith but also unto common honesty brethren in many places throughout Ireland do I say not marry but marre rather and seduce the wives of their deceased brothers while in this sort they filthily and incestuously have knowledge of them cleaving herein not to the marrow but to the barke of the Old Testament and desiring to imitate the ancient in vices more willingly than in vertues Thirdly touching divorces wee reade in Sedulius that it is not lawfull according to the precept of our Lord that the wife should be put away but for the cause of fornication and in the Synod ascribed to St. Patrick It is not lawfull for a man to put away his wife but for the cause of fornication as if he should say for this cause he may Whence if hee marry another as it were after the death of the former they forbid it not Who they were that did not forbid this second marriage is not there expressed that Saint Patrick himselfe was of another minde would appeare by this constitution following which in another ancient Canon-booke I found cited under his name If any mans wife have committed adulterie with another man he shall not marry another wife as long as the first wife shall be alive If per adventure she be converted and doe penance he shall receive her and she shall serve him in the place of a maid-servant Let her for a whole yeare doe penance in bread and water and that by measure neyther let them remaine in the same bed together Fourthly concerning single life I doe not finde in any of our records that it was generally imposed upon the Clergie but the contrary rather For in the Synod held by St. Patrick Auxilius and Isserninus there is a speciall order taken that their wives shall not walke abroad with their heads uncovered And St. Patrick himselfe confesseth at leastwise the Confession which goeth under his name saith so and Probus Iocelinus and others that write his life agree therewith that hee had to his father Calphurnius a Deacon and to his grandfather Potitus a Priest For that was no new thing then among the Britons whose Bishops therefore Gildas doth reprehend as for the same cause he did the chiefe of the Laity that they were not content to be the husbands of one but of many wives and that they corrupted their children by their evill example whereas the chastitie of the fathers was to be esteemed imperfect if the chastitie of their sonnes were not added thereunto Nennius the eldest Historiographer of the Britons which wee have after him who in many copies also beareth his owne name wrote that booke which we have extant of his to Samuel the childe of Benlanus the Priest his master counting it a grace rather than any kinde of disparagement unto him to bee esteemed the sonne of a learned Priest Which maketh him in the verses prefixed before the worke to say Christe tribuisti patri Samuelem But about 60. or 70. yeares after I finde some partiall eclipse here and the first I thinke of this kinde that can bee shewed among the Britons in the lawes of Howel Dha where it is ordered that if a Clerk of a lower degree should match with a woman and have a sonne by her and that Clerke afterward
Moone they followed the Alexandrian cycle of XIX yeeres whence our golden number had his originall as it was explained unto them by Dionysius Exiguus which is the account that is still observed not onely in the Church of England but also among all the Christians of Greece Russia Asia Aegypt and Aethiopia and was since the time that I my selfe was borne generally received in all Christendome untill the late change of the Kalendar was made by Pope Gregory the XIII th The Northren Irish and Scottish together with the Picts observed the custome of the Britons keeping their Easter upon the Sunday that fell betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone and following in their account thereof not the XIX yeeres computation of Anatolius but Sulpicius Severus his circle of LXXXIIII yeeres for howsoever they extolled Anatolius for appointing as they supposed the bounds of Easter betwixt the XIIII and the XX. day of the Moone yet Wilfride in the Synod of Strenshal chargeth them utterly to have rejected his cycle of XIX yeeres from which therefore Cummianus draweth an argument against them that they can never come to the true account of Easter who observe the cycle of LXXXIIII yeeres To reduce the Irish unto conformity with the Church of Rome in this point Pope Honorius the first of that name directed his letters unto them Exhortintg them that they would not esteeme their own paucity seated in the utmost borders of the earth more wise than the ancient or moderne Churches of Christ through the whole world and that they would not celebrate another Easter contrary to the Paschall computations and the Synodall decrees of the Bishops of the whole world and shortly after the Clergie of Rome as wee have said upon the death of Severinus wrote other letters unto them to the same effect Now where Osullevan avoucheth that the common custome used by the Church in celebrating the feast of the Lords resurrection was alwaies observed by the Southerne Irish and now embraced also by the Northren together with the Picts and Britons who received the faith from Irish Doctors when they had knowledge given them of the rite of the Church of Rome in all this according to his common wont he speaketh never a true word For neyther did the Southerne Irish alwayes observe the celebration of Easter commonly received abroad neyther did the Northren Irish nor the Picts nor the Britons many yeeres after this admonition given by the Church of Rome admit that