answer unto all and therefore howsoever the power of loosing and binding might seeme to be given by the Lord unto Peter alone yet without all manner of doubt it is to be knowne that it was given unto the rest of the Apostles also as himselfe doth witnesse who appearing unto them after the triumph of his passion and resurrection breathed on them and said unto them all Receive the holy Ghost whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins ye retaine they are retained Gildas the Briton goeth further affirming that to the true Priest it is said Thou art Peter and upon this rocke I will build my Church that to Peter and his successors our Lord saith And unto thee will I give the Keyes of the Kingdome of heaven and consequently that unto every holy Priest it is promised Whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shal be bound likewise in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shal be loosed likewise in heaven Whereupon hee pronounceth of the good Priests of Brittaine that they doe lawfully obtaine the Apostolicall state and lawfully sit in the chaire of St. Paul and on the other side of the bad that with uncleane feete they usurpe the seate of the Apostle Peter but by the demerit of their covetousnesse fall into the pestilent chaire of the traytor Iudas and so the ordainers of such place after a sort Iudas the betrayer of our Lord in the seate of Peter Lastly as Claudius noteth that the foundation of the Church was laid not onely upon St. Peter but also upon St. Iohn so in a certaine Hymne supposed to be written by Secundinus knowne in this country commonly by the name of St. Scachlin in the yeere of our Lord CCCCXLVIII St Patrick also is thus commended He is constant in the feare of God and unmovable in the faith upon whom the Church is builded as upon Peter whose Apostleship also he hath obtained from God and the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against him yea Christ is there said to have chosen him for his Vicar upon earth His See likewise of Armagh is by one Calvus Perennis in the dayes of Brian king of Ireland who was slaine as appeareth by Marianus in the yeere 1014. termed the Citie Apostolick So Desiderius Bishop of Cahors in France is by our countryman Gaellus saluted both Papa and Apostolicus and the Bishop of Kildare in Ireland honoured by Cogitosus with the stile of Summus Sacerdos and Summus Pontifex the highest Priest and the highest Bishop those titles and prerogatives which the Pope now peculiarly challengeth unto himselfe as ensignes of his Monarchy being heretofore usually communicated unto other Bishops when the universall Church was governed by way of Aristocratie CHAP. VIII Of the Popes spirituall Iurisdiction and how little footing it had gotten at first within these parts MAster Campion telleth us that when Ireland first received Christendome they gave themselves into the Iurisdiction both spirituall and temporall of the See of Rome But herein he speaketh without booke of the spirituall jurisdiction untruly of the temporall absurdly For from the first legation of Palladius and Patricius who were sent to plant the faith in this country it cannot bee shewed out of any monument of antiquity that the Bishop of Rome did ever send any of his Legats to exercise spirituall jurisdiction here much lesse any of his Deputies to exercise jurisdiction temporall before Gillebertus quem aiunt primâ functum legatione Apostolicae sedis per universam Hiberniam saith one that lived in his own time even Bernard himselfe in the life of Malachias One or two instances peradventure may be alledged out of some obscure authors whose names and times and authority no man can tell us newes of but unlesse that which is delivered by Bernard as the tradition that was current in his time can bee controlled by some record that may appeare to have beene written before his dayes we have small reason to detract any thing from the credit of so cleere a testimony This country was heretofore for the number of holy men that lived in it termed the Iland of Saints of that innumerable company of Saints whose memory was reverenced here what one received any solemne canonization from the Pope before Malachias Archbishop of Armagh Laurence of Dublin who lived as it were but the other day We reade of sundry Archbishops that have beene in this land betwixt the dayes of Saint Patrick and of Malachias what one of them can be named that ever sought for a Pall from Rome Ioceline indeed a late Monke of the Abbey of Furnesse writeth of St. Patrick that the Bishop of Rome conferred the Pall upon him together with the execution of legatine power in his roome But he is well knowne to be a most fabulous author and for this particular Bernard who was his ancient informeth us farre otherwise that from the very beginning untill his time the metropoliticall See of Armagh wanted the use of the Pall. with whom the author of the Annales of Mailros doth fully accord noting that in the yeere 