Advice of certain Learned Men. Another was that he had been the great setter forth of all this Heresy received into the Church in this last Time had written in it had disputed had continued it even to the last Hour and that it had never been seen in this Realm but in the time of Schism that any Man continuing so long hath been pardoned and that it was not to be remitted for Ensamples-sake Other Causes he alledged but these were the chief why it was not thought good to pardon him Other Causes beside he said moved the Queen and the Council thereto which were not meet and convenient for every one to understand them The second Part touched the Audience how they should consider this thing That they should hereby take example to fear God and that there was no Power against the Lord having before their Eyes a Man of so high Degree sometime one of the chiefest Prelates of the Church an Arch-bishop the chief of the Council the second Peer in the Realm of long time a Man as might be thought in greatest assurance a King of his side notwithstanding all his Authority and Defence to be debased from an high Estate to a low Degree of a Counsellor to be a Caitiff and to be set in so wretched Estate that the poorest Wretch would not change Conditions with him The last and End appertained unto him Whom he comforted and encouraged to take his Death well by many places of Scripture And with these and such bidding him nothing mistrust but he should incontinently receive that the Thief did To whom Christ said Hodiè mecum eris in Paradiso And out of S. Paul armed him against the Terrors of the Fire by this Dominus fidelis est Non sinet nos tentari ultra quam ferre potestis By the Example of the three Children to whom God made the Flame seem like a pleasant Dew He added hereunto the Rejoicing of S. Andrew in his Cross the Patience of S. Laurence on the Fire Ascertaining him that God if he called on him and to such as die in his Faith either will abate the fury of the Flame or give him Strength to abide it He glorified God much in his Conversion because it appeared to be only his Work Declaring what Travel and Conference had been used with him to convert him and all prevailed not till it pleased God of his Mercy to reclaim him and call him Home In discouring of which place he much commended Cranmer and qualified his former Doing And I had almost forgotten to tell you that Mr. Cole promised him that he should be prayed for in every Church in Oxford and should have Mass and Dirige Sung for him and spake to all the Priests present to say Mass for his Soul When he had ended his Sermon he desired all the People to pray for him Mr. Cranmer kneeling down with them and praying for himself I think there was never such a number so earnestly praying together For they that hated him before now loved him for his Conversion and hope of Continuance They that loved him before could not sodenly hate him having hope of his Confession again of his Fall So Love and Hope encreased Devotion on every side I shall not need for the time of Sermon to describe his Behaviour his Sorrowful Countenance his heavy Chear his Face bedewed with Tears sometime lifting his Eyes to Heaven in Hope sometime casting them down to the Earth for Shame To be brief an Image of Sorrow the Dolor of his Heart bursting out at his Eyes in plenty of Tears Retaining ever a quiet and grave Behaviour Which encreased the Pity in Mens Hearts that they unfeignedly loved him hoping it had been his Repentance for his Transgression and Error I shall not need I say to point it out unto you you can much better imagine it your self When Praying was done he stood up and having leave to speak said Good People I had intended indeed to desire you to pray for me which because Mr. Doctor hath desired and you have done already I thank you most heartily for it And now will I pray for my self as I could best devise for mine own comfort and say the Prayer word for word as I have here written it And he read it standing and after kneeled down and said the Lord's Prayer and all the People on their Knees devoutly praying with him His Prayer was thus O Father of Heaven O Son of God Redeemer of the World O Holy Ghost proceeding from them both Three Persons and one God have Mercy upon me most wretched Caitiff and miserable Sinner I who have offended both Heaven and Earth and more grievously than any Tongue can express whither then may I go or whither should I fly for succor To Heaven I may be ashamed to lift up mine Eyes and in Earth I find no refuge What shall I then do shall I despair God forbid O good God thou art Merciful and refusest none that come unto thee for Succour To thee therefore do I run To thee do I humble my self saying O Lord God my Sins be great but yet have Mercy upon me for thy great Mercy O God the Son thou wast not made Man this