from Bishops Neque laico permiâuâous facere opus aliquod Sacerdotale vt sacrificium aut Baptismum aut impositionem man us aut benedictionem siue paruam siue magnam Nemo enim sibi sumit honorem sed qui vocatur a Domine huiusmodi namque gratia per impositionem manuum Episcopi datur Neque Presbyteris potestatem damus ordinandi Diaconos aut Lectores aut Ministros sed Episcopis tantum Hic enim est Ecclesiasticus ordo Cum à Deo consequenâiam rerum didicerimus Episcopis quidem assignauimus aâtribuimus quae ad principatum Sacerdotij pertinânt Presbyteris vero quae ad Sacerdotium Deinde Diaconis quae ad ministrandum vtriusque vt puâè castè fiant quae ad Religionem pertinent Neque enim sas est Diacono sacrificium offerre aut baptizare aut benedictionem fiue paruam siue magnam facere neque Presbytero ordinationem ClericoruÌfacere Ostensum est Anâistitum Ordinem perficientem esse perfectionis authorem Non licet sine Episcopo baptizââe neque dothen celebrare Neither doe we permit âhe Laeâie to doe any Priestly functiân as to offer Sacrifice baptize impose hands or to giue any Benediction either litle or great For no man taketh this honour to himselfe but âe who is called by God Because this grace is giuen by the imposition of the Bishops hands Neither doe we giue vnto Priestes the power of ordaining Deacons or Lectours or Ministers but onely to Bishops This is the order of the Church When we did lerne the sequell of things from God indeede what appertained to the principalitie of Pâiestes we assigned and gaue it to Bishops and to Priestes what belonged to Priestehoode afterward to Deacons what appertained to the assistance of both that these things which concerned Religion might be performed chastly and cleanely Neither is it lawfull for a Deacon to offer Sacrifice or to baptize or to make any Benediction either litle or great neither for Priestes to ordaine Clergie-men It is declared the Order of the Bishops is the perfecting Order and authour of perfection It is not lawfull without a Bishop to baptize nor to offer Sacrifice nor to saie Masse 6. Wherevppon the English Protestants in their most publicke and authorised proceedings thus acknowledge It is euident vnto all men diligently reading holy Scripturs and auntient authors that from the Apostles time there hath beene these orders of ministers in Christ Church Bishops Priests and DeacoÌs which offices were euermore had in such reuerent estimation that no man might presume to execute any of them except he were first by publike praier and imposition of hands approued and admitted therevnto And these orders should be continued and reuerently vsed and esteemed in this Church of England And in this both their booke intituled Of Consecration of Archbishops Bishops Priests as their Articles of Religion and coÌmon practise doe onely allowe and commit such thinges to them whome they call and apprehend to be Bishops saying Allmightie God giuer of all good things by his holy spirit hath appointed them in the Church Episcopall Order is of diuine Ordination and by law diuine Christ acted it by the hands of the Apostles It is an ordinance Apostolicall He hath enacted it for succeding posteritie and so it is a Canon or Constitution of the whole Trinitie Wherevpon the Protestant PuritaÌs conclude If prelacie be de Iure diuino by the lawe of God it receiueth both breath and life from the Religion of Rome And this they offer Publikly to defend and the Parlament Protestants so grauÌte claiming that Ministrie they haue by ordination from Rome Wherevpon these Puritans with generall assent haue thus concluded They cannot see how possibly by the Rules of Diuinitie the separation of our Chuâches from the Church of Rome and from the Pope head thereof can be iustified They protest to all the worlde that the Pope and the Church of Rome and in theÌ God and Christ Iesus himselfe haue had great wronge and Indignitie offered vnto them and that the Protestant Churches are scismaticall in forsaking the vnitie and communion with them If the English Protestant opinion he maintained That Bishops Iurisdiction is de Iure diuino by the lawe of God his Magestie and all the Nobilite ought to be Subâect to Excommunication 7. Which neither king Nobles or vnnoble no meanest Protestants of England can âoubt feare or pretend against the Bishop of Chalcedon he neither hauing or claiming the âeaste spirituall power or Iurisdiction ouer âny one great or little highe or lowest Protestant in EnglaÌd His Episcopall both Order ând Iurisdiction which as he construeth beâongeth vnto it extending onely to Cathoâiks of this kingedome to keepe them in good order and loyall dutie both to God and âheir king as good Catholik Bishops doe ând are bounde to doe Which must needs be an helpe and no hurt or offence to any Common-wealth Bishops learned louing and knowing their dutie and hauing charge whereof they must render a seuere accompt to God attended with watchfull and reuengfull eyes vpon them for loue will not or feare dare not concurre vnto or suffer vnder them disobedieÌce to heauenly or earthly Prince They which cannot endure spirituall dutie are in most daunger of lapse into temporall disobedience hauing reiected spirituall power keeping them in awe and dutie to temporall VVhich perhaps caused Constantine our wise king and Emperour to saie vpon experience as he did of staggerers in Religion and faithfulnesse to God No doubt but both the Pope of Rome and Rich of Chalcedon know their offices sufficiently without any admonishments They are not ignorant who said and how it concerned them Non possumus aliquid aduersus veritatem sed pro veritate VVe cannot any thing against 2. Cor. 13. the truth but for the truth and potestatem quam Dominus dedit mihi in aedificationâm non destructionem The power which our Lord hath giuen me vnto edification and not vnto destruction 8. There is great difference in hauing and exercising power from Rome The first should not feare them which would feare without cause of feare neither secret and prudent exercise in necessitie to redesse or preuent euills Greater meetings and assemblies be often made by some in and of as great daunger and to lesse purpose then would serue priuately to examine witnesses or so to giue a sentence where the litigants be and ought to be secret To doe many vsuall and necessarie actâ of Religion be as daungerous and require as great and greater assemblies A publike setled Consistoâie in any place or âlaces to be set vp could not but with âonde âmaginations be thought vpon were the Iudg âad not vbi reclinet caput suum Probate of puâlike wills administrations Tithes Conâracts Marriages Diuorces Alimonie Basâerdie and publike slanders among ProtestaÌts âaue publike Protestant Courts and all or âany mixt with our temporall lawes Many âf the remembred instances as Tithes and âasterdies concerning inheriting
these Westerne parts that both Catholik and Protestant Antiquaries thus deliuer vnto vs âraediâabat ad flumen vsque âordensâ ad mare Sâoâum vbi Caledonios Athalos Horestos ac vicinaâm Ion. Baâââ descript Briten in ãâã Albaniae regionum Inâolas docendo monendo âr ando ad veritatis obseruationeÌânstigauit Ex dâsâults suis quosdam ad Orchades Insulas ad Norweââ Islandiam misit vt âorum instructioniâus fiâi quo que lumen recipeâent Nam in Elguensi Collegio âcentos sexaginta quinque literatos viros ad id âmper paraâos habebat praetâr reliquos alijs exercitijs âditos He preached aâ farre as to the riuer of Forde â the Scotish sea where he stiâed vp the Caledoâns Athaliâns Hoâests and the Inhabitaâts of â neighboring kângdoms to Aâbion vnto the obseruaân of ââueâh by teaching admonishing and ãâã ing â sent some ãâ¦ã disciples to the Iles of Orâi ades to â waye and âsland that ãâ¦ã instruââions they ãâ¦ã receiue the light of âaith For in âhe Collâdge âââgue he âad 365. learned âân alwaise readie for â purpose besides others imploted in other exerââ Saint Asaph his scholler a Bishop of ââtanie who as Protestants saiâ from Roân power Auâhââitatem ânctânem acceâit â tooke authoritâ and ãâã Sucâceded hâm â that great charge and gouernment of at Apostolike Colledge in VVales This S. ântegern being by all accounts a Bishop â0 yeares and disciple to S. âââuanus conââaâed Bishop by S. Paââad itâs who was senâ ther from S. Celestine Pope in or about the are 431. must needâ be liuing with Saint âaph at or a litle before Saint Augustinââmâning And as our Protestants saâe Saâââaph ioyned with Saint Augustine So Saint Asaph writer of his maister S. Kentegerns liâ proueth that S. Kentegern was at Rome whâ S. Gregorie was Pope and submitted hiâselfe to him in all things and was approueâ by him also in his Apostolike proceedings 16. In this time in the yeare 596. Saiâ Augustine was sent Legate hither by the saâ holy and learned Pope S. Gregorie who bâ his supreame Pastorall power gaue him spârituall authoritie ouer all Bishops and otheâ here in these his owne words vnto him Bâ tanniarum omnes Episcopos tuae Fraternitati commiâmus Beda l. 1. Eccles hist gentis Angl. c. 27. vt indocti doceantur infirmi persuasione reborâtur peruersi authoritate corrigantur We commit â the Bishops of Britanie to your Fraternitie that the â learned may be taught the weake by persuasioÌ strengââned the wicked corrected by authoritie By this Papâ power and authoritie all things were ordeâ in the Church of EnglaÌd in S. Augustins tiâ and all his Successours by the same autâritie were setled in that Archiepiscopall Sâ which he translated after 400. yeares froâ London to CaÌterburie All those Bishops vâ to the first Protestant Bishop called Mathâ Parker who was made by Q. Elizabeth bâ will and manner receiued Consecratioâ Pall power and Iurisdiction from the See Rome and they swore obedience vnto it their owne Parker Godwin Ioceline aâ others in the liues of them and those Yorke together with all Registers Recorâ Annals and Antiquities doe prooue partiââarly In generall for this place it sufficeth in these Protestants publikely approued confessions to write it in their owne words Archbishop Parker being the 70. Archbishop after Augustine yet of all that number he was the onely man and the first of all which receiued Consecration without the Popes Bulls 17. They assure vs that vntill the 23. of King Henry the eight a ssuming supreamacie to himselfe euery Bishop in England swore âuch obedience vnto the Pope Hoc Iuramentum â singulis Episcopis Papae praestari consueuit Obediens âro Beato Petro Sanctaeque Romanae Ecâlesiae Domino meo Domino Papae suisque successoribus Papatum Romanum Râgalia S. Petri adiutor ero ad retinendum defendendum saluo meo ordine contra âmnem âominem This Oath was accustomed to be taken by âuery Bishop I will be obâdient to S. Peter and to the Lord my Lord the Pope and to his Successours I will âe an helpeâ to hold and defend the Popedome of Rome ând Râtâ of S. Peter against all men In the yeare of Christ 1536. and 23. of King Henry S. they âare and the Statuts themselues so prooue Leges in Parlamento lataesunt de Rege supremo Ecclesiae Anglicanae Capite declarando de Clero Anglicano Regifulijâiendo Ne quid deinceps amplius Papae aut Romanae Cuâiae quot unque praetextu ex Anglia pendatur De Episcopis consecrandis alijsque quae Roma anâea geâebantur intra Regnum persierendis De Eccleââasticorum beneficiorum primitijs atque decimis Principi in perpetuum soluendis His legibus potentia Papalis quae nongentis amplius annis in Angliâ durauis âentidiâ Lawes were enacted in the Parliament of declaring the King to be supreame head of the English Church of subiecting the English Cleâgie to the King That nothing heareafter vnder what pretence soâuer in England shall depend of the Pope or the Court of Rome Of consâcrating Bishops and performing other aââairââ within the kingdome which before were done at Rome Of paying pârpetually to the Prince the fiâst fruites of Ecclesiasticall Benefices and Tiâhes By these lawes the Papall power which hath bâne in forââ for these nine hundred yeares did fall And this was âo strang a thing and wonder in the world to see the supremacie of the Pope of Rome thus taken from him by a temporall Prince afâer so many hundreds of yeares continuance and a lay man to stile himselfe supreame head of the Church that his very flatterers themselues crye out Habetur Conâilium Londini iâ quo Eccleâia Angliâanâ formam potestaââs nullis aâte temporibus visum induit Henricus enim Rex caput iâsius Ecclâsiâ constituitur At London there is holden a Councell in which the English Church haâh put on a power which in no times past was seene For King Henry is constituted head of that Church So large testimonie haue we from our greatest Aduârsaries witnessing that the Catholikes of England giue no other power or Iurisdiction to tâe Pope of Rome then he had euer without any inteâruption And in this we haue âhe generall assent of all our Kings Princes Bishops and others and all the Christians in the world from the timâ of Christ vntill long aâter the greater part of King Henrie the eight his reigne No King against it but he whom the Protestant Sir VValter Ralegh sufficiently discribeth his young sonne King Edward the sixth of that name ouerruled by Protestant Protectours and Qâeene Elizabeth a woman King Iames wiser then any of them hath leât it thus publickây in open assembly declared by his Regall sentence The kings Resolution is that no Church ought further to seâerate heâselfe froÌ the Church of Rome either in doctrine or Ceremonies then she hath departed from herselfe when she was in her floâishing
