same Gildas a little after speaking against such Bishops as ordained Symoniacall persons saith Nicholaum in locum Stephani martyris statuunt they install Nicholas into the place of the Martyr Saint Steuen Doth this proue that the Martyr Saint Steuen was locally in England or that either the whole Church of Britaine or any particular place of deuotion was founded by him No more doth the other concerning Saint Peter PHIL. What then will you make to be the meaning of Gildas ORTHOD. Hee lamenteth to see those Churches which had beene gouerned by zealous men like to Saint Peter and Saint Steuen now to be defiled with vncleane persons like vnto Iudas and Nicholas the Deacon PHIL. Why should he rather name Peter then any other Apostle if Peter were not in England ORTHOD. The speech of Christ concerning the feeding of his flocke was directed in a speciall manner to Peter whence it commeth to passe that all to whom the care of feeding Christs flocke is committed are called Saint Peters successors Saint Chrysostome saith Why did Christ shed his blood truly that he might purchase those sheepe the charge where of the committed to Peter and Peters successours And this he saith to Saint Basil to incourage him in the Episcopall office Whereby it is euident that Chrysostome calleth all that feed Christes flocke Saint Peters successours In like manner they may bee saide to occupie Saint Peters seate not locally but in respect of their doctrine and holy conuersation And all such as by Simony inuade this holy function all that defile it with heresie or leaudenesse of life may bee saide to vsurpe the seate of Peter with vncleane feete Thus much for the place of Gildas PHIL. Alredus Rienuallus an English Abbot left written aboue 500. yeeres agone a certaine reuelation or apparition of Saint Peter to an holy man in the time of King Edward the confessour shewing him how hee had preached himselfe in England and consequently the particular care hee had of that Church and nation ORTHOD. This your fashion when you cannot proue a thing by sufficient testimonies you runne to dreames and reuelations not worth the answering And yet this doting dreame extendeth not so farre as Parsons dreameth For Alredus in that place relateth how in the time of King Edward the Confessour Saint Peter appeared vpon the night in a vision to a certaine recluse who had liued in a caue vnder the ground many yeeres and bad him tell the King that he had dispensed with his vowe concerning his going a pilgrimage and instead thereof had commaunded him by the Pope to builde a Monasterie which hee thus described Est mihi locus c. I haue quoth Saint Peter a place in the West part of London chosen by my selfe and deare vnto mee which sometimes I did dedicate with my owne handes renowne with my presence and illustrate with diuine miracles the name whereof is Thorneia This is all in effect which he saith and yet here is no mention of his preaching in England Therefore Parsons hath committed a notable falsification PHIL. Is it not said that he did dedicate it with his owne hands renown it with his presence and illustrate it with diuine miracles ORTHOD. That doth not proue the point in question For Alredus presently after declareth how in the dayes of Ethelbert King of Kent Sebertus King of the East Saxons built without the walls of London Westward a Monastery to S. Peter and withall addeth how the night before the dedication Saint Peter appeared in the habit of a Pilgrim to a certaine Fisherman vpon the Thames and being transported by him to Westminster went presently to the Church where there was suddenly a glorious light a multitude of Angels heauenly melodie with an vnspeakable fragrancy of sweet odours Now the solemnitie of the dedication being finished he returned to the Fisherman who at his command cast his net into the riuer and tooke a great draught of fishes which Saint Peter bad him take for his passage reseruing onely one of extraordinarie greatnesse to himselfe which hee sent for a token to Mellitus Bishop of London Here is his miracle his presence and his dedication of the Church with his owne hands but here is no preaching or if there were then he preached more then 500. yeeres after he was dead But why doe I dwell so long vpon so fond a fable Or what is this to the first Conuersion of England Wherefore I conclude that though S. Peter were a famous Fisher searched innumerable streames through the wide world and catched many thousand soules yet father Parsons hath not made it appeare by any sound authoritie that euer hee spred hisnet in the English Ocean PHIL. IF he did not conuert the nation in his owne person yet it was conuerted by such as he sent ORTHOD. If this blessed worke were performed by S. Paul or Simon of Canany then we may boldly say that the first conuerters were not sent by S. Peter For they were Apostles and had commission to teach all nations not from S. Peter but from Christ. Concerning S. Pauls comming Parsons produceth the authorities of Theodoret Sophronius and Venantius Fortunatus to which he addeth Arnaldus Mirmianus affirming that he passed into Britaine in the fourth yeere of Nero being the yere of our Lord 59. And verely that he was here is a point not without probability He was the Apostle of the Gentiles in labours abundant in perils often and that by Sea he was a Starre swiftly gliding from East to West a Herauld proclaiming the acceptable day of the Lord and a shrill trumpet sounding out the Name of Iesus Now though father Parsons say that for his being in Britaine there are not so many particular testimonies yet those which he hath brought are farre more pregnant then the former for the comming of S. Peter To passe ouer the rest what can be more plaine and direct then that of Venantius Transit Oceanum vel quà facit insula portum Quasque Britannus habet terras atque vltima Thule Saint Paul did passe the Seas where I le makes ships in harbour stand Arriuing on the Brittish Coast and cape of Thule land COncerning Simon Zelotes Nicephorus saith that hauing receiued the holy Ghost comming downe from heauen he passed through Egypt Cyrene Africke Mauritania and all Libya preaching the Gospel yea he did cary it to the Westerne Ocean and the Ilands of Britaine Dorotheus whom Parsons calleth a very ancient writer saith that he was crucified slaine and buried in Britaine In the Greeke Menologe it is said that going into Britaine when he had inlightned many with the word of the Gospel he was there crucified and buried Which authorities what weight soeuer they cary surely they ouer ballance all that Parsons hath produced for the comming of S. Peter Now from the Apostles let vs come to the Apostolicke men Aristobulus and Ioseph of Arimathea PHIL. OF
Aristobulus S. Peters scholler doe testifie in like maner the foresaid authours Mirmianus Dorotheus Baronius out of the Greeke Martyrologe that he was sent by S. Peter into Britaine and there made a Bishoppe ORTHO What you or your fellowes say is not greatly materiall but how falsely you report of Dorotheus may appeare by these his words Aristobulus euen he which is mentioned by the Apostle to the Romanes was made Bishop of Britaine this is all which he saith if he say so much for there are diuers readings But howsoeuer there is not one word of S. Peter yet Parsons brings him to auouch that Aristobulus was sent by S. Peter And whereas Parsons calleth him S. Peters scholler he is not so described by Dorotheus but rather as S. Pauls Therfore if he were Bishop of Britaine it is farre more likely that he was sent by S. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles then by S. Peter Let vs now proceed to Ioseph of Arimathea PHIL. OF Ioseph of Arimathea his comming into France and his sending thence into Great Britaine either by S. Philip as some say who preached then in Gaule or as others hold by S. Peter himselfe as he passed that way to and from Britaine and how he obtained a place to exercise an Eremiticall life for him and his ten companions in the Iland called Aâ—allonia where Glanstenbury after was builded albeit I find no very certaine or ancient writer to affirme it yet because our latter Historiographers for two hundred yeeres past or more doe hold it to haue come downe by tradition and namely Iohannes Capgrauius a learned man of the order of S. Dominicke and others after him I doe not meane to dispute the matter here but rather to admire and praise the heauenly prouidence of God c. ORTHOD. The words of Iohn Capgraue are thus Ioseph cum silio c. i. Ioseph with his sonne Ioseph and other ten companions traâ—eiling through Britaine vnder the raigne of King Aruiragus preached the faith of Christ boldly in the yeere of our Lords incarnation 63. And againe They came into France to Philip the Apostle and of him were sent into Britaine And againe The King granted vnto them a certaine Iland inuironed with woods bushes and fennes called of the inhabitants Jnis Ditrin i. the Iland of glasse Which relation seemeth very probable There is extant an Epistle if it be not counterfeit alledged by Lelandus and other Antiquaries and ascribed to S. Patrick wherein it is thus written Ostenderunt mihi c. i. The brethren which I found at Glastenbury shewed vnto me the writings of Fugatius and Damianus in which it was contained That 12. disciples of Philip and Iacob had built the old Church and that three Pagan Kings gaue to the said 12 so many possessions of lands King Henry the second in the Charter of Glastenbury affirmeth That the Church thereof was founded by the Disciples of our Lord. William of Malmesbury in his booke of Glastenbury Abbey saith That the olde Church was built by Ioseph Yea The ancient Monuments of the said Abbey doe testifie the same And also that Ioseph was sent thither by S. Philip out of France This is that Ioseph which made Sepulchre in his Garden That in the middest of his pleasures he might thinke of mortalitie He buried the blessed body of Christ and afterward became a Preacher of the Resurrection In Glastenbury he powred out his precious Ointment and all Britaine was filled with the sweetnesse of the odour Now whether he were the first Preacher in Britaine I cannot define but if hee were then the first Conuerter came from Arimathea and not from Rome being sent by S. Philip and not by S. Peter PHIL. That the Gospel came first to Glastenbury from Rome may thus be proued King Inas aboue 900. yeeres past when he layd the foundation of Glastenbury Abbey in memory of S. Ioseph and his fellowes that had liued a solitary life there caused these Verses to be written in the Church Anglia plaude lubens mittittibi Roma salutem Fulgor Apostolicus Glasconiam irradiat Be glad England for that Rome sendeth health to thee and Apostolicall brightnesse doeth lighten Glastenburie Which could not well be spoken if the comming of these Saints and first inhabiters there had not had some relation to Rome and to the Apostles that sent them ORTHOD. If Inas layed the foundation of Glastenbury Abbey in memorie of S. Ioseph who liued there then we haue a noble Monument of Iosephs being in England But that euer he was at Rome or sent hither by any Bishop of Rome is more then we can find or you can proue William of Malmesbury declareth That when the ancient Church built by Ioseph was vtterly decayed there was another built by Deui Bishop of S. Dauids Which also in time growing ruinous was repaired by 12. men comming out of the North but K. Inas pulled it downe and reared a stately one to Christ Peter and Paul In this certaine Verses are written The first 12. whereof are a continuall commendation of Peter and Paul by way of comparison then follow those two which you haue cited in which he willeth England to reioyce And why because Rome sendeth her health But how the next verse declareth Because the Apostolicke brightnesse doeth lighten Glastenbury Where if the Poet speake of the brightnes of doctrine as you seeme to take it then it is not necessary to referre it to the first inhabitants it may haue relation to the doctrine not long before preached by Austin For I know you will call his doctrine Apostolicke Yet it seemeth that the Poet meaneth not the brightnesse of doctrine but of patronage and protection imagining according to the corrupt opinion of those times that the Saints by whose names the Churches were called were Patrons and Protectors of the said Churches For in the words following Peter and Paul are called two Bulwarks and towers of faith And K. Inas who dedicated the Church vnto them is said to haue giuen these Bulwarks as euerlasting gifts to his people By which what can be meant but that those Apostles were now by his Dedication become their Bulwarks and towers of protection So the Apostolicke brightnesse that is their glorious Patronage and protection is said to shine most radiantly ouer Glastenbury And health is said to be sent from Rome because they ascribe their safety to those Apostles which were the founders of the Church of Rome which doeth in no case argue that Christianitie was first brought hither from Rome NOw what will you say if the Britaine 's were Christians before the Romanes For who was the first founder of the Church of Rome you proclaime euery where that S. Peter But when came S. Peter thither Baronius saith in the yeere 44 being the second of the Emperour Claudius Now let vs consider when our Iland first receiued the sweete influence of the