great Mystery was not wrought for few or small Offences Nor thou didst not give thy Son unto Death O God the Father for our little and small Sins only but for all the greatest Sins of the World so that the Sinner return unto thee with a penitent Heart as I do here at this present Wherefore have Mercy upon me O Lord whose Property is always to have Mercy For although my Sins be great yet thy Mercy is greater I crave nothing O Lord for mine own Merits but for thy Name 's Sake that it may be glorified thereby and for thy dear Son Jesus Christ's Sake And now therefore Our Father which art in Heaven c. Then rising he said Every Man desireth good People at the time of their Deaths to give some good Exhortation that other may remember after their Deaths and be the better thereby So I beseech God grant me Grace that I may speak something at this my departing whereby God may be glorified and you edified First It is an heavy case to see that many Folks be so much doted upon the Love of this false World and so careful for it that or the Love of God or the Love of the World to come they seem to care very little or nothing therefore This shall be my first Exhortation That you set not over-much by this false glosing World but upon God and the World to come And learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which S. Iohn teacheth That the Love of this World is Hatred against God The Second Exhortation is That next unto God you obey your King and Queen willingly and gladly without murmur or grudging And not for fear of them only but much more for the Fear of God Knowing
But they hate God envy his glory and be utterly in dispair For the more large Declaration of the Christian Faith it is to be considered that there is a general Faith which al that be christned as wel good as evil have As to believe that God is that he is the Maker and Creator of al things and that Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and for his sake al penitent sinners shal have remission of their sins And that there shal be a general resurrection at the end of this mortal World At the which Christ shal judge al the Good to joy without end and the Evil to pain without end with such other like thyngs And al these things the Devils also believe and tremble for fear and grievousnes of Gods indignation and torments which they shal endure and ever shal do But they have not the right christen Faith that their own sins by Christs redemption be pardoned and forgiven that themselves by Christ be delivered from Gods wrath and be made his beloved children and heires of his kingdom to come The other Faith have al Devils and wicked christen people that be his Members But this pure christen Faith have none but those that truly belong to Christ and be the very Members of his body and endeavor themselves to persevere in his precepts and lawes altho many pretend to have the same pure Faith which nevertheles have it not but only in their mouths For as there is a ly in the mouth and a ly in the heart even so there is a faith in the mouth and a faith in the heart Examine every man if he Trust in God and Love God above al things And in word he wil answer Yea. But examine every mans acts and deeds and surely in a great number their acts and deeds condemn their words For they walk after their own Wills and plesures and not after Gods commandments And Christ himself saith Qui diligit me mandata mea servat And S. Iohn saith Qui dicit se nosse deum mandata ejus non custodit mendax est And therfore al those that bridle not their own appetites but follow them and accomplish the wil of their own carnal minds they trust in God and trust God no further then the lips And if they persuade themselves that they trust in God and love God in their hearts and be of any estimation before God then be they much deceived and as S. Paul saith they deceive their own hearts Our own flesh and carnal mind is contrary to the Spirit and motion of God And they saith S. Paul that belong unto Christ do crucify their flesh with the affections and lusts therof And contrary he saith They that follow the lusts of the flesh shal not inherit the kingdom of God These be very notable and fearful sentences unto al such as be not repentant but live after their own wills and not after Gods wil neither have the right faith nor Love unto God nor shal be inheriters of his kingdom And though Christ hath payd a sufficient ransome for al the sins in the World and is a sufficient Redeemer and Saviour of al the World yet shal they have no part therof For they belong not unto Christ and Christ utterly refuseth them for his which have Faith and Love only in their mouths and have not the same engraven in their hearts and expressed in their actions and deeds And so he goes on more largely to illustrate this argument of the necessity of more