Gospells from the shoulders of the ânsecrated But this maketh not much to the ârpose it being onely as I haue saied a Ceremonie and not essentiall to the Consecration of a Bishop and that true and vndouted Bishops were made before the Gospells were written Otherwise the wholâ Church then euer after and now and eueâ had wanted it and had no Ecclesiastical Order at all Which is the lamentable and desperate condition of such as persecute a truâ Bishop and Priest for their Order and power thereby confessing their want both of thaâ which is essentiall in this high office as alsâ consecratours to performe it consecrat truâ Priests or confer any Ecclesiasticall Ordeâ or degree at all not the meanest in that kinâ to any person 20. All Authors agree euen Protestants iâ their Catalogues of British and English Biâhops that we had continuall succession oâ such here in great numbers vntill Queen Elizabeth by her supreamacie depriued anâ deposed them And to keepe it farre from thâââme of an Innouation to haue one such Bishop Successour to so many if we haue thaâ libertie in time of Persecution when Bishop are driuen from their Sees vsuall in histories to remember and honour them in Exiâ and Persecution we haue still kept a Succesion of Bishops in or of this nation Of thoââ which were depriued of their Bishop pricke we haue Richard Pates Bishop of worcheste who subscribed to the Councell of Trent hâ being there present by this Title Richardâ Patus wigornieÌsis Episcopus Thomas Goldwell Bishop Godw. Catal. of Bish. in Worcest in Ric. Pates in S. Asaph in Thom. Goldwell of Asaph liued at Rome 20. yeares after that deposing Thomas watson Bishop of Lincolne was committed to prison in the I le of Elie and died about the yeare 1584. Thus the Protestants themselues deliuer and moreouer they deliuer much praise and commendatioÌs of theÌ and all others our renowned Bishops 14. or more in number who were deposed and persecuted by Queene Elizabeth yea far more and greater theÌ they doe of those which were intruded into their places Before or soone after the death of Bishop Waâson of Lincolne Owen Lew is of this our Nation was consecrated Bishop of Cassan in whose life-time our most Illustrious Cardinall William Allan was honoured with that dignitie and consecrated Archbishop of Maâkâen who liued with these honours vntill the 16. day of October in the yeare of Christ 1594. ân his time William Gifford was by Pope Clement the eight made Deane Ecclesiae Diui Petri Insulensis Of Saint Peters Church at Lile And afterward he was ordained Archbishop of Rhemes in Champaine in France where he lately liued And whilst he liued Archbishop both VVilliam of Chalcedon and Richard also who is now so persecuted were by highest Papall authoritie coÌsecrated ad sent into England And what man of ordinarie knowledge Iudgement or vnderstanding will aduenture to saie but all these were renowned men as also diuerse of our renowned Priests most worthie of Episcopall honour aÌd dignitie in equall times honourably stiled and registred for all posteritie not onely as great glories of their CouÌtrie England but the whole Church of Christ Therefore to haue one of such worthie men a Bishop in his natiue Countrie bearing for auoyding offence his Title of a place so farre hence which froÌ the first Conuersion thereof to Christ had 3. Archbishops aÌd many Bishops aboue 1400. yeares past should not in the new English Religion teaching the Church of God neuer wanted Bishops and acknowledging both him and all Catholikely consecrated Bishops and Priests to be true and lawfull Bishops and Priests vndoubtedly by right ordination be offensiue but desired such Order Function and dignitie being by their publike testimonies most needefull excelleÌt and honourable with all true Professours of Christian Religion 21. Thus we see a Succession of English Bishops though not all in England but in other CouÌtries some of them consecrated and remaining a thing not vnusuall in times of Persecution and bannishment of Bishops as in the great lights in their time of Gods Church S. Hilarius S. Athanasius S. Chrysostome and others loÌg time exiled yet thereby did not interrupt a continuall Succession in their Sees What least exception then can be taken against our renowned Bishop of Chalcedon for Order and degree so honourable and eminent by all testimonies for his owne worthines and worthily therefore to be had in high reuerence euen with his Persecutours he bringeth able witnesses with him his knowne loue aÌd honour to our king Queene and CouÌtrie his owne holy life and conuersation his learned works and writings with all at home and abroad he hath euer piously and gratefully conuersed and with honour defended and iustified himselfe against Maleâolants Among all English Catholickâ oâ Protestants few are to be found which haue more defeÌded the honour of our Soueraigne âone more acceptable to his Maiesties frieds ând Allyes in marriage no maÌ among so maây renowned Priests of England worthie of âreatest honour in equall times adiudged so ât to supply such place by that highest Paâor which hath shewed great care and loue four king Queene and hoped Posteritie ând Countrie And since Persecution and âroclamation against him what could such a âan in Persecution doe more then he hath âone in decreeing and Ordering that all âriests and Catholiks should daily with deâotion praie for our king Queene State and Countrie And both since the comming in of âim and VVilliam of Chalcedon of happie âemorie his Predecessour as likewise before âe Catholiks of England haue bene and now âe knowne to be the most loyall dutifull and liuing Subiects in our dearest Countrie of England THE VI. CHAPTER That our English Priests who teach alâ things with the Apostolicall Religioâ are truely coÌsecrated worthie men anâ are to be honoured and not persecuted 1. Hauing redeemed Episcopall Ordââ and dignitie conferred by the Sâ of Rome from all Imputation of wickâ obloquies and made it knowne to be so higâ and honourable we might spare all furthâ labour for exemption and defence of Prieââlie Function seeing euery Bishop of neceâsitie must be a Priest and whatsoeuer of thâ calling is noble and glorious in a Bishop must needs be such in Priests Episcopal hânour and consecration addeth an higher aâ greater worthinesse to him that was beforâ Priest but cannot take away or diminish aâ excellencie or renowne he had before Tâ Protestants of Scotland doe confesse whiââ all knowe that after Catholike ReligioÌ wâ ouerthrowne there they had not any preteâded Bishops before King Iames accordiââ to his manner of making such gaue suâ Titles to them And their Knoxe Buchanan Forbs Bale and others both of England ând Scotland are not ashamed to saie that âefore the sending of Saint Palladius thither ây Saint Celestine Pope about the yeare 430. âlonckes who were onely Priests supplied âhe place of that dignitie with that People âut malice to Episcopall worthinesse and âower their owne
God with men and he will dwâll with them And they shall be âis people and he God with them shall be their âod And God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and death shall be no more nor mourning nor crying neitâer shall there be sorrow any more which first things are gone All you shall or can giue or raâher lend for such a recompence of sure Inheritance for euer was giuen you by him that for but lending him the same againe for a time will with so great honour returne you all againe yâa an huÌdred for one Omnis qui reliquerit domuÌ velfraââes aut sorores aut Patrem aut Matrem aut vxoâem aut filios aut agros propter nomen Matth. 19. meum cenââplum acââpiât vitam ââernam possidebit Euâry one that haââ lâft house or bretherne or sisters or father or mother or wife or childrne or âandââ for my sake shâll âeâeiue on hundreâ fold and shall possesâ life euerlasting 3. You that be great and Noble and Noble Cathoââkes be not troubled âor not enioying such ââmpoâall and fading honours in Court or Countrie which your equals or inferiours enâoye not being of your Religion but rather pârsecuting it are exalted or that you haue lost or let any such for this holy cause If there was danger you could not exercise âuch without offence to God or hurting his Sâruants it is your honour and securitie in conscience to want or loose them Qui amat pericuâum in illo peribit Coringrediens duââ ãâã 3. ââas non habebit successâ He that lâueth danger shall peâish in it A âeart that goeth two waâes sâall not haue Successe And God hath prouided better Lâeuâenanciâs and Offices for you in a bettâr kingedome Iudicabunt Nationes domânââuntur ãâã 3. populis regnabit Dominus illorum in perpetuum They shall iudge Nations and haue dominion ouer peoples and their Lord shall reigne for euer Let it be your comfort that neuer had the that if you had enioyed such you would as your holy Religion teacheth you haue performed them to you vttermost power to the honour of God our king and Countrie as they which had and lately loste them did euer most faithfull and dutifull to our king in his commaunds and as readie as any Protestants to doe him all seruice and supplies they could by themselues or other meanes they might or were able to procure and more then diuers Protestants did well approue or commend in them for such duties which all Catholikes without exception generally and vpon all occasions in their degree most readily and willingly performed Let it not be a griefe vnto you that you are driuen out of Parlaments whose chiefest and onely members you with the Catholike Bishops and some priuiledged Abbots were with the kings of England long before any howse of Commonâ was in power Your lawfull and iust refusalâ of an Oathe made and as it was expounded by king Iames by greatest spirituall power vnlawfull to be taken giueth you lawfull excuse from all assent to Acts of persecution England euer was a noble Nation your Auncestors and of vs all that be truely English came by all Antiquities from a most honourable people and progenitors Saint Gregorie the great so called and in great parte our Apostle and Father in Christ compared them not onely for name but endowments of nature vnto Angells and the liues and conuersation of many thousands of your holy Auncesters when England was holy England were Angelicall and you now with other Catholikes made for profession of your faith a spectacle to the world Angells and men shall 1. Cor. 4. be for your rewarde thus perseuering as Angells Matt. 22. of God in heauen sicut Angeli Dei in caelo Your renowned Priests haue giuen you example in the highest degree of perfection in this kinde and cause in forsaking all at once and with his Apostles following Christ with an Ecce reliquimus omnia secuti sumus te Behold we haue Matt. 19. lâfâ all things and haue followed thee So depriued and persecuted onely in England because we are Priests and borne in England Be not afraide to followe such guides with some hazard losse or diminution of your honours esteeme with carnall mindes Ritches and reuenewes for the like cause aÌd for that you are Catholikes of EnglaÌd For others both Priests and Catholikes not of England are otherwise entertained here in England not onely ân times of peace but in times of open hostilitie betweene England and their Countries from whence they are of such by some some Ielousie might be made of English Priests and Catholikes no possible place is left to inuent the least suspition Our Priests haue so long and voluntarily professed pouertie and liued therein that no man of vpright Iudgment can thinke they would disorderly or vniustly seeke for Ritches with hazard of their friends And if his Maiesty should allowe to laie Catholikes which receiue no spirituall good from Protestant Ministers to paie Tithes to others of their Religion this would not be offesiue to God nor hinder but rather further a noble great Nation hauing now more neede of chaste then married of such sorte 5. If we had not preferred our loue of England before all earthly things no doubt but both the Bishop of Calcedon and diuers renowned Priests of England might haue founde farre greater amitie fauour and wordly preferment in other parts then they could euer expect or looke for in their owne Countrie We neuer had hand or singer in these late warrs and contenuons or euer âaue the least occasion of any daunger difficultie or hazard our dearest Countrie is subiect or exposed vnto as diuers publick Proâlamations and other Protestant Relation publish We neuer were of Counsaile or acquaintance with any great Councellour oâ Courtier dead or liuing full at this time oâ any such which as many Protestans or âuritans haue thought did not good offiââs to this kingedome We were and are ãâã to all meÌ or womeÌ Courtiers or others which haue bene suspected to haue furthered the driuing ââ the French Bishop Priests Ladies and others from the Queene and placed theÌselues âââriends for them the beginning of daba ewith France We are as Innocent of the breath with Spaine either Maââiage or peace oâ with any other Prince We haue not disturbed it at âome or abâoad The rebellion of the Netherlanders Hungarians Austrians ãâã Luâatians Sileâians Moranianâ French and whatsoeuer Protestants against their Princes were by Protestants not Catholiks allowing but allwayes condemning them As in England in all oppositions of Parlamentarie Protestants against our king hindering or witholding duties from him euen in his times of needs and wants the Catholiks euer yelded to and most readily performed all allthough by Parlament they were charged with double subsidies without any freedome or release of any penalties for Religion All Priests of the Clergie Bishop and others haue vtterly condemned the deniers
