natural Allegiance of his consciâ—nce towards Christ and the Truth and his outward duty to his Governours and Fathers at home violating the fift commandment with a Pharisaical corban saying to their peculiar Fathers it 's given to Rome whatsoever you might be profited by us following uncertain traditions before Gods express Law and teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men as our Saviour himself hath timely detected and forwarn'd against this Holy fraud Math. 15.5 for by the same reason that every good wife is to know her own Husband from another and every good Subject his own King from a Forreigner or Usurper and every Souldier his own Commander and Colours by the same duty and conscience every English Christian is to follow his own Church in Christ before another for obedience misplac'd is but Godly transgression or Traiterous Loyalty to the disturbance of the publick besides its own shame and prejudice And by submission to Governours and Synods they were heal'd of the Pelagian Heresie which most annoyed this Church next to Romish Inroades that trode down the whole field and sowed their tares and superstitions from year to year among our best corn this made also our Church to under go several variations about the observation of Easter as times required As for the Arian Heresie and venome which began to Breath a little in these parts upon h Usher p 197. Gratians toleration of divers opinions in Religion it found not the air to agree with it neither did Pelagius or Morgan though born in Brittain and as it is said i idem p. 207. the same day St. Augustine was born in Africk suck k idem p. 215. 224. Pelagii Epist ad Demetr or Propagate his Heresie here but fell into it at Rome by finding Christians to come short of Heathens and abusing Grace to Libertinisme and Wantonness for otherwise he was in great esteem and veneration for his learning and Sanctity with the chief l Usher 221.214 Fathers of the East and West St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom and in the East m Usher p. 215. ended his days having never return'd to his own Country but his Heresie came to be spread here nevertheless in those parts especially that were reduc'd by the Saxon Conquerour by the means of n Bed lib 1. c 17. Agricola a French man the Son of Severianus a Pelagian Bishop and in the rooting of it out amongst the Brittains left behind in Lhoegr Germanus and Lupus French-men likewise did good service as by Neutrality they were better fitted as for instance their first and main success in disputation was about o M. Westm p. 446. St. Albans where Gildas and such as he durst not approach for the Enemy as his complaint is taken notice of by p Camden in St. Albans Camden there being their chiefest Champions sent hither from the Gallican at the request of the Brittish Church signifying her distemper and troubles quaâ—primum fidei Catholicae debere succurri that the Catholick Faith should be assisted as soon as might be such was the loving Communion then between this and that Church and still might be especially with the soundest and learned'st part thereof under frown for Orthodoxy if he who now letteth were once taken fully out of the way 2 Thess 2. But it recover'd it self again after Germanus his time till St. David newly ordained Bishop by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in a publick Synod whereto he was invited held in Wales against it gave it q Usher p. 474. its final overthrow and was made Arch-Bishop of St. David in the same Synod thereupon For the Easter Controversie which was the only materiall point Augustine had to object for the other about Baptism was meer Ceremony and since lost in oblivion it consisted of two parts Doctrinal and Astronomical Doctrinal as in the early Controversie between the Churches of East and West wherein it is most probable the Brittains followed the East before the Synod of q Concil Arelat Can. 1. Arles and Nice determined otherwise and Astronomical between Augustine and the Brittains at this time being much the same difference between stylo veteri stylo novo in our days which the Ignorance of Augustine made to be a Catholick tradition derived from St. Peter and the chief ground and pretence of quarrel to disturb our Churches St. Paul dehorts Christians from observing dayes and Months and times and years Gal. 4 10 very agreeably to the Christian Hypothesis whereby this present world or the old Creation hath its end and period in the death of Christ Sacramentally to our Faith and r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys T. 5. Edit Savil. Hom. 53. p. 357. time its Concomitant twinne hath the like end and period with it by consequence Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye Subject to Ordinances for properly a Christian as a Christian lives not in this world but in Eternity or to use the Apostles expression his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Conversation and Scene of living is not on Earth but in Heaven with Christ at the right hand of God Phil. 3 20. Col. 3.1 Which Doctrine highly Suits with the nature and genius of the immortal Soul all whose Acts of vice or virtue though as born in the body within the virge of time and place they are Temporal and transitory yet as they are the free-born off-springs of the Soul they carry the features and signatures of Eternity upon them being Eternal as their Parent in the memory of their guilt or merit Not as if the old Creation wherein we still live in the flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 were wholly consumed and transubstantiated in the sight of our rational faculties which a moral Philosopher would justly deride as madness in those that should maintain it but that the whole sublunary and moral nature of all its parts is to be elevated and consecrated to Heavenly uses in this state of Grace and nearer access to God wherein the Church as a new Creature by faith now stands Rom. 5.21 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore old things are passed away behold all things are become new We Christians eate and drink and obey and rule and mourn and rejoyce and observe dayes and times and feasts as well as the Jews or Heathens did but in another World by faith between the heart and the Lord in whom times persons and degrees and differences of persons meet in one as the whole Hemisphere in the candle of the eye or Diameters in their Center In the World men are Greeks or Barbarians bond or free Male or Female but in the Church Christ is all and in all For as in a degenerate Church or false Christian the present World or his Interest and profit is all in all and Holy Church and Religion and God and Christ and Faith and Sacraments are all Hypocritically and profanely named and used in
Wight any more oblig'd to Rome for their first Gospel than those of East-Angels though the Monkish Writers are seldom wanting to set forth or enlarge with Legends any the least title which Rome hath to pretend Therefore on their part they alledge that Wilfrid driven from his Arch-Bishoprick of York by Egfrid the Son of Oswi King of Northumberland retir'd and Preached the Gospel in these parts and Converted several and erected a Monastery at Sealsy e Cambden where afterwards the Bishoprick of Chicester was first settl'd and brought the Isle of Wight to believe by the Preaching of Hildila and Berwin his Sister's Sons whom he sent amongst them But Bede could not but acknowledge that f Bede lib. 4. c. 13. Math. Westm 661. Edilwalch King of the South-Saxons was long before Baptiz'd in the Province of Mercia where the Faith was Brittish by the perswasions and means of King Wolfer who was his Godfather at his Baptism and bestowed upon him up on the score of this Spiritual adoption and his encouragement in the Faith the Isle of Wight and Meansborrow whereupon he sent also g Monastic Anglic. part 1. p. 65. Bede l. 4. c. 13. Eopa and Pedda and Bruchelin and Oida to Preach the Gospel there to the English where the Brittains had long †Usher p. 464. before Communicated it his Queen being also a Christian Baptiz'd in her own h Ibid. Countrey before the Province of the Wiccij or Worcester a Brittish Christian Diocess then and long before Neither wanted it a little Monastery i Ibid. of the Irish whereof Dicul was the Abbot to support the Plantation which in every respect whether of King or