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
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
that Commotion were severely handled It was by their means that the discontents were chiefly fomented they had taken all the Oaths that were enjoyned them and yet continued to be still practising against the State which as it was highly contrary to the peaceable Doctrines of the Christian Religion so it was in a special manner contrary to the Rules which they professed that obliged them to forsake the World and to follow a Religious and Spiritual course of Life The next Example of justice was a year after this of one Forrâ—st an Observant Frier he had been as Sanders says Confessor to Queen Katharine but it seems departed from her interests for he insinuated himself so into the King that he recovered his good Opinion Being an ignorant and lewd man he was accounted by the better sort of that House to which he belonged in Greenwich a Reproach to their Order concerning this I have seen a large account in an Original Letter written by a Brother of the same House Having regained the Kings good Opinion he put all those who had favoured the Divorce under great fears for he proceeded cruelly against them And one Rainscroft being suspected to have given secret Intelligence of what was done among them was shut up and so hardly used that he dyed in their hands which was as that Letter relates done by Frier Forrests means This Frier was found to have denyed the Kings Supremacy for though he himself had sworn it yet he had infused it into many in Confession that the King was not the Supream Head of the Church Being questioned for these practices which were so contrary to the Oath that he had taken he answered that he took that Oath with his outward man but his inward man had never consented to it Being brought to his Tryal and accused of several Heretical opinions that he held he submitted himself to the Church Upon this he had more freedom allowed him in the Prison but some coming to him diverted him from the Submission he had offered so that when the Paper of Abjuration was brought him he refused to set his hand to it upon which he was judged an Obstinate Heretick The Records of these Proceedings are lost but the Books of that time say that he denyed the Gospel it is like it was upon that pretence that without the determination of the Church it had no Authority upon which several writers of the Roman Communion have said undecent and scandalous things of the holy Scriptures He was brought to Smithfield where were present the Lords of the Council to offer him his pardon if he would abjure Latimer made a Sermon against his errors and studyed to perswade him to recant but he continued in his former opinions so he was put to death in a most severe manner He was hanged in a chain about his middle and the great Image that was brought out of Walâ—s was broken to pieces and served for fewel to burn him He shewed great unquietness of mind and ended his Life in an ungodly manner as Hall says who adds this Character of him that he had little knowledg of God and his sincere truth and less trust in him at his ending In Winter that year a correspondence was discovered with Cardinal Pole who was barefaced in his Treasonable designs against the King His Brother Sir Geofrey Pole discovered the whole Plot. For which the Marquess of Exceter that was the Kings Cousin-german by his Mother who was Edward the 4ths Daughter the Lord Montacute the Cardinals Brother Sir Geofrey Pole and Sir Edward Nevill were sent to the Tower in the beginning of November They were accused for having maintained a correspondence with the Cardinal and for expressing an hatred of the King with a dislike of his proceedings and a readiness to rise upon any good opportunity that might offer it self The special matter brought against the Lord Montacute and the Marquis of Excetâ—r who were tryed by their Peers on the 2d and 3d of December in the 30th year of this Reign is that whereas Cardinal Pole and others had cast off their Alleageance to the King and gone and submitted themselves to the Pope the Kings mortal enemy the Lord Montacute did on the 24th of Iuly in the 28th year of the Kings Reign a few months before the Rebellion broke out say that he liked well the proceedings of his Brother the Cardinal but did not like the proceedings of the Realm and said I trust to see a change of this World I trust to have a fair day upon those Knaves that rule about the King and I trust to see a merry World one day Words to the same purpose were also charged on the Marquess the Lord Montacute further said I would I were over the Sea with my Brother for this World will one day come to stripes it must needs so come to pass and I fear we shall lack nothing so much as honest men he also said he had dreamed that the King was dead and though he was not yet dead he would die suddenly one day his Leg will kill him and then we shall have jolly stirring saying also that he had never loved him from his childhood and that Cardinal Wolsey would have been an honest man if he had had an honest Master And the King having said to the Lords he woulâ—â—eave them one day having some apprehensions he might shortly die that Lord said if he will serve us so we shall be happily rid a time will come I fear we shall not tarry the time we shall do well enough He had also said he was sorry the Lord Abâ—rgâ—â—â—â—y was dead for he could have made ten thousand men and for his part he would go and live in the West where the Marquess of Excâ—ter was strong and had also said upon the breaking of the Northern Rebellion that the Lord Darcy played the fool for he went to pluck away the Council but he should have begun with the head first but I beshrew him for leaving off so soon These were the Words charged on those Lords as clear discoveries of their Treasonable designs and that they knew of the Rebellion that brake out and only intended to have kept it off to a fitter opportunity they were also accused of Correspondence with Cardinal Polâ— that was the Kings declared Enemy Upon these points the Lords pleaded not Guilty but were found Guilty by their Peers and so Judgment was given On the 4th of December were Indicted Sir Geofrey Polâ— for holding Correspondence with his Brother the Cardinal and saying that he approved of his proceedings but not of the Kings Sir Edâ—ard Nevill Brother to the Lord Abergaveny for saying the King was a Beast and worse than a Beast George Crofts Chancellor of the Cathedral of Chichester for saying the King was not bâ—t the Pope was Supream head of the Church and Iohn Collins for saying the King would hang in Hâ—ll one day for the plucking down of
