by Ambrosius in a solemn Assembly Cleri Populi of Parliament and Convocation to express this matter in modern Terms By which may be guessed the irregularity and invalidity of Adeodatus his Ordination which was Ordain'd only by one Bishop of his Province who had received his own from such as were no lawfull Bishops as before and of Theodorus Arch-Bishop the Restorer of the Romish Religion in England who was Ordain'd by none in all this Province and came hither with Tyrannical Power against the will of the Bishops of this Province and to displace such as were regularly Ordain'd and Consecrated by the Bishops of this Territory who had lawful Power as Ceadda Archbishop of York by name whereby himself in the sence of the Catholick Church in the Canons before recited was neither Bishop nor Priest nor within Christian Communion whereby the Authority of the rest by and after him Ordain'd and the nature of the whole Roman-Catholick-Church built in this land upon such rotten Pillars may be scann'd and judg'd of with trust that there is mercy and compassion with God for the sincere in heart and Vengeance and Indignation against insolent disturbers and Tyrannical Hypocrites Which by the way might be the occasion that our Politick Popes in the Controversies heretofore berween the Sees of York and Canterbury for Priority after both sides were craftily well squeezed and lurch'd in their Purses referr'd this matter out of their moderation to be ended and detetmin'd by our own Kings as Edward the third did it under his great Seal as before whereby some Authority was by the way acquir'd to his Romish See of Canterbury which before he well knew had none at all by Church Canons by the Royal Patents of our Soveraign Kings which are favour'd by General a Con. in Trul. Can. 38. Chalc. Can. 17 Councils else for Kings to meddle in such Ecclesiastical concerns had been to touch the Apple of the Popes eye and to incurr the displeasure of St. Peter and St. Paul forever to the manifest hazard of their Crowns and Souls as there are Instances good store in matters of less offence and far more Temporal in their natures But our Popes will not stand to any Council but take themselves to be above them all which is the true reason of the Schism between the Eastern and Western Church or indeed of the Schism and departure of Rome from the whole Christian Church the true Catholick being ever govern'd by Laws and Canons but the Roman-Catholick affecting to be absolute and to Rule all Churches by its own Arbitary Will and Lust The former Arguments from General Councils though they are sufficient to satisfie all honest and right Christians yet our Popes are no more concluded by them than was Cromwell by Magna Charta unless therefore the Nullities of the Romish Church in England be prov'd from their own Rules and Principles and from their own mouths against themselves they are not prov'd home enough as to them to instance in two or three So tender are they and averse from shedding of bloud or would at least somtimes be so Accounted that their Clergy cannot be present b Con. Lateran Can. 18. at a Sanguinary Tryal but if they have the ill fate to kill a man though through mistake and chaunce they become Irregular for it and depriv'd of their holy Orders irrecoverably Much more then are they forever unclerk'd by Murder whereof if our Augustine the Monk was manifestly guilty in principal manner not towards one but towards one or two thousand Innocents no men of Arms but of the Book and Gown and Prayer then the Orders he had or conferr'd after that on others as on Justus and Mellitus made Bishops by him after this fact came all to nought as to them in fact or desert and their whole Romish Church and Ministry by consequence but that he was principally guilty of the barbarous Murder and Massacre of our Brittish Monks at Bangor as before c Juell 5 part defence 438. who by good Relation came out Bare-foot and Bare-head to beg their lives and was present at the place to encourage the slaughter for the better propagating of the Romish Faith or at the least had a great hand in this bloud is not denyed by impartial Antiquaries yea those methods us'd by Romish forgeries to palliate his crime by corrupting Bede's text and also by Enthusiastical Hypocritical praedictions to father this execrable massacre upon the Spirit of God these Arts and devices are so far from excusing that they prove and fasten it the more upon him and in a very high and nefarious manner His Orders therefore and his after Actings in the See of Canterbury were all null by their own Rules And his Communion and much more his Fatherhood in the Christian Faith to be disown'd and detested by all English Christians and true Catholicks forever in their own defence Besides Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury at a Council at Herutford pass'd this Canon which ownes and espouses the like Canons of the Ancient Church with their penalties d H. Spelman Concil p. 153. Vt nullus Episcoporum c. That no Bishop Invade the Diocess of another but rest content with the Government of his own charge But such was Brittain towards Theodore and to the Pope that sent him as well as to his Successors that followed him as before is largely and fully prov'd the Faith here being planted by the Apostles or their followers among the Brittains and by the Brittains amongst the English Therefore Theodore the restorer of the Romish Faith in England stands condemn'd he and his new Church and Successors by his own Law and sentence as well as Augustine its first founder Withall Pope Gregory himself who was the first root and contriver of our English Popery allowes not his Augustine to entrench upon the Gallican Church or the Bishop of Arles his Jurisdiction because saith he that were against Scripture and the Ancient Institution of the Fathers pointing at the several Canons of Councils before recited and to thrust one's Sickle into another mans Harvest But Brittain was a Province ever more distinct and exempt from Rome than Gallia as before is prov'd Therefore Augustine for his Intrusion stands condemn'd by his Pope And his Pope by himself for sending him And Theodore and his Successors by the same definition Withall it is observable why yet Pope Gregory subjected our Brittish but not the Gallican Church to the Romish Jurisdiction of Monk Augustine because saith he e Bede lib. 1. c. 28. ab Antiquis praedecessorum meorum temporibus Pallium Arelatensis Episcopus accepit I find the Bishops of Arles to have had their Pall from Rome in the times of my Ancient Predecessors that is because France was subject to Rome Brittain before was not Now this modest and humble Pope declares in several of his lib. 4. Epist 76 83 178. 194. Antiquitates Eccl. p. 43 45. Epistles extant
