telling him his Intent was hereby only to set out the Freedom of God's Mercy But Winchester challenged him to shew Scripture for it or any one ancient Writer That Faith in justifying excludeth Charity This Winchester afterward declared at large to the Lord Protector and added That the Arch-bishop in that Homily of Salvation had taken such a Matter in hand and so handled it as if he were his extream Enemy he would have wished him to have taken that Piece in hand and so to have handled it as he did He represented one of the Arch-bishop's Arguments for Faith excluding Charity to be thus out of that Homily We be justified by Faith without all Works of the Law Charity is a Work of the Law Ergo We are justified without Charity But I warn the Reader to consult the Homily it self before he pass his Judgment upon Cranmer's Argument as it is here represented by one that was none of his Friend In fine he said There were as many Faults in that Homily of Salvation as he had been Weeks in Prison and that was seven besides the Matter viz. making a Trouble without Necessity In short he charged the Arch-bishop for troubling the World with such a needless Speculation as this is because he said that in Baptism we are justified being Infants before we can talk of the Justification we strive for For all Men receive their Justification in their Infancy in Baptism And if they fall after Baptism they must arise again by the Sacrament of Penance And so this Doctrine he said was to be sent to the Universities where it is meet to be talked and disputed of and not fit for Homilies And to disparage further the Arch-bishop's Judgment he told the Protector That if my Lord of Canterbury would needs travail in this Matter he should never perswade that Faith excluded Charity in Justification unless he borrowed Prisons of the Protector and then he might percase have some to agree to it As poor Men kneel at Rome when the Bishop of Rome goeth by or else are knocked on the Head with a Halbard And then he made some scoffing mention of the Strength of God's Spirit in the Arch-bishop and his Learning in his Laws so as to be able to overthrow with his Breath all Untruths and establish Truths I make no Reflection upon all this unseemly Language of this Bishop but leave it to the Reader to judg hereby of the Learning and Spirit that was in him And could we have retrieved the Arch-bishop's own Arguments and Replies to these Barkings of Winchester they would have left to the World a full Vindication of Cranmer and his Doctrine As to Erasmus's Paraphrase the said Bishop pretended He found divers things in it to condemn the Work and that he agreed with them that said Erasmus laid the Eggs and Luther hatched them and that of all the monstrous Opinions that have risen evil Men had a wondrous Occasion ministred to them from that Book He also wrote to the Protector the particular Objections he made against it He said He might term it in one word Abomination both for the Malice and Untruth of much Matter out of Erasmus's Pen and also for the arrogant Ignorance of the Translator of it considering that Book was authorized by the King and a Charge laid upon the Realm of twenty thousand Pounds by enjoining every Parish to buy one Whereof he had made an Estimate by the probable number of Buyers and the Price of the Book He charged the Translator with Ignorance both in Latin and English a Man he said far unmeet to meddle with such a Matter and not without Malice on his part Finally The Matter he had to shew in both the Books was in some part dangerous and the Concealment thereof a great Fault if he did not utter it And that he pretended made him some-while ago write to the Council declaring his Mind in relation thereunto For which he was sent to the Fleet. The true Occasion whereof as I take it from his own Letter written with his own Hand which I have before me was this Upon the Departure of the Lord Protector against the Scots the King's Visitors began their Visitation Then as soon as the Bishop heard of the Visitation and the Books of Homilies and Injunctions were come to his hands he wrote to the Council trusting upon such earnest Advertisements as he made they would incontinently have sent for him and upon knowledg of so evident Matter as he thought he had to shew would have staid till the Protector 's Return He saw as he said a Determination to do all things suddenly at one time Whereunto though the Protector had agreed yet of his Wisdom as the Bishop conjectured he had rather these Matters should have tarried till his Return had he not been pressed on both Sides an Expression which the Protector in a Letter to him had used He reckoned that if he could have staid this Matter in his Absence though by bringing himself into extream Danger besides his Duty to God and the King he should have done the Protector a Pleasure of whom he had this Opinion that willingly and wittingly he would neither break the Act of Parliament nor command Books to be bought by Authority that contained such Doctrine as those Books did Thus he had he said remembrance of his Grace in these his Letters to the Council but he chiefly made not his Grace but God his Foundation with the Preservation of the late deceased King's Honour and the Surety of the King then being His Writing he confessed was vehement but he would have none offended with it for he wrote it with a whole Heart and if he could have written it with the Blood of his Heart he would have done it to have staid the thing till it had been more maturely digested He touched lively one Point in his Letter to the Council and considered whether the King might command against a Common Law or an Act of Parliament and shewed the Danger of it in the late Lord Cardinal and the Lord Typtoft before him who was Executed on Tower-hill for acting against the Laws of the Land though it were by the King's Commission and by other Precedents Not long after these Letters of the Bishop to the Council they sent for him When he came before them he came furnished with his Trinkets his Sleeves and Bosom trussed full of Books to furnish his former Allegations He was heard very well and gently Then he shewed Matter that he thought would have moved them For there he shewed the two contrary Books meaning the Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase But the Council told him they were not moved and added That their Consciences agreed not with his using many good Words to bring him to Conformity After he had been aside from them and was returned again they entred a precise Order with him either to receive the Injunctions or to refuse In which Case they told him
Riot in the University and thereby to endanger the King's Professor and was therefore got away into Scotland conscious likewise to himself of Calumnies and Wrongs done by him against the Arch-bishop some time after wrote to the Arch-bishop a submissive Letter praying him to forgive all the Injuries he had done his Grace and to obtain the King's Pardon for him that he might return Home again And he promised to write a Book for the Marriage of Priests as he had done before against it That he was the more desirous to come Home into England because otherwise he should be put upon writing against his Grace's Book of the Sacrament and all his Proceedings in Religion being then harboured as he would make it believed by such as required it at his Hands But in Q. Mary's Days he revolted again and was a most zealous Papist and then did that indeed which he gave some Hints of before for he wrote vehemently against Cranmer's Book But from Oxford let us look over to Cambridg Where Disputations likewise were held in the Month of Iune before the King's Commissioners who were Ridley Bishop of Rochester Thomas Bishop of Ely Mr. Cheke Dr. May and Dr. Wendy the King's Physician The Questions were That Transubstantiation could not be proved by Scripture nor be confirmed by the Consent of Antient Fathers for a thousand Years past And that the Lord's Supper is no Oblation or Sacrifice otherwise than a Remembrance of Christ's Death There were three Solemn Disputations In the first Dr. Madew was Respondent and Glyn Langdale Sedgwick and Yong Opponents In the Second Dr. Glyn was Respondent on the Popish side Opponents Pern Grindal Guest Pilkington In the third Dr. Pern was Respondent Parker Pollard Vavasor Yong Opponents After these Disputations were ended the Bishop of Rochester determined the Truth of these Questions ad placitum suum as a Papist wrote out of whose Notes I transcribe the Names of these Disputants Besides these Disputations when Bucer came to Cambridg he was engaged in another with Sedgwick Pern and Yong upon these Questions I. That the Canonical Books of Scripture alone do teach sufficiently all things necessary to Salvation II. That there is no Church in Earth that erreth not as well in Faith as Manners III. That we are so freely justified of God that before our Justification whatsoever good Works we seem to do have the Nature of Sin Concerning this last he and Yong had several Combates Which are set down in his English Works As to Bucer's Opinion of