Queen or Monks or first Preachers sent amongst them was of Brittish settlement and Instistution and that before the arrival of Wilfrid whose coming if it were for Seisure and Dominion was disorderly and Schismatical thrusting his sickle into another's Harvest if for common assistance it was an Act of charity and kindness deserving present Thanks but not at all creating an eternal Superiority to Rome over this Province besides that Wilfrid's coming hither is owing in part to the North of England whence he came being himself k Idem lib 5. c. 20. Originally of Aidan's Oswaldian Monastery and ordained by Agilbertus Arch-Bishop of Paris of Irish l Idem lib. 3. c. 7 28. that is Brittish Institution And though he warped from his own Church to Rome upon the score of Easter and created great troubles to himself as well as others through his errours m Guil. Malmesbury de gestis Pontif. l 3. de Arch. Eborac Spelman p. 157. and Ambition and Ignorance being verily perswaded that the Golden Number which the Brittains slighted was a traditon of St. Peter His errour and seduction being built upon a false supposition was virtually and in the general renounc'd and disown'd by him as the soul fundamentally dissents from all Impostures and Fallacies whereby his frailty in one particular became no obstacle or hindrance to our South-Saxons but that the rest of his Ministry was wholly Brittish and that neither upon his score much less on the others are they at all oblig'd to Rome as the Mother of their Faith add to this which sort of Argument ought to be of weight with credulous Romanists the great veneration over all this Territory to the memory of n Bede l. 4. c. 14. St. Oswald the great restorer of the Brittish Church and to the day of his death upon which by a particular prediction of St. Peter and Paul appearing on purpose to set up his honour here they were assured of their deliverance from a great Mortality and Famine which heavily had raged amongst them But suppose they had been wholly and entirely converted by Roman Ministry and no other their thanks and Prayers had been due for ever to their spiritual deliverer though Forreign as afore but their obedience and subjection was due to their own Governours at home nevertheless Neither was the case and Roman Interest much better in Kent into which corner of England their whole plantation was at last reduc'd where it first began as it is observed and confessed with a kind of Lamentation that after the death and overthrow of King Edwin and the Retreat of Paulinus from his Arch-Bishoprick of York to Rochester o Praefat Monast Angl part 1. Ecclesia Itaque Anglicana intra Cantianos limites iterum redacta est neque ulla ad huc fuerat Episcoporum successio praeterquam Roffensium Cantuariorum The Church of England saith a Gentleman of great learning and moderation was again reduc'd within the bounds of Kent neither had they any succession of Bishops but only at Rochester and Canterbury But it was the Roman Church of England that was so reduc'd and worse after their Bangor Massacre but the Brittish Church of England might with ease have been observ'd to be replanted in its place over all the land and that Principally by the means of Oswald under God and Cadwalhan that restored him though the Son of Ethelfred who was Augustine's chief Instrument totally to suppress and destroy it though to his own ruin in the event verifying therein the Brittish Proverb a fynno dhrwg iw gymydog iddo ihun i daw The mischief one intends to his neighbour returns upon his own head But we shall further prove our Roman Colony to be very much unsettled and indeed eradicated within its Kentish limits For not to mention the total devastation of Kent its Churches and Monasteries by the malignant Army of p Bede lib 4. c. 12. Edilred King of Mercia as before and Putta Bishop of Rochester relinquishing his ruin'd See and ending his dayes in Mercia as it fared no better with Bishop Willelm put in to succeed him to make up the breach of whom Will. of Malmesbury faith q Will. Malmesb. lib 4. c. 12. prae inopiâ ab Episcopatu discessit he was forc'd to quit his Bishoprick for meer want and hunger And the See of Canterbury the Mother of the rest established here at first Schismatically against all right and Canons was partaker of the like Judgements and calamities And whether the Church of Rome ever faild from its first beginnings I shall now enquire but certain and manifest it is the Roman Church in England had its Period and Cessation and death For Bede himself expresly acknowledges r Bed 3. c. 28. Non erat tunc ullus excepto Wini in totâ Britttannià Canonicè ordinatus Episcopus That when Ceadda was to be Consecrated Archbishop of York about the year 668. there was not one Bishop left in the whole Isle of Brittain that was Canonically ordain'd that is with him by Roman Bishops but Wini alone all the rest being of Brittish Ordination from whom accordingly Ceadda had his Consecration And it is as clear by the unanimous ſ Idem lib. 3. c. 7. Mat. Westmin A. 666. G Malmesb. de
confidence in their Cut-throate-fathers and are call'd to severe and sharp account for the errours of their teachers and their own yet most clear and undeniable it is that the People have a good zeal in General for the true God and Religion yea are more sincerely stedfast in their errours amidst poverty and torture and double Tithes and payments and death it self than many knowing Protestants are for the true Religion which they shrink from and change upon any appearance of advantage or disadvantage as often as the Moon he that is sincere and earnest in a false Religion aims at the true in the General and in his conscience But he that lives contrary or slights the Religion which himself professes and believes to be true declares himself of no Religion or understanding for contradiction added to Atheism is the Outlary of all reason and honour The Irish therefore are the more to be regarded and tender'd by us under their Ignorance and spiritual disorder because curable and not to be neglected for what wrong or temporal mischief soever they have done to us or themselves in the time of their blindness and seduction lest we be justly guilty of the unjust calumny against the Ancient Brittains towards the Saxons but we are to be zealous of their Reformation whether we be English or Brittains if English we are their debters their Learned and Pious Ancestors have done the like and more for many of ours whom they taught the first Gospel when they lay in Heathenish Ignorance and the shadow of death And much more if we are Ancient Brittains for our Ancestors taught theirs and love descends and it belongs to a Husbandman to be more careful of his plantation than to a stranger therefore we are bound to intreat and beseech them especially their Learned and sincere Clergy that love the Salvation of their charge more than absolute Dominion over them and their remaining afflicted Gentry and Nobility in the name of God and the bowels of Christ and that we may the better prevail even upon our knees before them that they will be merciful to their land and to their own souls and Posterity and as they have of late to some trouble own'd our Soveraign in Temporals that they would also own Christ in Spirituals instead of the Pope and holy Scriptures instead of lyes and Bulls and Legends and conscience more than deceitful guides and Popery will have its end in Ireland and the Ignorance and misery of that poor Nation in soul and body and Estates together with it as we hope and trust They are as able to overthrow the pretended Infallibility of the Pope in the latter and grosser errour as they have done effectually in the first And they 'l meet their old Religion which St. Patrick taught in the Protestant Church of Ireland and England Protestant truth and Irish sincerity will make excellent Christianity The Learned and Pious Dr. Sall is worthy of everlasting honour amongst all good Christians for his great and leading example in this point amidst great discouragements And as for some other of their guides who are like to be most cross and averse against this Petition of truth and love who if they are not fowly belyed delight in the Impliciâ— saith of their Female charge as well as their Male the chastity of the soul and body from God and purity being the chief sacrifice and triumph that Satan and his