e Bed l. 1. c. 26. Bertha had so prepar'd Luidhardus her Chaplain who attended her was well able to consummate and to Baptize the King whom he had no doubt instructed in the Faith before which he was far more qualified to do than Augustine was or could be having not the Tongue nor that guift of Miracle What came this Monk so many Miles hither for was it for the souls health of the Saxons and to Preach the Gospel to them in conjunction with the Brittains as he here pretends he should have us'd some likely means towards the attaining of this end better ingratiated himself with the Brittains than to pick quarrels about trifles and tonsures and inconsiderable Ceremonies against the General e Bed lib. 1. c. 28. Instructions of his Pope honoured them with his communion as did Bertha and Luidhardus hinder'd confederacies with Pagans against them as did f Antiyuitat p. 34. Palladius in Scotland or as Leland Roundly and solidly reproves this Italian Hypocrisie and zeal of him and his Pope in the judgement of the learned and eloquent f Antiyuitat p. 34. Arch-Bishop Parker supposed to be the Author of Antiquitates Ecclesiasticae debuerat Gregorius admonuisse Saxonas gentem perfidem ut si sincerè Christianismum admittere vellent Britanniae Imperium quod contra Sacramentum militiae per tyrannidem occupaverant justis Dominis as possessoribus restituerent Pope Gregory by his Augustine ought to have admonished the Saxons who were a perfidious Nation that if they intended to embrace the Christian Faith in sincerity and to any purpose they should restore the Scepter of Brittain to the right Lords and owners who had hir'd them for their service and defence from whom on the contrary they wrested it by force and perjury against the Faith and honour of Souldiers But Cressy objects quiet Possession for 4 or 5 descents fron Hengist as if Emrys or Aurelius Ambrosius and Vther Pendragon and Arthur as well as Young Vortimer had made no re-enties But this seemed as unsuccessful Divinity with Augustine as to desire the leave and liking of the Brittains to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury over their heads or to be ordained and consecrated by the Brittish Bishops in order thereunto which he so far shunned that he went over Seas to France as far as Arles to g Bede lib. 1. c. 28. Etherius Arch-Bishop there to receive his consecration for Arch-Bishop of England and that saith Bede by the special directions of Pope Gregory which compar'd with the former passage of the same Pope concerning Brittain never having had a Pall from Rome and consequently never being Subject to or depending upon that See and their subsequent indefatigable Industry after Augustine's Plantation and succession was extinct of thrusting new Arch-Bishops from time to time and undervaluing all our Brittish consecrations manifestly proves the bottom of Romes design upon England that it was not Edification but Empire that was ever there aim though with the ruin of this Ancient Church if it could no other ways be compassed so Augustine had the face in a Synodical meeting of the Brittish Bishops near Worcester as before to require the Brittains to joyn with him assuming now to be an Arch-Bishop here against leave and Law and Canons to Preach the Gospel to the Saxons which was his pretext and Artifice to hook in their allowance and approbation of his unjust and Schismatical usurpation which subtile Proposal was difficult to be granted or denied but either with the Inconvenience of betraying their Church and Country and Christian communion by the Canons of the Church if they yeilded to joyn with him or having the odium of witholding the Gospel from the Saxon Pagans if they refus'd which is the true rise and State of this Infernal calumny rais'd again the Brittains of their denying to Preach the Gospel to the Saxons which induc'd the worthy and Reverend Author afore mention'd h Bed l. 2. c. 2 to conclude this meeting to have been contriv'd for a snare to get words of Indignation from them to provoke the Pagan Saxons to form a War against them to ruin the remainder of the Brittish Clergy in Wales and to cover the combination with Prophesie to Father the murder upon God to make it justice 3 And accordingly Ethelbert as Bede acknowledges h Bed l. 2. c. 2 provok'd Ethelfred King of Northumberland the chief Patron of Paganism and Enemy of the Christian Faith against them upon the score of the high words that passed between them and Augustine at that meeting and it is as easy to guess who informed and incensed his new convert King Ethelbert from his denunciation of War against them upon the place though in the form of Prophesie and Divine Revelation Si pacem cum fratribus accipere nollent bellum ab hostibus forent accepturi no small evidence with considering men i Antiquitates Ecclesiast p. 47. non conscius sed causa Belli p. 48. of this Apostles having a chief hand in the Barbarous ensuing murders and long and bloudy Wars and devastations that followed which he could so certainly fortell for these and other Saxon Kings coming with united forces against Brochwael Scythrawg Prince of Powys not so well provided for them and soon putting him to the rout at Legecestria saith Bede that is Westchester Wales being then larger than now it is and by the Brittains called Caerleon from a Roman Legion that quartered in that City sell in the next place upon the Monks that were with him in his Army and slew of them 1250. no more but fifty of them escaping Their assisting with their Prayers being made a pretence for this hostile usage by the Kings so saith Bede But the Norman Ancient M. S of Trivet in Spelman i Spelman Cnncil p. 112. saith that they were found in the City k Wheeloc not in c 2. l. 2. Bede and every one of them put to the Sword in cold bloud because they were Brittains the Latine copies of Bede add this to be done after the death of our Augustine but there is no such clause in any of the Saxon Manuscripts l Monachi pacem petentes crudeliter occisi H. Lhuid fragm Brit. p. 58. and Bishop Jewel finds Augustine's hand to several Charters signed some years after this Massacre committed in m M. Westm An. 603· 603. whereas our Augustine acording to our best Chronologers dyed not n Spelman Concil p. 93. till 613 so that He might well be present at the place of their slaughter o Jewel defense part 5. c 1. p. 438. If it was not according to some in 613. the same year that he dyed which was a bloudy Legacy encouraging their Executioners Whereby we have a tast of the Roman forgeries while they were masters of our Records and Manuscripts Nothing that seemed to make for their Church have they neglected to insert without either Art or Colour
