ibid. pag. 400. A. I pray if you have read Foxes Book of Martyrs what is his Character there B. In Causes pertaining to God or his Prince no man more stout or more constant than he 3. vol. p. 633. A. Then let us hear the words of his Recantation set down by Fox which he signed thrice says Burnet B. I Thomas Cranmer late Archbishop of Canterbury do renounce abhor and detest all manner of Heresies and Errors of Luther and Zuinglius and all other Teachings which be contrary to sound and true Doctrine And I believe most constantly in my heart and with my mouth I confess one holy and Catholique Church visible withotu the which there is no Salvation And therefore I acknowledge the Bishop of Rome to be Supream Head on Earth whom I knowledge to be the highest Bishop and Pope and Christs Vicar unto whom all Christian people ought to be Subject And as concerning the Sacraments I believe and worship in the Sacrament of the Altar the very Body and Blood of Christ being contained most truly under the forms of Bread and Wine the Bread through the mighty Power of God being turned into the Body of our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Wine into his Blood. And in the other six Sacraments also like as in this I believe and hold as the Universal Church holdeth and the Church of Rome judgeth and determineth Furthermore I believe that there is a place of Purgatory where Souls departed be punished for a time for whom the Church doth godly and wholsomly pray like as it doth honour Saints and make prayers to them Finally in all things I profess that I do not otherwise believe than the Catholique Church and the Church of Rome holdeth and teacheth I am sorry that ever I held or thought otherwise And I beseech Almighty God that of his Mercy he will vouchsafe to forgive me whatsoever I have offended against God or his Church And also I desire and beseech all Christian people to pray for me And all such as have been deceived either by mine Example or Doctrine I require them by the Blood of Jesus Christ that they will return to the Unity of the Church and the Supream Head thereof So I submit my self unto the most excellent Majesties of Philip and Mary King and Queen of this Realm of England c. and to all other their Laws and Ordinances being ready always as a faithful Subject to obey them And God is my Witness that I have not done this for favour or fear of any Person but willingly and of mine own mind as well to the Discharge of mine own Conscience as to the Instruction of others A. Did he not afterwards retract these words B. Yes when he saw no hopes of his Pardon and being brought to the Stake he made a very good Exhortation to the people saying as Fox relates it It is an heavy case to see that so many Folk so much dote upon the Love of this false World and so careful for it it seems a Spanish Fryar had given him good hopes of his Life but without any Authority from the Queen as Fox confesses that for the Love of God or the World to come they seem to care very little or nothing therefore this shall be my first Exhortation that you set not your minds overmuch upon this glozing world but upon the world to come I wish he had seriously thought upon this when he so obsequiously followed all the Appetites of Henry 8. by divorcing him first from his most vertuous and innocent Wife Q Katherine then from Ann Bolen then from Ann of Cleves and to learn to know what this Lesson meaneth which Saint John teacheth that the Love of this world is enmity against God c. And now for as much as I am come to the last end of my life I shall therefore declare unto you my very Faith how I believe without any colour or dissimulation for now is no time to dissemble whatsoever I have said or written in times past mark that and now I come to the great thing that so much troubleth my Conscience more than any thing that ever I did or said in my life and that is the setting abroad of a Writing he means his Recantation contrary to the Truth which now here I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand contrary to the Truth which I thought in my heart c. And as for the Pope I refuse him as Antichrist c. Fox 3. vol. p. 669 670. A. What further instances have you met with in Fox of his Constancy to his Religion B. He did adventurously oppose himself against the whole Parliament disputing and replying three days together against the Statute of Six Articles pag. 641. that was in the year 1539. A. What was the true Reason of so much Courage at that time in a man of such Prudence that before and after still went along with the Stream B. Dr. Burnet will inform you The third Article of that Statute was this That Priests after the Order of Priesthood might not marry by the Law of God. And if any Priest did still keep any Woman whom he had married and lived familiarly with her as his Wife he was to be judged a Felon c. This says Burnet touched Cranmer to the quick for he was then married p. 257 259. 