went into Germany where he became acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa a man very famous for great and curious Learning and so satisfied him in the Kings cause that he gave it out that the thing was clear and indisputable for which he was afterwards hardly used by the Emperor and dyed in Prison But when the King received the Determinations and Conclusions of the Universities and other Learned men beyond Sea he resolved to do two things First to make a new attempt upon the Pope and then to publish those Conclusions to the World with the arguments upon which they were grounded But to make his address to the Pope carry more terror with it he got a Letter to be signed by a great many Members of Parliament to the Pope The â—ord Herbertâ—aith â—aith it was done by his Parliament but in that he had not applyed his ordinary diligence the Letter bears date the 13 of Iuly Now by the Records of Parliament it appears there could be no Session at that time for there was a Prorogation from the 21 of Iune till the â—st of October that year But the Letter was sent about to the chief Members for their hands and Cavendish tells how it was brought to the Cardinal and with what chearfulness he set his hand to it It was subscribed by the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 4 Bishops 2 Dukes 2 Marquesses 13 Earls 2 Viscounâ—s 23 Barons 22 Abbots and 11 Commoners most of these being the Kings Servants The Contents of the Letters were that their near Relation to the King made them address thus to the Pope The Kings cause was now in the opinion of the Learned men and Universities both in England France and Italy found just which ought to prevail so far with the Pope that though none moved in it and notwithstanding any Contradiction he ought to confirm their judgment especially it touching a King and Kingdom to whom he was so much obliged But since neither the justice of the cause nor the Kings most earnest desires had prevailed with him they were all forced to complain of that strange usage of their King who both by his Authority and with his Pen had supported the Apostolick See and the Catholick Faith and yet was now denyed justice From which they apprehended great mischief and Civil Wars which could only be prevented by the Kings Marrying another wife of whom he might have issue This could not be done till his present Marriage were annulled nulled And if the Pope would still refuse to do this they must conclude that they were abandoned by him and so seek for other Remedies This they most earnestly prayed him to prevent since they did not desire to go to extremities till there was no more to be hoped for at his hands To this the Pope made answer the 27 of September He took notice of the vehemency of their Letter which he forgave them imputing it to their great affection to their King they had charged him with ingratitude and injustice two grievous Imputations He acknowledged all they wrote of the obligations he owed to their King which were far greater than they called them both on the Apostolick See and himself in particular But in the Kings cause he had been so far from denying justice that he was oft charged as having been too partial to him He had granted a Commission to two Legates to hear it rather out of favour than in Rigor of Law upon which the Queen had appealed he had delayed the admitting of it as long as was possible but when he saw it could not be any longer denyed to be heard it was brought before the Consistory where all the Cardinals with one consent found that the Appeal and an Avocation of the cause must be granted That since that time the King had never desired to put it to a Tryal but on the contrary by his Ambassadors at Bononia moved for a delay and in that posture it was still nor could he give sentence in a thing of such Consequence when it was not so much as sought for For the conclusions of Universities and Learned men he had seen none of them from any of the Kings Ambassadors It was true some of them had been brought to him another way but in them there were no reasons given but only bare Conclusions and he had also seen very important things for the other side and therefore he must not precipitate a Sentence in a cause of such high Importance till all things were fully heard and considered He wished their King might have Male Issue but he was not in Gods stead to give it And for their Threatnings of seeking other Remedies they were neither agreeable to their wisdom nor to their Religion Therefore he admonished them to abstain from such Counsels but minded them that it is not the Physicians fault if the Patient will do himself hurt He knew the King would never like such courses and though he had a just value for their Intercession yet he considered the King much more to whom as he had never denyed any thing that he could grant with his honor so he was very desirous to examine this matter and to put it to a speedy issue and would do every thing that