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
Order to another By whom And for what Cause What Mortmains they had And whether their Founders were sufficiently Authorized to make such Donations Upon what suggestions and for what Causes they were exempted from their Diocesans Their Local Statutes were also to be seen and examined The Election of their Head was to be enquired into The Rule of every House was to be considered How many professed And how many Novices were in it And at what time the Novices Professed Whether they knew their Rule and observed it Chiefly the three Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whether any of them kept any money without the Masters knowledge Whether they kept company with women within or without the Monastery Or if there were any back-doors by which women came within the precinct Whether they had any boys lying by them Whether they observed the Rules of Silence Fasting Abstinence and Hair-shirts Or by what warrant they were dispenced with in any of these Whether they did Eat Sleep wear their Habit and stay within the Monastery according to their Rules Whether the Master was too cruel or too remiss And whether he used the Brethren without partiality or malice Whether any of the Brethren were incorrigible Whether the Master made his accompts faithfully once a year Whether all the other Officers made their accompts truely And whether the whole Revenues of the House were imployed according to the intention of the Founders Whether the Fabrick was kept up and the Plate and Furniture were carefully preserved Whether the Covent-Seal and the Writings of the House were well kept And whether Leases were made by the Master to his Kindred and Friends to the damage of the House Whether Hospitality was kept and whether at the receiving of Novices any money or reward was demanded or promised What care was taken to instruct the Novices Whether any had entred into the House in hope to be once the Master of it Whether in giving Presentations to Livings the Master had reserved a Pension out of them Or what sort of Bargains he made concerning them An account was to be taken of all the Parsonages and Vicarages belonging to every House and how these Benefices were disposed of and how the Cure was served All these things were to be inquired after in the Houses of Monks or Friars And in the Visitation of Nunneries they were to Search Whether the House had a good Enclosure and if the Doors and Windows were kept shut so that no man could enter at inconvenient hours Whether any men conversed with the Sisters alone without the Abbesses leave Whether any Sister was forced to profess either by her Kindred or by the Abbess Whether they went out of their precinct without leave And whether they wore their Habit then What employment they had out of the times of Divine Service What familiarity they had with Religious men Whether they wrote Love-Letters Or sent and received Tokens or Presents Whether the Confessor was a discreet and learned man and of good reputation And how oft a year the Sisters did Confess and Communicate They were also to visit all Collegiate Churches Hospitals and Cathedrals and the Order of the Knights of Ierusalem But if this Copy be compleat they were only to view their Writings and Papers to see what could be gathered out of them about the Reformation of Monastical Orders And as they were to visit according to these Instructions so they were to give some Injunctions in the Kings Name That they should endeavour all that in them lay that the Act of the Kings Succession should be observed where it is said that they had under their Hands and Seals confirmed it This showes that all the Religious Houses of England had acknowledged it and they should teach the people that the Kings Power was Supreme on Earth under God and that the Bishop of Rome's Power was Usurped by Craft and Policy and by his ill Canons and Decretals which had been long tolerated by the Prince but was now justly taken away The Abbot and Brethren were declared to be absolved from any Oath they had Sworn to the Pope or to any Forreign Potentate and the Satutes of any Order that did bind them to a Forreign Subjection were abrogated and ordered to be razed out of their Books That no Monk should go out of the precinct nor any woman enter within it without leave from the King or the Visitor and that there should be no entry to it but one Some Rules were given about their Meals and a Chapter of the Old or New Testament was ordered to be read at every one The Abbots Table was to be served with common Meats and not with delicate and strange Dishes and either he or one of the Seniors were to be always there to entertain strangers Some other Rules follow