what they say or avouch so they say somewhat against Rome and those that any way favoured the same wherein passion doth so greatly blind them as they cannot discern when they alledge matters plainly against themselves as you have seen in the former enumeration of British Teachers Pastors and Prelates whom they would have us think to have been of a different Religion from that of Rome whereas their own words testimonies condition and state of life do testifie the contrary And so I leave these men to their folly and impudency in this behalf CHAP. XI The Deduction of the aforesaid Catholic Roman Religion planted in England by St. Augustin from his time to our days And that from King Ethelbert who first received the same unto King Henry VIII there was never any public interruption of the said Religion in our Land. HAving shewed before how that the Roman Catholic Faith was first preached in our Island under the Apostles and then again in the next Age under Pope Eleutherius and thirdly four Ages after that again under Pope Gregory and that all this was but one and the self-same Religion continued renewed and revived in divers times under divers States and People of the Realm there may seem to remain only now two other points considerable in this affair The first Whether this Religion brought in by St. Augustin to England were held at that day for the only true Religion of Christendom and so accepted by all the World The other Whether that Religion then planted hath come down and been continued in England ever since by continual Succession until the first public alteration made thereof in our days For if this be so then is the demonstration easie to be made even from the Apostles Times to Ours 2. And for the first tho' we have handled the same somewhat before yet briefly we will add now That there can be no doubt at all in this matter with men of Reason and Judgment but that St. Augustin and his Fellows brought in with them the whole Body of Religion as well touching Articles of Belief as Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Customs which were at that time in use at Rome whence they came and in other Catholic Countreys by which they passed namely Italy France and Flanders from which Countreys Pope Gregory himself exhorteth them by his Letters to take such good Ecclesiastical Uses as they should see most agreeable to Piety Edification and Devotion which is a sign that all those Countreys agreed fully in Faith and Belief with Rome at that day and were perfectly Catholic tho' in some external Ceremonies belonging to Devotion there might be difference And forasmuch as the French Bishops St. German St. Lupus and St. Severus 150 years as hath been said before the entrance of St. Augustin planted in Britanny the French Catholic Faith against the Pelagians and these men coming from Rome found no fault therewith most certain it is that all was one And finally if we do consider the Works Writings and Actions of Pope Gregory related by us before partly out of St. Isidore living at that time in Spain partly out of his own Epistles yet extant written to the chiefest Bishops of the Christian World and their Answers to him again together with their agreement in Faith and Religion If we do consider also the Heresies condemned in his days by Him and his Authority as the Eutychians Monothelites and others which our Protestants also do condemn for Heresies at this day By all this I say and by infinite other Arguments and Demonstrations that may be made it is most evident that either Christ had no Visible Church or Catholic Religion in those days which were most foolish and wicked to imagin or that the Religion of St. Gregory and his Church of Rome and others of others of the same Communion was in that Age the only true Catholic Church and consequently had in it the only true Catholic Faith and Religion of Christ whereby Christians might be saved which also is proved most evidently by infinit Miracles wrought in England and in divers other Countreys upon manifold occasions during this time of our Primitive Church as shall appear more in particular in the deduction of our second point which is the continuance of this same Religion from St. Augustin to Thomas Cranmer the first and last Archbishops of Canterbury following by Succession the one the other for the space of above 900 years the first dying a Saint the last ending in Apostacy as after shall be shewed 3. Wherefore to come to the second point about the deduction of Catholic Religion in our Nation from St. Augustin downward first of all St. Bede talking of the planting thereof and of our first Primitive Church whose progress and increase he describeth for the space of almost 140 years after the entrance of St. Augustin hath these words Gregorius Pontifex Divino admonitus instinctu servum Dei Augustinum alios plures cum eo Monachos timentes Dominum misit praedicare verbum Dei genti Anglorum c. Gregory the Pope being admonished by heavenly Instinct did send God's Servant Augustin and others Monks with him that feared God to preach his Word to the English Nation in the 14th year of Mauritius the Emperour which was of Christ 596 and the 4th after that St. Gregory was made Pope 4 These holy men landed in the Isle of Thanet belonging to the Kingdom of Kent for that the whole Dominion of the Saxons in those days which was all the Land except Scotland and the other part now called Wales whither the reliques of Britans were retir'd was divided into seven several States and Dominions which they called Kingdoms The first whereof to speak of them according as they received the Faith was the Kingdom of Kent whose King Ethelbert being the fourth in number from Hengistus that began the same about the year of Christ 450 afterward first of all other received the Christian Faith at the preaching of St. Augustin about the year of Christ 600 that is to say an hundred and fifty years after they had reigned as Pagans there 5. The second Kingdom was of the East-Saxons and contained the Shires now called Essex Middlesex and Hartfordshire The first founder of which Kingdom was Erchenwine about the year of our Lord 527 as Stow and some others do hold tho' Malmesbury doth write otherwise but both do agree that under King Seebert or as Bede calleth him Sabered those Provinces were converted to Christian Religion by the preaching of St. Mellitus Fellow to St. Augustin and first Bishop of their chief City of London whither he was sent by St. Augustin from Centerbury in the year of Christ 604. 6 The third Kingdom was of the East-Angles which contained the Shires of Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge and the Isle of Ely. Which Kingdom was begun about the year of Christ 492 by one Vffa but converted after to
Christian Religion under King Sigebert about the year of Christ 609 and that by the preaching principally of their first Bishop Felix born in Burgundy in France being ordain'd Bishop of a City there called Dunwich at that time which now is more than half consumed with the Sea. 7. The fourth Kingdom was of the Northumbers which contained many Shires towards the North to wit Lancashire Yorkshire Cumberland Westmorland Northumberland Durham and some part of Scotland The first Monarch of this Kingdom is accounted Ida and it received the Faith of Christian Religion under their 13th King Edwyn in the year of Christ 626 by the Preaching of St. Paulinus sent thither to preach by Justus the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury by whom the said Paulinus was translated from the See of Rochester to be Archbishop of York 8. The fifth Kingdom was of the West-Saxons which contained the Countreys of Cornwall Devonshire Dorsetshire Somersetshire Wiltshire Barkshire and Hampshire The first Founder thereof was Cerdick about the year of Christ 509 and under Kenegilsus their fifth King they received the Christian Faith by the preaching of St. Berinus their first Bishop of Dorchester in the year of Christ 635. 9. The sixth Kingdom was of the Mercians or Middle-Countrey being in that time the greatest of all the rest and containing some fifteen or sixteen Shires as Glocester Hereford Chester Stafford Worcester Shrewsbury Oxford Warwick Darby Leicester Buckingham Northampton Nottingham Huntington and Rutland The first Founder of this Monarchy is said to be one Creda about the year of Christ 586 and the Conversion thereof to Christian Faith was about the year of Christ 635 under Prince Peda Son and Heir unto the notable persecuting Pagan Peda. Their first Apostle was B. Finan who baptized King Peda against his Father's will in the Kingdom of the Northumbers at a Town by Berwick called Ad murum and this by the instance of the good Christian King Oswyn King of Northumberland who gave King Peda his Daughter in Marriage on this condition That he would become a Christian 10. The seventh Kingdom was of the South-Saxons containing the Shires of Sussex and Surrey and began about the year of Christ 478 by one Aelus a Saxon and was converted to Christianity under King Ethelwold or Ethelwach as St. Bede nameth him about the year of Christ 662 by the preaching especially of St. Wilfrid their first Bishop who erected a Monastery for the Episcopal See in a place called Seolyce or Selcey 11. Well then thus we see that within the space of forty years more or less six Kingdoms of England received the Gospel and the seventh not long after under their first Preachers and Apostles before mentioned And what great variety of Miracles God did work by these his Servants and their Helpers and Assistants in this Work of the Conversion of our Countrey is evident by all Stories of that time and after and no man but an Infidel or Miscreant can with any probable reason call them in doubt 12. And it seemeth that the promise of our Savior made to his Apostles at his last farewell in St. Mark 's Gospel for Miracles to be wrought in the Conversion of Nations especially of Gentiles as St. Gregory observeth was as abundantly fulfilled in the first Conversion of our English Nation as of any other probably in the World. The Signs and Miracles saith Christ which shall follow them that shall believe in me or receive my Faith especially in the beginning are these That they shall cast out Devils in my Name they shall speak with new Tongues they shall remove Serpents and if they should drink Poyson it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands upon sick men and therewith heal them c. 13. All these things promised Christ our Savior and performed them most abundantly in the first Conversion of Nations while the said Miracles were necessary to plant and confirm the Faith. But when as St. Gregory in the place before alledged saith the young Plants had no more need of such daily watering by Miracles then ceased they Tho' in our Countrey and Primitive Church they endured no small time as were easie to shew if I would stand in this place to run over the Ecclesiastical Stories of the least part of the aforesaid seven Kingdoms whereof yet many things will be spoken of afterward 14. For only in the Kingdom of Kent for the first hundred years after the Conversion of King Ethelbert there possessed the See of Canterbury from St. Augustin unto Bertualdus who died in the year of Christ 730 and with whom St. Bede endeth eight Arch-bishops all most Godly and Holy Men to wit Augustin Laurence Melitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Theodorus and Bertualdus Which Bishops were held for great Saints in our Primitive Church as appeareth by the writing both of St. Bede that lived also himself in that Age and by William of Malmesbury that lived some Ages after Who yet alledgeth a more Ancient Author than himself called Gosselinus that wrote the Lives and Miracles of all those Eight Arch-bishops of Canterbury and of some other Saints of our Country Horum saith he non minus sancti Letardi c. Of these Arch-bishops as also of St. Letard that in Ancient time came in with Q. Berta the Author before mentioned Gosselinus hath written their marvelous and admirable vertues out of Bede and others Adding also many things which he saw himself with his own Eyes shewing the great Miracles and Signs which they did c. He doth recount also the Rank of Kings with their Kindred that lay Buried in his days in the Church of St. Augustin at Canterbury Which he doth worthily call the lights of England and the Senators of the English Heavenly Court of Parliament And to this Quire of Saints and Crown or Diadem of our Eternal King Christ he addeth other pretious Stones also of Inestimable Glory to wit St. Adrian the Abbot and St. Mildred the Virgin as Conspicuous in Glory of Miracles as the rest c. 15. Thus writeth Malmesbury of these servants of God of the Church of Canterbury for the first hundred years after Christ's Faith received but he that would recount the like of all the other six Kingdoms and English Churches should have great store of matter Especially if he would enter into the particular Lives and Actions of such eminent Holy Men as that Age by the force and virtue of that Primitive Christian Religion brought forth And then if with all this he remember in like manner that most certain principle before mentioned that God would never have concurred with such abundance of Piety Holiness and Miracles to the setting up of a false Religion he will easily see how plain a demonstration this is for the truth of that Religion which was thus planted amongst us by St. Augustin and Maligned by these Sectaries of our time 16. Well then
in this manner was Religion first planted among us according to that which St. Mark the Evangelist saith of the first Preachers and Preachings among other Nations and Gentiles in his time To wit Domino cooperante sermonem confirmante sequentibus signis Christ working with them and confirming their Preaching with Signs and Miracles And this Faith being once planted did take such deep Root by the said watering of Christ the Author thereof as it continued and held out from time to time through all difficulties and differences both of times Men and State and by Peril Divisions Enmities and cruel Wars that fell out every day between those Seven Kingdoms until they were united all under one Monarchy some 200 years after to wit under King Egbert King of the West-Saxons And from him again the same indured other 200 years unto King Edward the Confessor before the Conquest 17. And that which is worthy also the noteing in this case is that during the time of all this Enmity Emulation Suspicions Jealousie of Kingdoms and States and Bloody Battels between these Kingdoms for the space of the foresaid 200 years from their Conversion to Christianity until they came to be a Monarchy They all lived under one Arch-bishop and Primate of Canterbury holding their due subordination and good correspondence with him and by him with the See of Rome and other Catholic Countries for matters of Faith and Ecclesiastical Affairs no otherwise than if they had been all Friends yea Subjects and Provinces of one and the self same Kingdom and this is the vertue and force of Catholic Union Whereas amongst Sectaries every little difference of Temporal States yea of Towns Cities and Governments doth presently cause a diversity also in Faith and Religion As we see at this day that Saxony for example where the name of the Protestants first began being under a different Prince hath a great difference also in Religion from other parts of Germany that call themselves Protestants and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Swedeland tho' they profess all Lutheranism yet is the manner so different in these different States as not only the one will not depend of the other in any sort of subordination or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction as in England we see they did but neither do they agree in any one Form of Religion or substance of belief in all points no nor in one state it self where all profess themselves to be Lutherans as in Saxony where the higher Saxons allow only rigid or streight Lutherans But the lower Saxony alloweth only the softer sort and expelleth the rigid or severe Lutherans as the other do them where they get Dominion 18. Geneva and Berne are both Cities and States of the Switzers and both of them profess Protestancy tho' not according to Luthers Doctrin But yet the Temporal State of the said two Towns being different the Magistrates have appointed a different and distinct Form. Which in England also we see by experience how much they differ from those of Scotland Holland and France who profess themselves Protestants of