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reason_n	church_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	3,753	5	9.2711	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50025	The history of the divorce of Henry VIII and Katharine of Arragon with the defence of Sanders, the refutation of the two first books of The history of the reformation of Dr. Burnett / by Joachim le Grand ; with Dr. Burnett's answer and vindication of himself.; Histoire du divorce de Henry VIII, roy d'Angleterre, et de Catherine d'Arragon. English	Le Grand, Joachim, 1653-1733.	1690 (1690)	Wing L960; ESTC R12003	14,775	16

that I call'd Rodulphus Bastard since I quote the very Discourse wherein he is so called which was Compos'd by Sr. William Thomas Secretary to the Privy Council under the Title of the English Pilgrim I had the misfortune not to have seen the Life that was written by Sigonius so that it is only a fault of Omission which the Author would aggravate into a malicious Invention And I make this acknowledgment of my Error so much the more frankly because it is the only mistake among all the rest of which the Author accuses me that is well grounded II. M. Le Grand labours to destroy the Authority of the Decision of the Sorbom in favour of Henry But in regard this Decision was printed the Year following and acknowledged for true and real since no person in those times taxes it of being counterfeited we have no reason now to suspect it for neither does Cardinal Poole who was then at Paris when it was made nor any other writer of the Roman Communion tax the King of Imposture upon that occasion Add to this that the Bishop of Tarbes being continued to sollicit in Henry's behalf at the Court of Rome after he was made Cardinal and that the King had publickly acknowledged before the Legates how privy that Prelate had been to his Scruples conceived upon his Marriage has given an undeniable Confirmation of this matter whatever our Author says to the contrary The same thing is to be said of the Sorbonn for that never having been charged with falshood in the particular of this Decision there is no question but that they made it So that all M. Le Grana's Arguments can never prove any thing more than only that it has occasioned great Disputes and that Beda was a real promoter of Sedition By the way we may observe that the Ecclesiasticks of France were very ill satisfied with the Conduct of Francis the First who had sold their Liberties by the Concordate of which the University of Paris was so sensible and for that reason full of Male-contents And therefore it might be perhaps that so many of the French Clergy were so ill affected to Henry's Cause because they knew that Francis the first so passionately supported his Interests After all the Author confesses That he sound in the scrutiny Fifty three voices for the Divorce and Forty two against it and Five that were of Opinion that the matter should be referr'd to the Pope And this is sufficient to justifie the printed Decision which only says That the greatest number of Doctors were for the Divorce and declared the Marriage illegal which may serve for an Explanation of the words of the Letter of the first President That that same Declaration would do the King more hurt than it would advance his Affairs In regard all the other Universities had judged in his Favour whereas the Opinion of the Sorbonn favour'd him only by the plurality of voices III. The Author who pretends to publish an Extract of the Reasons which the Favourers of Henry alledged against his Marriage has forgot the Principal and that which supported all the decisions of the Romish Church that is to say That the Scripture explained by Tradition is the Rule according to which all Controversies are to be determined They alledged a perpetual succession of Provincial and general Councils of Popes and the Chief of the Greek and Latin Fathers particularly the Four most famous Fathers of the Western Church whereas the Imperialists had neither Father nor Doctor on their side Nevertheless the Author says no more but that the English quoted the Canons of some Provincial Councils concerning Incontinency with certain passages out of Tertullian St. Basil and St. Jerom about Virginity and against second Nuptials I am sure the Reader must here take notice That there is something wanting in this Relation which is more essential to an honest Man than a great stock of Capacity For the Canons of Councils and the Passages out of the Fathers which they quoted speak expresly of the Degrees of Marriage forbidden in Leviticus He names Three Popes whose Letters they produced but he passes over in silence the Chief in reference to England who was Gregory the Great For the Saxons being converted at what time he held the See this Pope gave express Order to Austin the Monk to disannul all Marriages that had been contracted with Brothers Wives Now England having submitted to this Law upon its first embracing Christianity they who defended the Kings scruples looked upon this as the Principal Foundation of his Cause So that if M. Le Grand would have acquired the Reputation of a sincere Historian he ought to have mentioned this Particular Moreover he should not have passed over in silence as he does all that was alledged against the Power which the Popes assume to themselves of dispensing with all Ecclesiastical and every the Divine Laws themselves Nor ought he to have forgot that other great Reason urged by the King that according to the Canons of the Council of Nice the determination of that matter belonged of right to the English Church and not to the Pope If the Author be a True Member of the Gallican Church he ought to grant these Maximes and if he would be thought a Faithful Historian he ought not to pass them over in silence But though he do not set down all the Kings Reasons he adds several New Reasons to the Queens pleading which her Advocates never dream'd of and we do not meet with in any Story or Relation of that time They all tend to prove that the Rules touching the degrees of Consanguinity have not been always observed in Marriages with the same Exactness But the Church is governed by Rules and not by Examples As for the Law of Deuteronomy which permitts a Man to Marry his Sister-in-Law if her Husband died without Children it has been always considered in the Christian Church as an Exception to the General Rule so that in regard it was only made in favour of the Jews and with reference to their Right of Succession it was abolish'd together with their Republick whereas the Laws of Leviticus concerning this Matter are to be look'd upon as Laws that are Moral and Universally received In a word if you will take the pains to compare the Books that have been written upon this Subject with the Extracts which M. Le Grand and my self have given of them you will presently find that he writes with no Sincerity at all who descends to a Nicety For my part I shall not Envy him the High Opinion he has of his so long as Men will but acknowledge me to have writ sincerely and without the Byass of Interest IV. Our Author says that the Parliament abolish'd the Oath which the Bishops swore to the Pope at the time of their Consecration and form'd another which they were to swear to the King But this is not that which he calls understanding to the Bottom the Laws