he could without offending God But the King either seeing the Pope resolved to grant nothing or apprehending that some Bull might be brought into England in behalf of the Queen or the disgraced Cardinal did on the Nineteenth of September put forth a Proclamation against any who purchased any thing from Rome or elsewhere contrary to his Royal Prerogative and Authority or should publish or divulge any such thing requiring them not to do it under the pains of incurring his indignation Imprisonment and other punishments on their persons This was founded on the Statutes of Provisors and Premunires But that being done he resolved next to publish to the world and to his Subjects the justice of his cause Therefore some Learned men were appâ—inted to compare all that had been written on it and out of all the Transcripâ—s of the Manuscripts of Fathers and Councils to gather together whatsoever did strengthen it Several of these Manuscripts I have seen one is in Mr. Smiths Library where are the Quotations of the Fathers Councils Schoolmen and Canonists written out at length There are Three other such MSS. in the Cotton Library of which one contains a large vindication of these Authorities from some Exceptions made to them another is an answer to the Bishop of Rochesters Book for the Queens cause A Third digests the Matter into Twelve Articles which the Reader will find in my Appendix and these are there enlarged on and proved But all these and many more were sum'd up in a short Book and Printed first in Latine then in English with the Determinations of the Universities before it These are of such weight and Importance and give so great a light to
And the corruptions of their Worship and Doctrine were such that a very small proportion of common sense with but an overly looking on the New Testament discovered them Nor had they any other varnish to colour them by but the Authority and Traditions of the Church But when some studious men began to read the Ancient Fathers and Councils though there was then a great mixture of Sophisticated stuff that went under the Ancient names and was joyned to their true works which Criticks have since discovered to be spurious they found a vast difference between the first Five Ages of the Christian Church in which Piety and Learning prevailed and the last Ten Ages in which Ignorance had buried all their former Learning only a little misguided Devotion was retained for Six of these Ages and in the last Four the restless Ambition and Usurpation of the Popes was supported by the seeming holiness of the begging Friers and the false Counterfeits of Learning which were among the Canonists School-men and Casuists So that it was incredible to see how men notwithstanding all the opposition the Princes every-where made to the progress of these reputed new Opinions and the great advantages by which the Church of Rome both held and drew many into their Interests were generally inclined to these Doctrines Those of the Clergy who at first Preached them were of the begging Orders of Friers who having fewer engagements on them from their Interests were freer to discover and follow the truth And the austere Discipline they had been trained under did prepare them to encounter those difficulties that lay in their way And the Laity that had long lookt on their Pastors with an evil eye did receive these Opinions very easily which did both discover the Impostures with which the world had been abused and shewed a plain and simple way to the Kingdom of Heaven by putting the Scriptures into their hands and such other Instructions about Religion as were sincere and genuine The Clergy who at first despised these new Preachers were at length much Allarmed when they saw all people running after them and râ—ceiving their Doctrines As these things did spread much in Germany Switzerland and the Netherlands so their Books came over into England where there was much matter already prepared to be wrought on not only by the prejudices they had conceived against the corrupt Clergy but by the Opinions of the Lollards which had been now in England since the days of Wickliff for about 150 years Between which Opinions and the Doctrines of the Reformers there was great Affinity and therefore to give the better vent to the Books that came out of Germany many of them were translated into the English-Tongue and were very much read and applauded This quickned the proceedings against the Lollards and the enquiry became so severe that great numbers were brought into the Toils of the Bishops and their Commissaries If a man had spoken but a light word against any of the Constitutions of the Church he was seized on by the Bishop's Officers and if any taught their Children the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Apostle's Creed in the Vulgar Tongue that was crime enough to bring them to the Stake As it did Six men and a woman at Coventry in the Passion-week 1519. being the 4 th of April Longland Bishop