the same time that he came for England being Contemporaries with Wilfrid whom Theodore unjustly both settled and unsettled in his Archbishoprick of York by whom one of them p Ubbo Emmius lib. 4. p. 131. Suidbert was Consecrated Bishop An. 695. for the Belgick Conversion Withall Bede expressly q Bed l. 5.12 saith that Egbert and the Ewalds were Irish Monks and Vsher r Usher 1168. 730. proves the like of Wilfrid yea it is notorious out of Bede that the English did generally flock to Ireland for their learning by whom they were not only furnished with Å¿ Bede l. 3. c 27. Books but likewise with their Saxonick letter which much agrees with the Character the Irish still use and as Antiquitaries assure was used by the Brittains before from whom the Irish had it so that mediately or immediately the Saxons had their learning from the Brittains but as to the Character from the Norman entrance both English and Brittains left it to follow the Roman which serves not the Brittish so well for Raphate letters as did the Saxon but multiplies their consonants too much and the Greek Character which Caesar saith they used in his time could not express all their Aspirate sounds neither was it probably used by our learned Druids who put nothing to writing and their posterity maintain'd that humour in the times of Christianity being not given much to scribling †Epistl as Gildas observes but their Divinity chiefly lay in Communicating knowledge to Friends Enemies Strangers by Oral instruction and holy living and above all in Hospitality and Syberwid and Brotherly love and charity towards one another and defending the weaker side and their Human learning lay in Laws Mathematicks and Astronomy c. which by Alguinus was conveyed to Charlemagne and the French c. and in the depth of Philosophy and Chymistry wherein Merlin say our Antiquaries was a great Master as their Recreations were not in Debauchery or Drinking but in Campio as they stil'd it or kind of Olympick exercises that tended to make them serviceable in War and above all in Poetry and Clera to blazon the Valour of their Worthyes the Hospitality of their Gentry and the contrary defects to the height c. Yet the Greek Character might well have been us'd amongst them for Commerce with Greek Merchants who much resorted here for Tin and some have conjectur'd that Brittain might thence have had its name from Bre-Tin Bre and Bro in the Brittish signifying Countrey and Tin the same as in English whereby Cymro q.d. cum regione and Cymru whereby the Welsh call themselves in the singular and plural signifies the same with Caesar's Aborigines or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if in Heathenish opinion they had grown together with the Land But there are several markes to prove that as they had their first Faith from the East more immediatly than other Nations of Europe so likewise their extraction and Communion of secret Learning from the Patriarchs in like manner I shall not insist but on three 1. The great Analogy and similitude between the Hebrew and Brittish Tongues not only in their u Praefat. Cram. Cambr. Dr. Davies Proununciation c. But especially in the forming of their Conjugations and Syntax by the help of pronounes in whole or in part prefix'd or affix'd That the beginning at the Pronoun is so great a key to master either Tongue that it hath been known by experience that one who never knew before his Hebrew Letters yet by that method was enabled to render an Hebrew Psalm into English and another English Psalm into Hebrew the director supplying the Dictionary But himself the Grammar and Regular terminations and all within the space of six hours in the same day The second is what will not suddainly find admission but is well proved by an x Apology for Learning c. p. 44. where the Phaenicians also are proved to have had their Learning hence as Plinie Nat. Hist l. 30. c. 1. believes the like of the Persians and the Original of their Magia English Author from Aristotle's own Confession and the concurrent Testimonies of Diogenes Laertius and Clemens Alexandrinus c. That the Graecians had their Letters and Philosophy from the Inhabitants of this Isle That all came from the East Originally was never doubted but that through our Ancestors to the Greeks many have not adverted and if this be granted as it proves a greater Intimacy and acquaintance between Brittain and the East than between them and their next Neighbours so also must it follow touching the Greek Character that here was us'd in the time of Caesar that the y Annius Viterb in Beros Antiq. lib. 5 â—â—r of Caesar Xenophon Josephus c. proves the Greeks to have had their Letters not from Cadmus but the Celtae or the Galli and the Galli from Dis Samothes the Father of the Samotheans in this Isle called by us Samoth y sâ—r from his skill in Astronomy whereby it is probable the Brittains came from Sem while the rest of Europe from Japheth whence in their Language and Customes they agree more with the East Greeks had it from the Brittains not the Brittains from the Greeks The third is wherein our Heathen Druids exceeded all other Heathen Philosophers whatsoever and arriv'd within a step of Holy Church not only in their firm establish'd perswasions of the immortality of the Soul which perhaps hath had such influence upon their posterity whereas that Attribute is a Mâ—ot-case in Cicero and the Ancient Romans though held in the affirmative but the Principles of our Modern Roman Christians undermine and destroy the existence and being of the Subject nothing being so hateful at Rome as private judgment or Conscience which is the same with the Soul But in their Rules and observations of Excommunication recorded by Caesar Si quis privatus aut populus Druidum sententiis non steterit sacrificiis Interdicunt c. If one or many refuse to stand to the sentence of their Druids they suspend him from their Sacrifices which amongst them is the greatest punishment one can undergo whosoever stand so interdicted are reckon'd amongst the number of the wicked and accurs'd and all forsake them and shun their access or speech lest they be any way defil'd thereby to their hurt neither are they admitted to Sue or have the benefit of the Law nor put in any place of Honour All these Druids have one President over them The Discipline was found in Brittain and thence carried over into Gallia from whence they flock over in great numbers to know it more exactly So Caesar lib. 6. de bello Gallico Whereto the like Discipline is not to be met in any other Ages or Nations but only amongst the Jews who were Gods only people and in the primitive Church who were the best of Christians For no Church or Religion true or false can subsist without separation and distance from