than a mere faith in the mouth Afterwards the Discourse thus procedes If as treacle kept only in the mouth doth not remedy poyson in the whole body but the treacle must enter down into the body and then it altereth the whole body and expells al venome and poyson In like maner he whose profession of his faith is only in his mouth and altereth not his evil life is not forgiven his sins is not delivered from hel nor from the power of Devils is not made the son of God but continueth stil in his poyson of sin in the wrath and indignation of God and in the damnation of the wicked in hell But if the profession of our faith of the remission of our own sinns enter within unto the deepness of our hearts then it must needs kindle a warm fire of Love in our hearts towards God and towards all others for the love of God a fervent mind to seek and procure Gods honor wil and pleasure in al things a good wil and mind to help every man and to do good unto them so far as our Might Wisdome Learning Counsil Health Strength and al other gifts which we have received of God wil extend And in summa a firm intent and purpose to do al that is good and leave al that is evil This is the very right pure perfect lovely christian hearty and justifying Faith which worketh by Love as S. Paul saith and suffereth no venome or poyson of sin to remain within the heart Acts 15. Fide Deus purificans corda But gendreth in the heart a hatred unto al sin and makes a sinner clean a new man and is the Faith which every christen man ought to profess in his Creed And of this Faith runneth al our Paraphrasis upon the same For as for the other fained pretended hypocritical and adulterate Faith in the mouth it is but only a painted visor before men but before God it is hollow within dead rotten and nothing worth II. JUSTIFICATION AND for a further Declaration to know how we obtain our Justification it is expedient to consider first how naughty and sinful we are al that be of Adam's kindred and contrariwise what Mercifulnes is in God which to al faithful and penitent sinners pardoneth al their offences for Christs sake Of these two things no man is lightly ignorant that ever hath heard of the fal of Adam which was to the infection of al his posterity and again of the inexplicable mercy of our heavenly father which sent his only begotten Son to suffer his most grievous passion for us and shed his most precious blood the price of our Redemption But it is greatly to be wished and desired that as al Christen men do know the same so that every man might acknowledg himself a miserable sinner not worthy to be called his son and yet surely trust that to him being repentant Gods mercy is ready to forgive And he that seeth not these two things verified in himself can take no maner of emolument or profit by knowledging and believing the said things to be verified in others But we cannot satisfy our minds settle our conscience that these things be true saving that we do evidently see that Gods word so teacheth us The Commandments of God lay our faults before our eyen which putteth us in fear and dread and maketh us se the wrath of God against our sins As S. Paul saith Per legem agnitio
brought into it These his Thoughts he communicated to Arch-bishop Cranmer which was about the Year 1546. Whereupon they both set to examine it with more than ordinary Care And all the Arguments that Cranmer gathered about it he digested into his Book Nor was the good Arch-bishop ashamed to make a publick Acknowledgment in print of this as well as of his other Popish Errors in his Answer to Smith's Preface who it seems had charged him with Inconstancy This I confess of my self that not long before I wrote the said Catechism I was in that Error of the Real Presence as I was many Years past in many other Errors as of Transubstantiation of the Sacrifice propitiatory of the Priests in the Mass of Pilgrimages of Purgatory c. being brought up from my Youth in them For the which and other the Offences of my Youth I do daily pray unto God for Pardon and Mercy After it pleased God to shew me by his Holy Word a more perfect knowledg of his Son Jesus Christ I put away my former Ignorance As God gave me Light so through his Grace I opened my Eyes to receive it And I trust in God's Mercy for pardon of my former Errors I set this down the more at large to shew the great Ingenuity as well as Piety of this good Man Peter Martyr in the Year following this printed a Book of the Sacrament which was the Sum of what he had read before upon that Point in the University of Oxford Which Book he dedicated to his Patron the Arch-bishop of Canterbury And giving the Reason why he made the Dedication to him said That he knew certainly that Cranmer had so great Skill in this Controversy as one could hardly find in any one besides That there was none of