had S. Cyprian his learned âeale and S. Chrysostome his golden mouth or pen to laye downe the worth and due oâ you all most renowned Teachers Learnes and Sufferers in this cause the cause of Christ For although the most reuerând Father in God Richard Bishop of Chalcedon and the holy learned reuered Priests of England arâ not in person those greatest or others among the Apostles yet they all both ouâ Bishop and Priests in their Episcopall anâ Priestlie Order Preaching and teaching a they did and deriuing Succession both iâ doctrine and dignitie fââm them if we maâ beleeue the Apostles and Apostolike meâ Clem. Romââ Cost Apost l 2. ââ5 and witnesses doe supplie theâr pâace and aââ so to be obeyed Presbyteri si assiduè in studio decend verbum Dei laborauerint Apostolorum locuâ tenent Sacerdoâes sunt omnes Domini Apostoli qâ nâque agros neque domos haeteaitant hic sed sempeâ Altarâ Deo seruiunt If Priests will continually labour in the studie of teaching the word of God the sâall inioye the plaâe of the Apostles Priests are all tââ Apostles of our Lord who inheriteth here neithâ feilâs nor houses but alwâyes they serue God and thââ neighbour Eis qui in Ecclesia sunt Presbyteris obediâ ârinaeus l. 4. c. 20. 43. oportet his qui successionem habent ab Apostolis qâ cum Episcâpatus successione Charisma certum secunduâ plaââtum paâris acceperunt Those Priests which aâ in the Church ought to be obeyed who haue their Sucession from the Apostles and with the Succession Iustââ Diââ 5. ãâã Tâi ãâã Bishoprikes haue receaued the certaine gift accordiâ to the will of the Father Neque vero à quoquam Deâ hostias accipit nisi à suis Sacerdotibus Neither indeeâ âoth God Accept of Sacrifices of any ãâã of his Priests âhere we see the honour which ought to âe done to our preaching and Sacrificing âishop and Priests â And the holy Scrââturs pronounce and âclare them worâââ ãâ¦ã 1. ãâã 5. ânour Qui ãâ¦ã habeantur maximè ãâ¦ã doâââ The Priests tâat ãâã wâll let them be esteemed ârâhie of duble honour ââspecially they that labour in â word and doâtrine ând I may auerre that hoâ conuersatioÌ whâââ you with so many difâulties possesse ân forsaking all to follow ârist to teach preach and doe other âesslie functions to be the Apostolicall life âd calling Our Protestant persecutours alwhich doe acknowledge you for true and âfull Priests and doe attribute so much to âaching and most highly dâe commend âr holy Apostolicke predecessours Priests â Monckes who liued as you doe in the âe of the Britons before all of the Reliâus Protest Thââtor of great Brit. God Win. Conueâs âf Brit. Orders that came hither in the SaxoÌs âe should not otherwise vse you then âh honour and respect especially when alâes euen from the begining of Christiaâe here they finde it so â In the very first age yea in the Aâles time they auoâch that S. Ioseph and Associates our first Religious discontiâd their Monasticall life to preach the âh Abbot Fecknam did alleage out of S. Gildas in the fiâst Parliament of Queene Elizabeth that Pope Elutherius in his time sent from their Monasticall life such hither to preach S. German and S. Lupus Religious of Lycinum Monasterie were sent hither into Britonie by S. Celestin before they werâ Bishops to the same end and purpose Wheâ our renowned English Apostle S. Gregoriâ tooke religious Monckes S. Augustine anâ others out of his owne Monastarie to senâ them hither to preach to the vnbeleeuinâ Saxons and hey terrified with the labouâ and perils of such an Apostolicall life desred rather to returne to their quiet Monastâcall conuersation he vrged them and seâ them forward because this Apostolicall liâ was most perfect and had greatest reward â heauen Omniinstantia omnique seruore quae iâ Gregorius Epist ad Monachos in Angl. destinând Bed hiââor âccle l. 1. c. 23. choastis Deo authore peragite sciences quod laborâ magnum maior retribution iâ gloria sequitur With forâe and seruour finish that you haue by the moââ of God begun assuring your selues that after your grâ labour eternall reward shall followe And the Berdictine Monckes in their Trithemius aâ others doe glorie much and not withoâ cause of the many Bishops Archbishoâ Cardinals and Popes of their Order by tâ title of Apostolicall Mission Our Benectines also of the English Congregation snites Dominicans Franciscans and Carâlites with dispenââtion from his Holines hâ left the rigour of their Rule and Order â better to applie themselues here in our countrie for the conuerting of souleâ as in a vocation of greater merite and higher perfection preferring the Apostolicall preaching life in âhis time and place before the exact and proâessed obseruation of their owne particular Orders thereby to notifie vnto vs and all âhat this Apostolicall priestlie life euer from âhe beginning of Christianitie here or in the âorld was the most perfect and most excelânt calling and profession pleasing to God ârofitable to his Church and honourable in âhe professours therof 7. All our old holy Bishops Colledges Monasteries Seminaries or Schooles of learâed Christians such as by our Protestants âonfession were here extant in euery age âuouis saeculo extiterunt and longe before Matth. Parker Antiquit. Britun Ion. Iosilin hist Eccles manuscript Gregorie was Pope or that he did or could ând any Monckes of what Order soeuer inâ EnglaÌd or any part of Britonie sent most âoly and learned priests by allowance of the âe Apostolike to preach in France Gerâanie Denmarke Friseland Bauaria Norâay Ireland Greenland and into other ârts of the world diuers times and in great âmber as it shall be hereafter more largly âclared Knowing both by holy Scriptures âd the testimonie of Christ himselfe that âis Apostolicall condition a signed by him his dearest Apostles first taught and praâised in himselfe not onely to forsake all externall wordlie thinges as Religious men doe or be bound to doe but âor a man to denie himselfe the sauing of his health libertie and life daily exposing them to losse and ofteÌ loosing them for the loue of Christ truely following him in sauing many soules that were in danger otherwise eternally to perish is the most absolutly perfect calling and profession in the Church of God 8. Monasticall life by abnegation is a State of perfection and a safe way to saue the professers soule but to saue both his owne and many others by a more perfect abnegation must needs be the greatest perfection and following of Christ Si quis vult post me venire abneget Luc. â semetiâsum tollat crucem suam quoâidiè sequatur me If any man will come after me let hiâ denie himselfe and take vp his crosse dayly and follow me And our Sauiour when he demande of Saint Peter his greatest and most louinâ Apostle Diligis me plus his Loues âhou me more
great if euery one that is persecuted for Iustice shall haue his reward in heauen what will their honour be which haue suffered so much and so long time for that cause Your Protestant Aduersaries and Persecutours themselues taking the altitude of your miseries and suffrings for this greatest iustice haue found their eleuation to be raised to the hight of all former Persecutours who were Pagans professed enimies to Christ and all Christians They which professe Christ and Christianitie may not be such Great was the persecution of Nero and yet Britonie felt it not but was then a Refuge Aâyle and as a Sanctuarie to receiue and defend the persecuted Bitter was Dioclesiaus PersecutioÌ here in Britonie but as our Gildas telleth vs it was but Nâuânnis of nine yeares onely at which time the Scots ââcts Saxons Gormundians Aâricans and Dânes âll Pagans persecuted the Christiâs here But neuer any bearing the name of Christ before âhese dayes persecuted the Catholike Chriâtians of this Kingdome All those Pagans âersecuted Christians as enimies to their old Gods and Religion and for not ioyning âith them in Idolatrie deeming Christian âeligion newe and erroneous Our ProtestaÌt Persecutours persecute vs for defending the old Religion of Christ which cannot be vntrue and for not imbracing their newe which in the Schoole of Christ cannot be true 13. All the Pagans that euer persecuted here distroied not âo many Churches and Chappels as King Henrie the eight and his daughter Elizabeth nor tooke from the Church the halfe of that which they did Halse such a Fine and Ransome as the Catholikes paid to them aboue the third part of England in Religious Church-lands possessed by the Clergie here Sixhundred yeares since besides other for fitures would haue stopped the Pagans Persecution The Saxons greatest Persecution next to Dioclesians soone slacked and releÌted no soon âr had the Saxons driueÌ Theonus and Thadiocus Archbishops of LoÌdon and Yorke with other Bishops Priests and Religious from âheir Sees and Residences in the yeare of Christ 586. But King Ethelbert of Kent ruling vnto Húber by meanes of his blessed ChristiaÌ Queenâ Bertha and her holy Bishop S. Lethard gauâ ease and peace to Christians here before S. Augustines and his Associates comming hither and they were receiued by Ethelberâ not yet a Christian with honours and noâ indignities All they were strangers and forrainers to the persecuted Our Persecutourâ be of the same Nation blood and kinred and stiled Christians with them whom thus they persecute for Christs true Religion If King S. Ethelbert Queene S. Bertha and Bishop S. Lethard were now liuing Catholikes would not be persecuted THE II. CHAPTER That the Religion of our English Catholikes as well from the Saxons as Britons is the same with their first Apostles and deduced from them and first of the Saxons conuerted by S. Augustine and his Roman Mission NOw because our Protestants and Persecutours before haue deliuered it For greate glorie to our Nation to deriue our spirituall degree from so noble a Father as S. Peter We will âriue and deduce from him a continuall âd neuer interrupted Succession both of âiscopall and Priestlie function and doâine also in euery point now questioned by âr Persecutours froÌ that so noble a Father â these Protestant times And to begge more âce and fauour from these our enimies in âs cause they themselues shall briefly make âs deduction â And first concerning Bishops and Massing Priests sent hither or consecrated here by S. Peter's or his Roman Successours Iuâââdiction such as they now so greuiously dââ ãâã âhey confesse publickly that they had âo ãâã but so consecrated as the Roman Church did from the begining and stilâ doth consecrate vnâill their neââ booke oâ pretended Consecration maââ by King Edward thâ Sââth â child hiâââthoritie brought in theiâ ãâ¦ã aâd they acknowledge ãâ¦ã consecraâeâ ãâ¦ã Priesââ ãâ¦ã and doe ãâ¦ã ââstifie ãâ¦ã Engl. Proteââ in Rogers Booke of articles Annal. Burton an 140. Caiuâââtiq ãâ¦ã Annâl ãâ¦ã ân Mansââ ãâ¦ã 1. 