the Presence in the Sacrament the great Controversy of this Time it may not be amiss to consider what so great a Professor thought herein and especially by what we saw before that Martyr and he did somewhat differ in this Point For as he would not admit those words Carnally and Naturally so neither did he like Realiter and Substantialiter Bucer's Judgment drawn up by himself sententiously in 54 Aphorisms may be seen in the Appendix as I meet with it among Fox's Papers It is extant in Latin among his Scripta Anglicana and intitled Concessio D. M. Buc. de Sancta Eucharistia in Anglia Aphoristicos scripta Anno 1550. And so we take our leave of Bucer for this Year We shall hear of him again in the next CHAP. XV. Matters of the Church and its State now LET me now crave a little room to set down some Matters that relate to the Church coming within the compass of this Year which will shew what mean Advances Religion as yet had made in the Nation Divers Relicks of Popery still continued in the Nation by means partly of the Bishops partly of the Justices of Peace Popishly affected In London Bishop Boner drove on but heavily in the King's Proceedings though he outwardly complied In his Cathedral Church there remained still the Apostles Mass and our Lady's Mass and other Masses under the Defence and Nomination of our Lady's Communion used in the private Chappels and other remote places of the same Church tho not in the Chancel contrary to the King's Proceedings Therefore the Lord Protector and others of the Council wrote to the Bishop Iune 24. Complaining of this and ordering that no such Masses should be used in S. Paul's Church any longer and that the Holy Communion according to the Act of Parliament should be ministred at the high Altar of the Church and in no other place of the same and only at such times as the high Masses were wont to be used except some number of People for their necessary Business desired to have a Communion in the Morning and yet the same to be exercised in the Chancel at the high Altar as was appointed in the Book of Publick Service Accordingly Boner directed his Letters to the Dean and Chapter of Paul's to call together those that were resident and to declare these Matters As it was thus in London so in the Countries too many of the Justices were slack in seeing to the execution of the King's Laws relating not only to Religion but to other Affairs And in some Shires that were further distant the People had never so much as heard of the King's Proclamation by the Default of the Justices who winked at the Peoples neglect thereof For the quickening of the Justices of Peace at this time when a Foreign Invasion was daily expected and Foreign Power was come into Scotland to aid that Nation against England the Lord Protector and the Privy-Council assembled at the Star-Chamber and called before them all the Justices which was a thing accustomed sometimes to be done for the Justices to appear before the King and Council there to have Admonitions and Warnings given them for the discharge of their Duty And then the Lord Chancellor Rich made a Speech to them That they should repair down into their several Countries with speed and give warning to other Gentlemen to go down to their Houses and there to see good Order and Rule kept that their Sessions of Goal-delivery and Quarter-Sessions be well observed that Vagabonds and seditious Tale-bearers of the King or his Council and such as preached without Licence be repress'd and punished That if there should be any Uproars or Routs and Riots of lewd Fellows or privy Traitors they should appease them And that if any Enemy should chance to arise in any Place of England they should fire the Beacons as had been wrote to them before and repulse the same in as good Array as they could And that for that purpose they should see diligently that Men have Horse Harness and other Furniture of Weapon ready And to the Bishops the Council now sent Letters again for Redress of the Contempt and Neglect of the Book of Common-Prayer which to this time long after the publishing thereof was either not known at all to many or very irreverently used Occasioned especially by the winking of the Bishops and the stubborn Disobedience
great Moment and that he would not be wanting to him in any Matters of that sort being a Person of that Knowledg in Sacred Prophane Learning of that Prudence Circumspection and Dexterity in managing Business And so finally joined him with Pope to perform all this piously and catholickly according to the Rule of Evangelick Religion and the Exigency of the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom And deputed him his Vice-gerent This Letter was dated at Croydon the 20 th of August This Commission seemed to be somewhat extraordinary The occasion whereof might be because the Arch-bishop did not confide in this Chancellor of the Church suspecting his Religion and Compliance with the King's Proceedings therefore he thought good to associate him with Taylor the Dean of whom he was well assured The Church of Worcester became also Vacant by the Deprivation of Hethe the Bishop The Arch-bishop committed the Spiritualties thereof to Iohn Barlo Dean of the said Church and Roland Taylor LL. D. his Domestick Chaplain These he constituted his Officials to exercise all Episcopal Jurisdiction This Commission was dated at Lambeth Ian. 10. 1554 by an Error of the Scribe for 1551. as appears by a Certificate sent from the Church to that Arch-bishop signifying the Vacation of it Upon the Vacancy of the Church of Chichester by the Deprivation of Day the Arch-bishop made Iohn Worthial Arch-deacon of Chichester and Robert Taylor LL. B. Dean of the Deanery of South-Malling his Officials This Commission to them dated Novemb. 3 1551 was to Visit c. Upon the Vacancy of the Church of Hereford by the Death of Skip late Bishop there the Spiritualties were committed to Hugh Coren LL. D. Dean of that Church and Rich. Cheny D.D. Arch-deacon of Hereford Their Commission was to Visit c. Upon the Vacancy of the Bishoprick of Bangor either by the Death of Bulkly the Bishop or his Resignation upon his blindness the Arch-bishop made his Commissaries Griffin Leyson his principal Chancellor and Official Rowland Merick a Canon of S. David's and Geofrey Glynn L L. D D. The Church of Rochester also became this Year Vacant by the Translation of Scory to Chichester In these Vacancies the Bishopricks were lamentably pilled by hungry Courtiers of the Revenues belonging to them This Year Bishop Hoper was by the Council dispatched down as was said before into his Diocess where things were much out of order and Popery had great footing and therefore it wanted such a stirring Man as he was That he might do the more Good he had the Authority of the Lords of the Council to back him by a Commission granted to him and others He brought most of the Parish-Priests and Curates from their old Superstitions and Errors concerning the Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Recantation of one of them of more note named Phelps the Incumbent of Ciciter which he made publickly and subscribed may be seen in the Appendix This Year there happened two learned Conferences in Latin privately managed about the Corporeal Presence in the Sacrament The one on the 25 th of November in the House of Sir William Cecyl Secretary of State performed by the said Cecyl Sir Iohn Cheke Horne Dean of Durham Whitehead and Grindal on the Protestant side and Feckenham and Yong on the Popish But first before they began Cecyl under his solemn Protestation assured them that every Man should have free Liberty to speak his Mind and that none should receive any Dammage or incurr any Danger Cheke began by propounding this question Quis esset verus germanus sensus verborum Coenae Hoc est corpus meum Num quem verba sensu grammatico accepta prae se ferebant an aliud quiddam To whom Feckenham answered There were present besides those that disputed these noble and learned Persons The Lord Russel Sir Anthony Coke Mr. Hales Mr. Wroth Mr. Frogmartin Mr. Knolles Mr. Harrington The second Disputation was Decemb. 