Ministers delight in we are not so desirous of their company or Communion till by better reformation they assure us of their belief of any God which we doubt not in the least of the rest of their seduc'd Brethren And by this second Instance appears the difference between the Religion of the Irish under its first Plantation by the Brittains and it s after Cultivation by the Romanists by the one they became the Glory of Western Christendom for Christian life and Learning by the other the reproach and scorn of the World and Pitty of all good men for their Ignorance and wildness And the English from the time of King Ina and the Brittains while under their Power till the Reformation were well nigh as much beholding to Rome for their like improvement in knowledge And Rome hath accomplish'd most of her Conquests over Churches and Souls by this mist of Ignorance to set off mistakes and cheats Adimit rebus nox atra colorem darkness destroys differences a Serpent shall be taken for a Rope a Pool for a Meadow a Statue for a living man an enemy for a Friend a King for a Subject in the dark And so the first currant mistake by the help of this politick Ignorance that hath advanc'd and supported the Empire and credit of that Church to this day is that they make their Proselytes believe that their Church is the same with Jerusalem wich is above descended down to Rome the Mother of us all the Church of the living God out of whose Pale or Bosome there is no Salvation to be expected For so all degrees and Converts to that Church by the Bull or Test of Pius quartus must profess and swear the Holy Catholick Church in Heaven and Earth mention'd in Creeds to be their particular Roman Church which begets it great Authority and veneration from those which can believe this to be true and heretofore brought great resort and Treasure and Honour to that City several Kings and Princes leaving their Crowns and Kingdoms to end their dayes at Rome as it were in Heaven or Abraham's bosom So Bede saith of a Bede lib. 4. c. 5. Oswi that he was grown so perfect a Catholick that had not his Disease prevented he resolved to go to Rome to leave his Bones there to be sure of Heaven Which the Monkish corrupter of the Brittish History directly affirms of Cadwaladr last King of the Brittains the absurdity of which dream and forgery tending to exalt the Honour of Rome and the abuse of our Saints and worthies most evidently appears by comparing Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth together For he with all others allows Cadwaladr to be the Son of Cedwalla or Cadwalhan King Edwins Chrony and Antagonist born the same day and brought up b Hist Britt l. 12 c. 1. in the Court of Northwales to years of manhood together That Edwin recovering Northumberland by the defeat and death of Edelfred after long exile and falling out with Cadwalhan who would not allow him to wear a Crown beyond Humber but at peril of his head and then siding with the Roman faction conquer'd Wales and drove out Cadwalhan beyond the Seas holding the Countrey in subjection for 17 years but was overthrown at last and kill'd by Cadwalhan in the year 633. being the 47 year of his Age c Bede l. 2. c. 20. saith Bede as Cadwalhan was of the same Age by consequence and Cadwaladr his Son born and in being about this time or else according to Bede he never could be born For according to
e Bed l. 1. c. 26. Bertha had so prepar'd Luidhardus her Chaplain who attended her was well able to consummate and to Baptize the King whom he had no doubt instructed in the Faith before which he was far more qualified to do than Augustine was or could be having not the Tongue nor that guift of Miracle What came this Monk so many Miles hither for was it for the souls health of the Saxons and to Preach the Gospel to them in conjunction with the Brittains as he here pretends he should have us'd some likely means towards the attaining of this end better ingratiated himself with the Brittains than to pick quarrels about trifles and tonsures and inconsiderable Ceremonies against the General e Bed lib. 1. c. 28. Instructions of his Pope honoured them with his communion as did Bertha and Luidhardus hinder'd confederacies with Pagans against them as did f Antiyuitat p. 34. Palladius in Scotland or as Leland Roundly and solidly reproves this Italian Hypocrisie and zeal of him and his Pope in the judgement of the learned and eloquent f Antiyuitat p. 34. Arch-Bishop Parker supposed to be the Author of Antiquitates Ecclesiasticae debuerat Gregorius admonuisse Saxonas gentem perfidem ut si sincerè Christianismum admittere vellent Britanniae Imperium quod contra Sacramentum militiae per tyrannidem occupaverant justis Dominis as possessoribus restituerent Pope Gregory by his Augustine ought to have admonished the Saxons who were a perfidious Nation that if they intended to embrace the Christian Faith in sincerity and to any purpose they should restore the Scepter of Brittain to the right Lords and owners who had hir'd them for their service and defence from whom on the contrary they wrested it by force and perjury against the Faith and honour of Souldiers But Cressy objects quiet Possession for 4 or 5 descents fron Hengist as if Emrys or Aurelius Ambrosius and Vther Pendragon and Arthur as well as Young Vortimer had made no re-enties But this seemed as unsuccessful Divinity with Augustine as to desire the leave and liking of the Brittains to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury over their heads or to be ordained and consecrated by the Brittish Bishops in order thereunto which he so far shunned that he went over Seas to France as far as Arles to g Bede lib. 1. c. 28. Etherius Arch-Bishop there to receive his consecration for Arch-Bishop of England and that saith Bede by the special directions of Pope Gregory which compar'd with the former passage of the same Pope concerning Brittain never having had a Pall from Rome and consequently never being Subject to or depending upon that See and their subsequent indefatigable Industry after Augustine's Plantation and succession was extinct of thrusting new Arch-Bishops from time to time and undervaluing all our Brittish consecrations manifestly proves the bottom of Romes design upon England that it was not Edification but Empire that was ever there aim though with the ruin of this Ancient Church if it could no other ways be compassed so Augustine had the face in a Synodical meeting of the Brittish Bishops near Worcester as before to require the Brittains to joyn with him assuming now to be an Arch-Bishop here against leave and Law and Canons to Preach the Gospel to the Saxons which was his pretext and Artifice to hook in their allowance and approbation of his unjust and Schismatical usurpation which subtile Proposal was difficult to be granted or denied but either with the Inconvenience of betraying their Church and Country and Christian communion by the Canons of the Church if they yeilded to joyn with him or having the odium of witholding the Gospel from the Saxon Pagans if they refus'd which is the true rise and State of this Infernal calumny rais'd again the Brittains of their denying to Preach the Gospel to the Saxons which induc'd the worthy and Reverend Author afore mention'd h Bed l. 2. c. 2 to conclude this meeting to have been contriv'd for a snare to get words of Indignation from them to provoke the Pagan Saxons to form a War against them to ruin the remainder of the Brittish Clergy in Wales and to cover the combination with Prophesie to Father the murder upon God to make it justice 3 And accordingly Ethelbert as Bede acknowledges h Bed l. 2. c. 2 provok'd Ethelfred King of Northumberland the chief Patron of Paganism and Enemy of the Christian Faith against them upon the score of the high words that passed between them and Augustine at that meeting and it is as easy to guess who informed and incensed his new convert King Ethelbert from his denunciation of War against them upon the place though in the form of Prophesie and Divine Revelation Si pacem cum fratribus accipere nollent bellum ab hostibus forent accepturi no small evidence with considering men i Antiquitates Ecclesiast p. 47. non conscius sed causa Belli p. 48. of this Apostles having a chief hand in the Barbarous ensuing murders and long and bloudy Wars and devastations that followed which he could so