1151. Pope Eugenius the same to whom Bernard did write his bookes de Consideratione did by his Legate Iohn Papiron transmit foure Pals into Ireland whither a Pall before had never beene brought And therefore Giraldus Cambrensis howsoever he acknowledgeth that Saint Patrick did choose Armagh for his seate and did appoint it to be as it were a metropoliticall See and the proper place of the primacie of all Ireland yet doth hee affirme withall that in very deed there were no Archbishops in Ireland but that Bishops only did consecrate one another untill Iohannes Papirio or Paparo the Popes Legate brought foure Pals thither whereupon some of our Chroniclers after him give this note concerning Gelasius who was at that time Archbishop of Armagh that hee is said to have beene the first Archbishop because hee used the first Pall and that others before him were called Archbishops and Primates in name only for the reverence of Saint Patrick as the Apostle of that Nation And indeed it might seeme that the complaint made by Anselme in his letters to Muriar dach King of Ireland that Bishops here were consecrated by Bishops alone might somewhat justifie the truth of Giraldus his relation if we did not find a further complaint there also that they were often ordained by one Bishop onely But as this latter argueth not the want of a competent number of Bishops in the land for as we shall heare presently they had more than a sufficient number of such but a neglect of the observance of the Canon provided by the Nicence Fathers in that behalfe so can it not rightly bee inferred out of the former that wee had no Archbishops here at that time but that the Bishops rather did faile much in the Canonicall
Hangustald or Hexham in Northumberland we reade thus Vpon a certaine time in the daies of Colman metropolitan Bishop of the citie of Yorke Oswi and Alhfrid his sonne being Kings the Abbots and Priests and all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall orders meeting together at the monastery which is called Streaneshel in the presence of Hilde the most godly mother of that abbey in presence also of the Kings and the two Bishops Colman and Aegelberht inquiry was made touching the observation of Easter what was most right to bee held whether Easter should bee kept according to the custome of the Brittous and the Scots and all the Northren part upon the Lords day that came from the XIIII day of the Moone untill the XX. or whether it were better that Easter Sunday should bee celebrated from the XV. day of the Moone untill the XXI after the manner of the See Apostolick Time was given unto Bishop Colman in the first place as it was fit to deliver his reason in the audience of all Who with an undaunted minde made his answer and said Our fathers and their predecessors who were manifestly inspired by the holy Ghost as Columkille was did ordaine that Easter should be celebrated upon the Lords day that fell upon the XIIII Moone following the example of Iohn the Apostle and Evangelist who leaned upon the breast of our Lord at his last Supper and was called the lover of the Lord. Hee celebrated Easter upon the XIIII day of the Moone and wee with the same confidence celebrate the same as his Disciples Polycarpus and others did neyther dare wee for our parts neyther will wee change this Bede relateth his speech thus This Easter which I use to observe I received from my elders who did send me Bishop hither which all our fathers men beloved of God are knowne to have celebrated after the same manner Which that it may not seeme unto any to bee contemned and rejected it is the same which the blessed Evangelist Iohn the disciple specially beloved by our Lord with all the Churches whech he did oversee is read to have celebrated Fridegodus a who wrote the life of Wilfrid at the command of Odo Archbishop of Canterbury expresseth the same Verse after this manner Nos seriem patriam non frivola scripta tenemus Discipulo eusebit Polycarpo dante Iohannis Ille etenim bis septenae sub tempore Phoebae Sanctum praefixit nobis fore Pascha colendum Atque nefas dixit si quis contraria sentit On the contrary side Wilfrid objected unto Colman and his Clerkes of Ireland that they with their complices the Pictes and the Brittons out of the two utmost Iles and those not whole neyther did with a foolish labour fight against the whole world And if that Columb of yours saith he yea and ours also if hee were Christs was holy and powerfull in vertues could hee bee preferred before the most blessed Prince of the Apostles unto whom the Lord said Thou art Peter and upon this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it and I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Which last words wrought much upon the simplicitie of King Oswy who feared that when hee should come to the doores of the kingdome of heaven there would bee none to open if hee were displeased who was proved to keepe the keyes but prevailed nothing with Bishop Colman who for the