were not only promised everlasting life but made capable of delivering the souls of others out of Purgatory considering also that in employing the money raised by these Indulgences there was no regard had to the end for which they were given but frequently Centum gravam Germar by way of anticipation it was assigned to some other purpose as to carry on the Popes revenge to pay his debts to gratifie a friend to inrich a Nephew to marry a Neece to wage a War to subdue an Anti-pope or the like that all immaginable shifts sharking Hen. de Knighton Coll. fo 2671. and tricks were used to make the most of them in regard they were generally farmed out to the most cunning snaps and such as would give most for them So that in time people began to be a little wary in laying out their money that way and the Markets and sales for Indulgences began to be very cold but then the Collectors and Factors would sell the cheaper penny-worths and play at small games before they would give out as once in Germany An. Dom. 1520. when these wares began to be a little out of credit the Pope's Officers would sell them for a very small price Cuicciard Hist lib. 13. fo 629. or play at Tables for them in Taverns and Gaming-Houses wherein money was staked against Pardons esteemed of such a value Vid. Hist Concil Trident And so from the discoveries of the cheats and rapine hereby practised the Indulgences were not only contemned and exploded but way made for Reformation of other Corruptions in the Church Now as well to shew the liberality of the Popes in granting these Indulgences as also somewhat further to explicate the nature of them we will here take a view of such Indulgences and Pardons as formerly have been granted to some of the Churches in Rome as they are specified in an old Book called The Customes of London as follows The hoole Pardon of Rome graunted by divers Popes Customes of London IN the City of Rome been four Chirches Vid. Onuphr de 7. sanctioribus urbis Rom. Ecclesiis in which is Masse daily don but there been six of the same privileged above all the oder with gret holinesse and pardon as is hereaftir shewid The Furst is called St. Peter 's Chirch th' Apostell and is set upon the foot of an Hill and men go upward thereto a stair of xxix steppys high and as often as a man gooth up and doun that steyer he is relesid of the seventh part of penaunce injoin'd and grauntyd by Pope Alysander Item As ye com before the Chirch ther the Well springeth so may ye see above the dore an Image of our Lord and between his feete stondeth one of the pence that God was sold for and as oft as ye look on that peny ye have xiv hundred yer is of pardon Item In the same Chirch on the ryht side ther is a pilour that was somtyme of Salamon 's Temple at which pilour our Lord was wont to reste whan he preched to the peeple at which pilour if there any bee frantyk or madd or trobled with spyrits they be deliveryd and made hool And in that Chirch be xi Aulters and at every of the Aulter is xlviij yeris of pardone and as many Lenters or Karynes and vii of thoe Aulters been severally privelegyd with grace and pardone At the Furst Aulter is the Vysage of our Lord who loketh on that hath vij C yere of pardone Item At the same Aulter is the spere that Cryst was pierced with whych was broght fro Constantynopl sent fro the gret Turk to Pope Innocent the viij The Second Aulter is of Seint Andrew and their ye have vij C yere of pardone The Fourth is of our Lady ther is vij C yeres pardone The v Aulter is of St. Leo ther he recevyd the absolucyon in his masse fro Hevyn and ther is pardon of vij C yeres The vj Aulter of All Soles and ther is v C yeres of pardon and every hyh fest one Sole out of Purgatory The vij Aulter is of Seynt Symon and Jude and ther is vj C yeris of pardone And before the Quyer dore stond two yriven Crosses and who so kysseth thoo two Crosses he hath v C yer is of pardone Item Vpon our Lady day in Lente is hanged afore the Qyer a cloth as our Lady made her self and it hangeth till our Lady day Assumpcion and as many times as one beholdith it he hath iv C yere of pardon Allsoo as many times as a man goothe thorogh the crowds at St. Peters Chirch he hath iv C yere of pardon And as often as one followith the Host to the sycke bodys he hath xiv C yeres of pardon Allso Pope Sylvester grauntid to all thoe as daily gothe to the Chirch of St. Peter the iij part of all his sins relesid and all advows and promyse relesyd and all sins forgeten relesyd and forgeven except leying honds on Fader and Moder vyolently and above this is graunted xxviij C yere of pardon and the meritys of as many Lentes or Karyns The knowledge of a Karyn ye shall find in the end of this boke And in the feste of Seynt Peter a M yere of pardon and as many karyns and the * Third part threddendell of penaunce enjoyned relesyd And fro the Assencyon