given by Christ in the Gospel to the Priest and must be believed as if it were spoken by God himself according to our Saviours words and therefore none were to condemn auricular Confession but use it for the comfort of their Consciences The people were also to be instructed that though God pardoned sin only for the satisfaction of Christ yet they must bring forth the Fruits of Penance Prayer Fasting Almsdeeds with restitution and satisfaction for wrongs done to others with other works of Mercy and Charity and Obedience to Gods Commandments else they could not be saved and that by doing these they should both obtain Everlasting Life and mitigation of their Afflictions in this present life according to the Scriptures Fourthly As touching the Sacrament of the Altar people were to be instructed that under the Forms of Bread and Wine there was truly and substantially given the very same Body of Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary and therefore it was to be received with all Reverence every one duly Examining himself according to the words of St. Paul Fifthly The people were to be instructed That Justification signifieth Remission of sins and acceptation into the favour of God that is to say a perfect Renovation in Christ. To the attaining which they were to have Contrition Faith Charity which were both to concur in it and follow it and that the good works necessary to Salvation were not only outward Civil works but the inward motions and graces of Gods Holy Spirit to dread fear and love him to have firm confidence in God to call upon him and to have patience in all adversities to hate sin and have purposes and wills not to sin again with such other motions and vertues consenting and agreeable to the Law of God The other Articles were about the Ceremonies of the Church First of Images The people were to be instructed That the use of them was warranted by the Scriptures and that they served to represent to them good Examples and to stir up Devotion and therefore it was meet that they should stand in the Churches But that the people might not fall into such Superstition as it was thought they had done in time past they were to be taught to reform such Abuses lest Idolatry might ensue and that in censing kneeling offering or worshipping them the people were to be instructed not to do it to the Image but to God and his honour Secondly For the honouring of Saints they were not to think to attain these things at their hands which were only obtained of God but that they were to honour them as persons now in glory to praise God for them and imitate their vertues and not fear to die for the Truth as many of them had done Thirdly For praying to Saints The people were to be taught that it was good to pray to them to pray for and with us And to correct all Superstitious Abuses in this matter they were to keep the days appointed by the Church for their Memories unless the King should lessen the number of them which if he did it was to be obeyed Fourthly Of Ceremonies The people were to be taught That they were not to be condemned and cast away but to be kept as good and laudable having mystical significations in them and being useful to lift up our minds to God Such were the Vestments in the worship of God The sprinkling holy-water to put us in mind of our Baptism and the Blood of Christ Giving holy Bread in sign of our Union in Christ and to remember us of the Sacrament Bearing Candles on Candlemas-day in remembrance that Christ was the spiritual Light Giving Ashes on Ash-wednes-day to put us in mind of Penance and of our Mortality Bearing Palms on Palm-sunday to show our desire to receive Christ in our hearts as he entred into Ierusalem Creeping to the Cross on Good-friday and kissing it in memory of his death with the setting up the Sepulchre on that day The Hallowing the Font and other Exorcisms and Benedictions And lastly As to Purgatory They were to declare it good and charitable to pray for the Souls departed which was said to have continued in the Church from the beginning And therefore the people were to be instructed That it consisted well with the due order of Charity to pray for them and to make others pray for them in Masses and Exequies and to give Alms to them for that end But since the place they were in and the pains they suffered were uncertain by the Scripture we ought to remit them wholly to Gods mercy Therefore all these Abuses were to be put away which under the pretence of Purgatory had been advanced as if the Popes pardons did deliver Souls out of it or Masses said in certain places or before certain Images had such efficiency with other such-like Abuses These Articles being thus conceived and in several places corrected and tempered by the Kings own hand were signed by Cromwell and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and seventeen other Bishops forty Abbots and Priors and fifty Arch-Deacons and Proctors of the lower House of Convocation Among whom Polidor Virgil and Peter Vannes signed with the rest as appears by the Original yet extant They being tendered to the King he confirmed them and ordered them to be published with a Preface in his name It is said in the Preface that he accounting it the chief part of his Charge that the Word and Commandments of God should be believed and observed and to maintain unity and concord in opinion and understanding to his great regret that there was great diversity of opinion arisen among his Subjects both about Articles of Faith and Ceremonies had in his own Person taken great pains and study about these things and had ordered also the Bishops and other Learned men of the Clergy to examine them who after long deliberation had concluded on the most special Points which the King thought proceeded from a good right and true judgment according to the Laws of God these would also be profitable for establishing unity in the Church of England Therefore he had ordered them to be published requiring all to accept of them praying God so to illuminate their hearts that they might have no less zeal and love to unity and concord in reading them than he had in making them to be devised set forth and published which good acceptance should encourage him to take further pains for the future as should be most for the honour of God and the profit and the quietness of his Subjects This being published occasion'd great variety of Censures Those that desired Reformation were glad to see so great a step once made and did not doubt but this would make way for further Changes They rejoyced to see the Scriptures and the ancient Creeds made the Standards of the Faith without mentioning Tradition or the Decrees of the Church Then the Foundation of Christian Faith was truly stated and
He declared that he died in the Catholick Faith not doubting of any Article of Faith or of any Sacrament of the Church and denied that he had been a Supporter of those who believed ill opinions He confessed he had been seduced but now died in the Catholick Faith and desired them to pray for the King and for the Prince and for himself and then prayed very fervently for the remission of his past sins and admittance into Eternal Glory and having given the Sign the Executioner cut off his Head very barbarously Thus fell that great Minister that was raised meerly upon the strength of his natural parts For as his Extraction was mean so his Education was low All the learning he had was that he had got the new-Testament in Latine by heart His great wisdom and dexterity in business raised him up through several steps till he was become as great as a Subject could be He carryed his greatness with wonderful temper and moderation and fell under the weight of popular Odium rather than Guilt The disorders in the Suppression of Abbeys were generally charged on him Yet when he fell no Bribery nor cheating of the King could be fastned on him though such things came out in swarms on a disgraced Favourite when there is any ground for them By what he spoke at his death he left it much doubted of what Religion he dyed But it is certain he was a Lutheran The term Catholick-Faith used by him in his last speech seemed to make it doubtful but that was then used in England in its true sense in Opposition to the Novelties of the See of Rome as will afterwards appear on another occasion So that his Profession of the Catholich-Faith was strangely perverted when some from thence Concluded that he dyed in the Communion of the Church of Rome But his praying in English and that only to God through Christ without any of these tricks that were used when those of that Church died shewed he was none of theirs With him the Office of the Kings Vice-gerent in Ecclesiastical affairs died as it rose first in his person and as all the Clergy opposed the seting up a new Officer whose Interest should oblige him to oppose a Reconciliation with Rome so it seems none were fond to succeed in an Office that proved so fatal to him that had first carryed it The King was said to have lamented his death after it was too late but the fall of the new Queen that followed not long after and the miseries which fell also on the Duke of Norfolk and his Family some years after were looked on as the Scourges of Heaven for their cruel prosecution of this unfortunate Minister With his fall the progress of the Reformation which had been by his endeavours so far advanced was quite stopt For all that Cranmer could do after this was to keep the ground they had gained But he could never advance much further And indeed every one expected to see him go next For as one Gostwick Knight for Bedfordshire had named him in the House of Commons as the Supporter and Promoter of all the Heresie that was in England so the Popish party reckoned they had but half done their work by destroying Cromwel and that it was not finished till Cranmer followed him Therefore all possible endeavors were used to make discoveries of the Encouragement which as was believed he gave to the Preachers of the condemned Doctrines And it is very probable that had not the Incontinence of Katherine Howard whom the King declared Queen on the 8th of August broken out not long after he had been Sacrificed the next Session of Parliament But now I return to my proper business to give an account of Church-matters for this year with which these great Changes in Court had so great a Relation that the Reader will excuse the digression about them Upon Cromwels fall Gardiner and those that followed him made no doubt but they should quickly recover what they had lost of late years So their greatest attempt was upon the Translation of the Scriptures The Convocation Books as I have been forced often to lament are lost so that here I cannot stir but as Fuller leads me who assures the World that he Copied out of the Records with his own Pen what he published And yet I doubt he has mistaken himself in the year and that which he calls the Convocation of this year was the Convocation of the year 1542. For he tells us that their 7th Session was the 10th of March. Now in this year the Convocation did not sit down till the 13th of April but that year it sate all March So likewise he tells us of the Bishops of Westminster Glocester and Peterborough bearing a share in this Convocation whereas these were not Consecrated before Winter and could not sit as Bishops in this Synod And besides Thirleby sate at this time in the lower House as was formerly shewn in the Process about Anne of Cleves Marriage So that their attempt against the new Testament belongs to the year 1542. But they were now much better employed though not in the way of Convocation For a select number of them sate by vertue of a Commission from the King confirmed in Parliament Their first work was to draw up a Declaration of the Christian Doctrine for the necessary erudition of a Christian man They thought that to speak of Faith in general ought naturally to go before an Exposition of the Christian Belief and therefore with that they began The Church of Rome that designed to keep her Children in ignorance had made no great account of Faith which they generally taught consisted chiefly in an Implicite Believing whatever the Church proposed without any explicite knowledg of particulars So that a Christian Faith as they had explained it was a Submission to the Church The Reformers finding that this was the Spring of all their other errors and that which gave them colour and Authority did on the other hand set up the strength of their whole Cause on an Explicite believing the truth of the Scriptures because of the Authority of God who had revealed them And said that as the great Subject of the Apostles Preaching was Faith so that which they every-where taught was to read and believe the Scriptures Upon which followed nice Disputing what was that saving Faith by which the Scriptures say we are Iustified They could not say it was barely crediting the Divine Revelation since in that sense the Devils believed Therefore they generally placed it at first in their being assured that they should be saved by Christs dying for them In which their design was to make Holiness and all other Graces necessary requisites in the Composition of Faith though they would not make them formally parts of it For since Christs death has its full vertue and effect upon none but those who are regenerate and live according to his Gospel none
after them And so the Apostles ordained Matthias to be one of their number St. Paul made and ordained Timothy and Titus with others likewise Of the Sacrament of Extream Vnction we have manifestly in the Gospel of Mark and Epistle of St. Iames. Materia Sacramentorum est Verbum Elementum virtus quam Deus per illa digne sumentibus conferat gratiam juxta suam promissionem nimirum quod sint Sacra Signacula non tantum signantia sed etiam significantia Unde opinor constare hanc Sacramentorum vim esse in Sacris Literis I find in Scripture of such things as we use to call Sacraments First Of Baptism manifestly Of Eucharistia manifestly Of Pennance manifestly Of Matrimony manifestly Of Ordering per manus Impositionem Orationem manifestly It is also manifest that the Apostles laid their hands upon them that were Christened Of the Vnction of the Sick with Prayer manifestly Albeit the seven Sacraments be not found in Scripture expressed by name yet the thing it self that is the Matter Nature Effect and Vertue of them is found there Of Baptism in divers places of the most Holy Communion of Matrimony of Absolution of Bishops Priests and Deacons how they were ordained per manuum Impositionem cum Oratione Of laying the Apostles hands on them that were Christened which is a part of Confirmation of Unction of them that were sick with Prayer joined withal Natura vis effectus ac uniuscujusque Sacramenti proprietas seorsim in Scriptura reperitur ut veteres eam interpretati sunt As it appeareth in the Articles which be drawn of the said seven Sacraments In Scripture we find of the Form of the Sacraments as the words Sacramental and the Matter as the Element Oil Chrism and the Patient receiving the Sacrament and of Grace and encrease of Vertue given by them as the Effects The things are contained in Scripture as Baptism Confirmation Eucharistia Poenitentia Extrema Vnctio Ordo altho they have not there this name Sacramentum as Matrimony hath and every one of them hath his Matter Nature Effect and Vertue I think the Thing the Matter the Nature the Effect and Vertue of them all be in the Scripture and all there institute by God's Authority for I think that no one Man neither the whole Church hath power to Institute a Sacrament but that such Institution pertaineth only to God To the seventh I say That we may evidently find in Scripture the substance of every one of the seven Sacraments the Nature Effect and Vertue of the same as of Baptism Confirmation Pennance Matrimony and so forth of the rest Of the Matter Nature Vertue and Effect of such as we call Sacraments Scripture maketh mention Of Baptism manifestly of the most Holy Communion manifestly of Absolution manifestly of Matrimony manifestly of Bishops Priests and Deacons Scripture speaketh manifestly for they were ordered per Impositiones manuum Presbyterii cum Oratione jejunio Conveniunt praeter Menevens naturam septem Sacramentorum nobis tradi in Scripturis Eboracens effectus singulorum enumerat item Carliolens Londinens non Respondet Quaestioni Treshamus ait ideo ê Scripturis tradi nobis Sacramenta quoniam tota Ecclesia non habet Authoritatem Instituendi Sacramenta In the seventh they do agree saving this That the Bishop of St. David says That the Nature Effect and Vertue of these seven Sacraments only Baptism the Sacrament of the Altar Matrimony Pennance are contained in the Scripture The other say That the Nature and the Vertue of all the seven be contained in the Scripture 8. Question Whether Confirmation cum Crismate of them that be Baptized be found in Scripture Answers OF Confirmation with Chrism without which it is counted no Sacrament there is no mention in the Scripture To the eighth We find Confirmation cum Impositione manuum in Scripture as before cum Chrismate we find not in the Scripture but yet we find Chrismation with Oil used even from the time of the Apostles and so taken as a Tradition Apostolick To the eighth I find in Scripture in many places de Impositione manuum which I think considering the usage commonly and so long withal used to be Confirmation and that with Chrism to supply the visible appearance of the Holy Ghost which Holy Ghost was so visibly seen in the Primitive Church nevertheless for the perfect declaration of the verity hereof I refer it to the judgment of Men of higher knowledg in this Faculty Altho Confirmation be found in the Scripture by Example as I said before yet there is nothing written de Chrismate The Imposition of Hands the Holy Doctors take for the same which we call Confirmation done upon them which were christened before whereof is written in the Acts. And as for Chrisma it should seem by Cyprian both as touching the confection and usage thereof that it hath a great ground to be derived out of Scripture tho it be not manifestly therein spoken of Res Effectus Confirmationis continentur in Scriptura nempe Impositio manuum per Apostolos Baptizatis per quam dabatur Spiritus Sanctus De Chrismate nihil illic legimus quia per id tempus Spiritus Sanctus signo visibili descenderit in Baptizatos Quod ubi fieri desierit Ecclesia Chrismate signi externi loco uti coepit I find not in Scripture that the Apostles laying their hands upon them that were baptized did anoint them Chrismate Confirmation cum Chrismate I read not in Scripture but Impositionem manuum super Baptizatos I find there is which ancient Authors call Confirmation and Inunction with Chrisma hath been used from the Primitive Church De Impositione manuum cum Oratione expressa mentio est in Scripturis quae nunc usitato nomine a Doctoribus dicitur Confirmatio Sacrum Chrisma traditio est Apostolica ut ex veteribus liquet The Question is not simple but as if it were asked Whether Eucharistia in infermentato be in the Scripture or baptismus cum sale Imposition of the Apostles hands in which was conferred the Holy Ghost for Confirmation of them who were baptized is found in Scripture Chrisma is a Tradition deduced from the Apostles as may be gathered by Scripture and by the Old Authors and the Mystery thereof is not to be despised This Sacrament is one unitate integritatis as some others be Therefore it hath two parts of which one that is Impositio manuum is taken Heb. 6. Act. 8. The other part that is Chrisme is taken of the Tradition of the Fathers and so used from the Primitive Church vid. Cyp. Epist. lib. 1. Ep. 12. Confirmation is found in Scripture and Confirmation cum Chrismate is gathered from the old Authors I say Confirmation is found in Scripture but this additament cum Chrismate is not of the Scripture yet is