his Native Countrey had stronger and more undoubted obligations upon him upon the like score having his birth and second birth and Conversion from the one and but the Instituted Ceremony if true and certain from the other so that upon the self same reason and merits of this pretended Charter that all other Churches were declared Subject to it it is to be believed in all justice and equity that Brittain was declared Exempt For if the Emperour Justinian was so kind and noble towards the place of his birth and Conquest in Dacia and Africa as by his imperial Prerogative to exalt them into absolute Primacyes freeing them from the obedience and subjection they formerly paid to other superiour Chairs how can it be imagined that the Generous Spirit of Constantine compounded of Roman and Brittish Honour should forget the place where he was Born and Re-born which all men remember to their last Gasp as Poets paint it both Human and Divine Nescio quâ natale solum dulcedine cunctos saith one Dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos r Virgil. saith another And the Prophet more Divinely If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I do not remember thee left my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Psalms 137.6 7. For what is more remember'd and tender'd from first to last by all men and Christians than their Countrey the type of God whence they had their being or what is more every one 's Jerusalem on Earth than his Church the type of Christ where he had his better and Eternal being How unthankful therefore and perfidious to the honour of their Countrey and of their Prince the representative and type thereof must they needs appear that for any present Interest and private advantage or unaccountable Custom and Education shall go about to advise or perswade him to yield against Princely trust and honour and obligation of descent and birth this most Ancient free-born Church of Brittain to be a slave and Captive a fresh to Rome after her miraculous rescue and deliverance by the hands of Princes the heads of States-men the hearts of Divines the finger of God the Acclamations of all good men and at such a time the one being in its greatest Degeneracy with neither Truth nor Empire of its side to make it lovely or considerable as heretofore and the gall and soreness on the Neck of the other from its former yoak not yet fully healed nor forgot Neither are the pretences of London or ſ Lhûn Effigies Dain Diana Brittain Brit. Prydain Pryd forma vultus Diana was a great Goddess in Asia Act. 19. as also in Brittain agreeing with the East in Idolatry as afterward in Religion Lhundain in the Brittish .i. Diana's shrine Acts 19.24 to the Brittish Primacy Inferiour to those of York being for populousness and wealth and Situation the knowen Metropolis of this land all along from the Resurrection and before and by consequent presumption our Patriarchal See as our t Math Westm An. 601. 604. Usher 66.67 p. 127. Ancient Historians are generally of Opinion Founded by King Lucius at St. Peters Cornhill as most believe or St. Peters Thorney or Westminster according to D. Heylin's conjecture which likewise u Polyder Virgil lib 4. p. 71. had its first building from the same King who according to our Brittish Chronicles was Baptized x Idem p. 56. at Troynovant or London with all his Family where according to the Moelmutian Laws was the Imperial Crown of this Island kept and in all probability the Residence of King Lucius and the first Metropolitan y Usher 68.69 Chair by consequence long before the time of Constantine well nigh two hundred years and Pope Gregory sending his chief Pall for London proves as much by his following the track And accordingly we find Arch-Bishop Guitelin or Cyhelyn to Crown King Constantine and to have the charge z Histor Brittannic lib. 6. c. 4.5 of his children Aurelius Ambrosius and Vther Pendragon the priviledge of the chief Primate of England to this day And Fitz Stephen a Londoner will have Constantine the Great to be born at London and her Walls to be built by him at the request of a Usher p. 175. Helena And though he resided at York as other Emperours before him for greater watch and terrrour on the Frontiers of the Empire and was forward enough to honour and exalt the See of York into high dignity and Priviledge yet not to the wrong and prejudice of the Ancienter Arch-Bishoprick of London in the same Countrey and that his own and Eborius of York might take place of Restitutus of London in the Council of Arles by reason of his years as the Elder man and not by reason of his See And if the See of London was thus above the See of York which had as a fore such good right and merit to be above any other See in Christendom whether Constantinople or Rome it self how Ancient and Sacred must the Primacy of London then be And yet this See we find Rome to have used her greatest Power to suppress and keep under from first to last York continuing an Archbishoprick to this day But London the Original Primacy of Great Brittain swallowed up by the pride of Popish Canterbury for about a thousand years together And Caerleon upon Wysc now St. David had no less a right than the other two to chief Primacy here in Brittain by that dear title of Redemption as it were being the Royal seat of King Arthur who by his zeal and valour in the Cause of Christ and his Countrey was the Saviour of the Brittish Church and Monarchy in his time as such deliverers are term'd in Scripture Obadiah v. ult from the Pagan-Invasion of the Saxons rebuilding their Churches Monasteries Nunneries saith Geoffrey restoring their Clergy and Orders and setling Bishops and Pastors in their several Sees and charges as his Chaplain Pyramus made Archbishop of York by him a Histor Britt l. 9. c. 8.14 15. l. 11. c. 3. convocato clero populo in a full Parliament and Convocation held at York the Feast of Christmass As at his great and solemn Feast held in the time of Pentecost at Caerleon at the like assembly of the Clergy and Laity David a Histor Britt l. 9. c. 8.14 15. l. 11. c. 3. was made Archbishop of Caerleon Maugan of Silcester Dwywan of Winchester Eledanius of Alcluid or Dunbritton as we find Theon Bishop of Gloucester translated to the Archbishoprick of London shortly after his death In a word he either clear'd the land after several great Fights of all the enemies of his Countrey and Religion or gave them terms wresting the sword out of their hands and b Apud Usher 1129. Hist Britt l. 8. c. 8. Ubbo Emmius l. 3. p. 107. recommending the Catechism instead As did his Uncle b Apud