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
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
Tit. 1. Act. 14. Autoritas ordinandi Presbyteros data est Episcopis per verbum multisque aliis quos lego To the first part I answer Yea for so it appeareth Tit. 1. and 1 Tim. 5. with other places of Scripture But whether any other but only a Bishop may make a Priest I have not read but by singular priviledg of God as when Moses whom divers Authors say was not a Priest made Aaron a Priest Truth it is that the Office of a Godly Prince is to over-see the Church and the Ministers thereof and to cause them do their duty and also to appoint them special Charges and Offices in the Church as may be most for the Glory of God and edifying of the People and thus we read of the good Kings in the Old Testament David Ioas Ezekias Iosias But as for Making that is to say Ordaining and Consecrating of Priests I think it specially belongeth to the Office of a Bishop as far as can be shewed by Scripture or any Example as I suppose from the beginning A Bishop hath authority by Scripture to make a Priest and that any other ever made a Priest since Christ's time I read not Albeit Moses who was not anointed Priest made Aaron Priest and Bishop by a special Commission or Revelation from God without which he would never so have done A Bishop placed by the Higher Powers and admitted to minister may make a Priest and I have not read of any other that ever made Priests I say a Bishop hath authority by Scripture to make a Priest and other than a Bishop hath not power therein but only in case of necessity To the eleventh I suppose that a Bishop hath authority of God as his Minister by Scripture to make a Priest but he ought not to admit any Man to be Priest and consecrate him or to appoint him unto any ministry in the Church without the Princes license and consent in a Christian Region And that any other Man hath authority to make a Priest by Scripture I have not read nor any example thereof A Bishop being licensed by his Prince and Supream Governour hath authority to make a Priest by the Law of God I do not read that any Priest hath been ordered by any other than a Bishop Ad primam partem Quaestionis respondent omnes convenit omnibus praeter Menevens Episcopum habere autoritatem instituendi Presbyteros Roffens Leighton Curren Robersonus addunt Modo Magistratus id permittat Ad secundam partem Respondent Coxus Tresham in necessitate concedi potestatem Ordinandi aliis Eboracen videtur omnino denegare aliis hanc autoritatem Redmayn Symmons Robertson Leighton Thirleby Curren Roffen Edgworth Oglethorp Carliolen nusquam legerunt alios usos fuisse hac Potestate quanquam privilegio quodam data sit Moysi ut Redmanus arbitratur Edgeworth Nihil respondent ad secundam partem Quaestionis Londinensis Dayus In the eleventh To the former part of the Question the Bishop of St. Davids doth answer That Bishops have no authority to make Priests without they be authorized of the Christian Prince The others all of them do say That they be authorized of God Yet some of them as the Bishop of Rochester Dr. Curren Leighton Robertson add That they cannot use this authority without their Christian Prince doth permit them To the second part the answer of the Bishop of St. Davids is That Laymen have other-whiles made Priests So doth Dr. Edgworth and Redman say That Moses by a priviledg given him of God made Aaron his Brother Priest Dr. Tresham Crayford and Cox say That Laymen may make Priests in time of Necessity The Bishops of York Duresme Rochester Carlisle Elect of Westminster Dr. Curren Leighton Symmons seem to deny this thing for they say They find not nor read not any such example 12. Question Whether in the New Testament be required any Consecration of a Bishop and Priest or only appointing to the Office be sufficient Answers IN the New Testament he that is appointed to be a Bishop or a Priest needeth no Consecration by the Scripture for election or appointing thereto is sufficient To the twelfth Question The Apostles ordained Priests by Imposition of the Hand with Fasting and Prayer and so following their steps we must needs think that all the foresaid things be necessarily to be used by their Successors and therefore we do also think that Appointment only without visible Consecration and Invocation for the assistance and power of the Holy Ghost is neither convenient nor sufficient for without the said Invocation it besâ—emeth no Man to appoint to our Lord Ministers as of his own authority whereof we have example in the Acts of the Apostles where we find that when they were gathered to choose one in the place of Iudas they appointed two of the Disciples and commended the Election to our Lord that he would choose which of them it pleased him saying and praying Lord thou that knowest the hearts of all Men shew whether of these two thou dost choose to succeed in the place of Judas And to this purpose in the Acts we read Dixit Spiritus Sanctus segregate mihi Barnabam c. And again Quos posuit Spiritus Sanctus regere Ecclesiam Dei And it appeareth also that in the Old Testament in the ordering of Priests there was both Visible and Invisible Sanctification and therefore in the New Testament where the Priesthood is above comparison higher than in the Old we may not think that only appointment sufficeth without Sanctification either Visible or Invisible To the twelfth I think Consecration of a Bishop and Priest be required for that in the Old Law being yet but a shadow and figure of the New the Consecration was required as appears Levit. 8. yet the truth of this I leave to those of higher Judgments The Scripture speaketh de Impositione manus de Oratione and of other manner of Consecrations I find no mention in the New Testament expresly but the Old Authors make mention also of Inunctions Upon this Text of Paul to Timothy Noli negligere gratiam quae in te est quae data est tibi per prophetiam cum Impositione manuum Presbyterii St. Anselm saith This Grace to be the Gift of the Bishops Office to the which God of his meer goodness had called and preferred him The Prophesy he saith was the inspiration of the Holy Ghost by the which he knew what he had to do therein The Imposition of the hands is that by the which he was ordained and received that Office And therefore saith St. Paul God is my Witness that I have discharged my self showing you as I ought to have done Now look you well upon it whom that ye take to Orders lest ye lose your self thereby Let Bishops therefore who as saith St. Hierome hath power to make Priests consider well under
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