about the distribution of their Alms their accommodation in Health and Sickness One or two of every House was to be kept at the University that when they were well Instructed they might come and teach others And every day there was to be a Lecture of Divinity for a whole hour The Brethren must all be well employed The Abbot or Head was every day to explain some part of the Rule and apply it according to Christ's Law and to shew them that their Ceremonies were but Elements introductory to true Christianity and that Religion consisted not in Habits or in such like Rites but in cleanness of Heart pureness of Living unfeigned Faith Brotherly Charity and true honouring of God in Spirit and Truth That therefore they must not rest in their Ceremonies but ascend by them to true Religion Other Rules are added about the Revenues of the House and against Wastes and that none be entred into their House nor admitted under twenty four years of Age. Every Priest in the House was to say Mass daily and in it to pray for the King and Queen If any brake any of these Injunctions he was to be denounced to the King or his Visitor-general The Visitor had also Authority to punish any whom he should find guilty of any Crime and to bring the Visitor-general such of their Books and Writings as he thought fit But before I give an account of this Visitation I presume it will not be ingrateful to the Reader to offer him some short view of the Rise and Progress of Monastick Orders in England and of the state they were in at this time What the Ancient British Monks were or by what Rule they were Governed whether it was from the Eastern Churches that this Constitution was brought into Britain and was either suited to the Rule of St. Anthony St. Pachon or St. Basil or whether they had it from France where Sulpitius tells us St. Martin set up Monasteries must be left to conjecture But from the little that remains of them we find they were very numerous and were obedient to the Bishop of Caerleon as all the Monks of the
and abiding at the See of Rome or elsewhere in other parts beyond the Sea far out and from any of the King 's said Dominions by reason whereof the great Hospitality Divine Service teaching and Preaching the Laws and Examples of good living and the other good and necessary effects before rehearsed have been many years by-past and yet continually be not only withdrawn decayed hindred and minished but also great quantity of Gold Silver and Treasure to the yearly sum and value of 3000 l. at the least have been yearly taken and conveighed out of this Realm to the singular profit and great enriching of the said Bishops and daily is like to be conveighed transported and sent contrary to the purport and effect of the said former wholsome Laws and Statutes to the great impoverishing of this Realm as well presently as for to come if speedy remedy be not had therefore in brief time provided In consideration whereof be it enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament that the said two several Sees and Bishopricks of Salisbury and Worcester and either of them from henceforth shall be taken reputed and accounted in the Law to be utterly void vacant and utterly destitute of any Incumbent or Prelate c. XLVIII A Letter from Cromwel to Fisher about the Maid of Kent Anno 34 or end of 35. MY Lord in my right hearty wise I commend me to your Lordship doing you to understand that I have received your Letters dated at Rochester the 18 th day of this Month in which ye declare what craft and cunning ye have to persuade and to set a good Countenance upon an ill Matter drawing some Scriptures to your purpose which well weighed according to the places whereout they be taken make not so much for your purpose as ye alledge them for and where in the first Leaf of your Letters ye write that ye doubt nothing neither before God nor before the World if need shall that require so to declare your self whatsoever hath been said of you that ye have not deserved such heavy words or terrible threats as hath been sent from me unto you by your Brother How ye can declare your self afore God and the World when need shall require I cannot tell but I think verily that your Declaration made by these Letters is far insufficient to prove that ye have deserved no heavy words in this behalf And to say plainly I sent you no heavy words but words of great comfort willing your Brother to shew you how benign and merciful the Prince was And that I thought it expedient for you to write unto his Highness and to recognize your Offences and desire his pardon which his Grace would not deny you now in your age and sickness which my counsel I would you had followed rather than to have written these Letters to me