Gillebertus and Malachias and Christianus who were the Popes Legates here about 500. yeares agoe This Gillebertus an old acquaintance of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury in the Prologue of his booke De usu ecclesiastico directed to the whole Clergie of Ireland writeth in this maner At the request yea and at the command of manie of you dearely beloved I indevoured to set downe in writing the canonical custome in saying of Houres and performing the Office of the whole Ecclesiasticall Order not presumptuously but in desire to serve your most godly command to the end that those diverse and schismaticall Orders wherewith in a maner all Ireland is deluded may give place to one Catholick and Romane Office For vvhat may bee said to be more undecent or schismaticall then that the most learned in one order should be made as a private and lay man in another mans Church These beginnings were presently seconded by Malachias in whose life written by Bernard wee reade as followeth The Apostolicall constitutions and the decrees of the holy Fathers but especially the customes of the holy Church of Rome did he establish in all Churches And hence it is that at this day the canonicall Houres are chanted and song therein according to the maner of the whole earth whereas before that this was not done no not in the citie it selfe the poore citie of Ardmagh he meaneth But Malachias had learned song in his youth and shortly after caused singing to be used in his owne Monasterie when as yet aswell in the citie as in the whole Bishoprick they eyther knew not or would not sing Lastly the work was brought to perfection when Christianus Bishop of Lismore as Legate to the Pope was President in the Councell of Casshell wherein a speciall order was taken for the right singing of the Ecclesiasticall Office and a generall act established that all divine offices of holy Church should from thenceforth be handled in all parts of Ireland according as the Church of England did observe them The statutes of which Councell were confirmed by the Regall authority of King Henry the second by whose mandate the Bishops that met therein were assembled in the yeare of our Lord 1172. as Giraldus Cambrensis witnesseth in his historie of the Conquest of Ireland And thus late was it before the Romane use was fully settled in this kingdome The publick Liturgie or service of the Church was of old named the Masse even then also when prayers only were said without the celebration of the holy Communion So the last Masse that S. Colme was ever present at is noted by Adamnanus to have beene vespertinalis Dominicae noctis Missa He dyed the midnight following whence the Lords day tooke his beginning 9º viz. Iunij anno Dom. 597. according to the account of the Romanes which the Scottish and Irish seeme to have begunne from the evening going before and then was that evening Masse said which in all likelyhood differed not from those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Leo the Emperour in his Tacticks that is to say from that which wee call Even-song or Evening prayer But the name of the Masse was in those dayes more specially applied to the administration of the Lords Supper and therefore in the same Adamnanus we see that Sacra Eucharistiae ministeria and Missarum solemnia the sacred ministerie of the Eucharist and the solemnities of the Masse are taken for the same thing So likewise in the relation of the passages that concerne the obsequies of Columbanus performed by Gallus and Magnoaldus we finde that Missam celebrare and Missas agere is made to be the same with Divina celebrare mysteria and Salutis hostiam or salutare sacrificium immolare the saying of Masse the same with the celebration of the divine mysteries and the oblation of the healthfull sacrifice for by that terme was the administration of the sacrament of the Lords Supper at that time usually designed For as in our beneficence and communicating unto the necessities of the poore which are sacrifices wherewith God is well pleased we are taught to give both our selves and our almes first unto the Lord and after unto our brethren by the will of God so is it in this ministerie of the blessed Sacrament the service is first presented unto God from which as from a most principall part of the dutie the sacrament it selfe is called the Eucharist because therein we offer a speciall sacrifice of praise thankesgiving alwayes unto God and then communicated unto the use of Gods people in the performance of which part of the service both the minister was said to give and the communicant to receive the sacrifice as well as in respect of the former part they were said to offer the same unto the Lord. For they did not distinguish the Sacrifice from the Sacrament as the Romanists doe now adayes but used the name of Sacrifice indifferently both of that which was offered unto God and of that which was given to and received by the communicant Therefore we read of offering the sacrifice to God as in that speech of Gallus to his scholler Magnoaldus My master Columbanus is accustomed to offer unto the Lord the sacrifice of salvation in brasen vessels Of giving the sacrifice to man as when it is said in one of the ancient Synods of Ireland that a Bishop by his Testament may bequeath a certain proportiō of his goods for a legacie to the Priest that giveth him the sacrifice and of receiving the sacrifice from the hands of the minister as in that sentence of the Synod attributed unto S. Patrick He who deserveth not to receive the sacrifice in his life how can it helpe him after his death and in that glosse of Sedulius upon 1 Cor. 11.33 Tarry one for another that is saith he untill you doe receive the sacrifice Whereby it doth appeare that the sacrifice of the elder times was not like unto the new Masse of the Romanists wherein the Priest doth eate and drinke alone the people being only lookers on but unto our Communion where all that are present at the holy action do eate of the Altar as well as they that serve the Altar Againe they that are communicants in the Romish sacrament receive the Eucharist in one kinde onely the Priest in offering of the sacrifice receiveth the same distinctly both by way of meate and by way of drinke which they tell us is chiefely done for the integritie of the Sacrifice and not of the Sacrament For in the Sacrifice they say the severall elements be consecrated not into Christs whole person as it was borne of the Virgin or now is in heaven but the bread into his body apart as betrayed broken and given for us the wine into his blood apart as shed out of his body for remission of sinnes and dedication of the new Testament which
letters doe testifie unto this day For all Ilands of ancient right are said to belong to the Church of Româ— by the donation of Constantine who founded and endowed the same But will you see what a goodly title here is in the meane time First the Donation of Constantine hath beene long since discovered to be a notorious forgerie and is rejected by all men of judgement as a senselesse fiction Secondly in the whole context of this forged Donation I finde mention made of Ilands in one place onely where no more power is given to the Church of Rome over them then in generall over the whole Continent by East and by West by North and by South and in particular over Iudaea Graecia Asia Thracia and Aphrica which use not to passe in the account of S. Peters temporall patrimonie Thirdly it doth not appeare that Constantine himselfe had anie interest in the kingdome of Ireland how then could he conferre it upon another Some words there be in an oration of Eumenius the Rhetorician by which peradventure it may be collected that his father Constantius bare some stroke here but that the Iland was ever possessed by the Romanes or accounted a parcell of the Empire cannot be proved by any sufficient testimonie of antiquitie Fourthly the late writers that are of another minde as Pomponius Laetus Cuspinian others do yet affirme withall that in the division of the Empire after Constantines death Ireland was assigned unto Constantinus the eldest sonne which will hardly stand with this donation of the Ilands supposed to be formerly made unto the Bishop of Rome and his successors Pope Adrian therefore and Iohn of Salisbury his soâ—licitor had need seeke some better warrant for the title of Ireland then the Donation of Constantine Iohn Harding in his Chronicle saith that the Kings of England have right To Ireland also by king Henry le fitz Of Maude doughter of first King Henry That conquered it for their great heresie which in another place he expresseth more at large in this maner The King Henry then conquered all Ireland By Papall dome there of his royaltee The profytes and revenues of the land The domination and the soverayntee For errour which agayn the spiritualtee They held full long and would not been correct Of heresyes with which they were infect Philip Osullevan on the other side doth not only denie that Ireland was infected with any heresie but would also have us beleeve that the Pope never intended to conferre the Lordship of Ireland upon the Kings of England For where it is said in Pope Adrians Bull Let the people of that land receive thee and reverence thee as a Lord the meaning therof is saith this Glozer Let them reverence thee as a Prince worthy of great honour not as Lord of Ireland but as a Deputie appointed for the collecting of the Ecclesiasticall tribute It is true indeed that King Henry the second to the end hee might the more easily obtaine the Popes good will for his entring upon Ireland did voluntarily offer unto him the payment of a yearely pension of one penny out of every house in the countrey which for ought that I can learne was the first Ecclesiasticall tribute that ever came unto the Popes coffers out of Ireland But that King Henry got nothing else by the bargaine but the bare office of collecting the Popes Smoke-silver for so wee called it here when wee payed it is so dull a conceit that I do somewhat wonder how Osullevan himselfe could be such a blockhead as not to discerne the senselesnesse of it What the King sought for and obtained is sufficiently declared by them that writt the historie of his raigne In the yeare of our Lord MCLV. the first Bull was sent unto him by Pope Adrian the summe wherof is thus laid downe in a second Bull directed unto him by Alexander the third the immediat successor of the other Following the stepps of reverend Pope Adrian and attending the fruite of your desire we ratifie and confirme his grant concerning the dominion of the KINGDOME of Ireland conferred upon you reserving unto S. Peter and the holy Church of Rome as in England so in Ireland the yearly pension of one penny out of every house In this sort did Pope Adrian as much as lay in him give Ireland unto King Henry haereditario jure possidendam to be possessed by right of inheritance and withall sent unto him a ring of gold set with a faire Emerauld for his investiture in the right thereof as Iohannes Sarisburiensis who was the principall agent betwixt them both in this businesse doth expressely testifie After this in the yeare MCLXXI the King himselfe came hither in person where the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland received him for their KING and Lord. The King saith Iohn Brampton received letters from every Archbishop and Bishop with their seales hanging upon them in the maner of an Indenture confirming the KINGDOME of Ireland unto him and his heyres and bearing witnesse that they in Ireland had ordayned him and his heyres to be their KINGS and Lords for ever At Waterford saith Roger Hoveden all the Archbishops Bishops Abbots of Ireland came unto the King of England and received him for KING and Lord of Ireland swearing fealtie to him and to his heyres and power to raigne over them for ever and hereof they gave him their Instruments The Kings also and Princes of Ireland by the example of the clergie did in like maner receive Henry King of England for Lord and KING of Ireland and became his men or did him homage and swore fealtie to him and his heyres against all men These things were presently after confirmed in the Nationall Synod held at Casshell the Actes whereof in Giraldus Cambrensis are thus concluded For it is fit and most meet that as Ireland by Gods appointment hath gotten a Lord and a KING from England so also they should from thence receive a better forme of living King Henry also at the same time sent a transcript of the Instruments of all the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland unto Pope Alexander who by his Apostolicall authoritie for so was it in those dayes of darkenesse esteemed to be did confirme the KINGDOME of Ireland unto him and his heyres according to the forme of the Instruments of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland and made them KINGS thereof for ever The King also obtained further from Pope Alexander that it might be lawfull for him to make which of his sonnes he pleased KING of Ireland and to crowne him accordingly and to subdue the Kings and great ones of that land vvhich would not subject themselves unto him Whereupon in a graund Councell held at Oxford in the yeare of our Lord MCLXXVII before the Bishops and Peeres of the kingdome he constituted his sonne Iohn KING of Ireland according to
and to declare the Supremacie of the Emperor then this that the Emperor in ancient time exiled banished imprisoned and otherwise also by his Authoritie punished even some of the Bishops of Rome themselves as well as other Bishops and when the Emperor said moreover thus that If anie did grow tumultuous or unruly Illius statim audacia Ministri Dei hoc est mea executione coercebitur his boldnesse shall forthwith be repressed by the sword or execution of Gods Minister that is of my selfe For as S. Paul saith the Emperor King or Prince or anie of those higher powers that beare the civill sword is Gods Minister and a revenger unto VVrath to him that doth evill whosoever he be Yea such was the demeanour and loyaltie which even Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome performed to the Emperor that when the Emperor had commanded a law to be published which Gregory himselfe misliked yet neverthelesse he obeyed the Emperors commandement as a good subiect unto him Ego quidem iussioni tuae subiectus eandem legem per diversas Terrarum partes transmitti feci I being subiect to your command saith hee have caused the same law to bee transmitted through diverse parts of the earth By which one example of Gregory if there were no more spoken you may perceive that for the space of manie hundred yeares after Christ even unto his time and in his time the Bishops of Rome themselves were subiect to the Emperors and at their commands Which doth yet further appeare by this thaâ— even Kings of Rome did also sometimes send the Bishops of Rome as their Embassadors as for example King Theodorick sent Iohn Bishop of Rome Embassador to the Emperor Iustinian And King Theodatus about the yeare 537 sent Pope Agapetus as his Embassador likewise to the Emperor about a Treatie of peace But yet together with the Supremacie of Emperors let me shew unto you more fully their Authoritie in Ecclesiasticall things or causes for of their Authoritie in civill or temporall causes there is no question made 8 When the Donatists therefore alledged that Emperors were to meddle onely with civill causes and not with Ecclesiasticall or concerning Gods Religion Optatus held this to be a point of madnesse in Donatus and those his followers Ille solito furore accensus in haec verba prorupit Quid Imperatori cum Ecclesia Donatus inflamed with his accustomed furie or Madnesse saith he brake forth into these words What hath the Emperor to doe with the Church Where you see he calleth it expressely a Madnesse to hold that opinion And this S. Augustine likewise censureth and condemneth accounting it an absurd thing for anie to say thus unto kings Take yee no care in your kingdomes vvho oppugneth the Church and vvho defendeth it vvho is religious and vvho sacrilegious c. For if the King be to regard and punish by civill punishment the offences done against the second Table as disobedience to parents murder theft trespasses wrongs and iniuries done by one man against another is hee not much more to regard and punish by civill punishment the greater offences namely those that be done immediately against God being breaches of the first Table as Atheisme Idolatry false vvorship vvrong relâ—gion heresie schisme blasphemy breach of the Sabbath and such like For is there anie comparison or proportion betweene Man and God But to declare this matter yet further by some particulars The Christian Emperors in ancient time made lawes for God and his Religion and caused them to be executed and so dealt in matters Ecclesiasticall as well as civill as beside that which is before spoken is further evident even by the Titles of the Civil law it selfe viz. De summa Trinitate fide Catholica De sacrosanctis Ecclesijs De Episcopis Clericis De Haereticis c. They likewise made Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes For when Caecilianus Bishop of Carthage was accused by Donatus and some other of that faction Constantine the Emperor commanded Caecilianus to come to Rome with a certaine number of Bishops that accused him And by his Commission extant in Eusebius authorised and appointed Miltiades the then Bishop of Rome and some others with him for the hearing and ending of that matter These Commissioners condemned Donatus who appealed from their sentence to the Emperor himselfe which Appeale also the Emperor at last received Where beside that you see that this Christian Emperor made Commissioners in this Episcopall and Ecclesiasticall cause observe withall that Miltiades the then Bishop of Rome was one of those Commissioners and therewithall you may note that the Bishops of Rome were then verie cleerely subiect and not superior to the Emperor So that a Christian King or Prince not only may make Commissioners in Ecclesiasticall causes but may also have Appeales made unto him as is here apparant Yea even S. Paul himselfe Appealed not unto Peter which no doubt hee would have done if Peter had then had the Supremacie but unto Caesar. The Councell also of Affrick would allow of no Appeales to the Pope of Rome or beyond the Sea but made a Decree directly against it appointing Presbyters Deacons or other inferior Clerkes if they were grieved with the sentence of their owne Bishop to resort to the next Bishops Quod si abâ—ijs provocandum putaverint non provocent nisi ad Affricana Concilia vel ad Primates Provinciarum suarum Ad Transmarina autem qui putaverit appellandum à nullo intra Affricam in Communionem suscipiatur And if they shall think fit to Appeale from them let them not appeale but to Councels within Affrick or to the Primates of their owne Provinces But he that shall thinke it fit to appeale beyond the Sea let him be admitted to the Communion by none within Affrick This Canon which was thus established in the Affrican Councell purposely for the defeating and disanulling of the ambitious courses and claimes of the Bishops of Rome is againe repeated and confirmed in the Milevitane Councell In the time likewise of King VVilliam Rufus Anselmus the Archbishop of Canterbury would have appealed to Rome But not onely the King but the Bishops of England also were therein against him And afterwards in the dayes of Henry the second King of England this Law was made Si quis inventus fuerit c. If anie shall be found bringing letters or a mandate from the Pope c. Let him be apprehended and let Iustice be done upon him vvithout delay as upon a Traytor to the Law and kingdome Againe it is there said Generaliter interdictum est ne quis appellet ad Dominum Papam That it was generally given in charge that none should Appeale to the Pope Moreover the Christian Emperors in ancient time had the authoritie of summoning and calling Councels as for example the first generall Councel of Nice was assembled by Constantine