certainly fortell for these and other Saxon Kings coming with united forces against Brochwael Scythrawg Prince of Powys not so well provided for them and soon putting him to the rout at Legecestria saith Bede that is Westchester Wales being then larger than now it is and by the Brittains called Caerleon from a Roman Legion that quartered in that City sell in the next place upon the Monks that were with him in his Army and slew of them 1250. no more but fifty of them escaping Their assisting with their Prayers being made a pretence for this hostile usage by the Kings so saith Bede But the Norman Ancient M. S of Trivet in Spelman i Spelman Cnncil p. 112. saith that they were found in the City k Wheeloc not in c 2. l. 2. Bede and every one of them put to the Sword in cold bloud because they were Brittains the Latine copies of Bede add this to be done after the death of our Augustine but there is no such clause in any of the Saxon Manuscripts l Monachi pacem petentes crudeliter occisi H. Lhuid fragm Brit. p. 58. and Bishop Jewel finds Augustine's hand to several Charters signed some years after this Massacre committed in m M. Westm An. 603· 603. whereas our Augustine acording to our best Chronologers dyed not n Spelman Concil p. 93. till 613 so that He might well be present at the place of their slaughter o Jewel defense part 5. c 1. p. 438. If it was not according to some in 613. the same year that he dyed which was a bloudy Legacy encouraging their Executioners Whereby we have a tast of the Roman forgeries while they were masters of our Records and Manuscripts Nothing that seemed to make for their Church have they neglected to insert without either Art or Colour
Fragm Britt p. 30 Saxon Officers and Nobles were driven into the Low-lands of Scotland by the Normans for they did not seek their refuge in Wales and the Highlands call them Saxons to this day and none retain more the Old Saxon dialect or perhaps the humour of their Ancestors in being Souldiers of Fortune abroad and Politick as in the Vigour and hasty earnestness of the Scotch Communalty and several Ancient Customes the Brittish or as men say the Welsh bloud and humour is as much discernible such hath been the apparent mercy and providence of God in their distinct preservation to this day that the whole Nation is greatly become Great Brittain again by their means and this Seed and Remnant sown over the whole field of Lhoegr amongst their Ancient Brethren again as appears more perceptibly and by Records in their Allyance with most and the chiefest Noble l Enderby Cambria Triumphans Families and Houses of England and may be dayly seen and found in most Companies you can fall into of the Communalty where Captains occurr not more frequent than Brittains either by Birth or Derivation or Alliance But is most remarkably and importantly evident and visible in the Throne it self The Royal Family of the Stewards having had their singular preservation in Wales betimes in m Cambden in Scotia p. 726. Buchanan Rege 86. p. 212. Fleance the only Son of Banquo escaping from the snares of Macbeth against his life and marrying Nesta the Daughter of Prince Griffith ap Lhewelin whereby they recovered to be Great Stewards or Abthanes of Scotland And their highest Exaltation of being Kings of Great Brittain by the like affinity and descent from King Henry the seventh in whom or his Queen was contain'd the Brittish Title from King Cadwaldr as well as the Norman and English descending either through f George Owen Harry Pedegree of King James Printed at London 1604 Et Langhornius Hist infine Gwladys Dhû the only Daughter of Prince Lhewelin ap Jorweth married to the Mortimers from whom his Queen descended or through Owen Tudyr from the last Prince Lhewelin Nephew to Gwladys Dhû from whom himself descended who though stil'd a Welsh g Hall 3. Rich. 3. f. 54. Milk-sop by King Richard Crook-back in his speech when they were ready to joyn Battle for the Crown yet it well appears what kind of Prince he was for wisdom and magnificence in my Lord Verulam's Monument of his Life and his own of his Death at Westminster So that Invasions and Conquests may be compared to Land-floods for their prevalence and premanency which for a while know no banks and discolour and alter the whole Channel from appearing to be the same current but after a short time this confusion is soon over and the River becomes the same as it was before and within its old banks and rules For we plainly perceive the English are so much the same at this day saving some few chief Families as if there had never been any Norman Inundation and by like parity the English themselves are the bulk of the Old Brittains wearing out the Saxon violence in the form of Brittains as the Norman in the form of English and all is great Brittain again as well in Truth as in Name not without Divine suggestion upon the minds of King and people to be so desirous to retrieve it As Grand Cairo is the same City though thousands go in and out in Caravans every day or our bodies are the same in substance though not in the parts which have undergone several fluxes and successions The Pressure of one Nation by another having more of chastisement in it than destruction and resembling an Ague more than Death for that when it hath made a great depredation of the Spirits which answer to the Nobility where the Disease most commonly is contracted and seated by Luxury and inflammations and brought the flesh of the body very low which answers to the Commonalty which bears its share in the smart and disorder then it departs and leaves us of its own accord without other force or Physick and we recover our old health and Spirits and Flesh and colour in our old accustom'd Aire and Aliment and are as we were at first having never been otherwise for substance but the same As in our own experience in our late Civil Wars which made two contrary Nations of one the Chiefs came to Scaffolds to Goldsmith-Hall or Tyburn for good or ill desert the body of the Nation continuing the same and the old Souldiers of the King making the best part of Cromwells Army as hath been observed and the Round-head and Cavalier now no more distinct And upon the same account our Modern Italians may be allowed to be the same Nation with the Ancient Romans but with far greater Alloy and mixture of Strangers than the Brittains Their Invasions and Feavers from Goths and Vandalls and Hunnes and Saracens being more turbulent and destructive than ours from a few Normans and Danes and Saxons which the Nation was better able to digest The main stream of the Flood passing over them and but its Eddy over us Which considerations afford an Argument and an Observation an Argument against their Cavil that would renew Alphonsus Garsias his exception to the English Embassadors plea in the Council of Basil touching the Antiquity and precedency of our Brittish Church Non sunt tempora compucanda à gente prima with him Britonibus Britonantibus quae totaliter est expulsa c. The time of Brittain's Conversion saith he is not to be reckoned from the first Inhabitants and very Brittans who were totally destroyed and expelled but from the time of the Saxons Invading England from whom the English descend for by the precedent suppositions it appears the Ancient Brittains were not wholly destroyed as he and others through ignorance have imagin'd And beside the English may with as much right inherit the priviledges of the Ancient Brittains as the modern Italians succeed in the Rights and Superiorities of the Ancient Roman Chaire For if Victorious Goths can inherit by force the Roman Supremacies why not Victorious Saxons and Normans as well inherit the exemptions of Brittain for the English are more old Brittains than the modern Italians are Old Romans And let them produce their Roman Charter when they please they 'l find our Brittanick freedom and Seniority upon the back thereof For the Pope himself Gods Rival will allow Catholick Conquerors to win and wear those Kingdoms with all their rights p Usher p. 143. which he bestowes from their right owners for their heresy setting himself therein above God's Commandment thou shalt not steal and much more lawfully doth God himself the absolute Soveraign of the World give away the rights of Nations that are to be chastised for their sins to his Instruments and labourers that he imployes in that work and the Wild Saxons were as capable to earn and succeed in such