mitigated but that it may be to the Salvation of thy Soul to the extirpation terror and conversion of Hereticks and to the Unity of the Catholick Faith This was thought a scorning of God and men when those who knew that he was to be burnt and intended it should be so yet used such an Obtestation by the Bowels of Jesus Christ that the rigor might not be extreme This being certified the Writ was issued out and as the Register bears he was burnt in Smithfield the 4th of Iuly and one Andrew Hewet with him who also denyed the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar This Hewet was an Apprentice and went to the meetings of these Preachers and was twice betrayed by some spies whom the Bishops Officers had among them who discovered many When he was examined he would not acknowledge the Corporal Presence but was illiterate and resolved to do as Frith did so he was also condemned and burnt with him When they were brought to the Stake Frith expressed great joy at his approaching Martyrdom and in a Transport of it hugged the â—aggots in his Arms as the Instruments that were to send him to his eternal rest One Doctor Cook a Parson of London called to the people that they should not pray for them any more than they would do for a Dog At which Frith smiled and prayed God to forgive him so the fire was set to and they were consum'd to Ashes This was the last Act of the Clergies Cruelty against mens lives and was much condemned it was thought an unheard-of barbarity thus to burn a moderate and learned young man only because he would not acknowledge some of their Doctrines to be Articles of Faith and though his private judgment was against their tenet yet he was not positive in it any further than that he could not believe the contrary to be necessary to Salvation But the Clergy were now so bathed in blood that they seemed to have strip't themselves of those impressions of pity and compassion which are natural to mankind they therefore held on in their severe courses till the Act of Parliament did effectually restrain them In the Account that was given of that Act mention was made of one Thomas Philips who put in his complaint to the House of Commons against the Bishop of London The proceedings against him had been both extreme and illegal he was first apprehended and put in the Tower upon suspition of Heresie and when they searched him a Copy of Tracy's Testament was found about him and Butter and Cheese were found in his Chamber it being in the time of Lent There was also another Letter found about him exhorting him to be ready to suffer constantly for the Truth Upon these presumptions the Bishop of London proceeded against him and required him to abjure But he said he would willingly swear to be obedient as a Christian man ought and that he would never hold any Heresie during his life nor favour Hereticks but the Bishop would not accept of that since there might be Ambiguities in it therefore he required him to make the Abjuration in common form which he refused to do and appealed to the King as the Supreme Head of the Church Yet the Bishop pronounced him Contumax and did excommunicate him but whether he was released on his Appeal or not I do not find yet perhaps this was the man of whom the Pope complained to the English Ambassadors 1532. that an Heretick having appealed to the King as the Supreme Head of the Church was taken out of the Bishops hands and judged and acquitted in the Kings Courts It is probable this was the man only the Pope was informed that it was from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that he Appealed in which there might be a mistake for the Bishop of London But whatever ground there may be for that conjecture Philips got his liberty and put in a Complaint to the House of Commons which produced the Act about Hereticks And now that Act being passed together with the extirpation of the Popes Authority and the Power being lodged in the King to correct and reform Heresies Idolatries and Abuses the Standard of the Catholick Faith being also declared to be the Scriptures the Persecuted Preachers had ease and encouragement every-where They also saw that the necessity of the Kings Affairs would constrain him to be gentle to them for the Sentence which the Pope gave against the King was committed to the Emperor to be executed by him who was then aspiring to an universal Monarchy and therefore as soon as his other Wars gave him leisure to look over to England and Ireland he had now a good colour to justifie an Invasion both from the Popes Sentence and the interests and honour of his Family in protecting his Aunt and her Daughter Therefore the King was to give him work elsewhere in order to which his interest obliged him to joyn himself to the Princes of Germany who had at Smalcald entred into a League offensive and defensive for the liberty of Religion and the Rights of the Empire This was a thorn in the Emperor's side which the Kings Interest would oblige him by all means to maintain Upon which the Reformers in England concluded that either the King to recommend himself to these Princes would relax the severities of the Law against them or otherwise that their Friends in Germany would see to it for in these first fervours of Reformations the Princes made that always a condition in their Treaties that those who favoured their Doctrine might be no more persecuted But their chief encouragement was from the Queen who Reigned in the Kings heart as absolutely as he did over his Subjects and was a known favourer of them She took Shaxton and Latimer to be her Chaplains and soon after promoted them to the Bishopricks of Salisbury and Worcester then vacant by the deprivation of Campegio and Ghinuccii and in all other things cherished and protected them and used her most effectual endeavours with the King to promote the Reformation Next to her Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was a professed favourer of it who besides the Authority of his Character and See was well-fitted for carrying it on being a very Learned and Industrious man He was at great pains to collect the sense of Ancient Writers upon all the Heads of Religion by which he might be well-directed in such an Important matter I have seen two Volumns in Folio written with his own Hand containing upon all the Heads of Religion a vast heap both of places of Scripture and Quotations out of Ancient Fathers and later Doctors and School-men by which he governed himself in that work There is also an original Letter of the Lord Burghly's extant which I have seen in which he writes that he had six or seven Volumns of his Writings all which except two other that I have seen are lost for ought I can understand From