3. following in Mr. Morisin's House where were present the Marq. of Northampton the Earl of Rutland the Lord Russel and those above named and Watson added on the Papists side Then Cheke again propounded the Question Whether the words of the Supper are to be understood in a grammatical or in a figurative Sense To which Watson Responded Both these Disputations are too large for this place but they are set down in one of the Manuscript Volumes of the Benet-Library In November died Dr. Iohn Redman Master of Trinity-College in Cambridg and one of the great Lights of that University for the bringing in solid Learning among the Students a Prebendary of the Church of Westminster and who in the Year 1549 assisted in the compiling the English Book of Common-Prayer and preached a Sermon upon the Learned Bucer's Death the day following his Funeral He was a Person of extraordinary Reputation among all for his great Learning and Reading and profound Knowledg in Divinity So that the greatest Divines gave a mighty Deference to his Judgment And therefore when he lay sick at Westminster many learned Men repaired to him desiring to know his last Judgment of several Points then so much controverted And he was very ready to give them Satisfaction Among the rest that came were Richard Wilks Master of Christ's College Cambridg Alexander Noel afterwards Dean of Paul's and Yong a Man of Fame in Cambridg for his disputing against Bucer about Justification In these Conferences with these learned Man he called the See of Rome Sentina Malorum A Sink of Evils he said That Purgatory as the Schoolmen taught it was ungodly and that there was no such kind of Purgatory as they fancied That the offering up the Sacrament in Masses and Trentals for the Sins of the Dead was ungodly That the Wicked are not partakers of the Body of Christ but receive the outward Sacrament only That it ought not to be carried about in Procession That nothing that is seen in the Sacrament or perceived with the outward Sense is to be worshipped That we receive not Christ's Body Corporaliter grosly like other Meats but so Spiritualiter that nevertheless Verè truly That there was not any good ground in the old Doctors for Transubstantiation as ever he could perceive nor could he see what could be answered to the Objections against it That Priests might by the Law of God marry Wives That this Proposition Faith only justifies so that this Faith signify a true lively Faith resting in Christ and embracing him is a true godly sweet and comfortable Doctrine That our Works cannot deserve the Kingdom of God And he said that it troubled him that he had so much strove against Justification by Faith only A Treatise whereof he composed which was printed at Antwerp after his Death in the Year 1555. He said also to Yong That Consensus Ecclesiae was but a weak Staff to lean to and exhorted him to read the Scriptures
for there was that which would comfort him when he should be in such a case as he was then in One asked him concerning the Doctrine of the School-Doctors that Bread remained not after Consecration He replied There was none of the School-Doctors knew what Consecratio did mean And pausing a while said It was Tota actio The whole Action in ministring the Sacrament as Christ did institute it After the Conference with him was ended Yong retiring into another Chamber said to Wilks that Dr. Redman so moved him that whereas he was before in such Opinion of certain things that he would have burned and lost his Life for them now he doubted of them But I see said he a Man shall know more and more by process of time and by reading and hearing others And Mr. Dr. Redman's saying shall cause me to look more diligently for them Ellis Lomas Redman's Servant said he knew his Master had declared to King Henry that Faith only justifieth but that he thought that Doctrine was not to be taught the People lest they should be negligent to do good Works All this I have related of this Divine that I may in some measure preserve the Memory of one of the Learnedest Men of his Time and lay up the dying Words of a Papist signifying so plainly his dislike and disallowance of many of their Doctrines The Sweating-sickness breaking out this Year in great violence whereby the two Sons of the Duke of Suffolk were taken off Letters from the Council dated Iuly 18 were sent to all the Bishops to perswade the People to Prayer and to see God better served It being enacted 1549 That the King might during three Years appoint sixteen Spiritual Men and sixteen Temporal to examine the old Ecclesiastical Laws and to compile a Body of Ecclesiastical Laws to be in force in the room of the old this third Year Octob. 6. a Commission was issued out to the same number of Persons authorizing them to reform the Canon Laws that is to say to eight Bishops eight Divines eight Civil Lawyers and eight Common Whose Names as they occur in an Original are as follow BISHOPS The Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Exeter Glocester Bath Rochestre DIVINES Mr. Taylor of Lincoln Cox Almoner Parker of Cambridg Latimer Cook Sir Anthony I suppose Peter Martyr Cheke Ioannes a Laseo CIVILIANS Mr. Peter Cecyl Sir Tho. Smith Taylor of Hadeligh Dr. May Mr. Traheron Dr. Lyel Mr. Skinner LAWYERS Justice Hales Justice Bromly Goodrick Gosnal Stamford Carel Lucas Brook Recorder of London It was so ordered that this number should be divided into four distinct Classes or Companies each to consist of two Bishops two Divines to Civilians and two Common-Lawyers And to each Company were assigned their set parts Which when one Company had finished it was transmitted to the other Companies to be by them all well considered and inspected But out of all the number of two and thirty eight especially were selected from each rank two viz. out of the Bishops the Arch-bishop and the Bishop of Ely out of the Divines Cox and Martyr out of the Civilians Taylor and May out of the Common-Lawyers Lucas and Goodrick To whom a new Commission was made Novemb. 9 for the first forming of the Work and preparation of the Matter And the Arch-bishop supervised the whole Work This Work they plied close this Winter But lest they should be straitned for time the Parliament gave the King three Years longer for accomplishing this Affair So Feb. 2. A Letter was sent from the Council to make a new Commission to the Arch-bishop and to the other Bishops and Learned Men Civilians and Lawyers for the establishment of the Ecclesiastical Laws according to the Act of Parliament made in the last Session This was a very noble Enterprize and well worthy the Thoughts of our excellent Arch-bishop Who with indefatigable Pains had been both in this and the last King's Reign labouring to bring this Matter about and he did his part for he brought the Work to perfection But it wanted the King's Ratification which was delayed partly by Business and partly by Enemies Bishops Consecrated August the 30 th Iohn Scory Ponet being translated to Winchester was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Croyden by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury assisted by Nicolas Bishop of London and Iohn Suffragan of Bedford Miles Coverdale was at the same time and place Consecrated Bishop of Exon all with their Surplices and Copes and Coverdale so habited also CHAP. XXVII The Articles of Religion OUR Arch-bishop and certain of the Bishops and other Divines but whom by Name I find not were this Year chiefly busied in composing and preparing a Book of Articles of Religion which was to contain what should be publickly owned as the Sum of the Doctrine of the Church of England This the Arch-bishop had long before this bore in his Mind as excellently serviceable for the creating of a Concord and Quietness among Men and for the putting an End to Contentions and Disputes in Matters of Religion These Articles the Arch-bishop was the Penner or at least the great Director of with the assistance as is very probable of Bishop Ridley And so he publickly owned afterwards in his Answer to certain Interrogatories put to him by Queen Mary's Commissioners viz. That the Catechism the Book of Articles and the Book against Winchester were his Doings These Articles were in number Forty two and were agreed to in the Convocation 1552. And in the Year 1553 they were published by the King's Authority both in Latin and English After they were finished he laboured to have the Clergy subscribe them but against their Wills he compelled none though afterwards some charged him falsly to do so Which he utterly denied as he declared before the said Queen's Commissioners But to enter into some Particulars concerning so eminent a Matter Ecclesiastical as this was In the Year 1551 the King and his Privy-Council ordered the Archbishop to frame a Book of Articles of Religion for the preserving and maintaining Peace and Unity of Doctrine in this Church that being finish'd they might be set forth by Publick Authority The Arch-bishop in obedience hereunto drew up a set of Articles which were delivered to certain other Bishops to be inspected and subscribed I suppose by them Before them they lay until this Year 1552. Then May 2. a Letter was sent from the Council to our Arch-bishop to send the Articles that were delivered the last Year to the Bishops and to signify whether the same were set forth by any Publick Authority according to the Minutes The Arch-bishop accordingly sent the Articles and his Answer unto the Lords of the Council In September I find the Articles were again in his Hands Then he set the Book in a better Order and put Titles upon each of the Articles and some Additions for the better perfecting of the Work and supply