it a very ancient Tradition as appeareth by Cyp. de Vnct. Chrism To the eighth Question I say That Confirmation of them that be baptized is found in Scripture but cum Chrismate it is not found in Scripture but it was used cum Chrismate in the Church soon after the Apostles time as it may evidently appear by the cited Authors The laying of the Bishops hands upon them that be christened which is a part of Confirmation is plainly in Scripture and the Unction with Chrisme which is another part hath been observed from the Primitive Church and is called of St. Austin Sacramentum Chrismatis Unction of the Sick with Oil and the Prayer is grounded expresly in Scripture Conveniunt omnes Confirmationem cum Chrismate non haberi in Scripturis Eboracens Tresham Coren Day Oglethorpe Edgworth Leighton Symmons Redman Robinsonus Confirmationem in Scripturis esse contendunt caeterum Chrisma esse traditionem Apostolicam addit Robertsonus ubi fieri desierat miraculum Consecrandi Spiritus Sancti Ecclesia Chrismate signi externi loco uti coepit Convenit illi Londinens Carliolens putat usum Chrismatis ex Scripturis peti posse Putant omnes tum in hoc Articulo tum superiori Impositionem manuum esse Confirmationem In the eighth they do agree all except it be the Bishop of Carlile That Confirmatio cum Chrismate is not found in Scripture but only Confirmatio cum manuum Impositione And that also my Lord of St. Davids denieth to be in Scripture as we call it a Sacrament My Lord of Carlâ—le saith That Chrisma as touching the confection and usage thereof hath a ground to be derived out of Scripture The other say That it is but a Tradition 3. Question Whether the Apostles lacking a higher Power as in not having a Christian Kâ—ng among them made Bishops by that necessity or by Authority given by God Answers ALL Christian Princes have committed unto them immediately of God the whole Cure of all their Subjects as well concerning the Administration of God's Word for the Cure of Souls as concerning the ministration of things Political and Civil Governance And in both these Ministrations they must have sundry Ministers under them to supply that which is appointed to their several Offices The Civil Ministers under the King's Majesty in this Realm of England be those whom it shall please his Highness for the time to put in Authority under him As for Example The Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord Great Master Lord Privy Seal Lord Admiral Majors Sheriffs c. The Ministers of God's Word under his Majesty be the Bishops Parsons Vicars and such other Priests as be appointed by his Highness to that Ministration As for Example The Bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Duresme the Bishop of Winchester the Parson of Winwick c. All the said Officers and Ministers as well of that sort as the other be appointed assigned and elected and in every place by the Laws and Orders of Kings and Princes In the admission of many of these Officers be divers comely Ceremonies and Solemnities used which be not of necessity but only for a good order and seemly fashion for if such Offices and Ministrations were committed without such solemnity they were nevertheless truly committed And there is no more Promise of God that Grace is given in the committing of the Ecclesiastical Office than it is in the committing of the Civil Office In the Apostles time when there was no Christian Princes by whose Authority Ministers of God's Word might be appointed nor Sins by the Sword corrected there was no Remedy then for the correction of Vice or appointing of Ministers but only the consent of Christian Multitude among themselves by an uniform consent to follow the advice and perswasion of such Persons whom God had most endued with the Spirit of Counsel and Wisdom And at that time forasmuch as the Christian People had no Sword nor Governour amongst them they were constrained of necessity to take such Curats and Priests as either they knew themselves to be meet thereunto or else as were commended unto them by others that were so replete with the Spirit of God with such knowledg in the profession of Christ such Wisdom such Conversation and Counsel that they ought even of very Conscience to give credit unto them and to accept such as by them were presented and so sometimes the Apostles and others unto whom God had given abundantly his Spirit sâ—nt or appointed Ministers of God's Word sometimes the People did choose such as they thought meet thereunto and when any were appointed or sent by the Apostles or others the People of their own voluntary Will with thanks did accept them nor for the Supremity Empire or Dominion that the Apostles had over them to command as their Princes and Masters but as good People ready to obey the advice of good Counsellors and to accept any thing that was necessary for their edification and benefit To the ninth We find in Scripture that the Apostles used the Power to make Bishops Priests and Deacons which Power may be grounded upon these words Sicut misit me vivens Pater sic ego mitto vos c. And we verily think that they durst not have used so high Power unless they had had Authority from Christ but that their Power to ordain Bishops Priests or Deacons by Imposition of Hands requireth any other Authority than Authority of God we neither read in Scripture nor out of Scripture To the ninth I think the Apostles made Bishops by the Law of God because Acts 22. it is said In quo vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Nevertheless I think if Christian Princes had been then they should have named by Right and appointed the said Bishops to their Rooms and Places I think that the Apostles made Bishops by Authority given them from God That Christ made his Apostles Priests and Bishops and that he gave them Power to make others like it seemeth to be the very trade of Scripture Opinor Apostolos Authoritate Divina creasse Episcopos Presbyteros ubi Publicus Magistratus permittit Altho the Apostles had no authority to force any Man to be Priest yet they moved by the Holy Ghost had authority of God to exhort and induce Men to set forth God's Honour and so to make them Priests The Apostles made that is to say ordained Bishops by authority given them by God Ioh. 20. Sicut misit me vivens Pater ita ego mitto vos Item Ioan. ult Act. 20. and 1 Tim. 4. Paulus ordinavit Timotheum Titum praescribit quales illi debeant ordinare 1 Tim. 1. Tit. 1. Apostoli autoritate mandato Dei ordinabant ac instituebant Episcopos petita ac obtenta prius facultate a Principe ac Magistratu ut opinor qui tum praeerat Christ gave his Apostles authority to make other Bishops and
what Law the order of Ecclesiastical Constitution is bounden and let them not think those words of the Apostle to be his but rather the words of Christ himself Opinor requiri Consecrationem quandam hoc est impositionem manuum Orationem jejunium c. tamen nusquam hoc munere fungi posse nisi ubi Magistratus invitet jubeat aut permittat By Scripture there is no Consecration of Bishops and Priests required but only the appointing to the Office of a Priest cum Impositione manuum Consecration of Bishops and Priests I read not in the New Testament but Ordinatio per manuum Impositionem cum Oratione is read there as in the places above and the only appointment as I think is not sufficient Praeter vocationem ceu designationem externam quae vel a Principe fit vel a populo per electionem suffragia requiritur Ordinatio alia per manuum impositionem idque per Verbum Dei Besides the appointing to the Office it appeareth that in the Primitive Church the Apostles used certain Consecration of the Ministers of the Church by imposition of Hands and Prayer Acts 6. and with Fasting Acts 14 c. The Office of Priesthood is too dangerous to set upon when one is but appointed only Therefore for the confirmation of their Faith who take in hand such charge and for the obtaining of farther Grace requisite in the same Consecration was ordained by the Holy Ghost and hath been always used from the beginning Deputation to the Office is not sufficient to make a Priest or a Bishop as appeareth by David and Solomon who deputed the 24 above-mentioned to their Offices yet they made none of them Priests nor any other The appointing to the Office per manuum Impositionem is in Scripture and the Consecration of them hath of long time continued in the Church There is a certain kind of Consecration required which is imposition of the Bishops hands with Prayer and the appointing only is not sufficient To the twelfth I suppose that there is a Consecration required as by Imposition of Hands for so we be taught by the ensample of the Apostles In the New Testament is required to the making of a Bishop Impositio manuum cum Oratione which I take for Consecration and Appointment unto the Office is not sufficient for King David 1 Chron. 24. did appoint 24 to be Bishops who after were consecrated so that both the Appointment and the Consecration be requisite Respondent Eboracens Londinens Carliolens Leighton Tresham Robertâ—onus Edgeworth Curren Dayns Oglethorp Consecrationem esse requisitam Redmanus ait eam receptam esse ab Apostolis atque a Spiritu Sancto institutam ad conferendam gratiam Dayus Roffens Symmons aiunt Sacerdotium conferri per manuum impositionem idque ê Scripturis Consecrationem vero diu receptam in Ecclesia Coxus Institutionem cum manuum impositione sufficere neque per Scripturam requiri Consecrationem Robertsonus addit supra alios nusquam hoc munere fungi posse quempiam nisi ubi Magistratus invitet jubeat aut permittat In the twelfth Question where it is asked Whether in the New Testament be required any Consecration of a Bishop or only appointing to the Office be sufficient The Bishop of St. Davids saith That only the appointing Dr. Cox That only appointing cum manuum Impositione is sufficient without Consecration The Bishops of York London Duresme Carlisle Drs. Day Curren Leighton Tresham Edgworth Oglethorp say That Consecration is requisite Dr. Redmayn saith That Consecration hath been received from the Apostles time and institute of the Holy Ghost to confer Grace My Lord of Rochester Dr. Day and Symmons say That Priesthood is given per manuum impositionem and that by Scripture and that Consecration hath of long time been received in the Church 13. Question Whether if it fortuned a Christian Prince Learned to conquer certain Dominions of Infidels having none but temporal learned Men with him if it be defended by God's Law that he and they should Preach and Teach the Word of God there or no And also make and constitute Priests or no Answers IT is not against God's Law but contrary they ought indeed so to do and there be Histories that witnesseth that some Christian Princes and other Laymen unconsecrate have done the same To the thirteenth To the first part of this Question touching Teaching and Preaching the Word of God in case of such need we think that Laymen not ordered not only may but must preach Christ and his Faith to Infidels as they shall see opportunity to do the same and must endeavour themselves to win the Miscreants to the Kingdom of God if that they can for as the Wise Man saith God hath given charge to every Man of his Neighbour and the Scripture of God chargeth every Man to do all the good that he can to all Men And surely this is the highest Alms to draw Men from the Devil the Usurper and bring them to God the very Owner Wherefore in this case every Man and Woman may be an Evangelist and of this also we have example But touching the second part for case of Necessity As we neither find Scripture nor Example that will bear that any Man being himself no Priest may make that is to say may give the Order of Priesthood to another and authority therewith to minister in the said Order and to use such Powers and Offices as appertaineth to Priesthood grounded in the Gospel So we find in such case of need what hath been done in one of the ancient Writers altho this authority to ordain after form afore-mentioned be not to Laymen expresly prohibited in Scripture yet such a prohibition is implied in that there is no such authority given to them either in Scripture or otherways for so much as no Man may use this or any other authority which cometh from the Holy Ghost unless he hath either Commission grounded in Scripture or else Authority by Tradition and ancient use of Christ's Church universally received over all To the thirteenth and fourteenth following I think that necessity herein might either be a sufficient Rule and Warrant to determine and order such Cases considering that tempore necessitatis mulier baptizat laicus idem facit audit confessionem or else that God would inspire in the Princes heart to provide the best and most handsome Remedy therein And hard were it peradventure to find such great necessity but either in the train of the said Prince or in the Regions adjoining thereunto there might be had some Priests for the said purposes or finally That the Prince himself godlily inspired in that behalf might for so good purposes and intents set forth the Act indeed referring yet this thing to the better judgment of others To the thirteenth and fourteenth following I never read these cases neither in Scripture nor in