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
of Burton upon Trent sate in Parliament Generally Coventry and Burton were held by the same man as one Bishop held both Coventry and Litchfield though two different Bishopricks but in that year they were held by two different persons and both had their Writts to that Parliament The method used in the suppression of these Houses will appear by one compleat Report made of the Suppression of the Abbey of Tewksbury which out of many I copyed and is in the Collection From it the Reader will see what provision was made for the Abbot the Prior the other Officers and the Monks and other servants of the House and what Buildings they ordered to be defaced and what to remain and how they did estimate the Jewels Plate and other Ornaments But Monasteries were not sufficient to stop the appetite of some that were about the King for Hospitals were next lookt after One of these was this year surrendred by Thomas Thirleby with two other Priests he was Master of St. Thomas Hospital in Southwark and was designed Bishop of Westminster to which he made his way by that Resignation He was a learned and modest man but of so fickle or cowardly a temper that he turned alwayes with the Stream in every change that was made till Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown but then being ashamed of so many turns he resolved to shew he could once be firm to somewhat Now were all the Monasteries of England suppressed and the King had then in his hand the greatest opportunity of making Royal and Noble Foundations that ever King of England had But whether out of policy to give a general Content to the Gentry by selling to them at low rates or out of easiness to his Courtiers or out of an unmeasured lavishness in his expence it came far short of what he had given out he would do and what himself seemed once to have designed The clear yeerly value of all the Suppressed Houses is cast up in an account then stated to be viz. 131607. lib. 6. s. 4. d. as the Rents were then rated but was at least ten times so much in true value Of which he designed to convert 18000. lib. into a Revenue for eighteen Bishopricks and Cathedrals But of these he only erected six as shall be afterwards shewn Great sums were indeed laid out on building and fortifying many Ports in the Channel and other parts of England which were raised by the Sale of Abbey-Lands At this time many were offering projects for Noble Foundations on which the King seemed very earnest But it is very likely that before he was aware of it he had so out-run himself in his Bounty that it was not possible for him to bring these to any effect Yet I shall set down one of the projects which shews the greatness of his mind that designed it that is of Sir Nicholas Bacon who was afterwards one of the wisest Ministers that ever this Nation bred The King designed to found a House for the Study of the Civil Law and the purity of the Latine and French Tongues So he ordered Sir Nicolas Bacon and two others Thomas Deâ—ton and Robert Cary to make a full project of the nature and orders of such a House who brought it to him in a writing the original whereof is yet exâ—ant The design of it was that there should be frequent pleadings and other exercises in the Latine and French tongues and when the Kings Students were brought to some ripeness they should be sent with his Embassadors to Forreign parts and trained up in the knowledg of forreign affairs and so the House should be the Nursery for Ambassadors Some were also to be appointed to write the History of all Embassies Treaties and other foreign Transactions as also of all Arraignments and publick Tryals at home But before any of them might write on these Subjects the Lord Chancellour was to give them an Oath that they should do it truly without respect of persons or any other corrupt affection This noble Design miscarried But if it had been well laid and regulated it is easie to gather what great and publick advantages might have flowed from it Among which it is not inconsiderable that we should have been delivered from a Rabble of ill-Writers of History who have without due care or enquiry delivered to us the Transactions of that time so imperfectly that there is still need of enquiring into Registers and Papers for these matters Which in such a House had been more certainly and clearly conveighed to posterity than can be now expected at such a distance of time and after such a rasure of Records and other confusions in which many of these Papers have been lost And this help was the more necessary after the suppression of Religious Houses in most of which a Chronicle of the times was kept and still filled up as new Transactions came to their knowledg It is true most of these were written by men of weak Judgments who were more punctual in delivering Fables and Trifles than in opening observable Transactions Yet some of them were men of better understandings and it is like were directed by their Abbots who being Lords of Parliament understood aâ—fairs well only an invincible humor of lying when it might raise the credit of their Religion or Order or House runs through all their Manuscripts One thing was very remarkable which was this year granted at Cranmers Intercession There was nothing could so much recover Reformation that was declining so fast as the free use of the Scriptures and though these had been set up in the Churches a year ago yet he pressed and now procured leave for private persons to buy Bibles and keep them in their Houses So this was granted by Letters Patents directed to Cromwel bearing date the 13th of November The Substance of which was That the King was desirous to have his Subjects attain the knowledg of Gods word which could not be effected by any means so well as by granting them the free and liberal use of the Bible in the English tongue which to avoid dissension he intended should pass among them only by one Translation Therefore Cromwel was charged to take care that for the space of five years there should be no Impression of the Bible or any part of it but only by such as should be assigned by him But Gardiner opposed this all he could and one day in a Conference before the King he provoked Cranmer to shew any difference between the Authority of the Scriptures and of the Apostolical Canons which he pretended were equal to the other writings of the Apostles Upon which they disputed for some time But the King perceived solid Learning tempered with great Modesty in what Cranmer said and nothing but vanity and affectation in Gardiner's reasonings So he took him up sharply and told him that Cranmer was an old and experienced Captain and was not to be troubled by