the Fathers which he had not diligently noted no antient or modern Book extant that he Martyr had not with his own Eyes seen noted by the Arch-bishop's Hand Whatsoever belonged to the whole Controversy he said that the Arch-bishop had digested into particular Chapters Councils Canons Popes Decrees pertaining hereunto and that with so great labour that unless he had been an Eye-Witness of it and seen it he could not easily have believed others if they had told him in regard of the infinite Toil Diligence and Exactness wherewith the Arch-bishop had done it He added that the Arch-bishop had not bestowed such kind of Pains and Study in the Matter of the Sacrament only but that he had done the same thing as to all other Doctrines in effect which in that Age were especially under Controversy And this that Learned Man said he had made good Observation of Nor as he went on that he wanted Skill a Method and Industry in defending what he held Which might he said be known by this because he had so often conflicted with his Adversaries both publickly and privately and by a marvellous strength of Learning quickness of Wit and dexterity of Management had asserted what he held to be true from the thorny and intricate Cavils of Sophisters glancing at his Controversies with Winchester who was commonly then called the Sophister and that he wanted not a Will yea a Mind ready to defend Sound and Câ—ristian Doctrines That all Men did sufficiently understand who saw him burn with so great an endeavour of restoring Religion that for this Cause only he had great and heavy Enemies and neglected many Commodities of this Life and underwent horrible Dangers The great and intimate Converse that P. Martyr had with Cranmer gave him opportunity to know him very well and therefore I have chosen to set down this Character that he gave of him and particularly of his Ability in this Controversy of thâ— Eucharist And I am apt to think that the careful perusal of these Authorities collected by the Arch-bishop and his Conversation with this Learned Prelate being much with him at Lambeth was a cause of bringing Martyr to the True Doctrine For at his first coming to Oxon he was a Papist or a Lutheran as to the belief of the Presence And so Feckenham Dean of S. Paul's told Bartlet Green at his Examination and that Martyr perceiving the King's Council as he uncharitably suggested to be of another Opinion he to please them forsook the true Catholick Faith But Mr. Green who had been a hearer of him at Oxon replied That he had heard Martyr say That he had not while he was a Papist read S. Chrysostom upon the tenth to the Corinthians nor many other places of the Doctors But when he had read them and well considered them he was content to yield to them having first humbled himself in Prayer desiring God to illuminate him and bring him to the true understanding of Scripture As to the Authorities the Arch-bishop alledgeth in his Book it was the Conjecture of Iohn Fox that he made use of Frith's Book which he wrote of the Sacrament against More divers Years before and that from the said Author the Arch-bishop seemed to have collected the Testimonies of the Doctors which he produced in his Apology against the Bishop of Winchester and that he gathered the principal and chiefest Helps thence that he leaned to But although he might peruse Frith as he did almost all other Authors that wrote of this Controversy yet he was too well versed in the Ecclesiastical Writers that he needed to go a borrowing to the readings of any others for Sentences and Allegations out of them Cranmer lived to see his Book replied again unto by his Adversary Gardiner in Latin under the fained Name of Marcus Antonius Constantius a Divine of Lovain His Book went under this Title Confutatio cavillationum quibus sacrosanctum Eucharistiae Sacramentum ab impiis Capernaitis impeti solet Printed at Paris 1552. In this Book he spared the Name of the Arch-bishop but reduceth all the Arch-bishop's Book into no less then 255 Objections To each of which one by one the Catholick is brought in making answer Next whereas Cranmer had laid down twelve Rules for the finding out the true Sense of the Fathers in their Writings the Catholick examines them and enervates them Then follows a Confutation of the Solutions whereby the Sectary as he is called that is Cranmer endeavoured to take off the Arguments of the Catholicks And which is the fourth and last part of the Book he defends Catholick Mens Sense of the Allegations out of the Fathers against the Sectaries Gardiner when he compiled this Book was in the Tower a Prisoner but yet he was under so easy restraint that he was furnished there with Workmen and Amanuenses As they of old to the building of the Tabernacle so he to the preparing of his Book a kind of Papistical Tabernacle to use the words of Martyr all sorts contributed something For his Book was Pandora's Box to which all the lesser Gods brought their Presents For every Man were his Learning less or more that had