send mee thither Marry quoth the King and to him will I send you So hee was sent with the Earle of Wiltshier Embassadour to the Pope who thrust out his glorious foote to bee kissed of them which they refusing the Earles spanniell running somewhat too familiarly did catch and bite him by the great toe Then the cause of their Embassage being declared the Earle deliuered Cranmers booke to the Pope and with all tolde him that hee had brought with him learned men out of England which were ready to defend by Scriptures Fathers and Councels whatsoeuer was contained in that booke against all that should contradict it The Pope promised sundry times a day of disputation but dallied out the matter as his Legates had done before in England so giuing them honourable entertainment hee made Cranmer his penitentiarie and dismissed them Then the rest returning Cranmer was sent by the kings appointment Embassadour into Germany to the Emperour where hee drewe many vnto his side and among the rest Cornelius Agrippa Moreouer the King did not onely consult with the most learned Diuines and Lawyers in the whole kingdome but also caused the question to bee publiquely disputed in the Vniuersities of Oxford and Cambridge both which did vtterly condemne the marriage Neither did hee thus rest but sent Bishop Bonner to the Vniuersities of France and Italie which affirmed vnder their seales that the marriage was vnlawfull and that no man might dispense with it Where it is to be obserued that some of these Vniuersities professe that they tooke an oath euery man to deliuer and to study vpon the foresaide questions as should bee to the pleasure of God and according to conscience After these determinations were reade in open Parliament there were shewed aboue an hundred bookes drawne by Doctours of strange regions which all agreed the kings marriage to bee vnlawfull Now to proceed the King considering the Popes dealing forbad all suites to the Court of Rome by proclamation in September 1530. which Sanders calleth the first beginning of the manifest schisme About the same time Cardinall Wolsey was cast in a premunire and all the Bishops of England for maintaining the power Legatine of the Cardinall But the Bishops beeing called into the Kings Bench before the day of their appearance concluded an humble submission offered the King I 18000. pounds to pardon the premunire and withall gaue him the title of Supreme head of the Church of England Yea Archbishop Warham told him that it was his right to haue it before the Pope and that Gods word would beare it Which proceedings in England did so kindle and enflame the Popes choller that neither the bookes of learned men nor the determinations of Vniuersities nor the offering of disputation nor his owne former Bull and Decree could now hinder him from giuing a contrary publick definitiue sentence dated in his consistorie at Rome the twentie third of March Anno 1532. ABout this time dyed Archbishop Warham while Cranmer was Embassadour in Germany and vpon the vacancie of the Archbishopricke the King sent for him home with purpose to aduance him to that great dignitie but he pretended matters of great importance requiring his abode in Germany by which meanes he deferred his comming for halfe a yeeare And being come home and perceiuing that the place was reserued for him hee imployed his greatest friends to shift it off When the King did personally impart his intent vnto him hee disabled himselfe by all possible meanes vsing all perswasions to alter the Kings determination When he saw the Kings constant resolution he humbly crauing pardon of his grace franckly opened his conscience vnto him declaring that if hee accepted that office then hee must receiue it at the Popes hand which he neither would not could doe for that his highnesse was the onely supreme gouernour of this Church of England as well in causes ecclesiasticall as temporall that the donation of Bishoprickes belonged to the King and not to any forraine authoritie whatsoeuer All which proceedings doe not argue any ambitious or aspiring cogitations but rather an humble and lowly minde preferring the sinceritie of a good conscience before all glorious pompe and worldly dignities The King seeing the tendernesse of his conscience consulted with the learned in the law how hee might bestow the Bishopricke vpon him and yet not enforce him to any thing against his conscience In conclusion hee tooke the oath to the Pope but not after the manner of his predecessours as Sanders slanderously affirmeth For then hee should haue taken it simply and absolutely which hee did not but with a protestation expressing the condition and qualification Neither did hee make his protestation priuately in a corner and then take the oath in publicke as Sanders would make the world beleeue for if this could bee proued then had you reason to condemne him of fraud and periurie but it was not so He did not vse his protestation in any secret and concealed manner like to equiuocating Papists which take oaths in absolute words and yet delude them with mentall reseruations but he made it plainely and publickly first in the Chapter house secondly kneeling before the high Altar in the hearing both of the Bishops and people at his consecration Thirdly in the very same place and in the very same forme and tenour of wordes when by commission from the Pope they deliuered him the Pall. And the summe of the protestation was this that hee intended not to binde himselfe to anything which was contrary to the lawe of God or contrary to the king or common wealth of England or the Lawes and prerogatiues of the same nor to restraine his owne libertie to speake consult or consent in all and euery thing concerning the reformation of Christian religion the gouernment of the Church of England and the prerogatiue of the Crowne or the commodity of the Common wealth and euery where to execute and reforme such things which he should thinke fitte to be reformed in the Church of England and according to this interpretation and this sence and no otherwise he professed and protested that he would take the oath Now if you censure Cranmer because he qualified his oath with such a protestation what censure shal be giuen of your Popish Bishops before Cranmer which took two absolute othes to the King and to the Pope containing manifest contradiction as K. Henry himselfe declared causing thē both to be read in open Parliament And Cranmer hath made the point plaine both in his answere to B. Brookes and in his letters to Queene Marie Or if you censure Cranmer for swearing to the Pope with Qualification what censure will you giue of Heath Bonner Thurlby and the rest that in King Henries daies tooke absolutely the oath of Supremacie which euidently excludeth the Popes authoritie BVt to returne to K. Henry who seeing
hostes hee ought to leaue his impieties in seducing the people and to serue God by teaching the trueth In that he is a Priest God hath armed him with a calling to deliuer his message for performance wherof he needeth no new calling but grace to vse that well which before he abused ORTHOD. Apply this to the present point and you may satisfie your selfe PHIL. To make the Prince Supreame Gouernour or head of the Church is vnnaturall for shall the sheepe feede the flocke or the sonne guide the Father ORTHO As the Priest is a father and shepheard in respect of the Prince so the Prince is a shepheard and father in respect of the Priest The Lord chose Dauid his seruant and tooke him from the sheepfolds euen from behind the ewes with young brought he him to feed his people in Iacob and his inheritance in Israel so hee fed them according to the simplicitie of his heart and guided them by the discretion of his hands And Ezechias called the Priests his sonnes If the Prince be their sheepheard then he must feede them if he be their father then hee must guide them this is naturall PHIL. THis stile of the Crowne was so distastfull to Caluin that he called it blasphemy and sacriledge ORTHOD. It is certaine that he did not differ from vs in iudgement But he was wrong informed by Steph. Gardiner who expounded it as though the king had power vt statuat pro suo arbitrio quicquid voluerit to establish at his pleasure whatsoeuer he would which Caluin exemplifieth in the words of Gardiner the king may forbid Priests to marry debar the people frō the Cup in the Lords Supper because forsooth potestas umma est penes regem the highest power is in the king This is that which Caluin calleth blasphemie and sacriledge and so will we But if Caluin had beene truely informed that nothing had beene meant by this title but to exclude the Pope and to acknowledge the kings lawfull authoritie ouer his owne subiects not in diuising new Articles of faith or coyning new formes of religion as Ieroboam did his calues but in maintaining that faith and religion which God had commanded without all question Caluin had neuer misliked it In this sense and no other that title was giuen him Neither did the king take it otherwise for ought that we can learne PHIL. If the title were not blame worthy why was it altered ORTHOD. In the beginning of the Queenes raigne the nobles and sundry of the Clergy perceiuing that some out of ignorance and infirmitie were offended at the title of supreame head of the Church humbly intreated her maiestie that it might be expressed in some plainer termes whereto her clemency most graciously condiscended accepting the title of supreame gouernour being the same in substance with the former So this alteration was not made as thogh the other were blame worthy for the phrase is according to the Scripture which calleth the king head of the tribes of Israel And the sense thereof is agreeable to the true meaning both of Scripture and also of ancient Fathers Councels and practise both of the kings of Iudah and of Christian Emperours as hath beene declared where it was as lawfull for the Parliament to exact an oath in behalfe of the Prince against the Pope as it was for Iehoiada to exact an oath in behalfe of king Ioas against the vsurper Athalia which oath being holy and lawfull the refusall of it was disloyaltie and a iust cause of depriuation Hitherto of the Bishops deposed now let vs proceed to such as succeed them CHAP. IIII. Of the Consecration of the most reuerend father Archbishop Parker PHIL. YOur Bishops deriue their counterfeit authoritie not from lawfull Consecration or Catholicke inauguration but from the Queene and Parliaments For in England the king yea and the Queene may giue their letters patents to whom they will and they thencefoorth may beare themselues for Bishops and may begin to ordaine Ministers So wee may iustly say that among the Caluinists in England there raigned a woman Pope But such was the order of Christs Church which the Apostles founded Priests to be sent by Priests and not by the letters patents of kings or Queenes ORTHOD. These shamelesse Papists would make the world beleeue that our Bishops deriue not their Consecration from Bishops but from kings and Queenes which is an impudent slaunder For our kings doe that which belongeth to kings and our Bishops doe that which belongeth to Bishops In the vacancie of any Archbishopricke or Bishopricke the king granteth to the Deane and Chapter a licence vnder the great Seale as of old time hath beene accustomed to proceed to an election with a letter missiue containing the name of the person which they shall elect and chuse which being duly performed and signified to the King vnder the common seale of the electors the king giueth his royal assent and signifying and presenting the person elected to the Archbishop and Bishops as the law requireth he giueth them commission and withall requireth and commaundeth them to confirme the said election and to inuest and Consecrat◠the said person vsing all ceremonies and other things requisite for the same Whereupon the Archbishop and Bishops proceeding according to the ancient forme in those cases vsed do cause all such as can obiect or take exception either in generall or particular either against the manner of the election or the person elected to be cited publikely and peremptorily to make their appearance When the validitie of the election and sufficiency of the person are by publike actes and due proceedings iudicially approued then followeth Consecration which is performed by a lawfull number of lawfull Bishops and that in such forme as is required by the ancient Canons PHIL. I Will prooue that your Bishops in the beginning of the Queenes reigne deriued not their authoritie from lawfull Consecration but from the Queene and Parliament For being destitute of all lawfull ordination when they were commonly said and prooued by the lawes of England to bee no Bishops they were constrained to craue the assistance of the secular power that they might receiue the Confirmation of the lay Magistrate in the next Parliament by authoritie whereof it any thing were done amisse and not according to the prescript of the Law or omitted and left vndone in the former inauguration it might be pardoned them and that after they had enioyed the Episcopall Office and Chaire certaine yeeres without any Episcopall Consecration Hence it was that they were called Parliament Bishops ORTHO The Parliament which you meane was in the eighth yeere of Queene Elizabeth wherein first they reproue the ouer much boldnesse of some which slandered the estate of the Clergy by calling into question whether their making and Consecrating were according to Law Secondly they touch such lawes as concerne the point
to the Emperours by 3. Popes with 3. Roman Councels practised commonly and anciently by all kings through the whole Christian world yeelded to his predecessours in the time of the Saxons vsed by his own father and brother and neuer denied in England before Anselmus began to broach the Hildebrandicall Doctrine PHIL. This cause was handled at Rome where the kings Proctour boldly affirmed that his master the king would not loose inuestitures for the losse of his kingdome to whom Pope Paschall answered if as thou saiest thy king will not indure to lose the donations of Churches for the losse of his kingdome knowe thou precisely I speake it before God that I would not suffer him to obtaine them without punishment for the redemption of my head Thus the cause was determined against the King ORTH. No maruell for the Pope was Iudge in his owne cause such a cause as was not a litle both for his pride and profit such a Pope as within 8. yeeres after periured himselfe in the like matter But notwithstanding the Popes determination the king disdaining to bee so deluded sent to Anselmus forbidding him to enter the land vnlesse he would obserue the customes of William the Conquerour and William Rufus so he was absent three yeeres PHIL. Yet at his returne he got a glorious victory for Edinerus writeth thus rex antecessorum suorum vsu relicto nec personas quae in regimen Ecclesiae sumebantur per se elegit nec eas per dationem virgae pastoralis Ecclesijs quibus praeficiebantur inuestiuit the king leauing the vse of his predecessours did neither himselfe elect such persons as were assumed to the gouernment of the Church nor inuested them to the Churches ouer which they were set by the deliuering of the pastorall staffe ORTHOD. Here is a cleare confession that inuestitures belonged to the king by the vse of his predecessours yet such was the violence and fury both of the Pope and the Archbishop that he thought good to redeeme his quiet by releasing of his ancient right PHIL. If he had any right he did yeeld it vp for Malmsbury saith Venit Rex sublimi trophaeo splendidus triumphali gloria Angliam inuectus inuestiturasque Ecclesiarum Anselmo in perpetuum in manum remisit The king came out of France glistering with a stately trophee entred England with triumphall glory and released the inuestitures of Churches to Anselmus into his hands for euer ORTHOD. True to Anselmus here was a finall and perpetuall end betweene them two neither did the king intermeddle any more in the matter while Anselmus liued but after his death Anno 1113. hee gaue the Archbishopricke to Rodolph Bishop of London and inuested him with a Ring and a Staffe and Anno 1123. he gaue the said Archbishopricke to William Corboll he gaue also the Bishopricke of Lincolne to Alexander the Bishopricke of Bath to Godfrid the Bishopricke of Worcester to Simon the Bishopricke of Cicester to Sifrid After the raigne of Henry the first though the Popes were still busie especially when the state was troubled or the king out of the Realme yet the succeeding Princes would not suffer themselues to bee robbed of this right and royaltie but from time to time put it in practise and maintained their prerogatiue King Edward the third told Pope Clement the fift That his progenitors and other noble and faithfull men had founded and indowed Churches and placed Ministers