feare of his countrey as Stephen in the life of Wilfrid writeth contemned the tonsure and the observation of Easter used by the Romanes and taking with him such as would follow him that is to say such as would not receive the Catholike Easter and the tonsure of the crown for of that also there was then no small question returned back againe into Scotland CHAP. X. Of the height that the opposition betwixt the Romane party and that of the Brittish and Scottish grew unto and the abatement thereof in time and how the Doctors of the Scottish and Irish side have beene ever accounted most eminent men in the Catholike Church notwithstanding their dis-union from the Bishop of Rome IN Colmans roome Wilfrid was chosen Archbishop of Yorke who had learned at Rome from Archdeacon Boniface the course of Easter which the schismaticks of Brittaine and Ireland did not know so goe the words of Stephen the ancient writer of his life and afterward did brag that hee was the first which did teach the true Easter in Northumberland having cast out the Scots which did ordaine the Ecclesiasticall songs to bee parted on sides and which did command S. Benets rule to be observed by Monkes But when he was named to the Archbishopricke he refused it at the first as William of Malmesbury relateth lest he should receive his consecration from the Scottish Bishops or from such as the Scots had ordained whose communion the Apostolike See had rejected The speech which he used to this purpose unto the Kings that had chosen him is thus laid downe by Stephen the writer of his life O my honourable Lords the Kings it is necessary for us by all meanes providently to consider how with your election I may by the helpe of God come to the degree of a Bishop without the accusation of catholike men For there be many Bishops here in Brittaine none of whom it is my part to accuse ordained within these foureteene yeares by the Brittons and Scots whom neyther the See Apostolicke hath received into her communion nor yet such as consent with the schâ—smaticks And therefore in my humility I request of you that you would send me with your warrant beyond the Sea into the countrey of France where many Catholike Bishops are to be had that without any controversie of the Apostolike See I may be counted meet though unworthy to receive the degree of a Bishop While Wilfrid protracted time beyond the Seas King Oswy ledde by the advice of the Quartadecimans so they injuriously nicknamed the Brittish and Irish that did celebrate Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moone appointed a most religious servant of God and an admirable Doctor that came from Ireland named Ceadda to be ordained Bishop of Yorke in his roome Constituunt etenim perverso canone Coeddam Moribus acclinem doctrinae robore fortem Praesulis eximij servare cubilia sicque Audacter vivo sponsam rapuere marito saith Fridegodus This Ceadda being the scholler of Bishop Aidan was far otherwise affected to the Brittish and Irish than Wilfrid was and therefore was content to receive his ordination from Wini Bishop of the West-Saxons and tow other Brittish Bishops that were of the Quartadeciman partie For at that time as Bede noteth there was not in all Brittaine any Bishop canonically ordained that is to say by such as were of the communion of the Church of Rome except that Wini only
the Roman Church were wont to observe abstinence both from meate and from the marriage bed Whence in the booke before alledged of the Daily Penances of Monkes we finde this order set downe by the same Columbanus that if any one unlesse he were weake did upon the Wednesday or Friday eate before the ninth houre that is to say before three of the clocke in the afternoone according unto our account hee should be punished with fasting two dayes in bread and water and in Bedes Ecclesiasticall Historie that such as followed the information of Aidan did upon the same dayes observe their fast untill the same houre in which history we also reade of Bishop Cedd who was brought up at Lindisfarne with our Aidan and Finan that keeping a strict fast upon a speciall occasion in the time of Lent hee did every day except the Lords day continue his fast as the manner was untill the evening and then also did eate nothing but a small pittance of bread and one egge with a little milke mingled with water Where by the way you may note that in those daies egges were eaten in Lent and the Sundayes excepted from fasting even then when the abstinence was precisely and in more than an ordinarie manner observed But generally for this point of the difference of meats it is well noted by Claudius out of S. Augustin that the children of wisedome doe understand that neither in abstaining nor in eating is there any vertue but in contentednesse of bearing the want and temperance of not corrupting a mans selfe by abundance and of opportunely taking or not taking those things of which not the use but the concupiscence is to be blamed and in the life