nec contra praeceptum fierent quae nunc legibus moribus pronuntiant esse contraria Talia inquam constat apud Veteres fuisse usitata nec a bonis quidem viris tunc temporis improbata Quae vel omnia probabunt novi isti homines rerum novarum intro ductores vel aliqua vel nulla Quod si Nulla dicant nobis cur ista admiserunt Si Aliqua quur non reliqua Et praescribant nobis regulam qua sciamus quae sunt admittenda quae vero rejicienda Si Omnia in qua sententia videtur esse Bucerus quaeso te qualem verum faciem quantumque a priore mutatam in ecclesia Videbimus Quam erunt confusa inversa atque praepostera omnia Sed adhuc proprius urgebimus eos interrogabimusque An non tantum quae sub lege facta sunt sed etiam quae ante legem an non tantum quae a Iudaeis sed quae a Gentibus fuerint usitata veluti jure postliminij ad exemplum revocabunt Etsi illa tantum quur non haec aeque atque illa Presertim quae a Sanctioribus Sapientioribus viris ut Socrate Platone Cicerone c. fuerint vel facta vel approbata Quod si utraque concedent concedant nobis Britannis more majorum nostrorum denas duodenasque uxores habere insimul communes maximè fratres cum â—ratribus parentes cum liberis Quod aliquando in hac insula usitatum fuisse Caesar non ignobilis author testatur in Commentarijs Concedant foeminis Christianis quod Solon suis Atheniensibus concesserat ut quae viros parum ad rem Veneream idoneos sortitaâ— fuissent aliquem ex mariti propinquis impune admitterent Concedunt quod Lycurgus coneessit Viris Lacedaemonijs ut qui minus esset ad procreandam prolem idoneus alteri cui vellet suam conjugem impregnandam daret prolem precariò sibi natam ut propriam suo nomine nuncuparet Aut denique quod Romanorum legibus permissum erat ut qui satis liberorum procreasseâ— uxorem suam alteri commodaret prolem desideranti Id quod Cato vir gravissimus sapientissimusque habitus Hortentio amico suo legitur fecisse Talia cum probata fuerint antiquitus viris sapientissimis ac Philosophorum legumque latorum optimis sanctissimis ut Platoni Xenophonti Catoni c. quum eadem fuerint moribus recepta Hebraeorum Graecorum Latinorum quorum populorum Respublicas Politeias constat optimè fuisse constitutas ab omnibus scriptoribus maximè celebratas age faciamus nos si deo placet similia Christianis fratribus permittamus facienda Imo Christus Opt. Max. tam foeda tamque incestuosa connubiorum portenta a sua sancta ecclesia dignetur avertere nunc in diem Domini Amen Haec Ego ad te potissimum Charissime Osiander in presentia scribenda duxi propter eam quae inter nos est jam diu fuit summam necessitudinem familiaritatem quamvis putem atque adeo certo sciam te ab hujusmodi tam absurdis moribus opinionibus quà m alienissimum esse Cum caeteris Vestratibus Doctoribus levior minus arcta michi intercedit amicitia cujus ipsius quoque fateor me multum paeniteret si scirem hos esse fructus novi Evangelij ab ipsis tantopere jactitati a vobis quoque hactenus ut putabamus non temere aliqua ex parte probati Bene vale Dat Lambeth xxvij mo Decembr Tui Amantissimus T. Cantuarien NUM XXX The French Kings Licence to print the English Bible in Paris FRanciscus c. Dilectis nobis Richardo Grafton Edwardo Whitchurch Anglis Civibus Londini Salutem Quia fide digna testimonia accepimus quod carissimus frater noster Anglorum Rex Vobis cujus Subditi estis Sacram Bibliam tam Latinè quam Britannicè sive Anglicè imprimendi imprimi curandi in suum regnum apportandi transferendi libertatem sufficientem legitimam concesserit Et Vos tum propter chartam tum propter alias honestas considerationes animos vestros in hac parte justè moventes dictam Bibliam sic imprimendam Parisijs infra hoc nostrum regnum curaveritis ac in Angliam quamprimum transmittere intenderitis NOS ut haec vobis facere liceat potestatem facientes vobis conjunctim divisim ac Procuratoribus Factoribus Agentibus vestris cujuslibet vestrum ut in regno nostro apud Chalcographum quemcúnque dictam Sacram Bibliam tam Latina quam Anglicana lingua tuto imprimere excudere possitis possint necnon excusa impressa in Angliam duntaxat sine ulla perturbatione aut molestia vel impedimento quocúnque transmittere apportare Dummodo quod sic imprimitis excuditis sincerè purè quantum in Vobis erit citra ullas privatas aut illegitimas opiniones impressum excusum fuerit Et onera ac officia mercatoria nobis ministris nostris debite in hac parte extiterint persoluta licentiam nostram impartimur concedimus specialem per praesentes Dat. c. NUM XXXI Three Discourses of ABp Cranmer occasioned upon his review of the Kings Book intitled The Erudition of a Christian man I. FAITH THIS Book speaks of pure Christian Faith unfeigned which