H. hath in the H. of Salvation how remission of sins is taken accepted and allowed of God for our perfect Justification The Doctrin of the Parlament teacheth Justification for the fulness and perfection therof to have more parts then Remission of sins as in the same appeareth And tho Remission of sins be a justification yet it is not a full and perfect The Book of H. numbreth the hallowing of bread Palmes and Candles among Papistical superstitions and abuses The Doctrin of the Parlament willeth them to be reverendly used And so do the Injunctions now set forth Which made me think the Printer might thrust in an Homily of his own devise The book of H. hath words of S. Chrâ—sâ—stom aâ—ledged untruly and not after suâ—h a sort as might scape by over sight but of purpose As calling that Faith which Chrysostom calleth Hope And in place of one Sentence putteth another which should better serve the purpose of the Maker of the Homilies Now if one would reason with me that Chrysostom meant this I would deny it him as I may But I may afâ—â—rm that Chrysostom saith Not. It is but a defamation of the trâ—th And under such a Princes name as our Soveraign Lord is whose tongue in this so pure innocency hath not been defiled with any untruth I assure you I thought there was not so great hast in Homilies but they might have tarried the printing even for that only cause Truth is able to â—aintain it self and needeth no help of untrue allegations It serves only for enemies to take advantage All which i. e. Enemies use to be câ—rious to know what they may reprove And now al the eyes and ears of the World be turned towards us And as they shal have cause to talk honorably of your valiantness in the wars so they talk otherwise of that that is done in your absence if any thing be amisâ— Now I shal shew your Grace what author Erâ—smus is to be by name and special Commandment had in credit in this realm If he be to be believed the doctrin of Only Faith justifieth is a very poâ—son And he writeth by expres termes and calleth this another poâ—â—on to dâ—ny punishment in Purgatory after this life And another poison to deny the Invocâ—tion of Saints and worshipping of them And this he cal eth a poison to say We need no satisfactory works for that were to mistrust Christ Erasmus in another place conferring the state of the Church in the beginning and now he concludeth that if S. Paul were alive at this daâ— he would not improve i. e. disallow the present state of the Church but cry out of mens faults This is Erasmus judgment in his Latter daâ—es His Work the Paraphrasis which should be authorized in the Realm Which he wrot above six and twenty years ago when his pen was wanton the matter is so hauled as being abroad in 〈…〉 were able to minister occasion to evil men to subvert with religiâ—n the policy and order of the Realm These be the general words the uttering whereof to your Grace in the place you occupy were a great fault unless I would shew ye good ground and truth why to say so And therefore I am glad I do rather write to you then to have come and spake with you because my words in number might fly away whereas written words remain to be read again First as concerning the Policy and state of the Realm Whersoever Erasmus might take an occasion to speak his pleasure of Princes he payeth home as roundly as Bishops have been of late touched in pleas And such places of Scripture as we have used to allege for the state of Princes he wresteth and windeth them so as if the people read them and believed him they would afterward smaâ— regard that allegation of them And if Erasmus did truly and that the Scripture bound him so to say it were more tolerable For truth must have place but when it is done in some place untruly and in some plâ—ce wantonly to check that estimate it can be no good doctrin among people that should obey And this book of Paraphrasis is not like the other expositions of Scripture where the Author speaketh in his own person For Erasmus taketh upon him the Evangelists persons and Christs person and enterpriseth to fit up Christs tale and his words As for example where the Gospel rehearseth Christs speech when he said Give to the Emperor that is the Emperors By which speech we gather and truly gather that Christ confessed the Emperor to have a duty Erasmus writes it with an IF after this sort IF there be any thing due to them Which condition Christ put not to it but spake plainly Give to Cesar the things which are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods And I write the very words of the Paraphrasis as they be in English for I have the book with me And so shal no man say that I misreport the book The words be these Render therfore unto Cesar if any things appertain unto Cesar. But first of al render unto God the things that appertain unto God Meaning that it is no hurt unto Godlines if a man being dedicate unto God do give tribute unto a prophane prince altho he ought it not These be the words in the book ordered to be set forth Wherin what needeth Erasmus to bring in doubt the duty when God putteth no doubt at al. It were too long to write to your Grace every fault This one I put for example where Erasmus doth corrupt Christs words with a condition which Christ spake not The other places of raylings would encumber your Grace overmuch But as I write your Grace shal find true that whatsoever might be spoke to defame Princes government is not left unspoken Bishops be more gently handled Erasmus maketh them very Kings of the Gospel and calleth the true Kings of the World Profane Kings Bishops have the sword he saith of God given that is to say the Gospel Profane Princes as he calleth them have a sword committed unto them and by Homer he saith be called Pastors of the people This matter is within the compas of the Paraphrasis if it be not left out with a commendation also of Thomas Becket of Canterbury in excommunicating the King of the realm that then was by implication for the manor of Oxford which the King as he rehearseth then withheld It may be the Translator would have left this out But Erasmus pen in those dayes was very light Moreover them Erasmus teacheth that between Christen men is no debt or right but Charity It is a mervailous matter towards the dissolution of laws and duties And therin Erasmus doth violate Gods scripture and saith not true Thus far is the doctrin pernitious for common policy Nevertheles if he had said true let the truth prevail but the truth is not so As touching Religion in this work of Paraphrasis it is so wantonly I
Baptized again That the Opinions of Anabaptists and Pelagians are to be held for detestable Heresies That those who having the use of Reason shall come to Baptism shall obtain the Remission of all their Sins if they come thereunto perfectly and truly repentant confessing and believing all the Articles of the Faith and having firm Credence and Trust in the Promise of God adjoined to the said Sacrament III. The Sacrament of Penance That that Sacrament was instituted of Christ in the New Testament as a thing so necessary for Man's Salvation that no Man that after his Baptism is fallen again and hath committed deadly Sin can without the same be saved That such Penitents shall without doubt attain Remission of their Sins That this Sacrament consists of Contrition Confession and Amendment of Life That Contrition consists first of Acknowledgment of our Sins Unto which the Penitent is brought by hearing and considering the Will of God declared in his Laws and feeling in his own Conscience that God is angry and this joined with Sorrow and Shame and fear of God's Displeasure That secondly it consists of Faith Trust and Confidence in the Mercies and Goodness of God whereby the Penitent must conceive certain Hope and repute himself justified not for any Merit or Work done by him but by the only Merits of the Blood of Iesus Christ. That this Faith is begotten and confirmed by the Application of Christ's Words and Promises That Confession to a Priest the second part of Penance is necessary where it may be had That the Absolution given by the Priest was instituted of Christ to apply the Promises of God's Grace to the Penitent And that the words of Absolution pronounced by the Priest are spoken by the Authority given him by Christ. That Men must give no less Faith and Credence to the Words of Absolution pronounced by the Ministers of the Church than they would give unto the very Words and Voice of God himself And that Men in no wise contemn this Auricular Confession As to the third part of Penance viz. Amendment of Life That all are bound to bring forth the Fruits of Penance that is to say Prayer Fasting and Alms-deeds and to make Restitution and Satisfaction in Will and Deed to their Neighbour and all other good Works or else they shall never be saved That Works of Charity be necessary to Salvation That by Penance and such good Works we do not only obtain Everlasting Life but deserve Remission or Mitigation of these present Pains and Affliction in this World Mark here by the way how the Doctrine of Merits is propounded Our Merits do not extend to Pardon and Everlasting Life but only to the removal or abatement of temporal Afflictions IV. The Sacrament of the Altar That under the Form and Figure of Bread and Wine is verily and substantially contained that very same Body and Blood which was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered upon the Cross. And that the self-same Body and Blood of Christ is distributed unto and received by all the Communicants