1. vol. A. Does Fox say nothing of Cranmers Marriage B. He tells you page 647. that the King extended such especial Favour unto him that being not ignorant of his Wife Neece to Osiander whom he had married at Norimberg and of his keeping her all the time of the Six Articles contrary to Law he both permitted the same and kept Cranmers Counsel A. What other particulars have you observed in Fox B. The Lord Cromwell was wont to say unto Cranmer My Lord of Canterbury you are most happy of all men for you may do and speak what you list and say what all men can against you the King will never believe one word to your detriment I am sure I take more pains than all the Council besides and spend more largely on the Kings Affairs as well beyond the Seas as on this side yea I assure you for very Spyes in foreign Realms at Rome and elsewhere it costs me above a Thousand Marks a year and do what I can to bring matters to light for the commodity of the King and the Realm I am every day chidden and many false Tales now and then believed against me and therefore you are most happy for in no point can you be discredited with the King. The Archbishop answered If the Kings Majesty were not good to me I were not able to stand one whole week p. 643. 3. vol. Fox tells you further how certain of the Council declared plainly to the King about that time that the Realm was so infected with Heresies Heretiques that it was dangerous for His Highness further to permit it lest peradventure by long
Head of the Church of England under Christ as well in all spiritual things or causes as temporal what better Answers in brief could be returned to the Questions of Dr. Martin Cranmer having sworn that the King was Supream Head of the Church of England under Christ as well in all spiritual things or causes as temporal A. But how did he interpret those words as well in all spiriritual things or causes as temporal B. Fox tells you p. 662. viz. After this Dr. Martyn demanded of him who was Supream Head of the Church of England Marry quoth my Lord of Canterbury Christ is Head of this Member as he is of the whole Body of the Universal Church Why quoth Dr. Martyn you made King Henry the 8th Supream Head of the Church Yea said the Archbishop of all the people of England as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal And not of the Church said Martyn No said he for Christ is only Head of his Church and of the Faith and Religion of the same the King is Head and Governour of his People which are the visible Church What quoth Martyn you never durst tell the King so Yes that I durst quoth he and did in the publication of his Stile wherein he was named Supream Head of the Church there was never other thing meant page 662. This is Foxes account of the Dialogue received as he says from a better hand A. Did he answer any thing further concerning the Perjury objected to him B. Fox tells you Others who were present at his Tryal do thus report the effect of Cranmers words viz. while he in this sort made his Answer ye heard before how Dr. Story and Martyn divers times interrupted him with blasphemous Talk and would sain have had the Bishop of Glocester to put him to silence who notwithstanding did not but suffered him to end his Tale at full After this ye heard also how they proceeded to examine him of divers Articles whereof the chief was that at the time of his creating Archbishop of Canterbury he was sworn to the Pope and had his Institution and Induction from him and promised then to maintain the Authority of that See and therefore was perjured wherefore he should rather stick to his first Oath and return to his old fold again than continue obstinately in an Oath forced in the time of Schism To that he answered says Fox saving his Protestation which term he used before all his Answers that at such time as Archbishop Warham dyed he was Ambassador in Germany for the King who thereupon sent for him home and having intelligence by some of his Friends near about the King how he meant to bestow the same Bishoprick upon him and therefore counselled him in that case to make haste home he feeling in himself a great inability to such a Promotion and very sorry to leave his Study and especially considering by what means he must have it which was clean against his Conscience which he could not utter without great peril and danger devised an Excuse to the King of matter of great importance for the which his longer abode there should be most necessary thinking by that means in his absence the King would bestow it upon some other and so remained there by that device one half year after the King had written for him to come but after that no such matter fell out as he seemed to make suspicion of the King sent for him again Who after his return understanding still