unfeigned which were meritorious towards the attaining of Everlasting life Other works were of an Inferior sort such as Fasting Almsdeeds and other fruits of Penance And the merit of good works is reconciled with the freedom of Gods mercies to us since all our works are done by his Grace so that we have no cause of boasting but must ascribe all to the Grace and goodness of God The last Chapter is about Prayers for Souls departed which is the same that was formerly set out in the Articles three years before All this was finished and set forth this year with a Preface written by those of the Clergy who had been imployed in it declaring with what care they had examined the Scriptures and the ancient Doctors out of whom they had faithfully gathered this Exposition of the Christian Faith To this the King added another Preface some years after declaring that although he had cast out the darkness by setting forth the Scriptures to his people which had produced very good effects yet as hypocrisie and superstition were purged away so a Spirit of presumption dissension and carnal liberty was breaking in For repressing which he had by the advice of his Clergy set forth a Declaration of the true knowledg of God for directing all mens belief and practice which both Houses of Parliament had seen and liked very well So that he verily trusted it contained a true and sufficient Doctrine for the attaining everlasting life Therefore he required all his people to read and print in their hearts the Doctrine of this Book He also willed them to remember that as there were some Teachers whose Office it was to instruct the people so the rest ought to be taught and to those it was not necessary to read the Scriptures and that therefore he had restrained it from a great many esteeming it sufficient for such to hear the Doctrine of the Scriptures taught by their Preachers which they should lay up in their hearts and practise in their lives Lastly he desired all his Subjects to pray to God to grant them the Spirit of Humility that they might read and carry in their hearts the Doctrine set forth in this Book But though I have joyned the account of this Preface to the Extract here made of the Bishops Book yet it was not prefixed to it till above two years after the other was set out When this was published both parties found cause in it both to be glad and sorrowful The Reformers rejoyced to see the Doctrine of the Gospel thus opened more and more for they concluded that Ignorance and prejudices being the chief supports of the Errours they complained of the instructing people in Divine Matters even though some particulars displeased them yet would awaken and work upon an inquisitive humour that was then a-stirring and they did not doubt but their Doctrines were so clear that Inquiries into Religion would do their business They were also glad to see the Morals of Christianity so well cleared which they hoped would dispose people to a better taste of Divine matters since they had observed that purity of Soul does mightily prepare people for sound opinions Most of the Superstitious conceits and practices which had for some ages embased the Christian Faith were now removed and the great fundamental of Christianity the Covenant between God and man in Christ with the conditions of it was plainly and sincerely declared There was also another principle laid down that was big with a further Reformation for every National Church was declared a compleat Body within it self with power to reform heresies correct abuses and do every thing else that was necessary for keeping it self pure or governing its members By which there was a fair way opened for a full discussion of things afterwards when a fitter opportunity should be offered But on the other hand the Popish party thought they had gained much The seven Sacraments were again asserted so that here much ground was recovered and they hoped more would follow There were many things laid down to which they knew the Reformers would never consent So that they who were resolved to comply with every thing that the King had a mind to were pretty safe But the others who followed their perswasions and consciences were brought into many snares and the Popish party was confident that their absolute compliance which was joyned with all possible submission and flattery would gain the King at length and the stiffness of others who would not give that deference to the Kings judgment and pleasure would so alienate him from them that he would in the end abandon them for with the Kings years his uneasiness and peevishness grew mightily on him The dissolution of the Kings Marriage with Anne of Cleves had so offended the Princes of Germany that though upon the Ladies account they made no publick noise of it yet there was little more intercourse between the King and them especially Cromwel falling that had alwayes carried on the correspondence with them And as this intercourse went off so a secret Treaty was set on foot between the King and the Emperor yet it came not to a Conclusion till two years after The other Bishops that were appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church drew up a Rubrick and Rationale of them which I do not find was printed but a very Authentical M S. of a great part of it was is extant The alterations they made were inconsiderable and so slight that there was no need of reprinting either the Missals Breviaries or other Offices for a few rasures of these Collects in which the Pope was prayed for of Thomas Beckets Office and the Offices of other Saints whose days were by the Kings Injunctions no more to be observed with some other Deletions made that the old Books did still serve For whether it was that the Change of the Mass-Books and other publick Offices would have been too great a Charge to the Nation or whether they thought it would have possessed the people with an opinion that the Religion was altered since the Books of the ancient worship were changed which remaining the same they might be the more easily perswaded that the Religion was still the same there was no new impression of the Breviaries Missals and other Rituals during this Kings Reign Yet in Queen Maries time they took care that Posterity should not know how much was dashed out or changed For as all Parishes were required to furnish themselves with new compleat Books of the Offices so the dashed Books were every-where brought in and destroyed But it is likely that most of those Scandalous Hymnes and Prayers which are addressed to Saints in the same style in which good Christians worship God were all struck out because they were now condemned as appears from the Extract of the other Book set out by the Bishops But as they went on in these things the Popish party whose Counsels were