That therefore this Sacrament is to be used with all due reverence and honour And that before any receive it he ought religiously to try and search his own Conscience V. Iustification That the word signifies Remission of Sins and our Acceptation or Reconciliation into the Grace and Favour of God That Sinners attain this Justification by Contrition and Faith joined with Charity That neither our Contrition and Faith nor any Work proceeding thence can merit or deserve the said Justification That the Mercy and Grace of the Father promised freely for Christ's Sake and the Merit of his Blood and Passion be the only sufficient and worthy Causes thereof This was the Sum of the Articles concerning Faith Those concerning Ceremonies followed next which were likewise comprised under five Titles I. Of Images That they be representers of Vertue and good Example That they be stirrers of Mens Minds and make them often to remember and lament their Sins especially the Images of Christ and our Lady That it was meet they should stand in the Churches but be none otherwise esteemed That the Bishops and Preachers diligently teach the People according to this Doctrine lest there might fortune Idolatry to ensue That they be taught also that Censing Kneeling and Offering to Images be by no means to be done although the same had entred by Devotion and fallen to Custom but only to God and in his Honour though it be done before the Images II. Of Honouring Saints That they are to be honoured but not with that Confidence and Honour that is due only unto God trusting to attain at their Hands that which must be had only of God That most especially Christ is to be lauded and praised in them for their excellent Vertues which he planted in them and for their good Example And that they are to be taken wherein they may to be the Advancers of our Prayers and Demands unto Christ. III. Of Praying to Saints That tho Grace and Remission of Sins be to be obtained only of God by the Mediation of Christ yet it is very laudable to pray to Saints in Heaven to be Intercessors and to pray for us and with us unto God after this manner All Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven pray for us and with us unto the Father that for his dear Son Iesus Christ his sake we may have Grace of him and Remission of our Sins with an earnest purpose not wanting ghostly Strength to observe and keep his Holy Commandments and never to decline from the same again unto our lives end That in this manner we may pray to our Blessed Lady Saint Iohn Baptist or any other Saint particularly So that it be done without any vain Superstition as to think that any Saint is more merciful or will hear us sooner than Christ or that any Saint does serve for one thing more than another That Holy Days are to be kept to God in memory of him and his Saints upon such Days as the Church hath ordained but may be mitigated and moderated by the King being Supream Head IV. Of Rites and Ceremonies As Vestments in God's Service Sprinkling Holy Water Giving Holy Bread Bearing Candles on Candlemass-day Giving of Ashes on Ash-wednesday Bearing of Palms on Palm-sunday Creeping to the Cross and kissing it and offering unto Christ before the same on Good-friday Setting up the Sepulchre of Christ Hallowing of the Font and other-like Exorcisms and Benedictions and laudable Customs That these are not to be contemned and cast away but continued to put us in remembrance of Spiritual Things But that none of these Ceremonies have power to remit Sin V. Of Purgatory That Christians are to pray for Souls departed and to commit them in their Prayers to God's Mercy and cause others to pray for them in Masses and Exequies and to give Alms to others to pray for them that they may be relieved and holpen of some part of
which they made was to prefer Bills of Accusation against the Arch-bishop's Chaplains and Preachers viz. The two Ridleyes Scory Turner Bland Drum Lancaster and others and slantingly through their Sides striking at the Arch-bishop himself This they did to the Justices at their Sessions upon the Statute of the Six Articles And that by the suggestion of London who thought it convenient that the Articles should first be carried to the Sessions and from thence returned to the Council-Board Willoughby being the King's Chaplain and a Man of some Quality was prevailed with to present the Articles to the Justices and to make them willing to meddle in this Affair which otherwise they had no great Stomach to do fearing they might draw the King's displeasure upon themselves Willoughby by the direction of London told Moyle and Thwaits and the other their Fellow-Justices That they should be shent for suffering such Preaching and Contention without doing any thing therein to stop it And this was that they drove at that after these Articles were preferred from the Justices up to Court and seen and read by the King and Council a Commission should then be obtained and such put into the Commission as might effectually take order with the Preachers And these three Prebendaries Parkhurst Gardiner and Mills they laboured especially to be put in Commissioners and that the Arch-bishop himself should be left out For so London had promised Their next Care was to prepare the Articles Gardiner and Serles are extraordinary diligent in this Work and had been gathering Matter a good space before The Writings were finished at Justice Moyle's House And Willoughby seems to be the Man that offered the Bill in Court They dealt earnestly with Baro Clark of the Peace to draw up the Indictment against the good Men complained of in their Bill of Articles the chief whereof were Iohn Bland and Richard Turner but he denied it And when the Jury that were to be sworn came they took them not orderly as they stood in the Panel but overleaped some of them and left them unsworn that they might be sure to have such Men as would do their Business After they had proceeded thus far their next Care was to get their Articles sent up to the Court and laid before the King and Council And to these foresaid Articles they drew up another Book against the Arch-bishop himself the matter being first plotted between Dr. London and Serles a discontented Man lately imprisoned And this created them a new Diligence and divers Journeys from Kent to London to take their Instructions and from London to Kent to get their Informations And there was at last a parcel of Articles Trifles for the most part raked out of the Dunghil picked up any where and from any Person without Proof For they had nothing to shew for the truth of them but Hear-say and Report and scarcely that Serles inveighles Dr. Willoughby into this Business and brings him into acquaintance with Dr. London In whose House the Articles are first read to whom it was propounded to present them But when Searles had said that the things mentioned in the Articles were such as were openly spoken Willoughby replied Though he heard such things he was not sure they were true and there was no Record to affirm them true no Witnesses Hands being subscribed And so made a great boggle at presenting them and put Serles upon that Work But London urged Willoughby to carry them to the Council telling him that it would be a Matter of great Danger for him being so near the King if he should not give information of such ill things in that Country where he lived especially knowing the King's Pleasure that such Matters should not be concealed but that complaint should be made of them to Him and his Council And he bad him not fear for that he himself had made such a Spectacle at Windsor in bringing to light abominable Heresies meaning in causing those three poor Men to be burnt and indicting so many more their Maintainers whereat the King he said was astonished and angry both with the Doers and Bearers And therefore if he should now shrink he should shew himself to be no true Subject Upon these words which created some fear in Willoughby if he should decline what London put him on to do he was content to present them Thus having gotten a Person ready for this part of the Drudgery to prefer the Complaints against the Arch-bishop London writ them over again and added other new Articles as he pleased Which Serles himself liked not But London said he meant by putting in some things to bring the Matter before the Justices and certain of the Spirituality for his purpose Matters many of them of mere untruth and not so much as the pretence of a Rumor for But he told Willoughby and Serles that it should never be known to be their doings And so Willoughby took the old Copy with him into Kent to get it recorded and signed with Hands And London sent a Copy to the Bishop of Winchester Willoughby being now at Canterbury about this Business requiring the Prebendaries to sign the Articles they all refused Up rode Willoughby to London again and acquaints Dr. London therewith with a heavy heart Then he began another practice to tamper with the Justices bidding Willoughby let them know that the King would be angry with them for taking no more notice of the Disorders in Kent London went also himself