observation among them to speake nothing of his folly in saying that the Britons received the faith from the Irish when the contrary is so well knowne that the Irish rather received the same from the Britons That the common custome of celebrating the time of Easter was not alwaies observed by the Southerne Irish may appeare by those words of Bede in the third booke of his history and the third chapter Porrò gentes Scottorum quae in australibus Hiberniae insulae partibus morabantur jamdudum ad admonitionem Apostolicae sedis antistitis Paschacanonico ritu observare didicerunt For if as this place cleerly proveth the nations of the Scots that dwelt in the Southern parts of Ireland did learne to observe Easter after the canonicall manner upon the admonition of the Bishop of Rome it is evident that before that admonition they did observe it after another manner The word jamdudum which Bede here useth is taken among authors oftentimes in contrary senses either to signifie a great while since or else but lately or erewhile In the former sense it must bee here taken if it have relation to the time wherein Bede did write his book and in the latter also it may be taken if it be referred to the time whereof he treateth which is the more likely opinion namely to the comming of Bishop Aidan into England which fell out about halfe a yeere after that Honorius had sent his admonitorie letters to the Irish. who as hee was the first Bishop of Rome we can reade of that admonished them to reforme their rite of keeping the time of Easter so that the Irish also much about the same time conformed themselves herein to the Romane usage may thus be manifested When Bishop Aidan came into England from the Iland Hy now called Y-Columkille the Colledge of Monkes there was governed by Segenius who in the inscription of the epistle of the clergie of Rome sent unto the Irish is called Segianus Now there is yet extant in Sir Robert Cottons worthy Librarie an epistle of Cummianus directed to this Segienus for so is his name there written Abbot of Y-Columkille wherein he plainly declareth that the great cycle of DXXXII yeeres and the Romane use of celebrating the time of Easter according to the same was then newly brought in into this country For the first yeere saith he wherein the cycle of DXXXII yeeres began to bee observed by our men I received it not but held my peace daring neither to commend it nor to dispraise it That yeere being past he saith he consulted with his ancients who were the successors of Bishop Ailbeus Queranus Coloniensis Brendinus Nessanus and Lugidus who being gathered together in Campo-lene concluded to celebrate Easter the yeere following together with the universall Church But not long after saith hee there arose up a certaine whited wall pretending to keepe the tradition of the Elders which did not make both one but divided them and made voide in part that which was promised whom the Lord as I hope will smite in whatsoever manner he pleaseth To this argument drawne from the tradition of the elders hee maketh answer that they did simply and faithfully observe that which they knew to bee best in their dayes without the fault of any contradiction or animosity and did so recommend it to their posterity and opposeth thereunto the unanimous rule of the Vniversall Catholicke Church deeming this to be a very harsh conclusion Rome erreth Ierusalem erreth Alexandria erreth Antioch erreth the whole world erreth the Scottish onely and the Britons doe alone hold the right but especially hee urgeth the authority of the first of these Patriarchicall Sees which now since the advancement thereof by the Emperour Phocas began to bee admired by the inhabitants of the earth as the place which God had chosen whereunto if greater causes did arise recourse was to bee had according to the Synodicall decree as unto the head of cities and therefore he saith that they sent some unto Rome who returning backe in the third yeere informed them that they met there with a Grecian and an Hebrew and a Scythian and an Aegyptian in one lodging and that they all and the whole world too did keep their Easter at the same time when the Irish were dis-joyned from them by the space of a whole moneth And wee have proved saith Cummianus that the vertue of God
succeeded him did tread just in his steps so farre that being put downe in the Synod of Streanshal yet for feare of his country as before we have heard out of Stephen the writer of the life of Wilfrid he refused to conforme himselfe and chose rather to forgoe his Bishoprick than to submit himselfe unto the Romane lawes Colmanusque suas inglorius abjicit arces Malens Ausonias victus dissolvere leges saith Fridegodus Neither did hee goe away alone but tooke with him all his countrymen that he had gathered together in Lindisfarne or Holy Iland the Scottish monks also that were at Rippon in Yorkshire making choice rather to quit their place than to admit the observation of Easter and the rest of the rites according to the custome of the Church of Rome And so did the matter rest among the Irish about forty yeeres after that untill their own countryman Adamnanus perswaded most of them to yeeld to the custome received herein by all the Churches abroad The Picts did the like not long after under King Naitan who by his regall authority commanded Easter to be observed throughout all his provinces according to the cycle of XIX yeeres abolishing the erroneous period of LXXXIIII yeeres which before they used and caused all Priests and Monkes to bee shorne croune-wise after the Romane manner The monkes