away hath wherewith to restore Whereupon Saint Augustine saith If the thing taken away when it may bee restored bee not restored Pennance is not donne but dissembled And in an other place I haue sayd this most confidently that hee who maketh intercession for a man to this purpose that hee may not restore thinges vniustly taken away and hee who compelleth not as farre as honestly hee may the party that in this case flyeth to him to make restitution is partaker of his deceipte and offence for with far greater mercy doe wee forbeare to helpe such men then assist them Bee assured therefore of this make no doubt at all thereof and if any man preacheth contrary to this yea bee it an Angell from heauen let him be accursed and soe shall hee as long as hee perseuereth in this opinion See therefor renowned Lord that in this case you walke warely least the detayning of a thing euill gotten which is but dust and wormes dryue you headlong which God forbid into impenitency and make you subiect to that danger from which you can neuer be cleansed by fasting and prayer In discretion moreouer you ought to vnderstand that allthough all Bishoppes are not Saintes yet possesse they the places of Saintes and allbeeit they shine not with such meritt of life yet ought they to imitate those who haue shyned before them as farre as Gods mercy will giue them grace Because therefore holy men haue fought for the law of their God vnto death and haue not feared the wordes and threates of their persecutors for hee is absolutely more to bee dreaded who is able to cast soule and body into hell fire wee likewise are of necessity bound as far as God will inspire vs to keepe foster and defend his lawes neyther is this to bee imputed to vs as pryde or malice but is imposed on vs as incident to our office For soe sayth our Lord Keepe my lawes And againe in thee Gospell Hee that breaketh one of these least commandements shall bee called the least in the kingdome of heauen Wee beelieue noble Lord you are sufficiently endowed with wisedome and therefore wee humbly beeseech you as our deerest Lord and that in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you will vouchsafe to heare vs yea with mercy and to heare vs throughly as God may heare and fully heare you at the day of iudgment and receaue you among his elected when assuredly neyther strengh nor power nor empyre nor riches nor secular lawes nor customes can helpe any man nor any thing else but the mercy of Allmighty God with the fruytes of forerunning workes which would to God it might euer remayne fixed in your mynde and thence neuer to departe Let our Lord and king willingly admitt and heare the counsellors who aduise him heerein that God may prosper him and lengthen the life of him and his heires with the blessings of peace for many yeeres neither let them passe in this world vnpunished who with their falshood and exquisite deceiptes haue endeauored to vndoe and disturbe the worthie and vertuous designes of our Lord and king which from the beeginning of his raigne hee conceaued and continued as wee thinke with a iust sincere deuotion for the honoring of Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons God send our Lord euer to florish and that his Church and wee may thereby liue more blessedly God send him long life And thus Saint Thomas not as a iudge threatening with seuere censures but as a father exhorteh and admonisheth his sonne whom hee desireth to deliuer from the sentence of condemnation allthough in vayne his wicked counsellors withstanding it Cod. Vat. lib. 1. Epist 140. And like to this complainte of the kinges counsellors made by Saint Thomas as you haue heard doth Iohn of Salisbury inueigh also against them wryting to Nicholas de Monte of Roan who was to Saint Thomas a most entire freind which shorte epistle because it containeth much matter appertayning to this time wee thought conuenient to bee heere inserted being thus Our Lord disperseth those nations that would haue warres and they who estrange themselues from the peace of God shall vndoubtedly perish What one of the Persecutors of Gods Church hath bin read to haue eschewed the reuenging right hand of our Lord who punisheth the mighty mightely In regarde whereof which without greife I cannot speake our Lord the king of England whom with his heires God if it bee his blessed will preserue is much to bee feared least their kingdome bee rent asunder and the power weakened which they haue abused against the Churche If reuenge bee deferred for the correction and probation of his children