to Moyles Lodging a Leading Justice then in Kent and talked with him exhorting him to forward this Work against the Arch-bishop telling him That he himself had taken up my Lord of Canterbury before the Council meaning thereby to signify to him that he needed not to fear him so much as he seemed to do or his Interest at the Court. Upon this Moyle sent to several other Gentlemen and Justices to search out for any Priests that wanted a Crown as a Reward for their Information who should enquire about the Country for what things were rumoured against the Arch-bishop And so as many Rumors and Bruits as were brought were presently turned into Articles But Moyle warily sent all the Reports that came to his hand to the Arch-bishop not so much out of good-will to him as that he might pretend to discharge his Duty in giving Information to the Diocesan of Abuses in his Diocess thereby also reckoning to avert the Displeasure of the Arch-bishop from himself But this London liked not of and told him he would mar all At length Serles and Willoughby had got together a mass of Accusations whether true or false mattered not but a great heap they made For these two were the chief Collectors of Articles both at Canterbury and other Places in Kent London having advised them to get as much Matter as could be devised for it would be the goodliest Deed as he said and the most bounden Act to the King that
them After that the printed Injunctions and others not printed with the Book of Homilies were delivered both to the Bishop for his Church and the Arch-deacons for their respective Arch-deaconries strictly injoining them to see them speedily executed reserving other new Injunctions to be ministred afterwards as they should see cause Their next Work was to examine the Canons and Priests by virtue of their Oaths which they had taken concerning their Lives and Doctrines What was discovered in other Places concerning the Vices of the Clergy we may conlude from what was found among the Dignitaries of St. Pauls For when the Canons and Priests belonging to this Church were examined one of them named Painter openly confessed that he had often carnally used a certain Married-man's Wife whom he would not name And divers others both of the Canons and Priests confessed the same of themselves There be remaining in the Archives of the Church of Canterbury the Injunctions of the King's Visitors to the Dean and Chapter there bearing date Sept. 22. An. 1 Edw. VI. subscribed by the Visitors Hands Which Injunctions do all relate to the particular Statutes of the Church and are of no other moment There was now a Book of Homilies prepared for present use to be read in all Churches for the Instruction of the People and Erasmus's Paraphrase upon the New Testament in English was to be set up in all Churches for the better instruction of Priests in the Sense and Knowledg of the Scriptures And both these Books by the King's Injunctions aforementioned were commanded to be taught and learned CHAP. III. Homilies and Erasmus's Paraphrase ARch-bishop Cranmer found it highly convenient to find out some Means for the Instruction of the People in true Religion till the Church could be better supplied with learned Priests and Ministers For which purpose he resolved upon having some good Homilies or Sermons composed to be read to the People which should in a plain manner teach the Grounds and Foundation of true Religion and deliver the People from popular Errors and Superstitions When this was going in hand with the Arch-bishop sent his Letters to the Bishop of Winchester to try if he could bring him to be willing to join in this Business shewing him that it was no more than what was intended by the former King and a Convocation in the Year 1542 wherein himself was a Member to make such a stay of Errors as were then by ignorant Preachers spread among the People But this Bishop was not for Cranmer's Turn in his Answer signifying to him That since that Convocation the King his old Master's Mind changed and that God had afterwards given him the Gift of Pacification as he worded it meaning that the King made a stop in his once intended Reformation He added That there was a Convocation that extinguished those Devices and this was still in force And therefore that now nothing more ought to be done in Church-Matters And a Copy of this Letter he sent to the Lord Protector trying to perswade him also to be of his Mind The Arch-bishop answered these Letters of Winchester Wherein he again required these Homilies to be made by virtue of that Convocation five Years before and desired Winchester to weigh things But he replied It was true they communed then of such things but they took not effect at that time nor needed they to be put in execution now And that in his Judgment it could not be done without a new Authority and Command from the King's Majesty Then he used his Politicks urging That it was not safe to make new Stirs in Religion That the Lord Protector did well in putting out a Proclamation to stop vain Rumors and he thought it not best to enterprize any thing to tempt the People with occasion of Tales whereby to break the Proclamation And as in a natural Body he said Rest without Trouble did confirm and strengthen so it was in a Common-wealth Trouble travaileth and bringeth things to loosness Then he suggested the Danger the Arch-bishop might involve himself in by making Alterations That he was not certain of his Life when the old Order was broken and a new brought in by Homilies that he should continue to see the new Device executed For it was not done in a Day He wished there were nothing else to do now He suggested that a new Order engendred a new Cause of Punishment against them that offend and Punishments were not pleasant to them that have the Execution And yet they must be for nothing may be contemned There were two Letters Winchester sent to the Arch-bishop in answer to as many from the Arch-bishop In which he laboured to perswade the Arch-bishop not to innovate any thing in Religion during the King's Minority and particularly to forbear making Homilies and refusing for himself to meddle therein An imperfect part of one of these Letters I have laid in the Appendix as I transcribed it from the Original So when it was perceived that Winchester would not be brought to comply and join in with the Arch-bishop and the rest they went about the composing the Homilies themselves Cranmer had a great hand in them And that Homily of Salvation particularly seems to be of his own doing This while he was in composing it was shewn to Winchester by the Arch-bishop to which he made this Objection That he would yield to him in this Homily if they could shew him any old Writer that wrote how Faith excluded Charity in the Office of Justification and that it was against Scripture Upon this Canterbury began to argue with him and to shew him how Faith excluded Charity in the Point of Justifying And Winchester denied his Arguments And in fine such was his Sophistication that the Arch-bishop at last told him He liked nothing unless he did it himself and that he disliked the Homily for that Reason because he was not a Counsellor The Council had now put this Bishop in the Fleet for his Refractoriness to the King's Proceedings where if his Complaint to the Lord Protector were true he was somewhat straitly handled For he was allowed no Friend or Servant no Chaplain Barber Taylor nor Physician A sign he gave them high Provocation While he was here the Arch-bishop sent for him once or twice to discourse with him and to try to bring him to comply with their Proceedings in reforming Religion He dealt very gently with him and told him That he was a Man in his Opinion meet to be called to the Council again but withal told him that he stood too much in Obstinacy that it was perverse Frowardness and not any Zeal for the Truth And laboured to bring him to allow the Book which was now finished and the Paraphrase of Erasmus The former he could not allow of because of the Doctrine therein by Cranmer asserted of Justification by Faith without Works Which Cranmer took pains to perswade him about
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