the same Calvinist School But every Nation and Church after his own fashion And finally what differences have risen in England it self during her Majesties only Government betwixt Puritans Brownists Family of Love and State Protestants as Thomas Diggs calleth them no Man can be ignorant But to what differences and divisions they would grow in two or three hundred years if Sects could last so long and that the States which profess them were Enemies in Temporal Affairs as it was in England is easie to guess But the reason hereof is manifest to wit that for so much as Sectaries making their own judgments and inventions the Rule of their Belief and Religion and their Temporal Princes their absolute Guiders and immediate Heads in Ecclesiastical matters it must needs follow that as these Princes or States do change or alter for any respect whatsoever as they do for many Religion also must needs alter and change for contentment or interest of the said States or Princes 19. But to return to our Deduction and Continuation of Catholic Religion among the English Saxons after they came to be a Monarchy to wit from the year of Christ 800 it is first to be noted that assoon as God had delivered them from one affliction which was the continual Civil Wars of one Kingdom with an other he sent them a second Calamity far greater perhaps than the first induring for other 200 years which was the continual incursions and devastations of the Danes Who pursued them not only for Temporal respects to get their Country from them but also for Religion it self the said Danes being then Pagans as appeareth by the cruel Murders and Martyrdoms as well of St. Edmund King of the East-angles Martyred by them about the year of Christ 885 as of Holy Elphegus Arch-bishop of Canterbury some Ages after about the year 1011 and of divers others overlong hear to recount And yet notwithstanding when the said Danes with their King Canutus Son of Swanus came once by Gods Holy grace to be Christians which was soon after the foresaid Martydom of the Holy Arch-bishop Elphegus they submitted themselves with Humility and fervor of Spirit to that very same Christian Faith of their Enemies the English-men which they had persecuted in them before taking them also for their instructors Which is a token that there was no other Christian Faith known in the World at that day for them to embrace but only that which the English professed to the embracing whereof there is no doubt but the Miracles wrought continually in confirmation of the truth of that Faith as well at the Tombs of the foresaid Martyrs St. Edmund and Elphegus slain by the Danes themselves as other ways also did greatly move and animate them 20. But whatsoever the chief motives were to move this Nation to embrace Christian Religion this is certain that soon after this time of St. Elphegus his Death God delivered the whole Kingdom of England into the Danes hands under the foresaid King Canutus about the year of Christ 1020. And he Reigned and held the same peaceably for almost twenty years In which time he being now Christian did many notable Acts of a good Religious King Went to Rome for Devotion to visit the Holy Sepulchres of St. Peter and St. Paul gave great Alms there and else where made just Laws in England loved and favored exceedingly the English Nation used them with all confidence both at home and abroad Married King Emma Mother to King Edward the Confessor thereby to unite himself the more to the Nation And finally became of a Persecutor and Conqueror one of the best Kings that England perhaps had in many Ages to Govern her 21. William of Malmesbury living as it hath been said some 500 years agone under King Henry the first Son to William the Conqueror writeth many most excellent Religious Acts
more impudent and more greedy to deceive than they as you shall much more perceive by his last Argument ensuing 12. For my seventh Argument saith he I may make my probation by the plain words of Eleutherius by whose Epistle written to King Lucius we may understand that Lucius had received the Faith of Christ in this Land before he sent to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws for so the express words of the Letter do manifestly purport as hereafter followeth to be seen Thus saith he and citeth for his proof in the Margin Ex Epistola Eleutherii ad Lucium and by this last and strongest Argument of his the silly Fellow thinketh to strike the Nail dead and to prove that King Lucius was a Christian before he received Preachers from Pope Eleutherius and consequently that all is false which Antiquity hath held attributing the Conversion of that Kingdom and of the King himself to the Bishop of Rome For which cause Fox addeth presently Peradventure Eleutherius might help something either to convert the King or else to increase the Faith newly sprung up then among the People 13. So defineth he the matter and consider I pray you what he attributeth to Eleutherius in this Conversion Peradventure saith he he might help something to King Lucius his Conversion And is not this a great matter especially being qualified as it is with the restriction Peradventure If a man should say of Aesop's Fables that peradventure some of them in some points might be true were it not as much as John Fox doth attribute to all this Consent of Authors for this Conversion under Pope Eleutherius seeing he saith not absolutely Eleutherius did convert King Lucius or help indeed thereunto but that peradventure he might help something c. You may mark the diminutives used by Fox to lessen the benefit to wit peradventure might something c. and thereby consider what a holy stomach he hath to Rome and what little account he maketh of the Authority or Consent of all Antiquity when they make against him 14. But now let us weigh further his Proofs and by them also his Frauds and Impostures First of all for Proofs that King Lucius was a Christian before he dealt with Eleutherius he alledgeth the Epistle it self of Eleutherius which he setteth down as authentical citing only in the Margin Ex vetusto codice Regum antiquorum taken out of an old Book of old Kings but telleth not where we shall find this old Book and it may be perhaps of as good credit if it were found as the Book of Gildas before alledged De Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii or as many other fabulous things be in the Story of Geffrey of Monmouth and John Fox after him 15. And indeed if we consider the beginning of the first words of the Epistle it self we shall find certain doubts which neither Fox nor his Fellows will ever be able to solve as first of all that it was written after Eleutherius was dead for so it appeareth by the Account of Time noted in the Title which is this in Latin as Fox relateth Anno Domini 169 Ã Passione Christi scripsit D. Eleutherius Papa Lucio Regi Britanniae ad correctionem Regis Procetum Regni c. Which words Fox omitteth to translate into English for that they make against him and therefore would not have his unlearned Reader to understand the absurdity thereof for they say That Pope Eleutherius wrote this Epistle to Lucius King of Britanny to correct both Him and the Nobility of his Kingdom in the year 169 after the Passion of Christ To which 169 years if we add other 33 which Christ lived before his Passion they make 202 which is 19 years after Eleutherius's Death who dy'd in the year of Christ 184 as all Authors agree For which cause Fox himself in this very place and elsewhere often doth appoint the Conversion of King Lucius to have been in the year of Christ 180 and the 10th of Eleutherius his Reign but this Epistle appointeth it 22 years after to wit Anno Domini 102. So wise a man is Fox in bringing it in 16. Secondly this Epistle was written in Latin and so should Fox have delivered the same unto us wholly if he had dealt plainly But he hath not so done but only giveth us the Title in Latin without any Interpretation as now hath been said and the remnant or at leastwise so much as he thought convenient in English only and this of his own Translation without letting us see the Original and so he playeth the Fox in every thing But to return again to this Latin Title of the Epistle there is another cause why John Fox would not translate it into English and this is for that it is said therein that it was written by the Pope ad correctionem Regis Procerum Regni c. to correct the King and Nobility of the Realm which proveth that the Pope took himself to be their Superior also in those days and they to be subject to his correction For which causes Fox's Scholars Holinshead Hooker and Harrison do leave out this Title altogether in their Chronicles for that the word Correction upon the King and Nobility is an odious thing in these days especially from Popes 17. And thus much of the Title and Fraud used therein Now let us pass to the Body of the Epistle Thus it beginneth in John Fox's Translation Ye require of us the Roman Laws and the Emperours to be sent over unto you which you may practise and put in are within your Realm The Roman Laws and the Emperours we may ever reprove but the Law of God we may not You have received of late through God's Mercy in the Realm of Britanny the Law of Christ c. Thus saith the Epistle and out of these last words John Fox doth frame his former seventh Argument That King Lucius had received the Faith of Christ before he sent to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws Well suppose it was so and that this sending was a second Embassage some years after his Conversion how doth this infer that King Lucius was a Christian before he dealt with Eleutherius or before he sent the first time unto him and so that he was rather converted by Grecians than by Romans as the next immediate words of Fox are And that hence it may be inferred that Eleutherius did rather help perhaps to his Conversion or to increase the Faith newly sprung up than convert him Are not these notorious shifts and shameless windings of our Fox to delude his Reader 18. But you will ask me perhaps how I do prove that this was a second Embassage sent by King Lucius to Eleutherius and the Pope's Answer to the same Whereto I say that this is confessed and proved by Fox himself who writing of King Lucius saith That some years after his Conversion when he had put his Realm in Order for matters
race and course of the Church c. yet hath the whole Book but seventeen Leaves in all which is little more than one Leaf to every twenty years race and course of the whole Church And surely he that so courseth over an Ecclesiastical History may be called rather a Courser indeed than an Historiographer 9. Nay further he is so envious to the famous Acts of our English Church in these days especially with Foreign Nations as he either concealeth utterly the same or maketh reproachful mention thereof As for Example when he speaketh of the most Famous and Renowned Saint of our English Nation St. Wenfride called afterward Bonifacius and accounted by all Authors the Apostle of Germany for that he began principally their Conversion and was afterward most gloriously Martyred by the Pagans for preaching Christ's Gospel with above Fifty Fellows the most of them English-men Of this man I say how speaketh Fox You shall hear presently But first shall you see the words of a German Writer in his praise Primus omnium saith he qui Australes Germaniae partes c. The first of all that brought the Southern parts of Germany to the knowledge of Christian Religion from Idolatry was Wenfride an English man by Nation a true Philosopher of our Savior and after for his Vertue called Boniface and Archbishop of Moguntia And albeit some Authors do name some others that preached in sundry places before him yet this man as another Paul the Apostle did go before all in Labour of Preaching c. 10. So writeth Adam Bremensis a Saxon a Canon of the First and Head Church that was builded in Saxony after their Conversion by the preaching of English-men for so he sheweth in particular that English-men were their Converters but especially four most famous Learned Preachers and fervent Zeâ—lots in multiplying the Christian Faith to wit Willebrordus Willebaldus Willericus and Willehadus all which were renowned Apostolical Bishops in Germany Willebrord was sent over out of England with eleven Companions towards the Conversion of Germany by the holy Abbot St. Egbert as both St. Bede and other Authors after him do testifie and by Pope Sergius II. was made Bishop of Vltraiectum in Frisia and was the Apostle of that Country as also a principal Converter of the Kingdom of Denmark 11. Willebaldus was Bishop of Ayste in Saxony where he converted many thousands to Christian Faith and was canonized with universal joy of all that Country by Pope Leo VII in the year of Christ 1004 as Authors do recount 12 St. Willehad and St. Willerike were both Bishops of Breme in Saxony Post Passionem Sancti Bonifacii saith our foresaid German Author Willehadus ipse Angligena fervens amore Martyrii properavit in Frisiam c. After the Passion of St. Boniface St. Willehad an English-man also burning with the love of Martyrdom made hast also to come into Frisia where the other was Martyred c. And then sheweth he how this blessed man after the Conversion of many Thousands was sent by the Emperour Charles the Great to preach to the Northern Parts of Saxony which he did with great fervour till Windekind a Pagan Tyrant of that Country moving War against Charles drove him out upon which occasion he retired himself to a contemplative Life for two years together in France until after he was called out again by the said Charles to be Bishop of Breme in which Charge he both lived and died most holily 13. And next to him succeeded one of his Disciples Willericus and led an Apostolical Life in the same Charge for the space of 50 years together as Adam Bremensis Erpoldus Lindenbrughensis and others do testifie These Mens Acts then and other such-like had been fit matter for John Fox to have handled in his Ecclesiastical History of these Ages especially if he could have shewed that any one of these that wrought so infinite Miracles both alive and dead as the former Authors do testifie had been of his Religion But Fox doth pass over all with silence I mean both Them and their Actions but only that he taketh occasion to speak contemptuously of the first and Father of the rest St. Boniface For having spoken of the latter Synod of those two which we mentioned in the former Chapter to have been held in England by Theodorus and S. Cuthbert Archbishops of Canterbury he writeth thus Cuthbert the Archbishop of Canterbury sent the Copy of the Synod to Boniface otherwise named Winfride an English man then Archbishop of Mentz and after made a Martyr as the Popish Stories term him 14. Behold John Fox scarce counteth him a Martyr tho' he were put to death by Pagans for preaching Christian Faith. And a little after meaning to put down a certain Godly Epistle of the said Boniface or Wenfride written to Ethelbald King of the Mercians reprehending him for his licentious Life Fox writeth thus I thought this Epistle not unworthy here to be inserted not so much for the Authors sake as for that some good matter peradventure may be picked thereout for other Princes to behold and consider c. 15. Here now you see the Estimation and Affection of John Fox to Boniface of whom the Christian World of those Times both thought and spoke so reverendly for so many Ages But let us hear what John Bale will say for he being an Apostata will be more contumelious I trow Winifridus Bonifacius saith he claro Anglorum sanguine Londini natus c. Winifrid called also Boniface was born at London of Noble English Blood and afterward went to Rome where Pope Gregory II. having try'd the Man's Faith and seen his Magnificence of Mind or rather his shameless Pride thought him a Fellow fit for his Affairs and so sent him with full Authority into Germany to a wild People as then they were called to force them to his Faith. Neither hath there been any man since the Birth of Christ that hath more properly expressed the second Beast in the Apocalypse with two Horns than he for that the Pope being the great Antichrist he was the second c. He did sign with the Pope's Character a hundred thousand men in Bavaria only adjoyning them to the Kingdom of Antichrist rather by Fear than by pious Doctrin c. He built the Monastery of Fulda where no Woman might enter c. 16. Still you see one quarrel of John Bale against Monks is for shutting out Women from their Monasteries which as it was holily instituted and observed by ancient Monks so if it had been well kept in his Monastery of Norwich it may be he had continued a Monk as he began and never come acquainted with Dorothy that drew him out from thence as himself confesseth But is there any wicked tongue in the world that can speak more impiously than this Fellow doth of so rare an Apostolic Man and of his Actions yea of