the Archbishoprick to be reserved for him made means by divers of his best Friends to shift it off desiring rather some smaller Living that he might more quietly follow his Book To be brief when the King himself spake with him declaring that his full intention was for his Service sake note this and for the good opinion he conceived of him to bestow that Dignity upon him Fox proceeds After long disabling of himself perceiving he could by no perswasions alter the Kings determination he brake frankly his Conscience with him most humbly craving first his Graces Pardon for what he should declare unto his Highness Which obtained he said that if he accepted the Office he must receive it at the Popes hand which he neither would nor could do His Highness being the only Supream Governour of this Church of England as well in causes Ecclesiastical as Temporal this was a Chaplain after King Henry's own Heart And therefore if he might in that Vocation serve God the King and his Country seeing it was his pleasure so to have it he would accept that Dignity and receive it of his Majesty and of no Stranger who had no Authority within this Realm Whereat the King said he staying a while and musing asked me How I was able to prove that At which time I alledged many Texts out of Scripture and the Fathers also approving the Supream and highest Authority of Kings within their own Realms shewing withall the intolerable usurpation of the Pope of Rome Afterwards it pleased his Highness quoth the Archbishop many and sundry times to talk with me about it and perceiving that I could not be brought to acknowledge the Authority of the Bishop of Rome the King himself called Doctor Oliver and other Civil Lawyers to advise with them how he might bestow the Archbishoprick upon me inforcing me nothing against my Conscience who thereupon informed him that I might do it by the way of Protestation and so one to be sent to Rome who might take the Oath and do every thing in my name which when I understood I said he should do it super Animam suam And I indeed bona fide made by Protestation that I did not acknowledge his Authority any further then as it agreed with the express Word of God And that it might be lawful for me at all times to speak against him and to impugn his Errors when time and occasion should serve me And this my Protestation I did cause to be inrolled and there I think it remains This says Fox is the faithful Relation and Testimony of certain Persons that were present at his Tryal before the Bishop of Glocester See page 661 662. Reader Remember what Doctor Martyn observes page 60. Hearken good People to what this man saith he makes a Protestation one day to keep never a tittle of that which he intended to swear next day See the Tenour of his Oath to the Pope page 28. of this Catechism A. What did he answer to the particular of Incontinency or breach of his Sacerdotal Vow B. Dr. Martyn objected that being in holy Orders after the Death of his first Wife he married a second named Ann and kept her secretly in the days of King Henry 8. Whereunto he answered that it was better for him to have his own Wife than to do like other Priests holding and keeping other mens wives But the Question is whether other mens vices could be any excuse for him he seems to suppose here every man to be
comfort or discomfort This Remorse argues that he seared the danger of them whom he had seduced from the Faith of Christ Let this move you even at the last point as your Case is not unlike to Berengarius so let your Repentance be like his unless you will according to the hardness of your Heart treasure up wrath against the day of Wrath. Well what is it then perhaps shame to unsay what you have said may hinder your return But Saint Paul St. Cyprian and St. Austin thought it no shame to repent and agree with the Catholick Church You will say perhaps your Conscience will not suffer you But what Conscience is it that would separate you from all the rest of the Christian World to a liberty which hath no ground in the Holy Scriptures If you judge this liberty to be good then you judge all Christendom to do evil besides your self O what a presumptuous Opinion in this whereupon to forsake the Church of Christ what is your colour or pretence for this the Abuses of the Church as though in your Church there were no Abuses yea that there were And if you forsake the universal Church for Abuses why then do you not forsake your own Church and so be flitting from one to another if you had seen Abuses the way to reform them was not to make a defection from the Catholick Church He is not a good Chirurgion who for a little pain in the Toe would cut off the whole Legg Ye are like Diogenes who upon a time envying the Garments of Plato said Ecce calco fastum Platonis Plato answered Sed majore fastu But some peradventure have animated you to stick to your