is without colour as wel in heart as in mouth He that hath this Faith converteth from his sin repenteth him that he like Filius prodigus vainly consumed his Wil Reason Wits and other goods which he received of the mere benefit of his heavenly father to his said Fathers displesure and applyeth himself wholy to pleas him again and trusteth assuredly that for Christs sake he wil and doth remit his sins withdraweth his indignation delivereth him from his sin from the power of the Infernal spirits taketh him to his mercy and maketh him his own son and his own heire And he hath also the very Christian Hope that after this life he shal reign ever with Christ in his kingdome For S. Paul saith Si filij sumus haeredes haeredes quidem Dei cohaeredes autem Christi This is the very pure Christian Faith and Hope which every good Christian man ought to profess Believe and Trust and to say of himself even as Iob said Scio quod Redemptor meus vivit c. And as for the other Faith that the Good shal arise unto Glory and the evil unto pain or that those that persevere in Gods precepts and laws so long as they so do they be the right Inheritors of his kingdom this is not the commendation of a Christian his Faith but a most certain proposition which al the Devils believe most certainly And yet they shal never have their sins forgiven by this Faith nor be Inheritors of Gods kingdom Because they lack the very Christian Faith and not trusting to the goodness and mercy of God for their own offences
peccati Et Lex iram operatur And maketh us sorry and repentant that ever we should come into the displeasure of God and the captivity of the Devil The gracious and benign promises of God by the mediation of Christ showeth us and that to our great relief and comfort whensoever we be repentant and return fully to God in our hearts that we have forgiveness of our sins be reconciled to God and be accepted and reputed just and righteous in his sight only by his grace and mercy which he doth grant and give unto us for his dearly beloved Sons sake Jesus Christ who payd a sufficient ransome for our sins whose bloud doth wash away the same whose bitter and grievous passion is the only pacifying oblation that putteth away from us the wrath of God his Father Whose sanctified body offered on the Cross is the only Sacrifice of sweet and pleasant Savour as S. Paul saith that is to say of such sweetnes and pleasantnes to the Father that for the same he accepteth and reputeth of like sweetnes al them that the same offering doth serve for These benefits of God with innumerable others whosoever extendeth and wel pondereth in his heart and therby conceiveth a firm trust and feeling of Gods mercy wherof springeth in his heart a warm love fervent heat of zeal towards God It is not possible but that he shal fal to work and be ready to the performance of al such works as he knoweth to be acceptable unto God And these works only which follow Justification do please God forasmuch as they procede from a heart endued with pure faith and love to God But the works which we do before our Justification be not allowed and accepted before God although they appear never so great and glorious in the sight of men For after our Justification only begin we to work as the law of God requireth then we shal do al good works willingly although not so exactly as the Law requireth by means of the infirmity of the flesh nevertheles by the merits and benefits of Christ we being sorry that we cannot do al things no more exquisitely and duely al our Works shal be accepted and taken of God as most exquisite pure and perfect Now they that think they may come to Justification by performance of the Law by their own deeds and merits or by any other means than is above rehearsed they go from Christ they renounce his grace Evacuati estis a Christo saith S. Paul Gal. 5. Quicunque in lege justificamini a gratia excidistis They be not partakers of his justice that he hath procured or the merciful benefits that be given by him For S. Paul saith a general rule for al them that will seek such by-paths to obtain Justification Those saith he that wil not knowledg the justice or righteousnes which cometh by God but go about to avaunce their own righteousnes shal never come to that righteousnes which we have by God which is the righteousnes of Christ. By whom only al the Saints in Heaven and al others that have been saved have been reputed righteous and justified So that to Christ our only Savior and Redeemer of whose Righteousnes both their and our Justification doth depend is to be transcribed al the glory therof III. FORGIVENES of Injuries THese two may stand both wel together that we as private persons may forgive al such as have trespassed against us with al our heart and yet that the public ministers of God may se a redres of the