abide the Story but calleth it a dreaming fable and so doth pretermit the same in four words I shall recount it as briefly as I can out of Malmsbury Solebat ipse saith he meaning King Alfred in tempora posteà faeliciora reductus casus suos jucunda hilarique comitate familiaribus exponere qualiterque per B. Cuthberti meritum eos evaserit c. 19. King Alfred was wont afterward when he was brought from his misery to more happy times to recount pleasantly and courteously to his familiar Friends the Chances and Calamities which he had passed and how he had escaped them by the Merit and Benefit of blessed S. Cuthbert c. So beginneth Malmsbury his Narration the sum whereof is this 20. King Alfred and his Ancestors having lost unto the Danes all the North East and West parts of England he had only three Shires to hide himself in upon the South Sea to wit Somersetshire Hampshire and Wiltshire whither also the Danes followed him with a great Army under their Captain Gormond And the poor King being destitute of all human help wanting both Mony Victuals and Men for all forsook him upon fear he had no other refuge for saving his Life than with a few trusty Servants of his and his Mother the doleful Queen to flie into a little Island in Somersetshire called then Adaling wholly beset with Waters and Mire in the midst of marishy ground and a little Wood joyned thereunto to hide themselves in where himself and his Mother being lodg'd in a certain Swineherd's Cottage the rest made shift for themselves as they might lying on the ground But two things for the present pressed them most The first hunger for want of Victuals the second fear of Gormond's Camp that lay so near them Wherefore sending forth his men to seek some Fish by night for that they durst not shew themselves by day the King and his Mother with woful hearts reposed a little their weary Bodies and Minds in the said Swineherd's House and being entred into a little slumber Behold saith the Story there appeared to the King St. Cuthbert telling him both his Name and that he was sent to him by God to comfort him and to tell him That albeit his Justice had hitherto chastened English men for their sins by the Sword of the Danes yet that he would not extinguish them in respect of so many Saints that had been of that Nation and from this day forward would set them up again Modo tandem Deus indigenarum Sanctorum meritis super eam misericordiae oculo respicit Now at length God for the Merits of English Saints doth look upon England with the eye of mercy He told him further That himself from this state of extreme misery should be restored very shortly to a flourishing state of his Kingdom For which he gave him presently a sign or token saying That albeit that night was a very contrary time to Fishers both for that all Rivers were frozen and a little Rain being fallen upon the same had made it unfit for men to travel in that Art yet his men should come home all laden with incredible abundance of Fish Thus he told him persuading him that when he should see all these things performed he should remember to be thankful to God and his Servants for their favor towards him and so departed 21. The King being wonderfully comforted with this Vision awaked for Joy and calling upon his Mother the Queen who lay near him and had enjoy'd the self-same Vision they recounted together all particulars expecting with greediness when their Servants should return from fishing to confirm the same which soon after ensued Et tantam piscium copiam exhibuere saith Malmsbury ut cujusvis magni exercitus ingluviem exaturare posse videretur And they brought with them to the King so great store of Fish as it might seem to be sufficient to satisfie the hunger of never so great an Army wherewith King Alfred being encouraged he adventured a strange attempt which was to go into the Danes Camp with one Servant only feigning themselves Musicians where with singing of Songs and sounding their Instruments they passed thro' the whole Camp discovering their disorders and where and when they were more weak and so retiring themselves to their Company and arming such men as he could secretly set upon them with such fierceness as they killed many and put the rest to flight and constrained the Danes with their said King Gormond to demand Peace and offer Hostages for the same Which were accepted upon two conditions The first That all of them should retire out of England except such as would be Christians The second That these Christian Danes should be content only with the Kingdom of the East-Angles to wit Norfolk and Suffolk All which was admitted and King Gormond himself made a Christian and God-son to King Alfred accepting the said Kingdom of the East-Angles as tributary unto him and from this day forward King Alfred went gaining more and more putting his Enemies to flight until he had recovered his whole Kingdom again And this both He and his Mother were wont to recount all the days of their life after and the Events themselves did evidently declare the truth of the Miracle recorded as hath been said by our best Historiographers All which notwithstanding John Fox writeth thus Let us pass over these dreaming Fables tho' they be testified by divers Authors as William Malmsb. Polychronicon Roger Hoveden Jornalensis and many more c. Whereby you may see what a faithless Ecclesiastical Chronicler this Fox is that passeth over things of purpose that are left written by so many grave Authors and then how perfidious he sheweth himself in censuring for dreaming Fables so important Miracles shewed by God for testification of his Love and Providence towards our Country and the saving and restoring thereof 22. For which Infidelity this miserable Fellow hath no other Argument excepting only his foresaid hatred to St. Cuthbert and other Monks but only for that the Vision was in time of sleep or slumbring and for that cause he calleth it a dreaming Fable Which kind of Argument if we should admit we must evacuate also and bring in doubt and contempt most of the principal Mysteries and Miracles of the Old and New Testament where commonly things were revealed to God's Servants in Visions by sleep as Genesis 28. Vidit Jacob in somnis Scalam stantem Jacob did see a Ladder in his sleep And again in the same Book cap. 31. Dixit Angelus Dei ad me in somnis The Angel of God said unto me in my sleep Joseph also had all his affairs revealed unto him not only in sleep but also per somnia by Dreams indeed Gen. 37.40 41. 23. The like is related of Saul 3 Reg. 3. and of Daniel Dan. 7. And finally God promiseth by Joel of Saints of the New Testament senes vestri somnia
Epist ep 25. About Fasting Virginity observation of Holydays Cent. 2. p. 65. Cent. 2. p. 65. Ignat. Epist ad Phil. Against Martyrdom Sacred Virginity Page 65. Cent. 3. p. 86. St. Cyprian accused to hate Women Cyp. l. de bono Puditiae Cyp. Serm. de nativ Christi Martyrdom Page 83. Invocation of Saints Cent 4. c. 4. p. 295. Ibid. p. 304. Traditions Monastical Life Reliques Page 300. Lib. 2. ad Marcell Ephr. l. de luctamin spiritus cap. 2. Page 301. Amb Serm. 6. de marg tom 3. in orat funeb de obitu Theodosii Cent. 4. p. 293. The sum of this Chapter and shameful shifting of Heretics Cap. 5. num 2 Supra ibidem Bed. l. 1. hist Ang. c. 23. deinceps Malm. de gest Regum Ang. l. 1. de Pont. Angl. l. 1. Galf. mon. hist Ang. l. 11. c. 22. Huntingt hist l. 3. c. 1. Two new wicked devised shifts Fox Act. Mon. p. 107. coll 2. n. 84. The defence of St. Gregory against Heretics Ioannes Diac. in vita Gregor Magni Isid de viris illustris c. 27. The testimony of Isidorus concerning St. Gregory Hildef libel de viris illustr The judment of St. Hildefonse Fox Act. Mon. col 2. n. 5. p. 105. Fox praiseth St Agustin our Apostle against his Will. Fox Act. p. 107. col 1. Fox seeketh to discredit St. Augustin Bed. lib. 1. hist c. 35. Jo. Bale cent 1. scrip Brit. fol. 35. Bales scurrulity against St. Augustin Of the miracles wrought by St. Augustin Greg. l. 7. Epist 30. Ind. 1. St. Gregories Relation of English Affairs About the Doctrin brought in by St. Augustin Fox p. 107. col 2. * A wise consequence for that now also Fonts would hardly suffice to baptize 10000 in a day Fox in Protest p. 9. Whether St. Augustin taught the Saxons true Religion Holin in descript Britan. c. 27. col 1. Whether Englishmen were ever true Christians before Luther's time Holinsh ibid. Most vile blasphemy against the first Christian Englishmen Baleus descript Britan. cent 1. fol. 35. Ibid. cent 5. fol. 245. How John Bale became a Friar De Reg. juris l. 6. c. Non solum Caet in Sum. Concil Trid. sess 28. cap. 15. How Bale was unfriared and made an Apostate Bale ibid. Fox p. 105. col 2. nu 5. Bed. l. 1. hist. c. 33. The wicked intents of our Sectaries That Protestants cannot be sure that they are Christians according to Fox and Holinshed See the Acts of Parliament Anno 31. Hen. 8. c. 14. anno 32. c. 26. anno 34. c. 1. Enc. 1. c. 3 4 5. Super ibid. * Enc. 1. c. 6.10 and 12. Baleus descrip Brit. cent 1. fol. 35. Fox in his protestation to the Church of England p. 9. * Sup. cap. 3. Sup. c. 1 3 5 6. That Rome changed not her Faith from Eleutherius to St. Gregory That the British Christian Faith was the same with the Romans Sup. c. 3. Fox pag. 117. col 2. a Greg. l. 5. ep 14. b Philas l. de haeres c Greg. l. 3. ep 32. d Greg. l. 10. in Job c. 29. e Niceph. l. 18. c. 53. Bed. l. 1. c. 25. Greg. l. 2. ep 36. indict 10. l. 9. ep 61. indict 4. The presence of British Bishops in Foreign Councils * See Syn. 2. Arelatens to 1. Concil and the subscriptions Cap. 2 3. Athan. Apol. 2. cont Arrian Hilar. de Syn. advers Arrian Observations out of Histories Chrys orat cont Gentes quod unus est Deus Gild. de excidio Britan. c. 26. The Britans use of taking Sanctuary swearing upon Altars Gildas ibid. Optat. lib. 6. Against King Aurelius Gild. ibid. pag. 122. Against King Maglocunus for leaving to be a Monk. Fox Act. Mon. p. 103. Against Priests that said Mass seldom and ill Gil. ibid pag. 132. Gildas ibid. Ibid. p. 133. Buying of priesthood Act. 2. Gildas ibid. Altars and Sacrifice among the Britans * Aug. to 10. ser 237. 251. de temp in concil Milevit c. 12. Cartha 2. c. 3. Concil Carthag 4. c. 84. quibus interfuit Augustinus Epiph. haeres 50. Euseb l. 5. hist c. 23. in vita Constant l. 3. c. 17. Bed. l. 1.6 c. 27. A Church dedicated to St. Martin among the ancient Christian Britans An evident Demonstration that the British Religion agreed with that of St. Augustin St. German and St. Lupus Bed. l. 1. hist c. 17 18 19 20 21. That St. German St. Lupus and St. Severus were Roman Catholics Relics of Saints Ibid. c. 18. Ibid. c. 18. The use of Lent among the Britans St. Dubritius Primate of Britanny Anno 522. Galf. hist Brit. l. 9. c. 12. and 13. Ibid. p. 70. Procession and Organs Bal. descript Eccles fol. 30. St. David of Wales Anno Domini 540. Camb. in Catal. script Britan. Polid. l. hist Angl. in fine Fox in his Protestation to the Church of England p. 9. 19 British Bishops and Doctors pretended by Fox to have been Protestants Neither Order nor Argument good in Fox Fastidius Priscus Trit de script Eccl. Bal. fol. 23. St. Ninianus Bed. c. 4. Hector Boet. l. 7. 15. Ioan. Fordonius l. 3. c. 9. Bal. ibid. St. Patricius St. Palladius Bal. ibid. fol. 23. Marian. Scotus in Chron. eodem Anno 430. Prosper in Chron. ann 432. 434. Bed. l. 4. hist cap. 30. St. Patricius Bal. descript Frit Cent. 1. fol. 25. Ibid. Prosp cont lib. Collat. in fine Bed. hist Ang. l. 1. c. 13. in l. de sex aetat Mar. Scot. l. 2. sex aetat an 432. Bacchiarius Joan. cap. in catal SS Brit. Polid. Virg. 1. histor Harpesf §. 6. cap. 22. Congellus Bal. fol. 29. Kentegernus Bal. fol. 32. Jo. Capg in catal Sanct. Brit. St. Asaph receiv'd his Consecration from Rome Bal. ibid. f. 34. Bal. ibid. f. 135. Bed. l. 2 hist c. 2. That the Religion brought in by St. Augustin was Catholic Greg. in epist ad Aug. Bed. l. 1. hist. c. 18 19 c. Either no true Church or Religion was in St. Gregory's time or else it was the Roman The continuation of Religion from St. August downward Bed. hist Ang. l. 1. c. 22. St. Aug. his Company landed in the Isle of Thanet The 1 Kingdom of Kent converted to Christian Faith anno Dom. 600. Bed. l. 1. hist Malm. l. 2. hist 2 Kingdom of East-Saxons converted 604. Lib. 2. cap. 5. 3 Kingdom of the East-Angles converted an Dom. 609. Malm. l. 1. hist c. 6. The 4 Kingdom of Northumbers converted an 626. 5 Kingdom of West-Saxons converted 635. 6 Kingdom of Mercians converted 635. 7 Kingdom of the South-Saxons converted anno 662. Marc. 16. Greg. hom 29. de festo Ascens Domini Marc. 16. Why Miracles ceased afterward The Primitive Church of Kent Malms l. 1. de gestis Pont. Ang. pa. 112. An infalliable principle Catholic Religion planted in England with great power of Miracles Marc. ultimo One Catholic Religion under States that were
Writings for his Defence he should never so much as look them over or take a view of them but should suffer himself to be cast and overthrown in the whole Suit without pleading at all for Himself or his Interest Which is the very case of many negligent Christians in our days who seeing so many assaults to be made by different Sectaries against the old possession of Cath. Religion which was their Ancestors Inheritance to Salvation and must be theirs if ever they be sav'd do yield so dastardly in this conflict and injury offered them as they never so much as examine what Proofs or Evidences they have or may have for their Defence A negligence no doubt inexcusable and worthy of infinite rebuke and confusion 40. Out of the Third Point concerning the necessity of pious Affection in him that must profit by these Arguments of Credibility I do infer how highly it doth import every man that meaneth seriously to treat of his Salvation in this behalf to dispossess himself of his Passions and sinister Affections against the Truth at leastwise while he treateth this Great Affair and that he place himself in such an indifferency equanimity and serenity of mind as he may be able to discern and look upon the Truth with an unpassionate Eye if she chance to appear unto him 41. The saying of our Savior in the place before-alleged of S. John's Gospel to such as were ambitious and intangl'd with the Wealth and Honor of this World and thereby letted to believe the Truth is terrible and dreadful For having demanded How it was possible for them to believe and thereby come to Salvation that were so intangl'd and evil-affected in mind he addeth presently Nolite putare quia ego accusaturus sim vos apud Patrem est qui accusat vos Do not you think that I shall have need to accuse you to my Father for these corrupt affections of yours rising of Ambition for there wanteth not one to accuse you Whereby Christ insinuateth amonst other things that Himself at the Day of Judgment was not to be Accuser but Judge and that the Condemnation of these men was to be most grievous who for Ambition Honor Wealth Dignities and Promotions had neither Time nor Will to attend to matters of Faith and true Religion whereby only Eternal Salvation may be atchieved which is a Point greatly to be considered and born in mind especially by such who are in the same or like Case with those Men of Jewry to whom Christ our Savior used that dreadful speech 42. Out of the Fourth and Last Point is inferred That considering all the premisses and that this matter of true Religion is of so great Moment as hath been shewed and that in this Treatise so short and clear a way is taken for discussion thereof as by only joyning Issue about the Planting Continuance Succession and Descent of Christian Religion in England from the Apostles Time unto Ours the whole Controversie between Us and the Protestants may fully be cleared and that with such evidence of Reason and necessary Consequence as supposing only that Ghrist was Christ and his Promises true all the rest doth follow by most certain sequel of Argument and moral Demonstration All this I say being so it may encourage and animate the studious Reader to run over this short Treatise Which if he do with that indifferency and attention which in the Second and Third Point of this Discourse have been touched I do not doubt but that he shall not need to read many