the whole Matter that I hope the Reader will not be ill pleased to have a short abstract of them laid before him An Abstract of those things which were written for the Divorce The Law of Marriage was originally given by God to Adam in the state of Innocence with this Declaration that man and wife were one Flesh but being afterwards corrupted by the Incestuous commixtures of those which were of Kin in the nearest degrees the Primitive Law was again revived by Moses And he gives many Rules and Prohibitions about the Degrees of Kinred and Affinity which are not to be looked on as new Laws and judiciary Precepts but as a Restoring of the Law of Nature originally given by God but then much corrupted For as the Preface which is so oft repeated before these Laws I am the Lord insinuates that they were conform to the Divine Nature so the consequences of them show they were Moral and Natural For the Breaches of them are called Wickedness and Abomination and are said to defile the Land and the Violation of them is charged on the Canaanites by which the Land was polluted and for which it did vomit out the Inhabitants From whence it must be concluded that these were not positive Precepts which did only bind the Iews but were parts of the Law of Mankind and Nature otherwise those Nations could contract no Guilt by their Violating them Among the forbidden Degrees one is Thou shalt not discover the Nakedness of thy Brothers wife it is thy Brothers Nakedness And it is again repeated If a man shall take his Brothers wife it is an unclean thing he hath uncovered his Brothers Nakedness they shall be childless These are clear and express Laws of God which therefore must needs oblige all persons of what rank soever without exception In the New Testament St. Iohn Baptist said to Herod It is not Lawful for thee to take thy Brothers wife which shows that these Laws of Moses were still obligatory St. Paul also in his epistle to the Corinthians condemns the Incestuous person for having his Fathers wife which is one of the Degrees forbidden by the Law of Moses and calls it a Fornication not so much as named among the Gentiles From whence it is inferred that these forbidden degrees are excluded by the Law of Nature since the Gentiles did not admit them St. Paul also calling it by the common name of Fornication within which according to that place all undue Commixtures of men and women are included Therefore those places in the New Testament that condemn Fornication do also condemn Marriages in forbidden degrees our Saviour did also assert the foundation of affinity by saying that man and wife are one Flesh. But in all Controverted things the sense of the Scriptures must be taken from the Tradition of the Church which no good Catholick can deny and that is to be found in the Decrees of Popes and Councils and in the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church against which if any argue from their private understanding of the Scriptures it is the way of Heresie and savours of Lutheranism The first of the Fathers who had occasion to write of this Matter was Tertullian who lived within an Age after the Apostles He in express words says that the Law of not Marrying the Brothers wife did still oblige Christians The first Pope whose decision was sought in this Matter was Gregory the Great to whom Austin the Apostle of England wrote for his resolution of some things in which he desired direction and one of these is Whether a man may Marry his Brothers wife who in the Language of that time was called his Kinswoman The Pope answered Negatively and proved it by the Law of Moses and therefore Defined that if any of the English Nation who had Marryed within that degree were converted to the Faith he must be admonished to abstain from his wife and to look on such a Marriage as a most grievous Sin From which it appears that that good Pope did judge it a thing which by no means could be dispenced with otherwise he had not pressed it so much under such Circumstances since in the first Conversion of a Nation to the Christian Faith the Insisting too much upon it might have kept back many from receiving the Christian Religion who were otherwise well inclined to it Calixtus Zacarias and Innocent the Third have plainly asserted the obligation of these Precepts in the Law of Moses the last particularly who treats about it with great vehemency So that the Apostolick See has already judged the Matter Several Provincial Councils have also declared the obligation of the Precepts about the degrees of Marriage in Leviticus by the Council at Neocesarea If a woman had been Marryed to two Brothers she was to be cast out of the Communion of the Church till her death and thâ— man that Marryed his Brothers wife was to be Anathematized which was also Confirmed in a Council held by Pope Gregory the Second Iâ— the Council of Agde where the Degrees that make a Marriage incestuous are reckoned this of Marrying the Brothers wife is one of them and there it was Decreed that all Marriages within these Degrees were Null and the Parties so Contracting were to be cast out of the Communion of the Church and put among the Catechumens till they separated themselves from one another And in the Second Council of Toledo the Authority of the Mosaical Prohibitions about the Degrees of Marriage is acknowledged It was one of Wickcliffs errors that the Prohibition of Marriage within such degrees was without any foundation in the Law of God for which and other points he was condemned first in a Convocation at London then at Oxford and last of all at the general Council of Constance these Condemnations were confirmed So formally had the Church in many Provincial Councils and in one that was General decided this matter Next to these the Opinions of the Fathers were to be considered In the Greek Church Origen first had occasion to Treat about it writing on Leviticus and Chrysostome after him but most fully St. Basil the Great who do expressly assert the obligations of these Precepts The last particularly refuting at great length the Opinion of some who thought the Marrying two Sisters was not unlawful laies it down as a Foundation That the Laws in Leviticus about Marriage were still in force Hesychius also writing upon Leviticus proves that these Prohibitions were universally obligatory because both the Egyptians and Cananites are taxed for Marrying within these Degrees From whence he inferrs they are of Moral and Eternal obligation From the Greek they went to the Latine Fathers and alledged as was already observed that Tertullian held the same Opinion and with him agreed the three great Doctors of the Latin Church Ambrose Ierom and
places cited from the New Testament As for that of Herod both Iosephus and Eusebius witness that his Brother Philip was alive when he took his wife and so his sin was Adultery and not Incest We must also think that the Incestous Person in Corinth took his Fathers Wife when he was yet living otherwise if he had been dead St. Paul could not say it was a Fornication not named among the Gentiles for we not only find both among the Persians and other Nations the Marriage of Step-Mothers allowed but even among the Iews Adonijah desired Abisha in Marriage who had been his Fathers Concubine From all which they concluded that the Laws about the Degrees of Marriage were only Judiciary Precepts and so there was no other obligation on Christians to obey them than what flowed from the Laws of the Church with which the Pope might dispense They also said that the Law in Leviticus of not taking the Brothers wife must be understood of not taking her while he was alive for after he was dead by another Law a man might marry his Brothers wife They also pleaded that the Popes Power of Dispensing did reach further than the Laws of the Church even to the Law of God for he daily Dispensed with the Breaking of Oaths and Vows though that was expresly contrary to the Second Commandment and though the Fifth Command Thou shalt do no Murther be against Killing yet the Pope Dispensed with the putting Thieves to death and in some cases where the reason of the Commandment does not at all times hold he is the only judge according to Summa Angelica They Concluded the Popes Power of Dispensing was as necessary as his Power of Expounding the Scriptures and since there was a Question made concerning the obligation of these Levitical Prohibitions whether they were Moral and did oblige Christians or not the Pope must be the only Judge There were also some late Presidents found one of P. Martin who in the case of a mans having Marryed his own Sister who had lived long with her upon a Consultation with Divines and Lawyers Confirmed it to prevent the Scandal which the dissolving of it would have given Upon which St. Antonin of Florence says that since the thing was dispensed with it was to be refered to the judgment of God and not to be condemned The Pope had granted this Dispensation upon a very weighty Consideration to keep peace between two great Crowns it had now stood above Twenty years it would therefore raise an high scandal to bring it under debate besides that it would do much hurt and bring the Titles to most Crowns into Controversie But they Concluded that whatever Informalities or Nullities were pretended to be in the Bulls or Breves the Pope was the only competent judge of it and that it was too high a presumption for inferior Prelates to take upon them to examine or discuss it But to these Arguments it was Answered by the writers for the Kings cause that it was strange to see men who pretended to be such Enemies to all Heretical Novelties yet be guilty of that which Catholick Doctors hold to be the foundation of all Heresie which was the setting up of private senses of Scripture and Reasonings from them against the Doctrine and Tradition of the Church It was fully made out that the Fathers and Doctors of the Church did universally agree in this that the Levitical Prohibitions of the Degrees of Marriage are Moral and do oblige all Christians Against this Authority Cajetan was the first that presumed to write opposing his private conceits to the Tradition of the Church which is the same thing for which Luther and his followers are so severely Condemned May it not then be justly said of such men that they plead much for Tradition when it makes for them but reject it when it is against them Therefore all these exceptions are overthrown with this one Maxime of Catholick Doctrine That they are Novelties against the constant Tradition of the Christian Church in all Ages But if the force of them be also examined they will be found as weak as they are New That before the Law these degrees were not observed proves only that they are not evidently contrary to the Common sense of all men But as there are some Moral Precepts which have that natural evidence in them that all men must discern it so there are others that are drawn from publick inconvenience and dishonesty which are also parts of the Law of nature These Prohibitions are not of the first but of the second sort since the Immorality of them appears in this that the Familiarities and freedoms among near Relations are such that if an horror were not struck in men at conjunctures in these degrees Families would be much defiled This is the Foundation of the Prohibitions of Marriages in these degrees Therefore it is not strange if men did not apprehend it before God made a Law concerning it Therefore all examples before the Law show only the thing is not so evident as to be easily collected by the light of Nature And for the story of Iudah and Tamar there is so much wickedness in all the parts of it that it will be very hard to make a President out of any part of it As for the Provision about Marrying the Brothers wiâ—e that only proves the ground of the Law is not of its own Nature Immutable but may be Dispensed with by God in some cases And all these Moral Laws that are founded on publick conveniency and honesty are Dispensable by God in some cases but because Moses did it by Divine Revelation it does not follow that the Pope can do it by his Ordinary Authority For that about Herod it is not clear from Iosephus that Philip was alive when Herod Marryed his Wife For all that Iosephus says is that she separated from her Husband when he was yet alive and divorced her self from him But he does not say that he lived still after she Marryed his Brother And by the Law of Divorce Marriage was at an end and broken by it as much as if the Party had been dead So that in that case she might have Marryed any other Therefore Herods sin in taking her was from the Relation of having been his Brothers Wife And for the Incestuous person in Corinth it is as certain that though some few Instances of a King of Syria and some others may be brought of Sons Marrying their Step-Mothers yet these things were generally ill looked on even where they were practised by some Princes who made their Pleasure their Law Nor could the Laws of Leviticus be understood of not Marrying the Brothers wife when he was alive for it was not Lawful to take any mans Wife from him living Therefore that cannot be the meaning And all those Prohibitions of Marriage in other degrees excluding those Marriages simply whether during the life or after the death of
them a few Bishops in the Northern and Western Parts When afterwards the Patriarch of Constantinople was declared by the Emperor Mauritius The Vniversal Bishop Gregory the great did exclaim against the Ambition of that Title as being equal to the Pride of Lucifer and declared that he who assumed it was the Forerunner of Antichrist saying that none of his Predecessors had ever claimed such a Power And this was the more observable since the English were Converted by those whom he sent over so that this was the Doctrine of that See when this Church received the Faith from it But it did not continue long within those limits for Boniface the Third assumed that Title upon the Grant of Phâ—â—as And as that Boniface got the Spiritual Sword put in his hand so the Eighth of that name pretended also to the Temporal Sword but they owe these Powers to the Industry of those Popes and not to any Donation of Christs The Popes when they are Consecrated promise to obey the Canons of the Eight first General Councils which if they observe they will receive no Appeals nor pretend to any higher Jurisdiction than these give to them and the other Patriarchs equally As for the Decrees of Latter Councils they are of less Authority For those Councils consisted of Monks and Friers in great part whose exemptions obtained from Rome obliged them to support the Authority of that Court and those who sate in them knew little of the Scriptures Fathers or the Tradition of the Church being only conversant in the Disputes and Learning of the Schools And for the Florentine Council the Eastern Churches who sent the Greek Bishops that sate there never received their Determination neither then nor at any time since Many places were also brought out of the Fathers to show that they did not look on the Bishops of Rome as superior to other Bishops and that they understood not those places of Scripture which were afterwards brought for the Popes Supremacy in that sense so that if Tradition be the best Expounder of Scripture those latter glosses must give place to the more ancient But that passage of St. Ierome in which he equals the Bishops of Eugubium and Constantinople to the Bishop of Rome was much made use of since he was a Presbyter of Rome and so likely to understand the Dignity of his own Church best There were many things brought from the Contests that other Sees had with Rome to show that all the Priviledges of that and other Sees were only founded on the practice and Canons of the Church but not upon any Divine Warrant Constantinople pretended to equal priviledges Ravenna Milan and Aquileia pretended to a Patriarchal Dignity and Exemption Some Arch-Bishops of Canterbury contended that Popes could do nothing against the Laws of the Church so Laurence and Dunstan Robert Grostest Bishop of Lincoln asserted the same and many Popes confessed it And to this day no Constitution of the Popes is binding in any Church except it be received by it and in the daily practice of the Canon Law the customs of Churches are pleaded against Papal Constitutions which shows their Authority cannot be from God otherwise all must submit to their Laws And from the latter Contests up and down Europe about giving Investitures receiving Appeals admitting of Legates and Papal Constitutions it was apparent that the Papal Authority was a Tyranny which had been managed by cruel and fraudulent Arts but was never otherwise received in the Church than as a Conquest to which they were constrained to yield And this was more fully made out in England from what passed in William the Conqueror and Henry the 2d's time and by the Statutes of Provisors in many Kings Reigns which were still renewed till within an hundred years of the present time Upon these grounds they Concluded that the Popes Power in England had no Foundation neither in the Law of God nor in the Laws of the Church or of the Land As for the Kings Power over Spiritual persons and in Spiritual causes they proved it from the Scriptures In the old Testament they found the Kings of Israel intermedled in all matters Ecclesiastical Samuel though he had been Judge yet acknowledged Sauls Authority So also did Abimelech the High-Priest and appeared before him when cited to answer upon an Accusation And Samuel 1 Sam. 15.18 sayes he was made the head of all the Tribes Aaron in that was an Example to all the following High-Priests who submitted to Moses David made many Laws about sacred things such as the Order of the Courses of the Priests and their Worship and when he was dying he declared to Solomon how far his Authority extended He told him 1 Chron. 28.21 That the Courses of the Priests and all the people were to be wholly at his commandment pursuant to which Solomon 2 Chron. 8.14 15. did appoint them their charges in the service of God and both the Priests and Levites departed not from his commandment in any matter and though he had turned out Abiathar from the High-Priesthood yet they made no opposition Iehosophat Hezekiah and Iosias made likewise Laws about Eccledsiastical Matters In the New Testament Christ himself was obedient he payed Taxes he declared that he pretended to no earthly Kingdom he charged the people to render to Caesar the things that were Caesars and his Disciples not to affect temporal dominion as the Lords of the Nations did And though the Magistrates were then Heathens yet the Apostles wrote to the Churches to obey Magistrates to submit to them to pay Taxes they call the King Supream and say he is Gods Minister to encourage them that do well and to punish the evil doors which is said of all persons without exception and every Soul is charged to be subject to the Higher Power Many passages were cited out of the Writings of the Fathers to show that they thought Church-men were included in these places as well as other persons so that the Tradition of the Church was for the Kings Supremacy and by one place of Scripture the King is called Supream by another he is called Head and by a third every Soul must be subject to him which laid together make up this conclusion That the King is the Supream Head over all persons In the primitive Church the Bishops in their Councils made rules for ordering their Dioceses which they only called Canons or Rules nor had they any compulsive Authority but what was derived from the Civil Sanctions After the Emperors were Christians they made many Laws about sacred things as may be seen in the Codes and when Iustinian digested the Roman Law he added many Novel Constitutions about Ecclesiastical persons and causes The Emperors called general Councils presided in them and confirmed them And many Letters were cited of Popes to Emperors to call Councils and of the Councils to them to Confirm their Decrees The Election of the Popes themselves was