some have done that the King is therein called Supreme head of the Church they are deceived The words of the Oath at this day to take away all offence that any might conceive in that point being not supreme HEAD but supreme GOVERNOR And as touching this Title of Governor within his owne Dominions none can with anie reason gainesay it inasmuch as beside that which is before spoken King Alfred reigning long sithence was likewise called Omnium Britanniae Insulae Christianorum Rector The Governor of all the Christians vvithin the Isle of Britanny The Councell also held at Mentz in Germanie the yeare 814 in the time of the Emperor Charles the great and Pope Leo the third calleth likewise the Christian Emperor Carolus Augustus Governor of the True Religion and Defendor of the holy Church of God c. And a little after they say thus VVee give thankes to God the Father almighty because he hath granted unto his holy Church a Governor so godly c. In the yeare 847. there was also held another Councel at Mentz in the time of Leo the fourth and Lotharius the Emperor where they againe call the Emperor Verae Religionis strenuissimum rectorem a most puissant Governor of the true Religion The like was ascribed to King Reccesumthius in a Councell held at Emerita in Portugale about the yeare 705 in these words VVhose vigilancie doth governe both secular things vvith very great piety and ecclesiasticall by his vvisedome plentifully given him of God Where you see it expressely acknowledged that the King is a Governor both in causes secular and ecclesiasticall And this Councell of Emerita had also good allowance of Pope Innocent the third in his Epistle to Peter Archbishop of Compostella as Garsias witnesseth So that the Title of Governor even as touching matters ecclesiasticall as well as civill or secular attributed to the King he governing in them after a Regall manner and not in that Ecclesiasticall manner which Bishops and Clergie men use can no way justly be misliked but must in all reason be well approved and allowed Howbeit I grant that King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt had that Title of Head in their times given unto them but not of the universal Church upon earth as the Pope hath but of the Church onely within their owne Dominions and not within their owne Dominions neither in such sort and sense as the Pope taketh upon him to be Head over all the Churches in the world that is to rule and governe them at his own pleasure and as he lift himselfe Indeed Stephen Gardner Bishop of Winchester when he was in Germanie upon the Kings affaires was there a very ill Interpretor of that Title Supreme head of the Church vvithin his owne Dominions given to King Henry the eight reporting that the King might thereby prescribe and appoint new ordinances in the Church concerning faith and doctrine as namely forbid the marriage of Priests and take away the use of the Cup in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and in things concerning Religion might do what he listed This manner of declaring the Kings power and authoritie under that Title did so much offend the reformed Churches that Calvin and the writers of the Centuries did complaine of it and that iustly and worthily bearing that sense but in no other sort or sense did they dislike it Yea even that Title of Supreme head being rightly understood needed not to have offended anie for they had iâ— in no other sort or sense then the King of Israel likewise had the title of Head of the Tribes of Israel of which Tribes the Leviticall Tribe was one Or then Theodosius that Christian Emperor had the like within his Empire of whom Saint Chrysostome saith that non habet parem super terram He hath no peere or equall upon earth and affirmeth moreover of him that hee was summitas Caput omnium super terram hominum the Head and one that had the Supremacy over all men upon earth Yea by the Title of supreme Head attributed to King Henry the eight and King Edward the sixt was no more meant but the verie same that was afterward meant to the late Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie or to King Iames our now Soveraigne Lord under the title of Supreme Governor for that they are both to be taken intended in one the selfe same sense is verie manifest even by a direct clause in an Act of Parliament viz. the Statute of 5. Eliz. cap. 1. in which also is declared how the Oath of Supremacie is to be expounded And the words of that Statute be these Provided also that the Oath viz of Supremacie expressed in the said Act made in the said first yeare of her raigne shall be taken and expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queenes Maiesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Maiesties raigne that is to say to confesse and acknowledge in her Maiestie her heyres and successors none other authoritie then that vvhich vvas challenged and lately used by the noble king Henry the eight and king Edward the sixt as in the said Admonition more plainly may appeare Where first you may observe the Authoritie attributed to King Henry the eight and to King Edward the sixt and to Queene Elizabeth as touching this point intended and declared to be all one And secondly you see it enacted how the Oath of Supremacy is to bee expounded namely that it is to be taken expounded in such forme as is set forth in an Admonition annexed to the Queens Majesties Iniunctions published in the same first yeare of her Raigne The words of which Admonition therefore as more amply conteyning the explanation of the same Oath I have here thought good to adde for your better and most full satisfaction in this matter The Title whereof is this An Admonition to simple men deceived by the malicious HEr Maiesty forbiddeth all her subiects to give eare or credite to such perverse and malicious persons vvhich most sinisterly and maliciously labour to notifie to her loving subiects how by the vvordes of the Oath of Supremacy it may be collected that the Kings or Queenes of this Realme possessioners of the Crowne may challenge authoritie and power of Ministery of Divine offices in the Church vvherein her said subiects be much abused by such evill disposed persons for certainly her Maiestie neyther doth nor ever vvill challenge any other authority then that vvhich vvas of ancient time due to the Imperiall Crowne of this Realme that is to say under God to have the Soveraignety and rule over all maner of Persons borne vvithin these her Maiesties Dominions and Countries of vvhat estate eyther Ecclesiasticall or Temporall soever they be So as no forraine Power shall or ought to have any superioritie over them And if any person that hath conceived any other sense of the
in Christ and not of their owne inherent righteousnesse or through their owne merits or workes in anie sort An example whereof we have in S. Bernard himselfe who though hee lived in the times of Poperie and was himselfe an Abbot yet in the extremitie of his sickenesse and the end of his dayes this was his refuge I confesse saith hee I am not vvorthy neyther can I obteyne the kingdome of heaven by mine owne merits But my Lord obtayning it by a double right by inheritance from the father and by the merit of his Passion he being content vvith the one giveth me the other and clayming it by the gift vvhich he hath made me thereof I shall not be confounded Againe he saith My merit is the Lords mercie I am not poore in merits because he is rich in mercies I have greatly sinned but I vvill remember the vvounds of my Lord c. Contarenus a Cardinal did also in that time hold justification by faith in Christ and so did sundry others in those dayes Now so long as a man holdeth the foundation though he erre in other points that be not fundamentall he may be saved as S. Paul sheweth and S. Augustine Gregory Nyssen doe also declare But thirdly if it were so that some of our forefathers and ancestors were in their life time as likely enough it is that too manie of them were horribly polluted defiled with the corruptions of those times yet who can tell how they dyed For sundrie live wickedly who neverthelesse may dye verie godly and penitently as did that good Theefe at Christ his Crucifixion It is therefore no good argument to say They lived in the profession of Poperie Ergo they died so for diverse we see die otherwise then they lived and God was as well able to give them a right faith and repentance and to convert them unto himselfe before their death or at the instant of their death as anie others Yea I thinke that few or none that be well advised or considerate persons whatsoever they professe at other times will dare to dye Papists that is in a beleefe and confidence to be saved by their owne workes and merits or by a righteousnesse inherent in their owne persons but that they will then at that time of their death relye wholly and altogether upon Gods mercie and Christ his merits renouncing utterly their owne as S. Bernard did For even Bellarmine himselfe also writing in these late times notwithstanding whatsoever he had said before in defence of merits yet concludeth against them and teacheth that Tutissimum est fiduciam totam in sola Dei misericordia benignitate reponere It is the safest vvay to put our vvhole confidence onely in the mercy of God and his bounty But fourthly manie and sundrie living in those times and being much grieved and groning under the Popes tyrannie made hold to utter their complaints and to cry out as loud as they could or at least as they durst against both Pope Poperie Amongst whom was the forenamed S. Bernard who calleth the Popes doctrines or pastures Daemonum potius quam ovium pascua Pastures rather for Divels then for sheepe where hee further inveigheth against the Pope and his Clergie saying Omiserandam sponsam talibus creditam paranymphis O miserable spouse vvhich art committed to such Leaders or such Overseers And againe he saith O good Iesus all Christendome seemeth to have conspired against thee they are chiefe in persecuting of thee vvhich seeme to hold the Primacy and to beare principality in the Church Iniquitie is come from thy Vicars even from those that seeme to governe thy people They have possessed the Fort of Sion seised upon the munitions and they burne vvith all their power the vvhole City Miserable is their conversation and miserable is the subversion of thy people c. They doe wickedly against Christ and there be many Antichrists in our times A stinking infection this day creepeth over all the body of the Church and the Deeper it is so much the more desperate and the more Inward that it is so much the more perillous for if it vvere an open Enemy he might be cast out and he vvould wither or if it were a violent Enemy a man might hide himselfe from him But vvhat is now to be done vvhither shall the Church drive him or vvhere shall she hide her selfe from him All friends and yet all enemies all kinsfolkes and yet all adversaries They are in pretence the Ministers of Christ and yet they serve Antichrist VVoe saith he to this generation because of the leaven of the Pharisees vvhich is Hypocrisie If yet it be to be Termed Hypocrisie vvhich is not able to hide is selfe it is so abundant nor yet seeketh to conceale it selfe it is so impudent And in another place he saith further That the Beast spoken of in the Revelation cap. 13. to vvhich a mouth is given to speake blasphemies and to make vvarre with the Saints of God is now gotten into Saint Peters chayre as a Lyon prepared to his prey 4 You see then that manie hundreth yeares before the daies of King Henry the eight and before Luther or Calvin were borne the Pope of Rome and his Clergie were complained of and exclaimed against But this shall yet further appeare for your better satisfaction For under the raigne of Hugh Capet in France about the yeare of our Lord 1000 there was held a Nationall Councell at Rhemes wherein was President Arnold that famous Bishop of Orleance It was there handled and proved by the Canons of former Councels That the Bishop of Rome had nothing to doe in France That a Councel vvas more to be respected then his Sea That the time was vvhen Rome brought forth good or tolerable Bishops but now alas saith this Arnold in place of these shee bringeth forth nought else but Monsters And there reckoning up diverse wicked Bishops of Rome and among the rest one Boniface a Monster exceeding in wickednesse and having his hands imbrued in his predecessors bloud he addeth And must so many the good servants of God over all the world needs be subiect to such Monsters and then concludeth Reverend Fathers vvhom doe you thinke this man to be which sitteth upon the high Throne glittering in gold and scarlet For vvhom doe you take him Verily if he be vvithout the love of God and be puffed up and extolled for his knowledge onely he is Antichrist sitting in the Temple of God shewing himselfe as if he vvere God But if he be neyther founded in love nor set up for knowledge he is an Image and as an Idoll in Gods Temple and to goe to him to aske counsell or for answers is to aske counsell of a stone And therefore he cryeth out O Lugenda Roma O Rome to be lamented Againe about the yeare of our Lord 1100 the whole Church of Liege uttered the like voice For where Pope
that being touched with remorse for some offence committed by him he fell at S. Colmes feet lamented bitterly and confessed his sinnes before all that were there present Whereupon the holy man weeping together with him is said to have returned this answer Rise up Sonne and be comforted thy sinnes which thou hast committed are forgiven because as it is written a contrite and an humbled heart God doth not despise Wee reade also of Adamanus that being verie much terrified with the remembrance of a grievous sinne committed by him in his youth he resorted unto a Priest by whom he hoped the way of salvation might be shewed unto him he confessed his guilt and intreated that hee would give him counsel whereby he might flee from the wrath of God that was to come Now the counfell commonly given unto the Penitent after Confession was that he should wipe away his sinnes by meet fruits of repentance which course Bede observeth to have beene usually prescribed by our Cuthbert For penances were then exacted as testimonies of the sinceritie of that inward repentance which was necessarily required for obtayning remission of the sinne and so had reference to the taking away of the guilt and not of the temporall punishment remayning after the forgivenesse of the guilt which is the new found use of penances invented by our later Romanists One old Penitentiall Canon we finde laid downe in a Synod held in this countrey about the yere of our Lord CCCCXL. by S. Patrick Auxilius and Isserninus which is as followeth A Christian who hath kild a man or committed fornication or gone unto a southsayer after the maner of the Gentiles for every of those crimes shall doe a yeare of Penance when his yeare of penance is accomplished he shall come with witnesses and afterward he shall be absolved by the Priest These Bishops did take order we see according to the discipline generally used in those times that the penance should first be performed and when long and good proofe had beene given by that meanes of the truth of the parties repentance they wished the Priest to impart unto him the benefit of Absolution whereas by the new devise of sacramental penance the matter is now far more easily transacted by vertue of the keyes the sinner is instantly of attrite made contrite and thereupon as soone as he hath made his Confession he presently receiveth his Absolution after this some sorie penance is imposed which upon better consideration may be converted into pence and so a quick end is made of manie a foule businesse But for the right use of the keyes wee fully accord with Claudius that the office of remitting and retayning sinnes which was given unto the Apostles is now in the Bishops and Priests committed unto every Church namely that having taken knowledge of the causes of such as have sinned as many as they shall behold humble and truely penitent those they may now vvith compassion absolve from the feare of everlasting death but such as they shall discerne to persist in the sinnes which they have committed those they may declare to be bound over unto never ending punishments And in thus absolving such as be truely penitent we willingly yeeld that the Pastors of Gods Church doe remit sinnes after their maner that is