other Books for resolving himself either about the grounded certain Truth of Catholic Religion or the Vanity Inanity Inconstancy Lightness and Folly of all Sect and Heresies that ever have or shall arise up against the same And with this good Reader I leave thee to the holy Protection and Benediction of Almighty God and to his merciful direction of thee in so weighty an Affair This Vigil of the Nativity of our Savior 1602. The First PART of this Present TREATISE CONCERNING Three Conversions OF ENGLAND TO THE Christian Catholic Roman Religion The ARGUMENT THe purpose of this first Part gentle Reader is to declare by evident demonstration both of Histories Reasons Antiquities and Succession of Times and by confession and other testimonies of the Adversaries themselves That this our Isle of England and People thereof the Britans Saxons and English have at three several times received Christian Faith from Rome and by Romish Preachers First under the Apostles in the first Age after Christ And then under Pope Eleutherius in the second Age And thirdly under Pope Gregory in the beginning of the sixth Age And that this Faith and Religion was no other than the Roman Catholic Faith generally received over all Christendom in those days And that it was One and the Self-same Faith at all these three times and that the same was continued and professed afterward in England publicly for almost 1400 years together to wit from the Apostles days unto the Reign of King Henry VIII under divers Nations States Governments and variety of Times by Britans Saxons Danes Normans and English and that the self-same Faith continueth at this day in the Church of Rome and Christian Catholic World abroad without change or alteration of any one substantial Article or Point of Belief and that all Cavils and Calumniations of Heretics and Sectaries in this behalf are vain and foolish and most manifestly here confuted And finally a most clear easie evident and infallible deduction visible to the Eye and Vnderstanding of every mean intelligent Reader is set down and brought from hand to hand without interruption from the first Conversions of our Realm unto this day and this so perspicuously as no man that will not wilfully shut his eyes but can see and behold the same as by the Chapters following God willing more particularly shall appear CHAP. I. Whether England and English-men have particular Obligations to the See of Rome above other Nations And of the first Conversion of Britans to Christian Religion in the time of the Apostles AFTER a certain Narration made by me in my Answer to Sir Francis Hastings about the seventh Encounter between him and N. D. wherein I declared what Reverend Respect other Nations and Kingdoms of the Christian World have ever born to the See Apostolic and Bishop thereof until this miserable Age of Heretical Spirits who ridiculously do hold the same to be Antichrist I do infer the conclusion and comparison following about the particular Obligation of English-men towards the same See and Bishop above many other Kingdoms saying in my Ward-word thus 2. And if all Christian Nations have and ought to bear such Reverence and Respect to the See of Rome then much more out little Island of England as this man calleth it for that it hath received more singular benefits from thence than any one Nation in the World besides having been twice converted from
that Easter-day must be kept upon the first Sunday after the first Full Moon in March as hath been said And furthermore forasmuch as this fourteenth day of the Moon must be that which falleth upon the very day of the Spring Equinoctial or immediately followeth the same which Equinoctium was observed by the Council of Nice to be in those days upon the 21st of March though since that time it fell back by little and little to the 11th day for correction whereof Pope Gregory XIII was forced to make his Reformation from the year 1582 by detracting ten days as all men know For this I say and for that if the fourteenth day of the Moon of March should happen to be Sunday the celebration of Easter must by the same ancient Fathers Prescription be transferred to the next Sunday For observing of these Points the Cycle also of the Sun or Circle of Dominical Letters containing the Revolution of 28 years was invented as necessary for this Observation I might add much more to this effect but this is sufficient to shew the grounds of many difficulties as also returning home to our Affair in hand to shew the beginning of the Eastern Custom among the Scots Picts and Britans not to be of that Antiquity which John Fox and his Fellows would pretend 14. But now besides this we may not omit another point of more consideration for the Reader 's Utility which is the small Piety or Religion of these Sectaries of our days who care not what they grant deny or say so they say somewhat against Rome her Bishops or Religion even in the first Ages or Primitive Church For to this end and with this good mine you shall see them here prefer in effect the foresaid Eastern Custom of celebrating Easter us'd by the Britans and Scots before the Catholic Custom of Rome albeit they well know how many Ages agone it hath been condemned not only for Error but also for Heresie yea tho' themselves do practise the contrary Custom at this day in England and Germany For that this is also a knack of these good men to speak one thing for advantage and practise another As for Example when the Question is about all those Books of the Old and New Testament which by Luther and Lutherans are rejected from the Canon of Canonical Scriptures as Ecclesiasticus Judith Hester Macchabees St. James Epistle the Apocalypse and other like When we reprehend the Lutherans for this point our Protestants of England take their parts and defend them stoutly as we see by the Writings of Fulk Chark Whitaker and others against F. Campian that objected the same to Luther and his Followers and yet on the other side they set the same Books forth in their English Bibles as Books of the Scriptures What dealing I pray you is this For either they be Scriptures and consequently of Infallible Truth or no. If the first then why do you defend the Lutherans that call them in doubt If the second why do you set them forth to the people among Scriptures 15. The like Example may be taken from Martin Luther who in his Book de Conciliis doth persuade the German Princes to observe Easter-day as an immovable Feast whensoever it falleth out without expecting Sunday as the Roman Church doth which point he saith is contrary to the Apostle forbidding us to observe Days Months and Years And yet I do not hear but that He and other Lutherans to this day do observe the Roman Use in practice of their Church concerning this point And the very same may be noted here of our English Calvinists who tho' in Practice of the English Church do observe the same Roman Custom as all men do know yet in their Writings they are content to impugn the same as a matter coming from Rome which you may see notoriously performed by John Bale a chief Gospeller in King Henry VIII and King Edward's days who treating of the former Disputation between Colman the Scottish Bishop and St. Wilfrid the English Abbot in the foresaid Council of Northumberland related by St. Bede praiseth highly the first to wit Colman together with his Learning and Piety in defending the Jewish Custom but scoffeth very contemptously and spitefully at the second that propugned the Catholic Roman Use notwithstanding that St. Bede as before you have heard calleth St. Wilfrid Virum doctissimum a most learned man and other ways also for his Holiness extolleth him exceedingly affirming among other points That for his rare Learning and great Vertue he was made Archbishop of all the Kingdom of Northumberland divided after him into two Bishoprics York and Lindisferne and when afterward as to the best men happeneth he was persecuted and driven out by violence of King Egfrid from his said Archbishopric he went and preached to the South-Saxons and converted all that Kingdom together with the Isle of Wight working many Miracles in like manner among them whereby he is truly called the Apostle of Sussex 16. Thus writeth Bede of St. Wilfrid Apostle of the South-Saxons who vanquished also in the former Disputations B. Colman and converted thereby King Oswyn from his former Rite of observing Easter with the Jews which he had learned during his Education in Scotland to follow the Roman Use But what think you saith John Bale thereof You shall hear in his own words Stulté respondit Wilfridus saith he c. Wilfrid answer'd like a Fool saying that the Apostle St. John did play the Jew in many things c. So saith Bale which words besides the Contumely contain a most false Lye and Slander also for that Wilfrid said not so as in St. Bede may be seen but only that St. John might tolerate perhaps for a time certain Rites of the Old Law as some of the other Apostles also had done and namely St. Paul in circumcising Timothy to bury the Synagogue with Honour c. 17. But hearken yet further how this new Gospeller and old Apostate-Fryer goeth forward against this holy Man Temporum saith he calculatores Evangelistis opponit Wilfrid did oppose the Roman Computists or Calculators of times against the Authority of the Evangelists This is an open Lye as the place in Bede will testifie for he saith only that perhaps one cause why the rude simplicity of the ancienter sort of Scottish Christians embraced the Jewish Custom at the beginning amongst other things might be for that no learned Calculator of the Roman Use had in those days arrived unto them He saith not one word of opposing this to the Evangelists and yet by the way do you note that this false Apostata would have his Reader think that this Jewish Heretical Custom is conform to the Evangelists than which nothing can be spoken more wickedly 18. But let us go forward and see what ensueth In fine saith he suis praevaluit Imposturis dementatis qui aderant Regibus
great and horrible Persecutions of Christians in Rome and of their often Martyrings and that they remained constant notwitstanding in their Christian Faith to all mens admiration and that their number did increase daily even of the chiefest Nobility and that two worthy Senators in particular Pertinax and Tretellius had been lately converted from Paganism to profess Christ yea that the Emperour himself Marcus Aurelius then living began to be a Friend to Christians in respect of a famous Victory obtained by their Prayers all which things Baronius sheweth the Emperour's Legat in England to have told Lucius For these causes I say and for that he hated the Romans and their Old Religion to whom he understood the Christians to be contrary he resolved to be instructed in that Religion And understanding the chief Fountain thereof to be at Rome contented not himself either with Instructions he might have at home by Christians there nor yet from the Christian Bishops flourishing then in France as St. Irenaeus Photinus and others but sent men to Rome to demand Preachers of Eleutherius the Pope who directed to him two Romans named Fugatius and Damianus by whom the said King and his Countrey were converted about the year of Christ 180 as John Fox holdeth but as Baronius thinketh 183 from whom Pamelius Genebrard Nauclerus and other Chronographers do little dissent tho' Marianus Scotus doth put it in the year 177. And this Conversion of Britanny under King Lucius is testified both by the ancient Books of the Lives of the Roman Bishops attributed by some to Damasus as also by the ancient Ecclesiastical Tables and Martyrologies yet extant as Baronius proveth and by St. Bede in his History of England and after him by Ado Archbishop of Trevers and Marianus Scotus anno 177 and all Authors since 3. This then being so and John Fox the Father of Lies not â—â—â—ing openly to impugn the same yet granteth he the thing with such difficulty and strainings and telleth the story with so many hems and haws ifs and ands Interpretations and Restrictions as a man may see how greatly it grieveth him to confess the substance thereof I mean of this second Conversion by Pope Eleutherius and therefore he turneth himself hither and thither now granting now denying now doubting now equivocating as is both ridiculous and shameful to behold For as on the one side he would gladly deny the Truth of this Story so on the other side being press'd with the Authorities before alledged and general consent of all Writers he dareth not to utter himself plainly but endeavoureth to leave the Reader in suspence and doubtful whether it were true or no which is the effect most desired commonly of Heretical Writers to bring all things in doubt and question and there to leave the Reader And to this purpose doth the Fox tell us first That divers Authors of later Times do not agree about the certain year wherein this Conversion of King Lucius did happen some saying more and some saying less But what is this to the overthrow of the thing it self For that about the particular times wherein things were done there is often found no small variety among principal Writers and about principal Points and Mysteries of our Faith as about the coming of the Magi and Martyrdom of the Infants about the time of Christ's Baptism yea also of his Passion what Year and Day each of these things happened which yet doth not derogate from the certainty of the things themselves 4. And this is his first Cavil or rather light Skirmish whereby he would somewhat batter or weaken the credit of the Story before he cometh to lay the full Assault which ensueth immediately with seven double Cannons planted by him which he calleth seven good conjectural Reasons against the Tradition of Antiquity about this Conversion of Britanny from Pope Eleutherius Wherein notwithstanding you must note That he proposeth the Controversie as tho' his purpose were only to prove that Pope Eleutherius was not the first that converted England which thing as it might be granted in the sense before often touched if he spake or meant plainly so finding him to deal guilefully and to go about to prove in the end as appeareth by his Conclusion that Eleutherius converted not King Lucius at all but only helpt perhaps to convert him or to instruct him better in Religion being a Christian before I am constrained to examin briefly the Force or rather Fraud and Folly of these his seven Arguments to the end you may judge thereby how he behaveth himself in so main a Volume as his Acts and Monuments do contain seeing that in this one matter he beareth himself so fondly and maliciously And for brevities sake I will reduce the said seven Arguments to three general Heads or Kinds shewing first that all are Impertinent secondly that some besides Impertinency have also gross Ignorance thirdly that others besides these two commendations have Fraud and plain Imposture in them 5. To the first kind of Impertinent do appertain his fourth fifth and sixth Arguments handled by me before against the Magdeburgians to wit that St. Bede said in his time That the Britans celebrated Easter after the fashion of the East-Church that Petrus Cluniacensis testifieth the same in his days of some Scots and that Nicephorus saith that Simon Zelotes preached the Gospel in England All which three Arguments as they do serve to no purpose here but to shew that Fox stealeth all out of the Magdeburgians so no other Answer is needful to be made unto them than that which before hath been written seeing that all being granted that here is said yet proveth it nothing that the Faith of Britanny came not from Rome and consequently all is impertinent 6. Of the second sort both Impertinent and Ignorant Arguments are his second and third probations My second reason is saith he out of Tertullian who living near-about or rather somewhat before this Eleutherius testifieth in his Book contra Judaeos that the Gospel was dispersed abroad by the sound of Apostles in divers Countreys and then among other Kingdoms he reciteth also the parts of Britanny c. Thus you see how impertinent it is to the purpose we have in hand for that it concludeth not but that Pope Eleutherius after the Apostles time might convert King Lucius and his People publicly by Fugatius and Damianus as we affirm And then secondly it includeth notorious Error and Ignorance in that he saith Tertullian lived before Eleutherius for that it is prov'd out of Tertullian's own Works and Words especially in his Book de Pallio wherein he yieldeth the reason wherefore he changed his Habit from a Gown to a Cloak as Christians were wont to do in those days that he was converted to the Christian Faith in the tenth year of Pope Victor that was Successor to Eleutherius which was Anno Domini 196. And moreover he wrote