in them euer since the first planting of religion in the Realme of England and that the kings did of ancient time freely conferre Cathedrall Churches iure suo Regio by their Princely right so oft as they were vacant he doth not say by the Popes permission but by their princely right so the collation of Bishopricks is the ancient right of the kings of England Moreouer he told him that whereas now Deanes and Chapters elect this proceeded from the graunt of the kings at the request and instance of the Pope he doth not say from the graunt of the Pope but from the grant of the kings at the request of the Pope with which concordeth that famous act of Parliament made in the 25. of Edw. the third Our Soueraigne Lord the king and his heires shall haue and inioy for the time the collations to the Archbishoprickes and other dignities electiue which be of his aduowry such as his progenitors had before free election was granted Sith that the first elections were granted by the Kings progenitors vpon a certaine forme and condition as namely to demaund license of the King to chuse and after choice made to haue his royall assent And in the dayes of Richard the second statutum est saith Thomas Walsingam in eodem insuper Parliamento vt de caetero nullus transfreâ—aret ad obtinendum prouisiones in Ecclesijs vel Ecclesiam si quis contrarium faceret si posset apprehendi caperetur vt Regi rebellis incarceraretur A statute was made in the same Parliament that from henceforth none should passe the seas to obtaine prouisions in Churches or to obtaine any Church and if any should do contrary if he could be catched he should be apprehended as a rebell to the king and cast in prison The next yeere the same king set out a Proclamation that all such as were resident in the Court of Rome and had benefices in England should returne by the feast of S. Nicholas vnder paine of forfeiting all their benefices When the Pope heard all this thundering he sent a Nuncio with great complaints for answere wherof the king referred him to the Parliament following which would by no meanes consent that Rome-runners should get their benefices as in former time In the dayes of Henry the fift when the Pope by his bulles translated Richard of Lincolne to Yorke the Deane and Chapter standing vpon the lawes of the land refused to admit him as hereafter shall be declared Shall wee now say that the kings of England conferre spiritual promotions by the Popes indulgence let king Edward the first be witnesse let the Parliament in the raigne of Edward the third be witnesse let the like Parliament in the time of Richard the second be witnesse let the Deane and Chapter of Yorke be witnesse all which were of the Popish religion and yet referred this to the king and not to the Pope Hitherto that the kings of England vsed Inuestitures NOw I will prooue that they vsed them lawfully by a double right as Princes as Patrons As Princes for many reasons First if we looke into the old Testament we find that Salomon set Sadock in the roume of Abiathar by what authoritie Verely by the same by which he cast out Abiathar Which I haue already prooued to be done by the lawful and ordinary power of a Prince If this be a perpetuall patterne for all posteritie then the collation of spirituall dignities is the Princes right Secondly it was prophesied of
hoped for some comfort at the Popes hand but finding none hee was forced so much as in him lay to resigne his kingdoms to Pope Innocent such is the innocency of Popes and to farme theÌ„ again at a 1000. marks by the yere Thus the Pope had caught a pretty morsel but it was too hot for him therefore he was glad presently to disgorge it In the time of the said king came into England one Iohannes Florentinus the Popes Legate hauing but 3. men and 3. horses whereof one was lame who gathered great heapes of money hoysted vp saile and bad England adew Likewise Pandulphus when hee came to make a bargaine with the king for his master the Pope prouided and carried away with him 8000. pounds About the same time the Pope called a generall councell at Rome where the Bishops being weary with doing of nothing desired leaue to depart which they could not obtaine without a great sum of mony that they were forced to borrow of the Romane Merchants and pay to the Pope In the reign of Henry 3. The Pope sent a bul that no English man should be preferred til prouision were made for â— Romans for each of theÌ„ 100. pouÌ„ds by the yere neither did he expresse their names but described them in a confused maner The sonne of Bumphred of such such that if any of them should die he might foist another into the place At this time the Romans were posessed of so many benifices withall were so insolent that the whole body of the nobles coÌ„mons ioyning together did stile theÌ„selues in the subscriptions of their letters The whole coÌ„pany of theÌ„ which had rather die then be confouÌ„ded of the Romans In the reigne of the same King The Roman Helluo sent a Nuntio called Otto into England with letters vnto the king signifying What a great scandall and reproch was brought vpon the Church of Rome because no man could dispatch his affaires in that Court without great summes of money and the cause which constrained them vnto this was their pouertie therefore hee desired that the English men like naturall Children would releeue the pouerty of their Mother and the meanes thereof which hee with the Councell of his Brethren the Cardinalls had deuised was this that euery Cathedrall Church in England should bestow vpon him two Prebendes the one of them to bee giuen by the Bishop the other by the Chapter And likewise that euery Abbey should bestow vpon him so much as belonged to the maintenance of two Monkes one portion whereof to bee giuen by the Abbot and the other by the Couent But the English men deluded him of his purpose for the king went out of the Councell and the Bishops departed to their own home without the leaue of the Legate and the rest that remained said they could doe nothing in the absence of them whom it most concerned The like suite was commensed in France by another of the Popes Legates to whom the Proctour of the Archbishop of Lions answered That it was not possible that this grant should fill the gulfe of the Romane couetousnesse because plenty of riches did alwaies make the Romans madde And the councell of France did thus answere the Legate Let the zeale of the whole Church and of the holy Romane See mooue you because if there should bee a generall oppression of all men it might bee feared least there should houer ouer our heads a generall departure which God forbid In the yeere 1231. there was set out a prohibition that none which farmed any benefice of any Romane should from henceforth pay them any Rent Anno 1232. a sort of armed men with their faces couered set vpon the barnes of a certaine Romane and sold out the corne to the country and gaue much of it to the poore For which the Bishop of London with other tenne Bishops did strike the authours with an anathema Notwithstanding the same yeere the barnes of the Romanes almost through all England were robbed the authour whereof was one Sir Robert Twinge a Yorkeshier Knight who had beene defeated of the bestowing of his Benefiee by the Popes prouision In the yeere 1234. the Pope sent his nuntioes into England with power legatine which by preaching begging commanding threatning and excommunicating got infinite summes of money vnder colour of the holy Land neither was it known in what gulfe that money was drowned In the yeere 1237. base and vnlearned persons came daily armed with the Popes Bulles If any resisted they would procure hee should bee excommunicated so it came to passe that where noble and daintie Clergy men Gardians and Patrons of Churches did vse with their riches to honour the countrey round about them to entertaine passengers to refresh the poore these base persons voide of good manners and full of subtiltie Proctors and Farmers of the Romanes scraping whatsoeuer was precious and profitable in the land sent it into farre countries to their Lords liuing delicately of Christes patrimonie and proud with other mens goods Therefore a man might see sorrow of heart water the eye-lids of holy men complaints breake out and groanes multiplied many saying with bloody sighes It is better for vs to die then to see the miseries of our countrie and of holy men VVoe to England which once was the Prince of Prouinces the ladie of nations the glasse of the Church a patterne of Religion but now is become vnder tribute In the yeere 1239. Sir Robert Twinge the Yorkeshier Knight before mentioned a Romane being thrust by a Popes Bull of prouision into a benefice whereof he was Patron went to Rome and made a grieuous complaint vnto the Pope so that the Pope reuoked his Bull of prouision By the said Sir Robert Twinge the h Nobles and Barons of England wrot vnto the Pope complaining that they were robbed of their presentations of their Ecclesiasticall liuings which their noble progenitours had enioyned from the first planting of Christianitie and were in danger to lose their patronages affirming that though the Pope had taken order by his Apostolicall letters that after the decease of any Italian or Romane promoted by the Popes prouision it should be lawfull for them to present a fit Clerke yet they did daily see the contrary put in practise which they called a common plague Anno 1240. Otho the Popes Legate required a procuration of foure Markes and where one Church did not suffice to the paâ—ment two should ioyne together to one procuration The same yeere the Pope extorted the fift part of the goodes of all strangers beneficed in England and the same was demanded of Archbishops Bishops Abbots and the rest of the Clergie but the Bishops answered they could not vndergoe so vnsupportable a burden which concerned the whole Church without diligent deliberation of a synode But the Archbishop afterward did grant vnto it The same yeere Pope
Gregory the ninth sent a mandate to the Bishops of Canterbury Lincolne and Sarum that they should prouide for three hundred Romanes in benefices next vacant and that they should giue no benefices till those were prouided for Anno 1241. Pope Gregory sent to the Couent of Burge an Apostolicke mandate with armed prayers that they should conferre vpon the Pope the reuenue of some Church worth 100. markes by the yeere and if it were 200. it should please him the better and that they should farme it of the Pope paying him his 100. markes and take to themselues the ouerplus The Abbot signified the matter to the King who detesting the couetousnesse of the Romane Court did strictly forbid it least so foule a fact should pollute the ayer The same yeere two Italians Petrus Rubeus and Petrus de Supino keeping the Popes authenticall mandate of exacting procurations extorted much money and Rubeus taking vpon him as the Popes Legate gaue himselfe this title Magister Petrus Rubeus Domino Papae familiaris consanguineus Master Peter Rubeus the familiar friend and cousin of the Lord the Pope Supinus extorted in Ireland 1500. markes Rubeus much more out of England and hearing that the Pope was sicke vnto death they fled away priuily with the money but were taken by the Emperour Anno 1244 Innocent the fourth the new Pope sent Martin a new prouler into England armed with the Popes authenticall instrument and power to suspend and excommunicate all that gaine said him Hee disdaining trifles would haue no benefice vnder thirtie Markes by the yeere Hee exacted goodly Palfryes very imperiously and suspended the Abbot of Malmesbury and the Prior of Marton for denying him and when a rich Prebend of Salisbury belonging to the Chanter was vacant he presently layed violent hands vpon it and by the commandement of the Pope conferred it vpon a child the Popes nephew Yea Matthew Paris saith Romana curia rubore deposito tempore noui Papae nostri Innocentij quarti non desinebat per prouisiones quotidianas redditus impudenter extorquere that is The Romane Court without all blushing in the time of our new Pope Innocent the fourth ceased not impudently to extort reuenues by daily prouisions Wherevpon the king writ to the Pope but little good came of it For Martin the Legate required at least of the Prelates 10000. markes but they did not grant it Then he vsed vnheard of extortions of money and reuenewes to be bestowed of the kinsmen of his lord the Pope for hee was supposed to haue bulles with blankes to serue for all purposes Moreouer he would send to such an Abbot or such a Prior for goodly Palfreys and presents for the furnishing of his table and prouision for his robes and when he had them hee would send them backe againe and send for other and for better pretending that the former were not sufficient and suspended all from the Collations of benefices of thirtie markes and vpward till hee was satisfied Whereupon saith Matthew Paris Miseri Anglici acerbiorem quà m olim subierunt filij Israel se doluerunt in Aegypto Britannica tolerare seruitutem that is The miserable English men lamented that they suffered a bondage in the Brittish Aegypt more cruell then the children of Israel did in times past Anno 1245. The Nobles and Canons sent a supplication which was red openly before Pope Innocent in the Councell at Lyons wherein they complained that an infinite number of Italians had benefices in England which knew not their flocke but onely receiued the fruites and caryed them out of the Realme and that the yeerely rents of Italians in England amounted to threescore thousand markes vpward which was more then the reuenewes of the Crowne and that after the Creation of Innocentius they hoped for reliefe but were now vnmeasurably oppressed by Martin the Legate who entred the land without the kings licence with greater power then euer did Legate and did exceed excessiuely Some benefices now voide he gaue to Italians who dying the Patrons not knowing he thrusteth other Italians into their places others he assigneth before hand to Italians others he reserueth to the See Apostolicke wresting from religious persons immoderate pensions excommunicating and suspending those that contradict him Anno 1246. Pope Innocent sent priuiledges from the Councel at Lyons that if Englishmen would be studious especially the sonnes of Noble men he would dispence with them honourably for pluralitie of benefices Promising that Martin the Clerke of his Exchequer should prouide but for twelue more and that then it should be lawfull for Patrons to present fit persons and that no Italian should immediately succeed an Italian This the Pope promised but performed nothing insomuch that the king did shew in open Parliament articles of grieuances as in other points so euen in these which the Pope had promised for Italians still succeeded Italians the Popes factor prouided for more then twelue neither were the Patrons permitted to present Whereupon letters of grieuances were sent vnto the Pope first from the Bishops secondly from the Abbots thirdly from the Nobles with the whole Clergy and people fourthly from the King himselfe the copies of all which are in Matthew Paris and still there came to the king complaints vpon complaints of iniuries receiued from the Court of Rome Yea and there came fresh letters from the Pope that the English Clergie should find him souldiers with horse and armour some fiue some tenne some fifteene and pay them their wages for one whole yeere The same yeare the Pope espying certaine aurifrisia beautifull to be hold among the Ecclesiasticall ornaments of some English men being then at Rome asked where they were made they answered in England Then the Pope said Vere hortus noster deliciarum est Anglia veré puteus inexhaustus est vbi multa abundant multa possunt extorqueri that is England is truely our garden of delights it is truely a Well neuer drawne drie where many things abound many things may be wrested from thē So the Pope intised with the concupiscence of his eyes sent to almost all the Abbots of the Cistercian order in England to send him some of them as though they should haue cost them no money which disliked not the Londoners who made and sold them at their owne pleasures Whereupon many detested the open couetousnes of the Church of Rome Yet this same yeere by the industry of the kin̄gs Proctours in the Court of Rome it was brought to passe that whereas before the Pope made his prouisions indefinitely of Ecclesiasticall liuings to the vse of Italians Now by the grace of God the tempest was so calmed that if henceforth the Pope would prouide for his Nephewes or Cardinalles Hee or his Cardinals should intreate the King that it would please him to prouide for such About the same time the Pope hearing that Robert de