put then in a fair posture not only to defend their Church and vindicate their Martyrs but well nigh as Bede intimates to exterminate †Bede l. 2. c. 20. or subdue all their Saxon enemies within the Land For Ethelfred having his greatest force routed at Bangor by the union of the Brittains was the easier conquer'd and kill'd by his Brother-in-law Edwin with the help of the petty King of the East-Angles with whom he lived in Exile through Ethelfreds jealousy least he should intercept the succession of his Sons and by that victory what he fear'd was fulfill'd and brought to pass For upon Edwins prevailing Oswald and Oswi c. his Sons being young were forc'd with several of their Nobles to quit Northumberland and flee into Scotland giving place to Edwin who received his Christianity wherewith he before was well acquainted among the Brittains from Paulinus one of Monk Angustine's Fellow labourers whom he makes Archbishop of York and greatly countenances the propagation of the Roman Faith among the Northern English but Cedwalla or Cadwalhan recovering for r M. Westminster 663. Edwin had beaten him out of all Wales with great slaughters upon the people beâ—â— Edwin again out of his Life and Kingdom and forc'd Paulinus and all his new Converts to shift for themselves exercising great Cruelties far and near as Bede complains both Princes dancing by turnes after Augustine's Pipe And upon the ruine of Edwin who kept but Ethelfred's Sons for about 17 years Eanfrid an Elder Brother of Oswald and Osric his Cousin were restor'd by Cadwalhan Å¿ Hect Boethius l. 9. p. 174. at the Intercession of the King of Scots to the Kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia and afterwards both destroyed t Bede l. 3. c. 1. M. Westm 634. by the same Cadwalhan for apostatizing from the Christian Faith u H. Boethius lib. 9. p. 174. § 50. after he had sent Bishops often to them to warn and advise and reclaim them but all in vain and x Ibid. § 70. Oswald was admitted King after them because in the Battel he was as zealous as Cadwallan himself against the Apostate Kings whereby it appears that the Restauration or plantation of the Christian Religion amongst the Northern English is chiefly owing to Cadwalhan's zeal and and Interest who plyed the English Commonalty with Brittish Preachers no doubt as he did the Apostate Kings with Brittish Bishops whereof Bede takes not the least notice though the passages are punctually recited in the Scottish Histories when it was not their main design as it was with Bede Which the more discovers his unwillingness to do right to the Brittains according to the Truth yea by him Oswald is restored to his Kingdom not by the Courtesie of Cadwalhan but by his y Bed l. 3. c. 1. death and overthrow against both our English and Brittish Histories z Hist Brit. lib. 12. c. 13. who relate Cadwalhan to have lived many years after Oswald and that King Penda of Mercia made War upon Oswi Oswalds Brother and Successor a M. Westm 665. Jubente Cadwallino by Cadwalhan's Order and that he died Anno 679. of b Idem 676. meer Age. But Oswald and his Companions during his Exile in Scotland were c Bede l. 3. c. 2. Baptiz'd and brought up in the Christian Religion according to the Brittish Institution as it differed from the Roman and being settled in his Throne by Cadwalhan sent to c Bede l. 3. c. 2. Scotland for Doctors to Convert the remainder of his Subjects to that end d Idem c. 3. Aidanus and Finnan and Diuma are sent who were Monkes of a Brittish Isle belonging to the Picts who bestowed the same upon St. Columbanus or Collymcille who built a Monastery there as he had done before at Armagh where the Abbot e Usher p 170. was Superiour to all the Clergy of those parts and to the Bishop himself and f Bede l. 3. c. 3 5. the Rites and Customes of the Brittains were most strictly observed and kept to the last the Monkes and Founder being all train'd up in the Principles and Religion of our St. Patrick from whom by Faith all descend as perhaps Aidan and Finnan and Dymma are by bloud of Brittish extraction as their f Aidhan the name of a King of Powys Ancestor to Blethin ap Cynwin Bwlch-Aidhan in Com. Montgom Aedani Ecclesia in Monâ Ins Gyrald Cambr c. 7. Annot. Descrip Cambr. Names may import for the Brittains flocked much to Ireland upon the Saxon persecution whereupon that Island grew very famous for Learning and Religion in those dayes as was said before being the rest bred and born some in Scotland some in Ireland as if by special Providence fitted and designed to represent and unite the four Nations into one the English by their Instruction the Scotch and Irish by their Birth and Education and the Brittains by their first Original in Faith and descent And though they had not the good fortune to be Grac'd and Canoniz'd far and wide for Saints by the Roman Church for which they had not that filiall regard and honour as for their Brittish Mother as others have been of a far lower form to them for Sanctity and Knowledge and Innocence yet that piece of Character Bede gives of Aidan may satisfie what He and the rest were and what honour they deserved and no doubt have enjoyed in Heaven though they fail'd thereof at Rome g Bed lib 3. c. 3. 4. 17. Cujus doctrinam id maxime commendabat omnibus quod non aliter quam vivebat cum suis c. Whose Doctrine saith he and their monastical Education must be remembred and allowed them nothing more set out than that he was known to teach no otherwise than he us'd to live for nothing of this present World did he care either to love or covet All the guifts and presents he received from the Princes and potentates of this World he delighted presently to bestow away amongst the first poor he met it was his manner never to be seen on Horse-back but to perform all his business on foot through all parts of City and Country unless upon great necessity if he met or saw any as he went either Rich or Poor he presently addressed towards them and invited them to the Faith if they were Infidels or if believers confirm'd them in it and stirr'd them up to alms and good works both by word and deed and all that walked in his company whether Regular or Lay so different saith Bede was his manner from the lazy kind of living in his time were to be given to mediation that is were to be ever reading the Scritures or getting some of the Psalms by heart this was his daily work and Custom and of all his Friars that were with him whithersoever they went and if it fell out which was but seldom that he was invited to Dinner by the King he went
reason or not till the 12. of Nero which may be granted without any Inconvenience to our Argument And the second very bold but dâ—stitute of good Authority yet agreeable however to Apostolical deportment in St. Peter in all mens expectations as well as their own fancies were it true that he then was there for sayes one he then ordain'd and sent p Idem Anno 46. Bishops and Teachers to preach the Gospel over all Italy France and Spain which well became him and to Brittain saith another but who are there witnesses and Authors Only one of of their own Popes Innocentius primus some hundred years after for his own Interest in his own cause without any second and who for the other but Metaphrastes of whom siqua ei fides adhibenda est sine Majorum Authoritate Loquenti q Idem Anno 51. n. 3. is their own Character An Argument that they themselves believe not this Legend of St. Peter and the second year of Claudius which they obtrude upon the World with such great importance and so weak a guard and in contradiction to themselves For how could St. Peter there Act or Rule or Order where he then was not Neither in reality and truth on the one hand as is Learnedly and Concisely r Dr. Sudbury's late Sermon before the King demonstrated by an admirable sound and profound Divine who to admiration within the compass of a quarter of a year or thereabouts when he was in Wales for his Refuge for Loyalty in the late times both Learn'd and Preach'd in the Brittish Tongue so hard and difficult to English-Born as I was thereof well assured from good hands Nor yet in the sincere belief of our great Romanists as appears both by their Arguments and plain Confessions for the Arguments and reasons whereby Barnabas Å¿ Spondan A 51. n. 14. is by them proved not to be the