Tackle bearing you in hand that your Opinion is good and that yee shall dye in a good Quarrel and God will accept your Oblation But hear what Christ faith if thou come unto the Altar to offer thy Oblation and knowest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift and go and be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift This he said to all the World to the end they might understand upon what terms their Offerings should be accepted Remember therefore before you offer up your Offering what not one Brother but many Brothers even all the Church of Rome and Church of England have to say against you I say no more than what the Church hath allowed me to say The Sacrifice that is offered out of the Church is not profitable The Premises therefore considered for God's sake I say Memor esto unde excideris age paenitentiam prima opera fac Cast not your self away Spare your Soul Spare them also whom you have seduced and let not the Blood of Christ be shed for you in vain harden not your Heart submit to the received verity of all Christendom stand not too much in your own conceit think not your self wiser then all Christendom besides leave off your unjust Cavils and believe as the Catholick Church Believes and Teaches you perswade your self that extra ecclesiam non est salus And thus much have I said of Charity if this poor Exhortation of mine may sink into your head and take effect with you then have I said as I would have said otherwise not as I would but as I could for this present Fox page 650 651. The Bishop of Glocester having ended his Speech Doctor Martyn takes Cranmer in hand viz. These two Princes meaning Philip and Mary finding this noble Realm perverted from the unity of the Catholick Church and perceiving also that you do persist in your detestable Errors have made their humble Request unto the Popes Holiness Paulus IV. as Supream head of the Church under Christ declaring to him that whereas you Archbishop of Canterbury and Metropolitan of England at your Consecration took two solemn Oaths for your due Obedience to the See of Rome to become a true Pastor of the Flock yet contrary to your Oath and Allegiance instead of unity have sowed discord instead of Chastity Marriage and Adultery instead of Obedience Contention and instead of Faith ye have been the Author of all Mischief The Popes Holyness considering their Request and Petition hath granted to them that Process should issue against you And whereas in this late time yee have excluded both Charity and Justice yet hath his Holyness decreed that yee shall have both Charity and Justice shewed unto you Also the King and Queens Majesty have appointed us Doctor Story and Me their Attorneys Wherefore I here offer my self as Proctor in the Kings Majesties behalf I exhibite certain Articles containing manifest Adultery and Perjury Also Books of Heresie made partly by him partly set forth by his Authority and here I produce him as party principal to Answer to your good Lordship A. Before you go further I desire to understand upon what account they laid Treason to his Charge B. In his Tryal set down at large by Fox you shall find him Answering or rather evading all the other particulars of Heresie Incontinency Perjury but scarce a word of defence as to the matter of Treason A. What should be the reason of that B. You must know that Edward VI. dying in the year 1553. all his Privy Council the chief of the Nobility the Mayor and City of London these are Foxes words almost all the Judges and chief Lawyers of the Realm Justice Hales only excepted Cranmer and Ridly Bishop of London conspired to advance the Lady Jane Grey and exclude their lawful Sovereign the Princess Mary eldest Daughter to King Henry VIII Their grand pretence being that otherwise the Protestant Religion could not stand and having Proclaim'd Lady Jane the Lords of the Council writ a Letter to the Princess Mary dated July 9th 1553. a Copy whereof you may see in Fox 3 Vol. Cranmer Subscribing the first Man. The Letter begins thus Madam We have received your Letter the 9th of this instant declaring your supposed Title to the Imperial Crown of this Realm For Answer whereof this is to advertise you that forasmuch as our Sovereign Lady Queen Jane is after the Death of our Sovereign Lord Edward VI. a Prince of most noble Memory invested and possessed with the just and right Title in the Imperial Crown of this Realm you surcease by any pretence to vex and molest any of our Sovereign Lady Queen Jane her Subjects c. A. How does Burnet Apologize for this B. Nothing at all for this Letter which is too palpable and too unfortunate to admit of any colour He confesses the Archbishop of Canterbury was the first Man that Subscrib'd it A. But I have heard that he refused to set his hand King Edward being yet alive to certain Articles for Disinheriting the Daughters of Henry VIII after they were signed by all the Privy-Council all the Judges and chief Lawyers except Justice Hales B. Take the account of it thus fairly out of Burnet Dudly Duke of Northumberland