Vniuersall Patriarch was giuen and that by a Councell to Iohn Patriarch of Constantinople In what sence trow you You produced but two sences of it out of Bellarmine In the first which prophanely excludeth all other Bishops they did not giue it for then they should deny themselues to be Bishops contrary to their own subscriptions If in the latter then it was common to him with the Bishops of Rome and so cannot proue your Monarchicall iurisdiction PHIL. How proue you that this title was giuen him by a Councell ORTHOD. Binius saith How oft Iohn Bishop of Constantinople is named in the acts of the Councell of Constantinople vnder Hormisda so oft the title of Vniuersall Patriarch is found added vnto him PHIL. Binius in the same place ascribeth this to the imposture of the latter Grecians which he proueth because though two Popes Pelagius and Gregory condemned this title in the Bishop of Constantinople yet no man obiected against them the authoritie of this Councell which had beene very materiall because the greater part of it was approued by the Church of Rome Wherefore it is certaine that this was not originally in the Councell but foisted in afterward ORTHO But Pope Adrian the first in his Epistle to Tharasius recorded in the second Nicen Councell intitleth him a generall Patriarch PHIL. This seemeth also to be added by some Grecian which I rather thinke because the same Epistle translated by Anastasius hath no such title prefixed ORTHOD. As though Anastasius were not as likely to put it out as the Grecians to put it in But Iustinian in the Authentickes giueth Mennas the very selfe same title of Oecumenicall Patriarch PHIL. It must be affirmed that this also crept in vnlesse we say that he is called Vniuersall in respect of the Orientall Bishops and Priests ORTHOD. So Holoander taketh it when hee translateth it Vniuersi eius tractus Patriarchae i. to the Patriarch of all that circuit But are you now aduised Was he called Vniuersal and yet had not the iurisdictiō of the whole world but was onely an Orientall Patriarch then you must confesse that this title might be giuen to the B. of Rome and yet not imply that hee had iurisdiction ouer the whole world but ouer the whole West and so was the Occidentall Patriarch Wherefore the decree of Pope Pelagius requiring all Metropolitanes to send to Rome to professe their faith and receiue the Pall extendeth not to them of the East but onely to them of the West PHIL. Then you grant that hee was Patriarch of the West and that is sufficient to inferre my conclusion for the Westerne Patriarch must needes haue iurisdiction ouer the Metropolitanes of the West in which compasse is Brittany I need not here speake of the ancient diuision of the Prouinces nor of Saint Peter nor of Eleutherius It is famously knowne that Saint Austin was sent hither by the Bishop of Rome receiued a pall from him and apparently submitted himselfe to his iurisdiction so did his successours for almost a thousand yeeres together Wherfore seeing the Bishop of Rome was in lawfull possession you must tell vs vpon what reason you put him from it ORTHOD. By what title doth the Pope challenge his iurisdiction in England By the law of God you cannot iustifie it By reason of the first conuersion of the Island by Saint Peter You cannot make it manifest that euer he was here Will you fetch it from Eleutherius He onely sent at the kings request and challenged no such authority Wil you deriue it from Austin It was then made appeare by many reasons that the Brittans ought him no subiection And it is euident that he and his associates had first their assemblies in Saint Martins Church in Canterbury by the Kings permission afterward when the king himselfe was conuerted they receiued to vse the words of Bede more ample licence both to Preach through all his dominions and also to build and repaire Churches So you see all was receiued from the king It is true that Gregory sent a supply of Preachers and gaue his aduise for the erection of Bishopricks and sent palls hither yet there can bee no question but all this was done by the kings licence Afterward in succeeding ages when the Popes did play the wild boares in the Church in executing Church censures and giuing Church liuings the kings of England made lawes against them euen in the time of Popery For as it was defended by Cyprian and afterward also by the African councell vnder Celestinus that causes should bee ended where they begunne and not bee carried to tribunalls beyond the sea So it was decreed in England in the raigne of Henry the second as witnesseth Mathew Paris De appellationibus si emerserint ab Archidiacono debet procedi ad Episcopum ab Episcopo ad Archiepiscopum si Archiepiscopus defuerit in iustitia exhibenda ad dominum regē perueniendū est postremò vt praecepto ipsius in curia Archiepiscopi controuersia terminetur ita quod non debeat vltra procedi absque assenssu domini regis i. Cōcerning appeals if any shall spring they ought to proceed from the Archdeacon to the Bishop from the Bishop to the Archbishop if the Archb. shal be defectiue in doing iustice they must come at last to our Lord the king that by his cōmandement the controuersie may bee determined in the Archbishops Court so that there ought not to be any further proceedings without the assent of the Lord the king Thus it is cleare that the Pope could not take to himselfe the handling of causes without the kings license It might also be declared how little his cēsures were here respected vnlesse they receiued strength by the kings permission And whereas hee tooke vpon him to dispose of Church liuings hee was censured for it in the time of Edw. the 3 euen in the high Court of Parliament as an vsurper These points might bee much inlarged but this little touch is sufficient to shew that whatsoeuer iurisdiction hee had in England was by the courtesie of the King whatsoeuer hee tooke vpon him otherwise was by vsurpation Now his challenge by custome is repelled by custome For these sixe hundred yeeres last past hee affecting to bee that which he was not disdained to bee that which he was and aspyring to a Popedome neglected his Patriarchdome so that which he had gotten by vse he hath lost by disusing and by his owne fact hath extinguished his former title Secondly whereas Pope Pelagius required onely a profession of the faith according to the Scriptures and the holy ancient generall councels Pius the fourth hath framed vs a new forme of faith without which no man can bee saued consisting of traditions transubstantiations merits Images reliques and such rotten Romish ragges-which he hath clapt to the Nicen creed as it were a beggers patch to a golden garment And
conscience that it is a continual tormenting to the soule and conscience PHIL. Howsoeuer you conceiue of our Religion you must giue mee leaue to tell you that it was deriued from God the Father reuealed by Iesus Christ inspired by the Spirit planted by the Apostles watered with the blood of Martyrs and confirmed by miracles being reuerend for antiquitie honourable for vniuersalitie certaine for succession amiable for order and admirable for vnitie ORTHOD. You brag of the Casket but the Iewels are gone For the faith of Rome was sometimes renowned through the world and commended by the voice of the Apostle himselfe But since those dayes Rome hath suffered many and great alterations For as in respect of her Ciuill estate she hath bene powred from vessell to vessell lost her language left her seuen mountaines to plant her selfe in campo Martio changed her face and her fashion and is so intombed in her owne ruines that Iustus Lipsuâ—s one of her louers cannot so much as trace the ancient tract of her walles euen so in respect of her state Ecclesiasticall one might now seeke old Rome in new Rome and not finde it She hath matched traditions with the written Word therein iniurious to the Wisdome of God she hath mingled mans merits with the Merits of Christ therein iniurious to the Grace of God She hath communicated diuine worship to stockes and stones therein iniurious to the glory of God Thus the garden is ouer-growne with weedes and the daughter of Ston is become the whore of Babylon Yet foâ— all this she vanteth herselfe as though she were a Virgine because she was sometimes a Virgin She painteth herselfe with counterfeit colours of Antiquitie Vniuersalitie Succession Vnitie and the like which are nothing else but a little Vernish that will vanish away PHIL. I hope you speake all this onely for disputation sake But howsoeuer for your better resolution I wish you would take betweene your hands the glasse of Experience You haue already had a triall of your English Vniuersities may it please you now to take a taste of our English Seminaries where I dare warrant you you shall receiue ample satisfaction of all your doubts And because I loue you I will vndertake that you shal be bountifully intertained in the English Colledge at Rome and euery vvay respected according to your vvorth But ô how our holy Father wil imbrace you with the armes of compassion and receiue you as the Doue into the Arke Such is his imcomparable loue to our English Nation ORTHOD. How well the Popes haue loued our Nation may appeare by Pope Innocent the fourth who called England his garden of delights And who would not loue such a garden Hee called it also a Well neuer drawne dry And doth not such a Well deserue to be wel loued Now the fruit of his tender affection towards it was witnessed by these his owne words Vbi multa abundant multa extorqueri possunt Where many things abound many things may be extorted The Poets feigne that the riuer Arethusa being swallowed vp in the ground runneth through the Sea and riseth againe in Sicilie but without all feigning from England as from a Well did spring golden Riuers which being suddenly swallowed vp did runne through the Sea and rise againe at Rome in the Popes Exchequer And vvho so readeth the Chronicles of our Kingdome vvritten by Matthew Paris and Thomas Walsingham shall find that the Popes loued our Siluer and our Gold This vvas their loue to the English Nation PHIL. You make mountaines of molehilles for the Popes receipts out of England vvere but as a Gnat to an Elephant and such as his Holines little regarded but onely as tokens of loue to holy Mother Church ORTHOD. Bishop Bonner may teach you That the Popes yeerely pâ—ay out of England did almost equall the reuenues of the Crowne And verily if this had not bene preuented though England had bene an Ocean it would haue bene drawne drie Such Elephants you swallow and yet you count them gnats PHIL. You mistake the matter Hee loueth not your siluer but your soules for since he reaped one penie out of England he hath imployed many thousand crownes in founding and maintaining two English Colledges So pure is his loue to the English Nation ORTHOD. Your English Seminaries were founded if the turning of an Hospitall into a Colledge may be called founding by Gregory the thirteenth But to what end sent he those souldiers mentioned by Genebrard and Campana into Ireland Was it not to assist the Rebels against their soueraigne Lady Queene Elizabeth So pure was his loue to the English Nation PHIL. The loue of his Holinesse is most plainly demonstrated in those noble foundations where wee haue more disputations lessons conferences examinations repetitions instructions catechisings resolutions of cases both of conscience and controuersie methods and maners to proceed to the conuersion of the deceiued and such like exercises in our two Colledges then are in your two Vniuersities containing about thirtie goodly Colledges As for the Masters and Professours of our Colledges specially the Romane Readers we may be bold to say they be in all kind the most choise and cunning men of Christendome Now for that part of education which appertaineth to Christian life and maners our chiefe indeuour is to breed in our Schollers deuotion which is done by diuers spirituall exercises and dayly examinations of their consciences often receiuing the blessed Sacrament much praying continuall hearing and meditation of holy things So by these meanes a number of the best wittes of England are here trained vp most happy in regard of their rare education ORTHOD. What reason you haue to compare your two Colledges with our two Vniuersities let wise men iudge You vaunt of your varietie of exercises God giue vs grace to glory in the simplicitie of his Trueth with the testimonie of a good conscience As for the exercises of our Vniuersities you might know if malice did not blinde you that they are famous throughout the Christian world and that these Campes of Christ haue from time to time trained vp Souldiers able to encounter the proudest Philistines Neither doubt we but they shall alwayes haue a Dauid to cut off the head of Golias with his owne sword Which wee rather hope because of that Treasurie of Learning and Languages lately erected I meane that renowned Library the honour of Oxford the Iewell of England the admiration of strangers and the Phaenix of the world O noble Bodley many Benefactours haue done worthily euen in this kind but thou surmountest them all Blessed is the stocke which brought foorth such a branch and blessed is the branch which yeelds so pleasant fruit Deuonshire was the mother Merton Colledge the nurse to this most gracious plant happie mother happie nurse happy plant Prosper O Lord O prosper thou his handy worke Let it be as an Armorie for defence of thy Church and as