first that Preach'd the Gospel to the Romans against Dorotheus his assertion are because he was then in the East at and had his Apostleship after the death of Herod Act. 12.23 25.1.41 which is known to have fallen out in the fourth year Å¿ Spondan A 51. n. 14. of Claudius and also because the Jews were expell'd Rome by Claudius in his ninth Which are as firm against St. Peter his being or preaching at Rome in such a time if St. Peter was a Jew for he is recorded in Scripture both before and after Herod's death to be as much in the East over seeing all the Churches of Judaea and Galile and Samaria Act. 8.14.9.31 Receiving St. Paul upon his Conversion Act. 8 14 25.9.27 Which fell out in the 36 year of Christ †Baron Tom. 1. p. 254. and the second after his Resurrection and after three years or about the latter end of Caligula whom Claudius succeeded he visited St. Peter at Jerusalem for 15 dayes Gal. 1.18 And 14 years after he visited him again at Jerusalem Gal. 12.1 At the time of the Councel being the 9th of Claudius which with Caligula's three years and 10 months reign made the 22th year u Nelvic Chron. of Tiberius and the second after the Resurrection wherein St. Paul was converted by this account Healing Aeneas at Lydda Act. 8.34 and remaining a long time at Joppa v. 43. where he raised Tubbitha from the dead v. 40. received and baptiz'd Cornelius Act. 10.5.48 and defended this Act at Jerusalem Act. 11.2 where he was Imprison'd by Herod and delivered by an Angel Act. 12. and after Herods death in the †Spondan Anno 51. n. 14. 4th of Claudius as before and many Cities of the Gentiles Converted by St. Paul and Barnabas Act. 15.3 4. he is found to be resident still at Jerusalem with the other great Apostles v. 2 7. and present at the Councel about Circumcision which was held in the 9th year of Claudius by their own t Ibid. Confession which is the other sign themselves believ'd him not to be then for 25 years at Rome Expulsum autem u Idem Anno 5. n. 1. cum caeteris Judaeis fuisse Petrum Apostolum nisi alia occasio inde eum abduxerit nulla est Dubitatio because he was expell'd without doubt with the rest of the Jews by Claudius or was drawn away upon another occasion which is well suggested by them for how could he be at Rome in their account and at Jerusalem in the account of Scripture as before the self same time or which is first to be believed which is likewise the reason they give why no x Idem Anno 58. n. 19. mention is made of St. Peter by St. Paul in his large Catalogue of Eminent Christians whom he sends his Commendation to Rom. 16. because being expell'd by Claudius say they he was gone else where or he sent his Commendation to St. Peter in a secret Letter by himself which was well thought of and is a Petitio principii like to their other proofs of this great and fundamental Article of their Faith and the chief foundation of their Supremacy whereby they do greater right to St. Peters name and memory in confessing necessarily that he was not there in those years than maintaining frivolously that he came so early and from far thither from Jerusalem to Rome like Cato into the Theatre to be gone as soon as he came or which were more incongruous to continue there for 25 years till the 12th of Nero to do nothing or but to catch flyes and at such a time when he was so hard to be spar'd when the whole World stood in need of his help for the first planting of the Gospel Therefore considering the first occasion of this errour y Helvic Chron. Anno Christ 70. Hieronymus Eusebii Chronico assuit in Graeco enim non est With or without their good leave we may take it for granted that St. Peter never came to Rome if he came at all till the year z Spond Anno 68. n. 1. St. Paul came thither of whose coming there is better certainty whose Authority ecclipsing all others was therefore followed by the first Popes in the Easter Controversy against the East and St. Peter himself a good sign he never came but manifest it is St. Paul came to Rome about the 13 year of Nero. And yet it is very well known and from the testimony of Scripture and good History and Nero's Bonefires very evident that there were many Christians at Rome and Italy before St. Paul arriv'd amongst them Act. 28.14 Who came from Rome as far as the three Taverns which was 33. and Appii forum which was fifty one Miles distant to meet him out of honour v. 15. yea some of them were Seniors to him in the Faith as himself acknowledges in Rom. 16.7 Andronicus and Junia to have been the one a Greek the other a Latine by their names yet his Kinsmen which had been no great wonder or special dignity if they had not resided
Christians for another surname as is the stile of all Roman-Catholicks And 2 likewise for no m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinary voluntary Austerity of life which is most of the Religion of the best of them Col. 2.23 And 3. n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiphan in Audianis for separating from the communion of their betters which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most grievious and dreadful miscarriage of all So that Brittain the Mother Church to Europe was made like in several parts both for sufferings and relief to Sion the Mother Church of the whole World as small circles have the genius and similitude of the greater for as the opposition and greate Combate of the one was from the Sword of the Heathen World resolving to destroy it from without and the leaven of Nicholaitans and other Hereticks combineing from within to defile and shame it which was the greater molestation and Indignity so in like manner was the Case of the other for the Primitive Brittish was permitted to be kill'd all the day long by Pagan Saxons on the one hand and hindred and pestered all along in all its good works with Roman-Catholick Gnosticism on the other which was the greater and the unworthyer Nusance yet both prevailing through their oppression The death of Brittain bringing life and Salvation to English and Germans as the seed grows by dying or as the Jews rejection was the Gentile's reconcilation in some likeness of Christ himself their first Pattern who became the life of all the World by his death and as the one had its Constantine after some time and Theodosii to vindicate and take its part so had the other it s Arthurs and Charlemagne and Henry the eight in some like proportion aâ—d Christ himself in the end to make it alike partaker in glory with him as it was in sufferings and in the mean while to live in them for whom it dyed as he doth in his Church and as Fathers live in their posterity that take their place Neither is it hence Inferrible according to Roman Logick and Sophistry that Europe therefore ought to pay such obedience for ever to Brittain upon this spiritual score as the Roman expects from other Churches which were against the Law of Nations and the Rights of Kings in their several Dominions whose respective subjects are to own and regard no other Superiour but their own Prince and as much against the Laws and Canons of the Catholick Church and the Immunities of Bishops and Metropolitans within their several Provinces by them and as much against the Law of nature likewise and the express ordinance of God himself who hath placed the woman in subjection under the man and yet by the strength and consequence of this Argument that order must be Inverted And where women have had the first hand in the Conversion of Kings and Kingdoms to the Faith there they ought by this Roman Topick to be Supreme in spirituals if they have impartial right and justice done them as they must of necessity be in England in several respects either in the right of Queen Bertha who first disposed her Husband Ethelbert to the Faith whereby Monk Augustine and Popery had their first entrance Or of Eanfled Oswi's Queen by whose zeal and diligence Theodore and Popery had its re-entrance and more durable establishment after it had been once banisht and extinct Or Anne Fulleâ—gne to whom according to the Romanists is owing its mortal wound and total overthrow and the setting up of Protestancy instead Or in France to Queen Clotildis who brought Clodoveus their first Christian King to embrace the Faith or to Mâ—esâ—o's Queen who did the like in Poland c. Or over the whole Christian World in the right of Mary Magdalen who brought the first tydings