want that make it their blind study and zeal to enslave this Ancient free Church and Nation with their own Souls and judgments and likewise their posterity to a titular degenerate Church that stands depos'd and Excommunicate in all their Clergy and Laity for disobedience to Christian Laws by all the general Councils that have met both the best and worst by 1. Nicenum Concilium Can. 6. Anno Christi 325. 2. Constantinopol 1 um Can. 2. Anno Christi 381. 3. Ephesinum Can. 8. Anno Christi 431. 4. Chalcedonense Can. 12. Anno Christi 451. 5. 6. Quini-sextum in Trullo Can. 55. Anno Christi 681. 7. Nicenum secundum Can. 3. Anno Christi 788. 8. Constantinople 4 tum Can. 1 12. Anno Christi 871. Besides Nullities from Invasion which the true Catholick Church of Christ in all Ages hath so much abhorr'd The Roman-Catholick Church in England hath several Nullities in the Ordinations of her chief Clergy all along had their entrance been Caanonical and with Invitation Not to mention Monk Augustine's own Ordination the first pretended Archbishop which against so many Councils he went over Seas to receive from the hands of Etherius Bishop of Arles by the order of his Pope when there were Bishops enough in Brittain who had right to do it and without whom the Ordination was invalid and of no effect by the Canons as well as his whole clerical degree and all his Christian capacity was under disability by his Intrusion unless c Concil Arelat Can. 2. he had remain'd in France in the Province wherein he was Ordain'd Therefore Mellitus and Justus whom he ordain'd alone the one for London the other for Rochester were no Bishops in Law because ordain'd by him that was none himself and by him d Concil Arelat Can. 20. alone without other Bishops to assist which was also against the Canons as shall further appear Laurentius his Ordination the next Archbishop of Canterbury after Augustine was null and void several wayes because Ordain'd by Augustine himself for his Successor in his life-time which Act of his was contrariant to the 23th Canon of the Council of Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a Bishop ought not to ordain and constitute his own Successor after him in his life-time for if any such thing be done such Act or constitution is void and null but let him rather observe the Laws of the Church which prescribes such promotion to be no otherwise legally made but by a Synod and the suffrages of Bishops who after the death of the Predecessor have power and Authority to chuse for successor him they shall esteem most worthy The 76 Canon of the Apostles is interpreted by Scholiasts to the same effect And this Act was the more inexcusable in our Puny Augustine because the great St. Augustine to whom it was a grief to be chosen Bishop of Hippo in the life-time of his Predecessor through Inadvertence or Ignorance of the Canon had provided a Canon in the Council of Carthage confirm'd afterwards in a general Council that the Decrees of Councils should be read at all Ordinations for the future to prevent the like Inconvenience It was likewise void because done by Augustine who himself was no lawful Archbishop and also done by him alone which was a further Illegality as before Neither could Mellitus who was no Bishop because ordain'd by Augustine be a lawful Archbishop in the third place nor Justus in the fourth by the same reason nor Paulinus Archbishop of York because ordain'd by Justus Nor Honorius a fift Archbishop of Canterbury because Ordain'd by Paulinus nor Felix Bishop of the East-Angels if Ordained by Honorius which is an Additional Argument for the ascribing of the Conversion of that Province to Brittish Ministry Thus having prov'd the Ordinations of such Archbishops of Canterbury as were Italians to be nul and void which was the first foundation of the Romish-Catholick Faith in England Adeodatus the 6th Arch-Bishop who was an English-man but not of the Brittish or Oswaldian Northern Ordination which was the same but of the Romish being Ordain'd by one single Bishop Ithamar Bishop bf Rochester as before because there were no more left of the Roman way throughout the Isle his Ordination was also void as well as the rest by several Canons of the Church whereof I shall recite a few in such Order as shall give a further sight and prospect of the Government and Ordinations of the first Primitive Church followed by no Church more exactly than by our own Ancient Brittish the first Canon shall be the fift of Sardyca by which it appears a Bishop was to be chosen by the People and all the Bishops of the same Province meeting Synodically and what care is there taken least any one should be unsummoned or unacquainted with an Ordination that was to ensue as if all were void if any one were neglected or passed by And the description 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a lawful Synod for such a purpose in the 16 Canon of Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so to be understood that then and there a Synod is Right and Perfect were the Metropolitan himself is present as well as the rest of his Brethren For neither were to Act without the other by the 34 Canon of the Apostles before Cited which Orders the Bishops of every Nation to know their Metropolitan and Chief on the one hand and to esteem him as their head or their Ecclesiastical Prince And on the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that the Metropolitan should do nothing without their advice and liking for so Concord and Unanimity should be Established and God should be glorified through Christ in the Holy Spirit Which is all comprizâ—d in the 4th Canon of Nice A Bishop ought to be Ordain'd by all the Bishops of his Province if it be possible but if this be Impracticable through some urgent necessity or two great distance of place there must certainly be three Bishops at the least gather'd together at the place and they to have the Proxies of those that are absent and so to Proceed to Ordination but the Confirmation of the Elect must ever belong in every Province to the Metropolitan By which is understood the Right Original meaning of the first Canon of the Apostles generally practiz'd at this day whereby a Bishop is to be Ordain'd by two or three Bishops And that Originally Bishops were to be Chosen and Consecrated and Confirm'd by the whole Communalty of their Province as well Lay as Clergy as is evident out of Cyprian and the 13 Canon of Laodicea which altered that custom and is acknowledged by the Scholiast upon this Canon and by the Principal parts of the Community which answer to the whole and by the King and Head of the Community which represents them all so our Brittish Bishops were chosen in a Synod saith Cambrensis and we have shewed before that our Metropolitans were David by King Arthur Dubritius