part therof that then not giving too much to your own minds fantasies and opinions nor having therof any open reasoning in your open tavernes or alehouses ye shal have recourse to such learned men as be or shal be authorized to preach and declare the same So that avoyding al contentions and disputation in such alehouses and other places unmeet for such conferences and submitting your opinion to the judgments of such learned men as shal be appointed in this behalf his Grace may wel perceive that you use this most high benefit quietly and charitably every one of you to the edifying of himself his wife and family in al things answering to his Highnes good opinion conceived of you in the advauncement of vertue and suppressing of Vice without failing to use such discrete quietnes and sober moderation in the premisses as is aforesaid as you tender his Graces pleasure and intend to avoyd his high indignation and the peril and danger that may ensue to you and every of you for the contrary And God save the King NUM XXIV The Answer or Declaration of Richard Bishop of Chichester in the presence of the Kings Majesty against the sixth Reason or argument of John Lambert concerning the most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Altar THese are the words of his sixth Article Paul doth take it for a sore inconvenince Deducere Christum ex alto Rom. 10. And yet must the Priests do so bringing his natural body into the Sacrament Or else they cannot bring the same body into the Sacrament Which I believe rather The Answer of the Bishop BY this reason you may evidently perceive the Vanity and also the malice of this man So that you may judg by what spirit he is led to make such an argument against so high and precious a mystery as this is What christen man is so ignorant that knoweth not this to be evidently true that this most holy Sacrament hath not his Vertue of the Priest which is a mortal man and many times a sinner For he is but a minister and a very instrument by whom God worketh S. Chrysostome saith that the minister is as it were the Pen God is the hand The grace the vertue is of God In the 27 th Hom. in the second Tome So doth teach the Apostle to the Corinthians in the third chapt of the first Epistle What is Apostle saith he What is Paul Ministers of him in whom ye believe and as he hath given to every one I have planted saith S. Paul Apollo hath watered but God hath given the encrease Wherfore neither he that planteth nor he that watereth is ought but he that giveth the encrease For men must esteem us as Ministers of Christ saith he in the next chapter By these words he proveth that the minister gives no effect or virtue but only God S. Augustin ad Cresconium Grammaticum saith also expresly That if there be among good ministers one better then another the Sacrament is no better given by the better and it is no worse given by an evil man There is for this purpose a goodly saying of Eusebius Emissenus which was much persecuted by the Arians These are his words Invisibilis Sacerdos visibiles creaturas in substantiam corporis sanguinis sui verbi sui secreta potestate convertit No Christen man doubteth who is this invisible Priest which is our Savior the high Priest the perpetual Priest as the Apostle saith Ad Heb. 7. Which to our carnal eyes is invisible and otherwise may not be seen but by the eyes of our soul and faith onely This invisible Priest saith Eusebius converteth and turneth the visible creatures of bread and wine not only into his body and bloud but into the substance of his body and bloud It is not then the Priest that worketh this work nor bringeth Christ out of heaven as this man mockingly and scornfully writeth in this Article but it is Christ himself For as S. Austin saith Idem est Mediator qui offert qui offertur And what spirit this man hath towards this most holy sacrament you may wel conjecture and evidently perceive his malignity which not only gathereth a certain number of vain arguments together to the number of eight that it might appear to the simple ignorant people as though it were a great foundation which he hath for his detestable purpose and yet as I say they are al vain and grounded only upon gross natural reason which can in no wise attain to this high mystery but also in so grave weighty and most reverend cause as this is he dallieth mocketh and scorneth in this fond reason without any reason saying that the Priest must bring the body of Christ out of heaven But it is little to be weighed in this man though that he scorneth the ministration of the Priest sith that he so depraveth his very Lord and Master But in case that he should say that he doth not scorn the ministration of the Priest then must he needs be very ignorant to suppose in any wise that the Priest worketh any thing in this or any other Sacrament more then as I have before said In this argument also he alledgeth one part of scripture in the tenth chapter to the Romans to blind also the simple people that they should think al that he speaketh is the very scripture And surely this place of scripture maketh evidently against him and such as he is For it is written against Infidels such as wil not believe the word of God written but would yet have knowledge from heaven And so the Apostle there maketh example of him that would not believe that Christ is ascended but notwithstanding the testimony of scripture he demandeth Quis ascendet in coelum Hoc est Christum de coelo deducere saith the Apostle Wherefore the Apostle monisheth every Christen man in this maner Nè dixeris in corde tuo Quis ascendet c. That is to say Think not in thy mind Have no such doubt to ask Who ascended or how but believe the scripture For as Moses in the 30 th Chap. of Deuteronomy saith Thou shalt not need to seek into heaven for the knowledg of these things it is not set nor left in heaven it is not above thee it is not far from thee but the Word of God is nigh thee even in thy mouth as it were and ready at hand Believe that and do according to that For so it was answered to the rich man in the 16 th Chap. of Luke Thy brethren have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And If they wil not hear nor believe them they wil not believe any one that shal come from hence Whersore Chrysostom in the former tenth Chapter of Paul teacheth even Christen men in these things of the Faith in no wise to ask or search how it may be but leaving this infirmity and weaknes of our thoughts and reasons let us receive with a certain
undoubted faith the promises of God by his word S. Cyprian also in a work De coena Domini hath these words The fleshly man is not to be admitted to this feast of the Table of God Whatsoever the fllesh and the bloud that is to say the natural reason of the mortal man esteemeth or judgeth needs must be excluded from this mystery For it savoureth nothing to this matter or in any wise helpeth whatsoever the subtilty of mans wit attempteth to search Such are wise men of this world that whatsoever is above their wit they think it otherwise then the truth But the truth saith he cannot be comprised by mans wit which is erroneous and many times deceived Wherfore they that are faithful and poor in spirit and not arrogant of their own wits by their faith do se perfectly this Sacrament We have the expres words of Christ Hoc est corpus meum This is my body The words are plain not only in Matthew but the same plain words are in Luke and Mark without any figurative speaking Wherfore we may not add diminish change nor alter these words that are so manifest and plain but certainly believe these words to be true in the same sense that they are clearly spoken howsoever they are impossible to mans wit For as it is impossible for God to make a ly as the Apostle saith in the sixth Ad Heb. so every thing is possible to him howsoever it is thought impossible to men We must therfore leave al our carnal reasons and only receive without any doubt the teaching the words the promises of God howsoever they seem impossible to our natural and fraile reason Or else we should not believe the power of God to be so high and absolute as it is to whom is nothing impossible NUM XXV Tho. Cranmeri Archiep. Cant. Epist. super Controversia de coena Domini ortam Illustri erudito Viro Joachimo Vadiano Consuli apud Sanctum Gallum in Helvetia TAndem a Negotijs Consilijsque publicis missionem vel verius respirationem nactus inter caeteros doctos viros quorum epistolis responsa jam diu debueram tibi quoque Vadiane Vir illustris doctissiméque nunc demum vertente anno respondere incipiens utpote cujus Literas superiore hyeme acceperim una cum munere Literario Quod genus quidem soleo vel inter preciosissima numerare illud imprimis mecum reputare pudebundus occoepi vererique ne forte suspicionem aut etiam opinionem mihi allquam sinistram apud animum tuum silentio meo tam diuturno contraxerim qui sciam apud vulgus hominum fieri plerumque solere cum hospes hospitem salutat ut in primo maxime aditu responsum solicite exspectent Quod si differatur ut superbiam aliquam vel neglectum sui vel ut minimum oblivionem intervenire suspicantur qualémque in primo illo accessu invenere talem in universam reliquam vitam erga se fore praejudicant Cum qui cito respondet libenter gratanter id facere judicatur eumque proinde humanum facilem gratúmque interpretantur Contra qui tarde fastuosus difficilis incivilibus ac inamoenis moribus preditus existimatur Vsque adeo bis facit quod cito facit quicquid quis cito facit Verum ego de tua neutiquam vulgari prudentia humanitate meliora mihi polliceor confidóque te hanc meam non spontaneam tarditatem aut cessationem sed necessariam dilationem benigne accepturum eamque non tam moribus quam negotijs meis imputaturum Quae qualia quanta fuerint puto rumores ad vos usque jampridem pertulisse ego de eisdem nonnihil ad Grynaeum meum imo nostrum scripsi cum quo pro amicitiae jure omnia sibi communia futura esse non ambigo Ad illum igitur te remitto siquid hac re offenderis qui me tibi reddat excusatiorem Tuam erga me Voluntatem