of Lincoln was very cruel to all that were suspected of Heresie in his Diocess several of them abjured and some were Burnt But all that did not produce what they designed by it The Clergy did not correct their own faults and their cruelty was looked on as an evidence of Guilt and of a weak Cause so that the method they took wrought only on peoples fears and made them more cautious and reserved but did not at all remove the Cause nor work either on their reasons or affections Upon all this the King to get himself a name and to have a lasting Interest with the Clergy thought it not enough to assist them with his Authority but would needs turn their Champion and write against Luther in defence of the Seven Sacraments This Book was magnified by the Clergy as the most Learned Work that ever the Sun saw and he was compared to King Solomon and to all the Christian Emperours that had ever been And it was the chief subject of flattery for many years besides the glorious Title of Defender of the Faith which the Pope bestowed on him for it And it must be acknowledged that considering the Age and that it was the Work of a King it did deserve some Commendation But Luther was not at all daunted at it but rather valued himself upon it that so great a King had entred the lists with him and answered his Book And he replied not without a large mixture of Acrimony for which he was generally blamed as forgetting that great respect that is due to the Persons of Soveraign Princes But all would not do These Opinions still gained more footing and William Tindal made a Translation of the New Testament in English to which he added some short Glosses This was printed in Antwerp and sent over into England in the year 1526. Against which there was a Prohibition published by every Bishop in his Diocess Bearing that some of Luthers followers had erroneously Translated the New Testament and had corrupted the Word of God both by a false Translation and by Heretical Glosses Therefore they required all Incumbents to charge all within their Parishes that had any of these to bring them in to the Vicar-General within 30 days after that premonition under the pains of Excommunication and incurring the suspition of Heresie There were also many other Books Prohibited at that time most of them written by Tindal And Sir Thomas More who was a man celebrated for Vertue and Learning undertook the answering of some of those but before he went about it he would needs have the Bishops Licence for keeping and reading them He wrote according to the way of the Age with much bitterness and though he had been no Friend to the Monks and a great declaimer against the Ignorance of the Clergy and had been ill used by the Cardinal yet he was one of the bitterest Enemies of the new Preachers not without great cruelty when he came into Power though he was otherwise a very good-natured man So violently did the Roman Clergy hurry all their Friends into those excesses of Fire and Sword When the Party became so considerable that it was known there were Societies of them not only in London but in both the Universities then the Cardinal was constrained to act His contempt of the Clergy was looked on as that which gave encouragement to the Hereticks When reports were brought to Court of a company that were in Cambridge Bilney Latimer and others that read and propagated Luther's Book and Opinions some Bishops moved in the year 1523. that there might be a Visitation appointed
the more The matter was such that by the Canon-Law it could not be denied For to grant an Avocation of a Cause upon good reason from the Delegated to the Supreme Court was a thing which by the course of Law was very usual And it was no less apparent that the Reasons of the Queens appeal were just and good But the secret and most convincing Motives that wrought more on the Pope than all other things were that the Treaty between him and the Emperor was now concerted Therefore this being to be published very speedily the Pope thought it necessary to avocate the matter to Rome before the publication of the Peace lest if he did it after it should be thought that it had been one of the secret Articles of the Treaty which would have cast a foul blot upon him Yet on the other hand he was not a little perplexed with the fears he had of losing the King of England he knew he was a man of an high Spirit and would resent what he did severely And the Cardinal now again ordered Dr. Bennet in his name and as with tears in his eyes lying at the Popes feet to assure him that the King and Kingdom of England were certainly lost if the Cause were Avocated Therefore he besought him to leave it still in their hands and assured him that for himself he should rather be torn in pieces joynt by joynt than do any thing in that matter contrary to his Conscience or to Justice These things had been oft said and the Pope did apprehend that ill effects would follow for if the King fell from his Obedience to the