of Religion he wrote again to have the Civil and Imperial Laws sent over to him whereby to govern his Kingdom according to Christian Religion 19. All this I say doth Fox set down afterward very particularly shewing that after King Lucius and his Realm had received the Baptism of Christ were made Christians and had turned twenty-eight Heathen Flamens and three Archflamens that were before of Gentiles into so many Christian Bishops and Archbishops All this being done and well settled the foresaid King Lucius saith he sent again to the said Eleutherius for the Roman Laws thereby likewise to be governed as in Religion now they were framed accordingly Vnto whom Eleutherius again writeth after the tenor of these words following Ye require of us the Roman Laws c. 20. Whereby it is evident that this Letter of Eleutherius if it be true and not feigned by Fox was written to King Lucius some number of years after his Conversion seeing he could not setttle his Realm as here Fox describeth but in some good space of time Holinshead Hooker and Harrison Disciples also of this Fox in this do take upon them to determine the Time tho' I know not by what Authority saying That it was three years after King Lucius his Conversion and Baptism The Faith of Christ say they being thus planted in the Island Anno 177 it came to pass the third year of the Gospel received that Lucius did send again to Eleutherius the Bishop requiring that he might have some brief Epitome of the Order of Discipline then used in the Church c. 21. Thus hold they and that upon this second Embassage followed the foresaid Letter of Eleutherius to King Lucius Which if it be true then let them give Sentence of their good Father what an egregious Hypocrit and Deceiver he was to argue out of this Letter That forasmuch as it appeareth by the same that King Lucius was a Christian when this Letter was written Ergo King Lucius was not converted by Eleutherius but by some other before him tho' perhaps he might help somewhat to his Confirmation in Religion c. 22. But now to the substance of the Letter it self or rather of the piece or parcel that it hath pleased Fox and these his Scholars to impart with us You must note first That these good Scholars seeing their Master to have left us this English Epistle of Eleutherius so imperfect and curtail'd as it seemeth to have neither end or just beginning do say that the rest was lost which yet Fox telleth us not Secondly they seeing the Title to make much against them left it out as before hath been said Thirdly touching the very Corps it self of the Epistle set down by him they put it down so different both in Words Sentences Authorities and Texts of Scripture from that which Fox hath as it sheweth either the thing to be wholly feigned by Them or their Master or that they have a great Liberty and Priviledge to alter the same at their pleasures 23. And this would be sufficient for this matter but further perchance you might demand Why this Epistle of Eleutherius is alledged and urged so earnestly by them seeing it seemeth to make so little for them Whereunto I answer That the chiefest Causes seem to be two or three The first That Fox might frame thereupon his former foolish Argument That forasmuch as by this Epistle it appeareth that King Lucius was a Christian when this Epistle was written by Eleutherius it may seem that Eleutherius converted him not nor any other sent from Rome the falshood and childishness of which Argument hath been sufficiently laid open before 24. The second Cause is to found two points of Doctrin thereon The one That Scriptures only are sufficient to govern any Kingdom without other Ecclesiastical Civil or Temporal Laws which yet themselves do not practise where they have Dominion as experience teacheth us The other point is That every King is God's Vicar that is to say absolute and supreme Head in all Causes as well Spiritual as Temporal within his Realm and to this end is brought in the Testimony of this Letter of Eleutherius not only by Fox Holinshead Hooker Harrison Hastings and other of that Crew taking one from another that Argument but even their great Champion Jewell as Holinshead relateth in the first Volume of his Stories 25. The Reverend Father John Jewell saith he sometime Bishop of Salisbury writeth in his Reply unto Harding 's Answer That the said Eleutherius for general Order to be taken in the Realm and Churches here wrote his advice to Lucius in manner and form following Ye have received in the Kingdom of Britanny by God's Mercy both the Law and Faith of Christ ye have both the New and the Old Testament out of the same through God's Grace by the advice of your Realm make a Law and by the same through God's sufferance rule your Kingdom of Britanny for in that Kingdom you are God's Vicar c. 26. These are the words alledged by Master Jewel out of this Epistle which differ not much from that which is in Fox and Holinshead But both of them do add a third Clause out of the said Epistle which is this A King hath his name of Ruling and not of having a Realm You shall be a King while you rule well but if you do otherwise the name of a King shall not remain with you but you shall utterly lose and forgo it which God forbid And then maketh Holinshead this Annotation in these words Hitherto out of the Epistle that Eleutherius sent unto Lucius wherein many pretty Observations are to be collected if time and place would serve to stand upon them 27. So he saith but what Annotations these are he declareth not tho' it be easie to guess by others which he maketh in other places For that in the very next page before he maketh us a very grave Discourse How that Lucius sent to Rome the second time for a Copy of such politic Orders as were then used in the Regiment of the Church but that Eleutherius for divers reasons thought it best not to lay any more upon the Necks of the New Converts of Britanny than Christ and his Apostles had already set down to all men in the Scriptures And is not this a wise Discourse as tho' no Temporal Laws were to be made in a Christian Commonwealth but only those that are set down in Scriptures Who seeth not the madness of these Conclusions or Illations Nay who doth not consider how greatly this matter is against themselves That King Lucius dwelling so far off from Rome as he did yea being otherwise an Enemy to the Roman Nation as these men confess that he was did notwithstanding so highly respect even in those ancient days the See and Bishop of Rome that he submitted himself thereto and demanded from thence direction not
quantáque animum tuum Regni Christi praemia in die Judicii manerent c. Thou didst vow to be a perpetual Monk before Almighty God in the sight both of Angels and Men. O how great a flame of heavenly-hope would burn in the hearts of them that now despair of thee if thou hadst remained in that good state O how great Rewards of Christ's Kingdom would remain for thee in the day of Judgment c. 14. Thus saith he And would Protestants think you speak thus also seeing John Fox doth so greatly condemn our ancient Kings and Princes of the English Nation for that so many of them in the fervour of the Primitive Church made themselves Monks Yet Gildas you see on the contrary side commendeth highly that Fact in the Prince Maglocunus and greatly condemneth him for leaving that holy state And hereby also is refuted that foolish refuge of Fox and his Companions who say and affirm without shame that Monks had no Vows in those days but only that Monasteries were Schooles and places of Learning without any Obligation to persevere therein or to abstain from Marriage c. But let him shew that every one of those 2000 Monks that he saith lived in the Monastery of Bangor together did ever marry or pretend to have Liberty so to do after they were professed Monks and then he saith somewhat And as for vowing and public profession made to God in the sight of his Angels and the whole Church the matter is evident enough in this place what was then in use among the Britans 15. But let us pass from Princes to Priests What saith Gildas of them You shall hear his Words Sacerdotes habet Britannia sed insipientes c. Ecclesiae domus habentes sed turpis lucri gratia eas adeuntes c. rarò sacrificantes nunquam puro corde inter altaria stantes c. Sedem Petri Apostoli immundis pedibus usurpantes c. Britanny hath Priests but without Wisdom c. They possess the houses of the Church but go unto them only for filthy lucre's sake c. They do seldom sacrifice but never go to the Altar with a pure heart c. They do usurp the Seat of Peter the Apostle with unclean feet c. 16. Lo here Massing and Sacrificing Priests in those days which are so hated and persecuted at this day in England tho' God be thanked free from these Vices of impure Life which here is objected to the Priests of that time But let us hear yet Gildas further In Apostolicis sanctionibus ob inscitiam hebetes They are dull in observing Apostolical Sanctions for that they are unlearned and understand them not Lo here Priests reprehended for lack of skill in the Ecclesiastical Canons and Apostolical Decrees And yet he goeth further Desperatiùs errant quo non ab Apostolis vel Apostolorum successoribus sed à Tyrannis à patre eorum diabolo emunt sacerdotia These Men do err the more desperately for that they buy unto themselves the Office of Priesthood not of the Apostles or their Successors as Simon Magus would have done the Holy Ghost but of Tyrant Princes and of the Devil their Father 17. Here you see that Priesthood in those days was not wont to be given by the Authority of Lay Princes but by the Successors of the Apostles to wit Bishops And then further he goeth forward shewing how these naughty Priests being once possessed of that Dignity and made proud thereby presumed to say Mass unworthily Manus non tam venerabilibus aris quam flammis inferni ultricibus dignas in tale schema positi sacrosanctis Christi sacrificiis extensuri These Priests being once put in this Dignity or Ornament they presume to stretch out their hands to the most holy Sacrifices of Christ tho their hands be more worthy of the burning flames of hell than to touch the venerable Altars 18. Thus he wrote of Altars and Sacrifice among the Britans in those days and divers other Points like unto this which for brevity's sake I omit only I would ask our Men in general whether this be spoken as of Protestants or no And then would I demand of John Fox in particular how that can be true which he affirmeth That the Britans had no Mass in those days seeing Gildas talketh so much of Priests that did Sacrifice upon Altars And if he will say that Gildas useth not the word Mass it is a plain Cavil seeing nothing is signified by the Mass but only the external Sacrifice of Christians here mentioned And that the word Mass was generally used in the Latin Church for Sacrifice long before this time of Gildas appeareth by many Authors but especially by St. Augustin the Doctor in divers places of his works whereof some in the Margent we shall note 19. I would ask also of John Bale how the Religion of the Britans was the pure and naked Gospel in those days for so he saith if it had in it not only that custom of the Jews before mentioned of the Quartadecimani but all these other Points also which his Church counteth for Errors to wit of Professed Monks and Consecrated Nuns of Sacrificing upon Altars and the like how I say could this British Church be accounted by him and his so pure and unspotted But little heed is there to be given to these Mens saying or unsaying but as the present occasion of necessity urgeth them And therefore we will go forward to shew some other Observations in this kind CHAP X. The continuation of the same matter wherein is shewed by divers Proofs and Examples that the Britans before St. Gregory's time were of the same Religion that he sent into England by St. Augustin to wit of the Roman AND first of all to begin with the first Entrance of our first English Apostles St. Bede writing of the City of Canterbury at the coming of St. Augustin before King Ethelbert was converted saith thus Erat autem propè ipsam civitatem ad orientem Ecclesia in honorem St. Martini antiquitus facta dum adhuc Romani Britanniam incolerent c. In hac ergo ipsi primò convenire psallere orare Missas facere praedicare baptizare coeperunt There was a Church near to the City on the East side built in old time in the honor of St. Martin while yet the Romans did hold Brittany c. Wherefore in this Church Augustin and his company did first use to meet together to sing Psalms to Pray to say Masses to preach and to baptize the People c. 2. Note here that seeing the Romans left England presently upon the destruction of Rome by the Goths to wit about the year of Christ 400 which was some fifty years before the entrance of the Saxons then was the use of building Churches in the Honor of Saints in practise among the Britans and Roman Christians of those days living in
of this King Canutus saying amongst other things thus Monasteria per Angliam c. He did repair all the Monasteries in England that were overthrown or defaced by the Wars of his Father Swanus or himself He did Build Churches in all the places where he had fought any Battels And appointed Priests for the said Churches who should Pray continually to the Worlds end for the Souls of them that had been slain in those places He was present at the Consecration of a goodly Church in a place called Aschendum where he had his chiefest victory causing both the Nobles of the English and Danish Nation to offer with him Rich gifts to the said Church c. 22. Over the Body of Blessed St. Edmund which the Ancient Danes had slain he Builded a Church worthy the greatness of his Kingly Heart appointing there both an Abbot and Monks and giving them many Possessions In so much as by the greatness of his gifts that Monastery at this day is above all the rest in England He took up with his own hands the Body of St. Elphegus Arch-bishop of Canterbury slain not long before by his Danes and caused the same to be be carried unto Canterbury Reverencing the same with worthy honor He gave such great Gifts and rare Jewels to the Church of Winchester that the shining of pretious Stones did dazle the Eyes of such as did behold them c. In the Fifteenth year of his Kingdom he went to Rome by Land and having stayed some days there and redeeming his sins by Alms in those Churches he returned by Sea to England c. 23. Thus and much more doth William of Malmesbury write of this notable King Canatus a terrible and fierce Warrior before his Conversion and much given to Blood and Impiety whereby may easily be seen what force Catholic Religion is of to make change in a Mans manners where it truly entreth Let Protestants shew us some such examples of Princes Converted to their Religion But to go forward in Malmesbury he setteth down after all this a large Epistle of King Canutus which he wrote from Rome or in the way homeward unto the two Arch-bishops Egetnothus and Alfricus the first of Canterbury the other of York and by them to the whole Realm giving them account of his Journy to Rome Where amongst other things he writeth thus Canutus Rex totius Angliae Denmarkiae Norvegiae partis Suecorum c. notifico vobis me noviter ivisse Romam oratum pro Redemptione peccaminum meorum c. I Canutus King of all England Denmark and Norway and part of Swecia c. do give you to understand that of late I went to Rome to pray for the Redemption of my sins and for the health of my Kingdoms and people having made a vow of this Journy long ago but could never perform it until now by reason I was hindred by the Affairs of my Kingdoms And now I do yield most hearty thanks to Almighty God that he hath granted me this Grace to come and visit in my Life time the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the Sanctuary that is within and without this City and according to my desire to honor and worship the same in my own person c. 24. Thus he wrote And moreover adjoyned many other pious Ordinances in the same Epistle to be observed in England for Restitutions to be made Alms to be given and other good deeds to be done exhorting all to perform them willingly and threatning them that should do the contrary And William of Malmesbury saith that returning after to England he caused the same to be strictly observed And gave many new priviledges to Churches And one among other to the Church of Canterbury which Malmesbury setteth down at length and in the end hath these words Si quis verò c. If any Man shall perform this my Ordination with a prompt will Almighty God by the Intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary and all his Saints increase his portion in the Land of the living And this Donation of Priviledge is written and Promulgated in the Presence of me King Canutus in the Wooden Church in the year of Christ 1032. 