the Preacher of St. Warbroughs A Fool may ask more Questions than a Wise man can easily answer Answer to D. M's Latin Questions pag. 99. A. Yes and I remember what he says moreover p. 25. He viz. Cranmer in all he did had the unanimous Consent and Vote of the major part of the Convocation c. B. You must excuse him for that mistake He has enough to do and perhaps more than an ingenious man would desire to undertake to satisfie the itching Ears of his Congregation with a spick and span new Sermon every Sunday in the year besides other Parochial Duties and cannot know every thing as he pretends Dr. Burnet informs you how in the year 1534. Cromwell joyning himself to Cranmer in a firm Friendship did promote the Reformation very vigorously but there was another party in Court that wrestled much against it whereof the Duke of Norfold was Head whose great Friend was Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who despised Cranmer and hated all Reformation Longland that had been the Kings Confessor was also managed by them and they had a great Party in Court and mark this almost all the Churchmen were on their side Burnet p. 172. 1. vol. Here almost all the Churchmen were against Cranmer Then in the year 1540. Cranmer says Burnet was for reducing the Seven Sacraments to Two but the Popish Party was then prevalent so the old number of Seven was agreed to pag. 289. 1. vol. and Cranmer subscribed with the rest tho against his own opinon This was far from the unanimous Consent of the Clergy In the Reign of King Edward anno 1547. while the Parliament was sitting they were not idle in the Convocation though the Popish party these are Burnets words was yet so prevalent in both Houses of Convocation that Cranmer had no hopes of doing any thing till they were freed of the trouble which some of the great Bishops gave them p. 47. 2. vol. that is till those Bishops were purged out And reckoning the number of Bishops that were of Cranmers side anno 1547. all he could find were these viz. Holgate of York Holbeach of Lincoln Goodrick of Ely Ridley elect of Rochester and Latimer Others of the Bishops were ignorant and weak men says Burnet who understood Religion little and valued it less meaning his new Reformation and so though they liked the old Superstition best that is Catholique Religion yet they resolved to swim with the stream p. 25. 2 vol. Then anno 1548. of the 8 Bishops who were ordered to draw up the Common Prayer Book four protested against it as Burnet confesses p. 94. 2. vol. And the same year it being brought into the House of Lords the Bishops of London Durham Norwich Carlisle Hereford Worcester Westminster and Chichester protested against it p. 23. 2. vol. That same year there was a Committee of selected Bishops Divines for examining all the Offices of the Church and for reforming them says Burnet The thing they first examined was the Sacrament of the Eucharst and here they managed their Enquiries in the same manner that was used in King Henrys Reign in which when any thing was considered in order to a Change it was put into several Queries to which every one in Commission was to give his Answer in Writing Some of the Queries were these viz. What was the Oblation or Sacrifice of the Mass wherein the Mass consisted c. To these the Bishops made their several Answers by which the Reader will perceive says Burnet how generally the Bishops were addicted to the old Superstition and how few did agree in all things with Cranmer p. 61 62. 2. vol. Dissenters from the Reformation were generally turned out of their Sees For the most part the Prelates were changed says Fox and the dumb Bishops compelled to give place to others that would preach p. 1180 And that all things might be carried with as little opposition and noise as might be saith Heylin it was thougt fit that Bishop Gardiner of Winchester should be kept in Prison till the end of the Session of Parliament and that Bishop Tonstall of Durham a man of a most moderate and even Spirit should be made less in Reputation by being deprived of his place at Council Table History Reformation p. 48. This was anno 1547. the first year of King Edward Heylin adds And though the Parliament consisted of such Members as disagreed amongst themselves in respect of Religion yet they agreed well enough together in one common Principle which was to serve the present Turn and preserve themselves For though a great part of the Nobility and not a few of the Chief Gentry in the House of Commons were Cordially affected to the Church of Rome yet were they willing to give way to all such Acts and Statutes as were made against it out of a fear of losing such Church Lands as they were possessed of if that Religion should prevail and get up again And for the rest who either were to make or improve their Fortunes there is no question to be made but that they came resolved to further such a Reformation as should most visibly conduce to the advancement of their several ends which appears plainly by the strange mixture of the Acts and Results thereof some tending simply to God's Glory and the good of the Church some to the present benefit and enriching of particular Persons And some again being devised of purpose to prepare a way for exposing the Revenues of the Church unto spoil and rapine Heylin p. 48. Anno 1551. Poynet was made Bishop of Winchester Gardiner being deprived Doctor Story was made Bishop of Rochester Miles Coverdal Bishop of Exeter Hooper of Glocester So that now says Burnet the Bishopriks were generally filled with men well affected to the Reformation Burnet pag. 166. 2. vol. And now let the Reader observe his following words viz. so now the Bishops being generally addicted to the Purity of Religion most of this year 1551 was spent in preparing Articles which should contain the Doctrine of the Church of England But many thought says he they should have begun 1. with those Articles but Cranmer upon good reasons was of another mind though much pressed by Bucer about it till the Order of Bishops observe were brought to such a model that the far greater part of them would agree to it it was much fitter to let that design of the 39 Articles go on slowly than to set out a Profession of their Belief to which so great a part of the chief Pastors might be obstinately averse Burnet p. 166. 2. vol. In the first year of Queen Elisabeth 1559 the Bill for the Supremacy was past by the Lords on the 18th of March. The Archbishop of York the Earl of Shrewsbury the Bishops of London Winchester Worcester Landaff Coventry and Litcfield Exeter Chester and Carlisle and the Abbot of Westminster dissenting Burnet p. 385. 2. vol. He proceeds p. 386. There was no other punishment
he of his own Accord without any Addresses from Cranmer designed to raise him to that Dignity and gave him notice of it that he might make haste and come home to enjoy that reward which the King had appointed for him But Cranmer having received this News did all he could to excuse himself from the Burden which was coming upon him and therefore he returned very slowly to England hoping that the Kings thoughts cooling some other Person might step in between him and a Dignity of which having a just and primitive Sense he did look on it with Fear and Apprehension rather than Joy and Desire This was so far from setting him back that the King was thereby confirmed in his high Opinion of him and neither the delays of his Journey nor his Intreaties to be delivered from a Burden which his humility made him imagine himself unable to bear could divert the King and good reason why because amongst all the Bishops he found no Man else for his purpose So that tho six months elapsed before the thing was settled yet the King persisted in his Opinion and the other was forced to yield Burnet page 127. Now let the Reader observe Doctor Heylin's account of Cranmer's backwardness to accept that Preferment viz. Warham Archbishop of Canterbury dying Cranmer is designed for his Successor in that eminent Dignity which he unwillingly accepts of partly in regard that he was Married at that time and partly in reference to an Oath which he was to take to the Pope at his Consecration But the King was willing for his own ends to wink at the one viz his Marriage and the Pope was not in a Condition as the Case then stood to be too peremptory in the other Heylin Hist Reform page 177. Burnet says further though Cranmer was a Man of too great Candour and Simplicity to be refined in the Arts of Policy yet he managed his Affairs with great Prudence that is to say respect to his interest which did so much recommend him to the King that no ill Offices were ever able to hurt him page 172. 