Apostolick See no doubt all the Lutheran Princes who were already bandying against the Emperor would joyn themselves with him and the Interests of France would most certainly engage that King also into the Union which would distract the Church give encouragement to Heresie and end in the utter ruin of the Popedom But in all this the crafty Pope comforted himself that many times threatnings are not intended to be made good but are used to terrifie and that the King who had written for the Faith against Luther and had been so ill used by him would never do a thing that would sound so ill as because he could not obtain what he had a mind to therefore to turn Heretick he also resolved to caress the French King much and was in hopes of making Peace between the Emperor and him But that which went nearest the Popes heart of all other things was the setting up of his Family at Florence and the Emperor having given him assurance of that it weighed down all other considerations Therefore he resolved he would please the Emperor but do all he could not to lose the King So on the 9th of Iuly he sent for the Kings Ambassadors and told them the Process was now so far set on in England and the Avocation so earnestly pressed that he could deny it no longer for all the Lawyers in Rome had told him the thing could not be denied in the common course of Justice Upon this the Ambassadors told him what they had in Commission to say against it both from the King and the Cardinal and pressed it with great vehemence So that the Pope by many sighs and tears showed how deep an impression that which they said made upon him he wished himself dead that he might be delivered out of that Martyrdom and added these words which because of their savouring so much of an Apostolical Spirit I set down Wo is me no body apprehends all those evils better than I do But I am so between the Hammer and the Forge that when I would comply with the Kings desires the whole storm then must fall on my head and which is worse on the Church of Christ. They did object the many promises he had made them both by word of mouth and under his hand He answered He desired to do more for the King than he had promised but it was impossible to refuse what the Emperor now demanded whose Forces did so surround him that he could not only force him to grant him Iustice but could dispose of him and all his Concerns at his pleasure The Ambassadors seeing the Pope was resolved to grant the Avocation pressed against it no further but studied to put it off for some time And therefore proposed that the Pope would himself write about it to the King and not grant it till he received his answer Of all this they gave Advertisement to the King and wrote to him that he must either drive the matter to a Sentence in great haste or to prevent the affront of an Advocation suspend the Process for some time They also advised the searching all the Packets that went or came by the way of Flanders and to keep up all Campegio's Letters and to take care that no Bull might come to England for they did much apprehend that the Avocation would be granted within very few days Their next Dispatch bore that the Pope had sent for them to let them know that he had Signed the Avocation the day before But they understood another way that the Treaty between the Emperor and him was finished and the Peace was to be proclaimed on the 18th of Iuly and that the Pope did not only fear the Emperor more than all other Princes but that he also trusted him more now On the 19th of Iuly the Pope sent a Messenger with the Avocation to England with a Letter to the Cardinal To the King he wrote afterwards All this while Campegio as he had Orders from the Pope to draw out the matter by delays so did it very dextrously And in this he pretended a fair excuse that it would not be for the Kings honour to precipitate the matter too much lest great advantages might be taken from that by the Queens Party That therefore it was fit to proceed slowly that the world might see with what Moderation as well as Justice the matter was handled From the 25th of Iune the Court Adjourned to the 28th ordering a second Citation for the Queen under the pains of Contumacy and of their proceeding to examine Witnesses And on the 28th they declared the Queen Contumacious the second time and examined several Witnesses upon the Articles and Adjourned to the 5th of Iuly on that day the Bull and Breve were read in Court and the Kings Council argued long against the validity of the one and the truth of the other Upon the grounds that have been already mentioned in which Campegio was much disgusted to hear them argue against the Popes Power of granting such a Dispensation in a matter that was against a Divine Precept alledging that his Power did not exend so far This the Legates over-ruled and said that that was too high a point for them to judg in or so much as to hear argued and that the Pope himself was the only