whom the mercifull father chasticeth first that hee may afterwardes crowne it is not therefore taken away but that after the patience of the holy it beecommeth more bitter and terrible against the wicked Why then I pray you doth not this most wise man endowed by God with soe greate vertues soe large a dominion and allmost all singular guiftes returne vnto his harte And why cannot the cōqueror of soe many and mighty cittyes cōquer his owne intemperance Why doth hee persecuting the Church the only beeloued spouse of Christ inkindle him to wrath who taketh away the spirit of princes and with his owne propper power trampleth on the neckes of the potent Vndoubtedly if hee were aduysed hee would turne the fury of his indignation against them who with their guiles and abuses haue thrust him headlong into this not counsell but downefull and would at the least imitate the king of Babilon that hee might not bee found more cruell then hee who cast them into the Lyons denne by whose counsell hee threw Daniel a prisoner thither that the guilty counsellers might suffer the paynes they deuised against the guiltles Then addeth hee examples of Bishoppes restored by kinges to theire proper Seas wryting thus The Archbishop of Saint Iames who liued long in banishment is now restored by his king The king of the Danes calling home his Archbishop gouerneth by his aduice subdueth his enemyes and honoreth him as his father The Archbishop of Lyons hath receaued againe his Sea and reduced his prouince to the Catholike vnity The cittyes of Italy abandoning Fredericke the Scysmaticke haue entertayned their Catholicke Bishoppes God is my witnes vnles our Lord and king recalleth againe his Archbishop I dread to vtter the feare I conceaue of him but if hee will send for him and render peace to the Church of God I doe assuredly hope that in him and his the glory of his former successes will through the Churches prayers flourish againe what say I more There resteth yet for him one apparant aduice which is that hee banisheth his wicked counsellors the Churches aduersarys and endeauoreth to appease Allmighty God whom hee hath offended against whose diuine pleasure hee can neither raigne nor rule God hath yet endured him with vnspeakeable patience but vnlesse hee beeware as the woeman in labor hee will
day soe the fifte day of our Sauiours birth into this world of misery was his birth day vnto eternall glory Thus there The same yeere also the Church of Canterbury beeing thus depriued of saint Thomas The waueringe state of the Church of Canterbury beegan to wauer when the Cathedrall Mōkes of the sayde Church would haue elected a successor without any reguarde of the Bishops of the Prouince vnto whose office the same appertayned which their bould attempt is reproued by Peter of Bloys a man of great authority in the Church of England hauing first most amply inlarged himselfe in the high commendation of saint Thomas on this wise To his most deere brethren and freindes Cannons of Beweueiwe Master Peeter of Bloys Archdeacon of Bathe Lendeth greeting with all loue Apud Petrum Blesē Epist 27. A consolation for the death of S. Thomas The Pastor of our soules is passed hence whose decease I meant to haue lamented but hee is departed not deade arriued to life not depriued of life for death wherby our Lord hath made his Saint soe maruailous is not death but a sleepe the porte of death the porche of life an entry into the delightes of that heauenly countrey into the Powers of Allmighty God into the infinite brightnes of eternall glory For vndergoeing a long iourney hee tooke with him plenty of money intending to returne in the full of the Moone his soule I say riche in merittes leauing the body shall in the generall and last resurrection returne againe full fraught to her old habitation Hauing gathered together many vertues like sundry Marchandises into one bundell hee passed therwith to the heauenly Marte that wretch laden with dayes I meane the death of this miserable world that mischeeuous contentious wayward importunate enuious hurtefull and suttell old woeman beegan to vndoe and search precisely his carryages to see if there were any thing among those collected merittes which was subiect to her command But hee as a circumspect and discreete man would not endure ought that might endamage his life for long beefore had hee desired to bee dissolued and bee with Christ and then did hee especially thirst to departe out of the body of this death hee cast therfore into the mouth of this old wretch a litle duste as a tole