Light he cannot but know him He is like the Devil in his doings for the Devil said to Christ if thou wilt fall down and worship me I will give thee all the Kingdoms of the World even so the Bishop of Rome giveth Princes their Crowns being none of his own Christ saith that Antichrist shall be and who shall he be Forsooth he that advanceth himself above all other Creatures Now if there be none other that hath advanced himself after such manner besides the Pope he forgot Mahomet then in the mean time let him be Antichrist I say the Bishop of Rome treadeth under Foot God's Laws and the Kings c. Fox 3 Vol. page 653 and 661. A. This was strange stuff coming from the Metropolitan of a Nation B. But Fox admires it and adds this marginal Note the Pope proved Antichrist NOTE Cranmer little thought that in less then one Century after his Death his Protestant Successors in the See of Canterbury should be turn'd out of doors as the Limbs and Feet of that great Antichrist the Pope and that by vertue of his own dear Principle of Reformation the Scripture interpreted according to every Man's Judgment of Discretion I have seen a Book entituled The Souldiers Catechism composed for the Parliaments Army published in the year 1644 where this among other Questions being put What is it that you chiefly aim at in this War against the King The Answer is 1. At the pulling down of Babylon and rewarding her as she hath served us Psal 137.8 2. At the suppression of an Antichristian Prelacy consisting of Archbishops Bishops Deans c. 3. At the Reformation of a most corrupt lazy infamous superstitious soul-murdering Clergy 4. At the advancement of Christ's Kingdom and the purity of his Ordinances 5. At the bringing to Justice the Enemies of our Church and State. 6. At the preservation and continuance of the Gospel to our Posterity And to this Question Is it not a lamentable thing that Christians of the same Nation should thus imbrue their Hands in one anothers Blood The Answer is I confess it is but as the case now stands there is an inevitable and absolute necessity of fighting laid upon the good People of the Land. 2. The whole Church of God calls upon us to come into the help of the Lord and his People against the Mighty 3. We are not now to look at our enemies as Country Men or Kinsmen or fellow Protestants but as the Enemies of God and our Religion and Siders with Antichrist and so our eye is not to pity them nor our Sword to spare them Jerem. 48.10 And to this Question who do you think are the Authors and Occasioners of this unnatural War The Answer is the Jesuites those Fire-brands of mischief with all the Popish Party 2. The Bishops and the rotten Clergy with all the Prelatical Party c. This Book was printed in the year 1644. and licensed by James Cranford a Presbyterian Ringleader of those times In the Title page whereof you shall find these words viz. Written for the Instruction and Encouragement of all that have taken up Arms in the Cause of God and his People c. In which Book the Reader shall find them driving the Nail to the Head and expounding the Scripture against the Protestant Hierarchy just as Cranmer had done against the Pope and Church of Rome For you must know the time when Cranmer answered thus invectively against the Pope was the year 1556. the Parliament the National Church and Clergy of England being then actually reconciled to the Church of Rome as you may find both in Burnet and Fox so that his Authority for saying the Pope had brought in Gods of his own framing was then the very same with that of the Presbyterians anno 1644. for calling the English Bishops Antichrists namely the Scripture inter preted by himself A. It seems Cranmer was then a Schismatique as well from the established Church of England as Rome namely in the year 1556. B. Yes for Catholique Religion was then restored by Act of Parliament with all the Catholique Bishops who had been ejected by the Privy Council of Edward 6. So that I think it no easie matter to resolve you of what Church was Cranmer at that time a Lutheran he was not not yet a Calvinist nor of the Church of England then established by Law. A. His Church was then in Vtopia Go on to the rest of his Story B. Thus you shall find him answering to the Charge of Dr. Martyn viz. I will never consent to the Bishop of Rome so he would never consent to the Disinheriting of King Henrys Children for then should I give my self to the Devil I have made an Oath to the King and must obey the King by Gods Laws By the Scripture the King is Chief and no Foreign person in his own Realm above him There is no Subject but to a King. I am a Subject I ow my Fidelity to the Crown to the Lady Jane