Court of Rome to procure a Breve that Divines or Canonists might without fear or hazard deliver their opinions according to their Consciences requiring them under the pain of Excommunication that they should write nothing for gain or Partial affections but say the pure and simple truth without any artifice as they would answer to God in the great day of Judgment This seemed so fair that it might have been expected the Successor of St. Peter would not deny it yet it was not easily obtained though the King wrote a very earnest Letter to the Bishop of Verona to assist his Minister in procuring it And I find by another Dispatch that the Breve was at length gained not without much opposition made to it by the Emperors Ambassadors For at Rome though they knew not well how to oppose this method because it seem'd so very reasonable yet they had great apprehensions of it because they thought it was designed to force the Pope to determine as the King pleased and they abhorred the President that a company of poor Friars should Dictate to them in matters of this nature Crook reports out of a Letter of Cranmers to him from Rome these words As for our Successes here they be very little nor dare we attempt to know any mans mind because of the Pope nor is he content with what you have done and he says no Friars shall discuss his Power and as for any favour in this Court I look for none but to have the Pope with all his Cardinals declare against us But Crook as he went up and down procuring hands told these he came to he desired they would write their Conclusions according to Learning and Conscience without any respect or favour as they would answer it at the last day and Protested he never gave nor promised any Divine any thing till he had first freely written his mind and that what he then gave was rather an honourable Present than a Reward And in another Letter to the King he writes Upon pain of my head if the contrary be proved I never gave any man one half-penny before I had his Conclusion to your Highness without former Prayer or Promise of reward for the same From whence it appears that he not only had no orders from the King to corrupt Divines but that his orders were express to the contrary As for the Money he gave the Reader will be best able to judge by the following account whether it was such as could work much on any man There is an Original Bill of his accounts yet extant audited and signed by Peter a Ghinuâ—iis out of which I have extracted these particulars Item To a Servite Friar when he subscribed one Crown To a Iew one Crown To the Doctors of the Servites two Crowns To the Observant Friars two Crowns To the Prior of St. John and St. Pauls who wrote for the Kings Cause fifteen Crowns To that Convent four Crowns Item Given to John Maria for his expence of going to Milan from Venice and for rewarding the Doctors there thirty Crowns Item To John Marino Minister of the Franciscans who wrote a Book for the Kings cause Twenty Crowns This shews that they must have had very prostituted Consciences if they could be hired so cheap It is true Crook in many of his Letters says That if he had Money enough he did not doubt but he should get the hands of all the Divines in Italy for he found the greatest part of them all Mercenary But the Bishop of Worcester in his Letters to him ordered him only to promise rewards to those who expected them and lived by them that is to the Canonists who did not use to give their opinion without a fee. But at the same time the Emperor did reward and fee Divines at another rate for Crook informed the King that one Friar Felix having written for the validity of the Marriage against the King there was a Benefice of 500 Ducats a year given him in reward And the Emperors Ambassador offered a thousand Ducats to the Provincial of the Gray-friars in Venice if he would Inhibite all within his Province to write or subscribe for the Kings cause But the Provincial refused it and said he neither could nor yet would do it And another that wrote for the Queen had a Benefice of 600 Crowns So that it was openly said at Ferrara that they who wrote for the King had but a few Crowns a-piece but they who wrote on the other side had good Benefices They also tryed what could be done at Padua both by threatnings entreaties and rewards to induce them to reverse the determination they had made in the matter but with no success And though Francis Georgius the Venetian Friar did greatly promote the Kings cause both by his writings and authority yet Crook wrote that he could not prevail to make either him or his Nephew accept one farthing of him By such fair means it was that Crook procured so many Subscriptions First of particular Divines many Franciscans Dominicans and Servites set their hands to the Conclusions though even in that there was opposition made by the Popes Agents Campegio was now engaged in the Emperors Faction and did every-where mis-represent the Kings cause Being at Venice he so wrought on the Minister