of the Resurrection to the Apostles themselves which would be a great relief to the fame of Pope Joan and the credit of her History so unjustly question'd No the English who are nearer home were they now a distinct People from the Ancient Brittains as it hath been proved they are not ow not such a debt or Tribute to the Posterity of the Ancient Brittains by whose Ancestors we have likewise prov'd they were undoubtedly fiâ—st Converted For such kind of Preaching of the Gospel on the side of the Brittains and such believing and complying with the grace of God for Salvation on the side of the English or Saxon were the personal duties and merits of both Progenitours for which both have had their full reward and payment from God long ago in rest and glory and both posterities mutually acquitted and released and remitted to seek after the like glory by the like means for indeed the just retribution and compensation for the unvaluable benefit of Gospel and Salvation belongs to God alone both to discharge and to receive instead of the one and the other party because two great a debt and obligation for a Creature to undergo or the hearer to requiâ—e or the â—reaâ—â—er to demaund and insist on besides the mâ—â—dâ—â— and telling another of our good turns towaâ—ds him Cancels Courtesies especially those between Souls because it bankrupts and annihilates by fiction him whose requital we expect For the giver representing God the receiver a Creature unless Gods proxy absent and hide his glory by a fiction of forgetfulness the Creatures proxy will appear to be nothing and consequently insolvent so near his rayes as the Sun must set that Stars may shine for while too near the presence and comparison of the greater obscures and destroys the weaker light If therefore the Generous posterity of the Saxons on the one hand believe kindness to be due to the posterity of the Brittains on the score of first Faith the Brittains on the other dare not own any such debt to be due unto them lest they wrong the merits and duties of their Progenitors but what honour or favour is forced upon them they will acknowledge it free guift without any previous merit calling for a requital and return with due increase and multiplied proportion where there is power and where that is wanting for a constant acknowledgement and rememberance and repayments in the heart through the aid of God by prayers and blessings And this were as much the duty of the Roman Church towards the English were it true that their Ancestors had received their Faith from Rome and that Faith had been pure and sound and right according to that of our Saviour freely ye have received freely give Math. 19.8 If they intend to act as men and Christians and Gentlemen of education and breeding and not as those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that had their hearts or their minds and consciences putrified and corrupted 1 Tim 6.5 as too many of their principles and practices afford apparent Symptons of such a malady For in the matter and commerce of Courtesies that forgetfulness should be the part of the Giver and remembrance of the Receiver
made the Infallible Pope to change his mind and him and his Successors i Bed lib 2. c. 8.18 Boniface Honorius c. by one Pall after another to confirm its settlement there there are several conjectures amongst Antiquaries and Historians Who agree and confess it was a great injury and disgrace to London Math. Westminster imputes it to fate and cites the Prophecy of Merlin k Galfrid lib 12. c. 17.18 Dignitas Londoniae adornabit Doroberniam W. of Malmsbury to his l Guil. Malmesb. Initio lib de gestis Pontifi lib 1. c. 4. welcom with King and People at Canterbury where he abode 16 years Sedulitate Hospitis Regis Civium charitate captus which argues he had not so much welcom at London Kenulph King of Mercia's Epistle to Leo the third saith it was agreed by English Parliament Cunctis gentis nostrae sapientibus which is the best title we heard yet but that of his Father settling it at Lichfeild that the Primacy should be there where the Corps of St. Augustine their first English-Bishops lyes interred in St. Peters Church Consecrated by his Successor Laurence who belike knew his mind And therefore y Lambard Peramb p. 79. Mr. Lambard in his Perambulation of Kent delivers his judgment thus But I think verily that he meant thereby to leave a Glorious Monument of his swelling pride and vanity whereunto I am the rather led by the observation of his stately behaviour towards the Brittish Bishops and some other of his Acts that savour greatly of vainglory ambition and insolence But it may be well imagin'd it was to get Royal Protection though Heathenish for his Forreign unlawful Primacy For therefore Gregory design'd the Pall first for London because he conceived it to be the Royal City of the Nation Et ad id tempus alterius obscurae urbis notitia Romanos non Attigisset The fame of Canterbury was then so obscure that the Romans had not heard thereof saith z G. Malmesbury de Gestis Pontif l. 1. c. 1. Malmesbury when as London was better known unto them from Roman Authors and Western Councils But when Augustine satisfied them at Rome that Civitas Dorobernia was Caput gentis Anglorum a diebus Paganorum as the reason of the translation is assign'd in Pope Boniface his a Antiquit. Eccles p. 14. Letter to Justus the the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury that since the Pagans prevail'd over the Brittish Christians Canterbury became the chief City and the Royal Seat of Hengist's Successors among whom King Ethelbert was most powerful over all these parts where London stood as far as Humber they conceived fit thereupon to alter their Resolutions and that the Mitre should follow the Crown for support and the rather because the Londoners who were most of them reduc'd Brittains as before was shewed were averse to his Novel Superstitions and usurp'd Primacy and the Diminution of their Metropolitical dignity thereby contriv'd through his means and despite as appear'd by their expulsion of Mellitus whom he constituted his first Bishop there as he also Consecrated Laurentius in his life time against the Canons of the Church to succeed him at Canterbury least b Lamb. Peramb p. 79. upon his death the Primacy might return to London And though it very probably did a few years after his Cantuarian succession was extinct when Ced of Brittish Institution and Ordination was advanc'd to the See of London yet that Brittish Restoration was soon suppress'd and the Romish Usurpation re-erected at the coming in of Theodore and his Successors to be Archbishops of Canterbury as before whose power here prevail'd as well as over the rest of Europe by the secret Counsel and permission of Providence till the Reformation without much interruption saving that when the Controversy was hot between King Henry the second and Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury Gilbert Folioth Bishop of London c Usher p. 71. took his time before it was the fatal time to recover his Archiepiscopal right and Dignity from Canterbury but in vain although animated with Prophesies at that time that London should be a Metropolitan Church again at the return of the Brittains into the Island as Fitz-Stephen reports who writ about that time But those Prophesies had not their accomplishments in general esteem till the days of our Henryes 7th and 8th Wherein though the Primacy was not restor'd to London yet it was restor'd to Brittain and rescu'd from all Roman Servitude Jurisdiction Nomination Bulls and Palls and Tribute and Oaths of Obedience to the Pope and the mark and title of d Antiquit. Ecclesiasticae in Cranmero p. 329. Legate of the Apostolick See chang'd by decree of Synod into that of Primate and Metropolitan of all England as stands the state and dignity thereof at this day No more depending upon Rome's Schismatical usurpation but upon the consent and establishment of our Brittish Kings and Church and e 25 H. 8. c. 2. Laws and therefore enjoyed from that time forward by its several Prelates and obeyed by all Ecclesiastical Subjects under it with a better Conscience because according to the Laws of the Land and of the Church without any wrong or prejudice to Right Owners or forc'd obedience to Wrongful Vsurpers And the third Metropolitical Chaire of Brittain that of Caerleon whose