Wight any more oblig'd to Rome for their first Gospel than those of East-Angels though the Monkish Writers are seldom wanting to set forth or enlarge with Legends any the least title which Rome hath to pretend Therefore on their part they alledge that Wilfrid driven from his Arch-Bishoprick of York by Egfrid the Son of Oswi King of Northumberland retir'd and Preached the Gospel in these parts and Converted several and erected a Monastery at Sealsy e Cambden where afterwards the Bishoprick of Chicester was first settl'd and brought the Isle of Wight to believe by the Preaching of Hildila and Berwin his Sister's Sons whom he sent amongst them But Bede could not but acknowledge that f Bede lib. 4. c. 13. Math. Westm 661. Edilwalch King of the South-Saxons was long before Baptiz'd in the Province of Mercia where the Faith was Brittish by the perswasions and means of King Wolfer who was his Godfather at his Baptism and bestowed upon him up on the score of this Spiritual adoption and his encouragement in the Faith the Isle of Wight and Meansborrow whereupon he sent also g Monastic Anglic. part 1. p. 65. Bede l. 4. c. 13. Eopa and Pedda and Bruchelin and Oida to Preach the Gospel there to the English where the Brittains had long †Usher p. 464. before Communicated it his Queen being also a Christian Baptiz'd in her own h Ibid. Countrey before the Province of the Wiccij or Worcester a Brittish Christian Diocess then and long before Neither wanted it a little Monastery i Ibid. of the Irish whereof Dicul was the Abbot to support the Plantation which in every respect whether of King or Queen or Monks or first Preachers sent amongst them was of Brittish settlement and Instistution and that before the arrival of Wilfrid whose coming if it were for Seisure and Dominion was disorderly and Schismatical thrusting his sickle into another's Harvest if for common assistance it was an Act of charity and kindness deserving present Thanks but not at all creating an eternal Superiority to Rome over this Province besides that Wilfrid's coming hither is owing in part to the North of England whence he came being himself k Idem lib 5. c. 20. Originally of Aidan's Oswaldian Monastery and ordained by Agilbertus Arch-Bishop of Paris of Irish l Idem lib. 3. c. 7 28. that is Brittish Institution And though he warped from his own Church to Rome upon the score of Easter and created great troubles to himself as well as others through his errours m Guil. Malmesbury de gestis Pontif. l 3. de Arch. Eborac Spelman p. 157. and Ambition and Ignorance being verily perswaded that the Golden Number which the Brittains slighted was a traditon of St. Peter His errour and seduction being built upon a false supposition was virtually and in the general renounc'd and disown'd by him as the soul fundamentally dissents from all Impostures and Fallacies whereby his frailty in one particular became no obstacle or hindrance to our South-Saxons but that the rest of his Ministry was wholly Brittish and that neither upon his score much less on the others are they at all oblig'd to Rome as the Mother of their Faith add to this which sort of Argument ought to be of weight with credulous Romanists the great veneration over all this Territory to the memory of n Bede l. 4. c. 14. St. Oswald the great restorer of the Brittish Church and to the day of his death upon which by a particular prediction of St. Peter and Paul appearing on purpose to set up his honour here they were assured of their deliverance from a great Mortality and Famine which heavily had raged amongst them But suppose they had been wholly and entirely converted by Roman Ministry and no other their thanks and Prayers had been due for ever to their spiritual deliverer though Forreign as afore but their obedience and subjection was due to their own Governours at home nevertheless Neither was the case and Roman Interest much better in Kent into which corner of England their whole plantation was at last reduc'd where it first began as it is observed and confessed with a kind of Lamentation that after the death and overthrow of King Edwin and the Retreat of Paulinus from his Arch-Bishoprick of York to Rochester o Praefat Monast Angl part 1. Ecclesia Itaque Anglicana intra Cantianos limites iterum redacta est neque ulla ad huc fuerat Episcoporum successio praeterquam Roffensium Cantuariorum The Church of England saith a Gentleman of great learning and moderation was again reduc'd within the bounds of Kent neither had they any succession of Bishops but only at Rochester and Canterbury But it was the Roman Church of England that was so reduc'd and worse after their Bangor Massacre but the Brittish Church of England might with ease have been observ'd to be replanted in its place over all the land and that Principally by the means of Oswald under God and Cadwalhan that restored him though the Son of Ethelfred who was Augustine's chief Instrument totally to suppress and destroy it though to his own ruin in the event verifying therein the Brittish Proverb a fynno dhrwg iw gymydog iddo ihun i daw The mischief one intends to his neighbour returns upon his own head But we shall further prove our Roman Colony to be very much unsettled and indeed eradicated within its Kentish limits For not to mention the total devastation of Kent its Churches and Monasteries by the malignant Army of p Bede lib 4. c. 12. Edilred King of Mercia as before and Putta Bishop of Rochester relinquishing his ruin'd See and ending his dayes in Mercia as it fared no better with Bishop Willelm put in to succeed him to make up the breach of whom Will. of Malmesbury faith q Will. Malmesb. lib 4. c. 12. prae inopiâ ab Episcopatu discessit he was forc'd to quit his Bishoprick for meer want and hunger And the See of Canterbury the Mother of the rest established here at first Schismatically against all right and Canons was partaker of the like Judgements and calamities And whether the Church of Rome ever faild from its first beginnings I shall now enquire but certain and manifest it is the Roman Church in England had its Period and Cessation and death For Bede himself expresly acknowledges r Bed 3. c. 28. Non erat tunc ullus excepto Wini in totâ Britttannià Canonicè ordinatus Episcopus That when Ceadda was to be Consecrated Archbishop of York about the year 668. there was not one Bishop left in the whole Isle of Brittain that was Canonically ordain'd that is with him by Roman Bishops but Wini alone all the rest being of Brittish Ordination from whom accordingly Ceadda had his Consecration And it is as clear by the unanimous ſ Idem lib. 3. c. 7. Mat. Westmin A. 666. G Malmesb. de