23. Thus far writeth William of Malmesbury of this Kings Pious disposition after his coming from Rome And John Stow addeth out of Henry of Huntington as followeth After this time Canutus never bare Crown upon his Head but he set the same upon the Head of the Crucifix at Winchester c. And thus much of his Piety and other Fruits of true Christian Faith which he had received And it is no small Argument of the Divine Power thereof that it could so mollifie and change so fierce a Warriour and cruel a Persecutor as this King was before his Conversion 26. So as now we have brought down the continuance and succession of one and the self same Christian Religion in England from St. Augustin and King Ethelbert unto King Canutus for the space of 400 years And that this was no particular Religion of England alone but the Common General Faith not only of Rome but of all Christendom besides at that day and consequently the only Catholic Religion of those Ages appeareth in like manner by other words of the Kings former Letter Recorded by Malmesbury where he saith Sit autem vobis notum c. Be it known unto you that in this last solemnity of Easter there was a great Assembly of Nobility here in Rome together with Pope John and the Emperor Conrade to wit all the greatest Princes from the Hill Garganus unto this other next the Sea all which did receive me most honorably and did present me with Magnificent Gifts c. Thus wrote the King Whereby we may easily perceive that King Canutus was held in all Points for a perfect Catholic Prince seeing that both Pope John the 20th and the Emperor Conrade the 2d did esteem and honor him so highly 27. After Canutus succeeded in the Kingdom of England his two Sons Harold and Hardicanutus for two or three years And then King Edward the Confessor for Twenty-three years together After whose Death the second Harold Son of Earl Goodwin holding the Kingdom by violence against both English and Danes scarce one year William Duke of Normandy came in as all Men know and Conquered the Land towards the end of the year 1066. and held the same all days of his Life and so hath his posterity after him by Male or Female unto our time and have continued the same Religion which he found or brought into England for all was one for the space of 500 years unto King Henry the Eighth's time which may be proved beside other ways by the Succession of our Arch-bishops of Canterbury Stigand an English Man being the Twenty-third from St. Augustin holding the same when William the Conqueror got the Crown to whom succeeded Lanfranc and to him
each Sect pretended Scriptures for themselves yet the vertue and substance of Scriptures consisting in their true meaning and interpretation thereof it was intolerable pride and insolency in them to arrogate to themselves the said true Interpretation and Exposition before the whole Church of God that went before them And hereof ensued the justness of their punishment which in Catholics can have no place as before hath been shewed Yet one Example of each sort of these men shall we here alledge thereby better to declare the Case 21. King Henry during his Reign caused sundry sorts of men to be put to death about matter of Religion as is notorious and first certain Anabaptists and new Arians namely in the 27th and 30th years of his Reign In the former of these two Condemnations were nineteen Men and six Women as Stow and others do relate and in the second were three Men and one Woman condemned These Anabaptists denied amongst other points that Children ought to be baptized before they come to years of discretion and can actually believe for defence of which Doctrin they stood resolutely upon many clear places of Scripture as to them then seemed to wit Qui crediderit baptizatus fuerit salvus erit Marc. 16. He that shall believe and be baptized shall be saved Lo say they it is necessary to believe as well as to be baptized which Infants being not able to do ought not to receive Baptism in their Infancy or if they do they must be rebaptized again when they come to years of discretion Thus reasoned they And besides this Text they and their chief Masters do alledge almost thirty places of Scripture more which seem most plain and evident to them as by their Books that are extant appeareth 22. The like places they do alledge also for that other absurd Position of theirs That no Magistrate may punish by death as for example those words of God Exod. 20. Non occides Thou shalt not kill and again the saying of our Savior Omnes qui acceperint gladium gladio peribunt Matth. 26. All that use the sword shall perish by the sword Thus said the Anabaptists from which by no means could they be drawn but went willingly to the fire for testimony of their Opinions The Arians also denying the Equality of God the Son with the Father alledged no less plain places as they would have them to seem namely that of Christ himself in St. John's Gospel ch 14. Pater meus major me est My Father is greater than I and many other which were too long here to recite And this of them who burned together obstinately in one fire in England 23. But what shall we say of the Lutherans Do not they alledge plain places also both against Us and Calvinists as themselves think For against Calvinists in defence of the Real Presence in the Sacrament they urge the plain words of Christ as we do Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body And against us for their gross Opinion that the substance of Bread and Wine remaineth together with the Body of Christ they alledge many places of Scripture where it is called Bread which places the Zuinglians accepting do turn the same against the Lutherans affirming that for so much as it is so oftentimes called Bread in the Scripture it is not the true Body of Christ at all And this passed between Fryer Barns and the two Apostata Priests Gerard and Jerom burned with him The first a fervent Lutheran the other two earnest Zuinglians all three consumed by Fire at one Stake in Smithfield by King Henries appointment in the Thirty-second year of his Reign 24. But now was there a third or fourth sort of Sectaries in K. Henries days who were neither Anabaptists Arians nor yet perfect Lutherans or Zwinglians but would have the Controversie of the Blessed Sacrament and Real Presence to be an indifferent thing to be believed or not believed as every Man should think best So held William Tyndall as also his Scholar John Frith whom John Fox doth compare to St. Paul and Timothy Frith being Burned in Smithfield by the Kings express Commandment in the Twenty-sixth year of his Reign and Tyndall not long after in Flanders by the said Kings procurement as more largely we shall declare in the Third Part of this Treatise when we come to examine John Fox his Calendar of Martyrs Now it shall be sufficient for proof of that we say to alledge Fox himself who setting down the Articles of Frith for which he was Burned assigneth this for the first First saith he the matter of the Sacrament is no necessary Article of Faith under pain of Damnation c. But may be believed or not believed as every Man shall think best And for proof thereof alledgeth divers Arguments out of Scripture that the Fathers forsooth of the Old Testament were saved by the same Faith that we are and yet were not bound to believe the Real Presence c. And Fox seemeth to like well both of this Argument and of the Heresie 25. Now then here be four or five sorts of Sectaries Condemned by King Henry and all defended themselves by shew of Scriptures but for that each of them doth reserve the interpretation of Scripture to themselves and thereby teacheth new Doctrin contrary to that which was received generally in the known Church before them to whose judgment and interpretation they will not yield themselves Hereof it followed that the indictment of Heresie lyeth truly and justly against them and that they were worthily Condemned and Burned for this Pride self-will and obstinacy But on the contrary side against the Catholics that died for the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the Pope none of these Accusations can justly be laid for that they do neither stand upon their own judgment nor have invented any thing of new nor do adhere to their own Interpretations or Exposition of Scriptures but being accused do make their Plea and Defence far otherwise to wit that they found this Doctrin of the Popes Supremacy in use and practice before they were born as a thing received from Age to Age by the known Catholic Church time out of mind that they see all Christian Kingdoms and Princes to have embraced the same and General Councils to have allowed thereof That the Texts and Examples of Scripture alledged for the proof of this Article and all others whereon they stand are not inventions of their own but so expounded by Ancient Fathers and uniform consent of the Catholic Church that all our Christian English Kings from our first Conversion unto King Henry the Eighth acknowledged this Spiritual Authority of the Bishop of Rome and King Henry himself defended the same most earnestly with his own Pen not many years before against Luther and Lutherans That it is not a thing devised but delivered as Tertullian said of the Catholic Faith and therefore if any point thereof were to
be altered it must be done by the same Authority by which it was delivered to them to wit by the whole Church Councils and General Pastors thereof 26. This was the Defence and Pleading of Catholics under King Henry the Eighth to excuse themselves from Treason objected against them for holding the Popes Supremacy wherein you see divers notorious differences between the Defence of the Sectaries and them for that amongst the Sectaries every one held what himself thought best of things invented by themselves every one cited Scriptures and interpreted them as he listed without Authority President or Example of former Ages and consequently they are justly called Heretics that is to say choosers For that they chose to themselves what to believe in every Sect and reduced the last and final resolution of all things to their own Wills and Wits which in matters of belief is the highest Crime that against God and his Church can be committed 27. But on the other side the state and condition of the Catholics and their cause is quite opposite to this for that they stick to Authority Obedience Integrity Example of their Ancestors they bring nothing of their own they invent or innovate nothing They stand only upon that which they have found Established to them not by this or that Man or by this or that Author of any Sect or by this or that particular Congregation fellowship or Faction or by this or that Town City Province Kingdom or Country but generally by the whole universal Church and Pastors thereof and therefore properly and truly are called Catholics which is to say Vniversal and general 28. And this shall suffice to shew the difference between the Catholic Martyrs and Heretical Malefactors put to death in King Henries time whereof yet we shall Treat more largely in the third part of this Treatise where we are to handle the particular Stories of Fox his Calendar-Martyrs and to compare and paralell them with ours shewing that yet never Dogs and Cats nor yet Sampsons Foxes did ever so disagree in natures and conditions as these good Martyrs did in Faction and contrariety of opinions amongst themselves and consequently could not be Martyrs or witnesses of any one Faith whatsoever 29. And with this also will we end the Discourse of King Henries Life having sufficiently shewed as to me it seemeth that the Catholic Religion held her footing and continuance also under ther Reign of this King no less perhaps than before yea she shewed her self much more to the World by the Persecution which then she suffered than before in the time of peace for that the Famous and Illustrious Martyrdoms of such excellent Men as were Bishop Fisher Sir Thomas More Dr. Forest and many other such Worthies that suffered Martyrdom in those days did more Illustrate her and made extern Nations to talk more of the Zeal and Constancy of English Catholics than ever they would have done if that Persecution had not fallen out and the like success hath happened since both under King Edward the Sixth and her Majesty that now is as briefly we shall here declare 30. And as for King Edwards Reign as it was but short and the first passage from Catholic Religion to open Profession of Heresie So was it not so sharp for effusion of Blood as under King Henry For that the King being very young and those that Governed in his Name not thorowly settled in their States and Affairs troubled also with much Division and Emulation among themselves could not attend to prosecute matters so exactly against Catholics as some of their desires and Appetites were yet began they very well as we may see by the most unjust Persecutions and Deprivations of two principal Bishops Gardiner of Winchester and Bonner of London by such violent Calumnious manner as was proper for Heretics to use The particulars whereof John Fox doth set down at large whereby a Man may take a taste what they meant to have done if they had had time For that Cranmer and Ridley that had been Bishops in King Henries time and followed his Religion and humor while he lived being now also resolved to enjoy the Preferment and Sensuality of this time so far as any way they might attain unto getting Authority into their hands by the Protector and others that were in most Power began to lay lustily about them and to pull down all them both of the Clergy and others whom they thought to be able or likely to stand in their way or resist their inventions 31. And hereupon divers were laid hands on and Imprisoned divers fled over Seas sundry most Captious and Calumnious Questions and Demands were devised to entangle Men As Namely Whether a King of one year old were not as truly a King as at Forty or Fifty which if you did grant concerning the Title and Right of his Crown which is true then presently they inferred that King Edward being but Nine years old wanting yet discretion might also be lawful Head of the Church and determine Controversies of Religion yea change the Faith and Religion which his Father and all his Ancestors Kings and Princes of England all Parliaments Synods and Councils before his days had left unto him for the space of a Thousand years and more And albeit he had not sufficient judgment to understand what Religion meant yet was he made judge thereof by vertue of his Birth and Succession to the Crown And this Point was wonderfully urged by the Protector Seymor to all Preachers Prelats and Bishops of that time that they should inculcate the same to the people in their Sermons to the end that himself taking all the said Child Kings Authority upon him might be Head and Judge in his place Whereunto that he might seem the more fit and able for his excellent learning John Bale the Apostata Friar that lived under him was not ashamed to Publish in Print and place him for a Learned Author amongst his Illustrious British Writters for that some Proclamations perhaps passed by his hands tho' otherwise he was known to be so unlearned as he could scarce Write or Read. 32. But yet as I said this Doctrin or rather Paradox of the Child Kings supereminent ability high Authority and Supreme Ecclesiastical Power to determin alter change and dispose of matters of Religion at his pleasure tho' he were but of one year old was sounded in Pulpits every where at this time whereof Sir John Cheke the Kings School-master amongst others Wrote a several Treatise besides the large Message sent in the Kings Name but of his Writing to the Catholic people of Devonshire as after shall be shewed The same also was objected grievously against Bishop Gardiner and Bishop Bonner by Name that they had not in their Sermons appointed unto them by the Protector so sufficiently urged this Point of the Kings Ecclesiastical Power in his Nonage as was required And this especially for that the people in