a Quiuer full of arrowes to shoote at thy enemies Let it flourish and continue for euer to the aduancing of thy Gospel and to the vtter ouerthrow of Antichrist But to come to the Romish Readers which you so commend what are they like or to whom shall I compare them They are like to Italian Mountebanckes who will price an oile at sixe hundred Crownes which is not worth sixe pence Whatsoeuer they bring must be admired for rare and excellent as though it were found in the Phoenix nest By these glosing meanes partly guilded ouer with golden promises and partly working vpon male-contented humors for you delight to fish in troubled waters you haue preuailed with many and applaud them as the best wits of England So long as they stay with vs you account them but Leaden-wits if once they set a foot within your Seminaries they are presently Metamorphised and become Golden But let your Orders be exquisite your Readers skilful your Students wittie and painfull I would gladly know what is the end of all this rare education PHIL. You might haue learned that of Nauarrus who declareth that in the English Colledge at Rome there is a statute or constitution That whosoeuer will enter into it is bound to sweare that after so many yeeres he shall goe into England for defence of the Catholicke faith and shall preach it there publickly and priuately Loe the end of their education is the Catholicke faith which they learne not onely for their owne information but for the instruction of England So all is referred to the ghostly good of our deare countrey ORTHOD. But what doe you meane by the Catholicke faith Bellarmine who was appointed by Gregorie the thirteenth to reade the Controuersies of faith in the Romane Colledges of the English and the Germanes and for his seruice to the Church and Court of Rome was aduanced to the dignitie of a Cardinall vseth these words De fide Catholica id est de Primatu sedis Apostolicae quem in Scripturis sanctis apertissimè fâ—ndatum Catholici omnes vt fidei Orthodoxae dogma certissimum habent Of the Catholicke faith that is of the Primacie of the See Apostolicke which being most euidently grounded vpon the holy Scriptures all Catholickes account as a most certaine receiued opinion or doctrine of the Orthodoxe faith And againe speaking of the branches of the Oath of Allegiance he saith That they containe abnegationem fidei Catholicae de Primatu Ecclesiastico Romani Pontificis The deniall of the Catholicke faith concerning the Ecclesiasticall Primacie of the Bishop of Rome And againe Si rem totam apud te diligenter cogitare volueris videbis profecto non esse rem paruam quae ob iuramentum istud in discrimen adducitur sed vnum ex praecipuis fidei nostrae capitibus ac religionis Catholicae fundamentis That is if you will diligently consider this whole matter in your mind truly you shall see That it is no small thing which by reason of this Oath is brought into danger but one of the principall heads of our faith and foundations of Catholicke Religion This he indeuoureth to proue because Pope Gregorie calleth himselfe Caput fidei the head of faith Whence he inferreth this conclusion Itaque sancto Gregorio teste cum de Primatu fidei Apostolicae vel turbando vel minuendo vel tollendo satagitur de ipso capite fidei amputando ac de totius corporis omniumqué membrorum statu dissipando satagitur Therefore as S. Gregory witnesseth when men goe about either to trouble diminish or take away the Primacie of the See Apostolicke they goe about to cut off the very head of faith and to dissolue the state of the whole body and of all the members So he is not content to make his new head equall to other heads but he will haue it to be Ipsum fidei caput The very head it selfe singularly and supereminently mounted aboue all other heads Thus the Popes Supremacie is become the Supreme article of your Catholicke faith But how farre extendeth this Supremacie The same Romane Reader teacheth That if a Prince of a sheepe or a ramme become a wolfe That is of a Christian become an heretick the Pastour of the Church may driue him away by Excommunication and withall command the people that they doe not follow him and therefore may depriue him of his dominion ouer his Subiects Yea hee teacheth that the Pope may change Kingdomes take them from one and giue them to another as the chiefe Spirituall Prince if it be necessary for the saluation of soules But when shall it be holden necessary That may appeare by the dealing of Pius Quintus against Queene Elizabeth for when that vertuous Princesse had banished the Pope and Popish abominations and planted the Gospel of Iesus Christ continuing constant in the profession thereof her Religion he iudged heresie her constancie he called obstinacie and thereupon pronounced her depriued of her Crowne and dignitie dissolued the sacred bond of Allegiance and cursed all that should obey her Which proceedings he called Arma iustitiae the weapons of Iustice pretending he was constrained thereunto of necessitie Wherefore if a Prince shall banish Idolatrie and superstition and continue zealous in the reformation of Religion it shal be iudged a iust sufficient and necessary cause of depriuation Thus you make a shew of Learning and Religion but traine vp your schollers to treason and rebellion Is this the preaching of the Catholicke faith Is this the ghostly good of your Countrey Is this the Popes incomparable loue And as hee hath small loue to England so notwithstanding his faire pretences he beareth not very much to you for the Pope being an old polititian may be well resembled to the Mariner which looketh one way and roweth another He sendeth you ample gifts but he sendeth them vpon a hooke and while you catch at the bait you swallow the hooke And as the Fisher baiteth with little fishes to catch the greater so the Pope being a cunning Fisher vseth you but for a bait to catch England and there to restore his Golden Supremacie which may be called Golden because it brought vnto him mountaines of Siluer and Gold But that you may the better perceiue the dangerous state wherein you stand giue me leaue to vse a plaine but a fit comparison An Ape seeing a Chesnut in the fire and not knowing how to get it spied a Spaniel by the fire side and suddenly catched his foote to rake out the chesnut Here you may see your owne faces in a homely glasse The Golden Supremacie is the Chesnut perils and dangers are the fire the Pope loath to burne his owne fingers vseth you but as the Spaniels foote to scrape for the Chesnut little regardeth hee how you be scorched so hee bee in hope to obtaine his desire But though many of you haue burned both your handes and your hearts yet
of Abbots with a dispensation or else he is no Bishop and this argument he calleth insoluble ORTHO HOw this doth crosse and condradict it selfe in due place shall appeare in the meane time I would willingly know what is the receiued opinion of your Seminaries There is a certaine manuscript booke called Controuersiae huius temporis in Epitomen reductae made by Parsons the Iesuite out of the Dictates of Bellarmine and Maldonate and appointed to be written out by euery Student in your Colledge I pray you what saith that booke to this point PHIL. It agreeth with the former the words are these Primus Canon Apostolorum hoc idem declarat scilicet Episcopum non posse ordinari nisi a tribus Episcopis hinc sequitur ineuitabiliter Haereticos non habere vllos pastores seu Episcopos cum primi illorum Episcopi Caluinus Lutherus Zuinglius nunquam fuerunt ordinati ab alijs Episcopis That is The first Canon of the Apostles declareth this same thing to wit that a Bishop cannot be ordeined but of three Bishops hence it followeth vnauoydably that the Hereticks haue not any pastours or Bishops seeing that their first Bishops Caluin Luther Zuinglius had neuer beene ordained of other Bishops ORTHO HItherto we haue seene how you hold the state of the first question but doe your Iesuites and Seminaries vrge this against the Church of England PHIL. Yes for it is a maine point ORTHO Then your maine point is a vaine point but let vs heare them PHIL. Bellarmine speaking of the marriage of English Bishops saith Nullam excusationem habent nisi forte velint liberè confiteri quod verissimum est se veros Episcopos non esse neque aliquid de Episcopatu habere nisi quae sibi iniuste vsurpant nomen opes That is They haue no excuse vnlesse peraduenture they will freely confesse which is most true that they are no true Bishops neither haue any thing of the Episcopall function but what they vniustly vsurpe vnto themselues to wit the name and the riches If nothing else then not the Character not the Iurisdiction not the Order not the Office they haue nothing nothing at all except the name and the riches ORTHOD. The riches alas Is it not strange that a Cardinall swimming in streames of gold to the chinne should enuy the riches of the Bishops of England But be they rich or poore surely if the Pope might haue had his will before this time he would haue made them poore ynough In the daies of King Henry the eight when a view was taken it appeared that he had receiued out of England onely for Inuestitures of Bishops 4000. pounds by the yeere one yeere with another and that for 40. yeeres together But how dare Bellarmine thus accuse our Bishops as though they had nothing belonging to the Episcopall function What no learning none at all It is not long agoe since he put off his Cardinals robes disguising himselfe vnder the ill fauoured habit and vizard of Tortus when one of our Bishops whether learned or no let the world iudge did so vnmaske and display him that all Popish hearts haue cause to bleed to see the weakenesse of their chiefe Champion so plainely discouered And as our Bishops haue learning so let the Cardinall know that they are famous and eminent Preachers very labourious in the Vineyard of Christ and in this respect farre vnlike to his brethren the Cardinals For Iulius the second said that he could not with a good conscience make Frier Giles a Cardinall because then he should leaue his preaching and afterward Leo the tenth made him a Cardinall that he might hold his peace For commonly in the Church of Rome the great Bishops preach seldome the Cardinals seldomer and the Popes neuer But what is the ground of his accusation PHIL. Because they are not Canonically ordeined The same point is likewise vrged against them by Doctor Stapleton Whether went they into France Spaine or Germanie seeing that at home there was no number of such as might and would serue their turne No no as their Religion is contrary their ende is diuers their beginning hath bene vtterly different from the true Christian faith planted among vs so are their proceedings different and repugnant they haue not come in by the doore they haue stolne in like theeues without all Spirituall authoritie or gouernement This difference betweene the Protestants and our true Bishops the first Apostles importeth so much that it may not lightly be passed ouer for their authoritie being proued nought all their doings can be no better I say therefore by the verdict of holy Scripture and practise of the Primitiue Church these men are no Bishops Your pretended Bishops haue no such Ordination no such laying on of the hands of Bishops no authoritie to ordaine Priests and Ministers and therefore neither are you true Ministers neither they any Bishops at all ORTHOD. What reason haue you to say that our Bishops are not consecrated by three the Canon hath alwaies bene obserued in our Church neither can all the Papists in the world giue any one instance to the contrary since the time of Reformation PHIL. Doct. Sanders declareth That there was a time when you had neither three nor two Bishops and yet at the same time your new Superintendents inuaded the Ecclesiasticall Chaires and were glad to seeke their Confirmation from the Prince and Parliament after they had enioyed the Episcopall Office certaine yeeres without any Episcopall Consecration And therefore all the water in the Thames cannot cleare the Clergie of England from being vsurpers ORTHOD. But if this be false then all the water in the Tybur though it were turned into Holy-water cannot purge the Papists from being slanderers And how false it is shall hereafter be declared out of authenticall Records by which it shall appeare That the Queenes Letters patents of Commission concerning the Confirmation and Consecration of the very first Bishop made in her time were directed to 7. Bishops and also that the Consecration was accomplished by 4 Bishops whose names and titles shall be specified In the meane time this onely I say In lying and slandering many Papists haue had an admirable dexteritie but Sanders surmounted them all For as his booke of Schisme is truely called by a learned Bishop Sterquilinium mendactorum A dunghill of lies so it might be iustly termed Sterquilinium calumniarum A very dunghill of slanders Insomuch that for his noble facultie that way he deserueth no more to be called M. Doct. Sanders but M. Doct. Slanders PHIL. It is no slander but a trueth which shal be auouched to your faces for I wil proue al that I haue said in order My masters marke what I say If you can iustifie your Calling we will all come to your Church and be of your Religion ORTHOD. Remember your promise and proceed with your Argument PHIL. I will proceed and