Pope promised Cardinal Tournon That for Forms Sake he should be obliged to observe some Formalities of Action to the End he might not shew himself too partial to the King of England in favour of whom he was resolved to do what lay in his Power for the Love of you said the Prelate writing to the King of France And a little after I think I am well assured that our Holy Father will comply with you touching the Request which you have made him in Behalf of your said Brother Henry VIII In a Letter of the Seventeenth of August 1533. The same Cardinal writes to Francis I. That the greatest Party of the Cardinals that were of the Imperial Faction would have been mad with the Pope had he not done what he did in regard there was but little likely-hood that the King would submit his Cause and that the Pope might have some honourable Pretence to act for him he would do it with as good a Will as was possible And it may be adds this Minister when you meet together he speaks of the Interview that was to be at Marseilles there will be found out Expedients It appears also by another Letter that Francis I. told the English Embassador That the Pope himself had confessed that King Henry 's Cause was just and that he wanted nothing but a Procuration Therefore it was that when the King was cited to appear at Rome in Person or by a Proctor he took little Notice of it That if Carne were sent beyond the Mountains in the Quality of an Excuser it was seen by those Mixtures that it was not in the Name of the King but in the Nation 's Behalf that he went to make those kind of Excuses This Refusal of Henry being look'd upon at Rome as an effect of Contempt which he had of the Holy See the Pope promised him the Divorce if he would but appear in that City either in Person or by his Proctor in pursuance of the Assignation which he had caused to be given him and acknowledge his Authority Francis the First applauded the King's Conduct in that Affair and was so far from endeavouring to oppose his Marriage that he ordered his Embassador to be God-Father in his Name to the Child that should be born in case it were a Son The French Embassador at Rome about that time wrote also several Letters to his Master's Court where he observes That the Pope was very ready to do what was desired in the King of England 's behalf and more if he durst or could but that the Emperors People pressed the Affair with so much Importunity that the half of the time His Holiness against God and against Reason nay contrary to the Opinion of a good part of the Imperial Cardinals was constrained above half the time to act at the pleasure of M. Dosme We wanted you there to have put a spoak in his Wheel pursues he writing to the Cardinal of Grandemont There is no Man that dares tell him the Truth And it is as true that this Embassador who was Bishop of Auxerres said also speaking to the Pope That he saw him so pressed by the Emperor his People and the greatest part of the Cardinals that he thought he could do no good but only by Dissimulation But indeed these cunning Politicians understand so well how to change their Stile according to Occurrences that there 's hardly any trust to be given to their Letters The same Day that he wrote what we have cited to the Pope's Legate in another Letter to the Grand Master he observes that the Pope had told him that for Four Years the Business of Henry VIII had been in his Hands that there was nothing effected as yet that if he might do what he would he would do what we would and says the Minister This he told me in such a manner that if I am not deceived he thought what he spoke All those Letters were dated the 17. of Feb. 1532. But in another of the 13. of Jan. following he assures that the Pope had told him That he was resolved to referr the whole Business to a good Time and that he clearly understood what the Pope meant by a good Time To which he adds that if the Matter had been judged according to the Wishes of the Cardinals and the eager Instances of the Emperor's People the most ancient and learned had judged for the King of England But that there were but few of that Company and the number of the other was so great that by plurality of voices the English would have utterly lost it M. Le Grand is very nice and tender when he comes to that Circumstance that there arriv'd a Courrier from England to Rome a day or two after Sentence was given and he omits the hast in which it was pronounced as if he knew nothing of it Nevertheless we find in these Miscellanies a Letter from Pomponio Trivulci dated from Lyons the 16. of April where he observes that M. de Paris passing that way upon his return from Rome told him that the definitive Sentence which the Pope had given against the King of England had been precipitated That it was not the Pope's fault that they did not temporize longer that if they had staid but Six Days more before they had pronounced it the King would have submitted to the Holy See But that the Importunity of the Imperalists and the Consistory was so great that they would not stay That the next Day after the Resolution of England came too late but that then the Consistory and the Imperalists were mad that they staid no longer All these passages plainly shew that the Court of Rome was governed in this Affair only by the prospects and maxims of Policy And therefore it is that according to the Principles of the Gallican Church M. Talon has maintained with so much Zeal upon an occasion of much less importance that the King of England had no reason to have any regard to the Sentences and Thundrings of that Court. If I am extreamly obliged to M. Le Grand for having made me a present of so good a Book in which he furnish'd me with so many proofs of the most important Points of my History I am no less troubled that he had so little value for himself as to suppress them and for his having forced me as I may so say to make use of the kindness he has done me to his own disadvantage But upon such occasions as these they saying is Magis amica veritas And though M. Le Grand imagines that I am jealous of my Productions were not the Interests of Religion intermixed therewith I could easily abandon mine But I will not now push this censure any farther neither do I know whether I shall write any more upon this Subject not being able to determine any thing in that matter till I have seen the Three other parts of this work and the effects it will produce in the World I shall conclude with humble request to pardon the Liberty which I take of addressing this Letter to you and that in so publick a manner not believing a man could otherwise so properly give a censure upon a printed Book I am Sir c. Hague 20. of June FINIS