day of our Lord unto the Assumpcyon of our Lady ye have xiv yere of pardone and as many karyns and foryefenes of the iij part of all synnes And upon the one syde of Seynt Peter 's Chirch a Chirchyard lyeth and that is called Goddys felde and there be beryed pore pylgryms and none other and it is the land that was bought with xxx pens that our Lord was sold for as oft as one goeth upon that ground he hath xv C yere of pardon Item In the Chirch of Seynt Poule wythout the walls ye have xlvij M yere of pardon Item In the day of his convercyon i C yere of pardon Item On Childermasse day iij M yere of pardon Item On the * Eight day Vtas of Seynt Martin whan as the Chirch was hallowed xiv M years of pardon and as many karyns and the iij part of all sins relesyd Allso whoo that visite the Chirch of Seynt Poule two Sondays dothe as moche as if he went to St. James of Compostella in Spain St. James and dyd come ageyn Item In the Chirch of St. Laurence wythout the walls ther lyeth the body of St. Laurence and of St. Stephen and at the hyh aulter ye have xciij M yere of pardon And whoe that visite the other aulters hath at eche aulter vij M yeres of pardon and as many karyns Allso The Pope Pelagius grauntid there at the iv festys of the yere at eche feste vij C yere of pardon and as many karyns and who that gothe thether every Wednesday he deliverith a sole out of Purgatory and hymself quyt of all
matters into his care and cognisans He call'd Synods and Councils and ratified their Canons into Laws He routed the Conventicles of the Donatists made Edicts concerning Festivals the Rites of Sepulture the immunities of Churches the Authority of Bishops the Priviledges of the Clergy with divers other things relating to the outward Politie of the Church In which affair he was carefully followed by his Successors as evidently may appear to all conversant in the Civil Law And the aforesaid Stephen Gardiner in that his notable Oration of true Obedience makes instance in the Roman Emperour Justinian who with the approbation of all the world at that time set forth those Laws of the most Blessed Trinity the Catholique Faith Justiniani factum qui leges edidit de Trinitate de fide Catholica c. Steph. Wint. Orat. fo 19. of Bishops and Clergy-men and the like The like also appears by the most famous Partidas set forth by Ferdinando the Saint and his Son Alphonso for the antient Kingdoms of Castile Toledo Leon and others of Spain celebrated in the Spanish Histories Correspondent to which also hath bin the practice of the Kingdom of France Lew. Turquet Hist of Spain whose Kings have ever been esteemed in some sence the Heads of their Church and this is the reason that the opening their most ancient Councils under the first and second the Merovingian and Caroline line was ever by the power and authority and sometimes the presidency of their Kings and Princes It being a noted saying in one of their Councils Câ—ncil Parisienâ— 6. lib. 2. cap. 2. Cognoscant Principes Seculi se Deo debere rationem propter Ecclesiam quam à Deo tuendam accipiunt And according to this Doctrine C d. Lâ—g Antiq Gall. fâ— 827. Lâ—ndenbrog for matters of Church or State of Charls the Great Ludovicus Pius Lewis le Gros Pepin and others collected by the French Antiquaries And at this day generally amongst the Lawyers and most learned of the French Nation it is held and declared Vid. le Reâ—â—w de le Council de Trent Boreâ— lib. 4. de Decret Eccl. Gall. That the Bishop of Rome was anciently the First and chiefest Bishop according to the dignity of of Precedency and order not by any Divine institution but because Rome was the chief City of the Empire That he obtained this Primacy over the Western Church by the grace and gift of Pepin Charls the Great and other Kings of France And that he hath no power to dispose of temporal things That it belongs to Christian Kings and Princes to call Ecclesiastical Synods to establish their Decrees to make wholesome Laws for the government of the Church and to punish and reform abuses therein That the Laws whereby their Church is to be governed are only the Canons of the more ancient Councils and their own National Constitutions and not the Extravagants and Decretals of the Bishop or Court of Rome That the Council of Constance assembled by Sigismund the Emperour with a concurrent consent of other Christian Princes Decreeing a General Synod or Council to be Superior to the Pope and correcting many abuses in the Roman Church which yet remain in practice was a true Oecumenical Council as also was the Council of Basil That the Assembly of Trent was no lawful Council and the Canons thereof rather to be esteemed the Decrees of the Popes who call'd and continued it than the Decrees of the Council it self and that in regard the number of Bishops there met was but small bearing no proportion to the import of a