to say ministerially and improperly so that the priviledge of forgiving sinnes properly and absolutely be still reserved unto God alone Which is at large set out by the same Claudius where he expoundeth the historie of the man sicke of the palsey that was cured by our Saviour in the ninth of S. Matthew For following Bede upon that place he writeth thus The Scribes say true that none can forgive sinnes but God alone vvho also forgiveth by them to vvhom he hath given the power of forgiving And therefore is Christ proved to be truely God because hee forgiveth sinnes as God They render a true testimony unto God but in denying the person of Christ they are deceived and againe If it be God that according to the Psalmist removeth our sinnes as farre from us as the East is distant from the West and the Sonne of man hath power upon earth to forgive sinnes therefore hee himselfe is both God and the Sonne of man that both the man Christ might by the power of his divinitie forgive sinnes and the same Christ being God might by the frailtie of his humanitie dye for sinners and out of S. Hierome Christ sheweth himselfe to be God vvho can know the hidden things of the heart and after a sort holding his peace he speaketh By the same majestie power wherby I behold your thoughts I can also forgive sinnes unto men In like maner doth the author of the booke of the wonderfull things of the Scripture observe these divine workes in the same historie the forgiving of sinnes the present cure of the disease and the answering of the thoughts by the mouth of God who searcheth all things With whom for the propertie of beholding the secret thoughts Sedulius also doth concurre in those sentences God alone can know the hidden things of men To know the hearts of men and to discerne the secrets of the minde is the priviledge of God alone That the contract of Marriages was either unknown or neglected by the Irish before Malachias did institute the same anew among them as Bernard doth seeme to intimate is a thing almost incredible although Giraldus Cambrensis doth complaine that the case was little better with them after the time of Malachias also The licentiousnesse of those â—uder times I know was such as may easily induce us to beleeve that a great both neglect and abuse of Gods ordinance did get footing among this people Which enormities Malachias no doubt did labour to reforme and withall peradventure brought in some new matters not knowne here before as he was very desirous his countrymen should generally conforme themselves unto the traditions and customes of the Church of Rome But our purpose is here onely to deale with the doctrine and practise of the elder times in which first that Marriage was not held to be a sacrament may be collected from Sedulius who reckoneth it among those things which are gifts indeed but not spirituall Secondly for the degrees of Consanguinitie hindering marriage the Synod attributed unto S. Patrick seemeth to referre us wholly unto the Leviticall law prescribing therein neyther lesse nor more then the Law speaketh and particularly against matching with the wife of the deceased brother which was the point so much questioned in the case of King Henry the eight this Synodicall decree is there urged The brother may not ascend into the bed of his deceased brother the Lord having said They two shall be one flesh Therefore the wife of thy brother is thy sister Yet how farre this abuse prevayled afterward in this countrey and how foule a crime it was esteemed
dissented from the Church of Rome in the celebration of Easter and manie other things made no scruple to prefixe this loving respectfull superscription to their letters To our Lords and most deare brethren the Bishops or Abbots throughout all Scotland Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus Bishops the servants of the servants of God For howsoever Ireland at that time received not the same lawes wherewith other nations were governed yet it so flourished in the vigour of Christian doctrine as Abbot Ionas testifieth that it exceeded the faith of all the neighbour nations in that respect was generally had in honour by them It now remaineth that in the last place we should consider the Popes power in disposing the temporall state of this kingdome which either directly or indirectly by hook or by crook this graund Usurper would draw unto himselfe First therefore Cardinall Allen would have us to know that the Sea Apostolick hath an old claime unto the soverainty of the countrey of Ireland and that before the covenants passed betweene king Iohn and the same Sea Which challenges saith hee Princes commonly yeeld not up by what ground so ever they come What Princes use to yeeld or not yeeld I leave to the skanning of those unto whom Princes matters doe belong for the Cardinalls Prince I dare be bold to say that if it be not his use to play fast and loose with other Princes the matter is not now to do whatsoever right he could pretend to the temporall state of Ireland he hath transferred it more then once unto the Kings of England and when the ground of his clayme shall be looked into it will be found so frivolous and so ridiculous that wee need not care three chippes whether he yeeld it up or keep it to himselfe For whatsoever become of his idle challenges the Crowne of England hath otherwise obtained an undoubted right unto the soveraintie of this countrey partly by Conquest prosecuted at first upon occasion of a Sociall warre parâ—ly by the severall submissions of the chieftaines of the land made afterwards For whereas it is free for all men although they have beene formerly quitt from all subjection to renounce their owne right yet now in these our dayes saith Giraldus Cambrensis in his historie of the Conquest of Ireland all the Princes of Ireland did voluntarily submitt and binde themselves with firme bonds of faith and oath unto Henry the second King of England The like might be said of the generall submissions made in the dayes of King Richard the second and King Henry the eighth to speake nothing of the prescription of diverse hundreds of yeares possession which was the plea that Iephte used to the Ammonites and is indeed the best evidence that the Bishop of Romes owne proctors doe produce for their Masters right to Rome it selfe For the Popes direct dominion over Ireland two titles are brought forth beside those covenants of King Iohn mentioned by Allen which hee that hath anie understanding in our state knoweth to be clearly void and worth nothing The one is taken from a speciall grant supposed to be made by the inhabitants of the countrey at the time of their first conversion unto Christianity the other from a right which the Pope challengeth unto himselfe over all Ilands in generall The former of these was devised of late by an Italian in the raigne of King Henry the eighth the later was found out in the dayes of King Henry the second before whose time not one footsteppe doth appeare in all antiquitie of anie clayme that the Bishop of Rome should make to the dominion of Ireland no not in the Popes owne records which have beene curiously searched by Nicolaus Arragonius and other ministers of his who have purposely written of the particulars of his temporall estate The Italian of whom I spake is Polydore Vergil he that composed the booke De inventoribus rerum of the first Inventers of things among whom he himselfe may challenge a place for this invention if the Inventers of lyes be admitted to have anie roome in that companie This man being sent over by the Pope into England for the collecting of his Peter-pence undertook the writing of the Historie of that nation wherein he forgatt not by the way to doe the best service hee could to his Lord that had imployed him thither There he telleth an idle tale how the Irish being moved to accept Henry the second for their King did deny that this could be done otherwise then by the Bishop of Romes authority because forsooth that from the very beginning after they had accepted Christian religion they had yeelded themselves and all that they had into his power and they did constantly affirme saith this fabler that they had no other Lord beside the Pope of which also they yet do bragge The Italian is followed herein by two Englishmen that wished the Popes advancement as much as he Edmund Campian and Nicholas Sanders the one whereof writeth that immediatly after Christianitie planted here the whole Iland with one consent gave themselves noâ— only into the spirituall but also into the temporall Iurisdiction of the See of Rome the other in Polydores own words though he name him not that the Irish from the beginning presently after they had received Christian religion gave up themselves and all that they had into the power of the Bishop of Rome and that untill the time of King Henry the second they did acknowledge no other supreme Prince of Ireland beside the Bishop of Rome alone For confutation of which dreame we need not have recourse to our owne Chronicles the Bull of Adrian the fourth wherein he giveth libertie to King Henry the second to enter upon Ireland sufficiently discovereth the vanitie thereof For hee there shewing what right the Church of Rome pretended unto Ireland maketh no mention at all of this which had beene the fairest and clearest title that could be alledged if anie such had beene then existent in rerum natura but is faine to flie unto a farre fetcht interest which he saith the Church of Rome hath unto all Christian Ilands Truly saith he to the King there is no doubt but that all Ilands unto which Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse hath shined and which have received the instructions of the Christian faith doe pertaine to the right of Sainct Peter and the holy Church of Rome which your Noblenesse also doth acknowledge If you would further understand the ground of this strange clayme whereby all Christian Ilands at a clap are challenged to be parcell of S. Peters patrimonie you shall have it from Iohannes Sarisburiensis who was most inward with Pope Adrian and obtayned from him this verie grant whereof now wee are speaking At my request saith he he granted Ireland to the illustrious King of England Henry the second and gave it to be possessed by right of inheritance as his owne
Secondly I must crave leave to say that I find not Popery how subtill or sophisticall soever it be to be of anie such puissance but that a man of meane learning armed with the strength of the divine Scriptures may easily ruinate and overturne it Thirdly those that oppugne the Religion His Majesties Supremacie what doe they else but oppugne therewithall as they must needs at least inclusively the Lawes and Statutes of the Kingdome whereby they are both established And what reason then can bee shewed why hee that is a Lawyer by profession may not defend and maintaine the Lawes and Statutes of the Realme in those two great points especially wherein they be so unjustly and causelessely oppugned But when I consider my selfe further to be a servant though unworthy to his most excellent Majestie and that in so high and eminent a Court as His Maiesties Bench is beside my profession the duetie of my place also tyeth mee to defend his Maiesties Supremacie as being a thing properly appâ—rtayning to his verie Crowne and Regall dignitie And doth not moreover the Oath of Supremacy to His Majestie which I have taken necessarily binde mee hereunto Yea even for this verie cause that I am a subiect to his Maiestie though there were no other reason doe I hold my selfe in duetie tyed to my power to uphold and maintain that his Regall Supremacie For if everie good childe will maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Father and everie good servant the right and Authoritie of his Lord and Master ought not everie good subiect to maintaine the right and Authoritie of his Soveraigne Lord and King And as touching the Religion if there were no other reason but this that I am a Christian by profession though no professed Divine doe I hold it for that verie cause not onely well beseeming mee but my duetie likewise according to such measure of knowledge and abilitie as God hath given mee to defend and maintaine the true and Christian Religion I professe against that which is untruly called the Christian and Catholike and is indeed the false erroneous and Antichristian For whereas some have a conceit that not Lay men at all but Clergie men only and such as be of the Ecclesiastical Ministerie should meddle with the Scriptures and matters of Religion it appeareth to be a verie vaine conceit and an untrue opinion because S. Paul directly requireth even of Lay Christians as well as of others that the Word of Christ should Dwell in them and that not poorely or in a small or slender measure but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is richly plentifully or abundantly Whereupon Primasius saith that Hence wee learne that the Lay people ought to have the knowledge of the Scriptures and to teach one another not onely sufficiently but also abundantly And therefore are they further expressely charged to admonish exhort and edifie one another yea to contend and not onely to contend but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnestly to contend for that faith which was once given unto the Saints And doth not God himselfe also command thus Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but Thou shalt in anie wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sinne to be upon him Agreeably wherunto would not S. Iames likewise have all Christians to labour the conversion of such as be in error and goe astray telling them for their better encouragement in this matter that if any doe erre from the truth and another convert him let such a one know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soule from death and cover a multitude of sinnes You see then what duties in respect of the good of others as well as of himselfe be required even of a lay person in matters concerning God and his religion And indeede verie strange it were if lay Christians should be tyed in charitie to take care of mens bodies and yet should in no sort be permitted to have anie care or to shew anie Christian charitie or affection in respect of their soules and the good and safetie of them It is true that no man may take upon him the office and function of Bishops Pastors or other Ministers of the Word without a lawfull calling or ordination first had and obtayned but although a lay man may not therfore preach minister the sacraments nor do anie such acts as be proper and peculiar to those that be Ecclesiasticall Ministers yet in such things as be not proper and peculiar unto them but be acts and duties common with them to other Christians a Lay man may lawfully intermeddle It is likewise true that the knowledge of Gods Word and consequently of Divinitie doth in a more exact and more plentiful and fuller maner and measure and chiefly belong to those that be professed Divines and of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery but thereupon it followeth not that therefore it belongeth onely to them As also although those of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery are to teach and instruct the Lay people out of the Scriptures and that the Lay people are to learne what they rightly teach from thence yet neither doth it thereupon follow nor is that anie argument or impediment but that the Lay people may neverthelesse reade and get knowledge in the Scriptures and thereout learne what good they can also even by their owne industry diligence and endevour We reade of Aquila and Priscilla his wife that they were by their Trade Tentmakers and that Apollos was a man eloquent and mightie in the Scriptureâ— yet so skilfull learned expert were those two nameâ—ly not onely Aquila but Priscilla also his wife in the Word of God as that they tooke unto them the same Apollos and expounded unto him The Way of God more perfectly All men know that Kings Princes and such like civill Magistrates be none of that Order of the Ecclesiasticall Ministery and yet of them it is specially required that they reade the Scriptures Book of God and that they be verie diligent and conversant in it For God expressely requireth of a King that When hee shall sit upon the Throne of his Kingdome He get him the Book of his Law and chargeth him to reade therein all the Dayes of his Life that he may learne to feare the Lord his God and to Keepe All his Words and ordinances not turning from them eyther to the right hand or to the left That so he may prolong his Dayes in his Kingdome Hee and his Sonnes after him And to Iosuah a civill Magiâ—â—â—ate hee likewise giveth this charge and commandement saying Let not This Booke of the Law depart out of thy mouth but Meditate therein Day and Night that thou maist Observe and Doe according to All that is written therein for then shalt thou make thy Way prosperous and then shalt thou have good successe Was not the Treasurer to Candace Queene of the Ethiopians also a Lay man and not