Grey the Pope is contrary the Crown I cannot obey both for no man can serve two Masters at once as you in the beginning of your Oration declared by the Sword and the Keys artributing the Sword to the King and the Keys to the Pope but I say the King hath both Therefore he that is subject to Rome and the Laws of Rome he is perjured c. Fox pag. 653. NOTE In his Opinion the King has both the Power of the Sword and of the Keys This must needs be a man after King Henrys own heart but if this Doctrine be true then Queen Mary had the Power of the Keys and our present Sovereign King James II. must have the same Power also He proceeds Now as concerning the Sacrament I have taught no false Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Altar For if it can be proved by any Doctor above a thousand years after Christ that Christs Body is there really I will give over My Book was made seven years ago and no man hath brought any Authors against it I believe that who so eateth and drinketh that Sacrament Christ is within them whole Christ his Nativity Passion Resurrection and Ascension but not that corporally that sitteth in Heaven Fox ibid. Here Dr. Story another of the Queens Proctors interrupted him saying Pleaseth it you to make an end To which he replyed Now I have declared why I cannot with my Conscience obey the Pope neither say I this for my Defence but to declare my Conscience for the Zeal that I bear to Gods Word trodden under foot by the Bishop of Rome See the rest in Fox pag. 654. Then Doctor Story stood up and said addressing himself to the Bishop of Glocester Pleaseth it your good Lordship because it hath pleased the King and Queens Majesty to appoint my Companion and me to hear the Examination of this man to give me leave somewhat to talk in that behalf although I know that in talk with Hereticks there
Pseudo-Apostoli false Apostles But how shall we know them Christ teaches us saying ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos by their fruits ye shall know them Why what be their fruits St. Paul declareth Post carnem in concupiscentia immunditie ambulant Potestates contemnunt c. they walk after the flesh in concupiscence and uncleanness they contemn Dominions Again in diebus novissimis erunt periculosa tempora erunt seipsos amantes cupidi elati immorigeri Parentibus Proditores c. in the later days there shall be perilous times men lovers of themselves covetous proud disobedient to Parents Treason-workers c. Whether these be not the Fruits of your Gospel I refer me unto this worshipful Audience whether the said Gospel began not with Perjury proceeded with Adultery was maintained with Heresie and ended in Conspiracy Now Sir two points more I marked in your raging discourse that you made here the one against the holy Sacrament the other against the Popes Jurisdiction and Authority of the See Apostolique Touching the first you say you have Gods Word yea and all the Doctors I would here ask but one Question of you whether Gods Word be contrary to it self and whether the Doctors teach Doctrine contrary to themselves for you Master Cranmer have taught concerning this high Sacrament of the Altar three contrary Doctrines and for every one ye pretended Verbum Domini Cranmer Nay I taught but two contrary Doctrines in the same Martyn What Doctrine taught you when you condemned Lambert the Sacramentary in the Kings presence at Whitehall Cranm. I maintained then the Papists Doctrine Martyn That is to say the Catholique and Universal Doctrine of Christs Church And how when K. Henry died did you not translate Justus Jonas's Book Cranm. I did so Martyn There you defended another Doctrine touching the Sacrament by the same token that you sent to Lynne your Printer that whereas in the first Print there was an Affirmative that is to say Christs Body really in the Sacrament you sent then to your Printer to put in a not wherby it came miraculously to pass that Christs Body was clean conveyed out of the Sacrament Cranm. I remember there were two Printers of my said Book but whether the same not was put in I cannot tell Martyn Then from a Lutheran ye became a Zwinglian which is the vilest Heresie of all concerning the high Mystery of the Sacrament and for the same Heresie you did help to burn Lambert the Sacramentary which you now call the Catholique Faith and Gods Word Cranm. I grant that then I believed otherwise than I do now and so I did until my Lord of London Dr. Ridley did confer with me and by sundry Persuasions and Authorities of Doctors drew me quite from my Opinion Martyn Now Sir as touching the last part of your Oration you denied the Popes Holiness was Supream Head of the Church of Christ Cranm. I did so Mart. Who say you then is Supream Head Cranm. Christ Mart. But whom hath Christ left here on Earth his Vicar and Head of his Church Cranm. No body Mart. Ah why told you not