or tribute heereupon the same false rumor beeganne to bee diuulged and spread among the people Genes 36. that a most cruell beast had deuoured Ioseph Indeede the coate wherof hee was dispoyled was a deceytfull messinger of his death for Ioseph liueth and raigneth throughout the whole land of Egipt Idem 45. his blessed soule disburdened of this corruptible loade and now freely discharged of the dust of his earthly conuersation hath taken her flight to heauen Shee is assumpted by him who sayd I goe to prepare a place for yee Ioan. 14. and I will returne againe and assume yee vp vnto mee beeing in breife absolutely perfect hee closed vp many tymes hee is taken away least malice should peruert his vnderstanding And to heauen now called is hee whom this world was not worthie to hould neither yet is his candell extinguished but snuffed with transitory affliction to the end it may shine more gloriously and not longer hid vnder à bushell may now giue light to all throughout the house hee appeared in the eyes of the foolish to dye but his life resteth hid with Christ in God death seemed to vanquish and swallowe him vp but deathe it selfe is swallowed vp in victory Thou hast giuen him ô Lord the desire of his harte for hee was long a souldier vnder thy banner keepeing warily seuere wayes in regarde of the wordes proceeding from thy lippes Assuredly from the very first conditions of his tender yough hee beegan to growe in the ripenes of manners grauely olde repressinge with watching disciplines haircloth and the girdle of continuall continency the motions of fleshly insolency and therfore was hee called by our Lord as an other Aaron to distribute the science of saluation vnto his people to frame a nation acceptable to our Lord a pursuer of meritorious workes and to prepare for our Lord a perfect multitude Our Lord did chuse him for a Preist to serue him that hee might hee a guide to his congregation a rule of life a forme of pennance an example of sanctity Allmighty God the Lord of all sciēces beestowed on him a learned tongue and powred into him abundantly the spirit of wisedome and vnderstanding to the end hee might be among the lerned more lerned among the wise more wise among the good far better among the hūble a cōpanion among the greatest yet greater Hee was à Preacher of the diuine worde a trumpet of the Gospell a freind of the spouse a pillar of the Clergie an eye to the blinde a foote to the lame the salte of this earth the light of his countrey the Minister of the highest the Vicar of the anoynted of our Lord. The whole conuersation of his life was a scoole of honesty a a forme of manners a frame of saluation Hee was in iudgment vpright in disposing dilligent in commanding aduised in speech modest in counsell circumspest in feeding himselfe most sparing in feeding others most bountifull in anger a peace maker in flesh an Angell in suffering iniuryes meeke in prosperity fearefull in aduersity most couragious in almes liberall in mercys wholly drowned Hee was the glory of the Religious the delighte of the Laietie the terror of Princes the God of Pharao Of this man wee may bouldly say and sing that hee strayed nor after golde nor yet trusted in the treasures of money who disdayned to bee either à receauer of brybes or an accepter of persons Other men aduanced to the heyght of Cathedrall dignity being presently to haue a speciall care of the Clearkes they looke more warily to their diett they feare no lesse a sicknes of their body then hell it selfe affecting in all thinges to prolonge their liues but this Sainte from the very first entrance into his promotion longed with a singular desire for the end of his life or to speake more truly for the beeginning of his eternall beeing For as Salomon saythe When hee endeth then beeginneth hee Soe his departure out of this transitory life was his entrance to that life which doth neither fade nor perish Eccles 18. Beeginning from his very childehoode hee laboured in euery seuerall age of his life as in the sundry deuided houres of a day like a dilligent and painefull workeman in the Vineyarde of our Lord of Sabaoth and soe concluded the course of a temporall life in the full perfection of Saintes Thus beeing a long tyme in his conseruation heauenly and trauelling from his body hee desyred exceedingly to passe thorough a shorte conclusion of an earthly life to those celestiall pleasures Catching therfore the intent and token of his perigrination hee drunke of the brooke in the way of this world and hath