6. Harrison descript of Brit. waâ oâr Archbishop ãâ¦ã moreouer that this our ãâ¦ã was seâlâd by this greaâest Aâostââ in âhe ãâã yâare of Nero and 67. ãâ¦ã â Peter returned againe to ãâ¦ã dâuers of thâse our Bishops and ãâ¦ã Nation as S. Manâuetus S. ãâã S. Maâcellus or Marcellinus the renoâned Priests and Preachers of Cambridge ân and afteâ the yeare 140. S. Marcellus being and liuinâ Bishop after King Lucius and Britonie waâ conuerted when three Archbisbops anâââventie eight Bishops were here placed anâ all Ecclesiasticall thinges established anâ confirmed by Papall power in this Kingdome â To make this Succession without aâ question they deliuer vnto vs the names aâ âme Episcopall Acts of our Archbishops Hollinâh Hist of England Stowâs Hist. Godwin conuers of Britan. Cataâ of Bishops in London Yorke and S. Dauids âf LondoÌ Yorke and Caerlegion In London âe chiefe Metropolitan See S. Theanus S. luanus Cadar Obinus Conanus Pallaâus Stephanus I'tutus Theodwynus or âedwynus Thedredus Hillarius Guiteliâs Restitutus Fastidius Vodinus Theoâs Others adde S. Augulus Ternokinus âd Gormcelinus They confesse that Theoâs the last Archbishop of London with full ârisdiction continued in his Archiepiscopall âe notwithstanding the Pagon Saxons inuaân and persecutioÌ vntill the yeare of Christ ââ which was but 10. yeares before S. Auguâââ coming hither So they testifie of Thaââus Matth. West an 586. Archbishop of Yorke the same yeââe âauing his See and with the Archbishop of ãâã and many of their Clergie flying into âalââ and Cornewall to the Christian Bisâps Priests and people there They reâpt in thâ Archbâââop See of Yorke Theoâsius Sampsoâââ Taurinus âeruanâs Sampsonââ ãâã and the âenamed Thadiocuâ ãâ¦ã âegion they â downe Tremonus S. ãâã S Daâid âiud Conanc Theliaus Eâbâdus wholiâd in S. Augustins time and after him imâediatly succeeding in Archiepiscopall digâtie fourty or more vntill the time of Berârd who in the yeare 1115. lost that honour âom that See by Papall order as all Antiâaries Catholikes and Protestants agree 4. These men also deliuer vnto vs a Catalogue of learned holy writers in euery agâ and in the age whâ S. Augustine came hitheâ they recount vnto vs the most noble Sainâ and Doctours Dubritius Iltutâs Congelluâ Dauid Gildas Kentigeânâs Brendant Asaphus and others whâly ând absolutâ agreeing with the Church of âome They ââ downe our Vniuârsiâies ãâ¦ã aâ among others ãâ¦ã from all eâror Our ãâ¦ã in the greââouncelâs ãâ¦ã âhe same faiâ with tâe whole ãâ¦ã they had mâ entercourâe ãâã âââmunicaââon next to tâ Popes of ãâ¦ã the moââ Catholike aâ renowââd ãâ¦ã Churcâ of Christ â Athanaââââ ãâ¦ã S. Martine and maâ more and bâth âââse Tertulââan S. Chryâstome with ãâã did highly commeÌd thâ our ãâ¦ã true Religion 5. Anâ becaâââ some Proâestants to muâ ãâ¦ã libertie cannot well eâdure ãâ¦ã ââckes and Religious sâ king wâaâ ãâ¦ã can âo disgrace suâ as oâherâ ãâã âânowned Clergie especialâ the ãâã of S. Benedicts Order
very aâciâââââââgland and doe endeuour all tâ can ââ diâinish the glorie of the Children so noble a Father and so doing for disliâ rather then loue either of them vs or oâ first Christian Saxons diuers among the doe very forwardly ascribe much to such hat labour And some of their prime Antiâuaries as some lately haue published haue âet downe vnder their hands that there were âoâ aunciently and but Egyptian and Beneâictine Monckes in this Kingdome of Britaâie no great glorie but rather diâhonour to his moât noble and auncieÌt Nation in Chriâian Religion A Nation that may iustly âaime prioritie in that kinde of honour âefore Egipt or any other Countrie in the âorld except they caÌ proue their Religious âore auncient then S. Ioseph and his holy âmpanie here in the yeare of Christs Natiâtie 63. by their owne confession and what âoÌckes of Egypt they were that came hither âey should if they could haue instanced â To performe which they will haue great âfficulâie sith that they themselues confesse âat diâers denie the Egyptian Rule was eâr receiued in the West and consequently âre Minimè credi volunt nonnulli Mo achorum Iohn Selden not spicileg in Eadmerum pag. 200. Egyptientium Instituta in Occidânte vnquam esse âepta Some will not haue it beleeued that the Inâute of the Eâyptian Monckes was euer receiued in west And yet it is certaine by their owne otestant writers that many Monckes and ânasterie were here in Britanie or in Enând Quouis saculo In euery age And before âyp had any Monasteries or Monâkes 6. We can and doe recount vnto them ânckes from Greece and Syria who came âo Britanie though longe after our first Conuersion and Religious were âetâed here So from the most âamous Monasterie of Lyrinum Veremunâ Hist. Sâât Hector Boeth Hist Scot. l. 6. Râphael âolâenshed âist of Scots our Greeke MoÌckes S. Regulus Albatus and his holy companie who brought the Relickes of Saint Andrewe the Apostâe into Scotland and were so nobly entertained by King Heirgâstus leauing Successouâs therâ who after were vnited to our old Briâisâ Monckes are âamouâ to posteritie S. Palladius who was sent Apostle hither by S. Caelestin the Pope as our Protestants writeâ was also a Grecian Palla lius Graecus And firsâ Ioan. Bal. l. de âcript ârit âentuâ 1. Nicolaus Hârlemân Paââââio Graeco a disciple to S. Iohn Patriarch of Hâerusaleâ that liued a Religious life in Syria especiallâ about Mount Carmelus Ioannis Hierosolymoruâ Patriarcha 44. dum adhuâ Eremi cultor solitaââ Syriae loca Carmelum praecipuè incoleret Nicolao Haâlemio teste Discipuluâ fuit As witnesseth Nicolaâ Haâlem he was tâe Disciple of Iohn the 44. Patriarcâ of Hierusalem whilst he was as yet a louer of the Heâmitâge and inhabited the desert places of Syria bâ especially the Mount Carmelus This may giâ antiquitie âere to our learned Carmelits tâking their name thence and as they saie comming from Syria S. Germanus and S. Lupâsent Britan. ãâã Antiq. in mââuscâipt hither Apostles by the same holy Popâ were first Monckes of LyrinuÌ Monasterie aâ brought that Church seruice hither And â Patriâke borre in this our Iland liuiâ sometimes with our Glastenburie Monckeâ and Scholler to S. Gââman was in the saââanner sent into Ireland These were tâ Rulers and Directours vnto all our British Scotish and Irish Monckes so much renowâed through the whole world 7. Both English and Scotiâh Antiquiâies Vâremund Hect. Boeth supra Man Antiq in vita S. Birini Capgââ in eodem witnesse that soone after S. Augustine of âippo his death and long before any Monckes of S. Benedicts Order came hither âhe Augustine Monckes Canon-Regulars âere seated and setled here who were most âoly and learned men Non tam eruâitionis ââam proâatissimarum viriutum veâaeque pieâatiâlââ insignes Not so much famous fââ learning aâ for âproued vertues and zeale oâ deuotion S Dauid âaint Brendanus Saint Columbanuâ Conâellus and others here wrote Rules of Monckes 8. To exemplifie but in the worthinesse of Sigibert ãâ¦ã vir Illustr in S. Câsâââo Caesar ArâlateÌsis Homilia 25. ad Monachos Tom. 2. Bââliotâââ Patrum âe Lyrian Monckes who ioyned with ours â Britonie as S. Caesarius Archbishop of ârles neare adioyning thereto and before âbbot there testifieth that Ab Orienâe vsque ad âccidentem ab omnibus paene locis in quibus Chriâiana Religio âolitur religiosâssima vestra conuersatio â Christi gloriaem praedicaâur From the East to the âst in all places almost where Chââstian Reâigion is âaintained thâre to Christ his glorie your most Chriâian conuersation was preached And ãâã saeâââsula Lyrinensis quae cum pâruula plana esse viâatur innumerabiles tamen monâes ad âaelum misisse âgnosciâur Haec est quae eximios nuâriâ Monâchos âastanââssimos per oânes Prouââciaâ erogat Saâerââes The blessed and hapâie ââand of âârinum though it seeme to be little and plainâ yet it is knowne to hauâ sent vnto heauen innumerable mountains This is sâe which bring th vp most famous Monckes and through all Prouinces sendeth forth most excellenâ Priests 9. This testimonie of such a witnesse being giuen a little before S. Gregories timâ who was so learned a Moncke and Father to many such in Rome argueth that his MoÌkes and the Monckes of Lyrinum could noâ be strangerââo eaâh other S. Gregorie also commanding his Monckes he sent into EnglaÌd to goe to the Archbishop of ârâeâ Successour to S. Cesarius so neare Lyrânum ãâã his assistance and they bringing from thencâ into England Assistants and Interpreter ânâ S. Augustine being consecrated after Bishoâ of EnglaÌd by Eâheââus Archbishop of Arles according to S. Gregories directions confirmeth the same the accesse of such hither theiâ preachingâ and directions here and our firsâ English Moncke after S. Augustine comming hither so honouring the Monckes anâ Monasterie of Lyrinum that they traâelleâ ouer all England and France with them anâ Saint Benedict Biscope who was brought ââ with our British Monckes when none other were here being professed in âyrinum Monâsterie showeth how little dâffeâence there waâ betweene the old Monckes of Britanie thâ Monckes of Lyrinum and Saint Augustinâ and his fellow Monckes sent hither bâ âly Saint Gregorie the Pope 10. By all accompts it is most certaine in âstorie that S. Benedict Biscope was proâled in Lyrinum went to Rome returned âo the North part of England where he as Abbot diuers yeares before S. Benedict â Rule was first giuen or receiued in these ârtes and was also Abbot at Canterburie âbey and gaue place to S. Adrian who was ât hither by the Pope with Saint Theodore âchbishop there before S. Wilfride the first âer of S. Benedict's Rule in the North was âleâ Archbishop of Yorke to giue it or gaue âe foresaid Rule to the Monckes as the âonckes themselues confesse And that he â not deliuer Saint Benedicts Rule to the âonckes in the
North neither was it in his âwer so to doe vntill he was Bishop there âich was not vntill the yeare of Christ 670. there about by all Authours which was âge after S. Benedict Biscops being Abbot âth in Northumberland and Canterburie âd whereas some Monckes now would haue Aigulphus a Benedictine Moncke first to âie persuaded the Monckes of Lyrinum to Maââh VVestm âârân Floâent VVigorn chron Sigâbert aâââ âeiue S. Benedict's Rule this cannot be for Aigulphus was a Moncke of FloriacuÌ Moâsterie which was not builded many yeares âer this time and so it is not certaine but âth the Monckes of Canterburie and those Northumberland vnder this holy Abbot Benedict Biscope hitherto were Lyrinian and not Benedictine Monckes and yet as before they were of the most Religious anâ learned Monckes and Apostolike men in thâ Christian world as the rest of our Britisâ Moâckes euen by Protestants confession â also were 11. ând this is the glorie of this our Eâglish Nation to haue had generally both iâ Kent where S. Augustine was and in all othâ parâs cânuerted to Christ such renowneâ Fathers and Protogenitours in him For sucâ were the Monckes of S. Gregories Monastârie Io. Diacân in vita S. Gregorij l. 2. c. 11. in Rome from which S. Augustine arâ his fellowes learned and holy Disciples â the most learned and holy Pope S. Gregoriâ were sent as our Protestants them selues acânowledge that euer was And so learne were the Monckes of this his Monasterieâ aboue other Italian Monckes in that timâ that besides the Apostolike men about 4â in number which S. Gregorie sent into Eâgland he made Maximianus his Abbot theâ Bishop of Siracusas Marimanus a Moncâ thereof Archbishop of Rauennas and Prâbus another of his Monckes of his Monastârie Mariâ Sââput l. 2. atate 6. in S. Benedicto Trithemius l. de script Eccles in S. Benedicto he sent to Hierusalem to build a Monsteâie there we haue also warrant from â Church of God so witnessing in S. Gregâries publike office that S. Augustine and â Monckes he sent into Briâanie about 40. number were learned and holy men Missiâ Britanniam Doctis Sanctis viris Augustino â âlijs Monachis Sending into Britanie learned and holy men Augustine and other Monckes 12. But whether S. Augustine and those who came into England with him to conuert it as they most happily did were indeede Monckes of S. Benedicts Order I will not heare dispute leauing it perchance to some other worke in hand it being all one âo this my purpose whether S. Augustine ând his companie were Benedicton or other Monckes I onely intending now to shew that from our first Conuersion in S. Peters time vnto these times there was a continuall succession of Priests and of the same Religon for which now in EnglaÌd we are so persecuâed And that S. Augustine and his companie were most hoây and learned men Docti and Breuiar Romandie 12. Martij in festo S. Gregor Bed Hist. Eccles Angl. l. 2. Matth. VVesâ in Chron. Fâorent VVigâr Chroniâ Gâliel Malmesburâââ dâgâst Reg. Angl. âancti viri that they taught our Predecesâours the same faith we now professe and that âhey conuerted to the faith of Christ Ethelâert King of Kent and his Kingdome of KeÌt ând Sebert