of the Franciscans that though he had declared for the King and engaged to bring the hands of 24 Doctors and Learned men of his Order for it and had received a small Present of ten Crowns yet aâ—ter he had kept the Money three weeks he sent it back and said he would not meddle more in it But they procured most of these hands without his help At Milan a Suffragan Bishop and sixteen Divines Subscribed Nine Doctors Subscribed at Vincenza but the Pope's Nuntio took the writing out of his hands that had it and suppressed it At Padua all the Franciscans both Observants and Conventuals Subscribed and so did the Dominicans and all the Canonists and though the Popes and Emperor's Emissaries did threaten all that Subscribed yet there were got eighty hands at Padua Next the Universities determined At Bononia though it was the Popes Town many Subscribed The Governour of the Town did at first oppose the granting of any Determination but the Popes Breve being brought thither he not without great difficulty gave way to it So on the 19th of Iune the matter being publickly debated and all Cajetans Arguments being examined who was of Opinion That the Laws of Marriage in Leviticus did not bind the Christian Church they determined That thâ—se Laws are still in force and that they bind all both Christians and Infidels being parts of the Law of Nature as well as of the Law of God and that therefore they judged Marriages in these degrees unlawful and that the Pope had no Authority to dispence with them The University of Padua after
before God and Man not only to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful Wife but to follow your Affection already setled on that Party for whose sake I am now as I am whose Name I could some good while since have pointed unto your Grace being not ignorant of my suspicion therein But if you have already determined of me and that not only my Death but an infamous slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired happiness then I desire of God that he will pardon your great sin therein and likewise mine Enemies the Instruments thereof and that he will not call you to a strict account for your unprincely and cruel usage of me at his General Judgment-Seat where both you and my self must shortly appear and in whose Judgment I doubt not whatsoever the World may think of me mine Innocence shall be openly known and sufficiently cleared My last and only request shall be That my self may only bear the burthen of your Grace's displeasure and that it may not touch the innocent Souls of those poor Gentlemen who as I understand are likewise in strait Imprisonment for my sake If ever I have found favour in your sight if ever the Name of Ann Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears then let me obtain this request and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further with mine earnest Prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping and to direct you in all your Actions From my doleful Prison in the Tower this 6 th of May. Your most Loyal and ever Faithful Wife Ann Boleyn V. The Iudgment of the Convocation concerning General-Councils Published by the L. Herbert from the Original AS concerning General-Councils like-as we taught by long experience do perfectly know that there never was nor is any thing devised invented or instituted by our Fore-Fathers more expedient or more necessary for the establishment of our Faith for the extirpation of Heresies and the abolishing of Sects and Schisms and finally for the reducing of Christ's People unto one perfect unity and concord in his Religion than by the having of General-Councils So that the same be lawfully had and congregated in Spiritu Sancto and be also conform and agreeable as well concerning the surety and indifferency of the Places as all other Points requisite and necessary for the same unto that wholsome and godly Institution and usage for the which they were at first devised and used in the Primitive Church Even so on the other side taught by like experience we esteem repute and judg That there is ne can be any thing in the World more pestilent and pernicious to the Common-weal of Christendom or whereby the Truth of God's Word hath in times past or hereafter may be sooner defaced or subverted or whereof hath and may ensue more contention more discord and other devilish effects than when such General Councils have or shall be assembled not christianly nor charitably but for and upon private malice and ambition or other worldly and carnal Respects and Considerations according to the saying of Gregory Nazianzenus in his Epistle to one Procopius wherein he writeth this Sentence following Sic sentio si verum scribendum est omnes Conventus Episcoporum fugiendos esse quia nullius Synodi finem vidi bonum neque habentem magis solutionem malorum quam incrementum Nam cupiditates contentionum gloria sed ne putes me odiosum ista scribentem vincunt rationem That is to say I think this if I should