written to them into England Ibid. Ep. 47. Knowe yee my deerest that wee haue wrytten in great tribulation and anxiety of harte not any way to heape sorrowes vpon yee but that yee may vnderstand what manner of charity wee beare abuntantly vnto yee for God is our witnes how wee couet yee in the very bowells of Christ Iesus wherupon seeing the dangers that neerely touch the body and soule yee to their iniury and which beeing neuer heard of in these our dayes are yet now beefallen wee are not a litle greiued and confounded in regarde of your selues For it is apparant by the publicke reporte of all men that yee haue abiured my Lord the Pope who representeth the person of Christ himselfe and as also who allthough vnworthy are neuertheles appoynted the father and Bishop of your soules yea this is it which aboue other thinges that wee haue many yeeres according to the example of the iust iudgment of Allmighty God indured increased exceedingly the abundance of our sufferinges for that soe detestable so wicked an oath how great a scandall doth it breede to the world what offence to God what a synne to your selfe what affliction to vs For why to abiure them whom God hath ordayned ouer yee is an iniury to him who hath ordayned them and likewise to vs who are placed in authority by him nay rather the power of him who soe exalted vs is dishonored the band of his obedience broken which vice vndoubtedly with confidence I speake it but for your sakes with teares is like and equiualent to Idolatry for sayth the prophet to resist is the synne of Southsaying and not to obey is the offence of Idolatry wherupon such by the ordinance of the old lawe as were Idolatrers sustayned the sentence of corporall death And seeme yee not to your selues to haue incurred a far greater cryme in that yee doe not only rebell but alsoe bynde your selues with an oath heereafter to rebell and that moroeuer what a thing is it for sheepe to shake of their sheapheard Verily for such as forsake their shepheardes the Wolfe hath allready inuaded them and vnles the shepheard whom they haue now abiured defendeth them hee will in the end deuoure them Many testimonyes of Scriptures and examples of Saintes may bee produced for detestation of your offence but that the excesse of such an enormity lyeth open to the eyes of the meanest vnderstanding Yet if yee were not voluntarily but vnwillingly drawne hereunto the sinne were excused in parte but not in all for better it is to suffer the body's destruction then take an abhominable oath wherby yee are beecome the children of death beecause as the prophet sayth of the people yee are stroken with the stripe of the enemy with a cruell chastisement But to manifest the watchfull care wee haue beefore Allmighty God for yee wee haue endeauored to apply to soe greeuous a wound the salue which now only remayneth and doe therfore by the power of saint Peter the Apostle the authority of the Bishop of Rome and of vs absolue from an oath soe vnlawefull all such as are penitent especially those who sweare imparting to our reuerent brethren the Diocesan Bisshoppes and preistes of lesse quality in the vacancy of Bishopprickes our power for inioyning externall satisfaction to the afore sayd Penitents Admonishing yee all who are willing to vnderstand it that yee are no way bound by such an oath nor obliged to obey it least as Herod vnder pretence of piety yee become impious and excuse with an oath an offence exceeding the swearing according to him who sayth That oath is not to bee obserued wherby a sin is vnaduisedly promised And againe In promises which are euill infringe your fayth breake your vowe change your decree doe not performe what you haue vnaduisedly vowed And many other sentences which I ouerpasse are consonant heereunto And now to conclude I who am bound in our Lord doe heere beeseech yee yea I beeseech yee as my children whom I euer ought to embrace in Christ that yee walke worthy of the vocation wherunto God hath called yee that obseruing first of all the fayth of Christ yee doe next obey his Prelates submitting your selues vnto them for they are the Parties who keepe watch ouer yee as the persons who must yeeld an accompt for your soules For brethren I would haue yee vnderstaÌ„d how as well these vnlawfull oathes as also many other enormious crymes which through wicked sugestions are committed in our cause for the oppression of iustice and truth truth so fauoring it selfe will turne in the end to the benifitt thereof fore truth may bee imprisonned or entralled but can neuer bee vanquished beecause shee is contented