excusing your self altho there were no manner of default in you But my Lord if it were in an other manner of case than your own and out of the Matter which ye favour I doubt not but that ye would think him that should have done as ye have done not only worthy heavy Words but also heavy Deeds for where ye labour to excuse your self of your Hearing Bribing and concealing of the Maiden's false and feigned Revelations and of your manifold sending of your Chaplains unto her by a certain intent which ye pretend your self to have had to know by communing with her or by sending your Chaplains to her whether for Revelations Word of God or no alledging divers Scriptures that ye were bound to prove them and to receive them after they were proved My Lord whether ye have used a due means to try her and her Revelations or no it appeareth by the process of your own Letters For where you write that ye had conceived a great opinion of the holiness of this Woman for many considerations rehearsed in your Letters comprised in six Articles whereof the first is grounded upon the bruit and fame of her the second upon her entring into Religion after her trances and diffiguration the third upon rehearsal that her Ghostly Father being Learned and Religious should testify that she was a Woman of great holiness the fourth upon the report that divers other vertuous Priests Men of good Learning and Reputation should so testify of her with which Ghostly Father and Priests ye never spake as ye confess in your Letters the fifth upon the praises of my late Lord of Canterbury which shewed you as ye write that she had many great Visions the sixth upon the saying of the Prophet Amos Non faciet Dominus Deus Verbum nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad servos suos Prophetas By which Considerations ye were induced to the desire to know the very certainty of this Matter whether these Revelations which were pretended to be shewed to her from God were true Revelations or not Your Lordship in all the sequel of your Letters shew not that ye made no further trial upon the truth of her and her Revelations but only in communing with her and sending your Chaplains to her with idle Questions as of the 3 Mary Magdalens by which your communication and sending ye tried out nothing of her falshood neither as it is credibly supposed intended to do as ye might have done in any wise more easily than with communing with her or sending to her for little credence was to be given to her affirming her own feigned Revelations to be from God for if credence should be given to every such lewd Person as would affirm himself to have Revelations from God what readier way were there to subvert all Common-Weals and good orders in the World Verily my Lord if ye had intended to trace out the truth of her and of her Revelations ye would have taken an other way with you first you would not have been converted with the vain Voices of the People making bruits of her Trances and Diffiguration but like a wise discreet and circumspect Prelate ye should have examined as other since such sad and credible Persons as were present at her Traunces and Diffigurings not one or two but a good number by whose testimony ye should have proved whether the Bruits of her Traunces and Diffigurations were true or not And likewise ye should have tried by what craft and persuasion she was made a Religious Woman and if ye had been so desirous as ye pretended to enquire out the truth or falshood of this Woman and of her Revelations it is to be supposed ye would have spoken with her good religious and well-learned Ghostly Father e're this time and also with the vertuous and well-learned Priest as they were esteemed of whose reports ye would have been informed by them which heard them speak or ye would also have been minded to see the Book of her Revelations which was offered you of which ye might have had more trial of her and her Revelations than of a hundred
arca aurea in Civitate Cantuarien servabantur postquam ipsum Divum Thomam ad majorem Religionis contemptum in judicium vocari tanquam contumacem damnari ac proditorem declarari fecerat exhumari comburi ac cineres in ventum spargi jussit omnem plane cunctarum gentium crudelitatem superans cum ne in bello quidem hostes victores saevire in mortuorum cadavera soliti sunt adhaec omnia ex diversorum Regum etiam Anglorum aliorum Principum liberalitate donaria ipsi arcae appensa quae multa maximi pretii erant sibi usurpavit nec putans ex hoc satis injuriae religionis intulisse Monasterium Divo illi Augustino a quo Christianam fidem Angli acceperunt in dicta civitate dicatum omnibus Thesauris qui etiam multi magni erant spoliavit sicut se in belluam transmutavit ita etiam belluas