1 Vol. In the end of January 1533. the King sent to the Pope for the Bulls for Cranmer's Promotion and though the Statutes were passed against procuring more Bulls from Rome yet the King says Burnet resolved not to begin the Breach till he was forced to it by the Pope that is whilst there were any hopes of the Popes consenting to his Marriage with Ann Bolen On the other hand the Pope had no mind to precipitate a Rupture with England therefore consented to Cranmer's Promotion page 128. A. I pray let us hear Doctor Burnet's account of his Consecration and taking the Oath to the Pope B. Cranmers Bulls being sent into England he was on the 13th of March Anno 1533. consecrated by the Bishops of London Exeter and Saint Asaph But here a great Scruple was moved by him concerning the Oath that he was to Swear to the Pope which he had no mind to take And Writers near that time say the dislike of that Oath observe this was one of the Motives that made him so unwillingly accept of that Dignity He declared that the Obligation which that Oath brought upon him would bind him up from his Duty to God the King and the Church page 128 129. 1 Vol. A. I would fain hear the words of that Oath before you go any further B. Ego T. Electus Ecclesiae C. Episcopus ab hac hera fidelis obediens ero beato Petro Apostolo Sanctaeque Romanae Ecclesiae c. I T. Bishop of C. from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to Saint Peter and to the Holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors Canonically entring I shall not be of Council nor Consent that they shall lose either Life or Member or shall be taken or suffer any violence or wrong by any means Their Councel to me credited their Messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discover to any Person The Papâ—cy of Rome the Rules of the Holy Fathers and the Regality of Saint Peter I shall help and maintain and defend against all Men The Legate of the See Apostolick going and coming I shall honorably intreat The Rights Honours Priviledges Authority's of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to be conserved defended augmented and promoted I shall not be in Council Treaty or any Act in the which any thing shall be imagined against Him or the Church of Rome their Rights Seats Honours or Powers And if I know any such to be moved or compassed I stall resist it to my power and as soon as I can I shall advertise him or such as may give him Knowledge The Rules of the Holy Fathers the Decrees Ordinances Sentences Dispositions Reservations Provisions and Commandments Apostolick to my Power I shall keep and cause to be kept of others Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successors I shall resist and prosecute to my Power I shall come to the Synod when I am called except I be letted by a Canonical Impediment The Thresholds of the Apostles I shall visit yearly Personally or by my Deputy I shall not alienate or sell my Possessions without the Popes Counsel So God help Me and the Holy Evangelists p. 123. A. Did he take this Oath in Terminis B. Yes and you shall hear how His Scruple being communicated to some of the Canonists and Casuists saith Burnet they found a Temper that agreed better with their Maxims then Cranmers Sincerity which was that before he should take the Oath he should make a good and formal Protestation that he did not intend thereby to restrain himself from any thing that he was bound to either by his Duty to God or the King or the Countrey and that he renounced every thing in it that was contrary to any of these This Protestation he made in Saint Stephens Chappel at Westminster in presence of some Doctors of the Canon Law before he was censecrated and he afterwards repeated it when he took the Oath to the Pope by which if he did not wholly save his Integrity note this yet it was plain he intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board page 129. NOTE Vpon the like Protestation he might have taken another Oath to be true to Mahomet The Dr. is here at his wits end for an Excuse but confesses he did not swear like a sincere Christian He intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board viz. He would take the Oath but so God help him and the holy Evangelists if ever he meant to observe one syllable of it Reader in all ages those that have been sent by God for the Reformation of the World and Restoration of ancient Piety have appeared to be Persons of extraordinary Sanctity at least if not recommended by Miracles in this Reformer there is yet no appearance of either A. After
suffering such Contention should arise and ensue in the Realm amongst his Subjects that thereby might spring horrible Rebellions and Uproars like as in some parts of Germany it happened not long ago the Enormity whereof they could not impute to any so much as to the Archbishop of Canterbury p. 641 642. But the King says Fox most entirely loved him and always stood in his defence whosoever spake against him and once said to some Lords of his Council I protest solemnly laying his hand upon his breast by the Faith which I ow to God I take this man my Lord of Canterbury to be of all other a most saithful Subject to us and one to whom We are much beholding p. 643. A. Wherein had he obliged the King B. Doctor Burnet tells you page 127. that in the year 1533. the King seeing of how great importance it was to the designs he was then forming namely his Divorce from Queen Katherine his advancement to the title of Supream Head of the Church and seizure of Abby lands c. to fill the See of Canterbury with a learned prudent and resolute man but finding none in the Episcopal Order that was qualified to his mind these are Burnets words and having observed a native simplicity joyned with much Courage in Dr. Cranmer he designed to raise him to that Dignity and gave him notice of it ibid. A. Pray what did they lay to his Charge in Queen Marys time and what Defence did he make B. In Saint Mary's Church at Oxford on the 12th of March anno 1556. Doctor Brooks Bishop of Glocester charged him as followeth My Lord at this present we are sent by Commission partly from the Popes Holyness partly from the King and Queens most excellent Majesties not to your utter discomfort but to your comfort if you will your self not to judge you but to put you in Remembrance of what you have been Neither come we to Dispute with you but to Examine you in certain matters which being done to make Relation thereof to him that hath power to judge you And first as Charity doth move us I think good to exhort you by the words of Saint John. Remember from whence you are fallen and do your first works You have fallen from the universal Church of Christ from the very true and received Faith of all Christendom and that by open Heresie You have fallen from your promise to God from your Fidelity and Allegiance and that by open Preaching by Marriage and Adultery You have fallen from your Sovereign Prince and Queen by open Treason c. and although it may be conjectured that in all your time ye were not upright in the Honour and Faith of Christ but rather set up of purpose as a fit instrument note this whereby the Church might be spoiled and brought into ruin yet it may appear by many your doings otherwise and I for my part as it behoveth each one of us shall think the best For who was thought to have more Conscience of observing the Order of the Church More earnest in the defence of the real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar than yee were Then all things prospered with you your Prince favoured you your Candlestick was set up in the highest place of the Church and the light of your Candle was over all the Church But