this House useth to be Confessed and Communicate Restat pro Ecclesiis Collegiatis Hospitalibus Ecclesiis Cathedralibus Parrochialibus Ecclesiis Episcopo Archiepiscopo pro ordine Ierosolomitarum Exhibeant omnia scripta munimenta Inventaria Scedulas quascunque unde aliquid cognitionis eorum reformationi Monasteriorum sive domorum utilitati necessariae explicari aut quoquo modo colligi possit II. General Injunctions to be given on the King's Highness's behalf in all Monastries and other Houses of whatsoever Order or Religion they be FIrst That the Abbot Prior or President and all other Brethren of the Place that is visited shall faithfully truly and heartily keep and observe and cause teach and procure to be kept and observed of other as much as in them may lie all and singular Contents as well in the other of the King's Highness Succession given heretofore by them as in a certain Profession lately sealed with the Common Seal and subscribed and Signed with their own hands Also that they shall observe and fulfil by all the means that they best may the Statutes of this Realm made or to be made for the suppression and taking away of the usurped and pretensed Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome within this Realm and for the assertion and confirmation of the Authority Jurisdiction and Prerogative of our most noble Sovereign Lord the King and his Successors and that they shall diligently instruct their Juniors and Youngers and all other committed to their Cure That the King's Power is by the Laws of God most excellent of all under God in Earth and that we ought to obey him afore all other Powers by Godâ—â— Prescript and that the Bishop of Rome's Jurisdiction or Authority heretofore usurped by no means is founded or established by Holy Scripture but that the same partly by the craft and deceit of the same Bishop of Rome and by his evil and ambitious Canons and Decretals and partly by the toleration and permission of Princes by little and little hath grown up and therefore now of most right and equity is taken away and clean expelled out of his Realm Also that the Abbot Prior or President and Brethren may be declared by the King 's Supream Power and Authority Ecclesiastical to be absolved and loosed from all manner Obedience Oath and Profession by them heretofore perchance promised or made to the said Bishop of Rome or to any other in his stead or occupying his Authority or to any other Forreign Prince or Person And nevertheless let it be enjoined to them that they shall not promise or give such Oath or Profession to any such Forreign Potentate hereafter And if the Statutes of the said Order Religious or Place seem to bind them to Obedience or Subjection or any other Recognizance of Superiority to the said Bishop of Rome or to any other Forreign Power Potentate Person or Place by any ways such Statutes by the King's Graces Visitors be utterly annihilate broken and declared void and of none effect and that they be in no case bounden or obligate to the same and such Statutes to be forthwith utterly put forth and abolished out of the Books or Muniments of that Religion Order or Place by the President and his Brethren Also that no Monk or Brother of this Monastery by any means go forth of the Precinct of the same Also that Women of what state or degree soever they be be utterly excluded from entring into the Limits or Circuit of this Monastery or place unless they first obtain license of the King's Highness or his Visitor Also that there be no entring into this Monastery but one and that by the great fore-gate of the same which diligently shall be watched and kept by some Porter specially appointed for that purpose and shall be shut and opened by the same both day and night at convenient and accustomed hours which Porter shall repel all manner Women from entrance into the said Monastery Also that all and singular Brethren and Monks of this Monastery take their refections altogether in a place called the Misericorde such days as they eat Flesh and all other days in their Refectory and that at every Mess there sit four of them not of duty demanding to them any certain usual or accustomed duty or portion of Meat as they were wont to do but that they be content with such Victuals as is set before them and there take their Refections soberly without excess with giving due thanks to God and that at every such Refection some Chapter of the New Testament or Old by some of the said Brethren be read and recited to the other keeping silence and giving audience to the same Also that the Abbot and President do daily prepare one Table for himself and his Guests thither resorting and that not over-sumptuous and full of delicate and strange Dishes but honestly furnished with common Meats At which Table the said Abbot or some Senior in his stead shall sit to receive and gently entertain the Strangers the Guests Also that none of the Brethren send any part of his Meat or the leavings thereof to any Person but that there be assigned an Almoner which shall gather the Leavings both of the Covent and Strangers Tables after that the Servants of the House have had their convenient Refections and distribute the same to poor People amongst whom special consideration be had of such before other as be Kinsfolk to any of the said Brethren if they be of like power and debility as other be and also of those which endeavour themselves with all their will and labour to get their living with their hands and yet cannot fully help themselves for their chargeable Houshold and multitude of Children yet let not them be so cherished that they shall leave labour and fall to idleness with consideration also specially to be had of them which by weakness of their Limbs and Body be so impotent that they cannot labour and by no means let such Alms be given to valiant mighty and idle Beggars and Vagabonds as commonly use to resort about such places which rather as drove-Beasts and Mychers should be driven away and compelled to labour than in their idleness and lewdness against the form of the King's Graces Statute in this behalf made cherished and maintained to the great hindrance and damage of the Common-Weal Also that all other Almses or Destributions due or accustomed to be made by reason of the Foundation Statutes or customes of this place be made and given as largely and as liberally as ever they were at any time heretofore Also that the Abbot Prior or President shall find Wood and Fewel sufficient to make Fire in the Refectory from Allhallow-even to Good-Friday Also that all the Brethren of this House except the Abbot and such as be sick or evil at ease and those that have fulfilled their Iubilee lie together in the Dormitory every one by himself in several Beds Also that no Brother