quasi socias suas honorare voluit feras videlicet in dicto Monasterio expulsis Monachis intromittendo genus quidem sceleris non modo Christi fidelibus sed etiam Turcis inauditum abominandum 4. Cum itaque morbus iste a nullo quantumvis peritissimo medico alia cura sanari possit quam putridi membri abscissione nec valeret cura hujusmodi absque eo quod nos apud Deum causam hanc nostram efficiamus ulterius retardari ad dictarum literarum quas ad hoc ut Henricus Rex ejusque Complices Fautores adhaerentes consultores sequaces etiam super excessibus per eum novissime ut praefertur perpetratos intra terminum eis quoad alia per alias nostras literas praedictas respective praefixas se excusare alias poenis ipsis literis contentas incurrant extendimus ampliamus publicationem deinde Deo duce ad executionem procedere omnino statuimus Et quia a fide dignis accepimus quod si ipsarum praesentium literarum publicatio Diep Rothomagen vel Boloniae Ambianen Dioec Oppidis in Franciae aut Civitate Sancti Andreae seu in Oppido Callistren Sancti Andreae Dioec in Scotiae Regnis vel in Thuamien Antiferten Civitatibus vel Dioec Dominii Hiberniae fiat non solum tam facile ut si in locis in dictis literis expressis fieret sed facilius ipsarum literarum tenor ad Henrici aliorum quos concernunt praesertim Anglorum notitiam deveniret Nos volentes in hoc opportune providere motu scientia potestatis plenitudine praedictis decernimus quod publicatio literarum superius inserâ—arum quarum insertioni superius factae ac ipsis Originalibus quoad validitatem publicationis seu executionis praesentium fidem adhiberi volumus in duobus ex locis praesentibus literis expressis alias juxta supra insertarum praesentium literarum tenore facta etiam si in locis extra Romanam Curiam in dictis praeinsertis literis specificatis hujusmodi publicatio non fiat perinde Henricum Regem alios quos concernunt praesertim Anglos afficiat ac si Henrico Regi aliis praedictis praesertim Anglis personaliter intimatae fuissent 5. Quodque praesentium transumptis juxta modum in praeinsertis literis expressum factis tam in judicio quam extra eadem fides adhibeatur quae Originalibus adhiberetur si forent exhibitae vel ostensae 6. Non obstantibus Constitutionibus Ordinationibus Apostolicis necnon omnibus illis quae in dictis literis voluimus non obstare caeterisque contrariis quibuscunque 7. Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostri Decreti voluntatis infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire Si quis autem hoc attentare praesumpserit indignationem Omnipotentis Dei ac Beatorum Petri Pauli Apostolorum ejus se noverit incursurum Dat. Romae apud S. Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae 1538. decimo sexto Kal. Januarii Pontificatus nostri anno quinto X. The Iudgment of some Bishops concerning the King's Supremacy An Original THe words of St. Iohn in his 20 th Chap. Sicut misit me Pater ego mitto vos c. hath no respect to a King 's or a Princes Power but only to shew how that the Ministers of the Word of God chosen and sent for that intent are the Messengers of Christ to teach the Truth of his Gospel and to loose and bind sin c. as Christ was the Messenger of his Father The words also of St. Paul in the 20 th Chap. of the Acts Attendite vobis universo gregi in qua vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei were spoken to the Bishops and Priests to be diligent Pastors of the People both to teach them diligently and also to be circumspect that false Preachers should not seduce the People as followeth immediately after in the same place Other places of Scripture declare the highness and excellency of Christian Princes Authority and Power the which of a truth is most high for he hath power and charge generally over all as well Bishops as Priests as other The Bishops and Priests have charge of Souls within their own Cures power to minister Sacraments and to teach the Word of God to the which Word of God Christian Princes knowledg themselves subject and in case the Bishops be negligent it is the Christian Princes Office to see them do their duty T. Cantuarien Ioannes London Cuthbertus Dunelmen Io. Batwellen Thomas Elien Nicolaus Sarisburien Hugo Wygorn I. Roffen XI Injunctions to the Clergy made by Cromwell IN the Name of God Amen By the Authority and Commission of the excellent Prince Henry by the Grace of God King of England and of France Defensor of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in Earth Supream Head under Christ of the Church of England I Thomas Lord Cromwel Privy Seal and Vice-gerent to the King 's said Highness for all his Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm do for the advancement of the true honour of Almighty God encrease