write truly That all General Councils be to be eschewed for I never saw that they produced any good End or Effect nor that any Provision or Remedy but rather increase of Mischiefs proceeded of them For the desire of maintenance of Men's Opinions and ambition of Glory but reckon not that I write this of malice hath always in them overcomed reason Wherefore we think that Christian Princes especially and above all things ought and must with all their wills power and diligence foresee and provide Ne Sanctissima hac in parte majorum Instituta ad improbissimos ambitionis aut malitiae effectus explendos diversissimo suo fine sceleratissimo pervertantur Neve ad alium praetextum possint valere longe diversum effectum orbi producere quam Sanctissima rei facies praeâ—â—se ferat That is to say Least the most noble wholsome Institutions of our Elders in this behalf be perverted to a most contrary and most wicked end and effect that is to say to fulfil and satisfy the wicked affections of Men's Ambition and Malice or lest they might prevail for any other colour or bring forth any other effect than their most vertuous and laudable countenance doth outwardly to the World shew or pretend And first of all we think that they ought principally to consider who hath the Authority to call together a General Council Secondly Whether the Causes alledged be so weighty and so urgent that necessarily they require a General Council nor can otherwise be remedied Thirdly Who ought to be Judges in the General Council Fourthly What order of proceeding is to be observed in the same and how the Opinions or Judgments of the Fathers are to be consulted or asked Fifthly What Doctrines are to be allowed or defended with diverse other things which in General Councils ought of reason and equity to be observed And as unto the first Point We think that neither the Bishop of Rome nor any one Prince of what estate degree or preheminence soever he be may by his own Authority call indite or summon any General Council without the express consent assent and agreement of the residue of Christian Princes and especially such as have within their own Realms and Seigniories Imperium merum that is to say of such as have the whole intire and supream Government and Authority over all their Subjects without knowledging or recognizing of any other supream Power or Authority And this to be true we be induced to think by many and sundry as well Examples as great Reasons and Authority The which forasmuch as it should be over-long and tedious to express here particularly we have thought good to omit the same for this present And in witness that this is our plain and determinate Sentence Opinion and Judgment touching the Premisses we the Prelates and Clergy under-written being congregate together in the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury and representing the whole Clergy of the same here to these Presents subscribed our Names the 20 th of Iuly in the Year of our Lord 1536. 28. Hen. 8. Signed by Thomas Cromwel Thomas Cantuariensis Iohannes London with 13 Bishops and of Abbots Priors Arch-Deacons Deans Proctors Clerks and other Ministers 49. VI. Instructions for the King's Commissioners for a new survey and aâ— Inventory to be made of all the Demesnes Lands Goods and Chattels appertaining to any House of Religion of Monks Cannons and Nuns within their Commission according
are only due unto God trusting to attain at their hands that which must be had only of God but that they be thus to be honoured because they be known the Elect persons of Christ because they be passed in Godly Life out of this transitory World because they already do Reign in Glory with Christ and most specially to laude and praise Christ in them for their excellent vertues which he planted in them for example of and by them to such as are yet in this World to live in vertue and goodness and also not to fear to dye for Christ and his cause as some of them did and finally to take them in that they may to be the advancers of our prayers and demands unto Christ. By these ways and such like be Saints to be honoured and had in reverence and by none other Of Praying to Saints AS touching Praying to Saints We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their spiritual charge that albeit grace remission of sin and Salvation cannot be obtained but of God only by the mediation of our Saviour Christ which is only sufficient mediator for our sins yet it is very laudable to pray to Saints in Heaven everlastingly living whose charity is ever permanent to be intercessors and to pray for us and with us unto Almighty God after this manner All holy Angels and Saints in Heaven pray for us and with us unto the Father that for his dear Son Jesus Christ's sake we may have grace of him and remission of our sins with an earnest purpose not wanting Ghostly strength to observe and keep his holy Commandments and never to decline from the same again unto our lives end And in this manner