would grant But he wrote back excusing himself that all he did was only to try whether her Revelations were true He confessed he conceived a great opinion of her Holiness both from common Fame and her entring into Religion from the report of her Ghostly Father whom he esteemed Learned and Religious and of many other Learned and Vertuous Priests from the good opinion the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had of her and from what is in the Prophet Amos That God will do nothing without revealing it to his Servants That upon these grounds he was induced to have a good opinion of her and that to try the truth about her he had sometimes spoken with her and sent his Chaplains to her but never discovered any falsehood in her And for his concealing what she had told him about the King which was laid to his charge he thought it needless for him to speak of it to the King since she had said to him that she had told it to the King her self She had named no person who should kill the King which by being known might have been prevented And as in Spiritual things every Church-man was not bound to denounce judgments against those that could not bear it so in temporal things the case might be the same and the King had on other occasions spoken so sharply to him that he had reason to think the King would have been offended with him for speaking of it and would have suspected that he had a hand in it therefore he desired for the passion of Christ to be no more troubled about that matter otherwise he would speak his Conscience freely To all which Cromwell wrote a long Letter which the Reader will find in the Collection copied from the rude draught of it written with his own hand In which he charges the Matter upon him heavily and shews him that he had not proceeded as a grave Prelate ought to have done for he had taken all that he had heard of her upon trust and had examined nothing that if every person that pretends to Revelations were believed on their own words all Government would be thereby destroyed He had no reason to conclude from the Prophecie of Amos that every thing that is to fall out must be revealed to some Prophet since many notable things had fallen out of which there was no Revelation made before hand But he told him the true reason that made him give credit to her was the matter of her Prophecies to which he was so addicted as he was to every other thing in which he once entred that nothing could come amiss that served to that end And he appealed to his Conscience whether if she had prophecied for the King he would have given such easie credit to her and not have examined the matter further Then he showes how guilty he was in not revealing what concerned the Kings Life and how frivolous all his excuses were And after all tells him that though his excusing the matter had provoked the King and that if it came to a Tryal he would certainly be found guilty yet again he advises him to beg the Kings pardon for his Negligence and offence in that matter and undertakes that the King would receive him into his favour and that all matters of displeasure pass'd before that time should be forgiven and forgotten This shows that though Fisher had in the progress of the Kings cause given him great offence yet he was ready to pass it all over and not to take the advantage which he now had against him But Fisher was still obstinate and made no submission and so was included within the Act for misprision of Treason and yet I do not find that the King proceeded against him upon this Act till by new provocations he drew a heavier storm of indignation upon himself When the Session of Parliament was at an end Commissioners were sent every-where to offer the Oath of the Succession to the Crown to all according to the Act of Parliament which was universally taken by all sorts of persons Gardiner wrote from Winchester the 6th of May to Cromwell that in the presence of the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Audley and many other Gentlemen all Abbots Priors Wardens with the Curates of all Parishes and Chappels within the Shire had appeared and taken the Oath very obediently and had given in a list of all the Religious persons in their Houses of 14 years of Age and above for taking whose Oaths some Commissioners were appointed The forms in which they took the Oath are not known and it is no wonder for though they were enrolled yet in Queen Maries time there was a Commission given to Bonner and others to examine the Records and raze out of them all things that were done either in contempt of the See of Rome or to the defamation of Religious Houses pursuant to which there are many things taken out of the Rolls which I shall sometimes have occasion afterwards to take notice of yet some Writings have escaped their diligence so there remains but two of the Subscriptions of Religious Orders both bearing date the 4th of May 1534. One is by the Prior and Convent of Langley Regis that were Dominicans the Franciscans of Ailesbury the Dominicans of Dunstable the Franciscans of Bedford the Carmelites of Hecking and the Franciscans de Mare The other is by the Prioress and Convent of the Dominican Nuns at Deptford In these besides the renewing their allegiance to the King they swear the Lawfulness of his Marriage with Queen Anne and that they shall be true to the Issue begotten in it that they shall always acknowledge the King Head of the Church of England and that the Bishop of Rome has no more Power than any other Bishop has in his own Diocess and that they should submit to all the Kings Laws notwithstanding the Popes censures to the contrary That in their Sermons they should not pervert the Scriptures but preach Christ and his Gospel sincerely according to the Scriptures and the Tradition of Orthodox and Catholick Doctors and in their Prayers that they should pray first for the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England then for the Queen and her issue and then for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the other ranks of the Clergy To this these Six Priors set their hands with the Seals of their Convents and in their Subscriptions declared that they did it freely and uncompelled and in the name of all the Brethren in the Convent But Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester refused to take the Oath as it was conceived Whose Fall being so remarkable I shall shew the steps of it There was a meeting of the Privy Council at Lambeth to which many were cited to appear and take the Oath Sr. Thomas More was first called and the Oath was tendred to him under the great Seal then he called for the Act of Succession
Preheminence of the See of Rome flowed only from the Laws of men so there was now good cause to repeal these for the Pope as was said in the Council of Basil was only Vicar of the Church and not of Christ so he was accountable to the Church The Council of Constance and the Divines of Paris had according to the Doctrine of the Ancient Church declared the Pope to be subject to a General Council which many Popes in former Ages had confessed And all that the Pope can claim even by the Canon-Law is only to call and preside in a General Council but not to overrule it or have a Negative vote in it The Power of Councils did not extend to Princes Dominions or Secular Matters but only to points of Faith which they were to declare and to Condemn Hereticks nor were their Decrees Laws till they were Enacted by Princes Upon this he enlarged much to show that though a Council did proceed against a King with which they then Threatned the King that their Sentence was of no force as being without their Sphere The determination of Councils ought to be well considered and examined by the Scriptures and in matters indifferent men ought to be left to their freedom he taxed the severity of Victors Proceedings against the Churches of the East about the day of Easter And concluded that as a Member of the Body is not cut off except a Gangrene comes in it so no part of the Church ought to be cut off but upon a great and inevitable cause And he very largely showed with what moderation and charity the Church should proceed even against those that held errors And the Standard of the Councils definitions should only be taken from the Scriptures and not from mens Traditions He said some General Councils had been rejected by others and it was a tender point how much ought to be deferred to a Council some Decrees of Councils were not at all obeyed The Divines of Paris held that a Council could not make a new Article of Faith that was not in the Scriptures And as all Gods Promises to the people of Israel had this condition implyed within them If they kept his Commandments so he thought the Promises to the Christian Church had this condition in them If they kept the Faith Therefore he had much doubting in himself as to General Councils and he thought that only the word of God was the Rule of Faith which ought to take place in all Controversies of Religion The Scriptures were called Canonical as being the only Rules of the Faith of Christians and these by appointment of the Ancient Councils were only to be read in the Churches The Fathers SS Ambrose Ierome and Austin did in many things differ from one another but always appealed to the Scriptures as the common and certain standard And he cited some remarkable passage out of St. Austin to show what difference he put between the Scriptures and all the other Writings even of the best and holiest Fathers But when all the Fathers agreed in the Exposition of any place of Scripture he acknowledged he looked on that as flowing from the Spirit of God and it was a most dangerous thing to be wise in our own Conceit Therefore he thought Councils ought to found their decisions on the word of God and those expositions of it that had been agreed on by the Doctors of the Church Then he discoursed very largely what a person a Judge ought to be he must not be Partial nor a Judge in his own Cause nor so much as sit on the Bench when it is tryed lest his presence should over-awe others Things also done upon a common error cannot bind when the error upon which they were done comes to be discovered and all human Laws ought to be changed when a publick visible inconvenience follows them From which he concluded that the Pope being a Party and having already passed his Sentence in things which ought to be examined by a General Council could not be a Judge nor sit in it Princes also who upon a common mistake thinking the Pope Head of the Church had sworn to him finding that this was done upon a false ground may pull their Neck out of his Yoke as every man may make his escape out of the hands of a Robber And the Court of Rome was so corrupt that a Pope though he mean't well as Hadrian did yet could never bring any good design to an issue the Cardinals and the rest of that Court being so engaged to maintain their Corruptions These were the Heads of that Discourse which it seems he gave them in writing after he had delivered it but he promised to entertain them with another Discourse of the Power the Bishops of the Christian Church have in their Sees and of the Power of a Christian Prince to make them do their duty but that I could never see and I am afraid it is lost All this I thought necessary to open to show the State of the Court and the Principles that the several Parties in it went upon when the Reformation was first brought under Consideration in the third Period of this Kings Reign to which I am now advanced The end of the Second Book EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI D. THOMAE CRANMERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIâ—NSIS HHolbein pinxit Natus 1489 Iuly 2. Consecratus 1533 Mar. 30. Martyrio Coronatus 1556 Mar. 21. 〈…〉 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th THe King having passed through the Traverses and tossings of his Sute of Divorce and having with the concurrence both of his Clergy and Parliament brought about what he had projected seem'd now at ease in his own Dominions But though matters were carryed in Publick Assemblies smoothly and successfully yet there were many secret discontents which being fomented both by the Pope and the Emperors Agents wrought him great trouble so that the rest of his life was full of vexation and disquiet All that were zealously addicted to that which they called the Old Religion did conclude that what-ever firmness the King expressed to it now was either pretended out of Policy for avoiding the Inconveniences which the fears of a Change might produce or though he really intended to perform what he professed yet the Interests in which he must embarque with the Princess of Germany against the Pope and the Emperor together with the Power that the Queen had over him and the credit Cranmer and Cromâ—ell had with him would prevail on him to change some things in Religion And they look'd on these things as so complicated together that the change of any one must needs make way for change in more since that struck at the Authority of the Church and left people at liberty to dispute the Articles of Faith This they thought was a Gate opened to Heresie
the fault was in her humor or in the Provocations she met with the Reader may conjecture The King received the news of her death with some regrett But he would not give leave to bury her as she had ordered but made her body be laid in the Abbey Church of Peterborough which he afterwards Converted to an Episcopal Cathedral But Queen Anne did not carry her death so decently for she express'd too much joy at it both in her Carriage and dress On the 4th of February the Parliament sate upon a Prorogation of 14th Months for in the Record there is no mention of any intermedial Prorogation where a great many Laws relating to Civil concerns were passed By the 15th Act the Power that had been given by a former Act to the King for naming thirty two Persons to make a Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws was again confirmed for nothing had been done upon the former Act. But there was no limitation of time in this Act and so there was nothing done in pursuance of it The great business of this Session of Parliament was the suppressing the lesser Monasteries How this went thorough the two Houses we cannot know from the Journals for they are lost But all the Historians of that time tell us that the report which the Visitors made to the King was read in Parliament which represented the manners of these Houses so odiously that the Act was easily carried The Preamble bears That small Religious Houses under the number of twelve Persons had been long and notoriously guilty of vicious and abominable Living and did much consume and waste their Churches Lands and other things belonging to them and that for above two hundred years there had been many Visitations for reforming these Abuses but with no success their vicious living encreasing daily So that except small Houses were dissolved and the Religious put into greater Monasteries there could no Reformation be expected in that matter Whereupon the King having received a full information of these Abuses both by his Visitors and other credible ways and considering that there were divers great Monasteries in which Religion was well kept and observed which had not the full number in them that they might and ought to receive had made a full Declaration of the Premisses in Parliament Whereupon it was Enacted That all Houses which might spend yearly 200 l. or within it should be suppressed and their Revenues converted to better uses and they compelled to reform their Lives The Lord Herbert thinks it strange that the Statute in the printed Book has no Preamble but begins bluntly Fuller tell us that he wonders that Lord did not see the Record and he sets down the Preamble and says The rest follow as in the printed Statute Chap. 27th by a mistake for the 28th This shews that neither the one nor the other ever look'd on the Record For there is a particular Statute of Dissolution distinct from the 28th Chap. And the Preamble which Fuller sets down belongs not to the 28th Chapter as he says but to the 18th Chapter which was never printed and the 28th relates in the Preamble to that other Statute which had given these Monasteries to the King The reasons that were pretended for dissolving these Houses were That whereas there was but a small number of persons in them they entred