promptitudinem animi ad contrahendam mecum Sanctiorem necessitudinem in Literis tuis perspicio libens amplector osculórque Virum enim dignum te judico quem ego propter eximiam eruditionem qua me quoque adjutum profecisse neutiquam dissimulavero propter morum probitatem multorum gravissimorum virorum testimonijs comprobatam omni amore favore ac veneratione prosequar Veruntamen ut animi mei sensum sicuti inter bonos viros fieri oportet ingenue tibi profitear argumentum quod tractas in sex illis libris quos mihi dono dederas in totum mihi displicet vellémque vigilias tuas tantas felicius collocasses mecum jucundae amicitiae melioribus aut certè minus improbatis auspicijs fuisses usus Nam ego nisi certiora afferri video quam hactenus videre potui sententiae illius vestrae nec patronus nec astipulator esse volo Et plane mihi vel ex eo maxime persuasum est causam esse non bonam quod eam viri tam ingeniosi tam diserti támque omnibus artibus disciplinis instructi non videamini satis validè tueri ac sustinere Vidi pleraque omnia quae vel ab Oecalampadio vel a Zuinglio scripta sunt edita didicique omnium hominum omnia cum delectu esse Legenda Et fortasse illud D. Hieronymi de Origene elogium in illos quóque non absurde aliquis detorserit Vbi bene nemo melius c. Nosti enim quod sequitur Quatenus quidem Papisticos Sophisticos errores abusus indicare convincere corrigeréque sunt conati Laudo approbo Atque utinam intra fines illos constitissent neque fruges una cum zizanijs conculcassent hoc est veterum doctorum primorúmque in ecclesia Christi scriptorum authoritatem una violassent Nam ut ingenia vestra quantumcunque versaveritis mihi tamen certe nunquam approbaveritis ne cuiquam opinor aequo Lectori Veteres illos authores in hac controversia pro vestra facere sententia Fuistis nimirum in investigandis erroribus plus fatis curiosi dum omnia purgare studetis illic quoque errorem subesse putavistis ubi nullus fuit Quando hic certe si error est jam inde a primordio Ecclesiae ab ipsis Patribus viris Apostolicis nobis fuit propinatus Quod quis pius sustinuerit vel audire nedum credere Ut nâ—quid interim dicam quod bonus Dominus noster unice dilectam sponsam suam nunquam in tam pudenda caecitate tamdiu dereliquisset Quamobrem quum haec quam tenemus Catholica fides de vera presentia corporis tam apertis ac manifestis scripturis fuerit Ecclesiae ab initio promulgata eadem postea per primos Ecclesiasticos scriptores fidelium auribus tam clare tamque studiose commendata ne quaeso ne mihi pergatis eam tam bene radicatam suffultam velle amplius convellere aut subruere Satis jam
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
quae scripserint ut respondeat Has itaque Lucubrationes vobis insignissimi Heroes quos Christus praecipuos sub potentissimo Rege nostro Edovardo Reipub. judices constituit exhibendas esse censui nihil prorsus ambigens eam esse vestram in omnes veritatis studiosos benignitatem eam aequitatem eam veri judicij certitudinem ut sine omni personarum acceptione justam causae conditionem velitis semper attendere neque ad dextram neque ad sinistram ulla occasione ducti quovismodo a veritate declinare non ignorantes in illum finem vobis concessam esse potestatem tum a summo judice Deo tum ab ipsa Regia majestate apud quam pro vestra in Câ—ristum charitate agere dignemini quo mihi indigenae ac genuino Regis nostri subdito Christi causam quoad possum curanti tantum in evulgando hoc disputationum ac annotationum Volumine efficere liceat quantum Petro Martyri extraneo veritatis adversario audere hactenus fuerit impunè permissum Rem sanè justam ni fallor postulo Neque profectò in scriptis his est unde pius quispiam offendatur In impios autem ut duriùs agamus exposcit veritatis ratio quae nequaquam charitati refragatur Duriùs enim contra errones obstinatos egerunt Patres nec illis unquam pepercerunt quin veluti Christi hostes verbis factisque contemnerent atque acerbissimis reprehensionibus persequerentur Iohannes Baptista Pharisaeos incredulos viperarum vocavit progenies Christus ipse malos illos Iudaeos mendaces appellavit diaboli filios Sed Petrum ipsum a morte obeunda dehortantem minúsque in hoc sapientem quae Dei sunt Satanam taxando nuncupavit Unde certò edocemur nos posse citra charitatis praejudicium adversarios in causis religionis severis ac mordacibus verbis impetere atque perstringere Denique haud temerè hoc quicquid est opusculi evulgo sed summae vestrae prudentiae eximio candori qui illi regum omnium pulcherrimo flori jam sese auspicatissimè diffundenti a consilijs estis humilis suppléxque ipsum offero obnixè vos exoratos habens ut cum privilegio ad Christi honorem ac multorum utilitatem divulgetur Id quod vestrae Dominationes ab illa lucis aurora nimirum Serenissimo Rege nostro Edovardo jam a paterno somno orbem illustri virtutum omnium lumine spargente facile spero obtinebunt cum gratia consequentur Hanc auroram splendidissimam felicissimè procedere atque in perfectum diem crescere optimaque Optimi patris vestigia imitari faciat Deus Opt. Max. qui illum unicum nostrum decus praesidium Vósque sub ipso Moderatores Reip. primarios aliosque illius studiosos universos diuturnissimè incolumes servet NUM XLVI The sentencious sayinges of Master Martin Bucer upon the Lordes Supper 1. SO playnely so faythfully and also so warely as can be possyble we ought to speake of the mysteryes of the holy supper even as we ought to do of all other Christes mysteryes to th ende that the Children of God may most clearely perseyve what Christ doth meane and the Adversaryes to have as small occasion as can be eyther to pervert or els to darke and make dymme the truth of Christ. 2. These thinges we cannot better attaine then by the godly and right expoundyng of the wordes of the holy ghost not allowing any false sygnyfications of them both certaynly affirmyng the thinges whiche be agreeable unto this mystery and also denying the thinges whiche be contrarye ther unto 3. We must certaynely acknowledge that the holy ghost most clearly most faythfully and most warely hath dyscrybed all the sacraments of our salvation 4. But the holy ghost by Christes own mouth by the mouth of the Apostles and by the scripture delyvereth unto us the sacrament of the Lordes Supper even as he doth all other Sacramentes by the words and fourme of delyveryng gevying and receyving 5. And three thinges acknowledgeth hearein to be geven and taken bread and wyne beyng the signes of the body and bloud of the Lord and assurance of the new testament and remyssion of our synnes 6. For when he had taken bread and wyne and geven thanckes he gave them to hys dyscyples to be eaten and drunken and said moreover that by these sygnes he gave therin his body that was offered for us and lykewise his bloud which was shed for us saying also that by this bloude the new testament of grace was assured and the forgeuenes of synnes purchased 7. And he defyneth or describeth the right use and receyving of this Sacrament to be that partaking of the body and bloud of Christ wherby we beyng many are one bread and one body as many of us as be partakers of one Bread and one Cup of the Lord. This body doubtles is that body wherof Christ is the head and into the which we are baptised For by the regeneration we are made members of his body fleshe of his flesh bone of his bones and so we be one flesh with him 1 Cor. 12. Ephes. 5. 8. That fellowship which we have with the father and the sonne and with all the sayntes wherof S. Iohn speaketh 1 Iohn 1 chap. of his epistle is geven and taken in the Lords supper rightly admynistred and receyved That unity also which we have with the father and the sonne and with all the saints for the which the Lord prayed Iohn 17. by the which Christ is in us as the Father is in him and we in theym I meane in the father and the sonne is geven and receyved in the same supper rightly administred wherof the Lord also speaketh he that eateth my flesh and drincketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him John 6. 9. This is the partaking and the unity of an heavenlye regeneration of a new creature of the high mystery of God which cannot be understand and knowen but by fayth even as fayth is perceyved and felt by his effectes as by judgement wyll and by the new heavenly and godly workes 10. All sensyble and worldly imagynations all fansying of joyned or contynuall places are to be put away from this partycipation and unytie which in the word of God is knowen to be mervelous and with reverence to be pondered and dyscussed by the new mans lyvyng as by his effectes 11. The Holy Ghost thought it not inough to declare unto us how that we be endued wyth the spirit of Christ by his merites but he doth publish also that we do lyve by his intercession and working He furthermore assureth us that we have him with us that he dwelleth in our hartes and that we receyve him in the holy supper These be the thinges which we ought to tell openly and to fortefye 12. These are Metaphors and borowed speeches lyke as other wherby we expounde the matters of regeneration For unto such matters as the naturall man perceyveth not