same trespasses that we have forgiven For my forgivenes concerns only mine own person but I cannot forgive the punishment and correction that by Gods ordinance is to be ministred by the superior power For in so much as the same trespas which I do forgive may be the maintenance of vice not only of the offendor but also of others taking evil example therby it lyes not in me to forgive the same For so should I enterprize in the office of another which by the ordinance of God be deputed to the same Yea and that such justice may be ministred to the abolishment of vice and sin I may yea and rather as the cause shal require I am bound to make relation to the superior powers of the enormities and trespasses done to me and others and being sorry that I should have cause so to do seek the reformation of such evil doers not as desirous of vengeance but of the amendment of their Lives And yet I may not the more cruelly persecute the matter because the offence is peradventure done towards me but I am to handle it as if it were done to any other only for the use of the extirpation of sin the maintenance of justice and quietnes Which may right wel stand with the ferventnes of charity as the Scripture testifieth Non oderis fratrem tuum in corde tuo sed publicè argue eum ne habeas super illo peccatum Levit 19. So that this may stand with charity and also the forgiveness that Christ requireth of every one of us And yet in this doing I must forgive him with al my heart as much as lyes in mee I must be sorry that sin should have so much rule in him I must pray to God to give him repentance for his misdeeds I must desire God that for Christs sake he wil not impute the sin unto him being truly repentant and so to strengthen him in grace that he fal not again so dangerously I think I were no true christen man if I should not thus do And what other thing is this than as much as lyeth in me with al my heart to remit the trespas But I may by the Lawes require al that is due unto me by right And as for the punishment and correction it is not in my power to enterprize therin but that only belongeth to the superior powers to whom if the grievousnes of the cause shal require by the Commandment which willeth us to take away the evil from among us we ought to shew the offences and complain therof For he would not that we should take away the evil but after a just and lawful means which is only by the ordinance of God to shew the same to the Superior Powers that they may take an order in it according to Gods judgment and justice NUM XXXII Other Discourses of Archbishop Cranmer I. De Consolatione Christianorum contra metum mortis Ex Doctoribus Ecclesiasticis IF death of the body were to be feared then theym which have power to kil the body should we fear lest they do their exercise over us as they may at their pleasure But our Saviour forbids us to fear them because when they have killed the body then they can do no more to us Wherfore it is plain that our Savior would not that we should fear death To dy saith S. Iohn Chrysostom is to put off our old garments and death is a pilgrimage of the
such men should be driven from them provided they do reside a good part of the year upon their Churches V. Since the Dispensation of two or three benefices hath been granted by former Princes to some Priests for the merit of their life and maners they cannot without injury be deprived of them Nor yet can they in al respects reside personally and perpetually VI. When many have designed their sons for the Universities and have been at no smal charges to give them learning because they have entertained good hope that they might hereafter be assistant to their friends and relations this hope being gone their care about this matter wil also grow cold otherwise of it self cold enough For as he said Where there is no honor there is no Art VII The houses of the Rectories in many places are either ruined or none at al or let out by Indentures Going to the Court of Rome Going to a General Councel Going to a Synod or Parlament Violent detaining Remedies That there be a les number of those that follow the Court who heap up benefices upon benefices That they who have many Benefices reside a certain time upon each That a way be found wherby such as live in Towns and Cities may be forced to pay Personal tiths Which being now almost quite taken a way the Benefices in such places are in a great part lessened When some of the Bishops by reason of the slendernes of their possessions cannot afford Stipends to the Priests their fellow laborers that they who serve them reside for a certain time of the year in their own parishes That Rectors who heretofore have payd pensions to Monasteries in ready mony be not now compelled to pay the same in bread-corn to Lay-proprietors That in Woody places where the custome hath