also of the Iland of Hy or Y-Columkille by the perswasion of Ecgbert an English Priest that had been bred in Ireland in the yeere of our Lord DCCXVI forsooke the observation of Easter and the Tonsure which they had received from Columkille a hundred and fiftie yeeres before and followed the Romane rite about LXXX yeeres after the time of Pope Honorius and the sending of Bishop Aidan from thence into England The Britons in the time of Bede retained still their old usage untill Elbodus who was the chiefe Bishop of Northwales and dyed in the yeere of our Lord DCCCIX as Caradoc of Lhancarvan recordeth brought in the Romane observation of Easter which is the cause why his disciple Nennius designeth the time wherein he wrote his history by the character of the XIX yeeres cycle and not of the other of LXXXIV But howsoever North-wales did it is very probable that West-wales which of all other parts was most eagerly bent against the traditions of the Romane Church stood out yet longer For we finde in the Greeke writers of the life of Chrysostome that certaine Clergie men which dwelt in the Iles of the Ocean repaired from the utmost borders of the habitable world unto Constantinople in the dayes of Methodius who was Patriarch there from the yeer DCCCXLII to the yeere DCCCXLVII to enquire of certaine Ecclesiasticall traditions and the perfect and exact computation of Easter Whereby it appeareth that these questions were kept still a foot in these Ilands and that the resolution of the Bishop of Constantinople was sought for from hence as well as the determination of the Bishop of Rome who is now made the only Oracle of the world Neither is it here to be omitted that whatsoever broyles did passe betwixt our Irish that were not subject to the See of Rome and those others that were of the Romane communion in the succeeding ages they of the one side were esteemed to be Saints as well as they of the other Aidan for example and Finan who were counted ringleaders of the Quartadeeiman party as well as Wilfrid and Cuthbert who were so violent against it Yet now adayes men are made to beleeve that out of the communion of the Church of Rome nothing but Hell can bee looked for and that subjection to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Universall Church is required as a matter necessary to salvation Which if it may goe currant for good Divinity the case is like to goe hard not onely with the twelve hundred British Monkes of Bangor who were martyred in one day by Edelfride king of Northumberland whom our Annals style by the name of the Saints but also with St. Aidan and St. Finan who deserve to bee honoured by the English nation with as venerable a remembrance as I doe not say Wilfrid and Cuthbert but Austin the Monke and his followers For by the ministery of Aidan was the kingdome of Northumberland recovered from paganisme whereunto belonged then beside the shire of Northumberland and the lands beyond it unto Edenborrow Frith Cumberland also and Westmorland Lancashire Yorkshire and the Bishopricke of Durham and by the meanes of Finan not onely the Kingdome of the East-Saxons which contained Essex Middlesex and halfe of Hertfordshire regained but also the large Kingdome of Mercia converted first unto Christianity which comprehended underit Glocestershire Herefordshire Worcestershire Warwickshire Leicestershire Rutlandshire Northamptonshire Lincolneshire Huntingtonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Staffordshire Darbyshire Shropshire Nottinghamshire Chesshire and the other halfe of Hertfordshire The Scottish that professed no subjection to the Church of Rome were they that sent preachers for the conversion of these countries and ordained Bishops to governe them namely Aidan Finan and Colman successively for the kingdome of Northumberland for the East-Saxons Cedd brother to Ceadda the Bishop of Yorke before mentioned for the Middle-Angles which inhabited Leicestershire and the Mercians Diuma for the paucity of Priests saith Bede constrained one Bishop to bee appointed over two people and after him Cellach and Trumhere And these with their followers notwithstanding their division from the See of Rome were for their extraordinary sanctity of life and painfulnesse in preaching the Gospel wherein they went farre beyond those of the other side that afterward thrust them out and entred in upon their labours exceedingly reverenced by all that knew them Aidan especially who although hee could not keepe Easter saith Bede contrary to the manner of them which had sent him yet he was carefull diligently to performe the workes of faith and godlinesse and love according to the manner used by all holy men Whereupon hee was worthily beloved of all even of them also who thought otherwise of Easter than he did and was had in reverence not only by them that were of meaner ranke but also by the Bishops themselves Honorius of Canterbury and Felix of the East-Angles Neither did Honorius and Felix any other way carry themselves herein than their predecessors Laurentius Mellitus Iustus had done before them who writing unto the Bishops of Ireland that dissented from the Church of Rome in the celebration of Easter and many other things made no scruple to prefixe this loving and respectfull superscription to their letters To our Lords and most deare brethren the Bishops or Abbots throughout all Scotland Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus Bishops the servants of the servants of God For howsoever Ireland at that time received not the same lawes wherewith other nations were governed yet it so