into Confederacies together and their Poverty set them on to use many ill arts to grow Rich. They were also much abroad and kept no manner of Discipline in their Houses But those Houses were generally much richer than they seemed to be For the Abbots raising great Fines out of them held the Leases still low and by that means they were not obliged to entertain a greater number in their House and so enriched themselves and their Brethren by the Fines that were raised For many Houses then rented at two hundred pounds were worth many thousands as will appear to any that compares what they were then valued at which is Collected by Speed with what their Estates are truely worth When this was passing in Parliament Stokeslâ—y Bishop of London said These lesser Houses were as Thorns soon pluck't up but the great Abbots were like putrified old Oaks yet they must needs follow and so would others do in Christendom before many years were passed By another Act all these Houses their Churches Lands and all their Goods were given to the King and his Heirs and Successors together with all other Houses which within a year before the making of the Act had been dissolved or suppressed And for the gathering the Revenues that belonged to them a new Court was Erected called the Court of the Augmentations of the Kings Revenue which was to consist of a Chancellor a Treasurer an Attourney and Sollicitor and ten Auditors seventeen Receivers a Clerk an Usher and a Messenger This Court was to bring in the Revenues of such Houses as were now dissolved excepting only such as the King by his Letters-Patents continued in their former state appointing a Seal for the Court with full Power and Authority to dispose of these Lands so as might be most for the Kings Service Thus â—ell the lesser Abbeys to the number of 376 and soon after this Parliament which had done the King such eminent Service and had now sate six years was dissolved on the 14th of April In the Convocation a motion was made of great consequence That there should be a Translation of the Bible in English to be set up in all the Churches of England The Clergy when they procured Tindalls Translation to be condemned and suppressed it gave out that they intended to make a Translation into the Vulgar-Tongue Yet it was afterwards upon a long Consultation Resolved that it was free for the Church to give the Bible in a Vulgar-Tongue or not as they pleased and that the King was not obliged to it and that at that time it was not at all expedient to do it Upon which those that promoted the Reformation made great complaints and said it was visible the Clergy knew there was an opposition between the Scriptures and their Doctrine That they had first condemned Wickliffs Translation and then Tindalls and though they ought to teach men the Word of God yet they did all they could to suppress it In the times of the Old Testament the Scriptures were writ in the Vulgar-Tongue and all were charged to read and remember the Law The Apostles wrote in Greek which was then the most common Language in the World Christ did also appeal to the Scriptures and sent the people to them And by what St. Paul says of Timothy it appears that children were then early trained up in that study In the Primitive Church as Nations were converted to the Faith the Bible was Translated into their Tongue The Latine Translation was very Ancient the Bible was afterwards put into the Scythian Dalmatian and Gothick Tongues It continued thus for
jests about Confession praying to Saints Holy Water and the other Ceremonies of the Church were complained of And the last Articles contained sharp reflexions on some of the Bishops as if they had been wanting in their Duty to suppress such things This was clearly levelled at Cranmer Latimer and Shaxton who were noted as the great Promoters of these opinions The first did it prudently and solidly The second zealously and simply And the third with much indiscreet pride and vanity But now that the Queen was gone who had either raised or supported them their Enemies hoped to have advantages against them and to lay the growth of these opinions to their charge But this whole Project failed and Cranmer had as much of the Kings favour as ever for in stead of that which they had projected Cromwell by the Kings order coming to the Convocation Declared to them that it was the Kings pleasure that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church should be Reformed by the Rules of Scripture and that nothing was to be maintained which did not rest on that Authority for it was absurd since that was acknowledged to contain the Laws of Religion that recourse should rather be had to Glosses or the Decrees of Popes than to these There was at that time one Alexander Alesse a Scotch-man much esteemed for his Learning and Piety whom Cranmer entertained at Lambeth Him Cromwell brought with him to the Convocation and desired him to deliver his opinion about the Sacraments He enlarged himself much to Convince them that only Baptism and the Lords Supper were Instituted by Christ. Stokesley Bishop of London answered him in a long Discourse in which he shewed he was better acquainted with the Learning of the Schools and the Canon-Law than with the Gospel He was Seconded by the Arch-Bishop of York and others of that Party But Cranmer in a long and learned Speech shewed how useless these niceties of the Schools were and of how little Authority they ought to be and discoursed largely of the Authority of the Scriptures of the use of the Sacraments of the uncertainty of Tradition and of the Corruption which the Monks and Friars had brought into the Christian Doctrine He was vigorously seconded by the Bishop of Hereford who told them the world would be no longer deceived with such Sophisticated stuff as the Clergy had formerly vented The Laity were now in all Nations studying the Scriptures and that not only in the vulgar Translations but in the original Tongues and therefore it was a vain imagination to think they would be any longer governed by those arts which in the former Ages of Ignorance had been so effectual Not many days after this there were several Articles brought in to the upper House of Convocation devised by the King himself about which there were great debates among them The two Arch-Bishops heading two Parties Cranmer was for a Reformation and with him joyned Thomas Goodrich Bishop of Ely Shaxton of Sarum Latimer of Worcester Fox of Hereford Hilsey of Rochester and Barlow of St. Davids But Lee Arch-Bishop of York was a known favourer of the Popes Interests which as it first appeared in his scrupling so much with the whole Convocation of York the acknowledging the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England so he had since discovered it on all occasions in which he durst do it without the fear of losing the Kings favour So he and Stokesley Bishop of London Tonstâ—ll of Duresm Gardiner of Winchester Longland of Lincoln Sherburn of Chichester Nix of Norwich and Kite of Carlisle had been still against all changes But the King discovered that those did in their hearts love the Papal Authority though Gardiner dissembled it most artificially Sherburn Bishop of Chichester upon what inducement I cannot understand resigned his Bishoprick which was given to Richard Sampson Dean of the Chappel a Pension of 400 l. being reserved to Sherburn for his Life which was confirmed by an Act of this Parliament Nix of Norwich had also offended the King signally by some correspondence with Rome and was kept long in the Marshalsea and was convicted and found in a Premunire The King considering his great Age had upon his humble submission discharged him out of Prison and pardon'd him But he died the former year though Fuller in his slight way makes him fit in this Convocation For by the 17th Act of the last Parliament it appears that the Bishoprick of Norwich being vacant the King had recommended William Abbot of St. Bennets to it but took into his own hands all the Lands and Manours of the Bishoprick and gave the Bishop several of the Priories in Norfolk in exchange which was confirmed in Parliament I shall next give a short abstract of the Articles about Religion which were after much consultation and long debating agreed to First All Bishops and Preachers must instruct the people to believe the whole Bible and the three Creeds that made by the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian and interpret all things according to them and in the very same words and condemn all Heresies contrary to them particularly those condemned by the first four general Councils Secondly Of Baptism the people must be instructed That it is a Sacrament instituted by Christ for the Remission of sins without which none could attain Everlasting Life And that not only those of full Age but Infants may and must be Baptized for the pardon of Original sin and obtaining the gift of the Holy Ghost by which they became the Sons of God That none Baptized ought to be Baptized again That the opinions of the Anabaptists and Pelagians were detestable Heresies And that those of ripe Age who desired Baptism must with it joyn Repentance and Contrition for their sins with a firm Belief of the Articles of the Faith Thirdly Concerning Penance they were to instruct the people that it was instituted by Christ and was absolutely necessary to Salvation That it consisted of Contrition Confession and Amendment of Life with exterior works of Charity which were the worthy Fruits of Pennance For Contrition it was an inward shame and sorrow for sin because it is an offence of God which provokes his displeasure To this must be joyned a Faith of the mercy and goodness of God whereby the penitent must hope that God will forgive him and repute him justified and of the number of his Elect Children not for the worthiness of any merit or work done by him but for the only Merits of the Blood and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ. That this Faith is got and confirmed by the Applicatition of the Promises of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments And for that end Confession to a Priest is necessary if it may be had whose Absolution was instituted by Christ to apply the promises of Gods Grace to the penitent Therefore the people were to be taught That the Absolution is spoken by an Authority
trusted to outward Ceremonies and their Curates for their own gain encouraged them in it It was observed that the opinion of Clergy-mens being exempted from the secular Judge was ill grounded that Bishops did ordain without due care and Tryal that the Dignified Clergy misapplyed their Revenues did not follow their first Institution and did not reside upon their Benefices And in fine he moves that the four Sacraments which had been left undetermined by the former Articles might be examined the outward signs and actions the promises made upon them and the efficacy that was in them being well considered The second Paper consists of two Resolutions made concerning Confirmation by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Stokesley Bishop of London by which I perceive the way of examining matters by giving out of questions to Bishops and Divines was sooner practised then when I first took notice of it page 286. there are several other Papers concerning Confirmation but these are only Subscribed and the rest do generally follow these two Prelates who were then the heads of two different parties The Arch-Bishop went on this ground that all things were to be tryed by the Scripture but Stokesley and almost the whole Clergy were for receiving the Tradition of the Church as not much inferiour to the Scriptures which he asserts in his Subscription The third Paper was offered to the King by Cranmer to perswade him to proceed to a further Reformation that things might be long and well considered before they were determined that nothing might be declared a part of Gods faith without good proofs from Scripture the departing from which rule had been the occasion of all the Errors that had been in the Church that now men would not be led as they had been but would examine matters that many things were now acknowledged to be truths such as the unlawfulness of the Popes Usurped Power for which many had formerly suffered death Whereupon he desires that some points might be Examined by Scrinture as whether there is a Purgatory whether departed Souls ought to be Invocated whether Tradition ought to be believed whether there be any satisfaction besides the satisfaction of Christ whether free will may dispose it self to grace and whether Images ought to be kissed or used to any other end but as representations of a piece of History In all these he desired the King would suspend his Judgment and in particular that he would not determine against the Lawfulness of the Marriage of the Clergy but would for some time silence both parties He also proposed that this point might by order from the King be examined in the Universities before indifferent Judges that all the Arguments against it might be given to the Defenders twelve days before the publick disputation and he offered that if those who should defend the Lawfulness of Priests Marriage were in the Opinion of indifferent Judges overcome they should willingly suffer death for it but if otherwise all they desired was that in that point the King might leave them in the liberty to which the Word of God left them Ad Page 249. line 18. I have seen a much fuller paper concerning Orders and Ecclesiastical functions which the Reader will find in the Collection signed by Cromwell the two Arch-Bishops and eleven Bishops and twenty Divines and Canonists Declaring that the Power of the Keys and other Church-functions is formally distinct from the Power of the Sword That this Power is not absolute but to be limited by the Rules that are in the Scripture and is ordained only for the edification and good of the Church that this Power ought to be still preserved since it was given by Christ as the mean of reconciling sinners to God Orders were also declared a Sacrament since they consisted of an outward action instituted by Christ and an inward grace conferred with them But that all Inferiour Orders Ianitors Lectors c. were brought into the Church to beautifie and adorn it and were taken from the Temple of the Iews And that in the New Testament there is no mention made but of Deacons or Ministers and Priests or Bishops nor is there belonging to Orders any other Ceremony mentioned in the Scripture but Prayer and Imposition of hands This was signed either in the year 1537 or 1538 since it is Subscribed both by Iohn Hilsey Bishop of Rochester and Edward Fox Bishop of Hereford for the one was consecrated in 1537 and the other dyed in May 1538. On this Paper I will add two remarks the one is that after this I do never find the Inferiour Degrees under a Deacon mentioned in this Church so it seems at this time they were laid aside They were first set up in the Church about the end of the second or the beginning of the third Century in the middle of which we find both Cornelius Bishop of Rome and St. Cyprian mentioning them as Orders that were then established and it seems they were designed as previous steps to the Sacred functions that none might be Ordained to these but such as had been long before separated from a secular state of Life and had given good proofs of themselves in these lower degrees But it turned in the Church of Rome to be only a matter of form and many took the first Tonsure that they might be exempted from the Secular Power and be qualified for Commendams and some other Worldly advantages to which these lower Orders were sufficient by those Rules which the Canonists had brought in Another thing is that both in this Writing and in the Necessary Erudition of a Christian man Bishops and Priests are spoken of as one and the same Office In the Antient Church they knew none of those Subtilties which were found out in the latter Ages It was then thought enough that a Bishop was to be dedicated to his function by a new Imposition of hands and that several Offices could not be performed without Bishops such as Ordination Confirmation c. but they did not refine in these matters so much as to enquire whether Bishops and Priests differed in Order and Office or only in degree But after the Schoolmen fell to examine matters of Divinity with Logical and Unintelligible niceties and the Canonists began to Comment upon the rules of the Ancient Church they studied to make Bishops and Priests seem very near one another so that the difference was but small They did it with different designs The Schoolmen having set up the grand Mystery of Transubstantiation were to exalt the Priestly Office as much as was possible for the turning the Host into God was so great an action that they reckoned there could be no Office higher than that which qualified a man to so mighty a Performance therefore as they changed the form of Ordination from what it was Anciently believed to consist in to a delivering of the Sacred Vessels and held that a Priest had his Orders by that rite and not by