after ye began to fall by Schism and would stoutly uphold the unlawful requests of King Henry VIII then began you to fancy unlawful liberty When yee had exiled a good Conscience when you had forsaken God God forsook you and gave you over to your own will and suffered you to fall into Schism and Heresie and from that to Perjury and from Perjury to Treason and so in conclusion into the full Indignation of our Sovereign Prince which you may think a just punishment of God for your other abominable Opinions But here peradventure you will say to me what Sir my fall is not so great as you make it I have not yet fallen from the Catholick Church for that is not the Catholick Church that the Pope is Head of there is another Church To which I answer you are as sure of that as the Donatists were for they said they had the true Church and that true Christians remained only in Africa where only their Seditious Sect was preached And as you think so thought Novatus that all who did acknowledge the Supremacy of Rome were out of the Church of Christ Saint Cyprian defending Cornelius Bishop of Rome against this Novatus Lib 2. Epist 6. saith Ecclesia una est quae cum sit una intus foris esse non potest So that if Novatus was in the true Church then was not Cornelius who by lawful Succession succeeded Pope Fabian Here Saint Cyprian intends by the whole process to prove and concludeth thereupon that the true Church was only Rome But you will say perhaps that you fell not by Heresie so said the Arrians alledging Scripture for themselves and going about to perswade their Heresie by Scripture So did the Marcions appeal to Scripture to Scripture not truly interpreted but wrested according to their own Fancies And the Church replyeth against them qui estis vos from whence came you What right have you to the Scriptures which are the Churches Inheritance Also yee will deny that yee have fallen by Apostacy and breaking your Vow and so Vigilantius said and would admit none to his Ministry but such as had their Wives bagg'd with Children What then shall we say that Vigilantius fell not that Donatus and Novatus were no Scismaticks because they pretended Scripture in their own Defence then let every Man believe as he lists and quote Scripture for it So that your denyal will not avail you Therefore I tell you remember from whence you are fallen Age paenitentiam prima opera fac If yee remember how many yee have brought by abominable Heresie into the way of Perdition I doubt not but very Conscience would move you as well for them as for your self to return again qui convertere fecerit peccatorem ab errore vitae suae salvam faciet animam suam a Morte operiet multitudinem peccatorum suorum He that shall convert a Sinner from his Wickedness shall save his Soul from Death and shall cover a multitude of Sins So on the contrary it must needs be true he that perverteth a Soul and teacheth him the way of Perdition must needs be Damn'd Berengarius seemed to fear that danger provided for it in his Life time and did not only repent but recant and not so much for himself as for them whom he had infected by his abominable Heresies For as he lay on his Death-bed upon the day of Epiphany he demanded of them that were present is this the day of Epiphany and appearing of our Lord They answered him Yes then said he this day shall the Lord appear to me either to my
comfort or discomfort This Remorse argues that he seared the danger of them whom he had seduced from the Faith of Christ Let this move you even at the last point as your Case is not unlike to Berengarius so let your Repentance be like his unless you will according to the hardness of your Heart treasure up wrath against the day of Wrath. Well what is it then perhaps shame to unsay what you have said may hinder your return But Saint Paul St. Cyprian and St. Austin thought it no shame to repent and agree with the Catholick Church You will say perhaps your Conscience will not suffer you But what Conscience is it that would separate you from all the rest of the Christian World to a liberty which hath no ground in the Holy Scriptures If you judge this liberty to be good then you judge all Christendom to do evil besides your self O what a presumptuous Opinion in this whereupon to forsake the Church of Christ what is your colour or pretence for this the Abuses of the Church as though in your Church there were no Abuses yea that there were And if you forsake the universal Church for Abuses why then do you not forsake your own Church and so be flitting from one to another if you had seen Abuses the way to reform them was not to make a defection from the Catholick Church He is not a good Chirurgion who for a little pain in the Toe would cut off the whole Legg Ye are like Diogenes who upon a time envying the Garments of Plato said Ecce calco fastum Platonis Plato answered Sed majore fastu But some peradventure have animated you to stick to your Tackle bearing you in hand that your Opinion is good and that yee shall dye in a good Quarrel and God will accept your Oblation But hear what Christ faith if thou come unto the Altar to offer thy Oblation and knowest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift and go and be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift This he said to all the World to the end they might understand upon what terms their Offerings should be accepted Remember therefore before you offer up your Offering what not one Brother but many Brothers even all the Church of Rome and Church of England have to say against you I say no more than what the Church hath allowed me to say The Sacrifice that is offered out of the Church is not profitable The Premises therefore considered for God's sake I say Memor esto unde excideris age paenitentiam prima opera fac Cast not your self away Spare your Soul Spare them also whom you have seduced and let not the Blood of Christ be shed for you in vain harden not your Heart submit to the received verity of all Christendom stand not too much in your own conceit think not your self wiser then all Christendom besides leave off your unjust Cavils and believe as the Catholick Church Believes and Teaches you perswade your self that extra ecclesiam non est salus And thus much have I said of Charity if this poor Exhortation of mine may sink into your head and take effect with you then have I said as I would have said otherwise not as I would but as I could for this present Fox page 650 651. The Bishop of Glocester having ended his Speech Doctor Martyn takes Cranmer in hand viz. These two Princes meaning Philip and Mary finding this noble Realm perverted from the unity of the Catholick Church and perceiving also that you do persist in your detestable Errors have made their humble Request unto the Popes Holiness Paulus IV. as Supream head of the Church under Christ declaring to him that whereas you Archbishop of Canterbury and Metropolitan of England at your Consecration took two solemn Oaths for your due Obedience to the See of Rome to become a true Pastor of the Flock yet contrary to your Oath and Allegiance instead of unity have sowed discord instead of Chastity Marriage and Adultery instead of Obedience Contention and instead of Faith ye have been the Author of all Mischief The Popes Holyness considering their Request and Petition hath granted to them that Process should issue against you And whereas in this late time yee have excluded both Charity and Justice yet hath his Holyness decreed that yee shall have both Charity and Justice shewed unto you Also the King and Queens Majesty have appointed us Doctor Story and Me their Attorneys Wherefore I here offer my self as Proctor in the Kings Majesties behalf I exhibite certain Articles containing manifest Adultery and Perjury Also Books of Heresie made partly by him partly set forth by his Authority and here I produce him as party principal to Answer to your good Lordship A. Before you go further I desire to understand upon what account they laid Treason to his Charge B. In his Tryal set down at large by Fox you shall find him Answering or rather evading all the other particulars of Heresie Incontinency Perjury but scarce a word of defence