by making lawes for Christ but they may also command and externally compell their subiects if they stubbornly be Reâ—â—sants and wilfull to become obedient in that behalfe For so did the godly and religious Kings of Iudah as for example King Asa King Manasseth and king Iosiah The Donatists were the first that denied this authoritie of Kings in matters Ecclesiasticall Against whom therefore S. Augustine disputeth at large in sundry places VVhy doe the Donatists saith he acknowledge the force of the laws to be iustly executed against other malefactors and deny the same to be done against heretickes and schismaticks seeing that by the authoritie of the Apostle they be alike reckoned with the same fruits of iniquity yea if a King should not regard such things why then saith he doth he beare the sword Againe hee saith Mirantur quia commoventur potestates Christianae adversus detestandos dissipatores Ecclesiae Si non ergo moverentur quo modo redderent rationem de Imperio suâ— Deo They marvaile that these Christian Powers be moved against the detestable wasters of the Church If they should not be moved against such how should they render an account to God of their rule or governement Thinkest thou saith he to Vincentius that no man ought to be forced to righteousnesse vvhen as thou readest that the Master said unto his servant Compell all that you finde to come in c. Where is now saith he to Bonifacius that vvhich these Donatists harpe at so much viz. That it is free for a man to beleeve or not to beleeve what violence did Christ use whom did hee compell Behold Paul for an example Let them marke in him first Christ compelling and afterward teaching first striking and then comforting Let them not mislike that they be forced but examine whereto they be sorted And cyting that part of the second Psalme Be vvise ye kings understand yee that iudge the earth Serve the Lord in feare hee saith thus How doe kings serve the Lord in feare but when they forbid and punish vvith a religious severitie those things which be done against the commandements of God As Ezechias did serve him by destroying the groves and Temples builded against the precept of God As Iosiah did in like maner As the king of Nineveh also did forcing the vvhole City to please God As Nebuchadnezar likewise did restraining all his subiects from blaspheming God with a dreadfull law 3 As for the reason of Gaudentius that the peace of Christ invited such as were willing but forced no man unwilling the same S. Augustine again answereth it speaketh on this manner VVhere you thinke saith he that none must be forced to truth against their wils you be deceived not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God vvhich maketh them willing afterward vvhich were unwilling at the first Did the Ninivites repent against their will because they did it at the compulsion of their king VVhat needed the kings expresse commandement that all should humbly submit themselves to God but that there were some amongst them vvhich never vvould have regarded nor beleeved Gods message had they not beene terrified by the kings Edict This princely power and authoritie giveth many men occasion to be saved vvhich though they vvere violently brought to the feast of the great Housholder yet being once compelled to come in they finde there good cause to reioyce that they did enter though at first against their wills And when Petilian also obiected that no man ought to be forced by lawes to godlinesse S. Augustine still answereth and saith Preposterous vvere discipline to revenge your ill living but vvhen you first contemne the doctrine that teacheth you to live vvell And even those that make lawes to bridle your headinesse are they not they that beare the sword as Paul speaketh not in vaine being Gods ministers and executors of wrath on him that doth ill Yea S. Augustine teacheth further directly that it is the office dutie of Kings and Princes to compell their subiects although not to faith yet to the outward meanes of faith which is comming to the Churches and assemblies of Gods people there to heare the word of God read and preached and to doe other Christian dueties there used For howsoever it be granted that God only worketh faith in mens soules and not Men nor the power of Kings yet thereupon it followeth not but that Kings may neverthelesse command and compell them to external obedience and cause them to present their bodies in those Churches and assemblies where the ordinarie meanes of faith and salvation is to be had And as for Gods inward working upon their soules and his blessing upon that outward meanes when they be in those Assemblies Kings and Princes doe and must leave those things unto God alone as being things not included within their power to give nor within the power of anie earthly creature whosoever Some of the Donatists in ancient time rather then they would be forced from their fancies were so wilful unnaturall and impious as that they slew themselves yet did this nothing hinder the Church of God but that Donatists for all that were compelled by vertue of Princes lawes to their due obedience without anie respect or regard had to such their wicked and desperate doings I vvas once so minded saith S. Augustine that I thought no man ought to be forced to Christian unity but that vvee should deale by perswasion strive by disputing and conquer by reasoning lest they proved dissembling Catholickes vvhom we know to be professed Heretickes But afterward as himselfe sheweth he altered this opinion upon better advisement teaching That as it is fit that men that be in error touching Religion should be admonished instructed and dealt withall by perswasion so if they neglect scorne or contemne admonitions and instructions or doe grow wilfull stubborne perverse and obstinate upon no ground of reason they are iustly worthie to be punished according to the lawes For what a vaine idle thing is it for anie to say It is against their conscience to come to our Churches there to heare Gods word read and preached to pray unto God with us to thanke him for all his benefites to be present and partakers of his Sacraments and of other godly and religious exercises there used and yet can shew no reason at all for this their doing A blinde conscience such as this and every other is that hath not anie good reason to shew for it selfe is to be corrected and reformed and not to be followed And therfore doth S. Augustine yet further say expresly touching this matter That it is enioyned Kings from God ut in Regno suo bona iubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae ad humanam societatem pertinent verum etiam quae ad Divinam Religionem that in their Kingdomes they should command good
decrees of these former generall Councels dare and doe affirme the Pope to be above all general Councels to be supreme Iudge over all and not subiect to the iudgement of anie upon earth Is not this intolerable pride and most abhominable licentiousnesse and lawlesnesse in the Pope of Rome and most grosse notorious and palpable flatterie in his followers The Popes Supremacie ecclesiasticall then which he claimeth over all Bishops and Councels and the civill Supremacie which he likewise claimeth over all Kings and Emperors appeareth to be not onely a meere Noveltie but a thing also extreamely iniurious to all Bishops and Councels and to all Kings Princes and Emperors also and is therefore iustly worthie of all to be detested and reiected 6 For must not the Supremacie civill which hee also claimeth over Emperors Kings and Princes to depose them from their Crownes and Kingdomes and to assoile their subiects of their allegeance be a most strange and a most damnable impietie when God himselfe saith thus By mee Kings raigne and not by the commission or permission of anie Pope and when in Daniel a voice from heaven proclaimeth That it is not the Pope but The most high that beareth rule over the kingdome of men and giveth it to vvhomsoever hee vvill and when moreover not the Pope but God himselfe is hee that is intituled King of kings and Lord of lords Besides it is a thing cleerely out of the commission of the Apostles and consequently out of the commission of all Bishops and other Ministers of the Gospel for they be the Keyes of the kingdome of heaven and not of earthly kingdomes that bee committed unto them And therefore it is not within the compasse of this their Divine and Ecclesiastical commission to meddle with anie earthly matters much lesse with earthly kingdomes or to depose anie Kings from their Thrones or to give away their kingdomes or to disanull the duetie and allegeance of subiects which by the law of God and Nature they owe unto their Soveraignes Did anie Apostle yea or all the Apostles together in ancient time take upon them to depose Nero or anie other Emperor were he never so great a persecutor or were hee never so wicked Or did anie Bishops in the ancient Church take upon them to depose anie of them that were hereticall Arrian Emperors in their times and persecuters of the Oxthodox and right beleeving Christians Yea did anie Bishop or all the Bishops in the world together take upon them to depose the Emperor Iulian though an Apostata though a man Anathematized though a most impious person and a scorner of Christ and of all Christian Religion By this one president then of Iulian the Apostata if there were no other you may easily perceive that no excommunication or Anathematization nor anie power of the Keyes whatsoever committed by Christ to Bishops Ministers of the Gospel have anie force included in them to depose Emperors Kings and Princes be they never so wicked or adverse to Christ or Christianitie yea that Bishops in no sort neither directly nor indirectly or in ordine ad Spiritualia as they speake or for advancement of anie pretended or Revera Catholike cause have anie such authoritie For Iulian still remained an Emperor and his Christian souldiers and subiects notwithstanding that he was so great an enemie to their Religion were neverthelesse obedient dutifull and serviceable unto him as S. Augustine also sheweth and affirmeth So farre off were they from rebelling or withdrawing their allegeance from him and so farre off also were the Bishops of those times from perswading abetting or counselling anie such wicked matter unto them Yea whereas Bellarmine and some other Papists affirme that the Christians in the primitive and those ancient Churches were therefore obedient because they wanted sufficient power and force to withstand their wicked Emperors doe they not herein speake more like politicke Atheists then Christian Divines Where is Obedience for conscience sake which God requireth of all Christians as S. Paul witnesseth if such Popish doctrine as this were true But besides Tertullian expressely confuteth it witnessing that such was the affection and disposition of the Christians in those times being ledde thereunto by dutie conscience as that they neither taught nor put in practice any course of disloyaltie or disobedience or bare armes against their Emperor albeit they had as he there sheweth sufficient force to have done it Yea the Christians in those times notwithstanding all their great number strength their sufficient power to rebel if they had bin so ill disposed were neverthelesse so farre from rebelling or procuring rebellions to be made against the Emperor of their times that contrariwise they were quiet and suffered all things patiently and prayed for him that Almightie God would grant unto him A long life a secure raigne safetie in his Court valiant Souldiers a faithfull Counsell dutifull subiects a quiet kingdome and all those blessings and comforts that his heart could desire Sigebert mentioning the Popes proceedings against Henry the Emperor divers hundred yeares since saith thus Bee it spoken vvith the leave of all good men This novelty that I say not heresie had not as yet sprung up in the vvorld that Gods Priests should teach the people that they owe no subiection to evill Princes and though they have sworne allegeance to him yet they owe him no fidelitie nor shall be counted periured that devise against the King yea That hee that obeyeth him shall be counted for excommunicate and he that doth against the King shall be absolved from the guilt of vvrong and periurie Vincentius likewise testifieth the same matter Where you see how directly they both condemne these trayterous and rebellious positions of Poperie which be at this day by too manie amongst them cherished and maintained for points of Catholike doctrine and that notwithstanding the pretence of the Popes authoritie and of a Catholike cause they be long since condemned and accounted and recorded to be meere Novelties if not Heresies Now then you perceive I trust that as the Pope hath no Supremacie lawfull in Ecclesiasticis so much lesse hath he anie Supremacie lawfull in Temporalibus within the Kings Dominions or elsewhere within the Dominions of anie other King And I assure my selfe that such are your loyalties and such the odiousnesse and apparant untruth of the trayterous and rebellious positions delivered in these later times by Iesuites and such like Popish Teachers against Kings for maintenance of the Popes pride that yee unfainedly and utterly abhorre detest those positions of theirs together with their practises as they are indeed iustly worthie I would yee did also detest the rest of their false doctrines as I hope upon better information ye will even for truths sake and the safetie of your owne soules 7 But to proceed what cleerer or greater argument can there be against the Popes Supremacie
the second at Constantinople was called by Theodosius the elder the third at Ephesus by Theodosius the yonger the fourth at Calcedon by Valentinian and Martian And this is so manifest a truth that Cardinall Cusanus confesseth and affirmeth that the first eight generall Councells were called by the Emperors And so also witnesseth Socrates that Since Emperors became Christians the businesses of the Church have seemed to depend upon their vvill and therefore the greatest Councels saith he have beene and still are called by their appointment But here Bellarmine steppeth in and would perswade that howsoever Emperors did call Councels yet it was done authoritate Papae by authoritie of the Pope A verie strange assertion and untrue for even Leo himselfe Bishop of Rome in his time made supplication to the then Emperor Theodosius the yonger Supplicationi nostrae dignetur aâ—nuere That hee vvould be pleased to yeeld to his Supplication for the calling of a Councell in Italy But the Emperor for all that contrarie to the Popes will and desire and notwithstanding that his humble petition caused the Councell to bee called and assembled not in Italy as the Pope desired but at Ephesus Afterward againe the same Leo Bishop of Rome made a second supplication alledging withall the sighes and teares of all the Clergie for the obtayning of a Councell in Italy He sollicited the Princesse Pulcheria to further his supplication to the Emperor He wrote to the Nobles Clergie and people of Constantinople to make the like supplication to the Emperor and yet for all this he could not obtaine it this second time neither For although then a Councel were granted yet it was not in Italy as the Pope would have had it but at Calcedon It is then more then manifest by this example of Leo that Councels in those times were assembled and convocated not by the commandement and authoritie of the Popes but of Emperors Yea by the subscription also to those constitutions you may further discerne that the Pope in those times had no authoritie to command the Emperor but contrariwise the Emperor had to command the Pope for thus saith the same Leo to the then Emperor Because saith he I must by all meanes obey your sacred and religious vvill I have set downe my consent in writing to those Constitutions If then there were no other evidences or proofes doe not these three former examples viz. of Miltiades Leo and Gregory all Bishops of Rome in their severall times make plaine demonstration and openly proclaime to the world that in those dayes the Bishops of Rome were without all question or contradiction inferior obedient and subiect to the Emperors and not superior to them But yet further ye know that King Solomon removed the high Priest Abiathar and put Zadoc in his place The Emperor Theodosius the elder did likewise nominate and appoint Nectarius to be Bishop of Constantinople Honorius also appointed Boniface to be Bishop of Rome And other Emperors did the like Is it not then lawfull for King IAMES our Soveraigne Lord likewise to nominate appoint a Bishop of a Diocesse or Province and upon iust cause againe to remove and displace him For as touching the sacration or consecration of Bishops or other Minister ecclesiasticall otherwise called the ordination of them by imposition of hands the King medleth not but leaveth those kind of Acts to be done by Bishops and such to whom they belong Yea King VVilliam Rufus likewise in his dayes nominated appointed Anselmus to be Archbishop of Canterburie And before him King VVilliam the Conqueror used the like authority nominating and appointing Lanfrancus to be the Archbishop as is also testified by the same Author And even before the Conquest King Edward the Confessor appointed one Robert first Bishop of London and afterward an Archbishop And before that King Alfred nominated and appointed Asserio Bishop of Sherborne and Denewulfus Bishop of Winchester And more then 200. yeres before that Edelwalk King of the South Saxons appointed VVilfred to an Episcopall Sea Grantzius speaking of the ancient times saith thus The Emperor placed a Bishop in Monster And mervaile not saith he that a Bishop vvas appointed by the Emperor for this vvas the Custome of those times vvhen Emperors had power to place and displace Popes And further he saith That vvhomsoever the Prince did nominate that man vvas to be consecrated a Bishop by the next adioyning Bishops And he addeth further That concerning this Iurisdiction there vvas a long contention betweene the Papacy and the Empire This vvas the Iurisdiction vvhich the Two Henries the father and the sonne and vvhich the Two Fredericks likewise the grandfather and the grandchilde sought long to Defend and maintaine but the sword of the Church saith he prevayled and forced the Emperors to relinquish their right to the Church Thus you see how namely That partly by fraude and partly by force the Popes after much striving and contending prevayled at last against the Emperors and made them to loose their rights And therefore worthily is that Statute which giveth these rights againe to our Kings and Princes entituled An Act restoring to the Crowne the ancient Iurisdiction over the state Ecclesiasticall and Spirituall and abolishing all forraine power repugnant to the same The premisses then well and advisedly considered what is there in all the authoritie concerning Ecclesiasticall causes attributed or belonging to the King that can iustly offend anie of you For I doubt not but such authorities in Ecclesiasticall causes as were in ancient time yeelded to the godly Kings of Iudah or unto the godly Christian Emperors yee will well allow as in all right and reason ye ought unto Christian kings Princes within their dominions And amongst the rest of their rights and authorities this also was one that the Emperors approved ratified and confirmed even the Constitutions and Decrees of Councels before they were promulged or put in execution For so did Constantine that Christian Emperor confirme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Decrees of the Councell Againe Rogamus clementiam tuam saith the Councell to the Emperor Theodosius ut per Literas tuae pietatis ratum esse Iubeas confirmesque Concilij Decretum Wee beseech your clemencie that by your Letters you will ratifie and confirme the Decree of the Councell Sacro nostrae Serenitatis Edicto saith also Martian the Emperor venerandam Synodam confirmamus We by the sacred Edict of our Serenity doe confirme the reverend Synod This then is a right which must likewise be acknowledged due and to belong to King IAMES our Soveraigne Lord. What obiection then or exception can be taken against his Maiesties Supremacie in any point or why should not all his subiects most readily and willingly acknowledge it and in testimonie thereof take the Oath concerning the same whensoever they bee thereunto lawfully required For if anie suppose as