General Council as also the greatest part of those present were Italian and Vassals to the Pope and nothing there resolved on but what was before determined at Rome which then occasion'd this infamous by-word That the Holy Ghost was carryed in Cloak-bags every Post from Rome to Trent That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to be administred under both kinds and that at the least a great part of Divine Service ought to be performed in the vulgar Tongue Thus far the French and Many the like instances might here be added to the same purpose but yet under favour all Crowns Imperial must give place in regard of this one Flower or Jewel of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of England For as the first Christian King that ever the world saw is recorded to have been of this Island the renowned Lucius so is he intimated to be the first that ever exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being directed thereunto by Pope Eleutherius Vâ—d Eleuth Epist to fetch his Laws by the advice of his Council out of the Old and New Testament and by the same to Govern his Kingdom wherein he was God's Vicar According to which advice the Brittish Saxon Danish and first Kings of the Normans have governed their Churches and Church-men as may appear by the Laws by them for that purpose made Archaionem Analect Angl. Brit. li. 1 2. Hist Cambr. fo 59. Jo. Brompton c. and lately exhibited to the publick by Mr. Lambard Mr. Selden Dr. Powell and others Neither can any Ecclesiastical Canons for Government of the English Church be produced till long after the conquest which were not either originally promulged or afterwards allowed either by the Monarch or some King of the Heptarchy sitting or directing in the National or Provincial Synod Nay in the after usurping times there is to be seen the Transcript of a Record An. Manus Chronic Abb. de Bello Vide the like Charter of exemption to the Abbot of Abbindon by Kâ—nulphus in Stanf. pl. Cor. l. 2. fo 111. b. 1 Hen. 7. fo 23 25. 3 Hen. 2. wherein when the Bishop of Chichester opposed some Canons against the Kings exemption of the Abby of Battel from Episcopal Jurisdiction the King in anger replyed Tu pro Papae authoritate ab hominibus concessa contra dignitatum Regalium authoritates mihi à Deo concessas calliditate arguta niti praecogitas Dost thou go about by subtilty of Wit to oppose the Pope's authority granted by the connivence of men against the authority of my Regal Dignity given by God himself And thereupon requires reason and justice against the Bishop for his insolence And thus it is most easily demonstrable that the Kings of England have had these Flowers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction planted in the Imperial Crown of this Realm even from the very beginning of the Christian Monarchy in this Island where we hope they have now taken such root that neither any Fanatick whispers at home nor the roaring of any Romish Bulls from abroad will ever be able to shake or blast the same And from hence was the Resolution of our Judges mentioned before in the Case of Cawary Cook 5. Rep. De Jure Reg. Eccl. that the said Statute made in the first year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the old which appears
Silver gilt A Silver gilt Cross with the Crucifix St. Mary and St. John having on the top some part of the wood of the Holy Cross Many other curious Crosses and Crucifixes Many other Coffers Chests Boxes and Vessels all stuffed with precious Reliques Agnus Dei's Beads c. The Rochet of St. Edmund Archbishop of Cant. The Reliques of St. Apollonia and a multitude more On the top of the spire was a great Cross Contin Matt. Westm in An. 1314. wherein were many Reliques of divers Saints put there by Gilbert de Segrave Bishop of London to the intent that by the glorious merits of those Saints the Steeple might be preserved from Tempests King Canutus Speed Chron. in Canut as our Historians generally say in his return from Rome bought at Pavia the Arme of St. Augustin the great Doctor of the Church and gave it unto Coventre for which he paid one hundred Talents of Silver and one of Gold though others say it was Egelnotus Hen d'Knighton cod fo 2318. Godwin in vita Egelnoti Archbishop of Canterbury that bought it and as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his respect to Earl Leofric gave it to his City of Coventre But were it the one or the other I find not any abatement in the price which being so large it gave it the greater reputation to draw multitudes with great expences to visite it But the bounty of this K. Canutus appear'd most excessive to the Abby of Hide near Winchester to which he gave a Cross Cambd. Britt in Hanshire fo 266. Speed in vita Canuti so costly for the materials and curious for the making that he bestowed as much thereon as his own years revenue of all