divers parts of the Realm and namely those of Devonshire seeing such alterations to be made in Religion under the Minority of a Child quite contrary to the Laws and Statutes left by King Henry the Eighth and that all things went backward both at home and abroad the Towns we had in France being lost or upon the point of losing they complained first and after took Arms for defence of their Ancient Religion in the beginning of the third year of this Kings Reign the people of Sommersetshire and Lincolnshire beginning first in the Month of May and then in July the people of Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Cornwall and Devonshire and in August those also of Yorkshire all crying and demanding to have the Catholic Religion remain as it was left by King Henry at least-wise until King Edward came to lawful age thereby to be able to determin and judge of matters of Religion which demand did wonderfully trouble and vex the Lord Seymour Protector and other new Gospellers who being hungry after Catholics Goods could abide no delay in making this desired Innovation 33. And albeit before these Insurrections fell out they did well see by divers attempts that the heart of the people was wholly against those their Innovations in Religion as appeareth plainly by a Speech of the Lord Rich then Chancellor to the Sheriffs and Justices of Peace of all Shires gathered together in London in the year 1548 being the second of King Edward's Reign as at large you may see in Fox yet such was their importunity in this behalf as they would needs go forward which thing pleasing John Fox well he writeth thus By this you may see what zealous care was in this young King and in the Lord Protector his Uncle concerning the Reformation of Christ's Church 34. The same Fox also setteth down in another place what the young King answered to the Devonshire-men that desir'd that the state of matters in Religion might remain as King Henry had ordained and left them and in particular they required that the Statute of Six Articles against Heretics might stand in force until King Edward came to full age Whereunto let us hear his Answer and consider thereby how matters went in those days To the first about the Statute of Six Articles made by his Father and inviolably kept all days of his life the little Child answered thus Know you what you require They were Laws made but quickly repented too bloody were they to be born of Our people You know they helped Vs to extend rigor and to draw Our Sword very often yea they were as a Whetstone unto Our Sword and for your Causes We have left to use them and sith Our mercy moved Vs to write Our Laws with Milk how be you blinded to ask them in Blood c 35. And then further he saith But to leave this manner of reasoning with you We let you wit That the same Laws have been annulled by Our Parliament with great rejoyce of Our Subjects and not now to be called by Our Subjects in question Dare any of you stand against an Act of Parliament c Assure you most surely that We of no earthly thing make such account as to have Our Laws obey'd for herein resteth Our Honor and shall any of you dare to breath against Our Honor c Lo how little account this little King Child was taught to make of his old Father's Laws and how thundringly to speak for the maintenance of his own But when they came to the second point about his Nonage he is yet more resolute for thus he writeth 36. In the end of your request saith he you would have Our Fathers Laws stand in force until Our full age But to this We think if ye knew what ye spake you would never have uttered that motion nor ever have given breath to such a thought For what think you of Our Kingdom Be We of less Authority for Our Age You must first know that as a King We have no difference of years nor time but as a natural Man and Creature of God We have Youth and by his sufferance shall have Age. We are your rightful King your leige Lord your King anointed your King crowned the sovereign King of England not by Our Age but by God's Ordinance We possess Our Crown not by Years but by the Blood and Descent from Our Father King Henry VIII c. 37. All this and much more did they make the innocent young King to talk and write in defence of their Innovations who had more Interest therein than He. And as for the Catholic People albeit they deny'd not but that he was a true King in his minority of Age yet no man was so foolish as to think notwithstanding all these preachings to the contrary but that it was a different thing for matters of Religion to be altered now in his Name than afterward by Himself when he should come to Age. 38. But among all others none urged this Argument so much nor with such Authority as the King 's eldest Sister the Princess Lady Mary Heir-apparent to the Crown who being a zealous Catholic and yet wishing well also to the Protector did by sundry Letters to be seen in Fox admonish both Him and the rest of the Council That they should look well what they did during the King's minority in altering the Will Laws and Ordinances of his and her Father King Henry for that afterward they were like enough to be called to account about the same when the King her Brother should come to full years Moreover she admonished them That they had no Authority to make such alteration in so great matters as they did but ought rather to conserve things in the state left unto them by King Henry her Father according as by solemn Oath they had sworn unto him before his death that they would do but especially about matters of Religion until the King her Brother came unto lawful Age. 39. By all which is clearly seen how the Catholic Religion remained in England most substantially rooted in King Edward's days and that Heresie entred only from the teeth outward and was maintained by violence of Temporal Authority and according to that was the success For after many toils and turmoils one killing another of those that governed when they thought they had laid a sure Platform to continue the same by excluding the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth and thrusting in Jane the Duke of Suffolk's Daughter after King Edward's death and had so plotted and fortified that Design as they thought it sure the only Zeal of the common Catholic People for the recovering the use of Catholic Religion again overthrew all and placed Queen Mary as is notorious to the World. And afterward if we consider the end of most of them which in those days being Counsellors for Ambition or other respects were promoters of Heresie as Dudley Pembroke Winchester
by that Succession of Roman Bishops the true Succession of one and the self-same Catholic Faith to have endured not only in these several Countreys but also over all Christendom and that from Christ to those times esteeming this to be a most invincible Proof and certain Demonstration or to use St. Irenaeus his own words plenissimam ostensionem a most full probation against all Heretics whatsoever 7. According to which Principle and sure Foundation all other Fathers also that have ensued since from Age to Age have stood very resolutely upon this point of Succession against the Heretics of their times Brevem saith St. Hierom apertamque animi mei sententiam proferam in illa esse Ecclesia permanendum quae ab Apostolis fundata usque ad diem hanc durat I will utter briefly my sentence and judgment we must abide in that Church which being founded by the Apostles hath endured unto this day As if he had said We must be and abide in that Church which as it was visibly founded and spread over the World by the Apostles Preaching so it hath visibly been continued under her Bishops and Teachers unto this day Which sentence of his St. Augustin that lived with him tho' somewhat younger confirmeth in these words Dubitabimus nos illius Ecclesiae considere gremio quae ab Apostolica sede per Successiones Episcoporum frustra haereticis circumlatrantibus culmen Authoritatis obtinuit Shall we doubt still to rest in the lap of that Church which hath kept continually the height of her Authority by Succession of Bishops from the See-Apostolic unto this day notwithstanding the vain barking of Heretics on every side of her 8. Thus said St. Augustin of the visible Church in his days which had not continued much more than 400 years But what would he say if he liv'd in our days after almost 1200 years Succession more since he wrote this when he should hear far greater and more spiteful barking of Heretics against the same than he heard in his days tho' then also he heard much and much of that which we hear now But if St. Augustin should live now again there is no doubt of one thing which is that he would make this his Argument of Succession far more strong against our Heretics and esteem it so much the more by how much the Power of Christ hath shewed it self more Omnipotent in continuing the same since for so many Ages more after him amidst so many troubles and turmoils changes and alterations of Empires and Kingdoms and Temporal States as before we have noted And if in England we can number above seventy Archbishops of Canterbury all of one Religion the one succeeding the other since our first Conversion by St. Augustin our Apostle not to speak any thing of the British Church before us as you may see confessed by Cambden and other new heretical Writers of our own and that this English Church was the same in Faith and Belief with the British as before hath been shewed and both of them one with the Roman and General Church from the very beginning to this time what an Antiquity is this and how clear and evident a Succession And how would St. Augustin urge this Argument against our Protestants if he were now alive again 9. Sure I am that if any one Baron Earl or Duke in England could shew but the half of these years for the continuance and possession of any Temporal State Lordship or Land in England he would highly esteem thereof and thereby make a glorious defence against any wrangling Companion that should presume to pretend the same and deprive him thereof if he could truly say and prove as we do in the Cause of our Church that his Ancestors for 1300 years together had continued in that possession But no man can prescribe any such time in temporal matters and therefore are they well called Temporal for that they change in a little time And he that will read the foresaid Cambden's Story towards the end of every English Shire where he taketh upon him to recount the Earls or Dukes that have had their States and Titles over that Shire he shall see such a broken Succession in those States and Signories as it is pitiful to behold no Dukedom or Earldom continuing lightly three or four Generations together in any one Name or Family And this is the frailty and uncertainty of human things 10. But for matters of Religion appertaining to the Soul Almighty God hath given another manner of force unto Succession both of Men and Faith. As for example in the Law of Nature he made the same to endure by only Tradition without Writing for more than 2500 years under the ancient Patriarchs before and after the Flood of Noe. And afterward again in the written Law the Jews continued the possession of their Religion by Succession of Bishops and Ecclesiastical Governors from Moses unto Christ above 1500 years notwithstanding all varieties of times and calamities And no less from Christ to our Age hath he continued the same in a much more glorious sort and manner In which latter time of Christian Religion to speak only of this for the present so many mutations have been made both in the Roman Empire it self and all other Realms and Kingdoms round about us as all men know and may be seen in Histories And yet hath the Succession of the Catholic Church and Pastors thereof together with the Union of Faith therein taught been most miraculously conserved amongst all these tossings and turmoils breaches and divisions of Temporal Kingdoms which could never have been but by the Omnipotent Hand of our Savior that hath defended it especially considering withal the great multitude of Sects and Heresies that from time to time have risen and attempted to impugn the same but could never prevail And this is sufficient for this first and principal point of the vertue and force of Ecclesiastical Succession 11. The second point to be considered is That when Luther's new Religion began and could alledge no Successors of Bishops or ancient Teachers for it self but was much pressed with this other of the Catholics he devised a certain notorious and ridiculous shift to say that the true Church was invisible to the eye of man and only seen by God and consequently had no need of any visible or external Succession of Men. And this shift of his is discovered by that he writeth both against Erasmus and Catharinus and in his wicked Treatise de abroganda Missa privata for taking away private Masses where having had Conference with the Devil as himself confesseth he asketh very stoutly Who can shew us the Church seeing she is secret and to be believed only in Spirit To whom if any man would oppose S. Aug. that saith digito ostendimus Ecclesiam we can shew the Church with our finger should not Luther be well match'd think you 12. The like held
years next before the entrance of St. Augustin was for Him and His Church and not for Ours yea different from the Roman Religion brought in by Augustin as often you have heard him protest and here had been the proper place to have proved it if it had been provable And whereas in the same Protestation of his prefixed before his whole Volume he avouched as you have heard that the chief British Preachers and Teachers of these times before St. Augustin's coming as Fastidius Ninianus Patricius Dubritius Congellus David Asaphus Gildas and others before mentioned were true Teachers and taught the Gospel rightly according to the Protestant Faith and consequently were of his Religion he ought here to have proved the same by their Writings Lives Acts and Monuments as I have shewed the contrary by all these kind of Arguments and Proofs before But the Fox knowing the difficulty and peril of this Combat would not enter into the same nor take upon him to defend or justifie any thing at all tho' never so much promised or protested in his Prefaces and Preambles at the beginning Whereof the Reasons are these that ensue 11. First For that touching the British Church during these three Ages he had in truth nothing at all to write or relate but what would be manifestly against himself if he had written or related it and descended to particulars For according to that you have heard before in divers places of this Treatise that as the first Faith of the Britans came from Rome and thereby they were made Members of the Roman Church from the beginning so remained they united with the same in all points of Faith and Religion except some few abuses crept in among part of them towards the latter-end of these three Ages until the Conversion of the English by St. Augustin to the same Roman Faith. Which point is proved so evidently by so many Signs Arguments and Demonstrations as little comfort might John Fox have to enter into this Discourse or Examination and consequently tho' he had promised in the beginning to treat this Subject of the British Church yet coming to the place and time when he should have performed his promise he thought better to withdraw himself slightly by utter silence than to put himself in Briars by making any mention at all thereof And thus much for his silence concerning the Christian Church of Britanny in these three Ages 12. But for the general Catholic Church of Christendom tho' these times yield abundant matter as hath been said yet the whole stream and current thereof running quite against him he thought best in like manner to decline craftily the medling or wrestling therewith And so much the more for that he had seen the pitiful plight wherein his Masters the Magdeburgians had cast themselves in their fourth fifth and sixth Centuries by over-large relating the Acts and Gests of these three Ages against themselves and their own Religion being forc'd to spend a great part of their Labors not so much in relating what the Fathers of those Ages writ or held as to answer and refute the same and shew that it was not true nor the said Doctors and Fathers to be believed therein Which trouble John Fox like a wily Fox indeed thought best to avoid by Art of Silence I will in this place for examples sake only and to give you a taste of the said Magdeburgians dealing throughout their whole Work from which John Fox taketh the principal parts of his let you see some points taken out of their fourth Century