Paschall the second would have warre made upon the Emperor promising to give remission of sinnes and assurance of everlasting life to all that would doe it and on the other side to excommunicate all those that would shew obedience to him They say thus Because VVee keepe the Law of God they obiect against us that vvee transgresse their new Traditions But God saith unto them vvhy do you transgresse the commandements of God by your Traditions God commandeth to give unto Cesar the things vvhich are Cesars and to God that which is Gods which S. Peter and S. Paul doe lâ—kewise teach honour the King let every soule be subiect to the hâ—gher powers Hee that commands every soule to doe this whom doth hee exempt from this earthly power Because therefore wee honour the King and serve our Lords and Maisters in the simplicitie of our hearts are wee therefore excommunicated c vvho can reprehend a Bishop for keeping his faith and loyaltie to his Prince and yet they that teare in sunder the kingdome and Priesthood with new Schismes and new Traditions promise to absolve them from the sinne of periurie that breake their faith to their king Suppose say they our Emperor vvere an hereticke yet is he not to be repelled as such a one by us by taking armes against him yea they alledge that the Prophet Ieremy praied for Nebuchadnezzar and S. Paul for Nero and adde further VVhich of the Popes of Rome hath by his Decrees given authoritie that a Bishop should use the sword of vvarre against any offendors All from Gregory the first used the spirituall sword alone unto the last Gregory vvho was the first that armed himselfe and by his example others vvith the sword of warre against the Emperor c You say that if a man be excommunicate for vvhat cause soever if he dye in that estaete hee is damned But the Authoritie of the Church of Rome say they helpeth us in this point vvho teach that the Bishop of Rome hath power to absolve any that is uniustly excommunicated by others If then the Bishop of Rome may doe this vvho will say that God cannot absolve whomsoever the Pope hath uniustly excommunicated yea the Popes curse of Excommunication they make no reckoning of but contemne and despise it but above all say they vvee feare that which the spirit of God by the mouth of the Psalmist hath said viz. Cursed are all they that decline from his commandements That Curse of excommunication vvhich Pope Hildebrand Odoardus and this Third have by a new Tradition indiscreetely brought in vvee vvholly reiect and vvee hold and reverence those first holy Fathers unto this day vvho by the motion of Gods spirit not carried vvith their owne affections have otherwise ordeyned c. forasmuch therefore as vvee sticke to the Ancient rule and are not carried away vvith every winde of Doctrine we are called Excommunicates false Clerkes c. Howbeit let Pope Paschall lay aside his spirit of presumption and let him advisedly consider vvith his Counsaylors how from Silvester to Hildebrand the Popes have obtayned the chaire at Rome vvhat and how manie outrages have beene committed by the Ambition of that Sea c. As for those Legats à latere vvho run through the world to fill their purses vve say they wholly reiect them according to those Councels of Affricke held in the times of Zozimus Caelestinus and Boniface for that vve may know theraby their fruits there proceeeds from their legations no correction of manners or amendment of life but the slaughters of men and the spoyle of Gods Church c. That there should be such desolation of the Church such oppression of the poore and vvidowes such crueltie such rapine and vvhich is worse such effusion of bloud without respect of good and evill and all this and worse then all this Done by the Commandement of the Pope vvho would beleeve it if his owne mouth had not spoken it VVee remayne astonished at the novelty of these things and vvee enquire from vvhence this new Example should come That the Preacher of peace with his owne mouth and the hand of another man should make vvarre against the Church of God c. Where further they directly affirme Rome to be Babylon and say that the Apostle so calleth it as foreseeing by a Propheticall spirit The confusion of that dissention vvherewith the Church at this day is torne in pieces c. And a great deale more is spoken in that Epistle of theirs which though it be long and large is worthie the reading over And this no doubt moved the Bishop of Florence also in the yeare 1106 publiquely to preach that Antichrist was borne and then in Esse which Pope Paschall understanding of and being much grieved therewith tooke the paines to goe himselfe in person to Florence to stop the mouth of this Bishop And fearing as it seemes to stirre in the matter too much contented himselfe onely to admonish him to desist from this bold enterprise lest otherwise indeed the truth of that matter should more strongly breake out But yet further about the yeare 1150. The letters of the Emperor Fredericke Barbarossa to the Princes of Germany be sufficiently knowne wherein he sheweth unto them that the Pope had no other drift but to set his foot upon the Emperors head that so hee might the more easily overcome the members And upon this it was saith Radevicus That the Pope vvas not ashamed to maintaine that the Emperor vvas his man and held the Empire of him Yea the Popes are gone so farre saith Aventinus that they affect both domination and deitie so that they vvill be feared of all as God yea more then God pretending that they are not bound to give account of their Actions to any That amongst them be many Antichrists and that indeede there be none more pernicious to the Christian Religion then the Popes The same Emperor in his letters to King VVencislaus saith that the high Bishops of Babylon that is of Rome doe sit long over the Temple of God and seise upon the divinity that to please the desire of these false Christs thâ— Princes doe ruinate one another and all states be in a combustion That they be blinde vvhich see not that they be cruel vvolves which under sheepes cloathing spoyle the flocke of Christ. And that this was the Iudgement also even of sundry of the Germane Church as wel as of the Emperor appeareth by the oration of an Archbishop to the States of the Empire for saith he He that is the servant of servants as if he vvere God coveteth to be the Lord of Lords hee disclaymeth the counsell of his brethren or rather of his Lords He feareth lest hee should be forced to give account of that vvhich he doth and usurpeth every day over the lawes Hee uttereth great things as if he vvere God Hee coyneth new devises in his minde to appropriate the Empire to himselfe
yee cannot so much as shew the points of your religion wherein yee differ from us by the testimonie of the sacred and Canonicall Scriptures to have beene in the Apostles times and taught or approved by them as wee can doe ours And as touching Perpetuitie your Church hath it not but ours verie clearely hath it as having beene not onely in the times of the Apostles but in all succeeding ages also and posterities as is before sufficiently and plainely declared in the first part of this booke Chap. 2. For the true Church is builded upon so strong and invincible a Rocke namely upon Christ Iesus himselfe whom Peter confessed as that the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it If all the power of hell and divels as is here manifest cannot prevaile against the Church of God that is the companie of Gods Elect and the number of his true and right Worshippers It is evident that this Church that is a companie of right and true worshippers of him must be granted to be perpetuall and to have continued throughout all ages and generations especially considering what God himselfe further speaketh saying thus I will makâ— this my covenant with them my spirit that is vpon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy Seede nor out of the mouth of thy Seedes seede saith the Lord from henceforth even for ever Yea that our Church was in Esse and had continuance even during the hottest rage of the raigne of that Romish Antichrist besides all other arguments this is a manifest one namely because the Popish Church still molested pursued and persecuted our Church under the names of Berengarians VValdenses Albigenses VVickâ—evists Lutherans Calvinists Lollards Heretickes Scismatickes and such like And yet very true it is that such may be sometime in some place the state of the Church by reason of rageing persecution against it as that even a right godly man and true worshipper of God may thinke himselfe to bee left alone without anie followers or copartners with him there in the right service of God As for example Elias complained in his time and of that place where he then lived that hee was left alone and That they sought to take avvay his life also And yet for all that was not Elias left alone although he so supposed and spake for God told him that he had even there namely in Israell where Elias then was reserved unto himselfe Seven thousand right worshippers of him which had not bowed their knee to Baal If the Companie of Gods chosen Church and elect people and right Worshippers of him be as is here evident sometime in some place unknowne even to a right godly man and Prophet of God no marvell is it though they sometimes lye hid and be unknowne to their enemies and persecutors to whose devowring pawes and bloodie hands without urgent cause they had no reason to shew themselves It is therfore no good argument which Papists make when they say that at some times during the raigne of Poperie they neither saw nor knew nor could heare of anie Protestants for if it were so as they say that they could finde none nor knew of anie at sometimes yet even then might there bee and were there also some such true and right worshippers of God albeit they lay hid from them and kept themselves as they had reason from their knowledge and mercilesse crueltie The reason then which they make against the continuance and perpetuitie of our Church because it was not as they say at all times seene of the world nor had their exercises of Religion at all and singular times publikely knowne to the world appeareth to be verie idle and of no force As for the answer which the Rhemists make to the former complaint of Eâ—ias that the faithful in his time were forced to keep close by reason of the persecution of Achab Iesabel which was onely in the Kingdome of the ten Tribes that is in Israell and yet neverthelesse that at the verie same time in Ierusalem and in all the Kingdome of Iudah the externall worship and profession of faith was openly observed well known even to Elias himselfe Admit all this were true which is not proved yet what will they then say to this that the Church at other times hath beene so hidden that there was no open or publike exercise of Religion to be sâ—ene no not in Iuda or Ierusalem it selfe no more then in those ten Tribes of Israell as namely in the daies of Ahas the sonne of Iotham King â—f Iuda of whom it is said that hee walked in the way of the Kings of Israâ—ll yea and made his Sonne to goe through the fire after the abhominations of the Heathen and in whose time the Altar of God was removed and an Idolatrous altar by the high Priests consent 〈…〉 Yea in the daies also of Hoseah King of Israell it is testified that not onely Israell but Iuda also kept not the Commandements of the Lord their God but walked according to the fashion of Israel vvhich they vsed How was the Church then visible in that sort and sense that wee speake of that is to say was it such a Church as had publike exercises of Gods religion splendently seene and openly apparant to the world Againe in the daies of Manasseth King of Iuda when Hee did evill in the sight of the Lord after the abhomination of the Heathen and erected altars for Baall and worshipped all the hoast of heaven and served them and when hee also built Idolatrous altars in the house of the Lord yea when it was recorded that this King Manasseh led the people out of the way to doe more wickedly then did the heathen and made Iuda also sinne vvith his Idols I say when Iuda became thus corrupted and Idolatrous aswell as Israell Had then the Church her outward practise of Religion according to Gods commandement and appointment to bee openly seene of the world And was it not so likewise in the daies of Amon King of Iuda Sonne and successor to Manasseh vvho did evill in the sight of the Lord as his father Manasseh did for he walked in all the waies his father walked in and served the Idols that his father served and worshipped them Thus you see that the Church of God was sometimes not openly seene but lay hidden and that as well in Iuda and Ierusalem as in the ten Tribes But perceiving this Church of Iuda and Israell to make against them then they flie to another devise and say that the Christian Church hath better promises then the Church of the Iewes Howbeit they can shew none as touching this point better for the one then for the other Yea for the Church of the Ievves to continue untill the first comming of Christ there be as strong as good promises to be seene as for
a kind of matter appeared insomuch that S. Augustine himselfe sometime speaketh Doubtfully of it and with a peradventure there is some such thing But at other sometimes againe he is verie confident and resolute that there is no such third place and therefore in one place hee affirmeth it expresselie to be the faith of the Catholikes in that time to beleeve onelie these two places namelie Heaven and Hell But a third place saith hee vvee are utterly ignorant of Neyther doe vvee finde it to be in the holy Scriptures And againe he saith Duae quippè habitationes una in igne â—terno alia in regno aeterno For there be two habitations or dwelling places the one in everlasting fire the other in an everlasting kingdome Agreeablie wherunto the scripture that speaketh of fire for the punishment of people after their death expreslie affirmeth it to be an everlasting fire and unquenchable fire which is sufficient to take away all conceit of your temporarie and quenchable fire in your vainelie supposed Purgatorie Yea S. Augustine saith further In requie sunt animae piorum à corpore separatae c. The soules of the godly separated from their bodies be in rest or quietnesse and the soules of the ungodly suffer punishments untill the bodies of those doe rise againe unto life everlasting and the bodies of these unto eternall death vvhich is called the second death And so speaketh also S. Cyprian saying Quando isthinc excessum fuerit nullus iam poenitentiae locus nulâ—us satisfactionis effectus Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Hic saâ—uti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur VVhen men bee once departed out of this life there is no more place for repentance there is no more vvorke or effect of any satisfaction Here in this vvorld saith he life is eyther lost or got Here it is that provision is made for eternall salvation by the worshipping of God and the fruits of faith And again he there saith Then shall be vvithout fruit of repentance all griefe of paine inanis ploratio inefficax deprecatio and in vaine shall vveeping be then and prayers shall then be also uneffectuall and of no force 6 To what end then is also your praier for the dead or the Popes pardons and indulgences or singing or saying of Masses Trentals Requiems or anie other your workes satisfactorie or helpefull as you call them for the soules of the dead for in the place vvhere the Tree falleth there it lyeth whether it be toward the South or toward the North saith Ecclesiastes appointing likewise as here you see but two places in that behalfe Agreeably whereunto hee saith againe that when a man dieth his bodie as Dust returneth to the earth from vvhence it came and his soule or spirit returneth to God that gave it And againe he saith after that men are dead They have no more portion for ever in all that is done under the Sunne What part or portion then can they have in your praiers or in anie other works done by men that be living in this world Wee know and beleeve there is a communion of Saints and that the charitie and love of the Saints one towards another is verie great but yee see that the Saints and godlie Elect goe not after their death to anie place of Torment but into a place of blessednesse and heavenlie happinesse where they stand not in need of anie mortall mens praiers or other their workes whatsoever On the other side the soules of the ungodlie reprobates goe to Hell the place of the damned so that no praiers or other works whatsoever can doe them anie good for their ease or deliverance from thence And as for anie third sort of people that be neither Elect nor Reprobates such are not to be found It is true that in this life wee may beare one anothers burden and one may paie a debt for another and the abundance of one mans wealth may supplie the defect or want of another But as touching the next world it is not so for the Scripture saith that The Iust man shall live not by anie other mans but by his owne faith Againe it saith The soule that sinneth that shall dye And againe The righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon himselfe and the vvickednesse of the vvicked shall be upon himselfe So that neither the righteousnesse nor the wickednesse of one shall bee imparted to another to save or condemne him Yea though these three men Noah Daniel and Iob were amongst them they should deliver but their owne soules by their righteousnesse saith the Lord God And againe the Psalmist saith A man can by no meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him It cost more to redeeme soules and therefore he must let that alone for ever Neither hath anie that is but a meere man anie such abundance of holinesse or righteousnesse in him as to be therewith able to supplie the defects or wants of others in that behalfe Yea all is little enough for himselfe when hee once commeth to stand in Gods presence and before his tribunall For even the holiest and iustest man that is must then say with King David Enter not O Lord into iudgement vvith thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be iustified Yea even the blessed Virgin Mary her selfe though a most godly and holy woman yet had not such abundance of holinesse in her as to be able thereby to be her owne Saviour much lesse to be able to merit the salvation of others for that she was in respect of her selfe a Sinner and consequently had need of Christ Iesus to bee her Saviour as well as other people her selfe plainely declared when shee said My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit reioyceth in God my Saviour If she had had no sinne at all in her as some Papists affirme what need had she of a Saviour or how could Christ Iesus have beene her Saviour as shee calleth and affirmeth him For he is in no other respect called Iesus that is a Saviour but because he shall save his people from their sinnes as the Angel testifieth Againe doth not the Scripture say expressely that All have sinned and that vvhosoever be iustified be iustified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus The Papists also talke much of the vertues and sufferings of S. Paul as though they were meritorious and satisfactorie as well for others as for himselfe when as nevertheles himselfe sheweth they were not sufficient for his owne salvation It is true that he saith in his Epistle to the Colossians that He reioyced in his sufferings for them that is for their sakes who thereby were to be encouraged strengthned and confirmed in the faith of Christ and that Hee did fill up or accomplish that which was yet behinde