we may pray to our Blessed Lady to St. Iohn Baptist to all and every of the Apostles or any other Saint particularly as our devotion doth serve us so that it be done without any vain superstition as to think that any Saint is more merciful or will hear us sooner than Christ or that any Saint doth serve for one thing more than another or is Patron of the same And likewise we must keep Holy-days unto God in memory of him and his Saints upon such days as the Church hath Ordained their memories to be celebrated except they be mitigated and moderated by the assent or commandment of the Supream head to the Ordinaries and then the Subjects ought to obey it Of Rites and Ceremonies AS concerning the Rites and Ceremonies of Christs Church as to have such vestments in doing God service as be and have been most part used as Sprinkling of holy-Water to put us in remembrance of our Baptism and the blood of Christ sprinkled for our redemption upon the Cross Giving of holy bread to put us in remembrance of the Sacrament of the Altar that all Christen men be one body mystical of Christ as the bread is made of many grains and yet but one Loaf and to put us in remembrance of the receiving the holy Sacrament and body of Christ the which we ought to receive in right Charity which in the beginning of Christs Church men did more often receive than they use now adays to do Bearing of Candles on Candlemas-day in memory of Christ the spiritual light of whom Simeon did prophesie as is read in the Church that day Giving of ashes on Ash-Wedensday to put in remembrance every Christen man in the beginning of Lent and Penance that he is but ashes and earth and thereto shall return which is right necessary to be uttered from henceforth in our mother-tongue always on the same day Bearing of Palms on Palm-Sunday in memory of receiving of Christ into Ierusalem a little before his death that we may have the same desire to receive him into our hearts Creeping to the Cross and humbling our selves to Christ on Good-Friday before the Cross and offering there unto Christ before the same and kissing of it in memory of our Redemption by Christ made upon the Cross Setting up the Sepulture of Christ whose body after his death was buried the Hallowing of the Font and other like Exorcisms and Benedictions by the Ministers of Christs Church and all other like laudable Customs Rites and Ceremonies be not to be contemned and cast away but to be used and continued as things good and laudable to put us in remembrance of those spiritual things that they do signifie not suffering them to be forgotten or to be put in oblivion but renuing them in our memories from time to time but none of these Ceremonies have Power to remit sin but only to stir and lift up our minds unto God by whom only our sins be forgiven Of Purgatory FOrasmuch as due order of Charity requireth and the book of Maccabees and divers ancient Doctors plainly shewing that it is a very good and charitable deed to pray for Souls departed and forasmuch also as such usage hath continued in the Church so many years even from the beginning We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their spiritual charge that no man ought to be grieved with the continuance of the same and that it standeth with the very due Order of Charity for a Christen man to pray for Souls departed and to commit them in our prayers to Gods mercy and also to cause others to pray for them in Masses and Exequies and to give Alms to others to pray for them whereby they may be relieved and holpen of some part of their pain But forasmuch as the place where they be the name thereof and kind of pains there also be to us uncertain by Scripture therefore this with all other things we remit to God Almighty unto whose mercy it is meet and convenient for us to commend them trusting that God accepteth our prayers for them referring the rest wholly to God to whom is known their estate and condition wherefore it is much necessary that such Abuses be clearly put away which under the name of Purgatory hath been advanced as to make men believe that through the Bishop of Romes Pardon Souls might clearly be delivered out of Purgatory and all the pains of it or that Masses said at Scala caeli or otherwhere in any place or before any Image might likewise deliver them from all their pain and send them streight to Heaven and other like Abuses Signed Thomas Cromwell T. Cantuarien Edwardus Ebor. Ioannes London Cuthbertus Dunelmen Ioannes Lincoln Ioannes Lincoln Nomine procuratorio pro Dom. Ioan. Exon. Hugo Wygornen Ioannes Roffen Richardus Cicestren Ioannes Bathonien Thomas Elien Ioannes Lincoln nomine procuratorio pro Dom. Rowlando Coven Lichfielden Ioannes Bangoren Nicholaus Sarisburien Edwardus Hereforden Willielmus Norwicen Willielmus Meneven Robertus Assaven Robertus Abbas Sancti Albani Willielmus Ab. Westmonaster Ioannes Ab. Burien A Richardus Ab. Glasconiae A Hugo Ab. Redying Robertus Ab. Malmesbur Clemens Ab. Eveshamen