Christi and Matrimonium be called in the Scripture Mysteria and therefore we may call them by the Scripture Sacramenta But one Sacramentum the Scripture maketh mention of which is hard to be revealed fully as would to God it were and that is Mysterium Iniquitatis or Mysterium Meretricis magnae Bestiae To the third In Scripture we find no precise number of Sacraments To the third I find not set forth the express number with express declaration of this many and no more nor yet of these expresly by Scripture which we use especially under the name of Sacraments saving only of Matrimony I think that in the Scripture be innumerable Sacraments for all Mysteries all Ceremonies all the Facts of Christ the whole Story of the Iews and the Revelations of the Apocalypse may be named Sacraments The certain number of Sacraments or Mysteries contained within Scripture cannot be well expressed or assigned for Scripture containeth more than infallibly may be rehearsed De istis septem quae usitate vocamus Sacramenta nullum invenio nomine Sacramenti appellari nisi Matrimonium Matrimonium esse Sacramentum probat Eckius Homi. 73. conferre gratiam ibid. There be divers Sacraments by the Scripture as in Tobie 12. Sacramentum Regis the King's Secret Also Nebuchadnezars Dream Dan. 2. is called Sacramentum Incarnatio Christi Sacramentum Ephes. 3. Matrimonium Sacramentum Taking for Sacraments any thing that this word Sacramentum doth signify there be in Scripture a great number of Sacraments more than Seven Non habetur determinatus Sacramentorum numerus in Scripturis sunt enim innumera fere illic quae passim vocantur Sacramenta cum omnis allegoria omneque Mysterium dicatur Sacramentum Quin et somnia ac secreta subinde Sacramenta vocantur Tobiae 2. Sacramentum Regis abscondere bonum est Dan. 2. Imploremus misericordias Dei Coeli super Sacramento isto somnio Paulus etiam Epist. 2. vocat Mysterium Incarnationis Christi Sacramentum Et in Apoc. 1. vocat Sacramentum septem Stellarum Ac hoc praecipue observandum venit nullum a septem Sacramentis receptis hoc nomine appellari praeter solum Matrimonium As many as there be Mysteries which be innumerable but by Scripture I think the Seven which be named Sacraments may principally bear the name Speaking of Sacraments generally they be innumerable spoken of in Scripture but properly to speak of Sacraments there be but Seven that may be so called of which Matrimony is expresly called Sacramentum Ephes. 5. and as I think in the germane and proper signification of a Sacrament so that the indivisible knot of the Man and his Wife in one Body by the Sacrament of Matrimony is the Matter of this Sacrament upon which as on the literal verity the Apostle foundeth this allegorical saying Ego autem dico in Christo in Ecclesia for the mystical sense presupposeth a verity in the Letter on which that is taken Six more there be to which the definition doth agree as manifestly doth appear by the Scriptures with the exposition of the Ancient Authors In the Scripture there is no certain number of Sacraments I â—ind no more of the seven called expresly Sacraments but only Matrimony but extending the name of Sacrament in his most general acception there are in Scripture a great number of Sacraments whereof the Apostle saith Si noverint Mysteria omnia c. To the third I say that I find not in Scripture any of these seven which we commonly call Sacraments called Sacramentum but only Matrimonium But I find divers and many other things called Sacraments in Scripture as in the 21 of Tobie Sacramentum Regis abscondere bonum est Item Apoc. 17. Dicamus tibi Sacramentum Item 1 Tim. 3. Magnum est pietatis Sacramentum c. I cannot tell how many Sacraments be by Scripture for they be above one hundred In â—ertio conveniunt satis non esse certum numerum Sacramentorum per Scripturas Redmaynus addit But by Scripture I think the seven which be named Sacraments may principally bear the name Idem sentit Edgworth septem tantum Matrimonium in Scripturis haberi sub nomine Sacramenti plerique dicunt In the third they do agree That there is no certain number of Sacraments by Scripture but even as many as there be Mysteries and none of these seven called Sacraments but only Matrimony in Scripture 4. Question How many Sacraments there be by the Ancient Authors Answers BY the Ancient Authors there be many Sacraments more than seven for all the Figures which signifie Christ to come or testifie that he is come be called Sacraments as all the Figures of the Old Law and in the New Law Eucharistia Baptismus Pascha Dies Dominicus lotio pedum signum Crucis Chrisma Matrimonium Ordo Sabbatum Impositio manuum Oleum Consecratio Olei Lac Mel Aqua Vinum Sal Ignis Cinis adapertio Aurium vestis candida and all the Parables of Christ with the Prophesies of the Apocalyps and such others be called by the Doctors Sacramenta To the fourth There is no precise number of Sacraments mentioned by the Ancient Authors taking the word Sacrament in his most general signification To the fourth I find that St. Austine speaketh de Baptismo de Eucharistia de Matrimonio de Ordinatione clericorum de Sacramento Chrismatis Vnctionis Also I find in the said St. Austine that in the Old Law there were many Sacraments and in the New Law few I think that in the Doctors be found many more Sacraments than seven viz. Panis Catechumenorum signum Crucis Oleum Lac Sal Mel c. That Scripture containeth by the same Holy Ghost which is Author thereof the Holy Doctors and Ancient Fathers expoundeth So that where in Scripture the number of Sacraments is uncertain it cannot be among them certain Apud Augustinum lego Sacramentum Nuptiarum Sacramentum Baptismi Sacramentum Eucharistiae quod altaris sive panis vocat Sacramentum Ordinationis Sacramentum Chrismatis quod datur per manus impositionem Baptizatis Sacramentum Unctionis I find in the Ancient Authors that Baptism is called Sacramentum Eucharistia Sacramentum Matrimonium Sacramentum Ordo Sacramentum Chrisma Sacramentum Impositio Manuum per Baptismum Sacramentum Dilectio Sacramentum Lotio pedum Sacramentum Oleum Mel Lac Sacramenta and many others There be a great sort of Sacraments found in the Doctors after the acception above-said more than seven Apud Scriptores Ecclesiasticos reperiuntur multo plura Sacramenta quam haec septem Taking this word Sacrament universally for Mysteries or all secret Tokens there be more Sacraments than can be reckoned but the seven by old Authors may specially obtain the name Lotio pedum is spoken of in old Authors as a special Sacrament
be called twelve Priori parti Quaestiones negative Respondent Herfordens Menevens Roffens Dayus Dunelmens Oglethorpus Thurleby Posteriori parti quod sit Doctrina conveniens respondent affirmative Eboracen Roffen Carliolen Londinen Dayus Edgworth Redmayn Symmons Curren Londinen Redmanus non respondent priori parti Quaestionis nec Oglethorpus Tresham Robinsonus Posteriori Eboracen Londin Symmons Curren volunt è Scripturis peti Doctrinam Septem Sacramentorum In the sixth touching the determinate number of the seven Sacraments the Bishop of Duresme Hereford St. David and Rochester the Elect of Westminster Dr. Day and Dr. Oglethorpe say This prescribed number of Sacraments is not found in the old Authors The Bishop of York Drs. Curren Tresham and Symmons say the contrary Concerning the second part Whether it be a Doctrine to be taught The Bishops of Hereford St. Davids and Dr. Cox Think it ought not to be so taught as such a determinate number by Scripture The Bishops of York London Carlile Drs. Day Curren Tresham Symmons Crayford Think it a Doctrine meet to be taught And some of them say That it is founded on Scripture 7. Question What is found in Scripture of the Matter Nature Effect and Vertue of such as we call the seven Sacraments so as altho the Name be not there yet whether the thing be in Scripture or no and in what wise spoken of Answers I Find not in the Scripture the Matter Nature and Effect of all these which we call the seven Sacraments but only of certain of them as of Baptism in which we be regenerated and pardoned of our sin by the Blood of Christ Of Eucharistia in which we be concorporated unto Christ and made lively Members of his Body nourished and fed to the Everlasting Life if we receive it as we ought to do and else it is to us rather Death than Life Of Pennance also I find in the Scripture whereby Sinners after Baptism returning wholly unto God be accepted again unto God's Favour and Mercy But the Scripture speaketh not of Pennance as we call it a Sacrament consisting in three parts Contrition Confession and Satisfaction but the Scripture taketh Pennance for a pure conversion of a sinner in heart and mind from his sins unto God making no mention of private Confession of all deadly sins to a Priest nor of Ecclesiastical satisfaction to be enjoined by him Of Matrimony also I find very much in Scripture and among other things that it is a mean whereby God doth use the infirmity of our Concupiscence to the setting forth of his Glory and encrease of the World thereby sanctifying the Act of Carnal Conjunction between the Man and the Wife to that use yea altho one party be an Inâ—idel and in this Matrimony is also a Promise of Salvation if the Parents bring up their Children in the Faith Love and Fear of God Of the Matter Nature and Effect of the other three that is to say Confirmation Order and extream Vnction I read nothing in the Scripture as they be taken for Sacraments To the seventh Of Baptism we find in Scripture the Justification by the Word of Christ we find also that the Matter of Baptism is Water the Effect and Vertue is Remission of Sins Of Confirmation we find that the Apostles did confirm those that were baptized by laying their hands upon them and that the Effect then was the coming of the Holy Ghost into them upon whom the Apostles laid their hands in a visible sign of the Gift of divers Languages and therewith of ghostly strength to confess Christ following upon the same Of the Sacrament of the Altar we find the Institution by Christ and the Matter thereof Bread and Wine the Effect Increase of Grace Of the Sacrament of Pennance we find the Institution in the Gospel the Effect Reconciliation of the sinner and the union of him to the Mystical Body of Christ. Of the Sacrament of Matrimony we find the Institution both in the Old and New Testament and the Effect thereof Remedy against Concupiscence and discharge of sin which otherwise should be in the Office of Generation Of the Sacrament of Order we find that our Saviour gave to his Apostles power to baptize to bind and to loose sinners to remit sins and to receive them to teach and preach his Word and to consecrate his most precious Body and Blood which be the highest offices of Order and the effect thereof Grace we find in Scripture Of extream Vnction we find in the Epistle of the Holy Apostle St. Iames and of the Effects of the same To the seventh I find that St. Austin is of this sentence That where the Sacraments of the Old Law did promise Grace and Comfort the Sacraments of the New Law do give it indeed And moreover he saith That that the Sacraments of the New Law are factu faciliora pauciora salubriora foeliciora more easier more fewer more wholsomer and more happy The Scripture teacheth of Baptism the Sacrament of the Altar Matrimony and Pennance manifestly There be also in the Scripture manifest examples of Confirmation viz. That it was done after Baptism by the Apostles per manuum Impositionem The Scripture teacheth also of Order that it was done per manuum Impositionem cum oratione jejunio Of the Unction of sick Men the Epistle of St. Iames teacheth manifestly I think verily That of the Substance Effect and Vertue of these seven usual Sacraments that are to be taken and esteemed above others we have plainly and expresly by Holy Scripture Of Baptism That whosoever believeth in Christ and is Christned shall be saved and except that one be born again of Water and the Holy Ghost he cannot come within the Kingdom of God Of Matrimony we have in Scripture both by name and in effect in the Old and New Testament both by Christ and his Apostle Paul Of the Sacrament of the Altar I find plainly expresly both in the Holy Gospels and other places of Scripture Of Pennance in like manner Of Confirmation we have in Scripture that when the Samaritans by the preaching of Philip had received the Word of God and were Christened the Apostles hearing of the same sent Peter and Iohn unto them who when they came thither they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost then they laid their hands upon them and so they received the Holy Ghost This saith Bede is the Office and Duty only of Bishops And this manner and form saith St. Hierom as it is written in the Acts the Church hath kept That the Bishop should go abroad to call for the Grace of the Holy Ghost and lay his hands upon them who had been Christened by Priests and Deacons Of the Sacrament of Orders we have That Christ made his Apostles the Teachers of his Law and Ministers of his Sacraments that they should duly do it and make and ordain others likewise to do it
God had taken them Fasting Praying and laying their hands upon them the which Saul Ananias the Disciple had baptized laying his hand upon him that he might be replenished with the Holy Ghost And Paul so made ordained Timothy and Tite willing them to do likewise as he had done and appointed to be done from City to City Iames was ordained the Bishop of Ierusalem by Peter Iohn and Iames. So that Example otherwise we read not Incertus sum utri fuere priores at si Apostoli in prima profectione Ordinaâ—i erant apparet Episcopos fuisse priores nempe Apostolos nam postea designavit Christus alios septuaginta duos Nec opinor absurdum esse ut Sacerdos Episcopum Consecret si Episcopus haberi non potest Although by Scripture as St. Hierome saith Priests and Bishops be one and therefore the one not before the other Yet Bishops as they be now were after Priests and therefore made of Priests The Apostles were both Bishops and Priests and they made Bishops and Bishops as Titus and Timotheus made Priests Episcopatum ejus accipiat alter Act. 1. Presbyteros qui in vobis sunt obsecro ego Compresbyter 1 Pet. 5. And in the beginning of the Church as well that word Episcopus as Presbyter was common and attributed both to Bishops and Priests Utrique primi a Deo facti Apostoli Episcopi Septuaginta discipuli ut conjectura ducor Sacerdotes Unde verisimile est Episcopos praecessisse Apostoli enim prius vocati erant They be of like beginning and at the beginning were both one as St. Hierome and other old Authors shew by the Scripture wherefore one made another indifferently Christ our chief Priest and Bishop made his Apostles Priests and Bishops all at once and they did likewise make others some Priests and some Bishops and that the Priests in the Primitive Church made Bishops I think no inconvenience as Ierome saith in an Epist. ad Euagrium Even like as Souldiers should choose one among themselves to be their Captain So did Priests choose one of themselves to be their Bishop for consideration of his learning gravity and good living c. and also for to avoid Schisms among themselves by them that some might not draw the People one way and others another way if they lacked one Head among them Christ was and is the great High Bishop and made all his Apostles Bishops and they made Bishops and Priests after him and so hath it ever-more continued hitherto I say Christ made the Apostles first Priests and then Bishops and they by this Authority made both Priests and Bishops but where there had been a Christian Prince they would have desired his Authority to the same To the Tenth The Apostles were made of Christ Bishops and Priests both at the first and after them Septuaginta duo Discipuli were made Priests Menevens Therleby Redmanus Coxus asserunt in initio eosdem fuisse Episcopos Presbyteros Londinens Carliolens Symons putant Apostolos fuisse institutos Episcopos a Christo eos postea instituisse alios Episcopos Presbyteros 72 Presbyteros postea fuisse Ordinatos Sic Oglethorpus Eboracens Tresham aiunt Apostolos primo fuisse Presbyteros deinde Episcopos cum aliorum Presbyterorum credita esset illis cura Robertsonus incertus est utri fuere priores non absurdum tamen esse opinatur ut Sacerdos consecret Episcopum si Episcopus haberi non potest Sic Londinens Edgworth Dayus putant etiam Episcopos ut vulgo de Episcopis loquimur fuisse ante Presbyteros Leightonus nihil Respondet In the tenth Where it is asked Whether Bishops or Priests were first The Bishop of St. David my Lord Elect of Westminster Dr. Cox Dr. Redmayn say That at the beginning they were all one The Bishops of York London Rochester Carlisle Drs. Day Tresham Symmons Oglethorp be in other contrary Opinions The Bishop of York and Doctor Tresham think That the Apostles first were Priests and after were made Bishops when the overseeing of other Priests was committed to them My Lords of Duresme London Carlisle Rochester Dr. Symmons and Crayford think That the Apostles first were Bishops and they after made other Bishops and Priests Dr. Coren and Oglethorp say That the Apostles were made Bishops and the 72 were after made Priests Dr. Day thinks That Bishops as they be now-a-days called were before Priests My Lord of London Drs. Edgworth and Robertson think it no inconvenience if a Priest made a Bishop in that time 11. Question Whether a Bishop hath Authority to make a Priest by the Scripture or no And whether any other but only a Bishop may make a Priest Answers A Bishop may make a Priest by the Scripture and so may Princes and Governours also and that by the authority of God committed to them and the People also by their Election for as we read that Bishops have done it so Christian Emperors and Princes usually have done it and the People before Christian Princes were commonly did Elect their Bishops and Priests To the eleventh That a Bishop may make a Priest may be deduced of Scripture for so much as they have all Authority necessary for the ordering of Christ's Church derived from the Apostles who made Bishops and Priests and not without Authority as we have said before to the ninth Question and that any other than Bishops or Priests may make a Priest we neither find in Scripture nor out of Scripture To the eleventh I think That a Bishop duly appointed hath authority by Scripture to make a Bishop and also a Priest because Christ being a Bishop did so make himself and because alive his Apostles did the like The Scripture sheweth by example that a Bishop hath authority to make a Priest albeit no Bishop being subject to a Christian Prince may either give Orders or Excommunicate or use any manner of Jurisdiction or any part of his Authority without Commission from the King who is Supream Head of that Church whereof he is a Member but that any other Man may do it besides a Bishop I find no example either in Scripture or in Doctors By what is said before it appeareth that a Bishop by Scripture may make Deacons and Priests and that we have none example otherwise Opinor Episcopum habere Authoritatem creandi Sacerdotem modo id Magistratus publici permissu fiat An vero ab alio quam Episcopo id rite fieri possit haud scio quamvis ab alio factum non memini me legisse Ordin conferr gratiam vid. Eck. homil 60. Bishops have authority as is afore-said of the Apostles in the tenth Question to make Priests except in cases of great necessity Bishops have authority by Scripture to ordain Bishops and Priests Joh. 20. Hujus rei gratia reliqui te Cretae ut constituas oppidatim Presbyteros