will appeareth in both Quoniam esse vult quod facit aut permittit Because he will have that to be vvhich hee either doth or permitteth to be done Deus vult esse malum in eo non nisi bonum vult God doth vvill evill to bee and therein hee vvilleth not but vvhat is good saith the same Hugo For what is ill done as it commeth from men is vvell done so far forth as God hath to doe in it hee being the orderer and ruler of it and the disposer of it to good uses and ends in his purpose And therefore doth S. Augustine say againe that Deus quasâ— dam voluntates suas utique bonas implet per malorum hominum voluntates malas God doth accomplish his ovvne vvill being verily good by the evill vvils of evill men Although then God moveth and ruleth all men and their wils affections and actions because in him it is that all doe live move and have their being yet is he not for all that the Author of the praviâ—ie or wickednesse that is in those men or in their wils affections or actions no more then he that moveth stirreth or rideth upon a Lame Horse or that ruleth and governeth him can be therefore said to bee the cause or Author of his lamenesse or of any other his defects As touching the fall of Adam then and originall sinne you see how it was caused without anie coaction or compulsion from God and as touching actuall sinnes they flowe and come from that corruption of mens nature accrued unto them by reason of that first transgression If therefore anie here obiect in defence or excuse of Reprobates that since the transgression of Adam they sinne necessarily and cannot but sinne by reason of their Nature corrupted and remaining in them unaltered and uncleansed I answer first that they have drawne upon themselves this Corruption and necessitie of sinning by that their fall and transgression in Adam And secondly although God doth not cleanse purge sanctifie or purifie them nor doth give those saving graces to them which he doth to the Elect yet he is not therfore to be taxed or quarrelled against because God is debtor to no man but may at his owne most free pleasure out of that fallen lumpe of mankinde choose whom he would to salvation and refuse whom he would and accordingly give or withhold his saving graces Thirdly consider that there bee also Elect Angels aswell as Elect Men and consequently Reprobate Angels aswell as reprobate men Now the Angels that fell from their first estate and are become Divels doe sinne as all men know necessarily and cannot but sinne and yet are they not therefore excused If then a necessitie of sinning in Divels will not serve to excuse them how can it serve to excuse reprobate men wherein the difference is ever to be remenbred betweene necessitie and coaction For howsoever reprobate men aswell as Dâ—vels doe sinne necessarily yet doth not God force or compell them to sinne but as they have brought sin upon themselves through their owne default so by reason of their depraved natures they still sin and that willingly and readily of their owne accords without any enforcing coaction or compulsion from God Yea fourthly a necessitie of a thing to bee done in respect of Gods purpose will and decree doth not excuse him that doth it to an other end and purpose as namely to satisfie his owne lewd minde and wicked will and affection This appeareth and that verie specially and particularly in Iudas Iscariot who together with his Complices did nothing in that his sinfull and detestable act of betraying Iesus but what the hand and counsaile of God had before ordained to be done for so the Scripture expresly and directly witnesseth and yet did not this counsaile purpose or decree of God excuse the sinner For Christ Iesus himselfe saith that A vvoe neverthelesse belonged to that man by whom the Sonne of man was betrayed and that it had beene better for that man if he had never beene borne Christ Iesus againe saith thus It must needs be that offence come but woe to that man by whom the offence commeth Where you likewise see a necessitie of sinning and of offences and yet that this will not excuse the sinner or offendour for all that God saith againe hee would send proud Ashur the rod of his wrath against his people the Ievves so that it was Gods decree and purpose which Ashur therein executed yet because he executed this will and decree of God with another meaning and to another end and purpose namely to satisfie his owne cruell proud and ungodly minde therefore he for his part sinned and deserved punishment The Brethren of Ioseph also sold Ioseph into Egypt and it was Gods will providence and purpose that it should be so But God had one purpose and meaning in it and they another for God thereby meant to provide for his Church and people and for the good of Ioseph and they on the otherside did it as being mooved with envie and of an evill meaning toward him and therefore were guiltie of sinne even in their owne consciences notwithstanding that Gods dscree and purpose was therein also executed Shimei likewise rayled upon King David and cursed him and it was Gods decree and purpose that it should be so for the Lord had bidden him to curse David as David himselfe confessed yet hough he therein executed the wil and decree of God was not he therefore for his part excused because God had one meaning in it and he another For God meant so to put David in remembrance of some sinne and thereby to checke and humble him but Shimei did it so to satisfie his owne wicked and malicious minde and therefore was guiltie of sinne for which also he was afterward punished Thus you see I hope that Gods decreeing and purposing in his own hidden counsell and secret will to permit sinnes to bee committed will not serve to excuse sinners sith they commit their sinnes not to anie such end or with anie such minde or purpose as thereby to doe and performe Gods will or any of his secret and sacred decrees which be things for that present unknowne unto them but to another end and purpose namely to satisfie their owne lewd licentious and wicked wills which is alwaies matter sufficient to make them inexcusable And therefore well may that saying of S. Bernard be applied to a reprobate man that Voluntas inexcusabilem incorrigibilem necessitas facit His will doth make him Inexcusable and a necessitie of sinning Incorrigible 3 But against this matter of Gods reprobating or refusall of anie as touching salvation is obiected that place of S. Paul to Timothie where he saith thus I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thankes be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authoritie
respect of his Episcopal or Spiritual And for this cause also the one is said to arise out of the Sea and the other out of the Earth Rev. 13.1.11 for in respect of his Episcopal supremacie and Pseudoprophetical demeanour hee arose from the Earth it receiving his original from below and from the Earth and not from Heaven and in respect of his Imperial dominion hee arose out of the Sea because the Ruines of the Empire by meanes whereof hee arose to that his Imperial Greatnesse were not otherwise wrought but by the wavering and disquiet turbulencies that were in the World in those daies So that howsoever it is called the first Beast and the second Beast in distinct considerations yet upon the matter they both make but one Antichrist And therefore in Rev. 17. is there mention made but of One Beast only which supported the Whore of Babylon Yea Fatentur omnes pertinere omnino ad Antichristum verba illa Iohannis c. All men confesse saith Bellarmine himselfe that those vvords of Iohn in Rev. 13.11 c. doe undoubtedly belong to Antichrist Now then let us examine and see if they be not all verified in the Pope and Papacy First it is said that this second Beast had two hornes like a Lamb but he spake like the Dragon Duo Cornua similia Agni scilicet Christi cuius duo Cornua sunt duo Testamenta He shal have two Hornes like to those of the Lambe that is like to those of Christ vvhose two Hornes be the two Testaments as Lyranus Primasius and Augustine also expound them Whereby appeareth that Antichrist shall outwardly pretend great sanctitie sinceritie humilitie and simplicitie and as if hee did all things by good authoritie and strength of the holy Scriptures the two Testaments the Old and the New and yet in verie deed his voice and speech that is his doctrines decrees lawes canons and constitutions should bewray and discover him to be but a Wolfe in Sheepes clothing and no lesse cruell and malignant against the true Church of God then the verie Dragon Doth not everie man perceive that these things doe rightly fit the Pope For who maketh a greater outward shew of sanctitie pietie and Christianitie then he and what doth he else but pretend the strength and authoritie of the two Testaments namely of the holy Scriptures for warrant and maintenance of the false doctrines errors heresies hee teacheth and holdeth Can anie man outwardly pretend greater humi litie then he when he entitleth himselfe Servus servorum Dei a servant of Gods servants and yet for all that he taketh upon him by his claimes and actions to be Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords So that howsoever hee pretendeth humilitie yet wee see hee is farre from it And howsoever hee pretendeth the authoritie of the holy Scriptures viz the two Testaments for the strengthning and confirmation of his religion doctrine and doings alledging them to be shadowed out and figured in the two Hornes of his Myter yet partly by reason of the unsound and false translations of those Scriptures which he defendeth and authorizeth against the truth of the Originals and partly whilest he perverteth and misinterpreteth the true Scriptures themselves and equalleth also his Traditions unto them and moreover dispenseth with them at his pleasure and preferreth his owne authoritie and the authoritie of his Church above them and so maketh them to speake in another sense and otherwise then ever they meant it is apparant that being thus used and abused they be at the most but like the two Hornes of the Lambe as this Text speaketh and be not the verie two hornes themselves that is they be not the pure incorrupt and undoubtedly true Scriptures themselves but corrupted differing from them Pope and Popery then appeareth to consist all in shewes semblances and likenesses of veritie sanctitie and pietie and have it not in verie deed and substance And therefore not without good cause did diverse Bishops make their complaint long sithence in their Epistle to Pope Nicholas recorded in Aventine saying in this sort unto him Thou bearest the person of a Bishop but thou playest the Tyrant under the habite and attyre of a Pastor vvee feele a VVolfe It is a lying Title that calleth thee Father thou in thy deeds shewest thy selfe to be another Iupiter being the servant of servants thou strivest to be the Lord of Lords c. But moreover doth not the Pope speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell for by the Dragon in the Revelation is the Divell understood when he saith that the Kingdomes of the world be his and that he hath power to dispose and give them to whomsoever hee will For did not the Divell speake the verie same to Christ in the Gospel Yea the Pope is as they write Totius orbis Dominus The Lord of the vvhole vvorld and hath Coelestis terrestris potestatis Monarchiam The Monarchy or soveraignetie both of the heavenly and earthly power and to him forsooth they apply that Prophecie Dominabitur à mari ad mare à flumine usque ad terminos orbis He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the vvorld Yea they attribute that unto him which Iesus Christ spake of himselfe saying that All power is given unto him both in heaven and earth Matth. 28.18 Be not these most abominable blasphemous and divelish speeches being attributed to the Pope But yet further what doth hee else but speake like the Dragon that is like the Divell whilest he teacheth that doctrine of Divells mentioned in the Epistle to Timothy as shal afterward appeare and whilest he maintaineth a wrong worship of God a false faith and an Apostatical and Antichristian religion against the right most pure and onely true religion of Christ extant in the booke of God the holy and canonical Scriptures 3 Againe it is said that this second Beast did exercise all the power of the first Beast and that before him And who is so ignorant but hee knoweth that the Pope exerciseth all the power of the first Beast that is of the Latine or Romane State and that before him or before his face that is to say even at Rome and in the presence of the Romane State For hath not the Pope gotten that which was the seate of the Emperor namely Rome and made it his seate And is not the Emperor put downe from having anie Headship or Soveraigne Authoritie there Yea doth not the Pope there take upon him to exercise all the Imperial power authoritie tamen sine nomine Romani Imperatoris yet vvithout the name of the Emperor of Rome as Bellar. himself also saith that Antichrist must doe For this Imperial Authoritie aswell as his Ecclesiastical that is to say both his supremacies as before is shewed hee claimeth and holdeth under the name and title