be present but they not willing to take knowledge of any of these things admitted the Communion of Euagrius and exasperated the eares of the Emperour against Flauianus PHIL. I will answere with Baronius Those things which Theodoret saith concerning the Ordination of Euagrius performed during the life of Paulinus are altogether repugnant to those things which are spoken by Socrates and Sozomen affirming that the auditors of Paulinus did not attempt to substitute Euagrius into his place till after the death of Paulinus ORTHO It is a shameful course of Baronius to reiect in Histories whatsoeuer doth not fit his fancie In this present point he pretendeth repugnancie where there is none at all For Theodoret speaketh of ordination Socrates and Sozomen of installation PHIL. How proue you the other Branch that Euagrius was allowed for a lawfull Bishop ORTHO Baronius saith Pro Euagrio Syricius Theodosium interpellauit Syricius the Pope did solicite Theodosius the Emperour in the behalfe of Euagrius And Binius Pontifex c. The Pope and with him almost all the Bishops of the West being against Flauianus as before they stood for Paulinus so now they tooke part with Euagrius and animated the Emperour against Flauianus Moreouer Innocent the first granted the Communion of the Roman Church to Alexander Bishop of Alexandria vpon this condition amongst others that he should receiue those that were ordained of Euagrius the successour of Paulinus with their orders and honours as is likewise confessed by Binius Here is a plaine example of a Bishop ordained by one Bishop alone and yet allowed both by the Bishops of the West and by two Popes Hitherto the examples of three Patriarches NOw let vs consider our neighbours of France concerning whom Iohannes Maior a Doctour of Paris saith Rusticus Eleutherius qui cum beato Dionysio ad Gallias venerunt non erant Episcopi sed Galliae Episcopos solus Dionysius ordinauit Rusticus and Eleutherus which came into France with S. Denys were no Bishops but Denys alone ordained the Bishops of France FInally I will adde some testimonies of your owne writers Iohannes Maior Dico esse constitutionem humanaâ— quod Episcopus ordinetur a tribus â— I say that it is a humane constitution that a Bishop should be ordained of three Petrus de palude In Ecclesia vnus Episcopus sufficit ad alium Consecrandum nec est nisi propter solennitatem ab Ecclesia inuentum vt tres concurrant i. In the Church one Bishop is sufficient to Consecrate another and it is nothing else but for the solemnitie of the matter that the Church hath deuised that three Bishops should meete together Cardinall Turrecremata is plentifull in this point and proueth it by foureteene Arguments PHIL. Yet other Doctours as you haue heard are of another opinion THE SECOND BOOKE WHEREIN THE CONSEcrations of the Bishops of England from the first planting of Christianitie till the last yeere of Queene Mary are examined CHAP. I. Wherein they descend to the second Question whether the Consecrations of the Bishops of England be Canonicall ORTH. SVppose I should admit that three Bishops were euerlastingly and vnchangeably required to the Consecration of a new Bishop and that of such absolute necessitie that the defect should make a nullitie what would this aduantage you or disaduantage vs PHIL. Very much For then it would follow that your Bishops are no Bishops ORTHO Why so There is not a Bishop in England at this day liuing which was not Consecrated by three Our booke of Consecrating may informe you That in the Church of England two Bishops doe alwayes present the person to be Consecrated and the Archbishop or some other Bishop appointed by his Commission pronounceth the Blessing as principall Consecratour Is not this Canonicall PHIL. No because your Consecrating Bishops are not themselues Canonicall For to a Canonicall Bishop it is required That he haue three such Bishops for his Consecrators as were euery one of them Consecrated by three And againe each of them by three And so by continuall succession till we come to the Apostles For as Doct. Stapleton saith Christi Ecclesia illa sola est quae suos Pastores Episcopos perpetua successione potest ostendere i. That onely is Christs Church which can shew her Pastors and Bishops in a perpetuall succession And againe Vbicunque talis perpetuâ— successio non in eisdem locis sed in eadem legitima successiua vocatione missione Ordinatione ostendi potest ibi sit vera Christi Ecclesia Catholica id est Ecclesiae Catholicae pars membrum i. Wheresoeuer such a perpetuall succession of Pastors can be shewed not in the same places but in the same lawfull and successiue vocation mission and Ordination there is a true Catholicke Church That is A part and member of the Catholicke Church Now If you can shew any succession of Bishops in England or elsewhere you can shew it no otherwise then could the Donatists of whom Optatus thus writeth Missus est Victor c. Victor was sent of the Donatists to Rome There was a sonne without a father a seruant without a ruler a scholler without a master a successour without a predecessour Igitur quia Claudianus c. i. Therefore because Claudian seemeth to succeed to Lucian Lucian to Macrobius Macrobius to Encolpius Encolpius to Boniface Boniface to Victor If now we should aske Victor in whose place hee sate and to whom hee succeeded Hee could not shew any other Chaire or See but the See and Chaire of pestilence Thus I say That as Victor among the Donatists so Luther among the Protestants of Wittenberge so Zuinglius among the Sacramentaries of Zurich so Caluin among those of Geneua so Bernard Rotman among the Anabaptists so M. Iewell Grindall and Horne and such other false Bishops among vs haue risen and started vp suddenly without fathers without predecessours without masters in any right and lineall succession Or if they haue any let them search their Records turne their Registers produce their Euidences vnfold their Monuments of Antiquitie and witnesse to the world their Canonicall succession which they neither doe nor can doe But we can shew you Bishops of Rome euen from S. Peter to our holy father Paulus Quintus who now liueth Antonius Democharis hath described the Bishops of France or rather of all the Prouinces of the Christian world Doct. Stapleton wrote with his owne hand a Catologue found in a Monasterie containing the Bishops of all the Westerne Church Histories Registers publique Tables the very Temples and most ancient Monuments of Ecclesiastical Colledges are euident Arguments of our succession Yea we haue a Catalogue in Polydor Virgil of all the Bishops of our Nation for almost a thousand yeeres Then was the Church of England like a Golden chaine whose Sacred linckes had such a mutuall connexion and dependencie that from the blessed Apostles we
of Arles But seeing you fetch his succession from the French I must request you to call to remembrance that which was said before concerning the ordination of the first French Bishops to wit that they all were ordained by Dionysius alone and consequently that they were not canonicall And therefore if you turne the edge of your argument against Austin as you doe against the present Bishops of England you must conclude a nullity in his consecration and in all your Popish Bishops deriued from him Thus you haue made ship wrack in the very hauē Now from Austin let vs proceed to those whom Austin did consecrate CHAP. V. Of the Bishops from Austin to Cranmer PHIL. THere can bee no doubt but as Austin himselfe so all that were consecrated by him were consecrated by three ORTH. Yes if you consider the question of Austin and the answere of Gregory The question proposed was this If the Bishops are so farre apart one from the other that they cannot conueniently assemble together whether one may bee ordained a Bishop without the presence of other Bishops Gregory answereth In the Church of England in which thou onely art as yet a Bishop thou canst ordaine none but without other Bishops For when come there any Bishops out of France which might assist thee in ordeyning Bishops We will therefore that thou ordaine Bishops but so that they may not bee farre one from an other that there be no such necessity but that they may hereafter come together to the creation of other The Curats also whose presence may do good should easily come together when then by the helpe of God the Bishops shall bee so made that they shall not be farre asunder one from the other there shall bee no Bishops created without three or foure Bishops assembled together c. PHIL. This place hath diuers readings both in Gregorie and Bede what edition doe you follow ORTHOD. Euen that which you will confesse of all other to bee most excellent For what edition of Bede was that which Stapleton translated PHIL. Doctor Stapleton being a man of such learning wisedome and zeale and purposing to benefite his country in singular manner by turning the story of Saint Bede into English without question did vse all possible diligence to get varietie of copies both printed and manuscript and comparing all together made choice of the best ORTHOD. Then haue I followed the best edition of Bede for I haue not departed one letter from the translation of Stapleton yet you see your owne approued edition which Stapleton made choise of conuinceth that Pope Gregory willed Austin at first to make bishops alone though hee would haue none created afterward without three or foure PHIL. Doe you thinke that there came no Bishops out of France to assist ORTHOD. No such thing can bee collected out of Bede neither is it probable for in the very next Chapter Gregory writeth to the Bishop of Arles to giue kinde entertainement to Austin if hee should come vnto him But of any Bishops to bee sent into England there is not a word And in the Chapter following Gregory writeth to Austin sendeth him a Pall and willeth him to ordaine twelue Bishops But of French Bishops to assist him he saith nothing at all And in the second booke and third Chapter it is declared how that in the yeere of the incarnation of our Lord 604. Austin Archbishop of Britane consecrated two Bishops Mellitus Bishop of London and Iustus Bishop of Rochester but of any French Bishops assisting him there is no mention And for the Brittish Bishops that they should helpe him it is not once to be imagined because they stood at vtter defiance with him Therefore if wee consult with Stapletons Bede and embrace that copy for best which hee followed it will appeare that Austin proceeded to Episcopall consecration and yeelding to necessitie made the first Bishop that is Mellitus alone and the next that is Iustus by the assistance of Mellitus onely and when there was a canonicall number then they obserued the number of three at the least PHIL. Surely in diuerse copies it is otherwise then you haue alleadged as for example in the Parisian edition of Gregory Anno 1586. It is thus Et quidem etiam in Anglorum ecclesia in qua adhuc solus tu Episcopus inueniris ordinare Episcopum non aliter nisi cum Episcopis potes i. Truly euen in the Church of the English wherein thou onely art found as yet to bee a Bishop thou canst not ordaine Bishops otherwise then with other Bishops And because Austin was the onely Bishop then in England therefore in the next sentence he telleth him whence hee shall haue Bishops Nam quando de Gallijs Episcopi veniunt illi in ordinatione Episcopi testes tibi assistant i. For when the Bishops come out of France let them assist thee in the ordination of a Bishop ORTH. For the clearing of this point we must consider both these sentences with their dependencie and connexion In the former there are two readings cum Episcopis and sine Episcopis The latter was followed by Doctour Stapleton and is the true reading For vnderstanding that in Oxford some were appointed for the collation of the printed copies of Gregorie with the manuscripts I enquired how this place was read in the manuscripts and answere was made that these Interrogata were not in the written copies but inserted as it seemeth into the workes of Gregory out of Bede Then I enquired after the manuscripts of Bede and saw diuerse all consenting in this reading sine Episcopis with which concordeth a most worthy copie of venerable antiquitie at Eton Colledge which the learned and iudicious Sir Henry Sauil did shew vnto me With the manuscripts agreeth your own last edition of the workes of Bede printed at Collen in the yeere 1612. As also the Epistles of Gregory both in the Romane edition as they are in the Councels set out by Surius and Binius yea these Interrogata are produced by Iohn Capgraue who readeth precisely in the same manner Wherefore it is as cleare as the noone day that the true reading is sine Episcopis as Stapleton translateth and thus much of the first sentence In the second wee must consider both the reading and the pointing concerning the varietie of reading to passe ouer de gallis and de gallijs veniunt and venient which are of small moment and doe not alter the sense The Parisian and Romane editions read illi which is erronious for the true treading is qui to bee iustified by Capgraue the manuscripts before alleadged and Doctour Stapleton Now the wordes being thus cleared must needes bee read with an interrogation otherwise there will bee no sence and the latter sentence rendreth a reason of the former in this manner Thou must needs make Bishops alone for who should assist thee the Britaines they stand in opposition and are not once to be thought vpon
which hath not the right order of Priesthood but the Priesthood conferred in King Edwards time was no Priesthood because they wanted the authority to offer the blessed sacrifice of the Masse therefore those Priests were not capable of the Episcopall order ORTHO I answere first that seeing that King Edward rained but sixe yeeres and fiue moneths it is likely that most of them which were aduanced in his time to bee Bishops were before his time in the order of Priesthood Secondly if any be produced which were not yet it shal be iustified God willing when we come to the point that the order of Priesthood conferred in the dayes of King Edward Queene Elizabeth and King Iames is the true ministery of the Gospel and that your sacrificing Priesthood is sacrilegious and abominable In the meane time you must giue vs leaue to holde that the ministery of the Church of England is holy in the sight of God and iustifiable in the sight of man CHAP. XII Of the Bishops Consecrated in the dayes of Queene Marie THe lineall descent hath led vs to the Bishops in Queen Maries time concerning which shal I craue your iudgement PHIL. You know it already they were all Canonical ORTHOD. For the more distinct proceeding let vs diuide them into two ranckes the old Bishops and the new the old I cal such as being cōsecrated before her time were continued in her time the new which were Consecrated in her time PHIL. All which were allowed for Bishops in Queene Maries time whether old or new were Canonicall ORTHO The old Bishops were all made in the dayes of K. Henry the eighth and almost all in those very times which you brand with imputation of schisme and heresie when none could bee Consecrated vnlesse hee did sweare to the king against the Pope Wherefore seeing you iudged both Consecrators and Consecrated schismaticall and hereticall and yet esteeme them Canonicall your obiections of schisme and heresie must eternally bee silenced in the question of Canonicall Bishops For if these crimes can frustrate a Consecration then their Consecration was frustrate and they were no Bishops or if they were Bishops and Canonicall then all the Bishops in King Henries time were likewise Canonicall Moreouer some of them whom you so commend were Bishops in King Edwards time as for example Thomas Thurlby whom King Henrie promoted to be Bishop of Westminster was aduanced by King Edward to the Bishopricke of Norwich and afterward preferred by Queene Mary to the Bishopricke of Ely and moreouer to be one of her priuie Councell Yea some of them had the place of a Bishop in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth Namely Anthony Kitchin who in King Henries time was made Bishop of Landaff kept his dignities and place in the dayes of K. Edward continued the same all the reigne of Queene Mary and so till the day of his death which was in the fift yeere of Queene Elizabeth Wherefore in iustifying the old Bishops you iustifie al generally which were Consecrated in King Henries daies and some which continued in King Edwards and Queene Elizabeths But now from the old let vs come to the new PHIL. QVeene Mary aduanced Holiman bishop of Bristow Coates bishop of Chester Watson bishop of Lincolne Morris bishop of Rochester Morgan bishop of S. Dauis Brooke bishop of Glocester Glin bishop of Bangor Christophorson bishop of Chichester Dauid Poole bishop of Peterborow Cardinall Poole bishop of Canterbury and others ORTHOD. And these reuerend Prelats Bush bishop of Bristow Tailor bishop of Lincolne Scory bishop of Chichester Barlow