as to the matter of Treason A. What should be the reason of that B. You must know that Edward VI. dying in the year 1553. all his Privy Council the chief of the Nobility the Mayor and City of London these are Foxes words almost all the Judges and chief Lawyers of the Realm Justice Hales only excepted Cranmer and Ridly Bishop of London conspired to advance the Lady Jane Grey and exclude their lawful Sovereign the Princess Mary eldest Daughter to King Henry VIII Their grand pretence being that otherwise the Protestant Religion could not stand and having Proclaim'd Lady Jane the Lords of the Council writ a Letter to the Princess Mary dated July 9th 1553. a Copy whereof you may see in Fox 3 Vol. Cranmer Subscribing the first Man. The Letter begins thus Madam We have received your Letter the 9th of this instant declaring your supposed Title to the Imperial Crown of this Realm For Answer whereof this is to advertise you that forasmuch as our Sovereign Lady Queen Jane is after the Death of our Sovereign Lord Edward VI. a Prince of most noble Memory invested and possessed with the just and right Title in the Imperial Crown of this Realm you surcease by any pretence to vex and molest any of our Sovereign Lady Queen Jane her Subjects c. A. How does Burnet Apologize for this B. Nothing at all for this Letter which is too palpable and too unfortunate to admit of any colour He confesses the Archbishop of Canterbury was the first Man that Subscrib'd it A. But I have heard that he refused to set his hand King Edward being yet alive to certain Articles for Disinheriting the Daughters of Henry VIII after they were signed by all the Privy-Council all the Judges and chief Lawyers except Justice Hales B. Take the account of it thus fairly out of Burnet Dudly Duke of Northumberland
cometh hurt to all men for it wearieth the stedfast troubleth the doubtful and ensnareth the weak and simple yet because he saith he is not bound to answer your Lordship sitting for the Popes Holyness because of a Premunire and the Word of God as he pretends I think good somewhat to say that all men may see how he runneth out of his race of Reason into the rage of common Talk. And as the King and Queens Majesty will be glad to hear of your most charitable dealing with him so will they be weary to hear the blundering of this stubborn Heretick And where he alledgeth Divinity minling fas nefásque together he should not have been heard For shall it be sufficient for him to alledge the Judge is not competent and shall we dispute contra cum qui negat principia Although there be here a great company of learned men that know it unmeet so to do yet have I here a plain Canon whereby he is convicted ipso facto The Canon is this Sit ergo ruinae suae dolore prostratus quisquis Apostolicis voluerit contraire Decretis nec locum deinceps habeat inter Sacerdotes sed exors à sancto fiat Ministerio c. He hath alledged many matters against the Popes Supremacy but maliciously Ye say that the King in his Realm is Supream Head of the Church Well Sir you will grant me that there was a perfect Catholique Church before any King was Christened Then if it were a perfect Church it must needs have a Head which must needs be before any King was member thereof For you know Constantinus the Emperor was the first Christian King that ever was and although you are bound as St. Paul saith to obey your Rulers and Kings have Rule over the People yet doth it not follow that they have Cure of Souls For à fortiori the Head may do what the Minister cannot do but the Priest may consecrate and the King cannot therefore the King is not Head of the Church And where the Apostles do call upon men to obey their Princes cui Tributum Tributum cui Vectigal Vectigal the Exhortation extendeth only to Temporal matters they perceiving that men were bent to Liberty and Disobedience were enforced to exhort them to Obedience and Payment of their Tribute And again where you say that the Bishop of Rome maketh Laws contrary to the Laws of the Realm that is not true for this is a maxim in the Law Quod in particulari excipitur non facit universale falsum And as touching that monstrous talk of your Conscience that is no Conscience that ye profess it is but privata Scientia and Secta As yet you have not proved for all your glorious Babble that by Gods Laws ye ought not to answer the Popes Holiness The Canons which be received in all Christendom compel you to answer And although this Realm of late time through such Schismatiques as you were hath exiled and banished the Canons yet that cannot make for you for you know your self that pars in totum nihil statuere potest Wherefore this Island being indeed but a member of the whole Church could not determine against the whole And the same Laws that were put away by Parliament are now received again by a Parliament having as full Authority now as they had then And these Laws will now that ye answer to the Popes Holiness Therefore by the Laws of this Realm ye are bound to answer him This was materially replied to Cranmers words that he would never consent that the Bishop of Rome should have any Jurisdiction in England Wherefore my good Lord all that this Thomas Cranmer I cannot otherwise term him confidering his Disobedience hath brought for his Defence shall nothing prevail with you Require him therefore to answer directly to your good Lordship command him to set aside his Trifles and to be obedient to the Laws and Ordinances of this Realm take witness here of his stubborn Contempt against the King and Queens Majesties and compel him to answer directly to such Articles as we shall here exhibit against him and in refusal your good Lordship is to excommunicate him Thus Dr. Story Fox page 654 655. NOTE Here his Fidelity to the Laws so long as they serve his turn the King Queen Parliament and Laws were then Popish He was for the Laws made by himself and the Duke of Somerset under the Childhood of Edward 6. A. Did he answer nothing further to the Charge of Heresie B. Nothing but this He pulled an Appeal out of his left Sleeve says Fox which he dellvered to the Court saying I appeal to the next General Council And further I intend to speak nothing against one holy Catholique and Apostolical Church or the Authority thereof the which Authority I have in great Reverence and whom my mind is in all things to obey pag. 663. 3 vol. The very words of his Appeal A. What did he mean by one holy Catholique Church B. His Definition of it you may find in the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England which Articles were framed as Burnet thinks by him and Ridley and first published anno 1551. p. 166. 2. vol. The visible Church of Christ saith the 19th Article is a Congregation of faithful men in the which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly ministred aceording to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same Now in the year 1556. when Cranmer presented this Appeal there could not be in his opinion any such National or Catholique Church visible on the face of the Earth A. I pray make that appear B. By an Induction of all the Churches in the world that then professed themselves Christians as the Roman the Eastern the Church of England the Lutherans Calvinists Anabaptists c. the Roman in his opinion was but the Synagogue of Antichrist The Greek Church consented with the Roman in most of the Doctrines controverted betwixt Papists and Protestants as the Sacrifice of the Mass Adoration of the Eucharist Veneration of Images Invocation of Saints Prayer for the Dead c. and do consent at this day The Church of England was then newly reconciled to Rome and Catholique Bishops restor'd to their own Sees by Act of Parliament The Lutherans did then and at this day adore a corporal presence in the Sacrament and therefore cannot be said in his opinion to have the pure Word of God preached and the Sacraments duely administred according to Christs Ordinance The Calvinists had no Orders of Priests and Bishops consequently no Church at all A. How no Church at all for want of Priests and Bishops let that appear I pray you B. Read the Church of Englands Preface to the Form appointed by her for making and consecrating of Bishops Priests and Deacons and there observe these words viz. It is evident unto all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authors that from the Apostles time