be conditions of his person as he was in sacrifice and oblation But our ancestours in the use of their Sacrament received the Eucharist in both kindes not being so acute as to discerne betwixt the things that belonged unto the integritie of the sacrifice of the sacrament because in verie truth they tooke the one to be the other Thus Bede relateth that one Hildmer an officer of Egfrid king of Northumberland intreated our Cuthbert to send a Priest that might minister the sacraments of the Lords body and blood unto his wife that then lay a dying and Cuthbert himselfe immediately before his owne departure out of this life received the communion of the Lords body and blood as Herefride abbat of the monasterie of Lindisfarne who was the man that at that time ministred the sacrament unto him made report unto the same Bede who elsewhere also particularly noteth that he then tasted of the cuppe Pocula degustat vitae Christique supinum Sanguine munit iter least anie man should think that under the formes of bread alone he might be said to have beene partaker of the body blood of the Lord by way of Concomitance which is a toy that was not once dreamed of in those dayes So that we need not to doubt what is meant by that which we reade in the booke of the life of Furseus which was written before the time of Bede that he received the communion of the holy body and blood and that he was wished to admonish the Pastors of the Church that they should strengthen the soules of the faithfull with the spirituall food of doctrine and the participation of the holy body and blood or of that which Cogitosus writeth in the life of S. Brigid touching the place in the Church of Kildare whereunto the Abbatesse with her maidens and widdowes used to resort that they might enjoy the banquet of the body and blood of Iesus Christ. which was agreeable to the practise not only of the Nunneries founded beyond the seas according to the rule of Columbanus where the Virgins received the body of the Lord and sipped his blood as appeareth by that which Ionas relateth of Domna in the life of Burgundofora but also of S. Brigid her selfe who was the foundresse of the monasterie of Kildare one of whose miracles is reported even in the later Legends to have happened when she was about to drinke out of the Chalice at the time of her receiving of the Eucharist which they that list to looke after may finde in the collections of Capgrave Surius and such like But you will say these testimonies that have beene alledged make not so much for us in proving the use of the communion under both kindes as they make against us in confirming the opinion of Transubstantiation seeing they all specifie the receiving not of bread and wine but of the body and blood of Christ. I answer that forasmuch as Christ himselfe at the first institution of his holy Supper did say expressely This is my body and This is my blood hee deserveth not the name of a Christian that will question the truth of that saying or refuse to speake in that language which hee hath heard his Lord and Master use before him The question onely is in what sense and after what maner these things must be conceived to be his body blood Of which there needed to be little question if men would be pleased to take into their consideration these two things which were never doubted of by the ancient and have most evident ground in the context of the Gospell First that the subject of those sacramentall propositions delivered by our Saviour that is to say the demonstrative particle THIS can have reference to no other substance but that which he then held in his sacred hands namely bread and wine which are of so different a nature from the body and blood of Christ that the one cannot possibly in proper sense be said to be the other as the light of common reason doth force the Romanists themselves to confesse Secondly that in the predicate or later part of the same propositions there is not mention made onely of Christs body and blood but of his body broken and his blood shedd to shew that his body is to be considered here apart not as it was borne of the Virgin or now is in heaven but as it was broken and crucified for us and his blood likewise apart not as running in his veynes but as shedd out of his body which the Rhemists have told us to be conditions of his person as he was in sacrifice and oblation And least we should imagine that his bodie were otherwise to be considered in the sacrament then in the sacrifice in the one alive as it is now in heaven in the other dead as it was offered upon the crosse the Apostle putteth the matter out of doubt that not only the minister in offering but also the people in receiving even as often as they eate this bread and drinke this cup doe shew the Lords death untill he come Our elders surely that held the sacrifice to be given and received for so we have heard themselves speake as well as offered did not consider otherwise of Christ in the sacrament then as he was in sacrifice and oblation If here therefore Christs body be presented as broken and livelesse and his blood as shedd forth and severed from his body and it be most certaine that there are no such things now really existent anie where as is confessed on all hands then must it follow necessarily that the bread and wine are not converted into these things really The Rhemists indeed tell us that when the Church doth offer and sacrifice Christ daily he in mysterie and sacrament dieth Further then this they durst not go for if they had said he died really they should thereby not only make themselves daily killers of Christ but also directly crosse that principle of the Apostle Rom. 6.9 Christ being raysed from the dead dyeth no more If then the bodie of Christ in the administration of the Eucharist be propounded as dead as hath bin shewed die it cannot really but only in mysterie and sacramēt how can it be thought to be contayned under the outward elements otherwise then in sacramēt mysterie and such as in times past were said to have received the sacrifice from the hand of the Priest what other body and blood could they expect to receive therein but such as was sutable to the nature of that sacrifice to wit mysticall and sacramentall Coelius Sedulius to whom Gelasius Bishop of Rome with his Synod of LXX Bishops giveth the title of venerable Sedulius and Hildephonsus Toletanus of the good Sedulius the Evangelicall poët the eloquent orator and the catholick writer is by Trithemius and others supposed to be the same with our Sedulius of Scotland or Ireland whose
the Archbishop vvas dead Calomagnus the King of Scotts and the troupe of his Officers with the under-courtiers and the concourse of all that countrey with the same affection of heart cryed out that the holy Priest Livinus was most worthily to be advanced unto the honour of this order The King more devoute then all of them consenting thereunto three or foure times placed the blessed man in the chayre of the Archbishoprick with due honour according to the will of the Lord. In like maner also did king Ecgfrid cause our Cuthbert to be ordayned Bishop of the Church of Lindisfarne and king Pipin granted the Bishoprick of Salzburg to our Virgilius Duke Gunzo would have conferred the Bishoprick of Constance upon our Gallus but that hee refused it and caused another upon his recommendation to be preferred thereunto As the Pope intermedled not with the making of our Bishops so neyther can we finde by any approved record of antiquitie that anie Visitations of the clergie were held here in his name much lesse that any Indulgences were sought for by our people at his hands For as for the Charter of S. Patrick by some intituled De antiquitate Avalonicâ wherein Phaganus and Deruvianus are said to have purchased ten or thirtie yeares of Indulgences from Pope Eleutherius and S. Patrick himselfe to have procured twelve yeares in his time from Pope Celestinus it might easily be demonstrated if this were a place for it that it is a meere figment devised by the Monkes of Glastenbury Neyther doe I well know what credite is to be given unto that stragling sentence which I finde ascribed unto the same author for I will still deale fairely and conceale nothing that I meet withall in anie hidden part of antiquitie that may tend to the true discoverie of the state of former times whether it may seeme to make for me or against me If any questions doe arise in this Iland let them be referred to the See Apostolick Onely this I will say that as it is most likely that S. Patrick had a speciall regard unto the Church of Rome from whence he was sent for the conversion of this Iland so if I my selfe had lived in his dayes for the resolution of a doubtfull question I should as willingly have listened to the judgement of the Church of Rome as to the determination of anie Church in the whole world so reverend an estimation have I of the integritie of that Church as it stood in those good dayes But that S. Patrick was of opinion that the Church of Rome was sure ever afterward to continue in that good estate and that there was a perpetuall priviledge annexed unto that See that it should never erre in judgement or that the Popes sentences were alway to be held as infallible Oracles that will I never beleeve sure I am that my countreymen after him were of a farre other beleefe who were so farre from submitting themselves in this sort to whatsoever should proceed from the See of Rome that they oftentimes stood out against it when they had little cause so to do For proofe whereof I need to seeke no further then to those verie allegations which have beene lately urged for maintenance of the supremacie of the Pope and Church of Rome First Mr. Coppinger commeth upon us with this wise question Was not Ireland among other countries absolved from the Pelagian heresie by the Church of Rome as Cesar Baronius writeth then he setteth downe the copie of S. Gregories epistle in answer unto the Irish Bishops that submitted themselves unto him and concludeth in the end according to his skill that the Bishops of Ireland being infected with the Pelagian errour sought absolution first of Pelagius the Pope but the same was not effectually done untill S. Gregory did it But in all this the silly man doth nothing else but bewray his owne extreme ignorance For neyther can he shew it in Cesar Baronius or in anie other author whatsoever that the Irish Bishops did ever seek absolution from Pope Pelagius or that the one had to deale in any businesse at all with the other Neyther yet can he shew that ever they had to doe with S. Gregory in anie matter that did concerne the Pelagian heresie for these be dreames of Coppingers own idle head The epistle of S. Gregory dealeth onely with the controversie of the three chapter◠which were condemned by the fifth generall Councell whereof Baronius writeth thus All the Bishops that were in Ireland with most earnest studie rose up jointly for the defence of the Three Chapters And when they perceived that the Church of Rome did both receive the condemnation of the Three chapters and strengthen the fifth Synod with her consent they departed from her and clave to the rest of the schismaticks that were eyther in Italy or in Africk or in other countries animated with that vaine confidence that they did stand for the Catholick faith while they defended those things that were concluded in the Councell of Chalcedon And so much the more fixedly saith he did they cleave to their error because whatsoever Italy did suffer by commotions of warre by famine or pestilence all these unhappy things they thought did therefore befall unto it because it had undertaken to fight for the Fift Synod against the Councell of Chalcedon Thus farre Baronius out of whose narration this may be collected that the Bishops of Ireland did not take all the resolutions of the Church of Rome for undoubted oracles but when they thought that they had better reason on their sides they preferred the judgement of other Churches before it Wherein how peremptorie they were when they wrote unto S. Gregory of the matter may easily be perceived by these parcells of the answer which he returned unto their letters The first entry of your epistle hath notified that you suffer a grievous persecution which persecution indeed when it is not sustayned for a reasonable cause doth profite nothing unto salvation and therefore it is verie unfit that you should glory of that persecution as you call it by which it is certaine you cannot be promoted to everlasting rewards And whereas you write that since that time among other provinces Italy hath beene most afflicted you ought not to object that unto it as a reproach because it is written Whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne that he receiveth Then having spoken of the booke that Pope Pelagius did write of this controversie which indeed was penned by Gregory himselfe he addeth If after the reading of this book you will persist in that deliberation wherein now you are without doubt you shew that you give your selves to be ruled not by reason but by obstinacie By all which you may see what credite is to be given unto the man who would beare us in hand that this epistle of S. Gregory was sent
White field among whom there was contention about the order of Easter For Lasreanus the Abbot of the monastery of Leighlin unto whom there were subject a thousand and five hundred monkes defended the new order that lately came from Rome but others defended the old This Lasreanus or Lazerianus is the man who in other Legends of no greater credite then this wee now have in hand is reported to have beene the Bishop of Romes legat in Ireland and is commonly accounted to have beene the first Bishop of the Church of Leighlin His principall antagonist at this meeting was one Munna founder of the monastery which from him was called Teach-munna that is the house of Munna in the Bishoprick of Meath who would needs bring this question to the same kinde of triall here that Augustin is said to have done in England In defence of the Roman order Bede telleth us that Augustin made this motion to the Brittish Bishops for a finall conclusion of the businesse Let us beseech God which maketh men to dwell of one minde together in their fathers house that he will vouchsafe by some heavenly signs to make known unto us what traditiō is to be followed by what way we may hasten to the entry of his kingdome Let some sick man be brought hither and by whose prayers he shall be cured let his faith and working be beleeved to be acceptable unto God and to be followed by all men Now Munna who stood in defence of the order formerly used by the Brittish and Irish maketh a more liberall proffer in this kinde and leaveth Lasreanus to his choyce Let us dispute briefely saith he but in the name of God let us give judgement Three things are given to thy choyce Lasreanus Two bookes shall be cast into the fire a booke of the old order and of the new that wee may see whether of them both shall be freed from the fire Or let two Monkes one of mine and another of thine be shut up into one house and let the house be burnt and wee shall see which of them will escape untouched of the fire Or let us goe unto the grave of a just Monke that is dead and rayse him up againe and let him tell us after what order we ought to celebrate Easter this yeare But Lasreanus being wiser then so refused to put so great a matter to that hazzard and therefore returned this grave answer unto Munna if all be true that is in the Legend We will not goe unto thy judgement because we know that for the greatnesse of thy labour and holinesse if thou shouldest bid that mount Marge should be changed into the place of the White field and the White field into the place of mount Marge God vvould presently doe this for thy sake So prodigall doe some make God to be of miracles and in a maner carelesse how they should fall as if in the dispensing of them he did respect the gracing of persons rather then of causes In what yeare this Councell of the White field was held is not certainly known nor yet whether S. Munna be that whited wall of whom we heard Cummianus complaine The Synod of Strenshalch before mentioned was assembled long after at Whitby called by the Saxons Streanesheale in Yorkeshire the yeare of our Lord DCLXIIII for the decision of the same question Concerning which in the life of Wilfrid written at the commandement of Acca who in the time of Bede was Bishop of Hangustald or Hexham in Northumberland we reade thus Vpon a certaine time in the dayes of Colman metropolitan Bishop of the citie of Yorke Oswi and Alhfrid his sonne being Kings the Abbots and Priests and all the degrees of Ecclesiasticall orders meeting together at the monastery which is called Streaneshel in the presence of Hilde the most godly mother of that abbay in presence also of the Kings and the two Bishops Colman Aegelberht inquiry was made touching the observatiō of Easter what was most right to be held whether Easter should be kept according to the custome of the Brittons and the Scottes and all the Northren part upon the Lords day that came from the XIIII day of the Moone untill the XX. or whether it were better that Easter Sonday should be celebrated from the XV. day of the Moone untill the XXI after the maner of the See Apostolick Time was given unto Bishop Colman in the first place as it vvas fit to deliver his reason in the audience of all Who with an undaunted minde made his answer and sayd Our fathers and their predecessors who were manifestly inspired by the holy Ghost as Columkille was did ordayne that Easter should be celebrated upon the Lords day that fell upon the XIIII Moone following the example of Iohn the Apostle and Evangelist who leaned upon the brest of our Lord at his last Supper and was called the lover of the Lord. He celebrated Easter upon the XIIII day of the Moone and we with the same confidence celebrate the same as his disciples Polycarpus and others did neyther dare we for our parts neyther will we change this Bede relateth his speech thus This Easter which I use to observe I received from my elders who did send me Bishop hither which all our fathers men beloved of God are knowne to have celebrated after the same maner Which that it may not seeme unto any to be contemned and rejected it is the same which the blessed Evangelist Iohn the disciple specially beloved by our Lord with all the Churches which he did oversee is read to have celebrated Fridegodus who wrote the life of Wilfride at the command of Odo archbishop of Canterbury expresseth the same in verse after this maner Nos seriem patriam non frivola scripta tenemus Discipulo eusebij Polycarpo dante Iohannis Ille etenim bis septenae sub tempore Phaebae Sanctum praefixit nobis fore Pascha colendum Atque nefas dixit si quis contraria sentit On the contrarie side Wilfride objected unto Colman and his clerkes of Ireland that they with their complices the Pictes and the Brittons out of the two utmost Iles and those not whole neyther did with a foolish labour fight against the whole world And if that Columb of yours saith he yea and ours also if he were Christs was holy and powerfull in vertues could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles unto vvhom the Lord said Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevayle against it and I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Which last words wrought much upon the simplicitie of King Oswy who feared that when he should come to the doors of the kingdome of heaven there would be none to open if he were displeased who was proved to keepe the keyes but prevayled nothing with Bishop Colman who