bishop of Bathe and Wells Couerdale bishop of Exeter and Harly bishop of Hereford with sundry others were at that time forced to leaue their bishopricks For what cause partly for not yeelding to the Pope and Popish Religion partly because they were married which Greg. Martin calleth a polluting of holy Orders though S. Paul saith it is honourable among all men and the bed vndefiled But let vs see the Consecration of your new bishops PHIL. I will begin with that renowned Prelate Cardinall Poole whose Consecration followeth Anno 1555. Reginald Poole cons. Archb. Cant. 22. Mart. by Nichol Arch. Ebor. Thom. Eltens Edmund Lond. Rich. Wigorn. Ioh. Lincoln Mauric Roff. Thom. Asaph Anno 1557. Thom Watson Dauid Pole Cons. B. 15. Aug. by Nich. Ebor. Thom. Eli. Wil. Bangor Anno 1557. Ioh. Christophorson cons. B. 21. No. by Edmund Lond. Tho. Elien Mauric Roff. ORTHOD. All these deriue their Consecration from bishops which were made in the time of the pretended Schisme and some of them from Cranmer himselfe therefore you must either acknowledge all them and namely Cranmer for Canonicall or neither Cardinall Poole nor any of the rest made in Queene Maries time can be Canonicall THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE BISHOPS CONSEcrated in the Raigne of Q. Elizabeth and of our gracious Soueraigne King IAMES CHAP. I. Of the Bishops deposed in the beginning of the raigne of Queene Elizabeth with an answere to certaine odious imputations concerning some Antecedents and Consequents of their Depositions PHIL. THe reuolution of times hath brought vs to the raigne of Queene Elizabeth euen to that blacke and dolefull day wherein all the Bishops of England all I say one onely excepted were deposed from their degrees and dignities For a great penaltie was inflicted vpon such as should after the Feast of S. Iohn Baptis◠1559. say or heare Masse or procure any other Ecclesiasticall Office whatsoeuer after the old rite or administer any Sacrament after the Romane maner to wit That hee which offended against that Law for the first time should pay 200 Nobles or be in bonds sixe Moneths for the second 400. Nobles or a yeere in bonds for the third he should be in perpetuall prison and forfeite all his goods By which meanes it came to passe That at the day prescribed the holy and diuine Offices ceased to be performed publikely through the whole Kingdome And because the Bishops would not consent to those impieties nor affirme vpon their Oathes that they beleeued in their consciences That the Queene onely was the Supreame gouernesse of the Church of England vnder Christ they were all saue one shortly after deposed from their Degree and dignitte and committed to certaine prisons and custodies whereupon they are all at this day dead with the long tediousnesse of their miseries The names of which most glorious Confessours I will set downe that the thing may be had in euerlasting remembrance First of all Nicholas Archbishop of Yorke and a little before that time Lord Chancellour of England then Edmund Bonner Bishop of London and Tunstall of Durham Iohn of Winton Thomas of Lincolne Thurlby of Ely Turberuill of Exeter Borne of Bath Pole of Peterborow Baine of Lichfield Cuthbert of Chester Oglethorp of Carlile and Thomas Goldwell of S. Asaph c. ORTH. Here are two things to be discussed The deposing of the old Bishops and aduancing of the new Concerning the first
Hales Archdeacon of Lincolne dying intestate left to secular men many thousand markes with great store of Plate and that Almarick Archdeacon of Bedford died also very rich and that Iohn Archd. of Northamton dyed worth fiue thousand markes besides thirty pieces of plate and infinite Iewels Hereupon he made a strange decree not without note of manifest couetousnesse to be proclaimed in England that if from thenceforth any Clerke should die intestate his goods should be turned to the vse of the lord the Pope the execution of which mandate he committed to the preaching Fryers and Minorites but the king hearing of it detesting the couetousnesse of the Romane Court forbade it as preiudiciall to him and his Realme The same yeere the Pope sent to the Bishops of England for a tallage of sixe thousand marke The Bishop of Norwich the Popes prowler in this behalfe wrote to the Abbot of S. Albans for 80. marke the king forbad him to pay and charged the Bishop of Norwich and other Bishops not to proceed in that exaction as they desired to keepe their Baronies holden of the King Thus the Church of England was miserably torne and ground betweene the King and the Pope as betweene two milstones moouing contrary wayes Yet the same yeere the courage of the king relented and he suffered the Church to be spoiled of the sixe thousand marke Then the Pope more bolde then euer before gaue in charge to all the prelates of England that all beneficed men if they were residents should pay the Pope the third part if non residents halfe of their goods but the king forbad the payment and the Clergie rendred many reasons why it was vnreasonable Anno 1247. There was holden a Parliament at London wherin were lamentable complaints of the Popes extortion and it was concluded that letters should be sent to the Pope in the name of the whole kingdome which was dâ—ne and they obtained only this that when the Pope was to make prouision here for his Nephewes or Cardinalls he should aske the king leaue The same yeere there came two English Friers Minorites with the Popes Bulls and got great summes of money they demaunded of the Diocesse of Lincolne 6000. marke the same yeere there was a Parliament and the Clergie granted to the Pope 11000. markes The same yeere the grieuances were much increased for the Prelates were suspended from Collation of Benefices till the greedines of the Romanes were satisfied Anno 1252. the Bishop of Lincolne caused a true account to be made of the reuenues of strangers in England and it was found to be more then 70000. markes Anno 1253. Robert Bishop of Lincolne sent to the Pope this Epistle following Let your wisdome know that I obey the Apostolicke Mandates with a filiall affection deuoutly and reuerently And being zealous of my Fathers honour I am contrary and opposite to those things which are contrary to the Mandates Apostolicke For I am bound to both by the Mandate of God Apostolicke Mandates neither are or can be other then the doctrines of the Apostles and of our Lord Iesus Christ the Master and Lord of the Apostles For the Lord Iesus Christ saith He that is not with me is against me But the diuine Holinesse of the Apostolicke See neither is or can be against him Therefore the tenour of the aforesaid Letter is not consonant to Apostolicke Holines but a thing much dissonant and disagreeing First because from this Addition Non obstante annexed to this and such like Letters which are dispersed farre and wide and not induced with any necessitie of the Law of Nature which is to be obserued there flowes a whole deluge of inconstancie boldnesse malepertnesse immodestie lying deceiuing distrusting and all vices thereupon insuing where of the number is infinite shaking and disturbing the puritie of Christian Religion and the tranquillitie of humane societie Moreouer after the sin of Lucifer which shall also be the sinne of Antichrist the child of perdition whom the Lord shall destroy with the breath of his mouth There is not nor cannot be any other kinde of sinne so aduerse and contrary to the doctrine of the Apostles and Euangelists and to our Lord Iesus Christ so hatefull so detestable and so abominable as to kill and destroy soules by defrauding them of the Office and Ministerie of the Pastorall charge Which sinnes they are knowne by most euident testimonies of holy Scripture to commit which being placed in the power of Pastorall charge doe get the wages of the Pastorall Office and Ministerie arising of the milke and wooll of the sheepe of Christ which ought to be quickened and saued and do not minister such things as are due vnto them For the very not administration of Pastorall Offices is by the testimony of Scripture the killing and destruction of the sheepe And to passe ouer the rest because it is somewhat long I will onely adde his conclusion And briefly recounting I say the Holinesse of the See Apostolicke can onely doe such things as tend to edification and not to destruction For this is the fulnesse of power to be able to doe all things to edification But these things which they call Prouisions are not for edification but for most manifest destruction Therefore the blessed See Apostolicke cannot accept of them because flesh and blood which shall not possesse the Kingdome of Heauen hath reuealed them and not the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which is in Heauen When this Letter came to the audience of the Pope he being not able to containe himselfe said Who is this dotish surd absurd oldman that with such rash presumption iudgeth our acts By S. Peter and S. Paul if my goodnature did not stay me I should hurle him into such a coÌ„fusion that he should be the fable of the world an astonishment an example a wonderment Is not the King of England our vassall or to say more our slaue who is able at our becke to imprison him and to make him a slaue to shame and reproch But the Cardinals said vnto him Our good L. it were not expedient that we should decree any hard matter against the Bishop for that we may confesse the trueth those things which he saith are true we cannot condemne him he is a Catholicke yea and a most holy man more Religious then we and more holy then we more excellent and of a more excellent life so that he is supposed among all the Prelates of the world not to haue his better nor his equall The whole Clergie of France and England knoweth so much The trueth of such an Epistle which peraduenture is already knowne to many will be able to moue many against vs for he is counted a great Pilosopher perfitly learned in Greeke and Latin a zealous louer of righteousnes a reader in schooles of Diuinitie a preacher among the people a louer of chastitie a persecuter of
Symonists These things said Aegidius Hispanus the Cardinall and others whose conscience did touch them gaue councell to the Pope that he should wincke and dissemble the matter lest some tumult should be raised vpon this occasion especially because it is wel knowne that once there shal a departure come The same Robert lying vpon his death-bed sighing said thus Christ came into the world to gaine soules therefore if any man be not afraid to destroy soules is not he worthily called Antichrist The Lord in 6. dayes made the whole world but he laboured more then 30 yeeres to repaire man Is not therefore this destroyer of soules worthy to be iudged an enemy of God and an Antichrist The Pope blusheth not impudently to disanull the priuiledges of former Popes his predecessors by this barre Non obstante which is not done without their preiudice and manifest iniurie for so he pulls downe that which so great and so many Saints haue builded Behold the contempt of Saints therefore the contemner shall iustly be contemned according to that of Esay Woe to thee which despisest shalt thou not be despised who will obserue his priuiledges The Pope answering doth thus defend his errour An equall hath no authority ouer an equall therefore a Pope cannot binde me being a Pope c. And againe Although many other Apostolicke men haue afflicted the Church yet hee hath compeld it to be in bondage more grieuously then others and hath multiplied inconueniences For the Caursini being manifest Vsurers which the holy Fathers and our doctors haue driuen out of France this Pope hath raised vp and protected in England and if any speake against them he is tired out with losses and labours Witnes Roger B. of London The world knoweth that Vsury is accounted detestable in both Testaments and is forbidden of God but now the Merchants of my L. the Pope do practise Vsury openly at London they contriue diuers grieuances against Ecclesiasticall and Religious persons forcing poore men to lye and to set their Seales to lying writings As for example I receiue so many marks by yeere for an 100. pound and am forced to make a writing and sealè it in which I confesse my selfe to haue receiued an 100. pound to be payed at the yeeres end And if peraduenture thou wouldest pay the Popes Vsurer the principall againe within a moneth or fewer dayes he will not receiue it vnlesse thou wilt pay the whole hundred pound Which condition is heauier then any which is required of the Iewes for whensoeuer thou shalt bring a Iew his principall he will take it kindly with so much gaine as is answerable to the time c. And againe We haue seene one of the Popes Letters wherein this clause was inserted That such as made their Testaments or caried the Crosse or yeelded ayde to the Holy-land should receiue so much pardon for their sinnes as they gaue money And wee know our lord the Pope wrote vnto the Abbot of S. Albans that he should prouide for a certaine man called Iohn de Camezana in a competent benefice and shortly prouision was made in a Church worth fortie marks by the yeere but he not content therewithall complained vnto the Pope who wrote to the same Abbot to prouide more bountifully for him and yet the Pope reserued the donation of the former benefice vnto him selfe And to passe ouer other things the Pope graunted for secular fauour that one may obtaine a Bishoprick and not bee a Bishop but an euerlasting elect which is as much to say as that he should receiue the milk and the wooll of the sheepe and yet not driue away the wolues Mathew Paris telleth how this Bishop Robert Grosthead hated all kind of Enormities to wit all kind of Couetousnesse al Vsury Symony and Rapine all kinde of Riot Lust Gluttony and Pride which so raigned in that Court that this iudgement was iustly giuen of it Eius auaritiae totus non sufficit orbis Eius Luxuriae meretrix non sufficit omnis And being at the point of death hee indeauored to prosecute how the Court of Rome hoping That mony would flow like the riuer Iordane into their mouth gaped wide that they might get vnto themselues the goods both of those that died intestate and also those that died testate how that they might do it the more licentiously they made the King their consort in the rapines neither shall the Church saith he be deliuered from this Egyptian bondage but in the edge of the bloudy sword but verily these things are light but shortly that is within three yeeres there shall come more grieuous In the end of this propheticall speech which hee could scarcely vtter for sighs teares and groanes bursting out his tongue faultred his breath failed and the organes of speech decaying imposed silence Mathew Paris concluding the yeere 1255. saith This yeere passed away to the Church of Rome and the papall Court if one doe respect the deuotion of the people most venemous for the deuotion which Prelates and people vsed to haue towards our mother the Church of Rome and to our Father and Pastour to wit our Lord the Pope gaue vp the ghost for although that Court had many times drawne bloud of Christs faithfull people yet it neuer wounded them all and euery one so deadly as this yeere and the yeere following Anno 1256. Rustandus the Popes Nuntio the kings proctor woud haue the Bishops to set their hands to a bill and confesse that they had receiued no smal sum of money of the Italian Merchants conuerted to the good of their Churches which all men knew to be manifestly false Whereupon they affirmed and not without reason that To die in this cause were a more manifest way of Martyrdome then it was in the case of Saint Thomas the Martyr The same yeere Certaine Abbeyes in England were bound ouer for the payment of two thousand ounces of gold to the Papes Merchants Anno 1259 Sewalus Archbishop of Yorke lying vpon his death bed lifting his hands and countenance to heauen with teares said thus Lord Iesus Christ of Iudges most iust thy infallible iudgement knoweth how manifouldly the Pope whom thou hast suffered to be set ouer thy Church to gouerne it hath wearied mine Innocency for this cause as God knoweth and the world is not ignorant that I would not admit to the gouernment of Churches which thou hast committed to mee though vnworthy such as were altogether vnmeete vnknowne Notwithstanding least the Popes sentence although in it selfe vniust should be made iust by my contempt I being intangled with such bands that is papall censures doe humbly desire to bee absolued But I appeale to the Pope himselfe before the high and incorruptible Iudge and heauen and earth shal be my witnesses how vniustly hee hath assaulted mee and how oft he did scandalize and prouoke me Thus in the bitternesse of his soule hee wrote vnto the Pope prouoked by