Pseudo-Apostoli false Apostles But how shall we know them Christ teaches us saying ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos by their fruits ye shall know them Why what be their fruits St. Paul declareth Post carnem in concupiscentia immunditie ambulant Potestates contemnunt c. they walk after the flesh in concupiscence and uncleanness they contemn Dominions Again in diebus novissimis erunt periculosa tempora erunt seipsos amantes cupidi elati immorigeri Parentibus Proditores c. in the later days there shall be perilous times men lovers of themselves covetous proud disobedient to Parents Treason-workers c. Whether these be not the Fruits of your Gospel I refer me unto this worshipful Audience whether the said Gospel began not with Perjury proceeded with Adultery was maintained with Heresie and ended in Conspiracy Now Sir two points more I marked in your raging discourse that you made here the one against the holy Sacrament the other against the Popes Jurisdiction and Authority of the See Apostolique Touching the first you say you have Gods Word yea and all the Doctors I would here ask but one Question of you whether Gods Word be contrary to it self and whether the Doctors teach Doctrine contrary to themselves for you Master Cranmer have taught concerning this high Sacrament of the Altar three contrary Doctrines and for every one ye pretended Verbum Domini Cranmer Nay I taught but two contrary Doctrines in the same Martyn What Doctrine taught you when you condemned Lambert the Sacramentary in the Kings presence at Whitehall Cranm. I maintained then the Papists Doctrine Martyn That is to say the Catholique and Universal Doctrine of Christs Church And how when K. Henry died did you not translate Justus Jonas's Book Cranm. I did so Martyn There you defended another Doctrine touching the Sacrament by the same token that you sent to Lynne your Printer that whereas in the first Print there was an Affirmative that is to say Christs Body really in the Sacrament you sent then to your Printer to put in a not wherby it came miraculously to pass that Christs Body was clean conveyed out of the Sacrament Cranm. I remember there were two Printers of my said Book but whether the same not was put in I cannot tell Martyn Then from a Lutheran ye became a Zwinglian which is the vilest Heresie of all concerning the high Mystery of the Sacrament and for the same Heresie you did help to burn Lambert the Sacramentary which you now call the Catholique Faith and Gods Word Cranm. I grant that then I believed otherwise than I do now and so I did until my Lord of London Dr. Ridley did confer with me and by sundry Persuasions and Authorities of Doctors drew me quite from my Opinion Martyn Now Sir as touching the last part of your Oration you denied the Popes Holiness was Supream Head of the Church of Christ Cranm. I did so Mart. Who say you then is Supream Head Cranm. Christ Mart. But whom hath Christ left here on Earth his Vicar and Head of his Church Cranm. No body Mart. Ah why told you not King Henry this when you made him Supream Head and now no body is This is Treason against his own Person as you then made him Cranm. I mean not but that every King in his own Realm and Dominion is Supream Head and so was he Supream Head of the Church of Christ Reader Observe here how he makes the Catholique Church an Hydra of many Heads instead of that one holy Society which he pretended to believe in the two Creeds Martyn Is this always true and was it ever so in Christ's Church Cranm. It was so Martyn Then what say you to Nero was he Head of Christs Church Cranm. Nero was Peters Head. Martyn I ask whether Nero was Head of the Church or no If he were not it is false that you said before that all Princes be and ever were Heads of the Church within their Realms Cranm. Nay it is true for Nero was Head of the Church that is in respect of the temporal Bodies of Men of whom the Church consisteth for so he beheaded Peter and the Apostles And the Turk too is Head of the Church in Turky Martyn Then he that beheaded the Heads of the Church and crucified the Apostles was Head of Christs Church and he that was never Member of the Church is Head of the Church by your new-found understanding of Gods Word Fox pag. 655 656 3. vol. NOTE If the Turk be Head of the Church under Christ he must be so in all Spiritual things or causes as well as temporal according to the Oath of Supremacy contrived by Cromwell and Cranmer and at this day sworn by Protestants A. What is Foxes opinion of this Dialogue B. It is not to be supposed otherwise but much other matter passed in this Communication between them especially on the Archbishops behalf whose Answers I do not think to be so slender nor altogether in the same form of words framed if the truth as it was might be known But so it pleased the Notary thereof being too partially addicted to his Mother See of Rome in favour of his Faction to diminish and drive down the other side either in not shewing all or in reporting the thing otherwise than it was as the common Guise is of most Writers and of Fox himself to what side their Affection most weigheth their Oration commonly inclineth Fox p. 657. 3. vol. A. It seems then Fox likes not these Answers given by Cranmer and therefore suspects the Pen-man or Notary of partiality in reporting the same B. But I believe it a true Report for two reasons first the cause would admit of no satisfactory answers 2. Let the Reader see the Contents of Cranmers Appeal set down by Fox and there observe these words viz. And when I refused the Bp. of Glocester to be my Judge for most just causes which I then declared he nevertheless went on still and made Process against me contrary to the Rules of Appealing which say A Judge that is refused ought not to proceed in the cause c. And with this my Protestation made and admitted I made answer but mine Answer was sudden and unprovided note this and therefore I desired to have a Copy of mine Answers that I might put to take away change and amend them and this was also permitted me nevertheless contrary to his promise made unto me no respect had to my Protestation nor license given to amend mine Answer the said reverend Father Bishop of Glocester as I hear commanded mine Answers to be enacted contrary to the equity of the Law in which thing again I feel my self much grieved Fox p 664. NOTE Here he excuses the weakness of his own Answers by saying they were sudden and unprovided But let the Reader imagine what better Answers in brief could be returned to the Questions of Dr. Martin Cranmer having sworn that the King was Supream
inflicted on those that denied the Queens Supremacy ann 1559. but the loss of their Goods and such as refused to take the Oath did only lose their Imployments Whereas to refuse the Oath in King Henrys time brought them into a Premunire and to deny the Supremacy was Treason But against this Bill of Queen Elizabeths first Parliament the Bishops made Speeches in the House of Lords the rest of the Bishops opposed it the rather because they had lately declared so high for the Pope that it had been very indecent for them to have revoked so soon pag. 386 387. 2. vol. The Bishop of Chester said in Parliament that the Bill was against both Faith and Charity meaning the Bill for the new Service that Acts of Parliament were no Foundations for a Churches Belief that it was an insolent thing to pretend that all our Fathers lived in Ignorance That the Prophets oftentimes directed the Israelites to enquire of their Fathers Matters of Religion could not be understood by the Laiety Jeroboam made Israel to sin when he set up a new way of Worship Gallie by the Light of Nature knew that a Civil Judge ought not to meddle with matters of Religion In the Service-Book that was then before them there was no Sacrifice for Sin c. and for these reasons says Burnet he could not agree to it But if any thought he spoke this because of his own concern or pitied him for what he might suffer by it he would answer in the words of our Saviour Weep not for me weep for your selves p. 393. After him spake Fecknam Abbot of Westminster he said There had been great Order and Obedience in Queen Marys Reign but now every where great Insolencies were committed by the people with some very indecent Prophanations of the most holy things He recommended to them in St. Austins words the adhering to the Catholique Church the very name Catholique which Heretiques had not the confidence to assume shewed their Authority The Consent of the whole Church in all Ages with the perpetual Succession of Pastors in St. Peters Chair ought to weigh more with them than a few new Preachers who had of late distracted both Gemany and England Burnet pag. 393. 