of Vertue and discharge of the King's Majesty give and exhibit unto you these Injunctions following to be kept observed and fulfilled upon the pains hereafter declared First That ye shall truly observe and keep all and singular the King's Highness Injunctions given unto you heretofore in my Name by his Graces Authority not only upon the pains therein expressed but also in your default after this second monition continued upon further punishment to be straitly extended towards you by the King's Highness Arbitriment or his Vice-gerent aforesaid Item That ye shall provide on this side the Feast of next coming one Book of the whole Bible of the largest Volume in English and the same set up in some convenient place within the said Church that ye have Cure of whereas your Parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it the charge of which Book shall be ratably born between you the Parson and the Parishioners aforesaid that is
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
correspondence with the King fell to the ground with her but he may well cite Cochleus an Author of the same honesty with himself from whose writings we may with the like security make a judgment of Forreign Matters as we may upon Sanders's testimony believe the account he gives of English Affairs 90. He tells us among other things done by the King and picks it out as the only instance he mentions of the King's Injunctions that the People should be taught in Churches the Lord's Prayer the Ave the Creed and the Ten Commandments in English It seems this Author thought the giving these Elements of Religion to the People in the vulgar Tongue a very heinous Crime when this is singled out from all the rest 91. That being done he says there was next a Book published called Articles appointed by the King's Majesty which were the six Articles This shews that he either had no information of English Affairs or was sleeping when he wrote this for the Six Articles were not published soon after the Injunctions as he makes it by the same Parliament and Convocation but three years after by another Parliament They were never put in a Book nor published in the King's Name they were Enacted in Parliament and are neither more nor less than 25 lines in the first Impression of that Act so far short come they of a Book 92. He reckons up very defectively the differences between the Church of Rome and the Doctrine set forth by the King's Authority but in one point he shews his ordinary wit for in the sixth particular he says He retained the Sacrament of Order but appointed a new Form of Consecrating of Bishops This he put in out of malice that he might annul the Ordinations of that time but the thing is false for except that the Bishops instead of their Oaths of Obedience to the Pope which they formerly swore did not swear to the King there was no other change made and that to be sure is no part of the Form of Consecration 93. He resolved once to speak what he thought was Truth tho it be treasonable and impious and says Upon these changes many in Lincolnshire and the Northern parts did rise for Religion and the Faith of Christ. This was indeed the motive by which their Seditious Priests misled them yet he is mistaken in the time for it was not after the six Articles were published but almost three years before it Nor was it for the Faith of Christ which teaches us to be humble subject and obedient but because the King was removing some of the corruptions of that Faith which their false Teachers did impiously call the Faith of Christ. 94. He says The King did promise most faithfully that all these things of which they complained should be amended This is so evidently false that it is plain Sanders resolved dextrously to avoid the speaking of any sort of Truth for the King did fully and formally tell them he would not be directed nor counselled by them in these Points they complained of and did only offer them an Amnesty for what was past 95. Then he reckons up 32 that died for the defence of the Faith They were attainted of Treason for being in actual Rebellion against the King and thus it appears that Rebellion was the Faith in his sense and himself died for it or rather in it having been starved to death in a Wood to which he fled after one of his rebellious Attempts on his Soveraign in which he was the Pope's Nuncio 96. He says The King killed the Earl of Kildare and five of his Uncles By this strange way of expressing a legal Attainder and the execution of a Sentence for manifest Treason and Rebellion he would insinuate on the Reader a fancy that one of Bonner's cruel fits had taken the King and that he had killed those with his own hand The Lord Herbert has fully opened that part of the