England amounted to But the fate of this Costly Cross was that about the raign of K. Henry the sixth it was burn'd with the whole Monastery by the malice and practice of Honry de Blois Bishop of Winchester To all these Reliques and hallowed wares and infinite more ejusdem farinae wherewith our Abbies monasteries and Cathedrals were furnished according to the blind and extravagant devotion of those times a strange veneration and esteem was had by the People until the Reformation made many notable discoveries of the cheats and delusions wrought in and by them as Our Lady's Girdle shewed in eleven several places and her milk in eight Lo. Herb. Hist Hen. 8. fo 431. The Bell of St. Guthlac and the Felt of St. Thomas of Lancaster both remedies for the Head-ach The Penknife and Boots of St. Thomas of Canterbury and a piece of his shirt much reverenced and confided in by great-bellyed women The Coals that roasted St. Laurence Two or Three Heads of St. Vrsula Malchus his Ear. And the parings of St. Edmund's nails The Image of an Angel with one wing which brought hither the spears head that pierced Christ's side An Image of our Lady with a Taper in her hand as burned nine years without wasting till one forswearing himself thereon it went out and was then found to be but a piece of wood Our Lady of Worcester from which certain veils and dressings being taken away there appear'd the Statue of a Bishop ten foot high Our Lady of Walsingham Cambd. Brit. in Norfolk Stow in An. 1538. the termina of many a costly but fruitless Pilgrimage The Rood of Grace at Boxley in Kent made with divers vices and wiers to turn the eyes and move the lips was shewed publickly at Paul's Cross by John Bishop of Rochester and there broken and pull'd in pieces the people laughing at that which they ador'd but an hour before And here it will not be amiss a little further to give you the Legend of this famous H. Rood which I find this Lambert Peramb of Kent in Boxley An English Artist being taken Prisoner in the warrs between us and France and wanting money for his ransome set his wits on work to make some famous piece and having got some materials he made a curious Rood the like had never bin seen The Rood of Grace at Boxly for it's gestures and moving all it's Joints as bowing the head lifting up it's self rolling the eyes shaking the hands knitting the brows c. which being finished he got leave upon his parol to bring it into England to sell and make money of it for a ransome and layd it on the back of a Jade which he drove before him coming to Rochester and staying there to drink the Jade went forwrds a way not intended by the Master and stayed not till he came to Boxly and running to the Abby Church dore he made such a knocking and bouncing against the dore with his heels that at the noise the Abbot and Monks came and open'd the dore which no sooner done but the beast rush'd in and ran to a certain piller and there stood whilst the monks were busie in taking off the load in comes the owner puffing and sweating and satisfying them that the Jade with his load was his property endeavours to lead him out of the Church but notwithstanding all his beating and pulling the resty beast would not stir one inch from the piller then he takes off the Image thinking to carry it away himself but that would not stir neither and therefore after much heaving and lifting to no purpose they all thought that God had sent and destin'd it to that House like another Palladium and so the Abbot and Monks giving the Master his price for it they set it up just at that piller where it stood for many years doing rare feats to the inriching of the House till it was easily removed to Paul's Cross and there uncased as you have heard before In the same Church there was also the Image of St. S. Rumwald Rumwald which was a very small one the representation of a Boy-Saint and the use of this Image was this If you were minded to have any Benefit by the Rood of Grace you must be shriven by one of the Monks first and then by lifting at this St. Rumwald proof was made whether you were in clean life as they said or no and if you proved to be clean then was your way made for your offering to be accepted before the holy Rood If you were not clean which was known by your not being able to lift that little Image then you must be confess'd again on presumption you had conceal'd some foul sins But then here was the trick on 't the Image being small hollow and light that a Child of seven years old might easily lift it there was a divice to fasten it to a post with a pin of wood which a Knave standing behind could put in and out as he list which pin being put in the strongest man could not stir it and then when any person offered bountifully the pin was pulled out that he might easily lift it but to one that prov'd stingy the Image would not stir at all and