2. vol. Then see his Appendix to 2. vol. p. 408. where setting down these words of Nicholas Sanders That the Laws concerning Queen Elisabeths Supremacy passed the House of Lords with great difficulty all the Bishops opposing them Burnet answers It is true all the Bishops did oppose them c. But to all the Changes that were made in King Edwards time they submitted c. Why then were they turned out by King Edward and Protestants substituted in their places Thus Reader it appears by Burnets own Confession that the Reformation was not the Act and Deed of the old Clergy or Convocation of England or the major part thereof but impos'd on the Nation by the Power and Interest of a few persons And so I leave you to think what you please of Mas William Kings Confidence the Preacher of St. Warbroughs affirming as you have heard that Cranmer in all he did had the unanimous Consent and Vote of the major part of the Convocation the universal Submission of the Clergy c. Answ p. 25. A. But supposing he had the major Vote of his side as he had not could that have justified his Reformation B. Not at all for being all made Priests after that Form Accipe Potestatem offerre Sacrificium Deo missasque celebrare tam pro vivis quam pro defunctis c. they had no more Authority to abrogate the Mass than the present Archbishop of Canterbury with the major Vote of the Protestant Bishops to abolish the Common Prayer By their Protestant Orders they cannot do it A So much for his Priesthood You said he was consecrated Bishop in the year 1533. what were the Words of his Consecration B. You may find them in the Roman Pontifical First he was interrogated Vis Traditiones orthodoxorum Patrum Decretales sanctae Apostolicae sedis constitutiones veneranter suscipere docere ac servare R. Volo Vis beato Petro Apostolo cui à Deo data est Potestas ligandi ac solvendi ejúsque Vicario Domino nostro N. Papae suisque Successoribus Romanis Pontificibus fidem subjectionem obedientiam secundum Canonicam Auctoritatem per omnia exhibere R. Volo Credis sanctam catholicam Apostolicam unam esse veram Ecclesiam in qua unum datur verum Baptisam vera peccatorum omnium Remissio R. Credo That is Will you reverently receive teach and keep the Traditions of the orthodox Fathers the Decrees and Constitutions of the holy and Apostolique See He answered I will. Will you shew Fidelity Subjection and Obedience to St. Peter the Apostle and his Successors the Bishops of Rome in all things according to the Canons He answered I will. Do you believe one holy Catholique and Apostolique Church in which there is true Baptism and true Remission of Sins He answered I believe After which the Bishop consecrating authorizes him in these Words viz. Accipe Evangelium vade praedica populo tibi commisso Receive thou the Gospel go and preach to the people committed to thy charge R. Amen A. Why by this Consecration he had no more Authority to preach the Doctrine of 39 Articles than the present Archbishop of Canterbury to preach the Doctrine of the Council of Trent B. No more You see how he obliged himself to pay Fidelity Subjection and Obedience to the Bishops of Rome in all things according to the Canons then in force And reverently to receive teach and keep the Constitutions of the holy and Apostolique See. And upon these terms he receiv'd his Commission to go and preach the Gospel A. The matter is plain All his Changes were unwarrantable and his Reformation but a Castle in the air without a Foundation if you set aside Acts of Parliament B. And besides all this he swore that Oath to the Pope which you have heard page 28. of this Catechism Then what if all the Bishops had consented with him they had but violated their Engagements and Vows as he did being all sent and ordained after that Form. Reader I pray look into the Form and Manner appointed by the Church of England for consecrating of Bishops and Archbishops and there observe how Protestant Bishops do oblige themselves to preach Gods Word according to the Authority committed unto them by the Ordinance of this Realm and no otherwise that is to say according to the Doctrine of Thirty nine Articles Then enquire a little further what Commission had Cranmer or Matthew Parker to impose or preach the said Articles A. Enough of Cranmer What is Burnets Character of those few Bishops that were of his Party B. Those were Latimer Shaxton Barlow who were rather Cloggs than Helps to Cranmer says Burnet Latimers Simplicity and Weakness made him be despised Shaxtons proud and litigious
his Tryal pleaded strongly against the Statute that made it Treason to deny the Supremacy and argued that the King could not be Supream Head of the Church When he was brought to the Bar he pleaded Not Guilty but being found Guilty Judgment was given aganst him as a Traitor He received it with an equal Temper of Mind which he had shewed in both conditions of Life and then set himself wholly to prepare for Death He expressed great Contempt of the World and that he was weary of Life and long'd for Death which was so little terrible to him that his ordinary Facetiousness remained with him on the Scaffold It was censured by many as light and undecent but others said that way having been so natural to him on all other occasions it was not at all affected but shewed that Death did no way discompose him nor so much as put him out of his ordinary Humour Yet his rallying every thing on the Scaffold was thought to have more of the Stoick than the Christian in it After some time spent in secret Devotions he was beheaded on the sixth of July Thus dyed Sir Thomas More in the 53d year of his age He was a man of rare Vertues and excellent Parts In his youth he had freer thoughts of things as appears by his Vtopia and his Letters to Erasmus but afterwards he became superstitiously devoted says Burnet to the Interests and Passions of the Popish Clergy and as he served them when he was in Authority even to assist them in all their Cruelties so he employed his Pen in the same Cause both in writing against all the new Opinions in general and in particular against Tindall Frith and Barns He was no Divine at all if you believe Burnet and it is plain to any that reads his Writings that he knew nothing of Antiquity beyond the Quotations he found in the Canon Law and in the Master of the Sentences only he had read some of St. Austins Treatises For upon all points of Controversie he quotes only what he found in those Collections Nor was was he at all conversant in the critical Learning upon the Scriptures he did not care for the new fangled Conceits of the Reformers But his peculiar Excellency in writing was that he had a natural easie Expression and presented all the Opinions of Popery with their fair side to the Reader disguising or concealing the black side of them with great Art that is he did not understand or mistake Popery as Protestants do and was no less dextrous in exposing all the ill consequences that could follow on the Doctrine of the Reformers and had upon all occasions great store of pleasant Tales which he applied wittily to his purpose And in this consists the great strength of his Writings which were designed rather for the Rabble than for learned Men. But for Justice Contempt of Mony Humility and a true Generosity of Mind he was an Example to the Age in which he lived Burnets words pag 356. 