History from the Records that he saw and shews that a more resolved Rebellion could not be than that was of which the Earl of Kildare and his Uncles were guilty But because they sent to the Pope and Emperor for assistance the Earl desiring to hold the Kingdom of Ireland of the Pope since the King by his Heresie had fallen from his Right to it Sanders must needs have a great kindness for their memory who thus suffered for his Faith 97. He says Queen Iane Seimour being in hard labour of Prince Edward the King ordered her Body to be so opened by Surgeons that she died soon after All this is false for she had a good Delivery as many Original Letters written by her Council that have been since printed do shew but she died two days after of a distemper incident to her Sex 98. He sets down some Passages of Cardinal Pole's Heroical Constancy which being proved by no Evidence and not being told by any other Writer whom I ever saw are to be lookt on as the flourishes of the Poet to set off his Hero 99. He would perswade the World that the Marquess of Exceter the Lord Montacute and the rest that suffered at that time died because they were believed to dislike the King 's wicked Proceedings and that the Countess of Sarum was beheaded on this single account that she was the Mother of such a Son and was sincerely addicted to the Catholick Faith and that she was condemned because she wrote to her Son and for wearing in her Breast the Picture of the five Wounds of Christ. The Marquess of Exceter pretended he was well satisfied with the King's Proceedings and was Lord Stewart when the Lords Darcy and Hussie were tried and he gave judgment against them But it being discovered that he and other Persons approved of Cardinal Pole's proceedings who endeavoured to engage all Christian Princes in a League against the King pursuant to which they had expressed themselves on several occasions resolved when a fit opportunity offered it self to rebel it was no wonder if the King proceeded against them according to Law And for the Countess of Sarum tho the legality of that Sentence passed against her cannot be defended yet she had given great offence not only by her correspondence with her Son but by the Bulls she had received from Rome and by her opposing the King's Injunctions hindring all her Tenants to read the New Testament or any other Books set out by the King's order And for the Picture which was found among her Cloaths it having been the Standard of the Rebellion and the Arms of England being found on the other side of it there was just ground to suspect an ill design in it 100. He says The Images which the King destroyed were by many wonderful Works of God recommended to the Devotion of the Nation All the wonder in these Works was the knavery of some jugling Impostors and the simplicity of a credulous multitude of
Sacraments may in no wise be suffered to perish or to be abolished according to the saying of St. Paul Quomodo credent in eum de quo non audiâ—runt quomodo autem audient sine praedicante quomodo autem praedicabunt nisi missi fuerunt sicut scriptum est quam speciosâ— super montes pedes Evangelizantium pacem annunciantium bona Thirdly because the said Power and Office or Function hath annexed unto it assured promises of excellent and inestimable things for thereby is conferred and given the Holy Ghost with all his graces and finally our justification and everlasting life according to the saying of St. Paul Non me pâ—det Evangelii Iesu Christi potentia siquidem est Dei ad salutem omni credenti that is to say I am not ashamed of the room and Office which I have given unto me by Christ to preach his Gospel for it is the Power of God that is to say the elect Organ or instrument ordained by God and endued with such vertue and efficacy that it is able to give and Minister effectually everlasting Life unto all those that will believe and obey unto the same Item That this Office this Power and Authority was committed and given by Christ and his Apostles unto certain persons only that is to say unto Priests or Bishops whom they did elect call and admit thereunto by their Prayer and Imposition of their hands Secondly We will that all Bishops and Preachers shall instruct and teach our people committed unto their Spiritual charge that the Sacrament of Order may worthily be called a Sacrament because it is a holy Rite or ceremony instituted by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament and doth consist of two parts like as the other Sacraments of the Church do that is to say of a spiritual and an invisible grace and also of an outward and a visible Sign The invisible gift or grace conferred in this Sacrament is nothing else but the Power the Office and the