alwayes obtained tith may be payd of Sylvae caeduae that is Wood that is cut to grow again especially when there is a great scarcity of corn in such places Parishes are not divided jure divino Whence followeth that as many Benefices may be layd into one so one by reason of the greatnes of it may be divided into two NUM LXXXIX Pole Cardinal Legate to Archbishop Cranmer in answer to the Letter he had sent to the Queen ALmighty God the Father by the grace of his only son god and man that dyed for our sins may geve yow trew and perfect repentance This I daylie pray for my self being a Synner but I thank God never obstinate synner And the same grace the more earnestly I do pray for to be geven to them that be obstinate the more neade they have thereof being otherwise past al mannes cure and admonition to save them As your open sayings in open audience doyth show of yow Which hath cawsed that those judges that hath syt apon the examination of your greviouse fautes seing no lykelod of ony repentaunce in yow hath utterlie cast awaye al hope of your recoverie Whereof doith follow the most horrible sentence of condempnation both of your body and soule both your temporal death and eternal Which is to me so great an horrour to here that if there were ony way or mean or fashion that I might fynd to remove you from errour bryngeng yow to the knowledge of the truth for your Salvation This I testifie to you afore God apon the Salvation of myne owne sowle that I would rather chuse to be that meane that yow might receive this benefyt by me then to receive the greatest benefyt for my self that can be geven under heaven in this world I easteme so moch the salvation of one sowle And becawse it happened to me to see your private lettres directed to the Qwenes Highnes sent by the same unto me wherein you utter and express such appearaunt reasons that cause yow to swarve from the rest of the Church in these Articles of the authoritie of the Pope and of the Sacrament of the aulter Concluding with these words That if ony man can show yow by reason that the authoritie of the Pope be not prejudicyal to the wealth of the realm or that your doctrine in the Sacrement be erroneous then you wold never be so perverse to stond wylfullie in your own opinion but shal with al humilitie submytt your self to the truthe in al things and gladly embrace the same Thise your words written in that lettre geveth me some occasion desyring your wealth not utterly to dispayr thereof but to attempt to recover yow by the same way that yow open unto me Which is by reason to show yow the error of your opinion and withal the light of the treuthe in both causes But whither this may healp yow indede or bring you to revoke the same with trew repentaunce this I know not and I fear moche the contrarie For that I see the ground and begynning how you fel into errour in both thise articles not to be of that sort that maketh men commonly to fall into errours and heresies Which sort and way is by medling with your wyt and discourse natural to examen the Articles of the faith Makeing your reason judge thereof which ought to bee judged and ruled by the tradition of the faith Which abuse causeth men dayly to fall into errours and heresies And the same also is in yow and is joyned with that yow have done But here standeth not the grownde of your errour nor yet in this other common maner of faulling from the trouthe which S. Paul noteth in the Gentiles and is in al meâ— commonlie that followeth their sensual appetites Qui veritatem Dâ—i in injustitia detinent Which thing also hath been occasion of your â—rrour But yet not this is the very grownde thereof but a further sawte that you geveng your othe to the truthe yow mocked with the same as the Iewes mocked with Christ when thei saluted him saing Ave Rex Iudaeorum and afterwards did crucifie hym For so did yow to the Vicar of Christ Knowledgeng the Pope of Rome by the words of your othe to be so and in mynde entendeng to crucifie the same authoritie Whereof came the plague of deape ignoraunce and blyndnes unto yow Which is now that bringeth you to this greivous peryl to perish both bodie and sowle From which peril no reason can deliver yow But yow discovereng your self touching the entrie when yow shuld make the customable othe of al legitimate Busshops in Christendom which is the dore for you to entre to the service of God in the highest spiritual office withyn this realme and seeing you made the same but for a countenaunce nothing meaneng to observe that yow promised by the othe this is a dore that every thieffe may entre bye This is not the dore that thei entre by that mean earnestlie the service of God Wherein the Prophets sentence is playne askeng this question Quis ascendet in montem Domini aut quis stabit in loco sancto ejus And then answering to the same