1 vol. Second Edition The Bishop of Rochester had been a Prisoner above a year and was very severely used says Burnet he complained in his Letters to Cromwell then Secretary of State that he had neither Clothes nor Fire being then about fourscore years of age If he had kept his Opinion of the Kings Supremacy to himself they could not have proceeded further He would not do that but did upon several occasions speak against it So he was brought to his Tryal on the 17th of June The Lord Chancellor the Duke of Suffolk and some other Lords together with the Judges sate upon him by Commission of Oyer and Terminer He pleaded Not Guilty But being found Guilty Judgment passed on him to dye as a Traytor But he was by a Warrant from the King beheaded Upon the 22d of June being the day of his Execution he dressed himself with more than ordinary care and when his Man took notice of it he told him he was to be that day a Bridegroom As he was led to the place of Execution being stop'd in the way by the croud he opened his New Testament and prayed to this purpose that as that Book had been his Companion and chief Comfort in his Imprisonment so then some place might turn up to him that might comfort him in his last passage This being said he opened the Book at a venture in which these words of St. Johns Gospel turn'd up This is Life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So he shut the Book with much satisfaction and all the way was reading and meditating on them When he came to the Scaffold he pronounced the Te Deum And after some other Devotions his Head was cut off Thus dyed Jon Fisher Bishop of Rochester in the 80th year of his age He was a learned and devour man says Burnet but much addicted to the Superstitions in which he had been bred up and that led him to great severities against all that opposed them He had been for many years Confessor to the Kings Grandmother the Countess of Richmond And it was believed that he persuaded her to those noble designs fer the Advancement of Learning of founding 2 Colledges in Cambridge St. Johns and Christs Colledge and Divinity Professors in both Universities And in acknowledgement of this he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Henry 7. gave him the Bishoprick of Rochester which he following the rule of the primitive Church would never change for a better He used to say his Church was his Wife and he would never part with her because she was poor He continued in great Favour with Henry 8. till the business of the Divorce was set on foot and then he adhered so firmly to the Queens Cause and the Popes Supremacy that he was carried headlong into great Errors So Burnet after his petulant manner is pleased to character this good man pag. 354. 1. vol. But then adds Many thought the King ought to have proceeded against him rather upon that which was a point of State than upon the Supremacy which was matter of Conscienec but the King saith he was resolved to let all his Subjects see there was no Mercy to be expected by any that denyed his being Supreme Head of the Church and therefore made him and Sir Thomas More two Examples for terrifying the rest Burnet ibid. But the Courage and Christian Soul of this Bishop appears in those Speeches which he made in the House of Lords whereof there is no mention in Burnet Which for the primitive Simplicity and Honesty thereof I shall here transcribe out of Dr. Bayly's History The First Speech concerning the Demand of the Smaller Abbies for the Kings Use My Lords I Pray you to take good heed unto what you are doing lest you do you know not what For indeed the things that are demanded at our hands are not ours to grant nor theirs to whom we should bestow them
if we should grant them their Desires But they are the Legacies of those Testators who have given them to the Church for ever under the Penalty of a heavy Curse imposed on all those who shall any way go about to altenate their Property from the Church And besides if we grant the smaller Abbies to the King what should we do otherwise than shew him the way how in time it may be lawful for him to demand the greater Wherefore the manner of these Proceedings puts me in mind of a Fable how the Ax that wanted a Handle came upon a time to the Wood making his moan to the great Trees how he wanted a Handle to work withal and for that cause he was constrained to sit idle Wherefore he made it his request unto them that they would grant him one of their smaller Saplings to make him a Handle They mistrusting no guile granted him one of the smaller Trees so becoming a compleat Ax he so fell to work within the same Wood that in process of time there was neither great nor small Tree to be found there And so my Lords if you grant the King these smaller Monasteries you do but make him a Handle whereby at his own Pleasure he may cut down all the Cedars within your Libanus And then you may thank your selves after ye have incurred the heavy Displeasure of Almighty God. His Speech concerning many severe Objections against the whole Clergy anno 1529. My Lords HEre are certain Bills exhibited against the Clergy and Complaints against the Viciousness Idleness Rapacity and Cruelty of Bishops Abbots Priests and their Officials but my Lords are all vicious all idle all ravenous and cruel Priests or Bishops Are there not Laws already provided against such is there any abuse that cannot be rectified or can there be such a Reformation that there shall be no Abuses are there not Clergymen to rectifie the Abuses of the Clergy or shall men find fault with other mens manners whilst they forget their own or punish where they have no Athority to correct If we be not executive in our Laws let each man suffer for his Delinquency Or if we have not Power aid us with your Assistunce and we shall give you thanks But my Lords I hear there is a Motion made that the smaller Monasteries should be taken into the Kings hands which makes me apprehend it is not so much the good as the Goods of the Church that are aim'd at Truly my Lords how this may sound in your ears I cannot tell but to me it appears no otherwise than as if our Mother the Church were now to be brought into Servility and by little and little to be banished out of those dwelling places which the Piety Liberality of our Ancestors have conferred upon her Otherwise to what end are those portentous and curious Petitions of the Commons To no other intent and purpose than to bring the Clergy into contempt with the Laiety that they may seize their Patrimony But my Lords beware of Your Selves and of Your Countrey Beware of Your Mother the Catholick Church The People are addicted unto Novelties And Lutheranism spreads it self amongst us Remember Germany and Bohemia what Miseries are befallen them already and let our Neighbours Houses that are now on Fire teach us to beware of our own Disasters My Lords I will tell you plainly what I think that except ye resist manfully by your Authorities this violent Stream of Mischiefs offered by the Commons you shall see all respect first withdrawn from the Clergy and secondly from Your * * This Prophecy was fulfilled anno 1649. when the House of Lords was voted useless and dangerous by the Commons Selves But if you search into the true causes of all these Mischiefs that Reign amongst them you shall find that they all arise through want of Faith. His Speech to the Lords concerning the Kings Supremacy My Lords IT is true we are all under the King's Lash and stand in need of the King 's good Favour and Clemency Yet this argues not that we must therefore do that which will render us both ridiculous and contemptible to all the Christian World and hissed out from the Society of Gods Holy Catholick Church What good will it do us to keep the Possession of our Houses Cloysters and Convents and to lose the Society of the Christian World To preserve our Goods and lose our Consciences Therefore My Lords I pray let us consider what we are doing and what it is we are to Grant with the Dangers and Inconveniences that will ensue thereupon Or whether it lyes in Our power to grant what the King requires at our hands Whether the King be an apt person to receive this Power that so we may go groundedly to work and not like Men that had lost all Honesty and Wit together