King Henry this when you made him Supream Head and now no body is This is Treason against his own Person as you then made him Cranm. I mean not but that every King in his own Realm and Dominion is Supream Head and so was he Supream Head of the Church of Christ Reader Observe here how he makes the Catholique Church an Hydra of many Heads instead of that one holy Society which he pretended to believe in the two Creeds Martyn Is this always true and was it ever so in Christ's Church Cranm. It was so Martyn Then what say you to Nero was he Head of Christs Church Cranm. Nero was Peters Head. Martyn I ask whether Nero was Head of the Church or no If he were not it is false that you said before that all Princes be and ever were Heads of the Church within their Realms Cranm. Nay it is true for Nero was Head of the Church that is in respect of the temporal Bodies of Men of whom the Church consisteth for so he beheaded Peter and the Apostles And the Turk too is Head of the Church in Turky Martyn Then he that beheaded the Heads of the Church and crucified the Apostles was Head of Christs Church and he that was never Member of the Church is Head of the Church by your new-found understanding of Gods Word Fox pag. 655 656 3. vol. NOTE If the Turk be Head of the Church under Christ he must be so in all Spiritual things or causes as well as temporal according to the Oath of Supremacy contrived by Cromwell and Cranmer and at this day sworn by Protestants A. What is Foxes opinion of this Dialogue B. It is not to be supposed otherwise but much other matter passed in this Communication between them especially on the Archbishops behalf whose Answers I do not think to be so slender nor altogether in the same form of words framed if the truth as it was might be known But so it pleased the Notary thereof being too partially addicted to his Mother See of Rome in favour of his Faction to diminish and drive down the other side either in not shewing all or in reporting the thing otherwise than it was as the common Guise is of most Writers and of Fox himself to what side their Affection most weigheth their Oration commonly inclineth Fox p. 657. 3. vol. A. It seems then Fox likes not these Answers given by Cranmer and therefore suspects the Pen-man or Notary of partiality in reporting the same B. But I believe it a true Report for two reasons first the cause would admit of no satisfactory answers 2. Let the Reader see the Contents of Cranmers Appeal set down by Fox and there observe these words viz. And when I refused the Bp. of Glocester to be my Judge for most just causes which I then declared he nevertheless went on still and made Process against me contrary to the Rules of Appealing which say A Judge that is refused ought not to proceed in the cause c. And with this my Protestation made and admitted I made answer but mine Answer was sudden and unprovided note this and therefore I desired to have a Copy of mine Answers that I might put to take away change and amend them and this was also permitted me nevertheless contrary to his promise made unto me no respect had to my Protestation nor license given to amend mine Answer the said reverend Father Bishop of Glocester as I hear commanded mine Answers to be enacted contrary to the equity of the Law in which thing again I feel my self much grieved Fox p 664. NOTE Here he excuses the weakness of his own Answers by saying they were sudden and unprovided But let the Reader imagine what better Answers in brief could be returned to the Questions of Dr. Martin Cranmer having sworn that the King was Supream
thereof then the matter were not so great but in this we do forsake the first four General Councils which none ever forsook We renounce all Canonical and Ecclesiastical Laws of the Church of Christ we renounce all other Christian Princes we renounce the Unity of the Christian World I suppose he means by inventing to our Selves a Church of England divided from all the rest of the Christian World and so by leaping out of Peters Ship to be drowned in the unstable Waters of Heresie Sects Schisms and Confusions For the first General Council of Nice acknowledged Sylvester the Bishop of Rome his Authority to be over them by sending their Decrees to be ratifyed by him The Council of Constantinople did acknowledge Pope Damasus to be their Chief by admitting him to give Sentence against the Hereticks Macedonius Sabellius and Eunomius The Council of Ephesus acknowledged Pope Celestine to be their chief Judge by admitting his Condemnation upon the Heretick Nestorius The Council of Calcedon acknowledged Pope Leo to be their chief Head and all General Councils of the World ever acknowledged the Pope of Rome only to be Supream Head of the Church under Christ And now shall we set up another Head or one Head in England and another in Rome 3. We deny all Ecclesiastical Laws which do