or Monk of this House have any Child or Boy laying or privily accompanying with him or otherwise haunting unto him other than to help him to Mass. Also that the Brethren of this House when they be sick or evil at ease be seen unto and be kept in the Infirmary duly as well for their sustenance of Meat and Drink as for their good keeping Also that the Abbot or President keep and find in some University one or two of his Brothers according to the Ability and Possessions of this House which Brethren after they be learned in good and holy Letters when they return home may instruct and teach their Brethren and diligently preach the Word of God Also that every day by the space of one hour a Lesson of Holy Scripture be kept in this Covent to which all under pain by this said President to be moderated shall resort which President shall have Authority to dispense with them that they with a low and treatable voice say their long hours which were wont to be sung Also that the Brethren of this House after Divine Service done read or hear somewhat of Holy Scripture or occupy themself in some such like honest and laudable exercise Also that all and every Brethren of this House shall observe the Rule Statutes and laudable Customs of this Religion as far as they do agree with Holy Scripture and the Word of God And that the Abbot Prior or President of this Monastery every day shall expound to his Brethren as plainly as may be in English a certain part of the Rule that they have professed and apply the same always to the Doctrine of Christ and not contrariwise and he shall teach them that the said Rule and other their Principles of Religion so far as they be laudable be taken out of Holy Scripture and he shall show them the places from whence they were derived and that their Ceremonies and other observances of Religion be none other things than as the first Letters or Principles and certain Introductions to true Christianity or to observe an order in the Church And that true Religion is not contained in Apparel manner of going shaven Heads and such other marks nor in silence fasting up-rising in the night singing and such other kind of Ceremonies but in cleanness of mind pureness of living Christ's Faith not feigned and brotherly Charity and true honouring of God in Spirit and Verity And that those above-said things were instituted and begun that they being first exercised in these in process of time might ascend to those as by certain steps that is to say to the chief point and end of Religion and therefore let them be diligently exhorted that they do not continually stick and surcease in such Ceremonies and Observances as tho they had perfectly fulfilled the chief and outmost of the whole true Religion but that when they have once past such things they endeavour themselves to higher things and convert their minds from such external Matters to more inward and deeper Considerations as the Law of God and Christian Religion doth teach and show And that they assure not themselves of any Reward or Commodity any wise by reason of such Ceremonies and Observances except they refer all such to Christ and for his sake observe them and for that they might thereby the more easily keep such things as he hath commanded as well to them as to all Christian People Also that the Abbot and President of this Place shall make a full and true reckoning and accompt of his Administration every year to his Brethren as well of his Receipts as Expences and that the said Accompt be written in a great Book remaining with the Covent Also that the Abbot and President of this House shall make no waste of the Woods pertaining to this House nor shall set out unadvisedly any Farmes or Reversions without the consent of the more part of the Convent Also that there be assigned a Book and a Register that may copy out into that Book all such Writings word by word as shall pass under the Convent-Seal of this House Also that no Man be suffered to profess or to wear the Habit of Religion in this House e're he be 24 years of Age compleat And that they entice nor allure no Man with suasions and blandyments to take the Religion upon him Item that they shall not shew no Reliques or feigned Miracles for encrease of Lucre but that they exhort Pilgrims and Strangers to give that to the Poor that they thought to offer to their Images or Reliques Also that they shall suffer no Fairs or Markets to be kept or used within the limits of this House Also that every Brother of this House that is a Priest shall every day in his Mass pray for the most happy and most prosperous estate of our Sovereign Lord the King and his most noble and lawful Wife Queen Ann. Also that if either the Master or any Brother of this House do infringe any of the said Injunctions any of them shall denounce the same or procure to be denounced as soon as may be to the King's Majesty or to his Visitor-General or his Deputy And the Abbot or Master shall minister spending Mony and other Necessaries for the way to him that shall so denounce Other Spiritual Injunctions may be added by the Visitor as the place and nature of the Comperts shall require after his discretion Reserving Power to give more Injunctions and to examine and discuss the Comperts to punish and reform them that be convict of any notable Crime to search and try the Foundations Charters Donations Appropriations and Muniments of the said Places and to dispose all such Papistical Escripts as shall be there found to the Right Honourable Mr. Thomas Cromwell General-Visitor to the King 's said Highness as shall seem most expedient to his high wisdom and discretion III. Some Particulars relating to the Dissolution of Monasteries Section I. The Preamble of the Surrender of the Monastery of Langden OMnibus Christi fidelibus c. Willielmus Dyer Abbas Monasterii Beatae Mariae Virginis S. Thomae Martyris de Langden in Com. Kent ejusdem loci Conventus Ordinis Praemonstrat capitulum dictae domus plene facientes ejusdemque domus quae in suis fructibus redditibus provenien even emolumen non mediocriter deteriorata est quasi in totum diminuta ingentique aere alieno obruta oppressa gravata extitit statum usque adeo matura deliberatione diligenti tractatu considerantes ponderantes pensantes quod nisi celeri remedio regia provisione huic Monasterio sive Prioratui quippe quod de ejus fundatione personatu existit brevi succuratur provideatur funditus in Spiritualibus Temporalibus annihiletur per praesentes damus concedimus c. The rest follows in the ordinary form of Law but the ordinary Preamble in most Surrenders is Omnibus Christi fidelibus c. Nos Salutem Sciatis