the Doctors and therefore I cannot answer unto them by Learning but think this to be a good Answer for all such Questions viz. Necessitas non habet Legem It is to be thought that Christ may call as it pleaseth him inwardly outwardly or by both together So that if no Priest might be had it cannot be thought but that a Christian Prince with others learned inwardly moved and called might most charitably and godlily prosecute that same their Calling in the most acceptable Work which is to bring People from the Devil to God from Infidelity to true Faith by whatsoever means God shall inspire In hoc casu existimarem accersendos verbi Sacramentorum Ministros si qui forent vicini quin si nulli invenirentur Principem illum Christianum haberemus pro Apostolo tanquam missum a Deo licet externo Sacramento non esset commendatus quum Deus Sacramentis suis non sit alligatus To the thirteenth and fourteenth following It is not against God's Law that the Prince and his learned temporal Men may Preach and Teach and in these cases of extream Necessity make and institute Ministers In this case as I think the Prince and other temporal learned Men with him may by God's Law Teach and Preach the Word of God and Baptize and also the same Necessity standing elect and appoint Men to those Offices In summa necessitate Baptizare praedicare possunt debent haec etenim duo necessaria sunt media ad salutem at ordinare ut conjectura ducor non debent sed aliunde Sacrificos accersire quos si habere nequeant Deus ipse cujus negotium agitur vel oraculo admonebit quid faciendum erit vel necessitas ipsa quae sibiipsi est Lex modum Ordinandi suggeret ac suppeditabit I think they might in such case of Necessity for in this case the Laymen made the whole Church there and the authority of preaching and ministring the Sacraments is given immediately to the Church and the Church may appoint Ministers as is thought convenient There be two Stories good to be considered for this Question which be written in the 10 th Book of the History Ecclesiastick the one of Frumentius who preached in India and was after made Priest and Bishop by Athanasius And the other Story is of the King of the Iberians of whom Rufâ—ine the writer of the Story saith thus Et nondum initiatus Sacris fit suae gentis Apostolus Yet nevertheless it is written there That an Ambassad was sent to Constantine the Emperor that he would send them Priests for the further establishment of the Faith there The Prince and his temporal learned Men might and ought in that necessity to instruct the People in the Faith of Christ and to baptize them ut idem rex sit suae gentis Apostolus and these be sufficient for the Salvation of his Subjects But as concerning other Sacraments he ought to abide and look for a special Commission from Almighty God as Moses had or else to send unto other Regions where Priests or Bishops may be had and else not to meddle Examples in Eccles. Hist. lib. 10. cap. 1. de Frumentio cap. 2. de Ancilla captiva quae convertit gentem Hiberorum cujus captivae monitis ad Imperatorem Constantinum totius gentis legatio mittitur res gesta exponitur Sacerdotes mittere exorantur qui coeptum erga se Dei munus implerent c. I think that in such a necessity a learned Christian Prince and also temporal Men learned be bound to preach and minister either Sacraments so that the same Ministers be orderly assigned by the High Power and the Congregation I say to the first part That such a King and his temporal learned Men not only might but were also bound to preach God's Word in this case And as to the second part I say That if there could no Bishop be had to Institute the Prince might in that of necessity do it To the thirteenth I suppose the Affirmative thereof to be true Quamvis potestas clavium residet praecipue in Ecclesia In such a case I do believe that God would illuminate the Prince so that either he himself should be made a Bishop by internal working of God as Paul was or some of his Subjects or else God would send him Bishops from other parts And as for preaching of the Word of God the Prince might do it himself and other of his learned Subjects altho they were no Priests In prima parte Quaestionis Conveniunt omnes etiam laicos tali rerum statu non solum posse sed debere docere Menevens Thirlebeus Leightonus Coxus Symmons Tresham Redmanus Robertsonus etiam potestatem Ministrandi Sacramenta Ordinandi Ministros concedunt illis Eboracens hanc prorsus potestatem denegat Coren credit Principem Divinitus illuminandum consecrandum fore in Episcopum interne aut aliquem ex suis Pauli exemplo Simile habet Herefordensis Carliolensis Dayus nihil respondet de Ordinandis Presbyteris in hac necessitate In the thirteenth Concerning the first part Whether Laymen may Preach and Teach God's Word They do all agree in such a case That not only they may but they ought to teach But in the second part touching the Constituting of Priests of Laymen my Lord of York and Doctor Edgworth doth not agree with the other they say That Laymen in no wise can make Priests or have such Authority The Bishops of Duresme St. Davids Westminster Drs. Tresham Cox Leighton Crayford Symmons Redmayn Robertson say That Laymen in such case have authority to minister the Sacraments and to make Priests My Lords of London Carlisle and Hereford and Dr. Coren think That God in such a case would give the Prince authority call him inwardly and illuminate him or some of his as he did St. Paul 14. Question Whether it be forefended by God's Law that if it so fortune that all the Bishops and Priests of a Region were dead and that the Word of God should remain there unpreached and the Sacrament of Baptism and others unministred that the King of that Region should make Bishops and Priests to supply the same or no Answers IT is not forbidden by God's Law To the fourteenth In this case as we have said in the next Article afore Teaching of the Word of God may be used by any that can and would use it to the Glory of God and in this case also the Sacrament of Baptism may be ministred by those that be no Priests which things altho we have not of Scripture yet the universal Tradition and practice of the Church doth teach us And peradventure contract of Matrimony might also be made the Solemnization thereof being only ordained by Law positive and not by any ground either of Scripture or of Tradition altho for very urgent causes the said Solemnization is
the Law of Nature to take the surer way or else he should seem to contemn his own Health which is unnatural Also because we be bound to love God above all things we ought by the same Bond to labour for his Grace and Favour So that because we be bound to love God and to love our selves in an Order to God we be bound to seek the best and surest Remedy to recover Grace for our selves Contrition is one way but because a Man cannot be well assured whether his Contrition Attrition or Displeasure for his sin be sufficient to satisfie or content Almighty God and able or worthy to get his Grace Therefore it is necessary to take that way that will not fail and by which thou mayest be sure and that is Absolution of the Priest which by Christ's promise will not deceive thee so that thou put no step or bar in the way as if thou do not then actually sin inwardly nor outwardly but intend to receive that the Church intendeth to give thee by that Absolution having the efficacity of Christ's promise Quorum Remiseritis c. Now the Priest can give thee no Absolution from that sin that he knoweth not therefore thou art bound for the causes aforesaid to confess thy sin This Scripture as Ancient Doctors expound it bindeth all Men to confess their secret deadly sins I say That such Confession is a thing most consonant to the Law of God and it is a wise point and a wholsome thing so for to do and God provoketh and allureth us thereto in giving the active Power to Priests to assoil in the words Quorum Remiseritis It is also a safer way for Salvation to confess if we may have a Priest Yet I think that confession is not necessarily deduced of Scripture nor commanded as a necessary precept of Scripture and yet is it much consonant to the Law of God as a thing willed not commanded To the fifteenth I think that only such as have not the knowledg of the Scripture whereby they may quiet their Consciences be bound to confess their secret deadly sins unto a Priest Howbeit no Man ought to contemn such Auricular Confession for I suppose it to be a Tradition Apostolical necessary for the unlearned Multitude A Man whose Conscience is grieved with mortal secret sins is bound by these words Quorum Remiseritis c. to confess his sin to a Priest if he may have him conveniently Eboracens Londinens Dayus Oglethorpus Coren Redmayn asserunt obligari Coxus Tresham Robertsonus dicunt non obligari si aliter Conscientiae illorum satisfieri queat Menevens nullo modo obligari Carliolens Symmons aiunt secundum veterum interpretationem hac Scriptura quemvis obligari peccatorem Roffens Herefordens Thirliby non respondent sed dubitant Leightonus solum indoctos obligari ad Confessionem Edgeworth tradit duplicem modum remissionis peccatorum per Contritionem sive Attritionem per Absolutionem quia nemo potest certus esse num attritio dolor pro peccato sufficiat ad satisfaciendum Deo obtinendam gratiam ideo tutissimam viam deligendam scilicet Absolutionem a Sacerdote quae per promissionem Christi est certa Absolvere non potest nisi cognoscat peccata Ergo peccata per Confessionem sunt illi revelanda In the eleventh Concerning Confession of our secret deadly sins The Bishops of York Duresme London Drs. Day Curren Oglethorp Redmayn Crayford say That Men be bound to confess them of their secret Sins Drs. Cox Tresham Robertson say They be not bound if they may quiet their Consciences otherwise The Bishop of St. Davids also saith That this Text bindeth no Man Dr. Leighton saith That it bindeth only such as have not the knowledg of Scripture The Bishop of Carlisle and Symmons say That by ancient Doctors exposition Men be bound by this Text to confess their deadly sins 16. Question Whether a Bishop or a Priest may excommunicate and for what Crimes And whether they only may Excommunicate by God's Law Answers A Bishop or a Priest by the Scripture is neither commanded nor forbidden to Excommunicate but where the Laws of any Region giveth him authority to Excommunicate there they ought to use the same in such Crimes as the Laws have such authority in and where the Laws of the Region forbiddeth them there they have no authority at all and they that be no Priests may also Excommunicate if the Law allow thereunto To the sixteenth The power to Excommunicate that is to dissever the Sinner from the communion of all Christian People and so put them out of the Unity of the Mystical Body for the time donec resipisâ—at is only given to the Apostles and their Successors in the Gospel but for what Crimes altho in the Gospel doth not appear saving only for disobedience against the Commandment of the Church yet we find example of Excommunication used by the Apostles in other cases As of the Fornicator by Paul of Hymeneus and Alexander for their Blaspemy by the same and yet of other Crimes mentioned in the Epistle of the said Paul writing to the Corinthians And again of them that were disobedient to his Doctrine 2 Thess. 3. We find also charge given to us by the Apostle St. Iohn that we shall not commune with them nor so much as salute him with Ave that would not receive his Doctrine By which it may appear that Excommunication may be used for many great Crimes and yet the Church at this day doth not use it but only for manifest disobedience And this kind of Excommunication whereby Man is put out of the Church and dissevered from the Unity of Christ's Mystical Body which Excommunication toucheth also the Soul no Man may use but they only to whom it is given by Christ. To the sixteenth I think that a Bishop may Excommunicate taking example of St. Paul with the Corinthian and also of that he did to Alexander and Hymeneus And with the Lawyers it hath been a thing out of Question That to Excommunicate solemnly appertaineth to a Bishop altho otherwise both inferior Prelates and other Officers yea and Priests too in notorious Crimes after divers Mens Opinions may Excommunicate semblably as all others that be appointed Governors and Rulers over any Multitude or Spiritual Congregation I answer affirmatively to the first part in open and manifest Crimes meaning of such Priests and Bishops as be by the Church authorized to use that power To the second part I answer That it is an hard Question wherein I had rather hear other Men speak than say my own Sentence for I find not in Scripture nor in the old Doctors that any Man hath given Sentence of Excommunication save only Priests but yet I think that it is not against the Law of God that a Lay-man should have authority to do it Divers Texts of Scripture seemeth by the Interpretation