with the smale number of her follwers and neuer caught with the multitude of men and let the spirit of counsell and wisedom inspire yee all with that discretion one to an other as being all of one mynde yee may with one mouth honor the Pastors and Bishoppes of your soules whom that great Pastor of flockes Iesus Christ hath ordayned in the blood of his eternall testament and that by the Charity of the holy Ghost yee stretch out the handes of your prayers to helpe mee your father in this â—â—y extreme perill wherby I may bee deliuered from those Infidells who forbid that in this my restraynte I should bee assisted with prayer a suffrage commonly beestowed both on the faythfull and vnfaythfull The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ bee with yee all who haue corrected your error concerning this wicked oath and bin worthily and humbly contryte therfore for the contrary syde I beeseech God either instantly to conuerte them or temporally to punish them vntill they amend and doe condigne pennance for their offence Thus wrote saint Thomas vnto his Cod Vat. lib. 3. Ep. 18. But it appeareth by the testimony of Iohn of Silisbury that all did not equally condescend to this oath and that persecution was threatned from the higher powers against such as refused to sweare For hee sayth It is a publicke reporte that the aboue mentioned Archdeacon of Canterbury perswaded the king to passe ouer into England and there to torture the Bishoppes with those of the Clergy who would not sweare against my Lord the Pope and their mother Church of Canterbury on euery syde is feare perplexitys on euery syde c. The king meane while did with all dilligence possible hasten to accomplish the Coronation at whitsuntyde but concerning such thinges as foreranne the same there is extant the relation of a faythfull freind who remayned with the king and often certifyed saint Thomas by letters of these and other occurrents but now in this sorte Ibid Ep. 10. The king must bee needes at London on Sunday next for hee hath then summoned thither out of all partes of the land the Archbishop of yorke together with all other Bishoppes and Barons that day will yorke assuredly crowne the kinges sonne his wife the king
king hearing before of the Archbishoppes comming sent some of his Courte vnto him passiing alsoe himselfe out of the Citty towardes him and meeting together not the eyes but the countenance of the king as it may bee sayde was setled on him Wherupon a thing noted by many of the Archbishoppes trayne neither did the king nor any of his vouchsafe to visite the Archbishop that night in his lodging but rather early in the morning caused a Masse for the deade to bee celebrated in his Chappel fearing as it was reported least if the Archbishop were there present hee would otherwise offer him at Masse the kisse of peace which then to refuse were not the parte of a Christian but Christes enemy When the Masse was ended the king departed the Citty hastening to the Parlee c. The Parlee with the Earle beeing finished saint Thomas speaking with the king beesought him that before his returne into England his possessions might bee restored which the king denyed saying hee should first returne and afterwardes haue restitution of his possessions And thus much concerning this encounter at Towers Saint Thomas came afterwards to the king as Herbert continuinge this history sayth at the Balde Mountaine neere Bloys where hee could obtayne nothing of the king but only promises without any performance Wherupon saint Thomas returning to Senon and taking his leaue of the king of France trauelled to the hauen of Whitesand there to take shippe for England and there sayth Herbert the Archbishop before hee embarked himselfe sent ouer first my Lord the Popes before rehearsed letters of the generall suspension of the English Bishoppes together with the Excommunication of some certaine of which number beeing Roger of Yorke Gilbert of London and Ioceline of Salisbury comming thether for passage into England did euen in the porte receaue their letters of Suspension and accursing But allthough the Archbishoppe had warning as well by the Earle of Boleyne as also by those who arriued from England that nothing but chaynes prysons and treasons were prepared for him in England Hee neuertheles answered Neither yet if I should bee torne peece-meale in sunder would I desiste from my intended iourney no force no torture shall retayne mee dastard-like any longer it sufficeth that our Lordes flocke hath now seauen yeeres mourned for their Pastors