dedicated to her Majesty of England with a sharp Invective as before hath been shewed used by them against the Calvinists therein which Century containeth the fourth Hundred year after Christ and the first of the three which now we have in hand from Constantine downward wherein they spend above 400 Leaves in Folio and more than twice as much in the other two Centuries that ensue John Fox not having bestow'd four Leaves upon all three Ages as you have heard 13. And that you may perceive how this one Century of the Magdeburgians cometh to make so great a Volume you must note that it is divided into certain large Chapters or Heads of different matters As for example first of the propagation of Christian Religion in that Age and the State thereof throughout all Countreys Kingdoms and Nations which is a large matter as you see comprehending the Stories of all Ecclesiastical Writers Secondly of Persecutions Troubles and Jars that have passed as also of Peace and Tranquility Then of Doctrin good or bad then of Heresies then of Rites and Ceremonies then of Ecclesiastical Government then of Schisms then of Synods and Councils then of Bishops Doctors and Teachers their Lives Works and Actions at large then of Heretics their beginnings and endings then of Martyrs then of Miracles then of Pagan Commonwealths also and other such points capable as you see of long Discourses Which I thought fit once to note to the end that those which have not read the Centuries may know in general what matters they handle and what method they use therein 14. Secondly it is to be noted about the same affair That in all these Heads and Chapters there be divers things which are not in controversie among us I mean between Catholics and Protestants but are common to us both at least in some degrees Other Points there are that they affirm and we deny or we affirm and they deny There is a third kind also of Points wherein tho' We and Protestants do not agree fully either in the Doctrin or in the Practice yet one Sect of them differeth more or less from us than the other And in all these three Points you shall see some brief Examples of the Magdeburgians manner of proceeding in this fourth Age Noting to you first by the way their own Testimony of the excellent Learning of the Doctors and Teachers thereof in these words Habuit haec aet as si quae unquam alia plurimos praestantes illustres Doctores ut Arnobium Lactantium c. This Age if ever any other had very many most excellent and famous Doctors as Arnobius Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Hilarius Victorinus Basilius Nazianzenus Ambrosius Prudentius Epiphanius Theophilus Hieronymus Faustinus Didymus Ephrem Optatus and others out of which we shall shew and declare what was the form of Christian Doctrin used in this Age. 15. Lo there the Testimony of the Magdeburgians of the famous Doctors Teachers and Leaders of Christ's Church in this Age And being such as they say so excellently Learned and endued with Christ's Spirit for Guiding of his Church is it probable think you that these four German Magdeburgians Illyricus Wigandus Judex and Faber shall come to presume afterward to condemn them all of Ignorance and lack of Spirit when they speak against them Truly they cannot do it with any shame fac'dness or modesty at all or be believed
West by the foresaid Pope Leo III. And during this Race of time the said Universal Church flourished greatly by Learned Men and Holy Bishops whereof the principal were St. Isidorus Archbishop of Sevil Sophronius Leontius Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury Venerable Bede Johannes Damascenus Paulus Diaconus Alcuinus our Countrey-man Vsuardus and others 4. This time had many Learned Councils also whereof two were General the one being the third of Constantinople the other the second of Nice Whereby were beaten down all the Heretics of those days the principal whereof were the Jacobites the Armenians Monothelites Neophonites Lampetians Agnychites Iconomachians or Image-breakers and other the like Besides all this there was added to the Greatness of this Church the new Conversion of many Countries from Paganism to Christian Religion Amongst which may principally be recounted our English Saxons as also by their means divers Provinces afterward of High and Low Germany And this for the continuance and going forward of the Christian Catholic Church in general planted by Christ and brought down by Succession from the Apostles time 5. But if you will talk of our new English Church planted in this mean space and inserted or united to that General Catholic Church as a Branch or Member to the whole Body and as a new Daughter subordinate to her Mother we shall see her progress to be conform thereunto to wit that she multiplied mightily in these 200 years both in Number Doctrin and great Piety of Life which John Fox himself is forced to confess in that he having told us of the Conversion of seven English Saxon Kingdoms within the compass of this time he setteth down divers Tables in the end of all whereof one is of seventeen Archbishops of Canterbury from Augustin to Celnothus that lived with King Egbert and another Table of thirty Cathedral Churches Abbies and Nunneries builded and abundantly endowed by Christian English Kings Queens and Bishops of that time and a third Table of nine several Kings besides many more of chief Nobility both Men and Women who leaving the World and their Temporal States entred into a Religious Life the more strictly to serve Almighty God. All which John Fox is forc'd to recount against himself and findeth no one in all this time of 200 years and much less any company on whom he dareth lay hands to build up his hidden Church in England withal 6. And it is to be noted by the Reader and by us to be repeated again for better memories sake that which before we admonished to wit that Fox findeth these 200 years of our first English primitive Church so barren of matter for his purpose as in the whole story thereof he spendeth only eight Leaves of Paper and these rather in deriding and scoffing the same and principal Pillars thereof than writing any Ecclesiastical History For which cause you shall find these Notes and Titles commonly written over the heads of his Leaves and Pages Augustin's arrival in Kent Gregory the basest Pope but the best Proud Augustin Lying Miracles Shaven Crowns Beda his Birth and the like Of which Learned Holy Man's Story I mean St. Bede he maketh so little account as in the same place reciting a Letter out of him written by a holy Man Ceolfride Abbot of Sherwyn in Northumberland to Naitonus King of the Picts he saith thus The Copy of which Letter as it is in Bede I have annexed not for any great reason therein contained but only to delight the Reader with some pastime in seeing the fond Ignorance of that Monkish Age c. Whereby we may see the drift of this pleasant Fox in these his Acts and Monuments which is to discredit that whole Time and all our Primitive Church 7. But yet to the end that the saying of Christ may be fulfilled in him Ex ore tuo te judico Serve nequam I do judge thee out of thy own mouth thou wicked Servant I shall here set down two National Synods gathered in England in these two Ages by two famous Archbishops of Canterbury the one Theodorus in the year of Christ 680 and related by Beda and the other St. Cuthbert in the year 747 related by William of Malmsbury after Bede's death and both of them set down by Fox And by viewing the Decrees of these two Synods you will see whether those Ages were so fond in Ignorance as Fox maketh them Out of the first Synod held at Thetford Fox gathereth ten Decrees in these words 8. I. That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observed throughout the whole Realm upon a certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi II. That no Bishop should intermeddle within the Diocese of another III. That Monasteries consecrated unto God should be exempt and free from the Jurisdiction of Bishops IV. That the Monks should not stray from one place that is from one Monastery to another without the license of their Abbot also to keep the same Obedience which they promised at their first entring V. That no Clergy-man should forsake his own Bishop and be received in any other place without Letters Commendatory of his own Bishop VI. That Foreign Bishops and Clergy-men coming into the Realm should be content only with the benefit of such Hospitality as should be offered them neither should they intermeddle any further within the Precinct of any Bishop without his special permission VII That Synods Provincial should be kept within the Realm at least once a year VIII That no Bishop should prefer himself before another but must observe the time and order of his Consecration IX That the number of Bishops should be augmented as the number of People increased X. That no Marriage should be admitted but that which was lawful no Incest to be suffered neither any man to put away his Wife for any cause except only for Fornication after the Rule of the Gospel And these be the principal Chapters of that Synod c. 9. Out of the second Synod held at Clonisho Fox gathereth thirty-one Decrees as followeth I. That Bishops should be more diligent in seeing to their Office and in admonishing the people of their faults II. That they should live in a peaceable mind together notwithstanding they were in place dissevered asunder III. That every Bishop once a year should go about all the Parishes of his Diocese IV. That the said Bishops every one in his Diocese should admonish their Abbots and Monks to live regularly and that Prelates should not oppress their Inferiors but love them V. That they should teach the Monasteries which the secular men had invaded and could not then betaken from them to live regularly VI. That none should be admitted to Orders before his Life should be examined VII That in Monasteries the reading of Holy Scripture should be more frequented VIII That Priests should be no disposers of secular business IX That they should take no money for baptizing
will shew thee my Faith by Works And that these good works did proceed of Faith contrary to the Cavil of John Fox is evident by those pious words of the King where he saith Seeing Almighty God of his Mercy and Clemency without any precedent Merit of mine hath given me my Crown I do willingly restore to him again c. 7. But Fox goeth forward in jesting at the said King Ethelwolf saying That he that had been once nuzl'd up in his Youth among Priests he was always good and devout to holy Church c. And then passeth he on to shew How after he had established matters in his own Kingdom he went to Rome and carried with him his little Son Alured or Alfred committing him to the bringing up of Pope Leo IV. as before hath been said where also he re-edified the English School founded by King Offa and destroy'd by Fire a little before under King Egbert Moreover he gave saith Fox yearly to be paid in Rome 300 Marks to be distributed in this manner 100 Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Peter 's Church and another hundred Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Paul 's Church and the third hundred to be disposed in good works at the Pope's appointment At all which Fox jesteth also merrily building his Church by these Mocks and Mews 8. And to like effect he reciteth a Miracle registred by William Malmsbury and by the Charter of King Ethelstone Son and Heir to King Edward the elder which King having escaped a great Danger at Winchester where one of his Subjects named Duke Alfred and other of his Nobles conspiring together presently after his Father's Death would have put out his eyes But he escaping that Danger took the said Alfred Prisoner and for that he denied that he had any such intention the good King thought there was no better Trial than to send him to Rome to Pope John XI to be try'd by a solemn religious Oath before him The Pope made him swear before St. Peter's Altar who forswearing the said Conspiracy fell down presently before the said Altar in the sight of all the People and was carried thence in the arms of his Servants to the aforesaid School or English-men where he died the third night after wherewith the Pope and all Rome remain'd astonished and the Pope sent presently into England to know of the King whether he would pardon him and suffer his Body to be buried in Christian Sepulcher which King Ethelston after consultation had with the rest of his Nobility and by the earnest intercession of Duke Alfred's Friends was content that he should be so buried but yet by Sentence of the whole Realm the Possessions of the said Alfred were adjudg'd to the King's use who bestow'd them all upon Churches and Monasteries to the Honor of God and St. Peter which had given this Judgment in the Controversie 9. All this is testified by the said King's Charter recorded by Will. of Malmsb. and recited by Fox and the said Charter towards the end hath these words Et sic judicata est mihi tot a possessio ejus in magnis modicis quam Deo Sancto Petro dedi nec justius novi quà m Deo Sancto Petro hanc possessionem dare qui emulum meum in conspectu omnium cadere fecerunt mihi prosperitatem Regni largiti sunt And by this means the whole Possession both great and small of Duke Alfred was adjudged unto me which I gave unto God and to St. Peter nor do I know to whom I should more justly give the same than to God and to St. Peter who made my Adversary to fall down in the sight of all men and gave unto me the Prosperity of my Kingdom Thus wrote he about the year of Christ 933 as John Fox counteth and I marvel he would relate this Story being so much against himself and his Religion and in confirmation of ours as it is for that it sheweth that God and St. Peter in those days wrought Miracles in Rome when Fox saith that the Faith and Religion of Rome was far out of order from the true Gospel But this is the misery and calamity of this poor Fellow and his Cause as often before I have noted that either he must write nothing at all of these Times and Ages or else he must write Testimonies against himself 10. I will give you one short Example more where he allegeth us a Narration of a very old Writer which he saith he had in Manuscript lent him by one named William Carre and thereupon he citeth it still by the name of Historia Cariana this Story being written as it seemeth in those Ages and of the Miseries that happened to England by the Incursions of Danes and other Infidels seeketh out the causes of God's wrath in this behalf saying thus In Anglorum quidem Ecclesia primitiva Religio clarissimè splenduit c. In the primitive Church of England Religion did most clearly shine insomuch that Kings Queens Princes Dukes Consuls Barons and Rulers of Churches incensed with the desire of the Kingdom of Heaven laboured and stirred as it were amongst themselves to enter into Monastical Life and into voluntary Exile and Solitariness forsaking all to follow their Lord where in process of time all Virtue so much decay'd among them that in Fraud and Treachery none seemed like unto them neither was to them any thing odious or hateful but Piety and Justice nor any thing in price and honor but Civil War and shedding Blood Wherefore Almighty God sent upon them Pagan And Cruel Nations like swarms of Bees 11. This relateth Fox out of his Carian Story and I know not to what end he should relate it but only to shew that while English-men lived Godly according to the fashion of their primitive Church they esteemed and honored highly Religious and Monastical Life and many leaving the World with the Pleasures and Possessions thereof entred into that Religious Course endeavoring to follow and imitate their Lord and Master therein and that so long was England happy and blessed by God To which effect if John Fox do allege the same then is it evident what a good Conclusion he doth make against himself his Religion at this day that are such professed Enemies to that kind of life so highly here commended and consequently the Relator thereof doth shew himself to be as well John Fool as John Fox not considering what maketh for him or against him 12. But to the end that we should not think that he hath made Peace or Friendship with Monks for all this or that he liketh their Life or Profession any thing the better for so many praises given them by ancient Authors he scoldeth at them every where and upon every occasion writing over the Pages and Titles of his Book these Superscriptions Monks Superstitious Monks Monks married Monks meer Lay-men in old times and the like