beginning f Bede lib. 2. c. 2. Bede intimates with others to be from the time of Lucius and Eleutherius continued after Austin to the time of the Normans whose suffragans gave Austin the meeting at his coming hither In parte Britonum adhuc vigebat Christianitas c. Amongst the Brittains saith he the Christian Religion flourished still which since the first time they received it from Eleutherius never fail'd afterwards amongst them And after Augustine arriv'd he found in their Province seven Bishopricks with an Archbishoprick furnish'd with most Religious Prelates and several Abbeys wherein the Lords flock kept the right course But though they had their Christianity from that time and long before as hath been prov'd yet clear it is they had not all g Usher p. 80 88. their Episcopal Sees in the parts of Wales beyond the Severn so long for several of the Bishopricks there were founded upon the Saxons troubles and the repair of the Brittains from Loegr thither for peace and shelter For so it is manifest g Usher p. 75 76 80 88. St. Kentigern St Davids Contemporary founded the Bishoprick of St. Asaph in a Corner of the Countrey and g Usher p. 75 76 80 88. Mailgwyn Gwynedh who was chosen Monarch sometime after Arthur erected Bangor in another Corner about 560. And g Usher p. 75 76 80 88. Landaff acknowledges Dubritius for its first Bishop or Archbishop as some will have it yet the Bishopricks of Hereford as the name in Brittish imports Antiquity †Hen vetus Fsordh via Henffordh and Worcester and Gloucester c. where K. Lucius
Ancient Brittains Inferiour to any other Nation for Armes or Arts or Altars but Superiour to most and equal to the greatest For whose Pulpits at this day are more admir'd in the Churches of Europe whose Arguments and Contemplations in their Schools whose Valour in their Fields or whence is our peculiar Genius of Ralling and standing out invincibly in death and honour which is not so common with Neighbouring Nations deriveing from the like German stock but from the intermingled Bloud and boldness of the Old Brittains who like Buoyes in Seas did never sink what waves soever went over them and at even water appear uppermost In the middle Ages when the Candle of Learning and Religion was put out by Popish Barbarism and Romish Superstition and most part of the North of Europe lock'd up in Heathenism and the shaddow of death who first lighted and trimm'd it by Propagation or Reformation to the one or to the other but Brittain as before was shewed Whence had Italy as well as France their Universities and Philosophy and Mathematicks erected and restor'd a Munster lib. 3. p. 209. at Pavia and Paris through Charlemagne but from Brittain Whence by their own confession had our Germans the great Modern Masters of Chymistry their first Insight and Traditions touching the secrets of that abstruse Science but from our Merlin and Rasis Castrensis or Rhys of Chester Monk of Bangor who leads the b Merlinus Brittannus scripsit de Lapidis Philosophici Allegoriâ Helvic ad An. 480. John Rhenani Syntagma Borelli Biblioth Ghymica van with them amongst the first Authors of that Mystery being probably a Relique of the Druidean Philosophy So that all Learning and knowledge both Sacred and Civil had been utterly lost in Europe in the Gothish deluge if our Antediluvian Brittains had not surviv'd the floud by their Patience and Courage and Trust in Cod as in an Ark to preserve and reconvey the the Traditions and Treasures of the Old World to the New And wherein in first times were our Ancient Brittains Inferiour in these respects to the Ancient and best Romans whether Heathens or Christians There are considerable Arguments in their own Authors as before that Rome had its first Gospel from Brittain not the lest track or sign of Brittain having it at all from Rome Neither have they more to boast for Arts and Philosophy if as was shewed before their Greek Tutors were taught by our Samotheans Besides that Rhetorick and Poesie infallible Symptomes of minds neither mean nor impolite were ever inseparable the one from our Language the other from the Nation in all sorts and degrees Clerwr and c Postscript Lexic Cambro-Brit Patron Master and Man being equally addicted to Poetry wherein their d Vide Dris Joh David Rhesi Prosodiam Rules and structure cannot be match'd in any Tongue as no Vein equal their Rules but their peculiar awen or inspiration whereby the Illiterate there shall comprise their minds in Verse with more Elegance and quickness than themselves or others could in Prose yea a Female Vein of that Nation is known to have been hardly exceeded by any of the most Masculine Wits of our present Age And if according to their Cicero a skilful judge nothing more makes Rhetorick than these three principal Requisites 1. Deep Notion and Philosophy 2. Clear expressions and harmonious Structure 3. Amabiles mores or the flavour of Vertuous Principles and an Heroick disposition sparkling throughout the style The profound Physiology and Chymistry of their Druids and their sublime and unparallell'd Metaphysicks touching God and Soul and Holy Discipline proves their reach in the first And the Genius and Copiousness of their Tongue and the Spirit and temper of the people their fitness in the last The Brittish Language though in roots near as scant as the Hebrew yet in composition and decomposition is as copious and exact as the e E. G 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3.3 Britt Diariangar di 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadwalhan Câd exercitus gwalh defectus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lhawn lhon supplementum q. d. anima exercitûs Tatantir Breixhir the name of Cadwalhan ' Horse Taran Tonitru braix brachium hir longum q. d. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek but in Musical Pronounciation far exceeding either For though harsh to Forreign Eares as all Languages not understood seem barbarous to one another yet in its structure and delivery it appears to be nothing less than a Regular harmony an Age is required to smooth and polish the stiff and rough words of other Tongues but the same is done in the Brittish every minute a new in every Sentence every period of Discourse being a new Tune and instance of their perpetual Euphonies and constant inter-changes of hard Letters and soft and Flats and Sharps in every word in order and proportion to its next Which their youngest Children understand and their meanest Vulgar practice as well as the best and their Learned have Compris'd in Grammar f Grammatic Dris Jo. David Rhesi Gruff Rupertia Dris Davies Rules the Language being now the same with little or no alteration but since the Incorporation as it was in the time of Julius Caesar who attempting this Land with his Legions before whom no other Nation could stand was soon sent back to Rome by Caswalhan to Spell his Veni Vidi Vici backwards and to be an example to Augustus and Tiberius wise Princes to keep at home as appears from their own Writers and the Speeches g Vocabatque nomina Majorum qui Dictatorem Casarem pepulisient Tacit de Caractaco Territa quaesitis Ostendit terga Brittannis Lucan they put in the Mouths of our succeeding Princes in their Wars as well as from our own Traditions e Ugain-mil of wystfiledh yn feirw a Lâs pan fu'r wlêdh Dr. Nanmor Cywydh of Hospitality and his Feast of 20000. Beefs amongst his Victorious Officers upon this deliverance The Monarchy being then as now more United and entire but Subject in every Age to be divided and Canton'd into Petty Principalities more or less as the Royal Issue multiplyed or decreased by the inconvenient Justice of their gavel-kind sometimes remedied upon necessity by their Election of a Soveraign or Dictator fit for the exigency of their affairs as their case was under Cadvan the Father of Cadwalhan and Mailgwyn Gwynedh and Arthur and this Caswalhan for Brittain when United was never overcome and those again as unkindness happen'd alienated and divided and serving under Politick or over powerful Enemies through passion or Reduction against their own people as against the Caledonians and f Nostris illi Romani dissentionibus ac discordiis clari pudet dictu Erittannorum plerosque Dominationi alienae sanguinem commodantes Galgacus apud Tacit. in vitâ Agricolae Galgacus in Scotland under the Romans under the Saxons with Kerdic and Mordred