for the feare of his country as the ancient author of the life of Wilfride writeth contemned the tonsure and the observation of Easter used by the Romanes and taking with him such as would follow him that is to say such as would not receive the catholick Easter and the tonsure of the crowne for of that also there was then no small question returned backe againe into Scotland In his roome was Wilfride chosen archbishop of Yorke who had learned at Rome from archdeacon Boniface the course of Easter vvhich the schismaticks of Brittaine and Ireland did not know so goe the words of the ancient writer of his life and afterward did brag that he was the first which did teach the true Easter in Northumberland having cast out the Scotts which did ordayne the Ecclesiasticall songs to be parted on sides and vvhich did command S. Benetts rule to be observed by Monkes But when he was named to the Archbishoprick he refused it at the first as William of Malmesbury relateth least he should receive his consecration from the Scottish Bishops or from such as the Scotts had ordayned vvhose communion the Apostolicke See had rejected The speech which hee used to this purpose unto the Kings that had chosen him is thus laid downe by the writer of his life O my honourable Lords the Kings it is necessary for us by all meanes providently to consider how with your election I may by the helpe of God come to the degree of a Bishop without the accusation of catholick men For there be many Bishops here in Brittayne none of whom it is my part to accuse ordayned within these foureteene yeares by the Brittons and Scotts whom neyther the See Apostolick hath received into her communion nor yet such as consent with the schismaticks And therefore in my humility I request of you that you would send me with your warrant beyond the Sea into the countrey of France where many Catholick Bishops are to be had that without any controversie of the Apostolick See I may be counted meet though unworthy to receive the degree of a Bishop While Wilfride protracted time beyond the Seas King Oswy ledde by the advise of the Quartadecimans so they injuriously nicknamed the Brittish and Irish that did celebrate Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moone appointed a most religious servant of God and an admirable Doctor that came from Ireland named Ceadda to be ordayned Bishop of Yorke in his roome Constituunt etenim perverso canone Coeddam Moribus acclinem doctrinae robore fortem Praesulis eximij servare cubilia sicque Audacter vivo sponsam rapuere marito saith Fridegodus This Ceadda being the scholler of Bishop Aidan was farre otherwise affected to the Brittis◠and Irish then Wilfride was and therefore was content to receive his ordination from Wini Bishop of the West-Saxons and two other Brittish Bishops that were of the Quartadeciman partie For at that time as Bede noteth there was not in all Brittaine any Bishop canonically ordayned that is to say by such as were of the communion of the Church of Rome except that Wini onely But shortly after the opposition betwixt these two sides grew to be so great that our Cuthbert Bishop of Lindisfarne upon his death bedd required his followers that they should hold no communion with them which did swerve from the unitie of the catholick peace eyther by not celebrating Easte◠in his due time or by living perversely and that they should rather take up his bones and remove their place of habitation then anie way condescend to submit their neckes unto the yoake of schismatickes And among the decrees made by some of the Saxon Bishops which were to be seene in the librarie of Sir Thomas Knevet in Northfolke and are still I suppose preserved there by his heyre this is laid downe for one Such as have received ordination from the Bishops of the Scotts or Brittaynes who in the matter of Easter and Tonsure are not united unto the Catholick Church let them be againe by imposition of hands confirmed by a Catholicke Bishop In like maner also let the Churches that have bin ordered by those Bishops be sprinkled with exorcized water confirmed with some service We have no licence also to give unto them Chrisme or the Eucharist when they require it unlesse they doe first professe that they will remaine with us in the unitie of the Church And such likewise as either of their nation or of any other shall doubt of their baptisme let them be baptized Thus did they On the other side how averse the Brittish and the Irish were from having anie communion with those of the Romane partie the complaint of Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus before specified doth sufficiently manifest But above all others the Brittish Priests that dwelt in West-wales abhorred their communion beyond all measure as Aldhelme abbot of Malmesbury declareth at large in his Epistle sent to Geruntius king of Cornewall where among manie other particulars he sheweth that if anie of the Catholicks for so he calleth those of his own side did go to dwell among them they would not vouchsafe to admit them unto their companie and societie before they first put them to fortie dayes penance Yea even to this day saith Bede who wrote his historie in the yeare DCCXXXI it is the maner of the Brittons to hold the faith and the religion of the English in no account at all nor to communicate with them in any thing more then with Pagans Whereunto those verses of Taliessyn honoured by the Brittains with the title of Ben Beirdh that is the chiefe of the Bardes or wisemen may be added which evidently shew that he wrote after the comming of Austin the monke into England and not 50. or 60. yeares before as others have imagined Gwae'r offeiriad byd Nys angreifftia gwyd Ac ny phregetha Gwaeny chèidw ey gail Ac ef yn vigail Ac nys areilia Gwae ny cheidw ey dheuaid Rhac bleidhie Rhufeniaid A'i ffon gnwppa which Humfrey Lhoyd doth thus English VVo be to that priest yborne That will not cleanly weed his corne And preach his charge among VVo be to that shepheard I say That will not watch his fold alway As to his office doth belong VVo be to him that doth not keepe From Romish wolves his sheepe VVith staffe and weapon strong By all that hath beene said the vanitie of Osullevan may be seene who fayneth the Northren Irish together with the Pictes and the Britons to have beene so obsequious unto the Bishop of Rome that they reformed the celebration of Easter by them formerly used as soone as they understood what the rite of the Romane Church was Whereas it is knowne that after the declaration thereof made by Pope Honorius and the clergie of Rome the Northren Irish were nothing moved therewith but continued still their owne tradition And therfore Bede
that grant and confirmation of Pope Alexander And to make the matter yet more sure in the year MCLXXXVI he obtained a new licence from Pope Vrban the third that one of his sonnes whom he himselfe would should be crowned for the KINGDOME of Ireland And this the Pope did not only confirme by his Bull but also the yeare following purposely sent over Cardinall Octavian and Hugo de Nunant or Novant his legates into Ireland to crowne Iohn the Kings sonne there By all this we may see how farre King Henry the second proceeded in this businesse which I doe not so much note to convince the stoliditie of Osullevan who would faine perswade fooles that he was preferred only to be collector of the Popes Peter-pâ—nce as to shew that Ireland at that time was esteemed a Kingdome and the Kings of England accounted no lesse then Kings thereof And therefore Paul the fourth needed not make all that noyse and trouble the vvhole Court of heaven with the matter when in the yeare MDLV hee took upon him by his Apostolicall authoritie such I am sure as none of the Apostles of Christ did ever assume unto themselves to erect Ireland unto the title and dignity of a Kingdome Whereas he might have found even in his own Romane Provinciall that Ireland was reckoned among the Kingdomes of Christendome before hee was borne Insomuch that in the yeare MCCCCXVII when the legates of the King of England and the French Kings ambassadours fell at variance in the Councell of Constance for precedencie the English Orators among other arguments alledged this also for themselves It is well knowne that according to Albertus Magnus and Bartholomaeus in his booke de proprietatibus rerum the whole world being divided into three parts to witt Asia Africk and Europe Europe is divided into foure Kingdomes namely the Romane for the first the Constantinopolitane for the second the third the kingdome of Ireland which is now translated unto the English and the fourth the kingdome of Spaine Whereby it appeareth that the king of England and his kingdome are of the more eminent ancient Kings and Kingdomes of all Europe which prerogative the kingdome of France is not said to obtaine And this have I here inserted the more willingly because it maketh something for the honour of my country to which I confesse I am verie much devoted and in the printed Actes of the Councell it is not commonly to be had But now commeth forth Osullevan againe and like a little furie flyeth upon the English-Irish Priests of his owne religion which in the late rebellion of the Earle of Tirone did not deny that Hellish doctrine fetcht out of Hell for the destruction of Catholicks that it is lawfull for Catholicks to beare armes and fight for Heretickes against Catholickes and their country or rather if you will have it in plainer termes that it is lawfull for them of the Romish religion to beare armes and fight for their Soveraigne and fellow subjects that are of another profession against those of their owne religion that trayterously rebell against their Prince and countrey and to shew how madde and how venemous a doctrine they did bring these be the caitiffes own termes that exhorted the laity to follow the Queens side he setteth down the Censure of the Doctors of the Universitie of Salamanca and Vallodilid published in the yeare MDCIII for the justification of that Rebellion and the declaration of Pope Clement the eights letters touching the same wherin he signifieth that the English ought to be set upon no lesse then the Turkes and imparteth the same favours unto such as set upon them that he doth unto such as fight against the Turks Such wholsome directions doth the Bishop of Rome give unto those that wil be ruled by him farre different I wisse from that holy doctrine wherewith the Church of Rome was at first seasoned by the Apostles Let every soule be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God was the lesson that S. Paul taught to the ancient Romanes Where if it be demanded whether that power also vvhich persecuteth the servants of God impugneth the faith and subverteth religion be of God our countreyman Sedulius will teach us to answer with Origen that even such a power as that is given of God for the revenge of the evill and the prayse of the good although he were as wicked as eyther Nero among the Romanes or Herod among the Iewes the one whereof most cruelly persecuted the Christians the other Christ himselfe And yet when the one of them swayed the scepter S. Paul told the Christian Romanes that they must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake and of the causelesse feare of the other these verses of Sedulius are solemnely song in the Church of Rome even unto this day Herodes hostis impie Christum venire quid times Non abripit mortalia Qui regna dat coelestia Why wicked Herod dost thou feare And at Christs comming frowne The mortall he takes not away That gives the heavenly crowne a better paraphrase whereof you caâ—not have then this which Claudius hath inserted into his Collections upon S. Matthew That King which is borne doth not come to overcome Kings by fighting but to subdue them after a wonderfull maner by dying neyther is he borne to the end that he may succeed thee but that the world may faithfully beleeve in him For he is come not that he may fight being alive but that he may triumph being slayne nor that he may with gold get an army unto himselfe out of other nations but that he may shed his precious blood for the saving of the nations Vainly didst thou by envying feare him to be thy successor whom by beleeving thou oughtest to seeke as thy Saviour because if thou diddest beleeve in him thou shouldest raigne with him and as thou hast received a temporall kingdome from him thou shouldest also receive from him an everlasting For the kingdome of this Childe is not of this world but by him it is that men doe raigne in this world He is the Wisedome of God which saith in the Proverbes By me Kings raigne This Childe is the Word of God this Childe is the Power and Wisedome of God If thou canst thinke against the Wisedome of God thou workest thine owne destruction and dost not know it For thou by no meanes shouldest have had thy kingdome unlesse thou hadst received it from that Childe which now is borne As for the Censure of the Doctors of Salamanca and Vallodilid our Nobility and Gentry by the faithfull service which at that time they performed unto the Crowne of England did make a reall confutation of it Of whose fidelitie in this kinde I am so well perswaded that I doe assure my selfe that neyther the names of Franciscus Zumel and Alphonsus Curiel how great Schoole-men soever
literaâ— Petiliani lib. 2 cap. 38. Aug. ad Vincen. Epist. 48. Retract 2.5 Christian kings may compell their subiects though not to faith yet to the outward meanes of faith And it is the body only and not the soule or conscience that they coÌ„mand and compell August in Epist. 50. 204. August Epist. 48. Retract lib. 2. cap. 5. August contra Crescon lib. 3. cap. 51. Seâ— these Texts fully answered in the third part of this booke Cap. 2. sect 5. Cusanus de Cath. Concord lib. 2. cap. 13. Aeneas Sil. li. 1. de gestis Basil. Concil Gerson Serm. pro viagiâ— Reg. Rom. direct 1. Valla. Cont. Don. Constant. Volateran in vita Const. Antonin 1. part l. 8. c. 2. Ser. iniquit Catal. in practic cancel Apostol Balbus de Coron ad Carol. 5. Concil Carthag 6. c. 3. Concil Affâ—is c. 101. 105. 92. Concil Milevit c. 22. Bellarm de Rom. pont lib. 2. cap. 14. 2. Tom. Concil in Decret Pelag 2. Tom. 2 Concil edit Bin. pa. 693. Gregor lib. 4. Epist. 34. â—pist 32. Epist. 36. Epist. 34. 38. Epist. 24. Observe well this reason amongst the rest Lib. 6. Ep. 30. Paul Diacon lib 4. de gestis Longobard cap. 37. Ab. Vsperg Chronic. Platin. Boniface 3. Otho Frising li. 5. c. 8. Chron. c. Bellarm. de pont Rom. cap. 17. Iustinian in Epist. ad Ioh. 2. Idem Co de sacros Ecc. Iustin. Co de summa Trinit lib. 7. De Episcop audientia 2. certissime Novel 3.5.7 Idem Novel 2. sequent Concil Calced Concil Nic. 2. Act. 2. Conc. Nic. ca. 6.7 Conc. Constant. 1. can 5. Conc. Chalced. Actio 16. The Decrees of ancient generall Councels against the Popes Supremacie Concil Constantinopol 1. canon 5. Concil Constantinopol 6. canon 36. Cusan Concord li. 2. c. 34. 20. The Popes Supremacie over Councels is of a verie late standing condemned by Councels Naucl. gener 47 Gerson de Au Papae Câ—â—â—il Constan. Sess. 5. Concil Basil. Sess. 38. 33. The Popes Supremacie over Kings Princes most abhominable Prov. 8.15 Dan. 4.29 Revel 19.16 Matth. 16.19 Aug in Psa. 124. Bellarm lib 5. ca. 7. de Râ—m Pont. Râ—m 13.5 Tertull. in Apolog cap. 37. Tertull. Apolog. cap. 30. Sigebert Chron. An. Dom. 1088. New Trayterous opinions Vincent in spec Histor. lib. 15. cap. 84. Gre. Vesper haeretico polit pag. 159. Marian. de rege regis Institut cap. 6. c. Theod. hist. lib 2. ca. 16. Niceph. lib. 26. ca. 17. Platina Sigeâ—ertus t. Theodor. lib. 1. cap. 19. Rom. 13.4 Grego Ep. lib. 2. cap. 100. 10â— Gregory the great Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor and at his command Anastatius Platina Lib. pontif Diaconus Optat. contra Parm. lâ—b 3. It is a point of madnesse to say or hold that a Christian King may not deale in matters Ecclesiastical by the testimonie of Optatus August Ep. 50. A Christian King maâ— make Lawes concerning matters Ecclesiasticall A Christian King may make CoÌ„missioners in Ecclesiasticall causes Optat. lib. 1. August Ep. 162. 16â— Euseb. lib. 10. cap. 5. A Christian King may have Appeales made unto him in a cause Ecclesiasticall Miltiades a Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor at his command Act. 25.11 12. Concil Affrican cap. 92. Appeales in ancient time not allowed to be made to the Bish. of Rome Concil Milevit cap. 22. Malmesbury lib. 1 de gest pont Angliae Hoveden Hen. 2. Theod. lib. 5. c. 7. Sozom. lib. 7. c. 7. Theod. li. 1. c. 7. General Councels called in ancient time by the Christian Emperors and not by the Popes Evagr. l. 1. c. 3. Conc. Calc Act. 1. zon tom 3. pag. 39. Cusan de Concor lib 2. cap. 25. Socrat. lib 5. in Prooemio Bellar. de Concil lib. 1. cap. 13. Leo Epist. 9. Leo Epist. 24. Epist. 26. Epist. 23. Leo Epist. 59. Leo a Bishop of Rome subiect to the Emperor and at his command 1. Kin 2.27.35 Zozom l. 7. c. 8. Plat. Sigeb A Christian King may nominate appoint Bishops of Diocesses Provinces Malmesbur de gestu Pont. Angl. lib. 1. pag. 205. Ibidem lib. 1. pag 205. Lib. 1. pag 204. Malmesb. de gest Reg. Angl. lib. 2. pag 45. De gestis Pont. Angl. lib. 2. pag. 242. p. 257. Metrop Grantz lib. 2. cap. 29. The Christian Emperors in ancient time had power to place and displace Popes The Act is of 1. Eliz cap. 1 in England and of 2. Eliz. cap. 1. in Ireland Euseb. in vitae Const. lib. 3. Conc. Const. 5. Conc. Chalced. Actio 3. Emperors and consequently Kings within their Dominions are to ratifie and confirme the Decrees of Councels before they be put in execution Aser Menevensis praefat ad Alfred Concil Mogunt in praefat Bin. t. 3. p 462. Bin. t. 3. p. 631. Concil Emerit ex Garsia Louisa sect 23. Bin. t. 2. pag. 1183. Gars in not in Concil Emer Calvin in Amos 7.13 Praefat. in Centur 1 Sam. 15.17 Chrysost. ad pop Antioch hom 2. Statute of 5. Eliz cap 1. Ract Crowne 8. 1. Thess. 5 12. Heb 13.17 2. Cor 5.20 Matth. 28.20 Ezech. 20.18 19. 2. Kin. 18.40 41. Matth. 7.15 1 Ioh. 4.1 Matth. 15.14 2. Thess. 2.3 4 5 6 7 8. 1. Tim. 3.16 Matth. 13.30 2. Thess. 2.7 1. Ioh. 2.18 1. Ioh. 4.3 2. Ioh. 7. 2. Thess. 2.8 Revel 10.2.8 9 10 11. Rev. 9.13 c. Rev. 10.2.8 9 10 11. Rev. 10.7 Rev. 11.15 16 17 18. Revel 2.13 2. Thes. 2.4 Revel 11.12 Rev. 18.4 Rev. 11.12 c. Rev. 11.2 M White in his his Booke called The way to the true Church In opere imperf in Matth. 49. 2. Sam. 16.11 1. Tim. 1.13 Cyprian in Psalmo Ad quid justificationes meas assumis testamentuÌ„ meum per osâ— tuum c. In vita Bernard Bern. in Cantic Card Contaren Tract de Iustificatione Pigâ— de fide Iustificatione Colon. in Antidag 1. Cor. 3.10 11 12 13 14 15. Aug. lib. 1. cont Iulian. Pelag. cap. 6. Greg Niss de hom opific. ca. ult Luke 23.40 41 42 43. Bellar. de Iustificat lib. 5. c. 7. Bern. de cons. ad Eugen. lib. 2. cap. 2 lib. 6. cap. 3 cap. 8. Epist 42 ad Hen. Archiepisc. Seâ—onensis apud Hugon in postill super Iohan cap. 1. Epist. 125. Concil Rhemens sub Capeto eius filio Epist. Leodiensis Ecclesiae ad Paschalem 2. in 2. volumine Conciliorum Acta vita Paschalis Sigon lib. 9. de regno Itâ—l Radevie in Appendice Frisingensis Avent in Boiâ—rum histor In oratione Archimistae ad Proceres Imperij Petrus Blessens in Epist. ad queÌ„dam officialem Sigeb â—onach Gemblacens apud Aventin de Tyran Pontificiâ— Guilielm Episc. Paris lib. de Collat. Benefic Henric. de Erphordia de Haiabalâ— circa Ann. 1345. Petrarch lib. Epist 14 epist. 17. epist. 19. Nicho. Oresmus in Orat. habit coram Papa Vrban 5. Iohan. de rup sciss in lib. prophetico cui