or Sigebert King of the East Saxons with his Kingdome and preached in many other places oâ England conuerting in âhem many to Christian Religion I saie with âhem and the whole Christian world then Asia Africke and Europe agreeing with S. Gregorie who sent hither these so holy and âearned men and therefore is rightly by Saint Beade instiled Apostle of England in Religion vsing his masse and honouring him for a Sainct as our Protestants confesse that their doctrine and Religion was true and for this part of the world Italie froÌ whence they came France through which they came England or Britanie whether they came Ireland Scotland and Germanie where some of our Britans and English then were acknowledging S. Augustines Religion to be true so prooue vnto vs. So S. Augustine prooued it both by humaine and diuine testimonie So his Opposits and our persecuting Protestants confesse To vse their words The Britans confessed indeede that to be the way of ProtestaÌt in Stowes ââst righteousnesse which Augustine had preached and sbewed vnto them 13. And he is a simple witted man if he can vnderstand but the Latine tongue that doth not most clearely see and confesse the same if he will but reade the publicke Church seruice Masse and the others which our Protestants confesse S. Gregorie perused and published the Latine and Greeke Church vsing his Masse translated into Greâke as they doe S. Basiles and S. Chrysostomes as also his holy learned workes which he â Doctour of the Church and as our Protestants stile him The most holy and learned Popâ that euer was did publish and are now extant Thus he and his Lâgates sânt hither into England generally taught the same Doctrine in all points which we Catholikes now professe euen those for which we are so pittifully persecuted Roman Supremacie Saâifice of Maââe Sacrificing Priesthood such âpiscopall Roman Ordination and whatâeuer elsse now controuersed by Protestants â I shall demonstraâe against them in euery âticle of their Religion when I come to the âonuersion oâ tâe other Parts of England â those which were of our old British Orâer and Reâigâon And yet our English Proâstants publickly generally and with such âthoritie protest and testifie that in the first â0 yeares of Christ within which S. Greârie and his Legates liued and âaught the âhurch of Rome was pure and free from erâr And if she had or should haue erred in âis publicke doctrinall practises and orders âncerning the whole Church the whole âhurch which these men denie should also âue erred For they constantly thus ackâwledge that this most holy and learned âpe so published and proposed them Greâius Io. Bal. dâ Roman Ponâifice Art l. 2. in Gregor Magno Robert âarnes â de vit âontif Rom. in âod Magdebur hisâ Ecclesiasc in Greg. Magnuâ omnium Pontificum Râmanorum doâinâ viââ praestantissimus Scholas Cantoâum inâuit Ambrosiâ more ecâlesiastiâas cantiones quaââaecè dicimus Antiphonas composuit Officiarium âclesiae fecit Antiphonarium nocturnum diurnum âpoâuit Sacrorum normas digessit Missarum ritus ââplanauit eius Canonem consarâinauit Gregorie â great the most worthiesâ of all the Bishops of Rome â doctrine and life instituted Schooles of singerâ and âer Ambrose his manner composed Ecclesiasticall âges which in Greeke we call Antiphones He made âe office of the Church be ordered the nightlie and daylie Antiphonarie he digested the Rites of tâ Church he polished the Ceremonies of the Masse aâ the Canon thereof he gathered together 14. It will be very hard for the quickeâ sighted Persecuting Protestant to finde aâ one of their Articles of Religion which wâ not condemned and of Catholikes not pâblickly
approued and practised in tâ Church of Christ in and by those so genârally receiued and professed Ritualls anâ Doctrinalls of Religion And therefoâ those pure Protestanâs which call Cathâlikes vsually in respect of their Doctrinâ Papists and their holy Religion Papistriâ Papisme Romanisme or the like confesâ plainly that Saint Augustine from Saiâ Gregorie bâought hither Masses Altars Vesments Chalices Relickes Massing Priests prayer Saincts for the Deade and to be briefe Românisme Papistrie all which they terme no Io. Bal. l. de Scripto Brit. cen tur c. 2. de Act. Poatif Rom. in Gregor Franc. Godwin conuers of Britan. Dââââl Poweâl in Giralâ Cambr. in our Catholikes Superstitionâ And nâ only Saint Augustine thus taught and deliâred but Qâââne Bââtha the French Ladiâ and her Bishoâ ãâã Lethardus did tâ same and King Eâhelbert with his Couâtrie waâ conuerted to that Religion Conuâsus âxoris Berthae âersuasione âthelbertus Rex Râmanismum cum a liunâââs supârstitionibus suscepâ King âthelbert being conuerted by the peâsuasion hiâ wife he imbraced Romanisme with all it 's Supâstitionâ 15. So we haue not only S. Augustine our âpostle with his Assistants but S. Gregorie âe Church of Rome Italie and all Subiects that See Apostolike our King Queene âd all here agreeing then with vs in this Roâanisme Papisme and Papistâie for which âe are now persecuted And this our Conârsion S. Asaph in vit Sâ KeÌtegerni Câpgrau in eod D. Bal. l. de Scriptor centur 1. in Kenâigernâ to the truâ Apostolike Religion of âhrist which is the same Catholikes now âosesse as both Catholikes and Protestants knowledge was miraculously prooued ad âretold by the words of God his prophetiâll holy Bishop S. Keâegerne long before in âe declination of the Britans that God âould giue Britanie ouer to Forraine Naâns which knewe not God and Chriânae legis Religio vsque ad praefinitum tempus âsipabââur Sed in pristinum staâum unò meâem miserante Deo in fine repârabitur the Region of the Christian Lawe vnto a determinate âââme shall be dissipated but in the ânâ by God his mercie it shall be restored to it's former yeâââtter state THE III. CHAPTER The like proued of all other persons aâ parts of England as also the Brâcans that their Religion was thâ same with the Apostles and thâ which our now Persecuted Cathâlikes Professe and maintaine 1. NOw let vs come to the Conuersioâ of the other parts of England nâ conuerted by S. Augustine or his Missioâ from Rome but by others our old Britisâ or Scotish Bishops and Priests in some partâ before by many writers and in the farâ greatest aââer And because amongst otherâ the Religious of our old British Order haâ influeÌce therein ãâã I lately spake of MoÌckâ sent into England by Saint Gregorie and â their labours and Religion here I will neâ ioyne these vnto them Their Antiquitie â haue deliuered before from S. Ioseph of Aâramathia which buried Christ arriuinâ here in the yeare of his Natiuitie 63. 2. To take better knowledge of their heauenly life and conuersation on earth I wiâ set downe their Rule as with some alteratioÌâ âs is vsuall in such holy Orders it was apâroued and deliuered to our Monckes by S. âauid Metropolitane Archbishop in Britaâie that most learned Religious holy Preâte The Rule of our old British Monckes Manuscipt antiq in vitâ S. Dauidis Io. Capgra Câtal in ââd liuing vntill with in 50. yeares of S. Auâustines comming hither Dauid constructo in âalle Rosinta Monasterio talem caenobialis praepositi âgorem decreuit vt Monachorum quisque quotidiano âsudaÌs operi manuum labore suam in commune transâeret vitam dicens Qui enim non laborat ait Aâstolus non manducet nesciens enim quod secura quies âitiorum fomes mater esset Monachorum humeâs duris fatigationibus subiugauit nam qui sub otij âiete tempora mentesque submittunt instabilem spiriâm libidinisque stimulos sine quiete parturiunt Posâsiones enim Iniquorum respuebant dona reprobabaÌt âuitias detestabantur boum nulla ad arandum curaââisque sibi fratribus diuitiae quisque bos Nulân praeter necessarium inter eos habebatur colloquium âd quisque aut orando aut Deo placiâa cogitando inânctum opus peragebat Peracto autem Rârali opere â Monasterij Claustra reuertentes aut legendo aut âibendo aut orando totam ad vesperum peragebaÌt âem In vespere verò audito Nolae pulsu dimissis âx operibus Ecclesiam petebant visis in caelo âllis ad mensam conuenientes citra saturitatem comeâbant nimia enim satietas quamuis solius panis âuriam generat Pane autem oleribus sale conditis âsti sitim lacte aquâ mixto restringebant Peractâ ânâ quasi per tres horas vigilijs orationibus genuâctionibus insistebant Quamdiu in Ecclesia orationiâs vacabant nullus oscitare nullus sternutationem facere vel salââââ ãâ¦ã Hiâita gestis sopoââ ãâ¦ã ãâ¦ã expergâfaâli ãâ¦ã Cogitationes ãâ¦ã etiaâ vel ad naturae ãâ¦ã induebantur ãâ¦ã desiderans ãâ¦ã priuâ decem diebus ãâ¦ã nâânon veââââ ãâ¦ã Si auâem benè ãâ¦ã perstarâ diem acceptus priuââ ãâ¦ã constructus seruâeâaâ ãâ¦ã desudans fractusque mulââs ãâ¦ã fraârum merebatur inire ãâ¦ã ânem cupientibus eorum nihââ ãâ¦ã ââluâ è naââragio âuadentes recepti eraâââ ãâ¦ã se extollendi non haberent S. autem Dauiââost âtinas frigidam petebae aquam in qua diuâââs manâ carnis ardorem domabat Orphanorum ââpilloruâ ViduaâuÌ Egentium Peregrinorum multitudineÌ pasââ bat In English epitomated They haâ not Ridâ or proprietie Receiued nothing of the wiâââ they lâued by their labour They had not cattell âââhing bâ themselues to âill their ground no speach âââpt necesarie at their worke but with praier and meditaââ they performed it They did not eate till ââght ââ their diet then was bread âerbs and âalâ thâ drinke water and miââe mixed together After thâ resection they persistâd three howers in watching aâ praier vppon their knees then sleeping vntill ââ croweing âf the Cocke they arose to their praiers vnâââay light Ending their corporall labour they retuââ their Monasteries and spenâ all the ãâã ââtill the eâning Annaââââcl 9. ãâã Gââw ãâã of ãâã in â ââauid in ãâ¦ã Niâââ ãâ¦ã Io. Baâ ãâã âânâ 1. in Kentigâân âââgrau ân âod God W. catal in S. ãâã Kââegâr M ãâã antiq Britââ prima ãâã Eââlesiastâ Seâââ either in reading writinâ ãâ¦ã ârres appeared in the ãâ¦ã their âll they went to the Church And ãâ¦ã âet of bodie This was part of the ãâ¦ã our âritish Monclâeâ approued by thâ greatest ârelate here who receiued iâ all ââââches âscipline by tâe Roman Authoritie 3. Their Bisâops and ãâ¦ã âsteritie in conuersation Tââ ãâ¦ã â S. Dauid ãâ¦ã âneu about ãâ¦ã The ãâ¦ã others ãâ¦ã iâ the ãâ¦ã by diuers ãâ¦ã Monââ ãâ¦ã in his Moâââ 3000. Disciââe S. VVandiâocus and Goââogillus about ãâã vnder them â âentigern and
westminster saith it was in thâ yeare 753. by which accompt his Abbots iâ England must needs be professed in the oâ British Order 7. Marianus Scotus a Scot by Nationâ and liuing in a strict discipline a Moncke â Germanie with in 200. yeares of S. Bonifâcius his time though he acknowledgeth hiâ to be an English man Anglus yet very ofteÌâ calleth him Sâotus a Sâot in no other respeâ then for his being of the Scotish Order and iâ that regard calleth these Monasteries Monastria Sanâtorum Scotorum Sancti Galli Sancti Bonfacij Monasteries of the âcotish Saints S. Gallus aâ S. Bonâfâce VVhen it is certaine and he wâ knew that neither of them was a Scot by Nâtion but onely in profession He proueâ further that euen in his timâ there weâ Monckes of the Scotish old Order there whâ âad a peculiar Monasterie in Colen where âe Abbot with others were Scots Helias Scoâs abbas Who professed a strict Religion and ân the opinion of men giuen to more liberâe ouer greaâe Discipline Religionem diâictam disciplinamque niââam and God did miâculously approue it This was also the conâition of S. Benedict Biscope Master to Saint âede beâng a childe this the condition of ââeolfrâdus and Easterwinus whâm S. Boâface constituted Abbots in his absence in âs Monasâeries 8. Waâes had seuen Bishops with an ârchbishop others with their Clergie were âed thither out of England and yet diuers âmained still in other parts with many Chriâians euen Vniuersites as that of Cambridge âee then as they saie from all errour and neâr Manuscript antiq in vit S. Dauidâs Capgrau in cod censured by Saint Gregorie as some were âheir difference from the Church of Rome âas not in Questions of faith but others tolârable and tollerated and this had not beene âng for in S. Dauidâ time a litle before all âgreed in all things with Rome Omnes Britanâae Matth. wâst in chronic an 794. Stows histor in Mercelââ Ecclesiae modum Regulam Romana authoritate âceperunt All the Churcheâ of Britanie toocke their âanner and Rule by Roman authoritie 9. The greate Kingedome of Northumâerland bounded with Trent and Scotland âere thus conuerted The greatest kingedome âf Mercia which then comprehended 23. âhyres in 20. tribus Prouinâijs quas Angli Shiras ãâã ââs conuerted by the old renowned Clergie men Bishops Priests anâ Monckes that were of our old British Ordeâ they in their Auncestors receiuing Conuersion from such our Britans and theÌselueâ also liuing within the