their Antiquity and first Establishment for want of sueing out their Palls from Rome then by the same reason the whole Primitive Church of Christ for 300 years before Marcus or 500. before these Investures by Palls came to be in full mode and fashion was no lawful Church had no lawful Officers neither Patriarchs nor Metropolitans nor Bishops c. no more than the Brittish And then the Issue between us and Rome is come to this disjunction If Rome be the true Catholick Church by the vertue of its Palls The Primitive Apostolical Church that wanted this Churchifying Livery was no Church If the Primitive Apostolical Church was a true Catholick Church which none but Antichrist will deny then the Church of Rome by their own new Principles is no Catholick Church So that by the self-same character and measure whereby they wrongfully Unchurch'd our Brittish and Impiously by consequence Unchurch'd the whole Primitive Church to boote by their own Law and sentence as it were by a judgement upon them they Pall-mall have justly and deservedly Vnchurch'd themselves Having thus evicted them by their own Principles out of their Usurped right and title to the name and being of a Church much less the Catholick Church and wrested from them their Patriarchal flag and claim of Supremacy over our Brittish Churches upon which of our own Metropolitan Sees we ought to reare and fix this Ensign of Primacy as its Ancient Right and Honour is both a hard question to decide and no question at all in diverse respects For if the question be of Fact where the Primacy was lodg'd and seated whether at York or London or Caerleon ar-Wysc it is hard to determine it there being so much from Antiquity to be alledg'd for each For York there is this to be said Not only that at the Council of Arles Eborius Arch-Bishop of York Subscribes before the other two but that York was the Seat of the Roman Emperours when they resided here and the Praetorium of Brittain and in all consequent probability the Seat of the Brittish Patriarch or Primate therefore And the place of Constantine's Birth as our Embassadours argue in the Council of Constance for the right of Precedency against France n Usher p 175. Domus Regalis Angliae inter plures sanctos palmites c. The Royal house of England amongst many other holy branches not easy to be numbred is certainly known to have brought forth St Helena and her Son Constantine the Great who was born at York And our Embassadours in the Council of Basil against the like pretence of Castile or Spain urge o Usher p. 990. Constantinum illum magnum qui primus c. That Constantine the Great who was the first Christian Emperour who ordered so many Churches to be built over all the World contributing vast treasures thereunto was born at Perterna in the City of York Which name is conjectured to be retained to this day in the Vicar's Chorall's buildings there which is call'd p Monast Angl. part 1 p. 171. Bederne which with Christ-Church adjoyning stil'd in old Charts St. Trinity-Church in the Kings Court is conceived to be part of the old Imperial Palace by the great Arch-Bishop Vsher and Bramhall and to add to their conjecture the word in the Brittish signifies the same as Praetorium with little allowance to the alteration made by time and by different Language For Penteyrnas is the Brittish word for Praetorium signifying as much as the q Dictionar Cambrobrit Dris Davies Pen caput teyrnas Regnum Head of the Kingdom or Empire which the Embassadors cite Perterna and is since retainâ—d in Bederne and perhaps in Bedhran the next Street adjoyning to their Minster q. d. their Perterna or old Pallace Now the great Metropolitan or Patriarchal Sees of Christendom whether Antioch or Constantinople c. have not more nor so much to offer in behalf of their several Primacyes within their several preeincts nor Rome it self with Truth and soberness than York for the Primacy of Brittain For the best and chiefest title is from the Seate of the Empire and chief prefecture ingeniously so acknowledged by the Council of Constantinople and Chalcedon wherein York is equal and several wayes before them in Seniority or Dignity or both being the primâ— See of Brittain and with Antioch it self co-temporary in the Faith as the English Embassadors alledg'd in the Council of Basil whose Chair is acknowledged by the consent of all Antiquity to be founded by St. Peter 7 years before that of Rome but far out-vying it for the lustre of both Royal and Imperial dignity and Christian Primogeniture But Rome hath two other broken titles out of both which she feign would make up one good one as he that made two heyres of half bloud to be equal in right with one of the whole that of St. Peter's Rock whereon the Church that is the Roman as they begg the question was founded and the other of Constantine's Donation as his gratuity for his Baptism by the first were all their canting Interpretations true which have been often sufficiently baffled they can have no more right than Antioch which was alike founded by St. Peter by their own Confession and other more certain evidence than Rome can produce for her chair which is as it were of the second venter yet Brittain was never Subject to Antioch but Equal and Co-ordinate much less to Rome though agreeing more in Customs and Communion with the one than with the other yet such is the disease and unreasonable pride of Rome that she exalts her self above both And St. Peter is brought to rob not Paul alone but Peter And the Junior Daughter to claim Precedency and Birth-right against the Senior and the crack'd suspected Patent to be a better and firmer title than the true and undoubted Neither is the other pretence from Constantine's guift more vail'd against Brittain were it true which many of themselves are asham'd off For suppose he had been Baptiz'd by Pope Sylvester at Rome and not in the River Jordan as most believe especially the Greeks and Platina dissents not about the latter end of his dayes as the Custom then was for surer remission of sins against any new crimes and forfeitures and that he had resigned Rome and its Territories to the Pope withdrawing to Constantinople out of Reverence to him as to a greater man and the Dignity of Roman Senators who were equal to Kings to his Cardinals and all his Robes and Ensigns of Empire with an Universal Supremacy over the Churches of Christendom as the Donation r Photii Nomocan Tit 8. c. 1. recites yet sure not without some exception at the lest touching Brittain not only because he could better part with his own Civil rights than with the old Ecclesiastical Rights of Churches enjoyed from Christ before Magistrates became Christian and in future Councils submitted to Christian Emperours for honour while Christians but because Brittain