absence And what hee professed in wordes the same did this Saint also confirme by letter wryting to his king these his last lynes worthie an Apostolike man who dreaded not to suffer death for his flocke beeing these wordes It is knowne to Christ the searcher of hartes the iudge of soules and reuenger of sinnes ChaÌ„ Vat. li. 5. Ep. â—4 The last letter of saint Thomas to the kinge of England with how great purity of mynde and sincerity of affection wee concluded our peace with your Maiestie beeleiuing you would haue proceeded plainly and iustly with vs for what else most excellent Lord could wee conceaue of your wordes which either in arguing or courtesy out of your fauorable goodnes you communicated with vs The letter moreouer you directed to my Lord and king your sonne for restoring to vs and ours all the possessions wee held before our departure from England what could it pretend but good will peece and security but loe that which God knoweth wee accompt more greeuous for the edangering of your renowne then the losse of our commoditie the want of performance beareth no coulor of simple meaning or faythfull dealing for the restitution you willed to bee made to vs and ours was put of for fifteene dayes in regarde of Raynulphe with whom beeing of counsell to my Lorde your sonne they thought conuenient in the meane time to conferre about the accomplishment of this your commandement What manner of persons these are and how and with what iustice this busines is caryed you at your pleasure may examine For vs wee are perswaded all this is donne to the dommage of the Church with the danger of your saluation and renowne vnles with diligence you reforme it For the sayde Raynulphe meane while maketh hauocke of the Churches gooddes and euen now carryeth openly away in greate abundance our house-hould prouision as wee heare by their reporte who if it pleaseth you will bee ready to iustify the same and lastly hath vaunted in the presence of many that wee shall not long inioy your gratious peace beecause wee shall not eate a whole loafe in England beefore as hee threateneth hee beereaueth vs of life You knowe most excellent Lord hee is accessary of an offence who when it is in his power to correct an others sinne neglecteth to amend it And what can that Raynulphe doe but by your leaue and armed with your authority And what answer hee will make to the letter of my Lord and king your sonne wryting to him on this occasioÌ„ your wisedome will heare and iudge therof as it liketh you And beecause it is now manifed by apparant proofes that the holy Church of Canterbury mother of the Britanns perisheth for the very hatred of our life to the eÌ„d she may not dye but be freed of daÌ„ger we will by Gods grace in her quarrell expose our life as well to the sayde Raynulphe as other his coÌ„federates the Churches persecutors beeing prepared not only to dye but also to suffer a thousand deathes and all tormentes whatsomeuer for Christes sake if hee of his grace wouchsafe to graunte vs the fortitude of patience I determined my Lord 〈◊〉 haue returned vnto you but that necessity draweth me a wretch to my wretched Church repayring to her with your fauor and licence and it may bee perishing least otherwise shee perisheth vnles your piety vouchsafeth to yeelde vs presently some other coÌ„forte but whether wee dye or liue wee are and shall euer bee in our Lord yours and whatsoeuer beecommeth of vs and ours God euer blesse you and your issue And thus the good Shepheard beeing now ready to offer his life for his sheepe deliuered himselfe most Christian-like as the follower of Christ out of the purity of his conscience and the sincerity of his fayth which had bin able to haue melted Pharaos most hardened harte But in regarde as it is allready sayde beefore euer hee sett foote in England hee sent ouer the Popes letters of Excommunication and Suspension against the Bishops let none impute it to any rashnes of his for disturbing the publick peace but that whatsomeuer hee did was by the kinges counsell and approbation as hee often professed openly when his aduersaryes in England did on that occasion rise against him whose wordes soe many times recyted by Herbert in Quadrilogus are these Concerning the Bishoppes whom yee alleage to bee suspended or excommunicated by mee or thorough my procurement bee yee in your discretion without all doubt certifyed that whatsoeuer was done was by the kinges consent and counsell For when on the feast of saint Mary Magdalene a peace beeing concluded beetweene vs hee receaued mee into