limits and boundes oâ Britanie or England now for their Iland aâ Saint Bede and others witnesse belonged to our Countrie Insula Hydesti cuius Monasteriâ âed Eccl. hist. l. 3. cap. 3. in ãâã penè Septentrionalium Scotorum omniuâ Pictorum Monâsterijs non paruâ tempore Arcem tenebat regendisque eorum populis praeerat Quae videlâ ceâ Insula ad ius quidem Britanniae pertinet non magno ab ea sâeâo discreta Whose Monasterie in the Ileâ Hydestine was nâ small âimâ the chiefe house of alâ the Monasteries Allmost of all the Northeren Scoâ and of the Abbeys of all the Redâhankes and had thâ soueraintie in ruling of then people VVhich I le iâ very deede belongeth to the right of Britanie beinâ seuâred from it with a narrâw sea Sebert King oâ the East Angles was conuerted in Burgundieâ and brought ouer with him who was consecrated after Bishop of his Countrie Sainâ Felix and he so honoured the Priests of ouâ old British Order that Saint Furseus onâ thereof comming hither and with his allowance and donation building a Monasteriâ of that Order King Sebert himself entered into Monasticall life and was professed â Monâke therein Regni negotijs cognato suo Egriâ commendatis in Monasterio à sancto Furseo sibi constructo habitum Monachalem suscepit Committing thâ affaires of his Kingdome to his Kinsman âgreâk he betoocke himselfe to Monasticall habit in a Monasterie âounded by S. Furseus 11. Concerning the Kingedome of the East Saxons âigebert their King ioyned herein with the Northumbers and âas baptized by Bishop Finan of the Scotish Order ad Bishop of his Countrie Câd that was of the same order and consecrated by S. Finan he in all his dominions consecrated Priests and Deacons in all places of Essex but especially at âthancester and Tilberie For although King Seber's sonne of Sledda was a ChristiaÌ before âet he dying the Countrie vnder his sonnes âerred and Sigbert deadly enemies to Chriâtian profession was till then in Infideliâie 12. To come to the west Saxons although âhey receiued the faith by Saint Birinus sent ârom Rome yet at the Baptisme of their King Kinegillus S. Oswald King of NorthuÌâerland was Godfather vnto him and he âarried King Oswald his daughter and Doâauerunt ambo Reges both these Kings gaue him âorchester sixe miles from Oxford to settle âhere his Episcopall See And in the yeare â35 He instituted there Canonicâs seâulares secuâr Canons VVe reade in the Manuscript of the ântiquities of winchester that he builded âgaine the old Monasterie of winchester âounded in king Lucius time and did restore ânto or in it againe holy Monckes which were not long if at all before Saint Augustines comming driuen thence for we are assured that in the time of Constantine kinsmaÌ to king Arthur killing the sonne of Mordred Gildus l. de excid âritan Matth. ââestm Chronic. an 586. before the Altar of that Monasterie they were there and without doubt in king Careticus his time in the yeare ââ6 when and not before Bishops Priests and Moncks fled into wales So the Moncks placed there could be no others but such as had beene Bed hâsto Eccles lib. 4. cap. 13 Manuscrâpâ antiq ââ vit S. VVilfridi Capgrau ân catal in âod driuen from thence before who still in themselues or succession of that order continued in those parts as in the Scotish and British Order in the Monasteries of Bosenham wheâe Dicul a Scot was Abbot in Redford vnder Abbot Kinebertus at Malmesburie vnder Meildulphus a Scotish Moncke Natione Scoto eruditione phylosopho professione Monacho By nation a Scot in lerning a Pâylosopher in profession a Moncke VVho was so famous there that he gaue the old name Maildulfesburch to that Guliel Malmesb. Lântherius Saxoniae Episcop in chart ââ 675. place where and vnder whom in the same discâpline S. Aldelme after Abbot there was brought vp A primo aeuo infantiae from his childâood Bishop Eleutherius in his graunt to that house dated 675. proueth there were many Abbots and Abbies in these places in that time 13. VVilliam of Malmesburie with the Antiquities of Glastââburie assureth vs that in our âenowned Abbey of Glastenburie after Saint Augustines comming and during his âeing here in the yeare 601. we had our old Moncks in quiet and peace their Abbot was âalled Morgret the Bishop vnder whom they âhen liued Manuto Manuto Episcopus and their King Rex Domnoniae whose name by the
oldâesse of the Record is not remeÌbred Quis isâe Rex fuit scedulae veâustas negat scire he was their Beâefactour and gaue them or confirmed to âhem Inswitrin Terram quae appellatur Inswitrin âd Ecclesiam veâustam concessit ad petitionem Morâret âiusdem loci Abbatis The land which is called ânswitrin he granted to the old Church by the pâtiâioÌ of Morgret Abbot of that place and their Bishop Manuto wrote and coÌfirmed it Ego Manuto Episâopus hanc chartam scripsi I Bishop Manute wrote tâiââaper 14. Besides this Bishop England had then ât Saint Augustines coÌming diuers Bishops âere ordered or sent by the Popes authoriâie Saint Asaph in the west S. Iuo in Hunâingtonsyhre S. Lethard in Kent and others not vnprobably in other places besides ouâ British Bishops in VVales and those of Scotâand And to remember but the names of our first Bishops in England after S. Augustines comming besides Kent and London where âhe and his Associats were Bishops all which vndoubtedly by all writers Catholike and Protestant old or new Monasticall or others either were of our British old Order or ioyned with them that were at that time here 15. VVe haue in the North Saint Aidanâ Finan Colman Tuda Eata Cuthbert Foâ Yorke S. Paulinus the first by Marianus waâ ex Francia and staied but onely 6. yeares after him S. Cedda S. Wilfride Bosa Sainâ Iohn called of Beuerlaie brought vp in Sainâ Hilda her old Monasterie At winchester wâ had S. Birinus spoakeÌ of before who restored in that Monasterie our old MoÌckes and ioyâned with the Northumbers Agilbertus â Frenchman who preached long in Ireland ioyned âlso with the Northumbers VVinâ also a Frenchman and Eleutherius remembred before In Liâhfeild we had Diuma oâ Dwyna a Scot hauing all Middle England for his Dioces so had sixe or seuen of his Successours all such vntill the yeare 678. Cellacââ Scot Trumhere Ianuman Cedda winfride Saxulf I passe ouer all the old Sees iâ wales knowne and confessed by all to haue had none but such Bishops 16. Such also was the ordinarie aÌd vniuersall pietie and sanctitie of our old holy Priestâ and Preachers of that time before any later Order was receiued euen of the laie people conuerted and taught by them as the learned Saint Bede then liuing much be waileth the great change and alteration saying In tantum Beda l. 3. Hist âccles Angl. cap. 5. auââm vita illâus Aidani à nostri temporis segnitia distâbat vt omnes qui cum eo incedebant siue aettonsi ââue laici meditari debeâent id est aut legendiâ Scripturis aut Psalmis discendis S. Aidan his lifâ âas so farre different from the slouthfulnesse of our âe that all those which went with him wheather âonckes or Laickes were to meditate that is they âere to bestowe their time either in reading Scripture â learning the Psalmes And in an other place ââaieth thus of Bishop Colman who dispuâd with Saint VVilfrid and of his Predeâssours Bed histâ ecclesiast l. 3. ca. 26. Quantae autem parsimoniae âuiusque contiâtiae fueriâ ipse cum praedecessoribus suis testabatur âam ipse locu quem regebaâ Of how great abstinenâ and continencie he was with his Predecessours the âce it selfe which he ruled did witnesse where âen they went away very few howses besides the âurch remained and these howses onely without âch ciuill conuersation could not continue They had âonie nothing but cattell If they receiued any moâ of the riche presently they gaue it to the poore All care of those Doctours then was to serue God and not worlde All their desire was for the soule and noââbellie wherevpon in that time the habite of Reliâ was in greate reuerence so that wheresoeuer ââst or Moncke did come he was ioyfully receiued âll as the Seruant of God And if any trauailing âeir iornie did meete him a Priest bending âselues they reioyced to be signed with his hande âssed by his mouth They gaue diligent eare to his ârtatioÌs VpoÌ the sondayes they flocâed to the Church âonasteries to be instructed in the word of God If Priest chanced to come into a villadge the Inhaâts presently came together and desired to receiue âord of life from him For there was no other cause âriests or Ecclesiasticall men to goe to villadges but to speake briefely to âuer soules And they were so ãâã from all infection of couetousnesse that they would nâ except compelled by the riche men of the world ââceiue lands or possessions to build Monasteâies Whiâ custome was genârally obserued in the Churcâes of tââingdome of Northumberland sometime afâerwardâ Thus of Saint Aidan their first Apâstâe anâ of his Disâiples and people by him conueâced and although he kept Easter otherwiâ then those did which came from Rome yâ he was and worthily beloued of all euen â the Archbishop of Canterburie Honoriâ for his workes of faith pietie and charitiâ and during his life that difference was patieâtly endured And this was not an errour câmon to all Scots but to some of theÌ for Roâ and others impugned it And wheÌ it was roâted out it was not done by MoÌckes or otheâ Bed l. 3. 4. 5. Guliel Malmesb. Matth. Westm Floren. ââigârn from Rome but as Saint âede and otheâ prooue either by the Poâes admonitioÌ as â Ireland by Bishop Agilbertus and Saiâ Wilfride in Northumberland and in othâ place by Saint Egbertus Adamnanus aâ others of their old owne Order and profâsion 17. In this I haue the longer insisted ââ onely for the glorie and honour of those oâ Fathers in Christ not iustly to be takâ from them to be giuen vnto others and tâ it is the honor of our English Priests aâ Catholiks to be heires successours aâ children to such Antecessours and parentâ Religion But because it is the most common Dauid Pâwâll ââ annoâaâ in l. 2. ââraldi CaÌbren de ãâã Cambr. Io. Bal. in Act. Râman poââific l. 2 ââ Gâegor 1. Francis Godwin conuers of Bâiâ p. 4â Fulk answ ãâã cont Cain p 4 Middlâto papist pag. 202. Foxe Aââ and Meâ pag. 463. edit an 1576. Io. Gâsâ lin Hâââor eâclesiast Matth. parker Antiquiâ Brit. pag. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. receiued allowed and approued opinion and confession of our English Protestants and those their best learned in their estimatioÌ to write in their owne very words At the comming of Augustine there florished with âhe Britans the preaching of the truth sincere doâtrine liuelie faith and the pure worship âf God âuch as from the Apostles themselues was by Gods coÌâaundement deliuered to the Churches The Britans âefore Augustines comming continued in the âaith of âhrist euen from the Apostles time After the Britans âmbraced the saith of Christ they neuer forsooke iâ neiâer when Augustine came into the Iland So many ând so great a number of the old names of Priests âoncks Abbots Prelates Bishops Churches Abâeyes and Sees which haue beene in euery age doth âfficieÌtly