without strein as several Instances are given in Cambden and Bochartus And the Inhabitants of Galatia to whom St. Paul writ his Epistle were observed by St. Hierome h Pref. Epist ad Galat. to speak the same Language he heard spoken at Treviri or Treves which Town fairly bears a Brittish Etymology Tref-Hir signifying a long Town or Trefor a great Town as that needs must be where Maximus from Brittain fix'd his Imperial Seat with his Brittish Legions about him as Brennus also is known to have reduc'd Galatia by his Armes from whom very probably the Brittains called a King Brenhin ever after like Winnin from Winne as before as the Romans did their Caesars and the Persians their Arsacidae and the Aegyptians their Phaaro's and as the Irish to this day call the Brittains Branach q. d. The men of Brennus Yet no such affinity can be observ'd between the Modern French and our Brittish Language in one word of 100. which is some Argument the other is extinct unless it be in some Ancient words resembling the Latine in both which the Latines rather borrowed from them than they from the Latines for though it must not be denyed but that such words in our Brittish Tongue as savour of the Roman Conquest were derived from the Latine as Lheon from Legio Mis Aust from the month of Augustus Emrodwr from Imperator as also such other words as crept in from Communion with Churches as Eglwys from Ecclesia or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mynwent from Monumentum a Church-yard Ffydh from fides Lhîth from Lectio â—endith from Benedictio as the Modern English and French dayly borrow for ornament in abundance yet there is no reason that the rest of our Ancient Brittish words that border upon the Latine should be said to be borrowed from it as Aur Aurum Tâ—r Terra Mor Mare Marw Mori Cîst Cista Celh Cella Lhâ—dh Clades Alt Altum Mur Murus Calch Calx Culhelh Cultellus Fenest Fenestra Gwydr Vitrum Pont Pons Sych Siccus Porth Porta Pysg Pisces Aradr Aratrum Medhig Medicus c. No more than Trimarchia or tri march tres equi or Petoritum Pedwar Râ—yd quatuor vada or Pimpedula Pimp-deilen quinque folia c. But there is good reason and proof that the Latines rather borrowed such words from the Gallick and consequently from the Brittish which is suppos'ed to be the same for so i lib. 1. c. 5. Quintilian a Competent Judge of his own Language puts this matter past doubt when he affirms the Latine Tongue to have plurima Gallica very many Gallick words intermingled in it which was occasion'd by the neighbourhood of the Celtae saith k Jo. Vossius Praef. de vitiis serm Vossius and the Highlanders call the Southern Brittains Cealt to this day to which may be added the Victories of Brennus as another good cause Seeing therefore the Old Gauls were suppressed in all respects by their French or German Conquerours for haâ—dly any Nation escaped so entire and distinct in People and Language without mixture or alteration under the Chastisements of Christendom by Goths and Saxons and Normans as our Brittains The French Christianity now must have the same Original and derivation with the German which we before shewed either more Anciently or Modernly to be from Brittain though Lucius or Willibrord or Winifrid As likewise by the same reason the modern Faith of Rome is to be derived from the Audian Schismaticks from whom the l Epiphan in Audianis Audius being banished into Scythia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Instructed many Goths changing the names of Christians from Christ into Audians from Audius Goths who fully Conquer'd them and chang'd their place and people and Language derived theirs And so it were with the Modern Inhabitants of Lhoegr or England if it were not well known and proved that the Saxons who subdued them had not their first Faith from any other Nation but from hence And the French or German Christianity of Gallia was chiefly Nurs'd upon Brittish breasts as it remotely proceeded from a Brittish womb for thither went St. Leonorius m Usher p. 1012 a Bishop of our Brittain to King Childebert the Son of Clodovaeus the first Christian King of the French with 72 Disciples to propagate the Gospel among his people being received with great Honour by the King his Queen Vltrogodi and the Peers of his Realm for his good design Hither their Kings from time to time did use to send for supply of Learned Teachers for themselves n Ubbo Emmius lib. 4. p. 126. c. and Neighbours as did the Pipins and Martell and Charlemagne who being the favorite of the Pope and so great and Learned an Emperour had not sent hither for Teachers Tutors and Professors for his Universities if from any other parts of Europe he could have been better furnish'd To these Isles their Students flocked as we instanced in Agilbert Arch-Bishop of Paris out of Bede lih 3. c. 7. to study sound Divinity to feed their flocks at home as did their Predecessors the old Gauls to our Druides to learn Philosophy and Law c. or as now-a-days our Modern Gentry repair to them to learn Ceremony and Complement and by consequence a Tacit dread and Reverence by degrees for their Nation for the Giver or Master is more excellent than the Receiver or Disciple whether it be Pearls or Pebbles that they deal in which any Ignorant or willful fancy can give equall price and value to as to it self To answer therefore the exceptions before against the full Plantation of the Gospel in Germany by Winifrid c. which Rome claims a greater right to because though their extraction was from England yet either their learning and knowledge or at least their Mission and Commission to Preach and reward and dignity for it was from Rome To answer to the first if those English Doctors had their knowledge and learning from Rome It was either before or after the arrival of Monk Augustine hither Pope Gregorie's Lamentation over them for their darkness when he met the English Youths in the Roman marker and the confession of their own Historians that they were Populus Barbarus Et armorum tantum gnarus a wild and a rude People skilful at nothing but the Club is enough to disprove the first if after either from himself or Successors we shall not so farr distrust our Character before of his parts and learning out Bede as to magine any can believe so large and Divine a stream as water'd Europe over after the Gothish drought and desolation could proceed from such a pumice if from his successors o Ubbo Emmius l. 3. p. 109. either from those that preceeded or suceeded Arch-Bishop Theodore The first we proved to be soon worn out and all Chairs amongst the English before Theodores entrance to be filled by the Brittains and at his entrance it was too late for them to learn having set for Holland about