with their Worldly Fortune As concerning the first point viz. What the Supremacy of the Church is which we are to give unto the King. It is to exercise the Spiritual Goverment of the Church in Chief which according to all that ever I have learned both in the Gospel and through the whole course of Divinity mainly consists in these two points First In Binding and Absolving Sinners according to that which our Saviour said unto Saint Peter when he ordained him Head of his Church viz. To thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Now My Lords can we say unto the King Tibi to thee will we give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven If ye say I where is your Warrant If you say No then you have answered your Selves that you cannot put such Keys into his hands Secondly The Supream Government of the Church consists in feeding Christ's Sheep and Lambs according to that when our Saviour performed his promise to Saint Peter of making him universal Shepherd by such unlimited Jurisdiction feed my Lambs and not only so but feed those that are the feeders of those Lambs feed my Sheep Now my Lords can any of us say unto the King pasce Oves God hath given unto his Church some to be Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors some Doctors for the Edifying of the Body of Christ So that you must make the King one of these before you can make him Head of the Church He must be such a Head as may edifie the Members of Christ's Body and it is not the sew Ministers of an Island that must constitute a Head over the Universe or at least by such example we must allow as many Heads over the Vniverse as there are Sovereign Powers within Christ's Dominion Every Member must have a Head. Attendite vobis was not said to King's but Bishops 2. Let us consider the Inconveniencies that will arise upon this Grant We cannot grant this unto the King but we must renounce our Unity with the See of Rome And if there were no further matter in it then a renouncing of Clement VII now Pope
thereof then the matter were not so great but in this we do forsake the first four General Councils which none ever forsook We renounce all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of the Church of Christ we renounce all other Christian Princes we renounce the Unity of the Christian World I suppose he means by inventing to our Selves a Church of England divided from all the rest of the Christian World and so by leaping out of Peters Ship to be drowned in the unstable Waters of Heresie Sects Schisms and Confusions For the first General Council of Nice acknowledged Sylvester the Bishop of Rome his Authority to be over them by sending their Decrees to be ratifyed by him The Council of Constantinople did acknowledge Pope Damasus to be their Chief by admitting him to give Sentence against the Hereticks Macedonius Sabellius and Eunomius The Council of Ephesus acknowledged Pope Celestine to be their chief Judge by admitting his Condemnation upon the Heretick Nestorius The Council of Calcedon acknowledged Pope Leo to be their chief Head and all General Councils of the World ever acknowledged the Pope of Rome only to be Supream Head of the Church under Christ And now shall we set up another Head or one Head in England and another in Rome 3. We deny all Ecclesiastical Laws which do wholly depend upon the Authority of the Apostolick See of Rome 4 We renounce the Judgment of all other Christian Princes whether they be Protestants or Catholicks Nay by this argument Nero and Herod must have been Heads of the Church of Christ The Emperour must be Head of the Protestant Church in Germany And the Church of Christ must have never a Head at all till about three hundred years after Christ Fifthly The Kings Majesty is not susceptible of this Donation Ozias for medling with the Priests Office was resisted by Azarias thrust out of the Temple and told that it belongs not to his Office. Now if the Priest spake truth in this then is not the King to meddle in this business if he spake amiss why did God plague the King with Leprosie for this and not the Priest King David when the Ark of God was bringing home did he place himself in the head of the Priests Order did he so much as touch the Ark or execute any the least Office properly belonging to the Priestly Function or did he not rather go before and abase himself amongst the people and say that he would become yet more vile so that God might be glorified All good Christian Emperors have evermore refused Ecclesiastical Authority for at the first General Council of Nice certain Bills were privily brought unto Constantine to be ordered by his Authority but he caused them to be burnt saying Dominus vos constituit c. God hath ordained you Priests and hath given you Power to be Judges over us and therefore by right in these things we are to be judged by you but you are not to be judged by me Valentine the Good Emperor was desired by the Bishops to be present with them to reform the Heresie of the Arrians but he answered Forasmuch as I am one of the Members of the Lay people it is not lawful for me to define such Controversies but let the Priests to whom God hath given the charge thereof assemble where they will in due Order Theodosius writing to the Council of Ephesus saith It is not lawful for him that is not of the holy Order of Bishops to intermeddle with Ecclesiastical matters And now shall we cause our King to be Head of the Church which all good Kings have abhorred the very least thought of and so many wicked Kings have been plagued for so doing Truly my Lords I think they are his best Friends that disswade him from it and he would be the worst enemy to himself if he should obtain it Lastly If this thing be farewel all Unity with Christendom for as that holy and blessed Martyr St. Cyprian saith all Unity depends upon that holy See as upon the Authority of St. Peters Successors for saith the fame holy Father all Heresies Sects Schisms have no other Rise but this that men will not be obedient to the chief Bishop and now for us to shake off our Communion with that Church either we must grant the Church of Rome to be the Church of God or else a Malignant Church If you answer she is a Church of God and a Church where Christ is truly taught his Sacraments rightly administred c. how can we forsake how can we fly from such a Church certainly we ought to be with and not to separate our selves from such a one If we answer The Church of Rome is not of God but a Malignant Church then it will follow that we the Inhabitants of this Land have not as yet received the true Faith of Christ seeing we have not received any other Gospel any other Doctrine any other Sacraments than what we have received from her as most evidently appears by all the Ecclesiastical Histories wherefore if she be a Malignant Church we have been deceived all this while and if to renounce the common Father of Christendom all the General Councils especially the first Four which none renounce all the Countreys of Christendom whether they be Catholique Countreys or Protestant be to forsake the Unity of the Christian World then is the granting of the Supremacy of the Church unto the King a renouncing of this Unity a tearing of the Seamless Coat of Christ in sunder a dividing of the Mystical Body of Christ his Spouse limb from limb and tayl to tayl like Sampsons Foxes to set the Field of Christs holy Church all on fire and this is it which we are about wherefore let it be said unto you in time and not too late Look you to that The End of the First Dialogue containing the History of the First Reformers and Anti-Reformers The Second treats of the Reformation it self and the natural Fruits thereof Jealousy and Distraction amongst the People Decay of Sincerity c. Now Reader wer't thou to choose thy Religion consider which of these two Guides thou wouldst follow Cranmer or the Bishop of Rochester the former having no Mission from Heaven nor major Vote of the Convocation to authorise his Reformation nor yet any great mind to dye a Martyr for the same the later frankly exposing his Life to Stemm that Inundation of Sacriledge Schism and Confusion that was breaking in anno 1535. FINIS