of Furseus the hypocrisie of them is justly taxed that being assaulted with spirituall vices doe yet omit the care of them and afflict their body with abstinence who abstaining from meates which God hath created to be received with thankesgiving fall to wicked things as if they were lawfull namely to pride covetousnesse envy false witnessing backbiting Of whom Gildas giveth this good censure in one of his Epistles which now are lost These men while they doe feed on bread by measure for this same very thing doe glory without measure while they use water they are withall drenched with the cup of hatred while they feed on dry meates they use detractions while they spend themselves in watchings they disprayse others that are oppressed with sleepe preferring fasting before charitie watching before justice their owne invention before concord severitie before humilitie and lastly man before God Such mens fasting unlesse it be proceeded unto by some vertues profiteth nothing at all but such as accomplish charitie doe say with the harpe of the holy Ghost All our righteousnesses are as the cloth of a menstruous woman Thus Gildas who upon this ground layeth downe this sound conclusion wherewith wee will shut up this whole matter Abstinence from corporall meats is unprofitable without charitie They are therefore the better men who doe not fast much nor abstaine from the creature of God beyond measure but carefully keepe their heart within pure before God from whence they know commeth the issue of life than they who eate no flesh nor take delight in secular dinners nor ride with coaches or horses thinking themselves hereby to bee as it were superiour to others upon whom death hath entred through the windows of haughtinesse CHAP. VII Of the Church and various state thereof especially in the dayes of Antichrist of Miracles also and of the Head of the Church COncerning the Catholike Church our Doctors taught with S. Gregory that God hath a vineyard to wit the universall Church which from just Abel untill the last of the elect that shall be borne in the end of the world as many Saints as it hath brought forth so many branches as it were hath it budded that the congregation of the just is called the kingdome of heaven which is the Church of the just that the sonnes of the Church bee all such as from the beginning of mankinde untill now have attained to be just and holy that what is said of the body may bee said also of the members and that in this respect as well the Apostles and all beleevers as the Church it selfe have the title of a pillar given them in the Scriptures that the Church may be considered two manner of wayes both that which neyther hath spot nor wrinkle and is truely the body of Christ and that which is gathered in the name of Christ without full and perfect vertues which notwithstanding by the warrant of the Apostle may have the name of the Church given unto it although it be depraved with errour that the Church is said not to have spot or wrinkle in respect of the life to come that when the Apostle saith In a great house there are not only vessels of gold c. but some to honour and some to dishonour 2 Tim. 2. 20. by this great house he doth not understand the Church as some have thought which hath not spot nor wrinkle but the world in which the tares are mingled with the wheate that yet in the holy Church also the evill are mingled with the good and the reprobate with the elect and that in this respect it is resembled unto the wise and foolish virgins as also to the Kings marriage by which this present Church is designed wherein the good and the bad doe meet together So that in this Church neyther the bad can bee without the good nor the good without the bad whom the holy Church notwithstanding doth both now receive indifferently and separate afterwards at their going from hence The number of the good Gildas complaineth to have beene so exceeding short in his time among the Britons in comparison of the other that their mother the Church in a manner did not see them lying in her own lap albeit they were the onely true sonnes which she had And for externall pressures our Doctors have delivered that the Church sometimes is not only afflicted but also defiled with such oppressions of the Gentiles that if it were possible her redeemer might seeme for a time utterly to have forsaken her and that in the raging times of Antichrist the Church shall not appeare by reason that the wicked persecutors shall then exercise their cruelty beyond all measure that in those times of Antichrist not onely more often and more bitter torments shall be put upon the faithfull than before were wont to be but which is more grievous the working of miracles also shall accompany those that inflict the torments as the Apostle witnesseth saying Whose comming is after the working of Satan with all seduction signes and lying wonders namely juggling ones as it was foretold before They shall shew such signes that if it were possible the