Scripturis quanquam nunc addantur alii ritus honestatis gratiâ ut in aliis Sacramentis de quibus in Scripturis nulla mentio Owinus Oglethorpus Unction with Oil adjoined with Prayer and having promise of Remission of Sins is spoken of in St. Iames and ancient Authors as for the use which now is if any thing be amiss it would be amended I. Redmayn It is spoken of in Mark 6. and Iames 5. Augustine and other ancient Authors speaketh of the same Edgeworth The Unction of the Sick with Oil to remit Sins is in Scripture and also in ancient Authors Symon Matthew Unction with Oil is grounded in the Scripture and expresly spoken of but with this Additament as it is now used it is not specified in Scripture for the Ceremonies now used in Unction I think meer Traditions of Man William Tresham To the seventeenth I say That Unction of the Sick with Oil and Prayer to remit Sins is manifestly spoken of in St. Iames Epistle and ancient Authors but not with all the Rites and Ceremonies as be now commonly used T. Cantuarien Per me Edwardum Leyghton Unction with Oil to remit Sins is spoken of in Scripture Richard Coren Menevens Coxus negant Unctionem Olei ut jam est recepta ad remittenda peccata contineri in Scripturis Eboracens Carliolens Edgworth Coren Redmayn Symmons Leightonus Oglethorp aiunt haberi in Scripturis Roffens Thirleby Robertsonus praeterquam illud Jacobi 5. Marci 6. nihil proferunt Herefordensis ambigit Tresham vult Unctionem Olei tradi nobis é Scripturis sed Unctionis Caeremonias traditiones esse humanas In the last The Bishop of St. Davids and Dr. Cox say That Vnction of the Sick with Oil consecrate as it is now used to remit Sin is not spoken of in Scripture My Lords of York Duresme Carlile Drs. Coren Edgworth Redman Symmons Leyghton and Oglethorp say That it is found in Scripture XXII Dr. Barnes's Renunciation of some Articles informed against him BE it known to all Men that I Robert Barnes Doctor of Divinity have as well in Writing as in Preaching over-shot my self and been deceived by trusting too much to mine own heady Sentence and giving judgment in and touching the Articles hereafter ensuing whereas being convented and called before the Person of my most gracious Soveraign Lord King Henry the Eighth of England and of France Defensor of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in Earth Supream Head immediately under God of the Church of England It pleased his Highness of his great clemency and goodness being assisted with sundry of his most discreet and learned Clergy to enter such Disputation and Argument with me upon the Points of my over-sight as by the same was fully and perfectly confuted by Scriptures and enforced only for Truths sake and for want of defence of Scriptures to serve for the maintenance of my part to yeeld confess and knowledg my ignorance and with my most humble submission do promise for ever from henceforth to abstain and beware of such rashness And for my further declaration therein not only to abide such order for my doings passed as his Grace shall appoint and assign unto me but also with my heart to advance and set forth the said Articles ensuing which I knowledg and confess to be most Catholick and Christian and necessary to be received observed and followed of all good Christian People Tho it so be that Christ by the Will of his Father is he only which hath suffered Passion and Death for redemption of all such as will and shall come unto him by perfect Faith and Baptism and that also he hath taken upon him gratis the burden of all their sins which as afore will hath or shall come to him paying sufficient Ransom for all their sins and so is becomed their only Redeemer and Justifier of the which number I trust and doubt not but that many of us now-adays be of yet I in heart do confess that after by the foresaid means we become right Christian Folks yet then by not following our Master's Commandments and Laws we do loose the benefits and fruition of the same which in this case is irrecuperable but by true Penance the only Remedy left unto us by our Saviour for the same wherefore I think it more than convenient and necessary that whensoever Justification shall be preached of that this deed be joined with all the fore-part to the intent that it may teach all true Christian People a right knowledg of their Justification By me Robert Barnes Also I confess with my heart That Almighty God is in no wise Author causer of Sin or any Evil and therefore whereas Scripture saith Induravit Dominus Cor Pharaonis c. and such other Texts of like sense they ought to understand them quod Dominus permisit eum indurari and not otherwise which doth accord with many of the ancient Interpreters also By me Robert Barnes Further I do confess with my heart That whensoever I have offended my Neighbours I must first reconcile my self unto him e're I shall get remission of my sins and in case he offend me I must forgive him e're that I can be forgiven for this doth the Pater Noster and other places of Scripture teach me By me Robert Barnes I do also confess with my heart That good Works limited by Scripture and done by a penitent and true reconciled Christian Man be profitable and allowable unto him as allowed of God for his benefit and helping to his Salvation By me Robert Barnes Also do confess with my heart That Laws and Ordinances made by Christian Rulers ought to be obeyed by the Inferiors and Subjects not only for fear but also for Conscience for whoso breaketh them breaketh God's Commandments By me Robert Barnes All and singular the which Articles before written I the foresaid Robert Barnes do approve and confess to be most true and Catholick and promise with my heart by God's Grace hereafter to maintain preach and set forth the same to the People to the uttermost of my power wit and cunning By me Robert Barnes By me William Ierome By me Thomas Gerarde XXIII The Foundation of the Bishoprick of Westminster REx omnibus ad quos c. salutem Cum nuper caenobium quoddam sive Monasterium quod dum extitit Monasterium Sancti Petri Westmon vulgariter vocabatur omnia singula ejus Maneria Dominia Mesuagia Terrae Tenementa Haereditamenta Dotationes Possessiones certis de causis specialibus urgentibus per Willielmum ipsius nuper Caenobii sive Monasterii Abbatem ejusdem loci Conventum nobis haeredibus nostris in perpetuum jamdudum data fuerunt concessa prout per ipsorum nuper Abbatis Conventus cartam sigillo suo communi sive conventuali sigillatam in Cancellar nostram irrotulat manifeste liquet quorum praetextu nos de ejusdem nuper Caenobii sive
or ought to do in this case Item For what causes and to what ends and purposes such Offices and promotions of the Clergy were first instituted Item If Curates having Benefices with cure for their more bodily ease refuge to dwell upon any of their said Cures and remain in idleness continually in Cathedral or Collegial Churches upon their Prebends whether it be in this case expedient that the Kings Highness or his Parliament take any Order for the redress of the same Item Of the Sacraments of Confirmation Order Matrimony and extream Unction what the external signs and inward graces be in every of the said Sacraments what promises be made to the receivors of them by God and of what efficacy they be of and energy of themselves III. Some Queries concerning Confirmation with the answers which were given to them by Cranmer and Stokesley Bishop of London AN ORIGINAL WHether Confirmation be Instituted by Christ Respon There is no place in Scripture that declareth this Sacrament to be instituted of Christ. First For the places alledged for the same be no Institutions but Acts and deeds of the Apostles Secondly These Acts were done by a special gift given to the Apostles for the confirmation of Gods Word at that time Thirdly The said special gift doth not now remain with the Successors of the Apostles What is the External Sign The Church useth Chrisma for the exterior sign but the Scriptur maketh no mention thereof What is the Efficacy of this Sacramint The Bishop in the name of the Church doth invocate the Holy Ghost to give strength and constancy with other spiritual gifts unto the person confirmed so that the efficacy of this Sacrament is of such value as is the Prayer of the Bishop made in the name of the Church Haec respondeo salvo semper eruditiorum Ecclesiae ortho doxae judicio Stokesley's Paper The first Question Whether the Sacrament of Confirmation be a Sacrament of the New Testament institute by Christ To this I answer That it is The second Question What is the outward sign and the invisible graces which be conferaed in the same To this I Answer That the Words Signo te Signo Sanctae crucis confirmo te c. With the consignation with the Creame imposition of hands of the Prelates be the Signs and the increase of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and especially of fortitude to speak shew and defend the Faith and to suffer for the same in case need be The third Question What promises be made of the said graces I Answer That the facts and deeds that be expressed in the Books of the Apostles with the effects ensuing by the imposition of their hands upon them that before had received Remission of their sins joyned with the promises of Christ made to his Church and the continual belief of the university of the same Catholick Church from the time of the Apostles hitherto without contradiction of any man ignorants and suspects of Heresie only excepted maketh us and in my opinion without prejudice of other mens opinions ought to suffice to make all men that hath promised to believe the Catholick Church assuredly to think that God hath made the promises of the said grace Ego Joannes London sic respondeo fretus autoritate Testimonio antiquissimorum eorumque Doctissimorum pariter ac Sanctissimorum virorum praecipue Sanctae matris nostrae Ecclesiae Catholicae cui etiam in non expressis in sacra Scriptura non multo minus quam scriptis fides adhibenda est nisi tam de baptismo parvulorum quam de perpetua Deiparae virginis integritate id genus compluribus quibus sine salutis periculo nemo discrepat licebit salva fide contradicere IV. Some Considerations offered to the King by Cranmer to Induce him to proceed to a further Reformation PLeaseth it your Highness graciously to consider deeply to ponder and weigh by your high wisdom these Considerations following First How no great thing is to be determined principally matters of Christs Religion without long great and mature deliberation Secondly How evil it hath succeeded when in Provincial yea or yet in General Councils men have gone about to set forth any thing as in the force of Gods Law without the manifest Word of God or else without apparent reasons infallibly deduced out of the Word of God Thirdly How all Christened Regions are now full of Learned men in the Scripture which can well espie out and judge how things that be or shall be set forth are agreeable with Scripture or not Fourthly Of what Audacity men be of now adays which will not spare to write against high Princes as well as against private persons without any respect to their high Estates only weighing the equity or the iniquity of the cause Fifthly How not only men of the New Learning as they be called but also the very Papistical Authors do allow that by the Word of God Priests be not forbidden to Marry although they were not ignorant that many expounders of Scripture were of the contrary judgment Sixthly How that it is not possible that all Learned men should be of one mind sentence and opinion as long as the cockle is mingled with the wheat the Godly with the ungodly which certainly shall be as long as the World endureth Seventhly How variety of Opinions have been occasion of the opening of many verities heretofore taken for Heresie yea and yet so esteemed and taken of many in other Regions as namely the usurped Authority of the Bishop of Rome hath by that occasion come into Light with the effusion of the blood not of a few such as were the first stirrers up thereof Lastly There be also other opinions not spoken of which have made and yet will make as much variance in your Graces Realm as any of them treated of namely Whether the Holy Scripture teacheth any Purgatory to us after this Life or not whether the same Scripture teacheth the Invocation of dead Saints Whether there be any unwritten verities necessary to be believed not written in Scripture nor deducted by infallible Arguments out of the open places of Scripture Whether there be any satisfactions beside the satisfaction of Christ Whether free will by its own strength may dispose it self to grace of a conveniency as it is said de congruo Whether it be against Scripture to kiss the Image of Christ in the Honour of him And generally whether Images may be used any other way than your Grace setteth forth in your Injunctions Wherefore in consideration of the premisses it may please your Highness to suspend your judgment for a time and not to determine the Marriage of Priests to be against Scripture but rather to put both parts to silence commanding them neither to preach dispute nor openly to talk thereof under pain of c. And in case these premisses do not move your Highness to stay that then it may please the same to
grant that the Article of Priests Marriage may be openly disputed in both Universities under indifferent Judges before it be determined All the Arguments of the contrary party first to be delivered in writing to the defenders twelve days before the disputation to the intent they may the more maturely and deliberately make answer to the same and they that shall enter as defenders into this disputation to do it under this condition that if their Judges decern them to be overcome they be right well contented to suffer death therefore And if their adversaries cannot prove their purpose their desire is no more but that it may please your Highness to leave your most humble Subjects to the liberty that Gods Word permitteth them in that behalf and your said humble Subjects shall pray unto Almighty God for the preservation of your most Royal Estate long to continue to Gods Glory and Honour V. A Declaration made of the Functions and Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests AN ORIGINAL AS touching the Sacrament of Holy Orders we will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed by us unto their spiritual charge First How that Christ and his Apostles did institute and Ordain in the New Testament that beside the Civil Powers and governance of Kings and Princes which is called in Scripture potestas gladij the Power of the Sword there should be also continually in the Church Militant certain other Ministers or Officers which should have Spiritual Power Authority and commission under Christ to Preach and teach the Word of God unto his people and to dispence and administer the Sacraments of God unto them and by the same to confer and give the grace of the Holy Ghost to consecrate the blessed body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar to loose and absoil from sin all persons which be duly penitent and sorry for the same to bind and excommunicate such as be guilty in manifest crimes and sins and will not amend their defaults to order and consecrate others in the same room Order and Office whereunto they be called and admitted themselves and finally to feed Christs people like good Pastors and Rectors as the Apostles calleth them with their wholsome doctrine and by their continual exhortations and monitions to reduce them from sin and iniquity so much as in them lyeth and to bring them unto the perfect knowledg the perfect love and dread of God and unto the perfect charity of their neighbours Item that this Office this Ministration this Power and Authority is no tyrannical Power having no certain Laws or Limits within the which it ought to be contained nor yet none absolute Power but it is a moderate Power subject determined and restrained unto those certain Limits and ends for the which the same was appointed by Gods Ordinance which as was said before is only to administer and distribute unto the members of Christs Mystical body spiritual and everlasting things that is to say the pure and heavenly doctrine of Christs Gospel and the graces conferred in his Sacraments And therefore this said Power and administration is called in some places of Scripture donum Gratia a gift and a grace in some places it is called Claves sive potestas clavium that is to say the keys or the Power of the keys whereby is signified a certain limited Office restrained unto the execution of a special Function or Ministration according to the saying of St. Paul in his first Chap. of his Epistle to the Romans and in the fourth Chap. of his first Epistle to Timothy and also in the fourth Chap. of his Epistle to the Ephes. Where he writes in this Sentence Quum ascendisset Christus in altum captivam duxit captivitatem dedit dona hominibus dedit autem alios qâ—idem Apostolos alios vero Prophetas alios vero Evangelistas alios autem pastores ac doctores ad instaurationem sanctorum in opus administrationis in aedificationem corporis Christi donec perveniamus omnes in unitatâ—m fidei agnitionis filii Dei in virum perfectum in mensuram aetatis plene adultae Christi That is to say when Christ ascended into Heaven he subdued and vanquished very captivity her self and led or made her thrall and captive and distributed and gave divers heavenly gifts and graces unto men here on earth and among all he made some the Apostles some Priests some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors to the intent they should execute the work and office of their administration to the instauration instruction and edifying of the members of Christs Mystical body And that they should also not cease from the Execution of their said Office until all the said members were not only reduced and brought unto unity of the Faith and the knowledg of the Son of God but also that they were come unto a perfect state and full age therein that is to say until they were so established and confirmed in the same that they could no more afterwards be wavering therein and be led or carryed like children into any contrary doctrine or opinion by the craft or subtile perswasion of the false Pastors and Teachers which go about by craft to bring them into erroneous opinions but that they should constantly follow the true Doctrine of Christs Gospel growing and encreasing continually by charity unto a perfect member of that body whereof Christ is the very head in whom if the whole body that is to say if every part and member be grown and come unto his perfect estate not all in like but only one according to the gift and quality which is deputed unto it and so to be compacted united and corporated together in the said body no doubt buâ— that whole body and every part thereof shall thereby be made â—he more perfect and the more strong by reason of that natural love and charity which one member so united in the body hath unto the other by which words it appeareth evidently not only that St Paul accounted and numbred this said Power and Office of the Pastors and Doctors among the proper and special gifts of the Holy Ghost but also it appeareth that the same was a limited power and Office ordained specially and only for the causes and purposes before rehearsed Item That this Power Office and Administration is necessary to be preserved here in Earth for three special and principal causes First for that it is the Commandment of God it should be so as it appeareth in sundry places of Scripture Secondly for that God hath instituted and ordained none other ordinary mean or instrument whereby he will make us partakers of the reconciliation which is by Christ and confer and give the graces of his holy Spirit unto us and make us the right inheritors of everlasting Life there to Reign with him for ever in glory but only his words and Sacraments and therefore the Office and Power to Minister the said Word and