lands and âonours determinable onely by our tempoâall lawes with others cannot come to his auââence except such imaginaries could aâd âould put Ministers out and Priests into âe Benifices of England A secret and consioable ending of many of these matters amoÌg âatholikes though iuridically can be no âore daunger in a Bishop then in a Regulaâârieste If diuersitie of Iudgments should âme time happen in the Iudgment of one a âshop giuen in priuate the inconuenience âuld be lesse the now it is by the IâdgemeÌts â many Priests all of them as much differing âm the Protestants Censures and âribunals as those by a Bishop would be Yet these fewâ cases would chance but seldome We see the Queenes Priests of France and Sotland to be permitted by the king and state to deaâe with English Catholâks âome times brânging such caâes So are all Priests of all Orders litle pleasing vnto the necessitated to doe so But seeing there can be no daunger by sucâ secret procedings none can take that officâ from a learned Bishop and leaue it to euerâ Priest learned or not 9. Such or greater difficulties were froâ the Apostles time and therein in them anâ Bishops their Successours among Ethnicâ and Pagan Princes yet the holy Scripturs before and Apostolike men haue taught aâ men obedience vnto Bishops euen in suâ daies and all good Christians did so obâ them Saint Peter in Scripture strangely eâ communicated Ananias and Saphira So dâ S. Paul Hymineus Alexander and the inceâtuous Corinthian So did the other Apostlâ among Pagans exercise spirituall Iurisdâction So did all Bishops among Infidels vâ till the Emperours and Princes more differiâ from Catholiks the Protestants should weâ conuerted yet at that time they exercised spârituall IurisdictioÌ and the Christians obeyâ them And now at this time and long vndâ the Turks Tartars Chinenses and other eâmies to Catholiks Catholik Bishops doe eâercise their Iurisdiction among the Christiâ and all obeye ât This is the case of Catholiks vnder their Bishop in Holland among the Protestant Hoâlanders And in his Maiesties Dominion in âreâand where Bishops are and doe exeâcise tâeir Iuâisdictiân Catholiks obeying them And it is Christs ordânance that ââ they should doe God forbid any bearing the name Catholike in England âo renowned for holy Conâessouâs of true Religion in this time should be wanting in âuch dutie or any other 10. But because our Protestant Persecuâours pretend most exception against the Bishop of Chalcedon for dâriuing Iurisdiâtion from the âee of Rome we must needs âith all antiquitie deliuer vnto them that in âuery age from Christ we here in Britaniââaue receiued Bishops and Pastours with âheir Iurisdiction from the Sâe oâ Rome and âhat highest Papall power and authoritie âVe haue spoakeÌ before how in the fiâst Age âaint Peter the first Pope oâ Rome consecraâd Bishops and Priâsts and founded âhurches here We aâde âurther how our Proâstants eueâ king Iames himselfe and others ây his and their greatest authoritie conâsse of the Apostolik Church It is our motâer âurch And Adde Est capuâ Roma quatenus ab ea âffasum est Euangâlium in reliquas tâââus O ãâã âclâsias in muââas Orienââs aâque in âarâarââ etiâââtra Râmanum Impeââum Nationes Rome iâ the âd as sââ it the Gospell is diââused into the rest of the Churches of all the west and into many of the East as also into Barbarous Nations out of the RomaÌ Empiere Peter preached in no place but he there orâained Bishops and teachers and founded Churches The Apostle Peter did in euery Prouince appoint one Archbishop whome all other Bishops of the same Prouince should obey The Archbishop of Britanie was Aristobulus S. Clement his Successour Pope in the later end of this and in the beginning of the second age writeth of him concerning Britanie Sanctus Clemens and other CouÌtries Episcopos persingulas Ciuitates quibus ipse non misârat perdoctos nobis miââere praecepit Quod facere inchoauimus Domino opeâ ferente faecturi sumus He commaunded vs to send veâ learned Bishops vnto all Cities to which he had nâ sent any Which we haue begun to doe and by Gâ his healpe shall doe 11. In the second age also Pope Eleuthârius sent hither S. Damianus and Phaganâ his legats with others who consecrated anâ VVestm an â85 seated here three Archbishops with 28 Biâhops Templa qua in honorem plurimorum Deoââ fundata fueranâ vni Deo eiusque Sanctis dedicarunt diueâsisque Ordinatorum coetibus repleueruâ The Churches which were builded in the honour of âny Gods they dedicated to one God aÌd his Saints aÌd fâled theÌ with diuers âsseÌblies of such as had takeÌ Ordeâ And afterwards they being by King Luciâ sent to Rome to haue those things confirmâ Idem an 186. by the Pope which here in Britanie thâ had done Quibus peractis redierunt in Britannâ praefati Doctores cum alijs quamplurimis quorum â ârina gens Britonum in fide Christi fundata refulsit VVhich being ended the foresaied Doctours accomânied with many others returned againe into Britanie whose doctrine in a short time the Britans grounâed the faith of Christ florished And although in this âonuersion of Britanie that holy Pope subâcted the Countrie now called Scotland not âmporally subiect to king Lucius of Britanie Bedalib 1. hist. Angl. c. â â the Romans vnto our Archbishop of ârke Susceptamque fidem Britanm vsque in tempora âocletiani Principis inuiolatam integramque quieâa in âe seruabant The Britans did with peace keepe the âth they âad receiued whole and inuiolate vntill the âe of Dioclesianus the Emperour Yet in the beânning Hector Boeth lib. 6 Scote Histor fol. 86. B. of the third age Saint Victor then âing Pope of Rome Donaldus king there âud Victorem Pontificem per Legatos obâinuit vt âi doctrinà Religone insignes in Scotiam ab eo âsi se cum liberis coniuge Christinomen profitenâ hapâismate insignirent Regis exemplâm Scotica âbilitas secuta auersata impietatem Christique Reâonem complexa sacro fonte est abluta Donaldus ân King by Legats abtained from Pope Victor that ââhie men both for lerning and Religion might from â be sent into Scotland who might baptize himselfe â and Childrne professing the name of Christ The âish Nobilitie following the Kings example did cast ây impietie embraced the Christian Religion and â baptiâed And those Scots or Britans were âructed both in learning and Religion Ibidem those Priests and Preachers which Pope âtor sent Incaepere tum primum sacras colere literas Saâerdotiâus Praeââptoribus ques Victor Pontifâ Maximus ad Christi dogma propalandum in exââmam miserat Alâionem Then first of all they bâgun to studie the holy Scripturs vnder the Priââ their maisters which Victor the Pope had sâ into the farthest Albion to diuulge the doctrine Christ 12. When the Persecution of Diocâesiâ raged here 9. yeares many of our Britiâ Clergie sent
and best estate Wherfore as âhe Bishop oâ Chalcedon and Catholiks oâ England may not depart from the Church of Rome in this question So it will be a great wonder if King Charles and his Councell should thus persecute that which to them and all should be so honourable They may not persecute him for his Episcopall Order for that likewise is prooued the most glorious calling in the Church of Christ All English Parlamentarie Protestants confesse the Bishop of Chalchedon and all consâcrated as he was by the Roman Order containing all and more then they vse and by most true and lawfull Consecratours to be an vndoubted true and lawfull Bishop And so it must needs be for whether we will follow the present Roman Order euer vsed here since Saint Augustins time before their new deuised forme of so called Consecration made by King Edward the Sixth a child and altered by his Sister Elizabeth Queene a woman or that which the Britans Scots and Irish vsed long before ât is out of question by all that the Bishop of Chalcedon and euery one such is a true and most vndoubted lawfull Bishop hauing by due and true Consecratours whatsoeuer is contained or prescribed to be done in either of both which the new Protestant forme if they had true Consecâatours cometh short and wanteth euen in things essentiall both by all others and their owne iudgment and practise 18. The present Roman Order hath more though Ceremoniall then that of our BritaÌs Scots and Irish therefore I exemplifie onely in this and the rather to giue Satisfaction to our Protestants so extolling them for their Apostolik Religion neuer changed or altered as they saie Before S. Kentegern was consecrated Bishop all most 1200. yeares since this was their old vse and maÌner herein as Saint Asaph his Scholler a Bishop and others prooue Mos in Britannia inoleuerat in Consecratione Pontificum tantummodo capita corum sacri Cbrismatis infusione perungere cum inuocatione Sancti Spiritus benedictione manus impositione It was an auntient custome among the Britans that in the Consecration of Bishops they onely annoynted them on their heads with holy Chrisme inuocation of the Holy Ghost Benediction and imposiâion of âands This was done by consecrating Bisâops And this was Mos Britonum Scotorum â Hibernia The Custome of the Britans Scots and in âeland In those times when Canons of Counâells were not made of this matter or not ânowne here by reason of great troubles in âese parts as our Antiquaries write and yet âey were excused as hauing true and essenâally needfull Consecration Insulam enim quasi âira orbem positi emergentibus Paganorum infestaâonibus Canonum erantignari Ecclesiastica ideo Cenâra ipsis condiscendens excusationem illorum admit tit âhaââarte Foâ the inhabitants of the Iland being as were placed out of the world were ignorant of the anons by reason of the Continuall inuasions of the Paâans and therfore the Ecclesiasticall Censure yelding ânto them in this parte admââted their excusation But âur Protestants cannot be excused being not âgnorant but CoÌtemners of the Canons and âot this onely but omitting that which by âhe custome of the Britans Scots and Irish âhe old Roman Order in that time as Alâuinus Amalarius and others 800. yeares ânce terme it in their dayes was vsed then and is now all of them deliuering that âoly vnction by true Bishops to be necessaâie and essentiall euer naming the man to be âonsecrated Bishop Bishop elect onely vntill Dienyââus Aâeop l. de Ecclâsiaât Hâerarchia âhat vnctioÌ be ended and then Bishop coÌsecrated âpiscopus consecratus Our Protestants tâeÌselues âublickly haue written ad warranted that âaint Denys the Areopagite Vnctionem ponit expressè Doth expresely put vnction Anacletâ wrote Bishopâ are to be made by imposition of hanâ Anacletus Epist 2. §. â of Bishops and âoly âuction by the exampse of the Apostles because all saâctification consisteth in the hoâ ghoste whose muâââble power is mixed with hoâ Chrisme and by this Rââe sâlemne ordination is to â celebrated Oââ Protestants a âo confesâe thâ the holy Fathers both of the Greeke and Lâtine Church were thus coâecrated Of Sainâ Basile Vnââionâ sâcâa adhâbâta est ââdinatus He wâ ordained by applying holy ânnointing Of S. Gââgorie Nazianzen Me âontifiâem vngis So of â Iohn Chrysostome and Saint Seuerus So â Augustine Viâarius Christi Pontifex efficitur iâ in capite vngitur imitaÌdo illuÌ qui caput est toâiuâ Ecclâsiae per vnctionis gratiâ sit ipse caput Ecclâsiae sibi âmissae The Vicare of Christ is made Bishop aÌd therfâ he is annointed on the head in imitatioÌ of him who the head of the whole Church and he by the grace the ânnointing is made the head of the Chuââ committed vnto him So Saint Gregorie Qui S. Gregor mag in c. 10. l. 1. Regum culmine ponitur Sacramenta susâipit vnctionis quâ ve ò ipsa vnctio Sacramentum est is qui prâmouâââ benè soris vngiâur sâântus virtute SaâraâeÌââ robâreââ He that is pâaâed in the top taâeth the Sacraments â annointing bâcausâ the annointing it selfe is a Sacramâ he that is to be promoted is to be ânnointed well wiâl ââ if he would be strângâhned within with the âeâtue â the Sacrament Anâââ this Tââe he adiudge the Epiâcopaâl cânââââation of the Britanâ Scots aâd Iâiâh ââ be essentially valiâe S Saint Bede Amalââââs S. Iuo Stephant Eduensis and other auntient writers and Expositours of holy mysteries 19. Concerning the Ceremonie of the Booke of Gospels laied vpon the Consecrated though Alcuinus saieth Non reperitur in Alcuinus lâb dâ ãâ¦ã c. ââ âuthoritate veteri neque nouâ sed neque in Romanâ âraditione It is not found in authoritie either auncient ââ newe yea not in the Roman tradition And Amaâarius Neque vetuâ authoritas intimat neque Apostolica traditio neque Canoniâa authoritas Neither auncient authoritie neither Aposteliâall tradition nor Canonicall authoritie doth intimate âny such thing Yet we find this Ceremânie to âaue bene obserued in the time of S. Denis for ân his booke of the Ecclesiasticall Hieraâchie âe hath these words Pontifex quidem qui ad perfeâionem Dionisiuâ ãâ¦ã virtutemque pontifice dignam euââiâur vtâoâe genu flexo ante altare supra caput habet libros à to traditos manumque pontifiâis The Bishop indeede âhich is eleuated to worthy perfection and vertue of a âiâhop kneling on both knees before the Altar hath âon his head the bookes giuen from God and the hand â the Bishop Which Ceremonie is also vsed âily in the Catholike Church as is to be âene in the Rubâiks of the Roman Pontifiâll for after the ring is put on the finger of âe newe Consecrated Bishop this direction âântificale âomanum de Consâcratione Elâcti ân Episcââââ giuen Tum Consecrator accipit librum Euangelioââ de spatulis Consecrati Then the Consecratour taâh the booke of the