Authority before mentioned the visible and outward Sign is the Prayer and Imposition of the Bishops hands upon the person which receiveth the said gift or grace And to the intent the Church of Christ should never be destituted of such Ministers as should have and execute the said power of the keys it was also Ordained and commanded by the Apostles that the same Sacrament should be applyed and ministred by the Bishop from time to time unto such other persons as had the qualities which the Apostles very diligently descryve as it appeareth evidently in the third Chap. of the first Epistle of St. Paul to Tim. and his Epistle unto Titus And surely this is the whole vertue and efficacy and the cause also of the institution of this Sacrament as it is found in the New Testament for albeit the Holy Fathers of the Church which succeeded the Apostles minding to beautifie and ornate the Church of Christ with all those things which were commendable in the Temple of the Iews did devise not only certain other ceremonies than be before rehearsed as Tonsures Rasures Unctions and such other observances to be used in the administration of the said Sacraments but did also institute certain inferiour orders or degreâ—s as Ianitors Lectors Exorcists Acolits and Subdeacons and deputed to every one of those certain Offices to Execute in the Church wherein they followed undoubtedly the example and rites used in the Old Testament yet the truth is that in the New Testament there is no mention made of any degrees or distinctions in Orders but only of Deacons or Ministers and of Priests or Bishops nor there is any word spoken of any other ceremony used in the conferring of this Sacrament but only of Prayer and the Imposition of the Bishops hands Thomas Cromwell T. Cantuarien Edwardus Ebor. Ioannes London Cuthbertus Dunelmensis Ioannes Lincoln Ioannes Bathoniens Thomas Elien Ioannes Bangor Nicolaus Sarum Edwardus Hereforden Hugo Wygorn Ioannes Roffen Rich. Cicestr Richardus Wolman Ioannes Bell. Willielmus Clyffe Robertus Aldridge Gilfridus Downes Ioannes Skip Cuthbertus Marshall Marmaduke Waldeby Robertus Oking Nicolaus Heyth Rodolphus Bradford Richardus Smith Simon Matthew Ioannes Prynn Gulielmus Buckmastre Willielmus Maye Nicolaus Wotton Ricardus Cox Ioannes Redman Thomas Robertson Thomas Baret Ioannes Nase Ioannes Barbar Some other hands there are that cannot be Read Sacrae Theologiae Iuris Ecclesiastici Civilis Professores VI. A Letter of Melanthons to perswade the King to a further Reformation An Original S. D. Serenissime Inclyte Rex Etsi audieramus Romanum Episcopum omnibus artificiis incendere Caesaris Caroli Regis Gallici animos adversus Britannos Germanos tamen quia spero Deum haec pericula gubernaturum esse defensurum tranquillitatem tuam scripsi in alteris literis de Ecclesiarum emendatione quam si tempora sinent rogo ut Regia Majestas tua suscipiat Postea adjeci hanc Epistolam non impudentia sed optimo studio amore cum Ecclesiarum cum Regiae Majestatis tuae incitatus quare per Christum obtestor Regiam Majestatem tuam ut meam libertatem boni consulat Saepe cogito Britannicae Ecclesiae primordia caeteras laudes hinc enim propagata est doctrina Christiana in magnam Germaniae Galliae partem imo Britannicae Ecclesiae beneficium fuit quod primum Romanae Provinciae liberatae sunt persecutione Haec primum nobis Imperatorem pium Constantinum dedit magna haec gloria est vestri nominis Nunc quoque Regia Majestas tua primum heroica magnitudine animi ostendit se veritati patrocinaturum esse excussit Romani Episcopi tyrannidem quare veterem puritatem Ecclesiae vestrae maxime optarim restitui integram Sed animadverto istic esse quosdam qui veteres abusus ortos aut confirmatos a Romano Episcopo adhuc mordicus tenent Mirum est autem Autore abusuum ejecto ipsa tamen venena retineri qua in re illud etiam periculi est quod illi ipsi aut eorum imitatores aliquando revocaturi potestatem Romani Episcopi videntur si populus hunc putavit esse Magistrum Ecclesiarum incurrunt enim ritus in oculos admonent de autore ut Solonis memoria cum legibus Athenis propagata jucunda fuit Gaudebam igitur in Edicto recens istic proposito de Religione promitti publicam deliberationem emendationem de Ecclesiarum ritibus legibus eaque sententia mitigavit Decreti acerbitatem quanquam enim laudo pietatem quod errores prohibentur qui pugnant cum doctrina Catholicae Ecclesiae quam nos profitemur tamen doleo ad eas causas adjectum esse articulum in quo praecipitur omnium rituum usitatorum caelibatus observatio Primum enim multi transferent Edicti Autoritatem ad stabiliendos abusus Missae Deinde in universum confirmatur pertinacia eorum qui Doctrinae nostrae sunt iniquiores debilitantur studia piorum Augustinus