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
to be observed when it may be observed but that the Princes may not Make that is may not Order Priests nor Bishops not before Ordered to minister the other Sacraments the ministry whereof in Scripture is committed only to the Apostles and from them derived to their Successors even from the Primitive Church hitherto and by none other used we have answered in the thirteenth Article Vt supra Quaest. 13. Vt supra Quaest. 13. Not only it is given of God to Supream Governours Kings and Princes immediate under them to see cause and compel all their Subjects Bishops Priests with all others to do truly and uprightly their bounden Duties to God and to them each one according to his Calling but also if it were so that any-where such lacked to do and fulfil that God would have done right-well they might by the inward moving and calling of God supply the same Huic Quaestioni idem Respondendum quod priori arbitror Vt supra Quaest. 13. To this case as to the first I answer That if there could no Bishops be had to order new Priests there by the Princes assignation and appointment then the Prince himself might ordain and constitute with the consent of the Congregation both Priests and Ministers to Preach and Baptize and to do other Functions in the Church Si ab aliis Regionibus Sacerdotes haberi non poterint opinor ipsum Principem deputare posse etiam Laicos ad hoc Sacrum Officium sed omnia prius tentanda essent ut supra To this I think may be answered as to the last Question before howbeit the surest way I think were to send for somâ— Ministers of the Church dwelling in the next Regions if they might be conveniently had Likewise as to the next Question afore If the King be also a Bishop as it is possible he may appoint Bishops and Priests to minister to his People but hitherto I have not read that ever any Christian King made Bishop or Priest I make the same answer as to the 13th Question is made To the fourteenth I suppose the Affirmative to be true in case that there can no Bishops nor Priests be had forth of other Countries conveniently In this case I make answer as before That God will never suffer his Servants to lack that thing that is necessary for there should either from other parts Priests and Bishops be called thither or else God would call inwardly some of them that be in that Region to be Bishops and Priests Fatentur ut prius omnes Laicos posse Docere Eboracens Symmons Oglethorp negant posse Ordinare Presbyteros tamen concedit Eboracens baptizare contrahere Matrimonia Edgworth tantum baptizare posse nam sufficere dicit ad salutem Alii omnes eandem potestatem concedunt quam prius Roffens non aliud respondet his duabus Quaestionibus quam quod necessitas non habeat Legem In the fourteenth they agree for the most part as they did before That Lay-men in this case may teach and minister the Sacraments My Lord of York Dr. Symmons and Oglethorp say They can make no Priests altho Symmons said they might minister all Sacraments in the Question before Yet my Lord of York and Edgworth do grant That they may Christen The Bishops of London Rochester and Dr. Crayford say That in such a case Necessitas non habet Legem 15. Question Whether a Man be bound by Authority of this Scripture Quorum Remiseritis and such-like to confess his secret deadly sins to a Priest if he may have him or no Answers A Man is not bound by the authority of this Scripture Quorum Râ—miseritis and such-like to confess his secret deadly Sins to a Priest although he may have him To the fifteenth This Scripture is indifferent to secret and open Sins nor the authority given in the same is appointed or limited either to the one or to the other but is given commonly to both And therefore seeing that the Sinner is in no other place of Scripture discharged of the confession of his secret Sins we think that this place chargeth him to confess the secret Sins as well as the open To the fifteenth I think that as the Sinner is bound by this authority to confess his open sins so also is he bound to confess his secret sins because the special end is to wit Absolutionem a peccato cujus fecit se servum is all one in both cases And that all sins as touching God are open and in no wise secret or hid I think that confession of secret deadly sins is necessary for to attain absolution of them but whether every Man that hath secretly committed deadly sin is bound by these words to ask Absolution of the Priest therefore it is an hard Question and of much controversy amongst learned Men and I am not able to define betwixt them but I think it is the surest way to say that a Man is bound to Confess c. I think that by the mind of most ancient Authors and most holy Expositors this Text Quorum Remiseritis peccata c. with other-like serveth well to this intent That Christian Folk should confess thâ—â— secret deadly sins to a Priest there to be assoiled without which mean there can be none other like Assurance Opinor obligare modo aliter conscientiae illius satisfieri nequeat I cannot find that a Man is bound by Scripture to confess his secret deadly sins to a Priest unless he be so troubled in his Conscience that he cannot be quieted without godly Instruction The Matter being in controversy among learned Men and very doubtful yet I think rather the truth is That by authority of this Scripture Quorum Remiseritis c. and such-like a Man is bound to confess his secret deadly sins which grieve his Conscience to a Priest if he may conveniently have him Forasmuch as it is an ordinary way ordained by Christ in the Gospel by Absolution to remit sins which Absolution I never read to be given sine Confessione praeviâ Confitenda sunt opinor etiam peccata abdita ac secreta propter Absolutionem ac conscientiae tranquillitatem praecipue pro vitanda desperatione ad quam plerumque adiguntur multi in extremis dum sibi ipsis de remissione peccatorum nimium blandiuntur nullius dum sani sunt censuram subeuntes nisi propriam I think that altho in these words Confession of privy Sins is not expresly commanded yet it is insinuated and shewed in these words as a necessary Medicine or Remedy which all Men that fall into deadly sin ought for the quieting of their Consciences seek if they may conveniently have such a Priest as is meet to hear their Confession Where there be two ways to obtain remission of Sin and to recover Grace a Man is bound by