Missaâque celebrare tâpro viuis quâ pro deââeris in nomine Domini And the prayer being endea taking the holy oyle he shall make a Crosse ââ both the haÌds of the Priests saying Thou shalt vouchsafeÌâ Lord to conseâât and sanctifie these hands by this holy âyntement and our benediââion that whatsoeuer they shall censâârat may be âonsecrated and whatsoeuer they shall âlesse may be blessed and sanctified in âhe name of our Lord Iâsus Christ ââ is finished âe sâall take the patten with the hoste ând Chalââe with the wine and shall giue it ãâ¦ã saying âake yea power to offer Sacrifice to God ând saye masse as well for the liuing aââr the dead in the name of our Lord. âhis is the most auntient Pontificall which âtiquitie hath preserued and delââered vnto â vniformely agreeing with the now vsed ântificall in the Roman Church which difâeth not from but agâeath with the most ântient Manuscript Copies and Examplare âtant in the most renowned Labraries And âerefore our old British Antiquities deliuer Manusââ antiq Capââ in ãâ¦ã Histor. ãâ¦ã Arthur dipâ apââ Cam. â for a receiued Tradition aÌd custome here in other places for the Priests thereof acââding to their Office and Consecration to âer Sacrifice both for the liuing aÌd the dead ât consuetudo tam pro viââ quââ defunctis hoâ Dâo immolare And this was so generall a ââued truth and custome in the whole ââch from the Apostles time and Tradition ââ them that is was and iustly adiudged Heresie the Protestants thus acknowleging ângl Protest in Feild ââokeâ of the Church â 3. ca. 25. pag. ââ8 Ciuââ ãâã pag ãâ¦ã to denie it Aerius condemned the custome of the Church in naming tââ dead at the Altar and âffering the Sacrifice of ãâã âor them and for this his rashâ and inconsideraâââoldnesse and presumption in condemning tâe ââââeâsall Câurch of Cârist ââ was ãâã âo ââemned So S. Epiphanius S. Augustine Isodorus Damaâcânus and others demonstrate 10. And for England where holy Priests anâ Priestâood are so greuously persecuted wâ thus sucââssâuely and without any Interruptiâ deduce it in aââ times and changes to theâ daies Saint Peter a massing Prieste Bishopâ and Apostle preaching and consecratiââ Priests and Bishops here could consecrat aââ ordaine no others but such as were to be â his owne Order So Saint Câement his confeâsed massing and Sacriâicing Sucessor dircted to seâd such into these parts Pope Eleââherius who by his holy Mission of Prieâ and Bishops hither conuerted this kingdome being also a Massing Priest and Popâ could send no other Pââests but such And â Churches and sacrificing Massing Altars eâctâd in them all to such vse and end conâsed by all wriâers Caâholiâs and Protestaâ doe so demonstrate All agree we âad qâiââessesse ãâ¦ã Religââ and agreemeââ ãâã vntill Dâoclâlian his Persecution whân ââoâg others persââuââed the holy Prâââ Massinâ Priâsts as Saint Gildas before ââ proued and others ãâã ãâ¦ã Electi Sacerdotes trucidati and they which escaped did as often as they could saiâ Masse in places whether they fled to escape daââger as in Scotland whether the Persecution did not come ât not being vnder the Romans We had many Massing Priests as Saint Amphâlabus âodocus Priseus Calanus Ferranus Amâianus Carnoâus âd others who âââed thithâââut of our Britanie now England and were maintained by king Crathââââen to âaâe Masse âho founded all things necessarie to such âurpose Churches Altars Chalâââ Pââens âadlesticks and all things else Seâ Crathlintâus âex sacram Antistitis adem munââibus ornauiâ anâââssiniâs Hect. Boeth ãâã 6 Scoâ Hist fol. 99. ââ Calicibââs Patenis Candelabris alââsque sâââlibââ ad sacrorum âvsum commodis ex argenâo aurââe fabrefactis Altarique cupro are claâââo ââprouenââs ad caâx agris in sacrae aedis vicinââ constituââ But ââ King Crathline adornâd the Sacred house of the Bisâp with most ample gifts Chalices Patens Candâstikes and such like necessaries made of ââlâer and âld for the vse of the Church with an Altar also eââased in Copper and Brâse to doe all which he allotteââyearely rents of the fields neare adioyning to that sââa house 11. Britanie after this vntill the Pelagian ââresiâ was quiet for Religion and theâââpe Caelestine who was so âarre a Massing âpe and Priest that although the Masse waââpisticall before as he Protestants acknowâlge yet he added the Introiââ Graduall âsponsorie Tract and Oââeâtorie vnto it strictly commaunding that Priests shoulâ knowe the Popes âanoâ ad âe sent such Maâsing Bishops and Pââest with them inâo theââ kingdomââ ãâã gââd Sâotland and ãâã ãâã ââtroâum ãâã responsorium âraâââ ãâ¦ã insâruit atque vt ãâã codââeâ ãâã Caâones scirent arââe prâcepâ Cermanâm in ãâã Palladium in Scottâââ â Pâârââium cum quodââ ãâã in âiberniam ââ Pâlagianas âaerâses ãâã Eâiscopos misiâ Caelestinâââd aâde to the ãâã all âasse the Introite Câaâusâ Respânsoriâ Traâââ and Offertorie and be stricâ câmmaunded that the Priests should knowe the Caâââ of the Bishops He sent Bishops âermânus into ãâã Paââââius into ââotland and Patricius with one Segeâ into âreland that they migât extirpate theÌce the Pâgia ââerisse All mâ acknowledge that these wââ Massing Priests and Bishops and that tââ conâecrated Such in great numbers botâ England Scotland and Ireland Neââusuing neare or in the time of Saint Patriâ writeth thus of him Ordinauit Episcopoâ treâââ fexagintâ quinâue aut amplius in quibus spââitus â ãâã ârat Pââsbiteros auâem vsâue ad trâa ãâã âinââit He conseâraâed more then 365. Biâhops whome waâ the spââit of our Lord but Pâââsts ãâã âcd â000 And of Theââ diuers weât so âa as to Ameriâa âd there eâecuâed their Priâââe Oâder ân oââering the sacred bodie aâblââod of Christ at Mââse on consecraâed ââarâ in one place of America were lâuing ãâã the time of Saint ãâã ãâ¦ã âis life and trauailes allmost 1000. yeareââast 24. Priests which were Saint Patricks âisciples daily hauing Masâe amâng them ând others in other pâaces Immolaâânt agnuââa âmaculaâum âmnes ad communionem venââbant ââentes Hoâ sacrum corpus Domânâ Saluatoris sâââite sanguinem voââs in vitam âternamâ They sacriâed the immaâulate Lawbeâ and all came to the Comâunion saying Taâe yea this bodie and blood of our ââd and Sauiour which will be to you lâse euerlaââg And to manifest vnto all the vndoubted âuth of Saint Bâândans trauaiâes and relaân of these things iâ is set downe in memoâble Antiquities diuers hândredâ of âeares fore the Spaâiards or Porâugals enterance to America that there it was thus Propheâally reuealed vnto him Post ãâã Anneruââââculâ dââlarabitur istâ teârâ vestris Successoâââus ãâã Christianoââân superâeneâiâ ãâã After ââ yeares this land shall be discouered ââ your Suââurs whâ Pârsâââtion âhall come ãâã the Christians 2. That S. German S. Lupus S. Seueââ S. Paladius and all thâse which S. Ceââne that Massing Popâ sânt hither into Brâââie were Massing Bishops and Priests as alââ
S. Asaph had vnder each of âem 960. wherof aboue â60 were Apostoâke Preachers and yât to speake euen in our âemies words Being ãâã into companies they âended the service of God in the Church in such ãâã day and night perpetually seruice was there conâued some while by some and other âhile by others âording to an order by him S. Kentegern estaâshed and set downe 4. And although in some parte amongst âe Britans afflicted ãâã Pagans Inoasions âd cohabitation with them tââs great piâtie âd deuotion was ââcaied not long before S. Augustines comming hither from S. Grâgorie then Pope yet many oââhese with the holy Disciples as S. Brendan Vuandilocuâ Gomogillus Kentegernus Asaphus anâ others still continued in their Apostolike pâritie and perfection together with all oâ three Archbishâps of Britaâie many Biâhops and Priests thereof in the same faitâ and ReligioÌ which they receiued in our fiâ ConuersioÌ some Ceremonies onely of whicâ the obseruation of Easter was the greatest questionâd with some of them but no materiall and essântiall points at all And such wâ their holinesse euen here in Britanie wheâ into the Pagans were entered that to exeâplifie in one place of Glastenburie whoâ Churchâyard there vpon was called Tumulâ Sanctorum The Sepulcher of Saints thousands â Saints Millia were interred there before thâ yeare of Christ 550. The old Antiquities â Glastenburie recompt 104000. Cum centuâ quaâuor millibuâ and adde that the Church yarâ it being one of the greatest in compasse and the Altars aboue on and vnder theâ are so full of holy Relicks that there was ââ spaâe place to be founde Non in toto illo Coenââ terio à profundââate 16. pedum vsqi ad eius superficieâ à Sanctorum cinerilus habetur loâus vacuuâ In â that Churchâyard for 16. Foot deâpe to the superficâ or top theâof no place was found voyed of the ashes â Saints And not onely Churches and Church yards were esteemed thus holy for the Bodieâ of so many Saints buried in them but whole Countries and Ilands for and ârom the Sanctirie of so many miraculous British Saintââiuing in theÌ tooke and doe keepe still their âames of holy Iles Lands and the likâ And âo great was the Sanctitie learned and Apostolike glorie of these our British Bishops Culdeys Priests aÌd Religious in those times âhat we may almost saie of them as the Scripâure saied of the Apostles In omnem terram exiâit sonus corum in sines orbis terrae verba eorum ânto all the earth hath the sound of them gone forth ând vnto the end of the whole world the worde of âhem They preached in all or almost all the Manuscript antiq S. Asapâ Capgr in vit S. Kentegâr Bal. scrip-Brit ââtu â in KeÌâ Godw. Cata. epis in Asaph Kentegr Saxonic leges antiq inter leg S. Edwardi Regis Guâââamâard l dâ pâisâ Anglor ââgib world more then we finde deliuered of any Apostolike Clergie men or any Religious since then 5. All the world knoweth their preaching ând preuailing in all Britanie Ireland and all Ilands To the Caledonians Athals Hoâests Orchadians Norwegians Islandians ây Papall authoritie and of Saint Gregorie âimself It is coÌtained in our old Saxon pubâick lawes many hundred yeares old that âhey preached with like Commission before âhat time in Island Greenland accompted part of America Scantia Norwegia Sneâhorda Gutlandia or Iutland Dacia Semeâandia Winlandia Curlandia Roe FemelaÌdia Wirelandia Flandria Cherrela Lappa Lapland omnes terras Insulas Orientalis Oâeani vsque Russiam multas alias Insulas vlââa Scantiam vsquedum sub Septentrione and all other Ilands and Lands to Russia in the East and many other Ilands beyond Scantia in the North. Yf we turne from the East and North to West eueÌ the West India or that America we finde in the old Manuscripâe Author that wrote S. Brendans trauailes and life Capgraue and others that many Apostolike Priests consecrated by Saint Patrick that great Apostolik man went thither preached liued and died there If we turne South to make a circuite we had in Saint Peters time our Saint Mansuetus his Disciple an Apostolik Preacher in Germanie and Bishop of Trull in Loraine We had in the same age our blessed Beatus consâcrated at Rome by Saint Peter or presently after Preacher and Apostle of the Heluetians We had Saint Lucius or Lucian by some Conuertor and Apostle of the Bauarians as they acknowledge VVe had our S. Câlumbanus S. Gallus S. Kilianus Totnanus the both Ewaldi Furseus Foillanus Vltanus Offa or Offo VVitbertus or VVictbertus S. VVillibrodus and his eleuen Associats Schollers to S. Egbert of our old British Apostolick Order S. VVyrus Saint Plechelmus Egelbertus Saint Dysibodius with many in his companie of his Associats All these were of our old Apostolicall Priests and Religious Order here before any other Order came into Britanie who as Apostolike men with Papall authoritie preached in Gallia Almania Italia Franconia Bauaria Thuringia Haâsia Frisia Dania and other Countries diuers of them by Papal power were consecrated Bishops others Abbots ând in other degrees they founded Monasteâies ad Religious houses in great nuÌber which âould not be of any other Order theÌ in which âheir founders and Rules were trained vp ând professed in to wit that our most aunâient holy and learned British Order 6. This our Protestant Persecutours themâlues acknowledge who speakinâ of Banâor a Monasterie of our British order here ând of S. Columban and Brendan two Disâiples of CoÌgellus Abbot thereof they testifie âat S âernardus hunc locum tradit primum extiâss Bernard in ãâ¦ã Io. Bâl. Scââptor Brit. centur ãâã âongâllo Menasteriorum caput multa generauisse Moââhorum nullia Huius Discipuli fuere plures quoâm Columbanus Galliam Germaniam ââaliam âenâanus vâro Hiberniam Scotiam Monachoâm habitaculiâ implcuit Saint Bernard relateth this âace to haue bene the head and chiefist of Monasteries âd to haue begotten many thousands of Monckes maâ were his Disciples of whom Columbanus filled âance Germanie and Italie Brendan Ireland and âotland with habitations of Monckes To these I âight adde that renowned Archbishop and âpostolike Legate Arcâbishop of Moguntia âint Boniface and his holy companie and âartyrs with him who being a child but of âue yeares old was brought vp by our Apoâolik Priests ad after entered into the Monasteries of Exancester with vulâhardus à Moncke of our old British Order and after into the Monasterie of Huntscelle vnder Winbert Abbot of the same profession where he liued a long timâ and afterwards going into Germanie being and Abbot there he spenâ diuers yeares in preaching before he wenâ to Rome in the time of Pope Gregorie thâ second by whom he was ordained Bishop â Archbishop and Legate in the yeare of Chriâ 719. and liâed vntill he was martyred in thâ yeare 754. the 36. yeare of his being Bishoâ with 53. others Cum alijs quinquaginta tribuâ Matthew of