wholly depend upon the Authority of the Apostolick See of Rome 4 We renounce the Judgment of all other Christian Princes whether they be Protestants or Catholicks Nay by this argument Nero and Herod must have been Heads of the Church of Christ The Emperour must be Head of the Protestant Church in Germany And the Church of Christ must have never a Head at all till about three hundred years after Christ Fifthly The Kings Majesty is not susceptible of this Donation Ozias for medling with the Priests Office was resisted by Azarias thrust out of the Temple and told that it belongs not to his Office. Now if the Priest spake truth in this then is not the King to meddle in this business if he spake amiss why did God plague the King with Leprosie for this and not the Priest King David when the Ark of God was bringing home did he place himself in the head of the Priests Order did he so much as touch the Ark or execute any the least Office properly belonging to the Priestly Function or did he not rather go before and abase himself amongst the people and say that he would become yet more vile so that God might be glorified All good Christian Emperors have evermore refused Ecclesiastical Authority for at the first General Council of Nice certain Bills were privily brought unto Constantine to be ordered by his Authority but he caused them to be burnt saying Dominus vos constituit c. God hath ordained you Priests and hath given you Power to be Judges over us and therefore by right in these things we are to be judged by you but you are not to be judged by me Valentine the Good Emperor was desired by the Bishops to be present with them to reform the Heresie of the Arrians but he answered Forasmuch as I am one of the Members of the Lay people it is not lawful for me to define such Controversies but let the Priests to whom God hath given the charge thereof assemble where they will in due Order Theodosius writing to the Council of Ephesus saith It is not lawful for him that is not of the holy Order of Bishops to intermeddle with Ecclesiastical matters And now shall we cause our King to be Head of the Church which all good Kings have abhorred the very least thought of and so many wicked Kings have been plagued for so doing Truly my Lords I think they are his best Friends that disswade him from it and he would be the worst enemy to himself if he should obtain it Lastly If this thing be farewel all Unity with Christendom for as that holy and blessed Martyr St. Cyprian saith all Unity depends upon that holy See as upon the Authority of St. Peters Successors for saith the fame holy Father all Heresies Sects Schisms have no other Rise but this that men will not be obedient to the chief Bishop and now for us to shake off our Communion with that Church either we must grant the Church of Rome to be the Church of God or else a Malignant Church If you answer she is a Church of God and a Church where Christ is truly taught his Sacraments rightly administred c. how can we forsake how can we fly from such a Church certainly we ought to be with and not to separate our selves from such a one If we answer The Church of Rome is not of God but a Malignant Church then it will follow that we the Inhabitants of this Land have not as yet received the true Faith of Christ seeing we have not received any other Gospel any other Doctrine any other Sacraments than what we have received from her as most evidently appears by all the Ecclesiastical Histories wherefore if she be a Malignant Church we have been deceived all this while and if to renounce the common Father of Christendom all the General Councils especially the first Four which none renounce all the Countreys of Christendom whether they be Catholique Countreys or Protestant be to forsake the Unity of the Christian World then is the granting of the Supremacy of the Church unto the King a renouncing of this Unity a tearing of the Seamless Coat of Christ in sunder a dividing of the Mystical Body of Christ his Spouse limb from limb and tayl to tayl like Sampsons Foxes to set the Field of Christs holy Church all on fire and this is it which we are about wherefore let it be said unto you in time and not too late Look you to that The End of the First Dialogue containing the History of the First Reformers and Anti-Reformers The Second treats of the Reformation it self and the natural Fruits thereof Jealousy and Distraction amongst the People Decay of Sincerity c. Now Reader wer't thou to choose thy Religion consider which of these two Guides thou wouldst follow Cranmer or the Bishop of Rochester the former having no Mission from Heaven nor major Vote of the Convocation to authorise his Reformation nor yet any great mind to dye a Martyr for the same the later frankly exposing his Life to Stemm that Inundation of Sacriledge Schism and Confusion that was breaking in anno 1535. FINIS