the example of Robert of Lincolne humbly intreating him that hee would mittigate the vsuall tyrranies by following the humilitie of his holy Predecessors and vsed these words Dixit dominus Petro Pasce oues meas non tonde non excoria non euiscera vel deuorando consume that is The Lord said to Peter feed my sheepe hee said not vnfleese them nor flea them nor vnbowel them nor consume them by deuouring But the Pope scorned these admonitions that were so holy In the yeere 1260. the Barrons sent foure Knights to the Pope To complaine of Aimer elect of Winchester and his Brethren of their murthers rapines iniuries and oppressions and with all commanded such as farmed their Churches of the Romans to pay them no rent so the Land was quiet by the space of three yeeres Anno. 1316. Lewis Beaumont a French man at the instance of the kings of England and France obtained of the Pope the Bishoprike of Durham he was so vnlearned that hee could not read the Bulles and instruments of his Consecration but comming to the word Metropoliticae after hee had stood long puffing and blowing and could not hit vpon it he said soit pour dit i. Let it stand for spoken and an other time comming to this dangerous word aenigmate hee said to the by standers in French Pâ—r Saint Lowys il n'est pas courtoys qui ceste parolleyci escrit that is By Saint Lewis hee was not a courteous man that wrote this word here but though he had small Latin yet hee brought the Pope the more gold for he entred bond to pay him more then he was able to discharge in fourteene yeeres Anno. 1343. Pope Clement the 6. hauing made 12. Cardinals Made Prouisions in England for two of them of so many benefices next vacant as should amount to two thousand markes yeerely whereupon the king wrote thus to the Pope VVe doubt not but it is come to publike knowledge after what maner from the beginning of the Church when it had the first birth in our Kingdome of England the ancieÌ„t stock of famous memory of our progenitours Kings of England and of the nobles and faithfull people of the said kingdome for the exercise of diuine worship built Churches and endowed them with ample possessions and fenced them with priuileges placing in theÌ„ fit ministers which happily set forward Catholike faith in languages people subiect vnto them by whose care diligence the vineyard of the Lord of hosts was then very fertil in beauty and fruit But which is to bee lamented the plants of that vineyard are degenerated into wildshrubs and the beares of the wood roote it out wild beasts deuoure it while by impositions and prouisions of the See Apostolike which grow more grieuous theÌ„ they were accustomed the hands of vnworthy persons especially of strangers seize vpon the Lords inheritance contrary to the godly will ordination of the donors the dignities thereof fat benefices are conferred vpoÌ„ persons born out of the Land many times suspected vnto vs which are not resident vpoÌ„ the same benefices know not the faces of the sheep coÌ„mitted vnto theÌ„ nor vnderstood their language but neglecting the cure of souls like hierlings seek only temporal gaine by this means the worship of Christ is diminished the cure of souls neglected hospitality is withdrawn the rights of Churches are lost the houses of Clerkes are ruinated the deuotion of the people is lessened Clerkes of the kingdome men of great learning and honest conuersation which might well performe the charge and gouernment and were fit men for our affaires and publicke Councels forsake their studie because hope of fit preferment was taken away hitherto the kings letter But the Pope tooke this in great dudgion and called the kings dealing rebellion Anno 1345. The king directly contrary to the tenour of his former letters and the desires of his nobles wrote to the Pope that his Secretary Thomas Hatfield might bee made Bishop of Durham against whom when some of the Cardinals tooke exceptions for his insufficiencie the Pope answered si rex hac vice supplicasset pro asino obtinuisset that is If the King at this time had made request for his asse he should haue obtained it Anno 1364. being the thirtie eight of Edward the third there was held a Parliament wherin was made the statutes of prouisoes and premunire by which the power of the Court of Rome in England being bridled did neuer preuaile afterward with such licentiousnesse and impunitie Anno 1367. Vpon a view taken it was found that some had aboue twentie Churches and dignities by the authoritie of the Pope and that they were further priuiledged to hold so many more as they could get without measure or number Anno 1399. The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Arundel intreated the King in the name of the Clergie that he would take away by his regall authoritie the papall prouisions whereby it was come to passe that learned men studying in Vniuersities seeing the rewards giuen to vnworthy and ambitious fellowes seeking them at Rome did forsake their studies So ignorance expelled learning About the yeere 1419. Pope Martin the fifth bestowed in England 13. Bishoprickes by translations and prouisions in the space of two yeeres while Henry the fifth was in the warre Anno 1420. The same Pope translated Richard of Lincolne to Yorke but the Deane and Chapter standing vpon the lawes enacted against papall prouisions resisted till the Pope was constrained by newe Bulles to bring the said Richard backe againe to Lincolne by which example of the Yorkeshire men the papall authoritie in prouiding Bishoprickes against which neither the Lawes of the kingdome nor the Kings Proclamations nor the threatnings of the Nobles and Commons preuailed was broken and weakened Anno 1424. Henry Chichly Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinall was made the Popes Legate but the Kings Attorney appealed from him and the Pope to the next generall Councell then the Archbishop made a protestation that he would not exercise it without the Kings licence Anno 1497. Pope Alexander sent Iohn de Egles into England with large commission but it seemeth that there was nothing to bee gotten and therefore he sent his Notary Robert Castilensis with new mandates who required of euery Curate an English noble About the yere 1499. The Pope translated Thomas Merkes from the Bishoprick of Carlill to the imaginarie Bishopricke of Samos in Greece Anno 1500. Pope Alexander kept a yeere of Iubile promising remission of sinnes to all that went to Rome or redeemed their iourney with money and at the same time to make them more liberall hee gaue out that there should bee a great expedition against the Turkes and that the Pope would goe thither in person as the Generall of the field The Popes Proctor in England for this purpose was Gasper a Spaniard who
order of a Deacon is not essentiall to the order of Priesthood and therefore though wee had bene ordained per saltum yet you could not deny vs the true order of Priesthood But we are not ordained per saltum Our Church hath decreed that there may be euer some time of triall of their behauiour in the office of Deacons before they be admitted to the order of Priesthood And for the Ordination after due knowledge of the vertuous conuersation and examination of the sufficiencie of the person it is performed with religious praier by a Bishop vpon a Sunday or holy day in the face of the Church in these words Take thou authority to execute the office of a Deacon c. PHIL. The office of a Deacon is to assist the Priest in saying of Masse Do your Deacons so ORTHOD. That the Deacon should assist the Priest in the administration of holy things concerning his office is graunted on both sides but for your Popish massing and sacrifising we haue proued that it is a profaning of Christs ordinance and that it is neither lawfull for you to do it nor for the Deacons to assist you wherefore seeing wee haue already iustified both our Bishops which ordaine the office or function of our Presbyters or Priests wee conclude that as our Bishops and Presbyters so our Deacons also are lawfull in the Church of England Thus haue we examined your obiections against the ministery of the Church of England and find them to be meere cauilles Neither can you proue that our calling is in any thing contrarie to the Scripture or to the practise of reuerend antiquity but your sacrifising Priesthood appeareth not onely to bee the inuention of man but also sacrilegious and abominable in the sight of God Wherefore I beseech you repent of your sinnes renounce your Antichristian practise returne to your deare Country cease to bee Philodox and become an Orthodox CHAP. XII Wherein is declared that though wee deriue our calling from such Bishops as were Popish Priests yet our calling is lawfull and theirs vnlawfull PHIL. WEll I perceiue one thing that howsoeuer you speake against Popish Priests calling them sacrilegious and abominable yet when your owne calling is put to the trial you are glad to deriue it from such Bishops as were Popish Priests which you so disdainefully call sacrilegious and abominable ORTHOD. And I perceiue another thing that howsoeuer you exclaimed against Cranmer as a Schismaticke and burned him for an Heriticke yet when the glorious succession of your Bishops in Queene Maries time is put to the trial you are forced to deriue it from him whom you so scornefully call a Schismatike and an Hereticke But if our forefathers deriued their orders from such Bishops as were Popish Priests what inconuenience will follow PHIL. Then either confesse your calling to bee vnlawfull or accknowledge ours to be lawfull from whence you deriue it You cannot gather figges of thornes nor grapes of thistles neither is it possible for a rose to spring out of a nettle ORTHOD. But a garden of Roses may be ouergrowne with nettles For the Ministery planted by Christ was a sweete rose without any nettle and so it continued in the Church for certaine ages but when Antichrist began to reueale himselfe in the Temple of God as though hee were God the Romish Priesthood became a monstrous birth strangely compounded halfe rose halfe nettle the Church of England in the beginning of reformation did borrow from the Church of Rome the rose but left the nettle PHIL. What will you make of vs are we Ministers or lay men if we bee Ministers then so acknowledge vs. If wee be lay men then I pray you what was Cranmer who had no Cousecration but in our Church what were all the Bishops in Kings Edwards time which were Consecrated by Cranmer what was Mathew Parker Grindall Sands Horne which were all ordained Priests in our Church were they all lay men what are all the Ministers of England at this day which deriue their orders from the former are they all lay-men ORTHOD. Your Popish Priests are neither the true ministers of the Gospel nor merely lay-men For your ordination consisteth of two parts the former in these words take thou power to offer sacrifice and to celebrate masse for the quick and the dead which you account the principall function of Christian Priesthood but in truth it maketh you not the Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist the latter in these words receiue the holy ghost whose sins thou forgiuest they are forgiuen whose thou retainest they are retained in which Euangelicall words there is deliuered a ghostly ministeriall power to forgiue sinnes which according to the true meaning of Christ is performed by the ministery of reconciliation therefore whosoeuer hath receiued this power hath withall receiued the ministery of reconcilation consisting as was before declared in the due administration of the word and sacraments PHIL. If it be so then you must confesse that the Priesthood of the Church of Rome hath the ministeriall function because these words are vsed in our ordination ORTHOD. Though these words as they were spoken by Christ practised in the primitiue Church and are vsed at this day in the Church of England imply the substance of this holy function yet as you abuse them in the Church of Rome to maintaine Popish shrift the gold is couered with drosse and the sweet flower ouershadowed with noysome weeds Wherefore if we consider your Priesthood as it is a totum aggregatum consisting of sacrifising and absoluing it is vnlawfull and contrary to the Scripture If wee come to the parts thereof your massing and sacrifising is simply abominable the other part so farre as it relieth vpon the words of Christ taken in their true sense and meaning is holy and implieth a ministerial power which notwithstanding by your construction and practise is greatly depraued PHIL. I will proue our Priesthood to be lawfull by the practise of your owne Church which against you is as good as a thousand witnesses For when any of our Priests forsake the Catholike Church ioyne themselues with you you do not giue thē new orders but presently receiue thē into the bosome of your Church suffering them to execute the ministeriall function by vertue of those orders which they receiued in the Church of Rome ORTH. None can bee admitted with vs to execute the office of a minister before he subscribe to the articles of religion as may appeare by this act of Parliament That the Churches of the Queens Maiesties dominions may be serued with pastours of soūd religion be it enacted by the authority of this present Parliament that euery person vnder the degree of a Bishop which doth or shal pretend to be a Priest or Minister of Gods holy word and Sacraments by reason of any other forme of institution Consecration or ordering then the forme set foorth by Parliament in the time